Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Lainie Kazan and Funny Girl | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 04:47 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:46 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Mary Tyler Moore - PlayWiz 12:48 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| I think it's almost definitely a myth — one that will probably never die as I think it's in a book or two — that Lainie Kazan was fired as Streisand's understudy. She was in the job for at least a year. She did have a good rep who was getting her lots of publicity as the understudy who had never gone on. Then she got more publicity when she did go on. I think it's a myth that anyone reviewed her. I find no evidence of anyone reviewing her. (The same myth is out there about Jane Romano, Merman's standby in Gypsy.) By the time she finally did get to go on for Streisand, Kazan had gotten enough attention that she was soon playing nightclubs. I think it's quite possible that they didn't renew her contract, but I think it's also possible that she didn't want to renew her contract. In any case, I think it's unlikely she was actually fired. |
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| re: Lainie Kazan and Funny Girl | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 05:01 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 04:53 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: Lainie Kazan and Funny Girl - AlanScott 04:46 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| "Funny Girl" opened March 26, 1964 and yet Lainie Kazan is on a Bell Telephone Hour special supposedly recreating her audition for FG which was televised November 24th of that year. That's eight months into Streisand's run -- rather remarkable how an understudy got such a prestigious gig at that time period though unless some of the infamous story was true. I almost always trust your research and knowledge, but that telecast existing is kind of bizarre. Robert Young's intro does mention that the "understudy might one day wind up playing the lead", so I guess she was still in the show. She really had a great PR person and must have had cooperation from someone with power at FG for the right to use those songs on tv! | |
| Link | Lainie Kazan on "Bell Telephone Hour" |
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| re: Lainie Kazan and Funny Girl | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:13 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Lainie Kazan and Funny Girl - PlayWiz 04:53 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| Thanks for the link. Never saw that before. Interesting, though, that she sings only one song from Funny Girl — one of the two big ones — and then sings from other then-current shows. | |
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| re: Lainie Kazan and Funny Girl | |
| Posted by: larry13 05:08 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Lainie Kazan and Funny Girl - PlayWiz 04:53 pm EDT 05/24/23 | |
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| It MAY be remarkable how an understudy got that prestigious gig BUT since she didn't go on as Fanny until a year into the run, then she did NOT benefit from either the publicity for those performances NOR being(supposedly)fired. She could not have been "fired" in 1964. | |
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