Put on a Happy Replacement

I got the semi-new recording of Wonderful Town, on which the voices of Brooke Shields and Jennifer Hope Wills have been substituted for those of Donna Murphy and Jennifer Westfeldt. The new Jennifer is as good as the first one. As for Shields: I saw her a while ago and was tremendously impressed, but I daresay that she does better in front of an audience than in front of a microphone.

This is the second time that Shields has had her voice imposed on
an existing cast album; Grease! was the first. Anyway, the Wonderful Town release got me thinking about the concept of retrofitted replacement cast albums. The first and most famous, of course, was the London cast album of Company, on which Larry Kert’s voice almost-but-not-quite eradicated that of Dean Jones. And while I don’t think that this needs to become common practice — who’s hankering for a disc on which Tony Orlando IS Barnum? — I did come up with a Top 40 list of recordings that I think would have ranged from genuinely terrific to, at least, fascinating curiosities.

I’m limiting the list to stars who took over on Broadway, eliminating those
who headed national companies — even if the outside-of-NYC stars were more high profile than the original Broadway performers (Alexis Smith in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) or were just about equal in wattage to their Broadway counterparts (Chita Rivera in Sweet Charity). There are many albums that we don’t need because the replacement stars weren’t that interesting (Martha Wright in The Sound of Music, anyone?) or the scores themselves aren’t worthy: Though Lisa Kirk and Richard Kiley sported better voices for Here’s Love than did Janis Paige and Craig Stevens, Meredith Willson’s song for their characters are so abominable that we don’t want to hear anyone singing them. But here are the stars that I think would have made for some interesting listening on replacement cast albums:

• Liza Minnelli, Chicago: She was the right age for Roxie and smack-dab in her prime when she substituted for Gwen Verdon during the star’s illness.
• Betty Buckley, Sunset Boulevard: Frankly, I preferred Elaine Paige — which surprised even Elaine Paige when I told her — but I know that most musical theater enthusiasts believe that Buckley was the best of the Normas.
• Danielle Darrieux, Coco: Imagine hearing André Previn’s lovely music and Alan Jay Lerner’s witty lyrics by someone who could actually sing!

• Judy Kaye, On the Twentieth Century: If only for her vocal
  pyrotechnics at the end of “Babette.”

• Mimi Hines, Funny Girl: So many who saw her do it said that she really was funny, terrific, and even more natively right for the role of Fanny Brice than was Barbra Streisand.
• Ethel Merman, Hello, Dolly!: A 45rpm record of the two added songs with piano accompaniment just isn’t enough.
• Phylicia Rashad, Into the Woods: Was there even one syllable that she sang in the manner of Bernadette Peters? This lady really made the witch her own.
• Angela Lansbury, The King and I: What a shame to see all those empty seats in the Uris — all because the lady didn’t do the revival with Brynner and the management was stupid enough to advertise that people who had bought in advance could get their money back. That’s no way to welcome Angela Lansbury; they should have raised the prices for her engagement!
• Betty Comden, On the Twentieth Century: When Imogene Coca took a week off, Comden came in as Mrs. Primrose. Hearing an author perform her own work is always delicious, but never more so than when Comden is the author in question.

• Reba McEntire, Annie Get Your Gun: Only my buddy Matthew
  Murray and I seem to feel that Bernadette Peters gave the more layered
  performance, but this would have made a pleasant disc for those who preferred
  McEntire and feel that the few selections she did record aren’t enough.

• Debbie Reynolds, Woman of the Year: Ah, to have heard a real voice take on Kander and Ebb’s songs!
• Ann Miller, Mame: This would have been a great record. Though if the lady who wanted the job — Judy Garland — had gotten it, most musical theater fans would have put that replacement cast album at the top of the list.
• Nanette Fabray, Bloomer Girl: Nothing against Celeste Holm, but…

• Carol Channing, Wonderful Town: Not that we need yet another
  recording of this show, but neither did we need the Brooke Shields version. Still, it would have been nice to hear just how straight Channing played the role of Ruth Sherwood.

