The Complete Book of 1980s Broadway Musicals 1442260912, 9781442260917

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The Complete Book of 1980s Broadway Musicals

The Complete Book of 1980s Broadway Musicals Dan Dietz

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB Copyright © 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dietz, Dan, 1945– The complete book of 1980s Broadway musicals / Dan Dietz. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4422-6091-7 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-6092-4 (ebook) 1. Musicals—New York (State)—New York—20th century—History and criticism. I. Title. ML1711.8.N3D533 2016 792.6'45097471—dc23 2015032510

™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America

To Barnes Block and 258

Contents

Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Alphabetical List of Shows xiii BROADWAY MUSICALS OF THE 1980s   1979–1980 Season   1980–1981 Season   1981–1982 Season   1982–1983 Season   1983–1984 Season   1984–1985 Season   1985–1986 Season   1986–1987 Season   1987–1988 Season   1988–1989 Season   1989 Season

1 31 93 139 181 221 247 287 321 369 401

APPENDIXES    A Chronology (by Season)    B Chronology (by Classification)   C Discography   D Filmography    E Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas   F Other Productions    G Black-Themed Revues and Musicals    H Jewish-Themed Revues and Musicals    I Radio City Music Hall Productions   J Published Scripts   K Theatres

431 435 443 445 447 449 455 457 459 461 463

vii

viii     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1970s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Bibliography 469 Index 471 About the Author 511

Acknowledgments

I want to take this opportunity to thank my friends Mike Baskin and Ken DePew for their helpful comments and suggestions in the writing of this book.

ix

Introduction

The Complete Book of 1980s Broadway Musicals examines in detail all 250 musicals that opened (or, in one case, didn’t open because it closed at the last minute without ever giving its first Broadway preview) between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1989. The musicals discussed are: fifty book musicals with new music; ten book musicals with preexisting music; two plays with incidental songs; fifteen more or less traditional revues; twenty-three personality revues; three dance musicals and revues; six magic revues; nine musicals that originated Off- or Off-Off-Broadway; thirty imports; forty commercial revivals; forty institutional revivals; and twenty-two pre-Broadway closings (including a few that closed during Broadway previews). For a quick rundown of these shows, see Alphabetical List of Shows; appendix A (Chronology by Season); and appendix B (Chronology by Classification). The goal of this book is to provide a convenient reference source that gives both technical information (such as cast and song lists) and commentary (including obscure details that personalize both familiar and forgotten musicals). The decade of the 1980s is notable as the era in which the British invaded Broadway. To be sure, London successes were always part of most Broadway seasons, but usually these imports were nonmusicals. Occasionally a hit musical (such as The Boy Friend and Oliver!) opened on Broadway and enjoyed acclaim, but for the most part a hit British musical was the rare exception during a typical Broadway semester. All this began to change in the 1970s, when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita became major theatrical events in New York and on the road. The British Invasion took hold in the 1980s, and some two-thirds of the decade’s imports had first been produced in London prior to their New York productions, including plays with incidental songs (such as Censored Scenes from King Kong, Piaf, and Ghetto), one musical that was considerably revised when it reached New York (A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine), and the blockbusters Cats, Me and My Girl, Les Miserables, and The Phantom of the Opera. As of this writing, Phantom is still playing on Broadway and currently holds the record of the longest-running musical in the history of Broadway theatre, and Les Miserables is now in the second year of its second New York revival. The decade of the 1970s belonged to Stephen Sondheim, who dominated those years with a dazzling parade of innovative musicals such as Company, Follies, Pacific Overtures, and Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He was still active in the 1980s, and his musicals continued to cause controversy with wildly divergent receptions from critics and audiences. The decade saw three Sondheim musicals open on Broadway (Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods) as well as one that was produced Off Broadway (Assassins). Sadly, the decade saw the continued decline of book musicals with new music, which were once the mainstay of musical theatre during Broadway’s Golden Age. The 1980s saw fifty book musicals with new music, and forty commercial revivals; in contrast, the 1940s offered eighty book musicals with new music and eighteen commercial revivals; the 1950s, seventy-one book musicals with new music and ten revivals; the 1960s, ninety-eight book musicals with new music, and just one commercial revival; and the 1970s offered eighty-four book musicals with new music and thirty-seven revivals. The 1980s saw the lowest number of

xi

xii     INTRODUCTION

book musicals with new music in five decades (and down almost 50 percent from the 1960s), and also marked the highest number of commercial revivals in a half-century. In regard to technical information, the entries in this book include: name of theatre (and transfers, if applicable); opening and closing dates of productions; number of performances (for consistency, I’ve used the performance numbers reported in Best Plays); the show’s advertising tag (including variations); names of book (or sketch) writers, lyricists, composers, directors, choreographers, musical directors, producers; and scenic, costume, and lighting designers. The names of all cast members are included, and each performer’s name is followed by the name of the character portrayed (performers’ names in italics reflect those billed above the title). Also included are the numbers of acts; for book musicals, the time and locale of the show; and the titles of musical numbers, by act (following each song title is the name of the performer, not character, who introduced the song); if a song is known by a variant title, the alternate title is also given. If a musical is based on source material, such information is cited. The commentary for each musical includes a brief plot summary; brief quotes from the critics; informative trivia; details about London and other major international productions; data about recordings and published scripts; and information on film, television, and home video adaptations. In many cases, the commentary also includes information regarding the show’s gestation and pre-Broadway tryout history. When applicable, Tony Award winners and nominees are listed at the end of each entry (the names of winners are bolded) and the winners of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize are also cited. Throughout the text, bolded titles refer to productions that are represented with an entry in the book. The book also includes eleven appendixes: chronology by season; chronology by classification; discography; filmography; a list of published scripts; a list of Gilbert and Sullivan revivals; a chronology of selected productions that includes incidental songs and background music; a list of black revues and musicals; a list of Jewish revues and musicals; a list of productions that opened at Radio City Music Hall; and a list of the theatres where the musicals were presented. The book also includes a bibliography. Virtually all the information in this book is drawn from such original source materials as programs, souvenir programs, flyers, window cards (posters), recordings, scripts (both published and unpublished), and contemporary reviews.

Alphabetical List of Shows

The following is an alphabetical list of all 250 musicals discussed in this book. There are multiple listings for those musicals that were produced more than once during the decade, and those entries are followed by the year of the production (if presented more than once during a calendar year, both month and year are given). Aaah oui Genty! Ain’t Misbehavin’ Alice in Wonderland Amen Corner The American Dance Machine America’s Sweetheart Anything Goes An April Song Aznavour Baby Banjo Dancing, or The 48th Annual Squitters Mountain Song Dance Folklore Convention and Banjo Contest . . . and How I Lost Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre Barnum Barry Manilow at the Gershwin Big Deal Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Billy Bishop Goes to War Black and Blue Black Broadway Blackstone! Blues in the Night Brigadoon (1980) Brigadoon (1986) Bring Back Birdie Broadway Follies Cabaret La Cage aux Folles Camelot (1980) Camelot (1981) Can-Can Canciones de mi padre Candide (1982)

76 372 159 189 274 244 331 86 166 196 51 319 15 392 277 241 26 378 20 25 139 48 275 71 73 334 183 37 105 79 370 153

Candide (1983) Candide (1984) Candide (1986) Candide (1989) Canterbury Tales Carrie Cats Censored Scenes from King Kong Chaplin Charlie and Algernon Chess Chu Chem City of Angels Cleavage Colette Copperfield The Curse of an Aching Heart Czardas Princess Dance a Little Closer Dangerous Games (two one-act dance musicals, Tango and Orfeo) Dangerous Music A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine The Desert Song (1987) The Desert Song (1989) Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? A Doll’s Life Don’t Get God Started Doonesbury Doug Henning and His World of Magic Dreamgirls (1981) Dreamgirls (1987) Duddy

186 221 287 402 1 361 151 8 217 45 357 387 425 141 131 77 119 207 177 408 396 17 324 406 130 148 336 195 229 111 321 218 xiii

xiv     ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SHOWS

Durante I due sergenti Elvis: A Rockin’ Remembrance An Evening with Dave Allen An Evening with Robert Klein Fearless Frank Fiddler on the Roof The First The Five O’Clock Girl Flamenco puro Die Fledermaus (February 1980) Die Fledermaus (September 1980) Die Fledermaus (1981) Die Fledermaus (1984) Die Fledermaus (1986) Die Fledermaus (1987) The Flying Karamazov Brothers 42nd Street La gatta Cenerentola Georgia Brown and Friends Ghetto The Gospel at Colonus The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (April 1982) The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (October 1982) Grand Hotel Grind Grover’s Corners Gypsy Haarlem Nocturne Happy New Year Harrigan ’n Hart Heartaches of a Pussycat Herman Van Veen: All of Him Hoagy, Bix and Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus Honky Tonk Nights The Human Comedy Inacent Black Insideoutsideandallaround with Shelley Berman Into the Light Into the Woods Is There Life after High School? It’s So Nice to Be Civilized Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood Jerome Robbins’ Broadway Jerry’s Girls Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Juggling and Cheap Theatrics The King and I

428 258 401 101 369 36 94 110 63 301 5 44 101 206 289 326 176 40 257 87 394 350 125 155 420 239 365 423 227 13 232 9 158 88 289 204 83 47 302 338 125 32 310 67 270 381 265 120 276 230

Kismet (1985) Kismet (1986) Late Nite Comic Leader of the Pack Legs Diamond Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Little Johnny Jones A Little Like Magic Little Me The Little Prince and the Aviator Mail Mame Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual Manhattan Rhythm Marilyn Marlowe Mayor Me and My Girl Meet Me in St. Louis Merlin Merrily We Roll Along The Merry Widow (1982) The Merry Widow (1983) The Merry Widow (1984) The Merry Widow (1985) The Merry Widow (1988) The Merry Widow (1989) Michael Feinstein in Concert Michael Feinstein in Concert: Isn’t It Romantic Les Miserables The Moony Shapiro Songbook Mort Sahl on Broadway! Musical Chairs The Music Man (1980) The Music Man (1988) My Fair Lady My One and Only The Mystery of Edwin Drood (aka Drood) My Three Angels Naughty Marietta The New Moon (1986) The New Moon (1988) The News Nimrod and the Tower of Babel Nine Oba Oba Oh, Brother! Oh Coward! Oliver! One Night Stand On Your Toes Onward Victoria The Pajama Game

254 288 329 235 376 84 123 304 116 133 353 181 403 145 192 102 259 291 413 161 106 146 186 206 251 370 402 355 376 314 81 328 23 34 349 96 173 263 283 374 297 371 261 397 127 352 103 305 209 89 164 57 385

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SHOWS     xv

Peg Penn & Teller Penny by Penny: The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge (aka A Christmas Carol) Perfectly Frank The Phantom of the Opera Piaf Pieces of Eight Pipino il breve The Pirates of Penzance Play Me a Country Song Porgy and Bess Prince of Central Park Pump Boys and Dinettes Quick Change Quilters Raggedy Ann Rags A Reel American Hero Reggae The Rink The Robert Klein Show! Rock ’n Roll! The First 5,000 Years Rodney Dangerfield on Broadway Romance Romance (two one-act musicals, The Little Comedy and Summer Share) Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson Roza Sarafina! Satchmo Say Hello to Harvey! Senator Joe Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Shakespeare’s Cabaret Shenandoah Shirley MacLaine on Broadway Show Boat Sid Caesar & Company: Does Anybody Know What I’m Talking About? Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale (March 1980) Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale (October 1980) Singin’ in the Rain Sing, Mahalia, Sing! Smile Song & Dance (two one-act musicals, the musical Song [aka Tell Me on a Sunday]

198 343 135 55 344 64 284 260 59 141 167 418 122 54 224 299 294 90 11 201 269 156 348 359 298 326 346 367 136 398 143 61 405 208 171 411 6 47 247 285 308

and the dance-musical Dance [aka Variations]) Song of Norway Sophisticated Ladies South Pacific Stardust Starlight Express Starmites Streetheat The Student Prince (1980) The Student Prince (1981) The Student Prince (1985) The Student Prince (1987) Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1984) Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1987) Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1989) Sweet Charity Swing Take Me Along Tango Argentino The Tap Dance Kid Takarazuka Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap Teddy & Alice This Was Burlesque The Three Musketeers 3 Penny Opera Tintypes La tragedie de Carmen (aka Carmen) Uptown . . . It’s Hot! The Victor Borge Holiday Show on Broadway Waltz of the Stork Welcome to the Club West Side Story Wind in the Willows Wish Me Mazel-Tov The Wiz The Wizard of Oz Woman of the Year Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1980) Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1982) Zorba

252 99 68 312 311 316 392 231 42 98 250 323 212 222 324 407 279 27 237 256 199 410 170 341 93 225 416 52 191 272 425 115 390 3 267 50 215 389 74 31 147 187

1979–1980 Season

CANTERBURY TALES Theatre: Rialto Theatre Opening Date: February 12, 1980; Closing Date: February 24, 1980 Performances: 16 Book: Martin Starkie and Nevill Coghill (adaptation based on Coghill’s translation of Geoffrey Chaucer) Lyrics: Nevill Coghill Music: Richard Hill and John Hawkins Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s collection of stories The Canterbury Tales (written between 1387 and 1400); for the musical, four of the twenty-four tales were adapted: “The Miller’s Tale,” “The Steward’s Tale,” “The Merchant’s Tale,” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.” Direction: Robert Johanson; Producers: Burry Fredrik and Bruce Schwartz; Choreography: Randy Hugill; Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Sigrid Insull; Lighting: Gregg Marriner; Musical Direction: John Kroner Cast: Earl McCarroll (Chaucer, January), Robert Stoeckle (Knight), Robert Tetirick (Squire, Nicholas, Damian, Horse), Andy Ferrell (Yeoman, John, King Arthur), Mimi Sherwin (Prioress), K. K. Preece (Nun, Proserpina), Kaylyn Dillehay (Molly, Guenevere), Tricia Witham (May), Krista Neumann (Alison, Sweetheart), Andrew Traines (Friar, Justinus), Vance Mizelle (Merchant, Gervase), Richard Stillman (Clerk, Robin, Page, Horse), Polly Pen (Cook, Miller’s Wife, Duenna), Win Atkins (Miller), Ted Houck Jr. (Stewart, Carpenter, Placebo), Maureen Sadusk (Wife of Bath, Old Woman), Kelly Walters (Summoner, Absalon, Alan), Martin Walsh (Pardoner, Executioner), George Maguire (Host, Pluto) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in England over a period of four days during the late 1300s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue” (Earl McCarroll, Company); “Welcome Song” (George Maguire, Company); “Goodnight Hymn” (Company); “Canterbury Day” (Company); “Horse Ride” (Company); The Miller’s Tale: “I Have a Noble Cock” (Robert Tetirick); “There’s the Moon” (Robert Tetirick, Krista Neumann); and “Darling, Let Me Teach You How to Kiss” (Kelly Walters); “It Depends on What You’re At” (Maureen Sadusk, K. K. Preece, Company); The Steward’s Tale: “Beer Is Best” (Win Atkins, Polly Pen, Kaylyn Dillehay, Kelly Walters, Andy Ferrell); “Love Will Conquer All” (Mimi Sherwin, K. K. Preece, Company); “Canterbury Day” (reprise) (Company) Act Two: “Come on and Marry Me, Honey” (Maureen Sadusk, Company); “Where Are the Girls of Yesterday?” (George Maguire; danced by Krista Neumann, Tricia Witham, Kaylyn Dillehay); The Merchant’s Tale: “April Song” (Company); “If She Has Never Loved Before” (Earl McCarroll, Tricia Witham); “I’ll Give My Love a Ring” (Robert Tetirick, Tricia Witham); “Pear Tree Sextet” (Earl McCarroll, Tricia Witham, Robert Tetirick, George Maguire, K. K. Preece, Vance Mizelle); The Wife of Bath’s Tale: “What 1

2     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Do Women Most Desire” (Knights and Ladies) and “I Am All Ablaze” (Robert Stoeckle; danced by Andy Ferrell and Kaylyn Dillehay); “Love Will Conquer All” (Mimi Sherwin, K. K. Preece, Company) The 1980s began with two revivals, Canterbury Tales and West Side Story, which were followed by the New York City Opera Company’s frequently revived Die Fledermaus and the company’s American premiere of Kurt Weill’s Silverlake. From there, the season saw two imports with incidental music, Censored Scenes from King Kong and Heartaches of a Pussycat. In late March, the decade finally saw its first original book musical when the short-running Reggae opened, and it was followed by the quick-closing Happy New Year, which grafted Cole Porter songs into a new adaptation of Philip Barry’s comedy-drama Holiday. It wasn’t until April 30 that Barnum gave the decade its first long-running book musical, and so the circus show joined the earlier revival of Peter Pan, the London import Evita, and the revue Sugar Babies as the 1979–1980 season’s fourth hit musical. Barnum was soon followed by the season’s fifth success with the two one-act musical imports A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine. Black Broadway was a limited-engagement celebration of black performers from both old and new Broadway, the book musical Musical Chairs was a fast flop, Blackstone! was a well-received magic revue, and the season’s final show was the import Billy Bishop Goes to War, which had a short Broadway run and quickly transferred to Off Broadway where it played a few weeks. The British musical Canterbury Tales first saw life as a college production, and was later recorded as The Canterbury Pilgrims, a collection of excerpts from Nevill Coghill’s translation of Chaucer as well as original songs and background music by Richard Hill and John Hawkins. The London production opened at the Phoenix Theatre on March 21, 1968, and enjoyed a marathon run of 2,082 performances. But the original Broadway mounting, which opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on February 3, 1969, lasted for just 121 showings (it received mixed reviews, and Edwin Newman on WNBCTV4 noted it seemed to take place on “Cape Codpiece” rather than on the road to Canterbury). Despite the brief Broadway run, the musical embarked on a national tour (with Ray Walston, Constance Carpenter, Martyn Green, and Reid Shelton) and omitted two dance numbers (“Mug Dance” and “Love Pas de Deux”) and one song (“Pear Tree Quintet”) from the Broadway production. The musical took place in the late 1300s during a four-day pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral; in order to pass the time on their journey, the pilgrims entertain one another with various stories, all of which deal with romantic if not downright ribald events (seductions, cuckolded husbands, and older men incapable of sexual arousal and thus in need of aphrodisiacs). The current revival had first been seen Off Broadway at the Equity Library Theatre on November 29, 1979, where it ran for thirty performances before transferring to the Rialto Theatre where it played for two weeks. The reviews were mostly indifferent, and John Corry in the New York Times said the “lumpy” show had generally indistinguishable characters, “leaden” song cues, and a mostly disappointing score. But he noted there was a “feeling of fun” throughout the show, and Robert Johanson’s “adroit” direction and Randy Hugill’s “imaginative” choreography were helpful. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News felt the production lacked style and was “genuinely wearing” with “routine” and “stock quality” performances. Further, the small stage looked “cluttered” and the limited playing area made Hugill’s dance numbers look “constrained.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that free champagne was offered to the audience after the opening-night performance but a blood transfusion would have been more helpful. The evening was a “horror” with “essentially characterless” music, a “nasty-looking” set, “look-nothing” costumes, and a lighting scheme that was a “mistake if only because it was on.” Overall, the evening had the aura of “sad, semi-amateur circumstances.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily felt the coy revival offered “negligible” songs and a certain “inevitable kittenishness” of conception. But the direction was “clever” and the dances were “lively,” and he hoped the musical might induce theatergoers to actually read Chaucer. Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 mentioned that the direction provided “all manner of shtick to make us forget how God-awful the script really is.” The London cast album was released by Decca Records (LP # SKL/LK-4956; later issued by That’s Entertainment Records LP # TER-1076). The original Broadway production was recorded by Capitol Records (LP # SW-2290), and was later issued on CD by Broadway Angel Records (# ZDM-5-65171-2) and reissued on CD by Arkiv Records/EMI (# 65171). There were two other lyric versions of The Canterbury Tales. The opera The Canterbury Pilgrims premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House on March 8, 1917, for seven performances; the music was by Regi-

1979–1980 SEASON     3

nald De Koven (who had composed the hit 1891 operetta Robin Hood) and the libretto was by playwright Percy MacKaye, who adapted the work from his 1903 play of the same name. An unsigned review in the New York Times praised the “really sumptuous” production and the “unceasingly melodious” score. Another lyric adaptation of the work was the Canadian musical Get Thee to Canterbury (book by Jan Steen and David Secter, lyrics by Secter, and music by Paul Hoffert), which opened Off Broadway at the Sheridan Square Playhouse on January 15, 1969, some two weeks before the 1969 Broadway premiere of the London production. Noting that two different versions of The Canterbury Tales had opened in New York within such a short time, Clive Barnes, then reviewing for the New York Times, commented that there were “flying Chaucers” everywhere. As for the score of the Off-Broadway version (which was advertised as “A Medieval Happenynge”), Barnes said the music reminded him of the “duller and more forgettable hymns in the English hymnal.” Get Thee to Canterbury closed after twenty performances. The current Canterbury Tales was the first legitimate production to play at the refurbished Rialto Theatre, which was located on Broadway between 42nd and 43rd Streets. The venue was originally a film theatre, and eventually deteriorated into an X-rated movie house. With its restoration there were hopes the 499-seat venue would become a viable Middle (or Limited) Broadway theatre. Kissel said the house looked “spiffy,” and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal reported that the theatre was “elegantly refurbished, chandeliered, sconced, and comfortably seated.” But one or two critics noted the stage was too small and that the theatre was lacking in generous wing space. The house had a handful of bookings during the years 1980–1982, and Blues in the Night was the final show to play there. It soon became a television studio, and in 2002 was demolished to make way for a high-rise office building.

WEST SIDE STORY Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: February 14, 1980; Closing Date: November 30, 1980 Performances: 333 Book: Arthur Laurents Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on a conception of Jerome Robbins and loosely based on William Shakespeare’s 1594 play Romeo and Juliet. Direction: Jerome Robbins (Gerald Freedman, Codirector); Producers: Gladys Rackmil, The John F. Kennedy Center, and James M. Nederlander in association with Zev Bufman (Ruth Mitchell, Executive Producer; Allan Tessler, Steven Jacobson, and Stewart F. Lane, Associate Producers); Choreography: Jerome Robbins (Peter Gennaro, Co-Choreographer; choreography reproduced with the assistance of Tom Abbott and Lee Becker Theodore); Scenery: Oliver Smith; Costumes: Irene Sharaff; Lighting: Jean Rosenthal; Musical Directors: John DeMain and Donald Jennings Cast: The Jets—James J. Mellon (Riff), Ken Marshall (Tony), Mark Bove (Action), Todd Lester (A-Rab), Brian Kaman (Baby John), Cleve Asbury (Snowboy), Reed Jones (Big Deal), Brent Barrett (Diesel), G. Russell Weilandich (Gee-Tar), Stephen Bogardus (Mouth Piece), Mark Fotopoulos (Tiger); The Jets’ Girls—Georganna Mills (Graziella), Heather Lea Gerdes (Velma), Frankie Wade (Minnie), Charlene Gehm (Clarice), Nancy Louise Chismar (Pauline); Missy Whitchuch (Anybodys); The Sharks—Hector Jaime Mercado (Bernardo), Jossie De Guzman (Maria), Debbie Allen (Anita), Ray Contreras (Chino), Michael Rivera (Pepe), Darryl Tribble (Indio), Adrian Rosario (Luis), Michael De Lorenzo (Anxious), Willie Rosario (Nibbles), Michael Franks (Juano), Mark Morales (Toro), Gary-Michael Davies (Moose); The Sharks’ Girls—Yamil Borges (Rosalia), Nancy Ticotin (Consuelo), Harolyn Blackwell (Francisca), Stephanie E. Williams (Teresita), Marlene Danielle (Estella), Amy Lester (Marguerita); The Adults—Sammy Smith (Doc), Arch Johnson (Schrank), John Bentley (Krupke), Jake Turner (Gladhand) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the last days of Summer 1957 on the West Side of New York City.

4     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue” (danced by The Jets and The Sharks); “Jet Song” (James J. Mellon, The Jets); “Something’s Coming” (Ken Marshall); “The Dance at the Gym” (The Jets and The Sharks); “Maria” (Ken Marshall); “Tonight” (Ken Marshall, Jossie De Guzman); “America” (Debbie Allen, Yamil Borges, The Shark Girls); “Cool” (James J. Mellon, The Jets); “One Hand, One Heart” (Ken Marshall, Jossie De Guzman); “Tonight” (Quintet and Chorus) (Company); “The Rumble” (danced by James J. Mellon, Hector Jaime Mercado, The Jets, The Sharks) Act Two: “I Feel Pretty” (Jossie De Guzman, Yamil Borges, Nancy Ticotin, Harolyn Blackwell); “Somewhere” (danced by Company; sung by Harolyn Blackwell); “Gee, Officer Krupke” (Mark Bove, The Jets); “A Boy Like That”/“I Have a Love” (Debbie Allen, Jossie De Guzman); “Taunting” (danced by Debbie Allen and The Jets); Finale (Company) West Side Story was the first Broadway musical to use book, lyrics, music, and choreography to tell its story. Other musicals had used a dance or two to further the plot, but most Broadway dances emanated from, or were attached to, a song. For the most part, dance segments in most Broadway musicals could have been removed and the plot would have still moved forward. But eliminating the dances from West Side Story (“Prologue,” “The Dance at the Gym,” “America,” “Cool,” “Rumble,” “Somewhere,” “Taunting,” and even the vaudeville-styled antics accompanying “Gee, Officer Krupke”) is unthinkable: these dances advance the plot, explore character, and provide atmosphere. Without them, the story of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, here transplanted to the New York City of the 1950s with its American and Puerto Rican street gangs, would be eviscerated. Few musicals can be called landmarks, but with its innovative use of dance West Side Story is one of the towering achievements of American musical theatre. The original production opened on September 26, 1957, at the Winter Garden Theatre for 732 performances, and ten months after its Broadway closing it reopened at the same theatre for an additional 249 showings. Since then, the work has been revived in New York four times: a New York City Center Light Opera Company production opened on April 8, 1964, at City Center for 31 performances; a Music Theatre of Lincoln Center engagement opened on June 24, 1968, at the New York State Theatre for 89 performances; the current production; and a revival that opened at the Palace Theatre on March 19, 2009, for 748 performances. The first London production premiered at Her Majesty’s Theatre on December 12, 1958, for 1,039 performances, and the popular 1961 film version released by United Artists was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (the film won nine competitive Academy Awards, including Best Picture). Ironically, George Chakiris, who played the role of the Jets’ gang leader Riff in the London stage version played the Sharks’ gang leader Bernardo for the film, and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal (Rita Moreno played Anita and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and Robbins won a special Academy Award for his choreography). Walter Kerr in the New York Times noted that seeing the musical some twenty-five years after its original production allowed him to enjoy the choreography more. In 1957, the dances provided a “new look in movement [that] was mesmerizing.” But now he was “freer” to watch and enjoy “the dance as dance.” As a result, the revival was “colorful, edgy, with energy, and exciting in its dance confrontations.” However, he noted that the evening sometimes tended to “press its Shakespearean parallels too hard” and as a result the first meeting of Tony and Maria seemed too “arbitrarily stylized”; further, Laurent’s “street jargon” wasn’t authentic. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News praised the “vivid, precedent-shattering” musical but noted it wasn’t without flaws and that an “air of quaintness” had overtaken it. Bernstein’s “superior” score still had “power and versatility,” but Laurents’s book, while “still serviceable,” revealed “more and more weak spots.” But Jossie (aka Josie) De Guzman was an “engaging” Maria, Debbie Allen was “all one could ask for” as the “mercurial” Anita, and Hector Jaime Mercado was “impressive.” However, Ken Marshall’s Tony was “less effective”; he sang “capably enough,” but the show was so heavily miked it was somewhat difficult to judge his singing (and he acted “rather woodenly”). Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “grandeur” of one of Broadway’s “imperial” scores, said the choreography was “tremendous,” and both the original production and the current revival were landmarks. But he noted that the “stumbles” in Laurents’s book were “a bit more noticeable” in its wavering between “legitimate melodrama and ordinary theatrics.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal also had qualms about Laurents’s contributions. The musical’s “obvious and simplistic” message was that gang wars could be stopped if “prejudice and poverty” could be

1979–1980 SEASON     5

eliminated. As a result, the show’s “sociology” was “heavy-handed” and burdened the story. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the revival was “an occasion for rejoicing”; there was “spectacular energy” in Robbins’s dances, the music offered “riches,” the lyrics were “adroit,” and Debbie Allen brought down the house with her “uproarious” look at “America.” T. E. Kalem in Time said Robbins was “the Jove of theatre choreography,” whose dances were “thunderbolts of invention” that turned his dancers “into airborne Ariels who touch the ground merely to skip skyward again.” Charles Michener in Newsweek felt the musical was “soft” in its social commentary, and complained that Robbins had “defanged” the revival with some “curious casting.” Most of the Jets came across “like teacher’s pets” and Marshall looked as if he’d “apple-polished his way into Columbia from somewhere in the Middle West.” But the choreography was “menacing and exultant,” Bernstein’s music “knifes through the air,” and Sondheim’s lyrics punched “a song into meaning with poetic urgency.” Further, Debbie Allen was a “knockout” and her performance conveyed “a sense of real, hard-won survival.” The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1958, and while there are numerous recordings of the score, the original Broadway cast album is the best all-around version (Columbia Records LP # OL-5230 and # OS-2001; later issued on CD # SK-60724 by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records, which includes a suite of symphonic dances from the score by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Bernstein).

AWARDS

Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival (West Side Story); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Debbie Allen); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Jossie De Guzman)

DIE FLEDERMAUS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: February 23, 1980; Closing Date: March 1, 1980 Performances: 4 (in repertory) Libretto: Carl Haffner and Richard Genee (English adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin) Music: Johann Strauss Based on the play Le reveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. Direction: Gerald Freedman; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Thomas Andrew (Andrew’s original choreography reconstructed by Jessica Redel); Choreography for Cynthia Gregory by Dennis Nahat; Scenery: Lloyd Evans; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Hans Sondheimer; Chorus Master: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Imre Pallo Cast: Gerald Grahame (Alfred), Inga Nielsen (Adele), Maralin Niska (Rosalinda von Eisenstein), Charles Roe (Gabriel von Eisenstein), Norman Large (Doctor Blind), Dominic Cossa (Doctor Falke), Richard McKee (Frank), Puli Toro (Sally), Gary J. Dietrich (Ivan), David Rae Smith (Prince Orlofsky), Jack Harrold (Frosch); Solo Dancers: Esperanza Galan and Taras Kalba; Special Guest Dance Soloist: Cynthia Gregory; Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in a summer resort near Vienna during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) premiered on April 5, 1874, at the Theatre an der Wien in Vienna, and was an immediate success because of Strauss’s enchanting music and the light-as-air plot of amorous misbehavior, marital deceptions, mistaken identities, and the requisite happy and romantic ending. The work was first sung in New York in German at Brooklyn’s Thalia Theatre on October 18, 1879, for 7 performances in repertory, and the first English adaptation (by Sydney Rosenfeld) opened at the Casino Theatre on March 16, 1885, for 42 performances. The operetta has been revived numerous times in both German and English, including such adaptations as The Merry Countess (Casino Theatre, August 20, 1912, for 135 performances; adaptation by Gladys Unger and lyrics by Arthur Anderson); A Wonderful Night (Majestic Theatre, October 31, 1929, for 125 performances with Archie Leach, who later changed his name to Cary Grant; adaptation by Fanny Todd Mitchell); Champagne, Sec (Morosco Theatre, October 30, 1933, for 113 performances; adaptation by Alan Child [aka Lawrence Langer] and lyrics by Robert A. Simon); and the most

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successful of all, Rosalinda (44th Street Theatre, October 28, 1942, for 521 performances; the adaptation by Gottfried Reinhardt and John Meehan Jr., was based on an earlier version by Max Reinhardt). In 1943, The Rose Masque was another version of the operetta; in this instance, the production was seen in Los Angeles and San Francisco but never risked New York. During the 1980s, the New York City Opera Company revived the operetta five times for a total of twenty-seven performances (besides the current production, the work was seen in September 1980, 1981, 1986, and 1987; for information about these four revivals, see specific entries). The operetta was also performed in German by the Vienna Volksoper in 1984 (see entry). For the current revival, Joseph Horowitz in the New York Times said the evening was “generally sparkling” and he noted that Maralin Niska, Inga Nielsen, and Cynthia Gregory made “strong contributions.” Niska’s Rosalinda was “feisty” and had “poise and enthusiasm,” and while her voice wasn’t “sweet” it was a “substantial instrument” that she used with “authority.” As Adele, Inga Nielsen “handled her notes smoothly and accurately” with a voice “of notable size and luster for a soubrette.” American Ballet Theatre’s Cynthia Gregory was given a “lyrical, long-lined solo” that was choreographed by Dennis Nahat, and it proved a “vital addition” to the ballroom scene where Gregory was “absorbed into the festivities rather than outsizing them.” Conductor Imre Pallo had a “light touch and a strong affinity for the style” of the operetta. There are innumerable recordings of Strauss’s score (almost all of which include a libretto), but there doesn’t seem to be a recording of the Reinhardt and Meehan adaptation, which has proven to be the most popular of all the English versions.

SILVERLAKE, OR A WINTER’S TALE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 20, 1980; Closing Date: April 4, 1980 Performances: 6 (in repertory) Book: Georg Kaiser (adaptation by Hugh Wheeler) Lyrics: Georg Kaiser (new lyrics by Lys Symonette) Music: Kurt Weill (other incidental music by Weill was interpolated into the current production by Lys Symonette) Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director) and Gert von Gontard; Choreography: Larry Fuller; Scenery and Costumes: Manuel Lutgenhorst; Lighting: Ken Billington; Chorus Master: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Julius Rudel Cast: Harlan Foss (Johann), Robert McFarland (Dietrich), William Neill (Severin), Edward Zimmerman (Heckler), James Clark (Klaus), Norman Large (Hans), Gary Chryst (Hunger), Penny Orloff (Salesgirl), Jane Shaulis (Salesgirl), David Rae Smith (Handke), Joey Grey (Officer Olim), William Poplaski (City Inspector), Jack Harrold (Lottery Agent, Baron Laur), Richard L. Porter (Doctor), Elizabeth Hynes (Fennimore), Gary Dietrich (Liveried Footman), Elaine Bonazzi (Frau von Luber), Michael Rubino (Chef), Rafael Romero (Chef); Singing Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus; Dancing Ensemble: The New York City Opera Dancers The opera was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around the village of Silverlake.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t identify musical numbers; the following list is taken from the cast recording of the City Opera production. Act One: “Duet of the Woodcutters” (Harlan Foss, Robert McFarland); “Duet of the Salesgirls” (Penny Orloff, Jane Shaulis); “In the Police Station” (Unseen Chorus); “Tango” (Joel Grey); “Olim! Olim!” (Unseen Chorus); “Duet in the Hospital” (William Neill, Joel Grey); “Fennimore’s Song” (Elizabeth Hynes); “The Ballad of Caesar’s Death” (Elaine Bonazzi); “Severin’s Revenge Aria” (William Neill); “Severin-Fennimore Duet” (William Neill, Elizabeth Hynes); Act One Finale (Chorus)

1979–1980 SEASON     7

Act Two: “Severin in Chains” (William Neill); “First Laur and Von Luber Duet” (Elaine Bonazzi, Jack Harrold); “Friendship Duet” (Joel Grey, William Neill); “Second Laur and Von Luber Duet” (Elaine Bonazzi, Jack Harrold); Act Two Finale (Chorus, Elizabeth Hynes, Joel Grey, William Neill) Kurt Weill’s opera Silverlake; or, A Winter’s Tale was first presented in New York by the New York City Opera Company some forty-seven years after the work premiered in Germany as Der silbersee: Ein wintermarchen in 1933. The original German production actually held three simultaneous premieres in three German cities (Leipzig, Magdeburg, and Erfurt) on the night of February 18, 1933, just three weeks after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Because of the political nature of Weill’s and librettist Georg Kaiser’s various works, the German government looked askance at the opera, and some performances were disrupted and eventually shut down. In his The Days Grow Short/The Life and Music of Kurt Weill, Ronald Sanders reports that a review of the opera in the Nazi mouthpiece Volkischer Beobachter stated that the “Jew” Weill “must be approached with the greatest suspicion,” and a viewing of Der Silbersee proved that “suspicion” of the composer was indeed “well grounded.” Further, some four weeks after the opera’s premiere Weill was secretly notified that the Gestapo planned to arrest him, and so he surreptitiously made his way out of Germany and temporarily settled in Paris. Silverlake contained political elements, most notably the controversial song “Ballad of Caesar’s Death” which stated that a political leader who lives by the sword will die by it, clearly a comment which didn’t sit well with Hitler’s supporters. The current production was adapted by Hugh Wheeler and Lys Symonette, and theirs was a free adaptation which played down the work’s political elements and focused on the humanitarian aspects of the story. The plot focused on the initial hostility between police officer Olim (Joel Grey) and homeless man Severin (William Neill). When Olim attains wealth he becomes more aware of the disparity between the rich and poor, and he and Severin become friends. The two begin a journey to Silverlake, a city that espouses brotherhood and freedom, and that lies on the opposite side of a huge lake. Although the winter weather has turned spring-like, a miracle occurs when the ice on the lake remains frozen and allows the two men to walk across it to the peaceful city of Silverlake. In some ways, the opera was the antithesis of Weill’s and Bertolt Brecht’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, which looked at the corrupt and evil city that is miraculously spared from destruction by a fierce hurricane. But in the case of Mahagonny, the miracle is interpreted as God’s blessing upon the city, and so corruption becomes manifest and the opera ends on a cynical note when the hero is executed for the worst crime imaginable, that of not paying his bills. Alan Rich in New York said some of the musical “distortion” (including the assignment of “The Ballad of Caesar’s Death” to a different character) was “one symptom” of director Harold Prince’s “overall failure to comprehend either play or music.” He complained about the “perverse” casting of Joel Grey as a “towering avatar of conscience and moral probity” when instead the actor should have been cast in a role “he might possibly qualify for,” such as “Skippy, say, or Sandy in a dinner-theatre Annie.” As a result, Grey brought “a timid squeak even smaller than himself” to Weill’s “splendid” songs. As for the lake of the title, it was the “size and shape of one of those patio fish-ponds.” Thor Eckert Jr., in the Christian Science Monitor noted that all the singers were “amplified in true Broadway tradition, a most ominous event for an opera house” (but he doubted Grey “could have managed” without the amplification). As for the lake, it was “a very tiny puddle of silverized plastic sheeting that is given the semblance of waves with forced air.” In reviewing a performance of Silverlake during its second round of City Opera performances, Peter G. Davis in the New York Times noted that while there had been “critical reservations” about the revamped opera, he felt that Wheeler and Symonette had created an “eminently stageworthy piece” that brimmed “with theatrical energy.” Incidentally, the director of the Leipzig production was Detlef Sierck, who as Douglas Sirk made his mark in Hollywood as the director of a series of intense over-the-top soap opera–like films that used symbolism and blazing colors to tell their stories. Among his films were Magnificent Obsession (1953), All That Heaven Allows (1956), Written on the Wind (1956), and Imitation of Life (1959). The current production was recorded by Nonesuch Records on a two-LP set that includes the libretto (# DB-79003). In 1990, a recording in the original German was released on a two-CD set by Capriccio Records

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(# 60011-2). The opera is analyzed in R. J. Spencer’s An Historical Study of Kurt Weill’s Der Silbersee: Ein wintermachen, published in softcover in 2013 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. The opera returned to City Opera’s repertory during the following season when it opened at the New York State Theatre on October 11, 1980, for four performances in repertory; this time around, John Lankston sang the role of Officer Olim. (See entry for more information.)

CENSORED SCENES FROM KING KONG “A Comic Extravaganza”

Theatre: Princess Theatre Opening Date: March 6, 1980; Closing Date: March 9, 1980 Performances: 5 Play and Lyrics: Howard Schuman Music: Andy Roberts Direction: Colin Bucksey; Producers: Michael White and Eddie Kulukundis (Robert S. Fishko, Associate Producer); Choreography: David Toguri; Scenery: Mike Porter; Costumes: Jennifer Von Mayrhauser; Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Not Credited Cast: Stephen Collins (Stephen), Nicky Mieholes (The Voice of the Producer), Pete Flasher (The Voice of the Author), Peter Reigert (S. K. Vogel, S. L. Vogel, Sauvage Sagar, Vincenzo Chiaruggi); The Fantoccini Sisters: Carrie Fisher (Iris) and Alma Cuervo (Deborah); Chris Sarandon (Benchgelter), Edward Love (Walter Wilma) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London during the present time.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Ha-Cha” (Carrie Fisher, Alma Cuervo, Edward Love); “Banana Oil” (Carrie Fisher, Alma Cuervo, Edward Love); “He Ain’t Sacred of Nothing” (Stephen Collins) Act Two: “Number One” (Carrie Fisher, Alma Cuervo, Edward Love); “Soft Shoe Freak” (Peter Reigert); “The Other Side of the Wall” (Edward Love) The work advertised itself as “a comic extravaganza,” but as far as the critics were concerned, Howard Schuman’s play-with-songs Censored Scenes from King Kong offered little in the way of comedy. And with one set and a six-member cast (along with prerecorded music and an offstage piano), one assumes the word “extravaganza” was used tongue-in-cheek. Along with Heartaches of a Pussycat and Bruce Forsyth on Broadway! (which had opened during the previous summer), Censored Scenes was the shortest-running musical of the season. The show had first been seen at the Edinburgh Festival in 1977 and was followed by a London production at the Open Space Theatre on October 21, 1977. A few years prior to its stage premiere, the work was reportedly filmed by the BBC (with a cast that included Julie Covington), but the network later declined to telecast the production. It appears the film has never been shown publicly, and along with the 1929 film version of The Five O’Clock Girl may well be the only film version of a play to be shelved upon completion and never released. All the action took place in the System, a tacky London nightclub where former journalist Stephen (Stephen Collins) is investigating the rumor that cut scenes from the 1933 film King Kong contained coded (and secret!) information for German agents during the years before World War II. As a result, the spies had to wait for Son of Kong in order to ascertain if that film might contain more secret information. Or maybe the deleted scenes had nothing whatsoever to do with politics and were instead coded messages for an international dope ring. The plot wasn’t any too clear, and the critics weren’t entirely certain what the play was about (but Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 was sure there “ain’t no Nazis” in the story and the “only international dopes” were the ones who brought the play to Broadway).

1979–1980 SEASON     9

At the club, Stephen meets the System’s owner Benchgelter (Chris Sarandon) and the club’s black piano player Walter Wilma (Edward Love), both of whom brought to mind another movie (Casablanca). Among the club’s menagerie are Iris (Carrie Fisher) and Deborah (Alma Cuervo), two singers and dancers who hope to make it in show business, as well as a trio of mysterious characters (all played by Peter Reigert). In what is perhaps a pre-Producers homage, one of Reigert’s roles was that of Sauvage Sagar, a collector of King Kong memorabilia: he’s unable to walk without the help of canes, and at one point he tosses sand on the stage, clicks his metal canes in place, and proceeds to go into a mean soft shoe. The headline of Douglas Watt’s review in the New York Daily News said to “Drop It Off the Empire State Building” because the show was a “disaster” and a “godawful mess” with “dumb” songs. Siegel said the evening had no “material,” only “remnants.” His television review included a snippet of one of the show’s songs, and he noted it was “one of the six worst songs ever performed on a Broadway stage” and warned that “the other five are in this show, too.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the first act was “confused,” the first twenty minutes of the second were “consistently zany,” and then the remainder of the second act collapsed. As a result, it was impossible “to go ape over” the show. Mel Gussow in the New York Times noted the evening was “sparse on laughs” and “about as spectacular as a cocktail piano.” The show was “as whimsical as it is witless” and it was “sub-Monty Python” in its comedy. He mentioned that one line spoken by Carrie Fisher summed up the entire evening: “What a load of banana oil!” The Princess Theatre (which was no relation to the fabled theatre on West 39th Street that had seen the premieres of a series of so-called “Princess” musicals by Jerome Kern and was demolished in 1955) had been the site of the popular nightclub the Latin Quarter. The venue was located at Broadway and West 47th Street; once the night spot closed, the space eventually deteriorated into an X-rated movie house, but was briefly resurrected as a traditional theatre known as the 22 Steps when Coquelico opened on February 22, 1979. The theatre was so named because one had to ascend twenty-two steps in order to reach the auditorium, which was located on the second floor of a mid-town building. The venue was generally considered as both a Broadway and Off-Broadway house, but it appears most if not all its productions were under a Middle or Limited Broadway contract (the theatre seated a total of 450 patrons, but except for an occasional opening night it’s unlikely the venue ever enjoyed a sold-out performance). In 1980, the theater was renamed the Princess, but by 1984 it reverted to its original name, the Latin Quarter. The final show to play there was Charles Strouse’s Mayor, which transferred from Off Broadway in 1985. In 1989, the building that housed the theatre was demolished and today a hotel stands on the site. Clive Barnes in the New York Post commented that the theatre season would be hard-pressed to “outmatch in horror” the “little number” called Censored Scenes from King Kong. (The headline of his review read that Kong was “more to be pitied than censored.”) After this “debacle,” he suggested the Princess Theatre should be called the Duchess Theatre or perhaps even the 21 Steps because “no theater is quite the same after an experience like this.” Besides the six songs heard during the evening, Irving Berlin’s “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (Annie Get Your Gun, 1946) was sung by Carrie Fisher. Barnes trusted that “ASCAP is arranging for Berlin to receive royalties” because “why should everyone suffer?” The critic also noted that during the entire 1979– 1980 season, one show would no doubt claim a gold medal for being “unutterably awful,” “stupendously bad,” and “pitifully dismal,” and he clearly believed Censored Scenes from King Kong had a good chance for winning that award.

HEARTACHES OF A PUSSYCAT Theatre: ANTA Theatre Opening Date: March 19, 1980; Closing Date: March 23, 1980 Performances: 5 Text: Genevieve Serreau and James Lord Music: Not credited Based on a story by Honore de Balzac. Direction: Alfredo Rodriguez-Arias; Producers: Kim D’Estainville and The Group TSE (Jack Schlissel, Associate Producer); Choreography: Marilu Marini; Scenery: Emilio Carcano; Original Designs: Andre Diot;

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Costumes: Claudie Gastine; Masks: Rostislav Doboujinsky; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Michel Sanvoisin Cast: Jacques Jolivet (Christy, Tomcat, Doctor, Altolaguirre), Amelie Berg (Pussycat, Lulu, Cactus), Facundo Bo (Old Maid, Risque, Puss-in-Boots), Larry Hager (Minister, Tomcat, Beggar), Raquel Iruzubieta (Mother of Beauty, Rhoda, Rose), Marilu Marini (Beauty), Horatio Pedrazzini (Mother of Lulu, Sir Midas, Asset), Zobeid Jaua (Lord Plumage, Thistle), Alain Salomon (Captain Pack, Tomcat), Jerome Nicolin (Arabella, Butterfly), Joachin Riano (Rabbit, Guitarist), Jean-Jacques Gueroult (Dog, Viola Player) The play with incidental music was presented in two acts. The action takes place circa 1840 in Ireland, London, the English countryside, and Paris.

Musical Sequences The program did not list individual musical numbers. The import Heartaches of a Pussycat was based on a French script that was first produced in Argentina in 1977 and was later seen in such cities as Paris and London. Broadway hadn’t been quite ready for the “cats” musical Shinbone Alley in 1957, and it wasn’t receptive to Pussycat, which lasted less than a week (and with Censored Scenes from King Kong and Bruce Forsyth on Broadway!, which had opened during the previous summer, it became the season’s shortest-running musical). But fifteen months after the current feline heartache, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats opened in London in June 1981 and became an immediate sensation. The following year Cats premiered on Broadway for almost “now and forever” and made up for the short shrift given to Shinbone Alley and Heartaches of a Pussycat. The work was based on a short story by Honore de Balzac, and the production design was inspired by the drawings of French illustrator J. J. Grandville as seen in the 1843 work Scenes de la vie privee et publique des animaux, which included the story upon which Pussycat was based. The plot followed the adventures of Beauty (Marilu Marini), a lovely pussycat whose memoirs describe her birth in Ireland, her life in London society, her marriage to a fat-cat financier, her dalliance with the handsome Puss-in-Boots (named Risque), and the latter’s death at the hands of a jealous fox. The performers wore charming animal masks for the characters they portrayed (cats as well as a dog, rabbit, fox, peacock, mouse, butterfly, and owl), and Walter Kerr in the New York Times wondered if anyone had ever created such realistic three-dimensional masks as those designed by Rostislav Doboujinsky for the production. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the masks “admirable” and Clive Barnes in the New York Post said they were “perfectly animal and yet perfectly human.” However, the wonderful masks got in the way of the storytelling, and Kerr mentioned that the dialogue was “somewhat muffled” because of the masks. Another problem was that the foreign-born performers had learned their English phonetically and thus their pronunciations further contributed to the dialogue’s lack of clarity. The critics also praised the scenic designs, particularly one that depicted the rooftops of Paris under a starry sky. Kerr said the “stunning” sequence might “make you sick with yearning for the story-book illustrations of your childhood” and noted the décor included “intricately painted detail” that seemed “to have been lacquered all over.” Otherwise, Kerr felt that throughout the evening each sequence began strong and then quickly became tedious with meandering dialogue and little in the way of compelling narrative. Barnes noted that Balzac’s original story was a satire of society, but now the humor was “merely quaint.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily suggested the charms of the evening were primarily visual, and felt it was a shame the production’s “opulence” didn’t give the performers more to do. Instead, the direction and the cast’s movements were evocative of “children’s theatre.” Watt said Pussycat “deserves to have a shoe thrown at it” because the action was “dull, doggedly (or cattily) attenuated.” He wanted to “forget the whole business” and noted that a “good part” of the audience “slinked off at intermission.” He concluded his review by exclaiming “Scratch! Claw! Phfftt!” As for the music, Kerr said it was “bafflingly undeveloped” and so when a “lively quadrille” started to “put its best paw forward,” the number suddenly “crumpled” away and wound down “to an unemphatic finish.” Watt mentioned the evening offered a brief dream dance, and Barnes suggested that dance audiences would most enjoy the production.

1979–1980 SEASON     11

Barnes mentioned that Jerome Robbins had “supervised” the Broadway production, and so presumably he had a hand in the direction, the movements of the cast, and the choreography. Some of the critics noted that the work was presented by the TSE Group, and Kerr reported that the director Alfredo Rodriguez-Arias stated that if TSE “stands for anything, it’s T.S. Eliot.” Because the evening centered on the life of a cat, Eliot may well have been the spiritual mentor of the production, and of course his 1939 volume of poetry Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was the inspiration for Cats.

REGGAE

“A Musical Revelation” Theatre: Biltmore Theatre Opening Date: March 27, 1980; Closing Date: April 13, 1980 Performances: 21 Book: Melvin Van Peebles, Kendrew Lascelles, and Stafford Harrison Lyrics and Music: Ras Karbi, Max Romeo, Michael Kamen, Randy Bishop, Kendrew Lascelles, Jackie Mittoo, and Stafford Harrison (Note: See song list for specific credits.) Direction: Glenda Dickerson (Gui Andrisano, Additional Direction); Producer: Michael Butler and Eric Nezhad with David Cogan (Woodie King Jr., Executive Producer); Choreography: Mike Malone (Rex Nettleford, Cultural Consultant for Dances); Scenery: Ed Burbridge; Costumes: Raoul Pene du Bois; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Michael Tschudin Cast: Alvin McDuffie (Anancy aka The Spider), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Faith), Philip Michael Thomas (Esau), Obba Babatunde (Rockets), Fran Salisbury (Mrs. Brown), Louise Robinson (Louise), Calvin Lockhart (Ras Joseph), Ras Karbi (Natty), Charles Wisnet (Gorson), Sam Harkness (Binghi Maytal); Ensemble: Loretta Abbott, Breeha Clarke, Ralph Glenmore, Jeffrey Anderson Gunter, Thomas Pinnock, Louise Robinson, Kiki Shepard, Beth Shorter, Paul Cook’Tartt, Bruce Taylor, Ras-jawara Tesfa, Avon Testamark, Constance Thomas, Juanita Grace Tyler, Byron Utley, Lewis Whitlock The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Jamaica during the period of twenty-four hours.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Junkanoo” (lyric and music by Michael Kamen) (Masquerade Parade); “Jamaica Is Waiting” (lyric and music by Ras Karbi, Max Romeo, and Michael Kamen) (Ensemble); “Rise Tafari” (lyric and music by Ras Karbi) (Ensemble); “Farmer” (lyric and music by Max Romeo) (Philip Michael Thomas); “Hey, Man” (lyric and music by Ras Karbi and Michael Kamen) (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Philip Michael Thomas); “Mash ’Em Up” (lyric and music by Kendrew Lascelles, Ras Karbi, Jackie Mittoo, and Michael Kamen) (Obba Babatunde, Rude Boys); “Mrs. Brown” (lyric and music by Stafford Harrison and Max Romeo) (Fran Salisbury, Louise Robinson, Ensemble); “Everything That Touches You” (lyric and music by Michael Kamen) (Fran Salisbury and unidentified performer); “Mash Ethiopia” (lyric and music by Kendrew Lascelles, Stafford Harrison, Ras Karbi, Jackie Mittoo, and Michael Kamen) (Obba Babatunde, Rude Boys); “Star of Zion” (lyric and music by Michael Kamen) (Ras Karbi); “Reggae Music Got Soul” (lyric and music by Jackie Mittoo) (Sam Harkness, Ensemble); “Talkin’ ’Bout Reggae” (lyric and music by Kendrew Lascelles, Stafford Harrison, Michael Kamen, and Jackie Mittoo) (Sam Harkness, Ensemble); “Everything That Touches You” (reprise) (Sheryl Lee Ralph) Act Two: “Rise Up, Jah-Jah Children” (lyric and music by Ras Karbi) (The Rastas, Calvin Lockhart); “No Sinners in Jah Yard” (lyric and music by Max Romeo and Ras Karbi) (Calvin Lockhart, The Rastas); “Banana, Banana, Banana” (lyric and music by Ras Karbi and Michael Kamen) (Ensemble); “Promised Land” (lyric and music by Ras Karbi) (Ras Karbi); “Rasta Roll Call” (lyric and music by Ras Karbi) (Calvin Lockhart, The Rastas); “Ethiopian Pageant” (music by Michael Kamen) (Orchestra); “Rastafari” (lyric and music by Michael Kamen) (Ensemble); “Roots of the Tree” (lyric and music by Kendrew Lascelles and Ras Karbi) (Calvin Lockhart, The Rastas); “I and I” (lyric and music by Kendrew Lascelles and Max Romeo) (Sheryl

12     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Lee Ralph, Philip Michael Thomas); “Gotta Take a Chance” (lyric and music by Max Romeo and Michael Kamen) (Obba Babatunde, Rude Boys); “Star of Zion” (reprise) (Ras Karbi, Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Chase the Devil” (lyric and music by Max Romeo) (Philip Michael Thomas); “Now I See It” (lyric and music by Kendrew Lascelles and Randy Bishop) (Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Now I See It” (Reggae version) (reprise) (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ensemble); “Everything That Touches You” (reprise) (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Philip Michael Thomas); “Reggae Music Got Soul” (reprise) (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Philip Michael Thomas, Ensemble); “Jamaica Is Waiting” (reprise) (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Philip Michael Thomas, Ensemble) Producer Michael Butler was credited with the “concept and production” of Reggae, and perhaps he was looking for his second “hair” musical: he had produced the Broadway edition of Hair in 1968, which, like Reggae, had played at the Biltmore Theatre; and while Hair celebrated long “snaggy shaggy ratty matty” hair as emblematic of a rebellious lifestyle, many of the characters in Reggae sported dreadlocks to establish their bona fides. But Hair played on Broadway for 1,750 performances, and Reggae managed just twenty-one showings. Reportedly written over a five-year period, the musical credited three book writers, seven lyricists and composers, two directors, one choreographer, and one dance consultant. The show never found its tone, and more than one critic noted the work seemed to have been created by a committee. The scattershot plot, which took place within a twenty-four-hour period in modern-day Jamaica, observed the classical unities but forgot to present a coherent and unified story. As a result, the evening offered too many subplots and characters and left the critics confused about what was going on. The program even included a full-page insert of “Jamaican Patois and Rastafarian Terminology” for the uninitiated. Popular singer Faith (Sheryl Lee Ralph) arrives in Jamaica from the United States (which according to the musical’s suspect politics is called Babylon) to seek her roots and meet her old flame, Esau (Philip Michael Thomas), who grows marijuana. Another character (Natty, played by Ras Karbi, who also contributed lyrics and music to the production) is an illiterate farmer in search of God; Ras Joseph (Calvin Lockhart) is a priest of the Rastafarian sect (which recognizes the divinity of Ethiopian leader Haile Selassie and the religious properties of marijuana, and also espouses the notion that all blacks should return to their homeland of Africa); and Rockets (Obba Babatunde), a member of the “rude boys” gang, which plots to steal Esau’s marijuana. The evening also offered Binghi Maytal (Sam Harkness), a local Jamaican entertainer; Anancy, aka The Spider (Alvin McDuffie), a kind of narrator who throughout the evening weaves in and out of the action while striking slightly menacing and spidery poses (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News suggested he was similar in nature to El Pachuco, the mysterious narrator of the previous season’s Zoot Suit); and there was even a white character, the tourist Gorson (Charles Wisnet), who had featured billing but was barely seen throughout the show (Mel Gussow in the New York Times suspected he was a “leftover” from an earlier version of the musical and Watt mentioned that once the tourist had his picture taken with the natives he apparently “returned to his ship with his souvenir photo”). Gussow said the production was a “musical confusion” that was “clotted” with characters and plots. The dialogue was sometimes “fatuous,” the scenery was of the “tin-can” variety, and he suspected the production might have been more successful as a concert. Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the dialogue “simplistic” and the plot “simply simple,” and Watt said the “simpleminded” musical’s ending sequence took place in a nightclub that found “everybody bouncing about to a disco beat while singing ‘Reggae Music Got Soul.’” Watt suggested a nightclub venue was where Reggae “probably belonged in the first place,” and he also observed that when Faith attends a Rastafarian religious ritual “she sees the shining ideal behind the squalor of the Jamaican slums.” But Watt said he was “unclear” about just what Faith saw. Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily said Reggae was “a message musical without a message” and didn’t seem to have a plot. Further, most of the songs “could be put anywhere in the show and be just as confusing as they are now.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek regretted that the production never “jelled,” but said the score offered some of the “freshest” music “heard on Broadway in some time,” and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal felt the musical “had the appearance of still being assembled when it opened.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 noted that reggae music was “exciting, multi-rhythmed, and infectious,” but Reggae was “none of the above.” Whatever was seen on stage “at any given moment has nothing whatsoever to do with what you might have seen before—or what you’re going to see next.” The musical had “no focus” and “no point.”

1979–1980 SEASON     13

During previews, the following songs were cut: “Flowers,” “Vision,” “No Sinners,” “Market,” “Silly Simon,” and “Have a Grand Time” (the latter was a traditional Jamaican song). Ruth Cooke was succeeded by Sheryl Lee Ralph, and when his character of Turner was written out of the script, Bill McCutcheon left the show. In preproduction, the musical was known as Rise Tafari. Incidentally, in his review Siegel mentioned that throughout the opening-night performance the Biltmore’s sound system picked up a radio transmission, and so over the theatre’s speakers the audience could hear announcer Marv Albert reporting on a Knicks game. Later in the season, Frank Rich reviewed Musical Chairs for the New York Times and noted that Musical Chairs replaced Reggae as “the worst musical of the 1979–80 season.” But he cautioned that Musical Chairs didn’t come by this “perverse victory” in an easy manner because the book scenes of Reggae offered the added attraction of a Knicks game that was broadcast “incessantly” through the theatre’s loudspeakers (and the reportage of the Knicks game was the “best” part of Reggae).

HAPPY NEW YEAR Theatre: Morosco Theatre Opening Date: April 27, 1980; Closing Date: May 10, 1980 Performances: 25 Book: Burt Shevelove Lyrics: Cole Porter; additional lyrics by Burt Shevelove Music: Cole Porter Based on the 1928 play Holiday by Philip Barry. Direction: Burt Shevelove; Producers: Leonard Soloway, Allan Francis, and Hale Matthews in association with Marble Arch Productions (Dorothy Cherry, Associate Producer); Choreography: Donald Saddler (Mercedes Ellington, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Michael Eagan; Costumes: Pierre Balmain; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Buster Davis; Note: The program indicated that the songs were “edited” by Buster Davis. Cast: John McMartin (Narrator), William Roerick (Edward Seton), Richard Bekins (Ned aka Edward Seton Jr.), Kimberly Farr (Julia Seton), Leslie Denniston (Linda Seton), Michael Scott (Johnny Case); The Staff: Roger Hamilton (Frazer), Morgan Ensminger (Charles), J. Thomas Smith (Patrick), Tim Flavin (George), Richard Christopher (Steven), Lara Teeter (Victor), Lauren Goler (Rose), Mary Sue Finnerty (Maude, Miss Madden), Bobbie Nord (Annie), and Michelle Marshall (Bridget); Some of the Stork Club Set: Lauren Goler (Nancy), Mary Sue Finnerty (Mary), Michelle Marshall (Joan), Bobbie Nord (Gloria), Tim Flavin (Thompson), Lara Teeter (Dixon), Morgan Ensminger (Anderson), and Richard Christopher (Harrison) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during December 1933 and January 1934.

Musical Numbers Act One: “At Long Last Love” (1938 musical You Never Know) (Kimberly Farr, Leslie Denniston, Richard Bekins); “Ridin’ High” (1936 musical Red Hot and Blue) (Michael Scott, Kimberly Farr); “Let’s Be Buddies” (1940 musical Panama Hattie) (Michael Scott, Leslie Denniston); “Boy, Oh Boy” (lyric by Burt Shevelove; the original lyric was known as “Pitter-Patter,” a song cut from the tryout of Hitchy-Koo of 1922) (Leslie Denniston); “Easy to Love” (1936 film Born to Dance) (Young Men); “You Do Something to Me” (1929 musical Fifty Million Frenchmen) (Michael Scott); “Red Hot and Blue” (1936 musical Red Hot and Blue) (Leslie Denniston, Michael Scott, J. Thomas Smith, Stork Club Set); “Once Upon a Time” (intended for unproduced musical Ever Yours; written during 1933–1934) (Richard Bekins, Leslie Denniston) Act Two: “Night and Day” (1932 musical Gay Divorce) (John McMartin, Michael Scott); “Let’s Make It a Night” (written for but not used in 1955 musical Silk Stockings) (Leslie Denniston, Tim Flavin, Lara Teeter); “Ours” (1936 musical Red Hot and Blue) (Kimberly Farr); “After You, Who?” (1932 musical Gay Divorce) (Michael Scott); “I Am Loved” (1950 musical Out of This World) (Kimberly Farr); “When Your

14     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Troubles Have Started” (cut during the tryout of 1936 musical Red Hot and Blue) (Leslie Denniston, Richard Bekins) Note: The production also included incidental music by Cole Porter: “Just One of Those Things” (1935 musical Jubilee); “It’s De-Lovely” (1936 musical Red Hot and Blue); “Take Me Back to Manhattan” (1930 musical The New Yorkers); “Make It Another Old Fashioned, Please” (1940 musical Panama Hattie); “They Couldn’t Compare to You” (1950 musical Out of This World); “You’ve Got That Thing” (1929 musical Fifty Million Frenchmen); “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” (1944 musical Seven Lively Arts); “Let’s Do It” (aka “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love”) (1928 musical Paree); “Where Have You Been?” (1930 musical The New Yorkers); “Let’s Fly Away” (1930 musical The New Yorkers); “Girls” (1944 musical Mexican Hayride); and “What Is This Thing Called Love?” (March 1929 London musical Wake Up and Dream; produced in New York in December 1929). Happy New Year was Burt Shevelove’s failed attempt to graft a number of Cole Porter songs from various stage and film musicals into a lyric adaptation of Philip Barry’s memorable 1928 comedy-drama Holiday. The show didn’t work and was gone in three weeks. Besides awkwardly shoehorning preexisting songs into the storyline, the musical employed the lazy device of using a narrator (John McMartin) to comment on the action. Further, the new adaptation dropped two characters from the original play, the amusing and eccentric Nick and Susan Potter, both of whom would have been perfect for a musical comedy. The musical advanced the original play’s action from the late 1920s to the early 1930s, and focused on a wealthy Manhattan family: the stuffy Edward Seton (William Roerick) and his three adult children, the conventional Julia (Kimberly Farr), the vaguely unhappy Linda (Leslie Denniston), and the semi-alcoholic Ned (Richard Bekins), who, like Linda, is discontent and somewhat disdainful of the family’s sacred gods of money and social position. Julia becomes engaged to Johnny Case (Michael Scott), a dashing and unique young man with a distinctly iconoclastic point of view: he’s earned a packet of money and plans to retire young and enjoy life, and then settle down and work when he’s older. Although Julia is appalled by Johnny’s unconventional approach to life and money, Linda is charmed by his views. At the end of the musical, Johnny and Julia are no longer engaged and Johnny realizes he loves Linda. And moments before the final curtain, the narrator springs a surprise on the audience and reveals that he’s the older Johnny, who has been reminiscing; and he tells us that three days after the final scene he and Linda were married aboard the Ile de France. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “limp” musical never really gained momentum and was “a pale imitation of the genuine article” of the musicals that Barry and Porter were undoubtedly turning out in heaven every season. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily felt that the Porter songs heard during the evening had “minimal emotional content” and thus made the characters who sang them “commentators” rather than “participants.” Further, the use of narration made the action “seem remote,” and thus the distance created by the musical’s structure and its use of songs slowed down the action. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found the musical “intermittently agreeable” but admitted it didn’t “quite work out.” He liked the cast; praised “Let’s Make It a Night” (performed by Leslie Denniston, Tim Flavin, and Lara Teeter) and noted it was Donald Saddler’s best choreographic inspiration; and he singled out the “spiffy” costumes by Pierre Balmain. But he thought the set was “cluttered” and commented that the use of black drapes strewn across the stage was not one of the show’s “happier concepts.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek said Happy New Year “tastes more like Howard Johnson’s than haute cuisine.” The script was “skeletalized,” the songs were “pasted on,” and the use of a narrator indicated that Shevelove didn’t trust his adaptation. T. E. Kalem in Time suggested the narrator was necessary “to fill in the gaps,” and although John McMartin performed the role “with guileful urbanity,” the use of a narrator was like giving the show a “sleeping pill.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal felt the musical was “neither an authentic period piece nor a modern musical,” and he quoted a line from Porter’s “It’s All Right with Me” (from the 1953 musical Can-Can): It’s “the wrong time and the wrong place.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the musical wasn’t “big enough for Broadway,” and he would have enjoyed the show more had it been produced in a small OffBroadway theatre or in a nightclub. But Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 praised the “style and spirit,” “class,” and “fun” of the musical and hoped the show would “live to see many of its own Happy New Years” on Broadway; Mel Gussow in the New York Times found the show “a welcome end-of-season surprise” (although he noted the use of a narrator

1979–1980 SEASON     15

was one of “the hoariest of devices”); and while Clive Barnes in the New York Post had reservations about the show (it should have been an “unalloyed delight” and was instead “distinctly alloyed”), he nonetheless said the evening was a “playful, tuneful, civilized musical” with “exquisite” choreography, and he tipped his critical hat to the “anonymous” wig-makers, hair-dressers, and makeup artists who made the cast look “like passengers on the maiden voyage of the S.S. Normandie.” The musical had originally been produced at the Avon Stage at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, during Summer 1979. The cast included Ted Follows (Narrator), Eric Donkin (Edward Seton), David Dunbar (Ned Seton), Leigh Beery (Julia Seton), Victoria Snow (Linda Seton), and Ed Evanko (Johnny Case), none of whom appeared in the Broadway production. Songs performed in this version which weren’t heard in New York were: “I’m in Love at Last”; “To Hell with Everyone (Ev’rything) but Us” (written for but not used in 1950 musical Out of This World); “See for Yourself”; “Nervous”; “Find Me a Primitive Man” (1929 musical Fifty Million Frenchmen); “Bless the Bride”; “Good-Bye, Little Dream, Good-Bye” (written for but not used in 1936 film Born to Dance; later performed in 1936 musical Red Hot and Blue but cut during its tryout, and finally heard in 1936 London musical O Mistress Mine); and “My Lover Loves Me.” It’s probable that the lyrics for “I’m in Love at Last,” “See for Yourself,” “Nervous,” “Bless the Bride,” and “My Lover Loves Me” were written by Shevelove (sources of music unknown). During New York previews, William Atherton played the role of Johnny and was succeeded by Michael Scott. Of the incidental music heard during the preview period, the following numbers were cut: “Get Out of Town” (1938 musical Leave It to Me); “Looking at You” (March 1929 London musical Wake Up and Dream; produced in New York in December 1929); “Them” (lyric probably written by Shevelove; source of music unknown); and “To Think That This Could Happen to Me” (written for but not used in 1953 musical Can-Can). A “collaboration” of sorts by Porter and Barry had actually occurred in 1956, seven years after Barry’s death. Porter wrote the songs for the film musical adaptation of Barry’s 1939 play The Philadelphia Story. MGM’s High Society starred Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, and Louis Armstrong, and Porter’s score yielded one of the era’s biggest hit songs, “True Love.” The script of Happy New Year was published in softcover by Samuel French, Inc., in 1982. Happy New Year marked John McMartin’s first of two Cole Porter rehashes. He also appeared in the desultory stage version of High Society, which opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on April 27, 1998, for 144 performances.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Costume Designer (Pierre Balmain)

BARNUM

“A New Musical” Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: April 30, 1980; Closing Date: May 16, 1982 Performances: 854 Book: Mark Bramble Lyrics: Michael Stewart Music: Cy Coleman Direction and Choreography: Joe Layton; Producers: Judy Gordon, Cy Coleman, and Maurice and Lois F. Rosenfeld in association with Irvin Feld and Kenneth Feld (Steven A. Greenberg and Michael Scharf, Associate Producers); Circus Training: The Big Apple Circus and The New York School for Circus Arts; Scenery: David Mitchell; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Craig Miller; Musical Direction: Peter Howard Cast: Jim Dale (Phineas Taylor Barnum), Glenn Close (Chairy Barnum), William C. Witter (Ringmaster, Julius Goldschmidt, James A. Bailey), Terrence V. Mann (Chester Lyman, Humbert Morrissey), Terri White (Joice Heth), Kelly Walters (Amos Scudder, Edgar Templeton), Catherine Carr (Lady Plate Balancer), Barbara Nadel (Lady Juggler), Edward T. Jacobs (Chief Bricklayer), Andy Tierstein (White-Faced Clown), Dirk Lumbard (Sherwood Stratton), Sophie Schwab (Mrs. Sherwood Stratton), Leonard John Crofoot (Tom

16     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Thumb), Karen Trott (Susan B. Anthony), Marianne Tatum (Jenny Lind), Steven Michael (One-Man Band), Bruce Robertson (Wilton), Robbi Morgan (Lady Aerialist) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place all over America and in the major world capitals during the period 1835–1880.

Musical Numbers Act One: “There’s a Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute” (Jim Dale); “Thank God I’m Old” (Terri White, Tambourine Players); “The Colors of My Life” (Jim Dale, Glenn Close); “One Brick at a Time” (Glenn Close, Jim Dale, Bricklayers); “Museum Song” (Jim Dale); “I Like Your Style” (Jim Dale, Glenn Close); “Bigger Isn’t Better” (Leonard John Crofoot); “Love Makes Such Fools of Us All” (Marianne Tatum); “Out There” (Jim Dale) Act Two: “Come Follow the Band” (The Potomac Marching Band, Washingtonians); “Black and White” (Glenn Close, Choir, Blues Singer, Jim Dale, Citizens of Bridgeport); “The Colors of My Life” (reprise) (Jim Dale, Glenn Close); “The Prince of Humbug” (Jim Dale); “Join the Circus” (William C. Witter, All Circus Performers, Jim Dale) Cy Coleman’s Barnum avoided the typical by-the-numbers approach of most show-biz sagas by telling the story of P. T. Barnum (Jim Dale) with an appropriate circus motif, a gimmick that succeeded in Archibald MacLeish’s 1958 drama JB, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s Stop the World—I Want to Get Off (London, 1961; New York, 1962), and the 2013 revival of Bob Fosse’s Pippin. The circus trappings surrounding Barnum made for a fast-moving evening that never got too bogged down in conventional storytelling. Michael Stewart’s book encompassed and compressed Barnum’s life and times into a colorful circus environment that included juggling, baton twirling, rope-swinging, somersaulting, and high-wire performing, not to mention antics with trampolines and unicycles as well as marching bands and representations of such animals as tigers and elephants (the latter made an impressive scenic effect when contrasted against tiny Tom Thumb, who was portrayed by Leonard John Crofoot). If all this weren’t enough, the audience was showered with confetti, balloons, and handbills (which announce that “President and Mrs. Fillmore respectfully invite the good citizens of Washington to join them on the White House lawn, where Miss Jenny Lind will make her first appearance in our nation’s capital”). As a result, the ups and downs of charming huckster Phineas Taylor Barnum’s life were glossed over with the circus conception, and a good thing, too. The depiction of his marriage to the somewhat tiresome Chairy (Glenn Close) was dreary, and his brief fling with singer Jenny Lind (Marianne Tatum) was over almost as soon as it began, and so there was little in the way of plot, character, and conflict. And of course when Barnum is at his lowest ebb, he joins forces with James A. Bailey (William C. Witter) and the two present the grandeur of the three-ring circus to an eager ticket-buying public. Coleman’s score was pleasant, but hardly represented his best work. For all that, it enjoyed a number of recordings and is one of his most-recorded scores (five cast albums and one instrumental version; for more information, see below). Many of the songs were lively, particularly “There’s a Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute,” “Come Follow the Band,” and “Join the Circus.” However, the “big” ballad “The Colors of My Life” was lugubrious and festooned with clichéd images, and one or two numbers (such as “Love Makes Such Fools of Us All”) missed the mark. For the most part, the critics raved about the show and showered valentines on Dale, who won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said Dale was “the most engaging con man to hit town since old P.T. Barnum himself”; Jack Kroll in Newsweek said that for his “tour de force” Dale did “everything but eat a can of Alpo”; T. E. Kalem in Time proclaimed that Dale was “the Decathlon Man of the musical theatre”; Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the star was “a oneman, three-ring, four-star circus”; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found Dale a “dazzlingly multi-talented entertainer”; and Frank Rich in the New York Times said Dale was a “human wonder” who performed “enough tricks to make all but a Houdini dizzy.” Barnes told his readers to “grab this one,” but he noted that the script was “flawed” because book writer Mark Bramble “rambles, and his book emerges as a library of good intentions.” However, Coleman’s score was “honey-combed with both wit and feeling” and director-choreographer Joe Layton’s contributions were “unobtrusively effective” with a “seamless style.” Although Rich said the production wasn’t “the greatest

1979–1980 SEASON     17

show on earth—or even the greatest musical on 44th Street,” he nonetheless enjoyed the “evening of pure, exhilarating fun.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News also noted the musical wasn’t “the greatest show on earth,” but it was still “colorful, eye-catching and abundantly high-spirited.” The book was “sketchy” but “serviceable,” and the show was “joyously staged” by Layton. But Kroll said Barnum was a “one-idea” show that was “a bomb disguised as a bombshell.” There was a “weird sameness” about most of its songs (and Coleman’s score was a “doleful disappointment”) and overall the musical was a “humdrum humbug, even though the hum is loud and the drum is deafening.” Kalem stated Bramble had “sketched in the details of Barnum’s career like a superficially canned guided tour,” and Wilson noted that whenever the musical dwelled too long on its theme and story it fell “from its high wire to earth with a plop.” During previews, Barnum was performed in one act and the following songs were cut: “Now You See It, Now You Don’t,” “That’s What the Poor Woman Is,” and “At Least I Tried.” The script was published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday, Inc., in 1980. The original cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # JS-36576) and later on CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy (# SK89999); the latter release offers four bonus tracks sung either by Coleman or by both Coleman and Michael Stewart, including the cut “At Least I Tried” and the unused “So Little Time.” The Paris production opened at the Cirque d’Hiver at a cost of $2 million, but closed after two months. The cast included Jean-Luc Moreau in the title role, and the cast album, which was issued by JMB Records/ RCA (LP # ZL-37467), includes “Un pigeon toutes les minutes,” “Tom Pouce,” “L’amour est fou tant pis pour vous,” and “Le roi du bla bla.” The Italian cast album was issued by CGD Records (LP # CGD-20392), and the Madrid cast album by Bat Discos (LP # BM-001). The Cy Coleman Trio (Coleman, Jonathan Miller, and Ron Zito) recorded Barnum, an album of songs from the production that includes the cut number “At Least I Tried” (Gryphon Records LP # G-918). The London production starred Michael Crawford, and opened at the London Palladium on June 11, 1981, for 655 performances. The cast album was released by Chrysalis Records (CD # CDL-1348). Crawford later reprised his role in the mid-1980s, and the production was first shown on the BBC in 1986, and then later on American television; this version was released on DVD by Water Bearer Films. Eleven years after Barnum opened, Coleman composed a similar musical with The Will Rogers Follies. The new show also employed a show business–styled technique to tell its story, but instead of a circus motif the structure of a Broadway revue was used to examine the private and professional worlds of humorist Will Rogers (the musical was in fact subtitled A Life in Revue). Although both Barnum and Rogers enjoyed long runs and numerous Tony Awards, the latter didn’t recoup its entire investment. But it was a more enjoyable show than Barnum, and while Rogers’s wife Betty was almost as tiresome as Barnum’s Chairy, the character redeemed herself with a knock-out blues number. The musical also offered show-stopping Ziegfeldian production numbers and a strong score, and it ended on a poignant note with the elegiac “Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like” and Rogers’s premature death in an airplane accident.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Barnum); Leading Actor in a Musical (Jim Dale); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Glenn Close); Best Director of a Musical (Joe Layton); Best Book of a Musical (Mark Bramble); Best Score (music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Michael Stewart); Best Scenic Designer (David Mitchell, in a tie with John Lee Beatty for the drama Talley’s Folly); Best Costume Designer (Theoni V. Aldredge); Best Lighting Designer (Craig Miller); Best Choreographer (Joe Layton)

A DAY IN HOLLYWOOD/A NIGHT IN THE UKRAINE “A Musical Double Feature” / “The Funniest Musical

the

Marx Brothers Never Wrote!”

Theatre: John Golden Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Royale Theatre) Opening Date: May 1, 1980; Closing Date: September 27, 1981 Performances: 588

18     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Book and Lyrics: Dick Vosburgh Music: Frank Lazarus A Night in the Ukraine was based on Anton Chekhov’s 1888 play “The Bear.” Direction and Choreography: Tommy Tune (Thommie Walsh, Co-choreographer); Producers: Alexander H. Cohen and Hildy Parks (Roy A. Somlyo, Coproducer; Philip M. Getter, Associate Producer); Scenery: Tony Walton; Costumes: Michel Stuart; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Wally Harper Cast: Priscilla Lopez, David Garrison, Frank Lazarus, Stephen James, Peggy Hewett, Kate Draper, Niki Harris, Albert Stephenson The two one-act musicals A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine were first seen in London where they opened on January 15, 1979, at the Theatre at New End before transferring to the Mayfair Theatre in the West End on March 28, 1979, for 168 performances; the evening was billed as “A Thirties Double Feature” and was directed by Ian Davidson. By the time the double bill reached New York, the two musicals had been rewritten and restaged: Tommy Tune was now the director and choreographer, and Jerry Herman contributed three new songs for the Hollywood portion of the evening (“Just Go to the Movies,” “Nelson,” and “The Best in the World”). The cast album was recorded by DRG Records (LP # SBL-12580 and CD # 12580).

A Day in Hollywood The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in Hollywood on New Year’s Eve of 1939. Note: The New York program listed the names of performers, but didn’t assign them character names; the following list includes character names that appeared in the tryout program; for New York, all the characters, with the exception of the dancers, portrayed ushers and usherettes. Cast: David Garrison (Junior Usher, Stage Manager), Stephen James (Theater Doorman, Comedy Writer), Priscilla Lopez (Ticket-Taker, Wardrobe Supervisor), Kate Draper (Usherette, Property Mistress), Peggy Hewett (Chief Usher, Dance Director), Frank Lazarus (Lobby Captain, Tunesmith), Niki Harris and Albert Stephenson (Dancing Feet)

Musical Numbers “Just Go to the Movies” (lyric and music by Jerry Herman) (Priscilla Lopez, David Garrison, Frank Lazarus, Stephen James, Peggy Hewett, Kate Draper); “Famous Feet” (lyric by Dick Vosburgh, music by Frank Lazarus) (Priscilla Lopez, David Garrison; danced by Niki Harris and Albert Stephenson); “I Love a Film Cliché” (lyric by Dick Vosburgh, music by Trevor Lyttleton, and additional music by Frank Lazarus) (Frank Lazarus); “Nelson” (lyric and music by Jerry Herman) (Peggy Hewett); “The Best in the World” (lyric and music by Jerry Herman) (Priscilla Lopez); “It All Comes Out of the Piano” (lyric by Dick Vosburgh and Frank Lazarus, music by Frank Lazarus) (Frank Lazarus); Richard A. Whiting Medley (Entire Cast); “Thanks for the Memory” (1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938; lyric by Leo Robin, music by Ralph Rainger); “Another Memory” (lyric by Dick Vosburgh, music by Frank Lazarus);“Doin’ the Production Code” (lyric by Dick Vosburgh, music by Frank Lazarus) (Priscilla Lopez, David Garrison, Frank Lazarus, Stephen James, Peggy Hewett, Kate Draper); “A Night in the Ukraine” (lyric by Dick Vosburgh, music by Frank Lazarus) (Entire Cast) Other songs heard in A Day in Hollywood were: “Louise” (1929 film Innocents of Paris; lyric by Leo Robin, music by Richard A. Whiting); “Beyond the Blue Horizon” (1930 film Monte Carlo; lyric by Leo Robin, music by W. Franke Harling and Richard A. Whiting): “Two Sleepy People” (1938 film Thanks for the Memory; lyric by Frank Loesser, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Double Trouble” (1935 film The Big Broadcast of 1936; lyric by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, music by Richard A. Whiting); “Sleepy Time Gal” (lyric by Joseph Reed Alden and Raymond B. Egan, music by Ange Lorenzo and Richard A. Whiting); “Over the Rainbow” (1939 film The Wizard of Oz; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen);

1979–1980 SEASON     19

“On the Good Ship Lollipop” (1934 film Bright Eyes; lyric by Sidney Clare, music by Richard A. Whiting); “Too Marvelous for Words” (1937 film Ready, Willing and Able; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Richard A. Whiting); “The Japanese Sandman” (lyric by Raymond Egan, music by Richard A. Whiting); “Hooray for Hollywood” (1938 film Hollywood Hotel; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Richard A. Whiting); “Ain’t We Got Fun?” (1920 musical Satires of 1920; lyric by Raymond B. Egan and Gus Kahn, music by Richard A. Whiting); “Easy to Love” (1936 film Born to Dance; lyric and music by Cole Porter); and “Cocktails for Two” (1934 film Murder at the Vanities; lyric by Sam Coslow, music by Arthur Johnston) A Day in Hollywood was a revue in which the ushers and usherettes at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood pay tribute to the songs and styles of 1930s movie musicals. The evening’s highlight was the ingenious “Famous Feet,” danced by Niki Harris and Albert Stephenson. The clever staging included a raised platform connected to a mirrored scenic device that allowed the audience to see only the performers’ feet and legs as they danced their tributes to Hollywood royalty by the use of tell-tale, trademark shoes. Among the saluted stars were Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and the Mouses Mickey and Minnie. The staging idea of “Famous Feet” was first used in an entirely different musical. Before Hollywood/ Ukraine offered “Famous Feet,” the musical Double Feature premiered at the Long Wharf Theatre on November 15, 1979, with book, lyrics, and music by Jeffrey Moss. The director was Mike Nichols, the choreographer was Tommy Tune (Thommie Walsh was assistant choreographer), the décor was by Tony Walton, the costumes were by Dona Granata and Michel Stuart, Wally Harper was the musical director, and dancers Niki Harris and Albert Stephenson performed “One Step at a Time,” for which Tune had devised the choreographic conceit of using the dancers’ feet to represent Hollywood stars of yore. Of course, Tune, Walsh, Walton, Stuart, Harper, Harris, and Stephenson were also on hand for Hollywood/Ukraine. Double Feature opened Off Broadway a few days after Hollywood/Ukraine gave its final Broadway showing. The production premiered on October 8, 1981, at The Theatre at St. Peter’s Church for seven performances, and this time around the choreographer was Adam Grammis and “One Step at a Time” was sung (but not danced) by Don Scardino and Pamela Blair. Besides “Famous Feet,” other highlights of Hollywood included “Nelson,” Peggy Hewett’s tribute to Jeanette MacDonald which found her serenading a cardboard cutout of the almost always wooden Nelson Eddy; the crowd-pleaser “Doin’ the Production Code,” a list song that celebrated verboten subjects on the silver screen; and a tribute to composer Richard A. Whiting. For the finale of Hollywood, the cast sang “A Night in the Ukraine” as a preview of the coming attraction. T. E. Kalem in Time praised Hollywood for perfectly capturing “the clichés, the formulas, and the juicily idiotic emotional punch lines of the period” and singled out Hewett for her “slyly ironic” tribute to the MacDonald and Eddy school of 1930s musicals. Mel Gussow in the New York Times liked the “double-barreled pastiche” of 1930s movies; Jack Kroll in Newsweek hailed the “celebration of the wit and wisdom of movie clichés”; and Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 enjoyed the “splendidly funny and remarkably clever” nod to movie musicals. During the tryout, the following songs were dropped: “All God’s Chillun Got Movie Shows,” “Grauman’s Chinese Theatre,” “Movie Fan’s Love Song,” “First-Class Feature,” and “Tinseltown.” During the earlier London run of the musical, the songs “Goldwyn & Warner & May’r, & Zanuck & Zukor & Cohn” and “Movies Are Your Best Entertainment” were heard.

A Night in the Ukraine The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in the Ukraine before the Revolution. Based on the 1888 play The Bear by Anton Chekhov. Cast: Peggy Hewett (Mrs. Pavlenko), Frank Lazarus (Carlo), Priscilla Lopez (Gino), David Garrison (Serge B. Samovar), Kate Draper (Nina), Stephen James (Constantine), Niki Harris (Masha), Albert Stephenson (Sascha)

20     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Musical Numbers “Samovar the Lawyer” (David Garrison); “Just Like That” (Kate Draper, Stephen James); “Again” (Kate Draper, Stephen James); “A Duel! A Duel!” (Peggy Hewett, David Garrison); “Natasha” (David Garrison); “A Night in the Ukraine” (reprise) (Entire Cast) A Night in the Ukraine was loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s play “The Bear” (the show identified Chekhov as “Russia’s greatest gag writer”) and was presented as a typical Marx Brothers’ comedy. The action takes place in the luxurious estate of the haughty and wealthy widow Mrs. Pavlenko (Peggy Hewett, in the Margaret Dumont role); Groucho (David Garrison) is Serge B. Samovar, a shyster lawyer from Moscow seeking legal fees due him by the late Mr. Pavlenko; Chico (Frank Lazarus) is Carlo, an Italian footman, and Harpo is Carlo’s brother Gino (Priscilla Lopez), a gardener. And in what might be deemed the Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones roles are Mrs. Pavlenko’s lovely daughter Nina (Kate Draper) and her handsome boyfriend Constantine, the coachman (Stephen James). Jones sang “Alone” incessantly throughout the 1935 Marx Brothers’ film A Night at the Opera, and his counterpart in Ukraine sings “Again” again and again and again. Zaniness of course reigns (if not pours), and there are mistaken identities, confusions, bad puns, surreal dialogue, and non sequiturs. And naturally Carlo finds time for a piano interlude, Gino honks his familiar horn and plays the harp (actually this time around he strums the spokes of an upside-down bicycle wheel), and Serge develops a sudden interest in Mrs. Pavlenko (not that her wealth affects his ardor). John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found Ukraine “hilarious” with its “Marxian dialogue” and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the parody was “as funny as the Marx Brothers” themselves (and he enjoyed the parade of insults showered on Mrs. Pavlenko by Samovar, such as “You and I could make beautiful music together. After all, you’re shaped like a piano”). Gussow praised the “crackling compendium of Marx Brothers comedies”; Kroll noted that “an hour of Marxian dialectics might be a big dose for some treasonous American souls, but for Brother-lovers it’s pure caviar, or at least the ultimate in herring”; and Kalem said Ukraine was “an exercise in dementia.” For Clive Barnes in the New York Post, the “smashing” evening in Hollywood and the Ukraine was a “classy, sassy nostalgia combined with the zip and zap of the day after tomorrow,” and he stated that Tommy Tune “goes to the top of the class with such choreographer/directors as Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse, Joe Layton and the incomparable Jerome Robbins.” While Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the evening occasionally “thin,” he nonetheless predicted audiences would leave the theatre “with the dizzy feeling of having witnessed a super, impossibly professional, senior-class spring show. Not a bad feeling, at all.” During the tryout, the song “Sing Me a Sensible Song” was deleted. Incidentally, Peggy Hewett was one of the subjects of William Finn’s 2003 song cycle Elegies, which evoked memories of departed friends and loved ones. He noted that their “living was the prize” and their “ending’s not the story.” The song tribute to Hewett was titled “Peggy Hewett & Misty del Giorno,” and it was performed by Christian Borle, Carolee Carmello, Keith Byron Kirk, and Michael Rupert.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (David Garrison); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Priscilla Lopez); Best Director of a Musical (Tommy Tune); Best Book (Dick Vosburgh); Best Score (lyrics by Dick Vosburgh, music by Frank Lazarus); Best Scenic Designer (Tony Walton); Best Lighting Designer (Beverly Emmons); Best Choreographer (Tommy Tune)

BLACK BROADWAY Theatre: Town Hall Opening Date: May 4, 1980; Closing Date: May 24, 1980 Performances: 25

1979–1980 SEASON     21

Producers: George Wein in association with Honi Coles, Robert Kimball, and Bobby Short (John P. Fleming, Associate Producer); Production Design: Lee Gambacorta; Musical Direction: Frank Owens Cast: John W. Bubbles, Nell Carter, Honi Coles, Adelaide Hall, Gregory Hines, Bobby Short, Elisabeth Welch, Edith Wilson, Charles “Cookie” Cook, Leslie “Bubba” Gaines, Mercedes Ellington, Carla Earle, Terri Griffin, Wyetta Turner The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (medley of songs from 1923 musical Runnin’ Wild: “Ginger Brown,” “Old-Fashioned Love,” and “Charleston”; music by James P. Johnson) (Frank Owens and Orchestra); “The Story of Black Broadway” (by George Wein, Dick Hyman, Honi Coles, and Robert Kimball) (narrated at alternate performances by either Bobby Short or Honi Coles); “Liza” (“Entrance of Copasetics”) (1922 musical Liza; lyric and music by Maceo Pinkard) (danced at alternate performances by either Gregory Hines or Honi Coles, with Charles “Cookie” Cook and Leslie “Bubba” Gaines); “Blue Turning Grey Over You” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Charles “Cookie” Cook); “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me” (lyric by Clarence Gaskill, music by Jimmy McHugh); “Perdido” (lyric by Hans Lengsfelder and Ervin Drake, music attributed to both Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol); “Who” (lyricist and composer uncredited) (Leslie “Bubba” Gaines); “Christopher Columbus” (1939 musical Swingin’ the Dream; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Leon Barry) (Gregory Hines or Honi Coles, with Charles “Cookie” Cook and Leslie “Bubba” Gaines); “Under the Bamboo Tree” (song was interpolated into the score of the 1902 musical Sally in Our Alley; lyric by Robert Cole, music by J. Rosamond Johnson); “Wouldn’t It Be a Dream” (source unknown; attributed to 1903 musical In Dahomey; lyric and music by Earl Jones and Joe Jordan); and “(On) Broadway in Dahomey (Bye and Bye)” (1903 musical In Dahomey; lyric by Alex Rogers, music by Al Johns) (Bobby Short); “(What Did I Do to Get So) Black and Blue” (1929 musical Hot Chocolates; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks) and “He May Be Your Man, but He Comes to See Me Sometimes” (1922 musical Plantation Revue: lyric and music by Perry Bradford) (Edith Wilson); “The Unbeliever” (lyric and music by Chris Smith, Frederick Bryan, and Bert Williams) (Bobby Short); “The Mayor of Harlem” (patter by Honi Coles) and “Doin’ the New Low-Down” (revue Blackbirds of 1928; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh) (Gregory Hines or Honi Coles with Charles “Cookie” Cook, Leslie “Bubba” Gaines, Mercedes Ellington, Carla Earle, Terri Griffin, and Wyetta Turner); “Creole Love Call” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington), and “I Must Have That Man” (revue Blackbirds of 1928; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh), “Diga, Diga, Do” (revue Blackbirds of 1928; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh) (Adelaide Hall); Harlem Medley: “She’s Tall, She’s Tan, She’s Terrific” (1937 edition of revue Cotton Club Parade; lyric by Benny Davis, music by J. Fred Coots); “Posin’” (1937 revue Grand Terrace Revue; lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Saul Chaplin); “Truckin’” (1935 edition of revue Cotton Club Parade; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Rube Bloom); “Breakfast in Harlem” (lyricist and composer uncredited); and “Gimme a Pigfoot (and a Bottle of Beer)” (lyric and music by Wesley Wilson; some sources cite Coot Grant as one of the creators of the song) (Bobby Short); “Ill Wind” (1934 edition of revue Cotton Club Parade; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen) (Adelaide Hall); “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” (1931 revue Rhyth-mania [a Cotton Club revue]; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen) (Adelaide Hall and Bobby Short); “As Long as I Live” (1934 edition of revue Cotton Club Parade; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen) (Bobby Short); “The Brown-Skin Gal in the Calico Gown” (1941 revue Jump for Joy [closed prior to Broadway]; lyric by Paul Francis Webster, music by Duke Ellington) (Bobby Short); “Jump for Joy” (1941 revue Jump for Joy; lyric by Paul Francis Webster, music by Duke Ellington) (Bobby Short, Company) Act Two: “Cotton Club Stomp” (1929 revue Cotton Club Revue); lyric and music by Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, and Harry Carney) (Frank Owens and Orchestra); “Tan Manhattan” (1940 musical Tan Manhattan [closed prior to Broadway]; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Eubie Blake) (Gregory Hines); “Charleston Rag” (music by Eubie Blake) (Gregory Hines); “When Lights Are Low” (lyric and music by Spencer Williams and Benny Carter); “Love for Sale” (1930 musical The New Yorkers; lyric and music by Cole Porter) (Elisabeth Welch); “Solomon” (1933 London musical Nymph Errant; lyric and music by Cole Porter) (Elisabeth Welch); “Charleston” (1923 musical Runnin’ Wild; lyric by Cecil Mack, music by James P.

22     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Johnson) (Elisabeth Welch); “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929 revue Hot Chocolates; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks) (Nell Carter); “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling” (lyric by Billy Rose, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Link) (Nell Carter); “Legalize My Name” (1946 musical St. Louis Woman; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harold Arlen) (Nell Carter); Tribute to Florence Mills: “I’m a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird” (1924 revue Dixie to Broadway; lyric by Grant Clarke and Roy Turk, music by George W. Meyer and Arthur Johnston) (Edith Wilson) and “Silver Rose” (London revue Blackbirds of 1926; lyric and music by George W. Meyer) (Elisabeth Welch); Tribute to Ethel Waters: “Heat Wave” (1933 revue As Thousands Cheer; lyric and music by Irving Berlin) (Nell Carter); “(You’re) Lucky to Me” (revue Blackbirds of 1930; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Eubie Blake) (Edith Wilson); “Supper Time” (1933 revue As Thousands Cheer; lyric and music by Irving Berlin) (Adelaide Hall); “Honey in the Honeycomb” (1940 musical Cabin in the Sky; lyric by John LaTouche, music by Vernon Duke) (Nell Carter); “Stormy Weather” (1933 edition of revue Cotton Club Parade; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen) (Elisabeth Welch); “Taking a Chance on Love” (1940 musical Cabin in the Sky; lyric by John LaTouche and Ted Fetter, music by Vernon Duke) (Adelaide Hall, Edith Wilson, Elisabeth Welch, Nell Carter, Gregory Hines or Honi Coles); and “Dinah” (attributed to 1924 revue The Plantation Revue; lyric by Sam Lewis, Joe Young, and Harry Akst) (Gregory Hines or Bobby Short); “Sweet Georgia Brown” (lyric and music by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard, and Kenneth Casey) (Gregory Hines, Ensemble); “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (1935 musical Porgy and Bess; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin) and “There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” (1935 musical Porgy and Bess; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin) (John W. Bubbles); “Memories of You” (revue Blackbirds of 1930; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Eubie Blake) (John W. Bubbles, Entire Company); “Jump for Joy”(reprise) (Entire Company) The concert Black Broadway saluted both old and new black performers. The evening included such legendary singers and dancers as John W. Bubbles (who created the role of Sportin’ Life in the original 1935 production of Porgy and Bess), Adelaide Hall (who introduced the scorching torch song “I Must Have That Man” in Blackbirds of 1928), Elisabeth Welch (who was the first to sing the iconic “Charleston” in the 1923 musical Runnin’ Wild and who trumpeted the saga of “Solomon” in Cole Porter’s 1933 musical Nymph Errant), and Edith Wilson (who introduced “Why Did I Do to Get So Black and Blue” in the 1929 revue Hot Chocolates). And new Black Broadway was represented, too, with Nell Carter and Gregory Hines, both fresh from their leading roles in the respective long-running tribute revues of the late 1970s, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Eubie! And while saloon singer Bobby Short hadn’t much in the way of a Broadway career (just two brief visits, the New York City Center Light Opera Company’s 1956 revival of Kiss Me, Kate and Sidney Kingsley’s 1962 drama Night Life), he served as the evening’s host and of course performed a number of songs (a few too many, according to one or two of the critics). The concert had been first produced by the Newport Jazz Festival at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on June 24, 1979, and the new version differed in a number of ways. There was more emphasis on dance, and so Gregory Hines, Honi Coles, Charles “Cookie” Cook, and Leslie “Bubba” Gaines performed a number of tap routines and were occasionally backed by a four-member female chorus (Mercedes Ellington, Carla Earle, Terri Griffin, and Wyetta Turner). Further, Elisabeth Welch joined the production, and while Diahann Carroll had appeared in the first version and had performed a medley of songs associated with Ethel Waters, this time around the songs for the Waters tribute were divided among Welch, Carter, and other cast members. John S. Wilson in the New York Times was glad to see more dancing, and noted that the routines brought “color and flair” and “a vitalizing lift” to the proceedings. Wilson mentioned that Welch provided one of the revue’s “most moving moments” when she sang “Silver Rose,” and she was equally effective in her “strong, lyrical treatment of “Stormy Weather.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the “beautiful and bountiful” and “bright and bouncy” entertainment also managed to be “moving,” and he singled out the “impeccably soignée” Bobby Short and the “ineffably sassy” Nell Carter. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily commented that the “warmth” and “eloquence” of the singers’ voices were “quite unlike anything we hear these days,” and said Welch performed “Silver Rose” with “a powerful sense of controlled emotion.” But Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal indicated the production “badly needs a director to give it organization and pace.” Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News felt the “sentimental valentine” was “sorely tested” because it wasn’t “quite in shape.” At two and a half hours, it was too long; Bobby Short needed to trim some of his numbers (the critic mentioned that during the first act, Short was on stage longer than any of

1979–1980 SEASON     23

the other performers); and the theatre and its sound system made many of the lyrics “unintelligible.” But the evening offered “bittersweet nostalgia,” and he praised Nell Carter (the only way to prevent her from stealing a show “would be to send her on stage in straitjacket and mask and even then she could probably draw the eye by wiggling her toes”). Richard M. Sudhalter in the New York Post noted that at the opening night performance Eubie Blake made an appearance, and seeing the “ever-vibrant” composer on stage while the entire cast sang his “Memories of You” (from Blackbirds of 1930) “was to know why such historical traditions as this must be preserved. They are all we have.” But the critic noted there was no historical context to the evening, and he suspected many viewers needed a “frame of reference” because they probably didn’t know the names of such performers as Ethel Waters and Florence Mills. He also commented that the show was too long and needed to be pruned and tightened. Certainly Black Broadway was a show that demanded to be preserved. It was a once-in-a-lifetime reunion of some of the most legendary performers in Broadway revues and musicals, and it seemed a given that after the limited run a cast album and a performance on public television would follow. Sadly, there was neither a record nor a televised version, and so an opportunity to capture many unique stars performing songs they had introduced on Broadway forty or fifty years earlier never materialized.

MUSICAL CHAIRS

“A New Musical” / “A Musical Play” Theatre: Rialto Opening Date: May 14, 1980; Closing Date: May 25, 1980 Performances: 14 Book: Barry Berg, Ken Donnelly, and Tom Savage Music: Tom Savage Based on an original story concept by Larry P. Pontillo. Direction and Choreography: Rudy Tronto (Susan Stroman, Assistant Director and Assistant Choreographer); Producers: Lesley Savage and Bert Stratford; Scenery: Ernest Allen Smith; Costumes: Michael J. Cesario; Lighting: Peggy Clark; Musical Direction: Barry H. Gordon Cast: Ron Holgate (Joe Preston), Eileen McCabe (Matty), Douglas Walker (Stage Manager), Scott Ellis (Sally’s Boyfriend), Enid Blaymore (Millie), Grace Keagy (Roberta), Randall Easterbook (Brad), Leslie-Anne Wolfe (Miranda), Patti Karr (Lillian), Brandon Maggart (Harold), Jess Richards (Gary), Joy Franz (Janet), Edward Earle (Brown Suit), Tom Breslin (Blue Suit), Rick Emery (Tuxedo), Lee Meredith (Valerie Brooks); and Susan Stroman (Sally) (unbilled role) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in a partial area of the orchestra section of an Off-Broadway theatre on the opening night of the play Forest of Shadows.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Tonight’s the Night” (Company); “My Time” (Ron Holgate); “Who’s Who” (Company); “If I Could Be Beautiful” (Leslie-Ann Wolfe, Boys); “What I Could Have Done Tonight” (Brandon Maggart, Joy Franz); “There You Are” (Rick Emery); “Sally” (Scott Ellis, Company); “Other People” (Joy Franz); “My Time” (reprise) (Ron Holgate); “Hit the Ladies” (Patti Karr, Ladies) Act Two: “Musical Chairs” (Rick Emery, Tom Breslin, Edward Earle); “Suddenly Love” (Jess Richards); “Better Than Broadway” (Enid Blaymore, Grace Keagy); “Every Time the Music Starts” (Randall Easterbrook, Company); “There You Are” (reprise) (Rick Emery, Ron Holgate, Lee Meredith); “My Time” (reprise) (Ron Holgate) If A Chorus Line offered an audience the perspective of watching the casting call of a new Broadway musical, why not create a musical about the audience itself? And so Musical Chairs looked at an assortment of audience members attending the opening night of a new Off-Broadway drama called Forest of Shadows.

24     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

The musical focused on the drama’s playwright Joe Preston (Ronald Holgate), a formerly successful writer with one Pulitzer Prize and two Tony Awards to his credit but who in recent years hasn’t had much in the way of success and is now hoping that Forest of Shadows will put him back in the winner’s circle. Among those in the audience are: Lillian (Patti Karr) and Harold (Brandon Maggart) as well as Janet (Joy Franz) and Gary (Jess Richards), both somewhat mismatched couples (Lillian is upwardly mobile in terms of culture, and she helpfully explains to Harold that Forest of Shadows is an expressionistic drama, the kind of play in which “subjective thoughts” are shown “through a variety of non-naturalistic techniques” that include “abstraction, distortion, and symbolism,” but Harold would rather be home watching a Mets game); Miranda (Leslie-Ann Wolf) and Brad (Randall Easterbrook), a couple on their first date; Millie (Enid Blaymore) and Roberta (Grace Keagy), two matrons excited about attending an opening night (Roberta is certain she could have had a great career in show business, but instead of being a Delores Del Rio type she was more in the style of Marie Dressler); Valerie Brooks (Lee Meredith), a starlet and Joe’s former wife; a young man (Boyfriend, played by Scott Ellis) impatiently waiting for his date Sally, who misses the entire show; and three critics, Brown Suit (Edward Earle), Blue Suit (Tom Breslin), and Tuxedo (Rick Emery), all of whom play “musical chairs” as they go from theatre to theatre every night reviewing the latest plays and musicals (Tuxedo is disconcerted to discover he’ll have to review the performance of a former boyfriend who’s in the cast of Forest of Shadows). Not surprisingly, things generally sort themselves out: it appears that Forest of Shadows will be a hit and that Joe and Valerie are destined to tie the knot again. Further, Boyfriend is happily surprised when the elusive Sally finally shows up . . . during the curtain calls of Musical Chairs. The little joke worked well, and the musical’s assistant director and choreographer Susan Stroman came on just for the finale, uncredited as the elusive Sally. Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily found the musical “dreary,” and said “the thought of turning around and watching the audience watch Musical Chairs seemed a more bearable prospect that watching Musical Chairs itself”; and Patricia O’Haire in the New York Daily News said that for $20 a ticket the musical wasn’t “enough” and it required “better” music, a “new” lyricist, and a stronger book. Frank Rich in the New York Times proclaimed that the “honor” of the season’s “worst” musical had now passed from Reggae to Musical Chairs. He recalled that for the former musical a radio broadcast of a Knicks game had found its way into the theatre’s sound system, and he suggested the producers of Musical Chairs should have piped a Mets game into the Rialto Theatre’s speakers (and noted he’d even settle for “the collected hits of Jerry Vale”). He concluded that the musical’s performers were “game” and “dignified” and had “nowhere to go but up.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post had “an absolutely adorable time” and enjoyed the “modest” and low-key rather than “splashy and razzmatazz” musical. The major flaw was the music; it was “by no means unpleasant” but was “never more than conventional.” But the evening was “sweet” and left him with a “warm afterglow.” While Forest of Shadows seemed poised to be a hit, Musical Chairs was not; it ran for less than two weeks. Midway through its brief run, Ron Holgate and Grace Keagy left the cast, and were succeeded by Tom Urich and Helon Blount. The cast recording (which includes Urich and Blount) was released by Original Cast Records (LP # OC-2084), and the script was published in softcover by Samuel French, Inc., in 1982. As How’s the House?, Musical Chairs had first been produced in a showcase production Off Off Broadway at the Park Royal Theatre during October 1979. For Off Off Broadway, Scott Newborn was the director and choreographer (and Susan Stroman was the assistant director and choreographer, duties she also performed for the Broadway production). Cast members who later appeared in the Broadway version were: Scott Ellis, Enid Blaymore, Leslie-Ann Wolfe, Eileen McCabe, Rick Emery, and Lee Meredith. Songs heard in the Off-OffBroadway production but cut for Broadway were “Is Everybody Happy?,” “What’s Goin’ On,” and “Stop the Presses.” Ellis and Stroman later collaborated as respective director and choreographer for the John Kander and Fred Ebb Off-Broadway tribute revue And the World Goes ’Round (1991) and Kander and Ebb’s Broadway musical Steel Pier (1997).

1979–1980 SEASON     25

BLACKSTONE!

“The Magnificent Musical Magic Show” Theatre: Majestic Theatre Opening Date: May 19, 1980; Closing Date: August 17, 1980 Performances: 104 Direction and Choreography: Kevin Carlisle (Betty Brawley, Assistant); Magic Direction: Charles Reynolds; Production Supervisor: Jackie Schrock; Producers: Columbia Artists Theatricals Corp. and Blackstone Magik Enterprises, Inc.; Magic Production Designer: Jack Hart; Scenery: Peter Wolf; Costumes: Winn Morton (Costumes for “The Enchanted Garden” sequence by Blevins); Lighting: Martin Aronstein; Musical Direction: Milton Setzer Cast: Harry Blackstone, Gay Blackstone, Becky Garrett, Elaine Barnes, Lynn Castles, Karen Curlee, Ann McLean, Robbin McDowell, Mary McNamara, Reenie Moore, Richard Ruth, Bill Smith, Nikki Summerford, Jim Thompson, John Traub, Michael Weir The magic revue was presented in two acts.

Magic Sequences Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “The Vanishing Birdcage”; “A Salute to Our Heritage”; “The Wizard”; “Cassadaga Propaganda”; “Mysteries of the Orient” (music by Michael Valenti); “Hare”; “The Incredible Buzzsaw” Act Two: “The Enchanted Garden”; “Roses for Your Lady”; “The Wizard Returns”; “The Extraordinary Floating Light Bulb”; “Moorish Fantasies”; “So You Want to Be a Magician”; “Circus of Mysteries” In the magic revue Blackstone!, Harry Blackstone, the son of the famous magician Blackstone, proved that he was indeed his father’s son. He had learned his lessons well, and was a dazzling successor to his legendary father. The critics had a few qualms about the overblown revue aspects of the evening, but all showered raves on the magician and were especially taken with his astounding feat with the floating light bulb. Mel Gussow in the New York Times noted that with Barnum just across the street, Broadway had suddenly morphed into “a merry circus lane,” and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor mentioned that West 44th Street was “a midway of super spectacle and high hokum.” Among the feats of the evening were vanishing pigeons, rabbits, and an elephant. Gussow wondered if the elephant had a dressing room or did Blackstone simply make him vanish between performances? Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily wryly noted that the magician made a few audience members disappear because they were never again seen after intermission. Blackstone’s wife, Gay, was sawed in half by a thirty-six-inch rotary saw; another cast member was turned into a tiger; and in true Houdini fashion Blackstone asked thirteen volunteers from the audience to tie him up with ropes (Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post noted that audience members “practically broke their necks rushing to the stage”), but quicker than you could say presto-chango Blackstone broke free of the knotty problem. Blackstone also made an audience member’s handkerchief dance through the air; invited a little boy on stage and proceeded to magically produce a box of candy and a rabbit, both of which he gave to the child as souvenirs from the show; and at one point somehow managed to remove an audience member’s watch, belt, wallet, and fountain pen. But the thrill of the evening was the jaw-dropping floating light bulb, which danced in the air above the stage and proceeded to float into the audience and dance over their heads. In order to prove there were no wires or strings attached to the bulb to keep it levitated, Blackstone encircled a spinning hoop around the general circumference of the bulb. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said this was “the greatest marvel of them all,” and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 revealed how Blackstone did all his tricks, including the floating light bulb: he did them “brilliantly.” Sharp noted that Blackstone “filibustered” in order to stretch out the magic show into a full Broadway evening: the “tacky” overture was “prolonged”; there was an “amateurish” flag-waving number that “would

26     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

never have passed an audition at Radio City”; and Blackstone sometimes killed time by chatting up the audience and occasionally using “stalling techniques” for padding. There were also various corny dance interludes on the order of “Mysteries of the Orient” and “Moorish Fantasies” (Watt mentioned that in one sequence the dancers “slither about like slaves from a Republic Pictures Ali Baba epic”), and Gussow commented that Blackstone “restlessly” changed costumes, many of the “spangled variety” that would “bring a tear of envy to the eye of Liberace.” Gussow suggested Blackstone lacked the “charm” of Doug Henning and that the current revue wasn’t in the “class” of The Magic Show. But Blackstone’s tricks were nonetheless “spectacular,” and while the program indicated Kevin Carlisle was the director and choreographer and Charles Reynolds was in charge of the “magic direction,” Gussow surmised that no one would dare tell Blackstone what to do lest the magician make them disappear.

BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR Theatre: Morosco Theatre Opening Date: May 29, 1980; Closing Date: June 7, 1980 Performances: 12 Book, Lyrics, and Music: John Gray (in collaboration with Eric Peterson) Direction: John Gray (in collaboration with Eric Peterson); Producers: Mike Nichols and Lewis Allen (Stephen Graham and Ventures West Capital, Inc.); Scenery: David Gropman; Costumes: Not Credited; Lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Musical Direction: John Gray Cast: Eric Peterson (Billy Bishop, Upperclassman, Adjutant Perrault, Officer, Sir Hugh Cecil, Lady St. Helier, Cedric, Doctor, General John Higgins, Tommy, Lovely Helene, Albert Ball, Walter Bourne, Officer, General Hugh M. Trenchard, Servant, King George V), John Gray (Narrator, Pianist) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Canada and Europe during World War I.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers. The following titles are taken from the Canadian cast album of the musical; all songs were performed by Eric Peterson, and John Gray was the pianist and narrator. Act One: “Off to Fight the Hun”; “Canada at War”; “The Good Ship Caledonia”; “Buried Alive in the Mud”; “December Nights”; “The RE-7”; “Nobody Shoots No-One in Canada”; “Lady St. Helier”; “My First Solo Flight”; “In the Sky” Act Two: “As Calm as the Ocean”; “Friends Ain’t Supposed to Die”; “General Sir Hugh M. Trenchard”; “The Empire Soiree”; “In the Sky” (reprise) The Canadian import Billy Bishop Goes to War was essentially a one-man musical in which Eric Peterson portrayed the title character as well as sixteen other roles that ranged from a servant to King George V himself; John Gray who, in collaboration with Peterson, wrote the book and lyrics, also composed the music, directed the production, and served as the evening’s narrator and pianist. Billy Bishop (1894–1956) was the most decorated pilot of World War I, and the program noted that in the course of just over one year he shot down seventy-two enemy aircraft, twenty-five of them in one ten-day stretch in 1918. The musical premiered at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre on November 3, 1978, with Peterson and Gray, who then toured with the musical, which played in twelve Canadian cities for a total of 253 performances. The American premiere took place at Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theatre in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 1980, with Peterson and Gray. Two months after the Washington run, the two performers appeared in the Broadway production, which lasted less than two weeks. But in a reversal of the usual process, the musical transferred to Off Broadway, where it played for seventy-eight performances. It opened at the Theatre de Lys on June 17, 1980, just ten days after the Broadway closing, and while Peterson and Gray again appeared in the show, they were eventually succeeded by Cedric Smith and Ross Douglas.

1979–1980 SEASON     27

Walter Kerr in the New York Times praised the musical’s clever touches, such as the use of a toy airplane to depict one of Billy Bishop’s flights, and later the stage’s rear doors, which were designed to resemble an airfield’s hanger, opened to reveal a full-fledged reproduction of Billy’s plane. As for the show itself, Kerr noted that Billy was somewhat remote and detached from the action and as a result it was easy to grow “a bit cool” toward his character. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily suggested the most interesting aspect of the evening was watching Peterson perform so many roles; otherwise, the script didn’t allow him much in the way of emotional complexity. As for the score, it was “thoroughly simpleminded” and did “nothing to enrich the play.” But John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the show was “a soaring accomplishment of theatrical make-believe” that had a “cutting edge” to its ironic antiwar viewpoint. Like Kerr and Kissel, however, he felt the evening lacked urgency because emotions were kept at arm’s length. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 commented that war stories could be “funny,” “fascinating,” and, alas, “interminable.” The show was more performance than play, and we never knew the “why” of what makes Billy fly. Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the musical was reminiscent of Joan Littlewood’s antiwar diatribe Oh What a Lovely War (London, 1963; New York, 1964). He praised the score’s “mixture of ballad and razzmatazz,” and noted the evening offered two “wonderful” sequences, one “theatrical” and one “emotional”: the former was the sudden appearance of the replica of Billy’s plane and the latter was a description of a doomed German plane in which two pilots tumble out and fall to their deaths. In this moment, Billy’s abstract attitude toward war and death is “rudely questioned.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal found the work “a clever indictment of war and hero worship” which resulted in “a highly entertaining evening of theatre.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News liked the “diverting” evening and praised Peterson’s “marvelously animated and accomplished performance.” The critic didn’t find the score “particularly original or striking,” but he singled out “The Empire Soiree,” which was “awash in champagne and gaiety” and “fit snugly into the period, false rhymes and all.” The script was published in softcover by Talon Books in 1981, and the Canadian cast album was recorded by Tapestry Records (LP # GD-7372). In 1999, the musical was revised, and a cast album was reportedly recorded for this version. CBC and BBC coproduced a televised adaptation of the work, which was broadcast in 1982, and in 2010 a second television film version was released; both productions starred Peterson and Gray, and the latter was released on DVD. The era also saw a musical about another famous World War I flying ace, in this case Manfred Von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron. On July 29, 1982, Des McAnuff’s The Death of Von Richthofen as Witnessed from Earth opened at the Public Theatre’s Newman Theatre for forty-five performances.

SWING

“A New Musical” The musical opened at the Playhouse Theatre, Wilmington, Delaware, on February 23, 1980, closed there on February 29, opened on March 5 at the Opera House, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., and permanently closed there on March 30. Book: Conn Fleming Lyrics: Alfred Uhry Music: Robert Waldman Direction: Stuart Ostrow; Producers: Stuart Ostrow in association with Edgar M. Bronfman (George T. Simon, Associate Producer); Choreography: Kenneth Rinker; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting: Richard Pilbrow; Musical Direction: Peter Howard Cast: Roy Brocksmith (The Announcer); The Band: Trumpets—Lloyd Michels, Dick Vance, Glenn Zottola, David Blackinton, and Jim Cara; Trombones—Bruce Bonvissuto, Ted Bragin, Bill Berger, and Jay Hildebrandt; Saxophones—Joel Kaye, Ralph Olsen, Peter Hill, Vincent Marinelli, Hank Meyermann, and Rick Rossi; Drums—Butch Miles; Guitar—Mike Peters; Bass—John Burr; and Piano—Paul Bogaev; Adam Redfield (Claude), Janet Eilber (Norma), Robert LuPone (Glenn), Lisa Embs (Joan), John Hammil (Harry Donovan), Mary Catherine Wright (Marilyn), Debbie Shapiro (Ginny Hall), William Thomas, Jr. (Larry), Deborah Malone (Harriet), M. W. Reid (Daryl), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Helen), Raymond Baker (Henry), Pat

28     THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Lysinger (Mildred), Donna McCowen (Ann), Paul Binotto (Tony Audino), Paul Bogaev (Elliot Pierce), Ellen March (Eleanor), David Wilson (Little Joe), Rebecca Gilchrist (Jane), Jerry Colker (Dooley), Dick Vance (Blues Singer), Tim Flavin (Sailor); The Dancers: Beth Davis, Lisa Embs, Tim Flavin, Donna McCowen, Marty McDonough, and Jeff Mooring The musical was presented in two acts. The action occurs at a single dance which takes place one night all over the United States during the period 1937–1945.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Swing” (The People at the Dance); “Good from Any Angle” (Robert LuPone); “Michigan Bound” (Debbie Shapiro); “The Love Jitters” (Deborah Malone, William Thomas Jr., Sheryl Lee Ralph, M. W. Reid); “The Real Thing” (The Band); “Marilyn” (Adam Redfield, Mary Catherine Wright); “A Piece of Cake” (Roy Brocksmith, The People at the Dance); “Home” (Paul Binotto); “Miliaria Rubra” (David Wilson); “One-Hundred-Percent Cockeyed” (Debbie Shapiro) Act Two: “Saroot” (Roy Brocksmith, Paul Binotto, Debbie Shapiro, John Hammil, The Band Slickers); “All Clear” (Debbie Shapiro, David Wilson, The People at the Dance); “A Girl Can Go Wacky” (Rebecca Gilchrist); “Pas de Deux” (Rebecca Gilchrist, Jerry Colker); “The Doowah Diddy Blues” (Dick Vance); “If You Can’t Trot, Don’t Get Hot” (Janet Eilber, Butch Miles, John Burr, Mike Peters); “Dream Time” (Paul Binotto, Debbie Shapiro, The People at the Dance) Swing was an ambitious concept musical that attempted to capture the mood of the United States during World War II, an era when the nation was for perhaps the last time united in a common goal. Conn Fleming’s surreal book viewed swing music as a symbol of national harmony, and his story took place during a phantasmagoric evening at a single swing dance in which the characters experience the entire era during one night, a night that lasts from 1937 to 1945 and that takes place throughout the country. During the evening, the years go by: the dance begins during peacetime in the late 1930s, and with the attack on Pearl Harbor the country is united in a common cause; at the end of the war, the nation has lost its innocence, characters drift away from one another, and the ballroom world of alternately dreamy and swinging big-band music gives way to sleek and intimate nightclubs with their jazzy, combo-styled sound. With the exception of Follies, perhaps no other musical explored the use of time and space in so innovative a manner. During the course of the single-evening dance, an era is born and dies. A young man in zootsuit civvies leaves the dance floor, perhaps to buy a pack of cigarettes, and when he returns he’s in uniform. Further, there are continuous announcements that the locale has switched from a ballroom in one city to a ballroom in another. And yet the band musicians and singers, as well as those attending the dance, never age and are always in essentially the same city and in the same ballroom. The years are rushing by and before they realize what’s happened, eight years are gone, the war is over, innocence is lost, and the nation is never again quite the same. Robert Waldman’s music and Alfred Uhry’s lyrics created a score in the big-band style; it was so authentic some of its numbers could have been heard on the jukeboxes and in the movies and shows of the 1940s. “Good from Any Angle” was a terrifically jaunty and yet heartfelt ballad, and “Dream Time” was a melancholy one that closed the musical with its aching farewell to an era that has suddenly vanished. Debbie Shapiro’s melting rendition of the latter was juxtaposed with the promising expectation and excitement of her being “Michigan Bound,” a number from the “Chattanooga Choo-Choo”/“I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” genre. “A Girl Can Go Wacky” was a tongue-twisting salute to Betty Hutton in which a girl looks for a “permanent poppa” (a tinker, a tailor, a soldier, a sailor, any will do); “Home” was a lump-in-the-throat Sinatra-styled “The House I Live In” number; “A Piece of Cake” was a languid and insinuating ballad for the dance crowd, and “The Real Thing” was a jive interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. Toward the end of the evening when the big bands were morphing into jazz combos, the sultry “If You Can’t Trot, Don’t Get Hot” made a vivid impression as Janet Eilber sang and danced across the platforms, benches, and music stands of the onstage bandstand. The musical also offered a notoriously campy number that was widely talked about among theatre aficionados. One of the characters is rejected for military service because of a skin condition called miliaria rubra, which was also the title of his song about the medical condition. He notes that the name of the disease

1979–1980 SEASON     29

“sounds like a dance,” but it “burns.” The number was heard during the Wilmington, Delaware, run and for part of the Kennedy Center engagement, but was dropped from the show during its final performances. Unfortunately, the musical’s ingenious concept and melodic score were done in by the overall pattern of the book, which lacked a strong narrative to hold together the many characters, most of whom came across as generic types. Further, as written the concept was confusing, and it was likely that many in the audience didn’t grasp the musical’s point of view. As the tryout progressed, the dreamlike concept of time and space was leavened out and later performances indicated the entire plot was taking place in real time, at one dance in one city during one evening. As a result, the surreal tone became less magical and more mundane. In his would-be Broadway debut as a choreographer, Kenneth Rinker created some of the most exciting theatre dances of the era. The aforementioned “If You Can’t Trot, Don’t Get Hot” was a tour de force for Janet Eilber as she practically flew across the stage; the title song offered dazzling choreography; there was a lindy and an amusingly weary marathon-styled dance; and “The Doowah Diddy Blues” was a swing jazz-ballet that slyly incorporated Agnes de Mille–like movements. Despite the concept, the score, the choreography, and the cast, the critics were generally brutal. They praised Eilber, Shapiro, and the songs, but otherwise were dismissive. Shol in Variety said Swing had “little or no chance of Broadway success” and noted “the chances of bringing it all together are minimal.” Ernest Schier in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin found the evening “disorganized” without a “unifying style,” Fleming’s book was “a humorless patchwork” with “equally awful” lyrics, and the music made the critic yearn for “Sing, Sing, Sing” and “Take the ‘A’ Train.” The headline of James Lardner’s review in the Washington Post called the musical the “Big Bland,” but noted that with “subtlety and originality” Waldman had composed “a convincing approximation of big band music.” Rinker’s dances were “sleek and energetic,” and Eilber’s “If You Can’t Trot, Don’t Get Hot” was “particularly eye-opening.” Alton Miller in the Washington Star complained that the musical lacked “unity” and that there was no character development; but the score was “peppy,” the company was “young and wonderfully talented,” Robin Wagner’s décor was “all late-deco chrome and black,” and the songs “Home,” “Michigan Bound,” and “One- Hundred-Percent Cockeyed” were standouts. During the course of the tryout, “The Love Jitters,” “Saroot,” “Good from Any Angle,” “Miliaria Rubra,” “If You Can’t Trot, Don’t Get Hot,” and “Pas de Deux” were dropped (some programs listed the number “Duet,” which was probably an alternate title for “Pas de Deux”). Added during the run were: “The Future Me” (which used the same music as “Good from Any Angle”), “(In) The Shelter of Your Arms,” “It’s Eight O’Clock,” “So Long, Soldier,” and “Dime Store Girl, Rich Man’s Boy.” Once Janet Eilber’s brilliant solo songand-dance “If You Can’t Trot, Don’t Get Hot” was deleted, the number was refashioned as a straight (and untitled) dance for her (which well could have been titled “Bandstand Dance”). And some musical sequences seem never to have been performed, such as “Mocha,” “Sign Off,” “Trombones on Parade,” “Mixed Doubles,” and “High Tea.” For part of the Washington run, there was a mid–second act instrumental sequence for the band (which was set to the music of “Miliaria Rubra”) in which each band member performed a brief solo. Variety reported that the musical cost $1.2 million, and of course the show lost its entire investment. However, after the Washington closing the musical received a reprieve, albeit a very short one. Cast member Robert LuPone was so taken with the musical’s score that he wanted to give it another chance. As a result, Dream Time (subtitled “A Musical Fable of the Swing Era”) was briefly seen at Off-Off-Broadway’s Harold Clurman Theatre, where it opened on December 17, 1980, some eight months after the musical had closed in Washington. This three-character chamber version had a book by Alfred Uhry; LuPone and Myra Turley codirected and co-choreographed, and among the cast members was Ann Morrison, who would make an impression two seasons later when she was seen in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. Swing shouldn’t be confused with two other musicals with the same title. The first was conceived and directed by Elizabeth Swados, and played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the period October 20–November 1, 1987. The second was a dance revue titled Swing! which opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on December 9, 1999, for 461 performances. Incidentally, choreographer Kenneth Rinker later created a dance number titled “Swing Suite,” which premiered at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 1983, three years after Swing had closed at the same complex. Julie Van Camp in the Washington Times reported that the work utilized authentic big band music and at one point “briefly turns somber as the upbeat music gradually drowns out a radio broadcast about the attack on Pearl Harbor.” The critic also noted that at this point the dancers morphed into soldiers, but the “social commentary” was “brief and undeveloped.”

1980–1981 Season

YOUR ARMS TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD “A Soaring Celebration

in

Song

and

Dance”

Theatre: Ambassador Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Belasco Theatre) Opening Date: June 2, 1980; Closing Date: October 12, 1980 Performances: 149 Text: Vinnette Carroll Lyrics and Music: Alex Bradford; additional lyrics and music by Micki Grant; dance music by H. B. Barnum Based on the Book of Matthew. Direction: Vinnette Carroll; Production Supervisors: Jerry R. Moore and Richard Martini; Producers: Tom Mallow in association with James Janek; Choreography: Talley Beatty; Scenery and Costumes: William Schroder; Lighting: Richard Winkler; Musical Direction: Michael Powell Cast: Julius Richard Brown, Cleavant Derricks, Sheila Ellis, Ralph Farrington, Jamil K. Garland, Elijah Gill, William-Keebler Hardy Jr., Jennifer-Yvette Holliday, Garry Q. Lewis, Linda Morton, Jai Oscar St. John, Kiki Shepard, Leslie Hardesty Sisson, Ray Stephens, Quincella Swyningan, Faruma S. Williams, Marilynn Winbush, Linda E. Young, Adrian Bailey, Linda James; Note: The roles performed by Julius Richard Brown and Cleavant Derricks were alternated. The concert-styled evening was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers (Note: * = Lyric and music by Micki Grant; ** = Lyric and music by Alex Bradford; *** = Music by H. B. Barnum) Act One: “Beatitudes” (*) (Company); “We’re Gonna Have a Good Time” (*) (Julius Richard Brown or Cleavant Derricks, Company); “There’s a Stranger in Town” (**) (Sheila Ellis, Company); “Do You Know Jesus?” (**) and “He’s a Wonder” (**) (Jamil K. Garland, Company); “Just a Little Bit of Jesus Goes a Long Way” (**) (Jennifer-Yvette Holliday); “We Are the Priests and Elders” (*) (Julius Richard Brown or Cleavant Derricks, William-Keebler Hardy Jr., Jai Oscar St. John); “Something Is Wrong in Jerusalem” (*) (Sheila Ellis, Quincella Swyningan); “It Was Alone” (**) and “I Know I Have to Leave Here” (**) (Jennifer-Yvette Holliday, Company); “Be Careful Whom You Kiss” (**) (Sheila Ellis, Quincella Swyningan); “Trial” (*) (Company); “It’s Too Late” (*) (Company); “Judas Dance” (***) (Ralph Farrington); “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God” (**) (Jennifer-Yvette Holliday, Company); “Give Us Barabbas” (**) (Company); “See How They Done My Lord” (**) (Sheila Ellis, Company); “Come On Down” (**) (Linda E. Young, Jamil K. Garland, Jai Oscar St. John); “Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down” (**) (Ray Stephens, Company); “Beatitudes” (*) (reprise) (Cleavant Derricks, Company) Act Two: “Didn’t I Tell You” (**) (Julius Richard Brown or Cleavant Derricks); “When the Power Comes” (**) (Company); “Everybody Has His Own Way” (**) (Julius Richard Brown or Cleavant Derricks, Ray 31

32      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Stephens); “Down by the Riverside” (traditional) (Cleavant Derricks, Company); “I Love You So Much, Jesus” (**) (Jennifer-Yvette Holliday); “The Band” (**) (Company) The revival of the apostrophe-challenged Your Arms Too Short to Box with God was a gospel song cycle loosely adapted from the Book of Matthew, and it came across as a black version of Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. But while the scores of those two musicals were varied, Your Arms Too Short was a full evening of generally monotonous gospel-styled singing, foot-stomping, and hand-clapping. If the score had been stronger and more inventive, the production might have been more satisfying, but the overall lack of variety and the one-note treatment soon became tiresome. The earlier Broadway production had been presented in one act, but the current revival had two, and no doubt the intermission stretched out what was already a long evening. The musical took place in a church in which the parishioners reenact the story of Christ’s Passion. The character of Jesus never spoke or sang, and the major solo dance was by Judas. At the conclusion of the revue and once Matthew’s story had been told, the evening suddenly morphed into a tribute to black gospel singers such as Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson. The critics had been enthusiastic over the original 1976 Broadway production, and this time around they were equally effusive. Mel Gussow in the New York Times praised the “durability and soulfulness” of the score and said the cast filled the theatre with “evangelical passion.” He noted that the “musicalized sermon” had made a “star” of Delores Hall (who for the original production had won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and it was likely the revival would do the same for Jennifer-Yvette Holliday, who as Jennifer Holliday enjoyed a brief Broadway career and created one Broadway role (in Michael Bennett’s Dreamgirls, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the “rousing” evening “an exhilarating piece of theatre” which was “as winning and welcome as ever,” and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said gospel music was the “purest home-grown American art form” and the “State Department should tour [the musical] around the world as an example of the best of American art.” Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post gushed over the “rousing” production and said its “impassioned singing could probably be heard around the globe.” But she mentioned the show was a “wee bit pretentiously done” and she couldn’t recall if Talley Beatty’s dance numbers for the original production had gone on “quite so long” as they now did. As for Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily, the “energetic” musical was “expertly staged and performed” and he liked Holliday’s “show-stopping moments” of “showy shouting-and-growling.” His one complaint was that the company had been so “well-drilled” that the production had been “robbed” of much of its previous “joy and spontaneity.” The revue had first been seen at the Festival of Two Worlds, Spoleto, Italy, in Summer 1975, and then was produced at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The original Broadway production opened at the Lyceum Theatre on December 12, 1976, for 429 performances. After the current revival, the musical was again seen in New York at the Alvin Theatre on September 9, 1982, for seventy performances (see entry). The cast album of the 1976 production was released by ABC Records (LP # AB-1004). The current revival omitted four songs that had been heard in the 1976 version: “I Ain’t Had My Fill,” “That’s What the Bible Say,” “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?,” and “I Left My Sins Behind Me” (lyricists and composers unknown).

IT’S SO NICE TO BE CIVILIZED Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: June 3, 1980; Closing Date: June 8, 1980 Performances: 8 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Micki Grant Direction: Frank Corsaro; Producers: Jay Julien, Arnon Milchan, and Larry Kalish (Danny Holgate, Associate Producer); Choreography: Mabel Robinson; Scenery and Visuals: Charles E. Hoeffler; Costumes: Ruth Morley; Lighting: Charles E. Hoeffler and Ralph Madero; Musical Direction: Coleridge Taylor Perkinson Cast: Obba Babatunde (Sharky), Vivian Reed (Mollie), Larry Stewart (Larry), Vickie D. Chappell (Sissy), Carol Lynn Maillard (LuAnne), Mabel King (Grandma), Stephen Pender (Mr. Anderson), Dan Strayhorn (Blade), Eugene Edwards (Reverend Williams), Deborah Burrell (Mother), Juanita Grace Tyler (Dancing Bag Lady);

1980–1981 SEASON     33

Ensemble: Daria Atanian, Paul Binotto, Sharon K. Brooks, P. L. Brown, Jean Cheek, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Paul Harman, Esther Marrow, Wellington Perkins, Dwayne Phelps, Juanita Grace Tyler The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time over a weekend in late summer on Sweetbitter Street.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Step into My World” (Ensemble);”Keep Your Eye on the Red” (Obba Babatunde); “Wake Up, Sun” (Obba Babatunde, Vivian Reed); “Subway Rider” (Ensemble); “God Help Us” (Larry Stewart, Carol Lynn Maillard); “Who’s Going to Teach the Children?” (Mabel King); “Out on the Street” (Ensemble); “Welcome, Mr. Anderson” (Dan Strayhorn, The Hawks Gang); “Why Can’t Me and You?” (Stephen Pender); “Why Can’t Me and You?” (reprise) (Vickie D. Chappell, Stephen Pender); “Out on the Street” (reprise) (Ensemble); “When I Rise” (Eugene Edwards); “World Keeps Going Round” (Vivian Reed, Ensemble) Act Two: “Antiquity” (Ensemble); “I’ve Still Got My Bite” (Mabel King); “Look at Us” (Larry Stewart, Carol Lynn Maillard); “Keep Your Eye on the Red” (reprise) (Obba Babatunde); “The American Dream” (Stephen Pender); “Bright Lights” (Vivian Reed); “Step into My World” (reprise) (Obba Babatunde, Vivian Reed); “It’s So Nice to Be Civilized” (Stephen Pender, Vickie D. Chappell, The Hawks Gang); “Like a Lady” (Vivian Reed); “Pass a Little Love Around” (Ensemble) Micki Grant’s revue-like musical It’s So Nice to Be Civilized had been first produced Off Off Broadway in a showcase production. The wispy piece no doubt worked better in an intimate venue, but in a large Broadway house the musical’s modest charms were lost and so the show managed just one week of performances. The slender story was a collection of weak vignettes about inner-city life, including a grandmother (Mabel King), a nightclub owner (Vivian Reed), a bag lady (Juanita Grace Tyler), a white social worker (Stephen Pender) who hopes to teach gang kids the joy of painting a neighborhood mural, and Sharky (Obba Babatunde), a streetsmart sharpie who serves as a narrator of sorts throughout the evening. Mel Gussow in the New York Times said the musical “drifts along as if it were a meandering stream” with characters barely connected to one another; in fact, it took “a long time” to “even distinguish all of the character relationships.” Ultimately, the show lacked “definition” as it wandered “to an all-join-hands destination.” But Mabel King and Vivian Reed were stars of the “highest caliber” and they gave a “special wattage” to the production. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News complained that the evening had “no shape” and “no book to speak of.” He noted that Grant had written the book, lyrics, and music for the production but complained that she had “no ability at all” to construct a proper book and that her music was “common place.” But the critic praised Babatunde, King, and, especially, the “stunning” Reed, who was “almost alone worth the price of admission.” Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post noted the book had “no plot” and only “storybook ideals” that preached (according to one of the song titles) that we all should “Pass a Little Love Around.” But Stasio said Reed was “breathtakingly beautiful” and, like Watt, found her “worth the admission.” Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily felt he was “sinking in a tank of Rice Krispies” because the music “snaps, crackles and pops to little avail” and the characters were “icky and soggy.” The book was “just terrible” with its “flimsy pretext” and it treated the audience as if they weren’t “mature adults.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal found the book “predictable and banal” but he praised Reed’s “intoxicating singing,” King’s “deepthroated belting,” and Babatunde’s “loose-limbed dancing.” As for Joel Siegel on WABCTV7, he was “sorry” that the talented cast was stuck with just one “so-so” song (apparently “Step into My World”) and a book that didn’t “deserve to be considered a paragraph.” During Broadway previews, the songs “Alice,” “Terrible Tuesday,” “Jub-Jub,” and “Me and Jesus” were dropped. The showcase production had opened at the AMAS Repertory Theatre on February 22, 1979, for twelve performances. The Broadway version added three songs not heard in the showcase (“Keep Your Eye on the Red,” “Antiquity,” and “The American Dream”), and omitted ten that had been performed during the AMAS run (“Up Front Behind,” “Walkin’ the Dog,” “I Want to Be Your Congressman,” “Everybody’s Got a Pitch,” “Come Back, Baby,” “Talking to People,” “Old Things,” “Terrible Tuesday,” “Jub-Jub,” and “Me and Jesus” [as noted above, the last three songs were heard during Broadway previews]).

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The musical’s opening number “Step into My World” was heard in Micki Grant’s retrospective revue Step into My World, which was presented by the AMAS Repertory Theatre on February 16, 1989, for twenty-four performances.

THE MUSIC MAN Theatre: City Center Opening Date: June 5, 1980; Closing Date: June 22, 1980 Performances: 21 Book: Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey Lyrics and Music: Meredith Willson Based on an unpublished story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey. Direction and Choreography: Michael Kidd; Producers: James M. Nederlander, Raymond Lussa, and Fred Walker; Scenery: Peter Wolf; Costumes: Stanley Simmons; Lighting: Marcia Madeira; Musical Direction: Milton Rosenstock Cast: Traveling Salesmen—Dennis Holland, Lee Winston, Michael J. Rockne, Randy Morgan, Tom Garrett, Ralph Braun, Andy Hostettler, Dennis Batutis, and Larry Cahn; Jay Stuart (Charlie Cowell), Peter Wandel (Conductor), Dick Van Dyke (Harold Hill), Iggie Wolfington (Mayor Shinn), Larry Cahn (Ewart Dunlop), Randy Morgan (Oliver Hix), Lee Winston (Jacey Squires), Ralph Braun (Olin Britt), Richard Warren Pugh (Marcellus Washburn), Calvin McRae (Tommy Djilas), Meg Bussert (Marian Paroo), Carol Arthur (Mrs. Paroo), Lara Jill Miller (Amaryllis), Christian Slater (Winthrop Paroo), Jen Jones (Eulalie MacKechnie Shinn), Christina Saffran (Zeneeta Shinn), Marcia Brushingham (Alma Hix), Mary Gaebler (Maude Dunlop), P. J. Nelson (Ethel Toffelmier), Mary Roche (Mrs. Squires), Dennis Holland (Constable Locke); River City Townspeople and Kids: Victoria Ally, Carol Ann Basch, Dennis Batutis, David Beckett, Mark A. Esposito, Tom Garrett, Liza Gennaro, Dennis Holland, Andy Hostettler, Tony Jaeger, Wendy Kimball, Ara Marx, Darleigh Miller, Gail Pennington, Rosemary Rado, Michael J. Rockne, Coley Sohn, Peter Wandel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in River City, Iowa, during July 1912.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Rock Island” (Jay Stuart, Salesmen); “Iowa Stubborn” (Townspeople of River City); “Trouble” (Dick Van Dyke, Townspeople); “Piano Lesson” (Meg Bussert, Carol Arthur, Lara Jill Miller); “Goodnight, My Someone” (Meg Bussert); “Seventy-Six Trombones” (Dick Van Dyke, Boys and Girls); “Sincere” (Ralph Braun, Randy Morgan, Larry Cahn, Lee Winston); “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl” (Dick Van Dyke, Richard Warren Pugh); “Pickalittle” (Jen Jones, Mary Gaebler, P. J. Nelson, Marcia Brushingham, Mary Roche, Ladies of River City); “Goodnight, Ladies” (Ralph Braun, Randy Morgan, Larry Cahn, Lee Winston); “Marian the Librarian” (Dick Van Dyke, Meg Bussert, Boys and Girls); “My White Knight” (Meg Bussert); “Wells Fargo Wagon” (Christian Slater, Townspeople) Act Two: “It’s You” (Ralph Braun, Randy Morgan, Larry Cahn, Lee Winston, Jen Jones, Mary Gaebler, P. J. Nelson, Marcia Brushingham, Mary Roche); “Shipoopi” (Richard Warren Pugh, Dick Van Dyke, Meg Bussert, Calvin McRae, Christina Saffran, Kids); “Pickalittle” (reprise) (Jen Jones, Mary Gaebler, P. J. Nelson, Marcia Brushingham, Mary Roche, Ladies of River City); “Lida Rose” (Ralph Braun, Randy Morgan, Larry Cahn, Lee Winston); “Will I Ever Tell You?” (Meg Bussert); “Gary, Indiana” (Christian Slater); “It’s You” (reprise) (Townspeople, Boys and Girls); “Till There Was You” (Meg Bussert, Dick Van Dyke); “SeventySix Trombones” (reprise) and “Goodnight, My Someone” (reprise) (Dick Van Dyke, Meg Bussert); “Till There Was You” (reprise) (Dick Van Dyke); Finale (Company) The revival of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man had played on tour, and its New York visit was scheduled for three months at City Center. Despite many good reviews, the production never took off and closed in less than three weeks. Michael Kidd’s direction and choreography were praised, and the critics were impressed with Meg Bussert, here making her Broadway debut in the role of Marian (she returned later in the season in a revival of Brigadoon).

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As for Dick Van Dyke, a number of reviewers suggested he was good but not good enough: His natural charm and likability mitigated against his character of the con artist Harold Hill. Walter Kerr in the New York Times said Van Dyke wasn’t a “scalawag, and we’ve got to have one”; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said he was “too nice” and missed the “roguish quality” necessary for the role; and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said Van Dyke was a “great performer” who was “just too darn nice to be believable” as a con man. Kerr praised the “charming” Bussert, and Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily liked her “lovely voice” and “good comic sense”; Wilson said she was “one of the liveliest Marians on record” because of her “exceptionally beautiful singing” and her “incredible sparkle”; and Siegel found her “delightful.” Kerr singled out Kidd’s “new, vigorous, precisely patterned dance eruptions”; Kissel praised the “energetic” dances; Siegel said Kidd’s direction and choreography “sparkle like diamonds”; and Wilson said that “for the beauty of its singing and the vigor of its dancing,” the revival of The Music Man was “hard to beat.” Siegel hailed the “American classic” and noted that Willson had taken the show’s “corn” and had popped, buttered, and baked it and then turned it into fritters. And Siegel said he “ate it up.” If John Phillip Sousa, George M. Cohan, and Mark Twain had ever collaborated on a musical, the result might have been The Music Man, which may well be the great old-fashioned American musical comedy. The opening scene takes place on July 4, 1912, in the small town of River City, Iowa, and the affectionate but somewhat sardonic show looked at small-town America from the perspective of that quintessential American type, the confidence man. The perfect book is chockablock with humor and sentiment (and the “Grant Wood” sequence is one of the funniest visual jokes in all musical theatre), the story is full of amusing and quirky characters, and the tuneful score is one of the best ever written for a musical: Willson created idiosyncratic touches that give the score a sound like no other (“Rock Island,” “Trouble,” “Piano Lesson,” and “Gary, Indiana”), “Seventy-Six Trombones” became such an instant classic it seems to have been around since Sousa himself composed his grand American marches, and both Harold’s “Seventy-Six Trombones” and Marian’s “Goodnight, My Someone” actually share the same melody and thus musically suggest the two characters have more in common than meets the eye and thus are surely destined for a happy ending together. The plot centers on con man and traveling salesman Harold Hill, a lovable charlatan who knows absolutely nothing about music but nonetheless specializes in duping gullible parents into believing he can teach their children through his revolutionary “think” system of music. But instead of creating marching bands, he marches off with the money he makes from selling musical instruments and band uniforms. When Harold meets local girl Marian, he falls in love with her, and even though she’s on to his tricks, she succumbs to his charms. The original Broadway production opened at the Majestic Theatre on December 19, 1957, for 1,375 performances, and the cast members included Robert Preston (Harold Hill), Barbara Cook (Marian), David Burns (Mayor Shinn), and Iggie Wolfington (Marcellus Washburn). The first New York revival was produced under the auspices of the New York City Center Light Opera Company at City Center on June 16, 1965, for a limited engagement of fifteen performances, and the cast included Bert Parks and Gaylea Byrne; after the current engagement (with Wolfington now playing the role of Mayor Shinn), the musical was revived at the New York State Theatre by the New York City Opera Company on February 26, 1988, for fifty-one performances (Bob Gunton and Leigh Munro; for more information about this production, see entry) and at the Neil Simon Theatre on April 27, 2000, for 685 showings (Craig Bierko and Rebecca Luker). The delightful and faithful film adaptation was released by Warner Brothers in 1962 with Morton Da Costa reprising his original stage direction. From the 1957 Broadway cast, Preston and Pert Kelton (Mrs. Paroo) re-created their original roles, and others in the film included Shirley Jones (Marian), Paul Ford (Mayor Shinn, a role Ford played during the original Broadway run when he succeeded David Burns), Hermione Gingold (Mrs. Shinn), Buddy Hackett (Marcellus), and Ronny Howard (Winthrop). The film dropped one song (“My White Knight,” which according to Broadway rumor had been written by Frank Loesser) and replaced it with another in the same spot (“Being in Love”). A charm-free television adaptation was shown by ABC on February 16, 2003, with Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth, and the original London production opened at the Adelphi Theatre on March 16, 1961, for 395 performances (Van Johnson and Patricia Lambert). The script was published in hardback by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in 1958. There are numerous recordings of the score, but the original Broadway cast album is the essential one to own (Capitol Records LP # W/WAO990; Broadway Angel Records CD # ZDM-7-64663-2-3). Another worthwhile recording is . . . And Then I Wrote “The Music Man” (Capitol Records LP # T-1320) in which Willson and his wife, Rini, discuss the musical and perform songs from the score. Willson also wrote a book about the genesis of the show, But He

36      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Doesn’t Know the Territory: The Making of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” (published in hardback by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in 1959 and republished in paperback by the University of Minnesota Press in 2009).

FEARLESS FRANK “A New Musical”

Theatre: Princess Theatre Opening Date: June 15, 1980; Closing Date: June 25, 1980 Performances: 12 Book and Lyrics: Andrew Davies Music: Dave Brown Direction: Robert Gillespie; Producers: David Black and Robert Fabian in association with Oscar Lewenstein and Theodore P. Donahue Jr.; Choreography: Michael Vernon; Scenery: Martin Tilley; Costumes: Supervised by Carrie F. Robbins; Lighting: Ruth Roberts; Musical Direction: Michael Rose Cast: Niall Toibin (Frank Harris), Alex Wipf (French Waiter, Headmaster, Kendrick, Lord Folkestone, Whistler), Valerie Mahaffey (Secretary, School Girl, Jessie, Lilly), Kristen Meadows (Nellie, Kate, Laura), Steve Burney (Tobin, Whitehouse, Smith, Chapman, Oscar Wilde), Ann Hodapp (Nursemaid, Actress, Bootblack, Topsy, Newsboy, Enid), Olivier Pierre (Cowboy, Carlyle, Mr. Clapton, de Maupassant, Dowson), Evalyn Baron (Mrs. Mayhew, Mrs. Clapton, Mrs. Clayton); Note: The company also played the roles of School Boys, New Yorkers, Hotel Guests, Cowboys, Indians, A Crowd, Newsboys, Strollers, Opera Chorus, Harris Detractors, and Harris Praisers. The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1921 in Nice and in the mind of Frank Harris.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Man Who Made His Life into a Work of Art” (Niall Toibin, Girls); “Nora, the Nursemaid’s Door” (Valerie Mahaffey); “The Examination Song” or “Get Me on That Boat” (Alex Wipf, Steve Burney, and Niall Toibin); “Halted at the Very Gates of Paradise—A Song of Frustration” (Niall Toibin, Girls); “Come and Help Yourself to America” or “Frank in the Melting Pot” (Company); “Dandy Night Clerk” or “How to Get On in the Hotel Trade” (Company); “Riding on the Range—A Song of the Old West” (Company); “Oh, Catch Me, Mr. Harris, ‘Cause I’m Falling for You!” (Kristen Meadows, Ann Hodapp, Valerie Mahaffey, Evalyn Baron, and Niall Toibin); “The Greatest Man of All” (Niall Toibin) Act Two: “My Poor Wee Lassie—A Scottish Lament” (Olivier Pierre); “My Own” or “True Love at Last” (Niall Toibin, Kristen Meadows, Evalyn Baron, and Olivier Pierre); “Evening News—A Song of Success” (Company); “La mâitre de la conte” or “de Maupassant Tells All” (Olivier Pierre); “Oh, Mr. Harris, You’re a Naughty, Naughty Man!” (Niall Toibin, Evalyn Baron); “Great Men, Great Days” or “The King of the Café Royal” (Niall Toibin); “Free Speech, Free Thought, Free Love” (Ann Hodapp, Niall Toibin, Company); “Mr. Harris, It’s All Over Now!” (Niall Toibin, Company); “Fearless Frank” (Company) The London import Fearless Frank lasted less than two weeks on Broadway. The work looked at Victorian writer, critic, and editor Frank Harris (born circa 1856, died 1931) and dealt with his amorous adventures as well as his ability to appreciate the potential of unknown writers such as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. The musical takes place in 1921 when Harris (Niall Toibin) looks back upon his life, which is enacted as a series of music-hall turns, and the evening’s emphasis was definitely on his sexual appetites. When he meets Maupassant (Olivier Pierre), the latter sees Harris as a kindred spirit who also views life as “one long fornication” (which is as close as the musical ever got to the “F” word, as it somewhat genteely referred to a man’s “organ of fertilization,” which stands up and “salutes”). Frank Rich in the New York Times praised the “uniformly ingratiating cast,” and noted the book was one of the “wittiest” of the season. Further, the lyrics were “intricate” and “at times wicked,” the evening was “always pleasant, literate and sweet,” and its message was that Harris’s life was “his greatest work of art.” Unfortunately, Dave Brown’s music and Michael Vernon’s choreography and musical staging remained

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“unexplored” and were “usually lifeless.” Somewhere in the proceedings was a “lively” musical that never quite took off and that lacked “showbiz know-how.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily found the evening “fearfully inept” with its series of “cluttered skits” of “kindergarten salaciousness.” The music was an “endless string of ricky-ticky melodies” and in the title role Niall Toibin was “listless.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the production wasn’t “fearless, frank nor even interesting.” Harris was a “fascinating rogue” but the musical made him a “bore” with a “thin, watery” score that had “the consistency of gruel” and was “bleakly beige.” The choreography was “almost invisible,” the “repetitious” book was a “mere recital” of Harris’s life and times, and while the work might have had its “pallid charms” in London, it was “folly” to bring it to Broadway. An early and apparently nonmusical version of the material had been presented as a special on the BBC, and this led to the musical’s presentation at the King’s Head Theatre Club on May 31, 1979, for fifty-two performances. A few seasons after Fearless Frank collapsed, the Off-Off-Broadway nonmusical Flesh, Flash and Frank Harris opened on October 27, 1983, at the Marquee Theatre in two slightly separated engagements for a total of thirty-seven performances. Written by Paul Stephen Lim, the play utilized three actors to portray Harris during different stages of his life.

CAMELOT Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 8, 1980; Closing Date: August 23, 1980 Performances: 56 Book and Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Frederick Loewe Based on the 1958 novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White. Direction: Frank Dunlop; Producers: Mike Merrick and Don Gregory (A Dome/Cutler-Herman Production); Choreography: Buddy Schwab; Scenery and Costumes: Desmond Heeley; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: James Martin Cast: Richard Burton (Arthur), Andy McAvin (Sir Sagramore), James Valentine (Merlyn, Friar), Christine Ebersole (Guenevere), William Parry (Sir Dinadan), Jeanne Caryl (Nimue), Richard Muenz (Lancelot du Lac), Robert Fox (Mordred), Robert Molnar (Dap), Nora Brennan (Lady Anne), Deborah Magid (Lady Sybil), William James (Sir Lionel), Paxton Whitehead (King Pellinore), Bob (Horrid), Davis Gaines (Sir Lionel’s Squire), Steve Osborn (Sir Sagramore’s Squire), Herndon Lackey (Sir Dinadan’s Squire); Knights of the Investiture: Ken Henley, Gary Jaketic, Jack Starkey, and Ronald Bennett Stratton; Thor Fields (Tom); Knights, Lords, and Ladies of the Court: Nora Brennan, Jeanne Caryl, Melanie Clements, Stephanie Conlow, Van Craig, John Deyle, Debra Dickinson, Richard Dodd, Cecil Fulfer, Davis Gaines, Lisa Ann Grant, Ken Henley, John Herrera, Gary Jaketic, William James, Kelby Kirk, Herndon Lackey, Deborah Magid, Kevin Marcum, Andy McAvin, Laura McCarthy, Robert Molnar, Steve Osborn, Patrice Pickering, Janelle Price, Nancy Reith, Patrick Rogers, Deborah Roshe, D. Paul Shannon, Jack Starkey, Ronald Bennett Stratton, Sally Ann Swarm, Sally Williams The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place “a long time ago” in Camelot.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Guenevere” (Ensemble); “I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight?” (Richard Burton); “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” (Christine Ebersole); “Camelot” (Richard Burton, Christine Ebersole); “Follow Me” (Jeanne Caryl); “Camelot” (reprise) (Richard Burton, Christine Ebersole); “C’est moi” (Richard Muenz); “The Lusty Month of May” (Christine Ebersole, Ensemble); “How to Handle a Woman” (Richard Burton); “The Jousts” (Richard Burton, Christine Ebersole, Ensemble); “Before I Gaze at You Again” (Christine Ebersole)

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Act Two: “If Ever I Would Leave You” (Richard Muenz); “The Seven Deadly Virtues” (Robert Fox); “What Do the Simple Folk Do?” (Christine Ebersole, Richard Burton); “Fie on Goodness!” (Robert Fox, Knights); “I Loved You Once in Silence” (Christine Ebersole); “Guenevere” (reprise) (Ensemble); “Camelot” (reprise) (Richard Burton) The touring production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1960 musical Camelot played a limited engagement of seven weeks in New York with Richard Burton reprising his original role of King Arthur. Camelot marked the first of two Lerner and Loewe musicals to be revived during the season (Brigadoon opened a few months later), and the following season saw another revival of Camelot (with Richard Harris, who portrayed Arthur in the 1967 film version) as well as a revival of the team’s My Fair Lady in which Rex Harrison revisited his original role. Based on T. H. White’s novel The Once and Future King, Camelot told the familiar stories of Arthur’s vision of a democratic society presided over by the knights of the round table as well as his marriage to Guenevere (Christine Ebersole in the revival) and her love for the knight Lancelot (Richard Muenz). Others in the story include Arthur’s friend Pellinore (Paxton Whitehead), Arthur’s mentor Merlin (aka Merlyn; James Valentine), and Arthur’s evil illegitimate son Mordred (Robert Fox). When Camelot premiered on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre on December 3, 1960, everyone agreed that the first half of the first act was the equal of My Fair Lady. The early scenes struck just the right tone of wit and self-mockery: Arthur’s self-effacing “I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight?,” Guenevere’s lyrically hard-edged “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” (which was all the more effective because Lerner’s coldly calculated lyric was set to one of Loewe’s loveliest musical confections), Lancelot’s ode to self-love “C’est moi,” and the felicitous title song, which hyperbolically promised perfect weather, including a legal limit to the amount of snowfall during a Camelot winter. But soon the musical took wrong turns and never recovered. It became deadly serious when Lancelot brings Sir Lionel back from the dead; Guenevere and Lancelot’s romance wasn’t dramatized and seemed to have happened somewhere offstage; Arthur broods a bit too much about his vision of a democratic ideal and the shambles of his marriage; and Mordred comes across like a B-movie villain in his attempts to destroy Arthur, Guenevere, and Camelot. As the evening plodded on, even the supposedly endearing nicknames for the characters became tiresome: Wart (Arthur), Jenny (Guenevere), and Pelly (Pellinore). A few weeks after the premiere of the original production and the recording of the cast album, director Moss Hart restaged the musical, sped up the action, and cut two songs (“Then You May Take Me to the Fair” and “Fie on Goodness!”). But the inherent book troubles remained because the love triangle was unconvincingly written and the plot still carried too much baggage. And why was silly-twit Pellinore still around? He’s one of the most tiresome characters in the canon of modern musical theatre (and is rivaled only by the equally annoying Sancho Panza in Man of La Mancha), and he should have been left in Toronto or Boston (Camelot underwent one of the most grueling of tryouts in those cities and its problems led to a cover story in Time titled “The Rough Road to Broadway”). Further, the characters of Merlin and Nimue were given more stage time than was warranted, and probably Nimue’s lovely “Follow Me,” along with the tiresome “The Lusty Month of May,” should have been cut (perhaps the latter could have been reworked as a dance number called “May Dance” or “May Pole Dance”). Although much had been done to streamline Camelot and clarify the plot lines and the characters, the changes didn’t go far enough. What really was warranted was an almost complete rewrite. As a result, the musical isn’t quite satisfying to watch and makes a better impression as a recording. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted the musical still had its “flaws” and arbitrary turns of plot, and director Frank Dunlop’s staging brought an “operatic heaviness” to the “windiness of the book.” Further, the “opulent and gargantuan” production looked somewhat “uninhabited” and the choreography added “distracting tackiness” to some of the numbers. But Richard Burton didn’t “merely command” the stage, he seemed “to own it by divine right.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the musical “too long and too often too silly and pretentious.” It was “half lovely, half dopey and ultimately a bore,” but Burton was “the whole show,” looked “just great,” and had a “distinctive” and “irresistible” voice. T. E. Kalem in Time commented that the evening was “sometimes historical pageant” and “sometimes operetta,” and the “language veers from the chivalric mode to slangy vernacular.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily complained about the “disintegrating quality” of theatergoers who were “infinitely less sophisticated today than they were 20 years ago.” Now “all they can

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do is stand” for bombastic performances and “minimalist” acting skills, and so Burton didn’t “exert” himself (and “why should he?”) because he could get $50,000 a week and standing ovations for “just appearing.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said that while the original production of Camelot was “half-baked and had to be re-heated into success,” the current revival was “simply half-baked.” He also thought Burton looked “wan” and seemed “little more than a burnt-out dummy.” There were still “glints of greatness” in his performance, but despite his final scene’s “nobility and compassion,” it was all “too little, too late.” The original Broadway production played for 873 performances, and the lavish cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # KOL-5620) and included thirteen color photographs that featured memorable glimpses of Oliver Smith’s sumptuous décor and Tony Duquette and Adrian’s richly elegant costumes (the CD was issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records # SK-60552). It’s worth noting that for the cast album Marjorie Smith (the original Nimue) doesn’t perform the song, which instead was recorded by her understudy Mary Sue Berry (who later in the run succeeded Smith).The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1961, and the production’s souvenir program was the first to use color photographs throughout. As mentioned, “Then You May Take Me to the Fair” and “Fie on Goodness!” were cut from the New York production (but not before they were recorded for the cast album). Curiously, three numbers that were heard during the entire Broadway run weren’t recorded for the album (“The Jousts,” “The Persuasion,” and Lancelot’s “Madrigal,” and in fact the latter was never listed in the New York program). There were also two charming orchestral sequences omitted from the New York program, and although only one was listed on the cast album, both are heard on the recording. These are the “Processional” (sometimes referred to as the “March”) for Guenevere’s entourage during the first scene and the “Parade” (also referred to as the “March”) for the knights late in the first act (the music for “Parade” was also used for “The Jousts”). Over the years, various revivals have included the “other” Camelot songs, such as “Then You May Take Me to the Fair,” “Fie on Goodness!,” “The Jousts,” “The Persuasion,” “Madrigal,” “Processional,” and “Parade.” On occasion, “Madrigal” is actually listed in a revival’s program, but the two instrumental sequences are generally ignored in program listings and so it’s almost impossible to determine which revivals included the numbers. For the current revival, two songs were definitely cut: “Then You May Take Me to the Fair” and “The Persuasion,” and the character of Morgan Le Fay was completely eliminated. The musical was now bookended by the older Arthur reminiscing about the past as he readies himself for battle, and the late second-act “Guenevere” became the show’s opening number (and was later heard in a reprise version for the latter part of the second act). One of the musical’s most charming songs is Arthur and Guenevere’s “What Do the Simple Folk Do?” It’s worth noting that the tryout of Lerner and Loewe’s 1951 musical Paint Your Wagon included the song “What Do Other Folk Do?,” which was performed by James Barton and Olga San Juan, and the number seems to have been reworked for Camelot. After the current revival, the musical was seen in New York two more times: at the Winter Garden Theatre on November 15, 1981, with Richard Harris, Meg Bussert, and Richard Muenz, the latter reprising his role of Lancelot from the 1980 revival (the 1981 production was seen on Home Box Office in 1983 and was released on DVD by Acorn Media # AMP-8925; for more information about the production, see separate entry) and at the Gershwin Theatre on August 7, 1993, for fifty-six performances (with the original Lancelot Robert Goulet now portraying Arthur). A concert version was presented at Avery Fisher Hall for five performances beginning on May 7, 2008, a production seriously marred by director Lonny Price’s unfortunate staging concepts and mostly poor casting choices (the happy exception was Nathan Gunn’s Lancelot, whom one critic described as “impossibly handsome” and whose “C’est moi” and “If Ever I Would Leave You” were definitive interpretations). The original London production opened at the Drury Lane on August 19, 1964, for 518 performances with a cast that included Lawrence Harvey, Elizabeth Lerner, and Barry Kent (Nicky Henson was Mordred). The cast album, which was released by EMI Records (LP # CSD-1559) and was issued on CD by Kritzerland Records (# KR-200184), includes “The Jousts.” The bloated 1967 film version was released by Warner Brothers; Joshua Logan directed, Lerner wrote the screenplay, and the cast included Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero. The film retained “I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight?,” “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood,” “Camelot,” “C’est moi,” “The Lusty Month of May,” “Then You May Take Me to the Fair,” “How to Handle a Woman,” “If Ever I Would Leave You,” “What Do the Simple Folk Do?,” “Follow Me,” “I Loved You Once in Silence,” and “Guenevere” (the “March” was heard during the film’s overture). Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the film is that

40      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Logan, who always seemed to find a way to work male beefcake into a play, musical, or movie, didn’t show a scene of Franco Nero emerging from his bath during the “C’est moi” sequence (it’s amusing to note that for the Logan-directed film version of Bus Stop, it was Don Murray and not Marilyn Monroe who is seen in a bubble bath). The soundtrack album (LP # B/BS-1712) and DVD (# 12238) were released by Warner Brothers. Besides the original cast albums of the Broadway and London productions and the film soundtrack, there are numerous recordings of the score, including a Living Strings album that includes “The Quests,” a song cut during the pre-Broadway tryout (RCA Camden Records LP # 657, and issued on CD as Two Classic Albums from Living Strings: The Living Strings Play All the Music from “Camelot” and The Living Strings Play Music of the Sea).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival (Camelot); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Paxton Whitehead)

42ND STREET “The Song

and

Dance Fable

of

Broadway”

Theatre: Winter Garden Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Majestic and St. James Theatres) Opening Date: August 25, 1980; Closing Date: January 8, 1989 Performances: 3,486 Book (Lead-Ins and Crossovers): Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble Lyrics: Al Dubin; other lyrics by Johnny Mercer and Mort Dixon Music: Harry Warren Based on the 1932 novel 42nd Street by Bradford Ropes and the 1933 film 42nd Street (produced by Warner Brothers with direction by Lloyd Bacon, choreography by Busby Berkeley, and screenplay by Rian James and James Seymour). Direction and Choreography: Gower Champion; Producer: David Merrick; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Tharon Muser; Musical Direction: John Lesko Cast: Danny Carroll (Andy Lee), Robert Colston (Oscar), Stan Page (Mac), Karen Prunczik (Annie), Carole Cook (Maggie Jones), Joseph Bova (Bert Barry), Lee Roy Reams (Billy Lawlor). Wanda Richert (Peggy Sawyer), Ginny King (Lorraine), Jeri Kansas (Phyllis), Jerry Orbach (Julian Marsh), Tammy Grimes (Dorothy Brock), Don Crabtree (Abner Dillon), James Congdon (Pat Denning), Stan Page (Thug, Doctor), Ron Schwinn (Thug); Ensemble: Carole Banninger, Steve Belin, Robin Black, Joel Blum, Mary Cadorette, Ronny DeVito, Denise DiRenzo, Mark Dovey, Brandt Edwards, Jon Engstrom, Sharon Ferrol, Cathy Greco, Dawn Herbert, Christine Jacobsen, Jeri Kansas, Ginny King, Terri Ann Kundrat, Shan Martin, Beth McVey, Maureen Mellon, Sandra Menhart, Bill Nabel, Tony Parise, Don Percassi, Jean Preece, Vicki Regan, Lars Rosager, Linda Sabatelli, Nikki Sahagen, Ron Schwinn, Yveline Semeria, Alison Sherve, Robin Stephens, David Storey, Karen Tamburrelli The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1933 in New York City and Philadelphia.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Audition” (dance) (Danny Carroll, Ensemble); “Young and Healthy” (1933 film 42nd Street; lyric by Al Dubin) (Lee Roy Reams, Wanda Richert); “Shadow Waltz” (Gold Diggers of 1933; lyric by Al Dubin) (Carole Cook, Tammy Grimes, Girls); “Shadow Waltz” (reprise) (Tammy Grimes); “Go into Your Dance” (1935 film Go into Your Dance; lyric by Al Dubin) (Carole Cook, Wanda Richert, Karen Prunczik, Danny Carroll, Ginny King, Jeri Kansas); “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me” (1933 film 42nd Street; lyric by Al Dubin) (Tammy Grimes, Lee Roy Reams, Wanda Richert, Ensemble); “Getting Out of Town” (in 1931 musical The Laugh Parade, the song was introduced as “Got to Go to Town” with lyric by Mort Dixon and possibly Joe Young; lyric revised for stage version of 42nd Street) (James Congdon, Joseph Bova, Carole

1980–1981 SEASON     41

Cooke, Karen Prunczik, Tammy Grimes, Ensemble); “Dames” (1934 film Dames, lyric by Al Dubin) (Lee Roy Reams); “I Know Now” (1937 film The Singing Marine; lyric by Johnny Mercer) (Tammy Grimes); “I Know Now” (reprise) (Lee Roy Reams, Girls); “We’re in the Money” (Gold Diggers of 1933; lyric by Al Dubin) (Karen Prunczik, Wanda Richert, Ginny King, Jeri Kansas, Lee Roy Reams, Ensemble); Act One Finale (Tammy Grimes, Wanda Richert, Company) Act Two: “(There’s a) Sunny Side to Every Situation” (1938 film Hard to Get; lyric by Johnny Mercer) (Karen Prunczik, Ensemble); “Lullaby of Broadway” (film Gold Diggers of 1935; lyric by Al Dubin) (Jerry Orbach, Company); “About a Quarter to Nine” (1935 film Go into Your Dance; lyric by Al Dubin) (Tammy Grimes, Wanda Richert); Overture to Pretty Lady (Orchestra); “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” (1933 film 42nd Street; lyric by Al Dubin) (Karen Prunczik, Joseph Bova, Carole Cook, Girls); “42nd Street” (1933 film 42nd Street; lyric by Al Dubin) (Wanda Richert, Lee Roy Reams, Ensemble); “42nd Street” (reprise) (Jerry Orbach) Gower Champion’s 42nd Street was the longest-running musical of the 1980–1981 season, and when it closed in 1989 it had chalked up 3,486 performances. Based on the legendary 1933 film of the same name, the backstage story told the familiar show-biz saga about the unknown chorus girl who goes on for the ailing star and becomes a star herself. In this case, diva Dorothy Brock (Tammy Grimes) breaks her ankle prior to the first Philadelphia tryout performance of the new musical Pretty Lady and chorus-girl Peggy Sawyer (Wanda Richert), who has just thirty-six hours to learn twenty-five pages of dialogue, six songs, and ten dance routines, steps in at the last minute and emerges triumphant. Added to the mix are Pretty Lady’s stalwart director Julian Marsh (Jerry Orbach), the wise-cracking chorine Annie (Karen Prunczik), and juvenile lead Billy Lawlor (Lee Roy Reams). The show’s thin book (during the tryout, the word book was changed to lead-ins and crossovers) served as a delightful excuse to present a cornucopia of elaborate dance routines and an array of sumptuous scenery and colorful costumes. From the very beginning, it was clear the show knew where it was going because even the first tryout preview performance at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House on June 22, 1980, was in shape with its minimalist and serviceable script that connected the musical numbers together: the first act was a trim one-and-a-quarter hours and the second ran forty-six minutes. Four songs from the original film, with lyrics by Al Dubin and music by Harry Warren, were supplemented by other film songs (and one stage song) by Warren (with lyrics by Dubin, Johnny Mercer, or Mort Dixon; see song list for specific credits and sources). In many respects, the show was a tribute-revue to Warren, whose film songs include three Oscar winners (“Lullaby of Broadway” from Gold Diggers of 1935, lyric by Al Dubin; “You’ll Never Know” from 1943’s Hello, Frisco, Hello, lyric by Mack Gordon; and “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” from 1946’s The Harvey Girls, lyric by Johnny Mercer). Critics and audiences were enchanted with 42nd Street, but the opening night was tempered by the tragic news of Champion’s death, which had occurred just hours before the curtain. Had the event happened in a movie, no one would have believed it, for this was one of a handful of truly dramatic and memorable opening nights. After the cast members had taken their curtain calls and were still on stage, producer David Merrick suddenly appeared. Everyone probably expected him to say a few pleasant words, and perhaps to crow a bit because clearly the musical was destined for success. But instead Merrick announced that Champion had died earlier in the day. The cast and audience were stunned, and Champion was never to know that he had directed and choreographed a Broadway blockbuster that would run longer than any of his previous successes, such as Bye Bye Birdie, Carnival!, Hello, Dolly!, and I Do! I Do! Champion’s death made headlines, and everyone agreed that no stage show could ever hope to emulate the offstage drama of the historic opening night. The musical began with a spectacular image: the curtain rose just a few feet, and revealed dozens of feet tapping away with musical comedy abandon. And when the curtain was completely up, the chorus performed exciting combinations of classic tap routines. And this was only the beginning. The beguiling “Shadow Waltz” was soon followed by the jaw-dropping “Dames,” one of the era’s most impressive production numbers. As Lee Roy Reams saluted the dames, the showgirls appeared one by one in gowns of Ziegfeldian splendor. The colors of their gowns created dazzling rainbow effects, and they were backed by tuxedoed gentlemen in top hats, and all the while the showgirls and gentlemen were surrounded by acres of glittering mirrors. As the number reached its crescendo, it provided an amusing sight gag: Reams and the chorus had been performing the show-stopping number, but in true star-lady fashion Dorothy Brock, who hadn’t been part of the sequence, suddenly appears out of nowhere, takes over center stage, and with her arms raised to the heavens she imperiously acknowledges the audience’s applause.

42      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

“We’re in the Money” was another dazzler, a fantasy in gold and silver that found the dancers tapping on oversized gold coins; “Lullaby of Broadway” was a heartfelt tribute to musicals and was sung with spinetingling effect by Jerry Orbach; “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” was a lighthearted interlude replete with Pullman car berths laden with streetwise chorines; and then the title number blossomed in full glory as the audience was treated to a world of drama, comedy, and socko production effects on that naughty, bawdy New York thoroughfare of 42nd Street. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News praised the “dazzling Broadway eyeful” and noted the musical offered “more singers, dancers, brilliant costumes and striking scenery filling the stage than you’ve seen in 25 years or more.” Champion “lived up to his name as never before” and “Dames” was “perhaps the most striking number in an evening full of delights.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said “everything is done on a grand scale” and Champion, who here “outdid himself,” wrote “his own final tribute” with a show so “lavish” that nothing like it had “been seen on Broadway in 40 years.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said Champion’s choreography was his “best,” served “as a strangely ironic tribute” to his other musicals, and gave him the “unparalleled opportunity to let his considerable imagination go berserk” in a “final display of blazing theatrical fireworks.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Champion wasn’t dead but was “still, gloriously, gloriously, alive somewhere between 42nd Street and the Winter Garden Theatre.” There was no need to say “Bye, Bye, Gower” because he had left behind “a permanent mark.” The film retained four of the show’s five songs (“You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” “Young and Healthy,” and the title song), and “It Must Be June” was omitted. During the tryout, Curt Dawson was succeeded by James Congdon who had heretofore played the role of Nick Murphy, a part written out of the musical; “You Gotta Know How to Dance” (source and lyricist unknown) and “Keep Young and Beautiful” were cut (but as noted below the latter song was reinstated for the 2001 Broadway revival); and “Getting Out of Town” was titled “Time to Leave Town.” The original cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # CBL1-3891 and CD # 3891), and there were a few foreign cast albums, including the Australian recording (RCA Victor Records LP # VRL1-0812). The London production opened on August 8, 1984, at the Drury Lane, and a Broadway revival at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts opened on May 2, 2001, for 1,524 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. This production added “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1934 film Dames, lyric by Al Dubin) and “Keep Young and Beautiful” (1933 film Roman Scandals, lyric by Al Dubin) and omitted “I Know Now.”

Awards Tony Nominations and Awards: Best Musical (42nd Street); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Lee Roy Reams); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Wanda Richert); Best Director of a Musical (Gower Champion); Best Book (Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble); Best Costume Designer (Theoni V. Aldredge); Best Lighting Designer (Tharon Musser); Best Choreography (Gower Champion)

THE STUDENT PRINCE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: August 29, 1980; Closing Date: September 7, 1980 Performances: 13 Book and Lyrics: Dorothy Donnelly (book adaptation by Hugh Wheeler) Music: Sigmund Romberg Based on the 1901 play Alt-Heidelberg by Wilhelm Meyer-Forster (which had been adapted from MeyerForster’s 1898 novel Karl Heinrich). Direction: Jack Hofsiss (Christian Smith, Assistant Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director, and John S. White, Managing Director); Choreography: Donald Saddler; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Patton Campbell; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Andrew Meltzer

1980–1981 SEASON     43

Cast: Edward Zimmerman (Lackey), Louis Perry (Lackey, Freshman, Student), Harris Davis (Lackey), Mervin Crook (Lackey), Dominic Cossa or Charles Roe (Dr. Engel), David Rae Smith (Count von Mark), Sven Leaf (Secretary), Barry Carl (Secretary), Jacque Trussel or Henry Price (Prince Karl Franz), James Billings or Jack Harrold (Lutz), Martha Thigpen (Gretchen), Dan Sullivan (Ruder), Robert LaFosse (Nicholas), Jack Harrold or James Billings (Toni), Harlan Foss (Hubert), John Lankston (Detlef), Thomas Jamerson (von Asterberg), Ralph Bassett (Lucas), Leigh Munro or Elizabeth Hynes (Kathie), Madeleine Mines (Girl), Jean Rawn (Girl), Barbara Wright (Girl), Dominick Farone (Student), Merle Schmidt (Student, Huzzar), Spencer Smith (Student), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Grand Duchess Anastasia), Kathryn Bouleyn (Princess Margaret); Joseph Evans (Captain Tarnitz), Jane Shaulis (Countess Leydon), Richard Nelson (Huzzar), Herbert Hunsberger (Huzzar), Robert Brubaker (Huzzar); Friends of the Huzzars: Madeleine Mines, Jean Rawn, Barbara Wright, and Maria Donaldi; Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in three acts. The action takes place “in the golden years” of 1830–1832 in Karlsberg and Heidelberg, Germany.

Musical Numbers Act One: “By Our Bearing So Sedate” (Edward Zimmerman, Louis Perry, Harris Davis, Mervin Crook); “Golden Days” (Dominic Cossa, Jacque Trussel); “Garlands Bright (with Glowing Flowers)” (Martha Thigpen, Dan Sullivan, Girls); “To the Inn We’re Marching” (John Lankston, Ralph Bassett, Thomas Jamerson, Students); “Drink, Drink, Drink” (aka “Drinking Song”) (John Lankston, Ralph Bassett, Thomas Jamerson, Students); “Come Boys, Let’s All Be Gay, Boys” (Leigh Munro, John Lankston, Ralph Bassett, Thomas Jamerson, Students); “Drink, Drink, Drink” (reprise) and “To the Inn We’re Marching” (reprise) (John Lankston, Ralph Bassett, Thomas Jamerson, Students); “Heidelberg, Beloved Vision of My Heart” (Dominic Cossa, Jacque Trussel, Leigh Munro, Dan Sullivan, Martha Thigpen, Girls); “Gaudeamus Igitur” (traditional) (Students); “Golden Days” (reprise) (Dominic Cossa); “Deep in My Heart, Dear” (Leigh Munro, Jacque Trussel); “Come, Sir, Will You Join Our Noble Saxon Corps?” (Students); “Overhead the Moon Is Beaming” (aka “Serenade”) (Jacque Trussel, Students); “When the Spring Wakens Everything” (Company) Act Two: “Farmer Jacob Lay Asnoring” (Students); “Student Life” (Company); “Golden Days” (reprise) (Jacque Trussel, Dominic Cossa); “Thoughts Will Come to Me” (aka “What Memories”) (Jacque Trussel, Dominic Cossa); Finale (Leigh Munro, Jacque Trussel) Act Three: Ballet (Orchestra); “Just We Two” (Kathryn Bouleyn, Joseph Evans, Men); “What Memories, Sweet Rose” (Men); “Let Us Sing a Song” (Students); “If He Knew” (Leigh Munro, Kathryn Bouleyn); Finale (Company) The New York City Opera Company’s production of Sigmund Romberg’s venerable 1924 operetta The Student Prince in Heidelberg (which soon became known by its shortened title The Student Prince) was its first New York presentation in thirty-seven years. Because the book was revised by Hugh Wheeler and the director was Jack Hofsiss, who had helmed the recent Broadway hit The Elephant Man, there were high hopes that the revival would breathe new life into the operetta format. Donal Henahan in the New York Times said Hofsiss directed with “affection and respect,” and the critic was happy to note Wheeler’s book was “not only respectful but intelligent” and there were no “gauche attempts” to insert “trendy” references to Billy Carter or Teddy Kennedy. But musically the revival was “disappointing.” As Prince Karl, the “fine-looking” Jacque Trussel sang in an “uncomfortable, medium-high range that pushed his basically pleasant voice into the suggestion of a juvenile’s croak,” and Leigh Munro’s Kathie was sung “rather ineffectively.” Further, Andrew Meltzer’s conducting didn’t bring “sufficient snap and rhythmic brio” to the ensemble numbers and thus the “Drinking Song” seemed “surprisingly tame and undersung.” Overall, Henahan felt the production emphasized the work as a “theatrical show” and failed to ignite its musical values, and he hoped that as the run progressed “a better balance” would be found. (Henahan also noted that Jack Harrold, who played the innkeeper Toni, “gave a fair imitation” of S. K. “Cuddles” Sakall [who appeared in the 1954 film version].)

44      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

The operetta premiered in New York on December 2, 1924, at Jolson’s Theatre for 608 performances, and Prince Karl was played by Howard Marsh (who three years later created the role of Gaylord Ravenal in the original production of Show Boat). The bittersweet story dealt with Prince Karl, who attends school at Heidelberg University for a few months and falls in love with the barmaid Kathie, who works at the Three Golden Apples Inn, a popular student gathering place. But royal duty soon calls when the prince’s father dies and Karl must ascend the throne and enter into an arranged marriage with a princess. Romberg’s richly melodic score offered the soaring ballads “Deep in My Heart, Dear” and “Serenade” (aka “Overhead the Moon Is Beaming”), the lilting waltz “Just We Two,” the stirring march “To the Inn We’re Marching,” the carefree and lighthearted “Student Life,” and perhaps the ultimate Broadway salute to drinking, the rich male chorus “Drinking Song” (aka “Drink, Drink, Drink”), a number undoubtedly dear to the hearts of Prohibition audiences. And serving as a theme song throughout the evening was the sadly nostalgic “Golden Days.” The operetta’s first New York revival took place at the Majestic Theatre on January 29, 1931, for forty-five performances, and the second opened on June 8, 1943, at the Broadway Theatre where it played for 153 showings. After the current production, the New York City Opera Company revived the work four more times: on August 27, 1981 (six performances), July 5, 1985 (nine performances), July 7, 1987 (fourteen performances), and August 17, 1993 (thirteen performances). (See separate entries for the 1981, 1985, and 1987 productions.) During summer 1973, two beautifully sung revivals of Romberg’s The Desert Song (1926) and The Student Prince were given full-scale productions that had lengthy tours and were intended for Broadway; the former played at the Uris Theatre for just two weeks, and The Student Prince closed at the conclusion of its scheduled tour and never opened in New York. The original London production opened at His Majesty’s Theatre on February 3, 1926, for ninety-six performances, and there were two film versions by MGM. The 1928 film was a silent version directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and the cast included Ramon Navarro and Norma Shearer. The second, released in 1954 and directed by Richard Thorpe, was colorful, melodic, and had a sweetly romantic old-fashioned charm. Mario Lanza had been scheduled to play Prince Karl, but was replaced by Edmund Purdom (whose singing voice was dubbed by Lanza). Ann Blyth was Kathie, and others in the cast were Louis Calhern, S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakall, Edmund Gwenn, John Williams, Evelyn Varden, and Betta St. John (who had created the role of Liat in South Pacific). The film included three pleasant new songs, “Summertime in Heidelberg,” “I’ll Walk with God,” and “Beloved” (lyrics by Paul Francis Webster and music by Nicholas Brodszky). Lanza later recorded songs from the film, including the three new ones, and these and other vocals by him were issued by Sepia Records (CD # 1200). The most complete recording of the score was released by That’s Entertainment Records on a two-CD set (# CDTER2-1172). The operetta’s source was Wilhelm Meyer-Forster’s 1901 play Alt-Heidelberg, which was first produced in New York as Heidelberg, or When All the World Was Young; it opened at the Princess Theatre on December 15, 1902, and another adaptation of the drama was produced as Old Heidelberg at the Lyric Theatre on October 12, 1903. Romberg’s version of Alt-Heidelberg wasn’t the first lyric adaptation of the material. The opera Eidelberga mia premiered in Genoa, Italy, in 1908 (music by Ubaldo Pacchierotti and libretto by Alberto Colantuoni).

DIE FLEDERMAUS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: September 12, 1980; Closing Date: September 20, 1980 Performances: 4 (in repertory) Libretto: Carl Haffner and Richard Genee (English adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin) Music: Johann Strauss Based on the play Le reveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. Direction: Gerald Freedman; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Thomas Andrew (Andrew’s original choreography reconstructed by Jessica Redel); Choreography for Cynthia Gregory by Dennis Nahat; Scenery: Lloyd Evans; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Hans Sondheimer; Choral Direction: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Imre Pallo

1980–1981 SEASON     45

Cast: Henry Price (Alfred), Inga Nielsen (Adele), Maralin Niska (Rosalina von Eisenstein), Alan Titus (Gabriel von Eisenstein), Norman Large (Doctor Blind), Richard Fredericks (Doctor Falke), Harlan Foss (Frank), Puli Toro (Sally), Gary J. Dietrich (Ivan), James Billings (Prince Orlofsky), Jack Harrold (Frosch); Solo Dancers: Esperanza Galan and Taras Kalba; Special Guest Dance Soloist: Cynthia Gregory; Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in a summer resort near Vienna during the latter part of the nineteenth century. In February 1980, Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat) was produced by the New York City Opera Company, and the current offering was the company’s second of five revivals during the decade (the other productions were seen in 1981, 1986, and 1987; see entries). The entry for the February 1980 revival also includes general background information about the operetta. The work was also presented in German by the Vienna Volksoper in 1984 (see entry). In reviewing the current production, Edward Rothstein in the New York Times felt that despite “some solid singing” by Alan Titus (as von Eisenstein) and “flawed but dramatic performances” by Henry Price (Alfred) and Maralin Niska (Rosalinda), the production “never took off.” He suggested there were “darker themes hidden in this masquerade,” and like a Viennese waltz the operetta should be “slipping and pulling in and out of time” with a “piquancy” that was “never captured” by either the production or by Imre Pallo’s conducting.

CHARLIE AND ALGERNON “A Very Special Musical”

Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: September 14, 1980; Closing Date: September 28, 1980 Performances: 17 Book and Lyrics: David Rogers Music: Charles Strouse Based on the 1959 short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, who in 1966 adapted the work into a full-length novel. Direction: Louis W. Scheeder; Producers: The Kennedy Center, Isobel Robins Konecky, Fisher Theater Foundation, and The Folger Theatre Group (produced for the Kennedy Center and Folger Theatre Group by Michael Sheehan and Louis W. Scheeder); Choreography: Virginia Freeman; Scenery: Kate Edmunds; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Hugh Lester; Musical Direction: Liza Redfield Cast: P. J. Benjamin (Charlie), Sandy Faison (Alice Kinnian), Edward Earle (Doctor Strauss), Robert Sevra (Doctor Nemur), Nancy Franklin (Mrs. Donner), Loida Santos (Lita), Patrick Jude (Frank), Julienne Marie (Charlie’s Mother), Matthew Duda (Little Charlie), Michael Vita (Charlie’s Father) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during the present time in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Musical Numbers “Have I the Right” (Sandy Faison, Robert Sevra, Edward Earle); “I Got a Friend” (P. J. Benjamin); “I Got a Friend” (reprise) (P. J. Benjamin, Sandy Faison); “Some Bright Morning” (Robert Sevra, P. J. Benjamin, Edward Earle, Sandy Faison); “Jelly Donuts and Chocolate Cake” (Nancy Franklin, Loida Santos, Patrick Jude); “Hey, Look at Me” (P. J. Benjamin, Sandy Faison); “Reading” (P. J. Benjamin, Sandy Faison); “No Surprises” (Sandy Faison); “Midnight Riding” (Patrick Jude, Loida Santos); “Dream Safe with Me” (Julienne Marie); “Not Another Day Like This” (Julienne Marie, Michael Vita); “Somebody New” (Nancy Franklin, P. J. Benjamin); “I Can’t Tell You” (P. J. Benjamin); “Now” (P. J. Benjamin, Sandy Faison); “Charlie and Algernon” (P. J. Benjamin, Algernon); “The Maze” (P. J. Benjamin); “Whatever Time There Is” (Sandy Faison, P. J. Benjamin); “Everything Was Perfect” (Edward Earle, Robert Sevra); “Charlie” (P. J. Benjamin); “I Really Loved You” (P. J. Benjamin); “Whatever Time There Is” (reprise) (Sandy Faison)

46      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

The import Charlie and Algernon had first been produced as Flowers for Algernon on December 21, 1978, at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and then in London for twenty-nine performances at the Queen’s Theatre on June 14, 1979, with Michael Crawford and Cheryl Kennedy in the leading roles of Charlie and Alice. The musical was based on the 1959 short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, who in 1966 adapted the work into a full-length novel. In 1961, a television adaptation of the short story titled “The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon” was produced on the U.S. Steel Hour with Cliff Robertson in the title role, and in 1968 Robertson starred in the film adaptation Charly, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The science fiction story dealt with Charlie Gordon (P. J. Benjamin), whose IQ is 68. He has no family, supports himself as a sweeper and delivery boy at a bakery, and attends classes for the mentally challenged that are given by Alice Kinnian (Sandy Faison). Alice is approached by two doctors who want to perform an experimental operation that may increase Charlie’s intelligence, and while the operation heretofore has been performed only on mice, the doctors note that the intelligence of the mouse Algernon has increased threefold since the operation. As a result of his operation, Charlie’s IQ rises to the level of genius, and soon he and Alice become romantically involved. But ultimately Algernon’s intelligence begins to regress, and Charlie realizes that he too will return to his earlier state. By the end of the musical, the operation has indeed reversed itself and Charlie is barely literate. As the curtain falls, Charlie sits by himself, and, talking into a tape recorder, asks Alice to place flowers on Algernon’s grave because the little animal was one of God’s creatures. The well-meaning musical suffered from a rather perfunctory and surprisingly bland book and a generally weak score. But there were three outstanding numbers: two brooding ballads (“Whatever Time There Is” for Charlie and Alice, and “I Really Loved You” for Charlie) and the title song, a razzmatazz vaudeville routine for Charlie and Algernon in which the former goes into hoary patter (Algernon plans to appear at the Metropolitan Opera in Mice-tersinger, and one of Algernon’s latest gigs was at the Conrad Stilton). Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “predictable” show and its “simplistic content” and stereotyped characters (with the possible exception of Algernon) might have gotten by if the evening had possessed the “grace or pizzazz of a first-rate musical,” but all too often it came across like a play with songs rather than a fully integrated work. He also noted that Strouse’s score was “often tuneful but rarely rousing.” And while P. J. Benjamin was a “gifted performer,” his early scenes with a “mindless grin” were “a little too reminiscent of Jerry Lewis in mid-telethon” (in truth, on the London cast album Michael Crawford also seems to be channeling Lewis). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the musical a “hapless affair” that both trivialized and sentimentalized its subject. The book and “undistinguished” lyrics dealt “uneasily” with the material and the sometimes “pleasingly melodic” score reduced “the heavy subject to bathos.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily suggested the self-described “very special musical” should be called “a thoroughly ordinary musical.” Situations that “demanded especially sensitive treatment” were dealt with in “a standardized manner,” and while Algernon all but stole the show during the title song, this feat was perhaps “not as difficult as it may sound.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “realistic” show was “musically enchanting” with a “beautifully melodic” score and “syrupy but catchy lyrics”; but he noted the evening seemed to “manipulate” rather than “arouse” his feelings. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found the adaptation “consistently sympathetic,” “compassionate,” and “decent and honest” but said the material was presented in “fragments” that only occasionally had “coherent force.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said that while Strouse’s contributions were “interesting” and “agreeable,” Rogers’s efforts were “lackluster.” And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 wished that Algernon had had more to do: the “smart” mouse had the “good sense” to not utter one word of the “dismal dialogue” and the “awful” lyrics, and the critic wondered who his agent was. The Broadway production omitted one song from the London version (“Our Boy Charlie”). The preBroadway engagements were at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre in March 1980 and later at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre in July 1980. During parts of the Kennedy Center run, the song “One Step at a Time” was heard, and the roles of Doctor Strauss and Frank were respectively played by Chev Rodgers and Timothy Meyers. The script was published as Charlie and Algernon in paperback by The Dramatic Publishing Company in 1981, and the London cast album was recorded as Flowers for Algernon. The album was issued by Original

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Cast Records (LP # OC-8021, and later on CD # OC-9221) as Flowers for Algernon, and subtitled Charlie and Algernon.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Score (lyrics by David Rogers and music by Charles Strouse)

INSIDEOUTSIDEANDALLAROUND WITH SHELLEY BERMAN Theatre: Bijou Theatre Opening Date: October 2, 1980; Closing Date: October 25, 1980 Performances: 28 Text: Shelley Berman Production Supervisor: Kitzi Becker; Producers: Arthur Shafman International Ltd. Cast: Shelley Berman The comedy revue was presented in two acts. Comedian Shelley Berman’s one-man comedy revue Insideoutsideandallaround with Shelley Berman consisted of approximately thirty comic monologues by the popular stand-up comedian, who had last been seen on Broadway in the short-running 1962 musical A Family Affair. John Corry in the New York Times felt the evening wore “thin” and that Berman was “entertaining only now and again.” Some of the routines had been part of the humorist’s repertoire for years and they still had “impeccable timing and absolute assurance.” But some went on too long: a sequence involving the comedian’s frustrations with a hotel maid who supplies him with tiny bars of soap was essentially a “one-line joke,” and another about a man trying to fall asleep was “terribly clever” but soon became “terribly tedious.” But there were some very funny moments, especially one in which Berman played the roles of a “callow” American ambassador, an “abject” prime minister of a friendly country, and the prime minister’s conniving interpreter. By the time the sequence is over, the heretofore innocuous meeting has resulted in a declaration of war between the two countries. There were also looks at life’s “tiny catastrophes,” in which Berman portrayed a “baffled” man who lives “in fear of small disasters.”

SILVERLAKE, OR A WINTER’S TALE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: October 11, 1980; Closing Date: October 19, 1980 Performances: 4 (in repertory) Book: Georg Kaiser (adaptation by Hugh Wheeler) Lyrics: Georg Kaiser (new lyrics by Lys Symonette) Music: Kurt Weill (other incidental music by Weill was interpolated into the current production by Lys Symonette) Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director) and Gert von Gontard; Choreography: Larry Fuller; Scenery and Costumes: Manuel Lutgenhorst; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Direction: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Julius Rudel Cast: Harlan Foss (Johann), Robert McFarland (Dietrich), William Neill (Severin), Edward Zimmerman (Heckler), James Clark (Klaus), Norman Large (Hans), Gary Chryst (Hunger), Penny Orloff (Salesgirl), Jane Shaulis (Salesgirl), David Rae Smith (Handke), John Lankston (Officer Olim), William Poplaski (City Inspector), Jack Harrold (Lottery Agent, Baron Laur), Richard Nelson (Doctor), Kathleen Hegierski (Fennimore), Gary Dietrich (Liveried Footman), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Frau von Luber), Michael Rubino (Chef), Rafael Romero (Chef); Singing Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus; Dancing Ensemble: The New York City Opera Dancers The opera was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around the village of Silverlake.

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The New York City Opera Company revived Kurt Weill’s opera Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale one more time before dropping it from their repertoire. The company had first presented the work during their 1980 spring season (see entry), and including the current run the opera was seen for a total of ten performances in repertory. In the earlier production, the role of Officer Olim was played by Joel Grey, but this time around John Lankston sang the role. As a result, Peter G. Davis in the New York Times noted that the conception of the character was “drastically altered.” Lankston brought “an extra measure of vocal strength” to the production, and while he didn’t capture Grey’s “fey gracefulness” he was nonetheless “appealing and effective” and was “more in tune” with the rest of the company. Davis mentioned that City Opera’s version of the work differed “drastically” from the original German presentation. But for all that, the new adaptation was “eminently stageworthy” and was “often touching in its humanistic message.” The opera brimmed with “theatrical energy” and it offered some of Weill’s “happiest lyrical inspirations.” For more information about the opera’s background and for a list of musical numbers, see entry for the March 1980 production.

BRIGADOON Theatre: Majestic Theatre Opening Date: October 16, 1980; Closing Date: February 8, 1981 Performances: 133 Book and Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Frederick Loewe Direction: Vivian Matalon; Producers: Zev Bufman and The Shubert Organization (A Wolf Trap Production); Choreography: Agnes De Mille (David Evans, De Mille’s Assistant; De Mille’s choreography re-created by James Jamieson); Scenery: Michael J. Hotopp and Paul de Pass; Costumes: Stanley Simmons; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Wally Harper Cast: Martin Vidnovic (Tommy Albright), Mark Zimmerman (Jeff Douglas), Kenneth Kantor (Angus McGuffie), Casper Roos (Archie Beaton), Michael Cone (Sandy Dean), Marina Eglevsky (Maggie Anderson), John Curry (Harry Beaton), Elaine Hausman (Meg Brockie), Jack Dabdoub (Andrew MacLaren), Meg Bussert (Fiona MacLaren), Mollie Smith (Jean MacLaren), Stephen Lehew (Charlie Dalrymple), Frank Hamilton (Mr. Lundie), Mark Herrier (Frank), Betsy Craig (Jane Ashton); Singers: Michael Cone, Betsy Craig, Larry French, Linda Hohenfeld, Michael Hayward-Jones, Joseph Kolinski, Diane Pennington, Cheryl Russell, Linda Wonneberger; Dancers: Bill Badolato, Cherie Bower, Amy Danis, Tom Fowler, John Giffin, Mickey Gunnersen, Jennifer Henson, David Hughes, Phil LaDuca, Elena Malfitano, Susi McCarter, Jerry Mitchell, Eric Nesbitt, Holly Reeve, Dale Robbins, Harry Williams The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Brigadoon (a village in the Scottish Highlands) and in New York City during a recent May.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Once in the Highlands” (Ensemble); “Brigadoon” (Ensemble); “Down on MacConnachy Square” (Michael Cone, Elaine Hausman, Men and Women of Brigadoon); “Waitin’ for My Dearie” (Meg Bussert, Girls); “I’ll Go Home with Bonnie Jean” (Stephen Lehew, Men); “Bonnie Jean” (dance) (danced by John Curry, Marina Eglevsky, Men and Women of Brigadoon); “The Heather on the Hill” (Martin Vidnovic, Meg Bussert); “Rain Exorcism” (Men and Women of Brigadoon); “The Love of My Life” (Elaine Hausman); “Jeannie’s Packin’ Up” (dance) (danced by Girls); “Come to Me, Bend to Me” (Stephen Lehew); “Come to Me, Bend to Me” (dance) (danced by Mollie Smith, Girls); “Almost Like Being in Love” (Martin Vidnovic, Meg Bussert) Act Two: “Wedding Dance” (led by Mollie Smith and Stephen Lehew, and danced by the Men and Women of Brigadoon); “Sword Dance” (led by John Curry and danced by the Company); “The Chase” (John Curry,

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Men of Brigadoon); “There but for You Go I” (Martin Vidnovic, Meg Bussert); “Steps Stately” (dance) (danced by Men and Women of Brigadoon); “Drunken Reel” (dance) (danced by Men and Women of Brigadoon); “Funeral Dance” (danced by Marina Eglevsky); “From This Day On” (Martin Vidnovic, Meg Bussert); “Brigadoon” (reprise) (Ensemble); “Come to Me, Bend to Me” (reprise) and “The Heather on the Hill” (reprise) (Meg Bussert); “From This Day On” (reprise) (Martin Vidnovic); “Brigadoon” (reprise) (Ensemble) The new production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Brigadoon was one of the era’s best revivals: it was beautifully sung and danced, the décor was handsome, and Vivian Matalon’s direction was forceful and dramatic. But for some reason many of the critics were somewhat cool to the musical’s delicate charms and found it somewhat old-fashioned, the audiences didn’t come, and the memorable show was gone in less than four months and regrettably didn’t leave behind a cast album. The ethereal fantasy told of the magical Scottish village of Brigadoon, which comes to life every one hundred years (during each night, a century passes). By not remaining too long in any one century, the townsfolk remain untouched (and untainted) by any one period of time. But the magic spell will be broken if any villager steps beyond the prescribed boundaries of the town. Except for Harry Beaton (John Curry), everyone is happy with this arrangement, but Harry finds Brigadoon his own personal brig because his love for Jean MacLaren (Mollie Smith) is unrequited and she plans to wed Charlie Dalrymple (Stephen Lehew). When present-day New Yorkers Tommy Albright (Martin Vidnovic) and Jeff Douglas (Mark Zimmerman) stumble upon Brigadoon, the former is immediately attracted to both the village and Fiona MacLaren (Meg Bussert), Jean’s sister. For the evening’s comic relief, Jeff is pursued by villager Meg Brockie (Elaine Hausman), who seems to have come to Scotland by way of Oklahoma and in the proud tradition of Ado Annie has her sights set on a man (any man). Overwhelmed with rage by the nuptials of Jean and Charlie, Harry hopes to destroy Brigadoon by crossing its boundaries, but he’s inadvertently shot and killed by Jeff, who has been hunting in the woods. Tommy and Jeff leave Brigadoon, but when Tommy returns a miracle occurs: the town wakes from its sleep and Tommy is forever united with Fiona. Frank Rich in the New York Times said that when Martin Vidnovic and Meg Bussert sang “Almost Like Being in Love” they “sent the audience into the stratosphere of ecstasy” and they “catapult themselves into the loftiest firmament of musical comedy performers.” In fact, their pairing was “so exciting” they deserved “a modern romantic musical all their own.” Vivian Matalon had recently directed the successful revival of Paul Osborn’s 1939 comedy-drama Mornings at Seven, and here again he revealed “a true affinity for the particular charms of vintage entertainments.” But Rich was disappointed that Brigadoon was bound by the conventions of 1940s musical theatre with its comic romantic couple (Meg and Jeff), a “scowling bad guy” (Harry), and far too much stage time devoted to the marriage of “two exceedingly minor characters” (Jean and Charlie). Further, he noted the first act was “almost all songs” and the second “almost all dancing and plot.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the cast, the score, and the choreography, but noted that in the second act the show began “to take itself too seriously” and thus it slowed down “considerably”; Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 had much to praise about the revival, but the former felt it needed a good fifteen minutes’ worth of pruning and the latter noted the book was “weak,” the dialogue “laughable,” and the pacing “deadly.” Although Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted the musical was now “somewhat dated,” it was nonetheless a “handsome” revival that “deserves to be a hit again.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek said Brigadoon was “the most unabashedly romantic of musicals” and Loewe’s score was a blend of “Scotch mist” and “delicate Viennese-Schlag” that formed melodies “to melt your heart.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “magnificent” revival with its “wonderfully endearing” book, “absolutely glorious” score, and “unusually dramatic ideas for dance.” Vidnovic and Bussert sang with “emotional genuineness” and “thrilling” musicianship, and he noted that “we have not heard this kind of excitement in our musical theatre for a long time.” The revival omitted Meg’s “My Mother’s Weddin’ Day”; a first-act reprise of “Down on MacConnachy Square,” which was sung during a rain storm, was here retitled “Rain Exorcism”; and a self-described “Country Dance” in the original production seems to have morphed into two separate dance sequences (“Steps Stately” and “Drunken Reel”) for the revival. Lerner also restructured some of the scenes: the first act originally ended with the wedding and sword dances, but for the revival the first act curtain fell after “Almost Like Being in Love” and the second act began with the two dances.

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The musical first opened on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre on March 13, 1947, for 581 performances, and as of this writing has been revived ten times in New York. The first six visits were produced at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company on May 2, 1950 (24 performances); March 27, 1957 (47 performances, which includes a brief transfer to Broadway at the Adelphi Theatre); May 30, 1962 (16 performances); January 30, 1963 (15 performances); December 23, 1964 (17 performances); and December 13, 1967 (23 performances). After the current production, the musical was revived three times by the New York City Opera Company: on March 1, 1986 (40 performances; see entry for more information about this production); November 7, 1991 (12 performances); and November 13, 1996 (14 performances). The original London production opened at His Majesty’s Theatre on April 14, 1949, and at 685 performances bypassed the New York run. The musical was filmed by MGM in 1954 (directed by Vincente Minnelli, the cast included Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse), and there have been two television adaptations, one produced in the Netherlands and shown on January 25, 1964, and the other presented by ABC on October 15, 1966. The script was published in hardback by Coward-McCann in 1947, and an undated paperback edition was issued in Great Britain by Chappell & Co., Ltd. The original Broadway cast recording was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1001; later issued by RCA on CD # 1001-2-RG). There are numerous recordings of the score, but perhaps the best is a studio cast version issued by Columbia Records (LP # CL-1132 and reissued on # OL-7040) and later released on CD by DRG Records (# 19071). Sung by Jack Cassidy, Shirley Jones, Susan Johnson, and Frank Porretta, the studio cast album is more complete than the Broadway album and includes the previously unrecorded “The Love of My Life,” “Jeannie’s Packin’ Up,” and “The Chase.” Although Brigadoon is an original story not credited to any specific source material, the musical’s basic premise forms the plot of Friedrich Gerstacker’s 1862 short story “Germelshausen.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival (Brigadoon); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Martin Vidnovic); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Meg Bussert)

WISH ME MAZEL-TOV Theatre: Town Hall Opening Date: October 19, 1980; Closing Date: January 11, 1981 Performances: 84 Book: Moshe Tamir Lyrics: Y. Alperin Music: D. Blitenthal and A. Lustig Direction: Michal Greenstein; Producers: Shalom Yiddish Musical Comedy Theatre, Raymond Ariel, David Carey, and Theo Roller; Choreography: Yankele Kaluski; Scenery and Costumes: Adina Rich; Lighting: Not Credited; Musical Direction: Renee Solomon Cast: Reizi Bizyk (Rivkah), Karol Latowicz (Yankl), Solo-Moise Aron (Pinye), Mary Soreanu (Daliah), Eleanor Reissa (Estee), Sandy Levitt (Tzvikah), Raquel Yossifon (Jeanette), Ruth T. Kaminska (Ryah), David Ellin (Emanuel Kaufman), David Carey (Captain Shimon Kaufman); Boys and Girls of Yafo, Soldiers, and Others: Shelly Pappas, Luis Manuel, Karl Petersen, and Mark Rubin The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Israel during the present time.

Musical Numbers Note: Division of acts and performance credits are unknown; however, songs are listed in performance order. “Yafo Ballet”; “Honesty’s the Hard Way”; “Daliah”; “A Yiddish Yingele”; “Ver s’iz avek”; “Soldiers’ Dance”; “Whatever You Want”; “We Went Forth”; “My Dearest”; “God Will Provide”; “Peace”; “I Need a Husband”; “Wish Me Mazel-Tov”

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The Yiddish-American musical Wish Me Mazel-Tov was performed in Yiddish, but Richard F. Shepard in the New York Times noted that for those whose Yiddish was at “half-mast,” the evening offered “occasional summaries” in English and that the program included a full synopsis of the plot. The musical took place in present-day Israel, and Shepard reported that the “strong” if not “logical” plot dealt with Daliah, a daughter from a poor family who poses as the secret wife of a lost war hero who came from a wealthy family. Of course, the missing hero turns up, and so Shepard stated, “Such complications! Go see!” Shepard noted the score (played by a four-member band) was “bouncy and bright,” the direction was “light-hearted,” and Roumanian-by-way-of-Israel Mary Soreanu was “attractive and talented” and “just the shot in the arm that Yiddish Theatre needs.” In fact, with her Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway visits, Soreanu was the era’s stalwart who almost single-handedly kept old-time Yiddish musical theatre alive with her appearances in such shows as Rebecca, The Rabbi’s Daughter (1979), The Roumanian Wedding (1981), The Showgirl (1982), The Jewish Gypsy (1983), and Oy Mama! Am I in Love! (1984).

BANJO DANCING, OR THE 48TH ANNUAL SQUITTERS MOUNTAIN SONG DANCE FOLKLORE CONVENTION AND BANJO CONTEST . . . AND HOW I LOST Theatre: Century Theatre Opening Date: October 21, 1980; Closing Date: November 30, 1980 Performances: 38 Text: Stephen Wade with Milton Kramer Direction: Milton Kramer; Producers: Stuart Oken and Jason Brett and The Klezmer Group (An Apollo Group Production in association with Jeffrey Wachtel); Scenery: David Emmons; Costumes: Stephen Wade’s clothing by Bigsby & Kruthers; Lighting: Dennis Parichy Cast: Stephen Wade The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs and commentary were performed by Stephen Wade. The program didn’t list individual songs and monologues. Banjo Dancing, or The 48th Annual Squitters Mountain Song Dance Folklore Convention and Banjo Contest . . . and How I Lost was a one-man show in which Stephen Wade played the banjo, sang, told stories and jokes, and even indulged in a bit of clog-dancing. The modest evening was amiable and amusing, and while its run on Broadway was brief, the work was successful in regional theatre. The production was first presented at the Apollo Theatre in Chicago in May 1979 and played there for over a year, and a few weeks after the New York run the show opened on January 13, 1981, at Arena Stage’s Old Vat Room in Washington, D.C., where it ran for almost a decade. In 1989, Wade’s new one-man show On My Way Home opened at the Arena, and in 1990 his recording Dancing Home was released by Flying Fish Records (CD # FF-70543) and included numbers from both Banjo Dancing and On My Way Home. In his review of the New York production, Frank Rich in the New York Times said the evening was “a nice, old-time folk club act” that had been “unconscionably inflated” into a full evening of theatre, and he noted that after a half hour some audience members might find themselves in search of a waiter and a drink. Wade told us “more than we want to know” about the history of the banjo, and his stories included the overly familiar fence-whitewashing sequence from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Rich noted that Wade was at his best with the banjo, and the evening’s finest moment occurred when he played “Dixie.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the banjo could be an “irritating instrument,” and at best Banjo Dancing wasn’t much more than a “polished parlor entertainment” which might even wear thin in a nightclub. Wade was “good-natured,” but there was too much of everything in the show, including lots of stories and some occasional clog-dancing, and he decided Wade had “a mind like an old attic: not dusty, exactly, but not sorted out, either.”

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Clive Barnes in the New York Post stated that apart from “disliking” banjos he had nothing much against them and even preferred them to bagpipes and harmonicas. But for him the banjo was to music what pingpong was to sport: “essentially unserious.” However, he praised the “engaging” Wade, who was a “manic leprechaun” and a “pleasing fellow.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said Banjo Dancing was closer to nightclub than theatre, and while the show was “fun” and might be “wonderful” for children, it wasn’t right for Broadway. However, in his review of the earlier Chicago production, T. E. Kalem in Time wrote that Banjo Dancing was “an evening of intimate, unmarred intensity” presided over by the “wondrous” Wade who performed in the tradition of Charles Aznavour and Woody Guthrie. Kalem noted that Wade surfaced in Chicago “but his potential fame defies augury.”

TINTYPES

“A Ragtime Revue” / “A Musical Revue” / “The New Musical” Theatre: John Golden Theatre Opening Date: October 23, 1980; Closing Date: January 11, 1981 Performances: 93 Direction: Gary Pearle; Producers: Richmond Crinkley and Royal Pardon Productions; Ivan Bloch, Larry J. Silva, and Eve Skina; in association with Joan F. Tobin (The American National Theatre and Academy Production); Choreography: Musical staging by Mary Kyte; Scenery: Tom Lynch; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Mel Marvin Cast: Carolyn Mignini, Lynne Thigpen, Trey Wilson, Mary Catherine Wright, Jerry Zaks, Mel Marvin (Piano) The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t identify specific performers for the musical numbers. Act One: Arrivals: “Ragtime Nightingale” (lyric and music by Joseph F. Lamb); “The Yankee Doodle Boy” (aka “Yankee Doodle Dandy”; from 1904 musical Little Johnny Jones; lyric and music by George M. Cohan); “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay!” (lyric and music by Harry J. Sayers); “I Don’t Care” (lyric and music by Jean Lenox and Harry C. Sutton); “Come Take a Trip in My Airship” (lyric and music by George Evans and Ren Shields); “Kentucky Babe” (lyric and music by Richard H. Buck and Adam Geibel); “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” (lyric and music by Joe Hayden and Theo A. Metz); “Stars and Stripes Forever” (lyric and music by John Philip Sousa); Ingenuity and Inventions: “Electricity” (lyric and music by Harry B. Smith and Karl Hoschna); TR: “El Capitan” (1896 operetta El Capitan; lyric and music by John Philip Sousa); Wheels: “Pastime Rag” (lyric and music by Artie Matthews); “Meet Me in St. Louis” (lyric and music by Andrew Sterling and Kerry Mills); “Solace” (lyric and music by Scott Joplin); “Waltz Me Around Again, Willie” (1906 musical His Honor, the Mayor; lyric by Will D. Cobb, music by Ren Shields); “Wabash Cannonball” (traditional); “In My Merry Oldsmobile” (lyric and music by Gus Edwards and Vincent P. Bryan); The Factory: “Wayfaring Stranger” (traditional); “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” (traditional); “Aye, Lye, Lyu Lye” (traditional); “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” (lyric and music by Thomas P. Westendorf); “America the Beautiful” (lyric and music by Katherine Lee Bates and Samuel Ward); “Wait for the Wagon” (traditional); “What It Takes to Make Me Love You—You’ve Got It” (lyric by James Weldon Johnson, music by James Reese Europe); Anna Held: “The Maiden with the Dreamy Eyes” (1901 musical The Little Duchess; lyric by James Weldon Johnson, music by Bob Cole); “If I Were on the Stage (Kiss Me Again)” (1905 musical Mlle. Modiste; lyric by Harry Blossom, music by Victor Herbert); Outside Looking In: “Shortnin’ Bread” (traditional); “(I Ain’t Never Done Nothing to) Nobody” (added to Ziegfeld Follies of 1910; lyric and music by Alex Rogers and Bert Williams); Fitting In: “Elite Syncopations” (music by Scott Joplin); “I’m Goin’ to Live Anyhow, ’Til I Die” (lyric and music by Shepard N. Edmonds) Act Two: “The Ragtime Dance” (music by Scott Joplin); Panama: “I Want What I Want When I Want It” (1905 musical Mlle. Modiste; lyric by Henry Blossom, music by Victor Herbert); The Ladies: “It’s Delightful to Be Married!” (lyric and music by Anna Held and V. Scotto); “Fifty-Fifty” (lyric and music by Jim

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Burris and Chris Smith); “American Beauty” (lyric and music by Joseph F. Lamb); Rich and Poor: “Then I’d Be Satisfied with Life” (added for the tour of The Governor’s Son, 1901; lyric and music by George M. Cohan); “Narcissus” (lyric and music by Ethelbert Nevin); “Jonah Man” (lyric and music by Alex Rogers); “When It’s All Goin’ Out and Nothin’ Comin’ In” (1902 musical Sally in Our Alley; lyric and music by Bert Williams and George Walker); “We Shall Not Be Moved” (traditional); Vaudeville: “Hello, Ma Baby” (lyric and music by Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson); “Teddy Da Roose” (lyric and music by Ed Moran and J. Fred Helf); “A Bird in a Gilded Cage” (lyric by Arthur J. Lamb, music by Harry Von Tilzer); “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?” (lyric and music by Hughie Cannon); “She’s Gettin’ More Like the White Folks Every Day” (lyric and music by Bert Williams and George Walker); “You’re a Grand Old Flag” (1906 musical George Washington, Jr.; lyric and music by George M. Cohan); “The Yankee Doodle Boy” (reprise); Finale: “Toyland” (1903 musical Babes in Toyland; lyric by Glen MacDonough, music by Victor Herbert); “Smile” (revue Passing Show of 1918; lyric by J. Will Callahan, music by Lee S. Roberts) Tintypes was well-meaning enough, but it should have stayed in regional theatre or Off Broadway. The revue purported to examine the immigrant experience through songs of the turn-of-the-twentieth-century variety, but its scattershot approach, which pulled together songs from various sources and tried to make statements about immigrant life and the nature of American politics, was on the order of such also-rans as the Bicentennial revues Music! Music! (1974), A Musical Jubilee (1975), and Sing America Sing (1975). These revues attempted to “organize” American popular music into some kind of grand statement, and the later short-running Off-Broadway revue The All-Night Strut! (1979) also tried to give structure to various styles of American popular music. Tintypes was certainly sincere, but it went on too long and was all too much. It received positive reviews, but lasted less than three months on Broadway. Tintypes was divided into random sections such as Arrivals, TR, The Factory, Panama, and Vaudeville. And random was the operative word because the songs were often shoehorned into the narrative and sometimes seemed gratuitously out of place. “America the Beautiful” was heard in The Factory section but could easily have been inserted into Arrivals; “El Capitan” was in the TR section, but it had nothing to do with Teddy Roosevelt and was in fact the title song from John Philip Sousa’s 1896 operetta; and “I Don’t Care” didn’t belong in Arrivals and would probably have been more suited to the Vaudeville section. Further, “I Want What I Want When I Want It” was a comedy number from Victor Herbert’s 1905 operetta Mlle. Modiste but was heard in the Panama sequence as a negative comment on U.S. foreign policy. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “pleasant” and “modest” revue “very rarely boils over into excitement.” But he praised Jerry Zaks’s “Yankee Doodle Dandy”: at the beginning of the revue, the performer played a Jewish immigrant who sings the number in a “heavily accented rendition,” but by the finale the character has “evolved into a self-assured vaudevillian who can deliver the same song with full Cohan pizzazz.” But “explicit digressions” into imperialism, feminism, and industrialism fell “flat” and Trey Wilson and Mary Catherine Wright (as Teddy Roosevelt and Emma Goldman) gave “comic-book incarnations” in the style of “superficial political primers.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found himself “more often than not wincing at” the “cuteness” of Tintypes as he watched it “slip mincingly by”; further, there were “too many utterly forgotten” songs that deserved their obscurity and the John Golden was too large a venue for such a “very intimate show.” But John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said Tintypes was a “delight”; Jack Kroll in Newsweek liked the “sweet and loving” revue; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the “captivating evocation” of an earlier era; and Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “winner” was a “very welcome Broadway arrival” and he singled out Jerry Zaks for his “nuclear radiance” and “show-biz pizzazz.” The production premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., where it was subtitled “A Ragtime Revue”; it later opened Off Broadway at The Common/The Theatre of Saint Peter’s Church on April 17, 1980, for 137 performances, and then transferred to Broadway. Carolyn Mignini, Mary Catherine Wright, Jerry Zaks, and Mel Marvin were in all three productions; for Washington, the cast included Timothy Jerome and Nedra Dixon, who were succeeded by Trey Wilson and Lynne Thigpen for the Off-Broadway and Broadway versions. A number of songs heard during the Washington and Off-Broadway runs weren’t included in the Broadway production, such as: “Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider” (lyric and music by Eddie Leonard and Eddie Munson); “St. Louis Blues” (lyric and music by W. C. Handy); “A Real Slow Drag” (lyric and music by Scott Joplin); “Shine On, Harvest Moon” (Ziegfeld Follies of 1908; lyric by Jack Norworth, music by Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth); and “Bethena” (lyric and music by Scott Joplin).

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The New York cast appeared in a Los Angeles production that was recorded on a two-LP set by DRG Records (# 2SL-5196), and on November 28, 2001, the revue was briefly revived Off Off Broadway by the Melting Pot Theatre Company.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Tintypes); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Lynne Thigpen); Best Book (Mary Kyte)

QUICK CHANGE Theatre: Bijou Theatre Opening Date: October 30, 1980; Closing Date: November 2, 1980 Performances: 5 Text: Bruce Belland, Roy M. Rogosin, and Michael McGiveney Lyrics: Bruce Belland Music: Roy M. Rogosin Direction: Roy M. Rogosin; Producer: Arthur Shafman International, Ltd.; Scenery: John Shipley and Chris Flower; Costumes: Mary Wills Cast: Michael McGiveney The revue was presented in two acts.

Sketches and Musical Numbers Note: All sketches and musical numbers were performed by Michael McGiveney. Act One: “Carnival”; “The Triumph of Arthur”; “The Lady Recites”; “Bill Sikes” (from Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist) Act Two: “Pitchman and the Cop”; “Quicker Than the Eye”; “A Misunderstood Minority”; “Shoot-Out at Belle’s Saloon” The one-man revue Quick Change brought back the vaudeville novelty of the quick-change artist who performs skits that include a number of characters, all of whom are presented in a succession of quick costume changes. During the course of the evening, Michael McGiveney portrayed thirty different characters who wore a total of seventy-five costumes. Although the production was a one-man show, McGiveney was helped by Judith Hudson, Mark Bodine, and Chris Flower, all of whom probably assisted him in the wings during his changes. During the previous season, magician Harry Blackstone had paid homage to his father in Blackstone!, and in Quick Change Michael McGiveney saluted his father Owen McGiveney (1884–1967), a quick-change artist who appeared in vaudeville for a number of decades and was later featured in the Broadway revue Ken Murray’s Blackouts of 1949 when he performed his most famous specialty “Bill Sikes” (aka “A Page from Oliver Twist”) in which he depicted five characters (including Sikes, Fagin, Nancy, and the Artful Dodger) in a mini-version of Charles Dickens’s novel. But time had passed by the modest charms of the quick-change artist, and the critics were unimpressed with the current offering. Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post said vaudeville acts had “no business pretending to be full-scale theatrical events.” Further, the notion of a quick-change artist was an “arcane specialty” destined to join the extinct dodo bird. Stasio noted that McGiveney reprised his father’s “Bill Sikes” specialty and had cooked up a “creditable” Old-West sequence (“Shoot-Out at Belle’s Saloon”), in which he portrayed sheriff, villain, Indian, prospector, and saloon owner (the latter a homage to Mae West). But the evening’s other offerings relied “more on posing than on interaction.” Mel Gussow in the New York Times suggested the quick-change artist was a specialty “considerably lower on the vaudeville scale” than sword-swallowing and baton-twirling. A single quick-change skit might

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work in a vaudeville-styled revue, but an entire evening (even a short one like Quick Change, which lasted just one hour, plus intermission) was too long. There was “no sense of transformation” during the quick changes, and when McGiveney told the audience the quick-change artist was an “endangered species” Gussow could well understand why. Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily found the performance “a mildly distracting entertainment,” but Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the evening was “so modest it could pass by unnoticed.” Watt said McGiveney might make “an engaging straight actor,” but as a quick-change artist he lacked “the dash, enthusiasm and intensity” of his father.

PERFECTLY FRANK Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: November 30, 1980; Closing Date: December 13, 1980 Performances: 17 Lyrics and Music: Frank Loesser (See song list for specific credits.) Direction: Fritz Holt; Producers: Gladys Rackmil and Fred Levinson in association with Emhan, Inc. (Vivian Serota, Associate Producer); Choreography: Tony Stevens; Scenery and Costumes: John Falabella; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Yolanda Segovia Cast: Andra Akers, Wayne Cilento, Jill Cook, Don Correia, David Holliday, David Ruprecht, Virginia Sandifur, Debbie Shapiro, Jo Sullivan, Jim Walton The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All lyrics are by Frank Loesser, and unless otherwise noted all music is by Loesser. Programs, press materials, and various reference books are at variance as to which songs were performed on opening night; the following is a compilation that seems to reflect the opening night material, but in some cases the performer (or performers) is unknown. Act One: Overture: “Fanfare”; “Guys and Dolls” (Guys and Dolls, 1950); “On a Slow Boat to China” (written for, but not used in, 1949 film Neptune’s Daughter); “A Bushel and a Peck” (Guys and Dolls); “My Heart Is So Full of You” (The Most Happy Fella, 1956); and “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” (Guys and Dolls) (Orchestra); Prologue: “Heart and Soul” (independent song; music by Hoagy Carmichael); “I Hear Music” (1940 film Dancing on a Dime; music by Burton Lane); “Three-Cornered Tune” (cut from Guys and Dolls); “Happy to Make Your Acquaintance” (The Most Happy Fella); and “I Hear Music” (reprise) (Company); Screen Test: “Kiss the Boys Goodbye” (1941 film Kiss the Boys Goodbye; music by Victor Schertzinger); “Snug as a Bug in a Rug” (1939 film The Gracie Allen Murder Case; music by Matty Malneck); “The Moon of Manakoora” (heard as background music in 1937 film The Hurricane; lyric by Alfred Newman); and “The Boys in the Backroom” (1939 film Destry Rides Again; music by Frederick Hollander) (Virginia Sandifur); USO Show: “The Boys in the Backroom” (reprise); “Murder, He Says” (1943 film Happy Go Lucky; music by Jimmy McHugh) (Jill Cook, Wayne Cilento); “Some Like It Hot” (1939 film Some Like It Hot; music by Gene Krupa and Remo Biondi) (Jill Cook, Wayne Cilento); “I Don’t Want to Walk without You” (1942 film Sweater Girl; music by Jule Styne) (Debbie Shapiro); “Roseanna” (aka “Roseanna McCoy”; 1949 film Roseanna McCoy) (Jim Walton); “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” (1947 film The Perils of Pauline) (David Holliday); “(Where Are You) Now That I Need You” (1949 film Red, Hot and Blue) (David Holliday); “They’re Either Too Young or Too Old” (1943 film Thank Your Lucky Stars; music by Arthur Schwartz) (Andra Akers); “What Do You Do in the Infantry?” (independent song) (Andra Akers, Men); “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” (independent song) (David Holliday); and “Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year” (1944 film Christmas Holiday) (Jo Sullivan); Dressing Room: “You’ve Got That Look (That Leaves Me Weak!)” (film Destry Rides Again) (music by Frederick Hollander); “How Sweet You Are” (film Thank Your Lucky Stars; music by Arthur Schwartz); “I Fall in Love with You Every Day” (1938 film College Swing; music by Manning Sherwin and Arthur Altman); “Paris Original” (How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, 1961); and “I Believe in You” (How

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to Succeed in Business without Really Trying) (David Ruprecht, Men); Understudy Rehearsal: “Make a Miracle” (Where’s Charley?, 1948) (Don Correia, Jill Cook) and “My Darling, My Darling” (Where’s Charley?) (Don Correia, Jill Cook); Manhattan: “My Time of Day” (Guys and Dolls) (David Holliday); “Two Sleepy People” (1938 film Thanks for the Memory; music by Hoagy Carmichael) (Andra Akers, David Ruprecht); “No Two People” (1952 film Hans Christian Andersen) (Don Correia, Jill Cook); “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (film Neptune’s Daughter) (Virginia Sandifur, Jim Walton); “Luck Be a Lady” (Guys and Dolls) (David Holliday); “Fugue for Tinhorns” (Guys and Dolls) (Debbie Shapiro, Wayne Cilento, David Holliday); “Take Back Your Mink” (Guys and Dolls) (Virginia Sandifur); “How’dja Like to Love Me?” (film College Swing; music by Burton Lane) (Jill Cook); “The Lady’s in Love with You” (film Some Like It Hot) (music by Burton Lane) (Debbie Shapiro); “Guys and Dolls” (Guys and Dolls) (Company); and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” (Guys and Dolls) (David Holliday, Company) Act Two: Entr’acte: “Wonderful Copenhagen,” “Anywhere I Wander,” “The Ugly Duckling,” and “Thumbelina” (all from film Hans Christian Andersen) (Orchestra); Rumble Rumble: “I Hear Music” (reprise); “Heart and Soul” (reprise); and “Rumble, Rumble, Rumble” (film The Perils of Pauline ) (Debbie Shapiro, Jim Walton, Jill Cook); Marriage: “Standing on the Corner” (The Most Happy Fella) (David Ruprecht, Wayne Cilento, Jim Walton); “Once in Love with Amy” (Where’s Charley?) (Wayne Cilento); “Marry the Man Today” (Guys and Dolls); (Virginia Sandifur, Andra Akers, Jill Cook); “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm” (How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying) (Virginia Sandifur); “Never Will I Marry” (Greenwillow, 1960) (Jim Walton); and “Adelaide’s Lament” (Guys and Dolls) (Andra Akers); Rosabella: “The Letter” (aka “I Don’t Know Nothing about You”) (Jo Sullivan, David Holliday), “Somebody, Somewhere” (Jo Sullivan), “Rosabella” (David Holliday), “Warm All Over” (Jo Sullivan), “Like a Woman Loves a Man” (Jo Sullivan), and “My Heart Is So Full of You” (David Holliday) (all from The Most Happy Fella); Jo Dialogue: “Central Park Duck” (aka “The Duck”; independent song) (Jo Sullivan): Blues: “Can’t Get Out of This Mood” (1942 film Seven Days’ Leave) (music by Jimmy McHugh) (Virginia Sandifur); “Luck Be a Lady” (Guys and Dolls) (dance) (Debbie Shapiro, Don Correia); and “Junk Man” (independent song; music by Joseph Meyer) (Debbie Shapiro); Finale: “More I Cannot Wish You” (Guys and Dolls) (Company); “If I Were a Bell” (Guys and Dolls) (Virginia Sandifur, David Holliday); “Hoop-Dee-Doo” (independent song; music by Milton DeLugg) (Wayne Cilento and Virginia Sandifur, Don Correia and Jill Cook); “Just Another Polka” (independent song; lyric and music by Frank Loesser and Milton DeLugg) (Company); “The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Students’ Conservatory Band” (Where’s Charley?) (Company); “Bubbles in the Wine” (lyric and music by Frank Loesser, Bob Calame, and Lawrence Welk; 1939 film short The Champagne Music of Lawrence Welk) (David Ruprecht); “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” (independent song) (David Holliday, Debbie Shapiro); “Sposalizio” (The Most Happy Fella) (Company); “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle” (1942 film The Forest Rangers; music by Joseph L. Lilley) (Wayne Cilento, Don Correia); “Big D” (The Most Happy Fella) (Jill Cook, Wayne Cilento, Don Correia, Debbie Shapiro); “Anywhere I Wander” (film Hans Christian Andersen) (Jo Sullivan); “Sand in My Shoes” (film Kiss the Boys Goodbye; music by Victor Schertzinger) (Andra Akers); “Dolores” (1941 film Las Vegas Nights; music by Louis Alter) (David Holliday, Men); “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” (Guys and Dolls) (Company); “Brotherhood of Man” (How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying) (Company); “On a Slow Boat to China” (for more information, see Overture above) (Virginia Sandifur); “Small Fry” (1938 film Sing You Sinners; music by Hoagy Carmichael) (Jill Cook); “A Bushel and a Peck” (Guys and Dolls) (Andra Akers); “I Hear Music” (reprise) (Company); “Three-Cornered Tune” (reprise) (Jo Sullivan, Company); “Heart and Soul” (reprise) (Company); Exit Music: “Rumble, Rumble, Rumble” (Orchestra) Perfectly Frank was a tribute revue to lyricist and composer Frank Loesser (1910–1969). The heartfelt evening was sincere in its salute to one of the premier songwriters of theatre and film and even included in the cast his widow, Jo Sullivan, who created the role of Amy/Rosabella in Loesser’s 1956 Broadway hit The Most Happy Fella. Although some critics were enthusiastic about the evening, others were less so and as a result the production closed after just two weeks. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the tribute to Loesser was “long overdue” and felt the evening should have had “the polish and assured tone of Ain’t Misbehavin’.” But the production was “pervaded by an aura of tackiness” with a “cheap,” “silly,” and “flimsy” set and “mostly vulgar” dialogue. Further, the “halfhearted” attempt to use sketches to framework the songs was “stale and forced.” But he praised the female

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members of the cast (he said the men were like “interchangeable, blandly cheery chorus boys”), and singled out Debbie Shapiro’s “Junk Man,” which “explodes with a ferocity worthy of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News liked the “lively, tuneful and diversified entertainment” and commented that when it danced it was “perfectly swell,” when it sang it was “rarely less than engaging,” and when it talked it was “mostly marking time.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the “prolific” Loesser songbook offered “versatile” melody and “fascinating” rhythms, and he enjoyed the “razzledazzle choreography” created by Tony Stevens. And T. E. Kalem in Time commented that Loesser’s music had “melodic grace,” “wit, humor, intelligence, a mist-blown romanticism and staggering versatility” (as for “Junk Man,” he noted that Shapiro “torridly belts and writhes her way” through the “incendiary” number and he predicted “you will not be quite sure whether you are on Broadway or at the equator at high noon”). Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 liked the “wonderful” songs; however, because they were placed in a context that lacked a point of view he decided that “to be frank, Perfectly Frank isn’t perfect. To be perfectly frank, Perfectly Frank isn’t very good.” But Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the revue was “crammed full with showstoppers and talent” and exuded “the distinctive, pulse-quickening dazzle of a well-tooled Broadway song-and-dance product,” and Clive Barnes in the New York Post liked the “honey” of a cast and the “splendid” evening of “great” songs, which were “handsomely” and “dramatically” staged. During previews, the commentary was by Kenny Solms, who later asked that his name be removed from the credits, and a program note thanked Ron Field and John Calvert “for their contributions to this production.”

