I was too young to have seen her in this. I caught her a few years later in "The West Side Waltz." She exemplified the difference between a great actress and a STAR.
I was fortunate to work at the LA Music Center where "COCO" with Katharine Hepburn played sometime in the 70's. Saw the play at least 20 times. What a marvel Coco Chanel was; what a marvel Hepburn was as Chanel!
My wonderful mother took me to this show when I was just turned fourteen - she knew that I would love it and boy, was she right! This breathtaking number, in particular, gave me goose bumps back then, and it still gives me goose bumps NOW [45 years later!] Thank you so much for making available this magnificent history making performance. Bravo, Katherine, and thank God for Coco Chanel ! :-)
The more I watch this the more amazed I am at how beautiful the music is and how gorgeous the arrangement is. The phenomenal Bennett staging and Beaton costumes go without saying.I am glad a bit of the old Broadway style and professionalism which has disappeared forever was caught so well.
I thought the parade of costumes went on too long, but this was out of context. I can imagine the audience dying to see what else she'd created. What it says about having an inner genius to take care of is so true.
I don't go to Broadway shows. I only see bits of them on awards shows. Invariably there are at least 30 self-aware people on stage cavorting and high-stepping (as only people under 26 years old can do) to frenetically paced music. Nuanced movement takes a back seat to athleticism.
Michael Bennett's staging is great. But the clothes are terrible because they have little to do with Chanel. The only authentic Chanel is worn by Hepburn. All the rest are rather vulgar, theatrical Cecil Beaton creations. Since this was a tribute to Chanel, why didn't they get actual vintage Chanel pieces - or make exact copies? Why did they need Beaton too translate them?
I saw her in L.A. with a play she did with Christopher Reaves. He was as awestruck as the audience was. It's not the play, or Reaves I remember, but her. I saw her move I'm sure painfully around the stage, I saw her her lines and get on with the performance, and I knew this would be her last, or one of her last plays. She was marvelous. Spectacular. The great Kate. You see the icons rarely, but when you do its like a dream. I am so thrilled (her word not mine) to have seen her.
Thank you so much for adding this! Throughout 2011 and 2012 I became obsessed with Kate but there was no way of seeing a clip from Coco. Now I finally know what she was like in the role (which was always hard to imagine!) Thanks thanks thanks
I forgot to say, what wonderful memories this clip brought to mind; it's like I was back in time. Thank you MrPoochsmooch (whoever you are), or posting this fabulous piece of musical theatre history.
I saw COCO twice -the first time fifth row center! It was an incredible experience seeing the Star Power of Katharine Hepburn up that close. To this day, I STILL can't believe it. Critically maligned in its time, COCO now seems like a semi- masterpiece: a funny, literate script by Alan Jay Lerner, who also did the witty lyrics and, in its way, the show DID address women's rights - though it skirted Chanel's reported lesbian nature, making her disapproval of her protégé's marriage extremely awkward. Cecil Beaton's sets and costumes are light years ahead of the mostly shoddy work done today. Worth mentioning: The other performers in this clip: George Rose as the attorney, Jeanne Arnold as Coco's assistant, David Holliday as George, the reporter -all solid. Gail Dixon, as the protégé, replaced a much-better actress, Udana Power, during rehearsals. Yes, Hepburn had Star Power -both onstage AND off -and apparently wanted no competition from the ingénue role. Goodbye, solid Udana; hello, sing-song Gail. This 15-minute segment, pre--taped by the way, is the longest sequence in Tony broadcast history. Well, would YOU eliminate a chance to see Hepburn in action in her only musical?
Agreed. This was REAL acting, with tremulous voice, powerful projection, powerful gesture, poses, all the Victorian attributes so effective, yet sneered at by mere "method" actors. And the lyrics are utterly remarkable in their scope and depth.
@@MrQbenDanny ....I saw George Rose @17978 at Brooklyn Academy of Music as Caeser....in a production of JULIUS CAESAR....with new Oscar winner, Richard Dreyfuss and Rene Auberjenois when I was a sophomore in high school. I had NO idea who he was but was seriously impressed with his resume in the PLAYBILL.
@@TSquared2001 The show is about a fashion designer. OF COURSE there would be a fashion show in it. That’s the most predictable element. Hardly “genius.”
