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| Ron Husmann, Debbie Reynolds. |
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| Monte Markham, Debbie Reynodls. |
Out-of-town troubles, including the replacement of director Sir John Gielgud—totally out of place in this milieu—by Gower Champion, augured ill for this first Broadway revival of the 1919 musical hit, Irene. It did, however, bring popular movie star Debbie Reynolds to Broadway, if not to everyone's satisfaction. One now famous story developed when Reynolds lost her voice during a Toronto performance, and she gamely proceeded to do the show with Gielgud, best known as a classical actor, on stage reading her lines for her.
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| Ted Pugh, Janie Sell, Debbie Reynolds, George S. Irving, Carmen Alvarez. |
Nevertheless, the alchemical taste for old-time musical theatre nostalgia whetted by No, No, Nanette in 1971 was still avid enough to turn seeming lead into theatrical gold. Indeed, Nanette’s producer, Harry Rigby, cleverly brought repeated several of the same ingredients from that success, including casting veteran Patsy Kelly in a comic role and Raoul Pene du Bois as designer. Irene was the first production at the capacious new Minskoff Theatre.
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| Ruth Warwick, Jane Powell, Patsy Kelly (front), Ron Husmann, George S. Irving. |
As with No, No, Nanette, this show scrapped most of the original book in favor of a new adaptation in keeping with contemporary tastes. This was intended to provide more careful crafting of the story and dialogue to match the music. A few songs by other writers were also added, and several old ones dropped, leaving only five of Tierney and McCarthy’s originals among the 13 in the show. Wally Harper provided some new music, one new song had lyrics by Jack Lloyd, and other songs represented material by McCarthy and James Monaco, McCarthy and Fred Fisher, and Otis Clements and Charles Gaynor. Clive Barnes, for one, found the results too stylistically diverse.
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| Jane Powell. |
The best of the originals was “Alice Blue Gown,” but the earlier McCarthy-Monaco “You Made Me Love You” was thought to fit poorly into the production, being too well-known and not a good fit for Irene’s spirit. The other music, agreed the critics, was mostly “faded,” as Douglas Watt expressed it.
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| Ted Pugh, Patti Karr, Jane Powell, George S. Irving, Dottie Frank, Ron Husmann. |
The new book did not pass muster either. Revising the titular Irish heroine’s profession from clothing model to West Side piano tuner was not a great decision. Further, the plot, which has her arriving at a Long Island mansion to tune the piano of the Marshall family, getting involved with a couturier shop run by a man calling himself Madame Lucy (George S. Irving), and falling in love with Marshall heir (Monte Markham), was just as trite as the one it replaced.
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| Jane Powell. |
Critical reactions went from the politely favorable to the sharply hostile. Although he found it “less than . . . distinguished," Richard Watts, Jr.—who saw the 1919 original—described it as “a lively and entertaining show.” More common, however, were notices that called Irene “brash and unfeeling,” in Barnes’s words; “a stylistic botch” and “heartless,” to cite Walter Kerr’s words; and smacking of “a Detroit assembly line,” as T.E. Kalem put it.
Perhaps most insubstantial of its attributes in many eyes was the fact that President Richard Nixon announced, on seeing the show in Washington, D.C., that it would be a Broadway hit, not with the Big Apple’s natives, but “with the out-of-towners.” It turned out that he was right.
George S. Irving’s Madame Lucy was the hit of the evening. While Debbie Reynolds was adorable and proved infinitely energetic and multitalented (even at baton twirling), some considered her mechanical, cold, “without entrancement” (Kalem) and even, surprisingly, “unmusical,” at least in Martin Gottfried’s opinion.
Irving received the Tony for Best Supporting Actor, Musical, Kelly was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Musical, Markham landed a Theatre World Award, Reynolds snared an Outer Critics Circle Award, as well as a Tony nomination, and Peter Gennaro was nominated for his choreography.
During the show's second season, Jane Powell took over from Reynolds, and was herself briefly replaced by Pamela Peadon, before Reynolds returned. Patsy Kelly's role was later taken by Mary McCarthy,and Ron Husmann took over Markham's role, while Hans Conreid stepped in to play Irving's role. Among the chorus of "Debutantes" was an aspiring performer named Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds's daughter.
