The Complete Book of 2000s Broadway Musicals 1442278005, 9781442278004

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The Complete Book of 2000s Broadway Musicals

The Complete Book of 2000s 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 © 2017 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 Names: Dietz, Dan, 1945– Title: The complete book of 2000s Broadway musicals / Dan Dietz. Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016049522 (print) | LCCN 2016049689 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442278004 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442278011 (electronic) Subjects: LCSH: Musicals—New York (State)—New York—21st century— History and criticism. Classification: LCC ML1711.8.N3 D535 2017 (print) | LCC ML1711.8.N3 (ebook) DDC 792.6/45097471—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016049522

™ 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 the memory of my beloved maternal grandparents, Olympia DeMarinis Cioffi and James Cioffi

Contents

Acknowledgment ix Introduction xi Alphabetical List of Shows xiii BROADWAY MUSICALS OF THE 2000s   2000 Season   2000–2001 Season   2001–2002 Season   2002–2003 Season   2003–2004 Season   2004–2005 Season   2005–2006 Season   2006–2007 Season   2007–2008 Season   2008–2009 Season   2009 Season

1 29 69 99 143 183 229 267 313 353 397

APPENDIXES    A Chronology (by Season)    B Chronology (by Classification)   C Discography   D Filmography   E Other Productions    F Black-Themed Revues and Musicals    G Jewish-Themed Revues and Musicals   H Theatres   I Published Scripts

419 423 429 431 433 439 441 443 451

Bibliography 453 Index 455 About the Author 497

vii

Acknowledgment

I want to thank Mike Baskin for his invaluable help and support in the writing of this book.

ix

Introduction

The Complete Book of 2000s Broadway Musicals examines in detail all 213 revues and musicals that opened in New York between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2009. It includes comedy and magic revues (some of which contained music) and shows that closed prior to New York (some of the latter had not booked a Broadway theatre or set an opening date, but it seems likely they would have opened in New York had their reviews been favorable). The productions discussed in this book are: thirty-seven book musicals with new music; fifteen book musicals that include preexisting music; two plays with incidental songs; five traditional revues; twenty-one personality revues and concerts; two magic revues; eighteen musicals and revues that originated Off Broadway or Off Off Broadway; twenty-five imports; thirty-one commercial revivals; twenty-one noncommercial revivals; six return engagements; and thirty pre-Broadway closings. For a quick rundown of these productions, see “Alphabetical List of Shows”; “Chronology (by Season)” (Appendix A); and “Chronology (by Classification)” (Appendix B). Like the other books in this series, my goal 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 was notable for old-fashioned, feel-good shows (The Full Monty, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, Spamalot, Jersey Boys); a number of family-friendly musicals, many of them aimed at the little-girl and teenage-girl market (Wicked, Little Women, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tarzan, Mary Poppins, and The Little Mermaid); numerous revivals (Follies, Bells Are Ringing, 42nd Street, Oklahoma!, Wonderful Town); a stunning dance musical (Contact); a handful of serious musicals that enjoyed reasonably long runs and various awards (The Light in the Piazza, Grey Gardens, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Next to Normal); and a number of gargantuan flops (including a trio of anemic vampire musicals, Dance of the Vampires, Dracula, and Lestat). Unlike earlier decades that were dominated by specific composers (such as Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber), by numerous British imports, or by a new form of musical-theatre storytelling (the concept musical), the decade is perhaps most notable for the rise of shows that kidded musical-comedy conventions and wore irony on their sleeves. These included The Producers, Urinetown, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone, Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Curtains, Xanadu, Young Frankenstein, and, yes, even one titled [title of show]. On an ominous note, there were an inordinate number of revivals (both commercial and institutional). Just thirty-seven new book musicals with new music opened, but fifty-eight revivals and return engagements were presented (thirty-one commercial revivals, twenty-one institutional revivals, and six return engagements). Compare these numbers with earlier decades: The 1940s offered eighty new book musicals with new music and forty-one commercial revivals, institutional revivals, and return engagements; the 1950s, seventyone new book musicals with new music and fifty-four revivals and return engagements (of which ten were commercial revivals); the 1960s with no less than ninety-eight book musicals with new music, and just one commercial revival (and sixty-four institutional revivals and return engagements); the 1970s with eighty-four book musicals with new music and a combination of fifty-seven commercial revivals, institutional revivals, xi

xii      INTRODUCTION

and return engagements; the 1980s with fifty book musicals with new music and eighty revivals evenly split between commercial and institutional productions; and the 1990s with thirty-two book musicals with new music and fifty-seven revivals, forty-two of which were commercial presentations. The decade also saw a precipitous decline in the number of Gilbert and Sullivan revivals, and virtually the only G & S presentations of note were those produced by the stalwart New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. And while Radio City Music Hall remained active with its seasonal holiday shows and various concerts, only one of its productions (the import Dancing on Dangerous Ground) could be classified as a Broadway-styled show. In another sign of the passing of eras, the decade was the first since the 1940s which didn’t see the Broadway premiere of a new Sondheim musical. However, in 2000 Off Broadway saw the New York premiere of his musical Saturday Night (which had originally been scheduled to open on Broadway during the 1954–1955 season). In addition, Chicago and Washington, D.C., saw his musical Bounce (aka Wise Guys and Gold!), but the show didn’t transfer to Broadway (however, as Road Show, a revised version was produced Off Broadway in 2008). In regard to the technical information in this book, each entry includes: name of theatre; opening and closing dates; number of performances (taken from Best Plays or Theatre World); the show’s advertising tag (including variations used in advertisements); and names of book writers, lyricists, composers, directors, choreographers (some of whom were credited for musical staging as opposed to traditional choreography), musical directors (conductors), producers, scenic designers, costume designers, and lighting designers. The names of the cast members are included, and each performer’s name is followed by the name of the character portrayed (names in italics reflect those performers who were billed above the title). This book doesn’t include the names of all the individuals associated with a particular production; accordingly, swings, understudies, and technical personnel are generally not referenced. Technical information also includes the number of acts for each show, the time and locale of the action, and the titles of musical numbers by act (each song title is followed by the name of the performer, not the name of the character, who introduced the song). If a song is known by a variant title, the alternate one 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 about film, television, and home video adaptations. In many cases, the commentary includes information regarding a 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 for Drama are also cited. Throughout the text, bolded titles refer to productions that are represented with an entry in the book. The book includes a bibliography and nine appendixes: chronology by season; chronology by classification; discography; filmography; a chronology of selected productions that included incidental songs or background music as well as operas that premiered during the decade; a list of black revues and musicals; a list of Jewish revues and musicals; a list of theatres where the musicals were presented; and a list of published scripts. Directly following this introduction is an alphabetical list of all the shows represented by entries in the book. Virtually all the information in this book is drawn from original source material, including programs, souvenir programs, flyers, window cards (posters), recordings, scripts, newspaper advertisements, and contemporary reviews.

Alphabetical List of Shows

The following is an alphabetical list of all 213 shows discussed in this book. There are multiple listings for those musicals that were produced more than once during the decade, and those titles are followed by the year of the presentation. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 59 Aida 10 All Shook Up 211 Amour 107 An American in Paris 343 The Apple Tree (three one-act musicals: The Diary of Adam and Eve; The Lady or the Tiger?; and Passionella) 289 Assassins 167 Avenue Q 145 Barbara Cook’s Broadway! 166 Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends 79 Bells Are Ringing 50 Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 143 Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home 135 Billy Elliot 359 Blast 53 The Blonde in the Thunderbird 229 La boheme 115 Bombay Dreams 169 Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway 29 Bounce 175 The Boy from Oz 149 The Boys from Syracuse 102 Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) 188 Burn the Floor 397 Bye Bye Birdie 400 By Jeeves 75 La Cage aux Folles 197 Candide (2005) 205 Candide (2008) 337 Caroline, or Change 171 Casper 93 A Catered Affair 338

Celebrating Sondheim 112 Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life 243 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 215 A Chorus Line 271 A Christmas Carol (2000) 37 A Christmas Carol (2001) 77 A Christmas Carol (2002) 111 A Christmas Carol (2003) 156 Cinderella (2001) 63 Cinderella (2004) 190 Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy 353 A Class Act 44 The Color Purple 241 Company 283 Contact (three one-act dance musicals: Swinging; Did You Move?; and Contact) 13 Copacabana 65 Cry-Baby 339 Curtains 292 Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! 192 Dance of the Vampires 117 Dancing in the Dark 345 Dancing on Dangerous Ground 7 Dirty Blonde 25 Dirty Dancing 388 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 203 Dracula 186 Dreamgirls 411 The Drowsy Chaperone 260 Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2006) 276 Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2007) 320 Elaine Stritch at Liberty 80 xiii

xiv     ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SHOWS

Fela! 414 Fiddler on the Roof 162 Finian’s Rainbow 405 Flower Drum Song 104 Follies 46 Forever Tango 185 42nd Street 61 The Frogs 183 The Full Monty 30 Gemini 223 George Gershwin Alone 60 Giant 390 Glory Days 341 Good Vibrations 201 Grease 315 The Great Ostrovsky 179 The Green Bird 21 Grey Gardens 274 Guys and Dolls 374 Gypsy (2003) 131 Gypsy (2008) 332 Hair 380 Hairspray 99 The Highest Yellow 224 High Fidelity 286 Hot Feet 258 Imaginary Friends 119 In My Life 232 In the Heights 330 Into the Woods 90 Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed 210 Jackie Mason: Prune Danish 109 James Joyce’s The Dead 1 Jane Eyre 42 Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! 270 Jerry Springer—the Opera 323 Jersey Boys 235 Jesus Christ Superstar 19 Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway 267 Kristina 398 Laughing Room Only 157 Legally Blonde 297 Lennon 230 Lestat 254 The Light in the Piazza 213 Like Jazz 180 Little House on the Prairie 392 The Little Mermaid 321 A Little Night Music (2003) 121 A Little Night Music (2009) 416 Little Shop of Horrors 147 Little Women 199 Liza’s at the Palace . . . 364 Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas 347

The Look of Love Love/Life: A Life in Song LoveMusik The Mambo Kings Mame Mamma Mia! Man of La Mancha Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me Marty Mary Poppins Meet John Doe Memphis Minsky’s Les Miserables Monty Python’s Spamalot The Most Happy Fella Mostly Sondheim Movin’ Out Muscle The Music Man My Fair Lady Never Gonna Dance Next to Normal Nine 9 to 5 Oklahoma! 110 in the Shade One Mo’ Time On the Record Pacific Overtures The Pajama Game Pal Joey Passing Strange Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” Penn & Teller The Pirate Queen The Play What I Wrote Porgy and Bess The Producers Ragtime The Rhythm Club Ring of Fire Riverdance on Broadway Robin Williams: Live on Broadway Rock of Ages The Rocky Horror Show Saving Aimee The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Señor Discretion Himself Seussical 700 Sundays Shrek

133 217 299 225 304 71 112 174 189 268 135 280 306 403 393 278 208 248 77 110 94 22 349 160 385 126 387 85 301 81 226 194 245 368 328 32 29 294 125 5 54 407 66 250 9 99 383 33 308 35 181 39 196 366

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SHOWS     xv

Sister Act 310 Slava’s Snowshow 365 Some Like It Hot 136 Soul of Shaolin 371 South Pacific 334 Souvenir 238 Spring Awakening 287 Squonk 4 The Story of My Life 372 Sunday in the Park with George 325 Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2004) 164 Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2005) 233 Sweet Charity 220 Sweet Smell of Success 83 Taboo 154 A Tale of Two Cities 356 Tarzan 262 13 358 Thoroughly Modern Millie 88 Thou Shalt Not 72

The Threepenny Opera 252 The Times They Are A’Changin’ 273 [title of show] 354 The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 218 Urban Cowboy 123 Urinetown 69 The Visit (2001) 96 The Visit (2008) 351 The Wedding Singer 256 West Side Story 377 Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? 140 White Christmas (2008) 361 White Christmas (2009) 414 Whoopi 192 Wicked 151 The Wild Party 16 The Woman in White 239 Wonderful Town 158 Xanadu 313 A Year with Frog and Toad 129 Young Frankenstein 317 Zhivago 264

2000 Season

JAMES JOYCE’S THE DEAD “A New Musical Play”

Theatre: Belasco Theatre Opening Date: January 11, 2000; Closing Date: April 16, 2000 Performances: 112 Book: Richard Nelson Lyrics: Lyrics “conceived and adapted” by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey (A note in the program by the authors states that “the lyrics to some of these songs have been adapted from or inspired by a number of 18th and 19th century Irish poems by Oliver Goldsmith, Lady Sydney Morgan, Michael William Balfe, William Allingham and from an anonymous 19th-century music hall song. Other lyrics are adapted from Joyce or are original. Lyrics of ‘D’Arcy’s Aria’ were translated into Italian by Alt Davey. Mary Jane’s academy piece and additional arrangements by Deborah Abramson. Other party underscore pieces in Scene 3 derive from the works of Thomas Moore.”) Music: Shaun Davey Based on the 1907 short story “The Dead,” which was first published in the 1914 collection of short stories Dubliners by James Joyce. Direction: Richard Nelson; Producers: Gregory Mosher and Arielle Tepper (a presentation of the Playwrights Horizons production; Tim Sanford, Artistic Director); Choreography: Sean Curran; Scenery: David Jenkins; Costumes: Jane Greenwood; Lighting: Jennifer Tipton; Musical Direction: Charles Prince Cast: The Hostesses—Sally Ann Howes (Aunt Julia Morkan), Marni Nixon (Aunt Kate Morkan), Emily Skinner (Mary Jane Morkan); The Family—Christopher Walken (Gabriel Conroy), Blair Brown (Gretta Conroy); The Guests—Brian Davies (Mr. Browne), Stephen Spinella (Freddy Malins), Paddy Croft (Mrs. Malins), Alice Ripley (Molly Ivors), John Kelly (Bartell D’Arcy); The Help—Brooke Sunny Moriber (Lily), Dashiell Evans (Michael), Daisy Eagan (Rita), Daniel Barrett (Cellist), Louise Owen (Violinist); Ghost—Daisy Eagan (Young Julia Morkan) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during the Christmas season in Dublin around the turn of the twentieth century.

Musical Numbers Prologue (Musicians); “Killarney’s Lakes” (Emily Skinner, Marni Nixon, Daisy Eagan); “Kate Kearney” (Dashiell Evans, Emily Skinner, Company); “Parnell’s Plight” (Alice Ripley, Dashiell Evans, Christopher Walken, Blair Brown, Company); “Adieu to Ballyshannon” (Christopher Walken, Blair Brown); “When Lovely Lady” (Sally Ann Howes, Marni Nixon); “Three Jolly Pigeons” (Stephen Spinella, Brian Davies, Company); “Goldenhair” (Blair Brown, Christopher Walken); “Three Graces” (Christopher Walken, Company); “Naughty Girls” (Sally Ann Howes, Marni Nixon, Emily Skinner, Company); “Wake the Dead” 1

2      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

(Stephen Spinella); “D’Arcy’s Aria” (John Kelly); “Queen of Our Hearts” (Brian Davies, Stephen Spinella, Christopher Walken, John Kelly, Dashiell Evans); “When Lovely Lady” (reprise) (Daisy Eagan, Sally Ann Howes); “Michael Furey” (Blair Brown); “The Living and the Dead” (Christopher Walken, Company) The Dead (or to be more precise, James Joyce’s The Dead) was the first Broadway musical to open in the new century, and it was far more than just the season’s best musical: it was also one of the finest of the era. Here was an unusual and haunting work that brought fresh subject matter to the musical stage with its evocative and moody look at a long-ago Christmas party in Dublin at the turn of the twentieth century, a party given annually by the sisters Julia and Kate Morkan (Sally Ann Howes and Marni Nixon) for their family and friends, all of whom gather to visit and celebrate. Because the sisters and their niece Mary Jane (Emily Skinner) are music teachers, music is an integral part of the festivities, and the guests include an opera singer and a few music students. When Gretta (Blair Brown), the wife of Julia and Kate’s nephew Gabriel (Christopher Walken), sings “Goldenhair” for the partygoers, the song serves as the catalyst that causes a schism in her marriage. And when the party is over and Julia is alone, she’s joined by the ghost of the girl she once was and as they sing a duet together Julia recalls the lovely voice she once possessed. Hovering over the gathering is the knowledge that just as snow falls on the living and the dead, the living will soon join the dead. Moreover, the dead from long ago remain in memory and dominate the living. Three days after the party and her ghostly duet with her younger self, Julia dies, and to his bewilderment Gabriel realizes he’s never really known Gretta, who has secretly carried in her memory the days of her youth when she loved a boy who died at seventeen, a boy who used to sing “Goldenhair.” Richard Nelson’s book was impressionistic in nature, and so the virtually plotless evening was nonetheless filled with incident and centered on a wealth of complex characters with foibles, hopes, frustrations, and secrets. Nelson’s staging was especially memorable because it provided fragmentary glimpses into the party and the partygoers, and as a result the audience sometimes heard no more than snippets of conversation and saw just fleeting facial expressions that conveyed meanings not necessarily explained. The audience was often in the position of an eavesdropper and at times saw and heard things that passed unnoticed by some of the partygoers: the audience sees a character who has suddenly and silently broken into tears and at other times hears not quite clearly defined banter between people who have known each other for years and sometimes speak in shorthand. The work was also striking because Nelson and composer Shaun Davey (both of whom adapted the lyrics from traditional poems and songs and also wrote new lyrics; see note above) didn’t make concessions to the new Broadway, which too often indulged in crude, dumbed-down, and feel-good shtick. As a result, Davey didn’t impose modern musical idioms on the Dublin of long ago, and his score was in keeping with the mood of the era and the atmosphere of the story (mercifully, there was no trendy use of rock, rap, and hip-hop to make the work more “relevant”). Further, there were no jokey anachronistic touches that winked at the audience, and the work never condescended to the past and its people. The Dead was an important lyric work that knew its mind and heart, and was that rare theatrical event that was both entertaining and thoughtful and didn’t treat its audience as a pack of morons salivating over cute sight gags and garish displays of crude language and obvious jokes. For most of the evening, the songs were presentational and heard as party entertainment. But for the final sequence of the musical, the score took a surprising turn and the concluding songs were narrative in function. Some found this juxtaposition startling and felt the authors were guilty of an inconsistency in tone. But the early scenes focused on the general gaiety of the party, and the presentational songs were charmingly introduced and gave the work the feel of a play with incidental music. These early scenes also provided glimpses of what was to come (Aunt Julia doesn’t feel well and forgets the lyric of a favorite song, and Gretta is overcome with emotion when she sings “Goldenhair”), and once the story moved from the general events of the party to the more specific ones concerning death and the powerful hold of the dead on the living, the narrative songs looked into the heart of Gretta’s lost love (“Michael Fuery”) and Gabriel’s staggering realization that after years of marriage he’s never really known his wife (“The Living and the Dead”). The musical had originally opened Off Broadway on October 28, 1999, at Playwrights Horizon for thirtyeight performances. In his review of this production, Ben Brantley in the New York Times said The Dead was a “quiet revolutionary,” a musical that dared to be “diffident” and made a “sterling virtue” of “shyness.” Despite a tendency to “overstatement and sentimentality” in its second half, The Dead was “reason to celebrate” because it claimed “new ground” for musical theatre. Further, the presentation of the songs was