Wrong - it was genius in the way that the fashion show was depicted - on a fast-moving revolving set with steep steps upon which the models had to walk briskly, but graciously, in high heels yet. If you were a woman, you would have fully appreciated the amazing and difficult task that these enchanting ladies were performing so successfully and beautifully. @@MondoMiami
@@aziaman1 It was clever, but hardly genius. And the OP literally said it “was genius to integrate a fashion show into it.” No mention of the revolving set (which has been around since Victorian times, btw). So … WRONG!!!!
Hepburn remains Hepburn. Never for a moment could you believe her as CHANNEL. I am a huge Hepburn fan, but she is all mannerism here. That said, she is really one of my three goddesses - the others being GARBO and the other HEPBURN.
Three luckiest Broadway experiences were seeing the original cast of Company, the original cast of A Chorus Line, and this show. I had the cast album and the souvenir program which I would pore through endlessly. And I was only 13! Famous Broadway anecdote was they were building the dreadful office building replacement on the site of the Hotel Astor. Hepburn had a soliloquy at exactly 3:15pm on the Wednesday Matinee. After being interrupted by drilling and noise, she marched over the next day to the site, commanded a meeting from all the construction workers and requested that they just remain silent from 3:15 to 3:25 so she could complete her soliloquy with a silent background. Following week the foreman blew the whistle, the construction site went silent for 10 minutes, and this continued for the run of the show!
I don't quite know why, but this show has fascinated me for years. In "Always Mademoiselle" the whole freakin' set was choreographed. Quite a juxtaposition of Ms. Hepburn's - er - voice - against the cinematic sound of the orchestration. Since I first heard the soundtrack in the 1970's, I have wanted to see a production of this show. I also would like to travel through interstellar space - which has an almost equal chance of happening...
Magnificent as she is, Hepburn's singing is certainly an acquired taste, and Chanel may have been a somewhat inappropriate protagonist for a Broadway musical for a variety of reasons, but underneath it all is one of the great underappreciated Broadway musical scores by Alan Jay Lerner and Andre Previn. Hepburn's numbers all have glorious melodies that cry out to be fully sung. I've always thought it would have fared well in a revival starring Karen Akers as Coco.
You are such a pathetic, immature troll. I can't say "get a life" because I'm sure no on wants to be your friend, but try channeling your loneliness into kindness, rather than meanness. @@MondoMiami
Everyone else on watching this: Oh, Katharine Hepburn was such a wonderful actress... (and she was!) Me: OMG it’s David Holliday from Thunderbirds in person!!! 😍 Lol. 😁
I remember the billboards for this show in times square late 1960's. So sorry I did not go to see it. But I did see Ruby Keeler in no no Nannette. 1971. Then Gloria Swanson and Angela Lansbury. Lana Turner at 54 still glamorous. Saw Lana at town Hall. Still have the playbook.
The actor who appears at 2:55 is David HOLLIDAY not Holloway. He is remembered best in the UK as the voice of Virgil Tracy, pilot of Thunderbird 2 in the TV series Thunderbirds.
@@lawrencenodarse3090 Yeah, if Katharine Hepburn's speaking voice made you want to tear your eardrums out, then one can only imagine how her singing sounded. I mean, I wasn't expecting her to secretly be Julie Andrews, but...yikes. No wonder no one wants you to have ever heard of this.
Astonishing. I wonder if Lauren Bacall only won because she could sing a bit better. To see Hepburn on stage is to see just how singularly great she was. Bette Davis can worship at her feet.
Neither Katharine nor Lauren could sing (and for that matter, neither could Bette Davis), but compared to the other two, Lauren Bacall sounds like Doris Day. Perhaps that's why she won. Not sure how she managed to win a second Tony for the musical adaptation of Woman Of The Year. Bacall, I mean.
COCO was a mediocre show but a truly memorable, if surreal, theater experience. Imagine! Katharine Hepburn live on stage in a musical! Yes, there REALLY was a time when Broadway had Real Stars of International Reputation on its stages: Hepburn, Harrison, Colbert, Bergman, Boyer, etc. Except for Vanessa Redgrave - who now works off-B'way - the days of REAL stars is over - and Tom Hanks is NOT in that league!
Fenton Glide That's because Hollywood retired its actresses at 40 back then. They didn't have a choice other than go to theatre. Or retire. We're a little bit better at hiring older actresses and keeping longevity today. It's nothing to do with stars. In fact the acting malleability of acting back then was very much inferior.
