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[0:00] Ben Rimalower: Broadway Podcast Network presents Giants in the Sky, How Sondheim and Lapine Went Into the Woods with me, Ben Rimalower.

[0:07] Ben Rimalower: Today's guest, Mary D'Arcy, Cinderella in the Playwrights Horizons workshop.

[0:12] Ben Rimalower: Once upon a time.

[0:17] Ben Rimalower: Mary D'Arcy played Cinderella in the Playwrights Horizons workshop of Into the Woods.

[0:21] Ben Rimalower: She originated the roles of Celeste No. Two and Elaine in Sunday in the Park with George.

[0:27] Ben Rimalower: On Broadway, she also created the role of Kathy Selden in Singing in the Rain and was a long-running Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, both on Broadway and on tour, as well as touring in A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine.

[0:39] Ben Rimalower: In addition to the Sunday in the Park with George cast album, Mary was featured on the prized Sondheim Book of the Month Club box set.

[0:46] Ben Rimalower: She is married to Broadway conductor Carl Yeerman.

[0:52] Ben Rimalower: So, you know, normally I ask people if they remember the first time that they became aware that there was this fairy tale mashup musical at Sondheim and Lapine. But I guess I'd like to go back a little further because your history with them precedes Into the Woods. Um, and did I read right that you were Miss New Jersey before that?

[1:17] Mary D'Arcy: Long time way before that.

[1:20] Mary D'Arcy: Yes, way before that. But you obviously were heading toward musical theater. Um, I guess you did like, was it the Day in Hollywood tour? Was that before?

[1:31] Mary D'Arcy: I toured A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine, and I toured as Gwenifer with Richard Harris, and did a great fun cabaret that Martin Sharnin put together called Upstairs at O'Neill.

[1:44] Ben Rimalower: Oh, famous, the legendary, yeah.

[1:47] Mary D'Arcy: Legendary, it was great. With B.B. and, you know, all kinds of fun people.

[1:53] Ben Rimalower: And were you already sort of plugged in like as a Sondheim fan? Like, like, or actually, yeah.

[2:01] Mary D'Arcy: When I studied classical voice in college, but I elected to take as many theater classes as I could on the side and always loved theater more than opera, yeah. Um, loved singing opera, but I liked performing musical theater, and really I have to go back to when I was in high school hearing the cast recording of A Little Night Music. Uh, and I thought, oh my god, somebody is writing for a soprano today, you know, and I always dreamed of working with Stephen Sondheim. That was my goal. That when I came to New York, I'm like someday I have to do a Sondheim show.

[2:42] Ben Rimalower: And did you do any of them before you got to Sunday in the Park?

[2:46] Mary D'Arcy: Had you done like Night Music in Summerstock or anything like that?

[2:49] Mary D'Arcy: No.

[2:50] Mary D'Arcy: No, no, no. Sunday in the Park was my first Sondheim show, and it was amazing to be able to. I didn't do the workshop, ironically. I didn't do the workshop in Sunday, but I did the part that Celeste, um, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio did in the workshop.

[3:08] Ben Rimalower: At Playwrights, yeah.

[3:09] Mary D'Arcy: Um, Playwrights, correct.

[3:11] Ben Rimalower: So what happened to that? Did your agents say, oh, that show's going to Broadway, can sending you in for the audition?

[3:18] Mary D'Arcy: And absolutely, yep. Yep. I went out, I auditioned for Paul Gemignani first.

[3:25] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[3:26] Mary D'Arcy: And then he brought me in to meet Steve and James and, uh, yeah, so and Melanie Vaughn. They had me work with Melanie.

[3:37] Mary D'Arcy: Gotta be a good pair of Celeste.

[3:37] Ben Rimalower: Exactly, exactly.

[3:42] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah, so that's how that all happened.

[3:42] Ben Rimalower: Amazing. Were you like, uh, intimidated or were you, you know, meeting Sondheim? And what was your...

