Nothing succeeds like success

Early in 1954 it was announced that "The Pajama Game", a musical based on Richard Bissel's novel was to be staged a few weeks later. It was about the life in a pajama factory. When the show was being rehearsed, Steve, my husband, encouraged me to audition for a part. I did not hesitate a moment. After listening to me George Abbot, director of the company, hired me as a chorus singer.

Carol Haney was playing the main part. She had a wonderful sense of comedy, her songs and dancing were marvelous. The show was likely to become a hit and give Broadway a new star.

The night before the New York opening I was made Carol's understudy. I had not had a single rehearsal, but the producer, Hal Prince, said it did not really matter. "There is no chance for you," he added. "Carol is a person who will go on even with a broken neck."

On May 9, 1954, "The Pajama Game" opened in New York. The show was a great success. The critics praised to the skies both the show and Carol.

Four nights passed. I still had not had a rehearsal but whenever I was not on I would watch Carol from the wings trying to learn the part. Soon I felt I could do the lines by heart if they only allowed me on the stage.

After the first Wednesday matinee, when we could afford a break I went home to fix dinner for Steve. While we were eating I had a phone call from one of the producers of "Can-Can', which had been running about two years. He offered me a job as understudy to his leading dancer. The producer said that nothing would ever keep Carol Haney from going on in "The Pajama Game", and added that their girl was out every now and then. I asked him to let me think the offer over and give an answer the next day.

After dinner I discussed the offer with Steve. His attitude was pretty skeptical when I said, "1 wish I could keep both jobs." "You wouldn't be able to do that even if you tried very hard," he said and suggested that I should leave "The Pajama Game" immediately. I agreed, and before leaving for the theatre I wrote my notice, intending to hand it in that night. I hurried to the subway, but the train got stuck in the tunnel and it was half an hour late.

Hal Prince was pacing the sidewalk at the entrance looking very nervous.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"I'm awfully sorry. The subway train got stuck, but I'll hurry. Anyway I don't have to be on till the middle of the first act," I said.

"That's what you think! Haney broke her ankle this afternoon and you're on right now!" Hal shouted.

I put the notice, I was carrying in my hand, into my purse.

They pushed me into Carol's dressing-room. I asked someone to call up Steve. My hands were shaking, and someone else had to put the make-up on my face.

The curtain had not gone up yet, and the audience were impatient. I was waiting in the wings as the stage director walked out before the curtain and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the management regrets to announce that Miss Carol Haney will not be performing tonight. Her role will be performed by a young lady named Shirley MacLaine. We hope you'll enjoy the show."

Many people got up and made straight for the box-office to get their money back. A minute later the curtain went up. Taking a deep breath I walked to the centre of the stage. A hush came over the audience. They seemed to understand how I felt. I took another breath and spoke the first line. It was supposed to get a laugh, but it didn't. Just as I began the second line, the spectators laughed at the first one. I slowed the tempo of my delivery and suddenly the flow of communication appeared to be there. At last I was with the audience.

The performance was over. The curtain went down and then up again for the curtain-calls. The audience stood. They cheered and threw kisses. The cast around me applauded.

"I wish you'd seen it yourself," said Steve as he came up to me in the wings. "You were great."

"Was I really?"

"To them, yes, but you still have a long way to go," he added.

I remembered the notice in my purse. What would have happened if I had handed it to the producer the night before?

Exercise 2.Find in the text English equivalents for these word combinations and sentences.

1. Я не колебалась ни минуты. 2. По всей вероятности, спектакль произведет сенсацию. 3. Как только у нас появилась возможность сделать перерыв… 4. … который шел уже около двух лет. 5. Жаль, что я не смогу играть в обоих спектаклях. 6. …зрители проявляли нетерпение. 7. … они приветствовали. 8. Актеры, стоящие вокруг меня, аплодировали мне.

Exercise 3. Give Russian equivalents for these sentences.

1. It was announced that "The Pajama Game," a musical based on R. Bissel's novel, was to be staged. 2. When the show was being rehearsed my husband encouraged me to audition for a part. 3. The show was a great success. 4. He offered me a job. 5. The producer said that nothing would ever keep Carol from going on in "The Pajama Game". 6. I asked the producer to let me think it over. 7. He suggested that I should leave "The Pajama Game" immediately. 8. The curtain had not gone up yet, and the audience were impatient. 9. They cheered and threw kisses.