2000 Season     3

“inexpressively moving and an unmediated expression of character rare in musicals.” Donald Lyons in the New York Post found “warmth, humor and cheer” in the work but felt the piece was generally “unsatisfactory”; however, despite certain “missteps” the musical was “intelligent and serious” and deserved “respect and admiration.” Charles Isherwood in Variety also used the word “missteps” in his review, but nonetheless he found the evening “thoughtful and admirable and honorable” and “occasionally wonderful.” In re-reviewing the musical when it transferred to Broadway, Brantley felt the Belasco, which opened its doors in 1907 and possessed a certain “frayed gaslight-era elegance,” was a fitting venue for the work. The evening’s sensibility that everyone is “confined by their separate consciousnesses” made for a “compelling Broadway musical, one that is sentimental in the most profound sense of the word.” As a result, The Dead “remains one of the season’s most astonishing and laudable accomplishments.” Isherwood noted that at Playwrights Horizons the musical “felt slightly cramped,” and the transfer to the larger yet still intimate Belasco gave David Jenkins’s décor “more room to breathe.” In his review of the touring production (which included engagements in such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles), Lawrence Christon in Variety (who covered the Los Angeles opening) also felt the adaptation had its “missteps.” But he predicted that “few” would be “unmoved” by The Dead’s “final enveloping image of snow falling over Ireland and the world, over all the living and the dead—an evocation of being alone together.” When some of the critics mentioned the musical’s “missteps,” they referred to both Nelson’s slight reworking of the character of Gabriel and of Walken’s interpretation of the role. Lyons felt the actor couldn’t “summon up Gabriel’s final torment convincingly”; Isherwood said he was “fatally miscast” because his “chilly blue eyes and deadpan manner” were from “the universe of a David Mamet play or a Martin Scorsese movie”; and Richard Zoglin in Time said the former Broadway dancer was here “a misstep” who was a “blandly disengaged” Gabriel. But Brantley said Walken was “magnetically low-key,” and even when he stepped out of character to become the musical’s occasional narrator he managed to project “an intense inwardness” with an eccentric performance that “more often than not works”; and Clive Barnes in the New York Post stated that Walken’s “strange, haunted yet amiable presence” dominated the evening. Despite the controversy about his interpretation of the tricky and difficult role, Walken was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Variety reported that the musical’s producers Gregory Mosher and Arielle Tepper had hoped to open the work at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre in February 1999 with Patti LuPone as Gretta. With both the theatre and LuPone unavailable, the musical was temporarily postponed and then finally premiered Off Broadway, and the complete cast of the production transferred to Broadway a few weeks later. During the course of the disappointingly short Broadway run of four months, there were a number of cast replacements, including Stephen Bogardus (who succeeded Walken), Faith Prince (who followed Brown), Donna Lynne Champlin (Emily Skinner), and Rex Robbins (Brian Davies). Prior to the opening of the Off-Broadway production, the director of record was Jack Hofsiss, who was replaced by Nelson. Hofsiss and Nelson received program credit as codirectors for the Off-Broadway run, but by the time of the Broadway opening only Nelson was cited for the direction. The cast members included two nostalgic names from Old Broadway, Sally Ann Howes (whose last appearances in original book musicals were in 1961 with Kwamina and 1964 with What Makes Sammy Run?) and Brian Davies (who created the roles of Rolf in The Sound of Music in 1959 and Hero in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1962). Marni Nixon’s singing voice was of course heard in a number of films, for Deborah Kerr (The King and I and An Affair to Remember), Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno (for West Side Story, Nixon provided the singing voice for Natalie Wood, and the singing voices of both Wood and Moreno for “I Have a Love,” which found Nixon in the unique position of singing a duet with herself), and Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady). When My Fair Lady was revived by the New York City Center Light Opera Company in May 1964 just a few months before the premiere of the film version, Nixon performed the role of Eliza Doolittle (her previous Broadway appearance had been in the chorus of the 1954 musical The Girl in Pink Tights). During the course of her career, Nixon also provided the singing voices (and sometimes just the high notes) for actresses as diverse as Margaret O’Brien, Marilyn Monroe, and Sophia Loren. The musical’s cast also included relative newcomers, such as Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley (who in 1997 had memorably created the roles of Daisy and Violet Hilton in Side Show) and Daisy Eagan (who in 1991 appeared in The Secret Garden and became the youngest performer to win a Tony Award).

4      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

There was no original cast album, but a cast recording of a December 2004 revival produced by the Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre was made available to the public through the theatre (the CD’s packaging indicates the recording is “for promotional use only” and “not for sale”); the invaluable recording omits two sequences (“D’Arcy’s Aria” and “Queen of Our Hearts”), and the production was directed by Scott Wise. The script was published in the September 2000 issue of American Theatre magazine, and a hardback version was published by Stage & Screen in an undated edition.

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (James Joyce’s The Dead); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Christopher Walken); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Stephen Spinella); Best Book (Richard Nelson); Best Score (lyrics by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey, music by Shaun Davey) New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award: Best Musical (1999–2000) (James Joyce’s The Dead)

SQUONK

“BigSmorgasbordWunderWerk” / “Music! Theatre! Spectacle!” Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: February 19, 2000; Closing Date: March 26, 2000 Performances: 32 Text: Created by Steve O’Hearn and Jackie Dempsey in collaboration with the original New York Squonk Ensemble (Casi Pacilio, Kevin Kornicki, Jana Losey, and T. Weldon Anderson) “Image Book”: Steve O’Hearn Lyrics: Jana Losey with Jackie Dempsey Music: Jackie Dempsey with Squonk Creators Direction: Tom Diamond; Producers: William Repicci, Michael Minichiello, Lauren Doll, Cookie Centracco, and Chris Groenewold in association with Rare Gem Productions and Michael Stoller (Mastantuono/Palumbo and Eric Falkenstein); Choreography and Movement: Peter Kope and Michele de la Reza; Scenery, Puppets, and Costumes: Steve O’Hearn; Projections: Steve O’Hearn with Casi Pacilio and Nick Fox-Gieg; Lighting: Tim Saternow; Musical Direction: Jackie Dempsey Cast: Jackie Dempsey (Keyboard, Accordion), Kevin Kornicki (Electronic and Acoustic Percussion, Sound Textures), Steve O’Hearn (Flutes, Electronic Winds, Many-Belled Trumpet), T. Weldon Anderson (Double Bass), Jana Losey (Vocals) The revue was presented in one act.

Musical Scenes (Libretto, per program) “what stirs”; “gadabout”; “eat you up”; “sighs of her eyes”; “dance of the seven vowels”; “whirring of the wheel”; “tines”; “spoon”; “one bite too”; “blade”; “in the kitchen of the mountain king”; “touched”; “dance of the jawbone glee club”; “whirl din din din”; “caught”; “drank big drink”; “in wavelet white”; “everything stirs” It was understandable if some theatergoers confused the performance pieces Squonk and Thwak. Both originated Off Off Broadway within three months of one another, Thwak at the Westbeth Theatre Center on March 18, 1999, for forty-three performances and Squonk at Performance Space 122 on June 11 for sixtyone showings. Thwak knew its audience and wisely avoided Broadway. Instead, it remained downtown and transferred to Off Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre on June 6, 1999, where it settled in for a respectable run of 206 showings. But Squonk set its sights on Broadway, and although the quirky show had charmed the critics in its intimate Off-Off-Broadway venue, they felt it was lost even within the cozy confines of the Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway’s smallest house (with 579 seats) As a result, the show squonked out after just thirty-two performances.

2000 Season     5

The era offered a number of alternative theatre pieces, all of which remained Off Broadway and found success. As noted, Thwak enjoyed a six-month run, and similar offerings remained on the boards for years. As of this writing, the Blue Man Group’s Tubes (1991) and the dance performance piece Stomp (1994) are still running, and Tamara (1987) ran for 1,036 performances, Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding (1988) marched down the aisle 4,914 times, and De La Guarda (1998) played for 2,473 showings. And, of course, Mummenschanz (which opened at Broadway’s tiny and now-demolished Bijou Theatre in 1977 for 1,326 showings) was probably the spiritual granddaddy of all these specialized theatrical events. Squonk might have enjoyed a healthy life had it remained downtown, but the more demanding standards of Broadway as well as a top ticket price of $65 relegated the show to a run of only a month. The program comfortingly assured the audience that “non-toxic and environmentally friendly smoke, fog and haze” were used in the production, and this notice clearly alleviated the fears of those in the auditorium who worried that the inhalation of toxic fumes might lead to immediate death, or worse. The program also noted that “we may twitch, sputter and squonk on stage. But, sometimes, words emerge, full-formed, in our native tongue.” The company (Squonkers?) made their stage debut in 1992 when they opened at Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, and according to the program they toured “internationally” as Squonk Opera in all the cultural hotspots between Steubenville, Ohio, and Wheeling, West Virginia. Among their works were The Night of the Living Dead: The Opera and Firedogs, the latter a must-see opera about Pittsburgh’s steel industry. In his review of the Off-Off-Broadway production, Ben Brantley in the New York Times praised the “thought-free diversion” and noted that the “multimedia frolic” generally took place in a surreal if kitschy kitchen restaurant from which “mini-forests of vegetation” sprouted from blenders and silver salvers unleashed “unearthly sights and sounds.” He noted that the New Age score “with a dark side” was reminiscent of the “seductive” and “repetitive” sounds of such composers as Philip Glass, but the “pedestrian slow-motion dances” interrupted the evening’s “mesmeric flow.” Overall, the “hallucinatory game” was “alternately silly and sinister,” and like other shows of its ilk existed “to disorient, to befuddle, to tease the senses.” But in his review of the Broadway production, Brantley said the formerly “eccentric charmer” was the victim of a “brutally misguided transplant.” The stage of the Helen Hayes seemed about the size of the entire Off-Off-Broadway theatre where the revue had originally played, and as a result some of the visuals were now “incomprehensible” and almost everything in the production, including the music, registered “at a far, bewildering remove.” Ultimately, the unhappy transfer of Squonk from downtown to Broadway proved “the real estate agent’s credo: Location is everything.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the move uptown was unwise, and the “eccentric multimedia salad” looked “sadly forlorn” at the Helen Hayes. The décor included a huge cornucopia, but in a large proscenium theatre “the buffet” seemed “pretty sparse” and what might have “dazzled” downtown audiences was now less compelling. He mentioned that these specialized theatre events were popular because they were presented downtown and weren’t “really” theatre, and when “re-potted” for Broadway they couldn’t hope “to flourish in quite the same way.” But the music was the evening’s “most prominent and most accomplished element,” and its “snippets of oft-repeated melody” provided a “hypnotic effect” and brought to mind the style of Philip Glass.

PORGY AND BESS Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 7, 2000; Closing Date: March 25, 2000 Performances: 10 (in repertory) 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: Tazewell Thompson; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Paul Kellogg, General Manager and Artistic Director; Sherwin M. Goldman, Executive Producer); Choreography: Julie Arenal; Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Costumes: Nancy Potts; Lighting: Robert Wierzel; Musical Direction: John DeMain

6      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Cast: Gerald Steichen (Jasbo Brown), Anita Johnson (Clara), Robert Mack (Mingo), Kenneth Floyd (Jake), Dwayne Clark (Sportin’ Life), Michael Austin (Robbins), Angela Simpson (Serena), Edward Pleasant (Jim), Bert Lindsey (Peter), Shirley Russ (Lily), Sabrina Elayne Carten (Maria), Nkosane Jackson (Scipio), Alvy Powell (Porgy), Timothy Robert Blevins (Crown), Marquita Lister (Bess), Wynn Harmon (Detective), Michael Hajek (Policeman), Charles Mandracchia (Policeman), Bryan Jackson (Undertaker), Jeanette Blakeney (Annie), Marvin Lowe (Frazier), Adina Aaron (Strawberry Woman), Duane Martin Foster (Crab Man), E. Mani Cadet (Nelson), John Henry Thomas (Coroner); Ensemble: Adina Aaron, Jeanette Blakeney, Bert Boone, Elaugh Butler, E. Mani Cadet, Aixa Cruz-Falu, David Aron Damane, Jean Derricotte-Murphy, Devonne Douglas, Mia Douglas, Rochelle Ellis, Duane Martin Foster, Anne Fridal, Chinyelu Ingram, Clinton Ingram, Bryan Jackson, Nicola James, Quanda Johnson, Naomi Elizabeth Jones, Pamela E. Jones, Jason Phillip Knight, Bert Lindsey, Lisa Lockhart, Marvin Lowe, Robert Mack, Edward Pleasant, Dorian Gray Ross, Elizabeth Lyra Ross, Leonard Rowe, Shirley Russ, Martin Sola, Marcos Sola, Lucy Salome Strauli, Marcelin Summers, Everett Suttle, Kellie Turner; Children: Khalif Diouf, Ayanna Francis, Leilani Irvin, Nkosane Jackson, Kayla Leacock, Grace Price, Afrika Rhames, Khadijha Stewart, Lacey Thomas, Jamal Russ, Verne Watley The opera was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the mid-1930s in Charleston, South Carolina, and on nearby Kittiwah Island (the program for the original 1935 Broadway production indicated the time was in “the recent past”).

Musical Numbers Note: No songs were listed in the program, but those heard in the Houston Grand Opera production that played on Broadway in 1976 are included at the end of this entry and probably reflect those heard in the current revival, which was based on the Houston Grand Opera version. 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 (now Neil Simon) Theatre on October 10, 1935, 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. And 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 “I’m on My Way,” one suspects Porgy is off on a futile quest that will only lead him to more unhappiness and frustration. The current New York City Opera production played ten regular performances in repertory beginning on March 7, 2000, following four preview performances on March 3, 4, and 5. Bernard Holland in the New York Times said Alvy Powell’s Porgy had a “powerful, musicianly and well-directed deep voice,” and while Marquita Lister had “the looks and aura” for Bess, her characterization was “overwrought” and made Bess “less a foxy loser than a frantic neurotic.” Although her voice seemed a “little tired,” it could also be “very effective.” Anita Johnson’s Clara brought “magic” to “Summer Time,” and Angela Simpson’s Serena and her “My Man’s Gone Now” perhaps offered the evening’s “grandest moment.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the opera was an “event” but wasn’t “really new” because it was a “refurbished” version of the famous Houston Grand Opera production. He noted that Powell’s voice was “big” and “rich,” and while Lister didn’t appear at ease in her role, her “lustrous soprano” was “a beautiful instrument” and she sang and acted “with commitment.” 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, which opened in 1942 and dropped the recitative sequences from the score, 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 eighty-eight showings, and the 1953 revival ran for 350 performances and holds the record as the work’s longest Broadway run (this mounting restored earlier cuts and added about twenty minutes of music that 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 presented by the New York City Center Light Opera Company and the latter by the New York City Opera Company. The opera was later revived by the Houston Grand Opera Company at the Uris (now

2000 Season     7

Gershwin) Theatre on September 25, 1976, for 122 showings and won the Tony Award for Best Revival (during this period, there weren’t separate Tony Award categories for musical and nonmusical revivals, and so all the nominees for Best Revival were lumped together and competed against one another; for 1976, the nominated revivals were The Cherry Orchard, Guys and Dolls, Porgy and Bess, and Threepenny Opera). The work was next revived at Radio City Music Hall on April 7, 1983, for forty-five performances, and this production was followed by revivals by the Metropolitan Opera Company during the 1984–1985, 1989–1990, and 1990–1991 seasons for a total of fifty-four showings. Following the current production, the opera was presented one more time by the New York City Opera Company in 2002. The most recent revival opened on Broadway in 2011 (and 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 controlled the film rights until 1974, at which time they reverted to the Gershwin estate). The film has all but disappeared during the past few decades, reportedly because the Gershwin estate is displeased 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.” The estate is indeed taking its time, because some seventeen years later the film is still unavailable for viewing. However, during the run of City Opera’s 2002 revival the March 20 performance was shown live on public television. Since 1958, the libretto has been published in paperback editions by the Chappell Music Company and it’s also included in the 1973 hardback collection Ten Great Musicals of the American Theatre, edited by Stanley Richards and published by Chilton Book Company. There are numerous recordings of the score, and one with members of the original 1935 and 1942 casts (including Todd Duncan and Anne Brown, who created the original title roles) is available on Decca Records LP # DL-7-9024 (the CD was issued by Broadway MCA Records), 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.

