1/7/2024 0 Comments Tim conway elephant skitAt first the writers had a breakdown and said they ruined the sketch, but then it stuck. Interestingly, the family was supposed to be from the Midwest but when they read it, they added southern accents (maybe because Carol is originally from Texas). After a few episodes of the show featuring “The Family,” her husband (who was the makeup designer) told her she had to lose the lashes as Mama because she looked way to glamorous behind her glasses. However, Vicki said that usually she and Carol would wear two pairs of false eyelashes on top and one on the bottom (very ’70s!). Her old woman make-up was basically just a jutted chin. I asked about age prosthetics and she reminded me that the show was filmed almost in real time so there wasn’t any time for a giant make-up change. Of course, Vicki was only in her 20s but, bizarrely, she was entirely believable as a cranky old woman. But after Carol read it, she told the writers she felt extremely connected to Eunice and she and Vicki switched roles. She told us that when “The Family” sketch was first written, Carol was slated to play Mama. Carol’s husband (the producer Joe Hamilton) asked Vicki to audition and she got the show! We were discussing her various characters and, of course, we talked about Mama. Carol tried to be inconspicuous but the head of the pageant heard she was there and she was soon roped into crowning the winner…who happened to be Vicki Lawrence! When Carol started doing The Carol Burnett Show, she needed someone to play her kid sister in sketches. Vicki enclosed a clip about the “Miss Fireball Pageant” that she was performing in and Carol (who was nine months pregnant at the time) decided to go and check her out. If you don’t know, when Vicki was 17, she wrote Carol Burnett a fan letter and mentioned that people thought they looked alike. I had Vicki Lawrence (who has a new series on Fox called The Cool Kids) on Seth Speaks last week and James, who never wants to travel into NYC now that we live in the country, came in because we’re both obsessed with The Carol Burnett Show. Of course, the show was Wicked and the song was “Defying Gravity.” It’s so weird to think back to a time when I had to plunk out the melody because there was no album and it wasn’t known yet! I deconstructed Idina’s performance in Wicked and her brilliant riffs: I asked who she was auditioning to understudy and wasn’t surprised that it was Idina Menzel. She showed me the music and I was super-impressed that there was a belted F in the melody. He said “I am the guy in the movie”and then posed for 100 photos with her! Kristy and I were reminiscing about the day 15 years when she came over to my house to coach for a new Broadway show in which she wanted to understudy. After Ernie ran “Hakuna Matata” in the soundcheck, the housekeeper told him he sounded just like the guy in the movie. She was joined by Ernie Sabella, Beth Malone, and Kristy Cates. We were at a stunning mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, right on the water. Speaking of Liz Callaway, she just performed with me at a salon James and I put together for You Gotta Believe, which helps older foster kids find homes. Liz Callaway, Kristy Cates, Seth Rudetsky, James Wesley ,Ernie Sabella, and Beth Malone I don’t want to give too much away but it’s an amazing/hilarious number! And Charlotte d’Amboise is going to do her all-singing/all-dancing “If They Could See Me Now” tour-de-force going on for Christina Applegate in Sweet Charity while she was also starring as Roxie in Chicago. It’s really thrilling! Here he is on Ellen.Īnother performer joining the show will be the fabulous Liz Callaway, who will be performing Sondheim with a twist. It doesn’t sound that impressive until you find out he only has one leg! Yet, he’s figured out a way to tap up a storm. Most tendonitis-inducing will be “Rhapsody In Blue,” which I’m a-gonna play while Evan Ruggerio tap dances. It’s a salute to Chita Rivera and I’m hosting and I’ll be playing ye olde piano as well in a few spots. But now that we have a house upstate, I’m writing this column on my own porch! I feel so late-series Lucy Ricardo by moving out of the city (please don’t make me explain but if I must: The Ricardos and the Mertzes moved to Connecticut for the final year of I Love Lucy).Īnyhoo, this week I start with a benefit for Shane’s Inspiration (which is helping build an accessible playground in NYC) at Carnegie Hall Monday night. Over the summer, I often write my Playbill column on the porch of the Anchor Inn.
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