Carol Channing: The Real Truth Beneath The Glittering Legend

With her wide smile, big eyes and effusive persona Carol Channing (who has passed on at age 97) was always bigger than life. When she stepped onto a stage all eyes seemed to naturally turn to her.

But the smile was painted on and the heavy makeup that she strategically placed along the bridge of her nose made its appear as if she had a turned-up nose when that simply was not the case. And, more often than not she wore a wig.

It was all self-created and highly-theatrical -- so much so that Carol Channing seemed born for the stage. When she held out her arms (as in the photo above) there seemed to be room enough for the entire audience, all the way up to the last row of the balcony in every Broadway house and in countless theaters not just all over the country but all over the world.

Carole Channing was thoroughly American, no question about that.

But Carol Channing was also Jewish and also part African-American. And Channing wasn't her real surname. Her father was multi-racial and his name was George Stucker. For whatever reason, he changed his name to Channing just prior to Carol's birth. And Carol Channing's mother was a German Jew named Adelaide Glaser. Channing was raised as a Christian Scientist but she remained keenly aware of her true multi-cultural and multi-racial heritage, embracing both latter in life in typical Carol Channing fashion.

"Growing up, I was a Jewish theater-lover, but that's redundant," Channing reportedly said. "I mean, Jewish and theater lover are two terms of the same meaning," she added. As for her African-American heritage, in her memoir she counted it among her many blessings. Of this part of her, Channing said: "I know it's true the moment I sing and dance. I'm proud as can be of [my black ancestry]. It's one of the great strains in show business. I'm so grateful."

You might have thought that Carol Channing led a blissfully happy life but such was hardly the case.

She is said to have recalled that she was both frightened and embarrassed by her mother, described as "a woman of wildly varying moods who kept her from having friends and lied to her teachers about her."

As she moved into adulthood. working to make a name as an actress was not easy and she was hardly an ingenue. A theater veteran remembered her at this point as "awkward and odd-looking." In fact, she didn't hit it big until she was almost 30 when she landed her breakout role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. That's when she sang the song Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend and became known as a top-notch comedienne.

Was she a great singer? Well, no -- not with that voice. Was she a world-class actress? Actually, no. It's not like she was classically trained or schooled in The Method or anything like that. More often than not she played the role of Carol Channing. Was she a great dancer? No, but she could do a soft shoe and knew how to move on stage -- knew how to wring the last drop out of every scene and sigh and coax the spotlight her way. In short, Carol Channing had that undefinable it -- that certain stage presence, that magic that captivated audiences from the moment she hit the boards.

And it's easy to see why she was more at home on stage than off, as her personal life was hardly a dream.

Her first husband, Theodore Naidish, was a writer; her second, Alexander Carson, was center for the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team. They had one son, Channing Lowe (an editorial cartoonist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel) who later became estranged from his mother. In 1956 Carol Channing married her manager and publicist Charles Lowe. But Lowe was a closeted gay man and while they remained married for 42 years, when she filed for divorce in 1998 she alleged they had marital relations only twice in that timespan. Lowe died before the divorce was finalized. In 2003, Channing married Harry Kullijian, her high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir.


And, one final thing: The role of Dolly in Hello, Dolly! (Channing's greatest triumph) was not written for Carol Channing and the songs were not created with her in mind. No, Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart adapted the show from Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker and created the stage role precisely for Ethel Merman, the reigning Queen of Broadway at that time. But as much as Herman and producer David Merrick begged Merman to do they show (over and over again) Merman refused. That's how the role fell to Channing and the rest, as they say, is Broadway history.


Carol Channing pretty much played the role of Dolly Levi for the rest of her life. In fact, she played it more than 5,000 times all over the world and in all that time was known to have missed only one performance -- an unprecedented record that would be the envy of any star today.


Carol Channing's name was always in lights. But Channing herself -- he wide grin; her big, bashing eyelashes; her outrageous moves, flamboyant costumes and distinctive gravely voice -- she was the brightest light of all. And that light lent the Great White Way a glow that epitomized Broadway's Golden Age!

Broadway's Lights To Dim Wednesday Night To Honor Legend

BROADWAY THEATRES TO DIM LIGHTS 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2019

AT 7:45 PM

IN MEMORY OF 

Theatrical Legend

CAROL CHANNING

The Broadway community mourns the loss of Carol Channing, a Tony Award® winner and theatrical legend, who passed away on Tuesday, January 15 at age 97. To commemorate her life and work, the Committee of Theatre Owners will dim the lights of Broadway theatres in New York for one minute on Wednesday, January 16 at exactly 7:45pm.