Yes, I was oneof those lucky ones who saw the great Katharine Hepburn in person in "COCO" , here in Chicago at the Chicago Metropolitan Opera House . Actually to tell the truth I did not like that musical all that much, but to see Katharine Hepburn live in person was the thrill of it all anyway .
hard to believe she never won a Tony- they didn't have them in 1939 when she did Philadelphia Story- she most likely would have won for that...she lost this year, 1970, to Lauren Bacall I think....
And the main reason she lost is because she lobbied for Applause to be included in the Tonys that year it opened late she really didn't care about Awards if it wasn't for her own hand she would have won that year
I wonder if Karl Lagerfeld made her any custom outfits. I'm aware he began in the chanel house in the early 80's, so I wouldn't expect it around this time
To paraphrase a surprised Henry Higgins, another role for a great patterer/non-singer, I’ve grown accustomed to the mic! Watching clips from this and from the other musical-for-a-non-singer that was also up for a Tony that year, Applause!, I find myself being uncomfortably aware of all the actors projecting loudly and thinking, please stop shouting! I was an actor many years ago, trained in the old school art of projecting. But it’s so strange at how it sounds so odd today, with Lauren Bacall in Applause! and Katherine Hepburn here, both bellowing away in their respective high drama moments. In my now mic-accustomed ears they sound more loud and overblown than dramatic or grand. I do not miss the days of the non-singing patterers, to be honest. Love Kate. Don’t love this.
I always was stunned by the ridiculousness of casting Katherine Hepburn as Coco Chanel. Hepburn was the complete essence of Anglo-Saxon ruggedness while Chanel was pure Latin elegance - two totally different concepts!
She was a character in a musical. She wasn't intended to be a replica of Coco. The only time, btw I wasn't welcome backstage was during put in rehearsals when g they were putting in new actors into their roles.
It’s such an insult that for the incredible life of this genius trailblazer The Coco Chanel - this is the only plot line they could conceive. It’s a powerful woman - and they still don’t know what to do with her. Mon dieux!
her voice is likely FAR better than that of the nazi sympathiser .... also it is Katherine Hepburn, the audience knew from the start, THAT is why they were there ... people are so unduly critical ...
Unduly critical? I am a big Hepburn fan but her voice was loud and screechy. It was some of the most painfully bad singing that I have heard in my life!
Coco Chanel was the designer who put women into pants...much to the delight of her little circle of women friends, who were already wearing them, anyhow!
The Musical would have been way better with Audrey. Kate Hepburn's singing in this was chaotic and awful. Don't get me wrong, Kate Hepburn was a great actress but she simply couldn't sing.
She looks like Phyllis Kirk and sounds - well - if i did n't know it were her, I would not be interested. In this piece she acts, and all over the place - in movies - if - the big "if" - they are good, she simply is... her truer milieu.
Everything was going so well until she started to sing. My God, she sounded like a crow. Even when she'd do a stretch of talk-singing like Rex Harrison did in My Fair Lady, her voice was harsh on the ears; not even talk-singing helped. Too bad, because that song at the end, had some beautiful upswelling orchestrations that a real singer could made very moving and powerful. It is so sad that nominated plays at the Tonys never get this much time to act out a long excerpt from the show anymore. Back then, if you didn't get to see the plays, you could at least get a good idea of what they were like by watching the Tonys. That's probably who most people watched the Tonys.
The great Danielle Darrieux -- a wonderful singer -- briefly took over the role from Hepburn and recorded this song {as well as the title song): ruclips.net/video/T72qg86ov_Y/видео.html
....putting side the bad reviews....Hepburn's NON-singing voice, I'm curious to know if Hepburn ever met coco Chanel...was fitted by Coco for a dress....and otherwise what preparation Miss Hepburn took on as she prepped for the roll of COCO? anyone?
I loved Katharine Hepburn in this. Her acting was, like always extremely superb and great. The only thing I hated about Hepburn here was her singing. Her singing was absolutely awful. She even admitted years later that she couldn't sing. I think she would have won, if her singing was better. Overall, the only reason I liked this was because of Kate.
Oh, my. Thank you for this. She WAS a STAR. But, has there ever been a worse actress or a human more full of BS? I had to stop before the "singing"; after all, she had just sung all her lines...
I saw this on stage and Hepburn was riveting. But then, she would be riveting reading a phone book. (Does anyone remember a phone book?) But I am now struck by how bad the "Chanel" dresses are. The only one wearing real Chanel is Hepburn. All the others are filtered through the highly theatrical eye of Cecil Beaton. Coco Chanel would be appalled and they bear no resemblance to her actual work. Coco's work was modern and streamlined; these are gaudy and flashy. Too bad.
