It's usually about a thousand bucks per.
Havoc on DVD: Old Tony Awards Performances, Part I
I love the Tony Awards.
Don't get me wrong. To me, there's nothing better than seeing Broadway shows perform and stars humiliate themselves in an awards-show foofarah. I've been watching them every year since I was little, so, whenever they show the vintage show clips on PBS from time to time, I am glued to the screen, like a fat kid loves cake.
Getting to watch these on DVD is a real treat, because it's all the great parts minus those pesky pledge drives. I'll spare you the semantics, because the Michael Bennett in me really wants to cut things down, so I'll just preface this by saying I went on a Netflix spree and got all three discs just for the sake of a weekend-long marathon of some sweet, nougaty Tony filling.
Disc 1 is the first in the set, but, more than that, it's a testament to the first installment of why the Tony Awards are so campily fascinating in and of themselves: It's not all about the awards, it's the performances, stupid. Now, imagine you're some insecure kid growing up in the Midwest with an eye for nostalgia and who almost never sees Broadway shows, because they're so far away and so out of reach. It's a real treat for me, especially, because most of these performances were way before my time. When they finally showed this on our local affiliate, my dad showed it to us over dinner, so, at the risk of sounding like Man in Chair, it's something (almost) everyone in your family can enjoy, if you're so inclined to rent these yourself. And most of the interesting ones are already up on YouTube anyway (City of Angels! Steel Pier!).
Now, on to the performances. First off, we have "Adelaide's Lament" from the original Guys & Dolls, performed by Vivian Blaine. A note about the DVDs: Every time Jerry Orbach introduces a show he was in or a star he knew or was somehow inextricably connected to them, he has to milk it like the mensch he is. Was. I miss you, Det. Briscoe.
Anyway, I have a soft spot in my heart for this show. Right next to some murmurs. Yeah, it's what my parents would call a "hoary chestnut." It's still Guys & freaking Dolls, so I'll just let that one slide. At least, until we get to one of the revivals on Disc 3.
Next up, it's "A New Argentina" from Evita. And I had to actually watch this one again right after accidentally flipping over to the Madonna version on HBO. What a huge fucking comedown from Patti LuPone and her continuous belted high E's. Cripes! Now I know what PTSD recovery patients feel like.
Although, I grew up on this cast album. The original record. If it wasn't for my dad's sudden rejection of Lloyd Webber after being dragged by my sister to see Cats (more on that later), I'd only know Bob "Juan Peron" Gunton as Junction Jack in "Greg the Bunny." Sure, Antonio Banderas is okay, but Mandy he ain't. And Jonathan Pryce rules, but, man, why couldn't he have humped a Cadillac in this one, too?
Don't get me wrong. The score kicks fucking ass. "Rainbow Tour"? "The Art of the Possible"? "Peron's New Flame"? This was probably my very first exposure to a Broadway show that was really influenced by rock music. And some other things. Dig that groovy vibraphone!
"The Worst Pies in London" from Sweeney Todd. This was interesting. Even though I just watched the Sweeney medley from this year's Tonys, this is really reminding me of how much I miss this show with its big sets, huge cast, and full orchestra. Maybe they can re-revive it. Angela Lansbury, in an interview segment says the word "slutty," which, in turn, segues into Carol Channing and "Before the Parade Passes By" from Hello, Dolly!
"Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music. There had to have been other songs from this show. I mean, enough to fill two hours of live entertainment? It's a musical, right? At least Julie Andrews sings this. I thought the only reason Sondheim wrote this song was because Glynis Johns couldn't hit those high notes. Ah, well. Next up is "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, but Zero looks really old. It is at this point I realize that, due to the development of the Tony Awards only recently being telecast, most of these performances were culled from year-by-year retrospectives done during certain milestones of the show. Like, for instance, in 1986. Hence, why they showed a lot of these clips on the 60th anniversary show. Repeatedly. And why there are no sets on most of these solo turns, save for big, light-up number displays denoting each year the shows came out. With all those numbers as obligatory set pieces, those must have been a bitch to store.