On Broadway Ms. Channing appeared in: Hello, Dolly! (1995 Revival), Hello, Dolly! (1978 Revival), Lorelei (1974), Four on a Garden (1971), Hello, Dolly! (1964), Show Girl (1961), The Vamp (1955), Wonderful Town (1953), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), Lend an Ear (1948), Proof Thro' the Night (1942), and Let's Face It! (1941). She was in the original tour of Hello, Dolly! (1965) and played the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi over 4,500 times in her career. She also appeared in major touring productions including: Hello, Dolly! (1994 Revival), Legends! (1986), Jerry's Girls (1984), Hello, Dolly! (1983 Revival), Sugar Babies (1980), Hello, Dolly! (1977 Revival), Wonderful Town (1954), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1951).

“Carol Channing personified everything we love about American musical comedy: big, funny and joyous. To see her hold an audience in her thrall was a master class in star power,” said Thomas Schumacher, Chairman of The Broadway League. “Hello, Dolly! opened 55 years ago tomorrow. She always was famous for her timing.”

Winner of the 1964 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Hello, Dolly!, she received a special Tony Award in 1968 and a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1995. She received Tony Award nominations for her performances in 1974 for Lorelei, 1961 for Show Girl, and 1956 for The Vamp. In 1968 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Thoroughly Modern Millie and won Golden Globe Award for Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for that performance. Other awards include the Broadway League Distinguished Lifetime Service Award for Touring Broadway (1998), a special Outer Critics Award (1996), Theatre World Award (1949), and she was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (2002).

Some of Ms. Channing’s extensive film and television credits include: “The Addams Family,” “Where's Waldo?,” “The Love Boat,” “The Muppet Show,” “Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In,” Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Skidoo, and Thoroughly Modern Millie among many others. She was a frequent guest on programs such as “The Hollywood Squares,” “Super Password,” “The Bob Braun Show,” “The Mike Douglas Show,” “The Merv Griffin Show,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Joey Bishop Show,” “What's My Line?,” “I've Got a Secret,” “Password All-Stars,” and “The Jack Paar Tonight Show,” plus many, many more guest appearances, concerts, and performances.

Her full Broadway biography can be found on the Internet Broadway Database.

One New Musical That's HUGELY Anticipated!

Having its world premiere soon at the La Jolla Playhouse.
Headed for Broadway? many hope so!

An Astonishing New Musical Collaboration!

Astounding!
A brand new Lin-Manuel Miranda and John Kander creation. A great, ebullient anthem for New York!

On, Under, Along The Sea - Two Fables

Just a few blocks from one another on Broadway, two musicals are doing boffo box office business this summer.
One is a revival, the other is a newcomer. One is irrepressibly silly and the other is poignant.
But both shows are tuneful fables, both use innovative staging to get their point across, both involve real or impending natural disasters, both feature multi-cultural casts and both tell tales about life along, on or under the sea.
No, we're not talking about The Little Mermaid or Mutiny on the Bounty.
We're talking about the Tony award-winning Best Musical revival and the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle award-winning Best Musical.


The revival, Once On This Island is a one-act musical with a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. Based on the 1985 novel My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy, it is set on a French island in the Caribbean Sea. The show includes elements of the Romeo and Juliet story and elements of a fairy tale. It concerns a peasant girl on a tropical island who uses the power of love to bring together people of different social classes. The original Broadway production opened in 1990 and ran for 488 performances.
The new production at the Circle in the Square Theater opened last December and features a gritty in-the-round staging, a sandy surface, real water elements, a live goat, suggestions of voodoo and a decidedly pared-down version of the tropics. This is the island life that you don't see when you stay at once of those fancy Caribbean resorts or visit while on a luxury cruise. In fact, the set is so rusty and grainy and rag-tagged that you might think you ventured into the wrong show. And the story sort of unfolds all around you.