Adore Kate Hepburn! Talk about miscasting. A heavy signature New England accent in Paris? Coco was a completely French woman, with a French accent, fact! Makes absolutely no sense. She's fabulous, but totally miscast! Box office star of course. That's what they went with. Ah well.....
Katharine Hepburn lost the Tony best actress award for this play...it was her singing that did it in..she even admitted her singing wasnt all that great but she did her best. Her acting in the play was top notch...her singing, mediocre.
Hepburn was a brilliant actress, but Coco Gabriel Chanel was French and did not have a strong New England accent. She was a ParisIan woman totally. Such strange casting really. Who cares what I think? I do. photo of a bird, a holiday cake, a puppy, something else? You must be very proud of how handsome you are. *There's one particular Greek myth about a beautiful man who loved his own image. You must know thought this was not a vehicle for Kate Hepburn. Bizarre really. I was a child and no one cares what I think. But really cared or cares what I think.
Развлечения
A star is a star is a star. How i envy the people who got to witness this GREAT actress and star. live on stage.
i wish to have been born early to witness this and all the classics; and see Katharine Hepburn in person
I saw her in it. And the entire time I kept saying to myself “I’m actually watching Katharine Hepburn in person!”
Julie Andrews and Katharine Hepburn what a gift :D
The Tonys sure have changed. What an incredibly long number to have in an awards show. So glad I got to see it!
well considering that there was a scene attached to it that kind of added on to the number
I'd love to see snippets of plays back on the Tony's again.
I wonder if the length was in deference to Hepburn's presence. Maximize her visibility.
@@jlasf that was my thought, too. Deference to a legend.
This is the longest single performance in tony history as far as I know
I was too young to have seen her in this. I caught her a few years later in "The West Side Waltz." She exemplified the difference between a great actress and a STAR.
I’d have given anything to have seen this Stellar Talent in person as Coco 🌟🌟🌟🌟
There will never be another 💖
I was fortunate to work at the LA Music Center where "COCO" with Katharine Hepburn played sometime in the 70's. Saw the play at least 20 times. What a marvel Coco Chanel was; what a marvel Hepburn was as Chanel!
this was so powerful to watch, I'm in awe of Katharine Hepburn
My wonderful mother took me to this show when I was just turned fourteen - she knew that I would love it and boy, was she right! This breathtaking number, in particular, gave me goose bumps back then, and it still gives me goose bumps NOW [45 years later!] Thank you so much for making available this magnificent history making performance. Bravo, Katherine, and thank God for Coco Chanel ! :-)
The more I watch this the more amazed I am at how beautiful the music is and how gorgeous the arrangement is. The phenomenal Bennett staging and Beaton costumes go without saying.I am glad a bit of the old Broadway style and professionalism which has disappeared forever was caught so well.
I thought the parade of costumes went on too long, but this was out of context. I can imagine the audience dying to see what else she'd created. What it says about having an inner genius to take care of is so true.
I don't go to Broadway shows. I only see bits of them on awards shows. Invariably there are at least 30 self-aware people on stage cavorting and high-stepping (as only people under 26 years old can do) to frenetically paced music. Nuanced movement takes a back seat to athleticism.
Michael Bennett's staging is great. But the clothes are terrible because they have little to do with Chanel. The only authentic Chanel is worn by Hepburn. All the rest are rather vulgar, theatrical Cecil Beaton creations. Since this was a tribute to Chanel, why didn't they get actual vintage Chanel pieces - or make exact copies? Why did they need Beaton too translate them?
I saw her in L.A. with a play she did with Christopher Reaves. He was as awestruck as the audience was. It's not the play, or Reaves I remember, but her. I saw her move I'm sure painfully around the stage, I saw her her lines and get on with the performance, and I knew this would be her last, or one of her last plays. She was marvelous. Spectacular. The great Kate. You see the icons rarely, but when you do its like a dream. I am so thrilled (her word not mine) to have seen her.
she was as great on stage as she was in film.
She is & will always remain my absolutely favorite actress...!!! ♥♥♥
I saw this on Broadway twice. The show wasn't that good, but Hepburn was mesmerizing. I just wish the entire performance was available.
