BROADWAY RECALL: Some Like It Brunette

Welcome to BROADWAY RECALL, a bi-monthly column where BroadwayWorld.com's Chief Theatre Critic, Michael Dale, delves into the archives and explores the stories behind the well-known and the not so well-known videos and photographs of Broadway's past. Look for BROADWAY RECALL every other Saturday.

While diamonds may be a girl's best friend at this weekend's Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, there's a feisty flapper getting pretty chummy with a gang of hunky Olympic athletes and a wildly frenetic chorus of Charleston dancers.  Here's Rachel York cavorting with Megan Hilty and the rest of the City Center company:

Rachel York made a splashy Broadway debut as the elusive Mallory in City of Angels and went on to play the ditziest of blondes in Victor/Victoria, followed by stints in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Sly Fox and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  And how many actresses can say they've played both Reno Sweeney and Queen Guinevere?  York will start touring the country in Anything Goes this October, but let's take a look back to 2007, when BroadwayWorld sat down with the versatile actress as she was wrapping up a tour of Camelot.

In 2003, York was given the plum role of one of America's most beloved clowns, Lucille Ball, in the TV movie Lucy.  Here are a few clips from that performance as well as televised recreations of her stage performances in Victor/Victoria and the London revival of Kiss Me, Kate.

After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular audience participation murder mysteries (try improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring free live theatre to underserved communities, and dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows Michael can be seen at Citi Field pleading for the Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared celebrities making their stage acting debuts by starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.

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