Woman of the Year — Page 2

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.

#26

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 2:44am

When Bacall took the show on tour they hired a new director/choreographer, Ron Field who performed the same duties in APPLAUSE. Reportedly, the new staging was an improvement over the Broadway production.

Bacall so loathed the original director of WOMAN OF THE YEAR that she had Mike Nichols brought in during previews to do some show doctoring.

#27

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 2:46am

I heard Tommy Tune also came in to do some staging as well, though out-of-town.

#28

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 2:50am

I wonder if the animated sequences are still available somewhere?

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

#29

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 7:57am

The title song, which has to be seen to be believed. Her final note alone will change your life:

http://youtu.be/DIuHHALjpVA

THE STORY GOES...

Ethel Merman was dragged against her will to see Lauren Bacall in Woman of the Year on opening night. At the climax of Bacall's big song "One of the Boys (Who's One of the Girls)" Bacall hit one of her legendary "foghorn" notes.

Merman squirmed through the big build-up to the big note, as Bacall "sang":

I've layers of lacquer a lady enjoys,
I've earrings and bracelets and various toys,
But I love when I've slipped into ripped corduroys,
Because I'm one of the girls---
ONE OF THE GIRLS!--
One of the GIRLS
Who's one of thuuuuuuuuuuuhhh--

And as Bacall let go of that awful note to take her breath for the final note, the entire audience heard a familiar voice from the middle of the 10th row mutter loudly,

"JEEEZUS!"

Onstage, Bacall could here her too. The entire audience, watched silently, while Bacall held her arms at 10-and-2, seething, before singing the final word:

--boys.

The reception in the dressing room after was icy.

#30

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 8:11am

I thought I heard this story before Pal Joey and was trying to recall if in a book or on here.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1033482&dt=31

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

#31

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 8:56am

It was a fun show, not great by any means but very smooth, polished and entertaining, absolutely driven by Bacall's star power. (I never saw Welch or Reynolds.)

And then Marilyn Cooper entered and pushed the whole thing up to explosively funny levels. It was no shock that during the curtain calls she got the loudest and longest applause; when Bacall came out for her bow the reception, while great, was noticeably less than Cooper received.

Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)

#32

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 9:39am

I saw it on my very first trip to New York. Because of Lauren Bacall, we scheduled it for our Saturday evening show. In retrospect, it was good, but not great.

The main problem was that same weekend we saw "Pirates of Penzance" with Linda Rondstadt (on a night that she was actually there) and George Rose and Kevin Kline, the original cast of the original "42nd Street".

The one thing I do remember is that (because a movie star, professionalism and good will can only take you so far) when Marilyn Cooper came out on that stage and opened her mouth, it was like someone opened a window in a smoke-filled room!

"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music "Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70 "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba

#33

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 10:14am

Auggie27 I had heard that Debbie Reynolds was the best Tess, but she opened during a newspaper strike, the show wasn't reviewed and sadly closed four weeks after her tenure had begun.

#34

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 10:25am

#35

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 11:23am

I thought it was interesting how the Times compared the three women to play Tess Harding:

Through the force of her personality, Lauren Bacall made Broadway's Tess Harding into an imposing, Barbara Walters woman of the world. Raquel Welch played the character as a glamorous Wonder Woman. Debbie Reynolds, the new "Woman of the Year," is the most down-to-earth of the three stars to lead this long-running musical.

By the way, after watching the videos, I can easily see why Marilyn Cooper stole the show!

#36

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 6:23pm

When the show toured, it was re-directed by Joe Layton, not Ron Fields. And they gave Bacall a brand new title song. I've never heard it, but I wonder if it taxed her, uh, range.

To my ears, her best singing in the score is on a song called "I Wrote The Book..." Take a listen. It's a catchy Kander and Ebb song, the lyrics are witty, and most critically, she doesn't have to push, to create money notes with zero in the bank, i.e. to do those "But Alive" (and title song) screeches that are impossible to make sound musical. They wrote the show for her, and when she does the middle-range songs like "I Wrote the Book," she actually sounds pleasant. And elegant. She should never be made to hold a note. My guess is, the new title song somehow kept her from those top notes that sent Merman over the edge.

Over the years people have quibbled with my preference for Reynolds, but what made her work in the show was her effortless embrace of being a triple threat. The audience was comfortable, because Debbie was. And fact checkers (who will scramble to prove me wrong about Layton; I am pretty sure I'm right): if I'm correct, Reynolds got a new act one ballad, near the act curtain, but I can't find the title. Something like "Who Would've Known" but that's not it.

Of the two Bacall musicals, "Woman of the Year" had the superior score, song for song. I now find "Applause," title number excepted, third tier Strouse, and I'm a major fan of Charles Strouse ("Rags" a favorite). The "Woman" score pins down Tess as a character far better than "Applause" explicates the musical Margo Channing. Musically, "Woman's" of a piece, and it's just more sophisticated. Today, the rock-pop orchestrations that accompanied the Strouse songs for "Applause" sound unbelievably cheesy.

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

Updated On: 8/27/12 at 06:23 PM

#37

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 8:15pm

And then Marilyn Cooper entered and pushed the whole thing up to explosively funny levels.

