Woman of the Year

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Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:28pm

I just came across a copy of the cast album for "Woman of the Year," and that prompted me to do a bit of research. I discovered the show won 4 Tony Awards, including best book and best original score. Did anyone have the chance to see this show, and do you think a revival would be possible?

Just curious because I've always loved the story (have the DVD with Hepburn and Tracy, as well as their 30-minute radio version recorded for the Screen Guild Theatre). Any info on the show would be appreciated! :) Thanks!

[updated to correct award count]

Updated On: 8/26/12 at 07:28 PM

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:30pm

John Kander cites it as his least favorite show of his and Fred Ebb's. I think it has some really nice stuff in it, but I'll agree that it doesn't compare to some of the other K&E shows.

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:31pm

Unless you can somehow resurrect the amazing Marilyn Cooper, I'd forget that revival. I always thought they should have called the show, APPLAUSE II, because that seemed the primary creative impulse to me.

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:33pm

It is more as a star vehicle I would say. The best number being "The Grass is Always Greener." Marilyn Cooper stopped the show and deserved the Tony Award in what has to be one of the shorts on stage performances to win.

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:33pm

May i suggest CZJ for the lead role in a revival. I think she would be lovely in this, the score fits her voice like a glove and we could see more of her wonderful dance abilities.

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:38pm

It's a good Encores! candidate actually. A major revival? I mean, it didn't even make money with Bacall.

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:40pm

It didn't make a profit? Im really surprised. Raquel Welch did amazing business when she took over. I don't think Debbie Reynolds was in it long before it closed.

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:40pm

I think it closed in the red. It also had a very large theatre to fill.

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:42pm

I worked with Coopie in several shows in stock where she did larger roles. I always figured if she got a Tony for singing one (admittedly mediocre) Kander & Ebb song, it was just Fate finally putting things right.

(Not that she wasn't hysterical with that song. Obviously, she was. I just don't think it ranks with great K&E duets like "Class".)

#10

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:47pm

@GavestonPS

It might not be one of Kander and Ebb best songs but it did stop the show. I wasnt surprised or should say I was pleasantly surprised when Cooper won the Tony Award.

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.

#11

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:50pm

@jv92

It is too bad or maybe not depending on how you look at it. But I don't recall then reporting when a show turned a profit back then.

I know it had a decent advance sale with Bacall and became a must see again with the reviews Welch got and I believe her weekly grosses were very good. But trying to recall over 30 years(Yikes) my memory isn't what it use to be. :)

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.

#12

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:56pm

Woman of the Year - Lauren Bacall & Marilyn Cooper live in 1981

"...ah, gays and their wit. Hell must be a laugh a minute!" -Evie Harris

#13

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 7:58pm

@loliveve

I think it won 4 Tony Awards. Featured Actress, Actress, Book and Score. Is there one I am forgetting?

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.

#14

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 8:08pm

@Huss471- My apologies!!! You are correct, the show won 4 Tony Awards. Thank you! I will correct that. (i counted 5 awards, and missed that the last one was a Drama Desk.)

#15

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 8:54pm

Oh, absolutely, Huss. My point was that it stopped the show because of Coopie, not because the writing was so clever. (And, in fairness, credit has to be given to Bacall, who played off her duet partner perfectly.)

#16

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 9:00pm

I really thought Bacall was a class act in really letting Cooper take center stage for the number. It's also Coopers' talent that pulled the spotlight away from Bacall because all you saw in that number was Cooper and Bacall pretty much played the straight man. So to speak.

I do recall the first Playbill from the show was not the best of pictures of Bacall and then at some point they at least gave Bacall a more glamourous headshot for the Playbill.

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.

#17

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 9:01pm

I saw the show at the Palace in 1981. It was a mediocre star vehicle for Lauren Bacall who carried the show through the sheer force of her personality and stage presence. Never for one second did you doubt there was a STAR onstage.

Updated On: 8/27/12 at 09:01 PM

#18

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 9:07pm

May i suggest CZJ for the lead role in a revival.

No, you may not.

Didn't Broadway get a restraining order or something, forbidding Catherine Zeta to come anywhere closer to a Broadway stage than Kennedy Airport?

#19

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 9:16pm

I really thought Bacall was a class act in really letting Cooper take center stage for the number. It's also Coopers' talent that pulled the spotlight away from Bacall because all you saw in that number was Cooper and Bacall pretty much played the straight man. So to speak.

I've been critical of Betty elsewhere, but in my dealings with her I represented the producer. In the interest of fairness and complete accuracy, I'd like to add that the acting company (she was doing a summer tour of WONDERFUL TOWN) seemed genuinely fond of her.

I never saw her upstage her co-stars (George Hearn and Maureen Moore).

#20

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 9:24pm

Was this televised? I swear I saw it on TV somewhere.

#21

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 9:25pm

The duet or the show? The duet is linked above.

#22

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 9:39pm

I saw all three of the stars on Broadway, and though it was written for Bacall, and she was the most commanding presence, the overall best performance -- and most believable -- was Debbie Reynolds. By far. She made a persuasive case that this character Tess Harding really was a telejournalist, really had used her charm and skill and intellect to build a hard-won career. She looked like a woman who'd been on TV. That mattered. And she's a legit triple threat musical comedy star: she sings, dances, and puts over comedy. They redid "One of the Boys" for her, and damned if she didn't make it work. Watch the clips of Bacall in the number. She looks like she might break. I'm not into trashing Bacall for her singing, because I don't think that was the issue (though her rendition of the title number is, uh, something to listen to). I think she simply treated the role as someone above noted: as APPLAUSE II. I must say, she apparently blossomed anew in the road edition, and I wish I'd seen it. She had her moments.

Raquel was Vegas. She could move, she could warble, and she could not make you believe she was this woman that man Sam could end up with. Sorry, Mr. Jamie Ross, who played Sam; it didn't make sense.

I enjoy the score. Minor Kander and Ebb is better than major many other people. The pleasures are many and varied, and we've talked about them often here. It need not be revived, but I understand why everyone from Barbara Eden to (fill in the blank) scored in stock with it. The role fits a certain profile, and the trajectory in the thin story allows a lot of shtus, sturm and drang, and that ending, which is ludicrous.

I sometimes play the overture. And I love "Sometimes a Day Goes By."

"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling

#23

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/26/12 at 10:19pm

If ANYONE is going to to WOMAN OF THE YEAR ANYWHERE, it should be Allison Janney who even sang Dolly Parton's own rip off of "One of the Boys" with the same title in 9 TO 5.

#24

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 1:28am

I think "Sometimes a Day Goes By" is one of Kander and Ebb's most beautiful songs.

"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"

#25

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 2:37am

I saw all three leads on Broadway. Saw Bacall's final performance. It was a fun "vehicle" show. Also saw Barbara Eden do it at some summer theater in the round in Long Island. I believe it toured some summer stock theaters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntto194YwK0

HUSSY POWER! ------ HUSSY POWER!

Updated On: 8/27/12 at 02:37 AM

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