Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Mar 1: Broadway Divas

There is a big difference between a leading lady and a true Broadway diva. A diva is so much larger-than-life that the mention of her name can inspire devotion bordering on fanaticism.

Some would add Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland to this list, but concerts and revues don’t cut it. Barbra only starred twice on Broadway.

Ethel Merman, on the other hand, starred in more than a dozen original musicals. From Girl Crazy in 1930 until the Annie Get Your Gun revival in 1966, the brassy belter of them all graced the Broadway stages. Ethel made her Broadway debut in George Gershwin's Girl Crazy (1930), causing a sensation with her performance of "I Got Rhythm!" She went from there to appear in George White's Scandals of 1931 (opposite Ray Bolger, Ethel Barrymore Colt, and Rudy Vallee), in which she introduced DeSylva, Brown, & Henderson's "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" to the world. Her next big score was as Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1936), where she belted out such hits as "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "You're the Top!," thus beginning the long Porter-Merman string of hits (Porter lovingly referred to her as "The Golden Fog Horn"). Rodgers & Hammerstein presented Ethel as historical sharpshooter Annie Oakley in Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. The greatest performance of her career was as Rose in Gypsy. That was the last role that Ethel created on the stage, but in the late 1960s, she stepped into the role of Dolly Levi (a role originally written for her that she had initially turned down) in Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! At this point the microphone had invaded the Broadway stage, but La Merm refused to wear one-- and, indeed, she didn’t need one. She never had.

Mary Martin is -- next to Merman -- the name that pops into most people's heads when they hear the term "The Golden Age of Broadway." As we mentioned last week in the Cole Porter hour, she shot to stardom overnight thanks to her strip-tease singing "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."After that, she played a statue of the Goddess of Love come-to-life in Kurt Weill's One Touch of Venus, introducing to the world such standards as "That's Him" and "Speak Low." From there, she was the original Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. She appeared on national television broadcasts of Peter Pan and Annie Get Your Gun.

Some say Bernadette Peters is the last true Broadway diva. She made her stage debut as Dainty June's understudy in a national tour of Gypsy, and made it to Broadway at age 19. Her second Broadway show earned her a Theatre World citation for George M opposite Joel Grey, and then won her first Drama Desk Award for her performance in Dames At Sea. She was nominated for a Tony for her performance as silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand in Jerry Herman's Mack & Mable and in Sunday in the Park with George. She created the role of the Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, starred in a revival of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, and in 2003 returned to her first show, but this time as Mama Rose in Gypsy. She is now considered the foremost interpreter of Stephen Sondheim songs.

Julie Andrews was one of the best voices of the golden age of Broadway. She actually only had four Broadway runs – The Boy Friend in 1955, My Fair Lady from 1956-1960, Camelot in 1961 and 62, and the stage adaptation of Victor/Victoria in the late ‘90s. But those middle two shows, along with her television performance in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, and her incredible film roles showcased her outstanding voice.

Barbara Cook is the current reigning master of the art of the American Popular Song. She first made her mark in the cult favorite Flahooley, but really burst upon the scene singing the fiendishly difficult "Glitter and Be Gay" as Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide. She went on from there to create the role of Marian the Librarian in Meredith Wilson's The Music Man. From there, she created the role of Amalia Balash in Bock & Harnick's touching and endearing She Loves Me, then essentially went into one warmly remembered flop after another until she ultimately retired to specialize in concert appearances and one woman shows.

Kristin Chenowethis 39 but still looks barely 21. The "diminutive diva" has a soprano to rival Barbara Cook's, and even better acting chops. We can't play her brilliant Conegonde appearance in the New York Philharmonic's staging of Candide, but she can switch from soaring seriousness to trilling happiness with complete believability. She's had fouringénue roles on Broadway, and more in her fim and concert roles. (TV watchers also know her from her role on the West Wing.)

Patti LuPone is the great grand-niece of opera star Adelina Patti. She inherited more than a name, she tok the singing seriousness and also the operatic attitude. She has more than a dozen Broadway credits, including her long-running role as Evita. She was the first English-speaking Fantine in Les Miserables. She was the first Norma Desmond for the musical Sunset Boulevard – and earned full-fledged diva attitude-status when she sued Andrew Lloyd Webber for canceling her contract to originate the role in the states.

Right now, she’s on Broadway in the latest revival of Sweeney Todd. In an interview for the show, she talked about what being a “diva” means to her. She said that no doubt, the opera singers are bigger divas.

“The word diva to me means doing something supernatural with something natural. When you listen to Maria Callas, Renee Fleming, what they did with their instruments, it’s ungodly. As far as the bad behavior is concerned, I think it depends on your circumstances. If you behave badly, then you’re a miserable human being in your life. But the theater is a tough place. It’s not cushioned the way it is in film and television. Somebody said it the other day, “Broadway ain’t for sissies.”