I haven’t done a theatre-related news chum in a while, so here are a few items gleaned over the last week:
- From the “What’s So Wonderful” Department: Musicals have a long history of the female comic character actress stealing a show with a single song, from Nancy Walker in the days of On The Town to Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch in Mame. One of the best of Marilyn Cooper, who stole the show from Lauren Bacall in Women of the Year with her 11 O’clock duet “The Grass is Always Greener. Alas, Cooper has just died at the age of 75. I remember seeing Cooper do this when the show toured to Los Angeles in the early 1980s. For those that haven’t seen the duet, it featured Lauren Bacall as a female news reporter (think Murphey Brown) singing with Marilyn Cooper, as the current wife of her ex-husband, who had retreated from the DC life and moved to Colorado. The song featured exchanges like:
BACALL: What’s so wonderful?
You can hold a husband.
That’s wonderful!COOPER: What’s so wonderful?
There’s more to life than husbands.BACALL: I could use a husband.
COOPER: You can have my husband.
BACALL: I’ve already had your husband!
BOTH: Ah, it makes you kind of teary.
Ah, think about it, dearie.
The grass is always greener
In somoene else’s yard.BACALL: What’s so wonderful?
I’d rather have a pot roast.COOPER: So go and brown an onion.
BACALL: And have some peace and quiet.
COOPER: You’ve already had my husband!
BOTH: Ah, everyone’s a victim
Of this ducky little dictum:
The grass is always greener
In someone else’s yard.Thank you for the entertainment, Ms. Cooper.
- From the “Can’t we do a happy musical next time?” Department: At the end of the musical “Urinetown”, the following dialogue takes place:
Little Sally: I don’t think too many people are going to come see this musical,
Officer Lockstock: Why do you say that, Little Sally? Don’t you think people want to be told that their way of life is unsustainable?
Little Sally: That, and the title’s awful.
Lockstock: I suppose you’re right, Little Sally. I do suppose you’re right.
Little Sally: Can’t we do a happy musical next time?
Lockstock: If there is a next time I’m sure we can.
Well, the next time is here. The creators of Urinetown have a new play that has debuted at the Chance Theatre in Anaheim. Surprise, surprise, it is about water conservation as well, but it is a more conventional musical called “The Girl, the Grouch, and the Goat”. You can read the review here. Evidently, it is based on the Greek play by Menander known as “Dyskolos,” which translates as “The Grouch,” “The Misanthrope” or “Old Cantankerous.” I’m not sure if we’re going to see it: May is pretty busy, and the Chance Theatre is quite a schlep (although they do good work).
- From the “It sez here….” Department: Casting has been announced for the upcoming Guys and Dolls concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Ellen Greene (of Little Shop of Horrors and Pushing Daisies) will be Miss Adelaide, and will be joining Jessica Biel (as Sarah Brown), Scott Bakula (Nathan Detroit), Brian Stokes Mitchell (Sky Masterson), Ken Page (Nicely-Nicely Johnson) and Ruth Williamson (General Matilda Cartwright). Sounds like a wonderful cast — it might be worth exploring tickets for this (even though Cabrillo will also be doing Guys and Dolls in their 2009-2010 season, and we’ve seen it previously at the St. Louis Muny… but you can never have enough Guys and Dolls).
- From the “Broadway Bios” Department: Dolly Parton has announced that her next project (after her current project, “9 to 5: The Musical” finishes its opening) will be bringing her life story to the broadway stage. Another biography eying Broadway is “Liberace: The Man, The Music, and The Memories”. I think the former will be more successful than the latter. Liberace’s memory has died out, even among those in Las Vegas, where admittance to the Liberace Museum is down to 30c.
