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| re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? | |
| Posted by: CCentero 11:00 am EDT 08/03/22 | |
| In reply to: re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? - Musicals54 04:28 pm EDT 08/02/22 | |
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| Prince was fooling himself if he thought ON THE 20TH CENTURY would have been a smash hit with Kaye in the lead. As someone said at the time: it's ominous when the audience leaves the show whistling the sets and costumes. What Prince did expertly with Comden, Green and Coleman was to make it seem that it was Kahn's fault and to try to get into the public's mind that the show was now a smash and that Kaye was suddenly Barbra Streisand. A completely gratuitous mention of Kaye becoming a star overnight introduced the show's Tony number and she faded into the scenery during it. Kaye is a terrific performer but never became a star. In contrast to shows that tried out in Boston that cut songs and scenes that didn't work for their stars (Bacall in Woman of the Year and Tommy Tune and Twiggy in My One and Only) the 20th Century team did nothing that helped Kahn. You can hear it on the cast recording and she had every right to request changes or a more limited schedule. By the way, Bacall and Gwen Verdon often cut songs from their hit shows when they were tired that day--and they were much better songs than Kahn had. |
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| re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? | |
| Posted by: mlop 12:02 am EDT 08/06/22 | |
| In reply to: re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? - CCentero 11:00 am EDT 08/03/22 | |
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| When Judy Kaye was hired for ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, she was hired as Agnes the dresser of Lily Garland. and was asked by Harold Prince to be the understudy for Madeline Kahn. She did not want to be anyone's understudy but it was Harold Prince who talked her into it. He had a feeling. it was a little more than two months when she took over the lead. He was right. She continued with the show for the run and did the national tour with Rock Hudson in the the role of Oscar Jaffee. The show opened on February 19th, 1978 and Judy took over April 24th. Many years later in 1987 she did a bus and truck company of the show with Frank Gorshin and Imogene Coca from the orginal cast. On tis tour, she met her husband David Green who was also in the show. She refers to this as the bus and truck company to hell, but she did get a husband from this. I saw her in the orginal and went out to Delaware to see the tour. | |
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| re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? | |
| Posted by: larry13 03:50 pm EDT 08/03/22 | |
| In reply to: re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? - CCentero 11:00 am EDT 08/03/22 | |
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| I won't argue about whether or not Kahn deserved to have songs cut as Bacall and Verdon did, or about whether or not Prince was fooling himself and/or having his collaborators unfairly blame Kahn or even about whether or not Kaye is a star. You and others may believe all this. What is indisputably true however are the merits of the score for 20TH CENTURY. IT is Coleman, Comden and Green at their absolute best. |
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| re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? | |
| Posted by: CCentero 05:10 pm EDT 08/03/22 | |
| In reply to: re: JUDY KAYE: Did Madeline Kahn have a final announced performance in On The Twentieth Century? - larry13 03:50 pm EDT 08/03/22 | |
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| I don't have to believe anything, I'm stating fact. Fact: I saw the songs that Bacall, Tune, and Twiggy sang and were cut in Boston. All of this improved their work and the shows before they reached NY. Fact: Verdon sometimes cut "Where Am I Going"and Bacall cut "But Alive."--hard as that is to fathom. Fact: Prince and Company publicly blamed Kahn at the time and well after--the show never became a hit, received mixed reviews and lasted one year at a loss. Fact: Judy Kaye is not a Broadway star. Anyone who says she is has absolutely no knowledge of the business. Not "indisputably true" but merely your opinion: IT is Coleman, Comden and Green at their absolute best. |
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