-
Google Search
-
-
-
Whatsonstage.com looks forward at what 2008 will have to offer on the London stage. Among the productions mentioned is the Trevor Nunn-helmed musicalization of Gone with the Wind, starring Jill Paice, of Curtains (”It’s a pas de deaux…for two!”).
The world premiere of Gone With the Wind will open in the West End at the New London Theatre on April 22, following previews that begin April 2. Music and lyrics are by sociologist-turned-composer Margaret Martin. (HT Playbill.com)
The article at What’s On Stage recalls a quote from Noel Coward, which in turn reminded me of a quote from Dorothy Parker, which in turn reminded me of a couple of theatrical urban legend stories of onstage mishaps. Hope at least one of them makes you chuckle.
Of Bonnie Langford’s stage debut (at the tender age of seven) in the 1971 musicalization of Gone with the Wind, Coward is credited to have said “they ought to cut the second act…and the child’s throat.”
Apparently a live horse relieved itself onstage on opening night of the same production, and Coward’s helpful advice was that “If they’d stuffed the child’s head up the horse’s arse, they would have solved two problems at once.”
Of Katherine Hepburn’s acting in the 1934 flop, The Lake, Dorothy Parker quipped that the actress “ran the gamut of emotions from A to B.”
Urban legend #1–A friend saw a production of West Side Story, in which during the end of Act One, Tony accidentally drops the knife, so Action picks it up and kills Bernardo, forcing Anita to later improvise “A boy like that! Who…knew..some…one…who killed your brother.”
Urban legend #2–Two actresses onstage who hated each other (I thought one was Tallulah Bankhead, but Google debunked my theory). In the middle of their big scene together the stage manager cues the phone to ring about ten pages too early. Tallulah (or whoever) answers the phone, says “Yes, yes…uh-huh,” hands it to her rival and says “It’s for you…”
As much as I loved Jill Paice in Curtains, I wish Gone with the Wind would just stay gone.