Thursday, August 23, 2012

SOAPS STARS SING SONDHEIM

Why was I late putting up a post this morning?  Because from 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., I was standing in line in Central Park, waiting to get tickets to the Delacorte Theater's production of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods."

Mission, as they say, accomplished.  And, to celebrate, please enjoy the post below, featuring a variety of soap stars singing Sondheim.



SOAP FOLLIES (Originally ran on July 25, 2011)

With news that Ron Raines' (Alan; GL) production of Follies is coming to Broadway (check out a behind the scenes special feature with him below) -



It reminded me of Mark Pinter (Mark, GL; Brian, ATWT; Grant, AW; Agent Raynor, GH) talking about playing the same role with his then-wife, Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara, ATWT), Colleen's daughter, Kelsey, and Mark's son, Dylan:

We did Follies at Little Theater on the Square in Sullivan, Illinois. We have six kids, and two of them are actors, Kelsey and Dylan. Kelsey graduated Musical Theater from Syracuse, and Dylan graduated Theater from Catholic University in Washington.... We had only four days of rehearsal, and then we were all off-book. Often times you say to yourself in the middle of all that, “Why? Why am I doing this?” Or just before the curtain goes up, you look at each other and say, “This is really not fair to us, putting ourselves out there like this.” It’s just horrifying. It’s so horrifying, it really gets your attention. I played Ben and Colleen played Phyllis, and then Kelsey played Young Phyllis and Dylan played Young Ben. We got to work with them, we got to watch them do scenes together. We would be backstage, crying our eyes out, watching them dance and sing together, and then we’d have to get our act together and go back out and do our stuff, too. It was (an experience) I’ll take to my grave. (Read the complete interview at: http://anotherworldtoday.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-mark-pinter-grant-aw_07.html; The above photo features Mark, Colleen, Kelsey, Dylan along with DOOL stars Bill and Susan Seaforth Hayes.)

Another Hayes, Kathryn (Kim, ATWT) also appeared in a production at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

Other notable soap/Sondheim actors include Tony Geary (Luke, GH) in Into the Woods, John McCook (Eric, B&B) in Putting It Together, and Victoria Mallory (Leslie, Y&R), most notably in A Little Night Music.

Watch Geary and TV son Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) perform a song from Into the Woods, below:

3 comments:

robwargo said...

GH's Constance Towers also has played Phyllis in "Follies." Other soap stars in Sondheim shows include ATWT's Patricia Bruder (original cast of "Gypsy"); GH's Stuart Damon (original cast of "Do I Hear A Waltz"); DS' Donna McKechnie (original cast of "Company"); GH's Carol Lawrence (original Maria in "West Side Story"). Dallas' Morgan Brittany was in the film of "Gypsy" and "Love is A Many Splendored Thing" actress Suzie Kay Stone was in the film of "West Side Story."

Soap Fan Red 5 said...

I'm not usually a musical fan. I'll tune in for original music videos by the artists. But I must confess to fast forwarding through the musical numbers on OLTL. But, that aside, I am deeply looking forward to hearing and reading about how wonderful and amazing this show was for the soap fans who were privileged to see it. And I would like to thank the soap stars who took the time out of their lives to continue entertaining and enlightening people in the audience and all over the world.

Robynne said...

I just LOVE seeing and hearing the daytime stars in other venues. Since I also am a fan of musicals, the pairing is wonderful for me! I hope they keep this up. :)