| re: John Cullum on Madeline Kahn and Twentieth Century | |
| Posted by: reed23 02:54 am EST 12/09/17 | |
| In reply to: re: John Cullum on Madeline Kahn and Twentieth Century - bobby2 08:42 pm EST 12/08/17 | |
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| Here's part of what she told me. In the early rehearsals, she thought some her vocal material, particularly the endings of the songs, lacked oomph (to demonstrate what the music lacked, she used some long comic Yiddish word which I wish I could remember...) I assume she was talking about adding or improving stuff like the extended cadenza at the end of "Never," the long held notes in the final chorus of "Veronique," etc. As Cullum said, she had an operatic self-image – she had come to attention in the first place singing a huge flashy comic aria in Richard Rodgers' "Two By Two" before anyone ever heard of her ("The Golden Ram.") So she knew a thing or two about how to land a comic aria. Anyhow, she regarded the elaborations as "hers," and thus subject to her own day-to-day judgment whether she had the stamina to do this one or that one from performance to performance. I think this fed the characterization that she was inconsistent or didn't have the chops; it could certainly be taken that way, but she felt she was exercising judgment in giving audiences her best rather than anything less. (I'm reminded of Alfred Drake routinely dropping songs in "Kean" from night to night, and likewise Gwen Verdon in "Sweet Charity.") There's an old saw of a story that when Hal Prince came to congratulate Kahn after opening night, she said to him, "You don't think I'm going to do that every night, do you?" From having worked with each of them (on different projects), I find it extremely probable that Madeline said it with humorous irony (if the quote is accurate to begin with.) And I find it highly probable that Prince didn't get her humor (and obviously didn't appreciate the remark, whether or not he did.) Cullum is correct that she wasn't "treated like a star" (a treatment Prince accords to almost no one – very few) – I think Prince is on record as having disliked her in the first place – and Coleman could be brutal with performers (I saw this many times), especially if there was even a faint whiff of trouble or disappointment in the air (and there usually was.) When he was happy, he was a lot of fun to be with and work with. I saw the show with Judy Kaye (and with Kevin Kline's understudy, the late Ray Gill, on that day) – and the whole thing made no impression on me (other than the insanely fabulous sets.) Only when I familiarized myself with the album did I start to "get" it – with Kahn's trademark hilarious slightly tremulous soprano, her rich, wonderful ballad in the middle of the Sextette, and her brilliant way with the exact comic daintiness of Comden & Green in this piece. |
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