All right, where were we? "Shall We Dance" from 1951's The King and I. What I want to know is, how can they make a movie out of this and not include "The Small House of Uncle Thomas"? Anyway, I used to love this show growing up. Of course, my dad doesn't have the original version, just the revival starring Lou Diamond Phillips. I suppose stranger things than Lou Diamond Phillips in a Broadway musical have happened. Like Esai Morales in a Broadway musical. As the 59th Tony Awards so led me to believe once.
Oh, Emperor, you're so light on your feet.
So, here's John Raitt singing "Hey, There," from The Pajama Game. And, yes, a lot of these performances were culled from retrospectives, because Raitt doesn't look so much like Sid Sorokin anymore. Although, another thing that clued me off to this is the fact that the same few chorus singers/dancers appear throughout. I'm drawn to this one black guy with Dolemite hair and a funky moustache. I just can't take my eyes off of him, especially his facial expressions during "Trouble" from The Music Man much later. Also, the glittery, cellophane, Forbidden Broadway-esque curtains. But, man, take this for what it is. The Tony Awards today wouldn't be caught dead doing this kind of gimmicky stuff anymore, because nobody today would actually care. Speaking of which, most of these performers are dead - so, honestly, where else can you see silver foxes like Robert Preston and Tom Bosley(!) recreating the roles that made them famous (there just wasn't any reality television back then, so Broadway was where all the big stars were made) with all of the grace and energy of twelve-year-olds putting on a show. Like they'd been doing it for years! And presumably hadn't since the very first times they did.
And here's Paul Lynde performing a hilarious "Kids" from Bye Bye Birdie. I had an improv class once with this kid who couldn't have been a day over fifteen. He would initiate every scene - every scene - as Paul Lynde. Eventually, it got to the point when I confronted him about it, and said, "Nice initiation, Uncle Arthur." And he just shot right back at me, "Who's Uncle Arthur?"
To give all you kids out there some perspective on the matter, Uncle Arthur was essentially Tobias Funke back when that bit was actually funny.
Now, back to our next number. "Wilkommen" from Cabaret. Was this the revival when Joel Grey was too old to play the Emcee? I think the drummer is the only one in the Kit Kat Band who's really playing. "Kickin' the Clouds Away" from My One and Only. I frakking love this show - in that it's probably my favorite musical either no one else has ever heard of, or no one else likes. I saw a local production of this a long time ago, and there's just something about a mass of chipper Oklahoma City University students tapping up a storm in the "Soul Train" formation and doing backflips and handstands at the end of this show that is particularly fascinating to an impressionable kid.
My One and Only involves an aviator, a mass wedding, and an ancillary character named "Mr. Magix." I have no doubt in my mind that I was probably the only person in the audience who couldn't stop thinking of this show the first time I saw The Drowsy Chaperone.
In a rather scary interview segment, host Tommy Tune reveals that he taught Twiggy how to tap dance...and she taught him how to knit!
Also? Rivera and Verdon doing a Kander and Ebb medley of "All That Jazz" and "Nowadays" from Chicago. "Lullaby of Broadway" from the original 70s version of 42nd Street starring Jerry Orbach. Chills. The audience goes crazy the moment he says, "Think of the two most glorious words in the English language: Musical Comedy!" How do they get that many people on stage dancing in unison? You just don't see that on Broadway anymore. Is it just me, or is the downsizing really that obvious? I feel like I was the only person, too, who was perturbed that there were only four people in the chorus of The Drowsy Chaperone. I mean, back in the day, Annie got to perform four numbers on the Tony Awards! How is that possible?
My favorite best bad Tony performance: A Year With Frog & Toad. If you were ever truly awak to witness this disaster, they thought it would be a good idea to have real, non-professional-actor kids on the stage interacting with the actors. And, apparently falling asleep and looking really, really bored, in front of everyone. Oh, man, that was hilariously sad.