Thank you so much for adding this! Throughout 2011 and 2012 I became obsessed with Kate but there was no way of seeing a clip from Coco. Now I finally know what she was like in the role (which was always hard to imagine!) Thanks thanks thanks
She was. If you can get a hold of the soundtrack, "The Money Rings Out Like Freedom" is an absolute showstopper.
I forgot to say, what wonderful memories this clip brought to mind; it's like I was back in time. Thank you MrPoochsmooch (whoever you are), or posting this fabulous piece of musical theatre history.
Holy shit Julie andrews is GORGEOUS.
I saw COCO twice -the first time fifth row center! It was an incredible experience
seeing the Star Power of Katharine Hepburn up that close. To this day, I STILL
can't believe it. Critically maligned in its time, COCO now seems like a semi-
masterpiece: a funny, literate script by Alan Jay Lerner, who also did the witty
lyrics and, in its way, the show DID address women's rights - though it skirted
Chanel's reported lesbian nature, making her disapproval of her protégé's
marriage extremely awkward. Cecil Beaton's sets and costumes are light years
ahead of the mostly shoddy work done today. Worth mentioning: The other
performers in this clip: George Rose as the attorney, Jeanne Arnold as Coco's
assistant, David Holliday as George, the reporter -all solid. Gail Dixon, as
the protégé, replaced a much-better actress, Udana Power, during rehearsals.
Yes, Hepburn had Star Power -both onstage AND off -and apparently wanted
no competition from the ingénue role. Goodbye, solid Udana; hello,
sing-song Gail. This 15-minute segment, pre--taped by the way, is
the longest sequence in Tony broadcast history. Well, would YOU
eliminate a chance to see Hepburn in action in her only musical?
LieslJones59 Did you see the GREAT GEORGE ROSE with Lynn REDGRAVE in "My fat friend?"
I was in the first row and was breathless by her performance
Agreed. This was REAL acting, with tremulous voice, powerful projection, powerful gesture, poses, all the Victorian attributes so effective, yet sneered at by mere "method" actors. And the lyrics are utterly remarkable in their scope and depth.
@@MrQbenDanny ....I saw George Rose @17978 at Brooklyn Academy of Music as Caeser....in a production of JULIUS CAESAR....with new Oscar winner, Richard Dreyfuss and Rene Auberjenois when I was a sophomore in high school. I had NO idea who he was but was seriously impressed with his resume in the PLAYBILL.
...gone too soon.
Interestingly, Garbo was K. Hepburn's favorite film actress.
Wow! The staging with the stairs was brilliant. Gotta look up the designer. The sound reminds me of Camelot for the fashion world.
Cecil Beaton did the costumes and stage settings. Amazing stuff.
That was genius to integrate a fashion show into it.
Genius? Seriously?
@@MondoMiami yes, seriously. This was a never-done for Broadway.
@@TSquared2001 The show is about a fashion designer. OF COURSE there would be a fashion show in it. That’s the most predictable element. Hardly “genius.”
Wrong - it was genius in the way that the fashion show was depicted - on a fast-moving revolving set with steep steps upon which the models had to walk briskly, but graciously, in high heels yet. If you were a woman, you would have fully appreciated the amazing and difficult task that these enchanting ladies were performing so successfully and beautifully. @@MondoMiami
@@aziaman1 It was clever, but hardly genius. And the OP literally said it “was genius to integrate a fashion show into it.” No mention of the revolving set (which has been around since Victorian times, btw). So … WRONG!!!!
Hepburn remains Hepburn. Never for a moment could you believe her as CHANNEL. I am a huge Hepburn fan, but she is all mannerism here. That said, she is really one of my three goddesses - the others being GARBO and the other HEPBURN.
Three luckiest Broadway experiences were seeing the original cast of Company, the original cast of A Chorus Line, and this show. I had the cast album and the souvenir program which I would pore through endlessly. And I was only 13!
Famous Broadway anecdote was they were building the dreadful office building replacement on the site of the Hotel Astor. Hepburn had a soliloquy at exactly 3:15pm on the Wednesday Matinee. After being interrupted by drilling and noise, she marched over the next day to the site, commanded a meeting from all the construction workers and requested that they just remain silent from 3:15 to 3:25 so she could complete her soliloquy with a silent background.
Following week the foreman blew the whistle, the construction site went silent for 10 minutes, and this continued for the run of the show!
Highly implausible, given that One Astor Place was 8 city blocks away from the Mark Hellinger Theatre, where she was appearing in this atrocity.
Amazing. Moving. Greatness.
