Sundays with Sullivan: The April Edstravaganza
Updated: Aug 6
We're back with the ninth compilation of Broadway musicals numbers that were performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, during the show's 23 years as a remarkable archive of musicals whose original cast performances would almost all otherwise be lost.
Having said all that, first up is not from an original cast or even in costume. But it's a replacement star from the original run of South Pacific - Florence Henderson as herself singing one of her character's big numbers.
But next is one of those treasures to have a record of. This is an 11-minute scene from what would otherwise be a lost, legendary musical -- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, with Johnny Johnston and Marcia Van Dyke, and a score by the great Dorothy Fields and Arthur Schwartz. The show also featured Shirley Booth, who I've previously posted singing several of her songs from the show on a variety show. Though it only had a modest run, the musical has a certain fame because of Shirley Booth being so wonderful in her supporting role as the lively aunt that the show got rewritten to focus more on her, which imbalanced the story away from the husband and wife, who were the main characters. And this moving sequence with two songs by the lead characters gives a sense of the original intent.
Then comes Elaine Stritch with a lovely and unique rendition of the Rodgers & Hart standard, "You Took Advantage of Me" from the 1954 revival of On Your Toes. It's wonderful to see her at this point in her career, since she later went through a 10-year, fallow period until she returned to Broadway in 1970 and exploded in Sondheim's Company with what became her signature tour-de-force "The Ladies Who Lunch."
That brings Eartha Kitt at the start of her career with two songs from the revue, New Faces of 1953.
Finally, we have two songs and a dance number from Wish You Were Here, with a score by Harold Rome who wrote Fanny, from which I posted a wonderful long sequence a while back. It's little-known today, but had a very successful run for 598 performances, a year-and-a-half.
Stick around, though, after the sequence, since Ed introduces famed director and writer Josh Logan (among his extensive credits, he directed and co-wrote the stage musical of South Pacific, and directed the film adaptation, directed Annie Get Your Gun for the stage, and the play and movie of Picnic, as well as co-wrote the play and screen adaptation of Mr. Roberts - but also directed the above-performed Wish You Were Here,) Logan had suffered a well-publicized nervous breakdown, and he comes on the show to, remarkably, talk about it - not the normal fare for a TV variety show. We don't get the full speech before it cuts off, but there's enough to appreciate - and be surprised by it. And it continues in the next compilation. And as always, full credit for compiling these videos goes to Jim Berg.
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