Great Nights in the Theatre, continued

Staying with theatre a bit longer, I have been rummaging among my programmes which go back to the mid-60s. There really though doesn't seem much point in discussing past shows, as they only matter to those who saw them. One can always find a rare movie, but once a show is over ... here are a few favourites from a lifetime of theatre-going...

MUSICALS

I was 20 when FUNNY GIRL arrived in London in 1966 as the hot new show, with that amazing new star Barbra Streisand (with Michael Craig as her Nicky Arnstein) - a friend, Frank, and I got tickets and got to see it from the front row! Streisand wore a little mike which was the first time we saw one of those. The show was changed a lot for the movie - as usual (ditto with CABARET) some songs removed and replaced by others. On the stage her final number "The Music that Makes Me Dance" was a perfect solo, but it was "My Man" in the film! Craig had a nice number too: "I Want To Be Seen With You".



Best ever night in the theatre? A CHORUS LINE at Drury Lane on my 30th birthday, in 1976.



Right: Vanessa Redgrave, Jeremy Brett & John Stride in the sublime 1973 DESIGN FOR LIVING.
3 A LITTLE NIGHT MUSICS: the 1975 one with Jean Simmons and Hermione Gingold / a late 80s revivial with Peter McEnery, Dorothy Tutin, Susan Hampshire and Lila Kedrova / and that great National Theatre one, maybe 15 years ago now, with Judi Dench and Sian Phillips - I was at a preview [thanks, Tony] with Sondheim a seat but one away, furiously taking notes.
Then there was that FOLLIES with Eartha Kitt and Diana Rigg, and CHICAGO when Chita Rivera was in it
- and recent revivals [with Donal] of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, CABARET, LE CAGE AUX FOLLES and of course the pure theatre of THE LION KING and LES MIZ, plus those giddy pleasures HAIRSPRAY and LEGALLY BLONDE, and two great productions of SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM and being taken backstage [thanks, Pamela] to meet Julia McKenzie and Millient Martin, and there was Bacall in the awful APPLAUSE in '73 [with Franco] (Bacall label) , and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA [with Catriona, I had to get the CD next day].

STARS ON STAGE - among those I liked: (click images twice to enlarge)

Deborah Kerr, THE DAY AFER THE FAIR, 1972
Jean Simmons, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, 1975
Julie Christie, OLD TIMES, 1997 - being able to gaze at her for 90 minutes; Liv Ullmann too in a 70s production of OLD TIMES.
Faye Dunaway, CIRCE AND BRAVO, 1986 - directed by Harold Pinter
Claire Bloom, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, 1974 (Claire Bloom label)
Julie Harris, THE BELLE OF AMHERST, 1977 (see Julie Haris label) [with Les]
Lee Remick, BUS STOP, 1975 (photos and more at Lee Remick label)
Angela Lansbury & Peggy Ashcroft, ALL OVER, 1972 [with Stan]
Cyd Charisse, CHARLY GIRL, 1985 [with Rory]
Vanessa Redgrave, DESIGN FOR LIVING, 1973 & A MADHOUSE IN GOA, 1998
Maggie Smith: PRIVATE LIVES, HEDDA GABLER, NIGHT AND DAY, LETTICE AND LOVAGE, THE BEAU'S STRATEGM
Judi Dench, LONDON ASSURANCE, 1973, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, 1997
Sian Phillips, MARLENE, 1997, PAL JOEY, RIDE A COCK HORSE
Marlene herself in concert in 1973 - a masterclass in audience manipulation!
Ralph Richardson & John Gielgud, HOME, 1970 which I saw twice !
Ingrid Bergman just perfect with Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, Jeremy Brett, A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY, 1965, CAPTAIN BRASSBOUND's CONVERSION (with Kenneth Williams) in '71
Peter O'Toole, Sian Phillips, RIDE A COCK HORSE - my first London show in 1965 [with Mike and Gina]
Robert Stephens amazing as the Inca king in ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN, at the Old Vic, 1966
Glenda Jackson, Marianne Faithfull, THE THREE SISTERS, in the front row of the Royal Court, 1968
Glenda Jackson, Susannah York, Vivien Merchant, THE MAIDS [with Les].
Alan Bates, BUTLEY, '73, HAMLET, 1970 (with Celia Johnson as Gertrude) [other Hamlets I saw include Michael York, Peter McEnery, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Dillane, David Tennant - as per Theatre Hamlets label)
Jill Bennett, SEPARATE TABLES, PRIVATE LIVES and another splendid HEDDA at the Royal Court (where she was also Gertrude to Jonathan Pryce's acclaimed HAMLET)
Sarah Miles & Eileen Atkins: VIVAT REGINA
Joan Greenwood and Gladys Cooper: a revival of THE CHALK GARDEN, 1971 [more at Greenwood, Cooper labels]
Edith Evans in her one woman show, 1974.
I saw Ingmar Bergman's HEDDA with Maggie Smith twice, it was so spellbinding, blood red sets and the cast in black, in 1970 - a look he followed in CRIES & WHISPERS in 72. Ditto HOME with Richardson and Gielgud, and they signed the programme afterwards.




