Everything certainly came up roses this week for the current production of Gypsy. Last Sunday, the revival — starring two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters as Momma Rose — nabbed the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. The Angel Records disc competed in a field that included the recordings of Billy Joel's Movin' Out and the revivals of Man of La Mancha, Flower Drum Song and Nine—The Musical. Over the weekend I played through the five recordings, and all are extremely enjoyable. But Peters' performance, especially her delivery of "Some People," "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn," created a superior recording, one that can now be termed Grammy-winning. That news was followed by Wednesday's announcement that the musical at the Shubert Theatre had removed the closing notice posted the previous week. Tickets for the revival — directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes — are now on sale through May 30, and the producers hope to keep the show open longer if ticket sales continue to increase. If you only saw Gypsy during its first few weeks, go back and take another look. All of the actors have grown tremendously in their roles, and Peters is currently offering one of the most thrilling performances to be found on any stage.

MARCY & ZINA'S SONGS

They may not yet be household names, but those who frequent New York cabarets have certainly experienced the work of Marcy Heisler (lyrics) and Zina Goldrich (music).

The first time I heard one of the songwriters' tunes was during Kristin Chenoweth's American Songbook concert in October 2002 at the John Jay College Theatre. Chenoweth performed Heisler and Goldrich's "Taylor (the Latte Boy)," and it was one of the evening's highlights. Not only incredibly melodic, the song — about a woman who falls for a Starbucks employee — is both funny and touching. In fact, Heisler and Goldrich seem to have a great ability to inject humor into many of their songs. I recently heard another of the women's gems during Ann Harada's cabaret outing at the Ars Nova Theater. Harada, who is currently starring as Christmas Eve in Avenue Q, performed the comical "The Last Song," and, like Chenoweth's concert, it was one of the evening's high points.

Heisler and Goldrich's tunes have also been embraced by Christiane Noll (she recorded "Taylor" on her solo disc), Saturday Night Fever's Paige Price and Dance of the Vampires' Max von Essen. Now, their work is available for the masses, courtesy of a new 318-page tome that features 32 of their songs; song titles follow:

"Apathetic Man"
"Baltimore"
"Beautiful You"
"Boom Boom"
"Don't You Be Shakin' Your Faith in Me"
"Faraway"
"Fifteen Pounds"
"Funny How the Love Gets in the Way"
"Hola, Lola!"
"How I Love You (Wedding Song)"
"I Want Them . . . (Bald)"
"The Last Song"
"Let Me Grow Old"
"Love Like Breathing"
"Make Your Own Party"
"Menemsha Moon"
"The Morning After"
"Music of Your Life"
"Now That I Know"
"Oh, How I Loved You"
"Oh My Soul"
"Out of Love"
"Over the Moon"
"R.S.V.P."
"Sing Your Own Song"
"Taking Flight"
"Taylor, the Latte Boy"
"That's All"
"There Will Never Be Another Love"
"There's Nothing I Wouldn't Do"
"Welcome the Rain"
"We Remember Love"

"Goldrich and Heisler: Songbook Volume 1" can be purchased by visiting the talented songwriters’ website, www.goldrichandheisler.com.

MAKING IT ON BROADWAY

Earlier this week I received a copy of a terrific new book that will hit stores May 3. Entitled "Making It On Broadway: Actors' Tales of Climbing to the Top" (Allworth Press), the often hysterical and extremely candid look at working in the theatre features interviews with more than 150 Broadway performers. Authors David Wienir and Jodie Langel — Langel portrayed Cosette and Eponine in Broadway's Les Miz — spoke to such theatre performers as Chita Rivera, Donna Murphy, Faith Prince, Randy Graff, Jason Alexander, Gary Beach, Brian d'Arcy James, Emily Skinner and many, many others. The book is divided into numerous sections dealing with such topics as surviving the first audition, the Disneyfication of Broadway, backstage and onstage antics and the reality of a life in the theatre. It's a quick, fun and thoroughly entertaining read that is also, at times, quite touching. Performers open up about returning to temp jobs after playing leads roles on Broadway, "the curse" of a Tony Award and the sacrifices made for a life on the stage. What follows are a few of the more comical quotes from this must-have tome.