Okay. "Jellicle Cats/Memory" from Cats. This shit was scary. Like a train wreck, I seriously couldn't look away. I found myself questioning why people bring themselves to actually like this stuff, and how they manage to have lives. At the same time, I found myself asking a lot of dumb questions...like, what makes this show really popular among creepy, middle-aged, single male eccentrics circa today, and straight, female pre-teens circa the early 80s, when nobody else really likes it - with it basically being A Chorus Line set in a junkyard? This is a musical that screams words like "tacky," "scary," "Germany," and "fan fiction." I actually had to pause and rewind this a couple of times, because I was so gobsmacked by how inane this is - and how I can't help but be morbidly curious about why this shit exists.
I have never seen Cats. My sister saw the national tour every time it came to town, had the album and poster, and even dressed up as the Glamour Cat for Halloween one year. Dad always had to take her to the civic center every year to see it. Meanwhile, my mom and I stayed home, watched T.V., and avoided that show like the plague. I decided to give it a shot - tentatively - when they were showing this special on PBS the other day. But when they first showed that clip of Betty Buckley? Drood, Carrie, and 1776 Betty Buckley? I had to do a double take. That's not her. She's completely unrecognizable.
Cats, and especially its super-creepy opening number, gives off this implication that the actors in the show are really anthropomorphs. The makeup makes their ages, races, and identities look indistinguishable, and the costumes are androgynous to the point where they no longer look like people: Lycra leotards so freakishly skintight they actually look like skin and push in the women's boobs; genitalia firmly tucked in; Adam's apples strategically covered with spiked flea collars. No joke, I actually had to watch this DVD again just to realize that a lot of the original Cats are featured as actual humans in other Tony Award production numbers preserved here on this very set: Ken Page (Old Deuteronomy, the one wearing a big, shaggy rug with blue face paint and yak fur glued all over his cheeks, who might as well represent God/Satan in the kitty underworld) is featured in Ain't Misbehavin'; Harry Groener (Munkustrap, who, I think gets to sing either the first or the fourth line in "Jellicle Cats") starred in Crazy For You; Terrence Mann (Rum Tum Tugger, the one in black who presumably sings the last line in the first verse, "Can you say of your bark, that it's worse than your bite?") was the original Broadway Javert in Les Miserables. No joke, the moment Mann first opened his mouth in this number, I blurted out, "It's Tim Curry!!!"
It did take me a while to find Janet Hubert(-Whitten), who starred as the mom on my favorite T.V. show growing up. In retrospect, it shouldn't have been that hard to spot her. Secretly, a part of me wants to do this show the moment it's finally considered a camp classic. Not only are those moves the best two-hour cardio workout you could ever get paid to do, there's a trapeze involved!
Now, for the bonus performances! Yay! They invented DVD for a reason, you know. There's some Sugar Babies medley. Mickey Rooney sings and plays piano. I think only him and David Hyde Pierce could ever get away with that. Then reaches behind the piano and he puts on a kilt and a tam o'shanter. What the hell is this crap?!
And it just goes on like this. Ann Miller taps. He makes funny faces at the camera. It's really bizarre. Much like Ann Miller herself. They put on hats and do "Sunny Side of the Street." Next, it's "Buenos Aires" from Evita. Because you just don't snub LuPone like that. Whoa! This show is almost thirty years old!
"Movie-Star Gorgeous" from The Apple Tree. Oh man, my dad loves this show. I have no trouble believing Barbara Harris had serious issues. But she was so good! I know they're reviving this show at the Roundabout, but it seems like such an unlikely choice! I love all of the dated, early 60s game-show trappings of this show: The "Rocky and Bullwinkle"-style narration, the one-dimensional cartoon set pieces. When she sings about being a "mooo-oo-vie sta-urr!" You really believe it! At first, I had trouble picturing Kristin Chenoweth as this, but after Harris transforms into Passionella, a bottle-blonde coloratura, I started to think she might be really, really good in it. Check out the comically gigantic falsies they added to her dress!