Songs Act One: Introduction; “Brown Blues”; “Summer Time” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “A Woman Is a Sometime Thing” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “Here Come de Honey Man” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward); “They Pass By Singin’” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “Oh Little Stars” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward); “Gone, Gone, Gone” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “Overflow” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “My Man’s Gone Now” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “Leavin’ for the Promise’ Lan’” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward); “It Take a Long Pull to Get There” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “I Got Plenty o’ Nuthin’” (lyric by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward); “Buzzard Song” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward); “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” (lyric by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin); “Oh, I Can’t Sit Down!” (lyric by Ira Gershwin); “I Ain’t Got No Shame” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “It Ain’t Necessarily So” (lyric by Ira Gershwin); “What You Want wid Bess?” (lyric by DuBose Heyward) Act Two: “Oh, Doctor Jesus” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “I Loves You, Porgy” (lyric by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward); “Oh, Heav’nly Father” (lyric by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward); “Oh, de Lawd Shake de Heavens” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “Oh, Dere’s Somebody Knockin’ at de Do’” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward); “A Redheaded Woman” (lyric by Ira Gershwin); “Clara, Clara” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” (lyric by Ira Gershwin); “Good Mornin’, Sistuh!” (lyric probably by DuBose Heyward); “Oh, Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess” (lyric by Ira Gershwin); “Oh, Lawd, I’m on My Way” (lyric by DuBose Heyward)

DANCING ON DANGEROUS GROUND “Irish Dancing Sensation”

Theatre: Radio City Music Hall Opening Date: March 8, 2000; Closing Date: March 12, 2000

8      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Performances: 7 Narration and Lyrics: Johnny Cunningham Music: Seamus Egan Based on the Celtic legend “The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne.” Direction: Jeremy Sturt; Producers: Tricky Feat Ltd. (Ian Allen, Jean Butler, Colin Dunne, Harvey Goldsmith, Producers), Radio City Entertainment (Edward J. Micone Jr., Executive Vice President and Executive Producer for Radio City Entertainment and Bob Garcia, Vice President of Entertainment Finance for Radio City Entertainment), Electric Factory Concerts (Allen Spivak and Larry Magid, Producers), Artiste Management Productions, and Creative Management Ltd.; Choreography: Jean Butler and Colin Dunne; additional choreography by Michael Smith; Scenery and Costumes: Tim Hatley; Lighting: Tom Kenny; Musical Direction: Seamus Egan Cast: Jean Butler (Grania), Colin Dunne (Diarmuid), Tony Kemp (Finn McCool), Sorcha McCaul (Deirdru), Glenn Simpson (Oisin); Grania’s Bodyguards: Bobby Fox, Ciaran Maguire, and Brian Swanton; Finn McCool’s Court, The Fianna, and Women of the Court: Mary Ann Bakke, Aisling Barr, Angela Burns, Carla Butler, Marc Daniels, Michael Donegan, Colleen Farrell, Jo Ellen Forsyth, Sinead Gibbons, Roisin Alana Gilfedder, Tara Hegarty, Joel Hanna, Catriona Kelly, Maria Kirby, Leanna Leonard, Ryan McCafferty, Laura Minogue, Ronan Morgan, Mark O’Donnell, Aisling O’Dwyer, Martin Percival, Stephen Scarriff, Martina Stewart, J. R. Vancheri; The Voice of Finn: Stanley Townshend; Solas (Orchestra): Seamus Egan (Musical Director), John Doyle (Guitar), Mick McAuley (Accordion, Tin Whistle), Deirdre Scalon (Vocals), Ray Fean (Percussion); Musicians on Prerecorded Soundtrack: Noel Eccles (Percussion), Dave West (Keyboards), Kieran O’Hare (Uilleann Pipes), Eoghan O’Neill (Bass Guitar) The dance musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Ireland of myth and legend.

Dance and Musical Sequences Act One: “Prologue”; “At the Court of Finn McCool”; “Grania’s Arrival”; “The Training”; “The Gift of the Bodyguards”; “The Female State of Mind”; “The Hooley”; “Diarmuid’s Reflection”; “Meeting in a LateNight Bar”; “On Dangerous Ground” Act Two: “At the Wedding of Finn and Grania”; “Grania’s Betrayal”; “The Lovers in Flight”; “The Fianna Awaken”; “Finn’s Cry for War”; “The Pursuit and a Death”; “Grania’s Lament”; “Epilogue” The new century got off to a decidedly Irish start. James Joyce’s The Dead was soon followed by two evenings of Irish dance (Dancing on Dangerous Ground and Riverdance on Broadway) and there was of course a touch of the Irish when Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten was revived at the Walter Kerr Theatre early in the year. Dancing on Dangerous Ground had premiered in London at the Drury Lane on December 6, 1999, and was created by Riverdance performers Jean Butler and Colin Dunne, who also starred in the production. The dancers reprised their roles for the U.S. premiere, which opened at the Radio City Music Hall for a limited engagement of seven performances. With Dangerous Ground, Butler and Dunne took Irish dancing a step further, and rather than presenting dances within the revue format of Riverdance they created a book musical of sorts that told its story through dance. The work was based on the Celtic legend “The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne,” and focused on the young and lovely Grania (Butler), her elderly husband and Irish military leader Finn McCool (Tony Kemp, in a non-dancing role), and Finn’s young and handsome lieutenant Diarmuid (Dunne). The two young lovers run away together, but Diarmuid is killed by McCool’s army and Grania pines away in grief. But in a ghostly epilogue the lovers are reunited forever. The headline of Judith Mackrell’s review for the London production in the Guardian proclaimed “Celtic Cliché Overload.” Mackrell said the work was “purple with poetic overload” and because the essence of Irish dancing was “militaristic,” such rigid and stylistic movements mitigated against the romantic story. But the evening had its moments, and the sight of twenty-eight dancers going full throttle generated “a real theatrical thrill.” Although Butler and Dunne tried to enlarge the “Irish” dance vocabulary with occasional pirouettes or a tango, they seemed “ill at ease” with these “alien steps.” However, when they stayed in “Irish territory” they both provided star turns and were “without doubt a class act.”

2000 Season     9

But with “insubstantial characters” and “dramatic pretensions,” Butler and Dunne were “unfortunately on dangerous ground.” In reviewing the New York premiere, Anna Kisselgoff in the New York Times said the new work was an “infinitely more creative spectacle” than Riverdance, and Butler and Dunne here channeled Irish step dancing “into genuine artistic expression.” The “terrific” dance musical had “consistent integrity,” the dance company gave a “sensational performance,” and Seamus Egan’s score (part prerecorded and part played live by onstage musicians) worked “smoothly.” Kisselgoff noted the choreography provided occasional humorous moments: When the soldiers exercised by doing pushups, they tapped their toes, and when village wives tied up their husbands in order to allow the young lovers to make their escape, the men’s “inability to move their arms becomes an in-joke about the rule that arms stay close to the body in step dancing.” Dancing on Dangerous Ground was released on DVD by Kultur Video.

RIVERDANCE ON BROADWAY Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: March 16, 2000; Closing Date: August 26, 2001 Performances: 605 Written Material: Poetry excerpts written by W. B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, and Arthur O’Shaughnessy; special written verse by Theo Dorgan; excerpt from “Sweeney’s Lament on Ailsa Craig” from Sweeney Astray by Seamus Heaney; and Amanzi lyrics translated by Rose Tuelo Brock Lyrics and Music: Bill Whelan Direction: John McColgan; Producers: Moya Doherty and Abhann Productions (Julian Erskine, Executive Producer); Choreography: Michael Flatley, Original Principal Irish Dance Choreography; Mavis Ascott, Jean Butler, Colin Dunne, Carol Leavy Joyce, and Andrei Kisselev, Original Choreography; Maria Pages and Tarik Winston, Choreography for The Moscow Folk Ballet Company; Scenery; Robert Ballagh; Projections: Chris Slingsby; Costumes: Joan Bergin; Lighting: Rupert Murray; Musical Direction: Cathal Synnott Cast: Principal Dancers—Pat Roddy, Eileen Martin, Maria Pages, Tsidii Le Loka, Brian Kennedy; The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe—Dearbhail Bates, Natalie Biggs, Lorna Bradley, Martin Brennan, Zeph Caissie, Suzanne Cleary, Andrea Curley, Marty Dowds, Lindsay Doyle, Shannon Doyle, Susan Ginnety, Paula Goulding, Conor Hayes, Gary Healy, Matt Martin, Tokiko Masuda, Sinead McCafferty, Holly McGlinchy, Jonathan McMorrow, Joe Moriarty, Niall Mulligan, Catherine O’Brien, David O’Hanlon, Debbie O’Keefe, Ursula Quigley, Kathleen Ryan, Anthony Savage, Rosemarie Schade, Ryan Sheridan, Claire Usher, Leanda Ward, Margaret Williams; The Riverdance Singers—Sara Clancy (Soloist), Patrick Connolly, Brian Dunphy, Joanna Higgins, Darren Holden, Michael Londra, Tara O’Beirne, Sherry Steele, Ben Stubbs, Yvonne Woods; The Moscow Folk Ballet Company—Denis Boroditski, Andrei Kisselev, Yulia Koryagina, Olena Krutsenko, Svetlana Malinina, Ilia Streltsov, Vitaly Verterich, Yana Volkova; The Riverdance Tappers— Walter “Sundance” Freeman, Channing Cook Holmes, Karen Callaway Williams; The Amanzi Singers— Ntombikhona Diamini, Fana Kekana, Ntombifuthi Pamella Mhlongo, Francina Moliehi Mokubetsi, Keneilwe Margaret Motsage, Isaac Mthethwa, Andile Selby Ndebele, Mbuso Dick Shange; The Riverdance Drummers—Darren Andrews, Abe Doron, Eamon Ellams, Gary Grant; and the voice of Liam Neeson The dance revue was presented in two acts. Act One: “Invocation: Hear My Cry” (Brian Kennedy); “Reel Around the Sun” (Pat Roddy, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe); “The Heart’s Cry” (The Riverdance Singers); “The Countess Cathleen” (Eileen Martin, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe); “Caoineadh Chu Chulainn” (Lament) (Ivan Goff); “Thunderstorm” (Pat Roddy, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe); “Shivna” (The Moscow Folk Ballet Company, The Riverdance Singers); “Firedance” (Maria Pages, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe); “At the Edge of the World” (Brian Kennedy); “Slip into Spring—The Harvest” (The Riverdance Orchestra); “Riverdance” (Pat Roddy, Eileen Martin, The Riverdance Singers, The Riverdance Drummers, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe) Act Two: “American Wake” (The Company); “Lift the Wings” (Brian Kennedy, Sara Clancy); “Harbour of the New World”: (1) “Trading Taps” (Walter “Sundance” Freeman, Channing Cook Holmes, Karen Callaway Williams); (2) “I Will Set You Free” (Tsidii Le Loka, The Amanzi Singers); and (3) “Let Freedom Ring” (Tsidii Le Loka, The Amanzi Singers); “Morning in Macedonia” (The Riverdance Orchestra); “The Russian Dervish” (The Moscow Folk Ballet Company); “Heartbeat of the World—Andalucia” (Maria Pages, Noel

10      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Heraty, Pat Roddy); “Ri Ra” (Eileen Martin, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe, The Moscow Folk Ballet Company, The Riverdance Singers, The Riverdance Drummers); “Homecoming” (Athena Tergis [Fiddle], Maria Pages, Robbie Harris); Anthem: “Endless Journey” (Tsidii Le Loka, Brian Kennedy, The Amanzi Singers, The Riverdance Singers, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe); “Heartland” (Pat Roddy, Eileen Martin, The Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe); Finale (The Company) The Irish dance phenomenon Riverdance had first been presented in a short version at the Eurovision Song Contest at the Point Theatre in Dublin on April 30, 1994, and an expanded version later opened at the Point on February 9, 1995. The work’s New York premiere at Radio City Music Hall opened for a limited engagement on March 13, 1996, for eight performances, and the revue returned there three times, on October 2, 1996 (twenty-one performances), September 25, 1997 (twenty-three performances), and September 24, 1998 (also twenty-three performances). The current production had originally been planned as a limited engagement, but the popularity of the piece kept the revue on the boards for a long run of 605 showings. In addition to Irish dancers and singers, the revue emphasized the world community, and various productions included black American tap dancers, an American opera singer, a British dancer, an Irish-American dancer, a Spanish dancer, former members of the Russian Moiseyev Company (here, The Moscow Folk Ballet Company), and an African singing group. In his review of the current production, Charles Isherwood in Variety commented that the inclusion of The Lion King cast member Tsidii Le Loka and the African singing group The Amanzi Singers was “probably the show’s most strained grasp at multicultural appeal” and their inclusion was “either admirable or cynical.” Isherwood said Riverdance was a “global goulash,” but despite incongruous elements in the show (such as flamenco dances and African songs) the Irish step dancers were “the most appealing aspect” of the evening. But one had to make do with the “pretentious and inane narration” (provided by a prerecorded Liam Neeson) and “vague medieval theatrics,” which “uncomfortably resemble a New Age take on Xena: Warrior Princess.” Jennifer Dunning in the New York Times said the Irish step dancers were the “best” part of the revue, and they moved “in unison to exciting effect” as they danced in “strict formation” with their “bodies rigid except for their chattering feet and scissoring legs.” But the flamenco dances were “dreadful stuff,” the songs were full of “soupy clichés,” and the production looked as if it were “unfolding in an olde-Irish parking garage.” The original cast album was released on CD by Decca, and Donny Osmond’s collection This Is the Moment (Decca Broadway CD # 440-013-052-2) includes “At the Edge of the World.” An earlier recording of music from Riverdance was released as Riverdance: Music from the Show (Atlantic/Celtic Heartbeat Records CD # 82816-2), and the CD booklet includes lyrics from songs heard in various productions of the revue. The March 1996 presentation at Radio City was filmed as Riverdance: Live from Radio City Music Hall on a two-DVD set released by BBC Home Entertainment, and other live performances (from such cities as Dublin, Geneva, and Beijing) were also released on DVD. Another DVD release is The Best of Riverdance, issued by Kultur Video.

AIDA Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: March 23, 2000; Closing Date: September 5, 2004 Performances: 1,852 Book: Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang Lyrics: Tim Rice Music: Elton John Suggested by Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida (the world premiere of Aida took place at the Cairo Opera House on December 24, 1871, and the European premiere in Milan on February 8, 1872). Direction: Robert Falls; Producers: Hyperion Theatricals (a unit of the Buena Vista Theatrical Group, which includes Disney Theatricals) under the direction of Peter Schneider and Thomas Schumacher (Marshall B. Purdy, Associate Producer); Choreography: Wayne Cilento; Scenery and Costumes: Bob Crowley; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Paul Bogaev Cast: Sherie Rene Scott (Amneris), Adam Pascal (Radames), Heather Headley (Aida), Damian Perkins (Mereb), John Hickok (Zoser), Daniel Oreskes (Pharaoh), Schele Williams (Nehebka), Tyrees Allen (Amonasro); En-

2000 Season     11

semble: Robert M. Armitage, Troy Allan Burgess, Franne Calma, Bob Gaynor, Kisha Howard, Tim Hunter, Youn Kim, Kyra Little, Kenya Unique Massey, Corinne McFadden, Phineas Newborn II, Jody Ripplinger, Raymond Rodriguez, Eric Sciotto, Samuel N. Thiam, Jerald Vincent, Schele Williams, Natalia Zisa The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the present (possibly in New York) and in ancient Egypt.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Every Story Is a Love Story” (Sherie Rene Scott); “Fortune Favors the Brave” (Adam Pascal, Soldiers); “The Past Is Another Land” (Heather Headley); “Another Pyramid” (John Hickok, Ministers); “How I Know You” (Damian Perkins, Heather Headley); “My Strongest Suit” (Sherie Rene Scott, Women of the Palace); “Enchantment Passing Through” (Adam Pascal, Heather Headley); “My Strongest Suit” (reprise) (Sherie Rene Scott, Heather Headley); “The Dance of the Robe” (Heather Headley, Schele Williams, Nubians); “Not Me” (Adam Pascal, Damian Perkins, Heather Headley, Sherie Rene Scott); “Elaborate Lives” (Adam Pascal, Heather Headley); “The Gods Love Nubia” (Heather Headley, Schele Williams, Nubians) Act Two: “A Step Too Far” (Sherie Rene Scott, Adam Pascal, Heather Headley); “Easy as Life” (Heather Headley); “Like Father, Like Son” (John Hickok, Adam Pascal, Ministers); “Radames’ Letter” (Adam Pascal); “How I Know You” (reprise) (Damian Perkins); “Written in the Stars” (Heather Headley, Adam Pascal); “I Know the Truth” (Sherie Rene Scott); “Elaborate Lives” (reprise) (Heather Headley, Adam Pascal); “Every Story Is a Love Story” (reprise) (Sherie Rene Scott) In his Life magazine review of Oscar Hammerstein II and Sigmund Romberg’s 1935 film musical The Night Is Young, Don Herold called the movie a “preposteroperetta,” a term that could well describe Disney’s musical Aida, which had all the requisite operetta trappings, including star-crossed lovers, a hidden identity, an exotic setting, outlandish comic moments, and, instead of merry villagers in the town square, a clad of beefy chorus-boy soldiers dancing in MTV style to the beat of ancient Egypt. Further, many operettas were presented in flashback, and so even here Aida didn’t disappoint. Its first and last scenes were set in the Egyptian wing of a modern museum where a young man and woman (Adam Pascal and Heather Headley) meet and are strangely attracted to one another. It turns out they’re the modern-day incarnations of Radames and Aida, and the musical takes them back in time where they relive their “elaborate lives” and legendary story. The plot was essentially a love triangle in which Egyptian army leader Radames returns to his country after winning the war against the nation’s enemy Nubia (Ethiopia). He’s engaged to Amneris (Sherie Rene Scott), the Pharaoh’s daughter, but falls in love with the Nubian slave Aida, whom he doesn’t know is a Nubian princess. After a series of palace intrigues and various misunderstandings, Aida and Radames are accused of treason and sentenced to death. Because their deaths promise them eternal life where they will reunite in the future, they’re destined to meet in a twenty-first-century museum. Who knew that Aida and Radames were walking among us, just average everyday New Yorkers like On the Town’s Miss Turnstyles? Aida failed to settle on a tone, lacked a strong score, offered laughable choreography, and suffered from generally passive performances. Was the work a serious operetta? It was at times, especially when, in the best tradition of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Headley and Pascal laboriously went through the solemnities thrown at them by the script and by Elton John and Tim Rice’s score (but even here there was no consistency, and so Headley was given a groan-inducing wink-wink line or two, such as when she admires Amneris’s wardrobe and says “You’ve got a mean thread count”). For the most part, Headley and Pascal’s performances were on the dour side, and they seemed uncomfortable in their roles, especially Pascal, who was far too chorus-boy-modern for the role of Radames. Or was Aida a campfest? Yes, it was that, too, especially when Sherie Rene Scott took over the stage with her welcome star turn as Amneris. Her role wavered between straight and camp, and sometimes her character seemed totally unconnected to the proceedings on stage. But that didn’t matter: she was in there alive and kicking, and so while no one else on stage seemed to be having much fun, Scott was having a ball and brought musical theatre brio to the otherwise dreary evening (when told that Egypt has conquered Babylon, she remarks, “How oppressive of us!”). She was given the score’s best songs, “Every Story Is a Love Story” and “My Strongest Suit,” the former a haunting opening number that introduced the evening’s premise with its

