Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher and the sad footnote to their shared Broadway debut

The 1973 revival of the musical comedy “Irene” barely registers as a blip in the history of Broadway theater, but the death Wednesday of star Debbie Reynolds means the production does gain a most unfortunate distinction: Three of its cast members have died within the span of three days.

Reynolds, already a Hollywood star thanks to “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” made her Broadway debut as Irene O’Dare, a model working out a grand scheme with a New York fashion designer. The role earned Reynolds her only Tony nomination. She ultimately lost to Glynis Johns in “A Little Night Music.” (The presenter in their category that night was none other than Jerry Orbach.)

Also making her Broadway debut in “Irene” when it opened March 13, 1973: Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher, age 16. She played “Debutante.”

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Carrie Fisher’s death at age 60 on Tuesday closely followed the passing of yet another “Irene” cast member, George S. Irving, who won a Tony for his supporting performance as the fashion designer. Irving died Monday in New York at 94, the Associated Press reported.

“Irene” earned four Tony nominations in all and was a critical and commercial success, running for nearly 600 performances. Music by Harry Tierney and lyrics by Joseph McCarthy were propelled by a cast that also included Patsy Kelly, fresh off her own Tony win for “No, No, Nanette.”

The playbill for “Irene” noted that Debbie Reynolds’ career at that point already included an Academy Award nomination for “Molly Brown.” (It also noted that in high school she had excelled in sports, particularly sandlot baseball, and in music, specifically French horn.)

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Actress Debbie Reynolds poses for a portrait in Beverly Hills on May 21, 2013.

  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

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A detail of the poster for Stanley Donen’s “Singin’ in the Rain,” featuring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds.

  (Movie Poster Image Art / Getty Images)

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Actress Debbie Reynolds posing for a portrait in New York.

  (Richard Drew / Associated Press)

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In this March 6, 1959, photo, actress Debbie Reynolds boards an airliner in New York en route to Spain, where she would film a new movie.

  (John Rooney / Associated Press)

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Debbie Reynolds in 1960, wearing a black sweater top and a pearl necklace.

  (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

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Actress Debbie Reynolds photographed in 1959.

  (HO / Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Debbie Reynolds appears at Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremonies in Los Angeles.

  (Wally Fong / Associated Press)

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Actress Debbie Reynolds shows $13,900 in U.S. bonds given to her by acting County Clerk W. G. Sharp. in 1953.

  (Larry Sharkey / Los Angeles Times)

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Carrie, 3, gives mother Debbie Reynolds a hug after her afternoon nap in their West Los Angeles home.

  (Ray Graham / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Reynolds in one of the storage rooms where clothes from 41 years in show business were kept in 1988.

  (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Reynolds’ star along the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.

  (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Reynolds appears on the red carpet before the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, where she received a Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on January 25, 2015.

  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Reynolds placing her hand prints in the wet cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1965.  (Bruce H. Cox / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Reynolds, who will receive the Screen Actors Guild’s Life Achievement Award, is seen photographed at her Los Angeles home in 2012.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Carrie Fisher, right, presents her mother, Debbie Reynolds, with the Life Achievement Award at the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 2015.

  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Another bit of “Irene” trivia: The musical was the inaugural production in the Minskoff Theatre, now home to “The Lion King.”

Though best known for her film and TV work, Debbie Reynolds did eventually return to theater. Projects included a star turn in “Woman of the Year” on Broadway in the early 1980s and a 1989 tour of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” which a Times reviewer characterized as a bumpy ride steered by a fearless, unsinkable star.

“Reynolds is rowing against the tide just as surely as Brown did,” the reviewer wrote. “And, like Brown, she is making it — with a smile.”

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