It's Friendship, Friendship, Just a Perfect Blendship, And Your Own Thursday Headlines

 

Courtesy Tumblr.

Today the spotlight shines on May 15, 1977, when Ethel Merman and Mary Martin teamed up for Together on Broadway.

Together on Broadway, held in honor of The Friends of the Theater and Music Collection of the Museum of the City of New York, took place at the Broadway Theatre. It was the last Broadway credit for Merman, and the penultimate for Martin, who still had the short-lived Do You Turn Somersaults? and the never-to-reach New York Legends! ahead of her.

"They work together most remarkably, without sentimentality or undue deference," Walter Kerr wrote in 1977. "Obviously each has a healthy respect for the other, obviously the strains of 'Friendship' that float from the pit during the overture aren't inappropriate. But no goo, and who needs nostalgia? They're pros, they can either do it or they can't, and they were up there to show that they could."

Together on Broadway's setlist included a shared "Send in the Clowns," many of the ladies' hits over the last few decades ("Doin' What Comes Naturally," "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "A Wonderful Guy," etc.), a shared "Hello, Dolly!" with men like Joel Grey and Yul Brynner in the chorus, and a shared "There's No Business Like Show Business." I hope they raised a lot of money.

Courtesy YouTube.

"Broadway stars" still exist in 2025, and I'm glad for it. However, I don't think I'm being a fuddy duddy to say that they don't exist on the same level as Mary and Ethel did in their prime. I guess the closest would be the last few survivors of the golden age and slightly after, like Patti and Bernadette. If you only need to be identified by a first name, congratulations, you're a star.

"Ethel Merman is the bonfire and Mary Martin is the smoke," Kerr declared. "They go very nicely together, if you're in a mood to burn up the town."

Also opening on this day:

1492, "a musical extravaganza in three acts, nine scenes," which opened in 1893 at the now-demolished Palmer's Theatre. It was produced by Edward E. Rice and according to IBDB, ran nearly 500 performances total.

All God's Chillun Got Wings, which opened in 1924 at the Provincetown Playhouse. Eugene O'Neill's play concerned the difficult courtship and marriage of a duplicitous white woman (Mary Blair, then Dorothy Peterson) and conflicted black man (Paul Robeson). It's been revived once to date on Broadway, in 1975 with Trish VanDevere and Robert Christian. The pair were directed by VanDevere's husband, George C. Scott.

Next week, an old black ram tups the white ewe.