Carol Channing and Friends

As a benefit for the Dr. Carol Channing Foundation for the Arts and California Musical Theatre, Carol Channing, her husband Harry Kullijian, JoAnne Worley, Carole Cook and the surprising Joyce Aimée gave a two hour performance as a tag end event to the Music Circus season.  The first half had JoAnne Worley telling stories, including one about a Music Circus performance of HELLO, DOLLY! when a skunk came right up on the stage and sprayed the actress playing Irene Molloy.  Worley’s reply: “Irene, your perfume is a bit strong today.”  She sang a comedy version of “‘Till There Was You” and then introduced an old-timer, unknown to me, Joyce Aimée.  Aimée plays the accordion and sings Edith Piaf songs, among other things.  She has slightly bawdy jokes and has good anecdotal stories about playing vegas and opening for top name acts.  She was completely mesmerizing, able to hold the attention of that big audience and thoroughly entertaining.  The entire show could have simply been Joyce Aimée and I would have been content.  Next came Carole Cook, who had been Maggie in the original cast of 42nd STREET and has had a long show biz career of Broadway, TV and nightclubs.  She did a very funny stand up comedy routine and finished with a song.  This concluded the first act and for the second we had Carol Channing.  Dear Carol Channing.  She was fragile and accident prone.  She got lost in her routine many times (a routine I have seen before and knew better than she did at this point) and her husband Harry had to feed her the cues to get her back on track.  Yet, once the music started, she was right there where she belonged and sold her several numbers like an old pro.  She did small versions of “Girl From Little Rock”, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, “Hello, Dolly!” and the Ephraim speech leading right into “Before the Parade Passes By,” which was lovely.  Channing’s age was showing and her difficulty in getting through her material was uncomfortable, but we were right there with her for support.  She was trying to support the next generation of artists by raising money to fund arts programs in the schools.  More power to her!  What a great way to finish out a career.  The experience was joyful, but the sad fact was, we were looking at a few of the last of a brand of entertainer from another era and they are irreplaceable.

CATS

Excursion to California

At the time I left my eleven season stint at the Sacramento Light Opera (home of the Music Circus and then, Broadway Series), a lot of change had occurred to that company.  The organization was started in the ‘50s as one of many outdoor musical theatre stock summer companies.  The shows played in the round under a tent.  As the years went on, the tent was moved to a more spacious portion of the block at 15th and H Streets with a bigger stage and increased seating capacity to about 2400.  I worked in various capacities with the organization from 1989 to 2000 before moving to New York.  At the time I left, plans for a new permanent theatre building were underway and two seasons later the new facility was up and running.  The new building had an improved stage, improved lighting grid, real theatre seats with ample leg room and air conditioning.  The organization’s name was changed to California Musical Theatre with the summer season still known as Music Circus and the winter presentation of tours renamed Broadway Sacramento.  I have been back a few times to check in on the old stomping grounds and in August I caught the production of CATS.  It was more or less the same old CATS, with the Broadway choreography reconfigured for the round.  The costumes are recreations of the original design and the show featured cast members from the Broadway run, most notably, Ken Page, the original Old Deuteronomy.  Also, Jeffrey Denman, who was Broadway’s closing night Munkustrap, was reprising his role here.  The production was definitely entertaining, but it is difficult for me to get too excited about CATS.  Even when I first saw it in San Francisco in 1986, I was a little surprised at how random it was.  Like many, I was trying to work out a story as I was watching the first act.  When you try that, you get very discouraged.  Once I realized it was no more than a revue about different kinds of cats, I was able to enjoy the second half for what it really was.  Even so, there is not enough to the show that really does it for me––save for its one truly great moment when Grisabella sings “Memory.”  Jacquelyn Piro Donovan (famous for being the only actress to play both Cosette and Fantine in Broadway’s LES MIZ) belted the hell out of the hit song, sending the audience into a frenzy of cheers.  The Music Circus remains the greatest cultural jewel of Northern California next to the city of San Francisco.  The following night I volunteered to help work a benefit show staring Carol Channing, but that’s another story.