The 'real' Marlene, and Sian Phillips's Marlene.

GREAT CONCERTS ?
Aretha Franklin, at her peak in both 1968 and 1970 - she wouldn't fly after that! [with Stan]
Otis Redding and the Stax Soul Tour, 1966 (before that fatal flight), (with Stan).
The Doors at the Roundhouse, 1968 (and I am in the concert video footage,aged 22!) as per Doors label [with Clive and those stoned hippies]
4 Joni Mitchell concerts [Joni label for when I met her in Chelsea in 1972).
4 Pet Shop Boys concerts [their residency at the Savoy Theatre in 1997 was Very Pet Shop Boys], and that Scissor Sisters concert in Trafalgar Square in 2006 [with Donal]
Marlene Dietrich at Wimbledon,1973 [with Bryan]
Peggy Lee at the Albert Hall, 1970
Bette Midler at the London Palladium, 1979 [with Les]
Liza Minnelli at The Royal Opera House, circa 1980
Joan Armatrading, Cleo Laine, Dionne Warwick (1970 & 2005), Petula Clark - several times each, and Nancy Wilson.
Great concerts too by The Band, Blood Sweat & Tears, Van Morrison, The Who.
Divine on stage at Rory's club in Brighton, 1986, and all the hi-energy divas!

And, just to recap, those early '70s National Film Theatre Q&A sessions [as reported on previously at labels with photos] with the likes of Bogarde, Mason, Remick, Davis, De Havilland, Huston, Harrison, Lansbury, Bergman, Niven, Heston and the like, and those book signings with Loren, Bacall, Arthur Miller, Michael York and others, and that screening of A STAR IS BORN at the Starlight Cinema in Mayfair, with Gary [my 1963 "Films and Filming" penfriend] over from Australia, in 1970.






The shows I would love to have seen: Coward's HAY FEVER at the National in '63 with the classic cast of Edith Evans and the young Maggie Smith and Sarah Miles / and Coward himself in his last London outing SUITE IN THREE KEYS with Lilli Palmer and Irene Worth, in 1965 - just before my time!
and now, back to the movies ...

People We Like: Mrs Railton-Bell

I mean of course Dame Gladys Cooper - writing about NOW VOYAGER reminded me of how brilliant she is in SEPERATE TABLES, that quintessential '50s drama that we lapped up back in 1958. It seems quite phoney now with its faded granduer - even for '58 - but Gladys' Mrs Railton-Bell positively glitters with menace and malice as she learns of the bogus major's crimes in the local cinema, as she seems to be looking directly at us, the audience. Mrs R-B is in her element bossing around the other residents and her crony, that other Edwardian beauty Cathleen Nesbitt, and keeping her dowdy daughter Sybil (Deborah Kerr) firmly under her thumb, as she tries to get the major ousted from the hotel.

Rattigan's play of course is a splendid warhorse for actors and is usually staged as 2 separate acts with the lead actor and actress playing both sets of lead roles - the major and downtrodden Sybil, and the Lancaster and Hayworth roles, in the two separate plays. I saw a version in the '70s staged that way with John Mills and Jill Bennett - and John Schlesinger's 1983 BBC version did the same with Alan Bates and Julie Christie (along with Irene Worth as Mrs R-B, and Claire Bloom as Miss Cooper - the Wendy Hiller role). The movie version is prime ham actually: Niven and Kerr are actually much better for Preminger in the same year's BONJOUR TRISTESSE where they play steely variations on their usual personas - here they are acting by numbers, still it got Niven his best actor award...

But back to Dame Gladys [1888-1971]: she had a long distinguished career, from being a famous beauty in Edwardian times, a member of the Hollywood Raj in Hollywood in the '40s in lots of roles (in REBECCA, that nasty nun in THE SONG OF BERNADETTE, with Garland in THE PIRATE, etc) as well as Bette's monstrous mother in NOW VOYAGER, she also ran her own theatre at one stage, and became mother-in-law to Robert Morley and Robert Hardy.

Back in the UK she did a play with Kay Kendall "THE BRIGHT ONE" in 1958 as she was a friend of Kay's - in fact when Kay went to Hollywood to make LES GIRLS in 1957 Gladys lent Kay her corgi dog June, as company. There are some nice pictures of Kay and June together (as below) and June also appears in the film. Gladys was also Rex's imperious mother in MY FAIR LADY.

I saw her on stage in 1971 (the year she died) in a revival of THE CHALK GARDEN with another favourite, Joan Greenwood; (pictured below), it was a low-key production as I recall but both ladies were splendid. Here is their programme page: (click to enlarge text) [Gladys had originated the role of Mrs St Maugham in the original production, though Edith Evans later took it over and made the film in '64] There is another photograph from this production in my Joan Greenwood post, further back.

People We Like: Joan Greenwood

English actress Joan Greenwood [1921 – 1987], one of those ladies for whom superlatives are not enough. She is “a rather dotty, genteel sexpot” according to David Thomson in his invaluable A Biographical Dictionary of Film, whereas David Shipman in his equally indispensable The Great Movie Stars comments on her “sex appeal, style and striking individuality”, and Variety once described her voice as “one of the wonders of the modern world”. Exquisite is the word that sums up Joan’s allure both vocally and personally. No wonder she voiced the Evil Queen in Vadim's BARBARELLA!