12      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

promise of a shimmering and tragic love story (unfortunately, nothing ever matched the mystery and wonder of the song). The latter number was an old-time, over-the-top moment which might well have been at home in La Cage aux Folles (1983) or Howard Crabtree’s campy Off-Broadway revues Whoop-Dee-Doo! (1993) and When Pigs Fly (1996). The vampy “My Strongest Suit” was a fashion show to out-fashion them all, and Scott and her Valley Nile Girls provided the evening’s one moment of fun as they paraded about in outlandish costumes and extolled the joys of wearing the latest outré fashions. The number may have been as obvious as it was anachronistic, but it woke up the audience and provided a genuine theatrical moment to the otherwise moribund musical. Theatre World reported that Variety tallied seventeen print and television reviews, of which only six were favorable. The work wasn’t even nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award, but won four in other areas, enjoyed a marathon run in which it became the new century’s first hit musical and the season’s longest running show, and it returned a healthy profit. The $15 million musical was first presented as Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre Company. It opened on October 7, 1998, after a preview period that began on September 17, and closed on November 8. Because of indifferent reviews, the show underwent a grueling process of firings and rewrites and by the time of its next production in Chicago thirteen months later (and three months prior to the Broadway premiere) the show had a new title (Aida), a new leading man (Pascal, who succeeded Hank Stratton), additional book writers (Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang joined Linda Woolverton), a new director (Falls succeeded Robert Jess Roth), a new choreographer (Wayne Cilento followed Matt West), and a new scenic and costume designer (Stanley A. Meyer and Ann Hould-Ward were succeeded by Bob Crowley). Between Atlanta and Broadway, the show lost four songs (“Our Nation Holds Sway,” “Night of Nights,” “The Judgment,” and “The Messenger”) and added two (“Not Me” and “Radames’ Letter”). Charles Isherwood in Variety reviewed the Atlanta production and found the lyrics “serviceable” and the book “simplistic” with Egyptians who sounded like “post-adolescents from today’s hot-blooded TV dramas.” And the “greatest offender” of all was the choreography, which was “standard music video grooving.” As for the leads, Headley was “breathtaking,” Scott was a “terrific vocalist,” and Stratton was “generic.” And then there were major scenery problems, including a recalcitrant moving pyramid (the musical’s chandelier and helicopter moment) which constantly broke down and refused to budge (there was also a death chamber for Aida and Radames which was supposed to levitate but instead crashed to the floor of the stage). Isherwood speculated that the pyramid misfire might have been caused by an “offended Egyptian deity of taste” who cast a “baleful eye on the production,” and both pyramid and death chamber were soon ditched when Crowley redesigned the show. In discussing the Atlanta production, Michael Riedel in the New York Post said the musical had been “plagued with problems from the get-go,” and the headline of his article proclaimed, “Tut, Tut: Aida Crew in a State of de-Nile.” For the Broadway opening, Ben Brantley in the New York Times suggested Aida was a “new Disney cartoon pretending to be a Broadway musical” that had the “disconnected, sterile feeling that suggests it has been assembled, piecemeal, by committee.” The musical was “stranded” in a “candy-colored limbo” between “childish silliness and civic preachiness” and between “campy spoof and tragic tear-jerker.” The music had “all the memory-grabbing adhesiveness of unchewed gum,” the lyrics were “perfunctory,” the choreography was “most unfortunate,” and the dialogue was “of the B-movie swashbuckler variety.” Isherwood’s Variety review of the Broadway production noted the musical had been transformed from the “garish misfire” it had been in Atlanta to a “pretty pop fantasy” aimed at “teenyboppers and teenyboppersat-heart” who watch television shows of the Dawson’s Creek variety and buy Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera records. And there was more chewing-gum analogy when Isherwood said the show was “pure bubble gum,” albeit “stylishly packaged bubble gum.” Richard Zoglin in Time noted that Aida was clearly “a Disney product” that had been “mounted and mass-audience-tested like a theme-park ride,” but was nonetheless “a big, bright, ingeniously staged show” with an “appealing” score. Nancy Franklin in the New Yorker said “there’s still room for improvement in Aida,” and while Rice’s lyrics were “clunky,” John’s music was “lovely.” For her, Crowley was the musical’s “most valuable player” and his scenery was “breathtakingly brilliant” (and Brantley noted Crowley’s costumes “should top every drag queen’s must-have list”). Crowley had previously provided impressive set designs for the 1994 revival of Carousel and for Paul Simon’s 1998 musical The Capeman, and for Aida he didn’t disappoint. His scenery was stunning, and perhaps his most impressive effect was an underwater view of the surface of a pool that gave the illusion that members of the ensemble were swimming.

2000 Season     13

In 1999, the musical’s concept album was released (Polygram/Rocket Island Records CD # 314-524-6282) and included “Another Pyramid” (sung by Sting), “Written in the Stars” (Elton John and LeAnn Rimes), “Easy as Life” (Tina Turner and Angelique Kidjo), “My Strongest Suit” (The Spice Girls), “I Know the Truth” (Elton John and Janet Jackson), “Not Me” (Boyz II Men), “A Step Too Far” (Elton John, Heather Headley, and Sherie Rene Scott), “Like Father, Like Son” (Lenny Kravitz), “Elaborate Lives” (Headley), “How I Know You” (James Taylor), “The Gods Love Nubia” (Kelly Price), and “Enchantment Passing Through” (Dru Hill). The album also included the cut song “The Messenger” (Elton John and Lulu) as well as “Amneris’ Letter” (Shania Twain), which for Broadway was retitled “Radames’ Letter.” The Broadway cast album was released by Buena Vista Records (CD # 60671-7). Disney on Broadway: “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” “Aida” was published by Disney in paperback in 2002.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Heather Headley); Best Score (lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Elton John); Best Scenic Design (Bob Crowley); Best Costume Design (Bob Crowley); Best Lighting (Natasha Katz)

CONTACT “A Dance Play

in

Three Short Stories”

Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: March 30, 2000; Closing Date: September 1, 2002 Performances: 1,010 Book: “By Susan Stroman and John Weidman” and “written by John Weidman” Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction and Choreography: Susan Stroman (Chris Peterson, Associate Choreographer) (Tara Young, Assistant Director and Choreographer); Producers: Lincoln Center Theatre at the Vivian Beaumont (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors) (Ira Weitzman, Associate Producer, Musical Theatre); Scenery: Thomas Lynch; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski (Note: There was no musical director because all the music in the production was prerecorded and taken from commercial recordings.) Cast: Jason Antoon, John Bolton, Tome Cousin, Holly Cruickshank, Pascale Faye, Boyd Gaines, Steve Geary, Nina Goldman, Peter Gregus, Shannon Hammons, Jack Hayes, Sean Martin Hingston, Stacey Todd Holt, Angelique Ilo, David MacGillivray, Joanne Manning, Stephanie Michels, Mayumi Miguel, Dana Stackpole, Scott Taylor, Rocker Verastique, Robert Wersinger, Deborah Yates, Karen Ziemba The musical was presented in three parts (Swinging, Did You Move?, and Contact) which were given in two acts with an intermission between Did You Move? and Contact. Act One Swinging Cast: Sean Martin Hingston (Frenchman), Stephanie Michels (Girl on a Swing), Scott Taylor (Frenchman) The action takes place in a forest glade in France during 1767.

Musical Numbers “My Heart Stood Still” (A Connecticut Yankee, 1928; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers) (recording: Stephane Grappelli) Did You Move? Cast: Karen Ziemba (Wife), Jason Antoon (Husband), David MacGillivray (Headwaiter), Rocker Verastique (Busboy), Robert Wersinger (Waiter), Tome Cousin (Restaurant Patron), Peter Gregus (Restaurant Patron),

14      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Nina Goldman (Restaurant Patron), Dana Stackpole (Restaurant Patron), Scott Taylor (Waiter), Sean Martin Hingston (Uncle Vinnie), Pascale Faye (Photographer), Shannon Hammons (Cigarette Girl) The action takes place in an Italian restaurant in Queens in 1954.

Musical Numbers “Anitra’s Dance” (Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, music by Edvard Grieg); “Waltz Eugene” (1879 opera Eugene Onegin, Opus 24, music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky); “La Farandole” (L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2, music by Georges Bizet) (all recordings by The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein) Act Two Contact Cast: Boyd Gaines (Michael Wiley), Deborah Yates (Girl in the Yellow Dress), Jason Antoon (Bartender, Voice Messages), Jack Hayes (Jack), Robert Wersinger (Joe), Nina Goldman (Clubgoer), Scott Taylor (Clubgoer), Shannon Hammons (Clubgoer), Stephanie Michels (Clubgoer), Sean Martin Hingston (Johnny), Rocker Verastique (Clubgoer), Pascale Faye (Clubgoer), Mayumi Miguel (Clubgoer), Tome Cousin (Clubgoer), Dana Stackpole (Clubgoer), Peter Gregus (Clubgoer) The action takes place in New York City in 1999.

Musical Numbers “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You” (lyric and music by Russ Morgan, Larry Stock, and James Cavanaugh) (recording: Dean Martin); “Put a Lid on It” (lyric and music by Tom Maxwell) (recording: Squirrel Nut Zippers); “Sweet Lorraine” (lyric by Mitchell Parish, music by Cliff Burwell) (recording: Stephane Grappelli); “Runaround Sue” (lyric and music by Ernest Maresca and Dion DiMucci) (recording: Dion); “Beyond the Sea” (lyric and music by Charles Trenet and Jack Lawrence) (recording: Royal Crown Revue); “See What I Mean?” (lyric and music by J. Chapman) (recording: Al Cooper and His Savoy Sultans); “Simply Irresistible” (lyric and music by Robert Palmer) (recording: Robert Palmer); “Do You Wanna Dance?” (lyric and music by Bobby Freeman) (recording: The Beach Boys); “Topsy” (lyric and music by William Edgar Battle and Eddie Durham) (recording: Royal Crown Revue); “Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing)” (Parts I and II) (lyric by Andy Razaf and Leon Berry, music by Louis Prima) (recording: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra) Susan Stroman’s Contact (or, more precisely, contact) was one of the highlights of the decade and offered perhaps the most spectacular dancing seen on Broadway since Michael Bennett’s Ballroom in 1978. The evening was comprised of three short dance musicals, “Swinging” and “Did You Move?” for the first act and “Contact” for the second (“Swinging” was a short curtain raiser with movement rather than full-fledged choreography). The work was almost devoid of dialogue and used music and dance to tell its stories, and in what proved to be a controversial decision there was no live orchestra. Instead, prerecorded music taken from various commercial recordings was played over the theatre’s sound system, and for some audience members the omission of an orchestra and the lack of new songs meant that Contact wasn’t a “real” musical. Who knew such rigid rules were in place when it came to the definition of a musical! Happily, the nitpickers were in the minority and Contact became an instant hit with theatergoers, played for more than one thousand performances, and won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The three self-described “short stories” shared three similarities: all dealt with contact among individuals (or the lack of it), all offered surprising twists, and all included a similar prop (a cupid). “Swinging” was a Fragonard-like fantasy inspired by the painter’s The Swing, and it would have been at home in the Loveland sequence of Follies. Set in a forest glade in France in 1767, the brief curtain-raiser depicted a nobleman and his lady at a picnic where, to her delight, he pushes her swing higher and higher as his servant looks on. And when the aristocrat goes off for another bottle of champagne, the servant proceeds to make love to the girl. By the end of the sequence, we discover that the two men have switched roles for the afternoon: the one we believed was the servant is really the nobleman, and vice versa.

2000 Season     15

“Did You Move?” took place in 1954 at an Italian restaurant in Queens called the Café Vesuvio, and it focused on a crude, threatening, and jealous husband (Jason Antoon) and his meek wife (Karen Ziemba) who are dining there. Each time the husband visits the buffet, the wife fantasizes about the headwaiter (David MacGillivray) and in her reveries dances with him in wild abandon while the waiters and patrons join in the comic fray. When the husband returns from the buffet, he suspects his wife has been flirting, pulls a gun, and takes aim at her. She manages to wrest the gun from him and kills him. But no, the gun business was part of her fantasy. The husband comes back from the buffet and the wife resignedly accepts her “place” and sits with him as he complains about the restaurant’s poor service. For “Contact,” Michael Wiley (Boyd Gaines) is a young New York bachelor who might be cousin to Company’s Bobby. Michael is despondent over his empty life: everything is bleak, there’s no joy, he has no interest in joining friends at a downtown dance club, and even the unseen neighbor below keeps leaving phone messages that he’s noisy and needs to buy rugs for his apartment. Michael believes the only way to deal with his life is to end it, and so he makes a noose and slides it over his head. But on second thought he decides to go to the dance club he’s heard about, and there he’s mesmerized by a mysterious and beautiful blonde in a yellow dress (Deborah Yates), a cool and aloof goddess who chooses which men she’ll dance with. The club sequences offered an array of dazzling dances, and there Michael becomes more and more obsessed with the beautiful girl and ultimately connects with her on the dance floor when they share a Fred-andGinger moment. But not really. The club fantasies took place at the moment when Michael was ready to hang himself. But the girl downstairs is on the phone again, complaining about the noise, and soon the doorbell rings and there she is: she’s the girl he conjured up in his dance-club reverie, and although they’ve never met he realizes he’s seen her occasionally on the elevator. She holds a sheet from the Yellow Pages and suggests he contact a rug company immediately. He agrees, but only if she’ll dance with him. Which she does, and as they glide across the living room floor the musical ends. (The finale brought to mind the denouement of One Touch of Venus; in that 1943 musical, the hero loses the elusive goddess Venus but soon meets Venus Jones, a girl who resembles the beautiful deity.) The evening’s recurrent image was that of Fragonard’s Cupid. For “Swinging,” a statue of Cupid is part of the mise-en-scène; for “Did You Move?,” Cupid is festooned with leis of garlic and peppers as a decoration in the restaurant; and for “Contact,” an office award for Michael is a statuette of Cupid. Contact first opened Off Broadway, where it premiered at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre on October 7, 1999, for 101 performances, and later in the season it moved upstairs to the larger Vivian Beaumont. In his review of the Newhouse production, Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the musical was “the most potent antidepressant available in New York,” restored “the pleasure principle to the American musical,” and gave a “sense of euphoric connection between the audience and what is happening on the stage.” Ziemba and Gaines were here giving “the performances of their careers,” John Weidman’s book was “agile and clever,” and Stroman was an “inspired alchemist.” As for Yates, she was “a pinup girl for straight men in a New York musical: who would have thought it?” And he noted that the ensemble moved with “coordinated precision” while they evoked “the vibrancy and varied vocabulary of Jerome Robbins” and registered “with a firm stamp of individuality.” Terry Teachout in Time reviewed the “exhilarating” and “magical” musical at the Newhouse, and said it was “just what the play doctor ordered.” Stroman brought “every square inch” of the stage to “fizzing, finger-popping life” and she used dance “to plumb the deepest desires—with the lightest of touches.” Ziemba gave the “most affecting” performance, but everyone in the cast had unquestionable “collective star quality.” Charles Isherwood in Variety praised the “intoxicating” evening at the Newhouse. For “Did You Move?,” Ziemba’s “mousy hausfrau” morphs into a “femme fatale” when she “gradually seduces the entire restaurant into joining her frenzied tango of physical and emotional abandon,” and for the “Contact” sequence Stroman’s choreography was “breathtakingly smooth” as the dancers moved in “swift and elegant formation, changing partners with clockwork precision.” In re-reviewing the musical, Isherwood said the show made a “terrific transition” to the Vivian Beaumont’s circular stage and he could only wonder how “such glorious kinetic and emotional amplitude could possibly have squeezed itself into the tiny” Newhouse. Contact had “delighted” him when it played downstairs, and now it was dazzling. The CD of Contact was released by RCA Victor/BMG Records (# 09026-63764-2), but because it was a compilation of prerecorded tracks by various artists it wasn’t a true original cast album. In the production, Dean Martin’s version of “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You” was used, but for the recording Boyd Gaines sang the number. The program was issued with two covers: one depicted “Did You Move?” and included

16      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Ziemba, MacGillivray, and a plate of flying spaghetti, and the other cover pictured “Contact” with a somewhat bemused Gaines and a flying Yates. About a year after Contact closed, there was talk that Susan Stroman would direct and choreograph a film version (which reportedly would be based on the third portion of the dance play), but the project was eventually shelved. In the meantime, a performance taken live from the Vivian Beaumont production was taped and shown on public television in September 2001.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Contact); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Boyd Gaines); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Deborah Yates); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Ziemba); Best Direction (Susan Stroman); Best Book (John Weidman); Best Choreography (Susan Stroman)

THE WILD PARTY “The New Broadway Musical”

Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: April 13, 2000; Closing Date: June 11, 2000 Performances: 68 Book: Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe Lyrics and Music: Michael John LaChiusa Based on the 1928 narrative poem The Wild Party by Joseph Moncure March. Direction: George C. Wolfe; Producers: The Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) (George C. Wolfe, Producer), Scott Rudin/Paramount Pictures, Roger Berlind, and Williams/ Waxman (Rosemarie Tichler, Artistic Producer, NYSF) (Wiley Hausam, Associate Producer, NYSF/Dramaturg); Choreography: Joey McKneely; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Toni-Leslie James; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Todd Ellison Cast: Toni Collette (Queenie), Mandy Patinkin (Burrs), Marc Kudisch (Jackie), Jane Summerhays (Miss Madelaine True), Sally Murphy (Sally), Norm Lewis (Eddie Mackrel), Leah Hocking (Mae), Brooke Sunny Moriber (Nadine), Nathan Lee Graham (Phil D’Armano), Michael McElroy (Oscar D’Armano), Eartha Kitt (Dolores), Adam Grupper (Gold), Stuart Zagnit (Goldberg), Yancey Arias (Black), Tonya Pinkins (Kate) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in New York City in 1928.

