Ghost Light Monday -- Chita Rivera and John Cullum

I heard two bits of news this week that made me think about the longevity of Broadway performers. September 26 is the 50-year anniversary of West Side Story opening on Broadway with Chita Rivera as Anita. Ms. Rivera debuted on Broadway in 1953 as a dancer in Can-Can. Her most recent Broadway performances were in a review which ran until early 2006--53 years after her debut.

It was just announced that John Cullum is going to have a spell in the cast of August: Osage County. Mr. Cullum debuted on Broadway in Camelot, where he was Sir Dinadan as well as the understudy for King Arthur and Mordred. Camelot premiered in 1960, so the 2008 Osage performances will mark Mr. Cullum's 48th year on Broadway.

Barbara Cook is another Broadway performer that comes to mind with longevity, although I believe Ms. Cook has only performed in special, one-night-only type concerts since the 1980s.

In few other art forms can a practitioner have a 50+year career. Certainly visual artists can. Dancers, never. Opera singers, no not really. Film, television, and the stage are about it, but it's still a rarity. Fading abilities, changing tastes, and the collective amnesia of producers and audiences often don't allow seasoned performers to keep performing, which is a loss for everyone.

Writers often have long careers, if the whims of the publishers allow. I've recently become enamored of a poet named Janet Lewis, who had her poems published in every decade of the 20th century, with the exception of the "aughts". Of course, Ms. Lewis lived until she was nearly 100, but still it is a tremendous accomplishment to be not only inspired for that length of time, but also valued.

I look forward to celebrating more significant anniversaries of performers.

1776 film on dvd

Vote for independency! American history meets the American musical theater in 1776.

This 1972 film version captures the performances of much of the original cast from the Broadway show which ran from 1969 to 1972. This was composer/lyricist Sherman Edwards's only show on Broadway, and he won the Tony for Best Musical for 1969. The ensemble gets great stuff in this show (sorry ladies, but it's all men) due to that fact that each is portraying a specific historic personage, with a documented point of political view. And the music for small groups is wonderful.

Howard da Silva, who portrays Ben Franklin, is a bone fide Broadway legend and McCarthy era black-listed actor. Due to his being black-listed, this is one of his few film credits, and (I think) the only musical one. But on stage--besides originating Franklin in 1776--Mr. da Silva was in the original, banned production of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, as well as the original Fiorello! and Oklahoma!, where he was Jud Fry. He did a ton of "straight" plays on Broadway, too, including Shakespeare when he was only 21. Exclamation points all around!

Most of this show really works for me. Although I don't really care for the voices of many of the actors, most of their portrayals and the strength of the material make up for that. And the cherry on top of the Sundae is that I have baritone favorite John Cullum singing the best and most powerful song of the score.

An alternative soundtrack on the DVD with discussion by creator Peter Stone and director Peter Hunt is really interesting, if you can devote the time to it. I'm currently also watching the HBO miniseries John Adams which stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. Expect a historical/musical compare and contrast at some point.

1776
Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Columba Pictures film release directed by Peter Hunt
Cast: William Daniels, Howard da Silva, Ken Howard, Blythe Danner, John Cullum, Virginia Vestoff

Shenandoah Orginal Broadway Cast Album

Here I go again, waxing rhapsodic on the good ol' fashioned Broadway baritone. John Cullum is perhaps the last of the kind--at least the last with connections going back to the heyday of the American Broadway musical. He was in the original cast of Camelot in 1960; he was in the original cast of Urinetown in 2001. In between he did a lot of other stuff, but he won a Tony for his portrayal of Charlie Anderson in Shenandoah in 1975.

At first listen Shenandoah has a lot in common with Big River. Both are set in more or less frontier settings, both during the middle 19th century. Both address issues of slavery and the worth of the individual. And both use American (read Country) music to give atmosphere to their time and place.

I've never seen the show live on the stage, but I'd like to. The book for Shenandoah won a Tony and I bet it's a very timely exploration of war and the rights of the individual vs. the needs of the country. Perhaps it's time for a revival, as our country continues to struggle with these issues. It has been revived once, in the late 80s, with John Cullum reprising his role.

A couple of songs are note-worthy. "I've Heard it All Before" is a rather scathing condemnation of the reasons for going to war. The two "Meditations" delivered by Cullum are tours de force. The are several tunes that are lovely, but hampered by pedestrian lyrics. The only other name in the cast familiar to me is Joel Higgins in his pre"Silver Spoon" days.

Shenandoah
Music by Gary Geld
Lyrics by Peter Udell
Book by James Lee Barrett
Original Broadway Cast Album recorded in 1975
Released on RCA Victor
CD release in 1988
Cast: John Cullum, Joel Higgins, Donna Theodore, Penelope Milford, Ted Agress, Gordon Halliday