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Kaye
Ballard introduced the standard "Lazy
Afternoon" in the Broadway gem The Golden Apple (1954),
which has been cited by many as possibly the best Broadway musical to
ever flop, and from there she went on to play "The Incomparable
Rosalie" in Carnival! (1961), alongside Jerry Orbach.
Her career has been, unfortunately, filled with several flops (in which
she garnered great reviews, none-the-less), including The Beast
in Me (1963), Molly (1973), So
Long, 174th Street
(1976), and Marc Blitzstein's Reuben Reuben (1955),
which never even made it to Broadway. The majority of
audiences today recognize her from her numerous television
appearances, most notably playing (along with Alice
Ghostley) one of the
bitchy stepsisters in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella
(1957), which featured Julie Andrews in
the title role. Aside from this, she's scored big as Rose in Gypsy
alongside Jack Cassidy, belting out "Broadway Baby" in the
Paper Mill Playhouse's acclaimed revival of Sondheim's Follies,
and numerous productions of Nunsense!, while also gracing
several of Ben Bagley's wonderful "Painted Smiles" albums with
her presence. Ballard's last appearance on Broadway was as a
replacement Ruth in Joseph Papp's production of The Pirates of
Penzance (1983), and she recently completed her autobiography, How
I Lost Ten Pounds in 53 Years. |