ONWARD VICTORIA “A New Musical”

Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: December 14, 1980; Closing Date: December 14, 1980 Performances: 1 Book and Lyrics: Charlotte Anker and Irene Rosenberg Music: Keith Herrmann Direction: Julianne Boyd; Producers: John N. Hart Jr., in association with Hugh J. Hubbard and Robert M. Browne; Choreography: Michael Shawn; Scenery: William Ritman; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Larry Blank Cast: Lora Jeanne Martens (Little Girl, Mrs. Randolph), Jill Eikenberry (Victoria Woodhull), Beth Austin (Tennie Claflin), Marty McDonough (Telegraph Boy, Randolph), Dan Cronin (Jim), Ted Thurston (Cornelius Vanderbilt), Carrie Wilder (Mrs. Fleming), Karen Gibson (Mrs. Baxter), Gordon Stanley (Fleming), John Kidahl (Baxter), Carol Lurie (Woman Investor # 1), Scott Fless (Johnson), Ian Michael Towers (Perkins), Rex Hays (William Evarts), Dru Alexandrine (Woman Investor # 2), Martha Jean Sterner (Beth Tilton), Edmond Genest (Theodore Tilton), Laura Waterbury (Elizabeth Cady Stanton), Lauren Goler (Jim’s Girlfriend), Ken Waller (Congressman Butler), Michael Zaslow (Henry Ward Beecher), Dorothy Holland (Susan B. Anthony), Kenneth H. Waller (Grant Speaker, Maginnes, Judge), Linda Poser (Eunice Beecher), Lenny Wolpe (Charlie Delmonico, Fullerton), Jim Jansen (Anthony Comstock) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1871 and 1872 in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Age of Brass” (Jill Eikenberry, Beth Austin, Michael Zaslow, Jim Jansen, Edmond Genest, Martha Jean Sterner, Laura Waterbury, Ensemble); “Magnetic Healing” (Jill Eikenberry, Beth Austin, Ted Thurston); “Curiosity” (Rex Hays, Martha Jean Sterner, Edmond Genest, Laura Waterbury, Ted Thurston, Ensemble); “Beecher’s Processional” (Michael Zaslow, Congregation); “I Depend on You” (Jill Eikenberry, Beth Austin); “Victoria’s Banner” (Jill Eikenberry, Beth Austin, Laura Waterbury, Dorothy Holland, Ensemble); “Changes” (Jill Eikenberry); “A Taste of Forever” (Jill Eikenberry, Edmond Genest); “Unescorted Women” (Lenny Wolpe, Beth Austin, Jill Eikenberry, Ensemble)

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Act Two: “Love and Joy” (Jill Eikenberry, Michael Zaslow); “Every Day I Do a Little Something for the Lord” (Jim Jansen); “It’s Easy for Her” (Michael Zaslow); “You Cannot Drown the Dreamer” (Jill Eikenberry, Laura Waterbury); “Respectable” (Beth Austin); “Another Life” (Jill Eikenberry); “Read It in the Weekly” (Jill Eikenberry, Michael Zaslow, Edmond Genest, Beth Austin, Jim Jansen, Newsboys, Readers); “A Valentine for Beecher” (Ensemble); “Beecher’s Defense” (Jill Eikenberry); “Another Life” (reprise) (Jill Eikenberry, Michael Zaslow); “You Cannot Drown the Dreamer” (reprise) (Jill Eikenberry, Beth Austin) Onward Victoria, the first of the season’s three musicals to play for just one performance apiece, was capitalized at $1 million, a substantial sum for the era. Broadway Follies and The Moony Shapiro Songbook soon followed, but at least these three shows opened. One Night Stand and A Reel American Hero closed in previews without risking an official opening night. Onward Victoria dealt with suffragette Victoria Woodhull (1838–1927) and her quest for women’s rights. She was the first woman to run a Wall Street brokerage firm, in 1872 became the first to run for president, with her sister Tennie ran her own newspaper, and was perhaps most controversial as an advocate of free love. The musical’s cast of characters included such figures of the era as minister Henry Ward Beecher (Michael Zaslow), millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt (Ted Thurston), feminist Susan B. Anthony (Dorothy Holland), and even restaurateur Charlie Delmonico (Lenny Wolpe). The critics complained about the weak story and bland score, but the latter was generally pleasant if derivative, and composer Keith Herrmann’s best number was “Beecher’s Defense.” In this song, Woodhull takes the stand to defend Beecher against a morals charge; the music offered a serpentine melody and surprising harmonics, and the lyric was amusing as Woodhull defended Beecher in a most unorthodox manner: Beecher’s congregation should be proud to have a minister “so well endowed” and who offered such “divine uplift.” The headline in Douglas Watt’s review in the New York Daily News said Victoria marched “onward and downward,” the musical took “sluggishness to a form of art,” and each performance set back the women’s movement. The show preached of “free love, free speech, and free thought,” and Watt noted that many members of the audience “opted for the freedom of the streets at intermission.” The lyrics were “bad enough in themselves,” Herrmann’s score was of “no help,” and Eikenberry looked “glum” (the critic suspected she was “fully aware that hers is a lost cause”). Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily commented that the show’s opening number was “so amorphous” he never really knew what the authors Charlotte Anker and Irene Rosenberg felt about the subject matter, and so even Eikenberry’s “presence and beauty” couldn’t make him follow Victoria “onward into the second act.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the musical might “be going any number of ways, but onward is not one of them.” He overheard an audience member comment that the show might set back musical theatre by forty years, but Cunningham felt the assessment was too harsh and he suggested thirty-five years was more likely. For Joel Siegel on WABCTV7, the musical was “a textbook on how not to bring history to the stage.” The show played like a “catalogue,” its history was “emotionless,” the characters were “historical figures” who recited instead of speaking, and their musical numbers were “slogans” instead of “songs.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the evening was defeated by a “dull” score, “leaden” book, and “miscast” star. Further, Eikenberry had a “tiny vocal apparatus” and a “cool demeanor” and thus “no woman would follow her to the powder room, let alone the barricades.” Herrmann’s score lacked distinction and staggered from “Broadway brassy to pretentiously operatic to country cornpone,” but the show wasn’t a “total debacle” because a few songs “hit their mark” and a few lines had “a witty bite.” Hobe in Variety said the “inept” musical was a “fiasco,” an “outsize bore,” and “a waste of everyone’s time.” The songs were “instantly forgettable,” the choreography was “negligible,” and the performances generally “unconvincing,” but Theoni V. Aldredge’s costumes were “resplendent.” Brendan Gill in the New Yorker said the musical “went wrong, and in a fashion so thorough as to have had the look of being intentional.” He complained that the music was more in the style of the 1960s, and the dialogue appropriated current-day jargon such as “top secret,” “phony,” and “screwed.” Further, the creators “fell victim to Doctorow’s Syndrome, which consists of a wanton mingling of fact and fiction.” But like Hobe he praised Aldredge’s costumes (“exquisite”), and he noted that William Ritman’s décor was “mock-Victorian.” Frank Rich in the New York Times proclaimed that the musical “marches very peaceably to oblivion” and if one wanted a good night’s sleep all one had to do was buy a ticket to the show and then “rest in peace.” He suggested the evening’s “only distinction” was “Read It in the Weekly,” which began “conventionally

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enough” and then “went berserk.” He couldn’t tell what exactly was going on here, but the number ensured that Onward Victoria was “the first Broadway musical to suffer a nervous breakdown.” He also complained that Victoria and Tennie came across like “yesteryear’s answer to television’s Laverne and Shirley,” Julianne Boyd’s direction was “laughable,” Michael Shawn’s choreography was “lame,” and Eikenberry and Zaslow were “stuck in non-roles.” During previews, the title song (with a lyric based on Woodhull’s actual presidential campaign song) and “(In New York) The Only Sin Is Being Timid” were cut. The cast album was recorded by Original Cast Records (LP # OC-8135; later released by the company on CD # 9366). The recording includes the two cut songs and omitted five heard on opening night (“The Age of Brass,” “Curiosity,” “Beecher’s Processional,” “A Woman Like Her [Like Beth],” and “It’s Easy for Her”). The LP also included an insert with song lyrics. In 1979, the musical had been produced Off Off Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club and then by the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Company on February 22, 1979, where it opened at the Greenwich Mews Theatre for twelve performances. On September 14, 1987, Onward Victoria was revived in a concert version for one performance only in the Helen Hayes Lounge of the National Theatre, Washington, D.C.; Freddie Lee directed, and the concert was conducted by Rob Bowman. For a number of seasons during the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were announcements that Carol Channing would appear in Vicky for President (book by Burt Shevelove, lyrics by E. Y. Harburg, and music by Arthur Schwartz). The musical never materialized, but with Channing, Shevelove, and Harburg involved, one suspects this version would have had a sense of humor as well as political thrust.

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE Theatre: Uris Theatre (during run, the operetta transferred to the Minskoff Theatre) Opening Date: January 8, 1981; Closing Date: November 28, 1982 Performances: 772 Libretto: W. S. Gilbert Music: Arthur Sullivan; music adaptation by William Elliott Direction: Wilford Leach; Producer: Joseph Papp (A New York Shakespeare Festival Production); Choreography: Graciela Daniele; Scenery: Bob Shaw and Wilford Leach (scenery supervised by Paul Eads); Costumes: Patricia McGourty; Lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Musical Direction: William Elliott Cast: Kevin Kline (The Pirate King), Stephen Hanan (Samuel), Rex Smith (Frederic), Estelle Parsons (Ruth), Major-General Stanley’s Daughters: Robin Boudreau, Maria Guida, Nancy Heikin, Bonnie Simmons; Alexandra Korey (Edith), Marcie Shaw (Kate), Wendy Wolfe (Isabel), Linda Ronstadt (Mabel), George Rose (Major-General Stanley), Tony Azito (The Sergeant); Pirates and Police: Dean Badolato, Mark Beudert, Brian Bullard, Scott Burkholder, Walter Caldwell, Tim Flavin, Ray Gill, George Kmeck, Daniel Marcus, G. Eugene Moose, Joseph Neal, Walter Niehenke, Joe Pichette, Ellis Skeeter Williams, Michael Edwin Willson The operetta was presented in two acts. The action takes place in England during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Pour, O Pour the Pirate Sherry” (Kevin Kline, Stephen Hanan, Rex Smith, Pirates); “When Frederic Was a Little Lad” (Estelle Parsons); “Oh, Better Far to Live and Die” (Kevin Kline, Pirates); “Oh, False One, You Have Deceived Me!” (Estelle Parsons, Rex Smith); “Climbing Over Rocky Mountains” (Daughters); “Stop, Ladies, Pray!” (Rex Smith, Daughters); “Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast” (Rex Smith, Daughters); “Poor Wandering One” (Linda Ronstadt, Daughters); “What Ought We to Do?” (Marcie Shaw, Alexandra Korey, Daughters); “How Beautifully Blue the Sky” (Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, Daughters); “Stay, We Must Not Lose Our Senses” (Rex Smith, Daughters, Pirates); “Hold, Monsters!” (Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Hanan, George Rose, Daughters, Pirates); “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” (George Rose, Ensemble); “Oh, Men of Dark and Dismal Fate” (Ensemble)

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Act Two: “Oh, Dry the Glistening Tear” (Linda Ronstadt, Daughters); “Then Frederic” (George Rose, Rex Smith); “When the Foeman Bares His Steel” (Tony Azito, Linda Ronstadt, Police, Daughters); “Now for the Pirates’ Lair!” (Rex Smith, Kevin Kline, Estelle Parsons); “When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold” (Estelle Parsons, Rex Smith, Kevin Kline); “My Eyes Are Fully Open (Opened)” (Rex Smith, Estelle Parsons, Kevin Kline); “Away, Away! My Heart’s on Fire” (Estelle Parsons, Kevin Kline, Rex Smith); “All Is Prepared” (Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith): “Stay, Frederic, Stay!” (Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith); “Sorry Her Lot” (Linda Ronstadt); “No, I Am Brave” (Linda Ronstadt, Tony Azito, Police); “When a Felon’s Not Engaged in His Employment” (Tony Azito, Police); “A Rollicking Band of Pirates We” (Pirates, Tony Azito, Police); “With Cat-Like Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal” (Pirates, Police, Stephen Hanan); “Hush, Hush! Not a Word” (Rex Smith, Pirates, Police, George Rose); “Sighing Softly to the River” (George Rose, Ensemble); Finale (Ensemble) W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s operetta The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty had been a surprise hit the previous summer when it opened on July 15, 1980, at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park for forty-two performances, and so a Broadway transfer was a given. Except for one major cast change (Estelle Parsons succeeded Patricia Routledge in the role of Ruth), the production moved to Broadway the following winter and became a hit all over again. In fact, the Broadway production of 772 performances marks the longest run of any Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in New York, which seems fitting because the operetta is the only one of the team’s works to have had its world premiere in New York (on December 31, 1879, at the Fifth Avenue Theatre for a then healthy run of ninety-one performances in two slightly separated engagements). For the purposes of copyright protection, a special matinee performance (as The Pirates of Penzance, or Love and Duty) had been given in England at the Royal Bijou Theatre in Paignton on December 30, 1879, the day before the New York opening, and a few months later the official British premiere was presented in London at the Opera Comique on April 3, 1880, for 363 showings. The satiric story dealt with a group of quirky pirates (led by the Pirate King, portrayed by Kevin Kline) who prefer sherry to ale. The whole of England seems to know that the pirates never kidnap orphans, and so curiously enough the pirates have never kidnapped anyone because all their would-be captives quickly announce that they are orphans. Among the pirate band is Frederic (Rex Smith), who as a baby was to be apprenticed to a sea pilot but because of a misunderstanding was delivered to the pirate ship. Frederic is thus duty bound to serve with the pirates until his twenty-first birthday, but because he was born on February 29 he must serve his apprenticeship until 1940 because in that year twenty-five of his birth days will have passed. He and his intended, Mabel (Linda Ronstadt), agree to be faithful to one another and look forward to the day in 1940 when they’ll be in their eighties and can finally marry. But a combination of inept pirates and equally inept policemen, as well as the happy circumstances of operetta conventions, ensures that Frederic and Mabel will tie the knot sooner than later. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News praised Wilford Leach’s “wonderfully nutty and meticulous staging” and said Kevin Kline was the show’s “shooting star” who was “a wild mixture of dexterity and bungling, a kind of winged Errol Flynn forever landing in the wrong place.” Frank Rich in the New York Times noted the production was a “rethinking” but not a “rewriting” of the classic operetta into “the highly charged terms of modern musical comedy.” He mentioned that Kline had “the grace and timing of a silent-movie clown” and that Graciela Daniele’s choreography for “With Cat-Like Tread” threatened “to incite the audience to riot in [its] climatic kick-line march.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post proclaimed that with its “sheer heady, giddy excitement” the revival was “one of the most enchanting musicals to be seen on Broadway for many a year”; Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the “absolute triumph” was an “exhilarating” and “genuinely joyous event”; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked the “first great big, beautiful, extravagantly hilarious treat of 1981” (but in a puh-leeze moment he suggested someone should “bestow a knighthood” on producer Joseph Papp). Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the revival was “one of the most joyously creative productions in all musical theatre” and noted that if you go to the theatre just once or twice a year “this is the show” to see. But Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal didn’t care for the “camp posturing and pratfalls” Leach had provided, and said the revival was “a far cry from an inspired, first-rate” production of the operetta. The current revival interpolated two Gilbert and Sullivan songs, “My Eyes Are Fully Open” (Ruddigore, 1887) and “Sorry Her Lot” (H.M.S. Pinafore, 1878), and the restoration of part of the original 1879 New York finale was arranged by Richard Traubner.

1980–1981 SEASON     61

The production was recorded on a two-LP set by Elektra Records (# VE-601), which later issued a 2-CD edition. The delightfully stylized and colorful film version was released by Universal in 1983 with most of the Broadway cast intact (for the film, Angela Lansbury played Ruth) and the DVD was issued by NBC Universal. A live performance taken from the Delacorte production (which includes Patricia Routledge as Ruth) was released on DVD by Broadway Theatre Archive. One highly recommended edition of the published script is the hardback slipcase collection The First Night Gilbert and Sullivan released by the Heritage Press in 1958; besides the libretti of all of the team’s fourteen operettas as they were presented on their opening-night performances, the collection includes a special box of the facsimiles for all the first-night programs, including four of The Pirates of Penzance: the Royal Bijou Theatre program; two different opening night programs from the Fifth Avenue Theatre (both of which note that the performance is the “first production” of the operetta, which was “written and composed expressly for production in the United States”); and the program from the Opera Comique opening.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (The Pirates of Penzance); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Kevin Kline); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Linda Ronstadt); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Tony Azito); Best Director of a Musical (Wilford Leach); Best Choreographer (Graciela Daniele)

SHAKESPEARE’S CABARET Theatre: Bijou Theatre Opening Date: January 21, 1981; Closing Date: March 8, 1981 Performances: 54 Lyrics: William Shakespeare Music: Lance Mulcahy Based on the writings of William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Direction: John Driver; Producer: Arthur Shafman; Choreography: Lynne Taylor-Corbett; Scenery and Costumes: Frank J. Boros; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Don Jones Cast: Patti Perkins, Michael Rupert, Catherine Cox, Larry Riley, Pauletta Pearson, Alan Brasington The revue was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers “If Music and Sweet Poetry Agree” (from The Passionate Pilgrim) (Ensemble); “What Thou See’st When Thou Dost Awake” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) (Ensemble); “All That Glisters” (The Merchant of Venice) (Catherine Cox, Patti Perkins, Pauletta Pearson); “Why Should This a Desert Be?” (As You Like It) (Michael Rupert); “Crabbed Age and Youth” (The Passionate Pilgrim) (Alan Brasington, Patti Perkins); “Orpheus and His Lute” (Henry III) (Pauletta Pearson); “Music with Her Silver Sound” (Romeo and Juliet) (Catherine Cox, Michael Rupert, Patti Perkins, Alan Brasington); “Come Live with Me and Be My Love” (attributed to Christopher Marlowe) (Larry Riley); “Have More Than Thou Showest” (King Lear) (Michael Rupert, Alan Brasington); “Venus and Adonis Suite” (Ensemble); “Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred” (The Merchant of Venice) (Ensemble); “If Music Be the Food of Love” (Twelfth Night) (Alan Brasington, Pauletta Pearson); “Epitaph for Marina” (Pericles) (Michael Rupert, Catherine Cox); “The Phoenix and the Turtle” (Alan Brasington, Patti Perkins, Pauletta Pearson, Catherine Cox, Michael Rupert); “Now” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) (Larry Riley); “The Willow Song” (Othello) (Catherine Cox); “Immortal Gods” (Timon of Athens) (Alan Brasington); “Tomorrow Is St. Valentine’s Day” (Hamlet) (Patti Perkins); “Fathers That Wear Rags” (King Lear) (Pauletta Pearson); “The Grave Digger’s Song” (Hamlet) (Larry Riley); “Now” (reprise) (Larry Riley, Patti Perkins, Pauletta Pearson, Catherine Cox, Alan Brasington); “Come Unto These Yellow Sands” (The Tempest) (Pauletta Pearson, Catherine Cox, Michael Rupert, Alan Brasington, Patti Perkins, Larry Riley); “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” (Sonnet 18) (Catherine Cox, Alan Brasington); “Lawn as White as Driven Snow” (The Winter’s Tale) (Ensemble);

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“Rosalynde” (As You Like It) (Larry Riley, Alan Brasington); “Let Me the Canakin Clink” (Othello) (Ensemble); “Shakespeare’s Epitaph” (Ensemble); “Fear No More the Heat of the Sun” (Cymbeline) (Ensemble); “Shakespeare’s Epitaph” (reprise) (Ensemble) During the latter part of January, William Shakespeare visited Broadway twice. The revue Shakespeare’s Cabaret premiered on the 21st, and on the following night a poorly received revival of Macbeth opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. For the musical, composer Lance Mulcahy set Shakespeare’s poems and plays to music for six singers and four musicians, and the musical styles included madrigals, Charlestons, rock, vaudeville, country-and-western, Latino, and jazz. The Off-Off-Broadway transfer included just one sequence by another writer (“Come Live with Me and Be My Love” is attributed to Christopher Marlowe and was referenced by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News liked the “engaging affair” with its “winning” cast, bright direction and choreography, and ”simple, stylish and beautifully lighted setting.” The score was “melodious, unfailingly good-humored,” and “excellently arranged.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the evening “bubbles and bursts with sprightly charm and honest sentiment” and was a “great, slightly off-beat show that is to be warmly recommended.” Further, Mulcahy’s score was “brilliantly eclectic” and although “consistently modern in spirit” it nonetheless managed “to maintain a certain link with Elizabethan music.” But John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor felt the transplanted show was “a bit fragile” for Broadway and should have remained downtown. He noted that the “melodic lines” ran together like “melting plastic,” but said the songs were performed “skillfully and enthusiastically” by the cast. Frank Rich in the New York Times left the theatre humming the lyrics but not the music because the bland score lacked “character” and a few numbers sounded “vaguely like songs from other shows.” The production didn’t have a musical and a theatrical personality, and without a “narrative or thematic or stylistic plan” the evening’s structure was more in keeping with nightclub clichés. The revue had previously been produced a year earlier in two acts at the Colonnades Theatre Lab on February 1, 1980, for forty performances with Alan Brasington and Patti Perkins, both of whom appeared in the current production. Others in the 1980 cast were Maureen Brennan, Mel Johnson Jr., Roxanne Reese, Keith R. Rice, and Peter Van Norden. Numbers from the 1980 version that weren’t included in the current one were: “How Should I Your True Love Know?” (Hamlet), “If I Profane” (Romeo and Juliet), “Come Away, Death” (Twelfth Night), “Will You Buy Any Tape?” (The Winter’s Tale), “I Am Saint Jacques’ Pilgrim” (All’s Well That Ends Well), “Pyramus, Arise” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), “Shepherd’s Song” (The Passionate Pilgrim), and “Rosalinde” (from Hamlet, and not to be confused with “Rosalynde” below). Added to the new production were the following numbers (see above song list for sources): “Orpheus and His Lute,” “Music with Her Silver Sound,” “Have More Than Thou Showest,” “Now,” “Immortal Gods,” “The Grave Digger’s Song,” “Fear No More the Heat of the Sun,” and “Rosalynde” (from As You Like It). Both productions included the extended sequence “Venus and Adonis Suite,” and the program from the Colonnades version indicated the number was presented in six parts (“First Meeting,” “The Chase,” “The Seduction,” “The Rejection,” “The Hunt,” and “Final Parting”). Mulcahy later composed a sequel to Shakespeare’s Cabaret titled Sweet Will. The work was subtitled “Shakespeare’s Cabaret Part Two” and opened Off Off Broadway at Don’t Tell Mama on February 2, 1985, for twenty performances and was seen again about a year later at Joann’s Silver Lining Cabaret Theatre for nine showings (varying sources give both December 26, 1985, and January 5, 1986, as the opening night). Except perhaps for some overlapping material from the “Venus and Adonis Suite,” all the material in Sweet Will was new and hadn’t been performed in Shakespeare’s Cabaret. In reviewing the second presentation of Sweet Will, Stephen Holden in the New York Times said the mixture of Shakespeare and popular musical styles made an “awkward mismatch” and the music’s “swift momentum . . . insistently” hurried the revue along and didn’t allow the audience time to “savor” Shakespeare’s language.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Score (Lance Mulcahy)

1980–1981 SEASON     63

THE FIVE O’CLOCK GIRL Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: January 28, 1981; Closing Date: February 8, 1981 Performances: 14 Book: Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson Lyrics and Music: Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby (for other songwriting credits, see song listing) Direction: Sue Lawless; Producer: Rodger H. Hess (Jamey Cohan, Assistant Producer); Choreography: Dan Siretta (Larry McMillian, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Nanzi Adzima; Lighting: Craig Miller; Musical Direction: Lynn Crigler Cast: Sheila Smith (Madame Irene), Ted Pugh (Hudgins), Pat Stanley (Susan Snow), Lisby Larson (Patricia Brown), Roger Rathburn (Gerald Brooks), Barry Preston (Ronnie Webb), Dee Hoty (Cora Wainwright), Timothy Wallace (Jasper Cobb), Teri Corcoran (Jeanie), James Homan (Pete), Richard Ruth (Rodney), Annette Michelle (Ethel, Molly), Lora Jeanne Martens (Elsie), Jean McLaughlin (Bunnie), Debra Grimm (Polly), Carla Farnsworth-Webb (Maisie), Jonathan Aronson (Eddie, Jules), G. Brandon Allen (Detective), Gary Kirsch (Bobby, Policeman) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1920s in New York City and on Long Island.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “In the Old Neighborhood” (Sheila Smith, Ensemble); “Keep Romance Alive” (1934 film Hips Hips Hooray) (Telephone Girls); “Thinking of You” (Lisby Larson, Roger Rathburn); “I’m One Little Party” (Barry Preston, Female Ensemble); “Up in the Clouds” (Lisby Larson, Roger Rathburn, Ensemble); “My Sunny Tennessee” (source unknown; song possibly from Midnight Rounders of 1921; lyric and music by Harry Ruby, Herman Ruby, and Bert Kalmar) (Timothy Wallace, Female Ensemble); “Any Little Thing” (Pat Stanley, Ted Pugh); “Manhattan Walk” (1928 musical Good Boy; lyric by Bert Kalmar, music by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby) (Sheila Smith, Barry Preston, Dee Hoty, Timothy Wallace, Ensemble) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “The Long Island Low-Down” (1928 musical Animal Crackers) (Sheila Smith, Ensemble); “Who Did? You Did!” (Lisby Larson, Roger Rathburn); “Any Little Thing” (reprise) (Pat Stanley); “Nevertheless (I’m in Love with You)” (independent song, 1931) (Pat Stanley, Ted Pugh); “All Alone Monday” (1926 musical The Ramblers) (Roger Rathburn); “Dancing the Devil Away” (1927 musical Lucky; lyric by Bert Kalmar and Otto Harbach, music by Harry Ruby) (Barry Preston, Ensemble); “Up in the Clouds” (reprise) (Lisby Larson, Roger Rathburn); Finale (Company) Most Broadway revivals of 1920s shows (such as No, No, Nanette, The Desert Song, Good News, and Whoopee) were based on major hits of the era. So it was somewhat surprising that Goodspeed Opera House, which specialized in (usually revised) revivals of yesteryear’s hits, decided to take its production of the modest 1927 musical The 5 O’Clock Girl to Broadway (the revival was titled The Five O’Clock Girl). Unfortunately, the show received many dismissive reviews and was gone in less than two weeks. The original production opened at the 44th Street Theatre on October 10, 1927, for 280 performances and yielded the hit song “Thinking of You.” The lighthearted plot was one of the era’s typical New York Cinderella stories in which a slavey named Pat (Lisby Larson in the revival) who works in a laundry engages in lateafternoon telephone talks with a man she’s never met (Gerald Brooks, played by Roger Rathburn). Naturally, this unusual relationship results in romance, and, by a happy turn of circumstances, Gerald is revealed to be young, handsome, and wealthy, and so even Cinderella herself couldn’t have done much better than Snow Flake Cleaner Shop employee Pat. The musical even found time to leave Beekman Place and pay a visit to Long Island, the hallowed locale of choice for many a musical and a piece of real estate more musically desirable than Park Avenue (in fact, the 1946 musical Park Avenue actually took place on a Long Island estate). The plot’s basic outline is reminiscent of the 1956 musical Bells Are Ringing, in which a woman who works for a telephone answering service has a similar relationship (with a man who turns out to be a successful playwright). The 5 O’Clock Girl also shared a connection with the 1966 musical Cabaret because both productions partially took place in a night spot called the Kit Kat Club.

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Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested the musical was now “an artifact for museums, not Broadway,” and while the piece was “merry but routine” it was also “a pretty slim affair.” He noted that director Sue Lawless had “failed to find a tone” for the evening and choreographer Dan Siretta’s dances tended “to exhaust rather than exhilarate.” The headline of Douglas Watt’s review in the New York Daily News stated that the musical “ticks slowly,” and the critic wondered “why so much time and effort have been expended on resuscitating” such a “stock work.” He was disappointed with the romantic leads played by Larson and Rathburn, and felt the comic twosome Pat Stanley and Ted Pugh generated “a bit more interest” (the revival brought back Stanley, who had memorably introduced “I Love a Cop” in the 1959 musical Fiorello!). Watt mentioned that dancer Barry Preston brought “the show to life” with his “rare quality of never seeming earthbound.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 predicted that the “misguided” production wouldn’t “make it” on Broadway, and while Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the show had “polish,” Barry Preston’s “Dancing the Devil Away” was “exciting to watch,” and the orchestrations had “the proper bubbly period quality,” he regretted that “the novelty of old musicals has worn off” and only “the most innocent theatergoer can still find diversion in such innocent material.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the revival an “insouciant charmer” with an “enchanting” score and a “guileless but funny” book; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the evening was “a sweet and silly memento” of the Twenties that provided “escapist diversion that celebrates the joy in enjoyment, the art in artifice, and the guile in beguilement”; and T. E. Kalem in Time praised the “tuneful seductiveness” of the score and noted that “Dancing the Devil Away” was a “New York prairie fire kindled with tap shoes.” The Broadway revival retained five of the original production’s twelve songs (“Thinking of You,” “I’m One Little Party,” “Up in the Clouds,” “Any Little Thing,” and “Who Did? You Did!”), and omitted seven (“We Want You,” “Happy Go Lucky,” “Following in Father’s Footsteps,” “Lonesome Romeos,” “Society Ladder,” “Tell the World I’m Through,” and the dance “Tea-Time Tap”). The original production included two generically titled sequences (both called “Opening”) for the beginning of each act, and it’s possible that the revival’s first-act opening number “In the Old Neighborhood” could have been one of these. As noted in the above song list, the following seven numbers were interpolated into the revival: “Keep Romance Alive,” “My Sunny Tennessee,” “Manhattan Walk,” “The Long Island Low-Down,” “Nevertheless (I’m in Love with You),” “All Alone Monday,” and “Dancing the Devil Away.” The Goodspeed production originally opened on June 19, 1979, and included Lisby Larson, Barry Preston, Sheila Smith, and Timothy Wallace, all of whom appeared in the Broadway production. The Goodspeed cast also included Richard Ryder, John Remme, Sherry Rooney, and Deborah Rush, who were succeeded by Roger Rathburn, Ted Pugh, Pat Stanley, and Dee Hoty for Broadway. The Goodspeed production included two songs not used in the Broadway revival: “Tell the World I’m Through” (which had been heard in the 1927 Broadway production) and “Hot and Bothered” (originally introduced by Ginger Rogers in the 1929 musical Top Speed). Immediately prior to the Broadway revival, the musical played in Philadelphia where “Hot and Bothered” was still part of the score. In 1929, MGM filmed The Five O’Clock Girl with Marion Davies and Charles King (who had introduced the title song and “You Were Meant for Me” in the 1929 film The Broadway Melody, which was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and who also introduced “Happy Days Are Here Again” in the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows). According to Edwin M. Bradley in The First Hollywood Musicals, upon completion the film was permanently shelved by the studio and never released. The Five O’Clock Girl was the penultimate production to play at the Helen Hayes Theatre (located at 210 West 46th Street, the venue first opened its doors in 1911 as the Fulton Theatre), which was demolished in 1982. The final show to play there was Oliver Hailey’s I Won’t Dance, which closed after one performance. In 1983, the Little Theatre was renamed the Helen Hayes, and The News was the first musical to play there under its new name (for more information about the Little/Helen Hayes, see entry for The News).

PIAF Theatre: Plymouth Theatre Opening Date: February 5, 1981; Closing Date: June 28, 1981 Performances: 165

1980–1981 SEASON     65

Play: Pam Gems Lyrics and Music: See song list below for specific credits. Direction: Howard Davies (Helaine Head, Assistant Director); Producers: Elizabeth I. McCann, Nelle Nugent, The Shubert Organization, and Ray Larsen in association with Warner Theatre Productions, Inc.; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Julie Weiss; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Michael Dansicker Cast: David Leary (Emcee and Manager aka Henri), Jane Lapotaire (Piaf), Peter Friedman (“Papa” Leplee, American Sailor # 2), Zoe Wanamaker (Toine), Nicholas Woodeson (Emil, Jacko), Stephen Davies (Legionnaire, Pierre), Lewis Arlt (Jacques, German Soldier # 1, Angelo), Robert Christian (Eddie, Butcher, Marcel, Barman), Michael Ayr (Little Louis, German Soldier # 2, Lucien, Dope Pusher), Kenneth Welsh (Police Inspector, Georges, Physiotherapist), David Purdham (Paul, American Sailor # 1, Theo), Jean Smart (Marlene), Judith Ivey (Madeleine, Piaf [Wednesday matinees]), Sherry Steiner (Nurse, Madeleine [Wednesday matinees]), Cynthia Carle (Nurse [Wednesday matinees]) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place mostly in Paris during the years from the late 1920s to 1963.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual musical numbers; the following information is taken from the published script. Unless otherwise indicated, all songs were performed by Jane Lapotaire. Act One: “La vie en rose” (French lyric by Edith Piaf, music by Louiguy, English lyric by Mack David); “Les momes (de la cloche)” (lyric by Decaye, music by Vincent Scotto); “Un sale petite brouillard” (lyricist and composer unknown) (heard as background music only); “La ville inconnue” (lyric by Michel Vaucaire, music by Charles Dumont) (heard as background music only); “Mon manege a moi” (aka “Tu me fais tourner la tete”) (lyric by Jean Constantin, music by Norbert Glanzberg); “Mon manege a moi” (reprise) (Jane Lapotaire, David Purdham); “L’accordioniste” (lyric and music by Michel Emer, English lyric by Adrian Mitchell); “L’accordioniste” (reprise); “King Farouk” (lyricist and composer unknown); “Hymne a l’amour” (lyric by Edith Piaf, music by Marguerite Monnot, English lyric by Geoffrey Parsons); “Hymne a l’amour” (reprise) (Kenneth Welsh, Stephen Davies, David Leary, Zoe Wanamaker, Jane Lapotaire); “Mon Dieu” (lyric by Michel Vaucaire, music by Charles Dumont) (heard as background music only); “La belle histoire d’amour” (lyric by Edith Piaf, music by Charles Dumont, English lyric by Adrian Mitchell) Act Two: “Hymne a l’amour” (reprise); “Deep in the Heart of Texas” (lyric by June Hershey, music by Don Swander) (Lewis Arlt); “Bravo pour le clown” (lyric and music by Henri Contet and Louiguy); “Misericorde” (lyricist and composer unknown) (heard as background music only); “La belle histoire d’amour” (heard as background music only); “Hymne a l’amour” (reprise) (heard as background music only); “La vie en rose” (reprise); “La vie en rose” (reprise); “La vie inconnue” (reprise); “Non, je ne regrette rien” (lyric by Michel Vaucaire, music by Charles Dumont); “A quoi ça sert l’amour” (lyricist and composer unknown) (Jane Lapotaire, David Purdham); “Les trois cloches” (lyric by Decaye, music by Vincent Scotto; some sources credit Jean Villard aka Gilles as the lyricist and composer; English lyric by Bert Reisfeld) (heard as background music only); “Les trois cloches” (reprise) (Company); “Non, je ne regrette rien” (reprise) (Note: The program indicated that the following songs were also heard in the production: “C’est a Hambourg,” lyric by Edith Piaf, music by Charles Dumont, English lyric by Adrian Mitchell and Pam Gems; “Le droit d’aimer,” lyricist and composer unknown; “La goulante du pauvre Jean,” lyric by Rene Rouzoud, music by Marguerite Monnot, English lyric by Adrian Mitchell; “Je t’ai dans le peau,” lyricist and composer unknown; and “Milord,” lyric by Georges Moustaki, music by Marguerite Monnot.) The import Piaf by Pam Gems was first presented in Great Britain on October 5, 1978, at The Other Place in Stratford-on-Avon; it was later produced in London at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Warehouse Theatre, and then in December 1979 it played in repertory at the Aldwych Theatre, followed by engagements at the Wyndham Theatre and the Piccadilly Theatre. The play with music depicted the events in the life of French singer Edith Piaf (1915–1963), otherwise known as the “Little Sparrow.” Many crowned Piaf as the queen of melancholy song, but others found her arch and calculated in her stage persona of the victimized and bruised waif done wrong by the cold, cruel world. Her recordings indicate her song interpretations were somewhat whiney and over tremulous, and even a brief exposure to her performance style seems more than enough.

66      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Her one Broadway appearance was Edith Piaf and Her Continental Entertainers, which opened at the Playhouse Theatre on October 30, 1947, for forty-four performances. In his annual summary of the 1947–1948 season, George Jean Nathan reported Piaf sang all her numbers in the same manner without ever changing her “emotional pattern,” “expression,” and “projection.” Each song began in a low key and climaxed with a “terrific abdominal, chest and laryngeal explosion,” which was always accompanied by her “pointing” her index finger at the audience or by “laterally” extending her arms (in crucifixion pose, no doubt). All this action was “sold” with the same “woebegone look” and the same “air of heartbroken but brave defeat.” Piaf was a series of vignettes that followed the entertainer from her early beginnings as a prostitute to the height of fame as one of the world’s highest-paid nightclub performers. She was involved with a succession of lovers, had numerous automobile accidents, was an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a bankrupt, and died of cancer. Gems seemed to find Piaf a victim of events beyond her control, but the evidence suggests the singer was bent on self-destruction. It was difficult to feel sorry for the self-indulgent and crass character, and the constant barrage of four-letter words and the graphic depiction of Piaf’s bodily functions seemed to further alienate the character and remove her from any kind of audience sympathy. (Was it really necessary to show Piaf urinating?) Most of the critics found the play episodic and overly crude, but virtually all praised Jane Lapotaire’s performance as Piaf (she had created the role in Britain, and for her performance in New York she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play). Frank Rich in the New York Times found the play “frail” and noted it “often obeys the dramatic clichés of rags-to-riches-to-rags show-biz sagas.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “hodgepodge” of “little scenes” quickly ran through the events of Piaf’s life in “zip”-“zip”- “zip”-“zip” fashion and then the company sang “Les trios cloches” and the evening was “over and out.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post indicated Gems was “hardly a great writer” but had “decently selected” a “series of vignettes” to create a “mosaic” of Piaf’s life. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal felt the play was written as “a series of snippets,” and it was “difficult to tell exactly” what Gems “had in mind” when she wrote the play because “no single plot line or point of view is developed.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the evening was an almost “total bore,” and if Gems had hoped to be “earthy” in her depiction of Piaf, she succeeded only in being “vulgar.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek suggested the play lost some of its “tension” in a large Broadway theatre and noted “it would pack more wallop as a tight, driving one-acter without any intermission.” And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 found the play “badly written” and “glossed over with a thick, thick layer of rampaging pretention.” As for Lapotaire, Rich said she was “an electrifying show all by herself”; Watt found her “gifted” but would have preferred seeing her portrayal of the Artful Dodger rather than the Little Sparrow; Barnes said her performance was “remarkable,” “stupendous,” and “one to be cherished for a lifetime”; Wilson noted she brought “an irrepressible spirit and enthusiasm” to the role; and Kroll said she “radiates that special kind of excitement that only special performers have.” But Kissel said her “resources as an actress seem extremely limited,” and he complained that she “constantly grins at the audience for approval” and created “less a characterization than a collection of gestures.” And Cunningham said she gave a “thoughtless, mechanical, thoroughly unemotional, automatic, unfelt performance that was hardly worth the trip across the Atlantic.” At one point during the play, the character of “Marlene” (as in Dietrich, and played by Jean Smart) makes a personal appearance. Rich noted the role was a “cameo” and Gems failed to “illuminate” Dietrich’s relationship with Piaf. Watt mentioned that Dietrich offers “career advice” to Piaf and then “quickly disappears.” Kissel said the portrayal was “so inept” he had no idea who the character was until she said “Hawwy Twuman”; and Barnes said the actress in the “impossible” role “should be sued by Marlene Dietrich.” And it is duly noted that in the script (published in softcover by Samuel French in 1983) the character was completely eliminated and “Josephine” (as in Baker) was substituted. Works about Piaf have amounted to a cottage industry: the Off-Off-Broadway Dear Piaf (1975); three OffBroadway productions, Piaf (1977), Piaf Remembered . . . (1993), and Piaf: Love Conquers All (2007); and the 2007 film La vie en rose (for which Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress). To paraphrase the title of the 1962 Off-Broadway musical Fly Blackbird, one is compelled to say enough is enough and so please Fly Sparrow. Piaf ushered in a Gallic flavor for the remainder of the theatre season. Later in the month the revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris opened, and it was soon followed by the French puppet revue Aaah oui Genty! and the revival of Cole Porter’s Can-Can.

1980–1981 SEASON     67

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Leading Actress in a Play (Jane Lapotaire); Best Featured Actress in a Play (Zoe Wanamaker)

JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS Theatre: Town Hall Opening Date: February 19, 1981; Closing Date: March 8, 1981 Performances: 21 Lyrics, Commentary, and Music: Jacques Brel (English lyrics and additional material by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman; see below for more information regarding music credits) Direction: Production supervised by Eric Blau (based on original direction by Moni Yakim); Producer: Lily Turner Attractions; Musical Direction: Bertha Melnik Cast: Joe Masiell, Betty Rhodes, Shawn Elliott, Sally Cooke The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Marathon” (“Les flamandes”) (Company); “Alone” (“Seul”) (Shawn Elliott); “Madeleine” (Company); “I Loved” (“J’aimais”) (Sally Cooke); “Mathilde” (Joe Masiell); “Bachelor’s Dance” (“La bouree du celibataire”) (Shawn Elliott); “Timid Frieda” (“Les timides”) (Sally Cooke); “My Death” (“La mort”) (Betty Rhodes); “Girls and Dogs” (“Les filles et les chiens”) (Joe Masiell, Shawn Elliott); “Jackie” (“La chanson de Jacky”) (Joe Masiell); “The Statue” (“La statue”) (Shawn Elliott); “Desperate Ones” (“Les desesperes”) (Company); “Sons of . . .” (“Fils de . . .”) (Betty Rhodes); “Amsterdam” (Joe Masiell) Act Two: “The Bulls” (“Les toros”) (Shawn Elliott); “Old Folks” (“Les vieux”) (Betty Rhodes); “Marieke” (Betty Rhodes); “Brussels” (“Bruxelles”) (Sally Cooke); “Fanette” (“La fanette”) (Shawn Elliott); “Funeral Tango” (“Tango funebre”) (Joe Masiell); “The Middle Class” (“Les bourgeois”) (Joe Masiell, Shawn Elliott); “You’re Not Alone” (“Jef”) (Betty Rhodes); “Next” (“Au suivant”) (Joe Masiell); “Carousel” (“La valse a mille temps”) (Betty Rhodes); “If We Only Have Love” (“Quand on a que l’amour”) (Company) Although Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is a tiresome and somewhat smug tribute revue to the French songwriter and performer, it has unaccountably found its niche in cabaret-styled theatre and has been revived numerous times in New York. Many of the lyrics are obvious, and the greeting-card philosophy of “If We Only Have Love” is trite and sophomoric. The lyrics often detract from any attractiveness the music might have, and one suspects Brel’s songs might best be served in the original French or in instrumental interpretations. In his review of the current revival, John S. Wilson in the New York Times said the “vitality” of Brel’s songs hadn’t “diminished one whit” and were “alive and well and vigorous as ever.” Joe Masiell brought a “controlled intensity” to his songs, Shawn Elliott’s “Fanette” was the evening’s “most memorable” moment, and while Betty Rhodes inherited the songs Elly Stone had performed in the original production, he noted she was more “the pixie type than steel maiden.” He also mentioned that Sally Cooke’s “broad slapstick quality” brought “lively” moments to the production. The revue originally opened Off Broadway at the Village Gate on January 28, 1968, for 1,847 performances, and ten weeks after its closing played on Broadway at the Royale Theatre for fifty-one showings beginning on October 28, 1972. Besides the current offering, the production has been revived in New York nine other times, mostly in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway venues: in 1974 (Astor Place Theatre, 125 performances); 1977 (Queens Theatre in the Park/Playwrights Horizons, 13 performances); 1978 (a tenth-anniversary production at Town Hall, number of performances unknown); 1978 (Park Royal Cabaret Theatre, 4 performances); 1983 (First City Theatre, 48 performances); 1985 (Equity Library Theatre, 30 performances); 1988 (Town Hall, 7 performances); 1992 (Village Gate, 131 performances); and 2006 (Zipper Theatre, 384 performances).

68      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

A 1975 film version (with original cast members Elly Stone and Mort Shuman, frequent Brel interpreter Joe Masiell, and even JB himself) was released under the auspices of the short-lived American Film Series and is available on DVD by Kino. Another film version of the revue was seen on Danish television in 1974 and appears to have been taken from a live stage performance. The script was published in hardback by E.P. Dutton in 1974, and later in paperback by The Dramatists Play Service in 2000. The original Off-Broadway cast album was recorded on a two-LP set by Columbia Records (# D2S-779) that omitted three numbers (“Girls and Dogs,” “The Statue,” and “The Middle Class”). The latter was recorded during the cast album session and was added to the CD release by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records (# SK-89998). A 1974 production in Cleveland was recorded on a two-LP set by Playhouse Square Records, Inc. (# PHS-CLE-2S-101) and includes “Girls and Dogs.” A Vancouver revival (circa 1985) was titled Jacques Brel Lives . . . and the cast included Leon Bibb, who had appeared in the 1983 New York production; the cast album was released by Jabula Records (LP # JR-38). The 2006 Off-Broadway revival was recorded by Ghostlight Records (CD # 7915584416-2). The film’s soundtrack album was released on a two-LP set by Atlantic Records (# SD-2-1000-0998). The film omitted four songs (“My Death,” “Girls and Dogs,” “Fanette,” and “You’re Not Alone”) and added four: “My Childhood” (“Mon enfance,” lyric and music by Brel), “The Taxicab” (“Le gaz,” lyric and music by Brel and Gerard Jouannest), “Ne me quitte pas” (lyric and music by Brel), and “The Last Supper” (“Le dernier repas,” lyric and music by Brel). The film included “The Statue” (performed by Masiell) and thus the three songs omitted from the original release of the cast album (“Girls and Dogs,” “The Statue,” and “The Middle Class”) are available on various recordings of the score. In 1961, Elly Stone had appeared in the Off-Broadway revue O, Oysters!!! where she performed two songs by Brel, “Ne me quitte pas” and “Carousels and Cotton Candy” (with a new lyric, the latter was heard as “Carousel” in the 1968 revue). The song was also included in Lawrence Roman’s 1964 Broadway comedy P.S. I Love You, where it was performed as “Days of the Waltz” (lyric by Will Holt). Other contributors to the score of Jacques Brel Is Alive . . . are composers Francois Rauber, Jean Cortinovis (aka Corti), and the above-cited Gerard Jouannest, all of whom sold their music to Brel with the understanding they’d receive no official program credit. But five years before his death, Brel requested that all future productions of the revue acknowledge the three and their contributions. Along with Brel, the three are credited with the following: Rauber and Jouannest for “I Loved”; “Cortinovis and Jouannest for “Madeleine,” “The Bulls,” and “Old Folks”; and Jouannest for “Mathilde,” “Jackie,” “Desperate Ones,” “Sons of . . . ,” “Marieke,” “Brussels,” “Funeral Tango,” and “Next.” In his review of the original 1968 production, Dan Sullivan in the New York Times noted that Brel’s songs were often an “unconscious parody” of French chanteurs in general. He commented that Elly Stone’s efforts to emulate Edith Piaf reminded him of “a salesgirl measuring yard goods” (one of Piaf’s shticks was to end her songs with arms outstretched in crucifixion fashion); that Alice Whitfield’s “blank-eyed stare of Marcel Marceau imitating a mannequin” only managed to look “like a mannequin imitating Marcel Marceau”; and that Shawn Elliott tried for a Folies Bergeres effect, which came across as “Times Square at midnight.” Sullivan decided that only Mort Shuman was comfortable with the material. But Jacques Brel Is Alive . . . provided some amusement, thanks to Nat Shapiro’s gushing program notes for the original Off-Broadway production: Brel is no less than the conscience of “his people”; his humanism consists of a “fierce” integrity and a disdain of hypocrisy; and he is unflinchingly “honest about himself.” All this effusiveness leads one to wonder why the revue wasn’t titled Saint Brel.

SOPHISTICATED LADIES Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: March 1, 1981; Closing Date: January 2, 1983 Performances: 767 Lyrics and Music: Most of the music was by Duke Ellington; see song list for specific music and lyric credits. Direction: Michael Smuin; Producers: Roger S. Berlind, Manheim Fox, Sondra Gilman, Burton L. Litwin, and Louise Westergaard in association with Belwin Mills Publishing Corp. and Norzar Productions, Inc.; Choreography: Musical staging and choreography by Donald McKayle and Michael Smuin and co-chore-

1980–1981 SEASON     69

ography and tap choreography by Henry LeTang (Bruce Heath, Associate Choreographer, and Mercedes Ellington, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Mercer Ellington; Costumes: Willa Kim; Lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Musical Direction: Mercer Ellington Cast: Hinton Battle, Gregg Burge, Gregory Hines, Judith Jamison, Mercedes Ellington, Terri Klausner, P. J. Benjamin, Phyllis Hyman, Priscilla Baskerville; Sophisticated Ladies: Claudia Asbury, Mercedes Ellington, Paula Lynn, Wynonna Smith; Sophisticated Gentlemen: Adrian Bailey, Michael Lichtefeld, Michael Scott Gregory, T. A. Stephens The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Mercer Ellington and His Band); “I’ve Got to Be a Rug Cutter” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington) (Hinton Battle, Gregg Burge, Michael Scott Gregory, Michael Lichtefeld); “Music Is a Woman” (lyric by John Guare, music by Duke Ellington; based on song “Jubilee Stomp”) (Gregory Hines, Judith Jamison); “The Mooche” (music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills) (Gregg Burge with Claudia Asbury, Mercedes Ellington, Paula Lynn, Wynonna Smith); “Hit Me with a Hot Note and Watch Me Bounce” (lyric by Don George, music by Duke Ellington) (Terri Klausner); “Love You Madly” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington) and “Perdido” (lyric and music by Juan Tizol, Ervin Drake, and Hans Lengsfelder) (Hinton Battle, Gregg Burge, Judith Jamison); “Fat and Forty” (lyric and music by Al Hibbler and Duke Ellington) (P. J. Benjamin); “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” (lyric by Irving Mills, music by Duke Ellington) (Phyllis Hyman, Gregg Burge, Gregory Hines; with Adrian Bailey, Michael Scott Gregory, Michael Lichtefeld, T. A. Stephens); “Bli-Blip” (lyric by Duke Ellington and Sid Kuller, music by Duke Ellington) (P. J. Benjamin, Terri Klausner); “Cotton Tail” (music by Duke Ellington) (P. J. Benjamin, Terri Klausner, Ensemble); “Take the ‘A’ Train” (lyric by Joya Sherrill, music by Billy Strayhorn) (Phyllis Hyman, Gregory Hines); “(In My) Solitude” (lyric by Eddie DeLange and Irving Mills, music by Duke Ellington) (Priscilla Baskerville, Judith Jamison); “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (lyric by Bob Russell, music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines); “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart” (from 1938 edition of Cotton Club Parade) (lyric by Irving Mills and John Redmond, music by Duke Ellington) (Judith Jamison); “Caravan” (lyric by Irving Mills, music by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol) (Gregg Burge, Mercedes Ellington, Ensemble); “Something to Live For” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn) (Gregory Hines); “Old Man Blues” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills) (Hinton Battle, Judith Jamison); “Drop Me Off in Harlem” (lyric by Nick Kenny, music by Duke Ellington) (Hinton Battle, P. J. Benjamin, Gregg Burge, Gregory Hines, Priscilla Baskerville, Ensemble); “Rockin’ in Rhythm” (1932 revue Earl Carroll Vanities) (music by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, and Harry Carney) (Company) Act Two: “Duke’s Place” (lyric by Bill Katz and R. Thiele, music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines); “Diminuendo in Blue” (music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines, Orchestra); “In a Sentimental Mood” (lyric by Manny Kurtz and Irving Mills, music by Duke Ellington) (Phyllis Hyman); “I’m Beginning to See the Light” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnnie Hodges, and Harry James) (Judith Jamison, Gregory Hines); “Satin Doll” (lyric by Billy Strayhorn and Johnny Mercer, music by Duke Ellington) (P. J. Benjamin); “Just Squeeze Me” (lyric by Lee Gaines, music by Duke Ellington) (Terri Klausner); “Dancers in Love” (music by Duke Ellington) (Hinton Battle, Gregg Burge, Mercedes Ellington); “Echoes of Harlem” (music by Duke Ellington) (Hinton Battle, Gregg Burge, Ladies); “I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So” (lyric by Mack David, music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines, Gentlemen); “Hey, Baby” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington) (P. J. Benjamin, Mercedes Ellington); “Imagine My Frustration” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and Gerald Wilson) (Terri Klausner, Gregg Burge, Company); “Kinda Dukish” (music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines); “Ko-Ko” (music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines, Adrian Bailey, Michael Scott Gregory, Michael Lichtefeld, T. A. Stephens); “I’m Checking Out Goombye” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn) (Phyllis Hyman); “Do Nothing ’Til You Hear from Me” (lyric by Bob Russell, music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines); “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good” (1941 revue Jump for Joy, which closed during pre-Broadway tryout; lyric by Paul Francis Webster, music by Duke Ellington) (Phyllis Hyman); “Mood Indigo” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, and Albany “Barney” Bigard) (Phyllis Hyman, Terri Klausner); “Sophisticated Lady” (lyric by Mitchell Parish and Irving Mills, music by Duke Ellington) (Gregory Hines, Judith Jamison, Company); “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” (reprise) (Gregory Hines, Company)

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Like Bubbling Brown Sugar (1975), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978), and Eubie! (1979), Sophisticated Ladies was an evening of black music, in this case a celebration of the Duke Ellington songbook. Brown Sugar included both new and standard songs, Misbehavin’ saluted Thomas “Fats” Waller, and Eubie! was a tribute to Eubie Blake. All four revues were hits, and Bubbling Brown Sugar was the best of all with a revue-like book that provided a nice balance of intimate musical moments that were juxtaposed with brassy and expansive showstopping sequences. Similarly, Eubie! found a middle ground as another pleasant evening that allowed for a variety of song and dance presentations. And while Ain’t Misbehavin’ was clearly the critics and audience’s darling, it was sometimes too one-note and small-scale and cried out for occasional choral numbers, dance sequences, and more variety in its performance style. On the other hand, despite its small cast Sophisticated Ladies came across as slightly grandiose and could have benefited from a more intimate production. The brothers Gregory and Maurice Hines had dazzled with their dance routines in Eubie!, and for Sophisticated Ladies Gregory Hines, Gregg Burge, and Hinton Battle knocked out everyone with their showstoppers, mostly of the tap variety. But dancer Judith Jamison seemed a bit uncomfortable in musical comedy surroundings and singer Phyllis Hyman was perhaps better suited to recordings and concert appearances. Jack Kroll in Newsweek criticized the inclusion of white performers Terri Klausner and P. J. Benjamin, but the two added to the festivities and, like Hines and Burge, brought musical comedy know-how to the revue. Frank Rich in the New York Times praised Ellington’s “pure musical gold” and while he noted the revue wasn’t a “perfect entertainment,” it was nonetheless lavish and it starred Gregory Hines, who might well be “the best tap dancer of our day.” Hines was “human lightning” and he’d previously “never had a chance to show himself to quite the advantage that he does here.” But the evening had “occasional imaginative sags,” some repetitious material, and the lyrics (from a variety of writers) lacked wit. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked the twenty-piece onstage band conducted by Ellington’s son Mercer, but felt the show was “unfocused” and “casually structured.” While Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the musical numbers were performed with “galvanizing energy and enthusiasm,” he mentioned the evening lacked a point of view; further, there was “no sense of pace—it is just one number after another.” By the second act, the production’s “cleverness” had dissipated and was “replaced by tackiness and vulgarity.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the revue was “one of the most lavish musical non-musicals that Broadway has ever seen” and was “simply a handsomely tarted-up band-show.” The “total is less than the sum of its parts,” and while the show was a “dance marathon” it was “too predictable” and seemed like a “seven-course dinner” in which each course consisted of “lemon meringue pie.” Kroll said the revue’s “real pulse is dance”; otherwise, the music sounded like “‘white’ versions of the Duke” and he stated that the white performers Klausner and Benjamin were “like two puppies frisking among the panthers.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the “first-rate” performers and singled out Hines as “one of the fastest and most easy-going tap dancers on earth.” But because the show lacked dialogue and sketches, a “sameness” in presentation pervaded the entire evening. During the tryout, the revue had imposed a structure upon the song segments (overall sequences had such titles as “The Cotton Club,” “Abroad,” “Back Home,” and “Night Life”), but by New York these were dropped. For the tryout, Donald McKayle received sole major credit for the direction and choreography, but for New York Michael Smuin was the director of record, and both McKayle and Smuin received credit for musical staging and choreography while Henry LeTang was cited for co-choreography and tap choreography. During the Broadway run (and for the post-Broadway tour), “Fat and Forty” was dropped and “Everything but You” (lyric by Dan George, and music by Duke Ellington and Harry James) was added. During the tryout, some twenty songs were cut, including “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington and Bob Miley), “Black Beauty” (music by Duke Ellington), “Warm Valley” (lyric by Bob Russell, music by Duke Ellington), “Praise God and Dance” (music by Duke Ellington), and “The Brown Skin Girl (Brown-Skinned Gal) with (in) the Calico Gown” (lyric by Paul Francis Webster, music by Duke Ellington). The latter was from the 1941 revue Jump for Joy, which closed in Los Angeles during its pre-Broadway tryout (one song from the revue was ultimately included in Sophisticated Ladies, “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good”). The cast album was recorded on a two-LP set by RCA Victor Records (# CBL2-4053), and later released on CD (# 6208). A live performance of a touring production was released on DVD by Kultur Video.

1980–1981 SEASON     71

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Sophisticated Ladies); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Gregory Hines); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Hinton Battle); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Phyllis Hyman); Best Director of a Musical (Michael Smuin); Best Costume Designer (Willa Kim); Best Choreography (Henry LeTang, Donald McKayle, and Michael Smuin)

BRING BACK BIRDIE

“A New Musical Comedy” / “A Brand New Musical Comedy” Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: March 5, 1981; Closing Date: March 7, 1981 Performances: 4 Book: Michael Stewart Lyrics: Lee Adams Music: Charles Strouse Direction and Choreography: Joe Layton; Producers: Lee Guber, Shelly Gross, Slade Brown, and Jim Milford; Scenery: David Mitchell; Costumes: Fred Voelpel; Video Sequences: Wakefield Poole and Frank O’Dowd; Lighting: David Hays; Musical Direction: Mark Hummel Cast: Donna Monroe (Storyteller, Reporter # 2), Donald O’Connor (Albert Peterson), Chita Rivera (Rose Peterson), Maurice Hines (Mtobe), Howard Parker (Hogan, Guard, Marshall), Evan Seplow (Albert Jr.), Robin Morse (Jenny), Jeb Brown (Gary); Girl Friends: Barbara Dare Thomas, Vanessa Bell, Julie Cohen, and Christine Langner); Frank DeSal (Porter, Reverend Sun, Reporter # 4, Street Cleaner), Betsy Friday (Sunnie), Bill Bateman (Tourist, Reporter # 1), Zoya Leporska (Tourist’s Wife, Effie), Rebecca Renfroe (Shopping Bag Lady), Janet Wong (Indian Squaw), Larry Hyman (Indian Brave, Reporter # 3), Maria Karnilova (Mae Peterson), Marcel Forestieri (Mayor C. B. Townsend [Conrad Birdie]); Filth Group: Evan Seplow, Jeb Brown, Cleve Asbury, Leon Evans, and Mark Frawley; Peter Oliver Norman (House Manager); Chorus Girls: Betsy Friday, Rebecca Renfroe, and Vanessa Bell; Lynnda Ferguson (Rose II), Michael Blevins (Cameraman); Stage Door Johnnies: Bill Bateman, Peter Oliver Norman, Cleve Asbury, and Frank DeSal; Birdettes: Betsy Friday, Rebecca Renfroe, and Vanessa Bell; Kevin Petitt (Walter) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1981 in New York City and environs and in Bent River Junction, Arizona.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Twenty Happy Years” (Chita Rivera, Donald O’Connor); “Movin’ Out” (Robin Morse, Jeb Brown, Kids); “Half of a Couple” (Robin Morse, Barbara Dare Thomas, Vanessa Bell, Julie Cohen, Christine Langner); “I Like What I Do” (Chita Rivera); “Bring Back Birdie” (Maurice Hines, Company); “Movin’ Out” (reprise) (Kids); “Baby, You Can Count on Me” (Donald O’Connor); “A Man Worth Fightin’ For” (Chita Rivera, Cowboys); “You Can Never Go Back” (Marcel Forestieri); “Filth” (Evan Seplow, Jeb Brown, Cleve Asbury, Leon Evans, Mark Frawley); “Back in Show Biz Again” (Donald O’Connor) Act Two: “Middle Age Blues” (Donald O’Connor); “Inner Peace” (Chita Rivera, Frank DeSal, Sunnies); “There’s a Brand New Beat in Heaven” (Maurice Hines, The Tucson Tabernacle Choir); “Twenty Happy Years” (reprise) (Donald O’Connor); “Well, I’m Not!” (Chita Rivera); “When Will Grown-Ups Grow Up?” (Kids); “Middle Age Blues” (reprise) (Donald O’Connor); “Young” (Donald O’Connor); “I Love ’Em All” (Maria Karnilova, Bill Bateman, Peter Oliver Norman, Cleve Asbury, Frank DeSal); “Bring Back Birdie” (reprise) (Marcel Forestieri, Betsy Friday, Rebecca Renfroe, Vanessa Bell); “Twenty Happy Years” (reprise) (Donald O’Connor, Chita Rivera); “Rosie” (Donald O’Connor, Chita Rivera) (performed after curtain calls) The 1980–1981 season wasn’t a good one for Charles Strouse. The composer’s Charlie and Algernon had closed after seventeen performances, and now Bring Back Birdie bombed after four showings. Sequels proved unlucky for the composer, and so Bring Back Birdie was a failed attempt to recapture the giddy flavor of his

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1960 hit Bye Bye Birdie, and during the 1989–1990 season Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge opened to devastating reviews and closed during its tryout. Besides Strouse, book writer Michael Stewart, lyricist Lee Adams, and star Chita Rivera returned for the sequel, which opened at the same theatre (the Martin Beck, now the Hirschfeld) some twenty-one years after the original premiered. At the conclusion of Bye Bye Birdie, rock-and-roll star Conrad Birdie (Dick Gautier) is drafted into the army, and his manager, Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke), becomes a high school English teacher, much to the happiness of his longtime girlfriend Rose (Rivera). The revival dealt with the Grammy Awards Show and its plan to salute former singing stars, including Birdie (now played by Marcel Forestieri). But the nation’s one-time heartthrob seems to have completely disappeared, and so the Grammy producers offer Albert (Donald O’Connor) $20,000 to track down the superstar of yesteryear. Albert and Rosie are now approaching their twentieth wedding anniversary, and the supposedly princely sum of $20,000 will help finance their children’s college educations. In order to fill out the thin evening, there were a number of extraneous sequences that included “Inner Peace,” a passé spoof of Moonies (here called Sunnies); “Filth,” a take-off on punk-rock musicians; a gospel number (“There’s a Brand New Beat in Heaven”); and a 1920s Charleston for Albert’s domineering mother Mae (Maria Karnilova) who saves the Grammy show when it seems Birdie won’t appear (it turns out Mae was a showbiz sensation in the 1920s when she was known as Delores Zepol . . . and Zepol spelled backwards is Lopez . . . and so the Mae who once resented “Spanish” Rose admits that she too is Spanish). Maurice Hines also appeared as Mtobe, a tap-dancing detective employed by Albert to find Birdie. Various scenes in the musical reflected ones from the earlier show: the celebrated “Telephone Hour” was updated with the teenagers sporting cordless phones, and the Charleston-inflected “Kids” was now the 1920s-styled song “I Love ’Em All” for Mae. The adults in the earlier show complained about “Kids,” and for the new musical the kids asked “When Will Grown-Ups Grow Up?,” and while Rose had whooped it up with Shriners in the earlier musical, she now did the same with cowboys. The sequel also included the original’s finale “Rosie” (for Albert and Rose), and it was sung by O’Connor and Rivera after the curtain calls; the number wasn’t listed in the opening night program and so was a surprise for the first-night audience (but the song had been listed during early preview programs). Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “depressing” sequel was a “mess” and only came alive after the curtain calls when O’Connor and Rivera performed “Rosie.” The show began in “amiable shambles” and ended in “total chaos,” and while the evening attempted to bring back “happy youth” it sent everyone “crashing into a gloomy middle age.” Further, the show flew off “in so many cryptic directions” that it seemed “each member of the cast ha[d] been handed a different lousy script.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News noted that in regard to the production’s ten orchestrators, “too many cooks didn’t spoil this broth” because “it was sour to begin with,” and Clive Barnes in the New York Post felt Stewart’s book was “about as engaging as a wet flounder on a dry night” and the score was “more eclectic than electric.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the evening had a “synthetic mood” and while it wasn’t as “dreadful” as the grapevine had suggested, it succeeded “less as musical theatre than as salvage work.” And Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 noted that if the original Birdie “cooked,” the sequel was merely “defrosted.” Rich felt that Rivera pushed too hard with a “fierce, calculated effort to stop the show” and Siegel said she “often moves with the too-frantic pace of someone who’s trying to save the show all alone.” But Barnes said she was “commanding” and “magnificent,” and “at least three times she shows her ability to stop a show that has never even started.” Barnes felt O’Connor was “more amiable than noticeable,” and while Rich praised his “spiffy” tapping he felt the former film star was “so retiring he seems to be playing to a movie camera rather than a Broadway house.” David Mitchell’s set design was comprised of dozens of television sets, and according to Rich the effect was so “overdone” that the musical looked “like a discount appliance outlet.” Barnes commented that the rows and rows of monitors looked “like ABC network news on a bad night.” During previews, Coleen Zenk was succeeded by Lynnda Ferguson in the role of Rose II and the songs “Don’t Say F-A-T in Front of Conrad” and “Shape Up” were deleted. The cast recording was released by Original Cast Records (LP # 8132; later issued on CD by Varese Sarabande # VSD-5440), and includes “Rosie.” Bye Bye Birdie opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on April 14, 1960, for 607 performances; the London premiere took place on June 15, 1961, for 268 performances at Her Majesty’s Theatre; the film version was released by Columbia Pictures in 1963; a television adaptation was seen on ABC on December 3, 1995; and a Broadway revival opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on October 15, 2009, for 117 performances.

1980–1981 SEASON     73

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Chita Rivera)

BROADWAY FOLLIES “A Vaudeville”

Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: March 15, 1981; Closing Date: March 15, 1981 Performances: 1 Lyrics and Music: Walter Marks Direction: Donald Driver; Producers: Edgar Lansbury, Joseph Beruh, and James Nederlander; Choreography: Arthur Faria; Scenery: Peter Larkin; Costumes: Alvin Colt; Lighting: Roger Morgan; Musical Direction: Marvin Laird Cast: Robert Shields, Lorene Yarnell, Tessie O’Shea, Michael Davis, Milo & Roger, Scott’s Royal Boxers, Los Malambos, Gaylord Maynard and Chief BearPaw, Jack Smooth; The Broadway Follies Chorus: Stephen Bourneuf, Kitty Kuhn, Mark Martino, Nancy Meadows, Brad Miskell, Alice Anne Oakes, Aurelio Padron, R. J. Peters, D’Arcy Phifer, Mark Ruhala, Karen Tett, Suzanne Walker The revue was presented in two acts.

Sketches and Musical Numbers Act One: “Broadway Follies” (The Follies Ensemble); “Vaudeville” (Robert Shields, Lorene Yarnell); “Wonderful U” (Scott’s Royal Boxers, The Follies Ensemble); “Picadilly” (Tessie O’Shea); “The Oasis” (Milo & Roger); “The Pampas” (Los Malambos); “The Toyshop” (Robert Shields, Lorene Yarnell); “The Paper Bag Rag” (Tessie O’Shea, Bud’s Paper Bag Band) Act Two: “At Home with the Clinkers” (Robert Shields, Lorene Yarnell); “The Barnyard” (Tessie O’Shea and Her Chicks); “Specialty” (Robert Shields); “The Saloon” (Gaylord Maynard and Chief BearPaw); “Tap My Way to the Stars” (Lorene Yarnell, The Follies Ensemble); “The Rest of Michael Davis” (Michael Davis); “Grand Parade” (Entire Company) The 1980–1981 season was chockablock with one-performance-only musical flops. Onward Victoria led the parade and was followed by Broadway Follies and The Moony Shapiro Songbook. Broadway Follies tried to revive the tradition of old-time vaudeville, but it received devastating reviews and its opening performance was its last. The mime team of Robert Shields and Lorene Yarnell headlined the show, but it was juggler Michael (Allen) Davis who stole it. Others in the revue were British music-hall-styled performer Tessie O’Shea (who had won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her show-stopping performance in Noel Coward’s 1963 musical The Girl Who Came to Supper); Scott’s Royal Boxers, a dog act in which the boxers played soccer with balloons instead of balls (Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the pooches were one of “the best” animal acts he’d ever seen); the Argentine dance trio Los Malambos; magicians Milo and Roger (and their duck Spiro); Gaylord Manor and Chief Bearpaw, a drunken cowboy with his equally drunken horse (the latter’s specialty was walking on his knees); and Jack Smooth, a terrier who nipped about on the stage. The songs were by Walter Marks, who had written the lyrics and music for Bajour (1964) and Golden Rainbow (1968); the latter included the slightly bombastic ballad “I’ve Gotta Be Me,” one of the most popular Broadway songs of its era. Mel Gussow in the New York Times noted that Broadway Follies was full of “doldrums.” For “The Toyshop” sequence, Shields and Yarnell appeared as “stiff-jointed, expressionless” soldiers, and the critic suggested this was their “major talent”; and in “The Barnyard” poor (and rotund) Tessie O’Shea was reduced to wearing a chicken suit, sitting on a nest, and pretending to lay an egg (Gussow’s comment was “No comment”). O’Shea also sang “The Paper Bag Rag,” a sequence in which she encouraged the audience to crumple a paper bag and “play” it like a banjo (each program included a paper bag emblazoned with the show’s logo, and because the bags reminded him of the kind of bags distributed on airplanes, Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said the producers should have had second thoughts about distributing such items to the audience).

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Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said that Shields and Yarnell’s toy characters robbed them of “personality” and thus they came “very close to playing dead”; and while Siegel admitted there were some “great” acts in the show, it was a “Broadway folly” to present them in a Broadway theatre at Broadway prices (he also mentioned that instead of “razzle” and “dazzle” the show came across as “ticky” and “tacky” because the producers had “spared EVERY expense”). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Broadway Follies “looked too tired even to lie down,” and suggested Shields and Yarnell’s performances as wooden and mechanical dolls led him to wonder if perhaps the duo were actually “wooden dolls who occasionally imitate people.” Barnes also speculated about those paper bags, and when he first noticed them he wondered if they were “more practically intended.” He was therefore greatly “relieved to discover their musical function.” The indisputable hit of the evening was juggler Michael Davis, who was not only a master juggler but also an amusing and deadpan comedian. Among the items he juggled were nine balls; water; and a machete, an axe, and a meat cleaver. And as he juggled a bowling ball, an apple, and an egg, he explained to the audience that it was difficult to juggle such disparate items because all three were of different colors; and then he actually took a bite out of the apple during full juggle (and later allowed that he had egg on his face). Gussow said watching Davis was as close as he’d ever been “to rolling in an aisle with laughter,” and noted that director Donald Driver had wisely given Davis the closing spot because “nothing could top him.” Watt found Davis “the evening’s unmistakably solid hit” and a “real find”; Barnes noted that out of the ashes of Broadway Follies “a new phoenix star is born” (he also suggested that the producers of Sugar Babies find a place for Davis in their revue, and they did) ; Cohen praised the juggler’s “artful lunacy”; Siegel said he was a “show-stopper”; and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised Davis’s “droll commentary” and his “truly original wit” and exclaimed that during the one-performance run of the revue Davis took his place as “the funniest man on Broadway.” As for Marks’s score, Barnes said he didn’t “particularly notice” it; Cohen stated that “while occasionally delivering a lively Broadway sound,” the score “too often reveals threadbare inspiration”; and Watt said Marks had written “brisk and immediately forgettable songs.” During previews, a British group known as The Dingbats (the program noted that in Britain they had been known as Johnny Hutch and the ½ Wits) and The Amazing Carazini were featured; when they left the show, their respective sequences “Rush Hour” and “No Smoking” were deleted. Singer Travis Hudson appeared in the revue only during previews, but she remained with the production as Tessie O’Shea’s standby.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR “A New Musical Comedy”

Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: March 29, 1981; Closing Date: March 13, 1983 Performances: 770 Book: Peter Stone Lyrics: Fred Ebb Music: John Kander Based on the 1942 MGM film Woman of the Year (screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr., and Michael Kanin, and directed by George Stevens). Direction: Robert Moore; Producers: Lawrence Kasha, David S. Landay, James M. Nederlander, Warner Theatre Productions, Inc., and Claire Nichtern, Carole J. Shorenstein, and Stewart F. Lane; Animation: Michael Sporn; Choreography: Tony Charmoli; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Marilyn Rennagel; Musical Direction: Donald Pippin Cast: Helon Blount (Chairperson, Cleaning Woman), Lauren Bacall (Tess Harding), Michael O’Gorman (Floor Manager), Daren Kelly (Chip Salisbury), Roderick Cook (Gerald), Tom Avera (Phil Witaker), Harry Guardino (Sam Craig), Rex Hays (Ellis McMaster), Lawrence Raiken (Abbott Canfield), Rex Everhart (Maury), Grace Keagy (Helga), Eivind Harum (Alexi Petrikov), Marian Haraldson (Cleaning Woman), Marilyn Cooper (Jan Donovan), Jamie Ross (Larry Donovan); Chorus: DeWright Baxter, Joan Bell, Helon Blount, Sergio Cal, Donna Drake, Richard Glendon-Larson, Marian Haraldson, Michael Kubala, Paige Massman, Gene Montoya, Michael O’Gorman, Susan Powers, Daniel Quinn, Robert Warners

1980–1981 SEASON     75

The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in New York City and “somewhere in Colorado.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Woman of the Year” (Lauren Bacall, Women); “The Poker Game” (Harry Guardino, Cartoonists); “See You in the Funny Papers” (Harry Guardino); “When You’re Right, You’re Right!” (Lauren Bacall, Roderick Cook); “Shut Up, Gerald” (Lauren Bacall, Harry Guardino, Roderick Cook); “So What Else Is New?” (Harry Guardino, Katz [Voice of Fred Ebb]); “One of the Boys” (Lauren Bacall, Cartoonists, Rex Everhart, Men); “Table Talk” (Lauren Bacall, Harry Guardino); “The Two of Us” (Lauren Bacall, Harry Guardino); “It Isn’t Working” (Cartoonists, Daren Kelly, Grace Keagy, Roderick Cook, New Yorkers); “I Told You So” (Roderick Cook, Grace Keagy); “Woman of the Year” (reprise) (Lauren Bacall) Act Two: “So What Else Is New?” (reprise) (Harry Guardino, Katz [Voice of Fred Ebb]); “I Wrote the Book” (Lauren Bacall, Grace Keagy, Marian Haraldson); “Happy in the Morning” (Eivind Harum, Lauren Bacall, Dancers); “Sometimes a Day Goes By” (Harry Guardino); “The Grass Is Always Greener” (Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Cooper); “We’re Gonna Work It Out” (Lauren Bacall, Harry Guardino) Despite its Tony Awards, a run of almost two years, and Lauren Bacall’s vaunted star power, Woman of the Year was a financial failure. The show was a mostly by-the-numbers affair, and lyricist Fred Ebb and composer John Kander were in one of their dry stretches. Like the team’s The Act (1977) and The Rink (1984), the new musical offered one or two outstanding numbers but otherwise was unmemorable. Further, Peter Stone’s book, Robert Moore’s direction, and Tony Charmoli’s choreography were generally uninspired. But Bacall’s usual shtick of would-be arch sophistication unaccountably gave the critics a case of gushitis, and she received rave reviews. Bacall and her new show were just about as tiresome as Applause (1970), her previous star vehicle. Besides the presence of Bacall, the two musicals had much in common: both had generally undistinguished books and scores; both began with Bacall receiving an award; both utilized a flashback device; both allowed Bacall’s character to rub elbows with the chorus during a mid-first-act dance number (“But Alive” from Applause gave Bacall and the gypsies a disco moment, and “One of the Boys” from Woman of the Year found her character cavorting with a group of poker-playing cartoonists); each show gave Bacall a fey confidante (her hairdresser Duane in Applause, her secretary Gerald in Woman of the Year); and both shows included one memorable performance (for Applause, Penny Fuller’s acidic Eve, and for Woman of the Year, Marilyn Cooper’s delightfully dowdy housewife). The musical was based on the fondly remembered if overrated MGM 1942 comedy Woman of the Year in which Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy marry despite their odd-couple backgrounds (she’s a famous political commentator and he an equally well-known sports reporter). For the musical, Bacall’s character was well-known television interviewer Tess Harding and Harry Guardino portrayed successful cartoonist Sam Craig. Bacall had previously appeared in a similar opposites-will-attract story when she and Gregory Peck starred in the 1957 film Designing Woman in which she portrayed a fashion designer and he a sports columnist. The musical enjoyed two stand-out musical sequences. “It Isn’t Working” was a gloatingly gleeful and expansive number for Tess and Sam’s acquaintances who despite all evidence to the contrary hope the couple’s marriage will fall apart. Here was a sweeping musical statement done up in Forties’ big-band style, and it was the only time the first act offered a fresh and original conceit. The second act’s finest moment, and the evening’s only show-stopper, was the dazzling duet “The Grass Is Always Greener” for Tess and Jan, the latter the clumsy wife of Tess’s first husband Larry (Jamie Ross). Cooper stole the show as the deadpan klutz in hair-rollers and bathrobe who trades fantasies with Tess: Tess envies Jan for knowing her neighbors, but Jan notes that Tess is chummy with Rona Barrett, and when Tess finds it wonderful that Jan is raising a teen-aged daughter, Jan replies it’s not so wonderful when you come across her diaphragm. Grace Keagy also scored as Tess’s take-no-prisoners German housekeeper Helga (and when Helga visits her family, she goes to Argentina, not Germany). As noted, the critics fell over themselves in their praise of Bacall: “a natural musical comedy star” who “embodies the very spirit of the carefree American musical” (Frank Rich in the New York Times); she is

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“Broadway’s Woman of the Year” (Clive Barnes in the New York Post); “the show’s one undeniable asset” (Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily); she “stars and glitters and scintillates” (John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor); “a tigress of a performer” (T. E. Kalem in Time); and “she sings, dances and acts with a witty grace” (Jack Kroll in Newsweek). Cooper received well-deserved raves: “hilariously frumpy” (Rich); “with bone-dry expression, [she] matches Miss Bacall point for point” (Barnes); “a nasal voice and a woebegone expression” (Kissel); “brilliantly performed” (Beaufort); she makes “The Grass Is Always Greener” “as tart as vinegar and twice as puckish”; and she’s “a howling joy” (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News). As for the musical itself, Rich noted the book was top-heavy with an “inefficient, old-fashioned structure” and said Guardino’s “blandness recalls the salad days of Sydney Chaplin”; Watt mentioned that the book “doesn’t hang together” and the romantic ballads had “a forced, tired sound”; Kissel commented that the musical “patronizes” the audience and seemed “less like a piece of theatre than a product, the result not of artistic decisions but of test marketing”; and Kalem noted that after Company, Follies, A Chorus Line, and Ballroom, Woman of the Year had “the ashen patina of Pompeii” and, with the exception of “It Isn’t Working,” “I Told You So,” and “The Grass Is Always Greener,” the score was “amiable but pallid.” But Barnes loved the “super show” and somehow came to the conclusion that Kander and Ebb’s score was “their best collaboration yet” and surpassed their songs for Cabaret. During the tryout, “Nothing Personal” and “Who Would Have Dreamed” were cut; for the national tour (advertised as an “all new production” with new direction and choreography by Joe Layton and new décor by Tony Walton, the tour starred Bacall, Guardino, and Cooper), “We’re Gonna Work It Out” was dropped, “Open the Window, Sam” was added, “Who Would Have Dreamed” was reinstated, and a new title song was substituted. When Bacall left the New York production, she was succeeded by Raquel Welch and then by Debbie Reynolds. The cast album was recorded by Arista Records (LP # AL-8303), and was later released on CD by Bay Cities Records (# BCD-3008). The revised script was published by Samuel French in 1984.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Woman of the Year); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Lauren Bacall); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Marilyn Cooper); Best Director of a Musical (Robert Moore); Best Book (Peter Stone); Best Score (lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander)

AAAH OUI GENTY! Theatre: Bijou Theatre Opening Date: April 9, 1981; Closing Date: May 3, 1981 Performances: 29 Marionette Sketches: The Compagnie Philippe Genty Production Supervisor: Christopher Dunlop; Producer: Arthur Shafman International, Ltd. Cast: The Compagnie Philippe Genty—Mary Genty, Philippe Genty, Michel Gillaume, Jean-Louis Heckel The puppet revue was presented in two acts.

Sketches and Musical Numbers Act One: “Signboard”; “Clown”; “Signboard”; “Pierrot”; “Drifting” Act Two: “Metamorphoses”; “Signboard”; “The Officer”; “Signboard”; “Ostrich Ballet” The French import puppet revue Aaah oui Genty! was an evening of marionettes, string puppets, hand puppets, stick puppets, and black-light figures, the latter inspired by the Black Light Theatre of Prague. The production utilized prerecorded music to enhance the various puppet sketches. The company debuted in 1967 and played throughout the world, and the current production with four puppeteers (including the group’s founder, Philippe Genty) marked the troupe’s New York debut.

1980–1981 SEASON     77

The revue could be enjoyed by children (in fact, John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor suggested the evening could use more material aimed at “the teddy-bear set”), but it was probably best suited for adults because of its wry, almost existential viewpoint. One of the evening’s most acclaimed sequences was “Pierrot,” which depicted a string puppet who according to John Corry in the New York Times looks “mournfully” at his puppeteer and resents being manipulated by the strings of his master. Rather than continuing to live under such oppression, the puppet cuts his strings and accepts death over slavery. And “Clown” looked at a puppeteer who tries to put a clown puppet into a box and suddenly finds the tables are turned when the puppet overpowers him and reduces him to a helpless toy. Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post was on target with her observation that the evening could be titled The Muppets Meet Alien because the show’s sensibility was “thoroughly grownup and refreshingly weird.” The critics also liked the finale, the quirky “Ostrich Ballet” in which a seemingly innocuous feather boa paves the way for all kinds of excitement (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said this number put him in a “cheery mood,” Beaufort said it was “hilarious,” and Stasio found it “delightfully silly”). Watt also singled out “Metamorphoses,” in which a floating blob of light morphs into a balloon, which then undergoes “a mind-boggling series of transmogrifications.” A running joke throughout the show was a series of sequences titled “Signboard” which Beaufort described as showing “the consequences of taking street signs too literally or not literally enough.” Watt praised this “superior example” of the “continental cabaret or little-theatre show,” and noted that the Bijou was the perfect venue for the production. Corry said the work offered “amusement, charm and surrealism,” and if you liked puppet shows you would be “enchanted” by Aaah oui Genty! Beaufort mentioned that the evening’s moods ranged from the “broadly comic” to the “darkly psychological,” and the sequences were underscored by prerecorded sound effects and music (as for the latter, standard classics, pop and rock, and electronic music were heard). Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “excellent” company, said the “Ostrich Ballet” was “a bouquet of motion,” and the overall production was “equally challenging” for both children and adults.

COPPERFIELD “A New Musical”

Theatre: ANTA Theatre Opening Date: April 13, 1981; Closing Date: April 26, 1981 Performances: 13 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn; incidental music by Donald Johnston Based on the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (published in serial installments in 1849 and 1850, and in book format in 1850). Direction and Choreography: Rob Iscove; Producers: Don Gregory and Mike Merrick (A Dome Production); Scenery: Tony Straiges; Costumes: John David Ridge; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Larry Blank Cast: Brian Matthews (David Copperfield), Richard Warren Pugh (Doctor Chilip, Baker), Mary Stout (Peggotty), Katharine Buffaloe (Nurse, Julia Mills), Carmen Mathews (Aunt Betsey Trotwood), Evan Richards (Young David), Pamela McLernon (Clara Copperfield), Michael Connolly (Mr. Murdstone), Maris Clement (June Murdstone), Ralph Braun (Mr. Quinion), Gary Munch (Mick Walker), Brian Quinn (Mealy Potatoes), Christian Slater (Billy Mowcher), David Horwitz (Bootmaker), Bruce Sherman (Butcher), Linda Poser (Mrs. Micawber), George S. Irving (Mr. Micawber), Spence Ford (Victoria), Dana Moore (Vanessa), Michael Danek (Constable), Darleigh Miller (Janet), Lenny Wolpe (Mr. Dick), Barrie Ingham (Uriah Heep), Beulah Garrick (Mrs. Heep), Keith Perry (Mr. Wickfield), Leslie Denniston (Agnes Wickfield), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Dora Spenlow), Michael Gorman (Ticket Taker); Ensemble: Cleve Asbury, Ralph Braun, Katharine Buffaloe, Maris Clement, Michael Danek, Spence Ford, Michael Gorman, David Horwitz, Pamela McLernon, Darleigh Miller, Dana Moore, Gary Munch, Keith Perry, Linda Poser, Richard Warren Pugh, Brian Quinn, Lynne Savage, Bruce Sherman, Claude Tessier, Missy Whitchurch The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in England from approximately 1812 to 1824.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “I Don’t Want a Boy” (Carmen Mathews, Mary Stout, Ensemble); “Mama, Don’t Get Married” (Evan Richards, Pamela McLernon, Mary Stout); “Copperfield” (Evan Richards, Ralph Braun, Brian Quinn); “The Bottle Song” (Christian Slater, Gary Munch, Ensemble); “Something Will Turn Up” (George S. Irving, Evan Richards, Creditors, Ensemble); “Anyone” (Evan Richards); “Here’s a Book” (Carmen Mathews, Lenny Wolpe, Evan Richards); “Here’s a Book” (reprise) (Carmen Mathews, Lenny Wolpe, Brian Matthews); “’Umble” (Barrie Ingham, Beulah Garrick); “The Circle Waltz” (Brian Matthews, Mary Mastrantonio, Leslie Denniston, Ensemble) Act Two: “Up the Ladder” (Barrie Ingham, George S. Irving); “I Wish He Knew” (Leslie Denniston); “The Lights of London” (Brian Matthews, Mary Mastrantonio, Company); “’Umble” (reprise) (Barrie Ingham); “Something Will Turn Up” (reprise) (George S. Irving, Brian Matthews); “Villainy Is the Matter” (Brian Matthews, Barrie Ingham, George S. Irving, Leslie Denniston, Carmen Mathews, Lenny Wolpe, Beulah Garrick, Mary Stout, Linda Poser); “With the One I Love” (Brian Matthews); “Something Will Turn Up” (reprise) (George S. Irving, Ensemble); “Anyone” (reprise) (Brian Matthews, Leslie Denniston) Copperfield retained the basic plot and many of the characters from Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield. The somewhat picaresque narrative about the life of an orphaned boy and his coming of age included a variety of colorful characters, such as the eternally optimistic Mr. Micawber and the insidious and insincerely obsequious Uriah Heep. But unlike Oliver! and Pickwick, two other musical adaptations of Dickens’s novels, Copperfield lasted less than two weeks (Oliver! premiered in London in 1960 for a marathon run of 2,618 performances and opened on Broadway in 1963 for 774 showings, and while Pickwick opened in London in 1963 for 694 showings, its short 1965 New York run of just fifty-five performances was profitable because of the show’s successful pre-Broadway tour). Although Frank Rich in the New York Times wondered if the adaptors had read the novel or even its Classics Comics version, he was certain they’d seen many Broadway musicals because Copperfield brought to mind such shows as Oliver!, Annie, and Gypsy. But there were clearly “creative decisions” made during the writing of the musical, such as whether or not to use an exclamation point at the end of the show’s title (he noted “it takes more than a few sleepless nights to resolve esthetic questions like that”). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said Copperfield was “the first fully-computerized” musical because it seemed Dickens had been “fed” into a machine and when the buttons were pressed out came the show, including its “mechanical” performances. In fact, the cast played their roles as if they’d been doing them “for a year or more” and were now “sick and tired.” His comment that the actors resembled “animated cartoon figures” was prescient because years later the writers did indeed adapt the musical as an animated cartoon for television (see below). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the book lacked dramatic shape and the score was “bland.” But he nonetheless felt the evening retained a certain “Dickensian charm” and was a “pleasant experience.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found the score “hackneyed, simpleminded and never dramatic,” and he questioned Copperfield’s song about the things he could have bought for his dead wife. This notion just didn’t seem to be “the most likely thing a grieving husband would sing about” because the character was a writer and not a “Rodeo Drive boutiquier.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the musical had “strong emotional appeal” and a “pleasant” if familiar score, and he singled out the evening’s “coup de theatre” in which young David morphs from boy to man in the song “Here’s a Book” (the conceit may have been borrowed from Gypsy and The Rothschilds, but it worked as effective theatre and storytelling because the number spanned a ten-year period of time). Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 found the score “merely serviceable” and the comic moments “few and far between,” but he could still recommend the show as “fun,” and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the musical was “an evening of almosts. Almost good tunes, almost catchy lyrics; dance numbers that almost take off.” During the tryout, “Pay Us, Pay Us” and “I Want to Share Them All” were cut, and for the tryout “Anyone” was titled “Is There Anyone?” and “The Lights of London” was titled “Turn All the Lights On in London.” As David Copperfield, the musical was produced as an animated film with animal characters and was telecast on NBC on December 10, 1993, with the voices of Sheena Easton, Kelly LeBrock, Julian Lennon,

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Howie Mandel, Joseph Marcell, Andrea Martin, and Michael York. The songs “I Hate Boys,” “Something’s Gonna Turn Up,” and “Is There Anyone?” are probably reworked or retitled versions of the stage numbers “I Don’t Want a Boy,” “Something Will Turn Up,” and “Anyone”; and Kasha and Hirschhorn contributed five new ones (“Welcome to My Warehouse,” “Family Christmas,” “I’ll Be Your Hero,” “Imagination,” and “Everyone’s a Big Cheese Here”). The film was released on video cassette and DVD by Goodtimes Video.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Score (lyrics and music by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn)

CAN-CAN Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: April 30, 1981; Closing Date: May 5, 1981 Performances: 5 Book: Abe Burrows Lyrics and Music: Cole Porter; new dance music by Donald York Direction: Directed by Abe Burrows and “entire production staged” by Roland Petit; Producers: James M. Nederlander, Arthur Rubin, Jerome Minskoff, Stewart F. Lane, Carole J. Shorenstein, and Charles D. Kelman; Choreography: Roland Petit; Scenery: David Mitchell; Costumes: Franca Squarciapino; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Stanley Lebowsky Cast: Policemen—Tommy Breslin, John Remme, John Dolf, Dennis Batutis, and Kevin McCready; Joseph Cusanelli (Bailiff, Tabac Waiter, Chief Justice), David Brooks (Judge Paul Barriere), Tom Batten (Court President, Monarchist, Prosecutor), Ron Husmann (Judge Aristide Forestier), Pamela Sousa (Claudine, Eve), Swen Swenson (Hilaire Jussac), Avery Schreiber (Boris Adzinidzinadze), John Remme (Waiter, Jail Guard), Zizi Jeanmaire (La Mome Pistache), Michael Dantuono (Hercule), Mitchell Greenberg (Theophile), Tommy Breslin (Etienne), James Dunne (Photographer), Deborah Barnett (Model), Darrell Barnett (Adam); The Snake—Zizi Jeanmaire, Dennis Batutis, James Horvath, Steven LaChance, and Kevin McCready; Donna King (Mimi), Luigi Bonino (Apache Leader), Nealey Gilbert and Dennis Batutis (Patrons); Ensemble: Deborah Carlson, Pam Cecil, Edyie Fleming, Nealey Gilbert, Linda Haberman, Nancy Hess, Brenda Holmes, Donna King, Manette LaChance, Meredith McIver, Gail Pennington, Rosemary Rado, Daryl Richardson, Linda Von Germer, Darrell Barnett, Dennis Batutis, John Dolf, James Dunne, James Horvath, Steven LaChance, Kevin McCready, Gregory Schanuel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Paris in 1893.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Maidens Typical of France” (Girls); “Maidens Typical of France” (reprise) (Girls, Court Personnel); “Never Give Anything Away” (Zizi Jeanmaire, Girls); “C’est magnifique” (Zizi Jeanmaire, Ron Husmann); “Quadrille Dance” (Girls, Men); “Come Along with Me” (Swen Swenson, Pamela Sousa); “Come Along with Me” (reprise) (Avery Schreiber); “Live and Let Live” (Zizi Jeanmaire); “I Am in Love” (Ron Husmann); “Montmartre” (Company); “Garden of Eden Ballet” (Zizi Jeanmaire, Girls, Men); “Allez-vousen” (Zizi Jeanmaire) Act Two: “Never, Never Be an Artist” (Artists, Avery Schreiber, Ron Husmann); “It’s All Right with Me” (Ron Husmann, Donna King, Girls); “Apache Dance” (Girls, Men); “I Love Paris” (Zizi Jeanmaire); “C’est magnifique” (reprise) (Ron Husmann, Zizi Jeanmaire); “Can-Can” (Zizi Jeanmaire, Girls, Men); Finale (Company) When Cole Porter’s 1953 musical Can-Can closed, it was the seventh-longest-running musical in Broadway history. Thanks to a batch of first-rate Porter songs, a star turn by Gwen Verdon in the secondary role of

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Claudine, show-stopping dances by Michael Kidd, dazzling scenery by Jo Mielziner, and colorful costumes by Motley, the show became one of the biggest hits of the era and after Kiss Me, Kate (1948) was Porter’s secondlongest-running show. It yielded four standards, three of the Parisian music-hall variety (“I Love Paris,” “C’est magnifique,” and “Allez-vous-en”) and one (“It’s All Right with Me”) a yearning and haunting torch-like ballad. The score also offered a tongue-twisting title song; two infectiously melodic choral numbers (“Montmartre” and “Maidens Typical of France”); a saucy duet (“Come Along with Me”); a flippant but heartfelt bit of philosophy (“Live and Let Live”); and the lovely but generally underrated ballad “I Am in Love,” which in subject and musical style makes an interesting companion piece to Porter’s “I Love You” (Mexican Hayride, 1944), “So in Love” (Kiss Me Kate), and “I Am Loved” (Out of This World, 1950). But time hasn’t been kind to Can-Can. Abe Burrows’s book was always watery in its depiction of musichall owner La Mome Pistache (Lilo in the original, Zizi Jeanmaire in the current production) and her brushes with the law when she presents the shocking new can-can in her establishment. In truth, no one ever pretended the book was anything more than serviceable, and both book and score came in for criticism in 1953: Walter Kerr in the New York Herald-Tribune warned his readers not to expect “inspiration” because Burrows and Porter were in a “hand-me-down mood,” and Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times found the show “heavy-handed.” But Robert Coleman in the New York Daily Mirror said the show was “a swell evening of fun” even if it wasn’t a “masterpiece.” If the 1960 film adaptation had been an artistic hit, perhaps the musical’s reputation would have rebounded. But the lavish Twentieth Century-Fox extravaganza suffered from a meandering script and the miscasting of Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra in the leading roles, and it was left to Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, and Juliet Prowse to contribute a piquant touch of continental gaiety to the mostly dismal proceedings. Further, the score was eviscerated (seven songs and a few of the dance numbers were retained) and songs from other Porter musicals were interpolated into the production. The musical was first revived in New York for a limited engagement of six performances at the Theatrein-the-Park beginning on August 25, 1959, with Genevieve and David Atkinson in the leads, and it was followed by another limited engagement when the show was given for sixteen performances by the New York City Light Opera Company at City Center on May 16, 1962, with Genevieve and George Gaynes. The current revival received mostly dismal notices and lasted less than a week, but a limited engagement concert production by Encores! with Patti LuPone and Michael Nouri opened at City Center on February 12, 2004, for five performances and was well received. The musical premiered in London on October 14, 1954, at the Coliseum for 394 performances. The original Broadway cast album was released by Capitol Records (LP # S/W-452) and was later issued on CD by Broadway Angel Records (# ZDM-7-64664-2-2); the soundtrack was released by Capitol Records (LP # W-1301); and a production by Los Angeles Harbor College was recorded on a two-LP set (by Audio Engineering Associates # AEA-1271-2/ABCD) and includes a generous amount of dance music (“Quadrille,” “Garden of Eden Ballet,” and “Apache Dance”). In his review of the current revival, Frank Rich in the New York Times noted the production was one of the “most handsome” of the season: the décor evoked “a gorgeous Art Nouveau Paris,” the costumes were “sumptuous,” and the lighting “poetic.” But the musical hadn’t been “first-rate” in 1953, and now it stood “on even shakier legs.” Although Burrows had revised the book, it was still “windy” (but the critic was glad that two of the score’s “negligible” songs had been dropped). These, incidentally, were “Every Man Is a Stupid Man” and “If You Loved Me Truly,” but it’s too bad Burrows didn’t also cut the equally dreary “Never, Never Be an Artist.” Rich commented that Jeanmaire, the “superb” finale, and the lavish décor clearly showed there were “still some kicks” in Can-Can, but these were “roughly 40 minutes’ worth” and were “scattered like stardust across a longish night.” Although Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the revival “lavish,” he mentioned that the musical hadn’t “improved with age” and “falls flat in its new embodiment”; Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the plot and jokes were “ramshackle” and noted his blood started to “congeal” when he realized that some of the new orchestrations utilized “tacky” disco arrangements; and Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said Can-Can “can’t-can’t, and that’s an extravagant pity.” The critics were generally unenthusiastic about the cast, but Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised Jeanmaire and noted hers was a “diamond glitter as bright as ever” as she “erupts, exults and challenges,” and he was glad she was now making her “Broadway debut” because heretofore she had appeared only in ballets (he had forgotten about her appearance in the 1954 book musical The Girl in Pink Tights and her 1964

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revue Zizi). He said the revival was a “knockout” because the star was “triumphant” with “indestructible magnetism” and the choreography devised by the star’s husband Roland Petit was “superb” and “the best on Broadway for years.” The revival was a reunion of sorts for Jeanmaire and David Brooks, who played a judge (which was essentially the Maurice Chevalier role in the film version). During the tryout of The Girl in Pink Tights, Brooks was Jeanmaire’s leading man, but he left the production and was succeeded by David Atkinson.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Scenic Designer (David Mitchell); Best Costume Designer (Franca Squarciapino); Best Choreography (Roland Petit)

THE MOONY SHAPIRO SONGBOOK “A New Musical Comedy”

Theatre: Morosco Theatre Opening Date: May 3, 1981; Closing Date: May 3, 1981 Performances: 1 Book: Monty Norman and Julian More Lyrics: Julian More Music: Monty Norman Direction: Jonathan Lynn; Producers: Stuart Ostrow in association with T.A.T. Communications Company; Choreography: George Faison; Scenery: Saul Radomsky; Costumes: Franne Lee; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: Elman Anderson Cast: Jeff Goldblum (Himself, Mr. Shapiro, Rocco the Shoeshine Boy, Talking Picture Star, Louis Da Rosa, French Crooner, Street Trumpeter, Fat German, Member of Big Band Vocal Group, U.S.O. Entertainer, Marvin, Israeli Dancer, Russian Singer, Lee Pyong-Do, Liverpool Pop Group Drummer), Judy Kaye (Herself, Reverend Mother, Mrs. Shapiro, Mrs. Kleinberg, Salvation Army Girl, Talking Picture Star, Torch Singer, Another Torch Singer, Busby Berkeley Girl, Bella, Fat German, Member of Big Band Vocal Group, Marlene, U.S.O. Entertainer, Rusty, Israeli Dancer, Kim-Sung, Liverpool Pop Group Singer, Sheila O’Toole), Timothy Jerome (Himself, Moony Shapiro, Mr. Woo, Cop, Fat German, U.S.O. Entertainer, Senator “Beanpole” Pickles), Annie McGreevey (Herself, Tilly, Mary Cassidy, Mae Feldman, Astrid Kalmar, Talking Picture Star, Dolly Ralston, Busby Berkeley Girl, French Music Hall Singer, Fat German, Member of Big Band Vocal Group, British Comedienne, U.S.O. Entertainer, Bonny Van Heysen, Debbie Stellman, Jude, Israeli Dancer, Russian Singer, KGB Officer, Lin-Chi, Magda Gyor, Liverpool Pop Group Singer), Gary Beach (Himself, Dead End Kid, Rabbi Kotchinsky, Sailor, U.S. Immigration Officer, Talking Picture Star, First Newsboy, Rudy Vallee, Bum, Dancer, Busby Berkeley Tenor, Waiter, Flower Seller, Fat German, Gestapo Officer, Press Photographer, Member of Big Band Vocal Group, Second Newsboy, Prisoner-of-War Guard, U.S.O. Entertainer, Academy Awards Singer, Alvin Burns, Chuck, Israeli Dancer, Schmuel, Russian Singer, Johnny Bakuba, Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan’s Spokesman, Benedict Rickenbacker, Leader of Liverpool Pop Group, British Trades Union Leader, Bonny’s Singing Partner); Back-Up Singers: Philip Hoffman, Audrey Lavine, Brenda Pressley; March of Time Announcer: Philip Hoffman The musical was presented in two acts. The action covers the life and times of Moony Shapiro, twentieth-century songwriter.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Songbook” (from 1948 film Baltimore Ballyhoo) (Company); “East River Rhapsody” (revue Feldman Follies of 1926) (Gary Beach, Company); “Talking Picture Show” (1928 film Evermore) (Jeff Goldblum, Judy Kaye, Annie McGreevey, Gary Beach); “Meg” (1929 trunk song) (Timothy Jerome); “Mister Destiny” (1930 hit recording) (Judy Kaye); “Your Time Is Different from Mine” (1932 hit recording) (Judy

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Kaye); “Pretty Face” (film Pretty Faces of 1934) (Gary Beach, Annie McGreevey, Judy Kaye); “Je vous aime, Milady” (1935 hit recording) (Jeff Goldblum); “Les halles” (1935 cabaret song) (Annie McGreevey); “Olympics ’36” (1936 hit recording) (Company); “Nazi Party Pooper” (1936 trunk song) (Timothy Jerome); “I’m Gonna Take Her Home to Momma” (1938 hit recording); War Songs, 1939–1945: “Bumpity-Bump” (Annie McGreevey); “The Girl in the Window” (“Das Madchen Am Fenster”) (Judy Kaye); and “Victory ‘V’” (Company); Academy Award–Winning Hollywood Evergreens, 1945–1948: “April in Wisconsin” (film A Yank at the Vatican) (Gary Beach); “It’s Only a Show” (film Let’s Do the Show Right Here) (Gary Beach); and “Bring Back Tomorrow” (film Bring Back Tomorrow) (Gary Beach); “Songbook” (reprise) (Company) Act Two: “Happy Hickory” (title song of 1954 Broadway musical) (Annie McGreevey); Happy Hickory Rejects (trunk songs): “Climbin’” (Annie McGreevey) and “Don’t Play That Lovesong Any More” (Timothy Jerome); Vocal Gems from Happy Hickory: “Happy Hickory” (Company); “Lovely Sunday Mornin’” (Annie McGreevey, Gary Beach); “Rusty’s Dream Ballet” (Judy Kaye, Jeff Goldblum); “The Pokenhatchit Public Protest Committee” (Company); and “Happy Hickory” (reprise) (Company); “Happy Hickory” (from 1956 Tel Aviv and Moscow productions) (Gary Beach, Annie McGreevey, Judy Kaye, Jeff Goldblum); “I Accuse” (1957 musical Red White and Black) (Annie McGreevey, Judy Kaye); “Messages I” (1958 trunk song) (Jeff Goldblum); “Messages II” (1963 version for Bob Dylan) (Gary Beach); “I Found Love” (1964 hit recording) (Annie McGreevey, Judy Kaye, Jeff Goldblum, Gary Beach); “Don’t Play That Lovesong Any More” (reprise) (cut song from Happy Hickory) (Judy Kaye); “Golden Oldie” (1972 trunk song) (Timothy Jerome); “Climbin’” (reprise) (cut song from Happy Hickory; 1972 hit recording) (Annie McGreevey, Gary Beach, Jeff Goldblum, Judy Kaye, Timothy Jerome); “Nostalgia” (1977 trunk song) (Jeff Goldblum); Finale (Company) The Moony Shapiro Songbook was perhaps too specialized a work for the general Broadway audience. Its delightful conceit was to satirize the genre of composer/lyricist tribute revues of the Oh Coward!, Side by Side by Sondheim, and Ain’t Misbehavin’ variety, but perhaps this type of spoofery was best suited to a cabaret setting or an Off-Broadway venue. The original London production (produced as Songbook) played for just 208 performances and the New York version lasted for only one showing (and joined Onward Victoria and Broadway Follies as the season’s shortest-running musical). The 1980–1981 season offered three composer/lyricist tributes of its own, the short-lived Perfectly Frank (Loesser), the hit Sophisticated Ladies (Duke Ellington), and a revival of 1968’s Off-Broadway Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. (The 1996 Off-Broadway revue When Pigs Fly also laughed at song tributes when one sequence presented the hapless “artistic director” of a small community theatre called the Melody Barn who produces lyricist and composer tributes along the lines of Brutally Frank, a salute to Frank Loesser’s World War II songs, and You Don’t Know Dick, an evening which features the obscure songs of Richard Rodgers.) The revue-like Moony Shapiro Songbook looked at the life and career of that famous (and of course fictitious) songwriter Moony Shapiro, who found acclaim when his very first song (“East River Rhapsody”) was included in the Rodgers and Hart revue Feldham Follies of 1926. Moony didn’t want to take any chances blowing his big break, and so he “kissed the Shapiro mezuzah and said five Hail Marys.” And sure enough his ode to New York (and its praise of the “cacophonous clash” of trash cans and squad car sirens) became a hit. From there, it was all gravy (with the exception of his song “Nazi Party Pooper,” which was perhaps a touch too politically incorrect, even for 1936). But we all remember Moony’s Oscar-winning songs, including “April in Wisconsin” from A Yank at the Vatican in which Bing Crosby played a priest and Barry Fitzgerald the pope. And Moony’s dalliance with Mae West: why, just one look at Moony and she knew he would be “big” (she wasn’t disappointed, and he could write songs, too). And “Marlene Dietrich” also made her second cameo during the season (she had earlier been a character in Piaf), here singing Moony’s “The Girl in the Window” at the Stage Door Canteen. And there was Moony’s hit show Happy Hickory, his “one important contribution to the American Musical Theatre.” The town of Pokenhatchit has a magical wishing tree, but the evil Senator “Beanpole” Pickles wants to chop it down in order to make room for an eight-lane highway (the published script notes that Happy Hickory is to be performed in the styles of Finian’s Rainbow, Paint Your Wagon, and Li’l Abner, and the revue provides “vocal gems” from the musical’s score, including “Rusty’s Dream Ballet,” and “The Pokenhatchit’s Public Protest Committee”).

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Unfortunately, Moony’s next musical, the socially conscious Red White and Black was a failure which didn’t even leave behind a cast album. It was based on Emile Zola’s J’accuse, here updated to depict a black American officer wrongly accused of, and eventually court-martialed for, selling secrets to North Korea. Unfortunately, Harold Prince had to turn down the show because he was working on West Side Story, and in a voice-over Prince himself stated “we were all trying to make the American musical say more,” but perhaps Moony “was saying a bit too much.” As a result, the audience hated the show: “tuxedo-ed Bostonians booed,” “mink-wrapped matrons fled in outrage,” and the headline in Variety proclaimed “Shapiro Pinko Chinko Stinko.” Later, Moony’s song “I Found Love” was recorded by a popular British Liverpool group, but his song “Uptown” flopped because “record fans that year were all going in the opposite direction.” And unfortunately Bob Dylan didn’t seem interested in Moony’s song “Messages.” Alas, the music stopped on September 7, 1977, when the lights went out in New York: Moony was found dead, electrocuted by a synthesizer. But through the “kind permission of the Shapiro estate,” the tribute ends with Moony’s last song “Nostalgia.” Unlike the London critics, the New York reviewers were Not Amused, and the show dropped $800,000 during its one-night stand. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the evening had “the germ of a funny, spiffy satirical revue” but the material was “toothless and unfocused” with “the scrappy, amateurish air of a collegiate jape.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the production “vapid” and “inane”; Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said there “isn’t much of a show”; and Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily complained that the book “rattles on and on, telling us more than anyone could possibly care to know” about the title character. While Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted the evening was “a one-joke show,” he nonetheless said it was a “one-joke show brilliantly conveyed.” The work was “carefully devised” and “beautifully staged” with “knockout” performers. But he felt the musical deserved a longer run and a more sophisticated audience than it was probably going to get. Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 praised the “hilarious send-up” and said it was “telling,” “highly entertaining,” and “most sharp-eyed (and eared).” The musical’s premiere took place at the University of Warwick Arts Center on May 2, 1979, and opened in London at the Globe Theatre on July 25 of that year. As Songbook, the script was published in softcover by Samuel French in 1985. The British cast album (also as Songbook) was recorded by Pye Records (LP # NSLP18609) and later released on CD by DRG Records (# 13117).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Book (Monty Norman and Julian More)

INACENT BLACK “A Heaven-Sent Comedy”

Theatre: Biltmore Theatre Opening Date: May 6, 1981; Closing Date: May 17, 1981 Performances: 14 Play: A. Marcus Hemphill Lyrics and Music: Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, and Melba Moore Direction: Mikell Pinkney; Producers: Gloria Hope Sher, Marjorie Moon, and Jay J. Cohen in association with Zaida Coles Edley and Spirit Will Productions, Inc. (Ashton Springer, Executive Producer); Scenery: Felix E. Cochren; Costumes: Marty Pakledinaz; Lighting: Tim Phillips; Musical Direction: Barry Eastmond Cast: Gregory Miller (Helwin Rydell), Barbara Montgomery (Mama Essie Rydell), Reginald Vel Johnson (Marv Rydell), Count Stovall (Charles Rydell), Bruce Strickland (Percy Rydell), Rosanna Carter (Waitress), Melba Moore (Inacent Black), Ronald “Smokey” Stevens (Pretty Pete), Joyce Sylvester (Carmen Casteel), Lorey Hayes (Sally-Baby Washington), Ed Cambridge (Voice of Hamilton Rydell); Musicians: Neal Tate (Synthesizer), Petro Bass (Percussion), Kelvin Jones (Drums), Ron Miller (Guitar), Wayne Brathwaite (Bass) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place during Spring 1980 in Old Westbury, Long Island, and New York City.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Stand Together” (Melba Moore); “He’s All That I’ll (We) Ever Need” (Melba Moore) Act Two: “Somebody Told Me (to Deliver This Message to You)” (Melba Moore) Inacent Black was a play with three incidental songs performed by its star Melba Moore, who was backed by five musicians. The self-described “heaven-sent comedy,” which closed after just fourteen performances, dealt with the title character, an angel (Moore) who comes to Earth to help a rich black family who lives in Long Island. Widowed Mama Essie Rydell (Barbara Montgomery) and her four sons (there were five in an earlier version of the show) run a real estate business, and like Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly! and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Mama talks to the Great Beyond whenever she has a problem (in this case, she chats with her late husband Hamilton, whose voice was supplied by Ed Cambridge). The Rydell family (which Frank Rich in the New York Times said resembled the characters in the television sitcom The Jeffersons) has its usual share of problems, some personal and some professional, and it’s up to Inacent Black to straighten out everybody and provide them with spiritual uplift. Rich said the production was “an act of bravery that should not go unrecorded,” for here was a show “part burlesque sketch, part gospel service and all silly.” While viewing the production, “any reasonable adult” would fall into “a state of instant and total petrifaction,” and the “primitive” scenes were full of mugging, yelling, knee-slapping, and “double, if not triple, takes.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the “god-awful” play “a simpleminded tatterdemalion fable,” and Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 noted that the title was misspelled “for reasons no one ever explains” and the show actually opened “for reasons no one could possibly explain.” The evening was “long-winded,” “way over-written,” and the performers mugged all the way up to “the last row of the last balcony.” Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily reported that the play was “like a silly book that has become detached from its score.” The “thin” plot and “transparent” jokes were from the school in which one character says “You can say that again” and a second character then promptly repeats what he just said. Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that the production’s few songs were “agreeable,” but otherwise the show was of such “dazzling ineptitude” and “grotesque folly” that he could almost “admire” it. The “deplorable” play called itself a “heaven-sent comedy” but he suggested “it should go to hell first.” As Inacent Black and the Five Brothers, the play had originally been produced for two performances beginning on May 15, 1979, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre by Black Theatre Festival, U.S.A. It also played Off Broadway for a long run at the Billie Holiday Theatre, where it opened in May 1979.

LENA HORNE: THE LADY AND HER MUSIC Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: May 12, 1981; Closing Date: June 30, 1982 Performances: 333 Lyrics and Music: See song listing for specific credits. Direction: Arthur Faria; Producers: James M. Nederlander, Michael Frazier, and Fred Walker in association with Sherman Sneed and Jack Lawrence; Scenery: David Gropman; Costumes: Stanley Simmons (Lena Horne’s wardrobe by Giorgio Sant’Angelo); Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Linda Twine Cast: Lena Horne; Trio: Grady Tate (Drums), Steve Bargonetti (Guitar), Bob Cranshaw (Bass); The Company: Clare Bathe, Tyra Ferrell, Vondie Curtis-Hall The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs were performed by Lena Horne, who was backed by a trio of singers and dancers; a special trio of musicians; and a sixteen-piece orchestra. Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “From This Moment On” (dropped from 1950 musical Out of This World and later interpolated into the 1953 film version of Kiss Me, Kate; lyric and music by Cole Porter); “I Got a

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Name” (lyric by Norman Gimbel, music by Charles Fox); “(In This World of Ordinary People) I’m Glad There Is You” (lyric and music by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira); “I Want to Be Happy” (No, No, Nanette, 1925; lyric by Irving Caesar, music by Vincent Youmans); Cotton Club Sequence: “That CopperColored Gal of Mine” (Twenty-seventh edition of Cotton Club Parade, 1936; lyric by Benny Davis, music by J. Fred Coots); “Raisin’ the Rent” (Twenty-second edition of Cotton Club Parade, 1933; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen); “As Long as I Live” (Twenty-fourth edition of Cotton Club Parade, 1934; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen); and “Lady with the Fan” (Twenty-third edition of Cotton Club Parade, 1933; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); Dialogue Sequence: “Cotton Club to Hollywood”; “Where or When” (Babes in Arms, 1937; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); Dialogue Sequence: “Hollywood”; “Just One of Those Things” (Jubilee, 1935; lyric and music by Cole Porter); “Stormy Weather” (Part One) (Twenty-second edition of Cotton Club Parade, 1933; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen); “Love” (1946 film Ziegfeld Follies; lyric and music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane); Dialogue Sequence: Broadway; “Push de Button” (Jamaica, 1957; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); “The Lady Is a Tramp” (Babes in Arms; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); “Yesterday When I Was Young” (lyric by Herbert Kretzmer, music by Paul Aznavour); “Deed I Do” (lyric by Fred Rose, music by Walter Hirsch); “Life Goes On” (lyric by Craig Doerge, music by Paul Williams) Act Two: “Watch What Happens” (1964 film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg; original French lyric by Jacques Demy, English lyric by Norman Gimbel, music by Michel Legrand); “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” (Oklahoma!, 1943; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “Fly” (lyric and music by Martin Charnin); “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” (Pal Joey, 1940; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); “A Lady Must Live” (America’s Sweetheart, 1931; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); Dialogue Sequence: “Love This Business”; “That’s What Miracles Are All About” (lyric and music by Charlie Smalls); Dialogue Sequence: “Early Career”; “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” (lyric by Joe Young, music by Fred Ahlert); “Stormy Weather” (Part Two); “If You Believe (in Yourself)” (The Wiz, 1975; lyric and music by Charlie Smalls) Lena Horne’s concert was a surprise hit that had been scheduled to play a limited engagement over the summer months. Instead, it played for over a year and chalked up 333 performances. The evening was a retrospective of the legendary singer’s career, and included “As Long as I Live,” a song she introduced at the Cotton Club when she was sixteen years old, and “Push de Button” from her long-running 1957 hit musical Jamaica. The critics wrote valentines, and Horne received some of the best notices of the season: “In transcendent voice” and “beautiful and elegant as ever” (Frank Rich in the New York Times); “One of the greatest entertainers of our time” (Clive Barnes in the New York Post); “Lena Horne is the season’s best musical” (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News); “One of the most sophisticated of all the sophisticated ladies” (John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor); “A triumph in every way” (Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal); “The most awesome performer to hit Broadway in years” (Charles Michener in Newsweek); “She is cool and she is hot, sultry and cerebral, soft and brassy” (Gerald Clarke in Time); “The most important show in town” (Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily); “She is at the top of her form” (Joel Siegel on WABCTV7); and “Lena Horne is electrifying, astonishing, and may well be the finest musical performer alive” (Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2). The critics were particularly taken with “Stormy Weather,” Horne’s signature song, which had originally been introduced by Ethel Waters in the twenty-second edition of the Cotton Club Parade in 1933, and which Horne sang in the 1943 MGM film Stormy Weather. Since this was the song most identified with Horne, it was assumed she would end the concert with it. Instead, she performed it early in the first act (Michener noted she sang it “with almost shocking lack of effect—with just an echo of that sweet resignation” which recalled her version from the MGM film). But then late in the second act she knocked out the audience with a reprise, stating that “I had to grow into this song.” Rich said the second version was “a gospel cry that erupts from her gut with almost primeval force.” It was as if she had never before performed the song, and the audience “witnessed an honest-to-God coup de theatre.” Other songs heard during the run were: “Better Than Anything” (lyric and music by D. Wheat and William Loughborough); “But Not for Me” (Girl Crazy, 1930; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein, music by Jerome Kern); and “Love Me or Leave Me” (Whoopee, 1928; lyric by Gus Kahn, music by Walter Donaldson).

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The original cast album was released on a two-LP set by Qwest Records (# 2QW-35), and was later issued on a two-CD set by Warner Brothers Records.

Awards Tony Award: Special Tony Award (Lena Horne)

AN APRIL SONG The musical briefly played in summer stock during 1980, including engagements at the John Drew Theatre, East Hampton, New York, beginning on July 9, 1980, and at the Westport Country Playhouse, Westport, Connecticut, during the period August 25–August 30. Book: Albert Marre Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Music: Mitch Leigh Based on the 1940 play Leocadia by Jean Anouilh. Direction: Albert Marre; Producers: Connecticut Theatre Foundation, Inc. (James B. McKenzie, Executive Producer); Scenery: Robert D. Mitchell; Costumes: Miles White; Lighting: Rick Belzer; Musical Direction: David Friedman Cast: Julie Boyd (Amanda), Ian Sullivan (Theophile), Glynis Johns (The Duchess), Ronald Bishop (Lord Hector), Carl Don (Ice Cream Man), Tom Champion (Taxi Driver), Sam Tsoutsouvas (Prince Albert), Reuben Singer (Maitre d’Hotel), Daniel Marcus (Nightclub Singer), Carl Don (Innkeeper), Adam Alexander (Footman, Waiter) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around a chateau in Brittany.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t include a list of musical numbers. Mitch Leigh’s An April Song was intended for Broadway but never got beyond the straw hat circuit. The musical was based on Jean Anouilh’s 1940 play Leocadia, which was produced on Broadway as Time Remembered in 1957. The wry fairy tale–like plot dealt with melancholy Prince Albert (Sam Tsoutsouvas), who pines for his lost love, Leocadia Gardi, a famous young ballerina whom he knew for three whole days. Leocadia unfortunately strangled herself when she tied a scarf too tightly around her neck and refused to loosen it because the scarf’s effect was so striking. Albert’s aunt, The Duchess (Glynis Johns), discovers that a young milliner named Amanda (Julie Boyd) bears a striking resemblance to Leocadia, and so she decides to promote a romance between her royal cousin and the young woman. Albert and Amanda do indeed fall in love, but the Duchess ruefully notes that Leocadia has now died twice, both in life and in Albert’s memory. An April Song died in memory, too, and is probably Leigh’s most obscure musical. He had composed the score for the mega-hit Man of La Mancha (1965), but An April Song joined an endless series of his musicals that either closed on the road or after brief Broadway runs: Chu Chem (1966; closed during its pre-Broadway tryout); Cry for Us All (1970; 9 performances); Halloween (1972; closed during pre-Broadway tryout); Home Sweet Homer (1976, one performance); Sarava (1979, 177 performances); and Ain’t Broadway Grand (1993, 25 performances). Time Remembered opened at the Morosco Theatre on November 12, 1957, for 248 performances in an adaptation by Patricia Moyes, but despite a run of more than six months the play wasn’t able to recoup its investment. Like the later musical version, the play’s director was Albert Marre and the costume designer was Miles White. The stellar cast included Helen Hayes (The Duchess), Richard Burton (Prince Albert), and Susan Strasberg (Amanda), and Vernon Duke wrote background music and a song or two for the production,

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which, along with dialogue sequences, was recorded by Mercury Records (LP # SR-60023). The album includes selections with Duke at the piano and by Pete Rugolo’s orchestra, and the atmospheric score includes polkas, waltzes, tangos, and a title number sung by Tony Travis. If the cast album’s cover of Time Remembered is any indication, scenic designer Oliver Smith created a dreamy world of pastel fantasies, one of which was a wooded area on the Duchess’s estate replete with towering trees and a birthday cake of a motor car painted in cotton-candy colors and festooned with ivy. In later years, the cast of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (including Night Music and An April Song’s star Glynis Johns) could easily have moved into this set and performed “A Weekend in the Country.” On February 7, 1961, the play was presented on NBC’s Hallmark Hall of Fame with Edith Evans, Christopher Plummer, and Janet Munro.

GEORGIA BROWN & FRIENDS The one-woman revue played at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles, California, during the 1980–1981 theatre season; during the 1982–1983 season, the production opened on September 1, 1982, at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, California, and closed there on September 18. Text: Georgia Brown Lyrics and Music: See song list for specific credits Direction: Stanley Dorfman (Devra Korwin, Associate Director); Producers: Hillard Elkins and Laizer Productions by special arrangement with Norman Maibaum; Scenery and Lighting: Martin Aronstein and Lawrence Metzler; Costumes: Birgitta Gyllenhammar; Musical Direction: Stanley Myers For the San Francisco production, the program included the following credits: Producers: James M. Nederlander and Laizer Productions (A Hillard Elkins Production) (Stanley Schneider, Barbara Platoff, and Marcelle Garfeld, Associate Producers); Scenery: Peter David Gould; Costumes: Ruth Morley; Lighting: David F. Segal; Musical Direction: Steven Cagan Cast: Georgia Brown The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs were performed by Georgia Brown. Both the Los Angeles and San Francisco programs listed all numbers in alphabetical order, and the Los Angeles program indicated that “some” of them would be performed during the revue. The list below is taken from the Los Angeles production. For San Francisco, two songs were eliminated, “Actor” and “Eileen Aroon” from the Lament Medley. “Actor” (1978 television musical Actor; lyric by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, music by Billy Goldenberg); “As Long as He Needs Me” (Oliver!, London [1960] and Broadway [1963]; lyric and music by Lionel Bart); “The Eagle and Me” (Bloomer Girl, 1944; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); “Getting Married Today” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “(We’re) Going to the Country” (1962 London musical Blitz!; lyric and music by Lionel Bart); “I’m Still Here” (Follies, 1971; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Is That All There Is?” (from late 1960s unproduced musical International Wrestling Match; lyric and music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller); “Jew’s Whore” (aka “Ballade von der Judenhure Marie Sanders”/“Ballad of the Jew’s Whore Marie Sanders”; lyric by Hans Eissler, music by Kurt Weill); “The Job Application” (dropped from Ballroom, 1978; lyric by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, music by Billy Goldenberg); “Johnny, I Hardly Knew You” (lyric by Jeff Lewis, music based on traditional eighteenth-century Irish melody); Lament Medley: (1) “Ali Ali,” (2) “Spanish Lament,” and (3) “Eileen Aroon” (all “folk lament songs”); “Lost in the Stars” (Lost in the Stars, 1949; lyric by Maxwell Anderson, music by Kurt Weill); “Mack the Knife” (The Threepenny Opera, 1928; lyric by Bertolt Brecht [English lyric by Marc Blitzstein was probably used for this production], music by Kurt Weill); “Mad about the Boy” (1932 London revue Words and Music; opened in New York as Set to Music in 1938; lyric and music by Noel Coward); “Madam Song” (“I Never Do Anything Twice”) (1976 film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “My Father” (lyric and music by Christopher Logue and Tony Kinsey); “Pirate Jenny” (The Threepenny Opera, 1928; lyric by Bertolt Brecht [English lyric by

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Marc Blitzstein was probably used for this production], music by Kurt Weill); “Raisins and Almonds” (Jewish folk song adapted with lyrics by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, music by Billy Goldenberg [probably from 1978 television musical Actor); “Sweet Georgia Brown” (lyric and music by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard, and Kenneth Casey); Victorian Medley: (1) “Chickerleree Cove,” (2) “A Little of What You Fancy,” (3) “Khaki,” (4) “Boys in the Gallery,” and (5) “Don’t Dilly Dally on the Way”; “Waters of March” (lyric and music by Antonio Carlos Jobim); “Who Do You Have to Fuck to Get into the Movies?” (lyric and music by Dory Previn) Georgia Brown’s one-woman revue was a retrospective of sorts in which she talked about her career, read poetry, and sang numbers from musicals in which she had appeared. The evening was similar to other onewoman shows of the era, such as Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and Peg (Peggy Lee). Brown performed her signature song “As Long as He Needs Me,” which she introduced in the original 1960 London production of Oliver!, sang numbers from 1940s musicals (“The Eagle and Me” and “Lost in the Stars”), and such esoterica as “The Job Application,” which had been cut from Ballroom. And of course she sang “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Brown had appeared as a replacement in the original Off-Broadway production of Marc Blitzstein’s adaptation of The Threepenny Opera (which opened in 1954, reopened the following year, and closed in 1961), and later was a replacement during the Broadway run of Side by Side by Sondheim, and so the evening included numbers from The Threepenny Opera as well as a few songs by Sondheim. Brown reprised her role of Nancy in the successful 1963 Broadway production of Oliver!, but she generally had bad luck on Broadway: She created the title role in Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane’s Carmelina (1979), which closed after seventeen performances; played the title role in Julian More and Gilbert Becaud’s Roza (1987), which lasted for twelve showings; and was Mrs. Peachum in the 1989 revival of The Threepenny Opera (here titled 3 Penny Opera in an adaptation by Michael Feingold), which shuttered after sixty-five performances. Georgia Brown & Friends was first produced in Los Angeles during the 1980–1981 season, and Brown won the Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Award for her performance (it seems that for at least part of the run the revue was titled An Evening with Georgia Brown and Her Friends). During the 1982–1983 season, the revue played in San Francisco for a two-week engagement. As noted above, during the evening Brown recited poetry, which she had apparently written, and the programs included the full texts of the poems. “Obsolescence,” “England,” “The Fifth Floor,” and “Hirsuticut” were included in the Los Angeles program, and “I Believe,” “Hollywood,” “Summer Days,” “Air Raid,” “Obsolescence,” and “England” were in the San Francisco program.

HOAGY, BIX & WOLFGANG BEETHOVEN BUNKHAUS “A Jazz Play”

The musical opened on January 15, 1981, at the Center Theatre Group’s Mainstage at the Mark Taper Forum and closed there on March 1, 1981, after fifty-four performances. Play: Adrian Mitchell Lyrics and Music: See song list for specific credits Based on the 1946 memoir The Stardust Road by Hoagy Carmichael. Direction: Steven Robman; Producer: The Mark Taper Forum (Gordon Davidson, Artistic Director) and presented by arrangement with Arthur Cantor and H.M. Tennent, Ltd; Choreography: Miriam Nelson; Scenery: Tony Walton; Costumes: Dona Granata; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: Richard M. Sudhalter Cast: David Frishberg (Dave the Pianist), Larry Cedar (Hoagy Carmichael), Amanda McBroom (Betty), Neva Small (Meg), Harry Groener (Bix Beiderbecke), Philip Baker Hall (Photographer, Pete Costas), Richard M. Sudhalter (Cornet), F. William Parker (Mr. Beiderbecke, Recording Engineer, Paul Whiteman), Bruce French (Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus) The musical was presented in two acts.

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Musical Numbers Note: The musical numbers listed below appeared in the program in the following order, with no identification of singers or indication regarding which act the songs were performed in. “In a Mist” (music by Bix Beiderbecke); “Up a Lazy River” (lyric by Sidney Arodin, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Jubilee” (lyric by Stanley Adams, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Singin’ the Blues Till My Daddy Comes Home” (lyric and music by Sam N. Lewis, Joe Young, Con Conrad, and J. Russell Robinson); “Indiana University Fight Song” (music by Hoagy Carmichael); “March of the Hoodlums” (music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Riverboat Shuffle” (lyric and music by Hoagy Carmichael, Dick Voynow, Irving Mills, and Mitchell Parish); “The Old Music Master” (1943 film True to Life; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Jazz Me Blues” (lyric by Adrian Mitchell, music by Tom Delaney); “Georgia on My Mind” (lyric by Stuart Gorrell, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Slumber Song” (music by William Moenkhaus); “Washboard Blues” (lyric and music by Hoagy Carmichael, Fred B. Callahan, and Irving Mills); “Moon Country (Is Home to Me)” (lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “I’m Comin’ Virginia” (lyric by Donald Heywood, music by Will Marion Cook); “The Nearness of You” (may have been introduced in the 1938 film Romance in the Dark; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Hong Kong Blues” (1943 film To Have and Have Not ; lyric and music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Skylark” (lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “How Little We Know” (lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Baltimore Oriole” (1945 film The Stork Club; lyric by Paul Francis Webster, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” (1951 film Here Comes the Groom; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “One Morning in May” (lyric by Mitchell Parish, music by Hoagy Carmichael); “I Get Along without You Very Well” (lyric and music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Rockin’ Chair” (lyric and music by Hoagy Carmichael); “Stardust” (lyric by Mitchell Parish, music by Hoagy Carmichael) The world premiere of Hoagy, Bix & Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus took place in London, where it was produced by the Wakefield Tricycle Company, and the first American production opened on October 24, 1980, at the Indiana Repertory Theatre for twenty-seven performances. This production included “Ole Buttermilk Sky,” which wasn’t heard in the Los Angeles version. The work looked at Hoagy Carmichael’s college days at Indiana University in the early 1920s when he became friends with classmates cornet player Bix Beiderbecke and composer and writer William Moenkhaus (aka Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus), both of whom died in 1931.

ONE NIGHT STAND The musical began preview performances at the Nederlander Theatre on October 20, 1980, and permanently closed there on October 25, 1980, after eight performances. Book and Lyrics: Herb Gardner Music: Jule Styne Direction: John Dexter; Producers: Joseph Kipness, Lester Osterman, Joan Cullman, James M. Nederlander, and Alfred Taubman; Choreography: Peter Gennaro; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting: Andy Phillips; Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Charles Kimbrough (Charlie), Thomas Barbour (Stage Manager), Charles Levin (Sid), Paul Binotto (Gerry), Brandon Maggart (Nat, Sol’s Voice), Jack Weston (Eddie), Steven Boockvor (Young Eddie), Catherine Cox (Amanda), Michael Petro (Assistant Stage Manager); Suzies: Kerry Casserly, Cheryl Clark, Ida Gilliams, Sonja Stuart, Terri Treas, Kathryn Ann Wright; Kate Mostel (Marge), William Morrison (Young Charlie for all evening performances), Christopher Balcom (Young Charlie for all matinee performances), Terri Treas (Molly), John Mineo (Leo, Barclay) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time on the stage of the Nederlander Theatre from 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Everybody Loves Me” (Charles Kimbrough); “There Was a Time” (Part One) (Charles Kimbrough); “A Little Travellin’ Music, Please” (Charles Kimbrough, Suzies); “Go Out Big” (Jack Weston); “Someday Soon” (William Morrison or Christopher Balcom); “For You” (Jack Weston, William Morrison or Christopher Balcom); “I Am Writing a Love Song” (William Morrison or Christopher Balcom) Act Two: “Gettin’ Some” (Charles Kimbrough, Charles Levin, Paul Binotto); “Somebody Stole My Kazoo” (Charles Kimbrough, Charles Levin, Paul Binotto); “I Am Writing a Love Song” (reprise) (Charles Kimbrough); “We Used to Talk Once” (Kate Mostel, Jack Weston); “The ‘Now’ Dance” (The Now! Company); “Long Way from Home” (Catherine Cox); “Too Old to Be So Young” (Charles Kimbrough); “Everybody Loves Me” (reprise); “There Was a Time” (Part Two) (Charles Kimbrough, Catherine Cox); “Here Comes Never” (Jack Weston) Jule Styne’s One Night Stand didn’t give even one official Broadway performance. In lieu of a traditional out-of-town tryout, the producers announced the show would play a series of previews at the Nederlander Theatre during the period October 20–November 8, 1980, with an opening night of November 9. Instead, the show played a week of previews and permanently closed on October 25 after giving just eight performances. The musical dealt with a formerly successful lyricist and composer named Charlie (Charles Kimbrough) who hopes to see his new musical Now! produced. It also seems that he has plans to commit suicide at some point during the production. Other members of the cast included first-billed Jack Weston along with Catherine Cox, John Mineo, Paul Binotto, Steven Boockvor, and Kate Mostel. The New York Times reported that One Night Stand was budgeted at $1 million, and that previews were to begin on October 6 with an opening night set for October 28. In an interview with Times writer John Corry, coproducer Lester Osterman stated Herb Gardner’s book was “strong enough to be done as a straight play” and that Styne had never written “a bad score in his life.” As for John Dexter, “he’s no bum, either.” (Incidentally, fifteen years earlier Dexter had directed his only previous Broadway musical, Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim’s Do I Hear a Waltz? in 1965.) Despite its brief run, the cast album was recorded by Original Cast Records (LP # OC-8134 and CD # OCR-9366). The score was at best serviceable, but it contained one standout number in Charlie’s “Too Old to Be So Young.” The recording omitted four songs (“Everybody Loves Me,” “Getting’ Some,” “We Used to Talk Once,” and “The ‘Now’ Dance”) and added two (“Let Me Hear You Love Me” and “Don’t Kick My Dreams Around”). “There Was a Time” was originally written as “With Love” (lyric by Leslie Bricusse) for Styne’s unproduced 1975 musical Serafina, which was based on Tennessee Williams’s 1951 drama The Rose Tattoo; “Someday Soon” was a revised version of “Ugly, Ugly Gal,” which had been cut from Hallelujah, Baby! (1967); and the music of “For You” had been heard as “Kick the Door,” which had been dropped from Look to the Lilies (1970). One Night Stand shouldn’t be confused with Turtlenecks, aka The One-Night Stand by Bruce Jay Friedman and Jacques Levy, which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout (when the play began its seven-week tour it was known as Turtlenecks but when it closed the title had been changed to The One-Night Stand).

A REEL AMERICAN HERO The musical began previews at the Rialto Theatre on March 25, 1981, and permanently closed there on March 29 after five performances without ever officially opening. Book: Judy GeBauer and Burt Vinocur Lyrics: Gerald (Paul) Hillman, Stephanie Peters, and Judy GeBauer Music: Gordon Kent, Stephanie Peters, and Roger Neil Direction: Nancy Tribush Hillman; Producer: Gerald Paul Hillman; Choreography: George Bunt; Scenery: Harry Silverglat Darrow; Costumes: Carol Wenz; Lighting: Giles Hogya (Harry Silverglat Darrow, Lighting Supervision); Musical Direction: Roger Neil Cast: Vidya Kaur (Ruby), Peter Newman (Louie [character identified as both Louie and Louis in the program]), Roxanna White (Chorine), Jess Richards (Dick), Hillary Bailey (Lili)

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The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1930s and 1940s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “I Want to Be Somebody” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Company); “What’s Gone Wrong” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Company); “Garter Song” (lyric by Gerald Hillman and Stephanie Peters, music by Stephanie Peters) (Hillary Bailey); “Lili Is a Lady with a Suitcase Up Her Sleeve” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Peter Newman, Company); “Ratta Tat Tat” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Company); “Sugar Daddy Blues” (lyric by Gordon Hillman and Judy GeBauer, music by Stephanie Peters) (Roxanna White); “Dance with Me” (lyric and music by Stephanie Peters) (Roxanna White, Jess Richards); “You Mustn’t Eat People” (lyric and music by Nancy Tribush Hillman) (Vidya Kaur); “Monster Medley” (lyric and music by Gordon Kent and Stephanie Peters) (Company); “Snow White, My Daughter” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Jess Richards); “Tempus Fugit” (dance) (music by Gordon Kent) (Company); “I Want to Be Somebody” (reprise) (Company) Act Two: “The Movie Game of Make Believe” (lyric and music by Stephanie Peters) (Vidya Kaur, Company); “Chan Ballet” (music by Roger Neil) (Company); “The Gunfighter” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Company); “My Sergeant Doesn’t Look Like Big John Wayne” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Company); “Fly, Eagle, Fly” (lyric by Stephanie Peters, music by Gordon Kent) (Company); “I’ll Be Waitin’” (lyric by Gerald Hillman and Stephanie Peters, music by Stephanie Peters) (Roxanna White, Vidya Kaur, Hillary Bailey); “Here’s a Love Song” (lyric and music by Stephanie Peters) (Peter Newman, Vidya Kaur, Jess Richards); “Hero Time” (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Company); Finale (lyric by Gerald Hillman, music by Gordon Kent) (Company) The revue-like musical A Reel American Hero was a salute to the world of Hollywood musicals during the 1930s and 1940s, and even included characters named Dick and Ruby. Instead of an out-of-town tryout, the musical opened at the Rialto Theatre under a Middle Broadway contract; previews were scheduled for the period March 25 through April 8, 1981, with an opening night on April 9. But after five previews the musical collapsed and the remaining performances were canceled. The New York Times reported that tickets for all preview performances sold for sixty cents apiece (for adults) or thirty cents (children); of the eight thousand available tickets, some six thousand five hundred were sold on the first day the box office opened. A Reel American Hero had first been produced in 1980 as The World of Black & White, which had been presented Off Off Broadway at the Chareeva Playhouse in a showcase production.

1981–1982 Season

THIS WAS BURLESQUE

“All-New 1981 Edition” / “A Musical Satire Based

on

Miss Corio’s Recollections”

Theatre: Princess Theatre Opening Date: June 23, 1981; Closing Date: July 17, 1981 Performances: 28 Direction: Ann Corio; Producers: Coproduction by M P I Productions, Ltd. and Jeff Satkin, Inc. (Michael P. Iannucci, Producer; Jeff Satkin, Coproducer; and Glenn Myles, Associate Producer); Choreography: Fred Albee; Costumes: Rex Huntington; Musical Direction: Richard De Mone Cast: Ann Corio, Claude Mathis, Tami Roche, Dexter Maitland, Phil Ford, Jerry Kurland, Charlie Naples, Lili Chanel, Frank Vohs, Marilyn Simon, and “Special Added Attraction” Patrick, “The All-American Male Stripper”; The Burley Cuties: Marilyn Simon, Diane Gallagher, Bonnie Wintz, Sharon Longo, Katheleen De Freest, Rusty Riegelman, Treva Hill, Christine Chulick, and Erin Lareau The revue was presented in two acts.

Sketches and Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Richard De Mone and Orchestra); “The Queen of Burlesque” (Ann Corio); “Hello, Everybody” (The Burley Cuties); “Fun in One” (Claude Mathis, Dexter Maitland); “Persian Nights” (“Sheik” Frank Vohs, The Burley Cuties); “Chaplin Reminiscences” (Charlie Naples, Ann Corio); “An American Beauty” (“Shivers Regal” [performer unknown], Phil Ford, Jerry Kurland); “Exotic” (Lili Chanel); “Two Eggs” (Charlie Naples, Frank Vohs, Dexter Maitland, Ann Corio); “Les Girls” (The Burley Cuties); “The Music Teacher” (Claude Mathis, Dexter Maitland, Frank Vohs); “Feature Attraction” (Tami Roche); Act One Finale (Company); “Candy Butcher” (Frank Vohs) Act Two: “Powder My Back” (The Burley Cuties); “Lucky Pierre” (Claude Mathis, Dexter Maitland, Frank Vohs, Ann Corio); “The All-American Male Stripper” (Patrick); “Charleston” (Tami Roche, The Burley Cuties); “Hall of Fame” (Ann Corio); “Crazy House” (Company); “Memories” (Ann Corio); “Grand Finale” (Company) Ann Corio’s revival of her hit Off-Broadway burlesque revue This Was Burlesque offered Broadway audiences a final chance to see one of the remaining burlesque queens from the golden age of ecdysiasts; once hailed as “The Girl with the Epic Epidermis,” Corio also appeared in the films Swamp Woman, Jungle Siren, Sarong Girl, The Sultan’s Daughter, and Call of the Jungle. Richard F. Shepard in the New York Times said the burlesque show brought “an almost uplifting effect on the neighborhood” and noted that Corio did it all “by the book and, whether you like the book or not, it is to her credit that she catches the flavor of the old burlesque with little attempt to ennoble or elevate it.” Her tribute was “close to the real thing.” 93

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This Was Burlesque first opened Off Broadway on March 1, 1962, at the Casino East Theatre for a marathon run of 1,509 performances (during the run, the material underwent considerable revision with some sequences added and others dropped); the revue transferred to Broadway at the Hudson Theatre on March 16, 1965, for 124 performances; and then was revived Off Broadway at the Hudson West Theatre on February 11, 1970, for 106 showings. The revue toured extensively, and in 1979 was presented by Home Box Office as Here It Is, Burlesque (the production starred Corio, Morey Amsterdam, Pinky Lee, Dexter Maitland, and Tami Roche and was released on video cassette by Vestron Video). The cast album of the 1962 production was recorded by Roulette Records (LP # R-25185), and includes Albert Selden’s song “Yo-Yo” (aka “Go and Get Yourself a Yo-Yo”), which had first been heard in the 1956 musical The Amazing Adele, which closed in Boston during its pre-Broadway tryout and starred Tammy Grimes in the title role. For the current revival, note that the cast included one Patrick, who was billed as “The All-American Male Stripper”; comedian Phil Ford (of the team Phil Ford and Mimi Hines); and Dexter Maitland, who had appeared in the 1968 semi-musical salute to old-time burlesque The Night They Raided Minsky’s. The film’s lyrics were by Lee Adams and the music by Charles Strouse, and Maitland introduced “Take Ten Terrific Girls (but Only Nine Costumes)” and Lillian Heyman introduced the torrid Charleston “You Rat, You,” which in waltz time was later heard in the Broadway musical Annie as “Something Was Missing.” Due to the vigilance of Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia and his Commissioner of Licenses Paul Moss, the heyday of burlesque was long over, but it found a semi-permanent home Off Broadway in later years. Besides the various editions of This Was Burlesque, downtown saw such epics as The Best of Burlesque (1957), Burlesque on Parade (1963), International Playgirls ’64, The Wonderful World of Burlesque (two editions, both 1965), Follies Burlesque ’67, We’d Rather Switch (1969), Big Bad Burlesque! (1979), and Strip! (1987). And, of course, various Broadway revues flirted with burlesque, such as Star and Garter (1942), Wine Women and Song (1942), and Sugar Babies (1979).

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 9, 1981; Closing Date: August 23, 1981 Performances: 53 Book: Joseph Stein Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Music: Jerry Bock Based on various short stories by Sholem Aleichem. Direction: “Entire production” directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins (Ruth Mitchell, Associate Director; choreography reproduced by Tom Abbott); Producers: Eugene V. Wolsk and James M. Nederlander (Stella Saltonstall, Associate Producer); Scenery: Boris Aronson; Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Kevin Farrell Cast: Herschel Bernardi (Tevye), Maria Karnilova (Golde), Lori Ada Jaroslow (Tzeitel), Donalyn Petrucci (Hodel), Liz Larsen (Chava), Susan Sheppard (Shprintze, Grandma Tzeitel), Eydie Alyson (Bielke), Ruth Jaroslow (Yente), Michelan Sisti (Motel), James Werner (Perchik), Paul Lipson (Lazar Wolf), Fyvush Finkel (Mordcha), Alvin Myerovich (Rabbi), Ken LeRoy (Mendel), Tog Richards (Avram), Ralph Vucci (Nachum), Joyce Martin and Bradford Dunaway (Fruma-Sarah), Paul E. Hart (Constable), Joel Robertson (Fyedka), Bess Meisler (Shandel), Stephen Wright (Yussel), Bradford Dunaway (Sasha), Jay Fox (The Fiddler); Villagers: Bradford Dunaway, Jimmy Ferraro, Michael Fogarty, Margo F. Gruber, Michael Lane, Mark Manley, Elaine Manzel, Joyce Martin, Bess Meisler, Robert Parola, Thomas Scalise, Charles Spoerri, Marsha Tamaroff, Susan Tilson, Tim Tobin, Stephen Wright, Robert Yacko The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Russian village of Anatevka during 1905, on the eve of the revolutionary period.

1981–1982 SEASON     95

Musical Numbers Act One: “Tradition” (Herschel Bernardi, Villagers); “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” (Lori Ada Jaroslow, Donalyn Petrucci, Liz Larsen); “If I Were a Rich Man” (Herschel Bernardi); “Sabbath Prayer” (Herschel Bernardi, Maria Karnilova, Villagers); “To Life” (Herschel Bernardi, Paul Lipson, Men); “Miracle of Miracles” (Michelan Sisti); “The Tailor, Motel Kamzoil” (Herschel Bernardi, Maria Karnilova, Susan Sheppard, Joyce Martin, Bradford Dunaway, Villagers); “Sunrise, Sunset” (Herschel Bernardi, Maria Karnilova, Villagers); “Bottle Dance” (Michael Fogarty, Michael Lane, Mark Manley, Thomas Scalise); “Wedding Dance” (Villagers) Act Two: “Now I Have Everything” (James Werner, Donalyn Petrucci); “Do You Love Me?” (Herschel Bernardi, Maria Karnilova); “I Just Heard” (Ruth Jaroslow, Villagers); “Far from the Home I Love” (Donalyn Petrucci); “Chaveleh” (Herschel Bernardi); “Anatevka” (Herschel Bernardi, Maria Karnilova, Ruth Jaroslow, Paul Lipson, Ken LeRoy, Fyvush Finkel, Ralph Vucci); “Epilogue” (Company) The current revival of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s Fiddler on the Roof starred Herschel Bernardi, who had succeeded Zero Mostel in the role of Tevye during the original Broadway production; at that time, Bernardi recorded an album of songs from the musical (see below). The current production also included original 1964 cast members Maria Karnilova and Paul Lipson, she in her original role of Golde and he as Lazar Wolf (in 1964, he was Mostel’s understudy and also played Avram, and during the course of the original New York run as well as on tour he played Tevye for an estimated two thousand performances). The New York engagement was a limited run as part of the musical’s national tour. Richard F. Shepard in the New York Times found Bernardi “so much at home as Tevye” that one might suspect one was listening to writer Sholem Aleichem speaking the role in the original Yiddish. As for the cavernous New York State Theatre, Shepard mentioned that the large stage sometimes detracted from the effectiveness of the more intimate scenes, but worked well with the dances (“To Life,” “Bottle Dance,” and “Wedding Dance”) because the numbers had “more room” to “handsomely” spread themselves. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said Bernardi was “perhaps the most authentic Tevye of them all”; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the actor “radiates affection and humanity”; and Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post suggested Bernardi was “surely the most compassionate of Tevyes” and was “musically secure” in this “stunning” revival of a “perfect musical.” The original production of Fiddler on the Roof opened on September 22, 1964, at the Imperial Theatre for 3,242 performances, and as of this writing it has been revived on Broadway four times. The first opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on December 28, 1976, for 167 performances with Mostel creating his original role of Tevye; after the current production, a revival with Chaim Topol opened at the Gershwin Theatre on November 18, 1990, for 240 performances; and the most recent production played at the Minskoff Theatre on February 26, 2004, for 781 showings (Alfred Molina played Tevye, and the production included “TopsyTurvy,” a new and minor song by Bock and Harnick). The 1964 production won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and also won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical. The first London production opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on February 16, 1967, for 2,030 performances with Topol, who also starred in the bloated and dreary 1971 film version, which was released by United Artists and directed by Norman Jewison. The script was published in hardback in 1965 by Crown Publishers, and a fascinating account of the musical is The Making of a Musical: “Fiddler on the Roof” by Richard Altman and Mervyn Kaufman (Crown Publishers, 1971). Two other books about the musical are Alisa Solomon’s Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of “Fiddler on the Roof” (Henry Holt & Company, 2013) and Barbara Isenberg’s Tradition! The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of “Fiddler on the Roof,” the World’s Most Beloved Musical (St. Martin’s Press, 2014). The original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # LSO/LOC-1093), and RCA’s CD (# 51430) includes “I Just Heard,” which had been recorded during the 1964 cast album session but hadn’t been included on the LP release because of space limitations (the song was also omitted from the 1976 Broadway revival). There are numerous recordings of the score, many of which offer cut songs (such as “If I Were a Woman,” “When Messiah Comes,” “Dear Sweet Sewing Machine,” and “A Little Bit of This”) as well as music not recorded for the original cast album (such as the “Wedding Dance” and the Chava sequence).

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Although there was no cast album of the current revival, in the 1960s Bernardi recorded Herschel Bernardi Sings “Fiddler on the Roof,” an album of songs from the score released by Columbia Records (LP # OS3010 and # OL-6610) that includes the cut song “When Messiah Comes” and a title number that was dropped in preproduction. A fifth Broadway revival opened December 20, 2015.

MY FAIR LADY Theatre: Uris Theatre Opening Date: August 18, 1982; Closing Date: November 29, 1982 Performances: 119 Book and Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Frederick Loewe Based on the 1912 play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and the 1938 film Pygmalion (among others, Shaw was one of the film’s writers, and won the Academy Award for the screenplay). Direction: Patrick Garland; Producers: Don Gregory and Mike Merrick (A Dome/Cutler-Herman Production); Choreography: Crandall Diehl (based on the original 1956 choreography by Hanya Holm); Scenery: Oliver Smith; Costumes: Cecil Beaton (John David Ridge, Co-Costume Designer); Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Robert Kreis Cast: Eric Alderfer (Busker), Alan Gilbert (Busker, Chauffeur, Constable), Lisa Guignard (Busker), Harriet Medin (Mrs. Eynsford-Hill), Nancy Ringham (Eliza Doolittle), Nicholas Wyman (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Jack Gwillim (Colonel Pickering), Rex Harrison (Henry Higgins), Ben Wrigley (Selsey Man, Harry, Ambassador), Clifford Fearl (Hoxton Man, Jamie), Joseph Billone (Bystander), Ned Coulter (Another Bystander, Second Cockney), John Caleb (First Cockney, Footman), Ned Peterson (Third Cockney, Footman, Bartender), Jeffrey Calder (Fourth Cockney), David Cale Johnson (Bartender, Major-Domo), Milo O’Shea (Alfred P. Doolittle), Marian Baer (Mrs. Pearce), Mary O’Brien (Mrs. Hopkins, Lady Boxington), Frank Bouley (Butler); Servants: Jeralyn Glass, David Miles, Ellen McLain, Judith Thiergaard; Cathleen Nesbitt (Mrs. Higgins), Richard Ammon (Lord Boxington), Karen Toto (Flower Girl), Jack Sevier (Zoltan Karpathy), Svetlana McLee Grody (Queen of Transylvania), Elizabeth Worthington (Mrs. Higgins’ Maid); Singing Ensemble: Frank Bouley, Jeffrey Calder, John Caleb, Ned Coulter, Diana Lynne Drew, Julie Ann Fogt, Terri Gervais, Jeralyn Glass, David Cale Johnson, Michael McGifford, Ellen McLain, David Miles, Mary O’Brien, Ned Peterson, Judith Thiergaard; Dancing Ensemble: Eric Alderfer, Richard Ammon, Joseph Billone, Arlene Columbo, Ron Crofoot, Raul Gallyot, Alan Gilbert, Svetlana McLee Grody, Lisa Guignard, Scott Harris, Lynn Keeton, Gail Lohla, James Boyd Parker, Karen Paskow, Karen Toto, Elizabeth Worthington The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London in 1912.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Street Entertainers” (Eric Alderfer, Alan Gilbert, Lisa Guignard); “Why Can’t the English?” (Rex Harrison); “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” (Nancy Ringham, John Caleb, Ned Coulter, Ned Peterson, Jeffrey Calder); “With a Little Bit of Luck” (Milo O’Shea, Ben Wrigley, Clifford Fearl); “I’m an Ordinary Man” (Rex Harrison); “With a Little Bit of Luck” (reprise) (Milo O’Shea, Ensemble); “Just You Wait” (Nancy Ringham); “The Rain in Spain” (Rex Harrison, Nancy Ringham, Jack Gwillim); “I Could Have Danced All Night” (Nancy Ringham, Marian Baer, Maids); “Ascot Gavotte” (Ensemble); “On the Street Where You Live” (Nicholas Wyman); “The Embassy Waltz” (Rex Harrison, Nancy Ringham, Jack Sevier, Ensemble) Act Two: “You Did It” (Rex Harrison, Jack Gwillim, Marian Baer, Servants); “Just You Wait” (reprise) (Nancy Ringham); “On the Street Where You Live” (reprise) (Nicholas Wyman); “Show Me” (Nancy Ringham, Nicholas Wyman); “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” (reprise) (Nancy Ringham, John Caleb, Ned Coulter, Ned Peterson, Jeffrey Calder); “Get Me to the Church on Time” (Milo O’Shea, Ben Wrigley, Clifford Fearl); “A Hymn to Him” (Rex Harrison); “Without You” (Nancy Ringham, Rex Harrison); “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” (Rex Harrison)

1981–1982 SEASON     97

With the current revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison brought his original role of Henry Higgins to the New York stage for the first time in a quarter-century. But the buzz on opening night was about his Eliza. The production had been touring for months with Harrison and Cheryl Kennedy, and she was listed in the opening night program. Because of illness, she was replaced by her understudy Nancy Ringham, who played the role for the current New York run. Déjà vu repeated itself all over again for the 1989 revival of 3 Penny Opera when the ailing Maureen McGovern missed a number of performances and Ringham, who was her understudy, performed the role of Polly on opening night and for many subsequent performances. Mel Gussow in the New York Times noted that Harrison’s return to the role was triumphant, and the critic was also glad to see the “inimitable” Cathleen Nesbitt, who had created the role of Higgins’s mother in the original production. As for Ringham, she was “appealing” with a “strong” voice, but her performance was somewhat (and probably naturally) “strained” and her accent wavered “from quasi-Cockney to indeterminate mid-Atlantic.” But the musical was “a paragon of wit, romance and musicality” and every song was a “winner.” Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News said My Fair Lady was “among the best” musicals ever produced, but he was disappointed with the leading performances. Harrison was “perhaps” a bit “distracted or piqued” by the last-minute substitution of Ringham for Kennedy, and “he acted here as if the role was just another job.” And while Ringham was “thoroughly professional,” she was “far from electrifying or even inspiring” and her Cockney accent was “inconsistent.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “splendidly constructed” musical and said the current production was “lavish” (besides Harrison and Nesbitt, the revival included Oliver Smith’s original set designs, Cecil Beaton’s original costumes, and a re-creation of Hanya Holm’s choreography). Kissel noted that Harrison never seemed to “exert himself” and thus never became “the fanatical lover of the English language,” and while Ringham sang “beautifully” she was “tentative” in her early scenes. But he reported that as the evening progressed she became “stronger.” Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post said Harrison was a “pale shadow” of himself, and in Ringham “a legend was not born.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor proclaimed that My Fair Lady was “one of the great treasures” of musical theatre, and he found Ringham “appealing and spirited” and said Harrison brought “a new depth of feeling” to Higgins. But the critic noted that the production had been touring for almost a year and thus a “certain noticeable broadness” was visible and director Patrick Garland had allowed the performances to “get a bit out of hand.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the sets were from “tacky city,” the direction was in a “highly casual style,” Ringham wasn’t up to the demands of her role, and there was “more than a touch of amateurism throughout” the evening. As a result, only Harrison brought “passion” to the revival. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 detected a “waver” in Ringham’s accent, but he predicted she would “get better” because she had “star quality.” Gerald Clarke in Time stated that while Harrison was “a splendid 73” and was “urbane and amusing,” he was “not a possible mate for Eliza Doolittle, who could well be his granddaughter.” Ringham was “pretty” with “an attractive voice,” but she didn’t make a convincing Cockney and she lacked “the fire, the almost feral drive of a good Eliza.” The original Broadway production opened on March 15, 1956, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre for a then record-breaking 2,717 performances in a production that starred Harrison, Julie Andrews, Stanley Holloway, and Robert Coote. Besides the current revival, the musical has been revived in New York on four other occasions. The New York City Center Light Opera Company twice revived the work at City Center, on June 28, 1964, for 47 performances with Myles Eason and Marni Nixon and on June 13, 1968, for 22 performances (Fritz Weaver and Inga Swenson, with George Rose as Doolittle); the twentieth anniversary production opened at the St. James Theatre on March 25, 1976, for 377 performances (Ian Richardson and Christine Andreas, with Rose again as Doolittle); and on May 1, 1994, at the Virginia Theatre for 165 performances (Richard Chamberlain and Melissa Errico). The first London production opened on April 30, 1958, at the Drury Lane for 2,281 performances with all four leading Broadway players reprising their original roles. For the Warner Brothers’ 1964 film version, Harrison and Holloway re-created their original stage roles and Audrey Hepburn was Eliza (her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon). The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Harrison). The script was published in hardback by Coward-McCann in 1956. There are numerous recordings of the score, but the definitive one is the original 1956 cast album (Columbia Records LP # OL-5090), which has

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been twice issued on CD (the most recent by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy # SK-89997 includes interviews with Harrison, Andrews, and Lerner and Loewe). Beware of the London cast recording; it was the first stereo version of the score, but the performances are far too studied and lack spontaneity. One particularly interesting cast album is the 1959 Mexico City production Mi Bella Dama, which includes a young Placido Domingo as one of the quartet that accompanies Eliza in “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” For more information about My Fair Lady, Keith Garebian’s The Making of “My Fair Lady” (published by ECW Press in 1993) is recommended, and another solid source is Dominic McHugh’s Loverly: The Life and Times of “My Fair Lady” (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Revival (My Fair Lady)

THE STUDENT PRINCE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: August 27, 1981; Closing Date: August 30, 1981 Performances: 6 Book and Lyrics: Dorothy Donnelly (book adaptation by Hugh Wheeler) Music: Sigmund Romberg Based on the 1901 play Alt-Heidelberg by Wilhelm Meyer-Forster (which had been adapted from MeyerForster’s 1898 novel Karl Heinrich). Direction: Jack Hofsiss (Christian Smith, Stage Director); Producers: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Donald Saddler (dances restaged by Jessica Redel); Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Patton Campbell; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Brian Salesky Cast: Edward Zimmerman (Lackey), Louis Perry (Lackey, Freshman, Student), Harris Davis (Lackey), Mervin Crook (Lackey), Dominic Cossa (Doctor Engel), David Rae Smith (Count von Mark), Glenn Rowen (Secretary), Barry Carl (Secretary), Henry Price or Jacque Trussel (Prince Karl Franz), Jack Harrold (Lutz), Penny Orloff (Gretchen), Dan Sullivan (Ruder), Taras Kalba (Nicholas), James Billings (Toni), William Ledbetter (Hubert), John Lankston (Detlef), Thomas Jamerson (von Asterberg), Ralph Bassett (Lucas), Elizabeth Hynes or Leigh Munro (Kathie), Madeleine Mines (Girl), Jean Rawn (Girl), Barbara Wright (Girl), Rick Christman (Student), Merle Schmidt (Student, Huzzar), Spencer Smith (Student), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Grand Duchess Anastasia), Nadia Pelle (Princess Margaret), William Eichorn (Captain Tarnitz), Rita Metzger (Countess Leydon), Richard Nelson (Huzzar), Herbert Hunsberger (Huzzar), Robert Brubaker (Huzzar); Friends of the Huzzars: Madeleine Mines, Jean Rawn, Barbara Wright, and Maria Donaldi; Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in three acts. The action takes place “in the golden years” of 1830–1832 in Karlsberg and Heidelberg, Germany. The New York City Opera Company’s current revival of Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince was its second of five mountings of the bittersweet operetta; the company had presented the work a year earlier in August 1980, and would do so twice more during the decade (in 1985 and 1987) and then finally in 1993. The operetta gave a total of forty-two performances during the 1980s (for general information about the work, including a list of musical numbers and specific information about the first revival, see entry for the August 1980 production; also see specific entries for the 1985 and 1987 showings). In his review of the current revival, John Rockwell in the New York Times noted Hugh Wheeler’s somewhat updated book shoehorned “feminist implications” into the plot and the “odd editing” left the abandoned waitress Kathie (Elizabeth Hynes) alone on the stage as the curtain fell. But at its best, the work was “still innocent kitsch” presented “honorably and affectingly.” He mentioned that Hynes and Henry Price (Prince Karl) had been the leads in the second cast of the previous year’s revival and he felt they lacked the “romantic allure” necessary to bring their characters “fully to life.” Peter G. Davis in the Times reviewed the second

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cast and said the leads Jacque Trussel and Leigh Munro “cut appropriately romantic story-book figures” and “on the whole sang the familiar songs in properly ardent accents.” But “an inert mood of lethargy” hovered over the proceedings and Davis suggested that only a few members of the company “managed to make any meaningful contact with the naively sentimental nature of the material.”

SONG OF NORWAY Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: September 3, 1981; Closing Date: September 13, 1981 Performances: 14 Book: Milton Lazarus Lyrics: Robert Wright and George Forrest Music: Edvard Grieg (musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest) Based on an unproduced play by Homer Curran. Direction: Gerald Freedman (Jay Lesenger and Gary Dietrich, Assistant Stage Directors); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Eliot Feld; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Principals’ costumes designed by Ann Roth (Joseph A. Citarella, Costume Coordinator); Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: David Eisler (Rikard Nordraak), Mark M. Kelly (Einar), Jamie Cohen (Gunnar), Patricia Ludd (Sigrid), Patrick Cea (Eric), Traci Owens (Grima), Catherine Ulissey (Christa), Sheryl Woods (Nina Hagerup), Stephen Dickson (Edvard Grieg), Jeff Satinoff (Freddy), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Mother Grieg), Dan Sullivan (Father Grieg), Ralph Bassett (Father Nordraak), David Rae Smith (Count Peppi Le Loup), Susanne Marsee (Louisa Giovanni); Villagers: Jennifer Grissette, Cheryl Jones, Megan Murphy, Traci Owens, Mary Randolph, Catherine Ulissey, Patrick Cea, Jamie Cohen, Timothy Cronin, Thomas Lemanski, David Lukcso, Remus Marcu, and Gregory Mitchell; Madeleine Mines (Elvera), Rita Metzger (Miss Norden), Barbara Wright (Miss Anders), Madeleine Soyka (Hedwig), Lee Bellaver (Greta), Diana Skinner (Marghareta), James Billings (Henrik Ibsen), Jacqueline O’Dell (Adelina/Anitra), Michael Rubino (Tito), Joaquin Romaguera (Pisoni), Michael Martorano (Marcello), William Poplaski (Major Domo); Children: Anne-Marie Blaber and Eliot Van Buskirk, Emily Van Buskirk; Waltzing Couples: Gloria Brisbin, Judith Garfinkel, Cheryl Jones, Megan Murphy, Mary Randolph, Catherine Ulissey, Patrick Cea, Jamie Cohen, Richard Fein, Remus Marcu, Gregory Mitchell, Jeff Satinoff; Richard Fein (Spirit of Grieg); Maidens of Norway: Gloria Brisbin, Patricia Brown, Judith Garfinkel, Mindy Gars, Jennifer Grissette, Cheryl Jones, Megan Murphy, Jacqueline O’Dell, Traci Owens, Mary Randolph, Joan Tsao, and Catherine Ulisssey; Singing Ensemble: The New York City Opera Company Chorus; Dancers: The Eliot Feld Ballet Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1860s in Copenhagen; Bergen, Norway; and Rome.

Musical Numbers Note: Following the individual song titles are the original musical sources from which they are adapted. Act One: “Prelude” (Orchestra); “The Legend” (adapted from Greig’s Piano Concerto in A Minor) (David Eisler); “Hill of Dreams” (Piano Concerto in A Minor) (Sheryl Woods, Stephen Dickson, David Eisler); “Spring Dance” (Dancing Villagers); “Halling” (Dancing Villagers); “Freddy and His Fiddle” (“Norwegian Dance” and “Halling” in D major) (Mark M. Kelly, Patricia Ludd, Jeff Satinoff, Singing and Dancing Villagers); “Now” (Waltz Op. 12, No. 2 and Violin Sonata No. 2 in G-Major) (Susanne Marsee, Villagers); “Strange Music” (Nocturne and “Wedding Day in Troldhaugen”) (Stephen Dickson, Sheryl Woods); “Midsummer’s Eve” (“’Twas on a Lively Eve in June” and Scherzo) (David Eisler, Susanne Marsee); “March of the Trolgers” (“Mountaineer’s Song,” “Halling” in C minor, and “March of the Dwarves”) (Sheryl Woods, Susanne Marsee, Stephen Dickson, Singing and Dancing Villagers); “Hymn of Betrothal” (“To Spring”) (Muriel Costa-Greenspon, David Eisler, Villagers); Finale: “Strange Music” and “Midsummer’s Eve” (Susanne Marsee, Stephen Dickson, Sheryl Woods, David Eisler, Villagers)

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Act Two: “Opening” (Papillon) (Orchestra; David Rae Smith, Stephen Dickson, Guests); “Bon Vivant” (“Water Lily” and “The Brook” of the Haugtussa Cycle) (David Rae Smith, Stephen Dickson, Guests); “Three Loves” (“Albumblatt” and “Poeme erotique”) (Susanne Marsee, Stephen Dickson); “Finaletto” (“Water Lily” and “Springtide”) (Susanne Marsee, David Eisler, Stephen Dickson, Sheryl Woods, Company); “Waltz Eternal” (“Albumblatt”) (Singing and Dancing Villagers); “Peer Gynt Ballet” (Peer Gynt Ballet) (The Eliot Feld Ballet Dancers): (1) “Solveig’s Song” (Susanne Marsee); (2) “Anitra’s Dance” (Jacqueline O’Dell); and (3) “In the Hall of the Mountain King” (Jacqueline O’Dell, Pirates); “I Love You” (Ich liebe dich) (Sheryl Woods); “At Christmastime” (“Woodland Wanderings”) (Dan Sullivan, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Sheryl Woods, Neighbors); “Reminiscence”: “Freddy and His Fiddle,” “Midsummer’s Eve,” and “Strange Music” (reprises) (Stephen Dickson, Sheryl Woods); Finale: “The Song of Norway” (Piano Concerto in A Minor) (The Eliot Feld Ballet Dancers, Company) The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Song of Norway was a rare opportunity to see the forgotten hit, which was one of the biggest successes of the 1940s. When the original production closed, it was the third-longest-running book musical in Broadway history (after Oklahoma! and—talk about another forgotten hit—Follow the Girls). The operetta was one of those Great Composer biographical musicals so beloved by Broadway and Hollywood, and it purported to tell the story of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg; his wife, Nina; and his best friend, Rikard Nordraak, whose specialty is writing poetry about their native land. Soon the invented character of the tempestuous opera star Louisa Giovanni enters the picture, and she cajoles Grieg into going with her to Rome, where he will undoubtedly be inspired to compose in the great European tradition rather than music that reflects the folk music and legends of Norway. But when in Rome, Grieg eventually realizes he’s untrue to his musical self, and the death of Rikard leads him to the realization that he must return to his Norwegian roots. The book was top-heavy with dialogue, and some of the lines were groan-inducing: Father Grieg wants his son to go into the family fish business, not the world of music (“Only a few people want music, but everybody eats fish”), and when Grieg faces a personal crisis, he solemnly announces, “I will never write again.” And in the great tradition of Great Composer Musical namedropping, Henrik Ibsen makes a cameo appearance (and when onlookers admire Edvard and Nina’s Christmas tree, someone notes that one of the presents under the tree is from the “Russian composer Tschiakowsky”). The operetta first opened at the Imperial Theatre on August 21, 1944, for 860 performances, received surprisingly good reviews, and enjoyed a hit song in “Strange Music.” In reviewing the original production, Wilella Waldorf in the New York Post noted that the book didn’t quite have a point of view, and she regretted the use of formulaic operetta staging conventions, such as the singing chorus waving and fluttering their hands in the air after finishing a song and later standing and watching “as in a trance” when the lights dimmed and spotlighted a singer. There have been at least six recordings of the score, including the original cast album released by Decca Records (LP # DL-79019; later issued on Decca Broadway CD # B0002471-02); for the recording, Kitty Carlisle substituted for Irra Petina (as the diva), reportedly because the album’s producer didn’t care for the “foreign” sound of Petina’s voice, and the 1959 Jones Beach production recorded by Columbia Records (LP # CS-8135) included John Reardon, Brenda Lewis, William Olvis, and, from the original Broadway production, Helena Bliss and Sig Arno. The most complete recording of the score was issued by That’s Entertainment Records (CD # CDTER2-1173) on a two-CD set by a studio cast. The script was published in softcover by Chappell & Co. (London) in an undated edition. The London production opened at the Palace Theatre on March 7, 1946, for 527 performances. The 1970 film version was released by ABC Pictures Corporation with Toralv Maurstad, Florence Henderson, Christina Schollin, Frank Porretta, Oscar Homolka, Robert Morley, Edward G. Robinson, and Harry Secombe. The direction was by Andrew L. Stone and the choreography by Lee (Becker) Theodore. In his Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin gives the movie a “BOMB” rating and notes that the “dud” is “beautiful to look at” but otherwise a “poor” biography with “weak” interpretations of Grieg’s music. The soundtrack was released by ABC Records (LP # ABCS-OC-14). In reviewing City Opera’s revival, Donal Henahan in the New York Times reported that when the operetta opened on Broadway in 1944, Norway “for some reason did not immediately declare war on America.” He mentioned that the lyrics were “deliciously sappy” and noted that Milton Lazarus’s “superbly inane” book hadn’t been tampered with (but director Gerald Freedman stated he had “tightened” it). The singers gave their

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“honest best,” the principal performers had their “idiom down well,” and despite “some of the dullest music in the show to work with,” Eliot Feld’s dancers performed “ably or better.” And he couldn’t resist quoting “one of the night’s most sobering lines” when Father Grieg spoke about music and fish.

DIE FLEDERMAUS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: September 19, 1981; Closing Date: October 10, 1981 Performances: 5 (in repertory) Libretto: Carl Haffner and Richard Genee (English adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin) Music: Johann Strauss Based on the play Le reveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. Direction: Gerald Freedman; Producer: The New York City Opera (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Thomas Andrew (Andrew’s original choreography reconstructed by Jessica Redel); Scenery: Lloyd Evans; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Hans Sondheimer; Choral Direction: Mitchell Krieger; Musical Direction: David Effron Cast: Jerry Hadley (Alfred), Leigh Munro (Adele), Patricia Wells (Rosalinda von Eisenstein), Joseph Evans (Gabriel von Eisenstein), Norman Large (Doctor Blind), Dominic Cossa (Doctor Falke), Spiro Malas (Frank), Puli Toro (Sally), Gary Dietrich (Ivan), James Billings (Prince Orlofsky), Jack Harrold (Frosch); Solo Dancers: Esperanza Galan, Taras Kalba; Singing Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus; Dancing Ensemble: The New York City Opera Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in a summer resort near Vienna during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The current production of Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat) was the New York City Opera Company’s third of five revivals presented during the decade (for more information about the operetta, see entry for the February 1980 production; also see entries for the September 1980, 1986, and 1987 revivals). The work was also heard in German by the Vienna Volksoper in 1984 (see entry). In reviewing the current revival, Edward Rothstein in the New York Times praised the “thoroughly charming entertainment” but noted that David Effron sometimes wielded a “bland baton” and Ruth and Thomas Martin’s adaptation came across like a television “variety special” and missed the “darker comedic regions” inherent in the original libretto. However, Jerry Hadley’s voice was “as energetically stable as his flirtatious narcissism,” and Spiro Malas “stirred affection with his character’s noble insufficiencies.”

AN EVENING WITH DAVE ALLEN Theatre: Booth Theatre Opening Date: September 20, 1981; Closing Date: October 17, 1981 Performances: 28 Material: Dave Allen Producers: Chartwell Communications, Inc., in association with Theatre Now; Lighting: John Gleason Cast: Dave Allen The evening of comic monologues was presented in two acts. Stand-up Irish-born and British-based comedian Dave Allen brought his solo show of comic monologues to New York after previous engagements in Great Britain and Australia. The popular television performer was here making his Broadway debut in a limited engagement of five weeks which was cut short to just over three. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News suggested the two-act evening was far too long and that the comedian would have been seen to better advantage in a shorter presentation in a small venue such as a nightclub. Watt noted that the material sent up such subjects as religion and “that most shopworn of targets,” the television commercial. The comic also emphasized scatological humor including “rude comments on the human anatomy and various bodily functions.” Some of his expressions (such as “uptight” and “fuzz”) were out

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of date, and overall Allen seemed like “small beer.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily also noted that Allen was a “little dated” with such terms as “Let it all hang out.” Otherwise, he was often “quite funny” if “a bit tepid,” and because Allen’s humor didn’t seem “as pointed as TV humor at its best,” the critic asked “why leave home for something so mundane?” Frank Rich in the New York Times liked Allen’s “appealing” and “ingratiating” personality, but felt his material was only “rarely” worthy of his “crisp delivery.” Ultimately, “tedium” set in, and the critic suspected that a thirty-minute routine had been “needlessly stretched” into a full-length two-act Broadway evening. Allen was undoubtedly “fun” in “short takes” on television or in a nightclub, but on Broadway he was “decidedly miscast.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor noted that Allen’s material was “liberally supplied” with “locker-room humor” and thus was “not an entertainment for all tastes.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post found Allen “absolutely hilarious” and a “killer comedian,” and along with one or two other critics he quoted one of the best lines in the show: “Ireland is the only country in the world where procrastination takes on a sense of urgency.”

MARLOWE

“A New Rock Musical” Theatre: Rialto Theatre Opening Date: October 12, 1981; Closing Date: November 22, 1981 Performances: 48 Book: Leo Rost Lyrics: Leo Rost and Jimmy Horowitz Music: Jimmy Horowitz Direction: Don Price; Producers: Tony Conforti presents A John Annunziato Production coproduced by Robert R. Blume in association with Billy Gaff and Howard P. Effron (Raymond Serra, Associate Producer); Fight Choreography: Peter Moore; Scenery: Cary Chalmers; Costumes: Natalie Walker; Lighting: Mitch Acker and Rick Belzer; Choral Direction: Billy Cunningham; Musical Direction: Kenny Landrum Cast: Margaret Warncke (Queen Elizabeth I), Debra Greenfield (Audrey Walsingham), Steve Hall (Captain Townsend), Raymond Serra (Archbishop Parker), John Henry Kurtz (Richard Burbage), Lennie Del Duca Jr. (William Shakespeare), Lisa Mordente (Emelia Bossano), Patrick Jude (Christopher Marlowe), Robert Rosen (Ingram Frizer); Chorus: Kenneth D. Ard, Marlene Danielle, Robert Hoshour, Renee Dulaney, Timothy Tobin, Teri Gibson, Diane Pennington, Caryn Richmond The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in “England, 1593 AD.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue” (Chroniclers); “Rocking the Boat” (Raymond Serra, Margaret Warncke, Steve Hall, Chorus); “Because I’m a Woman” (Lisa Mordente, Lennie Del Duca Jr., John Henry Kurtz); “Live for the Moment” (Patrick Jude, Company); “Emelia” (Lennie Del Duca Jr., Patrick Jude); “I’m Coming ’Round to Your Point of View” (Patrick Jude, Lisa Mordente); “The End Justifies the Means” (Robert Rosen, Debra Greenfield); “Higher Than High” (Patrick Jude, Lisa Mordente, John Henry Kurtz, Lennie Del Duca Jr., Chorus); “Rocking the Boat” (reprise) (Chorus) Act Two: “Act II Prologue” (Chroniclers); “Christopher” (Lisa Mordente, Chorus); “So Do I” (“Ode to Virginity”) (John Henry Kurtz, Chorus); “Two Lovers” (Lisa Mordente); “The Funeral Dirge” (John Henry Kurtz, Lisa Mordente, Lennie Del Duca Jr., Robert Rosen, Steve Hall, Margaret Warncke); “Live for the Moment” (reprise) (Patrick Jude, Lisa Mordente); “Emelia” (reprise) (Patrick Jude, Lisa Mordente); “Can’t Leave Now” (Patrick Jude); “Christopher” (reprise) (Lisa Mordente, Lennie Del Duca Jr., Company); “The Madrigal Blues” (Patrick Jude, Company) The program notes for Marlowe helpfully explained that the musical about Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare took place in “1593 AD” and that the plot was “essentially true and accurate except for

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minor adjustments in time for dramatic purpose.” But perhaps the most astounding aspect of the musical was its omission of an exclamation point after the title. Almost as astounding was the show’s use of the tagline “A New Rock Musical” in an era when new rock musicals were passé. Despite terrible reviews, the musical somehow managed to hang on for six weeks. The plot dealt with Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (Patrick Jude) and “Willy” Shakespeare (Lennie Del Duca Jr.), both of whom love Emelia (Lisa Mordente), described by John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor as a “liberated Elizabethan feminist.” Marlowe and Shakespeare hang around with their pal Richard Burbage (John Henry Kurtz) in Olde London and occasionally smoke pot, kindly supplied to them by Sir Walter Raleigh, who in turn got his stash from his friend Pocahontas (Sir Walter and Pocahontas had the good sense not to appear in the musical, and the latter was no doubt still reeling from the 1963 London debacle Pocahontas which ran for just twelve performances). The critics had a field day damning virtually every aspect of the production. According to Frank Rich in the New York Times, the evening’s “insanity” began when Queen Elizabeth I (who likes to be called “QE1” and was played by Margaret Warncke) reminds a lover to put on his codpiece, and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said she came across like a Ninth Avenue landlady demanding back rent from a tenant. And from there, everything went downhill. Shakespeare states he “should have stuck with sonnets” and tells Emelia, who has left him for Marlowe, that for her he “sweated” his sonnets. When Marlowe is murdered, he comes back from the afterlife on a stage knee-deep in dry-ice smoke, and, dressed in a silver-colored jumpsuit, sings “The Madrigal Blues” in which he notes that he has “paid his dues.” (Rich noted that with his “open shirt, glittery vest and leopard boots” Jude could have been “the toast of any small-town shopping-center disco.”) Some critics said Marlowe brought to mind such disasters as Kelly (1965), Rachel Lily Rosenbloom and don’t you ever forget it! (1973), Rockabye Hamlet (1976), and Got tu Go Disco (1979), but Rich was quick to note that even though Marlowe “left no folio undefaced” it wasn’t quite in the class of its betters because it was a small-scale show that lacked “the Titanic-like splendor and expenditure of Broadway’s all-time fabulous wrecks.” But at least the “wholly ridiculous” musical had “the courage to meet vulgarity far more than halfway.” Watt reported that late in the second act the vapors from the dry-ice machine drifted into the auditorium and some in the audience had to leave their seats. He suggested that the machine should have been turned on much earlier so that the theatre might have “been cleared out immediately to the benefit of one and all.” He also mentioned that the dialogue was “exceedingly stupid” and the musical staging “downright silly.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily found the book “a lumbering unfunny talkfest”; Leida Snow on WABCTV7 said the décor was “cheap” with “cardboard” sets and “some of the ugliest costumes” she’d ever seen, and she advised Lisa Mordente to sue because her costumes made her look “like a pumpkin with legs”; Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 called the musical an “unmitigated disaster” and said Marlowe himself was a combination “part Vegas Lounge act” and “part Errol Flynn on speed”; Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested the score wasn’t “totally lost” but had “little direction, small force, and no real pulse”; and Beaufort said the “mindless” and “misguided” musical was “the kind of show that gives gaudy rubbish a bad name.”

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Lisa Mordente)

OH, BROTHER!

“A New Musical Comedy” Theatre: ANTA Theatre Opening Date: November 10, 1981; Closing Date: November 11, 1981 Performances: 3 Book and Lyrics: Donald Driver Music: Michael Valenti

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Based on The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (written between 1589 and 1594) and suggested by Menaechmi by Plautus (the program noted that the musical’s book and lyrics were subject to “litigation pending” by “W. Shakespeare and Plautus”). Direction and Choreography: Donald Driver (Ahmed Hussien, Assistant Choreographer); Producers: Zev Bufman and The Kennedy Center with The Fisher Theatre Foundation, Joan Cullman, and Sidney Shlenker; Scenery: Michael J. Hotopp and Paul De Pass; Costumes: Ann Emonts; Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Marvin Laird Cast: Larry Marshall (Revolutionary Leader), Mark Martino (Revolutionary), Thomas LoMonaco (Revolutionary, Ayatollah), Sal Provenza (Bugler), Alyson Reed (Revolutionary Woman, Fatatatatatima), Pamela Khoury (Revolutionary Woman), Kathy (Kathleen) Mahony-Bennett (Revolutionary Woman), Geraldine Hanning (Revolutionary Woman), Suzanne Walker (Revolutionary Woman), Karen Teti (Revolutionary Woman), Steve Bourneuf (Revolutionary), Richard B. Shull (Lew), Steve Sterner and Eric Scheps (Camel), Harry Groener (Western Mousada), Alan Weeks (Western Habim), Joe Morton (Eastern Habim), DavidJames Carroll (Eastern Mousada), Judy Kaye (Saroyana), Mary (Elizabeth) Mastrantonio (Musica), Steve Sterner (Revolutionary), Eric Scheps (Revolutionary), Bruce Adler (Balthazar), Geraldine Hanning (Lillian) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during the present (1981) time in the Persian Gulf.

Musical Numbers “We Love an Old Story” (Larry Marshall Revolutionaries); “I to the World” (Harry Groener and Alan Weeks, David-James Carroll and Joe Morton); “How Do You Want Me?” (Judy Kaye); “That’s Him” (Mary Mastrantonio, Revolutionaries); “Everybody Calls Me by My Name” (Harry Groener, Revolutionaries); “O.P.E.C. Maiden” (Harry Groener, Revolutionaries); “A Man” (David-James Carroll); “How Do You Want Me?” (reprise) (Judy Kaye); “Tell Sweet Saroyana” (David-James Carroll, Harry Groener, Arabs); “What Do I Tell People This Time?” (Judy Kaye); “O.P.E.C. Maiden” (reprise) (Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Women); “A Loud and Funny Song” (Judy Kaye, Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alyson Reed); “The Chase” (Company); “I to the World” (reprise) (Harry Groener and Alan Weeks, David-James Carroll and Joe Morton); “Oh, Brother” (Company) Based on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (and with a nod to Plautus), Oh, Brother! was perhaps the decade’s one singular guilty pleasure. Audiences seemed to love the show, but the critics demolished it and the production was gone after just three performances. The unpretentious, knockabout farce offered a light and entertaining score by Michael Valenti, and while the evening had the aura of a college variety show written all over it, the musical was nonetheless consistently funny in its sophomoric way and even included a camel (portrayed by Steve Sterner and Eric Scheps) who sported a headdress, sun glasses, and sneakers. This type of humor was obvious but endearing, the performances were sly and knowing (Judy Kaye was in full cutup mode), and Valenti’s score included the haunting “I To the World”; a light shuffle title song; the breezy and exuberant “Everybody Calls Me by My Name”; the confused malarkey of the expansive “Tell Sweet Saroyana” (which includes solos, a quartette, and the low-down blues of “What Do I Tell People This Time?” sung in counterpoint by Kaye, and all this accompanied by Alan Weeks’s exclamation of “One more time!” as he goes into what the script notes is “an idiotic soft shoe dance”); and the tongue-in-cheek ode (with puns and false rhymes) to the “O.P.E.C. Maiden,” with its outrageous lyric and ingratiating melody. The critics were generally kind to Valenti’s score and to the cast, but felt the locale and subject matter (which included hijackings, kidnappings, and revolutionaries) were not the stuff of musical comedy, especially one set in such a volatile region as the Middle East (the cast album proclaimed that “Musical Comedy Breaks Out in the Middle East!”). Loosely based on Shakespeare, the farce dealt with two sets of twins, two white and two black, who were separated at birth from one another and their parents: the white Western Mousada (Harry Groener) and the black Western Habim (Alan Weeks) arrive in the Persian Gulf on the off-chance of finding their counterparts, the white Eastern Mousada (David-James Carroll) and the black Eastern Habim (Joe Morton), and even the hapless American Lew (Richard B. Shull) pops up in his search for his long-lost wife, Lillian (Geraldine Hanning), and their birth (Groener and Carroll) and adopted (Weeks and Morton) sons. Added problems arise due to the

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estrangement of the Eastern Mousada and his wife Saroyana (Judy Kaye), his mistress Fatatatatatima (Alyson Reed), and the Western Mousada’s infatuation for Saroyana’s sister Musica (Mary Mastrantonio). Because everyone thinks both the Eastern and Western Mousada are the same person (and that the Eastern and Western Habim are the same as well), a multitude of complications arise before the requisite happy ending (but when Lew finally finds his Lillian and tells her, “I’m Lew!” she replies, “Lew who?”). Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested there was “nothing startling” about Valenti’s score, but it contained “solid” and “pretty” show tunes; Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily found Valenti’s music and Donald Driver’s lyrics “serviceable” and “sometimes quite bright,” and he noted that “soaring love ballads are shot down amusingly” with lyrics of the “bangle-laden, OPEC maiden” variety and the sudden appearances of chorus members who took over the high notes for some of the songs; and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said that while “not strikingly original,” the score was nonetheless “cheerful,” “pleasantly melodic,” and “varied.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post stated that except for the “rousing” opening song “We Love an Old Story,” the score was “slimly competent and dimly unmemorable”; and Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said there were no songs “to speak of” and the evening “looks and sounds like what it might have looked and sounded like if Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz had ever decided to write a musical.” Rich said there was “not much” that was “funny” about the Middle East “unless you want to be completely tasteless,” and suggested the one truly tasteless scene in the show was when the Ayatollah was brought on “for burlesque gags.” Rich asked why Driver bothered to set the musical in an area of the world “where there’s no room, right now, for humor.” But Judy Kaye was a “big belter with a sure comic sense” and Harry Groener was “charming” and “lighter-than-air” in a performance that brought to mind his Will Parker in the 1979 Broadway revival of Oklahoma! Cohen said the musical was two hours of “nonstop zaniness,” and if the goings-on weren’t always in “high gear,” the show nonetheless always kept moving, and he noted that Kaye could “belt out a song with the best of them” and Groener was “engaging and fleet-footed.” During the tryout, the musical was presented in two acts, and the following songs were cut: “Revolution,” “It Wasn’t Always Like This,” “My (Whole) World’s Coming (Comin’) Unwrapped,” and “It’s a Man’s World.” The cast album was recorded by Original Cast Records (LP # OC8342; later issued on CD # 915) and includes the deleted songs “Revolution,” “My (Whole) World’s Coming (Comin’) Unwrapped,” and the felicitous trio for Saroyana, Musica, and Fatatatatatima, “It’s a Man’s World.” In 1982, the script was published in paperback by Samuel French. Of course, the definitive musical version of The Comedy of Errors is Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s The Boys from Syracuse, which had opened in 1938 at the Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre, which is directly across the street from the ANTA (then Guild, now Virginia) Theatre, where Oh, Brother! premiered.

CAMELOT Theatre: Winter Garden Theatre Opening Date: November 15, 1981; Closing Date: January 2, 1982 Performances: 48 Book and Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Frederick Loewe Based on the 1958 novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White. Direction: Frank Dunlop; Producers: Mike Merrick and Don Gregory (A Dome-Cutler/Herman Production); Scenery and Costumes: Desmond Heeley; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Terry James Cast: Richard Harris (King Arthur), Andy McAvin (Sir Sagramore), James Valentine (Merlyn), Meg Bussert (Guenevere), William Parry (Sir Dinidan), Jeanne Caryl (Nimue), Richard Muenz (Lancelot du Lac), Richard Backus (Mordred), Robert Molnar (Dop), Vincenzo Prestia (Friar), Sally Williams (Lady Anne), Patrice Pickering (Lady Sybil), William James (Sir Lionel), Barrie Ingham (King Pellinore), Daisy (Horrid), Steve Osborn (Sir Lionel’s Squire), Randy Morgan (Sir Sagramore’s Squire), Richard Maxon (Sir Dinidan’s Squire); Knights of the Investiture: Bruce Sherman, Jack Starkey, Ken Henley, and Ronald Bennett Stratton; Thor Fields (Tom); Knights, Lords and Ladies of the Court: Elaine Barnes, Marie Berry, Bjarne Buchtrup, Jeanne Caryl, Melanie Clements, John Deyle, Debra Dickinson, Kathy Flynn-McGrath, Ken Henley, William James, Norb Joerder, Kelby Kirk, Dale Kristien, Lorraine Lazarus, Lauren Lipson, Craig Mason, Richard

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Maxon, Andy McAvin, Robert Molnar, Randy Morgan, Ann Neville, Steve Osborn, Patrice Pickering, Joel Sager, Mariellen Sereduke, D. Paul Shannon, Bruce Sherman, Jack Starkey, Ronald Bennett Stratton, Nicki Wood The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Camelot “a long time ago.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Guenevere” (Ensemble); “I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight?” (Richard Harris); “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” (Meg Bussert); “Camelot” (Richard Harris, Meg Bussert); “Follow Me” (Jeanne Caryl); “Camelot” (reprise) (Richard Harris, Meg Bussert); “C’est moi” (Richard Muenz); “The Lusty Month of May” (Meg Bussert, Ensemble); “How to Handle a Woman” (Richard Harris); “The Jousts” (Richard Harris, Meg Bussert, Ensemble); “Before I Gaze at You Again” (Meg Bussert) Act Two: “If Ever I Would Leave You” (Richard Muenz); “The Seven Deadly Virtues” (Richard Backus); “What Do the Simple Folk Do?” (Meg Bussert, Richard Harris); “Fie on Goodness!” (Richard Backus, Knights); “I Loved You Once in Silence” (Meg Bussert); “Guenevere” (reprise) (Ensemble); “Camelot” (reprise) (Richard Harris) The current revival of Camelot was in effect a return engagement of the touring production that had played in New York seventeen months earlier with Richard Burton, who had of course created the role of King Arthur in the original 1960 production of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical. In 1980, Burton signed to appear in the nationwide tour, which included a seven-week stop in New York. As the tour proceeded, Burton’s health forced him to bow out of the revival, and he was succeeded by Richard Harris, who had portrayed Arthur in the 1967 film version of the musical. The tour continued, and in late 1981 played at the Winter Garden for a limited engagement. For the Burton tour, Christine Ebersole had played Guenevere, and she continued in the role after Harris joined the production. She was succeeded by Meg Bussert, who had impressed the critics with her singing in the 1980 revival of Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon, and Bussert played the role during the current New York engagement. Later in the tour, Bussert was followed by Debra Dickinson. For both the Burton and Harris tours, Richard Muenz was Lancelot, and for all the Burton and part of the Harris engagements Paxton Whitehead (Pellinore), Robert Fox (Mordred), and James Valentine (Merlyn) reprised their roles. But for later tour stops and for the New York engagement, Barrie Ingham and Richard Backus respectively played Pellinore and Merlyn. The critics were again cool to the musical and considered it an also-ran. Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested “the glories of Camelot now live best on the original cast album,” and while Harris wasn’t “bad” he was nonetheless “dour.” He was “full of grand, arrogant gestures, royal pauses and vocal extravagances of the old school.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily felt Harris brought “more energy and spirit to the role” than Burton, but his singing was “less secure” and “his overall presence less charming.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said at the beginning of the evening Harris was breezy and “delightful” but by the second act he was “in the lowest of low gears” and “uncommonly solemn.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post hailed Harris’s “thoroughly impressive Broadway debut,” and said his performance made “a return to Camelot a theatregoer’s imperative.” Otherwise, the “curious” musical had a first act that seemed “almost as long as Wagner’s Das Rheingold” and a conclusion that was “stubbornly ground-born.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the musical as “ponderous” as ever and brought to mind “a splendid coronation ceremony with the grand-stand collapsing at the finish.” For more information about the musical, including a televised film version of the current production, see entry for the 1980 revival.

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG “A New Musical Comedy”

Theatre: Alvin Theatre Opening Date: November 16, 1981; Closing Date: November 28, 1981 Performances: 16

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Book: George Furth Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Based on the 1934 play Merrily We Roll Along by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: Lord Grade, Martin Starger, Robert Fryer, and Harold Prince (Ruth Mitchell and Howard Haines, Associate Producers); Choreography: Larry Fuller; Scenery: Eugene Lee; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Jim Walton (Franklin Shepard), Ann Morrison (Mary Flynn), Lonny Price (Charley Kringas), Terry Finn (Gussie), Jason Alexander (Joe), Sally Klein (Beth), Geoffrey Horne (Franklin Shepard, at age forty-three), David Cady (Jerome), Donna Marie Elio (Terry), Maryrose Wood (Ms. Gordon), Marc Moritz (Alex, Talk Show Host), Tonya Pinkins (Gwen Wilson), David Loud (Ted), David Shine (Les), Paul Hyams (Mr. Spencer), Mary Johansen (Mrs. Spencer), Daisy Prince (Meg), Forest D. Ray (Ru), Tom Shea (Bartender), Abby Pogrebin (Evelyn), Giancarlo Esposito (Valedictorian), James Bonkovsky (George, Headwaiter), Marianna Allen (Girl Who Auditions), Steven Jacob (Photographer), Clark Sayre (Soundman), Gary Stevens (Waiter) The musical was presented in two acts. The action begins in 1980, goes back in time, and ends in 1955, and takes place in Illinois, California, and New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Merrily We Roll Along” (Company); “Rich and Happy” (Jim Walton, Guests); “Merrily We Roll Along” (reprise) (Company); “Like It Was” (Ann Morrison); “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” (Lonny Price); “Merrily We Roll Along” (reprise) (Company); “Old Friends” (Jim Walton, Lonny Price, Ann Morrison); “Merrily We Roll Along” (reprise) (Company); “Not a Day Goes By” (Jim Walton); “Now You Know” (Ann Morrison, Company) Act Two: “It’s a Hit!” (Jim Walton, Ann Morrison, Lonny Price, Jason Alexander); “Merrily We Roll Along” (reprise) (Company); “Good Thing Going” (Lonny Price, Jim Walton); “Merrily We Roll Along” (reprise) (Company); “Bobby and Jackie and Jack” (Lonny Price, Sally Klein, Jim Walton, David Loud); “Not a Day Goes By” (reprise) (Jim Walton, Ann Morrison); “Opening Doors” (Jim Walton, Lonny Price, Ann Morrison, Jason Alexander, Sally Klein); “Our Time” (Jim Walton, Lonny Price, Ann Morrison, Company); “The Hills of Tomorrow” (Company) After Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Merrily We Roll Along was Stephen Sondheim’s second-shortest-running Broadway musical. It suffered from some disastrous initial concepts (including casting choices and visual design), which later productions have mostly rectified, but the brassy score is one of Sondheim’s finest. It’s an impressive array of catchy, old-fashioned Broadway songs brimming with lush and poignant ballads (“Not a Day Goes By,” “Good Thing Going”); upbeat songs (“Old Friends,” multiple variations of the title number, and a swinging “Now You Know,” which wedded old-time Broadway razz-ma-tazz with a typically cynical Sondheim lyric); a clever and expansive sequence called “Opening Doors,” which compressed months of action into minutes; and comedy songs (including the brilliantly comic but edgy and uneasy “Franklin Shepard, Inc.”). And the icing on the cake is one of the greatest Broadway overtures. The score also included “Bobby and Jackie and Jack,” an Irish jig that was performed as part of a revuewithin-the-musical, a fictitious 1960 revue titled Frankly Frank. The song spoofed the Kennedys as well as fads (the twist) and events (Khrushchev’s temper tantrum during his visit to the United States as well as the founding of the city of Brasilia) of the early 1960s, and indicated that Jacqueline Kennedy will have the White House painted cream and turn it into a “cultural lighthouse” where just pronouncing the name of opera singer Galina Vishneyskaya is “refreshing enough.” There was an actual 1960 Off-Broadway revue that spoofed the Kennedys a few weeks before the presidential election. Greenwich Village, U.S.A. opened at One Sheridan Square on September 28, 1960, and the number “Sunday Brunch” informed the audience that if Kennedy is elected, Jacqueline will paint the White House black because it’s such a chic color. Loosely based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1934 play of the same name, the musical told its story in reverse order. At the beginning of the musical (which is really the end of the story), we are in 1980 when we meet the estranged and basically unhappy three major characters Frank (Jim Walton), Charley (Lonny Price), and Mary (Ann Morrison), and as the play progresses we travel back in time, gradually reaching

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the “beginning” of the story in the mid-1950s when the threesome were happy and their lives seemed full of hope, ideals, and promise. Frank and Charley are a Broadway songwriting team, and Mary their friend. Although he didn’t provide convincing evidence to support his thesis, George Furth’s book depicted Frank as somewhat selfish and distasteful. Charley wants to write musicals in what might be termed the Sondheim tradition, while Frank seems more interested in doing a Jerry Herman. And what’s so wrong with that? (To appropriate a phrase heard in the musical in a different context, “I don’t make that a crime.”) Perhaps Frank isn’t selling out but only finding his muse, and that muse is popular, feel-good theatre. But Charley believes Frank has cavalierly tossed aside his talent and his youthful ideals, and on a national television talk show Charley embarrasses Frank by ridiculing his professional choices. Naturally, Frank is furious, and who wouldn’t be? It’s Charley who comes across as a closed-minded klutz who doesn’t want his friends to grow, and Frank seems well rid of him. Further, Mary carries a torch for Frank, and the script hints that somehow Frank is wrong for not reciprocating her affection (here there seems to be a foreshadowing of Fosca and Giorgio’s relationship in Sondheim’s 1994 musical Passion). But there’s no evidence that Frank ever encouraged Mary, and it isn’t Frank’s fault that she obsesses over their platonic relationship and eventually becomes an alcoholic. All in all, Frank seems to be the only character with a head on his shoulders and who knows what he wants. Charley and Mary come across as tiresome and one-dimensional, and only Frank shows subtlety and complexity. As one watched the production, it also seemed that pivotal and informative scenes were played offstage, and that Furth never bothered to dramatize and explain his characters and their relationships. Harold Prince’s casting choices didn’t help. The performers were far too young for many of their scenes, and when portraying adults they sometimes seemed hopelessly amateurish; but as the show retrogressed in time and the characters became younger, the players were clearly more comfortable in their roles. (Later revivals solved this issue by finding a middle ground in which the performers seem to be around thirty years of age and can comfortably navigate the range of ages, from the early forties to the late teens.) Further, Prince didn’t have a unifying motif and visual concept for the musical. Eugene Lee’s unattractive set (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said it looked like it cost twenty-eight dollars and Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested it was the leftover set of Runaways) appeared to be a combination of a high school’s locker room and gymnasium with a smorgasbord of bleachers and lockers and scaffolding, and whatever this signified was a secret not shared with the audience. Moreover, Judith Dolan’s dreary costumes utilized T-shirts emblazoned with the function of each character (Best Friend, Best Pal, Talk Show Host, Secretary); but shirts get wrinkled, and so it was often impossible to read the wording, and beyond the first few rows of the stage even the words on the unwrinkled shirts were almost impossible to make out. But Sondheim’s score was one of his most brilliant, and his gorgeous and ingratiating melodies and clever lyrics were an oasis in a desert of tedium. The scintillating cast album gives no evidence of the less-thanhappy book, choreography, sets, costumes, and performances. Rich said Merrily was a “shambles” that nonetheless contained “crushing and beautiful” songs that “soar and linger and hurt.” But Watt found the musical a “dud” with a “pallid” score, and Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the score was Sondheim’s “thinnest” and the overall material was superficial. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the “lovely” and “excellent” songs, and singled out seven. T. E. Kalem in Time said much of the score sounded like “an aside from Sondheim” (but he singled out “Not a Day Goes By” and “Good Thing Going”) and noted that Larry Fuller’s choreography was of the “hop, skip and jump variety, rather like a discarded thought from Agnes de Mille’s brain.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek found Furth’s book “cluttered,” the sets “uncomely,” and Fuller’s contributions “inglorious,” with an “amazingly clumsy climactic first-act dance,” but “through everything Sondheim’s music is the one shining element.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the evening was “shocking,” as it “clunks, lurches, and on several occasions faints dead away.” The creators went “wildly wrong” with their “wrongheaded idea,” and casting the musical with very young performers was a “bad idea.” Further, the set was “hideous” and the costumes were “tacky.” Hobe in Variety suspected the musical was in much better shape on opening night than in previews, when there were reportedly “mass walkouts.” The show had a “reasonable, if inconsistent interest, with several moderately entertaining” songs with “pop possibilities” (and he singled out “Not a Day Goes By,” “Old Friends,” and “Good Thing Going,” the latter of which had been recorded by Frank Sinatra).

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Clive Barnes in the New York Post ignored the negative dish on the show and said that by opening night the musical had “unquestionably triumphed.” While the show had not resolved the matter of the young cast members who must age (or more specifically de-age) throughout the performance, he nonetheless said Furth’s book was “eloquently and aptly contrived,” the choreography was “unobtrusively brilliant,” and Prince’s direction kept “the show whirling like confetti in the wind.” As for Sondheim, his music was “rhythmic and acerbic,” his lyrics “dry and wry,” and the overall impression was a “surging Sondheim sound that is New York set to music.” The musical opted for a series of Broadway previews rather than a traditional out-of-town tryout, so Merrily’s troubles were widely disseminated during its agonizing fifty-two previews. The original opening night of November 1 was postponed to November 9 and then to November 16; choreographer Ron Field was replaced by Larry Fuller; and leading man James Weissenbach, who created the role of Frank during early New York previews, was replaced by Jim Walton, who heretofore had played a minor role in the show. The songs “Darling!,” “The Blob,” “Thank You for Coming,” and “Honey” were dropped, and late in previews Geoffrey Horne joined the cast as the older Frank. But the rewriting and restaging as well as the cast and song changes didn’t help. With mostly negative reviews, the musical closed after two weeks at an estimated $1.5 million loss. The original cast album was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # CBL1-4197), and the first CD release (# RCD1-5840) included “It’s a Hit!,” which had been recorded during the cast album session but was omitted from the LP release because of space limitations. The second CD release (# 82876-68637-2) includes bonus tracks of Sondheim singing “It’s a Hit!” and Bernadette Peters’s rendition of “Not a Day Goes By.” The collection Lost in Boston III (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5563) includes the deleted song “Honey.” The script (which includes “Rich and Happy”) was to have been released in hardback by Dodd, Mead & Company, but was canceled (six soft-bound and uncorrected advance proof copies are known to exist). The lyrics for the used, cut, and unused songs are included in Sondheim’s 2010 collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes (published by Alfred A. Knopf). For subsequent revivals, Sondheim rewrote “Rich and Happy” as “That Frank,” Frank himself was given a new song (the introspective “Growing Up”), and some productions have reinstated “The Blob.” (The various reprises of the title song have become known as “First Transition,” “Second Transition,” etc.) The musical was revived on May 26, 1994, in New York by the York Theatre Company for a limited engagement of fifty-four performances at Saint Peter’s Church. The production (and its cast recording, which was issued by Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5548) includes “That Frank,” “The Blob,” and “Growing Up.” A second revival was produced in concert format by Encores! at City Center on February 8, 2012, for five performances; the production and its cast recording (issued by PS Classics # PS-1208 on a two-CD set) includes “That Frank,” “The Blob,” “Growing Up,” and “Musical Husbands” (aka “Gussie’s Opening Number”), the last a jazzed-up version of “Good Thing Going.” A British production at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre opened on April 10, 1992; the cast recording was released by That’s Entertainment Records (CD # CDTER-1225) and includes “That Frank,” “The Blob,” and “Growing Up” (the company later issued an expanded two-CD recording # CDTER2-1245). A 2012 London production at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre was taped live and shown in a limited theatrical release in 2013. As of this writing, the film version hasn’t been issued on home video. With the failure of Merrily We Roll Along, the Alvin Theatre hit a luckless streak. For the remainder of the season its musicals were doomed to failure: Little Johnny Jones (one performance), The Little Prince and the Aviator (closed in previews), and Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? (five performances). Even the following season began ominously with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (five performances). In later years Into the Light (13 performances), Senator Joe (closed in previews), and Cyrano—the Musical (1993; 137 performances) played there. It wasn’t until 1996 when the revival of The King and I opened and played for 807 performances that the theatre finally enjoyed a hit musical after some sixteen years of drought.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Score (lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim)

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THE FIRST “A New Musical”

Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: November 17, 1981; Closing Date: December 13, 1981 Performances: 17 Book: Joel Siegel “with Martin Charnin” Lyrics: Martin Charnin Music: Bob Brush Direction: Martin Charnin; Producers: Zev Bufman and Neil Bogart, and Michael Harvey and Peter A. Bobley (Roger Luby, Associate Producer); Choreography: Alan Johnson; Scenery: David Chapman; Costumes: Carrie Robbins; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Mark Hummel Cast: Bill Buell (Patsy, Dodger Coach, Brian Waterhouse), Trey Wilson (Leo Durocher), Ray Gill (Clyde Sukeforth), Sam Stoneburner (Powers), Thomas Griffith (Thurman, Dodger Rookie, Pittsburgh Pirate), David Huddleston (Branch Rickey), Jack Hallett (Cannon, Dodger Coach, Sheriff, Huey, Philadelphia Reporter), Stephen Crain (Holmes, Eddie Stanky, Pittsburgh Pirate), Paul Forrest (Sorrentino, Umpire, Trainer, Philadelphia Reporter), D. Peter Samuel (Bartender, Hatrack Harris), Bob Morrisey (Soldier, Pee Wee Reese), Kim Criswell (Girl, Dodger Wife, Hilda Chester), David Alan Grier (Jackie Robinson), Steven Bland (Third Baseman, Equipment Manager), Luther Fontaine (Junkyard Jones), Michael Edward-Stevens (Catcher, Bucky), Rodney Saulsberry (Jo-Jo), Clent Bowers (Cool Minnie), Paul Cook Tartt (Softball), Lonette McKee (Rachel Isum); Passengers: Margaret Lamee, Sam Stoneburner, Rodney Saulsberry, Janet Hubert, Thomas Griffith, Kim Criswell, Steven Bland, Bob Morrisey, Stephen Crain, Boncellia Lewis; Rodney Saulsberry (Cuban Reporter), Steven Bland (Cuban Reporter), Steven Boockvor (Swanee Rivers), Court Miller (Casey Higgins); Fans: Boncellia Lewis, Steven Bland, Michael Edward-Stevens, Janet Hubert, Rodney Saulsberry; Janet Hubert (Opal), Boncellia Lewis (Ruby), Margaret Lamee (Dodger Wife), and the voice of Red Barber The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place between August 1945 and September 1947 in New York; Chicago; Brooklyn; Havana; Jacksonville, Florida; Philadelphia; and St. Louis.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Jack Roosevelt Robinson” (David Huddleston, Trey Wilson, Ray Gill); “Dancin’ Off Third” (David Alan Grier, Luther Fontaine, The Monarchs); “The National Pastime” (Clent Bowers, David Alan Grier, Luther Fontaine, The Monarchs); “Will We Ever Know Each Other?” (David Alan Grier, Lonette McKee); “The First” (David Alan Grier); “Bloat” (Trey Wilson, Reporters, The Dodgers); “The First” (reprise) (David Alan Grier); “It Ain’t Gonna Work!” (Court Miller, The Dodgers); “The Brooklyn Dodger Strike” (David Huddleston, Trey Wilson); “Jack Roosevelt Robinson” (reprise) (David Huddleston); “The First” (reprise) (Lonette McKee) Act Two: “You Do-Do-Do-It Good!” (Clent Bowers, David Alan Grier, Luther Fontaine, The Monarchs, Boncellia Lewis, Janet Hubert); “Is This Year Next Year?” (Sam Stoneburner, Reporters, David Huddleston, Ray Gill, The Dodgers); “There Are Days and There Are Days” (Lonette McKee); “It’s a Beginning” (David Huddleston, David Alan Grier); “The Opera Ain’t Over” (Kim Criswell, Fans, David Alan Grier, The Dodgers, Lonette McKee, David Huddleston) After the surprise success of Damn Yankees (1955), it seemed that the theatrical curse of shows that dealt with the subject of baseball had ended. But the very next year the comedy The Hot Corner closed after 5 performances; the Harold Prince–directed baseball revue Diamonds survived for just 122 Off-Broadway performances in 1984; and The First floundered after 17 showings. Further, the 1985 Off-Broadway musical Bingo! (about black baseball players) seems to have disappeared after its limited two-week engagement, and during the same year the musical The Dream Team (which dealt with two brothers who play in the Negro Leagues and how one of them is selected for the majors) was seen briefly at Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre. And the nonmusicals The Babe (1984; Babe Ruth), Cobb (2000; Ty Cobb), and Nobody Don’t Like Yogi (2003; Yogi Berra) all played for less than 100 performances apiece. But Richard Greenberg’s Take

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Me Out won a theatrical pennant when it opened during the 2002–2003 season, played for 355 showings, and won both the Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. The First dealt with Jackie Robinson (1919–1972), who in 1947 broke racial barriers when he became the first black to play in major league baseball. The inherent drama of the story, coupled with the general world of baseball as well as the era of the mid-1940s when popular music trended from big band to more intimate jazz-inflected song stylings, would seem to have had the makings of a terrific musical with larger-than-life characters, a compelling plot, and colorful atmosphere. Robinson’s story had the potential of taking advantage of the era’s popular musical styles to embellish the saga of both his professional and personal lives. Unfortunately, the well-meaning musical was strictly by-the-numbers in its predictable and somewhat tiresome approach to the inherent drama swirling about in the training camps, ballparks, and locker rooms, as everyone from ballplayers to sportswriters to the fans realized that baseball history was in the making when Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Further, Bob Brush’s music was somewhat generic, and only once did the score hit a home run when the composer expanded the boundaries of the heretofore dreary procession of songs with a late second-act explosion in which fans, players, and other principals let loose with the expansive, mock-operatic “The Opera Ain’t Over.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said the book, lyrics, music, and direction were “dull,” the story itself hadn’t been “shaped into theatre,” and the score was “devoid of melody or style.” As a result, The First was “one long seventh-inning stretch.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News stated the show “never got to first base” and seemed to “dawdle forever” in the telling of its story. The book was “sketchily serviceable,” the score lent “fresh meaning to the term commonplace,” and perhaps the musical’s history was suspect: Watt reported that for Robinson’s Brooklyn debut he’s greeted by catcalls, boos, and a watermelon hurled at his feet; but Watt said a friend who was actually at the historic ballgame told him Robinson was hailed with “warm applause.” Watt praised David Huddlston’s “wonderfully assured, humorous performance” as Branch Rickey, and said David Alan Grier in the title role was “winning.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested Grier didn’t make much of an impression and didn’t seem “like the bat that launched a thousand hits.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said Grier acted “winningly,” but as written his role didn’t provide challenging material or bite to his character, and as Robinson’s wife, Rachel, Lonette McKee had “great presence” and sang “with style” but needed “deeper” material. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal found Martin Charnin’s lyrics “embarrassingly banal,” but praised Brush’s “interesting, melodic score.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the new musical was “winning and imaginative” with “tautly written” scenes and songs that were able to meet “the demands and enhance the pleasures of this socially conscious musical.” Like many musicals of the era, The First didn’t have an out-of-town tryout and instead opted for a series of Broadway previews. During the preview period, the songs “Bums” and “Southern Hospitality” were cut and the roles of Eunice and Noonan, played by Patricia Drylie and George D. Wallace, were eliminated; but Wallace remained with the show as David Huddleston’s standby. Darren McGavin had originally been signed to play Branch Rickey, but left the musical during rehearsals and was succeeded by Huddleston. The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1983. “There Are Days and There Are Days” and “Will We Ever Know Each Other” are included in the first collection of the series Unsung Musicals (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5462).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Featured Actor in a Musical (David Alan Grier); Best Director of a Musical (Martin Charnin); Best Book (Joel Siegel and Martin Charnin)

DREAMGIRLS Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: December 20, 1981; Closing Date: August 4, 1985 Performances: 1,522

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Book and Lyrics: Tom Eyen Music: Henry Krieger Direction and Choreography: Michael Bennett (Michael Peters, Co-Choreographer); Producers: Michael Bennett, Bob Avian, Geffen Records, and The Shubert Organization; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: Yolanda Segovia Cast: The Stepp Sisters: Deborah Burrell, Vanessa Bell, Tenita Jordan, and Brenda Pressley; Cheryl Alexander (Charlene), Linda Lloyd (Joanne), Vondie Curtis-Hall (Marty), Ben Harney (Curtis Taylor Jr.), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Deena Jones), Larry Stewart (The M.C., Mr. Morgan), Joe Lynn (Tiny Joe Dixon, Jerry), Loretta Devine (Lorrell Robinson), Obba Babatunde (C. C. White), Jennifer Holliday (Effie Melody White); Little Albert and The Tru-Tones: Wellington Perkins, Charles Bernard, Jamie Patterson, Charles RandolphWright, and Weyman Thompson; Cleavant Derricks (James aka Jimmy Thunder Early), Sheila Ellis (Edna Burke); The James Early Band: Charles Bernard, Jamie Patterson, Wellington Perkins, Scott Plank, Charles Randolph-Wright, and Weyman Thompson; Tony Franklin (Wayne); Dave and The Sweethearts: Paul Binotto, Candy Darling, and Stephanie Eley; David Thome (Frank), Deborah Burrell (Michelle Morris), The Five Tuxedos: Charles Bernard, Jamie Patterson, Charles Randolph-Wright, Larry Stewart, and Weyman Thompson; Les Style: Cheryl Alexander, Tenita Jordan, Linda Lloyd, and Brenda Pressley; Film Executives: Paul Binotto, Scott Plank, and Weyman Thompson; Announcers, Fans, Reporters, Stagehands, Party Guests, and Photographers: Cheryl Alexander, Phylicia Ayers-Allen, Vanessa Bell, Charles Bernard, Paul Binotto, Candy Darling, Ronald Dunham, Stephanie Eley, Sheila Ellis, Tenita Jordan, Linda Lloyd, Joe Lynn, Frank Mastrocola, Jamie Patterson, Wellington Perkins, Scott Plank, Brenda Pressley, David Thome, Charles Randolph-Wright, Larry Stewart, Weyman Thompson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the early 1960s (in New York City, on the road, in limbo, St. Louis, Miami, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Las Vegas) and in the early 1970s (in Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City).

Musical Numbers Note: The Dreamettes and The Dreams were portrayed and sung by Jennifer Holliday, Loretta Devine, and Sheryl Lee Ralph until the last number in the first act (“Love Love You Baby”) when The Dreams were portrayed by Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, and Deborah Burrell; beginning with the reprise version of “One Night Only” late in the second act, the group is known as Deena Jones and The Dreams and the group members are portrayed by Sheryl Lee Ralph with Loretta Devine and Deborah Burrell. Act One: “I’m Looking for Something” (The Stepp Sisters: Deborah Burrell, Vanessa Bell, Tenita Jordan, and Brenda Pressley); “Goin’ Downtown” (Little Albert and The Tru-Tones: Wellington Perkins, Charles Bernard, Jamie Patterson, Charles Randolph-Wright, and Weyman Thompson); “Takin’ the Long Way Home” (Joe Lynn); “Move” (“You’re Steppin’ on My Heart”) (The Dreamettes: Jennifer Holiday, Loretta Devine, and Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Fake Your Way to the Top” (Cleavant Derricks; The James Early Band: Charles Bernard, Jamie Patterson, Wellington Perkins, Scott Plank, Charles Randolph-Wright, and Weyman Thompson); “Cadillac Car” (Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Obba Babatunde, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Company); “Cadillac Car” (reprise) (Company); “Cadillac Car” (second reprise) (Company); “Cadillac Car” (third reprise) (Dave and The Sweethearts: Paul Binotto, Candy Darling, and Stephanie Eley); “Steppin’ to the Bad Side” (Ben Harney, Obba Babatunde, Cleavant Derricks, Tony Franklin; The Dreamettes: Jennifer Holiday, Loretta Devine, and Sheryl Lee Ralph; Company); “Party, Party” (Company); “I Want You Baby” (Cleavant Derricks; The Dreamettes: Jennifer Holiday, Loretta Devine, and Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Family” (Obba Babatunde, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine); “Dreamgirls” (The Dreams: Jennifer Holiday, Loretta Devine, and Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Press Conference” (Company); “Only the Beginning” (Ben Harney, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Jennifer Holliday); “Heavy” (The Dreams: Jennifer Holiday, Loretta Devine, and Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Heavy” (reprise) (The Dreams: Jennifer Holiday, Loretta Devine, and Sheryl Lee Ralph; Ben Harney); “It’s All Over” (Ben Harney, Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Obba Babatunde, Deborah Burrell, Cleavant Derricks); “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” (Jennifer Holliday); “Love Love You Baby” (The Dreams: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, and Deborah Burrell)

1981–1982 SEASON     113

Act Two: “Dreams’ Medley” (Deena Jones and The Dreams: Sheryl Lee Ralph with Loretta Devine and Deborah Burrell); “I Am Changing” (Jennifer Holliday); “One More Picture, Please” (Company); “When I First Saw You” (Ben Harney, Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Got to Be Good Times” (The Five Tuxedos: Charles Bernard, Jamie Patterson, Charles Randolph-Wright, Larry Stewart, and Weyman Thompson); “Ain’t No Party” (Loretta Devine, Cleavant Derricks); “I Meant You No Harm” (Cleavant Derricks); “Quintette” (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Obba Babatunde, Deborah Burrell, Cleavant Derricks); “The Rap” (Cleavant Derricks, Obba Babatunde, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Ben Harney, David Thome, Loretta Devine, Company); “I Miss You Old Friend” (Jennifer Holliday, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Obba Babatunde; Les Style: Cheryl Alexander, Tenita Jordan, Linda Lloyd, and Brenda Pressley); “One Night Only” (Jennifer Holliday); “One Night Only” (reprise) (Deena Jones and The Dreams: Sheryl Lee Ralph with Loretta Devine and Deborah Burrell; Company); “I’m Somebody” (Deena Jones and The Dreams: Sheryl Lee Ralph with Loretta Devine and Deborah Burrell); “Faith in Myself” (Jennifer Holliday); “Hard to Say Goodbye, My Love” (Deena Jones and The Dreams: Sheryl Lee Ralph with Loretta Devine and Deborah Burrell) (Note: Although not listed in the program, the finale was a reprise of “Dreamgirls,” and was sung by Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, and Deborah Burrell.) Despite its enormous success (at 1,522 performances it was the season’s longest-running musical), Michael Bennett’s Dreamgirls was a disappointing show that never realized its potential and was further lost in a fog of pretentious staging and décor. The story dealt with the girl group the Dreams, a trio of black singers clearly patterned after the Supremes, and the backstage intrigue in which the trio’s lead singer, the overweight Effie Melody White (Jennifer Holliday), is ruthlessly dropped by the group’s manager Curtis Taylor Jr. (Ben Harney), a former car salesman who is the group’s manager and Effie’s lover. When he decides the up-and-coming trio needs to change its current image for a more commercial and glamorous one if it’s to cross over and become popular with white record buyers and concert goers, Effie is replaced in the trio (and in Taylor’s bed) by the sleek and stylish Deena Jones (Sheryl Lee Ralph). Taylor also shoves aside the established black male singer James Thunder Early (a character clearly inspired by singer James Brown and portrayed by Cleavant Derricks), when he decides Early is on the verge of becoming a has-been with his brand of old-hat soul music. As for the trio itself, its original name and its subsequent changes said it all, as it cleverly showed the evolving styles of music and the backstage back stabbings: The Dreamettes, The Dreams, and then Deena Jones and The Dreams. The inherent drama in these stories could have made an exciting and incisive musical with something interesting to say about showbiz intrigues and the vagaries of the popular music world. But Tom Eyen’s book shunted aside the story’s more cynical aspects and never truly addressed the potentially searing dramatic possibilities of the material. Further, the virtually sung-through score (with lyrics by Eyen and music by Henry Krieger) was unimpressive, and while many made a case for Effie’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” it was an overwrought and bombastic show-off piece that brought to mind the equally dreary and pretentious “Fifty Percent” from Bennett’s previous Broadway musical Ballroom (1978). Despite the weaknesses of the book, lyrics, and score, one expected Bennett to magically transform the unexplored potential of the material into theatrical fireworks with his directorial and choreographic genius. Unfortunately, the musical all but ignored dance, and Bennett was far more interested in the dreary décor of eternally shifting pylons that dominated the stage. In fact, Bennett “choreographed” the pylons ad infinitum, and his staging ideas seemed more obsessed with creating pools of space by various configurations of the pylons and by shifting pools of light rather than the story itself. The pylons wouldn’t have been so insufferable had they been organic to the plot. As it was, one felt they would have been more appropriate for a musical about Stonehenge. The musical received raves along with many qualified reviews. Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Krieger’s score was “chiefly a white man’s watered-down version of Motown” and that Bennett’s choreography had “an odd air of parody that is almost patronizing” (he suggested that such black choreographers as Alvin Ailey, Billy Wilson, or George Faison “would almost certainly have done a better, even fairer, job”). In all, the evening “seemed an idea muddled, a dream gone adrift.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily felt the story followed “standard patterns,” its humor dissipated, and the best he could say about the music was that it was “continuous.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the new musical was “as flashy as a shop girl’s dream and just as empty,” and it resembled “a series of rehearsal periods for some slick TV commercial.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 complained that there was only one “real” dance number in the entire musical, the evening lacked “emotional impact,” and the story never made “people of its characters.”

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Jack Kroll in Newsweek said Dreamgirls wasn’t “perfect” and he didn’t care for the unrealistic “reconciliation” between Effie and The Dreams, particularly since the actual cast-aside Supreme, Florence Ballard, met “penury and defeat” and died at the age of thirty-two. But nonetheless he said the work was “an entertainment unlike any other, a permanent contribution to our musical theatre.” T. E. Kalem in Time noted that Bennett was “surprisingly skimpy” on dances but otherwise conjured up “scenes of potent magic that prove as evanescent as dreams,” and Frank Rich in the New York Times said Bennett had “fashioned a show that strikes with the speed of lightning” and all the evening’s elements kept “coming together and falling apart to create explosive variations on a theme.” As for Jennifer Holliday, Rich said her “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” was one of the “powerful theatrical coups” in the history of Broadway; Barnes said her voice combined “velvet” and “sandpaper”; and Kroll somehow decided that “Maria Callas herself would have admired” Holliday’s “devastating fusion of singing and acting.” Watt said Holliday’s acting ability was “negligible,” but her gospel-styled singing was “effective” if “overused,” particularly in her “nagging” torch song. And Kissel found her a “magical” artist and said he could “almost” forgive the “morons” in the audience who leapt to their feet in cheers before Holliday had time to finish her big number. During the tryout, the song “I Found You” (for Deborah Burrell and Tony Franklin) was cut, and the title of the musical was Dream Girls (two words). For the national tour, the second-act opening (“Dreams’ Medley”) was replaced by “Step on Over.” The original cast album was released by Geffen Records (LP # GHSP-2007), and the CD was issued by Universal/Decca Broadway with three bonus tracks (“Driving Down the Strip,” “It’s All Over,” and the finale reprise of the title song). A 2001 New York concert was recorded by Nonesuch Records (CD # 7559-79656-2) on a two-CD set. The film version was released in 2006 by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. Directed by Bill Condon, the cast included Jennifer Hudson (who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the role of Effie), Beyonce Knowles (Deena), Eddie Murphy (Early), Jamie Foxx (Taylor), and, in a cameo appearance, Broadway cast member Loretta Devine. The soundtrack was released on a two-CD set by Sony/BMG (# 8869702012-2), and the DVD was issued by Warner Brothers. Most of the Broadway score was retained for the film, and the following songs were added: “Love You I Do” and “Perfect World” (lyrics by Siedah Garrett and music by Henry Krieger); “Patience” and “What Love Can Do” (lyrics by Willie Reale and music by Henry Krieger); “Listen” (lyric by Scott Cutler, Beyonce Knowles, and Anne Preven and music by Henry Krieger); and “Big” and “Lorrell Loves Jimmy” (lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger). The film also interpolated “Step on Over,” which had been added for the national tour. The musical was revived on Broadway on June 28, 1987, at the Ambassador Theatre for 177 performances (see entry), and on November 22, 2009, at the Apollo Theatre for 44 showings. A curious footnote to Dreamgirls is that in three versions of the musical the leading role of Effie has been played by actresses whose first name is a variation of “Jennifer.” In early 1981, Jenifer Lewis created the role in a workshop production when the show was titled Big Dreams (Lewis discussed this experience in her onewoman autobiographical musical The Diva Is Dismissed, which opened at the Susan Stein Shiva Theatre at the Public Theatre on October 30, 1994). And of course the Jennifers Holliday and Hudson played the roles in the respective Broadway and film versions.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Dreamgirls); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Ben Harney); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Jennifer Holliday); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Sheryl Lee Ralph); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Obba Babatunde); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Cleavant Derricks); Best Director of a Musical (Michael Bennett); Best Book (Tom Eyen); Best Score (lyrics by Tom Eyen, music by Henry Krieger); Best Scenic Designer (Robin Wagner); Best Costume Designer (Theoni V. Aldredge); Best Lighting Designer (Tharon Musser); Best Choreographer (Michael Bennett)

1981–1982 SEASON     115

WALTZ OF THE STORK “Melvin Van Peebles’ New Comedy

with

Music”

Theatre: Century Theatre Opening Date: January 5, 1982; Closing Date: May 23, 1982 Performances: 160 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Melvin Van Peebles (additional lyrics and music by Ted Hayes and by Mark Barkan); Producer: Melvin Van Peebles; Scenery: Kurt Lundell; Costumes: Bernard Johnson; Lighting: Shirley Prendergast; Musical Direction: Bob Carten Cast: Melvin Van Peebles (Edward Aloysius Younger), Bob Carten (Stillman), C. J. Critt (Phantoms, Memories, Back-Up Vocals), Mario Van Peebles (Phantoms, Memories, Back-Up Vocals) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place “now and before” in “Wherever” and in midtown Manhattan.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t identify the names of the performers for the musical numbers. Act One: “There”; “And I Love You”; “The Apple Stretching” (Introduction Version); “Tender Understanding” (lyric and music by Ted Hayes); “The Apple Stretching” (Instrumental Version); “Mother’s Prayer”; “My Love Belongs to You”; “Weddings and Funerals” (lyric and music by Mark Barkan) Act Two: “My Love Belongs to You” (reprise); “One-Hundred and Fifteen”; “Play It as It Lays”; “The Apple Stretching” (reprise); “Shoulders to Lean On” Melvin Van Peebles was the producer, star, book writer, lyricist, and composer of Waltz of the Stork (two songs were written by other lyricists and composers; see song list for further information). The looselystructured evening was comprised of a series of reminiscences by Edward Aloysius Younger (Melvin Van Peebles), some real and others fantasy. Despite mostly dismissive reviews, the small-scale musical with four performers and prerecorded music managed to run out the season for an almost five-month run. The score offered one catchy song (“Weddings and Funerals”) which was written and composed by Mark Barkan. Mario Van Peebles, the star’s son, played a variety of roles, as did C. J. Critt. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said that as a composer Van Peebles’s talent was “negligible” and his narrative was a “sketchy” and “ill-composed piece of work.” But there were “rare moments” when he made “amusing observations” with his “skillful delivery.” Frank Rich in the New York Times stated the evening was “a bewildering, almost unwatchable exercise in self-indulgence” which wasn’t “ready to play a living room, let alone a Broadway theatre”; Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily suggested the environment of “coffee house poetry readings” would have better served Van Peebles’s writings; Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “strange entertainment” was like attending a “boring party” with “monotonous music,” and he noted that the “wordy rigamarole” was “much ado about nothing”; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found the evening “generally lackluster” but “amiable in tone, generally ingratiating, and sometimes amusing,” and he suggested the material would have been more effective had it been half as long. Waltz of the Stork had first been performed Off Broadway at the INTAR Theatre in June 1981. Van Peebles later revised the musical and the now self-styled “Comedy Musical” opened Off Off Broadway on July 12, 1984, at the Harry Dejur Henry Street Settlement Playhouse as Waltz of the Stork Boogie and played for twenty performances. Legendary dancer Harold Nicholas performed the role originally created by Van Peebles, and the cast also included the Brewery Puppets. All the songs from the original production were retained, and two new ones were added (both by Van Peebles), “So Many Bars” and “Jungle Party (No Escape).” Waltz of the Stork opened at the Century Theatre, which was originally the home of the nightclub Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe. After the venue’s glory days as the famous nitery and before it was named the Century, the theatre was known as the Mayfair.

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LITTLE ME

“A Musical Comedy” Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: January 21, 1982; Closing Date: February 21, 1982 Performances: 36 Book: Neil Simon Lyrics: Carolyn Leigh Music: Cy Coleman Based on the 1961 novel Little Me by Patrick Dennis. Direction: Robert Drivas; Producers: Warner Theatre Productions, Inc., Wayne Rogers, Ron Dante, Steven Leber, David Krebs, J. McLaughlin, Marc Piven, and Emanuel Azenberg; Choreography: Peter Gennaro; Scenery and Costumes: Tony Walton; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Donald York Cast: Gibby Brand (Announcer, Attorney, Bandleader, Preacher, German Soldier, General, Yulnick), Jessica James (Belle—Today), Henry Sutton (Charlie Drake, Greensleeves, Town Spokesman, Assistant Director, Croupier), Mary Gordon Murray (Belle, Baby Belle), Mary Small (Momma), Mary C. Holton (Ramona), Gail Pennington (Cerine, Boom-Boom Girl), Brian Quinn (Bruce, Sailor I), Victor Garber (Noble Eggleston, Val du Val, Fred Poitrine, Noble Junior), James Coco (Flo Eggleston, Amos Pinchley, Mr. Worst, Otto Schnitzler, Prince Cherney), Maris Clement (Mrs. Kepplewhite), James Brennan (Pinchley Junior), Sean Murphy (Nurse), Don Correia (Frankie Polo), Bebe Neuwirth (Boom-Boom Girl), Bob Freschi (Henchman, Captain), Stephen Berger (Court Clerk, Henchman, Sergeant, Doctor), Mark McGrath (Bert, Sailor II), Andrea Green (Red Cross Nurse), David Cahn (Stewart), Kevin Brooks Winkler (Pharaoh I); Townspeople, Skylight Patrons, Nurses, Soldiers, Passengers, International Set, and Peasants: Stephen Berger, Michael Blevins, David Cahn, Maria Clement, Bob Freschi, Andrea Green, Mary C. Holton, Mark McGrath, Gary Mendelson, Sean Murphy, Bebe Neuwirth, Gail Pennington, Susan Powers, Brian Quinn, Kevin Brooks Winkler The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the present in New Jersey, and during the past in such places as East Hampton, Long Island, Chicago, France, the North Atlantic, and Hollywood.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Don’t Ask a Lady” (Jessica James);”The Other Side of the Tracks” (Mary Gordon Murray); “The Rich Kids’ Rag” (aka “The Birthday Party”) (Company); “I Love You” (Victor Garber, Mary Gordon Murray, Company); “The Other Side of the Tracks” (reprise) (Mary Gordon Murray); “Deep Down Inside” (James Coco, Mary Gordon Murray, Company); “Boom-Boom” (Victor Garber); “I’ve Got Your Number” (Don Correia); “Real Live Girl” (Victor Garber); “Real Live Girl” (reprise) (Doughboys) Act Two: “I Love You” (reprise) (Victor Garber, Mary Gordon Murray); “I Wanna Be Yours” (Mary Gordon Murray, James Coco); “Little Me” (Jessica James, Mary Gordon Murray, Mary Small); “Goodbye” (aka “Farewell” and “The Prince’s Farewell”) (James Coco, Gibby Brand, Stephen Berger, Company); “Here’s to Us” (Jessica James, Company) In the beginning there was Patrick Dennis’s delicious 1961 novel Little Me: The Intimate Memoirs of That Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television Belle Poitrine as Told to Patrick Dennis, a merry send-up of tell-all, as-told-to autobiographies by tinsel-town actresses (the book is dedicated to such luminaries as Arlene, Bette, Brigitte, Ingrid, Marilyn, Olivia, Sophie, Tallulah, Yvonne, Zsa Zsa, “and those whose life stories will follow”). The fictitious Belle (born Bessie Schlumpfert) is a talent-free actress (who starred in such cinematic epics as Papaya Paradise, Tarzan’s Other Wife, Sawdust Circe, Viva Tequila!, and The Broadway Barcarole of 1930) who stops at nothing as she claws her way up the ladder of mediocrity in her search for “wealth, culture and social position.” The book includes dozens of hilarious photographs taken by Cris Alexander that depict Belle’s life and times. Alexander had appeared in the original Broadway productions of On the Town, Wonderful Town, and Auntie Mame, and about one hundred Broadway performers of the era took part in the photos (the book’s

1981–1982 SEASON     117

acknowledgment page thanks the actors and dancers who appeared at photos sessions “between matinee and evening performances and even sacrificed that time most sacred to the members of Equity—Sunday morning”). Those who took part in the photos were Jeri Archer (who had appeared in the 1945 Broadway musical Billion Dollar Baby) as Belle, and others in her life are portrayed by Alice Pearce and Kaye Ballard (and there’s even a “guest appearance” by Rosalind Russell). The book begins with Belle’s childhood days in turn-of-thecentury Venezuela, Illinois (Twin Jugs, Illinois, for the current revival), where, as a sign of respect, her mother was the only woman in town called “madam.” The saga concludes many decades later in present-day 1960, when the “frankly forty” Belle finds God in Southampton. After years of ups and downs in the world of show business, Belle recalls the triumphant opening of her 1931 musical comedy film version of “Nat” Hawthorne’s immortal classic novel The Scarlet Letter, now updated to life on a modern-day college campus called Allstate where coed Hester proudly wears the red-letter “A” on the sweater of her cheerleader outfit. The four-hour epic begins at eight o’clock on New Year’s Eve in a movie palace on Times Square, and when the film is over it is greeted with dead silence (Belle explains that the audience was so touched they were unable to applaud). But when Belle leaves the theatre at midnight and steps out onto the sidewalk, all hell breaks loose as the “wildly cheering populace of New York” erupts in applause, shouts, whistles, horns, and confetti. Belle knows she has finally “arrived.” But something happened to Belle on the road to Broadway where Little Me opened in 1962. The musical became a star vehicle for Sid Caesar, who played the roles of seven men in Belle’s life. With the focus shifted to Caesar’s characters, Belle was relegated to a supporting role in her own story (Virginia Martin played Belle and her daughter “ Baby,” and Nancy Andrews was the older Belle). Certainly the conceit of Caesar’s multiple roles provided continuity and a certain unifying element to the picaresque story, but unfortunately the musical concentrated too much on Caesar and less on spoofing old-time Hollywood and Belle’s ruthless ambition. For the current revival, two actors (Victor Garber and James Coco) divvied up Caesar’s seven roles (Garber was Noble Eggleston, Val du Val, Fred Poitrine, and Noble Eggleston Jr., and Coco played Pinchley, Schnitzler, and Cherney as well as two new roles written for the revival, Mr. Worst and the drag role of Flo Eggleston). Further, the scenes of Belle’s days in vaudeville were cut, including the songs “Be a Performer!” and “Dimples” (these were virtually a two-song shorthand for the plot of the later 1975 musical Chicago), and Belle’s Hollywood years were skimmed over (and her song “Poor Little Hollywood Star” was dropped). With Belle now shunted aside with even less to do than in the original production, and with the misconceived notion of dividing Caesar’s roles between two actors, the revival was weak tea and disappeared after thirty-six performances. The production also included Bebe Neuwirth in the role of the Boom Boom Girl and as a member of the ensemble. Including Little Me, most of Neuwirth’s Broadway appearances were in musicals associated with Bob Fosse: she was a replacement in Dancin’ (1978); appeared as Nickie in the 1986 revival of Sweet Charity, where she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical; was Lola in the 1994 revival of Damn Yankees; was Velma in the 1996 revival of Chicago (she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, and during the marathon run also appeared as Roxie Hart and Matron Mama Morton); and was a replacement in the retrospective revue Fosse (1999). The revival included book revisions as well as the omission of four songs (“The Truth,” “Be a Performer!,” “Dimples,” and “Poor Little Hollywood Star”) and the addition of two others (the well-received “Don’t Ask a Lady” and “I Wanna Be Yours”). During New York previews, the revival included “Be a Performer!,” which was dropped prior to opening night. Bob Fosse had choreographed the original production, and while Peter Gennaro created the dances for the revival, Fosse’s original choreography was used for “Deep Down Inside.” Frank Rich in the New York Times praised the “outstanding” score, but otherwise found the current production “a spotty, sloppy substitute for the zestier and grander” original version; further, Garber and Coco weren’t “suitable” successors to Caesar and weren’t as funny. Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the score was “Broadway gold,” and noted that the “seductive” Don Correia “slithers and snakes like the serpent in Eden” for “I’ve Got Your Number.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily also hailed Correia, who created “fireworks” with his impressive dance, but criticized Tony Walton’s décor and costumes, both of which seemed to have been “created on an extremely tight budget.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News felt the book was too much of a “loosely strung and somewhat jumbled travelogue,” but the score was “delightful and vivacious” and the “talented” Correia provided a “sensual” and “show-stopping” dance for “I’ve Got Your Number”; Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the revival was “one of the best shows in town” and he liked the “summer breeziness” of Coleman’s music

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and the “apt dexterity” of Leigh’s “cheek-in-tongue” lyrics; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the “solid” performances and noted that Correia’s turn was a “dazzling solo”; and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal liked the “wit and sophistication” of the score and how Correia “sensuously closes in” on Belle for “I’ve Got Your Number.” The original production opened on November 17, 1962, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for 257 performances. Despite mostly rave reviews and ten Tony Award nominations (including a Best Choreographer award to Bob Fosse), the musical closed at a loss and ironically ran one week less than the poorly received Mr. President. Cy Coleman’s tuneful score and Carolyn Leigh’s daffy lyrics provided one of the best scores of the era, and included the sensuous male strip-tease “I’ve Got Your Number” for one of Belle’s suitors; the tongue-incheek ballad “I Love You” in which richer-than-thou Junior Eggleston tells Belle he loves her as much as he’s able, considering she’s “riffraff” and he’s “well-to-do”; the hijinks of “The Prince’s Farewell” in which the dying Prince Cherney comfortingly assures his subjects that one day they’ll all meet again (and they solemnly respond, “We hope it isn’t soon”); the sly spoof “Boom-Boom,” a look at Maurice Chevalier-styled music-hall antics; the alternately wistful and driving “The Other Side of the Tracks,” Belle’s “wanting” song; the witty “The Truth,” for the older Belle to hawk her autobiography; the triumphant toast “Here’s to Us,” for the older Belle; the touching and plaintive air “Poor Little Hollywood Star” in which Belle, like all show-business stars before her, realizes that It’s Lonely at the Top; the “I-Am-My-Own-Best-Friend” tradition of the title song for the two Belles; and the sweetly ingratiating ballad “Real Live Girl” for the doughboys on the front (a few critics thought it was a kinder and gentler “There’s Nothing Like a Dame”). The 1962 original cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1078; later issued on CD # 09026-61482-2), and the script was published in hardback by Random House in 1979 in The Collected Plays of Neil Simon Vol. II. The original London production opened at the Cambridge Theatre on November 18, 1964, with Bruce Forsyth and Eileen Gourlay (like Virginia Martin, who created the role of Hedy La Rue in the 1961 Broadway production of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Gourlay played Hedy in the London edition of How To). For London, Swen Swenson reprised his show-stopping “I’ve Got Your Number.” The London cast album was released by Pye Records (LP # NPL-18107 and # NSPL-83023), and later reissued by World Records (LP # T-789 and # ST-789) and PRT Records (LP # FBLP-8077); the CD was issued by DRG Records (# 13111). In many respects the London cast recording is superior to the Broadway album (and it includes “The Rich Kids’ Rag,” which was omitted from the Broadway recording). A late 1960s proposed film version never got off the ground. A two-full-page advertisement in the November 13, 1968, issue of Variety announced that “You’ll love mad-cap, man-made, much-married, money-mad, mini-minded, maxi-mated, mink-mantled and mainly musical Little Me!” The projected Avco Embassy film was to be produced by Joseph E. Levine, directed by Joe Layton, and written by Larry Gelbart, with filming set to begin in October 1969 as an “in Color … Major Road Show Attraction.” At one point, Carol Channing and Goldie Hawn were mentioned for the two Belles. After the current revival, the musical was presented on November 12, 1998, at the Criterion Center Stage Right Theater in a Roundabout Theatre Company production for 101 performances. Martin Short and Faith Prince headlined, and he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. With the exception of “The Truth,” all the songs from the original 1962 production were retained; “I Love You” was heard in the first act, and a revised version (“I Love Sinking You”) was sung in the second. The two new songs for the 1982 revival were omitted. The cast album was recorded by Varese Sarabande Records (CD # VSD-6011).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Victor Garber); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Mary Gordon Murray); Best Choreographer (Peter Gennaro)

1981–1982 SEASON     119

THE CURSE OF AN ACHING HEART “An Evening’s Comedy”

Theatre: Little Theatre Opening Date: January 25, 1982; Closing Date: February 21, 1982 Performances: 32 Play and Lyrics: William Alfred Music: Claibe Richardson Direction: Gerald Gutierrez; Producers: Margot Harley, John Houseman, Everett King, David Weil, and Sidney Shlenker (David Jiranek and Frederick C. Venturelli); Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Nancy Potts; Lighting: Dennis Parichy Cast: Faye Dunaway (Frances Walsh aka Frances Ann Duffy, Fran Duffy, and Frances Anna Duffy Walsh), Audrie Neenan (Gertrude “Lulu” Fitter aka Lulu Fitter and Gertrude “Lulu” Fitter Malardino), Bernie McInerney (John Joseph “Jo Jo” Finn), Jon Polito (Pasquale “Packy” Malardino), Dale Helward (Man with Newspaper), Kurt Knudson (Herman Crump), Terrance O’Quinn (Martin “Lugs” Walsh), Francine Beers (Minnie Crump), Colin Stinton (J. Stanislaus McGahey), Paul McCrane (Aloysius “Wishy” Burke), Beverly May (Gertrude Graham Finn), Raphael Sbarge (Martin Thomas Walsh) The play with songs was presented in one act. The action takes place in Brooklyn in the order of the following time periods: 1942, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1935, and 1942.

