Friday, August 24, 2012

SOAP STARS SING SONDHEIM (PART #2)

On the last episode of Soap Opera 451, I had just spent seven hours in line in the heat in Central Park to get tickets to The Public Theater's production of "Into the Woods," by Stephen Sondheim.

Having seen the show last night, I can report two things:

My nine year old son and five year old daughter managed to stay awake for the entire thing.  (It started at 8, ended at 11:15.)

There were soap stars in the cast!

The most surprising, to me, at least, was Tina Johnson who, back in the early 1980s, played the virginal young ingenue, Lurlene, on Texas.  Check her out in the clip below:



Last night, I watched her in action as... Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother. (Okay, who else feels old?  And who recognized a very young Jay Hammer, best known for playing Fletch on Guiding Light, in that clip, too?)

Tina is the one in the pajamas:



Also featured were Chip Zien, who recurred as Erica Kane's agent on All My Children, as The Mysterious Man (after having originated the role of The Baker in the first Broadway production) and Donna Murphy, who once played a District Attorney on Another World, as the Witch.  (For those familiar with the show, she absolutely killed it on The Last Midnight.)




1 comment:

Derek said...

Thanks so much for this Alina. Tina Johnson gave Texas fans a hint of her singing talents in one of the last episodes of the series. Check out this clip from the telethon at the fictional station KVIK. She leaves everyone in shock that shy sweet Lurlene can belt out a tune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLwkNwEOLjA&list=PL11FF21432E90DA40&index=7&feature=plpp_video