I don't quite know why, but this show has fascinated me for years. In "Always Mademoiselle" the whole freakin' set was choreographed. Quite a juxtaposition of Ms. Hepburn's - er - voice - against the cinematic sound of the orchestration. Since I first heard the soundtrack in the 1970's, I have wanted to see a production of this show. I also would like to travel through interstellar space - which has an almost equal chance of happening...
Magnificent as she is, Hepburn's singing is certainly an acquired taste, and Chanel may have been
a somewhat inappropriate protagonist for a Broadway musical for a variety of reasons, but underneath it all is one of the great underappreciated Broadway musical scores by Alan Jay Lerner and Andre Previn. Hepburn's numbers all have glorious melodies that cry out to be fully sung. I've always thought it would have fared well in a revival starring Karen Akers as Coco.
"Singing"
Of course a real singer, Danielle Darrieux, did succeed Hepburn in the Broadway run and reportedly was terrific in it, but the audience was not there.
Does anyone know if this whole play is available on dvd? I love Hepburn....what an AWESOME clip!!!!!!!!
If only.
I saw this on Broadway. She was wonderful; more than this single clip can show.
How did you keep from laughing as Froggy croaked out her songs? 😂😅😂
You are such a pathetic, immature troll. I can't say "get a life" because I'm sure no on wants to be your friend, but try channeling your loneliness into kindness, rather than meanness. @@MondoMiami
Nice work Katherine! Very nice!
The very essence of camp.
God! What a voice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What energy!
Hepburn & Leigh!!
The two (2) GREATEST actresses!!!
2 EVER grace BOTH the silver screen &...
the Great White Way!!! 🥰
💯% LEGENDS!!!
Everyone else on watching this: Oh, Katharine Hepburn was such a wonderful actress... (and she was!)
Me: OMG it’s David Holliday from Thunderbirds in person!!! 😍
Lol. 😁
Divine
A perfectly delightful Easter gift, Mary🩷
I remember the billboards for this show in times square late 1960's.
So sorry I did not go to see it.
But I did see Ruby Keeler in no no Nannette. 1971. Then Gloria Swanson and Angela Lansbury.
Lana Turner at 54 still glamorous.
Saw Lana at town Hall. Still have the playbook.
The actor who appears at 2:55 is David HOLLIDAY not Holloway. He is remembered best in the UK as the voice of Virgil Tracy, pilot of Thunderbird 2 in the TV series Thunderbirds.
Kate the great! if Rex can do a no sing, why not her? Bravo!!
Rex's talk-singing did not sound like fork scratching the rusty hood of an old car. It sounded pleasant to the ears.
@@lawrencenodarse3090
Yeah, if Katharine Hepburn's speaking voice made you want to tear your eardrums out, then one can only imagine how her singing sounded.
I mean, I wasn't expecting her to secretly be Julie Andrews, but...yikes. No wonder no one wants you to have ever heard of this.
Wow!
Astonishing. I wonder if Lauren Bacall only won because she could sing a bit better. To see Hepburn on stage is to see just how singularly great she was. Bette Davis can worship at her feet.
Neither Katharine nor Lauren could sing (and for that matter, neither could Bette Davis), but compared to the other two, Lauren Bacall sounds like Doris Day. Perhaps that's why she won. Not sure how she managed to win a second Tony for the musical adaptation of Woman Of The Year. Bacall, I mean.
anyone know where i can find a good synopsis of this show?
Terribly great
Remarkable
I always wondered what happened to Froggy from “Our Gang.”
If Donald Duck wore Chanel, it couldn't be less convincing.
omg i could not have listened to that voice past 5 minutes....(why so much canned laughter???
-You’re looking very well
-You mustn’t be discouraged
Hahahaha
COCO was a mediocre show but a truly memorable, if surreal, theater experience.
Imagine! Katharine Hepburn live on stage in a musical! Yes, there REALLY was
a time when Broadway had Real Stars of International Reputation on its stages:
Hepburn, Harrison, Colbert, Bergman, Boyer, etc. Except for Vanessa Redgrave -
who now works off-B'way - the days of REAL stars is over - and Tom Hanks is
NOT in that league!
Fenton Glide That's because Hollywood retired its actresses at 40 back then. They didn't have a choice other than go to theatre. Or retire. We're a little bit better at hiring older actresses and keeping longevity today. It's nothing to do with stars. In fact the acting malleability of acting back then was very much inferior.
