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Hy Hazell
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If producers of 1960s British musicals wanted verve and pep they
were well advised to send for Hy Hazell. Her ebullient presence,
complete with a voice that never failed to give good value, enlivened
many evenings that would have been the poorer without her. She
also, in what was to prove quite a short career, had a good deal
of solid success.Hyacinth Hazel O'Higgins was born in London
on 4 October 1922. She made her first West End appearance in
the chorus of On Your Toes at the Palace Theatre in 1937, and
did much variety work. It was ten years later that she played
in the revue Here, There and Everywhere at the London Palladium,
and another decade before she began a long run of leading roles
in musicals. |
One of Hazell's most notable
roles: Mrs Squeezum in Lock Up Your Daughters |
By the mid-1940s she was also turning up in British films
such as Meet Me at Dawn (1946) and second feature cheapies such
as The Lady Craved Excitement (1950) where she got to sing. Meanwhile,
she had established a reputation as - to quote a later programme
note of her own - 'English pantomime's most distinguished post
war principal boy'.
She couldn't have had a better debut in British musicals than
Expresso Bongo at the Saville Theatre in 1958, playing the heartless
Dixie Collins, whose heart melted enough to sing the reflective
'Time'. Her performance marked her as a distinctive player, and
the following year she landed the plum role of the yearning Mrs
Squeezum in the Mermaid Theatre's Lock Up Your Daughters, a part
with which she was forever associated. She only had two numbers
in the show - 'When Does The Ravishing Begin?' and 'I'll Be There'
- but they left a lasting impression. She stayed with the part
(carrying it over into the highly successful 1962 revival) for
almost 2,000 performances. In between she played Inez Packard
in Vida Hope's production of Andrew Rosenthal's play with songs
Innocent as Hell, which lasted a week and a half at the Lyric
Theatre, Hammersmith in 1960.
When Richard Rodger's first effort after the death of Oscar
Hammerstein II, No Strings, came to Her Majesty's Theatre in
1963, Hazell played the supporting role of Mollie Plummer. The
show was a moderate success, but Hazell's contribution was solid
as ever. Critical brickbats seemed likely to kill off Charlie
Girl after its opening night at the Adelphi Theatre in December
1965, but impresario Harold Fielding worked up a frenzy of public
interest, and the show stayed for 2,202 performances. Playing
the ex-Cochran girl Kay Connor, Hazell had a role that seemed
tailor-made for her, although her big number 'The Party of a
Lifetime' wasn't top-grade. She kicked up her heels effectively
with the show's star Anna Neagle in a first act duet 'Let's Do
A Deal' (another so-so item), injecting some much needed oomph
into the proceedings to counteract Miss Neagle's fainter performance.
When the show went to Australia, Hazell went with it. Patricia
Burke succeeded her in London.
In May 1968 Hazell played Zelda Kreller in a little show that
arrived from off-Broadway at the Fortune Theatre. Cindy, with
a score by Johnny Brandon (who years before had been a featured
star of Love From Judy), was critically mauled and only stuck
around for 29 performances. A few weeks later she was cast as
Mrs Peachum in a handsome edition of The Beggar's Opera for the
Prospect Theatre company. Someone who seemed interested in British
musical players had assembled the cast, which included Peter
Gilmore, Jan Waters, Angela Richards and Frances Cuka. After
a pre-London tour the show played at the Apollo Theatre for six
weeks from September 1968.
There was another short run the following year in Ann Veronica
at the Cambridge Theatre. After a much-troubled tour, the show
wasn't at its best by opening night, although Hazell as the emancipating
Miss Miniver did what she could to make it come alive. She knew
what to do with her numbers, notably one of the more tolerable
songs 'Maternity', but the material was weak, and there was little
she could do to rescue some inferior comedy writing. It was a
pity that her final British musical should have been such a commercial
dud. She was on much surer ground when she went straight from
Ann Veronica into the leading role of Golde in Fiddler On The
Roof at Her Majesty's Theatre, taking over the part from Avis
Bunnage. Probably for the first time since Expresso Bongo, Hazell
had a part that gave her dramatic qualities full play.
With the passing of years she should have become a grande
dame of our musical theatre, with a list of achievements that
put many other musical actresses in the shade, but it was not
to be. Following a performance of Fiddler On The Roof on 10 May
1970, she choked to death. She was 47. Avis Bunnage went back
into Fiddler On The Roof.
Discography
Original cast recordings of:
Expresso Bongo
Lock Up Your Daughters
No Strings
Charlie Girl
The Beggar's Opera
Ann Veronica
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