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Maureen McGovern

 

December • 2004

Sleigh Bells Ring, Are You Listening?
Dame Edna, Philip Bosco, Judy Kaye, Kevin Cahoon, and Maureen McGovern share their memories of holiday seasons past.

After a 14-year absence, Maureen McGovern returns to Broadway -- where she appeared in The Pirates of Penzance, Nine, and 3 Penny Opera -- as Marmee to four daughters, most notably Sutton Foster as Jo, in Little Women. The musical is now in previews at the Virginia, where it will open on January 23.

"Marmee is a role that touches my heart very deeply," says McGovern. "Having lost my father this year and my mother many years ago, what I love most about the show is the strength and bond of the family. I love Marmee's strength, compassion, and vulnerability." Her favorite holiday memory, she says, "was getting my first guitar at age 14. It was a Sears catalogue guitar that my dad picked out for me." McGovern has a show on Christmas Day, "and I'm delighted to be working on Broadway. I'm not going to celebrate until January 24, the day after we open." Her wish for the theatrical community "is a great and fruitful season."

Read more: Theater Mania

Youngstown Vindicator
Dec. 13, 2004

Star's revival story inspires graduates

 
Maureen McGovern receiving an honorary doctor of music degree from President David Sweet, Provost Tony Atwater, and Board of Trustee chair Larry Esterly during the fall 2004 commencement.
The singer's cousin told graduates to remember their roots.

MAUREEN McGOVERN WAS BLESSED with a golden voice, but also hampered by a lack of assertiveness, the Boardman native told graduates in Youngstown on Sunday. McGovern rocketed to fame at age 23 with "The Morning After," her Academy Award-winning hit song from "The Poseidon Adventure" in 1972. But she described a series of miscues and bad advice that threatened to make her a washed-up, one-hit wonder by the time she was 25. "Early in my career, I let a lot of people make my decisions for me. Whoever spoke the loudest could shut me up," said McGovern, who delivered the fall 2004 commencement address to 650 Youngstown State University graduates at Beeghly Center. "I had to learn that by not making a choice, I was making a choice." McGovern, who graduated from Boardman High School, shared the stage with another Boardman High alumna named McGovern. Her second cousin once removed, Mollie McGovern, was the featured student speaker. The producer of "WFMJ Today," Mollie McGovern earned a master of business administration. "If I had to offer any advice today, it would be to remember your roots, whether you're from here or some place else," Mollie McGovern told fellow graduates. She then shared a piece of her heritage, reading a poem from Michael McGovern, a 19th-century steelworker who immigrated to Youngstown from Ireland. He is Mollie McGovern's great-great-grandfather, and the great-grandfather of Maureen McGovern. The singer McGovern said she made a conscious decision in third grade to pursue a music career. She recalled her fascination as a small child with her father's barbershop quartet. "I would go around and sing all of the parts right along with them," she said. "That was my first lesson in harmony. ... When I was singing, nothing else mattered." McGovern's road to stardom was far from smooth, however. She said dyslexia made it difficult to read music. In fifth grade, she said, her piano teacher bluntly told her, "You're just wasting your parents' money." McGovern persevered. She told the graduates that people who succeed are not the smartest or most talented, but those who do not give up. Big break McGovern caught her big break when a Cleveland producer discovered her and got her a recording deal with 20th Century Records. "The Morning After," which was played while YSU officials conferred an honorary doctor of music on her, was the first song she recorded. But the attention from the song, which captured an Academy Award, proved short-lived. McGovern said her manager convinced her to sign a contract that allowed him to take up to 40 percent of her earnings. The contract also paid McGovern's band a weekly salary, whether she was performing or not. As a result of poor choices, McGovern said, she ended up performing at the Trolley Bar Lounge in Green Tree, Pa., only months after "The Morning After" was released. By the end of the year she was flat broke and dumped by her record label, McGovern said. She moved to Los Angeles and took a job as a secretary under an assumed name, fearing her music days was over. McGovern began to resurrect her career in 1979, though, performing "Can You Read My Mind," from the "Superman" movie. The song was a hit, and although the album failed, she branched out into other outlets. She did radio advertisements, wrote children's music and began acting. Her movie roles include "Airplane!" and "Towering Inferno." She replaced Linda Ronstadt in the "Pirates of Penzance" on Broadway. "I didn't know enough to be as frightened as I should have been," she said. McGovern finds steady work these days. She stars in "Little Women, The Musical," which opens next month on Broadway and has recorded a new version of "The Morning After." This evening at 8, she will perform at Stambaugh Auditorium to benefit the university's Dana School of Music and the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic. The graduates all received free tickets to the concert. McGovern told the graduates that it's never too late to fulfill their dreams but encouraged them to be smart. Get a mentor and form short- and long-term plans, she said.

"Early in my career, I had the goal, but I didn't have the plan," she said.


Holiday Pops Television Broadcast
Boston Pops

WBZ Channel 4 BOSTON
Saturday, December
Featuring: Maureen Mcgovern, Billy Gilman, Ring Of Fire, CBS4 News' Lisa Hughes and Joe Shortsleeve, and CBS Sunday Morning's Charles Osgood


Maureen McGovern to Receive Honorary Doctor of Music Degree

Youngstown State University will confer an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree on Maureen McGovern, whose singing career includes two Academy Award-winning Gold records and major roles in several Broadway productions. Ms. McGovern will receive her Honorary Degree and give the commencement address at the 2:00 p.m. commencement ceremony on December 12. December 13, a concert at Stambaugh Auditorium featuring Maureen will be presented with proceeds going to the Dana School of Music and the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic.

Read more: YSU NEWS


Sing Out, Sisters! Little Women, the Musical, Begins Broadway Previews Dec. 7

By Kenneth Jones
07 Dec 2004

The holidays play a significant part in "Little Women," the novel, so it's fitting that Little Women, the Musical, is beginning previews on Broadway during the holiday season.The new Allan Knee-Mindi Dickstein-Jason Howland show based on the beloved 1868 Louisa May Alcott novel for young people begins previews Dec. 7 at the Virginia Theatre toward an opening night of Jan. 23, 2005. In Little Women, aspiring writer Jo March ?\ played by Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster ?\ looks to family Christmases of the past for inspiration. The novel's first line, many former girls will recall, reads: "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents, grumbled Jo, lying on the rug." Susan H. Schulman directs a company that includes silken-voiced Maureen McGovern as Jo's mother, Marmee, who struggles and dreams with her daughters during Civil War days in New England. Father is at away war, they are poor ?\ but they have each other. Jo and her three sisters Amy (Amy McAlexander), Beth (Megan McGinnis) and Meg (Jenny Powers) look to the future and come of age in the story that is both sentimental and optimistic. "I call it a three-hankie musical," Maureen McGovern told Playbill On-Line. But it's also got "a lot of laughter," she added. \The cast also features Janet Carroll as Aunt March, Danny Gurwin as Laurie (the boy next door), John Hickok as Prof. Bhaer, Robert Stattel as Mr. Laurence and Jim Weitzer as John Brooke. They are joined by understudies Anne Kanengeiser (the standby for Marmee and Aunt March), Julie Foldesi, Christopher Gunn, Larissa Shukis and Andrew Varella. ... The musical is based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel for young people, a slice of Victorian family life that includes hardscrabble days, budding romance, Christmas joys and painful loss. Sutton Foster won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Thoroughly Modern Millie. McGovern is the actress and recording artist known for everything from "The Morning After" to studio recordings of Let 'Em Eat Cake and Of Thee I Sing, as well as appearances in Broadway shows (The Pirates of Penzance, 3 Penny Opera). Director Susan H. Schulman is known for Violet, The Secret Garden and The Sound of Music. Little Women is an American literary title so obvious that it's a surprise that a musical version hasn't hit big on Broadway yet. A search of the internet reveals a number of musical versions of the 1868 property, which is in the public domain and therefore ripe for free picking by playwrights and songwriters. ... The Virginia Theatre is at 245 W. 52nd Street. For more information, visit www.littlewomenonbroadway.com. Read complete article:Playbill

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The cast of Little Women, led by Maureen McGovern and Sutton Foster (center)

Liz Smith
Newsday


December 5, 2004

WEDNESDAY, Maureen McGovern dashes down to Duffy Square after her matinee performance in the new musical "Little Women" to sing "Let There Be Peace on Earth" at the Broadway Holiday Tree Lighting. Two of the Rialto's hottest dames - Dame Edna and Brooke Shields - flick the switch. (Brooke has triumphed in the hit revival of "Wonderful Town.") Caroling will be provided by the cast of "Avenue Q."