Musical Numbers “Love to Your Heart’s Desire” (Faye Dunaway, Audrie Neenan); “Make It New” (Faye Dunaway); “Spring, Spring, Spring” (Jon Polito); “Thorsping” (Audrie Neenan, Faye Dunaway); “I Got Eyes for a Girl on the Car” (Jon Polito); “Ain’t Love Grand” (Audrie Neenan, Jon Polito); Note: The program indicates that the song “Give Us a Kiss” was performed by Alan Mirchin, who was otherwise not listed in the credits (Ken Bloom in American Song states that the number was dropped in previews and that “I’m in Love with the Girl on the Car” and “Spring, Spring, Spring” were cut prior to the New York opening). William Alfred’s blank-verse play Hogan’s Goat was a successful drama that opened Off Broadway on November 11, 1965, for 607 performances. Set in the Brooklyn of 1890, the tragic story focused on the political and personal turmoil in an Irish-American neighborhood, including the doomed Kathleen, who was played by Faye Dunaway in her first major role. Albert Marre and Alfred wrote the book of the musical adaptation that opened on Broadway in 1970 as Cry for Us All. Despite a run of nine performances, it offered a strikingly melodic score by Mitch Leigh (with lyrics by Phyllis Robinson and Alfred). Alfred’s play with music The Curse of an Aching Heart was also set in Brooklyn and looked at the world of Irish New Yorkers, with its focus on Frances Walsh (played by Dunaway in her first New York stage appearance in seventeen years), who during the course of the evening is identified as the granddaughter of a minor character in Hogan’s Goat. Alfred wrote the lyrics for the incidental songs, Claibe Richardson was the composer, and the actors performed the numbers to prerecorded music. The short one-act, ninety-minute play began and ended in 1942, with flashbacks to 1923, 1925, 1927, and 1935. Frances Walsh always searches for happiness, but never quite finds it. As an orphan, she’s adopted by an uncle who harbors incestuous feelings for her, when she grows up she never seems to find romance, and when she finally marries it turns out her husband is a hopeless alcoholic. But no matter: Frances believes there is a purpose to existence and that one must embrace whatever life offers. The critics complained that too much of the action took place offstage between scenes and thus was never dramatized and only talked about. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that Alfred’s “narrative context” went “missing” and the plot lurched “in and out of coherence,” and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said some characters “simply evaporate or disappear for long years and plot stretches.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested Alfred’s “insight” was “commonplace enough for a fortune cookie”; Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found the play “contrived” with a “coy or clichéd” plot and performances that were “pure caricature”; Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the work “terribly contrived”; and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the script was “underwritten.”

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The critics also noted that Alfred seemed obsessed with both period slang (“the cat’s pajamas,” “that’s one slick bozo,” “You ain’t just whistlin’ ‘Dixie’”, and “there’s this bimbo there givin’ me the glad-eye”) and references (Clara Bow, Texas Guinan, Ish Kabibble, and cherry smashes), and Watt said he felt he “was trapped in a glossary instead of a play.” As for Dunaway’s performance, the consensus was she did her best with slim material. Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said that “in the midst of this rubble” she was nonetheless “a luminous and fascinating presence”; Kissel noted she was too mature to pass for a fourteen-year-old girl and she was “too striking looking to be credible as a woman fearing spinsterhood”; and Wilson commented that Dunaway’s wardrobe was hardly what a Depression-era secretary could afford (in fact, she looked “so smashing” in her outfits that it was “difficult to accept that she would have had a problem finding a husband”). Watt mentioned that the play was an “almost-musical” and suggested the “sketchy” material might have served as the book for a full-fledged one. He liked Richardson’s “considerable and tuneful” score, but noted the lyrics were “unfortunately inept.” Rich commented that the “pastiche period songs” provided nostalgia; Kissel found the score “warm” and “haunting”; and T. E. Kalem in Time said the “nickelodeon-like” music “tickles the ear.” Scenic designer John Lee Beatty walked away with the evening’s honors. The critics praised his skeletallike revolving décor that depicted interiors and exteriors of the Brooklyn tenements as well as a life-size streetcar that moved across the stage on tracks and even turned. Kissel said Beatty’s creations were “stunning” and the critic praised the “exquisite” streetcar, which was “almost worth the price of admission.” (Later in the decade, Keith Anderson’s trolley for Meet Me in St. Louis was another scene-stealer.) The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1983.

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Theatre: Royale Theatre Opening Date: January 27, 1982; Closing Date: September 4, 1983 Performances: 670 Lyrics: Tim Rice Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Based on the biblical story of Joseph as told in the Book of Genesis. Direction and Choreography: Tony Tanner; Producers: Zev Bufman and Susan R. Rose, and Melvyn J. Estrin, Sidney Shlenker and Gail Berman by arrangement with The Robert Stigwood Organization Ltd. and David Land (Thomas Pennini, Jean Luskin, and Jerome Edson); Scenery: Karl Eigsti; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Barry Arnold; Musical Direction: David Friedman Cast: Laurie Beechman (Narrator); Women’s Chorus: Lorraine Barrett, Karen Bogan, Katharine Buffaloe, Lauren Goler, Randon Lo, Joni Masella, Kathleen Rowe McAllen, and Renee Warren; Gordon Stanley (Jacob), Robert Hyman (Reuben), Kenneth Bryan (Simeon, Butler), Steve McNaughton (Levi), Charlie Serrano (Napthali), Peter Kapetan (Issachar), David Asher (Asher), James Rich (Dan), Doug Voet (Zebulon), Barry Tarallo (Gad, Baker), Philip Carrubba (Benjamin), Stephen Hope (Judah), Bill Hutton (Joseph), Tom Carder (Ishmaelite, Pharaoh), David Ardao (Ishmaelite, Potiphar), Randon Lo (Mrs. Potiphar) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Canaan, Egypt, and Goshen during Biblical times.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Jacob and Sons” and “Joseph’s Coat” (Laurie Beechman, Brothers, Gordon Stanley, Bill Hutton, Women); “Joseph’s Dreams” (Laurie Beechman, Bill Hutton, Brothers); “Poor, Poor Joseph” (Laurie Beechman, Brothers, Women); “One More Angel in Heaven” (Steve McNaughton, Brothers); “Potiphar” (Laurie Beechman, Women, Randon Lo, David Ardao, Bill Hutton); “Close Every Door” (Bill Hutton, Women); “Stone the Crows” (Laurie Beechman, Tom Carder, Bill Hutton, Women, Men); “Pharaoh’s Story” (Laurie Beechman, Women)

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Act Two: “Poor, Poor Pharaoh” and “Song of the King” (Laurie Beechman, Tom Carder, Women, Men); “Pharaoh’s Dream Explained” (Bill Hutton, Women, Men); “Stone the Crows” (reprise) (Laurie Beechman, Tom Carder, Bill Hutton, Women, Men); “Those Canaan Days” (Robert Hyman, Women, Men); “The Brothers Came to Egypt” and “Grovel, Grovel” (Laurie Beechman, Brothers, Bill Hutton, Women); “Who’s the Thief?” (Bill Hutton, Brothers, Women); “Benjamin Calypso” (Charlie Serrano, Brothers); “Joseph All the Time” (Laurie Beechman, Bill Hutton, Brothers, Women); “Jacob in Egypt” (Bill Hutton, Brothers, Women); “Any Dream Will Do” (Bill Hutton, Company); “May I Return to the Beginning” (Company) The current 1982 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat had originated Off Broadway, where it had opened at the Entermedia Theatre on November 18, 1981, for 77 performances. The musical had been previously produced in the New York City area at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Opera House on December 12, 1976, for 23 performances (David-James Carroll was Joseph, Cleavon Little was the Narrator, and Virginia Martin was Mrs. Potiphar), and returned there on December 13, 1977, for 24 more showings (Carroll was again Joseph, and Alan Weeks was the Narrator). Following the 1982 Broadway production, the musical was revived at the Minskoff Theatre on November 10, 1993, for 231 performances. The musical told the familiar biblical story of Joseph (Bill Hutton), who incurs the wrath of his eleven brothers when they become jealous of their father’s favoritism toward him, including the father’s gift of a multicolored coat. They sell Joseph into slavery, but ultimately he returns home, forgives his brothers, and lives with his family in peace. In reviewing the Broadway production, Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that the musical might “not suffice as a full evening’s entertainment for adults unaccompanied by children,” but it was the “ideal” show for a family matinee. The Off-Broadway production received generally favorable reviews, and the critics didn’t seem bothered by the musical’s dumbed-down shtick of “relating” a biblical story to modern audiences with anachronistic touches such as an Elvis Presley-inspired Pharaoh, songs in the styles of rock, calypso, and country-western, and props that included scooters and credit cards. Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News praised the “exuberant revel”; Gerald Clarke in Time said the work would “amuse and entertain”; and Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 considered Joseph “the merriest musical in town.” But Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily reminded his readers that the musical was “essentially children’s theatre” and it made for “terrible adults’ theatre”; and Clive Barnes in the New York Post thought the production looked “cheap,” said Bill Hutton lacked “the voice, stage presence, or even innocence” for the title role, and warned that while “some people might find” the musical “likable,” he didn’t think he “could actually like anyone who found it lovable.” The musical had originally premiered as a thirty-minute work at St. Paul’s Junior School in London, where it opened on March 1, 1968, and the first American production was seen in May 1970 at the College of the Immaculate Conception in Douglastown, Long Island. The West End production opened at the Albery Theatre in February 1973 and played for 243 performances. The current production was recorded by Chrysalis Records (LP # CHR-1387; issued on CD # F2-21387), and is one of almost two-dozen recordings of the score. A London revival with Jason Donovan and Linzi Hateley opened on June 12, 1991, at the London Palladium and was recorded by Polydor Records (CD # 314-511130-2); a production with Donny Osmond opened on June 18, 1992, at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and it too was recorded by Polydor (CD # 314-517-266-2) (this version was later reconceived for home video and was released on DVD by Universal with Osmond and a home video cast that included Richard Attenborough, Joan Collins, and Maria Friedman); and a Los Angeles revival opened on February 25, 1993, with Michael Damian and Clifford David, and it was also recorded by Polydor (CD # 314-519-352-2).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Bill Hutton); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Laurie Beechman); Best Director of a Musical (Tony Tanner); Best Book (Tim Rice); Best Score (lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber); Best Choreographer (Tony Tanner)

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PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES “A Country Music Revue”

Theatre: Princess Theatre Opening Date: February 4, 1982; Closing Date: June 19, 1983 Performances: 573 Text, Lyrics, Music, and Direction: By the cast (see cast list below; also see song list for specific song credits) Producers: Dodger Productions, Louis Busch Hager, Marilyn Strauss, Kate Studley, Warner Theatre Productions, Inc., and Max Weitzenhoffer; Scenery: Doug Johnson and Christopher Nowak; Costumes: Patricia McGourty; Lighting: Fred Buchholz; Musical Direction: Not Credited (possibly Jim Wann) Cast: John Foley (Jackson), Mark Hardwick (L.M.), Debra Monk (Prudie Cupp), Cass Morgan (Rhetta Cupp), John Schimmel (Eddie), Jim Wann (Jim) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on “Highway 57—somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna.”

Musical Numbers Note: Unless otherwise credited, all lyrics and music by Jim Wann. Act One: “Highway 57” (Company); “Taking It Slow” (lyric and music by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, John Schimmel, and Jim Wann) (John Foley, Mark Hardwick, John Schimmel, Jim Wann); “Serve Yourself” (Mark Hardwick); “Menu Song” (lyric and music by Cass Morgan and Debra Monk) (Cass Morgan, Debra Monk); “The Best Man (I Never Had)” (Debra Monk); “Fisherman’s Prayer” (John Foley, Mark Hardwick, John Schimmel, Jim Wann); “Caution: Men Cooking” (lyric and music by Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, Jim Wann, John Foley) (John Foley, Mark Hardwick, John Schimmel, Jim Wann); “Mamaw” (Jim Wann); “Be Good or Be Gone” (Cass Morgan); “Drinkin’ Shoes” (lyric and music by Mark Hardwick, Cass Morgan, and Debra Monk) (Company) Act Two: “Pump Boys” (John Foley, Mark Hardwick, John Schimmel, Jim Wann); “Mona” (John Foley); “T.N.D.P.W.A.M.” (“The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine”) (Mark Hardwick); “Tips” (lyric and music by Debra Monk and Cass Morgan) (Debra Monk, Cass Morgan); “Sisters” (lyric and music by Cass Morgan) (Debra Monk, Cass Morgan); “Vacation” (Company); “No Holds Barred” (lyric and music by Jim Wann and Cass Morgan) (Company); “Farmer Tan” (Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan); “Highway 57” (reprise) (Company); “Closing Time” (Company) The revue-like country-styled musical Pump Boys and Dinettes was a variation of the old Mickey-andJudy “Let’s Put on a Show” movie musicals. In this case, the boys from the gas station (the pump boys) and the girls (the dinettes) from across the street who work at the Double Cupp Diner put on an entertainment for their customers, and even throw in a raffle for good measure. Stephen Holden in the New York Times praised the “delightful” revue, which “musically and theatrically” was “a small triumph of ensemble playing.” He singled out such songs as “Sisters” (performed by Cass Morgan “with throaty directness”), “Mamaw” (Jim Wann’s ode to his grandmother, which was “sentimental yet believably sincere”), and the show’s “comic centerpiece” titled “T.N.D.P.W.A.M.” (“The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine”). Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily noted that the show’s “proletarian charm” was “refreshingly gentle” without “a hint of patronization,” and Gerald Clarke in Time said the musical “tickles the funny bone” and makes you feel “like a good ole boy or a good ole girl.” He noted Parton’s photo on the gas station wall seemed to make her “the patron saint of such enterprises” and he guessed she “would probably approve” of the “cheery, relaxed and amiable” songs. Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “magical” and “truly enchanting” musical was “totally terrific,” and Jack Kroll in Newsweek found Pump Boys “the easiest, chummiest, happiest show in town” and liked the ”country cantata of ingratiating patter and appealing country-rock songs.” The musical had originally opened Off Off Broadway at the Westside Arts Theatre on July 10, 1981, for twenty performances; it then transferred to the Colonnades Theatre under an Off-Broadway contract where it played for 112 showings. Two songs from the Off-Off-Broadway production were dropped for Off Broadway

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(“The Blade” and “All the Good Things,” both with lyrics and music by Jim Wann), and three numbers from the Off-Broadway production were cut for Broadway, “Takin’ My Time” (lyric and music by Spider John Koerner with additional lyric by John Foley), “Who Will the Next Fool Be” (lyric and music by Charlie Rich), and “Catfish” (lyric and music by Jim Wann and Bland Simpson). During the Broadway run, “Catfish” was reinstated into the score when “Caution: Men Cooking” was dropped, and “Catfish” is included on the Broadway cast album and in the published script. The Broadway cast recording was released by CBS Records (LP # FM-37790), and the CD was issued by Sony Records (# 37790); a live “European cast recording” in English was released by Melody Musical Productions (CD # 199596). The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1983. A television adaptation was shown by NBC on August 15, 1983, with the original Broadway cast and two guest stars, Ron Carey and Tanya Tucker. The London production opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on September 20, 1984. A program note thanked Word Baker (who had directed the original production of The Fantasticks) “for fixing the occasional flat tire.”

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Musical (Pump Boys and Dinettes)

LITTLE JOHNNY JONES Theatre: Alvin Theatre Opening Date: March 21, 1982; Closing Date: March 21, 1982 Performances: 1 Book, Lyrics, and Music: George M. Cohan (book adapted by Alfred Uhry) Direction: Gerald Gutierrez; Producers: James M. Nederlander, Steven Leber, David Krebs and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Choreography: Dan Siretta; Scenery: Robert Randolph; Costumes: David Toser; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Lynn Crigler Cast: Jack Bittner (Starter at the Hotel Cecil, Announcer at English Derby, Captain Squirvy), Peter Van Norden (Anthony Anstey), Jane Galloway (Florabelle Fly), Tom Rolfing (Timothy D. McGee), Maureen Brennan (Goldie Gates), Bruce Chew (Sing-Song), Ernie Sabella (Whitney Wilson), Al Micacchion (A Bellboy), Donny Osmond (Johnny Jones), Anna McNeely (Mrs. Kenworth), David Fredericks (A Newsboy); American Boys, Porters, Sailors: Richard Dodd, David Fredericks, James Homan, Gary Kirsch, Bobby Longbottom, Al Micacchion, David Monzione, Keith Savage; American Girls: Coleen Ashton, Terri Corcoran, Susie Fenner, Linda Gradl, Debra Grimm, Lori Lynott, Annette Michelle, Mayme Paul The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1904 in London, Southampton, New York City, and Saratoga.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “The Cecil in London (Town)” (Jack Bittner, Ensemble); “Then I’d Be Satisfied with Life” (added for tour of 1901 musical The Governor’s Son and later added to Broadway run and tour of 1902 musical The Silver Slipper) (Peter Van Norden); “The Yankee Doodle Boy” (aka “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy”) (Donny Osmond, Ensemble); “Oh, You Wonderful Boy” (introduced as “Oh, You Wonderful Girl” in 1911 musical The Little Millionaire) (Maureen Brennan, Jane Galloway, American Girls); “The Voice in My Heart” (1923 musical Little Nellie Kelly) (Anna McNeely, Ensemble); Finaletto (Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Captain of a Ten-Day Boat” (Jack Bittner, Ensemble); “Goodbye, Flo” (Jane Galloway, Sailors); “Life’s a Funny Proposition (After All)” (Donny Osmond); “Let’s You and I Just Say Goodbye” (1923 musical The Rise of Rosie O’Reilly) (Maureen Brennan); “Give My Regards to Broadway” (Donny Osmond, Ensemble); “Extra! Extra!” (source unknown) (Newsboys); “American Ragtime” (1908 musical The American Idea) (Jane Galloway, Tom Rolfing, Donny Osmond, Ensemble); Finale (Company)

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George M. Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones was a hit in 1904. Two of its songs (“The Yankee Doodle Boy” aka “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “Give My Regards to Broadway”) became standards, and it was filmed twice, in 1924 and 1929 (for more information, see below). But the current revival played for just one performance and was the season’s shortest-running musical. The plot centered on American jockey Johnny Jones (Donny Osmond) who is in England for the derby, loses a race, and is wrongly accused by villainous gambler Anthony Anstey (Peter Van Norden) of throwing it. Ultimately, Johnny clears his name, is reunited with his girl Goldie Gates (Maureen Brennan), and goes on to win the big race at Saratoga. The lighthearted plot was a happy excuse for a number of Cohan’s ingratiating songs, and the evening was peppered with pleasant dance routines. But the critics were in a generally grumpy mood and the show played for just one official performance on Broadway. Perhaps the Alvin was too big a house for what was essentially an intimate musical, but conversely a smaller venue even at sell-out status probably wouldn’t have allowed the show to realize a profit. Frank Rich in the New York Times was “bored stiff” by the “listless” revival with its “flimsiest summerstock level” supporting cast, a staging that gave the production the “aura of a wax museum,” décor that was mainly drops, and choreography that heaped on “clichés with a trowel.” The only “honest verve” in the production was Donny Osmond, who led one to believe he was “at least spiritually” born on the Fourth of July. Rich noted that Maureen Brennan was “suitably saucy” as the hero’s girlfriend. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the revival was “prevailingly bland,” functioned as “a pretty mechanical toy,” and was “as stimulating as a package of sliced white bread.” But Dan Siretta’s dances provided the evening’s “most enlivening” moments, and while they weren’t “overly original” they were nonetheless “unfailingly spirited.” And the critic noted that Osmond had an “engaging way” with his numbers. Clive Barnes in the New York Post disliked Osmond’s performance (he seemed “like a failed candidate from a Dale Carnegie course”) and said Maureen Brennan “sinks somewhat deeper than mere mediocrity.” Some critics noted that director Gerald Gutierrez had written an open letter to the press stating that due to prior commitments he hadn’t been involved with the musical for some months and had therefore asked the producers to remove his name from the credits (which they declined to do). The revival was first produced on June 25, 1980, at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, with Thomas Hulce in the title role. For the musical’s pre-Broadway tour, Hulce was succeeded by Eric Weitz, David Cassidy, and Donny Osmond. Among the songs deleted prior to the Broadway opening were “’Op in Me ’Ansom” and “Blue Skies, Gray Skies.” The original production premiered on Broadway at the Liberty Theatre on November 7, 1904, and was soon followed by two return engagements for a total run of 205 performances. The musical was revived for 16 performances at the Academy of Music beginning on April 22, 1907, and included two new numbers (“Always Leave Them Laughing When You Say Goodbye” and “Nothing New Beneath the Sun”). Six songs from the original 1904 production were retained for the 1982 New York revival (“The Cecil in London Town,” “The Yankee Doodle Boy,” “Captain of a Ten-Day Boat,” “Goodbye, Flo,” “Life’s a Funny Proposition, After All,” and “Give My Regards to Broadway”); ten weren’t used (“They’re All My Friends,” “Mam’selle Fauchette,” “Nesting in a New York Tree,” “Off to the Derby,” “Girls from the U.S.A.,” “Sailors of St. Hurrah,” “Good Old California,” “A Girl I Know,” “March of the Frisco Chinks,” and “’Op in Me ’Ansom”; as noted, the latter was heard during the revival’s tryout); and six were interpolated (“Then I’d Be Satisfied with Life,” “Oh, You Wonderful Boy,” “The Voice in My Heart,” “Let’s You and I Just Say Goodbye,” “Extra! Extra!,” and “American Ragtime”; see list of musical numbers for sources); and one interpolation was dropped prior to Broadway (“Blue Skies, Gray Skies,” from the 1927 musical The Merry Malones). A silent film version directed by Arthur Rosson was released by Warner Brothers in 1924 with Johnny Hines in the title role and Mervyn LeRoy in a supporting one; a sound version by First National Pictures was released in 1929 with Edward (Eddie) Buzzell as Johnny Jones, and this time around LeRoy was the director (two songs from the original production were retained, “The Yankee Doodle Boy” and “Give My Regards to Broadway,” and various songs by other lyricists and composers were interpolated into the score). The Goodspeed production was filmed with Eric Weitz in the title role, and was shown on cable television; a video cassette was released by Warner Home Video, Inc. (# 34051). Parts of Little Johnny Jones were re-created for two show business biographies of Cohan, the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy and the 1968 Broadway musical George M!

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THE GRAND DUCHESS OF GEROLSTEIN Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: April 15, 1982; Closing Date: April 24, 1982 Performances: 5 (in repertory) Libretto: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy (English adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin) Music: Jacques Offenbach Direction: Jack Hofsiss; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Christopher Chadman; Scenery and Costumes: John Conklin; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Lloyd Walser; Musical Direction: Antonio de Almeida Cast: Henry Price (Fritz), Leigh Munro (Wanda), Claude Corbeil (General Boom), James Billings (Baron Puck), William Ledbetter (Nepomuc), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (The Grand Duchess), Jack Harrold (Prince Paul), Don Yule (Notary), Jonathan Green (Baron Grog); Chorus: The New York City Opera Chorus; Dancers: The New York City Opera Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place during 1720 in the Duchy of Gerolstein. Jacques Offenbach’s satiric operetta The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein premiered on April 12, 1867, at the Theatre des Varietes during the Paris Exposition. The work was first produced in New York in the original French when it opened at the Theatre Français on September 24, 1867, and played in repertory for a total of 156 performances. The first English production in New York took place on June 17, 1868, when the operetta opened at the New York Theatre for 33 showings. The operetta spoofed both palace intrigues and the military in its look at the headstrong title character, who is tired of her intended Prince Paul and falls in love with Fritz, a hapless but handsome soldier. The Duchess ensures that Fritz rises through the ranks of the military, but he pines for his girlfriend Wanda. By evening’s end, the Duchess and Prince Paul are reunited, and Fritz leaves the military to become a school master and rejoin Wanda. Donal Henahan in the New York Times noted that the word gerolstein might bring to mind a tonic, but in this case it was “more like a sleeping pill.” The revival “lacked just about everything,” with “heavyhanded” direction by Jack Hofsiss, “listless” conducting by Antonio de Almeida, and a “gauche and graceless” adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin. The strange staging allowed the audience to view the stagehands throughout the performance, and Henahan suggested the evening threatened to morph into Pirandello Meets the Chocolate Soldier. He also noted that in one scene soldiers engaged in a food fight that not even John Belushi could have made humorous, and verbal and visual jokes (such as a three-piece military band with a wheelchair-bound tuba player) were constantly repeated. But Muriel Costa-Greenspon sang the title role in “her best Bette Midler style” and so her Duchess was “at least heartily sung and acted.” Henahan reported that the revival restored two sequences to the score that had been dropped after the world premiere in 1867, the second act finale and an aria for the Duchess that opened the third act. Among the recordings of the operetta is one of a 2004 Paris revival at the Theatre de Chatelet that was released on a two-CD set by EMI/Warner Classics and includes the libretto; this production was also televised, and a DVD was issued by Erato Disques. City Opera revived the operetta later in the year when the work opened in October for three performances in repertory (see entry).

IS THERE LIFE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL? “A New Musical”

Theatre: Ethel Barrymore Theatre Opening Date: May 7, 1982; Closing Date: May 16, 1982 Performances: 12 Book: Jeffrey Kindley Lyrics and Music: Craig Carnelia

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Based on the 1976 book Is There Life after High School? by Ralph Keyes. Direction: Robert Nigro; Producers: Clive Davis, François de Menil, and Harris Maslansky and Twentieth Century-Fox Theatre Productions, Inc. (Robert Feiden, Associate Producer); Choreography: Not Credited (perhaps by Robert Nigro); Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Carol Oditz; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Bruce Coughlin Cast: Raymond Baker, Cynthia Carle, Alma Cuervo, Sandy Faison, Harry Groener, Philip Hoffman, David Patrick Kelly, Maureen Silliman, James Widdoes The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a high school, probably during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Kid Inside” (Company); “Things I Learned in High School” (Harry Groener); “Second Thoughts” (Raymond Baker, Sandy Faison, David Patrick Kelly, Maureen Silliman, James Widdoes); “Nothing Really Happened” (Alma Cuervo, Women); “Beer” (Raymond Baker, Harry Groener, David Patrick Kelly); “For Them” (Philip Hoffman, Company); “Diary of a Homecoming Queen” (Maureen Silliman) Act Two: “Thousands of Trumpets” (James Widdoes, Company; Drum Major: Harry Groener); “Reunion” (Company); “High School All Over Again” (David Patrick Kelly); “Fran and Janie” (Sandy Faison, Maureen Silliman); “I’m Glad You Didn’t Know Me” (Cynthia Carle, Philip Hoffman) Late during the season, Broadway audiences were asked two burning questions: Is There Life after High School? and Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? But no one really wanted the answers, and so the two revue-like musicals about school days were gone after twelve and five respective performances. High School was suggested by Ralph Keyes’s book about the angst of high school life in which adults look back on those four pivotal years and realize they are still haunted by the slights and what-ifs of their formative years. The world premiere by the Hartford Stage Company at the John W. Huntington Theatre took place on April 10, 1981, for forty-four performances; the direction was by Melvin Bernhardt, the choreography by Nora Peterson, and three of its cast members (Raymond Baker, David Patrick Kelly, and Maureen Silliman) were seen in the Broadway production that opened a year later; for Hartford, Susan Bigelow was also in the cast. Two songs (“Shove It” and “The School Song”) were heard in Hartford but cut for New York. When the musical began previews in New York, Bernhardt was the director and Larry Fuller the choreographer. There was an opening night program for May 3, 1982, but the premiere was delayed until May 7, and so there were two opening night programs. For the May 3 program, Robert Nigro, who succeeded Bernhardt during New York previews, is the director of record and Fuller again the choreographer, but for the May 7 program Fuller’s name was removed from the credits and Nigro received “entire production staged by” credit. Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested the musical was the theatrical equivalent of detention hall, but without even a fire drill to relieve the monotony. The evening included “watered-down anecdotes” by “interchangeable” characters stuck in a “vague limbo” and a score that placed lyricist and composer Craig Carnelia in a “hopeless quandary” because he was given no specific people to depict. The cast were “helpless victims” but with “any luck” their “summer vacation should be here soon.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that an occasional observation was amusing (someone says he actually believed that trigonometry would one day be useful), but otherwise the show was a “one-joke” evening and despite “a certain amount of life” in the old high school he suggested “you will probably think longingly of dropping out before final graduation.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor felt the musical might have found its “modest” place Off Broadway, but it didn’t “pass the Broadway test.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily echoed this sentiment when he suggested the show might do well in a venue like the Village Gate, but on Broadway “expectations about what a musical should be are too grandiose for an intimate show to fulfill.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the show was like attending a high school reunion and being cornered for two hours by the “class dimwit. And not the nice one . . . the mean one.” Further, the score offered songs of “grinding mediocrity,” the vignettes were of “stupefying boredom,” and the characters were “gripped by severely arrested development.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 noted that for the most part the characters

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didn’t talk to one another and didn’t even seem to know each other, and thus it was impossible to become “involved” in the “series of monologues.” He recalled that Carnelia had written some of the songs for the 1978 revue-like musical Working, which also used the same basic monologue technique, and he commented that the format didn’t work then and it didn’t work now. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the musical was “never less than likable” but it needed “an adult education course.” The book was “pallid” and the characters were difficult to keep track of, but the songs were “dandy” and “charming.” He singled out “Thousands of Trumpets” as the score’s best song, a salute to “high-school instruments gathering dust in countless closets.” The number’s drum-major choreography was by Harry Groener (as the drum major) and Broadway dancer and occasional choreographer Gerald M. Teijelo Jr. The cast album was released by Original Cast Records (LP and CD # OC-8240).

NINE

“The Musical” Theatre: 46th Street Theatre Opening Date: May 9, 1982; Closing Date: February 4, 1984 Performances: 739 Book: Arthur Kopit Lyrics and Music: Maury Yeston Based on an (uncredited) adaptation of a work by Mario Fratti (the unacknowledged source of the musical was the 1963 film 8½ that was directed by Federico Fellini with a screenplay by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi). Direction and Choreography: Tommy Tune; Producers: Michel Stuart, Harvey J. Klaris, Roger S. Berlind, James M. Nederlander, Francine LeFrak, and Kenneth D. Greenblatt (Mark Beigelman, Associate Producer); Scenery: Lawrence Miller; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Marcia Madeira; Musical Direction: Wally Harper Cast: Raul Julia (Guido Contini), Cameron Johann (Young Guido), Karen Akers (Luisa), Anita Morris (Carla), Shelly Burch (Claudia), Taina Elg (Guido’s Mother), Liliane Montevecchi (Liliane La Fleur), Laura Kenyon (Linda Darling), Stephanie Cotsirilos (Stephanie Necrophorus), Kate Dezina (Our Lady of the Spa), Camille Saviola (Mama Maddelena), Kathi Moss (Saraghina); The Italians: Jeanie Bowers (Maria), Kim Criswell (Francesca), Colleen Dodson (A Venetian Gondolier), Louise Edeiken (Giulietta), Nancy McCall (Annabella), Cynthia Meryl (Diana), Rita Rehn (Renata); The Germans: Lulu Downs (Gretchen von Krupf), Linda Kerns (Heidi von Sturm), Dee Etta Rowe (Olga von Sturm), Alaina Warren Zachary (Ilsa von Hesse); Young Guido’s Schoolmates: Evans Allen, Jadrien Steele, and Patrick Wilcox The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at a spa in Venice and in the mind of Guido Contini.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Overture Delle Donne”/“Spa Music”/“Not Since Chaplin” (Company); “Guido’s Song” (Raul Julia); “Coda di Guido” (Company); “The Germans at the Spa” (Camille Saviola, Italians, Germans); “My Husband Makes Movies” (Karen Akers); “A Call from the Vatican” (Anita Morris); “Only with You” (Raul Julia); “Folies Bergères” (Liliane Montevecchi, Stephanie Cotsirilos, Company); “Nine” (Taina Elg, Company); “Ti voglio bene”/“Be Italian” (Kathi Moss, Boys, Company); “The Bells of St. Sebastian” (Raul Julia, Boys, Company) Act Two: “A Man Like You”/“Unusual Way”/“Duet” (Shelly Burch, Raul Julia); “The Grand Canal” (Raul Julia, Company): “Contini Submits,” “The Grand Canal,” “Tarantella,” “Every Girl in Venice,” “Marcia Di Ragazzi,” “Recitativo,” “Amor,” “Recitativo,” “Only You,” and “Finale”; “Simple” (Anita Morris); “Be on Your Own” (Karen Akers); “Not Since Chaplin” (reprise) (Raul Julia); “I Can’t Make This Movie” (Raul Julia); “Waltz di Guido” (aka “Waltz from Nine”) (Orchestra); “Getting Tall” (Cameron Johann); “Nine”/“Long Ago”/“Nine” (Raul Julia)

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Like Stephen Sondheim’s Company (1970) and its central character, Bobby, Nine focused on a man (Guido Contini, played by Raul Julia) and his tangled relationships. Both Company and Nine were concept musicals less interested in linear story lines than in somewhat surreal looks at Bobby and Guido, whose lives were presented in a framework that used vignettes to depict their personal (and in Guido’s case, also professional) lives. Bobby is surrounded by both married friends and girlfriends in a chilly Manhattan of steel, chrome, and Plexiglas, and film director Guido’s world is a dazzling room of white-tiled walls and boxes framed by enormous windows overlooking Venice (the published script calls the setting a “dreamspace” that “bears a resemblance to a steambath in a sanitorium or to a spa”). In this dreamspace is Guido, the only man in the musical. His world is populated by the women in his life, including his mother (Taina Elg); wife, Luisa (Karen Akers); mistress, Carla (Anita Morris); would-be muse, Claudia (Shelly Burch); and producer, Liliane Le Fleur (Liliane Montevecchi); among others. And like Sondheim’s musical Follies (1971) in which the main characters undergo a catharsis when their unhappy lives become part of a musical comedy arcadia called Loveland, Guido is inspired to direct a musical version of Casanova’s life, one which mirrors his own romantic and sexual obsessions. The stage suddenly explodes into the world of Guido’s movie (and includes ten separate musical numbers to depict the film’s plot) in which he portrays the title character. And, also in Follies fashion, he meets his younger self (Cameron Johann), who in the final moments of the musical advises Guido in “Getting Tall” that it’s time to finally grow up and face life: in the here and now, Guido must be “forty” and come to the realization that he’s always loved Luisa, while in the long-ago past Young Guido will remain forever “nine.” Arthur Kopit’s spartan book quickly and cleverly delineated the characters and employed the dreamlike spa setting to allow the women in Guido’s life to haunt him and hover over the proceedings (the script notes that Guido’s “two prime realities” are Luisa and his imagination). All the characters were dressed in black and made a striking contrast to the white world of the spa, and only in the Casanova sequence did the stage blossom into color. Tommy Tune’s imaginative and fluid staging infused the action with memorable moments, including the positions of the women on the pedestal-styled boxes in the spa, which rendered them statuelike, especially at the beginning and end of the musical; the unusual overture in which Guido “conducts” the women as they sing in a capella fashion; Montevecchi’s one-woman embodiment of an evening at the Folies-Bergères; and Morris’s full-body, black-lace-stocking-like outfit that allowed her to undertake almost humanly impossible contours and positions in order to arouse Guido. Maury Yeston’s score was one of the decade’s best, and was so beautifully composed and orchestrated that it was less a collection of musical numbers than a seamless cantata: Luisa’s soaring “Be on Your Own” was a lump-in-the-throat moment in which she offers Guido his freedom (and in its own way mirrored a similar song from Follies, “Could I Leave You?”); Guido’s dissonant “I Can’t Make This Movie” was a musical nervous breakdown in which he tries to confront his conflicting emotions; Guido’s entrancing ballad to Luisa (and to Carla . . . and to Claudia) “Only with You” was one of the era’s finest (if a Hit Parade had existed in 1982, this song would have been Number One); and the Casanova sequence of ten numbers included “Guido Submits,” a Gilbert-and-Sullivan-like brio of wordplay; “The Grand Canal,” an imposing and expansive choral sequence; and “Every Girl in Venice,” a shimmering depiction of expectation on the part of the Venetian women who await Casanova’s attentions. The musical received wildly divergent reviews, and a few critics didn’t appreciate the work’s truly magnificent conceit, its brilliant staging, and its lush score. But it won five major Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Direction. Frank Rich in the New York Times praised Tune’s direction and Yeston’s score (“the season’s most novel and beautiful songs”) and said the evening offered so much “rich icing” that “anyone who cares about the progress of the Broadway musical will have to see it.” But at the musical’s core Guido was never truly explained or realized (a complaint many critics had about Company’s Bobby), and overall the musical was “a complex mixture of ecstatic highs and crass lows.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “true original” with its “zestfully inventive and thoughtfully imaginative” and “dazzlingly literate” score. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said Nine was Broadway’s “most original” musical since A Chorus Line, adding that Tune’s “spectacular staging abounds in sumptuous pizzazz,” the score offered “constant delight and wonder,” and the often “farcical shambles” of the Casanova sequence led “to a denouement as poignant as it is sudden.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the musical was “brilliant” but not “endearing or compelling,” and while Kopit’s book had “polish and wit” it nonetheless “waffles fatally” with Guido. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the “absolutely dazzling” production wasn’t always “perfect” and offered “dazzle instead of depth,” but nonetheless it “dazzled” and

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was “the Broadway hit of the season.” And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 praised the “extraordinary musical,” which was a “startling act of imagination, independence and daring” and was “a show to treasure.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal noted that Yeston offered “numerous lovely melodies” that provided a “complexity and sophistication many notches above the usual Broadway score,” and Tune had “an unfailing eye for movement and pictorialization” with a first act that was “as stylish and exciting as anything on Broadway.” But the critic felt the evening never quite came to grips with its subject and didn’t answer the questions it raised about Guido’s problems (not providing clear-cut answers was of course one of the characteristics of the concept musical). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said Nine lacked trampolines but “in other respects” came “close to being this season’s Via Galactica” because like the earlier 1972 musical it was “pretentious and tiresome” and also starred the “unfortunate” Raul Julia. The score pursued the “familiar” (but he singled out “Only with You” and “A Call from the Vatican”), the set looked “like a fancy display for plumbing fixtures before the fixtures have been installed,” and at times the décor and lighting looked like the design for windows in “a Bloomingdale’s nod to Italy.” T. E. Kalem in Time commented that Nine was “a spectacle without a subject” with relationships that were “cocktail-party deep” and a leading man who was a “cotton-candy Casanova.” But Yeston’s music was “versatile and fetchingly melodic” and Tune’s staging was “masterly and inventive.” But if Nine attracted a following, Phineas Taylor Barnum and Texas Guinan would “have the last laughs.” During previews, the musical was presented in one act, and “The Grand Canal” sequence included “Pas de Boys,” which was cut. The national tour starred Sergio Franchi (who had also succeeded Raul Julia during the course of the Broadway run) and included the new song “Now’s the Moment” for Guido early in the second act. The cast album was recorded by Columbia Records (LP # JS-38325), and for reasons of length some of the songs weren’t included on the LP but were heard on the audiocassette version. The first CD release (Sony/ Classical/Columbia/Legacy # S2K-86858) includes material released on the audiocassette, expanded versions of material previously offered on the LP, and three heretofore unreleased demo recordings. Another CD release on Masterworks Broadway (# 88697-59183-2) includes the expanded material but not the demo recordings. The script was published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in 1983. The musical was presented in concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall on June 7, 1992, and was released on a two-CD set by That’s Entertainment Records (# CDTER2-1193) with Jonathan Pryce, Liliane Montevecchi, Ann Crumb (Luisa), and Elaine Paige (Claudia) (Paige performed the role on the recording due to the indisposition of the singer who appeared in the concert). This recording was later issued on a two-CD set by Jay Records (CDJAY-1410); and BMG/RCA Victor Records released a one-CD version of highlights from the concert (# 09026-61433-2). The 1987 Australian production was released by Polydor Records (LP # 835-217-1), and later on CD by That’s Entertainment Records (# CDTER-1190), and a 1999 German production at the Theatre des Westens was issued by Gema Records (CD # LC-06377). The musical was revived on Broadway on April 10, 2003, at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for 285 performances. The cast included Antonio Banderas, Mary Stuart Masterson, Jane Krakowski, Mary Beth Peil, Laura Benanti, and Chita Rivera. The production omitted “The Germans at the Spa” and “Long Ago,” and added “The Script” (for Guido). The revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival, and Krakowski won for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. The cast recording was released by PS Classics (CD # PS-312). The 2009 film version was released by The Weinstein Company and Relativity Media in a production by Weinstein Brothers/Marc Platt/Lucamar. Directed by Rob Marshall, the cast included Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Fergie, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, and Sophia Loren. Seven songs were retained from the stage production (“Overture Delle Donne,” “Guido’s Song,” “A Call from the Vatican,” “Folies Bergères,” “Be Italian,” “My Husband Makes Movies,” and “I Can’t Make This Movie”), and Yeston wrote three new ones for the film (“Cinema italiano,” “Guarda la luna,” and “Take It All”). The soundtrack album was released by Geffen Records (CD # B0013801-02), and the DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (# 34883).

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Nine); Best Actor in a Musical (Raul Julia); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Akers); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Liliane Montevecchi); Best Featured

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Actress in a Musical (Anita Morris); Best Director of a Musical (Tommy Tune); Best Book (Arthur Kopit); Best Score (lyrics and music by Maury Yeston); Best Scenic Designer (Lawrence Miller); Best Costume Designer (William Ivey Long); Best Lighting Designer (Marcia Madeira); Best Choreographer (Tommy Tune)

DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES REALLY REFLECT UP? Theatre: Alvin Theatre Opening Date: May 27, 1982; Closing Date: May 30, 1982 Performances: 5 Book: John R. Powers Lyrics and Music: James Quinn and Alaric Jans Based on the 1975 novel Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? by John R. Powers. Direction: Mike Nussbaum; Producers: Mavin Productions, Inc., Libby Adler Mages, and Daniel A. Golman; Choreography: Thommie Walsh (Ronna Kaye, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: James Maronex; Costumes: Nancy Potts; Lighting: Marilyn Rennagel; Musical Direction: Larry Hochman Cast: Russ Thacker (Eddie Ryan), Amy Miller (Secretary, Sister Melanie), Maureen Moore (Becky Bakowski), Ellen Crawford (Sister Lee), Robert Fitch (Father O’Reilly), Vicki Lewis (Virginia Lear), Don Stitt (Felix Lindor), Peter Heuchling (Mike Depki), Karen Tamburrelli (Nancy Ralansky), Christine Gradl (Mary Kenny), Jason Graae (Louie Schlang), Elizabeth Hansen (Sister Helen), Catherine Fries (Sister Monica Marie) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the present and the past in grammar school and high school.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Get Ready, Eddie” (Company); “The Greatest Gift” (Elizabeth Hansen, Kids); “It’s the Nuns” (Kids and Nuns); “Little Fat Girls” (Maureen Moore, Russ Thacker); “Cookie Cutters” (Ellen Crawford, Maureen Moore); “Patron Saints” (Robert Fitch, Russ Thacker, Kids, Nuns); “How Far Is Too Far?” (Karen Tamburrelli, Girls and Boys); Act One Finale (Company) Act Two: “Doo-Waa, Doo-Wee” (Jason Graae, Company); “I Must Be in Love” (Russ Thacker); “Friends, The Best of” (Maureen Moore, Russ Thacker); “Mad Bombers and Prom Queens” (Don Stitt, Vicki Lewis); “Late Bloomer” and “Prom Montage” (Russ Thacker, Kids); “Friends, The Best of” (reprise) (Maureen Moore, Russ Thacker); “Thank God” (Company) The revue-like Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? was reportedly the longest-running musical to ever play Chicago, but its New York run was one of the season’s shortest, with just five performances. The show looked back on the rituals of attending Catholic parochial schools, and focused on the adult Eddie Ryan (Russ Thacker) who for the first act reminisces about his grade school days at St. Bastion’s elementary and his high school years at St. Patrick Bremmer High. Like the earlier Is There Life after High School?, the musical looked at the awkward moments of the growing-up years, but from the Catholic perspective of rulerwielding nuns, inquisitive priests in the Confessional, and such peculiarly arcane admonishments that girls should avoid wearing black patent leather shoes because the offending shoes might serve as a mirror that reflects their unmentionables (and, oh, yes, girls should assiduously avoid going to restaurants with white tablecloths because they remind boys of . . . bed). Frank Rich in the New York Times felt sorry for the Alvin Theatre, which had hosted a number of shortrunning musicals during the season, and he suspected Patent Leather Shoes was “the sorriest of them all.” And he noted that some of the musical’s material about “vanished teen-age innocence” was a reminder of Is There Life after High School?, which had “crash-landed” on Broadway a few weeks earlier. Rich said the musical had “more unappealing and untalented performers than it knows what to do with,” but he singled out Russ Thacker, Ellen Crawford, and the “first-rate” Robert Fitch who was “wonderful” in his one number. (But it’s worth noting that the show’s cast also included Broadway Baby favorites Vicki Lewis and Jason Graae.)

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Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily suggested the musical might appeal to those who don’t want much “excitement” in their theatergoing, and he commented that the score was “inoffensive” and therefore “sufficiently melodic to be played in elevators.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that the Broadway season still had three days to go, but he had the “strong suspicion” that the musical would prove to be “the worst, the dregs, the living pits of the season,” and he concluded by saying, “Bring back Little Johnny Jones.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the show might have enjoyed a run at an intimate downtown theatre, but for Broadway the musical wasn’t “nearly enough.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 criticized the “pitiful” music and “abysmal” comedy of the “blissfully and consistently amateurish” evening. And Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News disliked the “exceedingly bland” show, noted the songs lacked “profile,” and said it was only choreographer Thommie Walsh’s “spirited” dance numbers that brought the musical “to even temporary life.” A few of the critics mentioned one number during which the entire cast, including the boys, lay flat on their backs, raised their legs, and blithely waved their oversized patent leather shoes in the air (which, Sharp said, received one of “the more thoughtless ovations in the recent history of show biz”). The musical was first produced in Chicago at the Forum Theatre in June 1979 and ran for four and a half years. Songs performed in this production that were cut for New York were: “Confess It!,” “There Are Some,” “Private Parts,” and “We’re Saving Ourselves for Marriage,” but the latter two were heard during New York previews. At some point prior to the Broadway production, the solo “Mad Bomber” was rewritten as the duet “Mad Bombers and Prom Queens.” For some regional productions, a title song was performed at the beginning of the second act. An early Chicago program credited James Quinn for the lyrics and music of: “The Greatest Gift,” “There Are Some,” “Doo-Waa, Doo-Wee,” and “Friends, The Best of”; and Alaric Jans was credited with the lyrics and music of “Patron Saints” and “Mad Bomber.” Jans wrote the lyrics and Quinn the music for: “Get Ready, Eddie,” “Confess It!,” “Little Fat Girls,” “Late Bloomer,” “How Far Is Too Far?,” “Private Parts,” “Saving Ourselves for Marriage,” and “Thank God”; and Jans and Quinn were cited for the lyrics and Quinn the music for: “It’s the Nuns!,” “Is This the Thing They Call Love?,” and “The Prom Montage.” A combined Broadway and studio cast album was released by CBS Special Products (LP # DP-18852; later issued on CD by Bay Cities Records # 3033) that included a new song (“Queen of the May”) and one number deleted for New York (“Private Parts”). The album included three members from the Broadway cast (Russ Thacker, Peter Heuchling, and Don Stitt) and among the studio cast singers were Max Showalter (as Father O’Reilly). Curiously, the 1981–1982 season was rife with Broadway and Off-Broadway shows about Catholics, including Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Mass Appeal, Kingdoms, Agnes of God, and Catholic School Girls. And two seasons later came the original Off-Off-Broadway production of Nunsense.

COLETTE “A Musical”

The musical opened at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle, Washington, on February 9, 1982, and closed there on March 6; it then played at the Auditorium Theatre in Denver, Colorado, where it opened on March 9 and permanently closed on March 20. Book and Lyrics: Tom Jones Music: Harvey Schmidt Direction: Dennis Rosa; Producers: Harry Rigby and The Kennedy Center with The Denver Center and James M. Nederlander (Frank Montalvo, Associate Producer); Choreography: Carl Jablonski (Michon Peacock, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: John Conklin; Costumes: Raoul Pene du Bois; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Musical Direction: Larry Blank Cast: Diana Rigg (Colette), Marta Eggerth (Sido), John Reardon (Willy), Robert Helpmann (Jacques), Martin Vidnovic (Maurice), Ron Raines (Henri de Jouvenal), Rhoda Butler (Colette de Jouvenal), Marti Stevens (Missy), Mary Stout (Madame Semiramis, Pauline), Jane Lanier (Nita), Michael Cone (Waiter), Arlene Columbo (Ida), Russell Leib (Boudou, Collaborator), Ralph Braun (Master of Ceremonies, German Officer), Dana Moore (Danielle); Ensemble: Don Bernhardt, Ralph Braun, Carol Burt, Rhoda Butler, Nancy Callman, Arlene Columbo, Michael Cone, Ron Farrar, Jane Lanier, Valerie Lemon, Dana Moore, Daryl

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Murphy, Harry Lee Nordyke, Peggy Parten, David Scala, Carol Schuberg, Mary Stout, Ivan Torres, Joel Whittaker, Zachary Wilde The musical was presented in two acts. The action occurs mostly in Paris, Saint-Sauveur, and Saint-Tropez, during the periods 1890–1910 (for act one) and 1925–1954 (for act two).

Musical Numbers Act One: “There’s Another World” (Diana Rigg, Ensemble); “Come to Life” (John Reardon, Ensemble); “Do Not Hold On” (Marta Eggerth); “Semiramis” (Robert Helpmann, Girls, Ensemble); “Do It for Willy” (John Reardon, Ensemble); “The Claudine Sequence”: (1) “Claudine” (Diana Rigg); (2) “Two Claudines” (Diana Rigg, The Claudine Girls); and (3) “The Father of Claudine” (John Reardon, Diana Rigg, The Claudine Girls, Ensemble); “Why Can’t I Walk Through That Door?” (Diana Rigg); “Music Hall” (Robert Helpmann, Diana Rigg, Performers); “Dream of Egypt” (Diana Rigg, Robert Helpmann); “I Miss You” (Marta Eggerth); “La vagabonde” (Diana Rigg, Marti Stevens, Women); “Music Hall Scandal” (Diana Rigg, Marti Stevens); “Act One Ending” (Diana Rigg) Act Two: “Act Two Opening” (Diana Rigg, Journalists); “Curiosity” (Marta Eggerth); “I Miss You” (reprise) (Diana Rigg); “Riviera Nights” (Robert Helpmann, Martin Vidnovic, Diana Rigg, Ensemble); “Oo-La-La” (Martin Vidnovic, Diana Rigg); “Something for the Summer” (Diana Rigg, Martin Vidnovic, Ensemble); “Something for the Winter” (Diana Rigg, Martin Vidnovic, Ensemble); “Madame Colette” (Ensemble); “Be My Lady” (Martin Vidnovic); “Do Not Hold On” (reprise) (Marta Eggerth); “The Room Is Filled with You” (Diana Rigg); “Victory” (Diana Rigg, Martin Vidnovic, Ensemble); “Growing Older” (Diana Rigg); “Joy” (Diana Rigg, Ensemble) Lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt’s musical Colette was one of four works by the team that explored the life and times of the celebrated French author Colette (1873–1954). Their current Colette was the most lavish of the four productions, but it closed during its pre-Broadway tryout at a loss of $1.4 million. The New York Times reported that the musical had originally planned to return to New York after the Denver engagement for more rehearsals and then open in the fall with bookings in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. The newspaper also reported that director Dennis Rosa had left the production after the Seattle run and that during the Denver engagement the production had no director (but Rosa was still cited as the director in the Denver program). During the course of the tryout, “Love Is Not a Sentiment Worthy of Respect” replaced “Do Not Hold On” (but the latter’s reprise version remained in the second act), the song “Woman of the World” was added, and “Curiosity” was dropped. The first Colette musical by the team was actually a play with music titled Colette by Elinor Jones (Tom Jones’s wife), which opened Off Broadway on May 6, 1970, at the Ellen Stewart Theatre for 101 performances. The production, which starred Zoe Caldwell in a cast that included Mildred Dunnock, Keene Curtis, Barry Bostwick, and Holland Taylor, featured three songs (“The Bouilloux Girls,” “Femme du monde,” and “Earthly Paradise”) and background music. The recording by Mio International Records (LP # MCS-3001) includes the three songs and dialogue sequences (the three songs were also heard in Schmidt and Jones’s 1974 Off-OffBroadway Portfolio Revue). The play with music returned to Off Broadway at the Ellen Stewart Theatre a few months after the May 1970 production closed, opening on October 14, 1970, for seven performances; this time around, the musical starred Fenella Fielding, and the cast included film comic character actor Erik Rhodes. In 1971, Fielding toured in a British production, which never played London. On March 31, 1983, the Off-Off-Broadway Colette Collage opened at The Church of the Heavenly Rest by the York Theatre Company for seventeen performances. The production starred Jana Robbins, and others in the company included Timothy Jerome, Steven F. Hall, and Tim Ewing. Songs heard in the current version that had also been performed in the 1982 pre-Broadway tryout were : “There’s Another World,” “Come to Life,” “Do It for Willy,” “Why Can’t I Walk Through That Door?,” “The Music Hall,” “Dream of Egypt,” “Riviera Nights,” “Oo-La-La,” “Something for the Summer,” “Madame Colette,” “Be My Lady,” “Growing Older,” and “Joy” (sixteen musical sequences from the 1982 version weren’t retained).

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On April 24, 1991, a revised version of Colette Collage was presented by the York Theatre Company at The Church of the Heavenly Rest for twenty-six performances; subtitled “two musicals about Colette,” the work consisted of Willy (for the first act) and Maurice (for the second), and Betsy Joslyn was Colette. Two songs (“The Dog and Cat Duet” and “Decorate the Human Face”) appear to have been written especially for the current production and weren’t heard in earlier versions of the material. Most of the score had been part of the 1982 version, and “Love Is Not a Sentiment Worthy of Respect,” which had been added during the 1982 tryout, was included in the new version. A studio cast album of the second Colette Collage was released by Varese Sarabande (CD # VSD-5473), and Tom Jones indicated this was the musical in its “final form.” The album includes Judy Kaye as the Older Colette and Judy Blazer as the Younger Colette. Susan Watson’s collection of Schmidt and Jones’s songs titled Earthly Paradise (Nassau Records CD # 96568) includes five songs from the various Colette musicals (“Earthly Paradise,” “Joy,” “Growing Older,” “The Room Is Filled with You,” and “Decorate the Human Face”), and Harvey Schmidt Plays Jones & Schmidt (Kritzerland Records CD # KR-20010-3) includes six songs from the various Colette musicals (“Riviera Nights,” “Earthly Paradise,” “The Room Is Filled with You,” “Come to Life,” “La vagabonde,” and “Growing Older”) There have been at least two other musicals about Colette. The Off-Off-Broadway musical Music-Hall Sidelights (which was based on Colette’s 1913 novel L’envers du Music-Hall) starred Kathy Bates as Colette with lyrics by Jack Heifner and music by John McKinney; the musical opened at the Lion Theatre on October 19, 1978, for twenty-four performances. On November 15, 1979, the British musical Colette opened at The Stables Theatre in Wavendon, and was seen in London the following year on September 24 at the Comedy Theatre for forty-seven performances; the musical starred Cleo Laine, and the company included Kenneth Nelson and John Moffatt. The book, lyrics, and music were by Laine’s husband John Dankworth, and the sparkling score was recorded by Sepia Records (LP # RSR-1006). Colette’s most famous work is her 1944 novella Gigi, which was filmed in 1949 and later adapted for the stage by Anita Loos (it opened on Broadway in 1951 with Audrey Hepburn, and the 1956 London production starred Leslie Caron). Its famous and charming 1958 musical film version by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe (which also starred Leslie Caron) won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. This film musical was twice adapted for Broadway, in 1973 and 2015. Colette’s 1920 novel Chéri (and its 1926 sequel La fin de Chéri) was also adapted for the stage by Anita Loos and opened on Broadway in 1959 with Kim Stanley and Horst Buchholz in the title role. Another adaptation of the novel (by Christopher Hampton) was filmed in 2009 with Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend.

THE LITTLE PRINCE AND THE AVIATOR “A New Musical”

The musical began previews on December 31, 1981, at the Alvin Theatre and permanently closed there on January 17, 1982, after giving twenty preview performances. Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics: Don Black Music: John Barry Based on the 1943 novel The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Direction: Jerry Adler; Producers: A. Joseph Tandet (a production of Little Prince Productions, Ltd.); Choreography: Billy Wilson; Scenery: Eugene Lee; Costumes: Christa Scholtz; Lighting: Roger Morgan; Musical Direction: David Friedman Cast: Anthony Rapp (Little Prince), Michael York (Toni), Ellen Greene (Suzanne, The Little Rose), David Purdham (Georges, Fennec), Chip Garnett (Snake, Cap Juby Pilot # 3), Joe Degunther (Cactus), Mark Dovey (Pilot, Morse Code Operator, Lamplighter), Alan Gilbert (Pilot, Cap Juby Pilot # 2, King), Robert Hoshour (Pilot, Cap Juby Pilot # 1, Conceited Man), Larry G. Bailey (Pilot, Drunkard), Kenneth D. Ard (Pilot, The Vulture), Fred C. Mann III (Pilot), Janet Eilber (Rose), Brooks Almy (Lotus Club Girl, Nurse), Lynn Gendron (Lotus Club Girl), Robin Kensey (Lotus Club Girl), Diana Laurenson (Lotus Club Girl), Lee Gordon (Ahmed, Georges as a child), Jennifer Fetten (Suzanne as a child), Edward Conery (Businessman) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the years 1911–1928 in the Sahara Desert, Paris, and the Asteroid B6-12.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Par avion” (Michael York, David Purdham, Ellen Greene); “Power Comes, Power Goes” (Chip Garnett); “I Pity the Poor, Poor Parisiennes” (Michael York); “Making Every Minute Count” (Michael York, David Purdham, Mark Dovey, Alan Gilbert, Robert Hoshour, Larry G. Bailey, Kenneth D. Ard, Fred C. Mann III); “Made for Each Other” (Michael York, Janet Eilber); “Wind, Sand and Stars” (Michael York, David Purdham, Mark Dovey, Alan Gilbert, Robert Hoshour, Larry G. Bailey, Kenneth D. Ard, Fred C. Mann III); “First Impressions” (Anthony Rapp); “A Day Will Never Be the Same” (David Purdham, Mark Dovey, Alan Gilbert, Robert Hoshour, Larry G. Bailey, Kenneth D. Ard, Fred C. Mann III); “I’ve Got You to Thank for All This” (Ellen Greene); “I Don’t Regret a Thing” (Michael York); “We Couldn’t We Mustn’t We Won’t” (Michael York, Jennifer Fetten, Lee Gordon) Act Two: “Watch Out for the Baobabs” (Anthony Rapp); “I Like My Misfortunes to Be Taken Seriously” (Michael York); “The Volcano Song” (Anthony Rapp); “More Than Just a Pretty Flower” (Janet Eilber); “First Impressions” (reprise) (Anthony Rapp); “The Volcano Song” (reprise) (Anthony Rapp); “Playground of the Planets” (Anthony Rapp); “It Was You” (David Purdham); “Grain of Sand” (Anthony Rapp); “I Don’t Regret a Thing” (reprise) (Michael York); “Sunset” (Anthony Rapp); “Little Prince” and “Stars Will Be Laughing” (Michael York, Anthony Rapp) Even before it began preview performances, The Little Prince and the Aviator had major troubles. The show didn’t go out of town, and instead opted for a series of New York previews, but one week before the first preview performance director Robert Kalfin was succeeded by Jerry Adler and choreographer Dania Krupska was replaced by Billy Wilson. The musical began the first of twenty previews on December 31, 1981, and permanently closed on January 17, 1982, without risking an official opening night, which had been scheduled for January 20. According to Carol Lawson in the New York Times, the $1.25 million show did “poor” business in previews and “was reportedly having trouble meeting expenses.” As a result, producer A. Joseph Tandet posted a closing notice and then later closed the show. But when he received “an influx of money,” he announced the musical would resume previews on the evening of January 20 (but he wasn’t sure if that day’s matinee would go on). He also stated the official opening night would take place on January 24. But the musical never resumed performances, and so the January 17 showing was its last. The Don Black and John Barry version was the second of at least five lyric adaptations of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novel about a pilot lost in the Sahara who comes upon a little boy who is the prince of a far away asteroid. The Broadway production starred Michael York as the aviator and Anthony Rapp (who later appeared as Mark Cohen in the original production of Rent) as the Little Prince. In 1974, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s charming film version was underrated and overlooked. The scenic design employed natural landscapes that had a certain surreal quality about them as well as purposely stylized décor in the manner of fairy tales. Their score was richly melodic and included such gems as the gorgeous ballad “I Never Met a Rose” (which made a sly reference to the team’s “The Heather on the Hill” from Brigadoon), “Closer and Closer,” and the haunting title song. Bob Fosse’s delicious “Snake in the Grass” provided an amusing moment when he began his soft-shoe shuffle on the desert sands and in true vaudeville fashion picked up a handful of sand and then tossed it back on the sandy space where he performed the number. In 2003, an operatic version with libretto by Nicholas Wright and music by Rachel Portman premiered at the Houston Grand Opera, and was first seen in New York on November 12, 2005, when it was produced by the New York City Opera Company at the New York State Theatre for eight performances. There were also two Off-Off-Broadway musical versions. The first, with book and lyrics by John Scoullar and music by Rick Cummins, opened at the 28th Street Theatre on October 6, 1993, and then transferred as an Off-Broadway production to the John Houseman Theatre for a total of seventy-nine performances, and the second opened at the Harold Clurman Theatre on December 28, 1982, for five performances in an adaptation by Ada Janik. Both the Lerner and Loewe and the Wright and Portman versions were recorded, and both were issued on DVD.

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PENNY BY PENNY: THE STORY OF EBENEZER SCROOGE (aka A CHRISTMAS CAROL) “A New Musical Celebration”

The musical played a ten-week tour beginning in late October 1981, including an engagement at the Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland, for the period November 16–December 5. During the following season, the musical began another brief tour, including a run at the Hartman Theatre, Stamford, Connecticut, where it played for the period December 18–December 26, 1982. Book and Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Music: Michel Legrand; additional music by Steven Margoshes Based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Direction: Kenneth Frankel (for the second year’s tour, Charles Abbott directed); Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler (Alecia A. Parker, Associate Producer); Choreography: Choreography by Adam Grammis and musical staging by Dick Goss (Tina Paul, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Jim Tilton; Projections: Sammis McLean and Lucie D. Grosvenor; Costumes: Clifford Capone; Lighting: Judy Rasmuson; Musical Direction: Steven Margoshes Cast: Scott McFerren (Caroler, Toby, Peter), Gary Beach (Fred), Richard Kiley (Scrooge), Dan Strickler (Cratchit), John Jellison (Second Charity Man, Coachman, Second ’Change Man, Undertaker’s Man), Michael McCarty (First Charity Man, Fezziwig, Christmas Present, First ’Change Man), Gilbert Cole (Waiter, Fiddler, Christmas Future), Jack Dabdoub (Marley, Old Joe), Jill P. Rose (Christmas Past, Mrs. Cratchit), Elisa Fiorillo (Ned, Belinda), Carl Tramon (Young Scrooge # 1, Albert, Street Boy), Simone Francis (Fan, Lucy), Joseph Kolinski (Young Scrooge # 2, Third ’Change Man), Mary Gaebler (Mrs. Fezziwig, Laundress), Donna Bullock (Belle, Mrs. Fred), Martha-Elizabeth Miller (Martha), R. D. Robb (Tiny Tim), Cynthia Darlow (Ignorance, Charwoman); Townspeople: Jill P. Rose, Mary Gaebler, Donna Bullock, Cynthia Darlow, Martha-Elizabeth Miller, Michael McCarty, John Jellison, Gilbert Cole, Jack Dabdoub, Joseph Kolinski, R. D. Robb, Elisa Fiorillo, Scott McFerren, Simone Francis, Carl Tramon; Guests at Fezziwig’s: John Jellison, Jack Dabdoub, Cynthia Darlow, Simone Francis, Scott McFerren, Elisa Fiorillo, Carl Tramon, Martha-Elizabeth Miller, R. D. Robb; Guests at Fred’s: John Jellison, Gilbert Cole, Mary Gaebler, Cynthia Darlow, Joseph Kolinski, Martha-Elizabeth Miller The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London during the nineteenth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Spirit of Christmas” (Gary Beach, Scott McFerren); “Bah! Humbug!” (Richard Kiley); “Thank Heaven for Christmas” (Gary Beach); “Christmas Eve” (Gary Beach, Ensemble); “Chained” (Jack Dabdoub); “Jig” (Michael McCarty, Mary Gaebler); “Penny by Penny” (Donna Bullock, Carl Tramon); “My Two Feet Polka” (Michael McCarty, Mary Gaebler, Gilbert Cole, Ensemble); “Close Were We” (Donna Bullock); “Penny by Penny” (reprise) (Richard Kiley); “Bah! Humbug!” (reprise) (Richard Kiley) Act Two: “Spirit of Christmas Waltz” (Gary Beach, Relatives); “Twenty Questions” (Gary Beach, Relatives); “One Family) (madrigal by Steven Margoshes) (The Crachit Family); “Balancing the Books” (Mary Gaebler, Cynthia Darlow, John Jellison); “Let There Be Time” (Richard Kiley); “One More Chance” (Richard Kiley); “Spirit of Christmas” (reprise) (Richard Kiley, Company) Sheldon Harnick and Michel Legrand’s musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol toured briefly in late 1981 and then again in late 1982, the first year with Richard Kiley as Scrooge, the second with Woody Romoff (during its brief life, the musical underwent a title change from Penny by Penny to A Christmas Carol, and a flyer at one point included both titles). The tours were overlooked by both Best Plays and Theatre World, which failed to include them in their 1981–1982 and 1982–1983 annuals, and it appears that just one song (“Penny by Penny”) from the score was recorded (for the collection Unsung Musicals III, released by Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5769). Penny by Penny was a bland, by-the-numbers interpretation of the well-known story and had little to recommend it. The perfunctory adaptation lacked memorable songs as well as a point of view. At least Comin’

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Uptown (1979) aimed for a hip, urban approach that took place in Harlem and depicted Scrooge as a grouchy slumlord, and although Alan Menken’s A Christmas Carol (which played at Madison Square Garden’s Paramount Theatre for a few Christmas seasons beginning in 1994) was straightforward it nonetheless made a memorable visual statement with a brace of special effects and a lavish depiction of Victorian London. But Harnick and Legrand’s version had nothing much to offer, and was a disappointingly modest and unimaginative retelling of Dickens’s story. In his review of the 1982 tour, Alvin Klein in the New York Times said the show was “still a musical in the making.” It didn’t “soar,” the music was “generally routine,” and Abbott’s direction was “conventional.” Harnick’s lyrics were “by turns playful and tender,” but his book required more humor and lightening as well as tightening. Further, the musical began “with too much narration,” a device which was dropped as the evening progressed but was then later “inappropriately” reinstated. Penny by Penny was Sheldon Harnick’s second of three “Christmas” musicals: She Loves Me (1963) was of course set during the holiday season and featured “Twelve Days to Christmas” and “Christmas Eve” (the latter was dropped during the show’s tryout but is included in the collection A Broadway Christmas, released by Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5517), and then a few seasons after Penny by Penny Harnick collaborated with Joe Raposo on A Wonderful Life (based on Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life), which occasionally popped up in regional theatre for a few seasons but never enjoyed a Broadway production (one of its songs, “Christmas Gifts,” is also included in A Broadway Christmas).

SAY HELLO TO HARVEY! The musical opened on September 14, 1981, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, Canada, and permanently closed there on October 17, 1981. Book, Lyrics, and Music: Leslie Bricusse Based on the 1944 play Harvey by Mary Chase. Direction: Mel Shapiro; Producers: Edwin Mirvish, David Mirvish, and Michael McAloney in association with Stage and Screen Music, Inc. (Joyce Sloane, Associate Producer); Choreography: Donald Saddler; Scenery and Lighting: Neil Peter Jampolis; Costumes: Olga Dimitrov; Musical Direction: Milton Rosenstock Cast: Sheila McCarthy (Myrtle Mae Simmons), Patricia Routledge (Veta Louise Simmons), Judy Sabo (Mrs. Egremont), Donald O’Connor (Elwood P. Dowd), Maxine Miller (Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet), Patricia Arnell (Nurse Kelly), Michael McFadden (Wilson), John Gardiner (Doctor Lyman Sanderson), Joe Silver (Doctor William Chumley), Angela Fusco (Mrs. Chumley), Sidney Miller (Judge Gaffney), Guy Sanvido (E. J. Lofgren), Mary Leigh Stahl (Mrs. Tewksbury), Janet McCall (Mrs. Arbuthnot), Tommy Breslin (Newspaper Boy), Jack Davison (Charlie); Others: Jim Betts, Bernard Cauchy, Keith Curran, Cynthia Dale, Rodney Freeze, William Gilinsky, Karen Giombetti, Terri Hawkes, Larry Herbert, Jacob Mark Hopkin, Sherry Lambert, Claudia Shell The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Smalltown, U.S.A.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Smalltown, U.S.A.” (Townspeople); “The Wednesday Forum” (Patricia Routledge, Sheila McCarthy, Judy Sabo, Mary Leigh Stahl, Janet McCall, Angela Fusco); “We Like the Very Same Things” (Donald O’Connor); “That Brother of Mine” (Patricia Routledge, Sheila McCarthy); “Smalltown, U.S.A.” (reprise) (Townspeople); “Dr. Chumley” (The Chumley Staff); “I’d Rather Look at You” (Donald O’Connor, Patricia Arnell); “Do Your Own Thing” (Donald O’Connor, Patricia Arnell, The Chumley Staff); “Dr. Chumley” (reprise) (The Chumley Staff); “Smalltown, U.S.A.” (reprise) (Townspeople); “Sue” (Patricia Routledge, Myrtle Mae Simmons, Sidney Miller); “Bring It to the Bar” (Donald O’Connor); “Elwood P. Dowd” (Donald O’Connor, Jack Davison, Patrons); “Say Hello to Harvey” (Donald O’Connor) Act Two: “Smalltown, U.S.A.” (reprise) (Townspeople); “A Lousy Life” (Patricia Routledge); “Be Glad” (Patricia Arnell); “The Perfect Person” (Sheila McCarthy, Michael McFadden); “Say Hello to Harvey” (reprise) (Donald O’Connor, Patricia Routledge); “One Last Fling” (Joe Silver); “I’d Rather Look at You” (reprise) (Donald O’Connor); “Say Hello to Harvey” (reprise) (Donald O’Connor); Finale (Company)

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Say Hello to Harvey! was Leslie Bricusse’s musical version of Mary Chase’s hit comedy Harvey. Originally titled The Pooka, Harvey opened on November 1, 1944, at the 48th Street Theatre for a marathon run of 1,775 performances with former vaudevillian Frank Fay as Elwood P. Dowd, a genial if terminally tipsy fellow whose best friend is an invisible six-foot rabbit named Harvey, and Josephine Hull as his eternally befuddled sister Veta (for the musical version, Donald O’Connor was Elwood, and Patricia Routledge played Veta). The comedy won the Pulitzer Prize and became an international hit; as of this writing, it is the sixth longest-running play in Broadway history. A 1950 film version starred James Stewart, and Hull, who reprised her stage role and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1998, the play was adapted for television, and there have been two Broadway revivals, in 1970 (with Stewart and Helen Hayes) and in 2012. Unfortunately, the musical didn’t match the success of the play and permanently closed at the end of its Toronto tryout. Variety said the “simple-minded and overfluffed” show was a “doubtful bet” for Broadway. The adaptation was “painfully out of date and off kilter” with “cheap instant sentiment” and “inane” characterizations. Further, Bricusse’s “dumb” and “wimpy” songs redundantly mirrored the dialogue or were wedded to “gratuitous” subplots, and Donald Saddler’s choreography was “fatuous.” And in an early example of political correctness, the review chided the musical for “the glorification of a drunk” and stated that this naive approach to drinking whether “intentional or not isn’t acceptable in 1981.”

1982–1983 Season

BLUES IN THE NIGHT Theatre: Rialto Theatre Opening Date: June 2, 1982; Closing Date: July 18, 1982 Performances: 53 Lyrics and Music: See song list for specific credits. Direction: Sheldon Epps; Producers: Mitchell Maxwell, Alan J. Schuster, Fred H. Krones, and M2 Entertainment, Inc. (Joshua Silver, Associate Producer); Scenery: John Falabella; Costumes: David Murin; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Charles Coleman. Cast: Leslie Uggams (Woman #1), Debbie Shapiro (Woman #2), Jean Du Shon (Woman #3), Charles Coleman (Saloon Singer) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Chicago during 1938.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Blue Blue” (lyric and music by Bessie Smith) (Company); “Four Walls (and One Dirty Window) Blues” (lyric and music by Willard Robison) (Charles Coleman); “I’ve Got a Date with a Dream” (lyric by Mack Gordon, music by Harry Revel) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro); “These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)” (from 1936 London musical Spread It Around; lyric by Eric Maschwitz aka Holt Marvel, music by Harry Link and Jack Strachey) (Leslie Uggams); “New Orleans Hop Scop Blues” (lyric and music by George W. Thomas) (Jean Du Shon); “It Makes My Love Come Down” (lyric and music by Bessie Smith) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro, Jean Du Shon); “Copenhagen” (lyric by Walter Melrose, music by Charlie Davis) (Debbie Shapiro); “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” (lyric and music by Ida Cox) (Charles Coleman); “Lover Man” (lyric and music by Jimmy Davis, Roger “Ram” Ramirez, and Jimmy Sherman) (Leslie Uggams); “Take Me for a Buggy Ride” (lyric and music by Leola and Wesley Wilson) (Jean Du Shon); “Willow Weep for Me” (lyric and music by Ann Ronell) (Debbie Shapiro); “Kitchen Man” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Alex Bellenda) (Jean Du Shon); “Low” (lyric and music by Vernon Duke, Milton Drake, and Ben Oakland) (Leslie Uggams); “Take It Right Back” (lyric and music by H. Grey) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro, Jean Du Shon) Act Two: “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” (reprise) (The Band); “Blues in the Night” (1941 film Blues in the Night; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harold Arlen) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro); “Dirty NoGooder Blues” (lyric and music by Bessie Smith) (Jean Du Shon); “When a Woman Loves a Man” (lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Bernard Hanighen and Gordon Jenkins) (Charles Coleman); “Am I Blue” (1929 film On with the Show; lyric by Grant Clarke, music by Harry Akst) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro, Jean Du Shon); “Rough and Ready Man” (lyric and music by Alberta Hunter) (Leslie Uggams); “Reckless Blues” (lyric and music by Bessie Smith) (Debbie Shapiro); “Wasted Life Blues” (lyric and music by Bessie Smith) 139

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(Jean Du Shon); “Baby Doll” (lyric and music by Bessie Smith) (Charles Coleman); “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” (lyric and music by Jimmy Cox) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro, Jean Du Shon); “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” (Earl Carroll Vanities [tenth edition, 1932]; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro, Jean Du Shon); “Blue Blue” (reprise) and “Blues in the Night” (reprise) (Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro, Jean Du Shon) The revue-like musical Blues in the Night was in essence a collection of blues-oriented songs performed by three women (identified only as Woman #1, #2, and #3 and respectively sung by Leslie Uggams, Debbie Shapiro, and Jean Du Shon) in a setting that depicted three seedy hotel rooms in the Chicago of 1938. There was no dialogue, and while the women never acknowledged one another’s presence, occasionally two of them, and sometimes all three, joined together to sing a number. They were accompanied by a six-piece orchestra whose leader (called the Saloon Singer, and played by Charles Coleman) sang two numbers during each act. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said “my mama done told me there’d be nights like this” and the headline of Douglas Watt’s review in the New York Daily News proclaimed “We gotta right to sing the blues.” Siegel said the revue was “bad magic” with “awkward” direction, “self-defeating” musical arrangements, and a conception that never delineated the three women, and Watt found the production “terribly mannered and surprisingly pallid.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said the show had no “real context,” and it would have been helpful had the revue offered “a sense of progression or emotional build” as the evening progressed. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “bland” evening was monotonous and “no one connected with this revue has thought overly much about the meaning of the material” or how it might function as theatre. John Beauford in the Christian Science Monitor also found the show monotonous and said the work’s conception was “isolatingly impersonal” with its “belittling anonymity” of the three characters and its “lack of imagination” in the staging. But Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Blues in the Night was the “sleeper” of the year and the “first hit” of the new Broadway season. The singers were “sumptuous” because Uggams brought “Aztec heat” to her songs, Shapiro could “syncopate syncopation,” and Du Shon was “naughtily lubricious, indelicately randy and totally delightful.” As a result, the evening was an “entertainment to warm body and soul together.” During previews, Ruth Brown sang the role of Woman #3 and was succeeded by Jean Du Shon. Blues in the Night had first been presented in a workshop production by and at The Production Company in December 1978, and on March 9, 1979 was given at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, for sixteen showings (with David Brunetti, Jean Du Shon, Suzanne M. Henry, and Mary Louise). The work was later seen Off Broadway at Playhouse 46 on March 26, 1980, for fifty-one performances, and the three women were sung by Suzanne M. Henry, Rise Collins, and Gwen Shepherd. A 1983 national tour starred Della Reese, Neva Small, and Cynthia White. After the current 1982 production, an Off-Broadway revival opened at the Minetta Lane Theatre on September 14, 1988, for forty-five performances (for this version, the three woman were called Lady from the Road, Woman of the World, and Girl with a Date, and were respectively played by Carol Woods, Brenda Pressley, and Leilani Jones); this version was based on a 1987 London production (which had starred Woods and Maria Friedman) and the songs differed slightly from the earlier New York showings: “Taking a Chance on Love” (1940 musical Cabin in the Sky; lyric by John La Touche and Ted Fetter, music by Vernon Duke) and “I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So” (lyric by Mack David, music by Duke Ellington) were added, and such numbers as “Low” and “Copenhagen” were deleted. The cast album of the London production was released by First Night Records (LP # SCENE-9). All the productions of the revue were directed by Sheldon Epps, and the 1980, 1982, and 1988 versions averaged runs of about six weeks apiece.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Musical (Blues in the Night)

1982–1983 SEASON     141

CLEAVAGE

“A New Musical” / “A New Musical . . . Close

to

Where

the

Heart Is”

Theatre: Playhouse Theatre Opening Date: June 23, 1982; Closing Date: June 23, 1982 Performances: 1 Book: Buddy and David Sheffield Lyrics and Music: Buddy Sheffield Direction: Rita Baker; Producer: Up Front Productions; Choreography: Alton Geno; Scenery: Morris Taylor; Costumes: James M. Miller (Paul de Pass, Costume Supervision); Lighting: Michael Hotopp; Musical Direction: Keith Thompson Cast: Daniel David, Tom Elias, Mark Fite, Terese Gargiulo, Marsha Trigg Miller, Jay Rogers, Sharon Scruggs, Dick Sheffield, Pattie Tierce

Musical Numbers Act One: “Cleavage” (Ensemble); “Puberty” (Mark Fite, Ensemble); “Only Love” (Sharon Scruggs, Daniel David); “Surprise Me” (Terese Gargiulo); “Reprise Me” (Terese Gargiulo, Mark Fite); “Boys Will Be Girls” (Jay Rogers, Dancers); “Give Me an And” (Marsha Trigg Miller, Dancers); “Just Another Song” (Mark Fite); “Believe in Me, or I’ll Be Leavin’ You” (Pattie Tierce, Dick Sheffield) Act Two: “The Thrill of the Chase” (Tom Elias, Mark Fite, Daniel David); “Lead ’Em Around by the Nose” (Marsha Trigg Miller, Pattie Tierce, Terese Gargiulo); “Sawing a Couple in Half” (Jay Rogers); “Only Love” (reprise) (Terese Gargiulo); “Bringing Up Badger” (Daniel David, Ensemble); “Voices of the Children” (Ensemble); “All the Lovely Ladies” (Tom Elias); “Living in Sin” (Tom Elias, Pattie Tierce, Ensemble); Finale (Ensemble) Cleavage was the first of the season’s three musicals to close after one performance; a few days after it shuttered it was followed by Play Me a Country Song, and at the end of the season both shows were joined by Dance a Little Closer. Cleavage had enjoyed pre-Broadway runs in Biloxi, Mississippi; Houston, Texas; and New Orleans, Louisiana, but New York wasn’t interested. The revue-like evening, which didn’t provide any character names, looked at love from the perspectives of the young and old, and the New York Times reported the evening was “about marriage and other relationships.” The musical appeared to have its tongue firmly in cheek, and one number (“Boys Will Be Girls”) seems to have been performed in drag. The cast album was recorded in Shreveport, Louisiana, and was released by BI Records and was coyly numbered # 36-24-36.

PLAY ME A COUNTRY SONG “A New Musical”

Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: June 27, 1982; Closing Date: June 27, 1982 Performances: 1 Book: Jay Broad Lyrics and Music: John R. Briggs and Harry Manfredini Direction: Jerry Adler; Producers: Frederick R. Selch (Cheryl Raab, Associate Producer); Choreography: Margo Sappington; Scenery: David Chapman; Costumes: Carol Oditz; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Phil Hall Cast: Reed Jones (Norm), Mary Gordon Murray (Ellen), Stephen Crain (Tony), Jay Huguely (Fred), Ronn Carroll (Howard), Louisa Flaningam (Lizzie), Karen Mason (Frances), Mary Jo Catlett (Penny), Kenneth Ames (Buster), Candace Tovar (Meg), Rene Clemente (Jerome), Rick Thomas (Hank) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at a truck stop located in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

142      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Musical Numbers Act One: “Sail Away” (Mary Gordon Murray); “Rodeo Dreams” (Reed Jones); “Why Does a Woman Leave Her Man?” (Jay Huguely); “Eighteen-Wheelin’ Baby” (Candace Tovar, Louisa Flaningam, Mary Jo Catlett, Mary Gordon Murray); “Waitin’ Tables” (Louisa Flaningam, Company); “Playing for Position” (Rene Clemente, Kenneth Ames); “Just Thought I’d Call” (Rick Thomas); “Sing-A-Long” (Karen Mason, Ronn Carroll, Company); “Sail Away” (reprise) and “If You Don’t Mind” (Mary Gordon Murray, Stephen Crain); “Play Me a Country Song” (Company) Act Two: “Coffee, Beer and Whiskey” (Jay Huguely); “Only a Fool” (Candace Tovar, Rick Thomas); “You Can’t Get Ahead” (Mary Jo Catlett); “You Have to Get It Out to Get Away” (Mary Gordon Murray); “ Big City” (Kenneth Ames); “My Sweet Woman” (Jay Huguely, Men); “All of My Dreams” (Louisa Flaningam, Women); “Rodeo Rider” (Stephen Crain) The new season was definitely getting off to a bad start with two one-performance musicals, first Cleavage and now Play Me a Country Song. And by season’s end they were joined by another one-nighter, Dance a Little Closer. At least Play Me a Country Song had one minor claim to fame: it was the first show to play at the newly renamed Virginia Theatre, which had been previously known as the ANTA (and had originally opened its doors in 1925 as the Guild). And cast member Reed Jones had something to celebrate: Although he began the season in one of its shortest-running musicals, a few months later he was in the season’s biggest and longest-running hit when he created the role of Skimbleshanks in Cats. Play Me a Country Song took place at a truck-stop hangout called Woodie’s, and because the Broadway era was ripe with country-and-western musicals as well as plays and musicals with café settings, the few audience members who showed up for Play Me a Country Song could be forgiven for thinking they’d walked into a retrospective of such recent shows as Pump Boys and Dinettes, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Wally’s Café, and Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, with perhaps a touch of A Texas Trilogy’s Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander thrown in. Frank Rich in the New York Times and Clive Barnes in the New York Post recalled some of these earlier barroom and country-and-western shows, and Barnes even cited a much earlier one, William Saroyan’s drama The Time of Your Life, but noted the current musical lacked Saroyan’s “social awareness or feel for time, place and people.” Woodie’s is owned by Fred, who announces his bar will permanently close because a new interstate highway some fourteen miles away has bypassed the saloon and taken away his business. And so the regulars show up for the last night, and the almost revue-like evening gave them a chance to reminisce about the old days and to chat and sing about their lives because as Fred philosophizes, everyone has “little dramas, no bigger than you can hold in your hand.” Barnes noted that unfortunately the regulars at Woodie’s get “fortunecookie advice” about their lives in the “thematically simplistic” musical. Rich felt the present-day Woodie’s was “so dead it might convert even a confirmed alcoholic to Perrier,” and he suggested that the regulars will now have to hang out at a Howard Johnson’s or, “one hopes, in the privacy of their homes” because their “maudlin down-home anecdotes,” “fortune-cookie-length scenes,” and “banal” songs led him to wonder how such a show could have been produced and how talented performers could have been persuaded to appear in it. Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily found the score mostly “simplistic” and “banal,” and suggested the entire evening was a “doleful blend” of Pump Boys and Dinettes and Grand Hotel, and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News concluded his review by noting that throughout his notice he had referred to the musical in the past tense and thus decided this was “no accident” but instead “wishful thinking.” The evening ended with the production number “Rodeo Rider,” which Watt noted had “nothing to do” with the proceedings but was “well-designed” and “well-executed” as it allowed the male principals to portray rodeo riders and their lives of roping calves and riding horses and bulls. Barnes said that choreographer Margo Sappington’s “exciting” dance brought to mind the “horseplay” of Eugene Loring’s ballet Billy the Kid and Agnes de Mille’s ballet Rodeo, but Rich said de Mille “need not worry about” the “extended” and “irrelevant” dance, and Cohen also stated that de Mille had “no reason to worry.” During previews, the songs “We’re Off and Running,” “Ladies’ Lament,” and “Jerome’s Song” were cut.

1982–1983 SEASON     143

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS “The Broadway Musical”

Theatre: Alvin Theatre Opening Date: July 8, 1982; Closing Date: July 11, 1982 Performances: 5 Book: Lawrence Kasha and David Landay Lyrics: Johnny Mercer Music: Gene de Paul New Lyrics and Music: Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn Based on the 1954 MGM film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (direction by Stanley Donen and screenplay by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Dorothy Kingsley) and the 1937 short story “The Sobbin’ Women” by Stephen Vincent Benet. Direction: Lawrence Kasha; Producers: Kaslan Productions, Inc. (Martin Gould and Bernard Hodes, Associate Producers); Choreography: Jerry Jackson; Scenery: Robert Randolph; Costumes: Robert Fletcher; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Richard Parrinello Cast: David-James Carroll (Adam), D. Scot Davidge (Benjamin), Jeffrey Reynolds (Ephraim), Lara Teeter (Caleb), Jeff Calhoun (Daniel), Michael Ragan (Frank), Craig Peralta (Gideon), Fred Curt (Mr. Bixby), Jeanne Bates (Mrs. Bixby), Jack Ritschel (Preacher), James Horvath (Lumberman, Luke), Russell Giesenschlag (Lumberman, Jeb), Don Steffy (Lumberman, Carl), Gary Moss (Lumberman, Matt), Clark Sterling (Lumberman, Joel), Kevin McCready (Lumberman, Zeke), Conley Schnaterbeck (Indian), Debby Boone (Milly), Sha Newman (Ruth), Laurel van der Linde (Martha), Linda Hoxit (Sarah), Jan Mussetter (Liza), Nancy Fox (Alice), Manette LaChance (Dorcas), Marylou Hume (Dorcas’ Sister), Marykatherine Somers (Mrs. Perkins), David Pavlosky (Newsboy); Townspeople: Jeanne Bates, Cheryl Crandall, Fred Curt, Gino Gaudio, Russell Giesenschlag, James Horvath, Marylou Hume, Kevin McCready, Gary Moss, David Pavlosky, Jack Ritchel, Conley Schnaterbeck, Sam Singhaus, Marykatherine Somers, Don Steffy, Clark Sterling, Stephanie Stromer The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Pacific Northwest during the 1850s.

Musical Numbers Note: * = Denotes new songs with lyrics and music by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. Act One: “Bless Your (Yore) Beautiful Hide” (David-James Carroll); “Wonderful, Wonderful Day” (Debby Boone, Sha Newman, Laurel van der Linde, Linda Hoxit, Jan Mussetter, Nancy Fox, Manette LaChance); “One Man” (*) (Debby Boone); “Goin’ Courting (Courtin’) (Co’tin’)” (Debby Boone, D. Scot Davidge, Jeffrey Reynolds, Lara Teeter, Jeff Calhoun, Michael Ragan, Craig Peralta); “Social Dance” (Debby Boone, David-James Carroll, Sha Newman, Laurel van der Linde, Linda Hoxit, Jan Mussetter, Nancy Fox, Manette LaChance, David James-Carroll, D. Scot Davidge, Jeffrey Reynolds, Lara Teeter, Jeff Calhoun, Michael Ragan, Craig Peralta, Suitors, Townspeople); “Love Never Goes Away” (*) (David-James Carroll, Debby Boone, Craig Peralta); “Sobbin’ Women” (David-James Carroll, D. Scot Davidge, Jeffrey Reynolds, Lara Teeter, Jeff Calhoun, Michael Ragan, Craig Peralta) Act Two: “The Townsfolk’s Lament” (*) (Suitors, Townsfolk); “A Woman Ought to Know Her Place” (*) (David-James Carroll); “We Gotta Make It Through the Winter” (*) (D. Scot Davidge, Jeffrey Reynolds, Lara Teeter, Jeff Calhoun, Michael Ragan, Craig Peralta); “You Gotta Make It Through the Winter” (*) (reprise) (Debby Boone, Sha Newman, Laurel van der Linde, Linda Hoxit, Jan Mussetter, Nancy Fox, Manette LaChance); “Spring Dance” (*) (Sha Newman, Laurel van der Linde, Linda Hoxit, Jan Mussetter, Nancy Fox, Manette LaChance, D. Scot Davidge, Jeffrey Reynolds, Lara Teeter, Jeff Calhoun, Michael Ragan, Craig Peralta); “A Woman Ought to Know Her Place” (*) (reprise) (David-James Carroll, Craig Peralta); “Glad That You Were Born” (*) (Debby Boone, Sha Newman, Laurel van der Linde, Linda Hoxit, Jan Mussetter, Nancy Fox, Manette LaChance, D. Scot Davidge, Jeffrey Reynolds, Lara Teeter, Jeff Calhoun, Michael Ragan, Craig Peralta); “Wedding Dance” (Debby Boone, David-James Carroll, Sha Newman, Laurel van

144      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS

der Linde, Linda Hoxit, Jan Mussetter, Nancy Fox, Manette LaChance, D. Scot Davidge, Jeffrey Reynolds, Lara Teeter, Jeff Calhoun, Michael Ragan, Craig Peralta, Townspeople) The 1954 MGM musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was one of the happiest film musicals ever produced. Its lighthearted story was supplemented by tuneful songs by Johnny Mercer and Gene de Paul, and Michael Kidd devised a series of memorably virile dances, including an exciting barn-raising number (but for the dance that accompanied “June Bride” he created a homage to Agnes de Mille); in 1956, Mercer, de Paul, and Kidd re-teamed for another “country” musical, the joyous and satirical Li’l Abner. The film of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was headed by Howard Keel (Adam) and Jane Powell (Milly), Adam’s brothers were played by Jacques D’Amboise, Marc Platt, Tommy Rall, Matt Mattox, Russ Tamblyn, and Jeff Richards, and among the brides were Julie Newmeyer (later Newmar) and Virginia Gibson (who had earlier appeared on Broadway as Virginia Gorski and under her current name appeared as Ethel Merman’s daughter in the 1956 musical Happy Hunting and with Merman introduced the hit song “Mutual Admiration Society”). Adam and Milly marry after one of the shortest courtships in musical-comedy history, and when Milly arrives at Adam’s homestead she’s shocked to discover he has six unmarried brothers and is expected to cook and clean for the entire clan. The brothers decide it’s time to get wives of their own, and inspired by their misinterpretation of the story of the Sabine women they travel to town and kidnap six young women whom they’ve occasionally flirted with. When an avalanche cuts off all access between the town and the homestead, Milly shoos the brothers off to the barn, and, although pregnant, she takes care of the girls who live with her in the house. Adam (who doesn’t know Milly is pregnant) leaves in a huff and spends the winter in a mountain cabin, but by spring all is well. The brothers and the young women marry, and Milly and Adam are reconciled. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “thread-bare touring package” included songs by the “perpetrators” of Copperfield, and gags about long johns, and the evening’s “big knee-slapper” was a reference to an outhouse. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said almost everything in the production was “humdrum,” and while the musical might be “fine” for summer stock, it wasn’t worthy of Broadway. Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said there was “no excuse for shabby, shabby productions” like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. But Clive Barnes in the New York Post liked the “exuberantly enjoyable family show” and he praised Debby Boone as “squeaky-fresh but refreshingly sexy—a sort of American Julie Andrews” who “has all the makings of a major Broadway star”; Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the choreography “unoriginal” but “lively” and suggested the entire evening was “smooth, not necessarily bad for you, and passes by almost unnoticeably.” And Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the musical was “14 kinds of fun” with its “dynamite dancing” and “all-American innocence and exuberance.” The Broadway production dropped four of the film’s eight songs, “When You’re in Love,” “Lonesome Polecat,” “June Bride,” and “Spring, Spring, Spring,” although “Lonesome Polecat” was heard during the musical’s lengthy pre-Broadway national tour. The four songs retained for the stage production were “Bless Yore Beautiful Hide,” “Wonderful, Wonderful Day,” ‘“Goin’ Courtin’,” and “Sobbin’ Women,” and the remaining numbers were new ones written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. During the tryout, three new songs by Kasha and Hirschhorn were dropped, “Get a Wife,” “I Married Seven Brothers,” and “It’s Up to Us.” Kasha and Hirschhorn’s version of the musical was produced in summer stock in the late 1970s with Keel and Powell reprising their original film roles, and the team’s songs for this version that weren’t heard in the Broadway production were “Women’s Work,” “I’m Jumpin’ In,” “When They Grow Up,” and “If It Was a Different Man.” Other regional productions of the musical included sequences titled “The Transformation,” “The Dance,” “The Kidnapping,” “The Rescue,” and “The Wedding”; the film songs “When You’re in Love,” “Lonesome Polecat,” “June Bride,” and “Spring, Spring, Spring” were used; and the new number “I’m Gettin’ Out” was heard. The DVD of the 1954 film was released by Warner Home Video, Inc. (# 65926), and the expanded soundtrack issued by Rhino Records (# R2-71966) includes dance music, background scoring, and demo recordings (including “Queen of the May,” which wasn’t used in the film). A studio cast album of the film score was released by Pickwick Records (CD # PWKS-4209) with Bonnie Langford and Edmund Hockridge, and the Italian cast album Sette spose per sette fratelli was issued by EMI Records (# 7243-4-98531-2-6) and includes numbers from the film as well as three songs by Kasha and Hirschhorn that were heard in the Broadway production (“One Man,” “The Townsfolk’s Lament,” and “We Gotta Make It Through the Winter”).

1982–1983 SEASON     145

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was one of many failed attempts to successfully translate a classic MGM musical for the stage. Seven Brides lasted for just 5 performances; both attempts to create a viable stage adaptation of Gigi ran aground (a 1973 version played for only 103 performances and a 2015 version collapsed after 86 showings); Singin’ in the Rain managed a run of 367 showings but lost money; and Meet Me in St Louis lasted 253 performances and 1997’s High Society, 144. Stage adaptations of Easter Parade and The Band Wagon never quite got off the ground, and occasional summer stock tours of The Pirate were never developed for Broadway. But the 2015 adaptation of An American in Paris seems to have broken the MGM jinx and won three Tony awards, including Best Choreography. (Occasional productions of The Wizard of Oz have played in New York, but these were limited engagements and not open-ended runs.)

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Score (lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Gene de Paul, and lyrics and music by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn)

MANHATTAN RHYTHM Theatre: Savoy Theatre Opening Date: July 27, 1982; Closing Date: August 14, 1982 Performances: 27 Direction and Choreography: Jon Devlin; Producer: Barbara Moore, Executive Producer; Costumes: David Toser (Fantasy Creatures created by Richard Tautkus); Lighting: David Adams; Musical Direction: Richard Dimino Cast: Jon Devlin; His Company—Female Dancers: Virginia Clark East, Lynn Gendron, Ann Marie Giambattista, Kim Kuhlman, Diana Laurenson, Linda Paul, Lisa Rudy, Lauren Salerno; Male Dancers: Louis Albert, Richard Loreto, Ralph Rodriguez, Steven Van Dyke; Singers: Armour Gomez, Teri Hiatt, Karen Quackenbush, Bonnie Sue Taylor; Musicians: Babafemi (Percussion), Hank B. (Drums), Andrew Brown (Trombone), Tyrone Cox (Drums), Richard Dimino (Conductor, Piano, Keyboards), Garrison Dow (Bass), Robert Mediou (Guitar), Vernon Jeffrey Smith (Saxophone), Larry Smith (Saxophone) The dance revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: Opening (Company); Jazz—“Love for Sale” (1930 musical The New Yorkers; lyric and music by Cole Porter) (Jon Devlin, Lisa Rudy, Ann Marie Giambattista, Diane Laurenson, Kim Kuhlman, Virginia Clark East, Steven Van Dyke, Richard Loreto, Louis Albert; Vocal: Teri Hiatt); “Manhattan Rhythm Blues” (Jon Devlin, Lyn Gendron); “All Blues” (Virginia Clark East, Diana Laurenson, Lauren Salerno, Linda Paul, Kim Kuhlman; Dance Solo: Ann Marie Giambattista); “Take Five” (Steven Van Dyke, Richard Loreto, Louis Albert); “Walkin’ Sally” (Diana Laurenson, Linda Paul, Ann Marie Giambattista); Big Bands 40’s— “One O’Clock Jump” (music by Count Basie) and “In the Mood” (among others, song attributed to Joe Garland) (Jon Devlin, Teri Hiatt; Back-Up Vocals: Bonnie Sue Taylor, Armour Gomez, Karen Quackenbush); “57 Street” (Louis Albert, Kim Kuhlman, Steven Van Dyke, Diana Laurenson, Ralph Rodriguez, Ann Marie Giambattista, Linda Paul, Lyn Gendron); Broadway (additional choreography by Mary Delia Quigley)—“Crossover” (Virginia Clark East); Medley (unidentified songs) (Karen Quackenbush, Ann Marie Giambattista, Lauren Salerno, Bonnie Sue Taylor, Armour Gomez, Richard Loreto, Ralph Rodriguez, Steven Van Dyke); “You Can Dance” (additional choreography by Harry Bell) (Teri Hiatt, Steven Van Dyke, Ralph Rodriguez); Disco Space Fantasy—“Star Trek Medley” and “Star Wars Cantina” (Lyn Gendron, Richard Loreto, Lauren Salerno, Louis Albert, Diana Laurenson, Ann Marie Giambattista, Lisa Rudy, Steven Van Dyke, Ralph Rodriguez) Act Two: Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley (mostly unidentified songs) (additional choreography for “Rock ’n’ Roll ’n’ Rock” by Jay Norman) (Company); Latin—“Mambo,” “Cha-Cha,” and “Mambo” (Ann Marie Giambattista,

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Diana Laurenson, Virginia Clark East, Lauren Salerno, Jon Devlin, Lyn Gendron); “Merengue” (Ann Marie Giambattista, Lyn Gendron, Virginia Clark East, Lauren Salerno); “Spanish Cape” (Jon Devlin); “Tango” (Jon Devlin, Diana Laurenson); “Samba” (Company; Duo: Jon Devlin and Ann Marie Giambattista); Country/Western—“Hey, Good Lookin’” (Bonnie Sue Taylor); “Lady” (Armour Gomez); “9 to 5” (Karen Quackenbush); “Never-Ending Love” (Company); Top Hits—“Guilty” (Teri Hiatt, Armour Gomez); “Physical” (Bonnie Sue Taylor, Steven Van Dyke, Ralph Rodriguez); “Out Here on My Own” (Teri Hiatt); “Fame” (Diana Laurenson, Ann Marie Giambattista, Lyn Gendron, Virginia Clark East); “Celebration” (Company) (Note: The program also indicated that an unlisted number titled “Dancers’ Finale” had additional choreography by Jay Norman.) Jon Devlin’s dance revue Manhattan Rhythm was no doubt inspired by Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (1978), and while it lacked the glitz and invention of Fosse’s brilliant dance conceptions the evening was a mildly pleasant one that brought to mind television spectaculars of old. The production was virtually ignored by the critics, but Richard Shepard in the New York Times reported the show was the first to play at the recently revamped and renamed Hudson Theatre, now called the Savoy. The orchestra section had been leveled and now offered groupings of tables and chairs where customers could order drinks and watch the show in cabaret fashion (except for glass holders attached to the seats, the balconies remained untouched, and a huge bar had been installed in the main corridor near the box office).

THE MERRY WIDOW Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: September 7, 1982; Closing Date: November 13, 1982 Performances: 13 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Victor Leon and Leo Stein (English adaptation by Adrian Ross) Music: Franz Lehar Based on the 1861 play L’attache d’ambassade by Henri Meilhac. Direction: Bill Gile; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; John S. White, Managing Director); Choreography: Donald Saddler; Scenery: Helen Pond and Herbert Senn; Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: Jack Harrold (Baron Popoff), Susanne Marsee (Natalie), William Eichorn (M. de St. Brioche), Thomas Jamerson (Marquis de Cascada), Bonnie Kirk (Sylviane), Janis Eckhart (Olga), Douglas Perry (General Novikovich), Joseph Evans (Vicomte Camille de Jolidon), William Ledbetter (Counsellor Khadja), James Billings (Nisch), Elizabeth Hynes (Sonia), Alan Titus (Count Danilo), Robert Brubaker (Head Waiter), Susan Elizabeth Scott (Zozo), Rebeka Pradera (Lolo), Esperanza Galan (Dodo), Candace Itow (Jou-Jou), Victoria Rinaldi (Frou-Frou), Kate Langan (Clo-Clo), Tamara Mark (Margot); Members of Marsovian and Parisian Society, Servants, and Waiters: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in and around Paris during the early 1900s. Franz Lehar’s operetta Die lustige witwe premiered in Vienna at the Theatre an der Wien on December 30, 1905, with Mizzi Gunther and Louis Treumann in the leading roles of Sonia and Count Danilo. The story centered on the impoverished kingdom of Marsovia and the attempts of its politicians to ensure that the fortune of its wealthiest citizen, the widow Sonia, will remain in the country. To that end, Danilo is sent to Paris to woo Sonia into marriage and thus keep her money in Marsovia. Of course, the two fall in love to the accompaniment of Lehar’s gorgeous score and their romantic happy ending is also a financially happy one for the coffers of the kingdom. In reviewing the current revival by the New York City Opera Company, Donal Henahan in the New York Times noted that during the summer the New York State Theatre had undergone acoustical restoration that resulted in “significant improvements.” As a result, the heretofore acoustically troublesome venue allowed the singers and orchestra to project “with greater clarity and definition.” For “Vilja,” Elizabeth Hynes’s Sonia was “vocally unimpeachable” but perhaps a touch too “desperately dramatic”; otherwise, her voice had “power and a velvety gloss.” Alan Titus’s Count Danilo was “charmingly gauche.”

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During the run, other performers alternated in the leading roles, and John Rockwell in the Times noted that as Sonia Karen Huffstodt sang with “some brightness” but lacked the necessary “charisma” and “vocal opulence,” and Louis Otey’s Danilo was “dashing” with a “forthrightly enough” voice but occasionally displayed “an odd, swallowed, tight quality” at the top of his vocal register. Overall, Rockwell felt the production provided a “casual treatment” of the score and he noted the revival included one interpolation (“One Love in a Lifetime” from Lehar’s 1934 operetta Giuditta, original lyric by Paul Knepler and Fritz Lohner-Beda with a new English lyric by the revival’s conductor Scott Bergeson). The operetta has enjoyed some twenty-one productions in New York; the first, which starred Ethel Jackson and Donald Brian, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on October 27, 1907, and played for 416 performances. City Opera’s current production was the company’s first of five revivals of the operetta during the decade (see entries for the 1983, 1985, 1988, and 1989 presentations). Also, see entry for the Vienna Volksoper revival which played a limited engagement in 1984. There have been various film versions, the most memorable one directed by Ernst Lubitsch for MGM in 1934 with Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier (most of the lyrics were by Lorenz Hart, and additional music was by Richard Rodgers and Herbert Stothart). There are many recordings of the score, including the cast album of the 1964 Music Theatre of Lincoln Center production which starred Patrice Munsel and Bob Wright (RCA Victor Records LP # LOC/LSO-1094; the CD was released by Sony Masterworks Broadway # 88697-88567-2). A two-CD set (with libretto) performed in German was released by Deutsche Grammophon (# 439-911-2) by the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Monteverdi Choir (orchestra conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, and with Cheryl Studer and Boje Skovhus in the leading roles).

YOUR ARMS TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD Theatre: Alvin Theatre Opening Date: September 9, 1982; Closing Date: November 7, 1982 Performances: 70 Text: Vinnette Carroll Lyrics and Music: Alex Bradford; additional lyrics and music by Micki Grant; dance music by H. B. Barnum Based on the Book of Matthew. Direction: Vinnette Carroll; Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler (Jerry R. Moore, Associate Producer) (coproduced by Anita MacShane and The Urban Arts Theatre); Choreography: Talley Beatty (choreography restaged by Ralf Paul Haze); Scenery and Costumes: William Schroder; Lighting: Richard Winkler; Musical Direction: Michael Powell Cast: Patti LaBelle, Al Green, Julius Richard Brown, Nora Cole, Jamil K. Garland, Elijah Gill, L. Michael Gray, Ralf Paul Haze, Cynthia Henry, The Bobby Hill, Rufus E. Jackson, Elmore James, Linda James, Tommi Johnson, Janice Nunn Nelson, Dwayne Phelps, Quincella (Swyningan), KiKi Shepard, Leslie Hardesty Sisson, Marilynn Winbush The concert-styled evening was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: * = Lyric and music by Micki Grant; ** = Lyric and music by Alex Bradford; *** = Music by H. B. Barnum. Act One: “Beatitudes” (*) (Company); “We’re Gonna Have a Good Time” (*) (Patti LaBelle, Company); “Me and Jesus” (*) (Al Green, Company); “There’s a Stranger in Town” (**) (Al Green); “Just a Little Bit of Jesus Goes a Long Way” (**) (Janice Nunn Nelson, Company); “We Are the Priests and Elders” (*) (Julius Richard Brown, The Bobby Hill, L. Michael Gray, Elmore James); “Something Is Wrong in Jerusalem” (*) (Nora Cole, Quincella); “It Was Alone” (**) and “I Know I Have to Leave Here” (**) (Elijah Gill, Al Green, Company); “Be Careful Whom You Kiss” (**) (Elijah Gill, Ralf Paul Haze, Nora Cole, Quincella); “Trial” (*) (Company); “It’s Too Late” (*) (Company); “Judas Dance” (***) (Ralf Paul Haze); “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God” (**) (Patti LaBelle, Company); “Give Us Barabbas” (Company); “See How

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They Done My Lord” (**) (Nora Cole, Company); “Come On Down” (**) (L. Michael Gray, Jamil K. Garland, Linda James); “Veil of the Temple” (unidentified lyricist and composer) (Patti LaBelle, Company); “Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down” (**) (Al Green, Quincella, Elijah Gill, Company); “Beatitudes” (*) (reprise) (Patti LaBelle, Company) Act Two: “Didn’t I Tell You” (**) (Al Green, Company); “When the Power Comes” (**) (Al Green, Company); “Everybody Has His Own Way” (**) (Julius Richard Brown, The Bobby Hill, Tommi Johnson); “Down by the Riverside” (traditional) (L. Michael Gray, Company); “I Love You So Much, Jesus” (**) (Patti LaBelle); “Couldn’t Keep It to Myself” (**) (Al Green, Company); “On That Day” (**) (Al Green, Company); “As Long as I Live” (**) (Patti LaBelle, Al Green); “The Band” (**) (Company) The current revival of the revue-like gospel musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God had last been seen in New York some two years earlier. For information about that production and the musical in general (including its original New York run in 1976), see entry for the June 1980 revival. The new production, which starred Patti LaBelle and Al Green, was somewhat revised and had a slightly different song listing than the 1980 version. Robert Palmer in the New York Times noted that the slightly reworked production needed to address the differences between the styles of pop singer Patti LaBelle (whose singing performance was that of “glitzy showboating,” “mannerisms,” and “sheer overkill”) and the remainder of the cast, including Al Green, all of whom were traditional gospel vocalists. But the show was nonetheless “worth the price of admission.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post cautioned that this was not a traditional production of the musical because LaBelle and Green in their “somewhat competitive ways” always seemed to be looking for a musical “knockout punch.” As a result, the revue’s “present frenzy” offered “as much fury as sound” and the “sound itself probably breaks the Broadway decibel count.” Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News felt the revival was “much more flashily show biz than its predecessors” and said LaBelle “took over the show as if the rest of the cast were a bunch of rug weavers” when Arms should instead be “an ensemble effort.” James Spina in Women’s Wear Daily said the revue was “nothing more than jejune soul polished with typical Broadway movements and now packaged with big-name bait.” For future revivals, he suggested Aretha Franklin and Fats Domino for a “Weight Watchers engagement,” and Lauren Bacall and John Denver for “a daring racial crossover version.”

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Al Green)

A DOLL’S LIFE “A New Musical”

Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: September 23, 1982; Closing Date: September 26, 1982 Performances: 5 Book and Lyrics: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music: Larry Grossman The musical was a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play A Doll House (often incorrectly translated as A Doll’s House). Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: James M. Nederlander, Sidney L. Shlenker, Warner Theatre Productions, Joseph Harris, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards, and Robert Fryer; Choreography: Larry Fuller; Scenery: Timothy O’Brien and Tazeena Firth; Costumes: Florence Klotz; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Betsy Joslyn (Nora), George Hearn (Actor, Torvald, Johan), Peter Gallagher (Otto), Edmund Lyndeck (Eric), Barbara Lang (Astrid), Penny Orloff (Audition Singer, Selma, Jacqueline), Norman A. Large (Conductor, Gustafson, Escamillo, Audition Singer, Loki, Mr. Zetterling), David Vosburgh (Stage Hand, Doctor Berg, Audition Singer, Ambassador), Michael Vita (Stage Manager, Hamsun, Petersen, Warden, Nilson),

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Diane Armistead (Dowager), Gordon Bovinet (Musician, Mr. Kloster), Willi Burke (Camilla Forrester), Patti Cohenour (Assistant Stage Manager, Helga), John Corsaut (Prison Guard), David Cale Johnson (Prison Guard), Carol Lurie (Helmer’s Maid, Waitress), Larry Small (Musician, Waiter), Paul Straney (Waiter, Audition Singer, Muller), Olga Talyn (Maid, The Widow), Jim Wagg (Ivar), Kimberly Stern (Emmy), David Seaman (Bob), Lisa Peters (Woman in White), Teri Gill (Woman in Red), Patricia Parker (Woman in Black), David Evans (Man in Black) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City in 1982 and in Norway during the period 1879–1883.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue” (Betsy Joslyn, Company); “A Woman Alone” (Betsy Joslyn, Peter Gallagher, Norman A. Large, Company); “Letter to the Children” (Betsy Joslyn); “New Year’s Eve” (Edmund Lyndeck, George Hearn, David Vosburgh, Norman A. Large); “Stay with Me, Nora” (Peter Gallagher, Betsy Joslyn); “The Opera Audition”: (1) “Arrival” (Barbara Lang, Company); (2) “Loki and Baldur” (Peter Gallagher, Singers); (3) “You Interest Me” (George Hearn); and (4) “Departure” (Barbara Lang, Company); “Letter from Klemnacht” (Barbara Lang); “Learn to Be Lonely” (Betsy Joslyn); “Rats and Mice and Fish” (Women); “Jailer, Jailer” and “Letter to the Children” (reprise) (Betsy Joslyn, Women); “Excerpts from Loki and Baldur” (Company); “Rare Wines” (Edmund Lyndeck, Betsy Joslyn) Act Two: “No More Mornings” (Betsy Joslyn); “There She Is” (George Hearn, Edmund Lyndeck, Peter Gallagher); “Power” (Betsy Joslyn); “Letter to the Children” (reprise) (Betsy Joslyn); “At Last” (George Hearn); “The Grand Café” (Company); Finale (Company) A Doll’s Life was inspired by Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play A Doll House (which is usually and incorrectly translated as A Doll’s House) about wife and mother Nora (played by Betsy Joslyn in the musical) who in her search for independence slams the door on her hapless and perhaps ineffectual but hardly villainous husband Torvald (George Hearn) and her three children. Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s book purports to tell us what happens to Nora when she slams the door and reinvents herself as newly liberated woman. But as soon as the curtain rose, the musical was in monumental trouble. A Doll’s Life crashed after five performances and with a reported $4 million loss was one of the biggest flops in Broadway history; its closing even made the front page of the New York Times. The musical begins in the present time at a rehearsal for the final scene of A Doll House where the actress portraying Nora is somehow magically transported to the Norway of 1879 where (as Nora) she callously jettisons her husband and children. She finds work in a restaurant and then in a cannery, and along the way meets young composer Otto (Peter Gallagher) who has written an opera called Loki and Baldur and whom she mistakenly believes is the kind of enlightened man she’s seeking. (Much stage time was spent on the Otto subplot, including sequences from his opera, all of which had little to do with the musical at hand.) Meanwhile, Nora decides that education is the only path to independence, but her time at the cannery inspires her to become an activist for women’s rights and she’s jailed three times for organizing pickets and demonstrations. She also meets enlightened lawyer Johan (also played by Hearn) and rich businessman Eric (Edmund Lyndeck) who bankrolls a successful perfume business for her. Ultimately, Nora decides to return to her family and in song tells Torvald that they must “meet as equals.” The dreary plot with its more-sensitive-than-thou approach to women’s liberation played like a musical version of a daytime television talk show about equal rights. Comden and Green always excelled in lighthearted scripts and tongue-in-cheek spoofery, and here were completely out of their element with the didactic and sour story. The pretentious plot and dialogue were laughable, the liberated Nora and her “sensitive” men came across like parodies, and as one sat petrified with boredom in the Mark Hellinger Theatre one mused that perhaps the stage proceedings might have worked rather well if Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman had kidded them in the manner of their skits on Burnett’s television show. It was impossible to sympathize with Nora’s plight: if she does indeed have issues with Torvald and with the era’s attitudes toward women’s rights, is this the fault of the three young children whom she abandoned? And if the roles had been reversed, would Comden, Green, and the musical’s creators have been quick to sympathize with a man who abandons his wife and children in order to find himself?

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Further, the musical seemed to argue that the best way for a woman to be truly liberated is to emulate a male in every respect. This is certainly not Ibsen’s message, was surely not what the musical’s creators meant to convey, and modern-day feminists would definitely be appalled to discover that the intent of liberation is to be just like a man. But the spineless book and the by-the-numbers lyrics never took on a life of their own and had nothing thoughtful and incisive to say about the situation and the characters. As for the weak opening, the musical might have been more effective had it begun with a straightforward staging of the final scene of Ibsen’s play, perhaps on a plain stage with the performers dressed in nondescript black-and-white rehearsal clothes. And when Nora slams the door, the work could have exploded into color and music as we follow her into a new world of discovery and independence. But as written the musical carried too much baggage, and even suggested the story was really about the actress who plays Nora in the opening sequence of the production and how she tries to find her liberated self by imagining what the fictional Nora might have gone through. Harold Prince’s direction was disappointing, and he recycled trademarks from his earlier shows: the beloved catwalks of Evita ([London, 1978]; 1979) and Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) made a reappearance; a dancing couple swirled about the stage and were somewhat reminiscent of Vincent and Vanessa in Follies (1971) and Che and Evita in Evita; and while the décor of Fiddler on the Roof (1964), Cabaret (1966), and the Loveland sequence of Follies were in the respective styles of Marc Chagall, Georges Grosz, and Jean-Honore Fragonard, A Doll’s Life adopted the look of the paintings of Edvard Munch (Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested if the script had visited Nora’s parfumerie we no doubt would have been transported into the territory of another Prince musical, 1963’s She Loves Me). Except for George Hearn, who brought more to his role than was actually written, the performances were half-hearted, and Betsy Joslyn was stuck with a cold and unfeeling character. Peter Gallagher and Edmund Lyndeck did what they could with their impossibly written roles, but they and all the performers were undone by the ludicrous book, a book so pretentious that it brought to mind the kind of pompous musical that Comden and Green had spoofed in their classic 1953 MGM movie musical The Band Wagon. The proceedings came to life only in Larry Grossman’s ambitious score, particularly in such expansive and sweeping sequences as “The Grand Café.” But his music was saddled with the grim book and lyrics and one wished an instrumental version of the score had been recorded. Rich noted that the young theatre season was “unlikely to produce a more perplexing curiosity” because the creators of A Doll’s Life had “inflated a spectacularly unpromising premise” into a show that “collapses in its prologue and then skids into a toboggan from which there is no return.” But at least Grossman emerged from the “blunder” with “minor distinction,” and among all the creative personnel he at least seemed “to know where he’s going.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “ponderous” musical opened at the Mark Hellinger “without a prayer,” for here Nora arrives in the world of “heavily miked operetta” and a “limpy blend” of Bitter Sweet (1929) and Sweeney Todd that morphed into Onward Victoria. Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested that “aspiration and perspiration” weren’t enough and therefore the work “remains the dream of a musical unfulfilled.” The show lacked “involvement,” the book and lyrics missed the gravitas of Ibsen, the score seemed “written to order,” and Barnes wondered if the ambiguous ending would lead to Nora III. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said there were no characters to care about, the first act was “endless,” and the evening was presented in a “joyless” and “lifeless” manner. And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 found A Doll’s Life a “ponderous, overbearing bore” that was “leaden, lumbering, and thoroughly ill-advised.” The original cast album was released by Original Cast Records (LP # OC-8241), and was later issued by CBS Special Products (LP # P-18846); the CD was released by Bay Cities Records # BCD-3031. The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1983. The musical was revived Off Off Broadway by the York Theatre Company for a limited engagement at Saint Peter’s Church, where it opened on December 21, 1994, for thirty-four performances. Although the production was far more intimate than the bloated Broadway version, the material was still dull and the smallscale interpretation was just as unsatisfactory as its predecessor. The revival dropped “The Grand Café,” and added one new song (“Can’t You Hear I’m Making Love to You”).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (George Hearn); Best Book (Betty Comden and Adolph Green); Best Score (lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Larry Grossman)

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CATS Theatre: Winter Garden Theatre Opening Date: October 7, 1982; Closing Date: September 10, 2000 Performances: 7,485 Lyrics: T. S. Eliot; additional lyrics by Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Based on T. S. Eliot’s 1939 book of poetry Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (and other writings by Eliot). Direction: Trevor Nunn (Gillian Lynne, Associate Director); Producers: Cameron Mackintosh, The Really Useful Company Limited, David Geffen, and The Shubert Organization (R. Tyler Gatchell Jr., and Peter Neufeld, Executive Producers); Choreography: Gillian Lynne; Scenery and Costumes: John Napier; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Stanley Lebowsky Cast: Hector Jaime Mercado (Alonzo), Stephen Hanan (Asparagus, Growltiger), Donna King (Bombalurina), Steven Gelfer (Carbucketty), Rene Ceballos (Cassandra), Rene Clemente (Coricopat, Mungojerrie), Wendy Edmead (Demeter), Christine Langner (Etcetera, Rumpleteazer), Betty Buckley (Grizabella), Bonnie Simmons (Jellylorum, Griddlebone), Anna McNeely (Jennyanydots), Timothy Scott (Mistoffolees), Harry Groener (Munkustrap), Ken Page (Old Deuteronomy), Kenneth Ard (Plato, Macavity), Herman W. Sebek (Pouncival), Terrence V. Mann (Rum Tum Tugger), Reed Jones (Skimbleshanks), Janet L. Hubert (Tantomile), Robert Hoshour (Tumblebrutus), Cynthia Onrubia (Victoria); The Cat Chorus: Walter Charles, Susan Powers, Carol Richards, Joel Robertson The musical was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” (Company); “The Naming of Cats” (Company); “The Invitation to the Jellicle Ball” (Cynthia Onrubia, Timothy Scott); “The Old Gumbie Cat” (Anna McNeeley, Rene Ceballos, Donna King, Bonnie Simmons); “The Rum Tum Tugger” (Terrence V. Mann); “Grizabella, the Glamour Cat” (Betty Buckley, Wendy Edmead, Donna King); “Bustopher Jones” (Stephen Hanan, Anna McNeeley, Bonnie Simmons, Donna King); “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer” (Timothy Scott, Rene Clemente, Christine Langner); “Old Deuteronomy” (Harry Groener, Terrence V. Mann, Ken Page); “The Awfull Battle of the Pekes and Pollicles” and “The Marching Songs of the Pollicle Dogs” (Harry Groener, Kenneth Ard, Company); “The Jellicle Ball” (Company); “Memory” (Betty Buckley) Act Two: “The Moments of Happiness” (Ken Page); “Gus: The Theatre Cat” (Bonnie Simmons, Stephen Hanan); “Growltiger’s Last Stand” (Stephen Hanan, Bonnie Simmons, Harry Groener, Reed Jones, Terrence V. Mann, Timothy Scott, Steven Gelfer); “Skimbleshanks” (Reed Jones); “Macavity” (Wendy Edmead, Donna King, Hector Jaime Mercado, Kenneth Ard, Harry Groener); “Mr. Mistoffolees” (Timothy Scott, Terrence V. Mann); “Memory” (reprise) (Betty Buckley); “The Journey to the Heaviside Layer” (Company); “The Ad-Dressing of Cats” (Ken Page) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit London musical Cats was a hit all over again when it opened in New York and ran for eighteen years. The revue-like musical was based on T. S. Eliot’s 1939 volume of light verse Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, but what was whimsical on the printed page became overblown and pretentious in its musical adaptation. A short one-act version might have been mildly pleasant, but a full-length evening of the coy and seemingly endless goings-on among musical-comedy cats quickly became tedious. As a result, Eliot’s amusing words and Lloyd Webber’s music were more satisfying on the cast album than on the stage. The thin plot dealt with a so-called Jellicle Ball, where the cats cavort and one (Grizabella, an old tabby from a cat house who used to be a prostitute) is chosen to ascend to the Heaviside Layer where she’ll be reborn into new life. The overly grandiose décor depicted a garbage dump where the cats hang out amid huge bottles, cartons, and other junk scaled to the proportions and perspectives of cats. And Grizabella’s ascent to the heavens took place on a science-fiction flying saucer–like contraption that literally propelled her high above the stage and up through an opening in the ceiling. Cats was a musical for the tourists, a Disneyfied feel-good epic that ushered in the so-called British invasion of Broadway (Lloyd Webber’s Evita had opened in New York three years earlier, but Cats institutionalized British imports on Broadway as a trend that lasted for well over a decade). Cats was also the first in a

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series of musicals aimed at both tourists and the family trade, and to this day Broadway relentlessly offers children’s musicals, shows aimed at preteens and teenagers, constant revivals of tested family-fare musicals, and a continuing onslaught of jukebox musicals that regurgitate familiar songs from composer catalogs. Prior to the New York premiere of Cats, one hoped it would live up to its advance reputation as the ultimate in dance musicals. But choreographer Gillian Lynne’s conceptions were mostly of the tried-and-true variety, and they never catapulted the show into the stratosphere. It’s conceivable that a series of electric dance routines created by a Jerome Robbins or a Bob Fosse might have transformed the evening into a memorable one, but Lynne’s creations were at best mildly pleasant. The critics were generally impressed with the gargantuan production values and the nimble performers but were somewhat disappointed with the weak story line and choreography. But the show’s momentum was unstoppable. The public snatched up tickets, there were touring productions everywhere, “Memory” became one of the few show songs during the era to achieve old-fashioned Hit Parade popularity, and Cats became a musical that everyone seemed to know about, including those who don’t follow Broadway and musical theatre. At the end of the season, the show won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Frank Rich in the New York Times said that for “purely theatrical magic” Cats “unquestionably delivers.” And while he enjoyed the production values and the “tuneful” songs, he noted that the musical took a “cat nap” during the first act because there was a “lack of spine” to the evening. The show attempted to tell a story and to be the first British dance musical “in the Broadway tradition,” and both attempts failed. The “quantity and exuberance” of Lynne’s choreography didn’t “add up to quality” and there were “repetitive” movements of jazz and ballet “clichés.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the production was a “triumph” for director Trevor Nunn and designer John Napier, but not for Lynne, Lloyd Webber, and Eliot himself. The staging was “sheer genius” and the scenery was “decorative virtuosity,” but there was a “creative paucity” to the choreography, the music was “breathtakingly unoriginal,” and Eliot’s view of cats was “cutesified.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal noted that the spaceship-like contraption for Grizabella was “dazzling” and left you “breathless,” but then you started to wonder what it really had to do with Eliot’s “low-key” lyrics and Lloyd Webber’s “simple” melodies. He also noted that many numbers never quit while they were ahead and thus they continued with anticlimactic codas and became “increasingly repetitious.” Ultimately, there was a “wide, sometimes unbridgeable gap” between Eliot’s “simple” and “charming” words and the gargantuan production values. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “superbly unified ensemble” that filled the stage with “excitement” even when there were “long stretches” that lacked “real ideas,” and he noted that Lynne’s dances were “conventional show business routines.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor suggested the special effects sometimes became “almost too much,” but he liked the score and found the choreography “dazzling.” And while Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News felt the “showy” production was “an overblown piece of theatre” and offered “nothing strikingly original” in its choreography, he mentioned that Lynne and Nunn did “their level best to keep things on the move” during the evening’s “lengthy arid stretches.” T. E. Kalem in Time said the show was “a spectacle on a grand and staggering scale” that “sweeps you off your feet but not into its arms” because “the spectacle was the substance.” As for Lynne, she was a “fluent” choreographer but an “uninventive” one who relied on jazz, ballet, and acrobatics, all of which “in reiteration” became “anticlimactic.” Jack Kroll with Constance Guthrie in Newsweek said Cats was the “most extravagant” musical import Broadway had ever seen, but despite its “theatrical magic” and “beautiful tunes,” its “pretentiousness sloshes over the stage.” The musical opened in London at the New London Theatre on May 11, 1981, and ran for a marathon 8,949 performances. Judi Dench created the role of Grizabella and was the first to sing “Memory,” but during previews she injured her leg and had to leave the musical. She was replaced by Elaine Paige. The New York production played for 7,485 showings and as of this writing is the fourth-longest-running musical in Broadway history (and is scheduled to be revived in New York during 2016). Geffen Records released both the London (CD # 2017) and Broadway (CD # 2031) cast albums, and in 1998 the musical was filmed for home video release with a cast that included Elaine Paige, Ken Page, and John Mills (the DVD was issued by Universal Studios). The program noted that “Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” included additional material written by Trevor Nunn and Richard Stilgoe, and the lyric of “Memory” was by Trevor Nunn and was based on poems by

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T. S. Eliot (“Memory” includes lines from and is suggested by Eliot’s “Rhapsody on a Windy Night” and other poems of his “Prufrock” period). Further, some of the lyrics for “The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs” and “Grizabella, the Glamour Cat” were discovered among unpublished works by Eliot. The program notes also indicated the musical’s prologue was based on ideas from Eliot’s unpublished poem “Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats,” and Growltiger’s aria was taken from an Italian translation of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.

Awards Tony Nominations and Awards: Best Musical (Cats); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Harry Groener); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Stephen Hanan); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Betty Buckley); Best Director of a Musical (Trevor Nunn); Best Book of a Musical (T. S. Eliot); Best Score (lyrics by T. S. Eliot and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber); Best Scenic Designer (John Napier); Best Costume Designer (John Napier); Best Lighting Designer (David Hersey); Best Choreographer (Gillian Lynne)

CANDIDE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: October 13, 1982; Closing Date: November 2, 1982 Performances: 7 (in repertory) Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics: Richard Wilbur (additional lyrics by Leonard Bernstein, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim; for specific lyric credits, see song list below) Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on the 1759 novel Candide; or, Optimism by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet). Direction: Harold Prince; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Clarke Dunham (set graphics by Donald Beckman); Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Direction: David Leighton; Musical Direction: John Mauceri Cast: John Lankston (Voltaire, Doctor Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, Second Gambler aka Police Chief, Sage), David Eisler (Candide), Don Yule (Huntsman, Bulgarian Soldier, Don), Deborah Darr (Paquette), Bonnie Kirk (Baroness, Calliope Player), Jack Harrold (Baron, Grand Inquisitor, Slave Driver, Pasha-Prefect), Erie Mills (Cunegonde), Scott Reeve (Maximilian), James Billings (Maximilian’s Servant, Bulgarian Soldier, Don Issachar, Judge, Father Bernard, First Gambler), Andy Roth (Westphalian Soldier), William Ledbetter (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Pirate), Ralph Bassett (Heresy Agent, Don), Gary Dietrich (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), William Poplaski (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Old Lady), Aurelio Padron (Don, Governor’s Aide, Sailor), Andy Roth (Don, Sailor), Michael Rubino (Don), John Henry Thomas (Pirate), Ivy Austin (Pink Sheep), Rhoda Butler (Pink Sheep), James Sergi (Lion); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action occurs during the eighteenth century in Westphalia, Lisbon, Cadiz, Buenos Aires, and sundry places throughout the world.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Life Is Happiness Indeed” (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (David Eisler, Erie Mills, Scott Reeve, Deborah Darr); “The Best of All Possible Worlds” (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (John Lankston, David Eisler, Erie Mills, Scott Reeve, Deborah Darr); “Oh, Happy We” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (David Eisler, Erie Mills); “It Must Be So” (aka “Candide’s Meditation”) (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (David Eisler); “Westphalian Fanfare” (Orchestra)/“Chorale” (Chorus)/“Battle” (Orchestra); “Glitter and Be Gay” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Erie Mills); “Dear Boy” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (John Lankston, Male Chorus); “Auto-da-fe” (aka “What a Day”) (lyric by Richard Wilbur and Stephen Sondheim) (Company); “Candide’s

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Lament” (aka “This World”) (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (David Eisler); “You Were Dead, You Know” (lyric by John Latouche) (David Eisler, Erie Mills); “I Am Easily Assimilated” (lyric by Leonard Bernstein) (Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Aurelio Padron, Andy Roth, Michael Rubino, Don Yule, William Ledbetter, Ralph Bassett); “Quartet Finale” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (David Eisler, Erie Mills, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, John Lankston, Chorus) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Ballad of the New World” (lyricist unknown) (David Eisler, Chorus); “My Love” (lyric by John Latouche and Richard Wilbur) (John Lankston, Scott Reeve); “The Old Lady’s Tale” (lyricist unknown) (Muriel Costa-Greenspon); “Barcarolle (Orchestra); “Alleluia” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Scott Reeve, Erie Mills, John Lankston, Chorus); “Sheep Song” (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (Ivy Austin, Rhoda Butler, James Sergi, Deborah Darr, David Eisler, Chorus); “Governor’s Waltz” (Orchestra); “Bon Voyage” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (John Lankston, Chorus); “Quiet” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Deborah Darr, David Eisler); “The Best of All Possible Worlds” (reprise) (Muriel Costa-Greenspon, David Eisler, Deborah Darr); “Constantinople” (Orchestra); “What’s the Use”(lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Jack Harrold, James Billings, John Lankston); “You Were Dead, You Know” (reprise) (David Eisler, Erie Mills); “Make Our Garden Grow” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Company) The program credits for the New York City Opera Company’s premiere of their “Opera House Version, 1982” wasn’t encouraging because many of the creators from the musical’s execrable 1974 Broadway revival (which had originated at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1973) were back (book writer Hugh Wheeler, director Harold Prince, and choreographer Patricia Birch). Their disappointing revival, which opened at the Broadway Theatre on March 5, 1974, for 740 performances, reduced Voltaire to Laugh-In-styled antics, and at times Bernstein’s scintillating score seemed like an afterthought designed to support the foolish goings-on in a so-called environmental staging that reduced the venerable Broadway Theatre into a hodgepodge of playing areas (and in case you were wondering, the coyer-than-thou sheep characters from the 1974 version returned for the City Opera production). The notes for the City Opera program indicated Candide’s “world premiere” occurred on December 1, 1956, at New York’s Martin Beck Theatre, but the date was off by four weeks and the place off by some 215 miles because the world premiere of Candide took place on October 29, 1956, at Boston’s Colonial Theatre. Another program note indicated the 1974 revival had been “enormously successful,” but neglected to mention that despite its almost two-year run the production closed without realizing a profit. The plot satirized optimism with its depiction of the picaresque adventures of the innocent Candide who roams the world looking for goodness and finds nothing but misery and despair. After wasting much of his youth in the quest for an impossible dream, the disillusioned Candide returns to his homeland with the knowledge that man isn’t noble and that one should aspire only to cultivate one’s garden and try to make the best of one’s life. Donal Henahan in the New York Times praised City Opera’s revival and said the principals “could hardly have been better.” But “most” of the evening’s effects “were fairly standard Broadway musical stuff, gussied up for a night at the opera.” As a result, Prince’s direction brought the performers into the audience “for no pressing reason” and a ballroom scene included silhouettes of male dancers flinging “stuffed dummies” for their partners. So it seems that while this was not quite the kindergarten Candide of 1974, it nonetheless occasionally offered easy jokes and shtick. What Candide demands is an incisively witty and hard-edged book that understands and doesn’t undermine Voltaire, not an overly precious feel-good hand-me-down in the style of a television variety show. And Candide does indeed have such a book: Lillian Hellman’s acerbic adaptation for the original production. Unfortunately, the terms of her will preclude the use of her book in any staging, but surely there is somewhere a librettist who could create a book in the style of Voltaire, one that is the equal of Bernstein’s brilliant score. The 1956 production played on Broadway for seventy-three performances, and a myth surrounding the musical is that it received poor reviews and went unappreciated. In truth, most of the critics gave the musical rapturous reviews. John Chapman in the New York Daily News hailed the “artistic triumph” and said the work was the best light opera since the 1911 premiere of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier; he noted that sixty seconds after conductor Samuel Krachmalnick brought down his baton for the overture “one sensed that here was going to be an evening of uncommon quality.” Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times found the evening a “brilliant musical satire” that was a “triumph of stage arts molded into a symmetrical whole” and said that nothing in Bernstein’s previous theatre music had the “joyous variety, humor and richness” of

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this “wonderful” score. He also noted that Oliver Smith’s “fabulous” décor and Irene Sharaff’s “vigorous” costumes made Candide “the most stunning production of the season.” Tom Donnelly in the New York World-Telegram and Sun said the score was not only Bernstein’s best, it was also “one of the most attractive scores anyone has written for the theatre.” Here was “lush, lovely, and electric” music, and when it wasn’t “voluptuous as velvet” it was “as frostily pretty as a diamond bell.” While Robert Coleman in the New York Daily Mirror noted the musical had its “faults” (which he didn’t specify) it was nonetheless “distinguished” and “towers heads and shoulders above most of the song-anddancers you’ll get this or any other season.” Richard Watts in the New York Post felt the libretto often lacked “bite and pungency” but was still “brilliant” and had “so much in the way of musical excellence, visual beauty, grace of style and boldness of design.” And John McClain in the New York Journal-American said the “ambitious and brilliant” evening offered a bright book by Hellman, delightful music by Bernstein, and scenery that was “imaginative and exciting.” But Walter Kerr in the New York Herald-Tribune said Candide was a “really spectacular disaster.” It was a “great ghostly wreck that sails like a Flying Dutchman across the fogbound stage of the Martin Beck,” and the story was “thumped out with a crushing hand.” Although Kerr felt the lyrics had “no purposeful edge,” he said Bernstein’s music emerged unscathed from “this singularly ill-conceived venture.” In his 1962 survey American Drama since World War II, Gerald Weales wrote that Candide was “not only the most sophisticated product of the American musical stage,” it was “probably the most imaginative American play to reach Broadway since the war.” City Opera’s production was recorded on a two-LP set by New World Records (LP # NW-340/341) and was later issued on a two-CD set (# NM-340/341/342). There are numerous recordings of the score, but the definitive one is the 1956 original cast album released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5180 and # OS-2350; issued on CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records # SK-86859). The script of the 1956 production was published in hardback by Random House in 1957. The 1974 revival was recorded on a two-LP set by Columbia Records (LP # S2X-32923, and the CD was issued by Sony/Masterworks Broadway # 82876-88391-2), and the script for this version was published in hardback by Schirmer Books/Macmillan Performing Arts Series in 1976. A 1997 Broadway revival opened at the Gershwin Theatre on April 29 for 103 performances and was recorded by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-68835-2). A “final revised version, 1989” was conducted by Bernstein and released by Deutsche Grammophone (two-LP set # 429-734-1; two-CD set # 429-734-2); a concert version that directly preceded this recording was released by the company on DVD (# B0006905-09). Another concert version, which was performed at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on May 5, 2005, was shown on public television’s Great Performances and was later released on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ID2762EMDVD). Other major productions of the musical include a concert version that toured in 1958 with original cast members Robert Rounseville (Candide) and Irra Petina (The Old Lady) as well as Mary Costa (Cunegonde) and Martyn Green (Pangloss); the adaptation was by Michael Stewart, and Krachmalnick again conducted. In 1967, another production briefly toured in an adaptation by Sheldon Patinkin, and on November 10, 1968, a one-performance concert with William Lewis and Madeleine Kahn was presented at Philharmonic Hall in an adaptation that used a combination of Hellman, Stewart, and Patinkin’s versions. In 1971, a lavish revival with Frank Porretta and Costa toured for four months but closed prior to Broadway; the adaptation was by Patinkin and the décor by Oliver Smith, who had designed the original production. The musical was first produced in London at the Saville Theatre on April 30, 1959, for sixty performances, and the cast included Denis Quilley (Candide), Costa (Cunegonde), Laurence Naismith (Pangloss), Edith Coates (The Old Lady), Ron Moody (The Governor), and Victor Spinetti (The Marquis). The book was credited to Hellman (“assisted” by Michael Stewart). City Opera revived Candide four more times during the decade (see entries for the 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1989 productions) as well as in 2005 and 2008.

THE GRAND DUCHESS OF GEROLSTEIN Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: October 23, 1982; Closing Date: November 3, 1982 Performances: 3 (in repertory)

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Libretto: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy (English adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin) Music: Jacques Offenbach Direction: Jack Hofsiss; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Christopher Chadman; Scenery and Costumes: John Conklin; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Master: David Leighton; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: Carroll Freeman (Fritz), Claudette Peterson (Wanda), Spiro Malas (General Boom), James Billings (Baron Puck), William Ledbetter (Nepomuc), Susanne Marsee (The Grand Duchess), Ron Raines (Prince Paul), Nico Castel (Baron Grog); The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1720 in the Duchy of Gerolstein. The New York City Opera Company’s production of Jacques Offenbach’s 1867 operetta The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein had met with criticism when the company first revived it six months earlier (see entry). For the current visit, Tim Page in the New York Times noted the spring revival had been one of the company’s “less successful” productions, and the “ultimate blame” for the “hokey and contrived” work was Offenbach’s fault because a little of his “fragile, flowery” music went a long way. The combination of the “silly” libretto and the “rarified sameness” of the score caused the eyelids to “droop.” But the cast did well, and Susanne Marsee in the title role was “appealingly sweet-voiced” and with “equal felicity” captured both the lyrical and dramatic aspects of her character.

ROCK ’N ROLL! THE FIRST 5,000 YEARS Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: October 24, 1982; Closing Date: October 31, 1982 Performances: 9 Text: Bob Gill and Robert Rabinowitz Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for lyricist and composer credits. Direction and Choreography: Joe Layton (Jerry Grimes, Co-Choreographer); Multi-Media Image Direction: Bob Gill and Robert Rabinowitz; Producers: Jules Fisher and Annie Fargue in association with Dick Clark, Inc., and Fred Disipio (Charles Koppelman and Martin Bandier, Associate Producers); Scenery: Mark Ravitz; Costumes: Franne Lee; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: Andrew Dorfman Cast: Rob Barnes, Joyce Leigh Bowden, Ka-Ron Brown, Sandy Dillon, Rich Hebert, Lon Hoyt, William Gregg Hunter, Bill Jones, Jenifer Lewis, Dave MacDonald, Wenndy Leigh MacKenzie, Karen Mankes, Bob Miller, Michael Pace, Raymond Patterson, Marion Ramsey, Jim Riddle, Shaun Solomon, Tom Teeley, Russell Velazquez, Barbara Walsh, Patrick Weathers, Carl E. Weaver, Lillias White The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” (1955 film Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing; lyric by Paul Francis Webster, music by Sammy Fain) (Recording by Frank Sinatra); “Tutti Frutti” (lyric and music by Richard Penniman, D. La Bostrie, and Joe Lubin) (Carl E. Weaver, Company); “Rock Around the Clock” (1955 film Blackboard Jungle; lyric and music by Max Friedman and Jimmy DeKnight) (Jim Riddle, Company); “Blueberry Hill” (lyric and music by Al Lewis, Larry Stock, and Vincent Rose) (William Gregg Hunter, Company); “Wake Up, Little Susie” (lyric and music by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant) (Russell Velazquez, Tom Teeley, Company); “Great Balls of Fire” (lyric and music by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer) (Tom Teeley, Company); “Johnny B. Goode” (lyric and music by Chuck Berry) (Carl E. Weaver, Company); “Heartbreak Hotel” (lyric and music by Mae Boren Axton, Tommy Durden, and Elvis Presley) (Patrick Weathers, Company); “Hound Dog” (lyric and music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) (Patrick Weathers, Company); “Love Me Tender” (lyric and music by Vera Matson and Elvis Presley) (Patrick Weathers, Company); “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” (lyric and music by Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy)

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(Carl E. Weaver, Company); “Sh-Boom” (“Life Could Be a Dream”) (lyric and music by James Edwards, Carl Feaster, James Keyes, and Floyd F. McRae) (Dave MacDonald, Company); “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” (lyric and music by Jerry Goffin and Carole King) (Marion Ramsey, Company); “Da Doo Ron Ron” (lyric and music by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector) (Wenndy Leigh MacKenzie, Company); “The Twist” (lyric and music by Hank Ballard) (Raymond Patterson, Company); “Land of a Thousand Dances” (lyric and music by Chris Kenner and Antoine Domino) (William Gregg Hunter, Company); “I’ll Be There” (lyric and music by Hal Davis, Berry Gordy, Bob West, and Willie Hutch) (Rob Barnes, Company); “You Keep Me Hanging On” (lyric and music by Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Bryant Holland) (Jenifer Lewis, Lillias White, Marion Ramsey, Company); “Proud Mary” (lyric and music by John C. Fogerty) (Marion Ramsey, Company); “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964 film A Hard Day’s Night; lyric and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) (Jim Riddle, Russell Velazquez, Tom Teeley, Bob Miller, Company); “I Got You Babe” (lyric and music by Sonny Bono) (Karen Mankes, Michael Pace, Company); “Good Vibrations” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Rich Hebert, Jim Riddle, Company); “Here Comes the Sun” (lyric and music by George Harrison) (Tom Teeley, Company); “The Sunshine of Your Love” (lyric and music by Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Peter Brown) (Tom Teeley, Russell Velazquez, Company); “Blowin’ in the Wind” (lyric and music by Bob Dylan) (Patrick Weathers, Company); “Like a Rolling Stone” (lyric and music by Bob Dylan) (Patrick Weathers, Company); “Whiter Shade of Pale” (lyric and music by Keith Reid and Gary Brooker) (Dave MacDonald, Company); “Mrs. Robinson” (1967 film The Graduate; lyric and music by Paul Simon) (Russell Velazquez, Tom Teeley, Company); “White Rabbit” (lyric and music by Grace Slick) (Barbara Walsh, Karen Mankes, Wenndy Leigh MacKenzie, Company); “Respect” (lyric and music by Otis Redding) (Lillas White, Company); “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (lyric and music by J. Robbie Robertson) (Patrick Weathers, Company); “People Got to Be Free” (lyric and music by Edward Brigate and Felix Cavaliere) (Russell Velazquez, Company); “Cry Baby” (lyric and music by Burt Russell and Norman Meade) (Sandy Dillon, Company); “Forever Young” (lyric and music by Bob Dylan) (Barbara Walsh, Company); “Everybody’s Talking” (1969 film Midnight Cowboy; lyric and music by Fred Neil) (Michael Pace, Company); “Joy to the World” (lyric and music by Hoyt Axton) (Russell Velazquez, Company); “Both Sides Now” (lyric and music by Joni Mitchell) (Wenndy Leigh MacKenzie, Company); “Higher and Higher” (lyric and music by Renard Miner, Gary Jackson, and Carl Smith) (Raymond Patterson, Company) Act Two: “Tubular Bells” (music by Mike Oldfield) (Orchestra); “I Feel the Earth Move” (lyric and music by Carole King) (Joyce Leigh Bowden, Company); “Satisfaction” (lyric and music by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard) (Dave MacDonald, Company); “When Will I Be Loved?” (lyric and music by Phil Everly) (Joyce Leigh Bowden, Company); “My Generation” (lyric and music by Peter Townshend) (Jim Riddle, Company); “You’ve Got a Friend” (lyric and music by Carole King) (Michael Pace, Company); “Nothing from Nothing” (lyric and music by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher) (William Gregg Hunter, Company); “Say It Loud, I’m Black and Proud” (lyric and music by Jerry Brown) (Rob Barnes, Company); “Summer in the City” (lyric and music by John Sebastian, Steve Boone, and Mark Sebastian) (Jim Riddle, Company); “Whole Lotta Love” (lyric and music by John Baldwin, John Bonham, and James Patrick Page) (Russell Velazquez, Jim Riddle, Company); “Star-Spangled Banner” (Orchestra); “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (from Company ‘B’)” (1941 film Buck Privates; lyric and music by Don Raye and Hughie Prince) (Joyce Leigh Bowden, Company); “I Feel Like I’m Gonna Die Rag” (lyric and music by Joe McDonald) (Dave McDonald, Company); “American Pie” (lyric and music by Don McLean) (Rich Hebert, Company); “Imagine” (lyric and music by John Lennon) (Tom Teeley, Company); “School’s Out” (lyric and music by Alice Cooper and Michael Bruce) (Dave McDonald, Company); “Rock and Roll All Night” (lyric and music by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons) (Jim Riddle, Company); “Benny and the Jets” (lyric and music by Bernie Taupin and Elton John) (Lon Hoty, Company); “Space Oddity” (lyric and music by David Bowie) (Michael Pace, Russell Velazquez, Company); “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” (lyric and music by Lou Reed) (Patrick Weathers, Company); “Everybody Is a Star” (lyric and music by Sylvester Stewart) (Carl E. Weaver, Lillias White, Raymond Patterson, William Gregg Hunter, Company); “Stayin’ Alive” (1977 film Saturday Night Fever; lyric and music by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb) (Lon Hoyt, Michael Pace, Rich Hebert, Company); “Love to Love You Baby” (lyric and music by Pete Bellote, Giorgio Morder, and Donna Summer) (Jenifer Lewis, Company); “I Will Survive” (lyric and music by Dino Fekaris and Frederick J. Perren) (Lillias White, Company); “On the Run” (lyric and music by Roger Waters) (Orchestra); “Jocko Homo” (lyric and music by Mark Mothersbaugh) (Lon Hoyt, Company); “Message in a Bottle”

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(lyric and music by Sting Summer) (Lon Hoyt, Company); “Our Lips Are Sealed” (lyric and music by Jane Weidlin and Terry Hall) (Karen Mankes, Company); “Concrete Shoes” (lyric and music by Rod Swenson) (Sandy Dillon, Company); “Rock and Roll Music” (lyric and music by Chuck Berry) (Company) The critics were somewhat kind to the rock and roll retrospective Rock ’n Roll! The First 5,000 Years, but audiences didn’t care and didn’t come and the revue was gone after nine performances. Bob Gill and Robert Rabinowitz, who “conceived” the show and directed the multimedia images that accompanied the songs, had provided similar duties with the 1977 revue Beatlemania, which played for 1,006 performances. Both shows took a type of music (Beatles’ music for the first and rock and roll for the second) and as the songs were performed, background projections and films on a number of screens provided cultural and political context to the times during which the songs had been popular. Robert Palmer in the New York Times said the special effects of projections and film images were the evening’s “real stars,” but he noted the revue did a “surprisingly good job of summarizing rock’s contributions” to the nation’s musical, cultural, and political life. Clive Barnes in the New York Post felt the bookless concert-like evening with its social commentary was a “potent” one that suggested there could be “theatrical fireworks” in the future if this type of multi-media theatre was further developed. But David Sterritt in the Christian Science Monitor felt the show never went beneath the surface and so he left the theatre “feeling a little empty.” It was the kind of evening in which you hummed along while looking at your watch,” and while the work was a “high-tech triumph,” it was not the “definitive summary” it aspired to be. Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily said the “lavish” production was “disappointing” because of its “cheap emotional manipulation” and he noted the “puffed-up opening night audience seemed to have been too pulverized to greet the show with traditional first-night enthusiasm.” Patricia O’Haire in the New York Daily News said director and choreographer Joe Layton kept “everything and everyone moving faster than the speed of sound or light,” but nothing could “disguise the fact that what is being presented onstage is more fluff than substance” and “more to the point, it has no point at all.” The cast album was to have been recorded by CBS Records, but was canceled due to the revue’s brief run.

HERMAN VAN VEEN: ALL OF HIM “A Musical Show”

Theatre: Ambassador Theatre Opening Date: December 8, 1982; Closing Date: December 12, 1982 Performances: 6 Text: Herman van Veen (Patricia Braun, English Translator) Lyrics: English adaptation and lyrics by Christopher Adler Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Michel Lafaille; Producers: Joost Taverne, Michael Frazier, and Ron Van Eeden in association with Harlekyn U.S.A. Company (Patricia Braun, Associate Producer); Scenery: Gerard Jongerius and Ed de Boer; Costumes: Ellen van der Horst; Lighting: Rob Munnik; Musical Direction: Erik van der Wurff Cast: Herman van Veen; Erik van der Wurff (Conductor, Keyboards), Nard Reijnders (Saxophone), Cees van der Laarse (Bass, Electric Bass Guitar) The one-man show was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t indicate division of acts, and listed the following songs and sequences in alphabetical order. All numbers were performed by Herman van Veen, who was accompanied by three musicians. “A Girl” (music by Herman van Veen and Erik van der Wurff); “A Loose Woman” (original lyric by Willem Wilmink, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Herman van Veen); “Cranes” (original lyric by Willem Wilmink, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music traditional with adaptation by Herman van Veen); “Do You Remember” (original lyric by Hans Lodeizen, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Herman van Veen); “Hello” (music by Herman van Veen and Erik van der Wurff); “Heroes” (original

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lyric by Rob Chrispijn, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Chris Pilgram); “Hole-in-One” (music by Erik van der Wurff and Herman van Veen); “I Don’t Want Any Help” (original lyric by Herman Van Veen, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Erik van der Wurff and Herman van Veen); “I Won’t Let That Happen to Him” (music by Georges Delerue); “Jacob Is Dead” (music by Herman van Veen); “Kitchen Sink” (original lyric by Herman van Veen, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Erik van der Wurff and Herman van Veen); “Ode to Suicide” (original lyric by Guus Vieugel, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Joop Stokkermans); “Parade of Clowns” (original lyric by Rob Chrispijn, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Erik van der Wurff and Herman van Veen); “Sarabande” (music by J. B. Senaille, Herman van Veen, and Erik van der Wurff); “Station” (music by Erik van der Wurff and Herman van Veen); “Tell Me Who I Was” (original French lyric by Gebe, Dutch lyric by Willem Wilmink, English lyric adapted from the Dutch by Christopher Adler, music by Phillipe-Gerard); “The Back of Life” (original lyric by Willem Wilmink, English lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Herman van Veen); “The Fence” (music by Erik van der Wurff); “The Interview” (music by Erik van der Wurff and Herman van Veen); “The Rules of the Asylum” (lyric by Rob Chrispijn, music by Herman van Veen); “Time Has Passed Her By” (music and lyric by Jean Ferrat, English lyric by Christopher Adler); “What a Day” (music by Erik van der Wurff) Herman van Veen: All of Him was perhaps a bit more than critics and audiences wanted. The program noted van Veen was a “thirty-seven-year-old singer, violinist, mime, composer, poet, children’s book author, playwright, essayist, clown and entertainer” who was “one of Europe’s most renowned musical theatre performers.” But it seems that the two-act, one-man concert (in which van Veen was backed by three musicians) was far too long and far too self-indulgent. As a result, the concert was given for just six performances and the second week of its two-week limited engagement was canceled. Various reviews compared van Veen’s style to that of Danny Kaye, Charles Aznavour, Bill Irwin, Jacques Brel, Yves Montand, Marcel Marceau, Rip Taylor, Victor Borge, Maurice Chevalier, Harry Chapin, Peter Sellers, and Jacques Tati, but not always in a good way. Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested that as a singer van Veen sounded like Aznavour’s understudy, and as a mime he was “about four levels below” Irwin. The evening of song, mime, dance, jokes, and fiddle playing was perhaps “too much of a poor thing,” and the “dour, maudlin tone” of van Veen’s “incessant preaching” became “grating” and the critic was “terribly grateful” that the U.S. Constitution didn’t allow van Veen to seek public office. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News couldn’t resist stating that the evening offered “way too much” of the performer, and he noted van Veen’s versatility seemed “like a curse.” Although van Veen sang “pleasantly enough,” his songs were too often “couched in those petty profundities so dear to European cabaret singers.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 noted the program indicated van Veen was one of Europe’s most popular performers, and if so Europe needed “a Marshall Plan for show business.” The evening had “no business on Broadway” and Siegel suggested it brought to mind “Gerte’s Folk City, 1962. Early 1962.” Although Clive Barnes in the New York Post said “less of van Veen would be more,” the critic nonetheless felt that when the performer was “good” he was “tremendous” and had the director given the show a “firmer hand” the evening would have been “stronger.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said van Veen made a “potent” American debut and possessed a “melodiously resonant baritone” and a “graceful, relaxed persona.”

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: December 23, 1982; Closing Date: January 16, 1983 Performances: 21 Play: Eva Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus Music: Richard Addinsell (music adapted and supervised by Jonathan Tunick) Based on the novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1872) by Lewis B. Carroll (Carroll was a pseudonym for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Direction: Eva Le Gallienne (John Strasberg, Co-Director); Producers: Sabra Jones and Anthony D. Marshall (An Eva Le Gallienne Production; produced in association with WNET/Thirteen); Movement: Bambi

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Linn; Scenery: John Lee Beatty (after the drawings of John Tenniel); Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Musical Direction: Les Scott. Cast: Nancy Killmer (Singer, Eight of Hearts), Kate Burton (Alice), Mary Stuart Masterson (Small White Rabbit, Four of Hearts), John Remme (Mouse, Two of Hearts, Tweedledee), John Miglietta (Lory, Seven of Hearts), Nicholas Martin (Duck, Dormouse, Train Guard), James Valentine (Dodo, Mock Turtle), Rebecca Armen (Eaglet, Two of Hearts), Curt Dawson (White Rabbit, White Knight), John Heffernan (Caterpillar, Ten of Hearts, Sheep), Geddeth Smith (Fish Footman, Voice of the Cheshire Cat, Ace of Hearts, Man in White Paper), Claude-Albert Saucier (Frog Footman, Five of Hearts, Goat), Edward Zang (Duchess), Richard Sterne (Cook, Nine of Hearts), Josh Clark (March Hare, Front of Horse), MacIntyre Dixon (Mad Hatter), Geoff Garland (Two of Spades), Robert Ott Boyle (Five of Spades, Tweedledum), Steve Massa (Seven of Spades, Voice of Leg of Mutton), Skip Harris (Three of Clubs), Cliff Rakerd (Seven of Clubs, Back of Horse), Marti Morris (Six of Hearts), John Seidman (Knave of Hearts), Brian Reddy (Queen of Hearts), Richard Woods (King of Hearts, Voice of Humpty Dumpty), Edward Hibbert (Gryphon, Old Frog), Mary Louise Wilson (Red Queen), Eva Le Gallienne (White Queen); Note: Joan White played the White Queen for Tuesday evening and Wednesday matinee performances, and Alice’s kitten Kitty was played by feline performer Portia, who was just a month or so shy of her first birthday and was here making her Broadway debut. The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the late Victorian era in England and Wonderland.

Scenes Act One: “Alice at Home”; “The Looking-Glass House”; “Pool of Tears”; “Caucus Race”; “Caterpillar”; “Duchess”; “Cheshire Cat”; “Mad Tea Party”; “Queen’s Croquet Ground”; “By the Sea”; “The Trial” Act Two: “Red Chess Queen”; “Railway Carriage”; “Tweedledum and Tweedledee”; “White Chess Queen”; “The Sheep Shop”; “Humpty Dumpty”; “White Knight”; “Alice with the Two Queens”; “Alice’s Door”; “The Banquet”; “Alice at Home Again” Eva Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus’s adaptation of Lewis B. Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass was first produced on Broadway at the Civic Repertory on December 12, 1932, for 127 performances; Le Gallienne played the role of the White Chess Queen, and others in the cast were Josephine Hutchinson (Alice), Joseph Schildkraut (Queen of Hearts), Burgess Meredith (Tweedledee), Florida Freibus (Cheshire Cat), and Howard da Silva in a minor role. The adaptation dramatized the most famous characters and incidents in Carroll’s stories, including the Mad Tea Party, Alice’s Trial, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and of course the White Queen’s existential promise of jam yesterday and jam tomorrow but never jam today. The work wasn’t a full-fledged musical, but Richard Addinsell’s score included incidental and dance music as well as the occasional song. The production utilized marionettes, and the scenery and costumes were in the style of John Tenniel’s drawings for the original stories. In general, the adaptation came across as Alice’s Greatest Hits because the narrative lacked linear progression and was instead of a series of surreal vignettes that depicted Alice’s curious adventures. The 1932 production had a disappointing run of 127 performances, and its 1947 revival, which opened on April 5 at the International Theatre with Le Gallienne again playing the White Chess Queen, was presented for just 100 showings (others in the cast were Bambi Linn in the title role and Julie Harris as the White Rabbit). But Le Gallienne wasn’t discouraged, and she revived the production yet again. It lost a small fortune and played for less than three weeks (the 1932 version had cost $23,000 to mount and the current revival was reportedly capitalized at $2 million). Le Gallienne again appeared as the White Chess Queen, Alice was played by Kate Burton (Richard Burton’s daughter), and Bambi Linn, the 1947 Alice, returned to create the staging for what the program termed “movement” and which no doubt included dance and other stylized movements by the performers. The critics were generally cool to the revival. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the evening was “lifeless nearly from beginning to end” and because the work was a series of vignettes it needed the kind of “theatrical energy” that was sorely lacking in the current mounting. Further, the actors “rarely” moved

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and instead just seemed to “model” their costumes. But he found the décor an “exquisite collection” of sets and costumes, and suggested they be preserved in a museum. Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “amazing” sets but felt Carroll’s work didn’t lend itself to the stage and so the critic noted he’d rather have stayed at home and read Carroll while sitting by a warm fire and eating buttered crumpets. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found the evening a “genteel diversion” along the lines of a British Christmas pantomime but complained that the adaptation “ambled” along with only a few performers who were able to create “any sense of tension or cogency out of the material”; Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the adaptation was “unexciting” and came across as “a theatrical Macy’s parade” that lacked “choreographic energy” and had “disappointing” special effects; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor felt the “episodic” evening never quite “hits its stride” and the performers were “more literal than fanciful”; Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 complained that while the evening was “a stunning visual feast” it wasn’t a “play,” lacked “tension and conflict,” and was little more than a “costume parade”; and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the audience around him was “the most unresponsive” he’d ever seen, for here was a “humorless” show that lacked “imagination” and reeked of “vanity” and “amateurism.” But Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “gorgeous” production almost made “Cats look impoverished”; and if it wasn’t practical for the production to return to the commercial Broadway theatre every holiday season then the show “should be institutionalized at Lincoln Center.” Rich noted that Addinsell’s “slight but pretty” score was “attractively” adapted by Jonathan Tunick; Watt found the score “old-fashioned, though pleasantly so”; Barnes said the “painless” music seemed to be the result of a collaboration in which Noel Coward and Ivor Novello composed in the mode of Gilbert and Sullivan; and Kissel found the music tame and said he preferred the “lively” score written for the 1951 Walt Disney adaptation. There have been numerous musical adaptations of Carroll’s Alice stories, including a number of Off- and Off-Off-Broadway versions such as Alice with Kisses (1964; closed in previews); Alice in Wonderland (Bil Baird’s 1975 marionette version); For the Snark Was a Boojum, You See (1977), The Passion of Alice (1977), Alice in Concert (a 1980 adaptation by Elizabeth Swados); and Alice (a 1995 version by Robert Wilson with music cowritten by Tom Waits). An excitingly choreographed and imaginatively designed Broadway-bound Alice premiered in Philadelphia in 1978 and closed almost as soon as it opened, and the following year But Never Jam Today lasted for just one week on Broadway. An “adult” musical version (as Alice in Wonderland) opened Off Off Broadway in 2007; set in a trailer park in Weehawken, New Jersey, the musical’s flyer proclaimed that Alice finds herself in an “erotic Wonderland.” The most recent musical adaptation opened on Broadway in 2011 as Wonderland (lyrics by Jack Murphy and music by Frank Wildhorn). Incidentally, co-adaptor Florida Freibus is probably best remembered as the mother of Dobie Gillis in the popular CBS television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959–1963).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Costumes (Patricia Zipprodt)

MERLIN Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: February 13, 1983; Closing Date: August 7, 1983 Performances: 199 Book: Richard Levinson and Richard Link Lyrics: Don Black Music: Elmer Bernstein Direction: Ivan Reitman; Producers: Ivan Reitman, Columbia Pictures Stage Productions, Inc., Marvin A. Krauss, and James M. Nederlander (Produced by Ivan Reitman and Marvin A. Krauss; Joe Medjuck, Associate Producer); Choreography: Christopher Chadman and Billy Wilson; Magic Consultant: Charles Reynolds; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: David Spear

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Cast: George Lee Andrews (Old Merlin, Old Soldier); Creatures of the Glade: Robin Cleaver, Ramon Galindo, Todd Lester, Claudia Shell, and Robert Tanna; Christian Slater (Young Merlin, Arthur), Edmund Lyndeck (The Wizard), Doug Henning (Merlin), Rebecca Wright (Philomena), Chita Rivera (The Queen), Gregory Mitchell (The Queen’s Companion), Nathan Lane (Prince Fergus), Debby Henning (Merlin’s Vision, Water), Michelle Nicastro (Ariadne), Alan Brasington (Acolyte, Manservant), Peggy Parten (Earth), Robyn Lee (Air), Spence Ford (Fire); Ladies of the Court: Pat Gorman, Leslie Hicks, Robyn Lee, Peggy Parten, and Iris Revson; Ladies of the Ensemble: Robin Cleaver, Spence Ford, Pat Gorman, Andrea Handler, Debby Henning, Leslie Hicks, Sandy Laufer, Robyn Lee, Peggy Parten, Iris Revson, Claudia Shell; Men of the Ensemble: David Asher, Ramon Galindo, Todd Lester, Joe Locarro, Fred C. Mann III, Gregory Mitchell, Andrew Hill Newman, Eric Roach, Robert Tanna, Robert Warners The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place “in the time of Sorcery.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “It’s about Magic” (George Lee Andrews, Christian Slater, Doug Henning, Rebecca Wright, Ensemble); “I Can Make It Happen” (Chita Rivera); “Beyond My Wildest Dreams” (Michelle Nicastro); “Something More”(Doug Henning, Michelle Nicastro); “The Elements” (Doug Henning, Edmund Lyndeck, Ensemble); “Fergus’ Dilemma” (Nathan Lane, Ladies of the Court); “Nobody Will Remember Him” (Chita Rivera, Edmund Lyndeck) Act Two: “Put a Little Magic in Your Life” (George Lee Andrews, Doug Henning, Rebecca Wright, Ensemble); “He Knows the Way” (Edmund Lyndeck); “I Can Make It Happen” (reprise) (Chita Rivera); “He Who Knows the Way” (reprise) (Edmund Lyndeck); “We Haven’t Fought a Battle in Years” (Nathan Lane, Soldiers); “Satan Rules” (Chita Rivera); “Nobody Will Remember Him” (reprise) (Chita Rivera); “He Who Knows the Way” (reprise) (Doug Henning, Edmund Lyndeck, Christian Slater) Doug Henning was no triple threat: he couldn’t sing, dance, or act. But he reached the stratosphere as a fourth threat: he was a magician par excellence and was the sole reason to see Merlin. His feats knew no bounds: he turned a panther into a woman; he sawed two women in half and when he reassembled them he mixed up their halves; when a small bubble floated across the stage, it suddenly expanded to reveal Henning within it; and later Henning flew above the stage, and, to show there were no strings attached, he turned a somersault in mid-air and proceeded to fly under an arch and around a pillar. In the most jaw-dropping sequence of all, he mounted a white steed on one side of the stage, they rose high in the air and floated to the other side of the stage, and then in a blink of the eye were back where they started from. Otherwise, the plot was negligible and dealt with an evil queen (Chita Rivera) who is determined to overcome Arthur (Christian Slater) and ensure that her son Fergus (Nathan Lane) ascends the throne of England. The performers did all they could with their cardboard roles by infusing them with campy interpretations. Rivera’s acidly villainous queen made Cinderella’s stepmother seem like Pollyanna, and Lane provided an often amusing and limp-ankled Fergus. Further, the décor and costumes were right out of a lavish children’s storybook, and the queen’s evil companion, a gigantic green robot with eyes that sizzled like fire, made Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still look like a pussycat. Otherwise, the choreography was forgettable, and except for one or two songs Elmer Bernstein and Don Black’s score was mostly ordinary (they put their best foot forward in the insinuating opening number “It’s about Magic,” which could serve as a companion piece to Pippin’s “Magic to Do”). The critics estimated the musical’s cost at $4–$6 million, and with an official run of less than six months the show never returned its investment. Because of the huge physical production, the musical opted for a series of preview performances rather than an out-of-town tryout. Prior to the opening night of February 13, the musical had played two months of preview performances at regular prices. The previews began on December 10, and the original opening night was scheduled for December 26; it was postponed, and then two more opening nights were set for January, and these too were canceled. A fourth opening night (of February 13) was announced, but there was no certainty the musical would officially open then. So Frank Rich of the New York Times and Douglas Watt of the New York Daily News bought tickets for the show and reviewed

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a late-January performance. Most of the other critics waited for the February 13 opening, which went on as scheduled, and Watt even returned and reviewed the show again after the official opening. The two-month preview period did good business, but otherwise was tumultuous. The original director Frank Dunlop was replaced by Ivan Reitman, who was one of the show’s producers, and Christopher Chadman’s choreography was supplemented by Billy Wilson, and both received choreography credit. At least four songs were cut during previews: “It’s about Power,” “Anything for a Quiet Life,” “Something about Palaces,” and “These Are Not the Merriest of Days.” Rich found Henning “beyond compare as an illusionist,” but the “sprawling” musical had “the consistency of glue.” Although the show was “slickly produced,” book writers Richard Levinson and William Link had to “struggle with a major esthetic problem” because Henning couldn’t act and thus the plot had to emphasize secondary characters. Further, the choreography was “mediocre” and the score had “no character” except for its “jolly” opening number. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal reviewed the musical in previews, and said Henning was a “master illusionist” and a “nonpareil.” But he felt no amount of previews could help the musical overcome its inherent weaknesses. As for the lengthy preview period, Wilson asked, “If a show can have two full months of previews, why not three, four or five?” And little could he have anticipated Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which began New York previews in November 2010 and didn’t officially open until June 2011 after playing a total of 182 pre-opening performances. Stefan Kanfer in Time also turned in an early review for the show, and said Merlin the magician was now called upon “to change a dog into a hit.” Although Henning “adroitly” performed his “astonishing” tricks, there was just a “tiny wisp of plot,” “dial-tone melodies,” and “laundry-list lyrics.” In reviewing the musical after it officially opened, Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Henning’s “lack of charisma would make a pineapple seem like a stage personality” and he didn’t find Henning’s “essentially amateurish posturing charming.” But despite his major reservations about the star and his dislike of the “ponderous” book and “unmemorably banal” score, he was sometimes thrilled “with childlike innocence” by the show’s “sheer magic.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said Henning was “so wooden” with a lack of stage presence that he made Linda Ronstadt seem “like Eleanora Duse,” and while there were “some incredible exceptions,” much of Henning’s legerdemain was “conventional.” Moreover, the book and score seemed like “afterthoughts” and “poor” Chita Rivera had “never had a dumber part.” But John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked Henning’s “amiable” persona, and only wished the illusionist could have made the plot and “musical-comedy baggage disappear.” In Watt’s early review, he said Henning was a “master magician,” but Merlin had a leaden book and score and the show looked “ready-made for Jones Beach, if anyplace.” After the opening, Watt re-reviewed the “Merlin II” musical and reported that “little” had changed. But he noted there was now a “somewhat livelier” second-act opening number (“Put a Little Magic in Your Life”) which had replaced a “painfully descriptive” song (“These Are Not the Merriest of Days”). Otherwise, Merlin was still “the same overdressed and stultifying showcase,” which at least allowed the “engaging” Henning to execute his “seemingly endless variety of tricks.” There was no cast recording, but original cast member Michelle Nicastro recorded her song “Beyond My Wildest Dreams” for the collection Unsung Musicals II (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5564). Doug Henning had previously appeared on Broadway in Stephen Schwartz’s The Magic Show, which opened at the Cort Theatre on May 28, 1974, and played for 1,920 performances; after Merlin, he returned to Broadway one more time in Doug Henning and His World of Magic. Book writers Levinson and Link were the creators of the popular television series Columbo, which began life as the play Prescription: Murder. The mystery closed during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1962 (Thomas Mitchell was the first actor to play the role of Columbo), was made into a TV movie in 1968, and from there was developed into a long-running television series.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Merlin); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Chita Rivera); Best Director of a Musical (Ivan Reitman); Best Book (Richard Levinson and William Link); Best Score (lyrics by Don Black, music by Elmer Bernstein)

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ON YOUR TOES Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: March 6, 1983; Closing Date: May 20, 1984 Performances: 505 Book: Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and George Abbott Lyrics: Lorenz Hart Music: Richard Rodgers Direction: George Abbott; Producers: Alfred de Liagre Jr., Roger L. Stevens, John Mauceri, Donald R. Seawell, and Andre Pastoria (Charlene Harrington, Coordinating Producer) (An ANTA and Kennedy Center Production); Choreography: New choreography by Donald Saddler (ballet choreography by George Balanchine and reconstructed by Peter Martins); Scenery and Costumes: Zack Brown; Lighting: John McLain; Musical Direction: John Mauceri Cast: Eugene J. Anthony (Phil Dolan II), Betty Ann Grove (Lil Dolan, Woman Reporter), Philip Arthur Ross (Phil Dolan III aka Junior), Dirk Lumbard (Stage Manager), Mary C. Robare (Lola), Lara Teeter (Phil Dolan II aka Junior as an adult), Michaela K. Hughes (Miss Pinkerton), Peter Slutsker (Sidney Cohn), Christine Andreas (Frankie Frayne), Jerry Mitchell (Joe McCall), Natalia Makarova (Vera Baronova), Tamara Mark (Anushka), Dina Merrill (Peggy Porterfield), George S. Irving (Sergei Alexandrovitch), George de la Pena (Konstantine Morrosine), Eugene J. Anthony (Oscar), Chris Peterson (Dimitri), Don Steffy (Ivan), George Kmeck (Louie); Ensemble: Melody A. Dye, Michaela K. Hughes, Tamara Mark, Dana Moore, Mary C. Robare, Marcia Lynn Watkins, Leslie Woodies, Sandra Zigars, Dean Badolato, Alexander Filipov, Wade Laboissonniere, Dirk Lumbard, Robert Meadows, Jerry Mitchell, Chris Peterson, Don Steffy, Kirby Tepper, David Gold, George Kmeck The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1920 in Kokomo, Indiana, and then later in New York City during 1935.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Two-a-Day for Keith” (Eugene J. Anthony, Betty Ann Grove, Philip Arthur Ross); “Questions and Answers” (aka “The Three B’s”) (Lara Teeter, Students); “It’s Got to Be Love” (Christine Andreas, Lara Teeter, Students); “Too Good for the Average Man” (George S. Irving, Dina Merrill); “The Seduction” (Natalia Makarova, Lara Teeter); “There’s a Small Hotel” (Christine Andreas, Lara Teeter); “La Princesse Zenobia” Ballet (Princess Zenobia: Natalia Makarova; Beggar: George de la Pena; Kringa Khan: George Kmeck; Ali Shar: Eugene J. Anthony; Ahmud Ben B’Du: David Gold; Hank Jay Smith: Michael Vita; Dancers) Act Two: “The Heart Is Quicker Than the Eye” (Dina Merrill, Lara Teeter); “Glad to Be Unhappy” (Christine Andreas); “Quiet Night” (Michael Vita, Students); “On Your Toes” (Christine Andreas, Students; Ballet Leaders: Alexander Filipov, Starr Danias; Tap Leaders: Dirk Lumbard, Dana Moore; Cop: Michael Vita; Messenger Boy: Dean Badolato); “Quiet Night” (reprise) (George S. Irving); “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” Ballet (Hoofer: Lara Teeter; Strip Tease Girl: Natalia Makarova; Big Boss: Michael Vita; Cop: Jerry Mitchell; Dancers) The revival of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s 1936 musical On Your Toes ushered in a series of musical revivals during the waning weeks of the theatre season. Porgy and Bess and Show Boat joined On Your Toes and gave audiences the rare chance to sample reasonably faithful stagings of important American musicals. The plot of On Your Toes dealt with Junior Dolan (Lara Teeter) who instead of following in the family tradition of vaudeville hoofing becomes a music teacher. He’s in love with Frankie Fryane (Christine Andreas), and the two befriend Sidney Cohn (Peter Slutsker), who hopes his jazz ballet “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” will become part of a Russian ballet company’s repertoire. When the company begins rehearsals of the ballet, it becomes clear their classically trained leading male dancer can’t master the jazz-styled steps required of the role, and so Junior’s former vaudeville training saves the day when he steps in to replace the Russian dancer. Junior also discovers that the company’s leading ballerina Vera Baronova (Barnova in some productions, and

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performed and danced in the revival by Natalia Makarova in a non-singing role) is interested in him as more than just a dancing partner. During the ballet’s first performance, its underworld flavor becomes all too real when gangsters mistake Junior for someone who reneged on a gambling debt and thus try to shoot him during the performance. Junior uses his wits and taps faster and faster in order to avoid their bullets, and all ends well when the gangsters are arrested, the ballet is a success, and Junior and Frankie are reunited (for some reason, second-act gangster and/or blackmail business was a brief trend in musicals of the era and also figured into the plots of Pal Joey [1940] and Kiss Me, Kate [1948]). The original Broadway production opened on April 11, 1936, at the Imperial Theatre for a healthy run of 315 performances. Ray Bolger was Junior and Tamara Geva was Vera, and “There’s a Small Hotel” became the show’s hit song. George Balanchine choreographed, and his electric “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” quickly took its place as one of Broadway’s most legendary dance numbers; George Abbott collaborated on the book with Rodgers and Hart and he helped with the direction (Worthington Miner was the director of credit); and Hans Spialek was the orchestrator. In his review of the original production, Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times praised the “sophisticated” and “mocking” book, Rodgers’s “jaunty” music, and Hart’s “crisp, impish and gaily ingenious lyrics.” The musical premiered in London at the Palace Theatre on February 5, 1937, for 123 performances with Jack Whiting and Vera Zorina (Balanchine’s wife). A disappointing film version released by Warner Brothers in 1939 starred Eddie Albert and Zorina. It eliminated all the songs, but retained the ballets “La Princesse Zenobia” and “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (the songs “There’s a Small Hotel,” “Quiet Night,” and the title number were relegated to background music). (Incidentally, Warner Brothers’ 1942 film The Hard Way dealt with a performer who finds success in a new Broadway musical, and during a scene in her dressing room we hear the theatre orchestra play the show’s overture, which turns out to be a medley of songs from On Your Toes.) The musical was revived in New York on October 11, 1954, at the 46th Street (now Richard Rodgers) Theatre; Abbott directed, Balanchine choreographed, and Bobby Van and Zorina were the leads. Elaine Stritch was Peggy Porterfield, and in order to bolster her role, Rodgers and Hart’s “You Took Advantage of Me” from 1928’s Present Arms was interpolated into the score. The revival received middling reviews, and Atkinson now found the show “labored, mechanical and verbose” and heretically suggested that “not everything” in the score should have been retained. Shortly after the 1954 revival opened, the musical’s first two scenes (which depicted Junior’s early life in vaudeville) were eliminated along with the roles of Junior’s family members. With the elimination of these scenes and characters, the number “Two-a-Day for Keith” was cut from the production. But the last-minute doctoring didn’t help, and the show was gone within two months. The 1954 production was recorded by Decca Records (LP # DL-9015) and released on CD by Broadway Gold/MCA Classics (# MCAD-11575); the cast album includes the eventually deleted “Two-a-Day for Keith.” A delightful interpretation of the score is Columbia Records’ sparkling 1952 studio cast album with Jack Cassidy and Portia Nelson (LP # ML-4645; issued on CD by MasterworksBroadway # 88697-88804-2; and also released by Stage Door Records # 9002, where it’s paired with a studio cast recording of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey). After the failure of the 1954 revival, it seemed On Your Toes would have to be content with its reputation from the legendary 1936 production, its brilliant songs, and, of course, “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (which was memorably featured in the 1948 MGM Rodgers and Hart tribute Words and Music, where it was danced by Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen. The music for the ballet was also heard as background scoring for a 1957 film, which appropriated the ballet’s title and dealt with the underworld of New York City). However, the current revival surprised everyone and outlasted the original production by almost 200 performances for a total run of 505 showings. Abbott directed, Spialek supervised his original orchestrations, Peter Martins reconstructed Balanchine’s original choreography for the spoof “La Princesse Zenobia” ballet and for “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” and Donald Saddler created new choreography, including for the title song a delightful challenge number for the ballet dancers and the hoofers. A new dance sequence (“The Seduction”) was added for Makarova and Teeter. The musical received the Tony Award for Best Revival and Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Makarova), and was recorded by Polydor/JAY Records (which includes the complete ballet “La Princesse Zenobia”; the CD was issued by That’s Entertainment Records # 1063). The musical was later revived by Encores! at City Center where it opened on May 8, 2013, for five performances.

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Former chorus dancer Lara Teeter played the leading role of Junior and came in for criticism by some reviewers, who found him somewhat lacking. During the era it became something of a cliché that whenever male chorus dancers stepped up to leading roles, they faced a certain amount of brickbats (besides Teeter, Christopher Chadman in the title role of the 1976 revival of Pal Joey and Don Correia in Singin’ in the Rain met with criticism from some quarters). Frank Rich in the New York Times said it was a “mystery” why so many had “devoted so much loving care and expense” to resuscitate a musical of mostly “footnote caliber.” The book was “mirthless” and “lengthy,” the score was “middling” and “brief,” and Teeter lacked a “discernible personality.” But Makarova brought “freshness and fun” to the production and seemed to be the only cast member who found the show an “invigorating novelty” instead of a “rigorous academic exercise.” But Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post said the revival was a “spectacular restoration job” and Teeter displayed “frank good humor” and offered a “splendid display” of his dancing skills in “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.” She too praised Makarova, who played a “deliciously saucy flirt” and ignited “the dance fires of the ballet.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the revival was “sparkling” and the cast “excellent,” and he praised Rodgers’s “lovely” and “spirited” music and Hart’s “bright, peppery and charming” lyrics; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor stated that the production made “the approach of spring something to celebrate” and he singled out Saddler’s dance for the title song, an “exuberant encounter” that was a “tiptop free-for-all of tap and toe work”; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal liked the “sparkling” score and said the dancing was “the best that has come to Broadway since 42nd Street”; Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the revival was a “must-see” and that Makarova was “pure caviar and vodka”; Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily liked Rodgers’s “great” score and said Teeter was an “impressive” actor, singer, and dancer; and Gerald Clarke in Time was glad to hear “some of the loveliest songs that ever bounced off a second balcony,” praised the evening of “guaranteed enjoyment,” said Makarova was a “gifted comedian,” but noted that Teeter lacked personality despite being a good enough singer and dancer. During the tryout of the 1983 revival, Regina O’Malley was succeeded by Christine Andreas.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (On Your Toes); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Natalia Makarova); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Lara Teeter); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Christine Andreas); Best Choreographer (Donald Saddler)

AZNAVOUR Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: March 14, 1983; Closing Date: March 26, 1983 Performances: 14 Lyrics and Music: Unless otherwise noted in song list below, all lyrics and music are by Charles Aznavour Producers: Ron Delsener and Levon Sayan; Costumes: Wardrobe for Aznavour by Ted Lapidus; Lighting: Maurice Giraud; Musical Direction: Aldo Frank Cast: Charles Aznavour; Background Vocals: Diana Green, Ednah Holt, and Carole Steele. The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs were performed by Charles Aznavour and a female backup trio. The program didn’t designate division of acts, and noted that Aznavour would sing a selection of the following songs, with “additional songs” to “be added or subtracted.” “Le temps” (music by J. Davis); “In Your Room” (English lyric by Buddy Kaye); “I Didn’t See the Time Go By” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer); “Etre” (music by Georges Garaventz); “Happy Anniversary” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer); “In Times to Be” (lyric by Jacques Plante, English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer);

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“L’amour, bon Dieu, l’amour”; “I Act as If” (lyric by Jacques Plante, English lyric by Charles Aznavour and Dee Shipman); “To Be a Soldier” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer); “Nous n’avons pas d’enfant” (music by Georges Garaventz); “I’ll Be There” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer, music by Georges Garaventz); “Les comediens” (lyric by Jacques Plante); “She” (lyric by Herbert Kretzmer); “Take Me Along” (English lyric by Dee Shipman); “The Happy Days” (English lyric by R. Craig); “Mon ami, mon Judas”; “And I in My Chair” (English lyric by D. Newburgue); “Isabelle”; “You’ve Let Yourself Go” (English lyric by Marcel Stellman); “Mon emouvant amour”; “Ave Maria” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer); “What Makes a Man” (English lyric by R. Craig); “La boheme” (lyric by Jacques Plante); “(Dance in) The OldFashioned Way” (English lyric by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, music by Georges Garaventz); “Yesterday When I Was Young” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer); “You’ve Got to Learn” (English lyric by Marcel Stellman); “La mama” (lyric by Robert Gall); “Mourir d’aimer”; “De t’avoir aimee”; “Qui”; “Que c’est triste Venise” (music by F. Dorin); “Non, je n’ai rien oublie” (music by Georges Garaventz); “Ils sont tombes” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer); “The First Dance” (English lyric by Herbert Kretzmer) Mel Gussow in the New York Times reported that French singer, lyricist, and composer Charles Aznavour still sang “with undiminished passion and artistry” songs flecked with “a line of sadness” that evoked “a more innocent and romantic time.” Gussow praised the “cleanly designed” show and the “fine” eighteenpiece orchestra, and the critic noted that as he watched Aznavour’s performance he “was reminded not only of Piaf but of Lena Horne, the last previous singer to stand on a Broadway stage and completely justify a star’s magnitude.” Aznavour had first appeared in New York in concert at Carnegie Hall in 1963. He then played on Broadway in his one-man show The World of Charles Aznavour, which opened at the Ambassador Theatre on October 14, 1965, for twenty-nine performances. His other New York appearances were: Charles Aznavour (Music Box Theatre on February 4, 1970, for twenty-three performances); Charles Aznavour on Broadway (Minskoff Theatre on October 15, 1974, for sixteen performances); and after the current engagement he was seen in Aznavour on Broadway (Marquis Theatre on October 20, 1998, for twenty-four performances).

PORGY AND BESS Theatre: Radio City Music Hall Opening Date: April 7, 1983; Closing Date: May 15, 1983 Performances: 45 Libretto: DuBose Heyward Lyrics: DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin Music: George Gershwin Based on the 1927 play Porgy by Dorothy and DuBose Heyward (which in turn had been adapted from DuBose Heyward’s 1925 novel Porgy). Direction: Jack O’Brien; Producers: Radio City Music Hall (Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) and Sherwin M. Goldman Productions (Virginia Hymes, Associate Producer); Choreography: George Faison; Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Costumes: Nancy Potts; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Musical Direction: C. William Harwood Cast: (Note: For some roles, the performers alternated at different performances; when known, the * symbol denotes which singers performed on opening night; when it isn’t clear who performed on opening night, the list of musical numbers provides the name of the alternate whose last name appears first in the alphabet.) Edward Strauss (Jasbo Brown); Priscilla Baskerville or Luvenia Garner (Clara); Timothy Allen (Mingo); Alexander Smalls or James Tyeska (Jake); Larry Marshall (Sportin’ Life), Tyrone Jolivet (Robbins); Shirley Baines, Regina McConnell, Wilma A. Shakesnider, or Veronica Tyler (Serena); Donald Walker Kase (Jim), Mervin Bertel Wallace (Peter), Y. Yvonne Matthews (Lily); Loretta Holkmann (*) or Gwendolyn Shepherd (Maria); Akili Prince (Scipio); Robert Mosley Jr., Michael V. Smartt (*), Jonathan Sprague, or James Tyeska (Porgy); Gregg Baker (*) or George Robert Merritt (Crown); Priscilla Baskerville, Henrietta Elizabeth Davis, Naomi Moody (*), or Daisy Newman (Bess); Larry Storch (Detective), William Moize (Policeman), Joseph S. Eubanks (Undertaker), Lou Ann Pickett (Annie), Raymond H. Bazemore (Frazier), Denice Woods (Strawberry Woman), Thomas J. Young (Crab Man), Everett McCorvey (Nelson), Richert

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Easley (Coroner); Ensemble: Loretta Abbott, Timothy Allen, Earl L. Baker, Emerson Battles, Raymond H. Bazemore, Shirley Black-Brown, Roslyn Burrough, Vertrelle Cameron, Seraiah Carol, Duane Clenton Carter, Dabriah Chapman, Louise Coleman, Janice D. Dixon, Cisco Xavier Drayton, Alberta M. Driver, Joseph S. Eubanks, Karen E. Eubanks, Lori Eubanks, Beno Foster, Jerry Godfrey, Earl Grandison, Milton B. Grayson Jr., Elvira Green, Lawrence Hamilton, Gurcell Henry, Lisa D. Holkmann, Janice T. Hutson, David-Michael Johnson, Leavata Johnson, Tyrone Jolivet, Dorothy L. Jones, Donald Walter Kase, Roberta Alexandra Laws, Eugene Little, Ann Marie Mackey, Barbara Mahajan, Amelia Marshall, Richard Mason, Y. Yvonne Matthews, Everett McCorvey, John McDaniels, William Moize, Byron Onque, H. William Penn, Marenda Perry, Lou Ann Pickett, Herbert Lee Rawlings Jr., Roumel Reaux, David Robertson, Lattilia Ronrico, Renee L. Rose, Myles Gregory Savage, Sheryl Sheli, Kiki Shepard, Chuck Thorpes, Mervin Bertel Wallace, Pamela Warrick-Smith, Cornelius White, Rodney Wing, Denice Woods, Thomas J. Young; and Diallobe Dorsey, Angela Holcomb, Robert Kryser, Jason Little, Noelle Richards, Kevin L. Stroman, Charee Adia Thorpes, and Tarik Winston The opera was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Catfish Row, Charleston, South Carolina, and on nearby Kittiwah Island in the early 1930s (the program for the original 1935 Broadway production indicated the time was in “the recent past”).

Musical Numbers Act One: “Brown Blues” (Piano); “Summertime” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Priscilla Baskerville); “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Alexander Smalls, Men); “Here Come de Honey Man” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward) (Mervin Bertel Wallace); “They Pass By Singing” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Michael V. Smartt); “Oh Little Stars” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward) (Michael V. Smartt); “Gone, Gone, Gone” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Ensemble); “Overflow” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Ensemble); “My Man’s Gone Now” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Shirley Baines); “Leavin’ for the Promise’ Lan’” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward) (Naomi Moody, Ensemble); “It Takes a Long Pull to Get There” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Alexander Smalls, Men); “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” (lyric by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward) (Michael V. Smartt, Ensemble); “Struttin’ Style” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward) (Loretta Holkmann); “Buzzard Song” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward) (Michael V. Smartt, Ensemble); “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” (lyric by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin) (Michael V. Smartt, Naomi Moody); “Oh, I Can’t Sit Down!” (lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Ensemble); “I Ain’t Got No Shame” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Ensemble); “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Larry Marshall, Ensemble); “What You Want wid Bess?” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Naomi Moody, Gregg Baker) Act Two: “Oh, Doctor Jesus” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Shirley Baines, Loretta Holkmann, Mervin Bertel Wallace, Y. Yvonne Matthews, Michael V. Smartt); “I Loves You, Porgy” (lyric by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward) (Michael V. Smartt, Naomi Moody); “Oh, He’venly Father” (lyric by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward) (Ensemble); “Oh, Dere’s Somebody Knockin’ at de Do’” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward) (Ensemble); “A Red-Headed Woman” (lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Gregg Baker, Ensemble); “Clara, Clara” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Ensemble); “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” (lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Larry Marshall, Naomi Moody); “Good Mornin’, Sistuh!” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward) (Ensemble); “Oh, Bess, Where’s My Bess?” (lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Michael V. Smartt, Shirley Baines, Loretta Holkmann); “Oh, Lawd, I’m on My Way” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) (Michael V. Smartt, Ensemble) George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess had its world premiere in Boston at the Colonial Theatre on September 30, 1935, and opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on October 10 for 124 performances. The work takes place in the environs of Charleston’s Catfish Row and nearby Kittiwah Island, and its folk-like story has taken on a mythic quality with its tale of the crippled Porgy who against all odds and reason loves the selfish and sluttish Bess. When the demonic Sportin’ Life seduces her with drugs and the promise of the “high life” in New York, she abandons Porgy without a qualm. With only a cart pulled by a goat, Porgy sets off from Charleston to New York to find her, and despite the soaring hopefulness of “Oh, Lawd, I’m on My Way,” one suspects Porgy is off on a futile quest that will only lead him to more unhappiness and frustration.

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The critics were happy for the opportunity to see another production of the opera, but many felt Radio City Music Hall wasn’t the best venue for the work. The theatre was far too large, amplification was needed to project the voices into the almost six-thousand-seat auditorium, and sometimes it was difficult to tell who was singing because the stage was so far away. On the plus side, there was a huge company with rotating principals, a fifty-six piece orchestra, and a gargantuan stage that depicted a Catfish Row that might be larger than the actual one in Charleston. T. E. Kalem in Time said the opera was “the greatest work of the American lyric theatre,” the revival was “a spectacle to be savored,” and he was glad for the “rare” chance to hear Gershwin’s “uncut, fully operatic score,” and Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted the “full grandeur” of Gershwin’s music was now “completed” because of the “devoted restoration” of the original orchestrations, which were “fully realized for the first time.” But Michael Walsh in Newsweek suggested that Gershwin’s great songs weren’t enough to create a “convincing” opera and he noted the composer’s “grasp of large-scale orchestration was weak.” And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said that watching the opera in the huge Music Hall resulted in a “remote experience” and he sometimes had to “recall” the lyrics rather than actually hear them. The evening should have been shortened by thirty minutes, and as a musical recital it would have been “impressive”; otherwise, the production was “fairly untheatrical theatre.” As of this writing, the work has been revived in New York sixteen times and has enjoyed a total of 1,376 performances, a New York record for an American opera. The first revival opened in 1942 and dropped the recitative; it more than doubled the run of the original with 286 performances, and for a time held the record as the longest-running Broadway revival of a musical. During the next two years the opera returned three times, for a total of 88 showings, and the 1953 revival ran for 350 performances and holds the record as the opera’s longest Broadway run (this mounting restored earlier cuts and added about twenty minutes of music which reportedly had never been heard in any previous production). The opera was then produced at City Center four times, in 1961, 1962, 1964, and 1965; the first three revivals were sponsored by the New York City Center Light Opera Company and the latter by the New York City Opera Company. The opera was then revived by the Houston Grand Opera at the Uris Theatre where it opened on September 25, 1976, for 122 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. After the current production, the opera was revived by the Metropolitan Opera Company during the 1984–1985, 1989–1990, and 1990–1991 seasons for a total of 54 showings. In 2000 and 2002, the opera was presented by the New York City Opera Company, and in 2011 was revived on Broadway (and like the 1976 production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical). The lavish 1959 film version directed by Otto Preminger was released by Columbia Pictures and was personally produced by Samuel Goldwyn (who owned the film rights until 1974, when the rights reverted to the Gershwin estate); the film has all but disappeared during the past few decades, reportedly because of the Gershwin estate’s displeasure with the film (it has never been shown on cable television or released on any home video format). In January 1999, Bill Reed in Variety reported that Gershwin estate executor Michael Strunsky stated the time was perhaps right for a “restoration and reissue of the film,” but it would have “to be done right. We’re taking our time.” However, some seventeen years later the film has still not been rereleased, shown on cable television, or issued on DVD. But a March 20, 2002, performance by the New York City Opera Company was shown live on public television. Since 1958, the libretto has been published in paperback editions by the Chappell Music Company and is also included in the hardback collection Ten Great Musicals of the American Theatre, edited by Stanley Richards and published by Chilton Book Company in 1973. There are numerous recordings of the score, including one with many members of the original 1935 and 1942 casts, including Todd Duncan and Anne Brown, both of whom created the original title roles (Decca LP # DL-7-9024), and one of the most complete recordings is EMI’s 1985 three-CD set (# CDS-7-49568-2). Joseph Horowitz’s On My Way: The Untold Story of Rouben Mamoulian, George Gershwin, and “Porgy and Bess” was published in 2013 by W.W. Norton.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Michael V. Smartt); Best Choreographer (George Faison)

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TEANECK TANZI: THE VENUS FLYTRAP “A Comedy

with

Love

and

Wrestling”

Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: April 20, 1983 (matinee performance); Closing Date: April 20, 1983 (evening performance) Performances: 2 Play: Claire Luckham Music: Chris Monk Direction: Chris Bond; Producers: Charlene and James Nederlander, Richard Vos (Executive Producer), Stewart F. Lane, and Kenneth Mark-Productions (presented by arrangement with Freedman Panter, Ltd., and Namara, Ltd.); Scenery (“Scenic Environment”) and Costumes: Lawrence Miller; Lighting: Arden Fingerhut Cast: Andy Kaufman (The Ref), Zora Rasmussen (Tanzi’s Mom), Clarence Felder (Tanzi’s Dad), Dana Vance (Platinum Sue), Scott Renderer or Thomas G. Waites (Dean Rebel), Caitlin Clarke or Deborah Harry (Teaneck Tanzi) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers, but “No Regrets” aka “Non, je ne regrette rien” and “Stand by Your Man” were cited on the final page of the program’s credits. As Trafford Tanzi (and other variant titles [including Tuebrook Tanzi], since the character’s first name appropriated the name of the city or nearby city where the play was being performed), Claire Luckham’s play with music Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap premiered in Great Britain at the Edinburgh Festival in 1981; from there it was performed at the Lyric Studio in Hammersmith, and then in London, first at the Half Moon Theatre and then at the Mermaid. But its New York life was much shorter. After a series of previews, the play was scheduled to open officially on April 14, 1983, but the opening was delayed by one week until April 20 with matinee and evening performances given on that day, each with alternate leads (Caitlin Clarke and Thomas G. Waites, and Deborah Harry and Scott Renderer). After the two opening performances, the show abruptly closed and couldn’t even boast the season’s shortest-running champ. That honor was shared by Cleavage, Play Me a Country Song, and Dance a Little Closer, all of which closed after just a single official showing. As far as the critics were concerned, Flytrap was claptrap. The shrill feminist diatribe described all men as “monsters” and “swine” (which according to Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily sounded “like feminism in 1971”) and dealt with the title character, who can’t seem to get along with anyone, including her parents, her friends, her psychiatrist, and her husband. All her unhappiness seems rooted in sexism, and so she and her husband battle it out in a wrestling match where of course she wins. Maybe it was all intended to be satiric, but if so the satire was so blunted no one noticed. And while the Palace Theatre underwent a certain amount of renovation to display a boxing ring for the 2014 debacle Rocky, so did the Nederlander undergo a transformation from theatre to wrestling arena. Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the venue no longer resembled a playhouse, but that was okay because Teaneck Tanzi didn’t resemble a play. Audience members were seated around the arena, and the production was presented in ten “rounds” or scenes. To add to the ambience, The Ref (Andy Kaufman) bullied the audience as the Usher from Hell. With a cigarette in his mouth, he accosted ticketholders, even seated ones, and insisted on scrutinizing their tickets. He shouted orders to audience members and threatened to eject them from the theatre, and since many didn’t recognize the actor from his television appearances they resented the harassment and thus screamed back at him, much to the amusement of those nearby who recognized the performer and knew he wasn’t one of the Nederlander’s ushers. In fact, Frank Rich in the New York Times reported that one critic almost “slugged” Kaufman, and this was surely the evening’s “high point” because otherwise the show was a “theatrical gimmick whose execution produces a pounding sensation in every part of one’s head except the brain.”

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Rich noted that audience plants encouraged cheering and heckling, and the evening showed “a particular fondness for sight gags involving the male crotch.” And the choice of one of two sets of leading performers was like selecting either coffee or tea for one’s last supper. In order to see both sets of actors, he had to sit through the show twice (“a feat that certainly earns me a mention in Ripley’s”) and decided Clarke and Waites were the “better duo” but Harry and Renderer made “a worthwhile contribution by slurring some of their lines.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Teaneck Tanzi “would come high on my personal list of monsters” and once he discovered there were two sets of leading players he “realized with horror” that he was “committed” to sit through “the thing” (“the play—whatever”) twice. The “sad venture” was an “overblown camp joke,” and although the “simplistic, monochromatic, sophomoric and boring” show attempted to make a statement about women’s liberation, he decided that “even Mickey Spillane” was “more pertinent” to the subject. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “calamity” was “simple-minded,” and while the performers bounced off the canvas, the ropes, the padded corner posts, and even the ring itself, they “unhappily” never bounced out of the theatre. Kissel found the “plot and dialogue pathetically obvious.” Cunningham said the “tiresome trifle” was “something akin to the abomination of desolation . . . grueling, excruciating, chaotic and woefully amateurish.” He stated that the dialogue was “merely spoken graffiti,” and the acting came “from the Looney Tunes School of Dramatic Arts.” As for Kaufman, Rich found him “fitfully amusing,” while Barnes said he was “perfectly repulsive” and managed to make “a poor role insupportable.” Kissel wryly noted that Kaufman handled the role “as if he were born to play it,” and Cunningham found the performer “thoroughly unendearing.” Rich noted that the music seemed to have been “composed on a washboard,” and Watt commented that there were “horrendous sounds of an electric organ chattering out pop tunes” and sometimes the performers broke out into “terrible” song, including an “atrocious parody” of “Non, je ne regrette rien” (French lyric by Michel Vaucaire, music by Charles Dumont) (he noted that other songs included “Stand by Your Man” [lyric and music by Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill] and a Wagnerian passage). But Kissel liked the “energetic musical accompaniment.” As Trafford Tanzi, the script was published in various editions including one in paperback by Quarter Books in 1983 and another in paperback by Samuel French in 1985. Playwright Claire Luckham was married to the show’s director Chris (Christopher) Bond, whose play about Sweeney Todd was the direct basis for the Stephen Sondheim musical.

SHOW BOAT Theatre: Uris Theatre Opening Date: April 24, 1983; Closing Date: June 26, 1983 Performances: 73 Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Jerome Kern Based on the 1926 novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber. Direction: Michael Kahn; Producers: James M. Nederlander, The John F. Kennedy Center, and Denver Center present a Houston Grand Opera Production (Robert A. Buckley and Douglas Urbanski, Executive Producers); Choreography: Dorothy Danner; Scenery: Herbert Senn and Helen Pond; Costumes: Molly Maginnes; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Jack Everly Cast: Richard Dix (Windy), Wayne Turnage (Steve), Glenn Martin (Pete), Karla Burns (Queenie), Avril Gentles (Parthy Ann Hawkes), Donald O’Connor (Cap’n Andy), Paige O’Hara (Ellie), Paul Keith (Frank), Randy Hansen (Mahoney, Barker, Jake), Lonette McKee (Julie), Ron Raines (Gaylord Ravenal), Jacob Mark Hopkin (Vallon, Jim), Sheryl Woods (Magnolia), Bruce Hubbard (Joe), Lewis White (Backwoodsman, Barker), James Gedge (Jeb, Barker), Lynda Karen (La Belle Fatima), Larry Hansen (Old Sport, Young Man with a Guitar), Mary Rocco (Landlady, Old Lady on the Levee), P. L. Brown (Charlie), Linda Milani (Mother Superior), Tracy Paul (Young Kim), Gloria Parker (Lottie), Dale Kristien (Dolly), Karen Culliver (Older Kim), Hal Douglas (Radio Announcer’s Voice); Female Chorus: Vanessa Ayers, Joanna Beck, Karen Culliver, Olivia Detante, Kim Fairchild, Cheryl Freeman, Lynda Karen, Dale Kristien, Linda Milani, Gloria Parker,

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Veronica Rhodes, Mary Rocco, Molly Wassermann, Carrie Wilder; Male Chorus: P. L. Brown, MichaelPierre Dean, Merwin Foard, Joe Garcia, James Gedge, Michael Gray, Larry Hansen, Randy Hansen, Jacob Mark Hopkin, Glenn Martin, Randy Morgan, Dennis Perren, Leonard Piggee, Alton Spencer, Robert Vincent, Lewis White, Wardell Woodard The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place from the 1880s to 1927, principally in Mississippi and Chicago.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Cotton Blossom” (Stevedores, Townspeople); “Show Boat Parade and Ballyhoo” (Donald O’Connor, The Show Boat Troupe, Townspeople); “Only Make Believe” (Ron Raines, Sheryl Woods); “Ol’ Man River” (Bruce Hubbard, Stevedores); “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” (Lonette McKee, Karla Burns, Sheryl Woods, Bruce Hubbard, Ensemble); “Life Upon the Wicked Stage” (Paige O’Hara, Ensemble); “I Might Fall Back on You” (Paul Keith, Paige O’Hara); “Queenie’s Ballyhoo” (aka “C’mon, Folk”) (Karla Burns, Donald O’Connor, Ensemble); “You Are Love” (Sheryl Woods, Ron Raines); Finale (Ensemble) Act Two: “At the Fair” (Sightseers, Barkers); “Why Do I Love You?” (Sheryl Woods, Ron Raines, Donald O’Connor, Avril Gentles, Ensemble); “Bill” (lyric by P. G. Wodehouse and Oscar Hammerstein II) (Lonette McKee); “Service and Scene Music, St. Agatha’s Convent” (Orchestra); “Only Make Believe” (reprise) (Ron Raines); “Goodbye, My Lady Love” (Cake Walk) (lyric and music by Joseph E. Howard) (Paul Keith, Paige O’Hara); Magnolia’s Debut in Trocadero Music Hall: “After the Ball” (lyric and music by Charles K. Harris; first interpolated into the post-Broadway tour of the 1891 musical A Trip to Chinatown) (Sheryl Woods, Ensemble); “Ol’ Man River” (reprise) (Bruce Hubbard); “You Are Love” (reprise) (Ron Raines); “Hey, Feller” (Karla Burns, Ensemble); Finale (Ensemble) The revival of Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern’s groundbreaking musical Show Boat received mixed reviews and closed after two months at what was the end of a long national tour. The story dealt with racism, miscegenation, alcoholism, and unhappy marital relationships, and for its time was shocking because never before had a musical looked so unflinchingly at such adult themes. The musical also offered a bittersweet survey of the passing of time in its look at forty years in the generally unhappy lives of its characters, some of whom fade away without neatly orchestrated explanations of their fates. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News was glad to see the “lavishly mounted” musical with its “evergreen” score, and he noted that except for “In Dahomey” the evening included most of the music heard in the original Broadway production. The revival included the seldom performed “Hey, Feller,” but omitted Gaylord’s establishing song, the sweeping “Till Good Luck Comes My Way,” and his introspective “Where’s the Mate for Me?” (aka “Who Cares If My Boat Goes Upstream?”). Watt mentioned that the current revival seemed to be the first to cast a black actress in the role of the mulatto Julie, and said that while Lonette McKee performed an impressive “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” her “Bill” was sung “accurately” but without expression. (Watt forgot that Cleo Laine was Julie in the 1971 London production.) Frank Rich in the New York Times found the production’s décor “flimsy and crudely lighted” and Michael Kahn’s direction seemed “chiseled in stone.” Instead of staging the production with an “inventive” approach that might have utilized the “cinematic flow” inherent in the script, he seemed to push Show Boat in the direction of operetta, the very form from which Kern and Hammerstein “were trying to escape.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Kahn’s direction gave the musical an “operatic feel” and a “classic manner,” and the production itself was “lavish.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily stated there had been no attempt to give the classic songs “any dramatic or musical imagination” and thus they were “treated like antiques that people are too reverent even to dust.” Further, some of the performers suffered “from the cutes” and thus there were often “musical comedy types” on the stage instead of “human beings.” But Sheryl Woods had a “creamy soprano,” Ron Raines was a “rich, agile tenor,” Lonette McKee offered a “dusky alto,” Bruce Hubbard had an “eloquent bass,” and Karla Burns gave a “spirited delivery” of “Hey, Feller.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the combination of story and song allowed Show Boat to “still claim its own sturdy integrity,” but he noted that too many months of touring revealed “comic

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overplaying” in some of the performances. Jack Kroll in Newsweek decided that “damn good” was too strong to describe the revival, and “pretty good” was “too weak,” and so perhaps “pretty damn good” was the best description, and he decided the work had been revived with “a kind of taste and dignity that doesn’t allow a real incandescence of emotion to leap forth from its lavish texture.” And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the production clearly wanted to be “splendid,” but was unfortunately not the “splendid one” the show deserved, and he noted some of the sets were “pretty awful,” the direction “thoughtless,” and most of the performances “a bit more or a bit less than passable.” The original Broadway production opened on December 27, 1927, at the Ziegfeld Theatre where it played for 572 performances; a 1932 revival played for 180 showings; a slightly revised Broadway revival in 1946 ran for 418 performances; and the New York City Center Light Opera Company (NYCCLOC) presented the work in 1948 (16 performances) and 1961 (14 performances). The musical was also seen three times in 1954 for a total of 20 performances, two by the NYCCLOC and one by the New York City Opera Company. The Music Theatre of Lincoln Center presented the work in 1966 for 64 performances, and after the current Broadway revival the work opened at the Gershwin Theatre in 1994 for 949 performances. The latter marked the musical’s longest Broadway run and is perhaps the most definitive Show Boat seen since the original production. It included the portentous and brooding “Mis’ry’s Comin’ Aroun’,” which foreshadows much of the unhappiness and tragedy to follow. Heretofore, “Mis’ry’s Comin’ Aroun’” had been performed just one time, at the musical’s first tryout performance at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, November 15, 1927; by the next day’s matinee, the song was gone (along with such numbers as “Cheer Up,” “My Girl,” “Coal Black Lady,” “Bully Song,” “Hello, My Baby,” and “It’s Gettin’ Hotter in the North”). Two books about the musical have been published by Oxford University Press: Miles Kreuger’s Show Boat: The Story of a Classic American Musical (1977) and Todd Decker’s Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical (2012). The definitive recording of the score is a three-CD set released by EMI Records (# CDS-7-49108-2) in 1988; conducted by John McGlinn, the cast includes Frederica Von Stade, Jerry Hadley, and Teresa Stratas. The album includes a number of songs deleted during the production’s 1927 tryout; songs written for various revivals of the musical as well as for the 1936 film version; and songs written for, but never used in, the production. In 1934, the libretto of Show Boat was published in paperback by Chappell & Co. (Great Britain) and reflects the script of the 1928 London production (including the lyric of “Dance Away the Night,” which had been especially written for the London version). The lyrics of Show Boat are included in the collection The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, which was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2008. The musical was filmed three times. A part-silent and part-talkie adaptation was released in 1929, and the lavish but unrealistic 1951 version compressed the action into about ten years and completely lost the epic sweep of the story. But the 1936 adaptation released by Universal is classic; it includes the respective original Broadway and London cast performances of Helen Morgan and Paul Robeson, and as Magnolia, Irene Dunne reprised her role from the show’s national tour. Hammerstein and Kern wrote three new songs for this version (“I Have the Room about Her,” “Ah Still Suits Me,” and “Gallivantin’ Aroun’”). During the run of Show Boat, the Uris Theatre was renamed the Gershwin Theatre.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Lonette McKee); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Karla Burns); Best Director of a Musical (Michael Kahn)

MY ONE AND ONLY “The New Gershwin Musical”

Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: May 1, 1983; Closing Date: March 5, 1985 Performances: 767 Book: Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer Lyrics: Ira Gershwin

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Music: George Gershwin Direction and Choreography: Thommie Walsh and Tommy Tune (Phillip Osterman, Associate Director; Baayork Lee, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Paramount Theatre Productions, Francine Lefrak, and Kenneth-Mark Productions, Lewis Allen, and presented in association with Jujamcyn Theatres, Inc., (A King Street Production produced by Bernard Carragher, Obie Bailey, and Bernard Bailey), and Jonathan Farkas, Associate Producer; Scenery: Adrianne Lobel; Costumes: Rita Ryack; Lighting; Otts Munderloh; Musical Direction: Jack Lee Cast: The New Rhythm Boys: David Jackson, Ken Leigh Rogers, and Ronald Dennis; Tommy Tune (Captain Billy Buck Chandler), Denny Dillon (Mickey), Bruce McGill (Prince Nicolai Erraclyovitch Tchatchavadze), Nana Visitor (Flounder), Susan Hartley (Sturgeon), Stephanie Eley (Minnow), Jill Cook (Prawn, Reporter), Niki Harris (Kipper), Karen Tamburrelli (Anchovie), Twiggy (Edith Herbert), Roscoe Lee Browne (Rt. Rev. J. D. Montgomery), Charles “Honi” Coles (Mr. Magix); The Ritz Quartette: Casper Roos, Paul David Richards, Carl Nicholas, and Will Blankenship; Paul David Richards (Policeman, Stage Doorman), Ken Leigh Rogers (Mrs. O’Malley), Adrian Bailey (Conductor); The Dancing Gentlemen of the Ensemble: Adrian Bailey, Bar Dell Conner, Ronald Dennis, David Jackson, Alde Lewis Jr., Bernard Manners, and Ken Leigh Rogers; Bruce McGill (Achmed) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1927 in New York City and Morocco.

Musical Numbers Note: * = Denotes song from the 1927 Broadway production of Funny Face. Act One: “I Can’t Be Bothered Now” (1937 film A Damsel in Distress) (The New Rhythm Boys, Tommy Tune, Twiggy, Bruce McGill, Denny Dillon, Ensemble); “Blah, Blah, Blah” (1931 film Delicious) (Tommy Tune); “Boy Wanted” (A Dangerous Maid, 1921; musical closed during pre-Broadway tryout; lyric by Arthur Francis [Ira Gershwin]; a revised lyric by Gershwin and Desmond Carter was used in the 1924 London musical Primrose) (Twiggy, Jill Cook); “Soon” (Strike Up the Band, 1927 and 1930 versions) (Tommy Tune); “High Hat” (*) and “Sweet and Low-Down” (Tip-Toes, 1925) (Charles “Honi” Coles, Tommy Tune, The New Rhythm Boys, Ensemble); “Blah, Blah, Blah” (reprise) (Twiggy); “Just Another Rhumba” (written for but not used in 1938 film The Goldwyn Follies) (Roscoe Lee Brown, Ensemble); “He Loves and She Loves” (*) (Tommy Tune, Twiggy); “He Love and She Loves” (reprise) (The Ritz Quartette); “I Can’t Be Bothered Now” (reprise) (The New Rhythm Boys); “’S Wonderful” (*) (Tommy Tune, Twiggy); “’S Wonderful” (reprise) (The Ritz Quartette); “Strike Up the Band” (Strike Up the Band, 1927 and 1930 versions) (Tommy Tune) Act Two: “In the Swim” (*)/“What Are We Here For?” (Treasure Girl, 1928)/“Nice Work If You Can Get It” (1937 film A Damsel in Distress) (Nana Visitor, Susan Hartley, Stephanie Eley, Jill Cook, Niki Harris, Karen Tamburrelli, Bruce McGill); “My One and Only” (*) (Charles “Honi” Coles, Tommy Tune); “Funny Face” (*) (Denny Dillon, Bruce McGill); “My One and Only” (reprise) (Tommy Tune); “Kickin’ the Clouds Away” (Tell Me More, 1925; lyric by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva and Ira Gershwin) (Roscoe Lee Browne, Ensemble); “How Long Has This Been Going On?” (dropped from tryout of Funny Face and with a slightly revised lyric was used in the 1928 musical Rosalie) (Twiggy, Tommy Tune); “Strike Up the Band” (reprise) (Company) My One and Only had originally been intended as a revised version of George and Ira Gershwin’s hit 1927 musical Funny Face, but once rehearsals and then the first Boston previews began it was clear the musical was unfocused and had major book problems. Timothy S. Mayer was the writer of credit, but soon Peter Stone joined the production team to rewrite the book (for New York, both Stone and Mayer shared official book credit). And just days before the first Boston performance, director Peter Sellars was fired, and Thommie Walsh and Tommy Tune, who had co-choreographed the production, took on directorial duties as well. Further, musical director Craig Smith was let go and replaced by Jack Lee, and during the course of the tryout at least five musical numbers were cut: “Once” (Tell Me More, 1925; lyric by Ira Gershwin and music by William Daly; George Gershwin later wrote new music for the lyric and the song was included in the score of the original 1927 production of Funny Face);“The Cuban Overture” (the instrumental number premiered

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as “Rumba” [not “Rhumba”] in 1932, and its title was later changed to “The Cuban Overture”); “Drifting Along with the Tide” (George White’s Scandals [third edition, 1921]; lyric by Arthur Jackson); “Little Jazz Bird” (Lady, Be Good!, 1924; lyric by Ira Gershwin); and “Swimming” (lyric by Ira Gershwin, and which may have been an early title for “In the Swim” [see song list above]). It seems everyone in the New York theatre world was rumored to be involved in the salvage job of rescuing My One and Only from an early demise, and in the February 28, 1983, issue of New York Kevin Kelly’s article “Falling on Its Funny Face” dissected the confused and chaotic backstage and onstage problems as the show followed “a classically disastrous route on its way to Broadway.” Further, Sellars “with patronizing arrogance had shot off his brilliant mouth about Broadway, wounding Tune in the generalized massacre.” The two were polar opposites in their theatrical styles, and as My One and Only headed toward its first public preview, the musical became “The Pajama Game squared off against Brecht.” Kelly reported that Boston previews had been pushed back, the Boston opening night had been postponed twice, and once the opening occurred it was an “extraordinarily glum” and “confused mess.” There was one memorable matinee when incense used on the stage was mistaken for smoke and thus caused dozens of audience members to rush out of the theatre in mid-performance, and Kelly noted that during the Boston run “only the Gershwin score seems to live. The songs send out whatever joy there is to be had.” The musical had set its Broadway opening date for April 17, but didn’t premiere until May 1. And to everyone’s surprise, the show received generally good reviews, ran two years, enjoyed a national tour, and won three Tony Awards, including Best Choreography. The plot revolved around Captain Billy Buck Chandler (Tommy Tune), an aviator from Texas who makes his entrance dangling in midair from a parachute. His ambition is to be the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic, and when he meets Edith Herbert (Twiggy), who’s quick to note she’s the first “really pretty” swimmer to have crossed the English Channel, it’s love at first sight. Also figuring into the lighthearted plot are Billy’s foul-mouthed lady mechanic Mickey (Denny Dillon), Edith’s villainous Russian manager Nicolai (Bruce McGill), speakeasy owner and church reverend J. D. Montgomery (Roscoe Lee Browne), and Billy’s friend and advisor Mr. Magix (Charles “Honi” Coles). Frank Rich in the New York Times acknowledged the musical’s “troubled gestation period” and suggested that while My One and Only might not be “brilliant” it was nonetheless a “slick” show that brimmed “with high-hat confidence.” The evening wasn’t always “fresh and buoyant” but it was “the only new or old musical of the season that sends us home on air.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the “sweet and funny” and “lilting entertainment,” and said “’S Wonderful” was an “enchanting shallow-water number that stops the show” as Tune and Twiggy splashed about on the shores of what they presume is a deserted island (which is actually known as Staten). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the musical “staggered” somewhat and may have “been manufactured rather than created,” but it was still “very witty and agreeably savvy and sassy” and “rewardingly outrageous.” He also noted that Twiggy was a “revelation” who was “delicious,” “sexy,” and “a genuine star.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek praised the “winning and easeful originality” of the show and he too found Twiggy a “revelation” with an “adorable stage presence.” But Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “hodgepodge” had “been so ineptly put together that most of the professionalism on hand is wasted.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the “cut and paste operation” lacked coherency and vision, but the evening held together thanks to Tune and Twiggy, the “top-flight” choreography, and the Gershwin songs. And T. E. Kalem in Time noted that “’S Wonderful” reconfirmed “Tune’s inalienably inventive choreography” (but he was cool to the “cardboard comedy romance” and said the musical “inhales adrenaline and exhales formaldehyde”). The deleted “Little Jazz Bird” was included as a bonus on the cast recording, which was released by Atlantic Records (both LP and CD # 80110). During the Broadway run, “Just Another Rhumba” was dropped. A belated London production opened on February 25, 2002, at the Piccadilly Theatre with Tim Flavin and Janie Dee, and was choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood. Titled Smarty during part of its pre-Broadway tryout, Funny Face starred Fred and Adele Astaire and opened in New York on November 22, 1927, for 244 performances; it was the premiere attraction to play at the new Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre. The Astaires appeared in the London production, which opened at the Prince’s (now Shaftsbury) Theatre on November 8, 1928, and seven recordings from that presentation (“He Loves and She Loves,” “’S Wonderful,” “My One and Only,” “High Hat,” “The Babbitt and the Bromide,” “Tell the Doc,” and the title song) are included in the collection Funny Face (World Record Club LP #

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SH-144). Funny Face was also released by The Smithsonian Collection (LP # DPM-1-0418/R-019) in an archival reconstruction that includes recordings by the Astaires and members of the Broadway and London companies, piano interpretations by George Gershwin, and an instrumental sequence by Victor Arden and Phil Ohman and Their Orchestra. Although the 1957 film Funny Face starred Fred Astaire (and Audrey Hepburn) and included three songs from the original production (“He Loves and She Loves,” “’S Wonderful,” and “Let’s Kiss and Make Up”) and one (“How Long Has This Been Going On?”) which had been dropped during the tryout of the original production, the film wasn’t based on the 1927 musical. The film also included one Gershwin interpolation (“Clap Yo’ Hands” from the 1926 musical Oh, Kay!) and four new songs with lyrics by Leonard Gersh and music by Roger Edens (“Think Pink,” “On How to Be Lovely,” “Bonjour, Paris,” and “Basal Metabolism”).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (My One and Only); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Tommy Tune); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Twiggy); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Charles “Honi” Coles); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Denny Dillon); Best Director of a Musical (Thommie Walsh and Tommy Tune); Best Book (Peter Stone and Timothy S. Meyer); Best Costume Designer (Rita Ryack); Best Choreographer (Thommie Walsh and Tommy Tune)

THE FLYING KARAMAZOV BROTHERS Theatre: Ritz Theatre Opening Date: May 10, 1983; Closing Date: June 12, 1983 Performances: 40 Text and Routines: Devised by the performers Direction: Direction by the performers; Producers: Mace Neufeld and Viacom International, Inc. (Harold Thau and Robert Courson, Associate Producers); Scenery and Costumes: Robert Fletcher; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Not credited Cast: Paul David Magid (Dmitri), Randy Nelson (Alyosha), Timothy Daniel Furst (Fyodor), Sam Williams (Smerdyakov), Howard Jay Patterson (Ivan) The revue was presented in two acts. The action takes place “at the present time on the stage of a prestigious Broadway theatre.” The Flying Karamazov Brothers didn’t fly, they weren’t Russian, and they weren’t brothers. But they were possibly the best juggling act ever seen on the Broadway stage, and when they weren’t juggling they provided comedy patter and a bit of incidental music (two of the brothers played “Chopsticks” on the xylophone and a five-member band played “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”). Frank Rich in the New York Times reported that the team were “certainly the best jugglers anyone would ever want to see,” as they displayed their dexterity with such objects as flaming torches, eggs, and razor-sharp sickles (Rich noted that one brother wryly noted, “There’s only one end of a sickle one can catch—more than once”). If all this weren’t enough, they also juggled objects supplied by the audience (including a dead fish and a plate of Jello), they occasionally sang, and throughout the evening engaged in puns, jokes, and other comic routines (including a spaced-out California hippie type who exclaims, “Peace! Granola!”). The brothers were “amusing,” “sweet,” and “rambunctious” and never once were “dourly Dostoyevskyan.” But Rich suggested the brothers needed to develop “distinct” personalities if they hoped to follow in the tradition of the Marx Brothers. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found the evening one of the “happiest and most tumultuous” of the season and said that one juggling routine of ten objects (which included a frying pan and an egg) had “to be seen to be believed”. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the show was “honest entertainment, and that cannot be said for much of what has opened on Broadway this season.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the show had flown in “for our ailing Broadway” and as far as he was concerned it “need never fly out again” because the performers were “beguilingly charming” and he enjoyed the “hilarious and

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effective” spectacle of cats, uncooked liver, and cream gateau being juggled all at once. And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 found the production one of “snappy, distinctly slap-happy theatre” and said the brothers were an “acquired taste that many may want to acquire.” But Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News felt the evening went on too long and perhaps belonged in a cabaret or on the college circuit. Otherwise, the show was like Time and Punishment. He also noted that among the items juggled were a roasted chicken, a ski boot, a fencing foil, a ripe pineapple, and a bag of pot. And while Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 admitted the boys were “magnificent” jugglers, he wondered, “Just how much juggling can you stand?” and suggested that the show “doesn’t fly.” The team returned to Broadway in 1986 with Juggling and Cheap Theatrics, in 1994 with The Flying Karamazov Brothers Do the Impossible!, and in 1998 with The Flying Karamazov Brothers: Sharps, Flats and Accidentals. The team later appeared Off Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre for one month beginning on February 8, 2010, in The Flying Karamazov Brothers: 4play, and the work returned there on August 9, 2010, for a nine-month run. Two years earlier the critics were impressed with juggler Michael Davis, who wowed everyone in the one-performance fiasco Broadway Follies, and he was soon sought after by the producers of Sugar Babies and joined that revue during the course of its long Broadway run.

DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: May 11, 1983; Closing Date: May 11, 1983 Performances: 1 Book and Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Charles Strouse; dance music by Glen Kelly Based on the 1936 play Idiot’s Delight by Robert E. Sherwood. Direction: Alan Jay Lerner (Stone Widney, Production Supervisor); Producers: Frederick Brisson, Jerome Minskoff, James Nederlander, and The Kennedy Center (Paul N. Temple, Associate Producer; Dwight Frye, Assistant to the Producer); Choreography: Billy Wilson; Scenery: David Mitchell; Costumes: Donald Brooks; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Director: Peter Howard Cast: Don Chastain (Roger Butterfield), Len Cariou (Harry Aikens); The Delights: Diane Pennington (Shirley), Cheryl Howard (Bebe), and Alyson Reed (Elaine); David Sabin (Johannes Hartog), Elizabeth Hubbard (Contessa Carla Pirianno), Noel Craig (Captain Mueller), Brent Barrett (Charles Castleton), Jeff Keller (Edward Dunlop), Philip Mollet (Bellboy, Harry), Brian Sutherland (Waiter, Harry’s Double, Harry), I. M. Hobson (Reverend Oliver Boyle), Joyce Worsley (Hester Boyle), Joseph Kolinski (Heinrich Walter Halloway), Liz Robertson (Cynthia Brookfield-Bailey), George Rose (Doctor Josef Winkler), Robin Stephens (Cynthia’s Double), James Fatta (Rink Attendant, Violinist, Harry), Colleen Ashton (Ice Skater), Peter Wandel (Harry); Hotel Guests: Colleen Ashton, Candy Cook, Mary Dale, James Fatta, Philip Mollet, Linda Poser, Robin Stephens, Brian Sutherland, Peter Wandel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Austrian Alps during “the avoidable future.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “It Never Would Have Worked” (Len Cariou, The Delights); “Happy, Happy New Year” (Len Cariou, The Delights, Guests); “No Man Is Worth It” (Liz Robertson); “What Are You Going to Do about It?” (Len Cariou, Joseph Kolinski); “A Woman Who Thinks I’m Wonderful” (George Rose); “Pas de deux” (Brian Sutherland, Robin Stephens); “There’s Never Been Anything Like Us” (Len Cariou); “Another Life” (Liz Robertson); “Why Can’t the World Go and Leave Us Alone?” (Brent Barrett, Jeff Keller); “He Always Comes Home to Me” (Liz Robertson, Len Cariou); “I Got a New Girl” (Len Cariou, The Delights); “Dance a Little Closer” (Len Cariou, Liz Robertson, Guests); “There’s Always One You Can’t Forget” (Len Cariou) Act Two: “Homesick” (Diane Pennington, Cheryl Howard, Alyson Reed); “Mad” (Len Cariou, The Delights); “I Don’t Know” (Len Cariou, I. M. Hobson, Elizabeth Hubbard, The Delights, Brent Barrett, Jeff Keller, Liz

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Robertson); “Auf Wiedersehen” (George Rose); “I Never Want to See You Again” (Len Cariou); “On Top of the World” (Liz Robertson, Men); “I Got a New Girl” (reprise) (Len Cariou, Liz Robertson); “Dance a Little Closer” (reprise) (Len Cariou, Liz Robertson) During its previews, the pundits referred to Dance a Little Closer as Close a Little Faster, and the musical quickly obliged by shuttering after its first performance. Along with Cleavage and Play Me a Country Song, the new Alan Jay Lerner and Charles Strouse musical was the shortest-running of the season. Based on Robert E. Sherwood’s 1936 Pulitzer-Prize-winning play Idiot’s Delight (which starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, and for the 1939 MGM film version was headlined by Clark Gable and Norma Shearer), the story took place in the luxurious Barclay-Palace Hotel in the Austrian Alps during a time in “the avoidable future” when the world is on the brink of war. To make matters worse, it appears the war will begin in the vicinity of the resort’s location and thus the hotel’s staff and guests are quarantined because the Austrian border is closed. An impending confrontation between the Soviet Union and NATO forces seems almost certain, and bombers and missiles are at the ready. Among those staying in the hotel are the slightly seedy entertainers Harry (Len Cariou) and The Delights (an all-girl trio played by Diane Pennington, Cheryl Howard, and Alyson Reed), who have been booked at the resort. Harry is surprised to discover that one of the guests is British Cynthia Brookfield-Bailey (Liz Robertson), who resembles a woman with whom he once had an affair in America and who has haunted him ever since. Cynthia is the mistress of White House official Doctor Josef Winkler (George Rose), but Harry is certain she’s the American chorus girl he once bedded in Omaha. The play and the film kept the audience wondering whether or not Cynthia is Harry’s old flame, but Frank Rich in the New York Times was surprised to discover the musical threw away any suspense about the matter by revealing in flashback early in the first act that the two were indeed once romantically involved. And once the revelation was made, the story was “essentially over” but nonetheless kept going on for another act and a half. Rich said the evening “numbs the audience with almost every step” and the work was one of those curious affairs that took on “a rampaging, self-destructive life of its own.” Further, Lerner’s direction was “static,” the choreography was “primitive,” the décor was “high-tech” and “antiseptic” and reminded him less of a lavish resort than a Ramada Inn in Omaha, and the costumes were a “hodgepodge” that didn’t convey any particular period. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said Sherwood’s play wasn’t “suitable material” for a musical and Lerner now proved it with Dance a Little Closer. Watt also noted there was extraneous business thrown into the story in order to pad out the evening. This included two gay airline stewards (played by Brent Barrett and Jeff Keller) who sing “Why Can’t the World Go and Leave Us Alone?,” perform an ice-skating routine for no special reason, and get married by a somewhat unwilling vicar (I. M. Hobson). Further, Harry’s backup trio sing “Homesick,” a would-be sardonic diatribe against the United States in which they salute Love Canal, Three Mile Island, and the San Andreas Fault. Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the entire musical had “gone subtly but awfully wrong” and the show seemed like an “over-rehearsed first preview of a tryout.” Moreover, the performers “wandered around doing their best but often looking like temporary help.” As for Strouse’s score, it was “effective, often tuneful, but uncentered.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the musical was “an enormous disappointment” that had been “overcooked into a tasteless stew.” The characters came out of “Playwriting 101,” the choreography was “embarrassing,” and the décor was a “mess.” Even one of the major plot points was suspect: Would an expensive and lavish hotel hire a “tacky” act like Harry and The Delights for its grand opening? And while Strouse’s music contained some of his most “beautiful” songs, “numbers of spirit and sophistication,” the show’s context was “so muddled” the music had no impact. Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the “dull” show was “rampaging flapdoodle” and a “dismal and uninspired enterprise,” and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 suggested the musical was less “nuclear disaster” than “conventional bomb.” The critics pounced on Cariou’s singing, and Kissel wondered if Sweeney Todd had “ruined” it because his “top sounds” suggested he was “running sandpaper over his vocal chords”; Barnes said his voice was in “poor estate”; Rich said Cariou seemed to have “misplaced” his voice; and Watt suggested the actor was suffering from laryngitis. Rich found Lerner’s wife, Liz Robertson, an “attractive” stage presence with a “likable personality” but “as yet undeveloped performing skills,” and Kissel said her voice was “clear and strong” but lacked richness and color. Barnes noted she was “a sort of closet Julie Andrews” who sang “pleasantly.” During previews, Reuben Singer was succeeded by David Sabin. With a lyric by Lee Adams, the music for the title song had been heard as “What Became of Me?” for the 1968 London production of Golden Boy, and

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“Auf Wiedersehen” was a revised version of “A Woman Alone,” with a lyric by Lee Adams, which had been dropped from the 1966 Broadway musical It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s SUPERMAN. The original cast album was released by IBR Classics Records (LP # LPIBR-9011), and the CD was issued by That’s Entertainment Records (# CDTER-1174). “There’s Always One You Can’t Forget” is included in four CD collections, Julie Andrews’s Broadway, Here I’ll Stay: The Words of Alan Jay Lerner (Philips Records #446219-2), Barbara Brussell’s Lerner in Love: The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner (LML Records, unnumbered CD), Jason Graae’s You’re Never Fully Dressed without a Smile: Jason Graae Sings Charles Strouse (Varese Sarabande # VSD-5711), and Bryn Terfel’s If Ever I Would Leave You (Deutsche Grammophon CD # 289-457628-2). The title song is included in Brussell’s and Graae’s collections as well as in the two-CD collection Lerner, Loewe, Lane & Friends (Varese Sarabande # VSD2-5917) and the collection The Musicality of Strouse (Jay Records # CDJAZ-9014) (for the latter, Liz Robertson sings the number). The two-CD collection Charles Strouse, Arthur Schwartz, Stephen Schwartz (Kritzerland # KR-20010-6) includes “There’s Never Been Anything Like Us.” Despite its pleasant score, Dance a Little Closer was Strouse’s fourth failure following the opening of his mega-hit Annie (1977); prior to the current musical, A Broadway Musical (1978) had closed after one performance, Charlie and Algernon after seventeen, and Bring Back Birdie after four; following Dance a Little Closer, Rags played for four performances, Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge closed during its pre-Broadway tryout during the 1989–1990 season, and Nick & Nora (1991) closed after nine showings. Further, Bojangles (1980 and 1993) was produced in workshop but never on Broadway, and Marty (2002) and a 2009 musical version of his 1968 film The Night They Raided Minsky’s played only in regional theatre.

