"Peg: A Musical Autobiography" (1983)

I'm currently putting together a page about Peggy's Broadway show. One particular detail that is giving me trouble is the closing date... two different ones, varying from source to source.

Do any of you happen to remember whether the show closed on a Saturday (December 17, 4th performance) or a Sunday (December 18, 5th performance)?

Also, I did catch one reference to a matinee performance on Saturday, which makes me wonder if she performed the show twice on that day.

Ivan

According to most sources, it closed the night of Saturday, December 17. I'd say this source is definitive:

'Peg' Closes - New York Times

The matinee performance is probably the source of the confusion: Peg ran for five performances, so many writers have mistakenly assumed it must have run for five nights.

Thanks, Peter. The online sources that I consulted indeed give December 17 as the closing date (one exception being this site's concert section, which gives the 18th). We share the same suspicion about the matinee performance. (The sources that give Sunday or the 18th have a more anecdotal feel to them, which led me to question their accuracy.)

I have another question: does anyone know or recall the dress that Lee wore for the second act? (There are photos of the first act's dress out there -- a floor-length white and silvery gown. Photos of the other dress have proven elusive.)

Ivan

Another question for those of you who attended the show: do you remember how you learned that the show was opening? Do you recall any particular publicity item (ads in newspapers or magazines, posters in the streets)?

Ivan

Ivan,

I believe that Peggy wore the same dress in both acts. For the opening of Act 2 she briefly adorned the dress with a long red boa. I never really liked her choice of costume for the show, because its cocoon effect unflatteringly made her seem remote and icy. In addition, the costume revealed little of her except for her hands and face. Even her hair was covered by a jeweled cap. This all conflicted with some of the "autobiographical" songs she sang, in which she referred to trains, farms, animals, etc.

The show itself was phenomenal with Peggy being in top voice and humor the two times I was privileged to see it. Her staying power for almost two hours of singing made me wonder how she would have been able to sustain her health had the show been a success.

I wish there were a non-bootleg CD available of "Peg" because of its musical and historical significance. Why the New York critics were unmerciful is beyond me. She warranted and received standing ovations from her audiences.

Our gal ruled!

All best,
George K.

George, that was a wonderful response; I relished reading all of it. I'm in full agreement with you about the choice of costume. Although there are a couple of articles in which she herself states that she will be wearing a different dress for each act, I'm wondering now if maybe she planned to do so originally, but eventually the decision to wear just one gown had to be made for one reason or another. In the discography, I will be including a sketch of a different gown that the show's costume designer was apparently considering to have Lee wear. It would have not "jived" with the farmgirl portion of Lee's story, either, but I liked it far more than the one that she ended up wearing.

Ivan

Hi Ivan,

I think the first time I was aware of the show Peg coming to Broadway was a photo of Peggy in a large white-brimmed hat playing the drums in People magazine.

The only show that I saw I thought that she changed costumes for second act but because I didn't take pix I can't be sure.

Regards,
michael

Many thanks, Michael. It's so great to have in the board fans such as you and George K, who were actual witnesses of the event!

Ivan

Ivan,

Late but better than never - there is a gorgeous poster of the show which must have been posted all over New York or certainly outside the theatre.

On the ITV TV show Peggy plugged PEG coming to Broadway the following year - this is the TV show where she sang Angels On Your Pillow so she was promoting it on TV in the UK and in the US six months before it happened.

Anyway - you probably know all this already.

Best wishes

George McGhee