Great performers, lesser roles (Re: TV tie-in to musicals)

New****t:

>Oh to have seen Eve Arden on the stage. I almost 
>saw Betty Grable in GUYS AND DOLLS in stock, 
>but she became ill and didn't do the Camden, NJ, 
>engagement.

Y'know, some time after that Eve returned in a very low-reviewed comedy
The Picture in Father's Room or something like that at one of the Drury
Lane houses in Chi area, and it didn't seem worth seeing as "theatre" at
the time. It even missed its own audience because the older crowd was
put off by story of matronly widow's becoming pregnant out of wedlock.

Now I think, should I have seen it anyway? Could it be so bad that Eve's
classic wisecracking couldn't have gotten some laughs out of it? She
still looked and sounded like herself in later years.

Makes me think of shows I've seen that were disappointing at some level,
but brought me satisfaction at having seen great performers raise the
performance standard, or to get an idea what they were like in their
better roles:

(A lot of these shows are not bad, just below certain critical standards
that would motivate one to get out and see live theatre)

Ralph Richardson: Lloyd George Knew My Father   

Mary Martin: Do You Turn Somersaults?

Katharine Hepburn, Dorothy Loudon: West Side Waltz. 

Dorothy Stickney: Pippin

Robert Preston, Lisa Kirk: Mack and Mabel. Unfortunately this probably
*was* Bernadette's high point.  

Richard Kiley, Geraldine Page, Sandy Dennis, Anthony Roberts, Carole
Shelley, Larry Blyden: Absurd Person Singular

Julie Andrews, Anthony Roberts: Victor/Victoria

(dramatic pause)

Oh, all right. Kaye Ballard: Sheba

Bob A

"Aside from that, Mrs. Kennedy, how did you enjoy the motorcade?"