This Song From Dreamgirls Was Written on a Diner Napkin

Hello from very high in the air!

I’m on a plane to Las Vegas and I’m so happy to get out of freezing NYC. I am the person you see walking around saying to no one in particular, “OMG! It is so effing cold! What is happening?!” I feel like I can’t walk more than a block without having to run into a store and warm up. What’s crazy is that I’ve dealt with much colder temperatures and I don’t remember having to submerge myself in a hot bath, Altered States-style, just from walking one block. I was telling my husband that I remember it being 20 degrees below zero when I was studying piano at Oberlin Conservatory but then I got nervous that I was exaggerating. FYI, I am directly descended from a mother who had no problem exaggerating numbers for dramatic effect. It was always, “Put that down! It cost me $20…$30 dollars!” or “Wear a hat! It’s 20….10 degrees out!” She allowed herself a sliding scale on both sides of the number if it got the desired reaction.

Anyhoo, I had a very clear memory of it being 20 degrees below zero but then thought, “Wait. Was that including the wind chill?” You may remember that I wanted to be a meteorologist. Wind chill refers to the temperature that it feels like when the wind hits you—which is usually even colder than the actual temperature.

End of story: James and I Googled it, and it actually was 20 below! And Oberlin isn’t like Montréal where there are lots of underground tunnels people can use instead of going outside. We had to walk around campus on what felt like the middle of the iceberg that the Titanic hit. To make it worse, I rebelled against what my mother was always telling me (to wear a hat and bundle up), so I was sporting a long cloth coat that I got in a thrift store.

Note to self: cloth doesn’t protect against Arctic cold.

The good news: I thought it made me look hip.

The bad news: It didn’t make me look hip and I was so cold all the time.

One of the positives about being at Oberlin in January is something we called Winter Term. Students must complete their own project for the month. I didn’t mind the cold because I loved every project I did! Every year, I conducted a show with a full orchestra (Wonderful Town, The Mikado, Company) and I also played and conducted “Rhapsody in Blue.” I’m so thankful I learned how to play it then because I’ve been able to haul it out ever since.

I mentioned a few columns ago that I performed in a huge concert at Carnegie Hall for Molloy University with tons of Broadway stars and the 65-piece South Shore Symphony. When Act Two began, I talked about how I wished my dad was still alive because he would have plotzed and kvelled seeing me on that famous stage. His favorite classical piece that I played was “Rhapsody in Blue” so I played it in honor of him. Here is a clip of the final section!

Speaking of that fabulous piece, I just played it in Florida! I performed a concert at the JCC in Ft. Lauderdale with Arielle Jacobs and Lillias White. 

Here’s one of my favorite Lillias White stories. Lillias was cast in a musical called Rock and Roll: The First 5000 Years. It was an early jukebox musical featuring tons of songs we all know from the radio. Lillias played Aretha Franklin, amongst other beltresses. One of the women in the show played Janis Joplin but, during rehearsals, told everyone she was going to quit. Why? Because she wanted to make records. The whole cast was like, “Why would you leave a Broadway show? Stay in the show, make a weekly salary, save the money, and then try a recording career.” The woman was like, “Anyhoo, I quit.” And everyone was like, “Good luck, sister!”

Cut to: The show ran for only a few weeks and the woman who quit is named…Madonna!

Speaking of “jukebox musicals,” they used be called “revues.” I interviewed the fabulous Richard Maltby Jr., who directed one of the most successful revues ever, Ain’t Misbehavin. He gave me so much fun insight! When he started auditions, he found Armelia McQueen who he knew he had to cast. However, then Nell Carter walked in. Oh no. He already had Armelia and didn’t need another woman. Unless…. yep. He decided to expand his idea and cast them both. His plan was to have the show’s 11 o’clock number feature both women singing high notes. Now that’s my kinda show!

If you don’t know, this was a five-person revue of Fats Waller music at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Richard told me that the show skyrocketed beyond anything anyone could imagine in a matter of months! It began rehearsals in January, opened at the small Manhattan Theater Club space in February, announced its transfer to Broadway (!) a month later, opened officially on Broadway in May, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical in June. Again, it began rehearsals only five months before! The two fabulous male stars (André De Shields and Ken Page) took the show to Broadway. 

