Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!

Hello, my gorgeous, amazing fans! 64 years ago today, a VERY important thing happened: BETTY BUCKLEY WAS BORN! La Buckley was born in Big Spring, Texas and raised in Fort Worth and actually competed in many beauty pageants, and was even runner up for Miss Texas. In 1969 she was spotted by a talent scout and then shortly after made her big Broadway DEBUT in 1776 as Martha Jefferson and brought down the house every night. The rest, as the say, is history. Betty went on to do TV and movies (most famously as the gym teacher in Carrie) and continued wowing audiences on Broadway in shows like Pippin, Song and Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Sunset Boulevard, and Carrie. She is probably most known for her Tony Award Winning performance of Grizabella in Cats. 

I have a great love for Betty Buckley. Her steely, soul-shattering belt and commitment to the characters she plays has always blown me away. Also, if you haven't seen/heard her sing "Eve Was Weak" from Carrie the musical, you are SERIOUSLY missing out. Some other favorite Betty Buckley moments for me are her Tony Award performance of "Memory," "Writing on the Wall" from Drood, and many others. I wish that someone had had the sense to have her do Evita back when it first premiered, but we can dream! Happy Birthday you gorgeous creature!

Alice Ripley: Don't Forget

Hello, my adoring, beautiful fans! One of the women who has graced the Broadway stage in the last 20 years that has always caught my eyes and ears is Alice Ripley. La Ripley made her big splash in the original Broadway production of Side Show, as the higher belting siamese twin, Violet Hilton. (I secretly understudied in this production. Find out more about my career here!) Before that, she played the role of Betty in Sunset Boulevard. Most people now know her for her Tony Award winning performance as Diana in Next to Normal, the story of a woman who suffers from mental illness...and her family sometimes sings too. Ironically, she and I are often compared for our fearless belting and strange vowels.

Alice Ripley is now often parodied for her mannerisms, but I think it's important to take a look back at her beginnings and remember that she BELTED HER FACE OFF!!! She made singing decisions in Side Show that would have ruined other people after ONE night. In Sunset Boulevard, the show obviously belongs to Norma Desmond (especially when I play it)...but how come in clips of her singing the ingenue role of Betty, I could care less about Norma...especially if it's being played by Glenn Close. If I had been Norma to her Betty (And I almost was!), I would have shot her at the TOP of the show. Get that show stealing, beltress off the stage and get me Judy Kuhn! Here are some of my favorite clips of Alice Ripley in her prime!

     "She's Gone," cut from Side Show. Who can say why they decided to cut this number during previews. It does sort of stop the story in its slow, melodramatic tracks, but COME ON!

Beautiful head voice!!! "Too Much In Love To Care," from Sunset Boulevard

She only appears at the beginning of this video, but listen to her steal the show from Betty Buckley in 30 seconds. 

Missed Opportunities

Hello, my gorgeous fans! One of my favorite things to do is to "dream cast" musicals, which means taking a musical, and casting it with your ideal, perfect cast. Most of the time I cast myself as the leading heroine when I play this game, but sometimes I ponder on things like: "What if Betty Buckley had replaced Patti LuPone in Evita?" "What if Judy Garland had starred in the movie version of Gypsy?" or "What if Shirley Bassey had done a stint as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard?" "Why wasn't Master Class written sooner so Anne Bancroft could have starred in it?" These questions spark glorious fantasies in my mind, but usually lead to depression since they never happened.

What is so maddening is that some beyond fantastical casting opportunities have been SO CLOSE to actually happening, but for some reason or another (schedules, artistic differences, drug use) they never came to fruition. Here are some from stage and screen...

1. Judy Garland as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (there were some talks)

2. Betty Buckley as The Witch in Into The Woods (she was in the workshops, but had artistic differences)

3. Patti LuPone in Sunday in the Park with George (she auditioned, but it didn't work out)

4. Judy Garland in Valley of The Dolls (click here for video)

5. Elaine Stritch in Gypsy (she almost did it over Angela Lansbury in London in the 70s, but for some reason it didn't happen. Obviously I'm glad Angela said yes and did it, because it's an amazing performance. Check out clips!)