• Phyllis Diller, Hello, Dolly!: I missed her, but everyone who’s told me about seeing her says that the lady totally shed her stand-up comedian persona and delivered a genuine performance.
• Whoopi Goldberg, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: I’ll bet there are already those of a younger generation who can’t believe that she actually played Pseudolus.
• Dorothy Loudon, Sweeney Todd: She did put her own special spin on Mrs. Lovett.
• Sarah Jessica Parker, Annie: The sun sure came out on many a tomorrow for this kid after she played the title role in this hit.
• J. Mark McVey, Les Misérables: The best of all the replacement Valjeans that I saw.

• Herschel Bernardi, Fiddler on the Roof: Yes, he did make his own recording of the score — and, on second thought, that was actually better than having him replace Zero Mostel on the 1964 album because we got to hear the
  definitive rendition of the dropped song “When Messiah Comes.”

• Cathy Rigby, Seussical: Considering that poor David Shiner just doesn’t possess the musical theater gene — and Lord knows that he tried to find it — having a natural musical theater performer would have hit the spot.
• Stockard Channing, They’re Playing Our Song: Take it from someone who saw her do many a musical during her college years, this lady can sing. I’m not surprised that the former First Lady of Harvard Musicals is now the current First Lady on The West Wing.
• Eva Gabor, Tovarich: For laughs, that’s all.
• Sandy Duncan, My One and Only: Or maybe Duncan as Roxie in Chicago. She was marvelous in both.

• Elaine Stritch, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: The
  play was recorded with its original cast by Columbia, so it can make this list.

• Carol Bruce, A Family Affair: Until last week, I wasn’t even
  aware that this lady — whom many know from the 1946 Show Boat and Do I Hear a Waltz? — took over for Eileen Heckart. (Thanks, Richard Seff, for
  telling me!) Heckart was many wonderful things but was no singer, so having Bruce on the cast album would have spruced things up.

• Howard McGillin, The Phantom of the Opera: As haunting a voice as Michael Crawford’s.
• Jerry Lewis, Damn Yankees: Sure, Mr. Applegate doesn’t have much to do on disc, but Lewis did perform his song-and-dance number with panache.

• La Chanze, Ragtime: She tore down the house at the crest of
  Broadview Avenue hill in New Rochelle.

• Hermoine Gingold, Milk and Honey: I can’t imagine this
  quintessentially British woman in this quintessentially little Jewish lady role, but I
  swear that she did it.

• Eric Potter, Naked Boys Singing: Only kidding!
• John Travolta, Grease: Would have been fun to hear him in the role of Doody on his way up.
• Joel Grey, Stop the World — I Want to Get Off: This would have been a boon for all those who can’t stand Anthony Newley’s mannered singing.
• Betty Hutton, Fade Out, Fade In: Business fell by more than 60% when this lady came in for Carol Burnett, but I still would have loved to hear what she did with the stagestruck Hope Springfield.
• Anne Baxter, Applause: I have no idea if Baxter could sing, but we sure know that the woman who originally had the part couldn’t.

• The Smothers Brothers, I Love My Wife: They were fun, so why
  not?

• Liz Callaway, Cats: Maybe you don’t want to hear “Memory” again, but I always loved the way she did it.
• John Cullum, 1776: What a riveting “Molasses to Rum” he did! True, Cullum performs the song powerfully in the film version, but it’s not the same as a stage cast recording — and, besides, the soundtrack album is out of print.
• Kathie Lee Gifford, Putting It Together: Granted, Carol Burnett didn’t even get her own cast album of this show, but she did make a video recording of it. As my late great frend Mike Salinas said, “I went to see Gifford with a big smirk on my face but, in no time at all, she wiped it right off me.” I was never able to get over and see her, so I would have at least liked to hear her.
• Harvey Fierstein, Fiddler on the Roof: We’ll soon see if this pans out, now won’t we?

Well, those are my choices. You must have some of your own. Won’t you please let me know what I missed?

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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@theatermania.com]