But the Irene Cara, who was opposite Armelia and Nell, didn’t want to go with the transfer. The wonderful Charlayne Woodard played Irene’s role on Broadway and Irene followed her dream and soon starred in the film Fame. What’s amazing is that this little revue with no actual script won Best Musical over On the Twentieth Century by Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green!

I am such a super-fan of Richard and his writing partner, David Shire. They have written some of my absolute favorite songs so I’m so crazily excited that they have a brand-new revue coming very soon to The Little Theater in NYC. Their first revue was Starting Here, Starting Now which was about the beginning of your adult years. Their second was Closer Than Ever which focused on when you really become an adult. Their latest is About Time which is about one’s “third act” so to speak. The cast is so fantastic. I’m freaking out because the brilliant Lynne Wintersteller (with whom I fell in love with after listening to my Closer Than Ever double cassette) is one of the stars!

Here is a deconstruction of Maltby and Shire’s stunning “Life Story” sung by the luminous Lynne.

P.S. Maltby and Shire have had their amazing music in the public eye since the 1960s! David was the rehearsal pianist for Funny Girl and he and Richard dreamed of having Barbra record one of their songs. 

But how? They were newcomers. Why would she take the time to listen to one of their songs? Well, they came up with an old-school reverse psychology plan. When David was rehearsing with Barbra, he casually left a Maltby and Shire song on the piano. Barbra noticed it and asked what it was. Instead of saying, “OMG! We just wrote it and we’re dying for you to sing it!” he said, “Oh that? It’s not for you.” She was like, “What do you mean, it’s not for me? Who’s it for?” David told her it wasn’t written for a woman. He and Richard wrote it and hoped Robert Goulet would record it. Barbra then basically insisted that he play it for her and, the next thing they knew, she recorded the beautiful “Autumn”!

Then, amazingly, she sang their song, “Starting Here Starting Now” on her TV special Color Me Barbra. Richard told me how David added that fantastic modulation for her. You can hear it at about two minutes in. Barbra holds the word “now” for what seems like 10 minutes and then goes up a half step. It is thrilling!

Go see their new show, About Time, ASAP! Previews begin on February 27.

Back to Ain’t Misbehavin’! The show made Nell Carter a superstar. Soon, she got a TV pilot in Hollywood. At the time, she was working on a new musical with a role written for her. The creators of the musical were going to wait for her to finish her TV pilot and then continue with the musical. But the book writer/lyricist told everyone that Nell wasn’t going to come back from Hollywood for a few years. He knew Nell was going to become a TV star, and she did.

Nell wound up starring for multiple seasons in Gimme a Break. The role that she originated in that musical workshop eventually went to Jennifer Lewis and then Jennifer Holliday. Yes, Nell Carter was the first Effie in Dreamgirls! And Tom Eyen knew they would have to find a new star because Nell was going to become a TV staple. Here she is, back in the 1970s, singing "One Night Only," Effie’s song from Act Two.

I remember Henry Krieger (the wonderful composer) telling me that the very first song he wrote with Tom was “One Night Only.” They were at a diner and sketched it out on a napkin. Well, imagine my surprise when I heard a recording of the out-of-town tryout of Dreamgirls and there was no “One Night Only.” I couldn’t understand it because I knew it had existed since the show was first conceived. I did some sleuthing and found out that Michael Bennett thought that the minor key and various aspects sounded not like pop song but more like a Jewish synagogue anthem! He asked Henry and Tom to write a new song for Act Two, and they did. It was called “It’s Gonna Be My Time” and you can hear it here at 40 minutes into the show.

Well, even though it’s a good song, everyone loved “One Night Only,” and wanted it back in the show. As a matter of fact, the ushers themselves started begging Michael Bennett to put it back. “One Night Only” was restored!

Since I wrote about Lillias White and Dreamgirls in this column, here is a clip I love so much: Lillias with Heather Headley and Audra McDonald promoting our 2001 concert. Take a gander at how fabulous they are and peace out!