Okay. "Applause." I give. What is this show, anyway? I know it's based on All About Eve. Lauren Bacall starred in it with the wonderfully named Lee Roy Reams (best gay moniker since Rod Stryker, people). But obviously, they contemporized and re-set the storyline in the 70s. The girls wear crocheted shawls and pants with wide legs, for one. This show had a production number set in a gay bar, though. This is "Applause," the title song performed by a very young Bonnie Franklin and a bunch of Broadway gypsies. Yes, that Bonnie Franklin. I think this rollicking production number was created for the sole purpose of explaining what "Equity dues" are to the audience at home. There's a girl with a Rhoda Morgenstern baba babuskha on and a guy wearing a silk scarf. Very Paul San Marcos. And after doing a simple Google Image search...that is Sammy "Paul San Marcos" Williams! The real guy! Man, that's creative gypsy casting.
Okay...what else happens? They spoof every Broadway musical bit that was up-to-date in the early-to-mid seventies. "Wilkommen," West Side Story, and other various cliches. "Ambition" is done as a Fiddler-style bottle dance. Hey! Gerard Alessandrini should sue! A few guys show their bare asses for the camera! That was very clever. And then everyone's doing all sorts of crazy things to get the audience's rapt attention: Not just tap-dancing, but baton twirling, roller-skating, playing the accordian, magic tricks, acrobatics, and humping the scenery. I'd say Broadway requires much less of its performers now than it did then, but...wow, then everyone grabs tambourines and jumps around and mugs for the cameras. I miss the 70s. Especially the wacky variety shows. And, as a bonus, of course, another Annie medley. Starting off with "Easy Street" and ending with everyone singing "Tomorrow," even the villains. I miss Dorothy Loudon. Her "I Could Drive a Person Crazy" was the best.
I'd start my recap of Disc 2, but right now I'd rather make some muffins.
I love the Tony Awards.
Don't get me wrong. To me, there's nothing better than seeing Broadway shows perform and stars humiliate themselves in an awards-show foofarah. I've been watching them every year since I was little, so, whenever they show the vintage show clips on PBS from time to time, I am glued to the screen, like a fat kid loves cake.
Getting to watch these on DVD is a real treat, because it's all the great parts minus those pesky pledge drives. I'll spare you the semantics, because the Michael Bennett in me really wants to cut things down, so I'll just preface this by saying I went on a Netflix spree and got all three discs just for the sake of a weekend-long marathon of some sweet, nougaty Tony filling.
Disc 1 is the first in the set, but, more than that, it's a testament to the first installment of why the Tony Awards are so campily fascinating in and of themselves: It's not all about the awards, it's the performances, stupid. Now, imagine you're some insecure kid growing up in the Midwest with an eye for nostalgia and who almost never sees Broadway shows, because they're so far away and so out of reach. It's a real treat for me, especially, because most of these performances were way before my time. When they finally showed this on our local affiliate, my dad showed it to us over dinner, so, at the risk of sounding like Man in Chair, it's something (almost) everyone in your family can enjoy, if you're so inclined to rent these yourself. And most of the interesting ones are already up on YouTube anyway (City of Angels! Steel Pier!).
Now, on to the performances. First off, we have "Adelaide's Lament" from the original Guys & Dolls, performed by Vivian Blaine. A note about the DVDs: Every time Jerry Orbach introduces a show he was in or a star he knew or was somehow inextricably connected to them, he has to milk it like the mensch he is. Was. I miss you, Det. Briscoe.
Anyway, I have a soft spot in my heart for this show. Right next to some murmurs. Yeah, it's what my parents would call a "hoary chestnut." It's still Guys & freaking Dolls, so I'll just let that one slide. At least, until we get to one of the revivals on Disc 3.
