'Poor Little Person' from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY

[PalJoey]

Performed by the late Alice Playten and company (including Baayork Lee and Pia Zadora), choreographed by a young Michael Bennett, pre-Turkey, pre-Lurkey, pre-Company and -Follies, pre-Chorus Line and -Dreamgirls:

http://youtu.be/6lyv67Peo4w

If you are a young (or old) Broadway fan and you have never seen this before, watch it, please...and watch your entire sense of choreography and musical staging change.

[After Eight]

I saw it at the Palace.

It was a good number, but please don't exaggerate... cf. Coffee Break, Put on Your Sunday Clothes ...

[PalJoey]

I never exaggerate. I just enthuse.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

That was great! Alice and her "little pals" were indeed tremendous. I especially like the look of disgust after nobody puts any money into her hat.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Love this, but there were other Michael B numbers that didn't get taped that were brilliant: I WONDER WHAT ITS LIKE TO DANCE WITH A BOY, WEARY NEAR TO DYING....

[EricMontreal22]

I was just thinking of this since The World of Henry Orient was on TCM.

It's a great number, and must have been one of the things that got Bennett Promises, Promises, but I do think the musical's a mess. It's covered pretty heavily in Goldman's The Season.

[EricMontreal22]

If any Bennett or Broadway dance fan hasn't seen the youtube video of the Dancers Over 40 Bennett lecture (I know PalJoey has) many of his dancers did, here's the clip talking about the number (the entire thing is quite long, but it's all up there, and worth watching)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6YqWziXM2E

[EricMontreal22]

(and speaking of, I wish we had a video record of Bennett's Grapes of Roth from Promises)

[EricMontreal22]

Part 6-7 of that Bennett special has Carolyn Kirsh talking about how hard it was to learn to dance Tick Tock from Company, replacing Donna and showing her dress from the number and 10-11 has a lot of great Follies stories.

[EricMontreal22]

(though all the dancers are pretty hard on the libretto of Follies)

[Jon]

Priscilla Lopez is also in the group of girls.

[newintown]

I always love watching that great number.

[sondheimboy2]

I don't think Don Amechie's intro to the number would have made me buy a ticket.

[themysteriousgrowl]

No? How about Don Ameche's?

[newintown]

No, you must be Don Ameche's sister.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Well, perhaps you're right. Perhaps it is a greater honor for me.

[Boredathome]

yeah....nothing special there.

[PalJoey]

Bennett gets TWO separate hands in the middle of the number and YOU think that's not special?

Perhaps you don't know what special is...

(AT 3:00 AND 3:45)

[trentsketch]

I really am fascinated by this show. This song, in particular, stands out.

What that choreography shows me is that you can build a showstopper around the abilities of young performers without having to include over the top choreography. This is stylized marching, posing, and formation changes. It's harder than it looks but not so hard that the young performers struggle to keep it together. It builds very well.

Alice Playten taking the lead doesn't hurt, either.

[PalJoey]

And later in his life, Bennett would build showstoppers around the abilities of older performers without having to include "over the top" choreography.

[orangeskittles]

That's so weird, I just watched this video Monday night. I came across it a few months ago when a friend was looking for clips of Michael Bennett speaking. I found this instead and became instantly obsessed.

[PalJoey]

I know. It gets stuck in my mind for weeks at a time, the way Turkey Lurkey does.

[sondheimboy2]

PalJoey, if you think that's bad, a friend of mine put "Turkey Lurkey" from the Italian cast album on a mix tape for me and I had that in my head for MONTHS!

[GavestonPS]

I know. It gets stuck in my mind for weeks at a time, the way Turkey Lurkey does.

That might be because the song consists of a couple of short choruses, repeated ad infinitum, like a TV commercial.

This is not a criticism. The song is dramatizing children (even including one very crafty child in the Playten character). They SHOULDN'T sing "Too Many Mornings" or "The Miller's Son." But the song's simplicity is why it gets stuck in our heads, I think.

[PalJoey]

I also get "Too Many Mornings" and "The Miller's Son" stuck in my head. But maybe that's just me.

[EricMontreal22]

And musically Turkey Lurkey is far from simple--it's impressive how he managed to choreograph those *crazy* key changes (which Bacharach was known for).

The oddest show tune I get caught in my head and often find myself singing in the shower--I hope this doesn't mean something deeper--is Happily Ever After cut from Company.