6. Liza Minelli in the Evita movie. (This didn't happen because Tim Rice was involved and wanted Elaine Paige, his then girlfriend, who had originated the role in London, to do the movie.)
7. Cher as the Witch in an Into The Woods movie. (The fact that this movie didn't happen makes me so upset. It was to be directed by Rob Reiner also starring Goldie Hawn as the Baker's Wife, Robyn Williams as the Baker, Elijah Woods as Jack, Roseanne Barr as Jack's mother, Steve Martin as the Woolf, etc. Major UGH!)
8. Meryl Street in Sunset Boulevard movie. (This project just never happened. Streep was battling Glenn Close and Barbra Streisand for the part. Hugh Jackman was supposed to play Joe.)
9. Britney Spears in Streetcar Named Desire. (She was offered to do it in London...I know what you're thinking, and I don't care. I would have enjoyed it if it was shockingly bad, and I would have enjoyed it if it was miraculously good. I would have been in heaven.)
10. Veronica Garland in everything. (I have been offered so many parts in so many different stage productions, movies, etc and for some reason or another I have had to decline. Truly sad.)

Some rare treats!

Hello, gorgeous ones! Besides acting, singing, cosmetics, etc, I also love getting lost in the world of youtube. One of my favorite finds on youtube is this sound recording of Patti LuPone in her FINAL performance of Sunset Boulevard in London. Even though I've always thought I would have been fabulous in the role, Madame LuPone really nails it. Also, on the initial cast recording with Patti, the ending that was used for Broadway wasn't included. Here we have it, LIVE!!!

Another video, from the same user, also caught my eye recently.  A video of Betty Buckley and Linzi Hateley performing "Eve Was Weak," a song I've immortalized, from Betty's Carnegie Hall concert. I'd always read that they reprised their roles in selections from Carrie during this concert, but no recordings existed, and I was out of town at the time! FINALLY, I found this and got to see two fabulous performers reunite to recreate a fabulous, musical theater moment. 

Veronica in Carrie the Musical!

Hello my gorgeous fans! If you're into gothic, musical thrillers and high belting, please watch me perform "Eve Was Weak," from Carrie the Musical! 

Veronica Garland: Living Legend?

Veronica Garland has been described as “full-throated ,” “a full figured Julianne Moore,” “frightening,” “loud,” and “frighteningly loud” by both her peers and the press. Miss Garland had her first taste of the musical theatre spotlight when she briefly understudied Patti LuPone in the Australian Production of Evita. She went on for an ailing Ms. LuPone one night and so wowed those in attendance that La LuPone demanded she be immediately removed from the production. While still in the blush of youth, she also secretly understudied other great leading ladies of the Broadway Stage, including Betty Buckley in the ill-fated Carrie, Judy Kuhn in the flop Broadway Production of Chess, Angela Lansbury in the short-lived revival of Mame, and both Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner in cult musical, Side Show. There was never a show in which Ms. Garland did not add a full throated, belted interpolation. Ms. Garland soon felt the glare of the spotlight was too much for her delicate complexion and all but retired from the musical stage. She has been residing in solitude in Los Angeles where her hobbies include painting her face, wishing her eye lashes were longer and YouTubing herself. A few years ago, she was tepidly approached by Zachary Altman (www.highbelting.com) to come out of retirement to do a concert version of Sweeney Todd. She reluctantly accepted and came to define the role of Mrs. Lovett. Never has a comeback been so intensely anticipated and never has an ovation been so richly deserved.

In 2010, Heyer- Anchel Productions mounted a production of Into The Woods specifically for her. Her interpretation of The Witch was acclaimed for its depth, pathos and interpolated belted “F.” Veronica continued to “wow” audiences in the Holiday Revue, The Private Life of Veronica Garland, which was an enormous success. She then scared everyone into hysterics making them think she was REALLY leaving the stage in As If We Never Said Goodbye: Veronica’s Farewell Tour of 2011. Following her farewell tour, La Garland starred in a staged concert performance of Carrie: The Musical as Margaret White, opposite Morgan Anderson as the title role. Veronica’s performance of “Eve Was Weak,” which has thousands of views, can be found here.

Recently, Christiana Little, a New York based singer, actress, songwriter and playwright, approached Veronica about starring in an original musical tailored to her special talents, and so this summer, Veronica will star in Bombshell Baby!