[3:42] Mary D'Arcy: Excited! I was just excited. I was thrilled. Maybe a little intimidated. It's, you know, it's kind of hard. It was a long time ago.

[3:42] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, sure, of course.

[3:42] Mary D'Arcy: But I think I was a little starstruck and, um, I can picture, I think it was at 890. I can still picture walking in and into the huge room for the callback and meeting them for the first time.

[3:42] Ben Rimalower: Amazing. And was it a long drawn-out process of callbacks or was it just kind of...

[3:42] Mary D'Arcy: It was that they saw you and they knew it was you.

[4:27] Mary D'Arcy: Yes, yeah. Next thing I knew, um, we were heading to rehearsals and it was thrilling. It was thrilling. It's funny that even you talk about being Celeste number two because you're also Elaine, which is such an important part of the story of that, but everybody goes, that's a great one names, you know, Elaine. I guess because Elaine didn't even come to be until about two weeks before we opened. There wasn't a picture of it. They were still working on the second act and pieces were slowly coming together and, um, I forget what I was in the second act and they decided to create this character of Elaine and we had this amazing scene that they wrote with Mandy and it was never rehearsed. I just, they handed me the scene and we did it on stage for the first time.

[5:22] Mary D'Arcy: And I was terrified. I was terrified. Until that moment in the show came and went every night. I was a nervous wreck.

[5:31] Ben Rimalower: Wow.

[5:33] Mary D'Arcy: One because Mandy was different every night, which was amazing.

[5:37] Ben Rimalower: No, but that was the beauty of it.

[5:39] Mary D'Arcy: I just reacted to him, and that was like one of the greatest acting lessons I've ever had the pleasure of having.

[5:46] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[5:47] Mary D'Arcy: But I remember one night, um, his George was really angry about something, and he snapped at me in such a way that I was, I was in tears during, you know, it kind of caught me emotionally during the scene. And, um, after the show, I thought maybe I had done something wrong or had upset him in some way. So after the show, I went up to him at the dressing room and said, um, is everything okay? And he just went, no, no, no, don't speak. Don't speak. Everything's great. Let's not talk about it. It's fine. Don't speak.

[6:16] Mary D'Arcy: So it was so much fun. It was great.

[6:20] Ben Rimalower: Yeah. So that's Elaine. I mean, you two had great chemistry. I didn't get to see it on stage, but I mean, I must have memorized that video. And, uh, that's such an important story in act two. I mean, it's really like it shows the opposite. Um, uh, well, I know I guess it's the same as act, it's the dot of act two in a sense because, yeah, this act two George has, um, also forfeited this, uh, romantic partnership. And, you know, although at least act one George found his work, act two George is lost.

[6:55] Mary D'Arcy: Um, gets there eventually.

[6:59] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, but at least he still has Dot.

[7:02] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah, you know, yeah.

[7:05] Ben Rimalower: And you got to understudy that too, I believe, is that right?

[7:08] Mary D'Arcy: I did, yeah. I was the second cover, yeah.

[7:11] Mary D'Arcy: And, uh, had so much fun because, um, Chris Gronendahl was the second George cover. So he and I got to do the show together every Thursday or Friday whenever understudy rehearsal was. But I loved singing that role.

[7:25] Ben Rimalower: That was beautiful.

[7:30] Mary D'Arcy: Oh, thank you. Thank you.

[7:32] Mary D'Arcy: Never actually got to perform it on stage.

[7:34] Ben Rimalower: Are you serious?

[7:35] Mary D'Arcy: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I was, um, they were about to promote me to first cover.

[7:42] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah. Um, and I left the show around that time.

[7:46] Ben Rimalower: That's when you went to do Singing in the Rain on Broadway.

[7:50] Mary D'Arcy: Which of course you were Kathy in the Debbie Reynolds role, which is such perfect casting. Um, was that a hard decision, or was that such an amazing opportunity in Twyla Tharp and content and green and all that?

[8:02] Mary D'Arcy: But I had actually put in my notice to Sunday before I got Singing in the Rain.

[8:08] Ben Rimalower: Oh wow.

