SUSAN WATSON and WALTER WILLISON sing "An Ol' Fashioned Love Song" in this 1980 television appearance on "Mid-Morning LA", from "FRONT STREET GAIETIES: Dodge City's Hottest Revue", in which they costarred. As I write this, "Congratulations!" are due to The Legendary Ms. Watson, who is about to make her return to Broadway costarring in the new 2011 revival of Stephen Sondheim's FOLLIES, which has already received critical acclaim in it's tryout at The Kennedy Center in Washington. When "FRONT STREET GAIETIES" opened on November 11, 1980 at The Mayfair Music Hall, Santa Monica, California, Rick Talcove, of the Daily News, proclaimed "Susan Watson has one of the purest voices in the American theater, and her work on this occasion only confirms the matter." Critics raved about the show itself, as well. John C. Mahoney of The Los Angeles Times praised the score as "More than a dozen new, yet instant, evergreens by Walter Willison and Jeffrey Silverman." And Ron Pennington, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, summed it up as "An extremely clever concept, marvelously realized and staged and directed, with a number of delightful original songs. "FRONT STREET GAIETIES" has a book & lyrics & direction by Mr. Willison, a Tony nominee and Theatre World Award winner whose Broadway appearances include "TWO BY TWO", "PIPPIN", "NORMAN, IS THAT YOU?", "GRAND HOTEL", "A CHRISTMAS CAROL", and the title role in Wright & Forrest "KEAN" Off-Broadway, in which he also costarred with Ms. Watson. After making her debut as Kim McAfee in the original cast of "BYE, BYE, BIRDIE", Susan Watson quickly became the quintessential Broadway ingenue of the 1960s, earning a Tony Award nomination for "A JOYFUL NOISE", followed by "CARNIVAL", "BEN FRANKLIN IN PARIS", "CELEBRATION", "BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK", the Lincoln Center revivals of "CAROUSEL", " OKLAHOMA!", "WHERE'S CHARLEY?" and in the title role of the landmark 1970 revival of "NO, NO, NANNETTE" costarring with Ruby Keeler and Patsy Kelly. Currently living and performing on the West Coast, Ms. Watson returned to the New York stage in 2000 to star with Walter Willison, Christiane Noll and Robert Sella in Robert Wright & George Forrest's "KEAN". In 2009 she was once again reunited with Mr. Willison when the two appeared in "REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE: Honoring Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt," a Gala All-Star tribute to her longtime friends and collaborators [she was Luisa in the original stage and Hallmark Hall of Fame TV productions of their musical "THE FANTASTICKS"] at the 28th Annual William Inge Festival, and she released a Best Selling CD in 2009 entitled "Earthly Paradise: Susan Watson Sings Jones & Schmidt". Composer Jeffrey Silverman was Associate Conductor of "LES MISERABLES" and "SONG AND DANCE" and has written numerous TV and film scores. Willison & Silverman's other collaborations include Bo Derek's first film, "FANTASIES" [aka "ONCE UPON A LOVE"], directed by John Derek, which features several songs with lyrics by Mr. Willison, which he also sings on the film soundtrack, and "BROADWAY SCANDALS OF 1928" Off-Broadway, which starred Diane J. Findlay, Shelley Bruce, Kenny D'Aquila, Joanna Rush, Gwen Hillier-Lowe, Rose Scudder, and Steve Jerro. Also starring in "FRONT STREET GAIETIES: Dodge City's Hottest Revue" were Carol Swarbrick ["SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM", "WHOOPEE!", "GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDS"] succeeding Eileen Barnett ["NINE"], Charles Ward [Bob Fosse's DANCIN'] succeeding Jerry Clark, Lori Milne, Stephanie Stasny, Manuel Isquierdo, magicians Gregory & Kay, Tracy Cutts and Sue Ann Pinner. Choreographed by Wade Collings, who was then doing double duty appearing on stage with icon Ann-Margaret in Las Vegas and on tour as a member of Roger Smith's acclaimed group of singing/dancing men known as "Raw Satin". Costumes were by Emmy winning and Costume Designers Guild Hall of Fame Award winner Robert Turturice ["MOONLIGHTING", "GIA", "PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE"]. The show was Produced by Willison & Collings with Barbara Custer [now Vice President of MGM] An Original Cast Recording of "FRONT STREET GAIETIES" is available on AEI Records.
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