1983–1984 Season

MAME Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: July 24, 1983; Closing Date: August 28, 1983 Performances: 41 Book: Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Lyrics and Music: Jerry Herman Based on the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and the 1956 play of the same name by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Direction: John Bowab (Jerry Herman, Production Supervisor); Producers: The Mitch Leigh Company (Michael Lynne, Executive Producer; Manny Kladitis, Associate Producer); Choreography: Onna White (choreography re-created by Diana Baffa-Brill); Scenery: Peter Wolf (scenery based on original designs by William and Jean Eckart); Costumes: Robert Mackintosh; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Jim Coleman Cast: Roshi Handwerger (Patrick Dennis [age ten]), Jane Connell (Agnes Gooch), Anne Francine (Vera Charles), Angela Lansbury (Mame Dennis), Jacob Mark Hopkin (Ralph Devine), Merwin Foard (Bishop), Donald Torres (M. Lindsay Woolsey), Sab Shimono (Ito), Brian McAnally (Doorman), Marshall Hagins (Elevator Boy), David Miles (Messenger), Willard Waterman (Dwight Babcock), Ken Henley (Bubbles the Clown, Gregor), Louise Kirtland (Dance Teacher, Mrs. Upton), Suzanne Ishee (Bird Dancer), Patrick Sean Murphy (Bird Dancer, Junior Babcock), Kenneth Kantor (Leading Man, Uncle Jeff), Richard Poole (Stage Manager), Fran Stevens (Madame Branislowski, Mother Burnside), Scot Stewart (Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside), Carol Lurie (Cousin Fan), Barbara Lang (Sally Cato), Byron Nease (Patrick Dennis [ages nineteen through twenty-nine]), John C. Becher (Mr. Upton), Michaela Hughes (Gloria Upson), Ellyn Arons (Pegeen Ryan), Daniel Mahon (Peter Dennis); Mame’s Friends: Ellyn Arons, Alyson Bristol, Merwin Foard, Marshall Hagins, Ken Henley, Jacob Mark Hopkin, Michaela Hughes, Suzanne Ishee, Kenneth Kantor, Harry Kingsley, Melinda Koblick, David Loring, Carol Lurie, Brian McNally, David Miles, Patrick Sean Murphy, Viewma Negromonte, Michele Pigliavento, Cissy Rebich, Richard Poole, Joseph Rich, Mollie Smith The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City and other locales during the period 1928 to 1946.

Musical Numbers Act One: “St. Bridget” (Jane Connell, Roshi Handwerger); “It’s Today” (Angela Lansbury, All); “Open a New Window” (Angela Lansbury, All); “The Man in the Moon” (Anne Francine, Angela Lansbury, All); “My Best Girl” (Roshi Handwerger, Angela Lansbury); “We Need a Little Christmas” (Angela Lansbury, Roshi Handwerger, Jane Connell, Sab Shimono, Scot Stewart); “The Fox Hunt” (Kenneth Kantor, Byron Nease, Carol Lurie, Fran Stevens, Cousins); “Mame” (Scot Stewart, All)

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Act Two: “Mame” (reprise) (Byron Nease); “My Best Girl” (reprise) (Byron Nease); “Bosom Buddies” (Angela Lansbury, Anne Francine); “Gooch’s Song” (Jane Connell); “That’s How Young I Feel” (Angela Lansbury, All); “If He Walked into My Life” (Angela Lansbury); “It’s Today” (reprise) (Angela Lansbury, All); “My Best Girl” (reprise) (Byron Nease); “Open a New Window” (reprise) (Angela Lansbury) The season’s first two musicals were by Jerry Herman. The current revival of Herman’s 1966 musical Mame was soon followed by his newest show La Cage aux Folles. Mame was in fact the first of the season’s four major revivals, and it was soon joined by Zorba, and then much later in the season by Oliver! and The Wiz. All four musicals had premiered in New York during the 1960s and 1970s, and in fact the original production of The Wiz had closed just four-and-a-half years earlier, and so it seemed somewhat premature to bring back such relatively current shows. But revivalitis was an ominous sign of things to come, for within a decade or two Broadway quickly became a repository for revivals; it was depressing to note that during the 1960s there were ninety-eight book musicals with new music and one commercial revival, but from 2000 to 2009 there were thirty-eight musicals with new music and forty-two revivals. In the old days, institutional revivals of recent musicals were presented for limited runs by the New York City Center Light Opera Company and the Music Theatre of Lincoln Center, and full-scale Broadway revivals were usually relegated to productions in the nature of No, No, Nanette (1971; originally produced in 1925) and Irene (1973; 1919), musicals which hadn’t been seen on Broadway since their original productions some fifty years earlier. But with the flood of revivals, adaptations of film musicals, and jukebox (or catalog) musicals that regurgitated songs from the past into either revue formats or book musicals, a Broadway theatergoer was sometimes hard-pressed to find a wide selection of shows that offered new music. In his review of the revival of Oliver! Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily wondered if “some enterprising producer may have a revival of Cats on the boards, before the original production closes.” He was nearer the mark than he may have realized because musicals with marathon runs quickly returned to Broadway, and so as of this writing A Chorus Line and 42nd Street have been revived once, Les Miserables twice, and Cats is scheduled for a 2016 return. Mame was a huge hit on Broadway when it opened on May 24, 1966, at the Winter Garden Theatre for a run of 1,508 performances. But it hasn’t quite enjoyed the lustrous afterlife of other hits of its era, such as Hello, Dolly! (1964) and Man of La Mancha (1965). Those two shows had lengthy and successful national tours, but Mame seemed like an also-ran on the road and its disastrous 1974 film version didn’t help its reputation. The current production was the show’s only New York revival, and despite the presence of Angela Lansbury in her original role the musical managed a run of only five weeks. A lavish but disappointing 2006 revival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., offered colorful décor and a large cast and orchestra, but otherwise fell flat and didn’t risk Broadway; the production wasn’t always well cast, and it couldn’t even manage to get a laugh out of the show’s best line when the pregnant Gooch returns and announces with deadpan forthrightness, “I opened a new window.” Perhaps Mame’s briskly efficient but not overly inspired book is a bit too formulaic in its picaresque saga of an indomitable woman who always rises to the top despite the Depression, Babbittry, waspish romantic rivals, widowhood, and other travails. But Herman’s score was a solid, old-fashioned one from which emerged a number of standards, including “If He Walked into My Life,” “We Need a Little Christmas,” and the infectious cakewalk-styled title song. Mame’s first number “It’s Today” had been previously heard in two OffBroadway musicals by Herman, albeit with a different lyric. His 1958 revue Nightcap featured the song “Show Tune in 2/4” (also known as “There Is No Tune Like a Show Tune” and “Show Tune”), and he recycled the number for his 1960 revue Parade. The song was recorded for the latter’s cast album on Kapp Records (LP # 7005) and later issued on CD by Decca Broadway Records (# 440-064-738-2). Frank Rich in the New York Times was glad the revival brought back original cast members Lansbury, Jane Connell, Sab Shimono, Willard Waterman, and John C. Becher, and he noted that time had almost stood still. But the current production didn’t quite blend into a “fresh, effortless entertainment” and sometimes the show looked “forced and mechanical rather than spontaneous.” Rich found the book long and repetitive, said a couple production numbers (“Open a New Window” and “The Man in the Moon”) looked “threadbare,” and except for “maybe” two numbers Herman’s score annotated the book rather than propelled it forward. And although Lansbury sometimes seemed “to be pushing herself to be merry” she was nonetheless “a charismatic actress and a paragon of glamour.”

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Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the revival was “clearly a low-budget” tour and the performances sometimes showed “tenseness” with moments that once may have been spontaneous but now seemed “rigidified.” But Lansbury was now “even more elegant and assured” and “much more energetic” than he remembered. Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that for the revival “some spontaneity has been lost” and was “replaced by a certain degree of reverence.” The book was “occasionally untidy” but still “whimsically charming,” Herman’s score was “breezy and lyrical,” and Lansbury was “sensationally intact” with her “unstaunchable vivacity.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found Lansbury “stronger, more assured, and more winning than ever,” and while he hadn’t been “precisely” bowled over by Mame in 1966, he felt Lansbury’s presence convinced the audience the show was better than it actually was. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1967, and the original cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # KOS-3000 and # KOL-6600); the CD was first released by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records (# SK-60959) and then by Sony/Arkiv (# 61739 ), and both issues include five bonus tracks with vocals by Jerry Herman and Alice Borden, with Herman at the piano: “St. Bridget,” “It’s Today,” “Open a New Window,” the title song, and the cut number “Camouflage.” The 1974 Warner Brothers film version starred Lucille Ball and Robert Preston and included a new song, “Loving You.” With Ginger Rogers in the title role, the musical premiered in London at the Drury Lane on February 20, 1969, for 443 performances.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES “The Broadway Musical”

Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: August 21, 1983; Closing Date: November 14, 1987 Performances: 1,761 Book: Harvey Fierstein Lyrics and Music: Jerry Herman Based on the 1973 play La Cage aux Folles by Jean Poiret (Note: Because of legal issues, the musical was based solely on Poiret’s play and not on the popular 1978 film adaptation of the play). Direction: Arthur Laurents; Producers: Allan Carr with Kenneth D. Greenblatt, Marvin A. Krauss, Stewart F. Lane, James M. Nederlander, and Martin Richards (Barry Brown and Fritz Holt, Executive Producers; and produced in association with Jonathan Farkas, John Pomerantz, and Martin Heinfling); Choreography: Scott Salmon; Scenery: David Mitchell; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: Donald Pippin Cast: Gene Barry (Georges); “The Notorious” Les Cagelles: David Cahn (Chantal), Dennis Callahan (Monique), Frank DiPasquale (Dermah), John Dolf (Nicole), David Engel (Hanna), David Evans (Mercedes), Linda Haberman (Bitelle), Eric Lamp (Lo Singh), Dan O’Grady (Odette), Deborah Phelan (Angelique), David Scala (Phaedra), and Sam Singhaus (Clo-Clo); Brian Kelly (Francis),William Thomas Jr. (Jacob), George Hearn (Albin), John Weiner (Jean-Michel), Leslie Stevens (Anne), Elizabeth Parrish (Jacqueline), Walter Charles (M. Renaud); St. Tropez Townspeople: Sydney Anderson (Mme. Renaud), Betsy Craig (Paulette), Jack Neubeck (Hercule), Jay Pierce (Etienne), Marie Santell (Babette), Jennifer Smith (Colette), Mark Waldrop (Tabarro), and Ken Ward (Pepe); Jay Garner (Edouard Dindon), Merle Louise (Mme. Dindon) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the summer in St. Tropez, France.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “We Are What We Are” (Les Cagelles); “A Little More Mascara” (George Hearn, Friends); “With Anne on My Arm” (John Weiner); “With You on My Arm” (reprise) (Gene Barry, George Hearn); “The Promenade” (Townspeople); “Song on the Sand” (aka “La Da Da Da”) (Gene Barry); “La Cage aux Folles” (George Hearn, Les Cagelles); “I Am What I Am” (George Hearn) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Song on the Sand” (reprise) (Gene Barry, George Hearn); “Masculinity” (Gene Barry, George Hearn, Townspeople); “Look Over There” (Gene Barry); “Cocktail Counterpoint” (Gene Barry, Jay Garner, Merle Louise, William Thomas Jr.); “The Best of Times” (George Hearn, Elizabeth Parrish, Patrons); “Look Over There” (reprise) (John Weiner); “Grand Finale” (Company)

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La Cage aux Folles was decidedly old-fashioned and yet groundbreaking because it was the first mainstream Broadway musical to deal with an openly gay couple, in this case Georges (Gene Barry) and Albin (George Hearn). Set in St. Tropez, the musical centered on La Cage aux Folles, their drag nightclub. The straight-acting Georges runs the business side of the club and acts as master of ceremonies, and Albin in the drag persona of Zaza is the club’s main attraction. Twenty-five years earlier Georges’s first and only one-night stand with a woman resulted in the birth of his son Jean-Michel (John Weiner), whom he and Albin have raised since birth. When Jean-Michel returns home to announce his impending marriage to a girl whose father is an antigay politician, the boy expects Albin to stay away from the family party when the conventional parents visit. Although Albin agrees to play the role of Jean-Michel’s (heterosexual) uncle, he instead dresses in matron drag as Jean-Michel’s mother. Soon comic chaos breaks out, but all ends well after a frantic sequence when Anne’s parents, fearful of being spotted in a gay nightclub, are forced to don drag as part of the club’s floorshow in order to escape detection by photographers. The lavish musical was the season’s longest-running hit and was a comeback of sorts for Jerry Herman, who some twenty years earlier had enjoyed two huge successes with Hello, Dolly! (1964) and Mame (1966). The latter was in fact revived on Broadway a month before the opening of La Cage. But after those two hits Herman suffered a string of three short-running musicals, Dear World (1969), Mack & Mabel (1974), and The Grand Tour (1979). With La Cage, he was back at the top of his form. The show played for 1,716 performances, won six Tony Awards (including Best Musical, and, for Herman, Best Score), and has been revived twice on Broadway. As of this writing, La Cage is Herman’s most recent Broadway musical. The musical was at its best in the leading performances. Gene Barry was wryly understated as the understanding if somewhat bemused Georges, and Hearn’s more complex role was a combination of an over-the-top drag queen who nonetheless has a will of steel matched only by heartbreaking vulnerability. The production itself was lavish, and the sequences with the club’s one-dozen drag performers provided a certain frisson for many in the audience who tried to detect which two of the twelve were actually women. Harvey Fierstein’s book and Arthur Laurents’s direction kept the story moving along at a fast clip. Herman’s score provided a number of memorable moments. The opening “We Are What We Are” was a vamp-like parade for the drag performers, which perfectly previewed the tone of the evening, and both Georges and Albin had two songs apiece that were among Herman’s most impressive. Georges’s shimmering ballad “Song on the Sand” would have made the Hit Parade if such parades had still existed, and “Look Over There,” in which Georges admonishes Jean-Michel for his dismissive attitude toward Albin, is perhaps the finest song in Herman’s catalog. As for Albin, Hearn had two show-stoppers: “A Little More Mascara” explained the external and internal makeup of his character and “I Am What I Am” was a defiant anthem of his gay pride. The evening wasn’t without its weaknesses. The role of Jacob, Georges and Albin’s flaming housekeeper, was far too broadly stroked as were Anne’s parents. Further, the writing and direction seemed to miss some of the inherent madness of the ending sequence when Anne’s parents are forced to don drag. And a couple of the songs in the show . . . dragged. Jean-Michel’s “With Anne on My Arm” was a bit too generic, and Albin’s lesson on “Masculinity” was obvious and lacked wit. Frank Rich in the New York Times praised the “passion” of Herman’s score, said Barry was “invaluable,” and noted that Hearn had “the evening’s moment of triumph” with “I Am What I Am.” The show was “highly enjoyable and welcome,” but Rich had perhaps expected a slightly heartier evening because La Cage was “the schmaltziest, most old-fashioned major musical Broadway has seen since Annie” and was “sometimes as shamelessly calculating as a candidate for public office.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the production “naughty but nice” and “bedizened but utterly respectable.” Hearn and Barry were “excellent,” the former “spectacularly good” and the latter a “remarkably” good singer; Scott Salmon’s choreography was “lively”; and Herman’s score was “jaunty” and “cheerful.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that few shows opened on Broadway with the kind of advance fanfare that almost “challenges disbelief.” He said such hoopla made you say “Show me!” and La Cage definitely “shows you.” The “terrific” show contained Herman’s “best” score, and Barry did “wonders” in the “much more difficult and less flashy” role and gave a “touchingly honest performance” with a “delicacy that works beautifully.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “exhilarating” show with Herman’s “most accomplished score,” one that was most “dazzlingly conducted” by Donald Pippin. Kissel also felt it was “remarkable” that the show never preached and submerged “any tendency to lecture or browbeat in its consummate theatricality.”

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John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the musical’s “consummate showmanship”; Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the “gigantic” hit and “spectacular” show made “Broadway history” with its groundbreaking characters and story; and Gerald Clarke in Time predicted audiences would leave the Palace Theatre “fairly glowing with delight.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal reported that the musical “arrived with more publicity than Halley’s comet.” Although he was disappointed that Fierstein’s book made the inlaws “cardboard cutouts” and that Jean-Michel’s conflicted emotions were never really explored, the remaining aspects of the show were “pure fun, and the music, the spectacle and the extraordinary performances of Mr. Hearn and Mr. Barry carry the day.” But Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 felt the evening was “erratically on and off target” and “nowhere near good enough to be called a thoroughly satisfying musical.” The dances were “long” and “uninspired,” and the book was “incredibly flat” and “too timid and clichéd.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 liked the décor, costumes, and “tuneful” score, and said Hearn gave “one of those rare performances that make Broadway history.” But the musical wasn’t “great”; it was “disappointing,” and the direction was “stodgy” and the choreography “non-existent.” During the tryout, “Have a Nice Day” was cut and “Cocktail Counterpoint” was titled “The Cocktail Party.” “A Little More Mascara” was a revised version of Herman’s “Beautiful” from his 1961 Off-Broadway musical Madame Aphrodite, where it was sung by Jack Drummond and Cherry Davis (the demo album of Madame Aphrodite includes two different recordings of “Beautiful”). The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1987, and the original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor (LP # HBC1-4824 and CD # 4824). The CD was later issued by Arkiv/Sony BMG Masterworks Broadway (# RCA-59997), and includes a bonus track of Jerry Herman at the piano in which he discusses the song “I Am What I Am.” The musical has been twice revived on Broadway. The first opened at the Marquis Theatre on December 9, 2004, for 229 performances with Gary Beach (Albin) and Daniel Davis (Georges), and won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The second opened at the Longacre Theatre on April 18, 2010, for 433 performances with Douglas Hodge (Albin) and Kelsey Grammer (Georges) and it too won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The cast album of the latter was released by PS Classics (CD # PS-1094). There are numerous foreign cast recordings, including one of a 1991 Rome production released by Nuova Carisch (CD # CL-39) and an Australian version released by RCA Victor Records (LP # VPL-1-0520), which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney on March 2, 1985, with Keith Michell (Georges) and Jon Ewing (Albin). The original London production opened at the London Palladium on May 7, 1986, for 301 performances; George Hearn reprised his role of Albin, and Denis Quilley was Georges. An earlier adaptation of the material was scheduled to open on Broadway during the 1981–1982 season as The Queen of Basin Street. The musical was capitalized at $2.5 million, Allan Carr was set to produce, the book was by Jay Presson Allen, the lyrics and music by Maury Yeston (in what would have been his Broadway debut), the choreography by Tommy Tune, and the direction by Mike Nichols and Tune. The show was set to premiere at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on December 19, 1981, for a ten-week engagement prior to opening in New York during the spring of 1982, but soon Carr announced in Variety that Tune and Nichols were no longer associated with the musical because of “artistic, creative and financial differences.” The production soon collapsed, but, of course, Carr and other producers brought Herman’s version to Broadway a little more than a year after Yeston’s had been set to open. Yeston still made his Broadway debut in spring 1982 with his stunning score for Nine, which was directed and choreographed by Tune; and Nichols went on to film The Birdcage, yet another adaptation of La Cage, this one set in Miami Beach, which included a song by Stephen Sondheim. Nothing from Yeston’s Basin Street score seems to have surfaced, and it’s a tantalizing “lost” score that theatre buffs would love to hear (and is perhaps second only to lyricist Arnold B. Horwitt and composer Leroy Anderson’s “lost” score for Wonderful Town, which was tossed aside at almost the last minute and was replaced with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (La Cage aux Folles); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Gene Barry); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (George Hearn); Best Director of a Musical (Arthur Laurents); Best

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Book (Harvey Fierstein); Best Score (lyrics and music by Jerry Herman); Best Costume Designer (Theoni V. Aldredge); Best Lighting Designer (Jules Fisher); Best Choreography (Scott Salmon)

THE MERRY WIDOW Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: October 2, 1983; Closing Date: November 13, 1983 Performances: 6 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Victor Leon and Leo Stein (English adaptation by Adrian Ross) Music: Franz Lehar Based on the 1861 play L’attache d’ambassade by Henri Meilhac. Direction: Ronald Bentley; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Donald Saddler; Scenery: Helen Pond and Herbert Senn; Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Eric Knight Cast: Jack Harrold (Baron Popoff), Susanne Marsee (Natalie), William Eichorn (M. de St. Brioche), Thomas Jamerson (Marquis de Cascada), Debra Vanderline (Sylviane), Joyce Castle (Olga), Jonathan Green (General Novikovich), Alan Kays (Vicomte Camille de Jolidon), William Ledbetter (Counsellor Khadja), Gerald Isaac (Nisch), Karen Huffstodt (Sonia), Cris Groenendaal (Prince Danilo), Mervin Crook (Head Waiter), Anny DeGange (Zozo), Joan Mirabella (Lolo), Esperanza Galan (Dodo), Candace Itow (Jou-Jou), Victoria Rinaldi (Frou-Frou), Raven Wilkinson (Clo-Clo), Jean Barber (Margot); Members of Marsovian and Parisian Society, Servants, and Waiters: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in and around Paris during the early 1900s. The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Franz Lehar’s 1905 operetta The Merry Widow had last been produced by the company a year earlier (for more information about that production and for general information about the operetta, see entry for the 1982 revival as well as entries for the company’s subsequent 1985, 1988, and 1989 revivals; also see entry for the Vienna Volksoper’s 1984 revival). Bernard Holland in the New York Times said that for the current revival Karen Huffstodt’s Sonia was “splendid” with her “rich, refined and expressive soprano” and Cris Groenendaal’s Danilo did “very well vocally” and visually he matched Huffstodt “with his tall good looks.” Otherwise, Ronald Bentley’s direction “chased after every scrap” of humor and thus “dehumanized” the characters with a television sitcom style of “blackout skits and stand-up, one-line routines” in which “people mean little and the laugh becomes all.”

CANDIDE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: October 16, 1983; Closing Date: October 30, 1983 Performances: 5 (in repertory) Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics: Richard Wilbur; additional lyrics by Leonard Bernstein, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on the 1759 novel Candide; or, Optimism by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet). Direction: Harold Prince (Arthur Masella, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Clarke Dunham (set graphics by Donald Beckman); Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Direction: Mitchell Krieger; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: John Lankston (Voltaire, Doctor Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, Second Gambler aka Police Chief, Sage), Cris Groenendaal (Candide), Don Yule (Huntsman, Bulgarian Soldier, Don), Maris Clement (Paquette), Bonnie Kirk (Baroness, Calliope Player), Jack Harrold (Baron, Grand Inquisitor, Slave Driver, Pasha-Prefect), Claudette Peterson (Cunegonde), Scott Reeve (Maximilian), James Billings (Maximilian’s

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Servant, Bulgarian Soldier, Don Isaachar, Judge, Father Bernard, First Gambler), Andy Ferrell (Westphalian Soldier, Governor’s Aide, Sailor), William Ledbetter (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Pirate), Ralph Bassett (Heresy Agent, Don), Gary Dietrich (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), William Selissen (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Old Lady), Vasilis Iracledes (Don), Brian Kaman (Don), Michael Rubino (Don), Travis Wright (Sailor), John Henry Thomas (Pirate), Ivy Austin (Pink Sheep), Rhoda Butler (Pink Sheep), Robert Brubaker (Lion); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action occurs during the eighteenth century in Westphalia, Lisbon, Cadiz, Buenos Aires, and sundry places throughout the world. The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Candide was its second of seven revivals of Leonard Bernstein’s self-described “comic operetta.” The entry for the 1982 production includes a list of musical numbers and a general history of the musical (for more information about the 1984, 1986, and 1989 revivals, see specific entries). The operetta was also revived by the company in 2005 and 2008. Bernard Holland in the New York Times praised the revival, and said Cris Groenendaal brought “fine clarity” to the title role through “wonderful” diction and a “clean and clear” tenor. Claudette Peterson’s Cunegonde handled her “coloratura acrobatics” with a “reasonably firm” and “agile” soprano but occasionally seemed “a little bland.” Returning from the previous season’s production were John Lankston who in his six roles was a “virtuoso study in velocity” and Muriel Costa-Greenspon who “kvetched very nicely” as the Old Lady.

ZORBA Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: October 16, 1983; Closing Date: September 1, 1984 Performances: 354 Book: Joseph Stein Lyrics: Fred Ebb Music: John Kander Based on the 1946 novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. Direction: Michael Cacoyannis; Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler and Kenneth-John Productions, Inc. (Alecia Parker, Associate Producer); Choreography: Graciela Daniele; Scenery: David Chapman; Costumes: Hal George; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Randolph Mauldin Cast: Debbie Shapiro (The Woman), Frank DeSal (Konstandi, Turkish Dancer, Russian Admiral), John Mineo (Thanassai, French Admiral, Monk), Raphael LaManna (Constable), Suzanne Costallos (Athena, Crow), Robert Westenberg (Niko), Anthony Quinn (Zorba), Panchali Null (Despo, Crow), Angelina Fiordellisi (Marika, Crow), Susan Terry (Katina), Chip Cornelius (Vassilakas), Peter Marinos (Marinakos, Monk), Aurelio Padron (Mimiko), Peter Kevoian (Katapolis, Monk), Richard Warren Pugh (Yorgo, Italian Admiral), Pamela Trevisani (Sophia, Crow), Charles Karel (Mavrodani), Thomas David Scalise (Pavli), Michael Dantuono (Manolakas), Taro Meyer (The Widow), Paul Straney (Priest, English Admiral), Lila Kedrova (Madame Hortense), Rob Marshall (Marsalias, Monk), Tim Flavin (Anagnosti), Karen Giombetti (Maria, Café Whore) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1924 in Piraeus, Greece, and on the island of Crete.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Life Is” (Debbie Shapiro, Company); “The First Time” (Anthony Quinn); “The Top of the Hill” (Debbie Shapiro, Company); “No Boom Boom” (Lila Kedrova, Frank DeSal, John Mineo, Richard Warren Pugh, Paul Straney, Anthony Quinn, Robert Westenberg); “Vive La Difference” (Frank DeSal, John Mineo, Richard Warren Pugh, Paul Straney); “Mine Song” (Company); “The Butterfly” (Taro Meyer, Robert Westenberg, Debbie Shapiro); “Goodbye, Canavaro” (Lila Kedrova, Anthony Quinn, Robert Westenberg);

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“Grandpapa” (Anthony Quinn, Debbie Shapiro, Company); “Only Love” (Lila Kedrova); “The Bend of the Road” (Debbie Shapiro); “Only Love” (reprise) (Debbie Shapiro) Act Two: “Y’assou” (Company); “Woman” (Anthony Quinn); “Why Can’t I Speak?” and “That’s a Beginning” (Taro Meyer, Robert Westenberg, Debbie Shapiro); “Easter Dance” (Company); “Miners’ Dance” (Men); “The Crow” (Debbie Shapiro, Suzanne Costallos, Panchali Null, Angelina Fiordellisi, Pamela Trevisani, John Mineo, Peter Marinos, Rob Marshall); “Happy Birthday” (Lila Kedrova); “I Am Free” (Anthony Quinn) The revival of Zorba was the first of two John Kander and Fred Ebb musicals to play on Broadway during the season. Unfortunately, Zorba’s book was lacking, and Kander’s often full-blooded score wasn’t matched by Fred Ebb’s generally unimaginative and often ordinary lyrics. And despite the star power of their newest musical, The Rink was a major disappointment. But Zorba (which was billed as “ANTHONY QUINN as ZORBA in the Musical”) enjoyed a long national tour, managed nearly a full-year’s run on Broadway, and outlasted the original 1968 production by about two months. Zorba was one of the most pretentious musicals of the 1960s, and one suspects the creators of Cabaret felt it necessary to create another “important” work. But Zorba fell short of Cabaret in almost every respect. The story centered on a young man named Niko (Nikos in the 1968 production, and here played by Robert Westenberg) who comes to Crete in order to open an abandoned mine he’s inherited. He meets Zorba (Anthony Quinn), a tiresome noble-savage type who lets you know he’s a free spirit by raising his arms in the air and dancing in the face of tragedy. In reality, Zorba is an annoying windbag, and if he lived next door you might seriously consider moving to another neighborhood. Niko and Zorba encounter an insular community on the island, but both eventually enter into romantic liaisons, Niko with a young woman known as the Widow (Taro Meyer) and Zorba with Hortense (Lila Kedrova), an aging courtesan. When a villager commits suicide because of his unrequited love for the widow, his death is avenged by another villager who stabs the widow to death. In the meantime, Hortense dies of illness. And there’s a mine disaster, too. Despite the tragedies of suicide, murder, illness, and disaster all around him, Zorba insists that he’s “free” and encourages Niko to embrace life by dancing in the face of adversity. The musical’s concept and book were flawed, and the story was replete with repressed characters and even a couple of repressed songs (“Why Can’t I Speak?” and “The Butterfly”). With one or two major exceptions, Ebb’s lyrics were among the most disappointing of his career, and while they aimed for spare understatement they came across as dummy lyrics waiting for the final ones to follow. Kander’s music was the most satisfactory aspect of the evening, but as noted his score was hampered by the mostly dull lyrics and tiresome story and characters. Only once did the work reach its full musical potential, in Hortense’s surreal “Happy Birthday.” Here the dying old woman recalls a long-ago birthday when she was a little girl and all life was before her, and Kander’s music shimmered with sad music-hall hurdy-gurdy tinkliness and Ebb’s brilliant lyric matched the bittersweet mood of the moment. The original production found Herschel Bernardi in Anthony Quinn drag, and Clive Barnes (then writing for the New York Times) decided Bernardi wasn’t playing Zorba but was instead playing Anthony Quinn playing Zorba, and Martin Gottfried in Women’s Wear Daily said Bernardi was “frankly, terrible,” and noted the actor was “hidden beneath six ridiculous pounds of make-up and wigs” and “looked and sounded as if he were wearing a rubber mask on both his face and his presence.” But the revival offered the real thing in Anthony Quinn, who had created the title role in the 1964 film version of the novel, and the icing on the cake was Lila Kedrova, who re-created her film role of Hortense, for which she had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Moreover, Michael Cacoyannis had directed the film and now helmed the revival. Some of the critics were underwhelmed by the musical itself, but they showered Quinn and Kedrova with valentines. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that the musical was “large and lumbering,” and while Zorba’s philosophy might once have seemed “liberating and romantic” it was now “juvenile.” But happily Quinn refused to inflate his performance into “self-parody” and as a result his characterization was “modest” and “remarkably dignified.” Rich said Kedrova was “no less delightful” and that when Hortense recalls the past it is “no wonder our eyes mist over.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News praised the “intelligent” lyrics and “rich” music, noted the book was “strong, if occasionally diffuse,” said Quinn took “full command” of the stage with an “enormously skillful characterization,” and Kedrova was “a fluttery, kittenish delight.”

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Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily felt the original production “had an integrity that transcended the limitations of the material and the performances,” but the revival was “played largely as a conventional musical comedy.” However, Quinn was “fresh and invigorating” and Kedrova was “endearing.” Barnes (now reviewing for the New York Post) praised the “serious” musical with its “handsomely apt” lyrics but felt the music went “a bit heavy on the bouzouki.” As for the two stars, Kedrova was “superb” and Quinn was “great!” or “something a little more enthusiastic.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said Quinn gave a “rambunctious, comically zestful, unabashedly virile performance” and Kedrova was an “indispensable” Hortense with her “delicately textured” characterization. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said Zorba had a “melodramatic quality” with sometimes “heavy-handed” staging, and the score was “stale and flat.” But Quinn was the living embodiment of his character, and as for the “fetching” Kedrova, “no one can say ‘you wicked man’ in such an inviting way, or give a more delicious twirl to a parasol.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the “ponderous, self-important and pretentious” musical “lurched along, crashing into blank walls” with music “full of agony and lamentation” and staging “done up like a grand Wagnerian funeral,” and Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the “dated” show was burdened by “portentous” direction that was “like a rock tied around the neck of the most death-laden musical in history.” The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1969, and the 1968 cast album was released by Capitol/EMI Records (LP # SO-118) and later issued on CD by Broadway Angel Records (# ZMD-7-64665-2). Capitol/EMI also released Music from the Broadway Hit “Zorba” by Claus Ogerman, an instrumental version of the score that included the unused song “Better Than Nothing” (LP # ST-119). The current revival was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # ABL1-4732; CD # 09026-683377-2), and a 1988 Hungarian cast recording was issued by Hungaroton MHV Records (LP # SLPX-14110). The best recording of the score is from a German production that opened at the Theatre an der Wien on January 28, 1971 (as Sorbas, the album was released by Preiser Records LP # SPR-3221), and the electric singers and orchestra elevate the score to an intensity undreamed of in the Broadway recordings. Also, hearing the songs in German is a plus because it allows one to avoid Ebb’s generally unimaginative and clichéd lyrics. One song in the musical (“The Top of the Hill”) was reworked as “Over the Wall” for Kander and Ebb’s 1993 musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. Zorba’s first national tour starred John Raitt (Zorba), Barbara Baxley (Hortense), Chita Rivera (Leader [called The Woman in the current revival]), and Gray Krawford (Niko), and omitted three numbers (“Bells,” “Y’assou,” and “Why Can’t I Speak?”) and added two (“Bouboulina” and “That’s a Beginning”). The current revival included a new song (“Women,” for Zorba), added two dance sequences (“Easter Dance” and “Miners’ Song” aka “Mine Song” and “Mine Celebration”), interpolated “That’s a Beginning” from the earlier national tour, and omitted “Belly Dance” and “Bells.” For “Grandpapa,” Theodore Pappas created additional choreography. Note that future film director Rob Marshall had two minor roles in the revival; in 2002, he brought Kander and Ebb’s 1975 musical Chicago to the screen in an enormously successful adaptation which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He later directed the film versions of Nine (2009) and Into the Woods (2014), and the television version of Annie in 1999.

AMEN CORNER “A New Musical”

Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: November 10, 1983; Closing Date: December 4, 1983 Performances: 29 Book: Philip Rose and Peter Udell Lyrics: Peter Udell Music: Garry Sherman Based on the 1965 play The Amen Corner by James Baldwin. Direction: Philip Rose; Producers: Prudhomme Productions Ltd., Edward Mann, Judith Henry, Joel Goldstein, Gil Gerard (Philip Rose, Associate Producer); Choreography: Al Perryman; Scenery: Karl Eigsti; Costumes: Felix E. Cochren; Lighting: Shirley Prendergast; Musical Direction: Margaret Harris Cast: Rhetta Hughes (Margaret Alexander), Jean Cheek (Sister Moore), Ruth Brown (Odessa), Keith Lorenzo Amos (David), Helena-Joyce Wright (Sister Boxer), Chuck Cooper (Brother Boxer), Roger Robinson (Luke);

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Members of the Congregation: Loretta Abbott, Leslie Dockery, Cheryl Freeman, Gene Lewis, Denise Morgan, Lewis Robinson, Renee Rose, Vanessa Shaw, Jeffrey V. Thompson; Dancers: Loretta Abbott, Leslie Dockery, Renee Rose The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the early 1960s in Harlem.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Amen Corner” (Rhetta Hughes); “That Woman Can’t Play No Piano” (Keith Lorenzo Amos, Friends); “In the Real World” (Chuck Cooper); “You Ain’t Gonna Pick Up Where You Left Off” (Rhetta Hughes, Roger Robinson); “In the Real World” (reprise) (Helena Joyce-Wright); “We Got a Good Thing Goin’” (Roger Robinson, Keith Lorenzo Amos); “In His Own Good Time” (Helena-Joyce Wright, Chuck Cooper, Jean Cheek, Ruth Brown, Congregation); “Heat Sensation” (Roger Robinson); “Every Time We Call It Quits” (Roger Robinson) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Somewhere Close By” (Ruth Brown); “Leanin’ on the Lord” (Jean Cheek, Chuck Cooper, Helena-Joyce Wright, Ruth Brown, Congregation); “I’m Already Gone” (Keith Lorenzo Amos); “Love Dies Hard” (Rhetta Hughes); “Every Time We Call It Quits” (reprise) (Roger Robinson, Rhetta Hughes); “Rise Up and Stand Again” (Rhetta Hughes) James Baldwin’s drama The Amen Corner opened on Broadway in 1965 and had a short run of eighty-four performances. As Amen Corner, the musical had an even shorter life and closed after twenty-nine showings. Set in the world of a black storefront church in Harlem and using a fair amount of gospel-styled music in its score, the musical fell into the trap of far too many of the era’s black-themed musicals. These were clearly well-intentioned but nonetheless (and inadvertently) condescending in their constricting attitudes of what constituted the “proper” way to depict blacks on the stage, and so most such musicals (the majority of which were written and composed by whites) relegated black characters to musicals that revolved around churchand-gospel or show-business themes, all of which seemed to suggest that the lives of black Americans exclusively centered around these topics. Even “white” musicals got on the gospel bandwagon with at least one token black character who had his or her gospel-styled number shoehorned into the plot. It would have been refreshing, and innovative, to see black musicals bereft of these clichés and focused on mainstream stories in the tradition of a Company or a Nine. Amen Corner’s melodramatic plot verged on soap opera as it dealt with a small church in Harlem and its somewhat stand-offish pastor Margaret Alexander (Rhetta Hughes) who faces both professional and personal crises. The elders of the church demand her ouster, her son David (Keith Lorenzo Amos) feels constricted by her and wants to strike off on his own, and her long-estranged and now invalid husband Luke (Roger Robinson) has come home to die. By evening’s end, David has found independence, Luke has died, and Margaret has learned to relate to her flock. The book was tedious, the score mostly vapid, the extraneous choreography uninspired, and the décor dreary with its kitchen-sink setting. Frank Rich in the New York Times found the songs “bland and frequently irrelevant,” and noted that three “go-go girls” constantly dash “out of the wings any time anyone on stage threatens to shake a leg.” Their dances resembled “potato-sack races at a church picnic,” and because the “tacky” scenery shook so badly during an earlier “kinetic” routine it was clear that “high-flying choreography” was a “safety hazard.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor commented that when the performers started to dance “the scenery trembles.” He said the “uneven entertainment” included “caricatures” instead of people, and the setting was “cramped and inconvenient.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the songs seemed to emerge “from a jukebox we have heard before,” the setting was “scant” and “extraordinarily unattractive,” and the book was one of the “talkiest” on record. But despite all the talk, he felt the plot never explained Margaret’s problems with her church and her flock, the book “scarcely explored” her relationship with Luke, and even David emerged as a “simplistic sketch.” Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily suggested the musical wanted to “please” with “imitation gospel music” and numbers “designed simply to wow an audience.” The songs were never thoroughly developed into the story line and as a result the musical lacked “truth and consistency.”

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Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the songs “indifferent,” and while “it couldn’t have been easy to mix sex, religion and spirituals and come up with nothing,” the creators “accomplished” just that. Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 suggested that “dropping one word from the original title is as inventive as it gets” during an evening which played like “an early workshop tryout rather than a finely honed Broadway opening night.” During the tryout, the score’s finest song “It Ain’t No Fault of His” was dropped. The cast album was scheduled to be recorded by CBS Records, but was canceled due to the musical’s short run. However, a demo recording (LP # SU-001-A/B) with the notation “Not for Sale” was nonetheless briefly on sale to the public in a limited distribution (and included “It Ain’t No Fault of His”).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Rhetta Hughes)

LA TRAGEDIE DE CARMEN AND (aka CARMEN) Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: November 17, 1983; Closing Date: April 28, 1984 Performances: 187 Libretto: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy Music: Georges Bizet (Note: For the current production, the libretto and music were adapted by Marius Constant, Jean-Claude Carriere, and Peter Brook.) Based on the 1875 opera Carmen with libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy and music by Georges Bizet (which in turn was based on the 1845 novella “Carmen” by Prosper Merimee which was first published in serial format in 1845 and in a book edition the following year). Direction: Peter Brooks (Maurice Benichou, Associate Director); Producers: Alexander H. Cohen and Hildy Parks (A Peter Brooks Production); as originally presented in Paris at the Bouffes du Nord by the Theatre National de L’Opera de Paris and the Centre International de Creations Theatrales, Micheline Rozan, Producer; Roy A. Somlyo, Coproducer; presented in association with James M. Nederlander Jr., and Arthur Rubin; Scenery: Jean-Guy Lecat; Costumes: Chloe Obolensky; Lighting: Not Credited (probably Jean-Guy Lecat); Musical Direction: Randall Behr and Roger Cantrell alternated as conductors during the run Cast: (Note: The roles of Carmen, Don Jose, Escamillo, Michaela, Zuniga, Garcia, and Lillas Pastia were alternated among the performers.) Cynthia Clarey, Helene Delavault, Emily Golden, Eva Saurova, and Patricia Schuman (Carmen), Evan Bortnick, Laurence Dale, Howard Hensel, James Hoback, and Peter Puzzo (Don Jose), Carl Johan Falkman, Jake Gardner, Ronald Madden, and John Rath (Escamillo), Anne Christine Biel, Veronique Dietschy, Agnes Host, and Beverly Morgan (Micaela), Jean-Paul Denizon (Zuniga), Andreas Katsulas (Zuniga, Vieille Dame, Lillas Pastia, Garcia), Alain Maratrat (Lillas Pastia), Tapa Sudana (Garcia) The opera was presented in one act. The action takes place in and around Seville during the nineteenth century.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual musical numbers. Peter Brooks’s production of Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen was a short one-act version that ran less than ninety minutes. It was spoken and sung in French, and the adaptation stripped the plot to its essentials and presented only the musical highlights, many of which were not sung in their original order (in fact, the overture was heard on a recording that was played about fifteen minutes before the finale). The cast and orchestra were small; only the four principals sang, and there was no choral singing. The experiment

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pleased many, most of the critics gushed, and the production even won a special Tony Award “for outstanding achievement in musical theatre.” Happily, other directors and adaptors didn’t take the current success of Carmen to heart. Do we really want to see and hear grand opera in such an abbreviated format? A six-character Porgy and Bess might be a passing novelty for some, but most audiences would undoubtedly prefer the opera more or less the way that Gershwin intended. Many operas (Carmen and Porgy and Bess included) have variant scores and texts and arguably there is no “correct” version for some of them. Virtually every revival of Porgy and Bess from 1942 to the present offers a different approach to the work and various productions are presented with or without recitative and many include music that was deleted during the original’s preproduction phase. But all these productions would have been recognizable to Gershwin. Occasional Broadway experiments with modest musical accompaniment, such as the two-piano version of Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella in 1992 (which Loesser himself orchestrated) and the two John Doyle-directed revivals of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Company in 2005 and 2006, may be fine for an occasional experimental evening, but probably most audiences would prefer Loesser and Sondheim with full orchestra. If Carmen had always been produced in the style of the current revival, and if suddenly a company presented the work in a full-scale version akin to what was seen and heard at the opera’s world premiere in 1875, one suspects the critics would have gushed and exclaimed that full operatic treatment brought out the true grandeur and tragedy of the work. At any rate, Brooks’s revival took top honors during the season, and no other lyric work equaled the critical adulation it received: “The impact of this Carmen is so strong that even the evening’s inevitable climax makes us gasp” (Frank Rich in the New York Times); “Utterly intoxicating” (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News); “This is one of those magic evenings in the theatre never to be forgotten” (Clive Barnes in the New York Post); “Brook uses bold visual effects and physical action to enhance the theatricalism of this spare, compressed treatment” (John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor); “The work stands on its own, a dazzling piece of theatre craft” (Alan Rich in Newsweek); “An experience for which the words memorable and incomparable for once are not hyperbolic” (Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal); “This is one of those rare nights I could feel the genius” (Joel Siegel on WABCTV7); and “Urgent, intense, irresistible theatre” (Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2). But while Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily noted that Brooks’s adaptation was “livelier” and “more imaginative” than many traditional productions of the opera, the current version was nonetheless “self-conscious” and “self-important.” And, in an imaginary conversation between Bizet and Merimee, Christopher Porterfield in Time speculated that “vandalism” was the word Bizet would have used to describe the current treatment of his masterpiece (and the composer also missed “my big orchestra”). Later in the season, lyricist Sheldon Harnick wrote an English translation for the revival, and beginning on March 19, 1984, the French version (La tragedie de Carmen) and English version (Carmen) alternated in repertory. Harnick had previously written an English libretto for a Houston Grand Opera production, but the lyrics he created for Brooks’s version hadn’t been heard before. Rich said Harnick created “smooth, elegant, singable lines” of “high caliber”; Barnes found the lyrics “admirably apt and idiomatic”; Watt said the translation was “smooth” and “clean-cut”; Beaufort noted that Harnick’s words ran “smoothly”; and Kissel stated Harnick had provided “a dramatically savvy translation.”

Awards Tony Award: Special Tony Award to La tragedie de Carmen “for outstanding achievement in musical theatre.”

MARILYN

“An American Fable” Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: November 20, 1983; Closing Date: December 3, 1983 Performances: 16

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Book (here, “Libretto”): Patricia Michaels Lyrics and Music: Jeanne Napoli, Doug Frank, Gary Portnoy, Beth Lawrence, Norman Thalheimer, David Zippel, Wally Harper, James Komack, and Dawsen and Turner (first names unidentified in program) Direction and Choreography: Kenny Ortega (Greg Smith, Assistant Director; Veda Jackson, Assistant Choreographer); Producers: Malcolm Cooke, William May, Dolores Quinton, James Kabler, Joseph DioGuardi, John Ricciadelli, Arnold Bruck, Tom Kaye, Leo Rosenthal, Harper Sibley, June Curtis, and Renee Blau in association with Jerome Minskoff (Peter Duke, Paul Faske, and France Weiner, Associate Producers; Janet Robinson, Consultant Producer); Scenery: Tom H. John; Costumes: Joseph G. Aulisi; Lighting: Marcia Madeira; Musical Direction: Steven Margoshes Cast: Kristi Coombs (Young Norma Jean): Destiny: Peggie Blue, Michael Kubala, and T. A. Stephens; Alyson Reed (Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe), George Dvorsky (Jim Dougherty), Debi Monahan (Pat), Melissa Bailey (Factory Girl, Louella), Deborah Dotson (Factory Girl, Hairdresser), Jodi Marzorati (Factory Girl), Mary Testa (Factory Girl, Hedda), Dooba Wilkins (Factory Girl, Coach/Companion), James Haskins (Photographer), Gary-Michael Davies (Serviceman, Director), Mark Ziebell (Serviceman), Mitchell Greenberg (Agent), Alan North (Studio Head), Ty Crowley (Assistant Director, Acting Coach), Michael Rivera (Designer), Scott Bakula (Joe DiMaggio), Lise Lang (Sis), Willy Falk (Tommy), Will Gerard (Arthur Miller), Steve Schocket (Strasberg); Ensemble: Melissa Bailey, Eileen Casey, Andrew Charles, Kevin Cort, Ty Crowley, Gary-Michael Davies, Deborah Dotson, Mark Esposito, Ed Forsyth, Marcial Gonzalez, Christine Gradl, Marguerite Lowell, Jodi Marzorati, Debi Monahan, Michael Rivera, Steve Schocket, Mary Testa, Dooba Wilkins, Mark Ziebell The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place mainly in Hollywood, San Francisco, and New York City during the period 1934–1960.

Musical Numbers Act One: “A Single Dream” (lyric and music by Jeanne Napoli and Doug Frank) (Kristi Coombs, Peggie Blue, Michael Kubala, T. A. Stephens); “Jimmy Jimmy” (lyric and music by Jeanne Napoli and Doug Frank) (Peggie Blue, Michael Kubala, T. A. Stephens, Alyson Reed, George Dvorsky, Debi Monahan, Ensemble); “Church Doors” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Peggie Blue, Michael Kubala, T. A. Stephens); “Swing Shift” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Melissa Bailey, Deborah Dotson, Jodi Marzorati, Mary Testa, Dooba Wilkins); “The Golden Dream” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (George Dvorsky, Gary-Michael Davies, Mark Ziebell); “When You Run the Show” (lyric by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Alan North, Mitchell Greenberg); “Gossip” (lyric and music by James Komack and Doug Frank); “Cold Hard Cash” (lyric by David Zippel, music by Wally Harper) (Alyson Reed, Men); “I’m a Fan” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Willy Falk, Lise Lang); “Finally” (lyric by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Scott Bakula, Alyson Reed); “Church Doors” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Peggie Blue, Michael Kubala, T. A. Stephens); “It’s a Premiere Night” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Company); “A Single Dream” (reprise) (Alyson Reed) Act Two: “We’ll Help You Through the Night” (lyric and music by Jeanne Napoli, and Dawsen and Turner) (Peggie Blue, Michael Kubala, T. A. Stephens); “Run between the Raindrops” (lyric and music by Jeanne Napoli and Gary Portnoy) (Alyson Reed); “You Are So Beyond” (lyric and music by Jeanne Napoli and Doug Frank) (Willy Falk); “Cultural Pursuits” (lyric and music by Doug Frank) (Alyson Reed, Will Gerard, Ensemble); “Church Doors” (reprise) (Peggie Blue, Michael Kubala, T. A. Stephens); “Don’t Hang Up the Telephone” (lyric and music by Jeanne Napoli and Gary Portnoy) (Scott Bakula); “All Roads Lead to Hollywood” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Alyson Reed, Company); “My Heart’s an Open Door” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Alyson Reed, Scott Bakula); “Miss Bubbles” (lyric and music by Jeanne Napoli, Doug Frank, and Gary Portnoy) (Alyson Reed, Men’s Ensemble); “The Best of Me” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Alyson Reed); “A Single Dream” (reprise) (Alyson Reed); “We Are the Ones” (lyric and music by Beth Lawrence and Norman Thalheimer) (Company) The $4 million production Marilyn was one of the season’s biggest disasters and closed after just two weeks of performances. Purportedly based on the life and career of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962), the musical

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skimmed over her life (Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 noted that Monroe’s first husband appeared and then suddenly vanished without an explanation: Did they divorce? Did he die? Or did he see Marilyn and decide to “slip out the back door of the Minskoff while no one was watching?”). The musical never mentioned two of Monroe’s most important films (Some Like It Hot [1959] and The Misfits [1961]), and ignored her death and the attendant speculation about its cause. And the script telegraphed information with glimpses of Joe DiMaggio swinging a baseball bat and Arthur Miller smoking a pipe (in show business, smoking a pipe or wearing a cardigan sweater with leather patches on the elbows are the marks of an intellectual). But the show produced one classic line. When Monroe and Miller’s marriage begins to fall apart, she asks: “But you’re Arthur Miller. How can you be so boring?” As for the age-old question of whether or not the theatre is really dead, Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said he’d attended its wake after seeing Marilyn. The “vile” musical was “runaway, rank amateurism” and a “pointless exercise” of “appalling stupidity.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said Marilyn was a “musical by committee” with far “too many cooks” (indeed, the writers, composers, and producers almost outnumbered the performers) and the resulting “hodgepodge” was a “mess.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post also found the show a “mess.” The book had “no real focus,” the music “practically redefines one’s concept of undistinguished,” and he quoted “one typical but particular gem of prosody” from the song “I’m a Fan”: “I have seen every film she’s ever been in/My love for her is deeply hidden.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the “sprawling mishmash” contained a few songs that were “relevant” to the action and others that were “downright silly”; and Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily said “the show badly needs a brain.” Frank Rich in the New York Times found the direction and choreography amateurish, said the set looked “as if it suffered a bombing raid during previews,” and the number “Gossip” for the columnists “Hedda” (Hopper) and “Louella” (Parsons) was “so bowdlerized that they might as well be describing the private life of Shirley Temple.” Rich also wondered if the huge number of producers and writers had ever been “in the same rehearsal room—or even the same city—at the same time.” The writers employed the dubious notion of using a trio they called Destiny as a kind of Greek chorus to comment in song about Monroe’s life and career, and once the trio sprinkles stardust on Little Norma Jean she’s well on her way to tinsel town and immortality. Barnes noted the trio might have been a singing group “had they anything worth singing” and surmised that Destiny was “destined for very little in this show.” Beaufort said the musical’s “looniest tune” was “Miss Bubbles,” in which a bevy of dancing male plumbers serenaded Monroe as she took a bubble bath. The men wore pink-and-silver overalls and pink patentleather shoes and carried pink plastic monkey-wrenches and lucite plungers, and Siegel exclaimed that the sequence was “the closest thing I’ve seen on Broadway to ‘Springtime for Hitler.’” Rich noted Marilyn was “incoherent to the point of being loony,” and he defied anyone to explain what “Miss Bubbles” attempted to convey. One wonders if the song was intended as a homage to a scene in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch that found Monroe in a bubble bath where her toe somehow gets stuck in the faucet and a hapless plumber (Victor Moore) is called in to free her. The allusion surely didn’t refer to Monroe’s 1956 film Bus Stop, because in that film the director Joshua Logan insured it was Don Murray and not Monroe who took a bubble bath. But you never know. As for Alyson Reed’s performance, Sharp said she was “trapped in a mission impossible” where she came across “like a transvestite, disguised within a collage of cosmetics and peroxide”; Beaufort said her “credible” performance had to meet the challenge of “the unwieldiness of the material”; Barnes noted she handled her role “with enviable aplomb”; and Rich said she was “professional and hard-working” but had “precious little to do” except to use her “chest and derriere” to convey her character. Marilyn is one of a number of lyric works about the iconic Hollywood legend. The 1980 Hey Marilyn premiered in Canada with lyrics and music by Cliff Jones, best remembered for his songs for the notorious 1976 flop Rockabye Hamlet; the 1983 British musical Marilyn! had a brief run, and its star Stephanie Lawrence later recorded the album Marilyn—the Legend (Carlton Sounds Records CD # 30360-00312) which includes songs from Marilyn! as well as numbers performed by Monroe in her films; the 1993 Marilyn—Musical opened in Germany and was recorded by Edelton Records (CD # EDL-2734-2); and Ezra Laderman’s opera Marilyn was produced by the New York City Opera Company at the New York State Theatre on October 6, 1993, for three performances.

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DOONESBURY Theatre: Biltmore Theatre Opening Date: November 21, 1983; Closing Date: February 19, 1984 Performances: 104 Book and Lyrics: Garry Trudeau Music: Elizabeth Swados Based on the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau. Direction: Jacques Levy; Producers: James Walsh in association with Universal Pictures; Choreography: Margo Sappington; Scenery: Peter Larkin; Costumes: Patricia McGourty; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Jeff Waxman Cast: Reathel Bean (Roland, Voice of President Reagan), Ralph Bruneau (Mike Doonesbury), Mark Linn-Baker (Mark), Keith Szarabajka (B.D.), Laura Dean (Boopsie), Albert Macklin (Zonker), Gary Beach (Duke), Lauren Tom (Honey), Kate Burton (J.J.), Barbara Andres (Joanie), Peter Shawn (Provost) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Walden during the late spring.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Graduation” (Reathel Bean, Ralph Bruneau, Keith Szarabajka, Laura Dean, Mark Linn-Baker, Albert Macklin); “Just One More Night” (Ralph Bruneau); “I Came to Tan” (Albert Macklin, Ensemble); “Guilty” (Gary Beach, Ensemble); “I Can Have It All” (Laura Dean, Ensemble); “Get Together” (Kate Burton, Ralph Bruneau); “Baby Boom Boogie Boy” (Mark Linn-Baker, Reathel Bean, Ensemble); “Another Memorable Meal” (Ralph Bruneau, Keith Szarabajka, Laura Dean, Mark Linn-Baker, Albert Macklin, Kate Burton, Barbara Andres) Act Two: “Just a House” (Ensemble); “Complicated Man” (Lauren Tom, Laura Dean); “Real Estate” (Gary Beach, Albert Macklin); “Mother” (Kate Burton, Barbara Andres); “It’s the Right Time to Be Rich” (Keith Szarabajka, Reathel Bean); “Muffy and the Topsiders” (Laura Dean, Ralph Bruneau, Mark Linn-Baker, Albert Macklin); “Just One More Night” (reprise) (Ralph Bruneau, Kate Burton); “Graduation” (Ensemble) Based on Garry Trudeau’s popular comic strip of the same name, the intimate musical Doonesbury (with a cast of eleven and a three-man musical combo) managed just three months on Broadway. The show received generally mild reviews, and one or two critics noted the musical might have fared better Off Broadway in an intimate venue. Trudeau wrote the book and lyrics, and Elizabeth Swados, whose previous Broadway musical was Runaways in 1978, composed the score. The musical took place during the weeks prior to college graduation in Walden, an off-campus commune where the main characters have lived in their ivy cocoon for four years and now face the prospect of life in the real world. The revue-like evening touched upon the familiar quirks of the characters, and the main plot revolved around Zonker’s deliriously demented Uncle Duke (Gary Beach), who hopes to turn the beloved Walden into a condominium community. The evening’s highlight was watching Duke drive his bulldozer through the walls of Walden’s living room and demolish part of it (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News suspected that replacing the “shredded” part of the set eight times a week must have “considerably added” to the show’s expenses, but the effect was “worth it”). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “trendy” comic strip had always seemed “facetious, pretentious, pointless and opportunistic” and suffered from Trudeau’s “pompous inconsequentiality.” For the “patchwork” musical adaptation, those not attuned to the chapter-and-verse of Walden’s world might find parts of the “fairly simple” plot a bit “confusing.” Watt stated the “exceedingly slight” musical didn’t “quite make the grade,” and Richard Corliss in Time suggested the problems attendant on dramatizing the comic strip “might occupy a students’ lunch break at the High School of Performing Arts” but was hardly worth Trudeau’s time “or two hours of anyone else’s.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said he had read the comic strip only “occasionally” and “could take it or leave it,” and he felt the musical version suggested “the senior class follies” with “heavy contribution from the sophomore class.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the cartoon-like sets provided the “best work” of the evening and thus he suspected the musical would work best “as a comic strip.”

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Frank Rich in the New York Times found the musical “pleasant” but surprisingly “dull,” and despite an occasional “bright” interlude the show never caught “fire.” He noted that the “flimsy” evening was a combination of “standard musical-comedy narrative” and “a series of sketches,” and as result neither form was “realized.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek felt the show was overloaded with “sweetness” and the political satire lacked bite (President Reagan wonders if the United States should invade Canada). But Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily found the evening “effective, witty and endearing” and said the production was “a breath of clear air during a rather murky season.” And John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said that “modesty” didn’t prevent the “modest” musical “from being a larkish lampoon of an entertainment, sometimes sweet and often very funny.” As for Elizabeth Swados’s score, Siegel noted it was “much better than her past work” because it was “almost mediocre,” and Cunningham said the songs sounded like “castoffs from Godspell.” Corliss stated the composer created “rhinestone settings” for Trudeau’s often “witty and energetic” lyrics and that not one song in the entire score offered “a memorable melody or a surprising chord pattern.” Kroll said the songs had the “pastel taste of musical Necco wafers”; Rich found the score “weak”; and while Watt liked “It’s the Right Time to Be Rich” and “Get Together,” the score for the most part “failed to live up to the ideas generating them.” But Barnes found the score “sometimes plaintive and sometimes jaunty” and was thus “characteristically characteristic,” and Beaufort said the “lively” score “pleasantly complemented” the book. During the tryout and New York previews, “Second Thoughts,” “I’ll Call You,” and “The Chairman’s Song” were deleted; for the national tour, the latter was reinstated. The cast album was recorded by MCA Records (LP # 6129).

BABY

“The New Musical” Theatre: Ethel Barrymore Theatre Opening Date: December 4, 1983; Closing Date: July 1, 1984 Performances: 241 Book: Sybille Pearson Lyrics: Richard Maltby Jr. Music: David Shire Direction: Richard Maltby Jr.; Producers: James B. Freydberg and Ivan Bloch, Kenneth-John Productions, Inc., and Suzanne J. Schwartz in association with Manuscript Productions (Ronald Light, Robert A. Stewart, J.C. Associates, Elaine Yaker, Karen Howard, and Lillian Steinberg) (A Freydberg/Bloch Production); Choreography: Wayne Cilento; Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Jennifer Von Mayrhauser; Lighting: Pat Collins; Musical Direction: Peter Howard Cast: Liz Callaway (Lizzie Fields), Todd Graff (Danny Hooper), Beth Fowler (Arlene MacNally), James Congdon (Alan MacNally), Catherine Cox (Pam Sakarian), Martin Vidnovic (Nick Sakarian), Barbara Gilbert (Nurse, Fourth Woman), John Jellison (Doctor), Philip Hoffman (Mr. Weiss), Dennis Warning (Dean Webber, Mr. Hart), Lon Hoyt (Intern), Judith Thiergaard (First Woman, Fifth Woman), Lisa Robinson (Second Woman), Kirsti Carnahan (Third Woman), Kim Criswell (Sixth Woman); People in the Town: Kirsti Carnahan, Kim Criswell, Barbara Gilbert, Philip Hoffman, Lon Hoyt, John Jellison, Lisa Robinson, Judith Thiergaard, Dennis Warning The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time from March to November in a college town.

Musical Numbers Act One: “We Start Today” (Todd Graff, Liz Callaway, James Congdon, Beth Fowler, Martin Vidnovic, Catherine Cox, Townspeople); “What Could Be Better?” (Todd Graff, Liz Callaway); “The Plaza Song” (James Congdon, Beth Fowler); “Baby, Baby, Baby” (Martin Vidnovic, Catherine Cox, James Congdon, Beth Fowler, Todd Graff, Liz Callaway); “I Want It All” (Catherine Cox, Liz Callaway, Beth Fowler); “At Night She Comes Home to Me” (Martin Vidnovic, Todd Graff); “What Could Be Better?” (reprise) (Todd

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Graff, Liz Callaway); “Fatherhood Blues” (Todd Graff, James Congdon, Martin Vidnovic, Philip Hoffman, Dennis Warning); “Romance” (Martin Vidnovic, Catherine Cox); “I Chose Right” (Todd Graff); “We Start Today” (reprise) (Ensemble); “The Story Goes On” (Liz Callaway) Act Two: “The Ladies Singin’ Their Song” (Liz Callaway, Townswomen); “Baby, Baby, Baby” (reprise) (Beth Fowler); “Romance” (reprise) (Martin Vidnovic, Catherine Cox); “Easier to Love” (James Congdon); “Two People in Love” (Todd Graff, Liz Callaway); “With You” (Martin Vidnovic, Catherine Cox); “And What If We Had Loved Like That” (James Congdon, Beth Fowler); “We Start Today” (reprise) (Todd Graff, Liz Callaway, Martin Vidnovic, Catherine Cox, James Congdon, Beth Fowler); “The Story Goes On” (reprise) (Company) Baby was a musical that dealt with three couples and their coming to terms with unplanned or failed pregnancies. In light of the show’s relatively short Broadway run, it’s safe to assume the subject matter wasn’t for everyone. Baby wasn’t one of those shows that might have worked better Off Broadway because most of the downtown audience would probably have been as disinterested as those uptown. Perhaps Baby was best at home in very specialized community theatre. It’s hard to imagine that most audience members cared all that much about couples and their problems with pregnancies, and since everyone knows about the stork there was probably no need to instruct the audience with a documentary-like film that went into clinical details about the mechanics of impregnation (Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal reported that the film showed sperm swimming up the Fallopian tube to fertilize eggs and presented “graphic” depictions of the womb and a growing fetus). The musical also over-shared when it came to discussing medical procedures that can help infertile couples. After an evening about baby-making, many audience members might well have longed for revivals of Fearless Frank and A Doll’s Life. There is in fact a mini-genre of fertility plays and musicals that go back to Federico Garcia Lorca’s 1934 drama Yerma (or “barren”), and in recent decades the theme has been explored in David Rudkin’s affecting if perhaps slightly overwrought 1977 Off-Broadway drama Ashes and the 2005 Off-Off-Broadway musical Infertility (the work was subtitled “The Musical That’s Hard to Conceive” and the cast album was released by Conception Productions). Baby centered on the unmarried college couple Lizzie (Liz Callaway) and Danny (Todd Graff), the thirtyish Pam (Catherine Cox) and Nick (Martin Vidnovic), and the middle-aged Arlene (Beth Fowler) and Alan (James Congdon). Lizzie discovers she’s pregnant, but despite Danny’s desire to tie the knot she at first doesn’t want marriage and commitment; Pam and Nick discover he’s infertile, and come to realize they don’t need a child to validate their love; and Arlene and Alan are surprised to find that she’s pregnant at a time when their three children are young adults. The vignette-like plot didn’t have much in the way of drama, and Richard Maltby Jr., and David Shire’s score was pleasant if not particularly distinguished. Frank Rich in the New York Times felt Sybille Pearson’s “jerry-built” book was overloaded with sitcom jokes that valued “hit-and-miss one-liners over substance,” and he suggested the musical was “definitely not for anyone who believes that expectant parents should be seen and not heard.” But the evening offered a “lovely” score and an “exuberant” cast, and he singled out “The Story Goes On” as an intelligent lyric wedded to “cascading” music. Like many of the critics, Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the second act was weak, and he noted that overall the musical was a “one-joke show.” But the book was “agreeably smart” and for all purposes each couple was “in effect writing a Dear Abby letter to the audience.” The music was “tuneful” and “at times rhapsodic” but not particularly “original,” and the lyrics were “pleasant” but never “memorable.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the show came close to being “stillborn.” The book was “doggedly uninteresting,” it strained “too hard to establish the equality of the sexes in all situations,” and when a trio sang that the creation of a baby was an “unsharable” moment he felt that word best summed up the audience’s “indifference” to the subject matter. Jack Kroll in Newsweek suggested the musical was “more sitcom than standout” and needed “more guts and grit” because as written the material was “too goody to be true.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found the musical “tremendously refreshing” but noted Pearson’s book often seemed like a “comic revue” because of her “funny but glib dialogue.” Richard Schickel in Time said the book offered “tart dialogue and pleasant personification,” but its “defect” was that the situations proceeded “a little too smoothly” and “some second-act confusions and reversals might well have been in order.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 liked the “honest-to-goodness” music and “clever and intelligent” lyrics, but

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said the show lacked an “idea” and the presentation of the musical in two acts was a “bad choice” because the second act emphasized that “nothing happened in the first.” And Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 admitted there was “a lag and a lull and a loose end here and there” but the show was nonetheless “a bright and bountiful” musical. During previews, the following songs were deleted: “Patterns,” “In One Cell,” and “I Wouldn’t Go Back.” The original cast album was released by Polydor Records (LP # 821-593-1-Y-1; later reissued by That’s Entertainment Records LP # TER-1089; and on CD by Polydor # 821593), and includes “Patterns,” which was cut in previews (the song was later reinstated for regional and foreign productions). A 2004 Philippines production with Lea Salonga was recorded on CD by Musico/BMG Records and includes three songs (“I Chose Right,” “Two People in Love,” and “The Story Goes On”).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Baby); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Todd Graff); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Liz Callaway); Best Director of a Musical (Richard Maltby Jr.); Best Book (Sybille Pearson); Best Score (lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr., and music by David Shire); Best Choreographer (Wayne Cilento)

PEG

“A Musical Autobiography” Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: December 14, 1983; Closing Date: December 17, 1983 Performances: 5 Story: Peggy Lee New Lyrics: Peggy Lee New Music: Paul Horner (For specific lyric and music credits, see song list.) Direction: Robert Drivas; Producers: Zev Bufman, Marge and Irv Cowan, and Georgia Frontiere; Scenery: Tom H. John; Costumes: Florence Klotz; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: John Miller Cast: Peggy Lee; Backup Singers: Grady Tate, Jay Leonhart, and Mike Renzi; Quartet: Michael Renzi (Piano), Grady Tate (Drums), Jay Leonhart (Bass), Bucky Pizzarelli (Guitar) The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs were performed by Peggy Lee, with occasional back-up by singers Grady Tate, Jay Leonhart, and Mike Renzi. Act One: “Fever” (lyric and music by Johnny Davenport and Eddie Cooley; special lyric by Peggy Lee); “Soul” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “Daddy Was a Railroad Man” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “Mama” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “That Old Piano” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “One Beating a Day” (lyric and music by Peggy Lee); “That’s How I Learned to Sing the Blues” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “Goody, Goody” (lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Matt Malneck); “Sometimes You’re Up” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “He’ll Make Me Believe That He’s Mine” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “Why Don’t You Do Right?” (lyric and music by Joe McCoy) Act Two: Overture (Quartet); “I Love Being Here with You” (lyric and music by Peggy Lee); “The Other Part of Me” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “I Don’t Know Enough About You” (lyric and music by Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour); “Angels on Your Pillow” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “It’s a Good Day” (lyric and music by Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour); “Manana” (lyric and music by Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour); “What Did Dey Do to My Goil?” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “Stay Away from Louisville Lou” (lyric by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager); “No More Rainbows” (lyric by Peggy

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Lee, music by Paul Horner); “Flowers and Flowers” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner); “Lover” (1932 film musical Love Me Tonight; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); “Big Spender” (Sweet Charity, 1966; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Cy Coleman); “I’m a Woman” (lyric and music by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller); “Is That All There Is?” (from the unproduced late 1960s musical International Wrestling Match; lyric and music by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller); “There Is More” (lyric by Peggy Lee, music by Paul Horner) Peg was virtually a one-woman Broadway concert by the legendary Peggy Lee (1920–2002), whose highly stylized voice was alternately sultry, sexy, and sentimental. Throughout her career she constantly surprised her audience with an astonishing array of musical personalities. She could be slyly comical in “Manana” and sexually sizzling in “Fever”; she found heartbreak in the moody contours of George Harrison’s “Something,” brought delicacy and wisdom to Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen’s “Love Held Lightly” (from the 1959 musical Saratoga), and wearily insinuated her way through the philosophic vamps of the Kurt Weill-like “Is That All There Is?” (from the late-1960s unproduced musical International Wrestling Match). But unlike the concert Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, in which Horne emphasized her song repertoire and occasionally talked about her career, Peg was a pretentious evening in which Lee perhaps rambled on too much about her life and shared more information than the audience really wanted or needed to know. Further, while Lee performed a few of her hits, the score contained no less than fourteen numbers that had been especially written for the concert, thirteen with lyrics by Lee and music by Paul Horner and one with lyric and music by Lee. Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested the concert was more in the nature of a “religious rite” in which Lee was a “high priestess ascending the altar” in an evening that was “most likely to excite those who are evangelically devoted to both Peggy Lee and God—ideally in that order.” The new songs served to “enshrine the red-letter events in the star’s life,” and while the Lunt-Fontanne was a large theatre that required a “huge” personality to fill it, Lee lacked “so sizable a presence” and thus she let “her ego inflate” in order “to fill the gap.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the “disappointing” production was “comprised of a largely uninspired narrative” of Lee’s life with “dull and often badly written” material (on the order of “the years went by, full of comedy and tragedy”), but he singled out the new song “He’ll Make Me Believe That He’s Mine,” an impressive and “skillful evocation of a Thirties ballad” which Lee sang “with her customary authority.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News noted that Lee was backed by a jazz quartet and a thirtypiece orchestra, and so the concert was more in the nature of a “splendiferous supper club entertainment than a Broadway musical.” While she offered “a skimpy soapy account” of her life and career with material that “rarely” transcended the “commonplace,” she nonetheless sang “with winning grace and good humor.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 decided if the concert had been reduced to an hour it could have been “a landmark, knockout nightclub act,” but as presented it revealed Lee’s “insistently private, sometimes embarrassingly personal” life which was “of no particular interest to the public at large”; and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said if the evening had been a concert he would have given Lee a good review, but instead the production was an “odd collection” of “maudlin, pointless, shameless stories” that seem to have come from “a cancelled TV telethon.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “curious” production was less a musical than a pop-song cycle; it wasn’t a “show” but a “concert,” and “as a concert it is quite a show.” Lee sang “memorably” and was an “astonishing song stylist” who was “deft and often witty” in her upbeat songs and “glisteningly soulful” in her ballads. “He’ll Make Me Believe That He’s Mine” is included in KT Sullivan’s collection Crazy World released by DRG Records (CD # 91413).

THE TAP DANCE KID Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Minskoff Theatre) Opening Date: December 21, 1983; Closing Date: April 11, 1985 Performances: 669 Book: Charles Blackwell Lyrics: Robert Lorick

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Music: Henry Krieger Based on the 1974 novel Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change by Louise Fitzhugh. Direction: Vivian Matalon; Producers: Stanley White, Evelyn Baron, Harvey J. Klaris, and Michel Stuart (Mark Beigelman and Richard Chwatt, Associate Producers) (produced in association with Michel Kleinman Productions); Choreography: Danny Daniels; Scenery: Michael Hotopp and Paul dePass (scenic photography by Mark Feldstein); Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Don Jones Cast: Alfonso Ribeiro (Willie), Hattie Winston (Ginnie), Barbara Montgomery (Dulcie), Martine Allard (Emma), Samuel E. Wright (William), Hinton Battle (Dipsey), Karen Paskow (Mona), Jackie Lowe (Carole), Alan Weeks (Daddy Bates), Michael Blevins (Winslow); Little Rio Dancers and New Yorkers: Leah Bass, Kevin Berdini, Michael Blevins, Karen Curlee, Suzzanne Douglas, Rick Emery, Karen E. Fraction, D. J. Giagni, J. J. Jepson, Karen Paskow, Rodney Alan McGuire, Jackie Patterson, Mayme Paul, Jamie M. Pisano, Ken Prescott, Oliver Woodall, James Young The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time on Roosevelt Island and in Manhattan.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Another Day” (Hattie Winston, Martine Allard, Alfonso Ribeiro); “Four Strikes Against Me” (Martine Allard); “Class Act” (Hattie Winston, Hinton Battle, Alan Weeks); “They Never Hear What I Say” (Martine Allard, Alfonso Ribeiro); “Dancing Is Everything” (Alfonso Ribeiro); “Crosstown” (Alfonso Ribeiro, New Yorkers); “Fabulous Feet” (Hinton Battle, Jackie Lowe, Dancers); “I Could Get Used to Him” (Jackie Lowe, Dancers); “Man in the Moon” (Hinton Battle) Act Two: “Like Him” (Martine Allard, Hattie Winston); “Someday” (Martine Allard, Alfonso Ribeiro); “My Luck Is Changing” (Hinton Battle); “I Remember How It Was” (Hattie Winston); “Lullabye” (Hattie Winston); “Tap Tap” (Alan Weeks, Alfonso Ribeiro, Hinton Battle); “Dance If It Makes You Happy” (Alfonso Ribeiro, Hinton Battle, Alan Weeks, Jackie Lowe, Dancers); “William’s Song” (Samuel E. Wright); “Class Act” (reprise) (Family) The Tap Dance Kid was a well-meaning but flawed musical that was plot-heavy and often too predictable. It also suffered from an ordinary score by Robert Lorick and Henry Krieger. The show was at its best in the dancing department, and to that end choreographer Danny Daniels, who won the Tony Award for Best Choreography, created a series of bright dance sequences. The title character is Willie (Alfonso Ribeiro), a ten-year-old who wants to follow in the tap-dancing tradition of his uncle Dipsey (Hinton Battle) and his late grandfather Daddy Bates (Alan Weeks). But his upwardly mobile lawyer father William (Samuel E. Wright) sees tap dancing as a step backward for blacks, and he wants his son to become a lawyer. Of course, all this was moot. Willie is after all a youngster in grade school and his passion for tap dancing might be a passing phase, and so why doesn’t William indulge him with a few dancing lessons and at the same time encourage him to do well in school? In all likelihood, a ten-year-old’s interests will change as the boy grows up and attends high school and college. But William comes across as too stuffy and single-minded, and his character soon became a bore (especially in his lugubrious eleven o’clock number “William’s Turn”—that is, “William’s Song,” which Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said was “one of the most ineptly conceived, antipathetic songs imaginable”). And like so many musicals before and after it, the story and characters were fixated on show business as life’s only reality (indeed, most of Krieger’s musicals are set in the world of showbiz: besides The Tap Dance Kid, he composed Dreamgirls, Dangerous Music, and Side Show). Willie of course wants to be a tap-dancer; Dipsey runs a dancing school and his ambition is to land in the chorus of a Broadway show and perhaps eventually choreograph one; Daddy Bates occasionally returns to life and encourages Willie to seek the limelight; and even Willie’s mother Ginnie (Hattie Winston) fondly looks back on her days in show business. Only Willie’s overweight sister Emma (Martine Allard) seems to have a head on her shoulders in her realization that education is the practical key to success, and it’s her ambition to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a lawyer (but William apparently believes that a career in the law is only for men). Further, the book got lost with its emphasis on Dipsey, and even included a romantic subplot for him; and the story also fumbled

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around with hints that Ginnie isn’t all that happy in her marriage. And, in true sit-com fashion, William and Ginnie have a black maid, whom one critic described as “plain-spoken.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said the book lacked “subtlety” and the various subplots were “formulaically written” and added nothing but “dead weight” to the evening. The lyrics were “too ordinary” and the music was “often forgettable.” But Daniels’s choreography carried the day, including his “grand” secondact “Dance If It Makes You Happy” in which Willie and the images of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson are seen “kicking up a storm in musical-comedy heaven.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News stated that too often the musical dragged its feet in its “tangled, lopsided and tensionless” book, one which was “overlong and ill-balanced” because tap dancing was “a limited art that can become downright tiring in large doses.” But he praised the production numbers, including “Class Act” and “Fabulous Feet,” and said the show only came to life when Daniels’s “vibrant” dances took over the stage. Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the story “fairly predictable,” the songs “uninteresting,” and the choreography “unimaginatively adequate.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the “ebulliently warm-hearted” show, while Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the “somewhat over-earnest musical” had occasional “honest intelligence rare for Broadway.” And Richard Corliss in Time didn’t care for Willie’s “perverse decision” about show business, one that “satisfies his parents but not a Broadway musical comedy audience” when the tap dance kid himself “says, in effect, ‘I won’t dance, don’t ask me.’” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 liked the score and choreography, but felt director Vivian Matalon allowed Alfonso Ribeiro too much leeway and as a result the young actor “destroys his own performance.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the musical was more “lightheaded” than “lighthearted,” and despite its “genial” and “amiable” ambitions was “shallow and overdone” in its “curious mixture of TV sitcom and children’s theatre.” The songs were “truly mediocre” with lyrics in the style of “inspirational greeting cards” and music “direct from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” The musical opted for a series of Broadway previews rather than an out-of-town tryout, and during the very public and turbulent New York preview period director Matalon was fired and then rehired. The cast album was released by Polydor Records (LP # 820-210-1-Y-1 and CD # 820210). The national tour omitted “Another Day” and added four songs, (“Dipsey’s Comin’ Over,” “High Heels,” “Something Better, Something More,” and “Dipsey’s Vaudeville”), all of which in one way or another focused on the character of Dipsey.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (The Tap Dance Kid); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Hinton Battle); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Samuel E. Wright); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Martine Allard); Best Director of a Musical (Vivian Matalon); Best Book (Charles Blackwell); Best Choreographer (Danny Daniels)

THE RINK Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: February 9, 1984; Closing Date: August 4, 1984 Performances: 204 Book: Terrence McNally Lyrics: Fred Ebb Music: John Kander Direction: A. J. Antoon; Producers: Jules Fisher and Roger Berlind; and Joan Cullman, Milbro Productions, and Kenneth-John Productions, Inc., in association with Jonathan Farkas (Tina Chen, Associate Producer; Robin Ullman, Executive Producer; and produced in association with Jujamcyn Theatres Corp., Richard G. Wolff, President); Choreography: Graciela Daniele (Tina Paul, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Peter Larkin; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani

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Cast: Liza Minnelli (Angel), Kim Hauser (Little Girl), Jason Alexander (Lino [Wrecker], Lenny, Punk, Uncle Fausto), Mel Johnson Jr. (Buddy [Wrecker], Hiram, Mrs. Jackson, Charlie, Suitor, Junior Miller), Scott Holmes (Guy [Wrecker], Dino, Father Rocco, Debbie Duberman), Scott Ellis (Lucky [Wrecker], Sugar, Punk, Arnie, Suitor, Bobby Perillo, Danny), Frank Mastrocola (Tony [Wrecker], Tom, Punk, Suitor, Peter Reilly), Ronn Carroll (Ben [Wrecker], Dino’s Father, Mrs. Silverman, Sister Philomena), Chita Rivera (Anna) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on the Eastern seaboard in the 1970s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Colored Lights” (Liza Minnelli); “Chief Cook and Bottle Washer” (Chita Rivera); “Don’t ‘Ah Ma’ Me” (Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli); “Blue Crystal” (Scott Holmes); “Under the Roller Coaster” (Liza Minnelli); “Not Enough Magic” (Scott Holmes, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Scott Ellis, Mel Johnson Jr., Frank Mastrocola, Jason Alexander, Ronn Carroll); “We Can Make It” (Chita Rivera); “After All These Years” (Jason Alexander, Mel Johnson Jr., Scott Holmes, Scott Ellis, Frank Mastrocola, Ronn Carroll); “Angel’s Rink and Social Center” (Liza Minnelli, Jason Alexander, Mel Johnson Jr., Scott Holmes, Scott Ellis, Frank Mastrocola, Ronn Carroll); “What Happened to the Old Days?” (Chita Rivera, Ronn Carroll, Mel Johnson Jr.); “Colored Lights” (reprise) (Liza Minnelli) Act Two: “The Apple Doesn’t Fall” (Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli); “Marry Me” (Jason Alexander); “We Can Make It” (reprise) (Chita Rivera); “Mrs. A.” (Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli, Jason Alexander, Scott Ellis, Mel Johnson Jr., Frank Mastrocola); “The Rink” (Jason Alexander, Mel Johnson Jr., Scott Holmes, Scott Ellis, Frank Mastrocola, Ronn Carroll); “Wallflower” (Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli); “All the Children in a Row” (Liza Minnelli, Scott Ellis); “Coda” (Chita Rivera, Liza Minnelli) The Rink was a mostly dreary exercise that in soap-opera fashion looked at the tenuous relationship between mother and daughter Anna and Angel (Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli). Their estrangement comes to a head when Anna makes the decision to sell her and Angel’s joint-owned skating rink at a dilapidated amusement park somewhere on the East Coast at the very time when Angel returns to the rink and park after seven years in the hope that there she can retreat into the past and escape from the present. With scenes set both in the present and in flashback, the worlds of Angel and Anna are replete with Family Secrets and Harbored Resentments. But there was never any question that by the final curtain the two would resolve their differences and be friends again. Terrence McNally’s tedious and predictable book was as tiresome as his ones for the pretentious and highly overrated Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993) and the appallingly political correct Ragtime (1998). John Kander and Fred Ebb’s score was one of their lesser efforts, but it included an occasional solid number such as “Colored Lights.” Besides the back-and-forth bickering between the two main characters, there was a meaningless conceit in which six male performers played a total of thirty-one characters, and, in the clichéd fashion of then and current-day Broadway, some of their roles were performed in drag. In further attempts to be hip, the dialogue was needlessly crude, occasional quips ridiculed the Catholic Church, and one scene found Angel and Anna playing cute as they smoked pot. The script was full of laughable dialogue. Angel complains that everyone yells, screams, hurts, and hates, and does everything but “talk”; Anna says she gave her husband “all” her love and hadn’t any left for others; and when Angel tells Anna “I expected you to love me,” Anna replies that she did, and Angel’s retort is that it was “not enough.” And the creaky twists and turns of the plot were embarrassing. Angel returns home to the rink after an absence of seven years, and is apparently so dumb that she’s shocked shocked to find that things have changed and the old homestead isn’t the same. And there was Revelation after Revelation: in a variation of “the papers” in old melodramas, Angel discovers Anna has forged her name on the rink’s deed-ofproperty sale; Angel still blames Anna for a long-ago Deception when Anna lied and said her father was dead; Anna has Dark Secrets concerning her loose past when she slept with other men out of Loneliness; Anna has Dark Memories of the time when she told off a group of neighborhood punks and was then beaten up for her efforts (the published script indicates a beating, but the staging depicted a gang rape); and for the denouement Angel’s Secret Is Revealed: she’s the mother of a little girl whom she’s named . . . Anna. With this, mother and daughter embrace, the rink rises above them and ascends to the heavens, and, in Ragtime-finale fashion,

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they and Little Anna are silhouetted against the morning sunlight and a backdrop of sea and sky as they join hands and walk towards the future (or maybe the Atlantic Ocean). Frank Rich in the New York Times said he could watch the “powerhouse” Chita Rivera “forever,” but unfortunately her “turgid” and “sour” musical’s running time was “forever and a day.” The work had “empty pretentions” with “phony” and “mean-spirited” content. McNally had contrived a “synthetic” show with “banal” dialogue of “psychobabble,” characters who were “ciphers,” and “melodramatic revelations” that were “a parody of William Inge.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “mishmash” was “tortuous” but Rivera and Minnelli made a “terrific pair,” Kander and Ebb provided a “nice assortment” of songs, and Peter Larkin’s “almost awesomely realistic and ultimately vanishing” set was impressive. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said The Rink was “an unusually sordid chapter in the history of the Broadway musical.” It was about “vulgarity, ugliness and misogyny,” and “no effort had been spared” to make Rivera seem “coarse and repellent.” Larkin’s rink setting created a “charmingly dilapidated vaulted interior,” but perhaps “the most startling” aspect of the show was that Minnelli didn’t wear artificial eyelashes. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the story was told in “clichés” and the “predictable” plot was lost in a time warp of the 1960s. A strong score could have saved the evening, but unfortunately the plot’s “unpleasant incidents” weren’t “raised above the ordinary” by the songs. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 found The Rink “a hopeless wreck of a musical,” and Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the “bleak and barren kitchen-sink drama in the middle of a vaudeville show” was “riddled with flashbacks both pointless and pretentious.” Although Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the musical was “serious” and “ambitious” with “impeccable” direction, “crisply sophisticated” lyrics, and performances by Rivera and Minnelli that “will live in Broadway legend,” he noted the musical missed the “authentic belting surge” it hoped to evoke and as a result never reached “the high level” it aimed for. As for the gang-rape sequence, Kissel reported that the “rape ballet” was one of “astonishing crudeness” which was “dragged out interminably” (he noted that Rivera had been “assaulted balletically” in a similar dance sequence in 1957’s West Side Story, but there the “Taunting” number was choreographed “quickly and startlingly”). Rich found the sequence “gratuitous,” and also noted that the script presented every male as a “crude sexual adventurer” and both women as “reformed ‘tramps.’” During previews, the musical was presented in one act. Dropped in preproduction were “Leche Bella,” “Mirror Ball,” “Murphy’s Law,” “Postcards,” “So It’s All Over, Then,” “When the Antonellis Were Here,” “You Kept Me in Touch with Mama,” and “Wine and Peaches” (the latter is included in the collection Contemporary Broadway Revisited, released by Painted Smiles Records CD # PSCD-131). The song “Yesterday” was also cut in preproduction, and had originally been written for Kander and Ebb’s unproduced Golden Gate (aka The Emperor of San Francisco), which was written in the early 1960s. As “Yesterday Is Yesterday,” the song is included on the Golden Gate demo recording (performed by Kander and Ebb) along with “A Certain Girl,” which was later added to the score of the team’s 1968 musical The Happy Time (the Golden Gate demo includes twenty-two songs from the production, including alternate versions of a few numbers). Another song dropped in preproduction was “Only in the Movies,” which was later added to the score of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Late in the run of The Rink, Liza Minnelli was succeeded by Stockard Channing. The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1985, and the original cast album was released by Polydor Records (LP # 823-125-1-Y-1; issued on CD by That’s Entertainment Records # 1091). A 1988 regional production starred Lainie Kazan and Lenora Nemetz and included the song “It’s a Great Big World” (for Angel) which replaced “All the Children in a Row,” and a 1996 regional production included “Familiar Things,” which was probably an alternate title for “Under the Roller Coaster.” Part of the music of “Colored Lights” was recycled as “The Day after That” for Kiss of the Spider Woman. The London production of The Rink opened at the Cambridge Theatre on February 17, 1988, with Josephine Blake and Diane Langton in the roles of Anna and Angel, and the cast album was issued by That‘s Entertainment Records (both LP and CD were assigned # 1155).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Liza Minnelli); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Chita Rivera); Best Score (lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander); Best Scenic Designer (Peter Larkin); Best Choreographer (Graciela Daniele)

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THE HUMAN COMEDY “A New Musical”

Theatre: Royale Theatre Opening Date: April 5, 1984; Closing Date: April 15, 1984 Performances: 13 Libretto: William Dumaresq Music: Galt MacDermot Based on the 1943 novel The Human Comedy by William Saroyan (which in turn had been based on Saroyan’s screenplay for the 1943 film The Human Comedy). Direction: Wilford Leach; Producers: Joseph Papp and The Shubert Organization (The New York Shakespeare Festival Production; Jason Steven Cohen, Associate Producer for The New York Shakespeare Festival); Scenery: Bob Shaw; Costumes: Rita Ryack; Lighting: James F. Ingalls; Musical Direction: Tania Leon Cast: David Lawrence Johnson (Trainman), Josh Blake (Ulysses Macauley), Bonnie Koloc (Mrs. Kate Macauley), Stephen Geoffreys (Homer Macauley), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Bess Macauley), Anne Marie Bobby (Helen), Laurie Franks (Miss Hicks), Rex Smith (Spangler), Christopher Edmonds (Thief), Gordon Connell (Mr. Grogan), Daniel Noel (Felix), Debra Byrd (Beautiful Music), Caroline Peyton (Mary Arena), Olga Merediz (Mexican Woman), Grady Mulligan (Voice of Matthew Macauley), Don Kehr (Matthew Macauley), Joseph Kolinski (Tobey), Kathleen Rowe McAllen (Neighbor), Leata Galloway (Diana Steed), Walter Hudson (Minister); Soldiers: Kenneth Bryan, Louis Padilla, Michael Willson; Townspeople: Marc Stephen Del-Gatto, Lisa Kirchner, Vernon Spencer, Dan Tramon The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1943 in the small town of Ithaca, California.

Musical Numbers Act One: “In a Little Town in California” (Company); “Hi Ya Kid” (David Lawrence Johnson, Josh Blake); “We’re a Little Family” (Bonnie Koloc, Stephen Geoffreys, Josh Blake, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “The Assyrians” (Anne Marie Bobby, Laurie Franks); “Noses” (Stephen Geoffreys); “You’re a Little Young for the Job” (Rex Smith, Stephen Geoffreys); “I Can Carry a Tune” (Stephen Geoffreys); “Happy Birthday” (Stephen Geoffreys); “Happy Anniversary” (Stephen Geoffreys, Rex Smith, Gordon Connell); “I Think the Kid Will Do” (Gordon Connell, Rex Evans); “Beautiful Music” (Debra Byrd, Company); “Cocoanut Cream Pie” (Gordon Connell, Stephen Geoffreys); “When I Am Lost” (Stephen Geoffreys, Debra Byrd, Company); “I Said, Oh No” (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Caroline Peyton, Olga Merediz); “Daddy Will Not Come Walking Through the Door” (Bonnie Koloc); “The Birds in the Sky” (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “Remember Always to Give” (Bonnie Koloc); “Long Past Sunset” (Grady Mulligan); “Don’t Tell Me” (Louis Padilla, Lisa Kirchner, Family, Company); “The Fourth Telegram” (Rex Evans, Gordon Connell); “Give Me All the Money” (Christopher Edmonds, Rex Evans); “Everything Is Changed” (Stephen Geoffreys, Bonnie Koloc); “The World Is Full of Loneliness” (Bonnie Koloc); “Hi Ya Kid” (reprise) (David Lawrence Johnson, Josh Blake, Company) Act Two: “How I Love Your Thingamajig” (Soldiers); “Everlasting” (Joseph Kolinski); “An Orphan I Am” (Joseph Kolinski); “I’ll Tell You about My Family” (Don Kehr); “I Wish I Were a Man” (Caroline Peyton); “Marcus, My Friend” (Joseph Kolinski); “My Sister Bess” (Don Kehr); “I’ve Known a Lot of Guys” (Leata Galloway); “Diana” (Rex Evans); “Dear Brother” (Stephen Geoffreys, Don Kehr); “The Birds in the Trees”/“A Lot of Men” (Leata Galloway, Rex Evans); “Parting” (Bonnie Koloc, Wives, Sweethearts, Mothers, Friends, Soldiers); “Mr. Grogan, Wake Up” (Stephen Geoffreys); “Hello Doc” (Rex Evans); “What Am I Supposed to Do?” (Stephen Geoffreys, Rex Evans); “Long Past Sunset” (Bonnie Koloc, Company); “I’m Home” (Joseph Kolinski); “Somewhere, Someone” (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “I’ll Always Love You” (Caroline Peyton, Company); “Hi Ya Kid” (reprise) (David Lawrence Johnson, Josh Blake); “Fathers and Mothers (and You and Me)” (Company) The program for Galt MacDermot’s virtually sung-through musical The Human Comedy credited its source as William Saroyan’s 1943 novel of the same name. In a reversal of the usual process, the novel was

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based on a film script, in this case Saroyan’s Academy Award-winning screenplay for the 1943 MGM film of the same title. The musical had first been presented Off Broadway at the Public’s Anspacher Theatre on December 28, 1983, for seventy-nine performances, but despite MacDermot’s ambitious and often impressive score, the musical lasted less than two weeks on Broadway. Set in a small California town during World War II, the musical centered on the widow Kate Macauley (Bonnie Koloc) and her four children, Marcus (Don Kehr), who is later killed in the war, her younger sons Homer (Stephen Geoffreys) and Ulysses (Josh Blake), and her daughter Bess (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). The story also dealt with Spangler (Rex Smith), the manager of the town’s telegraph office who sometimes has the grim duty to deliver death notices from the War Department. Many critics complained that the evening was more of a cantata or an oratorio than a musical, and while MacDermot’s music received generally favorable notices, librettist William Dumaresq was criticized for his sometimes awkward and simplistic lyrics. Further, director Wilford Leach’s major staging concept lacked urgency. All the performers sat on chairs and individual cast members stepped forward for his or her songs and scenes while the others watched. The stylized technique was off-putting and created a certain sense of alienation between the performers and the audience, and even among the performers. If the musical had been staged naturalistically and had allowed more interaction among the performers, the evening would perhaps have been more successful. For many, a little of Saroyan went a long way, and his sentimentality for the average man could be cloying in his Norman Rockwell–like universe where everyone gets along and overlooks racial barriers, a perhaps not quite realistic view of life in 1943 (this was after all the era of the Sleepy Lagoon murder and the Zoot Suit riots). In his review of the Off-Broadway engagement, Frank Rich in the New York Times praised MacDermot’s “sophisticated” score which was composed in the “true operatic manner.” Sometimes the composer’s “high aspirations” outstripped the music, but the evening offered a “highly eclectic” score that seemed to “whip” across the stage like an “old-time train so essential to Saroyan’s iconography.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily also reviewed the Off-Broadway production, and he noted the evening was more like a cantata than a musical. Although MacDermot’s “choral harmonies” were “often fresh,” there was “no sense of theatre music” and “no sense of character,” and because the story was never truly dramatized the result was “undifferentiated mush.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor also reviewed the downtown version, and he liked the “exceptional charm and winning appeal” of the musical and said the “operatic needs of aria, recitative, and vocal ensemble” were wedded to the “loving vignettes” which captured the “poignancy and heartfelt feeling of home.” As for the reviews of the Broadway production, Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the work remained “a staged pop cantata rather than a full-blown musical.” The libretto was “ambling” with a sometimes “incomprehensively arch libretto,” but MacDermot’s score was “agreeable” and the performers were “pleasant.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the staging a combination of “the minimal theatrics of Thornton Wilder” and “a village hall oratorio.” Except for the “vibrantly alive” score, the evening was “fundamentally insincere and therefore phony” with its warmth and sentimentality of “mushed-over goo.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the “pop cantata” was “Norman Rockwell set to music” and the choral format lacked a sense of urgency. But the cast was the “strongest group of singers heard on Broadway in a long time” and MacDermot’s score was “extraordinary” in its ability to “find the precise melody for a wide range of emotions.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the score was “the most inspired, inventive, and downright pleasurable music to grace Broadway in a long, long time” and he predicted the cast album would be a “treasure.” Although he found the score “lovely,” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the work was an oratorio and not a musical, and as a result the characters and the story were lacking. He noted that the show was a sell-out Off Broadway, but for Broadway the décor was “skimpy” and the direction “static.” For all purposes, The Human Comedy was now “an Off Broadway show in a Broadway house, at Broadway prices.” The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1985. The Broadway cast album was first released on two audiocassettes, and then on a two-CD set by Kilmarnock Records (# KIL-9702). For the OffBroadway production, Cass Morgan was an understudy and Donna Murphy was both an understudy and swing, and both are included in the album’s chorus.

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The musical’s nostalgic and evocative poster artwork was by Paul Davis, one of the most impressive artists in the field, but unfortunately the poster was marred by the glaring intrusion of a coy photograph of Joseph Papp, one of the musical’s producers.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Stephen Geoffreys)

DIE FLEDERMAUS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: April 10, 1984; Closing Date: April 20, 1984 Performances: 5 (in repertory) Book: Carl Haffner and Richard Genee Lyrics: Richard Genee Music: Johann Strauss Based on the play Le reveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. Direction: Karl Donsch; Producer: Kazuko Hillyer International (A Vienna Volksoper Company Production; Karl Donsch, General Director); Choreography: Gerhard Senft; Scenery: Pantelis Dessyllas; Costumes: Fred Adlmuller and Alice Maria Schlesinger; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Franz Gerstacker; Musical Direction: Caspar Richter Cast: Peter Minich (Gabriel von Eisenstein), Barbara Daniels (Rosalinda), Karl Donsch (Frank), Dagmar Koller (Prince Orlofsky), Adolph Dalapozza (Alfred), Russell Smythe (Doctor Falke), Rudolf Wasserlof (Doctor Blind), Elisabeth Kales (Adele), Guggi Loewinger (Ida), Ossy Kolman (Frosch); Singers: The Vienna Volksoper Company Chorus; Dancers: The Vienna Volksoper Company Dancers, including Christina Klein, Elisabeth Stelzer, Istvan Bernath, Melitta Ogrisse, and Ivan Jakus The Vienna Volksoper Opera Company’s visiting production of Johann Strauss’s 1874 operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat) was the first of three limited-engagement presentations by the company at the New York State Theatre during the late spring (Die Fledermaus was followed by The Merry Widow and Czardas Princess). Donal Henahan in the New York Times noted that some revivals of the operetta couldn’t comfortably negotiate both the musical and comic aspects of the plot, and while the current production tried “for a balance between these elements” the scales definitely tipped “toward Viennese vaudeville.” In one scene, a performer falls asleep with a newspaper covering his face, and through a hole in the newspaper a smoking cigar pops up; there was also some “scatological” byplay with a seltzer bottle; and at one point a character cried out “Where’s the beef?” in a nod to a popular television commercial. Henahan noted that Barbara Daniels’s Rosalinda offered “clarion sounds” but wasn’t enough of a comedian, and thus her performance was “a sturdy, unexceptional job” which lacked “real charm.” The ballroom scene included a ballet that interpolated Strauss’s polka “Thunder and Lightning” and his “Blue Danube” waltz, and while the dancing was “spirited” it wasn’t “outstanding.” However, under Casper Richter’s baton the musicians played with “commendable verve and more precision” than was normally heard in most operettas. For more information about the operetta, see entries for The New York City Opera Company’s revivals which were presented in February 1980, September 1980, 1981, 1986, and 1987.

THE MERRY WIDOW Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: April 11, 1984; Closing Date: April 21, 1984 Performances: 5 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Victor Leon and Leo Stein

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Music: Franz Lehar Based on the 1861 play L’attache d’ambassade by Henri Meilhac. Direction: Robert Herzl; Producers: Kazuko Hillyer International (A Vienna Volksoper Company Production; Karl Donsch, General Director); Choreography: Gerhard Senft; Scenery: Pantelis Dessyllas; Costumes: Barbara Bilabel and Alice Maria Schlesinger; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Franz Gerstacker; Musical Direction: For this production, there were two alternate musical directors, Franz BauerTheussl and Rudolf Bibl Cast: Karl Donsch (Baron Mirko Zeta), Melanie Holiday (Valencienne), Eberhard Waechter (Count Danilo Danilowitsch), Mirjana Irosch (Hanna Glawari), Richard Karczykowski (Camille de Rosillon), Peter Drahosch (Vicomte Cascada), Heinz Hellberg (Raoul de St. Brioche), Wolfgang Dauscha (Bogdanowitsch), Renate Krula (Sylviane), Hans Kraemmer (Kromow), Magdalena Emesz (Olga), Wolfgang Jeschek (Pritschitsch), Sonja Mottl (Praskowia), Erich Kuchar (Njegus); Singers: The Vienna Volksoper Company Chorus; Dancers: The Vienna Volksoper Company Dancers, which included Melitta Ogrise, Elisabeth Stelzer, Istvan Bernath, Zdislav Zelinka, Christina Klein, Lili Clemente, Felicitas Prikopa, Istvan Varga, Gabriella Masek, Percy Kofranek, and Peter Gavrikov The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in and around Paris during the early 1900s. Earlier in the season, The New York City Opera Company presented a revival of Franz Lehar’s 1905 operetta The Merry Widow in an English translation by Adrian Ross, and now The Vienna Volksoper brought over its limited-engagement visiting production of Lehar’s operetta (here, Die lustige witwe) along with Richard Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Emmerich Kalman’s Czardas Princess (Die Csardasfurstin, or The Gypsy Princess), all of which were performed in the original German. John Rockwell in the New York Times found the revival “a generally charming affair” and noted that for the title role Mirjana Irosch was a “bright-voiced” and “confident” heroine. Over the years, Eberhard Waechter’s baritone “had grown steadily rougher and wobblier” and was “even worse now,” but he nonetheless managed to act and sing Danilo “with a practiced charm.” Rockwell felt the production occasionally got “lost” on the large stage of the New York State Theatre, and he noted that Melanie Holiday (as Valencienne) literally became lost backstage and missed an entrance, all of which led to an unscheduled and quick curtain. Rockwell also reported the production underwent an “ill-advised experiment” with amplification, but ten minutes into the first act the experiment was thankfully “abandoned.” For more information about the operetta, see entry for the 1982 revival which was produced by the New York City Opera Company; also see entries for the company’s subsequent 1983, 1985, 1988, and 1989 revivals.

CZARDAS PRINCESS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: April 12, 1984; Closing Date: April 20, 1984 Performances: 4 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach Music: Emmerich Kalman Direction: Robert Herzl; Producer: Kazuko Hillyer International (A Vienna Volksoper Company Production; Karl Donsch, General Manager); Choreography: Michael Maurer; Scenery: Pantelis Dessyllas; Costumes: Silvia Strahammer; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Karl Heinz Dold; Musical Direction: For this production, there were two alternate musical directors, Franz Bauer-Theussl and Rudolf Bibl Cast: Rudolf Wasserlof (Leopold Maria, Prince von und Lippert-Weylersheim); Sonja Mottl (Anhilte), Franz Waechter (Edwin Ronald), Elisabeth Kales (Countess Anastasia), Peter Drahosch (Baron Eugen von Rohnsdorff), Jack Poppell (Count Boni Kacsianu), Sandor Nemeth (Feri von Kerekes aka Feri Basci), Melena Rudiferia (Sylva Varescu), Wolfgang Dauscha (Wilhelm von Billing), Helmut Randers (Siggi Gross), Rudolf Katzboeck (Sandor von Kiss), Josef Forstner (Max); Singers: The Vienna Volksoper Company Chorus; Dancers: The Vienna Volksoper Opera Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in Budapest and Vienna during 1914.

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The Vienna Volksoper Company’s revival of Emmerich Kalman’s 1915 operetta Czardas Princess (Die Csardasfurstin, and also known as The Gypsy Princess) was its third limited-engagement of the season at the New York State Theatre and it followed Die Fledermaus and The Merry Widow. The principal story line followed cabaret singer Sylva, the three men with whom in one way or another she’s romantically involved, and her occasional confrontation with social snobbery. But all ends happily as almost everyone is paired off as they sail away to the United States for a cabaret booking. Bernard Holland in the New York Times praised Kalman’s “lovely” and sometimes “surprisingly substantial” score that merged “Viennese rhythmic drawl and Hungary’s wailing lyric style” into a “tale of two cities” in which the language is both “lilting Viennese” and German as the Hungarians speak it “with dragged-out vowels and exaggerated articulation.” The production offered a “great deal” of dancing (including the waltz and the hootchy-kootchy), the women were “unfailingly elegant,” and the men looked as if born “in white tie and tails.” The operetta’s premiere took place at the Johann Strauss Theatre in Vienna on November 17, 1915, and as The Riviera Girl it opened in New York at the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 24, 1917, for onehundred performances (the book’s adaptation was by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, and the lyrics by Wodehouse). Among the recordings of the score is a highlights version released by Apon Records, and as Silva a Russian film adaptation was released in 1944.

SHIRLEY MACLAINE ON BROADWAY Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: April 19, 1984; Closing Date: May 27, 1984 Performances: 47 New Lyrics: Christopher Adler New Music: Marvin Hamlisch Additional Material: Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan Direction and Choreography: Alan Johnson; Producers: Guber/Gross Productions and The Nederlander Organization (Michael Flowers, Producer); Costumes: Pete Menefee; Lighting: Ken Billington (Jeffrey Schissler, Associate Lighting Designer); Musical Direction: Jack French Cast: Shirley MacLaine; Dancers: Mark Reina, Larry Vickers, Jamilah Lucas, Antonette Yuskis; Musicians: Jack French (Musical Direction), John Spooner (Drums), John Smith (Bass), Rick Marvin (Keyboards) The concert was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers Note: All sequences were performed by Shirley MacLaine, who was occasionally backed by four dancers. Overture (Orchestra); “Now” (lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Marvin Hamlisch); Harold Arlen Medley (including “If I Only Had a Brain,” lyric by E. Y. Harburg; 1939 film The Wizard of Oz; “Get Happy,” lyric by Ted Koehler; Nine-Fifteen Revue, 1930; and “I’ve Got the World on a String,” lyric by Ted Koehler; Cotton Club Parade [twenty-first edition, 1932]); “’S Wonderful,” Funny Face, 1927; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); Hooker Medley (including “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Cy Coleman; Sweet Charity, 1966); “In the Movies” (lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Marvin Hamlisch) and Film Monologues (from MacLaine’s films Some Came Running, 1958; The Turning Point, 1977; and Terms of Endearment, 1983); a tribute to choreographers Bob Fosse and Michael Kidd (“Sweet Georgia Brown,” lyric and music by Maceo Pinkard, Ben Bernie, and Kenneth Casey); a salute to black choreographers (George Faison, Billy Wilson, and Geoffrey Holder); a monologue (about MacLaine’s trip in the Himalayas); “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” (original lyric by Lew Brown, new lyric by Christopher Adler, music by Ray Henderson; George White’s Scandals [1931 edition]); “Nobody Does It Like Me” (original lyric by Dorothy Fields, new lyric by Buz Kohan, music by Cy Coleman; Seesaw, 1973); “A Cockeyed Optimist” (lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers; South Pacific, 1949); “Imagine” (lyric and music by John Lennon); “Friends”; “Now” (reprise)

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Frank Rich in the New York Times said if you liked Shirley MacLaine’s Oscar acceptance speech for Terms of Endearment then you’d love the lady’s current concert, where she even displayed her Oscar for the audience. Although the “unabashedly self-congratulatory showbiz queen bee” preened over herself, she was nonetheless full of “energy and charm” with her “lithe, bubbly countenance and ever-warming rag-doll’s smile.” But the evening also included “In the Movies” (a new song by Christopher Adler and Marvin Hamlisch), a “self-pitying” number about the miseries of being a movie star and a “truly jarring” salute to black choreographers that was “more patronizing than appreciative.” Otherwise, the star was always on stage performing songs, dances, and monologues, and was backed by four dancers, an instrumental quartet, and a full orchestra of some two-dozen players. Jack Kroll in Newsweek commented that MacLaine sang “golden oldies and some zink newies,” and was at her best in a tribute to Bob Fosse in which she presented “Sweet Georgia Brown” in the styles of both Fosse and Michael Kidd (but her salute to black choreographers was “more embarrassing than enchanting”). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said MacLaine danced with aplomb, looked “terrific,” and exceeded “the boundaries of the formula variety entertainment she’s chosen for her return to Broadway.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post found MacLaine an “electric,” “electrified,” and “gorgeously outrageous and quite impossibly impossible” performer who was “quite a phony” although her phoniness was “an essential part of her appeal” (but with so much talk about her Oscar, the critic wondered what topics MacLaine would have covered had she not won the award). And John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said she was “lithe, graceful, winsome, and impish, a versatile performer with the haunting face of a clown.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily noted that throughout the concert MacLaine was “occupied” with “paying heart-felt homage to Shirley MacLaine,” and it was clear that “self-congratulation is the sacred business of the evening.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 felt the concert was “hastily” put together and in need of “a nice, firm, and thoroughly overall polishing.” And Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said MacLaine was “spectacular” and a “tremendous talent.” T. E. Kalem in Time noted that Lena Horne (Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music) discussed Hollywood racism in her concert; Peggy Lee (Peg) delved into the matters of losing fame and finding religion; and in OffBroadway’s Hey, Ma . . . Kaye Ballard (1984), Ballard shared occasional “bitter” memories of her mother. But MacLaine was at a “disadvantage” because according to the star “nothing really bad” had ever happened to her. Kalem mentioned that as a dancer MacLaine’s “timing and placement” were “precise” and that her facial expressions suggested she “may be the best mugger since Lucille Ball.” MacLaine made her Broadway debut in the chorus of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1953 musical Me and Juliet, and the following year appeared in the chorus of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’s The Pajama Game, where she was also understudy to Carol Haney. At this point, the showbiz myth of 42nd Street became reality when MacLaine went on for the ailing Haney. A film agent saw one of her performances, and from there it was Hollywood and international fame for the endearing star whose career brought her five Oscar nominations (and of course that Best Actress statuette) over a span of six decades, a period that covers her first film (Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 comedy-mystery The Trouble with Harry) to her most recent appearances (including the television series Downton Abbey). MacLaine’s earlier New York concert appearance was Shirley MacLaine, which opened for a limited run at the Palace Theatre on April 19, 1976, for fourteen performances and then returned there on July 9 for a limited engagement of twenty showings.

OLIVER! Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: April 29, 1984; Closing Date: May 13, 1984 Performances: 17 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Lionel Bart Based on the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Direction: Peter Coe (Geoffrey Ferris, Associate Director); Producers: Cameron Mackintosh, Carole J. Shorenstein, and James M. Nederlander by arrangement with The Southbrook Group (R. Tyler Gatchell Jr., and Peter Neufeld, Executive Producers) ; Scenery and Costumes: Sean Kenny; Lighting: Andrew Bridge; Musical Direction: John Lesko

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Cast: Braden Danner (Oliver Twist), I. M. Hobson (Mr. Bumble), Elizabeth Larner (Mrs. Corney), Susan Willis (Old Sally), Roderick Horn (Mr. Sowerberry), Frances Cuka (Mrs. Sowerberry, Mrs. Bedwin), Andi Henig (Charlotte), Alan Braunstein (Noah Claypole), Ron Moody (Fagin), David Garlick (The Artful Dodger), Patti LuPone (Nancy), Sarah E. Litzsinger (Bet), Graeme Campbell (Bill Sykes), Michael Allinson (Mr. Brownlow), Louis Beachner (Doctor Grimwig); Workhouse Boys and Fagin’s Gang: Robert David Cavanaugh, Samir Chowdhury, Ruben Cuevas, Roshi Handerwerger, Cameron Johann, Mark Manasseri, Michael Manasseri, Kipp Marcus, Shawn Morgal, Brian Noodt, Roy Nygaard, R. D. Robb, Dennis Singletrary, Zachary A. Stier; Londoners: Diane Armistead, W. P. Dremak, Gregg Edelman, Tony Gilbert, Eleanor Glockner, Beth Guiffre, Jan Horvath, Michael McCarty, William McClary, Marcia Mitzman, Martin Moran, Barbara Moroz, Cheryl Russell, Clark Sayre, Jane Strauss; Note: Vito and Buffy alternated in the role of Bill Sykes’s bull-terrier Bullseye. The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the North of England and in London during the nineteenth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Food, Glorious Food” (Braden Danner, Boys); “Oliver!” (I. M. Hobson, Elizabeth Larner, Boys); “Boy for Sale” (I. M. Hobson); “That’s Your Funeral” (Roderick Horn, Frances Cuka, I. M. Hobson); “Where Is Love?” (Braden Danner); “Consider Yourself” (David Garlick, Braden Danner, Company); “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two” (Ron Moody, Boys); “It’s a Fine Life” (Patti LuPone, Sarah E. Litzsinger, Boys); “I’d Do Anything” (Patti LuPone, David Garlick, Braden Danner, Sarah E. Litzsinger, Ron Moody, Boys); “Be Back Soon” (Ron Moody, Boys) Act Two: “Oom-Pah-Pah” (Patti LuPone, Company); “My Name” (Graeme Campbell); “As Long as He Needs Me” (Patti LuPone); “Where Is Love?” (reprise) (Frances Cuka); “Who Will Buy?” (Braden Danner, Company); “It’s a Fine Life” (reprise) (Patti LuPone, Ron Moody, Graeme Campbell, David Garlick); “Reviewing the Situation” (Ron Moody); “Oliver!” (reprise) (I. M. Hobson, Elizabeth Larner); “As Long as He Needs Me” (reprise) (Patti LuPone); “Reviewing the Situation” (reprise) (Ron Moody); Finale (Company) The first Broadway production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! opened on January 6, 1963, at the Imperial Theatre for a stand of 744 performances, and while it didn’t match the long run of the original British production, which opened at the New Theatre on June 30, 1960, and played for 2,618 performances, it enjoyed a healthy run. And thanks to its lengthy and lucrative pre-Broadway tour, it recouped its initial capitalization before reaching New York. As part of the musical’s post-Broadway tour, the musical played a return engagement at the Martin Beck Theatre on August 2, 1965, for sixty-four performances. The current revival received mixed reviews and closed after just seventeen showings. The revival’s cast included Ron Moody, who created the role of Fagin for the original London production and later reprised the role for the 1968 film version, and Patti LuPone played Nancy. Besides Moody, director Peter Coe re-created his original staging of the London and New York productions (although “I Shall Scream,” which had been performed during New York previews, was cut by opening night), and the late Sean Kenny’s innovative scenery was again used. And it’s important to note that during previews, the role of Bill Sykes’s bull-terrier Bullseye was performed at alternate performances by either Lydia or Buffy, but by opening night the role was played by either Buffy or Vito (perhaps Lydia was indisposed or had stage fright). Bart freely adapted Dickens’s sprawling novel, but his book was true to the basic plot of the orphaned Oliver Twist, his adventures with Fagin and his band of young pickpockets, and his eventual discovery that he’s from a wealthy family. One of the most talked-about aspects of the musical was Kenny’s clever revolving unit set, which depicted a number of locales and kept the story moving at a fast clip. And Bart’s audiencefriendly score included “Food, Glorious Food,” “Consider Yourself,” and “I’d Do Anything” as well as two numbers (“Where Is Love?” and the show’s most popular song, the lugubrious “As Long as He Needs Me”) which sounded suspiciously like trunk songs shoe-horned into the plot. The score also included the irresistible circus-music rhythms of the cynical “Oom-Pah-Pah,” which makes an interesting thematic pairing with Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s “The Picture of Happiness” from Tenderloin (1960). The original London and Broadway productions included Barry Humphries in the role of Mr. Sowerberry, and years later the performer became famous for his theatrical alter-ego Dame Edna, the waspish take-no-pris-

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oners-or-possums virago who never met a man (or woman) who wasn’t ripe for ridicule. Although Humphries had created the role of Sowerberry in London, he wasn’t part of the original American company during its lengthy pre-Broadway tour where the role was performed by Frederic Warriner. When Humphries joined the company for the New York opening, his song “That’s Your Funeral,” which had been dropped for the tour, was reinstated for Broadway. Because the American cast album was recorded prior to the New York opening, “That’s Your Funeral” isn’t heard on the recording. During the extended 1962 American tryout, Michael Goodman was the Artful Dodger, but for New York the role was performed by David Jones, who was later part of the popular singing group The Monkees. As noted, the cast album was recorded prior to Broadway, and so it’s Goodman and not Jones who is heard on the recording. The British cast album was released by Decca Records (LP # SKL-4105 and # LK-4359, and issued on CD # 422-820-590-20), and the Broadway version was issued by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOCD/LSOD-2004). The LP was first released on CD by Broadway Angel Records (# ZMD-0777-7-64890-2-5) and then later by RCA (# 82876-51432-2) in a deluxe edition that includes three songs from the London recording (“That’s Your Funeral,” “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two,” and “Reviewing the Situation”), “As Long as He Needs Me” (sung by Patti LuPone), and an interview with Donald Pippin, who conducted the original Broadway production. The overblown film adaptation by Columbia Pictures was directed by Carol Reed and the cast included Moody, Mark Lester (Oliver), Shani Wallis (Nancy), Jack Wild (The Artful Dodger), Harry Secombe (Mr. Bumble), and Sheila White (Bet). The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Direction, and a special Oscar citation was given to Onna White for her choreography. Because Fagin is looked upon by many as an offensive Jewish caricature bordering on the anti-Semitic, and to ensure that no one was offended, David Merrick (who was the coproducer of the original American production) insisted that all traces of Jewishness be leavened out of Fagin’s character by the time the current revival reached New York. In his review of the original Broadway production, Howard Taubman in the New York Times noted that Bart “nowhere identifies [Fagin] as a Jew,” but by a “strange coincidence” Fagin was given a song (“Reviewing the Situation”) that “bears a close resemblance to Jewish folksong . . . a lush violin obbligato seems to stress racial strains.” But Norman Nadel in the New York World-Telegram and Sun mentioned that a critic who reviewed the Los Angeles tryout said Fagin was “the kind of lovable old codger you’d invite to a Hadassah tea.” For the current production, most of the critics didn’t seem bothered that Fagin was clearly a Jewish man, and both Frank Rich in the New York Times and Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised Moody’s performance and said they were reminded of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (1964). Barnes also noted that Moody’s characterization was “pure Jewish humor in a particularly English context” and his clowning was “English Jewish at its best.” But Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said Moody’s performance was “dangerously close to an anti-Semitic caricature” and he complained that Moody broke into “Jewish liturgical music” while singing “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two.” He also suggested that Moody’s “excesses” needed to be “toned down.” But Siegel was glad to note that Asians, Hispanics, and blacks were to be found among the nineteenthcentury London orphans. Rich found Oliver! “not unpleasant—just dull.” The musical needed “genuine musical-comedy panache and spontaneity,” and what was missing in the production could be found in Annie (1977), another orphancentric musical but one “built like a clock and wrapped in razzle-dazzle.” Further, director Coe hadn’t “bothered to shake the mothballs out of his original staging,” and as a result the company looked “tired” and sometimes it seemed Coe was remembering “the end, rather than the outset,” of the musical’s original five-year London run. But Barnes found the evening “fast-moving, attractive, and, always dramatic” and he praised Coe’s “exemplary” direction, and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News liked Coe’s “imaginative” staging of the “sprightly revival.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said Oliver! was a “stage-filling musical” that time had neither “enhanced” nor “particularly withered.”

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Ron Moody)

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SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE “A Musical”

Theatre: Booth Theatre Opening Date: May 2, 1984; Closing Date: October 13, 1985 Performances: 604 Book: James Lapine Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: James Lapine; Producers: The Shubert Organization and Emanuel Azenberg by arrangement with Playwrights Horizons; Movement: Randolyn Zinn; Scenery: Tony Straiges; Special Effects: Bran Ferren; Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt and Ann Hould-Ward; Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Act One: Mandy Patinkin (George), Bernadette Peters (Dot), Barbara Byrne (An Old Lady), Judith Moore (The Old Lady’s Nurse, Mrs.), Brent Spiner (Franz), Danielle Ferland (A Boy, Louise), Nancy Opel (A Young Man, Frieda), Cris Groenendaal (A Man, Louis), Charles Kimbrough (Jules), Dana Ivey (Yvonne), William Parry (A Boatman), Melanie Vaughan (Celeste # 1), Mary D’Arcy (Celeste # 2), Robert Westenberg (A Soldier), John Jellison (A Man with Bicycle), Michele Rigan (A Little Girl), Sue Anne Gershenson (A Woman with Baby Carriage), Kurt Knudson (Mr.) Act Two: Mandy Patinkin (George), Bernadette Peters (Marie, Dot), Brent Spiner (Dennis), Charles Kimbrough (Bob Greenberg), Dana Ivey (Naomi Eisen), Judith Moore (Harriet Pawling), Cris Groenendaal (Billy Webster), Sue Anne Gershenson (A Photographer), John Jellison (A Museum Assistant), William Parry (Charles Redmond), Robert Westenberg (Alex), Nancy Opel (Betty), Kurt Knudson (Lee Randolph), Barbara Byrne (Blair Daniels), Melanie Vaughan (A Waitress), Mary D’Arcy (Waitress) The musical was presented in two acts. The action for the first act takes place on a series of Sundays from 1884 to 1886 and alternates between a park on an island in the Seine just outside of Paris, and in George’s studio; the action for the second takes place in 1984 at an American art museum, and on the island.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Sunday in the Park with George” (Bernadette Peters); “No Life” (Charles Kimbrough, Dana Ivey); “Color and Light” (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin); “Gossip” (Melanie Vaughan, Mary D’Arcy, William Parry, Judith Moore, Barbara Byrne, Charles Kimbrough, Dana Ivey); “The Day Off” (Mandy Patinkin, Judith Moore, Brent Spiner, Nancy Opel, William Parry, Robert Westenberg, Melanie Vaughan, Mary D’Arcy, Dana Ivey, Danielle Ferland, Charles Kimbrough, Cris Groenendaal); “Everybody Loves Louis” (Bernadette Peters); “The One on the Left” (Robert Westenberg, Melanie Vaughan, Mary D’Arcy, Mandy Patinkin); “Finishing the Hat” (Mandy Patinkin); “We Do Not Belong Together” (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin); “Beautiful” (Barbara Byrne, Mandy Patinkin); “Sunday” (Company) Act Two: “It’s Hot Up Here” (Company); “Chromolume # 7” (Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters); “Putting It Together” (Mandy Patinkin, Company); “Children and Art” (Bernadette Peters); “Lesson # 8” (Mandy Patinkin); “Move On” (Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters); “Sunday” (reprise) (Company) Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George was a fantasia that speculated on the creation of Georges Seurat’s masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Seurat (1859–1891) began the work in 1884 and completed it two years later. The huge painting, which is comprised of thousands of dot-like brush strokes, measures 81 by 120 inches and is on permanent display at The Art Institute of Chicago. The first act takes place on a series of Sunday afternoons over the two years it took Seurat (Mandy Patinkin) to complete his masterwork, and the story focused on the artist’s unique vision in which he merged the techniques of chromoluminarism and pointillism. Instead of mixing colors together with brush strokes to create images, Seurat used thousands of tiny separate dots of color, and it was the eye of the viewer that optically merged the dots into coherent areas of color and light. In the musical, Seurat is depicted as a lonely

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figure who follows his muse and places his art above everything else in his life. His mistress must necessarily take second place, and he doesn’t require approval from the art establishment to validate his work. The people in the park become figures in Seurat’s painting, and the musical theorized that some were known to him, such as his appropriately named mistress Dot (Bernadette Peters), his mother, and a fellow artist, while others are strangers. Some figures were represented by actors in the company, others were depicted by life-sized cut-outs, and some by pop-ups which emerged from beneath the stage. At the end of the first act Seurat has completed the painting, and as if ordained by destiny the people in the park assume their places on stage to match their positions on the canvas. As the first-act curtain fell and the subjects in La Grande Jatte fell into place, the audience witnessed one of the most stunning visual images of the era as Seurat stood on the apron of the stage before the completed painting. The first act was a perfect musical, but unfortunately there was a second one that never matched its magnificence. The second half occurs one hundred years later and looks at a multimedia artist, also named George and who may be Seurat’s great-grandson. Unlike his great-grandfather, the young man is beholden to museum politics, rich donors, foundation money, grants, and the like. There is incipient irony in how the two Georges differ, the first dependent on nothing but his artistic vision, the second on commissions and the approbation of the art community because in his words mere “vision” is “no solution.” The second half suffered because the present-day George was generally bland and uninteresting. You were emotionally drawn to Seurat and his vision, but the modern-day George was mostly tiresome in his journey through the labyrinth of museum intrigues. And it didn’t help that one had to endure Bernadette Peters’s tiresome old-lady shtick in the second act. She played Marie, young George’s grandmother who claims to be Dot’s daughter, and her performance and would-be comic lines were groan-inducing. But Lapine’s first act was a supreme achievement, and one wished the second had been as compelling. Sondheim’s entire score was brilliant, and at its nucleus was a handful of songs that dealt with art from the perspective of artists, critics, and the general art community (“No Life,” “Color and Light,” “Finishing the Hat,” “Putting It Together,” and “Children and Art”). The first act finale, the ethereal “Sunday,” was a shimmering promenade in which the characters in the painting assume their final poses, and for the second-act opening “It’s Hot Up Here” the characters complain of being forever trapped in the painting where there’s no perspective, no proportion, and where even their profiles don’t show them to best advantage. As the song ended, the painting melted away and soon the audience was thrust into 1984. The musical received a few rave reviews, but many were surprisingly indifferent. The show was almost completely shut out by the Tony Awards, winning only two (Best Scenic Designer and Best Lighting Designer) while La Cage aux Folles walked off with the lion’s share, including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, and Best Direction. But Sunday was designated Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and it won the Pulitzer Prize. Frank Rich in the New York Times said Sondheim and Lapine had “created an audacious, haunting and, in its own intensely personal way, touching work.” Sondheim’s score was “lovely” and “wildly inventive,” his lyrics were “brilliantly funny,” and the song “Sunday” offered “glorious harmony.” But he noted the second act was “muddled” and the depiction of the present-day George regaining his artistic integrity was “less successful” in its presentation because his artistic “breakthrough” was “ordained” by the “pretty” but “inorganic” songs “Children and Art” and “Move On.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the first act as “the best musical of the season,” one that was “enchanting,” “imaginative,” and “one of the most beautiful and original pieces of musical theatre to appear in some time.” But the second act had “shortcomings” and should have been scrapped, and “Putting It Together” was “interminable.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek said Sondheim and Lapine made the creation of the painting “as exciting as the discovery of a new world,” and Sondheim’s score was “original even for him” (and Kroll singled out “Color and Light,” “Finishing the Hat,” and “Sunday”). And while the second act had “uncertainties of focus,” it was nonetheless “indispensable.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the musical didn’t “bear looking at or listening to for very long” because Sondheim’s contributions were at “low ebb” and Lapine’s book and direction were “too stiff and reverential.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post was “nonplussed, unplussed, and disappointed” with the “somewhat simplistic and bathetically pretentious course in art appreciation,” and he concluded it was “better to go to the park with anyone than to spend it boringly in the theatre with George.” And Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found the work “contrived” and “tepid” and said it made him “nostalgic” for Merrily We Roll Along.

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David Sterritt in the Christian Science Monitor said the musical didn’t lack “imagination” but it nonetheless suffered from “a basic conflict between its style and substance” because Seurat’s dictum of “order, design, and harmony” didn’t suit the needs of a Broadway musical. As a result, the characters were “stereotypes,” their situations were “trite,” and Lapine’s staging was “too studied to bring [the musical] fully to life.” Richard Corliss in Time said Lapine’s characters were “cardboard stereotypes” and Sondheim’s music was “often doggedly mimetic, achieving its pointillist effects note by Johnny-one-note.” He stated that it took a second or third hearing of the songs to realize that Sondheim had created “subterranean seisms of feeling” that were “ironic, wistful, profound, possessed.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the evening lacked human beings, drama, conflict, and story, and Sondheim’s music was “repetitive–mechanical” and his lyrics were “uninspired–mechanical” (and he noted it wasn’t until “Sunday” that Sondheim supplied a “real, meaningful, tuneful song”). Otherwise, Sunday was “no picnic.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 complained that Lapine’s conception never took the musical beyond “a-painting-comes-to-life gimmick,” and as a result the “limp and shallow” book offered “flat” comedy and “predictable” jokes. However, he singled out “Finishing the Hat” because in that one song “everything in and about the show fuses into one forceful, meaningful, shining perfection.” But except for Sondheim’s music, the second act “hardly offers a reason for its existence.” Curiously, Lapine’s book took gratuitous swipes at Americans, and Mr. and Mrs., a tourist couple, are depicted as Southern caricatures. They speak French incorrectly, talk loudly, are overdressed, eat pastries, and can hardly wait to go back home. Kissel noted that Mr. and Mrs. were “the most offensive” of Lapine’s stereotypes, and he asked how did such “vulgar” and “stupid” Americans come to buy so many “major works of French art of the period” (including La Grande Jatte) that are now housed in American rather than French collections? Barnes noted that the two tourists are eventually seen “carting off a couple of Renoir paintings as souvenirs,” and he found this “a small visual joke—but a cheap one.” The script was published in hardback by Dodd, Mead & Company in 1986, and a paperback edition published by Applause Books in 1991 includes supplemental materials, including deleted lyrics. All the lyrics are included in the Sondheim’s collection Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany. The script was also published in Great Britain in 1990 by Nick Hern Books and includes articles and background information about the musical. The original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # HBC1-5042 and CD # RCD15042), and a later CD release by Sony/BMG/Masterworks Broadway (# 82876-68638-2) includes bonus tracks of “Sunday” (performed by Bernadette Peters and the Broadway Chorus and American Theatre Orchestra from the 1992 concert Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall) and “Putting It Together” (performed by the Off-Broadway cast of the 1993 retrospective revue Putting It Together). The New York production was filmed at the Booth Theatre with most of the original Broadway cast and was shown on both cable and public television in 1986. The film was released on home video in videocassette, laser disk, and DVD formats, and its most recent video release is part of the DVD boxed-set The Stephen Sondheim Collection (# ID-17531-MDVD). A tenth-anniversary concert production with most of the original Broadway cast was given for one performance at the St. James Theatre on May 15, 1994. The original London production was presented in repertory by the Royal National Theatre at the Lyttelton Theatre on March 15, 1990, for a limited engagement of 117 performances with Philip Quast and Maria Friedman. Another London production opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory on November 29, 2005, with Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell; it was recorded on a two-CD set by PS Classics (# PS-640) and includes the complete version of “The One on the Left” (for more information about the song, see below). This production opened on Broadway at Studio 54 on February 21, 2008, for 116 performances with Evans and Russell (others in the cast were Mary Beth Peil, Jessica Molaskey, and Michael Cumpsty). Sunday in the Park with George was first produced Off Broadway for twenty-five workshop performances at Playwrights Horizons beginning on July 6, 1983; for the first twenty-two performances, only the first act was presented, and for the final three showings the second act was also given. Most of the cast members were seen in the Broadway production which opened ten months later, and those in the workshop who didn’t transfer to Broadway were Carmen Mathews, Christine Baranski, Kelsey Grammer, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Three songs in the workshop were deleted for Broadway: “Yoo-Hoo!,” “Soldiers and Girls,” and “Have to Keep Them Humming.” “Soldiers and Girls” was replaced by “The One on the Left,” a brief number which

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wasn’t listed in the Broadway program but was sung between “Everybody Loves Louis” and “Finishing the Hat.” Although “The One on the Left” was performed throughout the Broadway production and was included in the published script, it wasn’t part of the Broadway cast recording. The song was listed in the Broadway preview program but not in the opening night and following programs.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Sunday in the Park with George); Best Actor in a Musical (Mandy Patinkin); Best Actress in a Musical (Bernadette Peters); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Dana Ivey); Best Director of a Musical (James Lapine); Best Book (James Lapine); Best Score (lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim); Best Scenic Designer (Tony Straiges); Best Costume Designer (Patricia Zipprodt and Ann Hould-Ward); Best Lighting Designer (Richard Nelson) New York Critics’ Circle Award: Best Musical 1983–1984 (Sunday in the Park with George) Pulitzer Prize: Best Play 1984–1985 (Sunday in the Park with George)

THE WIZ

“The Smash Hit Musical Version

of

The Wonderful Wizard

of

Oz”

Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: May 24, 1984; Closing Date: June 3, 1984 Performances: 13 Book: William F. Brown Lyrics and Music: Charlie Smalls Based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (who also wrote thirteen other Oz novels). Direction: Geoffrey Holder; Producers: Tom Mallow, James Janek, and The Shubert Organization; Choreography: George Faison; Scenery: Peter Wolf; Costumes: Geoffrey Holder; Lighting: Paul Sullivan; Musical Direction: Charles H. Coleman Cast: Peggie Blue (Aunt Em), Toto (Toto), Stephanie Mills (Dorothy), David Weatherspoon (Uncle Henry, Munchkin, Sunflower, Stranger, Field Mouse, Emerald City Citizen), Daryl Richardson (Tornado, Poppy, Emerald City Citizen), Carol Dennis (Munchkin, Sunflower, Stranger, Emerald City Citizen), Ada Dyer (Munchkin, Sunflower, Chief of the Field Mice, Emerald City Citizen), Lawrence Hamilton (Munchkin, Kalidah, Field Mouse, Emerald City Citizen, Lord High Underling), Sam Harkness (Munchkin, Sunflower, Stranger, Royal Gatekeeper, Emerald City Citizen), Juanita Fleming (Addaperle), Alfred L. Dove (Yellow Brick Road, Emerald City Citizen), Germaine Edwards (Yellow Brick Road, Emerald City Citizen, Winged Monkey), Dwight Leon (Yellow Brick Road, Emerald City Citizen), David Robertson (Yellow Brick Road, Emerald City Citizen), Charles Valentino (Scarecrow), Paula Anita Brown (Crow, Poppy, Emerald City Citizen), Marvin Engran (Crow, Kalidah, Emerald City Citizen, Soldier Messenger), Jasmine Guy (Crow, Kalidah, Emerald City Citizen), Howard Porter (Tinman), Gregg Baker (Lion), Raymond C. Harris (Kalidah, Emerald City Citizen), Gigi Hunter (Kalidah, Poppy, Emerald City Citizen), Martial Roumain (Kalidah, Emerald City Citizen), Sharon Brooks (Poppy, Head of the Society of Emerald City), Carla Earle (Poppy, Emerald City Citizen), Tanya Gibson (Poppy, Emerald City Citizen), Roslyn Burrough (Emerald City Citizen), Carl Hall (The Wiz), Ella Mitchell (Evillene), Ann Duquesnay (Glinda) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Kansas, Munchkin Land, and Oz.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Feeling We Once Had” (Peggie Blue); “Tornado Ballet” (Company); “He’s the Wizard” (Juanita Fleming, Carol Dennis, Ada Dyer, Lawrence Hamilton, Sam Harkness, David Weatherspoon); “Soon as I Get Home” (Stephanie Mills); “I Was Born on the Day before Yesterday” (Charles Valentino, Paula Anita

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Brown, Marvin Engran, Jasmine Guy); “Ease on Down the Road” (Stephanie Mills, Charles Valentino, Alfred L. Dove, Germaine Edwards, Dwight Leon, David Robertson); “Slide Some Oil to Me” (Howard Porter, Stephanie Mills, Charles Valentino); “Mean Ole Lion” (Gregg Baker); “Kalidah Battle” (Marvin Engran, Jasmine Guy, Lawrence Hamilton, Raymond C. Harris, Gigi Hunter, Martial Roumain, Alfred L. Dove, Germain Edwards, Dwight Leon, David Robertson); “Be a Lion” (Stephanie Mills, Gregg Baker); “Lion’s Dream” (Gregg Baker, Sharon Brooks, Paula Anita Brown, Carla Earle, Tanya Gibson, Gigi Hunter, Daryl Richardson); “Emerald City Ballet” (aka “Psst”) (lyric by Timothy Graphenreed and George Faison, music by George Faison) (Friends, Company); “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” (Carl Hall); “What Would I Do If I Could Feel” (Howard Porter) Act Two: “No Bad News” (Ella Mitchell); “Funky Monkeys” (Monkeys); “Wonder, Wonder, Why” (Stephanie Mills); “Everybody Rejoice” (lyric and music by Luther Vandross) (Friends, Winkies); “Who Do You Think You Are?” (Friends); “If You Believe” (Carl Hall); “Y’all Got It!” (Carl Hall); “A Rested Body Is a Rested Mind” (Ann Duquesnay); “If You Believe” (reprise) (Ann Duquesnay); “Home” (Stephanie Mills) The revivals of Oliver! and The Wiz came along late in the season and perhaps were in hope that the endof-school season and the upcoming summer months would attract the family trade. But both shows badly floundered; the former managed just seventeen performances and the latter only thirteen. In its day, The Wiz had been an enormously popular audience hit. It opened on January 5, 1975, at the Majestic Theatre and ran for 1,672 performances; won seven Tony Awards (including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Direction, Best Choreography, and Best Costumes); and, in an era when Broadway songs were becoming increasingly irrelevant to the general public, the musical enjoyed a hit song in “Ease on Down the Road.” The Wiz was an updated black version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and while it never began to match the charm of the 1939 MGM film adaptation and its classic songs by E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, it was nonetheless occasionally amusing in its street-smart attitude. The décor and costumes were lavish and the dances lively (a “Tornado Ballet” was a particular stand-out), but the score was generally disappointing and the book was essentially a one-joke show with its updated vernacular and outlook (the scarecrow asks Dorothy for “spare change”). Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “tacky touring production” was “spilled on the stage as if it were a trunk load of marked-down, damaged goods.” The costumes seemed “stapled” together, the sets were lacking (Emerald City looked like “a honeymoon suite at a Las Vegas hotel shortly after a major fire”), and the dances were all “calisthenics” with no “panache.” He further noted that not one performer could act, and Stephanie Mills “failed to deliver” the meaning “and often the words” of her dialogue, looked “supremely bored” with her fellow performers, and danced like a “wind-up doll.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said Mills had now matured into her mid-20s and thus made a “rather severe-looking” Dorothy, and in many respects she seemed “trapped in a Las Vegas chorine’s nightmare” with “oppressive disco choreography” and winged monkeys that “bump and grind like male strippers.” The headline of Clive Barnes’s review in the New York Post said the musical was back and “worse than ever,” and he noted that Mills didn’t “seem to have gotten older, simply worse.” Dennis Cunningham on WCBSTV2 said the musical had less to do with the black experience and more to do “with Las Vegas glitz, Rockette kicks, knee-jerk Broadway shlock, miles and miles of costuming excesses, and VERY HIGH CAMP.” And he noted the camp level was so high the revival made La Cage Aux Folles “look like a documentary about stevedores.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor feared the musical had “gotten considerably out of hand during its months on the road” and many of the cast members were “self-indulgently hamming it up.” But the score was “agreeable” and the revival qualified “as an exuberant gesture to family fare and summertime fun.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the musical earned “enough high marks to make it worth a visit,” but it looked “a bit road weary.” He noted the show was “long, too long,” the book was “patchy,” and the dance numbers were “overextended,” but the music was “versatile and very fitting,” the décor was “sufficiently eye-catching,” the costumes were “extravagant and colorful,” and the lighting was “fittingly garish.” The script was published in paperback by Samuel French, Inc., in 1979, and was included in the 1979 hardback collection Great Rock Musicals (edited by Stanley Richards and published by Stein and Day). The original Broadway cast album was released by Atlantic Records (LP # SD-18137 and CD # 18137). The 1978 film version released by Universal Pictures was a dreary and overblown exercise that managed to obliterate the few charms offered by the stage production. Among the film’s wrong turns was Diana Ross as a misconceived Dorothy, who is now an adult and a school teacher by profession; others in the cast were

1983–1984 SEASON     217

Michael Jackson (Scarecrow), Nipsey Russell (Tinman), Richard Pryor (The Wiz), Lena Horne (Glinda), and Theresa Merritt (Aunt Em), and reprising their roles from the Broadway production, Ted Ross (Lion) and Mabel King (Evillene). The soundtrack was issued on a two-LP set by MCA Records (# MCA2-14000), and the DVD was released by Universal Studios. On December 3, 2015, the musical was telecast live on NBC with Stephanie Mills in the role of Aunt Em. After the current revival, the musical was presented at the Beacon Theatre on March 16, 1993, for sixteen showings (Mills was again Dorothy, and Andre De Shields reprised his original Broadway role of the Wiz), and on June 18, 2009, the musical was revived in concert by Encores! at City Center for a limited engagement of twenty-one performances.

CHAPLIN

“A New Musical” / “A New Musical

about the

Life

of

Charlie Chaplin”

The musical opened on August 12, 1983, at the Music Center/Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, and permanently closed there on September 24, 1983. Book, Lyrics, and Music: Anthony Newley and Stanley Ralph Ross Direction and Choreography: Michael Smuin (Claudia Asbury, Co-Choreographer); Producers: Raymond Katz, Sandy Gallin, James M. Nederlander, and Arthur Rubin in association with David Susskind; Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Costumes: Willa Kim; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Ian Fraser Cast: Anthony Newley (Charlie Chaplin), Mary Leigh Stahl (Hannah, Miss Peterson), Scott Grimes (Young Charlie), Ricky Segall (Young Sydney), Lyle Kanouse (Master of Ceremonies), Kenneth H. Waller (Charles Senior, Hearst), Andrea Marcovicci (Oona, Lita, Paulette Goddard), Kathy Andrini (Victoria), Jack Ritschel (Grudgewick, Picklebrain), Marsha Bagwell (Matron, Chee Chee San, Lillian), Michael Byers (Grown Sydney), Thom Keeling (Teen Sydney), John Allee (Teen Charlie), S. Marc Jordan (Karno, Butzi), Ric Stoneback (Reeves, Fatty Arbuckle, Dubczek), Jim MacGeorge (Stan Laurel, Willhartz), Lyle Kanouse (Mack Sennett, Edwin), Sheri Cowart (Mabel Normand), Thom Sesma (Kojo); The People Who Touched Charlie’s Life: Kathy Andrini, K. T. Brown, Sheri Cowart, Nikki D’Amico, Dennis Daniels, Kathleen Dawson, Michael Estes, Michael Jay Lawrence, Aaron Lohr, Bridget Michele, Barbara Moroz, Roger Spivy, Chance Taylor The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place from 1895 to the present in New York City, London, Switzerland, Middle America, and in Los Angeles, Glendale, Beverly Hills, San Simeon, and Hollywood, California.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Overture” (Company); “A Little Bit of Powder and Paint” (Anthony Newley, Children); “A Little Bit of Powder and Paint” (reprise) (Kenneth H. Waller, The Flora Dora Girls); “Me and You” (Anthony Newley, Scott Grimes); “Joyeux Noel” (Carol Singers); “Love” (Anthony Newley, Children); “Love” (reprise) (Anthony Newley, Mary Leigh Stahl, Ricky Segall, Scott Grimes, Salvation Army Singers); “Sydney’s Hymn” (Ricky Segall, Michael Byers, Scott Grimes, Anthony Newley); “Heel, Toe and Away We Go” (The Lancashire Lads); “A Little Bit of Powder and Paint” (reprise) (Kenneth H. Waller); “Heel, Toe and Away We Go” (reprise) (Scott Grimes, Ricky Segall, John Allee, Thom Keeling); “Funny Man” (Anthony Newley, John Allee, Thom Keeling, S. Marc Jordan, Ric Stoneback); “Funny Man” (reprise) (Anthony Newley, Company); “The American Dream” (Anthony Newley); “Madame Butterfingers” (Jack Ritschel, Anthony Newley, Marsha Bagwell); “Going Places” (Anthony Newley); “Funny Man” (reprise) (Lyle Kanouse, Sheri Cowart, Ric Stoneback, S. Marc Jordan); “Doing the Charlie Chaplin” (Dancers, Street People); “If Only You Were Here” (Anthony Newley); “Bon Nuit, Papa” (Mourners) Act Two: “Doing the Charlie Chaplin” (reprise) (The Empire Lovelies); “My Private Life” (Anthony Newley); “Thanks for Nothing” (Andrea Marcovicci, Company); “Dinner with W.R.” (Anthony Newley, The Hearst Staff); “A Little Bit of Powder and Paint” (reprise) (Mary Leigh Stahl); “One Man Band” (Anthony Newley, Scott Grimes, Company); “Sydney’s Hymn” (reprise) (Anthony Newley, Michael Byers); “The American Dream” (reprise) (Anthony Newley); “Remember Me” (Anthony Newley); “Joyeux Noel” (reprise) (Carol Singers); “Love” (reprise) (Anthony Newley, Andrea Marcovicci); “Me and You” (reprise) (Anthony Newley, Scott Grimes)

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Chaplin purported to tell the life story of film personality Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), but the critics and public weren’t interested and so the $4.3 million musical cut short its Los Angeles engagement by one week and canceled its November 10, 1983, opening at the Mark Hellinger Theatre where it was to begin previews on October 21. Edwa in Variety said the musical had “little to say” and just paid “lip service” in its documentary approach to Chaplin’s life and career. It didn’t do “much digging” into the character, Newley’s performance was “undistinguished,” and director and choreographer Michael Smuin didn’t have much to work with in the way of a book and score. But Douglas W. Schmidt’s décor was “heavy, busy and attractive” and was “the star of the show.” During the chaotic tryout, the creators tried to pull the show together (and at one point the purposely fluid plot that shifted back and forth in time was rewritten in chronological order, and a new song with lyric by Ellen Fitzhugh and music by Larry Grossman was added to the score). But nothing worked, and the show’s closing (with its attendant accusations and recriminations among cast members and producers) made the first page of the New York Times in an article matter-of-factly titled “Why Chaplin Is Not Opening on Broadway.” A revised version of the musical opened at the Theatre Under the Star’s Miller Theatre in Houston, Texas, on July 18, 1985, with Newley again the star and in this case also the director. Claudia Asbury, who had cochoreographed the original production, was now the choreographer, Willa Kim returned as costume designer, and the cast included a few players from the first production, including Jim MacGeorge, Michael Byers, S. Marc Jordan, and Ric Stoneback. Valerie Lee, who had created the role of the little girl Susan Walker in the original 1963 Broadway production of Here’s Love, played the roles of Oona, Lita, and Paulette Goddard. The revised version included many of the songs from the 1983 version, and added one new number (“Read All About It”). Jole in Variety felt the musical had “enormous potential” with its “good” score and Newley’s “excellent” performance. But the critic noted the “geography of the show confuses” and “in the stringing together of so many barely inter-locking episodes” the show sacrificed “too much momentum.” There have been at least three other musical versions about Chaplin. A 1993 production (also called Chaplin) played in regional theatre (book by Ernest Kinoy, lyrics by Lee Goldsmith, and music by Roger Anderson); Little Tramp played in regional theatre in 1995 and later in Great Britain and Russia (book by David Pomeranz and Steven David Horwich and lyrics and music by Pomeranz); and Chaplin (book by Christopher Curtis and Thomas Meehan and lyrics and music by Curtis) opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on September 10, 2012, for 135 performances. A studio cast recording of Little Tramp was issued by Warner Music (CD # 450991387-2) with Richard Harris, Petula Clark, Mel Brooks, Lea Salonga, Tim Curry, and Treat Williams; and the cast recording of the 2012 Broadway production was released on CD by Sony Masterworks.

DUDDY The musical opened on April 7, 1984, at the Citadel Theatre’s Shoctor Theatre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, closed there on May 5, and then played at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where it permanently closed on June 3, 1984. Book: Mordecai Richler Lyrics: Jerry Leiber Music: Mike Stoller Based on the 1959 novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. Direction and Choreography: Brian Macdonald (Anne Wootten, Assistant Director); Producer: The Citadel Theatre (Samuel Gesser and Douglas M. Cohen, Producers); Scenery: Phillip Silver (Judith Lee, Associate Set Designer); Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Stephen Ross; Musical Direction: Howard Cable Cast: Lonny Price (Duddy Kravitz), Ted Beniades (Max Kravitz), Howard Jerome (Cohen), Jack Northmore (Calder), Sam Malkin (Uncle Benjy), Jan Filips (Lennie), Nicholas Rice (Simcha), Marlane O’Brien (Yvette), Marshall Borden (Friar), Jay Brazeau (Boy Wonder), Reed Jones (Virgil), David Gale (Irwin, Acolyte, Various Characters), Max Reimer (La Pointe, Waiter, Humphrey Bogart, Choreographer, Various Characters), Ted Pearson (Waiter, Bartender, Various Characters), Sal Bienstock (David Huberman, Acolyte, Rabbi, Various Characters), Larry Mannell (Taxi Driver, Mr. Nathan, Acolyte, Various Characters), Dom Fiore (Mr. Huberman, Shub, Various Characters), Rosanne Hopkins (Mrs. Kaiser, Last Reel Singer, Tico-Tico Dancer, Various Characters), Vinetta Strombergs (Mrs. Nathan, Tico-Tico Dancer, Various Characters), Marshall Perlmutar (Tansky, Mr. Kaiser, Reporter, Various Characters), J. Gordon Masten (Taxi Driver, Mr. Selwyn,

1983–1984 SEASON     219

Reporter, Various Characters), Scott A. Hurst (Taxi Driver, Mrs. Cohen, Reporter, Various Characters), Jason Ross (Young Duddy, Herbie Selwyn, Fergus Calder, Bernie), Faye Cohen (Linda Rubin, Last Reel Singer, Sandra, Various Characters), Anna Starnino (Jewel Huberman, Tico-Tico Dancer, Debutante, Various Characters), Diane Fabian (Mrs. Selwyn, Tico-Tico Dancer, Mrs. Calder, Various Characters), Wendy Abbott (Josette, Rosa Nathan, Last Reel Singer, Various Characters) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Montreal, Canada.

Musical Numbers Act One: “St. Urbain Street Theme” (Company); “E = mc2” (Lonny Price); “The Ballad of the Boy Wonder” (Ted Beniades, Larry Mannell, J. Gordon Masten, Scott A. Hurst); “Someday I’m Gonna Be a Somebody” (Lonny Price); “When I Was Young” (Nicholas Rice); “More, More, More” (Company); “You Breathe Out, I Breathe In” (Marlane O’Brien); “Trust Me” (Lonny Price); “What Did She Look Like?” (Lonny Price); “Humphrey Bogart” (Max Reimer, Rosanne Hopkins, Faye Cohen, Wendy Abbott); “Doing the Tico-Tico” (Rosanne Hopkins, Vinetta Strombergs, Anna Starnino, Diane Fabian, Max Reimer); “Ya Gotta Be on Your Toes” (Jay Brazeau, David Gale, Ted Pearson, Sal Bienstock, Larry Mannell); “Someday I’m Gonna Be a Somebody” and “St. Urbain Street Theme” (reprises) (Lonny Price) Act Two: “Lennie’s Dream” (Jan Filips); “St. Andrew’s Ball” (Jack Northmore, Company); “That Old Tune Called Romance” (Marshall Borden); “You Never Had It So Good” (Lonny Price, Marlane O’Brien); “Trust Me” (reprise) (Marlane O’Brien); “Friends” (Lonny Price, Reed Jones); “Duddy Kravitz, You’re a Bum” (Company); “That’s the Way It Is” (Howard Jerome, Cronies); “Friends” (reprise) (Reed Jones, Marlane O’Brien, Lonny Price); “Friends” (reprise) (Company) Mordecai Richler wrote the book for Duddy, an adaptation of his 1959 novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz which was later filmed in 1974 with Richard Dreyfuss in the title role. The songs were by the legendary team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who had written many of Elvis Presley’s hits (“Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Treat Me Nice”) as well as such popular songs (occasionally in collaboration with others) as “Kansas City,” “Love Potion No. 9,” “On Broadway,” “Yakety Yak,” “Spanish Harlem,” and “Is That All There Is?” (the latter had been written by the team in the late 1960s for their unproduced musical International Wrestling Match). Duddy was about a young Jewish man who lives in a poor neighborhood in Montreal during the 1940s and yearns to break free of his hardscrabble existence by hitting it big in real estate. Duddy was a likeable scoundrel in the tradition of Harry Bogen and Sammy Glick, the antiheroes of I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962) and What Makes Sammy Run?(1964), but perhaps the honest but sour ending turned off audiences. The musical played for two months, and then disappeared. But on September 22, 1987, a completely different musical version of the material premiered as The Adventures of Duddy Kravitz at Philadelphia’s American Music Theatre Festival at the Annenberg Center’s Zellerbach Theatre. The book was cowritten by Austin Pendleton and by Richler, the lyrics were by David Spencer, and the music by Alan Menken. Lonny Price again played the title role, and others in the cast were Stephen Pearlman, Merwin Goldsmith, Marty Brill, John Jellison, Bob Morrisey, Emily Zacharias, and Anne Marie Bobby. The musical played out its Philadelphia engagement and closed on October 11, when it vanished for almost thirty years. However, on June 8, 2015, a revised version of this production opened at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and as of this writing a cast album is scheduled to be recorded.

1984–1985 Season

CANDIDE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 18, 1984; Closing Date: July 22, 1984 Performances: 7 Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics: Richard Wilbur; additional lyrics by Leonard Bernstein, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on the 1759 novel Candide; or, Optimism by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet). Direction: Harold Prince (Arthur Masella and Albert Sherman, Stage Directors); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Daniel R. Rule, Managing Director); Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Clarke Dunham; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Master: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: John Mauceri Cast: John Lankston (Voltaire, Doctor Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, Second Gambler aka Police Chief, Sage), David Eisler (Candide), Don Yule (Huntsman, Bulgarian Soldier, Don), Deborah Darr (Paquette), Carol Sparrow (Baroness, Calliope Player), Jack Harrold (Baron, Grand Inquisitor, Slave Driver, PashaPrefect), Leigh Munro (Cunegonde), Scott Reeve (Maximilian), James Billings (Maximilian’s Servant, Bulgarian Soldier, Don Isaachar, Judge, Father Bernard, First Gambler), Scott Evans (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Governor’s Aide, Sailor), William Ledbetter (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Pirate), Ralph Bassett (Heresy Agent, Don), Gary Dietrich (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Michael Martorano (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Old Lady), Vasilis Iracledes (Don), Richard Smith (Don), Travis Wright (Sailor), John Henry Thomas (Pirate), Ivy Austin (Pink Sheep), Susan Delery-Whedon (Pink Sheep), Robert Brubaker (Lion); The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action occurs during the eighteenth century in Westphalia, Lisbon, Cadiz, Buenos Aires, and sundry places throughout the world. The New York City Opera Company’s 1984 revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide was its third of seven; for more information about the operetta, see entry for the 1982 production (which also includes a list of musical numbers and a general history of the musical). For information about the 1983, 1986, and 1989 revivals, see specific entries. The work was also revived by the company in 2005 and 2008. For the current presentation, Donal Henahan in the New York Times said David Eisler was not a “great” tenor but his Candide was “the only imaginable” one as the “rabbit-brained, accident-prone victim of a flawed educational theory.” Leigh Munro’s “properly twittery” Cunegonde utilized a “windup-doll approach” which was undoubtedly the fault of the director, and her “Betty Boop parody” unfortunately carried over into “Glitter and Be Gay.” In reviewing a later performance with a few alternate cast members, John Rockwell in the Times praised the “really winning innocence” and “strong, warmly grainy tenor” of Cris Groenendaal’s Candide, and while the “full-voiced soprano” of Claudette Peterson’s Cunegonde lacked “the ultimate in coloratura agility” for “Glitter and Be Gay,” she nonetheless compensated with “real lyric charm.” 221

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SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: October 11, 1984; Closing Date: November 16, 1984 Performances: 13 (in repertory) Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond. Direction: Harold Prince (Arthur Masella, Assistant); Producers: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Larry Fuller (William Kirk, Assistant); Scenery: Eugene Lee (Leo Yoshimura, Assistant Scenic Designer); Costumes: Franne Lee (Sheila Kehoe, Assistant Costume Designer); Lighting: Ken Billington (Marcia Madeira, Associate Lighting Designer); Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Cris Groenendaal (Anthony Hope), Timothy Nolen (Sweeney Todd), Adair Lewis (Beggar Woman), Rosalind Elias (Mrs. Lovett), William Dansby (Judge Turpin), John Lankston (The Beadle), Leigh Munro (Johanna), Paul Binotto (Tobias Ragg), Jerold Siena (Pirelli), William Ledbetter (Jonas Fogg); Chorus: The New York City Opera Company Chorus; Dancers: The New York City Opera Company Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London during the nineteenth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd”) (Company); “No Place Like London” (Cris Groenendaal, Timothy Nolen, Adair Lewis); “The Barber and His Wife” (Timothy Nolen); “The Worst Pies in London” (Rosalind Elias); “Poor Thing” (Rosalind Elias); “My Friends” (Timothy Nolen, Rosalind Elias); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Lift your razor high, Sweeney!”) (Company);“Green Finch and Linnet Bird” (Leigh Munro); “Ah, Miss” (Chris Groenendaal); “Johanna” (“I’ll steal you, Johanna”) (Cris Groenendaal); “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir” (Paul Binotto, Timothy Nolen, Rosalind Elias, Company); “The Contest” (Jerold Siena); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Sweeney pondered and Sweeney planned”) (Adair Lewis, Company); “Johanna” (“Mea culpa, mea culpa”) (William Dansby); “Wait” (Rosalind Elias); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“His hands were quick, his fingers strong”) (Three Tenors);“Kiss Me” (Leigh Munro, Cris Groenendaal); “Ladies in Their Sensitivities” (John Lankston); “Kiss Me” (aka “Quartet”) (Leigh Munro, Cris Groenendaal, John Lankston, William Dansby); “Pretty Women” (Timothy Nolen, William Dansby); “Epiphany” (Timothy Nolen); “A Little Priest” (Timothy Nolen, Rosalind Elias) Act Two: “God, That’s Good!” (Paul Binotto, Rosalind Elias, Timothy Nolen, Adair Lewis, Customers); “Johanna” (“I feel you, Johanna”) (Cris Groenendaal, Timothy Nolen, Leigh Munro, Adair Lewis); “By the Sea” (Rosalind Elias); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Sweeney’d waited too long before—”) (Quintet); “Wigmaker” and “Letter Sequence” (Timothy Nolen, Cris Groenendaal, Quintet); “Not While I’m Around” (Paul Binotto, Rosalind Elias); “Parlor Songs” (“Sweet Polly Plunkett” and “Ding Dong”) (John Lankston); “City on Fire!” (Lunatics, Leigh Munro, Cris Groenendaal); “Final Sequence” (Cris Groenendaal, Adair Lewis, Timothy Nolen, William Dansby, Rosalind Elias, Leigh Munro, Paul Binotto); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Lift your razor high, Sweeney!”) (Company); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd”) (Entire Company) In reviewing The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Donal Henahan in the New York Times didn’t believe the music was best served in the opera house because “more attention” was focused on the “sing-song score than was good for it.” Further, the theatre’s amplification system was “eccentric,” but as it improved through the course of the evening Henahan was forced “to question the score’s presumptions” because the songs were “probably” meant to be sung by performers “trained to ignore pitch and quality in favor of word clarity.” Although Rosalind Elias’s Mrs. Lovett had a “nice antic touch,” Timothy Nolan’s Sweeney Todd “displayed only a couple of push-button attitudes and emotions to go with his adequate voice.” The revival added Judge Turpin’s version

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of “Johanna,” which had been cut during the New York previews of the original Broadway production, and Henahan thought the “sado-masochistic aria” was “repellently cheap as a dramatic device.” During the run, Joyce Castle and Stanley Wexler sang the roles of Mrs. Lovett and Todd, and John Rockwell in the Times noted Castle’s “wit and charm evoked memories of Angela Lansbury.” Wexler’s voice was “a little weak at the low end,” but he was nonetheless “very good” as well as “charismatic” and “heartfelt.” The musical opened on Broadway on March 1, 1979, at the Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre for 557 performances and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Direction. The story centers on the falsely imprisoned Benjamin Barker who under the alias of Sweeney Todd returns to London in order to avenge himself on the judge and the judge’s cronies who created trumped-up charges against him so that the judge could ravish Barker’s wife, the innocent Lucy. Todd is recognized by Mrs. Lovett, who runs a dilapidated and unsuccessful pie shop, and the two soon form an unholy alliance that allows him to slice the throats of his enemies and other unfortunates while she bakes their flesh into meat pies. The story of revenge, murder, and cannibalism was virtually sung-through, and of the ten major roles, seven characters are murdered (five have their throats slit, one is shot to death, and another is burned alive) and one goes insane. Yet despite the horrific story, Sondheim’s music was, after A Little Night Music, his most lushly romantic and lyrical score and contained some of the most gorgeous theatre music of the era. The script was published in hardback and paperback editions by Dodd, Mead & Company in 1979, and includes the cut “Johanna” and tooth-pulling sequences. A later edition that contains background material about the musical was published in hardback and paperback by Applause Musical Library in 1991. The script is also included in the hardback collection Four by Sondheim (published by Applause in 2000). All the lyrics for Sweeney Todd are included in Sondheim’s hardback collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes, published in 2010 by Alfred A. Knopf. The original Broadway cast album was released on a two-LP set and two-CD set by RCA Victor Records (LP # CBL2-3379 and CD # 3379-2-RC), and includes the Judge’s version of ”Johanna.” During the musical’s national tour with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn, a performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles was taped and shown on the Entertainment Channel on September 12, 1982. This version was released on DVD by Warner Home Video, Inc. (# T-6750). As of this writing, the musical has been revived in New York eight times. The first of two Broadway revivals was presented at the Circle in the Square Theatre on September 14, 1989, for 189 performances (Bob Gunton and Beth Fowler), and was based on an Off-Off-Broadway production by the York Theatre Company that opened at the Church of the Heavenly Rest on March 31, 1989, for a limited engagement of twenty-four performances. The second Broadway revival opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on November 3, 2005, for 384 showings (Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone) in a controversial staging by John Doyle, which, like his Broadway revival of Company, eliminated the traditional orchestra and instead had the actors play musical instruments (and this time around the musical was set in a mental institution). The cast album of the 2005 production was released on a two-CD set by Nonesuch Records (# 79946-2). After City Opera’s current revival, the company produced the work two more times, both at the New York State Theatre: on July 29, 1987, for eleven performances (Timothy Nolen/Stanley Wexler and Marcia Mitzman/Joyce Castle) and on March 1, 2004, for twenty-eight performances (Timothy Nolen/Mark Delavan and Elaine Paige/Myrna Paris); for more information about the 1987 revival, see entry. The work was also twice presented in concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall with the New York City Philharmonic: on May 4, 2000, for three performances (George Hearn and Patti LuPone) and on March 5, 2014, for five performances (Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson). The 2000 concert was released on a two-CD set by Philharmonic Special Editions (# NYP-2001/2002), and a later production of the concert was presented with Hearn and LuPone at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and was released on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ID1529EMDVD). The 2014 concert was shown on public television on September 26, 2014. There have been three major London stagings (in 1980, 1994, and 2012, and the last two won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival). The 1980 production, which opened at the Drury Lane on July 2 and ran for 157 performances, starred Denis Quilley and Sheila Hancock and included a new second-act musical sequence (“Beggar Woman’s Lullaby”) for the Beggar Woman, who was played by Dilys Watling. A recording of highlights from the 2012 production was released by First Night Records (CD # CASTCD-113) with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton.

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The 2007 film version was released by Dreamworks Pictures and Warner Brothers Pictures; directed by Tim Burton and with a screenplay by John Logan, the film starred Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Although the adaptation didn’t include all the musical numbers, it nonetheless retained the mood of the original stage production and Depp made an arresting Todd. Two sequences stood out: “Epiphany” began in Todd’s tonsorial parlor and then surreally catapulted him into the streets of London while he glowered at and sang to unseeing passersby; and the film’s atmospherically dark and gloomy look exploded into a Technicolor MGM musical moment when in her reverie Mrs. Lovett envisions life “By the Sea” where she and Todd promenade on the boardwalk against the blue sky and sparkling water. The two-CD soundtrack was released by Nonesuch Records (# 368572-2), the DVD was issued on a special two-disc edition by Dreamworks Home Entertainment (# 13215), and a lavish hardback book published by Titan Books in 2007 includes articles about the musical and the making of the film and offers a generous sampling of photographs from the movie. Other recordings of the score include a two-CD set of the Barcelona production Sweeney Todd, El barber diabolic del carrer Fleet (Horus Records # CD-25002); a 2012 two-CD German recording which was sung in English (BR Classics # 900316); a two-CD “accompaniment” recording with tracks without vocals and complete tracks with guide vocals (Stage Stars Records # RPT-516); and The Trotter Trio’s Sweeney Todd . . . in Jazz (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5603), an instrumental album with a vocal by Lorraine Feather for one selection (“Not While I’m Around”).

QUILTERS

“A New Musical” Theatre: Jack Lawrence Theatre Opening Date: September 25, 1984; Closing Date: October 14, 1984 Performances: 24 Book: Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek Lyrics and Music: Barbara Damashek Based on the 1977 book The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art by Patricia Cooper and Norma Bradley Allen Direction: Barbara Damashek; Producers: The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The American National Theatre and Academy, and Brockman Seawell; Scenery: Ursula Belden; Costumes: Elizabeth Palmer; Lighting: Allen Lee Hughes; Musical Direction: Not credited Cast: Lenka Peterson (Sarah); The Daughters: Evalyn Baron, Marjorie Berman, Alma Cuervo, Lynn Lobban, Rosemary McNamara, Jennifer Parsons; Musicians’ Daughters and Sons: Emily Knapp Chatfield, Melanie Sue Harby, John S. Lionarons, Joseph A. Waterkotte, Catherine Way The musical was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list names of singers. Act One: “Pieces of Lives” (first four lines of lyric from “The Quilt” by Dorothy MacFarlane); “Rocky Road”; “Little Babes That Sleep All Night” (lyric from Our Homes and Their Adornments by Almon C. Varney); “Thread the Needle”; “Cornelia”; “The Windmill Song”; “Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?” (song by E. A. Hoffman); “The Butterfly”; “Pieces of Lives” (reprise); “Green, Green, Green”; “The Needle’s Eye” (chorus from the lyric of a traditional folk song) Act Two: “Hoedown” (traditional); “Quiltin’ and Dreamin’”; “Pieces of Lives” (reprise); “Every Log in My Home” (first line by Elinore Pruitt Stewart); “Land Where We’ll Never Grow Old” (by J. C. Moore); “Who Will Count the Stitches?”; “The Lord Don’t Rain Down Manna”; “Dandelion” (lyric by Clara J. Denton from the poem “Blooming in the Fall”); “Everything Has a Time”; “Hands Around” The revue-like musical Quilters utilized songs, sketches, monologues, dances, mime sequences, and even some Story Theatre techniques to tell its story about American pioneer women who memorialized their lives through the crafting of quilts. The evening was clearly earnest and well intentioned but it was generic and

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lacked strong character and narrative perspectives. Quilters played in a small theatre, but even in a lean musical season (the Tony Award committee chose to eliminate the categories for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Leading Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreographer) it couldn’t survive beyond three weeks. It’s doubtful it could have run much longer in a smaller Off-Broadway house because its mild subject matter might not have played well downtown. Perhaps the show was best suited for community theatre and the college circuit. Frank Rich in the New York Times commented that the musical’s creators knew much about quilting but little about theatre because the “static” evening had a “patchwork structure.” As a result, the work never amounted to much more than “a tired slogan” and the characters lacked “specificity and authenticity” because they were less people than conceits. Rich noted that the show’s “synthetic, candied brand of Americana” suggested “the more aggressive gift shops in Colonial Williamsburg.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said the work was more pageant than play with a “thin and repetitious” and “fragmented structure” that lacked “narrative thrust.” And Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal found the musical “tame” and “modest” and felt that “at best it will find an enthusiastic but limited audience.” But Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News praised the “gem of a mini-musical” and said it had been created with “artful simplicity.” At evening’s end an enormous quilt is finished and raised aloft, and he found the effect “more joyous” than the first act finale of Sunday in the Park with George (Rich commented that unfurling was so “glorious” it made one forget that the rest of the evening was “threadbare”). John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the musical was “splendidly” performed and the work was both “entertaining and educational,” and Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post liked Barbara Damashek’s “delicate” score and said the evening was “pieced together with love and stitched with pride.” The script was published in softcover by Dramatists Play Service in 1986. Theatre World 1984–1985 classified Quilters as an Off-Broadway production, but because the Jack Lawrence Theatre was a “middle” Broadway house the Tony Award committee, The Best Plays of 1984–1985, and New York Theatre Critics’ Reviews 1985 classified the work as a Broadway production.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Quilters); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Evalyn Baron); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Lenka Peterson); Best Director of a Musical (Barbara Damashek); Best Book (Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek); Best Score (lyrics and music by Barbara Damashek)

THE THREE MUSKETEERS “A Musical Adventure”

Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: November 11, 1984; Closing Date: November 18, 1984 Performances: 9 Book: Adaptation by Mark Bramble (based on the original book by William Anthony McGuire) Lyrics: P. G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey Music: Rudolf Friml (music adapted by Kirk Nurock) Based on the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Direction: Joe Layton; Producers: Irvin Feld, Kenneth Feld, Ina Lea Meibach, and Jerome Minskoff; Choreography: Lester Wilson; Fight Movement: Steve Dunnington; Scenery: Nancy Winters; Costumes: Freddy Wittop; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Gordon Lowry Harrell Cast: Darlene Anders (Queen Anne of France), Liz Callaway (Lady Constance Bonacieux), Ed Dixon (Cardinal Richelieu), Raymond Patterson (Sergeant Jussac), J. P. Dougherty (Innkeeper, Selenus, Major Domo), Joseph Kolinsky (The Duke of Buckingham), Michael Dantuono (The Compte de la Rochefort), Marianne Tatum (Milday de Winter), Michael Praed (D’Artagnan), Chuck Wagner (Athos), Brent Spiner (Aramis), Ron Taylor (Porthos), Susan Goodman (Laundress, Tavern Wench), Steve Dunnington (De Beauverais), Peter Samuel (Captain Treville), Roy Brocksmith (King Louis XIII), Elisa Fiorillo (Chambermaid), Perry Arthur (Patrick); The Cardinal’s Guards: Bill Badolato, Steve Dunnington, Craig Heath Nim, Steve

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Marder, Mark McGrath, Sal Viviano, and Faruma Williams; Citizens of Poissy, Paris, Calais, The King’s Musketeers, and “Characters Too Numerous to Mention”: Janet Aldrich, Perry Arthur, Bill Badolato, Tina Belis, Steven Blanchard, Steve Dunnington, Elisa Fiorillo, Terri Garcia, Susan Goodman, Patty Holley, Jeff Johnson, Steve Marder, Mark McGrath, Craig Heath Nim, Suzan Postel, Wynonna Smith, Sal Viviano, Faruma Williams, Sandra Zigars The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in France and England during 1626.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue” (Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner, Roy Brocksmith, Peter Samuel, Darlene Anders, Liz Callaway, Raymond Patterson, J. P. Dougherty, Joseph Kolinski, Michael Dantuono, Marianne Tatum, Michael Praed); “Gascony Bred” (Michael Praed, J. P. Dougherty, All); “All for One (and One for All)” (Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner); “Only a Rose” (Michael Praed, Liz Callaway); “My Sword and I” (Michael Praed, All); “Carnival of Fools” (Full Company); “L’amour, toujours l’amour” (Joseph Kolinski, Darlene Anders); “Come to Us” (Marianne Tatum, Raymond Patterson); “March of the Musketeers” (Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner, Michael Praed, All); “Bless My Soul” (Ed Dixon, Marianne Tatum, Michael Dantuono); “Only a Rose” (reprise) (Liz Callaway, Michael Praed, All); Act One Finale (Michael Praed, Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner, Full Company) Act Two: “Vive La France” (Roy Brocksmith, Company); “The Actor’s Life” (Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner, Michael Praed); “My (Ma) Belle” (Michael Praed, Liz Callaway); “The Chase” (Full Company); “My (Ma) Belle” (reprise) (Michael Praed, Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner); “(My) Dreams” (Joseph Kolinski); “L’amour, toujours l’amour” (Marianne Tatum); “All for One” (reprise) (Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner, Michael Praed); “Gossip” (Chuck Wagner, Ron Taylor, Brent Spiner, Michael Praed, Marianne Tatum, Raymond Patterson, Ed Dixon, Liz Callaway, Peter Samuel, Roy Brocksmith, Darlene Anders, Full Company); Finale (Full Company) The short-lived adaptation of Rudolf Friml’s The Three Musketeers was based on the hit of the same name which opened at the Lyric Theatre on March 13, 1928, for 318 performances; produced by Florenz Ziegfeld and choreographed by Albertina Rasch, the original production starred Dennis King (D’Artagnan) and Vivienne Segal (Constance). King was also the leading man in two other Friml musicals, Rose-Marie (1924) and The Vagabond King (1925), and he reprised his stage role in the 1930 film version of the latter. The story was set in France and England during 1626, and centered on D’Artagnan (Michael Praed for the revival) and his comradeship with the three musketeers Athos (Chuck Wagner), Aramis (Brent Spiner), and Porthos (Ron Taylor), all of whom are knee-deep in royal intrigues. D’Artagnan is also romantically involved with Queen Anne’s lady-in-waiting Constance (Liz Callaway). The production mocked the original material by presenting the story as a spoof, and the free-for-all style didn’t amuse most of the critics. Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested the production aspired to the genius of the Public Theatre’s reinvented and riotous version of The Pirates of Penzance, but in this case the goings-on were more in the nature of “a routine English Christmas pantomime” . . . or Merlin. But he noted that at least the latter had offered Doug Henning’s feats of magic, a huge physical production, and, if memory served, a “prettier” horse than the one briefly seen in The Three Musketeers when Michael Praed made his entrance on horseback as he and the steed ambled down one of the aisles of the Broadway Theatre. Mark Bramble’s book was confused, the sets were “cheesy and joyless,” and the three title characters seemed like “interchangeable stand-ins for the Three Stooges” (the headline of Clive Barnes’s review in the New York Post exclaimed “Bring Back the Ritz Brothers!”). Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the “dreary” musical had “an almost total lack of imagination” and “everything flounders in tired, campy ideas.” As for Praed’s performance, it fell victim to the show’s “basic dilemma—whether to risk old-fashioned romanticism or settle for fey updating.” The three musketeers were “so undeveloped” they came across as “incidental characters,” the costumes were “garish and vulgar,” and the décor “cumbersome and charmless.” He concluded by noting Thanksgiving was a few days away but “Broadway already has a generous helping of turkey.”

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Barnes said the creators hadn’t faith in the original material and so “virtually everything went wrong,” and the result was “a show not merely without a show-stopper but without even a show-starter.” And John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor stated that the approach of the “astonishing mishmash” was to “gag it up” and to “ham it up” in the “spirit of vulgar lampoon.” While Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News noted that “things do get a bit sloppy from time to time,” he nonetheless found the evening “a laughable, occasionally lovable, eye-filling and melodious hodgepodge.” Marianne Tatum provided the “most delightful and amusing performance,” Joseph Kolinksi had an “outstanding” baritone, Liz Callaway “richly” sang her numbers, and although Praed had a “contemporary vocal style,” he did well with Callaway in the duet “Only a Rose.” The current adaptation of The Three Musketeers had first been produced almost two years earlier at the Hartman Theatre at the Stamford Center for the Performing Arts, Stamford, Connecticut, for the period March 18–April 10, 1983. It was directed by Mark Bramble and choreographed by Onna White, and the cast included David Garrison (D’Artagnan), George Dvorsky (Athos), Clent Bowers (Porthos), Jeffrey Reynolds (Aramis), Kim Criswell (Queen Anne), Ken Jennings (Planchet), and Jerry Colker (Sergeant Jussac). “Ladies’ Man” and “Heart of Mine” were included in this production (the source of the former is unknown, and the latter is from the original 1928 production). During Broadway previews, director Tom O’Horgan was succeeded by Joe Layton. The Broadway revival retained seven songs from the original production, “All for One (and One for All),” “My Sword and I,” “(My) Dreams,” “March of the Musketeers,” “Gascony (Bred),” “My (Ma) Belle,” and “Gossip,” and “Only a Rose” was interpolated from The Vagabond King. The musical sources of “Carnival of Fools,” “L’amour, toujours l’amour,” “Come to Us,” “Bless My Soul,” “Viva La France,” “The Actor’s Life,” and “The Chase” are unclear. The original London production opened at the Drury Lane on March 28, 1930, for 240 performances and Dennis King reprised his Broadway role. The London cast recording was issued by Monmouth-Evergreen Records (LP # MES-7050) and includes a total of eight songs from the production: “Gascony,” “Your Eyes,” “March of the Musketeers,” “Ma Belle,” “One Kiss,” “My Sword and I,” and two orchestral sequences, one of which includes “Every Little While” and “Queen of My Heart.” The album also offers songs from Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King, and from the latter Dennis King performs “Song of the Vagabonds.” The script of the original production was published in paperback by Chappell & Co. Ltd./Harms Inc. in 1937.

HAARLEM NOCTURNE Theatre: Latin Quarter Opening Date: November 18, 1984; Closing Date: December 30, 1984 Performances: 49 Book: André De Shields and Murray Horwitz Lyrics and Music: See song list for specific credits. Direction: André De Shields and Murray Horwitz (Gary Sullivan, Assistant Director); Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler (Alecia Parker, Associate Producer); Choreography: Not credited in program, but probably by André De Shields; Scenery: David Chapman; Costumes: Jean-Claude Robin; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Marc Shaiman Cast: André De Shields, Marc Shaiman; The Ladies: Debra Byrd, Ellia English, Freida Williams The program stated the revue was presented in one act, but at least one critic reported there was a short intermission during which drinks were sold.

Musical Numbers “Love in the Morning” (lyric and music by Steven Lemberg) (André De Shields, The Ladies); “Wishful Thinking” (lyric and music by Kenny Moore, Marti McCall, and Zedrick Turnbough) (André De Shields, The Ladies); “New York Is a Party” (lyric by Robert I, music by Marc Shaiman) (André De Shields, The Ladies); “Jungle Hip Hop” (lyric and music by André De Shields) (André De Shields, The Ladies); “Sweet

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Dreams (Are Made of This)” (lyric by D. A. Stewart, music by Annie Lennox) (The Ladies); “What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?” (lyric and music by W. Witherspoon, P. Riser, and J. Dean) (André De Shields, The Ladies); “Love’s Sad Glance” (lyric by Ula Hedwig, music by Marc Shaiman) (The Ladies); “Secret Love” (lyric by Alex Brown, music by Kenny Moore) (Debra Byrd, The Ladies); “Say It Again” (lyric and music by Denis Andreopoulos) (Freida Williams, The Ladies); “Heads or Tails” (lyric and music by Denis Andreopoulos) (André De Shields, The Ladies); “Hit the Road, Jack” (lyric and music by Percy Mayfield) (Ellia English, André De Shields, The Ladies); “Waterfaucet Blues” (traditional) (Ellia English); and “Streetcorner Symphony”: (1) “Release Yourself” (lyric by Larry Graham, music uncredited) (André De Shields, The Ladies); (2) “Bad Boy” (lyric and music by Lil Armstrong) (André De Shields, The Ladies); (3) “Symphony Rap” (lyric and music by André De Shields) (André De Shields, The Ladies); (4) “Mary Mack” (traditional children’s song) (André De Shields, Freida Williams, The Ladies); and (5) “Pastiche” (unidentified songs by various lyricists and composers, including Alan Bergman, Marvin Hamlisch, Eddie Holland, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector, Cynthia Weil, Barry Mann, Gene Pitney, Carol King, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, George Harrison, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Trevor Nunn) (The Ladies); “Sermon” (written by André De Shields and Murray Horwitz) (André De Shields); “Harlem Nocturne” (lyric by Dick Rogers, music by Earl Hagen) (The Ladies); “Louie” (lyric and music by Marc Shaiman) (André De Shields, Marc Shaiman, The Ladies); “B.Y.O.B.” (lyric and music by André De Shields) (André De Shields, The Ladies); “Now Is the Time” (lyric and music by André De Shields) (André De Shields, The Ladies) Haarlem Nocturne was yet another in the seemingly endless series of Broadway and Off-Broadway revues which celebrated Harlem nightlife and black music. With such a surfeit, only the best (Bubbling Brown Sugar, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Eubie!, One Mo’ Time!, Sophisticated Ladies, and Black and Blue) succeeded, and the remaining ones (such as Shades of Harlem, Uptown . . . It’s Hot!, Honky Tonk Nights, Further Mo’, Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A., It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues, and Harlem Song) quickly faded. Haarlem Nocturne fell into the latter category and survived for just six weeks. The revue had a slight story of sorts, which followed a wispy through-line with its look at a black performer (André De Shields) from his days as a slave to his glory period as a Harlem headliner, and then to the present when his kind of music becomes old-hat and he’s displaced by girl-group performers. Or something like that. (The few critics who dwelt on the plot didn’t seem quite sure what it was meant to convey.) The evening included a few standards along with a sheaf of new songs, some by De Shields and a few by the preHairspray Marc Shaiman, who was also the show’s musical director and occasionally took part in the songs. Mel Gussow in the New York Times said the evening wasn’t “cohesive” in the nature of Sophisticated Ladies and was instead an “eclectic collage” designed to focus on De Shields, whose performance “defined narcissism.” He mentioned that in one number De Shields appeared in a break-away pirate costume that revealed the “preening” performer in red-hot briefs. But the backup trio of Debra Byrd, Ellia English, and Freida Williams was “strong” and “sultry.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily noted the revue had a “high sense of energy” but otherwise there was “nothing remarkable or striking” about the evening and it lacked “dramatic glue to hold it together.” As for Clive Barnes in the New York Post, he felt inclined to paraphrase Henny Youngman as he watched the revue: “Take it—please!” Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News praised the “estimable” De Shields and said the show’s “vibrant spirits” were a “dandy way” to resurrect nostalgia for “the big, brassy New York night club,” and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor hailed the “smart, hip, and stylish” evening as “the hottest concert in town.” Marc Shaiman warmed up the audience in a preshow segment in which he encouraged the crowd to join him in singing a batch of theme songs from old television shows (such as Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mr. Ed, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show). Gussow found the sequence “inexplicable,” and, considering the evening’s theme, Cohen found the warm-up “peculiarly out-of-place.” Barnes said Shaiman came across as a “pixie-like Liberace without the chandelier” (shouldn’t that have been candelabra?), and felt he was “a shade too cute.” And Nelsen reported that his theatre companion remarked that the segment “sounded like summer camp on Broadway.” The Latin Quarter had been a popular night club located on the second floor of a building at Broadway and West 47th Street, and once the club shuttered the space eventually deteriorated into an X-rated movie house. In 1979, the venue was converted into a traditional theatre and re-opened as the 22 Steps (so-named because it

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took twenty-two steps to reach the building’s second floor). The first production to play there was Coquelico, and the 450-seat theatre was considered both a Broadway and an Off-Broadway house under Middle or Limited Broadway contracts. In 1980, the theatre was renamed the Princess, and with the production of Haarlem Nocturne the space reverted to its original name of the Latin Quarter. The final show to play there was Charles Strouse’s Mayor, which transferred from Off Broadway in 1985. In 1989, the building that housed the theatre was demolished and today a hotel stands on the site. Cohen noted he always felt the space was “ungainly” as a regular theatre, but as a cabaret the “little tables and crowded chairs gave the feeling of doing some old-time night clubbing,” and Gussow said the tables were so close together “a dancer could move from top to top without ever touching feet to floor.” Nelson thought that the novelty of a runway from the stage and into the audience allowed for a more “intimate” space, and Barnes reported that during the performance itself smoking wasn’t allowed but otherwise was permitted and was in fact “so heavy” that nonsmokers might need gas masks. The song “Louie” had been written for the comedy-and-music group The High-Heeled Women (which were sometimes billed as a “musical comedy revue” and “an evening of ovarian humor”), and “New York Is a Party” was from the 1983 Off-Off-Broadway musical Dementos (which took place in a welfare hotel).

DOUG HENNING AND HIS WORLD OF MAGIC Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: December 11, 1984; Closing Date: January 27, 1985 Performances: 56 Music: Peter Matz Direction: Doug Henning (staging by Charlene Painter); Producers: James M. Nederlander and Arthur Rubin; Choreography: Charlene Painter (Victor Heineman, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Bill Bohnert; Costumes: Jef Billings (additional costumes by Bill Hargate); Lighting: Michael McGiveney; Musical Direction: Peter Matz Cast: Doug Henning, Debby Henning; Magical Dancers: Victor Heineman, D. J. Mergenthaler, Gina Rose, Kathleen White The magic revue was presented in two acts. Magician Doug Henning’s revue had toured throughout the United States, and the New York limitedengagement opened just in time for the holiday season. Henning had appeared in the Broadway musicals The Magic Show (1974) and Merlin, and critics complained that a book musical wasn’t the most effective format to display the master illusionist’s talents. Instead, they suggested that an evening of magic acts would best showcase his mind-boggling tricks, and so his current vehicle filled the bill. Mel Gussow in the New York Times was glad that “with one sweep of his wand” Henning had “banished Broadway musical accouterments,” and he praised the “unpretentious entertainment” which proved that “Houdini had nothing on Henning.” Among the magical feats were a trunk-and-box trick in which Henning and his wife Debby were locked inside the containers and yet managed to trade places, and a sequence in which Henning was tied in a sack and then somehow emerged from the inside of a large stuffed animal. He also plucked silver dollars out of the air and magically converted dollar bills into hundred-dollar bills, and in a reprise of one of his celebrated feats in The Magic Show, he sawed two women in half and then reassembled one with the other. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News liked the “glittery, tinselly, very showy show” and he praised Henning’s “slick patter and winning manner.” He noted that the horse trick (from Merlin) was now a motorcycle trick; in this sequence, Henning was seen on the vehicle on one side of the stage floor and then instantly he and the motorcycle appeared high above the other side of the stage. Clive Barnes in the New York Post said “prestissimo!” Henning had kept the magic and gotten rid of the book musical. Barnes watched the show in “happy astonishment” as Henning first ripped a newspaper in shreds and then magically restored it to pristine condition and then later walked through a plate-glass mirror. The evening was a “superior, action-packed, illusion-studded” show, and he cautioned his readers not to leave early because “the show isn’t over until the fat tiger growls.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily noted the evening included a tuxedo-clad monkey, various ducks, a “sleek” panther, and of course the tiger, and he

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said if you were at the stage door after a performance you’d see the tiger and panther “make one of the more impressive stage-door exits of the season.” In fact, the two animals made “the epic [Cats] over at the Winter Garden look like a side show.”

THE KING AND I Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: January 7, 1985; Closing Date: June 30, 1985 Performances: 191 Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Richard Rodgers Based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. Direction: Mitch Leigh; Producers: The Mitch Leigh Company (Milton Herson, Executive Producer; Manny Kladitis, Associate Producer); Choreography: Jerome Robbins (Robbins’s choreography reproduced by Rebecca West); Scenery: Peter Wolf; Costumes: Stanley Simmons (based on the original costumes designed by Irene Sharaff); Lighting: Ruth Roberts; Musical Direction: Richard Parrinello Cast: Jeffrey Bryan Davis (Louis Leonowens), Burt Edwards (Captain Orton), Mary Beth Peil (Anna Leonowens), Jae Woo Lee (The Interpreter), Jonathan Farwell (The Kralahome), Yul Brynner (The King), Kathy Lee Brynner (Lead Royal Dancer, Eliza), Sal Provenza (Lun Tha), Patricia Welch (Tuptim), Irma-Estel LaGuerre (Lady Thiang), Araby Abaya (Prince Chulalongkorn), Yvette Laura Martin (Princess Ying Yaowalak), Patricia Weber (Fan Dancer, Angel), Edward Crotty (Sir Edward Ramsey), Hope Sogawa (Uncle Thomas), Evelina Deocares (Little Eva), Deborah Harada (Topsy), Rebecca West (Simon); The Royal Dancers and Wives: Marla F. Bingham, Young-Hee Cho, Carolyn DeLany, Evelina Deocares, Deborah Harada, Valerie Lau-Kee, Suzen Murakoshi, Hope Sogawa, Sylvia Yamada; Princes and Princesses: Max Barabas, Michael Bulos, Amy Chin, Lisa Chui, Mark Damrongsri, Kate Gwon, Tracie Mon-Ting Lee, Michelle Nigalan, Steven Tom, Luke Trainer, Annie Woo; Nurses and Amazons: Alis-Elaine Anderson, Joyce Campana, Mariann Cook, Janet Jordan; Priests and Slaves: Cornel Chan, Kaipo Daniels, Gary Bain Domasin, Stanley Earl Harrison, Andre Lengyel, Ron Stefan The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around the King’s Palace in Bangkok, Siam, during the early 1860s.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “I Whistle a Happy Tune” (Mary Beth Peil, Jeffrey Bryan Davis); “My Lord and Master” (Patricia Welch); “Hello, Young Lovers” (Mary Beth Peil); “March of the Siamese Children” (Mary Beth Peil, Yul Brynner, The King’s Wives, The King’s Children); “A Puzzlement” (Yul Brynner); “The Royal Bangkok Academy” (Mary Beth Peil, Children); “Getting to Know You” (Mary Beth Peil, Patricia Weber, The King’s Wives, The King’s Children); “We Kiss in a Shadow” (Patricia Welch, Sal Provenza); “A Puzzlement” (reprise) (Araby Abaya, Jeffrey Bryan Davis); “Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?” (Mary Beth Peil); “Something Wonderful” (Irma-Estel LaGuerre); Finale (Company) Act Two: “Western People Funny” (Irma-Estel LaGuerre, The King’s Wives); “I Have Dreamed” (Patricia Welch, Sal Provenza); “Hello, Young Lovers” (reprise) (Mary Beth Peil); “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” (ballet) (Patricia Welch, Kathy Lee Brynner, Hope Sogawa, Deborah Harada, Evelina Deocares, Rebecca West, Patricia Weber, The Royal Dancers, The Royal Singers, Propmen); “Song of King” (Yul Brynner, Mary Beth Peil); “Shall We Dance?” (Mary Beth Peil, Yul Brynner); Finale (Company) With the current revival of The King and I, Yul Brynner made his final appearances in his signature role. Brynner died of cancer less than four months after his last New York performance, but he left behind one of the greatest creations in all musical theatre. For the critics’ performance he didn’t sing “A Puzzlement,” reportedly because of laryngitis. But “A Puzzlement” or not, Brynner’s performance was riveting: “Man and role have long since merged into a fixed image that is as much a part of our collective consciousness as the Statue of Liberty” (Frank Rich in the New

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York Times); “Excellent, striking and unforgettable” (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News); “When he moves into ‘Shall We Dance?,’ the capacity audience goes ecstatic,” “breaks into mad applause,” and “Baryshnikov could scarcely expect more” because “such adulation is beyond criticism” (Clive Barnes in the New York Post); he is “in command and yet seems still to be exploring the nuances of the character with invigorating wit” (Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily); and he is “the absolute monarch of all he surveys” and proves “his right to Broadway kingship” (John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor). The original Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre on March 29, 1951, for 1,246 performances with Gertrude Lawrence and Brynner in the leading roles. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Leading Actress in a Musical, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Brynner (at the time, any performer whose name was billed below the title was considered a featured player). As of this writing, the musical has been revived in New York nine times for over 3,000 performances. The first five were limited-engagement institutional revivals, four produced by the New York City Center Light Opera Company at City Center (April 18, 1956, for 23 performances with Jan Clayton and Zachary Scott; May 11, 1960, for 24 performances (Barbara Cook and Farley Granger); June 12, 1963, for 15 performances (Eileen Brennan and Manolo Fabregas); and May 28, 1968, for 22 performances (Constance Towers and Michael Kermoyan) and one produced by the Music Theatre of Lincoln Center at the New York State Theatre on July 6, 1964, for 40 performances (Rise Stevens and Darren McGavin). The next revival opened at the Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre on May 2, 1977, for 696 performances with Brynner and Constance Towers (Michael Kermoyan was the Kralahome, June Angela was Tuptim, and Martin Vidnovic was Lun Tha), and after the current production the musical was revived on April 11, 1996, at the Neil Simon Theatre for 80 performances with Donna Murphy and Lou Diamond Phillips. The most recent revival opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on April 16, 2015, with Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe. The first London production opened at the Drury Lane on October 9, 1953, for 926 performances with Valerie Hobson and Herbert Lom, and other West End revivals in 1973 and 1999 starred Sally Ann Howes and Elaine Paige, respectively. The 1956 film version was released by Twentieth Century-Fox with Brynner (who won the Academy Award for Best Actor) and Deborah Kerr, and an animated version was released by Warner Brothers Family Entertainment in 1999. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1951, and the used and unused lyrics are included in the collection The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. There are numerous recordings of the classic score, including later ones that are more complete than the original cast album (Decca Records LP # DL-7-9008 and MCA CD #MCAD-10049), but the original is the essential one to own. Perhaps the strangest review of The King and I was Henry Hewes’s appraisal of Lincoln Center’s 1964 revival. Writing in Saturday Review, he said Anna is a “smug representative of Western colonialism” and her purported “‘goodness’ now emerges as a hypocritical disguise for intolerance of another country’s traditions and for her ruthless drive to emasculate a man.” He further stated that Anna “succeeds in destroying” the King. Talk about a puzzlement!

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Beth Peil); Best Director of a Musical (Mitch Leigh); Special Tony Award to Yul Brynner in honor of his 4,525 performances as The King from 1951 to the present.

STREETHEAT Theatre: 54th Street Theatre Cabaret at Studio 54 Opening Date: January 27, 1985; Closing Date: February 24, 1985 Performances: 20 Book: Uncredited (“Original concept” by Michele Assaf and Rick Atwell) Lyrics and Music: See song list for specific credits Direction and Choreography: Rick Atwell; Producers: Bert Stratford Productions in association with Gene Cates, Doug Leeds, Christine Mortimer Biddle, and Rex Farr (Judee Wales, Associate Producer); Scenery

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(“Production”) and Costumes: Franne Lee and Scenery and Costumes: Dianna Freas and Michael Rizzo; Lighting: John McLain; Musical Direction: Uncredited (see below) Cast: Michael DeLorenzo (Spinner), James Arthur Johnson (Leon), Vicki Lewis (Victoria), Ron Lee Savin (The Character Man), Glenn Scarpelli (Lucky Louie), Tico Wells (Picasso); The Streetheat Ensemble: Bryant Baldwin, Nora Cherry, Cecilia Marta, Troy Myers, Rick Negron, Daryl Richardson, Louis Ritarossi, Robin Summerfield, Jorge Vaszuez The cabaret-styled musical revue was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t identify performers; there was no live orchestra, and the cast members sang their numbers to prerecorded musical tracks. “We Paint Life” (lyric and music by Rick Atwell and Perry Arthur Kroeger); “Picasso’s Theme” (lyric and music by Frank Owens); “Uptown Dreamer’s Express” (lyric and music by James Gregory and Rick Atwell); “Hold On” (lyric and music by Chris Darway); “To Dance Is to Fly” (lyric and music by Kyra Kaptzan); “Power” (lyric and music by Vinnie Rich and Dave Moritz); “I’m a Wow” (lyric and music by Ron Abel and Bob Garrett); “Lucky Louie” (lyric and music by Frank Owens, Rick Atwell, and Perry Arthur Kroeger); “Full Circle” (lyric and music by Laura Taylor and Charles Mortimer); “Streetheat” (lyric and music by James Gregory, Charles Mortimer, and William Hocher); “I Want a Real Man” (lyric and music by Geoff Bradford); “Sacrifice Your Body” (lyric and music by James Gregory, Charles Mortimer, and Rick Atwell); “The King Becomes a Clown” (lyric and music by Laura Taylor); “Nirvana” (lyric and music by James Gregory and Perry Arthur Kroeger); “Danger Men Working” (lyric and music by Bob Garrett and Joe Curiale); “Today I Found Me” (lyric and music by Laura Taylor); “Power” (reprise); “Full Circle” (reprise); “The Power Lies Within” (lyric and music by James Gregory, Joe Hudson, and Rick Atwell) The score of the cabaret-styled musical revue Streetheat was by a total of fourteen lyricists and composers, and the program noted that the “music & songs” were produced by Michael G. Millius and James Gregory for M.C.A. Music, and the songs were “developed and supervised” by Michael G. Millius for M.C.A. Music. Further, Frank Owens and James Gregory were credited for all the orchestrations, dance music, underscoring, and special music. If all this wasn’t enough, the program also noted that “prerecorded music” was produced by Michael G. Millius and James Gregory. Stephen Holden in the New York Times said the “glitzy Las Vegas-style” evening offered a “mediocre disco-rap score” set to a “hopelessly childish and platitudinous” story in which New York drifters are urged by a genie named Picasso to take a magical subway ride on the Uptown Dreamer’s Express where their wishes for “fame, wealth, beauty, and power” are granted. But the drifters should have known that Success Has Its Price, and they soon long to return to life on the streets. If the song titles are any indication, the score was full of empowerment and inspirational numbers: “To Dance Is to Fly,” “Power,” “I’m a Wow,” “Today I Found Me,” and “The Power Lies Within.” The intermission-less ninety-minute evening lasted less than three weeks.

HARRIGAN ’N HART “A New Musical”

Theatre: Longacre Theatre Opening Date: January 31, 1985; Closing Date: February 3, 1985 Performances: 5 Book: Michael Stewart Lyrics: Peter Walker Music: Max Showalter (The score also included songs of the period with lyrics by Edward Harrigan and music by David Braham.) Based on material compiled by Nedda Harrigan Logan and the 1955 book The Merry Partners: The Age and Stage of Harrigan & Hart by E. J. Kahn Jr.

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Direction: Joe Layton; Producers: Elliot Martin, Arnold Bernhard, and The Shubert Organization; Choreography: D. J. Giagni; Scenery: David Mitchell; Costumes: Ann Hould-Ward; Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Peter Howard Cast: Mark Fotopoulos (Stetson, Andrew LeCouvrier, Judge, Johnny Wild, Captain, William Gill), Harry Groener (Edward Harrigan), Mark Hamill (Tony Hart), Clent Bowers (Archie White, Sam Nichols, Felix Barker, Uncle Albert), Cleve Asbury (Old Colonel, Billy Gross, Nat Goodwin), Barbara Moroz (The Colonel’s Wife, Elsie Fay, Belle), Roxie Lucas (Eleanor, Ada Lewis), Oliver Woodall (Martin Hanley), Christopher Wells (Alfred J. Dugan, Harry Mack, Judge Hilton, Doctor), Tudi Roche (Annie Braham Harrigan), Kenston Ames (Chester Fox, Photographer, Newsboy, Newspaperman), Merilee Magnuson (Lily Fay, Adelaide Harrigan, Nurse), Armelia McQueen (Mrs. Annie Yeamons), Amelia Marshall (Jennie Yeamons, Newsgirl), Christine Ebersole (Gerta Granville) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City and other cities throughout the United States during the period 1871–1888.

Musical Numbers Note: * = Lyric by Peter Howard and music by Max Showalter; ** = Lyric by Edward Hannigan and music by David Braham. When known, sources of Hannigan and Braham’s songs are given. Act One: “Put Me in My Little Bed” (*) (Mark Hamill); “Wonderful Me” (*) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill); “Mulligan Guard” (**) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill); “Put Me in My Little Bed” (reprise) (Mark Hamill); “I Love to Follow a Band” (**) (Harry Groener, Company); “Such an Education Has My Mary Ann” (**) (The Mulligan Guard Pic-nic, 1878) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill, Company); “Maggie Murphy’s Home” (**) (Reilly and the 400, 1890) (Tudi Roche, Harry Groener, Clent Bowers, Company); “McNally’s Row of Flats” (**) (McSorley’s Inflation, 1882) (Armelia McQueen, Company); “Something New, Something Different” (*) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill, Company); “That’s My Partner” (*) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill); “She’s Our Gretel” (**) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill, Armelia McQueen, Company); “What You Need Is a Woman” (*) (Christine Ebersole); “Knights of the Mystic Star” (**) (The Last of the Hogans, 1891) (Armelia McQueen, Company); “Girl of the Mystic Star” (**) (probably a variation of “Knights of the Mystic Star” from The Last of the Hogans, 1891) (Christine Ebersole, Men); “Mulligan Guard” (reprise) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill) Act Two: “Skidmore Fancy Ball”(**) (The Mulligan Guard Ball, 1879) (Clent Bowers, Christopher Wells, Mark Fotopoulos, Cleve Asbury); “Sweetest Love” (**) (Old Lavender, 1885 revival) (Roxie Lucas, Barbara Moroz); “The Old Barn Floor” (*) (Mark Fotopoulos, Amelia Marshall, Kenston Ames, Merilee Magnuson); “Silly Boy” (**) (The Muddy Day, 1883) (Christine Ebersole, Cleve Asbury, Christopher Wells); “Mulligan Guard” (reprise) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill, Company); “We’ll Be There” (*) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill, Company); “Ada with the Golden Hair” (**) (Tudi Roche, Mark Fotopoulos, Cleve Asbury); “That Old Featherbed” (**) (McSorley’s Inflation, 1882) (Christopher Wells, Merilee Magnuson, Barbara Moroz); “Sam (Samuel) Johnson’s Colored Cakewalk” (**) (Cordelia’s Aspirations, 1883) (Clent Bowers, Amelia Marshall); “Dip Me in the Golden Sea” (**) (Harry Groener, Armelia McQueen, Company); “That’s My Partner” (reprise) (Harry Groener); “I’ve Come Home to Stay” (**) (Reilly and the 400, 1890) (Mark Hamill); “If I Could Trust Me” (*) (Mark Hamill); “Maggie Murphy’s Home” (reprise) (Oliver Woodall, Merilee Magnuson, Armelia McQueen, Roxie Lucas); “I’ve Come Home to Stay” (reprise) (Mark Hamill, Girls); “I Need This One Chance” (Christine Ebersole); “I Love to Follow a Band” (reprise) (Tudi Roche, Company); “Mulligan’s Guard” (reprise) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill, Armelia McQueen); “Something New, Something Different” (reprise) (Harry Groener, Mark Hamill, Company) Harrigan ’n Hart (and shouldn’t that have been Harrigan ’n’ Hart?) was another disaster in what was quickly shaping up as the worst season for Broadway musicals in memory. The season offered a smattering of revivals, revues, and revue-like musicals, and most of the new music heard in many of these shows didn’t make much of an impression. Shockingly, the season offered just two book musicals with new music, Grind and Big River.

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The current debacle was another of book writer Michael Stewart’s forays into the world of show-business biography: George M! (1968) was about Cohan, and managed a year’s run; Mack & Mabel (1974) looked at Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand and lasted two months; Barnum (1980) explored the life and times of P. T. Barnum and played for two years; and Harrigan ’n Hart mustered just five performances (except for Mack & Mabel, the three other biographical musicals were directed by Joe Layton). The musical was partially based on material compiled by Nedda Harrigan Logan, who was Harrigan’s daughter and later the wife of director Joshua Logan. Edward (Ned) Harrigan (1845–1911) and Tony Hart (1855–1891) were a popular team who starred in seventeen successful “Mulligan Guard” and other musicals during the period 1878–1885. Earlier, Harrigan had added songs to sketches he had written for variety revues, and from there he wrote the scripts and lyrics for the “Mulligan Guard” series which anticipated the style and format of later Broadway musical comedies. His musicals were set in the United States, and with their friendly ethnic humor celebrated the lives of the ongoing tide of European immigrants who came to make America their home. Harrigan ’n Hart looked at the team’s professional partnership and its eventual dissolution when Hart (Mark Hamill) became resentful that Harrigan (Harry Groener) was both a performer and a writer (and Hart was egged on by his vicious and calculating wife Gerta, played by Christine Ebersole). The script also hinted that perhaps Hart harbored repressed romantic feelings for Harrigan. The musical concluded with Hart’s illness and eventual death (the plot skirted the matter that he had syphilis) and it evolved into a dreamlike sequence where Harrigan holds an actors’ benefit performance to aid the financially distressed Hart, and the heretofore scold Gerta does a complete about-face and is transformed into an understanding soul. The score was a mixture of new songs with lyrics by Peter Howard and music by Max Showalter and old ones with lyrics by Harrigan and music by David Braham. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “dull” but” dutifully professional” musical bustled with “kinetic” but “aimless” energy, and the “frantic and mirthless” comedy routines suggested “what Sugar Babies might be like on a night when Mickey Rooney called in sick.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek liked Groener’s “warmth” and Hamill’s “brashness,” noted that Layton directed with “showbiz zip,” and for “She’s Our Gretel” choreographer D. J. Giagni created a comic and “delightful” Dutch-clog sequence. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the show tried to re-create the comedy routines of Harrigan and Hart in Sugar Babies style as well as to present a traditional biographical backstage musical, and while the salute to Broadway’s early days was successful, the book scenes were tiresome. Although the real-life team split up, the musical was “confusing” and “dishonest” when in the final sequence it brought the duo together for “a series of fantasy scenes” (it’s worth noting that Stewart had ended Mack & Mabel in an equally unrealistic and dishonest manner with a “happy ending” fantasy wedding for the two leading characters). The headline of Douglas Watt’s review in the New York Daily News proclaimed “Now We Know Why Vaudeville Is Dead,” and the critic noted the “Mulligan stew of a show” was a “grim and unedifying story.” He was sure that the real Harrigan and Hart “were vastly more entertaining than this lame musical about their careers,” but “even so” he hoped he’d “never have to hear one of their songs again.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said the musical was “so pedestrian that it makes 42nd Street look like a Robert Wilson epic,” but noted Hamill gave a “zestful” performance and Groener was “one of the more engaging young actors in the theatre today” whose “immaculate dancing style is a joy to watch.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post liked the “uneventfully charming, antimacassar-period score,” but felt the “incidental pleasures” of the evening “never ignite into the conflagration of an unquenchable musical.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said when Harrigan ’n Hart stuck to its guns by “singing original songs” and “clogging period-like dances,” it was “fascinating” and “fun.” But with underwritten characters and the lack of a strong story, the result was “not a show” but “a history lesson.” During previews, “Dapper Dan McGee” was cut. The musical had first been produced at the Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut, on July 10, 1984; the production was directed by Edward Stone, and the cast included Mark Hamill (Hart), Christopher Wells (Harrigan), and Marianne Tatum (Gerta). For Broadway, the latter was succeeded by Christine Ebersole and Groener assumed the role of Harrigan (but Wells appeared in the Broadway production and played four roles). The summer tryout included three songs that weren’t heard in New York: “Love, Put on Your Orange Blossoms” (source unknown), “Clara Jenkins’ (Socialistic) Tea” (The Mayor, 1881), and “Savannah Sue” (Marty Malone, 1896). George M. Cohan saluted Harrigan in Cohan’s song “Harrigan” (Fifty Miles from Boston, 1908) which was later heard in George M! and was included on that show’s cast album.

1984–1985 SEASON     235

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Book (Michael Stewart)

LEADER OF THE PACK “The Ellie Greenwich Musical”

Theatre: Ambassador Theatre Opening Date: April 8, 1985; Closing Date: July 21, 1985 Performances: 120 Book: “Liner Notes” by Ann Beatts; additional material by Jack Heifner Lyrics and Music: Ellie Greenwich “& Friends” (Note: See song list for specific credits.) Direction and Choreography: Michael Peters; Producer: The Pack; Scenery: Tony Walton; Costumes: Robert de Mora; Lighting: Pamela Cooper; Musical Direction: Jimmy Vivino Cast: Darlene Love (Darlene Love), Annie Golden (Annie Golden), Dinah Manoff (Young Ellie Greenwich in the 1960s), Zora Rasmussen (Rosie), Barbara Yeager (Shelley), Jasmine Guy (Mickey, Waitress), Patrick Cassidy (Jeff Barry), Dennis Bailey (Gus Sharkey), Peter Neptune (D. J. Voice), Pattie Darcy (Lounge Singer), Shirley Black-Brown and Keith McDaniel (Dance Couple), Gina Taylor (Gina), Ellie Greenwich (Ellie Greenwich in the 1980s); Girls and Guys: Shirley Black-Brown, Pattie Darcy, Christopher Gregory, Jasmine Guy, Danny Herman, Lon Hoyt, Keith McDaniel, Jodi Moccia, Peter Neptune, Zora Rasmussen, Joey Sheck, Gina Taylor, Barbara Yeager The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in the “here and now . . . and in the days of beehives and 45s.”

Musical Numbers “Be My Baby” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Annie Golden, Girls); “Wait ’Til My Bobby Gets Home” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Darlene Love, Company); “A . . . My Name Is Ellie” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich) (Dinah Manoff); “Jivette Boogie Beat” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich) (Dinah Manoff, Barbara Yeager, Jasmine Guy); “Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts” (lyrics and music by Ellie Greenwich, Tony Powers, and Phil Spector) (Darlene Love, Company); “Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Tony Powers, and Phil Spector) (Darlene Love, Company); “I Want to Love Him So Bad” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Dinah Manoff, Girls); “Do Wah Diddy” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry) (Patrick Cassidy); “And Then He Kissed Me” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Dinah Manoff, Girls); “Hanky Panky” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry) (Patrick Cassidy, Guys); “Not Too Young (to Get Married)” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Darlene Love, Girls); “Chapel of Love” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Company); “Baby I Love You” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Annie Golden, Girls); and “Leader of the Pack” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and George “Shadow” Morton) (Annie Golden, Company); “Look of Love” (lyric by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry) (Pattie Darcy); “Christmas—Baby Please Come Home” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Darlene Love, Girls); “I Can Hear Music” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Patrick Cassidy, Annie Golden, Pattie Darcy, Keith McDaniel): “Rock of Rages” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Kent) (Dinah Manoff); “Keep It Confidential” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Kent, and Ellen Foley) (Gina Taylor, Company); “Da Doo Ron Ron” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Ellie Greenwich, Company); “What a Guy” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Ellie Greenwich, Company); “Maybe I Know” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry) (Ellie Greenwich, Darlene Love, Annie Golden, Girls); “River Deep, Mountain High” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector) (Darlene Love, Company); “We’re Gonna Make It (After All)” (lyric and music Ellie Greenwich) (Ellie Greenwich, Darlene Love, Annie Golden, Company)

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The revue Leader of the Pack paid tribute to lyricist and composer Ellie Greenwich, who also appeared in the production. She and others had written a number of popular hits in the 1960s, including “Chapel of Love,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” and the title song, all of which were performed in the revue, which had originated Off Broadway at the Bottom Line in 1984. The musical began previews in February 1985, and an opening night program was distributed for the production’s originally scheduled premiere of March 11, 1985. But the opening was canceled and the musical went back into previews for re-tooling, and the official opening night finally took place on April 8 after fiftytwo preview performances. During previews, the musical was presented in two acts (“Side One” and “Side Two,” and each scene was designated as a “cut”) and there appears to have been a plot of sorts that covered Greenwich’s life and career. The book (instead of its later designation “liner notes”) was credited to Anne Beatts, and the program cited an original play by Melanie Mintz as its basis (later programs credited Mintz with the show’s “original concept”). As the musical continued in previews, various plot elements were dropped and the evening morphed into a concert-like revue. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted there were as yet “no candidates” in competition for the season’s best musical, but “the race for most calamitous” one had a “strong contender” in Leader of the Pack, which “leads the pack” in terms of “incoherence (total), vulgarity (boundless), and decibel level (stratospheric, with piercing electronic feedback).” The “fiasco” had the worst book since the “dumbfounding” Marilyn and included characters “whose identities are known only to the authors.” Rich also mentioned that Tony Walton’s “tacky” set utilized circular rotating platforms that suggested 45 RPM records, and director and choreographer Michael Peters’s production “might pass for a banana republic’s revival of Your Hit Parade.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the “simpleminded nature” of the material provided little for the actors to work with, the lyrics were “mindless,” and the choreography “limited.” If the “unsuccessful” show had been presented at “some nightclub that specializes in Sweet 16 parties” the evening would have been “harmless,” but to pass off the proceedings as “theatre” was “offensive.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “monotonous” production was not a Broadway show “in the usual sense . . . not by a long shot.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted the revue had first been seen downtown at the Bottom Line, “and the bottom line is that it should have stayed there.” He commented that the show was “The Return of ‘Grease’ or The Revenge of ‘Hair,’” and when Greenwich herself appeared during the final twenty or so minutes of the evening, the show lost whatever momentum it had. But then again, just “how could you end the show?” And he supposed “by never starting it, and just issuing a record album.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the evening was “less a theatre piece than an animated concert,” and William A. Henry III in Time noted the creators never settled on a tone and thus the songs were treated “with an awkward mix of reverence and mockery” and the characters were “reduced to cartoons.” Although Jack Kroll in Newsweek felt the evening belonged Off Broadway, he said the show was “endearingly unpretentious” and really “not that bad, dad.” The following songs were dropped in previews: “Dance Craze Number” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Kent), “He’s the Kind of Boy You Can’t Forget” (lyric by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry), “You Don’t Know” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and George “Shadow” Morton), “People Say” (lyric and music by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry), and another version of “A . . . My Name Is Ellie” which was titled “A . . . My Name Is Angel.” Preview programs listed a special pas de deux by Shirley Black-Brown and Keith McDaniel which followed “Look of Love”; the dance wasn’t listed in the opening night program, but because Black-Brown and McDaniel were cited in the program as the “dance couple,” it seems likely the dance sequence was performed. The cast album was released on a two-LP set by Elektra Records (# 960409-1-Q), and the CD was issued by Wounded Bird Records (# WOU-409). The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in an undated edition (circa 1987).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Musical (Leader of the Pack)

1984–1985 SEASON     237

TAKE ME ALONG Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: April 14, 1985; Closing Date: April 14, 1985 Performances: 1 Book: Joseph Stein and Robert Russell Lyrics and Music: Bob Merrill Based on the 1933 play Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O’Neill. Direction: Thomas Gruenewald; Producers: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and The Goodspeed Opera House presented by arrangement with The Shubert Performing Arts Center, New Haven, Connecticut; Choreography: Dan Siretta; Scenery: James Leonard Joy; Costumes: David Toser; Lighting: Craig Miller; Musical Direction: Lynn Crigler Cast: Robert Nichols (Nat Miller), Betty Johnson (Essie Miller), Stephen McDonough (Arthur Miller), Alyson Kirk (Mildred Miller), Beth Fowler (Lily Miller), Taryn Grimes (Muriel McComber), Gary Landon Wright (Richard Miller), Richard Korthaze (David Macomber), Kurt Knudson (Sid Davis), Nikki Sahagen (Belle), Joel Whittaker (Wint), David Vosburgh (Bartender), John Witham (The Salesman); Trolley Conductors, Firemen, Townsfolk, Bar Patrons, and Ladies of the Evening: Kathy Andrini, Blake Atherton, Michael Kelly Boone, Ed Brazo, Richard Dodd, Andy Hostettler, Richard Korthaze, Patrick S. Murphy, Mercedes Perez, Keith Savage, David Vosburgh, Joel Whittaker, Betty Winsett, John Witham The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Centerville, Connecticut, on July 4 and July 5, 1906.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Marvelous Fire Machine” (Robert Nichols, Ensemble); “Oh, Please” (Betty Johnson, Robert Nichols); “Oh, Please” (reprise) (Betty Johnson, Robert Nichols, Beth Fowler, Stephen McDonough, Alyson Kirk); “I Would Die” (Gary Landon Wright, Taryn Grimes); “Sid, Ol’ Kid” (Kurt Knudson, Nikki Sahagen, Townspeople); “Staying Young” (Robert Nichols); “I Get Embarrassed” (Kurt Knudson, Beth Fowler); “We’re Home” (Beth Fowler); “Take Me Along” (Robert Nichols, Kurt Knudson); “Take Me Along” (reprise) (Company); “The Only Pair I’ve Got” (Nikki Sahagen, Ensemble); “In the Company of Men” (Kurt Knudson, Robert Nichols, Male Ensemble); “Knights on White Horses” (Beth Fowler, Betty Johnson); “That’s How It Starts” (Gary Landon Wright) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “If Jesus Don’t Love Ya” (Gary Landon Wright, Nikki Sahagen, Ensemble); “Oh, Please” (reprise) (Robert Nichols, Betty Johnson); “Promise Me a Rose” (Beth Fowler); “Staying Young” (reprise) (Robert Nichols); “(Little) Green Snake” (Kurt Knudson); “Nine O’Clock” (Gary Landon Wright); “Nine O’Clock” (reprise) (Gary Landon Wright, Taryn Grimes); “But Yours” (Kurt Knudson, Beth Fowler); Finale (Kurt Knudson, Beth Fowler) Take Me Along was based on Eugene O’Neill’s 1933 comedy Ah, Wilderness!, and the revival of the 1959 musical played for just one performance and was the season’s shortest-running musical. The low-key production was perhaps a bit unfairly ridiculed as a summer-stock show with delusions of Broadway grandeur, but in truth the scaled-down version was too mild-mannered for its own good. The original 1959 production enjoyed the star power of Jackie Gleason, Robert Morse, Walter Pidgeon, and Eileen Herlie, and while all the participants in the current revival were genial, they lacked the spark needed to add color and humor to the plot’s sometimes genteel and occasionally would-be-naughty goings-on. Further, the company was about half the size of the original Broadway production, and thus the old town of Centerville, Connecticut, looked underpopulated. The choreography was far too modest, and Onna White’s celebrated “Beardsley Ballet” was eliminated. The 1959 production ran over a year, and back when Variety used to report on such matters, a 1976 article stated the musical had cost $325,000 to produce; made $13,274 in profits during 1975; and going into 1976 was still in the red by $59,547. Despite the musical’s less than stellar track record, the current revival optimistically went forward and then quickly stumbled. The new production clearly needed a powerful personality to propel the evening forward, but didn’t get it. And its paltry production values failed to illuminate both

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the leafy summer splendor of a small turn-of-the-century New England town in its full gingerbread Victorian glory and the fantasy of its Aubrey Beardsley–styled Art Nouveau dance hall. O’Neill’s play took place over the Fourth of July holiday of 1906 and the lighthearted work was far removed from the anguished New England summer day and night which he depicted in Long Day’s Journey into Night. The musical centered on local newspaper publisher Nat Miller (Robert Nichols), his moon-struck son Richard (Gary Landon Wright), and his generally irresponsible and usually in-his-cups brother-in-law Sid (Kurt Knudson), who is attracted to Nat’s spinster sister Lily (Beth Fowler). While O’Neill focused on Richard’s growing pains and first romantic awakenings, the musical emphasized Sid’s comic capers. (The 1959 production took place in 1910, but the current revival moved the action to 1906, the year in which O’Neill’s play was originally set.) Bob Merrill’s likeable score included warm, introspective ballads (“Staying Young” and “We’re Home”); a giddy look at the married-facts-of-life for Lily and Sid (“I Get Embarrassed”); a comic patter song for Sid (“Sid, Ol’ Kid”); a duet of puppy love for Richard and his girlfriend Muriel (“I Would Die”); a soaring ballad for Richard (“Nine O’Clock”); a wise and emotionally direct warning from Lily to Sid (“Promise Me a Rose”); and the jubilant title song. The musical also offered an impressive overture, one of Broadway’s very best. The current revival was first produced earlier in the season on September 12, 1984, at Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut, and then briefly toured before opening on Broadway. Besides the ballet, the revival omitted “Pleasant Beach House” (aka “Wint’s Song”) and tweaked a lyric or two in order to appease the gods of political correctness. “The Parade” and “For Sweet Charity” (aka “Volunteer Fireman Picnic” and “Volunteer Fire Brigade”) were slightly reworked and respectively retitled “Marvelous Fire Machine” and “The Only Pair I’ve Got.” The production also added three songs: “In the Company of Men,” which had first been heard in an all-black Off-Off-Broadway revival which opened on March 14, 1984, for twelve performances at Manhattan Community College’s Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art, as well as two new ones specifically written for the current showing, “Knights on White Horses” and “If Jesus Don’t Love Ya.” Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that Take Me Along was the kind of “solid book musical” that had been the “bread-and-butter of the commercial New York theatre,” and there was no reason to believe the show couldn’t work a quarter-century later. But any “life” the show had wasn’t “sufficiently tapped” in the revival, and despite Merrill’s “charming” score (and “dandy” overture), the production offered an “overripe” chorus, “undernourished” scenery, and leading players who often performed “in the muted tones of understudies.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News felt that Take Me Along had been “no great shakes” in 1959, but had possessed “gentle charm” and “tuneful but far from striking” songs. However, the revival lacked stars, the décor was “workmanlike,” and the costumes were just “okay” (and he noted that the “Beardsley Ballet” had been “wisely discarded”). Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found the revival “routine” but “affectionate,” and he praised the “gentle” and “endearing” score. He had seen the original production late in its run when William Bendix had succeeded Jackie Gleason, and he noted the “Beardsley Ballet” had been “stunningly executed” and the overall production “had a polish we rarely see today.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post stated that while Take Me Along was no classic it was nonetheless “a good-natured, well-conceived, immaculately tailored Broadway musical.” Despite the revival’s lack of a “stellar” cast, the musical was “a classic realization of a musical from a classic period that is not itself quite a classic.” But the evening offered a “cheerful” score and a “comic geniality,” and he suspected its “unabashed stylishness could still warm kind hearts this chilly Broadway season.” The 1959 cast album was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1050), and the CD was first issued by RCA/BMG Records (# 07863-51050-2) and then by DRG Records (# 19116). Besides the cast album, there were three contemporary recordings of the score: Frankie Carle and His Piano and Orchestra (RCA Victor Records LP # LSP-2142), which includes the unused song “Thinkin’ Things”; Hill Bowen and His Orchestra (RCA Camden LP # CAS-580); and Russ Case’s musical direction of orchestra and chorus (Rondo-Lette LP # SA151). In 2011, Seth MacFarlane’s sparkling collection Music Is Better Than Words (Universal Republic Records CD # BOO15591-10) included a real surprise, a thrilling and joyous rendition of “Nine O’Clock.” The collection Lost Broadway and More includes “Here We Are Again,” which seems to have been dropped during the preproduction phase of the original production, and Lost Broadway and More Volume Three offers “If Jesus Don’t Love Ya”; both CDs were released by Original Cast Records in unnumbered editions.

1984–1985 SEASON     239

Take Me Along wasn’t the first musical adaptation of O’Neill’s comedy. MGM’s 1948 Summer Holiday was a problematic version of the story with lyrics by Ralph Blane, music by Harry Warren, and a cast that included Mickey Rooney (Richard), Gloria DeHaven (Muriel), and Walter Huston (Nat Miller). Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, the film is visually enchanting and drenched in glorious sunshine and Technicolor. It offers a charming opening number (“Our Home Town”), a rousing salute to the Fourth of July (“Independence Day”), a richly melodic tribute to “The Stanley Steamer” (a musical kissing cousin to “The Trolley Song” from MGM’s 1944 Meet Me in St. Louis and “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” from the same studio’s 1946 The Harvey Girls), and Nat’s tender and rueful “Spring Isn’t Everything,” which makes a fascinating companion piece to both Huston’s “September Song” from Knickerbocker Holiday (1938) and Take Me Along’s “Staying Young” (“Spring Isn’t Everything” was cut from the film’s final release print but is included on the soundtrack album issued by Rhino Records CD # RHM2-7769). The film also included an innovative scene in rhymed dialogue for Richard and a floozy in the local bawdy house. It was cleverly photographed and edited to depict Richard’s tipsy impressions: the floozy’s pale pink gown becomes pinker, then red, and then even redder, and the screen becomes awash in garish colors. The film was made in 1946, sat on the shelf for two years, and when released in 1948 was severely edited with the deletion of three songs and one dance sequence.

GRIND Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: April 16, 1985; Closing Date: June 22, 1985 Performances: 79 Book: Fay Kanin Lyrics: Ellen Fitzhugh Music: Larry Grossman Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: Kenneth D. Greenblatt, John J. Pomerantz, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards, James M. Nederlander, Harold Prince, and Michael Frazier in association with Susan Madden Samson and Jonathan Farkas (Ruth Mitchell and Sam Crothers, Executive Producers); Choreography: Lester Wilson (Larry Vickers, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Clarke Dunham; Costumes: Florence Klotz; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Ben Vereen (Leroy), Lee Wallace (Harry), Stubby Kaye (Gus), Joey Faye (Solly), Marion Ramsey (Vernelle), Hope Clarke (Ruby), Valarie Pettiford (Fleta), Candy Brown (Kitty), Wynonna Smith (Linette), Carol Woods (Maybelle), Jackie Jay Patterson (Mechanical Man), Leonard John Crofoot (Knockabout, Stooge, Tough), Ray Roderick (Knockabout, Tough), Kelly Walters (Knockabout, Tough), Steve Owsley (Knockabout, Tough), Malcolm Perry (Knockabout, Tough), Sharon Murray (Romaine), Leilani Jones (Satin), Brian McKay (Louis), Oscar Stokes (Mike), Timothy Nolen (Doyle), Donald Acree (Grover), Ruth Brisbane (Mrs. Faye) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Chicago during 1933.

Musical Numbers Act One: “This Must Be the Place” (Company); “Cadava” (Joey Faye, Stubby Kaye, Sharon Murray); “A Sweet Thing Like Me” (Leilani Jones, Earle’s Pearls); “I Get Myself Out” (Stubby Kaye); “My Daddy Always Taught Me to Share” (Ben Vereen); “All Things to One Man” (Leilani Jones); “The Line” (Ben Vereen, Earle’s Pearls); “Katie, My Love” (Timothy Nolen); “The Grind” (Stubby Kaye, Company); “Yes, Ma’am” (Timothy Nolen); “Why, Mama, Why” (Leilani Jones, Ben Vereen); “This Crazy Place” (Ben Vereen, Company) Act Two: “From the Ankles Down” (Ben Vereen, Earle’s Pearls); “Who Is He?” (Leilani Jones)/ “Never Put It in Writing” (Stubby Kaye)/“I Talk, You Talk” (Timothy Nolen); “Timing” (Sharon Murray, Joey Faye); “These Eyes of Mine” (Carol Woods, Company); “New Man” (Ben Vereen); “Down” (Timothy Nolen); “A Century of Progress” (Ben Vereen, Leilani Jones, Company); Finale (Company)

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Grind was a well-meaning but pretentious and confused mess. Titled Century of Progress during preproduction, the musical took place in a burlesque house in the Chicago of 1933 during the Century of Progress Exposition, and the triple-edged title referred to the bumps-and-grinds of the strip-tease performers, the grind of daily living during the Depression era, and the grinding of powder to make bombs. But Grind was a musical that shouldn’t have whispered the word “bomb.” The musical’s creators seemed thunderstruck with their realization that racism is evil, and they apparently thought audiences were too stupid to know the history of America’s conflicted racial politics. As a result, the musical had nothing new to say on the subject and hammered away at the obvious by creating happenstance moments that depicted racism within the world of the burlesque theatre and its performers. As a result, evil whites run amok and do everything from destroying a bicycle that belongs to the little brother of strip-tease performer Satin (Leilani Jones) to harassing Satin while she performs one of her routines. Moreover, the white establishment won’t allow blacks and whites to appear on the stage at the same time, and the dressing-room areas are carefully segregated. It was all too much as the writers piled on incident after incident to prove their show’s bona-fide progressive credentials. The essentially anonymous evil whites were little more than mob-scene participants in the action, and one of the few non-racist whites was Doyle (Timothy Nolen), an Irish Republican Army terrorist-on-the-run who has killed the innocent in the name of his country’s independence. It turns out that in Ireland Doyle blew up a train that unbeknownst to him carried his wife and child, and because he has murdered his family he’s turned to drink and come to the United States in the hope of forgetting the Irish “troubles” and his guilt. He now has a job as a stooge for Gus (Stubby Kaye), one of the top bananas at the burlesque house, who has troubles of his own: Gus is going blind and eventually kills himself. But his funeral conveniently allowed for the inclusion of the song “These Eyes of Mine,” one of the era’s umpteenth gospel numbers. Quilters had offered the traditional “Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?”; those few who attended the revival of Take Me Along had just heard “If Jesus Don’t Love Ya”; and, yes, right down the Big River a few weeks later Broadway audiences were treated to yet even more gospel-styled songs. In the meantime, an interracial romance blooms when Doyle and Satin fall in love, and a triangle of sorts develops when Leroy (Ben Vereen, in an impossibly written non-role which as performed and staged seemed to anticipate Las-Vegas-styled entertainment shtick of the 1960s) also falls for Satin. The evening soon came to a head in a far-fetched and out-of-nowhere conclusion in which the black and white performers join hands in defiance of the era’s racial attitudes and appear on stage together. But given the world depicted by the musical’s creators, one wonders if this act of bravado might incite a racial riot that would make the Chicago Fire look like a camp fire. The book was hopelessly lost in a sea of antiquated racial notions that refused to acknowledge there had been a certain amount of racial progress during the years following the Civil War, and the production tried in vain to equate the Chicago of 1933 with that of the world of 1928 Berlin and Cabaret. As a result, the various subplots were limp and scattershot and the often ill-defined characterizations did in the performers. The musical’s strengths were threefold. Although Ellen Fitzhugh and Larry Grossman’s score contained the tiresome gospel number, a couple of throwaway songs, and some noticeably flavorless ones for Ben Vereen’s and Stubby Kaye’s characters, the team created many strong theatrical ones: Satin’s vampy strip number “A Sweet Thing Like Me” was both cautionary and come-hither; her Arlenesque “All Things to One Man” was a heartfelt blues; the fugue-like trio (“Who Is He?,” “Never Put It in Writing,” and “I Talk, You Talk”) evoked the splendor and bravado of old-time Broadway; and the irresistibly jaunty “A Century of Progress” brought the show to its would-be ironic conclusion. Doyle was given three effective “Irish” numbers, “Katie, My Love,” “Down,” and “Rabbity Stew” (the latter was deleted during the tryout). The musical’s two other strengths were Clarke Dunham’s magnificent decor and Ken Billington’s moody lighting. Dunham’s set was a breathtaking multitiered revolving phantasmagoria that depicted the burlesque theatre with its marquee and box office, stage and runway, back alley, and, most spectacularly, a honeycomb of shabby dressing rooms that were reached by spider webs of wrought-iron staircases. In one sequence, the wall of dressing rooms provided a reverse view that reflected the auditorium of the burlesque house. Billington’s lighting was appropriately murky and menacing. His specialty is “dark” lighting, of which he is the master, and his genius enhanced the look of the original production of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and his lighting (along with Larry Grossman’s score) was responsible for giving A Doll’s Life what little life it had. Billington also created the dusty and atmospheric lighting for the 1996 revival of Chicago, for which he won the Tony Award.

