June 10, 2003

Babs on Broadway: One more Tony note, and then I'll move on. Maybe. During the telecast, presenter Barbara Walters quipped that, although she'd never appeared on Broadway, she was invited to present the award for best revival because the producers presumed she'd seen all of the original productions. "I missed 'La Boheme' when it premiered in 1896," she dead-panned. "I was out of town."

Nice joke. But the set-up isn't strictly true. Barbara Walters did appear on Broadway, in 1962's short-lived musical A Family Affair, playing "Sheila" and as a member of the chorus. The show lasted only 65 performances, but also marked the Broadway debut for Linda Lavin. It was composer John Kander's first show too, and the only one he wrote without collaborator Fred Ebb.

The show was recorded by its original cast, but the LP is long out of print and the score remains unreleased on compact disc. I already have the album in my collection, but if you're itching to hear it, there's one up for bid on eBay.

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