 Broadway Talks Series Spotlights Democracy, La Cage, Jewtopia and Little Women By Andrew Gans
01 Dec 2004
Broadway Talks 2005, 92nd Street Y's series that examines the people and creative processes behind New York theatrical productions, kicks off Jan. 17, 2005. ...The Broadway Talks season concludes March 20 with a discussion of the new musical Little Women, which begins previews Dec. 7 at the Virginia Theatre. Tony Award winner Sutton Foster and Grammy winner Maureen McGovern will join moderator Roma Torre for a chat about the musical based on the classic Louisa May Alcott novel. Cover charge for the 7:30 PM evening is $25. ...The Democracy and Jewtopia evenings will be held at Makor, located in Manhattan at 35 West 67th Street. The La Cage aux Folles and Little Women evenings will be presented at the 92nd Street Y, located in Manhattan at 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Call (212) 415-5500 for tickets.

Read article:PLAYBILL


Little Women's Foster and McGovern Among Stars Set for 2005 Nightlife Awards

By Andrew Gans
December 1, 2004
Sutton Foster, Maureen McGovern, Karen Akers and Bruce Vilanch are just a few of the stars who will take part in the 2005 Nightlife Awards.The third annual awards ceremony, which will be held Jan. 31, 2005 at New York's Town Hall, boasts "no acceptance speeches ?\ just pure entertainment" and will feature performances from all of the evening's winners. Others scheduled to entertain include Ute Lemper, Euan Morton, Allan Harris, Julie Halston, Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch and Kate Clinton. Show time is 7 PM. ... Tickets for the Nightlife Awards are priced at $25, $50 and $75 and are available by calling Ticket Master at (212) 307-4100. (Tickets to the after party are an additional $50.) Town Hall is located in Manhattan at 123 West 43rd Street

READ ARTICLE: PLAYBILL

November ? • 2004

Little Women Rehearsal Video


David Garrison & Maureen

Photos by Aubrey Reuben

18 Nov 2004

PLAYBILL ON OPENING NIGHT: Whoopi

By Harry Haun


"Maureen McGovern
[her Marmee in Little Women] said she saw it 20 years ago and gave people Christmas presents of tickets to her show. So I was thrilled to finally catch her."

David Garrison, who's doing the Encores! Bash Sunday and Monday at City Center, escorted McGovern to this edition. There were a lot of repeaters among the first-nighters, ...

Read Story: PLAYBILL


11/17/2004

Peeking in on Little Women Rehearsals

Director Susan H. Schulman and the cast of Little Women offered an open rehearsal for the press on November 17. The cast, headlined by Tony winner Sutton Foster and Maureen McGovern, performed four songs, displaying the range and depth of the new musical by Jason Howland, Allan Knee and Mindi Dickstein. After the sneak peek, the cast and creative team posed for photos and chatted with reporters about their new take on the classic book by Louisa May Alcott.


Dame Edna and Brooke Shields to Light Holiday Tree Dec. 8

By Andrew Gans
16 Nov 2004

Dame Edna Everage and Brooke Shields, both back on The Great White Way, will light the 2004 Broadway Holiday Tree Dec. 8.

The ceremony, which begins at 5:15 PM in Father Duffy Square, will kick off with a performance from Little Women's Maureen McGovern and will close with Avenue Q cast members, who will be joined by students from The Professional Performing Arts School. In addition to the lighting of the tree, the ceremony will also include the presentation of a $5,000 gift to a not-for-profit organization in the theatre district.

Read More: Playbill


Maureen McGovern recently visited the Virginia Theatre
as the show was loaded onto the stage.
 
Maureen under the marquee at the Virginia Theatre.
 
Maureen with producers
Chase Mishkin
and Randall Wreghitt


GET TICKETS
Little Women
The literary classic that depicts a tight-knit family in wartime finally gets a chance to sing.

Sutton Foster in LITTLE WOMENIn today's publishing industry, books are lucky if they last a year. Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was published in 1868 and has never been out of print since, still selling thousands of copies every year. Now, after six generations of woman--both big and little--have grown up on this heartfelt classic, Little Women arrives on the Great White Way.

Little Women tells of the March sisters--Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy--comingof age in Civil War New England. Rising star Sutton Foster, who won the 2002 Tony Award for Thoroughly Modern Millie, will take on the role of talented tomboy Jo, who dreams of becoming a writer and finds unexpected love.

This family-friendly new musical will start at the Virginia Theatre on Broadway on December 2, just in time for the holidays. The official opening is set for January 23, 2005.


October • 2004

March Up! Little Women Box Office
Opens Oct. 25

By Kenneth Jones
25 Oct 2004

 

Little Women stars Danny Gurwin and Sutton Foster.

The box office at the Virginia Theatre will open Oct. 25 for Little Women ticket sales.

Phone sales for the new Broadway musical based on the beloved novel began Aug. 21. Performances begin Dec. 7 toward a Jan. 23, 2005, opening at the Virginia, the recent home to Little Shop of Horrors. For ticket information, call Tele-Charge at (212) 239-6200.

*

The Broadway-bound new American musical based on the classic novel, opened its pages in a North Carolina tryout Oct. 13, presented by Theatre Previews at Duke University in Durham.

Sutton Foster plays Jo March, one of four New England sisters yearning and coming of age under the wing of their mother, Marmee, played by Maureen McGovern.

 
 
Tickets ARE NOW ON SALE for the highly-anticipated new musical, Little Women. Performances begin on December 2, 2004 at the Virginia Theatre with opening night set for January 20, 2005.

Little Women is the new musical version of the classic novel by Louisa
May Alcott, which tells of the March sisters coming of age in Civil War New England.

Rising star Sutton Foster, who won the 2002 Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical for Thoroughly Modern Millie, will take on the role of talented tomboy Jo March, who dreams of becoming a writer unexpectedly finds love along the way. Maureen McGovern stars as Marmee and is pictured here with Foster and the rest of her talented "daughters."

FOR COMPLETE CASTING INFORMATION AND TO BUY YOUR TICKETS CLICK HERE.

We make every effort to ensure that your theater experience is exactly how you imagine it will be. If you have any questions or need help planning your trip, please respond to this e-mail or call us at 1.800.BROADWAY.

Thanks for choosing Broadway.com for your theater plans. Enjoy the show!

(C) 2004 Broadway.com, Inc. Broadway.com is a division of Hollywood Media Corp.

VARIETY (On-Line) Posted: Tue., Oct. 19, 2004,
15th Annual Cabaret Convention
A presentation of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, produced by Donald Smith. Musical director, Forrest Perrin
By Robert L. Daniels


Maureen McGovern flew in from North Carolina, where Broadway-bound "Little Women" is in tryouts, to put her playful spin on "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," accompanied by Jay Leonhart's wordless vocal assist and flavorful string bass chords.The Cole Porter classic served to open the 15th Cabaret Convention, the annual Town Hall fete produced by Donald Smith in memory of the doyenne of cabaret song, Mabel Mercer.

