MUSICAL ABOUT FASHION ICON
COCO CHANEL STILL IN FASHION
The scores of older Broadway musicals that don’t get revivals include those that many theatre fans never got to experience beyond listening to an original cast recording. And for those longer-in-the-tooth folks who’ve been attending theatre for more than half a century, memories offer only some compensation. So it’s an event when material that inspired love or curiosity is trotted out in live concerts, and that those involved prepare with care, flair, and talent more than a taste of the totality that once was. Such was the case on April 14th at 54 Below. An especially glorious night of musical theatre wonder took place when the score of the show Coco — concerning Coco Chanel, the French clothing designer extraordinaire — came (back) to vibrant life. Born in 1883, she died just three months after the musical about her closed in 1970.
Company of 54 Sings Coco (photo courtesy of Charles Kirsch)
A large group of standout singer-actors was accompanied on piano with command and expertise by Michael Lavine. The evening of very even quality was prepared and presented with panache by Charles Kirsch who was the host and narrator. He guided the audience through the plot and history as he efficiently put the André Previn / Alan Jay Lerner songs in context, shared fun facts and greeting two women from the cast of the original production. They were Jean Preece, a standby for the various dancers, who shared a terrific behind-the-scenes tale, and Penny Worth with the title song. Wow! The program even made room for “Coco Cuts”: material written for the production that didn’t remain in it.
Charles Kirsch and Jean Peerce (photo by Alix Cohen)
Kirsch and Lavine have worked together in the same assignments numerous times, at special one-night cabaret events for J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company related to their mainstage productions, as well as their projects seen at 54 Below. Good news: They’ll be back at the venue for two programs in July: a Backstage Babble potpourri of treats from musicals on July 7, and another concert-style presentation on July 28 of a Broadway musical rarely looked at: Wildcat, with a score by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh. What do those two musicals have in common? Their title roles were both essayed by popular actresses who were not at all known for their singing chops. In the case of Wildcat, it was Lucille Ball. In Coco, it was none other than Katharine Hepburn. Alan Jay Lerner, the writer (lyrics and dialog), was used to having his words sung by rationed voices or semi-spoken. It had worked for male stars in musicals he wrote with composer Frederick Loewe (Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady and Richard Burton in Camelot).
Steven Brinberg and Lenny Wolpe (photo by Alix Cohen)
The gloriously great Kate, who carried herself with dignity and confidence, carried off the role back then. Back here in 2025, it was very satisfying, however, to really hear the material mined for more musicality by vocalists with range, richness, and resonance who didn’t have to rely on cautiously navigating melodies or approaching them with approximation or talking on pitch (or just talking some lines). However, the distinctive Hepburn sound and cadence were captured deliciously by a spot-on Steven Brinberg, more often heard and seen conjuring up the tones, timbre, and tics of Barbra Streisand. He shared a segment (dialog / song / flashback to Coco’s girlhood) with Lenny Wolpe handily handling the part of Coco’s father.
Ben Jones
The feast began with a committed, robust vocal by Ben Jones paving the way with “But That’s the Way You Are” and ended with a climactic, dramatic star turn that was the icing on a scrumptious musical cake. That icing was enticing; it was charismatic Christine Andreas — always splendid — making “Always Mademoiselle” so in character that one wanted to sign a petition addressed to the theatre gods to have someone mount a full production with her as Coco. The bigger roles were shared. And with so many women (plus Mr. Brinberg) each getting a crack at the characters of Coco or her assistant, all dressed to the nines and sporting jewelry for the occasion, the parade of performers was a fashion parade, too. Also shining in highlight after highlight were Josie De Guzman, Sara Gettelfinger, Isabel Keating, Jane Summerhays, Britney Coleman, and Ali Ewoldt.
Britney Coleman; Brad Oscar (photo by Alix Cohen)
Brad Oscar found feisty fun with the showstopping schadenfreude moment, gloating over Coco’s “Fiasco.” Paula Leggett Chase, Jay Aubrey Jones, and Neal Mayer combined comedic forces for the sly look at off-the-rack department store clothing sold at “Orbach’s Bloomingdale’s, Best, and Saks,” as opposed to super high-end Chanel originals. Comments on love relationships arrived with “A Woman Is How She Loves” – a potent performance by A.J. Shively – and “When Your Lover Says Goodbye,” tackled by Adam Grupper.It seemed that the audience really didn’t want to say “goodbye” to Coco as this memorable concert ended.
Jay Aubrey Jones and Isabel Keating (photo by Alix Cohen)
And now, before we end, two historical notes in the form of “True or False?” questions:
True or False???: The creators of this bio-musical about the legendary lady who designed dazzling ladies’ fashions met with the woman herself, and when Coco Chanel was asked what star she’d like to portray her on Broadway, she answered in one word: “Hepburn.” She actually meant the elegant Audrey Hepburn. But they assumed she meant a quite different super-famous Academy Award winner with the same surname – Katharine Hepburn. And that’s why Katharine Hepburn got the glamorous gig and opened in the concoction called Coco a week before Christmas in 1969….. It’s true. Amazing, but true. The lesson is: Assume nothing and be specific when answering a question. But what did composer André Previn really think of how his music was being sung by the leading lady? For that matter, what did Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel think?
Neal Mayer, Paula Leggett, and Jay Aubrey Jones (photo by Alix Cohen)
True or False???: This was the only project that Lerner and Previn both worked on. The answer is: False. Previn had a hand or two in scores created by Lerner and Loewe. He’d conducted and done musical supervision for the movies of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady and Gigi. And when it came time for a stage version of Gigi, he and Lerner wrote additional songs. It was the same collaboration situation when the score of L&L’s stage musical Paint Your Wagon was adapted for film.
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