judy kaye replaces madeline kahn in on 20th century?what is the real story? — Page 3

Followspot--maybe it's what Ernie said to Ethel.

"...for male stars, the show is moulded around them. For women, they have to fit in to suit the show."

In what universe do you live?

This is a different, although interesting, debate, but while sexism is of course prevalent in theatre history just like anywhere else, surely Broadway *musicals* especially have a long history of moulding shows around a female star--I think I can think of more examples than with male stars...

That said, I'll slightly disagree with Gaveston (rare, I know)--the musical has MANY differences from the play and movie, I think Comden and Green combined several different sources.

I think Comden and Green combined several different sources.

Per Wiki, they also used a biography of David Belasco, the purported inspiration for Oscar Jaffee.

Eric, I didn't mean to suggest the creators didn't put their own stamp on the project. Cy Coleman's idea to treat it as a comic opera alone made it quite different from the film.

I only meant that the story and characters were quite well known in the 1970s and Comden and Green had a framework within which they probably felt they had to work. Unlike FADE OUT FADE IN, for example, where they could build scene after scene on whatever they thought were Carol Burnett's best bits.

To put it more bluntly, in FADE they wrote a scene where Burnett put her face in cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater and of course she got her face stuck as the curtain fell. It was a closing bit tailor made for Burnett's charicature-ready countenance.

Although in theory they could have written an equivalent scene for Kahn, I doubt they would have done so. But as I already said, the "Veronique" and "Babette" sequences do seem tailor-made for Kahn's gifts. Fortunately, Judy Kaye also found a way to make them work, even if they weren't designed for her and she probably wasn't as fall-down funny in them.

"My two cents: I had a friend who was in the chorus of ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY and he believed Kahn got screwed. He had nothing but nice things to say about her."

Interesting. I have exactly the same story. I wonder if we share a friend, borstal?

"...for male stars, the show is moulded around them. For women, they have to fit in to suit the show."

Tell that to Kristin Chenoweth.

As gifted as she genuinely is, I also find kristen Chenoweth is be equally annoying, ubiquitous, and irrating. I also say she was BORN TO PLAY Lily Garland!