Quote of the Day

“Geez Louise, this is so out there.”

Donna Murphy,  about Anyone Can Whistle

from Five Questions for Donna Murphy, By Erik Piepenburg,  ArtsBeat, The New York Times, April 7, 2010

Anyone Can Whistle opens tomorrow night at City Center.  I have tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Donna Murphy will be Cora Hoover Hooper!

Yes! Just as I've been dreaming, the one and only Donna Murphy has been cast as Cora Hoover Hooper in the upcoming Anyone Can Whistle at Encores!. Donna hasn't been on the New York stage nearly enough in recent years and she is sorely missed.  Fortunately, she performed "Me and My Town" at the Drama League Gala honoring Angela Lansbury on February 8th. I was lucky enough to see her perform that and she completely, absolutely and thrillingly nailed it.  The pictures below show Donna in her sparkly gloriousness, but hardly relay what it was like to see and hear perform live.  My heart still races thinking about it.

"Me and My Town" is one of my favorite theatre songs, originally performed by Angela Lansbury on the 1964 cast album.  In fact, it's one of my favorite scores period. Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle is one of the most famous flops of the Broadway stage: it ran for only nine performances. Angela says that if all the people who have told her they saw one of those nine performances were actually there, it would still be running.  Luckily for lovers of this cult favorite, the cast was rushed into the recording studio the morning after closing. It's a flawed but absolutely fabulous album and it was Angela's first musical. It also starred Lee Remick as Nurse Faye Apple, and Harry Guardino as Hapgood.

In 1995, benefiting Gay Men's Health Crisis, a concert of Anyone Can Whistle was presented at Carnegie Hall and was recorded live. That's another must-have cast album. Bernadette Peters was Nurse Apple, Scott Bakula was Hapgood, Madeline Kahn was Cora Hoover Hooper and Angela Lansbury made a marvelous cameo as the narrator. It's blockbuster after blockbuster song after song. It was Sondheim's first work on the music and the lyrics.

Just like the last time Donna Murphy was at an Encores! production (Follies!), I have tickets for April 9th, 10th and 11th and  I won't be alone in my multiple viewings.  I absolutely can't wait for this one!!!

Absurd and Spectacular, a Cult Favorite Opened on this Day

If you love Sondheim, you love Anyone Can Whistle. Don't you? Admit it. I hear it's better than Bounce, anyway. Today is the anniversary of it's opening - April 4, 1964. It was Angela Lansbury's first musical. It was the first musical that Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents wrote without established composers (Bernstein - West Side Story and Styne -Gypsy). As it turned out, even after a tryout in Philadelphia and 12 nights of previews on Broadway, it only ran for 9 performances after opening. However, Angela says that if everybody who tells her they were there during one of those illustrious performances, "It would still be running." Some say it was cursed from the get to - a performer fell into the pit, landing on top of a saxophone player who then suffered a heart attack. Still, the cast was whisked into the recording studio on the morning of April 12th, 1964, for a hasty but fabulous recording, promoting its future cult status. It's a crazy, mixed-up story but oh so fabulous and brilliant. I loved There Won't Be Trumpets before I even knew the score because Bernadette recorded it on her Live at Carnegie Hall, Sondheim, Etc. album. The title song, Anyone Can Whistle is gorgeous, and is covered the likes of Barbara Cook, Betty Buckley, Nancy Wilson, Mandy Patinkin, Michael Cerveris, and more. I adore I've Got You to Lean On which was one Angela's big numbers. In 1995, a benefit concert of the piece was staged at Carnegie Hall, starring Bernadette Peters, Madeline Kahn and Scott Bacula and Angela was back to host the evening. It was recorded and is just has necessary as the original. Bernadette still sings With So Little To Be Sure Of in concert. In fact, when Little Love and I were on the front for her Avery Fisher Hall concert two years ago, it seemed as though she was singing it directly to us.

In 2005, Vicki and I attempted to see Anyone Can Whistle at the Prince in Philadelphia. The production was plagued as well, this time with bouts of flu. The three leads missed a number of performances and the production was in chaos. The afternoon we were supposed to see it was completely canceled But, we were invited in for a rehearsal as they tried to replace one of the sick actors with a local actor. Disappointed but determined, we decided to enjoy the rehearsal. Patience paid off and we were treated to an a capella rendition of the title song Anyone Can Whistle by Chuck Wagner (Hapgood). I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Next season, The Signature in Arlington will be staging a new production. I will be inviting myself down to Wanda's for another attempt at seeing this fabulous flop. Arthur Laurents has said that it will never be revived on Broadway as long as he has to do anything about it. But, perhaps with all of the success he's had with his current Gypsy revival and his planned revival of West Side Story, maybe he'll reconsider working on Anyone Can Whistle. Maybe at Encores? After all, a little Sondheim flop is better than no Sondheim at all.