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The critics noted the musical evoked passages from Gypsy, Cabaret, Follies, Pippin, Chicago, and Sweeney Todd, and Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the enterprise suggested “what might have happened if Sweeney Todd had met the Sugar Babies and they all got together in a rousing gospel-style chorus of ‘We Shall Overcome.’” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 felt that the musical was “Sugar Babies meets Eugene O’Neill.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said that for the show’s first hour it was virtually “impossible” to “figure out” what was going on, but when the authors’ intentions became clear the heretofore “insinuating atmosphere” turned “torpid” and its “mystery” evaporated into “banality.” The musical was “all too heavily didactic” and “all too familiar,” but he praised the “mysterious aura” evoked by Dunham’s splendid set, and noted that the backstage area suggested that “Catfish Row had been plunked down in a Reginald Marsh painting of a Depression movie palace.” Further, Billington’s lighting design was “as eerie as the House of Usher before the fall.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said that despite the uncredited assistance of Bob Fosse, the musical couldn’t overcome the two things wrong with it, the book and the score. The “stew” on stage seemed to have been created by committee, the work was “wearing,” “overlong,” and “unsure of itself,” and Timothy Nolen gave the impression that Sweeney Todd had “wandered into the wrong show.” Barnes noted that the finale’s upbeat image of black and white hands joined in “racial togetherness” seemed “unlikely,” and he said the overall “social significance hangs gloomily over the show like a belt of low pressure.” He too noted that Nolen looked “as if he had walked into the wrong stage door,” and his character’s songs must have been written by “Sweeney Sondheim.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily stated that with Grind “another nail has been driven into the coffin of musical theatre.” The show’s view of racism was outdated, “gratuitous,” “self-congratulatory,” and “in no way pertinent,” and the evening seemed more like “an exercise in the study of musical theatre than a musical.” Further, the characters were “stereotypes” and the story never came to life. Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the show was never “believable,” and despite the professionalism of the score it left him “unravished,” and William A. Henry III in Time said the book was full of unlikely coincidence, “cheap tricks,” and “falseness.” During the tryout and New York previews, the following numbers were deleted: “The Best,” “The One I Want Is Always on the Bottom,” “You, Pasha, You,” “Rabbity Stew,” “La Salle Street Stomp,” and “Rise and Shine” (the latter’s music was incorporated into the title song). “Rabbity Stew” was later included in Grossman’s musical Paper Moon, which premiered in 1993 and was occasionally produced in regional theatre. The script was published in paperback by Broadway Play Publishing in 1986, and the cast album was released by Polydor Records (LP # 827-072-1-Y-1) and was later issued on CD by That’s Entertainment/Jay Records (# CDTER-1103). Unfortunately, the cast album omitted “A Century of Progress,” one of the score’s most outstanding songs.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Grind); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Leilani Jones); Best Director of a Musical (Harold Prince); Best Book (Fay Kanin); Best Score (lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, music by Larry Grossman); Best Scenic Designer (Clarke Dunham); Best Costume Designer (Florence Klotz)

BIG RIVER: THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: April 25, 1985; Closing Date: September 20, 1987 Performances: 1,005 Book: William Hauptman Lyrics and Music: Roger Miller; dance and incidental music by John Richard Lewis Based on the 1884 novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Direction: Des McAnuff; Producers: Rocco Landesman, Heidi Landesman, Rick Steiner, M. Anthony Fisher, and Dodger Productions (Arthur Katz, Emily Landau, Fred Mayerson, and TM Productions, Inc.); Choreography: Janet Watson; Stage Movement and Fights: B. H. Barry; Scenery: Heidi Landesman (Robert Shaw, Associate Scenic Designer); Costumes: Patricia McGourty; Lighting: Richard Riddell; Musical Direction: Linda Twine

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Cast: Gordon Connell (Mark Twain, Doctor), Daniel H. Jenkins (Huckleberry Finn), Susan Browning (Widow Douglas, Sally Phelps), Evalyn Baron (Miss Watson, Woman in Shanty, Harmonica Player), Ron Richardson (Jim), John Short (Tom Sawyer), William Youmans (Ben Rogers, Hank, A Young Fool), Andi Henig (Jo Harper, Joanna Wilkes), Aramis Estevez (Simon), Michael Brian (Dick, Andy, Man in the Crowd), John Goodman (Pap Finn, Sheriff Bell), Ralph Byers (Judge Thatcher, Harvey Wilkes, Silas Phelps); Slaves and Overseers: Carol Dennis, Elmore James, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Franz Jones, Aramis Estevez, John Goodman, William Youmans, and Michael Ryan; Three Men on a Skiff: Ralph Byers, Reathel Bean, and Elmore James; Bob Gunton (The King), Rene Auberjonois (The Duke); Soldiers and Citizens: The Company; Reathel Bean (Lafe, Counselor Robinson); Townspeople: The Company; Patti Cohenour (Mary Jane Wilkes), Peggy Harmon (Susan Wilkes), Franz Jones (Bill), Carol Dennis (Alice), Jennifer Leigh Warren (Alice’s Daughter); Mourners and Mob: The Company; Hired Hands: Reathel Bean, Michael Brian, and John Goodman The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place along the Mississippi River Valley “sometime in the 1840s.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Do You Want to Go to Heaven?” (Company); “The Boys” (John Short, The Gang); “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine” (Daniel H. Jenkins); “Guv’ment” (John Goodman); “Hand for the Hog” (John Short); “I, Huckleberry, Me” (Daniel H. Jenkins); “Muddy Water” (Ron Richardson, Daniel H. Jenkins); “Crossing Over” (Carol Dennis, Elmore James, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Franz Jones, Aramis Estevez, John Goodman, William Youmans, Michael Ryan); “River in the Rain” (Daniel H. Jenkins, Ron Richardson); “When the Sun Goes Down in the South” (Rene Auberjonois, Bob Gunton, Daniel H. Jenkins) Act Two: “The Royal Nonesuch” (Rene Auberjonois, Company); “Worlds Apart” (Ron Richardson, Daniel H. Jenkins); “Arkansas” (William Youmans); “How Blest We Are” (Jennifer Leigh Warren, Company); “You Ought to Be Here with Me” (Patti Cohenour, Peggy Harmon, Andi Henig); “How Blest We Are” (reprise) (Carol Dennis); “Leaving’s Not the Only Way to Go” (Patti Cohenour, Ron Richardson, Daniel H. Jenkins); “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine” (reprise) (Daniel H. Jenkins, Men Slaves, Women Slaves); “Free at Last” (Ron Richardson, Slaves); “River in the Rain” (reprise) (Daniel H. Jenkins, Ron Richardson); “Muddy Water” (reprise) (Company) Big River had the good fortune to open at the end of one of the most undistinguished seasons in the history of Broadway musicals, a season in which the Tony Award committee decided to eliminate the categories of Best Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Leading Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreographer. In better seasons, Big River might have been an also-ran, but in comparison to the desultory shows that opened before it (Quilters, the revival of The Three Musketeers, Harrigan ’n Hart, Grind, et al.), the musical seemed better than it really was. As a result, it won a number of awards, enjoyed a run of over 1,000 performances and became the longest-running musical of the season, had a national tour, and was revived on Broadway two decades later. But Big River was generally small change. The adaptation came across like The Greatest Hits of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and popular singer and songwriter Roger Miller’s score was mostly bland in a pleasant and innocuous fashion. Some made a case for the obvious and tiresome “Guv’ment,” and others even enjoyed the clichéd gospel numbers. But the only song that transcended the material was Huck and Jim’s haunting “River in the Rain,” arguably one of the best theatre songs of the era. Heidi Landesman’s evocative and sometimes brooding Tony Award–winning décor of the eternally winding Mississippi River was effective (although not as impressive as Clarke Dunham’s scenery for Grind), and had the rest of Big River lived up to her inventive scenery and had the entire score been on the level of “River in the Rain,” the musical might have been memorable. Director Des McAnuff did what he could, and it would have been interesting had he tackled a staging of Huckleberry Finn in the style of Nicholas Nickleby with an expanded adaptation that utilized fluid staging techniques and an epic vision. Frank Rich in the New York Times said Big River was the first musical of the season that audiences could attend “without fear of suffering either profound embarrassment or terminal boredom.” He noted that occa-

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sionally the show’s “imaginative flow” slowed “to a trickle” with “a mixture of the modestly engaging to the tolerably bland.” He was also surprised that the adaptation did “the hard things well and the easy things sloppily,” and so while McAnuff’s staging was “daring” with its promise of Twain’s “visionary sweep,” the book was a “comic-book-style digest” that “flattens out an American Ulysses into The Hardy Boys” and could never “quite bring itself to raise hell.” Daniel H. Jenkins was “charming” but too mature and “domesticated” for Huck, and Ron Richardson’s Jim was “timidly and anachronistically bowdlerized” as “an incipient 20thcentury civil-rights activist.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “amiable, tuneful, rambling and almost totally uninvolving” evening lost much of the novel’s “flavor,” and some of the book’s “alterations” were “questionable.” Ultimately, the adaptation committed “the unpardonable sin of being dull.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the “dreary” production offered “monotonous” music, “uninteresting” lyrics, and a book that was clichéd with tableaux “we never take seriously.” As for the Gospel Number, he noted this too had “become a Broadway cliché, and only the most innocent members of the audience can still find this novel or moving.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 liked the cast but said “things don’t go swimmingly” in Big River because the show mostly “treads water.” There were no dance numbers, the first twenty minutes of the first act “were a waste of time,” Miller had “rewritten ‘King of the Road’ six times” and tried to “pass it off as a Broadway score,” and as for the musicians, Siegel said he had “a bigger band at my Bar Mitzvah.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek said Miller had written “beautiful” songs, and both McAnuff and Landesman “beautifully realized” the look and feeling of Huck and Jim’s odyssey on the Mississippi. But some sequences lost “the flow and thrust” of the story,” some of Twain’s “grittiness” had been “sanitized,” and the “appealing” Daniel H. Jenkins was nonetheless too old for the role. Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “extremely welcome” musical, which was notable for “its simplicity, straightforwardness and general grasp of theatrical verities”; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked the “engaging” score and Landesman’s “splendid” and “panoramic” visual designs; and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal singled out the “strong” performances, “imaginative” sets, and “the infectious, foot-stomping score,” but cautioned that the second act became “bogged down in the overly involved plot” and McAnuff tended to treat the secondary characters as “caricatures.” The musical was first presented on February 17, 1984, at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The script was published in hardback by Grove Press in 1986. The cast album was released by MCA Records (LP # MCA-6147 and CD # MCAD-6147), and a 1990 Australian cast album was issued by Rich River Records (CD # BRR-1989). Roger Miller recorded “River in the Rain” and “Hand for the Hog,” and during the Broadway run he succeeded John Goodman in the role of Pap Finn for three months. The musical was revived on July 24, 2003, at the American Airlines Theatre for sixty-seven performances; the cast included Tyrone Giordano (Huckleberry Finn), Michael McElroy (Jim), and from the original production Daniel H. Jenkins (who had now dropped his middle initial) played the role of Mark Twain as well as the voice of Huck. The production utilized hearing and deaf actors who signed and sang. There have been almost twenty musical adaptations of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), including Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, regional theatre (including versions specifically written as children’s musicals), television, film, and West End productions. The earliest seems to be Huckleberry Finn, which closed during its Broadway tryout in 1902, and one of the most recent is the 2001 Broadway production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which closed after twenty-one performances.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Big River); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Rene Auberjonois); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Daniel H. Jenkins); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ron Richardson); Best Director of a Musical (Des McAnuff); Best Book (William Hauptman); Best Score (lyrics and music by Roger Miller); Best Scenic Designer (Heidi Landesman); Best Costume Designer (Patricia McGourty); Best Lighting Designer (Richard Riddell)

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AMERICA’S SWEETHEART The musical opened at Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut, on March 5, 1985, and closed there on April 7, 1985. The production then played at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, Florida, where it permanently closed. Book: John Weidman and Alfred Uhry Lyrics: Alfred Uhry Music: Robert Waldman Based on the 1971 book Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone by John Kobler. Direction: Gerald Freedman; Producer: The Hartford Stage Company (Mark Lamos, Artistic Director; William Stewart, Managing Director); Choreography: Graciela Daniele; Scenery: Kevin Rupnik; Costumes: Jeanne Button; Lighting: Pat Collins; Musical Direction: Liza Redfield Cast: Family—Stephen Vinovich (Al Capone), K. T. (KT) Sullivan (Mae Capone), Trevor Keeth (Sonny Capone); Gang—Nicholas Gunn (Jake Bensick), Michael McCormick (Frankie Rivaldo), Tom Robbins (Tony Rivaldo); People of Chicago: Wayne Bryan (Officer Zwick, Jerry Allen, Badger, Grown Sonny), Carolyn Casanave (Edna Beal), Lucinda Hitchcock Cone (Lulu Blombeck), Gary-Michael Davies (Barney, Schemer Drucci, Senator Krauss, President), Donna English (Bernice Madden, Muriel Wilson), Jeff Etjen (Bugs Moran, Attorney General, Judge Fox), Tom Henning (Harry Wilzak, Dion O’Bannion, Stone), Richard Levine (Nate Beal, Doctor Bailey), K. K. Preece (Radio Lady, Gladys), Steve Routman (Max Chase, Hymie Weiss, Frank Wilson), Deanna Wells (Vicki Chase, Fay, Stern) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around Chicago “in the days of Al Capone.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “You’ll Get Yours” (K. K. Preece, Stephen Vinovich, Nicholas Gunn, Michael McCormick, Tom Robbins, People of Chicago); “Happy Time Al” (Stephen Vinovich, Nicholas Gunn, Michael McCormick, Tom Robbins); “Better Off Bad” (Carolyn Casanave, Lucinda Hitchcock Cone, Deanna Wells, Wayne Bryan); “Here’s to a Lady” (Stephen Vinovich, Trevor Keith); “Chicago Style” (Stephen Vinovich, Nicholas Gunn, Michael McCormick, Tom Robbins); “Florida” (Michael McCormick, Tom Robbins, Bathing Beauties); “He Gets Away with Murder” (Lucinda Hitchcock Cone, Tom Henning, Richard Levine, People of Chicago); “America’s Sweetheart” (Stephen Vinovich, People of Chicago) Act Two: “Call in the Tax Collector” (Jeff Etjen, Gary-Michael Davis, Steve Routman, Donna English); “Crime Doesn’t Pay” (Stephen Vinovich, Nicholas Gunn, Michael McCormick, Tom Robbins, People of Chicago); “Simple” (K. T. Sullivan, Trevor Keeth, Stephen Vinovich, Tom Henning, Deanna Wells, Wayne Bryan); “Love Time” (Lucinda Hitchcock Cone, Donna English, Carolyn Casanave, Stephen Vinovich, Deanna Wells, K. K. Preece, Richard Levine); “All Fwoo” (Wayne Bryan), “Old Year” (K. K. Preece, Deanna Wells, Michael McCormick, Tom Robbins); “Flower of Their Days” (Mourners); “Buddy Buddy” (Stephen Vinovich, Steve Routman); “Getting to Wilson” (Stephen Vinovich); “Capone’s Day in Court” (Stephen Vinovich, People of Chicago); “The Last Ten Years” (Company) America’s Sweetheart was Al Capone (1899–1947) and not a revival of the 1931 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart Broadway musical of the same name. The current show looked at Capone’s life and times in the bad old days of the gangster era. The musical was clearly aimed for Broadway, and besides cowriter John Weidman, lyricist and cowriter Alfred Uhry, and composer Robert Waldman, the creative team included director Gerald Freedman and choreographer Graciela Daniele. But the show floundered in regional theatre, and it brought to a close the handful of interesting collaborations by Uhry and Waldman. Despite some solid songs, Uhry and Waldman’s first musical Here’s Where I Belong, which was based on John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, closed after one performance in 1968. Following a 1974 limited engagement Off Off Broadway that starred Raul Julia (in the title role) and Rhonda Coullet, their next musical The Robber Bridegroom was presented on Broadway in 1975 for another limited engagement (with Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone) and then in 1976 (with Barry Bostwick, who won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, and Coullet reprising her original role); with its folk-like story and engaging score, the small-scale

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musical played on Broadway for a few months and enjoyed many regional productions. In 1980, their ambitious concept musical Swing closed during its pre-Broadway tryout. But Uhry enjoyed a tremendous success with his 1987 Off-Broadway drama Driving Miss Daisy, which won the Pulitzer Prize and ran for 1,195 performances; it was revived on Broadway in 2010 for 180 showings, and for the 1989 film version Uhry won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (the film also won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Jessica Tandy won for Best Actress). His 1997 Broadway drama The Last Night of Ballyhoo won the Tony Award for Best Play, and he wrote the book for the 1998 musical Parade (lyrics and music by Jason Robert Brown), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Book; the work also won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical. Capone’s book was cowritten by Weidman, who wrote the books for three other musicals that looked at figures from America’s past, all with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim: Commodore Matthew Perry (Pacific Overtures, 1976); assassins and would-be assassins of American presidents (Assassins, 1991); and 1920s entrepreneur and con man Wilson Mizner and his architect brother Addison (Wise Guys, 1999; revised as Bounce in 2003 and revised yet again as Road Show in 2008).

1985–1986 Season

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN “Based

on the

MGM Film”

Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: July 2, 1985; Closing Date: May 18, 1986 Performances: 367 Book: Adaptation by Betty Comden and Adolph Green Lyrics: Arthur Freed Music: Nacio Herb Brown Based on the 1952 MGM film Singin’ in the Rain (screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen). Direction and Choreography: Twyla Tharp; Producers: Maurice Rosenfield, Lois F. Rosenfield, and Cindy Pritzker, Inc. (Eugene V. Wolsk, Associate Producer); Film Sequences: Directed by Gordon Willis; Scenery: Santo Loquasto; Costumes: Ann Roth; Lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Musical Direction: Robert Billig Cast: Melinda Gilb (Dora Bailey), Peter Slutsker (Cosmo Brown), Faye Grant (Lina Lamont), Don Correia (Don Lockwood), Hansford Rowe (R. F. Simpson), Richard Fancy (Roscoe Dexter), Mary D’Arcy (Kathy Selden), Martin Van Treuren (Sid Phillips, Ticket Taker), Jacque Dean (Phoebe Dinsmore), Austin Colyer (Diction Coach, A Warner Brother), John Spalla (Sound Engineer), Mary Ann Kellogg (Zelda Zanders); Ensemble: Ray Benson, John Carrafa, Richard Colton, Austin Colyer, Jacque Dean, Diane Duncan, Yvonne Dutton, Craig Frawley, Melinda Gilb, Katie Glasner, Barbara Hoon, David-Michael Johnson, Mary Ann Kellogg, Raymond Kurshals, Alison Mann, Barbara Moroz, Kevin O’Day, Robert Radford, Tom Rawe, Gene Sager, John Spalla, Amy Spencer, Cynthia Thole, Martin Van Treuren, Shelley Washington, Laurie Williamson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Hollywood during the late 1920s.

Musical Numbers Note: * = Denotes choreography by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen as created for the original 1952 film. Act One: “Fit as a Fiddle” (*) (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Al Hoffman and Al Goodhart; 1932 film College Coach) (Don Correia, Peter Slutsker); “Beautiful Girl” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1933 films Stage Mother and Going Hollywood) (Don Correia, Fans); “I’ve (I) Got a Feelin’ (Feeling) You’re Foolin’ (Fooling)” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; film Broadway Melody of 1936) (Mary D’Arcy, The Coconut Grove Coquettes); “Make ’Em Laugh” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; Singin’ in the Rain, 1952) (Peter Slutsker); “Hub Bub” (music by Stanley Lebowsky) (Peter Slutsker; The Studio Stage Hands: John Carrafa, Richard Colton, Raymond Kurshals, Kevin O’Day, Robert Radford, and Tom Rawe); “You Are My Lucky Star” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; film Broadway Melody of 1936) (Don Correia, Mary D’Arcy); “Moses Supposes” (*) (lyric by 247

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Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Roger Edens; Singin’ in the Rain, 1952) (Don Correia, Peter Slutsker); “Good Mornin’ (Morning)” (*) (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1939 film Babes in Arms) ( (Don Correia, Mary D’Arcy, Peter Slutsker); “Singin’ in the Rain” (*) (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; film Hollywood Revue of 1929) (Don Correia) Act Two: “The Wedding of the Painted Doll” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1929 film The Broadway Melody) (Diane Duncan, Yvonne Dutton, Katie Glasner, Kevin O’Day, Amy Spencer, Cynthia Thole); “Rag Doll” (lyricist and composer unknown; source unknown) Richard Colton, Barbara Hoon, Raymond Kurshals); “Temptation” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1933 film Going Hollywood) (Singers: Melinda Gilb; Dancers: Mary Ann Kellogg, Robert Radford, Shelley Washington); “Takin’ (Taking) Miss Mary to the Ball” (lyric by Edward Heyman, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1948 film On an Island with You) (Singers: Ray Benson and Alison Mann; Dancing Horse: Robert Radford and Shelley Washington); “Love Is Where You Find It” (lyric by Earl Brent [program attributes lyric to Gus Kahn], music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1948 film The Kissing Bandit) (Ensemble); “Would You?” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1936 film San Francisco) (Mary D’Arcy); The Dancing Cavalier—“Broadway Rhythm” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; film Broadway Melody of 1936) (Company) and “Blue Prelude” (lyric by Gordon Jenkins, music by Al Bishop) (Company)—Court at Frolic: Ray Benson, John Carrafa, Richard Colton, Katie Glasner, Barbara Hoon, Mary Ann Kellogg, Raymond Kurshals, Robert Radford, Tom Rawe, Amy Spencer, Cynthia Thole, Shelley Washington; Pierre: Don Correia; Manservant: Gene Sager; Villain: Martin Van Treuren; Apache Dancers: John Carrafa, Richard Colton, Yvonne Dutton, Katie Glasner, Barbara Hoon, Mary Ann Kellogg, Raymond Kurshals, Kevin O’Day, Tom Rawe, Amy Spencer; Chanteuse: Laurie Williamson; Danseuse: Shelley Washington; Savate Fighters: Ray Benson and Raymond Kurshals; Peasants: Austin Colyer, Jacque Dean, Craig Frawley, Melinda Gilb, David-Michael Johnson, John Spalla; “Would You?” (reprise) (Mary D’Arcy); “You Are My Lucky Star” (reprise) (Don Correia, Mary D’Arcy, Company); “Singin’ in the Rain” (reprise) (Company) Twyla Tharp’s Broadway interpretation of the classic 1952 MGM film Singin’ in the Rain cost $5 million to produce and at the time was the most expensive musical ever seen in New York. The show played a lengthy series of previews during which the opening night was twice postponed. The reviews were at best mild and the producers decided to close the extravaganza, but a last-minute cash infusion of $1 million allowed the show to cover its initial weekly losses and to mount an ad campaign for television and newspapers. As a result, the show managed to run for almost a year and later enjoyed a national tour that played for a full year. But the musical never attained must-see status and it quickly fell off the theatrical radar. It was probably too much to expect that the stage version could compete with the legendary film, one that almost everyone agrees is the most entertaining movie musical ever made. The movie never went away, and in the days before home video it was a staple at film festivals and on television, and with the advent of videocassettes in the early 1980s, the film’s iconic songs, dances, comedy, and performances were readily available for viewing. A stage version seemed redundant when you could see Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, and Jean Hagan in the real thing. The familiar story spoofed the early days of Hollywood when the studios were transitioning from silent films to talkies, and centered on star Don Lockwood (Kelly in the film, Don Correia in the musical) and his love for chorus girl Kathy (Debbie Reynolds/Mary D’Arcy). But Don is unwillingly pursued by film glamour queen Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen/Faye Grant), a shrill talent-free harpy with a voice like nails on a blackboard. Her voice is sure to doom her in talkies, but through studio politics she ensures that bit-player Kathy will dub her speaking and singing voices on the silver screen. Of course, all ends well when Don tells the public it’s Kathy who possesses the lovely voice they hear, and Kathy appears to be well on her way to stardom and marriage to Don, not necessarily in that order. Lina is sent packing, and Don and Kathy’s composer friend Cosmo (Donald O’Connor/Peter Slutsker), who seems uninterested in romance and is mostly a genial hangeron, will write songs for Don and Kathy’s movies. Frank Rich in the New York Times said Tharp’s production was “a pleasant but innocuous matinee spectacle” which made “no attempt to find theatrical equivalents to film techniques” and as a result the dances sometimes seemed “lost in the frame, as if viewed through the wrong end of the telescope.” Despite the spectacle and the novelty of stage rain pouring down, the musical turned the film’s “celestial entertainment” into “a mild diversion that remains resolutely earthbound.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post stated that the show lacked “brass assurance” and Tharp was more a “Broadway embryo than a Broadway baby.” He sug-

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gested she did “pretty well” with her re-creations of Kelly and Stanley Donen’s film dances, but “on her own” she was “surprisingly disastrous” and was an “art choreographer whose Broadway time has yet to come.” The headline of Edwin Wilson’s review in the Wall Street Journal proclaimed “Twyla Tharp Under Water,” and he complained that the adaptation had no “conception” because the material had “never been looked at in purely stage terms.” As a result, most of the evening was a “slavish reproduction” of the film and only in the second act’s depiction of the making of a musical at the Warner Brothers studio did Tharp finally come into her own and display “her antic imagination.” Here for “the first time in the evening true inventiveness and spontaneity break through.” Linda Winer in USA Today wondered why Tharp, one of the “most talented iconoclasts” in the dance world, was hired “to duplicate somebody else’s beloved myth” and noted it wasn’t until the second act’s Warner Brothers sequence that the choreographer was able to unveil an “original idea,” which included a riotous dance. Douglas Watt’s headline in the New York Daily News couldn’t resist saying “Singin’ Down the Drain,” and he noted the “pallid imitation” was “like re-creating Top Hat minus Astaire and Rogers”; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the evening had “too many rough edges,” but whatever was lacking in “Broadway slickness” was more than compensated for “in extravagance, bustle, and good-will”; and Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the stage version was a “dumb idea” for a good musical but a “good idea” for a “tourist attraction” because the demands on the audience were “minimal” and the show had “built-in ‘product recognition.’” William A. Henry III in Time said the musical was “dogged by conceptual confusion” but looked “so expensive that when compared with other recent musicals, it amply justifies the steep price of Broadway tickets (at $45 top)”; and while Jack Kroll in Newsweek noted there were “undeniable high spirits onstage,” there were “also high prices” at the box office and so “why should a loving couple spend nearly a hundred bucks to see a Singin’ in the Rain that can’t come within water buckets of the original?” As for Don Correia, he had the unenviable task of following Gene Kelly in the leading role, and Joseph M. Mazo in the New York Post noted he was “a very good dancer” who was “forced into the impossible position of having to recreate the style and steps” of Kelly. Correia received mixed reviews, but virtually all the critics acknowledged his innate dancing talents. Winer said he may have lacked Kelly’s “charm” but was nonetheless a “terrific hoofer” and a “whiz at Kelly’s acrobatic tap virtuosity”; Beaufort found him a “terrific” dancer who matched “nimbleness with the charm of a genuine musical-comedy leading man”; and Kissel said he had “an enormous amount of energy and talent” but lacked Kelly’s “charm.” Rich said Correia had “so much grace and vitality as a dancer” but was otherwise “too plebeian a Hollywood heartthrob”; Barnes said Correia was a “delightful talent” who sang and danced like Kelly, and if he looked more like the film actor he “would make a swell stand-in”; Wilson said Correia was “an extremely nimble dancer” who in the title song provided “a first-rate facsimile of the original”; Kroll found him “a fine Broadway dancer and a likeable guy” who lacked “magnetism”; and Watt said he was “nimble and accomplished” but had the “personality of a chorus boy” (other young up-from-the-chorus male dancers of the era who graduated to leading roles, such as Christopher Chadman in the 1976 revival of Pal Joey and Lara Teeter in the recent revival of On Your Toes, also endured similar “chorus boy” criticisms). During New York previews, “Sun Showers” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; film Broadway Melody of 1937), and “You Stepped Out of a Dream” (lyric by Gus Kahn, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1941 film Ziegfeld Girl) were dropped. During previews, director Albert Marre was brought in to redirect the book scenes, and Kroll reported rumors “of no love lost between the Broadway cast members and those from Tharp’s own company.” Successfully transforming a well-known film property for the stage is difficult, and adaptations of MGM musicals are notoriously problematic. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which had been released by MGM in 1954, floundered after 5 performances, and two different adaptations of 1958’s Gigi (1973 and 2015) were unsuccessful and ran for 103 and 86 respective performances. The former adaptation was at least faithful to the spirit of the movie, but the latter was so politically correct it even took away “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” from the Maurice Chevalier character and assigned it to two women, and reduced the difference in the ages between Gigi and Gaston from about fifteen to perhaps five years. In reviewing the second adaptation, Marilyn Stasio in Variety noted the two young leads of the “antiseptic” production were “as Parisian as hot dogs and beer.” Summer-stock productions of the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis popped up periodically for years, but a lavish 1989 Broadway staging lasted for just 253 performances and never paid back its investment, and an

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adaptation of The Pirate (1948) never got beyond the straw-hat circuit. Later, a proposed stage version of Easter Parade (1948) never got off the ground, and a recent concert staging of The Band Wagon (1953) by Encores! on November 6, 2014, for eight performances seems to be in a holding pattern (adapted by Douglas Carter Beane, the work was first produced as Dancing in the Dark in 2008 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California). In 2008, Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of An American in Paris (1951) premiered at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, but soon disappeared. But another adaptation (by Craig Lucas) opened at the Palace Theatre on April 15, 2015, and seems to have overcome the jinx of MGM musical adaptations; as of this writing, the show is consistently at or near sell-out status, and it won four Tony Awards (Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations, Best Scenic Design, and Best Lighting Design). MGM’s The Wizard of Oz (1939) has been occasionally revived on Broadway for limited engagements, including one in 1989. Although Singin’ in the Rain didn’t do all that well on Broadway, an earlier London adaptation enjoyed a long run. The musical opened at the London Palladium on June 30, 1983, and played for 894 performances; like the later Broadway version, the adaptation was by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and some of the choreography was based on the dances created by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen for the film (new choreography was by Peter Gennaro). Tommy Steele played Don Lockwood, and in 1989 he appeared in a revival, which again played at the London Palladium. For the revival, Steele was credited with the stage adaptation, and some of the choreography was still credited to Kelly and Donen (Gennaro’s choreography was restaged by Maggie Goodwin). There was no Broadway cast album of Singin’ in the Rain, but the London version was released by Safari Records (LP # RAIN-1) and then later issued on CD by First Night Records (# 6013); a studio cast album was also released by Jay Records (CD # 1262). The DVD of the 1952 film version is available on a special two-disc set issued by Warner Video (# 65621), which includes an outtake of “You Are My Lucky Star” and original excerpts of songs by Freed and Brown which were heard in the film and first introduced in other movies. The soundtrack was released on a two-CD set by Rhino Movie Music Records (# R2-74497), which includes alternate, extended, and unused versions of songs as well as original recordings of songs heard in the film by the artists who originally introduced them. In 1972, the screenplay was issued in both hardback and paperback as part of The MGM Library of Film Scripts by Viking Adult Books. A DVD was also released of the Japanese Takarazuka company’s production of the musical (TCA Pictures # TCAD-218), which includes the original film choreography created by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Don Correia); Best Book (Betty Comden and Adolph Green)

THE STUDENT PRINCE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 5, 1985; Closing Date: July 21, 1985 Performances: 9 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Dorothy Donnelly (book adapted by Hugh Wheeler) Music: Sigmund Romberg Based on the 1901 play Alt-Heidelberg by Wilhelm Meyer-Forster (which had been adapted from MeyerForster’s 1898 novel Karl Heinrich). Direction: Jack Hofsiss (Christian Smith, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Donald Saddler; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Patton Campbell; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Edward Zimmerman (Lackey), Louis Perry (Lackey, Freshman), George Wyman (Lackey, Huzzar), Neil Eddinger (Lackey), Adib Fazah (Doctor Engel), David Rae Smith (Count von Mark), Glenn Rowen (Secretary, Huzzar), Jonathan Guss (Secretary), Jerry Hadley (Prince Karl Franz), Jack Harrold (Lutz), Carol

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Sparrow (Gretchen), Joseph McKee (Ruder), Douglas Hamilton (Nicholas), James Billings (Tony), William Ledbetter (Hubert), Stephen O’Mara (Detlef), Robert Brubaker (von Asterberg), Wilbur Pauley (Lucas), Elizabeth Hynes (Kathie), Madeleine Mines (Girl), Paula Hostetter (Girl), Beth Pensiero (Girl), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Grand Duchess Anastasia), Cynthia Rose (Princess Margaret), Cris Groenendaal (Captain Tarnitz), Jane Shaulis (Countess Leydon), Neil Eddinger (Huzzar), Gregory Moore (Huzzar); Friends of the Huzzars: Madeleine Mines, Paula Hostetter, Beth Pensiero, and Jill Bosworth; Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in three acts. The action takes place “in the golden years” of 1830–1832 in Karlsberg and Heidelberg, Germany. In reviewing the New York City Opera Company’s third of five presentations of Sigmund Romberg’s 1924 operetta The Student Prince, Donal Henahan in the New York Times said the work had not been “so much revived as lovingly restored.” Jerry Hadley (in the title role) and Elizabeth Hynes (Kathie) were “attractive both in appearance and voice” and were “artists” who didn’t “condescend” to the material. He noted that “for anyone who does not despise the operetta genre on principle,” The Student Prince proves that “an occasional overdose of sugar water can be enspiriting.” For more information about the operetta, see entry for the August 1980 production; also see entries for the 1981 and 1987 revivals.

THE MERRY WIDOW Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: August 30, 1985; Closing Date: November 3, 1985 Performances: 12 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics; Victor Leon and Leo Stein (English adaptation by Adrian Ross) Music: Franz Lehar Based on the 1861 play L’attache d’ambassade by Henri Meilhac. Direction: Ronald Bentley; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Uncredited; Scenery: Helen Pond and Herbert Senn; Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Imre Pallo Cast: Jack Harrold (Baron Popoff), Susanne Marsee (Natalie), Douglas Perry (General Novikovich), William Ledbetter (Counsellor Khadja), William Parcher (Marquis de Cascada), Ruth Golden (Sylviane), John Lankston (M. de St. Brioche), Jane Bunnell (Olga), Mark Thomsen (Vicomte Camille de Jolidon), James Billings (Nisch), Leigh Munro (Sonia), Alan Titus (Count Danilo), Mervin Crook (Head Waiter), Ivy Austin (Zozo), Joan Mirabella (Lolo), Esperanza Galan (Dodo), Candace Itow (Jou-Jou), Victoria Rinaldi (Frou-Frou, Clo-Clo), Jean Barber (Margot); Chorus of Marsovian and Parisian Society, Dancers, Servants, and Waiters: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The current production of Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow was the New York City Opera Company’s third of five revivals of the operetta during the decade. For more information about the operetta, see entry for the 1982 revival; also see entries for the company’s 1983, 1988, and 1989 presentations. The operetta was also revived by the Vienna Volksoper in April 1984 (see entry). In reviewing City Opera’s production, Will Crutchfield in the New York Times said the “pleasant” evening was “not exciting, not quite charming, but gemutlich.” Imre Pollo conducted “with care,” Leigh Munro’s Sonia was “gracious of spirit if sometimes squally of voice,” and while the tones of Alan Titus’s Danilo had “grown a bit wooly” his was nonetheless “still a basically warm voice—a listener-friendly voice.” Crutchfield also noted that Danilo was given an interpolation from Lehar’s 1925 operetta Paganini (“Gern hab’ich die Frau’n gekusst” in the original German). In his review of the operetta’s second cast, Tim Page in the Times felt the revival was a “modest triumph.” Claudia Cummings’s Sonia had a “heavy” soprano which tended to “wobble,” but she brought a “ripe languor” to “Vilia” and “appropriately bejeweled, she made a glittering impression on stage.” Cris Groenendaal made a “dashing” Danilo, and he had “genuine stage presence” and “managed to simultaneously incarnate

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and gently mock the role of matinee idol.” Pallo’s conducting was “unusually sensitive” and he seemed to “genuinely love the score, and never let it devolve into caloric goo.”

SONG & DANCE (Two one-act musicals, the musical Song and the dance-musical Dance) Theatre: Royale Theatre Opening Date: September 18, 1985; Closing Date: November 8, 1986 Performances: 474 Book: Don Black; American adaptation by Richard Maltby Jr. Lyrics: Don Black; additional lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber (for the Song act) and Niccolo Paganini (for the Dance act) Direction: Richard Maltby Jr. (“entire production supervised” by Richard Maltby Jr., and Peter Martins); Producers: Cameron Mackintosh, Inc., The Shubert Organization, and F.W.M. Producing Group by arrangement with The Really Useful Company Ltd. (R. Tyler Gatchell Jr., and Peter Neufeld, Executive Producers) (A Cameron Mackintosh/Shubert Organization Production); Choreography: Peter Martins (Gregg Burge, Associate Tap Choreographer); Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Willa Kim; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: John Mauceri Cast: Act One—Bernadette Peters (Emma) Act Two—Christopher d’Amboise (Joe); The Women: Charlotte d’Amboise, Denise Faye, Cynthia Onrubia, Mary Ellen Stuart; The Men: Gregg Burge, Gen Horiuchi, Gregory Mitchell, Scott Wise; Mary Ellen Stuart (Woman in Gold), Scott Wise and Gregory Mitchell (Woman in Gold’s Escorts), Charlotte d’Amboise (Woman in Blue), Gen Horiuchi (Tourist), Cynthia Onrubia and Denise Faye (Tourist’s Pick-Ups), Gregg Burge (Man from the Streets), Cynthia Onrubia (Woman in Gray Flannel), Bernadette Peters (Emma) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in New York City and Los Angeles.

Musical Numbers Act One: (Note: All songs performed by Bernadette Peters.) —“Take That Look Off Your Face”; “Let Me Finish”; “So Much to Do in New York” (I); “First Letter Home”; “English Girls”; “Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad”; “You Made Me Think You Were in Love”; “Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad” (reprise); “So Much to Do in New York” (II); “Second Letter Home”; “Unexpected Song”; “Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes”; “Take That Look Off Your Face” (reprise); “Tell Me on a Sunday”; “I Love New York”; “So Much to Do in New York” (III); “Married Man”; “Third Letter Home”; “Nothing Like You’ve Ever Known”; “Let Me Finish” (reprise); “What Have I Done?”; “Take That Look Off Your Face” (reprise) Act Two: The second act was all-danced; Lloyd Webber created a set of variations based on Niccolo Paganini’s “A-Minor Caprice No. 24.” The act’s eleven scenes included interludes in a New York subway station, on Wall Street and Fifth Avenue, and in a Manhattan department store. At the end of the act, “Unexpected Song” was reprised by Bernadette Peters. The London import Song & Dance managed slightly more than a year’s run in New York and then embarked on a national tour that lasted for six months. The evening was decidedly weak tea and the only reason it crossed the Atlantic was because Andrew Lloyd Webber had composed the music for the Song half of the evening (the song cycle was originally titled Tell Me on a Sunday). For Dance, Lloyd Webber created a set of variations (Variations was the sequence’s original title) based on Niccolo Paganini’s “A-Minor Caprice No. 24.” Song was a dreary one-character, one-hour song cycle about Emma (Bernadette Peters on Broadway, who was succeeded by Betty Buckley, and for the tour was played by Melissa Manchester) a superficial young British woman who lives first in New York and then Hollywood, and whose only aspiration is to become a hat designer (one hopes her hats aren’t as tacky as her taste in clothes and hair style). The self-important evening

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dealt with the succession of men in her life, some who dump her, and one whom she dumps. Dumpee or dumper, Emma was one of the blandest and most boring characters imaginable, and the production offered no reason to care about her and her empty and shallow lifestyle. As a result, the show became quickly tiresome, and unfortunately Lloyd Webber’s score wasn’t strong enough to compensate for the narrative’s plodding vignettes about poor little confused Emma and her guys Paul, Chuck, Sheldon, and Joe. However, there were two stand-out numbers, the obvious but amusing commentary about life in Los Angeles (“Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad”) and the elegiac and haunting ballad “Unexpected Song.” But the audience had to suffer through Emma’s groan-inducing journey to self-awareness, including her musical statement that she wants to be “Emma again.” She sings that if she’s hurt, well, she’ll be hurt, but at least she’ll have learned to “like myself.” Dance was an all-danced look at Joe (Christopher d’Amboise) and his life-after-Emma in New York. The ballet includes different people with whom he becomes involved, including his encounter with a mysterious “Man from the Streets” (Gregg Burge) who teaches him how to tap dance (a similar sequence occurred in My One and Only when the character played by Charles “Honi” Coles teaches the Tommy Tune character to tap). At the end of Dance, Emma appears and, because she and Joe have (as they say) grown, they reunite. The musical also seemed to imply that in New York only non-New Yorkers can ultimately relate to one another (Emma is of course from Britain, and Joe is from Nebraska). But perhaps that’s reading too much into such a featherweight show. Like all the critics, Frank Rich in the New York Times praised Bernadette Peters’s performance. But he wasn’t all that taken with the musical itself and found the first act “grating” and the second “monotonous.” The evening offered “empty material,” and it was impossible to care whether Emma “lives or dies (as long as she’s brief about it).” And one scene in which Emma receives her green card was “treated with a dramatic intensity worthy of Saint Joan.” Lloyd Webber’s score sounded “like the stuff that’s piped into a 747 just before takeoff,” and the choreography was a “cynical, acrobatic approximation of vintage Broadway dancing.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Lloyd Webber had now created songs about “real” human beings instead of “biblical personages, historical figures, animals, or inanimate objects” and thus his score was the “best” he’d “so far written for the theatre.” In the second half, Christopher d’Amboise danced with “lopsided charm” and was “excellent” (incidentally, he’s the son of Jacques d’Amboise, and his sister Charlotte was among the other dancers in the show). Linda Winer in USA Today said the production offered “lots of talent lavished on an empty project,” and suggested the evening was “slim, painless entertainment.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek felt it “strains credulity to accept the narrative connection” between the two acts, but “what the hell.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily stated the show offered “a score of great aimlessness and pointlessness” and despite the production’s “admirable gloss” there was “no denying that there’s very little underneath.” And Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the score was “weak,” there was “no story,” and the two acts had “nothing” to do with one another. Although Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the evening “superficial and even downright silly” with “questionable musical values,” the show was nonetheless “brightly spirited entertainment.” But he noted the first half was “sentimental pap.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the “superb” music, and William A. Henry III in Time liked Peters’s “vocal color and emotional depth” and said d’Amboise’s ballet routines had “puppyish appeal.” With lyrics by Don Black, Tell Me on a Sunday (the Song part of the evening) had originally starred Marti Webb; in January 1980, the work was first presented in concert and then telecast on the BBC and recorded by Polydor Records (CD # 833447). The stage version opened in London at the Palace Theatre on March 26, 1982, for 781 performances and was titled Song and Dance and subtitled A Concert for the Theatre; the first act was titled Tell Me on a Sunday and the second Variations. Webb reprised her role for the stage production and Wayne Sleep was the lead dancer in the ballet, which at that time wasn’t thematically related to the Song part of the evening. The London cast album was recorded by Polydor on a two-CD set (# 843617), and there was also a 1984 recording of the score by Sarah Brightman released by RCA Victor Records (LP # 70480). The CD of a later 2003 London revival with Denise Van Outen was recorded by Verve Records. In 1984, a videocassette of Song & Dance was released by RCA/Columbia. For New York, the work was adapted by Richard Maltby Jr., who also wrote additional lyrics. Maltby’s liner notes for the Broadway cast album (RCA Victor/BMG Classics Records CD # 09026-68264-20) indicates that for Broadway almost two-thirds of both the lyrics (for the first act) and the story line (for the second)

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were either altered or newly created for the production. The program credited Maltby with the direction, and both he and choreographer Peter Martins shared “entire production supervised by” credit. The Broadway cast album included only the Song portion of the score and was released by RCA Victor/BMG Classics Records (CD # 09026-68264-20). Songs heard in the London production that weren’t used in New York were: “It’s Not the End of the World (If He’s Younger),” “Sheldon Bloom,” “The Last Man in My Life,” “I’m Very You, You’re Very Me,” and “Let’s Talk about You.”

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Song & Dance); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Bernadette Peters); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher d’Amboise); Best Director of a Musical (Richard Maltby Jr.); Best Score (lyrics by Don Black and Richard Maltby Jr., and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber); Best Costume Designer (Willa Kim); Best Lighting Designer (Jules Fisher); Best Choreographer (Peter Martins)

KISMET Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: October 3, 1985; Closing Date: November 17, 1985 Performances: 13 (in repertory) Book: Charles Lederer and Luther Davis Lyrics and Music: Robert Wright and George Forrest (music adapted from themes by Alexander Borodin) Based on the 1911 play Kismet by Edward Knoblock (aka Knoblauch). Direction: Frank Corsaro; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Christopher Keene, Music Director); Choreography: Randolyn Zinn; Scenery and Costumes: Lawrence Miller; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: James Clark (Imam of the Mosque, Bangle Man, Prosecutor), Ashley Janeway (Silk Dancer, Slave Girl), Jean Barber (Silk Dancer, Slave Girl), Malcolm Grant (Silk Dancer, Swain), Terry Lacy (Silk Dancer, Swain), Louis Perry (Muezzin, Silk Merchant, Giant), Glenn Rowen (Muezzin), Bernard Waters (Muezzin, Silk Merchant), George Wyman (Muezzin), Don Yule (Beggar, Chief of Police), Robert Brubaker (Beggar, Policeman, Spy), Vasilis Iracledes (Dervish), Richard Smith (Dervish), James Billings (Omar), George Hearn (Hajj), Maryanne Telese (Marsinah), William Ledbetter (Businessman, Pearl Merchant, Informer, Spy), Ralph Bassett (Hassan-Ben, Policeman, Spy), John Lankston (Jawan), Harris Davis (Brave Merchant), Madeleine Mines (Young Woman), Mary Ann Rydzeski (Young Woman, Ayah to Lalume), Mervin Crook (Slave Merchant), Jack Harrold (Wazir of Police), Jeff Davis (Wazir’s Guard), Eric Miller (Wazir’s Guard), Donald R. Richardson (Wazir’s Guard), Elliot Santiago (Wazir’s Guard), Frank Sollito (Wazir’s Guard), Stephanie Godino (Slave Girl), Deborah Saverance (Harem Girl), Susanne Marsee (Lalume), Shannon Bresnahan (Princess of Ababu), Joan Mirabella (Princess of Ababu), Victoria Rinaldi (Princess of Ababu), Cris Groenendaal (Caliph), Jane Shaulis (Widow Yussef, Ayah to Zubbediya), Esperanza Galan (Princess of Zubbediya), Candace Itow (Princess of Samaris of Bangalore); Singers and Dancers: The New York City Opera Company Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Old Baghdad during one day (“from dawn to dusk” and “from dusk to dawn”).

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra) and “Sands of Time” (James Clark, Louis Perry, Glenn Rowen, Bernard Waters, Robert Brubaker); “Rhymes Have I” (George Hearn, Maryanne Telese); “Fate” (George Hearn); “The Hand of Fate” (Orchestra); “Fate” (reprise) (George Hearn); “Bazaar of the Caravans” (Chorus); “Not Since Nineveh” (Susannne Marsee, Chorus); “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” (Maryanne Telese, Cris Groenendaal,

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Chorus); “Stranger in Paradise” (Maryanne Telese, Cris Groenendaal); “Gesticulate” (George Hearn, Jack Harrold, Susanne Marsee, Wazir’s Council); “Fate” (reprise) (Company) Act Two: “Night of My Nights” (Cris Groenendaal, Attendants); “Stranger in Paradise” (reprise) (Maryanne Telese); “Was I Wazir?” (Jack Harrold, Council); “The Olive Tree” (George Hearn); “Rahadlakum” (Susanne Marsee, George Hearn, Harem Girls); “And This Is My Beloved” (Maryanne Telese, Cris Groenendaal, George Hearn, Jack Harrold); “Zubbediya” (Jane Shaulis); “Samaris’ Dance” (Ensemble); “Abadu Dance” (Shannon Bresnahan, Joan Mirabella, Victoria Rinaldi); Finale (Company) The theatrical fates have been kind to Kismet. The original Broadway production opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 3, 1953, during a newspaper strike, and although the reviews were eventually disseminated, it’s likely some of the early and unenthusiastic ones were lost on the public (Walter Kerr in the New York Herald-Tribune said the musical offered only “piecemeal” pleasures and its “incidental splendors” were “odd baubles” and not “genuine gold,” and Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times found the work “commonplace” and “cumbersome”). But the public turned Kismet into a long-running hit of 583 performances, and the songs (which Robert Wright and George Forrest adapted from music by Alexander Borodin) included “Stranger in Paradise,” “Baubles, Bangles and Beads,” and “This Is My Beloved,” all of which became popular standards. The show won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Alfred Drake), Best Book, Best Producer, and Best Composer (for Borodin, who had died in 1887). But the current revival by the New York City Opera Company received a withering notice from Donal Henahan in the New York Times, who said the show was “aimless” and “feeble stuff.” He found fault with almost every aspect of the evening, including George Hearn (he didn’t “command the stage” as Hajj should do), Susanne Marsee (as Lalume, she was “tiresomely arch and obvious, as if she were doing an imitation of Lucille Ball posing as a seductress”), the direction (“absentminded”), the choreography (it seemed “to have been designed for another show entirely”), and the orchestra (a “rasping comb-and-tissue sound”). Further, the scenery was sometimes “gaudy” and the lighting occasionally “bizarre.” But Henahan praised James Billings (Omar) and Jack Harrold (The Wazir), who gave the production its “sturdiest performances.” Despite the dismissive review, City Opera brought back the musical the following season (see entry), and this time around it received favorable reviews from two of the Times’ critics. The story takes place “from dawn to dusk” and “from dusk to dawn” in Old Baghdad where the beggarpoet Hajj and his daughter Marsinah sell rhymes to passersby. She catches the eye of the Caliph, who immediately falls in love with her, and Hajj becomes involved in court intrigues as well as amorous ones when he becomes the lover of Lalume, the Wazir’s sexy and bored-to-death wife. The book is generally dismissed by critics (Kerr said the show “would sell its soul for a joke”), but in truth the script is amusing, ironic, and fast-moving, and never takes itself seriously. Further, the dialogue is tonguein-cheek, and, yes, it is arch (and purposely so: the luscious Lalume tells Hajj she knows of a private oasis where lovers can indulge in untold sensual pleasures . . . “not that I’ve ever been there,” she quickly adds). Besides the two City Opera productions, the musical has been revived in New York twice: at the New York State Theatre in a production by The Music Theatre of Lincoln Center on June 22, 1965, for forty-eight performances with a cast that included Alfred Drake, and a revised all-black version titled Timbuktu! which opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on March 1, 1978, for 221 performances (Eartha Kitt was Lalume [here, Sahleem-La-Lume]). The original London production opened at the Stoll Theatre on April 20, 1955, for 648 performances, and besides Drake it included two other original Broadway cast members, Joan Diener (Lalume) and Doretta Morrow (Marsinah); the role of Princess Samaris was played by Juliet Prowse. The 1955 MGM film version was directed by Vincente Minnelli and the cast included Howard Keel (Hajj), Dolores Gray (Lalume), Ann Blyth (Marsinah), and Vic Damone (The Caliph). The film added the song “Bored” (for Lalume), and the number is occasionally interpolated into revivals of the musical. The DVD is included in the collection Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory (Volume 3) (Warner Brothers # 12569). A television version was aired by ABC on October 24, 1967, with José Ferrer (Hajj), Anna Maria Alberghetti (Marsinah), Barbara Eden (Lalume), George Chakiris (The Caliph), and Hans Conried (The Wazir). The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1954, and a paperback was published in Great Britain in an undated edition by Frank Music Co. There are many renderings of the score, but the finest is the spectacularly recorded original cast album by Columbia Records (LP # OL-4850; the CD was issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy # SK-89252). The

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two-CD studio cast album by That’s Entertainment Records (# CDTER2-1170) includes “Bored”; three songs written for Timbuktu! (“In the Beginning, Woman,” “Golden Land, Golden Life,” and “My Magic Lamp”) and one dropped during the tryout of Timbuktu! (“Power!”). Another studio cast album was issued by Sony Broadway Records (CD # SK-46438) and is lushly recorded; it includes powerful singing performances by Samuel Ramey (Hajj) and Jerry Hadley (The Caliph), but one could easily do without Julia Migenes (Lalume), who seems to be channeling Barbra Streisand, and Mandy Patinkin’s “Marriage Arranger” is an unwelcome and campy intrusion. The Music Theatre of Lincoln Center’s production was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1112), and a demo recording of Timbuktu! (LP # SS-33782-01A/02B) was briefly available for sale (two songs are performed by Eartha Kitt, and others are by Johnny Mathis, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Della Reese, and Isaac Hayes).

TANGO ARGENTINO Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: October 9, 1985; Closing Date: March 30, 1986 Performances: 198 Direction: Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli; Producers: Mel Howard and Donald K. Donald; Choreography: Juan Carlos Copes; Scenery and Costumes: Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia; Lighting: Uncredited; Musical Directors: Jose Libertella, Luis Stazo, and Osvaldo Berlingieri Cast: Singers—Raul Lavie, Jovita Luna, Elba Beron, and Alba Solis; Dancers—Soloist: Naanim Timoyko; Couples: Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves, Nelida and Nelson, Gloria Rivarolo and Eduardo, Mayoral and Elsa Maria, Virulazo and Elvira, The Dinzels (Gloria and Rodolfo), Maria Rivarolo and Carlos Rivarola; Musicians—Sexteto Major: Jose Libertella (Bandoneon), Luis Stazo (Bandoneon), Mario Abramovich (Violin), Eduardo Walczak (Violin), Oscar Palermo (Piano), Osvaldo Aulicino (Bass); Other Musicians—Osvaldo Berlingieri (Piano), Oscar Ruben Gonzalez (Bandoneon and Flute), Rodolfo Fernandez (Violin), Juan Schiaffino (Violin), Dino Carlos Quarleri (Violoncello), Lisandro Adrover (Bandoneon) The dance revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Quejas de bandoneon” (music by J. de Dios Filiberto) (Orchestra); “El Apache argentino” (music by M. Aroztegui-A. Mathon) (Dancers); “El esquinazo” (music by A. Villoldo) (Dancers); “Milonga del tiempo heroico” (music by F. Canaro) (Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves); “La punalada” (music by P. Castellanos and E. C. Flores) (Osvaldo Berlingieri and Orchestra); “La morocha” (music by E. Saborido and A. Villoldo) (Gloria Rivarolo, Maria Rivarolo); “El choclo” (lyric and music by A. Villoldo and E. S. Discepolo) (sung by Elba Beron); “La cumparsita” (music by G. M. Rodriguez) (Maria Rivarolo and Carlos Rivarolo); “Mi noche triste” (lyric and music by S. Castriotta and P. Contursi) (sung by Raul Lavie); “Orgullo criollo” (music by J. DeCaro and P. Laurenz) (choreography by Virulazo) (Virulazo and Elvira); “De mi barrio” (lyric and music by R. Goyeneche) (sung by Jovita Luna); “Bandoneones” (Jose Libertella, Luis Stazo, Lisandro Adrover, and Oscar Ruben Gonzalez); “Milonguita”: (1) “Milonguita” (music by E. Delfino and S. Linning); (2) “Divina” (music by J. Mora and J. de la Calle); (3) “Melenita de oro” (music by E. Delfino and S. Linning); and (4) “RE-FA-SI” (music by E. Delfino) (Milonguita: Naanim Timoyko; The Ruffian: Juan Carlos Copes; The Ruffian’s Accomplice: Nelida; The Bridegroom: Nelson; The Cabaret’s Customers: Eduardo, Mayoral, and Carlos Rivarola; The Prostitutes: Gloria Rivarolo, Elsa Maria, Gloria Dinzel, and Maria Rivarolo); “Nostalgias” (music by J. C. Cobian and E. Cadicamo) (Sexteto mayor); and “Cuesta abajo” (lyric and music by Gardel–Le Pera) (Raul Lavie); “El entrerriano” (music by R. Mendizabal) (choreography by Gloria and Rodolfo Dinzel) (Gloria and Rodolfo Dinzel); “Canaro en Paris” (music by Scarpino and Caldarella) (Osvaldo Berlingieri and Orchestra); “Taquito militar” (music by M. Mores) (Juan Carlos Copes, Maria Nieves, Nelida and Nelson, Gloria Rivarolo and Eduardo) Act Two: “Milongueando en el 40” (music by Armando Pontier) (choreography by Eduardo) (Gloria Rivarolo and Eduardo); “Uno” (lyric and music by E. S. Discepolo-M. Mores) (Alba Solis); “La ultima curda” (lyric and music by A. Troilo and C. Castillo) (Alba Solis); “La yumba” (music by O. Pugliese) (choreography

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by Mayoral) (Mayoral and Elsa Maria); “Nunca tuvo novio” (lyric and music by E. Cadicamo and A. Bardi) (Raul Lavie, Osvaldo Berlingieri, and Orchestra); “Jealousy” (music by J. Gade) (choreography by Nelida and Nelson) (Nelida and Nelson); “Desencuentro” (lyric and music by Elba Beron) (Elba Beron); “Tanguera” (music by M. Mores) (Orchestra); “Verano porteno” (music by A. Piazzola) (Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves); “Balada para mi muerte” (lyric and music by A. Piazzola and H. Ferrer) (Jovita Luna); “Adios noning” (music by A. Piazzola) (Sexteto Major); “Danzarin” (music by J. Plaza) and “Quejas de bandoneon” (music by J. de Dios Filiberto) (Ballet) The dance import Tango Argentino was originally set for a five-week run at the Mark Hellinger, but it proved so popular it played for six months. The dance revue presented an array of expertly performed tangos accompanied by musicians and singers, and the background was reminiscent of a smoky and sometimes sinister tango palace. Unfortunately, the revue was too one-note; despite the variety of tangos and the occasional musical interludes, the show was slightly monotonous and would have been more successful had it been part of an evening that included other types of dances. But the critics were delighted with the revue and showered it with praise. Jennifer Dunning in the New York Times hailed the “high-spirited and stylish” program, but with tonguein-cheek reported that an audience member said “something was missing” because the Hellinger’s lobby lacked a “sign-up table for tango lessons”; Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “dazzling and immaculate footwork” of the dancers made the National Football League “look like a swarm of flatfooted stumblebums”; Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted the dancers were “peerless among their peers”; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found the evening a “super vaudeville show” that had been “stylishly” choreographed and “handsomely designed.” Directors Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli’s dance revue had played in New York a few months earlier for a one-week limited engagement at City Center during June 1985. During 1983 and 1984, the work had first been presented in Europe. It premiered in Paris at the Festival d’Automne, and then played at the Biennale of Venice, in various Italian cities, at the Vienna Festival, and in Germany. Prior to the City Center engagement, the work had toured the United States, and after the Broadway run the revue continued its U.S. tour. Segovia and Orezzoli’s flamenco dance revue Flamenco puro had premiered in Seville in 1980, and the Broadway production opened at the Hellinger a few months after Tango Argentino closed. The team later produced the revue Black and Blue, which played for 829 performances.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Tango Argentino); Best Director (Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli); Best Choreography (The Dancers in Tango Argentino)

LA GATTA CENERENTOLA Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: October 19, 1985; Closing Date: October 20, 1985 Performances: 2 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Roberto De Simone Based on the sixth fable of Giovan Basile’s Pentamerone. Direction: Roberto De Simone; Producers: The Italian Government with special assistance from the AmericaItaly Society in Celebration of the City of New York’s Italian Heritage and Cultural Month; Scenery: Mauro Carosi; Costumes: Odette Nicoletti; Lighting: Uncredited; Musical Direction: Renato Piemontese Cast: Antonella D’Agostino (Jesce sole), Ofelia De Simone (La donna della cabala, La zingara), Virgilio Villani (Il canto dei turchi, Bene mio, La voce del Rosario, Asso di bastoni), Lello Giulivo (Il ballo di S. Giovanni, Il militaire spagnuolo), Giuseppe De Vittorio (Il ballo di S. Giovanni, La sorella Patrizia), Valeria Bajano (La gatta Cenerentola), Rino Marcelli (La matrigna), Isa Danielli (La pettinatrice, L’angoscia), Patrizia Spinosi (La sarta orfana di madre), Giovanni Mauriello (Il monacello, Cuccurucu, Il femminella), Gianni

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Lamagna (Vurria addeventare); La cameriere di Palazzo Reale: Anna Incoronato, Patrizia Spinosi, Adria Mortari, Anna Spagnuolo, and Antonella D’Agostino; Gianfranco Mari (La voce castrata, Il militaire francese); La canzone dei militari: Luciano Catapano and Gianni Lamagna The musical was presented in three acts.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical sequences. Act One: “Jesce sole”; “E’nata”; “Villanella di Cenerentola”; “Canzone dei sette mariti”; “Canzone delle sei sorelle”; “Duetto” (“Mamma, Mamma, che belle cosa”); “Rosario”; “Canzone del monacello” Act Two: “Villanella a ballo” (“Vurria addeventare”); “Moresca”; “Madrigali”; “Tarantella” (“Oi Mamma ca mo vene”) Act Three: “Coro dei soldati”; “Coro delle lavandaie”; “Coro delle lavandaie” (reprise); “Canzone della zingara”; “Il suicidio del femminella”; “Jesce sole” (reprise); “Scene della ingiurie”; Finale Roberto De Simone’s musical fable La gatta Cenerentola (Cinderella, the Cat) was presented in Italian (with English subtitles) for two performances during the two-week salute to Italian theatre and music Italy on Stage, which was presented by the Italian government with special assistance from the America-Italy Society in Celebration of the City of New York’s Italian Heritage and Cultural Month. The event was also supported by a $1 million contribution from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The celebration included musicals, plays, operas, concerts, films, art exhibits, and panel discussions, and besides La gatta Cenerentola, other musicals presented during the festival were I due sergenti and Pipino il breve. La gatta Cenerentola was performed by The Ente Teatro Cronaca of Naples, which according to the New York Times was Southern Italy’s oldest private theatre company. The musical was based on the classic Cinderella story. The musical was recorded by EMI Music Italy (CD number unknown).

I DUE SERGENTI Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: October 21, 1985; Closing Date: October 22, 1985 Performances: 2 Text: Attilio Corsini and Roberto Ripamonte Music: Giovanna Marini Based on the 1823 play I due sergenti by Theodore Baudouin d’Aubigny. Direction: Attilio Corsini; Producers: The Italian Government with special assistance from the America-Italy Society in Celebration of the City of New York’s Italian Heritage and Cultural Month; Choreography: Hasel Moore; Scenery and Costumes: Uberto Bertacca; Musical Direction: Uncredited Cast: The Actors and Technicians Company of Rome—Gerolamo Alchieri, Stefanco Altieri, Franco Bergesio, Eleonora Cosmo, Sandro De Paoli, Ruggero Dondi, Anna Lisa Di Nola, Roberto Ivan Orano, Silvestro Pontani, Viviana Toniolo Based on a melodrama written in 1823, I due sergenti (The Two Sergeants) was presented in Italian (with English subtitles) for two performances during the two-week salute to Italian theatre and music Italy on Stage, which was presented by the Italian government with special assistance from the America-Italy Society in Celebration of the City of New York’s Italian Heritage and Cultural Month. The event was also supported by a $1 million contribution from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The celebration included musicals, plays, operas, concerts, films, art exhibits, and panel discussions, and besides I due sergenti, other musicals presented during the festival were La gatta Cenerentola and Pipino il breve.

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I due sergenti was a play-within-a-play that included songs and dealt with a group of actors touring the world in a play titled I due sergenti. Walter Goodman in the New York Times reported that the equipment that provided English subtitles proved faulty for most of the evening, and because he had only a “menu acquaintance” with Italian he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to enjoy and understand the evening. As it turned out, “ignorance was no handicap” because the show was full of “hokum” and “theatrics,” including an elevated parquet floor that morphed into various settings, such as a banquet table and a ship rocking on waves. As a result, the evening’s vaudeville-like sequences carried the day and included a lady who was sawed in half, a number of characters who kept popping up through trapdoors, a duel scene from Hamlet that was fought with umbrellas, and a Wild West takeoff that offered country music “delivered with an Italian accent.”

MAYOR

“The Musical” Theatre: Latin Quarter Opening Date: October 23, 1985; Closing Date: January 5, 1986 Performances: 70 Book: Warren Leight Lyrics and Music: Charles Strouse Based on the 1982 book Mayor: An Autobiography by Edward I. Koch (with William Rauch). Direction: Jeffrey B. Moss; Producers: Martin Richards, Jerry Kravat, Mary Lea Johnson, and The New York Music Company (Sam Crothers, Associate Producer); Choreography: Barbara Siman; Scenery and Costumes: Randy Barcelo; Lighting: Richard Winkler; Musical Direction: Michael Kosarin Cast: Lenny Wolpe (The Mayor), Douglas Bernstein, Marion J. Caffey, Nancy Giles, Ken Jennings, Ilene Kristen, Kathryn McAteer, John Sloman The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during the present time.

Musical Numbers Note: Quotation marks are used for song but not for sketch titles. Act One: “Mayor” (Lenny Wolpe); “You Can Be a New Yorker, Too!” (Businessman: John Sloman; Out-ofTowner: Douglas Bernstein; Bicycle Messenger: Marion J. Caffey; Company); Board of Estimate (Lenny Wolpe; Carol Bellamy: Kathryn McAteer; Leona Helmsley: Ilene Kristen; Harrison J. Golden: Douglas Bernstein; Security Guard: Marion J. Caffey); “You’re Not the Mayor” (Carol Bellamy: Kathryn McAteer; Security Guard: Marion J. Caffey; Aide: Ken Jennings); “Mayor” (reprise) (Lenny Wolpe); Critics (Ken Jennings, Marion J. Caffey, Kathryn McAteer); “March of the Yuppies” (Nancy Giles, John Sloman, Douglas Bernstein, Company); The Ribbon Cutting: “Hootspa” (Lenny Wolpe; John V. Lindsay: John Sloman; Abe Beame: Ken Jennings); Alternate Side: Kathryn McAteer; Coalition: Marion J. Caffey, Ilene Kristen, Douglas Bernstein); “What You See Is What You Get” (Sue Simmons: Nancy Giles; Lenny Wolpe, Company) Act Two: In the Park (Company); “Ballad” (Ilene Kristen, John Sloman); “On the Telephone” (Lenny Wolpe; Carol Bellamy: Kathryn McAteer); “I Want to Be the Mayor” (Harrison S. Golden: Douglas Bernstein); Subway: “The Last ‘I Love New York’ Song” (Company); “Ballad” (reprise; lyric for reprise version by Warren Leight) (Lenny Wolpe); Testimonial Dinner: “Good Times” (Lenny Wolpe; Archbishop John Joseph O’Connor: Douglas Bernstein; Bess Myerson: Nancy Giles; Leona Helmsley: Ilene Kristen; Harry Helmsley: John Sloman; David Rockefeller: Ken Jennings; Waiter: Marion J. Caffey); “We Are One” (Homeless People: Marion J. Caffey, Kathryn McAteer; Leona Helmsley: Ilene Kristen; Harry Helmsley: John Sloman); “How’m I Doin’?” (Lenny Wolpe, Company); “Mayor” (reprise) (Lenny Wolpe); “My City” (Company) Although the program credited Warren Leight with Mayor’s book, his contributions were more in the nature of sketches. The revue-like musical, which was nominally based on New York City’s Mayor Edward I. Koch’s memoirs, looked at the mayor and his career but was mostly reminiscent of early Off-Broadway satiric

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revues that kidded the fads and foibles of New York City life. There were songs and sketches about subways (“The Last ‘I Love New York’ Song”), the homeless (“We Are One,” in which Leona and Harry Helmsley share a song with street people), gentrification (“March of the Yuppies”), a crash-course on how to become a New Yorker (“You Can Be a New Yorker, Too!”), the problems of finding a place to park (“Alternate Side”), and an ode to Manhattan (“My City”). The revue originated Off Broadway where it played for five months, but the Broadway transfer lasted little more than two months before folding. In reviewing the Off-Broadway production, the critics praised the modest evening, which included music by Charles Strouse, who also wrote the lyrics (as he had done for the 1971 Off-Broadway revue Six and the 1982 Off-Off-Broadway and London musical Nightingale). Frank Rich in the New York Times found the revue “a grab bag of hit-and-miss revue songs” and a “minimal script” that included a running joke about the mayor and Leona Helmsley’s attempt to transform Times Square into a theme park called Manhabitat which includes Joffrey Ballet–trained break dancers (because of this plan, Koch is visited in his dreams by two former New York City mayors, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, whose spirit encourages Koch to “listen” to the people, and Abraham Beame, both of whom were portrayed by Ken Jennings). There were also jokes in which Archbishop John Joseph O’Connor (Douglas Bernstein) introduces Koch as Manhattan’s “second most eligible bachelor.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “most beguiling and sprightly music” and the “resourceful” book, and suggested that his readers “Vote for Mayor! The musical, that is.” Linda Winer in USA Today found the revue “surprisingly sharp,” and while the first half was “almost too soft,” the second went after Koch “with the satirical ferocity of a Berlin cabaret.” She noted the show was Koch’s idea (and she and one or two other critics reported that Koch received 1 percent of the revue’s gross receipts), and she commented that John Sloman (as former “WASP” New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay) sang “Hootspa” (as in chutzpah). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News liked the “bouncy topical revue” with Strouse’s “attractive jingly tunes and lyrics to match” and the “sprightly” choreography by Barbara Siman. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the “highly amusing and telling” sketches and songs (but noted the revue “sidesteps the unvarnished frankness about friend and foe that gave a savage zest” to Koch’s memoirs). John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said Lenny Wolpe caught the “essentials” of Koch in his portrayal, and “whether or not Koch (the mayor) deserves to be reelected, Mayor (the musical) deserves to run.” And Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily hailed the “extremely entertaining” revue, which “carries on in high style the rebirth of political cabaret on the New York theatre scene,” and he singled out Strouse’s “infectiously jaunty melodies,” “masterful” lyrics, and Leight’s “good” and “rich” sketches, which were “laced with touches of not terribly far-fetched insanity.” Mayor originally opened Off Broadway at the Top of the Gate/The Village Gate on May 13, 1985, for 185 performances. During Off-Broadway previews, the musical was presented in one act and the song “Everyone Tells Me So” was cut. During the course of the Off-Broadway run, the sketch “The Four Seasons” and the song “Isn’t It Time for the People?” were dropped and two sketches (“Critics” and “Coalition”) were added. The Off-Broadway cast album was recorded by New York Music Company Records (LP # NYM-21). The revue joined two other musicals about New York City mayors, Fiorello! (1959) and Jimmy (1969; James J. Walker). Mayor wasn’t as successful as the former, which had won the Pulitzer Prize and played for almost two years, but it wasn’t a fast flop like Jimmy, and the revue’s Off-Broadway and Broadway runs managed a total of 255 performances. Other New York mayors with musical comedy connections include Mayor Abraham Oakey Hall, who was a character in the 1945 musical Up in Central Park, and Mayor Lindsay, who made a cameo appearance in an early performance of Seesaw (1973) during the song “My City” (incidentally, the score of Mayor also included a song with this same title). Mayor was the final show to play at the Latin Quarter, a theatre housed in the space where the fabled night club of the same name had once been located. For more information about the venue, see Haarlem Nocturne.

PIPINO IL BREVE Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: October 25, 1985; Closing Date: October 26, 1985 Performances: 2 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Tony Cucchiara

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Direction: Giuseppe DiMartino; Producers: The Italian Government with special assistance from the America-Italy Society in Celebration of the City of New York’s Italian Heritage and Cultural Month Cast: The Teatro Stabile di Catania of Sicily The musical was presented in three acts.

Musical Numbers The musical numbers included: “Figlia”; “Chilpericu III”; “Di Berta e Pipinu cuntamu la storia”; “La partenza di l’ambasceria”; “Figlia” (reprise); “La me ventura”; “U corredu”; “Duetto d’amore”; “Chistu succedi da mill’anni”; “Matruzza mia”; “Viva, viva la regina”; “Picchi’ chiangi sta beddra regina”; “Berta filava”; “Viva Carlu Magnu” The puppet musical Pipino il breve (Pepin the short) was presented in Italian (with English subtitles) for two performances during the two-week salute to Italian theatre and music Italy on Stage, which was presented by the Italian government with special assistance from the America-Italy Society in Celebration of the City of New York’s Italian Heritage and Cultural Month. The event was also supported by a $1 million contribution from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The celebration included musicals, plays, operas, concerts, films, art exhibits, and panel discussions, and besides Pipino il breve, other musicals presented during the festival were La gatta Cenerentola and I due sergenti. The New York Times reported that Pipino il breve was “a cheerful operatic comedy done in the tradition of Sicilian street theatre.” The Teatro Stabile di Catania of Sicily used life-sized puppets to tell the story of the marriage of Pepin (Pippin), King of the Franks (France), to Berta of Hungary. (The musical was recorded [company and record number unknown].)

THE NEWS Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: November 7, 1985; Closing Date: November 9, 1985 Performances: 4 Book: Paul Schierhorn, David Rotenberg, and R. Vincent Park Lyrics and Music: Paul Schierhorn Direction: David Rotenberg; Producers: Zev Bufman, Kathleen Lindsey, Nicholas Neubauer, and R. Vincent Park with Martin and Janice Barandes (Patricia Bayer, Associate Producer; Annette R. McDonald and Quentin H. McDonald, Associate Producers); Choreography: Wesley Fata; Scenery: Jane Musky; Costumes: Richard Hornung; Lighting: Norman Coates; Musical Direction: John Rinehimer Cast: Cheryl Alexander (Reporter), Frank Baier (Circulation Editor), Jeff Conaway (Executive Editor), Anthony Crivello (Killer), Michael Duff (City Editor), Jonathan S. Gerber (Feature Editor), Anthony Hoylen (Talk Show Host), Patrick Jude (Reporter), Lisa Michaels (Girl), Charles Pistone (Reporter), John Rinehimer (Sports Editor), Peter Valentine (Style Editor), Billy Ward (Managing Editor) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in a large U.S. city during the present time.

Musical Numbers “I Am the News” (Jeff Conaway, Company); “They Write the News” (Jeff Conaway); “Mirror, Mirror” (Lisa Michaels); “Front Page Expose” (Jeff Conaway, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone); “Hot Flashes” (I) (Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone); “Dad” (Lisa Michaels); “She’s on File” (Jeff Conaway); “Super Singo” (Jeff Conaway, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone); “Dear Felicia” (Jeff Conaway, Frank Baier); “Horoscope” (Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone, Band); “Hot Flashes” (II) (Band, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone); “Classifieds”/“Personals” (Band, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone, Lisa Michaels, Anthony Crivello); “Wonderman” (Lisa Michaels); “Shooting Stars” (Anthony Crivello); “What’s the Angle” (Jeff Conaway, Cheryl Alexander,

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Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone); “The Contest” (Jeff Conaway, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone, Jonathan S. Gerber, Band); “Dear Editor” (Anthony Crivello); “Editorial” (Jeff Conaway, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone, Anthony Crivello, Band); “Hot Flashes” (“Financial”) (Band); “Talk to Me” (Anthony Crivello, Lisa Michaels); “Pyramid Lead” (Jeff Conaway, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone); “Beautiful People” (Cheryl Alexander, Peter Valentine, Jeff Conaway, Anthony Crivello, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone, Band); “Hot Flashes” (III) (Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone, Band); “Open Letter” (Jeff Conaway, Anthony Crivello, Company); “Mirror, Mirror” (reprise) (Lisa Michaels); “Ordinary, Extraordinary Day” (Anthony Crivello, Lisa Michaels); “What’s the Angle” (reprise) (Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone, Band); “Violent Crime” (Jeff Conaway, Lisa Michaels, Cheryl Alexander, Patrick Jude, Charles Pistone); “What in the World” (Patrick Jude, Cheryl Alexander, Charles Pistone, Band); “Act of God (Births, Deaths and the Weather)” (Company) The News and Wind in the Willows were the season’s shortest-running musicals with four performances apiece (the musicals in the Italy on Stage festival were non-commercial productions that played for limited engagements of two performances apiece). Most of The News was set in the city room of the Mirror, a scandal-sheet tabloid that sports headlines on the order of “Pope and Party Girls Undressed,” “Live Goat Found in Madonna’s Stomach,” and “Head Red Dead.” But this was unlike any newspaper office on the planet, let alone the Daily Planet. Frank Rich in the New York Times reported that the newsroom resembled a sushi bar filled with “punk-styled band members” and microphones, and while the story supposedly took take place in a large American city, the view from one character’s apartment provided a vista of snow-covered mountains “reminiscent of suburban Zurich.” Further, the cast members sported “loud” sunglasses and “hideous” costumes, and at one point the Executive Editor (Jeff Conaway [all the characters were given generic descriptive titles rather than names]) did a bumpand-grind. And although the Mirror was a newspaper, the newsroom was filled with television monitors that provided news updates. At the end of the musical, the closed-circuit televisions showed live images of the theatre audience, no doubt to make the statement that the Mirror mirrors life and that in Cabaret fashion we are all somehow complicit as willing viewers and readers in the sleazy world of tabloid television and newspapers. The critics noted that a preshow announcement promised the intermission-less production would last ninety-nine minutes, but the promise was broken and the show ran on a bit longer. But at least such an announcement assured the audience that the musical would indeed end at some point. Rich wondered why such specific information was provided to the audience, and soon came to realize that every one of those minutes was “agony.” The musical was sung-through, and of those ninety-nine-plus minutes, about nine included spoken dialogue. The story dealt with the Mirror’s attempt to uncover a serial killer (Killer, played by Anthony Crivello) who stalks the city (Rich noted that only the newspaper seems interested in finding Killer, who is completely ignored by the police), and Executive Editor is so caught up in promoting the paper’s search for him (including a half-million-dollar prize to the reader who comes up with the best nickname for Killer) that he doesn’t realize his daughter, Girl (Lisa Michaels), has hooked up with Killer via the newspaper’s lonely hearts column. In the meantime, Killer kills and kills (including the Mirror’s astrologer and a particularly obnoxious television personality) and enjoys leaving clues behind for Executive Editor and the Mirror staff to decipher. As for the score, Rich said it was “aggressively screechy” and Crivello’s performance didn’t “so much recall Robert DeNiro’s taxi driver as Jerry Lewis in mid-telethon.” (In some respects, the plot was reminiscent of Fritz Lang’s 1956 newspaper-office-and-murder-mystery film While the City Sleeps.) Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the score was “shapeless” and “unbearably noisy,” the lyrics were “dumb,” and the show was “ugly to look at” (with “cheesy” costumes and a “cluttered” set). Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily decided The News made Moose Murders “look competent by comparison,” and noted that Conaway couldn’t decide if he were starring in Citizen Kane or The Rocky Horror Show. And Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the lyrics “puerile,” said the music had “the inventiveness of an old-fashioned steam hammer out of breath,” and concluded by noting that “yesterday’s paper wraps today’s fish” and for The News “it was always yesterday.” But Linda Winer in USA Today said the musical was “kind of fun in a trashy B-movie way” and suggested it might have been successful in an “unassuming” Off-Broadway theatre. She noted the lyrics were often “fresh and tough” and the “grinding” choreography

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and décor had “fun with their own intentional ugliness,” but otherwise the music offered only “punched-up monotony” and the story vacillated “between moral and parody.” During previews the musical was presented in two acts with the intermission following the “Editorial” number, and the song “Sports” was cut. A few critics mentioned that the song “Gimme Da Money” was performed, but the number isn’t listed in preview programs, the opening night program, or on a corrected program insert sheet. The musical was first presented Off Off Broadway in a showcase production at the West Bank Café/Downstairs Theatre Bar in April 1984, and was later staged at the Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre in Jupiter, Florida. The original Helen Hayes Theatre (which first opened its doors as the Fulton Theatre in 1911) was located at 210 West 46th Street, and was demolished in 1982 (the last musical to play there was The Five O’Clock Girl and the theatre’s final production was Oliver Hailey’s 1981 comedy I Won’t Dance, which closed after one performance). In 1983, the Little Theatre (which opened in 1912 at 240 West 44th Street and for most of the century was known as the Little Theatre or variants thereof and was later briefly named the Winthrop Ames Theatre) was renamed the Helen Hayes during the run of Torch Song Trilogy. The News was the first musical to play there under the venue’s new name.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Score (lyrics and music by Paul Schierhorn)

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD

“A Musical” / “A New Musical” / “The Music Hall Musical” / “The Solve-It-Yourself Broadway Musical” Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: December 2, 1985; Closing Date: May 16, 1987 Performances: 608 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Rupert Holmes Based on the unfinished 1870 novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens. Direction: Wilford Leach; Producers: Joseph Papp (A New York Shakespeare Festival Production) (Jason Steven Cohen, Associate Producer); Choreography: Graciela Daniele; Scenery: Bob Shaw; Costumes: Lindsay W. Davis; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Michael Starobin Note: The musical was presented as a musical-within-a-musical in which a group of music-hall performers present their version of Dickens’s novel; following the name of each Broadway cast member is (1) the name of the music-hall performer and (2) the name of the Dickens character portrayed by the music-hall performer. Cast: George Rose (Chairman William Cartwright/Major Thomas Sapsea), Peter McRobbie (James Throttle/ Stage Manager, Barkeep, Harold), Howard McGillin (Clive Paget/John Jasper), George N. Martin (Cedric Moncrieffe/Reverend Mr. Crisparkle), Betty Buckley (Alice Nutting/Edwin Drood), Patti Cohenour (Deidre Peregrine/Rosa Bud), Judy Kuhn (Isabel Yearsley/Alice, Succubae), Donna Murphy (Florence Gill/ Beatrice, Succubae), Jana Schneider (Janet Conover/Helena Landless), John Herrera (Victor Grinstead/Neville Landless), Jerome Dempsey (Nick Cricker/Durdles), Stephen Glavin (Master Nick Cricker/Deputy, Statue), Cleo Laine (Angela Prysock/Princess Puffer), Nicholas Gunn (Harry Sayle/Shade of Jasper), Brad Miskell (Montague Pruitt/Shade of Drood), Herndon Lackey (Alan Eliot/Client of Princess Puffer), Rob Marshall (Christopher Lyon/Client of Princess Puffer), Francine Landes (Gwendolyn Pynn/Succubae, Servant), Karen Giombetti (Sarah Cook/Succubae), Joe Grifasi (Phillip Bax/Servant, Bazzard), Susan Goodman (Violet Balfour/Servant), Charles Goff (Brian Pankhurst/Horace), Citizens of Cloisterham: Karen Giombetti, Charles Goff, Susan Goodman, Nicholas Gunn, Judy Kuhn, Herndon Lackey, Francine Landes, Rob Marshall, Peter McRobbie, Brad Miskell, Donna Murphy; and performer identified in program as “?????,” who plays the role of Dick Datchery in the music-hall presentation The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1873 at The Music Hall Royale in London.

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Musical Numbers Act One: The Situation: “There You Are” (George Rose, Company); “A Man Could Go Quite Mad” (Howard McGillin); “Two Kinsmen” (Betty Buckley, Howard McGillin); “Moonfall” (Patti Cohenour); “A British Subject” (John Herrera, George N. Martin, Howard McGillin, Patti Cohenour, Jana Schneider); “Moonfall” (reprise) (Patti Cohenour, Jana Schneider, Judy Kuhn, Donna Murphy); “I Wouldn’t Say No” (Jerome Dempsey, Stephen Glavin, George Rose, Ensemble); “The Wages of Sin” (Cleo Laine); “Jasper’s Vision” (Nicholas Gunn, Brad Miskell, Francine Landes, Karen Giombetti, Donna Murphy, Judy Kuhn, Stephen Glavin); “Ceylon” (Jana Schneider, John Herrera, Betty Buckley, Patti Cohenour, Ensemble); “Both Sides of the Coin” (Howard McGillin, George Rose, Ensemble); “Perfect Strangers” (Betty Buckley, Patti Cohenour); “No Good Can Come from Bad” (John Herrera, Betty Buckley, Patti Cohenour, Jana Schneider, George N. Martin, Howard McGillin, Joe Grifasi, Susan Goodman, Francine Landes); “In the Name of Love” and “Moonfall” (reprise) (Patti Cohenour, Howard McGillin, Ensemble) Act Two: The Solution: “Settling Up the Score” (Purposely unnamed performer who plays role of Datchery, Cleo Laine, Ensemble); “Off to the Races” (George Rose, Jerome Dempsey, Stephen Glavin, Ensemble); “Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead” (Cleo Laine, Company); “The Garden Path to Hell” (Cleo Laine); “The Solution” (Company) (Note: “The Solution” consists of seven complete musical sequences, each one dependent on who is voted the murderer: “Puffer’s Confession”; “Out on a Limerick”; “Jasper’s Confession”; “Murderer’s Confession”; a reprise version of “Perfect Strangers”; “The Writing on the Wall”; and a reprise version of “Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead.”) The Mystery of Edwin Drood opened at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park on August 4, 1985, for twenty-four performances, and transferred to Broadway later in the year with most of the summer cast intact (a notable addition to the Broadway production was future film director Rob Marshall). Charles Dickens never completed his novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and so it isn’t known which character he intended as the murderer of the title character (or if indeed the title character was murdered). The musical took place in a British music hall in which the performers present their version of the story, and toward the end of each performance the audience is asked to decide which one of the seven mostly likely suspects is the killer. Seven alternate endings were written, and once the audience’s votes were tallied, that denouement was presented. The critics liked the show, but some felt the first act was too long. But all agreed the final forty-five minutes of the second half were entertaining when the audience got into the act, voted on the murderer, and the performers then enacted the final phases of the whys and wherefores of the crime. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the musical’s “erratic charms” and somewhat “garbled” plot required a “picnic atmosphere” to succeed, and to that end director Wilford Leach brought to the production a “rambunctious” and “vaudevillian” spirit. But some of the jokes fell “flat,” and the music-hall acting troupe didn’t possess the “nutty awfulness” required of them—too often the performers kidded the material. But nothing in the show matched “the spontaneous fun” of the resolution of the mystery during which “the atmosphere in the theatre becomes as merry as that of an unchaperoned auditorium of high school kids.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said “it might not be saying much,” but Drood was so far the “best” musical he’d seen during the season. Between the show’s “interruptions and striking individual scenes,” however, he tended “to lose interest” in the mystery itself. But the musical was “an eyeful and an earful” and Graciela Daniele offered “several exuberant, and one amusingly depraved, dance routines.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post liked the “enjoyable” and “entertaining” production, and while the score was “no blockbuster” it was nonetheless “modestly tuneful” with “well-turned” lyrics. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found the production “as pleasurable an evening as Broadway has seen in years.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the “rich score,” but said the “anything-for-alaugh” direction was now “even broader” than in Central Park. Further, Leach seemed “determined to explore the lowest depths of low camp” and if not careful he could “give hamminess a bad name.” Linda Winer in USA Today found the musical a “well-meaning” but “tiresome” affair, and while the score would make a “rousing” cast album she said the production was “busy with campy, arch, childish distractions.” But William A. Henry III in Time suggested that “taken on its own terms” the show was “vivacious, funny and richly tuneful” (he found half the score “instantly hummable” and he singled out “Perfect Strangers” and “Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead”).

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For Broadway, four numbers heard during the summer production were dropped (“An English Music Hall,” “There’ll Be England Again,” “A British Subject,” and “I Wouldn’t Say No”), one (“Evensong”) was cut during Broadway previews, and one (“There You Are”) was added. The script was published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in 1986 and includes some forty-two pages reflecting the seven alternate endings. The Broadway cast album was released by Polydor Records (LP # 827969-1-Y-2) and includes two of the alternate endings. A later CD release by Varese Sarabande Records (# VSD5597) includes three alternate conclusions, and another CD release (by PolyGram Records # G-827-969-1-Y-2) offers all seven. The CD of the Australian production on GEP Records (# GEP-9401) has all seven endings, and the collection Lost in Boston (I) (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5475) includes the cut songs “An English Music Hall” and “Evensong.” During the musical’s Broadway run, the title was shortened to Drood, but the subtitle “The Music Hall Musical” was retained. Jeremy Gerard in the New York Times reported that the producers and the marketing representatives wanted the show to have “a whole new crisp, fresh look” and “a nice big title that jumps off the page.” But one unnamed source close to the musical was afraid the loss of the word “mystery” in the title would give more prominence to the subtitle and thus potential ticket-buyers might head toward the neighborhood of Radio City.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (The Mystery of Edwin Drood); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (George Rose); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Cleo Laine); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (John Herrera); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Howard McGillin); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Patti Cohenour); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Jana Schneider); Best Director of a Musical (Wilford Leach); Best Book (Rupert Holmes); Best Score (lyrics and music by Rupert Holmes); Best Choreographer (Graciela Daniele)

JERRY’S GIRLS

“A Broadway Entertainment—The Music & Lyrics

of Jerry

Herman”

Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: December 18, 1985; Closing Date: April 20, 1986 Performances: 139 Lyrics and Music: Jerry Herman Direction: Larry Alford; Producers: Zev Bufman and Kenneth-John Productions; Choreography: Wayne Cilento (Sarah Miles, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Hal Tine; Costumes: Florence Klotz; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: Janet Glazener Cast: Dorothy Loudon, Chita Rivera, Leslie Uggams, Ellyn Arons, Kirsten Childs, Kim Crosby, Anita Ehrler, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Joni Masella, Deborah Phelan The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “It Takes a Woman” (Hello, Dolly!, 1964) (Ellyn Arons, Kirsten Childs, Kim Crosby, Anita Ehrler, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Joni Masella, Deborah Phelan); “It Takes a Woman” (reprise) (Ensemble); “Just Leave Everything to Me” (1969 film version of Hello, Dolly!) (Dorothy Loudon); “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” (Hello, Dolly!) (Dorothy Loudon, Ensemble); “It Only Takes a Moment” (Hello, Dolly!) (Leslie Uggams); “Wherever He Ain’t” (Mack & Mabel, 1974) (Chita Rivera); “We Need a Little Christmas” (Mame, 1966) (Ellyn Arons, Kirsten Childs, Kim Crosby, Anita Ehrler, Deborah Phelan); “Tap Your Troubles Away” (Mack & Mabel) (Dorothy Loudon, Chita Rivera, Leslie Uggams, Ensemble); “I Won’t Send Roses” (Mack & Mabel) (Leslie Uggams); and Vaudeville Medley: “(I Was Born to Do the) Two-aDay” (Parade, 1960) (Dorothy Loudon); “Bosom Buddies” (Mame) (Chita Rivera, Leslie Uggams); “The

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Man in the Moon” (Mame) (Dorothy Loudon); “So Long, Dearie” (Hello, Dolly!) (Chita Rivera); “Take It All Off” (new song written for Jerry’s Girls) (Kim Crosby, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Joni Masella, Dorothy Loudon); and “(I Was Born to Do the) Two-a-Day” (reprise) (Dorothy Loudon, Chita Rivera, Ensemble); “Shalom” (Milk and Honey, 1961) (Leslie Uggams); “Milk and Honey” (Milk and Honey) (Leslie Uggams, Ellyn Arons, Kirsten Childs, Kim Crosby, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Deborah Phelan); “Before the Parade Passes By” (Hello, Dolly!) (Chita Rivera); “Have a Nice Day” (dropped from La Cage aux Folles, 1983) (Dorothy Loudon, Ellyn Arons, Kirsten Childs, Kim Crosby, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Joni Masella); “Show Tune” (aka “There Is No Tune Like a Show Tune” and “Show Tune in 2/4”; originally in 1958 Off-Broadway revue Nightcap and then later in Parade) (Chita Rivera, Ensemble); “If He Walked into My Life” (Mame) (Leslie Uggams); “Hello, Dolly!” (Hello, Dolly!) (Dorothy Loudon, Leslie Uggams, Chita Rivera, Ensemble) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); Movies Medley: “Just Go to the Movies” (A Day in Hollywood, 1980) (Ellyn Arons, Kirsten Childs, Kim Crosby, Terri Homberg, Deborah Phelan); “Movies Were Movies” (Mack & Mabel) (Leslie Uggams); “Look What Happened to Mabel” (Mack & Mabel) (Chita Rivera); “Nelson” (A Day in Hollywood) (Dorothy Loudon); and “Just Go to the Movies” (reprise) (Unidentified performers); “I Don’t Want to Know” (Dear World, 1969) (Chita Rivera); “It’s Today” (Mame) (Leslie Uggams, Ellyn Arons, Kim Crosby, Anita Ehrler, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Joni Masella, Deborah Phelan); “Mame” (Mame) (Dorothy Loudon, Ellyn Arons, Kim Crosby, Anita Ehrler, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Joni Masella, Deborah Phalen); “Kiss Her Now” (Dear World) (Leslie Uggams, Kirsten Childs); “The Tea Party” (Dear World): (1) “Dickie” (Dorothy Loudon); (2) “Voices” (Leslie Uggams); and (3) “Thoughts” (Chita Rivera); “Time Heals Everything” (Mack & Mabel) (Dorothy Loudon); “That’s How Young I Feel” (Mame) (Chita Rivera, Anita Ehrler, Joni Masella); “My Type” (Nightcap) (Dorothy Loudon); La Cage aux Folles Medley: “La Cage aux Folles” (Chita Rivera, Kirsten Childs, Anita Ehrler, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Joni Masella, Deborah Phalen); “Song on the Sand” (Dorothy Loudon, Kirsten Childs, Terri Homberg, Robin Kersey, Deborah Phalen); “I Am What I Am” (Leslie Uggams); and “The Best of Times” (Dorothy Loudon, Chita Rivera, Leslie Uggams, Ensemble) The Jerry Herman tribute revue Jerry’s Girls should probably have stayed where it started, in an intimate Off-Off-Broadway venue. Instead, it eventually morphed into a full-fledged Broadway revue and toured the country before opening in New York for a short run of 139 performances. Herman’s output was generally small, and his songs were often one-note in their upbeat, seize-the-day philosophy. As a result, the revue was an overly long evening and soon monotony set in because the songs were so similar. The evening lacked a point of view, and for a while it seemed as though every song from every Herman show was going to be shoved into the proceedings. The evening included seven from Hello, Dolly! (1964), seven from Mame (1966), six from Mack & Mabel (1974), and so on. Wouldn’t it have been simpler and cheaper to just sell the cast albums of these shows in the lobby and dispense with the revue itself? There was little in the way of trunk songs; Herman’s Off-Broadway revues Nightcap (1958) and Parade (1960) were barely represented; and completely overlooked were his Off-Broadway shows I Feel Wonderful (1954) and Madame Aphrodite (1961) and Broadway musical The Grand Tour (1979). The revue included a touch of esoteric material, including the cut song about bigotry, “Have a Nice Day” (La Cage aux Folles), “My Type” (Nightcap), “(I Was Born to Do the) Two-a-Day” (Parade), and “Show Tune” (aka “There Is No Tune Like a Show Tune” and “Show Tune in 2/4”) (Nightcap and Parade) (the latter was reworked as “It’s Today” for Mame). Herman also wrote a new song for Jerry’s Girls, “Take It All Off” for Dorothy Loudon. The latter was criticized for demeaning the performer: Linda Winer in USA Today stated the number was a “vulgar, sadistic mistake,” and William A. Henry III in Time noted that Loudon’s material was “almost all based on self-mockery for being plump and presumably over the hill” and this notion soon became “distasteful.” If the staging of “Take It All Off” was regrettable, some parts of the show were either obvious or confusing. As an example of the evening’s would-be wit, the chorus girls were seen in bathing suits while they sang “We Need a Little Christmas,” and the “The Tea Party” sequence (“Dickie,” “Voices,” and “Thoughts”) from Dear World was meaningless unless one was familiar with the plot of that musical. Frank Rich in the New York Times said Jerry’s Girls had less in common with the “high spirits” of Hello, Dolly! and the “opulence” of Mame than with the “screechiness and tackiness” of Peg and Leader of the Pack. At various times during the title song of “Hello, Dolly!,” the performers announced they hated the

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number; Leslie Uggams sang “I Won’t Send Roses” by impersonating both a man and a woman, “both” of whom sang the number to a rag doll; the chorus girls performed the title song from La Cage aux Folles as “female disco dancers in male drag”; and the choreography was in the style of the dances seen on the television show Hullabaloo. Henry noted the evening lacked “texture, narrative and perception of human nature,” and suggested the show would most please those “who like Las Vegas spectaculars or TV variety hours.” But most of the critics were generous in their assessments of the revue. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the “splashy, effective treatment” given to the overall evening and said Chita Rivera was “nothing short of sensational.” Winer found the evening “lively, lavish and dedicated to the eternal verity in a well-placed bugle bead.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said “this one is fun” and he especially liked the first act, which was “an honest-to-goodness series of show stoppers” (but he noted the creators made some “bad choices” in the second act and then “the show really does stop”). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “wild and bounteous compilation” of Herman’s songs could stay at the St. James “forever—at the very least.” And while Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily found Herman’s songs bound within “conventional structures and ideas,” he said Dorothy Loudon, Chita Rivera, and Leslie Uggams made the revue worth seeing because they were “a reminder of the kind of exuberance, strength and charisma that Broadway used to have in abundance.” During Broadway previews, “Gooch’s Song” (Mame) and “I’ll Be Here Tomorrow” (The Grand Tour) were performed. Earlier versions of the revue included “Chin Up, Ladies” (Milk and Honey),“My Best Girl” (Mame), three songs from Dear World (“The Spring of Next Year,” “And I Was Beautiful,” and “I Don’t Want to Know”), three from Mack & Mabel (“When Mabel Comes in the Room,” “I Wanna Make the World Laugh,” and “Hundreds of Girls”), “Marianne” (The Grand Tour), and “Playin’ the Palace” (the 1977 OffBroadway revue Joe Masiell Not at the Palace). Jerry’s Girls was first presented Off Off Broadway on August 17, 1981, at Ted Hook’s Onstage Theatre for 101 performances with Evalyn Baron, Alexandra (Alix) Korey, Leila Martin, and Pauletta Pearson. The show was later revised and a national tour with Carol Channing, Leslie Uggams, and Andrea McArdle was produced during the 1983–1984 season, and the Washington, D.C., engagement was recorded on a two-LP set by Polydor Records (# 820-207-1-Y-2) and includes “(I Was Born to Do the) Two-a-Day,” “Take It All Off,” “Gooch’s Song,” and “I Don’t Want to Know.” The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1988. Other tributes to Herman were: Off-Off Broadway’s Tune the Grand Up! Words and Music by Jerry Herman (given for three free performances at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center on December 18, 1978); Broadway’s An Evening with Jerry Herman (Booth Theatre on July 28, 1998, for twenty-eight performances); and Off-Broadway’s Showtune: The Words and Music of Jerry Herman (The Theatre at Saint Peter’s Church on February 27, 2003, for fifty-three performances).

WIND IN THE WILLOWS Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: December 19, 1985; Closing Date: December 22, 1985 Performances: 4 Book: Jane Iredale Lyrics: Roger McGough and William Perry Music: William Perry; dance and incidental music by David Krane Based on the 1908 book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Direction: Tony Stevens (Steven Zweigbaum, Production Supervisor); Producers: RLM Productions, Inc., and Liniva Productions, Inc.; Choreography: Margery Beddow (James Brennan, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Sam Kirkpatrick; Costumes: Freddy Wittop; Lighting: Craig Miller; Fight Direction: Conal O’Brien; Musical Direction: Robert Rogers Cast: Vicki Lewis (Mole), Nora Mae Lyng (Mother Rabbit, Jailer’s Daughter), John Jellison (Father Rabbit, Judge), David (James) Carroll (Rat), Nathan Lane (Toad), Donna Drake (Chief Stoat), Irving Barnes (Badger), P. J. Benjamin (Chief Weasel), Jackie Lowe (Wayfarer Rat), Scott Waara (Police Sergeant), Kenston Ames (Court Clerk), Michael Byers (Prosecutor, Jailer); Ensemble: Kenston Ames, Shell M. Benjamin, Michael Byers, Jackie Lowe, Marguerite Lowell, Nora Mae Lyng, Mary C. Robare, Jamie Rocco, Ray Roderick, Scott Waara

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The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place over the period of one year (from spring to spring) in Edwardian England.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The World Is Waiting for Me” (Vicki Lewis); “When Springtime Comes to My River” (David Carroll); “Messing About in Boats” (David Carroll, Vicki Lewis); “Evil Weasel” (P. J. Benjamin, Donna Drake, Weasels and Stoats); “That’s What Friends Are For” (Nathan Lane, David Carroll, Vicki Lewis, Rabbits); “Follow Your Instinct” (Vicki Lewis, Rabbits, Weasels, Stoats); “The Gasoline Can-Can” (Nathan Lane, Rabbits); “You’ll Love It in Jail” (P. J. Benjamin, Donna Drake, Nathan Lane, Policemen); “Mediterranean” (Jackie Lowe); “The Day You Came into My Life” (Vicki Lewis) Act Two: “S-S-S-Something Comes Over Me” (Nathan Lane); “I’d Be Attracted” (Vicki Lewis, David Carroll); “When Springtime Comes to My River” (reprise) (David Carroll); “The Day You Came into My Life” (reprise) (Vicki Lewis); “Moving Up in the World” (P. J. Benjamin, Donna Drake, Weasels, Stoats); “Brief Encounter” (Nathan Lane, Nora Mae Lyng); “Where Am I Now?” (Nathan Lane); “The Wind in the Willows” (Company); “That’s What Friends Are For” (reprise) (Nathan Lane, David Carroll, Irving Barnes, Rabbits); “Come What May” (Company) Kenneth Grahame’s classic 1908 children’s novel The Wind in the Willows was given a perfunctory lyric adaptation that met with poor or indifferent reviews, and along with The News was the season’s shortestrunning musical. Graham’s anthropomorphic view of animals who live in the pastoral English countryside and who mirror the foibles of human nature resulted in a mild-mannered musical that lacked a compelling narrative and a strong score. But the evening yielded one treasure, the insinuating ballad “I’d Be Attracted” for Mole and Rat (for the musical, the novel’s male Mole was now female). Mel Gussow in the New York Times found the show “errant in concept, design and execution” and noted that the music was “mellow in a mundane fashion” and the choreography was “bland.” The adaptation often literalized and vulgarized the novel and he questioned the “dubious choice” of having the performers play the animals as if they were people. Instead, “a Muppetized” approach might have been more “valid.” Gussow suggested it was time for a moratorium on shows in which animals were portrayed by actors, and he cited the recent Off-Broadway musicals Hamelin and Just So (both 1985). Of course, earlier Broadway shows had presented such musicals (for example, Shinbone Alley in 1957, Rainbow Jones in 1974, and Heartaches of a Pussycat), but Cats institutionalized the trend and so besides Hamelin and Just So there were such Off-Broadway and regional also-rans as Rats (1982), Dogs (1983), Dawgs! (1983), and, much later, Pets! (1995). Although Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the musical “tastefully” written, composed, acted, and designed, it had “the personality of a mole.” He praised a comic courtroom scene which included a Bert Lahr–inspired judge, but otherwise “that wind in the willows is mostly thin air.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “dismal” and “shallow little musical” was a “travesty” in which the animals had become “utterly charmless and dreary” and the story “boring.” The lyrics “for one glaring instance” made “mediocrity awesome” and the music was “drear beyond belief, and without a scintilla of true style or original character.” As for Joel Siegel on WABCTV7, he felt that “at its best” the show possessed “a college musical feel,” but otherwise was “disjointed” and “not up to Broadway.” The musical never took off “on a life of its own” and it was an “ill wind” that blew through the willows. Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the book offered “funny” moments and the score had “wit and lovely melodies” (he singled out “The Day You Came into My Life,” “Come What May,” and the title song), but the evening lacked a “through-line” and he felt the show would have been more effective Off Broadway. During New York previews, director Edward Berkeley was succeeded by Tony Stevens, John Carrafa left the production when his role of Pan was eliminated, and the songs “Prologue” (for Pan and Company) and “Joy Shall Be Yours in the Morning” (Rabbits) were dropped. “Toad’s Grand Prix” may have been an early variation of “The Gasoline Can-Can.” The musical had previously been produced at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., for the period July 26–September 18, 1983, with direction by John Neville-Andrews and choreography by Claudia Neely. The

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lyrics were credited only to Roger McGough, and the cast included Vicki Lewis and P. J. Benjamin, both of whom appeared in the later Broadway version. Others in the Washington cast were Ken Jennings (Toad) and Kathleen Mahony-Bennett (Stoat One). Songs heard in Washington but cut for Broadway were: “My First Spring,” “Bother Spring Cleaning,” “Show Me a Road,” “Billy Badger,” “Wayfarer’s Song,” “A Time for Dancing,” “Show Me a Track,” “I’m Bad,” “Show Me a Jail,” “Large Families,” and “Friendship Song.” “Joy Shall Be Yours in the Morning” was heard in the Washington run and during New York previews, but was cut from the show prior to the New York opening. The Washington production seemed uncertain as to how to promote itself: the artwork for one newspaper advertisement depicted an elegantly dressed turn-of-the-century couple while another ad showed a couple clad in leather who looked ready to join a motorcycle rally.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Book (Jane Iredale); Best Score (lyrics by Roger McGough and William Perry, music by William Perry)

THE ROBERT KLEIN SHOW!

Theatre: Circle in the Square Opening Date: December 20, 1985; Closing Date: January 4, 1986 Performances: 16 Material: Robert Klein Producer: Circle in the Square (Theodore Mann, Artistic Director; Paul Libin, Producing Director); Props: Frank Hauser; Wardrobe: Claire Libin; Musical Direction: Bob Stein Cast: Robert Klein, Kenny Rankin; Singers: Betsy Bircher and Catherine Russell; Musicians: Zev Katz (Bass), Dave Rataczjak (Drums), and Bob Rose (Guitar) The revue was presented in two acts. Stand-up comedian Robert Klein bookended his limited-engagement revue with musical segments. The evening began with guest-star Kenny Rankin, a singer-guitarist who performed a few ballads (including Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “My Funny Valentine” from the 1937 musical Babes in Arms), and ended with a musical sequence that included two parodies by Klein: according to Stephen Holden in the New York Times, one was a “sarcastic all-American travelogue” and the other was “a Jewish blues number.” In between, Klein looked at the fads and foibles of the day, including such well-worn topics as television advertisements. The critics liked Klein and noted that as he prowled the stage he voiced his complaints and observations about everyday life, including the bizarre fact that space aliens invariably choose to appear before unreliable people and never to someone like Carl Sagan. He also ruminated over the angst of being Jewish when wellintentioned WASPs serve him their idea of a proper kosher meal. Clive Barnes in the New York Post found Klein a “very funny” comedian who views his audience “as both antagonist and ally” and as a result “plays with them and for them. And against them.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said Klein evoked “a mood of spontaneity that adds to the fun” of the evening, and noted the comic’s “free-form monolog is basically a whine-cum-explosion” over life’s “irritations and annoyances.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor noted that Klein covered a comic terrain “of the real and surreal, mixing personal history with figments of fantasy.” And Holden hailed the performer as “a seasoned prizefighter in the world of stand-up comedy” who delivered “vigorous verbal jabs that puncture little balloons of social hypocrisy, phony conventional wisdom and false advertising.” Robert Klein had appeared in the 1966 Broadway musical The Apple Tree, was a New Face in the 1968 edition of that venerable series of revues, and starred in the long-running 1979 hit They’re Playing Our Song. In 1988, he returned to Circle in the Square for another stand-up comedy session in An Evening with Robert Klein.

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JEROME KERN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD “A New Musical Revue”

Theatre: Ritz Theatre Opening Date: January 23, 1986; Closing Date: February 2, 1986 Performances: 13 Narration: Dick Vosburgh Lyrics: See song list for specific credits Music: Jerome Kern Direction: David Kernan (Irving Davies, Additional Staging); Producers: Arthur Cantor and Bonnie Nelson Schwartz by arrangement with Peter Wilson and Showpeople (Harvey Elliott, Associate Producer; Eric Friedheim, Producing Associate); Scenery: Colin Pigott; Costumes: Christine Robinson; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Peter Howard Cast: Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson, Elisabeth Welch The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: The song list in the opening night program didn’t always reflect what was performed on stage; the song list below is taken from the opening night program as well as a special corrected song-list insert which was included in that program. Act One: “The Song Is You” (Music in the Air, 1932; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Ensemble); “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star” (Music in the Air, 1932; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Ensemble); “Let’s Begin” (Roberta, 1933; lyric by Otto Harbach) (Elaine Delmar); “I Won’t Dance” (1935 film version of Roberta; lyric by Otto Harbach, Dorothy Fields, and Jimmy McHugh) (Liz Robertson); “Californ-i-ay” (1944 film Can’t Help Singing; lyric by E. Y. Harburg) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “I’ll Be Hard to Handle” (Roberta, 1933; lyric by Bernard Dougall) (Liz Robertson); “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (Roberta, 1933; lyric by Otto Harbach) (Elisabeth Welch); “Yesterdays” (Roberta, 1933; lyric by Otto Harbach) (Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “Bojangles of Harlem” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “I’m Old-Fashioned” (1942 film You Were Never Lovelier; lyric by Johnny Mercer) (Elaine Delmar); “Make Believe” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Liz Robertson); “Why Do I Love You?” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Liz Robertson); “I Have the Room Above Her” (1936 film version of Show Boat; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Scott Holmes); “I (Ah) Still Suits Me” (1936 film version of Show Boat; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Scott Holmes, Elisabeth Welch); “Day Dreaming” (1941, source unknown [possibly intended for the 1942 film You Were Never Lovelier]; lyric by Gus Kahn) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “I Dream Too Much” (1935 film I Dream Too Much; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “Can I Forget You?” (1937 film High, Wide and Handsome; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “Pick Yourself Up” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Elaine Delmar, Liz Robertson); “She Didn’t Say ‘Yes’” (The Cat and the Fiddle, 1931; lyric by Otto Harbach) (Elisabeth Welch); “The Folks Who Live on the Hill” (1937 film High, Wide and Handsome; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Scott Holmes); “Long Ago (and Far Away)” (1944 film Cover Girl; lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Ensemble) Act Two: “The Show Must Go On” (1944 film Cover Girl; lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Ensemble); “Don’t Ask Me Not to Sing” (cut from The Cat and the Fiddle, 1931; and added to Roberta, 1933; lyric by Otto Harbach) (Scott Holmes); “The Way You Look Tonight” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Scott Holmes); “A Fine Romance” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes); “Lovely to Look At” (1935 film version of Roberta; lyric by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh) (Elisabeth Welch); “Just Let Me Look at You” (1938 film Joy of Living; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Liz Robertson); “Who?” (Sunny, 1925; lyric by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II) (Ensemble); “Remind Me” (1940 film One Night in the Tropics; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Elaine Delmar); “The Last Time I Saw Paris” (1941 film Lady Be Good; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Scott Holmes); “Ol’ Man River” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “Why Was I

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Born?” (Sweet Adeline, 1929; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Elisabeth Welch); “Bill” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by P. G. Wodehouse and Oscar Hammerstein II) (Liz Robertson); “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Elaine Delmar); “All the Things You Are” (Very Warm for May, 1939; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Elaine Delmar, Scott Holmes, Liz Robertson); “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star” (reprise) (Music in the Air, 1932; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Elisabeth Welch); “They Didn’t Believe Me” (The Girl from Utah, 1914; lyric by Herbert Reynolds) (Ensemble); “Till the Clouds Roll By” (Oh, Boy!, 1917; lyric by P. G. Wodehouse and Jerome Kern) (Ensemble); “Look for the Silver Lining” (Sally, 1920; lyric by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva) (Ensemble); “Make Way for Tomorrow” (1944 film Cover Girl; lyric by Ira Gershwin and E. Y. Harburg) (Ensemble) The London import Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood was a rather curiously conceived revue that included only those Kern songs that had been performed in Hollywood films, and not only songs Kern had specifically written for the movies but also those from Broadway which were eventually performed on screen. Point taken, but what was the point? “Till the Clouds Roll By” was first introduced in Kern’s 1917 Broadway musical Oh, Boy!, but the revue’s program ignored this and instead noted that in 1946 the song was first performed in a Hollywood film. The song list for the New York program identified the film titles and the years in which Kern’s Broadway songs were first heard on screen, but the above song list provides the dates in which the songs were first heard on Broadway (and for those songs that were written for films, the film’s title and year are included). Not counting one reprise as well as one song of unknown source (“Day Dreaming,” with lyric by Gus Kahn, may have been intended for the 1942 film You Were Never Lovelier, which otherwise had lyrics by Johnny Mercer), the revue offered nineteen numbers that had been introduced in Hollywood films (including Kern’s two Academy Award–winning songs “The Way You Look Tonight” from Swing Time in 1936 and “The Last Time I Saw Paris” from Lady Be Good in 1941) and nineteen that had first been introduced on Broadway but that eventually were included in films. Despite two negative reviews, the production was generally well received by most of the critics. But perhaps the evening was too mild for Broadway, and one or two reviewers noted that with its four-member cast and five musicians, the presentation would probably have best been served in a cabaret setting. At any rate, the audiences didn’t come and the revue closed after two weeks. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “bland” evening proved the British had “about as much of a natural instinct for American musical theatre as the Actors Studio does for Restoration comedy.” The evening made “perverse” choices, such as presenting “Bill” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” in counterpoint, a decision that “obliterated” both songs. And “Ol’ Man River” was presented in an “upbeat” manner that reminded him of Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” But Elisabeth Welch had an “authenticity” that cut through the show’s “cheesiness” and her “elegant phrasing” suggested the “second coming of Mabel Mercer.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News also found the revue “bland” and suggested Kern would have been best honored with revivals of Show Boat, The Cat and the Fiddle, and Music in the Air. But the “elegant” Welch was heard to “beautiful effect” in “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and she sang an “inspired” version of “Why Was I Born?” He also praised the other “engaging” cast members, and noted that Liz Robertson was “stunning,” Elaine Delmar was “vivacious,” and Scott Holmes was “winning and surprisingly effective.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said the “timelessness” of Kern’s music was “well-matched” by the “unmannered, full-throated singing”; Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily stated the evening was a reminder “how much emotional pleasure Broadway music” can offer; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said Kern’s songs were “agreeably performed” in the “unpretentious little revue.” And while Clive Barnes in the New York Post commented that the revue was “a cabaret in search of a night club,” the evening was nonetheless “musically and stylistically” a “gem.” He named Welch the evening’s “standout”; Delmar and Robertson were “delightful,” and Holmes was “charming, strong-voiced, personable and agreeably uncute.” As Jerome Goes to Hollywood, the revue, which was conceived and directed by David Kernan in honor of Kern’s centenary, premiered on May 28, 1985, at the Donmar Warehouse, and soon thereafter added the composer’s last name to the title. The British cast included Kernan as well as Elaine Delmar, Liz Robertson, and Elisabeth Welch, and except for Kernan the other cast members were seen in the New York production (Kernan was succeeded by Scott Holmes, but Kernan was still the director of record for the Broadway production and was assisted by Irving Davies, who was credited for additional staging).

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The British cast album was released on LP by Safari/Jerome 1 Records, and includes twenty-two songs (one of which wasn’t heard in New York, “Dearly Beloved” from the 1942 film You Were Never Lovelier with lyric by Johnny Mercer). “Dearly Beloved” and “Here Comes That Show Boat!” (1929 film version of Show Boat, music by Maceo Pinkard and lyric by Billy Rose) were heard during New York previews but were dropped prior to opening night.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Elisabeth Welch)

UPTOWN . . . IT’S HOT! Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: January 29, 1986; Closing Date: February 16, 1986 Performances: 24 Narration and Sketch Adaptations: Jeffrey V. Thompson and Marion Ramsey Lyrics and Music: See song list for specific credits Direction and Choreography: Maurice Hines (Mercedes Ellington, Assistant Choreographer); Producers: Allen Spivak and Larry Magid (Stanley Kay, Associate Producer); Scenery: Tom McPhillips; Costumes: Ellen Lee; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Frank Owens Cast: Maurice Hines, Marion Ramsey, Jeffrey V. Thompson, Lawrence Hamilton, Tommi Johnson, Alisa Gyse; Ensemble: Sheila D. Barker, Toni-Maria Chalmers, Leon Evans, Michael Franks, Robert H. Fowler, Lovette George, Ruthanna Graves, Yolanda Graves, Emera Hunt, Leslie Williams-Jenkins, Lisa Ann Malloy, Delphine T. Mantz, Gerry McIntyre, Christopher T. Moore, Elise Neal, Leesa M. Osborn, Marishka Shanice-Phillips, R. LaChanze Sapp, Cheryl Ann Scott, Darious Keith Williams The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Uptown Orchestra); Prologue (Jeffrey V. Thompson, Alisa Gyse, Lawrence Hamilton, Tommi Johnson, Marion Ramsey, Maurice Hines, Male Ensemble); 1930s: “Swing That Music” (lyric and music by Louis Armstrong and H. Gerlach) (Marion Ramsey); “Cotton Club Stomp” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington) (Marion Ramsey, Ensemble); “Daybreak Express” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington), “Tap Along with Me” (lyric and music by Frank Owens), and “Dinah” (interpolated into the score of Kid Boots, 1923; lyric by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young, music by Harry Akst) (The Three Gents: Lawrence Hamilton, Christopher T. Moore, Robert H. Fowler); “That Shot Got ’Em!” (sketch adaptation by Marion Ramsey and Jeffrey V. Thompson) (Jeffrey V. Thompson, Marion Ramsey, Tommi Johnson, Robert H. Fowler); “Stormy Weather” Medley: “When Your Lover Has Gone” (lyric and music by Einar Aaron Swan), “Ill Wind” (Cotton Club Parade, 1934 [twenty-fourth edition]; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen), “Body and Soul” (Three’s a Crowd, 1930; lyric by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, and Frank Eyton, music by Johnny Green), and “Stormy Weather” (Cotton Club Parade, 1933 [twenty-second edition]; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen) (Maurice Hines, Alisa Gyse); “Diga, Diga, Doo” (aka “Digga, Digga, Do”(Blackbirds of 1928; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh) (Marion Ramsey, Gerry McIntyre, Delphine T. Mantz, Ensemble); “(Oh,) Lady, Be Good” (Lady, Be Good!, 1924; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin) (Maurice Hines); Cab Calloway and The Nicholas Brothers: “Jim Jam Jumpin’ Jive (Hep Hep)” (lyric and music by Cab Calloway) (Tommi Johnson, Leon Evans, Darius Keith Williams); 1940s: Big Band Tribute—“Let’s Get Together” (Chick Webb Theme Song) (music by Chick Webb) (Orchestra); “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (lyric and music by Ella Fitzgerald and V. Alexander) (Alisa Gyse); “Jitterbuggin’! Jumpin’ at the Woodside” (lyric and music by Count Basie) (Maurice Hines, Marion Ramsey, Jeffrey V. Thompson, Lawrence Hamilton, Delphine T. Mertz, Sheila Barker, Ensemble)

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Act Two: Doo Woppers: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” (lyric and music by Frankie Lymon) (Alisa Gyse, Lawrence Hamilton, Tommi Johnson); The Apollo: Master of Ceremonies: Jeffrey V. Thompson; The Gospel Caravan: “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (traditional) (Lawrence Hamilton), “Amazing Grace” (traditional) (Alisa Gyse), “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” (traditional) (Tommi Johnson), and “Old Landmark” (lyric and music by M. A. Brunner) (Lawrence Hamilton, Alisa Gyse, Tommi Johnson, R. LaChanze Sapp, Ensemble); “Good Mornin’, Judge” (sketch adapted by Jeffrey V. Thompson) (Judge Pigmeat: Jeffrey V. Thompson, De District Attorney: Marion Ramsey, The Defendant: Alisa Gyse, Sonny Rayburn: Maurice Hines); Rock & Roll Medley: “You Send Me” (lyric and music by Sam Cooke) (Tommi Johnson), “Blueberry Hill” (lyric and music by A. Lewis, L. Stock, and V. Rose) (Jeffrey V. Thompson), “Tutti Frutti” (lyric and music by R. Penniman) (Gerry McIntyre), and “Johnny B. Goode” (lyric and music by Chuck Berry) (Lawrence Hamilton, Male Ensemble); Battle of the Groups: “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” (lyric by Gerry Goffin, music by Carole King) (Toni-Maria Chalmers, Leslie Williams-Jenkins, Delphine T. Mantz, Cheryl Ann Scott), “Be My Baby” (lyric and music by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, and Jeff Barry) (Alisa Gyse, Sheila D. Barker, Elise Neal), “Don’t Mess with Bill” (lyric and music by W. “Smokey” Robinson) (R. LaChanze Sapp, Lisa Ann Mallory, Leesa M. Osborn), “Dancin’ in the Streets” (lyric and music by Marvin Gaye, I. Hunter, and W. Stevenson) (Yolanda Graves, Lovette George, Emera Hunt), “Stop! In the Name of Love” (lyric by Eddie Holland, music by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier) (Marion Ramsey, Ruthanna Graves, Marishka Shanice Phillips), “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” (lyric by Eddie Holland, music by N. Whitfield) (Lawrence Hamilton, Darius Keith Williams, Leon Evans, Tommi Johnson, Gerry McIntyre), and “Proud Mary” (lyric and music by John Fogarty) (Marion Ramsey, Ruthanna Graves, Marishka Shanice Phillips, Cheryl Ann Scott); 1970s: “Station WHOT” (Jeffrey V. Thompson); Stevie Wonder Medley (Stevie Wonder: Leon Evans): “Superstition” (Ensemble Dancers), “Keep On Running” (Devil: Maurice Hines), “Higher Ground” (Victim: Alisa Gyse), and “Do I Do” (Angel: Lawrence Hamilton); 1980s: “Radio Playoffs” (Marion Ramsey, Lawrence Hamilton, R. LaChanze Sapp, Leon Evans, Gerry McIntyre, Maurice Hines), “Express” (lyric and music by B. T. Express) (Marion Ramsey, Jeffrey V. Thompson, Ensemble Dancers), “Rappers” (Lawrence Hamilton, Jeffrey V. Thompson), “1999” (lyric and music by Prince) (Company) The revue Uptown . . . It’s Hot! was another in the seemingly endless series of salutes to black music and Harlem nightlife. But critics and audiences were becoming tired of these all-too-familiar and predictable tributes and the show closed after three weeks. There were similar Broadway and Off-Broadway revues to come, including Black and Blue, It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues (1999), and Harlem Song (2002), and while one or two enjoyed healthy runs most were unremarkable and didn’t make much of an impression. There was only so much to say about the good old days of Harlem nightlife, and without a fresh approach to the subject the revues could have been mistaken for revivals of earlier tributes. And many of these revues recycled the same songs, and numbers: “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Jim Jam Jumpin’ Jive (Hep Hep),” and “Stormy Weather” seemed to pop up every season or so. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor reported that Uptown . . . It’s Hot! began in Heaven where a quintet of “lesser angels” are sent to Earth to research black music. The show, which was “too frantic and overreaching for its own good,” definitely needed a “tidier format” and a “clearer sense of direction.” But happily Maurice Hines offered “dazzling” tap numbers and the “swinging” stage band kept things “moving at an almost breathless pace.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily noted that if Uptown was “an attempt to say something about black music, it can’t be taken seriously.” The show was a “hodgepodge” with an “amateurish” script, the musical arrangements had “little sense of period,” and the choreography relied on the “frenetic, meaningless high-energy dancing of the present.” Richard David Storey in USA Today noted the evening offered “splendid” tap dancing and so at times the revue seemed to “have what it takes to send temperatures rising.” But the production had an “idiotic story line” and the performers weren’t up to impersonating the legends they attempted to evoke (Lena Horne singing “Stormy Weather” was “one thing,” but watching Alisa Gyse “impersonating Horne singing ‘Stormy Weather’ is quite another”). Further, the second act devolved into “an ill-conceived hodgepodge of gospel, rock, doo-wop and rap.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the revue “monotonous” and said a shorter version at thirty minutes or so might “have kept the old Apollo crowd reasonably entertained.” And he was the third critic to use the H-word in describing the show, which was “a long, frantic, and finally wearing hodgepodge.”

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Clive Barnes in the New York Post liked the first act better than the second, and noted that Hines was a “terrific” tap dancer who was “less eccentrically original” than his brother Gregory but who was “more classically oriented” in the tap-dance tradition. The revue was “nowhere near as good as it might have been” and wasn’t “exactly torrid,” but in “today’s cold climate even luke-warm to temperate might serve a turn.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said that roughly the first half of the revue was a “modest facsimile” of Sophisticated Ladies, but the second was a “demented amalgam of Leader of the Pack, Dreamgirls, and The Night of the Living Dead” (the latter because the performers impersonated artists of the past “in an orgy of grotesque and sometimes necrophiliac mimicry”). Further, Marion Ramsey was too “shrill” and he longed “for the relative musicality of a fingernail gliding across a blackboard,” and the “dazzling” but “narcissistic” Hines would “probably stop the show a bit more spontaneously if he didn’t remind us every few minutes that he intended to stop it.”

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Maurice Hines)

THE AMERICAN DANCE MACHINE

Theatre: City Center Theatre Opening Date: February 4, 1986; Closing Date: February 16, 1986 Performances: 16 Direction: Lee Theodore; Producers: The American DanceMachine, Inc., in association with 55th Street Dance Theatre Foundation, Inc.; Lighting: Curt Ostermann; Musical Direction: James Raitt Cast: Dick Cavett (Special Guest Host), Tinka Gutrick, Kelby Kirk, Aja Major, Newton Cole, Joe Deer, Dan Fletcher, Kim Freshwater, Camille Ross, David Storey, Dannul Dailey, Jennifer Dempster, Brian Duguay, Diana Losk, Michael Lott, Mark Curtis Smith, Donna Smythe, Lynn Sterling, ’Ali Theodore, Kyle Williams, Harold Cromer The dance revue was presented in two acts. Act One: “The Whip Dance” (Destry Rides Again, 1959; music by Harold Rome; choreography by Michael Kidd, reconstructed by Swen Swenson) (Michael Lott, Newton Cole, Mark Curtis Smith); “Popularity” (George M!, 1968; music by George M. Cohan; choreography by Joe Layton) (Dan Fletcher, Ensemble); “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” (Carousel, 1945; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers; choreography by Agnes de Mille, reconstructed by Gemze de Lappe) (Camille Ross, Female Ensemble); “Shriners’ Ballet” (Bye Bye Birdie, 1960; music by Charles Strouse; choreography by Gower Champion, reconstructed by Edmond Kresley) (Tinka Gutrick, Male Ensemble); “Won’t You Charleston with Me?” (The Boy Friend, 1970 revival; music by Sandy Wilson; choreography by Buddy Schwab, reconstructed by Eleanor Treiber) (Aja Major, Brian Duguay); “The Telephone Dance” (Cabaret, 1966; music by John Kander; choreography by Ron Field, reconstructed by Marianne Seibert) (Dannul Dailey, Ensemble); “The Clog Dance” (Walking Happy, 1966; music by Jimmy Van Heusen; choreography by Danny Daniels) (Introduction: Joe Deer; Dan Fletcher, Male Ensemble); “Floyd’s Guitar Blues” (from the Katherine Dunham repertory; music by Floyd Smith; choreography by Katherine Dunham, reconstructed by Glory Van Scott) (Tinka Gutrick, Joe Deer); “Charlie’s Place” (Over Here!, 1974; lyric and music by Richard Sherman and Robert Sherman; choreography by Patricia Birch) (Aja Major, David Storey, Ensemble) Act Two: Note: Intermission dances were performed by Harold Cromer, including “Mr. Bojangles” (lyric and music by Jerry Jeff Walker).“If the Rain’s Gotta Fall” (Half a Sixpence, 1963 [London]; lyric and music by David Heneker; choreography by Onna White, reconstructed by Eleanor Treiber and Tom Panko) (Kelby Kirk, Ensemble); “Satin Doll” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and Johnny Mercer; danced by Kyle Williams, Camille Ross, and Lynn Sterling) and “For Me and My Gal” (lyric by Edgar Leslie and E. Ray Goetz, music by George W. Meyer; danced by Tinka Gutrick and ’Ali Theodore) (from a 1962 television episode of The Ed Sullivan Show; choreography by Carol Haney, reconstructed by Buzz Miller); “Little Old New York” (Tenderloin, 1960; lyric by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock; choreography by Joe Layton, reconstructed by Joe Layton and Lee Theodore) (Aja Major, Kim Freshwater, Ensemble); “Come to Me, Bend to Me” (lyric by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe) and “The Funeral Dance” (music by Frederick Loewe) (Brigadoon, 1947; choreography by Agnes De Mille, reconstructed by Gemze

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De Lappe) (danced by Tinka Gutrick, Female Ensemble; sung by Kelby Kirk); “You Can Dance with Any Girl at All” (1970 revival of No, No, Nanette; lyric by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans; choreography by Donald Saddler) (Aja Major, Kelby Kirk); “The Aggie Song” (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1978; lyric and music by Carol Hall; choreography by Tommy Tune, reconstructed by Jerry Yoder) (Newton Cole, Male Ensemble) Thanks to Lee (Becker) Theodore, the visionary founder of The American Dance Machine, a number of lost Broadway dances were authentically reconstructed for posterity. Scripts and cast albums preserve the story, dialogue, and songs of Broadway musicals, but once the final curtain falls most choreography disappears forever. Theodore’s “living archive” will hopefully ensure that many Broadway dances will survive for future audiences to enjoy. Theodore was a Broadway dancer who appeared as Anybodys (the tom boy) in the original production of West Side Story (1957), and was later a Broadway choreographer for such musicals as Baker Street (1965), Flora, the Red Menace (1965), and The Apple Tree (1966). The American Dance Machine was first seen in New York on June 14, 1978, where it played at the Century Theatre for 199 performances. In 1981, a few of the company’s dances were released on video cassette (# CV-400056) by MGM/CBS Home Video with Gwen Verdon as host (among the performers were Janet Eilber, Lee Roy Reams, and Wayne Cilento). Becker’s 1982 dance revue Steps in Time was a sequel of sorts to The American Dance Machine and played at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. During the 2014–2015 season, The American Dance Machine for the 21st Century (aka ADM21) presented three different dance programs at the Joyce Theatre for a total of eight performances during the period November 11–November 16, 2014 (the company is now helmed by Nikki Feirt Atkins, Artistic Producer, and Margo Sappington, Artistic Director). The current revival played at City Center for a limited engagement of two weeks.

BRIGADOON Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 1, 1986; Closing Date: March 30, 1986 Performances: 40 Book and Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Frederick Loewe Direction: Gerald Freedman; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Christopher Keene, Music Director); Choreography: Agnes de Mille (dances re-created by James Jamieson); Scenery and Costumes: Desmond Heeley; Lighting: Duane Schuler; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Richard White or John Leslie Wolfe (Tommy Albright), Tony Roberts (Jeff Douglas), Tinka Gutrick (Maggie Anderson), William Ledbetter (Archie Beaton), Don Yule (Angus MacGuffie), Joyce Castle or Marcia Mitzman (Meg Brockie), Robert Brubaker (Stuart Dalrymple), Gregory Moore (Sandy Dean), Luis Perez (Harry Beaton), David Rae Smith (Andrew MacLaren), Sheryl Woods or Beverly Lambert (Fiona MacLaren), Camille Ross (Jean MacLaren), Cris Groenendaal or David Eisler (Charlie Dalrymple), Stephanie Godino (Fish Monger), James Billings (Mr. Lundie), Terry Lacy (Sword Dancer), Joe Deer (Sword Dancer), Stephen Fox (Bagpiper), Ralph Bassett (Frank), Alison Bevan (Jane Ashton); Townsfolk of Brigadoon: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Brigadoon (a village in the Scottish highlands) and in New York City during May of this year.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Once in the Highlands” (Chorus); “Brigadoon” (Chorus); “Down on MacConnachy Square” (Don Yule, William Ledbetter, Robert Brubaker, Townsfolk); “Waitin’ for My Dearie” (Sheryl Woods, Girls); “I’ll Go Home with Bonnie Jean” (Cris Groenendaal, Townsfolk); “Dance” (Tinka Gutrick, Luis Perez,

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Dancers); “The Heather on the Hill” (Richard White, Sheryl Woods); “Down on MacConnachy Square” (reprise) (Townsfolk); “The Love of My Life” (Joyce Castle); “Jeannie’s Packin’ Up” (Girls); “Come to Me, Bend to Me” (Cris Groenendaal); “Dance” (Camille Ross, Dancers); “Almost Like Being in Love” (Richard White, Sheryl Woods); “Wedding Dance” (Camille Ross, Cris Groenendaal, Dancers); “Sword Dance” (Luis Perez, Dancers) Act Two: “The Chase” (Men of Brigadoon); “There but for You Go I” (Richard White); “My Mother’s Weddin’ Day” (Joyce Castle, Townsfolk); “Funeral Dance” (Tinka Gutrick); “From This Day On” (Richard White, Sheryl Woods); “Brigadoon” (reprise) (Chorus); “Come to Me, Bend to Me” (reprise) (Sheryl Woods); “The Heather on the Hill” (reprise) (Sheryl Woods); “I’ll Go Home with Bonnie Jean” (reprise) (Cris Groenendaal, Townsfolk); “From This Day On” (reprise) (Sheryl Woods, Richard White); “Down on MacConnachy Square” (reprise) (Townsfolk); Finale (Company) With the current revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1947 musical Brigadoon, The New York City Opera Company embarked on a new phase in its dedication to include American musicals in its repertoire. Heretofore, most such productions were given for a few performances in repertory, but Brigadoon kicked off an experiment that presented a musical during the spring season for a consecutive run of approximately four or five weeks (during the following years, South Pacific, The Music Man, The Pajama Game, and The Sound of Music were revived). For opening night, Richard White, Sheryl Woods, Cris Groenendaal, and Joyce Castle performed the leading roles of Tommy, Fiona, Charlie, and Meg, and during the run John Leslie Wolfe, Beverly Lambert, David Eisler, and Marcia Mitzman were alternates. John Rockwell in the New York Times said the “classic” Brigadoon was a “fine choice” to inaugurate the City Opera’s musical series, and he noted that Gerald Freedman’s direction seemed “fluent and faithful to the original.” Richard White sometimes pushed his “sturdy baritone to the limits,” but looked “stalwart, acts smoothly and sings well enough,” and Sheryl Woods offered a “demure manner and a sweetly full soprano.” Peter Davis Dibble in Women’s Wear Daily hailed the “splendid surefire winner,” which lifted “Gotham out of the midwinter doldrums for a breath of early spring,” and he praised the “first class” singing, the “crisp” direction, and Agnes de Mille’s choreography, which was “lovingly recreated” by James Jamieson. But Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the score had “dated” and seemed “to lack both identity and the authenticity of an original voice” and the book was “twee and fey.” He also questioned why City Opera would revive musicals that belonged on Broadway and not in the opera house. Linda Winer in USA Today found the revival “pretty dull” and suggested that except for “Almost Like Being in Love,” Lerner and Loewe’s score lacked “the hit parade of their later My Fair Lady and Camelot.” For more information about Brigadoon, see entry for the 1980 revival.

JUGGLING AND CHEAP THEATRICS

Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre (during run, the revue transferred to the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre) Opening Date: April 1, 1986; Closing Date: May 4, 1986 Performances: 40 Routines: Created by The Flying Karamazov Brothers Direction: The Flying Karamazov Brothers; Producer: Lincoln Center Theatre (Gregory Mosher, Director; Bernard Gersten, Executive Director); Scenery: Seiza de Tarr; Props: Doug Nelson; Wardrobe: A. Devora; Lighting: Eben Sprinsock Cast: The Flying Karamazov Brothers: Timothy Daniel Furst (Fyodor), Paul David Magid (Dmitri), Randy Nelson (Alyosha), Howard Jay Patterson (Ivan), Sam Williams (Smerdyakov) The revue was presented in two acts. The Flying Karamazov Brothers returned to Broadway in Juggling and Cheap Theatrics in which they dazzled their audiences with incredible feats of juggling (which included a mold of Jello, the head of a fish, a ukulele, an egg, a meat cleaver, a champagne bottle, a partial block of dry ice, and a chocolate cake) and incredibly bad puns. Yes, they were back again with their bag of tricks, and their Marx Brothers–styled antics received raves from critics and audiences. The latter were encouraged to bring objects for juggling, and Brother

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Fyodor (Timothy Daniel Furst) promised that if he couldn’t juggle a series of items for the count of ten some lucky audience member could throw a pie in his face; otherwise, the audience owed him a standing ovation. And while he got the occasional pie in the face, he also got the ovation. Mel Gussow in the New York Times said the evening was an “all-out assault on collective sobriety” in which “nothing is hallowed, not even the art, as it were, of juggling.” The critic noted that even when “gravity wins” and the juggling didn’t go quite as planned, the Brothers were “unabashed recoverers” and “nothing discourages them, not even their own badinage.” On a somewhat rueful note, Gussow mentioned that the Brothers had appeared in a recent movie (The Jewel of the Nile) but were “typecast as jugglers.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the Brothers were back “in finer form and fettle than ever.” The “hilarious” evening was a “mad melee” from “cloud cuckoo land” and was “a triumph of organized mayhem” that offered “awful gags and awesome jugglery.” He also liked the “jungle jam session” in which the Brothers “re-dazzle an already dazzled audience” (this was a sequence in which they bounced tenpins on various musical instruments). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the boys were “as deft and as daft as ever,” and one of the Brothers defined the evening as “a mixture of sex and violence, without the sex.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “superlative” juggling, which provided “a sense of wonder and delight.” And Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the Brothers “somehow make a two-hour juggling routine continuously interesting and amusing.” For more information about the Brothers, see entry for The Flying Karamazov Brothers. With the booking of the Brothers, the new management team at Lincoln Center brought the Vivian Beaumont Theatre back into the theatrical fold after a five-year period in which it was mostly dark. The first half of the decade had seen just five productions at the venue: four were limited bookings that played for a total of less than twenty weeks, and one (La tragedie de Carmen/Carmen) enjoyed a run of five months. While the Brothers held court upstairs at the Beaumont, the downstairs Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre saw a revival of John Guare’s 1971 Off-Broadway play The House of Blue Leaves, and then about halfway through the Brothers’ run they switched venues with Blue Leaves and played out their engagement at the Newhouse.

BIG DEAL Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: April 10, 1986; Closing Date: June 8, 1986 Performances: 70 Book: Bob Fosse Lyrics and Music: See song list for credits Based on the 1958 film Big Deal on Madonna Street (screenplay by Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, and Mario Monicelli, and direction by Mario Monicelli). Direction and Choreography: Bob Fosse (Christopher Chadman, Associate Choreographer; Linda Haberman, Assistant to the Choreographer); Producers: The Shubert Organization, Roger Berlind, and Jerome Minskoff in association with Jonathan Farkas (Jules Fisher, Executive Producer); Scenery: Peter Larkin; Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: Gordon Lowry Harrell Cast: Loretta Devine (Lilly), Wayne Cilento (First Narrator), Bruce Anthony Davis (Second Narrator), Gary Chapman (Kokomo, Dancin’ Dan), Alde Lewis Jr. (Otis), Cleavant Derricks (Charley), Valarie Pettiford (Pearl, Band Singer, First Shadow), Larry Marshall (Slick), Mel Johnson Jr. (Sunnyboy), Alan Weeks (Willie), Bernard J. Marsh (Judge, Band Leader), Desiree Coleman (Phoebe), Barbara Yeager (Second Shadow), Roumel Reaux (Little Willie), Candace Tovar (Announcer); Dancers: Ciscoe Bruton II, Lloyd Culbreath, Kim Darwin, Cady Huffman, Amelia Marshall, Frank Mastrocola, Stephanie Pope, Roumel Reaux, George Russell, Candace Tovar; On-Stage Band: Brian Brake (Drums), Leonard Oxley (Piano), William Shadel (Clarinet), Joe Mosello (Trumpet), Earl May (Bass), Britt Woodman (Trombone); Film Sequence: Bill Newman (The Clerk), Mennie Nelson (Millie), Emanuel MacDonald (Little Willie) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on the South Side of Chicago during the 1930s.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” (lyric by Lew Brown, music by Ray Henderson; George White’s Scandals, 1931) (Loretta Devine); “For No Good Reason at All” (lyric and music by Abel Baer, Samuel W. Lewis, and Joseph Young) (Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis); “Charley, My Boy” (lyric and music by Gus Kahn and Ted Fiorito) (Cleavant Derricks); “I’ve (I) Got a Feelin’ You’re Foolin’ (Fooling)” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown; 1935 film Broadway Melody of 1936) (Gary Chapman, Cleavant Derricks, Bernard J. Marsh, Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis); “Ain’t We Got Fun” (lyric by Gus Kahn and Raymond B. Egan, music by Richard A. Whiting; possibly from nightclub revue titled Satires of 1920) (Prisoners); “For No Good Reason at All” (reprise) (Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis, Dancers); “Chicago” (lyric and music by Fred Fisher) (Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis); “Pick Yourself Up” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jerome Kern) (Cleavant Derricks, Alan Weeks, Larry Marshall, Mel Johnson Jr., Alde Lewis Jr.); “I’m Just Wild about Harry” (lyric by Noble Sissle, music by Eubie Blake; Shuffle Along, 1921) (Loretta Devine); “Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar” (lyric and music by Don Raye, Hughie Prince, and Eleanore Sheehy) (Bernard J. Marsh, Band, Dancers); “The Music Goes ’Round and ’Round” (lyric by Ned Hodgson, music by Edward Farley and Michael Riley; popularized in 1936 film The Music Goes ’Round) (Bernard J. Marsh, Band); “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” (reprise) (Loretta Devine) Act Two: “Now’s the Time to Fall in Love” (lyric and music by Al Sherman and Al Lewis) (Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis, Dancers); “Ain’t She Sweet” (lyric by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager) (Mel Johnson Jr., Desiree Coleman, Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis, Dancers); “Everybody Loves My Baby” (lyric by Jack Palmer, music by Spencer Williams) (Alan Weeks, Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis); “Me and My Shadow” (lyric by Billy Rose and possibly Al Jolson, music by Dave Dreyer) (Gary Chapman, Valarie Pettiford, Barbara Yeager); “Love Is Just Around the Corner” (lyric by Leo Robin, music by Lewis E. Gensler; 1934 film Here Is My Heart) (Wayne Cilento, Bruce Anthony Davis); “Just a Gigolo” (original lyric by Julius Brammer, English lyric by Irving Caesar, music by Leonello Casucci) (Bernard J. Marsh, Cleavant Derricks); “Who’s Your Little Who-Zis?” (lyric by Walter Hirsch, music by Hal Goering and Ben Bernie) (Bernard J. Marsh, Valarie Pettiford); “Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby” (lyric by Gus Kahn, music by Walter Donaldson) (Cleavant Derricks); “Button Up Your Overcoat” (lyric by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva and Lew Brown, music by Ray Henderson; Follow Thru, 1929) (Loretta Devine); “Daddy, You’ve Been a Mother to Me” (lyric and music by Fred Fisher) (Alan Weeks, Roumel Reaux); “Hold Tight, Hold Tight (Want Some Sea Food Mama)” (lyric and music by Leonard Ware, Willie Spottswood, Ed [George] Robinson, Ben Smith, and Sidney Bechet) (Alde Lewis Jr., Ladies); “Happy Days Are Here Again” (lyric by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager; 1930 film Chasing Rainbows) (Larry Marshall, Desiree Coleman, and Mel Johnson Jr., Company); “I’m Sitting on Top of the World” (lyric by Samuel M. Lewis and Joseph Young, music by Ray Henderson) (Cleavant Derricks, Company); “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” (reprise) (Loretta Devine) The dance-driven Big Deal was the last new musical created by Bob Fosse, and sadly it was a critical and financial failure which closed after just seventy performances and lost its $5 million investment. But Fosse’s dances were praised, and he won the Tony Award for Best Choreography. Two weeks after the premiere of Big Deal, the revival of his hit 1966 musical Sweet Charity opened (directed and choreographed by Fosse, it played on Broadway for almost a full year and won the Tony Award for Best Revival). Big Deal was based on the 1958 Italian film Big Deal on Madonna Street, and it dealt with the failed plans of small-time hood Charley (Cleavant Derricks) and his cronies to rob a pawn shop. Fosse’s book set the show during the Depression and in his favorite city (and his hometown) of Chicago (besides Chicago [1975], parts of Little Me [1962] and his 1979 film All That Jazz took place there). Except for a few roles, the entire cast of Big Deal was black and included two alumni of Dreamgirls, Loretta Devine and Derricks. The critics complained that Fosse’s book was top-heavy and that he resorted to the use of (singing and dancing) narrators to move the action along; further, the score consisted of standards that were shoehorned into the story, and Fosse fell victim to the now-wheezy ploy (à la Barbra Streisand and “Happy Days Are Here Again”) of using standard evergreens (such as “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” and “Ain’t We Got Fun”) for would-be ironic effect (and, in fact, “Happy Days Are Here Again” was included in the score). One critic noted Fosse had been advised to sweeten the musical’s sour ending and to jettison some crude and gratuitous

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sequences (one involving urinals and another oral sex), but he insisted on retaining elements that clearly worked against the audience’s enjoyment of the show. Frank Rich in the New York Times said one number (“Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar”) was a genuine show-stopper that liberated the musical and the audience “from conventional burdens of time, space and care.” Otherwise, the book was “ponderous and cheerless” and one minor sequence was “dragged out to such convoluted lengths that the hapless robbery scheme begins to rival the Normandy invasion in heavy logistic detail.” There were also “crude” and “lame” jokes, some of which were “as discomfortingly patronizing as Amos ’n’ Andy.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily suggested that what might have been “touching” was instead “simply distasteful,” and the show’s unrelenting cynicism was “so total that the performers seem merely used and that adds to the ugliness of the evening.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the musical had “all the éclat of a pickled cucumber in a sandstorm” and he both asked and answered a question (“How bad is the book?” “Pretty bad”). He also thought the idea of using old standards was a “lousy idea,” and noted the show was “much ado about nothing” and offered “short change.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek complained that Fosse’s book clogged the evening with “leaden plot details,” but noted that “Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar” was a “classic” and “thrilling” number that brought the first act to “an exultant and hopeful finish.” He also singled out other solid musical sequences, including “Me and My Shadow,” “Ain’t We Got Fun,” and “Ain’t She Sweet.” Linda Winer in USA Today found the musical a “mixed blessing” with both Fosse’s “familiar but exhilaratingly sleazy” trademarks and a book that was a “mess.” And Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said if “style were everything” Big Deal would be the season’s “blockbuster,” and although the musical offered “sensational” dance numbers, the production’s “gloss,” “slickness,” and “virtuosity” had no “substance or heart.” But Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “dazzlingly showy” musical represented Fosse at his “inimitable best” and thus “Broadway is Broadway again.” The choreography was “so supreme” that with “tightening” it could take its place in the dance repertoire along with George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” And “Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar” was “the absolutely sensational, almost hair-raising peak” of the show. During the tryout, two songs were cut: “’Tain’t What You Do” (lyric and music by Sy Oliver and James Young) and “I Found a Million Dollar Baby” (lyric by Billy Rose and Mort Dixon, music by Harry Warren).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Big Deal); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Cleavant Derricks); Best Director (Bob Fosse); Best Book (Bob Fosse); Best Choreographer (Bob Fosse)

SWEET CHARITY “The Musical Comedy”

Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: April 27, 1986; Closing Date: March 15, 1987 Performances: 368 Book: Neil Simon Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Music: Cy Coleman Based on the 1957 film Nights of Cabiria (screenplay by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, and Ennio Flaiano, and direction by Federico Fellini). Direction and Choreography: Bob Fosse; Producers: Jerome Minskoff, James M. Nederlander, Arthur Rubin, and Joseph Harris; Scenery and Lighting: Robert Randolph; Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Musical Direction: Fred Werner Cast: Debbie Allen (Charity), David Warren Gibson (Dark Glasses), Quin Baird and Jan Horvath (Married Couple), Jeff Shade (First Young Man), Celia Tackaberry (Woman with Hat, Panhandler, Receptionist, Good Fairy), Kelly Patterson (Ice Cream Vendor), Adrian Rosario (Young Spanish Man), Tanis Michaels (Cop, Brother Harold), Allison Michaels (Helene), Bebe Neuwirth (Nickie), Mimi Quillin (Mimi), Lee

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Wilkof (Herman), Tom Wierney (Doorman, Waiter), Carrie Nygren (Ursula), Mark Jacoby (Vittorio Vidal), Fred C. Mann III (Manfred), Jan Horvath (Old Maid), Michael Rupert (Oscar), Irving Allen Lee (Daddy Jones Sebastian Brubeck), Stanley Wesley Perryman (Brother Ray), Dana Moore (Rosie); Singers and Dancers of Times Square: Quinn Baird, Christine Colby, Alice Everett Cox, David Warren Gibson, Kim Morgan Greene, Jan Horvath, Jane Lanier, Fred C. Mann III, Allison Renee Manson, Tanis Michaels, Dana Moore, Michelle O’Steen, Kelly Patterson, Stanley Wesley Perryman, Mimi Quillin, Adrian Rosario, Jeff Shade, Tom Wierney The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during the mid-1960s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “You Should See Yourself” (Debbie Allen, David Warren Gibson); “The Rescue” (Passers-by); “Big Spender” (Bebe Neuwirth, Allison Williams, The Fan-Dango Girls); “Rich Man’s Frug” (Dana Moore, Kelly Patterson, Adrian Rosario, Patrons); “If My Friends Could See Me Now” (Debbie Allen); “Too Many Tomorrows” (Mark Jacoby); “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” (Debbie Allen, Bebe Neuwirth, Allison Williams); “I’m the Bravest Individual” (Debbie Allen, Michael Rupert) Act Two: “Rhythm of Life” (Irving Allen Lee, Tanis Michaels, Stanley Wesley Perryman, Worshippers); “Baby, Dream Your Dream” (Bebe Neuwirth, Allison Williams); “Sweet Charity” (Michael Rupert); “Where Am I Going?” (Debbie Allen); “I’m a Brass Band” (Debbie Allen, Brass Band); “I Love to Cry at Weddings” (Lee Wilkof, Tom Wierney, Bebe Neuwirth, Allison Williams, Girls, Patrons) Two weeks after the opening of his Big Deal, Bob Fosse returned to Broadway with the revival of the 1966 musical Sweet Charity; he had directed and choreographed the original production and did the same for the popular revival, which enjoyed a pre-Broadway tour, ran on Broadway for almost a year, and then resumed touring after the New York production closed. The revival won four Tony Awards, including Best Revival, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Rupert), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Bebe Neuwirth), and Best Costume Designer (Patricia Zipprodt). But the production sadly marked the end of Bob Fosse’s brilliant career. A few months after it closed, he was in Washington, D.C., to supervise the continuation of the national tour, and after a rehearsal he and Gwen Verdon left the National Theatre to walk back to their hotel. On a street corner half a block from the theatre, Fosse suffered a massive heart attack and died a few hours later. Neil Simon’s book was a series of vignettes that followed the hapless adventures of luckless dance hall hostess Charity in 1960s Manhattan, from the opening scene when her boyfriend robs her and pushes her into Central Park Lake to the final scene when she’s dumped by her fiancé Oscar. As the curtain fell, a sign proclaimed that Charity “lived hopefully ever after.” But that appeared unlikely because poor sweet Charity seemed destined to be an eternal doormat. The musical was so upbeat with Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields’s lively score and Fosse’s show-stopping staging and choreography that its harsh ending seemed unnecessarily unfair to both Charity and the audience. Was there a reason why such a traditional musical comedy had to go out of its way to offer a sour and offputting conclusion? The denouement may have been artistically honest, but it went against the grain of the sassy score and the slinky dances. The score was a delightful blend of catchy, spirited music and witty lyrics, with just one clinker, the forced and tiresome “Charity’s Soliloquy” (which was mercifully cut from the current revival). Three standards emerged from the score, “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “Big Spender,” and “Where Am I Going?” but in the original production Verdon unaccountably dropped the latter during the run and thus deprived her audience of the show’s most popular number (if she’d really wanted to do the audience a favor, she’d have scratched the soliloquy, which was pure musical water torture). The revival also dropped the title song heard in the original production and instead substituted a different title number that had been introduced in the show’s 1969 film version. Besides the three popular songs, the score yielded the cynical “Baby, Dream Your Dream” (a kind of latter-day cousin to “Makin’ Whoopee”), the sardonic trio “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,” the jolly, tongue-in-cheek “I Love to Cry at Weddings,” and the Sousa-on-steroids march “I’m a Brass Band.” Above all else, Sweet Charity was a dance show, and Fosse rolled out one show-stopping routine after another: “Big Spender” was a stylized come-on for the girls at the dance hall, and the sight of the “hostesses”

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strung out along the brass rail at the ballroom provided one of the most iconic images in all musical theatre; “The Rich Man’s Frug” was another stylized piece for the chicer-than-thou in-crowd at the Pompeii Club; “If My Friends Could See Me Now” was a salute to old-time top-hat-and-cane vaudeville; “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” was a wild fandango for Charity and her girlfriends; “The Religion of Life” was a jittery, staccato-driven dance for the followers of a trendy church; “I’m a Brass Band” was a sizzling eleven o’clock march-like number for Charity and her Brass Band from limbo; and “I Love to Cry at Weddings” was a soft-shoe delight. Most of the critics gave the revival favorable notices, but some were disappointed with how poorly the book held up. Although Debbie Allen was praised for her performance, one or two reviewers felt her Charity was too tough and resilient and thus missed the vulnerability of the character. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “dreary” book was rescued by Debbie Allen’s “dynamic” and “sizzling” performance, Fosse’s “knockout” dance routines, and the “galvanizing” dancers and music. He noted that during the years since the original 1966 production, the Broadway musical had “deteriorated,” and while Sweet Charity might have been “an average musical in its day,” it now had “appreciated in value.” Thanks to Fosse’s dazzling choreography, John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found the show “durable,” and he noted that while the “first-rate” Allen may have lacked “vulnerability” she more than made up for it with her “innocent spunkiness.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News welcomed back the “ebullient” musical which offered Coleman’s “most exuberant” score, Dorothy Fields’s “smart” lyrics, and Fosse’s dances (“some of the finest work he has done”), and he said Allen was “a joy forever.” Watt found Bebe Neuwirth “entertaining” as Charity’s “brassy, wise-cracking” sidekick, and the revival marked one of a number of Neuwirth’s appearances in Fosse-related productions. She had been in the chorus of the 1982 revival of Little Me; after winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Charity, she appeared as Lola in the long-running 1994 revival of Damn Yankees; and her Velma won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for the 1996 revival of Chicago, which as of this writing is still playing in New York and is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. She was also a replacement dancer in the original Broadway productions of Dancin’ (1978) and Fosse (1999), and during the marathon run of the Chicago revival she has made occasional returns to the musical in the roles of Roxie Hart and Matron Mama Morton. Clive Barnes in the New York Post felt the revival was built around the memory of Gwen Verdon’s performance, and he suggested the evening would have been stronger had Fosse reconceived and reshaped the role for Allen. But the show was still “lively” and offered “some of the most riveting dance images the Broadway musical has ever achieved.” Barnes noted that set designer Robert Randolph utilized the same décor he had created for the original production, but now Irene Sharaff’s costumes had been replaced by Patricia Zipprodt’s “handsomely flamboyant” new ones. Jack Kroll in Newsweek hailed the “brilliant revival,” and commented that Allen exploded “with the sheer joy of performing” and Fosse’s dances were “among the wittiest, sexiest, most sheerly pleasurable creations in musical history”; Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 had reservations about the book, but said Allen was “dynamite” and Fosse’s choreographic inspirations were “the big deal of Broadway dance”; and while Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal commented that the show ranked “just below the best” of American musicals, the revival’s creators “pretended [Charity] had never been done before and approached their tasks with the enthusiasm and creative energy usually found in a production mounted for the first time.” William A. Henry III in Time said the musical was “no masterpiece” and stated Simon’s book was “more often predictable than funny,” Coleman’s score was “so-so” (but included two “rousing” standards), Fields’s lyrics were “much too witty to come from the dim characters,” and Allen “capably” adapted to Fosse’s “jagged, staccato movements” but “utterly” lacked Charity’s “doormat vulnerability.” Linda Winer in USA Today said the script was one of Simon’s “unfunniest” but offered some of Fosse’s “wittiest” and “slinkiest” choreography. But the “smart” and “gifted” Allen came on with “the comic subtlety of Jerry Lewis” and lacked the raw qualities of a “hostess” with “eight years in the trenches.” Winer also noted that for the revival’s pre-Broadway run Gwen Verdon had been credited with most of the staging, but for Broadway her name had been omitted from the credits. (The program of the San Francisco engagement indicated the choreography was “reproduced” by Verdon, the direction was by John Bowab, and the overall production was “supervised” by Fosse.) The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1966.

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The Broadway cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # KOS-2900 and KOL-6500). The CD was issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records (# SK-60960) and includes a number of extras: the first release of an extended version of “The Rich Man’s Frug”; a previously unreleased take of the original cast performing “I Love to Cry at Weddings” (with an alternate ending as well as extended vocals and instrumentals); three songs performed by Cy Coleman (“Where Am I Going?,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” and the cut “You Wanna Bet,” which had been recycled for the musical’s title song); and various tracks from the opening-night party, including interviews with Gwen Verdon, Helen Gallagher, Neil Simon, and Ethel Merman. For its early advertisements, the musical’s book was credited to “Bert Frank,” a pseudonym for Bob Fosse. Ultimately, Neil Simon was credited for the libretto. Songs written for the musical but cut during preproduction, rehearsals, or on the road were: “Gimme (Give Me) a Rain Check,” “Big Fat Heart,” “Pink Taffeta Sample Size 10,” “I Can’t Let You Go,” “Keep It in the Family,” “Poor Everybody Else,” “You Wanna Bet,” and “When Did You Know?” “Keep It in the Family” was later heard in the 1967 drama Keep It in the Family (for London, the play had been titled All in Good Time); “Poor Everybody Else” was used in Seesaw (1973); “When Did You Know?” was rewritten as “Love Makes Such Fools of Us All” for Barnum (1980); and as mentioned “You Wanna Bet” was rewritten and became Sweet Charity’s title song. The London production opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on October 11, 1967, for 476 performances and the cast included Juliet Prowse (Charity), Ron McLennan (Oscar), and Josephine Blake (Nickie). The cast album was released by CBS Records (LP # BRG/SBRG-700350). The faithful 1969 Universal film version starred Shirley MacLaine in one of her finest roles, and Fosse directed and choreographed. Other cast members included John McMartin (in a reprise of his original stage role of Oscar), Chita Rivera, Ricardo Montalban, Sammy Davis Jr., and Ben Vereen (who can be seen in a prominent dancing role). The film included three new songs, “My Personal Property,” “It’s a Nice Face,” and a new title song. The film has aged well, and looks better now than when first released. Two endings were filmed, one used the downbeat stage ending and the other was an optimistic one in which Charity and Oscar are reunited. The release print offered the former ending, but the DVD (issued by Universal # 22616) includes both; the soundtrack was released by Decca Records (LP # DL-71520). The cast recording of the current revival was released by EMI America Records (LP # SV-17196); EMI/ DRG Records (# 19077) issued the CD, which includes two sequences from “The Rich Man’s Frug” (“The Aloof” and “Big Finish”); “Charity’s Theme” (“And She Lived Hopefully Ever After”); and two tracks of Cy Coleman performing “The Rhythm of Life” and “Big Spender.” A second revival opened on May 4, 2005, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre for 279 performances with Christina Applegate and Denis O’Hare and included a new song, “A Good Impression.” The cast recording was released by DRG Records (CD # 94777) and includes the entr’acte and six bonus tracks: the verse version of “Where Am I Going” for Applegate; and five numbers performed by Coleman (“Baby, Dream Your Dream,” “I’m the Bravest Individual,” “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,” “Big Spender,” and the cut “Gimme a Rain Check”). Other recordings of the score include a two-CD studio cast version released by Jay Records (# CDJAY2-1284) with Jacqueline Dankworth, Josephine Blake, Shezwae Powell, and Gregg Edelman; the recording includes “The Rescue” sequence as well as the entr’acte, finale, bows, and exit music and bonus tracks of the three songs written for the film version. Another interesting recording is the 1989 Rotterdam cast released by Disky Records (# DCD-5126) with Simone Kleinsma in the title role; the album includes “Er moet toch iets beters wezen” and “’K ben een brass band.” The Paris cast recording with Magali Noel and Sydney Chaplin was released by CBS Records (LP # S-70084) and includes “My Personal Property.” Skitch Henderson and His Orchestra Play Music from “Sweet Charity” (Columbia Records LP # CL-2471) includes “When Did You Know?” and “You Wanna Bet,” and Sweet Charity (Tifton Records LP # 78001) with vocals by Susan Lloyd and the Michaels Brothers with the “Uptown” Dance Hall Orchestra includes “You Wanna Bet.” “Pink Taffeta Sample Size 10” can be heard in two collections, Mimi Hines Sings (Decca Records LP # DL-4709) and Lost in Boston III (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5563), and “Gimme a Rain Check” is included in Lost in Boston IV (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5768).

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Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (Sweet Charity); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Debbie Allen); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Rupert); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Bebe Neuwirth); Best Costume Designer (Patricia Zipprodt).

MY THREE ANGELS “A New Musical”

The musical opened on December 2, 1985, at the St. Lawrence Center for the Arts’ Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and permanently closed there on December 28, 1985. Book, Lyrics, and Music: David Warrack Based on the play La cuisine des anges by Albert Husson and its 1953 American adaptation My Three Angels by Sam and Bella Spewack. Direction: Heinar Piller; Producer: Warrack Productions (David Warrack, Producer); Choreography: Ken Walsh; Scenery: Lawrence Schafer; Costumes: Rita Brown; Lighting: Stephen Ross; Musical Direction: Stephen Woodjetts Cast: Douglas Chamberlain (Felix Ducotel), Sharry Flett (Emilie Ducotel), Sharon Dyer (Mme. Parole), Cynthia Dale (Marie Louise Ducotel), Eric House (Joseph), Tony Van Bridge (Jules), Gerry Salsberg (Alfred), Larry Solway (Henri Trochard), Kevin Hicks (Paul Trochard), Wayne Welter (Lieutenant) The musical was presented in three acts. The action takes place at Christmas time in 1910 in Cayenne, French Guiana, near Devil’s Island.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “It Doesn’t Seem a Lot Like Christmas” (Sharry Flett, Douglas Chamberlain, Sharon Dyer); “Was I Blind” (Cynthia Dale); “Three Angels Theme” (Orchestra); “We Got Caught” (Eric House, Tony Van Bridge, Gerry Salsberg); “It’s So Clear” (Gerry Salsberg, Cynthia Dale); “Christmas Eve” (Sharry Flett, Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Introductions” (Tony Van Bridge, Eric House, Gerry Salsberg, Larry Solway, Douglas Chamberlain, Kevin Hicks); “The Old Book Cooker” (Eric House, Douglas Chamberlain); “An Honest Man” (Douglas Chamberlain); “Where Does One Begin?” (Kevin Hicks, Cynthia Dale); “Be Young, Young Man” (Tony Van Bridge, Eric House, Gerry Salsberg); “You’ve Been Bitten” (Gerry Salsberg, Eric House, Tony Van Bridge) Act Three: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “He’s Dead” (Sharon Dyer, Eric House, Tony Van Bridge, Gerry Salsberg); “If Only Someone Like You” (Tony Van Bridge, Sharry Flett); “He’s Dead” (reprise) (Tony Van Bridge, Eric House, Gerry Salsberg); “Christmas Is Over” and “St. Anthony” (Tony Van Bridge, Eric House, Gerry Salsberg, Cynthia Dale); “Missa Solemnis” (Company) My Three Angels was based on the Broadway play of the same name by Sam and Bella Spewack (which they had adapted from the French comedy La cuisine des anges by Albert Husson). The New York production opened on March 11, 1953, at the Morosco Theatre, and despite a run of almost one year (342 performances) it didn’t recoup its investment (but its subsequent film sale probably put it in the black). The charming fable-like story took place early in the twentieth century on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and dealt with the Ducotels, an honest grocer and his family who live in French Guiana, where the authorities provide them with household help in the form of three wise men—that is, three angels, that is, three prisoners—from nearby Devil’s Island (for Broadway, Walter Slezak, Darren McGavin, and Jerome Cowan portrayed the threesome). When the trio discovers that the Ducotels’ financial records are in disarray, they cook the books so that the store’s ledgers are in the black, and when the convicts realize that two of the Ducotels’ relatives are out to sabotage their store, the guardian angels ensure that their pet snake takes care of the villains.

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The play was filmed twice by Paramount, in 1955 with Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray, and then in a radically revised adaptation in 1989 which starred Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. The London production premiered in 1955 with George Rose and played for 128 performances. Although Devo in Variety found the musical “appealing but largely uninspired,” he noted the evening managed “to work” and to retain one’s interest. The score was “fluffy and forgettable, albeit entertaining,” and he singled out four songs (“We Got Caught,” “It’s So Clear,” “Where Does One Begin?,” and “If Only Someone Like You”). Ultimately, the musical was “a diverting exercise in just desserts, but one longs for the meal to be more substantial.”

PIECES OF EIGHT The musical opened on November 27, 1985, at the Citadel Theatre on the Shoctor Stage in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and permanently closed there on January 5, 1986. Book: Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble Lyrics: Susan Birkenhead Music: Jule Styne Based on the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (serialized during 1881–1882 and published in book format in 1883). Direction and Choreography: Joe Layton (Dennis Hassell, Assistant Director); Producers: The Citadel Theatre (Joseph H. Shoctor, Executive Producer; Gordon McDougall, Artistic Director; Wayne C. Fipke, General Manager) and the Edmonton Journal; Scenery, Costumes, and Lighting: Neil Peter Jampolis (Julia Tribe, Costume Design Assistant; and Kirk Bookman, Lighting Design Assistant); Fight Direction: Jean-Pierre Fournier (Eric Kramer, Co-Fight Director); Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Ian Deakin (Pew), George Hearn (Long John Silver), George Lee Andrews (Billy Bones, Captain Smollett), Jonathan Ross (Jim Hawkins), Karen Trott (Mrs. Hawkins), Richard March (Inn Guest, Redruth), Richard Patterson (Inn Guest, Watts), Todd Postlethwaite (Inn Guest, Quinn), Jim White (Inn Guest, Dick Steeps, Sutter), Brian McKay (Doctor Livesey), Ted Pearson (Black Dog), Alex Daniels (Pirate, Dead Eye), Craig Gardner (Pirate, George Merry), David Dunbar (Squire Trelawney), J. Gordon Masten (Tom Stepney), Kenneth Eiland (Mr. Okashiba aka Snake), Graeme Campbell (Israel Hands), Ian Deakin (John Steeps, Squales), Lyonell Gregory (Doyle), Robert Fitch (Ben Gunn); Note: The role of Captain Flint was performed by Bojo Tofu, a blue-fronted Amazon parrot. The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1764 and 1765 on the high seas, in England, and on Treasure Island.

Musical Numbers Act One: “My Last Strike” (George Hearn); “Beyond My Wildest Dreams” (Jonathan Ross); “Secret” (Jonathan Ross, David Dunbar, Brian McKay); “Keep Me Close to You” (Karen Trott); “One Leg Is Better Than Two” (George Hearn, Jonathan Ross, Sailors); “The Sea” (George Hearn, Company); “Sailor Talk” (George Hearn, Jonathan Ross, Sailors); “If I Were Your Son” (Jonathan Ross); “Apples” (George Hearn, Graeme Campbell, Sailors); “My Treasure Island” (George Hearn, Company) Act Two: “Whatever Became of Jenny?” (George Hearn, Graeme Campbell, Pirates); “Six Bells” (Robert Fitch); “A Bit of Home” (George Lee Andrews, David Dunbar, Brian McKay, Sailors, Pirates); “Six Bells” (reprise) (Robert Fitch); “There Are No Heroes” (Jonathan Ross); “Luxury Lane” (George Hearn, Jonathan Ross, Sailors); “Mountains of Gold” (Pirates); “Rainbows End” (George Hearn); “If You Were My Son” (George Hearn); “Beyond My Wildest Dreams” (reprise) (Jonathan Ross) Jule Styne’s Pieces of Eight was based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. A Broadway musical version based on the story of an English boy’s adventures on the high seas must have seemed like sure-fire, family-friendly material with its colorful setting and almost iconic character of the pirate Long John Silver and his band of cutthroats in search of treasure.

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Despite a score by Styne and direction and choreography by Joe Layton, and with George Hearn as Long John Silver, the musical permanently closed in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, without risking Broadway. Prior to the opening of the Canadian production, Variety reported that later in the season Hearn was committed to perform in the London edition of La Cage aux Folles, but had an option to appear in Pieces of Eight if and when it moved to Broadway, an option that became moot once Pieces of Eight shuttered for good after its Canadian run. An earlier lyric version of Treasure Island opened in London at the Mermaid Theatre on December 17, 1973, and played there for three seasons prior to transferring to the New London Theatre on December 18, 1975. A later Australian production opened at the Brisbane Arts Theatre on November 20, 1980, but a projected 1983 Broadway engagement never materialized. The book was by Bernard Miles and Josephine Wilson, the lyrics by Hal Shaper, and the music by Cyril Ornadel, and the London cast album was issued by That’s Entertainment Records (LP # TER-1008) and later on CD by Prestige Records (# CDSGP-9801).

SING, MAHALIA, SING! The musical opened on March 26, 1985, at the Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C., and closed at the Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California, on September 1, 1985. Book: George Faison Lyrics and Music: New songs by Richard Smallwood, George Faison, and Wayne Davis; other musical numbers were traditional gospel songs. Direction and Choreography: George Faison (Martin Worman, Assistant Director); Producers: Louis G. Bond, Marty Bronson, Robert E. Laune, and Tad Schnugg; Scenery: Tom McPhillips; Costumes: Nancy Potts; Lighting: Thomas Skelton; Musical Direction: Michael Powell Cast: Carolene Adams-Evans (Miss Ruth, Sister Russell, Ensemble), Sarita Allen (Rita, Mourning Woman, Ensemble), Lisa Burroughs (Aunt Hannah, Sister Thomas, Ensemble), Felicia Y. Coleman (Louise Lemon, Rosa Parks, Ensemble), Wayne Davis (Eddie Robinson, Ensemble), Germaine Edwards (Redcap, Reporter, Ensemble), Marva Hicks (Young Mahalia, Ensemble), Jennifer Holliday (Mahalia Jackson), Queen Esther Morrow (Mahalia Jackson for certain performances), Stephanie James-Rainey (Eastern Star Member, Waitress, Ensemble), James Arthur Johnson (Chafalaya, Ensemble), Tyrone Jolivet (Angel of God, Ensemble), Dottie Jones (Sue, Ensemble), Glenn Jones (Reverend Jenkins, Prince Johnson, Reverend Jameson, Ensemble), Garry Q. Lewis (Master of Ceremonies, Floor Manager, Film Director, Reporter, Policeman, Ensemble), Michelle Rene-Lovett (Mildred Falls, Ensemble), Joe Lynn (Ike Hunkenhull, Ensemble), Milton Craig Nealy (Ensemble), Stanley Wesley Perryman (Radio Listener, Reporter, Policeman, Ensemble), Jackie Ruffin (Aunt Duke, Ensemble), Brother John Sellers (Grandpa, Ensemble), KiKi Shepard (Sister Willis, Ensemble), Lynette Hawkins Stephens (Mother Weeks, Ensemble), Paul W. Weeden Jr. (Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., Ensemble), Allison M. Williams (Sister Smith, Ensemble); Ensemble: The Richard Smallwood Singers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place throughout the United States during the period 1911–1963.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Glorify the Lord” (Church Members, Choir); “Sing, Mahalia, Sing” (Glenn Jones); “Come On, Children, Let’s Sing” (Jennifer Holliday, Church Members, Choir); “Precious Lord” (Jennifer Holliday); “How I Got Over” (Jennifer Holliday, Church Members, Choir); “Louisiana” (James Arthur Johnson, Carolene Adams-Evans, Miss Ruth’s Girls, Customers); “It Don’t Cost Very Much” (Jackie Ruffin, Marva Hicks); “Going to Chicago” (James Arthur Johnson, Jackie Ruffin, Marva Hicks); “Handwriting on the Wall” (Sanctified Church Member); “Handwriting on the Wall” (reprise) (Baptists); “I Surrender All” (Marva Hicks); “Baptismal” (Baptists, Baptismal Candidates); “Down by the Riverside” (Marva Hicks, Baptists); “Father, I Stretch My Hands to Thee” (Jackie Ruffin, Marva Hicks, Mourners); “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” (Marva Hicks, Mourners); “Shake Your Ashes” (Redcaps, Travellers, Garry Q. Lewis, Chorines,

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Club Patrons); “Wait on the Lord” (Unidentified performer); “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (Jennifer Holliday); “What You Gonna Do” (Joe Lynn); “I’m Gonna Live the Life I Sing about in My Songs” (Jennifer Holliday); “Be Faithful” (Tyrone Jolivet, Angel Chorus); “God Will Take Care of You” (Felicia Y. Coleman, The Johnson Singers); “God Will Take Care of You” (reprise) (Jennifer Holliday, Felicia Y. Coleman, The Johnson Singers); “Dig a Little Deeper” (Jennifer Holliday, Felicia Y. Coleman, The Johnson Singers); “Not Up Here in This Pulpit” (Lynette Hawkins Stephens, Daughters of the Eastern Star); “Plead My Cause” (Jennifer Holliday, Tyrone Jolivet); “Lord, Search Her Heart” (Lynette Hawkins Stephens, Unidentified performer); “God’s Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares” (Jennifer Holliday, Ensemble); “Didn’t It Rain?” (Jennifer Holliday, Ensemble) Act Two: “So Glad I’m Here” (Women of the Convention); “Call the Lord” (Delegate Ministers); “Sho Been Good to Me” (Conventioneers); “Benediction” and “Closing Remarks” (Secretary of the Convention); “Elijah Rock” (Jennifer Holliday); “When I Been Drinking” (Joe Lynn); “I’ve Got Something” (Jennifer Holliday); “Working on a Building” (Beauty Operators, Patrons); “He Won’t Leave You” (Dottie Jones, Beauty Operators, Patrons); “Move On Up a Little Closer” (Jennifer Holliday); “Carolina Rice” (Golden Gate Quartet); “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (reprise) (Golden Gate Quartet); “Dig a Little Deeper” (Jennifer Holliday); “Soon I Will Be Done” (Jennifer Holliday); “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” (Jennifer Holliday); “Come Over Here Where the Table Is Spread” (Party Guests); “I’ve Been Buked” (Party Guests); “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody” (Demonstrators); “Motherless Child” (Felicia Y. Coleman); “Lord, Come By Here” (Demonstrators); “We Shall Overcome” (Paul W. Weeden Jr.); “I Have a Dream” (Ensemble); “The Lord’s Prayer” (Jennifer Holliday); “Sing, Mahalia, Sing” (reprise) (Ensemble) Sing, Mahalia, Sing! was a biographical musical that looked at the life and career of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911–1972), who was played by Jennifer Holliday. The musical included both original songs and traditional gospel numbers. The production toured for five months and then closed without opening on Broadway. Queen Esther Marrow played the title role at certain performances, and five years later she starred as Mahalia Jackson in a different musical about the performer. Truly Blessed: A Musical Celebration of Mahalia Jackson was written and conceived by Marrow, who also wrote the lyrics and music for some of the songs (other songs were written by Reginald Royal, and the musical also included traditional gospel numbers). The show opened at the Longacre Theatre on April 22, 1990, for thirty-three performances.

1986–1987 Season

CANDIDE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 1, 1986; Closing Date: July 6, 1986 Performances: 8 (Note: Four months later, the production reopened on November 11, 1986, and closed on November 16, 1986, for eight more performances.) Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics: Richard Wilbur; additional lyrics by Leonard Bernstein, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on the 1759 novel Candide; or, Optimism by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet). Direction: Harold Prince (Arthur Masella, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Manager); Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Clarke Dunham; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: (Note: For those roles that had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes who played the role on opening night.) John Lankston (Voltaire, Doctor Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, Second Gambler aka Police Chief, Sage), David Eisler/Cris Groenendaal/Robert Tate (Candide), Don Yule (Huntsman, Bulgarian Soldier, Don), Deborah Darr (Paquette), Ruth Golden (Baroness, Calliope Player), Jack Harrold (Baron, Grand Inquistor, Slave Driver, Pasha-Prefect), Erie Mills/Leigh Munro/Claudette Peterson (Cunegonde), Scott Reeve (Maximilian), James Billings (Maximilian’s Servant, Bulgarian Soldier, Don Isaachar, Judge, Father Bernard, First Gambler), William Ledbetter (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Pirate), Andy Roth (Westphalian Soldier, Governor’s Aide, Sailor), Ralph Bassett (Heresy Agent, Don), Gary Dietrich (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Douglas Hamilton (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Muriel Costa-Greenspon/Brooks Almy (Old Lady), Vasilis Iracledes (Don), Scott Evans (Don, Sailor), Richard Smith (Don), John Henry Thomas (Pirate), Ivy Austin (Pink Sheep), Rhoda Butler (Pink Sheep), Robert Brubaker (Lion); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action occurs during the eighteenth century in Westphalia, Lisbon, Cadiz, Buenos Aires, and sundry places throughout the world. The New York City Opera Company’s 1986 revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide was its fourth of seven; for more information about the operetta, see entry for the 1982 production (which also includes a list of musical numbers and a general history of the musical). For information about the 1983, 1984, and 1989 revivals, see specific entries. The work was also revived by the company in 2005 and 2008. John Rockwell in the New York Times noted that Harold Prince’s original staging for the 1973 OffBroadway and 1974 Broadway productions was often “too jokey and cartoonish.” Now, within the confines of the huge New York State Theatre and with a larger orchestra (fifty-two musicians for the current production 287

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as opposed to thirteen in the 1970s), Prince’s fast-paced direction seemed “forced” and the staging became “mannered” with the shtick of actors appearing in the auditorium itself and with crowds of choristers and supernumeraries “cluttering up” every scene. As for Erie Mills’s Cunegonde, here was a “star” performer who was “triumphantly secure.” He praised her “bright, brilliant soprano” and found her a “confident comedian.” David Eisler’s Candide didn’t possess a “similarly brilliant tenor” but nonetheless he had “a soft, ingratiating sound” and his “boyish innocence” was “perfect.” In the same newspaper, Bernard Holland reviewed an alternate cast. In the title role, Cris Groenendaal was “amiable” and “smooth,” and Leigh Munro gave Cunegonde “a chirping, slightly brassy Jean Harlowish tinge.” The production itself was “a nice, fast-moving, chrome-plated entertainment machine.” Tim Page reviewed a third cast for the newspaper, and reported that Robert Tate’s Candide was “sweet-voiced” and “appropriately guileless”; Claudette Peterson’s Cunegonde gave a “winning performance” even though she was sometimes “shrill” with a pitch that “was not always impeccable”; and Brooks Almy’s Old Lady was a “vivid characterization” that “fit right into the stylized madness” of the production.

KISMET Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 8, 1986; Closing Date: July 13, 1986 Performances: 8 Book: Charles Lederer and Luther Davis Lyrics and Music: Robert Wright and George Forrest (music adapted from themes by Alexander Borodin) Based on the 1911 play Kismet by Edward Knoblock (aka Knoblauch) Direction: Frank Corsaro; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Randolyn Zinn; Scenery and Costumes: Lawrence Miller; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: James Clark (Imam of the Mosque, Bangle Man, Prosecutor), Ashley Janeway (Silk Dancer, Slave Girl), Jean Barber (Silk Dancer, Slave Girl), Terry Lacy (Silk Dancer, Swain), Fritz Masten (Silk Dancer, Swain), Louis Perry (Muezzin, Silk Merchant, Guest), Frank Ream (Muezzin, Silk Merchant), Glenn Rowen (Muezzin), George Wyman (Muezzin), Don Yule (Beggar, Chief of Police), Robert Brubaker (Beggar, Policeman, Spy), Vasilis Iracledes (Dervish), Richard Smith (Dervish), James Billings (Omar), Timothy Nolen (Hajj), Diana Walker (Marsinah), William Ledbetter (Businessman, Pearl Merchant, Informer, Spy), Ralph Bassett (Hassan-Ben, Policeman, Spy), John Lankston (Jawan), Harris Davis (Brave Merchant), Madeleine Mines (Young Woman), Mary Ann Rydzeski (Young Woman, Ayah to Lalume), Mervin Crook (Slave Merchant), Jack Harrold (Wazir of Police), Jeff Davis (Wazir’s Guard), Eric Miller (Wazir’s Guard), Donald R. Richardson (Wazir’s Guard), Elliot Santiago (Wazir’s Guard), Frank Sollito (Wazir’s Guard), Savia Berger (Slave Girl), Rebecca Rosales (Harem Girl), Susanne Marsee (Lalume), Stephanie Godino (Princess of Ababu), Joan Mirabella (Princess of Ababu), Victoria Rinaldi (Princess of Ababu), Cris Groenendaal (The Caliph), Rebecca Russell (Widow Yussef, Ayah to Zubbediya), Esperanza Galan (Princess Zubbediya of Damascus), Candace Itow (Princess Samaris of Bangalore); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Old Baghdad during one day (“from dawn to dusk” and “from dusk to dawn”). The New York City Opera Company had revived Kismet the previous fall, and the current production marked the company’s second and final presentation of the 1953 musical. Allen Hughes in the New York Times said there was “so much color and swirling design per inch” in the “exotic” show that “one would need several pairs of eyes to absorb it all completely.” Timothy Nolen’s Hajj was a “vivid personality” and the singer invested his acting and “vibrant” singing “with sly wit,” and Cris Groenendaal’s Caliph had a “strong, clear tenor” with “a slight show-biz tinge” which was “a delight for the ear.” Hughes noted that Diane Walker’s Marsinah seemed uncomfortable in the lower middle range of her soprano, but did better when higher singing was required. During the run, Tim Page in the same newspaper reviewed the alternate cast. Theodore Baerg was a “charming and slippery” Hajj; Mark Thomsen was a “handsome” but “rather subdued” Caliph; and Jean Glennon’s “often winning” Marsinah had a “sweet, smallish” voice which was “amplified to Wagnerian pro-

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portions.” As for Janis Eckhart’s Lalume, her stage personality was a cross “between Bette Midler and Mae West.” For more information about the musical and City Opera’s first production, see entry for the 1985 revival, which also includes a list of musical numbers.

DIE FLEDERMAUS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 18, 1986; Closing Date: November 8, 1986 Performances: 9 (in repertory) Libretto: Carl Haffner and Richard Genee (English adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin) Music: Johann Strauss Based on the play Le reveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. Direction: Gerald Freedman (Christian Smith, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Manager); Choreography: Thomas Andrew; Scenery: Lloyd Evans; Costumes: Thierry Bosquet; Lighting: Hans Sondheimer; Musical Direction: Imre Pallo Cast: Michael Cousins (Alfred), Claudette Peterson (Adele), Leigh Munro (Rosalinda von Eisenstein), Theodore Baerg (Gabriel von Eisenstein), Jerold Siena (Doctor Blind), William Parcher (Doctor Falke), Richard McKee (Frank), Alison Bevan (Sally), Larry Becker (Ivan), James Billings (Prince Orlofsky), Patricia McBride (Guest Artist), Esperanza Galan (Solo Dancer), Jack Harrold (Frosh); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in a summer resort near Vienna during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The New York City Opera Company’s current production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) was the company’s fourth of five revivals of the operetta during the decade (for more information about the operetta, see entry for the February 1980 production; also see entries for the September 1980, 1981, and 1987 revivals). The work was also heard in German by the Vienna Volksoper in 1984 (see entry). Will Crutchfield in the New York Times complained that the production lacked comic know-how, and as a result “the plot perambulated idly by while the cast occupied itself with a halfhearted overlay of broad jokes” (including the addition of a Steve Martin impersonation). In the same newspaper, Tim Page suggested that with supertitles it was no longer necessary to perform non-English operas in English because such a translation “distorts the composer’s original phonic conception of the vocal line.”

HONKY TONK NIGHTS “A New Musical Comedy”

Theatre: Biltmore Theatre Opening Date: August 7, 1986; Closing Date: August 9, 1986 Performances: 4 Book and Lyrics: Ralph Allen and David Campbell Music: Michael Valenti Direction and Choreography: Ernest O. Flatt (Toni Kaye, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Edward H. Davis and Allen M. Shore in association with Marty Feinberg and Schellie Archbold; Scenery: Robert Cothran; Costumes: Mardi Philips; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: George Broderick Cast: Joe Morton (Barney Walker), Ira Hawkins (Billy Sampson), Danny Strayhorn (Armistead Sampson), Teresa Burrell (Lily Meadows), Reginald Veljohnson (George Gooseberry), Yolanda Graves (Ruby Bush), Kyme (Ivy Vine), Susan Beaubian (Countess Aida), Robin Kersey (Kitty Stark), M. Demby Cain (Montgomery Boyd), Keith Rozie (Winston Grey), Lloyd Culbreath (Sparks Roberts), Charles Bernard Murray (Patron); The Sampson Philharmonia: George Broderick, Kaman Adilifu, Robert Keller, Gregory Maker, Andrew Stein, John Gale, David Krane, James Sedlar, Quinten White The musical was presented in two acts.

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The action for the first act takes place in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen during Winter 1912, and the second act in Harlem during Summer 1922.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Overture” or “The Honky Tonk Nights Rag” or “Professor Walker and His Solo Symphony” (The Sampson Philharmonia); “Honky Tonk Nights” (Ira Hawkins, Company); “Hot and Bothered” (Teresa Burrell), “Roll with the Punches” (Joe Morton, Danny Strayhorn, Susan Beaubian, Kyme, Robin Kersey, Yolanda Graves); “Lily of the Alley” (Ira Hawkins, Keith Rozie, M. Demby Cain, Lloyd Culbreath, Joe Morton, Teresa Burrell); “Choosing a Husband’s a Delicate Thing” (Danny Strayhorn, Joe Morton, Reginald Veljohnson); “Little Dark Bird” (Teresa Burrell); “Withered Irish Rose” (Joe Morton, Danny Strayhorn, Reginald Veljohnson, M. Demby Cain, Teresa Burrell); “Tapaholics” (Lloyd Culbreath, Kyme, M. Demby Cain); “Eggs” (Joe Morton, Teresa Burrell); “A Ticket to the Promised Land” (The Sampson Company) Act Two: Overture: “The Promised Land” (The Pyromaniacs); “Stomp the Blues Away” (The Sampson Company); “I’ve Had It” (Joe Morton, Teresa Burrell); “The Sampson Beauties” (Kyme, Robin Kersey, Yolanda Graves); “The Reform Song” (Joe Morton, Reginald Veljohnson, Danny Strayhorn); “I Took My Time” (Teresa Burrell); “The Brothers Vendetto” (Joe Morton, Reginald Veljohnson, Danny Strayhorn); “A Man of Many Parts” (Joe Morton); Finale (The Sampson Company) The loosely-structured revue-like book musical Honky Tonk Nights (its full title was Honky Tonk Nights, or How Billy Sampson and Company Left Hell’s Kitchen for the Promised Land and What They Found There) looked at vaudeville from the perspective of two black performers from early in the twentieth century, Barney Walker (Joe Morton, playing a character modeled after Bert Williams) and Lily Meadows (Teresa Burrell). Ralph Allen was the book’s cowriter and the songs’ co-lyricist, and his intention was to provide a nostalgic look at the early years of black vaudeville in much the same way as his Sugar Babies (1979) had saluted the era of white vaudeville and burlesque. Unfortunately, this time around the material wasn’t strong enough to sustain the evening and the burden of the flimsy plot got in the way. The production might have been successful had the book scenes and characters been excised in favor of presentational black songs and skits from the early years of the century, and it appears the musical underwent last-minute rewrites in an attempt to streamline the weak story line. But it was too little, too late, and as a result Honky Tonk Nights and Rags tied at four performances apiece as the season’s shortest-running musicals. The first act took place during 1912 in New York City’s Tenderloin at Sampson’s Music Hall where Walker and Lily are performers and where black vaudevillians don “Irish face” for the number “Withered Irish Rose” (and for the second act’s “The Vendetto Brothers,” there was a touch of “Italian face”). Despite steady work on the vaudeville circuit of the ragtime years, Walker hopes to reach the promised land, that is, the Promised Land Saloon in Harlem, and ten years later he makes it. And national stardom seems assured when he’s signed to star in the Ziegfeld Follies, but his happiness is tempered when he realizes he’s expected to don blackface as part of his routines. It’s unclear how Walker’s ambitious eleven o’clock number “A Man of Many Parts” was performed on Broadway, but for a backers’ audition of Honky Tonk Nights the rousing song was described as a solo in which the character (with the help of pull-away costumes) was to undergo nine costume changes as he muses over his career choices (or lack thereof). His father shines shoes for a profession, something Walker never even considered. As the song progresses, off goes one costume and he’s suddenly transformed into a jockey, and his other changes reflect other careers. But when he reaches headliner status in the Follies, he ironically notes that he’s not all that removed from his father, because for his numbers he too slaps on black polish, in this case for his black-face routines. Other songs in the show were equally impressive: the catchy title song; “Withered Irish Rose,” a comedy number (which for Broadway was performed in “Irish face”); the beautiful ballad “I Took My Time”; and “I’ve Had It,” a blues with a clever lyric. The workshop also included “Vampin’ Jane” (best-guess title), which was reminiscent of “Flaming Agnes” (I Do! I Do!, 1966). Mel Gussow in the New York Times said the “pallid” musical offered a “bare” plot and “bland” songs, and sometimes resorted to audience-participation sequences for a Bingo game and a clothing auction (the latter in order for the characters to make a down-payment on a Harlem saloon). Gussow and three other critics

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singled out Burrell’s haunting torch song “I Took My Time,” a sweeping number with a long melodic line, and Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said it was a “splendid” song. But otherwise he felt the material was “not terribly interesting” and he noted that no effort had been made to give the book and sketches “any edge” and thus they came across as “silly.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the ”well-intentioned” musical was “modest” and “terminally depressed,” and it lacked the star presence of a Mickey Rooney, who had of course contributed so much to the success of Sugar Babies. Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News stated the “flashy and insubstantial” show was “a mostly empty entertainment” and an “unconvincing hodgepodge.” Despite some “peppy” dance numbers, the show always seemed to be “standing still.” But Ernest O. Flatt’s direction was “sharp,” the pit music was “lively,” and the “pretty” ballad “I Took My Time” was “beautifully sung” by Burrell. Linda Winer in USA Today felt the evening was “mild,” “pretty,” and “unexceptionable.” But there were two “wicked” numbers (the Irish and Italian sequences), and one tap sequence (“Tapaholics”) was “dazzling.” Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said there was much “pointless business” in the plot, and he assumed a good deal of the book had “been whittled away during rewrites.” But Burrell was “especially effective” with her “sweet” ballad “I Took My Time.” Otherwise, Morton’s blackface scene lacked the drama of a similar moment in the Off-Broadway musical Williams & Walker, which had opened earlier in the year. Because Morton’s character was “barely established,” the scene had “no impact,” but in the earlier musical the sequence was “heartbreaking.” During previews, “A Lush Ballad” was cut. The collection Unsung Musicals II (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5564) includes “Stomp the Blues Away” and “I Took My Time.”

ME AND MY GIRL Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: August 10, 1986; Closing Date: December 31, 1989 Performances: 1,420 Book: L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber (book revisions by Stephen Fry; contributions to revisions by Mike Ockrent) Lyrics: L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber Music: Noel Gay Direction: Mike Ockrent; Producers: Richard Armitage, Terry Allen Kramer, James M. Nederlander, and Stage Promotions Limited & Co.; Choreography: Gillian Gregory; Scenery: Martin Johns; Costumes: Ann Curtis; Lighting: Chris Ellis and Roger Morgan; Musical Direction: Stanley Lebowsky Cast: Jane Summerhays (Lady Jacqueline Carstone), Nick Ullett (The Honorable Gerald Bolingbroke), Eric Hutson (Lord Battersby), Justine Johnston (Lady Battersby), Timothy Jerome (Herbert Parchester), Leo Leyden (Sir Jasper Tring), Jane Connell (Maria [The Duchess of Dene]), George S. Irving (Sir John Tremayne), Thomas Toner (Charles Heathersett), Robert Lindsay (Bill Snibson), Maryann Plunkett (Sally Smith), John Spalla (Pub Pianist), Gloria Hodes (Mrs. Worthington-Worthington), Elizabeth Larner (Lady Diss, Mrs. Brown), Susan Cella (Lady Brighten), Kenneth H. Waller (Bob Barking), Bill Brassea (Telegraph Boy), Eric Johnson (Constable); Ensemble: Cleve Asbury, Bill Brassea, Jonathan Brody, Frankie Cassady, Susan Cella, Sheri Cowart, Bob Freschi, Ann-Marie Gerard, Larry Hansen, Ida Henry, Randy Hills, Gloria Hodes, K. Craig Innes, Eric Johnson, Michael Hayward-Jones, Barry McNabb, Donna Monroe, Barbara Moroz, Cindy Oakes, William Ryall, John Spalla, Cynthia Thole, Mike Turner, Kenneth H. Waller The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the late 1930s in and around Hareford Hall, Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth.

Musical Numbers Act One: “A Weekend at Hareford” (Ensemble); “Thinking of No-One but Me” (Jane Summerhays, Nick Ullett); “The Family Solicitor” (Timothy Jerome, The Family); “Me and My Girl” (Robert Lindsay, Maryann Plunkett); “An English Gentleman” (Thomas Toner, Staff); “You Would If You Could” (Jane Summerhays,

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Robert Lindsay); “Hold My Hand” (Robert Lindsay, Maryann Plunkett, Dancers); “Once You Lose Your Heart” (Maryann Plunkett); “Preparation Fugue” (Company); “The Lambeth Walk” (Robert Lindsay, Maryann Plunkett, Company) Act Two: “The Sun Has Got His Hat On” (Nick Ullett, Jane Summerhays, Ensemble); “Take It on the Chin” (Maryann Plunkett); “Once You Lose Your Heart” (reprise) (Maryann Plunkett); “Song of Hareford” (Jane Connell, Robert Lindsay, Ensemble); “Love Makes the World Go Round” (Robert Lindsay, George S. Irving); “Leaning on a Lamp Post” (Robert Lindsay, Ensemble); Finale (Company) The so-called British invasion of Broadway continued during the 1986–1987 season with Me and My Girl, Les Miserables, and Starlight Express. All three enjoyed long runs in New York, and the first two were popular and financial hits. And Me and My Girl was certainly the most entertaining of them all, with its unpretentious old-fashioned story and its star turn by Robert Lindsay, who here reprised his London role. Set in the England of the 1930s, the Cinderella story by way of Pygmalion was a carefree lark about Cockney Bill Snibson (Lindsay), who discovers he’s the long-lost fourteenth Earl of Hareford and as the sole heir will inherit a vast fortune, the family manor house, and, of course, the attendant title. But there’s one stipulation: the will insists that before Bill can inherit he must become a proper English gentleman, and so his aunt The Duchess (Jane Connell) takes on the task of ensuring that he’ll pass the test. And she also hopes he’ll marry a suitable society girl rather than his Cockney girlfriend Sally (Maryann Plunkett). And along for the ride are his encouraging uncle Sir John (George S. Irving), the family solicitor Herbert Parchester (Timothy Jerome), the proper butler Heathersett (Thomas Toner), and royal vamp and gold digger Lady Jacqueline (Jane Summerhays), who sets her sights on Bill and wrongly assumes he’ll be putty in her hands. The score included songs heard in the original 1937 London production as well as interpolations from other musicals by Noel Gay. The big number was of course the irresistible “The Lambeth Walk,” which wore out the cast and the audience with its joyous staging, and other show-stoppers were “Leaning on a Lampost” and the title song. The interpolations were “Hold My Hand” (from the 1931 London musical of the same title; lyric by Desmond Carter); “Love Makes the World Go Round” (the 1938 London revue These Foolish Things; lyricist unknown); and “Leaning on a Lamp Post” (1937 film Feather Your Nest; lyric by Gay). One of the evening’s many comic peaks was a limb-entwining drawing-room confrontation between Bill and Lady Jacqueline in which a heretofore placid sofa became a battlefield. This was one of the great farcical sequences in musical theatre and one which Lindsay proved himself a master clown in the tradition of Bobby Clark, Bert Lahr, and Zero Mostel. His vocal and physical tics defined comic nirvana, and he received some of the best notices of the era. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “extraordinary” performer made “a nonstop charade of intricate vocal and physical details look relaxed” and he compelled the audience “to cherish his every syllable, wink and step.” Further, his performance boasted “more funny walks and quicksilver flashes of mimicry than some whole farces.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “terrific” musical and said he “loved it immoderately and totally, without reservation.” Here was an “imaginative reconstruction” somewhat in the manner of the 1971 Broadway revival of No, No, Nanette, and he enjoyed the “unaffectedly delightful” score, the “corny, yet oddly clever” jokes, the “confidently ingenious, pratfalling” staging, the “insouciance” of the dancing, and of course he was impressed with Lindsay, who was “a master comic craftsman” with “immaculate” timing, “unbounded” confidence, and “unforced” charm. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked the “silly, funny, sweet, and charming” musical and said the “nostalgic fairy tale” enjoyed “a brilliant central performance” by Lindsay “in consummate musicalcomedy style”; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said Lindsay was “a supple performer who projects charm with every tip of his derby hat”; and Allan Wallach in New York Newsday noted that Lindsay “waggles his derby” at the gentry, “salts his Cockney rhyming slang with double-entendres,” undertakes a “mocking ape walk,” tap dances “on a table as long as a runway,” and, if all that weren’t enough, he became tangled in an ermine cape and undertook pratfalls “like a music-hall veteran.” William A. Henry III in Time liked the “jubilant romp” with its quirky humor, including a staid suit of armor which suddenly walks offstage, and portraits of ancestors which come to life and go into a tap-dance routine. He noted that Lindsay brought “vitality” to otherwise “shopworn” routines, and his performance “practically shouts, ‘Look at me!’ and thoroughly rewards the attention.” Laura Shapiro in Newsweek said the “brilliant” Lindsay was “a comic master not only of slapstick but of the debonair tradition as well,” and she noted “The Lambeth Walk” was a “glorious spectacle” in which the Cockney Lambeth crowd and the

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aristocrats are found “prancing and kicking and singing in hilarious fellowship” as they “sashay gleefully down the theatre aisles.” Linda Winer in USA Today felt the musical “would be more amusing if everyone didn’t push quite so much,” but it was nonetheless a “fancy diversion” which was “stylishly staged.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News suggested that without the “slight, attractive, airborne and astonishingly versatile” Lindsay, the show was “worthless” And despite the large cast, the critic nonetheless viewed the evening “as a one-man show.” Lindsay was “immense” and “remarkable” and he kept the musical “aloft most of the time with the awesome finesse of a master juggler.” When Lindsay left the Broadway production, he was followed by Jim Dale. Rich noted that succeeding “the human firecracker” and “red-hot comet” Lindsay was “a task roughly as enviable” as following Fiorello H. LaGuardia into City Hall, but Dale was “almost always equal to the role’s demands.” Rich also noted that the musical’s “landscape” was now “more tranquil” because “the tornado has come and gone.” Although Me and My Girl premiered in London on December 16, 1937, the current presentation marked its first Broadway production (and hence it was Tony Award-eligible for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score). The original West End production opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre for 1,646 performances and was produced, directed, and performed by Lupino Lane (father of actress Ida Lupino), who starred in the 1939 film version (distributed by MGM and released as The Lambeth Walk). The film, which was assumed lost, has resurfaced, and one hopes a DVD will eventually be released. Further, the May 1, 1939, performance of the original production was the first of three live broadcasts of the musical presented by BBC television over a seventeen-year period (a second was shown later in 1939, and a third was telecast in 1956). Among the songs in the original London version which weren’t heard in the revival are: “A Bright Little Girl Like Me,” “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” and “Don’t Be Silly, Sally.” The musical was revived in London in 1941, 1945, 1949, and 1985, and it was the latter revised revival which led to the New York production. The 1985 version opened at the Adelphi Theatre on February 12, 1985, for 3,303 performances and starred Lindsay as well as Emma Thompson. This revival included the song “If Only You Had Cared for Me,” which wasn’t heard in the New York production. The cast album of the 1985 West End revival was released by Manhattan Records (LP # PV-53030; CD # CDP-746393), and the cast recording of the Broadway production was issued by MCA Records (LP # MCA6196) and later on CD by That’s Entertainment Records (# TER-1145). Other recordings of the score are the 1987 Mexico City cast album (Yo y mi chica) (LP; the album didn’t provide the name of the record company and the label number) and the 1988 Hungarian cast (Qualiton LP # SLPM-16775). A 1995 production by Japan’s Takarazuka Moon Troupe was released on CD, and later a two-DVD set (# TCAD-213) was issued. Four songs by the original 1937 cast were recorded: “The Lambeth Walk,” “The Family Solicitor,” “Take It on the Chin,” and the title song. The original 1937 script was revised in the late 1940s and was published in paperback by Samuel French (London) in 1954. The script includes the songs “Keep Away from the Town If You Can” and “This Is the Night of the Year.” Me and My Girl was for all purposes the inaugural production of the Marquis Theatre (a month before the musical’s premiere, Shirley Bassey performed in concert for one week), and some thirty years and thirty productions later it holds the record as the theatre’s longest-running tenant. But the theatre didn’t receive the raves enjoyed by the musical. Beaufort said the auditorium itself was “well-appointed” but had to be reached “by an obstacle course of corridors, escalators and lobbies,” all of which “scarcely encourages playgoing” (but he admitted that Me and My Girl “more than repays the effort of getting to the auditorium”). Barnes said the Marquis was a “sad-sack replacement” for the theatres that used to be located on the site (the Morosco, the Helen Hayes, and the “not particularly lamented” Bijou), and said to reach the “clinically institutional” theatre one had to “pass though the bowels of what is conceivably the world’s ugliest hotel.”

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Me and My Girl); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Robert Lindsay); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Maryann Plunkett); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (George S. Irving); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Timothy Jerome); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Jane Connell); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Jane Summerhays); Best Director of a Musical (Mike

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Ockrent); Best Book (L. Arthur Rose, Douglas Furber, Stephen Fry, and Mike Ockrent); Best Score (lyrics by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber, music by Noel Gay); Best Scenic Designer (Martin Johns); Best Costume Designer (Ann Curtis); Best Choreographer (Gillian Gregory)

RAGS

“The New American Musical” Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: August 21, 1986; Closing Date: August 23, 1986 Performances: 4 Book: Joseph Stein Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz Music: Charles Strouse Direction: Gene Saks; Producers: Lee Guber, Martin Heinfling, and Marvin A. Krauss (Madeline Lee Gilford, Associate Producer); Choreography: Ron Field; Scenery: Beni Montresor; Costumes: Florence Klotz; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Andy Gale (Homesick Immigrant, Recruiter, Thug, Italian Tenor), Teresa Stratas (Rebecca Hershkowitz), Josh Blake (David Hershkowitz), John Aller (Guard, Mr. Rosen, Herschel Cohen), Peter Samuel (Guard, Cigar Boss, Hamlet, Thug), Michael Cone (American, Rosencrantz, Irish Tenor on Recording, Ragman, Frankie), Michael Davis (American, Mike), Judy Kuhn (Bella Cohen), Dick Latessa (Avram Cohen), Lonny Price (Ben), Stan Rubin (Recruiter, Newspaper Editor, Mr. Bronstein, A Passerby), Evalyn Baron (Anna Cohen), Mordecai Lawner (Jack Cohen), Irma Rogers (Nathan’s Landlady, Gertrude, Violinist’s Mother), Bonnie Schon (Millie, Morris’s Mother, Mrs. Sullivan), Joanna Glushak (Social Worker, An Avid Shopper, Ophelia, Italian Tenor’s Mother); Klezmorim: Teddy Bragin (Tuba), Sean Mahony (Trombone), Bruce Engel (Trumpet), Harold Seletsky (Clarinet), and Marshall Coid (Violin); Marcia Lewis (Rachel Halpern), Audrey Lavine (Rosa, Irish Girl’s Mother), Joan Finkelstein (Esther), Gabriel Barre (Sam, Laertes, Man on Stilts), Terrence Mann (Saul); Wealthy New Yorkers: Bill Hastings, John Aller, Michael Davis, Joan Finkelstein, Joanna Glushak, Wendy Kimball, Robert Radford, Peter Samuel, and Catherine Ulissey; Rex Everhart (“Big Tim” Sullivan), Larry Kert (Nathan Hershkowitz), Devon Michaels (Morris), Wendy Kimball (Irish Girl) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1910.

Musical Numbers Act One: “I Remember” (Andy Gale); “Greenhorns” (Americans, New Immigrants); “Brand New World” (Teresa Stratas, Josh Blake); “Children of the Wind” (Teresa Stratas, Dick Latessa, Josh Blake); “Penny a Tune” (Teresa Stratas, Klezmorim, Peddlers, Workers); “Easy for You” (Terrence Mann, Teresa Stratas, Josh Blake); “Hard to Be a Prince” (Peter Samuel, Joanna Glushak, Irma Rogers, Michael Cone, Gabriel Barre); “Blame It on the Summer Night” (Teresa Stratas, with Clarinetist [Harold Seletsky]); “For My Mary” (Michael Cone, Lonny Price); “Rags” (Judy Kuhn, Dick Latessa); ‘What’s Wrong with That?” (Michael Cone, Michael Davis, Rex Everhart, Larry Kert); “On the Fourth Day of July” (Picnickers, Band); “In America” (Teresa Stratas, Larry Kert) Act Two: “Yankee Boy” (Larry Kert, Neighbors); “Uptown” (Larry Kert, Teresa Stratas); “Wanting” (Teresa Stratas, Terrence Mann); “Three Sunny Rooms” (Marcia Lewis, Dick Latessa); “The Sound of Love” (Lonny Price, Josh Blake, Shoppers); “For My Mary” (reprise) (Judy Kuhn, Lonny Price); “Democratic Club Dance” (Teresa Stratas, Rex Everhart, Larry Kert, Michael Davis, Bonnie Schon, Democrats, Band); “Prayer” (Dick Latessa, Teresa Stratas, Men); “Bread and Freedom” (Audrey Lavine, Teresa Stratas, Joan Finkelstein, Gabriel Barre); “Dancing with the Fools” (Teresa Stratas, Terrence Mann, Strikers); Finale (Teresa Stratas, Josh Blake, Americans, New Immigrants)

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In the final poignant moments of Joseph Stein’s book for Fiddler on the Roof, the persecuted Jewish villagers of Anatevka are forced to leave their homeland to seek protection from religious persecution by the ongoing pogroms. Stein’s book for Rags was a sequel of sorts in its depiction of Jewish immigrants in the New York City of 1910 who search for a better life. But his book was too plot-heavy in its attempt to cover every facet of the immigrant experience and it turned somewhat negative and sour in its view of the American Dream. As a result, the production closed after four performances, and the New York Times reported it lost $5.25 million. Along with Honky Tonk Nights, which also looked at the lives of minorities in New York at the beginning of the twentieth century, Rags was the shortest-running musical of the season. The story centered on newly arrived immigrant Rebecca (opera star Teresa Stratas in her first and only Broadway musical), who searches throughout the city for her husband Nathan (Larry Kert) who arrived in New York some time before. Despite the formidable obstacles she encounters, Rebecca tries to adapt to life in her newly adopted country, but in Stein’s book she soon becomes representative of every immigrant who ever passed through Ellis Island. Further, she sees nothing but corruption and tragedy, and the musical’s political prism supported the highly questionable thesis that immigrants were short-changed by coming to America. As a result, the evening was (according to Linda Winer in USA Today) an “ultimately undramatic” and “gigantic patchwork” that was “clichéd” and “long” and “ludicrously inflated with crises.” Rebecca is forced to live in a tenement, must work in a sweatshop, and of course there’s always prejudice, corrupt politicians, and street thugs to contend with during those times when she’s not meeting pushcar peddlers in the street markets or attending a dance at the local Democratic Club. But within the context of the musical’s narrow political views, Rebecca is at least spared the horror of encountering a Republican. Rebecca’s best friend Bella (Judy Kuhn) dies in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and there was some business about strikes, Union Square protests, and the beginnings of Yiddish theatre (including a lampoon of Hamlet). There was also a salute to middle-aged romance (“Three Sunny Rooms”) for two older characters who seem to have dropped in from Fiddler on the Roof by way of Cabaret. But at least Rebecca doesn’t lose Nathan to another woman: instead, his mistress is Tammany Hall, where he finds his niche as a cynical if pragmatic politician. However, the ending offered the kind of liberal fantasy that only an Emma Goldman or a John Reed could love: Rebecca finds romance with a Socialist union organizer! And she becomes an enlightened feminist. (Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the musical merged Fiddler on the Roof with Warren Beatty’s 1981 film Reds and then stuck them together with Pins and Needles.) In many respects, Rags resembled E. L. Doctorow’s wildly over-praised 1975 novel Ragtime, which became the basis for the appalling 1998 musical adaptation, even down to the supposedly inspirational finale where the leading characters face the future with their delicately wrought bleeding-heart values smugly intact. Charles Strouse’s music and Steven Schwartz’s lyrics were ambitious but generally unsatisfying. Songs such as “Yankee Boy” and “Three Sunny Rooms” were reminiscent of numbers from earlier musicals, and while some made a case for the title song, it was in fact overwrought and preachy. However, Rebecca’s lush and haunting “Blame It on the Summer Night” was one of the finest Broadway musical moments of the decade, and her “Children of the Wind” was also impressive. The headline of Douglas Watt’s review in the New York Daily News said “These New Rags Don’t Wear Well.” He found the evening “disappointing” and suggested Stein was more at home in Anatevka than on the Lower East Side. Further, Strouse’s “workmanlike” score and Schwartz’s “well-turned” lyrics seemed “constrained” by the work’s “heavy approach,” and their and Stein’s contributions were “so deadly serious” it appeared the creators hadn’t “derived any enjoyment” from writing the show. Jack Kroll in Newsweek said the musical was “inert” and “joyless,” and noted that its serious moments appeared “from out of left field” and its lighter ones were “more a tissue of Broadway clichés.” The early years of immigrant life were “complex,” but were here reduced “to a bundle of rags.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal complained that the plot “covered too much ground,” and with “so many twists and turns it became unconvincing” and the characters were no more than “cut-out figures.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said Rags was a “cynical, mean-spirited” musical that scoffed at the idea of America as the land of “hope” for immigrants. The “ragged” evening’s “basic premise” was “painfully wrong” and had the real immigrant experience been as “joyless and mean” as the one depicted on the Mark Hellinger’s stage no immigrants would ever have come and the Statue of Liberty “would have been facing the other way.”

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Winer noted that Strouse had composed “an unusually complex blend of ethnic and Broadway inspiration,” but otherwise the musical was a “jumble” that was more in the nature of an “immigrant Classic Comic” than a “Broadway classic.” But John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor felt that despite its short run the musical was “a major event of the season” and he praised the “ambitiously expansive entertainment.” Barnes said the book’s “faded patchwork-quilt nature” brought a “manufactured air” to the proceedings and thus the work was “forever teetering on the edge of banality and pretentiousness.” But nonetheless there was a “grand and epic quality” to the musical and the “superb” cast “thrillingly” made the show a “hard-won triumph.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily felt there were “so many events” in the story that few were “treated in any depth.” Although he found the production “fragmented,” he couldn’t help but “surrender” to the feelings tapped by the story. Further, Strouse’s score was “richer” and “more pungent than anything” he had composed since Golden Boy (1964). Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said the musical’s ambitions were “commendable” but the evening unfortunately became “something of a musical history lesson.” Further, the immigrant experience had been well delineated in such films as Hester Street (1975) and the New York revues Tintypes (Off Broadway and Broadway, 1980) and The Golden Land (Off Off Broadway, 1984; Off Broadway, 1985). But many songs had “lilting” melodies and when Strouse and Schwartz “aspire to operatic passion they come close to realizing their ambitions.” Frank Rich said the book covered so much territory it was impossible for the “archetypal” characters to “pull their thematic weight,” and although the work looked at “melting-pot” America the evening’s “multitudinous ingredients” resulted in a “stewpot.” But the “soaring” music offered “fragrant” songs like “Blame It on the Summer Night,” and with the score Strouse had “really stretched himself.” Stratas received mostly glowing notices. Barnes said the show “belongs to La Stratas” and that from “her unobtrusively star-strewn entry to her final, Callas-style curtain calls, the woman commands the night”; Wallach noted she gave the musical its “underpinning of passion” and her voice and acting provided “the dimension missing in the writing”; Beaufort stated that she “fulfilled in every respect the demands of her vocally and histrionically demanding role”; Winer found her “brilliant” and a “marvel” and with “a voice like nobody else”; Rich said she was an “unexpected and highly welcome immigrant to the popular stage”; and Wilson said she “unleashed a voice of richness and depth rarely heard on the musical stage.” Kissel praised her “shimmering” voice and found her “too big for the material”; but he quickly noted “this is hardly reason for complaint” because “size is something we used to take for granted on Broadway. Too much of it is not a bad thing.” Although Watt said her voice was “splendid,” he felt she struck “an uneasy balance between operatic and show music” and suggested she was “not very well suited” to her role and “never appears comfortable in it.” During rehearsals, Joan Micklin Silver, who had helmed Hester Street, was the director, but when she left the production there was no director of credit for most if not all of the Boston tryout (ultimately, Gene Saks joined the production in that capacity). Kenneth Rinker was the choreographer during the tryout, and was succeeded by Ron Field, and Beni Montresor designed the sets and lighting (but by New York Jules Fisher was credited for the latter). The songs “Nothing Will Hurt Us Again” and “The Cherry Street Café” were dropped. The music for “Brand New World” was adapted from the song “Just You and Me” from Strouse’s 1972 London musical I and Albert. A recording of Rags was released by Sony Masterworks (CD # SK-42657) and includes most of the original Broadway cast members (with the notable exception of Stratas, whose role was sung by Julia Migenes). “Blame It on the Summer Night” is included in the collections The Musicality of Strouse (Jay Records CD # CDJAZ-9014), Charles Strouse, Arthur Schwartz, Stephen Schwartz (Kritzerland Records two-CD set # KR20010-6), and The Stephen Schwartz Album (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-6045). As Rags: Children of the Wind, a revised version of the musical was revived Off Off Broadway on December 2, 1991, by the American Jewish Theatre for fifty-nine performances; the cast included Ann Crumb (Rebecca) and Crista Moore (Bella). Added to the production were “If We Never Meet Again” and “The Cherry Street Café” (which had been cut during the original’s tryout), and “Hamlet” was probably a new title for “Hard to Be a Prince.” Songs from the Broadway version which were deleted for the revival were: “I Remember,” “On the Fourth Day of July,” “In America,” “Democratic Club Dance,” “Prayer,” and “Bread and Freedom.”

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Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Rags); Best Actress (Teresa Stratas); Best Book (Joseph Stein); Best Score (lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, music by Charles Strouse); Best Choreographer (Ron Field)

THE NEW MOON Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: August 26, 1986; Closing Date: September 7, 1986 Performances: 16 Book: Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab; new book adaptation by Robert Johanson Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II; some lyrics revised by Robert Johanson Music: Sigmund Romberg Direction and Choreography: Robert Johanson; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Andrew Marlay; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Jim Coleman Cast: (Note: For those roles which had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes the opening-night cast member.) Joyce Campana (Julie), Gerald Issac (Alexander), Jack Harrold (M. Beaunoir), Joseph McKee (Captain Duval, Besac), David Rae Smith (Vicomte Ribaud), Allen Riberdy (Fouchette), Richard White/ Davis Gaines (Robert Mission), Michael Brown (Jacques), Leigh Munro/Maryanne Talese (Marianne Beaunoir), Harris Davis (Proprietor), Terry Lacy (Spaniard), Esperanza Galan (Flower Dancer), Michael Cousins/ Mark Thomsen (Philippe Dupres), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Clotilde Lombaste), John Lankston (Admiral de Jean); Servants, Courtiers, Ladies, Sailors, Pirates, Tavern Wenches, Brides, French Soldiers, and Dancers: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1792 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on the Isle of Pines.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual song titles. The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Sigmund Romberg’s operetta The New Moon was its first of two mountings. The original Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on September 19, 1928, for 509 performances. Its chaotic tryout began in December 1927 as Marianne (not to be confused with the 1929 film musical Marianne or with the 1944 stage musical Marianne, which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout). The operetta closed in January 1928, underwent drastic rewriting and recasting, and resumed its tryout the following August. Set in the New Orleans of 1792, the story took place over the period of one year and focused on Frenchman Robert Mission, who has been accused by his home country of killing a member of royalty in a revolutionary fracas. He’s captured by the French, who plan to take him to Europe for trial, and when the New Moon sets sail he discovers that his love Marianne Beaunoir is also aboard. She, Robert, and his followers escape to an island where they establish a colony for all those who seek liberty. Although the program didn’t list song numbers, the reviews mentioned that the revival included the operetta’s evergreens “Stouthearted Men,” “One Kiss,” “Lover, Come Back to Me,” “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” and “Wanting You.” Because director and choreographer Robert Johanson had staged the work for a recent production at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, it’s likely the revival also included such numbers as “The Girl on the Prow,” “Marianne,” “Tavern Song,” “Funny Little Sailor Man,” and “Love Is Quite a Simple Thing” (but the lyrics for some of these were revised because Johanson was credited for additional lyrics). Allen Hughes in the New York Times reported that the production was the most expensive ever mounted by City Opera and the revival proved that the work was a “viable” operetta. However, he suggested that Johanson’s direction needed to “tame down” the overly “frantic goings-on” during the first scene, and he

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noted that while Leigh Munro acted “nicely” and looked “absolutely enchanting” in her “ravishing” gowns, her singing turned “unsteady” and “edgy or shrill.” But the “handsome” and “dashing” Richard White “was much better cast vocally” (although at the beginning of the operetta he “seemed to be pushing his voice unnecessarily”). In the same newspaper, Tim Page decided the score’s “important” music could be relegated to a record album because everything else was “filler and repetition.” As drama, the operetta “creaked” with “cardboard” characters and situations. But City Opera had “done well” by Romberg, and he praised the alternate performers: Maryanne Telese was a “fetching” Marianne who sang with “grace and agility,” and Davis Gaines, whose singing voice was “suave and carefully shepherded,” was more in the style of Errol Flynn than Nelson Eddy. After its original 1928 production, the operetta was first revived in New York on August 18, 1942, for twenty-four performances in a scaled-down concert-styled version at Carnegie Hall; was then performed at City Center on May 17, 1944, for a limited-run of fifty-three showings by the Belmont Operetta Company; and then was presented twice by City Opera, the current production in 1986 and then a second one in 1988 (see entry for the latter mounting). Encores! revived the work in concert on March 27, 2003, for five performances, and the cast album of that production by Ghostlight Records (CD # 4403-2) is the most complete recording of the score. The London premiere took place at the Drury Lane on April 4, 1930, for 147 performances. MGM released two film versions. The 1930 adaptation, which starred Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett, dropped the plot of the stage version and created an entirely new one set in Russia, and the 1940 release with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy was more in keeping with the plot of the original. City Opera’s production was seen on public television’s Great Performances on April 8, 1989, with most of the current cast (including Richard White, Leigh Munro, and Muriel Costa-Greenspon). The script was published in paperback by Chappell & Co. Ltd. (London) in 1935, and the lyrics are included in The Complete Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

ROWAN ATKINSON AT THE ATKINSON “An Evening

of

Comedy”

Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: October 14, 1986; Closing Date: October 18, 1986 Performances: 6 Monologues: Richard Curtis, Rowan Atkinson, and Ben Elton Music: Howard Goodall Direction: Mike Ockrent (Mitchell Erickson, Production Supervisor; Peter Fulbright, Technical Supervisor); Producers: Arthur Cantor in association with Caroline Hirsch, Peter Wilson, and Tony Aljoe; Design: Will Bowen; Lighting: Mark Henderson; Musical Direction: Steven Margoshes Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Angus Deayton The comedy revue was presented in two acts.

Monologues Note: The program didn’t list individual monologues or the names of the satiric topics discussed during the evening; however, the program noted that the “Schoolmaster” monologue was written by Richard Sparks. The appropriate and completely truthful title Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and starred the British stand-up comic Rowan Atkinson, who failed to charm most of the critics and to attract the ticket-buyers. As a result, the comedy revue lasted less than a week. But two months later at the same theatre another one-man comedy show became one of the season’s biggest draws (see Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!”). Atkinson was best known in Britain for his comic performances on the BBC television series “Not the Nine O’Clock News” (and he later enjoyed success in the British television series Mr. Bean and Blackadder). The New York critics seemed compelled to “explain” Atkinson in terms of which celebrities he resembled physically or comically, and so in one way or another he was compared to Dudley Moore (three critics), Jerry

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Lewis, Richard Benjamin, John Cleese, Marcel Marceau, a Doonesbury character, and even an Alexander Calder sculpture. The critics also noted that Atkinson failed to measure up to a number of comedians: Lily Tomlin (two critics), Lenny Bruce (two critics), John Cleese (and the other Monty Pythons), Johnny Carson, Charles Ludlam and Everett Quinton, Hal Holbrook, Victor Borge, and the Forbidden Broadway parodists. Most of the critics were turned off by Atkinson’s obsession with scatological humor. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that as long as the British enjoyed this kind of thing “the melding of American and English cultures is not yet complete.” Rich also felt that the sketches were “stunningly predictable” and thus “redundancy and overkill” set in early and some sequences went on far too long. Rich remarked that Atkinson’s straight man Angus Deayton was “so flat as to be nearly invisible” and that director Mike Ockrent was much better represented by Me and My Girl. Linda Winer in USA Today said Atkinson was “one of those British cultural objects that don’t travel well,” and while a few monologues were entertaining, many were “soft-edged and feeble”; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal felt that some routines were “deft and amusing” but “the lavatory humor that the British never get enough of rarely seems to cross the Atlantic successfully”; and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News decided the evening offered only about “fifteen minutes of material worth savoring” and suggested Atkinson was best enjoyed as a segment on a television talk show. But Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said the “droll” Atkinson showed why he was one of Britain’s “best” comedians. Like most of the critics, Wallach singled out a sketch in which Atkinson portrayed a fully dressed man at the beach who tries to put on a bathing suit without removing his clothes; and another amusing sketch depicted a furious performer who accepts an acting award for his costar, all the while seething because he didn’t win. Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily found Atkinson “funny” and “gifted,” and particularly enjoyed his impersonation of a “supremely smug” singer who announces, “I’d like to sing a song about all I believe in.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post enjoyed the “genuinely zany” comic who was “a master of bad manners, good jokes and the wildest grimaces,” and Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News liked Atkinson’s ribbing of such celebrities as Liberace and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and enjoyed the sketch in which Atkinson’s Devil is “like the suave host of some posh club” when he welcomes newcomers to Hell. Howard Goodall composed the incidental music for the evening. He had earlier written the lyrics and music for the London musical The Hired Man which opened at the Astoria Theatre on October 31, 1984, and played for 164 performances. The cast album and a 1992 concert version were recorded, and the work was produced Off-Broadway in 1988 and 2008.

RAGGEDY ANN “The Musical Adventure”

Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: October 16, 1986; Closing Date: October 19, 1986 Performances: 5 Book: William Gibson Lyrics and Music: Joe Raposo Based on the characters created and illustrated by Johnny Gruelle (the first in his series was the 1918 collection Raggedy Ann Stories). Direction and Choreography: Patricia Birch (Helena Andreyko, Assistant Choreographer); Producers: Joe Silverman Associates Ltd, The Kennedy Center, The Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts, and Donald K. Donald in association with CBS; Scenery: Gerry Hariton and Vicki Baral; Costumes: Carrie Robbins; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Ross Allen Cast: Dick Decareau (Doctor), Joe Barrett (Doctor), Richard Ryder (Doctor), Bob Morrisey (Poppa), Lisa Rieffel (Marcella), Ivy Austin (Raggedy Ann), Scott Schafer (Raggedy Andy), Carolyn Marble (Baby Doll), Michelan Sisti (Panda), Leo Burmester (General D.), Gail Benedict (Bat), Gordon Weiss (Wolf), Joel Aroeste (Camel), Elizabeth Austin (Mommy); Company: Melinda Buckley, Gregory Butler, Anny De Gange, Susann Fletcher, Michaela Hughes, Steve Owsley, Andrea Wright The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on a New York riverfront sometime in the early twentieth century.

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Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Gingham and Yarn” (Company); “Carry On” (Bob Morrisey); “Diagnosis” (Dick Decareau, Joe Barrett, Richard Ryder); “The Light” (Dolls, Lisa Rieffel); “Make Believe” (Ivy Austin, Leo Burmester); “Blue” (Joel Aroeste, Ivy Austin); “Make Believe” (reprise) (Scott Schafer, Lisa Rieffel, Dolls, Company); “Make Believe” (reprise) (Ivy Austin, Lisa Rieffel); “Something in the Air” (Company); “Delighted” (Clouds); “So Beautiful” (Ivy Austin, Lisa Rieffel, Clouds); “A Heavenly Chorus” (Unidentified Performer); “The Shooting Star” (Elizabeth Austin, Bob Morrisey, Rat); “The Wedding” (Company); “Rag Dolly” (Ivy Austin) Act Two: “Gingham and Yarn” (reprise) (Company); “You’ll Love It” (Gail Benedict, Scott Schafer, Batettes); “A Little Music” (Lisa Rieffel, Ivy Austin, Dolls); “Gone” (Dolls, Company); “Why Not” (Elizabeth Austin); “What Did I Lose” (Elizabeth Austin); “Somewhere” (Ivy Austin); “Welcome to L.A.” (Nurses); “Diagnosis” (reprise) (Dick Decareau, Joe Barrett, Richard Ryder); “I Come Riding” (Leo Burmester); “Gingham and Yarn” (reprise) (Company); “Rag Dolly” (Company) Based on the characters created and illustrated by Johnny Gruelle, the musical Raggedy Ann began life as Rag Dolly when it premiered at the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts in Albany, New York, on October 25, 1985, and then in early 1986 enjoyed a successful reception in Moscow as the first entertainment in a new cultural exchange program between the United States and the Soviet Union. As Raggedy Ann, the musical played at the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in September 1986, and then moved to Broadway where it collapsed after five performances. Most of the critical notices were merciless, and the headline of Howard Kissel’s review in the New York Daily News said to “Throw It Back into the Rag Bag.” The book never seemed to decide if it was a fairy tale for children or a cautionary fable for adults. If the former, it was too dark and frightening, and if the latter it was too obvious and simplistic. The story dealt with a dying little girl named Marcella (Lisa Rieffel) who is caught in a tug-of-war between good and evil. Good is personified by her doll Raggedy Ann (Ivy Austin) and evil by General D. (Leo Burmester). Raggedy Ann hopes to instill within Marcella the will to live (her empty advice includes such gems as “Dreams can change things”), but General D. (as in Doom, but he also explains his initial stands for “darkness, decay, dissolution, and death”) hopes Marcella will die and join his army of the dead so that he can marry her. Marcella travels to a doll hospital in hope of a cure, but Allan Wallach in New York Newsday reported this didn’t make much sense because the general runs the hospital. To further complicate matters, Marcella’s mother (Elizabeth Austin) abandoned her family years earlier (in a second act number, the mother asks in song, “What Did I Lose?”) and the girl is raised by her father (Bob Morrisey), who has become an alcoholic. Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Raggedy Ann gets a doll’s-heart transplant which for some reason Marcella eats. But the general takes the doll in place of Marcella and presumably the little girl lives happily ever after. Or something. Most of the critics were stunned, and two pounced on a trio (“Diagnosis”) for three doctors in which they gleefully tell Marcella “You’re sick, sick, sick, and we know you’re gonna die.” What with the heartless docs and the general’s evil designs, Marcella was definitely in need of an advocate to protect her from child abuse. With Rags and now Raggedy Ann, Frank Rich in the New York Times said the theatre scene was “fast becoming the most ragged Broadway musical season in memory.” William Gibson’s book clearly tried for the mood of Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz, but the hodgepodge was “loaded with psychological subtext—sex, death and even a holocaustal mass grave.” The “incomprehensible” and “depressing” evening suggested what might have happened had L. Frank Baum “undergone Jungian analysis.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the show was “determinedly well-intentioned and thoroughly professional” but nonetheless “really rather awful.” The show’s concept was “mawkish,” the book was “unnaturally simple, as if it were a patronizing children’s text,” Joe Raposo’s score was “absolutely painless, tuneful but totally forgettable,” and the special effects were “moderately low-tech.” Kissel found the evening “disjointed and distasteful.” Wallach said the best special effect was a huge bloodshot eye, but admitted “it was a struggle to keep my own bloodshot eyes from closing” (he also recalled that a year earlier the Nederlander Theatre had hosted Wind in the Willows, another “misconceived” children’s musical). And Linda Winer in USA Today found the musical “grim,” “morbid,” and “tacky,” and said the “strange business” was “terrifying about death, demeaning to medicine, and not at all good for the theatre.”

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Although Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal had reservations about the musical (General D.’s wish to marry the little girl was “a bit sick”), he said the evening offered “memorable moments” along with a score of “appealing ragtime tunes,” and Christopher Sharp in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “good, virtuosic music” and said the show “does a delightful job of rendering the genius of a child’s imagination.” During the tryout, the songs “Mexico” and “Never Get Away” were dropped. In 1977, Raposo had contributed songs for another version of the Raggedy Ann stories. The score for the film Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure included two numbers which were recycled for the current musical, “(I’m Just a) Rag Dolly” and “Blue.” The film was distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox, the videocassette was released by Fox Home Entertainment, and the soundtrack was released on LP by Columbia. The film also included the song “No Girl’s Toy,” which as “No One’s Toy” was included in Phyllis Newman’s 1978 one-woman show My Mother Was a Fortune-Teller and its revised 1979 version The Madwoman of Central Park West.

FLAMENCO PURO Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: October 19, 1986; Closing Date: November 30, 1986 Performances: 40 Direction and Décor: Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli; Producers: Mel Howard and Donald K. Donald Cast: Bailores (Dancers)—Manuela Carrasco, Jose Cortes (aka El Biencasao), Antonio Montoya (aka El Farruco), Pilar Montoya (aka La Faraona), Rosario Montoya (aka La Farruquita), Eduardo Serrano (aka El Guito), Angelita Vargas; Canatores (Singers)—Juan Jose Amador, Diego Camacho (aka El Boqueron), Adela Chaqueta, Enrique (aka El Extremeno), Fernanda de Utrera, Juan Fernandez (aka El Moreno), Antonio Nunez (aka El Chocolate); Guitarristas (Guitarists)—Joaquin Amador, Ramon Amador, Agustin Carbonell (aka El Bola), Juan Carmona Carmona (aka El Habichuela), Jose Miguel Carmona (Nino) The dance revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Bulerias” (Entire Company); “Martinete” (Antonio Nunez aka El Chocolate); “Toque” (Pilar Montoya aka La Faraona, Pepe Habichuela [latter not named in cast list]); “Cana” (Dancers: Manuela Carrasco, Pilar Montoya aka La Faraona, Rosario Montoya aka La Farruquita, Angelita Vargas; Singers: Enrique aka El Extremeno, Diego Camacho aka El Boqueron, Juan Fernandez aka El Moreno; Guitarists: Agustin Carbonell aka El Bola, Juan Carmona Carmona aka El Habichuela, Joaquin Amador); Café Cantante— “Alegrias” (Adela Chaqueta); “Romeras” (Jose Cortes aka El Biencasao); “Garrotin” (Angelita Vargas); “Romance” (Manuela Carrasco); “Farruca” (Eduardo Serrano aka El Guito); “Alegrias” (Rosario Montoya aka La Farruquita; Singers: Diego Camacho aka El Boqueron, Enrique aka El Extremeno, Juan Jose Amador, Juan Fernandez aka El Moreno; Guitarists: Joaquin Amador, Ramon Amador, Agustin Carbonell aka El Bola, Jose Miguel Carmona); “Fandangos” (Fernanda de Utrera, Antonio Nunez aka El Chocolate, Juan Carmona Carmona aka El Habichuela, Pepe Habichuela); and “Tarantos” (Entire Company) Act Two: “Tangos” (Dancers: Adela Chaqueta, Rosario Montoya aka La Farruquita, Pilar Montoya aka La Faraona; Singers: Enrique aka El Extremeno, Juan Fernandez aka El Moreno, Juan Jose Amador; Guitarists: Agustin Carbonell aka El Bola, Jose Miguel Carmona); “Tientos” (Angelita Vargas; Guitarists: Pepe Habichuela, Juan Carmona Carmona aka El Habichuela; Singer: Diego Camacho aka El Boqueron); “Soleares” (Dancer: Fernanda de Utrera; Guitarist: Pepe Habichuela; Dancer: Eduardo Serrano aka El Guito; Guitarists: Agustin Carbonell aka El Bola, Juan Carmona Carmona aka El Habichuela; Singers: Enrique aka El Extremeno, Juan Jose Amador; Dancer: Manuela Carrasco; Guitarists: Joaquin Amador, Ramon Amador); “Seguiriya” (Antonio Montoya aka El Farruco, Antonio Nunez aka El Chocolate; Guitarists: Pepe Habichuela, Ramon Amador; Singer: Juan Fernandez aka El Moreno); “Bulerias” (Entire Company)

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Flamenco puro premiered in Seville in 1980, in 1984 a revised version opened in Paris at the Festival d’Automne, and prior to the Broadway production the work was presented at the Gusman Center in Miami, Florida. Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli’s Tango Argentino had been popular in New York and on the road, and now their Flamenco puro introduced authentic flamenco dancing to Broadway for a limited engagement of five weeks. The Spanish performers were twenty in number: seven dancers (bailores), seven singers (canatores), and six guitarists (guitarristas). Anna Kisselgoff in the New York Times praised the “simply sensational show” with its “100 percent terrific” Spanish gypsy artists. She noted that the performers were less a company than a group of “distinct” personalities who offered a “striking number of individual styles” of flamenco, and, true to the “tenets” of gypsy flamenco dancing, “there is not a castanet to be seen or heard.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the production “stepped beyond the frontiers of showbiz and cabaret” and instead showed the world of flamenco “as it really is, in the cafés, caves, and dusty side streets of Seville.” For the uninitiated, seeing Flamenco puro was “like going to a bull-fight for the first time. You may think you know what it is going to be like, but you don’t.” Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily said the evening was “a powerful introduction to a haunting art”; Joseph H. Mazo hailed the work as “magnificent, moving theatre”; and Gerald Clarke in Time noted the evening “astonished as much as it entertained.” Marcia B. Siegel in the Christian Science Monitor remarked that the show didn’t offer “recognizably fixed choreography.” The dancers knew the basic steps and techniques, but they experimented and stretched the rules, and their improvisations resulted from “spontaneous interaction with the song and the audience of the moment.”

INTO THE LIGHT Theatre: Neil Simon Theatre Opening Date: October 22, 1986; Closing Date: October 26, 1986 Performances: 6 Book: Jeff Tambornino Lyrics: John Forster Music: Lee Holdridge Direction: Michael Maurer; Producers: Joseph Z. Nederlander, Richard Kughn, and Jerrold Perenchio; Choreography: Mary Jane Houdina; Scenery and Projections: Neil Peter Jampolis and Hervig Libowitzky; Laser Design: Marilyn Lowey; Special Laser Effects: Laser Media, Inc.; Costumes: Karen Roston; Lighting: Neil Peter Jampolis; Musical Direction: Peter Howard Cast: Alan Mintz (Friend), Danny Gerard (Mathew Prescott), Susan Bigelow (Kate Prescott), Dean Jones (James Prescott), Ted Forlow (Colonel), David Young (Major), William Parry (Father Frank Girella), Lenny Wolpe (Peter Vonn), Peter Walker (Nathan Gelb), Mitchell Greenberg (Vijay Bannerjee), Kathryn McAteer (Phyllis Terwilliger), Alan Brasington (Paul Cooper), Casper Roos (Don Cesare), Thomas Batten (Archbishop Parisi), Gordon Stanley (Signor Bocciarelli); Ensemble: Michael Duran, David Young, Deborah Carlson, Terri Homberg, Valerie DePena The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during late summer in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and in Turin, Italy.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Poltergeists” (Danny Gerard, Susan Bigelow); “Neat/Not Neat” (Dean Jones, William Parry, Susan Bigelow); “It Can All Be Explained” (Dean Jones, William Parry); “The Data” (Dean Jones, Team); “A Talk about Time” (Dean Jones, Susan Bigelow); “Trading Solos” (William Parry, Danny Gerard, Alan Mintz); “Let There Be Light” (Dean Jones, Casper Roos, William Parry, Gordon Stanley, Thomas Batten); “Wishes” (Danny Gerard); “The Three of Us” (Susan Bigelow, Dean Jones); “Rainbow Logic” (Dean Jones) Act Two: “Fede, Fede” (Casper Roos, Thomas Batten, Team); “To Measure the Darkness” (Dean Jones, Susan Bigelow); “The Testing” (Dean Jones, Team); “The Rose and I” (Susan Bigelow); “The Testing” (reprise)

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(Dean Jones, Team); “Measure (Measuring) the Darkness” (reprise) (Dean Jones); “Be There” (Dean Jones, Danny Gerard); “Into the Light” (reprise) (Company) Yes, there really was a Shroud of Turin musical, and Into the Light was it. But you had to be fast: the debacle disappeared after six performances and seems unlikely to appear on the Encores! schedule any time soon. The story looked at scientist James Prescott (Dean Jones), who ignores his wife Kate (Susan Bigelow) and young son Mathew (Danny Gerard) in his relentless drive to examine and disprove the authenticity of the relic (yes, he’s lost his faith, but we know by evening’s end he will have found it). The critics were aghast, and hardly knew where to begin. Perhaps with the lyrics? The reviewers quoted such choice bits as “Science without data / Will not get you from alpha to beta” (and its variant “Science without data / Is like gazpacho without tomatah”) and “To measure the darkness / You must stand in the dark / But when you stand in the dark / You cannot see a thing” (Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that “songs like these are not created to set an audience dancing in the aisles”). And then there were the so-called jokes (“Why did God create anchovies if everyone hates them?”) and the mind-boggling dialogue (“The Shroud team’s in town” and “I’ve waited four years to get my hands on that rag”). And how about the tarantella for the nuns, priests, and archbishop? Or the number which gave the scientists a chance to strut their stuff in the style of vaudeville performers? Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Susan Bigelow’s Kate didn’t have much to do except go around looking “merely unhappily distraught.” But poor little neglected Mathew was forced to create a fantasy friend whom only he can see. Unfortunately, this was an insufferable conceit in which Alan Mintz played “Friend,” and Rich noted the performer enacted the role with “excessive zeal” as a “prancing, eye-rolling mime” which brought to mind “Pinky Lee reincarnated as a chorus boy from Godspell.” Marilyn Stasio in USA Today said “Friend” was played by “an excruciating, mugging mime,” and Allan Wallach in New York Newsday wished that the invisible “Friend” had been truly invisible like Harvey “instead of a mime who strikes a lot of arty poses.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said Into the Light was “dim entertainment,” and the “scramble of religiosity and musical comedy cutes” had an inane script, clunky lyrics, and an “intermittent goofiness” that permeated the production. But Lee Holdridge’s music “sometimes swells to surprising richness, particularly in its pastiches of Italian opera.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News found the rhymes in the lyrics “a little too cute,” but said the music was “full of ingenuity” and “technically skilful” but often “mechanical.” The musical utilized lasers, and these were the “best thing” in the show’s physical production; but if someone wanted a laser show, “Why not go to the Hayden Planetarium?” Wallach said the work was “well-intentioned” but “boring,” and said the laser show “upstaged” the performers. In this case, the “light of technology” trumped the “light of faith,” but “to update that old showbusiness saying, you can’t go out humming the laser beams.” Stasio said that “of all the unlikely subjects” for a musical, nothing was “weirder” than the plot of Into the Light, and so at least the show couldn’t be called a “cliché.” But the subjects of “work vs. faith, science vs. religion, [and] hypocrisy vs. real faith” were “inhospitable subjects” for a musical (but even so this “effort was remarkably amiable”). Barnes said the “mindlessly mundane” evening “truly needed a miracle to save it.” The “plainsong melodies of a liturgical bent and pseudo-Italianate operatic spoofs” made Andrew Lloyd Webber sound like George Gershwin, and the “saccharine” lyrics “only have to be heard not to be believed.” Most of the performances were “terrible,” and he commented that Dean Jones “acts as if he were in a wind-tunnel, and is too wooden to portray a cigar-store Indian in a coma.” He concluded by asking his readers to “light candles for this one.” Rich said the musical’s creative team tried and failed “to conquer the meaning of the universe with esthetic means that would be a tad light-weight for The Tap Dance Kid” and the green laser show seemed left over from Sunday in the Park with George. The score was “monotonous and insistent in the style of loud wallpaper,” and most of the performances were “as solid as the quicksand of their material allows.” While Dean Jones was as “relaxed, ingratiating and nearly as boyish” as when he had appeared on the same stage sixteen years earlier as Bobby in Company, Rich quickly noted that “no star can carry a show that asks whether God is dead in a manner that’s likely to bore Him to death if He’s not.” During the tryout, “I Married a Student” was cut. For fifty-six years, the Neil Simon Theatre had been known as the Alvin, which was commissioned by producers Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley. The theatre took its name from the first syllables of the two men’s first names, and opened its doors in 1927 with George and Ira Gershwin’s hit musical Funny Face. In

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June 1983, during the run of Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, the venue’s name was changed to its current one, and Into the Light was the first musical to play there under the new name.

