During the run, "Better Than a Dream," sung by Ella and Jeff, was added to Act One. The song was added on or around November 29, 1957,
George S. Irving was originally cast as Sandor. The afternoon that he was cast, director/choreographer Jerome Robbins called him and said that they hired Eddie Lawrence and that Irving could take another role and understudy Sandor. He needed the money, so he stayed, but he didn't stay for long. On March 9, 1957, three-and-a-half months after the opening, he left the show to take a role in Shinbone Alley, but that show ended up having a short run.
MGM paid $500,000 for the film rights, with the production to also receive 25 percent of the profits from the film. (Source: New York Times, August 7, 1957, page 22.)
On September 8, 1958, it was reported in the New York Times that the production would close on December 13, 1958, when Judy Holliday's contract was over. It was also reported that negotiations were under way for June Havoc to star in the production's national tour.
On September 30, another report appeared in the Times. This time it was reported that the production might close on December 13, 1958, even though it was reported to still be doing near-sellout business. The new musical Whoop-Up was booked to open at the Shubert (where Bells Are Ringing had been playing since its opening) on December 18, and Judy Holliday's contract ended on December 13. At the time it seemed that there would be no theatre available to which Bells Are Ringing could transfer. When contacted, Holliday merely confirmed that her contract would terminate on December 13.
It was also reported that, "unless there is a hitch," Havoc would star in the tour, scheduled to open on March 7. No mention was made of Holliday perhaps extending her Broadway contract.
On October 15, the Times reportad that the Alvin was now available, since Crazy October, a "macabre comedy" by James Leo Herlihy, which was scheduled to open at the Alvin on November 3 (with Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Blondell and Estelle Winwood starring) would instead close during its pre-Broadway tryout run.
Whoop-Up opened at the Shubert a few days late (on December 22). It closed on February 7, 1959, a month before Bells Are Ringing closed at the Alvin, to which it had moved.
During the summer of 1957, Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin took their two-week vacations at the same time. They were replaced by Betty Garrett and Larry Parks, who were married. Box-office receipts plummeted.
The following summer, shortly after Sydney Chaplin had left the production (and had been replaced by Hal Linden), the production shut down for three weeks to give Holliday a vacation.
Some online sources list Phyllis Newman as standby for the role of Ella Peterson from the beginning of the run, but this is incorrect. The playbills that we've found in which she appears have her listed as understudy, not standby, even though she played no role in the show. That is true of all four women who understudied the role during the run: Marge Redmond, June Ericson, Newman and Allyn McLerie. Newman was the third understudy for the role during the course of the run, following Redmond (who left the job quickly) and June Ericson. Ericson and Newman were reported in the press to have gone on as Ella.
Some of those same sources list Hal Linden as the understudy for the role of Jeff Moss from the beginning of the run. This is also incorrect. George Gaynes was the uncredited standby for the role from the pre-Broadway opening in New Haven through sometime in September 1957. This was reported in the press at the time.
According to the biographies of Jerome Robbins by Amanda Vaill and Deborah Jowitt, Peter Gennaro contributed significantly to the choreography for the number he performed with Judy Holliday, "Mu-Cha-Cha."
According to Amanda Vaill's Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins and Greg Lawrence's Dance With Demons: The Life of Jerome Robbins, "I'm Goin' Back" was not added to the show till just a few days before the opening night on Broadway. This is supported by the song not being listed in playbill's during the run at the Shubert in Philadelphia, the final of the three pre-Broadway tryout stops. In the Philadelphia song list, the final song for Ella is "The Party's Over." In the spot where "I'm Goin' Back" would eventually be, there is a reprise of "Long Before I Knew You," sung by Jeff.
According to both books, during the pre-Broadway tour, Sydney Chaplin (playing Jeff) was all but stealing the show from the primary star, Judy Holliday (playing Ella). Near the end of the Philadelphia run, Holliday issued an ultimatum: Unless she was given an eleven o'clock number with which she could stop the show, she would not open in it. The writers — Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne — managed to write a smashing number for Holliday in time for her to learn it and, yes, stop the show with it on opening night (and probably at every performance she ever played of the show).
After the performance on July 19, 1958, the production took a three-week hiatus before performances started again on August 11. This gave star Judy Holliday a vacation.
