| Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 06:04 pm EDT 03/31/14 |
| In reply to: | re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer.... - perfectlyfrank 02:28 pm EDT 03/31/14 |
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| At least according to several accounts. Kander and Ebb suggested Minnelli for the original production. Masteroff did not because she did not seem like she could play British. Prince vetoed the idea of casting of her because she did not seem like she could play British and because she sang too well. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | Dalmaniac 09:33 pm EDT 03/31/14 |
| In reply to: | Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - AlanScott 06:04 pm EDT 03/31/14 |
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| "Prince vetoed the idea of casting of her because she did not seem like she could play British..." Minnelli performed the title song from "Cabaret" in her nightclub act in the sixties long before playing Sally on screen. She sang it in a pretty good facsimile of an English accent. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 12:24 am EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - Dalmaniac 09:33 pm EDT 03/31/14 |
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| Interesting. Well, perhaps Prince and Masteroff were wrong. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | Dalmaniac 02:23 am EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - AlanScott 12:24 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| "...perhaps Prince and Masteroff were wrong." I think that may be what she was trying to prove! But she and Fosse obviously decided not to prove it on celluloid! I went to the fist screening (10.00 am) of Cabaret at London't Prince Edward cinema. Stritch was sitting right behind us, shouting "Go, Liza!" at the screen throughout. Surreal. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 12:36 am EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - Dalmaniac 02:23 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| >> Stritch was sitting right behind us, shouting "Go, Liza!" at the screen throughout. Surreal. this made my day. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | Alcindoro 10:25 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - Dalmaniac 02:23 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| "I went to the fist screening (10.00 am) of Cabaret at London't Prince Edward cinema." Oh my. And here I thought that was a bit of business Mendes later inserted into the Donmar revival. So to speak. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 04:04 am EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - Dalmaniac 02:23 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| Oh, my God! You could dine out on that forever. I once had an experience with Stritch right behind me in a theatre, but it wasn't quite as dramatic (though still kind of funny). | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 11:27 am EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - AlanScott 04:04 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| She sat behind me (not directly - a couple rows behind and a couple seats over) at the NY Philharmonic Company. I tried to sneak a peek at her during Ladies Who Lunch... and she was gone. Read into that whatever you will. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | Dalmaniac 07:26 am EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - AlanScott 04:04 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| " I once had an experience with Stritch right behind me in a theatre...." Do tell! This was at the time Stritch was in residence at the Savoy and was causing a nuisance at The Piccadilly because Angela was doing Gypsy and not her. She definitely cleaned up her act after that... and more power to her, but we'd love to hear your story, Alan! | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 04:53 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - Dalmaniac 07:26 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| It was at opening night of the Turner-Irwin Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I had just passed the ticket taker and entered the Longacre and was going to turn to go up the stairs to the mezzanine when suddenly I heard an unmistakable voice behind me. I soon realized the owner of this voice was talking to an usher. This was said in her best little old lady voice. "Excuse me, I'm Elaine Stritch. I've got a seat down front but I'm a diabetic, and I was wondering if you could find me a seat in the back on an aisle in case I have to suddenly run downstairs to take a shot of insulin." Now that I've heard MikeR's story, and considering that she'd been a miatinee Martha in the original production (and later did an excellent BBC radio production of the play), I'm wondering if she was thinking, "I may want to make a quick exit from this." | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | larry13 09:12 am EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - Dalmaniac 07:26 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| Did Stritch ever do GYPSY anywhere? | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 04:54 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - larry13 09:12 am EDT 04/01/14 |
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| No, she never played Rose, although she's done "Rose's Turn" in her cabaret act(s). | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | larry13 05:03 am EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - AlanScott 04:54 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
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| Thanks Alan. And, on the subject of Stritch--and a part I'm positive she never did--it was mentioned at the seminar preceding the MOST HAPPY FELLA dress rehearsal last night that Stritch very much wanted to do a part--presumably Cleo--for the opening of the original production. Not so surprising, she would not sing the high C that Loesser had written and asked for it to be transposed down slightly. Not so surprising, he refused and the rest is history. Never knew about this. Jo Sullivan Loesser was present but I believe it was Laurence Maslon, interviewing her, who basically told this story. Do you know anything about it? | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | AlanScott 06:56 pm EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - larry13 05:03 am EDT 04/02/14 |
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| I think I've heard that Stritch was up for the role of Cleo, but I haven't heard anything more. I assume that even if Maslon said it was a high C, it wasn't. Cleo never sings a note anywhere near high C. It must have been the C an octave down from high C, which might have been a stretch for Stritch even then. B might have been about it for Stritch. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | larry13 09:56 pm EDT 04/02/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - AlanScott 06:56 pm EDT 04/02/14 |
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| Thanks again, Alan. I also doubted Cleo sings anything like high C. There were several inaccuracies--putting it mildly--that were stated at that seminar. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | Dalmaniac 10:23 am EDT 04/03/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - larry13 09:56 pm EDT 04/02/14 |
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| I think, nowadays, "a high C", has become shorthand for an extremely difficult note to hit, whatever the value of the actual note is. | |
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| re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production | |
| Posted by: | bobby2 08:50 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Prince vetoed casting Minnelli in the original production - AlanScott 04:54 pm EDT 04/01/14 |
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| I saw Stritch at Other Desert Cities a few years ago. She was with Bernadette Peters. I was a couple of rows in front of them. At intermission Stritch had all sorts of questions on the plot which Bernadette explained. and she was on the aisle | |
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