Mary Cleere Haran, one of my favorite Cabaret singers passed away this week-way too young.
Someone put together this tribute on Youtube and I would like to share it with you in her memory…
Category Archives: Broadway
Gypsy Rose Lee & Burlesque’s Allure
Fascinating article about Gypsy, the inspiration for “Gypsy, ” from NPR:
Gypsy Rose Lee was hitting vaudeville stages across the country when she was four years old. By fifteen, she was headlining as a burlesque performer.
Eventually, she became beloved by Eleanor Roosevelt, the New York literati and longshoremen alike. She was described, in that day, as the only woman in the world “with a public body and a private mind, both equally exciting.”
The legend of her life is the stuff of Broadway show and film, in “Gypsy.”
Her patter to the audience as the clothes came off was of sociology, ballet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Puritans and Noel Coward.
“If Lady Gaga and Dorothy Parker had a secret love child it would have been Gypsy Rose Lee,” says Karen Abbott, author of the new book, American Rose – A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee. “The woman knew how to make a dramatic entrance. She would arrive at opening nights at the Met wearing a full length cape made entirely of orchids.”
But the reality of who Gypsy — born Louise Hovick — was can be as hard to get at, as tantalizing concealed, as the end of her dance.
“Gypsy Rose Lee was a brand before branding existed,” Abbott says. “And part of that brand was to laugh at herself. It was a bit of a self defense mechanism but it was also the way she connected with the audience and the idea that if she laughs first nobody else will be laughing at her. And she wanted the audience to be just as culpable for watching her disrobing as she was for disrobing.”
via Gypsy Rose Lee & Burlesque’s Allure | WBUR and NPR – On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, History, Style
Hard Candy and Aggie Boys…
I’ve always loved the song “Hard Candy Christmas” from “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
For some reason, it kept running through my head today, so I went to YouTube and found this excellent version.
I also found this…
If Hard Candy depresses you, the Aggie Boys should take the edge off and lift your spirits….
I somehow just don’t see any of these guys going to the above mentioned place of business…
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies
Blake Edwards Obituary
Blake Edwards, the director of many fine films including on of my favorites, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” died today. He was also Julie Andrews’ husband of 42 years and directed her in several films…
More:
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Blake Edwards, the director and writer known for clever dialogue, poignance and occasional belly-laugh sight gags in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “10” and the “Pink Panther” farces, is dead at age 88.
Edwards died from complications of pneumonia late Wednesday at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, said publicist Gene Schwam. Blake’s wife, Julie Andrews, and other family members were at his side. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks.
“He was the most unique man I have ever known-and he was my mate,” Andrews said in a statement Thursday. “He will be missed beyond words, and will forever be in my heart.”
Edwards had knee problems, had undergone unsuccessful procedures and was “pretty much confined to a wheelchair for the last year-and-a-half or two,” Schwam said. That may have contributed to his condition, he added.
At the time of his death, Edwards was working on two Broadway musicals, one based on the “Pink Panther” movies. The other, “Big Rosemary,” was to be an original comedy set during Prohibition, Schwam said.
“His heart was as big as his talent. He was an Academy Award winner in all respects,” said Schwam, who knew him for 40 years.
A third-generation filmmaker, Edwards was praised for evoking classic performances from Jack Lemmon, Audrey Hepburn, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Lee Remick and Andrews, his wife of 42 years.
Actor Robert Wagner credits Edwards with giving him some of the greatest opportunities of his career.
“There won’t be anybody passing by like him again. He was a genius,” Wagner said Thursday. “Personally, we were so very close friends and he was so kind to me throughout my entire life.”
via Blake Edwards Obituary: View Blake Edwards’s Obituary by Danville and Rockingham County.
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies, Style, Television
Mitzi Gaynor: The Ultimate Show Girl
Okay…I’m on a Mitzi Gaynor kick tonight…
I can’t help it. She’s the ultimate Showgirl.
And, I think, was a very good Nellie Forbush in the film of “South Pacific”.
I’m trying to singlehandedly resurrect her career and remind people how good she was…
And now at age 79…
Amazing…
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies, Television
Holiday Song of the Day: Mitzi Gaynor- We Need a Little Christmas
A little Mitzi to get us in the mood for Holiday preparations!
From her 1967 Christmas Special.
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Holidays, Movies, Television
And Happy Birthday, Mary Martin
One of the great theatrical legends of the 20th Century…
Born December 1, 1913 in Texas….
The original Peter Pan and the original Nellie Forbush in “South Pacific”…
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies, New York, Television, Theatre
Happy Birthday, Bette Midler
Bette is 65 today…
My God, I feel old…
But she obviously doesn’t!
Soap Star Grant Aleksander Resumes Classes at W&L after 30 Years :: Washington and Lee University
Interesting article for the W&L and theatre friends. I didn’t realize he and multiple Tony Award Nominee Rob Ashford also went to my college, Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, VA about the same time I did….
While his fellow students at Washington and Lee University may not recognize him around campus, his fans would know Grant Aleksander immediately.
He is the actor who portrayed Phillip Spaulding on the daytime drama “Guiding Light” at different times between 1982 and 2009. He also appeared in television series and movies, including the 1986 movie “Tough Guys” with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Aleksander, 50, has now returned to W&L to complete his theater major 30 years after he left to pursue his acting career.
AND
Aleksander said he left W&L after his sophomore year to transfer to Tisch School of the Arts at New York University because he thought that he needed to go to a big theater school. “My assumption that I needed to be in New York because that was where the work was being done was correct,” he said. “But I was wrong to think that I needed to go to a big theater school. I learned an enormous amount about acting at W&L because I got to actually do it. I was in a lot of productions here and some of them were very difficult.”
“My time at W&L was really a pivotal time for me. I met the love of my life, who was a Lexington resident at the time, during a W&L production of Hamlet (he is married to attorney and former actress Sherry Ramsey) and we’re still happily together. I have nothing but wonderful memories of my time here. Now, it’s 30 years later and I’m surprised at how comfortable I feel back here in this environment. The school feels much as it did when I was here before, although there are some new buildings such as the sororities and the Lenfest Center.”
In addition to teaching acting classes, Aleksander is also assistant director to Mish for the Stephen Sondheim musical “Assassins” to be performed at the end of October in the Lenfest Center. Mish described “Assassins” as more of an acting piece than singing and dancing. “That’s one of the reasons I really enjoy working with Grant on this. Plus, we’re getting twice as much done in a shorter amount of time,” he said. “While I’m working with one group, he can take another group aside to work with them. And the students love him. They sort of know about his career but it doesn’t faze them and he doesn’t allow it to.”
Aleksander has also paved the way for a group of students to watch a rehearsal of the revival of “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” starring Daniel Radcliffe in New York City, courtesy of his friend and Tony award-winning choreographer Rob Ashford, who roomed with Grant at W&L .
via Soap Star Grant Aleksander Resumes Classes at W&L after 30 Years :: Washington and Lee University.
Lost in the 21st Century 