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DIVA TALK: Chatting with Wicked's Rue McClanahan Plus News of Cook, Eder and Menzel
By Andrew Gans
22 Jul 2005
Question: You've also written two musicals.
McClanahan: Yes, I'm working on the second one. It's written, but the composer [D. J. Bradley] is still working on the music.
Question: Can you tell me a little about the show?
McClanahan: Well, it's called Cobra Island. It's a spoof, a farce set in Nebraska in 1931 where it opens in a newspaper office. A hot young reporter has just been hired. He's from New York, and Barry is his name. He blows in there and just captivates the leading lady, whose name is Cupcake. She's plump, and her two sidekicks are tall, beautiful girls. I've turned it around. She falls in love with him, and he pretty much falls in love with her. He says that he's after a hot story about three lost triplets — one of them is supposedly the Voodoo princess of a Volcanic Pacific isle called Cobra Island, and every time he mentions it, it thunders and the typewriters jump up off the desk. And the more he mentions it, papers start flying around the room. So the girls say, "Go find it. Get out of here. We don't want you here." Then Cupcake joins him, and the rest of it takes place on Cobra Island with the Cobra Island Queen and her eight virgins [laughs] and her old crone Tuskaka. She speaks with a strong accent. . . . The movie that gave me the idea, which I saw in 1944, was called "Cobra Woman," in which there were just twins — in mine there are triplets.
Question: Do you have a timeline for when you'd like to finish it?
McClanahan: We were moving quite a pace until I got Wicked. We haven't touched it since I started learning lines, maybe three months.
Question: I'm a big fan of "The Golden Girls." Why do you think the show is still so popular?
McClanahan: I should ask you the question! [Laughs.] It's popular because it's warm, friendly and it's about friendship, and it's very funny and it hasn't gotten stale.
Question: Have any of the "Golden Girls" gotten to see you in Wicked?
McClanahan: No, but we have to sign the third-year DVD, which is coming out in November, and since I can't get away, they're flying Bea [Arthur] and Betty [White] to New York to do it here, so I assume at least one of 'em will come see it. [Laughs.]
Question: I know you're also an advocate for animals. Do you have pets in the city?
McClanahan: We have one cat. I had eight cats and six dogs in Los Angeles. . . . [I came to New York] to rehearse a play, [and] I met my present husband, found out two weeks later while rehearsing that I had breast cancer. He and I moved in together, and then we got married. So, I wasn't able to bring my menagerie. We went out to sell the house, and this white cat, whose name at that time was Blanca — she was seven — became very affectionate to [my husband] Morrow. He said, "We need to take her with us." I was thrilled. So, halfway across the country I said, "We ought to rename her. She's going to an entirely different life. She's moving from five acres to a New York apartment. She'll be the only animal. How about a name that sounds like Blanca, so she won't get confused?" And, he said, "But it has to be from Shakespeare," because all my cats are named after Shakespearean characters, and we realized that Bianca was perfect. Bianca means white, as does Blanca, it sounds like Blanca, and she's in two Shakespeare plays. So, she is now Bianca, she's 15, you'd think she was still seven. I have plans — because I have a backyard that's about 45 feet by 30 — a little dog would be just perfect, a little tiny dog that wouldn't terrorize Bianca. She's the queen bee here, but I've got several breeds in mind.
Question: How long will you be staying with Wicked?
McClanahan: The first contract I signed is up January 9. . . But I have the option to renew, so unless that Broadway [comedy] starring me comes along, I'll renew. [Laughs.] So [my] musical is going to stay on the back burner, I'm afraid, for awhile.
Question: Last question: When people hear the name Rue McClanahan, what would you like them to think?
McClanahan: "Oh, I love her!"
[Wicked plays the Gershwin Theatre, 222 West 51st Street; call 212 307-4100 for tickets.]
DIVA TIDBITS
In addition to her upcoming concerts in Provincetown, Tony Award winner Idina Menzel will now also offer concerts in Boston and Martha's Vineyard. As previously announced, the rock-flavored songstress will play the Provincetown Theater Aug. 18-20 at 9 PM and Aug. 21 at 8 PM. She will then sing at the Regatta Bar at Boston's Charles Hotel Aug. 26 and 27 at 7:30 and 10 PM. Menzel has also booked an evening at Martha's Vineyard's Hot Tin Roof Sept. 4 at 9 PM. Provincetown tickets are available by calling (508) 487-9793 or by visiting www.ptowntix.com. Reservations for Boston's Regatta Bar can be made by calling (617) 395-7757 or by logging on to www.regattabarjazz.com. For tickets to Menzel at the Hot Tin Roof, call (508) 693-1137, ext. 11 or visit www.ticketweb.com.
Linda Eder, best known to Broadway audiences for her performance in the original cast of Jekyll & Hyde, has recorded a new CD filled with songs made famous by the late Judy Garland. Entitled "By Myself: The Songs of Judy Garland," the 11-track disc is set to hit stores on the Angel Records label Oct. 4. The single CD was produced by composer/conductor Ettore Stratta, executive-produced by Ian Ralfini and features one new song, "The Rainbow's End," penned by Jack Murphy. Eder is backed by the London Symphony Orchestra on most of the tracks. About her upcoming recording, singer-actress Eder said in a statement, "Judy [Garland] was my first big musical influence. I always felt a connection to her. She was all about the goose bump factor. . . I've been through a lot in the last few years, which has added new layers to my life. No one escapes the lows, and Judy's were extreme, but you felt you knew her." The complete track listing for "By Myself: The Songs of Judy Garland" includes "By Myself," "Almost Like Being in Love"/"This Can't Be Love," "Me and My Shadow," "I'd Like to Hate Myself in the Morning," "It Never Was You," "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart"/"The Trolley Song," "The Rainbow's End," "The Boy Next Door"/"You Made Me Love You," "Do It Again," "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" and "Over the Rainbow."
Tony Award winner Barbara Cook has also recorded a new CD, which will hit stores in the fall. Titled "Tribute," the single CD is set for a September 2005 release. The recording will feature the songs Cook performed during her recent Café Carlyle engagement, which was a tribute to her late musical director Wally Harper as well as to Bobby Short, Harold Arlen and Arthur Schwartz. The new DRG release, produced by Hugh Fordin, will boast Cook backed by a 20-piece orchestra. The arrangements were written by Michael Kosarin with orchestrations by Danny Troob. Song titles are expected to include "I Got the World on a String," "Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here," "Out of This World," "Last Night When We Were Young," "The World Must Be Bigger Than an Avenue," "I Never Knew That Men Cried," "Another Mr. Right Left," "Nashville Nightingale," "Bojangles of Harlem," "I'm Like a New Broom," "I'll Buy You a Star," "Make the Man Love Me," "'Sing' Medley" and "Smile."
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
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Rue McClanahan as Madame Morrible in Wicked
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| photo by Joan Marcus |
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