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DIVA TALK: Laurie Beechman Remembered in New Film; Elegies Songs Plus NEWS of Buckley & Myers
By Andrew Gans
14 Mar 2003
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Laurie Beechman
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| photo by Paul Greco | A new documentary about the life of the late singer-actress Laurie Beechman will debut March 31 at the Directors Guild in New York City.
Anyone who ever heard Laurie pour out her heart in such theatre anthems as "Memory" or "I Dreamed a Dream" never forgot the experience of listening to that voice that seemed to go in the ear and move directly to one's heart. Beechman, in fact, possessed a voice that originated from deep in her soul, evoking both the joys and pains of life. She had one of the strongest belts around, but she could also create delicate, softer sounds that moved listeners just as profoundly. Thankfully, Beechman's legacy will be remembered in a new 50-minute documentary produced and directed by Gaylen Ross. Entitled "Listen to Her Heart: The Life and Music of Laurie Beechman," the film will premiere at a by-invitation-only screening March 31 at the Directors Guild in New York City.
The documentary boasts narration by a long-time champion of Beechman's work, former talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell, and was spearheaded and executive-produced by Neil Mazzella, Beechman's widower. I recently spoke with Mazzella, president of scenery fabrication company Hudson Scenic Studio Inc., who explained the genesis of the film: "When Laurie passed away and I was going through all of her personal effects, I had an enormous number of videos. Not knowing what to do with them, I called Gaylen Ross, a friend of mine, and I said, 'Listen, if we go through this, get rid of the duplicates [and] get the quality stuff, let's put together a documentary on the best [material]. Then, Gaylen had the idea [to] get people to comment on [the clips]...We got up quite a list of people that were willing to come in. We set up video time at the West Bank Cafe, and we made a real documentary out of it. It's been two years in the making." The stellar list of celebrities who remember their late friend includes composers Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Menken; directors Richard Jay-Alexander and Trevor Nunn; producer Cameron Mackintosh; actors Andrea McArdle, Loni Ackerman, Mary Testa and Sam Harris; musical director/composer David Friedman; agent Jim Wilhelm; and the co founder of Gilda’s Club, Joanna Bull. The tribute also includes heartfelt discussions with Mazzella as well as Laurie's mother, Dolly Beechman Schnall, and Laurie’s sisters, Claudia Beechman and Jane Beechman Segal.
In addition to the commentary from some of the theatre's finest, the documentary boasts some of Beechman's show-stopping vocal moments. Producer Ross explained to me earlier in the week, "What we tried to do is find highlights from her Broadway career but also not eliminate the cabaret part of her life, which was so important. We, of course, have 'You'll Never Walk Alone,' which was the closing number she did for President Clinton's inaugural. That was one of her last performances in public — it was an amazing moment. And, we found some wonderful archival broadcast material. We have her singing 'Tomorrow,' which she never did sing in Annie, but she sang it on 'Merv Griffin.' This was in the '80s, and it was wonderful because he introduced it as 'the song she never sang but always wanted to sing.' And we have [original Annie] Andrea McArdle talking about it as [Laurie's] singing it...We tried to combine a lot of the history so there would be a context with each of these songs." Other vocal moments include Beechman's film debut in "Hair," singing "Black Boys"; her soaring renditions of "Memory" and "I Dreamed a Dream"; a clip from the Tony Awards broadcast featuring “Pharaoh’s Story” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Alan Menken's "Sailing On"; David Friedman's "Listen to My Heart"; a duet with Sam Harris on "That's All"; as well as "The Music That Makes Me Dance," "Look to the Rainbow" and Stephen Sondheim's "Everybody Says Don't."
Although the documentary may eventually find its way to PBS or Bravo, Mazzella said the purpose of the film is to "inspire and support a whole new generation of people that are benefiting from the generosity of [Laurie's] family and friends." Mazzella explained that Laurie's memory has been honored by several friends and family members, including three musical scholarships, one theatre, a sound and design studio and donations to various charities. The goal of the documentary, said Mazzella, "is that this becomes a library piece, so that when students go and get scholarships at three different universities in Laurie’s name, they can go and look at this documentary and find out who Laurie Beechman was, so that they have something to measure their own careers with." Ross adds, "I think we would love to ultimately [broadcast the piece on television]. This is just the first stage. We’re delighted to finish and have the number of interviewees and the stature of them [plus] Rosie doing the narration."
When asked how he thought his late wife would have felt about the film, Mazzella paused and said, "I don't know. It’s hard to say. I thought about that question. There’s one point in the documentary where one of the [actors] bring up the point that in conversation with Laurie . . . [she said that] she never wanted to be forgotten, dismissed. I don't think she was . . . [and] now we have some visual footage to remember her by." For Mazzella, the documentary also provides some sort of closure. He explained, "It's been five years [sine Laurie's death]. And I think this is now the closure that I guess I needed, not that there's real closure in anything like this, particularly with a woman like Laurie Beechman. But it will help me to move on because [I] will have done everything I think that I needed to do to properly have this woman’s talent and spirit — which is even better than her talent — be remembered.”
(In addition to cast recordings for such musicals as Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Laurie Beechman can also be heard on four thrilling solo recordings: "Listen to My Heart," "Time Between the Time," "The Andrew Lloyd Webber Album" and "No One Is Alone.")
Continued...
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