I'LL BE SEEING YOU: THE LIBERACE MUSICAL!
"I cried all the way to the bank."
-Liberace
Happy Friday!
I hope this finds you gearing up for an arts filled weekend.
Tonight, I'm interviewing Peggy Pope at Barnes and Noble in New York to celebrate her hilarious memoir, "Atta Girl". It would mean a lot to have as many of my friends, family, friends, and readers of this blog there as possible. IF this is a huge turn out, this will forge a relationship with B and N that will allow me to do more evenings like this. The details are below.
Tonight, I'm interviewing Peggy Pope at Barnes and Noble in New York to celebrate her hilarious memoir, "Atta Girl". It would mean a lot to have as many of my friends, family, friends, and readers of this blog there as possible. IF this is a huge turn out, this will forge a relationship with B and N that will allow me to do more evenings like this. The details are below.
Today is the birthday of Irving Berlin. composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music."
He wrote the theater's national anthem, There's No Business Like Show Business.
Today, I'm celebrating the man who epitomized that more than any other: Liberace! Pre-production is underway for a new, original Broadway musical about Liberace. A renowned pianist with a flair for the outlandish,
Liberace gave his audiences impeccable performances while clad in
sequined capes. In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion
pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned.
During the 1950s–1970s he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world and embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off the stage.
Tom Jones, center, blows out candles at a surprise birthday party at Caesars Palace on June 6, 1974. Guests included Joan Rivers, Sonny Bono, Dionne Warwick, Debbie Reynolds and Liberace. |
I am a huge fan and one of my greatest regrets is that I never saw him perform LIVE. However, if Barbara Carole Sickmen has her way, all that's going to change. I met Barbara several years ago at a backer's audition for The Christmas Story, based on the tele-movie of the same name about Ralphie who has to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect gift for the 1940's.
After the "audition" that evening, a group of us ended up at Joe Allen's for a late night supper.
Barbara was among three Barbara's at our table. HOWEVER, this Barbara made the biggest impact. She had actually seen my tribute to Carol Channing. What struck me the most about Barbara was her passion about this project she was working on, a musical CELEBRATING the life and legacy of Liberace.
She wants to celebrate not only his HUGE contributions to popular culture, but honor him as the man he was as well.
She wants to celebrate not only his HUGE contributions to popular culture, but honor him as the man he was as well.
Robin Leach (yes, THAT Robin Leach) said earlier this week, "Listening to the songs, seeing the storyline of the book and knowing
Liberace from interviews I had with him over the years, I know that he
would be genuinely happy with this new Broadway project."
Barbara has said that Bugsy Siegel played a role in
Liberace’s Las Vegas career. This musical is a celebration of the
showman, but it’s also about how Las Vegas became the Gaming Capital of
the World. Bugsy and Murder, Inc., who are very much a strong subplot, had a
vision for Vegas, and Liberace had a vision to become more than a piano
player.
Liberace is in the news again. Michael Douglas is also currently in production on a bio-pic called The Man Behind The Candelabra.
Next week on the 16th, it would have been Wladziu Valentino Liberace's 93rd birthday. He was born in West Allis, Wisconsin.
His father was an Italian immigrant who played French horn in orchestras
providing background music for silent movies. He required his children to
learn music.
Lee had difficulty speaking and had speech therapy, concentrating on
giving his speech a smoother flow, eliminating the effect of listening
to one parent who spoke with an Italian accent and another with a Polish
accent.
During the Great Depression, Mom worked in a cookie factory, brother George drove a a grocery truck
and gave piano lessons, sister Angelina worked as a secretary and
nurse's aide.
He excelled academically at West Milwaukee High School, and was active in extracurricular activities, excluding sports.
His big break came in 1939 with an audition for Dr. Frederick Stock of the Chicago Symphony. He eventually found a spot with the Jay Mills Orchestra, a popular dance group.
"I don't care if he played on a street corner with the Salvation Army Band," said the maestro after hearing him on a local radio broadcast. "He will play with us."
For the next six months, Walter Liberace performed as "Walter Buster Keys."
He eventually got to Vegas and getting a little advice from the King, Elvis Presley, that would change the way the world would see Liberace, his costumes became more and more extravagant and it became a
contractual obligation with the Vegas hotels that demanded that he outdo
even himself.
It is hard to believe that Liberace has been gone 25 years.
He died on February 4th, 1987.
He made his Las Vegas debut in November 1944.
The city would become the entertainer's home -- one of many around the
country -- but more important, it would become the place he would
develop his spectacular stage persona.
Liberace's museum was a financial wellspring that funded scholarships for aspiring musicians and artists.The museum has since closed due to a failing economy.
Asked in a 1985 interview how he wished to be remembered, Liberace
replied: "I'd like to think that the most enduring quality about me will
be the music, because everything I'm doing ... is to promote the music
of future talent.
My foundation is based on promoting new talent, and I feel that my
longevity will survive through other people in this business because I'm
going to provide a lasting support and a foundation for artists. "
When an entertainer is as "out there" on stage as Liberace was, most people tend to forget that there is a human being underneath the facade.