Yes, I was oneof those lucky ones who saw the great Katharine Hepburn in person in "COCO" , here in Chicago at the Chicago Metropolitan Opera House . Actually to tell the truth I did not like that musical all that much, but to see Katharine Hepburn live in person was the thrill of it all anyway .
How did you keep from laughing out loud?
"KATHERIN'S TURN"
hard to believe she never won a Tony- they didn't have them in 1939 when she did Philadelphia Story- she most likely would have won for that...she lost this year, 1970, to Lauren Bacall I think....
And the main reason she lost is because she lobbied for Applause to be included in the Tonys that year it opened late she really didn't care about Awards if it wasn't for her own hand she would have won that year
@Pat Kat thank you so much i enjoyed that very much
i new David< a wonderfull young man then
How to put over a song when you can't sing!
Granny Clampett meets Boy George
I wonder if Karl Lagerfeld made her any custom outfits. I'm aware he began in the chanel house in the early 80's, so I wouldn't expect it around this time
(Patti LuPone reaches for her cellphone)
To tell her agent she wants to play Coco?
@@2degucitas BRILLIANT
To paraphrase a surprised Henry Higgins, another role for a great patterer/non-singer, I’ve grown accustomed to the mic! Watching clips from this and from the other musical-for-a-non-singer that was also up for a Tony that year, Applause!, I find myself being uncomfortably aware of all the actors projecting loudly and thinking, please stop shouting! I was an actor many years ago, trained in the old school art of projecting. But it’s so strange at how it sounds so odd today, with Lauren Bacall in Applause! and Katherine Hepburn here, both bellowing away in their respective high drama moments. In my now mic-accustomed ears they sound more loud and overblown than dramatic or grand. I do not miss the days of the non-singing patterers, to be honest. Love Kate. Don’t love this.
I hear a laugh track, and don't tell me I'm imagining things.
Actors who can't sing should NEVER sing, no matter who they are.
I always was stunned by the ridiculousness of casting Katherine Hepburn as Coco Chanel. Hepburn was the complete essence of Anglo-Saxon ruggedness while Chanel was pure Latin elegance - two totally different concepts!
She was a character in a musical. She wasn't intended to be a replica of Coco.
The only time, btw I wasn't welcome backstage was during put in rehearsals when g they were putting in new actors into their roles.
Love to Kate, but maybe the other Hepburn should have played the part -
The critics were brutal, but I'd have wanted to see this, wouldn't you?
Paramount put up the money; why didn't they make a movie?
It’s such an insult that for the incredible life of this genius trailblazer The Coco Chanel - this is the only plot line they could conceive. It’s a powerful woman - and they still don’t know what to do with her. Mon dieux!
Coco’s Turn
her voice is likely FAR better than that of the nazi sympathiser .... also it is Katherine Hepburn, the audience knew from the start, THAT is why they were there ... people are so unduly critical ...
Unduly critical? I am a big Hepburn fan but her voice was loud and screechy. It was some of the most painfully bad singing that I have heard in my life!
well there is a lot of ham in the performance as Spencer would say
Who the devil CAAYYUUZZZZ!? What a woman WAYY-UUUZZZZZ!!!?” 😂😂😅
Coco Chanel was the designer who put women into pants...much to the delight of her little circle of women friends, who were already wearing them, anyhow!
Love it! But who's responsible for putting in that stupid laugh-track?!
Umm, it's a live performance from the Tony Awards - which has an audience, they're the ones laughing
No, sorry...the laughs were added. It's still done today to the Academy Awards, Tony's, etc.
That would not be typical for a live show.
I believe it was pre-taped. Another commenter said that. And it makes sense. Unless the entire Tonys were in that theater, they couldn’t move the set.
Funny thing is that Coco meant Audrey Hepburn to play this role not Catherine.
The Musical would have been way better with Audrey. Kate Hepburn's singing in this was chaotic and awful. Don't get me wrong, Kate Hepburn was a great actress but she simply couldn't sing.
I think John Wayne would have been more feminine that Kate Hepburn
She looks like Phyllis Kirk and sounds - well - if i did n't know it were her, I would not be interested. In this piece she acts, and all over the place - in movies - if - the big "if" - they are good, she simply is... her truer milieu.
this is Hepburn not Chanel. but who cares?
Everything was going so well until she started to sing. My God, she sounded like a crow. Even when she'd do a stretch of talk-singing like Rex Harrison did in My Fair Lady, her voice was harsh on the ears; not even talk-singing helped. Too bad, because that song at the end, had some beautiful upswelling orchestrations that a real singer could made very moving and powerful.
