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Lee Roy Reams on Lauren Bacall, Arthur Laurents, Allan Carr, and the Mark Hellinger Theatre

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 12:03 pm EDT 08/15/14

I found this quote in a 2010 interview I did with Lee Roy Reams, and I thought it might of interest:

"I wasn't originally cast as Duane [in APPLAUSE]; Garrett Lewis had the part, but he was replaced, basically because they felt he was coming across as too much of a leading man type. I didn't join the show until about a week before it was ready to go out of town, so I had to learn everything really fast. But, for some strange reason, the combination of Bacall and me worked from the first day of rehearsal. I called her 'Miss Bacall' at one point, and she looked at me and said, in that voice of hers, 'My friends call me Betty!' From that moment on, we became those characters offstage. We were inseparable.

"I was the last person cast [in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES] by Arthur Laurents, and I left 42ND STREET to do LA CAGE. The show was supposed to move from the Palace to the Mark Hellinger, and they were doing a big publicity campaign; my picture was even on the side of a bus. But I only rehearsed for a week, and then the closing notice was posted... You know, in Arthur's new book, he says that the Times Square Church paid [La Cage producer] Allan Carr not to move the show to the Hellinger, so the church could get the building. Did you know that?"


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re: Lee Roy Reams on Lauren Bacall, Arthur Laurents, Allan Carr, and the Mark Hellinger Theatre

Posted by: AlanScott 07:00 pm EDT 08/15/14
In reply to: Lee Roy Reams on Lauren Bacall, Arthur Laurents, Allan Carr, and the Mark Hellinger Theatre - Michael_Portantiere 12:03 pm EDT 08/15/14

Thanks for posting that. Although what he (or Laurents) says about the church paying Allan Carr seems pretty unlikely, if only because La Cage closed in November 1987, and several shows played the Hellinger after that.

The last show to play there was Legs Diamond, which was there from October 1988 through February 1989. And much as it always seemed like a doomed project, I'm sure they were hoping it would run. The Nederlanders were among the producers.

If Cage had moved to the Hellinger, it surely would have been gone before Legs Diamond.


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re: Lee Roy Reams on Lauren Bacall, Arthur Laurents, Allan Carr, and the Mark Hellinger Theatre

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 07:23 pm EDT 08/15/14
In reply to: re: Lee Roy Reams on Lauren Bacall, Arthur Laurents, Allan Carr, and the Mark Hellinger Theatre - AlanScott 07:00 pm EDT 08/15/14

Well, maybe we can chalk that story up as another Laurents fiction, assuming Lee Roy's memory or what he said is correct. Does anyone know if Laurents actually wrote about this in his book?


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re: Lee Roy Reams on Lauren Bacall, Arthur Laurents, Allan Carr, and the Mark Hellinger Theatre

Posted by: pierce 02:03 am EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: Lee Roy Reams on Lauren Bacall, Arthur Laurents, Allan Carr, and the Mark Hellinger Theatre - Michael_Portantiere 07:23 pm EDT 08/15/14

Not sure what appears in the Laurents book, but a 1987 blurb in the NY Times said La Cage aux Folles didn't move to the Hellinger because it would have cost $300,000. Carr's statement to the press (at the time) was "'With the current worldwide economic situation expected to cut deeply into Broadway ticket sales, coupled with the usual post-holiday slump, we cannot justify the expense.''

Link La Cage aux Folles

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