[8:09] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah, it was a decision I, um, I wanted, you know, just like every young actor. Um, I'm sure I'm not too different from many kids today, but I wanted to go to LA for pilot season.

[8:24] Ben Rimalower: Yes, yes, you know, and I left a Sondheim show.

[8:27] Mary D'Arcy: And, um, but I, uh, put in my notice to go to LA and in the meantime the auditions happened for Singing in the Rain, and then, uh, the rest is history with that.

[8:38] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah. Well, you were young, you're gorgeous, you could act, you were funny. I mean, you sh—that was the right thing to do, right?

[8:45] Mary D'Arcy: And you worked out there.

[8:47] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[8:47] Mary D'Arcy: And you still got to be Kathy in Singing in the Rain. Um, were you already in Singing in the Rain when you found out about the Into the Woods workshop?

[8:57] Mary D'Arcy: Um, I think I'm trying to remember. I think Singing in the Rain had closed.

[9:03] Mary D'Arcy: Oh wow. Well, I don't think I recall correctly. I can't, you know, it's funny, I don't remember.

[9:08] Mary D'Arcy: Because the workshop was June of '86.

[9:13] Ben Rimalower: Uh no, you're right. You had just closed.

[9:14] Mary D'Arcy: I'm so sorry.

[9:16] Mary D'Arcy: I think we closed in May.

[9:18] Ben Rimalower: That's bad timing.

[9:20] Mary D'Arcy: God, May.

[9:21] Mary D'Arcy: That's a broken.

[9:23] Mary D'Arcy: It was right after the Tony nomination.

[9:27] Ben Rimalower: Okay.

[9:27] Mary D'Arcy: The nominations were disappointing to say the least.

[9:31] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[9:31] Mary D'Arcy: For the show itself.

[9:33] Mary D'Arcy: And overall. So, uh, the producers who were great, uh, Maury and Lois Rosenstein, they were phenomenal producers and, uh, stuck with the show. And I mean, we were doing great. We were doing great guns. I think that was kind of, they couldn't handle it anymore.

[9:53] Ben Rimalower: So, well, you'd opened in July. I mean, it's so hard those shows that open in the summer that they, you know, if you open in March or April, you probably still have a lot of money in the bank to see what happens, you know, around Tony season, but you've been running for all those months.

[10:10] Mary D'Arcy: It's brutal.

[10:10] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah, and we ran for almost a year.

[10:12] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[10:13] Mary D'Arcy: Right. Ten months, yeah.

[10:15] Mary D'Arcy: More than that. And the cast was great. I mean, people for a while, people worked at half salary to keep that show going.

[10:23] Ben Rimalower: Wow.

[10:24] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah, it was. I know all the principals did. We um uh all and and the entire cast would go out into Times Square and pass out flyers, and we got to the point where we were doing better box office than any other show.

[10:37] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[10:38] Mary D'Arcy: So um well, the show's gone on to have such a life. It's been done like eight times on the West End. I mean, I'm sure it's a matter of time before it's on Broadway again because it's such a classic piece, you know. Um, and every movie is a musical on Broadway nowadays. It's not hardly a stretch. Um, so so tell me about this Into the Woods workshop because burying the lead, you were Cinderella in the Playwrights Horizons workshop.

[11:07] Mary D'Arcy: And um, it seems like such a natural choice that Sondheim and Lapine would turn to you at that point. Um I was a dream. What what do you remember? What do you remember about that process?

[11:21] Mary D'Arcy: Oh gosh. I remember when I auditioned for it, they didn't even they didn't ask me to sing. Yeah. And they were like, let me know how you sing. And and I just I just read for um read a scene. I can't even remember what the scene was. And I was really sweating it out for a long time because uh they took their time making the decision. Um, it wasn't cut and dried at all. And um, but then when I did get it, I was thrilled. And I mean, a little little sidebar, my husband Carl uh was also hired by Paul Gemignani to be his assistant on that.

[11:54] Ben Rimalower: Oh, how wonderful.