Next up, it's "A New Argentina" from Evita. And I had to actually watch this one again right after accidentally flipping over to the Madonna version on HBO. What a huge fucking comedown from Patti LuPone and her continuous belted high E's. Cripes! Now I know what PTSD recovery patients feel like.
Although, I grew up on this cast album. The original record. If it wasn't for my dad's sudden rejection of Lloyd Webber after being dragged by my sister to see Cats (more on that later), I'd only know Bob "Juan Peron" Gunton as Junction Jack in "Greg the Bunny." Sure, Antonio Banderas is okay, but Mandy he ain't. And Jonathan Pryce rules, but, man, why couldn't he have humped a Cadillac in this one, too?
Don't get me wrong. The score kicks fucking ass. "Rainbow Tour"? "The Art of the Possible"? "Peron's New Flame"? This was probably my very first exposure to a Broadway show that was really influenced by rock music. And some other things. Dig that groovy vibraphone!
"The Worst Pies in London" from Sweeney Todd. This was interesting. Even though I just watched the Sweeney medley from this year's Tonys, this is really reminding me of how much I miss this show with its big sets, huge cast, and full orchestra. Maybe they can re-revive it. Angela Lansbury, in an interview segment says the word "slutty," which, in turn, segues into Carol Channing and "Before the Parade Passes By" from Hello, Dolly!
"Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music. There had to have been other songs from this show. I mean, enough to fill two hours of live entertainment? It's a musical, right? At least Julie Andrews sings this. I thought the only reason Sondheim wrote this song was because Glynis Johns couldn't hit those high notes. Ah, well. Next up is "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, but Zero looks really old. It is at this point I realize that, due to the development of the Tony Awards only recently being telecast, most of these performances were culled from year-by-year retrospectives done during certain milestones of the show. Like, for instance, in 1986. Hence, why they showed a lot of these clips on the 60th anniversary show. Repeatedly. And why there are no sets on most of these solo turns, save for big, light-up number displays denoting each year the shows came out. With all those numbers as obligatory set pieces, those must have been a bitch to store.
All right, where were we? "Shall We Dance" from 1951's The King and I. What I want to know is, how can they make a movie out of this and not include "The Small House of Uncle Thomas"? Anyway, I used to love this show growing up. Of course, my dad doesn't have the original version, just the revival starring Lou Diamond Phillips. I suppose stranger things than Lou Diamond Phillips in a Broadway musical have happened. Like Esai Morales in a Broadway musical. As the 59th Tony Awards so led me to believe once.
Oh, Emperor, you're so light on your feet.
So, here's John Raitt singing "Hey, There," from The Pajama Game. And, yes, a lot of these performances were culled from retrospectives, because Raitt doesn't look so much like Sid Sorokin anymore. Although, another thing that clued me off to this is the fact that the same few chorus singers/dancers appear throughout. I'm drawn to this one black guy with Dolemite hair and a funky moustache. I just can't take my eyes off of him, especially his facial expressions during "Trouble" from The Music Man much later. Also, the glittery, cellophane, Forbidden Broadway-esque curtains. But, man, take this for what it is. The Tony Awards today wouldn't be caught dead doing this kind of gimmicky stuff anymore, because nobody today would actually care. Speaking of which, most of these performers are dead - so, honestly, where else can you see silver foxes like Robert Preston and Tom Bosley(!) recreating the roles that made them famous (there just wasn't any reality television back then, so Broadway was where all the big stars were made) with all of the grace and energy of twelve-year-olds putting on a show. Like they'd been doing it for years! And presumably hadn't since the very first times they did.
And here's Paul Lynde performing a hilarious "Kids" from Bye Bye Birdie. I had an improv class once with this kid who couldn't have been a day over fifteen. He would initiate every scene - every scene - as Paul Lynde. Eventually, it got to the point when I confronted him about it, and said, "Nice initiation, Uncle Arthur." And he just shot right back at me, "Who's Uncle Arthur?"
