It鈥檚 Thanksgiving Week! I decided to make this column about some Broadway things I鈥檓 thankful for:
First, here鈥檚 a video of Debbie Gravitte, who was Debbie Shapiro when this was filmed (in the early 鈥�80s). It鈥檚 the song 鈥淛unkman鈥� (music by Joseph Meyer and lyrics by Frank Loesser) that she sang in the Off-Broadway show Perfectly Frank. Such a fantastic performance! So many things I love, especially how she uses completely pure vowels AND gets vibrato in at the same. Listen to every time she sings 鈥渂lack and blue鈥� and 鈥測ou.鈥� A pure OOH every time and amazingly placed vibrato (like last note of the song).
Note: When they filmed this at The Kennedy Center, there was something wrong with the audio in the first take. So, Debbie had to do the whole number over again. That鈥檚 why she鈥檚 laughing when she walks out, because the audience just saw her do the exact same entrance!
Along those lines, I鈥檓 very thankful to singers with pure vowels! One of the best is Betty Buckley. Her pure E鈥檚 and Oo鈥檚 are unsurpassed! Here she is performing 鈥淢em鈥檙y鈥� and not only is her E completely pure on 鈥淭ouch meeeee,鈥� she also has the unbelievable lung capacity to do 鈥淭ouch me, it鈥檚 so easy to leave me, all alone with the mem鈥檙y of my days in the sun鈥� in one breath! Incredible! You have to . (And )
from the film Tender Mercies. Listen to those oohs in 鈥測ou鈥�!
I鈥檓 also thankful for the new Julie Andrews autobiography, Home Work! But, just like the last time, I didn鈥檛 read the fine print. When I read her first book, I was so excited to read everything about her career. It went through tales of her first Broadway shows鈥�The Boyfriend, My Fair Lady and 颁补尘别濒辞迟鈥�and I was so excited to read about her filming Mary Poppins, etc. I was near the end of the book and I began to wonder how she going to cover Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and everything else she鈥檇 done in the last five pages. That鈥檚 when I realized there was going to be another book and, finally, it came out. I loved Home Work, which talks about all those films and much more. Naturally, I was so excited to get to the part about the Off-Broadway Sondheim revue she did called Putting It Together and the Broadway musical Victor/Victoria because I worked on both shows. Again, I thought it was odd she was going to cover all of that in the final five pages. That鈥檚 when I realized that her second book ends in the mid-1980s! So, now I have to wait for a third book to cover everything I want to know about her. Regardless, this current book is fantastic and has great stories!
in the film Victor/Victoria鈥攂efore I tell you the story I know about her.
The Broadway version of that song ended the same way, with her sliding up to the high note. I still remember reading a John Simon article somewhere that confidently claiming that she lipsync鈥檇 the high note. She did not lipsync it! The entire number was sung live. However, there was a scene right after where Victor is forced to show his famous high note. 鈥淗e鈥� would hit it loudly, everyone would hold their ears and glass would shatter. That note was indeed pre-recorded. It was right after that long 鈥淟e Jazz Hot鈥� and Julie was exhausted/didn鈥檛 have the energy to hit two crazy high notes in a row! I can鈥檛 stand lipsyncing, but I wasn鈥檛 devastated about its use because it happened during a scene and not a song. But, of course, electronics can go wrong and one night, Julie stood in the center of the party scene to show off her amazing high note鈥nd the tape didn鈥檛 work. Uh-oh. She had to do something鈥�.so she sang a note live.
Of course, like I said, it was right after the big number and she was exhausted, so she hauled out what she could鈥hich was a note鈥ut it was decidedly not high. Unfortunately, the sound cues and actors had to proceed as scripted so after her low energy middle C, everyone onstage held their ears and glass shattered. And that鈥檚 when, as an actor, you continue with the show and you do not look back.
I myself will never forget the night I clanked it up in the pit. During the run of the show, Julie鈥� standby, the great Anne Runolfsson, would go on occasionally. Anne sang some of Julie鈥檚 songs in a completely different key. Well, I was just a sub, and for a while I wound up playing in the orchestra only when Anne went on. One night I came back to play and Julie was on! I decided I didn鈥檛 need to practice the original keys since I had done them when the show first opened. Eventually I got to her big Act 2 song, 鈥淟iving in The Shadows.鈥� It begins with a very long piano solo, where Julie just stood onstage and ruminated while the piano accompanied her musing.
Well, it had been such a long time since I had played it in Julie鈥檚 key I was completely thrown and, because I hadn鈥檛 practiced, I wound up playing what sounded like a wonderful new atonal musical by Schoenberg. I was mortified! After the show, I asked my friend Joe Thalken, who was conducting, what Julie had said about 鈥淟iving In The Shadows.鈥� Apparently, when he visited her afterwards in the dressing room, she laughingly mentioned that clanking coming from my keyboard and commented 鈥淚 felt that I was living in the shadows.鈥� Huh? I knew she had sassed me鈥ut how? What did that mean? Maybe in the U.K., the way to really bust someone for making a mistake is to call yourself the name of a song? Like if I had messed up playing The Sound Of Music, she would have said 鈥淚 felt like I was a Lonely Goatherd鈥�?
Regardless... Everyone who worked with her on that show loved her. And I can see why. She was kind to me from the very first time I played for a show she was in. Right after my first time subbing on Putting It Together at the Manhattan Theater Club, her dresser came to my keyboard and asked me to come to Julie鈥檚 dressing room. I walked in and she apologized for being in the middle of putting on her stockings, which I loved because it was so informal! I was nervous she was going to give me a note, but instead she had called me in because during the bows, she noticed that I was new and just wanted to introduce herself and say hi. So nice!!!
By the way, I mentioned that Anne Runolfsson would sing in different keys than Julie. She actually took 鈥淟e Jazz Hot鈥� down a little so she would slide up to the high note and, instead of singing it in head voice, she would belt it. It was amazing! Watch!
So! After Thanksgiving Day, I鈥檓 going to head up to Boston on Saturday, November 30 to do a show with Lillias White in Quincy, Massachusetts!
Sunday, I鈥檓 doing my 20th anniversary Seth鈥檚 Broadway Chatterbox with Roger Bart, Paul Castree, Kevin Chamberlin and Paige Price (Orfeh wound up getting a gig and can鈥檛 come!) at Don鈥檛 Tell Mama.
Then, Monday, December 2 I鈥檓 at The Town Hall with Megan Hilty and Jessie Mueller!
And the next Monday and Tuesday (December 9 and 10) I鈥檒l be hosting BCEFA鈥檚 Red Bucket Follies. Tix at BroadwayCares.org.
Here鈥檚 a fun video from when I hosted it back in 2010!
P.S. The same night as the first Red Bucket Follies (December 9), I鈥檓 doing a really fun concert for Beit Simchat Torah, the Gay/Lesbian synagogue. I put together a bunch of my favorite performers! Jenn Colella, Beth Leavel , Julia Murney, Christine Pedi, and because Stephanie J. Block had to ixnay because she had a conflict, Norm Lewis just joined!
Here鈥檚 my deconstruction of the great Norm!
Peace out!