Friend and publicist of Mercer, Smith is the executive director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, which aims to perpetuate the popular American song through the art of cabaret. Once again he has gathered the creme de la creme of Gotham niteries for this weeklong all-star homage. ...


Actresses relate to roles in 'Little Women'

By Susan Broili : The Herald-Sun
sbroili@heraldsun.com
Oct 13, 2004 : 4:08 pm ET

DURHAM -- The bunny bedroom slippers won't make it onto the Broadway stage, but for Sutton Foster, who plays Jo in the new production, "Little Women: the Musical," the pink, fuzzy shoes provide comfort in her Reynolds Theater dressing room at Duke University as she spends long hours in rehearsal.

Cast and crew arrived at Duke on Sept. 7 to prepare for previews here. The show opened Wednesday and runs through Oct. 31 before heading to New York, where it previews on Dec. 7, with the official Broadway opening on Jan. 23.

Foster, 29, and Maureen McGovern, 55, who plays Marmee, mother to Jo and the other three March girls, took a little time before their afternoon rehearsal last week to talk about the musical based on the 1869 novel by Louisa May Alcott.

While here, Foster said she hopes to use her one day off a week to visit relatives in North Carolina. Her mother grew up in Whiteville, her father in Winston-Salem. Foster grew up in Georgia.

The actress said she felt drawn to the character of Jo.

"She's a tall, lanky tomboy who wants to do things women have never done before. She didn't want to marry. She wanted to be a writer, make her own money and make her own way in the world," Foster said.

"I'm trying to be an individual, my own woman. I've never been a frilly girl. I was always the one getting dirty and skinning my knees," Foster said.

Alcott based the character of Jo on herself, Foster said.

The author never married. She grew up in a bohemian household and her family was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in Concord.

"She's [Jo/Alcott] this incredible role model for me," Foster said.

That model points toward leading a fulfilling life by following your dreams and passions, she added.

In the song "Astonishing," just as she's about to leave Concord for New York to pursue her dream as a writer, Jo sings of wanting to dazzle instead of just getting by in life.

The actress believes she has found her passion but it has not always been easy.

"It can be very challenging and difficult, hard emotionally. There are so many ups and downs of being an actor," Foster said.

Her first big career break occurred when she got the starring role of Millie in the Broadway musical, "Thoroughly Modern Millie," after starting out as an understudy for the lead role. Foster won a 2002 Tony Award for her performance.

In a dressing room next door to Sutton's, McGovern had made herself at home by putting up her sign with the words, "A hundred million welcomes" in Gaelic. She's Irish-American.

She admires Marmee, the character she plays.

"She's a strong, independent woman ahead of her time [the Victorian era]. She encourages her daughters to live their life to the fullest," McGovern said.

"I call it a three-hanky musical. It's incredibly touching and yet very funny at times," McGovern said.

She has two solo songs.

In "Days of Plenty," Marmee voices courage, hope and belief in the future even though her daughter, Beth, has just died. McGovern believes that audiences will relate to finding a means to go on in the face of loss. Her own father died "this past summer" and McGovern started her "Works of Heart Foundation for Music and Healing" in honor of him and to help patients and caregivers.

"We're basically water and vibrations, energy. We as humans take in music in a profound way," McGovern said.

She has just released her foundation's first CD, "Works of Heart," on which she sings 12 songs of comfort, including a newly recorded 30th anniversary version of "The Morning After," her first big hit recorded for the movie "The Poseidon Adventure." Her song won an Academy Award, topped the charts and went gold. But the hit proved a mixed blessing because she became typed as the "disaster theme queen." She broke out of that mold in 1986 with her self-produced "Another Woman in Love." "I wanted to have some record of what was in my heart," McGovern said. "You have to believe in yourself far more than anybody else could."

She's known she was going to be a singer since the third grade in Youngstown, Ohio. Before she could talk, McGovern would wake up in the middle of the night singing "Goodnight, Irene," and other tunes she had heard on the radio during the day.

She made her Broadway debut in 1981 as Mabel in "The Pirates of Penzance." Other credits include playing Polly Peachum opposite Sting in "The Three Penny Opera."

In her other "Little Women" solo, "Here Alone," Marmee tries to compose a letter to her husband, a chaplain with the Union Army, and not worry him with how difficult she finds life at home without him.

The song is especially timely as women raise families on their own while their husbands are serving in Iraq, the actress added. "It's a very fragile time just as during the Civil War. ? The strengths and bonds of family see you through," McGovern said.

Because of a conversation about this with McGovern, the production is giving 60 tickets to families in the area who have someone serving in the National Guard in Iraq, said Zannie Voss, producing director of Theater Previews at Duke, which is co-producing the musical with Randall L. Wreghitt, Ken Gentry and Dani Davis.

Families with members hospitalized at Duke Medical Center also will receive tickets. Duke student interns are helping with this project, Voss added.

Other students are interning in producing, directing, stage managing as well as all technical aspects of the "Little Women" show, Voss said.

Former students who interned with these Broadway-bound productions at Duke have gone on to work in theater, including two involved with "Little Women": Davis, a producer, and David Richards, general manager, Voss said.

Theater Previews at Duke grew out of the university's Broadway Preview series, which premiered new works for the American theater from 1986 to 1993. The series began with Emanuel Azenberg's Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" starring Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey.

"Little Women" director Susan H. Schulman said that over the years she had turned down three scripts based on Alcott's novel because none had the strong, passionate point of view needed to carry a musical.

But she signed onto this current project because it took the point of view of Jo. The libretto is by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein.

Jo really strives to be an individual and not be pressured by societal expectations. "Women especially fight that still today," Schulman said. "I'd like the audience to feel empowered, that the individual can survive ? that dreams can come true ? You can make things happen."

This show has the depth and universality needed to make it a good musical, the director said.

"Musicals become silly when people sing about mundane things. You can't sing about a cup of tea but you can sing about poisoning a cup of tea," Schulman said.

---

WHAT: "Little Women: The Musical," a Broadway-bound production, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

WHERE: Reynolds Theater in The Bryan Center on Duke University's West Campus

WHEN: The show runs through Oct. 31. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday; 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

TALKS: Post-performance talks featuring cast members take place on Oct. 21 and Oct. 26.

TICKETS: $24-$35 with $5 off for groups of 10 or more. For tickets, call (919) 684-4444 or www.tickets.duke.edu


Close as Pages in a Book: Little Women, the Musical, Begins Pre-Broadway Tryout in North Carolina Oct. 13

By Kenneth Jones
13 Oct 2004

Little Women, the Broadway-bound new American musical based on the classic novel, opens its pages in a North Carolina tryout Oct. 13, presented by Theatre Previews at Duke University in Durham.

Sutton Foster plays Jo March, one of four New England sisters yearning and coming of age under the wing of their mother, Marmee, played by Maureen McGovern.

In North Carolina, collaborators Allan Knee (book), Mindi Dickstein (lyrics) and Jason Howland (music) will see and hear their work in full production with a fresh audience for the first time. As is the case with most pre-Broadway runs, refinements will be made in tryout (to Oct. 31) and after (toward a first Broadway preview of Dec. 7 at the Virginia Theatre).

The Broadway opening is scheduled for Jan. 23, 2005.

The musical is based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel for young people, a slice of Victorian family life that includes hardscrabble days, budding romance, Christmas joys and painful loss.

