I see no evidence that it was ever announced with Merman as Margo. In his memoir, Charles Strouse said that in 1965 he said to Hal Prince, when they were working on Superman, that he had an idea for a musical version of Applause that would star Merman as Margo, and Carol Lawrence as Eve. Strouse remembered Prince replying, "Charles, no one is interested in the emotional problems of actors."
He goes on to write that once he and Sidney Michaels and Lawrence Kasha were seriously trying to get the project together, they quickly decided that Lauren Bacall would be the ideal star. So it doesn't seem that Merman was ever approached for it. |
