Angela Lansbury "SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE" Chita Rivera 1973 Benefit Playbill

Description

This is a rare March 11th, 1973 playbill from the one-night, Benefit Concert "SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE" at New York's Sam S. Shubert Theatre. (The one-night event on
March 11th, 1973 benefited the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and the National Hemophilia Foundation
.) .....
With the premiere of "A Little Night Music" only two weeks before, forty-two year-old Stephen Sondheim had experienced his third Broadway triumph in three years. After previously winning Tony Awards for his work in "Company" and "Follies", he would soon go on to win yet another Best Score Tony for "A Little Night Music" and so become the only composer-lyricist in Broadway history to win the Tony for three consecutive years. With eight musicals produced on Broadway in the previous seventeen years, Sondheim was finally enjoying acclaim as the innovator of a new form of musical theater
.
On that rainy, muggy night in New York, a crowd of celebrities, journalists and musical theater fanatics gathered inside the Shubert Theatre for an evening that would be talked about for years to come. It was the first public acknowledgment – in the form of a musical retrosp
ective – of Sondheim’s work in the theater .....
ANGELA LANSBURY, who had made her musical comedy debut in "Anyone Can Whistle", flew in from London where she was rehearsing for the first West End production of "Gypsy". For the Tribute she would re-create her two show-stopping numbers from the ill-fated but affectionately remembered score of "Whistle".
NANCY WALKER, who had co-starred in the West Coast revival of "Forum" with Phil Silvers, arrived from Los Angeles to sing “I’m Still Here” from "Follies".
CHITA RIVERA came aboard to re-create one of her show-stopping moments from "West Side Story".
Most of the Original Cast of "Company" – DONNA McKECHNIE, PAMELA MYERS, SUSAN BROWNING, BETH HOWLAND, STEVE ELMORE, TERI RALSTON and replacement star LARRY KERT – were on hand, as were "Follies" stars ALEXIS SMITH, DOROTHY COLLINS, JOHN McMARTIN, JUSTINE JOHNSTON, VICTORIA MALLORY and ETHEL SHUTTA.
Of the thirty-three performers that evening, JACK CASSIDY was the only one who had not actually performed in a Sondheim production. But Cassidy was supposed to have starred in Sondheim’s very first show, "Saturday Night", a musical the composer wrote (at the age of twenty-five) with Julius J. Epstein, one of the Academy Award-winning screenwriters of "Casablanca". The musical, about a group of Brooklyn kids who invest in the stock market in 1928, had gone through eight backers’ auditions (with Jack Cassidy, Alice Ghostley and Arte Johnson, among others) and over half the money had been raised when the show’s producer, Lemuel Ayers, suddenly died. As did the project. A few years later (after the opening of "Gypsy") the project was scheduled to move forward under the direction of Bob Fosse. But before rehearsals were to begin, that production was cancelled, too. In the Tribute, Cassidy got to sing a song from the show that might have been.
Director Burt Shevelove routined the evening into four main sections: songs for which Sondheim was only the lyricist; songs that were cut out of his shows either prior to rehearsal or on the road; songs that were comic, and a climactic line-up of songs for leading ladies.
Several guest introducers made appearances, including lyricist SHELDON HARNICK (who read a telegram from Sondheim’s absent "Do I Hear A Waltz?" collaborator RICHARD RODGERS) and composers JULE STYNE, LEONARD BERNSTEIN and MARY RODGERS.
In addition to putting on that evening’s show, this cast would be making a record as well. A recording contract had been signed to capture the show “live”; all royalties were earmarked for AMDA and the Hemophilia Foundation. According to Playbill Magazine, it was the first time in Broadway history that a benefit tribute was recorded by a major record label and made available as an Original Cast show album.
But with all the magical performances that night, the most moving moment occurred when STEPHEN SONDHEIM took his place at the piano and sang an emotional and personal interpretation of the title song from "Anyone Can Whistle". The tearful audience that stood and cheered the evening to a stunning climax had no way of knowing that in years to come they would be cheering other great singers performing more great songs from future Sondheim shows like "Pacific Overtures", "Sweeney Todd", "Merrily We Roll Along", "Sunday In The Park With George", "Into The Woods", "Assassins" and . . . (Reprinted in part from
Craig Zadan's "Sondheim & Co.")
..... CREDITS: Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM ("A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum", "West Side Story", "Gypsy", "Follies", "Merrily We Roll Along", "A Little Night Music", "Sweeney Todd", "Pacific Overtures", "Sunday in the Park With George", "Into the Woods", "Passion", "Assassins"), LEONARD BERNSTEIN, JULE STYNE and RICHARD RODGERS; Sets courtesy of BORIS ARONSON; Special Arrangements by JONATHAN TUNICK; Musical Direction by PAUL GEMIGNANI; Choreographed by DONNA McKECHNIE;
Directed by BURT SHEVELOVE;
Produced by CRAIG ZADAN and NEIL APPELBAUM ..... DETAILS: The sixteen page playbill measures 5 5/8" X 9" inches and includes full production credits, cast list, musical numbers and bios of each of the participating artists and members of the creative team, but no photos ..... CONDITION: With the exception of light edge wear, this playbill is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any musical theatre aficionado or historian. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective, carded sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.