Musical Numbers The Vaudeville: “Queenie Was a Blonde”/“Marie Is Tricky”/“Wild Party” (Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, Company); Promenade of Guests: “Dry” (Mandy Patinkin, Marc Kudisch, Jane Summerhays, Sally Murphy, Norm Lewis, Leah Hocking, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Nathan Lee Graham, Michael McElroy, Eartha Kitt); “Welcome to My Party” (Toni Collette); “Like Sally” (Jane Summerhays); “Breezin’ through Another Day” (Marc Kudisch); “Uptown” (Nathan Lee Graham, Michael McElroy); “Eddie & Mae” (Norm Lewis, Leah Hocking); “Gold & Goldberg” (Adam Grupper, Stuart Zagnit); “Moving Uptown” (Eartha Kitt); The Party: “Black Bottom” (Toni Collette, Company); “Best Friend” (Toni Collette, Tonya Pinkins); “A Little M-M-M” (Nathan Lee Graham, Michael McElroy); “Tabu”/“Taking Care of the Ladies” (Michael McElroy, Yancey Arias, Company); “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” (Mandy Patinkin); “Lowdown-Down” (Toni Collette); “Gin” (Mandy Patinkin, Company); “Wild” (Company); “Need” (Jane Summerhays, Company); “Black Is a Moocher” (Tonya Pinkins); “People Like Us” (Toni Collette, Yancey Arias); After Midnight Dies: “After Midnight Dies” (Sally Murphy); “Golden Boy” (Norm Lewis, Nathan Lee Graham, Michael McElroy); “The Movin’ Uptown Blues” (Adam Grupper, Stuart Zagnit); “The Lights of Broadway” (Brooke Sunny Moriber); “More” (Marc Kudisch); “Love Ain’t Nothin’”/“Welcome to Her Party”/“What I Need” (Tonya Pinkins, Mandy Patinkin, Toni Collette); “How Many Women in the World?” (Mandy Patinkin); “When It Ends” (Eartha Kitt); Finale: “This Is What It Is” (Toni Collette); Finale (Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, Company)

2000 Season     17

Michael John LaChiusa’s The Wild Party was his second misfire of the season. Earlier, his pretentious and uninvolving Marie Christine floundered after two months of performances, and now his newest musical similarly crashed two months after opening night. But at least his score for The Wild Party was more palatable than the one for Marie Christine, and if the music was perfunctory pastiche, it was nonetheless melodic and offered one superior song (a stunning and authoritative “When It Ends” sung with commanding force by Eartha Kitt). The musical was based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 narrative poem of the same name, and it depicted a vulgar all-night Jazz Age party in New York which leads to violent death. The poem is a fascinating curio with a colorful array of Broadway types, including chorines, a blackface performer, a brother act (perhaps in more ways than one), a stripper, ambitious producers, a has-been boxer, a bisexual playboy, a drug addict or two, and various lesbians. With its array of flashy characters and its Roaring Twenties background, the poem would seem to have the right ingredients for a successful musical, but four different lyric versions of the material have failed to make much of an impression, including a Wild Party that opened Off Broadway two months before the current adaptation (see below). The titular party is given by vaudeville hoofers Queenie (Toni Collette) and Burrs (Mandy Patinkin) for a motley assortment of sybaritic friends and acquaintances. Although Queenie and Burrs are lovers, they live together in a contentious relationship, and by the party’s end Queenie has become involved with Black (Yancey Arias), who kills Burrs. Lacking a linear storyline, the lengthy poem was more in the nature of an atmospheric mood piece, and the musical adaptation failed to provide a strong dramatic narrative with compelling characters to care about. In fact, the partygoers were all too reminiscent of the gang at the Kit Kat Klub in the 1998 revival of Cabaret: that production overreached in its depiction of sleazy and depraved fun-lovers, and was more laughable than daring or realistic because the denizens of the club came across as naughty little children dressed up in mommy-and-daddy’s S&M party wear. The Wild Party borrowed too much from Cabaret and Chicago and thus begged unfortunate comparisons with those superior musicals. In fact, The Wild Party even utilized Chicago’s presentational concept of introducing each scene as a vaudeville act. As a result, the musical never found its voice and was too content to borrow attitudes from other musicals. The most vivid aspect of the production was its striking poster and program artwork (taken from Miguel Covarrubbias’s 1927 painting Negro Drawings) which depicted a fractured, cubistic flapper. More than any other aspect of the show, the poster evoked the shattered and skewed world that the musical tried so desperately to evoke. The woman in the artwork is a brunette, but it was telling that the confused production couldn’t get it right when it came to Queenie’s hair. The poem’s first line tells us “Queenie was a blonde,” but for the musical Queenie’s long blonde hair was in the style of a very 1950s Marilyn Monroe, and it brought to mind the iconic Monroe look from such fifties’ Fox films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, and The Seven Year Itch. Whether deliberately or not, Collette looked like an incarnation of Monroe, a visual reference all wrong for a musical set in the 1920s. Queenie should have had a short Louise Brooks bob, perhaps conjuring up a Brooks or a Clara Bow type gone blonde (incidentally, Bow had appeared in a 1929 film titled The Wild Party, a college comedy that wasn’t based on the poem but could well have been inspired by the poem’s title). Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the evening was like “a parade of personalities in search of a missing party,” and said both of the season’s two Wild Party musicals were “equally effective at guaranteeing that a good time is had by no one.” He mentioned that the musical was “negligibly choreographed” and that some of the décor would have made the Addams Family feel right at home, and while Patinkin worked “like a Trojan” and “feverishly” offered his familiar “vocal mannerisms and tics” it was to “oddly little effect.” John Simon in New York called the “cheesy proceedings” a “fiasco” which made the “middling” OffBroadway version look like a “masterpiece.” The musical was “almost all random incidents that refuse to mesh,” the direction and choreography were lame, and he couldn’t imagine “the most desperate gate-crasher wanting to be caught dead at this party.” John Lahr in the New Yorker said LaChiusa’s score lacked even one “memorable” melody, but his lyrics were “more direct, supple, and fun than usual” and Eartha Kitt stopped the show with “When It Ends.” Charles Isherwood in Variety found the evening “impressive but uneven” and noted it went on too long, saying it “circles and vamps for a half-hour” with a “distracting” subplot and too many “repetitive” solos for various supporting characters. But LaChiusa’s score was “peppery,” his lyrics “snappy and clever,” and Kitt was the “great silken tigress of showbiz” who played her role “with effortless, show-stopping elan.” Donald Lyons in the New York Post said The Wild Party was “a nervous, excited evocation of a New York nasty” and captured some of the “sexiness and wit and raw, driven desperation of the ’20s.” He said LaChiusa was a “very uneven talent” who was “comfortably at home here amid vaudevillians at play and at havoc” and he did a “good, competent job of making a lively, moving Broadway musical of a crazy scene.” Patinkin was “an

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Al Jolson from hell” in his role of a “manic, black-face performer,” Collette played her role with “irresistible charm and desperate abandon,” and Kitt was “sensational.” Fintan O’Toole in the New York Daily News went all out and hailed The Wild Party as “the first musical triumph of the new century” and said it showed that the American musical was “very much alive.” LaChiusa’s score created “a dizzy, delirious musical world,” director George C. Wolfe managed “to fuse the book and the staging into a seamless swirl of music, movement and mood,” and Kitt was a “theatrical kleptomaniac” who “repeatedly” stole the show. The press had a field day reporting the musical’s troubled preview period. The one-act work was too long and Wolfe shortened it by thirty minutes; Patinkin and Collette missed a number of performances (the Post reported that Patinkin missed seventeen and the Times said Collette missed “several”); and Michael Riedel in the Post reported that some cast members were annoyed that Patinkin inserted onstage business that “had never been rehearsed or discussed.” Riedel also noted that Patinkin and Collette reportedly “clashed.” Ultimately, the production shuttered after two months and sixty-eight performances, at what the Times estimated was a loss of approximately $5.5 million; Wolfe had also helmed the ill-fated 1998 Broadway revival of On the Town, which lost $7 million according to the Post; in 2004, he directed Caroline, or Change which lasted for 136 Broadway performances and lost some $5.5 million according to the Post; and in 2016 he directed Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, which closed after 100 performances and according to the Times lost $12 million. The cast album was released by Decca Broadway Records (CD # 012-159-003-2), and the script was published by the Theatre Communications Group in the paperback and hardback 2003 collection The New American Musical: An Anthology from the End of the Century, which also includes the libretti of Floyd Collins, Rent, and Parade. As noted, there have been three other musical versions of March’s poem. A 1975 film released by Merchant/Ivory Productions was directed by James Ivory, choreographed by Patricia Birch, and starred Raquel Welch (Queenie), James Coco, Perry King, Bobo Lewis, and Eddie Lawrence (who had written the book and lyrics for the 1965 legendary one-performance flop Kelly), and the screenplay, lyrics, and music were by Walter Marks, who had written the lyrics and music for the Broadway musicals Bajour (1964) and Golden Rainbow (1968). There was no soundtrack album, but the film was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment (# 4006667/1006506). Marks’s engaging score includes eight songs, “That Queenie of Mine,” “Funny Man,” “We’re Goin’ to a Wild Party,” “I Am Serene Again” (an amusing spoof of Noel Coward ballads), “Singapore Sally,” “The Herbert Hoover Drag,” “Ain’t Nothin’ Bad about Feelin’ Good,” and “Sunday Morning Blues.” In July 1999, a regional adaptation of the poem by Keith Alan Baker opened at Studio Theatre Soundstage in Washington, D.C. William Triplett in the Washington Post said the evening was “a performed poem intermittently larded with song, dance, busker routines and vaudevillian bits.” The headline of the review read “The Boring Twenties,” and Triplett found the evening an “ungainly mix that all but extinguishes the vibrantly trashy spirit of the original. It’s a dirty joke with all the best expletives deleted.” The third Wild Party musical (with book, lyrics, and music by Andrew Lippa) opened Off Broadway two months before LaChiusa’s version, and the press made much of the fact that two competing musicals based on the same source material were produced during the same season. Lippa’s adaptation premiered on February 24, 2000, at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s City Center Stage I for fifty-four performances with Julia Murney (Queenie), Brian d’Arcy James (Burrs), Alix Korey, Taye Diggs, and Idina Menzel. The production received cool reviews (Brantley asked, “O Bob Fosse, what hast thou wrought?” He noted the lyrics were “squirm-making” and the characters “no deeper than their ashen makeup”), and the hoped-for Broadway transfer never materialized. The cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 0902663695-2). As noted, LaChiusa had the distinction of seeing two of his musicals produced on Broadway during the same season. The last time a composer achieved a similar double-header was during the 1972–1973 season when Galt MacDermot’s Dude, or The Highway Life and Via Galactica opened within a few weeks of one another during Fall 1972. And before that Jule Styne’s Funny Girl and Fade-Out Fade-In premiered during the latter part of the 1963–1964 season. In 1929, March also wrote the narrative poem The Set-Up, which dealt with a boxer involved with the mob. Like The Wild Party, the story takes place in real time and its 1949 film version directed by Robert Wise even used a well-placed clock to depict the continuous action.

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Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (The Wild Party); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Mandy Patinkin); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Toni Collette); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Eartha Kitt); Best Book (Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe); Best Score (lyrics and music by Michael John LaChiusa); Best Lighting Design (Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer)

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR Theatre: Ford Center for the Performing Arts Opening Date: April 16, 2000; Closing Date: September 3, 2000 Performances: 161 Lyrics: Tim Rice Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Direction: Gale Edwards; Producers: The Really Useful Superstar Company, Inc. and Nederlander Producing Company of America, Inc.; Choreography: Anthony Van Laast (Denny Barry, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Peter J. Davidson; Costumes: Roger Kirk; Lighting: Mark McCullough; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: Glenn Carter (Jesus of Nazareth), Tony Vincent (Judas Iscariot), Maya Days (Mary Magdalene), Kevin Gray (Pontius Pilate), Paul Kandel (King Herod), Frederick B. Owens (Caiaphas), Ray Walker (Annas), Michael K. Lee (Simon Zealotes), Rodney Hicks (Peter); Apostles and Disciples: Christian Borle, Lisa Brescia, D’Monroe, Manoel Felciano, Somer Lee Graham, J. Todd Howell, Daniel C. Levine, Anthony Manough, Joseph Melendez, Eric Millegan, Michael Seelbach, Alexander Selma, David St. Louis, Shayna Steele, Max Von Essen, Joe Wilson Jr., Andrew Wright; Soul Girls and Disciples: Merle Dandridge, Deidre Goodwin, Lana Gordon; Priests and Guards: Hank Campbell, Devin Richards, Timothy Warmen; Members of the company also play the roles of profiteers, lepers, Roman guards, the mob, Herod’s court, and the paparazzi. The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during a seven-day period in AD 33 in Bethany, Jerusalem, The Garden of Gethsemane, and on Golgotha.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Ensemble); “Heaven on Their Minds” (Tony Vincent); “What’s the Buzz” and “Strange Thing Mystifying” (Glenn Carter, Maya Days, Tony Vincent, Disciples); “Everything’s Alright” (Maya Days, Tony Vincent, Glenn Carter, Disciples); “This Jesus Must Die” (Frederick B. Owens, Ray Walker, Priests, Disciples); “Hosanna” (Frederick B. Owens, Glenn Carter, Disciples); “Simon Zealotes” and “Poor Jerusalem” (Michael K. Lee, Glenn Carter, Disciples, Roman Guards); “Pilate’s Dream” (Kevin Gray); “The Temple” (Glenn Carter, Profiteers); “Everything’s Alright” (reprise) (Maya Days, Glenn Carter); “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” (Maya Days); “Damned for All Time” and “Blood Money” (Tony Vincent, Frederick B. Owens, Priests, Mob) Act Two: “The Last Supper” (Glenn Carter, Tony Vincent, Apostles); “Gethsemane” (Glenn Carter); “The Arrest” (Glenn Carter, Tony Vincent, Rodney Hicks, Apostles, Frederick B. Owens, Ray Walker, Mob, Roman Guards); “Peter’s Denial” (Rodney Hicks, Maya Days, Apostles, The Mob); “Pilate and Christ” (Kevin Gray, Glenn Carter, Ray Walker, Maya Days, Apostles, Roman Guards, Mob); “King Herod’s Song” (Paul Kandel, Herod’s Court); “Could We Start Again, Please?” (Maya Days, Rodney Hicks, Michael K. Lee, Disciples, Roman Guards); “Judas’ Death” (Tony Vincent, Frederick B. Owens, Ray Walker, Mob); “Trial by Pilate” (Kevin Gray, Frederick B. Owens, Ray Walker, Mob); “Superstar” (Tony Vincent, Soul Girls, Angels, Paparazzi); “Crucifixion” (Glenn Carter, Disciples); “John 19:41” (Glenn Carter, Disciples) Jesus Christ Superstar, a self-described “rock opera” about the last days of Christ on earth, began as a record album released by Decca Records on a two-LP set in October 1970, with lyrics by Tim Rice and music

