Brian Kellow is the features editor of "Opera News," where his column, "On the Beat," appears monthly. He is the author of "The Bennetts: An Acting Family" and the coauthor of "Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell." A classically trained pianist, Kellow has also written for "Opera" and "Playbill," among others. He lives in New York City.
?A clear-eyed, perceptive take on the reign of Queen Ethel of
Broadway.
An editor at Opera News and an entertainment reporter and
biographer, Kellow nimbly sidesteps the booby traps other writers
have hit while writing about Ethel Merman. Though he gives her
temperament its due, he admirably avoids overloading his account
with tales of a sometime-outrageous diva. He places Merman's
ascendancy and success in the context of 20th-century New York
City. Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and others provided the scores, and
their confluence created such classics as Girl Crazy, Anything
Goes, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy. Content at center stage on
Broadway, Merman was less happy out of town. Hollywood, in
particular, was not her place, as evidenced by the middling films
she lensed at Warner Bros. and Paramount. She did score, at least
with city audiences, with the film version of Call Me Madam, but
losing the main role in the film adaptation of her Broadway triumph
Gypsy to Rosalind Russell?
aA clear-eyed, perceptive take on the reign of Queen Ethel of
Broadway.
An editor at Opera News and an entertainment reporter and
biographer, Kellow nimbly sidesteps the booby traps other writers
have hit while writing about Ethel Merman. Though he gives her
temperament its due, he admirably avoids overloading his account
with tales of a sometime-outrageous diva. He places Merman's
ascendancy and success in the context of 20th-century New York
City. Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and others provided the scores, and
their confluence created such classics as Girl Crazy, Anything
Goes, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy. Content at center stage on
Broadway, Merman was less happy out of town. Hollywood, in
particular, was not her place, as evidenced by the middling films
she lensed at Warner Bros. and Paramount. She did score, at least
with city audiences, with the film version of Call Me Madam, but
losing the main role in the film adaptation of her Broadway triumph
Gypsy to Rosalind Russell was a major career disappointment. For
Merman, happiness clearly began when the curtain went up. A
headstrong, outspoken only child, Merman, notes Kellow, saw only in
black and white, a worldview that gave her considerable force
onstage but sabotaged four marriages. Her melancholy demise found
her down in the depths of the Upper East Side, alone with the ashes
of her parents, one ex-husband and Ethel Jr., a daughter whose
death may have been an "accidental suicide."
Kellow displays a keen sense of how and why Merman worked, and his
profile of her personal life is an aching refrain worthy of the
musical Follies.a
a"Kirkus Reviews"
A clear-eyed, perceptive take on the reign of Queen Ethel of
Broadway.
An editor at Opera News and an entertainment reporter and
biographer, Kellow nimbly sidesteps the booby traps other writers
have hit while writing about Ethel Merman. Though he gives her
temperament its due, he admirably avoids overloading his account
with tales of a sometime-outrageous diva. He places Merman's
ascendancy and success in the context of 20th-century New York
City. Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and others provided the scores, and
their confluence created such classics as Girl Crazy, Anything
Goes, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy. Content at center stage on
Broadway, Merman was less happy out of town. Hollywood, in
particular, was not her place, as evidenced by the middling films
she lensed at Warner Bros. and Paramount. She did score, at least
with city audiences, with the film version of Call Me Madam, but
losing the main role in the film adaptation of her Broadway triumph
Gypsy to Rosalind Russell was a major career disappointment. For
Merman, happiness clearly began when the curtain went up. A
headstrong, outspoken only child, Merman, notes Kellow, saw only in
black and white, a worldview that gave her considerable force
onstage but sabotaged four marriages. Her melancholy demise found
her down in the depths of the Upper East Side, alone with the ashes
of her parents, one ex-husband and Ethel Jr., a daughter whose
death may have been an "accidental suicide."
Kellow displays a keen sense of how and why Merman worked, and his
profile of her personal life is an aching refrain worthy of the
musical Follies.
"Kirkus Reviews"
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