|
|
Transcript of Robert
Armin's |
|
[For the following chat, Robert Armin typed for both himself and for Harvey Evans. To avoid embarrassment to all concerned, most of the typos have been removed.] [RobertArmin] Good evening and welcome to the Fynsworth Alley chat room. [RobertArmin] It is a great pleasure indeed to welcome one of my favorite Broadway performers for nearly 40(!) years. [RobertArmin] I first saw him as Barnaby in the national tour of Hello, Dolly... [RobertArmin] And later as Young Buddy in the original Broadway production of Follies. [RobertArmin] Harvey Evans will be celebrating his 50th year in Musical Theatre next year and, I gotta tell ya, he looks 35! [RobertArmin] Welcome, Harvey [HarveyEvans] Thank you, thank you. [RobertArmin] It is really astonishing to look back on all the great shows and movies you have been involved with. [RobertArmin] Tonight, we can just touch on just a few. [RobertArmin] Let me pass on a few questions that have been building up from our listeners. [RobertArmin] Shane writes: [RobertArmin] Harvey, you are such a legendary Broadway gypsy and have such a reputation for being a true "nice guy". Have you ever gotten angry enough NOT to smile? [HarveyEvans] So many times, [HarveyEvans] I don't know how I got that reputation, it's not true. [RobertArmin] Well, now I know not to believe everything you say -- because it IS TRUE! [RobertArmin] Mr. Nice Guy. [RobertArmin] Let's go back to the very beginning. A very good place to start. [RobertArmin] When did you first get started dancing? [HarveyEvans] Age three or four. My mom and dad thought I was shy, so they sent me to dancing school [HarveyEvans] Pep Golden's Dancing School. [HarveyEvans] He was obviously from vaudeville [HarveyEvans] and he taught us the joy of performing [HarveyEvans] and he'd send us out every weekend to perform -- his little Cincinnati group of theatre people [HarveyEvans] Ken Urmston, who was also in FOLLIES, actually, was part of that group. [HarveyEvans] So, what that did was start my love for performing at an early age... I just thought every kid did this. [RobertArmin] Did you do actual musicals? [HarveyEvans] No, we would just do numbers. [HarveyEvans] For places like the Eagles, the Elks, the Masons, whatever... [HarveyEvans] and I think he paid us something like five dollars a performance. [RobertArmin] So you really had a chance to build up your confidence. [HarveyEvans] Yes. [RobertArmin] So when did you begin to perform in actual musical shows? [HarveyEvans] A few in Cincinnati -- through school. Song of Norway, Carousel... [HarveyEvans] But then I saw my first Broadway show and that's when I knew that was what I wanted to do with my life. [HarveyEvans] Probably around twelve years old. [RobertArmin] You told me you came to New York right out of high school. [HarveyEvans] Right. [RobertArmin] And like the old show biz story... got a job right away! [HarveyEvans] Three months actually. [RobertArmin] Oh, gee, sorry. A looong time. [HarveyEvans] For Bob Fosse... for the national road company of Damn Yankees. [RobertArmin] And you played? [HarveyEvans] A dancing baseball player. [RobertArmin] I thought for a moment you were going to say one of the two boys who sing "Heart." [HarveyEvans] The little kids, yeah. Well, I was 17 but I looked much younger... [HarveyEvans] and Fosse used to laugh at me and I didn't know why until much later. [HarveyEvans] That I reminded him of himself when he was dancing in all the strip shows. [HarveyEvans] He was 17 and he looked 14. [RobertArmin] Yes, he recreated that in his movie All That Jazz... [HarveyEvans] Yeah, yeah. [RobertArmin] So you went out on the road with Damn Yankees... who was your star in that production? [HarveyEvans] Bobby Clark, the great vaudevillian, played the devil. [RobertArmin] What was your next show? [HarveyEvans] I left Damn Yankees in California to dance at a nightclub called the Moulin Rouge [HarveyEvans] and my timing was wonderful because three musical movies were being cast [HarveyEvans] and I got to dance in all of them [RobertArmin] The titles were? [HarveyEvans] The Girl Most Likely (Gower Champion) [HarveyEvans] The Pajama Game (Fosse) [HarveyEvans] and Silk Stockings (Hermes Pan), so I got to work with Fred Astaire! [RobertArmin] Not bad. [HarveyEvans] Then Fosse asked me if I would like to come back to New York to do New Girl In Town. [HarveyEvans] And I did. [RobertArmin] What was it like working with the amazing Gwen Verdon and did you have solo dances with her... [HarveyEvans] It was a dream come true. I'd had a crush on her since Can-Can and, yes, I did get to be in a trio with her -- two guys (both named Harvey, by the way -- Harvey Young and me) got to dance a trio with Gwen. [HarveyEvans] I was Harvey Hohnecker then. [RobertArmin] That was still your name when you did the movie of West Side Story, right? [HarveyEvans] Right. [RobertArmin] That's why I didn't immediately connect you with the film when I was young. [RobertArmin] I worked with Tucker Smith (who sang "Cool") in the musical, Gone With the Wind in 1973, so I got to know some of the dancers' names in the film at that time. [HarveyEvans] In September of 1955, Tucker Smith, Alan Johnson and me all came to New York... we became inseparable friends and all got in the road company of Damn Yankees together. [HarveyEvans] Then Alan Johnson replaced me in New Girl In Town and Tucker and Alan and I all got into West Side Story AND Anyone Can Whistle. [HarveyEvans] And I miss Tucker daily. [RobertArmin] Yes, I liked him a lot. [RobertArmin] Tom has a question for you: Can I ask a question of Harvey? What happened to the FOLLIES that he and Kurt were planning? [HarveyEvans] Bobbi Goldman, James Goldman's widow, will not give us permission to do it. [RobertArmin] Has she said why? [HarveyEvans] She will not give a reason. [HarveyEvans] If anyone has any pull... please!!!! Use it. [HarveyEvans] It would have been a major event... a lifetime dream of mine. [HarveyEvans] We wanted to use anybody that is still around from the original production... not necessarily in their old parts, but just to be a part of it. [HarveyEvans] And totally recreate Michael Bennett's entire work. [RobertArmin] Have any of the productions you have done of Follies in recent years reproduced Michael's staging? [HarveyEvans] Some of it, but not entirely. [HarveyEvans] The only way you can do a pure production of Follies is to do what Michael Bennett did with most of the stuff. [RobertArmin] It's such a crime that no video has been made of this original staging. It really WAS the greatest Broadway production of my experience. [RobertArmin] And that goes back nearly 40 years. [HarveyEvans] That's great to hear and I've heard it from so many people who saw that original production. [HarveyEvans] I think the reason for that is that every single department was working at their creative best. [HarveyEvans] I've done productions regionally where the lighting wasn't good or the set wasn't good or the supporting people weren't good... and it sinks. [HarveyEvans] But that original production was 100% perfect, even though it might be a flawed piece. [RobertArmin] I really have never understood what those flaws were. For me the two couples were very interesting and I felt that Goldman made his point quite clearly. [RobertArmin] But I guess there are many who just don't want to see marital problems in their musical "comedies." [HarveyEvans] One of my favorite stories about the original production -- and this may or may not be true -- is that when Shelley Winters saw the mirror number she ran screaming out of the theatre. [RobertArmin] One of THE greatest staged numbers of all time. [HarveyEvans] And I agree with you there, boy. [RobertArmin] Elaine writes: Will you talk about DAMN YANKEES and PAJAMA GAME, please? [RobertArmin] Yes, Elaine, I would love to. [RobertArmin] Harvey, let's talk a bit more about Damn Yankees and Pajama Game. [RobertArmin] You did the national tour of the former and the movie of the latter. Where would we see you in the movie? [HarveyEvans] I have a close-up in Hernando's Hideaway. I say "Poopsie, Poopsie." [RobertArmin] lol [HarveyEvans] An interesting thing about the movie was that the dancers were being used as the factory workers, [HarveyEvans] but when we were not filming a musical number we were being paid as extras and that was illegal [HarveyEvans] and so we struck the