Du Barry Was A Lady (1993
Production)
Louise Gold starred as May Daly/M’am
Dubarry, on 9, 16, 23 and 30 May 1993. However, eight years later
she was to reprise the role in another
Lost Musicals production at Her Majesty’s Theatre. This page is about her
earlier performance of the show.
James Vaughan would go on to reprise his role of Charley/The Dauphin in that same
later Lost Musicals production.
Cast:
Jones/Choiseul - Jonathan Ewart-Holmes
Harry/Capt of the Guard - Mark Frederick
Florian/Zamore - David Pendlebury
Reporter - Delianne Forget
May Daly/M'am DuBarry - Louise Gold
Charley/Dauphin - James Vaughan
Nurse To King - Jackie Harben
Kelly/French Doctor - Michael Crossman
Alice/Alisande - Danielle Carson
Louis Blore/King of France - Barry Cryer
Vi/La Duchess -
Alex Barton/Alex - Clive Walton
Ann - Sylvia Griffin
American Doctor - Johanne Murdock
Production Team
Music/Lyrics
- Cole Porter
Book - Herbert
Fields and Buddy G De Sylva
Original
Production – 6 December 1939,
Musical
Director - Mark Warman
Director -
Ian Marshall-Fisher
A
description of the plot of Du Barry Was A Lady, can be gleaned
from reading a review of the Lost Musicals second
production in 2001. To read that review click here.
But In The Morning No suffered some problems when it was first written, due to its rather (for
the time) dirty lyrics, for many yeas it could not be sung on air, and The
Lord Chamberlain was particularly concerned with this song when the show
originally played London. This may explain why there are so many variations of
this song. For this production lyrics used were, according to The
Complete Lyrics Of Cole Porter: Refrains 7, 9 and 10, namely the ones
that begin “Are you good at figures, dear?”, “Are you fond of poker,
dear?”, and, “Are you fond of Democrats?”.
Friendship
is also a song that has undergone several variations. For this production all
the lyrics given in The Complete Lyrics Of Cole Porter were used,
including the often unused Refrain 2 (the one that begins “If you ever loose
your way, come to May”). In this production, rather than use the original
opening line to Refrain 6 “If they hang you, pard, send a card” they
sang its more often used replacement “If you ever crack your spine trussle
mine”. For more details on this see
Anything Goes (Stage).
It
has been said that King Louis XIV of France (The Dauphan) may have been
left-handed. If that is the case, then it is perhaps particularly apt that in
this production he was played by James Vaughan, who is left-handed.
This was the first Merman/Porter role Ms Gold did in a
Lost Musical. She had previously appeared in a revival of Anything Goes. She subsequently appeared in
Lost Musicals concert stagings of the other three members of the Merman-Porter
quintet of shows: Red Hot & Blue, Something
For The Boys, and Panama Hattie. She also went on to
reprise this show in: Du Barry Was A Lady (2001 Production)
Part of this performance overlapped with Ms Gold's
work in Taming Of The Shrew at the
Nuffield Theatre Southampton.
Myra Sands
is one of the regulars in The Lost Musicals, having appeared with
Louise Gold in: By Jupiter | One Touch of Venus (1992 Production) | New Girl In
Town | Red Hot And Blue | Something For The Boys | Panama Hattie | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes | One Touch of Venus (2000 Production) . They had previously appeared in a concert of
highlights from Ratepayers'
Iolanthe & Metropolitan Mikado , and have also appeared together on the
commercial stage in Follies
James Vaughan is
also a regular Lost Musicals player, he and Louise Gold
had previously appeared together in One
Touch of Venus (1992 production), they went on to appear together in: Of Thee I Sing, Panama
Hattie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
and Du Barry Was A Lady (2001 Production).
They also went on to appear in the film Crush. James Vaughan also helped out on the
film Muppet Treasure Island, on Louise Gold puppeteered.
Danielle Carson is another regular, having also appeared with Louise Gold in By Jupiter and Red Hot
& Blue. They also appeared together in Anything
Goes, and on the JAY/TER recording of Stop The World I Want To Get Off.
Jackie Harben (sometimes
billed as Jacqueline Harben) and Louise Gold went on to appear
together in another Lost Musicals production, New Girl In Town.
Barry Cryer
went on to appear on the BBC Radio quiz Let’s Do The Show Right Here, for
which Louise Gold was a Team Captain.
Louise Gold, Barry Cryer and Johanne
Murdock may have gone on to appear in Comedy
Tonight.
David
Pendlebury has gone on to chair the charity Theatrecares,
for one of their shows featuring The
Company Of Mary Poppins, Louise Gold
took a starring role.
Danielle Carson’s recording
credits include The Great
Musicals – Dashing Heroes, Blushing Maidens.
Louise Gold has
appeared in quite a number of Cole Porter musicals, besides the Ethel
Merman quintet of shows, she has also appeared in Kiss
Me Kate and Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It.
However, she has made all too few recordings, the only albums of her singing Cole
Porter are Noel/Cole: Let’s Do
It (Recording), and the JAY/TER’s studio cast album of Anything Goes (recording) - Website
Recommended Album
Critics Comments
“Louise
Gold and Barry Cryer are May and Louis and both play their parts well.”
Carol Hughes, WORDS AND MUSIC, Issue 16, Sept 1993
Links about Dubarry
Was A Lady
Muppet Central/Tibby's Bowl Interview with Louise Gold http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/gold.shtml
Although she does not
give name them, Louise mentions playing the Ethel Merman parts in The Lost
Musicals.
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