[11:57] Mary D'Arcy: I didn't realize that.

[11:58] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah. So is that where you met?

[12:00] Mary D'Arcy: No, we met in college.

[12:02] Ben Rimalower: Oh, that's sweet.

[12:03] Mary D'Arcy: And all these years later you're together. Um yeah, we've been together since 19 a long time. Actually, I think we were married around 12 years at that point, 10 or 12 years.

[12:18] Ben Rimalower: Oh, you married young, and look at that success story.

[12:21] Mary D'Arcy: Not quite. No, wait a minute. We got married in 79, so not quite that long, but still.

[12:26] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah. That's incredible. Um, so uh now I I guess that was a couple of like maybe like a week of rehearsal for that workshop.

[12:37] Mary D'Arcy: It was at least a week, maybe two.

[12:39] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[12:40] Mary D'Arcy: Um it's kind of hard to remember.

[12:42] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[12:42] Mary D'Arcy: But um, but the it was exciting. I mean, the the cast that I mean, Betty Buckley and uh Howard McGillen and Patrick Page as the princes and hearing them Patrick Quinn.

[12:56] Ben Rimalower: Um Patrick, yes, yes, thank you.

[13:00] Mary D'Arcy: And um hearing those two do agony for the first time, hearing that music for the first time. I mean, everything was fresh as the songs kept coming in and it was uh it was pretty remarkable. But we only did the first act, is what I remember.

[13:15] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I at least at least you only sang the first act. I don't know whether there was a script uh of act two or not.

[13:23] Mary D'Arcy: I remember sitting on stools um in and being dressed as a princess. I mean, I had a white sundress and a tiara. So at some point we got to the happily ever after, but I'm not sure. I don't think maybe nothing else.

[13:39] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, I just honestly don't remember. If did anybody else have any memory of a second act?

[13:44] Mary D'Arcy: I I think that there that there was maybe some dialogue, but not songs. But that might have been um just so we did this a reading on stools for the second act. Um and I know it was uh Danielle Furland with Little Red Riding Hood, and she and you had worked together already and and son Andrew Park.

[14:02] Ben Rimalower: Um she looked up to you.

[14:04] Mary D'Arcy: Uh and uh Robert Sean Leonard was Jack.

[14:07] Ben Rimalower: Oh yes.

[14:08] Mary D'Arcy: I mean, I remember I remember uh about a year later seeing um Dead Poets Society. Um I know that guy was like, oh my god.

[14:19] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[14:21] Mary D'Arcy: He so he he had quite a career.

[14:23] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah, truly.

[14:24] Mary D'Arcy: And um Ray Gill was the baker.

[14:27] Ben Rimalower: Um that's right.

[14:29] Mary D'Arcy: The late great Ray Gill, although he did go on uh later to do the national tour of Into the Woods.

[14:36] Ben Rimalower: Um and uh uh Bob Gunton was the uh narrator.

[14:43] Mary D'Arcy: He was hysterical.

[14:45] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, yeah.

[14:50] Mary D'Arcy: Do you remember any of the material you had to sing then? Because I know you know a lot of the stuff that we think of as being the show wasn't written yet. A lot of the first Cinderella's first act to my memory was was done. I mean, there was it was the you know, the whole the opening, the I wish and all of that and um and the whole thing, uh father says be nice, mother says be good, but yeah, that that whole thing, yeah.

[15:18] Ben Rimalower: That was that was done.

[15:20] Mary D'Arcy: Um but uh boy, it's been a long time since I've gone down that memory lane.

[15:26] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, well, listen, I I I should have done this podcast 15 years ago, you know.

[15:31] Mary D'Arcy: Might have remembered a little more. It's been so long, but that's why we gotta do it now. Um, it's thrilling, yeah.

[15:37] Ben Rimalower: And uh, I mean, what you talked about um your husband being uh there with Paul Gemignani. Uh was Sondheim involved in teaching you all the score?

[15:49] Mary D'Arcy: Um he uh Paul taught us the score, is what I recall.

