Lee Roy Reams
Me & Betty (AKA Lauren Bacall)
54 Below, NYC, January 25, 2025
Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker
Photos by Maryann Lopinto

To paraphrase Sir Noël Coward, “I’ve been to a marvelous party, with Betty and Rudy and Kate.” And to quote Bobby Short, “If you need last names, well, there’s the door.” The host of this glorious evening was beloved Broadway actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, and director Lee Roy Reams, who can now add “raconteur extraordinaire” to his long list of credits and accomplishments.
The aforementioned guests were, of course, Lauren Bacall (known as Betty to her friends), Rudolf Nureyev, and Katharine Hepburn. These were just a few of the celebrities mentioned in this evening filled with the reminiscences of this Broadway legend. With his musical director/pianist Alex Rybeck, Reams began his show with “Star!” (Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn), and what better way to introduce the other star of the evening, Lauren Bacall. He told stories about her (along with a few about his own life pre- and post-Betty) in such an entertaining and non-self-aggrandizing way that it really was like being at an exclusive and swank party. There was talk of Bogart, whom she married, and Sinatra, whom she almost married, as well as gossipy tidbits, such as the song that was her and Sinatra’s favorite (“Witchcraft” by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh). Later we learned that “Here’s That Rainy Day” (Van Heusen/Johnny Burke) was her own personal favorite, and that she paid $48K for her apartment in the Dakota, which ultimately sold for millions.

Photographs were projected throughout the show, depicting Bacall in various moods and ages and gorgeous in all of them. Reams and Bacall forged their friendship when they were both in Applause on Broadway. He was the first American actor to play an opening gay man in a musical, and she, of course, was the Star!
Reams was in the original cast of Hello, Dolly!; Carol Channing had asked for him to play Cornelius Hackel. He has credits too lengthy to mention here; they include Sweet Charity (film and Broadway cast), many television variety shows, and performing in cabarets. He is truly an ultimate showman of the kind we rarely see—the triple threat who can seemingly do it all. He is unique in that he tells the story of his life by highlighting others rather than himself. It was a joy to be one of the invited guests to this evening of the fondest of memories of a Broadway golden era.
Final tidbit: Reams mentioned that his cheeks had been pinched by two of the luminaries mentioned above. Can you guess which stars, and which cheeks?