Madeline Kahn Monday: Madeline and Bernadette Peters -The Toast

Madeline Kahn Monday: Madeline and Bernadette Peters

ByDaniel Mallory Ortberg

on December 28, 2015 in Heroes

I knew there was a reason I always used to mix up Madeline Kahn and Bernadette Peters; the reason was that the universe was going to give me a porcelain-throated duet between the two of them. I still don’t like Sondheim (SORRY NICOLE AND ALSO EVERYONE), but at least I have this, and now so do you.

(The quality is so bad to remind us that all things this side of Eternity are imperfect. Now we see through a glass but darkly.)

Mallory is an Editor of The Toast.

Comments (19)

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+12 Vote up Vote down

stirringsofconsciousness 117p · 483 weeks ago

See, and Sondheim (and this song) got me to like Madeline Kahn, life is a rich tapestry, etc.

3 replies · active 483 weeks ago

+14 Vote up Vote down

malloryelis 142p · 483 weeks ago

You know, normally life is a rich tapestry, but in this case, you are simply mistaken.

+27 Vote up Vote down

NicoleCliffe 145p · 483 weeks ago

You are a MONSTER.

+10 Vote up Vote down

stirringsofconsciousness 117p · 483 weeks ago

THOSE ARE FIGHTING WORDS.

And I will run and hide behind Nicole and be her hype man/chorus member with multisyllabic rhyme schemes.

+9 Vote up Vote down

ZevNV 118p · 483 weeks ago

While I shed a single tear at your lack of love for Mr. Sondheim, I have to say that "It's Always A Woman" is definitely not among his finer efforts. (The jokes are strained and there's a faint mist of sexism over the whole thing.)

If you still aren't a fan after listening to Madeline Kahn sing "Not Getting Married Today" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrRDrz53Q1E) or Bernadette Peters sing "Not a Day Goes By" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMlQgyz834), then there's nothing to be done.

5 replies · active 483 weeks ago

+7 Vote up Vote down

stirringsofconsciousness 117p · 483 weeks ago

Which is probably why it was cut! Though I love the line "She almost looks human/it must be the lighting."

The other songs you posted are amazing.

+8 Vote up Vote down

ZevNV 118p · 483 weeks ago

Excellent point. Though so was "There Won't Be Trumpets", which is pretty terrific, so who knows what they were thinking.

Granted, "who knows what they were thinking" is likely to be the phrase one keeps thinking while watching ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. It's such an unholy mess.

+5 Vote up Vote down

stirringsofconsciousness 117p · 483 weeks ago

I was once cast as a Boy in a cross-gender casting of Anyone Can Whistle, and you’re right. It's an aggressive mess, but there are some beautiful moments. Most people restore There Won't Be Trumpets (which was mostly cut because the show was was long) and not There's Always a Woman, which even Sondheim admits is mediocre.

+7 Vote up Vote down

mbculver 114p · 483 weeks ago

My husband and I (rabid Sondheim fans) have never really taken to Anyone Can Whistle, but my 13-yr-old daughter LOVES it and has memorized all the songs. However, she's never seen the actual show. Maybe that's for the best.

+5 Vote up Vote down

ZevNV 118p · 483 weeks ago

There is something about the show's "But who are the REAL crazy people?" theme that is well-designed to appear to very smart adolescents. I definitely liked it more when I was younger than I do now. (Also, I was a lot more inclined to fall in love with musicals for their verbal and musical inventiveness and not so much pay attention to their dramatic successes or failures then.)

+4 Vote up Vote down

shellygrrl 98p · 483 weeks ago

I'm kinda "meh" about Sondheim, soooo...

+8 Vote up Vote down

StillT 103p · 483 weeks ago

I don't particularly care for Sondheim either. Solidarity!

5 replies · active 483 weeks ago

+24 Vote up Vote down

NicoleCliffe 145p · 483 weeks ago

both of you can pack your shit and GTFO (Mallory does not like musical theater, she will let you back in)

+13 Vote up Vote down

StillT 103p · 483 weeks ago

+13 Vote up Vote down

malloryelis 142p · 483 weeks ago

I LIKE SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS

+32 Vote up Vote down

NicoleCliffe 145p · 483 weeks ago

No,
You are complete, Mallory,
You are your own.
We do not belong together.
You are complete, Mallory,
You all alone.
I am unfinished,
I am diminished
With or without you.
We do not belong together,
And we should have belonged together.
What made it so right together
Is what made it all wrong.

+16 Vote up Vote down

grumblyqueer 139p · 483 weeks ago

You don't like Sondheim and you don't like Hamilton, so you best g'wan run back where you come from. That's just heresy.

+15 Vote up Vote down

nicoledieker 113p · 483 weeks ago

I mean, Mallory, it isn't just that they sang a song together, it's that they did a WHOLE MUSICAL TOGETHER WITH ANGELA LANSBURY COMPLETING THE TRIO.

(also Scott Bakula but whatevs)

Look up Anyone Can Whistle 1995 on your favorite soundtrack-obtaining service.

+2 Vote up Vote down

queen_bunnie 101p · 481 weeks ago

I'm so sorry but that Corinthians reference always makes me scream TILL WE HAVE FACES.

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