Mame--film on DVD

There was a line in the most recent version of Forbidden Broadway that struck me as I watched this film; it was something like "the days of unique talents are past". Forbidden is talking about star replacements, such as in Chicago, but it seems appropriate in thinking about the film version of Mame.

Lucille Ball was a unique talent, there is no question in my mind. I laugh out loud to myself just thinking about the candy factory scene, or the Vita-meata-vega-min commercial. I think of Ms. Ball as a brilliant physical comedienne, and in the several scenes in Mame that require physical comedy is when a bit of her brilliance shines through. But that was her unique talent. In the rest of the film, particularly the musical numbers, she is out of her element, and unfortunately it shows.

The cast surrounding Ms. Ball is full of unique talents who are fitted to their parts. Beatrice Arthur became a star as Vera Charles on Broadway, and the film shows us why. Robert Preston is suave and charming (although I don't like the song he sings that was written for the film). Bruce Davison is cute as a button. Also reprising her Broadway role Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch is, umm, particularly unique, and imbues her role with empathy and specificity.

Maybe that's part of the problem with Ms. Ball. I don't get much specificity from her, particularly when she's in reaction shots, but also in the songs and dances. There are times in the dances, when I swear she is mouthing the steps, or plastering on a smile to keep from mouthing the steps.

That's not the inner life I want from my Mame.


Mame
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Opened on Broadway in 1964
Film released in 1974
Cast: Bruce Davison, Lucille Ball, Beatrice Arthur, Robert Preston, Jane Connell

Mame--OBC album

Is there a show with more infectious music that Jerry Herman's Mame? Well, if so, please suggest it, because I have always loved this musical and would love to hear what you think compares with it. I've never listened to the original Broadway cast album, but have seen the film version many times and seen it on stage at least once, when my high school performed it when I was in 8th grade. I remember being jealous of the 7th grader who played Young Patrick. The next year, he and I were in Sound of Music together.

I'm surprised by how much I like the singing on this album, even though Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur (RIP) are hardly my usual types of singers. I think that is a component of having really infectious songs in the score--although I like this score more than others by Jerry Herman. Ms. Lansbury displays a lot of good legato singing and breath control, even if her sound is not traditionally beautiful. I'm shocked to discover that his entry is the first in my Year to feature Ms. Lansbury. I must do something to make up for that.

Its easy for me to picture the deadpan delivery and double takes of Ms. Arthur (RIP), as she is in the film version.

The women really rule the roost in this show, with the men as secondary characters--especially in the singing department. Charles Braswell as Mame's hubby Beau has little to sing except in the big Act I Finale. I was surprised by the voice of Jerry Lanning who plays the elder Patrick--it's a very nice voice, even if I found it a bit too mature-sounding for the character. I must check out more of Mr. Lanning.

Mame
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Opened in 1966
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Beatrice Arthur, Jane Connell, Willard Waterman, Charles Braswell, Jerry Lanning

Ghost Light Monday--Bea-keeping

Okay, so I do have a least one good story from my less-than-grandiose career in the performing arts, and that story involves Bea Arthur, RIP.

About 10 years ago, the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago produced a season of concert-version musicals, similar to what New York's City Center does with its Encores Series. Ovations at the Auditorium lasted just one season.

Ms. Arthur was hired to be part of the cast of the Gershwin show Strike up the Band and spent a week in Chicago rehearsing and performing the show. I was hired to be the "Bea-keeper". Basically, I would show up at her hotel 15 minutes before the hired car was due to take her to the theater and make certain that she left on time. I would phone up to her suite and rouse her into action which was fortunately never very early in the day. I also got her to fittings, some press interviews and the airport. And it is the trip to the airport as she was leaving town that is the setting of my story.

After the final matinee performance of Strike up the Band, the company--including Ms. Arthur and myself--went to a restaurant for a celebratory dinner. Ms. Arthur was flying back to California that evening, so we only had about 45 minutes' time at the restaurant before I needed to get her into the hired car and off to O'Hare. Well, in that 45 minutes, she ate very little of the dinner buffet, but downed three gin and tonics. While she had a little nap in the car on the way to the airport I had to figure out how to get her to her gate in O'Hare's remote terminal--a long schlepp for anyone, let alone a septuagenarian with a good buzz on.

