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| COCO (1969) |
Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York
Premiere: December 18, 1969
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CAST
Helene: Maggie Task
Pignol: Jeanne Arnold
Armand: Al DeSio
A Seamstress: Nancy Killmer
Albert: Jack Beaber
A Lawyer: Richard Marr
Louis Greff: George Rose
Docaton: Eve March
Coco: Katharine Hepburn
Georges: David Holliday
Loublaye: Gene Varrone
Varne: Shirley Potter
Marie: Lynn Winn
Jeanine: Rita O'Connor
Claire: Graciela Daniele
Juliette: Margot Travers
Madelaine: Carolyn Kirsch
Lucille: Diane Phillips
Simone: Charlene Ryan
Solange: Suzanne Rogers
Noelle: Gale Dixon
Sebastian Baye: Rene Auberjonois
Dr. Petitjean: Richard Woods
Claude: David Thomas
Dwight Berkwit: Will B. Able
Eugene Bernstone: Robert Fitch
Ronny Ginsborn: Chad Block
Phil Rosenberry: Dan Siretta
Lapidus: Gene Varrone
Nadine: Leslie Daniel
Grand Duke: Jack Dabdoub
Charles: Michael Allinson
Julian Lesage: Paul Dumont
Papa: Jon Cypher
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CREDITS
Book and Lyrics by: Alan J. Lerner
Music by: Andre Previn
Staged by: Michael Benthall
Produced by: Frederick Brisson
Sets and Costumes by: Cecil Beaton
Lighting by: Thomas Skelton
Orchestrations by: Hershy Kay
Dance Music Continuity by: Harold Wheeler
Music Direction by: Robert Emmett Dolan
Musical Numbers and Fashion Sequences staged by: Michael Bennett
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CRITIQUES
"The show has become a showcase, a form of endearment, a gesture of assent, an open palm of respect, Miss Hepburn will never be old enough or tired enough to undergo one of those official evenings of tribute at which everyone gathers to summarize and reminisce. And so it's been arranged right now, with her doing all the work. If Coco is anything, it is Miss Hepburn's gala Benefit Performance, for our benefit."
- Walter Kerr, The New York Times
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COMMENTARY TRACK
"I was so tormented in the theatre, it frightened me so, that I thought, well I must come back and overcome that. And it took me my whole life. I mean, I even did that in Coco - how I could've been insane enough to do Coco, when I couldn't obviously sing at all...it's very difficult, the voice, because you wonder, 'Am I going to be able to make a sound, when I'm petrified?'"
- Katharine Hepburn, interview with Dick Cavett, 1973
"If I could describe to you the terror - the sinking inadequacy - the blank horror which I felt every night before I went on. Like playing tennis without a racquet. Or, say, with a racquet with no strings - impotence - and pretense - Katie sings - Well, to me it was a great example of Katie doesn't sing....Now to me this was a dreadful fact. I was back there in my hole waiting to go out into the ring. They were out there sitting - waiting - and they'd paid a big price for those tickets and they had a right to the best and here I was about to go forth - armed with a squeak. A mouse posing as a lion....I prayed - I wept - I did my [vocal] exercises - I prayed - someone help me - and out I went. Please, God... And do you know what? Love came across the footlights. And in waves and hugs... That's all right, Katie - so you can't sing but we get it - we hear you - we feel - we know you. And so together we worked it out. And I got a little better - enough better so that I didn't die."
- Katharine Hepburn, Me, 1991
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Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn
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In Cleveland, Jan. 10, 1971
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