Our Broadway Babe, Randie Levine Miller shares a very special Passover and Easter Greeting from Mumbai, a Havanese. And her YouTube picks today include the late Gilbert Gottfried, with the “Filthiest Joke Ever” (beware!); if you’re old enough to remember Lassie, you will love the “Salute to Lassie”, and there’s more entertainment fun.

Happy Passover and Easter from Mumbai

Gal pal, globetrotting socialite Caroline Lieberman’s adorable Havanese, Mumbai, sent me this wonderful Passover and Easter greeting that I thought I would share with my sister Tomatoes! Wishing you all a sweet Passover and Happy Easter

The Filthiest Joke Ever Told…”

I knew the late comedian, Gilbert Gottfried. We were fellow Friars. When he wasn’t being outrageous and hilariously disgusting on stage, he was a very sweet man with a young family. This is a short excerpt from the documentary, “The Aristocrats” about the filthiest, most disgusting joke ever told… I’m posting this excerpt, in memory of Gilbert… I would actually run the entire film… But it’s much too much…though It does have legendary comics doing this joke…And yes, I was there at the Friars Club Hugh Hefner Roast in 2001, less than a month after 9/11. Gilbert bombed telling a joke about that day, with the audience booing him and some people yelling out, “too soon, too soon!”  And that’s when Gilbert, went full steam ahead and told the Aristocrats joke, and more or less, redeemed himself!  View it at your own risk LOL

“The Life”

I think this is very special—the wonderful promo reel for the Tony Award nominated 1997 Broadway show,“The Life” with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Ira Gasman.  It was nominated for 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical.. Both Lillias White and Chuck Cooper took home Tony Awards for their performances… The recent Encores version re-imagined by Billy Porter, does not resemble the original, or any of the original songs..As a matter of fact, we audience members, couldn’t decipher what songs the performers were singing..It was a huge disappointment to audience and critics alike.  Truly one of the worst adaptations of an Encores show.

Sidebar: “The Life” was gestating since 1990, when I first saw a workshop of it.  I knew Cy and Ira, and my dear friend, Marty Richards, produced it on Broadway.  These 3 remarkable talents, are no longer with us, and if they knew about what was done to their show at Encores, they’d be spinning in their graves!

Salute to Lassie

I can’t resist posting this video… For those of us Tomatoes of a certain age, you may fondly recall watching “Lassie” on Sunday nights… This is surely a trip down memory lane and even though it’s not theatrical, it’s a throwback to happier times.. “Lassie Unleashed…40 Years of Lassie….280 dog years in TV” was broadcast on ABC-TV in 1994, with Dick Clark hosting and showing lots of clips from the show which ran for 19 seasons on CBS-TV, starting in 1954. Included is commmentary by cast members, Tommy Rettig, Jon Provost, June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly…… along with Susan Lucci, Phyllis Diller, Charles Grodiin, Dennis Franz, Dave Thomas, and Kermit the Frog!  This video includes the commercials, which I think you’ll also enjoy!

“Funny Girl to Funny Lady”

Only 25 minutes, but a must see for Streisand fans, Barbra Streisand- “Funny Girl to Funny Lady” was broadcast Live in 1975 as an ABC-TV special). A glittering super-spectacular event which was a benefit for the Special Olympics performed at the Kennedy Center with Dick Cavett hosting and her “Funny Lady” co-star, James Caan, interacting and singing with Streisand…She sings several of her hits including: “The Way We Were,” “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “My Man,” “How Lucky Can You Get”. Muhammed  Ali presents Barbra with a special medal for her special olympics work. The Special was also a promotional event for the then, newly released “Funny Lady”.  Streisand was truly in her prime and you would never know that she suffered from stage fright ..her performance is relaxed and seemingly effortless and her voice is “like butter!”

Sidebar: James Caan is a total delight in this event. He flirts with Streisand and, he can sing..which he probably learned at Camp Onibar, the brother camp to Camp Geneva, which produced original musical shows (as did Camp Geneva) during the camp season.  I seem to remember being in the Final show (co-ed) with him, when I was age 8.  He was known for his sports talent then, and his ability to open beer bottles with his teeth, (not his acting skills)and they called him………”Superman”!