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DIVA TALK: Remembering Dorothy Loudon with Andrea McArdle Plus A Wonderful Town with Phyllis Newman
By Andrew Gans
21 Nov 2003
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Dorothy Loudon in Annie
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Hello, diva lovers. I'd like to dedicate this week's column to Dorothy Loudon, the Tony Award-winning actress-singer who lost her battle with cancer Nov. 15.
I was only nine when I saw Loudon perform for the first time — in 1977 as the scheming, evil yet uproariously funny Miss Hannigan in the original production of Annie. Loudon, of course, won a Tony Award for her performance in the Charles Strouse-Martin Charnin- Thomas Meehan musical, and if my memories of the show are a bit sketchy, I do remember three moments clearly: Andrea McArdle's show-stopping "Tomorrow"; a then-unknown chorus girl named Laurie Beechman belting out "N.Y.C."; and Loudon and co-stars Robert Fitch and Barbara Erwin bringing down the house with "Easy Street." I also remember waiting by the stage door with my sister for autographs, and a glamorous looking Loudon was more than gracious as she signed our Playbills.
Earlier this week, I spoke with Andrea McArdle about her memories of Loudon, who joined Annie after its Goodspeed Opera House world premiere. McArdle jokingly likens Loudon's arrival to the company as "before Christ and after Christ. We all knew that she was the ingredient that was missing [in the show]." McArdle also vividly remembers the day creators Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse created Loudon's show stopping number. "I was playing jacks in the Kennedy Center green room. They didn't realize we were there because there was a carpet, and we were playing jacks on the carpet. We got quite good at this, so we didn't interrupt anything. I was sitting in there when they wrote 'Easy Street.'"
Loudon, McArdle says, "had a very similar look to my mother. She and my mother favor each other a great deal, and my mother used to always get asked, 'Are you Miss Hannigan?'" McArdle says that Loudon was "the most amazing person. Three people [who I've worked with] stand out in my mind — Liberace, Carol Channing and Dorothy Loudon, and not in that order." McArdle adds that life often imitated art backstage at the Alvin Theatre: McArdle's dressing room, complete with a pinball machine from Bally's and a puppy given to her by Barry Manilow, was on the third floor with Loudon's directly below on the second. "The kids drove her absolutely crazy, and she loved it! [Dorothy] used to just hit [on the ceiling] with a broom in between shows! 'You're so loud.' And, we'd be like, 'This is just like it is on the stage. Isn't this funny?' She never got mad though."
McArdle was also impressed by Loudon's quick wit on stage. "Just to be able to see how she could change things was incredible. It's very rare that they would give that artistic freedom to somebody, but her taste was just impeccable." She also says that she and Loudon had a rare relationship for an adult and child. "If I got a really funny laugh, she would squeeze me extra hard," McArdle chuckles. "We could speak to each other without even speaking — it was just Comedy 101. Once she said, 'If you ever move when I'm saying something funny, you will not get to take a bow at the end of the show!' And I thought that was hysterical. It may have scared some other kids, but I was a real scrappy type, so I just howled, loved it."
McArdle remembers a prank she pulled on Loudon on April Fool's Day. It was during the pre-Broadway run and Loudon — who had appeared in numerous Broadway flops — had recently told the young actress, "I'm so close to getting on to Broadway in a show that's not a piece of shit, don't do anything [that might get you injured]!" On April 1, McArdle explains, "I came in with a cast on my arm. I got it at a high-end magic store, and it looked totally real. [Dorothy] was screaming, and then when she found out that it was a joke, she chased me all the way up two flights of stairs! Every time I go back [to the Kennedy Center], I just howl because I remember her chasing me and me running!"
Although Loudon was "a very private and reclusive person," she and McArdle did see each other occasionally throughout the years. "We did the 'Leading Ladies of Broadway' together, and I saw her in Sweeney Todd and Ballroom, and I saw her in West Side Waltz. I used to go see her whenever she was on Broadway. And we did that Annie Christmas special together. She did a version of 'Broadway Baby' on there that just slays you. . . She was just like a Carol Burnett, but I think Dorothy had it going on three times as much as anyone. She had this killer acerbic wit and sense of humor. . . She made [everything] work for her in a brilliant way."
Dorothy Loudon's Broadway work included Nowhere to Go But Up, Noël Coward's Sweet Potato, The Fig Leaves Are Falling, Three Men On a Horse, The Women, Annie, Ballroom, Sweeney Todd, The West Side Waltz, Noises Off, Jerry's Girls, Comedy Tonight and, briefly, Dinner at Eight.
PHYLLIS NEWMAN and A Wonderful Town
What may be the surprise hit of the season opens this Sunday at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, the Kathleen Marshall-directed revival of Wonderful Town starring two-time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy as Ruth Sherwood, the role created on stage and later preserved on television by Rosalind Russell. Wonderful Town, of course, features a book by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov — based on their novel "My Sister Eileen" — and a score by Leonard Bernstein (music) and Betty Comden and Adolph Green (lyrics). The theatre lost the multi-talented Green last year, but I thought it would be a great time to catch up with Green's widow, actress-singer-fundraiser Phyllis Newman, who has been an integral part of the Wonderful Town rehearsal process.
The late Green, Newman explains, "wrote a letter saying that he passed on creative control [of his works to me]. So, since we had 43 years of talking about every aspect of both of our works . . . [I] attended [Wonderful Town] auditions, some rehearsals, run-throughs, many performances [and] offered suggestions and consulted with Betty [Comden], of course. We agreed on all the notes." Newman says that Green was thrilled with this production of Town, which he saw at its birth as part of the acclaimed City Center Encores! series. "Both [producer] Fran Weissler and Donna Murphy told me he'd call them fairly often and ask, 'What's new?' and tried to push [the production] along. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure it would happen, [but] Donna dedicates her performance to Adolph, and that makes us very happy."
About the star of the show, Newman has nothing but praise: "[Donna] is such a consummate actress and singer and wildly funny! Nobody has had that combination, especially the powerful and satisfying singing. She also brings a contemporary reality to the part." And, what's Newman's favorite moment in the show? "I think 'Conversation Piece,'" she says. "It makes me laugh every time. The music and the dialogue are witty and silly — a great combo!"
Never one to stand still, the Tony-winning Newman is also busily preparing for Nothing Like a Dame 2004, the annual fundraiser to benefit The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of The Actors' Fund of America. The one-night-only events are always a highlight of the theatre season, drawing some of the top performers around. "It will take place March 1 at the St. James Theatre," says Newman. "It's bigger and better than ever, and we're helping so many more women in the theatre." On another front, Newman is also at work on "a small musical play." "Changes in my life have influenced its story," she admits, "but I will finish it. And, we'll see . . ."
(By the way, you can catch Newman this weekend in the 24-hour reading of "The Day Kennedy Was Shot." Newman as well as Joel Grey, Kitty Carlisle Hart and many other celebs will read portions of Jim Bishop's 678-page tome at the Great Hall of Cooper Union. The day long event begins at 7 AM Nov. 22 and continues through Sunday morning, Nov. 23. The free reading commemorates the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Great Hall at Cooper Union is located at 7 East Seventh Street at Third Avenue. Call 212-353 4120 for more information.)
Continued...
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