APPLAUSE Revival (w/ Stefanie Powers) at Paper Mill

[SondheimFan5]

When reading the LOOPED article on Stefanie Powers, I saw she had done Paper Mill's revisal of APPLAUSE in 1996.

Did anyone see this production? I know the 4 authors did some pretty substantial re-writes, and the production team included Gene Sacks, Ann Reinking, and Tommy Tune.

There were talks of it touring and then going to Broadway; whatever happened to that? And is this version able to be licensed, or was it not well received?

(sorry for all the questions)
NY TIMES ARTICLE CIRCA 1996

[goldenboy]

I was a kid when I saw Applause with Lauren Bacall.
I would love to see this show again. Love Love Love

Of course , I made the mistake of going back when Anne
Baxter took over. She chewed the scenery in a bad way.

Sort of like "MOSES..MOSES MOSES!" we got
"EVE... EVE ... EVE!"

did she ruin it for me.

[DEClarke]

All I know is that Stefanie Powers made a terrible Anna in THE KING AND I at TUTS in Houston about 7-8 years ago. She was awful!

[nytallguy]

I saw it.
It was terrible.
Bland.
Was supposed to star Raquel Welch who would have at least brought a little glamour to the role/show but Powers was just a one-note b*tch. You could feel that audience rooting for Eve and that's not good. John Dossett was very good as Bill. They made a lot of changes from the original (the show started with APPLAUSE and there was no 'Bonnie' character) and none were for the better. Kate Jennings Grant was Eve and I think the best word to describe her performance is 'drippy.' I remember Reinking being very upset when the show folded and she put most of the out of work chorus into CHICAGO. Denis Jones on bway and Belle Callaway, Deidre Goodwin, Sharon Moore and few others on tour. Belle was Powers u/s as Margo.