Yes, yes, I know I said I'd wrap things up yesterday with that medley by Vivian Blaine from Guys & Dolls. But after posting it, I wanted to check some information and found this video which I think you'll agree I couldn't pass up. Sue me. Guys & Dolls opened on Broadway in 1950. When they took the Frank Loesser musical, with a book by Jo Swirling and Abe Burrows, to the London West End in 1953, some of the original Broadway cast went along, including Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide and Sam Levene, who played Nathan Detroit, her fiance for something like 12 years, the reason she sings "Adelaide's Lament." And when the show was running there, Blaine and Leven recreated the number "Sue Me" for British television. By the way, Sam Levene had a long career in the theater, and that included starring in Neil Simon's comedy, The Sunshine Boys opposite Jack Albertson in 1972. (Happily, I got to see both on stage when they toured in the show to Los Angeles, and I happened to be in town on a short trip.) This is a real treat. And interesting to see, since it's a much more tender interpretation of the song than the more big comic rendition it often gets. And interesting to see from the opening shot of the London poster that since Blaine was from the original Broadway production, she got top billing here.
1 Comment
Douglass Abramson
2/24/2021 06:39:09 pm
Wasn't Levene in the original Broadway cast too? I wish I could have seen him and Albertson in The Sunshine Boys. Levene was playing the cranky old Jew at least since After The Thin Man (1936); when he was barely in his thirties. He must have been sublime by his late sixties.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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