Call Me Madam
Call Me Madam | |
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Productions | 1950 Broadway 1952 West End 1953 Australia |
Awards | Tony Award for Best Original Score |
Call Me Madam is a
.The musical is a
Background
The lead character is based on Washington, D.C. hostess and Democratic Party fundraiser Perle Mesta, who was appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg in 1949. The Playbill distributed at each performance humorously noted that "neither the character of Mrs. Sally Adams nor Miss Ethel Merman resemble any person living or dead."
In 1949, Merman and her family were vacationing at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs with Howard Lindsay and his wife, Dorothy Stickney. Watching Merman at poolside, while he was reading a magazine article about Mesta, Lindsay was struck by how typically "American" Merman was, and immediately envisioned her portraying a colorful character similar to the newly-appointed ambassador. When he proposed the idea to Merman, who had little interest in either society or political news, she responded, "Who's Perle Mesta?"[1]
Although Merman had announced she was interested in playing a dramatic role in her next project, Lindsay and Russel Crouse approached Irving Berlin and began working on the
Producer Leland Hayward budgeted the production at $250,000. In exchange for the original cast recording and television broadcast rights, he arranged to have it financed 100% by RCA Records and NBC, with the two sharing 35% of the net earnings. In order to increase the profits, Hayward decided to charge an all-time high of $7.20 for orchestra seats.[1]
Hayward hired
Once the script was completed, everyone agreed that, while it seemed originally little more than standard
Synopsis
Sally Adams, a wealthy widow from Oklahoma, lives in Washington, D.C., where she is known as "the hostess with the mostest," famed for throwing the best parties in town. Despite her complete lack of experience, she is tapped as ambassador to the tiniest country in Europe, the Grand Duchy of Lichtenburg. The young press attaché Kenneth Gibson accompanies her as her aide. Sally is disappointed to find that Lichtenburg's foreign minister, Cosmo Constantine, is a formal and standoffish person who refuses to accept America's offer of foreign aid. She hatches a plot to get Cosmo promoted to the office of Prime Minister, thinking that he can be replaced by a foreign minister more open to her American manners and way of thinking. Meanwhile, Kenneth meets the Princess Maria, daughter of the Duke and Duchess. Her parents are planning to marry her to a wealthy suitor whose fortune will help the Duchy financially. Despite the fact that she is forbidden to speak to commoners, the Princess and Kenneth fall in love.
Cosmo learns of Sally's plans for him and resigns his position, opening the way for the country's first general election in twenty years. Sally openly campaigns for Cosmo to become Prime Minister, and is recalled to Washington for interfering in another country's internal affairs. However, the spirit of democracy has awakened in Lichtenburg: Cosmo is elected Prime Minister and the Duke and Duchess grant permission for Maria and Kenneth to marry.
Productions
Directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, the musical premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut on September 11, 1950. Reviews were mixed—Variety said it "inspires warm applause rather than cheer"—and Berlin wrote two new songs to bolster the sagging second act. It opened in Boston on September 19, and while The Boston Record thought it offered "only an occasional flash of inspirational fire", it played to standing-room-only audiences throughout the run.[1]
With a record advance sale of $2 million,
Apart from playing Rose in the first national tour of
The national tour of Call Me Madam was headlined by Elaine Stritch; Merman's understudy during the show's Broadway run, Stritch had never had occasion to perform as Sally Adams at the Imperial, her debut in the role being at a matinee performance during the show's May 1952 Washington D.C. engagement. Subsequent to engagements at the Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh and the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland—with respective openings on June 2 and 9, 1952—the Call Me Madam national tour opened at the Philharmonic Auditorium June 23, 1952, with further engagements in nine other cities—including Chicago and Detroit—the finale being an engagement at the Iroquois Park Amphitheater in Louisville in August 1953. Throughout most of the tour Stritch's leading man was Kent Smith, as Cosmo Constantine, although Dick Smart would take over the role before the tour's end. The cast of the national tour also included Pat Harrington, Sr. and Jay Velie reprising their Broadway roles. Stritch would reprise the role of Sally Adams in two regional theatrical productions, headlining Call Me Madam for St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre in 1954—with Russell Nype reprising his Broadway role—and for the Valley Forge Music Fair in 1956.