Warner Bros office, as in the film [HarveyEvans] And we won! [RobertArmin] Good for you. [RobertArmin] So your pay went up for the "extra" work? [HarveyEvans] Yes. And I love the movie. I'm a total Doris Day fan. [HarveyEvans] And I got to hold her ass in 7 1/2 Cents. [RobertArmin] Lucky boy. [RobertArmin] Doris Day actually is my favorite singer of all time. I have EVERYTHING she recorded thanks to Bear Family Records. [HarveyEvans] Doris Day is a great lady. Carol Haney was very sick on the picture. She had diabetes but didn't know it yet. [HarveyEvans] And Doris Day saw how sick she was and, one day, around Christmas time, during the filming of "Hernando's Hideaway," walked to the middle of the soundstage and announced in a calm voice, [HarveyEvans] that unless Carol Haney went to the hospital immediately, she (Doris) was going to walk off the movie at all costs. [HarveyEvans] She became our hero. [HarveyEvans] And shooting was rescheduled around Carol Haney and she came back in much better health. [HarveyEvans] I worship Doris Day. [RobertArmin] Are you still in contact with her? [HarveyEvans] Unfortunately, no, I'm not. But a group of us tried to see if she would accept a Kennedy Center award and word got back to us that she would not like to be a part of that. [RobertArmin] Too bad, even Katharine Hepburn finally came around to accepting the honor. [RobertArmin] It's sad that most of the major recognition will have to come posthumously. But hopefully, not for a long time. [RobertArmin] Elaine asks: When did you change your name and why? [HarveyEvans] I got a little part in a movie called Experiment in Terror that Blake Edwards directed [HarveyEvans] and, although I loved to dance, I thought that was my chance to become an "actor." [HarveyEvans] I played opposite a girl named Taffy Paul who said she was going to change her name, so I said I will, too. [HarveyEvans] She become Stefanie Powers and I became Harvey Evans. [RobertArmin] Great story! [RobertArmin] Funny that she recently did Applause -- a show that you appeared in on TV. [RobertArmin] Did you ever work in any musicals with Stefanie? [HarveyEvans] No, that was the only time I worked with her [HarveyEvans] But through the years I've kept in contact with her. [RobertArmin] Shane writes: Harvey, there is a rumor going around that there will be a revival of LA CAGE and you will be a part of it. True or false? [HarveyEvans] False. [HarveyEvans] But thanks for the rumor. [RobertArmin] But they haven't actually cast it yet -- so you may still be in consideration. [HarveyEvans] I hope so. [HarveyEvans] Certainly not for ZaZa... I'm way to old for it now. [HarveyEvans] The great joy of doing La Cage was playing opposite Larry Kert. [HarveyEvans] We had been great friends since West Side Story. [RobertArmin] Now, you were not in the original cast of WSS... [HarveyEvans] No, I was the first year replacement. [HarveyEvans] But we were good friends for all those years, Larry and I. [HarveyEvans] And he was one of the funniest human beings in the entire world. [HarveyEvans] I miss him daily. [RobertArmin] I was just watching one of the Broadway plays the White House specials from the 80s and Larry recreated several of his numbers from West Side Story. It was a terrific moment preserved on tape. [HarveyEvans] Was Pam Myers on that show? [RobertArmin] Yes, she was. She was great. [HarveyEvans] Well, we are both from Cincinnati and we're putting an act together about Cincinnati and it's going to be hysterical. [HarveyEvans] Home of Pete Rose, you know. [RobertArmin] I spent a month in Cincinnati in the late 70s. Not quite the most exciting city in the world. You have to cross into the next state if you want to do anything in the evening. [RobertArmin] Elaine asks: Will you talk a little about ANYONE CAN WHISTLE? What went wrong? Was it before its time? [HarveyEvans] Yes, it was ahead of its time in that audiences weren't used to seeing that much bizarre stuff on stage [HarveyEvans] For instance, the cast coming out at the end of act one and pointing and laughing at the audience [HarveyEvans] as if we were the audience [HarveyEvans] It was the most intense theatrical experience I've ever had [HarveyEvans] Deaths. Tucker