September 2010 Archives

Disney's Beauty and the Beast was the first of the company's animated film musicals to be adapted as a Broadway show, serving as the vanguard for The Lion King, Tarzan, Mary Poppins, and The Little Mermaid. Now the film is set for its Blu-Ray debut on October 5, the better to allow fans to fully appreciate its masterful storytelling, its gorgeous visuals, and that wonderful score by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman.

In celebration of this event, Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson, who voiced the roles of Beauty and the Beast in the movie, were recently joined at a press conference by Terrence Mann and Gary Beach, who respectively played the Beast and Lumiere in the stage version. Here's some of what they had to say.

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BROADWAYSTARS: I haven't yet seen the Blu-Ray transfer of the movie. How does it look and sound?

PAIGE O'HARA: It's amazing. I love the clarity and the detail. Technology! A new level! It just keeps going up and up.

STARS: The three-disc set includes the feature on both Blu-Ray and standard DVD, plus lots of extras.

ROBBY BENSON: Yes. The bonus disc is really cool, and the feature has audio commentary from [co-director] Kirk Wise, [producer] Don Hahn, and Alan Menken. I find it fascinating, because they're having a blast talking about what the experience was like for them. They get really specific about certain things, and it's very funny.

PAIGE: I learned some things from listening to the commentary. I didn't know that the film started out to be a non-musical, but then Disney realized, "This story is going to be so dark!" That's when they brought in Alan and Howard and the rest of the creative team. Apparently, they wasted about eight months' worth of work on the non-musical version. When Howard came in, he became sort of the ringleader. In retrospect, I think he knew how sick he was, though he didn't tell us till towards the end. I think he thought of this film as his legacy. He was really hands-on with the animators, the cast, and everyone else involved.

STARS: You guys have both done Broadway. Was there ever talk of either or both of you starring in Beauty and the Beast on stage?

ROBBY: I did get a call from Jeffrey Katzenberg [who was then studio chairman at Disney], and we discussed it. At the time, I think there was some confusion in his mind as to the difference between a Broadway musical and a theme-park show. I remember him saying, "I know you'd be wearing a heavy costume, and you may be doing 15 or 20 shows a week." I said, "No, on Broadway, it's eight shows a week!" Anyway, I was heavily involved in directing and writing for TV in L.A., so it didn't happen.

ROBBY: Howard was pretty remarkable. He really understood how to move the narrative, and he had a complete understanding of all the characters and how they would behave in various situations.

STARS: In an animated film, the usual practice is for the actors to work separately when recording. Is that how it was with Beauty and the Beast?

ROBBY: Paige and I broke the rule and worked together. That was her idea, and it was really wise.

PAIGE: It was wise because I know he's a great actor, and I knew he'd make me better.

STARS: When you see the film now, what is your major impression of it?

PAIGE: As a little kid, my favorite movies were Mary Poppins and Bambi, which are classics. Now Beauty and the Beast has become a classic. We'll keep getting older, but Belle and the Beast will remain the same. The movie will go on forever, entertaining generations and generations of people. That's kind of amazing.

ROBBY: When the movie came out, my daughter sat on my lap and watched it with me. Now she's 27. And when it was re-released, my wife and I had the same experience of watching it with our son. You can't be cynical about a movie like this. It's just awesome.

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BROADWAYSTARS: What are your thoughts on the film version of Beauty and the Beast?

GARY BEACH: To say "it holds up" is ridiculous. It more than holds up. The movie is great storytelling.

STARS: I've always thought the stage adaptation was very well done in terms of the added songs, and it's so great that "Human Again" was restored to the score.

GARY: Yes. I was in L.A. when I found out I was cast in the show, and I met a guy who worked at Disney. He said, "If you want to come to the office, I can show you the animated storyboard of 'Human Again.'" I said, "Sure!" I watched it and I thought, "This really makes everything clear."

GARY: Linda was so smart. She would say things like, "I think this line works very well in the animated version, but a real person needs something else to say here."

STARS: "If I Can't Love Her," the big song that was added for the Beast to sing in the show, is so beautiful.

TERRENCE: It's gorgeous, and it's perfect for that moment on stage. It's soliloquy time. In the theater especially, you need songs that allow the characters to reflect on what's happening to them, so the audience can hear their inner voices.

