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Authors: William V. Madison
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Nancie Phillips in poking fun at society ladies involved in so many charities that they can’t keep them straight. Both numbers were recycled from
New Faces of 1966
. Remarkably, in Danner’s copy of the 1968 rehearsal script, Madeline’s big solo, “Das Chicago Song,” doesn’t appear, suggesting that it was a late addition. Toward the end of the show, Madeline and Klein joined Brandon Maggart and George Ormiston in another sketch from the 1966 edition, “Die Zusammenfügung, or the Connection,” a pastiche “opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” that concerns a purloined stash of marijuana. Composed by Sam Pottle, with lyrics by David Axelrod, the number took advantage ofKlein’s enthusiastic baritone and Madeline’s lyric coloratura. With pinpoint precision and sparkling roulades, she informs her father (Klein), that she’s found a mysterious new ingredient for her soup. Sampling it, he realizes that “The pot is in the soup.”
Marian Mercer took Madeline’s part in the 1966 edition of “Zusammenfügung,” and the resulting comparison, coupled with Madeline’s Lenya impression, led Danner to consider her “a brilliant mimic,” but less accomplished as an actress. Though Madeline’s later performances won her over, Danner says, “At that point, it seemed like sometimes she was doing an imitation rather than investing herself.” Maggart considered Madeline a great talent already, though it seems she’d set aside her Hofstra professor’s demand that she blend in. Maggart says, “If you want to know how it was to work with her onstage, you might as well not
be
onstage. She had no sense of focus as to the material and what to put over in the sketch. All the eyes went to Madeline, because the motor was always running. Even when she was still, quietly observing, everybody’s eye went to Madeline. She had star quality.”
New Faces of 1968
attempted to replicate the feel of one of Sillman’s famous, almost continual backers’ auditions, where excerpts from forthcoming shows would be presented to potential investors (“My longest run in show business,” says Maggart). Sillman held these auditions in his living room, which the set design evoked, and on Broadway he played the master of ceremonies, just as he did in his home. Maggart remembers that the “gypsy run-through” (a performance open only to other Broadway performers) “blew the roof off the house,” and the show got a good response in previews. But on opening night, the backers dominated the audience, and they’d heard all the jokes before. “I’ve done thousands and thousands of shows,” Maggart says, “but only one other was that silent on an opening night.”
In those days, critics still reviewed opening night performances, rather than previews. There wasn’t much good news in the papers for the cast, and there was even less for Sillman. Klein, Maggart, and Michael K. Allen earned favorable notices in the
Times
, and Clive Barnes singled out Madeline, too. She “had a strong voice and an incisive personality and was at her best in a Kurt Weill parody.” However, he didn’t mention any other cast member by name, and his overall take on the show was grim: “But perhaps the time for the Broadway revue is over. For there is no real satirical bite here—it is all far too prim and cosy. No one could possibly be offended—no one, that is, who is not offended by intrinsic mediocrity.” 30
Klein and Maggart agree with that assessment. With the Vietnam War raging, with the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (during previews) and of Robert F. Kennedy (after the show opened), Klein says, “[W]e’re doing a show, [singing] ‘You’ve never seen us before, and we’ve never seen you before!’ Hello?” “We seemed rather frivolous,” Maggart agrees.
Musically,
New Faces
was old-fashioned (the first notes of the overture are glissandi on harp), while Broadway audiences wanted more for their money than a handful of
New Faces of 1966
. Remarkably, in Danner’s copy of the 1968 rehearsal script, Madeline’s big solo, “Das Chicago Song,” doesn’t appear, suggesting that it was a late addition. Toward the end of the show, Madeline and Klein joined Brandon Maggart and George Ormiston in another sketch from the 1966 edition, “Die Zusammenfügung, or the Connection,” a pastiche “opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” that concerns a purloined stash of marijuana. Composed by Sam Pottle, with lyrics by David Axelrod, the number took advantage ofKlein’s enthusiastic baritone and Madeline’s lyric coloratura. With pinpoint precision and sparkling roulades, she informs her father (Klein), that she’s found a mysterious new ingredient for her soup. Sampling it, he realizes that “The pot is in the soup.”
Marian Mercer took Madeline’s part in the 1966 edition of “Zusammenfügung,” and the resulting comparison, coupled with Madeline’s Lenya impression, led Danner to consider her “a brilliant mimic,” but less accomplished as an actress. Though Madeline’s later performances won her over, Danner says, “At that point, it seemed like sometimes she was doing an imitation rather than investing herself.” Maggart considered Madeline a great talent already, though it seems she’d set aside her Hofstra professor’s demand that she blend in. Maggart says, “If you want to know how it was to work with her onstage, you might as well not
be
onstage. She had no sense of focus as to the material and what to put over in the sketch. All the eyes went to Madeline, because the motor was always running. Even when she was still, quietly observing, everybody’s eye went to Madeline. She had star quality.”
New Faces of 1968
attempted to replicate the feel of one of Sillman’s famous, almost continual backers’ auditions, where excerpts from forthcoming shows would be presented to potential investors (“My longest run in show business,” says Maggart). Sillman held these auditions in his living room, which the set design evoked, and on Broadway he played the master of ceremonies, just as he did in his home. Maggart remembers that the “gypsy run-through” (a performance open only to other Broadway performers) “blew the roof off the house,” and the show got a good response in previews. But on opening night, the backers dominated the audience, and they’d heard all the jokes before. “I’ve done thousands and thousands of shows,” Maggart says, “but only one other was that silent on an opening night.”
In those days, critics still reviewed opening night performances, rather than previews. There wasn’t much good news in the papers for the cast, and there was even less for Sillman. Klein, Maggart, and Michael K. Allen earned favorable notices in the
Times
, and Clive Barnes singled out Madeline, too. She “had a strong voice and an incisive personality and was at her best in a Kurt Weill parody.” However, he didn’t mention any other cast member by name, and his overall take on the show was grim: “But perhaps the time for the Broadway revue is over. For there is no real satirical bite here—it is all far too prim and cosy. No one could possibly be offended—no one, that is, who is not offended by intrinsic mediocrity.” 30
Klein and Maggart agree with that assessment. With the Vietnam War raging, with the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (during previews) and of Robert F. Kennedy (after the show opened), Klein says, “[W]e’re doing a show, [singing] ‘You’ve never seen us before, and we’ve never seen you before!’ Hello?” “We seemed rather frivolous,” Maggart agrees.
Musically,
New Faces
was old-fashioned (the first notes of the overture are glissandi on harp), while Broadway audiences wanted more for their money than a handful of
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