In the '60s, I did a lot of television and I was quite well known from Sing Along with Mitch on CBS. I got a call to audition for a new Broadway musical called Hallelujah, Baby!, which was written by Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. I had just done The Boy Friend in Berkeley, Calif. and they had heard about it. So they all came to see me at the Club Harlem in Atlantic City, where I was doing my club act. When I got back to New York, I read for them. David Merrick was going to produce the show, but he fell asleep during my audition, so I guess I didn't impress him. Anyway, next thing I knew, Merrick was out, we had new producers and I got the part – and my Equity card – in my first Broadway musical. I was thrilled!
We opened at the Martin Beck [now the Al Hirschfeld] Theatre in April, 1967, and I was thrilled to receive my first Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. During my acceptance speech, I was so excited that I exclaimed “I don't know where my feet are tonight!” Groucho Marx, who was emceeing, had the best comeback: “Want me to look?”