To give all you kids out there some perspective on the matter, Uncle Arthur was essentially Tobias Funke back when that bit was actually funny.
Now, back to our next number. "Wilkommen" from Cabaret. Was this the revival when Joel Grey was too old to play the Emcee? I think the drummer is the only one in the Kit Kat Band who's really playing. "Kickin' the Clouds Away" from My One and Only. I frakking love this show - in that it's probably my favorite musical either no one else has ever heard of, or no one else likes. I saw a local production of this a long time ago, and there's just something about a mass of chipper Oklahoma City University students tapping up a storm in the "Soul Train" formation and doing backflips and handstands at the end of this show that is particularly fascinating to an impressionable kid.
My One and Only involves an aviator, a mass wedding, and an ancillary character named "Mr. Magix." I have no doubt in my mind that I was probably the only person in the audience who couldn't stop thinking of this show the first time I saw The Drowsy Chaperone.
In a rather scary interview segment, host Tommy Tune reveals that he taught Twiggy how to tap dance...and she taught him how to knit!
Also? Rivera and Verdon doing a Kander and Ebb medley of "All That Jazz" and "Nowadays" from Chicago. "Lullaby of Broadway" from the original 70s version of 42nd Street starring Jerry Orbach. Chills. The audience goes crazy the moment he says, "Think of the two most glorious words in the English language: Musical Comedy!" How do they get that many people on stage dancing in unison? You just don't see that on Broadway anymore. Is it just me, or is the downsizing really that obvious? I feel like I was the only person, too, who was perturbed that there were only four people in the chorus of The Drowsy Chaperone. I mean, back in the day, Annie got to perform four numbers on the Tony Awards! How is that possible?
My favorite best bad Tony performance: A Year With Frog & Toad. If you were ever truly awak to witness this disaster, they thought it would be a good idea to have real, non-professional-actor kids on the stage interacting with the actors. And, apparently falling asleep and looking really, really bored, in front of everyone. Oh, man, that was hilariously sad.
Okay. "Jellicle Cats/Memory" from Cats. This shit was scary. Like a train wreck, I seriously couldn't look away. I found myself questioning why people bring themselves to actually like this stuff, and how they manage to have lives. At the same time, I found myself asking a lot of dumb questions...like, what makes this show really popular among creepy, middle-aged, single male eccentrics circa today, and straight, female pre-teens circa the early 80s, when nobody else really likes it - with it basically being A Chorus Line set in a junkyard? This is a musical that screams words like "tacky," "scary," "Germany," and "fan fiction." I actually had to pause and rewind this a couple of times, because I was so gobsmacked by how inane this is - and how I can't help but be morbidly curious about why this shit exists.
I have never seen Cats. My sister saw the national tour every time it came to town, had the album and poster, and even dressed up as the Glamour Cat for Halloween one year. Dad always had to take her to the civic center every year to see it. Meanwhile, my mom and I stayed home, watched T.V., and avoided that show like the plague. I decided to give it a shot - tentatively - when they were showing this special on PBS the other day. But when they first showed that clip of Betty Buckley? Drood, Carrie, and 1776 Betty Buckley? I had to do a double take. That's not her. She's completely unrecognizable.
Cats, and especially its super-creepy opening number, gives off this implication that the actors in the show are really anthropomorphs. The makeup makes their ages, races, and identities look indistinguishable, and the costumes are androgynous to the point where they no longer look like people: Lycra leotards so freakishly skintight they actually look like skin and push in the women's boobs; genitalia firmly tucked in; Adam's apples strategically covered with spiked flea collars. No joke, I actually had to watch this DVD again just to realize that a lot of the original Cats are featured as actual humans in other Tony Award production numbers preserved here on this very set: Ken Page (Old Deuteronomy, the one wearing a big, shaggy rug with blue face paint and yak fur glued all over his cheeks, who might as well represent God/Satan in the kitty underworld) is featured in Ain't Misbehavin'; Harry Groener (Munkustrap, who, I think gets to sing either the first or the fourth line in "Jellicle Cats") starred in Crazy For You; Terrence Mann (Rum Tum Tugger, the one in black who presumably sings the last line in the first verse, "Can you say of your bark, that it's worse than your bite?") was the original Broadway Javert in Les Miserables. No joke, the moment Mann first opened his mouth in this number, I blurted out, "It's Tim Curry!!!"