STARS: I've noticed that, in most of Disney's animated musical films, the leading male characters don't sing much or at all. In The Little Mermaid, the Prince doesn't sing a note; and in Beauty and the Beast, the Beast only has a few sung lines in "Something There," which is mostly Belle's song.

TERRENCE: You bring up a good point about the emotional dynamic of someone singing in a show. In the film of The Little Mermaid, for example, everything that happens is pretty much seen through her eyes. But on stage, you have to give the other characters more to do, so there's a balance.

STARS: By the way, Terrence: I've read about how the incredible transformation from the Beast to the Prince was achieved on stage, but I don't remember all the particulars. Can you enlighten me?

TERRENCE: What are you talking about? It's Disney magic! [He proceeds to give me a detailed explanation of the effect, and then says:] Now I'll have to kill you.

STARS: As I recall, the show was quite a phenomenon when it opened. People went nuts.

GARY: Well, yes -- in one way or the other. The theater community was really lying in wait for us, wondering "Is Disney going to ruin Broadway?" A lot of the reviews were negative. But I remember that, after we had been playing for about a year, one of the critics wrote, "Wouldn't it be funny if the show that was supposed to kill Broadway actually saves it?"

STARS: Wasn't it Frank Rich who, when the film of Beauty and the Beast was released, had suggested that it would make a great Broadway musical?

GARY: Yes, you're right. Obviously, Disney helped to completely change the Broadway landscape. I got to New York in the early '70s, and I remember what Times Square was like back then. [He shudders.] The fact that now you can wander around the theater district with your kids is wonderful.

GARY: On the other hand, the public flipped out over the show from the beginning. It ran for 13 years, and a lot of people say it should never have closed. So there you have it.

Over the course of his career, Lee Roy Reams has worked with such fabulous leading ladies as Gwen Verdon, Lauren Bacall, Tammy Grimes, and Carol Channing. In the Paper Mill Playhouse production of La Cage aux Folles, he was his own leading lady, scoring a triumph in the role of Albin/Zaza. Now he's back at Paper Mill as Wilbur Turnblad in Hairspray, opposite the Edna of Christopher Sieber, who recently played that part at the Cape Playhouse to great acclaim.

Leroy has more than 45 years of showbiz memories to share, so let's plunge right into some excerpts from my recent conversation with him about great dames, legendary composers, and why he's sure he won't be asked to perform when Jerry Herman receives a Kennedy Center honor in December.

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BROADWAYSTARS: You're playing Wilbur in Hairspray. Fess up: Did you ever have your sights on the role of Edna?

LEE ROY REAMS: Actually, no -- although I once had a friend who told me, "You've done La Cage, now you just need to get a bigger dress so you can do Hairspray." Chris Sieber is such a funny guy. We've known each other for years but we've never worked together, so that's one reason I wanted to do this show. He's a big woman, I'll tell you that! Chris is, like, 6'2", and when he's wearing the heels and the hair, he looks like he's about 6'7". We're having so much fun -- but if you had told me a few years ago that one day I'd be playing Chris Sieber's husband, I would have said you were crazy.

STARS: What attracted you to the show?

LEE ROY: Besides the interracial theme, which is very obvious, it's mostly about the family. And the fat girl triumphs in the end, so what's not to like? It's a charming little story.

STARS: You say you never thought you'd be playing Chris Sieber's husband. Did you ever think you'd be cast in a role that had been played by Christopher Walken?

LEE ROY: [laughs] Not at all.

STARS: I don't suppose you're modeling performance after his?

LEE ROY: I don't think so! But I like Chris Walken. I think he's a good actor.

STARS: In Applause, you played Duane, Margo's confidante. Am I correct in thinking that was the first time an openly gay character was seen in a Broadway musical?

LEE ROY: It was. Not that there weren't effeminate characters in shows before that -- Danny Kaye's character in Lady in the Dark, for example. He was very flamboyant, but it was never said that he was gay. When I auditioned for Duane, my agent and my friends were very concerned that I would be playing an openly gay character. They were afraid I'd be typecast, but I really didn't think twice about it. I thought, "Why shouldn't I play a gay character? I am gay."

STARS: You've said that you got along very well with Lauren Bacall.

