Gone With the Summer
Cover of Gone with the Wind – the Movie
A few posts back, I went on and on about how my daughters, when they were young, were addicted to the movie ‘Gone With the Wind‘. While I was ranting about that, I totally forgot that I have a significant association with ‘Gone With the Wind’. I was Prissy in the 1976 summer tour that originated at the Dallas Summer Musicals.
During the 70s, ‘Gone With the Wind’ was rolled out as a grand, musical, stage production. Before this tour, a different cast performed the musical in London.
Wambui (John Ann Washington) is Prissy, Katherine Kelly is Mammy in Gone With the Wind – the Musical
It was only a few days after I had decided to enter my blonde hair phase; that I found out about the audition. I wore a bandanna on my head to the audition because I was afraid that if they saw that I had blonde hair, I would not even get to audition for Prissy. However, I believe the bandanna worked in my favor and I got the role.
The cast was amazing! David Canary from All My Children was Rhett Butler. Sherry Mathis was Scarlett and Katherine Kelly (not the Katherine Kelly of Coronation Street) played the part of Mammy. These people were not only heavy hitters in the performing arena; they were all really fine human beings and fun to work with people.
I remember there being what to me seemed like a huge cast of dancers and extras to play dead bodies.
I remember a live horse being involved.
I remember some people from Disney helped create the effect of Atlanta burning.
I remember because of some legal or copyright issues, we could say lines that were in the book, but could not say lines that were in the movie.
I remember this causing some frustration for not only the performers, but also the audience.
You see, most people in the audience anticipated hearing that famous line at the end of the movie, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!” However, the actor could not say this line in our production. So, I think he said something like, “Frankly my dear, I could care less!” (Yeah, I know; not the same thing.)
And, I was not allowed to say, “I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ babies.” I had to say, “I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout havin’ babies.”
I was not a strong theatrical dancer. However, in this show, during the barbecue scene, I was paired up with a young black man (who was able to play a child) to do the cake-walk.
I remember cake-walking with him only a few steps to the center of the stage and cake-walking off stage left as the stage filled with dancers who were lifting their legs and lifting each other and leaping and twirling. It was quite a long, wonderful and very energetic number. As the number ended the dancers were still stepping, kicking high, and twirling as they left the stage. My cake-walk partner and me cake-walked a few steps back on and stood downstage center to receive all of the applause for this dance number.
After Dallas, we played an outdoor theater in Kansas City, Missouri called the Starlight Theater. Our last stop was a theater in Miami, Florida.
In Miami, the casting person responsible for hiring the child to play Bonnie Blue (Scarlett and Rhett’s daughter) was a Hispanic woman. Like any loving mother with a talented child, she cast her own daughter in the role. So, while everyone else in the show had heavy southern accents, Bonnie Blue in Miami had a Spanish accent.
I have so many fond memories of this production and amazing barbecues we were invited to in Dallas.
What a great show. Wow! What a fabulous summer!
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Creative -
Harold Rome: Composer/Lyricist
Horton Foote: Bookwriter
Kazuo Kikuto: Source Material Based on libretto
Margaret Mitchell: Source Material Based on novel
Lucia Victor: Director
Cast -
Leigh Beery, David Canary, Todd Drexel, Randolynn Garner, Laurence Guittard, Katherine Kelly, Sherry Mathis, Georgana Mills, Trudi Roach, Norwood Smith, Guy Stroman, Jon Vandertholen,John Ann Washington (me)
Related articles
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!” (wonderfulladventures.wordpress.com)
Actor Tom McCamus prepares for role as Rhett Butler (cbc.ca)
Tagged: Autobiography, Black woman, Dallas Summer Musicals, Davis Canary, Gone with the wind, John Ann Washinton, Life, musical theater, Theater, Thoughts, Wambui Bahati