One stormy night on the island, thunder booms, making a small girl cry in fear. To comfort her, the village storytellers tell her the story of Ti Moune, a peasant girl who falls in love with a grand homme, Daniel Beauxhomme – a story of life, pain, love, grief, faith, and hope. In this story, four gods (consisting of Asaka: Mother of the Earth, Agwé: god of Water, Erzulie: goddess of Love, and Papa Ge: demon of Death) rule an island known as the Jewel of the Antilles where poor peasants worship them (Prologue/"We Dance"). The peasants, "black as night", live on one side of the island, and the grands hommes, lighter-skinned descendants of the original French planters and their slaves, live on the other. One day, Agwe unleashes a terrible storm upon the island, which in turn causes a disastrous flood, wiping out many villages. However, the gods save the life of a little orphan named Ti Moune by placing her in a tree above the flood's waves. She is found and subsequently adopted by the peasants Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian ("One Small Girl").

There's lots more to the story but from this you can get the general idea. Conflict and understanding between and across races, religions and socio-economic classes play a strong role in the narrative. Among the hauntingly beautiful numbers in the show are One Small Girl, Ti Moune, Forever Yours and  Why We Tell The Story. And the cast is uniformly excellent, especially Phillip Boykin and Kenita R. Miller as Ti Moune's adopted parents, Isaac Powell as Daniel and Loren Lott as Ti Moune.

But this show is, above all, an acquired taste. 

And we have to admit that we are not great fans of theater in-the-round. So much is happening at so many different places and with so much sound bouncing here and there, that the whole thing can be difficult to follow. And while it carries a powerful message of hope, this is not a cheerful show. Still, it has its following and is enjoying a healthy run.

By contrast, SpongeBob Square Pants, the new musical is a sheer, irrepressible, giddy delight. And, it's turned the legendary Palace Theater into a happy, dazzling, deliriously crowd-pleasing neon funhouse. Indeed, the show aptly bills itself as "the Broadway musical for everyone" and that could not be more true just as long as still retain at least an ounce of youthful frivolousness. 

The staging of this show is like nothing we've ever seen before and the whole thing works like a finely-tuned piece of machinery. And yet, it unfolds in such a seemingly spontaneous manner that it envelops you in cheerfulness. 

Director Tina Landau, whose distinct style and unconventional use of performance spaces are a trademark of her ambitious, ensemble-driven works, is really the driving force behind SpongeBob on Broadway and her hand shows in every element of the production. 

Ethan Slater gives one of the best performances ever as SpongeBob and he has deservedly garnered Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Theater World awards. His portrayal is so consistently appealing that it's nothing less than breathtaking. As Squidward, Gavin Lee gives us a classic Broadway sendup in the tradition of Charles Nelson Reilly and Paul Lynde. His big ten o'clock number, I'm Not A Loser, positively stops the show. As Patrick, Danny Skinner is a pure delight and he also has his moment in Super Star Sea Savior. And Wesley Taylor is so fiendishly menacing as Plankton that he becomes the culprit you love to hate. But in truth, this is an extraordinary cast throughout -- a huge group of more than 27 with a majority of the actors playing more than one role. And then there's the 19-piece band and so many wondrous special effects and gizmos that the whole thing is nothing less than an ongoing treat for the eyes and ears.

This is a $20 million show with top-notch production values and music by Sara Bareilles, Steven Tyler, Lady Antebellum, John Legend, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, The Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants and Panic! at the Disco, so you're bound to walk out humming the tunes. 

Oh, about the story -- well, it really doesn't matter, but here goes: It's all about the Best Day Ever gone wrong, and then in the course of the show, it's all righted again just in the nick of time, and we do mean with literally seconds to spare. You see, life on Bikini Bottom is threatened by a volcanic eruption. Of course, Sponge Bob is absolutely certain that he can save the day even though he has no idea how to go about it. And Patrick is ever ready to help Sponge Bob but he's clueless as well, and lazy. Then there's Plankton who delights in disaster and seeks to benefit from it all and Squidward, who just wants to be a star. Yes, there are various other characters as well, including a shifty mayor and a group of cultish  sardines. And the costumes for all of these under-the-sea creatures will blow you away. The show's got so much dayglow that you'll need a visor.

But don't think this is all fun 'n games. If you pay attention, there's ample social commentary here, a dash of satire and helpful lessons to be learned. 

Sponge Bob must close on September 16 to make way for construction at the Palace Theater but it will launch a national tour next fall. Still, we urge you to see the original Broadway production and take the whole family. You won't be disappointed!

Postscript: We knew nothing about Sponge Bob before we saw the show. We only knew that it was a TV cartoon show. We were somewhat familiar with the principal character but that was it. It didn't matter. In fact, it was almost better this way. We're instant fans. We love the show!

