| re: “Prettybelle” | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 02:37 pm EST 03/05/21 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:34 pm EST 03/05/21 | |
| In reply to: “Prettybelle” - SidL 01:16 pm EST 03/05/21 | |
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| The Prettybelle recording featuring members of the original cast that Snowysdad mentions was originally issued on LP by Original Cast records. The CD was issued in 1993 by Varese Sarabande. It is available as an MP3 download from Amazon for $8.99. I think there is very nice stuff in the score, especially the ballads and sad songs. Bob Merrill's use of false rhymes (or whatever you want to call them) seems to suit this score with its country-music flavor. To my knowledge, Lansbury was never offered Follies. She is not mentioned in Everything Was Possible as having been on the list of people whom they considered asking, although I would think that she would not have necessarily been on such a list since I imagine she is someone they would have thought of naturally. But there is no mention in any of Lansbury bios I know of that she was offered the show. My guess would be that since the four primary roles were to be of roughly equal size and importance, they would have avoided asking someone who was currently as big a star as Lansbury. Audiences would have expected and wanted her to have the dominant leading role, unless she was in a show with two leading roles and paired with someone like Robert Preston or Richard Kiley. But with four leading roles, she simply would have thrown things off, and Prince was known for being resistant to casting big stars at this time (although he had worked with her on Something for Everyone), which may be why he later initially favored Patricia Routledge for Mrs. Lovett. In addition, the show was going to be expensive (and it was) with a high weekly running cost. We know from Everything Was Possible that the salaries for the four leads ranged from $1,000 a week for Dorothy Collins (which Yvonne De Carlo also got) to $2,000 for Gene Nelson, which Alexis Smith getting $1,500. Although a much lesser name, John McMartin got paid $1,250, more than Collins and De Carlo, perhaps because he was a last-minute replacement for Jon Cypher (who then went into Prettybelle), and his agent perhaps knew he could get more under the circumstances as McMartin was signed just a few days before rehearsals started. Lansbury would have commanded a significantly higher salary than what any of the leads got, and the show could not afford that as it opened with what was said to be the highest weekly nut in Broadway history. |
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