I worked on a MACK AND MABEL "reimagined by" Ron Field in South Florida shortly after the Broadway run ended. Field gave Cooper the Lisa Kirk part, but gave all of her songs and dances to Tommy Tune, who played another member of Mack's entourage.

Tune was brilliant and I've never liked "Tap Your Troubles Away" better, but Coopie still stole the show, even without her numbers.

#38

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 8:33pm

The Bacall/Marilyn Cooper "Grass Is Always Greener" is pretty poor quality. If you can stand watching Racquel Welch in this Tony Awards clip of the number, you get to see the absolutely perfect face of the divinely hysterical Marilyn Cooper in better detail.

Thank you so much, joey. That made me laugh and cry at the same time. Cooper's tiny frame and genius for underplaying a joke combined with that clear-as-a-bell voice was a wonder of the theater that no single Tony Award could properly acknowledge!

I worked with her on several shows in Florida, but, unfortunately, we never worked together again after I moved to New York. Yet for 7 years, I ran into her on the street every week or so and she never failed to stop, call me by name and ask how MY career was going! What a joy it was when I finally got to congratulate her on her Tony Award, which she downplayed in her typical style.

I guess it's obvious Coopie remains one of my very favorite people I've ever met in show business. And that's true on stage and off.

Updated On: 8/27/12 at 08:33 PM

#39

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 8:52pm

Too bad Bacall won the Tony that year just because she's Bacall. It should have gone to Meg Bussert who was magnificent in Brigadoon (what a voice!)

#40

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 9:36pm

Saw it in NY with Bacall. It was delightful... but I was a child at the time, as opposed to simply childish as I am now.

#41

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 9:52pm

Bacall can't sing, c'mon. You can say "acquired taste" if ya want. Sitting through "The Fan" was enough for me. Star power may have made her fine on stage, but watching clips just makes her cringe-worthy.

"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"

#42

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 10:01pm

Sub par Kander and Ebb is in the air tonight. I just commented on The Act thread that Minnelli's show was garbage, and this one was marginally better. Pal Joey commented on Bacall's performance of the opening number, but it was the ensemble writing for the women that sounded more like The Music Man than a chic urban fairy tale. That first number was so inappropriate that the audience couldn't figure out what decade or location they were supposed to be enjoying.

The whole thing was misguided and disjointed. And the most bizarre distinction of this show is what everyone always talks about. The Grass is Always Greener may not be the greatest song, but there are a handful of Broadway scenes that hijack an entire musical and create five minutes of mutual audience hysteria.

Strangers literally turned to one another and howled with laughter. You could hear it ride through the orchestra to the balcony and back down. It was unique, and it diminished everything before and after. But the team was stuck. They had a showstopper so successful in an otherwise mediocre enterprise that they had to keep it. And they couldn't come up with any new stuff to match or surpass a song written for a two scene supporting actress who happened to be brilliant.

I remember thinking after this show that The Pajama Game model was completely dead, but the creative staff thought that there was still something to be squeezed out of that format.

#43

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 10:03pm

Too bad Bacall won the Tony that year just because she's Bacall. It should have gone to Meg Bussert who was magnificent in Brigadoon (what a voice!)

Meg Bussert was magnificent. (I had previously seen her do the same role in Darien, CT, where she was just as good.) But I thought the direction (credited to Vivian Matalon) made a mess of the show and failed to capture the right balance between realism and fantasy. For that reason, no matter how well she sang, Bussert wasn't shown off to her best advantage.

That and you gotta hand it to Bacall: she does manage to dazzle people with her public image.

#44

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 10:30pm

Gosmilelaugh's deconstruction of the title song really made me lean forward. Very astute, absolutely fresh observations about the show's stylistic misfires. I learned something, and your comments on the back-up women on the dais singing like "Pick a Little Talk a Little" gossips was a stunning observation. Thank you.

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

#45

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 10:39pm

Auggie, I'm really not so clever. Like everyone else here, what I have in excess is opinions. But thanks for the compliment.

#46

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 11:01pm

Since the night is about K&E lesser work, I can only remember 1 number from "Curtains", the Debra Monk song. And it sounds a lot like "One of the Boys" rehashed. I hardly remember it being a musical at all.

"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"

#47

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 11:15pm

Just watching these two numbers again, I find it hard to believe the author thought this a lesser show than "Over and Over", "Curtains" or that dance marathon thing....those two songs were stylistically classic presentational Broadway numbers. Tuneful, character-defining, and witty. Especially "Grass". Is that not just musical comedy heaven??? Again and again I seem to keep findin' my old fogey self goin' "The don't make 'em like that anymore..."

#48

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 11:33pm

Really, Owen? I find the repetition of "wonderful" in the duet a sign that the authors had nothing to say. Luckily for them, they had Marilyn Cooper instead.

As for "One of the Girls...", why? Just, why? All I could think while watching it is that while wrong for the character, Bacall looks better in lighter colors.

#49

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/27/12 at 11:35pm

I think Suzanne Summers should revive this.

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

#50

Woman of the Year

Posted: 8/28/12 at 2:24am

Imma just leave this right here

"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter

← Back to Message Board

View all Videos

Tickets From $70

Tickets From $77

Tickets From $106

Tickets From $95