A LITTLE LIKE MAGIC Theatre: Lyceum Theatre Opening Date: October 26, 1986; Closing Date: December 7, 1986 Performances: 49 Text: Diane Lynn Dupuy Music: Original music by Victor Davies; see list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Diane Lynn Dupuy; Producer: Famous People Players; Visual Art Effects: Mary C. Thornton; Lighting: Ken Billington Cast: Darlene Arsenault, Michelle Busby, Sandra Ciccone, Charlene Clarke, Annastasia Danyliw, Benny D’Onofrio, Any Fitzpatrick, Kim Hansen, Greg Kozak, Debbie Lim, Renato Marulli, Debbie Rosen, Mary Thompson, Neil Thompson, Lenny Turner The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: The cast members manipulated life-size puppets, many of which represented celebrities; when applicable, the celebrity’s name is given in quotation marks. Act One: “A Little Like Magic” (lyric and music by Victor Davies) (Singer: Gord Masten); “Aruba Liberace” (“Liberace”); “Aquarium” (music by Camille Saint-Saens); “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (music by Paul Dukas); “The Bear and Bee” (music by Victor Davies) (sound effects by James Macdonald, Walt Disney Studios); “Concertina for Carignan” (music by Andre Gagnon); “Viva Las Vegas” (“Elvis Presley”); “The Gambler” (music by Kenny Rogers); “Theme from Superman” (1978 film Superman; music by John Williams) (Voices: Cal Dodd, Philip Williams); “Music of 007” (music by John Barry); “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (Edrich Siebert [whose arrangement of the song may have been used]) (Voices: Philip Williams) Act Two: “Divertissement” (music by Jacques Ibert); “Night on Bald Mountain” (music by Modeste Mussorgsky); “Fossils” (music by Camille Saint-Saens); “The Swan” (music by Camille Saint-Saens); “Billie Jean” (“Michael Jackson”); “Part-Time Lovers” (“Stevie Wonder”); Entertainment and Broadway Medley: “That’s Entertainment” (1953 film The Band Wagon; lyric by Howard Dietz, music by Arthur Schwartz); “New York, New York” (“Liza Minnelli”) (1977 film New York, New York; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “42nd Street” (1933 film 42nd Street; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren); “Ease on Down the Road” (The Wiz, 1975; lyric and music by Charlie Smalls); “Don’t Rain on My Parade” (“Barbra Streisand”) (Funny Girl, 1964; lyric by Bob Merrill, music by Jule Styne); “Send in the Clowns” (A Little Night Music, 1973; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “The Night They Invented Champagne” (1958 film Gigi; lyric by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe) (Singer: Cal Dodd); “Get Me to the Church on Time” (My Fair Lady, 1956; lyric by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe) (Singer: Neil Thompson); “Oklahoma!” (Oklahoma!, 1943; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers) (Singer: Kim Hansen); “Can-Can” (Can-Can, 1953; lyric and music by Cole Porter); “Lullaby of Broadway” (1935 film Gold Diggers of 1935; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren); “A Little Like Magic” (reprise); “Give My Regards to Broadway” (Little Johnny Jones, 1904; lyric and music by George M. Cohan) (Singer: Cal Dodd) The Canadian import A Little Like Magic was performed by the Famous People Players, a company based in Toronto that was founded in 1974 by Diane Lynn Dupuy. The program notes indicated the company specialized in “black light” techniques in which life-sized fluorescent puppets and props were manipulated by company members (who wore black robes, hoods, and masks in order to render themselves invisible to the audience) under the illumination of ultraviolet light. The program stated the company was registered as a charitable organization, but didn’t indicate much beyond that. But in their reviews, a few critics explained.

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John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor wrote that some of the puppeteers were “developmentally handicapped” and Linda Winer in USA Today said some were “mentally or physically handicapped.” The evening consisted of musical sequences in which an assortment of puppets “performed” against colorful backgrounds, and one section was a tribute to Broadway and Hollywood songs. The highlights of the evening were the “famous people” of the company’s name, that is, an assortment of life-sized puppets resembling such celebrities as Liberace, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Liza Minnelli, and Barbra Streisand. Richard F. Shepard in the New York Times praised the “viewer-friendly, iridescent spectacle that drenches the senses in sight and sound.” The evening was “clever, colorful and cute” and had “a kind of Technicolor brightness,” and occasionally he felt he was witnessing “some gigantic music video.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily said the proceedings sometimes seemed “like an overextended revue in one of those high-tech amusement parks,” and he commented that he liked the “amiable caricatures” of celebrity puppets “cavorting” to their recordings. Bill Kaufman in New York Newsday praised the “perfect family entertainment” and its “eye-popping effects,” and noted that at the end of the evening the cast revealed how the magic effects were done. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said the revue was “rather like being Alice in her first few minutes in Wonderland, when everything before her eyes seemed like a hallucination” (he also reported that in one sequence a stripper performs her act, and as she removes an article of clothing, that part of her body completely vanishes). In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt complained that the production seemed out of place in a Broadway theatre, and he assumed the show’s “most responsive audience” would be “among the very young.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested the show was a “one-joke” affair and might “wear thin” for some audience members, but there was “no praise too high for the visual art effects” and “the dazzling expertise of the unseen performers.” Beaufort praised the “dazzling extravaganza,” and Winer stated the show’s “enchantment eventually triumphs over the junk” of some of its Las Vegas-styled moments. She wasn’t impressed by the “charmless imitations” of celebrities, and said the company’s technique was “way beyond this schlock” and deserved stories accompanied by live music instead of tapes. But considering that Broadway had recently endured Raggedy Ann and Into the Light, the show was a “little winner” (it returned to Broadway in 1994 as A Little More Magic).

OH COWARD! Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: November 17, 1986; Closing Date: January 3, 1987 Performances: 56 Commentary: Roderick Cook (Note: Most commentary material was taken from various writings by Noel Coward.) Lyrics and Music: Noel Coward Direction: Roderick Cook; Producer: Raymond J. Greenwald (Richard Seader, Executive Producer); Scenery: Helen Pond and Herbert Senn; Costumes: David Toser; Lighting: F. Mitchell Dana; Musical Direction: Dennis Buck Cast: Roderick Cook, Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: Sequences below without lyric and music credits are commentaries taken from Noel Coward’s writings. Act One: Introduction: “The Boy Actor” (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); Oh Coward!: “Something to Do with Spring” (Words and Music, 1932 [London]; opened in New York in 1938 as Set to Music); “Bright Young People” (Cochran’s 1931 Revue, London); “Poor Little Rich Girl” (On with the Dance, 1925; London); “Zigeuner” (Bitter Sweet; London and New York, both 1929); “Let’s Say Goodbye” (Words and Music, 1932 [London]; opened in New York in 1938 as Set to Music); “This Is a Changing World” (Pacific 1860, 1946; London); “We Were Dancing” (To-Night at 8:30/We Were Dancing; London

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and New York, both 1936); “Dance, Little Lady” (This Year of Grace!; London and New York, both 1928); “A Room with a View” (This Year of Grace!; London and New York, both 1928); and “Sail Away” (first heard in Ace of Clubs; 1950 [London] and then later in Sail Away, 1961 [New York] and 1962 [London]) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); England: “London Is a Little Bit of All Right” (The Girl Who Came to Supper, 1963; New York) (Patrick Quinn); “The End of the News” (Sigh No More, 1945; London) (Catherine Cox, Roderick Cook); “The Stately Homes of England” (Operette, 1938; London) (Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); and “London Pride” (Second Edition of Up and Doing, 1941; London) (Catherine Cox); Family Album: “Auntie Jessie” (possibly a revision of “Jessie Hooper” from Charlot’s Revue, 1924; produced on Broadway as Charlot’s Revue of 1926) (Roderick Cook) and “Uncle Harry” (independent song, 1944; later added to Pacific 1860; 1946 [London]) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn); Music Hall: Introduction: Roderick Cook; “Chase Me, Charlie” (Ace of Clubs, 1950; London) (Catherine Cox); “Saturday Night at the Rose and Crown” (The Girl Who Came to Supper, 1963; New York) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); “Island of Bolamazoo” (Operette, 1938; London) (Patrick Quinn); “What Ho, Mrs. Brisket!” (The Girl Who Came to Supper, 1963; New York) (Roderick Cook); “Has Anybody Seen Our Ship?” (To-Night at 8:30/Red Peppers; London and New York, both 1936) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); and “Men about Town” (To-Night at 8:30/Red Peppers; London and New York, both 1936) (Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); “If Love Were All” (Bitter Sweet; London and New York, both 1929) (Catherine Cox); Travel: “Too Early or Too Late” (Roderick Cook); “Why Do the Wrong People Travel?” (Sail Away; 1961 [New York] and 1962 [London]) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn); and “The Passenger’s Always Right” (Sail Away; 1961 [New York] and 1962 [London]) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); Mrs. Worthington: “Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington” (independent song, 1936) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook) Act Two: “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” (The Third Little Show, 1931 [New York]; later heard in 1932 London revue Words and Music which opened in New York in 1938 as Set to Music) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); A Marvelous Party: “The Party’s Over Now” (Words and Music, 1932 [London]; opened in New York in 1938 as Set to Music) (Roderick Cook); Design for Dancing: “Dance, Little Lady” (reprise) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); “You Were There” (To-Night at 8:30/Shadow Play; London and New York, both 1936) (Patrick Quinn); Theatre: “Three White Feathers” (Words and Music, 1932; London; opened in New York in 1938 as Set to Music) (Catherine Cox, Roderick Cook); “The Star” (Patrick Quinn); “The Critic” (Roderick Cook); and “The Elderly Actress” (Catherine Cox); Love: “Gertie” (Roderick Cook); “Loving” (Patrick Quinn); “I Am No Good at Love” (dropped during pre-Broadway tryout of Sail Away, 1961; London, 1962) (Roderick Cook); “Sex Talk” (Patrick Quinn); “A Question of Lighting” (Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); and “Mad about the Boy” (Words and Music, 1932; opened in New York in 1938 as Set to Music) (Catherine Cox); Women: Introduction: Roderick Cook; “Nina” (independent song, early 1940s; later used in Sign No More, 1946 [London]) (Patrick Quinn); “Mrs. Wentworth-Brewster” (Roderick Cook); “World Weary” (introduced in the New York production of This Year of Grace!, 1928; the revue had been produced earlier in the year in London) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); “Let’s Do It” (a 1940s parody lyric by Coward of the Cole Porter song which had originally been introduced in Paris, 1928 [New York] and later used in 1929 London revue Wake Up and Dream) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); Finale: “Where Are the Songs We Sung?” (Operette; 1938; London) (Patrick Quinn); “Someday I’ll Find You” (Private Lives, 1930 [London] and 1931 [New York]) (Roderick Cook); “I’ll Follow My Secret Heart” (Conversation Piece; London and New York, both 1934) (Catherine Cox); “If Love Were All” (reprise) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); “Play, Orchestra, Play” (To-Night at 8:30/Shadow Play; London and New York, both 1936) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook); and “I’ll See You Again” (Bitter Sweet; London and New York, both 1929) (Catherine Cox, Patrick Quinn, Roderick Cook) Oh Coward! was a tribute revue to lyricist and composer Noel Coward, and was the season’s first of two such tributes (Stardust saluted lyricist Mitchell Parish). As And Now, Noel Coward . . . , Roderick Cook’s early version of the material had been produced in 1968 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with Dorothy Loudon. Later during the same year, Cook and Lee Becker Theodore assembled Coward’s material for Noel Coward’s Sweet Potato, which opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on September 29 (and then later at the Booth Theatre) for two slightly separated engagements which played for a total of forty-four

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performances (Loudon appeared in the first Broadway engagement). Later, Cook’s A Noel Coward Revue, or To Sir, with Love opened at the Theatre-in-the-Dell on May 19, 1970, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Oh Coward! opened Off Broadway on October 4, 1972, at the New Theatre for 294 performances, and was devised and directed by Cook, who also appeared in the revue with Barbara Cason and Jamie Ross. The cast album was released by Bell Records on a two-LP set (# BELL-9001), and in 1974 the script was published in hardback by Doubleday & Company. A television version produced by Columbia Pictures was shown in March 1980. During the run of the 1972 production, a special gala performance was held on January 14, 1973, in honor of Coward, who attended the performance with Marlene Dietrich. According to the program notes of the later 1981 Off-Off-Broadway revival (see below), this was Coward’s last public appearance and consequently the last show he ever saw; he died a few weeks later, on March 26, 1973. A cabaret version of the revue was presented Off Off Broadway in June 1981 at Ted Hook’s On Stage with Terri Klausner, Russ Thacker, and Dalton Cathey; and after the current Broadway engagement the revue returned on February 16, 1999, where it opened Off Off Broadway at the Irish Repertory Theatre for forty-two showings. Mel Gussow in the New York Times noted that the evening was essentially a cabaret entertainment of “incidental pleasures” which fell into two categories, music-hall (songs such as “Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington”) and high society (a world “of snobbery and ennui, a feeling of deadpan déjà vu”). Gussow mentioned that despite material that covered five decades, the revue never provided a sense of “evolution” or “a mellowing with age.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News found the production “stiff” and regretted that Cook, who had previously brought “vivacity and charm” to the revue, now seemed “like a parody of a parody” and offered “merely a set of mannerisms.” In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt felt the current version lacked the “sprightliness” and “sharpness” of the 1972 production. But Linda Winer in USA Today said Oh Coward! was a reminder of the “kind of tasty” and “literate” revues that used to flourish in New York; the “wicked” evening seemed “fresher” than many of the current Broadway offerings and the cast exuded “gleefully world-weary attitude.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the revue brought “much needed fun, wit, sophistication, and chic back to Broadway”; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the “witty, intelligent and entertaining” production; and Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily noted that with “elan” Cook “dispensed the Coward canon with the authority of a certified keeper of the flame.” Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said Catherine Cox “expertly cut across all categories” in her depictions of a Cockney, a music-hall soubrette, and a bored society woman, and noted she brought “a world of feeling” into such songs as “If Love Were All” and “Mad about the Boy”; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the darkness of the current Broadway scene was considerably brightened by Oh Coward! The nonmusical sequences in the revue were compiled by Roderick Cook from Coward’s writings, including his plays The Young Idea (1923 [London]); Private Lives (1930 [London] and 1931 [New York]); Shadow Play (which was a short play in the series To-Night at 8:30; London and New York, both 1936); and Present Laughter (1939 [London] and 1946 [New York]); his 1967 book of poetry Not Yet the Dodo and Other Verses; one of his autobiographies (Present Indicative, 1937); and various excerpts from his short stories. Other Coward tributes include the London revue Cowardy Custard, which opened at the Mermaid Theatre on July 10, 1972, for 405 performances with a cast that included Patricia Routledge (the cast album was released on a two-LP set by RCA Records # LSO-6010) and the Off-Broadway revue If Love Were All, which starred Twiggy (as Gertrude Lawrence) and Harry Groener (Coward) and opened at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on June 10, 1999, for 101 showings (the cast album was issued by Varese Sarabande CD # 302-066-083-2).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Roderick Cook); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Catherine Cox)

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SMILE

“The Musical” Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: November 24, 1986; Closing Date: January 3, 1987 Performances: 48 Based on the 1975 film Smile (direction by Michael Ritchie and screenplay by Jerry Belson). Book and Lyrics: Howard Ashman Music: Marvin Hamlisch Direction: Howard Ashman; Producers: Lawrence Gordon, Richard M. Kagan, and Sidney L. Shlenker (Barbara Livitz, Associate Producer); Choreography: Mary Kyte; Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Contestants—Anne Marie Bobby (Robin Gibson), Jodi Benson (Doria Hudson), Veanne Cox (SandraKay Macaffee), Cheryl-Ann Rossi (Maria Gonzalez), Tia Riebling (Shawn Christianson), Lauren Goler (Valerie Sherman), Deanna D. Wells (Heidi Anderson), Mana Allen (Patti-Lynn Bird), Andrea Leigh-Smith (Debralee Davis), Mia Malm (Kate Gardner, Joanne Marshall), Valerie Lau-Kee (Linda Lee), Julie Tussey (Kimberly Lyons), Donna Marie Elio (Gina Minelli), Renee Veneziale (Dana Simpson), Cindy Oakes (Connie-Sue Whipple), Nikki Rene (Cookie Wilson); Adults—Marsha Waterbury (Brenda DiCarlo Freelander), Jeff McCarthy (Big Bob Freelander), Michael O’Gorman (Tommy French), Richard Woods (Dale WilsonShears), Dick Patterson (Ted Farley), Ruth Williamson (Carol), Jeffrey Wilkins (Tony), Laura Gardner (Robin’s Mom, Judge, Volunteer), K. C. Wilson (Photographer, Judge, Volunteer); Kids—Tommy Daggett (Little Bob Freelander), Andrew Cassese (Freddy) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at Santa Rosa Junior College during three days last summer.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue” (“She’s a typical high school senior”) (Contestants); “Orientation” (“The very best week of your lives”) (Marsha Waterbury) and “Postcard # 1” (Anne Marie Bobby); “Disneyland” (Jodi Benson); “Shine” (Contestants, Michael O’Gorman, Marsha Waterbury); “Postcard # 2” (Anne Marie Bobby); “Nerves” (Contestants); “Young and American” (Preliminary Night) (Contestants); “Until Tomorrow Night” (Contestants, Marsha Waterbury, Jeff McCarthy) Act Two: “Postcard # 3” (Anne Marie Bobby) and “Dressing Room Scene” (“Oh, God, I’m shaking”) (Anne Marie Bobby, Jodi Benson, Dick Patterson, Contestants); “Smile” (Dick Patterson, Contestants); “In Our Hands” (Contestants); “Pretty as a Picture” (Dick Patterson, Jeff McCarthy, Anne Marie Bobby, Contestants) The 1975 film Smile was a would-be satiric look at the world of teen-queen beauty pageants. Many made a case for the film, and for a while it appeared on the verge of becoming a cult movie. But the subdued film was mostly memorable because of its performances by Michael Kidd and Maria O’Brien. He played a onetime Broadway choreographer who is now reduced to staging musical numbers for local teen pageants, and she played a Mexican-American contestant who woos the judges with her guacamole dip (O’Brien was the daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Edmond O’Brien and actress-singer Olga San Juan, who was one of the leads in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon). But the musical adaptation of Smile was much too weak and obvious, and Howard Ashman’s book meandered along with too many plot lines and ideas. There was the spoof of teen pageants; there was the growing contention between pageant judge Big Bob Freelander (Jeff McCarthy) and his pageant-organizer wife (and former beauty queen) Brenda (Marsha Waterbury) because he sees the pageant as an earnest depiction of solid American values and she is cynically pragmatic in her willingness to undermine the pageant for her own personal ambitions; there was some unpleasant business concerning their peeping-Tom ten-year-old son Little Bob (Tommy Daggett); and professional contestant Doria (Jodi Benson) floats from one contest to another as a means to escape from her unhappy home life and to seek a Disneyland where the world is always perfect. The

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various tones didn’t jell, and the musical never found its through-line. As a result, the $4 million production lasted just six weeks on Broadway. Except for the title song, Ashman’s lyrics and Marvin Hamlisch’s score never hit the bull’s-eye and was instead a mild-mannered collection of pleasant if unexciting numbers. But the title song was a rouser in the tradition of old-time Broadway with its vampy melodic line, and was in fact a musical cousin to Hamlisch’s “One” from A Chorus Line (1975). Smile of course mirrored its predecessor in its contrast of girls who hope to be crowned Young American Miss beauty queen and Line’s dancers who vie for a part in a new Broadway musical. While one cared about the characters in A Chorus Line and the outcomes of their auditions, one never felt any urgency about the pageant and most of the girls remained anonymous and failed to arouse much in the way of interest. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that Smile sought to capture the mood of the “stylistic period” of such early 1960s hit musicals as Bye Bye Birdie (1960), How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1961), and Hello, Dolly! (1964), but it only measured up to the era’s also-rans (All American and Mr. President, both 1962). The musical was “schizoid in tone,” was “dramatically diffuse,” and “undistinguished” in the areas of music, dance, and humor. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News found the lyrics “largely uninspired” and the music “disappointing,” and although “blandness” might describe the typical beauty contest, “blandness” was “not what you pay Broadway prices to see”; in the same newspaper, Douglas Watt said the “bland and dull” show had “thin” and “mechanical” music, “perfunctory” lyrics, and a “trifling” book. Linda Winer in USA Today noted that the evening was “slick and professional” and yet “shiny, simple and insipid” with “jauntily unmemorable” music. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said Smile “was nothing to cheer about” because it alternated “between satire and soap opera” and beauty pageants were “too self-parodying to stand further lampoon.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal stated the production lacked “a clear edge or point of view” and thus it moved “uncertainly between satire and celebration to the point where it’s impossible for the audience to have a clear picture of what it sees.” And Alan Wallach in New York Newsday said Ashman had softened the satire “to the consistency of oatmeal” and didn’t provide “an overarching viewpoint that would make the pageant a microcosm of larger value conflicts.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted the musical’s creators couldn’t decide “to grin or to sneer” at its subject and thus “unsmilingly” wanted to have it both ways. The show attempted to be “a corrosively witty indictment” of the pageant’s false values and at the same time hoped to charm the audience “with precisely the kind of spectacle it is supposedly making fun of.” Barnes found Hamlisch’s score “unmemorably cheerful,” but he praised the “terrific” performance by Michael O’Gorman as the embittered choreographer. But William A. Henry III in Time liked the “swift-paced, skillfully performed and thoroughly professional entertainment,” and while it was no “landmark” it was nonetheless a “pleasure.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 felt the evening had “too many subplots” and sometimes lost its focus, but was otherwise “real theatre, with a good cast and a great score.” And although Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily had some quibbles with the musical, he still felt it was a “good-looking show” with “a lot to like” and a score that was “excitingly rhythmic and bright.” The slightly revised script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1988. The score was recorded with a combination of Broadway and studio cast members, but was never released (though it has made the rounds of theatre-music collectors). The collection Howard Sings Ashman (PS Classics CD # PS-869) includes the complete score as well as the unused “Big Bob’s Song” (which is part of the published script). The collections Unsung Musicals (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5462, which was the first of three in the series) includes “Smile,” “In Our Hands,” and “Disneyland” (the last performed by original cast member Jodi Benson) and Unsung Musicals III (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5769) includes “Maria’s Song,” which was part of the “Young and American” sequence. The musical was the subject of two in-depth magazine articles. One was the cover story by Alice M. Hale for the January 1987 issue of Theatre Crafts. Her lengthy article “Bringing a Smile to Broadway” included thirteen color and black-and-white photos and costume sketches from the production as well as two pages of the show’s lighting plot by Paul Gallo. The article notes that “the colors of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics— hot blues, greens, pinks and oranges” inspired the look of the show’s décor and costumes. The Smithsonian article “The Stage Manager: Off-Broadway or On, the Buck Stops Here” by Richard Conniff included a number of production photos from the musical as well as many taken backstage. (A segment about the musical was also featured on the television show 60 Minutes.)

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Besides Smile, the era offered three other beauty-pageant musicals: Pageant (Off Off Broadway, 1986; OffBroadway, 1991; Off-Broadway revival, 2014) dealt with a group of hopefuls (all played by men in drag) vying for the title of “Miss Glamouresse” (in an interview, one contestant proudly informs us that she “personally attended” Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade); Pretty Faces (Off Broadway, 1990) looked at finalists hoping to win the crown of “Miss Global Glamour Girl”; and Prom Queens Unchained (Off Broadway, 1991) viewed four high school girls who will stop at nothing to achieve prom-queen immortality (by the way, the prom’s theme is “Alaska—Our Frozen Friend”).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Book (Howard Ashman)

JACKIE MASON’S “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ME!” Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: December 22, 1986; Closing Date: January 2, 1988 Performances: 367 Comic Monologues: Jackie Mason Direction: “Original production supervised by” Ron Clark; Producers: Nick Vanoff (Jyll Rosenfeld, Associate Producer); Scenery and Lighting: Neil Peter Jampolis; Wardrobe: Uncredited Cast: Jackie Mason The one-man comedy revue was presented in two acts.

Monologues The program noted that Jackie Mason’s material would be selected from the following subjects: U.S. Politics, World Affairs, Hollywood Producers and Celebrities, Dating, Communism, Sex Education, Psychiatry, Hookers, Health Hazards, The Army, The Weather, “and, of course, the ever-popular Gentiles and Jews.” Stand-up comedian Jackie Mason’s revue “The World According to Me!” had played in Los Angeles prior to the New York engagement. The “Rambo of Repartee” wryly joked about almost everything, from politics to sex education, from hookers to the weather, and, as noted in the program, the “ever-popular” subject of “Gentiles and Jews.” The show played for a year on Broadway and ushered in a series of visits from the comedian (see below), including a return engagement of the current production five months after it closed. The second engagement also played at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre where it opened on May 3, 1988, for an additional 203 performances. Richard F. Shepard in the New York Times said Mason “gives hilarious testimony to the art of the standup comic.” The comedian moved the mountains in the “old resort-riddled Catskills” to Manhattan with his “flawless” timing and “clever” material, and besides his litany of topical subjects ripe for ridicule, he found time to “mildly” insult a few audience members as well as to impersonate James Cagney, Henry A. Kissinger, and both pop and folk singers. Warner Brothers issued the cast album (LP # WI-25603), and White Star issued the DVD. Following the first two engagements of “The World According to Me!”, Mason returned in the following one-man comedy revues: Jackie Mason: Brand New (1990), Jackie Mason: Politically Incorrect (1994), Love Thy Neighbor (1996), Much Ado about Everything (1999), Prune Danish (2002), and Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed (2005). He both cowrote (with Mike Mortman) and starred in his first Broadway show, the 1969 comedy A Teaspoon Every Four Hours, which closed after one performance (after playing for a then recordbreaking ninety-seven previews), and in 2003 he starred in (and wrote additional material for) the intimate revue Laughing Room Only, with lyrics and music by Doug Katsaros.

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Awards Tony Award: Jackie Mason was presented with a special Tony Award for “The World According to Me!”

STARDUST

“The Mitchell Parish Musical” Theatre: Biltmore Theatre Opening Date: February 19, 1987; Closing Date: May 17, 1987 Performances: 102 Lyrics: Mitchell Parish Music: See song list for specific credits Direction: Albert Harris; Producers: Burton L. Litwin, Howard Rose, Martin I. Rein, and Louise Westergaard in association with Paula Hutter Gilliam (A Theatre Off Park Production) (Richard Jay Smith, Associate Producer); Choreography: Patrice Soriero; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Mardi Philips; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: James Raitt Cast: Michele Bautier, Maureen Brennan, Kim Criswell, André De Shields, Jason Graae, Jim Walton The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Carolina Rolling Stone” (music by Eleanor Young and Harry D. Squires) (Jason Graae, Company); “Riverboat Shuffle” (music by Hoagy Carmichael, Dick Voynow, and Irving Mills) (André De Shields, Company); “One Morning in May” (music by Hoagy Carmichael) (Maureen Brennan); “Sweet Lorraine” (music by Cliff Burwell) (Jim Walton); “Sentimental Gentleman from Georgia” (music by Frank Perkins) (Michele Bautier, Maureen Brennan, Kim Criswell); “Sophisticated Lady” (music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills) (Michele Bautier); “Dixie after Dark” (music by Ben Oakland and Irving Mills) (André De Shields, Jim Walton); “Stairway to the Stars” (music by Matt Malnick and Frank Signorelli) (Kim Criswell); “Wealthy, Schmelthy, as Long as You’re Healthy” (music by Sammy Fain) (Jason Graae); The 1930s Unrequited Love Montage: “Hands Across the Table” (Continental Varieties of 1936; music by Jean Delettre) (Michele Bautier); “You’re So Indiff’rent” (music by Sammy Fain) (Jason Graae); “It Happens to the Best of Friends” (music by Rube Bloom) (Kim Criswell); and “I Would If I Could but I Can’t” (music by Bing Crosby and Alan Grey) (Jim Walton); “The Scat Song” (music by Frank Perkins and Cab Calloway) (André De Shields, Maureen Brennan); “Sidewalks of Cuba” (Cotton Club Parade of 1931; music by Ben Oakland and Irving Mills) (Kim Criswell, Jason Graae); “Evenin’” (music by Harry White) (Michele Bautier); “Deep Purple” (music by Peter DeRose) (André De Shields, Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Sophisticated Swing” (music by Will Hudson) (Kim Criswell, Maureen Brennan, Jim Walton); “Midnight at the Onyx” (music by Will Hudson) (André De Shields, Maureen Brennan, Jim Walton); “Tell Me Why” (music by Michael Edwards and Sigmund Spaeth) and “Does Your Heart Beat for Me?” (music by Russ Morgan and Arnold Johnson) (Jason Graae); “Stars Fell on Alabama” (music by Frank Perkins) (Jim Walton, Maureen Brennan); “Don’t Be That Way” (music by Benny Goodman and Edgar Sampson) (André De Shields, Michele Bautier); “Organ Grinder’s Swing” (music by Irving Mills and Will Hudson) (André De Shields, Jason Graae, Jim Walton); “Moonlight Serenade” (music by Glenn Miller) (Company); “Star Dust” (music by Hoagy Carmichael) (Michele Bautier); Your Cavalcade of Hits (Host: André De Shields): “Belle of the Ball” (music by Leroy Anderson) (Jason Graae, Maureen Brennan); “The Syncopated Clock” (music by Leroy Anderson) (Maureen Brennan, Jason Graae, Kim Criswell, Jim Walton); “Take Me in Your Arms” (music by Fred Markush) (Maureen Brennan); “Ciao, Ciao, Bambino” (music by Domenico Modugno; English lyric by Parish) (Kim Criswell); “Sleigh Ride” (music by Leroy Anderson) (Maureen Brennan, Jason Graae, Kim Criswell, Jim Walton); “Volare” (music by Domenico Modugno; English lyric by Parish) (Jim Walton, Company) (“Your Cavalcade of Hits” Theme: lyric by Jay Jeffries, music by James Raitt; “Happy Cigarettes” Theme: lyric by Peter Joblonski, music by James Raitt);

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“Ruby” (1952 film Ruby Gentry; music by Heinz Roemheld) (André De Shields); “Forgotten Dreams” (music by Leroy Anderson) (Company); “Star Dust” (reprise) (Company) Stardust was a tribute revue to lyricist Mitchell Parish (1900–1993), whose song catalog includes “Deep Purple,” “Moonlight Serenade,” “Don’t Be That Way,” “Volare,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Sweet Lorraine,” “Stairway to the Stars,” “Ruby,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Sleigh Ride,” and, of course, the title song, one of the most popular and most recorded in the American Songbook (the song’s title is “Star Dust,” and the revue’s title was given as Stardust). The revue originated Off Off Broadway at the Theatre Off Park where it opened on November 11, 1986, for fifty-nine performances; the production moved to Broadway with the original cast intact, and two songs were cut for the transfer: “My Topic of Conversation Is You” (music by J. Fred Coots) and “The Lamp Is Low” (music by Peter DeRose and Bert Shefter) (the latter was reinstated into the score during the Broadway run). Although the evening’s commentary wasn’t acknowledged in the programs and published script, it is probably by director Albert Harris, who with Burton L. Litwin was credited with the “idea” of the production. Stardust received somewhat indifferent reviews but managed a three-month run on Broadway. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said the production was “like a TV special—bright, engaging, informative, but basically two-dimensional.” He noted that Parish was “an extremely able lyricist,” but felt his songs weren’t “really” theatre numbers. In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt said the title song was “beautiful” but he wished the evening had instead emphasized the song’s composer Hoagy Carmichael rather than Parish (he also commented that the lyric of “Sophisticated Lady” was “extravagantly romantic” and could “actually make one wince”). Jack Curry in USA Today felt the “earthbound” Stardust was “mundane and uninspired stuff” because the songs were given “flat and cutesy” renditions which were turned into “pop mush” by “talented but misdirected” singers. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal had “mixed” feelings about the production: it was “sparkling and amply rewarding” but it lost its intimacy in a large Broadway house and the show lacked the “added fillip” which made Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Sophisticated Ladies special (specifically the “inimitable” Nell Carter for the former and the “striking” tap routines for the latter). In reviewing the Off-Broadway production, Stephen Holden in the New York Times found the evening “a gentle, easy-to-like, nostalgic tonic” and noted “Sophisticated Lady” was Parish’s “most refined lyric”; he also commented that many of Parish’s lyrics were “celestially minded” (“Stairway to the Stars,” “Deep Purple,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Moonlight Serenade,” and the title song). Allan Wallach in New York Newsday praised Parish as an “outstanding” wordsmith whose work adapted “to changing times” and who was “far from being a one-note lyricist,” and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked the “affectionate tribute” and its “first-rate” cast. During the Broadway run, the songs “One Morning in May” and “Evenin’” were dropped, and as noted above “The Lamp Is Low” was reinstated from the revue’s Off-Broadway production. The revue was revived for a brief national tour during the 1989–1990 season; Albert Harris again directed, and this time around the choreography was by Donald McKayle. The sets and costumes were designed by Erté, and the cast members were Betty Buckley, Christine Andreas, Michael Scott Gregory, Kevin Ligon, Karen Ziemba, and Hinton Battle. This production reinstated “My Topic of Conversation Is You” and added “A Little Bit Older, a Little Bit Wiser” (music by Joe Harnell). For at least one performance during the tour’s run at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre, Parish made an appearance, chatted with the audience, and recited the lyric of the title song. The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1988.

SOUTH PACIFIC Theatre: The New York State Theatre Opening Date: February 27, 1987; Closing Date: April 26, 1987 Performances: 68 Book: Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Richard Rodgers Based on James A. Michener’s 1947 collection of short stories, Tales of the South Pacific; two of the stories (“Our Heroine” and “Fo’ Dolla’”) were the main basis for the musical.

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Direction: Gerald Freedman (Raymond Menard and Christian Smith, Assistant Stage Directors); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Sergiu Comissiona, Music Director); Choreography: Janet Watson; Scenery and Costumes: Desmond Heeley; Lighting: Duane Schuler; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: (Note: For those roles which had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes the opening-night cast member.) Lynn Chen/Allegra Forste (Ngana), Robin Ria/Peter Yarin (Jerome), Thomas Ikeda (Henry), Susan Bigelow/Marcia Mitzman (Ensign Nellie Forbush), Justino Diaz/Stanley Wexler (Emile de Becque), Muriel Costa-Greenspon/Camille Saviola (Bloody Mary), Raven Wilkinson (Bloody Mary’s Assistant), Tony Roberts (Luther Billis), Richard White/Cris Groenendaal (Lieutenant Joseph Cable, U.S.M.C.), James Billings (Captain George Brackett, U.S.N.), Daren Kelly/Joseph Culliton (Commander William Harbison, U.S.N.), Ralph Bassett (Lieutenant Buzz Adams), Terry Lacy (Seabee Tom O’Brien), Ron Hilley (Marine Corporal Hamilton Steeves), Charles Mandracchia (Abner), Gregory Moore (Sergeant Kenneth Johnson), Jonathan Guss (Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey), John Welch (Stewpot), Jeff Blumenkrantz (Professor), Andrew Cuk (Private Victor Jerome), Edward Zimmerman (Private Sven Larsen), Frank Ream (Yeoman Herbert Quale), Louis Perry (Sergeant Jack Waters), Robert Brubaker (Seabee Richard West), William Dyszel (Seabee Morton Wise), David Frye (Staff-Sergeant Thomas Hassinger), Don Yule (Seabee Joseph Grant), Michele McBride (Lieutenant Genevieve Marshall), Ivy Austin (Ensign Liza Minelli), Deborah Darr (Ensign Connie Walewska), Janet Villas (Ensign Janet McGregor), Paula Hostetter (Ensign Bessie Noonan), Mary Ann Rydzeski (Ensign Pamela Whitmore), Deanna Wells (Ensign Rita Adams), Tina Johnson (Ensign Sue Yeager), Beth Pensiero (Ensign Betty Pitt), Sylvia Rhyne (Ensign Cora MacRae), Kay Schoenfeld (Ensign Dinah Murphy), Ann Yen/Adrienne Telemaque (Liat), Henry Ravelo (Marcel); Islanders, Sailors, Marines, and Officers: The New York City Opera Chorus The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on two islands in the South Pacific during World War II.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Dites-moi pourquoi” (Lynn Chen, Robin Ria); “A Cockeyed Optimist” (Susan Bigelow); “Twin Soliloquies” (Susan Bigelow, Justino Diaz); “Some Enchanted Evening” (Justino Diaz); “Dites-moi pourquoi” (reprise) (Lynn Chen, Robin Ria, Justino Diaz); “Bloody Mary” (Boys); “There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame” (Boys); “Bali Ha’i” (Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Tony Roberts, Richard White); “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair” (Susan Bigelow, Girls); “Some Enchanted Evening” (reprise) (Justino Diaz, Susan Bigelow); “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy” (Susan Bigelow); “Bali Ha’i” (reprise) (Girls); “Younger Than Springtime” (Richard White); “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy” (reprise) (Susan Bigelow, Justino Diaz); “This Is How It Feels” (Justino Diaz, Susan Bigelow); “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair” (reprise) (Justino Diaz) Act Two: “Happy Talk” (Muriel Costa-Greeenspon); “Honey Bun” (Susan Bigelow, Tony Roberts, Ensemble); “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” (Richard White, Justino Diaz); “This Nearly Was Mine” (Justino Diaz); Finale (Susan Bigelow, Lynn Chen, Robin Ria, Justino Diaz) The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s South Pacific was another in its annual series that presented a Broadway musical for a lengthy run of up to two months instead of a few scattered performances in repertory with other musicals or operettas. John Rockwell in the New York Times found the revival a “successful, intelligently intended reproduction” which “on its own terms” is a “perfectly satisfactory, good-faith” presentation. But the work seemed somewhat “dated,” and he noted early musicals by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin were now “charming” because their “anachronisms have been elevated by distance into nostalgia,” and he suspected this would eventually happen to South Pacific. As for the leads, Susan Bigelow was “perky but mousy and small-scaled” when compared to Mary Martin, and Justino Diaz lacked Ezio Pinza’s “organ-like sonority of tone.” While Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the work was not “old-fashioned” and was “still younger than springtime,” the headline of David Patrick Stearns’s review in USA Today stated “South Pacific, Older Than Springtime” (Gerald Freedman’s direction needed “imagination” rather than “competence” and the scenic design was in the nature of “tacky post cards,” but despite the “wobbly” production” he concluded that “one could do worse than a little summer stock in the middle of the winter”).

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Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News found the book “creaky and obvious” and noted that even the original 1949 production had seemed “a bit unwieldy.” In the same newspaper Bill Zakariasen said Bigelow sang and acted with “verve” and Diaz was “splendid,” but said Freedman “was as usual more of a summer stock-level traffic cop than an imaginative stage director.” Thor Eckert Jr., in the Christian Science Monitor felt the musical didn’t quite “overcome the somewhat dated treatment” of interracial relationships, but he nonetheless praised the “unfussy, candid, communicative” book and the “melodic riches” of Rodgers’s score. And Peter Goodman in New York Newsday said the work was presented as a “museum piece,” the first act seemed as long as Parsifal, Freedman’s direction was too “conscientious,” and except for “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” the evening was “rather softheaded” and needed “a little pepper to knock out the saccharin.” The original production of South Pacific opened on April 7, 1949, at the Majestic Theatre for 1,925 performances, and as of this writing the musical has been revived in New York seven times. The original production closed on January 24, 1954, and on May 7 of the following year it was presented by the New York City Center Light Opera Company at City Center for fifteen performances; the company revived the work there three more times, on April 24, 1957 (twenty-three performances), on April 26, 1961 (twenty-three performances), and on June 3, 1965 (fifteen performances). The next revival was seen at Lincoln Center in a production by the Music Theatre of Lincoln Center at the New York State Theatre on June 12, 1967 (104 performances), and following the current revival the musical was again seen at Lincoln Center, this time at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre where it opened on April 3, 2008, for 996 performances. The London premiere took place at the Drury Lane on November 1, 1951, for 802 performances, and the 1958 film version by Twentieth Century-Fox included “My Girl Back Home,” which had been dropped during the tryout of the original production. A television adaptation was presented by CBS in 2003, and a concert version was given at Carnegie Hall in 2005. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1949, and there are three books about the musical: The Tale of South Pacific, edited by Thana Skouras and designed by John De Cuir and Dale Hennesy (Lehmann Books, 1958), about the film adaptation; The South Pacific Companion by Laurence Maslon (Fireside Books, 2008); and South Pacific: Paradise Rewritten by Jim Lovenshemer (Oxford University Press, 2010). There are numerous recordings of the score, but the essential one is the original cast album with Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin, released by Columbia Records (LP # ML/OL-4180) and on CD by Sony Classical/ Columbia/Legacy Records (# SK-60722); the latter includes bonus tracks (among them Martin performing the deleted songs “My Girl Back Home” and “Loneliness of Evening” and Pinza singing “Bali Ha’i”).

LES MISERABLES “A Musical”

Theatre: Broadway Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Imperial Theatre) Opening Date: March 12, 1987; Closing Date: May 18, 2003 Performances: 6,680 Book: Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg (adapted from the original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel; additional material by James Fenton; adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird) Lyrics: Herbert Kretzmer Music: Claude-Michel Schonberg Based on the 1862 novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Direction: Trevor Nunn and John Caird; Producers: Cameron Mackintosh in association with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Roger L. Stevens, Chairman) (Martin McCallum and Richard JayAlexander, Executive Producers); Scenery: John Napier; Costumes: Andreane Neofitou; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Robert Billig Cast: Colm Wilkinson (Jean Valjean), Terrence Mann (Javert), Kevin Marcum (Member of Chain Gang, Sailor, Another Drinker, Brujon), Paul Harman (Member of Chain Gang, Foreman, Traveler, Combeferre), Anthony Crivello (Member of Chain Gang, Bamatabois, Another Drinker, Grantaire), John Dewar (Member of Chain Gang, Worker, Sailor, Joly), Joseph Kolinski (Member of Chain Gang, Sailor, Young Man, Feuilly), Leo Burmester (Member of Chain Gang, Thenardier), David Bryant (Member of Chain Gang,

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Marius), Alex Santoriello (Member of Chain Gang, Labourer, Montparnasse), Michael Maguire (Member of Chain Gang, Enjolras), Jesse Corti (Farmer, Worker, Drinker, Courfeyrac), Susan Goodman (Innkeeper’s Wife, Whore, Another Drinker, Old Beggar Woman), John Norman (Innkeeper, Drunk, Pimp, Jean Prouvaire), Norman Large (The Bishop of Digne, Diner, Lesgles), Marcus Lovett (Constable, Traveler, Babet), Steve Shocket (Constable, Pimp, Fauchelevent, Another Drinker, Claquesous), Randy Graff (Fantine), Cindy Benson (Woman Worker, Old Woman), Marcie Shaw (Woman Worker, Crone), Jane Bodle (Woman Worker, Whore, Young Girl), Joanna Glushak (Woman Worker, Whore, Diner), Ann Crumb (Factory Girl, Whore, Another Drinker, Young Prostitute), Kelli James (Whore, Young Girl), Frances Ruffelle (Whore, Eponine), Judy Kuhn (Whore, Cosette), Gretchen Kingsley-Weihe (Whore), Donna Vivino (Young Cosette), Jennifer Butt (Madame Thenardier), Chrissie McDonald (Young Eponine), Alex Santoriello and Gretchen Kingsley-Weihe (Young Couple), Marcie Shaw and John Dewar (Old Couple), Braden Danner (Gavroche) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in France during the period 1815–1832.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue (Company); “Soliloquy” (Colm Wilkinson); “At the End of the Day” (Unemployed and Factory Workers); “I Dreamed a Dream” (Randy Graff); “Lovely Ladies” (Ladies, Clients); “Who Am I?” (Colm Wilkinson); “Come to Me” (Randy Graff, Colm Wilkinson); “Castle on a Cloud” (Donna Vivino); “Master of the House” (Leo Burmester, Jennifer Butt, Customers); “Thenardier Waltz” (Leo Burmester, Jennifer Butt, Colm Wilkinson); “Look Down” (Braden Danner, Beggars); “Stars” (Terrence Mann); “Red and Black” (Michael Maguire, David Bryant, Students); “Do You Hear the People Sing?” (Michael Maguire, Students, Citizens); “In My Life” (Judy Kuhn, Colm Wilkinson, David Bryant, Frances Ruffelle); “A Heart Full of Love” (Judy Kuhn, David Bryant, Frances Ruffelle); “One Day More” (Company) Act Two: “On My Own” (Frances Ruffelle); “A Little Fall of Rain” (Frances Ruffelle, David Bryant); “Drink with Me to Days Gone By” (Anthony Crivello, Students, Women); “Bring Him Home” (Colm Wilkinson); “Dog Eats Dog” (Leo Burmester); “Soliloquy” (Terrence Mann); “Turning” (Women); “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” (David Bryant); “Wedding Chorale” (Guests); “Beggars at the Feast” (Leo Burmester, Jennifer Butt); Finale (Company) The import Les Miserables was an earnest if tiresome Classic Comics version of Victor Hugo’s novel. Despite occasionally weak and obvious attempts at humor, it was a mostly lugubrious evening that wore its heart on its sleeve in its presentation of an endless array of either self-important, weight-of-the-world-onmy-shoulder characters who bellowed Euro-pop power ballads or delicate waif-like victims who were equally annoying with their more-sensitive-than-thou weepiness. It was a musical pity party like nothing the stage had ever seen, and many of the characters met death in a variety of dramatic ways; in fact, it seemed that half of them didn’t make it to the finale. No wonder the musical was known as The Glums. But there were those who were impressed by it all, and some were even astounded by the décor: the barricade wowed ’em, as if they’d never seen the junk heap in Cats. But no matter: most of the critics gushed, and audiences made the musical one of the most successful in theatre history. The plot dealt with the decades-long pursuit by the obsessed Inspector Javert (Terrence Mann) who is fixated on capturing escaped convict Jean Valjean (Colm Wilkinson), whose crime was stealing a loaf of bread for his starving niece. The personal story of Valjean’s persecution was mirrored by his countrymen’s fight for freedom during the French Revolution. Frank Rich in the New York Times praised the production’s “electrifying showmanship” and how its “actors and music and staging meld with each other and with the soul of its source.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “simply smashing” work was “magnificent, red-blooded, two-fisted theatre,” but noted the music was “background wallpaper to all the stirring theatrics” and was “somewhat monotonously patterned.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News felt the evening was most successful for its “theatrical inventiveness” but otherwise the score was “drivel—singsong, repetitious, emotionally dead.” Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said some songs soared “majestically” but others had a “bland sameness,” and overall the script encompassed “too much” of Hugo’s “sprawling” novel. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor noted that for “imaginative scope and magnitude” the musical fulfilled its “long-building

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expectations.” And John Curry in USA Today said “this time the hype was right” because the musical was a “phenomenon.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek felt the adaptors did “a remarkably intelligent job” of turning Hugo’s one-thousand-plus-page novel into “three hours of shrewdly modulated musical theatre”; William A. Henry III in Time suggested the evening succeeded “not so much for its artistry as for its heart,” and “more than an entertainment” it was “a thrilling emotional experience”; and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the musical wasn’t “great drama” but was “a triumph of great theatre.” David Lida in Women’s Wear Daily said the script lacked “historical context or social consciousness” and as a result “rousing songs about comradeship fall completely apart.” The stage was filled with “every imaginable cliché,” the music was “pretty” but “unmemorable,” and the lyrics were “rudimentary and plodding.” He mentioned that the musical offered the most heroic deaths “since World War II” and there were so many “noble souls” that he began to wish for some “treachery and deceit.” The musical was “a very long and dull three hours” and was “tepid, watered-down stuff.” The work was first produced in Paris at the Palais des Sports in 1980. A revised version premiered in London at the Barbican Center on October 8, 1985, and as of this writing is still playing. The original West End cast included Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle, both of whom reprised their roles for Broadway, and Patti LuPone was Fantine and Michael Ball was Marius. The original New York production is currently the fifthlongest-running musical in Broadway history, and has been revived there twice. The first opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on November 9, 2006, for 463 performances, and the second at the Imperial Theatre on March 23, 2014, where as of this writing it is still playing. The 2012 film version was released by Universal; directed by Tom Hooper, the cast included Hugh Jackman (Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), and Anne Hathaway (Fantine). There are over twenty recordings of the score, including the original French concept album (Relativity Records CD # 8247), the London cast album (Relatively Records two-CD set # 8140), and the original Broadway cast recording (Geffen Records two-CD set # 24151). Edward Behr’s The Complete Book of “Les Miserables” was published in hardback and paperback by Little Brown & Company in 1989 and includes the complete script. Another book about the musical is The Musical World of Boublil and Schonberg: The Creators of “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon,” “Martin Guerre,” and “The Pirate Queen” by Margaret Vermette, which was published by Applause Theatre and Cinema Books in paperback in 2007.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Les Miserables); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Terrence Mann); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Colm Wilkinson); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Maguire); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Judy Kuhn); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Frances Ruffelle); Best Book (Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg); Best Score (lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil, music by Claude-Michel Schonberg); Best Scenic Designer (John Napier); Best Costume Designer (Andreane Neofitou); Best Lighting Designer (David Hersey) New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award: Best Musical 1986–1987 (Les Miserables)

STARLIGHT EXPRESS Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: March 15, 1987; Closing Date: January 8, 1989 Performances: 761 Lyrics: Richard Stilgoe Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Direction: Trevor Nunn; Producers: Martin Starger and Lord Grade and produced in association with MCA Music Entertainment Group, Stage Promotions (Four)/Strada Holdings, and Weintraub Entertainment Group, Inc.; Choreography: Arlene Phillips; Scenery and Costumes: John Napier; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Paul Bogaev Cast: A. C. Ciulla (Bobo), Philip Clayton (Espresso), Michael Berglund (Weltschaft), William Frey (Turnov), D. Michael Heath (Hashamoto), Sean McDermott (Prince of Wales), Robert Torti (Greaseball), Todd

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Lester (Greaseball Gang Member, Flat-Top), Sean Grant (Greaseball Gang Member, Rocky II), Ronald Garza (Greaseball Gang Member, Rocky III), Angel Vargas (Greaseball Gang Member, Rocky IV), Joey McKneely (Greaseball Gang Member, Krupp), Gordon Owens (Greaseball Gang Member, Purse), Greg Mowry (Rusty), Reva Rice (Pearl), Jane Krakowski (Dinah), Andrea McArdle (Ashley), Jamie Beth Chandler (Buffy), Frank Mastrocola (Rocky I), Michael Scott Gregory (Dustin), Barry K. Bernal (Red Caboose), Christina Youngman (Wrench), Nicole Picard (Joule), Mary Ann Lamb (Volta), Ken Ard (Electra), Steve Fowler (Poppa), Janet Williams Adderley (Belle), Braden Danner (Voice of the Boy), Melanie Vaughan (Voice of the Mother); Chorus: Paul Binotto, Lon Hoyt, Melanie Vaughan, Mary Windholtz The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the present time across the United States.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Rolling Stock” (Robert Torti, Todd Lester, Sean Grant, Ronald Garza, Angel Vargas, Joey McKneely, Gordon Owens); “Engine of Love” (words derived from an original lyric by Peter Reeves) (Greg Mowry, Reva Rice, Jane Krakowski, Andrea McArdle, Jamie Beth Chandler); “Lotta Locomotion” (Jane Krakowski, Andrea McArdle, Jamie Beth Chandler, Greg Mowry); “Freight” (Company); “AC/DC” (Ken Ard, Joey McKneely, Christina Youngman, Nicole Picard, Mary Ann Lamb, Gordon Owens, Company); “Pumping Iron” (Robert Torti, Reva Rice, Andrea McArdle, Jane Krakowski, Jamie Beth Chandler, Nicole Picard, Mary Ann Lamb); “Freight” (reprise) (Company); “Make Up My Heart” (Reva Rice); “Race One” (Robert Torti and Jane Krakowski, Michael Berglund and Nicole Picard, William Frey and Barry K. Bernal, Ken Ard and Riva Rice); “There’s Me” (Barry K. Bernal, Jane Krakowski); “Poppa’s Blues” (Steve Fowler, Frank Mastrocola, Sean Grant, Ronald Garza, Angel Vargas, Robert Torti); “Belle” (Janet Williams Adderley, Steve Fowler, Frank Mastrocola, Sean Grant, Ronald Garza, Angel Vargas, Robert Torti, Michael Scott Gregory, Todd Lester); “Race Two” (A. C. Ciulla and Jamie Beth Chandler, D. Michael Heath and Mary Ann Lamb, Philip Clayton and Andrea McArdle, Steve Fowler and Michael Scott Gregory); “Laughing Stock” (Company); “Starlight Express” (Greg Mowry) Act Two: Silver Dollar” (Company); “U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D.” (Jane Krakowski, Andrea McArdle, Jamie Beth Chandler); “Rolling Stock” (reprise) (Jane Krakowski, Andrea McArdle, Jamie Beth Chandler); “Wide Smile, High Style, That’s Me” (Barry K. Bernal, Ken Ard, Joey McKneely, Christina Youngman, Nicole Picard, Mary Ann Lamb, Gordon Owens); “First Final” (Robert Torti and Reva Rice, Ken Ard and Jane Krakowski, D. Michael Heath and Mary Ann Lamb, Greg Mowry and Barry K. Bernal); “Right Time, Right Place” (Frank Mastrocola, Sean Grant, Ronald Garza, Angel Vargas); “I Am the Starlight” (Greg Mowry, Steve Fowler); “Final Selection” (Greg Mowry, Michael Scott Gregory, Jane Krakowski, Ken Ard, Reva Rice, Robert Torti, Barry K. Bernal); “Only You” (Reva Rice, Greg Mowry); “Chase” (Company); “One Rock and Roll Too Many” (Robert Torti, Ken Ard, Barry K. Bernal); “Light at the End of the Tunnel” (Company) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express was a theme park plunked down in a Broadway theatre, or maybe it was just an interminable video game come to life. Whatever it was, it lacked memorable music, lyrics (“Starlight express, answer me yes,” anyone?), story, and characters, and instead offered high-tech gadgetry which provided the most spectacular and expensive production design in Broadway history at a reputed investment of $8 million. But beyond the scenic effects there was nothing, and about fifteen minutes was more than enough time to sample and appreciate the scenic wizardry. Otherwise, the show was repetitious and had nowhere to go with its endless roller-skating sequences and wispy story. The prerecorded voice of child actor Braden Danner provided a narration of sorts, while in person the young actor could be seen in Les Miserables, which had opened on Broadway three days earlier. The story was about a train race in which three engines, the upstart and untrustworthy American diesel Greaseball (Robert Torti), the ultra-modern electric Electra (Ken Ard), and the old-fashioned steam engine Rusty (Greg Mowry) enter in competition for a championship that will yield the prize of a whole silver dollar. Of course, the underdog wins. The three engines engage in test runs before the big race, and along for the ride are the sleeping-car-with-a-heart-of-gold Belle (Janet Williams Adderley), the dining car Dinah (Jane Krakowski) who was no doubt related to a car from Chattanooga which famously offered “dinner in the diner,” and the duplicitous Red Caboose (Barry A. Bernal).

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The cast members performed on skates, and the three-tiered set was a whirligig of moving ramps, platforms, and bridges, all of which were anchored to and surrounded by what looked like gobs of melted Plexiglas. It was all very impressive from a technological point of view, and the game cast zoomed all over the stage without missing a beat. For the London production, skate ways were constructed throughout the auditorium in order to bring the audience into the action, but for New York most of the show took place on the stage (but race tracks surrounded two pools of seats in the front orchestra section, and the skaters reached these tracks though underground tunnels). As for the two dozen musicians, a program note stated they played “live” but were located in “a specially designed acoustical ‘orchestra room’ off stage.” The musical had premiered in London three years earlier on March 27, 1984, at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, and at the time of the New York opening the show was beginning its fourth sold-out year in London where it eventually played for a total of 7,406 performances. The Broadway production ran for just a tenth of that number, and lost money. A few years into the London run, the musical was radically revised, and for Broadway more than just the physical production was changed. A few songs were cut for New York, a number of lyrics underwent revision, and the show now took place in the United States and the scenery provided visual landmarks to denote the areas of the country where the action occurred. During the New York run and the national tour, further changes were made to the songs and the show’s overall structure, and it seems there isn’t quite a “final” version of the material because most productions are adapted for the particular venue in which they are playing. The headline in William A. Henry III’s review in Time read “Toward the Freight Yards of Fiasco.” He noted the production was “one of the most astonishing spectacles in the annals of the stage” but would “baffle and frustrate regular theatergoers” even as it would “enthrall brand-new audiences, especially those under the age of reason.” Henry also noted that the staging of the races seemed “contrived” because when one contender passed another there was “no burst of athletic elan” to justify the surge, and sometimes the team that was “fated” to lose reined “itself in short of the finish line.” Frank Rich in the New York Times reported that Andrew Lloyd Webber said the musical was for children who loved trains, and “two numbing hours later” the critic wondered “whose” children he had in mind, because the show was “the perfect gift for the kid who has everything except parents.” In scope, the gargantuan set recalled the one designed for Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (which had also played at the Gershwin), but in this case the set had “been dipped in pink and purple bubble gum.” And because of the musical arrangements and amplification, the production seemed to have been “piped in from a Far Rockaway junior prom.” Further, the evening was “chaotically choreographed,” the lyricist was “not to be confused with T. S. Eliot,” and the music was “sadder still.” The headline in Howard Kissel’s review in the New York Daily News said the express was “Heading Nowhere” and the one for John Curry’s notice in USA Today stated “Starlight Express Going Nowhere Fast.” Kissel said the music was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “usual characterless mush,” and the technology owed “more to disco than to Disney” and at times recalled “Studio 54 rather than the Magic Kingdom.” And Curry said “this simplest of plots is crushed beneath the Express excess” and “for all its breathtaking movement” the musical moved him not “one iota.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the show was a rock concert, not theatre, with “particularly loud” and “surprisingly bad” music. As a result, the evening “was Hell on wheels.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “totally uninvolving” musical was “intended as a theatrical night on the town of technical wizardry—and as simply such, it succeeds.” While he predicted the show would be a “big fat hit,” he nonetheless found the music “undistinguished,” the lyrics “simplistic” and “nearly childish,” and overall the show was “more silly than bad.” Allan Wallach in New York Newsday indicated the musical was “a triumph of technology” but otherwise “left behind at the station is the exhilarating fusion of music, dance and charm we get from the best musicals.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the show’s attempts “at telling a story and plumbing emotional depths” were “pathetic” and the skating and visual effects were the only reasons to see the production. But he cautioned that “spectacular” effects could soon grow “monotonous.” In early examples of political correctness, a few critics seemed to go overboard in their analysis of the train characters and their music. The obnoxious Greaseball was an American, and so was this a comment on the United States? (And, if so, what were we to make of the “Red” Caboose?) Further, there was some grousing that the female trains were victims of sexism. And one or two critics even complained that Lloyd Webber appropriated black music styles: but pastiche of one kind or another is the lifeblood of many a musical score, and it seemed pedantic to accuse the composer of ripping off one type of music (would these critics have groaned if he had fashioned his score after Irish-styled jigs, airs, and folk songs?).

1986–1987 SEASON     319

Songs included in the London production but either cut or revised for New York were: “Call Me Rusty,” “Hitching and Switching,” “He Whistled at Me,” “The Blues,” “The Rap,” “No Comeback,” and “Only He.” The original London cast album was recorded by Polydor Records and was released on a two-CD set (# 821597); as The New Starlight Express, the cast recording of the revised London production was also released on Polydor (CD # 519-041-2) (the new songs included “Entry of National Trains,” “Crazy,” and “Next Time You Fall in Love,” the latter with lyric by Don Black). There was no Broadway cast recording, but New York original cast member Andrea McArdle recorded the title song for her collection Andrea McArdle on Broadway (released on CD by Original Cast Records).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Starlight Express); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Robert Torti); Best Director of a Musical (Trevor Nunn); Best Score (lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber); Best Costume Designer (John Napier); Best Lighting Designer (David Hersey); Best Choreographer (Arlene Phillips)

BARBARA COOK / A CONCERT FOR THE THEATRE Theatre: Ambassador Theatre Opening Date: April 15, 1987; Closing Date: April 26, 1987 Performances: 13 Producers: Jerry Kravat, The Shubert Organization, and Emanuel Azenberg (Perry B. Granoff, Associate Producer); Scenery: John Falabella; Costumes: Joseph G. Aulisi; Lighting: Richard Winkler; Musical Direction: Wally Harper Cast: Barbara Cook; Musicians: Wally Harper (Musical Director, Piano), John Beal (Bass), Charles Loeb (Guitar), John Redsecker (Drums), David Carey (Percussion), Mark Schlefer (Keyboard), John Clifton (Keyboard), Lawrence Feldman (Reeds) The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs were performed by Barbara Cook. The program didn’t list individual musical numbers, and the alphabetical list below is taken from various reference sources and newspaper reviews. “Carolina in the Morning” (The Passing Show of 1922; lyric by Gus Kahn, music by Walter Donaldson); “Change Partners” (1938 film Carefree; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Come Rain or Come Shine” (St. Louis Woman, 1946; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harold Arlen); “Dear Friend” (She Loves Me, 1963; lyric by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock); “A Foggy Day (in London Town)” (1937 film A Damsel in Distress; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “He Was Too Good to Me” (dropped from Simple Simon, 1930; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); “I Can Cook, Too” (On the Town, 1944; lyric by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Leonard Bernstein, music by Leonard Bernstein); “I Love a Piano” (Stop! Look! Listen!, 1915; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “I See Your Face Before Me” (Between the Devil, 1937; lyric by Howard Dietz, music by Arthur Schwartz); “Ice Cream” (She Loves Me, 1963; lyric by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock); “If Love Were All” (Bittersweet, London and New York, 1929; lyric and music by Noel Coward); “The Ingenue” (lyric by David Zippel, music by Wally Harper); “In Between Goodbyes” (lyric by David Zippel, music by Wally Harper); “Losing My Mind” (Follies, 1971; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “The Man I Love” (dropped during the tryout of Lady, Be Good!, 1924; later included in the 1927 version of Strike Up the Band, which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout; and considered for, but not used in, Rosalie, 1928; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “Mr. Snow” (Carousel, 1945; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” (1930 film Mammy; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Sing a Song with Me” (lyric by Paul Zakrzewski, music by Wally Harper); “Stars” (lyric and music by Laura Nyro); “Sweet Georgia Brown” (lyric and music by Maceo Pinkard, Ben Bernie, and Kenneth Casey); “Them

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There Eyes” (lyric and music by Maceo Pinkard, Doris Tauber, and William Tracey); “Till There Was You” (The Music Man, 1957; lyric and music by Meredith Willson); “Wait Till You See Him” (dropped from By Jupiter, 1942; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); “Why Did I Choose You?” (The Yearling, 1965; lyric by Herbert Martin, music by Michael Leonard); “Widescreen” (lyric and music by Rupert Holmes) Barbara Cook’s A Concert for the Theatre (which had first been produced in London) would probably have been more effective in a cabaret or nightclub setting, but any excuse was a good one for listening to the legendary performer who created roles in eight Broadway musicals between 1951 and 1971 (Flahooley, 1951; Plain and Fancy, 1954; Candide, 1956; The Music Man, 1957; The Gay Life, 1961; She Loves Me, 1963; Something More!, 1964; and The Grass Harp, 1971) and introduced such songs as “Glitter and Be Gay,” “Till There Was You,” and “Ice Cream.” In the mid-1970s, Cook switched careers and began a successful second act as a cabaret singer. For much of her cabaret and recording years, Cook’s pianist and arranger was Wally Harper, who served as musical director for the current production. Frank Rich in the New York Times said when Cook’s “creamy soprano” and “eternally youthful voice” connected “with the eternal old songs” the years fell away. Unfortunately, she didn’t always perform numbers associated with her years on Broadway and her new and “generally innocuous comic songs” fell into the category of what might be termed Las Vegas “special material” and should have been dropped in favor of “Goodnight, My Someone” and other songs she introduced (the evening didn’t include any numbers from Flahooley, Plain and Fancy, Candide, The Gay Life, Something More!, and The Grass Harp). Further, the program didn’t credit a director or writer, and both were “clearly needed” because Cook spent valuable stage time in “tedious chat” with “unfailingly pointless anecdotes about backstage encounters with show-biz royalty.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the evening offered the “same songs” and the “same interpretations” that Cook had been performing for years in supper clubs, and her “random showbiz reflections” were of “so little interest” that he was tempted “to shout ‘Sing, dammit, sing!’” when she started to chatter. Ultimately, the evening lacked “the polish that an astute stage director might have lent it.” Allan Wallach in New York Newsday hailed Cook as “the consummate theatre singer,” but noted her commentary didn’t “touch the deep chords that helped make” Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music so memorable; David Lida in Women’s Wear Daily said Cook had “one of the most beautiful, theatrical sopranos around”; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said “nothing could be more felicitous on a fine spring evening” than to attend Cook’s “amply satisfying stage entertainment”; Jack Curry in USA Today said that with the concert “Broadway is reclaiming its superstar”; and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal noted that “the richness, the clarity, the range of her voice, together with her vocal interpretations, are all one could ask for.” Cook was backed by eight musicians, including John Clifton at the keyboards. Like Wally Harper, Clifton was also a composer and his score for the 1966 Off-Broadway musical Man with a Load of Mischief includes “Masquerade,” one of the loveliest and most haunting theatre ballads of that era.

1987–1988 Season

DREAMGIRLS Theatre: Ambassador Theatre Opening Date: June 28, 1987; Closing Date: November 29, 1987 Performances: 168 Book and Lyrics: Tom Eyen Music: Henry Krieger Direction and Choreography: Michael Bennett (production supervised by Bob Avian; Michael Peters, CoChoreographer); Producers: Marvin A. Krauss and Irving Siders (A Michael Bennett Production); Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: Marc Falcone Cast: The Stepp Sisters: Susan Beaubian, Rhetta Hughes, R. LaChanze Sapp, and Lorraine Velez; Yvette Louise Cason (Charlene), Lynda McConnell (Joanne), Roy L. Jones (Marty), Weyman Thompson (Curtis Taylor Jr.), Alisa Gaye (Deena Jones), Vernon Spencer (The M.C., Mr. Morgan), Leonard Piggee (Tiny Joe Dixon, Jerry, Security Guard), Arnetia Walker (Lorrell Robinson), Kevyn Morrow (C. C. White), Lillias White (Effie Melody White); Little Albert and the Tru-Tones: Bobby Daye, Matthew Dickens, Germaine Edwards, Robert Fowler, and Harold Perrineau; Herbert L. Rawlings Jr. (James aka Jimmy Thunder Early), Fuschia Walker (Edna Burke); The James Early Band: Bobby Daye, Matthew Dickens, Germaine Edwards, Robert Fowler, Harold Perrineau, and Stephen Terrell; Milton Craig Nealy (Wayne); Dave and the Sweethearts: Stephen Bourneuf, Shirley Tripp, and Lorraine Velez; Tim Cassidy (Frank), Stephen Terrell (Dwight), Stephen Bourneuf (T.V. Stage Manager), Susan Beaubian (Michelle Morris), Robert Fowler (Carl); The Five Tuxedos: Bobby Daye, Matthew Dickens, Germaine Edwards, Robert Fowler, and Harold Perrineau; Les Style: Yvette Louise Cason, Rhetta Hughes, Lynda McConnell, and R. LaChanze Sapp; Film Executives: Matthew Dickens, Robert Fowler, and Stephen Terrell; Announcers, Reporters, Stagehands, Party Guests, and Photographers: Stephen Bourneuf, Yvette Louise Cason, Tim Cassidy, Bobby Daye, Matthew Dickens, Germaine Edwards, Robert Fowler, Rhetta Hughes, Lynda McConnell, Milton Craig Nealy, Harold Perrineau, Leonard Piggee, R. LaChanze Sapp, Vernon Spencer, Stephen Terrell, Shirley Tripp, Lorraine Velez, Fuschia Walker The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the early 1960s (in New York City, on the road, in limbo, St. Louis, Miami, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Las Vegas) and in the early 1970s (in Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City).

Musical Numbers Note: The Dreamettes and The Dreams were portrayed and sung by Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye until the last number in the first act [“Love Love Love You Baby”] when The Dreams were portrayed by Alisa Gaye, Arnetia Walker, and Susan Beaubian; beginning with the reprise version of “One Night 321

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Only” late in the second act, the group is known as Deena Jones and The Dreams and the group members are portrayed by Alisa Gaye with Arnetia Walker and Susan Beaubian. Act One: “I’m Looking for Something” (The Stepp Sisters: Susan Beaubian, Rhetta Hughes, R. LaChanze Sapp, and Lorraine Velez); “Goin’ Downtown” (Little Albert and the Tru-Tones: Bobby Daye, Matthew Dickens, Germaine Edwards, Robert Fowler, and Harold Perrineau); “Takin’ the Long Way Home” (Leonard Piggee); “Move” (“You’re Steppin’ on My Heart”) (The Dreamettes: Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye); “Fake Your Way to the Top” (Herbert L. Rawlings Jr.; The James Early Band: Bobby Daye, Matthew Dickens, Germaine Edwards, Robert Fowler, Harold Perrineau, and Stephen Terrell; The Dreamettes: Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye); “Cadillac Car” (Weyman Thompson, Herbert L. Rawlings Jr., Kevyn Morrow, Roy L. Jones, Company); “Cadillac Car” (reprise) (Company); “Cadillac Car” (second reprise) (Company); “Cadillac Car” (third reprise) (Dave and The Sweethearts: Stephen Bourneuf, Shirley Tripp, and Lorraine Velez); “Steppin’ to the Bad Side” (Weyman Thompson, Kevyn Morrow, Herbert L. Rawlings Jr., Milton Craig Nealy; The Dreamettes: Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye; Company); “Party, Party” (Company); “I Want You Baby” (Herbert L. Rawlings Jr.; The Dreamettes: Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye); “Family” (Kevyn Morrow, Weyman Thompson, Herbert L. Rawlings Jr., Alisa Gaye, Arnetia Walker); “Dreamgirls” (The Dreams: Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye); “Press Conference” (Company); “Only the Beginning” (Weyman Thompson, Alisa Gaye, Lillias White); “Heavy” (The Dreams: Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye); “Heavy” (reprise) (The Dreams: Lillias White, Arnetia Walker, and Alisa Gaye; Weyman Thompson); “It’s All Over” (Weyman Thompson, Lillias White, Alisa Gaye, Arnetia Walker, Kevyn Morrow, Susan Beaubian, Herbert L. Rawlings Jr.); “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” (Lillias White); “Love Love You Baby” (The Dreams: Alisa Gaye, Arnetia Walker, and Susan Beaubian) Act Two: “Dreamgirls” (The Dreams: Alisa Gaye, Arnetia Walker, and Susan Beaubian; Company); “I Am Changing” (Lillias White); “One More Picture Please” (Company); “When I First Saw You” (Weyman Thompson, Alisa Gaye); “Got to Be Good Times” (The Five Tuxedos: Bobby Daye, Matthew Dickens, Germaine Edwards, Robert Fowler, and Harold Perrineau); “Ain’t No Party” (Arnetia Walker, Herbert L. Rawlings Jr.); “I Meant You No Harm” (Herbert L. Rawlings Jr.); “Quintette” (Alisa Gaye, Arnetia Walker, Kevyn Morrow, Susan Beaubian, Herbert L. Rawlings, Jr.); “The Rap” (Herbert L. Rawlings Jr., Kevyn Morrow, Roy L. Jones, Weyman Thompson, Tim Cassidy, Arnetia Walker, Company); “I Miss You Old Friend” (Lillias White, Roy L. Jones, Kevyn Morrow; Les Styles: Yvette Louise Cason, Rhetta Hughes, Lynda McConnel, and R. LaChanze Sapp); “One Night Only” (Lillias White); “One Night Only” (reprise) (Deena Jones and The Dreams: Alisa Gaye with Arnetia Walker and Susan Beaubian; Company); “I’m Somebody” (Deena Jones and The Dreams: Alisa Gaye with Arnetia Walker and Susan Beaubian); “Faith in Myself” (Lillias White); “Hard to Say Goodbye, My Love” (Deena Jones and The Dreams: Alisa Gaye with Arnetia Walker and Susan Beaubian) (Note: Although not listed in the program, the finale was a reprise of “Dreamgirls,” and was sung by Lillias White, Alisa Gay, Arnetia Walker, and Susan Beaubian.) The revival of Dreamgirls was a touring version that opened on Broadway as the first production of the new season, and most of the critics gushed all over again and threw hyperbolic bouquets at a musical that at best is only average. The plot was still a tired showbiz saga gussied up with modern staging techniques, and its book refused to peel away its prettified sheen and tackle the harsh and ruthless story underneath. Further, the original production was burdened by a foolish design scheme in which moving pylons dominated the stage in narcissistic look-at-me displays. And a virtually all-sung evening demanded a strong score, but the one for Dreamgirls offered generic music that occasionally aspired to Broadway opera but fell flat with its pretentiousness. A few critics complained that the revival’s touring roots were all too evident, and some wished Michael Bennett had spruced it up. But at least one or two reviewers acknowledged that the director and choreographer was ill (in fact, Bennett died five days after the Broadway opening). Despite good notices, the production managed just five months of performances. Frank Rich in the New York Times continued his love affair with the musical. At first, he was somewhat dismayed by the lean look of the bus-and-truck production, but soon he was “knocked out all over again by what is the most exciting staging of a Broadway musical in this decade.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said the scaled-down production was “much more satisfying and entertaining than the Broadway original”; in the same newspaper, Douglas Watt said he preferred the current cast to the original, and said Jennifer Holiday’s “extreme grimacing” was “less affecting than the equally aggrieved delivery” of Lillias White.

1987–1988 SEASON     323

Jack Curry in USA Today said White’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” was “more heartbreaking” because it was more touching than overwhelming; Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “immensely entertaining” revival as “the real thing”; and Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said the “diminished” physical design was “surprisingly unimportant” because it revealed the show “in new and surprising ways.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the revival “a lot less slick” than the original, but for all purposes the musical was “no worse, and no better.” He thought the original production with its “crass” story, “feebly imitative” music (“about as memorable as light elevator disco”), and “trivial” lyrics had been “the most over-hyped show ever to hit town.” He noted that the story dealt with black performers who make it “in the white world, but at some grievous loss to their pure black souls” (indeed, showbiz sagas of this nature always weep over the noble artiste who sells his soul to the marketplace and lives to regret it, with Clifford Odets’s 1949 play The Big Knife perhaps the most obvious example of the genre). Note that performer R. LaChanze Sapp was later known as LaChanze. For more information about the musical, see entry for the original 1981 production.

THE STUDENT PRINCE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 7, 1987; Closing Date: November 8, 1987 Performances: 14 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Dorothy Donnelly (book adaptation by Hugh Wheeler) Music: Sigmund Romberg Based on the 1901 play Alt-Heidelberg by Wilhelm Meyer-Forster (which had been adapted from MeyerForster’s 1898 novel Karl Heinrich). Direction: Jack Hofsiss (Christian Smith, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Sergiu Comissiona, Music Director); Choreography: Donald Saddler (choreography restaged by Jessica Redel); Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Patton Campbell; Lighting: Gilbert V. Hemsley Jr.; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Jim Coleman Cast: (Note: Some roles were cast with performers who alternated during the run; both names are given, and the first one denotes the performer who sang on opening night.) Edward Zimmerman (Lackey, Huzzar), Louis Perry (Lackey, Freshman, Huzzar), George Wyman (Lackey, Huzzar), Neil Eddinger (Lackey, Huzzar), Glenn Rowen (Lackey, Secretary, Huzzar), Gregory Moore (Lackey, Huzzar), Brian Steele/Chester Ludgin (Doctor Engel), David Rae Smith (Count von Mark), Jonathan Guss (Secretary), Jon Garrison/John Stewart (Prince Karl Franz), James Billings/Jack Harrold (Lutz), Susanne Marsee (Gretchen), Joseph McKee (Ruder), Douglas Hamilton (Nicholas), Jack Harrold/James Billings (Toni), William Ledbetter (Hubert), Stanley Cornett (Detlef), Robert Brubaker (von Asterberg), Robert Ferrier (Lucas), Leigh Munro/Claudette Peterson (Kathie), Madeleine Mines (Girl, Friend of Huzzars), Paula Hostetter (Girl, Friend of Huzzars), Beth Pensiero (Girl, Friend of Huzzars), Jill Bosworth (Girl, Friend of Huzzars), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Grand Duchess Anastasia), Lisbeth Lloyd/Cynthia Rose (Princess Margaret), Cris Groenendaal (Captain Tarnitz), Rebecca Russell (Countess Leydon); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The New York City Opera Company’s current revival of Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince was its second of five mountings of the bittersweet operetta. The first had opened a year earlier (for more information as well as a list of musical numbers, see entry for the 1980 presentation), and it was followed by productions in 1981, 1985, 1987, and 1993 (for information about the 1981 and 1985 revivals, see specific entries). Will Crutchfield in the New York Times noted that The Student Prince was “insufferable” as drama. But its “handful of beautiful tunes” probed what the book ignored and enacted what the book only indicated. Although he had some quibbles with the singing of Leigh Munro and Jon Garrison, he stated that she “shaped the melodies with affection” and Garrison’s tenor was “firm and ringing.” In the same newspaper, Bernard Holland reviewed the alternate cast and said John Stewart was “reasonably imposing” with “the kind of light voice” which was “about right” for the part but perhaps “not quite strong enough” for the large theatre. Claudette Peterson’s soprano offered “more carrying power” but had a tendency “towards coarseness.” During the latter performances during the fall, Mark Beudert assumed the title role, and in his review for the Times Michael Kimmelman said the tenor “acquitted himself better than most” but tended to “overshadow” some of the other singers “in terms of volume.”

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SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 29, 1987; Closing Date: October 4, 1987 Performances: 11 (in repertory) Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond. Direction: Harold Prince (Arthur Masella, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Sergiu Comissiona, Music Director); Choreography: Larry Fuller (Choreography re-created by William Kirk); Scenery: Eugene Lee; Costumes: Franne Lee; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: (Note: Some roles were cast with performers who alternated during the run; both names are given, and the first one denotes the performer who sang on opening night.) Cris Groenendaal (Anthony Hope), Timothy Nolen/Stanley Wexler (Sweeney Todd), Brooks Almy/Ivy Austin (Beggar Woman), Joyce Castle/ Marcia Mitzman (Mrs. Lovett), Will Roy/Joseph McKee (Judge Turpin), John Lankston (The Beadle), Leigh Munro/Susan Powell (Johanna), Robert Johanson (Tobias Ragg), Jerold Siena (Pirelli), William Ledbetter (Jonas Fogg); The New York Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London during the nineteenth century. The New York City Opera Company’s presentation of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street was its second of three revivals (for more information about the work as well as a list of musical numbers, see entry for the 1984 production). John Rockwell in the New York Times noted the score was “the finest example of the current Broadwayoperatic hybrid style” with its “abruptly juxtaposed” and “continuous pastiche of Broadway idioms in an essentially tonal harmonic idiom.” No one did this “better” than Sondheim, and in fact he “invented” it. Timothy Nolen’s Sweeney Todd was not quite as “chilling” as Len Cariou’s interpretation, but he was nonetheless “intense and dedicated,” and Joyce Castle was “really delightful” as Mrs. Lovett. For the same newspaper, Bernard Holland later reviewed the alternate cast, and noted that Stanley Wexler was never “terribly sinister” but “still very pleasant to listen to” and Marcia Mitzman had “a clear cutting voice, alloyed liberally with brass.”

THE DESERT SONG Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: August 25, 1987; Closing Date: September 6, 1987 Performances: 16 Book: Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Frank Mandel; new book adaptation by Robert Johanson Lyrics: Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II; some lyrics revised by Robert Johanson Music: Sigmund Romberg Direction and Choreography: Robert Johanson; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Sergiu Comissiona, Music Director); Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Jim Coleman Cast: (Note: For those roles that had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes the opening-night cast member.) Michael Cousins/John Stewart (Sid El Kar), Kenneth Kantor (Hassi), William Ledbetter (Hadji), Joyce Campana (Neri, Clementina), Richard White/William Parcher (Pierre Birabeau alias The Red Shadow), Philip William McKinley (Benjamin Kidd), Louise Hickey (Azuri), Theodore Baerg/Cris Groenendaal (Captain Paul Fontaine), David Frye (Sergeant LaVergne), Lillian Graff (Susan), Paula Hostetter (Edith), David Rae Smith (General Birabeau), Linda Michele/Jane Thorngren (Margot Bonvalet), Raymond Bazemore (Ali Ben Ali), Robert Brubaker (Nogi); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1930s in Morocco.

1987–1988 SEASON     325

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual song titles. In his review of the New York City Opera Company’s revival of Sigmund Romberg’s 1926 operetta The Desert Song, Donal Henahan in the New York Times said the production was “a remarkably faithful reconstruction of the Broadway operetta style of half a century ago.” As the alternately nerdy and “sissified” Pierre and the virile and dashing Red Shadow, Henahan noted that Richard White “could scarcely be improved upon” with his suggestions of both Clark Kent and Superman, not to mention Zorro, the Lone Ranger, and Lawrence of Arabia. The critic also reported that White was something of a horseman because in “a single bound” he leapt upon a prancing horse, and when the animal became nervous White showed “enough horsemanship” to ensure that the horse didn’t gallop directly into the orchestra pit. Linda Michele’s Margot was “lissome” and appropriately “dizzy” but “tended to brassy shrillness”; Philip William McKinley’s Benjamin was a mix of Jerry Lewis and Pee-wee Herman; and Lillian Graff’s Susan was “frenetic” and “raucous” in the “style of Nancy Walker trying to outmug Judy Canova.” In the same newspaper, Michael Kimmelman said that as Pierre and the Red Shadow, William Parcher sang in “fittingly handsome, heated fashion” and his “finest” moment was when he appeared bare-chested in the final scene. Kimmelman noted that The Desert Song was the kind of operetta in which the masked hero dressed all in red appears before the heroine, who then exclaims, “Why, you’re the Red Shadow!” Although the program didn’t list song numbers, the reviews mentioned that the revival included “The Riff Song” (aka “Ho!”), “Romance,” “One Alone,” “The Sabre Song,” “It,” and the title song. Because director and choreographer Robert Johanson had staged the work for a recent production at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, it’s likely the revival also included such numbers as “Let Love Go,” “One Flower Grows Alone in Your Garden,” “The French Military Marching Song,” “I Want a Kiss,” “Then You Will Know,” and “Song of the Brass Key” (but the lyrics for some of these were no doubt revised because Johanson was credited with additional lyrics). During the operetta’s tryout it was titled Lady Fair, and Robert Halliday and Vivienne Segal were the first Red Shadow/Pierre and Margot. The production premiered in New York at the Casino Theatre on November 30, 1926, for 471 performances, and at the time the work was actually a contemporary piece because it was loosely based on then-current political events in North Africa. The story centered on the mysterious Red Shadow (Richard White), described as a “Riff Robin Hood” who leads the rebellious Riff tribes against the Europeans in Morocco. The Red Shadow is actually Pierre Birabeau, the son of the Governor-General Birabeau, and Pierre poses as a meek and mild-mannered introvert in order to protect his identity as the Red Shadow. As Pierre, his attempts to court the beautiful Margot Bonvalet (Linda Michele) are doomed because she wants to escape from her “humdrum world” and find a “rough and ready” man who will “master” her, not some nerdy bookworm like Pierre. As the Red Shadow, Pierre abducts Margot and thus fulfills her fantasies of romantic adventure. But when his father wants to duel the Red Shadow, Pierre of course can’t agree to it and thus disappears, much to the chagrin of Margot, who now believes her hero has turned coward. Later, Pierre “kills” the Red Shadow, and when he brings the Red Shadow’s clothes to the French headquarters he’s considered a hero. Pierre’s father realizes his son is the Red Shadow and comes to understand that with Pierre’s help the Moroccans and the Europeans can peaceably coexist. And when Pierre is alone with Margot he dons the Red Shadow’s mask and cape, and she realizes the seemingly wimpy Pierre is indeed the “rough and ready” man of her dreams. The musical was revived on Broadway at City Center on January 8, 1946, for forty-five performances with Walter Cassel and Dorothy Sandlin, and then at the Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre on September 5, 1973, for fifteen performances with David Cryer and Chris Callan. After the current City Opera production, the company revived the work on August 29, 1989, for seven showings (see entry). The original London production opened on April 7, 1927, at the Drury Lane for 432 performances and starred Harry Welchman and Edith Day. The musical has been filmed three times (in 1929 with John Boles and Carlotta King; in 1943 with Dennis Morgan and Irene Manning; and in 1953 with Gordon MacRae and Kathryn Grayson). The 1943 and 1953 versions are available on DVD by the Warner Brothers Archive Collection. The 1943 film was an updated adaptation which included Nazis in North Africa, and in his review for the New York Times Bosley Crowther described the movie as a “sheik-and-shimmy romance”; and perhaps as a nod to the era’s political climate, the 1953 version called Pierre’s alter ego El Khobar instead of the Red Shadow. An NBC television adaptation

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was aired on May 7, 1955, with Nelson Eddy and Gale Sherwood, and the teleplay was written by William Friedberg, Neil Simon, and Will Glickman; the DVD was released by Video Artists International. The script was published in softcover by Samuel French in 1954, and the lyrics are included in The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. There are numerous recordings of the score, including a studio cast released by RCA Victor Records (and issued on CD by ArkivMusic/RCA Masterworks Broadway # 8872542771-2) with Giorgio Tozzi, Kathy Barr, and Peter Palmer. Another worthwhile studio cast recording (with Mario Lanza and Judith Raskin) was also released by RCA (LP # LM-2440).

DIE FLEDERMAUS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: September 26, 1987; Closing Date: October 31, 1987 Performances: 5 (in repertory) Libretto: Carl Haffner and Richard Genee (English adaptation by Ruth and Thomas Martin) Music: Johann Strauss Based on the play Le reveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy. Direction: Gerald Freedman (Christian Smith, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Sergiu Comissiona, Music Director); Choreography: Thomas Andrew; Scenery: Lloyd Evans; Costumes: Thierry Bosquet; Lighting: Hans Sondheimer; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Imre Pallo Cast: Michael Cousins (Alfred), Claudette Peterson (Adele), Leigh Munro (Rosalinda von Eisenstein), Theodore Baerg (Gabriel von Eisenstein), Jonathan Green (Doctor Blind), William Parcher (Doctor Falke), Joseph McKee (Frank), Alison Bevan (Sally), Larry Becker (Ivan), James Billings (Prince Orlofsky), Patricia McBride (Guest Dancer), Esperanza Galan (Solo Dancer), Jack Harrold (Frosch); The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in three acts. The action takes place in a summer resort near Vienna during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The New York City Opera Company’s current production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) was the company’s fifth of five revivals of the operetta during the decade (for more information about the operetta, see entry for the February 1980 production; also see entries for September 1980, 1981, and 1986). The work was also heard in German by the Vienna Volksoper in 1984 (see entry). Bernard Holland in the New York Times complained that director Gerald Freedman viewed the operetta through the prism of a television situation comedy. Each character had a “little laugh trigger for the audience to pull” and there were one-liners and sight gags; as a result, everything moved so “swiftly” that “the perils of reflection” were “avoided.” James Billings’s Prince Orlovsky showed “vestiges of irony and human dimension,” but Jack Harrold’s Frosch was a “near out-of-control mélange of Milton Berle and the Three Stooges.” Leigh Munro “sang well” as Rosalinda, but Claudette Peterson’s Adele came across as “vocally distressed.”

ROZA

“A New Musical” Theatre: Royale Theatre Opening Date: October 1, 1987; Closing Date: October 11, 1987 Performances: 12 Book and Lyrics: Julian More Music: Gilbert Becaud Based on the 1975 novel La vie devant soi (The Life Before Us) by Emile Ajar (pseudonym for Romain Gary), and published in English as Momo. Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: The Producer Circle Company (Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards, and Sam Crothers) and The Shubert Organization by arrangement with Les Editions Musicales et Artistiques (EMA) (Ruth Mitchell, Executive Producer); Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Alexander Okun; Costumes: Florence Klotz; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Louis St. Louis

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Cast: Georgia Brown (Madame Roza), Al DeCristo (Max), Ira Hawkins (Raoul), Michele Mais (Madame Bouaffa), Yamil Borges (Jasmine), Neal Ben-Ari (Hamil, Yussef Kadir), Jerry Matz (Doctor Katz), Marcia Lewis (Mme. Katz), David Shoiche Chan (Michel), Mandla Msomi (Banania), Monique Cintron (Salima), Max Loving (Young Momo), Bob Gunton (Lola), Stephen Rosenberg (Young Moise), Thuli Dumakude (Woman), Richard Frisch (Man), Joey McKneely (Moise), Alex Paez (Momo) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Paris in 1970 and in 1974.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Happiness” (Georgia Brown); “Max’s Visit” (Al DeCristo, Georgia Brown); “Different” (Bob Gunton, Georgia Brown, Marcia Lewis, Michele Mais, Yamil Borges); “Is Me” (Max Loving, Stephen Rosenberg, Monique Cintron, David Shoiche Chan, Mandla Msomi, Michele Mais, Yamil Borges); “Get the Lady Dressed” (Georgia Brown, Bob Gunton, Max Loving, Stephen Rosenberg, Monique Cintron, David Shoiche Chan, Mandla Msomi); “Hamil’s Birthday” (Company); “Bravo Bravo” (Georgia Brown); “Moon Like a Silver Window” (Max Loving, Alex Paez, Company) Act Two: “Merci” (Alex Paez, Joey McKneely); “House in Algiers” (Georgia Brown); “Yussef’s Visit” (Neal Ben-Ari, Georgia Brown, Alex Paez, Joey McKneely, Bob Gunton); “Life Is Ahead of Me” (Alex Paez); “Sweet Seventeen” (Michele Mais, Yamil Borges, Alex Paez, Joey McKneely); “Lola’s Ceremony” (Bob Gunton, Company); “Don’t Make Me Laugh” (Georgia Brown, Bob Gunton); “Live a Little” (Georgia Brown); Finale (Company) Roza was a short-lived failure and one of a string of disappointments during the era from director Harold Prince. His most recent success had been almost ten years earlier with Evita in 1979, and since then he had helmed nothing but short-running musicals, revues, and plays: Merrily We Roll Along (1981; sixteen performances); A Doll’s Life (1981, five performances); Play Memory (1984; five performances); End of the World (1984; thirty-three performances); Diamonds (1984; 122 performances); and Grind (1985; seventy-nine performances). But later during the 1987–1988 season he rebounded with The Phantom of the Opera, which as of this writing is the longest-running musical to open on Broadway. The wispy plot dealt with the self-described “one-woman UNICEF” Roza (Georgia Brown), a former Jewish concentration-camp prisoner and one-time prostitute who now runs what is essentially a day-care center in her Paris apartment for prostitutes’ children, a diverse nursery mix of Jewish, Arab, Asian, black, and white kids. Besides her charges, her world is filled with hangers-on, including the drag queen Lola (Bob Gunton), a character type without whom no respectable theatre season would be quite complete, and happy hookers, their johns, and caring neighbors (in regard to the latter, Allan Wallach in New York Newsday commented that many of them were “from nations that are the Jews’ sworn enemies”). But there is nothing bad in Roza’s world, and everyone is naive and loving. Roza even keeps a photograph of Hitler around, to remind herself that she’s alive and he’s not. However, Roza the character coughs a lot, and that’s a signal that Georgia Brown the star will soon have a lengthy death scene (Matt Roush in USA Today noted it was more than a death scene, it was “an act-long death scene”). But since this is a life-affirming musical and because Roza is a theatrical cousin to that carpe-diem windbag Zorba, her final song encourages everyone around her to “Live a Little.” (Frank Rich in the New York Times wryly noted that the song’s “profound message” made him “eagerly await” the final curtain so that he could “allow the directive to be put into practice.”) Roush found the musical “very self-satisfied,” “shameless in its sentimentality,” and “trite” in its direction, book, and songs. Further, Brown was “grotesque” in a “rust-colored fright wig” and “gaudy” clothes, and her “raspy, cigarette-stained singing voice” reminded him of Harvey Fierstein. In fact, both Brown and Gunton provided “a double drag show” of sorts. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News suggested Brown looked “like some overweight female impersonator imitating Bette Midler”; Rich said she seemed like “Tevye and Zorba in drag”; Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 felt the second act played like Zorba the Kvetch; and Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested that lyricist Julian More (who was one of the co-adaptors for the English book and lyrics of Irma La Douce) and composer Gilbert Becaud had provided a score which sounded “suspiciously like Irma on the Roof.”

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Rich said the musical’s “gooey humanity” gave him the urge “to find and kick a very small dog.” The “almost plotless” book exuded such pearls of wisdom as “You can’t leave home until you know where you came from,” and despite the evening’s ecumenical bent, “ethnic and sexual stereotyping” filled the evening and the black and Asian children were “so patronizingly presented” they weren’t even given dialogue. The lyrics were “tortured,” the music was “Europop schlock,” and a dance for the hookers and one of Roza’s seventeen-year-old male charges had “all the Gallic flavor of a Pepsi commercial.” Kissel said Prince “lost no opportunity to coarsen the material” and ultimately the show gave “vulgarity a bad name.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News stated the new Broadway season began on the “wrong note”; Wallach indicated the musical-theatre season stumbled with a “shaky start”; and Siegel commented that “if this is the overture to the ’87–’88 season, I pray the title isn’t ‘Everything’s Coming Up Rozas.’” But Barnes saw an entirely different show. He suggested that with Roza the new season began with “a fine walking start” and Brown had “the role of a lifetime” with a character who shouts, screams, suffers, and loves because “she is alive, yes, flamboyantly, crazily, dangerously alive” (just imagine the horror if Zorba and Roza were seatmates on your next flight). Although the score was more in the style of cabaret than theatre music, it nonetheless was “passionate” and “essentially intimate,” and while the story lacked “coherence” and “continuity,” Prince made a “virtue” of these faults by making the show “seem like page-episodes from a secret diary.” Prior to the New York opening, the following songs were cut: “Bouillabaisse People,” “N’Da’s Letter,” “N’Da’s Salespitch,” “Roza’s Yiddish High,” “On the Stairway,” and “Don’t Even Think about Tomorrow.” A film version of Romain Gary’s novel was filmed in 1977 as Madame Rosa with Simone Signoret in the title role, and it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

MORT SAHL ON BROADWAY! Theatre: Neil Simon Theatre Opening Date: October 11, 1987; Closing Date: November 1, 1987 Performances: 25 Cast: Mort Sahl Producers: James L. Nederlander and Arthur Rubin (Marvin A. Krauss, Executive Producer); Lighting: Roger Morgan The comedy revue was presented in one act. Political humorist and stand-up comic Mort Sahl’s previous Broadway appearance had been in the intimate 1958 revue The Next President, which besides Sahl’s routines included folk singers, a musical combo, and an interpretive dancer (as Bette Midler might have exclaimed, How very 1958 of you!); the self-described “musical salmagundi” opened at the Bijou Theatre and played for thirteen performances, and Sahl offered skewed looks at politics (the perfect Cold War missile is the one which destroys itself) and personalities (in his new movie The Young Lions, Marlon Brando plays a “confused” Nazi). After the current production, Sahl appeared Off Broadway in Mort Sahl’s America, which opened at Theatre Four on April 4, 1994, for seventy-three showings. During the decades following his Broadway debut, Sahl was an occasional political speechwriter (for John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Alexander Haig) and there was no political party that was safe from Sahl’s skewers. In reviewing the current engagement, Mel Gussow in the New York Times noted that Sahl was one of the “most acerbic commentators” and he refused “to talk down to his audience or to be pigeonholed.” His targets ranged from Ted Kennedy to Vanessa Redgrave to Sylvester Stallone, and he imagined a meeting between the latter two. Although Redgrave had never seen a Rambo movie, Sahl was confident Stallone had never heard of Wetherby. For all that, Sahl stated it was actually possible “to dislike Ms. Redgrave for herself.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News also liked the Redgrave joke, and noted that sometimes Sahl let celebrities speak for themselves, such as when “$5 million-a-picture Dustin Hoffman” states that “I’m a real liberal; the others are mock-liberals—they’re materialistic.” And Allan Wallach in New York Newsday noted that Sahl threw darts at Jessie Jackson (“I have a scheme”) and Alexander Haig (who “threw his helmet into the [presidential] ring”). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Sahl was “the funniest guy in town” with his appreciation for the ridiculous, the “quickness of his mind,” and “his wonderful sense of nonsense.” Sahl stated he was “allergic

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to majorities” but in truth Barnes thought the comedian was allergic to “any kind of cant or pomposity.” The critic also suggested that after the show Sahl would, in Dorothy Parker’s words, have to “find himself ‘a whole new set of old best friends.’” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal commented that Sahl was a “fiercely nonpartisan” and “astute” humorist who was “as tough on the left as the right”; but for some reason Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 wasn’t able to approve of Sahl’s using the word “liberal” in a pejorative manner (but he noted the comedian “hit a few targets” and was sometimes funny, as when the comedian told President Reagan it took twenty-eight days for his White House dinner invitation to be delivered, and Reagan said he’d get even by “mailing” the postal employees their paychecks); and David Sterritt in the Christian Science Monitor indicated that liberals and conservatives “will long debate which camp suffers the most losses” when Sahl got through with them (but the critic predicted both groups would be “reeling” by the end of the performance).

LATE NITE COMIC

“A New American Musical” / “A Love Story . . .

with a

Punch Line”

Theatre: Ritz Theatre Opening Date: October 15, 1987; Closing Date: October 15, 1987 Performances: 4 Book: Allan Knee Lyrics and Music: Brian Gari Direction: Uncredited (see below); Producer: Rory Rosegarten; Choreography: Dennis Dennehy; Scenery: Clarke Dunham; Costumes: Gail Cooper-Hecht; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Gregory J. Dlugos Cast: Robert LuPone (David Ackerman), Teresa Tracy (Gabrielle), Pamela Blasetti (Ensemble, Susan, Hooker), Kim Freshwater (Ensemble, Club Owner, Hooker), Lauren Goler (Ensemble, Jenny, Hooker), Patrick Hamilton (Ensemble, Cecil, Club Owner, Voice of God, Krazy Korn Emcee), Judine Hawkins (Ensemble, Hooker), Aja Major (Ensemble, Tanya, Delilah), Michael McAssey (Ensemble, Club Owner, Mike, Las Vegas Emcee), Sharon Moore (Ensemble, Hooker, Metropolitan Ballerina), Mason Roberts (Ensemble, Nat, Bartender, David’s Alter Ego, Metropolitan Male Dancer), Susan Santoro (Ensemble, Clara, Hooker), Don Stitt (Ensemble, Club Owner, Bartender, Busboy) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in New York City and Las Vegas.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Gabrielle” (Robert LuPone); “The Best in the Business” (Robert LuPone, Kim Freshwater, Patrick Hamilton, Michael McAssey, Don Stitt); “Clara’s Dancing School” (Teresa Tracy, Susan Santoro); “This Lady Isn’t Right for Me” (Robert LuPone, Aja Major, Lauren Goler, Pamela Blasetti, Teresa Tracy); “Having Someone” (Robert LuPone, Kim Freshwater, Patrick Hamilton, Michael McAssey, Don Stitt); “StandUp” (Robert LuPone); “The Best in the Business” (reprise) (Robert LuPone); “Late Nite Comic” (Robert LuPone); “Stand-Up” (reprise) (Robert LuPone); “It Had to Happen Sometime” (Robert LuPone, Teresa Tracy); “When I Am Movin’” (Teresa Tracy); “Think Big” (Robert LuPone, Mason Roberts) Act Two: “Relax with Me, Baby” (Robert Lupone, Don Stitt, Pamela Blasetti, Kim Freshwater, Lauren Goler, Judine Hawkins, Sharon Moore, Susan Santoro); “Dance” (Robert LuPone, Teresa Tracy, Ensemble); “Late Nite Comic” (reprise) (Robert LuPone); “It’s Such a Different World” (Robert LuPone, Vegas Girls, Vegas Guys); “It Had to Happen Sometime” (reprise) (Robert LuPone, Teresa Tracy); “Gabrielle” (reprise)/“Yvonne” (Robert LuPone) Although later in the week his sister Patti enjoyed a huge success with the hit revival of Anything Goes, Robert LuPone had no such luck with the four-performances-and-out Late Nite Comic, which had the distinction of being the season’s shortest-running musical (even Carrie ran longer, with five showings) and which closed two days before the opening of the Cole Porter musical. But through perseverance of one form or

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another, the show has lived on, including a book about the making of the musical and a studio cast recording (see below). Late Nite Comic was about stand-up comic David Ackerman (Robert LuPone) who works his way through small-time clubs in the New York City area (with names like the Krazy Korn Klub) until he hits it big in Las Vegas. And throughout the evening he has an on-and-off-again romance with Gabrielle (Teresa Tracy), whose showbiz dream is to dance at the Metropolitan Opera (as one or two critics noted, her ambition didn’t quite ring true: aspiring ballet dancers would surely look to careers with Ballet Theatre or the New York City Ballet, but to pine for a spot among the dancing ensemble at the Met didn’t seem likely or realistic). The critics were merciless, and were especially unforgiving because the show about a stand-up comedian lacked even one funny joke. Further, the talented LuPone wasn’t an inherently comic actor, and so many felt he was miscast. A few critics also unfavorably compared the evening to another one about stand-up comics, the 1985 Off-Broadway musical 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down. Mel Gussow in the New York Times noted that director Philip Rose was no longer associated with the production but mentioned this was comparable to the Titanic’s captain removing his name from the ship’s log when the vessel hit the iceberg. If there was “no sense of direction,” there was “no sense of book or score,” either. Further, David’s jokes were just as “dreadful” at the end of the evening as they had been at the beginning, and if Brian Gari’s score was “pedestrian,” Allan Knee’s book was a “jaywalker.” As for LuPone, he just didn’t “have the soul of a stand-up.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Late Nite Comic was the kind of show that popped up “every season” as one in a “gobbling, dispirited parade of withered old turkeys meekly lining up for profitless slaughter.” The music was “pitched” between “a jingle and a trickle,” the lyrics “between banality and stupidity,” and the book was “just pitched.” But Barnes felt LuPone was “quite wonderful” given the limitations of his material. Allan Wallach in New York Newsday got tired of the romantic plot in which Gabrielle is constantly moving either in or out of David’s life, and the critic noted this revolving-door romance was more “boomerang” than “plot.” And while the show needed a director, it first needed “something worth directing.” As for Gari’s score, his music offered some “listenable melodies” along with a few “routine” ones and the lyrics while not “clever” were “serviceable.” LuPone was “pleasant” but Tracy’s “little-girl-lost manner” became tiresome and her big second-act dance number (unimaginatively titled “Dance”) suggested “that a star is not about to be born.” The headline of Howard Kissel’s review in the New York Daily News announced that “This Comedy’s a Tragedy,” and he suggested the “appalling” musical “be put out of its misery at once”; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the “implausible” show centered on an “unfunny” comedian and a “dippy” dancer, but he noted the evening was consistent because “the book, the music, the lyrics and the scenery were all persistently mediocre”; and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the script, songs, and scenery weren’t “good enough for a college musical” and he felt LuPone and Tracy were incapable of “rising above” their material. The musical had been previously presented at the American Musical Theatre, Inc., in New London, Connecticut. During Broadway previews, director Philip Rose left the production. While his name remained on the title page of the opening-night program (although apparently on some programs his name was blacked out), there was no program biography and a special program insert stated “Philip Rose voluntarily withdrew as director of Late Nite Comic as of October 4, 1987.” As noted, some twenty years after the Broadway production, the show rebounded with a studio cast recording as well as a book about the making of the musical. Gari’s We Bombed in New London: The Inside Story of the Broadway Musical was released by BearManor Media and is a vastly entertaining one about the show; the section that discusses the release and marketing of the studio cast album is especially interesting. The studio cast album of the “20th Anniversary Edition” of the score was released by Original Cast Records (CD # OC0315) with such singers as Liz Callaway, Mario Cantone, Jason Graae, Rupert Holmes, Brian D’Arcy James, Liz Larsen, Howard McGillin, Daniel Reichard, Tony Roberts, Mary Testa, Martin Vidnovic, Sal Viviano, Karen Ziemba, Chip Zien, and Gari himself. The recording includes three songs cut prior to the Broadway production (“Nothing’s Changing This Love, “They Live in L.A.,” and “Obsessed”) and one (“Late Nite Saga”) was written after the show closed and was a tribute to musicals that don’t succeed on Broadway. The recording includes virtually all the musical sequences heard in the Broadway production, including the overture, entr’acte, and “Dance.” Incidentally, Gari is the grandson of Broadway legend Eddie Cantor.

1987–1988 SEASON     331

ANYTHING GOES Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: October 19, 1987; Closing Date: September 3, 1989 Performances: 804 Book: Original book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, and Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse; new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman Lyrics and Music: Cole Porter Direction: Jerry Zaks; Producer: Lincoln Center Theatre (Greogry Mosher, Director; Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer); Choreography: Michael Smuin (Kirk Peterson, Choreographic Assistant); Scenery and Costumes: Tony Walton; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Joshua Rosenblum Cast: Eric Y. L. Chan (Louie), Rex Everhart (Elisha Whitney), Steve Steiner (Fred), Howard McGillin (Billy Crocker), Patti LuPone (Reno Sweeney), Michele Pigliavento (Young Girl), Alec Timerman (Sailor), David Pursley (Captain), Gerry Vichi (Purser), Robert Kellett (Reporter # 1), Gerry McIntyre (Photographer), Larry Cahn (Reporter # 2), Karen E. Fraction (Purity), Michaela Hughes (Chastity), Maryellen Scilla (Charity), Kim Darwin (Virtue), Richard Korthaze (Minister), Stanford Egi (Luke), Toshi Toda (John), Kathleen Mahony-Bennett (Hope Harcourt), Anne Francine (Mrs. Evangeline Harcourt), Anthony Heald (Lord Evelyn Oakleigh), Dale Hensley (G-Man # 1), Leslie Feagan (G-Man # 2), Linda Hart (Erma), Bill McCutcheon (Moonface Martin), Jane Seaman (Woman in Bathchair), Alice Anne Oakes (Niece of Woman in Bathchair), Pat Gorman (Countess), Mark Chmiel (Thuggish Sailor), Lloyd Culbreath (Thuggish Sailor), Dan Fletcher (Thuggish Sailor); Dancing Ensemble, Ship’s Crew, and Ship’s Passengers: Eric Y. L. Chan, Michele Pigliavento, Alec Timerman, Robert Kellett, Gerry McIntyre, Karen E. Fraction, Michaela Hughes, Maryellen Scilla, Kim Darwin, Alice Anne Oakes, Mark Chmiel, Dan Fletcher The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place aboard a passenger liner in the 1930s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “I Get a Kick Out of You” (Patti LuPone); “(There’s) No Cure Like Travel” (Alec Timerman, Michele Pigliavento, Ship’s Crew); “Bon Voyage” (Company); “You’re the Top” (Patti LuPone, Howard McGillin); “Easy to Love” (Howard McGillin); “I Want to Row on the Crew” (Rex Everhart); “Sailors’ Chanty” (aka “There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair”) (Steve Steiner, Larry Cahn, Dale Hensley, Leslie Feagan); “Friendship” (Patti LuPone, Bill McCutcheon); “It’s De-Lovely” (Howard McGillin, Nancy Opel); “Anything Goes” (Patti LuPone, Company) Act Two: “Public Enemy Number One” (Company); “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” (Patti LuPone, Company); “Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye” (Kathleen Mahony-Bennett); “Be Like the Bluebird” (Bill McCutcheon); “All Through the Night” (Howard McGillin, Kathleen Mahony-Bennett, Men); “The Gypsy in Me” (Anthony Heald); “Buddie, Beware” (Linda Hart, Sailors); “I Get a Kick Out of You” (reprise) (Company) The revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes was one of the hits of the season and almost doubled the run of the original 1934 production. The critics praised the revised version, which had a new book adaptation by Timothy Crouse (the son of Russell Crouse, one of the coauthors of the original book) and John Weidman, and the new production all but replaced the one that had been written for the 1962 Off-Broadway revival, which had become the standard acting version of the show. The lighthearted plot took place during the 1930s on a luxurious ocean liner with a motley crew of colorful types: Reno Sweeney (Patti LuPone) is a nightclub entertainer and former evangelist; her old friend Billy Crocker (Howard McGillin) is a stowaway in pursuit of society girl Hope Harcourt (Kathleen MahonyBennett); and gangster Moonface Martin (Bill McCutcheon) is on the lam disguised as a minister. Moonface is Public Enemy Number 13 on the FBI’s most-wanted list, and his dream is to make the Top Twelve. And when the ship’s passengers discover they have a celebrity gangster on board, they sing a mock-solemn hymn in his praise (“Public Enemy Number One”). John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked Crouse and Weidman’s adaptation, stating they treated the “zany lampoon” with “the insouciance it deserves.” And Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal

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said the “triumph” of the “joyous” revival was that the entire production was “all of a piece and all quite wonderful” with a book full of “zany humor” that included “shameless puns and rapid-fire entrances and exits.” As for Porter’s standard-filled score (from which emerged five evergreens, “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” “All Through the Night,” and the title song), Wilson noted they really don’t write songs like this anymore, and William A. Henry III in Time said “the difference between Porter and other composers remains—well, night and day.” Ron Cohen in Women’s Wear Daily praised Porter’s “elegant” songs, David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said they were “timeless,” and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 reported that hearing the “great” songs in context sent “honest-to-gosh chills” up his spine. As for LuPone, Frank Rich in the New York Times said “with her burst of Lucille Ball red hair, a trumpet’s blare in her voice and lips so insinuatingly protruded they could make the Pledge of Allegiance sound lewd,” the star had her first “sensational” Broadway role since Evita. Her Reno was “a mature, uninhibited jazz dame” who was “loose, trashy, funny and sexy,” and for the first-act curtain she had the “audacity” to “upstage” the entire company with a “broad wink” aimed at the audience, at which point the crowd was ready to take her home (“and not necessarily to mother”). Henry said she rivaled Merman’s voice in “volume and clarity” and outdid her “in intelligence and heart.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “sensational” performer was the “icing on the cake” of “the best musical in town,” and he noted she dominated the stage with her “sort of soprano-like baritone” and danced and acted “with supreme authority.” And Stearns said she “vanquished” Merman by turning Reno “into a Latin bombshell.” The original production of Anything Goes opened at the Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre on November 21, 1934, for 420 performances with Merman (Reno Sweeney), William Gaxton (Billy Crocker), and Victor Moore (Reverend Dr. Moon [aka Moonface Martin and Moon]). The Prism Leisure recording of Anything Goes (CD # PLATCD-938) includes three songs from the score performed by Merman (“I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow”); one number by Gaxton (“You’re the Top”); and three with vocals and piano by Cole Porter (“You’re the Top,” “Anything Goes,” and “Be Like the Bluebird”). Archival recordings heard in the Smithsonian Collection’s Anything Goes (LP # DPM10284/R-007), which sometimes duplicate the ones in the Prism Leisure release, are: “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” (all performed by Merman); “You’re the Top,” “Anything Goes,” and “Be Like the Bluebird” (vocals and piano by Porter); “Sailors’ Chanty” aka “There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair” and “The Gypsy in Me” (both by The Foursome [Marshall Smith, Ray Johnston, Dwight Snyder, and Del Porter], who were in the original Broadway production); and four selections from the 1935 London production: “All Through the Night,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” “Be Like the Bluebird” (which includes a dialogue scene in the ship’s brig), and “You’re the Top.” During the run of the 1934 production, “Buddie, Beware” was dropped in favor of a reprise of “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and cut in preproduction or during the tryout were: “What a Joy to Be Young” (during the tryout, the song was titled “To Be in Love and Young”), “Kate the Great” (which Merman refused to perform because she objected to the racy lyric), and “Waltz Down the Aisle” (which Porter later reworked as “Wunderbar” for Kiss Me, Kate). “There’s No Cure Like Travel” and “Bon Voyage” were two separate songs performed together, sometimes under the first title and sometimes under the second (in the case of the 1962 Off-Broadway production, only “Bon Voyage” was performed). The musical’s first New York revival opened Off Broadway on May 15, 1962, at the Orpheum Theatre for 239 performances; the book was revised by Guy Bolton, the cast included Eileen Rodgers (Reno), Hal Linden (Billy), and Mickey Deems (Moon), and the choreography was by Ron Field. The revival cut five songs from the original Broadway production (“There’s No Cure Like Travel,” “Sailors’ Chanty” aka “There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair,” “Where Are the Men?,” “The Gypsy in Me,” and “Buddie, Beware”) and added six from other Porter musicals: “It’s De-Lovely” (Red Hot and Blue!, 1936), “The Heaven Hop” (Paris, 1928), “Friendship” (DuBarry Was a Lady, 1939), “Let’s Step Out” (added to 1929 musical Fifty Million Frenchmen during its Broadway run), “Let’s Misbehave” (cut from Paris, 1928; in 1927, the song had been heard in a nightclub performance at the Ambassadeurs Café in Paris [not to be confused with Porter’s 1928 Paris revue La Revue des Ambassadeurs]), and “Take Me Back to Manhattan” (The New Yorkers, 1930). The cast album was released by Epic Records (LP # FLM-13100). The revised 1962 version was twice produced Off Off Broadway during the 1980–1981 season, first during November 1980 at St. Bart’s Playhouse and then on March 12, 1981, at the Equity Library’s Master Theatre for thirty performances.

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The current production was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # 7769-1-RC and CD # 7769-2-RC), and won the Tony Award for Best Revival. One song was cut from the original production (“Where Are the Men?”) and five were added, “Friendship” (DuBarry Was a Lady, 1939), “I Want to Row on the Crew” (Paranoia, 1914), “It’s De-Lovely” (Red Hot and Blue!, 1936), “Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye” (intended for but not used in 1936 film Born to Dance; later cut from Red Hot and Blue!, 1936; and then introduced in the late 1936 London production O Mistress Mine [not related to the 1944 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan]), and “Easy to Love” (which had been written for, but not used in, the original production of Anything Goes and was later introduced by James Stewart in the 1936 film Born to Dance). After the current production, the musical was next revived on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim (previously Henry Miller’s) Theatre on April 7, 2011, for 521 performances, and was based on the 1987 version. It too won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical; the cast included Sutton Foster (Reno), Colin Donnell (Billy), and Joel Grey (Moon), and the cast album was released by Ghostlight Records. The original London production opened on June 14, 1935, at the Palace Theatre for 261 performances with Jeanne Aubert (Reno), Jack Whiting (Billy), and Sydney Howard (Moon). They and other cast members recorded eight songs from the production: “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “All Through the Night,” “Sailors’ Chanty” aka “There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair,” “You’re the Top,” “Anything Goes,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” “Be Like the Bluebird” (including a dialogue scene in the ship’s brig), and “The Gypsy in Me.” These numbers are included on the above-referenced Prism Leisure recording. The script of the London production was published in paperback by Samuel French (London) in 1936. A London revival at the Seville Theatre on November 18, 1969, was based on the 1962 Off-Broadway production and was recorded by Decca Records (and later issued by That’s Entertainment Records LP # TER1080). A July 1989 London revival opened at the Prince Edward Theatre and was based on the current New York production; it starred Elaine Paige (Reno), Bernard Cribbins (Moon), and, reprising his role of Billy from the New York production, Howard McGillin. The cast album was issued by First Night Records (LP # CAST18). Another production of the 1987 adaptation was produced in Sydney, Australia, with Geraldine Turner and was recorded by EMI Records (LP # EMC-792103 and CD # CDP-792103). There was also a 1984 Mexico City production that was recorded by Producciones Teatro San Rafael (unnumbered LP); titled Todo se vale, the score includes “Tu era mas,” “Buen viaje,” “Amigo,” “Que delicia,” and “Noche y dia.” Two film versions of the musical were released by Paramount in 1936 and 1956, both with Bing Crosby. The 1936 version was a loose adaptation of the stage production, but it included Merman, who reprised her role of Reno, and besides Crosby (who played Billy), Charles Ruggles was Moon. Four songs were retained from the original production (“I Get a Kick Out of You,” “Sailors’ Chanty” aka “There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair,” “You’re the Top,” and a snippet of the title song). The film also included a number of songs by other writers, including “Moonburn” (lyric by Edward Heyman, music by Hoagy Carmichael) and two, “Sailor Beware” and “My Heart and I,” both with lyrics by Leo Robin and music by Frederick Hollander. These three non-Porter songs are included as bonus tracks on the soundtrack album of the 1956 film (Decca Broadway CD # B0001933-02). When the 1936 film was made available for television showings, its title was changed to Tops Is the Limit. The 1956 film was an in-name-only adaptation but utilized the setting of a passenger ship and retained five songs from the original Broadway production (“Anything Goes,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “All Through the Night,” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow”) and an interpolation of “It’s De-Lovely.” The film’s “Dream Ballet” was comprised of the music from “All Through the Night” and “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love” (Paris, 1928), and the score was rounded out by three new songs with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen (“Ya Gotta Give the People Hoke,” “A Second-Hand Turban and a Crystal Ball,” and “You Can Bounce Right Back”). Besides Crosby, the film starred Donald O’Connor, Zizi Jeanmarie, and Mitzi Gaynor. The DVD was released by the Warner Brothers Archive Collection. On February 28, 1954, a television version was shown on The Colgate Comedy Hour; the cast included Merman (Reno), Frank Sinatra (Billy), and Bert Lahr (Moon); songs retained from the original production were “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” and the title song; and there were three interpolations from other Porter musicals, “You Do Something to Me” (Fifty Million Frenchmen, 1929), “Just One of Those Things” (Jubilee, 1935), and “Friendship” (DuBarry Was a Lady, 1939; this number was originally performed by Merman and Lahr in DuBarry, and here they reprised it fifteen years later). The DVD was released by Entertainment One.

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The most complete recording of the score is by EMI Records (LP # EL-7-49848-1 and CD # 7-49848-2); conducted by John McGlinn, the studio cast includes Kim Criswell (Reno), Cris Groenendaal (Billy), and Jack Gilford (Moon); the recording includes “Where Are the Men?” as well as the three songs cut prior to the opening of the original 1934 production (“What a Joy to Be Young,” “Kate the Great,” and “Waltz Down the Aisle”). Another recording of the score includes vocals by Mary Martin (with chorus and orchestra conducted by Lehman Engel) which was released by Columbia Records (LP # CL-2582); DRG Records issued the CD, which is paired with Mary Martin’s recording of songs from The Band Wagon.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (Anything Goes); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Howard McGillin); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Patti LuPone); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Anthony Heald); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Bill McCutcheon); Best Director of a Musical (Jerry Zaks); Best Scenic Designer (Tony Walton); Best Costume Designer (Tony Walton); Best Lighting Designer (Paul Gallo); Best Choreographer (Michael Smuin)

CABARET Theatre: Imperial Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Minskoff Theatre) Opening Date: October 22, 1987; Closing Date: June 4, 1988 Performances: 262 Book: Joe Masteroff Lyrics: Fred Ebb Music: John Kander Based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1935 novella Mr. Norris Changes Trains (published in the United States as The Last of Mr. Norris) and his 1939 novella Goodbye to Berlin; both were later published in the 1945 collection The Berlin Stories (reissued in 1975 as The Berlin of Sally Bowles); the musical is also based upon the stage adaptation of The Berlin Stories, the 1951 play I Am a Camera by John van Druten. Direction: Harold Prince (Ruth Mitchell, Assistant Director); Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler (Alecia Parker, Associate Producer, in association with Phil Witt); Choreography: Ron Field (Bonnie Walker, Assistant); Scenery: David Chapman (based on the original set designs by Boris Aronson); Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting: Marc B. Weiss; Musical Direction: Donald Chan Cast: Joel Grey (The Emcee), Gregg Edelman (Clifford Bradshaw), David Staller (Ernst Ludwig), David Vosburgh (Customs Officer, Maitre D’), Regina Resnik (Fraulein Schneider), Nora Mae Lyng (Fraulein Kost), Werner Klemperer (Herr Schultz), Ruth Gottschall (Telephone Girl), Alyson Reed (Sally Bowles); Girl Orchestra: Sheila Cooper (Tenor Sax), Barbara Merjan (Drums), Panchali Null (Trombone), and Eve Potfora (Piano); Two Ladies: Ruth Gottschall and Sharon Lawrence; Jon Vandertholen (Max); Kissing Couple: Mark Dovey and Sharon Lawrence; Jim Wolfe (German Sailor), Mark Dovey (German Sailor), Gregory Schanuel (German Sailor); Kit Kat Girls: Laurie Crochet, Noreen Evans, Caitlin Larsen, Sharon Lawrence, and Mary Rotella; Stan Chandler (Waiter), Michelan Sisti (Bobby), Lars Rosager (Victor); Ensemble: Stan Chandler, Laurie Crochet, Bill Derifield, Mark Dovey, Noreen Evans, Karen Fraction, Laurie Franks, Ruth Gottschall, Caitlin Larsen, Sharon Lawrence, Mary Munger, Panchali Null, Steve Potfora, Lars Rosager, Mary Rotella, Gregory Schanuel, Michelan Sisti, John Vandertholen, David Vosburgh, Jim Wolfe The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Berlin, Germany, in 1929 and 1930, before the start of the Third Reich.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Willkommen” (Joel Grey, Company); “So What?” (Regina Resnik); “Don’t Tell Mama” (Alyson Reed, Kit Kat Girls); “Telephone Song” (also “Telephone Dance”) (Company); “Perfectly Marvelous” (Alyson Reed, Gregg Edelman); “Two Ladies” (Joel Grey, Ruth Gottschall, Sharon Lawrence); “It Couldn’t

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Please Me More” (aka “The Pineapple Song”) (Regina Resnik, Werner Klemperer); “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” (Joel Grey, Stan Chandler, Waiters); “Don’t Go” (Gregg Edelman); “The Money Song” (“My father needs money”) (aka “Sitting Pretty”) (Joel Grey, Kit Kat Girls, Fat Bankers); “Married” (Regina Resnik, Werner Klemperer); “Fruit Shop Dance” (Regina Resnik and Sailor, Kit Kat Girls and Sailors); “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” (reprise) (Nora Mae Lyng, David Staller, Guests) Act Two: Entr’acte (Girl Orchestra); “Kick Line” (dance) (Joel Grey, Kit Kat Girls); “If You Could See Her” (aka “The Gorilla Song”) (Kit Kat Girls); “Married” (reprise) (Werner Klemperer); “If You Could See Her” (reprise) (Joel Grey, Michelan Sisti); “What Would You Do?” (Regina Resnik); “I Don’t Care Much” (Joel Grey); “Cabaret” (Alyson Reed); Finale (Gregg Edelman, Alyson Reed, Regina Resnik, Werner Klemperer, Joel Grey, Company) The revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret ran out the season but was nonetheless a disappointment. Joel Grey returned in his original role of the Emcee (a supporting role in the original 1966 production that was now relegated to star billing), and although the program credited the original director Hal Prince and original choreographer Ron Field for the revival’s direction and choreography, the program’s fine print cited Ruth Mitchell as “Assistant Director” and Bonnie Walker (who was one of the Kit Kat Girls in the original production) as Field’s “assistant.” So who knows who did what. And while the set designs were credited to David Chapman, a program note indicated the designs were based on the originals created by Boris Aronson. The book and score were revised, and so while Cliff was heterosexual in the original version, he was now openly bisexual (his character was also depicted as bisexual in Bob Fosse’s 1972 film version of the musical). Cliff’s “Why Should I Wake Up?” was cut and he was given a new song, “Don’t Go”; Herr Schultz’s “Meeskite” was dropped; and “I Don’t Care Much,” which had been sung by Sally for a few performances during the original production’s New York previews, was reinstated for the revival (but was assigned to the Emcee). Further, the revival emphasized the anti-Semitic atmosphere of Berlin and restored Grey’s punch line for “If You Could See Her” (aka “The Gorilla Song”); in the original, Grey said the gorilla didn’t look like a meeskite, but for the 1972 film and now the current revival, Grey said she didn’t “look Jewish at all.” But the production never quite jelled into a satisfying evening; it lacked the necessary edge and wasn’t compelling, and at best was like a good solid touring version rather than a first-class Broadway revival. Unlike the film version, it wasn’t bold enough to ditch the Fraulein Schneider and Herr Shultz subplot; it didn’t use the songs as presentational numbers (as did the movie) and instead retained them as a mix of both presentational and narrative songs; and the production wasn’t gritty enough for the material (on the other hand, the 1998 revival was laughable in its desperate attempt to be edgy and shocking, and the performers looked like little kids all dressed up in S&M party clothes). Frank Rich in the New York Times said it was unfair to expect Grey to carry the musical as if it were a “star vehicle,” and he noted this would be akin to reviving Oklahoma! and making Jud the star. So instead of a “perfectly marvelous” revival, this was a “perfectly mediocre” one. The décor looked like “tacky, strippeddown cannibalizations” of Aronson’s original creations; costume designer Patricia Zipprodt, who had dressed the original production, was “at less than her brilliant best”; Alyson Reed’s Sally “never remotely” suggested her fascinating character; and Gregg Edelman’s Cliff was “so mild” that one was somewhat shocked to discover he’s supposed to be “the toast of two sexes in at least that many nations.” The headline of Douglas Watt’s review in the New York Daily News said he was “Not ‘Bowled’ Over.” William A. Henry III in Time, who praised the “entertainment of shocking power and perverse pleasure,” felt that by making Cliff “unmistakably homosexual” there was no chemistry and tension in his relationship with Sally. Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said Cabaret was “still streaked with brilliance,” but felt the revival hadn’t gone “far enough” in making the production as daring as Fosse’s film version; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised Grey’s “maturely bravura performance” and noted the performer was now “more grotesquely sinister” than in 1966. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said the cast was “sensational” and Reed and Edelman were “more persuasive” than their counterparts in the original production. The musical first opened on November 20, 1966, at the Broadhurst Theatre for 1,165 performances and won eight Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Director of a Musical, Best Composer and Lyricist, Best Choreographer, Best Scenic Designer, Best Costume Designer, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Grey), and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Peg Murray, in the role of Fraulein Kost). With a screenplay by Jay Presson Allen, Fosse’s 1972 film cleared away the book’s deadwood (including the Schneider and Schultz subplot) and focused on Sally and Cliff’s affair, but with a difference because they

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both shared a male lover (Max, a character not in the stage musical). The film also added two doomed characters (the young Jewish lovers Natalia Landauer and Fritz Wendel), who were part of Christopher Isherwood’s original stories and their stage adaptation, I Am a Camera. Most importantly, all the songs in the film were presentational rather than narrative and thus were heard in the cabaret, in a beer garden, on the radio, or by someone playing a piano in a boarding house. The film added two new songs by Kander and Ebb, “Mein Herr” and a new money song, “Money, Money, Money” (“Money makes the world go around”), and a third, “Maybe This Time,” was interpolated into the score (it had originally been recorded by Liza Minnelli in 1964). The film retained “Willkommen,” “Two Ladies,” “If You Could See Her,” “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” “Kick Line,” and the title song, and “Heiraten” (“Married”) and “It Couldn’t Please Me More” were briefly heard in radio and piano interludes. The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Actress (Minnelli), Best Supporting Actor (Grey), and Best Scoring (Ralph Burns). Following the current 1987 revival, a wildly overrated one opened on March 19, 1998, at Henry Miller’s Theatre (then temporarily named the Kit Kat Klub, and now the Stephen Sondheim Theatre) for 2,377 performances; it won four Tony Awards, for Best Musical Revival, Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Alan Cumming, as the Emcee), Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Natasha Richardson), and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ron Rifkin, as Herr Schultz). The production dropped three numbers (“Telephone Song,” “Meeskite,” and “Why Should I Wake Up?”), added two from the film (“Mein Herr” and “Maybe This Time”), and reinstated “I Don’t Care Much.” The 1998 revival was itself revived on April 24, 2014, at Studio 54 for 388 performances (Alan Cummings was again the Emcee, and Michelle Williams was Sally). The first London production opened on February 28, 1968, at the Palace Theatre for 336 performances, and the cast included Judi Dench (Sally), Kevin Colson (Cliff), Barry Dennen (The Emcee), Lila Kedrova (Fraulein Schneider), and Peter Sallis (Herr Schultz). The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1967, and the revised script for the 1998 production was published in a hardback edition by Newmarket Press in 1999. The Making of “Cabaret” by Keith Garebian was published by Mosaic Press in 1999, and a second edition was republished by Oxford University Press in 2011. Another book about the musical is Stephen Tropiano’s “Cabaret”: Music on Film, published by Limelight in 2011. The original Broadway cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # KOS-3040 and # KOL-6640) and was issued on CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records (SK # 60533) with bonus tracks of Kander and Ebb performing “I Don’t Care Much” and the unused songs “Roommates,” “Good Time Charlie,” and “It’ll All Blow Over.” There are many recordings of the score, including cast albums from London, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Mexico City. Particularly noteworthy is a studio cast recording by That’s Entertainment Records (# CDTER2-1210) that includes the “Fruit Shop Dance” and the finale, curtain call, and exit music; and bonus tracks include “Don’t Go,” “I Don’t Care Much,” “Mein Herr,” “Maybe This Time,” and “Money, Money” (which was a combination of both the stage and film “money” songs). The recording’s cast includes Maria Friedman (Sally), Gregg Edelman (here reprising his Cliff from the 1987 Broadway revival), Judi Dench (here Fraulein Schneider), Fred Ebb (Herr Schultz), and Jonathan Pryce (The Emcee). A 1977 Los Angeles Harbor College production was released on a two-LP set (Audio Engineering Associates Records LP # AEA-1160-2) and includes the complete “Telephone Song” and “Telephone Dance” sequences as well as the “Fruit Shop Dance.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival (Cabaret); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Werner Klemperer); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Alyson Reed); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Regina Resnik)

DON’T GET GOD STARTED Theatre: Longacre Theatre Opening Date: October 29, 1987; Closing Date: January 10, 1988 Performances: 86 Book: Ron Milner (“story and idea development by” Barry Hankerson and Ron Milner) Lyrics and Music: Marvin Winans

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Direction: Ron Milner (additional staging by Conni Marie Brazelton); Producers: Barry Hankerson and Jeffrey Day Sharp (Reuben Cannon and Bernard Parker, Associate Producers); Scenery: Llewellen Harrison; Costumes: Victoria Shaffer; Lighting: Shirley Prendergast; Musical Direction: Steven Ford Cast: Vanessa Bell Armstrong (Female Lead Vocalist), Ernie Banks (Wise Old Man, The Reverend), Conni Marie Brazelton (Claudette, Sister Needlove), Marilyn Coleman (Wise Old Woman), Giancarlo Esposito (Jack, Silk), Chip Fields (Sylvia, Barbara Ann), Be Be Winans (Male Lead Vocalist), Marvin Wright-Bey (Robert, Lawrence, Buzz); Choir: Donald Albert, Margaret Bell, Susan Dawn Carson, Victor Trent Cook, Starletta DuPois, Patty Heaton, Keith Laws, Andrea McClurkin, Donnie McClurkin, Nadine Middlebrooks Norwood, Stefone Pet’tis, Sylvia Simmons, Monique Williams, Angie Winans, Debbie Winans, Ronald Wyche The musical was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Cry Loud (Lift Your Voice Like a Trumpet)” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans); “Slipping Away from You” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans); “After Looking for Love” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong); “Change Your Nature” (Be Be Winans); “What’s Wrong with Our Love” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans); “Don’t Turn Your Back” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong); “Turn Us Again” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans) Act Two: “Abide with Me” (Hymn) (Be Be Winans); “Let the Healing Begin” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans, Choir); “Renew My Mind” (Choir); “(The) Denied Stone” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans); “He’ll Make It Alright” (Choir); “Can I Build My Home in You”/“Bring Back the Days of Yea and Nay” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans); “Always” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong); “I Made It” (Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans); “Still in Love with You” (Be Be Winans); “It’s Alright Now” (Choir) The revue Don’t Get God Started consisted of five sketches along with sermon-like commentary and gospel-styled music. The sketches were cautionary in nature, and depicted sinners addicted to alcohol, cocaine, and sex (those who repent are saved, but according to Allan Wallach in New York Newsday, a sex addict who rejects religion “becomes a twitching lunatic in a straitjacket”). These skits were interspersed with what Stephen Holden in the New York Times called “smugly simplistic sermonettes” by Marilyn Coleman and Ernie Banks as an elderly pair named Wise Old Woman and Wise Old Man, who spoke to the audience about the nature of the sinners depicted in the sketches. The sketches and the sermons were in turn peppered with gospel songs performed by Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Be Be Winans, and a choir. The critics felt the evening was too simplistic, but noted that unlike the gospel musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God the evening wasn’t a combination of a church service and a rendering of the gospel but was instead a combination of stories and songs that focused on modern-day men and women, their bouts with the Devil and, for some, their redemption. The production played for two-and-a-half months. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said the vignettes were “a series of naïve morality plays” wedded to a “rousing, infectious score”; John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor noted that the evening was about “spiritual enlightenment” with “dramatic or broadly comic” sequences and “highly stylized” vocalism; and Wallach noted the songs were performed with a “fervor” lacking in the “didactic” book in which those characters who reject religion “come to a bad end” while those who accept God “find that even their business is growing more profitable.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post indicated the stories were as “naïve and simplistic” as the episodes in medieval miracle and morality plays but as staged “they made their point” and were “vigorously acted.” He noted that the vignettes showed the world’s “decadence” as well as the “rising black middle class” who “it seems are not all like that nice, wise old Mr. Cosby.” Holden complained that the evening offered a parade of individuals beset by troubles that can easily be cured “by a quick fix of religion” and thus the vignettes had “the depth of children’s Sunday school pageants and the dramatic subtlety of burlesque show sketches.” As a result, the “fearful, self-righteous tone” offset the “jubilance” of the score and he concluded that the production was “designed to appeal only to the converted.” For her album Vanessa Bell Armstrong (York Records LP # 1074; later issued on CD by Sony), the performer recorded three songs from Don’t Get God Started: “The Denied Stone,” “Don’t Turn Your Back,” and “Always.”

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INTO THE WOODS “A New Musical”

Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: November 5, 1987; Closing Date: September 3, 1989 Performances: 765 Book: James Lapine Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: James Lapine; Producers: Heidi Landesman, Rocco Landesman, Rick Steiner, M. Anthony Fisher, Frederic H. Mayerson, Jujamcyn Theatres (Michael David, Executive Producer; Greg C. Mosher, Paula Fisher, David B. Brode, and The Mutual Benefit Companies/Fifth Avenue Productions, Associate Producers); Choreography: Lars Lubovitch; Scenery: Tony Straiges; Costumes: Ann Hould-Ward (based on “original concepts” by Patricia Zipprodt and Ann Hould-Ward); Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Tom Aldredge (Narrator, Mysterious Man), Kim Crosby (Cinderella), Ben Wright (Jack), Chip Zien (Baker), Joanna Gleason (Baker’s Wife), Joy Franz (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Kay McClelland (Florinda), Lauren Mitchell (Lucinda), Barbara Byrne (Jack’s Mother), Danielle Ferland (Little Red Riding Hood), Bernadette Peters (Witch), Edmund Lyndeck (Cinderella’s Father), Merle Louise (Cinderella’s Mother, Grandmother, Giant), Robert Westenberg (Wolf, Cinderella’s Prince), Pamela Winslow (Rapunzel), Chuck Wagner (Rapunzel’s Prince), Philip Hoffman (Steward), Jean Kelly (Snow White), Maureen Davis (Sleeping Beauty) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place “in a kingdom long ago.”

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “Into the Woods” (Company); “Cinderella at the Grave” (Kim Crosby); “Hello, Little Girl” (Robert Westenberg, Danielle Ferland); “I Guess This Is Goodbye” (Ben Wright); “Maybe They’re Magic” (Joanna Gleason); “I Know Things Now” (Danielle Ferland); “A Very Nice Prince” (Kim Crosby, Joanna Gleason); “First Midnight” (Chip Zien, Tom Aldredge, Bernadette Peters, Robert Westenberg, Chuck Wagner, Kay McClelland, Lauren Mitchell, Joy Franz, Ben Wright, Barbara Byrne, Danielle Ferland, Edmund Lyndeck, Pamela Winslow, Merle Louise, Philip Hoffman, Joanna Gleason); “Giants in the Sky” (Ben Wright); “Agony” (Robert Westenberg, Chuck Wagner); “It Takes Two” (Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason); “Second Midnight” (Merle Louise, Barbara Byrne, Joanna Gleason, Parents, Children); “Stay with Me” (Bernadette Peters); “On the Steps of the Palace” (Kim Crosby); “Ever After” (Tom Aldredge, Company) Act Two: Prologue: “So Happy” (Company); “Into the Woods” (reprise) (Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason, Ben Wright, Danielle Ferland, Kim Crosby); “Agony” (reprise) (Robert Westenberg, Chuck Wagner); “Lament” (Bernadette Peters); “Any Moment” (Robert Westenberg, Joanna Gleason); “Moments in the Woods” (Joanna Gleason); “Your Fault” (Ben Wright, Chip Zien, Bernadette Peters, Danielle Ferland); “Last Midnight” (Bernadette Peters); “ No More” (Chip Zien, Tom Aldredge); “No One Is Alone” (Kim Crosby, Danielle Ferland, Chip Zien, Ben Wright); Finale: “Children Will Listen” (Bernadette Peters, Company) Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Into the Woods was somewhat similar to their earlier collaboration Sunday in the Park with George because its strong first act was followed by a disappointing second one. The musical’s skewed look at fairy tales included such familiar characters as Little Red Riding Hood (Danielle Ferland) and the Wolf (Robert Westenberg), Cinderella (Kim Crosby), Rapunzel (Pamela Winslow), and Jack (Ben Wright) of the giant-and-the-beanstalk incident. Added to the mix were Cinderella and Rapunzel’s princes (Robert Westenberg and Chuck Wagner), and Snow White (Jean Kelly) and the Sleeping Beauty (Maureen Davis) also came along for the ride. But the musical made the huge mistake of introducing newly created fairy-tale characters, a tiresome baker (Chip Zien), his equally tiresome wife (Joanna Gleason), and an even more tiresome (and ugly) witch (Bernadette Peters) who just wants to be beautiful. They were shoehorned into the story as the ballast for the framework that pulled together the traditional stories, but unfortunately the mix of familiar and newly

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created characters didn’t quite work out. The musical also trudged out the tired device of a narrator (Tom Aldredge, who also played the role of Mysterious Man). Everyone in the plot is looking for happiness of one sort or another, and all have familiar fairy-tale goals. Cinderella pursues her prince, and Jack hopes to steal the beans from the local neighborhood giant. But the baker and his wife have a more clinical problem, and perhaps would have been more at home in Baby: because of the witch’s curse they’re unable to conceive a child, but the witch agrees to remove the curse if the baker brings her various magical items she needs in order to become beautiful. The show’s amusing conceit is that when the characters get what they want, they realize they aren’t all that happy with what they got. And many of them had quirky traits, and so Little Red Riding Hood is a rather unpleasant brat, the gloating Wolf sings of the peculiar joy of talking to someone who will soon become his food, and Cinderella’s prince admonishes her with the fact that he was born to be charming, not sincere. Despite the intrusion of the new fairy-tale characters, the musical nonetheless had a witty point of view with its somewhat selfish characters and their eventual disillusionment when dreams come true but don’t necessarily guarantee happy-ending relief. Unfortunately, the second half of the evening took on a dark tone that was hopelessly contrived and pretentious. This half attempted to make important statements, but these were crushingly obvious and seemed grafted into the plot to give it gravitas. Despite the loveliness of Sondheim’s concluding songs “No One Is Alone” and “Children Will Listen,” the numbers were intrusive in the otherwise tongue-in-cheek musical. If the book had made a convincing argument for its second-act seriousness, these songs and the somber tone would have been organic to the evening’s structure. But the characters were instead given doses of instant wisdom and insight in order to bring down the curtain on a solemn, smug, and slightly preachy note. The production was further hampered by rather bland and shallow performances, and only Ferland, Westenberg, and Wagner managed to provide spark to their songs and scenes. Otherwise, some in the cast were either up to their old shticks or came across like refugees from a bus-and-truck tour that had been on the road and into the woods far too long. But Sondheim’s songs were among his best, and his second-act contributions helped make palatable the solemnity and pretentiousness of Lapine’s book. Here was a score that was far more satisfying as a cast album, and among the highlights were the title song, an expansive mini-opera-like piece which introduced the characters and set the story in motion; “On the Steps of the Palace,” a dazzling introspective piece for Cinderella; “Agony,” a comic duet of one-upmanship for the two princes in which each asserts that his emotions are deeper than the other’s; “It Takes Two,” a take-home ballad for the baker and his wife; and the accusatory quartet “Your Fault.” With a clutch of favorable notices, the musical managed to run for almost two years, and when it closed was Sondheim’s second-longest-running musical (after A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised the “enchanted evening,” which was “a triumph of witty verse, intricate harmonies, and lilting melodies,” and the headline of William A. Henry III’s review in Time called the musical “Some Enchanted Evening,” and the critic felt the work was Sondheim’s “best show yet” with its “sophisticated artistic ambition and its deep political purpose.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said Into the Woods was “genuine musical theatre” and “an evening of total enchantment.” Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said the “frothier” first act was too “meandering,” but he liked the second because it was “richer and darker” with its message about people who “outgrow self-involvement” when they “recognize their need for others.” And David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said the show was a “near-perfect wedding of speech and singing” and he liked how the show “preaches responsibility, maturity and brotherhood.” David Lida in Women’s Wear Daily praised the “dazzling” production but said its “threadbare center” led him to wonder just what the show was really about because the message was “slight and tacked on.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “unworkable” musical was “lost and never recovers in spite of a moral tacked onto the finish.” Lapine’s “concept” was the show’s “chief obstacle,” the second act was “forlorn,” and Sondheim’s score was “surprisingly weak,” and “for the first time” in the critic’s experience he found himself becoming weary “of the almost compulsive rhyming.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal noted that the performances sent “mixed signals” because Wright (Jack) and Barbara Byrne (Jack’s mother) were “played straight” while others were “pure camp” and Peters utilized her “trademark cutesy-poo gestures.” Ultimately, Lapine had “led [Sondheim] into the woods, and Mr. Sondheim has let himself be taken there. For everyone’s sake, he should get out. Quick.”

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Frank Rich in the New York Times said Lapine’s book was “as wildly overgrown” as the musical’s forest setting because the “confusion” of the story lines had to “be patched together to achieve a measure of coherence.” Occasionally Sondheim’s “truncated” songs were “chopped off just when they got going” and many brought “the action to a halt” when the characters “didactically” announced their “dawning self-knowledge.” But Rich noted that the musical’s “dark thematic underside” was nonetheless “accessible,” and he speculated that the work just might be “the tempting, unthreatening show to lead new audiences to an artist who usually lures theatergoers far deeper, and far more dangerously, into the woods.” The musical’s world premiere took place on December 4, 1986, at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, where the production played for fifty performances. The cast included Kim Crosby, Ben Wright, Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason, Joy Franz, Chuck Wagner, and Merle Louise, all of whom appeared in the Broadway production, and others in the tryout were John Cunningham (in the roles of Narrator, Wolf, and Steward), Ellen Foley (Witch), and Kenneth Marshall (Cinderella’s Prince). Among the songs that were cut prior to the New York opening were “(Just Like) Last Night,” “Back to the Palace” (which was later revised as “On the Steps of the Palace”), “Interesting Questions,” “Ready for the Woods” (possibly an early title for “Moments in the Woods”), and “Boom Crunch!” (the latter was also performed during part of the New York preview period and is arguably the score’s finest song; like Company’s “Another Hundred People” and Pacific Overture’s “A Bowler Hat,” the song is the musical’s “précis” number, one that sums up the entire philosophy of the show). Songs written for but not used in the production were “Have to Give Her Someone” and “The Plan.” The script was published in both paperback and hardback editions by Theatre Communications Group in 1987, and an illustrated adaptation of the story by Hudson Talbott was published in paperback and hardback editions by Crown Publishers in 1988 (a later paperback edition was issued by Scribner Paperback Fiction in 2002). The lyrics for the used, cut, and unused songs are included in Stephen Sondheim’s collection Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany. The original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # 6796-1-RC and CD # 67962-RC), and a later CD release by Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Masterworks Broadway (# 82876-68636-2) includes bonus tracks of songs reworked for a video adaptation for children (“Giants in the Sky,” sung by John Cameron Mitchell; “Back to the Palace” by Kim Crosby; and “Boom Crunch!” by Maureen Moore). (There are also demo recordings of the score which include “Boom Crunch!,” “Back to the Palace,” “Interesting Questions,” “The Plan,” and two songs for a proposed early 1990s film version, “I Wish” and “Rainbows.”) The original London production opened at the Phoenix Theatre on September 25, 1990, for 197 performances and included the new song “Our Little World” (for Witch and Rapunzel); among the cast members were Julia McKenzie (Witch), Imelda Staunton (Baker’s Wife), and Jacqueline Dankworth (Cinderella). The cast album was issued by RCA Victor/BMG Classics Records (CD # 60752-2-RC). The musical was revived on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on April 30, 2002, for 279 performances, and the cast included Vanessa Williams (Witch), John McMartin (Narrator), Laura Benanti (Cinderella), Gregg Edelman (Cinderella’s Prince), and Pamela Myers (Cinderella’s Stepmother). The production included “Our Little World,” which had been written for the London production, and the cast recording was released on a two-CD set by Nonesuch Records (# 79686-2). The show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The musical was presented on public television’s American Playhouse with the original Broadway cast and was released on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ID5967MBDVD); the DVD is also included in the sixDVD boxed set The Stephen Sondheim Collection (# ID1753IMDVD). The 2014 film version produced by Walt Disney was directed by Rob Marshall, and the cast included Meryl Streep (Witch), Emily Blunt (Baker’s Wife), James Corden (Baker), Anna Kendrick (Cinderella), Chris Pine (Cinderella’s Prince), Johnny Depp (Wolf), Tracey Ullman (Jack’s Mother), and Christine Baranski (Stepmother). The DVD was released by Disney (# 126361), and the two-CD soundtrack was also issued by the company (# D002076392). The film omitted a number of songs (“I Guess This Is Goodbye,” “Maybe They’re Magic,” “First Midnight,” “Second Midnight,” “So Happy,” and “No More”) and a new one (“She’ll Be Back”) was cut prior to release but is included as an extra on the DVD. Other recordings of the score include a Barcelona production (Boscos Endins) which opened on November 22, 2007, and was released by TempsRecords (CD # TR-1113-GE08) and an “accompaniment CD” that includes tracks with and without guide vocals (Stage Stars Records # RPT-508).

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Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Into the Woods); Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Robert Westenberg); Best Director of a Musical (James Lapine); Best Book (James Lapine); Best Score (lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim); Best Scenic Designer (Tony Straiges); Best Costume Designer (Ann Hould-Ward); Best Lighting Designer (Richard Nelson); Best Choreographer (Lars Lubovitch) New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award: Best Musical (1987–1988) (Into the Woods)

TEDDY & ALICE Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: November 12, 1987; Closing Date: January 17, 1988 Performances: 77 Book: Jerome Alden Lyrics: Hal Hackady Music: John Philip Sousa; musical adaptation and original music by Richard Kapp Direction: John Driver; Producers: Hinks Shimberg (Glen Cross, Clarice Swan Fitzgerald, and Wilmor Four in association with John Cutler); Choreography: Donald Saddler (additional musical staging by D. J. Giagni); Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: Larry Blank Cast: Tony Floyd (James Amos), Karen Ziemba (Belle Hagner), David Green (J. P. Morgan, Admiral Murphy), John Witham (Harriman, Samuel Gompers), Raymond Thorne (Henry Cabot Lodge), Gordon Stanley (Elihu Root), Michael McCarty (William Howard Taft), Len Cariou (Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt), Beth Fowler (Edith Roosevelt), Robert D. Cavanaugh (Ted Roosevelt, Jr.), Seth Granger (Kermit Roosevelt), Sarah Reynolds (Ethel Roosevelt), Richard H. Blake (Archie Roosevelt), John Daman (Quentin Roosevelt), Mary Jay (Ida Tarbell), John Remme (Wheeler), Christopher Wells (Officer O’Malley), Nancy Hume (Alice Roosevelt), Nancy Opel (Eleanor Roosevelt), Ron Raines (Nick Longworth), Alex Kramarevsky (Franklin Roosevelt), Ken Hilliard (Elliot Roosevelt), Pamela McLernon (Ghost); Servants, Reporters, Tea Party Ladies, Marines, and Ambassadors: Ellyn Arons, Ruth Bormann, Kathleen Gray, Ken Hilliard, Alex Kramarevsky, Mark Lazore, Keith Locke, Pamela McLernon, Elizabeth Mozer, Keith Savage, Jeff Shade The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Washington, D.C., during the years 1901–1904.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prelude: “The Thunderer” (Orchestra); “This House” (Len Cariou, Family, Friends, Staff, Reporters); “But Not Right Now” (Nancy Hume); “She’s Got to Go” (Michael McCarty, Gordon Stanley, Raymond Thorne); “The Fourth of July” (Nancy Hume, Nancy Opel); “Charge” (Len Cariou, Beth Fowler, Robert D. Cavanaugh, Seth Granger, Sarah Reynolds, Richard H. Blake, John Daman); “Battle Lines” (Beth Fowler); “The Coming-Out Party Dance” (Len Cariou, Nancy Hume, Ron Raines, Beth Fowler, Guests); “Leg-O-Mutton” (Nancy Hume, Ron Raines, Guests); “Her Father’s Daughter” (Len Cariou); “Perfect for Each Other” (Ron Raines); “He’s Got to Go” (Michael McCarty, Gordon Stanley, Raymond Thorne, Ron Raines); “Wave the Flag” (Len Cariou, Beth Fowler, Nancy Opel, Robert D. Cavanaugh, Seth Granger, Sarah Reynolds, Richard H. Blake, John Daman, John Witham, David Green, Hecklers, Supporters) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Fourth of July” (reprise) (Len Cariou); “Fourth of July” (second reprise) (Nancy Hume, Nancy Opel, Beth Fowler, Ladies); “(You’ve) Nothing to Lose (but Me)” (Ron Raines, Nancy Hume); “Election Eve” (Michael McCarty, Gordon Stanley, Raymond Thorne, John Witham, David Green, Reporters); “Perfect for Each Other” (reprise) (Nancy Hume); “Can I Let Her Go?” (Len Cariou); “Private Thoughts” (Michael McCarty, Gordon Stanley, Raymond Thorne, Beth Fowler, Robert D. Cavanaugh, Sarah Reynolds, Seth Granger, Richard H. Blake, John Daman, Servants, Staff, Reporters); “This House” (reprise) (Len Cariou, Beth Fowler, Guests)

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Teddy & Alice was a well-meaning attempt to create an old-time, feel-good musical with patriotic fervor and historical incident, but it floundered badly in conception and lasted just two months on Broadway. It was an extended look at the relationship between President Theodore Roosevelt (Len Cariou) and his daughter Alice (Nancy Hume), but their histories and personalities were well known and unfortunately the musical had nothing new to say about them. The evening was devoid of suspense and surprise as it dutifully plodded its way through two acts without ever coming to life. Yes, Teddy dotes on the supposedly irrepressible Alice (a purported madcap who offstage propels a Stanley Steamer into a tree because she drove fifteen miles per hour in a ten-mile zone), and Jerome Alden’s book depicted her as the typical musical-comedy soubrette, one who seems kissing cousin to Ado Annie and Carrie Pipperidge rather than Eleanor Roosevelt (Nancy Opel). Yes, Teddy dotes on Alice a bit too much, but any potential dark side to his paternal flutterings was neatly sidestepped (and, if developed, would have been a very different musical). And, yes, Teddy opposes Alice’s romantic involvement with Nick Longworth (Ron Raines), but again history told us how that turned out, although according to the musical Teddy gives his blessing to the nuptials only because the spirit of Alice’s mother (Pamela McLernon) encourages him to untie the umbilical knot and let Alice be Alice. The two title characters were essentially colorless, and they weren’t helped by Cariou and Hume’s professional but uninspired performances, the bland choreography, and the celebrity name-dropping, a hallowed cliché of 1940s operettas (besides Eleanor and Franklin, we also meet J. P. Morgan, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Howard Taft). The tiresome and almost sit-com-like story meandered along through familiar musical comedy territory with its brood of Roosevelt children who seemed to have arrived from a bus-and-truck tour of The Sound of Music (and hadn’t we already seen another busload of other Roosevelt children in Sunrise at Campobello?), and Alice’s naughty-naughty-Nancy indomitability is shown when she introduces a new dance-step (“Leg-O-Mutton”) to White House party guests (life in the old White House doesn’t get any edgier than this!). The score was based on music by John Philip Sousa (as adapted by Richard Kapp, who also composed at least four uncredited songs for the production), and because Roosevelt and Sousa both lived during the same era in Washington, D.C., the idea probably seemed like a good one during the early-conception stages of the musical. Although Sousa’s music was always pleasant, it wasn’t quite comfortable within the context of the show and one felt that the words of the lyrics outnumbered the notes of the music. One wished that instead of Teddy and Alice the creators had revived one of Sousa’s operettas, such as El Capitan or The Free-Lance. After seeing Teddy & Alice, Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said “Bring back 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!” and Frank Rich in the New York Times exclaimed that Teddy and Alice made 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue look like My Fair Lady. Kissel said the lyrics were “breathtakingly inane,” and listening to Sousa’s music set to “jabbery” lyrics was “about as pleasurable as hearing a Shakespeare sonnet being tapped out in Morse code.” And the scene in which Alice teaches Eleanor to hula made “Annie look like a work of serious political theatre.” Rich stated the evening “combines the educational mission of My Weekly Reader with the entertainment agenda of a halftime show at a high-school football game,” and he noted the production seemed to mimic the “mild” but “far superior” Mr. President by including a flag-waving finale and a First Daughter who introduces the latest dance craze (for Irving Berlin’s 1962 musical, the finale was the patriotic “This Is a Great Country” and the dance was “The Washington Twist”). Rich also noted that Alice’s decision to wear a blue gown instead of a white one or a red one to her coming-out party accounted “for a good halfhour of nail-biting dramatic suspense.” Like his colleague Kissel, Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News was unhappy with the “yawningly bad” Teddy & Alice, and for all its energy it had “so little to show for it!” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said “nothing can save the show from the simplistic story,” and Allan Wallach in New York Newsday stated the “insistently simple” story wasn’t “especially interesting” and the music was damaged by “lack of variety” and “trite” lyrics. But John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked the “amiable musical extravaganza” with its “rompingly choreographed” dance numbers and its “old-fashioned Broadway showmanship.” While Brian Donlon in USA Today found the two “love stories” of Teddy and Alice and Alice and Nick “a ball of confusion,” he nonetheless praised the “top-notch, bang-up” musical numbers and said the evening was “sprinkled with a few lessons in history and some sharp, pointed political humor.” And Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “unexpectedly charming musical” offered “bright, nimble and witty” lyrics, direction that had “pace and a certain elegance,” and an overall “barrel-load of fun and sentiment.”

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Barnes said Cariou brought “a dimension to his performance that is not often encountered in musical theatre,” and Rich said the performer gave “dignity and honest enthusiasm” to his role. Wallach said the “likable” Hume sang and moved “attractively,” but Rich was unhappy with her “fussy singing diction” which “reeked” of the classroom, and he suggested her “phony ear-to-ear smiles” were “more curdled than creamy.” During the tryout, Gordon Stanley succeeded Paul-David Richards in the role of Elihu Root, and the following songs were cut: “Welcome, Mr. President,” “Don’t Be Mad at Our Dad,” “Point-to-Point March,” and “I Told You So.” The collection Sousa for Orchestra (Essay Records CD # 1003) includes six songs from the musical: “But Not Right Now,” “Can I Let Her Go?,” “Fourth of July,” “(You’ve) Nothing to Lose (but Me),” “Wave the Flag,” and “Make This a House” (the latter probably a variation of “This House”). Prior to writing the book of Teddy & Alice, Alden had written the one-man show Bully in which James Whitmore played Teddy Roosevelt. It opened at the 46th Street (now Richard Rodgers) Theatre on November 1, 1977, and played for eight performances. On October 19, 1996, a revised version of Teddy & Alice opened at the Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, Connecticut, with John Davidson and Jennifer Lee Andrews in the title roles. Three songs were added to the production (“A Girl Made of Lace” “Cronies’ Conspiracy,” and “I Told You So,” which had been cut from the Broadway version); four dropped (“The Thunderer,” “Charge,” “The Coming-Out Party Dance,” “Election Eve”); and one new song (“You Must Let Her Go”) may have been based on “Can I Let Her Go?”

PENN & TELLER Theatre: Ritz Theatre Opening Date: December 1, 1987; Closing Date: March 20, 1988 Performances: 130 Direction: Art Wolff; Director of Covert Activities: Marc Garland; Producers: Richard Frankel, Thomas Viertel, and Steven Baruch; Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Lighting: Dennis Parichy Cast: Penn Jillette, Teller The revue was presented in two acts.

Magic and Comedy Sequences Note: All sequences performed by Penn Jillette and Teller. Act One: “Casey at the Bat”; “A Card Trick”; “Cups and Balls”; “Suspension”; “Domestication of Animals”; “East Indian Needle Mystery”; “Quote of the Day” Act Two: “Another Card Trick”; “MOFO The Psychic Gorilla”; “How We Met”; “Shadows”; “10 in 1” Magicians and comics Penn Jillette and Teller’s previous New York revue (also titled Penn & Teller) opened Off Broadway at the Westside Arts Theatre/Downstairs on April 18, 1985, for 666 performances. After their current Broadway engagement, they returned on April 3, 1991, for Penn & Teller: The Refrigerator Tour, which played at the Eugene O’Neill Theater for 103 performances, and then appeared in Penn & Teller at the Beacon Theatre for eight showings beginning on June 6, 2000. For one week late in the run of the 2000 Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show they appeared as the narrators, and Penn & Teller on Broadway opened at the Marquis Theatre on July 12, 2015, for a six-week limited engagement. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News reported that Penn Jillette informed the opening-nighters that the word “magician” usually conjured up “some greasy guy in a tuxedo” or “an aging hippy stuffing women into boxes.” But the “tall and stocky” and “gangly farm boy” Penn and his “elfish” and “nearly silent” partner Teller didn’t fit into the “conventional” image of magicians. In fact, they were “so funny they could succeed as standup comics,” but magicians they were, and even to “simple card tricks” they brought a sense of “dark, hip humor”; Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post liked the “quirky” evening, and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor praised “the thinking man’s performance-art magicians,” including the sight of Teller swallowing needles and Penn eating fire (he also reported that Penn announced the team would soon make their first movie, Penn and Teller Get Killed, and Penn promised “We won’t let you down”).

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Allan Wallach in New York Newsday said the “wildly anarchic” and “still hilarious” team was “scornful” of “wimpy” card tricks in their “demystification of magic and puncturing of everything that smacks of theatrical pretention”; an unsigned article in Time noted that for a scene in which Teller is completely immersed in a tank filled with water, Penn leisurely takes questions from the audience and, referring to the now purple-faced Teller, informs the audience that “If you desperately want to be in show business, this is what you end up doing”; and Joel Siegel on ABCTV7 exclaimed that the show was “mad, malicious, maniacal—but it’s magic.”

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Theatre: Majestic Theatre Opening Date: January 26, 1988; Closing Date: (As of this writing, the production is still running.) Performances: (As of this writing, the musical has played over 11,600 performances.) Book: Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Charles Hart; additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (book published in serial format in 1909 and 1910, and published in book form in 1910). Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Theatre Company, Inc.; Choreography: Gillian Lynne; Scenery and Costumes: Maria Bjornson; Lighting: Andrew Bridge; Musical Direction: David Caddick Cast: Michael Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera), Sarah Brightman (Christine Daae), Patti Cohenour (Christine Daae for Thursday evenings and Saturday matinees), Steve Barton (Raoul [The Vicomte de Chagny]), Judy Kaye (Carlotta Giudicelli), Cris Groenendaal (Monsieur Andre), Nicholas Wyman (Monsieur Firmin), Leila Martin (Madame Giry), David Romano (Ubaldo Piangi), Elisa Heinsohn (Meg Giry), Peter Kevoian (Monsieur Reyer), Richard Warren Pugh (Auctioneer), Jeff Keller (Porter, Marksman), Kenneth Waller (Monsieur Lefevre), Philip Steele (Joseph Buquet), George Lee Andrews (Don Attilio in Il Muto, Passarino), Luis Perez (Slave Master in Hannibal), Barry McNabb (Flunky, Stagehand), Charles Rule (Policeman), Olga Talyn (Page in Don Juan Triumphant), William Scott Brown (Porter, Fireman), Candace Rogers-Adler (Page in Don Juan Triumphant), Mary Leigh Stahl (Wardrobe Mistress, Confidante in Il Muto), Rebecca Luker (Princess in Hannibal), Beth McVey (Madame Firmin), Jan Horvath (Innkeeper’s Wife in Don Juan Triumphant); The Ballet Chorus of the Opera Populaire: Irene Cho, Nicole Fosse, Lisa Lockwood, Lori MacPherson, Dodie Pettit, Catherine Ulissey, and Denny Berry The musical was presented in two acts. Most of the action takes place in Paris at the Paris Opera House in 1881; the prologue takes place in 1911, and one scene takes place in Peros.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Think of Me” (Judy Kaye, Sarah Brightman, Steve Barton); “Angel of Music” (Sarah Brightman, Elisa Heinsohn); “Little Lotte” and “The Mirror” (“Angel of Music”) (Steve Barton, Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford); “The Phantom of the Opera” (Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman); “The Music of the Night” (Michael Crawford); “I Remember” and “Stranger Than You Dreamt It” (Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford); “Magical Lasso” (Philip Steele, Elisa Heinsohn, Leila Martin, Irene Cho, Nicole Fosse, Lisa Lockwood, Lori MacPherson, Dodie Pettit, Catherine Ulissey, Denny Berry); “Notes” and “Prima Donna” (Nicholas Wyman, Cris Groenendaal, Steve Barton, Judy Kaye, Leila Martin, Elisa Heinsohn, David Romano, Michael Crawford); “Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh” (Judy Kaye, Company); “Why Have You Brought Me Here?” and “Raoul, I’ve Been There” (Steve Barton, Sarah Brightman); “All I Ask of You” (Steve Barton, Sarah Brightman); “All I Ask of You” (reprise) (Michael Crawford) Act Two: “Masquerade” and “Why So Silent?” (Full Company); “Notes” and “Twisted in Every Way” (Cris Groenendaal, Nicholas Wyman, Judy Kaye, David Romano, Steve Barton, Sarah Brightman, Leila Martin, Michael Crawford); “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” (Sarah Brightman); “Wandering Child”

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and “Bravo, Bravo” (Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman); “Don Juan Triumphant” and “The Point of No Return” (Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman); “Down Once More” and “Track Down This Murderer” (Full Company) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera quickly became an unstoppable force as one of the most popular and longest-running musicals in London and the longest-running musical in the history of Broadway. It was an audience-pleaser of the first order, and although it had a simplistic plot, ordinary lyrics, and a generally uninteresting score it nonetheless brought in the crowds. Perhaps it was the chandelier that did the trick. Based on Gaston Leroux’s novel, the story dealt with the deformed Phantom (Michael Crawford), who haunts the Paris Opera House and lives in its subterranean labyrinth of lakes and catacombs. He falls in love with young opera singer Christine Daae (Sarah Brightman), and is determined that the opera company will produce his opera Don Juan Triumphant for her, but complications arise because she and Raoul (Steve Barton) are in love. The Phantom causes havoc throughout the theatre, but ultimately realizes he must let Christine go and resume his lonely existence in the dark, gothic world beneath the sparkling and sumptuous splendor of the opera house. The skeletal Beauty-and-the-Beast plot was consumed with filler material in which there was far too much in the way of silly-twit business for the opera house managers Andre (Cris Groenendaal) and Firmin (Nicholas Wyman), weak opera parodies for the theatre’s reigning diva Carlotta (Judy Kaye), and extraneous numbers such as Christine’s graveyard lament to her late father (“Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”). The Phantom’s “big” ballad “Music of the Night” was a ponderous and lugubrious one, and at least two critics (Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News and William A. Henry III in Time) said the first notes of the song reminded them of Frederick Loewe’s music for “Come to Me, Bend to Me” from Brigadoon (1947). But the ominous organ music gave the title song a nice touch of mysterioso, and the second-act opening “Masquerade” offered a prancing opera-bouffe choral moment. By far the finest number was “All I Ask of You,” a lush ballad with a long sweeping melodic line. The true star of the musical was Maria Bjornson, whose lavish sets and costumes perfectly matched the over-the-top histrionics of the melodramatic plot. “Masquerade” was performed on the grand staircase of the opera house, and it wittily combined performers and mannequins in a show of color and cloth, and the Phantom’s underground lair included fog and the twinkling glow from what seemed like hundreds of candles as his gondola glided along the lake. And, of course, it was de rigueur for every show in the British Invasion to offer a memorable scenic device or two (the junk heap and heavenly flying saucer for Cats, the skate-ways for Starlight Express, the barricade of junk for Les Miserables, and later the helicopter for Miss Saigon), and so Phantom had its underwhelming chandelier, which “crashed” onto the stage in slow motion as it leisurely glided above the audience from the theatre’s ceiling to the stage itself (its journey from ceiling to stage took so long that any opera house performer who had his wits about him would have had time to pour a cup of tea and then move out of the way). The musical received mostly raves from the New York critics, who seemed to go out of their way to praise a show that was at best pleasant but no masterpiece; and they unaccountably swooned over Crawford’s perfectly professional performance. Frank Rich in the New York Times praised director Harold Prince and designer Bjornson for the “electrifying showmanship” of their respective skills, and described the show as being “as much a victory of dynamic stagecraft over musical kitsch as it is a triumph of merchandising uber alles.” He noted the lyrics sometimes had “tepid greeting-card sentiments,” the choreography was “repetitive” and “presumably satirical,” and the score contained “tiresome collegiate jokes” at the expense “of such less than riotous targets as Meyerbeer.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News found the evening a “spectacular entertainment,” but said if the score was Lloyd Webber’s “best” that was “not saying a great deal.” However, the music had “an undeniable romantic surge,” and in regard to “All I Ask of You,” he asked, “When was the last time you heard an unabashed love duet on Broadway?” David Lida in Women’s Wear Daily suggested that those who wanted “spectacular imagery, exquisite design, and special effects” would love the musical. Otherwise, the story was “barely explored,” the lyrics were “plodding and workmanlike,” and he couldn’t recall a single lyric or note of music in the “dull mishmash of serious opera, opera parody and rock ’n’ roll riffs,” and “ponderous and repetitive love ballads.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post was beside himself in praise of the “piece of impeccably crafted musical

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theatre” and he showered what he termed “extravagant praise” on Lloyd Webber’s score. For Barnes, the show was “phantastic” and “terrific” and he said the musical flitted into New York “with effortless superiority.” Rich predicted audiences would “be stunned by the force” of Crawford’s performance; Jack Kroll in Newsweek said he was “greatly compelling” with “passionate sincerity and courageous emotional abandonment”; and Alan Wallach in New York Newsday predicted Crawford’s “extraordinary” performance would no doubt “be remembered for decades” and it would be hard “to imagine the musical without his magnetic presence and eerie tenor.” But Brightman (who at the time was married to Lloyd Webber and who performed for just six performances a week) came in for a great deal of criticism. Lida said she had a “pleasant” voice but “almost no stage personality” and conveyed “a sort of chipmunk eagerness” throughout the evening. Rich said despite her “lush” soprano she had “little competence” as an actress and simulated “fear and affection alike by screwing her face into bug-eyed, chipmunk-cheeked poses.” Henry said she lacked “stage presence” and “star quality” with a “vocabulary of gesture” that was “limited to a flutter of hands and a gape of astonishment,” all of which wasn’t helped by the accent of “huge black circles of makeup around her eyes that cause her to resemble a raccoon.” But Kissel said she was “fine” with a “cultivated” soprano that was “a bit coy-sounding at times,” and Kroll said her interpretation of Christine had “courage” and her voice offered “a purity, focus and sweet strength we haven’t heard on Broadway since the young Julie Andrews.” The musical was first produced in London at Her Majesty’s Theatre on October 9, 1986, with Crawford, Brightman, and Barton in the leads, and as of this writing is still playing there. Besides the London and Broadway productions, the show has played all over the world and has inspired almost twenty recordings. Because the London principals reprised their performances for New York, there was no Broadway cast album; the London cast album was released on a two-LP set by Polydor Records (# 8312734) and on a two-CD set by the same company (# 831273). The 2004 film version was released by Warner Brothers in association with Odyssey Entertainment (A Really Useful Films/Scion Films Production); it was directed by Joel Schumacher, and the leads were Gerald Butler (The Phantom), Emmy Rossum (Christine), and Patrick Wilson (Raoul); the soundtrack was issued by Sony Classical and the two-DVD set by Warner Brothers (# 70299). The film included three new songs (“Learn to Be Lonely,” “Wandering Child,” and “We Have All Been Blind”), and the DVD includes a deleted scene (titled “No One Would Listen”). Lloyd Webber later wrote a sequel, Love Never Dies, which opened in London at the Adelphi Theatre on March 9, 2010, for an eighteen-month run; the book was by Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton, with additional material by Glenn Slater and Frederick Forsyth, and the lyrics were by Slater with additional ones by Charles Hart. The story takes place years after the events depicted in The Phantom of the Opera. Christine is married to Raoul, and receives an offer by a mysterious impresario to appear at Coney Island’s music-hall Phantasma; little does she know that the Phantom now lives on the grounds of the summer playground, owns the music hall, and has lured her there. The two-CD London cast album was released by Verve Records, and a performance filmed at Australia’s Regent Theatre in Melbourne was released on DVD by Universal (# 61121300).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (The Phantom of the Opera); Best Actor in a Musical (Michael Crawford); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Judy Kaye); Best Director of a Musical (Harold Prince); Best Book (The Phantom of the Opera); Best Score (lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber); Best Scenic Designer (Maria Bjornson); Best Costume Designer (Maria Bjornson); Best Lighting Designer (Andrew Bridge); Best Choreographer (Gillian Lynne)

SARAFINA! Theatre: Cort Theatre Opening Date: January 28, 1988; Closing Date: July 2, 1989 Performances: 597 Book: Mbongeni Ngema Lyrics and Music: Mbongeni Ngema and Hugh Masekela

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Direction: Mbongeni Ngema; Producers: Lincoln Center Theatre (Gregory Mosher, Director; Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) in association with Lucille Lortel and The Shubert Organization (The Committed Artists Production); Choreography: Mbongeni Ngema (Ndaba Mhlongo, Additional Choreography); Scenery and Costumes: Sarah Roberts; Lighting: Mannie Manim; Musical Direction: Ndaba Mhlongo Cast: Ntomb’khona Dlamini (Magundane), Khumbuzile Dlamini (Scabha), Pat Mlaba (Colgate), Lindiwe Dlamini (Teaspoon), Dumisani Dlamini (Crocodile), Congo Hadebe (Silence), Nhlanhla Ngema (Stimela Sase-Zola), Mhlathi Khuzwayo (S’ginci), Leleti Khumalo (Sarafina), Baby Cele (Mistress It’s a Pity), Nonhlanhla Mbambo (Dumadu), Linda Mchunu (China), Lindiwe Hlengwa (Lindiwe), Zandile Hlengwa (Zandile), Siboniso Khumalo (Siboniso), Cosmas Sithole (Policeman), Thandani Mavimbela (Priest), Charnele Dozier-Brown (Charnele), Mubi Mofokeng (Mubi), Nandi Ndlovu (Nandi), Thandekile Nhlanhla (Thandekile), Pumi Shelembe (Police Lieutenant), Kipizane Skweyiya (Kipizane), Regina Taylor (Regina), Thandi Zulu (Thandi) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the present time at the Morris Isaacson High School in the Soweto district of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Musical Numbers Note: * = lyric and music by Mbongeni Ngema; ** = lyric and music by Hugh Masekela; *** = lyric and music by Hugh Masekela and Mbongeni Ngema; songs without asterisks weren’t credited in the program. Act One: Overture (*) (Band); “Zibuyile emasisweni” (“It’s finally happening”) (*) (Company); “Niyayibona lento engiybonayo” (“Do you see what I see?”) (Company); “Sarafina” (**) (Mhlathi Khuzwayo, Nhlanla Ngema); “The Lord’s Prayer” (Baby Cele, Company); “Yes! Mistress It’s a Pity” (***) (Baby Cele. Company); “Give Us Power” (*) (Thandi Zulu, Ntomb’khona Dlamini, Baby Cele, Company); “Afunani amaphoyisa eSoweto” (“What is the army doing in Soweto?”) (*) (Company); “Nkosi sikeleli’Afrika” (Company); “Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow” (*) (Company) Act Two: Entr’acte: “Excuse Me Baby, Please If You Don’t Mind Baby, Thank You” (**) (Band); “Talking about Love” (***) (Ntomb’khona Dlamini, Kipizane Skweyiya, Baby Cele, Lindiwe Hlengwa, Company); “Meeting Tonight” (**) (Thandekile Nhlanla, Company); “We Are Guerrillas” (Thankekile Nhlanla, Company); “Uyamemeza ungoma” (*) (Thandi Zulu); “We Will Fight for Our Land” (*) (Thandani Mavimbela, Thandi Zulu, Dumisani Dlamini, Company); “Mama” (*) (Mtomb’khona Dlamini, Thandekile Nhlanhla, Baby Cele, Company); “Sechaba” (**) (Company); “Isizwe” (“The nation is dying”) (*) (Thandekile Nhlanhla); “Kilimanjaro” (*) (Company); “Africa Burning in the Sun” (**) (Company); “Stimela saseola” (*) (Nhlanhla Ngema, Company); “Olayithi” (“It’s all right”) (*) (Company); “Bring Back Nelson Mandela” (**) (Leleti Khumalo, Company); “Wololo!” (Company) The import Sarafina! had first been produced in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the Market Theatre in June 1987, and its first New York production opened at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at the Lincoln Center Theatre on October 25, 1987, for eighty-one performances. From there, the musical transferred to Broadway where it ran for almost six-hundred showings. The production’s framework utilized a group of South African high school students in the present time who perform a musical that depicts racial issues in their country, including the topics of apartheid, Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment, and the Soweto uprising. The latter occurred when high school students boycotted their classes in order to protest the country’s educational system and the tyrannies of racial inequality, and the uprising led to the eventual massacre of hundreds of students. In reviewing the Off-Broadway production, Frank Rich in the New York Times said the evening’s political message overcame the work’s inherent structural weaknesses. The musical was a “well-meaning grab bag” in which the dramatic events were depicted “in the manner of high-school dramatics” with “an unspecific, generic, playacting feel that blunts their immediacy.” Further, the evening was far too long by at least thirty minutes, but the ingratiating cast nonetheless kept “winning back the audience’s good will.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News liked the “spiritedness” of the cast, but noted “the coiling and uncoiling evening runs on much too long” and he suggested the show’s book, which was “poorly grasped through the accents,” should “have been trimmed.”

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Allan Wallach in New York Newsday stated the work was a “distillation” of both the story of political oppression and the celebration of native music (called Mbaqanga), and he felt the music made the “greater impact” because it was “rousing and sometimes moving” while the show itself didn’t “achieve the power of the best South African plays.” Further, the “cheerful” music contradicted the serious events depicted in the story. He also noted the plot was “confusing” with “narration in heavily accented English.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the musical “throbs with an energy that reinforces the urgency of its message,” but noted “the text is sometimes difficult to follow.” David Lida in Women’s Wear Daily stated the musical was “a triumph of the spirit” with “celebratory” dances, “spine-tingling” music, and a cast that exuded “infectious energy and good humor.” For Clive Barnes in the New York Post, the “terrific” show sent him “whirling out into the street in a state of dizzy exhilaration.” The musical was “alive with triumph,” the score was “glorious,” and the “vibrant” and “enormously talented” performers were “razor sharp” and “each and every one of them emerges, most exceptionally, as a distinct personality.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News wondered how “someone who doesn’t have the correct political opinions” would react to Sarafina!, and he chose the fictional character Archie Bunker (from the CBS television show All in the Family) as his example. In fact, Archie Bunker dominated the review and Kissel decided that Archie would “surely” be “moved” by the musical’s “atrocity stories” and the “irresistible” cast members. Kissel concluded his review with the curious comment that if the audience’s “earnest, frenzied liberals” didn’t “worry” about the show’s “meaning and coherence,” then “why should Archie?” Two songs were dropped during Off-Broadway previews, “Love Thy Neighbor” and “Market Place.” The original South African cast album was released by Sandy Hook Records (CD # 43052), and the New York cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # 9307-1-RC and CD # 9307). The 1992 film version was released by Miramax and was titled Sarafina! The Sound of Freedom; the soundtrack was issued by Qwest/Warner Brothers Records (CD # 9-45060-2) and the DVD by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Sarafina!); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Leleti Khumalo); Best Director of a Musical (Mbongeni Ngema); Best Score (lyrics and music by Mbongeni Ngema and Hugh Masakela); Best Choreographer (Ndaba Mhlongo and Mbongeni Ngema)

RODNEY DANGERFIELD ON BROADWAY! Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: February 2, 1988; Closing Date: February 7, 1988 Performances: 6 Cast: Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Nelson Producer: James M. Nederlander; Scenery: Steven A. Cohen Comedian Rodney Dangerfield was of the take-my-wife-please school of stand-up comedians, and despite his popularity with older audiences who knew him from television and Las Vegas, Stephen Holden in the New York Times reported that many of the ticket-buyers were less than half his age because they knew Dangerfield from recent film appearances in such comedies as Caddyshack and Back to School. Dangerfield’s I-Don’t-Get-No-Respect routines were immensely popular and he was “the godfather of the cutting-edge of comedy.” Further, there was “something liberating” about his “free-floating hostility.” But his television fans might have been shocked with his raw humor, which sometimes dealt with sex, or, as Holden reported, with “sex, physical ugliness, more sex, old age, still more sex, drugs and alcohol and yet again more sex.” The evening’s opening act was stand-up comedian Bob Nelson, one of Dangerfield’s protégés. Holden noted Nelson was a “deft” sound-effects man and pantomimist and that unlike many of his ilk he worked with props. The concert was booked for two weeks but closed after the first.

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THE MUSIC MAN Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: February 26, 1988; Closing Date: April 10, 1988 Performances: 51 Book: Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey Lyrics and Music: Meredith Willson Based on an unpublished story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey. Direction: Arthur Masella (Claudia Zahn and James Furlong, Assistant Directors); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Sergiu Comissiona, Music Director); Choreography: Marcia Milgrom Dodge; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Andrew Marlay; Lighting: Duane Schuler; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Donald Pippin Cast: William Ledbetter (Travelling Salesman, Constable Locke), Stanley Wexler (Travelling Salesman), Robert Brubaker (Travelling Salesman, Oliver Hix), James Clark (Travelling Salesman, Ewart Dunlop), Jonathan Green (Travelling Salesman, Jacey Squires), Louis Perry (Newspaper Reader), Neil Eddinger (Newspaper Reader), Rex Hays (Charlie Cowell), John Henry Thomas (Conductor), Bob Gunton (Harold Hill), Richard McKee (Mayor Shinn), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn), Jill Powell (Zaneeta Shinn), Alexandra Steinberg (Gracie Shinn), Bridget Ramos (Alma Hix), Ivy Austin (Ethel Toffelmier), Lee Bellaver (Maud Dunlop), Rita Metzger (Mrs. Squires), James Billings (Marcellus Washburn), Don Yule (Olin Britt), Leigh Munro (Marian Paroo), Brooks Almy (Mrs. Paroo), Allegra Victoria Forste (Amaryllis), Joel Chaiken (Winthrop Paroo), Steven M. Schultz (Tommy Djilas); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in River City, Iowa, during July 1912.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Rock Island” (William Ledbetter, Stanley Wexler, Robert Brubaker, James Clark, Jonathan Green, Louis Perry, Neil Eddinger, Rex Hays, Bob Gunton); “Iowa Stubborn” (Townspeople); “Ya Got Trouble” (Bob Gunton, Townspeople); “Piano Lesson” and “If You Don’t Mind My Saying So” (Leigh Munro, Brooks Almy, Allegra Victoria Forste); “Goodnight, My Someone” (Leigh Munro, Allegra Victoria Forste); “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean” (Townspeople); “Seventy-Six Trombones” (Bob Gunton, Townspeople); “Sincere” (Don Yule, Robert Brubaker, James Clark, Jonathan Green); “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl” (Bob Gunton, James Billings); “Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little” (Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Ladies) and “Goodnight Ladies” (Don Yule, Robert Brubaker, James Clark, Jonathan Green); “Marian the Librarian” (Bob Gunton, Leigh Munro, Ladies); “My White Knight” (Leigh Munro); “The Wells Fargo Wagon” (Townspeople) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “It’s You” (Don Yule, Robert Brubaker, James Clark, Jonathan Green, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Ladies); “Shipoopi” (James Billings, Townspeople); “Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little” (reprise) (Muriel Costa-Greenspon, Ladies); “Lida Rose” (Don Yule, Robert Brubaker, James Clark, Jonathan Green” and “Will I Ever Tell You?” (Leigh Munro); “Gary, Indiana” (Joel Chaiken, Leigh Munro, Brooks Almy); “Till There Was You” (Leigh Munro, Bob Gunton); “Goodnight, My Someone” (reprise) (Leigh Munro) and “Seventy-Six Trombones” (reprise) (Bob Gunton); “Minuet in G” (Boys’ Band); Finale (Company) The New York City Opera Company’s production of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man was one of a brief series of musical comedy revivals which the company presented for an uninterrupted run of a few weeks each spring. (For more information about the musical, see entry for the 1980 revival.) Stephen Holden in the New York Times said the “frigid” production was “as far away from the show’s essence as Iowa is from Vienna.” The “cavernous” stage of the New York State Theatre created an “impersonal space” that gave “no sense of community” to the citizens of River City except for their “membership in the same corps of singing actors.” Further, Bob Gunton’s Harold Hill was “almost sinister in its tight-lipped tension” in which he “barely” cracked a smile and seemed “like a grim, skulking outsider.” Although her

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singing offered “a rich frilly lyric soprano,” Leigh Munro’s Marian was too “stiff and proper” and the “romantic chemistry” between her and Gunton was “nil.” But supporting players Richard McKee and Muriel Costa-Greenspon in the respective roles of the “windbag” mayor and his “flighty” wife gave the “strongest performances” of the evening.

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS “A New Musical”

Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: March 24, 1988; Closing Date: May 15, 1988 Performances: 61 Book and Lyrics: Lee Breuer Music: Bob Telson Based on the play Oedipus at Colonus (written circa 406 BC) by Sophocles in the translation by Robert Fitzgerald; the musical also incorporated passages from two other plays by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (428 BC) and Antigone (written circa 441 BC), both in the translations by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Direction: Lee Breuer; Producers: Dodger Productions, Liza Lorwin, Louis Busch Hager, Playhouse Square Center, and Fifth Avenue Productions (Michael David, Edward Strong, and Sherman Warner, Executive Producers) (The Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Newark, Inc., Associate Producer); Scenery: Alison Yerxa; Costumes: Ghretta Hynd; Lighting: Julie Archer; Musical Direction: Bob Telson Cast: Morgan Freeman (Visiting Pastor, Messenger), Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama: Bobby Butler, James Carter, J. T. Clinkscales, Reverend Olice Thomas, and Joseph Watson (Oedipus), Isabell Monk (Evangelist, Antigone), Reverend Earl F. Miller (Assistant Pastor, Theseus), Jevetta Steele (Ismene) and The J. D. Steele Singers (J. D. Steele, Fred Steele, Janice Steele, and Jevetta Steele), Robert Earl Jones (Church Deacon, Creon), Kevin Davis (Congregation Member, Polyneices); Choragos (Choir): Martin Jacox and J. J. Farley and The Soul Stirrers (J. J. Farley, Jackie Banks, Martin Jacox, Ben Odom, and Willie Rogers; Sam Butler Jr. (The Singer), Carolyn Johnson-White (The Choir Soloist); Chorus: The Institutional Radio Choir—Altos: Betty Cooper, Angie Haddock, Vincent Haddock, Crystal Johnson, Selene Jones, Shellie Jordan, Janet Napper, Pamela Poitier, Arnita Tillman, and Candace White; Sopranos: Regina Berry, Deborah Britt, Sharon R. Driscoll, Lady Peachena Eure, Mary Fischer, Parthea Hil, Josie Johnson, Carolyn Johnson-White, Francine Thompkins, and Joan Fate Wright; Tenors: Charles Bellamy, Jim Craven, Walter Dixon, Haywood Gregory, Sidney Hull, Kevin Jackson, Roscoe Robinson, Billy Steele, Ezekiel Tobby, Carl Williams Jr., and Jeff Young; J. D. Steele (Guest Choir Director); Little Village (Band [Orchestra]) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a Pentecostal church.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Welcome” and “Quotations” (Morgan Freeman); “The Invocation” (“Live Where You Can”) (Choir with Jevetta Steele); “Recapitulation from Oedipus the King” (Isabell Monk, Reverend Earl F. Miller); “Oedipus and Antigone Enter Colonus” (Isabell Monk, Morgan Freeman); “Ode to Colonus” (“Fair Colonus”) (Willie Rogers); “Stop, Do Not Go On” (Sam Butler Jr., with J. J. Farley and The Soul Stirrers; bridge: Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama); “Choral Dialogue” (“Who Is This Man?”) (Martin Jacox, Morgan Freeman); “Ismene Comes to Colonus” (“How Shall I See You through My Tears?”) (The J. D. Steele Singers, Jevetta Steele); “Narrative of Ismene” (Isabell Monk); “Tableau: Polyneices and Eteocles” (J. D. Steele, Fred Steele); “The Rite” (Isabell Monk, Morgan Freeman, Clarence Fountain); “Tableau: Antigone and Ismene” (Janice Steele, Jevetta Steele); “Dialogue: Chorus Questions Oedipus” (Martin Jacox, Morgan Freeman); “The Prayer” (“A Voice Foretold”) (Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Sam Butler Jr.); “Oedipus Is Welcomed at Colonus”: (1) “Peroration” (Reverend Earl F. Miller) and (2) “Jubilee” (“No Never”) (Martin Jacox with The Soul Stirrers; bridge: Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Choir, Ensemble); “Creon Comes to Colonus and The

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Seizure of the Daughters” (Robert Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama); “Oedipus Curses Creon” (Suite: “All My Heart’s Desire”) (Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Choir, Robert Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman); “Choral Ode” (“Numberless Are the World’s Wonders”) (The J. D. Steele Singers, J. D. Steele, Janice Steele, Choir) Act Two: “Oedipus Laments” (“Lift Me Up”) (Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Atlanta); “Polyneices’ Testimony and Supplication” and “Oedipus’ Curse” (Kevin Davis, Morgan Freeman, Clarence Fountain); “Evil” (Sam Butler Jr.); “You Break My Heart” (J. D. Steele, Fred Steele, Ben Odom); “Poem” (“Love Unconquerable”) (Isabell Monk); “Preaching with Tuned Response” (Morgan Freeman, Clarence Fountain); “Special Effect” (“Ah! Heaven’s Height Has Cracked!”) and “The Teachings” (Morgan Freeman, Reverend Earl F. Miller); “The Descent of Oedipus”: (1) “Oh, Sunlight of No Light” (Sam Butler Jr.) and “Eternal Sleep” (Willie Rogers and The Soul Stirrers); “Mourning” (Isabell Monk, Reverend Earl F. Miller, Jevetta Steele, Janice Steele); “Doxology, the Paen” (“Lift Him Up”) (Choir with Carolyn JohnsonWhite); “The Sermon” (Morgan Freeman); “Closing Hymn” (“Now Let the Weeping Cease”) (Willie Rogers and The Soul Stirrers, Choir, Ensemble); “Benediction” (Morgan Freeman) The Gospel at Colonus was a sometimes uneasy mix of Greek myth and American black Pentecostal church service. It retold Sophocles’s tragedy in which the dying Oedipus, who has suffered and repented for sins he committed in innocence, is granted spiritual redemption. But the epic story was divided among brief book and church service scenes and musical interludes. And instead of one performer acting and singing the role, it was shared by one actor (Morgan Freeman) and six singers (Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Atlanta) and thus inadvertently achieved a Brechtian distance that made it impossible for the audience to focus upon and relate to Oedipus’s plight. The critics praised Bob Telson’s score, but one or two suggested the evening would have been better served as a straight gospel service without the trappings of ancient myth. Despite many respectable reviews and two over-the-moon raves, the musical closed just shy of a two-month run and the New York Times reported that the production’s losses were in the range of $1.4 million. Frank Rich in the New York Times found Telson’s score “an explosion born of fusion” in which various styles of music (such as gospel, jazz, rock, and pop) were performed by singers who seemed “engaged in a vocalizing Olympics held in gospel heaven.” But Lee Breuer’s book was “far from seamless,” and his direction was “surprisingly retrograde” in “form and static staging.” The idea of merging the two distinct styles was “superficial” with “Ivy League bull-session cleverness,” but ultimately the “glib intellectual convenience” distorted and diluted both ancient Greece and modern music. And because the book scenes were “lengthy regurgitations of Sophocles” and the musical numbers “sometimes regurgitate the regurgitations,” Rich said “one soon gets restless between song cues.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday suggested the “crossover adventure” was a “late-night brainstorm” that should have been quashed in the morning because the gods of ancient Greece were “simply not interchangeable” with the notion of one God, and “the classic notion of fate is inconsistent with Christianity.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said that “only intermittently” did the musical make “good theatre” and the use of multiple performers playing Oedipus was “confusing.” And while “Sophocles mavens” wouldn’t like the musical, fans of gospel music would have “to wade through a lot of tedious Oedipus stuff.” But John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked the “unique and stirring” production, and David Lida in Women’s Wear Daily and Jack Kroll in Newsweek went into gush-overload. Lida said the show was “the most exciting and original musical I’ve seen since I became a drama critic.” He found the show “a rousing theatrical experience that should fulfill the Broadway audience’s hunger for spectacle,” and he hoped it would run in New York “for years.” As for Kroll, the musical was one of the “most marvelous” of the decade and was “based on one of the most inspired ideas of any time.” The show was a “sunburst of joy” which seemed “to touch the secret heart of civilization itself.” The Gospel at Colonus was first produced as a work-in-progress at the ReCherChez Studio for the AvantGarde Performing Arts at the Washington Square United Methodist Church on December 23, 1981, and was later performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Carey Playhouse on November 8, 1983, for two slightly separated engagements that totaled thirty performances. Besides appearing in the Broadway production, Morgan Freeman was also in the Brooklyn engagement. There are two cast recordings of the musical; the Brooklyn production was recorded by Warner Brothers Records (LP # 1-25192) and a Philadelphia staging at the American Music Theatre Festival was released by Elektra/Nonesuch Records (LP # 9-79191-1).

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The musical was shown on public television’s Great Performances on November 8, 1985, and was released on videocassette and DVD by New Video Group, Inc. The script was published in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 1993.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Book (Lee Breuer)

OBA OBA

“The Brazilian Extravaganza” Theatre: Ambassador Theatre Opening Date: March 29, 1988; Closing Date: May 8, 1988 Performances: 46 Producers: Franco Fontana (Dino Cuzzoni, Coproducer); Choreography: Roberto Abrahao (Soraya Bastos and Luis Bocanha, Assistant Choreographers); Musical Direction: Mario Ruffa Cast: Eliana Estevao, Nilze Carvalho, Toco Preto, Jaime Santos, Bebeto, Beicola, Borracha, Brecho, Chita, Concheta, Soraya Bastos, Tome de Bebedouro, Luis Bernardo, Luis Bocanha, Waldir Cavalcanti, Jose Roberto Ferreira, Marquinho da Dona Geralda, Claudia Jacomo, Ledinha da Mangueira, Cobra Mansa, Olga Maria, Wilson Mauro, Lucia Helena Maximo, Claudinho Nascimento, Marcos Negao, Milani Nicolau, Gerson du Pandeiro, Pedro Pottier, Soninha Toda Puro, Miguel do Repinique, Marta Sargentelli, Roberto Silva, Rosemary Silva, Vivian Machado Soares, Lindete Souza, Marcia Souza, Wilmar Vieira, Paulo Xavier; Ensemble: Claudio Sargentelli, Cristino Ricardo, Dalto Macedo, Garcia de Aragao, Iole Fernandes, Lucelita Barros, Maria Elza de Jesus, Monica Gonçalves, Nino, Ondina Lopes, Vera Lima The dance revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Xica da Silva” (Rosemary Silva, Wilmar Vieira, Company); “Homage to ‘Baiao’” (including songs “Tico Tico” and “Urubu malandro”) (Nilze Carvalho, Toco Preto); “Samba de roda” (Toco Preto, Gerson Pandeiro, Milani Nicolau, Claudia Jacomo, Concheta, Ledinha da Mangueira, Lindete Souza, Marta Sargentelli, Olga Maria, Rosemary Silva, Soninha Toda Pura, Vivian Machado Soares); “Chorinho” (including songs “Brasileirinho” and “Delicado,” both with music by Waldir Azevedo) (Nilze Carvalho, Toco Preto); “Homage to the Northeast” (Jaime Santos, Company); “Brazil capela” (Eliana Estevao); “Homage to the Bossanova and to Brazilian Music of the Seventies” (Eliana Estevao, Nilze Carvalho, Wilson Mauro, Waldir Cavalcanti); “Homage to Brazilian Music of the Sixties” (including songs “Manha de Carnaval,” “Samba de uma nota so,” and “Garota de Ipanema”) (Eliana Estevao, Maria Sargentelli, Olga Maria, Soninha Toda Pura, Soraya Bastos); “Tribute to the ‘Brazilian Bombshell’ Carmen Miranda” (Nilze Carvalho, Eliana Estevao, Lindete Souza, Company) Act Two: “Macumba” (Ledinha de Mangueira, Lindete Souza, Bebeto, Gerson do Pandeiro, Olga Maria, Luis Bocanha, Jose Roberto Ferreira, Maria Sargentelli, Company); Afro-Brazil Folk Songs and Dances: (1) “Berimbau Medley” (Luis Bocanha, Gerson do Pandeiro, Brecho, Claudinho Nascimento, Luis Bernardo, Roberto Silva, Tome de Bebedouro, Waldir Cavalcanti, Wilson Mauro, and Jaime Santos); (2) “Capoeira of Angola” (Bebeto, Beicola, Borracha, Chita, Cobra Mansa, Luis Bocanha, Marcos Negao, Claudia Jacomo, Concheta, Lindete Souza, Marcia Souza, Marta Sargentelli, Olga Maria, Rosemary Silva, Soninha Toda Pura, Soraya Bastos, Vivian Machado Soares); (3) “Macuele” (Brecho, Claudia Jacomo, Claudinho Nascimento, Jose Roberto Ferreira, Lindete Souza, Helena Maximo, Luis Bernardo, Marcia Souza, Marta Sargentelli, Paolo Xavier, Roberto Silva, Soraya Bastos, Tome de Bebedouro, Waldir Cavalcanti, Wilmar Vieira); and (4) “Acrobatic Capoeira” (Bebeto, Beicola, Borracha, Chita, Cobra Mansa, Luis Bocanha, Marcos Negao); “Rhythm Beaters” (Gerson do Pandeiro, Bebeto, Borracha, Luis Bocanha, Marquinho da Dona Geralda, Miguel do Repinique, Milani Nicolau, Pedro Pottier); “Show of Samba Dancers” (Olga Maria, Rosemary Silva, Soninha Toda Pura); “Grand Carnival” (Company)

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The Brazilian import Oba Oba (which was the name of a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro and seems to translate as roughly “Oh, boy, oh, boy”) opened for a limited Broadway run after playing nine months at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The dance revue had originally premiered in Brazil in 1984 and toured such countries as Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Israel. The critics compared it to a latter-day Folies Bergère and to a 1950s New York nightclub revue that might have been seen at the Latin Quarter or the Copacabana, and indeed Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested the evening would have been “old-fashioned 30 years ago.” Stephen Holden in the New York Times indicated the revue was more in the nature of “a theatricalized MGM-style musical brochure that reinforces stereotypical images” of Brazil as the land of “nonstop carnival.” The evening was a mixture of dances on the order of the samba and music of the bossa nova variety, and there were popular songs (such as “The Girl from Ipanema”) and folk songs. Along the way there was a second-act finale that saluted the “Brazilian Bombshell” Carmen Miranda (who was actually born in Portugal), “Acrobatic Capoeria” and an energetic display of acrobatic dancing, and medleys of popular Brazilian songs from the 1960s and 1970s. For the finale, the huge production number “Grand Carnival” found some of the performers dancing in the aisles with game ticket-holders as an avalanche of balloons dropped from the theatre’s ceiling. There was also much in the way of female nudity, and, according to Don Nielsen in the New York Daily News, “muscled guys in designer jock straps.” In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt reported that one member of the cast strummed an electric guitar while the instrument was held “behind his head, between his legs and other positions,” and the critic suspected “Ed Sullivan would have grabbed him in a second.” Further, the acrobatic dancers performed “dizzying turns and flips,” and for the Carmen Miranda tribute all the chorus girls wore the requisite headdresses of Technicolored fruit and flowers. An unsigned review in Women’s Wear Daily also praised the “wonderful” acrobatic dancers, but said the production was better suited to Las Vegas and Atlantic City than to New York. On the other hand, the show was better than the “pretentious spectacles” Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. Holden found the evening a “circusy nightclub pageant” and advised his readers to “imagine the Radio City Music Hall’s Magnificent Christmas Spectacular with a samba beat.” Barnes noted that the show lacked the “unifying” presence of a major star and suggested the revue was the “kind of extravaganza” which wasn’t “quite extravaganza enough” and needed about two-million more dollars in order “to be the spectacular evening it clearly aspires to be.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor compared the production to “old-fashioned vaudeville” and reported the décor as “a riot of jungle colors and gaudy curtains.” The current revue was followed up by two more visits: Oba Oba ’90 (Marquis Theatre on March 15, 1990, for forty-five performances) and Oba Oba ’93 (Marquis Theatre on October 1, 1992, also for forty-five performances).

MAIL

“A New Musical” Theatre: Music Box Theatre Opening Date: April 14, 1988; Closing Date: May 14, 1988 Performances: 36 Book and Lyrics: Jerry Colker Music: Michael Rupert Direction: Andrew Cadiff; Producers: Michael Frazier, Susan Dietz, Stephen Wells, and The Kennedy Center/ ANTA (Kenneth Biller, Associate Producer); Choreography: Grover Dale (Stephen Jay, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery and Projections: Gerry Hariton and Vicki Baral; Multi-Media Production: Nelson & Sixta; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Richard Nelson; Musical Direction: Tom Fay Cast: Michael Rupert (Alex), Mara Getz (Dana), Rick Stockwell (Radio Announcer, Life Exec, Billy Ray Binger, Con Ed Men, Hunter, Mr. Stansbury, Pitchman), Mary Bond Davis (Radio Singer, Mama Utility, Brunhilda, Operator, Lois T. Wertshafter), Alan Muraoka (Life Exec, Assistant, Con Ed Men, I.R.S. Auditor, Takeuchi Fujimoto), Robert Loftin (Life Exec, Assistant, Con Ed Men, Boy Scout, Crackerface Callahan), Brian (Stokes) Mitchell (Franklin), Antonia Ellis (Sandi), Robert Mandan (Max), Michele Pawk (Kathy Sue Binger, Power Lady, Democratic Party Delegate, Candi Suwinski), Louise Hickey (Power Lady, Gypsy, Harmony Steinberg); The Pitchpeople: Mary Bond Davis, Robert Loftin, Alan Muraoka, Michele Pawk, Rick Stockwell, Louise Hickey

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The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Monolithic Madness” (Michael Rupert); “Gone So Long” (Mary Bond Davis); “Hit the Ground Running” (Mara Getz, Michael Rupert); “It’s Your Life” (Alan Muraoka, Robert Loftin, Rick Stockwell); “Cookin’ with Steam” (lyric by Jerry Colker, music by Brian Mitchell and Michael Rupert) (Brian Mitchell); “It’s Just a Question of Technique” (Antonia Ellis, Michael Rupert); “It’s None of My Business” (Robert Mandan); “Crazy World” (Mara Getz); “Ambivalent Rag” (Michael Rupert); “It’s Your Life II” (Alan Muraoka, Robert Loftin, Rick Stockwell); “You Better Get Outta Town” (Michele Pawk, Rick Stockwell, Alan Muraoka, Robert Loftin); “We’re Gonna Turn Off Your Juice” (Louise Hickey, Michele Pawk, Mary Bond Davis, Alan Muraoka, Rick Stockwell, Robert Loftin); “The World Set on Fire by a Black and a Jew” (Brian Mitchell, Michael Rupert); “Where Are You?”/”Where Am I?” (Mara Getz); “Family Ties” (Robert Mandan); “One Lost Weekend” (Antonia Ellis, Michael Rupert, Mara Getz); “Junk Mail”/“Disconnected” (Ensemble); “Helplessness at Midnight” (Mary Bond Davis); “What Have You Been Doing for the Past Ten Years” (Michael Rupert, Ensemble); “A Blank Piece of Paper” (Michael Rupert) Act Two: “Sweepstakes” (Michael Rupert, Rick Stockwell, Mary Bond Davis, Robert Loftin, Alan Muraoka, Michele Pawk, Louise Hickey); “It’s Getting Harder to Love You” (Mara Getz, Mary Bond Davis, Michele Pawk, Louise Hickey); “Publish Your Book” (Antonia Ellis, Michael Rupert, Mary Bond Davis, Robert Loftin, Alan Muraoka, Michele Pawk, Rick Stockwell, Louise Hickey); “Ambivalent Rag II” (Michael Rupert); “Pages of My Diary” (Mara Getz, Michael Rupert, Mary Bond Davis, Michele Pawk, Louise Hickey); “One Step at a Time”/“Ambivalent Rag III” (Michael Rupert, Mary Bond Davis, Robert Loftin, Alan Muraoka, Michele Pawk, Rick Stockwell, Louise Hickey); “Don’t Count on It” (Antonia Ellis, Michael Rupert); “Friends for Life” (Brian Mitchell, Michael Rupert); “Twenty-Nine Years Ago” (Robert Mandan, Michael Rupert); “Sweepstakes” (reprise) (Mary Bond Davis, Robert Loftin, Alan Muraoka, Michele Pawk, Rick Stockwell, Louise Hickey); “A Blank Piece of Paper” (reprise) (Michael Rupert); Finale: “Crazy World” (Michael Rupert, Mara Getz) It was strictly hate Mail as far as the critics were concerned, and they had a field day with the musical’s title: “Mail Best Left Unopened” was the headline for Clive Barnes’s review in the New York Post, and he proclaimed that the musical was a “dead letter” sent “to the wrong address.” The headline for Linda Winer’s notice in New York Newsday said the show was for “The Dead-Letter Slot” and she suggested that Mail should “have been stamped ‘return to sender.’” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said Mail didn’t “deliver” and he too felt it should be returned to sender because it was “a third-class musical that through some postal service error was misdelivered to Broadway.” Howard Kissel’s headline in the New York Daily News found the show a “Post-Card Production.” And the headline for Douglas Watt’s notice in the same newspaper succinctly stated “Junk Mail.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said the missives in Mail made him wish the post office would discourage all letter-writing by charging five dollars to send a first-class letter. This Mail was so “anonymous” it might well have been addressed to “Occupant,” and he speculated the musical might actually be “a surreptitious advertisement for Federal Express.” The barrage of negative notices did in the show, and it lasted just thirty-six performances. According to the Times, the musical closed at a loss of $2.5 million. The far-fetched plot dealt with twenty-nine-year-old Jewish New Yorker Alex (Michael Rupert), who has commitment issues with just about everyone is his life. He’s also the author of five unpublished books (all “satirical-comical-autobiographical novels”) and because of a rather early mid-life crisis he has completely disappeared for four full months (it seemed a stretch that someone so young had enough emotional baggage to warrant such middle-aged-styled angst). As the musical begins, Alex has returned to his apartment after his four-month sojourn and goes through all the mail that’s piled up, including letters from family and friends. (He seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth for four months and they wrote him letters? Did no one think to call the police or check the hospitals?) The musical’s gimmick was that all of Alex’s mail comes to life, and thanks to breakaway sets and trapdoors, the letter-writers emerge from windows, closets, the bathtub, the refrigerator, and the couch in order

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to confront him with comments and accusations. Among the accusers are his girlfriend, Dana (Mara Getz); his best friend, Franklin (Brian Mitchell); his literary agent, Sandi (Antonia Ellis); and his father, Max (Robert Mandan, whom Winer noted was “as Jewish as the St. Patrick’s Day parade”). And not only do the letters materialize, the bills and junk mail make appearances, too (including threats from Con Ed about his unpaid utility bills, requests from Life magazine to subscribe, and the good news that he may be a million-dollar sweepstakes winner). It was telling that a few critics found the junk-mail moments more interesting than the characters themselves. But for all the hoopla about Alex’s essentially undefined problems (which were apparently of the lack-of-commitment variety), the musical suggested that reading your mail is the best way to resolve your emotional issues (Rich noted that by the finale Alex has suddenly reconciled himself to those he’s heretofore spurned and alienated). Winer wondered why we should care about Alex, who had “no personality” (and because his apartment walls were decorated with old license plates and college pennants he clearly had “no taste”). Kissel called him an “uninteresting” and “self-confessed jerk.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal noted it was “hard to take the personal problems of the young hero seriously.” And Rich found him a “cipher” with a “grab bag of attributes and psycho-babble that fails to add up to a person.” Rich also said the score suffered from a “bad case of Sondheimitis” and the plot reflected the styles of Sondheim and Harold Prince’s concept musicals (Company for the first act and Follies for the second). Winer found the score “pseudo-Sondheim,” and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor suggested the score was “presumably an homage to Sondheim.” But Barnes reported the music sounded “like Marvin Hamlisch zapped and muzaked,” and Kissel noted some songs were cute but mostly “obnoxious” and in general were as “facile and vapid as the characters” who sang them. One or two critics pounced on the lyrics, including one which rhymed “vasectomy” with “expect of me.” During the tryout, Jonelle Allen played Sandi and was succeeded by Antonia Ellis; and the following songs were dropped: “You Left Me Flat,” “Dana Dear,” “If We’re Gonna Go All the Way It’s Up to You,” “Call Your Mother,” “Help o’ God,” “Ducks in a Row,” “Worldwide Success,” “Tentative Interest,” “Tentative Interest II,” “Men Make Me Sick,” “Happy Birthday, You Little Schmuck,” “I Did It, Dad,” “Not with Me,” “The Bombardment,” “A Quiet Perspective,” “Alex, You Creep,” and “By the Same Token.” No doubt the critics were especially let down by Mail because the show’s creative team had enjoyed a modest but enjoyable success with their Off-Broadway musical 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down, which dealt with stand-up comedians (as did the current season’s Late Nite Comic), and opened at the Minetta Lane Theatre on February 5, 1985, for 160 performances (Colker wrote the lyrics and book, Rupert the music, and Cadiff directed). Colker, Scott Bakula, and John Kassir were the three guys, and for Mail Colker was Rupert’s standby and during the Washington, D.C., tryout went on for Rupert at least once.

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN IN CONCERT Theatre: Lyceum Theatre Opening Date: April 19, 1988; Closing Date: June 12, 1988 Performances: 62 Special Material: Bruce Vilanch Direction: Christopher Chadman; Producers: Ron Delsener (Jonathan Scharer and Peter Kapp); Scenery: Andrew Jackness; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Elliot Finkel Cast: Michael Feinstein The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs performed by Michael Feinstein. The program didn’t list musical numbers, and the alphabetical list below reflects those songs mentioned in various newspaper reviews of the concert. “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (independent song; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Be Careful, It’s My Heart” (1942 film Holiday Inn; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Can-Can” (Can-Can, 1953; lyric and music by Cole Porter); “Fascinating Rhythm” (Lady, Be Good!, 1924; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George

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Gershwin); “Forty-Second Street” (1933 film 42nd Street; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren); “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” (Right This Way, 1938; lyric by Irving Kahal, music by Sammy Fain); “I Got Rhythm” (Girl Crazy, 1930; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “I Love a Piano” (Stop! Look! Listen!, 1915; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1934 film Dames; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren); “I Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune” (Mother Goose, 1903; lyric and music by George M. Cohan); “I Won’t Send Roses” (Mack & Mabel, 1974; lyric and music by Jerry Herman); “I’ll Be Seeing You” (Right This Way, 1938; lyric by Irving Kahal, music by Sammy Fain); “Isn’t It Romantic” (1932 film Love Me Tonight; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers); “It Only Happens When I Dance with You” (1948 film Easter Parade; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Loopin’ the Loop” (cut from Chicago, 1975; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “(Our) Love Is Here to Stay” (1938 film The Goldwyn Follies; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “Lullaby of Broadway” (1935 film Gold Diggers of 1935; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren); “Lulu’s Back in Town” (1935 film Broadway Gondolier; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren); “Lydia, The Tattooed Lady” (1939 film At the Circus; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); “Never Never Land” (Peter Pan, 1954; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne); “Not Another Song about Paris” (lyric and music by Dave Frishberg); “Sail Away” (1950 London musical Ace of Clubs; later used in New York musical Sail Away, 1961 [which was produced in London in 1962]; lyric and music by Noel Coward); “Something Good Will Come from That” (lyricist unknown; music by Harry Warren); “Taking a Chance on Love” (Cabin in the Sky, 1940; lyric by John Latouche and Ted Fetter, music by Vernon Duke); “Time Heals Everything” (Mack & Mabel, 1974; lyric and music by Jerry Herman); “Sing a Tropical Song” (1943 film Happy Go Lucky; lyric by Frank Loesser, music by Jimmy McHugh); “Wasn’t It Romantic?” (lyric by Marshall Barer, music by Hugh Martin); “Where Do You Start?” (lyric by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, music by Johnny Mandel); “You Keep Coming Back Like a Song” (1946 film Blue Skies; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby” (1938 film Hard to Get; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harry Warren); “You’re My Everything” (The Laugh Parade, 1931; lyric by Mort Dixon and Joe Young, music by Harry Warren) Saloon-singer and pianist Michael Feinstein made his Broadway debut in this limited-engagement concert which was extended twice and played for almost two months. Feinstein was accompanied by a six-man band led by pianist Elliot Finkel, and the program included segments devoted to the songs of Irving Berlin and Harry Warren as well as to such topics as travel. John S. Wilson in the New York Times said Feinstein sang “with a soft, warm intimacy” which took on “a brassy ring when he rises to a climactic belt.” But he complained that many songs were reduced “to a few lines each” which left the numbers “in a blur of unresolved lyrics and melodies.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised Feinstein’s “effortless theatrical personality”; David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said Feinstein’s singing had “never been better” but he felt the evening needed a “unifying thread” to hold it together and make it more than “a miscellaneous collection of songs”; Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal found Feinstein an “impeccable cabaret performer”; and Alan Bunce in the Christian Science Monitor said the singer made music “transparent, radiant, and fun.” Stuart Troup in New York Newsday noted Feinstein’s “faithfulness to compositions is spellbinding.” The second act opened with a “rollicking excursion” of Broadway show tunes, and Feinstein and Finkel occasionally performed “brightly” in dueling-pianos style. But the headline of Howard Kissel’s review in the New York Daily News proclaimed “He’s Fine, It’s Pleasant . . . Ho-Hum.” The critic said Feinstein was “a skillful pianist and an engaging performer” who wasn’t “exceptional” and couldn’t “generate enough excitement to fill a stage.” Instead of “a pretty, Johnny Mathislike sound,” Kissel wanted “real theatre energy” and “a sense of the songs as miniature dramas.” Feinstein returned to Broadway in two more concerts, Michael Feinstein in Concert: Isn’t It Romantic (which was a return engagement of the current concert) and Michael Feinstein in Concert: Piano and Voice (John Golden Theatre, October 2, 1990; thirty performances); and, with Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries), in the intimate revue All About Me (Henry Miller’s Theatre, March 18, 2010; twenty performances).

1987–1988 SEASON     357

CHESS

“A New Musical” Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: April 28, 1988; Closing Date: June 25, 1988 Performances: 68 Book: Richard Nelson Lyrics: Tim Rice Music: Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus Direction: Trevor Nunn; Producers: The Shubert Organization, 3 Knights Ltd., and Robert Fox Ltd. (Gatchell & Neufield Ltd., Executive Producers); Choreography: Lynne Taylor-Corbett; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Paul Bogaev Cast: Neal Ben-Ari (Gregor Vassey), Gina Gallagher (Young Florence), Philip Casnoff (Freddie), Judy Kuhn (Florence), David (David-James) Carroll (Anatoly), Harry Goz (Molokov), Kurt Johns (Nickolai), Dennis Parlato (Walter), Paul Harman (Arbiter), Marcia Mitzman (Svetlana), Richard Muenz (Joe), Eric Johnson (Harold); Ensemble: John Aller, Neal Ben-Ari, Suzanne Briar, Steve Clemente, Katherine Lynne Condit, Ann Crumb, David Cryer, R. F. Daley, Deborah Geneviere, Kurt Johns, Eric Johnson, Paul Laureano, Rosemary Loar, Judy McLane, Jessica Molaskey, Richard Muenz, Kip Niven, Francis Ruivivar, Alex Santoriello, Wysandria Woolsey, Karen Babcock, Craig Wells The musical was presented in two acts. The action in the prologue takes place in Budapest, Hungary, in 1956, and the remaining action takes place during the present time in Bangkok, Thailand; New York City’s Kennedy Airport; and Budapest.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Story of Chess” (Neal Ben-Ari); “Press Conference” (Philip Casnoff, Judy Kuhn, Reporters); “Where I Want to Be” (David Carroll); “How Many Women” (Judy Kuhn, Philip Casnoff); “Merchandisers’ Song” (Dennis Parlato, Merchandisers); “U.S. Versus U.S.S.R.” (Harry Goz, American and Soviet Delegates); “Chess Hymn” (Paul Harman, Company); “Quartet” (“A Model of Decorum and Tranquility”) (Harry Goz, Judy Kuhn, Paul Harman, David Carroll); “You Want to Lose Your Only Friend?” (Judy Kuhn, Philip Casnoff); “Someone Else’s Story” (Judy Kuhn); “One Night in Bangkok” (Philip Casnoff, Company); “Terrace Duet” (Judy Kuhn, David Carroll); “So You Got What You Want” (Philip Casnoff, Judy Kuhn); “Nobody’s Side” (Judy Kuhn); “Anthem” (David Carroll) Act Two: “Arbiter’s Song” (Paul Harman, Company); “Hungarian Folk Song” (Company); “Heaven Help My Heart” (Judy Kuhn); “No Contest” (Philip Casnoff, Dennis Parlato); “You and I” (David Carroll, Judy Kuhn, Marcia Mitzman); “A Whole New Board Game” (Philip Casnoff); “Let’s Work Together” (Dennis Parlato, Harry Goz); “I Know Him So Well” (Judy Kuhn, Marcia Mitzman); “Pity the Child” (Philip Casnoff); “Lullaby” (“Apukad Eros Kezen”) (Neal Ben-Ari, Judy Kuhn); “Endgame” (David Carroll, Philip Casnoff, Company); “You and I” (reprise) (David Carroll, Judy Kuhn); “Anthem” (reprise) (Judy Kuhn) Chess received mostly dismissive reviews, but of all the so-called “British Invasion” musicals it was one of the finest and deserved a better fate than its two months on Broadway. Here was a musical with an intriguing story, complex and not always likable characters, and fresh subject matter, but unfortunately most critics and audiences were in the mood for cats, trains, and phantoms. The musical was based on a popular 1984 concept album that sold over two-million copies; the music was by the singing-group ABBA’s composers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and the lyrics by Tim Rice, and eventually two hit songs emerged from the score, “One Night in Bangkok” and “I Know Him So Well.” The leading performers for the album were Elaine Paige (Florence Vassey), Murray Head (Freddie Trumpet), and Tommy Korberg (Anatoly Sergievsky), and other roles on the recording were sung by Denis Quilley and Barbara Dickson. The first stage production opened in London on May 14, 1986, at the Prince Edward Theatre and played for three years. It was originally slated for direction by Michael Bennett, who was succeeded by Trevor Nunn when Bennett became ill, and the cast included the three principals on the concept recording along with Kevin Colson, Siobhan McCarthy, and Peter Karrie in supporting roles.

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Nine months before the London premiere, David Richards in a Washington Post article dated September 11, 1985, reported that the American production of Chess would open nine months after the London version. The musical was booked for the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., for a twelve-week run beginning in December 1986 in a $5-million production financed by The Shubert Organization. Michael Bennett would direct and choreograph, and others on the production team would be Robin Wagner (décor), Theoni V. Aldredge (costumes), and Tharon Musser (lighting). But there was no pre-Broadway engagement, and instead the musical opened in New York in April 1988 after an extended preview period. The radically revised and redesigned show now cost $6.2 million to produce, and the new book by Richard Nelson focused on Florence, who was given a new song, the haunting “Someone Else’s Story.” The story was set against Cold War intrigues, which were symbolized by the World Chess Championship between the insufferably arrogant American Freddy (Philip Casnoff) and the cool and calm Russian Anatoly (David Carroll) as they play their matches in Bangkok and Budapest. Hungarian-born Florence (Judy Kuhn) is both Freddie’s second and his lover, but soon leaves him for the married Anatoly, who defects to the West with her. In Budapest for the second match, Anatoly and Florence discover that his wife Svetlana (Marcia Mitzman) has arrived, and the two women have an amicable meeting in which both acknowledge their love for him. Meanwhile, the Russian and American agents make backstreet deals: the Russians want Anatoly back, and if he agrees to return to his homeland, the KGB will arrange for a reunion between Florence and her father Gregor (Neal Ben-Ari). And so for the first time since she was four years old, Florence finally sees her father. In exchange for the family reunion, Anatoly plans to return to Russia and Svetlana, and he and Florence meet one last time when they ruefully note they will “go on pretending / Stories like ours / Have happy endings.” Once Anatoly’s flight takes off, Florence discovers she was duped by both the Russians and the Americans: the man she met was not her father, and the charade was devised as a means to induce Anatoly to return to Russia because the two governments had secretly arranged for Anatoly’s return in exchange for the release of a captive CIA agent. Florence is devastated: her country has deceived her and she’s forever lost her only love. The rich score included a number of lush ballads, including “In Someone Else’s Story,” “Terrace Duet,” “Heaven Help My Heart,” “I Know Him So Well,” and “You and I,” the latter a soaring, spine-tingling melody and one of the most powerful and touching ballads in recent musicals. Freddie’s “Pity the Child” was a bravura moment that analyzed his essentially unlikable character, and Anatoly’s “Anthem” was a moving number that brought down the first-act curtain. The “Merchandisers’ Song” was amusingly cynical in its look at marketing; and there were a series of lyrically and musically complex and exciting songs that dealt with political intrigue, “Quartet” (“A Model of Decorum and Tranquility”), “(Nobody’s on) Nobody’s Side,” and “Endgame.” A few critics complained about the seemingly out-of-place “One Night in Bangkok,” and in truth the song was more natural in the context of the concept album and the British production because it and the deletedfor-Broadway “Merano” were essentially companion pieces that introduced each act and commented on the countries that were hosting the chess championship. Originally, the musical’s two locales were a Swiss-like nation and Bangkok, and each song made references to musicals by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and employed radically different music, “Merano” with its “Edelweiss”-inflected melody and “Bangkok” with its occasionally staccato rap sound. With the revised script and the substitution of Budapest for Merano, “Bangkok” was a colorful crowd-pleaser that now seemed shoehorned into the story. For the Broadway version, the opening number “The Story of Chess” also suffered. Its complex, information-filled lyric was perhaps lost in a staging where a father sings to a little girl that “Each game of chess means there’s one less / Variation left to be played.” The London production instead presented the number in a chilly, surreal staging that included masque-like performers dressed as life-sized chess pieces who acted out the lyric as they moved about on the stage, which resembled a white-and-black chess board lit from underneath by white light as the chess pieces themselves were bathed in blue lighting. Frank Rich in the New York Times said Chess had “the theatrical consistency of quicksand” with an “incoherent and jerry-built” plot and mostly “broad or inept performances” by the supporting players. But David Carroll was “impressive” and brought “real fire” as well as “sweetness” to his character. Linda Winer in New York Newsday found the lyrics “unpredictable” and the music “uneven,” but said Carroll was “endearing” and sang “like a star,” Casnoff made the audience “pay attention” despite a character who was an “obnoxious combination of rock star and Ugly American,” and Kuhn had a “lovely” and “natural quality.”

1987–1988 SEASON     359

The headline in Howard Kissel’s review for the New York Daily News said he was “‘Chess’ Bored,” and the critic suggested the musical had been written “by two committees not in very close touch” with one another. Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the evening a “little banal” in its attempt “to show real people in serious situations,” but he praised the “remarkably fine” Carroll and Casnoff, and said Kuhn was “terrific, full voiced” and “intensely focused” as the “Hungarian sparrow crushed by the fall of the Iron Curtain.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor felt the production was more “wearing” than “moving” but praised the “affecting” songs and the “excellent” singers. And David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said the evening was a “stalemate” and “a bit of a mess.” John Simon in New York said the plot was “consistently confused, the characterization confusingly inconsistent, and the tragic outcome thoroughly uncompelling.” But Robin Wagner’s Dreamgirls-inspired set of twelve triangular towers spun about and created various theatrical spaces from which “a suggestive, usually chilling, image materializes.” And Casnoff’s “Pity the Child” offered “anger and pathos” which won Simon over to both the character’s often “callow and disagreeable” personality and to the show itself. Humm in Variety suggested the musical “lacks the ingredients for long-run prosperity” but noted Nelson’s book “attempted with some success to develop characters of psychological depth, with an overlay of pointedly sardonic political commentary.” William A. Henry III in Time hailed the “angry, difficult, demanding and rewarding show, one that pushes the boundaries of the form” with “one of the best rock scores ever produced in the theatre” and “superb” leading players who were “willing to be complex and unlikable.” The Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # 7700-1-RC and CD # 7700-2-RC), and the script of the Broadway production was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1991. The script of the London production is included in “Chess”: The Making of the Musical by William Hartston, which was published in hardback by Pavilion Books in 1986 and includes dozens of color photographs from the British version and provides glimpses of the striking production designs that were jettisoned for New York. Virtually every fully staged production and every concert version of Chess differs in one way or another in respect to the details of the plot and the songs used. One suspects that a full-length recording that includes every song written for Chess would require three CDs, and probably only a master’s thesis could keep up with the intricacies of plot and song variations in the different productions. The original concept album was released by RCA Victor Records on a two-LP and two-CD set (CD # PCD2-5340), and besides the Broadway cast album there are a number of recordings: Chess in Concert (1994), a two-CD set recorded live in Sweden and sung in English with a cast that includes Tommy Korberg (Mono Music Records # MMCD-010-2); a two-CD set of the 2000–2001 Danish tour, sung in English (Columbus Records CD # 81851); a two-CD set of a 2002 Swedish production (sung in Swedish) with Korberg (Mono Music Records # MMCD-019); and Chess in Concert (2008), a two-CD set recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, with Josh Groban (Anatoly), Idina Menzel (Florence), and Adam Pascal (Freddie) (Reprise Records # 517635-2). Other recordings of the score were issued on single CD sets by Tring Records (CD # GRF-344), Big Eye Records, and AIS Records. The 2008 concert was also released on DVD by Warner Brothers (# 2-517636).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Actor in a Musical (David Carroll); Best Actress in a Musical (Judy Kuhn)

ROMANCE ROMANCE

(Two one-act musicals, The Little Comedy “Two New Musicals”

and

Summer Share)

Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: May 1, 1988; Closing Date: January 14, 1989 Performances: 297 Book and Lyrics: Barry Harman Music: Keith Herrmann

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Direction: Barry Harman (Edward Marshall, Assistant Director); Producers: Dasha Epstein, Harve Brosten, and Jay S. Bulmash (produced in association with George-Henry and Marvin A. Krauss); Choreography: Pamela Sousa; Scenery: Steven Rubin; Costumes: Steven Jones; Lighting: Craig Miller; Musical Direction: Kathy Sommer Note: Romance Romance was an evening of two one-act musicals, The Little Comedy and Summer Share. Act One—The Little Comedy Based on the short story “The Little Comedy” by Arthur Schnitzler (as translated by George Edward Reynolds). The action takes place in Vienna during the turn of the twentieth century. Cast: Scott Bakula (Alfred Von Wilmers), Alison Fraser (Josefine Weninger), Robert Hoshour (“Him”), Deborah Graham (“Her”)

Musical Numbers “The Little Comedy” (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser); “Goodbye, Emil” (Alison Fraser); “It’s Not Too Late” (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser); “Great News” (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser); “Oh, What a Performance!” (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser); “I’ll Always Remember the Song” (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser); “Happy, Happy, Happy” (Scott Bakula); “Women of Vienna” (Scott Bakula); “Yes, It’s Love” (Alison Fraser); “A Rustic Country Inn” (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser); “The Night It Had to End” (Alison Fraser); “The Little Comedy” (reprise) (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser) Act Two—Summer Share Based on the 1898 play Pain de ménage by Jules Renard (as translated by Max Gulack). The action takes place in the Hamptons during August of the current year. Cast: Robert Hoshour (Lenny), Deborah Graham (Barb), Scott Bakula (Sam), Alison Fraser (Monica)

Musical Numbers “Summer Share” (Company); “Think of the Odds” (Deborah Graham, Robert Hoshour); “It’s Not Too Late” (reprise) (Scott Bakula, Alison Fraser); “Plans A & B” (Alison Fraser, Robert Hoshour); “Let’s Not Talk about It” (Scott Bakula, Deborah Graham); “So Glad I Married Her” (Company); “Small Craft Warnings” (Deborah Graham, Robert Hoshour); “How Did I End Up Here?” (Alison Fraser); “Words He Doesn’t Say” (Scott Bakula); “My Love for You” (Robert Hoshour, Deborah Graham); “Moonlight Passing through a Window” (Scott Bakula); “Now” (Alison Fraser); “Romantic Notions” (Company); “Romance, Romance” (Company) Romance Romance was an evening of two one-act musicals that viewed sex, love, and romance (and not necessarily in that order) from the perspectives of life in Vienna around 1900 and the Hamptons during the present time. The Little Comedy took place in Old Vienna and depicted worldly demimondaine Josefine (Alison Fraser) and well-to-do playboy Alfred (Scott Bakula) who meet one day in a park where both pretend to be poor. She’s taken on the guise of a seamstress, and he the role of a struggling artist. Much of the book consisted of letters the two write to friends about their relationship, and when their self-described “little comedy” of “pure operetta” is over, Alfred agrees to take Josefine on a luxurious vacation. As the curtain falls, he seems to view their relationship as one of man and mistress, but it’s clear she believes their future will be one as husband and wife. Summer Share dealt with two couples, Sam (Bakula) and Barb (Deborah Graham) and Monica (Fraser) and Lenny (Robert Hoshour), who share a house in the Hamptons for a few weekends over the summer. Sam and Monica have been good friends for years, and they decide this summer may be the right time to have an affair. But perhaps Sam is less interested than Monica, who accuses him of being too staid (“Your idea of being adventurous is moving a piece of furniture”). Ultimately, both couples decide that dreamy “romantic notions” are perhaps better than actual romantic flings.

1987–1988 SEASON     361

Walter Goodman in the New York Times praised the “charm and intelligence” of Romance Romance and liked the way the evening glided “from Vienna wry to Hampton rue.” Keith Herrmann’s score was “diverting if not distinctive” with a “pseudo-fin de siècle lilt” for the first act and a “pop-rock beat” in the second. Goodman praised Fraser’s “thoroughly winning” performance, and Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Bakula had “the makings of a major Broadway star.” For the most part, Barnes found the book and lyrics “neat, adroit, and wittily pertinent” but felt the score was “musically unmemorable and emotionally inaudible.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal liked the musical’s “admirable” modesty and felt the lyrics and music captured the “bittersweet mood” of the stories (but he noted Summer Share lacked the “bite” and “originality” of The Little Comedy). Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News found the lyrics “smart” and the music “bubbly and ardent,” but otherwise decided the “literate” book was too “arch and clever” and kept the audience at an emotional distance; in the same newspaper, Douglas Watt said the two one-act musicals were “at best pretty little divertissements” and noted that while the music was influenced by Frederick Loewe, it failed to create that composer’s “effortlessly memorable melodies.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today found Bakula and Fraser “extremely winning” performers, said Barry Harmon’s direction, book, and lyrics maintained “a light touch without being superficial,” and he suggested that Herrmann’s music was “serviceable” but lacked “distinction.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the evening was both “musical and comic” and he liked the “period-sounding” songs in The Little Comedy, which were accompanied by the “truly light fantastic” array of choreographer Pamela Sousa’s gallops, polkas, and waltzes, which were “smoothly executed” by Hoshour and Graham. Linda Winer in New York Newsday said The Little Comedy was “a small delight and rather dear” while Summer Share was “more pedestrian and predictable but not oppressively simpleminded.” As a result, the “unpretentious” double-bill which cost less than $1 million to produce had “taste.” The first act was in the style of A Little Night Music and the second somewhat like Company, but the evening was not “one of Sondheim’s musical offsprings” because “on its own unassuming terms” Romance Romance was “a modest attempt to get back into the musical mainstream.” As Romance/Romance, the two musicals were first presented Off Off Broadway at the Actor’s Outlet Theatre on November 16, 1987, for thirty-seven performances. Except for Dennis Parlato, who was succeeded by Scott Bakula, the Off-Off-Broadway cast members Alison Fraser, Deborah Graham, and Robert Hoshour were in the Broadway production. For Broadway, the songs in The Little Comedy remained the same; for Summer Share, “Think of the Odds,” “Moonlight Passing Through a Window,” and “Romance, Romance” were added, and “A Confession,” “Friendships Like Ours” and “When It Happens” were cut. The title song was performed by the company for Summer Share, and was also heard in the show on a recording by an uncredited Nell Carter. Only one number (“It’s Not Too Late”) was performed in both The Little Comedy and Summer Share. The cast album was released by MCA Records (LP # MCA-6252), and the CD by That’s Entertainment Records (# CDTER-1161). In 1989, the script was published in two editions, a special hardback edition by the Fireside Theatre Book Club and a paperback by Samuel French, Inc. In 1992, the musical was shown on the Arts & Entertainment Television Network with John Herrera, Susan Moniz, John DeLuca, and, from the Broadway cast, Deborah Graham; the television version was released on video cassette.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Romance Romance); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Scott Bakula); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Alison Fraser); Best Book (Barry Harman); Best Score (lyrics by Barry Harman, music by Keith Herrmann)

CARRIE

“The Musical” Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: May 12, 1988; Closing Date: May 15, 1988 Performances: 5 Book: Lawrence D. Cohen Lyrics: Dean Pitchford

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Music: Michael Gore Based on the 1974 novel Carrie by Stephen King. Direction: Terry Hands (Louis W. Scheeder, Assistant Director); Producers: The Friedrich Kurz Royal Shakespeare Company Production (produced in association with Whitecap Productions, Inc., and Martin Barandes); Choreography: Debbie Allen; Scenery: Ralph Koltai; Costumes: Alexander Reid; Lighting: Terry Hands; Musical Direction: Paul Schwartz Cast: Betty Buckley (Margaret White), Linzi Hateley (Carrie White), Charlotte D’Amboise (Chris), Paul Gyngell (Tommy), Darlene Love (Miss Gardner), Gene Anthony Ray (Billy), Sally Ann Triplett (Sue); Ensemble: Jamie Beth Chandler (Jamie), Catherine Coffey (Cath), Michele du Verney (Michele), Michelle Hodgson (Shelley), Rosemarie Jackson (Rose), Kelly Littlefield (Kelly), Madeleine Loftin (Maddy), Michelle Nelson (Michelle), Mary Ann Oedy (Mary Ann), Suzanne Maria Thomas (Squeezie), Gary Co-Burn (Gary), Kevin Coyne (Kevin), David Danns (David), Matthew Dickens (Matthew), Eric Gilliom (Eric), Kenny Linden (Kenny), Joey McKneely (Joey), Mark Santoro (Mark), Christopher Solari (Chris), Scott Wise (Scott) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in an unidentified city.

