Musical Theatre, Impressing Betsy a Vlog
- Posted on 17th April 2017
- in Entertainment, entertainment books, Hollywood memoirs, Love Story, Musical Theatre, Summer Stock
- by Ben
Musical theatre
was my life from 1957 until 1972. The Playhouse in Mount Gretna, PA – August 1967 – Carousel – I arrived on the third day of rehearsal. This is a variation on a story from my first book, Three Stages.
Sitting in the front row was a lovely young woman with a Shetland Sheep Dog at her feet. I didn’t know who she was but it was as though there was a pin spot on her and all the others in the room faded from view.
We principals walked over to the nearby Gretna Inn to work on our individual numbers. The piano was in the dining room and as we waited our turns we sat on the porch. The mesmerizing lady’s name was Betsy Hepburn and that she was playing “Carrie”, the comedienne. I was thrilled with her voice and the comic personality with which she sang. She was really good and that was a relief.
She came back to the porch and I went in to work on my big number, Soliloquy. I’d sung it many times but knowing that Betsy was ten feet away hearing everything, I sang it better than ever before and socked the high b-flat on the end with all I was worth.
Betsy must have liked it because exactly four months later she married me (for the first time). As you may have guessed, that’s a whole other story – and book. (Waiting for Elizabeth)
Elizabeth “Betsy” Hepburn
For more tales of musical theatre on and off-Broadway, Las Vegas, national tours and The Met click here to get Three Stages. (And here for Waiting for Elizabeth.)
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