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Lucy in the Cher musical


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There is a new musical based on the life of Cher headed for Broadway. I never would have thought Lucy would end up as a character in it. I found the scene described over on Broadway World.

 

The show is long and will inevitably be cut.  A prime contender for the cutting floor is a scene involving Lucille Ball.  The Playbill did not provide a credit for the actress playing Lucille Ball, but I suspect it was Emily Skinner, who has the thankless role of Cher’s mother, portrayed as an ever supportive avatar. What function does Lucille Ball serves in The Cher Story?  She’s brought in as a way of drawing a parallel to another famous husband-wife entertainment duo whose personal relationship was never as rosy as their professional one:  when Cher is wondering whether she can leave Sonny without incurring the wrath of the American people, she seeks advice from Lucille Ball who faced similar concerns when her relationship foundered to the point of making their separation a foregone conclusion.  Lucille provides Cher with some advice and also take advantage of her time on the stage to sing a Cher song.  Surreal? Yes.  And acknowledged as such by the actresses on stage.  It serves no real purpose and will likely end by the way side before the musical makes its way to Broadway.  In some respects, this is a shame:  the audience deserves to see more of Emily Skinner.  Paradoxically, it is Skinner who seems to best convey the qualities that Cher has as a singer.  She sounded the most like Cher, which led me to wonder whether, perhaps, Skinner may ultimately transition to Broadway as one of the Chers.  She’s wasted in the role of Cher’s mother.
 

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Fascinating! I wonder what song she sings. I was already intrigued that Bob Mackie is a major character in the musical. 

At one of Lucy's Museum of Broadcasting seminars, an audience member asked her if it was true that Cher asked her advice when she was breaking up with Sonny. Lucy said, yes, it was true and she had forgotten all about that. She asked the audience member, "What did I tell her?" He replied, "You told her to keep working." Lucy responded, "That was good advice."

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1 minute ago, HarryCarter said:

Fascinating! I wonder what song she sings. I was already intrigued that Bob Mackie is a major character in the musical. 

At one of Lucy's Museum of Broadcasting seminars, an audience member asked her if it was true that Cher asked her advice when she was breaking up with Sonny. Lucy said, yes, it was true and she had forgotten all about that. She asked the audience member, "What did I tell her?" He replied, "You told her to keep working." Lucy responded, "That was good advice."

So this conversation did happen. I wonder if the book writer saw or heard about this.

I will say the dialogue in the Frankie Avalon Here's Lucy did talk a bit about you can't have Cher without Sonny and you can't help but think that's like Lucy without Desi.

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Not about advice on divorcing Sonny, but about Sonny and Cher and Lucy:  From Vanity Fair:

 

Although the couple was wildly successful, they lived pretty traditionally. Working long days on the set, never into drugs, Cher would go home almost every night and cook dinner with her husband. “I think I went out two times alone the entire time I was married to Sonny.”

The couple spent a lot of time with an older Hollywood crowd that included Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, and Henry Fonda. According to Cher, “I knew Lucy since I was little. I was crazy about her. My mom was an extra on her show. One time, we were at this party, and Johnny Carson got really pissed off at me, because it was the second inauguration of Nixon. I thought Nixon was a big idiot, and Lucy thought he was a big idiot, and she was making jokes, and I was hysterically laughing. Carson got furious and said that I should get out of the room because I was being disrespectful. He would have never said boo to Lucy—she would have chewed him up and spit him out.”

 

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/12/cher-201012

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