Musical Numbers Act One: “In” (Darlene Love, Girls); “Dream On” (Girls, Linzi Hateley); “Carrie” (Linzi Hateley); “Open Your Heart” (Betty Buckley, Linzi Hateley); “And Eve Was Weak” (Betty Buckley, Linzi Hateley); “Don’t Waste the Moon” (Sally Ann Triplett, Paul Gyngell, Charlotte D’Amboise, Gene Anthony Ray, Girls, Boys); “Evening Prayers” (Linzi Hateley, Betty Buckley); “Unsuspecting Hearts” (Darlene Love, Linzi Hateley); “Do Me a Favor” (Sally Ann Triplett, Paul Gyngell, Charlotte D’Amboise, Gene Anthony Ray, Girls, Boys); “I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance” (Betty Buckley) Act Two: “Out for Blood” (Charlotte D’Amboise, Gene Anthony Ray, Boys); “It Hurts to Be Strong” (Sally Ann Triplett); “I’m Not Alone” (Linzi Hateley); “When There’s No One” (Betty Buckley); “Wotta Night!” (Girls and Boys); “Unsuspecting Hearts” (reprise) (Darlene Love, Linzi Hateley); “Heaven” (Paul Gyngell with Sally Ann Triplett, Darlene Love, Linzi Hateley, Betty Buckley, Girls, Boys); “Alma Mater” (Girls, Boys, Darlene Love); “The Destruction” (Linzi Hateley); “Carrie” (reprise) (Betty Buckley) The legendary flop Carrie was a musical of many firsts: The First Menstruation Musical, The First Bullying-by-Pig’s-Blood Musical, The First Death-by-Laser Musical, and The First Mother-and-Daughter MutualMurder Musical. And for its time it was also the biggest financial bomb in Broadway history, with a reported loss of almost $8 million. The notorious theatrical train wreck ran for five official performances (and sixteen previews) and was the season’s second shortest-running musical (Late Nite Comic bested Carrie by closing after just four showings). The New York opening night had been set for April 27, May 1, May 4, and then finally for May 12, and at least one of the postponements was officially blamed on those always pesky scenery problems. The musical was based on Stephen King’s 1974 potboiler and its over-the-top 1976 campy film version (the screenplay was by Lawrence D. Cohen, who also wrote the musical’s book). In many respects, Carrie was a reunion of sorts for Fame folk. The musical’s lyricist Dean Pitchford and composer Christopher Gore had written the songs for the 1980 film Fame and won the Academy Award for the title song; the musical’s choreographer Debbie Allen had appeared in Fame, and then later directed, choreographed, and starred in many of the episodes of the television series based on the movie (and she was later in the film’s 2009 remake); and cast member Gene Anthony Ray had appeared in both the film and television versions of Fame. Cast member Betty Buckley played Carrie’s mother Margaret, and in the film version of Carrie had played the role of the gym teacher (Miss Collins for the film and Miss Gardner for the musical). For the stage production, popular singer Darlene Love (whose recording of “Da Doo Ron Ron” was a big hit in the 1960s) played Miss Gardner. The critics were stunned by the evening’s hilarious ineptitude and its ludicrous presentation. Variety reported that of the musical’s twenty-three notices, four were favorable, one was mixed, and eighteen were unfavorable. At sell-out status the show’s weekly box-office take was $447,846 at a fifty-dollar top-ticket price, but for the final week of performances (three previews and five regular showings) the musical filled 62 percent of the seats and grossed $134,259 in ticket sales (the amount was on the low side because of comp seats as well as those set aside for the critics).

1987–1988 SEASON     363

For the inverted Cinderella story, the heroine gets to go to the ball (that is, the high-school prom) but ends up as Miss Cinders when she incinerates everyone in sight. The shy, awkward, and insecure Carrie (Linzi Hateley) has been shunned by her high-school classmates, and her abusive, sexually repressed mother Margaret is certifiable in her religious fanaticism. At one point, she slaps Carrie and then pushes her down a trapdoor (Margaret also takes a liking to mostly black dresses and prefers to go barefoot whenever possible). When Carrie is invited to the prom and is crowned prom queen, her classmates conspire to humiliate her by drenching her in pig’s blood, but this prom queen unchained gets even by killing them all through the use of her convenient handy-dandy telekinetic powers. More than one critic was reminded of the 1983 debacle Moose Murders, a comedy-mystery which became the poster child for Broadway incompetence, and indeed Carrie quickly became known as the Moose Murders of musicals. Everyone agreed that Hateley and Buckley did what they could with their material, but no performer could overcome the chaotic and confused production and its foolishly memorable moments. There was of course Broadway’s first menstruation scene in which Carrie and the high school girls are in the gym’s steamy shower room in various states of dishabille when Carrie has her first period for all to witness. Later, mother-dearest Margaret helpfully explains in song (“And Eve Was Weak”) that this physical function is a curse placed upon all women because Eve succumbed to temptation. And there was more blood in “Out for Blood,” in which a group of teens seek out and kill a pig for its blood, and at least three critics were delighted to share a sampling of its lyric (“It’s a simple little gig / You help me kill a pig”). David Richards in the Washington Post mentioned that “oink” sounds wafted from the orchestra pit during the slaughter of the unfortunate porker (and in this case perhaps a turkey would have been a more appropriate animal). Linda Winer in New York Newsday noted that the musical seemed to take place in a large city, and so she wondered how the high school kids managed to find such a convenient pig to slaughter. And when the pig’s blood is poured on Carrie, it was an understated moment. John Simon in New York reported that from a small spill-proof bucket Carrie was “bedaubed slowly and carefully, as if a makeup person were powdering a star between takes of a movie,” and Frank Rich in the New York Times noted the blood looked like “strawberry ice-cream topping.” Carrie of course takes umbrage at this offense and is thus compelled to do what any self-respecting telekinetic girl would do, and so in the “destruction” scene she incinerates everyone in sight when she turns the stage into an inferno of laser beams which are aided by a hazy smoke-screen scrim and red light. And one can’t forget the big powder-puff ballet. (Well, not really a ballet, but.) When Carrie gets ready for the prom she sits at her bedroom vanity and (with the help of black lighting effects) causes her power puff, party shoes, hairbrush, and other items to merrily float about in the air in a supposedly Disney-like moment of quaint charm. Finally, there was the mother-and-daughter double-murder scene in which both Carrie and Margaret do away with one another; the latter dies on a huge white stairway that descended from the flies, which except for this scene was otherwise never utilized. And Rich reported that the sequence garnered “unwanted laughs” from the audience when Margaret stabs Carrie with a dagger but “gently” says to her, “Baby, don’t cry.” Winer said the musical was more than “problematic” or a “miscalculation”: it was in fact “stupendously, fabulously terrible” and it stretched “way beyond bad to mythic lousiness.” Rich noted that the prom-night fireworks “wouldn’t frighten the mai-tai drinkers at a Polynesian restaurant,” and he wondered when was the last time Broadway audiences were entertained by a song-and-dance about the slaughtering of a pig (he was also bewildered when the teens exuberantly danced to the background of red disco lights while the butchery occurred, but perhaps this was a mystery “mankind is not meant to unravel”). He also noted that “only the absence of antlers separates the pig murders of Carrie from the Moose Murders of Broadway lore.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said he wished he could take back the “nasty things” he had written about Chess because Carrie was “so disgusting” it made Chess “look adorable,” and in the same newspaper Douglas Watt said it would be better to believe that the “obscenely and numbingly idiotic musical” had never happened, but because it did it would “long be remembered with horror.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said Carrie would become “a new reference point for Broadway atrocities.” And John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor called the show a “fiasco” and a “shambles.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek suggested the trapdoor sequence was “one of the most repugnant scenes in the noble history of Broadway musicals,” and the show’s narrative was “oddly pointless and unfocused”; Mimi Kramer in the New Yorker wryly hailed the work as “the first splatter musical” and noted that the

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double-murder scene drew “embarrassed laughter” from the audience; Simon reported that the musical’s creators said their inspiration was Alban Berg’s 1937 opera Lulu, but instead of Lulu their creation was a “lulu” and a “gutless shocker” with a “flavorless fricassee” of a score. Humm in Variety said the “bizarre hodgepodge” was a “tasteless and heavy-handed” musical that fell “flat” and noted that the box-office outlook was “grim.” William A. Henry III in Time said the musical was a “mismatched morass” with “ludicrously campy high school scenes,” and he reported that when Darlene Love made her entrance she broke character “to step forward and smile in acknowledgment of the audience’s greeting.” The headline of Richards’s review exclaimed “Hairy Carrie.” As for Henry’s remark about the “campy” high school sequences, one such memorable moment was a calisthenics class in which the girls created a human pyramid; the kitschy moment is forever preserved in a photograph for the lavish and colorful Broadway souvenir program which shows the girls in their four-tiered glory, and it makes a rather interesting companion piece to a similar sequence for the beefcake football chorus in All American (1962). The program also includes a photo from the “Don’t Waste the Moon” number in which the kids are seen in cut-outs of cars that are stacked in four tiers; a montage of photos of the prom dance; and a generous sampling of set designer Ralph Koltai’s backdrops of mirrors and icy-looking silver and white panels. And, yes, there’s also a photo of the shower sequence in which the girls seem about to go into a chorus of “Hey, Big Spender.” The musical was also an extended Wardrobe Malfunction, or at least a Wardrobe Miscalculation. Rich reported that the high school girls were costumed like “suburban aerobics instructors” (and they looked “old enough to be guidance counselors”). Kissel said the mission of Carrie’s high school apparently was “to prepare its students for careers in disco, the girls as dancers, the boys as bouncers,” the gym teacher dressed “like a hostess in a cocktail lounge,” and the actresses playing the teenagers looked “hard and haggard” as if they’d “just come off a rough bus-and-truck tour playing the hookers in Sweet Charity.” Henry said the girls looked and dressed “like 28-year-old hookers”; Humm said the girls’ costumes suggested that their high school offered “a minor in prostitution”; Winer likened the costumes to those found in a “grind show” and mentioned that the high school seemed “populated with 28-year-old Playmates”; and Rich suggested that the teenagers’ stud-and-leather outfits would have been more suitable for the movie Cruising. And there were more costume mysteries. Simon noted that Margaret is a “man-hater,” and so why in one scene did she wear a “sexy negligee”? The critic also mentioned that when Carrie’s powder puff and other items went into their dance, one was her prom dress. But she went to the prom in an entirely different dress that looked like a nightgown, and with her mother’s straight-laced admonishments, just how did Carrie acquire such a wardrobe? Was it possible Carrie practiced “telekinesis on J.C. Penney’s?” Further, Simon reported another shocker, one perhaps even more horrific than the slaughter of the pig and the final immolation: on the big prom night, all the girls wore nearly identical gowns! Debbie Allen’s choreography also came in for criticism. Rich said Allen “shouldn’t wait another moment to return to her performing career.” Kissel noted one dance was reminiscent of Bob Fosse’s style, but otherwise the choreography was “disco stuff, energetic but meaningless” and “obsessed with the pelvis.” Stearns said Allen’s “S & M-aerobics choreography vulgarizes the show into a tale of teen-age hormones.” Winer found the dances “amateurish and coarse” and noted they “peaked” in “Do Me a Favor,” an “incomprehensible” Bob Fosse “ripoff.” Humm said Allen’s work was “lowbrow T & A stuff out of the discount Fosse-Robbins catalog.” Kramer decided the “derivative” choreography was “a sort of sexualized aerobics” or “balletoporn.” Simon reported that the dances were “enthusiastic but repetitious,” and Richards said the dances reminded him “of those overblown production numbers that Hollywood confers on the Best Song nominees at Oscar time.” But Kroll said Allen’s dances had “the only real human energy” in the “strange farrago” of a show, and he thought “it would be interesting to see Allen direct a real Broadway musical.” And Clive Barnes in the New York Post found her work “wonderfully dense and energized in texture.” In fact, Barnes was one of the few reviewers to praise the musical. Despite ominous grumblings from Britain where the musical had first been produced earlier in the year, the show had “unexpectedly emerged as a strong, effective and remarkably coherent piece of terrific total theatre” and Terry Hands’s direction was “both operatic and essentially fluid.” As noted, the musical was first produced in Britain where it was presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) on February 13, 1988, for a limited engagement of twenty-five performances at the Royal

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Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Barbara Cook starred as Margaret, but wisely declined to appear in the New York production (which would have marked her first Broadway musical since The Grass Harp in 1971). The remaining RSC principals, including Linzi Hateley, appeared in the Broadway production. Two songs in the British version were cut prior to New York (“Crackerjack” and “Once I Loved a Boy”), and in early gossip about the musical Frances Ruffelle, who had won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Les Miserables, was mentioned for the title role. In reviewing the British production, Pit in Variety said Carrie was a “pretentious show with no unifying vision,” the score lacked “a single standout melody,” the dances were “derivative,” and the story had “more holes than Swiss cheese.” The headline of Jack Tinker’s notice in the Daily Mail proclaimed, “What a Dreadful Carrie On,” and the critic said Barbara Cook was “woefully miscast” in an “unsavoury” show which “looks and sounds a mess.” Milton Shulman in the Evening Standard noted that the musical was “about as frightening as a bowl of quivering jelly” and the evening was “an uneasy mix of moods” that came across like “a jive competition in a Trappist monastery”; and Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph said the “grotesquely misconceived” musical was “a tragedy of wasted effort and directorial hubris.” There was no Broadway cast album, but Hateley included the title song in her collection Sooner or Later (LHL Records CD # 4) and Buckley’s Children Will Listen collection (Sterling Records CD # S-1001-2) includes “When There’s No One” (which is also heard in Betty Buckley’s Broadway, released by Sterling Records CD # S-1018-2). “Unsuspecting Hearts” is included on Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley’s collection of that title (Varese Sarabande Records CD # 302-066-074-2). As mentioned, Lawrence D. Cohen had written both the screenplay for the 1976 film adaptation of Carrie and the book for the musical, and his book What Were They Thinking?: Carrie, From Book to Movie to Musical was published by Applause Theatre and Cinema Books in paperback in 2014. A revised version of the musical opened Off Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on March 1, 2012, for forty-six performances. The production was recorded by Ghostlight Records and includes a booklet with all the lyrics (CD # 8-6660), and the cast includes Molly Ranson (Carrie) and Marin Mazzie (Margaret). The production cut seven songs from the original (“Dream On,” “Don’t Waste the Moon,” “Out for Blood,” “It Hurts to Be Strong,” “I’m Not Alone,” “Wotta Night!,” and “Heaven”), and added nine (“The World According to Chris,” “Dreamer in Disguise,” “Once You See,” “A Night We’ll Never Forget,” “You Shine,” “Why Not Me?,” “Stay Here Instead,” “Prom Arrival,” and “Prom Climax”).

GROVER’S CORNERS

“The New Musical That Takes America Back Home” The musical opened on July 29, 1987, at Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and permanently closed there on October 11, 1987. Book and Lyrics: Tom Jones Music: Harvey Schmidt Based on the 1938 play Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Direction and Musical Staging: Dominic Missimi (Fred Klaisner, Assistant Director) (Charles Misovye, Assistant for Musical Staging); Producer: Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre (Kary M. Walker, Producer; Dyanne K. Earley, Artistic Director; Peter R. Grigsby, Director of Marketing) and produced in association with the National Alliance of Musical Theatre Producers; Scenery and Lighting: John and Diane Williams; Costumes: Nancy Missimi; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites Cast: Harvey Schmidt (Pianist), Tom Jones (Stage Manager), Deanna Wells (Emily Webb), Richard Henzel (Mr. Webb), Linda Stephens (Mrs. Webb), Todd Schmarak (Wally Webb), Michael Bartsch (George Gibbs), Les Hinderyckx (Doctor Gibbs), Sharon Carlson (Mrs. Gibbs), Randi Beth Stavins (Rebecca Gibbs), Rick Boynton (Joe Crowell, Jr.), Ron Keaton (Howie Newsome), James Harms (Simon Stimson), Renee Matthews (Miss Soames), Kathy Santen (Lois Hershey), Jeanne Croft (Martha Cartwright), Phil Courington (Amos McCarthy), Marilyn Bogetich The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire.

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Musical Numbers Daily Life: “Our Town” (Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt, Townspeople); “A Hearty Breakfast” (Michael Bartsch, Les Hinderyckx, Sharon Carlson, Randi Beth Stavins, Deanna Wells, Richard Henzel, Linda Stephens, Todd Schmarak); “Maybe” (Michael Bartsch, Deanna Wells); “Snapshots, Photographs” (Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt, Townspeople) Marriage: “It Isn’t Hard to Get Married” (Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt, Les Hinderyckx, Sharon Carlson, Richard Henzel, Linda Stephens); “I Notice You” (Michael Bartsch, Deanna Wells); “I Only Want Someone to Love Me” (Deanna Wells, Michael Bartsch, Company) Death: “Time Goes By” (Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt, The Dead); “Do Not Hold On” (Sharon Carlson, The Dead); “Birthday Girl” (Richard Henzel, Linda Stephens, Deanna Wells); “Goodbye, World” (Deanna Wells); “Conclusion” (Company); “Day After Day” (Company) Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s Grover’s Corners was a musical version of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play Our Town, and on paper the adaptation seemed a natural. Wilder’s minimalist approach to his drama of life and death in a small New England town matched the sensibility of the creators of The Fantasticks, who specialized in spartan and intimate musicals. Their lovely, muted score was perfectly aligned with Wilder’s vision, but for one reason or another the musical never quite got off the ground and permanently closed after its first and only staging. Grover’s Corners was originally set for a Broadway opening after a series of workshop performances in New York. Enid Nemy in the New York Times reported the musical would go into workshop on December 31, 1984, and that Broadway rehearsals would start on March 11, 1985, prior to a May 11 opening night. R. Tyler Gatchell Jr. and Peter Neufeld were the producers, David Trainer the director, Marge Champion the choreographer, the cast was to include Liz Callaway, Peg Murray, MacIntyre Dixon, and Marge Redmond, and the show was financed at $2.75 million of which $200,000 was earmarked for the workshop. But the Broadway production never materialized, and the musical remained in limbo until 1987 when it opened in Illinois. Mor in Variety indicated that after the Illinois run at the arena-styled Lincolnshire Theatre, the musical would temporarily close for recasting, rewriting, and restaging (for traditional proscenium theatres) and then in Spring 1988 the work would tour a dozen cities, of which five had already been booked. But like the aborted Broadway production, the projected tour never occurred. A full-page advertisement in Variety’s April 5–11, 1989, issue announced that Grover’s Corners would begin a national tour in November 1989 with Mary Martin (as the Stage Manager), but the production never got off the ground. The rights to the musical reportedly reverted to the Wilder estate, and Grover’s Corners all but disappeared. However, a demo of the score with Liz Callaway and Scott Waara was recorded (apparently around the time of the projected workshop production), and so the expansive score of twenty-four songs (including reprises) was preserved. Two songs from the score (“The World Is Very Wide” and “Time Goes By”) are included in the collection Harvey Schmidt Plays Jones & Schmidt (Kritzerland Records CD # KR-20010-3). In his review of Grover’s Corners, Mor praised the “endearing and probably enduring” adaptation, and said the lyrics were “beautifully turned,” the music was “very special,” and “from the rustle of Kleenex it was apparent that there weren’t many dry eyes in the house.” He noted that Wilder’s text was only “minimally” altered, and while the alcoholic choirmaster had been somewhat “softened,” the musical maintained “the somber undertone of the play, including the extended and solemn final graveyard scene.” During the course of the Lincolnshire run, the song “The World Is Very Wide” was added. Songs on the demo recording that weren’t included in the Lincolnshire engagement were: “On Main Street,” “There Is a River,” “Heavenly Music,” “The Letter,” “The Wedding,” “A Beautiful Farm,” “Morning Fragments,” and “Now You Know.” In 2006, an operatic version of Our Town premiered with libretto by J. D. McClatchy and music by Ned Rorem; the work was first produced in New York at the Julliard School’s Peter Jay Sharp Theatre for three performances beginning on April 23, 2008. An earlier musical adaptation was presented by NBC on September 19, 1955, in an adaptation by David Shaw, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen. The cast included Frank Sinatra (Stage Manager), Paul Newman (George), and Eva Marie Saint (Emily), and the musical yielded the hit song “Love and Marriage.”

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SATCHMO

“America’s Musical Legend” The musical opened on July 14, 1987, at the Theatre of the Performing Arts in New Orleans, Louisiana, and permanently closed on October 4, 1987, at the Colonial Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts. In between these engagements the musical played in Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and at the Opera House at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Book, New Lyrics, and New Music: Jerry Bilik (Note: When known, the names of specific lyricists and composers are given in the list of musical numbers below.) Direction: Jerry Bilik; Producer: Kenneth Feld; Choreography: Maurice Hines; Scenery: Edward Burbridge; Costumes: Judy Dearing; Lighting: Thomas R. Skelton; Musical Direction: Bill Easley Cast: Charles Funn (Trombonist), Doug Barden (Empire Room MC, Policeman, Ralph Peer, Memphis Police Chief, Percy Brooks), Byron Stripling (Louis Armstrong), Ebony Jo-Ann (Lucille Armstrong, Mayann Armstrong), Kenyatta Beasley (Young Louis, Young Lee Collins for matinee performances), Lynn Augustin (Young Louis for matinee performances), Lynn Augustin (Big Nose Sidney), Rashaan Granger (Big Nose Sidney for matinee performances, Young Lee Collins), James Rowan (Joe Oliver), Elliott Goldwag (Policeman, Joe Glaser), C. E. Wallace Jr. (Peter Davis, Luis Russell, Ghana Chief), Matilda A. Haywood (Marylou, Lil Hardin), Quincella (Daisy Parker), Sven Toorvald (Engineer), Troy Myers (Engineer, Memphis Policeman), Randy Morris (Bix Beiderbecke), Jill Slyter (Ellamae), Linda May (Greta, Czech MC), Marc Barron (Benny Goodman), Tiffney Lyn Myers (Elizabeth), Patrick Gullotta (Tommy Dorsey), David B. Pruyn (Gene Krupa), Michael Jaye (Dick McPartland, Memphis Bus Driver, Paris Press Reporter), Myles Thoroughgood (Fletcher Henderson, Ghana MC), Longineu Parsons (Ernie Chambers), Cornell Ivey (Dancing Louis Armstrong, Frank), Carl Le Blanc (Mike McKendrick), Allyson Tucker (Blues Gal), Julio Monge (Argentine MC), John Joseph Festa (Paris MC); Ensemble Dancers: Mary Felber, John Joseph Festa, Keith Henderson, Cornell Ivey, Linda May, Julio Monge, Tiffney Lyn Myers, Troy Myers, Elise Neal, Quincella, Jill Slyter, Myles Thoroughgood, Allyson Tucker, Sven Toorvald, C. E. Wallace Jr., Eyan Williams The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and throughout the United States as well as in London and other European and South American cities.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?” (1947 film New Orleans; lyric by Eddie DeLange, music by Louis Ater) (Musicians); “Hello, Dolly” (Hello, Dolly!, 1964; lyric and music by Jerry Herman) and “Play On” (Byron Stripling, Band); “Back Home in Indiana” (lyric and music by Ballard MacDonald and James F. Hanley) (Byron Stripling, Band); “Mack the Knife” (1954 Off-Broadway revival of 1928 musical The Threepenny Opera; original German lyric by Bertolt Brecht, English lyric by Marc Blitzstein, music by Kurt Weill) (Byron Stripling, Band); “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” (lyric by Leon Rene and Otis Rene, music by Clarence Muse) (Byron Stripling, Band); “New Year’s in New Orleans” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (James Rowan, Band, Dancers); “Home, Sweet Home” (lyric by John Howard Payne, music by Henry Bishop) (The Waifs’ Band); “Hoodlums and Whores” (music by William Pruyn) (Dancers); “Home, Sweet Home” (reprise) (The Waifs’ Band); “Red Beans and Rice” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (Kenyatta Beasley, Ebony Jo-Ann); “Trading Fours” Prelude (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (Kenyatta Beasley, James Rowan); “Trading Fours” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (Byron Stripling, James Rowan, Band, Dancers); “Daisy’s Blues” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (Quincella, Band, Dancers); “This Train Is Bound for Glory” (James Rowan, Byron Stripling, Band, Dancers); “Heebie Jeebies” (Byron Striping, James Rowan, Band); “Chicago Jazz” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (Young Chicago Jazz Musicians and Dancers); “Love, It’s Not Easy” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (Matilda A. Haywood); “Dippermouth Blues” (aka “Sugar Foot Stomp”) (lyric and music by Joseph Oliver) (Byron Stripling, James Rowan, Band); “Basin Street Blues” (lyric and music by Spencer Williams) (Byron Stripling, James Rowan, Band); “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” (traditional) (Ebony Jo-Ann, Byron Stripling, Band) Act Two: “By the Waters of Minnetonka” (lyric and music by Thurlow Weed Lieurance) (Byron Stripling, Band); “Trumpet Rag” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (Byron Stripling, Longineu Parsons, Band); “(I’ll

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Be Glad When You’re Dead) You Rascal, You” (lyric and music by Sam Theard) (Byron Stripling, Band, Dancers); “Jeepers Creepers” (1938 film Going Places; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harry Warren) (Byron Stripling, Band, Dancers); “Struttin’ with Some Bar-B-Que” (lyric and music by Louis Armstrong) (Byron Stripling, Band, Dancers); “After You’ve Gone” (lyric by Henry Creamer, music by Turner Layton) (Byron Stripling, Band); “Royal Garden Blues” (lyric and music by Spencer Williams) (Byron Stripling, Band); “Sleepy Time Down South” (reprise) (Byron Stripling, Band); “Bamboula” (Byron Stripling, Elliott Goldwag, Chiefs, Ebony Jo-Ann); “Red Beans and Rice” (reprise) (Ebony Jo-Ann); “Callin’ the Children Home” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik) (James Rowan, Byron Stripling, Ebony Jo-Ann, Company) Satchmo was a well-meaning musical that looked at the life and career of trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong (1901–1971). But the musical floundered after less than three months on the road and canceled the next ten months of its projected national tour. The show lacked drama, and its attempts to glorify if not deify the popular entertainer was at best pleasantly bland and unfortunately never matched the inventiveness of Maurice Hines’s electrifying choreography. The program notes indicated the production cost in the vicinity of $4.5 million; that the “characters, places, and events” and “much of the actual dialogue” were all based on “true” as well as “historical” fact; and the casting of Byron Stripling in the title role was the result of an “unprecedented international search.” In an article by Richard Coe for the Kennedy Center’s Stagebill, producer Kenneth Feld stated he wasn’t “panting” for a New York run and noted “New York is for the Ego.” During the course of the tryout, the songs “All for You, Louis” (lyric and music by Jerry Bilik), “High Society” (lyric and music by Porter Steele and Walter Melrose), and “St. Louis Blues” (“Variation”) (lyric and music by W. C. Handy) were dropped.

1988–1989 Season

AN EVENING WITH ROBERT KLEIN Theatre: Circle in the Square Opening Date: June 19, 1988; Closing Date: June 27, 1988 Performances: 3 Comic Monologues: Robert Klein Producers: Circle in the Square Theatre (Theodore Mann, Artistic Director; Paul Libin, Producing Director); Musical Direction: Bob Stein Cast: Robert Klein; Vocalists: Betsy Bircher, Catherine Russell The comedy revue was presented in one act. Robert Klein’s comedy revue ushered in the new season, which was arguably the worst in memory for musicals. Even the Tony Awards committee couldn’t put a good face on it, and so the awards for Best Score and Best Book were eliminated. Stand-up comedian Robert Klein’s evening of topical humor was presented in a three-performance limited engagement by the Circle in the Square Theatre as part of the First New York International Festival of the Arts. Because the company’s regular offering was a revival of Tennessee Williams’s 1961 drama The Night of the Iguana, Klein and his small group of musicians and singers performed on the set of the play, which had been designed by Zack Brown. Stephen Holden in the New York Times noted that Klein straddled the line between two traditions of stand-up comics, those from the genteel “toastmaster-quipster” variety (such as Bob Hope and Johnny Carson) and the “brilliant brats” of the Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy school who were like “rude and raunchy” rock stars “wallowing in cultural trash.” Klein offered “the best of both worlds without actually falling into the gutter.” Klein took inspiration from the setting, and thus provided “some nifty spoofs” of Tennessee Williamsstyled dialogue, commented on the worlds of advertising and marketing, and noted there was something strange about the radio popularity of Edgar Bergen and his puppet Charlie McCarthy, because just how did the ventriloquist convey ventriloquism via the medium of the radio? Klein occasionally performed parodies of soft-rock music and was backed by two vocalists and an instrumental trio. A few seasons earlier at the same theatre, Klein had appeared in The Robert Klein Show!, another limitedengagement stand-up comedy stint.

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THE MERRY WIDOW Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 6, 1988; Closing Date: August 25, 1988 Performances: 5 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Victor Leon and Leo Stein (English adaptation by Adrian Ross) Music: Franz Lehar Based on the 1861 play L’attache d’ambassade by Henri Meilhac. Direction: Ronald Bentley (Cynthia Edwards, Assistant Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Choreography: Sharon Halley; Scenery: Herbert Senn and Helen Pond; Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Ken Tabachnick; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Imre Pallo Cast: Richard McKee (Baron Popoff), Ruth Golden (Natalie), John Lankston (General Novikovich), Michael Willson (Counsellor Khadja), Robert Ferrier (Marquis de Cascada), Michele McBride (Sylviane), Michael Rees Davis (M. de St. Brioche), Joyce Campana (Olga), Paul Austin Kelly (Vicomte Camille de Jolidon), James Billings (Nisch), Leigh Munro (Sonia), Richard White (Count Danilo), Jonathan Guss (Head Waiter), Ivy Austin (Zozo), Joan Mirabella (Lolo), Esperanza Galan (Dodo), Candace Itow (Jou-Jou), Victoria Rinaldi (Frou-Frou), Ashley Janeway (Clo-Clo), Jean Barber (Margot); Members of Marsovian and Parisian Society, Dancers, Servants, and Waiters: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around Paris during the early 1900s. Bernard Holland in the New York Times said the New York City Opera Company’s “first course” for the new opera season was “dessert,” and while its production of Franz Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow was occasionally guilty of both “a slightly awkward impersonation of Viennese sophistication” and “sitcom humor,” the revival had “its wits about it” and as a result the evening would please its “intended” audience. Leigh Munro’s Sonia had personality and voice, her “hushed” interpretation of “Vilia” was “downright charming,” and Richard White’s Danilo offered a “clear” baritone and a “reasonably dashing presence.” In a later review for the same newspaper, Allan Kozinn praised Munro’s “ravishing moments” and said White was a “strong” Danilo. For more information about the operetta, see entry for City Opera’s 1982 revival. The company also revived the work in 1983, 1985, and 1989, and a production by the Vienna Volksoper was given in 1984 (see entries for these specific presentations).

CANCIONES DE MI PADRE “A Romantic Evening

in

Old Mexico”

Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: July 12, 1988; Closing Date: July 30, 1988 Performances: 18 Direction and Choreography: Michael Smuin; Producers: James M. Nederlander and Jerome Minskoff (produced by Ira Koslow for Asher/Krost Management); Scenery: Tony Walton; Costumes: Yvonne Cervantes, Arturo Ceballos, Rosalie Blagaich, Manuel; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: Ruben Fuentes Cast: Linda Ronstadt (Vocalist), Danny Valdez (Vocalist), Sal Lopez (Dancer), Urbanie Lucero (Dancer), Mary Louise Diaz (Dancer), Elsa Estrada (Dancer), Luis Valdez (Dancer), Lalo Garcia (Dancer), Gilberto Puente (Guitar), Jose Martinez (Violin), Mario A. de Santiago (Violin), Juan Biurquix (Violin), Daniel Martinez (Violin), Ildefonso Moya (Violin), Francisco Gonzalez (Violin), Rigoberto Mercado (Trumpet), Federico Torres (Trumpet), Arturo Mendoza (Harp), Nati Santiago (Guitar), Victor Cardenas (Vihuela), Rafael Palomar (Guitar) The revue was presented in two acts.

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Musical Numbers Act One: First Mariachi Section: “Fanfarria,” “Los laureles,” “Por un amour,” and “La cigarra” (Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan [Musicians]); “Tu solo tu” (Linda Ronstadt, Ildefonso Moya; Violin Solos: Jose Martinez and Juan Manuel Biurquix); and “Cancion Mexicana”; Traditional Dances with Jalisco Costumes: “La negra” (Mary Louise Diaz, Elsa Estrada, Urbanie Lucero, Lalo Garcia, Sal Lopez, Luis Valdez); “El gusto” (Mary Louise Diaz, Elsa Estrada, Urbanie Lucero, Lalo Garcia, Sal Lopez, Luis Valdez); and “El caballito” (Sal Lopez, Mary Louise Diaz); Revolutionary Section: “El tren sone,” “La rielera,” and “Corrido de cananea” (Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan [Musicians]); “Adios del soldado” (Linda Ronstadt, Danny Valdez; Chorus: Mario A. de Santiago, Ildefonso Moya; Violin Solos: Jose Martinez and Juan Manuel Biurquix); “Yo soy el corrido” (Linda Ronstadt, Danny Valdez); “El sol que tu eres” (Linda Ronstadt, Danny Valdez); “La rielera” (mini reprise); and “Viva Mexico” (Company) Act Two: “Fiesta en Jalisco” and “Las bodas de Luis Alonso” (Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan [Musicians]); Ballad Section: “Hay unos ojos” (Violin Solos: Jose Martinez and Juan Manuel Biurquix); “Rogaciano de huapanguero” (Linda Ronstadt, Daniel Martinez, Ildefonso Moya); “Dos arbolitos” (Linda Ronstadt, Daniel Martinez, and Ildefonso Moya with Sal Lopez and Urbanie Lucero; Violin Solos: Jose Martinez and Juan Manuel Biurquix); “La barca de Guaymas” (Linda Ronstadt, Ildefonso Moya, and Rafael Palomar with Mary Louise Diaz, Elsa Estrada, Urbanie Lucero, Lalo Garcia, Sal Lopez, and Luis Valdez; Violin Solos: Jose Martinez and Juan Manual Biurquix); and “Amorcito corazon” (Danny Valdez); Traditional Dances: “La bamba” (Dance Company in Vera Cruz costumes); “Malaguena salerosa” (Gilberto Puente); “Jarabe tapatio” (Dance Company in China Poblana costumes); and “El cascabel” (Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan [Musicians]); Town Courtyard: “Y andale” (Linda Ronstadt, Daniel Martinez); “Crucifijo de Piedra”; “La calandria” (Linda Ronstadt, Daniel Martinez, Ildefonso Moya); “Cancion mixteca”; “Volver” (Company) The revue Canciones de mi padre (Songs of my father) was subtitled “A Romantic Evening in Old Mexico,” and with it Linda Ronstadt paid tribute to the Mexican music of her father’s era. The two-week limited engagement had previously been produced at City Center in February 1988 for a four-night run. In reviewing the earlier production, Stephen Holden in the New York Times said the evening was an “idealized homage” to a culture “steeped in fierce sunlight, swirling color and the aroma of desert flowers,” and he noted Ronstadt sang with the “vocal authority and confidence of someone who feels the music in her blood” (Ronstadt’s father was of Mexican descent). He praised Tony Walton’s “opulently colored storybook sets,” and said the musicians played with “splendid precision and gusto.” The recording of Canciones de mi padre was released by Elektra/Asylum Records (CD # 60765).

THE NEW MOON Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 19, 1988; Closing Date: July 24, 1988 Performances: 7 Book: Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab; new book adaptation by Robert Johanson Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II; some lyrics revised by Robert Johanson Music: Sigmund Romberg Direction and Choreography: Robert Johanson (Albert Sherman and Laura Alley, Assistant Directors; Sharon Halley, Assistant Choreographer); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Andrew Marlay; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Jim Coleman Cast: (Note: For those roles that had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes who played the role on opening night.) Joyce Campana (Julie), Gerald Isaac (Alexander), James Billings (M. Beaunoir), Joseph McKee (Captain Duval), David Rae Smith (Vicomte Ribaud), Allen Riberdy (Fouchette), Richard White/William Parcher (Robert Mission), Kenneth Kantor (Besac), David Frye (Jacques), Leigh Munro/ Jane Thorngren (Marianne Beaunoir), Harris Davis (Proprietor), Terry Lacy (Comrade), Esperanza Galan (Spanish Dancer), Michael Cousins/Michael Rees Davis (Philippe Dupres), Muriel Costa-Greenspon (Clotilde Lombaste), John Lankston (Admiral de Jean); Servants, Courtiers, Ladies, Sailors, Pirates, Tavern Wenches, Brides, French Soldiers, Dancers: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers

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The operetta was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1792 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on the Isle of Pines.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual song titles. The New York City Opera Company’s production of Sigmund Romberg’s operetta The New Moon had first been revived a year earlier (for more information about that production and for the operetta itself, see entry). John Rockwell in the New York Times noted that because the operetta took place during the time of the French Revolution and its plot centered on a single-minded French detective determined to track down the evening’s hero, the work somewhat anticipated Les Miserables. But if the latter was “impossibly sententious and overblown,” The New Moon exploited revolutionary idealism in a “humbler” and “tackier” way. The revival wavered between nostalgia and camp but could still be enjoyed “on its own determinedly middlebrow terms,” and while Richard White was “a dashing, decently vocalized baritone hero,” Leigh Munro didn’t possess “the lilting soprano to do justice” to her character. In reviewing the alternate cast, Alan Kozinn in the same newspaper praised William Parcher’s “strong, sizable baritone” and his “suitably debonair good looks,” and said Jane Thorngren, whose soprano was “slightly pinched at the top and unsupported at the very bottom,” was nonetheless a “clear and well-focused” singer who performed “with a sweetness that proved fully engaging.”

AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ “The Fats Waller Musical Show”

Theatre: Ambassador Theatre Opening Date: August 15, 1988; Closing Date: January 15, 1989 Performances: 176 Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits. Direction: Richard Maltby Jr. (Murray Horwitz, Associate Director); Producers: The Shubert Organization, Emanuel Azenberg, Dasha Epstein, and Roger Berlind; Choreography: Arthur Faria; Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Randy Barcelo; Lighting: Pat Collins; Musical Direction: Luther Henderson Cast: Nell Carter, André De Shields, Armelia McQueen, Ken Page, Charlaine Woodard The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (Hot Chocolates, 1929; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks) (Company); “Lookin’ Good but Feelin’ Bad” (lyric by Lester A. Santly, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Company); “’T Ain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do” (lyric and music by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins; additional lyric by Richard Maltby Jr., and Murray Horwitz) (André De Shields, Company); “Honeysuckle Rose” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Ken Page, Nell Carter); “Squeeze Me” (lyric by Clarence Williams, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Armelia McQueen); “Handful of Keys” (lyric by Richard Maltby Jr., and Murray Horwitz [based on an idea by Marty Grosz], music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Company); “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling” (lyric by Billy Rose, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Link) (Nell Carter, Company); “How Ya Baby” (lyric by J. C. Johnson, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (André De Shields, Charlaine Woodard, Company); “The Jitterbug Waltz” (lyric by Richard Maltby Jr., music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Company); “The Ladies Who Sing with a Band” (Early to Bed, 1943; lyric by George Marion Jr., music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (André De Shields, Ken Page); “Yacht Club Swing” (lyric by J. C. Johnson, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Herman Autry) (Charlaine Woodard); “When the Nylons Bloom Again” (Early to Bed, 1943; lyric by George

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Marion Jr., music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Armelia McQueen, Charlaine Woodard, Nell Carter); “Cash for Your Trash” (lyric by Ed Kirkeby, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Nell Carter); “Off-Time” (lyric by Andy Razel, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks) (Company); “This Joint Is Jumpin’” (lyric by Andy Razaf and J. C. Johnson, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Company); “Spreadin’ Rhythm Around” (1936 film King of Burlesque; lyric by Ted Koehler, additional lyric by Richard Maltby Jr., music by Jimmy McHugh) (Company); “Lounging at the Waldorf” (lyric by Richard Maltby Jr., music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Armelia McQueen, Charlaine Woodard, Ken Page, Nell Carter); “The Viper’s Drag” (music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) and “The Reefer Song” (traditional) (André De Shields, Company); “Mean to Me” (lyric and music by Roy Turk and Fred E. Ahlert) (Nell Carter); “Your Feet’s Too Big” (lyric and music by Ada Benson and Fred Fisher) (Ken Page); “That Ain’t Right” (lyric and music by Nat “King” Cole, additional lyric by Richard Maltby Jr., and Murray Horwitz) (André De Shields, Armelia McQueen, Company); “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Charlaine Woodard); “Find Out What They Like” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Armelia McQueen, Nell Carter); “This Is So Nice” (Early to Bed, 1943; lyric by George Marion Jr., music by Thomas “Fats” Waller) (Nell Carter); “Fat and Greasy” (lyric and music by Porter Grainger and Charlie Johnson) (André De Shields, Ken Page); “Black and Blue” (Hot Chocolates, 1929; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks) (Company); Finale: “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” (lyric by Joe Young, music by Fred E. Ahlert) (Ken Page); “Two Sleepy People” (1938 film Thanks for the Memory; lyric by Frank Loesser, music by Hoagy Carmichael) (Armelia McQueen, Ken Page); “I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed” (1936 film King of Burlesque; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Jimmy McHugh) (Armelia McQueen, Charlaine Woodard, Ken Page); “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” (Blackbirds of 1928; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh) (André De Shields, Charlaine Woodard); “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” (lyric and music by Billy Mayhew) (Nell Carter, Company); “Honeysuckle Rose” (reprise) (Company) The revival of the Thomas “Fats” Waller (1904–1943) tribute revue Ain’t Misbehavin’ brought back all five original cast members from the 1978 Broadway production, but with a difference. During the period between the two productions, Nell Carter had become a television star and a household name, and so for the revival she received star billing and an extra song was added for her (“This Is So Nice” from Waller’s 1943 musical Early to Bed). Otherwise, the revival was a fastidious copy of the original, with all the earlier songs in place. Further, the scenic, costume, and lighting designers were the same, and Richard Maltby Jr., and Arthur Faria returned as respective director and choreographer. The revue’s songs fell into four categories: songs composed solely by Waller; songs co-composed by Waller and others; songs by Waller that never had lyrics and here were sung with newly written ones by Maltby and by Murray Horwitz; and other composers’ songs that were popularized by Waller. For the most part, the critics wrote valentines to the revue and the cast, but there were a couple of dissenting opinions and in one or two cases it seemed the critics had seen two entirely different shows and sets of performers. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said for “sheer entertainment” the revue gave “the best value on Broadway,” and he noted Carter’s voice was “one of the most amazing instruments to hit Broadway in years” with “joyful sounds” that were “absolutely irresistible.” But now the revue was less an “ensemble performance” than “a series of star turns,” and he complained that André De Shields unfortunately added an anachronistic 1980s touch to “The Viper’s Drag” and during “The Jitterbug Waltz” a sight gag by Carter went on so long she upstaged the other cast members and performed a disservice to the number. David Patrick Stearns in USA Today suggested the evening should have been reconceived with other songs by Waller because the cast knew their old material “so well” they “nearly fussed it to death to give it a fresh twist.” And while Amy Duncan in the Christian Science Monitor felt Carter was a “parody” of herself and was “so busy hamming and posturing that key lyrics got lost” in her “small and pinched voice,” Frank Rich in the New York Times said Carter’s voice was as always an “unexpected instrument” that was “an alternately blaring and muted trumpet,” and instead of warping the show with her “star presence” she deepened it. An unsigned review in Time stated that of all the so-called “songbook” musicals, none matched the “verve or style” of Ain’t Misbehavin’ and none came close “to the rowdy, raunchy yet infectious humor of its songs.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday said the revival was “fast, fresh, elegantly raunchy and filled

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with a rare no-nonsense foolishness that knows the difference between parody and affectionate attitudinizing.” And Marilyn Stasio in the New York Post said the evening was a “bona-fide recreation of the spirit and the artistry that made the show such a joy the first time around.” The original production had been first presented at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Cabaret on February 8, 1978, for twenty-eight performances, and except for Irene Cara (who was succeeded by Charlaine Woodard), the cast transferred to Broadway on May 9, 1978, at the Longacre Theatre for 1,604 performances. The revue won three Tony Awards, for Best Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Carter), and Best Director of a Musical (Maltby). The original cast album was released by RCA Victor Records on a two-LP set (# CBL2-2965), and later on a two-CD set (# 2965-2-RC). A television version was presented on June 21, 1985, by NBC with the original Broadway cast, and a 1995 national tour with the Pointer Sisters apparently had Broadway in mind but didn’t get there (but a CD of highlights from the revue was released by RCA Victor # 68415). There have been two London productions, one at Her Majesty’s Theatre on March 22, 1979, and the other at the Tricycle Theatre in 1995 (the latter was recorded by First Night Records). The revue included a handful of songs from Waller’s hit 1943 Broadway musical Early to Bed. Both the 1978 and 1988 productions included “The Ladies Who Sing with a Band” and “When the Nylons Bloom Again,” and as mentioned above the revival added “This Is So Nice.” Those songs that have emerged from Early to Bed are melodic delights, and it’s a shame some enterprising record company hasn’t put together a studio cast album. Among other top-of-the-list candidates for full-length recordings are Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s Peggy-Ann (1926), Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Sweet Adeline (1929), Cole Porter’s Jubilee (1935), Rodgers and Hart’s I’d Rather Be Right (1937), Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s The Day Before Spring (1945), and Jerome Moross and Edward Eager’s Gentlemen, Be Seated! (1963).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Revival (Ain’t Misbehavin’)

NAUGHTY MARIETTA Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: August 30, 1988; Closing Date: September 11, 1988 Performances: 14 Book: Rida Johnson Young; new book adaptation by Theodore Pappas Lyrics: Rida Johnson Young; some lyrics revised by Theodore Pappas Music: Victor Herbert Direction and Choreography: Theodore Pappas; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director); Scenery: Oliver Smith; Costumes: Andrew Marlay; Lighting: Ken Tabachnick; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: (Note: For those roles that had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes the opening-night cast member.) Jonathan Guss (Watchman), Rebecca Rosales (Flower Girl), Christine Meadows (Fanchon), Paula Hostetter (Nanette), Madeleine Mines (Felice), Richard White/William Parcher (Etienne Grandet alias Bras Pique), Susanne Marsee/Janis Eckhart (Adah aka Le Clercq), Ralph Bassett (Manuel), John Henry Thomas (Pirate), William Ledbetter (Town Crier), Jack Kenny (Silas Slick), Don Yule (Harry Blake), Michael Rees Davis/Mark Beudert (Captain Richard Warrington), Ivy Austin (Lizette), David Gramlich (American Indian), Joseph McKee (Lieutenant Governor Grandet), John Lankston (Florenze), Cheryl Parrish/Gail Dobish (Marietta d’Altena), James Billings (Rudolfo), Esperanza Galan (Graziella); Men: Neil Eddinger and Louis Perry; Ensemble: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1780.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Opening Chorus” (Ensemble); “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” (Michael Rees Davis, Rangers); “Taisezvous” (Rangers, Casquette Girls); “Naughty Marietta” (Cheryl Parrish); “It Never, Never Can Be Love” (Cheryl Parrish, Michael Rees Davis); “If I Were Anyone Else but Me” (Jack Kenny, Ivy Austin); “’Neath the Southern Moon” (Susanne Marsee); “Italian Street Song” (Cheryl Parrish, Ensemble); “Finale” (Company) Act Two: “All I Crave Is More of Life” (Cheryl Parrish); “You Marry a Marionette” (Richard White); “Intermezzo” (Orchestra); “At the Ball” (Male Ensemble); “Loves of New Orleans” (Ensemble); “Mister Right” (Ivy Austin); “A Royal Whipping Boy” (Jack Kenny); “Live for Today” (Cheryl Parrish, Susanne Marsee, Michael Rees Davis, Richard White, Ensemble); “I’m Falling in Love with Someone” (Michael Rees Davis); “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life” (Cheryl Davis, Michael Rees Davis); Finale Ultimo (Cheryl Parrish, Michael Rees Davis, Richard White, Chorus) The original production of Victor Herbert’s operetta Naughty Marietta opened at the New York Theatre on November 7, 1910, for 136 performances and told the story of Marietta d’Altena (Cheryl Parrish in the current revival) who flees Italy for New Orleans in order to escape from an arranged marriage with a man she doesn’t love. She is soon courted by both the dandy but villainous Etienne Grandet (Richard White), who leads a double life as the pirate Bras Pique, and stalwart military officer Captain Warrington (Michael Rees Davis), and thus Marietta faces the age-old operetta dilemma of whom to choose, a flashy no-good or a dull but steady bore. (John Chapman in Theatre ’55 pondered over this typical either-or dilemma, and in his review of the 1954 musical Hit the Trail noted that “the prima donna doesn’t know whether to marry a banker or a gambler. Well . . . who ever did?”) Herbert’s music box poured forth with delightful melody: the stirring march “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp”; the merry “Italian Street Song”; the sweeping waltz “I’m Falling in Love with Someone”; and one of the ultimate examples of operetta music (perhaps rivaled only by Rudolf Friml’s “Indian Love Call” from 1924’s Rose-Marie), the haunting ballad “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life.” Like Lady in the Dark’s “My Ship,” this is a dream melody that haunts and frustrates Marietta because she can’t remember the entire song. But when the Captain completes it, she knows he’s her man. Other memorable interludes were the lighthearted “It Never, Never Can Be Love” and the pleasant if somewhat lugubrious “’Neath the Southern Moon.” The New York City Opera Company’s revival in 1978 marked the operetta’s first New York production in forty-eight years. It had been revived for a limited engagement of sixteen performances at Jolson’s Theatre on October 21, 1929, and then in two slightly separated engagements was produced for limited runs at Erlanger’s Theatre on November 16, 1931, for a total of twenty-four showings. City Opera’s first revival opened at the New York State Theatre on August 31, 1978, for fourteen performances and returned there August 30, 1979, for six showings. The first had a new book by Frederick S. Roffman, who also wrote additional lyrics, and the second had a new book by Jack Eddleman which was based on Roffman’s adaptation. The current and final City Opera revival was the company’s third version of the operetta, and this time the adaptation was by Theodore Pappas, who also supplied some new lyrics. Will Crutchfield in the New York Times felt that operettas of the Naughty Marietta ilk could be “touching” if “played with sincere feeling.” But the current production often lacked the necessary “romantic, naïve, and sentimental” spirit, and even “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life” was shortchanged: the singers “didn’t quite trust it,” the concertmaster played it with perhaps “condescending comment,” and the audience laughed whenever the number was sung. But Cheryl Parrish “scored a genuine success” in the title role, and Michael Rees Davis had “an exciting ring to his tenor” and employed “excellent” diction. In his review of the alternate cast, Allan Kozinn in the same newspaper liked the “strong, well-rounded soprano” of Gail Dobish’s Marietta, and praised the “good, clarion tenor” of Mark Beudert’s Captain. Further, the chorus and the orchestra (the latter under the direction of Scott Bergeson) gave Herbert’s score “the energetic brightness it deserves.” Naughty Marietta is best remembered today for its 1935 MGM film version, which represented the first teaming of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Directed by W. S. Van Dyke, the film retained five songs from Herbert’s score (“Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,” “’Neath the Southern Moon,” “Italian Street Song,” “I’m Falling in Love with Someone,” and “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life”).

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The most complete recording of the score was released as part of the Smithsonian American Musical Theatre Series in a two-LP boxed set (Smithsonian Collection # N-026).

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN IN CONCERT/ISN’T IT ROMANTIC Theatre: Booth Theatre Opening Date: October 5, 1988; Closing Date: November 6, 1988 Performances: 38 Special Material: Bruce Vilanch Direction: Christopher Chadman; Producers: Ron Delsener and Jonathan Scharer; Scenery: Andrew Jackness; Lighting: Beverly Emmons; Musical Direction: Joel Silberman Cast: Michael Feinstein The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs performed by Michael Feinstein (the program didn’t list musical numbers). Saloon singer Michael Feinstein had made his Broadway debut at the Lyceum Theatre six months earlier in Michael Feinstein in Concert, and the current visit with its altered title was a return engagement that played for almost five weeks. For a list of songs performed in the concert as well as more information about Feinstein’s other Broadway appearances, see entry for Michael Feinstein in Concert.

LEGS DIAMOND

“A New Broadway Musical” / “The Almost Totally Fictitious Musical History

of

Legs Diamond”

Theatre: Mark Hellinger Theatre Opening Date: December 26, 1988; Closing Date: February 19, 1989 Performances: 64 Book: Harvey Fierstein and Charles Suppon Lyrics and Music: Peter Allen Based on the 1960 film The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (direction by Budd Boetticher). Direction: Robert Allan Ackerman; Producers: James M. and James L. Nederlander, Arthur Rubin, The Entertainment Group, and George M. Steinbrenner III in association with Jonathan Farkas and Marvin A. Krauss, Executive Producer; Choreography: Alan Johnson; Scenery: David Mitchell; Costumes: Willa Kim; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Peter Allen (Jack “Legs” Diamond); Convicts: Adrian Bailey, Quin Baird, Frank Cava, Norman Wendall Kauahi, Bobby Moya, Paul Nunes, and Keith Tyrone; Prison Guards: Stephen Bourneuf and Rick Manning; Brenda Braxton (Madge), Deanna Dys (Cigarette Girl), Christian Kauffmann (Bones), Raymond Serra (Augie), Randall Edwards (Kiki Roberts), Pat McNamara (Devane), Mike O’Carroll (Hotsy Totsy Announcer, Barber), Julie Wilson (Flo); The Hotsy Totsy Girls: Carol Ann Baxter, Colleen Dunn, Deanna Dys, Gwendolyn Miller, and Wendy Waring; Jim Fyfe (Moran), Joe Silver (Arnold Rothstein), James Brandt (Tropicabana Announcer); Tuxedo Dancers: Stephen Bourneuf, Jonathan Cerullo, K. Craig Innes, and Kevin Weldon; Latin Dancers: Adrian Bailey, Frank Cava, Norman Wendall Kauahi, Bobby Moya, Paul Nunes, and Keith Tyrone; Champagne Girls: Carol Ann Baxter, Gwendolyn Miller; Showgirls: Colleen Dunn, Wendy Waring; Gangsters: Quin Baird, Stephen Bourneuf, James Brandt, Jonathan Cerullo, Rick Manning, Bobby Moya, Paul Nunes, and Mike O’Carroll; Taxi Dancers: Frank Cava, K. Craig Innes, and Bobby Moya; Boys from Bay Ridge: Adrian Bailey, Rick Manning, and Bobby Moya; Ruth Gottschall (Mourner), Burlesque Women: Gwendolyn Miller, Wendy Waring; Norman Wendall Kauahi (Chinese Waiter); A.R.’s Gang: Adrian Bailey, Quin Baird, Jonathan Cerullo, Rick Manning, and Bobby Moya; Jack’s Gang: Stephen Bourneuf, Frank Cava, K. Craig Innes, Norman Wendall Kauahi, Paul Nunes, and Keith Tyrone; Paul Nunes (Policeman), Shelley Wald (Jack Diamond’s Secretary); F.B.I. Men: James Brandt, Rick Manning

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The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Pennsylvania and in New York City in the “Roaring ’20s.”

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “When I Get My Name in Lights” (Peter Allen, Convicts, Ensemble); “Speakeasy”(Ensemble); “Applause” (Julie Wilson, The Hotsy Totsy Girls); “Knockers” (Peter Allen, The Hotsy Totsy Girls); “I Was Made for Champagne” (Randall Edwards, The Tropicabana Dancers); “Tropicabana Rhumba” (Peter Allen, Randall Edwards); “Sure Thing Baby” (Peter Allen); “Speakeasy Christmas” (The Hotsy Totsy Dancers); “Charge It to A.R.” (Joe Silver, Raymond Serra, Jim Fyfe, Christian Kauffmann, Gangsters); “Only an Older Woman” (Peter Allen, Julie Wilson); “Taxi Dancers’ Tango” (Peter Allen, Ensemble); “Only Steal from Thieves” (Peter Allen, Randall Edwards, Gangsters); “When I Get My Name in Lights” (reprise) (Peter Allen) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Cut of the Cards” (Peter Allen, Company); “Gangland Chase” (Peter Allen, Gangsters); “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” (Peter Allen, Randall Edwards, Ensemble); “The Man Nobody Could Love” (Randall Edwards, Julie Wilson, Brenda Braxton); “The Music Went Out of My Life” (Julie Wilson); “Say It Isn’t So” (Peter Allen, Company); “All I Wanted Was the Dream” (Peter Allen) Legs Diamond was one of the most public disasters of the decade. Instead of an out-of-town tryout, the musical opted for a series of New York previews that dragged on for seventy-two performances over a period of nine weeks before an estimated ninety-thousand customers who bought full-priced tickets to see a work in progress (although perhaps progress isn’t quite the appropriate description for the resulting bloodbath, which lost a reported $5.2 million). The show underwent drastic rewrites, dropped at least four songs, eliminated two central characters, and jettisoned some of its scenery while even more was being constructed. For her pre-opening article about the musical for the New York Times, Marilyn Stasio reported that a brief scene that took place in Times Square was cut, and with it went a subway entrance, a newsstand, and a special-effects billboard, all of which cost between $20,000 and $30,000. Further, the original opening number “Ain’t I Something!” was replaced with an elaborate new one (“When I Get My Name in Lights”) which at the very minimum cost $20,000 (and possibly twice that amount) for orchestrations, copying fees, and rehearsals, not to mention a new set, which represented a huge electric sign high above the stage from which Allen made his first-act entrance. But for all the changes, the show fell on its face and closed in a sea of red ink after less than two months of official performances. Sadly, when the final curtain rang down on the musical it also marked the end of the hallowed Mark Hellinger Theatre as one of Broadway’s most desirable and handsome houses. After the debacle of Legs Diamond, the original home of the hits Plain and Fancy (1955), My Fair Lady (1956), and Sugar Babies (1979) as well as such fabled flops as Hit the Trail (1954), Ankles Aweigh (1955), Ari (1971), and A Doll’s Life (1982) closed its theatrical doors and was sold to a church. Instead of looking at Legs Diamond’s ambitions as a gangster, the musical emphasized his aspiration to break into show business, and so approximately one-third of the songs were performance numbers at the Hotsy Totsy Club, which was owned by his former flame and an older woman, Flo (Julie Wilson), or at the Tropicabana Club, where his new girlfriend and eventual wife Kiki (Randall Edwards) works. It’s not surprising that the show’s atmosphere and characters (if not quality) reminded the critics of Pal Joey (1940) and Guys and Dolls (1950), but perhaps a better comparison would have been Nowhere to Go but Up (1962), another failed musical about New York in the 1920s that was neck-deep in gangsters and speakeasies. The wispy plot focused on Legs’s show-business career and his problems with gangland boss Arnold Rothstein (Joe Silver), who is forever ordering his goons to rub out Legs. But Legs always bounces back, and even manages to inadvertently kill Rothstein. But the FBI is in hot pursuit of the hero, Kiki backs out of their marriage, and soon Legs reunites with Flo and they head off to Cuba. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the evening seemed like “a sobering interlude of minimumsecurity imprisonment” during which an audience member might feel inclined to finish a crossword puzzle or balance a checkbook. Legs Diamond was “lackluster” even when “measured on the Richter scale of disaster” against such recent flops to play the Hellinger as Platinum (1978), Merlin (1983), Grind (1985), and Rags

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(1986). Rich found the script “so confusing” that he lost its thread before the end of the opening number, and said that while Allen may have lacked talent he was nonetheless blessed “with a genius for self-promotion.” Further, his score was so “derivative” it made Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music “sound idiosyncratic.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the score took “unmemorability to the point of amnesia,” and Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said Allen’s talent was “supper-club size” and his attempt to play a gangster was “hopeless.” Michael Kuchwara in the Associated Press suggested the book was “the skimpiest story this side of Starlight Express” and that the evening was “a mixed bag of musical tricks.” Some of the ballads had “charm” (Julie Wilson’s “The Music Went Out of My Life” was “the closest” the score had to a “showstopper”) and Willa Kim’s costumes “cornered the market on all the sequins, feathers, spangles and even bananas in New York.” But the gangsters in such musicals as Guys and Dolls (1950) and Do Re Mi (1960) “were funny, brash, even rakish characters,” whereas here they were “nearly anonymous buffoons.” And because Allen didn’t “quite deliver,” Legs Diamond was “a musical in search of a leading man.” But Nels Nelson in the Philadelphia Daily News praised the “lively” first act and the “simply terrific” second half. The show had “great vitality,” was “as tight as a drum,” and the evening’s “best” songs were “The Music Went Out of My Life,” “Say It Isn’t So,” and “All I Wanted Was the Dream.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the “jazzy spectacular” was a “raucous mock tribute” to Legs Diamond, and the “insouciant” evening offered a “flashy” first-act curtain and a “surprise” second-act opening. He singled out such songs as “The Music Went Out of My Life,” “Sure Thing Baby,” “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t,” “Only an Older Woman,” and “I Was Made for Champagne.” During previews, the following songs were deleted: “Ain’t I Something!,” “When I Dream My Dream,” “Come Save Me,” and “To Overcome Passion and Acquire Perfection.” The roles of Legs’s first wife, Alice (Christine Andreas), and his brother, Eddie (Bob Stillman), were written out of the musical, and some of the dialogue between Legs and Alice and between Legs and Eddie was refashioned into narrative for Allen to speak directly to the audience. The cast album was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # 7983-1-RC and CD # 7983-2-RC).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Julie Wilson); Best Costume Designer (Willa Kim); Best Choreographer (Alan Johnson)

BLACK AND BLUE “A Musical Revue”

Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: January 26, 1989; Closing Date: January 20, 1991 Performances: 824 Direction: Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli; Producers: Mel Howard and Donald K. Donald (Marilynn LeVine); Choreography: Cholly Atkins, Henry LeTang, Frankie Manning, and Fayard Nicholas (Dianne Walker, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes by and Lighting Conceived by: Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli; Lighting: Neil Peter Jampolis and Jane Reisman; Musical Direction: Leonard Oxley Cast: The Singers—Ruth Brown, Linda Hopkins, Carrie Smith; The Hoofers—Bunny Briggs, Ralph Brown, Lon Chaney, Jimmy Slyde, Dianne Walker; The Dancers—Rashamella Cumbo, Tanya Gibson, Germaine Goodson, Angela Hall, Kyme, Valerie Macklin, Deborah Mitchell, Valerie E. Smith, Frederick J. Boothe, Eugene Fleming, Ted Levy, Bernard Manners, Van Porter, Kevin Ramsey, Ken Roberson, Melvin Washington; The Younger Generation—Cyd Glover, Savion Glover, Dormeshia Sumbry; The Musicians—Billy Butler (Guitar), Bill Easley (Clarinet), Sir Roland Hanna (Piano), Haywood Henry (Clarinet, Saxophone), Virgil Jones (Trumpet), Al McKibbon (Bass), Leonard Oxley (Piano), Jake Porter (Trumpet), Jerome Richardson (Alto Sax), Grady Tate (Drums), Emery Thompson (Trumpet), Claude Williams (Violin), Britt Woodman (Trombone), Stephen Furtaldo (Trumpet)

1988–1989 SEASON     379

Musical Numbers Act One: Blues: “I’m a Woman” (lyric and music by McDaniel) (Linda Hopkins, Ruth Brown, Carrie Smith); “Hoofers a Capella” (Jimmy Slyde, Bunny Briggs, Ralph Brown, Lon Chaney, Bernard Manners, Savion Glover, Ted Levy); “Royal Garden Blues” (music by Spencer Williams and Clarence Williams) (Musicians); “St. Louis Blues” (lyric and music by W. C. Handy) (Ruth Brown; Featured Musicians: Sir Roland Hanna, Haywood Henry, Britt Woodman, Jake Porter, Grady Tate, and Billy Butler); “Everybody Loves My Baby” (lyric and music by Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams) (choreography by William LeTang) (Dancers); “After You’ve Gone” (lyric by Henry Creamer, music by J. Turner Layton) (choreography by Cholly Atkins) (Linda Hopkins, Bernard Manners, Male Dancers); “If I Can’t Sell It, I’ll Keep Sittin’ on It” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Alexander Hill) (Ruth Brown); “I Want a Big Butter and Egg Man” (lyric and music by Percy Venable and Louis Armstrong) (choreography by Fayard Nicholas) (Carrie Smith with Kevin Ramsey, Ted Levy, and Eugene Fleming; Featured Musicians: Sir Roland Hanna and Jake Porter); “Rhythm Is Our Business” (lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Jimmie Lunceford and Saul Chaplin) (Savion Glover, Cyd Glover, Dormeshia Sumbry); “Mystery Song” (lyric by Irving Mills, music by Duke Ellington) (Tanya Gibson, Rashamella Cumbo, Valerie Smith); “Stompin’ at the Savoy” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Benny Goodman, Edgar Sampson, and Chick Webb) (Jimmy Slyde); “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” (Earl Carroll Vanities, 1932; lyric by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen) (Carrie Smith); “Black and Tan Fantasy” (choreography by Frankie Manning) (music by Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley) (Bunny Briggs, Dancers); “Come Sunday” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington) (Linda Hopkins); “Daybreak Express” (music by Duke Ellington) (Musicians); “’T Ain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do” (lyric and music by Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins) (Ruth Brown, Linda Hopkins; Featured Musicians: Sir Roland Hanna); “That Rhythm Man” (Hot Chocolates, 1929; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks) (choreography by Henry LeTang) (Dancers) Act Two: “Swinging to Wednesday Night Hop” (music by Johnson and by Johnakins and Kirk) (Dancers); “Cry Like a Baby” (lyric and music by Kirkland and Big Maybelle Smith) (Linda Hopkins); “Memories of You” (Blackbirds of 1930; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Eubie Blake) (choreography by Cholly Atkins) (Dianne Walker, Bernard Manners, Kevin Ramsey); “Body and Soul” (Three’s a Crowd, 1930; lyric by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, and Frank Eyton, music by Johnny Green) (Ruth Brown); “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)” (lyric by Don Daugherty and Ellis Reynolds, music by Al J. Nieburg) (choreography by Cholly Atkins) (Kyme, Bernard Manners, Kevin Ramsey, Frederick J. Boothe, Ted Levy; Featured Musicians: Claude Williams and Billy Butler); “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” (music by Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley) (Ralph Brown, Lon Chaney); “Am I Blue?” (1929 film On with the Show; lyric by Grant Clark, music by Harry Akst) (Carrie Smith; Featured Musician: Claude Williams); “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” (Blackbirds of 1928; lyrics by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh) (choreography by Henry LaTang) (Angela Hall, Eugene Fleming, Dancers); “In a Sentimental Mood” ( music by Duke Ellington) (Bunny Briggs; Featured Musician: Jerome Richardson); “Black and Blue” (Hot Chocolates, 1929; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks) (Ruth Brown, Linda Hopkins, Carrie Smith, Jimmy Slyde, Bunny Briggs); Finale (choreography by Henry LeTang) (Savion Glover, Cyd Glover, Dormeshia Sumbry, Jimmy Slyde, Ralph Brown, Lon Chaney, Dianne Walker, Dancers) Many of the critics didn’t quite know what to make of the revue Black and Blue. They found it a strange, almost schizoid, affair that purported to be about the blues but was instead an upbeat and almost garish show with lavish costumes and quirky staging effects that were often at cross purposes with the content. Even “Fats” Waller’s title song seemed all wrong. In Ain’t Misbehavin’ it was a strangled cry from the soul with its heartfelt lament, and here it was presented as a merry production number. But audiences didn’t mind, and the revue played over two years. The production originated in Paris at the Theatre Musical de Paris in 1985 and reportedly played there for a year. It was conceived, directed, and designed by the team of Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli, who had earlier presented Tango Argentino and Flamenco puro, and the New York version included such established blues and gospel singers as Ruth Brown, Linda Hopkins, and Carrie Smith as well as the up-and-coming dancer Savion Glover (Hopkins had also appeared in the Paris production). Linda Winer in New York Newsday said the $5 million revue offered over-miked music and over-utilized stage machinery, and as a result the evening was “a disfiguring case of Broadway elephantiasis.” And the

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revue was replete with oddities. Winer noted that for “If I Can’t Sell It, I’ll Keep Sittin’ on It,” Ruth Brown played the owner of a second-hand shop, but wore what looked like an inauguration gown with “the world’s biggest tiara,” and when she finished the number a backdrop materialized and became the train of her dress. And Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal reported that during the first act Carrie Smith sang “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” while she was awkwardly positioned on a huge black disk that tilted backwards (Frank Rich in the New York Times thought she was being readied for a root canal), and for the second act sang “Am I Blue?” while perched on a swing some twenty-five feet above the stage as acres of material from her billowing dress cascaded to the floor of the stage (he noted she looked like a parachutist caught in the limbs of a tree). Rich complained that the three leads wore “metallic” and “bejeweled” outfits that made them look as though they were shrouded in “imprisoning carapaces,” and the older male tap dancers were dressed in “patchwork” suits that were “patronizingly clownish.” And William A. Henry III in Time noted the leading ladies were of “ample proportions” and therefore they should have questioned “the white feathered dresses for the finale that make them look like ostriches with glandular problems.” Rich commented that although a revue didn’t necessarily require a script it nonetheless needed “its own internal theatrical logic,” but here it was difficult to see where “innocent vulgarity leaves off and intentional camp begins.” The work brought to mind an old-time “bloated” night club floor show and it was loaded with crimson velour curtains and flashing proscenium lights that suggested “the busy environment of television game shows,” and he noted that for the finale many of the cast members were rolled out in “monochromatic compartments” that would have been more appropriate “in a large international airport’s restroom.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the show was a “large, elaborate and inconsequential nightclub act,” and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News suggested the evening was “akin to one of those old Radio City Music Hall shows.” Ruth Brown’s interpretation of “Body and Soul” also raised some eyebrows. Rich said she was so “inflected and lispy that it could pass for a Carol Channing impersonation,” and Henry also thought of Channing when he heard Brown’s “husky” and “lisping” approach to the song. But David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said “despite some gaudy Vegas-like lapses” Black and Blue was “the most handsome, stylish show on Broadway.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post stated the revue was “one of the best nights on the town in this or any other town,” and praised Hopkins, Smith, and Brown (and noted that for “Body and Soul,” Brown was “great” and sang it “beautifully”). And Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said the dancing was “stupendous,” Hopkins put “her rainbow of a voice to wonderful effect,” Smith was “robust and clarion,” and Brown was “searing” in “St. Louis Blues” and “savagely funny” in “If I Can’t Sell It, I’ll Keep Sittin’ on It,” but “because her vocal cords seem coated with irony” her “Body and Soul” seemed “muted.” During previews, “Tappin’ In” (music by Boss Townsend) and “Take Your Hands Off My Mojo” (lyric and music by Grant and Wilson) were cut, and during the run of the show the songs “Call It Stormy Monday” (lyric and music by A. T. Walker) and “I’m Getting ’Long Alright” (lyric and music by R. Sharp and C. Singleton) were added while “Cry Like a Baby” was cut. Note that of the revue’s four choreographers, Cholly Atkins (with Honi Coles and Anita Alvarez) memorably introduced the vampy saga of “Mamie is Mimi” in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), and Fayard Nicholas and his brother Harold were the dazzling tap-dance team who appeared on stage in St. Louis Woman (1946) and in such films as Orchestra Wives (1942) and The Pirate (1948). The Paris cast album was released on Trema Records (CD # 710213), and the Broadway cast album was issued by DRG Records (CD # 19001).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Black and Blue); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Ruth Brown); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Linda Hopkins); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Bunny Briggs); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Savion Glover); Best Director of a Musical (Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli); Best Scenic Designer (Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli); Best Costume Designer (Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli); Best Lighting Designer (Neil Peter Jampolis and Jane Reisman); Best Choreographer (Cholly Atkins, Henry Le Tang, Frankie Manning, and Fayard Nicholas)

1988–1989 SEASON     381

JEROME ROBBINS’ BROADWAY Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: February 26, 1989; Closing Date: September 1, 1990 Performances: 634 Lyrics and Music: For specific credits, see list of musical numbers Direction and Choreography: Jerome Robbins (Grover Dale, Codirector; Cynthia Onrubia, Victor Castelli, and Jerry Mitchell, Assistants to Jerome Robbins); Producers: The Shubert Organization, Roger Berlind, Suntory International Corp., Byron Goldman, and Emanual Azenberg (produced in association with Pace Theatrical Group); Scenery: Robin Wagner, Production Scenic Designer (for specific scenic design credits, see list of musical numbers); Costumes: Joseph G. Aulisi, Supervising Costume Designer (for specific costume credits, see list of musical numbers); Lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Jason Alexander, Richard Amaro, Dorothy Benham, Jeffrey Lee Broadhurst, Christophe Caballero, Mindy Cartwright, Irene Cho, Jamie Cohen, Charlotte d’Amboise, Camille de Ganon, Donna Di Meo, Donna Marie Elio, Mark Esposito, Susann Fletcher, Scott Fowler, Angelo H. Fraboni, Ramon Galindo, Nicholas Garr, Gregory Garrison, Carolyn Goor, Michael Scott Gregory, Andrew Grose, Alexia Hess, Nancy Hess, Louise Hickey, Eric A. Hoisington, Barbara Hoon, JoAnn M. Hunter, Scott Jovovich, Pamela Khoury, Susan Kikuchi, Michael Kubala, Robert La Fosse, Mary Ann Lamb, Jane Lanier, David Lowenstein, Michael Lynch, Greta Martin, Joey McKneely, Julio Monge, Troy Myers, Maria Neenan, Jack Noseworthy, Steve Ochoa, Kelly Patterson, Luis Perez, Faith Prince, James Rivera, Tom Robbins, George Russell, Greg Schanuel, Debbie Shapiro, Renee Stork, Mary Ellen Stuart, Linda Talcott, Leslie Trayer, Ellen Troy, Andi Tyler, Scott Wise, Elaine Wright, Barbara Yeager, Alice Yearsley The dance revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture: “(I’m a Guy Who’s) Gotta Dance” (Look, Ma, I’m Dancin’!, 1948; lyric and music by Hugh Martin); “Papa, Won’t You Dance with Me?” (High Button Shoes, 1947; lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne); and “Shall We Dance?” (The King and I, 1951; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers) (The Setter: Jason Alexander; Singers: Michael Lynch, Debbie Shapiro, Company On the Town (1944) Book and Lyrics: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music: Leonard Bernstein Scenery: Oliver Smith Costumes: Alvin Colt Musical Numbers: “New York, New York” and “Sailors on the Town” Cast: Robert La Fosse (Gabey), Scott Wise (Chip), Michael Kubala (Ozzie), Debbie Shapiro (Hildy), Mary Ellen Stuart (Claire), Nancy Hess (Dolores Dolores), Jason Alexander (Emcee); Sailors, Workmen, Dance Hall Hostesses, Passersby, and Others: Christophe Caballero, Irene Cho, Jamie Cohen, Donna Di Meo, Mark Esposito, Susann Fletcher, Scott Fowler, Nicholas Garr, Michael Scott Gregory, Andrew Grose, Alexia Hess, Louise Hickey, Eric A. Hoisington, Barbara Hoon, David Lowenstein, Michael Lynch, Joey McKneely, Julio Monge, Maria Neenan, Jack Noseworthy, Steve Ochoa, Kelly Patterson, Faith Prince, James Rivera, Tom Robbins, Greg Schanuel, Renee Stork, Linda Talcott, Leslie Trayer, Andi Tyler, Elaine Wright, Alice Yearsley Musical Number: “Ya Got Me” Cast: Robert La Fosse (Gabey), Scott Wise (Chip), Michael Kubala (Ozzie), Debbie Shapiro (Hildy), Mary Ellen Stuart (Claire), Nancy Hess (Dolores Dolores), Jason Alexander (Emcee) Billion Dollar Baby (1945) Book and Lyrics: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music: Morton Gould Scenery: Oliver Smith Costumes: Irene Sharaff Musical Number: “Charleston”

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Cast : David Lowenstein (Cop), Michael Lynch (Doorman), Barbara Yeager (Flapper), Mary Ann Lamb (Flapper), JoAnn M. Hunter (Flapper), Jane Lanier (Socialite), Nicholas Garr (Socialite), Susann Fletcher (A Timid Girl), Troy Meyers (Good Time Charlie), Elaine Wright (Collegiate), Angelo H. Fraboni (Collegiate), Younger Generation: Christophe Caballero and Linda Talcott, Older Generation: Barbara Hoon and Scott Fowler, Michael Scott Gregory (Gangster), Joey McKneely (Gangster), Andrew Grose (Bootlegger), Julio Monge (Gangster) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) Book: Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Scenery and Costumes: Tony Walton Musical Number: “Comedy Tonight” Cast: Jason Alexander (Pseudolus), Michael Kubala (First Protean), Joel McKneely (Second Protean), Scott Wise (Third Protean); Company: Charlotte d’Amboise, Dorothy Benham, Susann Fletcher, Michael Scott Gregory, Andrew Grose, Robert La Fosse, Mary Ann Lamb, David Lowenstein, Michael Lynch, Jack Noseworthy, Kelly Patterson, Luis Perez, Tom Robbins, Greg Schanuel, Debbie Shapiro High Button Shoes (1947) Book: Stephen Longstreet Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Music: Jule Styne Scenery: Oliver Smith Costumes: Miles White Musical Number: “I Still Get Jealous” Cast: Faith Prince (Ma), Jason Alexander (Pa) West Side Story (1957) Book: Arthur Laurents Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Music: Leonard Bernstein Scenery: Oliver Smith Costumes: Irene Sharaff Co-Choreographer: Peter Gennaro Musical Number: “Suite of Dances” (This sequence included: “Prologue,” “The Dance at the Gym,” “Cool,” “America,” “The Rumble,” and “Somewhere.”) Cast: Robert La Fosse (Tony), Alexia Hess (Maria), Scott Wise (Riff), Nicholas Garr (Bernardo), Charlotte d’Amboise (Anita), Debbie Shapiro (Rosalia), Donna Di Meo (Graziella), Dorothy Benham (“Somewhere” Soloist); The Jets: Christophe Caballero, Scott Fowler, Angelo H. Fraboni, Michael Scott Gregory, Andrew Grose, Joey McKneely, Troy Myers, Jack Noseworthy, Kelly Patterson, Greg Schanuel; Their Girls: Louise Hickey, Barbara Hoon, Mary Ann Lamb, Maria Neenan, Mary Ellen Stuart, Linda Talcott, Leslie Trayer, Alice Yearsley; The Sharks: Jamie Cohen, Mark Esposito, Eric A. Hoisington, Scott Jovovich, David Lowenstein, Michael Lynch, Julio Monge, Steve Ochoa, James Rivera; Their Girls: Irene Cho, Donna Marie Elio, Nancy Hess, JoAnn M. Hunter, Renee Stork, Andi Tyler, Elaine Wright, Barbara Yeager Act Two: The King and I (1951) Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Richard Rodgers Scenery: Jo Mielziner Costumes: Irene Sharaff Musical Number: “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” Cast: Barbara Yeager (Narrator), Susan Kikuchi (Eliza), Joey McKneely (King Simon), Linda Talcott (Little Eva), JoAnn M. Hunter (Topsy), Barbara Hoon (Uncle Thomas), Irene Cho (Angel, George); Royal Dancers: Christophe Caballero, Donna Di Meo, Mark Esposito, Eric A. Hoisington, Maria Neenan, Steve Ochoa, Renee Stork, Andi Tyler, Elaine Wright, Alice Yearsley; Royal Singers: Dorothy Benham, Donna Marie Elio, Leslie Trayer, Nancy Hess, Louise Hickey, Mary Ellen Stuart; Propmen: Jamie Cohen, Angelo H. Fraboni, Scott Fowler, Nicholas Garr, Scott Jovovich, James Rivera

1988–1989 SEASON     383

Gypsy (1959) Book: Arthur Laurents Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Music: Jule Styne Scenery: Jo Mielziner Costumes: Raoul Pene du Bois Musical Number: “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” Cast: Jason Alexander (Cigar), Mary Ann Lamb (Louise), Faith Prince (Tessie), Debbie Shapiro (Mazeppa), Susann Fletcher (Electra) Peter Pan (1954) Book: Credited to James Barrie (probably adapted by Jerome Robbins) Lyrics: Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green Music: Moose Charlap and Jule Styne Scenery: New scenery by Robin Wagner Costumes: New costumes by Joseph G. Aulisi Musical Number: “I’m Flying” (lyric by Carolyn Leigh, music by Moose Charlap) Cast: Charlotte d’Amboise (Peter Pan), Donna Di Meo (Wendy), Linda Talcott (Michael), Steve Ochoa (Michael) High Button Shoes (1947) Book: Stephen Longstreet Lyrics: Sammy Cahn Music: Jule Styne Scenery: Oliver Smith Costumes: Miles White Musical Number: “On a Sunday by the Sea” Cast: Jason Alexander (Floy), Troy Myers (Pontdue), Faith Prince (Ma), Barbara Yeager (Fran), Michael Kubala (Uncle Willie), Andrew Grose (Police Captain), Michael Scott Gregory (Chief of Police); Cops: Mark Esposito, Angelo H. Fraboni, Eric A. Hoisington, Julio Monge, Greg Schanuel; Bathing Beauties: Charlotte d’Amboise, Susann Fletcher, Louise Hickey, JoAnn M. Hunter, Debbie Shapiro, Renee Stork, Leslie Trayer, Elaine Wright; Tom Robbins (Life Guard); Alexia Hess and Maria Neenan (The Twins), Scott Fowler and Scott Jovovich (The Twins); Crooks: Scott Wise, Nancy Hess, Linda Talcott; Singers: Dorothy Benham, Christophe Caballero, Donna Marie Elio, Nicholas Garr, Barbara Hoon, David Lowenstein, Michael Lynch, Jack Noseworthy, Kelly Patterson, James Rivera, Mary Ellen Stuart, Leslie Trayer, Andi Tyler, Alice Yearsley Miss Liberty (1949) Book: Robert Sherwood Lyrics and Music: Irving Berlin Costumes: New costumes by Joseph G. Aulisi Musical Number: “Mr. Monotony” Cast: Debbie Shapiro (Singer); Luis Perez, Jane Lanier, Robert La Fosse Fiddler on the Roof Book: Joseph Stein Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Music: Jerry Bock Scenery: Boris Aronson Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt Musical Numbers: “Tradition,” “The Tailor Motel Kamzoil” (aka “Tevye’s Dream”), “Sunrise, Sunset,” and “Bottle Dance” Cast: Jason Alexander (Tevye), Susann Fletcher (Golde), Michael Lynch (Motel Kamzoil), JoAnn M. Hunter (Tzeitel), Barbara Hoon (Grandma Tzeitel), Nancy Hess (Fruma-Sarah), Tom Robbins (Lazar Wolf), Troy Myers (The Rabbi), Joey McKneely (The Fiddler); Bottle Dancers: Christophe Caballeros, Mark Esposito, Scott Jovovich, Greg Schanuel; Villagers and Wedding Guests: Dorothy Benham, Irene Cho, Jamie Cohen, Charlotte d’Amboise, Donna Di Meo, Donna Marie Elio, Scott Fowler, Angelo H. Fraboni, Nicholas Garr, Michael Scott Gregory, Alexia Hess, Scott Jovovich, Michael Kubala, Mary Ann Lamb, David Lowenstein,

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Maria Neenan, Jack Noseworthy, Steve Ochoa, Kelly Patterson, James Rivera, Renee Stork, Mary Ellen Stuart, Linda Talcott, Leslie Trayer, Andi Tyler, Scott Wise, Elaine Wright, Barbara Yeager, Alice Yearsley Finale On the Town Book and Lyrics: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music: Leonard Bernstein Scenery: Original scenery by Oliver Smith; setting for “Broadway at Night” by Robin Wagner Costumes: Alvin Colt Musical Numbers: “Some Other Time” and “New York, New York” (reprise) Cast: Robert La Fosse (Gabey), Scott Wise (Chip), Michael Kubala (Ozzie), Debbie Shapiro (Hildy), Mary Ellen Stuart (Claire), Alexia Hess (Ivy); Three Sailors: Christophe Caballero, Kelly Patterson, Michael Scott Gregory; Company Perhaps Jerome Robbins’ Broadway took its cue from Lee Becker Theodore’s The American Dance Machine (1978), which presented reconstructions of what were in many cases lost dances from Broadway musicals. Robbins here offered a number of the dances and musical stagings that he had created for musicals during his twenty-year Broadway career (1944–1964). There was familiar material, such as a suite of dances from West Side Story, “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” Ballet from The King and I, and other well-known numbers from On the Town, Peter Pan, Gypsy, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. But the evening offered esoterica as well, including the legendary but long unseen “On a Sunday by the Sea” from High Button Shoes, the all-but-forgotten “Charleston” from Billion Dollar Baby, and the wandering child “Mr. Monotony,” which had been cut from no less than three film and stage musicals (see below). The critics were in a generally agreeable mood, and so the dance revue received mostly favorable reviews and won a slew of Tony Awards, including Best Musical. But the show didn’t quite please everyone, and so there was some general nitpicking. The run was rather modest, and the revue closed after a little more than six hundred performances and lost money. Linda Winer in New York Newsday reported that the $8 million production (which broke box-office records with its $55 top ticket price) had undergone twenty-two weeks of rehearsals before playing nine weeks of New York previews. The huge cast numbered sixty-two, and there were twenty-eight members in the orchestra. Frank Rich in the New York Times said audiences used to the “hydraulic scenic gizmos, formless acrobatics, deafening amplification and emotional vacuity” of recent Broadway musicals would find Robbins’s world one of “taste” and “joy.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News observed that what now “passes for musical theatre is mainly about computerized scenic effects” and so “this look backward is enormously exhilarating.” And in the same newspaper Douglas Watt’s headline proclaimed that the show was “Broadway the Way It Ought to Be.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal praised the “unique event in Broadway musical history” and suggested that “those interested in seeing Broadway musical numbers at their best had better not wait for some other time” because “the time is now.” John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the evening was “a glorious celebration of musicals like they don’t make anymore.” And Marcia B. Siegel in Dance was happy to note that Robbins had “honored the original styles and stagings” and thus there was no “swoopy vocalizing or mumbled lyrics” and “no misguided updating of the choreography.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “magnificent” evening didn’t offer “new hope” for the Broadway musical, but it might “suggest to us where we went wrong” and “what we have missed.” Winer found the revue “exhilarating” and noted that “On a Sunday by the Sea” was “fabulous stage chaos.” And Jack Kroll in Newsweek stated that the revue “instantly becomes the best show on Broadway” and it seemed that “the real Broadway has come down from Valhalla to let today’s pseudo-Broadway see what it’s all about.” Despite the praise, there were a few dissenting voices. Dale Harris in the Wall Street Journal said the evening’s “motivating force” was Robbins’s “narcissism,” and therefore his “unabashed tribute” to himself revealed “a dispiriting lack of judgment” and his removal of some numbers from their context denied them “not only pertinence but punch.” Further, “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” now looked “stylistically arch and choreographically thin” and was “offensively patronizing about the Orient.” And the West Side Story dances deteriorated into easy answers about serious problems, and thus the matter of racial prejudice was “dissolved in the clichés of the dream ballet.”

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While William A. Henry III in Time noted that “the gala onstage is a summing up” of the director and choreographer’s “invaluable” career, the evening was in some ways a “patchwork.” He found “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” both “stately and slow,” and the Russian peasant lives depicted in Fiddler on the Roof seemed “cornier and campier when deprived of the original’s glints of fear and oppression.” As for the $8 million that went into the production, the show looked surprisingly “modest” and “even a little tatty.” Some of the performers didn’t impress him, and he commented that while Robert La Fosse danced “gloriously,” his facial expressions were relegated “to a scowl and a simpering grin” and Jason Alexander lacked “the star attribute of effortless ease.” Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 also had qualms about Alexander, and noted he “doesn’t score at all” as Tevye and was in fact “grossly miscast” with a “phony beard and even phonier accent.” But for all the carping, Alexander nonetheless won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. During previews, the number “Dreams Come True,” which followed “Charleston,” was dropped from the Billion Dollar Baby sequence (Charlotte d’Amboise played Maribelle and the dance trio were Kelly Patterson, Greg Schanuel, and Luis Perez). The cast album was issued by RCA Records on a two-LP set and a two-CD set (both # 60150-2-RC). As for “Mr. Monotony,” it was written by Irving Berlin for Judy Garland to sing in the MGM film Easter Parade (1948); the song was filmed but cut prior to the movie’s release and the outtake is included in the film’s DVD, which was issued by Warner Home Video (# 67072). The song resurfaced during the tryout of Miss Liberty (1949) where Mary McCarty and the singing and dancing chorus performed it as “Mrs. Monotony,” but the number was cut prior to New York. It was next heard (as “Mr. Monotony”) during the tryout of Call Me Madam where it was sung by Ethel Merman, Muriel Bentley, Tommy Rall, and Arthur Partington, and it was again cut during the pre-Broadway engagement (and was replaced by “Something to Dance About”). In 1954, the song was considered for Twentieth Century-Fox’s musical There’s No Business Like Show Business (which starred Merman), but wasn’t used. Both Miss Liberty and Call Me Madam opened at the Imperial Theatre, and if “Mr./Mrs. Monotony” hadn’t been dropped from one or the other musical, the song would have been heard there. But it seems the song was destined to be performed in that theatre, and so of course some four decades later the number finally got to the Imperial’s stage where it was sung by Debbie Shapiro in the Robbins’s revue.

Awards Tony Nominations and Awards: Best Musical (Jerome Robbins’ Broadway); Best Actor in a Musical (Jason Alexander); Best Actor in a Musical (Robert La Fosse); Best Actress in a Musical (Charlotte d’Amboise); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Scott Wise); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Jane Lanier); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Faith Prince); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Debbie Shapiro); Best Director of a Musical (Jerome Robbins); Best Lighting (Jennifer Tipton)

THE PAJAMA GAME Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 3, 1989; Closing Date: April 16, 1989 Performances: 51 Book: George Abbott and Richard Bissell Lyrics and Music: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross Based on the 1953 novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell. Direction and Choreography: Theodore Pappas; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Beverly Sills, General Director; Donald Hassard, Artistic Administrator); Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Marjorie McCown; Lighting: Ken Tabachnick; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Peter Howard Cast: Avery Saltzman (Hines), David Green (Prez), Jim Borstelmann (Joe), Steve Pudenz (Hasler), Lenora Nemetz (Gladys), Susan Nicely (Mae), Joyce Campana (Brenda), Lillian Graff (Poopsie), Richard Muenz (Sid Sorokin), Louis Perry (Charlie), Scott Robertson (First Helper), David Koch (Second Helper), Brooks Almy (Mabel), Judy Kaye (Babe Williams), Don Yule (Max), Paula Hostetter (Pat), William Ledbetter (Pop); “Steam Heat” Boys: Jim Borstelmann and David Koch; The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers

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The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a small town in the Midwest during June 1957.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “The Pajama Game” (Avery Saltzman); “Racing with the Clock” (Chorus); “A New Town Is a Blue Town” (Richard Muenz); “I’m Not at All in Love” (Judy Kaye, Girls); “I’ll Never Be Jealous Again” (Avery Saltzman, Brooks Almy); “Hey, There” (Richard Muenz); “Her Is” (David Green, Lenora Nemetz); “Sleep-Tite” (Company); “Once-a-Year Day” (Richard Muenz, Judy Kaye, Company); “Her Is” (reprise) (David Green, Judy Kaye); “Small Talk” (Richard Muenz, Judy Kaye); “There Once Was a Man” (Richard Muenz, Judy Kaye); “Hey, There” (reprise) (Richard Muenz) Act Two: “Steam Heat” (Lenora Nemetz, Jim Borstelmann, David Koch); “Hey, There” (reprise) (Judy Kaye); “Think of the Time I Save” (Avery Saltzman, Girls); “Hernando’s Hideaway” (Lenora Nemetz, Company); “Jealousy Ballet” (Lenora Nemetz, Avery Saltzman, Men); “Seven-and-a-Half Cents” (Judy Kaye, David Green, Chorus); “The Pajama Game” (reprise) (Company) The New York City Opera Company’s production of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’s The Pajama Game was the last in its short-lived series of Broadway musical revivals that were booked for about a six-week run each spring. Allan Kozinn in the New York Times noted that Beverly Sills, who was retiring as General Director of the company, had “pulled out all the stops” with a production that “captures and magnifies the garish fluffiness of the 1950’s in a fresh and amusing way.” As Babe, Judy Kaye sang with “power and charm” and played her role “touchingly”; Richard Muenz was “slightly dryer vocally” but “equally sympathetic” as Sid; Avery Saltzman’s Hines was “spectacularly frenetic” and his duet “I’ll Never Be Jealous Again” with Brooks Almy (Mabel) was a “delight”; and as Gladys, Lenora Nemetz’s dancing was a highlight of the evening. Kozinn reported that for the “Jealousy Ballet” Hines imagined that Gladys was trysting with various pop icons of the era, including Elvis Presley (in the original production, Gladys is involved with generic types, such as an amorous Frenchmen and a wrestler, but director and choreographer Theodore Pappas was indeed inspired with the conceit of Hines’s runaway imagination seeing Gladys cavort with a male harem of the era’s celebrities). The Pajama Game took on fresh subject matter with blue-collar workers and labor-versus-management issues at a pajama factory in a small Midwestern town, and the story centered on the on-again, off-again romance between new factory superintendant Sid Sorokin (Muenz) and factory worker and union representative Babe Williams (Kaye). Yes, we are definitely in the mid-1950s where women are named Babe and Poopsie and where factory workers get head-over-heels excited about the annual office picnic. The musical also had time to focus on the comic shenanigans of the secondary leads, the factory’s time-study-obsessed executive Hines (Saltzman) who as mentioned is insanely jealous of his secretary Gladys (Nemetz). The lighthearted book was beautifully complemented by Adler and Ross’s delightful score, which yielded such standards as “Hey, There,” “Hernando’s Hideaway,” and “Steam Heat.” The original production opened on May 13, 1954, at the St. James Theatre for 1,063 performances and won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Choreography (the latter award went to Bob Fosse). When the show closed, it was the seventh-longest-running book musical in Broadway history. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1954, and an undated paperback edition was published in Great Britain by Williamson Music. The libretto is also part of the 2014 Library of Congress hardback collection American Musicals, which includes scripts of fifteen other musicals. The original cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-4840), and the CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy (# SK-89253) includes such bonus tracks as the virtually throw-away number “Sleep-Tite” (which was recorded in 1954 but not released as part of the original cast album) and “The World around Us,” which was heard at the Broadway opening-night performance but was immediately dropped in favor of a reprise of “Hey, There.” The 1997 studio cast recording by Jay Records (# CDJAY2-1250) includes the complete “Jealousy Ballet” as well as the factory slowdown music, the entr’acte, finale, curtain, and exit music, and the cast members include four from the City Opera revival (Judy Kaye, Avery Saltzman, Brooks Almy, and David Green). The original London production opened on October 13, 1955, for 588 performances, and the cast members included Elizabeth Seal (Gladys); the cast album was issued by Axis/EMI Records (CD #7017902) and Sepia Records (CD # 1072).

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The faithful 1957 film version released by Warner Brothers was directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen and was choreographed by Fosse. With the exception of Janis Paige (whose role was assumed by Doris Day), virtually all the stage principals reprised their roles. A new song (“The Man Who Invented Love”) was written by Adler for Day, and although filmed it was cut prior to the film’s release (but its outtake is included as a bonus on the DVD issued by Warner Brothers # 70599). The musical was first revived in New York at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company on May 15, 1957, for 23 performances. Besides the current City Opera revival, there have been two others. One opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on December 9, 1973, for 65 performances, and the second at the American Airlines Theatre on February 23, 2006, for 129 showings. The 1973 revival added “Watch Your Heart” (aka “If You Win, You Lose”), a revised version of Adler’s “What’s Wrong with Me?” from his 1961 Broadway musical Kwamina. The second revival included “The World around Us,” “Watch Your Heart,” “Sleep-Tite,” and “The Three of Us,” a new song by Adler. The cast album for the second revival was released by Columbia Records (CD # CK-99036) on a two-CD set that includes selections from Harry Connick Jr.’s 2001 musical Thou Shalt Not. With George Abbott, co-librettist Richard Bissell had adapted his novel 7½ Cents into The Pajama Game, and he was later inspired to write the 1957 novel Say, Darling, about a writer’s observations when his novel is adapted into a hit musical. This slightly Pirandelloesque approach resulted in the adaptation of the novel Say, Darling into the 1958 play-with-music, also called Say, Darling (and subtitled “a comedy about a musical”).

CHU CHEM

“The First Chinese-Jewish Musical” Theatre: Ritz Theatre Opening Date: March 17, 1989; Closing Date: May 14, 1989 Performances: 44 Book: Ted Allan Lyrics: Jim Haines and Jack Wohl Music: Mitch Leigh Direction: Albert Marre; Producers: The Mitch Leigh Company and William D. Rollnick; Scenery: Robert Mitchell; Costumes: Kenneth M. Yount; Lighting: Jason Sturm; Musical Direction: Don Jones Cast: The Oriental Company—Kevin Gray (The Prince), Alvin Lum (The Elder), Chev Rodgers (Hong Ho), Hechter Ubarry (The Prince’s Brother), Zoie Lam (Daf-ah-Dil, Concubine, Villager), Timm Fujii (The Prompter), Simone Gee (Na Mi, Concubine, Villager), Keelee Seetoo (Lei-An, Concubine, Villager), Kenji Nakao (Shu-Wo, Propman, Villager), Jason Ma (Ho-Ke, Propman, Villager), Paul Nakauchi (Nu-Wo, Propman, Villager), Nephi Jay Wimmer (Chueh-Wu, Propman, Guard); The Westerners—Mark Zeller (Chu Chem), Emily Zacharias (Lotte), Irving Burton (Yakob) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place some six-hundred years ago in the village of Kai-Feng, China.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Orient Yourself” (The Oriental Company); “What Happened, What?” (Mark Zeller, Irving Burton); “Welcome” (Villagers); “You’ll Have to Change” (Emily Zacharias); “Love Is” (Kevin Gray); “I’ll Talk to Her” (Mark Zeller, Kevin Gray, Hechter Ubarry); “Shame on You” (Mark Zeller, Kevin Gray, Zoie Lam, Simone Gee, Keelee Seetoo); “It Must Be Good for Me” (Emily Zacharias); “I’ll Talk to Her” (reprise) (Mark Zeller, Kevin Gray); “You’ll Have to Change” (reprise) (Kevin Gray); “The River” (Emily Zacharias, Kevin Gray, Kenji Nakao, Jason Ma, Paul Nakauchi, Nephi Jay Wimmer); “We Dwell in Our Hearts” (Mark Zeller, Emily Zacharias, Kevin Gray) Act Two: “Re-Orient Yourself’ (The Oriental Company); “What Happened, What?” (Irving Burton); “I Once Believed” (Emily Zacharias); “It’s Possible” (Mark Zeller); “Our Kind of War” (Company); “Boom!” (Chev Rodgers); Finale (Company)

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Chu Chem, which is the name of the musical’s leading character and roughly translates as “wise man,” told the story of a group of fourteenth-century Jews who set off in search of one of their lost tribes, which had settled in China some four hundred years earlier. The program notes indicated the story was “historically accurate” but the date that the tribe settled in China is uncertain, and while some argue 998 AD, most agree it was before 1000 AD (there are existing ruins of a synagogue that was built in 1163 AD at the intersection of two streets in Kai-Feng, China). The musical’s rocky road to Broadway took twenty-three years, but once it arrived it managed only a two-month run. The show had first been produced in 1966, with its first tryout stop scheduled for the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. But the producers canceled this engagement, and opened at the New Locust Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After a series of chaotic previews, the musical’s tryout premiered on November 15, 1966, and abruptly closed four days later on November 19. The production team of the previous year’s mega-hit Man of La Mancha were also involved with Chu Chem, including composer Mitch Leigh, director Albert Marre, choreographer Jack Cole (who also appeared in Chu Chem), and scenic and lighting designer Howard Bay, and the cast included Menasha Skulnik, Molly Picon, James Shigeta, Marcia Rodd, Khigh Dhiegh, Yuki Shimoda, Alvin Ing, Reiko Sato, and Bill Starr. During previews, Picon left the show after the final preview performance and her understudy, Henrietta Jacobson, went on for opening night. (At one performance, Jacobson famously told the audience that a number wouldn’t be performed that evening and everyone would be “better off” without it.) The original production utilized some of the conventions of Chinese theatre and attempted to provide a slightly improvisational air to the proceedings, and to add to the evening’s supposedly spontaneous atmosphere, there were no song titles listed in the program. The production also introduced “Occidental Actors” and Chinese performers who come together and relate the story of the lost tribe. Ernest Schier in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin said the musical was “confused and tasteless,” “thoroughly unpalatable, like blintzes with soy sauce,” “bizarre and unedifying,” “astonishingly banal,” “somebody’s wild idea of Chinese theatre,” and, in a comment for the ages, he suggested a better title for the musical would be The King and Oy. The show canceled its scheduled opening at the George Abbott Theatre, and it took more than two decades for the musical to see its first New York production, at Off-Off-Broadway’s Jewish Repertory Theatre on December 27, 1988, for twenty performances. Some two months later the show transferred to Broadway, and Marre again directed. With the exception of Thom Sesma, who was succeeded by Kevin Gray, most of the Off-Off-Broadway cast members were seen in the Broadway version. For their reviews of the Off-Off-Broadway production, Richard Shepard in the New York Times said the evening provided “good fun” with “bright and energetic direction” and a “tuneful enough” score with two standouts, “It’s Possible” and “Our Kind of War,” the latter “a rollicking Marxian (Groucho) chant done in the style of a slick early-1930’s Hollywood musical.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “little kosher eggroll of a show” which was “delicious,” and although the entertainment was “curious” it nonetheless had “its own very definite charms.” And Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News decided the subject matter was “too interesting” for its “Borscht Belt treatment” (and he noted that Chu Chem’s daughter, Lotte, played by Emily Zacharias, was depicted as a feminist, and he wondered if the 1966 production had such “underpinnings”). In his review of the Broadway production, John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said he liked the “amiable little cross-cultural caper,” which was “so good-natured that only a Grinch would enter a dissenting gripe.” But Drew Fetherston in New York Newsday said Chu Chem “lives up to every misgiving you might feel about it” because it was “culturally condescending, carelessly anachronistic, and self-contradictory” (he also noted the “outlandish” costumes suggested that “every upholstery shop in Manhattan was ransacked to make them” and the headgear worn by the cast resembled “overturned wastebaskets and flower vases, or pith helmets topped by phallic devices”). Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the music was “plodding” and “unmemorable,” the lyrics “lifeless,” and the décor “designed on the cheap.” He mentioned that along with his program the usher handed him a Chinese fortune cookie, which contained the message, “A half-hour after seeing Chu Chem, you’ll want to see it again.” To which Watt commented, “Talk about Chinese torture.” The cast album for the 1966 production had been scheduled to be recorded by Mercury Records, and the cast album for the current revival was recorded but never issued. (But a pirated recording of the Off-Off-

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Broadway production, which features Thom Sesma in the cast, includes “Raisin Cookies,” “Proof,” and “The Scroll,” none of which appear on the song lists for the 1988 and 1989 productions.) The demo recording of the 1966 production includes ten songs (plus alternate versions of four numbers): “Chu Chem,” “Love Is,” “Our Kind of War,” “A Lovely Place,” “Empty Yourself,” “I Once Believed,” “We Dwell in Our Hearts,” “One at a Time,” “My Only Love,” and “It’s Not the Truth.” Of these songs, four were heard in the 1988 version, “Love Is,” “Our Kind of War,” “I Once Believed,” and “We Dwell in Our Hearts”; and others in this production were: “Orient Yourself” (and “Re-Orient Yourself,” a second-act reprise version) (these may have been a variation of “Empty Yourself”), “Rain,” “What Happened, What?,” “Welcome,” “You’ll Have to Change,” “I’ll Talk to Her,” “Shame on You,” “It Must Be Good for Me,” “The Wise,” “The River,” “It’s Possible,” and “Boom!” For the Broadway production, “Rain” and “The Wise” were eliminated.

THE WIZARD OF OZ Theatre: Radio City Music Hall Opening Date: March 22, 1989; Closing Date: April 9, 1989 Performances: 39 Book: Adaptation by Michel M. Grilikhes Lyrics: E. Y. Harburg Music: Harold Arlen; original incidental music by Herbert Stothart Based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (who also wrote thirteen other Oz novels) and the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz (direction by Victor Fleming and screenplay by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allen Woolf from an adaptation by Noel Langley). Direction: Michel M. Grilikhes; Producer: Michel M. Grilikhes and M.M.G. Arena Productions; Choreography: Onna White (Jim Taylor, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Stephen Ehlers; Art Direction: Jeremy Railton; Costumes: Bill Campbell; Lighting: Uncredited Cast: Grace Greig (Dorothy), Linda Johnson (Aunt Em, Glinda), John Sovec (Uncle Henry), Guy Allen (Zeke, Cowardly Lion), Joe McDonough (Hunk, Scarecrow), Joe Giuffre (Hickory, Tin Woodsman), Polly Seale (Miss Gulch, Wicked Witch), Bart Williams (Professor Marvel, The Wizard of Oz, Gate Keeper), Chorus The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Kansas and in Oz.

Musical Numbers The main musical sequences in the film, and in the current stage version, were: “Over the Rainbow,” “Munchkinland,” “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” “If I Only Had a Brain,” “If I Only Had a Heart,” “Lions and Tigers and Bears,” “If I Only Had the Nerve,” “Optimistic Voices,” The Merry Old Land of Oz,” “If I Were King of the Forest,” and “Courage.” The production of The Wizard of Oz was presented at large arena-styled theatres, and for its limited New York engagement played at Radio City Music Hall. The book adaptation was by Michel M. Grilikhes, and the dialogue was prerecorded and lip-synched by the performers, who also mouthed the words of the lyrics (the songs, with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg and music by Harold Arlen, were taken directly from the soundtrack of MGM’s 1939 film version). Richard F. Shepard in the New York Times said the show was “an amiable, colorful and at times even spectacular affair” with a cast of forty-two and lavish effects which included the levitation of Dorothy’s home during the tornado scene, flying monkeys, a transformation sequence in which three performers turned into snowdrops, and a “big and ominous” face of the Wizard, which was “appropriately scary.” He also noted that Joe McDonough as the Scarecrow was a “particularly adroit” dancer.

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WELCOME TO THE CLUB Theatre: Music Box Theatre Opening Date: April 13, 1989; Closing Date: April 22, 1989 Performances: 12 Book: A. E. Hotchner Lyrics: Cy Coleman and A. E. Hotchner Music: Cy Coleman Direction: Peter Mark Schifter; Producers: Cy Coleman, A. E. Hotchner, William H. Kessler Jr., and Michael M. Weatherly in association with Raymond J. Greenwald (Robert R. Larsen, Associate Producer); Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: David Pogue Cast: Marilyn Sokol (Arlene Meltzer), Avery Schreiber (Milton Meltzer), Bill Buell (Gus Bottomly), Scott Wentworth (Aaron Bates), Samuel E. Wright (Bruce Aiken), Scott Waara (Kevin Bursteter), Jody Benson (Betty Bursteter), Marcia Mitzman (Carol Bates), Terri White (Eve Aiken), Sally Mayes (Winona Shook) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “A Place Called Alimony Jail” (Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara, Marilyn Sokol, Jody Benson, Marcia Mitzman, Terri White); “Pay the Lawyer” (Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara); “Mrs. Meltzer Wants the Money Now!” (Marilyn Sokol, Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara); “That’s a Woman” (Scott Wentworth, Marilyn Sokol, Marcia Mitzman, Jody Benson, Terri White); “Piece of Cake” (Terri White, Samuel E. Wright); “Rio” (Avery Schreiber, Marilyn Sokol, Jody Benson, Marcia Mitzman, Terri White, Bill Buell); “Holidays” (Marilyn Sokol); “The Trouble with You” (Scott Wentworth, Marcia Mitzman, Avery Schreiber, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara, Marilyn Sokol, Jody Benson, Terri White); “Mother-in-Law” (Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara); “At My Side” (Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara) Act Two: “Southern Comfort” (Sally Mayes, Scott Wentworth, Marilyn Sokol, Jody Benson, Marcia Mitzman, Terri White, Avery Schreiber, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara); “The Two of Us” (Samuel E. Wright, Avery Schreiber); “It’s Love! It’s Love!” (Bill Buell, Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara); “In the Name of Love” (Marcia Mitzman); “Miami Beach” (Marilyn Sokol, Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara); “Guilty” (Sally Mayes); “Love Behind Bars” (Sally Mayes, Scott Wentworth, Marilyn Sokol, Jody Benson, Marcia Mitzman, Terri White); “At My Side” (reprise) (Scott Waara, Jody Benson); “It Wouldn’t Be You” (Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, Scott Waara, Marilyn Sokol, Jody Benson, Marcia Mitzman, Terri White) Along with Home Again, Home Again (which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1979), Welcome to the Club was Cy Coleman’s worst-received musical and lost its entire investment of approximately $1.5 million. At twelve performances, it’s also the composer’s shortest-running show, and of his eleven Broadway musicals the only one without a cast recording. The musical took place in an alimony jail in New York City during the present time, and unlike Coleman’s 1977 hit I Love My Wife, the current one could have been subtitled I Hate My Wife. Four husbands (Avery Schreiber, Scott Wentworth, Samuel E. Wright, and Scott Waara) would rather be incarcerated than fork over alimony to their respective wives (Marilyn Sokol, Marcia Mitzman, Terri White, and Jody Benson). Despite a cascade of non-stop acrimony, most of the couples reunite by the end of the evening. The book had a number of holes, and so the critics pounced on various questionable plot details. Why is the show set in an alimony jail during the present time when such jails no longer exist? Why are the wives so dependent on their husbands’ money? Why don’t any of the wives have jobs? For those characters who have children, why are the kids barely mentioned and seem to have no place in the story? (Could it be that child support, not alimony, is the issue?) Further, in the second act Winona Shook (Sally Mayes), a famous country-

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and-western singer, joins the husbands in jail because she won’t pay alimony to her husband. Since when are men and women placed in the same jail cell? More to the point, the evening was a one-joke show that might have worked as a five-minute revue sketch, but a full Broadway evening of two acts had nowhere to go and as a result the show was filled with extraneous numbers, including two about resorts: a husband looks forward to the day he can escape to “Rio,” and a wife anticipates enough alimony to ensure that she can vacation in “Miami Beach.” And when country star Winona comes on the scene, she and the husbands go into a song about the War Between the States (“Southern Comfort”). As for the “jokes,” at least two critics singled out the line “I was out of there faster than a matzoh from the Vatican.” The critics weren’t just appalled by the mean-spirited, misogynistic diatribe that depicted wives as castrating harpies and gold diggers and men as better off in jail than in the clutches of their greedy and scheming wives. The reviewers were also surprised over the liberal use of four-letter words, especially in the song “Mother-in-Law,” in which one four-letter expletive was endlessly repeated. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said the show broke the “Broadway musical language barrier and sets a record for profane language, in the dialogue, in the songs and, by the second act, from the audience.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said “Move over, Carrie” because that “bad-taste yardstick” was now “eclipsed” by Welcome to the Club. The “breathtakingly misogynistic” musical wasn’t “bigotry of the unenlightened” kind but was instead “gleeful vulgarity.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said one must make “subtle gradations in awfulness,” and thus the new musical didn’t have the “grandiosity” and “relentlessness” of Carrie or the “sustained inanity” of Legs Diamond, but it surpassed both of them “in cheapness and tackiness.” The “full evening of spitefulness and recriminations is unimaginably gross,” and he suspected the Broadway run was a tryout “for an extended engagement in an as-yet-undisclosed resort in the Poconos.” The headline of Douglas Watt’s notice in the New York Daily News proclaimed “Welcome to the Dud.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “poor little thing” was so far the best musical of the season, and while there had been “bad” Broadway seasons before, this was “ridiculous,” and he asked, “What on earth haven’t we done to deserve this?” Frank Rich in the New York Times complained that Coleman and A. E. Hotchner’s book lacked “credible” characters, drama, and emotions, and in place of “song and story” there were only “idle song cues.” As for Coleman’s score, Rich noted it was “better” than the material deserved, but its “quality is too inconsistent to galvanize the show.” Watt said there were four or five “attractive tunes” and Barnes said the songs (which ranged from operetta pastiche to barbershop quartet to country music to Broadway ballad) were, along with the performances, the “best” part of the evening. Winer praised the “natural, simple” melodies; Siegel liked the “tuneful” music; and Stearns found the score “typically tuneful” and said “At My Side” (which was also singled out by Watt as “winning” and by Kissel as “mildly fetching”) had the makings of a “hit.” During previews, Sharon Scruggs was succeeded by Sally Mayes, and the song “Meyer Chickerman” was dropped. There was no cast recording, but for the collection Unsung Musicals (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5462) cast member Sally Mayes performed two songs from the musical (“In the Name of Love” and “At My Side”), neither of which she sang in the show. Curiously enough, Welcome to the Club was the second of four versions of the material, all with different titles. The musical first premiered as Let ’Em Rot! on February 19, 1988, at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Coconut Grove, Florida, with Ron Orbach, William Parry, Martin Vidnovic, Cady Huffman, and Marilyn Sokol, who was the only member of the cast to transfer with the show to Broadway. Some nine songs heard in Florida were cut for New York: “Alimony Rap,” “Let ’Em Rot!,” “Piece of Mind,” “King of the Mound,” “I Get Tired,” “Aiken’s Lament,” “Bachelors,” “The Honeymoon Is Over,” and “To Live Again.” “Boom Chicka Boom” was heard in the Florida production and may have been an early title for “Rio.” After Let ’Em Rot! and Welcome to the Club, Coleman and Hotchner revised the show as Exactly Like You, which opened at Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut, on May 7, 1998. It was later staged Off Off Broadway by the York Theatre Company at the Theatre at Saint Peter’s Church on April 19, 1999, for thirty-one performances. New songs heard in the Goodspeed production that weren’t used in the York Theatre staging were “A Man of the People,” “The Trouble with You,” and “I Forgive Him.” New songs added for the York version were: “Courtroom Cantata,” “I Want the Best for Him,”

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and “Don’t Mess Around with Your Mother-in-Law” (which may have been a revised version of “Mother-inLaw”). Exactly Like You and the final version of the show (which opened as Lawyers, Lovers & Lunatics) were set in a courtroom and not in the jail itself. Lawyers had a short regional tour in New Jersey and Florida during the early months of 2003, and the cast included four members from the York Theatre production (Dorina Kelly, Donya Lane, Susan Mansur, and Michael McGrath) as well as Barbara Walsh, who had appeared in the Goodspeed version. For this latest and presumably final edition of the material, three songs were added: “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee,” “Don’t Let It Getcha,” and “Pound of Flesh.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Scott Wentworth); Best Director of a Musical (Peter Mark Schifter)

BARRY MANILOW AT THE GERSHWIN Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: April 18, 1989; Closing Date: June 10, 1989 Performances: 44 Special Material: Ken and Mitzie Welch, Roberta Kent, and Barry Manilow Direction: Kevin Carlisle; Producers: Garry C. Kief, James M. Nederlander, James L. Nederlander, Arthur Rubin, and Joe Gannon; Scenery and Costumes: Jeremy Railton; Lighting: J. T. McDonald; Musical Direction: Bud Harner and Ron Pedley Cast: Barry Manilow; Vocalists and Musicians: Marc Levine (Vocals, Bass Guitar), John Pondel (Vocals, Guitar), Joe Melotti (Vocals, Keyboards), Billy Kidd (Vocals, Keyboards), Vanessa Brown (Vocals, Percussion), Dana Robbins (Vocals, Woodwinds), Debra Byrd (Vocals), Bud Harner (Drums), Ron Pedley (Keyboards) The concert was presented in two acts. For the first half of his limited-engagement concert Barry Manilow at the Gershwin, the singer presented a musical autobiography of sorts during which he sang and chatted about his childhood and Brooklyn roots. For the second half, he performed an extended medley of his hit songs. During the evening he was backed up by nine vocalists and musicians. Stephen Holden in the New York Times characterized the concert as “a smoothly streamlined affair that has much less glitz” than Manilow’s earlier appearances. The singer’s “boy-next-door ingenuousness” suggested the only reason he performed on stage was because of the “love and support” of his fans, and Holden noted that Manilow didn’t “oversell” the “greeting-card sentiments” of his songs, which dealt with such themes as “an adolescent longing for love” and “the satisfaction of having ‘made it through the rain.’” Holden reported that among the songs performed during the evening were: “Lady of Spain,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Bad,” “Like a Virgin,” “Mandy,” “Can’t Smile without You,” “One Voice,” and “I Write the Songs.” The singer’s Barry Manilow on Broadway had played at the Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre on December 21, 1976, for twelve performances and it won him a special Tony Award; he later appeared in Barry Manilow’s Showstoppers, which opened at the Paramount Theatre on September 25, 1991, for four performances; and he composed the score for the 1997 musical Harmony (book and lyrics by Bruce Sussman), which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout.

STARMITES Theatre: Criterion Center Stage Right Opening Date: April 27, 1989; Closing Date: June 18, 1989 Performances: 60 Book: Stuart Ross and Barry Keating Lyrics and Music: Barry Keating

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Direction: Larry Carpenter; Producers: Hinks Shimberg, Mary Keil, and Steven Warnick (Peter Bogyo, John Burt, and Severn Sandt, Associate Producers); Choreography: Michele Assaf (T. C. Charlton, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Lowell Detweiler; Costumes: Susan Hirschfeld; Lighting: Jason Kantrowitz; Musical Direction: Henry Aronson Cast: Liz Larsen (Eleanor, Milady, Bizarbara), Sharon McKnight (Mother, Diva), Ariel Grabber (Shak Graa), Brian Lane Green (Space Punk), Gabriel Barre (Trinkulus); Starmites: Bennett Cale (Ack Ack Ackerman), Victor Trent Cook (Herbie Harrison), and Christopher Zelno (Dazzle Razzledorf); Banshees: Mary Kate Law (Shotzi), Gwen Stewart (Canibelle), Freida Williams (Balbraka), and Janet Aldrich (Maligna); JohnMichael Flate (Droid), Ric Ryder (Droid) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time on Earth and in innerspace.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Superhero Girl” (Liz Larsen); “Starmites” (Bennett Cale, Victor Trent, Christopher Zelno, Brian Lane Green); “Trink’s Narration” (Gabriel Barre, Bennett Cale, Victor Trent, Christopher Zelno); “Afraid of the Dark” (Brian Lane Green, Bennett Cale, Victor Trent, Christopher Zelno, Liz Larsen, Gabriel Barre); “Little Hero” (Liz Larsen); “Attack of Banshees” (Mary Kate Law, Gwen Stewart, Freida Williams, Janet Aldrich); “Hard to Be Diva” (Sharon McKnight, Mary Kate Law, Gwen Stewart, Freida Williams, Janet Aldrich); “Love Duet” (Brian Lane Green, Liz Larsen); “The Dance of Spousal Arousal” (Mary Kate Law, Gwen Stewart, Freida Williams, Janet Aldrich, Liz Larsen); Finaletto (Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Band); “Bizarbara’s Wedding” (Liz Larsen, Mary Kate Law, Gwen Stewart, Freida Williams, Janet Aldrich); “Milady” (Brian Lane Green, Bennett Cale, Victor Trent, Christopher Zelno); “Beauty Within” (Sharon McKnight, Liz Larsen); “The Cruelty Stomp” (Gabriel Barre, Company); “Reach Right Down” (Bennett Cale, Victor Trent, Christopher Zelno, Sharon McKnight, Mary Kate Law, Gwen Stewart, Freida Williams, Janet Aldrich); “Immolation” (Liz Larsen, Ariel Grabber, Brian Lane Green); “Starmites”/”Hard to Be Diva” (reprises) (Sharon McKnight, Bennett Clae, Victor Trent, Christopher Zelno, Mary Kate Law, Gwen Stewart, Freida Williams, Janet Aldrich); Finale (Company) Starmites had been orbiting throughout the theatrical universe for about ten years, and now finally crashlanded on Broadway. But perhaps Off Broadway should have been its destination. The critics weren’t all that amused, the audiences didn’t come, and the show closed within two months of its opening. The science-fiction spoof centered on teenager Eleanor (Liz Larsen), an avid reader of sci-fi comics who like Alice dreams she’s in a wonderland (here called Innerspace). And like Peter Pan’s Wendy, Eleanor (now known as Milady) meets a young man (Space Punk, the “heart throb of the universe” [Brian Lane Green]) and his band of “lost boys,” the Starmites. Space Punk and the Starmites fight evil in the universe, including Shak Graa (Ariel Grabber), the High Priest of Chaos whose mission in life is to destroy Earth and Innerspace. Added to the mix are dangerous Diva (Sharon McKnight) and her Banshees, the latter described in the published script as “Amazonian bombshells” and “henchwomen” who are led by Shotzi (Mary Kate Law), Diva’s sergeant-at-arms. But Diva isn’t so bad after all (in her big number “Hard to Be Diva,” she confides that while it’s “a full-time job” to keep her “veneer up,” she’s nonetheless “a big-hearted gal”), especially when it turns out that her dear daughter Bizarbara (also played by Larsen) is a changeling and that Eleanor herself is Diva’s birth daughter (don’t ask). At any rate, Earth and Innerspace are saved, Eleanor returns to Earth and her mother (also played by McKnight), but not before everyone joins in the latest dance craze “The Cruelty Stomp.” Mel Gussow in the New York Times said the musical had a “convivial Off-Broadway feeling,” and while it possessed “a childlike fancifulness and a genuine affection for its genre” it lacked “a sharply satiric storyline.” But he liked the “eclectic” music, noted the lyrics often had a “cartoon cleverness,” and he enjoyed Sharon McKnight’s Diva, a role “that might have been made to order for Bette Midler.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday said the show should have opened in a “tiny” Off-Broadway theatre, but noted the book was true to its “foolish shlock genre,” the dialogue was “overwritten in the great stupid comic-book tradition” (with lines on the order of “How doleful is the shaft of evility”), the music was “innocuous, mainstream soft rock,” and Larry Carpenter’s direction pulled it all together with “sweetness” and “a kind of nonstop homemade party.” As for McKnight, she “belted” her songs and looked “like Barbara Bush as a biker.”

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Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News felt the “terribly silly and relentlessly unmusical musical” seemed like a “rash and costly Off-Broadway” production. Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 said Starmites wasn’t an “outrageous failure” like Carrie and Legs Diamond and wasn’t “offensive” like Welcome to the Club, but “not being terrible still isn’t good enough.” And Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the evening never matched the “level of playfulness and satire” that McKnight brought to the proceedings. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor suggested the musical was aimed at teenagers “or perhaps just the latent teenager in all of us,” and noted “Hard to Be Diva” permitted McKnight “to raise the roof.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post suggested his readers would be better off going to a restaurant or a movie, or maybe just staying home; the score carried “the unmemorable to as yet uncharted areas of amnesia,” and as he wrote his review on the computer, every time he typed the show’s title it came out as Termites. The musical was first produced Off Off Broadway on October 23, 1980, at the Ark Theatre for twenty performances (with book, lyrics, and music by Barry Keating); it was again presented Off Off Broadway when it opened at Musical Theatre Works on April 26, 1987, for sixteen performances (this time around, the book was credited to both Keating and Stuart Ross, and the cast included Liz Larsen and Gabriel Barre, both of whom were in the eventual Broadway production). Between the 1987 and 1989 versions, the musical was presented at the American Stage Festival in Milford, New Hampshire, and after the Broadway production closed the work twice returned to Off Off Broadway, at the Hartley House Theatre on December 14, 1990, for twenty performances and (as Starmites 2001) at the AMAS Musical Theatre on March 22, 2001, for seventeen performances. Starmites was also produced on March 29, 2006, at the Cap 21 Theatre as part of the Barbara Wolf Monday Night Reading Series. The script was published in paperback by Samuel French, in 1990, and Original Cast Records released a recording that was a combination of 1989 cast members and studio cast performers (CD # OC-8812). Cast member Sharon McKnight’s collection In the Meantime (Jezebel Music Records CD # OU81SS) includes her number “Hard to Be Diva.” Starmites was the first production to play at the new Criterion Center Stage Right. It was located on the site of the Olympia Theatre, which was demolished in 1935 and later replaced by the Criterion Theatre, a movie house. The Criterion eventually underwent reconstruction, and as Criterion Center Stage Right, Barnes reported the new space seemed to have “more foyers and staircases than seating and stage,” and Siegel praised the wide aisles and “comfortable” seats with lots of leg room (but he complained that in the case of the current production, all the seats faced the stage). Two years after the theatre opened, it was leased to the Roundabout Theatre Company for almost a decade, but in 1999 the space was converted into a retail store. There was also Criterion Center Stage Left, an Off-Broadway house that opened on September 25, 1988, with the musical Suds. Like its counterpart, Stage Left was eventually demolished in order to make way for retail space.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Starmites); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Brian Lane Green); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Sharon McKnight); Best Direction of a Musical (Larry Carpenter); Best Choreographer (Michele Assaf)

GHETTO

“The Last Performance

in the

Vilna Ghetto”

Theatre: Circle in the Square Opening Date: April 30, 1989; Closing Date: May 28, 1989 Performances: 33 Play: Joshua Sobol (English adaptation by David Lan) Lyrics: English lyrics by Jeremy Sams Music: Most of the music was based on “authentic Ghetto songs” arranged by William Schimmel Direction: Gedalia Besser; Producer: Circle in the Square Theatre (Theodore Mann, Artistic Director; Paul Libin, Producing Director); Movement: Nir Bel Gal and Liat Dror; Scenery: Adrian Vaux; Costumes: Edna Sobol; Lighting: Kevin Rigdon; Musical Direction: William Schimmel

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Cast: Avner Eisenberg (Srulik), Stephen McHattie (Kittel), Helen Schneider (Hayyah), Gordon Joseph Weiss (Dummy), George Hearn (Gens), Jerry Matz (Hassid, Doctor Gottlieb), Donal Donnelly (Weiskopf), Jarlath Conroy (Kruk), Marshall Coid (Haiken), David Hopkins (Reed Player), Barry Mitterhoff (Guitar Player), William Swindler (Accordion Player), Julie Goell (Miriam), Alma Cuervo (Ooma, Doctor Weiner), Richard M. Davidson (Rich Man), David Rosenbaum (Judge), Andrea Clark Libin (Luba), Jon Rothstein (Yankel), Matthew P. Mutrie (Yitzak Geivish), Jonathan Mann (Elia Geivish), William Venderber (Dessler), Ahvi Spindell (Averbuch), Angelo Ragonesi (Levas), Julie Anne Eigenberg (Woman), Brian Maffitt (German Soldier), Spike McClure (German Soldier) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the ghetto of Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1941, 1942, and 1943.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual musical numbers. Joshua Sobol’s play-with-music Ghetto premiered at the Haifa Municipal Theatre in Haifa, Israel, in April 1984, and its first European production was performed in German when the play opened in Berlin during June of that year. The English adaptation by David Lan was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and premiered on April 27, 1989, three days before the New York production opened. Ghetto is one of three related plays by Sobol that deal with life in the Vilna Ghetto; the other two are Adam (1988) and Underground (1989). The script was published in 1989 in two different paperback editions, one in Britain by Nick Hern Publishers and one in New York by the Theatre Communications Group. The play centers on a group of players and musicians who continue to perform in the Vilna Ghetto in the face of imminent extinction. The ghetto was once the home of tens of thousands of Jews, but ultimately only a few hundred survived the Holocaust. The drama looked at the spirit and willpower of a group of people determined to go on living as normally as possible in the face of their Nazi oppressors, and the central character Srulik (Avner Eisenberg), who is the artistic director of the ghetto’s theatre, looks back at life under Nazi occupation from September 1941 until the virtual liquidation of the ghetto in 1943. The program notes indicated the memory play was “a mixture” of the “factual” and the “imaginative” as Srulik’s recollections bring the past and his dead friends to life. Frank Rich in the New York Times suggested the play’s director Gedalia Besser was “entirely at sea” with the “bizarrely chosen” cast which included two performers associated with Irish theatre (Donal Donnelly and Jarlath Conroy), one best known as a singer (Helen Schneider), and one a clown (Avner Eisenberg, known as the clown “Avner the Eccentric”). The result was “perhaps the most ineptly performed production of the Broadway season.” Further, the “diffuse” evening offered “predictable soliloquies delivered by stereotyped” characters, and even the extras in the cast seemed “less like victims of the Nazis than like refugees from an exhausted summer-stock tour of Oliver!” Rich noted that the play aspired to be a musical in the tradition of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal reported that when the SS officer (Stephen McHattie) smears blackface on the Jewish actors and orders them to sing George Gershwin’s “Swanee,” the moment was “strong” and “chilling” in its parallel between black American slaves and the slaves in the ghetto. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News commented that the officer demanded a song by Gershwin “on pain of death,” said Schneider was a “moving” singer but “unconvincing” actress, and reported that the “oddly cast” George Hearn wasn’t “Jewish enough.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the authentic ghetto songs were “expertly” performed, and Linda Winer in New York Newsday praised the scenes that included “sardonic” political playlets, dances, and songs.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Featured Actor in a Play (Gordon Joseph Weiss)

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DANGEROUS MUSIC “A New Musical”

The musical opened on October 18, 1988, at The Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre and permanently closed there on November 26, 1988. Book and Lyrics: Tom Eyen Music: Henry Krieger Direction: Tom Eyen; Producer: The Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre (K. R. Williams, Producer); Choreography: Wayne Cilento; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Tharon Musser; Musical Direction: Lon Hoyt Cast: Donna Murphy (Angela Dubrowsky, Ms. Francis, Beverly), Jon Ehrlich (Tommy Dubrowsky, Prom Backup Singer, Salto Lee Smith), David Chaney (Frank Dubrowsky, Big Jerry Palatore), Yvette Cason (Verdi Winston, Jackie Morrison, Prom Backup Singer, Dollene, Crystall, Reporter # 3), Laurie Beechman (Diane Dubrowsky), T. J. Meyers (Ed Pasky, Ball Player, Prom Singer, Lieutenant Dwyer, Bob J. Donner), Jodi Benson (Barbara Pasky, Cathy Hartley, Prom Backup Singer, Tania), Shaun Cassidy (Turk Armalli, Randy Taylor), Lee Lobenhofer (Josh, Prison Guard, Man in Cage, Billy, Reporter # 1, Phil, Policeman), Lorraine Goodman (Jeannette, Reporter # 2, Mia, Connie Pasky), Belinda Beeman (Helen, Prison Inmate, Body Shop Lady), Anastasia R. Barzee (Andrea, Prison Inmate, Body Shop Lady, Frank’s Friend), Margot Moreland (Sharon), Joe Gately (Prison Guard, Policeman), Colin Lockerbie (Prison Guard, Gregory), Pepper Sweeney (Prison Guard), Marietta Haley (Old Lady), Trent Kendall (Policeman); Song Cycle Singers: Jodi Benson, Yvette Cason, Donna Murphy, Jon Ehrlich, and Lorraine Goodman The musical was presented in two acts. The action for the first act takes place in Detroit during the early 1970s, and the action for the second occurs during the early 1980s (primarily in Detroit and Los Angeles but also in Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Toledo).

Musical Numbers Act One: “Dangerous Music” (Company); “The Paskys Coming to Dinner” (Donna Murphy, David Chaney, Jon Ehrlich, Yvette Cason, Laurie Beechman, T. J. Meyers, Jodi Benson); “Hey, Turk” (Jon Ehrlich, Shaun Cassidy, Lee Lobenhofer, Team); “We’re Alive, Diane” (Shaun Cassidy, Jodi Benson, Laurie Beechman, Yvette Cason); “Worried about the Way You Feel” (Donna Murphy, Laurie Beechman); “Dancing at the Prom” (T. J. Meyers, Yvette Cason, Jodi Benson, Jon Ehrlich, Company); “This Is Your Big Chance, Diane” (Jon Ehrlich, Laurie Beechman, Yvette Cason, Shaun Cassidy, Jodi Benson); “I’m So Rough on the Outside” (Shaun Cassidy, Laurie Beechman); “You Got Me Going, Baby” (Shaun Cassidy, Laurie Beechman); “Who Did This to You?” (David Chaney, Donna Murphy, Laurie Beechman, Jon Ehrlich); “You Haven’t Talked” (Laurie Beechman, Shaun Cassidy); “It’s about Your Daughter” (T. J. Meyers, Donna Murphy, David Chaney, Jon Ehrlich); “New Girl Coming In” (Jodi Benson, Yvette Cason, Donna Murphy, Laurie Beechman, Lee Lobenhofer, Joe Gately, Colin Lockerbie, Pepper Sweeney); “One More Loser” (Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman, Laurie Beechman); “Where Is My Heart Now?” (Laurie Beechman); “I’m Always Gonna Be a Part of You” (Shaun Cassidy with Laurie Beechman); “Keep It Quiet” (Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman, Laurie Beechman, Lee Lobenhofer, Joe Gately, Colin Lockerbie, Pepper Sweeney); “A Bottle of Peroxide” (Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman, Laurie Beechman); “We Gotta Make Some Money” (Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman, and Laurie Beechman with Lee Lobenhofer, Joe Gately, Colin Lockerbie, Pepper Sweeney); “How We Gonna Live?” (Jon Ehrlich, Donna Murphy, T. J. Meyers, David Chaney); “We Gotta Make Some Money” (reprise) (Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman, Laurie Beechman); “Diane Gets an Offer” (Laurie Beechman, David Chaney, Jodi Benson, Yvette Cason, Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman, Lee Lobenhofer, Joe Gately, Coln Lockerbie, Pepper Sweeney); “I’m Gonna Fly” (Laurie Beechman, Company) Act Two: “Dangerous Music” (reprise) (Company); “Diane’s Letter” (Jon Ehrlich, Donna Murphy, Laurie Beechman); “I Love You” (Yvette Cason, Donna Murphy, Jodi Benson, Laurie Beechman); “I’m Getting Out” (Laurie Beechman, Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman); “Deal” (David Chaney, T. J. Meyers, Shaun Cassidy, John Ehrlich, Lee Lobenhofer); “Let’s Keep This Business” (David Chaney, Laurie Beechman);

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“Diane Did Better Than Us” (Jon Ehrlich, Donna Murphy, David Chaney); “Potato Chips” (Laurie Beechman, Jodi Benson, Donna Murphy, Yvette Cason); “I Don’t Know What to Tell Her” (Donna Murphy, Jon Ehrlich); “Come Home, Diane” (Jon Ehrlich); “We’re American” (Laurie Beechman, Yvette Cason); “Make It Work for You” (Yvette Cason with Jodi Benson, Anastasia R. Barzee, and Belinda Beeman); “You Lost It, Jerry” (David Chaney, T. J. Meyers, Men, Laurie Beechman); “So You Saw What Happened” (T. J. Meyers, Laurie Beechman, Shaun Cassidy, Jodi Benson, Yvette Cason, Men); “We Are the People” (Shaun Cassidy, Laurie Beechman, Jon Ehrlich, Lorraine Goodman, Lee Lobenhofer, Anastasia R. Barzee, Belinda Beeman, Trent Kendall); “I Am Your Obsession” (Shaun Cassidy with Laurie Beechman); “Get Rid of Her” (Shaun Cassidy, T. J. Meyers); “Girls Like Me” (Laurie Beechman, Jodi Benson, Donna Murphy); “First Interview” (Laurie Beechman, Lee Lobenhofer, Lorraine Goodman, Yvette Cason); “I’m Addicted to You” (Laurie Beechman, Jodi Benson, Donna Murphy); “Second Interview” (Laurie Beechman, Lee Lobenhofer, Lorriane Goodman, Yvette Cason); “I Don’t Want to Be Famous” (T. J. Meyers, Laurie Beechman); “Heartbreak” (Lee Lobenhofer, Laurie Beechman, T. J. Meyers, Song Cycle Singers); “Danger Danger” (Laurie Beechman, Song Cycle Singers); “White Girl” (Laurie Beechman, Song Cycle Singers); “You Can’t Hold Me Down” (Laurie Beechman, T. J. Meyers, Song Cycle Singers); “I’m My Father’s Daughter” (Laurie Beechman, Song Cycle Singers, Colin Lockerbie); “Heartbreak” (reprise) (Laurie Beechman, Song Cycle Singers, Shaun Cassidy); “White Girl” (reprise) (Laurie Beechman, Song Cycle Singers); “You Can’t Hold Me Down” (reprise) (Laurie Beechman, Song Cycle Singers); “I’m My Father’s Daughter” (reprise) (Laurie Beechman, Song Cycle Singers); “Hello, Mama” (Laurie Beechman, Company); “Do You Know Me?” (Shaun Cassidy, Laurie Beechman, Marietta Haley); “I Remember You” (Shaun Cassidy, Laurie Beechman); “My Star Player” (Shaun Cassidy, Laurie Beechman, David Chaney, Jon Ehrlich); “Here Is the Heart” (Laurie Beechman) The Broadway-bound Dangerous Music was composer Henry Krieger and librettist and lyricist Tom Eyen’s first collaboration after their hit Dreamgirls. The choreography was by Wayne Cilento, the décor by Robin Wagner, the costumes by William Ivey Long, the lighting by Tharon Musser, and the cast included Laurie Beechman, Jodi Benson, Shaun Cassidy, and Donna Murphy. The ambitious musical with its sung-through score and its raw subject matter never got out of Florida, but if the book had been pruned and clarified, the work might have had a chance on Broadway. Unfortunately, once the show closed after its initial engagement it completely disappeared. Like Krieger’s Dreamgirls and The Tap Dance Kid and his later Side Show, the musical focused in part on life in show business, and also had a touch of The Visit about it with elements of obsession and revenge. The plot dealt with Diane (Beechman) who falls in love with the carefree Turk (Cassidy), who rapes her and goes on to marry the town’s rich girl. After a stint in prison, Diane finds herself in the world of show business where she eventually becomes a rock star. But she always obsesses over Turk, and Zink in Variety reported that in the final scene the “tragic heroine” sings her final aria as she clutches Turk’s corpse. Zink reported the musical cost between $500,000 and $700,000 to produce and was presented in the style of the verismo school of opera. He liked the score, but felt the book was too “heavy-handed” with a “rich, overripe subplot” which used the fall of Detroit’s automobile industry as a symbol of “opportunism” and “rampant social and personal decay.” There was too much in the way of “wallpaper-chewing and breastbeating psychodrama” amid “a quicksand of plot complications.” But at its best, the work was “of a piece” with its “own identity” and in some respects had both the “visceral power” of Les Miserables and a “touch” of Grand Guignol a la Sweeney Todd.

NIMROD AND THE TOWER OF BABEL Nimrod and the Tower of Babel had been scheduled to open at the Neil Simon Theatre in January 1989 and would have been performed in repertory with Senator Joe, but apparently at the last minute the producers decided to cancel the production and instead presented Senator Joe by itself on a full-week performance schedule. As noted in the entry for Senator Joe, that musical played for just three preview performances before permanently closing. While Senator Joe played out its three performances, programs for that musical alone were given to the audience members. But a joint program had also been printed for both Senator and Nimrod, and so Nimrod may well be the only Broadway musical which didn’t give a single performance but which nonetheless

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boasted a Broadway program, a dubious distinction it shares with two Off-Broadway musicals. The 1983 Off-Broadway Bodo closed in rehearsals and never gave a performance at the Promenade Theatre, but the programs had been printed and delivered to the theatre just prior to the show’s cancelation. And the 1984 musical Once on a Summer’s Day played Off Off Broadway for two slightly separate engagements before announcing a regular Off-Broadway run at the Westside Arts Center/Cheryl Crawford Theatre beginning on March 1, 1985. Because of last-minute financing issues, the Westside production was canceled, but not before programs had been printed. Both Senator Joe and Nimrod were apparently sung through, and while the former listed song titles in its program, Nimrod did not and listed only the scenes depicted in the musical. The information below is taken from Nimrod’s Broadway program. Libretto: John Walker Music: Tom O’Horgan Direction: Tom O’Horgan; Producers: Adela Holzer and Chester Fox; Choreography: Wesley Fata; Scenery: Bill Stabile; Costumes: Randy Barcelo; Lighting: John McLain; Musical Direction: Gordon Lowry Harrell Cast: Ric Ryder (Nimrod), J. P. Dougherty (Roan), Cheryl Alexander (Zenrakan), Maggi-Meg Reed (Amitlai), Michael Leslie (Terah), Jeff Johnson (Gabriel), Tom Desrocher (Noah), Elena Ferrante (Noah’s Wife), Raymond Patterson (Abraham); Ensemble: Richard Coombs, Michele Fleisher, Kristen Gray, Mary Jo Limpert, Aaron Mendelson, Michael Rapposelli, Mary Robin Roth The musical was in two acts. Except for a prologue that takes place during the present time in the Middle East, the action takes place during the sixteenth century BC in Babylon and on the Shinear Plain. The program notes indicated the story of Nimrod, the fall of Babylon, the “confusing” of languages, the dispersion of Babylonians, and the coming of Abraham are “the epic mythological explanation for the schism between Arab and Jew and others in the Middle East.” Nimrod’s pride ultimately brought an end to Babylon, which “forever” divided “the peoples of the world, primarily and tragically those of the Middle East.”

SENATOR JOE The musical began previews at the Neil Simon Theatre on January 5, 1989, and permanently closed there on January 7, 1989, after three performances. Libretto: Perry Arthur Kroeger Music: Tom O’Horgan Direction: Tom O’Horgan; Producers: Adela Holzer and Chester Fox; Choreography: Wesley Fata; Scenery: Bill Stabile; Original Production Art: Marc Kehoe and Dan Gosch; Costumes: Randy Barcelo; Lighting: John McLain; Musical Direction: Gordon Lowry Harrell Cast: Jeff Johnson (Edward R. Morrow, Richard Nixon, Mao Tse Tung, Welch), Kristen Gray (Eggene Celeste, Mamie Eisenhower, Fatty Deposit, Snake), Michael Rapposelli (Alger Hiss, Drew Pearson, Dean Acheson, David Schine, Jackie Gleason), Tom Desrocher (Whittaker Chambers, Owen Lattimore, George Marshall, Julius Rosenberg, Ricky Ricardo), Michelle Fleisher (Applause Girl, Dorothy Kenyon, Ethel Rosenberg, Lucy Ricardo), Mary Robin Roth (Applause Girl, Jeanne Kerr), Cheryl Alexander (Lena Horne, Flower Girl # 2, Mrs. Voice of America), J. P. Dougherty (Joe McCarthy), Richard Coombs (Chicken, Attorney, Office Boy # 1, Enzyme, Lenin, Huck Finn, Ronald Reagan), Elena Ferrante (Bess Truman), Maggie-Meg Reed (Eleanor Roosevelt), Ric Ryder (Professor, Roy Cohn), Michael Leslie (Priest, Natasha, Major Domo), Mary Jo Limpert (Statue of Liberty, Flower Girl # 1), Aaron Mendelson (Harry Truman, Stalin, Voice of America Man, Bobby Kennedy, Secretary Stevens), Raymond Patterson (Office Boy # 2) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the early 1950s “in, about and around the minds of Joe McCarthy and those involved with him.”

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Musical Numbers Note: Although the program listed song titles, names of performers or their characters weren’t given. Act One: “The 50’s”; “Prelude”; “Cold War”; “Hysteria”; “Microfilm”; “Black and Blue”; “Where the War Left Us”; “Dirt between My Fingers”; “Three First Ladies”; “Communism”; “Almighty American”; “Dealing in Wheeling”; “Charisma”; “Rape of Liberty”; “The Weakest Point”; “The Briefcase”; “What He Needs I Got”; “Ism # 1”; “Take a Professor”; “Ism # 2”; “Jeannie”; “Was There Love”; “Joe’s Liver”; “Cocktail Party”; “Jungle of Lies”; “Personal President” Act Two: “What’s My Lie”; “The 50’s”; “The Wedding”; “Slow as the Moon”; “What’s Up for You”; “Book Burning”; “Mamie and Bess Bicker”; “I Knew a Man”; “Twenty Years of Treason”; “Have You No Shame”; “Time Heals All Wounds”; “See It Now”; “Pussyfootin’”; “Haunted Television”; “Boozin’ & Barfin’”; “The Telephone”; “The Army”; “Make Up”; “Ron and Bobby”; “The Hearings”; “Flashback”; “Aftermath”; “America”; “Jungle of Lies” After three preview performances, Senator Joe collapsed for good. The musical was a diatribe against Senator Joseph McCarthy (J. P. Dougherty), but the rather feverish program notes indicate that Roy Cohn (Ric Ryder) had as much stage time as McCarthy. We’re told that the work depicts a “cartoon world where anything can happen.” Thus “blacklist hysteria” sweeps across the United States, McCarthy “claws” his way into the U.S. Senate, his lawyer Roy Cohn with a “cirrhosis-ridden liver rapes the Statue of Liberty,” Cohn meets the handsome David Schine (Michael Rapposelli) and takes him on a “romantic” European trip, David is drafted, McCarthy is brought to trial because he tried to procure “special favors” for Cohn’s “special private,” and then everyone “deserts” McCarthy when “his evil becomes apparent to the world” and “he is left to bathe in the blood bath he created.” If all this weren’t enough, the cast of characters included Ronald Reagan and Bobby Kennedy years before they were political figures; Mao Tse Tung and Stalin were also portrayed; there were characters named Enzyme and Fatty Deposit; the titles of some of the musical numbers were “Joe’s Liver” (but shouldn’t that have been “Roy’s Liver”?), “Boozin’ & Barfin’”, and “Mamie and Bess Bicker”; and, most tantalizing, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo along with Jackie Gleason (shouldn’t that have been “Ralph Kramden”?) had their moments in the show. Variety reported that for its three Broadway performances the musical sold 11.7% of its seats and the total box-office take was $5,661. Theatre Week stated the show closed because of “financial problems” and that director and composer Tom O’Horgan reportedly “took off for Europe before it was even determined whether or not the show would resume.” The article further noted that “all this chaos was allowed to occur” because the show was deemed a non-Equity production due to its “‘operatic status.’” Despite its three performances on Broadway, the musical boasted two different program covers, including one that it shared with Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. It appears that originally both Senator Joe and Nimrod were to be performed together in repertory, but at the last minute this idea was shelved and Senator Joe took off by itself. One program is for both musicals, and the other is for Senator Joe. Both musicals were apparently sung through, and while the programs listed the song titles for Senator Joe, the program for Nimrod didn’t list song titles and instead provided a detailed list of the scenes depicted in the musical.

1989 Season

ELVIS: A ROCKIN’ REMEMBRANCE Theatre: Beacon Theatre Opening Date: June 6, 1989; Closing Date: June 30, 1989 Performances: 31 Text: Robert Rabinowitz Direction and Choreography: Patricia Birch (John Mineo, Assistant Director); Producers: Jules Fisher, Roger Hess, Magic Promotions, Inc., Pace Theatrical Group, Concert Productions International, Marvin A. Krauss, Act III Communications, Inc., Joseph Rascoff, Julian and Jean Aberbach, and Mark Levy in association with the estate of Elvis Presley (Madison Square Garden Enterprises); Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Costumes: Jeanne Button; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Terry Mike Jeffrey Cast: Terry Mike Jeffrey (Young Elvis), Johnny Seaton (Heyday Elvis), Julian Whitaker (Older Elvis); Lead Dancers: Dannul Dailey and Tinka Gutrick; Ensemble: Helena Andreyko, Darren Dollar, James Ellis, Collette Hill, Debbie Jeffrey, Leonard Joseph, Paul Mahos, Pat Moya, David Mullen, Kaye Pryor, Carol Denise Smith, Trish Vevera, Patrick Weathers The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Various Presley hits were performed (see below). The Elvis Presley tribute revue Elvis: A Rockin’ Remembrance opened in New York for a limited engagement as part of its national tour. Put together by some of the creators of the similar Beatlemania (1977), the evening showcased Presley’s songs, a number of Elvis impersonators, and film footage of the singer’s films. There was also a weak attempt to tell Presley’s life story with what Jon Pareles in the New York Times noted were “pompous” titles, one of which announced that “Elvis Finds His Fans and His Fans Find a New Rebel Hero and an Independent Life Style.” And the evening became “heavy-handed” when it juxtaposed the song “Blue Hawaii” with footage of 1960s political events such as riots, civil rights marches, and the Vietnam War. But Pareles said the production dazzled the eye with “visual hoopla” and was “fun to watch” even if it kept “the mind on hold.” The impersonators were “better than passable” and musical director Terry Mike Jeffrey came closest to sounding like Presley while cast member Johnny Seaton looked more like him. The show was “technically impressive and entertaining” and Presley fans were “bound to have a good time.” The production included a number of songs popularized by Presley, including “Hound Dog,” “Treat Me Nice,” and “Jailhouse Rock” (all with lyrics and music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller), “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (lyric and music by Charles Calhoun), “Teddy Bear” (lyric and music by Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann), “It’s Now or Never” (lyric and music by Wally Gold and Aaron Schroeder), “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” 401

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(lyric and music by Lou Handman and Roy Turk), “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (lyric and music by Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti, and George David Weiss), and “Blue Suede Shoes” (lyric and music by Carl Lee Perkins). Tribute revues and jukebox musicals which utilized songs popularized by Presley have amounted to a cottage industry. Prior to the current revue, Broadway had seen Elvis the Legend Lives, which opened at the Palace Theatre on January 31, 1978, for 101 performances and later at the Palace the jukebox musical All Shook Up opened on March 24, 2005, for 213 showings. Off Broadway saw Elvis Mania at the Off On Broadway Theatre on September 4, 1984, for eighteen performances (with Johnny Seaton, who also appeared in Elvis: A Rockin’ Remembrance), and London has endured Elvis (1977), Are You Lonesome Tonight? (1985), and Jailhouse Rock (2004); Canada has seen The Elvis Story (1997); and Germany has had at least three tributes, two titled Elvis opened in 1984 and in 1987 Elvis & John consisted of two one-act musicals (the latter was about John Lennon, another figure like Presley whose career has turned into a musical-theatre factory with a number of tributes either to him singly or with the Beatles).

THE MERRY WIDOW Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 8, 1989; Closing Date: August 1, 1989 Performances: 4 (in repertory) Book and Lyrics: Victor Leon and Leo Stein (English adaptation by Adrian Ross) Music: Franz Lehar Based on the 1861 play L’attache d’ambassade by Henri Meilhac. Direction: Robert Bentley (Cynthia Edwards, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company; Choreography: Sharon Halley; Scenery: Herbert Senn and Helen Pond; Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Ken Tabachnick; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Imre Pallo Cast: Richard McKee (Baron Popoff), Ruth Golden (Natalie), John Lankston (General Novikovich), Michael Willson (Counsellor Khadja), Robert Ferrier (Marquis de Cascada), Lisbeth Lloyd (Sylviane), Richard Byrne (Monsieur de St. Brioche), Joyce Campana (Olga), Paul Austin Kelly (Vicomte Camille de Jolidon), James Billings (Nisch), Richard Muenz (Count Danilo), Michele McBride (Sonia), Jonathan Guss (Head Waiter), Ivy Austin (Zozo), Joan Mirabella (Lolo), Esperanza Galan (Dodo), Candace Itow (Jou-Jou), Victoria Rinaldi (Frou-Frou), Stephanie Godino (Clo-Clo), Jean Barber (Margot); Members of Marsovian and Parisian Society, Dancers, Servants, and Waiters: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The operetta was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around Paris during the early 1900s. Allan Kozinn in the New York Times said the New York City Opera Company’s version of Franz Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow had “jettisoned the work’s stylistic soul” and turned it into “a hybrid of a Broadway musical and a sitcom.” Imre Pallo conducted, and his orchestra “rarely generated the sparkle and excitement one looks for in this frothy score”; as the title character, Michele McBride failed to “command” the stage and Richard Muenz (as Danilo) was a “good comic actor” but his voice wasn’t particularly suited to Lehar’s music. The production interpolated Lehar’s “Girls Were Made to Love and Kiss” from Paganini (1925). For more information about the operetta, see entry for City Opera’s 1982 revival. The company also revived the work in 1983, 1985, and 1988, and a production by the Vienna Volksoper was given in 1984 (see entries for these specific presentations).

CANDIDE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: July 18, 1989; Closing Date: September 10, 1989 Performances: 14 Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics: Richard Wilbur; additional lyrics by Leonard Bernstein, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim

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Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on the 1759 novel Candide; or, Optimism by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet). Direction: Harold Prince (Arthur Sherman, Stage Director); Producer: The New York City Opera Company; Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Clarke Dunham; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: Scott Bergeson Cast: (Note: For those roles that had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes who played the role on opening night.) John Lankston/Joseph McKee (Voltaire, Doctor Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, Second Gambler aka Police Chief, Sage), Mark Beubert/Robert Tate (Candide), Don Yule (Huntsman, Bulgarian Soldier, Don), Maris Clement (Paquette), Christine Meadows (Baroness), Richard McKee (Baron, Grand Inquistor, Slave Driver, Pasha-Prefect), Cyndia Sieden/Lisa Saffer (Cunegonde), James Javore/Richard Byrne (Maximilian), James Billings (Maximilian’s Servant, Bulgarian Soldier, Don Isaachar, Judge, Father Bernard, First Gambler), William Ledbetter (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Pirate), Jose Traba (Westphalian Soldier, Sailor), Christine Meadows (Calliope Player), Ralph Bassett (Heresy Agent, Don), Gary Dietrich (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Kirk Griffith (Inquisition Agent, Sailor), Muriel Costa-Greenspon/Brooks Almy (Old Lady), Daniel Albert (Don, Governor’s Aide, Sailor), William Ward (Don), Joey R. Smith (Don), John Henry Thomas (Pirate), Andrea Green (Pink Sheep), Karen Ziemba (Pink Sheep), Michael Willson (Lion); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action occurs during the eighteenth century in Westphalia, Lisbon, Cadiz, Buenos Aires, and sundry places throughout the world. The New York City Opera Company’s 1989 revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide was its fifth of seven; for more information about the operetta, see entry for the 1982 production (which also includes a list of musical numbers and a general history of the musical). For information about the 1983, 1984, and 1986 revivals, see specific entries. The work was also revived by the company in 2005 and 2008. Will Crutchfield in the New York Times mentioned that the work had undergone numerous revisions over the years, and he noted that while Bernstein’s score “sings, kicks and prances” with “vitality,” his music “could hardly have been inspired by the book now housing it.” The result was “a tacky, cartoonish, soulless show” with a “relentless flow of slapstick and one-liners.” As for the cast, Mark Beudert in the title role had a “strong tenor” but brought “little poetic naivete” to his character; Cyndia Sieden’s Cunegonde was “in secure command of the staccatos and high notes” but didn’t convey her character’s “changing moods”; and Muriel Costa-Greenspon reprised her “heavy-handed, rarely funny” Old Lady. In the same newspaper, Allan Kozinn reviewed the alternate cast, and said Lisa Saffer sang Cunegonde with “alluring agility” and despite her “scantly outlined character” managed to bring “dimension” to the role. As Candide, Robert Tate had a “light but strong and secure tenor” and “made a sympathetic case for the bumbling, naïve, vulnerable youth.”

MANDY PATINKIN IN CONCERT: DRESS CASUAL Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: July 25, 1989; Closing Date: September 16, 1989 Performances: 56 Producer: Ron Delsener; Lighting: Richard Nelson Cast: Mandy Patinkin, Paul Ford (Piano) The concert was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers Note: All songs performed by Mandy Patinkin. The program didn’t include a list of musical numbers, but the following alphabetical list is taken from newspaper reviews, which cited some of the songs heard in the production. “And the Band Played On” (lyric by John F. Palmer, music by Charles B. Ward); “Anyone Can Whistle” (Anyone Can Whistle, 1964; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (traditional

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lyric and music; popular version by Ella Fitzgerald and Al Feldman aka Van Alexander); “Buddy’s Blues” (aka “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues”) (Follies, 1971; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Coffee in a Cardboard Cup” (70, Girls, 70, 1971; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “DoodleDoo-Doo” (lyric and music by Art Kassel and Mel Stitzel); “Giants in the Sky” (Into the Woods, 1987; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim) ; “I’ll Be Seeing You” (Right This Way, 1938; lyric by Irving Kahal, music by Sammy Fain); “Marie” (lyric and music by Randy Newman); “Mr. Arthur’s Place” (lyric and music by Tom Bishop);“My Mammy” (lyric by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis, music by Walter Donaldson); “No More” (Into the Woods, 1987; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “No One Is Alone” (Into the Woods, 1987; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” (1945 film The Harvey Girls; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harry Warren); “Over the Rainbow” (1939 film The Wizard of Oz; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); Pal Joey Medley (1940; lyrics by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers): “Great Big Town” aka “Chicago”; “You Mustn’t Kick It Around”; “I Could Write a Book”; “Happy Hunting Horn”; “What Do I Care for a Dame?” aka “Pal Joey”; “Do It the Hard Way”; and “I’m Talking to My Pal” (the latter was cut during the pre-Broadway tryout of the musical); “Pennies from Heaven” (1936 film Pennies from Heaven; lyric by Johnny Burke, music by Arthur Johnston); “Soliloquy” (Carousel, 1945; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “Sonny Boy” (1928 film The Singing Fool; lyric by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva and Lew Brown, music by Ray Henderson); “Swanee” (Demi-Tasse Revue aka Capitol Revue, 1919; lyric by Irving Caesar, music by George Gershwin); “There’s a Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder” (1928 film The Singing Fool; lyric and music by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer); “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails” (1935 film Top Hat; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Tschaikowsky” (Lady in the Dark, 1941; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by Kurt Weill);“When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along)” (lyric and music by Harry M. Woods); “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim) Mandy Patinkin’s one-man concert (with pianist Paul Ford) played for seven weeks, and the critics were mostly enthusiastic. For Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News, the evening was “the most exciting time I’ve had in the theatre in ages,” and he was particularly pleased that the songs were performed without amplification. In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt also found the show “exciting,” and Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the concert was “terrific” and that Patinkin was not only “a unique force in the musical theatre” he was also “the greatest entertainer on Broadway today—period.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday praised Patinkin because “he sings the notes the composers wrote and respects the rhythms,” and she was happy his choice of material was “unpredictable, even willfully unfashionable, and usually inspired.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said Patinkin and Ford brought “fresh, interesting ideas to almost everything” they touched, and the evening was “audacious, often brilliant, but also a touch wacky” because the singer informed the audience he would start a song over if he felt he could sing it better, and so if a number started off “badly” he would stop and begin again. Probably most of Patinkin’s fans enjoyed his quirk of starting a song over, but it came across as arch and calculated shtick. In fact, Laurie Winer in the Wall Street Journal suggested the singer’s indulgences were a “flaw” that “may soon repel” audiences. Indeed, she noted that Forbidden Broadway mocked Patinkin with the number “Somewhat Over Indulgent” (set to the music of “Over the Rainbow”). Further, the singer tended to “go over the top” because he over-explained a song and thus came across as “alternately patronizing, forced or just plain goony.” He was often “brilliant” but at the same time he “invited ridicule” with his “intricate rationalizations and embarrassing emoting.” She concluded by suggesting Patinkin was “badly” in need of a director because his “instincts are too often wrong” and so “won’t someone out there save him from himself?” (And for at least one of his concert performances at the Kennedy Center a few years later, Patinkin stopped the concert and began discussing a national political issue. Whether one agreed or disagreed with him was beside the point; this was a concert, and audience members had bought their tickets to hear him sing, not to hear him talk about his personal angst over a social matter.) The concert had previously been presented as Mandy Patinkin: Dress Casual on February 27, 1989, at the Public Theatre for six performances. Mandy Patinkin: Dress Casual was recorded by CBS Records (CD # MK-4599). Patinkin returned to Broadway for three more concerts: Mandy Patinkin in Concert (Lyceum Theatre, March 1, 1997, fifteen performances); Mandy Patinkin in Concert: “Mamaloshen” (Belasco Theatre, October 13, 1998, twenty-eight performances); and An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin (Ethel Barry-

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more Theatre, November 21, 2011, fifty-seven performances). As of this writing, he has created roles in four Broadway musicals: Evita (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), The Secret Garden (1991), and The Wild Party (2000).

SHENANDOAH Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: August 8, 1989; Closing Date: September 2, 1989 Performances: 31 Book: James Lee Barrett, Peter Udell, and Philip Rose Lyrics: Peter Udell Music: Gary Geld Based on the 1965 film Shenandoah (screenplay by James Lee Barrett and direction by Andrew V. McLaglen). Direction: Philip Rose; Producers: Howard Hurst, Sophie Hurst, and Peter Ingster; Choreography: Robert Tucker; Scenery: Adapted by Reginald Bronskill from the original scenic designs by Kert Lundell; Costumes: Guy Geoly; Lighting: Stephen Ross; Musical Direction: David Warrack Cast: John Cullum (Charlie Anderson), Burke Lawrence (Jacob), Christopher Martin (James), Nigel Hamer (Nathan), Stephen McIntyre (John), Tracey Moore (Jenny), Robin Blake (Henry), Jason Zimbler (Robert aka The Boy), Camilla Scott (Anne), Roy McKay (Gabriel), Donald Saunders (Reverend Byrd, Engineer), Thomas Cavanagh (Sam), Jim Selman (Sergeant Johnson), Caper Roos (Lieutenant), Richard Liss (Tinkham), Jim Bearden (Carol), Stephen Simms (Corporal), Sam Mancuso (Marauder), David Connolly (Confederate Sniper), Gerhard Kruschke (Confederate Sniper); Ensemble: Henry Alessan, Jim Bearden, Mark Bernkoff, David Connolly, Leslie Corne, Mark Ferguson, Brian Gow, Jennifer Griffin, Gerhard Kruschke, Richard Liss, Robert Longo, Sam Mancuso, Casper Roos, Fernando Santos, Jim Selman, Stephen Simms The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia during the period of the Civil War.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Raise the Flag of Dixie” (Confederate and Union Soldiers); “I’ve Heard It All Before” (John Cullum); “Pass the Cross to Me” (The Congregation); “Why Am I Me?” (Jason Zimbler, Roy McKay); “Next to Lovin’ (I Like Fightin’)” (Burke Lawrence, Christopher Martin, Nigel Hamer, Stephen McIntyre, Robin Blake); “Over the Hill” (Tracey Moore); “The Pickers Are Coming” (John Cullum); “Next to Lovin’ (I Like Fightin’)” (reprise) (Burke Lawrence, Christopher Martin, Nigel Hamer, Stephen McIntyre, Robin Blake, Tracey Moore); “Meditation” (I) (John Cullum); “We Make a Beautiful Pair” (Camilla Scott, Tracey Moore); “Violets and Silverbells” (Tracey Moore, Thomas Cavanaugh); “It’s a Boy” (John Cullum) Act Two: “Freedom” (Camilla Scott, with Roy McKay); “Violets and Silverbells” (reprise) (Christopher Martin, Camilla Scott); “Papa’s Gonna Make It Alright” (John Cullum); “The Only Home I Know” (Stephen Simms, Soldiers); “Papa’s Gonna Make It Alright” (reprise) (Tracey Moore); “Meditation” (II) (John Cullum); “Pass the Cross to Me” (reprise) (The Congregation) The revival of Shenandoah had originated at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the move to Broadway was a miscalculation that lasted just one month. The run of the original 1975 Broadway version chalked up more than 1,000 performances and won a Tony Award for John Cullum, who here reprised his role of Charlie Anderson (the musical also won the Tony for Best Book). But the original production barely turned a profit, and while it was a pleasant enough evening in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition it was clearly not a show that would ever achieve cult status and generate the kind of interest to make theatergoers clamor for a revival. The musical lacked a popular song to identify it with the public, and there hadn’t been a film version to keep the show alive, and so with tepid reviews the revival quickly disappeared. As the years have passed, Shenandoah now seems more and more unlikely to ever receive another Broadway production or to be a candidate for an Encores! concert presentation. Despite its Civil War setting, it was a show of its era: it came

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along during a time when there were few mainstream Broadway musicals aimed at the family trade, it was just trendy enough in its anti-war sentiments to relate to a public weary of the nation’s seemingly endless conflict in Southeast Asia, and at the same time it was a safe and traditional book musical with a paint-bythe-numbers structure. The pleasant but unsurprising score rang familiar bells: Charlie had a number of stalwart soliloquies (two “Meditation” sequences as well as “I’ve Heard It All Before”) and a Billy Bigelow-like moment in “It’s a Boy”; his sons enjoyed a number that would have been right at home in the 1954 film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (“Next to Lovin’[I Like Fightin’]”); two songs touched upon freedom for blacks (“Why Am I Me?” and “Freedom”); one song was a tinkly if bland wedding ballad (“Violets and Silverbells”); and there was a lullaby (“Papa’s Gonna Make It Alright”), a religious hymn (“Pass the Cross to Me”), and a would-be humorous number (“Over the Hill”) which Ado Annie in Oklahoma! or Daisy in Bloomer Girl might have eagerly snatched up for their repertoire. Moreover, during the first half of the 1970s, the Broadway musical had been in a downward spiral and had offered little in the way of popular, old-fashioned shows. Until The Wiz and Shenandoah opened two days apart in January 1975, the first half of the decade had offered only three full-fledged musicals in regular Broadway houses that qualified as genuine crowd-pleasers and enjoyed runs of more than 1,000 performances (Grease, Pippin, and The Magic Show). So despite less than stellar reviews, The Wiz and Shenandoah came along at the right time, had long runs, and won many major awards. But, tellingly, both did poorly when they were revived in the 1980s (the 1984 revival of The Wiz [see entry] lasted just 13 performances). Shenandoah centered on widower Charlie Anderson (Cullum), who lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and runs his farm with the help of his sons, five of whom are adults and one still a little boy. The country is enmeshed in the Civil War, but Charlie is a pacifist if not an isolationist who is determined to remain neutral. But the war soon comes to Charlie and his family: his young son Robert (Jason Zimbler) is kidnapped by Union soldiers; his son James (Christopher Martin) and daughter-in-law Anne (Camilla Scott) are killed by marauders; and Nathan (Nigel Hamer) is killed by a Yankee sniper. In retaliation for the latter, Charlie kills the sniper by shooting him over and over again. Although the musical was clearly on the era’s antiwar bandwagon, the final scenes seemed to reverse Charlie’s message that only undertakers win wars. Charlie soon begins to spout cracker-barrel wisdom about how some dreams are worth dying for and if some men have to die then others have to do the killing. (Or something like that.) It was all rather confusing and contradictory, as if the musical’s antiwar message also acknowledged that war and killing are sometimes necessary. The critics were cool to the revival, and as a result the production was gone in a month. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted it was a “well-constructed” show, but it lacked “the dramatic urgency of a serious musical play”; further, there was “no strong sense of family or community” and most of Charlie’s clan had “little more substance than the tacky painted scenery through which they move.” But Cullum gave a “detailed” and “vocally forceful” performance. Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the score “essentially dull” and the book “clumsily constructed and packaged,” but praised Cullum’s “sterling” performance; Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News said the evening was “still laden with enough cliché-ridden sentimentality to make drowning in a vat of molasses seem a desirable alternative”; Linda Winer in New York Newsday said Cullum was “superb” but most of the cast was only “competent and occasionally better” and the décor was “road-show cheapo with cardboard trees and rural vistas painted on cloth”; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor liked Cullum’s “resonant” interpretation and noted that the actor responded “to the show’s wide range of demands.” The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1975 (and includes stanzas from “Raise the Flag of Dixie” with the notation that they “have been removed from the original Broadway production” and that the copyright owners recommend the stanzas “also be cut from regional productions”). The original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # ARL11019) and was later issued on CD (# 3763).

THE DESERT SONG Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: August 29, 1989; Closing Date: September 3, 1989 Performances: 7

1989 SEASON     407

Book: Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Frank Mandel; new book adaptation by Robert Johanson Lyrics: Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II; some lyrics revised by Robert Johanson Music: Sigmund Romberg Direction and Choreography: Robert Johanson (Sharon Halley, Co-Choreographer); Producer: The New York City Opera Company; Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Suzanne Mess; Lighting: Mark W. Stanley; Choral Direction: Joseph Colaneri; Musical Direction: James Allen Gahres Cast: (Note: For those roles that had alternating performers, the first name listed denotes who played the role on opening night.) Michael Rees Davis/Michael Cousins (Sid El Kar), Erick Devine (Hassi), William Ledbetter (Hadji), Joyce Campana (Neri, Clementina), Philip William McKinley (Benjamin Kidd), Louise Hickey (Azuri), Mark Delavan/Louis Otey (Captain Paul Fontaine), David Frye (Sergeant La Vergne), Lillian Graff (Susan), Paula Hostetter (Edith), Jane Thorngren/Michele McBride (Margot Bonvalet), Ron Parady (General Birabeau), William Parcher/Richard White (Pierre Birabeau aka The Red Shadow), Raymond Bazemore (Ali Ben Ali); French Girls, Spanish Cabaret Girls, Wives, Native Dancers, Servants, and Soldiers: The New York City Opera Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1930s in Morocco.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual song titles. The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Sigmund Romberg’s 1926 operetta The Desert Song had first been presented in 1987 (for more information about that revival and for general information about the operetta, see entry). The current production was the company’s second and final presentation of the work. Given that one aspect of the plot is that the heroine Margot wants a “rough and ready” man to dominate her, Will Crutchfield in the New York Times reported that when one character notes that “every woman is a slave and must have her master” there were “only a couple of faint hisses” from the audience. But when Margot is actually carried off by the mysterious and romantic Red Shadow, “the crowd went fairly wild with enthusiasm.” As for Jane Thorngren’s Margot, Crutchfield said she was “handsome” but “unintelligible” and didn’t “have much to offer where most of the melodies lay.” And the critic noted that The Red Shadow’s “magnetism” was “ill represented” by William Parcher’s “gruff, unseductive singing.” In reviewing the alternate cast for the same newspaper. Bernard Holland found the soprano of Michele McBride’s Margot “strong if overly busy with vibrato” while Richard White (The Red Shadow) and Louis Otey (Captain Fontaine) sang with “robust assertiveness, clearly but not with much subtlety.”

SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET Theatre: Circle in the Square Opening Date: September 14, 1989; Closing Date: February 25, 1990 Performances: 189 Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond. Direction: Susan H. Schulman; Producer: Circle in the Square Theatre (Theodore Mann, Artistic Director; Paul Libin, Producing Director); Choreography: Michael Lichtefeld; Scenery: James Morgan; Costumes: Beba Shamash; Lighting: Mary Jo Dondlinger; Musical Direction: David Krane Cast: Tony Gilbert (Jonas Fogg), David E. Mallard (Policeman), Ted Keegan (Bird Seller), Sylvia Rhyne (Dora), Mary Philips (Mrs. Mooney), Jim Walton (Anthony Hope), Bob Gunton (Sweeney Todd), SuEllen Estey (Beggar Woman), Beth Fowler (Mrs. Lovett), David Barron (Judge Turpin), Michael McCarty (The Beadle), Gretchen Kingsley (Johanna), Eddie Korbich (Tobias Ragg), Bill Nabel (Pirelli) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London during the nineteenth century.

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The intimate revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street had a slightly revised text (here, we actually meet that elusive Mrs. Mooney) and score (“The Barber and His Wife” and “Quartet” were omitted, but Judge Turpin’s version of “Johanna,” which had been cut during the Broadway preview period of the original 1979 production, was reinstated). The original also emphasized, either in design or staging, the Industrial Revolution and the distinctions among the British classes, but the current one instead focused on the story itself and brushed away some of the pretentious social commentary of the Broadway version. The revival also had a small cast of fourteen (as opposed to twenty-seven in the original) and two musicians in place of the twenty-six-member orchestra for Broadway. As a result, some wags referred to the revival as Teeny Todd. This production, which received favorable notices and ran well over five months, had originally been presented Off Off Broadway by the York Theatre Company at the Church of the Heavenly Rest on March 31, 1989, for twenty-four performances. Bob Gunton and Beth Fowler played the respective roles of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett for both the York and Circle in the Square presentations. Incidentally, the Circle is located on the lower level of the building that houses the Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre where the original Sweeney Todd premiered. Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that director Susan H. Schulman had created an “alternative” Sweeney Todd that eliminated the massive set and most of the chorus and orchestra as well as the musical’s “politics” and its Brechtian alienation and staging effects. As a result, the intimate production on the Circle’s thrust stage brought the audience closer to the action, and rather than depicting Todd and Mrs. Lovett as victims haunted by “the remote demons of Dickensian London,” the two are now imprisoned by their own “internal demons.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday said the revival was “a fast, raging, beautifully bittersweet and deliciously junky Grand Guignol” that made effective use of the theatre’s “long and notoriously problematic stage.” She noted that the original Broadway production had somewhat overwhelmed the story “with grander statements on the class struggle and the Industrial Revolution,” and City Opera’s version was “klutzy” and “overblown.” But the current revival was “just right.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal indicated Gunton’s Todd was no longer “demented” but was instead “a somber man suffering from injustice” who “gradually grows into an obsessive avenger,” and Fowler’s Mrs. Lovett wasn’t a “hard-edged jocular” type but more in the nature of a “good-humored woman who is genuinely in love” with Todd. William A. Henry III in Time said Gunton “believably underscores the improvisatory quality” of Todd’s first murders and turns the character from “a monster to a man who howls piteously over the body of his beloved wife,” and Fowler “enriched” Mrs. Lovett “with a lifelong ardor for Sweeney and a pixilated fondness for romantic fantasy.” For more information about the musical, including a list of musical numbers, see entry for the New York City Opera Company’s 1984 production.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival (Sweeney Todd); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Bob Gunton); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Beth Fowler); Best Director of a Musical (Susan H. Schulman)

DANGEROUS GAMES

(Two one-act dance musicals, Tango and Orfeo) Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: October 19, 1989; Closing Date: October 21, 1989 Performances: 4 Book: Jim Lewis and Graciela Daniele Lyrics: William Finn Music: Astor Piazzolla Direction and Choreography: Graciela Daniele (Tina Paul, Co-Choreographer) (B. H. Barry, Fight Direction for Tango; Luis Perez, Fight Direction for Orfeo); Producers: Jules Fisher, James M. Nederlander, and Arthur Rubin in association with Mary Kantor; Scenery: Tony Straiges; Costumes: Patricia Zipprodt; Lighting: Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: James Kowal

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Cast: For Tango—Dana Moore (Delia), Philip Jerry (Felipe), Richard Amaro (Ricardo), Ken Ard (Carlos), Rene Ceballos (Renata), Diana Laurenson (Diana), Malinda Shaffer (Maria), Adrienne Hurd-Sharlein (Adriana), John Mineo (Juan), Gregory Mitchell (Gregorio), Luis Perez (Gregorio for Wednesday and Saturday matinees), Tina Paul (Cristina), Elizabeth Mozer (Cristina for Wednesday and Saturday matinees) For Orfeo—Gregory Mitchell (Orfeo), Luis Perez (Orfeo for Wednesday and Saturday matinees), Rene Ceballos (Dicha), Danyelle Weaver (Aurora), Ken Ard (Pluton), Tina Paul (Nora, Lascivia), Elizabeth Mozer (Nora and Lascivia for Wednesday and Saturday matinees), John Mineo (Antares, Altivo), Dana Moore (Mira, Codicia), Malanda Shaffer (Lyrae, LaGula), Diana Laurenson (Cleo, Envidia), Marc Villa (Alberio, Ira), Adrienne Hurd-Sharlein (Ursula, Malicia), Philip Jerry (Leon, Metira), Richard Amaro (Arturo, Charon, Perez), Adrian Brito (Bambo Player) The Quintet: Rodolfo Alchourron (Guitar), Jorge Alfano (Bass, Bamboo Flute), Miguel Arrabal (Bandoneon), Jon Kass (Violin), James Kowal (Piano, Conductor), Rene Ceballos (Offstage Vocals) The evening of two dance musicals was presented in two acts. The action of Tango takes place in the present time in Argentina. The action of Orfeo takes place during the 1970s in Argentina.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual musical sequences. Director and choreographer Graciela Daniele’s two-part dance-musical-with-songs Dangerous Games (which consisted of Tango and Orfeo) received some of the worst notices of the decade, and at four performances tied with The Prince of Central Park as the shortest-running musical of the season. Tango was set in a sleazy brothel in Argentina in which rough sex is the order of the day, and it focused on “the new whore” Cristina (Tina Paul) and her encounters with two tough brothers, Juan (John Mineo) and Gregorio (Gregory Mitchell). The program notes indicated Orfeo was dedicated to the desaparecidos (literally, “the ones who have disappeared”) who were arrested by Argentina’s military dictatorship and were never heard from again. Orfeo borrowed the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to tell its story, but the Orpheus/Orfeo connection wasn’t always clear, and for that matter the connection between the two musicals was hazy (unless Argentine-born Daniele’s message was that life in Argentina was hell, both in and out of the brothels). Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “spurious theatrics were awful” and the “gratuitous violence ran close to pornography,” but the dancers did their best “to raise this grisly corpse of an evening into some semblance of life.” Apart from “the rapes, the whippings and the fights” the choreography was “the key” to the work with its use of Argentine dance forms. But the tangos were “hammered home with showy gestures and clumsy mock macho melodramatics.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News noted that Daniele’s “imagination seldom goes beyond the adolescent in her depiction of the earthiness and sensuality of the brothel or the repressiveness of the generals.” As a result, the entire forty-minute Tango offered enough “dazzling steps” for perhaps a seven-minute dance sequence and the story and choreography for Orfeo were “sick.” In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt mentioned that Daniele “tried so hard to dazzle us with scenes of fornication, rape and suggestions of Argentinian military brutality” that “the exaggerated behavior seemed merely laughable when it wasn’t downright boring.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday suggested Broadway had perhaps witnessed “uglier, clumsier, and more repugnant shows,” but for “the bad-taste theatrical sweepstakes” Dangerous Games was “a worldclass contender.” The evening celebrated “violent sex and torture under the guise of criticizing them” and the “twisted” show was “more muddled and inept than scary or controversial.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said it was the “inalienable right” of theatre people “to make a spectacle of themselves,” but in the case of Dangerous Games “the poor audience” also had the right “to enjoy a few laughs in the face of such disaster.” This “musical misfire” only offered “stern sermonettes” on sexual politics and state terrorism, and while Daniele’s previous musicals had “been neither dominated nor distinguished by their choreography,” she now exposed “the limits of her own talent by stretching it over too much time and space.” He concluded by commenting on a late second-act song titled “The Joys of Torture,” and said the “humor” of such a number was “especially lost on the audience at Dangerous Games.”

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Watt said Piazzola’s music was “pretty,” but Winer found it “unmelodic and meandering,” Barnes said the tangos all sounded alike, Kissel complained that the score “imitates the style of tango but lacks the sensuous power of the real thing,” and Rich noted the music could never escape its essential “sameness.” Rich commented that William Finn’s lyrics were written “in a ham-fisted pseudo-Brecht manner”; Kissel said the lyrics were “ridiculous,” sometimes “dumb,” and “never appealing or skillful”; Barnes said Finn was “a bathetic specialist in junk, monosyllabic rhymes”; and Winer stated that if the dialogue was “idiotic,” then Finn’s lyrics were “even worse, if possible.” Dangerous Games had originally been produced by the American Music Theatre Festival in Philadelphia, the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, and at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, and was later seen at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco where it was subtitled “Two Tango Pieces.” An early version of Tango had been produced Off Off Broadway as Tango Apasionado at the INTAR Theatre on October 28, 1987, for fiftysix performances.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Choreographer (Graciela Daniele and Tina Paul)

TAKARAZUKA

“Japan’s Most Lavish Musical Extravaganza” Theatre: Radio City Music Hall Opening Date: October 25, 1989; Closing Date: October 29, 1989 Performances: 6 Lyrics and Music: See song listing for specific credits. Artistic Directors: Shinji Ueda and Hirotoshi Ohara; Assistant Directors: Masazumi Tani and Masaya Ishida; Producers: A Mitsubishi Special Event; Kohei Kobayashi, Producer, and Haruhiko, President; Radio City Musical Hall Productions; Choreography: Yoshijiro Hanayagi, Mayumi Nishizaki, Eiken Fujima, Hagi Hanayagi, Kiyomi Hayama, Taku Yamada, Roger Minami; Scenery: Hideo Ishihama and Toshiaki Sekiya; Costumes: Harumi Tokoro, Kikue Nakagawa, and Ikuei Touda; Lighting: Naoji Imai (Ken Billington, Lighting Supervisor); Musical Direction: Kazuakira Hashimoto Cast: Yuri Matsumoto, Junko Takara, Akira Ban, Mizuki Oura, Kae Segawa, Mito Hibiki, Yu Shion, Ai Kodama, Mira Anju, Yuki Amami, Yu Asuka, Yo Natsumi, Miya Aoi, Manami Kozue, Yuka Shima, Nachi Mineoka, Kanade Nazuki, Hikaru Senju, Mitsuru Aiko, Aya Maiki, Mayu Omine, Michiru Namine, Naoki Ema, Chitose Kagami, Chie Kinami, Risa Wakao, Ayu Mitsuki, Natsuki Yuma, Fubuki Takane, Rio Hanabusa, Katsura Godai, Nari Asaoka, Ai Otohara, Ginka Itsuki, Yuka Shino, Yuzumi Mari, Mami Natsuki, Hajime Wako, Reo Kazami, Maika Tomo, Ko Minoru, Ayano Ogishiro, Yoko Hana, Shun Tasai, Yura Natsukawa, Mire Aika, Chikoto Yumeno, Mitsuki Mario, Satomi Akino, Tatsuki Koju, Konomi Akane, Yuki Maori, Aki Itsumine, Serika Moemi, Kei Miyabi, Shoko Kirihara, Jun Shibuki, Akari Michi, Rei Natsushiro, Hibiki Takumi, Mai Gojo The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: Takarazuka Dance Festival—“Prologue” and “Takarazuka March” (lyrics by Ken Kumon, music by Takio Terada) (choreography by Eiken Fujima) (Mizuki Oura, Yuri Matsumoto, Company); “Snow, Moon, and Flower” (lyric by Shinji Ueda, music by Takio Terada) (choreography by Yoshijiro Hanayagi) (Yu Shion, Mito Hibiki, Ai Kodama, Rei Natsushiro, Company); “Icy Moon” (lyric by Shinji Ueda, music by Takio Terada) (choreography by Yoshijiro Hanayagi) (Mizuki Oura, Mito Hibiki, Ai Kodama, Akira Ban, Company); “Swirling Snow” (lyric by Shinji Ueda, music by Takio Terada) (choreography by Hagi Hanayagi) (Ayu Mitsuki, Yuri Matsumoto, Company); “The Cherry Flower” (music by Toshiko Yonekawa and Takio Terada) (choreography by Mayumi Nishizaka) (Manami Kozue, Company)

1989 SEASON     411

Act Two: Takarazuka Forever/A Grand Revue—(A) “Prologue” (choreography by Roger Minami): (1) “Takarazuka Forever” (lyric by Hirotoshi Ohara, music by Kenji Yoshizaki) (Ai Kodama, Company; Dance: Mizuki Oura, Company) and (2) “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” (Ziegfeld Follies of 1919; lyric and music by Irving Berlin) (Mizuki Oura, Yuki Amami, Company); (B) “Flower Fantasy” (choreography by Taku Yamada): (1) “I’ll String Along with You” (1934 film Twenty Million Sweethearts; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren) (Yu Shion, Manami Kozue, Company) and (2) “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1934 film Dames; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren) (Ai Kodama, Akira Ban, Kae Segawa, Mira Anju, Mito Hibiki, Yuka Shima, Yuka Shino); (C) “Arabian Dream” (choreography by Kiyomi Hayama): (1)“Too Close for Comfort” (Mr. Wonderful, 1956; lyric and music by Larry Holofcer, Jerry Bock, and George David Weiss) (Junko Takara, Yuki Amami, Company)” and (2) “Polovtsian Dance” (Prince Igor, 1890; music by Alexander Borodin) (Mizuki Oura, Ai Kodama, Company); (D) “Keep Young and Beautiful” (choreography by Taku Yamada): (1) “American Beauty Rose” (music by Read Evans, Hal David, and Arthur Altman) (Yu Shion, Company); (2) “Keep Young and Beautiful” (1933 film Roman Scandals; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren) (Mito Hibiki, Company); (3) “You Stepped Out of a Dream” (1941 film Ziegfeld Girl; lyric by Gus Kahn, music by Nacio Herb Brown) (Mizuki Oura, Company); and (4) “The Lady Is a Tramp” (Babes in Arms, 1937; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers) (Mizuki Oura, Mito Hibiki, Company); (E) “Piano Fantasy”: (1) “Play a Simple Melody” (aka “Simple Melody”) (Watch Your Step, 1914; lyric and music by Irving Berlin) (choreography by Kiyomi Hayama) (Yu Shion); (2) “Shaking the Blues Away” (Ziegfeld Follies of 1927; lyric and music by Irving Berlin) (choreography by Roger Minami) (Mizuki Oura, Company); and (3) “Rhapsody in Blue” (music by George Gershwin) (choreography by Roger Minami) (Mizuki Oura, Mito Hibiki, Kae Segawa, Mira Anju, Company); and (F) “Finale” (choreography by Kiyomi Hayama): (1) “The Words Are in My Heart) (1935 film Gold Diggers of 1935; lyric by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren) (Nachi Mineoka, Company); (2) “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” (1951 film Here Comes the Groom; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Hoagy Carmichael) (Yu Shion, Mito Hibiki, Company); (3) “Something’s Gotta Give” (1955 film Daddy Long Legs; lyric and music by Johnny Mercer) (Mizuki Oura, Kae Segawa, Mira Anju, Natsuki Yuma, Yuki Amami); and (4) “Takarazuka Forever” (reprise) (Mizuki Oura, Mito Hibiki, Ai Kodama, Yu Shion, Nachi Mineoka, Company) Japan’s all-female revue troupe Takarazuka played a limited engagement of six performances at Radio City Music Hall. The first half of the evening was comprised of Japanese songs and dances, and the second was a salute to Broadway and Hollywood. Stephen Holden in the New York Times said the overall production was “an odd, sometimes monotonous cross-cultural hybrid,” and the first act was “slow-moving.” But the evening’s glitz was “Japan’s answer to the Ziegfeld Follies, the Folies-Bergère, Las Vegas floor shows, and the Music Hall’s own spectaculars all rolled into one glittering unwieldy package.” Those who enjoyed “gaudy camp fun and cross dressing” would enjoy the production, and the “most amusing” sequence was “Flower Fantasy” in which the cast members were gowned as “garish Southern belles” and “created an expressionistic parody of the picnic scene from Gone with the Wind.” The Takarazuka Revue Company was founded in 1913, and gave its first presentation the following year. The repertoire consists of revues and book musicals based on Japanese works as well as productions of American musicals, including the company’s own new musical versions of American novels (such as East of Eden and The Great Gatsby). The company’s selections of American musicals are generally safe and popular titles, but some are surprisingly esoteric. Among the productions available on DVD are Oklahoma! (Broadway, 1943), Kean (Broadway, 1961), and Singin’ in the Rain (Broadway, 1985), and the CDs of such musicals as Ernest in Love (Off Broadway, 1960) and Grand Hotel (Broadway, 1989) were issued.

SID CAESAR & COMPANY: DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT? Theatre: John Golden Theatre Opening Date: November 1, 1989; Closing Date: November 5, 1989 Performances: 5 Sketches: Mostly uncredited (“The Penny Candy Gum Machine” by Sid Caesar)

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Original Songs: Lyrics and music by Martin Charnin Direction: Martin Charnin; Producers: Ivan Bloch and Harold Thau in association with Larry Spellman (J. Scott Broder, Sonny Bloch, and Robert Courson, Associate Producers); Scenery and Lighting: Neil Peter Jampolis; Costumes: Karen Roston; Musical Direction: Elliot Finkel Cast: Sid Caesar, Lee Delano, Erick Devine, Lubitza Gregus, Linda Hart, Carolyn Michel, Peter Shawn, Laura Turnbull The revue was presented in two acts.

Sketches and Musical Numbers Act One: “Sleep” (Sid Caesar); “A Boy at His First Dance” (Sid Caesar); “A Man Walking Down the Aisle” (Sid Caesar); “Zero Hour” (Sid Caesar); “A Man with His Wife Arguing to the First Movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony” (Sid Caesar, Laura Turnbull); “The Last Angry Bull” (Sid Caesar, Company); “At the Movies” (Sid Caesar, Linda Hart, Lee Delano, Peter Shawn) Act Two: “We Aren’t Fooling Anyone” (Company); “The World through the Eyes of a Baby” (Sid Caesar); “The Penny Candy Gum Machine” (Sid Caesar); “The Grieg Piano Concerto” (Sid Caesar); “The Professor” (Sid Caesar, Lee Delano); “Make a New Now, Now!” (Sid Caesar, Company) An early version of Sid Caesar’s revue had opened Off Broadway earlier in the year on June 22, 1989, at The Village Gate Downstairs for seventy-two performances. The production was then titled Sid Caesar & Company: The Legendary Genius of Comedy, and for Broadway it underwent extensive revisions (including the addition of director Martin Charnin and two and possibly three songs written by him, none of which were identified in the program as songs [but one was “Make a New Now, Now!” and probably “We Aren’t Fooling Anyone” was another]). The evening included sketches Caesar had performed on his popular and now legendary 1950s television program Your Show of Shows, including a Marcel Marceau-like moment in which he gave his interpretation of the rise and fall of a penny candy gum machine which is converted to a slot machine in Las Vegas and then to a towel dispenser in a men’s washroom; a scene with a Spanish matador (who according to Frank Rich in the New York Times comes across “like a put-upon waiter at the Carnegie Deli”); a sketch (“At the Movies”) in which a hapless moviegoer finds himself enmeshed in a marital brawl by two audience members; and a mimed sequence in which Caesar and Laura Turnbull argue to the accompaniment of the First Movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Rich found Caesar “so fit and ready to amuse” that he could easily reprise all his seven roles from his 1962 Broadway musical Little Me. But the comic legend’s show was “so misconceived that it turns the guest of honor into a beggar at his own feast” because Charnin “underminded” many of the skits by letting them run on too long and denying one or two punch lines. He also noted that Charnin’s song “Make a New Now, Now!” went on so long that he became worried that “’Now’ will never turn into ‘Then.’” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the revue’s “Charninization” was not to its advantage and it should have been Charnin’s job “to give Caesar a better showcase.” Further, Charnin’s songs were “cutesy” and one about sweeping a messy stage was “especially puerile.” But Caesar was a “consummate” performer and a “clowning genius.” Leo Seligsohn in New York Newsday said when the evening was “good, it’s very, very good” and it should have been a one-man show instead of a revue because the “lackluster” musical numbers were “irrelevant” to the show’s theme and weren’t “good enough to stand on their own.” Although Don Nelsen in the New York Daily News found the show “disappointing,” he said it was better than its downtown version, and he liked Charnin’s “salutary” direction, which dropped the “irrelevant” music from the first production and replaced it with songs of his own. And while he complained that some of the material was either dated or “cutesy” and the comedian overdid his gestures, Caesar was nonetheless “capable of projecting great understanding of the human condition” and his penny gum machine skit was given with “superb timing, facial accents and no syrupy sentimentality whatsoever.” The Off-Broadway version had included Marilyn Sokol and Gerianne Raphael in the cast, and the latter sang “(The) A Wicked Man,” which she had introduced in the 1960 Off-Broadway musical Ernest in Love. The evening also included a medley of songs from Little Me (including “Farewell” aka “Goodbye” and “The Prince’s Farewell”) as well as a medley of songs by George Gershwin.

1989 SEASON     413

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS

“The New Musical” / “The New Broadway Musical”/ “The Stunning New Broadway Musical” Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: November 2, 1989; Closing Date: June 10, 1990 Performances: 253 Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics and Music: Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane Based on the 1942 short story collection Meet Me in St. Louis by Sally Benson (which included a number of stories that had first appeared in the New Yorker during 1941 and 1942) and the 1944 MGM film Meet Me in St. Louis (screenplay by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoff and direction by Vincente Minnelli). Direction: Louis Burke (Lonnie Chase, Assistant Director); Producers: Brickhill-Burke Productions, Christopher Seabrooke, and EPI Products (Loren Krok, P. K. Sloman, and L. Everett Chase, Associate Producers); Choreography: Joan Brickhill (Herman-Jay Muller, Associate Choreographer); Ice Choreography: Michael Tokar; Scenery and Costumes: Keith Anderson; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Bruce Pomahac Cast: Michael O’Steen (Lon Smith), Brian Jay (Randy Travis), Betty Garrett (Katie), Jim Semmelman (Motorman), Courtney Peldon (Tootie Smith), Charlotte Moore (Mrs. Smith), Milo O’Shea (Grandpa Prophater), Donna Kane (Esther Smith), Juliet Lambert (Rose Smith), Jason Workman (John Truitt), Rachael Graham (Agnes Smith), George Hearn (Mr. Alonzo Smith), Peter Reardon (Warren Sheffield), Naomi Reddin (Ida Boothby), Gregg Whitney (Douglas Moore), Shauna Hicks (Eve Finley), Gordon Stanley (Doctor Bond), Karen Culliver (Lucille Ballard), Craig A. Meyer (Clinton A. Badger); Company: Kevin Blackstrom, Dan Buelow, Victoria Lynn Burton, Karen Culliver, Deanna Dys, H. David Gunderman, Shauna Hicks, K. Craig Innes, Brian Jay, Rachel Jones, Nancy Lemenager, Joanne McHugh, Frank Maio, Carol Lee Meadows, Craig A. Meyer, Christopher Lee Michaels, Ron Morgan, Georga L. Osborne, Rachelle Ottley, Christina Pawl, Naomi Reddin, Carol Schuberg, Jim Semmelman, Ken Shepski, Gordon Stanley, Sean Frank Sullivan, Cynthia Thole, Gregg Whitney, Kyle Whyte, Lee Wilson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around the Smith family home in St. Louis, Missouri, from Summer 1903 to Spring 1904, and on the fairgrounds of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Musical Numbers Note: Unless otherwise noted, all songs are by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane (the team collaborated on some songs while others were written separately by Martin or by Blane). Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Meet Me in St. Louis” (lyric by Andrew B. Sterling, music by Kerry Mills; new lyric by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) (Company); “Meet Me in St. Louis” (reprise) (Milo O’Shea, Courtney Peldon); “The Boy Next Door” (Donna Kane); “Be Anything but a Girl” (Milo O’Shea, Rachael Graham, Courtney Peldon); “Skip to My Lou” (traditional; new lyric by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) (Juliet Lambert, Donna Kane, Michael O’Steen, Gregg Whitney, Jason Workman, Peter Reardon, Company); “Under the Bamboo Tree” (lyric and music by Bob Cole) (Donna Kane, Courtney Peldon); “Banjos” (Michael O’Steen, Ensemble); “Ghosties and Ghoulies and Things That Go Bump in the Night” (Betty Garrett, Rachael Graham, Courtney Peldon, Neighborhood Kids); “Halloween Ballet” (Company); “Wasn’t It Fun?” (George Hearn, Charlotte Moore); “The Trolley Song” (Donna Kane, Company) Act Two: “Ice” (Juliet Lambert, Peter Reardon, Gregg Whitney, Company; Featured Skaters: Rachelle Ottley, Ron Morgan); “Raving Beauty” (Peter Reardon, Gregg Whitney, Juliet Lambert); “A Touch of the Irish” (Betty Garrett, Donna Kane, Juliet Lambert); “You Are for Loving” (Jason Workman, Donna Kane); “A Day in New York” (George Hearn, The Smith Family); “The Ball” (aka “Irish Jig”) (Milo O’Shea, Company); “Diamonds in the Starlight” (Jason Workman, Donna Kane); “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (Donna Kane); “Paging Mr. Sousa” (George Hearn, Company); Finale (Company) Although the stage adaptation of the classic 1944 MGM film Meet Me in St. Louis premiered on Broadway in 1989, the first theatrical version had been produced twenty-nine years earlier when the musical was

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presented on the straw-hat circuit in 1960 with a book by Sally Benson (who had written the original source material upon which the film was based and who had written one of the early and unused drafts for the film’s screenplay) and a score by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane that included their original film songs, songs interpolated into the film, and songs either new or borrowed from other sources. The book of the Broadway edition was by Hugh Wheeler, and Martin and Blane’s score included songs from the film, from the first stage adaptation, from other sources, and new ones (see below for a breakdown of the sources for all the songs in the Broadway production). The Broadway version was one of the most lavish of the era, and the show’s budget was reportedly $6 million. With mostly unenthusiastic reviews, a lack of star wattage, and perhaps because of the convenient availability of the original film on videocassette, the show lost a small fortune but nonetheless managed to run out the season. The producers spared no expense, and clearly scenic designer Keith Anderson was the hero of the evening with opulent sets that spun about on turntables. The Smith’s home was a grand Victorian affair, and when it whirled around the cozy interiors of the house were unveiled in all their bric-a-brac finery; there was also a trolley car on tracks that ran across the stage; an ice-skating pond for one scene; and for the finale fountains of water and simulated fireworks were used to depict the gala opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. The plot was slight but rich with nostalgic atmosphere in its depiction of the middle-class Smith family who live in St. Louis, including father Alonzo (George Hearn), his wife (Charlotte Moore), their teenage daughters Esther (Donna Kane) and Rose (Juliet Lambert), their college student son Lon (Michael O’Steen), their younger daughters Agnes (Rachael Graham) and the irrepressible Tootie (Courtney Peldon), and Grandpa (Milo O’Shea). Also very much involved in the family’s activities is their Irish cook and housekeeper Katie (Betty Garrett). As the story begins, the Smiths are excited about the opening of the Exposition the following spring, a time that also marks Esther’s graduation from high school. And Esther has high hopes that for her senior year the new boy next door John Truitt (Jason Workman) will become her beau. But the placid lives of the Smiths are turned topsy-turvy when Alzono breaks the news that he’s accepted a position in New York City and that the family will move there right after the Christmas holidays. But of course all ends well when Alonzo decides to stay in St. Louis, and by the finale the clan is seen in attendance at the opening of the Exposition where Esther and John are hand in glove. The critics praised the evening’s production values and said the cast’s veterans, such as Hearn and Garrett, were more than welcome. But they suggested that an air of summer stock permeated the evening and that many of the cast members were underwhelming. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the actresses who portrayed Esther and Rose were like “well-schooled Miss America contestants” and “only the different colors of their wigs permit us to tell them apart”; the young men in the cast were so “interchangeable” that the boy next door was really an “occupant”; and many of the other performances were “insipid.” He found the “paint-by-numbers” book “inane” with “a complete lack of originality,” And although Joan Brickhill’s choreography offered struts, jigs, cakewalks, square dances, and dream ballets, the numbers had “no internal drive” and seemed like “compilations of souvenir-program freeze-frames” of dance routines that had been created by Michael Kidd and Onna White for Broadway musicals of yore. Clive Barnes in the New York Post felt the evening was “strictly summer stock in an autumnal mood” and that many of the younger roles (and the performers who played them) were guilty of “a certain cookiecutter similarity.” But he noted that Anderson’s décor had “a most attractive old Saturday Evening Post look that is corny but immaculately apt.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday said the show left “no cliché undecorated” and was an example of “very, very fancy summer stock.” If one had an “elevated threshold for cutsie-poo Americana,” then the show was, in “the icky tongue of its creators, peachy keen.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal found the dialogue “embarrassingly banal”; David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said “everybody looks like mannequins” and “some act that way, too”; and Joel Siegel on WABCTV7 stated “this isn’t Broadway – It’s summer stock – extravagant but unsophisticated” and with dances which were “energetic but irrelevant.” But Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News liked the “wonderful, endearing family entertainment,” which had a “Middle American innocence” he thought “had been banished from the musical theatre by its grandiose pretentions in recent years.” In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt said, “Broadway hasn’t seen such a splendiferous musical comedy in a long, long time”; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor found the musical “an affectionate, outgoing, lavishly picturesque celebration of an American past.”

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In the film, the Halloween scene was a highlight, but Watt stated the stage version’s approach to the sequence was “disastrous,” “numbingly dull,” and “completely superfluous,” and Winer said it was the “worst” element in the show. “Paging Mr. Sousa” was one of the new songs, and it included a marching band that strutted down the theatre’s aisles and onto the stage; Barnes said it was a “low-powered” “Seventy-Six Trombones” that was more like “17 Trombones,” and Siegel said this “low-budget” version of the song from The Music Man should have been titled “7.6 Trombones.” As for her overall assessment of the new songs, Winer suggested they made “Dick and Jane seem literate.” The Broadway cast album was released by DRG Records (CD #19001). Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the 1944 film starred Judy Garland (Esther), Margaret O’Brien (Tootie), Tom Drake (John Truitt), Leon Ames (Alonzo Smith), Mary Astor (Mrs. Smith), and Marjorie Main (Katie), and is available on DVD (Warner Brothers Video # 65089). NBC’s Hallmark Hall of Fame presented a television adaptation on April 26, 1959, with Jane Powell (Esther), Patty Duke (Tootie), Tab Hunter (John Truitt), Ed Wynn (Grandpa), Reta Shaw (Katie), and as Alonzo Walter Pidgeon (in a role similar to the one he performed later that year in Broadway’s Take Me Along). Of the songs heard in the current production, three by Martin and Blane were from the 1944 film version (“The Boy Next Door,” “The Trolley Song,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”); three were interpolations heard in the film (“Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Skip to My Lou,” and “Under the Bamboo Tree” [the first two included revised lyrics by Martin and Blane]); three had been written for the 1960 stage version (“You Are for Loving,” “Raving Beauty,” and “Diamonds in the Starlight”); one was from Martin’s 1958 NBC television musical Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates (“Ice”) (in his third edition of Show Tunes, Steven Suskin reports that the refrain of “I Happen to Love You” from Brinker was part of an extended version of “The Boy Next Door”; Suskin also notes that “Be Anything but a Girl” is from Brinker, but the song isn’t included on the Brinker sound track album and isn’t listed as part of the score in Joan Baxter’s Television Musicals); and eight numbers by Martin and Blane (written together or separately) were either created for the current production or were trunk songs (“Banjos,” “Ghosties and Ghoulies and Things That Go Bump in the Night,” “Halloween Ballet,” “Wasn’t It Fun?,” “A Touch of the Irish,” “A Day in New York,” “The Ball” aka “Irish Jig,” and “Paging Mr. Sousa”). Songs not by Martin and Blane that were heard in the film but not in the Broadway version were “You and I” (lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown) and the traditional song “Over the Bannister” (but the latter was heard during New York previews). Songs written for the 1960 stage adaptation that weren’t used in the New York production were “Almost,” “How Do I Look?,” “What’s-His-Name,” and “If I Had an Igloo” (the 1960 production included “Over the Bannister,” which as mentioned above was heard during New York previews). Also performed during New York previews was “You’re a Very Lucky Girl” from Hans Brinker. Other songs apparently performed during the show’s summer-stock tours of the 1960s were “How to Behave Like a Lady” (“How to Dress Like a Lady”) (“How to Faint Like a Lady”) and “Would You Let Me?” “You Are for Loving” and “Raving Beauty” were interpolated into the 1963 Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward and are included on that show’s cast album (Cadence Records LP # CE-4012 and # CLP-24012; reissued on Stet Records LP # DS-150032; and issued on CD by Varese Sarabande # 302-066-221-2); and “Ice,” “I Happen to Love You,” and the aforementioned (and deleted) “You’re a Very Lucky Girl” are included on the television soundtrack album of Hans Brinker (LP released by Dot Records # DLP-9001 and the CD issued by Sepia # 1121), the latter as “I’m a Very Lucky Boy.” Variety later reported that a 1991 regional revival of the musical would be a considerably revised version of the 1989 production and would include three new songs by Martin and Blane, “Thanksgiving,” “Whenever I’m with You,” and “You’ll Hear a Bell,” as well as “Over the Bannister,” which had been heard in the film version. The revision would eliminate the ice skating sequence (and the song “Ice”), “Be Anything but a Girl,” “A Touch of the Irish,” “Raving Beauty,” and other songs not identified in the article. For more information about stage adaptations of MGM musicals, see entry for Singin’ in the Rain.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Musical (Meet Me in St. Louis)

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3 PENNY OPERA Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: November 5, 1989; Closing Date: December 31, 1989 Performances: 65 Book and Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht (adaptation by Michael Feingold) Music: Kurt Weill Based on the 1728 opera The Beggar’s Opera (libretto by John Gay, music by Johann Pepusch); Brecht based his adaptation on Elisabeth Hauptmann’s German translation of the opera. Direction: John Dexter; Producers: Jerome Hellman in association with Haruki Kadokawa and James M. Nederlander (Margo Lion, Hiroshi Sugawara, Lloyd Phillips, and Kiki Miyake, Associate Producers); Choreography: Peter Gennaro; Scenery and Costumes: Jocelyn Herbert; Lighting: Andy Phillips and Brian Nason; Musical Direction: Julius Rudel Cast: Ethyl Eichelberger (Ballad Singer), Suzzanne Douglas (Jenny Diver), Alvin Epstein (Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum), Jeff Blumenkrantz (Filch), Georgia Brown (Mrs. Peachum), Nancy Ringham (Polly Peachum), Sting (Macheath), Josh Mostel (Matt of the Mint), Mitchell Greenberg (Crook-Finger Jack), David Schechter (Sawtooth Bob), Philip Carroll (Ed), Tom Robbins (Walter aka Walt Dreary), Alex Santoriello (Jimmy), Larry Marshall (Tiger Brown), Anne Kerry Ford (Dolly), Jan Horvath (Betty), Teresa De Zarn (Vixen), Leslie Castay (Molly), K. T. Sullivan (Suky Tawdry), Fiddle Viracola (Old Whore), David Pursley (Smith), MacIntyre Dixon (Policeman), Michael Piontek (Policeman), Kim Criswell (Lucy); Beggars and Bystanders: Philip Carroll, MacIntyre Dixon, Michael Piontek, David Schechter, Steven Major West The musical was presented in three acts. The action takes place in London during the nineteenth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Ballad of Mack the Knife” (“Moritat”) (Ethel Eichelberger); “Peachum’s Morning Hymn” (Alvin Epstein); “Why-Can’t-They Song” (Alvin Epstein, Georgia Brown); “Wedding Song” (Josh Mostel, Mitchell Greenberg, David Schechter, Philip Carroll, Tom Robbins, Alex Santoriello); “Pirate Jenny” (Nancy Ringham); “Soldiers’ Song” (Sting, Larry Marshall); “Wedding Song” (reprise) (Josh Mostel, Mitchell Greenberg, David Schechter, Philip Carroll, Tom Robbins, Alex Santoriello); “Love Song” (Sting, Nancy Ringham); “Barbara Song” (Nancy Ringham); “First 3 Penny Finale” (Nancy Ringham, Alvin Epstein, Georgia Brown) Act Two: “Melodram” and “Polly’s Song” (Sting, Nancy Ringham); ‘Ballad of the Prisoner of Sex” (Georgia Brown); “Pimp’s Ballad” (“Tango”) (Sting, Suzzanne Douglas); “Ballad of Living in Style” (Sting); “Jealousy Duet” (Kim Criswell, Nancy Ringham); “Second 3 Penny Finale” (Sting, Georgia Brown, Chorus) Act Three: “Ballad of the Prisoner of Sex” (reprise) (Georgia Brown); “Song of Futility” (Alvin Epstein); “Lucy’s Aria” (Kim Criswell); “Solomon Song” (Suzzanne Douglas); “Call from the Grave” (Sting); “Epitaph” (Sting); “March to the Gallows” (Orchestra); “Third 3 Penny Finale” (Company) The highly anticipated revival of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s 1928 musical Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera, and here titled 3 Penny Opera) was presented in a translation by Michael Feingold, who stated his version adhered “as closely as possible” to the franker original German text. For his adaptation, all the songs were performed by the intended characters and were in proper performance order (the production also restored “Lucy’s Aria,” which was dropped in 1928 when the singer who was to perform it left the production). The revival starred popular singer Sting in his musical-theatre stage debut, who with his rough good looks and slightly menacing air was the perfect embodiment of the seductive yet dangerous Macheath (aka “Mack the Knife”). The production also included Georgia Brown and Alvin Epstein as Mr. and Mrs. Peachum, Suzzanne Douglas as Jenny, Kim Criswell as Lucy, and solo performance-artist Ethyl Eichelberger as the Ballad Singer whose quirky, on-the-brink-of-madness interpretation gave the revival the theatrical glue that bound together the various lowlifes in nineteenth-century London, including the amoral gang-leader Macheath and his assorted underground cronies (including the prostitute Jenny); his marriage to the middle-class Polly Peachum; and his narrow escape from the gallows.

1989 SEASON     417

Maureen McGovern had played the role of Polly during the revival’s tryout in Washington, D.C., but because of vocal ailments didn’t perform the role for the New York opening night and for some weeks thereafter (her understudy Nancy Ringham, who normally played the role of Molly, substituted). Andy Phillips and Brian Nason contributed an atmospherically “dark” lighting design that added to the sinister mood, Julius Rudel conducted, and John Dexter directed (he had helmed the original London and Broadway productions of Equus and M. Butterfly as well as the Metropolitan Opera Company’s debut of Brecht and Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny). Unfortunately, the revival never quite came together; it was one of those productions that flirted with brilliance because its components seemed almost in sync with Brecht and Weill’s vision. But it never jelled, and one was reluctantly forced to accept the conclusion that the evening was a near-miss that had the makings of the most definitive 3 Penny Opera since the original. The reviews seemed overly harsh and picky, and of all the cast members Georgia Brown received the best notices (but one or two critics had reservations about her performance). Despite a large advance sale, the production faltered after less than two months on Broadway and didn’t leave behind a cast album. Linda Winer in New York Newsday said the revival was “respectful, uninspired, almost academic” and thus “not terrible” but “merely OK.” As for Sting, “every breath he takes, every move he makes, you’ll be watching him,” but he was more David Niven than Mack the Knife. Georgia Brown had “an insinuating voice of dark honey and acid,” but Alvin Epstein was “surprisingly dull in a stock performance.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News said the presentation was “as harmless” as a community revival of H.M.S. Pinafore: the production was bland and lacked style, the evening was “limp and flaccid,” and only Brown brought “power” to the material. As for Sting, he should have brought a “bravura presence” to Macheath but instead he crooned, posed, and smiled “cockily” at the audience. Kissel noted that Feingold’s translation provided a “clear and direct” narrative but sometimes it distracted “from the melodic line and the drama.” In the same newspaper, Douglas Watt complained that the production’s “overall effect” of the “brilliantly sulphurous work” was an “abomination,” and Sting came across like “a two-dollar window Gaylord Ravenal” who was “nice” and “somehow got mixed up in the wrong company.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today said the revival lacked “immediacy and spontaneity” but Sting was “a genuine presence and a sound actor.” William A. Henry III in Time criticized Dexter’s “snarly, airless” staging and said Feingold’s adaptation was “less effective” than Marc Blitzstein’s version for the 1954 OffBroadway revival. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said Brecht’s alienation effects may have been carried too far in the current revival and thus the evening’s “assorted concepts” came together “somewhat uneasily.” And the headline of Edwin Wilson’s review in the Wall Street Journal proclaimed “Brecht with Sting but Little Bite.” Frank Rich in the New York Times said the evening offered no “high points,” and despite its “sincere intentions,” the show’s ideas were “fumbled in the execution.” Dexter gave the show such a “spartan” look it made Our Town look “decadent,” Sting was a “stiff,” Brown and Epstein were as “tired and mechanical” as the other performers, and Rudel’s orchestra played “with a lassitude more appropriate to a hotel-lobby tea service than a Weimar cabaret.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the production was “the best musical in town, this season, next season and for anticipated time.” Dexter’s staging offered a “bizarre authenticity,” scenic designer Jocelyn Herbert’s “tatterdemalion” look worked “wonders,” and the performances were “terrific,” including Sting, who was “very, very good indeed” with his “natural presence,” which made him a “debonair banditvillain.” Rich suggested the evening provided “some drama” when Nancy Ringham had to step in at the last moment for the ailing Maureen McGovern. This was the second time during the decade that Ringham took over a leading role on opening night because of a leading lady’s vocal problems (Ringham had succeeded Cheryl Kennedy as Eliza Doolittle for the 1981 revival of My Fair Lady, which starred Rex Harrison). Rich stated Ringham was “simply a competent ingénue,” but Winer said she had a “striking no-nonsense beauty, a pungent voice without a high enough top for the role and a welcome sense of evil fun.” Kissel said she sang and acted “attractively” but brought “little passion” to “Pirate Jenny”; Watts found her and others in the cast “unforgivably bland”; Barnes said she was “excellent”; and Wilson said “she stole the show.” As Die Dreigroschenoper, the musical premiered in Berlin on August 31, 1928, at the Theatre am Schiffbuerdamm with Harold Paulson (Macheath), Lotte Lenya (Jenny), and Ernest Busch (The Street Singer). The first Broadway production was adapted by Gifford Cochran and Jerrold Krimsky and opened on April 13, 1933, at the Empire Theatre for twelve performances.

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For almost twenty years the work virtually disappeared in the United States until Marc Blitzstein’s version opened on June 14, 1952, at the Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis University and then played a limited engagement Off Broadway at the Theatre de Lys on March 10, 1954, and returned there on September 20, 1955, for a marathon run and a total of 2,707 performances for both productions. On March 11, 1965, the work played at City Center for 6 performances where it was produced by the New York City Opera Company and marked the first U.S. performances in German (Rudel also conducted this version); on October 27, 1966, the Stockholm Marionette Theatre of Fantasy presented the musical for 13 performances at the Billy Rose (now Nederlander) Theatre in a showing that used prerecorded music taken from the Off-Broadway cast album; another Broadway revival opened on May 1, 1976, for 307 performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in an adaptation by Ralph Mannheim and John Willett; and after the current production, the work was revived on April 20, 2006, at Studio 54 for 77 showings in an adaptation by Wallace Shawn. On October 26, 1995, an Off-Broadway revival by the National Youth Music Theatre opened at City Center for a limited run of three performances (it’s unclear which translation was used), and the 1976 Broadway revival played Off Broadway at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre on June 28, 1977, for twenty-seven performances. There have been three film versions of the musical. The first was produced in Germany in 1931, was directed by G. W. Pabst, and starred Rudolph Forster and Lotte Lenya. A 1962 film adaptation used Blitzstein’s lyrics, and the 1989 film Mack the Knife included some of Blitzstein’s lyrics. The cast album of the 1954 Off-Broadway version was released by MGM Records (LP # E/SE-3121), and the CD was issued by Decca Broadway Records (# 012-159-463-2); the 1976 production was recorded by Columbia Records (LP # PS-34325) and later issued on CD by Arkiv/Sony Records (# 51520). The soundtrack of the 1962 film was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1086) and the 1989 film soundtrack was released on CBS Records, Inc. (LP # SM-45630). Perhaps the finest recording of the work is a 1959 studio cast album performed in German with Lenya and other singers that was released by Columbia Records on a two-LP set (# 02S-201) and later issued on CD by CBS Masterworks. The script of the 1976 production was published in hardback by Random House in Brecht’s Collected Plays, Vol. 2 and was also issued in a single volume in 1977 by Vintage Books/Random House in a special hardback edition for the now defunct Fireside Theatre book club.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Georgia Brown)

PRINCE OF CENTRAL PARK “The New Musical”

Theatre: Belasco Theatre Opening Date: November 9, 1989; Closing Date: November 11, 1989 Performances: 4 Book: Evan H. Rhodes Lyrics: Gloria Nissenson Music: Don Sebesky Based on the 1974 novel Prince of Central Park by Evan H. Rhodes. Direction and Choreography: Tony Tanner (Stephen Bourneuf, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Abe Hirschfeld and Jan McArt (Karen Poindexter, Executive Producer; Belle M. Deitch, Associate Producer); Scenery and Costumes: Michael Bottari and Ronald Case; Lighting: Norman Coates; Musical Direction: Joel Silberman Cast: Richard H. Blake (Jay-Jay), Sel Vitella (School Guard, Park Ranger Rupp, Waiter), John Hoshko (Street Person, Stock Broker, Young Richard), Adrian Bailey (Street Person, Officer Simpson), Bonnie Perlman (Agnes, Anna Squagliatoria), Ruth Gottschall (Officer Washinski, Young Margie), Marilyn Hudgins (Bag Lady, Floor Walker), Annie-Marie Gerard (Mary Berg, Twitchy), Stephen Bourneuf (Aerobics Instructor),

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Jo Anne Worley (Margie Miller), Chris Callen (Sally), Sean Grant (Fist), Jason Ma (Bird Brain), Alice Yearsley (Feather, Ballet Dancer), Anthony Galde (Elmo), Terry Eno (Carpenter, Maitre d’); Aerobics Students: Adrian Bailey, Terry Eno, Ruth Gottschall, Anne-Marie Gerard, John Hoshko, Sel Vitella; Tap Dancers: Adrian Bailey, Stephen Bourneuf, Ruth Gottschall, John Hoshko, Bonnie Perlman; Mannequins, Tango Dancers: Adrian Bailey, Stephen Bourneuf, Ruth Gottschall, John Hoshko, Jason Ma, Bonnie Perlman, Alice Yearsley The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Here’s Where I Belong” (Richard H. Blake, Ensemble); “All I’ve Got Is Me” (Richard H. Blake); “New Leaf” (Jo Anne Worley, Aerobics Club); “Follow the Leader” (Anthony Galde, Gang, Richard H. Blake); “Here’s Where I Belong” (Montage) (Ensemble); “We Were Dancing” (Jo Anne Worley, John Hoshko, Ruth Gottschall); “One of a Kind” (Jo Anne Worley, Richard H. Blake); “I Fly by Night”(Anthony Galde); “Zap” (Jo Anne Worley, Richard H. Blake, Ensemble) Act Two: “Good Evening” (Ensemble); “All I’ve Got Is Me” (reprise) (Jo Ann Worley, Richard H. Blake); “They Don’t Give You Life at Sixteen” (Anthony Galde, Gang); “Red” (Jo Ann Worley, Ensemble); “I Fly by Night” (reprise) (Anthony Galde, Gang, Richard H. Blake); “The Prince of Central Park” (Richard H. Blake); “One of a Kind” (reprise) (Jo Ann Worley) Prince of Central Park originated in Florida, but critics and audiences might well have wondered what universe it came from because its depiction of life in New York City was like nothing known on this planet. According to the musical, life in the city is squeaky-clean, even down to the benches in Central Park; bag ladies are wacky and adorable; department-store sales clerks give you their undivided attention; street gangs are comprised of carefully selected groups of racially diverse young men; and Frank Rich in the New York Times noted that a friendly Park Ranger is right out of a Smokey the Bear promotional campaign. Rich also mentioned that the show had a “serious obsession” with the Tavern on the Green and thus dragged its name into many scenes and even included a dance sequence which took place in the restaurant. And perhaps because of its Florida connection, the musical determinedly offered jokes about retirement and retirement communities. The story dealt with abused orphan Jay-Jay (Richard H. Blake) who leaves his foster home and takes to the streets. He’s soon living in a tree house in Central Park, where he meets a jogger named Margie (Jo Ann Worley), a middle-aged matron recently shoved aside by her husband for a younger woman and who is now trying to pull her life together and start anew (Jay-Jay and Margie meet cute when they begin leaving chalkwritten messages for each other on a park bench). The musical assiduously avoided such serious issues as child abuse, teenage runaways, street gangs, and homelessness and instead provided lame jokes (Worley cups her breasts and asks, “Gravity, gravity, what did I ever do to you?”) and watery choreography (Rich noted it “doesn’t just resemble aerobics. It is aerobics”). Linda Winer in New York Newsday found the musical “aggressively predictable” with “slick” direction, a score of “disco elevator music” that was “anonymous but innocuous,” a “stock urban assemblage” of city types, and choreography that was “basically an aerobic-dance primer.” With tongue in cheek, Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News wryly noted that during the years following the opening of Elizabeth Swados’s “groundbreaking” Runaways, theatre lovers had “been pining for another musical about abused children, street toughs and a general view of adults as nincompoops,” and with Prince of Central Park that musical is “finally here!” The plot lacked “genuine understanding” and instead was a series of “sitcom-length” scenes, the lyrics and music were “of equal dreariness and witlessness,” and there were “cliché-ridden” dances. Kissel noted that when a performer accidentally stumbled over a chair, the evening suddenly came to life when Worley ad-libbed a line. This was the only moment during the entire show that offered “the response of an actual human being.” Rich found the musical “a numbing evening” of “guileless amateurism” with songs that didn’t “so much linger in the mind as pound it senseless.” Blake sang his numbers “mechanically and interchangeably, seeming less like a refugee of the streets than an aging Mouseketeer,” and Worley “plunged through the show like a Mack truck, mowing down everything before her.”

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During previews the songs “Hey, Pal” and “Can’t Believe My Eyes” were cut. The musical had first been produced at Jan McArt’s Cabaret Theatre in Key West, Florida, and then at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in Miami Beach. Prince of Central Park was the Belasco Theatre’s first booking in some two and a half years. But instead of a brand-new hit to inaugurate the reopening, the musical closed after four performances and tied with Dangerous Games as the season’s shortest-running musical. The theatre was often a luckless one, and in recent years had suffered plays with short runs, including a few that lasted for just one performance. In the 1940s, a seemingly endless stream of flops opened at the Belasco and inspired one wag to call it the Fiasco. Evan H. Rhodes’s novel Prince of Central Park was published in 1974, was made into a TV movie in 1977, and then eleven years after the musical version a new film adaptation was released in 2000 (as a nonmusical).

GRAND HOTEL “The Musical”

Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Gershwin Theatre) Opening Date: November 12, 1989; Closing Date: April 26, 1992 Performances: 1,077 Book: Luther Davis Lyrics and Music: Robert Wright and George Forrest; additional songs by Maury Yeston; unidentified additional music by Wally Harper (see list of musical numbers for specific credits) Based on the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel (People in a Hotel) by Vicki Baum and the 1932 MGM film Grand Hotel (screenplay by William A. Drake and direction by Edmund Goulding). Direction and Choreography: Tommy Tune (Bruce Lumpkin, Associate Director); Producers: Martin Richards, Mary Lea Johnson, Sam Crothers, Sander Jacobs, Kenneth D. Greenblatt, Paramount Pictures, and Jujamcyn Theatres in association with Patty Grubman and Marvin A. Krauss (Sandra Greenblatt, Martin R. Kaufman, and Kim Poster, Associate Producers) (Kathleen Raitt, Production Associate); Scenery: Tony Walton; Costumes: Santo Loquasto; Lighting: Jules Fisher; Musical Direction: Jack Lee Cast: Charles Mandracchia (The Doorman), John Wylie (Colonel-Doctor Ottemschlag), Yvonne Marceau (The Countess), Pierre Dulaine (The Gigolo), Rex D. Hays (Rohna), Bob Stillman (Erik), Ken Jennings (George Strunk), Keith Crowningshield (Kurt Kronenberg), Gerrit de Beer (Hanns Bittner), J. J. Epson (Willibald), Jennifer Lee Andrews (Hildegarde Bratts, Trudie), Suzanne Henderson (Sigfriede Holzheim, Hotel Courtesan), Lynnette Perry (Wolffe Bratts), David Jackson and Danny Strayhorn (The Two Jimmys), Ben George (Chauffeur), Hal Robinson (Zinnowitz), Mitchell Jason (Sandor), Michel Moinot (Witt), Kathi Moss (Madame Peepee), Timothy Jerome (General Director Preysing), Jane Krakowski (Flaemmchen), Michael Jeter (Otto Kringelein), David Carroll (The Baron aka Felix Von Gaigern), Karen Akers (Raffaela), Liliane Montevecchi (Elizaveta Grushinskaya), Henry Grossman (Ernest Schmidt), William Ryall (Franz Kohl, Detective), David Elledge (Werner Holst), Walter Willison (Gunther Gustafsson) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in Berlin in 1928.

Musical Numbers Note: * = lyric and music by Robert Wright and George Forrest; ** = lyric and music by Robert Wright and George Forrest, with revised lyric by Maury Yeston; and *** = lyric and music by Maury Yeston. “The Grand Parade” (***) (Company); “As It Should Be” (**) (David Carroll); “Some Have, Some Have Not” (**) (Henry Grossman, William Ryall, David Elledge, Walter Willison); “At the Grand Hotel” (***) (Michael Jeter); “A Table with a View” (**) (Michael Jeter); “Maybe My Baby Loves Me” (*) (David Jackson, Danny Strayhorn, Jane Krakowski); “Fire and Ice” (**) (Liliane Montevecchi); “Twenty-Two Years” (***) (Karen Akers); “Villa on a Hill” (*) (Karen Akers); “I Want to Go to Hollywood” (aka “The Girl in the Mirror”) (***) (Jane Krakowski); “Everybody’s Doing It” (***) (Timothy Jerome); “The Crooked Path” (**) (Timothy Jerome); “As It Should Be” (reprise) (David Carroll); “Who Couldn’t Dance with You?” (*) (Jane Krakowski and David Carroll, Michael Jeter and Jane Krakowski); “The Boston Merger” (**) (Timothy

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Jerome); “No Encore” (*) (Liliane Montevecchi); “Fire and Ice” (reprise) (Company); “Love Can’t Happen” (***) (David Carroll, Liliane Montevecchi); “What She Needs” (**) (Karen Akers); “Bonjour Amour” (***) (Liliane Montevechhi); “H-A-P-P-Y” (*) (David Jackson, Danny Strayhorn, Jane Krakowski); “We’ll Take a Glass Together”(**) (Michael Jeter, David Carroll); “I Waltz Alone” (*) (John Wylie); “Roses at the Station” (***) (David Carroll); “How Can I Tell Her?” (*) (Karen Akers); “As It Should Be” (reprise) (Bob Stillman, Company); “Some Have, Some Have Not” (reprise) (Henry Grossman, William Ryall, David Elledge, Walter Willison); “The Grand Parade” (reprise) (Company); “The Grand Waltz” (*) (Company) Tommy Tune’s Grand Hotel was based on Vicki Baum’s 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel (People in a Hotel) and its famous MGM 1932 film version, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and starred Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, and Wallace Beery. Baum adapted the novel for the stage during the same year the book was published, and its American version (as Grand Hotel) opened on Broadway in 1930 in an adaptation by William A. Drake (who later wrote the screenplay for the 1932 film). In 1945, MGM refilmed the story as Week-End at the Waldorf. The musical was presented without intermission and Tune’s staging used cinematic techniques to create a seamless flow of continuous action that created smooth transitions and allowed each sequence to dissolve into the other. The constant swirl of activity gave the production the impression of being completely choreographed, but there was time for brief, traditional dances, particularly the kind of social dancing one might find during the era in hotel lobbies for the tea dansant hour, and so occasional fox trots, waltzes, and Charlestons insinuated themselves into the action. Tony Walton’s décor was mostly expressionistic in its depiction of the hotel. The orchestra members were perched high on a balcony overlooking Tune’s imminently theatrical space where the cast shifted dozens of red velvet–cushioned chairs to form alternately expansive or intimate playing areas (the chairs were Tune’s version of the moving pylons in Dreamgirls and Chess). The decor also included four huge columns of translucent blocks and a gilded glass revolving door at stage center, and hovering above the proceedings were three magnificent crystal chandeliers that along with Jules Fisher’s lighting designs gave the entire mise-en-scène the glow of dark, smoky light (Linda Winer in New York Newsday was happy to note the chandeliers were “just” lamps and not the “stars” of the show). The story focused on various guests at Berlin’s famous hotel during a few hours of one day and night in 1928. The main characters include the ballerina Grushinskaya (Liliane Montevecchi) and her brief, doomed affair with the shady Baron Von Gaigern (David Carroll); the ruthless businessman Preysing (Timothy Jerome) and his typist Flaemmchen (Jane Krakowski), who dreams of Hollywood glory; and the pathetic Kringelein (Michael Jeter), a terminally ill Jewish clerk who plans to enjoy his last days in the luxurious hotel where “people come, people go” and where everything is “always the same.” Although Luther Davis’s book did a credible job of creating a sense of time and place and of setting up the intertwining plots and characters, it never quite fleshed out those characters and didn’t bring a sense of urgency to their situations. As a result, Frank Rich in the New York Times noted many of the hotel’s rooms were “vacant,” and the respective headlines for the reviews by Howard Kissel and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News proclaimed there were “Vacancies at the Inn” and there were “A Few Reservations about Hotel.” The book also borrowed attitudes from earlier works, and of course the view of 1928 Berlin on the brink of insanity had already been explored in Cabaret. There was also a portentous if not pretentious narrator of sorts in Colonel-Doctor Otternschlag (John Wylie), who was reminiscent of the Emcee in Cabaret and here symbolically wore a patch over one eye; there was a group of the hotel’s resentful scullery workers who droned away in song that “Some Have, Some Have Not” and who seemed to have wandered in from the London streets of The Threepenny Opera and Sweeney Todd; and there were two mysterious dancing figures (for another dose of symbolism, one of the dancers wore a blindfold) who would have been at home in Follies and A Doll’s Life. As for the score, the showstopper was Kringelein and the Baron’s “We’ll Take a Glass Together,” which was by Robert Wright and George Forrest with a revised lyric by Maury Yeston. Of the team’s other contributions, “Maybe My Baby Loves Me” was a standout; and Yeston’s best songs were “At the Grand Hotel” and “Roses at the Station” (the latter was particularly notable for its understated staging). Rich praised Tune, saying the director-choreographer had “the most extravagant imagination in the American musical theatre right now,” and Grand Hotel “should satisfy those with a boundless appetite for showmanship untethered to content.” Rich suggested a better score would have helped, and he singled out

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“We’ll Take a Glass Together” in which Michael Jeter let “loose like a human top gyrating out of control— literally breaking out of his past into a new existence.” Winer praised Tune as a “master stylist” who overcame the “drivel” of a “potboiler of pulp clichés and purple-dialogue howlers” and a score that was at best “a patchwork of ballroom derivatives.” But somehow Tune pulled off “irresistibly subtle moves on the least promising material.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the musical’s concept “defiantly hackneyed but enormously effective” but berated the “dull” score, which had “Tune where its tunes should be.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today stated the musical had “more creative vacancies than any Broadway musical should.” The story wasn’t always convincing, the score lacked “consistency,” and Yeston’s lyrics laid “on the irony with a shovel.” But because the Broadway season was “littered with casualties,” Grand Hotel would “have to do.” Kissel wished there had been “a show beneath the elegant surfaces”; Watt said the production’s “elegance” helped one overlook the “thinness” of the book and score, which were “all style and no content.” Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said Tune’s direction and choreography saved the show, which was otherwise “superficial” and “melodramatic” with a “pedestrian” score and a story “as empty as the lives of those who inhabit the hotel.” William A. Henry III in Time said Tune weaved the action into a “ceaseless flow” and if some of his “wizardry” was “borrowed from bygone auteur directors,” Grand Hotel was nonetheless “the musical winner of the season.” And Laura Shapiro in Newsweek reported that Tune “pulls off a miracle” with a “choreographic” vision of the entire stage encompassing “strong physical imagery, visible counterpoint, an intrinsic sense of rhythm, [and] a vivid sense of space.” The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1992, and the belated cast album was released during the same year by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-61327-2). Due to illness, David Carroll left the production six months after it opened, but returned about a half year later (among the performers who succeeded him were Brent Barrett, Rex Smith, and John Schneider). Sadly, Carroll died on March 11, 1992, at the age of forty-one, just three weeks before the cast album was to be recorded (it is Barrett who performs the role of the Baron on the recording). As a bonus, the recording includes Carroll’s live performance of “Love Can’t Happen,” which he sang at Steve McGraw’s nightclub on February 14, 1991. The Japanese Takarazuka Revue Company presented the musical in Tokyo, and the cast album was issued by TMP (CD # TMPC-175). The collection Lost in Boston II (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5485) includes the deleted song “Flaemmchen (The Flame Girl)” performed by Lynette Perry, who succeeded Jane Krakowski as Flaemmchen during the Broadway run. Also during the run, screen legend Cyd Charisse made her Broadway debut when she succeeded Liliane Montevecchi, and for the national tour the 1950s screen and stage actor Anthony Franciosa played the role of the Colonel-Doctor. The London production opened on July 6, 1992, at the Dominion Theatre with Liliane Montevecchi (Grushinskaya), Brent Barrett (The Baron), and Lynette Perry (Flaemmchen). Grand Hotel’s backstory is unique because the musical folded on the road thirty-one years before it finally reached Broadway in its new version. As At the Grand, and with a book by Luther Davis and lyrics and music by Robert Wright and George Forrest, the musical premiered on July 7, 1958, at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, and then opened on August 11, 1958, at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, where it closed on September 13, 1958. The work had been scheduled to open on Broadway at the 46th Street (now Richard Rodgers) Theatre on September 25, 1958, but Paul Muni (in the role of Kringelein) wasn’t contractually committed to the musical beyond the scope of the two West Coast engagements and refused to extend his contract for New York. At the Grand was set in Rome at the Grand Roma Hotel, and here Grushinskaya is Isola Parelli (Joan Diener), an opera singer instead of a ballet dancer. Cesare Danova was the baron, and during the course of the tryout was succeeded by David Atkinson; Arthur Rubin was also in the cast, and his song “Isola” was later refashioned by Wright and Forrest as “Elena” for Kean (1961) where Rubin performed it and recorded it for that show’s cast album. When Grand Hotel began its tryout in Boston, all the songs were by Wright and Forrest, but the show was clearly in trouble right from the start and so Tune asked Yeston to step in and provide new songs, much to Wright and Forrest’s displeasure (their annoyance must have doubled when Yeston revised some of their songs). For the record, Grand Hotel retained just four songs from At the Grand: “A Table with a View,” “What You Need,” “I Waltz Alone,” and “We’ll Take a Glass Together.” The final Grand Hotel score includes eight songs by Wright and Forrest; eight by the team that include revised lyrics by Yeston; and eight by Yeston. Songs by Wright and Forrest that were dropped during the Boston tryout or during New York previews were:

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“After Autumn,” “What They Want Is Wind,” “Flaemmchen (The Flame Girl),” and “Crescendo” (the latter had been part of the score for At the Grand).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Grand Hotel); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (David Carroll); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Liliane Montevecchi); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Jeter); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Jane Krakowski); Best Director of a Musical (Tommy Tune); Best Book (Luther Davis); Best Score (lyrics and music by Robert Wright, George Forrest, and Maury Yeston); Best Scenic Designer (Tony Walton); Best Costume Designer (Santo Loquasto); Best Lighting Designer (Jules Fisher); Best Choreographer (Tommy Tune)

GYPSY Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: November 16, 1989; Closing Date: January 6, 1991 Performances: 477 Book: Arthur Laurents Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Music: Jule Styne Based on the 1957 Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. Direction: Arthur Laurents (Richard Siccardi, Assistant to Arthur Laurents); Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler, Kathy Levin, and Barry Brown (produced in association with Tokyo Broadcasting System International, Inc., and Pace Theatrical Group); Choreography: Jerome Robbins (choreography reproduced by Bonnie Walker); Scenery: Kenneth Foy; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Tony Hoty (Uncle Jocko, Kringelein), John Remme (George, Mr. Goldstone), Bobby John Carter (Clarence, Newsboy), Jeana Haege (Balloon Girl), Kristen Mahon (Baby Louise), Christen Tassin (Baby June), Tyne Daly (Rose), Ronn Carroll (Pop, Cigar), Demetri Callas (Newsboy), Danny Cistone (Newsboy), Jason Minor (Newsboy), Mace Barrett (Weber, Phil), Jonathan Hadary (Herbie), Crista Moore (Louise), Tracy Venner (June), Robert Lambert (Tulsa), Bruce Moore (Yonkers), Craig Waletzko (L.A.), Ned Hannah (Kansas), Paul Geraci (Flagstaff), Alec Timerman (St. Paul), Barbara Erwin (Miss Cratchitt, Tessie Tura), Barbara Folts (Hollywood Blonde), Teri Furr (Hollywood Blonde), Nancy Melius (Hollywood Blonde), Michele Pigliavento (Hollywood Blonde), Robin Robinson (Hollywood Blonde), Lori Ann Mahl (Agnes), Jim Bracchitta (Pastey, Boureron-Cochon), Jana Robbins (Mazeppa), Anna McNeely (Electra), Ginger Prince (Maid) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the period of the 1920s and 1930s in various cities throughout the United States.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Let Me Entertain You” (Christen Tassin, Kristen Mahon); “Some People” (Tyne Daly); “Small World” (Tyne Daly, Jonathan Hadary); “Baby June and Her Newsboys” (Christen Tassin, Demetri Callas, Bobby John Carter, Danny Cistone, Jason Minor); “Mr. Goldstone, I Love You” (Tyne Daly, Jonathan Hadary, Company); “Little Lamb” (Crista Moore); “You’ll Never Get Away from Me” (Tyne Daly, Jonathan Hadary); “Dainty June and Her Farmboys” (Tracy Venner, Robert Lambert, Bruce Moore, Craig Waletzko, Ned Hannah, Paul Geraci, Alec Timerman); “If Momma Was Married” (Crista Moore, Tracy Venner); “All I Need Is the Girl” (Robert Lambert); “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Tyne Daly) Act Two: “Toreadorables” (Crista Moore, Barbara Folts, Terri Furr, Nancy Melius, Michele Pigliavento, Robin Robinson); “Together” (Tyne Daly, Jonathan Hadary, Crista Moore); “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” (Jana Robbins, Anna McNeely, Barbara Erwin); “The Strip” (Crista Moore); “Rose’s Turn” (Tyne Daly)

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Tyne Daly’s Rose was one of the era’s most striking performances. Here was an actress making her Broadway musical debut in the Medea of musical roles, and who was following Ethel Merman who created the character in 1959 and Angela Lansbury who memorably appeared in the first Broadway revival in 1974. But Daly had nothing to worry about. Hers was a Rose of dynamic dramatic punch, a steamroller Rose who barks and bleats and bitches her way through life, alienates everyone around her, and yet still can’t figure out why she’s both alone and lonely. The critics were divided over Daly’s performance, but she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical and the revival played for 582 showings, including a return engagement. Frank Rich in the New York Times said Daly was a Rose “with a vengeance that exposes the darkness at the heart of Gypsy as it hasn’t been seen since Merman.” She “radically” altered the tone of the work from its previous 1974 revival because she was not “glamorous, sexy or sympathetic” and “could not care less if anyone likes her or not.” Rose is a “monster” and Daly was “true to the fundamental statement of the piece, which is not a pleasant one.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday praised Daly’s “bulldozer confidence,” which was a “sort of Merman with a glint of Ralph Kramden”; William A. Henry III in Time said she rivaled Merman and Lansbury “as a force of nature”; Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News said the “brassy” Daly was “dead on target for the real thing” in her depiction of the stage mother who drives her daughters “like a battering ram”; and John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said that with Gypsy Daly became an “authentic Broadway star.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that despite Daly’s “galvanic Broadway debut,” she went “through the motions with a trouper-like diligence and loving histrionic care.” Although she wasn’t “a dropdead original” Rose, she came into her own in “Rose’s Turn” in that her “ineptitude” gave the number “a poignancy it never had before” because you realized that despite her dreams and ambition Rose would never be a “sensational” performer. While Henry said Daly’s interpretation was “a force of nature,” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News felt Daly wasn’t “the Force of Nature you need for the monstrous, heroic Rose”; and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal said the star didn’t “convey the inner fire and sense of humor required” for the role. As for the musical itself, Kissel said its “solidity and power” would ensure it a long life at the St. James Theatre; Watt said the show offered “an inspired assortment of songs perfectly tailored to its book”; Winer stated Gypsy was one of the most “perfect musicals ever written”; and Rich said the “scorching” revival showed that the musical improved with age (and he noted that Jule Styne had never composed as “angry” a song as “Some People” and Stephen Sondheim had never written a lyric as “fragile and vulnerable” as “Little Lamb”). The revival ran for 476 performances (for a time Linda Lavin played Rose), and a few months after it closed Daly starred in a return engagement that opened on April 28, 1991, at the Marquis Theatre for 105 performances. The original production starred Ethel Merman and opened on May 21, 1959, at the Broadway Theatre for 702 performances, and the Lansbury revival opened on September 23, 1974, at the Winter Garden Theatre for a limited engagement of 120 performances. After the current revival, the musical opened on May 1, 2003, at the Shubert Theatre for 451 performances with Bernadette Peters; on July 14, 2007, an Encores! concert presentation at City Center for 15 performances starred Patti LuPone; and on March 27, 2008, a revival with LuPone at the St. James Theatre ran for 332 performances. The cast album of the 1959 production was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5240) and the CD (which includes deleted and unused songs) by Masterworks Broadway (CD # 88697-49406-2); the 1974 production had opened in London during the previous year (see below), and the West End cast album was issued on CD by RCA/BMG Records (# 60571-2-RG); the current production’s cast album was released by Elektra Nonesuch Records (CD # 9-79239-2); the 2003 production was recorded by Angel Records (CD # 7243-583858-2-3); and the 2008 revival was recorded by Time Life (CD # 80020-D) and includes a number of bonus tracks of cut and unused songs. The original London presentation opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on May 29, 1973, for 300 performances and starred Lansbury, Zan Charisse (Louise), and Bonnie Langford (Baby June), all of whom reprised their roles for the Broadway version. A 2015 London revival with Imelda Staunton was recorded by First Night Records (CD # CASTCD-117). The surprisingly faithful film version was released by Warner Brothers in 1962 and starred Rosalind Russell (Rose), Natalie Wood (Louise), Karl Malden (Herbie), and original cast member Faith Dane as the unforgettable Mazeppa. With the exception of “Together” (which was filmed but cut prior to the final release), the

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entire score was retained. The DVD by Warner Brothers (# 16755) includes “Together” as well as the duet version of “You’ll Never Get Away from Me,” and the soundtrack was issued by Rhino Records (CD # R273873) and has various extras, including outtake versions of five songs; a previously unreleased full version of “Dainty June and Her Farmboys”; and both “album” and “film” versions of “Rose’s Turn.” Russell’s vocals were partially dubbed by Lisa Kirk. A television version was presented by CBS on December 12, 1993, with Bette Midler; Hallmark Entertainment released an unnumbered DVD, and the CD was issued by Atlantic Records (# 82551-2). Other recordings of the score include six selections from a late 1990s German revival produced by the Theatre des Westens (Pallas Group CD # LC-6377); a jazz version by Annie Ross and the Buddy Bregman Band (Pacific Jazz CD # CDP-7243-8-33574-2-0); and perhaps the rarest of all Gypsy recordings, the South African production (circa 1976) with Libby Morris (Rose) and Bonnie Langford (Baby June). The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1960, and in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 1994. The libretto is also included in the 2014 Library of Congress hardback collection American Musicals, which includes the scripts of fifteen other shows. The lyrics are included in Sondheim’s hardback collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. Keith Garebian’s The Making of “Gypsy” was published in paperback by ECW Press in an undated edition.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (Gypsy); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Tyne Daly); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Jonathan Hadary); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Crista Moore); Best Costume Designer (Theoni V. Aldredge)

THE VICTOR BORGE HOLIDAY SHOW ON BROADWAY “A Musical Entertainment”

Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: December 5, 1989; Closing Date: December 10, 1989 Performances: 8 Producer: Music Fair Productions Cast: Victor Borge In an interview with pianist and comedian Victor Borge that appeared in the New York Times on the morning of Borge’s limited-engagement holiday visit, Harold C. Schonberg noted that the performer was “loved the world over as the premier musical comic of his time.” As for those who complained that Borge’s act was always essentially the same, Borge replied that critics missed the point because when one attended a performance of Aida was one annoyed that the arias were always the same? With Borge, life was always a comical confrontation with his piano: sometimes the piano lost, sometimes Borge lost, but the audience always won. Borge’s Broadway career spanned almost fifty years, and the current production marked his final visit there. He had first appeared on Broadway in the revised edition of the revue Crazy with the Heat, which opened at the 44th Street Theatre on January 14, 1941, for 99 performances; his Comedy in Music premiered on October 2, 1953, for 849 performances, and to this day holds the record as Broadway’s longest-running one-man revue; Comedy in Music: Opus 2 played at the Golden on November 9, 1964, for 192 showings; and Comedy with Music opened at the Imperial Theatre on October 3, 1977, for 66 performances.

