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| Author | Topic: Bernadette on PBS American Musical Site |
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 Chip1012
Registered User
Registered:
7/13/2003
From:
Boston | posted: 10/7/2004 at 12:44:55 AM ET
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/peters_b.html
can't wait for this air!! On the site there is an awesome Defying Gravity clip and interviews with lots of people, including 5 minutes with Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, who talks about Gypsy.
"The child is so sweet and the girls are so rapturous. Isn't it lovely how artist's can capture us?~" Sunday in the Park with George
| Anonymous
Anonymous Poster
From Internet Network:
216.244.37.x | posted: 10/7/2004 at 12:54:09 AM ET
What's going to air?
|  Sister Rose
Registered User
Registered:
5/4/2004
From:
NYC | posted: 10/7/2004 at 9:38:33 AM ET
I can hardly wait to for this series to start! Thanks for the link, Chip!
"Anyone who stays home is DEAD!"
|  Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 10/7/2004 at 10:28:46 AM ET
Thanks, Chip/Noah. I've had this tv show on my calendar forever it seems. I need to get some new video tape just for it.
|  moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/7/2004 at 10:49:01 AM ET
Well I like the pictures but that is an extremely outdated and often completely incorrect biography (she played Baby June in Gypsy).
|  cuteoperaboi
Registered User
Registered:
1/3/2004
From:
Ohio | posted: 10/7/2004 at 11:17:53 AM ET
Yes this is really outdated! And I hate it when they say put her in the same category as Barbara Streisand. Sorry if you're a Barbara fan, but IMHO Bernadette's level of artistry is much different than Barbara's and shouldn't even be put in the same category...after all who is so loyal to the b-way community? Who keeps coming back show after show? Bernadette. *Steps off of soap box*
Grrrr...
"Take off your jacket!"--Joan Rivers to Bernadette
"TAKE OFF YOUR DRESS!!"--Bernadette's reply.
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 10/7/2004 at 12:29:29 PM ET
This is the source:
Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. Excerpted from the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, edited by Colin Larkin.
Her biography in the companion book to the series is up to date,with beautiful pictures (it's a lovely tribute,as is the rest of the book to Broadway) and does mention the June thing-she went on once,so I guess that is what's being counted. Her entry in the companion series book is written much better-indeed,it's gushing,almost-and why they just didn't use that I don't know. That encyclopedia from which the excerpt comes was published in 1998. Her entry in the companion book is *not* this little getup they threw on the site.
Jenn
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/7/2004 at 1:13:05 PM ET
Thanks Jenn. I'll have to check out that book. My problem with the June reference is that it says she played BABY June. I wouldn't be so annoyed if they had said Dainty June.
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 10/7/2004 at 2:13:51 PM ET
I just read the pages from the PBS companion book on the amazon.com site. I agree, this is a much better write-up, even with a few minor errors in dates (where are the fact-checkers?) For example, she made her Broadway debut in "Girl in Freudian Slip" in 1967, not George M! in 1968 as the book states. And the statement "By 1972,...and had starred as the ill-fated silent film star Mabel Normand (to whom she bore an astoninshing resemblance) in Jerry Herman's "Mack and Mabel"--M&M opened on Broadway in Oct. 1974.
| Chip1012
Registered User
Registered:
7/13/2003
From:
Boston | posted: 10/7/2004 at 2:51:13 PM ET
The 3 DVD set (with 5 hours of extra interviews/footage) will be released this tuesday (my birthday  ), Oct 12th. You can pre-order it on Amazon.com
"The child is so sweet and the girls are so rapturous. Isn't it lovely how artist's can capture us?~" Sunday in the Park with George
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 10/7/2004 at 11:13:35 PM ET
Jean-
"And the statement "By 1972,...and had starred as the ill-fated silent film star Mabel Normand (to whom she bore an astoninshing resemblance) in Jerry Herman's "Mack and Mabel"--M&M opened on Broadway in Oct. 1974."
The book actually says " By 1972,she had earned a Tony nomination as Hildy in a revival of On the Town and starred as the ill-fated silent film star Mabel Normand (to whom she bore an astonishing resemblance) in Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel (1974)." This is on p. 402. It is worded awkwardly,making it seem that she had done both by 1972. That's an editorial situation,not a fact-checker situation. The date follows the Mack and Mabel mention,but it's not obvious what exactly it's supposed to mean. That's a sloppy sentence which should have been nipped in the bud,but not necessarily incorrect.
The Internet Broadway Database lists Bernadette as a standby in The Girl in the Freudian Slip:
http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2945
So does standby status count as a Broadway debut? I had to look up the reference to The Girl in the Freudian Slip,and I had not known that she was a standby. The Mack and Mabel reference in the book is correct,but I don't know about the standby situation. Is there a fine line? Considering that the show ran for four performances,the likelihood that she actually went on is small,I would think.