I've experienced it performing as Carol Channing.
with Marilyn Michaels and friend |
I discovered over the years that if I told people that I was an entertainer, some people would be impressed, some, maybe not. However,
if I told them that I performed as Carol Channing, instantly, some
people formed an entire picture of me based on, most of the time, their
OWN ideas of who and what I am all about.
with KT Sullivan |
I've
had people make comments about me with me standing right next to them
as if I could not hear them and/or as if I had absolutely no feelings.
If it weren’t for Liberace, there would be no Madonna or Lady Gaga, Elton John, Bette Midler or Elvis because it was Liberace who helped the King glitz up his act.
If it weren’t for Liberace, there would be no Madonna or Lady Gaga, Elton John, Bette Midler or Elvis because it was Liberace who helped the King glitz up his act.
Yesterday, I saw an interview on the Billboard website in
which a "reporter" interviewing Liza Minnelli about the release, for
the first time on CD, of her live Winter Garden Concert.
We all know that she was born into Hollywood royalty, but Liza has made her own name on stage and screen and concert halls around the world.
Rather
than focusing on the CD and the concert, the interviewer went the usual
route of asking about Liza's "gay icon" status and the Broadway
production of End of The Rainbow which deals with the final
days of Judy Garland. Why would a reporter ask their subject that deals
with the final days of that subject's mother's life?
And
while we are on the subject, why are audiences going to see this? If
Tracie Bennett is as wonderful as critics and Tony voters are saying she
is, why not a show that celebrates Judy's life and legacy rather than a
show that focuses on the dark side.
I won't be seeing this show.
Allen and Chris Bell as the Allen Brothers, 1967. |
I loved the Boy From Oz beyond Hugh Jackman's phenomenal performance because it CELEBRATED Peter Allen.
His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, "Arthur's Theme", winning an Academy Award in 1981.
He left an incredible legacy and yet in interviews some people only want to acknowledge him as "Liza's gay husband". He, AND Liza, deserve better than that!
In addition to recording many albums, he enjoyed a cabaret and concert career, including appearing at Radio City Music Hall(Liberace also had very successful appearances at Radio City Music Hall) riding a camel.
Right now, John Travolta is in the news. He has been vilified before a trial has taken place. Why do we build people up in our culture to quickly knock them down?
When bloggers, pundits, comedians, etc. say the hurtful comments they make about anyone, they are no different than the kids on the schoolyards who are bullying each other.
That brings me back to Barbara Sickman and the project she is involved with, along with Johnny Rodgers.
She lives, breathes, and sleeps Liberace. She is the ONLY one who has the exclusive rights to this through the Liberace estate. Movies and other productions may come along who want to treat his personal life like pulp fiction.
Thank God for the Barbara Sickman's of the world who will respect their subjects. He admitted that he hated shabbiness.
THAT is why Barbara is the perfect person to bring this project to fruition. Liberace's desire was to Entertain!
PERIOD!!
No other entertainer in the world ever took the risks that Liberace took. However, it is not a risk for Barbara to bring us this incredible story. The time is ripe for this.
"Except for music, there wasn't much beauty in my childhood," he later recalled.
(Robin Leach is a source for parts of this blog)
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
(Robin Leach is a source for parts of this blog)
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
Alison Arngrim also writes about Liberace in her hysterical memoir, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch.
In 1965, Alison's family moved to
Hollywood.
Thor Arngrim, Alison's father worked with Seymour, Heller and Associates and
later Arngrim Petersen, and as a manager worked with Liberace, Rene
Simard and Debbie Reynolds. He also managed the careers of his children.
Stefan starred as Barry Lockridge in Irwin Allen's TV science fiction
drama Land of the Giants and opposite Kirk Douglas in The Way West.
Alison played the despised Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.
Today, Alison continues as an actress and comedian in
Los Angeles and around the world.
I will be going to see Allison at The Laurie Beechman Theatre in NYC on June 15th! Please join me if you're available!
Thank you Liberace and Barbara Carole Sickmen for the gifts you have given and continue to give to the world!Barbara and her creative team, I am convinced, will be breaking legs all over the world.
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!
May 11
7-9pm
In her new acting memoir, "Atta Girl: Tales from a Life in the Trenches of Show Business", the Obie-winning actress Peggy Pope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Pope)
details an eventful life in the theater, film and television spanning
over five decades. But unlike most celebrity tell-alls, this thoughtful
and deeply personal account brings to light the trials and experiences
of the vast majority of actors, those who either flirt with stardom or
play supporting roles throughout their careers.
Richard Skipper and Peggy Pope are sitting down for an exploration of
Peggy's incredible career in show business. Email me at
Richard@RichardSkipper.com for more info.
Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!
TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED DAY
This Blog is dedicated to Harlan Boll and Al Koenig! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!
Thank you Liberace and Barbara Carole Sickmen for the gifts you have given and continue to give to the world!Barbara and her creative team, I am convinced, will be breaking legs all over the world.
Your devoted fan,
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!
May 11
7-9pm
BARNES AND NOBLE UPPER EAST SIDE, 150 East 86th Street
RICHARD SKIPPER CELEBRATES PEGGY POPE!
Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!
Tomorrow's blog will be..YOU TELL ME! I'm open to suggestions!!
Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!
Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!
Here's to an INCREDIBLE tomorrow for ALL...with NO challenges!
Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING and HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED DAY
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com
This Blog is dedicated to Harlan Boll and Al Koenig! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!
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