Smith falling in the pit. [RobertArmin] Was that supposed to happen? [HarveyEvans] No, no, that was an accident [HarveyEvans] Angela almost being fired. [HarveyEvans] And we had no idea it would be the major flop it was. [HarveyEvans] It was a shock. [RobertArmin] What was it like going into the recording studio right after you closed to preserve the cast album? What was the feeling? [HarveyEvans] Shock. Intense sadness. Angela Lansbury's fur coat was stolen from her hotel room the night before the recording. A whirlwind of emotions. How we ever recorded it, I don't know. [RobertArmin] But thank god you did! [RobertArmin] Tom asks: Please talk about Larry. He was brilliant. [HarveyEvans] My family of friends were all in West Side Story. Alan, Tucker, Genii, Marty Charnin, Sandy Mulligan, and Larry was our leader. [HarveyEvans] And since he's gone, our group is not the same, we don't have as much fun. [HarveyEvans] We've all, more or less, lost our sense of humor. [RobertArmin] Tom asks: What was it like working with Bob Fosse? [HarveyEvans] I was blessed. Because he mentored me. [HarveyEvans] I think he saw me as him early on, so he was incredibly kind to me always. And he would give me all the little bits in the shows. [HarveyEvans] And I think he appreciated my theatricality, more so than my technique. [HarveyEvans] The Fosse I knew was more of a showman than the Fosse that is now being represented by his Broadway shows. [HarveyEvans] Although he demanded great technique, that wasn't his priority. [HarveyEvans] He just wanted everything to work. [HarveyEvans] Whereas now, a finger turn seems to represent Fosse, and that wasn't what he was like when I worked for him. [RobertArmin] So, in a sense, his so-called "signature" style was not as specific as we have come to think. [RobertArmin] It just happened. It wasn't specifically planned? [HarveyEvans] Yes. [RobertArmin] Elaine asks: Which version of West Side Story did you like best? Stage or film? [HarveyEvans] Stage. [RobertArmin] Do you want to elaborate? [HarveyEvans] On stage, you can make more magic. For instance, the streamers coming down at the beginning of the dance hall [HarveyEvans] or the beautiful slow circle in the dance hall, turning into the real circle. [HarveyEvans] On stage, you had a chance to do many more theatrical things. [HarveyEvans] And that's was Jerry Robbins was incredible at. [RobertArmin] What were the cast members’ feelings when they realized that so many of the lyrics had been rewritten for the movie? [HarveyEvans] I think we accepted it, because we just knew they had to clean it up. I don't remember much talking about it. [RobertArmin] I think the one strongest change, which Sondheim seems to have wanted, was the switching of “Officer Krupke” and “Cool.” [RobertArmin] On stage, “Officer Krupke “was a good moment of relief in the second act, but in the film it might have seemed out of place after the rumble. [HarveyEvans] Steve says that he always wanted that in the original production [HarveyEvans] Ernest Lehman, who wrote the screenplay, took the credit for that. [RobertArmin] He also took the credit for writing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, too. [RobertArmin] He was good about things like that. [RobertArmin] Elaine has another question: Which version of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL did you think was the best? [HarveyEvans] The second one. [HarveyEvans] It had all of the extravagance of the first one, but it moved along faster [HarveyEvans] And it should never have been cut down. [HarveyEvans] I loved doing it, though. [HarveyEvans] I pretended I was a character actor in an MGM movie starring Stewart Granger. [RobertArmin] Shane asks: Was Jerry Robbins as difficult to work with as he is made out to have been? [HarveyEvans] I started show business when the dictator director/choreographer was in charge. That's my background and I grew up accepting whatever they told me I had to do. [HarveyEvans] Jerry was no more difficult than the rest of them. [HarveyEvans] They all had good and bad days. [HarveyEvans] I know there was some abuse on later shows but that was not my history with him. [HarveyEvans] He gave us a ballet barre