The Downside for Megan Mullally When Performing How to Succeed… on Broadway

Hello from warm New York City—finally!

I am very happy to be relaxing right now on the Upper West Side…not only because the weather is beautiful, but also because last week was very eventful.

First, I travelled to Kansas City for the first of my concert series in that city. The concert was produced by Nick Padgett at the historic Folly Theater. It’s historic because Gypsy Rose Lee performed there numerous times. Not Joy Woods or Sandra Church… literally the Gypsy Rose Lee! At my concert, however, there was no stripping (not at my current weight). Instead, it was me and Megan Mullally, and we had a great time. The audience was so effusive and warm. It felt like a rock concert. Not only did I get crazy applause when I entered, but Megan also got continuous applause after any sustained note and/or high note… even in the middle of songs!

Megan and I haven’t done a concert together in more than a decade and I knew she hadn’t been singing a lot lately. But, holy cow, she’s still got it. She ended the whole concert belting an Eb! 

In terms of song choices, even though she hasn’t ever done Sondheim on Broadway, she sang a lot of his oeuvre, as I like to say when using my Duolingo. The whole concert started with “Broadway Baby.” She also did “Losing My Mind” and “Leave You” (covering both female leads in Follies) as well as “I Never Do Anything Twice.” Of course, we did songs from her career, like Grease, the show on which we met back in 1994.

If you don’t remember that revival, here is the Grease 1994 Tony Award performance. Megan can be seen around 30 seconds in, frantically spinning a hula hoop around her neck…as one does.

For our Kansas City appearance, I did my signature style concert where I interview my star between each song. I had Megan tell one of my favorite “One Never Knows” stories from back then. Here it is for you!

While Megan was playing Marty in Grease, she was also working on a new show. She played the female lead in a reading, a workshop, and on a demo of a musical that was scheduled for a national tour heading for Broadway. When the show finally announced its cast for the tour and Broadway run, she learned she did not get the role! She was shocked (and devastated). But our mutual friend, Paul Castree, who was playing Eugene in Grease, told her about a revival that was coming to Broadway and how she was perfect for one of the roles. She didn’t know that show at all but mentioned it to her agent who got her an audition. End of story: She ended up getting the role Paul told her about!

The show was How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the part was Rosemary opposite Matthew Broderick!

P.S. The show she didn’t get? Busker Alley. It’s important to note that the only reason she tried out for How to Succeed… is because she didn’t get Busker Alley, which wound up closing out of town and not even coming to Broadway! So, if she had gotten Busker Alley, she wouldn’t have been able to audition for Rosemary and, a few months later, she would have been out of a job. 

A sweet thing about How to Succeed… on the Tony Awards, is that the number performed was “Brotherhood of Man,” the song begun by Matthew Broderick and ended with Lillias White bringing down the house. In the show, the number features businessmen and Miss Jones (Lillias), but the producers wanted the whole cast on the Tony Awards broadcast so they had choreographer Wayne Cilento add all the women to the number. I love that they included the whole cast! Check it out! You can see Megan come on, wearing a red dress, a little after five minutes in. 

P.S. I used to sub on the show in the pit and Lillias sounded that amazing every performance!

Here’s my deconstruction of the incredible arrangement and Lillias’ brilliance.

The downside of How to Succeed… for Megan was this: After seeing her in the show, people kept saying, “OMG! You’re going to win the Tony Award for this performance!”

Side note, awards aren’t that big of a deal for Megan. Her classic story is, a few years later, when she was in the sitcom Will & Grace, her agent called her and told her she was nominated for an Emmy. She was so not aware it was Emmy Award time, so her first thought was, “Emme? The plus-sized model has an award?”

Anyhoo… the producers also thought Megan was deserving of a Tony Award, but they knew everyone loved Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard and figured she was going to win that year. They knew that if Megan competed against Glenn, she would never win. But what to do? Rosemary was the leading lady… or was she? Well, the producers petitioned for Megan to be considered in the Best Featured Actress in a Musical category even though she had the largest female role in the show. Amazingly, the nominating committee agreed to put her in that category. Now, the producers felt that Megan had a chance to win! Well, when the nominees were announced the contenders for Best Featured Actress in a Musical were Gretha Boston for Show Boat, Brenda Braxton, DeLee Lively, and B.J. Crosby from Smokey Joe’s Cafe and… that’s it.