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by Andrew Lloyd Webber (a year earlier, a single release of the title song had been a hit). Following the huge success of the single record and the later LP recording (which reportedly had sold over 2.5 million copies by the time the musical premiered on Broadway in 1971), the score was presented in concert venues, and so a fully staged production was almost a given. The album overflowed with grandiose orchestrations and effusive choral effects, and no doubt the bombastic pomposity of its presentation made the work seem “important” to many listeners. To be sure, some of the music was effective, and it was clever if not slightly cynical of Rice and Lloyd Webber to write a generic ballad (“I Don’t Know How to Love Him”) that could function as a song for Mary Magdalene to sing about Christ. The music probably seemed operatic to listeners who didn’t know opera, and the lyrics managed to be “relevant,” one of the era’s trendy words. As a result, the characters sang in anachronistic colloquialisms (“Was that just PR?” and “Walk across my swimming pool” and “You’ll escape in the final reel”), which fans of the musical could no doubt “relate” to. Although Variety reported that all twelve major reviews were unfavorable, the revival (which had previously toured in Britain and had played in London) managed a run of almost five months. Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that the production was “awash in emblems of youth-courting topicality,” and so some disciples wore camouflage fatigues, graffiti was scrawled on parts of the set, the money-changers at the temple have LCD displays that quote the latest stock information, and the Roman soldiers were garbed as storm troopers. The youthful cast sang “with the ardor of kids in a karaoke bar,” Tony Vincent (as Judas, and who took over the role from Jason Pebworth shortly before the Broadway opening) looked “like a pretty boy rocker in anguished search of a band,” and Glenn Carter (Jesus Christ) was “pale, passive and petulant” and brought “a sort of Jewish princess air to the character.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the musical had been “groundbreaking” in its day but was now “a little ridiculous.” He too noted that the “aggressively with-it” production worked hard to evoke a contemporary feeling, and so Christ had a “carefully multicultural assortment of followers” and “every pierced nose and blue buzz cut” emphasized that the show was “as vitally ‘now’ as Rent.” Further, the musical lacked “dramatic progress or characterization” and was instead “a series of musical vignettes.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker found the revival “less nauseating than it is plain disappointing” and said the show “began as a concept album and should have stayed one.” The original Broadway presentation opened on October 12, 1971, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre for 720 performances in an overproduced staging by Tom O’Horgan, and the cast included Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magdalene) and Barry Dennen (Pontius Pilate), who had created the roles for the Decca recording. A song from the film version was added for Broadway (“Could We Start Again, Please?”). The production’s gaudy décor, costumes, and special effects foreshadowed many of the pretentious Euro-pop and Disney (and Disneyinspired) musicals to come, but Broadway-as-theme-park was a new concept in 1971, and so one must credit (or blame) O’Horgan for institutionalizing a trend that exists to the present day and that defines what the Broadway musical has become for many, a showcase for dazzling effects and familiar, feel-good material. The script is included in the 1979 hardback collection Great Rock Musicals published by Stein and Day and edited by Stanley Richards, and is also included in the releases of numerous recordings of the score, including an oversized paperback script packaged with the original Decca album (# DXSA-7206). The original London production opened on August 9, 1972, at the Palace Theatre for 3,358 performances and featured Paul Nicholas in the title role. The tedious 1973 Universal film version directed by Norman Jewison offered a few interesting visual effects, but that was about all. The cast included Ted Neeley (Jesus Christ), Carl Anderson (Judas), Joshua Mostel (Herod), and, from the original album and the 1971 Broadway production, Elliman and Dennen. Neeley had played two small roles in the 1971 production and had been one of two understudies for Jeff Fenholt, who created the title role for New York. The first New York revival opened at the Longacre Theatre on November 23, 1977, for ninety-six performances; the next production was a two-week limited engagement of sixteen performances that played at The Paramount Madison Square Garden Theatre on January 17, 1995, as part of a two-year national tour that visited 112 cities and featured Neeley and Anderson in a reprise of their film roles; and following the current revival, the musical’s most recent New York engagement opened at the Neil Simon Theatre on March 22, 2012, for 116 performances. When the musical first opened on Broadway, much was made of its having been inspired by a record album. Everyone seemed to forget (or didn’t know) that Shinbone Alley (1957) had been based on the 1955 album archy and mehitabel; that Beg, Borrow or Steal (1960) had been inspired by the 1959 album Clara; and that Off Broad-

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way’s You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967) had started life as a concept recording in 1966. One popular concept recording that never made it to Broadway was Gordon Jenkins’s 1946 Manhattan Tower, which was revised and expanded in 1956 (“Married I Can Always Get” emerged as the score’s most popular song).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Musical Revival (Jesus Christ Superstar)

THE GREEN BIRD “A Wicked Comedy”

Theatre: Cort Theatre Opening Date: April 18, 2000; Closing Date: June 4, 2000 Performances: 56 Play: Carlo Gozzi (text translated and adapted by Albert Bermel and Ted Emery); additional text by Eric Overmyer Lyrics: Carlo Gozzi; other lyrics by Albert Bermel and “additional lyrics” by David Suehsdorf Music: Elliot Goldenthal Based on the 1765 play The Green Bird (L’augellino belvedere aka L’augellin belvede) by Carlo Gozzi. Direction: Julie Taymor (Kamyar Atabal, Assistant Director); Producers: Ostar Enterprises with Theatre for a New Audience (Jeffrey Horowitz, Artistic Director) and Nina Lannan; Choreography: Daniel Ezralow; Scenery: Christine Jones; Mask and Puppet Designs: Julie Taymor; Costumes: Constance Hoffman; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Rick Martinez Cast: Reg E. Cathey (Brighella), Andrew Weems (Pantalone, Voice of Calmon, Beauticians, Pierrot), Didi Conn (Smeraldina), Ned Eisenberg (Truffaldino), Katie MacNichol (Barbarina), Sebastian Roche (Renzo), Bruce Turk (The Green Bird), Kristine Nielsen (Ninetta), Derek Smith (Tartaglia), Edward Hibbert (Tartagliona), Lee Lewis (Pompea, Voice of Serpentina); Singing Apples: Sophia Salguero (Soloist), Meredith Patterson, Sarah Jane Nelson; Dancing Waiters: Erico Villanueva (Soloist), Ramon Flowers; Servants, Marching Band, Puppeteers: Ken Barnett, Ramon Flowers, Sarah Jane Nelson, Meredith Patterson, Sophia Salguero, Erico Villanueva; Musicians: Bill Ruyle (Percussion), Antoine Silverman (Violin), Bruce Williamson (Woodwinds, Keyboard) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the imaginary city of Monterotondo, Serpentina’s garden, the ogre’s mountain lair, “and other suitably fabulous places.”

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers; the following list of songs and musical sequences is taken from the cast album. Act One: “Truffaldino’s Sausage Shop”; “O Greedy People” (“The Apples That Sing”) (Sophia Salguero, Meredith Patterson, Sarah Jane Nelson); “Tartaglia’s Lament” (Derek Smith); “The Bickering”; “Calmon, King of Statues” (unknown; probably Andrew Weems); “Joy to the King” (Sophia Salguero); “Ninetta’s Hope” (Kristine Nielsen); “Renzo and Pompea Duet” (Sebastian Roche, Lee Lewis); “Barbarina’s Lament” (Katie MacNichol); “The Waters That Dance”; “Serpentina’s Garden” (Andrew Weems); “Under Bustle Funk”; “Green Bird Descent”; “The Magic Feather”; “The King’s Lament”; “Accordions”; “Palace Rhumba” Act Two: Prologue (“Radio Waves”); “Acids and Alkalia”; “Apple Aria Instrumental”; “O Foolish Heart” (lyric by David Suehsdorf) (Company) Based on Carlo Gozzi’s 1765 commedia dell’arte The Green Bird (L’augellino belvedere), Julie Taymor’s production was a fairy tale about twins Renzo (Sebastian Roche) and Barbarina (Katie MacNichol), who have been disenfranchised of their royal birthright by their evil stepmother, Tartagliona (Edward Hibbert, in a drag role), who dominates the children’s put-upon father, King Tartaglia (Derek Smith). Years ago, Tartaglia went

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off to the wars and Tartagliona gave orders for the baby twins to be drowned and for their mother Queen Ninetta (Kristine Nielsen) to be buried alive, but the twins and Ninetta survived. The latter lives in the sewers beneath the palace, and the twins, who know nothing of their lineage, are raised by poor sausage seller Truffaldino (Ned Eisenberg) and his wife, Smeraldina (Didi Conn). When the twins grow up, they go off in search of their roots and are protected by a mysterious green bird (Bruce Turk), who is actually a king under the curse of an evil spell. The twins are eventually reunited with their father and mother, the spell is lifted, the bird becomes man and king and he and Barbarina marry, and Tartagliona is turned into a turtle. Commedia dell’arte has generally been a hard sell on Broadway, and The Green Bird was no exception. Taymor had been lucky with lion kings, but green birds and spider men didn’t prove such happy occasions. The Green Bird flew away after seven weeks, and perhaps Taymor’s production should have been revived Off Broadway, where it had first opened on March 7, 1996, at the New Victory Theatre for fifteen performances (the New Victory opened its doors during the 1995–1996 season as an Off-Broadway house with 499 seats; the venue had originally opened on September 27, 1900, as the Republic Theatre). Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the evening “alternately enchanting and tedious.” When Taymor’s imagination introduced huge, cartoon-like apples that open to reveal Jean Harlow–like blondes, a marble statue of a goddess that morphs into animation, and a pyramid of talking and floating skulls that guard the green bird, all was well. Unfortunately, “the wait between miracles” was the problem because Taymor’s “wit” was more visual than verbal, and as a result The Green Bird was like an art gallery in which “ravishing” pictures had “a lot of bare wall between them.” Charles Isherwood in Variety complained that the work’s inherent “archness and juvenility” had been “exaggerated” for Broadway, and he suspected the kiddies would be far less likely to clamor for Gozzi, since he lacked “the must-see appeal of Simba.” But Isherwood praised Taymor’s visual concepts and her dazzling use of masks and puppets, and he found Elliot Goldenthal’s score “marvelously textured,” “sometimes eerie,” and occasionally “full of tongue-in-cheek verve.” Richard Zoglin in Time said Taymor’s “liberating stage ideas” were a “wonder rendered with elegant simplicity.” He too praised a number of visual delights, including a human traffic jam in which the cast members wore images of 1950s sedans on their heads. The cast album was released by DRG Records (CD # 12989). During the 1964–1965 season, Gozzi’s comedy had been adapted into the musical Royal Flush (both Royal Flush and The Green Bird reference the underground imprisonment of characters in the castle’s sewers, drains, and restrooms), which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout. The book was by Jay Thompson and Robert Schlitt, the lyrics and music by Thompson, and the cast included Kaye Ballard (whose understudy was Helen Gallagher), Jane Connell, Kenneth Nelson, Jill O’Hara, Mickey Deems (who succeeded Eddie Foy Jr., during rehearsals), and Louis Edmonds. At the beginning of the tryout, Jack Cole was the director and choreographer of record, and as director he was unofficially succeeded by Martyn Green and then later by June Havoc (ultimately, Ralph Beaumont became the show’s official choreographer). At least one program issued during the Philadelphia run didn’t even list a director, and so apparently during the final tryout performances no one was interested in claiming directorial credit. Royal Flush premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, on December 30, 1964, next played at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, and then opened at the Shubert in Philadelphia, where it permanently closed on January 23, 1965. The musical was directly based on Nino Savo’s novel The Green Bird, which he had based on Gozzi’s play. Royal Flush took place on Tuesday, June 31, in the Year of the Tarantula in the locales of Cipango “and that other island” Manhattan (that is, Monotone) and the characters found themselves in an urban jungle of monsters, Madison Avenue ad men, and nightclub singers.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play (Derek Smith); Best Costume Design (Constance Hoffman)

THE MUSIC MAN Theatre: Neil Simon Theatre Opening Date: April 27, 2000; Closing Date: December 30, 2001

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Performances: 698 Book: Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey Lyrics and Music: Meredith Willson Based on an unpublished short story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey. Direction and Choreography: Susan Stroman (Ray Roderick, Associate Director; Tara Young, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Dodger Theatricals, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Elizabeth Williams/Anita Waxman, Kardana-Swinsky Productions, and Lorie Cowen Levy/Dede Harris (Dodger Management Group, Executive Producer); Scenery: Thomas Lynch; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: David Chase Cast: Andre Garner (Conductor), Ralph Byers (Charlie Cowell); Traveling Salesmen: Liam Burke, Kevin Bogue, E. Clayton Cornelious, Michael Duran, Blake Hammond, Michael McGurk, Dan Sharkey, John Sloman; Craig Bierko (Harold Hill), Michael-Leon Wooley (Olin Britt), Jordan Puryear (Amaryllis), Martha Hawley (Maud Dunlop), Jack Doyle (Ewart Dunlop), Paul Benedict (Mayor Shinn), Leslie Hendrix (Alma Hix), Tracy Nicole Chapman (Ethel Toffelmier), John Sloman (Oliver Hix), Blake Hammond (Jacey Squires), Max Casella (Marcellus Washburn), Clyde Alves (Tommy Djilas), Rebecca Luker (Marian Paroo), Katherine McGrath (Mrs. Paroo), Michael Phelan (Winthrop Paroo), Ruth Williamson (Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn), Kate Levering (Zaneeta Shinn), Ann Whitlow Brown (Gracie Shinn), Ann Brown (Mrs. Squires), Kevin Bogue (Constable Locke); Residents of River City: Cameron Adams, Kevin Bogue, Sara Brenner, Chase Brock, Liam Burke, E. Clayton Cornelious, Michael Duran, Andre Garner, Ellen Harvey, Mary Illes, Joy Lynn Matthews, Michael McGurk, Robbie Nicholson, Ipsita Paul, Pamela Remler, Dan Sharkey, Lauren Ullrich, Travis Wall; Note: Jack Doyle, Blake Hammond, John Sloman, and Michael-Leon Wooley were billed as The Hawkeye Four in their respective roles of Ewart Dunlop, Jacey Squires, Oliver Hix, and Olin Britt (in the original 1957 Broadway production, the quartet was known as The Buffalo Bills). The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in River City, Iowa, during July 1912.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Rock Island” (Ralph Byers, Traveling Salesmen); “Iowa Stubborn” (Townspeople of River City); “Trouble” (Craig Bierko, Townspeople); “Piano Lesson” (Rebecca Luker, Katherine McGrath, Jordan Puryear); “Goodnight, My Someone” (Rebecca Luker); “Seventy-Six Trombones” (Craig Bierko, Townspeople); “Sincere” (Michael-Leon Wooley, John Sloman, Jack Doyle, Blake Hammond); “The Sadder-butWiser Girl” (Craig Bierko, Max Casella); “Pickalittle” (Leslie Hendrix, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Ruth Williamson, Martha Hawley, Ann Brown, Ladies of River City); “Goodnight, Ladies” (Michael-Leon Wooley, John Sloman, Jack Doyle, Blake Hammond); “Marian the Librarian” (Craig Bierko, Boys and Girls); “Gary, Indiana” (Craig Bierko, Katherine McGrath); “My White Knight” (Rebecca Luker); “The Wells Fargo Wagon” (Michael Phelan, Townspeople) Act Two: “It’s You” (Michael-Leon Wooley, John Sloman, Jack Doyle, Blake Hammond); “Pickalittle” (reprise) (Ruth Williamson, Martha Hawley, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Leslie Hendrix, Ann Brown, Ladies); “Lida Rose” (Michael-Leon Wooley, John Sloman, Jack Doyle, Blake Hammond); “Will I Ever Tell You?” (Rebecca Luker); “Gary, Indiana” (reprise) (Michael Phelan, Katherine McGrath, Rebecca Luker); “Shipoopi” (Max Casella, Craig Bierko, Townspeople); “Till There Was You” (Rebecca Luker); “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “Goodnight, My Someone” (reprises) (Craig Bierko, Rebecca Luker); “Till There Was You” (reprise) (Craig Bierko); Finale (Company) The welcome revival of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man was a well-produced and well-populated evening that didn’t tinker with Willson’s delightful score: all the familiar songs were there, and the direction and choreography by Susan Stroman (who had performed similar duties earlier in the season with her hit Contact) kept the work’s tongue-in-cheek spirit intact so that the book and songs carried the audience along on a wave of euphoria. And what about The Role? Craig Bierko inherited it, and like others before him he had to contend with the cherished memory of Robert Preston’s legendary stage and film performances as the charming con man Harold Hill. Preston wasn’t the first choice for the movie version because reportedly Warner Brothers wanted Cary Grant for the part, just as they had wanted Grant to play Henry Higgins for the 1964 film version of My Fair Lady