Sutton Foster won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Thoroughly Modern Millie, and has, in recent public appearances, sung Little Women's big anthem, "Astonishing." McGovern is the actress and recording artist known for everything from "The Morning After" to studio recordings of Let 'Em Eat Cake and Of Thee I Sing, as well as appearances in Broadway shows (The Pirates of Penzance, 3 Penny Opera). The cast also features Janet Carroll as Aunt March, Danny Gurwin as Laurie (the boy next door), John Hickok as Prof. Bhaer, Amy McAlexander as sister Amy, Megan McGinnis as sister Beth, Jenny Powers as sister Meg, Robert Stattel as Mr. Laurence, Jim Weitzer as John Brooke and Anne Kanengeiser (the standby for Marmee and Aunt March). Joining them on Broadway will be Julie Foldesi, Christopher Gunn, Larissa Shukis and Andrew Varella.

The production is directed by Susan H. Schulman (The Secret Garden, The Sound of Music). ...

The North Carolina Performances play Reynolds Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings at 7:30 PM; Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 PM, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 PM.

For more information, Click Here.

Read more PLAYBILL

The Virginia Theatre box office (245 W. 52nd Street) opens Oct. 25. Tickets are now on sale via Tele-charge.com (212) 239-6200.

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Amy McAlexander (left), Sutton Foster, Maureen McGovern, Jenny Powers and Megan McGinnis
photo by Aubrey Reuben

Click here to see Photos by Bruce Glikas for Broadway.com


Getting 'Little Women' ready

A musical based on Alcott classic opens in Duke preview

Published: Oct 10, 2004

DURHAM -- Staging a new musical on Broadway these days is risky. The economy is still ailing. New York City tourism has taken a hit since the World Trade Center attacks. And with the rising price of Broadway tickets, theater fans are growing more selective.

But as Maureen McGovern sees it, the same factors that make Broadway precarious will make "Little Women: The Musical" a likely success.

"The story is very universal for all ages, but given the day, the war, and all those single families, women raising their kids alone with the soldiers away, and the economy in the state that it's in, everyone is struggling, or juggling two and three jobs just to make ends meet ... it resonates right now very strongly," says McGovern, 55, who stars as Marmee in this adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about a family in Civil War-era New England.

"Little Women," co-produced by Theater Previews at Duke, opens its pre-Broadway run Wednesday. The show also stars Sutton Foster, who won a 2002 Tony Award for "Thoroughly Modern Millie," and is directed by Susan H. Schulman (Broadway's "The Secret Garden"). Five weeks after the Duke run ends Oct. 31, "Little Women: The Musical" will begin its previews in New York's Virginia Theatre. ...

Once she decided to direct, Schulman immediately thought of McGovern for the role of Marmee, a woman raising four daughters while her husband is serving in the war. The two have a long history together: Schulman gave McGovern her first stage break more than 20 years ago, in a summer stock production of "The Sound of Music." Since then McGovern has racked up Broadway credits for "The Pirates of Penzance," "Nine" and other shows, though she's best known for her pop hit "The Morning After" from the 1972 film "The Poseidon Adventure."

Schulman also wanted Foster, whom she knew through her friendships with the writer and the musical director of "Thoroughly Modern Millie." She was so dead set on having Foster play Jo that the producers postponed the play's premiere to wait for the actress to fulfill her "Millie" contract.

Foster was sold on the idea, too, having read the script in one sitting in her "Millie" dressing room. She immediately identified with the headstrong and independent Jo, whom novelist Alcott modeled after herself. Jo is far more like Foster than Millie was, she said in an interview between "Little Women" rehearsals at Duke. ...

September • 2004


A Night to Remember

By Andrew Gans
29 Sep 2004

Maureen McGovern will at last have the elusive Broadway opening night she deserves with the upcoming new musical Little Women, which begins out-of-town tryouts mid-October

*******************

Never mind "The Morning After" ?\ it's a Broadway opening that Maureen McGovern desires.

Although the singing actress ?\ who first shot to fame with "The Morning After," the Oscar-winning theme song from 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure" ?\ has appeared on Broadway in three musicals, she has yet to enjoy an official, pop-the-cork-on-the-champagne opening night. That should all change this season, when Little Women, the new musical based on the beloved Louisa May Alcott novel, begins previews in December at the Virginia Theatre with McGovern in the role of the family matriarch, Marmee.

McGovern's Broadway career began in 1981 when she succeeded Linda Ronstadt and Karla DeVito as Major-General Stanley's daughter Mabel in the Public Theater's Tony-winning production of The Pirates of Penzance. Though she was already an admired concert artist, McGovern made her Broadway bow with next to no theatrical experience, save for one week of summer stock in The Sound of Music. About her first performance on The Great White Way, McGovern says, "It will always remain one of the most thrilling nights of my life. I didn't know enough to be as terrified as I should have been. I was terrified, absolutely, but I didn't know the enormity of it."

The performer, blessed with a soaring, multi-octave voice, followed that Gilbert and Sullivan run replacing Karen Akers as put-upon wife Luisa Contini in the original, Tommy Tune-directed production of Nine. "I loved Tommy Tune's vision of that piece, the stark black and white," says McGovern, who belted out the show's "My Husband Makes Movies" and "Be On Your Own," two of composer Maury Yeston's great tunes. "It was so multi-layered. It was a show you could see a million times and still catch something new. It was an exquisite piece."

After two replacement gigs, McGovern was given the opportunity to open a Broadway production, the much-in-the-news 1989 staging of Kurt Weill's 3 Penny Opera that starred pop star Sting as Macheath, the head of the gang of crooks. A score that forced her to belt high into her soprano range, however, caused McGovern to miss her opening night and, subsequently, most of the show's short run. "The only way the Weill estate would allow [the show] to be done," McGovern explains, "was if the score and the book and everything were done in the original order and the original keys . . . [and] they wanted the soprano roles belted. I could get it out and sing it, but I knew for vocal health it was wrong for eight shows a week. I kept saying, 'This is painful.' A week before we opened, I went to the theatre at six o'clock to do my warm-ups, and I got to the beginning of my belt, and nothing but air and squeaks came out.

"I saw my whole life pass before me," McGovern says with a laugh. "I had ruptured a blood vessel on the right vocal chord. [The doctor said] if I kept silent for the next week, I'd be able to open, [but] the day before the opening, it wasn't any better, so I missed the opening, which was devastating. . . . I missed 22 shows, and when I came back, I think we had just a week-and-a-half and it closed. It was very frustrating."

Now, 15 years later ?\ after a decade or so of earning raves in regional productions of Dear World, The Lion in Winter and William Finn's Elegies ?\ McGovern is more than ready for her opening in Little Women. And it seems fitting that Susan H. Schulman, the woman who directed her in her very first stage production ?\ the aforementioned summer-stock Sound of Music ?\ should be at the helm of Little Women, which plays an out-of-town tryout at Duke University's Reynolds Theatre this month. ...

"It's a delicious story, and the score is glorious," McGovern adds. "Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein have done a beautiful job, and Allan Knee's book is exquisite and very faithful to the story. I'm so excited. This has been a long process. I'm so thrilled it's finally going to happen."

Read more here Playbill

Little Women Shifts Broadway Preview Date
September 9, 2004
Broadway.com

Due to scheduling issues, producers are shifting the first Broadway performance of Little Women. The show, announced to start on December 2, will now begin its run at the Virginia Theatre on December 7.

Little Women is a new musical version of the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott, which tells of the March sisters, coming of age in Civil War New England. Tony winner Sutton Foster, will take on the central role of talented tomboy Jo March, who dreams of becoming a writer and finds unexpected love.


In addition to Foster, the tuner will feature Maureen McGovern as Marmee, Megan McGinnis as Beth, Amy McAlexander as Amy, Jenny Powers as Meg, Janet Carroll as Aunt March, Danny Gurwin as Laurie, John Hickok as Professor Baher, Jim Weitzer as John Brooke and Robert Stattel as Mr. Lawrence.

Little Women, directed by Susan H. Schulman, will play Duke University in North Carolina from October 13 through October 31. It is still scheduled to officially open on Broadway on January 23.