Call Me Madam returned to the New York stage for the first time since its original Broadway run via the New York City Center Encores! semi-staged concert version—with Tyne Daly headlining a cast including Walter Charles as Cosmo Constantine, Lewis Cleale as Kenneth and Melissa Errico as Princess Maria. Presented in February 1995 [2] as the inaugural production of Encores! second season, Call Me Madam was lauded as the company's first hit production. Encores! would present a fully-staged production of Call Me Madam in February 2019, with Carmen Cusack headlining a cast which included Darrell Hammond as Grand Duke Otto, Carol Kane as Grand Duchess Sophie, Stanley Wayne Mathis as Senator Borckbank, Randy Rainbow as Sebastian Sebastian, and Lauren Worsham as Princess Maria.[3]
Call Me Madam had its premiere regional theatrical engagement at the
Jo Anne Worley, who headlined the 1987 Pasadena Convention Center production of Call Me Madam, would also headline a semi-staged concert version mounted in 2001 at the Auditorium Theatre (Chicago) with Malcolm Gets as Kenneth Gibson and Fred Willard. Leslie Uggams would headline a revival of Call Me Madam mounted at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, New Jersey, in April–May 1996: the additional cast included J. B. Adams as Henry Gibson/ Grand Duke Otto, Mark Baker as Pemberton Maxwell, and Vanessa Dorman as Princess Maria.[4] In September 2000 Call Me Madam was mounted at the UCLA Freud Playhouse with Karen Morrow headlining a cast which included Robert Mandan as Pemberton Maxwell, Michael Nouri as Cosmo Constantine, Hugh Panaro as Kenneth Gibson, and Michael Tucci as Congressman Wilkins.
Other regional productions of Call Me Madam have been headlined by
Call Me Madam opened in the
In 1983 Gordon headlined a West End revival, whose cast also included Jeremy Hawk as Pemberton Maxwell and Basil Hoskins as Cosmo Constantine: opening March 14, 1983, the production was afforded a seven-week run at the Victoria Palace.
Call Me Madam has since had two evident London fringe productions, the first at Upstairs at The Gatehouse in the summer of 2009 with Thom Southerland directing a cast which included Beverley Klein as Sally Adams, Chris Love as Kenneth Gibson, Kate Nelson as Princess Maria, and Gido Schimanski as Cosmo Constantine. Subsequently, the Union Theatre, London would mount Call Me Madam in the fall of 2012: staged and directed by Michael Strassen, the production—headlined by Lucy Williamson leading as cast which included Gavin Kerr, Leo Miles and Natalie Lipin—received five nominations at the Off West End Awards and was named as one of the productions when the Union won Best Fringe at The Stage Awards in 2013 alongside The Globe (Best Theatre).
Call Me Madam began its inaugural Australian engagement on September 5, 1953, at
Film adaptation
A 1953
Casts
Original Broadway (1950) | Original London (1952) | London Revival (1983) | Encores! Production (1995) | Encores! Production (2019) | |
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Sally Adams | Ethel Merman | Billie Worth | Noelle Gordon | Tyne Daly | Carmen Cusack |
Henry Gibson | William David | David Storm | Michael Harding | John Leslie Wolfe | Christopher Gurr |
Congressman Wilkins | Pat Harrington, Sr. | Sidney Keith | Bernard Martin | Christopher Durang | Adam Heller |
Kenneth Gibson | Russell Nype | Jeff Warren | William Relton | Lewis Cleale | Jason Gotay |
Senator Gallagher | Ralph Chambers | Launce Maraschel | John Aron | Ken Page | Brad Oscar |
Senator Brockbank | Jay Velie | Arthur Lowe | David Alder | MacIntyre Dixon | Stanley Wayne Mathis |
Pemberton Maxwell | Alan Hewitt | Donald Burr | Jeremy Hawk | Peter Bartlett | Michael Benjamin Washington |
Cosmo Constantine | Paul Lukas | Anton Walbrook | Basil Hoskins | Walter Charles | Ben Davis |
Sebastian Sebastian | Henry Lascoe | Stanley Van Beers | Stefan Paul Sanchez | Simon Jones | Randy Rainbow |
Princess Maria | Galina Talva | Shani Wallis | Veronica Page | Melissa Errico | Lauren Worsham |
Grand Duke Otto | Owen Coll | Felix Kent | Michael Harding | Gordon Connell | Darrell Hammond |