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(Warners had even signed Grant to play Sheridan Whiteside for the 1941 film version of The Man Who Came to Dinner, but Grant knew he wasn’t right for the role and convinced the studio to instead cast Monty Woolley, who had created the role on Broadway). If Preston hadn’t appeared in the film, future Harold Hills would have competed only with the memory of his stage performance and his singing performance on the original cast album. But the faithful film version changed all that, and the details of Preston’s indelible characterization were preserved for the ages and all future Harold Hills were measured against his towering creation. A 1980 revival at City Center starred Dick Van Dyke, and the performer and character seemed like a natural fit, but the critics carped because for a con man the star was “too nice” (Edwin Wilson in the Wall Street Journal) and “just too darn nice to be believable” (Joel Siegel on WABCTV7). Walter Kerr in the New York Times said Van Dyke’s natural charm and likability mitigated against Hill’s inherent nature and the critic noted the star wasn’t a “scalawag, and we’ve got to have one.” With cool reviews, this production cut short its scheduled three-month engagement and instead shuttered after less than three weeks. Happily, the youthful Bierko was a delightful Hill, and he managed to create a well-balanced blend of hero and charlatan. Even so, he still fell victim to the inevitable comparisons to Preston, and some complained he was a carbon copy. It seems playing Hill is a no-win situation because actors are criticized for either being too nice for the role or for not being inventive enough to create a completely new interpretation. Charles Isherwood in Variety found Bierko “thoroughly charming and even affecting,” but noted “his vocal style and physical manner are facsimiles of Preston’s” and so “if you can’t beat him, be him.” Ben Brantley in the Times said Bierko seemed to pattern “his gestures and inflections too closely on his famous predecessor.” John Simon in New York stated the actor “gives an impersonation rather than a performance” and had “mastered a good many histrionic Prestonisms.” And Fintan O’Toole in the New York Daily News was somewhat conflicted when he noted “the only thing more eerie than how Preston he manages to become is how well the resemblance works.” But Donald Lyons in the New York Post said Bierko was “ideally suited” for the role; Elysa Gardner in USA Today said the performer had more “playful sexual charisma” and he better conveyed Hill’s “real inner conflict” when he falls for Marian; and Nancy Franklin in the New Yorker decided that by casting Bierko the revival “magnificently solved the Robert Preston Problem.” She praised the actor’s “great confidence and charm,” said he had “weight and presence,” and moreover exuded “tremendous sex appeal.” As for the production itself, Brantley felt Stroman hadn’t created “the dream show you might have hoped for” and said that only the musical sequences provided the required magic. Otherwise, the wait between songs and dances could make one “seriously sleepy.” Isherwood was disappointed that Stroman didn’t “uncover new subtleties or mine contemporary nuances” in the work, and as a result “under the whipped-cream surface delights” was “only more whipped cream.” But Gardner praised the “aggressively entertaining” and “unabashedly heartwarming” production, and O’Toole said Stroman’s revival was “charming, funny and hugely entertaining.” As Marian, Rebecca Luker was somewhat reserved and cool, and her performance (like her Magnolia for the 1994 revival of Show Boat) made her the musical-theatre equivalent of the cinema’s Nicole Kidman, who generally came across as chilly and remote in her films. But if Luker’s Marian lacked a certain charm, her singing voice was pure and sweet. Lyons said she was “just right,” Brantley found her voice “simply sublime,” and Simon went all out by saying she had “the voice, the looks, and the acting talent of a musical-comedy diva” and that she gave the kind of performance that turns “a performer into a legend.” Variety reported that of the fourteen print and television reviews, eleven were favorable and three mixed. The show managed to run twenty months, but Michael Riedel in the Post reported it returned less than half of its initial $7 million capitalization. The original Broadway production opened at the Majestic Theatre on December 19, 1957, for 1,375 performances, and besides Preston the cast included Barbara Cook (Marian), David Burns (Mayor Shinn), and Iggie Wolfington (Marcellus Washburn). The production was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won seven: Best Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Preston), Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Burns), Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Cook), Best Book, Best Lyrics and Music, and Best Conductor and Musical Director (Herbert Greene). If John Phillip Sousa, George M. Cohan, and Mark Twain had collaborated on a musical, no doubt the result would have been The Music Man, which well may be the great old-fashioned American musical comedy. The opening scene takes place on July 4, 1912, in River City, Iowa, and the affectionate but 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

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characters, and the tuneful score is one of the best ever written for a musical. Willson provided idiosyncratic touches that gave the score a sound like no other (“Rock Island,” “Trouble,” “Piano Lesson,” “Pickalittle,” and the “Gary, Indiana” reprise), and “Seventy-Six Trombones” was an instant classic that seemed to have been around since Sousa himself composed his grand American marches. Hill’s “SeventySix Trombones” and Marian’s “Goodnight, My Someone” actually share the same melody, and thus musically suggest that the two characters have more in common than meets the eye and thus are destined to unite for a happy future. The plot centers on con man and traveling salesman Hill, a lovable rogue 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 Hill 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 first New York revival was produced by the New York City Center Light Opera Company at City Center on June 16, 1965, for a limited engagement of fifteen performances with Bert Parks (who had been one of Preston’s successors during the run of the original production) and Gaylea Byrne; the next revival was directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd and starred Van Dyke, and it too played at City Center, where it opened on June 5, 1980, for twenty-one showings with Meg Bussert (Marian), Christian Slater (Winthrop), and 1957 cast member Wolfington (now in the role of Mayor Shinn); and prior to the current revival, the musical was presented by the New York City Opera Company at the New York State Theatre on February 26, 1988, for fifty-one performances with Bob Gunton and Leigh Munro. The faithful film version was released by Warner Brothers in 1962; Morton DaCosta reprised his original stage direction, and besides Preston the cast included Shirley Jones (Marian), Buddy Hackett (Marcellus), Paul Ford (Mayor Shinn, a role Ford played during the run of the original Broadway production when he succeeded David Burns), Hermione Gingold (Mrs. Shinn), and Ronny Howard (Winthrop). The film dropped one song (“My White Knight,” which according to Broadway rumor was written by Frank Loesser) and replaced it with “Being in Love.” A charm-free television adaptation by ABC was telecast on February 3, 2003, with Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth, and the original London production opened at the Adelphi Theatre on March 16, 1961, for 395 performances with 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 numbers from the score. The cast album of the current revival was issued by DRG Records (CD # 92915-2). Willson also wrote a book about the genesis of the show, But He 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).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (The Music Man); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Craig Bierko); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Rebecca Luker); Best Direction of a Musical (Susan Stroman); Best Orchestrations (Doug Besterman); Best Scenic Design (Thomas Lynch); Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long); Best Choreography (Susan Stroman)

DIRTY BLONDE Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: May 1, 2000; Closing Date: March 4, 2001 Performances: 352 Play: Claudia Shear Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: James Lapine (Gareth Hendee, Associate Director); Producers: The Shubert Organization, Chase Mishkin, and Ostar Enterprises ABC, Inc., in association with the New York Theatre Workshop; Choreography:

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John Carrafa; Scenery: Douglas Stein; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: David Lander; Musical Direction: Bob Stillman Cast: Bob Stillman (Frank Wallace, Ed Hearn, Others), Claudia Shear (Jo, Mae West), Kevin Chamberlin (Charlie, Others) The play with music was presented in one act. The action takes place in various locales (principally New York City and Los Angeles) during the period 1911 to 1984.

Musical Numbers Note: The songs performed in the production are here given in alphabetical order (when known, names of performers are provided, including the differentiation between songs performed by Claudia Shear as Mae West and as Jo). “Cuddle Up and Cling to Me” (lyric by Stanley Murphy, music by Henry I. Marshall) (Claudia Shear as Mae West); “Dirty Blonde” (lyric and music by Bob Stillman) (Claudia Shear as Mae West, Kevin Chamberlin and Bob Stillman as Musclemen); “A Guy What Takes His Time” (1933 film She Done Him Wrong; lyric and music by Ralph Rainger) (Claudia Shear as Mae West); “I Found a New Way to Go to Town” (1933 film I’m No Angel; lyric by Gladys Dubois and Ben Ellison, music by Harvey Brooks) (probably Claudia Shear as Mae West); “I Love It” (lyric by E. Ray Goetz, music by Harry Von Tilzer) (Claudia Shear as Mae West, Bob Stillman); “I Want You, I Need You” (1933 film I’m No Angel; lyric by Ben Ellison, music by Harvey Brooks) (probably Claudia Shear as Mae West); “I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone” (1933 film She Done Him Wrong; lyric and music by Sheldon Brooks) (probably Claudia Shear as Mae West); “I’m No Angel” (1933 film I’m No Angel; lyric by Gladys Dubois and Ben Ellison, music by Harvey Brooks) (Claudia Shear as Jo, Kevin Chamberlin); “Oh, My! How We Pose” (McAllister’s Legacy, 1885; lyric by Dave Braham, music by Edward Harrigan) (Claudia Shear as Mae West, Kevin Chamberlin, Bob Stillman); “Perfect Love” (lyric and music by Garret Frericha and Deziem Catin) (performer or performers unknown) Claudia Shear’s Dirty Blonde (or, more precisely, dirty Blonde) was conceived by both Shear and the show’s director James Lapine and was the final musical of the season, albeit one that was technically a play with music. Unsuspecting theatergoers who thought Dirty Blonde was a typical evening in which a performer impersonates a well-known theatrical or historical figure were in for a surprise because the play centered on two contemporary lost souls who are fascinated with writer and singer as well as vaudeville, theatre, and film entertainer Mae West (1893–1980). Jo (Shear) and Charlie (Kevin Chamberlin) happen to meet at West’s grave in Brooklyn, New York, and find they share a mutual fascination with the legendary entertainer, who is described as one of a kind and “the movie star equivalent of Venice.” The play delves into the drives and dreams of Jo (an aspiring actress) and Charlie (a film archivist who met West when he was a teenager) and how West’s life inspires them to overcome their hang-ups and doubts about themselves (Jo notes that by the time West conquered Hollywood she was no longer “young or thin” but “she made it anyway”). Throughout the evening Jo morphed into West, and with the assistance of Chamberlin and Bob Stillman (who played various people in West’s life), the production showed how West invented herself as her era’s foremost example of a liberated woman. The play had first been developed at the Vineyard Playhouse in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and then was produced Off Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop on January 10, 2000, for forty performances. In his review of the Off-Broadway production, Charles Isherwood in Variety said the “theatrical curio” wasn’t “particularly distinguished” but nonetheless provided a “genial evening.” He felt Shear’s Mae West was “a less than perfect impression” but noted she was “eerily convincing” as the older West when she became a “decrepit” and “ghoulish caricature” of herself. In his review of the Broadway production, Isherwood said the performances had been polished “to a fine comic sheen,” Shear had “an undeniable, ingratiating appeal,” and the work was a “genial, funny, crowd-pleasing riff.” Richard Zoglin in Time reviewed the Broadway production, and while he found the play a “sentimental trifle” he praised Shear’s “nifty” impersonation. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Dirty Blonde was “the best new American play of the season.” The work had “remarkable fluidity and inventiveness” in its

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analysis of the “multilayered study of the nature of stardom.” Shear “brilliantly” embodied West, Chamberlin was “wonderful,” and Stillman “invaluable.” Brantley noted the evening’s “sensibility” reached “epiphanal heights” in a sequence in which West and Jo “turn into the creature who would forever after be identified as Mae West.” This was a moment “that could be achieved only in the theatre, and while Dirty Blonde may celebrate a movie star, it also celebrates theatre.” The script was published in paperback by Samuel French, in 2002. At least one regional production of the play includes “I Never Broke Nobody’s Heart When I Said Goodbye” (lyric and music by Alfred Bryan, Leon Flatlow, and Albert Gumble), a song that was reportedly part of West’s repertoire on the vaudeville circuit circa 1923.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Play (Dirty Blonde); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Claudia Shear); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play (Kevin Chamberlin); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play (Bob Stillman); Best Direction of a Play (James Lapine)

2000–2001 Season

PENN & TELLER Theatre: Beacon Theatre Opening Date: June 6, 2000; Closing Date: June 11, 2000 Performances: 8 Material: Penn Jillette and Teller Music: Gary Stockdale Direction: Ken Krashner Lewis and Nathan Santucci Cast: Penn Jillette, Teller The revue was presented in two acts. Those postmodern Houdini-like comic magicians were back for a limited engagement, and in case you couldn’t tell them apart, Penn was the tall and gabby one and Teller the almost-always-silent and slightly subversive chap. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times noted that with their “flying knives, jagged bottles, snipping scissors and a chomping chopper,” the boys had returned “with a sharp show.” These “tricksters, conjurers, prestidigitators, illusionists or masters of legerdemain” juggled empty liquor bottles with jagged and broken bottoms, calmly allowed a blindfolded audience member to hurl knives at them, and cut flowers that bled. The evening was “unadulterated entertainment” and an “intelligent, highly diverting show.” The team’s first New York appearance was in Off Broadway’s Penn & Teller at the Westside Arts Theatre/ Downstairs on April 18, 1985, for 666 performances; they made their Broadway debut in Penn & Teller on December 1, 1987, at the Ritz Theatre for 130 showings; and appeared in Penn & Teller: The Refrigerator Tour on April 3, 1991, at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for 103 performances. Because the early 1990s was the Broadway era of crashing chandeliers and hovering helicopters, this revue included a refrigerator that dangled perilously high above the stage and then proceeded to plunge down upon the boys without causing injury. Clive Barnes in the New York Post reported that the ”sadistic audience” happily joined in a “callous countdown” to Ground Zero during the moments before the frightening fridge fell. The team next appeared Off Broadway in Penn & Teller Rot in Hell, which opened at the John Houseman Theatre on July 30, 1991, for 203 showings; after the current revue, they were guest narrators during the 2000 revival of The Rocky Horror Show; and most recently appeared in Penn & Teller on Broadway, which played at the Marquis Theatre on July 12, 2015, for a limited run of forty-one performances.

BORSCHT BELT BUFFET ON BROADWAY Theatre: Town Hall Opening Date: October 24, 2000; Closing Date: November 6, 2000 Performances: 16

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Direction and Choreography: Dan Siretta (Nikki Siretta, Assistant Director); Producers: NYK Productions, Inc. (Arnold Graham, Howard Rapp, and Charles Rapp Enterprises, Associate Producers); Lighting: Tom Sturge; Musical Direction: Gil Nagel (for David “Dudu” Fisher) and Michael Tornick (for Bruce Adler) Cast: Bruce Adler, David “Dudu” Fisher, Mal Z. Lawrence, The Golden Land Orchestra The revue was presented in one act.

Sketches and Musical Numbers The program didn’t include a list of individual specialties, sketches, songs, and dances. The program announced that the limited-engagement three-man program Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway was a “musical and comedy extravaganza” that offered songs and comedy from the Broadway and Jewish stages. Bruce Adler sang and danced, as did Israeli singer David “Dudu” Fisher, and comedian Mal Z. Lawrence offered generous helpings of Borscht Belt humor. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times said the “polished professionals” here “served up oldfashioned fare” that was “drenched in nostalgia” and was a “loving memorial” to the glory days of Second Avenue Yiddish theatre and the Catskill resorts. For the most part, each of the three entertainers appeared singly for about forty minutes apiece, although they occasionally performed together. Adler offered Broadway songs and evoked the heyday of former stars with impressions of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Bert Lahr, Jimmy Durante, Menasha Skulnik, Danny Kaye, and (“incongruously,” according to Van Gelder) Sammy Davis Jr., and Gene Kelly. Fisher sang in English, Yiddish, and Hebrew, and his repertoire included everything from “Send in the Clowns” (A Little Night Music, 1973; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim) and “All That Jazz” (Chicago, 1975; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) to “Kol Nidre” to a version of “Shalom” sung in Hebrew (Milk and Honey, 1961; lyric and music by Jerry Herman). Lawrence joked about retirement in Florida, gambling in Atlantic City, and the nostalgic days of the Catskills resorts. The trio occasionally shared the stage together, including the opening number, “Borscht Belt Buffet” and a “Hebrew Lesson” routine (which was adapted from a parody by Rabbi Jack Chomsky). Nostalgic evenings of Jewish humor and entertainment had made something of a comeback on Broadway during recent seasons, starting with Jackie Mason’s continuing series of stand-up comedy shows (from Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” in 1986 to his most recent excursion Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed in 2005). Red Buttons had a similar one-man show, Buttons on Broadway, in 1995. The nineties also offered the 1990 revue Those Were the Days (which had featured Adler), the 1991 revue Catskills on Broadway (which featured Lawrence), and Comedy Tonight (1994), which evoked the milieu of old-time variety shows.