Photo by Andrew Ku

MARQUEE VALUE: Little Women at the Virginia

By Morgan Allen

PLAYBILL


Production: Little Women book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, directed by Susan H. Schulman, and starring Sutton Foster.

Previews: December 7, 2004

Opening: January 23, 2005

Venue: The Virginia Theatre,
245 West 52nd Street New York, NY

Thoroughly Modern Millie Tony-winner Sutton Foster returns to Broadway in a musical adaptation of the beloved novel by Louisa May Alcott. Susan H. Schulman (The Secret Garden) helms the production which also features Maureen McGovern.

March Up! Little Women Box Office Opens Oct. 25; Tryout Rehearsals Begin Sept. 7
By Kenneth Jones
07 Sep 2004


The box office at the Virginia Theatre will open Oct. 25 for Little Women ticket sales. Phone sales for the new Broadway musical based on the beloved novel began Aug. 21.

Performances begin Dec. 2 toward a Jan. 23, 2005, opening at the Virginia, the recent home to Little Shop of Horrors. For ticket information, call Tele-Charge at (212) 239-6200.

The family-friendly musical based on the 19th-century Louisa May Alcott novel will star Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster as Jo March, and Maureen McGovern as her resilient mother, Marmee, who guides her daughters in Civil War-era New England....

PLAYBILL

Sirius Satellite Radio: Songs From Upcoming Musicals on "Radio Playbill"
By Robert Viagas
07 Sep 2004


Songs from upcoming musicals Brooklyn, Little Women and Spamalot are featured on the Sept. 6-19 edition of "Radio Playbill," as part of host Robert Viagas' preview of the upcoming Broadway season of plays, musicals and revivals. The show features the latest on a major political thriller, a musical by the Monty Python troupe, revivals of classics by Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman and Cy Coleman, and brand-new score by the composer of The Full Monty— all of which lie ahead in the 2004-05 Broadway season, which has already seen the openings of The Frogs and Dracula, and shifts into high gear this month. Then, test your knowledge in the weekly Playbill Quiz.

"Radio Playbill," a news and entertainment magazine show of theatrical interviews, features and music, is broadcast multiple times each week on Sirius Satellite Radio's Our Time, Stream 131. ...

Read More at PLAYBILL


Maureen's appearence on the MDA Telethon are as follows:

SUNDAY EVENING, HOUR 4, between
9:05-9:55 PM PST
singing: FEVER

MONDAY, HOUR 16, between
9:00-10:10 AM PST
singing:
COOL BREEZE & A TISKET, A TASKET

August • 2004

29 August 2004

An interview with Maureen on the Russell Davies Show on BBC Radio 2 was on the radio today. You can listen to it by going to:the Russel Davies show.

To listen: Click on "Listen to this show again". Fast Forward about 55 minutes: click on: >> 15 minutes -three times and then click on: >>5 minutes two times

This will get you close to the start of Maureen's segment - which last about 60 minutes.

The introduction seems to be cut off- the segment begins in the middle of"You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me" This program is available on the BBC website for 7 days.

Thanks for the info Marion Schultz


Little Women Sisters Visit Marmee McGovern

8/20/2004

 



Broadway and cabaret star Maureen McGovern welcomed the young actresses that will play her daughters in the upcoming musical LittleWomen to her smash hit club show Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night at Le Jazz Au Bar on August 20. After the sold-out show, the quintet of leading ladies gathered for some family portraits.

Click here to see Photos by Bruce Glikas for Broadway.com


DIVA TALK: . . .McGovern Gets Jazzy. . .
By Andrew Gans
20 Aug 2004

I've often said that a performer can't truly be appreciated until seen live. As much as I've enjoyed Maureen McGovern's recordings throughout the years, I had never seen the former 3 Penny star perform live until this past Saturday night. In person, the sound of her voice is even more beautiful than on disc. I was most impressed with her amazing control of her instrument — whether she's singing softly, belting full-out or occasionally scatting, McGovern has exquisite vocal agility. The performer, who will soon be seen in the new musical Little Women, has also grown tremendously as an interpreter throughout the years. On Saturday, she imbued a medley of Bacharach and David's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "A House Is Not a Home" with a touching sincerity. Other highlights of the show — dubbed "Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night" — included her opening, a beautiful rendition of William Finn's "I'd Rather Be Sailing"; a great take on that classic sultry song, "Fever"; a wonderful duet with bass player Jay Leonhart on Cole Porter's "My Heart Belongs to Daddy"; and her belty finale, "Blues in the Night." She also did well with two little-heard ditties, Jule Styne's "Put 'Em in a Box, Tie 'Em with a Ribbon" and William Bolcom's humorous "Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise." McGovern was warm, funny and extremely appealing at Le Jazz Au Bar, where she concludes her run Aug. 22. The comfortable space, located within the nightclub Au Bar on East 58th Street, has standard cabaret tables and chairs as well as oversized couches, and is a great new addition to the cabaret scene.

Playbill

Maureen McGovern Sings Cool, Romantic
“Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer’s Night”

By Lucy Komisar

Cool, clear, elegant, with a hint of jazz, Maureen McGovern hits rich high notes in songs about love (and anti-love!) at the equally cool and elegant Le Jazz Au Bar.

My favorites are those in a jazzy idiom, especially a tribute with skat to Ella Fitzgerald, who at 17 wrote “A Tisket, A Tasket,” a little yellow basket.

Also nice and jazzy are Julie Styne and Sammy Cahn’s “Put ‘Em in a Box, Tie ‘Em with a ribbon,” throw ‘em in the deep blue sea, because love and I we don’t agree. And Harold Arlen’s “Blues in the Night,” (My momma done told me….) . . . .

McGovern does not waste our time or assault our ears with silly patter. A rare spoken commentary, emphasizing her sophisticated cynicism about love, is this delicious quote from Dorothy Parker: "By the time you swear you're his, / Shivering and sighing, / And he vows his passion is / Infinite, undying - / Lady, make a note of this: / One of you is lying."

Le Jazz Au Bar is the most attractive cabaret I’ve seen, with well-spaced red-covered tables (every sight-line is perfect) and a British country-house ambience enhanced by old paintings and a crystal chandelier. It’s a perfect place for McGovern’s polish.


TravelLady Magazine


'ACTOR WHO SINGS' THRIVES
A bright morning after
Troubled times over, McGovern is back on club scene and returning to Broadway

BY BLAKE GREEN
STAFF WRITER
August 17, 2004

"The Morning After," Maureen McGovern's best-known hit, carries a strong personal meaning, but she doesn't include the song in her new show at Le Jazz au Bar on Manhattan's East Side.

Rather, it's an eclectic lineup, with some songs appropriate for her show's title, "Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night" such as "Humidity," by her musical director, Jeffrey Harris; that Peggy Lee mainstay "Fever"; and "Cool Breezes," by Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie. But she also includes classics by Rodgers, Hart, Porter, Arlen and the Gershwins. . . .

She has evolved from "a singer who acts" into "an actor who sings," she says. "I'd Rather Be Sailing," which opens her show, is by William Finn, whose musical "Elegies" she performed in this past spring in Los Angeles.

Much of her time is now spent on her Maureen McGovern Works of Heart Foundation for Music and Healing, which she describes as a way to bring "quality music" to patients and caregivers. The undertaking led to a new CD, "Works of Heart," which includes "The Morning After."

Read complete article here: Newsday.com

August 16, 2004
Maureen McGovern Rings the Opening Bell

The members and employees of the American Stock Exchange welcome Maureen McGovern as she rings the opening bell to celebrate her NYC 2004 Nightlife Award for Outstanding Female Vocalist.