Exercise 4. Answer these questions.

1. Who encouraged Shirley MacLaine to audition for a part in "The Pajama Game"? 2. Did Shirley have any hope of playing the main part instead of Carol? 3. Why do you think Steve suggested that Shirley should accept the offer of the "Can-Can" producer? 4. Do you think Hal Prince was sure Shirley would be a success? Would you have asked the understudy who hadn't had a single rehearsal to play the main part if you had been in Hal Prince's place? 5. Do you know of other examples when an actor (an actress) became famous overnight?*

Exercise 5.Say if these statements are true or false. Give your reasons.

1. Shirley was invited to play the main part in the musical "The Pajama Game".

2. When Shirley was offered the job of an understudy to the leading dancer of "Can-Can", she rejected the offer.

3. Steve, Shirley's husband, suggested that she should keep both jobs.

4. Shirley made up her mind to leave "The Pajama Game" and handed the notice to the producer.

5. Shirley was a great success in the main part of "The Pajama Game".

Exercise 6.Explain or comment on these statements.

1. The show was likely to become a hit and give Broadway a new star.

2. "There is no chance for you," Hal Prince said.

3. "I wish I could keep both jobs," said Shirley.

4. Many people got up and made straight for the box-office.

5. Suddenly the flow of communication appeared to be there.

6. But you still have a long way to go.

Exercise 7.Give a summary of the text "Nothing Succeeds Like Success".

Text 2.

Exercise 1.Read text 2 and answer the questions given after it.

IS THE OPERA IN DECLINE?

This question was extensively discussed at a seminar sponsored by the UNESCO International Institute of Theatre and attended by prominent composers, choreographers, stage directors, conductors and opera theatre managers from many countries.

Many of them spoke about the crisis which the opera in the West was experiencing. Audiences have lost interest, and theatres are unwilling to produce new operas. To see his opera staged is but a dream for a great many modern composers.

Boris Pokrovsky, chief stage director of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, maintains that mankind has so far utilized only a fraction of the great possibilities offered by operatic art. "I am firmly convinced," he said, "of its great future."

Pokrovsky and his numerous pupils prove this on the stage of the Moscow Chamber Musical Theatre, which has become a sort of experimental laboratory of opera. The nucleus of the theatre company is formed by young graduates of the State Institute of Theatrical Art in Moscow. Pokrovsky himself has become the artistic director of the new theatre (parallel with his main post at the Bolshoi).

The young company has set itself the task of developing the genre of "smaller opera", practically unknown in Russia, using new stagecraft devices capable of enriching "big opera", as well.

Everything is unusual in this theatre: a small hall seating only 220, no orchestra pit, no customary division of the company into soloists and chorus. Those taking leading roles today can be found in mass scenes tomorrow. Quite often, the orchestra is involved in the action. The theatre is based on the "singing actor" principle: in other words, an opera singer should also be a good actor.

The Chamber Musical Theatre has revived many works long since forgotten. It has staged unfamiliar operas by Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and Rossini. Several 18th century Russian operas were revived, too. But the outstanding event in the short history of the theatre was its contact with the famous composer of our time, Dmitri Shostakovich, who took an active part in the production of his opera "The Nose", which he had written in his youth after the novel of the same title by Gogol. The production was extremely original in design and execution, "prickly sarcastic", with unexpected turns and ingenious devices. For example, each performer played several roles, which was also part of Gogol's conventionality. "The Nose" was a great success at the International "Warsaw Spring" Festival in 1976. Recently the Charles Cros Academy in France awarded its Grand Prix to the recording of this opera by the Moscow company.

All of this shows that the opera in Russia is far from being in decline but looks for new original forms and ingenious devices.

Exercise 2.Answer the following questions.

1. Which question was discussed at a UNESCO International Institute of Theatre seminar?

2. Which crises is the opera in the west experiencing?

3. What is Boris Pokrovsky?

4. Who is the nucleus of the Moscow Chamber Musical Theatre formed of?

5. What is so unusual about this theatre?

6. Name the composers whose operas were staged by Chamber Musical Theatre.

7. Who did Boris Pokrovsky have contact with?

8. Did you read the novel “The Nose” by Gogol?

9. So, do you agree that the opera in Russia is in decline?

10. What does it look for?