It did take me a while to find Janet Hubert(-Whitten), who starred as the mom on my favorite T.V. show growing up. In retrospect, it shouldn't have been that hard to spot her. Secretly, a part of me wants to do this show the moment it's finally considered a camp classic. Not only are those moves the best two-hour cardio workout you could ever get paid to do, there's a trapeze involved!
Now, for the bonus performances! Yay! They invented DVD for a reason, you know. There's some Sugar Babies medley. Mickey Rooney sings and plays piano. I think only him and David Hyde Pierce could ever get away with that. Then reaches behind the piano and he puts on a kilt and a tam o'shanter. What the hell is this crap?!
And it just goes on like this. Ann Miller taps. He makes funny faces at the camera. It's really bizarre. Much like Ann Miller herself. They put on hats and do "Sunny Side of the Street." Next, it's "Buenos Aires" from Evita. Because you just don't snub LuPone like that. Whoa! This show is almost thirty years old!
"Movie-Star Gorgeous" from The Apple Tree. Oh man, my dad loves this show. I have no trouble believing Barbara Harris had serious issues. But she was so good! I know they're reviving this show at the Roundabout, but it seems like such an unlikely choice! I love all of the dated, early 60s game-show trappings of this show: The "Rocky and Bullwinkle"-style narration, the one-dimensional cartoon set pieces. When she sings about being a "mooo-oo-vie sta-urr!" You really believe it! At first, I had trouble picturing Kristin Chenoweth as this, but after Harris transforms into Passionella, a bottle-blonde coloratura, I started to think she might be really, really good in it. Check out the comically gigantic falsies they added to her dress!
Okay. "Applause." I give. What is this show, anyway? I know it's based on All About Eve. Lauren Bacall starred in it with the wonderfully named Lee Roy Reams (best gay moniker since Rod Stryker, people). But obviously, they contemporized and re-set the storyline in the 70s. The girls wear crocheted shawls and pants with wide legs, for one. This show had a production number set in a gay bar, though. This is "Applause," the title song performed by a very young Bonnie Franklin and a bunch of Broadway gypsies. Yes, that Bonnie Franklin. I think this rollicking production number was created for the sole purpose of explaining what "Equity dues" are to the audience at home. There's a girl with a Rhoda Morgenstern baba babuskha on and a guy wearing a silk scarf. Very Paul San Marcos. And after doing a simple Google Image search...that is Sammy "Paul San Marcos" Williams! The real guy! Man, that's creative gypsy casting.
Okay...what else happens? They spoof every Broadway musical bit that was up-to-date in the early-to-mid seventies. "Wilkommen," West Side Story, and other various cliches. "Ambition" is done as a Fiddler-style bottle dance. Hey! Gerard Alessandrini should sue! A few guys show their bare asses for the camera! That was very clever. And then everyone's doing all sorts of crazy things to get the audience's rapt attention: Not just tap-dancing, but baton twirling, roller-skating, playing the accordian, magic tricks, acrobatics, and humping the scenery. I'd say Broadway requires much less of its performers now than it did then, but...wow, then everyone grabs tambourines and jumps around and mugs for the cameras. I miss the 70s. Especially the wacky variety shows. And, as a bonus, of course, another Annie medley. Starting off with "Easy Street" and ending with everyone singing "Tomorrow," even the villains. I miss Dorothy Loudon. Her "I Could Drive a Person Crazy" was the best.
I'd start my recap of Disc 2, but right now I'd rather make some muffins.
posted by Gypsy at 3:58 PM
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