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| re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century | |
| Posted by: theatreguy40 12:49 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Famous Broadway firings - pecansforall 09:52 am EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| Madeline wasn't fired... She left pretty much by mutual agreement - mostly initiated by her. The true story goes: She gave a wonderful Opening Night performance -- Hal Prince went to her dressing room to congratulate her and she said something akin to: "I hope you don't expect me to do that every night!". Hal was heartbroken at her response. Then as the run continued, she started taking all the high notes that Cy Coleman had written and changed them to alternate (lower, easier) notes for her to sing. Also, her comic "energy" often sagged. When she started missing performances, understudy Judy Kaye went on and literally "wowed" everyone! It was finally agreed among Madeline and Hal and Cy that everyone would be better off if Madeline left the production. So - technically NOT a firing. | |
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| re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 03:23 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century - theatreguy40 12:49 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| According to William Madison's bio of Kahn, it was not initiated by her. She did not want to leave, if only because she needed the money. The money she agreed to take in exchange for leaving was, according to the book, considerably less than she would have made if she had played out her contract. She may have wanted to have Judy Kaye play two performances a week, but (again, according to the Madison book) she did not want to leave. I have heard that even though Prince has told that story, the person it really happened with was Ruth Mitchell. |
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| re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 03:34 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century - AlanScott 03:23 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| Kahn's famous remark in this story about how she hoped he didn't expect her to do that every night has always seemed to me like a joke that someone would make after knowing that they did a particularly terrific performance. It's hard for me to believe that anyone would say something like that seriously, especially to the director of the production. I've always wondered if Kahn's tenure in the show was ended due to a poor joke that went over like a lead balloon when Kahn failed to read the room. Did she ever confirm or deny saying it? Or comment on the story at all? |
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| re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 03:44 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 03:44 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century - JereNYC 03:34 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| She commented as little as possible on On the Twentieth Century. I think she was fired because too many of her performances seemed listless and uncommitted to the audience. I know there are people who say she was great when they saw her, but she wasn't great when I saw her. She seemed, if anything, to be working too hard to physicalize things, and she seemed tense. She was the star, and I think the producers would not have agreed to fire her unless they also saw that her performances were leading to the show having bad word of mouth. She was part of the reason for the show having had a good pre-opening advance. |
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| re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century | |
| Last Edit: EvFoDr 03:42 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 03:41 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Madeline Kahn & 20th Century - JereNYC 03:34 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| I think the context, though, is that there was disatisfaction with her performance leading up to the infamous comment. It's one thing if you've been doing a great job, and one night do an exceptionally unmatchable job, and make a humourous comment not to expect that repeated all the time. I got the sense from what I read that she was consistently low energy, tentative, and not delivering the goods, and then on opening night gave the "normal" great performance one might have expected and that Prince has been longing for, and then indicated that she wouldn't be doing that on a regular basis. | |
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