Viewing page 28 of 37
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
[[image]] passing stages by Louis Botto DIZZY BLONDE Years ago it was my practice to relieve the gloom of New Year's Day by attending an entertaining show. On January 1, 1949, the gloom was immediately dispersed when I attended a brilliant new revue called Lend an Ear, written and [[image]] just Lucky I guess a memoir of sorts Carol Channing composed by the late genius Charles Gaynor. Among the talented cast was a tall blonde with the largest eyes I had ever seen and a comic lunacy that was captivating. Her name was Carol Channing, and I went back to see the show seven times. Since then I have met Ms. Channing many times and have found her to be one of the most amusing and amiable stars I've ever interviewed. All of these qualities are amply displayed in her new autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess, published this month. Here you will read about her hysterical audition for the president of William Morris (Abe Lastfogel), during which she startled him by beating on a Haitian drum while chanting an ancient Gallic dirge delivered in obsolete Vercingetorix French. She also sang part of something called "Roumania" in Galitzianer Yiddish. It worked. Mr. Lastfogel cast her in Marc Blitzstein's opera No for an Answer on Broadway. In future years, after rapturous reviews for her performance in Lend An Ear, she scored major triumphs in the musicals Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Hello, Dolly!, which in 1964 won ten Tony Awards, including one for her performance. Some of the most enjoyable aspects of this autobiography are the actress's many humorous anecdotes about her friendships with such luminaries as Tallulah Bankhead, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Marge and Gower Champion, David Merrick and the Lunts. But, perhaps, her most surprising personal revelation is that at 16, her mother told her that her father was black. Ms. Channing has a son, Chan (by her second husband, football player Alex Carson), who is a very successful artist. Her subsequent marriage of many years to the late producer Charles Lowe ended in a bitter divorce that made headlines. But readers won't find any of the sordid details in her book, and she is to be congratulated on her good taste and restraint. Like the saucer-eyed star herself, this book is an engaging performance (Simon & Schuster). [[image]] donna McKechnie inside the music original cast recording DONNA'S RÉSUMÉ Donna McKechnie, the Tony Award-winning star of such landmark musicals as A Chorus Line and Company, has recorded a new CD based on her successful cabaret act. Called Donna McKechnie: Inside the Music (Fynsworth Alley), the recording—created with a humorous text by playwright Christopher Durang, based on original material by Ms. McKechnie—deftly combines an overview of McKechnie's dazzling career with some of the songs she sang in top Broadway musicals. Two of our favorite show tunes are splendidly delivered—"Guess Who I Saw Today?" from New Faces of 1952 and the haunting "Lucky To Be Me" from On the Town—in addition to these gems from the remarkable dancer/singer: "Turkey Lurkey Time" from Promises, Promises, "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from Company and the unforgettable "The Music and the Mirror" from A Chorus Line. WWW.PLAYBILL.COM [[image - cursor]] PURE THEATRE ONLINE [[image]] a theatregoer's notebook by Charles Nelson WELCOME BACK Last September 9, SAM HARRIS went West to seek fame and fortune in film and TV, having taken a big chunk out of The Big Apple and Broadway (earning Drama Desk Award nominations for Grease and The Life). Being a stranger in a strange land, like L.A., only compounded [[image]] PAUL KOLNIK San Harris (right) with his Producers partner in hilarity, Gary Beach (left) the tragedy that followed two days later. Almost immediately, forces began bringing the Oklahoma-born New Yorker back. And so, the prodigal has returned here professionally in Th Producers, 2001's Tony-winning Best Musical. He replaces Roger Bart as Carmen Ghia, the epicene, ever-lovin' sidekick of the "world's worst director" Roger De Bris (the Tony-winning Gary-Beach). Harris got the part in a Rube Goldberg sort of way: "As soon as I settled in out there, I heard they were looking for a Leo Bloom for the road, so I went out for it. They flew me back here to audition. Then, they asked if I'd mind reading for Carmen Ghia. Sure, I don't mind spending more time in the same room with Mel Brooks and Susan Stroman." When he got back to L.A., his agent called-on his 41st birthday-and told him to pack his bags and come home: Carmen Ghia was his. "It's great to be in a Broadway show," he admits, but the best gift of all is home. [[image-Advertisement for Come To The Cabaret]] "The Most Important Cabaret Event of the Year" American Way Magazine THE MABEL MERCER FOUNDATION Invites you to COME TO THE CABARET October 21-October 27, 2002 Monday through Saturday at 6:00 PM Sunday at 3:00 PM The Town Hall 123 West 43rd Street 125 PERFORMERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD SINGING THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK All remaining seats NOW! at the Town Hall Box Office 123 West 43rd Street 12:00 noon to 6:00 PM For more information call 212-980-3026 or visit www.mabelmercer.org "The Mabel Mercer Foundation, American song's best friend"-San Francisco Chronicle, 1996 43