American Stock Exchange Events

 

Click here for more photos


Maureen McGovern
Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night

Le Jazz Au Bar

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes

With Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night, Maureen McGovern stirs up some smooth and spicy flavors at the Le Jazz Au Bar. She opens with William Finn’s I’d Rather Be Sailing, a vision of cool relief confirming that McGovern can smoothly send her lustrous notes sailing in any direction she chooses. Clearly she is commanding in a rainbow of music genres, jazz, pop, theatre, her astounding voice effortlessly skimming over four octaves.

Music director Jeff Harris created some intriguing arrangements, like Nice ‘n Easy (Bergmans and Spence) in a jazzy waltz time with McGovern sprinkling in a peppery scat to kick up the rhythm. It is in a trio of Ella Fitzgerald favorites, however, that her scatting chops get a charged workout – Oh, Ella Be Good (Gershwins), Eckstine and Gillespie’s bop tune Cool Breeze, and A Tisket, A Tasket (Fitzgerald and Webb). She barely breaks a sweat, and if she does, she can focus it into a trio of fervent love standards – More Than You Know, The Very Thought of You, My One and Only Love.

Showing her comic side with the wry Humidity (Harris/Harris), she puts a deliciously nasty slant on Put ‘Em in a Box, Tie ‘Em With a Ribbon (Styne and Cahn), punctuated by Leonhart’s bass rhythm and Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise by William Bolcom is a bizarre-o touch of humor in high drama, Ohio matron style.

Her actress side emerging stronger than ever, McGovern reaches for wit, heart, and the blues, deepening her vocal tone for The Meaning of the Blues and a no-nonsense Blues in the Night. She grasps the heart of A House Is Not a Home (Bachrach/David) and, with focused sensuality, delivers The Island by Lins and the Bergmans. Interesting is the feel of determined dignity reflected in a romantic narrative beginning with the Gershwins’ Love Walked In, heating up with Embraceable You, cooling down to the poignant Nobody’s Heart (Rodgers and Hart) and, finally reconciled, Just One of the Things by Cole Porter.

Jeff Harris supports McGovern’s renditions with colorful embellishments in the interludes. Jay Leonhart brings in a punchy bass drama, highlighted in a scorchy Fever and My Heart Belongs to Daddy. There is not a false note in this show. Maureen McGovern is one of the music world’s Essentials.


Reviews - Variety

Maureen McGovern

Fri Aug 13,12:17 AM ET
Robert L. Daniels, STAFF
Le Jazz Au Bar, New York City

Musicians: Jeffrey D. Harris, Jay Leonhart.

In her debut at Gotham's Le Jazz Au Bar, vet songstress Maureen McGovern (news) is offering a creamy set of seductive romantic standards that cover all the bases, from unrequited love and love forsaken to such ardent statements of commitment as Vincent Youmans' "More Than You Know." Under the collective banner of "Sultry Songs for a Hot Summer's Night," the glam 55-year-old chanteuse creates a subtle, lush and captivating mood.

McGovern has the most remarkable range and crisply tailored diction in town, and she offers a lesson in dynamics, from her whispery take on "Nice 'n' Easy" to the sweaty seductiveness of "Fever." She also unearths "Put 'Em in a Box (Tie 'Em With a Ribbon)," the fun tune that Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn designed for Doris Day (news) in her breezy 1948 film debut, "Romance on the High Seas." McGovern puts a hold on the rush of romance with this jaunty dismissal of love as comfortably as she embraces it with a sublimely haunting take on "The Very Thought of You."

On the sultry side, McGovern reminds us that Cole Porter raised more than a few eyebrows when he penned "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" for Mary Martin in 1938. The hip arrangement by composer-bassist Jay Leonhart is heightened by a witty walkin' bass line and a humming scat, inspired by the late bowing master Slam Stewart.

In a tribute to the first lady of song, Ella Fitzgerald, McGovern sails into a mix of Dizzy Gillespie's bop-flavored "Cool Breeze" and Ella's girlish trademark tune "A Tisket, a Tasket." McGovern's wide-ranging scat singing and her sense of jazz phrasing is just another facet of her skillful vocal talents.

McGovern gets the jump on the forthcoming Harold Arlen centennial year with "Blues in the Night," framing Johnny Mercer's lyrics with a deep-seated sense of sadness.

The stately diva is Broadway-bound this winter. She will appear as the family matriarch, Marmee, in the musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" at the Virginia Theater.


Aug 13, 2004

   
 

A Hot Summer Night's Dream
By: Barbara & Scott Siegel

The club is called Le Jazz Au Bar, but don't let the word "jazz" limit your expectations. With the appearance of Maureen McGovern through August 22, the room has started to become a bigger umbrella covering a wider range of musical styles. The same might be said of McGovern herself; she is such an extraordinary talent that she excels in virtually every idiom from jazz to standards, from pop to the blues. In years past, a McGovern show was all about her instrument; more recently, she has become a consummate entertainer with an extremely appealing performance persona and an ability to make the lyrics count as much as the notes.

Her new show, Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night, provides about two dozen reasons why you should make it your business to see her before she returns to Broadway in Little Women later this season. Those two dozen reasons are the songs that she sings in a generous program in which she displays dazzling musicality. Lushly accompanied on the piano by musical director Jeffrey D. Harris and buoyed by Jay Leonhart's sweet work on bass, McGovern puts on quite a performance.

She begins by turning William Finn's lovely "Sailing" into a swelling anthem for the sailboat set, then gracefully bringing it ashore as the indirect love song that it is. She makes a bow to Ella Fitzgerald, singing a song about her ("Oh, Ella Be Good") as well as one that Ella co-wrote: "A Tisket, A Tasket" (E. Fitzgerald/C Webb). Her measured rendition of "My One and Only Love" (R. Mellin/G. Wood) brings out the lyrics for a fresh read and serves as a perfect companion piece to Dean Martin's recording of the tune. And who knew that McGovern was so funny? Her take on "Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise" (William Bolcolm) is as peculiarly tasty as the song itself. Finally, her performance of "Blues in the Night" (Harold Arlen) is an incredible display of vocal virtuosity that, at the same time, serves the words beautifully. It's a boffo finale.

Read more here:
Theater Mania.com


August 12, 2004

A CurtainUp Cabaret Review

Maureen McGovern: Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer Night

By Brad Bradley

Maureen McGovern, a versatile singer with a remarkable voice and an equally remarkable career that has spanned three decades, is currently appearing in a very enjoyable program at New York's newest elegant night spot, Le Jazz Au Bar. The venue is especially comfortable, although the sound system at Thursday's opening was experiencing a few kinks in balance. No kinks in Ms. McGovern's performance, though. Even when she realized that she was unconsciously rearranging lyrics on one especially difficult song, she made an enjoyable comic moment of it, and started anew with the flawless delivery that marks her set, and in fact her career.

This program is a particularly low-key one, terrific for anyone needing a dose of calming comfort after a hard day. She opens with a glidingly smooth version of William Finn's hardly known lovely tune, "I'd Rather Be Sailing," and quickly slides into a slightly more up-tempo piece, "Nice and Easy", which gives her a chance to show off her signature scatting style. No surprise then, that later in the program she offers an evocative tribute to scat icon Ella Fitzgerald.

Other highlights include a number of famous standards, including "Fever," "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," and, anticipating the Harold Arlen centennial next year, "Blues in the Night." The show songs remind us (she does not give herself a plug) that Ms. McG soon will be on Broadway in the coming musical production of Little Women. Another song that deserves mention even in an abbreviated review is "My One and Only Love," particularly because it reminds us how really gorgeous this singer's voice is. There is no hyperbole tolerance required to buy the promotion of this artist as "the Stradivarius Voice."



Maureen McGovern

Band of Liberty in Boston
with Maureen McGovern

See a concert video clip—click on a picture!
(QuickTime required)

Thousands attended the Band of Liberty's
concert at Boston City Hall Plaza
on 4 August. The highlight of the evening was an appearance by special guest artist Maureen McGovern.