Nancy Opel discusses her first night as Evita:
"I was the understudy to Eva in Evita. When I went on for the lead for the first time, I had yet to rehearse the show on the full set. My problems began as a result of no one telling me that there was a giant cable bundle on the floor behind the Casa Rosada balcony.
Wearing a big white dress, with a giant spotlight on me, I completely tripped over the cable bundle and went flying. Suddenly, I was lying on my face in the middle of the Broadway stage. I said, 'Oh, this is bad.' Mandy Patinkin was singing 'High Flying Adored.' He was not coming to help. The actress who played the maid was in the wings. She flashed me a look of horror, her hands on her face. I tried to get up, but my heels were hooked into my skirt. I rocked back and forth like a turtle upside down on its shell.
The actress who played the maid was in shock. She came running over to help. I thought, 'I've got to use this. I've got to incorporate this into the show. It's foreshadowing.' As she picked me up, I began weaving a bit, holding my stomach.'
Then, I said, 'Oh, that uterine cancer is kicking in again.' I was such an idiot."

Charlotte d'Amboise discusses the dog that made its Broadway debut during the run of Jerome Robbins' Broadway:
"I went to a pet store with Mary Ann Lamb, my best friend. We found a dog that we thought was the cutest thing in the world. It was a pointer. Because no one wanted him, they were going to put him to sleep. Since we were making money in Jerome Robbins' Broadway, we thought that we should buy the dog and give it to somebody. Each of us already had two dogs and we couldn't take a third. We bought the dog for $400 and gave him to the follow-spot operator in our show. He had a great house in the country.
Eight months passed.
One day, the operator said, 'Hey, I am going to bring Blue into the city.'
I asked, 'Can we take the dog in between shows?'
He said yes. Mind you, the dog was now huge. We took the dog and put him in Mary Ann's dressing room. Her dressing room was five flights up in the theatre, and he would be safe there. Of course, no dogs were allowed in the theatre.
I was about to come out for the Peter Pan number and was waiting in the wings. Mary Ann was doing Gypsy, and was sitting in a chair on stage. Out of nowhere, the dog walked out on stage. He managed to get down four flights of stairs, through a packed theatre, through the wings, between Terrence Mann's legs, and out onto the stage to visit Mary Ann, who was sitting all the way across the stage. She was in the middle of singing her song. The audience broke down laughing.
The dog simply walked out, wiggled, turned around, and walked back off stage. I still don't know how it happened. The dog was as big as a table, and there were sixty cast members in the company."

Brooke Shields discusses a lost line in Grease!:
"One night, during a number in Grease!, an actor was talking in my ear. He said, 'You are going down. You are going down.' That's all I heard.
So, when it was time for me to deliver my line, I said: 'I will go down. And you're in now. Grease lighting.'
I was in shock. I was in front of thousands of people, saying words that made no sense. I got backstage and I unleashed on him. It was the only time I ever yelled at someone in a cast. I said, 'Don't you f%*&ng mess me up again.' I wasn't secure enough to be played with. Also, I am not that irreverent that I can mess around on stage. I can have fun, but I don't try to trip people up. You hear stories of stuff like that happening."

Randy Graff discusses Les Miz vs. Falsettos:
"It is incredible to be in a show from its inception. In Les Misérables, we did improvisations for the entire rehearsal period. The number 'Lovely Ladies' came out of improvisation.
Then I replaced Barbara Walsh in Falsettos. I was learning a 'track.' The stage manager put me into the show and told me where to walk, and where to move the furniture. I didn't get any direction because James Lapine was busy. I had to do it all on my own. I didn't have a rehearsal period. I had two weeks of moving furniture. It was very difficult.
The director came to see the show and had some problems with my performance. Funny, as I was never directed by him. The week before the show closed, I finally rehearsed with him."

 Continued...