BROADWAY RECALL: Gentlemen Don't Prefer Eponine

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.

Aside from being an accomplished, Drama Desk nominated Broadway performer, Megan Hilty may have had an added advantage in scoring her new television role in Smash from her experience in playing material associated with other famous women.

She made her Broadway debut as one of the actresses assigned to put a personal stamp on Glinda, the role originated by Kristin Chenoweth in Wicked.  Then she punched in at 9 – 5 with the Dolly Parton seal of approval, playing Doralee, the Backwoods Barbie that the musical’s composer/lyricist played on screen.

In Smash, Hilty plays Ivy Lynn, a Broadway gypsy fighting for the chance to star in a new bio-musical about Marilyn Monroe.  From week to week, aside from the backstage stories, viewers will also get glimpses of the fictional musical being created.  This includes Hilty performing in a production number called “The National Pastime,” which features original choreography by Joshua Bergasse that suggests the classic Jack Cole staging of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” as performed by Monroe in the film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 

Coincidentally, it was announced this week that Hilty will be starring as Lorelei Lee in the Encores! concert staging of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the show that made a star out of Carol Channing.  The stage musical was based on Anita Loos’ 1925 novel of the same name, and while the Channing and Monroe performances are both considered iconic in contrasting ways, of the three women it’s actually Megan Hilty who comes closest to the author’s description of the gold-digging flapper as “five foot two with eyes of blue.”

The tall, gangly and deep-voiced Channing got the role for her ability to play a satire Loos’ kewpie doll.  We’ll have to wait until May to see Hilty’s Lorelei, but fortunately there’s video available to give us a glimpse of what Channing was like in the original production.  Here she is in a television appearance, singing the two signature numbers that made her such a smash, “I'm Just a Little Girl from Little Rock” and “Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend,” on The Buick Berle Show (sponsored by Buick, hosted by Milton Berle) in December of 1953.  It’s interesting to note that Monroe’s film of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released earlier that year and although Channing sang both songs alone on stage directly to the audience while on Broadway, here the staging also bears some resemblance to what Jack Cole provided for the film.

The other big casting news that broke this week was that Samantha Barks will be playing the role of lovestruck revolutionary Eponine in the new film version of Les Miserables.  The announcement was made by Cameron Mackintosh himself after the curtain calls of Oliver! at the Manchester Palace, where the young actress is starring as Nancy.  Barks won the hearts of Les Mis fans while playing the role in the 25th anniversary concert staging of the show.  Here’s a little sample of that performance:

But if you’re like me, you can’t help hearing the music of Les Miserables without automatically thinking of Gerard Alessandrini’s brilliant parody lyrics from Forbidden Broadway.  Lines like, “I dreamed a show in days gone by… I didn’t sing one song, then die,” and “God, it’s high, This song’s too high” earned surefire laughs in the many Off-Broadway and cabaret incarnations of the show, and still do in regional productions.  From a summer stock mounting in Maine, here’s Heather Kopp singing of how some Eponines might spend their lengthy off-stage time during performances.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.

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