[15:53] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[15:54] Mary D'Arcy: And uh, but there there was a time I know Carl learned it or played it for Steve at Steve's house at one point. But um from my perspective, it was all at at Playwrights Horizons and and Paul taught us the music.

[16:12] Ben Rimalower: Likewise with when I did um Sunday in the Park.

[16:15] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah, you know, and then Steve would come in and give notes and tweak.

[16:20] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[16:20] Mary D'Arcy: That's what I that's my memory. Um, but uh yeah, it was it uh very different. I mean, Sunday in the Park that they were um under the pressure of you were in rehearsals for this Broadway show, um you know, with the opening date, you know, written at least in you know somewhat permanent ink on the calendar. And here this was something that you know, I don't know if they even knew they were gonna go to San Diego or what the next steps were yet at that point.

[16:52] Ben Rimalower: But did that create a different environment uh of them trying stuff out and all that?

[16:58] Mary D'Arcy: I think so. I I think so. I mean, there was a lot more freedom and fun and um less pressure, and they didn't have to finish the second act, you know. When when we were doing Sunday in the Park, there was a lot of music that like I was just saying, but then the character of Elaine didn't come in until uh about a week or two before we opened, and there were some songs uh um children and art came in at the last minute. And I mean, there were they the the theme was there, but the song um not the musical theme, but the idea was there that something had to happen, and um there were monologues in place of songs at in many of those uh instances.

[17:40] Ben Rimalower: So as the music started coming in, the second act really began to gel.

[17:44] Mary D'Arcy: And um, and then the rest is history. Like I think I've said that a thousand times today, but it was it was magnificent musical history. I mean, truly, I no one had ever seen anything like that, and uh it's been so I mean it won the Pulitzer, you know, it's it was it's in that high uh elite class of uh Broadway landmarks, really.

[18:08] Ben Rimalower: Um did you have a sense working on this very early Into the Woods, this could be a worthy successor to that, or was it still too oh no?

[18:20] Mary D'Arcy: Absolutely, absolutely. The music was too good, the story was too funny. Yeah, you know, going back to the Brothers Grimm and the you know, cutting off their heels and they're totally and the the lecherous wolf, and I mean it was just too fun.

[18:36] Ben Rimalower: Yeah, it was just great and too well written, and um, you know, it had you know, I was I must I was I was devastated that I didn't move on with it, but uh how did that how did that go when when did you audition for the San Diego production?

[18:52] Mary D'Arcy: No, no, they um they just wrote me a lovely note and just said that they wanted to go in a different direction. So that was that was the end of that for me, but uh for whatever reason.

[19:07] Mary D'Arcy: But you know, I I kept saying to them, but you don't understand. I have a size four foot, I really do have little tiny feet. I have Cinderella feet, please. But I wonder if it was something stupid, like they wanted a brunette or something.

[19:22] Ben Rimalower: I mean could be.

[19:24] Mary D'Arcy: I have a feeling it was um I had a certain maturity to my voice, my soprano. And I I've always had I mean no one ever came out and said that to me, but I always had a suspicion it was that Steve wanted a different sound.

[19:44] Ben Rimalower: Yeah.

[19:44] Mary D'Arcy: A lighter a lighter, brighter sound. And um you can't that's fine. You know, you are who you are.

[19:51] Ben Rimalower: Well it served you well. I mean, uh the opera was a good place to have a dark a dark operatic quality.

[19:59] Mary D'Arcy: Um and uh I and you I mean you were I you never could have uh there was not as many Cinderella performances in the world as you got to do as Christine on Broadway on the road. So that that was a gift.

[20:12] Ben Rimalower: Um but uh that that's so interesting. I I w it I guess it could have been that. I mean it and they clearly were. Do you know they actually I just talked to Patti LuPone and she auditioned for Cinderella?

[20:25] Mary D'Arcy: Um I mean they didn't want her, but but they they read her that just shows how different of a direction that they were thinking about going.

