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History of The American Musical
11/19/07Trivia #8
Jill Haworth played the part of Sally in the original cast of the musical Cabaret.
But the writers Kander and Ebb wrote that part FOR someone else.
Who was the, now famous, Singer/Actress, the part of Sally, in the Broadway musical Cabaret, was written for?
The part of Sally in Cabaret was written FOR…………..
LIZA MINNELLI
The shows director Harold Prince turned her down, though gifted, he found her to be an ordinary actress and well, a klutz.
She needed more experience and grew through performing in nightclubs for a year. She grew doing the film version of Cabaret; She grew through stepping into Chicago when Gwen Verdon was ill so when the ‘Team’ of Kander and Ebb wrote The Act….for her, she had become a legitimate, confident, dynamic, flamboyant, and fabulous Broadway STAR.
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Trivia #7
Margaret5828 you are correct, learn more here.........
Yes Shycon, "Sort of like Milli Vanilli".
Marni Nixon aka “The Voice OF Hollywood“
renown for dubbing the singing voices of Margaret O'Brien, Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn in well known movies UNCREDITED from 1948 to 1964.
1964 she was the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn as Eliza in My Fair Lady , for which Nixon gained much notoriety, as news-eager journalists FINALLY exposed Hollywood‘s BIG SECRET.
Marni Nixon's accompanist and music director was Donald Chan, professor at Evergreen State College and music director for Man of La Mancha (I played Antonia) and Pippin (I played Catherine) thus my connection.
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Trivia #6
Which one of these STARS did NOT do the singing for their staring movie rolls?
*Deborah Kerr in the Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I (1956)
*Natalie Wood as Maria in West Side Story (1961) auntdementia, and ClayMateNC05
*Audrey Hepburn as Eliza in My Fair Lady (1964 topcat
You are all partly correct. NONE of these stars did the singing for these movie rolls.
The same artist did the singing for for all three of these movies.
Tomorrow I'll tell you who she is AND my own personal connection to her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trivia #5
It was never assumed that the lead role in the film would go to Julie Andrews, who had played Eliza in the stage version to great critical acclaim. Audrey Hepburn was cast instead (despite lobbying from screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner), because Jack Warner of Warner Brothers wanted a box office star.
What Hugely famous star fought long and hard for the roll of ELIZA in the movie version of My fair Lady?
ELIZABETH TAYLOR
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In the show MY FAIR LADY, Rex Harrison, who played the part of Professor Henry Higgins, was not a singer so he used a technique called TALKING ON PITCH.
youtube of Harrison TALKING ON PITCH to "I'm An Ordinary Man“
Orchestras are expensive and not used for rehearsals until the end. Harrison was OK with the sound of the rehearsal piano BUT NOT the sound of all the instruments of an Orchestra. He was SO nervous opening night he "announced that under no circumstances he would go on that night . . . with those thirty-two interlopers in the pit." He locked himself in his dressing room and came out only a little more than an hour before curtain time.
Clay has NO problem singing with an Orchestra. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trivia #3
Did you know that originally MY FAIR LADY had NO love story? It did, of course, by the time the show opened but NOT in the begining. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trivia #2
What musical recording has out sold Elvis and the Beatles?
MY FAIR LADY
Opened in 1956 staring Rex Harrison and a 19yr old Julie Andrews, and played on Broadway for 6 years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that our BF is going to spend some time on Broadway some of you might like to study some of it's history. There is a PBS series from 2004 that I'd like to suggest....
Broadway: The American Musical: Hosted by Julie Andrews
For the teachers amoung us, this site has lessons plans that accompany the series.
I've ordered it from Netflex and I'm watching it now. The whole series is 3 discs, 6 hours.
Trivia #1
Did you know that one of the major settlements of an actors strike in the 20's was; the actors no longer had to pay for their own costumes. This strike ended when the musicians and stage hands joined the line.