Oh, You CAN Quibble With It, However . .

Tale as old as time . . . 
Well, no -- we're not talking about Beauty and the Beast. No quite, anyway.
But we are talking about a story of transformation -- one that does involve a mismatched pair. But this is a story with an ending that is neither happily-ever-after nor obviously definitive.
Still, it is an old an enduring tale -- one that has its roots in Greek mythology.
It's George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the story of that endlessly captivating pair, Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins. She, the common, oafish, poorly-educated mangler of the English language and he, the erudite, sophisticated, condescending defender of the Mother Tongue.
When composer Frederick (Fritz) Loewe and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner set out to turn Shaw's play into a Broadway musical, they found themselves facing a puzzle they almost could not solve. How do you convert such a loquacious piece of theater into a pop operetta? They wrestled with this dilemma for a very long time. And then Lerner (who also wrote the libretto for the show) got out of the weeds and discovered a solution that was right in front of them: wherever possible, turn Shaw's words into songs and integrate them seamlessly into the story.
The result is My Fair Lady, one of the most endlessly chatty and enormously successful musicals in Broadway history -- so successful, in fact, that it's been called Broadway's "most beloved musical".
But for all of its appeal, My Fair Lady doesn't deliver a classic Broadway sound. To begin with, it remains veddy British. And, the music veers between an English music hall sound and the mannered patter of a proper drawing room. It's sort of a mash up of Lionel Bart, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Anthony Newly with a bit of Noel Coward thrown in. Yet, it remains distinctly its own property.
From the bombastic I'm Getting Married in the Morning to the lush I Could Have Danced All Night; from the rigid and repetitive Rain in Spain to the rapturous On The Street Where You Live, My Fair Lady covers all the bases and in the process plays on both our sensibilities and our heartstrings.

In its new Broadway production at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater, this captivating musical gets a full, glorious treatment with a cast of 37 and an orchestra almost as large. Under the able direction of Bartlett Sher, the entire production moves along like a well-oiled and very precise British timepiece.
What we're treated to is a bit more adept Eliza in Lauren Ambrose (she's certainly got her wits about her) and a younger, perhaps less brittle Higgins in Harry Haddon-Patton. To be sure, they're quite a match and they do go at one another along a choppy road dotted with malapropisms, brickbats and an ample dose of verbal daggers. Of course, it's still hard not to think of Rex Harrison (we saw a revival with Harrison years ago) and Julie Andrews in the lead roles. But this is an updated edition with an Eliza who's more of a peppered redhead and a Higgins who is lithe and stylishly handsome.
And, the supporting cast is so adroit that the big show stoppers like I'm Getting Married are not only intact but they're actually better and more energetic than we remember them. Here, the credit must go to  Christopher Gatelli's fine choreography and the standout performance of Norbert Leo Butz as Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle. Butz is an absolute Broadway treasure -- a performer who radiates such energy and who so completely inhabits a role that he takes your breath away. The joy that he takes in his performance is palpable and it is a highlight of the show. And what a special treat it is to see Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins, the wise an imperious materfamilias who still holds sway over her smug and irascible son. Rigg doesn't overplay the role but rather sets just the right tone. And Michael Yeargan's design of Higgin's stately abode is simply a three-dimensional treasure.
Do we have any quibbles with this grand production? Well, yes. Jordan Donica as Freddy is a bit too giddy and somewhat too operatic in his deliver of On The Street Where You Live. It's all up here when it should be more nuanced. The song needs to be acted rather than belted. And Allan Corduner is a tad too fey as Colonel Pickering. On top of all that, Catherine Zuber's costumes are not terribly memorable. But than again, who could possibly top Cecil Beaton?
To be sure, these are minor objections since, overall this is as fine a production as you are likely to currently see.

And now comes the spoiler alert: We all know that the final scene of My Fair Lady can be wonderfully touching and romantic for some (Eliza returns!) or maddeningly inconclusive for others (well, does she really?). In this production, no dialogue has been changed but there is an alteration in the staging of the final scene. We won't give the ending away completely but we will tell you this: we didn't like it! You, on the other hand, may have a completely different reaction.

RAPTUROUS! This Is One For The Ages!

Justin Peck received the 2018 Tony Award for his choreography of Carousel. Here's why!