[20:34] Ben Rimalower: You know, I g I guess it's probably for the best they didn't go that that far in the other direction.

[20:40] Mary D'Arcy: Um but uh but it's fascinating. They went in a perfect direction because she was absolutely beautiful and never would have met her the love of her life.

[20:49] Ben Rimalower: Yes, truly.

[20:49] Mary D'Arcy: Another great, uh, Broadway love story. That's, uh, there's something just about the fairy tale of Cinderella that, uh, it must be a lucky charm. Um, well, that's nice that they wrote you a letter. Did you have, um, I mean, uh, do you have a further relationship after with them after that, uh, past? Um, no. I mean, nothing bad. I just didn't work with them after that, you know. But, uh, well, you did the, um, reunion cast concert in the park of George. The stage reading that we did, yeah, 10-year anniversary. Yeah, that was it 10? Yeah. That's, uh, that's incredible. That was great. Just to hear that music again. I remember sitting in because we s the orchestra was behind us. Yeah. And I just remember sitting in the middle of the orchestra, yeah, you know, little chairs and just letting that music wash over me. It was just so beautiful. I could listen to that song over and over again. Have you gone to see other productions of Sunday in the Park with George?

[21:59] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah. I've, uh, the two, uh, the one from, uh, the London cat or the Yes, I love that production, yeah. That production and, um, also the one that was at, uh, um, the little theater. Uh, the Hudson Theater, yeah, yeah. I saw those. That must be such a sense of pride for you to have created this, you know, such an important show and just see it have that kind of a life. It's so funny though, watching the show and listening to the music, I kept I I could only see our cast. I mean, I I I watched wonderful performances, but in my emotional world, I was reliving our show and, um, with Mandy and Bernadette, and, uh, to me, huh? I don't think as wonderful as the other shows were. Not not the same.

[22:54] Mary D'Arcy: No, I think, I mean, of course, you would feel that way having been actually an artist in that. I mean, just as a fan, and you know, partly for my, you know, the perspective on the outside, having those videos of those productions. I mean, it's not a situation like a lot of musicals where you're comparing it to a cast recording, but I remember the book scenes, you know. And, uh, I don't even know if if I had seen you all in Sunday in the Park on another night, if it was just if Mandy was different that night than he was on the video, it would probably seem different to me because it was just so, uh, you know, sort of perfectly, uh, imprinted in that one moment in time. Um, yeah, it was there was just something about the original direction.

[23:44] Mary D'Arcy: I mean, different directors have looked at the show and taken it in different, yeah, places, and there was something about I I think in later productions, and this is just my opinion, yeah, that it doesn't matter that that the characters became caricatures, and in our production, we were sketches, yeah. And there was a little bit different, a little more subtle, and, um, more in I to me it was just kind of interesting watching the difference between the the two approaches. Yes. Speaking of, uh, those, uh, characters that could become caricatures in other productions, one of the, um, great sort of subtle comic geniuses in your original Sunday was Nancy Opal. Um, and never s fails to make me laugh. And she actually, I don't do she was one of the stepsisters in the workshop of Into the Woods.

[24:41] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah, and I was so happy to hear you say that in that version you already had the cutting off the heel us. Because I was just thinking about her and Janice Schneider. Was they must have been a scream. Do you remember anything about that? Just that they were hysterical. Yeah. They were they were the two of them were just incredible and hysterical. And yeah. Yeah, other than that, I don't know what to say. But I mean Nancy was great. She's a great gal. Yeah, very much so. Um, yeah, what is it? Uh, Artisberg Franz, I believe. Oh my God. Well, I guess she probably told you this that they didn't they weren't originally Franz and Frieda. I think they had a different name altogether.