LEE ROY: Yes. I wasn't originally cast as Duane; Garrett Lewis had the part, but he was replaced, basically because they felt he was coming across as too much of a leading man type. I didn't join the show until about a week before it was ready to go out of town, so I had to learn everything really fast. But, for some strange reason, the combination of Bacall and me worked from the first day of rehearsal. I called her "Miss Bacall" at one point, and she looked at me and said, in that voice of hers, "My friends call me Betty!" From that moment on, we became those characters offstage. We were inseparable.

STARS: Did you receive any negative reaction to the role you were playing?

LEE ROY: Oh, not at all. I got a lot of attention for the part, and lovely reviews. The next show I did was Lorelei, in which I played an Olympic athlete, so Applause didn't typecast me after all. Later on, I played gay characters in La Cage and in Victor/Victoria, both at Paper Mill. I should play those parts; I'm right for them, and I am a gay man.

STARS: If I recall, you almost got to do Albin in La Cage on Broadway, but it didn't work out.

LEE ROY: I was the last person cast by Arthur Laurents, and I left 42nd Street to do La Cage. The show was supposed to move from the Palace to the Mark Hellinger, and they were doing a big publicity campaign; my picture was even on the side of a bus. But I only rehearsed for a week, and then the closing notice was posted. I was very disappointed, especially because I had left a good job. You know, in Arthur's new book, he says that the Times Square Church paid [La Cage producer] Allan Carr not to move the show to the Hellinger, so the church could get the building. Did you know that?

STARS: I hope it's not true! Anyway, it's great that you got to play Albin at Paper Mill.

LEE ROY: The production was a huge success. Every night, there were people lined up at the box office, waiting for returns. We could have run for six months. The audience just loved it.

STARS: I'd love it if you would share some stories about your leading ladies. You've already talked about Bacall; how about Carol Channing?

LEE ROY: We became friends during Lorelei, and she asked me to play Cornelius in the 1978 revival of Hello, Dolly. She called me up and said, [launches into a perfect Channing imitation:] "Lee Roy, I want you as my Cornelius. Jerry Herman and the director don't know who you are, but don't worry, you've got the part!" It was a wonderful experience -- and then Carol asked me to direct her last revival of Dolly! in 1995.

STARS: You must be so happy that Jerry Herman is on the list of this year's Kennedy Center honorees.

LEE ROY: It's long overdue. There's no one more deserving than Jerry. I owe so much of my career to him, and I mean this very sincerely: I could be happy doing nothing but Jerry's music for the rest of my life. Jule Styne always said that Jerry Herman was the Irving Berlin of his generation.

STARS: Wow.

LEE ROY: Yes, that came right from Jule Styne. I'm so lucky to have worked with these people -- Jule, Jerry, Charles Strouse, Cy Coleman. You know, I was supposed to do Seesaw. When I was in Applause, [producer] Larry Kasha told me, "If you go on tour with Bacall and keep her happy, we've got a role for you in Seesaw." The song "It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish" was written for me. But the original director, Ed Sherin, didn't want me, so he gave the part to someone else. My agent at the time told me, "Don't worry, Ed Sherin can't direct a musical. They'll fire him out of town, and they'll fire the guy playing your part" -- which they did. But they brought in Michael Bennett, whose assistant was Tommy Tune, so he got the part.

STARS: Your first Broadway show was Sweet Charity, with Gwen Verdon. Any stories about that experience?

LEE ROY: Bob Fosse didn't like me at first. He thought I was a ballet dancer because I auditioned in ballet tights. You couldn't buy dance pants in those days! But I think Gwen liked me, because she kept looking at me during the audition. And when we all sang, Cy Coleman said, "Bobby, we've got to have him in the show. We need his voice." So I got in -- but I only did the show for two weeks. I was making about $125 a week in the ensemble, and then Juliet Prowse offered me $400 a week to do her nightclub act. Fosse was very angry with me; he said, "Give me just one good reason why you want to leave this show." I told him, "Juliet Prowse is going to pay me four hundred bucks a week." And he said, "Well, I can't argue with that!"

STARS: He must have gotten over his anger, because he put you in the movie.

LEE ROY: Yes. To me, the most important thing is to be admired by the people you work with. When Bobby got the Astaire Award for Big Deal, he made a speech and said, "I'm very insecure about my work, but one thing I'm sure of is my love for my dancers, and three of them are in the audience tonight: Lee Roy Reams, Donna McKechnie, and Ann Reinking." I cried, and I told him afterwards, "Bobby, having you stand on stage and say that meant more to me than receiving a Tony Award." To have Jule Styne bring me in to do recordings for him, to have Jerry Herman say in his book that I'm his favorite male singer -- hey, it doesn't get better than that.

