AP News, September 18th, 2007
The women of Broadway remembered one of their own _ Betty Comden _ in a joyous musical celebration Tuesday that, fittingly, was as much an entertainment as it was a memorial.
Several generations of performers, ranging from such legends as Elaine Stritch and Barbara Cook to newer musical-comedy artists like Stephanie J. Block and Beth Leavel, saluted Comden in song during the hour-long show at the Majestic Theatre.
Comden, who died in November at the age of 89, was the writing partner of Adolph Green for more than six decades. Together, the two wrote the lyrics and often the books for more than a dozen musicals including such hits as "On the Town," "Wonderful Town," "Peter Pan," "Bells Are Ringing" and "Applause." They also penned the screenplays for such classic film musicals as "Singin' in the Rain" and "It's Always Fair Weather."
Lauren Bacall opened the show, saying Comden had been a friend for more than 50 years "and that was not long enough."
Among the highlights was Phyllis Newman's hilarious rendition of "I Was a Shoo-in," the lament of a Southern beauty-pageant contestant who fails to win the crown. Newman remarked that she first sang the song 46 years ago in the musical "Subways Are for Sleeping," for which she won a Tony Award. She then turned upstage to look at a giant photo of herself _ dressed in a towel _ for the role. "What happened," the performer said as the crowd roared.
Newman, Green's widow, laughingly called herself "the other woman" in her husband's life, and then introduced what she called their finest collaboration _ daughter Amanda Green, who sang the tongue-twisting "If," from the 1951 revue "Two on the Aisle."
Also winning big applause was Leslie Uggams, who made her Broadway debut in "Hallelujah, Baby!" in 1967. She sang an emotional "My Own Morning," from the show, which won her a Tony Award, too.
The show's solo male performer _ drag star Lypsinka _ lip-synced to Dolores Grey's sexy, "Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks" from "It's Always Fair Weather."
Cook, who will be 80 next month, came on near the end of the program to sing _ amazingly without a microphone _ the wistful "Some Other Time." It's a song of regret from Comden and Green's first Broadway musical, "On the Town" (1944), which has music by Leonard Bernstein.
The program ended when the entire cast, which also included Lucie Arnaz, Christine Ebersole, Carolee Carmello and Ann Hampton Callaway, came on stage to lead the audience in a sing-along of "Make Someone Happy," one of Comden and Green's best-known songs (music by Jule Styne).