Yep, not only did Megan not win, but she also wasn’t even nominated. There was only room for four amazing women, and those four got it. The chess game backfired! And, to make matters worse, there weren’t that many musicals that year, so the Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical nominations were only Glenn Close and Show Boat’s Rebecca Luker. There were four open slots and only two women nominated. In other words, Megan probably wouldn’t have won (Glenn did!), but she most definitely would have been nominated. Like the old saying goes, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice pretending a leading role is featured.”

Anyhoo, it all worked out. She now has two Emmy Awards (which equals one Tony!).

Back to business! My concert was Sunday and I flew home Monday (on a 6 a.m. flight!). That night, I went to the Broadway Seder that the wonderful stage manager, Howie Tilkin, put together along with few of my friends including Laura Patinkin and Cantor Lizzie Weiss. It was so great! We were at the JCC on West 76th Street. The Seder readings were so interesting and moving. Artistic peeps like Lonny Price, Etai Benson, Alexandra Socha, Jessica Hecht, Asher Grodman, Tovah Feldshuh all participated. The food was delish and the music was fantastic, with performances by Lorna Courtney, Samantha Massell, Ari Axelrod, and Nathan Salstone! Howie is going to do it next year so follow @BroadwaySeder for more info!

And, speaking of the musical performances, every Friday night I lead Broadway Shabbat online. I get Bway peeps from around the country to do the blessings and light the candles. We end with a live song. This week, we have Brad Oscar, who is currently playing the Wizard in Wicked, Samantha Massell, and Lorna Courtney performing at the Seder!

Tune in Friday at 6PM ET on the Jewish Broadway Alliance Youtube page Jewish Broadway Alliance’s Youtube page.

The night after the Broadway Seder, I put together a concert version of a hilarious show that Rachel Shukert wrote back in 2010. Back then, she was a writer for Tablet Magazine and came up with the idea of the story of Passover being told through the music and story of Gypsy. She called it Everything’s Coming Up Moses and emailed me out of the blue, asking me to play Moses! We did it two years in a row, but then she moved to L.A. to become a big TV macher. She has writing and/or producing credits on amazing shows like The Babysitters Club and The Handmaids Tale and is now the executive producer for a new show called The ‘Burbs.

Anyway! I emailed Rachel and asked if we could resurrect Everything’s Coming Up Moses. She said, “Yes!” For the venue, we decided to christen (what’s the Jewish word for “christen?” Circumcise?) the newly-reopened Laurie Beechman Theatre at The West Bank Cafe. Tom and Michael d’Angora, who now run the venue, donated it to us and we found it to be fabulously refurbished. Amazingly, when I was looking up info about when I first did the show, I saw that we debuted the show at the Laurie Beechman back in 2010! Talk about a full-circle moment? I will post the whole thing next week, but I previewed a song at the Broadway Seder. Rachel’s lyrics (and scripts) are perfect! Here’s Moses’ “I Want” song!

And finally, my husband James Wesley and I saw Redwood and loved it! The cast is so talented. The story is so moving and beautifully uplifting! The singing is a brava. I interviewed Idina Menzel and Zachary Noah Piser on my radio show and James came with me to co-interview (which he never does) because he loved the show that much.

P.S. I’ve known Idina since 2000, and cast her in my Actors Fund concert of Funny Girl in 2002. She did a sassafras version of “Cornet Man” and I’m so glad it got posted. Take a gander and then go see Redwood.

By the way, there are still spots left open for my Big Fat Broadway Cruise August 1–8. Sail to Alaska and see some glaciers, while singing with me and my friends Stephanie J. Block, Sebastian Arcelus, and Lilli Cooper. I might even bring you up onstage with us. Click here to book.

Peace out!