Here's more information about the database:
http://www.ibdb.com/about.asp
"Information found in IBDB is derived primarily from theatre programs (in most cases from a production's opening night). Supplemental information was taken from newspaper and magazine reports, theatrical text books, interviews with theatre professionals, and League archives. For consistency's sake, information in the IBDB is not necessarily presented in the exact format as in the original theatrical program, but best efforts have been used not to alter the meaning of any function or billing."
I am all too ready to inform people of musical theatre history books containing serious errors-Peter Riddle's recent musical theatre history book,the recent Jerry Herman book-but this,so far,is not one of them. Of course,I'm not done reading it,and I don't have enough background to catch every error. However,it is engagingly and lovingly presented (with as many first-hand accounts as possible),and after reading Ethan Mordden's tiring and unfocused rant,in which he humiliates two lesser-known actors,by no fault of their own,blankets all Broadway audiences and modern society in general with the labels of stupidity,illiteracy,and laziness, refers to Movin' Out as Movin' On twice (although I'm not sure if it's just one of his "jokes" again,but I doubt it) and making an equally dumb mistake about The Will Rogers Follies (*not* a joke-it's clearly an error,and something that could have easily been checked by listening to the particular song or doing some basic research on Will Rogers),then finally making *another* dumb joke about Patti LuPone's name,which wasn't funny the first time...well,it's a breath of fresh air. Of course,Ethan Mordden was writing about an era that makes him deeply unhappy,but it's no excuse for meanness (not teasing,poking fun,etc) towards situations beyond people's control and second-grade humor (his previous books did have some meanness and silly humor,but not on the same scale).
Sorry-didn't mean to go on a tiring and unfocused rant about Ethan Mordden. But I've been a researcher/fact checker,and it's a thankless task. Not that all are perfect-far from it-but the conscientious ones know that even minor errors will make readers question the entire book. And I'm puzzled about the lack of attention to this particular book,when the possibly weakest and most uncharacteristic book in Ethan Mordden's series gets attention and praise. There are better writers on musical theatre history-Ethan Mordden (yes,even though I am so disappointed in his latest),Steven Suskin,Peter Filichia,Ken Mandelbaum-but Broadway:The American Musical is a very worthwhile addition. You really would enjoy this book,Jean. Don't dismiss it because of a poorly written sentence and an arguable statement. (And don't dismiss the Mordden book because of what I've written-some parts are very worthwhile,but I still disagree with his take on Ragtime and he goes overboard too much. Although he surprised me with his comments on Disney,Christianity, and The Phantom of the Opera. Be a completist!)
This debut question is interesting....am I the only one that didn't know that she was a standby for The Girl in the Freudian Slip? I thought she was in the show for the entire run,brief as it was.
Jenn
|  Bernadette-Fanatic
Registered User
Registered:
6/11/2002 | posted: 10/8/2004 at 12:09:12 AM ET
That's my birthday too Chip!
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/8/2004 at 1:03:52 AM ET
I would say if you get your name into the Playbill of a Broadway show, you have a Broadway credit. As a standby she would have been listed in the playbill. Perhaps she was not a standby in the same respect as we think of standbys today. She very well could have held a part in the chorus as well.
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 10/8/2004 at 6:21:29 AM ET
Wow, Jenn, too early to digest everything you wrote but you can be sure that I will later today.
If being standby doesn't count, how about Broadway debut in Johnny No-Trump, only one performance, but she was actually in the cast (Oct 8, 1967)--but still before George M. Since the profile on her official site says Johnny**, I'll go with that, but maybe raise the question on ATC to see what the great minds think.
I'm still not happy with the M&M reference but...it's not that important, I'm just very picky about these things.
(**EDIT on Oct.28--well, actually her profile on her official site says both: Broadway premiere in "Girl.." and "Johnny.." in separate places. We can be forgiven for being confused  )
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 10/8/2004 at 8:03:01 AM ET
"If being standby doesn't count, how about Broadway debut in Johnny No-Trump, only one performance, but she was actually in the cast (Oct 8, 1967)--but still before George M."
Then I'll eat my hat.  (Does anyone still wear a hat?)
I still wouldn't discount the entire book,though. And I apologize for my lengthy post-it wasn't against you.
I had just finished the Mordden book,and was not pleased. And I have not seen these errors pointed out by many-particularly by a certain online columnist who went to great pains (on more than one occasion) to point out inaccuracies in a similar book not too long ago. It just strikes me as a little odd.
That M&M reference is badly put-that should not have been allowed to go beyond a preliminary draft. A student in high school wouldn't have been allowed to get by with a clumsy sentence like that.
Jenn
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 10/8/2004 at 8:49:13 AM ET
"Then I'll eat my hat. (Does anyone still wear a hat?)"
No, but I'll drink to that.
Too easy.
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