When the car dropped us off at the curb, we checked Ms. Arthur's bags with the Skycap and I escorted her into the terminal, where we sat down. Fortunately, it was late enough on Sunday evening that the departure lines were not long, and doubly fortunately a (presumably gay) ticket agent at a closed first-class counter noticed her come in. I went over to the ticket agent and said I had a VIP first-class passenger and I wondered if he could help get her checked in and convince her that calling for wheel-chair assistance to the remote terminal was the most expedient option.
Well, where would this world be without helpful, over-zealous gay men? The ticket agent did the trick, got Ms. Arthur checked-in without her having to get up from the chair she had landed in upon arrival, and with more than a little fawning convinced her that he should call for an assistant to get her to the gate.

Bea agreed to the wheel-chair on one condition; during the ride through the terminal and to the gate, I had to apologize to her (frequently) for tripping her at the theater that afternoon, which of course hadn't happened, but was her excuse for not making the walk herself. So off she rolls, pushed by a slightly mentally challenged adult wheel-chair assistant with me hold Bea's hand saying things like "I just feel awful that this happened" and Bea saying things like "Now, it's not that bad, just a little twist, I'll be fine by the time I land in Los Angeles." The highlight of this little improv scene was when she pulled my ear down to her level in the chair and whispered "Now who's the best actress you know?"

Bea, you were definitely one of the best actresses I knew. I lift my g & t to you. You will be missed.

Jerry Herman's Broadway: Live at the Hollywood Bowl on DVD

Tribute shows to performers or composers can really run the gamut from embarrassing to terrific, with a lot of smaltz in between. Fortunately, Jerry Herman's Broadway: Live at the Hollywood Bowl reaches nearer the terrific end of that spectrum.

One thing I like about Jerry Herman's music is that it has a strong structure; there is an introduction, an A section, a repeat of the A section, a short B section, and than a triumphant return to the A section often one step up in key. AABA--no, it's not that group that sang Mama Mia, it's a classic musical structure, and it works. Herman writes tunes you can hum, and anthems you can belt.

The cast of this tribute show is generally very good, and while several are "well-seasoned" shall we say, most remained near the top of their game at the time this show was taped in 1994. These singers know how to sell a song, when to raise the arms, how to tilt the head back, how long to hold the final note. If I have one objection to the show it is that too many of the songs are in that vein. I wished for a couple of downbeat songs that ended quietly--but that's not Mr. Herman, so he can't be held accountable.

There are the requisite taped interviews congratulating the honoree, most of which seem unnecessary. Jerry, I'll give you Angela Lansbury, but Linda and Paul McCartney?

Most of the songs included are the typical show-stopper types familiar from his shows. But if you only know Mame and Hello, Dolly, you'll hear wonderful songs from Mack and Mabel, La Cage aux Folles, and Dear World (which I had never heard of). I was particularly taken with the singing by Leslie Uggams, who I will need to check out more of during my Year.

Jerry Herman's Broadway: Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Filmed in 1994
Cast: Leslie Uggams, Rita Moreno, George Hearn, Beatrice Authur, Davis Gaines, Carol Channing, Florence Lacey, Lorna Luft, Lee Roy Reams

The Threepenny Opera cast album on CD

I have an unrequited love for Kurt Weill in general and for The Threepenny Opera in specific. Why unrequited, do you ask? Well, what has it ever done for me? That's pretty cynical, but then so is this whole show.

I was in a college production of 3PO a looooong time ago. Listening to this cast album has reminded me of some people who were very dear to me at the time--as college theater people inevitably are to one another. And then we go off to other ends of the planet and do things like become lawyers.

This 1954 Broadway production was the first revival of the show. It ran until 1961 and did much to cement Kurt Weill's place in musical history. The cast is great and features Beatrice Arthur (with the huskiest voice ever), Jo Sullivan (who would later marry Frank Loesser) as Polly Peachum, Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Peachum, and the widow Weill Lotte Lenya as Pirate Jenny. According to the Broadway database, the show has been revived five times since then.

Clearly, I am not the only one with a love of this material.

The Threepenny Opera
Music by Kurt Weill
German book and lyrics by Bertold Brecht
English adaptation of book and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein
Cast: Beatrice Arthur, Charlotte Rae, Jo Sullivan, Scott Merrill, Martin Wolfson, Lotte Lenya