CITY OF ANGELS Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: December 11, 1989; Closing Date: January 19, 1992 Performances: 878

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Book: Larry Gelbart Lyrics: David Zippel Music: Cy Coleman Direction: Michael Blakemore; Producers: Nick Vanoff, Roger Berlind, Jujamcyn Theatres, Suntory International Corporation, and The Shubert Organization; Choreography: Walter Painter; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Florence Klotz; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Gordon Lowry Harrell Cast: Movie Cast—James Naughton (Stone), James Hindman (Hospital Orderly, Mahoney), Tom Galantich (Hospital Orderly, Officer Pasco, Guard), Randy Graff (Oolie), Dee Hoty (Alaura Kingsley), Herschel Sparber (Big Six), Raymond Xifo (Sonny), Scott Waara (Jimmy Powers); The Angel City 4: Peter Davis, Amy Jane London, Gary Kahn, and Jackie Presti; Shawn Elliott (Lieutenant Munoz), Kay McClelland (Bobbi), Rene Auberjonois (Irwin S. Irving), Doug Tompos (Peter Kingsley), Carolee Carmello (Margaret, Girl), Keith Perry (Luther Kingsley), James Cahill (Doctor Sebastian Mandril), Evan Thompson (Butler, Gaines), Rachel York (Mallory Kingsley), Peter Davis (Man with Camera), Alvin Lum (Harlan Yamato), Eleanor Glockner (Margie), Jacquey Maltby (Bootsie) Hollywood Cast—Gregg Edelman (Stine), Rene Auberjonois (Buddy Fidler), Evan Thompson (Shoeshine Boy, Studio Engineer, Prop Man), Kay McClelland (Gabby), James Cahill (Gilbert, Soundman), Randy Graff (Donna), Eleanor Glockner (Anna, Hairdresser), Scott Waara (Jimmy Powers); The Angel City 4: Peter Davis, Amy Jane London, Gary Kahn, and Jackie Presti; Dee Hoty (Carla Haywood), James Hindman (Del DaCosta, Buddy’s Nephew), Shawn Elliott (Pancho Vargas), Rachel York (Avril Raines), Doug Tompos (Gerald Pierce), Keith Perry (Werner Krieger), Carolee Carmello (Stand-In), Alvin Lum (Cinematographer), Tom Galantich (Gene), Peter Davis (Clapperboy), Herschel Sparber (Studio Cop), Raymond Xifo (Studio Cop) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Los Angeles during the late 1940s.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture—“Theme from City of Angels” (Peter Davis, Amy Jane London, Gary Kahn, Jackie Presti, Studio Orchestra); “Double Talk” (James Naughton, Dee Hoty); “Double Talk” (reprise) (Rene Auberjonois, Gregg Edelman); “What You Don’t Know about Women” (Kay McClelland, Randy Graff); “Ya Gotta Look after Yourself” (Scott Waara, Peter Davis, Amy Jane London, Gary Kahn, Jackie Presti); “The Buddy System” (Rene Auberjonois); “With Every Breath I Take” (Kay McClelland); “The Tennis Song” (James Naughton, Dee Hoty); “Ev’rybody’s Gotta Be Somewhere” (Scott Waara, Peter Davis, Amy Jane London, Gary Kahn, Jackie Presti); “Lost and Found” (Rachel York); “All Ya Have to Do Is Wait” (Shawn Elliott, Alvin Lum, James Hindman, Tom Galantich); “You’re Nothing without Me” (Gregg Edelman, James Naughton) Act Two: “Stay with Me” (Scott Waara, Peter Davis, Amy Jane London, Gary Kahn, Jackie Presti); “You Can Always Count on Me” (Randy Graff); “You Can Always Count on Me” (reprise) (Randy Graff); “It Needs Work” (Kay McClelland); “With Every Breath I Take” (reprise) (James Naughton, Kay McClelland); “Funny” (Gregg Edelman); “You’re Nothing without Me” (reprise) (James Naughton, Gregg Edelman, Kay McClelland, Company) On November 14, 1980, Carol Lawson in the New York Times reported that Cy Coleman was preparing his latest musical Oh, Mike! for Broadway. The lyrics were by Michael Stewart, and the book by best-selling detective-story writer Mickey Spillane was an original mystery not based on any of his novels. In the article, Spillane said his popular private-eye antihero Mike Hammer was the musical’s central character, the show was set in New York City, and the story had “beautiful blondes” and “a great, great ending.” Cy Feuer was set to produce, and was quoted as saying Coleman wanted to compose the musical in the style of jazz idioms from the 1950s. Oh, Mike! never materialized, but nine years later Coleman’s City of Angels opened on Broadway and included a hard-boiled detective among its cast of characters. Coleman should have perhaps developed another project, for despite mostly favorable reviews and a slew of awards, City of Angels rehashed all-too-familiar

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material. Coleman must have forgotten that the classic 1953 MGM film The Band Wagon had spoofed Spillane and his brand of detective stories in the witty thirteen-minute “The Girl Hunt Ballet.” Even the forgotten 1964 revue Zizi included a detective spoof titled “La chambre” (with a scenario by mystery writer Georges Simenon) about a murderess and a detective who attempts to solve the crime before he becomes her next victim. And in 1986, the popular BBC (and later public television) series The Singing Detective by Dennis Potter looked at a mystery writer who becomes enmeshed in the fantasy world of his fictional detective. City of Angels focused on detective-mystery writer Stine (Gregg Edelman) and his fictional hero, private eye Stone (James Naughton). Stine is adapting one of his Stone novels for the big screen, and the worlds of the Hollywood studio and the film itself mesh into parallel stories. Soon Stine and Stone share a duet about their symbiotic relationship (“You’re Nothing without Me”), and Robin Wagner and Florence Klotz’s respective sets and costumes created a world of Technicolor to depict Stine’s life while the movie-within-the-musical was seen in blacks, whites, and grays. The musical revisited tried-and-true situations that were spread over two long acts, and perhaps a short one-act spoof might have been more pointed. Larry Gelbart’s book provided some good lines (as Hollywood producer Buddy Fidler, Rene Auberjonois sincerely tells Stine, “I’m your biggest fan. I’ve read a synopsis of every book you’ve ever written”), there was some clever stage business (when Stine rewrites a character’s line, the scene is in essence rewound and so the character freezes, moves backward, and talks in reverse), and Coleman’s score was pleasant but generally forgettable. Further, Hollywood had been spoofed to death as far back as George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s Once in a Lifetime (1930). And while the published script of City of Angels doesn’t seem to use the word, one or two critics noted that Stine’s office at the studio was referred to as a “cell.” Kaufman used the same conceit in his 1945 musical Hollywood Pinafore (1945), where screen writers are forced to wear black-and-white striped convict outfits and are bound and gagged during story conferences. And City of Angels never quite rang true because its conceit was less a movie-within-the-musical than it was a musical-movie-within-the-musical. There were certainly no detective movie musicals in the 1940s, but here we found fictional hero-detective Stone arrested by a cop who gloats in song over the prospect that Stone will soon visit the gas chamber (“All Ya Have to Do Is Wait”). Frank Rich in the New York Times said one would have to go back to the Broadway of the early 1960s and such musicals as How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1961) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) to find a musical as “flat-out funny” with “riotous jokes” as City of Angels. Here was an “exhilarating” show, and its score was a “delirious celebration of jazz and pop styles.” But the evening needed more dancing and “a less arbitrarily plotted and more musical second act.” Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News praised “the most brilliant of musical comedies”; Jack Kroll with Maggie Malone in Newsweek said the show was “a welcome reminder that musicals used to be called musical comedies”; William A. Henry III in Time said the musical had “the impeccably elegant fizz of champagne”; and Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal noted that the “familiar” material was “served with such relish you may think you’re seeing it for the first time.” David Patrick Stearns in USA Today liked the “tropical” sets, “stylish” direction, “wisecracking” lyrics, and the mostly “jaunty” and “dazzling” score, but noted four songs sounded like “second-rate ditties” from Coleman’s song trunk and the ending seemed like a “revenge fantasy” on Gelbart’s part. John Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor felt the show had “lots of just about everything except charm and heart.” And Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News complained that the material was too familiar but said if you’d “never seen a send-up of Hollywood before” then “maybe” City of Angels “will strike you as fresh.” The headline of Clive Barnes’s review in the New York Post said the musical was “Almost Heavenly.” It was “funny, ingenious and lots of other good things,” but it didn’t quite “work.” Here were ideas “searching for fulfillment,” and while the musical was “brilliantly pleasing on one level” it was “disappointing” on another. He also noted that Coleman’s score “rarely rises above the incidental,” with “jazzy pastiches” that were “dazzling” but “oddly unmemorable.” Linda Winer in New York Newsday said the show lasted almost three hours, at least thirty minutes “too long for its slim material.” Many of the scenes in the second act were “didactic” and “clichéd,” the well-worn genre of Hollywood spoofs had “been its own parody forever,” and the musical’s creators had a “heartbreaking inability to distinguish their best from their merely okay.” The script was published in hardback by Applause Books in 1990, and the Broadway cast album was recorded by Columbia Records (CD # 46067). The London production, which opened on March 30, 1993, at the

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Prince of Wales Theatre and played over seven months, was recorded by First Night Records (CD # CD34). In preproduction, City of Angels was known as Death Is for Suckers. Years after the premiere of City of Angels, Christopher Durang and Peter Melnick’s 2007 film noir spoof Adrift in Macao provided a decidedly more satisfying lampoon of tough film noir types and Hollywood clichés with a compact storyline, colorful characters (including nightclub owner Rick Shaw and the mysterious Tempura, who has been “battered” by life), skewed dialogue (one character tells another he’ll see him around, and the response is, “Well, it’s a small cast”), and a delicious, old-fashioned score (including the take-home tune “Ticky Ticky Tock”).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (City of Angels); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Gregg Edelman); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (James Naughton); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Rene Auberjonois); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Randy Graff); Best Director of a Musical (Michael Blakemore); Best Book (Larry Gelbart); Best Score (lyrics by David Zippel, music by Cy Coleman); Best Scenic Designer (Robin Wagner); Best Costume Designer (Florence Klotz); Best Lighting Designer (Paul Gallo)

DURANTE

“The Musical Comedy” / “Based

on the life and times of Jimmy

Durante

and featuring many of

his favorite musical compositions”

The musical opened on August 12, 1989, at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Art’s Blum Appel Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and permanently closed on November 26, 1989, at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Book: Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth Lyrics and Music: See song list for specific credits Direction: Ernest O. Flatt; Producer: The First Durante Tour Company (N. Fylan, Producer; John MacNamara, Executive Producer; Mary Murphy, Coproducer); Choreography: Toni Kaye; Scenery: Cameron Porteous; Costumes: Christina Poddubiuk; Lighting: Sholem Dolgoy; Musical Direction: Grant Sturiale Cast: Lonny Price (Jimmy Durante), Ralph Small (Coney Tony, Irving Thalberg, Radio Announcer), Evan Pappas (Eddie Jackson), B. Alan Geddes (Moe the Gimp), Joel Blum (Lou Clayton), Jane Johanson (Jeanne), Timothy French (David), Michel LaFletche (Major Domo), Melodee Finlay (Chorus Girl), Stephen Beamish (Doctor), Kim Scarcella (Autograph Seeker), Lili Francks (Waitress), Lea Parrell (Waitress), David Gibb (Sound Effects Man); Ensemble: Michael Arnold, Dale Azzard, Stephen Beamish, Patric A. Creelman, Melodee Finlay, Lili Francks, Timothy French, Susan Gattoni, B. Alan Geddes, David Gibb, Jacqueline Haigh, Michel LaFletche, Lea Parrell, Bob Riddell, Kim Scarcella, Kent Sheridan, Bernadette Taylor, Terrie Turai, Risa Waldman, Michael Whitehead The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City and Hollywood.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Grandpa’s Spells” (lyric and music by Ferd “Jelly Roll” Morton) (Ensemble); “People Will (Would) Laugh” (lyric and music by Lonny Price and Grant Sturiale) (Lonny Price); “Who Will Be with You When I’m Far Away?” (lyric and music by William H. Farrell and Jimmy Durante) (Lonny Price, Evan Pappas); “What a Day” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante) (Evan Pappas, Lonny Price, Jacqueline Haigh, Lea Parrell, Susan Gattoni); “Put Your Arms around Me, Honey” (Madame Sherry, 1910; lyric by Junie McCree, music by Harry Von Tilzer) (Jane Johanson, Bob Riddell, David Gibb); “I’ll Do the Strutaway” (lyric and music by Harry Donnelly, Jimmy Durante, and Irving Caesar) (Lonny Price, Jane Johanson); “Courtship Ballet” (music by David Krane) (Lonny Price, Jane Johanson, Ensemble); “Hello, Hello, Hello” (lyric and music by David Krane, Frank Peppiatt, and John Aylesworth) (Kim Scarcella, Melodee Finlay, Risa Wald-

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man, Terrie Turai); “Jimmy the Well-Dressed Man” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante) (Lonny Price, Evan Pappas); “Whispering” (lyric by John Schoenberger and Richard Coburn, music by Vincent Rose) (Joel Blum); “Challenge” (lyricist and composer uncredited) (Joel Blum, Evan Pappas, Lonny Price); “I Know Darn Well I Can Do without Broadway” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante) (Joel Blum, Evan Pappas, Lonny Price); “Don’t Lose Your Sense of Humor” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante and Jack Barnett) (Lonny Price); “You Gotta Start Off Each Day with a Song” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante) (Ensemble); “I Love Ya, Love Ya, Love Ya” (lyric and music by Jack Barnett, Jules Buffano, and Jimmy Durante) (Joel Blum, Evan Pappas, Lonny Price); “Bill Bailey” aka “(Won’t You Come Home,) Bill Bailey” and “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please . . . Come Home?” (lyric and music by Hughie Cannon) (Joel Blum, Evan Pappas, Lonny Price) Act Two: “I Love Ya, Love Ya, Love Ya” (reprise) (Joel Blum, Evan Pappas, Lonny Price); “Goodnight, Goodnight” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante and Jack Barnett) and “Bill Bailey” (reprise) (Joel Blum, Evan Pappas, Lonny Price); “Jeanne’s Fantasy” (lyricist, composer, and performers uncredited); “Did You Ever Get the Feeling” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante) (Lonny Price); “My One-Room Home” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante) (Lonny Price); “Partners” (lyric and music by Grant Sturiale, Frank Peppiatt, and John Aylesworth) (performers uncredited); “Who Will Be with You When I’m Far Away?” (reprise) (Lonny Price); “Inka Dinka Doo” (lyric and music by Jimmy Durante and Ben Ryan) (Lonny Price, Radio Singers); “Don’t Lose Your Sense of Humor” (reprise) (Lonny Price); “We’re the Men . . .” (lyricist and composer uncredited) (David Gibb, Michael Whitehead [possibly Michael Arnold], Michel LaFleche, Timothy French) ; “A Razz A Ma Tazz” (lyric and music by Irving Taylor and David Coleman) (Lonny Price, Ensemble); “Goodnight, Goodnight” (reprise) (Lonny Price) Durante was a showbiz biography of comedian Jimmy Durante (1893–1980) that closed during its preBroadway tryout; during the tour, the musical played in San Francisco but was forced to cut short its run there because of the October 1989 earthquake. During the tryout, the following songs were heard in the production: “September Song” (Knickerbocker Holiday, 1938; lyric by Maxwell Anderson, music by Kurt Weill); “If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)” (lyric by Henry Creamer, music by James P. Johnson); “Toot, Toot, Tootsie! (Goo’bye)” (interpolated into the musical Bombo, 1921; lyric by Gus Kahn, music by Ernie Erdman, Ted Fiorito, Robert A. King, and Dan Russo); “What Do I Have to Say?” (lyric and music by Jerry Powell); and “Llamas in the Bahamas” (lyricist and composer unknown). Another musical about Jimmy Durante (also titled Durante) opened in regional theatre in early 1982 and played at the Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles; the book and lyrics were by Frank Spiering, the music was by Richard Wolf, and the cast included Al Mancini (Durante), Barbara Sharma (Jean), and Rick Podell (Lou). The musical was set in Coney Island, Manhattan, and Hollywood during the period 1920–1950 (although most of the score was new, a few older songs were included, such as “Inka Dinka Doo” and “You Gotta Start Each Day Off with a Song,” both of which were also used in the 1989 musical).

Appendix A: Chronology (by Season)

The following is a seasonal chronology of the 250 productions discussed in this book. Musicals that closed during their pre-Broadway engagements or during New York preview performances (and, in the case of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, suddenly closed before its first scheduled Broadway preview performance) are marked with an asterisk (*) and are listed alphabetically at the end of the season in which they were produced.

1980 Canterbury Tales West Side Story Die Fledermaus Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale Censored Scenes from King Kong Heartaches of a Pussycat Reggae Happy New Year Barnum A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine Black Broadway Musical Chairs Blackstone! Billy Bishop Goes to War (*) Swing

1980–1981 Your Arms Too Short to Box with God It’s So Nice to Be Civilized The Music Man Fearless Frank Camelot 42nd Street The Student Prince Die Fledermaus Charlie and Algernon Insideoutsideandallaround with Shelley Berman

Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale Brigadoon Wish Me Mazel-Tov Banjo Dancing, or The 48th Annual Squitters Mountain Song Dance Folklore Convention and Banjo Contest . . . and How I Lost Tintypes Quick Change Perfectly Frank Onward Victoria The Pirates of Penzance Shakespeare’s Cabaret The Five O’Clock Girl Piaf Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Sophisticated Ladies Bring Back Birdie Broadway Follies Woman of the Year Aaah oui Genty! Copperfield Can-Can The Moony Shapiro Songbook Inacent Black Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (*) An April Song (*) Georgia Brown & Friends (*) Hoagy, Bix and Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus (*) One Night Stand (*) A Reel American Hero

431

432      APPENDIX A

1981–1982 This Was Burlesque Fiddler on the Roof My Fair Lady The Student Prince Song of Norway Die Fledermaus An Evening with Dave Allen Marlowe Oh, Brother! Camelot Merrily We Roll Along The First Dreamgirls Waltz of the Stork Little Me The Curse of an Aching Heart Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Pump Boys and Dinettes Little Johnny Jones The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein Is There Life after High School? Nine Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? (*) Colette (*) The Little Prince and the Aviator (*) Penny by Penny: The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge (aka A Christmas Carol) (*) Say Hello to Harvey!

The Flying Karamazov Brothers Dance a Little Closer

1983–1984 Mame La Cage aux Folles The Merry Widow Candide Zorba Amen Corner La tragedie de Carmen (aka Carmen) Marilyn Doonesbury Baby Peg The Tap Dance Kid The Rink The Human Comedy Die Fledermaus The Merry Widow Czardas Princess Shirley MacLaine on Broadway Oliver! Sunday in the Park with George The Wiz (*) Chaplin (*) Duddy

1982–1983

1984–1985

Blues in the Night Cleavage Play Me a Country Song Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Manhattan Rhythm The Merry Widow Your Arms Too Short to Box with God A Doll’s Life Cats Candide The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein Rock ‘n Roll! The First 5,000 Years Herman Van Veen: All of Him Alice in Wonderland Merlin On Your Toes Aznavour Porgy and Bess Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap Show Boat My One and Only

Candide Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Quilters The Three Musketeers Haarlem Nocturne Doug Henning and His World of Magic The King and I Streetheat Harrigan ’n Hart Leader of the Pack Take Me Along Grind Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (*) America’s Sweetheart

1985–1986 Singin’ in the Rain The Student Prince The Merry Widow

CHRONOLOGY (BY SEASON)     433

Song & Dance (two one-act musicals, the musical Song [aka Tell Me on a Sunday] and the dancemusical Dance [aka Variations]) Kismet Tango argentino La gatta Cenerentola I due sergenti Mayor Pipino il breve The News The Mystery of Edwin Drood (aka Drood) Jerry’s Girls Wind in the Willows The Robert Klein Show! Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood Uptown . . . It’s Hot! The American Dance Machine Brigadoon Juggling and Cheap Theatrics Big Deal Sweet Charity (*) My Three Angels (*) Pieces of Eight (*) Sing, Mahalia, Sing!

1986–1987 Candide Kismet Die Fledermaus Honky Tonk Nights Me and My Girl Rags The New Moon Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson Raggedy Ann Flamenco puro Into the Light A Little Like Magic Oh Coward! Smile Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” Stardust South Pacific Les Miserables Starlight Express Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre

1987–1988 Dreamgirls The Student Prince Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The Desert Song Die Fledermaus Roza Mort Sahl on Broadway! Late Nite Comic Anything Goes Cabaret Don’t Get God Started Into the Woods Teddy & Alice Penn & Teller The Phantom of the Opera Sarafina! Rodney Dangerfield on Broadway The Music Man The Gospel at Colonus Oba Oba Mail Michael Feinstein in Concert Chess Romance Romance (two one-act musicals, The Little Comedy and Summer Share) Carrie (*) Grover’s Corners (*) Satchmo

1988–1989 An Evening with Robert Klein The Merry Widow Canciones de mi padre The New Moon Ain’t Misbehavin’ Naughty Marietta Michael Feinstein in Concert: Isn’t It Romantic Legs Diamond Black and Blue Jerome Robbins’ Broadway The Pajama Game Chu Chem The Wizard of Oz Welcome to the Club Barry Manilow at the Gershwin Starmites Ghetto (*) Dangerous Music (*) Nimrod and the Tower of Babel (*) Senator Joe

1989 Elvis: A Rockin’ Remembrance The Merry Widow

434      APPENDIX A

Candide Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual Shenandoah The Desert Song Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Dangerous Games (two one-act dance-musicals, Tango and Orfeo) Takarazuka Sid Caesar & Company: Does Anybody Know What I’m Talking About?

Meet Me in St. Louis 3 Penny Opera Prince of Central Park Grand Hotel Gypsy The Victor Borge Holiday Show on Broadway City of Angels (*) Durante

Appendix B: Chronology (by Classification)

Each one of the 250 productions discussed in this book is listed chronologically within its specific classification. For more information about a show, see its specific entry. Some productions were revived more than once during the decade, and their titles are followed by the year in which they were produced (if produced more than once during a calendar year, both month and year are given). I’ve placed each production into the category I believe best defines it, but some shows fall into a gray area and technically could be classified under two or more categories. For example, the 1984 revival of Oliver! could be termed an import because the musical originated in Great Britain. The first New York production opened in 1963, and that presentation was clearly an import, but I’ve opted to classify the 1984 production as a revival. However, the 1937 British musical Me and My Girl wasn’t seen on Broadway until 1986, and because the New York production was directly based on a 1985 London revival, I’ve classified the presentation as an import. Also, the 1933 German opera Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale premiered in New York in 1980 in a new production by the New York City Opera Company, and while I’ve categorized it as an import it wasn’t directly based on an earlier European staging. Another gray-area production is the 1958 musical At the Grand, which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout. As Grand Hotel, the 1989 Broadway production had an extensively revised book and a mostly new score, and so I’ve opted to classify the show as a book musical with new music.

BOOK MUSICALS WITH NEW MUSIC (50) The following book musicals offered new lyrics and music (a few of these productions, such as Quilters, were revue-like in nature). Reggae Barnum Musical Chairs It’s So Nice to Be Civilized Wish Me Mazel-Tov Onward Victoria Bring Back Birdie Woman of the Year Copperfield Marlowe Oh, Brother! Merrily We Roll Along The First Dreamgirls 435

436      APPENDIX B

Waltz of the Stork Is There Life after High School? Nine Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? Cleavage Play Me a Country Song A Doll’s Life Merlin Dance a Little Closer La Cage aux Folles Amen Corner Marilyn Doonesbury Baby The Tap Dance Kid The Rink Sunday in the Park with George Quilters Grind Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The News Wind in the Willows Honky Tonk Nights Rags Raggedy Ann Into the Light Smile Roza Late Nite Comic Into the Woods Mail Legs Diamond Welcome to the Club Prince of Central Park City of Angels Grand Hotel

BOOK MUSICALS WITH PREEXISTING MUSIC (10) The following musicals contain mostly preexisting music (and some also include new music). Happy New Year 42nd Street Seven Brides for Seven Brothers My One and Only Harrigan ’n Hart Singin’ in the Rain Big Deal Teddy & Alice The Wizard of Oz Meet Me in St. Louis

CHRONOLOGY (BY CLASSIFICATION)     437

PLAYS WITH INCIDENTAL SONGS (2) The productions in this category are plays that include songs and incidental music. Inacent Black The Curse of an Aching Heart

REVUES (15) The productions in this category are more or less in the nature of traditional revues. Black Broadway Tintypes Perfectly Frank Shakespeare’s Cabaret Sophisticated Ladies Broadway Follies Rock ’n Roll! The First 5,000 Years Haarlem Nocturne Streetheat Leader of the Pack Jerry’s Girls Uptown . . . It’s Hot! Stardust Don’t Get God Started Elvis: A Rockin’ Remembrance

PERSONALITY REVUES (23) Personality revues are more in the nature of concert-like personal appearances by well-known performers. These revues sometimes include other entertainers, but it’s clear each production was designed to showcase the special skills and talents of a specific headliner. Insideoutsideandallaround with Shelley Berman Banjo Dancing, or The 48th Annual Squitters Mountain Song Dance Folklore Convention and Banjo Contest . . . and How I Lost (Stephen Wade) Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music An Evening with Dave Allen Herman Van Veen: All of Him Aznavour (Charles Aznavour) Peg (Peggy Lee) Shirley MacLaine on Broadway The Robert Klein Show! Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre Mort Sahl on Broadway! Penn & Teller (Penn Jillette and Teller) Rodney Dangerfield on Broadway Michael Feinstein in Concert An Evening with Robert Klein Canciones de mi padre (Linda Ronstadt)

438      APPENDIX B

Michael Feinstein in Concert: Isn’t It Romantic Barry Manilow at the Gershwin Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual Sid Caesar & Company: Does Anybody Know What I’m Talking About? The Victor Borge Holiday Show on Broadway

DANCE MUSICALS AND REVUES (3) Manhattan Rhythm Jerome Robbins’ Broadway Dangerous Games (two one-act dance musicals, Tango and Orfeo)

MAGIC REVUES (6) The following are magic and sleight-of-hand revues. Blackstone! Quick Change The Flying Karamazov Brothers Doug Henning and His World of Magic Juggling and Cheap Theatrics A Little Like Magic

REVUES AND MUSICALS THAT ORIGINATED OFF OR OFF OFF BROADWAY (9) The productions in this category played Off and Off Off Broadway in regular runs prior to their Broadway presentations; unlike showcase productions, these were widely advertised to the public and tickets were sold (in the case of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, tickets were disseminated free to the public). Musicals that were presented in limited-run showcase productions (such as How’s the House?) and were later produced on Broadway (where How’s the House? was renamed Musical Chairs) are listed as new book shows with new music (as opposed to transfers like Pump Boys and Dinettes and Chu Chem, which are here categorized as Broadway shows that originated Off or Off Off Broadway). Pump Boys and Dinettes Blues in the Night The Human Comedy Mayor The Mystery of Edwin Drood (aka Drood) The Gospel at Colonus Romance Romance (two one-act musicals, The Little Comedy and Summer Share) Chu Chem Starmites

IMPORTS (30) Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale (opera) Censored Scenes from King Kong (play with songs) Heartaches of a Pussycat (play with songs) A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (two one-act book musicals with new music) Billy Bishop Goes to War (book musical with new music)

CHRONOLOGY (BY CLASSIFICATION)     439

Fearless Frank (book musical with new music) Charlie and Algernon (book musical with new music) Piaf (play with preexisting songs) Aaah oui Genty! (puppet revue) The Moony Shapiro Songbook (revue-like musical with new music) Cats (revue-like musical with new music) Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap (play with new and preexisting music) Song & Dance (Song is a book musical with new music and Dance is a dance musical) Tango Argentino (dance revue) La gatta Cenerentola (book musical with new music) I due sergenti (play with incidental songs and music) Pipino il breve (book musical with new music) Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood (revue with preexisting music) Me and My Girl (1937 book musical) Flamenco puro (dance revue) Les Miserables (book musical with new music) Starlight Express (revue-like musical with new music) The Phantom of the Opera (book musical with new music) Sarafina! (revue-like musical with new and traditional music) Oba Oba (dance revue) Chess (book musical with new music) Carrie (book musical with new music) Black and Blue (revue with preexisting music) Ghetto (play with songs) Takarazuka (revue with mostly preexisting music)

COMMERCIAL REVIVALS (40) Canterbury Tales West Side Story Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1980) The Music Man (1980) Camelot (1980) Brigadoon (1980) The Pirates of Penzance The Five O’Clock Girl Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Can-Can This Was Burlesque Fiddler on the Roof My Fair Lady Camelot (1981) Little Me Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Little Johnny Jones Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1982) Alice in Wonderland On Your Toes Porgy and Bess Show Boat Mame Zorba Carmen (as La tragedie de Carmen and Carmen)

440      APPENDIX B

Oliver! The Wiz The Three Musketeers The King and I Take Me Along Sweet Charity Oh Coward! Dreamgirls (1987) Anything Goes Cabaret Ain’t Misbehavin’ Shenandoah Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street 3 Penny Opera Gypsy

INSTITUTIONAL REVIVALS (40) The following revivals were produced by not-for-profit institutions for limited runs. Die Fledermaus (March 1980) The Student Prince (1980) Die Fledermaus (September 1980) Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale (October 1980) The Student Prince (1981) Song of Norway Die Fledermaus (1981) The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (April 1982) The Merry Widow (1982) Candide (1982) The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (October 1982) The Merry Widow (1983) Candide (1983) Die Fledermaus (1984) The Merry Widow (1984) Czardas Princess Candide (1984) Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1984) The Student Prince (1985) The Merry Widow (1985) Kismet (1985) The American Dance Machine Brigadoon (1986) Candide (1986) Kismet (1986) Die Fledermaus (1986) The New Moon (1986) South Pacific The Student Prince (1987) Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1987) The Desert Song (1987) Die Fledermaus (1987) The Music Man (1988)

CHRONOLOGY (BY CLASSIFICATION)     441

The Merry Widow (1988) The New Moon (1988) Naughty Marietta The Pajama Game The Merry Widow (1989) Candide (1989) The Desert Song (1989)

PRE-BROADWAY CLOSINGS (22) Some musicals in this category had been booked for Broadway but closed during their pre-Broadway engagements. Others were by major Broadway writers and composers and starred Broadway performers, and clearly would have opened on Broadway had they enjoyed favorable reviews. Still others closed during New York previews and never saw an official opening night. A special case is Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, which had been scheduled to open on Broadway and play in repertory with Senator Joe; although the program (which included both productions) was printed, Nimrod closed in rehearsals and was never performed. Swing (book musical with new music) An April Song (book musical with new music) Georgia Brown & Friends (personality revue with preexisting music) Hoagy, Bix and Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus (book musical with preexisting music) One Night Stand (book musical with new music) A Reel American Hero (revue-like book musical with new music) Colette (book musical with new music) The Little Prince and the Aviator (book musical with new music) Penny by Penny: The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge (aka A Christmas Carol) (book musical with new music) Say Hello to Harvey! (book musical with new music) Chaplin (book musical with new music) Duddy (book musical with new music) America’s Sweetheart (book musical with new music) My Three Angels (book musical with new music) Pieces of Eight (book musical with new music) Sing, Mahalia, Sing! (revue-like book musical with new and preexisting music) Grover’s Corners (book musical with new music) Satchmo (book musical with new and preexisting music) Dangerous Music (book musical with new music) Nimrod and the Tower of Babel (book musical with new music) Senator Joe (book musical with new music) Durante (book musical with new music)

Appendix C: Discography

The following list represents commercially released recordings of the musicals discussed in this book, and includes cast and studio cast recordings as well as songs that appear in collections. Musicals that opened during the decade (such as Grind and Legs Diamond) are of course represented by cast albums; most City Opera revivals (including Brigadoon and The Pajama Game) were not newly recorded for their productions, but other recordings of the scores are available; the 1980 revival of Canterbury Tales wasn’t recorded, but its earlier London and Broadway productions were; and some musicals (The First and Peg) are represented in various song collections. Catalog and jukebox musicals are not included on this list (unless, like Leader of the Pack and Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood, they were recorded); moreover, shows like Perfectly Frank and Elvis: A Rockin’ Remembrance are not listed because songs written by Frank Loesser or recorded by Elvis Presley are widely available. Similarly, the unrecorded productions of Happy New Year and Little Johnny Jones are not listed because many of their songs are standards and are readily available on various recordings. For specific information about the recordings for the shows listed below, see specific entries. The criterion for inclusion on this list is that the recordings were officially on sale to the public at one time or another. Demo recordings are not included unless they were later issued for sale. Ain’t Misbehavin’ Amen Corner Anything Goes Baby Banjo Dancing, or The 48th Annual Squitters Mountain Song Dance Folklore Convention and Banjo Contest . . . and How I Lost Barnum Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Billy Bishop Goes to War Black and Blue Blues in the Night Brigadoon Bring Back Birdie Cabaret La Cage aux Folles Camelot Can-Can Canciones de mi padre Candide Canterbury Tales

Carmen (La tragedie de Carmen) Carrie Cats Charlie and Algernon (recorded as Flowers for Algernon) Chess Chu Chem City of Angels Cleavage Colette Czardas Princess Dance a Little Closer A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine The Desert Song Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? A Doll’s Life Don’t Get God Started Doonesbury Dreamgirls Fiddler on the Roof The First 443

444      APPENDIX C

Die Fledermaus 42nd Street La gatta Cenerentola The Gospel at Colonus The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein Grand Hotel Grind Grover’s Corners Gypsy Honky Tonk Nights The Human Comedy Into the Woods Is There Life after High School? Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood Jerome Robbins’ Broadway Jerry’s Girls Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat The King and I Kismet Late Nite Comic Leader of the Pack Legs Diamond Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Little Me Mame Mandy Patinkin: Dress Casual Mayor Me and My Girl Meet Me in St. Louis Merlin Merrily We Roll Along The Merry Widow Les Miserables The Moony Shapiro Songbook Musical Chairs The Music Man My Fair Lady My One and Only The Mystery of Edwin Drood (aka Drood) Naughty Marietta The New Moon Nine Oh, Brother! Oh Coward! Oliver!

One Night Stand Onward Victoria On Your Toes The Pajama Game Peg Penny by Penny: The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge (aka A Christmas Carol) The Phantom of the Opera Pipino il breve The Pirates of Penzance Porgy and Bess Pump Boys and Dinettes Rags The Rink Romance Romance Sarafina! Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Shenandoah Show Boat Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale Singin’ in the Rain Smile Song & Dance Song of Norway Sophisticated Ladies South Pacific Starlight Express Starmites The Student Prince Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweet Charity Take Me Along The Tap Dance Kid Teddy & Alice This Was Burlesque The Three Musketeers 3 Penny Opera (The Threepenny Opera) Tintypes Welcome to the Club West Side Story The Wiz The Wizard of Oz Woman of the Year Your Arms Too Short to Box with God Zorba

Appendix D: Filmography

The following list represents film, television, and home video versions of musicals discussed in this book (to be sure, some films were released in earlier decades well before the musicals were revived on Broadway during the 1980s). The 1929 film version of The Five O’Clock Girl was never released by MGM and was permanently shelved, and it seems Censored Scenes from King Kong was never shown on the BBC or released in theatres. Fearless Frank was shown on the BBC as a nonmusical prior to the time when it was reconceived as a musical. For more information about a film version, see specific entry for the musical. A few musicals that opened during the decade were based on musical films (42nd Street, Meet Me in St. Louis, Raggedy Ann [in an earlier adaptation titled Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure], Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Singin’ in the Rain, and The Wizard of Oz); with the exception of Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, all these films are, as of this writing, available on DVD. Ain’t Misbehavin’ The American Dance Machine Anything Goes Barnum Billy Bishop Goes to War Brigadoon Cabaret Camelot Can-Can Candide Cats Censored Scenes from King Kong Copperfield The Desert Song Dreamgirls Fearless Frank Fiddler on the Roof The Five O’Clock Girl The Gospel at Colonus Gypsy Into the Woods Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat The King and I Kismet

Little Johnny Jones Mame Me and My Girl (as The Lambeth Walk and Me and My Girl) Merrily We Roll Along The Merry Widow Les Miserables The Music Man My Fair Lady Naughty Marietta The New Moon Nine Oh Coward! Oliver! On Your Toes The Pajama Game The Phantom of the Opera The Pirates of Penzance Porgy and Bess Pump Boys and Dinettes Raggedy Ann (as Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure) Romance Romance Sarafina! Show Boat Song & Dance (as Tell Me on a Sunday) 445

446      APPENDIX D

Song of Norway Sophisticated Ladies South Pacific The Student Prince Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweet Charity This Was Burlesque 3 Penny Opera (as Die Dreigroschenoper and The Threepenny Opera) West Side Story The Wiz

Appendix E: Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas

With the exception of the 1981 Broadway revival of The Pirates of Penzance, which holds the record as the longest-running New York production of a work by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan and is discussed in a separate entry for the 1980–1981 season, the following is a chronological list of operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan that were revived on Broadway during the period January 1, 1980–December 31, 1989. After each title, the opening date, number of performances, name of theatre, and name of producer(s) are given. The decade saw a decline in the number of Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Of the fourteen major works by the team (and again with the exception of The Pirates of Penzance), the decade saw just two of their works presented in New York, for a total of six engagements (The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu and H.M.S. Pinafore, or The Lass That Loved a Sailor). By contrast, the Broadway of the 1940s offered nine of the team’s operettas for a total of thirty-one engagements; the 1950s saw nine operettas with nineteen engagements; the 1960s offered nine operettas for fifty-two engagements; and the 1970s presented four operettas for a total of fifteen engagements. The Mikado (September 6, 1984, six performances; New York State Theatre; The New York City Opera Company) The Mikado (July 13, 1985, twelve performances; New York State Theatre; The New York City Opera Company) The Mikado (January 13, 1987, seven performances; New York City Center; The New York Opera Repertory Theatre/A Stratford Festival of Canada Production) The Mikado (April 2, 1987, thirty-eight performances; Virginia Theatre; The New York Opera Repertory Theatre/A Stratford Festival of Canada Production) H.M.S. Pinafore (January 17, 1989, sixteen performances; New York City Center; The New Sadler’s Wells Opera Company) The Mikado (July 29, 1989, four performances; New York State Theatre; The New York City Opera Company)

447

Appendix F: Other Productions

The following selected productions that played on Broadway during the 1980s included songs, sketches, dances, or background music.

1980 Harold and Maude By Colin Higgins (Martin Beck Theatre, February 7, 1980, four performances) The lyrics, music, and “sounds” were by David Amram.

Clothes for a Summer Hotel By Tennessee Williams (Cort Theatre, March 26, 1980, fifteen performances) The background music was composed by Michael Valenti, and Anna Sokolow was the production’s dance consultant.

1980–1981 The Man Who Came to Dinner By George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart (Circle in the Square, June 26, 1980, eighty-five performances) The revival included “What Am I to Do?” (lyric and music by Cole Porter), which had been written for the original 1939 production where it was sung by John Hoysradt (as Beverly Carlton, the character inspired by Noel Coward).

Fifth of July By Lanford Wilson (New Apollo Theatre, November 5, 1980, 511 performances) The production included the song “Your Loving Eyes” (lyric and music by Jonathan Hogan).

The Philadelphia Story By Philip Barry (Vivian Beaumont Theatre, November 14, 1980, sixty performances) The background music was by Claibe Richardson. 449

450      APPENDIX F

Frankenstein By Victor Gialanella (Palace Theatre, January 4, 1981, one performance) The background music was by Richard Peaslee.

Fools By Neil Simon (Eugene O’Neill Theatre, April 6, 1981, forty performances) The background music was by cast member John Rubinstein.

The Little Foxes By Lillian Hellman (Martin Beck Theatre, May 7, 1981, 126 performances) The background music was adapted by Stanley Silverman.

I Won’t Dance By Oliver Hailey (Helen Hayes Theatre, May 10, 1981, one performance) The comedy was directed by Tom O’Horgan, who also composed the background music. The production was the final one to play the Helen Hayes Theatre before it was demolished.

1981–1982 The Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby By David Edgar (Plymouth Theatre, October 4, 1981, ninety-eight performances) The production included songs with lyrics and music by Stephen Oliver.

The West Side Waltz By Ernest Thompson (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, November 19, 1981, 126 performances) The music was supervised and arranged by David Krane; the score included music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven as well as the song “One More Waltz” (1930 film musical Love in the Rough; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh).

Othello By William Shakespeare (Winter Garden Theatre, February 3, 1982, 123 performances) The background music was by Stanley Silverman.

Medea By Euripides (adaptation by Robinson Jeffers) (Cort Theatre, May 2, 1982, sixty-five performances) The background music and “sounds” were by David Amram.

OTHER PRODUCTIONS     451

1982–1983 Foxfire By Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, November 11, 1982, 213 performances) The play included the incidental songs “Cornshucking,” “Dear Lord,” “My Feet Took t’Walkin’”, and “Sweet Talker” (lyrics by Jonathan Holtzman, Susan Cooper, and Hume Cronyn and music by Jonathan Holtzman); cut during the tryout were “I Don’t Wanna Talk about Her” and “I Wish I Knew Now.” Cast member Keith Carradine recorded songs from the production, which was later filmed for NBC’s Hallmark Hall of Fame with Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, and John Denver and was telecast on December 13, 1987.

Angels Fall By Lanford Wilson (Longacre Theatre, January 22, 1983, sixty-four performances) The background music was by Norman L. Berman.

Moose Murders By Arthur Bicknell (Eugene O’Neill Theatre, February 22, 1983, one performance) Moose Murders is perhaps the Hairpin Harmony of nonmusicals. The production’s “dance coordinator” was Mary Jane Houdina, who created the role of Young Hattie in the 1971 production of Follies.

Marcel Marceau on Broadway Pantomime sketches by Marcel Marceau (Belasco Theatre, March 9, 1983, forty-seven performances) For this production, French mime Marcel Marceau’s repertoire included both old and new sketches.

You Can’t Take It with You By George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart (Plymouth Theatre, April 4, 1983, 312 performances) The musical staging for the revival was by Reed Jones, who created the role of Skimbleshanks in the 1982 Broadway production of Cats.

All’s Well That Ends Well By William Shakespeare (Martin Beck Theatre, April 13, 1983, thirty-eight performances) The background music was by Guy Woolfenden, and the choreography was by Geraldine Stephenson.

Private Lives By Noel Coward (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, May 8, 1983, sixty-three performances) The revival included background music by Stanley Silverman.

452      APPENDIX F

1983–1984 The Glass Menagerie By Tennessee Williams (Eugene O’Neill Theatre, December 1, 1983, ninety-two performances) The revival included the background music that Paul Bowles had composed for the original 1945 production.

Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller (Broadhurst Theatre, March 29, 1984, 158 performances) The revival included the background music that Alex North had composed for the original 1949 production. The score was released by Kritzerland Records (CD # KR-20012–1).

Play Memory By Joanna M. Glass (Longacre Theatre, April 26, 1984, five performances) The background music was by Larry Grossman, who also composed one song and the background music for End of the World (see below). Both Play Memory and End of the World were directed by Harold Prince, and besides these two plays Grossman and Prince collaborated on A Doll’s Life and Grind, Grossman as composer and Prince as director; the lyrics for the latter were by Ellen Fitzhugh. Grossman and Fitzhugh also contributed four songs to the 1984 Off-Broadway revue Diamonds, which was directed by Prince.

End of the World By Arthur Kopit (Music Box Theatre, May 6, 1984, thirty-three performances) Originally titled End of the World: With Symposium to Follow (and advertised as “an explosive new play of global proportions! And you thought doom wasn’t funny!”), the background music was by Larry Grossman, and the production included the song “What Can One Man Do?” (lyric by Ellen Fitzhugh), heard in the production as a recording and sung by Marlene Ver Planck.

1984–1985 The Loves of Anatol By Arthur Schnitzler (adaptation by Ellis Rabb and Nicholas Martin) (Circle in the Square, March 6, 1985, forty-six performances) The musical staging was by Donald Saddler. The production was based on Arthur Schnitzler’s Anatol stories (including the 1893 play Anatol aka The Affairs of Anatol), which were also the basis of the 1961 Broadway musical The Gay Life (lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz). Another musical based on the Anatol stories is Anatol, which premiered in Boston just four months before The Gay Life opened on Broadway; the book and lyrics for Anatol were by Tom Jones, the music was adapted from themes by Offenbach, and the cast included Jean-Pierre Aumont and Marisa Pavan (after a 1967 production in Cincinnati, this version seems to have completely disappeared).

OTHER PRODUCTIONS     453

1985–1986 Hay Fever By Noel Coward (Music Box Theatre, December 12, 1985, 124 performances) The revival included the new song “No, My Heart” (lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander), which is included in Brent Barrett’s collection The Kander & Ebb Album (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-6044).

1986–1987 Mummenschanz By Andres Bossard, Floriana Frassetto, and Bernie Schurch (Helen Hayes Theatre, June 24, 1986, 152 performances) The revival of the Swiss mime revue originally opened on Broadway at the Bijou Theatre on March 30, 1977, for 1,326 performances, and the current production was a transfer from an Off-Broadway revival that opened on April 24, 1986, for 39 performances.

Stepping Out By Richard Harris (John Golden Theatre, January 11, 1987, seventy-two performances) The Broadway production of the British import was directed by Tommy Tune; his choreographic assistant was Marge Champion, and the musical supervision was by Peter Howard. The play included such songs as “Shaking the Blues Away” (Ziegfeld Follies of 1927; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Dancing on the Ceiling” (1930 London musical Ever Green; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers; the song had been written for and later cut from the tryout of the 1930 Broadway musical Simple Simon, where it was heard as “He Dances on My Ceiling”); and “Pick Yourself Up” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jerome Kern) The cast of the 1991 film version of Stepping Out includes Liza Minnelli, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Jane Krakowski, Andrea Martin, and Carol Woods.

Blithe Spirit By Noel Coward (Neil Simon Theatre, March 31, 1987, 103 performances) The musical arrangements were by Marvin Hamlisch, and the production included “Always” (lyric and music by Irving Berlin).

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 By John Bishop (Longacre Theatre, April 6, 1987, 136 performances) The production included original music by Ted Simons.

Sleight of Hand By John Pielmeier (Cort Theatre, May 3, 1987, nine performances) The lyric and music for the title song was by Carly Simon, who also recorded the number.

454      APPENDIX F

1987–1988 Broadway By Philip Duning and George Abbott (Royale Theatre, June 25, 1987, four performances) The revival of the 1926 play included musical staging by Donald Saddler.

A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams (Circle in the Square, March 10, 1988, eighty-five performances) The revival of the drama included incidental music by Michael O’Flaherty.

1988–1989 Kenny Loggins on Broadway (Neil Simon, November 1, 1988, eight performances) The popular singer, guitarist, and songwriter Kenny Loggins performed in a limited-engagement concert with a five-piece band and guest stand-up comic Craig Shoemaker. Note: During the decade, the following operas had their New York premieres: Philip Glass’s Satyagraha (1981); Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men (1983); Robert Ward’s Abelard and Heloise (1984); Philip Glass’s Akhnaten (1984); Anthony Davis’s X (The Life and Times of Malcolm X ) (1986); and John Adams’s Nixon in China (1987). The decade also saw a new version of Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme (adaptation and lyrics by David Spencer), which opened Off Broadway at the Public’s Anspacher Theatre in 1984. These works are discussed in my reference book Off-Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows (2010).

Appendix G: Black-Themed Revues and Musicals

The following is an alphabetical list that reflects revues and musicals that contain predominately black stories, themes, or characters, or black-related subject matter. This list includes revivals that opened during the decade. Ain’t Misbehavin’ Amen Corner Big Deal Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Black and Blue Black Broadway Blues in the Night Don’t Get God Started Dreamgirls The First The Gospel at Colonus Grind Haarlem Nocturne Honky Tonk Nights Inacent Black

It’s So Nice to Be Civilized Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Porgy and Bess Reggae Sarafina! Satchmo Show Boat Sing, Mahalia, Sing! Sophisticated Ladies The Tap Dance Kid Uptown . . . It’s Hot! Waltz of the Stork The Wiz Your Arms Too Short to Box with God

455

Appendix H: Jewish-Themed Revues and Musicals

The following is an alphabetical list of musicals discussed in this book whose subject matter is predominately Jewish in theme, plot, or character. Cabaret Chu Chem Duddy Fiddler on the Roof

Ghetto Rags Roza Wish Me Mazel-Tov

457

Appendix I: Radio City Music Hall Productions

The following productions were presented at Radio City Music Hall during the decade.

1980 (During the 1979–1980 season, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opened on October 18, 1979, for 106 performances and The Magnificent Christmas Spectacular opened on November 25, 1979, for ninety-one performances.) The Glory of Easter (March 14, 1980, fifty-six performances) A Rockette Spectacular (May 4, 1980, eighty-nine performances): The production starred Ginger Rogers (who was succeeded by Carol Lawrence) and included three new songs, “My Big Moment,” “Alike, Alike,” and “You’re at the Music Hall” (lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Donald Pippin). Rogers performed a medley of songs she introduced in stage and film musicals, including “But Not for Me” and “Embraceable You” from the 1930 Broadway musical Girl Crazy (lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin).

1980–1981 Manhattan Showboat (June 30, 1980, 191 performances): The production included “Manhattan Showboat” and “There Are No Girls Quite Like Show Girls” (lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Donald Pippin); “Right Here” (lyric by Nan Mason, music by Donald Pippin); and the bridge lyrics for a vaudeville medley were by Nan Mason. The Magnificent Christmas Spectacular (November 21, 1980, eighty-six performances) America (March 13, 1981, 122 performances): The production included “Fifty Great Places All in One Place” and “The Spirit of America” (lyrics and music by Tom Bahler and Mark Vieha).

1981–1982 Encore (March 26, 1982, 288 performances): The production included “You’re at the Music Hall” and “There Are No Girls Quite Like Show Girls” (lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Donald Pippin); “Encore” (lyric by Fred Tobias, music by Stan Lebowsky); and “Showstoppers” (lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander). The production included the sequence The Glory of Easter, which had first been presented at the Music Hall in 1933.

459

460      APPENDIX I

1982–1983 Porgy and Bess (See separate entry for this production.)

1983–1984 Five-Six-Seven-Eight . . . Dance! (June 15, 1983, 156 performances): The production’s cast included Sandy Duncan, Don Correia, Armelia McQueen, and Marge Champion; among the songs were “Five-Six-SevenEight . . . Dance!,” “It’s Better with a Band,” “Singers Protest,” “It’s Not What You Weigh,” and “She Just Loves Las Vegas!” (lyrics by David Zippel, music by Wally Harper) and “Dance” (music by Paul Jabara). The Magnificent Christmas Spectacular (November 18, 1983, ninety-two performances)

1984–1985 Gotta Getaway! (June 16, 1984, 151 performances): The production’s cast included Liliane Montevecchi, Tony Azito, Loretta Devine, and Alyson Reed; among the songs were “Gotta Getaway” (lyric and music by Glen Roven); “Here in Minipoora,” “Manhattan,” and “Take Good Care of That Lady” (lyrics and music by Marc Shaiman and Marc Elliot); and “Bubble, Bubble” and “Once You’ve Seen a Rainbow” (lyrics and music by Gene Palumbo and Chip Orton). The Magnificent Christmas Spectacular (November 16, 1984, 110 performances)

1985–1986 The Magnificent Christmas Spectacular (November 15, 1985, 120 performances): The production included “’Twas the Night before Christmas” (lyric and music by Tom Bahler); “They Can’t Start Christmas without Us” (lyric by Fred Tobias, music by Stan Lebowsky); and “My First Real Christmas” (lyric by Nan Mason, music by Don Pippin).

1986–1987 The Magnificent Christmas Spectacular (November 14, 1986, 140 performances): The production included “Christmas in New York” (lyric and music by Billy Butt).

1987–1988 The Magnificent Christmas Spectacular (November 13, 1987, 152 performances)

1988–1989 Christmas Spectacular (November 11, 1988, 166 performances): Beginning with this production, the name of the annual series was slightly altered. The Wizard of Oz (See separate entry for this production.)

1989 Takarazuka (See separate entry for this production.) Christmas Spectacular (November 10, 1989, 188 performances) (Later during the 1989–1990 season, Easter Extravaganza opened on April 11, 1990, for 26 performances.)

Appendix J: Published Scripts

The following is a list of musicals discussed in this book whose scripts were published and officially on sale to the public at one time or another (the list also includes revivals that were produced during the decade). For more information about a script, see specific entry (this appendix doesn’t include unpublished scripts). Anything Goes Barnum Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Billy Bishop Goes to War Brigadoon Cabaret La Cage aux Folles Camelot Candide Charlie and Algernon Chess City of Angels The Curse of an Aching Heart The Desert Song A Doll’s Life Fiddler on the Roof The First Die Fledermaus Ghetto The Gospel at Colonus The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein Grand Hotel Grind Gypsy Happy New Year The Human Comedy Into the Woods Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Jerry’s Girls The King and I Kismet Leader of the Pack Little Me Mame

Me and My Girl Merrily We Roll Along (see entry for specifics about the script, which was pulled from publication but not before a handful of softbound proof copies were published for internal use by the publisher) The Merry Widow Les Miserables The Moony Shapiro Songbook (published as Songbook) Musical Chairs The Music Man My Fair Lady The Mystery of Edwin Drood The New Moon Nine Oh, Brother! Oh Coward! The Pajama Game Piaf The Pirates of Penzance Porgy and Bess Quilters The Rink Romance Romance Shenandoah Show Boat Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale Smile Song of Norway South Pacific Stardust Starmites Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street 461

462      APPENDIX J

Sweet Charity Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap (published as Trafford Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap) The Three Musketeers 3 Penny Opera (The Threepenny Opera)

West Side Story The Wiz Woman of the Year Zorba

Appendix K: Theatres

For the productions discussed in this book, the theatres where they played are listed in alphabetical order. Following each theatre’s name is a chronological list of the shows that played there (for those shows that had more than one production during the decade, the entry is identified by year; if a production was presented twice during a calendar year, both month and year are given). Some productions transferred to other theatres, and entries are so noted. If a show transferred once, the notation “transfer” follows the title; if a show transferred more than once, the notation “second transfer” follows. The titles of musicals that closed during New York previews and never officially opened are notated with an asterisk. Note that Nimrod and the Tower of Babel canceled its first preview performance at the Alvin/Neil Simon Theatre and never opened (although programs had already been printed).

ALVIN THEATRE (later NEIL SIMON THEATRE)

ANTA THEATRE (later VIRGINIA THEATRE)

Merrily We Roll Along (Alvin) The Little Prince and the Aviator (*) (Alvin) Little Johnny Jones (Alvin) Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? (Alvin) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Alvin) Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1982) (Alvin) Into the Light (Neil Simon) Mort Sahl on Broadway! (Neil Simon) Nimrod and the Tower of Babel (*) (Neil Simon) Senator Joe (*) (Neil Simon)

Heartaches of a Pussycat (ANTA) Copperfield (ANTA) Oh, Brother! (ANTA) Play Me a Country Song (Virginia) Alice in Wonderland (Virginia) On Your Toes (Virginia) Carrie (Virginia) Shenandoah (Virginia) City of Angels (Virginia)

BEACON THEATRE AMBASSADOR THEATRE Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (1980) Herman Van Veen: All of Him Leader of the Pack Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre Dreamgirls (1987) Oba Oba Ain’t Misbehavin’

Elvis: A Rockin’ Remembrance

BELASCO THEATRE Your Arms Too Short to Box with God (transfer) (1980) Prince of Central Park

463

464      APPENDIX K

BIJOU THEATRE

CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE

Insideoutsideandallaround with Shelley Berman Quick Change Shakespeare’s Cabaret Aaah oui Genty!

The Robert Klein Show! An Evening with Robert Klein Ghetto Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1989)

BILTMORE THEATRE Reggae Inacent Black Doonesbury Honky Tonk Nights Stardust

CITY CENTER The Music Man (1980) The American Dance Machine

CORT THEATRE Sarafina!

BOOTH THEATRE An Evening with Dave Allen Sunday in the Park with George Michael Feinstein in Concert: Isn’t It Romantic

BROADHURST THEATRE

CRITERION CENTER STAGE RIGHT Starmites

ETHEL BARRYMORE THEATRE

The Tap Dance Kid

Is There Life after High School? Baby

BROADWAY THEATRE

EUGENE O’NEILL THEATRE

Zorba The Three Musketeers The King and I Big Deal Les Miserables

Little Me Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

46TH STREET THEATRE Nine

BROOKS ATKINSON THEATRE Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” The Victor Borge Holiday Show on Broadway

CENTURY THEATRE Banjo Dancing, or The 48th Annual Squitters Mountain Song Dance Folklore Convention and Banjo Contest . . . and How I Lost Waltz of the Stork

54TH STREET THEATRE CABARET AT STUDIO 54 Streetheat

HELEN HAYES THEATRE (210 WEST 46TH STREET) Charlie and Algernon Perfectly Frank The Five O’Clock Girl

THEATRES     465

HELEN HAYES THEATRE (240 WEST 44TH STREET) The News Oh Coward! Romance Romance Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual

IMPERIAL THEATRE Dreamgirls (1981) The Mystery of Edwin Drood (aka Drood) Cabaret Chess Jerome Robbins’ Broadway Les Miserables (transfer)

JACK LAWRENCE THEATRE Quilters

JOHN GOLDEN THEATRE A Day in Hollywood: A Night in the Ukraine Tintypes Sid Caesar & Company: Does Anybody Know What I’m Talking About?

LYCEUM THEATRE A Little Like Magic Michael Feinstein in Concert

MAJESTIC THEATRE Blackstone! Brigadoon (1980) 42nd Street (transfer) The Phantom of the Opera

MARK HELLINGER THEATRE A Doll’s Life Merlin Oliver! Grind Tango Argentino Rags Flamenco puro Rodney Dangerfield on Broadway! Legs Diamond

MARQUIS THEATRE Me and My Girl

LITTLE THEATRE

MARTIN BECK THEATRE

The Curse of an Aching Heart

It’s So Nice to Be Civilized Onward Victoria Bring Back Birdie The First The Rink Take Me Along Into the Woods Grand Hotel

LONGACRE THEATRE Harrigan ’n Hart Don’t Get God Started

LUNT-FONTANNE THEATRE Sophisticated Ladies Aznavour Peg The Wiz Doug Henning and His World of Magic Uptown . . . It’s Hot! Smile The Gospel at Colonus 3 Penny Opera

MINSKOFF THEATRE West Side Story Can-Can The Pirates of Penzance (transfer) Dance a Little Closer Marilyn The Tap Dance Kid (transfer) Sweet Charity Teddy & Alice

466      APPENDIX K

Cabaret (transfer) Canciones de mi padre Black and Blue

MOROSCO THEATRE Happy New Year Billy Bishop Goes to War The Moony Shapiro Songbook

MUSIC BOX THEATRE Mail Welcome to the Club

NEDERLANDER THEATRE Broadway Follies One Night Stand (*) Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap Amen Corner Wind in the Willows Raggedy Ann Dangerous Games

The Merry Widow (1985) Kismet (1985) Brigadoon (1986) Candide (1986) Kismet (1986) Die Fledermaus (1986) The New Moon (1986) South Pacific The Student Prince (1987) Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1987) The Desert Song (1987) Die Fledermaus (1987) The Music Man (1988) The Merry Widow (1988) The New Moon (1988) Naughty Marietta The Pajama Game The Merry Widow (1989) Candide (1989) The Desert Song (1989)

PALACE THEATRE Woman of the Year La Cage aux Folles

PLAYHOUSE THEATRE

NEW YORK STATE THEATRE

Cleavage

Die Fledermaus (February 1980) Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale (March 1980) Camelot (1980) The Student Prince (1980) Die Fledermaus (September 1980) Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale (October 1980) Fiddler on the Roof The Student Prince (1981) Song of Norway Die Fledermaus (1981) The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (April 1982) The Merry Widow (1982) Candide (1982) The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (October 1982) The Merry Widow (1983) Candide (1983) Die Fledermaus (1984) The Merry Widow (1984) Czardas Princess Candide (1984) Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1984) The Student Prince (1985)

PLYMOUTH THEATRE Piaf

PRINCESS THEATRE (later LATIN QUARTER) Censored Scenes from King Kong (Princess) Fearless Frank (Princess) This Was Burlesque (Princess) Pump Boys and Dinettes (Princess) Haarlem Nocturne (Latin Quarter) Mayor (Latin Quarter)

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL Porgy and Bess The Wizard of Oz Takarazuka

THEATRES     467

RIALTO THEATRE

TOWN HALL

Canterbury Tales Musical Chairs A Reel American Hero (*) Marlowe Blues in the Night

Black Broadway Wish Me Mazel-Tov Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

RITZ THEATRE The Flying Karamazov Brothers Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood Late Nite Comic Penn & Teller Chu Chem

ROYALE THEATRE A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (transfer) Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat The Human Comedy Song & Dance Roza

ST. JAMES THEATRE Barnum Rock ’n Roll! The First 5,000 Years My One and Only Jerry’s Girls 42nd Street (second transfer) Gypsy

SAVOY THEATRE Manhattan Rhythm

URIS THEATRE (later GERSHWIN THEATRE) The Pirates of Penzance (Uris) My Fair Lady (Uris) Show Boat (Uris; during the run of this production, the Uris was renamed the Gershwin Theatre) Mame (Gershwin) Shirley MacLaine on Broadway (Gershwin) Singin’ in the Rain (Gershwin) Starlight Express (Gershwin) Barry Manilow at the Gershwin (Gershwin) Meet Me in St. Louis (Gershwin) Grand Hotel (Gershwin) (transfer)

VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATRE La tragedie de Carmen (and Carmen) La gatta Cenerentola I due sergenti Pipino il breve Juggling and Cheap Theatrics Anything Goes

WINTER GARDEN THEATRE 42nd Street Camelot (1981) Cats

Bibliography

For the productions discussed in this book, I used source materials such as programs, souvenir programs, flyers, window cards (posters), published and unpublished scripts (including preproduction and rehearsal scripts), and recordings. In addition, many reference books were helpful in providing both information and reality checks, and these are listed below. Baxter, Joan. Television Musicals: Plots, Critiques, Casts and Credits for 222 Shows Written for and Presented on Television, 1944–1996. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997. Best Plays. As of this writing, the most recent edition of the venerable series is The Best Plays Theatre Yearbook of 2007–2008, edited by Jeffrey Eric Jenkins. New York: Limelight Editions, 2009. Bloom, Ken. American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion, 2nd Edition. New York: Schirmer Books, 1996. Bradley, Edwin M. The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. Chapman, John (editor). Theatre ’55. New York: Random House, 1955. (Note: This volume covers the 1954–1955 Broadway season.) Day, Barry (editor). Noel Coward: The Complete Lyrics. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1998. Fordin, Hugh. The Movies’ Greatest Musicals: Produced in Hollywood USA by The Freed Unit. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1975. Ganzl, Kurt. The British Musical Theatre Volume II 1915–1984. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Gottlieb, Robert, and Robert Kimball. Reading Lyrics. New York: Pantheon Books, 2000. Green, Stanley. Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. New York: Da Capo Press, 1980. Green, Stanley (editor). Rodgers and Hammerstein Fact Book: A Record of Their Works Together and with Other Collaborators. New York: The Lynn Farnol Group, 1980. Hirschhorn, Clive. The Hollywood Musical: Every Hollywood Musical from 1927 to the Present Day. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc., 1981. Kimball, Robert (editor). The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. Kimball, Robert (editor). The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. Kimball, Robert, Barry Day, Miles Kreuger, and Eric Davis (editors). The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Kimball, Robert, and Linda Emmet (editors). The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Kimball, Robert, and Steve Nelson (editors). The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Nathan, George Jean. The Theatre Book of the Year 1947–1948. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948. Norton, Richard C. A Chronology of American Musical Theatre (3 volumes). New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Sanders, Ronald. The Days Grow Short: The Life and Music of Kurt Weill. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. Seeley, Robert, and Rex Bunnett. London Musical Shows on Record 1889–1989: A Hundred Years of London’s Musical Theatre. Harrow, UK: General Gramophone Publications, 1989. Sondheim, Stephen. Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Sondheim, Stephen. Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Suskin, Steven. More Opening Nights on Broadway. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. Suskin, Steven. Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows and Careers of Broadway’s Major Composers. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

469

470      BIBLIOGRAPHY Theatre World. As of this writing, the most recent edition of this important annual is Theatre World, Volume 68, 2011– 2012, edited by Ben Hodges and Scott Denny. Milwaukee, WI: Theatre World Media, 2013. Note: Virtually all the brief newspaper quotes in this book come from the annual series New York Theatre Critics’ Reviews. Each volume includes the complete newspaper reviews of all plays and musicals that opened on Broadway during a calendar year (later volumes include Off-Broadway productions as well as occasional magazine reviews). Each review includes name of critic and publication as well as the date of the review and the headline of the review.

Index

Aaah Oui Genty!, 76–77 Abbott, Charles, 135–36 Abbott, George, 164, 385, 387 Abbott, Loretta, 190 Abbott, Tom, 3, 94 Aberbach, Julian and Jean, 401 Abrahao, Roberto, 352 Acker, Mitch, 102 Ackerman, Robert Allan, 376 Act III Communications, Inc., 401 Adams, David, 145 Adams, Lee, 71 Adams-Evans, Carolene, 285 Addinsell, Richard, 159, 161 Adler, Christopher, 158, 208 Adler, Jerry, 133, 141 Adler, Richard, 385 Adlmuller, Fred, 206 Adrian, 39 The Adventures of Duddy Kravitz, 219 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 243 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 243 Adzima, Nanzi, 63 Ain’t Misbehavin’, 372–74 Ajar, Emile, 326 Akers, Andra, 55 Akers, Karen, 127 Albee, Fred, 93 Alberghetti, Anna Maria, 255 Albert, Eddie, 165 Alchieri, Gerolamo, 258 Alden, Jerome, 341, 343 Alderfer, Eric, 96 Aldredge, Theoni V., 5, 15, 17, 40, 44, 57–58, 74, 101, 112, 161, 183, 186, 201, 321, 341, 357, 423 Aldredge, Tom, 338 Aleichem, Sholem, 94 Alexander, Cheryl, 112, 261, 398 Alexander, Cris, 116 Alexander, Jason, 107, 202, 381, 385 Alford, Larry, 265 Alfred, William, 119–20

Alice in Wonderland, 159–61 Aljoe, Tony, 298 Allan, Ted, 387 Allard, Martine, 200 Allen, Dave, 101–2 Allen, Debbie, 3–5, 279, 281, 362, 364 Allen, Guy, 389 Allen, Jay Presson, 185, 335 Allen, Lewis, 26, 174 Allen, Mana, 308 Allen, Norma Bradley, 224 Allen, Peter, 376 Allen, Ralph, 289 Allen, Ross, 299 Allen, Sarita, 285 Allen, Timothy, 167 Aller, John, 294 Alley, Laura, 371 Almy, Brooks, 288, 324, 385–86 Alperin, Y., 50 Altieri, Stefanco, 258 Alyson, Eydie, 94 Amador, Juan Jose, 301 Amaro, Richard, 381, 409 Amen Corner, 189–91 America–Italy Society, 57, 258, 261 The American Dance Machine, 274–75 American DanceMachine, Inc., 274 An American in Paris, 145, 250 American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA), 52, 164, 224, 353 America’s Sweetheart, 244–45 Ames, Leon, 415 Amos, Keith Lorenzo, 189 Amsterdam, Morey, 94 Anania, Michael, 1, 297, 324, 371, 385, 407 Anders, Darlene, 225 Anderson, Arthur, 5 Anderson, Elman, 81 Anderson, Keith, 413–14 Anderson, Leroy, 185 Andersson, Benny, 357 471

472      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS And Now, Noel Coward, 306 Andreas, Christine, 312 Andres, George Lee, 162 Andrew, Thomas, 5, 44, 101, 289, 326 Andrews, George Lee, 284 Andrews, Jennifer Lee, 343 Andrews, Nancy, 117 Andreyko, Helena, 299, 401 Andrini, Kathy, 217 Andrisano, Gui, 11 Angela, June, 231 Anker, Charlotte, 57 Annie, 211 Anouilh, Jean, 86 ANTA, 52, 164, 224, 353 Anthony, Eugene J., 164 Antoon, A. J., 201 Anything Goes, 331–34 Apollo Group, 51 Applause, 75 Applegate, Christina, 282 An April Song, 86–87 Archbold, Schellie, 289 Archer, Jeri, 117 Archer, Julie, 350 Ard, Ken, 409 Ariel, Raymond, 50 Arlen, Harold, 389 Arlt, Lewis, 65 Armen, Rebecca, 160 Armitage, Richard, 291 Armstrong, Louis, 366–67 Armstrong, Vanessa Bell, 337 Arnell, Patricia, 136 Arnold, Barry, 120 Aron, Solo-Moise, 50 Arons, Ellyn, 265 Aronson, Boris, 94, 334 Aronson, Henry, 393 Aronstein, Martin, 25, 87 Arouet, François-Marie, 153–54, 186, 221, 287, 403 Arsenault, Darlene, 304 Arthur, James, 231 Arthur Shafman International, Ltd., 47, 54, 76 Asbury, Claudia, 217–18 Asbury, Cleve, 3, 233 Asher/Krost Management, 370 Ashman, Howard, 308 Assaf, Michele, 231, 393 Astaire, Adele, 175 Astaire, Fred, 175–76 Astor, Mary, 415 Atherton, William, 15 Atkins, Cholly, 378, 380 Atkins, Nikki Feirt, 275 Atkinson, Brooks, 80, 154–55, 165, 255 Atkinson, David, 80, 422 Atkinson, Rowan, 298–99 Attenborough, Richard, 121

Atwell, Rick, 231 Auberjonois, Rene, 426 Aubert, Jeanne, 333 Augustin, Lynn, 367 Aulisi, Joseph G., 193, 319, 381 Austin, Beth, 57 Austin, Ivy, 299, 324 Avera, Tom, 74 Avian, Bob, 112, 321 Aylesworth, John, 428 Azenberg, Charles, 166–67 Azenberg, Emanuel, 116, 212, 319, 372, 381 Aznavour, 166–67 Babatunde, Obba, 11, 32–33, 112 The Babe, 110 Baby, 196–98 Bacall, Lauren, 74–76 Backus, Richard, 105 Baerg, Theodore, 288–89, 326 Baffa-Brill, Diana, 181 Baier, Frank, 261 Bailey, Adrian, 376, 418 Bailey, Bernard, 174 Bailey, Dennis, 235 Bailey, Hillary, 90 Bailey, Melissa, 193 Bailey, Obie, 174 Baird, Quin, 279, 376 Bajano, Valeria, 257 Baker, Raymond, 126 Baker, Rita, 141 Baker, Word, 123 Bakula, Scott, 355, 360–61 Balanchine, George, 164–65 Baldwin, Bryant, 231 Baldwin, James, 189 Ball, Lucille, 183 Ball, Michael, 223, 316 Ballard, Kaye, 117 Balmain, Pierre, 13–14 Balzac, Honore de, 9 Ban, Akira, 410 Banderas, Antonio, 129 Bandier, Martin, 156 The Band Wagon, 145, 250 Banjo Dancing, or The 48th Annual Squitters Mountain Song Dance Folklore Convention and Banjo Contest . . . and How I Lost, 51–52 Banks, Ernie, 337 Baral, Vicki, 299, 353 Barandes, Janice, 261 Barandes, Martin, 261, 362 Baranski, Christine, 214, 340 Barbara Cook / A Concert for the Theatre, 319–20 Barber, Jean, 254, 288 Barbour, Thomas, 89 Barcelo, Randy, 259, 372, 398 Barden, Doug, 367

INDEX     473 Bargonetti, Steve, 84 Barkan, Mark, 115 Barker, Sheila D., 272 Barnes, Clive, 2–4, 9–12, 15–16, 20, 24, 27, 37, 39, 42, 46, 49, 52–53, 57–58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80–81, 83–85, 102–3, 105–6, 109, 111, 113–15, 117–19, 121–22, 124, 126, 128, 131, 140, 142, 144, 148, 150, 152, 158–59, 161, 163, 169, 171–72, 175–78, 183–84, 188, 190, 192, 194–95, 197, 199, 201, 203, 205, 209, 211, 213, 216, 226–29, 231, 234, 236, 238, 241, 243, 248–49, 253, 257, 260, 262, 264, 267–69, 271, 274, 276–77, 279, 281, 291–93, 295–96, 299–300, 302–3, 305, 307, 309, 313, 315, 318, 323, 327–30, 332, 337, 342–43, 345–46, 348, 353–54, 356, 359, 361, 364, 378, 380, 384, 388, 391, 394–95, 404, 406, 409–10, 412, 414–15, 417, 422, 424, 427 Barnes, Elaine, 25 Barnes, Irving, 267 Barnes, Rob, 156 Barnum, 15–17 Barnum, H. B., 31, 147 Baron, Evalyn, 36, 200, 224, 242 Barr, Kathy, 326 Barre, Gabriel, 393 Barrett, Brent, 3, 422 Barrett, James Lee, 405 Barrett, Joe, 299 Barrett, Lorraine, 120 Barry, B. H., 241, 408 Barry, Gene, 183–84 Barry, John, 133 Barry, Philip, 13, 15 Barry Manilow at the Gershwin, 392 Barrymore, John, 421 Barrymore, Lionel, 421 Barton, Steve, 344 Bartsch, Michael, 365 Baruch, Steven, 343 Basile, Giovan, 257 Baskerville, Patricia, 167 Bastos, Soraya, 352 Bates, Kathy, 133 Bathe, Clare, 84 Batten, Tom, 79 Battle, Hinton, 69, 71, 200–201, 312 Batutis, Dennis, 34, 79 Bauer-Theussl, Franz, 207 Baum, L. Frank, 215, 389 Baum, Vicki, 420 Bautier, Michele, 311 Bayer, Patricia, 261 Beach, Gary, 81, 135, 185, 195 Beal, John, 319 Beame, Abraham, 260 Bean, Reathel, 195 Beane, Douglas Carter, 250 Beasley, Kenyatta, 367 Beaton, Cecil, 96 Beatts, Ann, 235

Beatty, John Lee, 63, 119–20, 126, 160, 196, 343, 372 Beatty, Talley, 31–32, 147 Beaubian, Susan, 289, 321 Beaufort, John, 5, 14, 16, 20, 22, 25, 27, 46, 53, 57, 60, 62, 64, 70, 76–78, 85, 95, 97, 102–3, 108, 111, 115, 118–19, 126, 128, 140, 152, 161, 163, 166, 172–73, 175–76, 185, 189–90, 192, 194, 196, 201, 205, 209, 216, 225, 227–28, 231, 243, 249, 253, 257, 260, 264, 269, 271, 273, 277, 281, 292–93, 296, 305, 307, 309, 312, 315–16, 320, 331, 335, 337, 339, 342–43, 348, 351, 353, 355, 359, 363, 378, 384, 388, 394, 406, 414, 417, 424, 427 Bebeto, 352 Becaud, Gilbert, 326 Becker, Kitzi, 47 Beckman, Donald, 153, 186 Beddow, Margery, 267 Beechman, Laurie, 120, 396 Beers, Francine, 119 Beery, Wallace, 421 Behr, Randall, 191 Beicola, 352 Beiderbecke, Bix, 88–89 Beigelman, Mark, 127, 200 Bekins, Richard, 13 Belden, Ursula, 224 Bell, Vanessa, 112 Belland, Bruce, 54 Belson, Jerry, 308 Belwin Mills Publishing Corp., 68 Belzer, Rick, 86, 102 Benanti, Laura, 340 Ben-Ari, Neal, 327, 357 Benati, Laura, 129 Benet, Stephen Vincent, 143 Benham, Dorothy, 381 Beniades, Ted, 218 Benichou, Maurice, 191 Benjamin, P. J., 45–46, 69, 267 Bennett, Michael, 112–14, 321, 357 Benson, Jodi, 308, 390, 396 Benson, Sally, 413 Bentley, Robert, 402 Bentley, Ronald, 186, 251, 370 Berg, Amelie, 10 Berg, Barry, 23 Bergesio, Franco, 258 Bergeson, Scott, 99, 146, 156, 186, 254, 287, 374, 403 Berglund, Michael, 316 Berkeley, Busby, 40 Berlin, Irving, 9, 385 Berlind, Roger, 201, 277, 372, 381, 426 Berlind, Roger S., 68, 127 Berlingieri, Osvaldo, 256 Berman, Gail, 120 Berman, Marjorie, 224 Berman, Shelley, 47 Bernardi, Herschel, 94–95, 188 Bernhard, Arnold, 233 Bernhardt, Melvin, 126

474      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Bernstein, Douglas, 259 Bernstein, Elmer, 161 Bernstein, Leonard, 3–4, 153, 155, 186, 221, 287, 402–3 Beron, Elba, 256 Berry, Mary Sue, 39 Bertacca, Uberto, 258 Bert Stratford Productions, 231 Beruh, Joseph, 73 Besser, Gedalia, 394 Beudert, Mark, 323, 375–76, 403 Bevan, Alison, 289, 326 Bibb, Leon, 68 Biddle, Christine Mortimer, 231 Big Apple Circus, 15 Big Deal, 277–79 Bigelow, Susan, 126, 302–3, 313–14 Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 241–43 Bigsby & Kruthers, 51 Bilabel, Barbara, 207 Bilik, Jerry, 367 Biller, Kenneth, 353 Billig, Robert, 247, 314 Billings, James, 125, 156, 221, 255, 326, 371 Billings, Jef, 229 Billington, Ken, 6, 13, 47, 55, 77, 94, 96, 139, 148, 153, 186, 208, 217, 221–22, 225, 239–41, 270, 287, 304, 311, 324, 326, 329, 403, 410, 413 Billion Dollar Baby, 381 Billy Bishop Goes to War, 26–27 Bingo!, 110 Binotto, Paul, 89, 222 Birch, Patricia, 153, 186, 221, 287, 299, 326, 390, 401, 403 Bircher, Betsy, 269, 369 The Birdcage, 185 Birkenhead, Susan, 284 Bishop, Billy, 26 Bishop, Randy, 11 Bishop, Ronald, 86 Bissell, Richard, 385, 387 Bittner, Jack, 123 Bizet, Georges, 191 Bizyk, Reizi, 50 Bjornson, Maria, 344–46 Black, David, 36 Black, Don, 133, 161, 252 Black and Blue, 257, 378–80 Black Broadway, 20–23 Blackinton, David, 27 Blackstone!, 25–26 Blackstone, Gay, 25 Blackstone, Harry, 25–26 Blackstone Magik Enterprises, Inc., 25 Blackwell, Charles, 199 Blagaich, Rosalie, 370 Blake, Eubie, 23 Blake, Josephine, 203, 282 Blake, Josh, 204, 294 Blake, Richard H., 418–19 Blake, Robin, 405

Blakemore, Michael, 426 Blane, Ralph, 413 Blank, Larry, 57, 77, 131, 341 Blasetti, Pamela, 329 Blau, Eric, 67 Blau, Renee, 193 Blaymore, Enid, 23 Blazer, Judy, 133 Blevins, 25 Blitenthal, D., 50 Blitzstein, Marc, 417–18 Bloch, Ivan, 52, 196, 412 Bloch, Sonny, 412 Blount, Helon, 24, 74 Blue, Peggie, 193, 215 Blues in the Night, 139–40 Blum, Joel, 428 Blume, Robert R., 102 Blumenkrantz, Jeff, 416 Blunt, Emily, 340 Blyth, Ann, 44, 255 Bo, Facundo, 10 Bobby, Anne Marie, 204, 308 Bobley, Peter A., 110 Bocanha, Luis, 352 Bock, Jerry, 94 Bodine, Mark, 54 Bodo, 398 Boetticher, Budd, 376 Bogaev, Paul, 316, 357 Bogan, Karne, 120 Bogardus, Stephen, 3 Bogart, Humphrey, 284 Bogart, Neil, 110 Bogyo, Peter, 393 Boles, John, 325 Bolger, Ray, 165 Bolton, Guy, 63, 208, 331 Bond, Chris, 170–71 Bond, Christopher, 222, 324, 407 Bond, Louis G., 285 Bonvissuto, Bruce, 27 Boockvor, Steven, 89 Bookman, Kirk, 284 Boone, Debby, 143–44 Borge, Victor, 425 Borges, Yamil, 327 Borodin, Alexander, 254, 288 Boros, Frank J., 61 Borracha, 352 Borstelmann, Jim, 385 Bortnick, Evan, 191 Bosquet, Thierry, 289, 326 Bostwick, Barry, 132, 244 Bottari, Michael, 418 Boublil, Alain, 314, 316 Boudreau, Robin, 59 Bourneuf, Stephen, 73, 418 Bova, Joseph, 40

INDEX     475 Bove, Mark, 3 Bowab, John, 181, 281 Bowden, Joyce Leigh, 156 Bowen, Will, 298 Bowers, Clent, 233 Boyd, Julianne, 57, 59 Boyd, Julie, 86 Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Newark, Inc., 350 Bradford, Alex, 31, 147 Bradley, Edwin M., 64 Bragin, Ted, 27 Braham, David, 232 Bramble, Mark, 15–17, 40, 225–26, 284 Brand, Gibby, 116 Brasington, Alan, 61 Braun, Patricia, 158 Braun, Ralph, 34 Braunstein, Alan, 210 Brawley, Betty, 25 Brazelton, Conni Marie, 337 Brecher, Irving, 413 Brecho, 352 Brecht, Bertolt, 416 Brel, Jaques, 67–68 Brennan, Eileen, 231 Brennan, James, 267 Brennan, Maureen, 123–24, 311 Breslin, Tommy, 79 Brett, Jason, 51 Breuer, Lee, 350–51 Brian, Donald, 147 Brickhill, Joan, 413–14 Brickhill-Burke Productions, 413 Bricusse, Leslie, 136 Bridge, Andrew, 209, 344, 346 Brigadoon, 48–50, 275–76 Briggs, Bunny, 378 Briggs, John R., 141 Brightman, Sarah, 253, 344, 346 Bring Back Birdie, 71–73 Brisson, Frederick, 177 Broad, Jay, 141 Broadhurst, Jeffrey Lee, 381 Broadway Follies, 73–74 Brocksmith, Roy, 27 Brode, David B., 338 Broder, J. Scott, 412 Broderick, George, 289 Broderick, Matthew, 35 Bronfman, Edgar M., 27 Bronskill, Reginald, 405 Bronson, Marty, 285 Brooks, David, 81 Brooks, Donald, 177 Brooks, Peter, 191–92 Brosten, Harve, 360 Brown, Anne, 169 Brown, Barry, 183, 423 Brown, Candy, 239

Brown, Dave, 36 Brown, Georgia, 87–88, 327, 416–17 Brown, Jeb, 71 Brown, Julius Richard, 31, 147 Brown, Ka-Ron, 156 Brown, Nacio Herb, 247 Brown, Ralph, 378 Brown, Rita, 283 Brown, Ruth, 140, 189, 378, 380 Brown, Slade, 71 Brown, Vanessa, 392 Brown, William F., 215 Brown, Zack, 164, 369 Browne, Robert M., 57 Browning, Susan, 242 Brubaker, Robert, 349 Bruck, Arnold, 193 Bruneau, Ralph, 195 Brunetti, David, 140 Brush, Bob, 110 Bryan, Wayne, 244 Brynner, Kathy Lee, 230 Brynner, Yul, 230–31 Bubbles, John W., 21–22 Buchholz, Fred, 122 Buchholz, Horst, 133 Buck, Denis, 305 Buckley, Betty, 153, 252, 263, 312, 362, 365 Buckley, Robert A., 171 Bucksey, Colin, 8 Buell, Bill, 110, 390 Buffaloe, Katharine, 77, 120 Bufman, Zev, 3, 48, 103, 110, 120, 198, 261, 265 Bulmash, Jay S., 360 Bunce, Alan, 356 Bunnell, Jane, 251 Bunt, George, 90 Burbridge, Ed, 11 Burbridge, Edward, 367 Burch, Shelly, 127 Burge, Gregg, 69, 252 Burke, Louis, 413 Burmester, Leo, 314 Burney, Steve, 36 Burns, Karla, 171–72 Burrell, Deborah, 112, 291 Burrell, Teresa, 289 Burroughs, Lisa, 285 Burrows, Abe, 79–80 Burt, John, 393 Burton, Kate, 160 Burton, Richard, 37, 39, 86, 106 Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre, 396 Busby, Michelle, 304 Busch, Ernest, 417 Bussert, Meg, 34–35, 39, 48–49, 105 Butler, Gerald, 346 Butler, Michael, 11 Butler, Rhoda, 131

476      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Button, Jeanne, 244, 401 Buzzell, Edward, 124 Bye Bye Birdie, 72 Byers, Michael, 218 Byrd, Debra, 227, 392 Byrne, Barbara, 212 Byrne, Richard, 402 Caballero, Christophe, 381 Cabaret, 334–36 Cable, Howard, 218 Cacoyannis, Michael, 187–88 Caddick, David, 344 Cadiff, Andrew, 353 Cady, David, 107 Caesar, Sid, 117, 411–12 Caffey, Marion J., 259 Cagan, Steven, 87 La Cage Aux Folles, 183–86 Cahill, James, 426 Cahn, David, 183 Cahn, Sammy, 86, 366 Caird, John, 314 Caldwell, Zoe, 132 Cale, Bennett, 393 Calhern, Louis, 44 Calhoun, Jeff, 143 Callahan, Dennis, 183 Callan, Chris, 325 Callaway, Liz, 196, 225, 227, 330, 366 Camelot, 37–40, 105–6 Cameron Mackintosh, Inc., 252 Campana, Joyce, 297, 324, 370–71, 385, 402, 407 Campbell, Bill, 389 Campbell, David, 289 Campbell, Patton, 42, 98, 250, 323 Can-Can, 79–81 Canciones de Mi Padre, 370–71 Candide, 153–55, 186–87, 221, 287–88, 402–3 Cannon, Reuben, 337 Canterbury Tales, 1–3 Cantone, Mario, 330 Cantor, Arthur, 88, 270, 298 Cantor, Eddie, 330 Cantrell, Roger, 191 Capone, Al, 244–45 Capone, Clifford, 135 Cara, Irene, 374 Cara, Jim, 27 Carcano, Emilio, 9 Carey, David, 50, 319 Carey, Ron, 123 Cariou, Len, 177–78, 341, 343 Carl, Barry, 98 Carle, Cynthia, 126 Carlisle, Kevin, 25, 392 Carlisle, Kitty, 100 Carmichael, Hoagy, 88–89 Carnelia, Craig, 125–27

Caron, Leslie, 133 Carosi, Mauro, 257 Carpenter, Constance, 2 Carpenter, Larry, 393 Carr, Allan, 183 Carr, Catherine, 15 Carragher, Bernard, 174 Carrasco, Manuela, 301 Carrie, 361–65 Carriere, Jean-Claude, 191 Carroll, Danny, 40 Carroll, David (David-James), 121, 143, 267, 357–59, 420 Carroll, Diahann, 22 Carroll, Lewis, 159 Carroll, Ronn, 141, 423 Carroll, Vinnette, 31, 147 Carten, Bob, 115 Carter, Bobby John, 423 Carter, Helena Bonham, 224 Carter, Nell, 21–23, 361, 372–73 Carter, Rosanna, 83 Cartwright, Mindy, 381 Carvalho, Nilze, 352 Caryl, Jeanne, 37, 105 Casanave, Carolyn, 244 Case, Ronald, 418 Casnoff, Philip, 357–59 Cason, Barbara, 307 Cason, Yvette, 396 Cason, Yvette Louise, 321 Cassel, Walter, 325 Cassidy, Jack, 50, 165 Cassidy, Patrick, 235 Cassidy, Shaun, 396 Castel, Nico, 156 Castelli, Victor, 381 Castle, Joyce, 155, 186, 223, 275, 324 Castles, Lynn, 25 Cates, Gene, 231 Cathey, Dalton, 307 Catlett, Mary Jo, 141 Cats, 151–53 Cava, Frank, 376 Cavett, Dick, 274 CBS, 299 Cea, Patrick, 99 Ceballos, Arthur, 370 Ceballos, Rene, 151, 409 Cedar, Larry, 88 Censored Scenes from King Kong, 8–9 Cervantes, Yvonne, 370 Cerveris, Michael, 223 Cesario, Michael J., 23 Chadman, Christopher, 125, 156, 161, 166, 277, 355, 376 Chakiris, George, 4, 255 Chalmers, Cary, 102 Chalmers, Toni-Maria, 272 Chamberlain, Douglas, 283 Champion, Gower, 40–42

INDEX     477 Champion, Marge, 366 Champion, Tom, 86 Chan, Donald, 334 Chan, Eric Y. L., 331 Chandler, Jamie Beth, 362 Chanel, Lili, 93 Chaney, David, 396 Chaney, Lon, 378 Channing, Carol, 118 Channing, Stockard, 203 Chaplin, 217–18 Chapman, David, 110, 141, 187, 227, 334 Chapman, Gary, 277 Chapman, John, 154, 375 Chappell, Vickie D., 32 Charisse, Cyd, 50, 422 Charisse, Zan, 424 Charlie and Algernon, 45–47 Charlton, T. C., 393 Charmoli, Tony, 74 Charnin, Martin, 110, 412 Chartwell Communications, Inc., 101 Chase, L. Everett, 413 Chase, Lonnie, 413 Chase, Mary, 136 Chastain, Don, 177 Chatfield, Emily Knapp, 224 Chaucer, Geoffrey, 1 Cheek, JEan, 189 Chekhov, Anton, 18 Chen, Lynn, 313 Chen, Tina, 201 Chenoweth, Kristin, 35 Chéri, 133 Cherry, Dorothy, 13 Cherry, Nora, 231 Chess, 357–59 Chevalier, Maurice, 80, 147 Chew, Bruce, 123 Child, Alan, 5 Childs, Kirsten, 265 Chita, 352 Cho, Irene, 381 Christian, Robert, 65 A Christmas Carol, 135–36 Chryst, Gary, 6, 47 Chu Chem, 387–89 Chwatt, Richard, 200 Ciccone, Sandra, 304 Cilento, Wayne, 55, 196, 265, 277, 396 Cindy Pritzker, Inc., 247 Circle in the Square Theatre, 269, 369, 394, 407 Citadel Theatre, 218, 284 Citarella, Joseph A., 99 City of Angels, 425–28 Ciulla, A. C., 316 Clarey, Cynthia, 191 Clark, James, 6, 47, 254, 288, 349 Clark, Peggy, 23

Clark, Ron, 310 Clarke, Caitlin, 170 Clarke, Charlene, 304 Clarke, Gerald, 85, 97, 121–22, 166, 185, 302 Clarke, Hope, 239 Clayton, Jan, 231 Clayton, Philip, 316 Cleavage, 141 Cleaver, Robin, 162 Clement, Maris, 186, 403 Clemente, Rene, 151 Clifton, John, 319–20 Close, Glenn, 15 Coates, Edith, 155 Coates, Norman, 261, 418 Cobb, 110 Cochren, Felix E., 83, 189 Coco, James, 116–17 Coe, Peter, 209, 211 Coe, Richard, 367 Cogan, David, 11 Coghill, Nevill, 1 Cohan, George M., 123, 234 Cohan, Jamey, 63 Cohen, Alexander H., 18, 191 Cohen, Douglas M., 218 Cohen, Jamie, 99, 381 Cohen, Jason Steven, 204, 263 Cohen, Jay J., 83 Cohen, Lawrence D., 361, 365 Cohen, Ron, 24, 32, 37, 55, 73–74, 83, 103, 105, 122, 140, 142, 159, 182, 209, 211, 216, 225, 228–31, 234, 260, 269, 299, 303, 305, 307, 309, 332 Cohen, Steven A., 348 Cohenour, Patti, 263, 344 Colaneri, Joseph, 186, 221–22, 250–51, 254, 275, 287–88, 297, 323–24, 326, 349, 370–71, 374, 385, 402–3, 407 Cole, Gilbert, 135 Cole, Newton, 274 Cole, Nora, 147 Coleman, Charles, 139 Coleman, Charles H., 215 Coleman, Cy, 15, 17, 116–17, 279, 281, 390–91, 426, 428 Coleman, Felicia Y., 285 Coleman, Jim, 181, 297, 323–24, 371 Coleman, Marilyn, 337 Coleman, Robert, 80, 155 Coles, Charles “Honi,” 21, 176 Colette, 131–33 Colette Collage, 132–33 Colker, Jerry, 353, 355 Collins, Joan, 121 Collins, Pat, 196, 244, 372 Collins, Rise, 140 Collins, Stephen, 8 Colson, Kevin, 336, 357 Colston, Robert, 40 Colt, Alvin, 73 Columbia Artists Theatricals Corp., 25

478      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Columbia Pictures Stage Productions, Inc., 161 Comden, Betty, 148, 247 Comin’ Uptown, 135–36 Comissiona, Sergiu, 313, 323–24, 326, 349 Committed Artists Production, 347 Compagnie Philippe Genty, 76 Conaway, Jeff, 261 Concert Productions International, 401 Concheta, 352 Condon, Bill, 114 Cone, Michael, 48, 294 Conforti, Tony, 102 Congdon, James, 196 Conklin, John, 125, 131, 156 Connecticut Theatre Foundation, Inc., 86 Connell, Gordon, 242 Connell, Jane, 181, 291 Conniff, Richard, 309 Connolly, Michael, 77 Conried, Hans, 255 Conroy, Jarlath, 395 Constant, Marius, 191 Cook, Barbara, 319–20, 365 Cook, Carole, 40 Cook, Jill, 55 Cook, Roderick, 74, 305 Cook, Victor Trent, 393 Cooke, Malcolm, 193 Cooke, Sally, 67 Coombs, Kristi, 193 Cooper, Chuck, 189 Cooper, Marilyn, 75–76 Cooper, Pamela, 235 Cooper, Patricia, 224 Cooper-Hecht, Gail, 329 Copes, Juan Carlos, 256 Copperfield, 77–79 Corbeil, Claude, 125 Corden, James, 340 Corio, Ann, 93–94 Corliss, Richard, 195–96, 201, 214 Correia, Don, 55, 117–18, 166, 247, 249 Corry, John, 2, 47, 77, 90 Corsaro, Frank, 32, 254, 288 Corsini, Attilio, 258 Cortes, Jose, 301 Cortinovis, Jean, 68 Cosmo, Eleonora, 258 Cossa, Dominic, 5, 43, 98, 101 Costa, Mary, 155 Costa-Greenspon, Muriel, 125, 187, 298, 313, 349–50, 403 Costallos, Suzanne, 187 Cothran, Robert, 289 Cotillard, Marion, 129 Coughlin, Bruce, 126 Courson, Robert, 176, 412 Cousins, Michael, 289, 324, 326, 407 Cowan, Irv, 198

Cowan, Marge, 198 Coward, Noel, 305–7 Cox, Catherine, 61, 89, 196, 305, 307 Cox, Veanne, 308 Craig, Noel, 177 Crain, Stephen, 110, 141 Cranshaw, Bob, 84 Crawford, Ellen, 130 Crawford, Joan, 421 Crawford, Michael, 17, 46, 344–46 Cribbins, Bernar, 333 Crigler, Lynn, 63, 123, 237 Crinkley, Richmond, 52 Criswell, Kim, 311, 334 Critt, C. J., 115 Crivello, Anthony, 261–62, 314 Cronin, Dan, 57 Crook, Mervin, 43, 98 Crosby, Bing, 333 Crosby, Kim, 265, 338, 340 Cross, Glen, 341 Crothers, Sam, 239, 259, 326, 420 Crouse, Russell, 331 Crouse, Timothy, 331 Crowe, Russell, 316 Crowningshield, Keith, 420 Crowther, Bosley, 325 Crumb, Ann, 129, 296 Crutchfield, Will, 251, 289, 323, 375, 403, 407 Cruz, Penelope, 129 Cryer, David, 325 Cry for Us All, 119 Cucchiara, Tony, 260 Cuervo, Alma, 8, 126, 224 Cuka, Frances, 210 Cullman, Joan, 89, 103, 201 Cullum, John, 405 Cummings, Alan, 336 Cummings, Claudia, 251 Cummins, Rick, 134 Cumpsty, Michael, 214 Cunningham, Billy, 102 Cunningham, Dennis, 2, 9, 14, 19, 46, 49, 58, 66, 78, 80, 83–85, 97, 103, 105–6, 108, 120–21, 126, 129, 131, 144, 150, 161, 169–71, 173, 177–78, 185, 189, 191–92, 194– 96, 198–99, 201, 203, 205, 209, 214, 216 Curlee, Karen, 25 Curran, Homer, 99 Curry, Jack, 312, 320, 323 Curry, John, 48, 316, 318 The Curse of an Aching Heart, 119–20 Curt, Fred, 143 Curtis, Ann, 291 Curtis, June, 193 Curtis, Keene, 132 Curtis, Richard, 298 Curtis-Hall, Vondie, 84, 112 Cusanelli, Joseph, 79

INDEX     479 Cutler, John, 341 Cuzzoni, Dino, 352 Czardas Princess, 207–8 Dabdoub, Jack, 135 Da Costa, Morton, 35 D’Agostino, Antonella, 257 Dailey, Dannul, 401 Dalapozza, Adolph, 206 Dale, Cynthia, 283 Dale, Grover, 353, 381 Dale, Jim, 15–17, 293 Dale, Laurence, 191 Daly, Tyne, 423–25 Damashek, Barbara, 224–25 d’Amboise, Charlotte, 252–53, 362 d’Amboise, Christopher, 252–53 d’Amboise, Jacques, 253 Damian, Michael, 121 d’Amico, Suso Cecchi, 277 Damn Yankees, 110 Damone, Vic, 255 Dana, F. Mitchell, 305 Dance a Little Closer, 177–79 Dane, Faith, 424 Dangerfield, Rodney, 348 Dangerous Games, 408–10 Dangerous Music, 396–97 Daniele, Graciela, 59–60, 187, 201, 244, 263–64, 408 Danielli, Isa, 257 Daniels, Barbara, 206 Daniels, Danny, 200–201 Dankworth, Jacqueline, 282, 340 Dankworth, John, 133 Danner, Braden, 210, 317 Danner, Dorothy, 171 Danova, Cesare, 422 Dansby, William, 222 Dansicker, Michael, 65 Dante, Ron, 116 Dantuono, Michael, 225 Danyliw, Annastasia, 304 D’Arcy, Mary, 247 Darr, Deborah, 153, 221, 287 Darrow, Harry Silverglat, 90 Da Silva, Howard, 160 d’Aubigny, Theodore Baudouin, 258 Dauscha, Wolfgang, 207 David, Clifford, 121 David, Daniel, 141 David, Michael, 338, 350 Davidge, D. Scot, 143 Davidson, Gordon, 88 Davidson, Ian, 18 Davidson, John, 343 Davies, Andrew, 36 Davies, Howard, 65 Davies, Irving, 270

Davies, Marion, 64 Davies, Stephen, 65 Davies, Victor, 304 Davis, Bruce Anthony, 277 Davis, Buster, 13 Davis, Cherry, 185 Davis, Clive, 126 Davis, Daniel, 185 Davis, Edward H., 289 Davis, Harris, 43, 98 Davis, Henrietta Elizabeth, 167 Davis, Jeffrey Bryan, 230 Davis, Lindsay W., 263 Davis, Luther, 254, 288, 420, 422 Davis, Mary Bond, 353 Davis, Michael, 73–74, 294 Davis, Michael Rees, 370, 374–75, 407 Davis, Paul, 206 Davis, Peter G., 7, 48, 98–99 Davis, Sammy, Jr., 282 Davis, Wayne, 285 Dawsen, 193 Day, Doris, 387 Day, Edith, 325 A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, 17–20 Day-Lewis, Daniel, 129 Deakin, Ian, 284 de Almeida, Antonio, 125 Dean, Laura, 195 Dearing, Judy, 367 Deayton, Angus, 298–99 de Boer, Ed, 158 Decareau, Dick, 299 DeCristo, Al, 327 Dee, Janie, 175 Deems, Mickey, 332 Deer, Joe, 274 Degunther, Joe, 133 De Guzman, Jossie, 3–4 DeHaven, Gloria, 239 Deitch, Belle M., 418 De Koven, Reginald, 2–3 Delano, Lee, 412 Delavan, Mark, 223, 407 Delavault, Helene, 191 Del Duca, Lennie, Jr., 102 de Liagre, Alfred, Jr., 164 Delmar, Elaine, 270–71 DeLorenzo, Michael, 231 Delsener, Ron, 166, 355, 376, 403 DeLuca, John, 361 DeMain, John, 3 de Menil, François, 126 De Mille, Agnes, 48, 144, 275 De Mone, Richard, 93 de Mora, Robert, 235 Dench, Judi, 129, 152, 336 De Niro, Robert, 284

480      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Dennehy, Dennis, 329 Dennen, Barry, 336 Dennis, Carol, 215 Dennis, Patrick, 116, 181 Dennis, Ronald, 174 Denniston, Leslie, 13 Denver Center, 131, 171, 224 De Paoli, Sandro, 258 De Pass, Paul, 48, 103, 141, 200 de Paul, Gene, 143 Depp, Johnny, 224, 340 Derricks, Cleavant, 31, 112, 114, 277 DeSal, Frank, 187 The Desert Song, 324–26, 406–7 De Shields, André, 217, 227–28, 311, 372–73 De Simone, Ofelia, 257 De Simone, Roberto, 257 Desrocher, Tom, 398 Dessyllas, Pantelis, 206–7 D’Estainville, Kim, 9 de Tarr, Seiza, 276 Detweiler, Lowell, 393 Devine, Erick, 407, 412 Devine, Loretta, 112, 114, 277 De Vittorio, Giuseppe, 257 Devlin, Jon, 145 Devo, 284 Devora, A., 276 Dewar, John, 314 Dexter, John, 89–90, 416 Diaz, Justino, 313–14 Diaz, Mary Louise, 370 Dibble, Peter Davis, 276 Dick Clark, Inc., 156 Dickens, Charles, 77, 135, 209, 263 Dickerson, Glenda, 11 Dickson, Barbara, 357 Dickson, Stephen, 99 Die Fledermaus, 5–6, 44–45, 101, 206, 289, 326 Diehl, Crandall, 96 Diener, Joan, 255, 422 Dietrich, Gary, 99 Dietrich, Marlene, 66, 82, 307 Dietz, Susan, 353 Dillehay, Kaylyn, 1 Dillon, Denny, 174 Dillon, Sandy, 156 DiMartino, Giuseppe, 261 Dimino, Richard, 145 Dimitrov, Olga, 136 Di Nola, Anna Lisa, 258 DioGuardi, Joseph, 193 Diot, Andre, 9 DiPasquale, Frank, 183 Disipio, Fred, 156 Dix, Richard, 171 Dixon, Ed, 225 Dixon, Mort, 40 Dlamini, Dumisani, 347

Dlamini, Khumbuzile, 347 Dlamini, Lindiwe, 347 Dlamini, Ntomb’khona, 347 Dlugos, Gregory J., 329 Dobish, Gail, 375–76 Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, 130– 31 Doboujinsky, Rostislav, 10 Doctorow, E. L., 295 Dodge, Marcia Milgrom, 349 Dodger Productions, 122, 241, 350 Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge, 159 Dolan, Judith, 107–8, 120, 153, 186, 221, 287, 403 Dold, Karl Heinz, 207 Dolf, John, 79, 183 Dolgoy, Sholem, 428 Dollar, Darren, 401 A Doll’s Life, 148–50 Dome/Cutler-Herman Productions, 37, 96, 105 Dome Productions, 77 Domingo, Placido, 98 Don, Carl, 86 Donahue, Theodore P., Jr., 36 Donald, Donald K., 256, 299, 301, 378 Dondi, Ruggero, 258 Dondlinger, Mary Jo, 407 Donen, Stanley, 143, 247, 387 Donkin, Eric, 15 Donlon, Brian, 342 Donnell, Colin, 333 Donnelly, Donal, 395 Donnelly, Dorothy, 42, 98, 250, 323 Donnelly, Ken, 23 Donnelly, Tom, 155 D’Onofrio, Benny, 304 Donovan, Jason, 121 Donsch, Karl, 206–7 Don’t Get God Started, 336–37 Doonesbury, 195–96 Dorfman, Andrew, 156 Dorfman, Stanley, 87 Double Feature, 19 Doug Henning and His World of Magic, 229–30 Dougherty, J. P., 225 Douglas, Suzzanne, 416 Dovey, Mark, 133 Doyle, John, 223 Drahosch, Peter, 207 Drake, Donna, 267 Drake, Tom, 415 Drake, William A., 420–21 Draper, Kate, 18 Dreamgirls, 111–14, 321–23 The Dream Team, 110 Dream Time, 29 Dreyfuss, Richard, 219 Drivas, Robert, 116, 198 Driver, Donald, 73–74, 103, 105 Driver, John, 61, 341

INDEX     481 Driving Miss Daisy, 244–45 Dror, Liat, 394 Drummond, Jack, 185 Dubin, Al, 40 DuBose, Dorothy, 167 DuBose, Heyward, 167 Duddy, 218–19 I Due Sergenti, 258–59 Duff, Michael, 261 Duke, Patty, 415 Duke, Peter, 193 Duke, Vernon, 86 Dulaine, Pierre, 420 Dumaresq, William, 204–5 Dumas, Alexandre, 225 Dunaway, Faye, 119–20 Duncan, Amy, 373 Duncan, Todd, 169 Dunham, Clarke, 153, 186, 221, 239–41, 287, 329, 403 Dunlop, Christopher, 76 Dunlop, Frank, 37–38, 105, 163 Dunne, Irene, 173 Dunning, Jennifer, 257 Dunnington, Steve, 225 Dunnock, Mildred, 132 Dupuy, Diane Lynn, 304 Duquette, Tony, 39 Durang, Christopher, 428 Durante, 428–29 Du Shon, Jean, 139–40 Dvorsky, George, 193 Dyer, Ada, 215 Dyer, Sharon, 283 Eads, Paul, 59 Eagan, Michael, 13 Earle, Edward, 45 Earley, Dyanne K., 365 Easley, Bill, 367 East, Virginia Clark, 145 Easterbrook, Randall, 23 Easter Parade, 145 Eastmond, Barry, 83 Easton, Sheena, 78 Ebb, Fred, 74–76, 187, 201, 203, 334, 336 Ebersole, Christine, 37, 106 Eckart, William and Jean, 181 Eckert, Thor, Jr., 7, 314 Eckhart, Janis, 146, 289, 374 Eddinger, Neil, 250, 323, 349 Eddleman, Jack, 375 Eddy, Nelson, 19, 298, 326, 376 Edelman, Gregg, 282, 334–36, 340, 426 Eden, Barbara, 255 Les Editions Musicales et Artistiques (EMA), 326 Edley, Zaida Coles, 83 Edmead, Wendy, 151 Edmonds, Christopher, 204 Edmonton Journal, 284

Edmunds, Kate, 45 Edson, Jerome, 120 Edwa, 218 Edwards, Burt, 230 Edwards, Cynthia, 370, 402 Edwards, Germaine, 285 Effron, David, 101 Effron, Howard P., 102 Eggerth, Marta, 131 Eglevsky, Marina, 48 Ehlers, Stephen, 389 Ehrler, Anita, 265 Ehrlich, Jon, 396 Eichelberger, Ethyl, 416 Eichorn, William, 146, 186 Eigsti, Karl, 120, 189 Eikenberry, Jill, 57–59 Eilber, Janet, 28–29 Eisenberg, Avner, 395 Eisenhauer, Peggy, 401, 408 Eisler, David, 99, 153, 221, 287–88 Elg, Taina, 127 Elias, Rosalind, 222 Elias, Tom, 141 Eliot, T. S., 11, 151–53 Elkins, Hillard, 87 Ellington, Duke, 68–71 Ellington, Mercedes, 13, 69, 272 Ellington, Mercer, 69–70 Elliott, Harvey, 270 Elliott, Shawn, 67–68 Elliott, William, 59 Ellis, Antonia, 353 Ellis, Chris, 291 Ellis, James, 401 Ellis, Scott, 23, 202 Ellis, Sheila, 31 Elton, Ben, 298, 346 Elvis: A Rockin’Remembrance, 401–2 Elvis & John, 402 Emhan, Inc., 55 Emmons, Beverly, 10–11, 18, 65, 116, 126, 195, 355, 376 Emmons, David, 51 Emonts, Ann, 103 Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts, 299 Engel, David, 183 English, Ellia, 227 Ensminger, Morgan, 13 Entertainment Group, 376 EPI Products, 413 Epps, Sheldon, 139 Epstein, Alvin, 416–17 Epstein, Dasha, 360, 372 Erickson, Mitchell, 298 Esposito, Giancarlo, 337 Estevao, Eliana, 352 Estey, SuEllen, 407 Estrada, Elsa, 370 Estrin, Melvyn, 120

482      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Evans, Daniel, 214 Evans, David, 48, 183 Evans, Edith, 87 Evans, Joseph, 101, 146 Evans, Lloyd, 5, 44, 101, 289, 326 An Evening with Dave Allen, 101–2 An Evening with Robert Klein, 369 Everhart, Rex, 331 Everly, Jack, 171 Ewing, Jon, 185 Ewing, Tim, 132 Eyen, Tom, 112, 114, 321, 396 Fabian, Robert, 36 Faison, George, 81, 167, 215, 285 Faison, Sandy, 45, 126 Falabella, John, 55, 139, 319 Falcone, Marc, 321 Famous People Players, 304 Fancy, Richard, 247 Fargue, Annie, 156 Faria, Arthur, 73, 84, 372 Farkas, Jonathan, 174, 183, 201, 239, 277, 376 Farr, Kimberly, 13 Farr, Rex, 231 Farrell, Kevin, 94 Farrington, Ralph, 31 Farwell, Jonathan, 230 Faske, Paul, 193 Fata, Wesley, 261, 398 Fay, Frank, 137 Fay, Tom, 353 Faye, Denise, 252 Faye, Joey, 239 Fazah, Adib, 250 Fearless Frank, 36–37 Feiden, Robert, 126 Feinberg, Marty, 289 Feingold, Michael, 416 Feinstein, Michael, 355–56, 376 Feld, Eliot, 99, 101 Feld, Irvin, 15, 225 Feld, Kenneth, 15, 367 Felder, Clarence, 170 Feldstein, Mark, 200 Fellini, Federico, 127, 279 Fenton, James, 314 Ferber, Edna, 171 Fergie, 129 Ferland, Danielle, 212 Ferrell, Andy, 1 Ferrell, Tyra, 84 Ferren, Bran, 212 Ferrer, José, 255 Ferrier, Robert, 370, 402 Ferris, Geoffrey, 209 Fetherston, Drew, 388 Fiddler on the Roof, 94–96 Field, Ron, 109, 294, 334

Fielding, Fenella, 132 Fields, Chip, 337 Fields, Dorothy, 279, 281 Fierstein, Harvey, 183, 185–86, 376 Fifth Avenue Productions, 338, 350 Filips, Jan, 218 Fingerhut, Arden, 170 Finkel, Elliot, 355, 412 Finklehoff, Fred F., 413 Finn, Terry, 107 Finn, William, 408, 410 Fiorello!, 260 Fipke, Wayne C., 284 The First, 110–11 First Durante Tour Company, 428 Firth, Tazeena, 148 55th Street Dance Theatre Foundation, Inc., 274 Fisher, Carrie, 8–9 Fisher, Jules, 156, 183, 201, 252, 277, 294, 370, 376, 401, 408, 420, 423 Fisher, M. Anthony, 241, 338 Fisher, Paula, 338 Fisher Theater Foundation, 45, 103 Fishko, Robert S., 8 Fitch, Robert, 130 Fite, Mark, 141 Fitts, Dudley, 350 Fitzgerald, Clarice Swan, 341 Fitzgerald, Robert, 350 Fitzhugh, Ellen, 239 Fitzhugh, Louise, 200 Fitzpatrick, Any, 304 Five Blind Boys of Alabama, 350 The Five O’Clock Girl, 63–64 Flaiano, Ennio, 127, 279 Flamenco puro, 257, 301–2 Flaningam, Louisa, 141 Flasher, Pete, 8 Flatt, Ernest O., 289, 291, 428 Flavin, Tim, 175 Die Fledermaus, 5–6, 44–45, 101, 206, 289, 326 Fleisher, Michelle, 398 Fleming, Conn, 27 Fleming, John P., 21 Fleming, Victor, 389 Fletcher, Dan, 274 Fletcher, Robert, 143, 176 Flett, Sharry, 283 Flower, Chris, 54 Flowers, Michael, 208 Floyd, Tony, 341 Flying Karamazov Brothers, 176–77, 276 The Flying Karamazov Brothers, 176–77 Foard, Merwin, 181 Foley, John, 122 Folger Theatre Group, 45 Follows, Ted, 15 Fontana, Franco, 352 Fontanne, Lynn, 178

INDEX     483 Ford, Paul, 35, 403 Ford, Phil, 93 Ford, Steven, 337 Forestieri, Marcel, 71–72 Forlow, Ted, 302 Forrest, George, 99, 254, 288, 420, 422 Forste, Allegra, 313 Forster, John, 302 Forster, Rudolph, 418 Forsyth, Bruce, 118 Forsyth, Frederick, 346 42nd Street, 40–42 Foss, Harlan, 6, 45, 47 Fosse, Bob, 117–18, 134, 209, 241, 277–79, 281–82, 335, 386–87 Foster, Sutton, 333 Fotopoulos, Mark, 233 Fountain, Clarence, 350 Four, Wilmor, 341 Fournier, Jean-Pierre, 284 Fowler, Beth, 196, 223, 237, 341, 407 Fox, Chester, 398 Fox, Manheim, 68 Fox, Robert, 37 Foxx, Jamie, 114 Foy, Kenneth, 423 Franchi, Sergio, 129 Francine, Anne, 181 Francis, Allan, 13 Frank, Aldo, 166 Frank, Doug, 193 Frankel, Kenneth, 135 Frankel, Richard, 343 Franklin, Nancy, 45 Franks, Laurie, 204 Franz, Joy, 338, 340 Fraser, Alison, 360–61 Fraser, Ian, 217 Fratti, Mario, 127 Frazier, Michael, 84, 158, 239, 353 Freas, Dianna, 231 Fredericks, Richard, 45 Fredrik, Burry, 1 Fredyberg, James B., 196 Freed, Arthur, 247 Freedman, Gerald, 3, 5, 44, 99–101, 244, 275–76, 289, 313–14, 326 Freedman Panter, Ltd., 170 Freeman, Carroll, 156 Freeman, Morgan, 350 Freeman, Virginia, 45 Freidman, David, 133 Freidman, Peter, 65 French, Bruce, 88 French, Jack, 208 French, Timothy, 428 Freshwater, Kim, 274, 329 Frey, William, 316 Freydberg/Bloch Production, 196

Friebus, Florida, 159, 161 Friedberg, William, 326 Friedheim, Eric, 270 Friedman, David, 86, 120 Friedman, Maria, 121, 140, 214, 336 Friedrich Kurz Royal Shakespeare Company, 362 Friend, Rupert, 133 Friml, Rudolf, 225 Frishberg, David, 88 Frontiere, Georgia, 198 Fry, Stephen, 291 Frye, Dwight, 177 Fryer, Robert, 107, 148 Fuentes, Ruben, 370 Fujii, Timm, 387 Fujima, Eiken, 410 Fulbright, Peter, 298 Fuller, Larry, 6, 47, 107–8, 126, 148, 222, 324 Funn, Charles, 367 Funny Face, 175–76 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 382 Furber, Douglas, 291 Furlong, James, 349 Furst, Timothy Daniel, 176, 276 Furth, George, 107 F.W.M. Producing Group, 252 Fylan, N., 428 Gable, Clark, 178 Gaff, Billy, 102 Gahres, James Allen, 407 Gaines, Davis, 297–98 Gal, Nir Bel, 394 Galantich, Tom, 426 Gale, Andy, 294 Galindo, Ramon, 162 Gallagher, Gina, 357 Gallagher, Peter, 148 Gallin, Sandy, 217 Gallo, Paul, 52, 263, 308, 331, 426 Galloway, Jane, 123 Gambacorta, Lee, 21 Gannon, Joe, 392 Garber, Victor, 116–17 Garbo, Greta, 421 Garcia, Lalo, 370 Garcia Lorca, Federico, 197 Gardiner, John, 136 Gardiner, John Eliot, 147 Gardner, Herb, 89–90 Garfeld, Marcelle, 87 Gargiulo, Terese, 141 Gari, Brian, 329–30 Garland, Jamil K., 31, 147 Garland, Judy, 415 Garland, Marc, 343 Garland, Patrick, 96–97 Garner, Luvenia, 167 Garnett, Chip, 133

484      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Garrett, Betty, 25, 413 Garrett, Tom, 34 Garrison, David, 18 Garrison, Jon, 323 Gary, Romain, 326 Gastine, Claudie, 10 Gatchell, R. Tyler, Jr., 151, 209, 252, 366 Gatchell & Neufield Ltd., 357 La Gatta Cenerentola, 257–58 Gay, John, 416 Gay, Noel, 291 Gaye, Alisa, 321 Gaynes, George, 80 Gaynor, Mitzi, 333 GeBauer, Judy, 90 Geddes, B. Alan, 428 Gee, Simone, 387 Geffen, David, 151 Geffen Records, 112 Gelbart, Larry, 425, 428 Geld, Gary, 405 Gelfer, Steven, 151 Gemignani, Paul, 107, 148, 201, 212, 222, 239, 250, 275, 288, 308, 313, 324, 338, 381 Gems, Pam, 65–66 Gendron, Lynn, 145 Genee, Richard, 5, 44, 101, 206, 289, 326 Genevieve, 80 Gennaro, Peter, 3, 89, 116, 250, 416 Geno, Alton, 141 Gentles, Avril, 171 Genty, Mary, 76 Genty, Philippe, 76 Geoffreys, Stephen, 204 Geoly, Guy, 405 George, Hal, 187 George-Henry, 360 Georgia Brown & Friends, 87–88 Gerard, Annie-Marie, 418 Gerard, Danny, 302 Gerard, Gil, 189 Gerard, Jeremy, 265 Gerber, Jonathan S., 261 Gershwin, George, 167, 174 Gershwin, Ira, 167, 173 Gerstacker, Franz, 206–7 Gerstacker, Friedrich, 50 Gersten, Bernard, 167, 276, 331, 347 Gesser, Samuel, 218 Getter, Philip M., 18 Getz, Mara, 353 Geva, Tamara, 165 Ghetto, 394–95 Giagni, D. J., 233–34, 341 Giambattista, Ann Marie, 145 Gibson, David Warren, 279 Gibson, Karen, 57 Gibson, Virginia, 144 Gibson, William, 299

Gigi, 133, 145, 249 Gilb, Melinda, 247 Gilbert, Alan, 96, 133 Gilbert, Barbara, 196 Gilbert, Tony, 407 Gilbert, W. S., 59, 447 Gile, Bill, 146 Giles, Nancy, 259 Gilford, Jack, 334 Gilford, Madeline Lee, 294 Gill, Bob, 156 Gill, Brendan, 58 Gill, Elijah, 31, 147 Gill, Ray, 110 Gillaume, Michel, 76 Gillespie, Robert, 36 Gilliam, Paula Hutter, 311 Gilman, Sondra, 68 Gingold, Hermione, 35 Giordano, Tyrone, 243 Giraud, Maurice, 166 The Girl in Pink Tights, 80 Giuffre, Joe, 389 Giulivo, Lello, 257 Glazener, Janet, 265 Gleason, Joanna, 338, 340–41 Gleason, John, 101 Glennon, Jean, 288–89 Glickman, Will, 326 Glockner, Eleanor, 426 Glover, Savion, 379 Goldblum, Jeff, 81 Golden, Annie, 235 Golden, Emily, 191 Golden, Ruth, 251, 287, 370, 402 Goldman, Byron, 381 Goldstein, Jess, 45, 52 Goldstein, Joel, 189 Goldwyn, Samuel, 169 Goler, Lauren, 120, 308, 329 Golman, Daniel A., 130 Goodall, Howard, 298–99 Goodman, Michael, 211 Goodman, Peter, 314 Goodman, Walter, 259, 360–61 Goodrich, Frances, 143 Goodspeed Opera House, 237 Goodwin, Maggie, 250 Gordon, Barry H., 23 Gordon, Judy, 15 Gordon, Lawrence, 308 Gore, Michael, 361 Gorski, Virginia, 144 Gosch, Dan, 398 The Gospel at Colonus, 350–52 Goss, Dick, 135 Gottfried, Martin, 188 Gottschall, Ruth, 334, 418 Gould, Martin, 143

INDEX     485 Gould, Peter David, 87 Goulding, Edmund, 420 Goulet, Robert, 39 Gourlay, Eileen, 118 Goz, Harry, 357 Graae, Jason, 130, 311, 330 Grabber, Ariel, 393 Grade, Lord, 107, 316 Graff, Lillian, 324–25, 385 Graff, Randy, 315, 426, 428 Graff, Todd, 196 Graham, Deborah, 360–61 Graham, Stephen, 26 Grahame, Gerald, 5 Grahame, Kenneth, 267 Grammer, Kelsey, 185, 214 Grammis, Adam, 135 Granata, Dona, 88 The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, 125, 155–56 Grand Hotel, 420–23 Granger, Rashaan, 367 Granoff, Perry B., 319 Grant, Cary, 5 Grant, Faye, 247 Grant, Malcolm, 254 Grant, Micki, 31–34, 147 Graves, Yolanda, 289 Gray, Dolores, 255 Gray, John, 26 Gray, Kevin, 387 Gray, Kristen, 398 Gray, L. Michael, 147 Grayson, Kathryn, 325 Green, Adolph, 148, 247 Green, Al, 147–48 Green, Brian Lane, 393 Green, David, 341, 385 Green, Diana, 166 Green, Jonathan, 186, 326, 349 Green, Martyn, 2, 155 Greenberg, Steven A., 15 Greenblatt, Kenneth D., 127, 183, 239, 420 Greenblatt, Sandra, 420 Greene, Ellen, 133 Greenfield, Debra, 102 Greenstein, Michal, 50 Greenwald, Raymond J., 305, 390 Greenwich, Ellie, 235–36 Gregory, Cynthia, 5–6, 44 Gregory, Don, 37, 77, 96, 105 Gregory, Gillian, 291, 294 Gregory, Michael Scott, 312 Gregus, Lubitza, 412 Greig, Grace, 389 Grey, Clifford, 225 Grey, Joel, 6–7, 333–35 Grieg, Edvard, 99–100 Grier, David Alan, 110–11 Griffith, Thomas, 110

Grigsby, Peter R., 365 Grilikhes, Michel M., 389 Grimes, Jerry, 156 Grimes, Scott, 217 Grimes, Tammy, 40, 94 Grimes, Taryn, 237 Grind, 239–41 Groban, Josh, 359 Groenendaal, Cris, 186–87, 212, 221–22, 251–52, 287–88, 313, 324, 334, 344 Groener, Harry, 88, 103, 105, 126–27, 151, 233–34, 307 Gropman, David, 26, 84 Gross, Shelly, 71 Grossman, Larry, 148, 150, 208, 239 Grosvenor, Lucie D., 135 Group TSE, 9, 11 Grove, Betty Ann, 164 Grover’s Corners, 365–66 Grubman, Patty, 420 Gruelle, Johnny, 299 Gruenewald, Thomas, 237 Guardino, Harry, 74 Guber, Lee, 71, 294 Guber/Gross Productions, 208 Guida, Maria, 59 Guignard, Lisa, 96 Gulack, Max, 360 Gunn, Nathan, 39 Gunn, Nicholas, 244 Gunton, Bob, 223, 327, 349, 407 Guss, Jonathan, 250, 374 Gussow, Mel, 9, 12, 14–15, 19–20, 25–26, 32–33, 54–55, 73–74, 97, 167, 228–29, 268, 277, 290–91, 307, 328, 330, 393 Guthrie, Constance, 152 Gutierrez, Gerald, 119, 123–24 Gutrick, Tinka, 274–75, 401 Guy, Jasmine, 235 Gwillim, Jack, 96 Gyllenhammar, Birgitta, 87 Gyngell, Paul, 362 Gypsy, 383, 423–25 Gyse, Alisa, 272 H. M. Tennent, Ltd., 88 Haarlem Nocturne, 227–29 Haberman, Linda, 183, 277 Hackady, Hal, 341 Hackett, Albert, 143 Hackett, Buddy, 35 Hadebe, Congo, 347 Hadley, Jerry, 101, 173, 251, 256 Haege, Jeana, 423 Haffner, Carl, 5, 44, 101, 206, 289, 326 Hager, Larry, 10 Hager, Louis Busch, 122, 350 Haines, Howard, 107 Haines, Jim, 387 Hale, Alice M., 309

486      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Halevy, Ludovic, 5, 44, 101, 125, 156, 191, 206, 289, 326 Hall, Abraham Oakley, 260 Hall, Adelaide, 21–22 Hall, Phil, 141 Hall, Philip Baker, 88 Hall, Steve, 102 Hall, Steven F., 132 Hallett, Jack, 110 Halley, Sharon, 370–71, 402, 407 Halliday, Robert, 325 Hamer, Nigel, 405 Hamill, Mark, 233–34 Hamilton, Lawrence, 215, 272 Hamilton, Patrick, 329 Hamilton, Roger, 13 Hamlisch, Marvin, 208, 308 Hammerstein, Oscar II, 171, 230, 297, 312, 324, 371, 407 Hampton, Christopher, 133 Hanan, Stephen, 59, 151 Hanayagi, Hagi, 410 Hanayagi, Yoshijiro, 410 Hancock, Sheila, 223 Hands, Terry, 362, 364 Handwerger, Roshi, 181 Hankerson, Barry, 336–37 Hanning, Geraldine, 103 Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, 415 Hansen, Kim, 304 Happy New Year, 13–15 Harbach, Otto, 324, 407 Harburg, E. Y., 389 Hardwick, Mark, 122 Hardy, William-Keebler, Jr., 31 Hargate, Bill, 229 Hariton, Gerry, 299, 353 Harlekyn U.S.A. Company, 158 Harley, Margot, 119 Harman, Barry, 359–61 Harman, Paul, 314 Harmony, 392 Harner, Bud, 392 Harney, Ben, 112, 114 Harnick, Sheldon, 94, 135–36, 192 Harper, Wally, 18, 48, 127, 193, 319, 420 Harrell, Gordon Lowry, 225, 277, 398, 426 Harrigan, Edward, 232, 234 Harrigan ‘n Hart, 232–35 Harrington, Charlene, 164 Harris, Albert, 311–12 Harris, Dale, 384 Harris, Frank, 36–37 Harris, Joseph, 148, 279 Harris, Julie, 160 Harris, Margaret, 189 Harris, Niki, 18–19 Harris, Richard, 39, 105 Harrison, Llewellen, 337 Harrison, Rex, 38, 96–97 Harrison, Stafford, 11

Harrold, Jack, 43, 125, 146, 153, 186, 221, 251, 255, 287, 297, 323, 326 Harry, Deborah, 170 Hart, Charles, 344, 346 Hart, Jack, 25 Hart, John N., Jr., 57 Hart, Linda, 412 Hart, Lorenz, 164 Hart, Moss, 38, 107 Hart, Tony, 234 Hartford Stage Company, 244 Hartley, Cathy, 396 Hartley, Susan, 174 Haruhiko, 410 Harvey, Lawrence, 39 Harvey, Michael, 110 Harwood, C. William, 167 Hashimoto, Kazuakira, 410 Hassard, Donald, 385 Hassell, Dennis, 284 Hateley, Linzi, 121, 362, 365 Hathaway, Anne, 316 Hauptman, William, 241, 243 Hauptmann, Elisabeth, 416 Hauser, Frank, 269 Hauser, Kim, 202 Hausman, Elaine, 48 Hawkins, Ira, 289, 327 Hawkins, John, 1 Hawkins, Judine, 329 Hawn, Goldie, 118 Hayama, Kiyomi, 410 Hayes, Helen, 86, 137 Hayes, Ted, 115 Hays, David, 71 Hays, Rex, 74, 349 Hays, Rex D., 420 Haze, Ralf Paul, 147 Head, Helaine, 65 Head, Murray, 357 Hearn, George, 148, 150, 183–85, 223, 254–55, 284, 395, 413 Heartaches of a Pussycat, 9–11 Heath, Bruce, 69 Heath, D. Michael, 316 Hebert, Rich, 156 Heckel, Jean-Louis, 76 Heeley, Desmond, 37, 105, 275, 313 Heifner, Jack, 133, 235 Heikin, Nancy, 59 Heineman, Victor, 229 Heinfling, Martin, 183, 294 Hellberg, Heinz, 207 Hellman, Jerome, 416 Hellman, Lillian, 154 Helmsley, Leona and Harry, 260 Helpmann, Robert, 131 Helward, Dale, 119 Hemphill, A. Marcus, 83

INDEX     487 Hemsley, Gilbert V., Jr., 42, 98–99, 125, 131, 146, 156, 167, 186, 250–51, 323 Henahan, Donal, 43, 100–101, 125, 146, 154, 206, 221–23, 251, 255, 325 Henderson, Florence, 100 Henderson, Luther, 372 Henderson, Mark, 298 Henig, Andi, 210, 242 Henning, Debby, 229 Henning, Doug, 162–63, 229–30 Henry, Judith, 189 Henry, William A. III, 236, 241, 249, 253, 264, 266, 281, 292, 309, 316, 318, 332, 335, 339, 345–46, 359, 364, 380, 385, 408, 417, 422, 424, 427 Hensel, Howard, 191 Henson, Nicky, 39 Henzel, Richard, 365 Hepburn, Audrey, 97, 133, 176 Herbert, Jocelyn, 416–17 Herbert, Victor, 374–75 Here’s Where I Belong, 244 Herman, Jerry, 18, 181, 183–84, 186, 265–67 Herman Van Veen: All of Him, 158–59 Herrera, John, 361 Herrmann, Keith, 57–58, 359, 361 Hersey, David, 107, 151, 153, 314, 316, 357 Herson, Milton, 230 Herzl, Robert, 207 Hess, Rodger H., 63 Hess, Roger, 401 Heuchling, Peter, 130 Hewes, Henry, 231 Hewett, Peggy, 18–20 Hey Marilyn, 194 Hibiki, Mito, 410 Hickey, Louise, 407 Hicks, Marva, 285 High Button Shoes, 382–83 High Society, 15 Hill, Richard, 1 Hillman, Gerald (Paul), 90 Hillman, Nancy Tribush, 90 Hinderyckx, Les, 365 Hindman, James, 426 Hines, Gregory, 21–22, 69–70 Hines, Johnny, 124 Hines, Maurice, 71, 272, 274, 367 Hirsch, Caroline, 298 Hirschfeld, Abe, 418 Hirschfeld, Susan, 393 Hirschhorn, Joel, 77, 143 Hoagy, Bix & Wolfgang Beethoven Bunkhaus, 88–89 Hoback, James, 191 Hobe, 58 Hobson, I. M., 210 Hobson, Valerie, 231 Hochman, Larry, 130 Hodapp, Ann, 36 Hodes, Bernard, 143

Hodge, Douglas, 185 Hoeffler, Charles E., 32 Hoffert, Paul, 3 Hoffman, Philip, 81, 126 Hofsiss, Jack, 42, 98, 125, 156, 250, 323 Hogya, Giles, 90 Holden, Stephen, 62, 122, 232, 269, 312, 337, 348–49, 353, 369, 371, 392, 411 Holder, Geoffrey, 215 Holdridge, Lee, 302–3 Holgate, Danny, 32 Holgate, Ron, 23 Holiday, Melanie, 207 Holland, Bernard, 186–87, 208, 288, 323–24, 326, 370, 407 Holland, Dennis, 34 Holliday, David, 55 Holliday, Jennifer, 112, 114, 285–86 Holliday, Jennifer-Yvette, 31–32 Holloway, Stanley, 97 Holm, Hanya, 96 Holmes, Rupert, 263, 265, 330 Holmes, Scott, 202, 270–71 Holt, Ednah, 166 Holt, Fritz, 55, 183 Holton, Mary C., 116 Holzer, Adela, 398 Hombert, Terri, 265 Homolka, Oscar, 100 Honky Tonk Nights, 289–91 Hooper, Tom, 316 Hopkin, Jacob Mark, 181 Hopkins, Linda, 378, 380 Horn, Roderick, 210 Horne, Geoffrey, 107, 109 Horne, Lena, 84–86, 217 Horner, Paul, 198 Hornung, Richard, 261 Horowitz, Jimmy, 102 Horowitz, Joseph, 6 Horvath, Jan, 279 Horwitt, Arnold B., 185 Horwitz, Murray, 227, 372 Horwood, Craig Revel, 175 Hoshko, John, 418 Hoshour, Robert, 360–61 Hostetter, Paula, 374 Hostettler, Andy, 34 Hotchner, A. E., 390–91 The Hot Corner, 110 Hotopp, Michael, 48, 141, 200 Hotopp, Michael J., 103 Hoty, Dee, 63, 426 Hoty, Tony, 423 Houdina, Mary Jane, 302 Hould-Ward, Ann, 212, 233, 338 House, Eric, 283 Houseman, John, 119 Houston Grand Opera, 171 Howard, Cheryl, 177

488      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Howard, Karen, 196 Howard, Mel, 256, 301, 378 Howard, Peter, 15, 27, 177, 196, 233, 270, 302, 385 Howard, Ronny, 35 Howard, Sydney, 333 Howes, Sally Ann, 231 Hoylen, Anthony, 261 Hoyt, Lon, 156, 396 Hubbard, Bruce, 172 Hubbard, Elizabeth, 177 Hubbard, Hugh J., 57 Huckleberry Finn, 243 Huddleston, David, 110–11 Hudgins, Marilyn, 418 Hudson, Jennifer, 114 Hudson, Judith, 54 Hudson, Kate, 129 Huffstodt, Karen, 147, 186 Hughes, Allen, 288, 297–98 Hughes, Allen Lee, 224 Hughes, Michaela K., 164 Hughes, Rhetta, 189, 321 Hugill, Randy, 1–2 Hugo, Victor, 314 Huguely, Jay, 141 Hulce, Thomas, 124 Hull, Josephine, 137 The Human Comedy, 204–6 Hume, Nancy, 341, 343 Humm, 359, 364 Hummel, Mark, 71, 110 Humphries, Barry, 210–11, 356 Hunter, Tab, 415 Hunter, William Gregg, 156 Huntington, Rex, 93 Hurst, Howard, 405 Hurst, Sophie, 405 Husmann, Ron, 79 Hussien, Ahmed, 103 Husson, Albert, 283 Huston, Walter, 239 Hutchinson, Josephine, 160 Hutson, Eric, 291 Hutton, Bill, 120–21 Hyman, Phyllis, 69 Hymes, Virginia, 167 Hynd, Ghretta, 350 Hynes, Elizabeth, 98, 146, 251 Iannucci, Michael P., 93 Ibsen, Henrik, 148 I Due Sergenti, 258–59 Ikeda, Thomas, 313 Imai, Naoji, 410 Inacent Black, 83–84 Incrocci, Agenore, 277 Ingalls, James F., 204 Ingster, Peter, 405 Insideoutandallaround with Shelley Berman, 47

Insull, Sigrid, 1 Into the Light, 302–4 Into the Woods, 338–41 Iredale, Jane, 267 Irosch, Mirjana, 207 Iruzubieta, Raquel, 10 Irving, George S., 164, 291 Iscove, Rob, 77 Isherwood, Christopher, 334 Ishida, Masaya, 410 Ishihama, Hideo, 410 Issac, Gerald, 297, 371 Is There Life after High School?, 125–27 Italian Government, 257–58, 261 It’s So Nice to Be Civilized, 32–34 J. C. Associates, 196 Jablonski, Carl, 131 Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!”, 310–11 Jackman, Hugh, 316 Jackness, Andrew, 355, 376 Jackson, David, 174 Jackson, Ethel, 147 Jackson, Jerry, 143 Jackson, Mahalia, 285–86 Jackson, Michael, 217 Jackson, Veda, 193 Jacobs, Sander, 420 Jacobson, Henrietta, 388 Jacobson, Steven, 3 Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, 67–68 Jamerson, Thomas, 146, 186 James, Jessica, 116 James, Rian, 40 James, Stephen, 18 James, Terry, 105 Jamieson, James, 48, 275 Jamison, Judith, 69–70 Jampolis, Neil Peter, 136, 284, 302, 310, 378, 412 Janek, James, 31, 215 Janeway, Ashley, 254, 288 Janik, Ada, 134 Jans, Alaric, 130 Jaroslow, Lori Ada, 94 Jaroslow, Ruth, 94 Jaua, Zobeid, 10 Jay, Brian, 413 Jay, Stephen, 353 Jay-Alexander, Richard, 314 Jeanmaire, Zizi, 79–81, 333 Jeffrey, Terry Mike, 401 Jeff Satkin, Inc., 93 Jellison, John, 135, 196, 267 Jenbach, Bela, 207 Jenkins, Daniel H., 242–43 Jenkins, David, 42, 65, 98–99, 250, 311, 323, 349, 390 Jennings, Donald, 3 Jennings, Ken, 259 Jerome, Howard, 218

INDEX     489 Jerome, Timothy, 81, 132, 291, 420 Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood, 270–72 Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, 381–85 Jerry, Philip, 409 Jerry’s Girls, 265–67 Jeter, Michael, 420, 422–23 Jillette, Penn, 343–44 Jimmy, 260 Jiranek, David, 119 Jo-Ann, Ebony, 367 Joe Silverman Associates Ltd., 299 Johann, Cameron, 127 Johanson, Jane, 428 Johanson, Robert, 1–2, 297, 324–25, 371, 407 John, Tom H., 193, 198 John Annunziato Productions, 102 Johns, Glynis, 86 Johns, Kurt, 357 Johns, Martin, 291 Johnson, Alan, 110, 208, 376 Johnson, Bernard, 115 Johnson, Betty, 237 Johnson, David Lawrence, 204 Johnson, Doug, 122 Johnson, Jeff, 398 Johnson, Linda, 389 Johnson, Mary Lea, 148, 239, 259, 326, 420 Johnson, Mel, Jr., 202 Johnson, Reginald Vel, 83 Johnson, Tommi, 272 Johnson, Van, 35, 50 Johnston, Donald, 77 Johnston, Justine, 291 Jolivet, Jacques, 10 Jolivet, Tyrone, 167 Jones, Bill, 156 Jones, Cliff, 194 Jones, David, 211 Jones, Dean, 302–3 Jones, Don, 61, 200, 387 Jones, Elinor, 132 Jones, Leilani, 140, 239, 241 Jones, Reed, 3, 141–42, 151 Jones, Roy L., 321 Jones, Sabra, 159 Jones, Shirley, 35, 50 Jones, Steven, 360 Jones, Tom, 131, 133, 365 Jongerius, Gerard, 158 Jordan, Tenita, 112 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, 120–21 Joslyn, Betsy, 133, 148, 150 Jouannest, Gerard, 68 Jourdan, Louis, 80 Joy, James Leonard, 237 Jude, Patrick, 45, 102, 261 Juggling and Cheap Theatrics, 276–77 Jujamcyn Theatres, 174, 201, 338, 420, 426

Julia, Raul, 127, 129 Julien, Jay, 32 Kabler, James, 193 Kadokawa, Haruki, 416 Kagan, Richard M., 308 Kahn, E. J., Jr., 232 Kahn, Madeline, 155 Kahn, Michael, 171–72 Kaiser, Georg, 6, 47 Kalem, T. E., 5, 14, 16–17, 19–20, 38, 52, 57, 64, 76, 108, 114, 120, 129, 152, 169, 175, 209 Kales, Elisabeth, 206–7 Kalfin, Robert, 134 Kalish, Larry, 32 Kalman, Emmerich, 207 Kalmar, Bert, 63 Kaluski, Yankele, 50 Kaman, Brian, 3 Kamen, Michael, 11 Kaminska, Ruth T., 50 Kander, John, 74–76, 187, 201, 203, 334 Kane, Donna, 413 Kanfer, Stefan, 163 Kanin, Fay, 239 Kanin, Michael, 74 Kanouse, Lyle, 217 Kantor, Kenneth, 48, 324 Kantor, Mary, 408 Kantrowitz, Jason, 393 Kapp, Peter, 355 Kapp, Richard, 341 Karbi, Ras, 11 Karczykowski, Richard, 207 Karnilova, Maria, 71–72, 94–95 Karrie, Peter, 357 Kasha, Al, 77, 143 Kasha, Lawrence, 74, 143 Kaslan Productions, Inc., 143 Kassir, John, 355 Katsaros, Doug, 310 Katz, Arthur, 241 Katz, Natasha, 289, 423 Katz, Raymond, 217 Kauahi, Norman Wendall, 376 Kaufman, Andy, 170–71 Kaufman, Bill, 305 Kaufman, George S., 107 Kaufman, Martin R., 420 Kaur, Vidya, 90 Kay, Stanley, 272 Kaye, Judy, 81, 103, 105, 133, 344, 346, 385–86 Kaye, Ronna, 130 Kaye, Stubby, 239 Kaye, Tom, 193 Kaye, Toni, 289, 428 Kays, Alan, 186 Kazantzakis, Nikos, 187 Kazuko Hillyer International, 206–7

490      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Keagy, Grace, 23, 75 Keating, Barry, 392, 394 Kedrova, Lila, 187–89, 336 Keegan, Ted, 407 Keel, Howard, 144, 255 Keene, Christopher, 254, 275 Keeth, Trevor, 244 Kehoe, Marc, 398 Kehoe, Sheila, 222 Keil, Mary, 393 Keith, Paul, 171 Kelly, Daren, 74 Kelly, David Patrick, 126 Kelly, Gene, 50, 165, 247 Kelly, Glen, 177 Kelly, Kevin, 175 Kelly, Mark M., 99 Kelman, Charles D., 79 Kelton, Pert, 35 Kendrick, Anna, 340 Kennedy, Cheryl, 46, 97 Kennedy, Jacqueline, 107 Kennedy Center, 3, 45, 103, 123, 131, 164, 171, 177, 224, 237, 299, 314, 353 Kenneth-John Productions, Inc., 187, 196, 201, 265 Kenneth-Mark Productions, 170, 174 Kenny, Sean, 209 Kent, Barry, 39 Kent, Gordon, 90 Kent, Roberta, 392 Kenyon, Laura, 127 Kermoyan, Michael, 231 Kern, Jerome, 171, 270–72 Kernan, David, 270 Kerr, Deborah, 231 Kerr, Walter, 4, 10, 27, 35, 80, 155, 255 Kessler, William H., Jr., 390 Keyes, Daniel, 45 Keyes, Ralph, 126 Khoury, Pamela, 103 Khuzwayo, Mhlathi, 347 Kidd, Billy, 392 Kidd, Michael, 34–35, 144, 209, 308 Kidman, Nicole, 129 Kief, Garry C., 392 Kiley, Richard, 135 Killmer, Nancy, 160 Kim, Willa, 69, 71, 217, 252, 376, 378 Kimball, Robert, 21 Kimbrough, Charles, 89 Kimmelman, Michael, 323, 325 Kindley, Jeffrey, 125 King, Carlotta, 325 King, Charles, 64 King, Dennis, 226 King, Donna, 151 King, Everett, 119 King, Mabel, 32–33, 217 King, Stephen, 362

King, Woodie, Jr., 11 The King and I, 230–31, 382 Kingsley, Dorothy, 143 King Street Productions, 174 Kipness, Joseph, 89 Kirk, Alyson, 237 Kirk, Bonnie, 146, 153, 186 Kirk, Kelby, 274 Kirk, William, 222, 324 Kirkpatrick, Sam, 267 Kismet, 254–56, 288–89 Kissel, Howard, 2–3, 10, 14, 22, 27, 35, 38, 46, 49, 57, 60, 66, 72, 76, 78, 80, 85, 97, 102, 106, 108, 111, 113–14, 117, 144, 152, 161, 166, 170, 183–84, 189, 192, 197, 200, 205, 213–14, 226, 236, 238, 241, 243, 249, 253, 264, 267–68, 271, 273, 277, 279, 291, 296, 299–300, 302–3, 305, 307, 309, 312, 315, 318, 322, 327–28, 330, 335, 337, 339, 342–43, 345–46, 348, 354–56, 359, 361, 363–64, 373, 378, 380, 384, 388, 391, 395, 404, 409–10, 414, 417, 419, 421–22, 424, 427 Kisselgoff, Anna, 302 Kitt, Eartha, 255–56 Kladitis, Manny, 181, 230 Klaisner, Fred, 365 Klaris, Harvey J., 127, 200 Klausner, Terri, 69, 307 Klein, Alvin, 136 Klein, Robert, 269, 369 Klein, Sally, 107 Kleinsma, Simone, 282 Klemperer, Werner, 334 Klezmer Group, 51 Kline, Kevin, 59–61 Klotz, Florence, 148, 198, 239, 241, 265, 294, 326, 426 Knee, Allan, 329 Knepler, Paul, 147 Knight, Eric, 186 Knoblock, Edward, 254, 288 Knowles, Beyonce, 114 Knudson, Kurt, 119 Kobayashi, Kohei, 410 Kobler, John, 244 Koch, Edward I., 259–60 Kodama, Ai, 410 Kohan, Buz, 208 Kolinski, Joseph, 225, 227, 314 Koller, Dagmar, 206 Koloc, Bonnie, 204 Koltai, Ralph, 362 Komack, James, 193 Konecky, Isobel Robins, 45 Kopit, Arthur, 127–28 Koppelman, Charles, 156 Korberg, Tommy, 357, 359 Korthaze, Richard, 237 Korwin, Devra, 87 Kosarin, Michael, 259 Koslow, Ira, 370 Kowal, James, 408

INDEX     491 Kozinn, Allan, 370, 372, 375, 386, 402–3 Krakowski, Jane, 129, 420 Kramer, Eric, 284 Kramer, Milton, 51 Kramer, Mimi, 363–64 Kramer, Terry Allen, 291 Krane, David, 267, 407 Krauss, Marvin A., 161, 183, 294, 321, 328, 360, 376, 401, 420 Kravat, Jerry, 259, 319 Krebs, David, 116, 123 Kreis, Robert, 96 Kretzmer, Herbert, 314, 316 Kreuger, Miles, 173 Krieger, Henry, 112–13, 200, 321, 396 Krieger, Mitchell, 101, 186 Kristen, Ilene, 259 Krok, Loren, 413 Kroll, Jack, 12, 14, 16–17, 19–20, 49, 53, 60, 66, 70, 76, 108, 114, 117, 119–20, 122, 126, 128, 152, 161, 163, 166, 171–73, 175–76, 178, 189, 196–97, 199, 201, 203, 205, 209, 213, 234, 236, 243, 249, 253, 279, 281, 295, 316, 346, 351, 363, 384, 427 Kroner, John, 1 Krones, Fred H., 139 Krupska, Dania, 134 Kubala, Michael, 193 Kuchwara, Michael, 378 Kughn, Richard, 302 Kuhlman, Kim, 145 Kuhn, Judy, 263, 294, 357–59 Kuhn, Kitty, 73 Kulukundis, Eddie, 8 Kurland, Jerry, 93 Kurtz, John Henry, 102 Kyme, 289 Kyte, Mary, 52, 308 LaBelle, Patti, 147–48 La Cage Aux Folles, 183–86 Lacey, Franklin, 34, 349 LaChanze, 323 Lacy, Terry, 254, 288 Laderman, Ezra, 194 Lafaille, Michel, 158 LaFletche, Michel, 428 La Fosse, Robert, 385 La Gatta Cenerentola, 257–58 LaGuardia, Fiorello, 260 LaGuerre, Irma-Estel, 230 Lahr, Bert, 333 Laine, Cleo, 133, 263 Laird, Marvin, 73, 103 Laizer Productions, 87 Lam, Zoie, 387 LaManna, Raphael, 187 Lambert, Patricia, 35 Lamos, Mark, 244 Lan, David, 394

Land, David, 120 Landau, Emily, 241 Landay, David, 143 Landay, David S., 74 Landesman, Heidi, 241–43, 338 Landesman, Rocco, 241, 338 Landon, Margaret, 230 Landrum, Kenny, 102 Lane, Lupino, 293 Lane, Nathan, 162, 267 Lane, Stewart F., 3, 74, 79, 170, 183 Lang, Barbara, 148 Langer, Lawrence, 5 Langford, Bonnie, 424–25 Langley, Noel, 389 Langner, Christine, 151 Langton, Diane, 203 Lankston, John, 48, 153, 186–87, 221–22, 251, 287, 370, 402–3 Lansbury, Angela, 181–83, 424 Lansbury, Edgar, 73 Lanza, Mario, 44, 326 Lapidus, Ted, 166 Lapine, James, 212–14, 338–41 Lapotaire, Jane, 65–67 Lardner, James, 29 Lardner, Ring, Jr., 74 Large, Norman, 5–6, 45, 47, 101 Large, Norman A., 148 Larkin, Peter, 73, 195, 201, 203, 277 Larner, Elizabeth, 210 Larsen, Liz, 94, 393 Larsen, Ray, 65 Larsen, Robert R., 390 Larson, Lisby, 63 Lascelles, Kendrew, 11 Laser Media, Inc., 302 Late Nite Comic, 329–30 Latessa, Dick, 294 Latouche, John, 153, 186, 221, 287, 402 Latowicz, Karol, 50 La Tragedie de Carmen and Carmen, 191–92 Laughing Room Only, 310 Laune, Robert E., 285 Laurenson, Diana, 145 Laurents, Arthur, 3–4, 183, 185, 423 Lavie, Raul, 256 Lavine, Audrey, 81 Lawless, Sue, 63–64 Lawrence, Beth, 193 Lawrence, Burke, 405 Lawrence, Gertrude, 231 Lawrence, Jack, 84 Lawrence, Jerome, 181 Lawrence, Stephanie, 194 Lawson, Carol, 134, 426 Layton, Joe, 15–16, 71, 156, 158, 225, 233–34, 284 Lazarus, Frank, 18 Lazarus, Milton, 99–100

492      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Leach, Archie, 5 Leach, Wilford, 59–60, 204–5, 263–65 Leader of the Pack, 235–36 Leaf, Sven, 43 Leary, David, 65 Leber, Steven, 116, 123 Lebowsky, Stanley, 79, 151, 291 LeBrock, Kelly, 78 Lecat, Jean-Guy, 191 Ledbetter, William, 125, 156, 251, 275, 324, 349, 407 Lederer, Charles, 254, 288 Lee, Baayork, 174 Lee, Ellen, 272 Lee, Eugene, 107–8, 133, 222, 324 Lee, Franne, 81, 156, 222, 231, 324 Lee, Gypsy Rose, 423 Lee, Jack, 174, 420 Lee, Jae Woo, 230 Lee, Judith, 218 Lee, Peggy, 198–99 Lee, Pinky, 94 Lee, Robert E., 181 Lee, Valerie, 218 Leeds, Doug, 231 LeFrak, Francine, 127, 174 Le Gallienne, Eva, 159 Legrand, Michel, 135 Legs Diamond, 376–78 Lehar, Franz, 146, 186, 207, 251, 370, 402 Leiber, Jerry, 218 Leigh, Carolyn, 116, 118 Leigh, Mitch, 86, 119, 230, 387 Leight, Warren, 259 Leighton, David, 153, 156 Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, 84–86 Lennon, Julian, 78 Lenya, Lotte, 417–18 Leon, Tania, 204 Leon, Victor, 146, 186, 206, 251, 370, 402 Leonhart, Jay, 198 Lerner, Alan Jay, 37, 39, 48, 96, 105, 134, 177, 275 Lerner, Elizabeth, 39 Leroux, Gaston, 344 LeRoy, Mervyn, 124 Lesenger, Jay, 99 Lesko, John, 40, 209 Les Miserables, 314–16 Lester, Hugh, 45 Lester, Mark, 211 Lester, Todd, 3, 162, 316–17 LeTang, Henry, 69, 378, 380 Levin, Charles, 89 Levin, Kathy, 423 Levine, Marc, 392 LeVine, Marilynn, 378 Levinson, Fred, 55 Levinson, Richard, 161, 163 Levitt, Sandy, 50 Levy, Jacques, 195

Levy, Mark, 401 Lewenstein, Oscar, 36 Lewis, Adair, 222 Lewis, Alde, Jr., 277 Lewis, Jenifer, 114, 156 Lewis, Jim, 408 Lewis, John Richard, 241 Lewis, Marcia, 327 Lewis, Vicki, 130, 231, 267 Lewis, William, 155 Leyden, Leo, 291 Libertella, Jose, 256 Libin, Claire, 269 Libin, Paul, 269, 369, 394, 407 Libowitzky, Hervig, 302 Lichtefeld, Michael, 407 Lida, David, 316, 320, 339, 345–46, 348, 351 Light, Ronald, 196 Ligon, Kevin, 312 Lily Turner Attractions, 67 Lim, Paul Stephen, 37 Lincoln Center, 276, 331, 347 Linden, Hal, 332 Lindsay, Howard, 331 Lindsay, John, 260 Lindsay, Robert, 291–93 Lindsey, Kathleen, 261 Liniva Productions, Inc., 267 Link, Richard, 161 Link, William, 163 Linn, Bambi, 159–60 Linn-Baker, Mark, 195 Lion, Margo, 416 Lipson, Paul, 95 Little, Cleavon, 121 The Little Comedy, 359–61 Little Johnny Jones, 123–24 A Little Like Magic, 304–5 Little Me, 116–18 The Little Prince and the Aviator, 133–34 Little Prince Productions, Ltd., 133 Little Tramp, 218 Litwin, Burton L., 68, 311 Livitz, Barbara, 308 Lloyd, Linda, 112 Lloyd, Lisbeth, 402 Lloyd Webber, Andrew, 120, 151–53, 252–53, 316, 318, 344–46 Lo, Randon, 120 Lobban, Lynn, 224 Lobel, Adrianne, 174 Lockhart, Calvin, 11 Loeb, Charles, 319 Loesser, Frank, 35, 55–57, 192 Loewe, Frederick, 37, 48, 96, 105, 134, 275 Loewinger, Guggi, 206 Loftin, Robert, 353 Logan, John, 224 Logan, Joshua, 39–40, 234, 312

INDEX     493 Logan, Nedda Harrigan, 232, 234 Lohner-Beda, Fritz, 147 Lom, Herbert, 231 LoMonaco, Thomas, 103 Long, William Ivey, 127, 130, 200, 308, 353, 390, 396 Loos, Anita, 133 Lopez, Priscilla, 18, 20 Lopez, Sal, 370 Loquasto, Santo, 247, 420, 423 Lord, James, 9 Loren, Sophia, 129 Lorick, Robert, 199 Lortel, Lucille, 347 Lorwin, Liza, 350 Loudon, Dorothy, 265–66 Louise, Merle, 340 Love, Darlene, 235, 362, 364 Love, Edward, 8 Love Never Dies, 346 Lowe, Jackie, 200 Lowey, Marilyn, 302 Lubitsch, Ernest, 44, 147 Lubovitch, Lars, 338 Luby, Roger, 110 Lucas, Craig, 250 Lucas, Jamilah, 208 Lucas, Roxie, 233 Lucero, Urbanie, 370 Luckham, Claire, 170–71 Ludd, Patricia, 99 Ludgin, Chester, 323 Ludwig, Ken, 250 Lum, Alvin, 387 Lumbard, Dirk, 164 Lumpkin, Bruce, 420 Luna, Jovita, 256 Lundell, Kert, 115, 405 Lunt, Alfred, 178 LuPone, Patti, 80, 210, 223, 316, 331–32, 424 LuPone, Robert, 29, 329–30 Luskin, Jean, 120 Lussa, Raymond, 34 Lustig, A., 50 Lutgenhorst, Manuel, 6, 47 Lynch, Tom, 52 Lyndeck, Edmund, 148, 162 Lyng, Nora Mae, 267, 334 Lynn, Joe, 112 Lynn, Jonathan, 81 Lynne, Gillian, 151–52, 344 Lynne, Michael, 181 MacDermot, Galt, 204–5 Macdonald, Brian, 218 MacDonald, Jeanette, 19, 147, 298, 376 MacGeorge, Jim, 218 MacKaye, Percy, 3 Mackintosh, Cameron, 151, 209, 314, 344 Mackintosh, Robert, 181

Macklin, Albert, 195 MacLaine, Shirley, 80, 208–9, 282 MacNamara, John, 428 MacRae, Gordon, 325 MacShane, Anita, 147 Madeira, Marcia, 34, 127, 193, 222 Madero, Ralph, 32 Madison Square Garden Productions, 401 Mages, Libby Adler, 130 Maggart, Brandon, 89 Magic Promotions, Inc., 401 Magid, Larry, 272 Magid, Paul David, 176, 276 Maginnes, Molly, 171 Maguire, Michael, 316 Mahaffey, Valerie, 36 Mahon, Kristen, 423 Mahony-Bennett, Kathy, 103 Maibaum, Norman, 87 Mail, 353–55 Maillard, Carol Lynn, 32 Main, Marjorie, 415 Mais, Michele, 327 Maitland, Dexter, 93 Major, Aja, 274, 329 Makarova, Natalia, 164, 166 Los Malambos, 73 Malas, Spiro, 101, 156 Malden, Karl, 424 Malkin, Sam, 218 Mallard, David E., 407 Mallow, Tom, 31, 215 Malone, Maggie, 427 Malone, Mike, 11 Maltby, Richard, Jr., 196, 252–54, 372 Maltin, Leonard, 100 Mame, 181–83 Mamoulian, Rouben, 239 Manchester, Melissa, 252 Mancini, Al, 429 Mandel, Frank, 297, 324, 371, 407 Mandel, Howie, 79 Mandracchia, Charles, 420 Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Dress Casual, 403–5 Manfredini, Harry, 141 Manhattan Rhythm, 145–46 Manilow, Barry, 392 Manim, Mannie, 347 Mann, Edward, 189 Mann, Terrence, 314 Mann, Terrence V., 15 Mann, Theodore, 269, 369, 394, 407 Manning, Frankie, 378, 380 Manning, Irene, 325 Manoff, Dinah, 235 Manuel, 370 Manuscript Productions, 196 Marble, Carolyn, 299 Marble Arch Productions, 13

494      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Marceau, Yvonne, 420 Marcell, Joseph, 79 Marcelli, Rino, 257 March, Richard, 284 Marcovicci, Andrea, 217 Marcum, Kevin, 314 Margoshes, Steven, 135, 193, 298 Marie, Julienne, 45 Marilyn, 192–94 Marini, Giovanna, 258 Marini, Marilu, 9–10 Marks, Walter, 73–74 Mark Taper Forum, 88 Marlay, Andrew, 297, 349, 371, 374 Marlowe, 102–3 Maronex, James, 130 Marre, Albert, 86, 119, 249, 387 Marriner, Gregg, 1 Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre, 365 Marsee, Susanne, 146, 156, 186, 251, 254–55, 288, 323, 374 Marsh, Howard, 44 Marshall, Anthony D., 159 Marshall, Edward, 360 Marshall, Ken, 3 Marshall, Larry, 103, 167, 277 Marshall, Rob, 129, 189, 264, 340 Martens, Lora Jeanne, 57 Martin, Andrea, 79 Martin, Christopher, 405 Martin, Elliot, 233 Martin, George N., 263 Martin, Glenn, 171 Martin, Hugh, 413 Martin, James, 37 Martin, Leila, 344 Martin, Mary, 334 Martin, Nicholas, 160 Martin, Ruth, 5, 44, 101, 125, 156, 289, 326 Martin, Thomas, 5, 44, 101, 125, 156, 289, 326 Martin, Virginia, 117–18, 121 Martini, Richard, 31 Martino, Mark, 103 Martins, Peter, 164, 252 Marvin, Mel, 52 Marx, Chico, 20 Marx, Groucho, 20 Marx, Harpo, 20 Maryanne, 297 Masekela, Hugh, 346 Masella, Arthur, 186, 221–22, 287, 324, 349 Masella, Joni, 120 Masiell, Joe, 67–68 Maslansky, Harris, 126 Mason, Jackie, 310–11 Mason, Karen, 141 Masten, Fritz, 288 Masteroff, Joe, 334 Masterson, Mary Stuart, 129, 160

Mastrantonio, Mary Elizabeth, 77, 103, 204, 214 Mastrocola, Frank, 202 Matalon, Vivian, 48–49, 200–201 Mathews, Carmen, 77, 214 Mathis, Claude, 93 Matsumoto, Yuri, 410 Matthews, Brian, 77 Matthews, Hale, 13 Matz, Jerry, 327, 395 Matz, Peter, 229 Mauceri, John, 153, 164, 221, 252 Mauldin, Randolph, 187 Maurer, Michael, 207, 302 Maurstad, Toralv, 100 Mavin Productions, Inc., 130 Maxwell, Mitchell, 139 May, William, 193 Mayer, Timothy S., 173 Mayerson, Fred, 241 Mayerson, Frederic H., 338 Mayes, Sally, 391 Maynard, Gaylord, 73 Mayor, 259–60 Mazo, Joseph H., 249, 302 Mazzie, Marin, 365 McAllen, Kathleen, 120 McAloney, Michael, 136 MCA Music Entertainment Group, 316 McAnuff, Des, 241, 243 McArt, Jan, 418 McAteer, Kathryn, 259 McAvin, Andy, 37, 105 McBride, Michele, 370, 402, 407 McBroom, Amanda, 88 McCabe, Eileen, 23 McCallum, Martin, 314 McCann, Elizabeth I., 65 McCarroll, Earl, 1 McCarthy, Jeff, 308 McCarthy, Sheila, 136 McCarthy, Sobhan, 357 McCarty, Michael, 135, 341 McClain, John, 155 McClatchy, J. D., 366 McClelland, Kay, 338, 426 McConnell, Lynda, 321 McCormick, Michael, 244 McCown, Marjorie, 385 McCready, Kevin, 79 McCutcheon, Bill, 331, 334 McDermott, Sean, 316 McDonald, Annette R., 261 McDonald, J. T., 392 McDonald, Quentin H., 261 McDonough, Joe, 389 McDonough, Marty, 57 McDonough, Stephen, 237 McDougall, Gordon, 284 McDowell, Robbin, 25

INDEX     495 McDuffie, Alvin, 11 McElroy, Michael, 243 McFadden, Gene, 83 McFadden, Michael, 136 McFarland, Robert, 6, 47 McFerren, Scott, 135 McGavin, Darren, 111, 231 McGill, Bruce, 174 McGillin, Howard, 263, 331, 333 McGiveney, Michael, 54, 229 McGiveney, Owen, 54 McGlinn, John, 173, 334 McGough, Roger, 267 McGourty, Patricia, 59, 122, 195, 241 McGovern, Maureen, 97, 417 McGreevey, Annie, 81 McGuire, William Anthony, 225 McHattie, Stephen, 395 McInerney, Bernie, 119 McIntyre, Stephen, 405 McKayle, Donald, 68, 312 McKee, Joseph, 297, 326, 371, 403 McKee, Lonette, 110–11, 171–72 McKee, Richard, 5, 289, 349–50, 370, 402–3 McKenzie, James B., 86 McKenzie, Julia, 340 McKinley, Philip William, 324–25, 407 McKinney, John, 133 McKnight, Sharon, 393–94 McLaglen, Andrew V., 405 McLain, John, 164, 231, 398 McLaughlin, J., 116 McLean, Ann, 25 McLean, Sammis, 135 McLennan, Ron, 282 McLernon, Pamela, 77 McMartin, John, 13–15, 282, 340 McMillian, Larry, 63 McNally, Terrence, 201, 203 McNamara, Rosemary, 224 McNeely, Anna, 123 McPhillips, Tom, 272, 285 McQueen, Armelia, 372 McRobbie, Peter, 263 Meadows, Christine, 374, 403 Meadows, Kristen, 36 Me and My Girl, 291–94 Medin, Harriet, 96 Medjuck, Joe, 161 Meehan, John, 6 Meet Me in St. Louis, 145, 249–50, 413–15 Meibach, Ina Lea, 225 Meilhac, Henri, 5, 44, 101, 125, 146, 156, 186, 191, 206–7, 251, 289, 326, 370, 402 Mellon, James J., 3 Melnick, Peter, 428 Melnik, Bertha, 67 Melotti, Joe, 392 Meltzer, Andrew, 42

Menard, Raymond, 313 Menefee, Pete, 208 Menken, Alan, 136, 219 M2 Entertainment, Inc., 139 Menzel, Idina, 359 Mercado, Hector Jaime, 3–4, 151 Mercer, Johnny, 40, 143 Meredith, Burgess, 160 Mergenthaler, D. J., 229 Merimee, Prosper, 191 Merlin, 161–63 Merman, Ethel, 332–33, 424 Merrick, David, 40–41, 211 Merrick, Mike, 37, 77, 96, 105 Merrill, Bob, 237 Merrily We Roll Along, 106–9 Merritt, Theresa, 217 The Merry Widow, 146–47, 186, 206–7, 251–52, 370, 402 Mess, Suzanne, 146, 186, 218, 251, 324, 370, 402, 407 Metzler, Lawrence, 87 Meyer-Forster, Wilhelm, 42, 98, 250, 323 Meyers, T. J., 396 Meyers, Timothy, 46 Mhlongo, Ndaba, 347 Micacchion, Al, 123 Michael Feinstein in Concert, 355–56 Michael Feinstein in Concert/Isn’t It Romantic, 376 Michael Kleinman Productions, 200 Michaels, Lisa, 261 Michaels, Patricia, 193 Michel, Carolyn, 412 Michele, Linda, 324–25 Michell, Keith, 185 Michels, Lloyd, 27 Michener, Charles, 5, 85 Michener, James A., 312 Mieholes, Nicky, 8 Migenes, Julia, 256, 296 Miglietta, John, 160 Mignini, Carolyn, 52 Milbro Productions, 201 Milchan, Arnon, 32 Miles, Bernard, 285 Miles, Sarah, 265 Milford, Jim, 71 Miller, Amy, 130 Miller, Craig, 15, 63, 237, 267, 360 Miller, Gregory, 83 Miller, James M., 141 Miller, John, 198 Miller, Lawrence, 127, 170, 254, 288 Miller, Marsha Trigg, 141 Miller, Maxine, 136 Miller, Roger, 241, 243 Millius, Michael G., 232 Mills, Erie, 153, 287–88 Mills, Stephanie, 215–16 Milner, Ron, 336–37 Milton, Alton, 29

496      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Minami, Roger, 410 Mineo, John, 187, 401 Miner, Worthington, 165 Mines, Madeleine, 374 Minich, Peter, 206 Minnelli, Liza, 202–3 Minnelli, Vincente, 50, 255, 413, 415 Minskoff, Jerome, 79, 177, 193, 225, 277, 279, 370 Mintz, Alan, 302–3 Mintz, Melanie, 236 Miranda, Carmen, 353 Mirvish, David, 136 Mirvish, Edwin, 136 Les Miserables, 314–16 Misovye, Charles, 365 Missimi, Dominic, 365 Missimi, Nancy, 365 Miss Liberty, 383 Mitchell, Adrian, 88 Mitchell, Brian (Stokes), 353 Mitchell, David, 15, 17, 71–72, 79, 177, 183, 233, 376 Mitchell, Fanny Todd, 5 Mitchell, Gregory, 409 Mitchell, Jerry, 381 Mitchell, Lauren, 338 Mitchell, Robert, 387 Mitchell, Robert D., 86 Mitchell, Ruth, 3, 94, 107, 239, 326, 334 Mitchell, Thomas, 163 Mitch Leigh Company, 181, 230, 387 Mitsubishi, 410 Mittoo, Jackie, 11 Mitzman, Marcia, 223, 275, 313, 324, 390 Miyake, Kiki, 416 Mlaba, Pat, 347 M.M.G. Arena Productions, 389 Moenkhaus, William, 88–89 Moffatt, John, 133 Molaskey, Jessica, 214 Molina, Alfred, 95 Monahan, Debi, 193 Monicelli, Mario, 277 Moniz, Susan, 361 Monk, Chris, 170 Monk, Debra, 122 Monk, Isabell, 350 Monroe, Donna, 71 Monroe, Marilyn, 193–94 Montalban, Ricardo, 282 Montalvo, Frank, 131 Montevecchi, Liliane, 127, 129, 420 Montgomery, Barbara, 83, 200 Montoya, Antonio, 301 Montoya, Pilar, 301 Montoya, Rosario, 301 Montresor, Beni, 294, 296 Moody, Naomi, 167 Moody, Ron, 210–11 Moon, Marjorie, 83

The Moony Shapiro Songbook, 81–83 Moore, Barbara, 145 Moore, Charlotte, 413 Moore, Crista, 296 Moore, Dana, 409 Moore, Grace, 298 Moore, Gregory, 323 Moore, Hasel, 258 Moore, Jerry R., 31, 147 Moore, Judith, 212 Moore, Maureen, 130 Moore, Melba, 83 Moore, Peter, 102 Moore, Robert, 74 Moore, Tracey, 405 Moose Murders, 363 Mor, 366 Mordente, Lisa, 102 More, Julian, 81, 326 Moreau, Jean-Luc, 17 Moreno, Rita, 4 Morgan, Cass, 122, 205 Morgan, Dennis, 325 Morgan, Helen, 173 Morgan, James, 407 Morgan, Randy, 34 Morgan, Roger, 73, 133, 291, 328 Morley, Robert, 100 Morley, Ruth, 32, 87 Moroz, Barbara, 233 Morris, Anita, 127 Morris, Libby, 425 Morrisey, Bob, 299 Morrison, Ann, 29, 107 Morrow, Doretta, 255 Morrow, Queen Esther, 285 Morse, Robin, 71 Mortman, Mike, 310 Morton, Joe, 289 Morton, Winn, 25 Mort Sahl on Broadway!, 328–29 Mosher, Gregory (C.), 276, 331, 338, 347 Mosley, Robert, Jr., 167 Moss, Jeffrey B., 259 Mostel, Josh, 416 Mostel, Zero, 95 Mottle, Sonja, 207 Moya, Bobby, 376 Moyes, Patricia, 86 M P I Productions, Ltd., 93 Muenz, Richard, 37, 39, 105, 385–86, 402 Mulcahy, Lance, 61–62 Muller, Herman-Jay, 413 Munderloh, Otts, 174 Muni, Paul, 422 Munnik, Rob, 158 Munro, Janet, 87 Munro, Leigh, 43, 98–99, 101, 125, 221–22, 251, 287–89, 297–98, 323, 326, 349–50, 370–72

INDEX     497 Munsel, Patrice, 147 Muraoka, Alan, 353 Murin, David, 139 Murphy, Donna, 205, 231, 263, 396 Murphy, Eddie, 114 Murphy, Jack, 161 Murphy, Mary, 428 Murray, Don, 40 Murray, Mary Gordon, 116, 141 Murray, Peg, 335 Musical Chairs, 23–24 Music-Hall Sidelights, 133 The Music Man, 34–36, 349–50 Musky, Jane, 261 Musser, Tharon, 40, 81, 88, 112, 114, 161, 265, 321, 341, 390, 396 Mutual Benefit Companies, 338 Myers, Pamela, 340 Myers, Stanley, 87 My Fair Lady, 96–98 Myles, Glenn, 93 My One and Only, 173–76 The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 263–65 My Three Angels, 283–84 Nadel, Barbara, 15 Nadel, Norman, 211 Nahat, Dennis, 5–6, 44 Naismith, Laurence, 155 Nakagawa, Kikue, 410 Namara, Ltd., 170 Napier, John, 151–53, 314, 316, 319 Naples, Charlie, 93 Napoli, Jeanne, 193 Nason, Brian, 416 Natel, Jean-Marc, 314 Nathan, George Jean, 66 National Alliance of Musical Theatre Producers, 365 Naughton, James, 426, 428 Naughty Marietta, 374–76 Navarro, Ramon, 44 Nease, Byron, 181 Nederlander, Charlene, 170 Nederlander, James, 73, 170, 177 Nederlander, James L., 328, 376, 392 Nederlander, James M., 3, 34, 74, 79, 84, 87, 89, 94, 123, 127, 131, 148, 161, 171, 183, 209, 217, 229, 239, 279, 291, 348, 370, 392, 408, 416 Nederlander, James M., Jr., 191 Nederlander, Joseph Z., 302 Nederlander Organization, 208 Neely, Claudia, 268 Neenan, Audrie, 119 Neil, Roger, 90 Neill, William, 6–7, 47 Nelsen, Don, 22–23, 97, 121, 148, 177, 228–29, 406, 412 Nelson, Bob, 348 Nelson, Doug, 276 Nelson, Kenneth, 133

Nelson, Miriam, 88 Nelson, Nels, 378 Nelson, Portia, 165 Nelson, Randy, 176, 276 Nelson, Richard, 8, 57, 103, 200, 212, 215, 233, 338, 353, 357, 403 Nelson & Sixta, 353 Nemeth, Sandor, 207 Nemetz, Lenora, 385–86 Nemy, Enid, 366 Neofitou, Andreane, 314 Nero, Franco, 39 Nesbitt, Cathleen, 97 Nettleford, Rex, 11 Neubarer, Nicholas, 261 Neufeld, Mace, 176 Neufeld, Peter, 151, 209, 252, 366 Neuwirth, Bebe, 117, 279, 281, 283 Neville-Andrews, John, 268 Newborn, Scott, 24 Newley, Anthony, 217–18 Newman, Daisy, 167 Newman, Edwin, 2 Newman, Molly, 224 Newman, Paul, 366 Newman, Peter, 90 Newmar, Julie, 144 The New Moon, 297–98, 371–74 The News, 261–63 New York City Opera Company, 5–6, 42, 44, 47, 98–99, 101, 125, 146, 153, 156, 186, 221–22, 250–51, 254, 275, 287–89, 297, 313, 323–24, 326, 349, 370–71, 374, 385, 402–3, 407 New York Music Company, 259 New York School for Circus Arts, 15 New York Shakespeare Festival, 59, 204, 263 Nezhad, Eric, 11 Ngema, Mbongeni, 346–47 Ngema, Nhlanhla, 347 Nicastro, Michelle, 163 Nicely, Susan, 385 Nicholas, Fayard, 378, 380 Nicholas, Harold, 115 Nicholas, Howard, 380 Nichols, Mike, 26, 185 Nichols, Robert, 237 Nichtern, Claire, 74 Nicoletti, Odette, 257 Nielsen, Don, 353 Nielsen, Inga, 5–6, 45 Nieves, Maria, 256 Nigro, Robert, 126 Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, 397–98 Nine, 127–30 Nishizaki, Mayumi, 410 Niska, Maralin, 5–6, 45 Nissenson, Gloria, 418 Nixon, Marni, 97 Nobody Don’t Like Yogi, 110

498      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS A Noel Coward Revue, 307 Noel Coward’s Sweet Potato, 306–7 Nolen, Timothy, 222, 239, 241, 288, 324 Norman, Monty, 81 Northmore, Jack, 218 Norzar Productions, Inc., 68 Nouri, Michael, 80 Nowak, Christopher, 122 Nugent, Nelle, 65 Null, Panchali, 187 Nunes, Paul, 376 Nunn, Trevor, 151–53, 314, 316, 357 Nurock, Kirk, 225 Nussbaum, Mike, 130 Oba Oba, 352–53 Obolensky, Chloe, 191 O’Brien, Conal, 267 O’Brien, Edmond, 308 O’Brien, Jack, 167 O’Brien, Margaret, 415 O’Brien, Maria, 308 O’Brien, Marlane, 218 O’Brien, Timothy, 148 Ockrent, Mike, 291, 298–99 O’Connor, Donald, 71–72, 136, 171, 333 Oditz, Carol, 126, 141 O’Dowd, Frank, 71 Offenbach, Jacques, 125, 156 O’Gorman, Michael, 74 Oh, Brother!, 103–5 O’Haire, Patricia, 24, 158 Ohara, Hirotoshi, 410 O’Hara, Paige, 171 O’Hare, Denis, 282 Oh Coward!, 305–7 O’Horgan, Tom, 398–99 Oken, Stuart, 51 Okun, Alexander, 326 Oliver!, 209–11 Once on a Summer’s Day, 398 O’Neill, Eugene, 237 One Night Stand, 89–90 Onrubia, Cynthia, 252, 381 On the Town, 381, 384 Onward Victoria, 57–59 On Your Toes, 164–66 Opel, Nancy, 212 O’Quinn, Terrance, 119 Orano, Roberto Ivan, 258 Orbach, Jerry, 40 Orezzoli, Hector, 256–57, 301, 378, 380 Orfeo, 408–10 Orloff, Penny, 6, 47, 98, 148 Ornadel, Cyril, 285 Ortega, Kenny, 193 O’Shea, Milo, 413 O’Shea, Tessie, 73 Osmond, Donny, 121, 123–24

O’Steen, Michael, 413 Osterman, Lester, 89–90 Osterman, Phillip, 174 Ostermann, Curt, 274 Ostrow, Stuart, 27, 81 Otey, Louis, 407 Oura, Mizuki, 410 Owens, Frank, 21, 272 Owens, Traci, 99 Oxley, Leonard, 378 Pabst, G. W., 418 Pace Theatrical Group, 381, 401, 423 Paganini, Niccolo, 252 Page, Ken, 372 Page, Stan, 40 Page, Tim, 156, 251–52, 288–89, 298 Pageant, 310 Paige, Elaine, 129, 152, 223, 231, 333, 357 Painter, Charlene, 229 Painter, Walter, 426 The Pajama Game, 385–87 Pakledinaz, Marty, 83 Pallo, Imre, 5–6, 44, 251, 289, 326, 370, 402 Palmer, Elizabeth, 224 Palmer, Peter, 326 Palmer, Robert, 148, 158 Papp, Joseph, 59–60, 204, 206, 263 Pappas, Evan, 428 Pappas, Theodore, 374, 385 Paramount Pictures, 420 Paramount Theatre Productions, 174 Parcher, William, 251, 289, 324–26, 371–72, 374, 407 Pareles, 401 Parichy, Dennis, 51, 119, 343 Paris, Myrna, 223 Parish, Mitchell, 311–12 Park, R. Vincent, 261 Parker, Alecia, 187, 227, 334 Parker, Alecia A., 135 Parker, Bernard, 337 Parker, F. William, 88 Parker, Howard, 71 Parks, Hildy, 18, 191 Parlato, Dennis, 357 Parrinello, Richard, 143, 230 Parrish, Cheryl, 374 Parry, William, 37, 105, 302 Parsons, Estelle, 59 Parsons, Jennifer, 224 Pascal, Adam, 359 Paskow, Karen, 200 Pastoria, Andre, 164 Patinkin, Mandy, 212, 256 Patterson, Howard Jay, 176, 276 Patterson, Kelly, 279 Patterson, Raymond, 225 Patterson, Richard, 284 Paul, Linda, 145

INDEX     499 Paul, Tina, 135, 201, 408 Paulson, Harold, 417 Peacock, Michon, 131 Pearce, Alice, 117 Pearle, Gary, 52 Pearson, Pauletta, 61 Pearson, Sybille, 196 Pedley, Ron, 392 Pedrazzini, Horatio, 10 Peg, 198–99 Peil, Mary Beth, 129, 214, 230 Peldon, Courtney, 413 Pender, Stephen, 32 Pendleton, Austin, 219 Pene du Bois, Raoul, 11, 131 Penn, Sean, 284 Pennington, Diane, 177 Pennington, Gail, 116 Pennini, Thomas, 120 Penn & Teller, 343–44 Penny by Penny: The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge, 135–36 Peppiatt, Frank, 428 Pepusch, Johann, 416 Peralta, Craig, 143 Perenchio, Jerrold, 302 Perez, Luis, 408–9 Perfectly Frank, 55–57 Perkins, Patti, 61 Perkinson, Coleridge Taylor, 32 Perlman, Bonnie, 418 Perry, Douglas, 146, 251 Perry, Louis, 43, 98, 250, 254, 288, 323, 349 Perry, Lynette, 422 Perry, William, 267 Perryman, Al, 189 Peter, Michael, 235 Peter Pan, 383 Peters, Bernadette, 212, 252–54, 338–39, 424 Peters, Michael, 112, 236, 321 Peters, Stephenie, 90 Peterson, Claudette, 156, 186–87, 221, 287–89, 323, 326 Peterson, Eric, 26 Peterson, Kirk, 331 Peterson, Lenka, 224 Peterson, Nora, 126 Petina, Irra, 100, 155 Petit, Roland, 79, 81 Petrucci, Donalyn, 94 Pettiford, Valarie, 239, 277 Pfeiffer, Michelle, 133 The Phantom of the Opera, 344–46 Philips, Mardi, 289, 311 Philips, Mary, 407 Phillips, Andy, 89, 416 Phillips, Arlene, 316 Phillips, Lloyd, 416 Phillips, Lou Diamond, 231 Phillips, Tim, 83 Piaf, 64–67

Piaf, Edith, 64–68 Piazzolla, Astor, 408, 410 Picon, Molly, 388 Pidgeon, Walter, 415 Pieces of Eight, 284–85 Piemontese, Renato, 257 Pierre, Olivier, 36 Pigliavento, Michele, 331 Pigott, Colin, 270 Pilbrow, Richard, 27 Piller, Heinar, 283 Pine, Chris, 340 Pinelli, Tullio, 127, 279 Pinkney, Mikell, 83 Pipino il Breve, 260–61 Pippin, Donald, 74, 183–84, 349 The Pirate, 145, 250 The Pirates of Penzance, 59–61 Pit, 365 Pitchford, Dean, 361 Piven, Marc, 116 Pizzarelli, Bucky, 198 Platoff, Barbara, 87 Plautus, 103 Playhouse Square Center, 350 Play Me a Country Song, 141–42 Playwrights Horizons, 212 Plummer, Christopher, 87 Plunkett, Maryann, 291, 293 Poddubiuk, Christina, 428 Podell, Rick, 429 Pogue, David, 390 Poindexter, Karen, 418 Poiret, Jean, 183 Polito, Jon, 119 Pomahac, Bruce, 413 Pomerantz, John, 183 Pomerantz, John J., 239 Pond, Helen, 146, 171, 186, 251, 305, 370, 402 Pondel, John, 392 Pontillo, Larry P., 23 Poole, Wakefield, 71 Poppell, Jack, 207 Porgy and Bess, 167–69 Porretta, Frank, 100, 155 Porteous, Cameron, 428 Porter, Cole, 13, 79, 331–32 Porter, Mike, 8 Porterfield, Christopher, 192 Portman, Rachel, 134 Portnoy, Gary, 193 Poster, Kim, 420 Postlethwaite, Todd, 284 Potter, Dennis, 427 Potts, Nancy, 119, 130, 167, 285 Powell, Jane, 144, 415 Powell, Michael, 31, 147, 285 Powell, Shezwae, 282 Powers, John R., 130

500      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Praed, Michael, 226–27 Preece, K. K., 1 Preminger, Otto, 169 Prendergast, Shirley, 115, 189, 337 Prescription: Murder, 163 Presley, Elvis, 401–2 Pressley, Brenda, 81, 112, 140 Preston, Barry, 63–64 Preston, Robert, 35, 183 Preto, Toco, 352 Pretty Faces, 310 Price, Don, 102 Price, Henry, 43, 45, 98, 125 Price, Lonny, 39, 107, 218–19, 428 Prince, Faith, 118 Prince, Harold, 6–7, 47, 83, 107, 109, 148, 150, 153–54, 186, 221–22, 239, 287–88, 324, 326–28, 334, 344–46, 403 Prince of Central Park, 418–20 Producer Circle Company, 326 Prom Queens Unchained, 310 Provenza, Sal, 103, 230 Prowse, Juliet, 80, 282 Prudhomme Productions Ltd., 189 Prunczik, Karen, 40 Pryce, Jonathan, 129, 336 Pryor, Richard, 217 Pudenz, Steve, 385 Pugh, Richard Warren, 77 Pugh, Ted, 63–64 Pump Boys and Dinettes, 122–23 Purdham, David, 133 Purdom, Edmund, 44 Pursley, David, 331 Puzzo, Peter, 191 Quast, Philip, 214 The Queen of Basin Street, 185 Quick Change, 54–55 Quilley, Denis, 155, 185, 223, 357 Quilters, 224–25 Quinn, Anthony, 187–89 Quinn, Brian, 116 Quinn, James, 130–31 Quinn, Patrick, 305 Quinton, Dolores, 193 Raab, Cheryl, 141 Rabinowitz, Robert, 156, 401 Rackmil, Gladys, 3, 55 Radio City Music Hall, 167, 410 Radomsky, Saul, 81 Ragan, Michael, 143 Raggedy Ann, 299–301 Rags, 294–97 Railton, Jeremy, 389, 392 Raines, Ron, 131, 156, 171–72 Raitt, James, 274, 311 Raitt, Kathleen, 420

Ralph, Sheryl Lee, 11, 112 Ramey, Samuel, 256 Ramsey, Marion, 239, 272, 274 Randolph, Robert, 123, 143, 279, 281 Rankin, Kenny, 269 Ranson, Molly, 365 Raphael, Gerrianne, 412 Raposo, Joe, 299–301 Rapp, Anthony, 133 Rapposelli, Michael, 398 Rasch, Albertina, 226 Rascoff, Joseph, 401 Raskin, Judith, 326 Rasmuson, Judy, 135 Rasmussen, Zora, 170, 235 Rathburn, Roger, 63 Rauber, Francois, 68 Rauch, William, 259 Ravitz, Mark, 156 Ray, Aldo, 284 Ray, Gene Anthony, 362 Raylor, Ron, 226 Really Useful Company Limited, 151, 252 Really Useful Theatre Company, Inc., 344 Ream, Frank, 288 Reams, Lee Roy, 40 Reardon, John, 131 Redel, Jessica, 5, 44, 98, 101, 323 Redfield, Liza, 45, 244 Redgrave, Vanessa, 39 Redsecker, John, 319 Reed, Alyson, 103, 177, 193, 334–35 Reed, Bill, 169 Reed, Carol, 211 Reed, Vivian, 32–33 A Reel American Hero, 90–91 Reese, Della, 140 Reeve, Scott, 153, 186, 221 Reggae, 11–13 Reid, Alexander, 362 Reiffel, Lisa, 299 Reigert, Peter, 8 Reijinders, Nard, 158 Rein, Martin I., 311 Reina, Mark, 208 Reinhardt, Gottfried, 6 Reinhardt, Max, 6 Reisman, Jane, 378 Reissa, Eleanor, 50 Reitman, Ivan, 161 Remme, John, 79, 160, 423 Renard, Jules, 360 Renderer, Scott, 170 Rennagel, Marilyn, 74, 130 Renzi, Mike, 198 Resnik, Regina, 334 Reynolds, Charles, 25, 161 Reynolds, George Edward, 360 Reynolds, Jeffrey, 143

INDEX     501 Rhodes, Betty, 67 Rhodes, Erik, 132 Rhodes, Evan H., 418, 420 Rhyne, Sylvia, 407 Ria, Robin, 313 Ribeiro, Alfonso, 200–201 Riberdy, Allen, 297, 371 Ricciadelli, John, 193 Rice, Nicholas, 218 Rice, Tim, 120, 357 Rich, Adina, 50 Rich, Alan, 7, 192 Rich, Frank, 13, 16–17, 24, 36, 38, 42, 46, 49, 51, 53, 56–60, 62, 64, 66, 70, 72, 75–76, 78, 80, 83–85, 102–3, 105–6, 108, 111, 114–15, 117, 119–21, 124, 126, 128, 130, 140, 142, 144, 150, 152, 159–63, 166, 170–72, 175– 76, 178, 182, 184, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196–97, 199, 201, 203, 205, 209, 211, 213, 216, 225–26, 230, 234, 236, 238, 241–43, 248–49, 253, 260, 262, 264, 266–67, 271, 274, 279, 281, 292–93, 296, 299–300, 303, 309, 315, 318, 320, 322, 327–28, 332, 335, 340, 342–43, 345–47, 351, 354–55, 358, 363–64, 373, 377–78, 380, 384, 391, 395, 404, 406, 408–10, 412, 414, 417, 419, 421–22, 424, 427 Richards, David, 358, 363–64 Richards, Evan, 77 Richards, Jess, 90 Richards, Martin, 148, 183, 239, 259, 326, 420 Richardson, Claibe, 119–20 Richardson, Daryl, 215 Richardson, Natasha, 336 Richardson, Ron, 242–43 Richert, Wanda, 40 Richler, Mordecai, 218–19 Richter, Caspar, 206 Riddell, Richard, 241, 243 Ridge, John David, 77, 96 Riebling, Tia, 308 Rifkin, Ron, 336 Rigby, Harry, 131 Rigdon, Kevin, 394 Rigg, Diana, 131 Riley, Larry, 61 Rinehimer, John, 261 Ringham, Nancy, 96–97, 416–17 The Rink, 201–3 Rinker, Kenneth, 27, 29, 296 Ripamonte, Roberto, 258 Ritchie, Michael, 308 Ritman, William, 57–58 Rivera, Chita, 71–72, 129, 162, 202–3, 265, 282 Rizzo, Michael, 231 RLM Productions, Inc., 267 Robare, Mary C., 164 The Robber Bridegroom, 244–45 Robbins, Carrie, 110, 299 Robbins, Carrie F., 36 Robbins, Dana, 392 Robbins, Jana, 132 Robbins, Jerome, 3–5, 11, 94, 230, 381–85, 423

Robbins, Tom, 244 Robert Fox Ltd., 357 The Robert Klein Show!, 269 Roberts, Andy, 8 Roberts, Ruth, 36, 230 Roberts, Sarah, 347 Roberts, Tony, 275 Robertson, Cliff, 46 Robertson, Liz, 178, 270–71 Robert Stigwood Organization Ltd., 120 Robeson, Paul, 173 Robin, Jean-Claude, 227 Robinson, Christine, 270 Robinson, Edward G., 100 Robinson, Jackie, 111 Robinson, Janet, 193 Robinson, Louise, 11 Robinson, Mabel, 32 Robinson, Roger, 189 Robman, Steven, 88 Roche, Tami, 93–94 Rockne, Michael J., 34 Rock ‘n Roll! The First 5,000 Years, 156–58 Rockwell, John, 98, 147, 207, 221, 276, 287–88, 313, 324, 372 Rodgers, Chev, 46, 387 Rodgers, Eileen, 332 Rodgers, Richard, 164, 230, 312 Rodney Dangerfield on Broadway!, 348 Rodriguez-Arias, Alfredo, 9, 11 Roe, Charles, 5, 43 Roerick, William, 13 Roffman, Frederick S., 375 Rogers, David, 45 Rogers, Ginger, 183 Rogers, Jay, 141 Rogers, Ken Leigh, 174 Rogers, Robert, 267 Rogers, Wayne, 116 Rogosin, Roy M., 54 Rolfing, Tom, 123 Roller, Theo, 50 Rollnick, William D., 387 Romance Romance, 359–61 Romberg, Sigmund, 42, 98, 250, 297, 323–24, 371, 407 Romeo, Max, 11 Romoff, Woody, 135 Rondi, Brunello, 127 Ronstadt, Linda, 59, 370–71 Rooney, Mickey, 239 Roos, Casper, 48 Roosevelt, Theodore, 341–43 Ropes, Bradford, 40 Rorem, Ned, 366 Rosa, Dennis, 131 Rosales, Rebecca, 374 Rosario, Adrian, 279 Rose, George, 59, 263, 265 Rose, Gina, 229

502      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Rose, Howard, 311 Rose, L. Arthur, 291 Rose, Michael, 36 Rose, Philip, 189, 330, 405 Rose, Susan R., 120 Rosegarten, Rory, 329 Rosenberg, Irene, 57 Rosenblum, Joshua, 331 Rosenfeld, Jyll, 310 Rosenfeld, Lois F., 15 Rosenfeld, Maurice, 15 Rosenfeld, Sydney, 5 Rosenfield, Lois F., 247 Rosenfield, Maurice, 247 Rosenstock, Milton, 34, 136 Rosenthal, Jean, 3 Rosenthal, Leo, 193 Ross, Adrian, 186, 251, 370, 402 Ross, Diana, 216 Ross, Jamie, 307 Ross, Jerry, 385 Ross, Jonathan, 284 Ross, Philip Arthur, 164 Ross, Stanley Ralph, 217 Ross, Stephen, 218, 283, 405 Ross, Stuart, 392 Ross, Ted, 217 Rossi, Cheryl-Ann, 308 Rosson, Arthur, 124 Rossum, Emmy, 346 Rost, Leo, 102 Roston, Karen, 302, 412 Rotenberg, David, 261 Roth, Ann, 99, 247 Roth, Mary Robin, 398 Rothstein, Edward, 45, 101 Rounseville, Robert, 155 Roush, Matt, 327 Routledge, Patricia, 136 Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson, 298–99 Rowe, Hansford, 247 Rowen, Glenn, 98, 250, 254, 288, 323 Royal, Reginald, 286 Royal Pardon Productions, 52 Royal Shakespeare Company, 364 Roza, 326–28 Rozan, Micheline, 191 Rubin, Arthur, 79, 191, 217, 229, 279, 328, 376, 392, 408, 422 Rubin, Steven, 360 Ruby, Harry, 63 Rudel, Julius, 6, 47, 416 Rudkin, David, 197 Rudy, Lisa, 145 Ruffa, Mario, 352 Ruffelle, Frances, 315–16 Ruggles, Charles, 333 Rule, Daniel R., 98–99, 125, 153, 156, 186, 221 Rupert, Michael, 61, 283, 353

Rupnik, Kevin, 244 Ruprecht, David, 55 Russell, Catherine, 269, 369 Russell, Jenna, 214 Russell, Robert, 237 Russell, Rosalind, 117, 424 Ryack, Rita, 174, 204 Ryder, Ric, 398 Ryder, Richard, 299 Ryerson, Florence, 389 Sabella, Ernie, 123 Sabin, David, 177 Sabo, Judy, 136 Saddler, Donald, 13–14, 42, 98, 136, 146, 164, 186, 250, 323, 341 Saffer, Lisa, 403 Sahl, Mort, 328–29 Saint, Eva Marie, 366 Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de, 133 St. Louis, Louis, 326 Sakall, S. Z. “Cuddles,” 43–44 Saks, Gene, 294 Salesky, Brian, 98 Salisbury, Fran, 11 Sallis, Peter, 336 Salmon, Scott, 183–84 Salsberg, Gerry, 283 Saltonstall, Stella, 94 Saltzman, Avery, 385–86 Sams, Jeremy, 394 Samson, Susan Madden, 239 Samuel, Peter, 294 Sanders, Ronald, 7 Sandifur, Virginia, 55 Sandlin, Dorothy, 325 Sandt, Severn, 393 San Juan, Olga, 308 Sant’Angelo, Giorgio, 84 Santos, Jaime, 352 Santos, Loida, 45 Sanvoisin, Michel, 10 Sapp, R. LaChanze, 321 Sappington, Margo, 141–42, 195, 275 Sarafina!, 346–48 Sarandon, Chris, 8 Saroyan, William, 204–5 Satchmo, 367–68 Satkin, Jeff, 93 Saurova, Eva, 191 Savage, Lesley, 23 Savage, Tom, 23 Savin, Ron Lee, 231 Saviola, Camille, 313 Say, Darling, 387 Sayan, Levon, 166 Say Hello to Harvey!, 136–37 Scarpelli, Furio, 277 Scarpelli, Glenn, 231

INDEX     503 Schafer, Lawrence, 283 Schafer, Scott, 299 Scharer, Jonathan, 355, 376 Scharf, Michael, 15 Scheeder, Louis W., 45, 362 Schickel, Richard, 197 Schier, Ernest, 29, 388 Schierhorn, Paul, 261 Schifter, Peter Mark, 390 Schimmel, John, 122 Schimmel, William, 394 Schissler, Jeffrey, 208 Schlefer, Mark, 319 Schlesinger, Alice Maria, 206–7 Schlissel, Jack, 9 Schmarak, Todd, 365 Schmidt, Douglas W., 167, 217–18, 308, 401 Schmidt, Harvey, 131, 365 Schneider, Helen, 395 Schneider, Jana, 263 Schneider, John, 422 Schneider, Stanley, 87 Schnitzler, Arthur, 360 Schnugg, Tad, 285 Schollin, Christina, 100 Scholtz, Christa, 133 Schonberg, Claude-Michel, 314, 316 Schonberg, Harold C., 425 Schreiber, Avery, 79, 390 Schrock, Jackie, 25 Schroder, William, 31, 147 Schuler, Duane, 275, 313, 349 Schulman, Susan H., 407 Schumacher, Joel, 346 Schuman, Howard, 8 Schuman, Patricia, 191 Schuster, Alan J., 139 Schwab, Buddy, 37 Schwab, Laurence, 297, 371 Schwartz, Bonnie Nelson, 270 Schwartz, Bruce, 1 Schwartz, Paul, 362 Schwartz, Stephen, 294 Schwartz, Suzanne J., 196 Scott, Les, 160 Scott, Michael, 13 Scott, Zachary, 231 Scoullar, John, 134 Scruggs, Sharon, 141 Seabrooke, Christopher, 413 Seader, Richard, 305 Seal, Elizabeth, 386 Seale, Polly, 389 Seaton, Johnny, 401 Seawell, Brockman, 224 Seawell, Donald R., 164 Sebesky, Don, 418 Secombe, Harry, 100, 211 Secter, David, 3

Seesaw, 260 Seetoo, Keelee, 387 Segal, David F., 87 Segal, Vivienne, 226, 325 Segall, Ricky, 217 Segawa, Kae, 410 Segovia, Claudio, 256–57, 301, 378, 380 Segovia, Yolanda, 55, 112 Sekiya, Toshiaki, 410 Selch, Frederick R., 141 Selden, Albert, 94 Seligsohn, Leo, 412 Sellars, Peter, 174–75 Semmelman, Jim, 413 Senator Joe, 398–99 Senft, Gerhard, 206–7 Senn, Herbert, 146, 171, 186, 251, 305, 370, 402 Seplow, Evan, 71 Serota, Vivian, 55 Serra, Raymond, 102 Serrano, Eduardo, 301 Serreau, Genevieve, 9 Sesma, Thom, 388–89 Setzer, Milton, 25 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, 143–45, 249 Sevra, Robert, 45 Seymour, James, 40 Shade, Jeff, 279 Shaffer, Victoria, 337 Shafman, Arthur, 61 Shaiman, Marc, 227–28 Shakespeare, William, 3, 61, 103 Shakespeare’s Cabaret, 61–62 Shalom Yiddish Musical Comedy Theatre, 50 Shamash, Beba, 407 Shaper, Hal, 285 Shapiro, Debbie, 27–28, 55, 139–40, 187, 385 Shapiro, Laura, 292–93, 422 Shapiro, Mel, 136 Shapiro, Nat, 68 Sharaff, Irene, 3, 155, 230, 281 Sharma, Barbara, 429 Sharp, Christopher, 12, 25–26, 33, 58, 77, 84, 115, 121, 131, 158, 190, 194, 196, 262, 301 Sharp, Jeffrey Day, 337 Shaw, Bob, 59, 204, 263 Shaw, David, 366 Shaw, George Bernard, 96 Shaw, Reta, 415 Shaw, Robert, 241 Shawn, Michael, 57, 59 Shawn, Peter, 412 Shearer, Norma, 44, 178 Sheehan, Michael, 45 Sheffield, Buddy, 141 Sheffield, David, 141 Sheffield, Dick, 141 Shell, Claudia, 162 She Loves Me, 136

504      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Shelton, Reid, 2 Shenandoah, 405–6 Shepard, Richard, 146, 388 Shepard, Richard F., 51, 93, 95, 305, 310, 389 Shepherd, Gwen, 140 Sheppard, Susan, 94 Sher, Gloria Hope, 83 Sherman, Albert, 221, 371 Sherman, Arthur, 403 Sherman, Garry, 189 Sherwin, Mimi, 1 Sherwin M. Goldman Productions, 167 Sherwood, Gale, 326 Sherwood, Robert E., 177 Shevelove, Burt, 13 Shields, Robert, 73 Shimberg, Hinks, 341, 393 Shimono, Sab, 181 Shion, Yu, 410 Shipley, John, 54 Shire, David, 196 Shirley MacLaine on Broadway, 208–9 Shlenker, Sidney, 103, 119–20 Shlenker, Sidney L., 148, 308 Shoctor, Joseph H., 284 Shol, 29 Shore, Allen M., 289 Shorenstein, Carole J., 74, 79, 209 Short, Bobby, 21–23 Short, Martin, 118 Showalter, Max, 232 Show Boat, 171–73 Showpeople, 270 Shubert Organization, 48, 65, 112, 151, 204, 212, 215, 233, 252, 277, 319, 326, 347, 357, 372, 381, 426 Shubert Performing Arts Center, 237 Shulman, Milton, 365 Shuman, Mort, 67–68 Sibley, Harper, 193 Siccardi, Richard, 423 Sid Caesar & Company: Does Anybody Know What I’m Talking About?, 411–12 Siders, Irving, 321 Sieden, Cyndia, 403 Siegel, Joel, 8–9, 12–14, 20, 25, 27, 33, 35, 49, 52, 57–58, 64, 72–74, 78, 83, 85, 97, 110, 113, 126–29, 131, 140, 144, 150, 159, 177–78, 185, 192, 194–95, 197–99, 203, 205, 209, 211, 214, 234, 241, 243, 253, 267–68, 281, 295, 316, 318, 327–29, 332, 344, 354, 380, 385, 391, 394, 414–15 Siegel, Marcia B., 302, 384 Siena, Jerold, 289 Sierck, Detlef, 7 Signoret, Simone, 328 Silberman, Joel, 376, 418 Silliman, Maureen, 126 Sills, Beverly, 5–6, 42, 44, 47, 98–99, 101, 125, 146, 153, 156, 186, 221–22, 250–51, 254, 275, 287–89, 297, 313, 323–24, 326, 349, 370–71, 374, 385–86

Silva, Larry J., 52 Silver, Joan Micklin, 296 Silver, Joshua, 139 Silver, Phillip, 218 Silverlake, or A Winter’s Tale, 6–8, 47–48 Siman, Barbara, 259–60 Simenon, Georges, 427 Simmons, Bonnie, 59 Simmons, Stanley, 34, 48, 84, 230 Simon, George T., 27 Simon, John, 359, 363–64 Simon, Neil, 116, 279, 281, 326 Simon, Robert A., 5 Sinatra, Frank, 80, 108, 333, 366 Sing, Mahalia, Sing!, 285–86 Singer, Reuben, 86, 178 Singin’ in the Rain, 145, 247–50 Siretta, Dan, 63, 123–24, 237 Sirk, Douglas, 7 Skelton, Thomas, 37, 48, 79, 84, 105, 123, 143, 171, 177, 181, 198, 285 Skelton, Thomas R., 367 Skina, Eve, 52 Skovhus, Boje, 147 Slater, Christian, 34, 77, 162 Slater, Glenn, 346 Sloane, Joyce, 136 Sloman, John, 259–60 Sloman, P. K., 413 Slutsker, Peter, 164, 247 Slyde, Jimmy, 378 Small, Mary, 116 Small, Neva, 88, 140 Small, Ralph, 428 Smalls, Alexander, 167 Smalls, Charlie, 215 Smart, Jean, 66 Smartt, Michael V., 167 Smile, 308–10 Smith, Carrie, 378, 380 Smith, Christian, 98, 250, 289, 313, 323, 326 Smith, Craig, 174 Smith, David Rae, 43, 98, 250, 297, 323, 371 Smith, Ernest Allen, 23 Smith, Greg, 193 Smith, John, 208 Smith, Marjorie, 39 Smith, Oliver, 3, 39, 87, 96, 155, 374 Smith, Rex, 59, 204, 422 Smith, Richard Jay, 311 Smith, Sheila, 63 Smuin, Michael, 68, 217, 331, 334, 370 Smythe, Russell, 206 Sneed, Sherman, 84 Snow, Leida, 103 Sobol, Edna, 394 Sobol, Joshua, 394 Sokol, Marilyn, 390, 412 Solis, Alba, 256

INDEX     505 Solms, Kenny, 57 Solomon, Renee, 50 Soloway, Leonard, 13 Solway, Larry, 283 Somlyo, Roy A., 18, 191 Sommer, Kathy, 360 Sondheim, Stephen, 3, 5, 107–9, 153, 186, 212–14, 221–23, 287, 324, 338–41, 402, 407, 423 Sondheimer, Hans, 5, 44, 101, 289, 326 Song & Dance, 252–54 Song of Norway, 99–101 Sophisticated Ladies, 68–71 Sophocles, 350 Soreanu, Mary, 50–51 Soriero, Patrice, 311 Sousa, John Philip, 341 Sousa, Pamela, 360 Southbrook Group, 209 South Pacific, 312–14 Sovec, John, 389 Sparberg, Herschel, 426 Sparks, Richard, 298 Sparrow, Carol, 221 Spear, David, 161 Spellman, Larry, 412 Spencer, Charles, 365 Spencer, David, 219 Spewack, Sam and Bella, 283 Spialek, Hans, 165 Spiering, Frank, 429 Spillane, Mickey, 426 Spina, James, 148 Spiner, Brent, 212, 226 Spirit Will Productions, Inc., 83 Spivak, Allen, 272 Spooner, John, 208 Sporn, Michael, 74 Sprague, Jonathan, 167 Springer, Ashton, 83 Sprinsock, Eben, 276 Squarciapino, Franca, 79 Stabile, Bill, 398 Stage and Screen Music, Inc., 136 Stage Promotions (Four)/Strada Holdings, 316 Stage Promotions Limited & Co., 291 Stahl, Mary Leigh, 217 Staller, David, 334 Stanley, Gordon, 341 Stanley, Kim, 133 Stanley, Mark W., 206–7, 254, 288, 297, 324, 371, 407 Stanley, Pat, 63–64 Stardust, 311–12 Starger, Martin, 107, 316 Starkie, Martin, 1 Starlight Express, 316–19 Starmites, 392–94 Starobin, Michael, 263 Stasio, Marilyn, 25, 32–33, 54, 77, 95, 97, 166, 225, 249, 303, 343, 374, 377

Staunton, Imelda, 223, 340 Stazo, Luis, 256 Stearns, David Patrick, 271, 332, 339, 351, 356, 359, 361, 363, 373, 380, 391, 414, 417, 422, 427 Steele, Brian, 323 Steele, Carole, 166 Steele, Tommy, 250 Steen, Jan, 3 Stein, Bob, 269, 369 Stein, Joseph, 94, 187, 237, 294 Stein, Leo, 146, 206–7, 251, 370, 402 Steinberg, Lillian, 196 Steinbrenner, George M. III, 376 Steiner, Rick, 241, 338 Steiner, Steve, 331 Stephens, Linda, 365 Stephens, T. A., 193 Stephenson, Albert, 18–19 Steps in Time, 275 Stern, Eric, 89, 284, 294, 376, 423 Sterritt, David, 158, 214, 329 Stevens, George, 74 Stevens, Marti, 131 Stevens, Rise, 231 Stevens, Roger L., 164, 314 Stevens, Ronald “Smokey,” 83 Stevens, Tony, 55, 267 Stevenson, Robert Louis, 284 Stewart, James, 137, 333 Stewart, John, 323–24 Stewart, Larry, 32 Stewart, Michael, 15, 40, 71–72, 232, 284 Stewart, Robert A., 196 Stewart, William, 244 Stilgoe, Richard, 151, 316, 344 Stillman, Bob, 420 Sting, 416 Stites, Kevin, 365 Stitt, Don, 130 Stockwell, Rick, 353 Stoeckle, Robert, 1 Stoller, Mike, 218 Stone, Andrew L., 100 Stone, Edward, 234 Stone, Elly, 68 Stone, Peter, 74, 76, 173 Stoneburner, Sam, 110 Storey, Richard David, 273 Stothart, Herbert, 389 Stout, Mary, 77 Stovall, Count, 83 Strahammer, Silvia, 207 Straiges, Tony, 77, 212, 215, 338, 408 Strasberg, John, 159 Strasberg, Susan, 86 Stratas, Teresa, 294–96 Stratford, Bert, 23 Strauss, Edward, 167 Strauss, Johann, 5, 44, 101, 206, 289, 326

506      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Strauss, Marilyn, 122 Strayhorn, Dan, 32 Strayhorn, Danny, 289 Streep, Meryl, 340 Streetheat, 231–32 Strickland, Bruce, 83 Strickler, Dan, 135 Stripling, Byron, 367 Stritch, Elaine, 165 Stroman, Susan, 23–24 Strong, Edward, 350 Strouse, Charles, 45, 71, 177–78, 259–60, 294, 296 Strunk, George, 420 Strunsky, Michael, 169 Stuart, Mary Ellen, 252 Stuart, Michel, 18, 127, 200 The Student Prince, 42–44, 98–99, 250–51, 323 Studer, Cheryl, 147 Studley, Kate, 122 Sturiale, Grant, 428 Sturm, Jason, 387 Styne, Jule, 89–90, 284, 423 Sudhalter, Richard M., 23, 88 Sugawara, Hiroshi, 416 Sullivan, Arthur, 59, 447 Sullivan, Dan, 68 Sullivan, Gary, 227 Sullivan, Ian, 86 Sullivan, Jo, 55 Sullivan, K. T., 244 Sullivan, Paul, 215 Summerhays, Jane, 291 Summer Holiday, 239 Summer Share, 359–61 Sunday in the Park with George, 212–15 Suntory International Corp., 381, 426 Suppon, Charles, 376 Suskin, Steven, 415 Susskind, David, 217 Sutton, Henry, 116 Swados, Elizabeth, 29, 161, 195–96 Sweeney Todd, or The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 171, 222–24, 324, 407–8 Sweet Charity, 279–83 Sweet Will, 62 Swenson, Swen, 118 Swing, 27–29 Symonette, Lys, 6–7, 47 Szarabajka, Keith, 195 Tabachnick, Ken, 370, 374, 385, 402 Tackaberry, Celia, 279 Takara, Junko, 410 Takarazuka, 410–11 Take Me Along, 237–39 Take Me Out, 110–11 Talese, Maryanne, 297–98 Tambornino, Jeff, 302

Tamir, Moshe, 50 Tandet, A. Joseph, 133–34 Tandy, Jessica, 245 Tango, 408–10 Tango Argentino, 256–57 Tani, Masazumi, 410 Tanna, Robert, 162 Tanner, Tony, 120, 418 The Tap Dance Kid, 199–201 Tassin, Christen, 423 T.A.T. Communications Company, 81 Tate, Grady, 84, 198 Tate, Robert, 287–88, 403 Tatum, Marianne, 225, 227, 234 Taubman, Alfred, 89 Taubman, Howard, 211 Tautkus, Richard, 145 Taverne, Joost, 158 Taylor, Holland, 132 Taylor, Jim, 389 Taylor, Morris, 141 Taylor-Corbett, Lynne, 61, 357 Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Fly Trap, 170–71 A Teaspoon Every Four Hours, 310 Teatro Stabile di Catania, 261 Teddy & Alice, 341–43 Teeter, Lara, 143, 164, 166 Teijelo, Gerald M., Jr., 127 Teller, 343–44 Telson, Bob, 350 Temple, Paul N., 177 Tenniel, John, 160 Terfel, Bryn, 223 Tessler, Allan, 3 Testa, Mary, 193 Tetirick, Robert, 1 Thacker, Russ, 130, 307 Thalheimer, Norman, 193 Tharp, Twyla, 247–48 Thau, Harold, 176, 412 Theatre Now, 101 Theatre Off Park, 311 Theodore, Lee Becker, 3, 100, 274–75 Thigpen, Lynne, 52 This Was Burlesque, 93–94 Thomas, Philip Michael, 11 Thompson, Emma, 223 Thompson, Evan, 426 Thompson, Fred, 63 Thompson, Jeffrey V., 272 Thompson, Keith, 141 Thompson, Weyman, 321 Thomsen, Mark, 288 Thorne, Raymond, 341 Thorngren, Jane, 371–72, 407 Thornton, Mary C., 304 Thorpe, Richard, 44 3 Knights Ltd., 357

INDEX     507 The Three Musketeers, 225–27 3 Penny Opera, 416–18 Thurston, Ted, 57 Tibbett, Lawrence, 298 Tilley, Martin, 36 Tilton, Jim, 135 Timbuktu!, 255 Time Remembered, 86–87 Timerman, Alec, 331 Timoyko, Naanim, 256 Tine, Hal, 265 Tinker, Jack, 365 Tintypes, 52–54 Tipton, Jennifer, 26, 59, 69, 160, 247, 381 Titus, Alan, 45, 146, 251 TM Productions, Inc., 241 Tobin, joan F., 52 Toguri, David, 8 Toibin, Niall, 36–37 Tokar, Michael, 413 Tokoro, Harumi, 410 Tokyo Broadcasting System International, Inc., 423 Tom, Lauren, 195 Topol, Chaim, 95 Toro, Puli, 5, 45, 101 Torres, Donald, 181 Torti, Robert, 316 Toser, David, 123, 145, 237, 305 Touda, Ikuei, 410 Towers, Constance, 231 Tozzi, Giorgio, 326 Tracy, Teresa, 329–30 La Tragedie de Carmen and Carmen, 191–92 Trainer, David, 366 Tribe, Julia, 284 Triplett, Sally Ann, 362 Tronto, Rudy, 23 Trott, Karen, 284 Troup, Stuart, 356 Trudeau, Garry, 195 Truly Blessed: A Musical Celebration of Mahalia Jackson, 286 Trussel, Jacque, 43, 98–99 Tschudin, Michael, 11 Tsoutsouvas, Sam, 86 Tucker, Robert, 405 Tucker, Tanya, 123 Tune, Tommy, 18, 20, 127–30, 174–76, 185, 420–23 Tunick, Jonathan, 159, 161 Turnage, Wayne, 171 Turnbull, Laura, 412 Turner, 193 Turner, Geraldine, 333 Twain, Mark, 241, 243 Twentieth Century-Fox Theatre Productions, Inc., 126 Twiggy, 174–75, 307 Twine, Linda, 84, 241

Tyeska, James, 167 Tyrone, Keith, 376 Ubarry, Hechter, 387 Udell, Peter, 189, 405 Ueda, Shinji, 410 Uggams, Eloise, 140 Uggams, Leslie, 139, 265 Uhry, Alfred, 27, 123, 244–45 Ulissey, Catherine, 99 Ullett, Nick, 291 Ullman, Robin, 201 Ullman, Tracey, 340 Ulvaeus, Bjorn, 357 Unger, Gladys, 5 Universal Pictures, 195 Up Front Productions, 141 Up in Central Park, 260 Uptown...It’s Hot!, 272–74 Urban Arts Theatre, 147 Urbanski, Douglas, 171 Urich, Tom, 24 Ustinov, Peter, 284 Valdez, Danny, 370 Valdez, Luis, 370 Valenti, Michael, 103, 105, 289 Valentine, James, 37, 105, 160 Van, Bobby, 165 Van Bridge, Tony, 283 Van Camp, Julie, 29 Vance, Dana, 170 Vance, Dick, 27 van der Horst, Ellen, 158 van der Laarse, Cees, 158 Vanderline, Debra, 186 van der Wurff, Erik, 158 van Druten, John, 334 Van Dyke, Dick, 34–35 Van Dyke, W. S., 376 Van Eeden, Ron, 158 Van Heusen, James (Jimmy), 366 Van Norden, Peter, 123 Vanoff, Nick, 310, 426 Van Peebles, Mario, 115 Van Peebles, Melvin, 11, 115 Van Treuren, Martin, 247 van Veen, Herman, 158–59 Vargas, Angelita, 301 Vaux, Adrian, 394 Velez, Lorraine, 321 Veljohnson, Reginald, 289 Venturelli, Frederick C., 119 Ventures West Capital, Inc., 26 Vera-Ellen, 165 Verdon, Gwen, 280–81 Vereen, Ben, 239, 282 Vernon, Michael, 36

508      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Viacom International, Inc., 176 Vickers, Larry, 208, 239 The Victor Borge Holiday Show on Broadway, 425 Vidnovic, Martin, 48–49, 131, 196, 231, 330 Vienna Volksoper Company, 206–7 Viertel, Thomas, 343 Vilanch, Bruce, 355, 376 Villani, Virgilio, 257 Vinocur, Burt, 90 Vinovich, Stephen, 244 Visitor, Nana, 174 Vitella, Sel, 418 Vivino, Jimmy, 235 Voelpel, Fred, 71 Voltaire, 153–54, 186, 221, 287, 403 von Gontard, Gert, 6, 47 Von Mayrhauser, Jennifer, 8, 196 Von Stade, Frederica, 173 Vos, Richard, 170 Vosburgh, David, 148, 334 Vosburgh, Dick, 18 Waara, Scott, 366, 390, 426 Wachtel, Jeffrey, 51 Wade, Stephen, 51–52 Waechter, Eberhard, 207 Wagner, Chuck, 226, 340 Wagner, Robin, 27, 40, 74, 89, 112, 161, 252, 321, 341, 357, 359, 381, 396, 426, 428 Waites, Thomas G., 170 Waits, Tom, 161 Waldman, Robert, 27, 244 Waldorf, Wilella, 100 Wales, Judee, 231 Walker, Bonnie, 334, 423 Walker, Diana, 288 Walker, Dianne, 378 Walker, Douglas, 23 Walker, Fred, 34, 84 Walker, James J., 260 Walker, John, 398 Walker, Kary M., 365 Walker, Natalie, 102 Walker, Peter, 232 Wallace, George D., 111 Wallace, Lee, 239 Wallace, Timothy, 63 Wallach, Allan, 291–92, 296, 299–300, 303, 307, 309, 312, 315, 318, 320, 323, 327–28, 330, 335, 337, 339, 342–44, 346, 348 Waller, Kenneth H., 217 Waller, Thomas “Fats,” 372–74 Wallis, Shani, 211 Walser, Lloyd, 5–6, 42, 44, 47, 98–99, 125 Walsh, James, 195 Walsh, Ken, 283 Walsh, Michael, 169 Walsh, Thommie, 18, 130–31, 174, 176 Walston, Ray, 2

Walters, Kelly, 15 Walton, Jim, 55, 107, 109, 311, 407 Walton, Tony, 18, 88, 116, 235–36, 331, 370–71, 420–21 Waltz of the Stork, 115 Wanamaker, Zoe, 65 Wann, Jim, 122 Warncke, Margaret, 102 Warner, Sherman, 350 Warner Theatre Productions, Inc., 65, 74, 116, 122, 148 Warnick, Steven, 393 Warrack, David, 283, 405 Warrack Productions, 283 Warren, Harry, 40 Wasserlof, Rudolf, 206 Waterbury, Marsha, 308 Waters, Bernard, 254 Waters, Ethel, 85 Watling, Dilys, 223 Watson, Janet, 241, 313 Watson, Susan, 133 Watt, Douglas, 2, 4, 9–10, 12, 14, 17, 20, 25–27, 32–33, 38, 42, 46, 51, 53, 55, 57–58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 72, 74, 76–78, 80, 83–85, 95, 101–3, 105–6, 108, 111, 113–15, 117, 119–20, 124, 127, 129, 131, 140, 142, 144, 150, 152, 159, 161–63, 166, 171–72, 175, 178, 183–84, 188, 191– 92, 194–97, 199, 201, 203, 205, 209, 211, 213, 216, 225, 227, 229, 231, 234, 236, 238, 241, 243, 249, 253, 257, 260, 262, 264, 268, 271, 273–74, 279, 281, 291, 293, 295, 299, 305, 307, 309, 312, 314, 320, 322, 328, 335, 339, 342, 345, 347, 354, 361, 363, 380, 384, 388, 391, 394, 404, 409–10, 414–15, 417, 421–22, 424, 427 Watts, Richard, 155 Waxman, Jeff, 195 Weales, Gerald, 155 Weatherly, Michael M., 390 Weatherspoon, David, 215 Weaver, Danyelle, 409 Webb, Marti, 253 Weeks, Alan, 103, 121 Weidman, John, 244–45, 331 Weil, David, 119 Weilandich, G. Russell, 3 Weill, Kurt, 6–7, 47, 416 Wein, George, 21 Weiner, France, 193 Weiner, John, 183 Weintraub Entertainment Group, Inc., 316 Weiss, Gordon Joseph, 395 Weiss, Julie, 65 Weiss, Marc B., 61, 110, 141, 176, 187, 201, 227, 272, 299, 334 Weissenbach, James, 109 Weissler, Barry and Fran, 135, 147, 187, 227, 334, 423 Weitz, Eric, 124 Weitzenhoffer, Max, 122 Welch, Elisabeth, 21–22, 270–71 Welch, Ken, 392 Welch, Mitzie, 392 Welch, Patricia, 230

INDEX     509 Welchman, Harry, 325 Welcome to the Club, 390–92 Wells, Christopher, 234 Wells, Deanna, 365 Wells, Deanna D., 308 Wells, Patricia, 101 Wells, Stephen, 353 Wells, Tico, 231 Wentworth, Scott, 390 Wenz, Carol, 90 Werner, Fred, 279 West, Rebecca, 230 Westenberg, Robert, 187, 338 Westergaard, Louise, 68, 311 Weston, Jack, 89 West Side Story, 3–5, 382 Wexler, Stanley, 223, 313, 324, 349 Wheeler, Hugh, 6–7, 42, 47, 98, 133, 153, 186, 221–22, 250, 287, 323–24, 402, 407, 413 Whitaker, Julian, 401 White, Cynthia, 140 White, John S., 42, 146 White, Kathleen, 229 White, Lillias, 322–23 White, Michael, 8 White, Miles, 86 White, Onna, 181, 227, 389 White, Richard, 275–76, 297–98, 313, 324–25, 370–72, 374, 407 White, Roxanna, 90 White, Sheila, 211 White, Stanley, 200 White, T. H., 37, 105 White, Terri, 15 Whitecap Productions, Inc., 362 Whitehead, John, 83 Whitfield, Alice, 68 Whiting, Jack, 165, 333 Whitmore, James, 343 Widney, Stone, 177 Wilbur, Richard, 153, 186, 221, 287, 402 Wild, Jack, 211 Wilder, Carrie, 57 Wilder, Thornton, 365 Wildhorn, Frank, 161 Wilkinson, Colm, 314, 316 Williams, Bart, 389 Williams, Diane, 365 Williams, Frieda, 227 Williams, John, 365 Williams, K. R., 396 Williams, Michelle, 336 Williams, Sam, 176, 276 Williams, Vanessa, 340 Willis, Gordon, 247 Willis, Susan, 210 The Will Rogers Follies, 17 Wills, Mary, 54 Willson, Meredith, 34–36, 349

Willson, Michael, 370, 402 Wilson, Billy, 133, 161, 177 Wilson, Edith, 21–22 Wilson, Edwin, 3–5, 12, 14, 16, 22, 27, 33, 35, 42, 46, 49, 53, 60, 66, 70, 74, 85, 111, 118–20, 129, 152, 163, 166, 175, 185, 189, 192, 197, 203, 213, 225, 234, 236, 243, 249, 267, 277, 279, 281, 292, 299, 301, 309, 312, 318, 320, 329–32, 339, 342, 355–56, 361, 380, 384, 394–95, 408, 414, 417, 422, 424, 427 Wilson, John S., 22, 67, 356 Wilson, Josephine, 285 Wilson, Julie, 378 Wilson, Lester, 225, 239 Wilson, Patrick, 346 Wilson, Peter, 270, 298 Wilson, Robert, 161 Wilson, Trey, 52, 110 Winans, Be Be, 337 Winans, Marvin, 336 Wind in the Willows, 267–69 Winer, Linda, 249, 253, 260, 262–64, 266–67, 276, 281, 291, 293, 295–96, 299–301, 305, 307, 309, 351, 354–55, 358, 361, 363–64, 373–74, 379–80, 384, 393, 395, 404, 406, 408–10, 414–15, 417, 419, 422, 424, 427 Winkler, Richard, 31, 147, 259, 319 Winston, Hattie, 200 Winston, Lee, 34 Winters, Nancy, 225 Wipf, Alex, 36 Wise, Robert, 4 Wise, Scott, 385 Wish Me Mazel-Tov, 50–51 Wisnet, Charles, 11–12 Witham, John, 341 Witham, Tricia, 1 Witt, Phil, 334 Witter, William C., 15 Wittop, Freddy, 225, 267 The Wiz, 215–17 The Wizard of Oz, 250, 389 WNET/Thirteen, 159 Wodehouse, P. G., 208, 225, 331 Wohl, Jack, 387 Wolf, Peter, 25, 34, 181, 215, 230 Wolf, Richard, 429 Wolfe, John Leslie, 275 Wolfe, Leslie-Anne, 23 Wolff, Art, 343 Wolff, Richard G., 201 Wolfington, Iggie, 35 Wolf Trap Productions, 48 Wolpe, Lenny, 259–60, 302 Wolsk, Eugene V., 94, 247 Woman of the Year, 74–76 A Wonderful Life, 136 Wonderful Town, 185 Wood, Natalie, 424 Woodard, Charlaine, 372 Woodeson, Nicholas, 65

510      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 1980s BROADWAY MUSICALS Woodjetts, Stephen, 283 Woods, Carol, 140 Woods, Sheryl, 99, 172, 276 Woolf, Edgar Allen, 389 Wootten, Anne, 218 Worley, Jo Ann, 419 Worman, Martin, 285 Wright, Ben, 338–40 Wright, Bob, 147 Wright, Gary Landon, 237 Wright, Helena-Joyce, 189 Wright, Mary Catherine, 52 Wright, Nicholas, 134 Wright, Robert, 99, 254, 288, 420, 422 Wright, Samuel E., 200, 390 Wright-Bey, Marvin, 337 Wylie, John, 420 Wyman, George, 250, 323 Wyman, Nicholas, 96, 344 Wynn, Ed, 415 Xifo, Raymond, 426 Yaker, Elaine, 196 Yakim, Moni, 67 Yamada, Taku, 410 Yarin, Peter, 313 Yarnell, Lorene, 73 Yeager, Barbara, 235 Yerxa, Alison, 350 Yeston, Maury, 127–30, 185, 420, 422 York, Donald, 79, 116 York, Michael, 79, 133

Yoshimura, Leo, 222 Yossiffon, Raquel, 50 Youmans, William, 242 Young, David, 302 Young, Rida Johnson, 374 Yount, Kenneth M., 387 Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, 31–32, 147–48 Yule, Don, 125, 153, 186, 221, 275, 287–88, 403 Yuskis, Antonette, 208 Zacharias, Emily, 387 Zahn, Claudia, 349 Zakariasen, Bill, 314 Zaks, Jerry, 52–53, 331 Zaslow, Michael, 59 Zeller, Mark, 387 Zelno, Christopher, 393 Ziegfeld, Florenz, 226 Ziemba, Karen, 312, 341 Zien, Chip, 338, 340 Zimbler, Jason, 405 Zimmerman, Edward, 6, 43, 47, 98, 250, 323 Zimmerman, Mark, 48 Zink, 397 Zinn, Randolyn, 212, 254, 288 Zippel, David, 193, 426, 428 Zipprodt, Patricia, 27, 89, 94, 160, 212, 277, 279, 281, 283, 334, 338, 408 Zizi, 81 Zorba, 187–89 Zorina, Vera, 165 Zottola, Glenn, 27 Zweigbaum, Steven, 267

About the Author

Dan Dietz was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the University of Virginia, and the subject of his graduate thesis was the poetry of Hart Crane. He taught English and the history of modern drama at Western Carolina University and then later served with the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Education Department. He is the author of Off-Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows (2010), which was selected as one of the outstanding reference sources of 2011 by the American Library Association. He is also the author of The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals (2015), The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals (2014), The Complete Book of 1960s Broadway Musicals (2014), and The Complete Book of 1970s Broadway Musicals (2015), all published by Rowman & Littlefield.

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