If the Tonys were established at the time of the original productions of Oklahoma! and Carousel in the '40s, would they have swept the awards? Which performers would have been singled out/nominated do you think?
In an interview with Gene Nelson, Nelson states that Celeste Holm was the breakthrough performer of the original Oklahoma! in her role as Ado Annie... She was even bigger than Alfred Drake he says. She was denied the same role in the 1955 movie version (the role went to Gloria Grahame)
Well Tony voters would have had their pick of (going by late April cut off date):
LAUGH, TOWN, LAUGH w/ Ed Wynn STAR AND GARTER STARS ON ICE THIS IS THE ARMY (one would think a big contender for awards) NEW PRIORITIES OF 1943 SHOW TIME WINE, WOMEN AND SONG LET FREEDOM RING COUNT ME IN OY IS DUS A LEBEN! w/ Molly Picon playing herself BEAT THE BAND ROSALINDA a revamp of DIE FLEDERMAUS ONCE OVER LIGHTLY NEW FACES YOU'LL SEE STARS SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS w/ Merman and Cole Porter score FOR YOUR PLEASURE OKLAHOMA! ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1943
Would think the big nominees would in fact be OKLAHOMA, SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS, THIS IS THE ARMY, STARS AND GARTERS and ZIEGFELD FOLLIES. The revivals were all operettas.
DREAM WITH MUSIC TAKE A BOW w/ only one Marx Bother - Chico HATS OFF TO ICE SONG OF NORWAY STAR TIME BLOOMER GIRL SADIE THOMPSON RHAPSODY THE SEVEN LIVELY ARTS LAFFING ROOM ONLY SING OUT SWEET LAND w/ Alfred Drake ON THE TOWN UP IN CENTRAL PARK THE FIREBRAND OF FLORENCE CAROUSEL
The ones to beat would have been CAROUSEL, ON THE TOWN, BLOOMER GIRL, UP IN CENTRAL PARK and THE SONG OF NORWAY.
Imagine choosing Best Choreography between Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Helen Tamaris and George Balanchine.
Oh dear, I would hate to see my two fave 40s shows, OTT and Carousel up against each other... Would DeMille get nominated against herself--her work in both Bloomer Girl and Carousel is pretty epic.
Both shows of de Mille's that season had very similar dance plans and both featured a requisite dream ballet - the Civil War ballet in BLOOMER GIRL and Louise's ballet in CAROUSEL. Though it's been written that the Civil War ballet really did not have a lot to do with the plot of the show, unlike the ballet in CAROUSEL.
The civil war ballet seemed to be shoehorned in just to give some gravitas. There's a TV performance of it online, with James Mitchell and it's pretty awesome.
joined:3/18/10
Posted: 4/24/12 at 05:36pm