Leaving attempts at wit aside...
Peter Filichia, who wrote the Star-Ledger interview with Kelly that I
linked to earlier, published more excerpts from the interiew today in
his column at Theatermania.com. In this segment, she talks about
working on "A Chorus Line" with the legendary Michael Bennett.
Fascinating stuff:
I still remember that Saturday evening, August 9, 1975, when I first
saw Chorus Line at the Shubert, at the 17th showing of its 6,137-
performance run. I vividly recall that moment in "Sing!" when Kristine
warbled, "And when Christmas comes, and all my friends go -- " during
which time, Al was prompting everyone that they should finish the
sentence for her with the word "caroling." I saw Bishop do something
I've never seen any other Sheila do, a marvelous moment that told us
something about her: For she caught Al's gesture earlier than anyone
else, and slowly and deliberately nodded twice, as if to say, "Got it.
I know what you want me to do. I'll come in and sing on cue." And she
did. I've seen about a dozen Chorus Line productions since then, and
I've never seen another Sheila do this -- and I've missed it.
"And I almost didn't do the show," Bishop told me. "Yes, I was part of
those tape recording sessions that inspired the musical, and yes, I
did the first workshop. But then I had to make some money, and took a
job in the road tour of Irene. I was in Houston, two weeks into a six-
month tour, and Michael called and asked me, 'What are you doing
there?' I told him I was working, and he said, 'You should have called
me. I would have loaned you the money you needed.' I told him that I
don't take loans, and that I only earn money. And he actually went and
bought me out of my contract just for the second workshop."
She stopped and remembered before continuing. "That workshop! I felt I
was enjoying a wonderful exercise period, like I was going to acting
school every day. Michael gave me a lot of freedom, and didn't give me
an awful lot of direction; he trusted me as an actress."
Did she trust she was a in a hit? Bishop shook her head no. "I didn't
know if it would be a hit and I didn't care. I thought, 'This is good,
but if the rest of the world doesn't think so, too bad.' Within the
first week of previews, when the limousines started showing up
downtown, and when you'd look out in the audience and see celebrities
sitting not in seats, but on the steps, we started thinking we had
something."
Like so many before her, Bishop used the quintessential adjective that
every person who worked with Michael Bennett seems to use: "Michael
and I had an interesting relationship," she said. "At the workshops,
he'd sometimes play Zach and he'd choose different people for the
chorus each time. That way, he'd keep us on edge. We wouldn't get
complacent that we knew in advance that we'd be chosen, and somehow
telegraph that to the audience. And do you know that that stinker
never chose me any time he played Zach? Not once! That was his way to
zing me. But he did give me one great moment."
She was talking about the very end of the show, after Zach makes his
eight choices, and the other nine auditioners must leave empty-handed.
Sheila walks off, only to stop and turn, ready to tell him a thing or
two -- before thinking twice, turning, and walking off silently.
"It wasn't mine originally," she said, "because, remember, at first
Zach didn't give Cassie the part. So she was the one who had that
moment. During that time, I'd cross to get my bag stage left, and head
up to the diagonal in the upper right, as she was standing there
staring at Zach. I'd then walk up and put my arm around her, and take
her with me.
"But then one day Michael came in and said, 'Okay, as of tonight,
Donna's gonna get the job, so Kelly, after you cross and get your bag,
go up where Donna was, stop, turn around, and then leave.'"
I told Ms. Bishop that what I assumed Bennett actually said was,
"Carole, after you cross and get your bag, go up where Donna was,
stop, turn around, and then leave.'" After all, she was born Carole
Bishop, and changed her name to Kelly only after A Chorus Line was up
and running a while.
Bishop shook her head no once again. "No, Michael just liked calling
me Kelly, and did it early on. And since he was God, everyone in the
production started calling me Kelly, too. The thing was, that year at
the Tonys, when they announced that the winner was Kelly Bishop, a lot
of people who know me were really upset, because they thought the
presenter had got my name wrong."
It took more than a decade to get that Tony. "I started dancing
professionally almost right out of high school, at Radio City" she
said. "It's not considered a good job, but doing a show four or five
times a day is a great learning experience. The next job I had was
dancing for Michael Kidd in Wonderworld, a show at the 1964 World's
Fair. What's fascinating there was that one of the dancers was,
believe it or not, Morgan Freeman. He was a little older than the rest
of us, but he could dance."
Broadway came in 1968 with Golden Rainbow, which she left later that
year for Promises, Promises -- her first Bennett show. That hit was
followed by the flop revival of On the Town, but if we're going to
talk flops, we can't mention any one more notorious than Rachael Lily
Rosenbloom, and Don't You Forget It! It's the musical that closed
without opening five years to the day after Promises triumphantly
debuted.
"I wouldn't have done Rachael, but (choreographer) Tony Stevens asked
me to," she said. "He was a friend, and it was his first choreography
job. It just turned into the worst situation. I remember being at
rehearsals, just standing there and yelling, 'Make up your minds,
people.'" Yeah, not every director-choreographer can be Michael
Bennett.
12:01 AM | Peter Filichia
http://www.theatermania.com/peterfilichia/permalinks/2008/03/07/On%2DBennett%2DBishop%2Dand%2DBaltimo/
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