tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post1923691761722432934..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Frug itDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-90559704706067741402010-01-08T23:07:48.960+00:002010-01-08T23:07:48.960+00:00Well, certain Valkyries can make an impression. Ir...Well, certain Valkyries can make an impression. Irene Theorin (don't ask me off the top of my head which one she was) sang Brunnhilde Lisa Gasteen off the stage. Not difficult. <br /><br />I love the intelligence that Tatiana Troyanos sang a nun in The Sound of Music (if I remember correctly). And of course celebrated dubber Marni Nixon is a sister in the film.<br /><br />But this could run and run.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-2033534074795327532010-01-08T21:02:22.269+00:002010-01-08T21:02:22.269+00:00Oh, I knew exactly what you meant--I just thought ...Oh, I knew exactly what you meant--I just thought you'd thrown the German word for child in for effect. <br /><br />But for the record, I think you are very kind. :-)<br /><br />You should meet a friend of mine, who has the same kind of memory. If you refer to the 1958 Walkure at the MET, he'll immediately reply that it was the revival with Carlotta Ordassy as Helmwige!Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14279473113628377106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-19457946189646242402010-01-08T15:38:45.120+00:002010-01-08T15:38:45.120+00:00A kid, I meaned, not especially kind.A kid, I meaned, not especially kind.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-62128472130427027262010-01-08T15:36:46.290+00:002010-01-08T15:36:46.290+00:00Wonderful insights, Will, thanks: you (and I) are ...Wonderful insights, Will, thanks: you (and I) are history, in the sentimental Broadway sense rather than the rude one, let's not forget.<br /><br />I keep programmes too, but I also have a curious memory for actors I saw in rep when I was a kind and for who, say, was Fifth Jew in the 1977 Royal Opera production of Salome (well, maybe that's not such a rare example - it was John Tomlinson...)Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-90762757724693652042010-01-08T15:29:16.951+00:002010-01-08T15:29:16.951+00:00Right you are about the Verdon-Fosse marriage and ...Right you are about the Verdon-Fosse marriage and yes, Gwen was the original Charity. She got huge reviews but also found the sheer amount of dancing was beginning to be exhausting at her then age. <br /><br />I remember one man who was crazy about Broadway dance and saw the show every week wrote a complaint letter to the theater section of the NY Times. She had asked that a small snippet of one reprise be cut to give her a quick breather at one point. He said he felt cheated because his ticket price remained the same while the show was now shorter. Verdon did some fast and sour figuring, timed the section that had been cut to just over a minute and a half, and then sent him a personal check for something like 27 cents.<br /><br />Dear lord, how do I remember these things 43 years on?<br /><br />The show opened in late January of 1966. I saw it in September of 1967 when Chita Rivera had taken it over, replacing Verdon and achieving a huge success all her own. <br /><br />The pre-teen who was going to opera, ballet, concerts and theater on his own since age 11 was also a natural archivist: I still own every program to anything I ever went to. Some day, the heirs are going to have such fun throwing it all out.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14279473113628377106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-79456778296783901042010-01-08T09:09:37.603+00:002010-01-08T09:09:37.603+00:00The mater, Gavin. And Will, wasn't Mrs Fosse, ...The mater, Gavin. And Will, wasn't Mrs Fosse, Gwen ('A little bwains, a little tawent') Verdon, the original Charity? When did Chita enter the picture? This has kindled a Kander and Ebb YouTube search from a friend, who sent me a clip of Chita at her best.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-24487345319659452022010-01-08T07:51:55.055+00:002010-01-08T07:51:55.055+00:00"The Old Ma" too?! Client, yep... I'..."The Old Ma" too?! Client, yep... I'm his agent (the day job). And bloody proud I am of him too. I will ask him about the amplification.Gavin Plumleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08367649538228383713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-46737677882127855742010-01-07T22:30:34.911+00:002010-01-07T22:30:34.911+00:00Vulnerable - I meant venerable. Maybe a Freudian s...Vulnerable - I meant venerable. Maybe a Freudian slip now that the old ma is getting frailer?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-45273607429768773902010-01-07T22:29:14.442+00:002010-01-07T22:29:14.442+00:00Others of more vulnerable age recalled to me Julie...Others of more vulnerable age recalled to me Juliet Prowse here. But where is she now? Whereas La Rivera, what a phenomenon.<br /><br />I know what you mean, though, Will. And Traviata isn't 'realistic' like Dumas's Dame aux camelias: it becomes something else.<br /><br />I guess I was just disappointed, seeing it through to the end for the first time, that it just had to be a Rondine-like her-past-comes-back-to-bite-her (in this case because the neurotic can't cope with the ghosts of her former lovers).<br /><br />I suppose, too, seeing it after Cage aux folles here, that I looked in vain for a bit of depth. But, hey, that's the world of musicals for you - excepting Sondheim, Herman, Jule Styne etc...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-67652340316353671102010-01-07T21:56:53.570+00:002010-01-07T21:56:53.570+00:00Thanks for recalling, albeit via a proxy productio...Thanks for recalling, albeit via a proxy production, happy memories of the Broadway original that I saw with Chita Rivera, Helen Gallagher and Bob Fosse's choreography. <br /><br />I have to say I think it's a bit unfair taking it to task for not being truer to Fellini and the sui generis La Masina--a basic idea was taken and totally reimagined. Like Baroque Opera, in which a stock plot becomes the skeleton on which astonishing arias are hung, Sweet Charity's story line is a pretext for astonishing dance. Given a hell-bent-for-leather performance of Big Spender, questions of plot become insignificant--or at least so it seemed to one 22 year old being exposed to the wonder that was (is) La Rivera for the very first time.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14279473113628377106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-29907825834674115942010-01-07T20:01:21.433+00:002010-01-07T20:01:21.433+00:00Client? Wieso? I'm curious. I thought you just...Client? Wieso? I'm curious. I thought you just wrote. <br /><br />But if you know him, I wonder what his views are on the miking situation. I would have thought it unnecessary there in the Menier, but maybe there were practical reasons.<br /><br />To me, it flattens everything out, and of course you can never tell where the voices are coming from. The same problem bedevilled the Phil's live accompaniment of the Peter and the Wolf animation.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-60190451052629923402010-01-07T19:54:57.130+00:002010-01-07T19:54:57.130+00:00So glad you enjoyed my client Mr Lilley's work...So glad you enjoyed my client Mr Lilley's work... what a gorgeous evening it is.Gavin Plumleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08367649538228383713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-48651498951957959012010-01-06T18:58:58.785+00:002010-01-06T18:58:58.785+00:00Giulietta Masina is a screen goddess. Fellini woul...Giulietta Masina is a screen goddess. Fellini would only have needed to point his camera in her face and the expression did the rest. Thanks for the chance to revisit the end of Nights of Cabiria.Johnnoreply@blogger.com