STARS: Do you think you'll be involved in the entertainment for the Herman segment of the Kennedy Center Honors?

LEE ROY: No, I'm not a big enough name. That's just the way it is; I don't have an ego about it. Jerry has nothing to do with who'll perform for him that night, it's all decided by the people at the Kennedy Center. They'll probably bring in somebody from Glee!

[For more information about Hairspray at Paper Mill, click here.]

With Fall nearly upon us, there's a LOT going on the Big Apple, so I recently pulled out the latest edition of the invaluable publication Cabaret Scenes and noted some exciting shows that are now happening or are very soon to happen in the city's clubs and cabaret rooms. One that I'm really looking forward to is a showcase for the multi-talented Bryan Batt, best known as Sal Romano on Mad Men and, before that, for his hilarious work in several editions of Forbidden Broadway. He'll be making his debut at Feinstein's at Loews Regency on October 3 & 4, so mark your calendar.

"The show is called Batt on a Hot Tin Roof," Bryan told me recently when I caught him on the phone while he was in the middle of getting his hair done. "It started out five years ago as a fundraiser I did in New Orleans after Katrina, and it just kind of grew and grew. I had never done a one-man cabaret show before, but I really enjoyed it. Despite the show's title, I assure you I will not be coming out in silk pajamas and a crutch, holding a bottle of bourbon, like Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It's just a collection of songs that I like, plus some stories. I think people will have a really good time."

Bryan says the audience can expect to hear some anecdotes from his first, recently published book, She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother. "I went on The View to promote the book," he says excitedly. "Whoopi Goldberg loved it -- and Janet Maslin of The New York Times put it on her Top 10 reading list this summer. Some of that material will definitely be in the show at Feinstein's. Those stories about my mother and about growing up in New Orleans are part of who I am, and I hope they're funny and endearing. You can't make this stuff up."

Before BB gets to Feinstein's, the room is home to another little act that you might want to check out: the amazing Barbara Cook and Michael Feinstein, September 7 through October 2. I haven't seen the show, but I sure am familiar with the work of both these wonderful artists -- and, from all reports, this pairing is way more successful than the Feinstein-Dame Edna alliance, which failed to rock Broadway earlier this year.

Also at Feinstein's are Mickey Rooney and his wife, Jan Rooney, September 19 & 20. It goes without saying that, at age 90, The Mick ain't what he used to be as a youngster, when he was one of the biggest stars in movie history. Still, he's one of the very few truly legendary showbiz figures of the early 20th century who not only survives but is still out there doing it, so if you've never seen him onstage, you owe that to yourself. One more Feinstein's notable I have to mention before moving on to other venues is the gorgeous jazz singer Paula West, who's set for two separate gigs in the room, October 12-16 and November 23-27.

If you were unlucky enough to miss Paulo Szot in South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater and in The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera, you can catch this suave, golden-voiced baritone in one-man-show mode at The Café Carlyle, September 14-25. Meanwhile, the inimitable Karen Akers is ensconced in the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel for a nice, long engagement, September 14-October 23.

Among the plethora of shows upcoming in the Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Café, there are two that sound especially fab. Uptown Express, a vocal group made up of David Gurland, John DePalma, Brad Parks, and Christopher Caswell, will bring their spine-tingling harmonies and terrific arrangements to the Beechman on September 9 and 19, while Broadway vet Mary Testa (42nd Street, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Xanadu) will make the room her own on the 20th and the 27th.

Here's a name you may not know as of yet but will definitely be hearing often in the future: Jay Armstrong Johnson. Just a few years out of NYU, this guy has already done his stuff in the Broadway revival of Hair, the first national tour of the revival of A Chorus Line, and regional productions of Hairspray, Godspell, and other shows. Now he's set to make his solo NYC cabaret debut at Birdland on Monday, September 20 at 7pm, and he's promising an eclectic program of old and new songs that capture the spirit of peace, love, and rock 'n roll while also representing his Texas roots, his innate R&B sensibility, and his affinity for musical theater.