The story is told of an impressionable young teenage music student who sat enthralled at the opening night performance of a new musical at the Majestic Theater on Broadway in 1945. At one point, he looked across the aisle at a friend who was seated nearby and they both had tears in their eyes.
The student was Stephen Sondheim, then mentored by Oscar Hammerstein. The friend was Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard Rodgers. And the show was Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, now considered a seminal work of the American musical theater.
Anyone who's ever witnessed a credible performance of Carousel knows why Sondheim and Rodgers and millions of others have been moved to tears. This story of carnival barker Billy Bigelow and mill worker Julie Jordan is so filled with yearning, struggle, passion and desire that it can't help but tug at your heart. From the moment the lead characters sing the haunting If I Loved You, you know they are star-crossed and you also know that there is nothing you can do to help them. As a later balled reminds you: What's The Use of Wond'rin? the troubled tale of Billy and Julie will have to unfold and ultimately reach its fated conclusion.
Carousel has been called a story of young love, a parable and a tale of redemption. But at its core this is a show about the American Dream -- the dream of a better, simpler, happier, more fulfilling life. That's really what every character in the show (set at the dawn of the twentieth century) seeks. And this dream is expressed in its most intense form within the story of Julie and Billy. Remember: this was an era of big, new, audacious dreams. And these dreams even touched the residents of a small fishing village in New England.
Broadway's newest production of Carousel (now at the Imperial Theater) is the first full-scale mounting of this landmark musical on the Great White Way since 1994. And this rendering of Carousel is grand and glorious in every imaginable way.
With a cast of 40 and a 28-piece orchestra this is a richly rewarding production that remains true to the original but also allows us to think about the topics and issues that Carousel raises in up-to-the-minute terms. And, along the way, the show loses none of its intimacy, none of its sweet moments, none of its heartfelt sentimentality.
Much of the credit for all this must go to the director (Jack O'Brien), the choreographer (Justin Peck) and the outstanding cast. The one bow to modern sensibilities is the casting of an African-American (Joshua Henry) in the role of Billy Bigelow. Inasmuch as Rodgers and Hammerstein's shows are all about tolerance and understanding (South Pacific itself featured interracial love stories) this would seem to be a natural progression.
Lindsay Mendez won the 2018 Tony Award for her portrayal of the irrepressible Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel and she is astonishing. She reminds us of a young Ethel Merman. And Mendez is paired with the appealing Alexander Gemignani as Enoch Snow. When the two of them duet in When The Children Are Asleep, it's one of the sweetest moments in all of musical theater.
To hear Joshua Henry perform the Soliloquy (My Boy Bill) is to experience this full-throated marathon as you've never heard it before. It's truly acted in song and is so beautifully nuanced and well-paced that it takes your breath away. When the Metropolitan's Opera's RenéeFleming sings You'll Never Walk Alone, you're sure to put "hope in your heart" once again. And Jessie Mueller is perfectly cast as Julie Jordan. What's more, Margaret Colin is both menacing and comedic as Mrs. Mullin, Amar Ramsar literally and figuratively takes flight as Jigger Craig and John Douglas Thompson is full of gravitas as The Starkeeper.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's music is so robust, rich and melodic that it makes you wish that every Broadway musical could sound like this. Bravo to Jonathan Tunick for his orchestrations in this his 111th production and 50th year  in the business. And the dancing! OMG! The movements tell the story with zest one minute and glorious ballet moves the next.
The opening of Carousel is a joy unto itself. Technically, the show has no overture because Richard Rodgers tired of having his music compete with the audience's tardy arrivals and chattering. So, instead, we get the lushly memorable Carousel Waltz, described as follows by author Ethan Mordden:

Other characters catch our notice—Mr. Bascombe, the pompous mill owner, Mrs. Mullin, the widow who runs the carousel and, apparently, Billy; a dancing bear; an acrobat. But what draws us in is the intensity with which Julie regards Billy—the way she stands frozen, staring at him, while everyone else at the fair is swaying to the rhythm of Billy's spiel. And as Julie and Billy ride together on the swirling carousel, and the stage picture surges with the excitement of the crowd, and the orchestra storms to a climax,  . . . we realize that R & H have not only skipped the overture and the opening number but the exposition as well. They have plunged into the story, right into the middle of it, in the most intense first scene any musical ever had . . . 

Yes, Carousel is a true original. And now it's also a classic American pop opera. It is beautiful to watch, thrilling to experience and ravishing in every sense of the word.
Don't miss it!