Brooke was VERY good in the part. She handled the songs well, did wonders with the comedic moments and was generally lovable. She performed with gusto, elegance and confidence.
As has been said before she has been credited with keeping that cast and crew employed for a good 6-7 months.
She was also very gracious at the stage door.
The meat is always leaner on somebody else's dinner plate!
I respectfully disagree. Murphy's "One Hundred Easy Ways" remains one of the funniest renditions of a number I've seen, especially during the last verse, when she does the whole "I'm afraid you've made a grammatical error" schtick, she was pure comic genius. As much as I love Rosalind Russell's Ruth Sherwood, Murphy's "Conga" is my absolute favorite out of all the WONDERFUL TOWN cast recordings I've listened to. Her Tony performance of "Swing" was superb. I think it's funny when people say that Donna Murphy is strictly a dramatic actress, most people forget that she started in comedies. She earned fantastic reviews in SHOWING OFF (her performance in the cast recording is hilarious), she played Audrey in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, and BIRDS OF PARADISE. Having said all that, Ruth Sherwood belongs to Rosalind Russell who the role was tailored for.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"