2004 Previous Latest News
Archived for Maureen McGovern
Archived for Maureen McGovern
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2004 Previous Latest News Archived for 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 Star's revival story inspires graduates
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 |
Maureen McGovern to Receive Honorary Doctor of Music DegreeYoungstown 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 |
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The cast of Little Women, led by Maureen McGovern and Sutton Foster (center) |
Liz Smith
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Broadway Talks Series Spotlights Democracy, La Cage, Jewtopia and Little Women By Andrew Gans Read article:PLAYBILL |
| Little Women's Foster and McGovern Among Stars Set for 2005 Nightlife Awards
By Andrew Gans READ ARTICLE: PLAYBILL |
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November ? • 2004
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Little Women Rehearsal Video |
PLAYBILL ON OPENING NIGHT: WhoopiBy Harry
Haun
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11/17/2004 Peeking in on Little Women RehearsalsDirector 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. |
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| Dame Edna and Brooke Shields to Light Holiday Tree Dec. 8
By Andrew Gans 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. |
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Maureen
McGovern recently
visited the Virginia
Theatre
as the show was loaded onto the stage. |
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Maureen
under the marquee at the Virginia Theatre.
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Maureen
with producers
Chase Mishkin and Randall Wreghitt |
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The literary classic that depicts a tight-knit family in wartime finally gets a chance to sing.
 In
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
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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.
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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.
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VARIETY
(On-Line) Posted: Tue., Oct. 19, 2004, 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. ... |
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Actresses relate to roles in 'Little Women' By Susan
Broili : The Herald-Sun 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. 13By Kenneth
Jones 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.
Click here to see Photos by Bruce Glikas for Broadway.com |
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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 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
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Little Women Shifts
Broadway Preview Date
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MARQUEE VALUE: Little Women at the VirginiaBy Morgan
Allen
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, 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
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Maureen's appearence
on the MDA Telethon are as follows: |
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August • 2004 |
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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 Thanks for the info Marion Schultz |
| Little Women Sisters Visit Marmee McGovern 8/20/2004
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DIVA TALK: . . .McGovern Gets Jazzy. . .
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| 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. |
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WHO SINGS' THRIVES A bright morning after Troubled times over, McGovern is back on club scene and returning to Broadway BY
BLAKE GREEN "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
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Maureen
McGovern Le Jazz Au Bar Elizabeth Ahlfors 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
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13, 2004
A Hot Summer
Night's Dream
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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." |
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Band of Liberty
in Boston
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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
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? 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? 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? Q:
And then you'll come to Broadway, and you'll finally get your Broadway
opening night. Q:
With
3 Penny, I remember seeing you on television talking about missing
your opening night. What happened? 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? Q:
And
after that you replaced Karen Akers . . . Q:
And
you got to sing two of the best songs in the show. 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? 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?
Q:
Final question: When
people hear the name Maureen McGovern, what would you like them to think? [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 LipsBrian Scott Lipton chats with Maureen McGovern . . .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 |
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Cabaret Scenes magazine lists Maureen in its Picks of the Month section August issue. * * * Theater
Mania's Brian Lipton mentions Maureen in his column Loose
Lips LADIES OF THE EVENING Section. * * * Cabaret at Odette's to Feature Mason, Noll, Greene and More By Andrew
Gans
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 |
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