See more photos —click on a picture!



DIVA TALK: A Chat with Little Women's Maureen McGovern Plus News of LaMott and Paige

By Andrew Gans
12 Aug 200
4

Actress and singer Maureen McGovern

News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.

MAUREEN McGOVERN

Though I had heard Maureen McGovern's beautiful vocal tones on various television programs, it was not until college ?\ when the singing actress released her solo album "Another Woman in Love" ?\ that I truly recognized her gifts as a performer. At the time I was hosting a radio program on my college station, and McGovern's versions of "I Remember," "Rainy Days" and "Some Other Time" got lots of air play. But I probably played no song from that album more than I did "I Could've Been a Sailor," the best rendition of the Peter Allen tune I've yet to hear.

Although McGovern has appeared on Broadway in three musicals ?\ The Pirates of Penzance, Nine and the Sting revival of 3 Penny Opera ?\ she has yet to enjoy an official pop-the-cork-on-the-champagne opening night. That should all change this season, when Little Women, the new musical based on the beloved Louisa May Alcott novel, opens at the Virginia Theatre Jan. 23, 2005, with McGovern in the role of family matriarch, Marmee. McGovern will bring her terrific, multi-octave voice to the role as well as her acting skills, which she has been honing this past decade in acclaimed productions of Dear World, The Lion in Winter and, most recently, the West Coast premiere of William Finn's Elegies. I recently had the chance to chat with the good-humored McGovern, who is currently offering an evening of "Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night" at the new Manhattan hotspot, Le Jazz Au Bar. That interview follows:

Question: How did you get involved with Little Women?
Maureen McGovern: Well, actually, [director] Susan Schulman has been a friend for 23 years since we first worked together. She directed me in my very first theatrical adventure, The Sound of Music, for Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. We subsequently did South Pacific and Guys and Dolls at Pittsburgh CLO. I was hired to do The Sound of Music, never even having done a high school play! On my way to Pittsburgh I was asked to come audition for Joe Papp for Pirates of Penzance. He hired me on the spot, never even having done anything. [Laughs.] I was hired for Pirates, went and did my one week of summer stock with Susan, who gave me a master class in those two weeks there, and literally stepped foot on Broadway. And, so, I went back to Pittsburgh CLO on my vacation from Pirates. I did that show for a year and two months and did a week of South Pacific with Susan.

We've wanted to do a project together for years, and Danny Davis, one of the producers, and Randall Wreghitt, had seen me in a workshop of Robin Hood that Martin Charnin and Tom Eyen were working on, [playing] the elder Lady Marian, and they said right then, "We have our Marmee." So, Susan and I started talking, and I said, "Oh God, I've loved this piece since I was a child." I read it as a very young child, a condensed version of it. And, of course, I've seen all four or five of the movies and have loved them. It's every young girl's dream ?\ Jo is the great character to live out your dreams and keep your individuality and still have a glorious life. . . . I have not been able to participate [in the workshops] because of my working schedule. I was doing Elegies in Los Angeles at the time and had to honor a couple concerts that I had back East, [but] I took a red eye in time to see a reading last spring of Little Women, and oh my God, Sutton Foster is the definitive Jo. The part is transcendent with her. It's a great part to begin with, and she has just taken it to new heights. She's astounding. Susan has cast the show beautifully. Every person, the minute they walk out on the stage, you know who they are.

Q: What's the score like for the musical?
MM: The score is absolutely gorgeous. I have two specific songs and then sing part of others with people. I absolutely adore the music that I'm doing. A beautiful piece called "Here Alone" ?\ Marmee is trying to write a letter to her husband and be positive. She's struggling with trying to find the words to say to him that don't let him know how alone and how fragile she is. She's a very strong inventive woman, which is wonderful because Marmee informs all the other girls. You see pieces of her ?\ she's their rock ?\ in their personalities. This is a very vulnerable moment for her. "How will I make it through all this? And how can I not worry my husband about how difficult life is at home without him?" She's a very strong woman and compassionate and creative, so she's just a wonderful character to play. She's like everyone's dream for their mother.

The other song is called "Days of Plenty," which is a beautiful, wonderful anthem of courage and hope and belief in the future even though she sings it after Beth has died. Jo says to her, "How do you go on? How do you keep going ?\ you don't fall apart." And she says, "I don't have the choice. If I fell apart, I would take away from what her life meant. I have to keep going." She's the strength, she's the backbone and the rock for all of these girls. It's a delicious story, and the score is glorious. Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein have done a beautiful job, and Allan Knee's book is exquisite and very faithful to the story. I'm so excited. This has been a long process. It's been delayed many times and just kind of in the offing, and I'm so thrilled that it's finally going to happen.

Q: And you're having out-of-town tryouts at Duke?
MM: Yes, at Duke ?\ September rehearsal and October performances.

Q: And then you'll come to Broadway, and you'll finally get your Broadway opening night.
MM: Yes! [Laughs.] Your words to God's ears. Knock word.

Q: With 3 Penny, I remember seeing you on television talking about missing your opening night. What happened?
MM: What happened was the [Kurt] Weill estate and the musical director insisted ?\ this is what I understood anyway ?\ that the only way the Weill estate would allow it to be done was if the score and the book and everything was done in the original order and the original key. They must have had some wonderfully freakish soprano ?\ that's what Michael Tilson Thomas said to me. It must have been some freakish soprano who could sing the score in the keys that it was in ?\ because basically they wanted soprano roles belted. And I could get it out and sing it, but I knew for vocal health it was wrong for eight shows a week. I kept saying to them, "This is painful. This is very painful." [Director] John Dexter was fine with him to change anything, but the music end of the production refused. A week before we opened, I kept vocal silence and went at six o'clock to the theatre to do my warm-ups, and I got to the beginning of my belt, and nothing but air and squeaks came out! I saw my whole life pass before me. [Laughs.] I had to go on that night ?\ my understudy's costumes weren't ready and she wasn't ready ?\ so I kind of talk-sang around that area. I went to Dr. Gould the next day and his associate, Gwen Corovan, she came in and literally saved my life. She said, "No way [you can perform]. You have got a ruptured blood vessel on the right vocal chord." She conferred with Dr. Gould and said if I kept silence for the next week ?\ Dr. Gould said, "My opera divas have never missed a performance!" ?\ if you keep total silence and write notes, perhaps by the following Friday you'll be able to open. . . . [But] by the day before, it wasn't any better, so I missed the opening, which was devastating. It's like preparing for the wedding and no honeymoon. [Laughs.] So I missed 22 shows, and when I came back, I think we just had a week-and-a-half, and it closed. So it was frustrating.

So I'm very much looking forward to this [opening night]. The keys are wonderful, the part is just a delicious role to play, and Susan, aside from being a dear friend, she is just one of my favorite directors. She bonds the cast in a way that is just wonderful. It's just a wonderful experience, and she has a perfect eye for this period. She's the consummate person to direct this piece. And Janet Carroll, a friend from California, she's playing Aunt March, and she's wonderful. But, seriously, every single person they've cast is wonderful.

Q: You mentioned a little about Pirates of Penzance. What was it like making your Broadway debut with so little stage experience?
MM: It was just one of those nights you bring your whole life to, and it will always remain one of the most thrilling nights of my life. I didn't know enough to be as terrified as I should have been. [Laughs.] I was terrified, absolutely, but I didn't know the enormity of it. It was great fun. That show was such a valentine, and it could have gone on for years and years. I guess it was hard to cast everybody. It was just a joy to come to work every night.