In movies since the early 40s, early roles included THE GENTLE SEX (43), THE OCTOBER MAN (47), SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS (48), those Ealing classics WHISKEY GALORE and her naughty, seductive, adorable minx Sybilla in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, 1949. She was also Lady Caroline Lamb in the dreadfully enjoyable THE BAD LORD BYRON.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST in 1952 by Anthony Asquith remains the definitive film of Oscar Wilde’s play, a wonderful staging preserving the great performances of Edith Evans, Margaret Rutherford, Michael Redgrave and Joan’s considerable star turn as Gwendolyn. Her every appearance is a joy here, full of vocal inflections and marvellous readings of lines like, when asking for bread and butter with her tea “as cake is never seen in the best houses these days”. Above: MOONFLEET with Stewart Granger.

She is very touching in the French KNAVE OF HEARTS (MONSIEUR RIPOIS) opposite Gerard Philipe in 1954 (left), and with Guinness again in FATHER BROWN. Joan then went to Hollywood in 1955 to appear in Fritz Lang’s MOONFLEET – one of the high points of mid-50s costume dramas. Other roles were in STAGE STRUCK (57), MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (61), and as the very demanding Lady Bellaston in Richardson’s TOM JONES, the big hit of 1963.

Other roles included Disney's THE MOONSPINNERS where she was rather wasted, in '64. I saw her on the stage in 1971 in a revival of THE CHALK GARDEN as Miss Madrigal [above] opposite Gladys Cooper’s Mrs St Maugham. (programme page at left, click image to enlarge text, detailing Joan's extensive theatre career).

Joan by all accounts was a very unaffected leading lady, quietly married to reliable supporting actor Andre Morrell (who died in 1978) with whom she had a son.

She is also the subject of a fascinating website: http://www.silversirens.co.uk which feature her and Margaret Lockwood, with great galleries of photos, stills and much more on their films. Joan Greenwood, like Kay Kendall, will always be a leading light of the English cinema.

My full appreciation on Joan is on IMDb at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339343/board/nest/136932896?d=136932896#136932896

People We Like: Kay Kendall

Kay Kendall remains as entrancing now as she did back in the '50 when she zoomed like a comet through British and then American films. She died in 1959 but left a lasting legacy of high comedy and elegant charm. The small parts throughout the early 50s are interesting: in DANCE HALL, IT STARTED IN PARADISE, THE SHADOW MAN, CURTAIN UP, FAST AND LOOSE etc, then that breakthrough role in GENEVIEVE as the elegant model and that trumpet-playing scene, a cameo followed in DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE with her chum Dirk Bogarde, then she co-starred with Rex Harrison in THE CONSTANT HUSBAND and their relationship began here, despite his long marriage to Lilli Palmer. SIMON AND LAURA is another delightful Rank Organisation comedy, teaming her with Peter Finch as a tempermental theatre couple appearing in a television soap opera. She then did that lovely period film QUENTIN DURWARD for MGM with Robert Taylor. When Rex went to New York with the stage show of "My Fair Lady" Kay went with him. Her only Hollywood film was Cukor's LES GIRLS in 1957 which she effortlessly stole from the other girls Mitzi Gaynor and Taina Elg, good as they are here. The high comedy style of the Harrisons (she had married Rex in '57, after his divorce from Lilli) is captured in Minnelli's '58 version of the stage play THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE which is still a delight now. She wears those Balmain clothes and looks perfectly glamorous here. Perhaps only Carole Lombard was as gifted and glamorous a comedienne. Kay though had leukaemia, which it seems she did not know about. She looks frail in her last film, ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, in '59 for Stanley Donen, as wife to Yul Brynner's music maestro. She died in September 1959 before its 1960 release.
Another interesting early title of hers I tracked down recently was ABDULLA THE GREAT, made in '54 or '55 by Gregory Ratoff who plays the Farouk-like despot undone by his passion for a visiting model, Kay, co-starring with Sydney Chaplin, whom she was invovled with at the time. A fascinting oddity to see now, as per my first post on here! At least Cukor, Minnelli and Donen got to showcase her individual talents.

Though unwell, she also did a short-lived play "The Bright One" in 1958. Rex and Lilli Palmer both give their versions of the ending of their marriage in their respective autobiographies, both engrossing. Dirk Bogarde also writes movingly about her in his "Snakes and Ladders". Kay's sister Kim, with Eve Golden, has co-authored a fascinating book on Kay's life and career, her music hall background, and showgirl years in the London revues of the early '50s.
Kay remains a fascinating enigma who left us all too soon, aged 32. She has a lovely headstone and resting place in an 18th century churchyard in Hampstead, North London, in a theatrical quarter with Du Mauriers and Beerbohm Trees nearby and actor Anton Walbrook just across the path. Perfect.
My reviews of ABDULLA, QUENTIN DURWARD, LES GIRLS and RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE are on previous posts here.
My full appreciation on Kay is on IMDb at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0447608/board/nest/90402935?d=90402935#90402935