On youtube, I watched Verdon do "A Little Brains A Little Talent" and
"Whatever Lola Wants" -- I carefully did NOT watch them before
attending the Encores revival, but afterwards it was still more
painfully clear that Krakowski watched them too much instead of just
learning the part fresh.
However: an amusing moment: Hollywood turned pale at the strangest
things. Bad enough that they cut "The Game" from the show entirely,
and the second verse of "The Good Old Days," but they also had
problems with "A Little Brains A Little Talent." Where Lola onstage
sang:
"You've seen those signs that say George Wa****ngton once slept here?
Well, though nobody spied him -- guess who was beside him?"
Hollywood couldn't handle the blasphemy and had her spout:
"When Delilah turned the lamps on -- guess who was with Samson?"
What other moment in Hollywood's less than glorious history of the
musical do you treasure for its smarmy squirm? (The bowdlerization of
"Stereophonic Sound" from "Silk Stockings" is one that has to hit the
top ten -- worst of all, I have seen it carried out in stage revivals
too.)
Jean Coeur de Lapin