Finally, one of my personal faves returns to the Metropolitan Room on September 24, 29, 30, and October 4: Todd Murray will Croon his heart out in that warm and sexy bass-baritone voice of his, with Alex Rybeck on piano, Steve Doyle on bass, and Sean Harkness on guitar. In the words of Cabaret Scenes, Todd is "a songwriter's dream. He sings the songs as they were written, and he sings them in a dreamy, stunningly rapturous style." Go and hear for yourself!

"I have to say, I'm happy The Addams Family and a few other shows that got bad reviews are selling out week after week. I love it when people ignore the critics and just go see what they want to see."

As you might imagine, I was taken aback when a friend of mine expressed this sentiment, especially because he works in the theater industry. It's not unusual to hear regular theatergoers badmouth the critics, but when people in the business do so, it gives me pause.

I think it's accurate to say that all of us have an egalitarian bent to our belief systems, as when a show we love is generally dismissed by the critics but becomes a hit anyway. But here's something that's vital to remember: There has always been and always will be great value in the opinions of people who have education, training, and/or experience in a certain field, whether the performing arts or food preparation or auto mechanics. This doesn't mean that an individual who has a degree in theater and a solid resume is necessarily a good critic; nor does it mean that some unknown blogger with comparatively limited knowledge of theater might not be an excellent critic on the basis of his or her good taste (whatever that means!) and native intelligence. Still, it would be foolish to deny that credentials are worth a great deal in this area, as in all others.

Folks who know nothing of art, for instance, may have trouble making a qualitative distinction between a painting by Picasso and the work of some hack, whereas those who study art have a solid basis and a context for their reactions. Even if you believe that the ultimate value of an artwork is in the eye of the individual beholder rather than in the consensus, the fact remains that there's a big difference between an informed and an uninformed opinion. So if you're unimpressed by a painting that's generally considered a masterpiece or, conversely, if you love a work that many critics view as negligible, I think it behooves you to at least try to understand why others strongly disagree with you.

Analogies to the sports world are difficult to make because, in most cases, achievement in that arena is easily quantifiable. In baseball, a batter with a .300 average is much better than one whose average is .230 -- case closed. But consider: If I attend a gymnastics competition with no prior knowledge of the sport, I might not see any difference between the various athletes' performances, barring a major stumble. But a commentator who is or has been a gymnast himself/herself or has followed the sport avidly for a decade would be able to render a critique of form, balance, flexibility, etc. that I'm unable to make because I simply don't know what to look for. Please remember this the next time you ask a theater critic about a popular show, you receive a negative response, and you think: "What a picky, snobbish twit!"

If the public is indeed paying less and less attention to reviewers, it's particularly unfortunate that this is happening at a time when critical voices are of greater value than ever before, especially in the Broadway sphere. As a perceptive person recently remarked on the DataLounge message board, "Why do you think there are NO STRAIGHT PLAYS running on Broadway right now? Flash over substance [is the norm]. Producers think audiences don't need to be moved or touched or told a compelling story, as long as they laugh and walk away saying they enjoyed the show. That's what sells tickets, and that's what they care about."

I shudder to imagine what the Broadway landscape might have looked like over the decades if there had been no discerning critics around to help push people towards the good stuff and away from the schlock. It's probable that Stephen Sondheim's career would have been far less brilliant without so many critics in his corner. I'm not by any means suggesting that Sondheim's shows received universal raves; but the notices were generally positive enough to prompt many theatergoers to attend his complex, intellectually stimulating, often dark-hued musicals rather than limit their ticket purchases to frothier fare or those frequently awful imports from across the pond.

And what about today? Given the current state of affairs, any Broadway show that's not based on a hit film or television series, doesn't have a "score" consisting of established hit songs, or lacks at least one major movie or TV star in the cast is going to have a rough time at the box office. Do you think such musicals as Spring Awakening, In the Heights, and Next to Normal would have run more than a couple of months on Broadway had so many critics not gone to bat for them? If the influence of the critics continues to wane, I fear we can expect to see a lot more in the way of The Addams Family and Million Dollar Quartet and a lot less in the way of shows with new scores by Duncan Sheik, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Kitt, and other real talents.

So please, everybody, let's not overreact. If you find a particular theater journalist to be pretentious, elitist, and prone to set forth opinions that are vastly different from your own, you can avoid that person's writings and seek guidance elsewhere -- though it should be kept in mind that we often learn the most from people with whom we disagree. Whatever you do, please don't accept the anti-intellectual argument that critics are superfluous because "the public knows best." As has been proven time and time again, this is not always true.