Q: And after that you replaced Karen Akers . . .
MM: Yes, Karen Akers in Nine with Raul Julia. I loved that piece. I did not get to see the revival, and I heard Antonio [Banderas] was wonderful. Tommy Tune's vision of that piece, the stark black and white. I actually watched Nine on my day off from Pirates for weeks before going into it. And every single time I'd think, "Oh my God, they've added something," which they hadn't. It was just so multi-layered. It was a show you could see a million times and still catch something new. It was an exquisite piece.

Q: And you got to sing two of the best songs in the show.
MM: Yes, "Be On Your Own" and "My Husband Makes Movies." I think it's Maury Yeston's finest score.

Q: Your career has had so many twists and turns, but I guess it all started with "The Morning After." Did you think at the time that that would be such a big hit, and how does the song resonate for you now?
MM: You know, it's interesting. At the time I thought it was a nice song, and I was grateful for it ?\ being an unknown artist ?\ to have an Oscar-winning song. The song almost did not happen. They wrote it for Barbra Streisand, and she turned it down. My producer had sent a tape to all the record companies, and everybody had turned me down except for Twentieth Century Records, and Russ Regan, who was head of the label at the time, heard something in my voice and literally signed me sight unseen and said, "We'll look for something." This was October of '72, and so in November they sent me this song and said, "This is going to be a huge movie. You're an unknown artist, this will be a great vehicle." So, we recorded it in Cleveland. I had a cold at the time. I had flown in from Canada ?\ they had prerecorded the tracks, and I just put my voice on there.

The song was released in December along with the movie. The movie took off, and the song did nothing, so they dropped it. And then it was nominated for an Oscar in the spring of '73 and subsequently won the Oscar, so radio stations all across the country were playing it, and this huge groundswell of song requests happened all across the country that forced Twentieth Century Records to rerelease it, and by August of '73 it was a gold record. So it was kind of a Cinderella story for the first time out.

At the time I was going through [many things] ?\ my mother had colon cancer, we'd gone through her first series of operations for that, I was going through a divorce, a lawsuit with my first manager. My life was falling apart, and so it was ironic that I'm singing the hopeful anthem. I think what people heard in that was my desperate need to believe it. It's kind of the generic hope song. I still get letters today from people who had a death in the family or are going through illness or trying times or depression and how the song still resonates and still means things to people. It really didn't come full circle to me until my [experience with my] youngest niece. I've done the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon ?\ this will be my 25th year, and I've sung "The Morning After" umteen times on the show. And, about ten years ago, my youngest niece [Carolyn] was diagnosed with Dermatomyositis, which is one of the neuromuscular diseases. And we were just devastated, and I had to go on the telethon and sing "The Morning After" that year, and I could barely get through the song. It was like my "ah-ha" moment as to what people really got from this song for years and years and years. And, gratefully she's in her second remission, and [is involved in] swimming team championship, she rides horses, and she's doing exquisitely well. So we're very grateful, but it brought home the real message of "The Morning After" to me, personally.

So I've started the Maureen McGovern Works of Heart Foundation for Music and Healing. All the letters that I've gotten from people through the years, and I know how I personally respond to music in times of joy, in times of triumph, in times of terror and depression. Music has really been a touchstone in my life. And I started working with the American Music Therapy Association. I'm one of the national spokespersons. And music therapists are these wonderful folks who have a music degree plus a clinical degree on top of that, and they have one-on-one consultations with patients, and I've gone on rounds with them around the country, and it's just extraordinary how music ?\ it's not the cure to cancer ?\ but it really aids in the healing process, and so it's a real passion of mine. End of my soapbox [laughs], but it's a real passion for me.

Q: You're also about to do two weeks in Manhattan at Le Jazz Au Bar. What type of music will you be doing there?
MM: The show is called "Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night," so they'll be sensual, playful, summer thematic things. I did Elegies in the West Coast premiere of Bill Finn's piece, which I absolutely loved. And I'm doing one of his pieces from A New Brain, "I'd Rather Be Sailing." Jeff Harris, my musical director, and James Harris wrote a wonderful piece called "Humidity." You couldn't do "Sultry Songs" without doing "Fever," the sultry song anthem. [Laughs.] And some Gershwin, one little Rodgers and Hart gem, a Cole Porter piece, some Jule Styne. I do a very deliciously bizarre piece by the classical composer William Bolcom called "Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise." I met him on a previous occasion, and I can't wait to ask him what inspired that [song], but it's something from my childhood. It's a universal song. [Laughs.] Bobby Troup's "The Meaning of the Blues." I just did a Peggy Lee tribute in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl and the Ravinia Festival, and I was shocked at the amount of lyrics that she had written, and she even composed some things. I do a piece called "The Shining Sea" that she wrote with Johnny Mandel from "The Russians are Coming" and "The Island."

Q: Final question: When people hear the name Maureen McGovern, what would you like them to think?
MM: In three words or less? [Laughs.] Well, obviously, she sings. But, you know, I used to think of myself as a singer who acts. But over the years I've been fortunate to do work with Philip Himberg at Sundance and different places, doing Dear World and doing The Lion in Winter, and I'm really an actor who sings. That's what I've been working on in my middle life. [Laughs.]

[Maureen McGovern is currently playing Manhattan's Le Jazz Au Bar through Aug. 22. The new jazz club is located at 41 East 58th Street; call (212) 308 9455 for reservations.]

Read More Here: PLAYBILL


Feature  Aug 5, 2004 
 

Loose Lips

Brian Scott Lipton chats with Maureen McGovern . . .


 
 
FROM MARSHMALLOW TO MARMEE
While the song is not part of her new act, Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night, Maureen McGovern should be singing "On the Road Again." Tonight, the California native begins a three-night stint at Odette's in New Hope; then she lands at Le Jazz Au Bar on Wednesday for an 11-night run of the show.

While the program features standards such as "Embraceable You," "Fever," and "Blues in the Night," there are two newer songs that McGovern is most looking forward to singing. "I'm doing William Bolcom's 'Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise,' which really defies description," she says. "I consider it my one dementia moment in the show. And I'm opening with Bill Finn's 'Sailing.' He's such a brilliant writer. I did the West Coast premiere of Elegies earlier this year. My dad was really sick while I was doing it -- we lost him on July 4th -- and the show went right to my heart. I think it's a timeless piece and the most tasteful and powerful expression of 9/11 I know. We're a country that doesn't deal with death very well; to have something that celebrates the lives of people and finds humor and passion in this subject is so important."

After a brief return to California, where she'll record a song for an independent film and appear on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, McGovern heads to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina on September 7 to begin rehearsals for the pre-Broadway run of Little Women. She's playing the family matriarch, Marmee, in the musical, which will arrive at the Virginia Theatre on December 2. "People ask me which role I'm playing, which I think is hilarious. Don't you think I'm a little long in the tooth for Jo?", rhetorically asks McGovern, who turned 55 last month. "As a kid, Jo was my favorite character, but what I love about Marmee is that she is the real rock of the family."

Read more here: Theater Mania.com


Cabaret Scenes magazine lists Maureen in its Picks of the Month section August issue.

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Theater Mania's Brian Lipton mentions Maureen in his column Loose Lips LADIES OF THE EVENING Section.
The extraordinary Maureen McGovern, due on Broadway this winter in Little Women, settles into Le Jazz Au Bar from August 11 through 22 with her aptly named program Sultry Songs on a Hot Summer's Night.

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Cabaret at Odette's to Feature Mason, Noll, Greene and More

By Andrew Gans
01 Aug 2004


Several Broadway performers are scheduled to play the Cabaret at Odette's in New Hope, PA, before the end of the year.

Maureen McGovern, who is headed back to Broadway in the musical version of Little Women, will play the intimate cabaret Aug. 5-7. "An Evening with Maureen McGovern" will feature Jeff Harris on piano and Jay Leonhart on bass and tunes by Bacharach, Arlen, Porter and Ellington.

Odette's is located in New Hope, PA, at 274 South River