every morning and he taught us all at the level that we were as dancers [HarveyEvans] Some better, some not so good. [HarveyEvans] But always very patient and giving [HarveyEvans] And he made me better [RobertArmin] Were you asked to participate in the reconstruction of his dances for Jerome Robbins' Broadway? [HarveyEvans] No, I wasn't. [HarveyEvans] But I sure loved it. [HarveyEvans] Seeing the opening of Forum again, that was brilliant. [RobertArmin] FranklinShepard writes: Harvey, I saw you in the Follies concert you gave with the original Young Four in the Michigan Theatre this past year, and I thought you were terrific! [HarveyEvans] Thanks so much, it was a wonderful experience because the four of us did not know whether it was going to turn out well or not [HarveyEvans] and it was emotional seeing each other after all those years, [HarveyEvans] Thanks for going to it. [RobertArmin] I first saw Marti Rolph in Dames at Sea in California before Follies, so I already had a major crush on her when I finally saw it. [RobertArmin] She was so heartbreaking as Young Sally, especially during Too Many Mornings. [RobertArmin] And I remember that when Follies went to Los Angeles, Marti actually played both Young Sally and Young Heidi! [HarveyEvans] Well, wait until you see her as Sally. [HarveyEvans] She is more brilliant than ever. [RobertArmin] I saw a brief clip on TV during a Ted Chapin interview for his book, and she was wonderful, indeed. [RobertArmin] So please!!!! Do that New York concert version while you guys can still move!!! [HarveyEvans] LOL [HarveyEvans] We want to, we want to! It's Bobbi Goldman. [RobertArmin] Shane asks: Is there anything you haven't done yet that you would like to do? [RobertArmin] Other than the Follies concert, that is. [HarveyEvans] A million things. [HarveyEvans] Because I feel like it takes a certain age when you reach a point when you finally know what you're doing... and I'm getting to that point. [HarveyEvans] I read an interview a while back with Gregory Peck saying that he is now getting to the age when he knows what he is doing and that he would like to do Moby Dick again. [HarveyEvans] I feel the same way. [RobertArmin] Well, fortunately, you don't look or behave remotely like a person with your experience, so I think there are plenty of great roles still open for you. [RobertArmin] Tom writes: Knowing what you know now, what would you like to do over differently? [HarveyEvans] Dames At Sea on television. [HarveyEvans] Applause on television. [HarveyEvans] I'm very proud of an Our Town I did with Henry Fonda. And although I can't see that because it was on the stage, I think that was okay. [HarveyEvans] I'd like to do Barnum over, but I'm too old. [HarveyEvans] And I did get to play ZaZa a few years back with Walter Charles and I found I was funnier than the first time around. [HarveyEvans] I think it's so hard for someone to judge their own work -- you always hear stories about the old movie stars never watching their rushes. That's probably the best thing that can happen. [RobertArmin] I think what you're saying is that when it’s set down on film or videotape, it can be difficult to watch your own work, knowing what might have been, whereas when it's live, you can choose to remember it anyway you want. [HarveyEvans] That's it. [HarveyEvans] Well, there are good days and bad days. [HarveyEvans] I remember seeing Sweeney Todd and going back to say hello to Angela and she said, "Oh, you didn't see it tonight, did you?" [HarveyEvans] And how many times have we all said that? [RobertArmin] Shane asks: Your thoughts on child actors? [RobertArmin] Have you ever worked with child actors? [HarveyEvans] Yes, there were four in the last production of Oklahoma! [HarveyEvans] and one of them went on to do the little boy in Nine. [HarveyEvans] And he's going to play young Bobby Darin in the movie that's coming out. [HarveyEvans] His name is William Ullrich and he's terrific. [RobertArmin] Elaine asks: I still have my Playbill from GEORGE M. Do you think it would have lasted if the timing had been better? [HarveyEvans] George M was not a good experience for me. We were all cast to play a certain character -- in my case, Sam Harris -- but we wound up doing mostly chorus work. [HarveyEvans] And this was during the time of the Chicago Democratic convention and Bobby Kennedy being assassinated and Martin Luther King being assassinated [HarveyEvans] and it was the wrong time for flag waving. [HarveyEvans] Most of us wanted to be in Hair. [RobertArmin] Good for you. [HarveyEvans] Scott Salmon and me refused to go to the Nixon White House to perform the show. [RobertArmin] That was about the time when Nixon wanted to cut "Mama Look Sharp" from 1776 when it played the White House, but the cast refused to allow it. [RobertArmin] Tom asks: What was your most memorable moment on stage? [HarveyEvans] Oh, so many, but the first one that comes to mind was the first time I went on for Jim Dale as his standby in Barnum -- and I made it across the high wire. [HarveyEvans] I think every stagehand and cast member pulled their energy together and got me to do that. [HarveyEvans] Another time, after "I Am What I Am” in La Cage, I started to walk offstage and got my heel caught in my dress... fell down and could not get up. [HarveyEvans] Larry Kert came to offer his hand and I slapped his hand so hard and crawled off the stage. [RobertArmin] LOL [RobertArmin] Certainly in character. [HarveyEvans] We've only got a few more minutes, so let's talk about your next big project -- Candide. [RobertArmin] Oops, that should have been my question! I'm typing both sides of this conversation on two different keyboards. [RobertArmin] Because Harvey (to quote him) "can't type." [HarveyEvans] I don't even have a computer. [RobertArmin] Harvey actually brought a tape with him of his songs and dances, thinking this was an oral chat. [RobertArmin] Boy, did I surprise him! [RobertArmin] Anyway, about Candide! [HarveyEvans] It's for the Michigan Theatre where we did the Follies concert. Three performances at the end of May. [HarveyEvans] Frederika von Stade is singing the Old Lady and I'm doing the narrator and Doctor Pangloss, with all of Pangloss's songs that were cut from the show put back in. [HarveyEvans] I'm extremely nervous and extremely excited and thrilled. [RobertArmin] Well, I may have to make another trip to Michigan. I was there last Thanksgiving. [RobertArmin] FranklinShepard adds: I will be there, cheering you on! [RobertArmin] Shane writes: Has Harvey realized after this chat that computers are FUN? [HarveyEvans] Yes, I have. [RobertArmin] But he still can't TYPE! [RobertArmin] Tom adds: Where in Michigan is the theatre? Ann Arbor I'm guessing? [HarveyEvans] Yes. [RobertArmin] Harvey, the time really flew this time. As did my fingers... [RobertArmin] You really kept me hopping. [RobertArmin] FranklinShepard adds one last note, that the theatre is right near the U or M campus. [RobertArmin] Thanks, Franklin. [RobertArmin] Anyway, thank you so much, Harvey, for coming by tonight. I was so glad I ran into you a few weeks ago. You have been on my want list since the beginning of these chats, but I didn't have a number for you. [RobertArmin] You are, contrary to what you may think, one of the most liked actors in New York. [RobertArmin] Kathleen Marshall last week said that, while she hadn't yet worked with you, she knew you well. Her quote was that you are like Dolly Levi -- everyone knows you. [HarveyEvans] Well, I think theatre people are the greatest people in the world and I am so glad I am a part of this community [HarveyEvans] Participating in the Easter Bonnet or Gypsy of the Year is an experience like no other, because of our community [HarveyEvans] I love us. [HarveyEvans] And, Robert, thank you for this experience. [HarveyEvans] I never thought it would be this much fun. [RobertArmin] That's what everyone says (he says humbly). [HarveyEvans] and thank you for doing your work and my work. [RobertArmin] You are indeed welcome. Come back any time. [RobertArmin] Thanks also to all of you regulars tonight. I was so busy, I didn't get to give away any CDs! Oh, well, there's always next time. [RobertArmin] I don't know yet who my guest next week will be -- we shall all see. But I am delighted to announce that Rene Auberjonois will be joining me on April 12! Be there or be square. [RobertArmin] Good night | |
