"The Grass Is Always Greener". Broadway - 1981.

[larryraiken]

I was in the original cast of this show. Mr. Ebb had the encore prepared right away, because he knew (theatrical genius that he was, praise him and rest his wonderful soul) that this was the number that turned a very good show into a great show. Marilyn Cooper was wonderful on and off stage, and if you ever played poker with her -- you lost your money. Bless her a million times!

[monateegs]

I saw her do this number with Raquel Welch who took over from Lauren Bacall. It's a fun show and this number hits it out of the park. Thanks for posting.

[DavidinIrving]

One of my favorite Bway experiences of 1981--Bless her heart, Lauren croaked her way through the show like only she could

[fashionglindaguru]

This needs to by revived soon!

[powerfulpowerzz]

awsome, but y do they laugh every time marilyn says "whats so wonderful?" dont they see it coming?

[carolineorchange21]

i think they laugh because of the Marilyn's delivery - uproarious!

[Nerris121]

@powerfulpowerzz yeah... it's seriously hilarious.. just the way she does it.

[Nerris121]

@powerfulpowerzz and if you see the tony award performance, you'll see her face is absolutely perfect.

[dyssbroadway]

@powerfulpowerzz You're not privy to a close-up of her facial expressions, which the people in the first few rows can see well. I'm sure her expressions are priceless.

[shamey68]

Coopie was one of a kind. Had the pleasure of doing an on-camera interview with her in 1991 when she was on tour with Tommy Tune's version of Bye Bye Birdie. The audience is laughing so much, they miss half the jokes Fred Ebb put into the lyrics. Coopie won the Tony for the shortest performance - this scene is almost her entire role! She had one scene with dialogue and a song, and voila!

[shamey68]

@powerfulpowerzz

[overthemoo]

@powerfulpowerzz The same reason you can watch someone like Madeline Kahn in the same film over and over and laugh just as hard the twentieth time as you did the first time. If a performer has great comedic timing/delivery, you'll get a chuckle no matter what.

[Mona07452]

I saw Cooper's obit this morning...but I didn't realize this was the show-stopping song. OMG, my mother used to sing this all the time!!! Wonderful memory, thank you.

[jbactr]

Unfortunately, Marilyn passed away within the past few days....you will be sorely missed, Marilyn Cooper! what a talent!

[carolineorchange21]

God, I know! A tragedy. I almost wanted to put something in the description but that seemed slightly morbid.

[jimk0403]

RIP to a great B'Way talent. Her kind is rare on B'way these days.

[actiscenei]

Having seen this in its pre-Broadway tryout, Marilyn Cooper (who didn't appear until the last fifteen minutes of the show) stole a show like I'd never seen before. Her deadpan delivery after two hours of big musical numbers and small intimate numbers was such a contrast to the rest of the show, we (the audience) was unprepared and so ripe for this moment, it was bound to work, and work well. Cooper's stellar performance is one of the most dazzling in musical theatre history -- and well deserved!

[JTPolo101]

Good God can it really be 27 years that I saw this play?

Bacall and Cooper brought the house down with this number.

Harry Guardino was Bacalls husband in the play and he was also very good

So great to see it again

Thank you for posting

[jimk0403]

WOW! This is my favorite funniest B'Way Musicals scene! The way the audience reacts is exactly as I remember it, so many years ago! Thanks so much for posting this!

(The only thing missing was the curtain opening on Cooper at the kitchen table and her line about how she's not even bothering to fix herself up.)

[carolineorchange21]

youtube videos can only be so long! ;)

[jimk0403]

Well, thanks again for posting this. I've have been raving about this scene for 27 years (!). Cooper and Bacall both won Tonys for this show, and this number has to be a big reason why. Also, look closely and see how generous Bacall is to Cooper during the number. I saw this early in the run when it was apparent Cooper was stealing this scene, and Bacall was obviously enjoying (and encouraging) Cooper's performance.

[gymnastix]

@carolineorchange21 Do you have the entire play? Because, if you do, I see complete films and TV episodes uploaded on You Tube all the time. You merely have to upload them as several parts.

Then too, there are some You Tubers who, somehow, get around the time limit completely. I have seen, increasingly so, many complete films and TV episodes as one upload.

[gymnastix]

@carolineorchange21 Check into this, especially if you have all of this musical. For those of us who know how to merge files, it is then simply a matter of joining the parts as one file.

Please send me a private message, if you figure out how and why some are able to get around the You Tube uploads' time limit.

Regardless of your limit, if you have a complete work of any title, just upload it in several parts. I have seen as many as 50 parts uploaded.

[tomatlcm]

oh my god how amazing is that song. those 2 work soooooo well together its a match made in heaven!

[CindyLidia]

hey is there any way you can tell me where to get the mp3? I was hoping to perform it but i wanted to avoid buying the whole soundtrack for just one song...

[ClassicFilmFan]

I've got this song on my MP3 player - they're indeed great. It's so cool to see this video& it must have been wonderful to see them performing live. Thanks for posting :D