{"id":1487,"date":"2016-10-26T15:51:03","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T15:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2018-08-23T18:42:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T18:42:32","slug":"diva-alert-4-gertrude-lawrence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/diva-alert-4-gertrude-lawrence\/","title":{"rendered":"Diva Alert #4 : Gertrude Lawrence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diva Alert #4 : Gertrude Lawrence<\/h3>\n \"\"<\/a><\/span>

Written by Jackson Upperco<\/p>\n

October 26, 2016<\/p>\n<\/font>

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Welcome back to Diva Alert, Performer Stuff\u2019s series on Great Dames from the Golden Age of Broadway. In these posts, we\u2019re taking a look at some of the American Musical Theatre\u2019s most legendary ladies, along with their seminal stage triumphs. This time we\u2019re discussing the most alluring bi-continental Queen\u2026<\/p>\n

Among the first British stars whose appeal transcended an ocean and onto the marquees of Broadway, this diva was the frequent muse of esteemed producers, writers, and composers. Over the course of her 35-year career, she appeared in everything from musical comedies and vaudeville revues to sophisticated farces and straight dramas. She was temperamental and fiery, and her musical talents were debatable, but, oh, how she lit up the stage. Critics called her a goddess; she called herself Gertrude Lawrence.<\/p>\n

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Born into an amateur theatrical family in London, Lawrence was already a performer by the age of ten. Her big break came at 17 when she was cast as an understudy in one of impresario Andre Charlot\u2019s revues. She starred in several of his productions over the next few years and eventually followed him to New York, where Lawrence\u2019s clowning brought her to the attention of the Broadway community. By 1926, she made history by becoming the first British musical star to headline an original Broadway show \u2013 the Gershwins\u2019 Oh, Kay! <\/em>(1926).<\/p>\n

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Now a bonafide star, Lawrence bounced across the pond, performing in plays like Candle Light <\/em>(1929) opposite Leslie Howard, and Private Lives <\/em>(1930), opposite playwright No\u00ebl Coward, a friend from her teenage years. Successes continued on both continents, including the modern comedy Susan And God <\/em>(1937) and the revolutionary musical drama Lady In The Dark <\/em>(1941), which many considered her crowning achievement. Although acclaim in films never came, Lawrence did star in the 1950 screen adaptation of The Glass Menagerie<\/em>, which divided critics.<\/p>\n

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Today, Lawrence\u2019s best-known role is her last \u2013 Anna, in the original production of Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s The King And I <\/em>(1951). Though into her \u201850s and not up to the vocal demands of the role, Lawrence captivated audiences just as she had in her New York debut. When she died of cancer in 1952, all the lights on Broadway dimmed. It was the first time this honor was given \u2013 a fitting tribute to a performer who commanded every house in which she appeared, even, it seems, in death.<\/p>\n

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DID YOU KNOW?<\/strong> Julie Andrews starred in a glossy 1968 musical biopic of Lawrence\u2019s life called Star<\/em>! It was not, to put it mildly, luminously received.<\/p>\n

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Lawrence Roles You Should Know<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Kay in Oh, Kay! <\/em>(1926) [Broadway and West End]<\/h4>\n