Timothy Gray Hugh Martin "A Manifestation" Demo Remastered Bea Lillie "High Spirits"
Timothy Gray singing his and Hugh Martin's "A Manifestation", written for Bea Lillie in "High Spirits". It was cut out of town because Bea had trouble memorizing the lyrics; and it was a one-joke song, like "Can That Boy Foxtrot" (cut from Sondheim's "Follies"). If you imagine it in Beatrice's voice you get the joke, that the elderly eccentric Madam Arcati is a virgin. "Man-ifestation". Carefully cleaned from the extensive demos, a somewhat less cleaned version has been issued on a wonderful CD of rare Martin material, drawn from his demos and live recordings, called "Hidden Treasures". Correction on a grievous error in the booklet, Bruce Laffey (a friend of mine) was not Bea's manager (or lover; he was the stage manager and later Bea's biographer), that was John Phillip (Huck); and neither punched Noel Coward, though Bruce told me and wrote in his bio of Bea that Huck nearly did in front of the company at one rehearsal. The real story was more remarkable; and Bruce would not have ever punched anyone. Remastering by Tormented Artist Ink Studios (me - get me!). There is no extant live recording of Bea doing it I know of; happy to remaster it if it exists.
Timothy Gray singing his and Hugh Martin's "A Manifestation", written for Bea Lillie in "High Spirits". It was cut out of town because Bea had trouble memorizing the lyrics; and it was a one-joke song, like "Can That Boy Foxtrot" (cut from Sondheim's "Follies"). If you imagine it in Beatrice's voice you get the joke, that the elderly eccentric Madam Arcati is a virgin. "Man-ifestation". Carefully cleaned from the extensive demos, a somewhat less cleaned version has been issued on a wonderful CD of rare Martin material, drawn from his demos and live recordings, called "Hidden Treasures". Correction on a grievous error in the booklet, Bruce Laffey (a friend of mine) was not Bea's manager (or lover; he was the stage manager and later Bea's biographer), that was John Phillip (Huck); and neither punched Noel Coward, though Bruce told me and wrote in his bio of Bea that Huck nearly did in front of the company at one rehearsal. The real story was more remarkable; and Bruce would not have ever punched anyone. Remastering by Tormented Artist Ink Studios (me - get me!). There is no extant live recording of Bea doing it I know of; happy to remaster it if it exists.