[25:22] Mary D'Arcy: And, uh, she and Brent Spiner got to put their heads together one day and said, let's just make it let's do a German accent and see what happened during the workshop. And then Franz and Frieda were born. They connected it's hysterical that's the best. Yeah that's great. I mean I could still hear her saying that. Yeah, yeah. But you're right it was not it was not a caricature. It was like it was a brilliant sketch that was, you know, really inhabited. Um, yeah it was incredible. Um, what about Into the Woods? Have you had did you know have you seen other productions of that over the years and I saw gosh I'm trying to think just the original I mean when it came to Broadway I didn't see it in California but when it came to Broadway I I saw it more than once and, um, uh, my husband Carl also, uh, conducted that from time to time.

[26:21] Mary D'Arcy: Oh I didn't know that. Wow. Yeah. Um, but um, yeah so I would go see him. Yeah, yeah and, uh, just you know it was it was, uh, it was terrific it was beautiful and, uh, and you never did a little night music no can you bel the thing that inspired me the most and I never did the role listen there's still a few parts for you you know I mean I was inspired by but well it all just depends on the rest of the cast that's all but uh, you know you're you're somebody's Anne but uh but but I I'm you could be a Desiree you could be a Charlotte you know I mean I would love to see those very Charlotte I would love to do Desiree yeah who wins you know or what about Follies it seems to me like you'd be such a good Sally that I would love to do sa do follies when we did the, um, the Sondheim recordings, uh, for Book of the Month Club right, um, I they had both, uh, um, oh my god my brain's eyes, uh, uh, they had me do In Buddy's Eyes record that with the orchestra as well as Betsy Betsy Jocelyn and I both recorded In Buddy's Eyes and, um, because they couldn't decide who they wanted to sing it and they chose her version of that, um, for the record but I got to do, um, um, uh, Goodbye for Now yes, it's so beautiful.

[28:01] Mary D'Arcy: I think you were the first the first person to record that. Yeah, I know that. In the movie yeah, um and, um, and also from oh gosh, what was the other one? Uh I did, uh, it'll come to me. Um wait wait, so what happened to that track of In Buddy's Eyes? I don't know. Oh, we gotta find that. Uh when I did, um, uh, Goodbye for Now, yeah, they recorded it like an art song and with, uh, a woman, uh, an accompanist who was a classical accompanist, and, um, we we performed it we we talked it through with Steve and we recorded it once, and at the end of the recording, Steve came on the intercom and said, That is unimprovable.

[28:57] Mary D'Arcy: And they gave me that recording, they gave me a that track with his voice at the end saying that was absolutely unimprovable, and so I cherish that, believe me. Oh, of course. Yeah, but I never I never got to hear the other one, and I don't know whatever happened to that. Oh, we're gonna find that. Um Mary, that that's I have a bug up my, uh, now that's okay, okay. If you find it, you've got to let me know. For sure. That Goodbye for Now. I mean, your recording, I agree with him, and, uh, it's just such a beautiful song. I mean, it's it's I mean, I think it's one of his most beautiful ballads, you know.

[29:36] Mary D'Arcy: Um absolutely the sentiment is just and the fact that just the the circular motion of the song and how their relationship and the love story just keeps going in a circle, and it's Goodbye for Now. I'll see, you know, it's just yeah beautiful. Just beautiful. And the other, um, Take Me to the World.

[29:56] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah. From Evening Primrose, so beautiful. Yes. And those are both songs that, you know, were kind of obscure. And they, you know, as the sort of Sondheim, uh, cult has grown and, uh, you know, people have started to appreciate that those are actually like among the great songs, you know, even though they weren't from a particular musical that, you know, it wasn't like a song from Company or something, you know.

[30:26] Mary D'Arcy: Yeah. Uh, but yes, that that's a great reminder to go enjoy those recordings, and we're gonna find In Buddy's Eyes. Um please, please. Yes. Well, uh, this is so great to talk to you, Mary. I really appreciate it. So with my attention. Uh, I will see you. I'll be at the stage door when you do A Little Night Music.

[30:47] Mary D'Arcy: Okay.

[30:51] Ben Rimalower: Thank you for listening to Giants in the Sky, how Sondheim and Lapine went Into the Woods on the Broadway Podcast Network. Look out for episode 62 with Heidi Ettinger, original producer and graphic designer.