Grand Duchess Sophie | Lilia Skala | Marianne Deeming | Moyna Cope | Jane Connell | Carol Kane |
Musical numbers
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Recordings
In a highly unusual situation, two
Merman was called back into the Decca studios to record additional songs from the show, and the label quickly re-released the album as a 12-inch LP, under the title Ethel Merman: 12 Songs from Call Me Madam. The Victor album sold reasonably well, attaining the sixth spot on the Billboard popular album charts, but the LP was out of print from 1956 until RCA Red Seal reissued it briefly in 1977. Peaking at number two on Billboard's popular album charts, Merman's Decca recording, which would appear on MCA Records beginning in 1973, stayed steadily in print until the end of the LP era. Merman's Madam album was most recently available on a Decca Broadway CD, which also features Merman singing four Cole Porter tunes from the stage score of Panama Hattie (1940).
A recording of the 1952 London West End production was released of 12 numbers from the show, as Columbia 33SX 1002 ('Vocal Gems from Jack Hylton's production by artists of the original London presentation'), with Billie Worth, Anton Walbrook, Jeff Warren and Shani Wallis in the principal roles, conducted by Cyril Ornadel, and was later reissued on the Sepia label.
Merman also is heard on the film soundtrack album (with Donald O'Connor and George Sanders), issued in 1953 as a 10-inch album, also on the Decca label. Scoring fifth position on Billboard's popular albums charts when first released, the soundtrack, taken out of print in 1957, was reissued in 1981 by Stet Records on a 12-inch LP which also contained songs from the film scores of
A 1995 Broadway concert cast album, featuring
Promotional appearances
On the premiere episode of NBC Radio's The Big Show on November 5, 1950, original Broadway cast members Ethel Merman, Paul Lukas, and Russell Nype appeared in the first half-hour (of the hour-and-a-half program) and performed songs from the score in order of their appearance in the production, while host Tallulah Bankhead filled in story notes between songs (although accidentally missing one story cue). Merman sang "The Hostess With the Mostes' on the Ball," then Lukas sang "Lichtenburg," then Merman sang "Can You Use Any Money Today?" and "The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me)". Finally, Merman sang "You're Just in Love" with Nype.[7]
In political culture
Known as "Madam Speaker", when
Awards
Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1951 | Tony Awards | Outstanding Musical Score | Irving Berlin | Won |
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical | Ethel Merman | Won | ||
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | Russell Nype | Won | ||
Best Stage Technician | Peter Feller | Won | ||
Theatre World Award | Russell Nype | Won |
References
- ^ ISBN 0-670-01829-5, pp. 121-142
- ^ Encores 1995 listing broadwayworld.com, accessed March 3, 2009
- ^ "REVIEW: Encores! "Call Me Madam" with Carmen Cusack". February 7, 2019.
- ^ Klein, Alvin. "From Washington to Lichtenburg via Berlin", The New York Times, April 21, 1996.
- ^ Call Me Madam listing broadwayworld.com, accessed March 3, 2009.
- ^ "Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1981-1990" books.google.com, accessed March 4, 2018
- ^ The Big Show from November 5, 1950 The Big Show—Single Episodes from the Old Time Radio Researchers Group at the Internet Archive, accessed November 6, 2010.
- ^ "Betty Boothroyd: To Parliament and beyond". BBC. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ^ "Betty Boothroyd Facts". biography.yourdictionary.com. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ^ Tuohy, William (June 1, 1993). "Profile : Madame Speaker : Britain's Betty Boothroyd gets high marks for efficiency, humor—and toughness. 'You're daft if you mix it with her,' says one legislator". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- Dietz, Dan. The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals (2014), Bowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-1-4422-3504-5, p. 34