It is so sad that nominated plays at the Tonys never get this much time to act out a long excerpt from the show anymore. Back then, if you didn't get to see the plays, you could at least get a good idea of what they were like by watching the Tonys. That's probably who most people watched the Tonys.
The great Danielle Darrieux -- a wonderful singer -- briefly took over the role from Hepburn and recorded this song {as well as the title song): ruclips.net/video/T72qg86ov_Y/видео.html
@@njatty thanks for the link. Wow, it actually sounds like a SONG with someone actually singing it, and someone who is a good singer!
You should have heard the real Coco with her heavy Auvergne accent
....putting side the bad reviews....Hepburn's NON-singing voice, I'm curious to know if Hepburn ever met coco Chanel...was fitted by Coco for a dress....and otherwise what preparation Miss Hepburn took on as she prepped for the roll of COCO? anyone?
@Pat Kat ....I had no idea that Coco Chanel lived to the age of 88....died in 1971.
14:16 Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well... 🤔 it's about 60 % Hepburn 📽 and 40% Coco... 😏🤫
I loved Katharine Hepburn in this. Her acting was, like always extremely superb and great. The only thing I hated about Hepburn here was her singing. Her singing was absolutely awful. She even admitted years later that she couldn't sing. I think she would have won, if her singing was better. Overall, the only reason I liked this was because of Kate.
"Who the devil CAAAAAYY_UZZZZZ .. What a woman WEEAAAAAARS!!!"
they could have given the audience a break ,cut out the songs, dispensed with the story and called it Hepburn Tonight....
this has to be the best example of ' bad casting ' in the history of the world !
X X Hahaha. Yes. Think about it. An actress famous for her absence of style, playing a world renowned fashion designer!
Oh, my. Thank you for this. She WAS a STAR. But, has there ever been a worse actress or a human more full of BS? I had to stop before the "singing"; after all, she had just sung all her lines...
Most overrated actress ever..an hypocrite in her private life and a liar till the very end
@@nondescript2892 Have I told you that I love you?
I'm here because of RuPaul.
Who was Katherine's vocal coach? Donald Duck?????
Insomma....poco adatta.
who let her get by with those weird little scoops on "cares...wears' -- bizarre, indeed.
I've known truck drivers more like Coco Chanel.
I can't see Kate as Coco.
I saw this on stage and Hepburn was riveting. But then, she would be riveting reading a phone book. (Does anyone remember a phone book?)
But I am now struck by how bad the "Chanel" dresses are. The only one wearing real Chanel is Hepburn. All the others are filtered through the highly theatrical eye of Cecil Beaton. Coco Chanel would be appalled and they bear no resemblance to her actual work. Coco's work was modern and streamlined; these are gaudy and flashy. Too bad.
Adore Kate Hepburn! Talk about miscasting. A heavy signature New England accent in Paris? Coco was a completely French woman, with a French accent, fact! Makes absolutely no sense. She's fabulous, but totally miscast! Box office star of course. That's what they went with. Ah well.....
Sorry, no can do.
God, is she spectacular! Too bad she's working with totally wooden actors.
One was fibreglass... ;)
Katharine Hepburn lost the Tony best actress award for this play...it was her singing that did it in..she even admitted her singing wasnt all that great but she did her best. Her acting in the play was top notch...her singing, mediocre.
Well, Lauren Bacall couldn't sing either, at all, put compared to Hepburn, she was Jo frickin' Stafford. Hence why Bacall won.
She's embarrassing.
“Is it worth a stitch, ending up a witch?” 😂😅 Most laughable lyrics ever.
MUST YOU SHOUT ugh
Well she cant sing to save her life... The acting is anither thing...
That was awful.
Great actress but in musical comedy? I think not. That singing is dreadful.
I love Hepburn - but she was totally miscast as Coco Chanel.
Hepburn was a brilliant actress, but Coco Gabriel Chanel was French and did not have a strong New England accent. She was a ParisIan woman totally. Such strange casting really. Who cares what I think? I do.
photo of a bird, a holiday cake, a puppy, something else? You must be very proud of how handsome you are. *There's one particular Greek myth about a beautiful man who loved his own image. You must know thought this was not a vehicle for Kate Hepburn. Bizarre really. I was a child and no one cares what I think. But really cared or cares what I think.