THE FULL MONTY

“The Broadway Musical” / “Drop Everything!” Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: October 26, 2000; Closing Date: September 1, 2002 Performances: 770 Book: Terrence McNally Lyrics and Music: David Yazbek Based on the 1997 film The Full Monty (direction by Peter Cattaneo and screenplay by Simon Beaufoy). Direction: Jack O’Brien; Producers: Fox Searchlight Pictures, Lindsay Law, and Thomas Hall; Choreography: Jerry Mitchell; Scenery: John Arnone; Costumes: Robert Morgan; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Kimberly Grigsby Cast: Annie Golden (Georgie Bukatinsky), Denis Jones (Buddy “Keno” Walsh), Todd Weeks (Reg Willoughby), Patrick Wilson (Jerry Lukowski), John Ellison Conlee (Dave Bukatinsky), Jason Danieley (Malcolm MacGregor), Romain Fruge (Ethan Girard), Thomas Michael Fiss or Nicholas Cutro (Nathan Lukowski), Laura Marie Duncan (Susan Hershey), Jannie Jones (Joanie Lish), Liz McConahay (Estelle Genovese), Lisa Datz (Pam Lukowski), Angelo Fraboni (Teddy Slaughter), Patti Perkins (Molly MacGregor), Marcus Neville (Harold Nichols), Emily Skinner (Vicki Nichols), Kathleen Freeman (Jeanette Burmeister), Andre De Shields (Noah “Horse” T. Simmons), C. E. Smith (Police Sergeant), Jay Douglas (Minister), Jimmy Smagula (Tony Giordano)

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

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Scrap” (Patrick Wilson, John Ellison Conlee, Jason Danieley, Romain Fruge, Todd Weeks, Men); “It’s a Woman’s World” (Annie Golden, Laura Marie Duncan, Jannie Jones, Liz McConahay); “Man” (Patrick Wilson, John Ellison Conlee); “Big-Ass Rock” (Patrick Wilson, John Ellison Conlee, Jason Danieley); “Life with Harold” (Emily Skinner); “Big Black Man” (Andre De Shields, The Guys); “You Rule My World” (John Ellison Conlee, Marcus Neville); “Michael Jordan’s Ball” (The Guys) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Jeanette’s Showbiz Number” (Kathleen Freeman, The Guys); “Breeze Off the River” (Patrick Wilson); “The Goods” (The Guys, The Women); “You Walk with Me” (Jason Danieley, Romain Fruge); “You Rule My World” (reprise) (Annie Golden, Emily Skinner); “Let It Go” (The Guys, Company) The Full Monty was based on the 1997 hit British film of the same name, but for the musical the action was switched from Sheffield, England, to Buffalo, New York. The story centers on a group of down-and-out unemployed steel factory workers in need of cash and self-esteem and who decide to devise a strip act called Hot Metal in order to pick up some money and get their lives in order. And the guys decide to one-up Chippendale dancers by going the full monty—that is, by completely stripping. The $7 million show worked well enough, received generally enthusiastic reviews, and had the makings of a feel-good and long-running crowd-pleaser. But fate stepped in, and when The Producers opened at the end of the season, it instantly became the only show in town and took the starch out of Monty’s momentum. Despite nine Tony Award nominations, Monty was completely shut out on award night and The Producers walked away with a record number of twelve medallions. The Full Monty managed a run of almost two years (720 performances), but the Mel Brooks’ hit played for 2,502 showings. The problem with the musical was that it never went far enough. The guys might have gone the full monty, but the show never did. It lacked the Pow Factor, that indelible something in which a particular performance or the score or the evening’s overall drive knocks out the audience with show-business know-how. Almost every aspect of the show was solid, but there was no musical-comedy explosion, no moment that carried the audience away on a wave of euphoria. The sets and costumes were functional, but not particularly striking, the performances were professional, and while Terrence McNally’s book did its job, it was often obvious and predictable. David Yazbek’s score was pleasant if perfunctory, and while it offered a few effective numbers (such as “Scrap,” “Big Black Man,” “Jeanette’s Showbiz Number,” and “Let It Go”), there were also some obvious ones (“It’s a Woman’s World”). The evening’s best song was “Life with Harold,” which was smoothly put over with musical-comedy brio by Emily Skinner, as the wife of one of the unemployed factory workers. Film character-actress Kathleen Freeman walked away with the best notices as the seen-it-all piano player who accompanies the guys when they rehearse their strip act. Her most famous role was that of Jean Hagen’s voice teacher in the 1952 classic film Singin’ in the Rain (incidentally, the musical referenced the legendary film when one of the characters says it’s his favorite movie), and Monty afforded her a last hurrah with good reviews and a Tony Award nomination. Sadly, she died ten months after the musical’s Broadway opening. Ben Brantley in the New York Times announced that the Eugene O’Neill Theatre wouldn’t have “to look for a new tenant for a long, long time” because the new musical was “that rare aggressive crowd pleaser that you don’t have to apologize for liking.” The “hearty” adaptation of the popular movie opened “in a blaze of pure mass appeal” with a “winning, ear-catching pop score” and a “lively gallery of performers.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the musical had “all the spirit and charm and heart” of the original film and noted the “ribaldry is harmless and funny.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the musical “the most daring, yet successful, Broadway adaptation of a movie script,” with a “masterly” book and “extraordinarily witty” lyrics. And David Hinckley in the New York Daily News praised the “delightful” and “occasionally poignant” show, which was “a full-fledged dance musical” with songs both “joyous” and “pensive.” Although Charles Isherwood in Variety found the evening “accomplished,” he felt it was also a bit “machine-tooled” with “smooth but bland” direction, “non-atmospheric” and “cheap-looking” décor, and “broad and generic” characters. The score had “polish and pleasantness” but offered “nothing to knock your socks

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off.” Richard Zoglin in Time said the stage adaptation “buried” most of the film’s charms, McNally’s book “coarsened” what the film “delicately” evoked, the décor was “drably unmemorable,” and Yazbek’s lyrics were “marginally better” than his “’70s-pop-with-a-hint-of-Sondheim” music. Ultimately, the evening was “a long slog” to the last scene with the full monty. During the tryout, the songs “Red Camaro,” “The Ship Sailed On,” and “Let’s Just Dance” were dropped, and “Jeanette’s Blues” was probably a variation of the later “Jeanette’s Showbiz Number.” The cast album was released by RCA Victor/BMG Records (CD # 09026-63739-2) and the CD of the 2001 Barcelona cast album was issued by Mondicor Records. The script was published in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2002. The London production opened on March 12, 2002, at the Prince of Wales Theatre and ran eight months. The cast included Jerrod Emick (Jerry) and Dora Bryan (Jeanette), and Andre De Shields, John Ellison Conlee, Jason Danieley, Romain Fruge, and Marcus Neville reprised their original Broadway roles. The musical’s artwork seems to be a spoof of the logo for the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (The Full Monty); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Patrick Wilson); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (John Ellison Conlee); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Andre De Shields); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Kathleen Freeman); Best Direction of a Musical (Jack O’Brien); Best Book (Terrence McNally); Best Score (lyrics and music by David Yazbek); Best Orchestrations (Harold Wheeler); Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell)

PATTI LUPONE / “MATTERS OF THE HEART” Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: November 13, 2000; Closing Date: December 17, 2000 Performances: 19 “Additional Dialogue”: John Weidman Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Scott Wittman (Richard Hester, Production Supervisor); Producer: Lincoln Center Theatre at the Vivian Beaumont (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors); Gowns: Oscar de la Renta; Lighting: John Hastings; Musical Direction: Dick Gallagher Cast: Patti LuPone; Dick Gallagher (Musical Director, Piano); String Quartet: Rick Dolan (First Violin), Rob Taylor (Second Violin), Richard Brice (Viola), Arthur Fiocco (Cello) The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers The program noted that for each performance the selections would be taken from the songs listed below; (*) denotes a song included on LuPone’s CD collection Patti LuPone: Matters of the Heart (for more information about the CD, see below). “Theme from Carnival” (aka “Love Makes the World Go ’Round”) (*) (Carnival!, 1961; lyric and music by Bob Merrill); “(I’m in Love with) A Wonderful Guy” (*) (South Pacific, 1949; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “God Only Knows” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson); “Easy to Be Hard” (Hair, Off Broadway [1967] and Broadway [1968]; lyric by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, music by Galt MacDermot); “The Last Time I Saw Richard” (lyric and music by Joni Mitchell); “Where Love Resides” (*) (lyric and music by Jimmy Webb); “Shattered Illusions” (*) (lyric and music by Dillie Keane and Adele Anderson); “Unexpressed” (*) (lyric and music by John Bucchino); “Not a Day Goes By” (*) (Merrily We Roll Along, 1981; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Playbill” (*) (lyric and music by John Bucchino); “Alone Again (Naturally)” (lyric and music by Gilbert O’Sullivan); “Better Off Dead” (lyric and music by Randy Newman); “Air That I Breathe” (*) (lyric and music by Albert Hammond and Michael Chapman);

2000–2001 Season     33

“Sand and Water” (*) (lyric and music by Beth Nielson Chapman); “Being Alive” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “When the World Was Young” (aka “Ah, the Apple Trees”) (originally “Les chevalier de Paris” aka “Les pommiers doux”) (*) (Original French lyric by Angele Vannier, English lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by M. Philippe-Gerard); “I Never Do Anything Twice” (*) (1976 film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Back to Before” (*) (Ragtime, 1998; lyric by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty); “Real Emotional Girl” (*) (lyric and music by Randy Newman); “My Father” (*) (lyric and music by Judy Collins); “Look Mummy, No Hands” (*) (lyric and music by Dillie Keane and Adele Anderson); “Time after Time” (lyric and music by Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman); “Another Auld Lang Syne” (lyric and music by Dan Fogelberg); “Hello, Young Lovers” (*) (The King and I, 1951; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “My Best to You” (*) (lyric and music by Gene Willadsen and Isham Jones) The concert Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” played a limited engagement of two performances a week at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre during those evenings when Contact was dark. The concert was LuPone’s first since Patti LuPone on Broadway in 1995; in 2011, she appeared in another Broadway concert when An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin opened. Bruce Weber in the New York Times said LuPone had “the capability of bringing down a Broadway house,” but in her new concert she was “largely in a delicate mode” and he noted her songs were a “pleasant” mixture of pop and Broadway “bespeaking full or empty hearts, spiced occasionally by a mischievous twitch of the loins.” Charles Isherwood in Variety praised LuPone as that “rare” and perhaps “only” Broadway diva who could “delight with a sneer as well as a tear.” Her voice was a “flexible instrument” that could go from “a caressing croon to a powerhouse belt,” and she employed the full range of her voice’s “varied colors” throughout the evening. LuPone’s 1999 collection Patti LuPone: Matters of the Heart was released by Varese Sarabande Records (CD # VSD- 6058).

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Theatre: Circle in the Square Opening Date: November 15, 2000; Closing Date: January 6, 2002 Performances: 356 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Richard O’Brien Direction: Christopher Ashley; Producers: Jordan Roth by arrangement with Christopher Malcolm, Howard Panter, and Richard O’Brien for The Rocky Horror Company, Ltd.; Choreography: Jerry Mitchell; Scenery: David Rockwell (Showmotion, Inc., Sets and Effects); Video Design: Batwin + Robin Productions; Costumes: David C. Woolard (Sue Blane, Original Costume Design); Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Henry Aronson Cast: Daphne Rubin-Vega (Usherette, Magenta), Joan Jett (Usherette, Columbia), Alice Ripley (Janet Weiss), Jarrod Emick (Brad Majors), Dick Cavett (Narrator), Raul Esparza (Riff Raff), Tom Hewitt (Frank ‘N’ Furter), Sebastian LaCause (Rocky), Lea DeLaria (Eddie, Doctor Scott); Phantoms: Kevin Cahoon, Deidre Goodwin, Aiko Nakasone, Mark Price, Jonathan Sharp, James Stovall The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place mostly “here and there” in Frank ‘N’ Furter’s castle during the “then and now.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Science Fiction Double Feature” (Usherettes, Phantoms); “Damn It, Janet” (aka “Wedding Song”) (Jarrod Emick, Alice Ripley, Phantoms); “Over at the Frankenstein Place” (Jarrod Emick, Alice Ripley, Raul Esparza, Phantoms); “The Time Warp” (Raul Esparza, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Joan Jett, Dick Cavett, Company); “Sweet Transvestite” (Tom Hewitt, Jarrod Emick, Raul Esparza, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Joan Jett, Phantoms); “The Sword of Damocles” (Sebastian LaCause, Dick Cavett, Company); “I Can Make You a Man” (Tom Hewitt, Company); “Hot Patootie” (Lea DeLaria, Company); “I Can Make You a Man” (reprise) (Tom Hewitt, Company)

34      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Act Two: “Touch-A-Touch-A-Touch Me” (Alice Ripley, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Joan Jett, Phantoms); “Once in a While” (Jarrod Emick, Phantoms); “Eddie’s Teddy” (Lea DeLaria, Dick Cavett, Joan Jett, Tom Hewitt, Company); “Planet Schmanet—Wise Up Janet Weiss” (Tom Hewitt, Company); “Floor Show”/“Rose Tint My World” (aka “It Was Great When It All Began”) (Joan Jett, Sebastian LaCause, Jarrod Emick, Alice Ripley, Tom Hewitt, Raul Esparza, Company); “I’m Going Home” (Tom Hewitt, Company); “Super Heroes” (Jarrod Emick, Alice Ripley, Dick Cavett, Phantoms); “Science Fiction Double Feature” (reprise) (Usherettes, Phantoms) A gender-bending spoof of 1950s mores and science fiction movies, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show premiered in London at the Royal Court Theatre/Up Stairs on June 19, 1973, for a marathon run of 2,960 performances; Tim Curry was the lead, O’Brien was Riff Raff (a role he reprised for both the original 1975 Broadway production and the 1975 film version, which was titled The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Jim Sharman directed, and the cast album was released by UK Records LP # UKAL-1006 and later issued by First Night Records # CD-17. Curry also starred in the U.S. premiere at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles on March 24, 1974, which ran for nine months and was recorded by Ode Records LP # SP-77026 and later released by Rhino Records CD # 70090. The Broadway production (which starred Curry and was directed by Sharman) opened at the Belasco Theatre on March 10, 1975, for a short run of just thirty-two performances, but the current revival was more successful and played for almost a full year (Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported the show lost “about $5 million” but noted its producer Jordan Roth insisted the “actual number” was “much lower”). In 1975, Broadway wasn’t quite ready for a horror movie spoof that featured transvestites and took a casual attitude toward gay sex. Little Shop of Horrors (Off Broadway, 1982; Broadway, 2003 [see entry]) came along later, but despite its success, horror spoofs and even straight horror musicals never quite found their niche in musical theatre. On the other hand, soon almost every season featured at least one drag musical or drama (including “straight” musicals in which a leading female character was played by a male in drag), such as La Cage aux Folles (1983, 2004 [see entry], 2010), Pageant (Off Broadway, 1991), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), Whoop-Dee-Doo! aka Howard Crabtree’s Whoop-Dee-Doo! (Off Broadway, 1993), Splendora (Off Broadway, 1995), When Pigs Fly aka Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly (Off Broadway, 1996), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Off Broadway, 1998; Broadway, 2014), The Producers (2001), Hairspray (2002), I Am My Own Wife (2003), Kiki and Herb: Alive on Broadway, Priscilla Queen of the Desert (2011), Kinky Boots (2013), and Matilda (2013). The timing for the 1975 production wasn’t quite right, however, at least for Broadway; perhaps the musical would have been more at home in the laid-back atmosphere of an intimate Off-Broadway venue. The tongue-in-cheek Rocky Horror Show began with an ode to science fiction films that cited such sci-fi celluloid icons as Michael Rennie and The Day the Earth Stood Still, Anne Francis and Forbidden Planet, Leo G. Carroll and Tarantula, and Janette Scott and The Day of the Triffids. Soon we’re introduced to the foursquare, All-American Brad (Jarrod Emick for the current revival) and Janet Weiss (Alice Ripley), who have just attended a wedding (Janet wistfully remarks that an hour ago the bride was just “plain Betty Munroe,” and now she’s Mrs. Ralf Hapshatt). Unfortunately they take a wrong turn (a very wrong turn) and end up at the castle of the demented, dangerous, and strictly-out-for-unmentionable-kicks Frank ‘N’ Furter (Tom Hewitt), a sight to behold in black lipstick, garter belts, black corsets, high heels, and fish-net stockings. His bizarre establishment includes a hunky creature he’s created for his very own pleasure; first seen wrapped in gauze, the creature makes quite an impression when the bandages are stripped away to reveal the handsome, muscular, and scantily clad Rocky (Sebastian LaCause), who (according to T. E. Kalem’s review in Time of the original 1975 production) wears briefs much smaller than swimming trunks but a bit larger than a jock strap. Janet mentions she doesn’t care for overly muscular men, and Frank ‘N’ Furter quickly informs her that “I didn’t make him for you.” Eventually Frank ‘N’ Furter separately seduces Janet and Brad (both morning-after seduction scenes are staged and performed in exactly the same manner and with the same dialogue), and soon all hell breaks loose with unadulterated cross-dressing and sexual abandon, celebrating the hedonistic philosophy of “don’t dream it—be it.” All this, and there’s even time for the latest dance craze “The Time Warp,” right up there with the Varsity Drag, the Carioca, the Continental, the Yahoo Step, the Shipoopi, and maybe even Teddy and Alice’s “Leg-O-Mutton.” And throughout the evening, a portentous narrator (Dick Cavett) comments on the action with the grave affectation so dear to solemn movie voice-overs (as Brad and Janet approach the castle, the narrator tells us “It’s true there were dark storm clouds . . . it was a night out they were to remember for a very . . . long . . . time”).

2000–2001 Season     35

Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that the “real” Rocky Horror is its famous film version (see below), and although the stage production acknowledged and even encouraged audience participation (in fact, audience participation kits were sold in the lobby at ten dollars a throw) the critic suggested it would be easier, cheaper, and more effective to just go to a showing of the film. He also mentioned that times had changed and Frank ‘N’ Furter was no longer a “menace” and was instead “less a guide to forbidden sexual fruit than a colorful shopping consultant.” Charles Isherwood in Variety also noted that with the passing of years the musical now almost qualified as “wholesome family entertainment.” Further, the production was not so much a revival as a “theatrical transcription” of the film version, and “energetic participation is all but demanded at Broadway’s first interactive musical.” And so the actors paused to “welcome” audience response, which now had “the rigidity of liturgical texts.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the evening was “an unsexy and oddly earnest homage” to the movie but offered “no sense of irony and no insight” as to why the work had become such a “phenomenon.” Besides the above-mentioned cast albums, Ode Records released Songs from the Vaults: A Collection of Rocky Horror Rarities. In 1995, Jay Records/That’s Entertainment Records (CD # TER-1221) issued a studio cast album that included Christopher Lee (Narrator), Tim Flavin (Brad), Kim Criswell (Janet), and Howard Samuels (Frank ‘N’ Furter), and the cast album of the current revival was released by RCA Victor (CD # 09026-63801-2). The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1983. Other related books are: The Official “Rocky Horror Picture Show” Audience Participation Guide by Sal Piro and Michael Hess (updated edition published in paperback by Binary Publications in 2012); The Rocky Horror Treasury: A Tribute to the Ultimate Cult Classic by Sal Piro (published in hardback by Running Press/Ina Edition in 2014); and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” FAQ: Everything Left to Know about the Campy Cult Classic by Dave Thompson (published in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2016). The 1975 Twentieth Century-Fox film version opened a few months after the Broadway production closed and quickly became a cult favorite with popular midnight showings where fans ritualistically interacted with the proceedings on screen and obeyed the command of “don’t dream it—be it.” Sharman again directed, Curry, Meat Loaf, and O’Brien reprised their London and/or Broadway stage roles, and other cast members included Barry Bostwick (Brad), Susan Sarandon (Janet), and Peter Hinwood (Rocky). The soundtrack was issued by Ode Records LP # 9009, the CD was later released by Castle Records # CHRCD-296, and Twentieth Century-Fox released the DVD. As of this writing, a remake of the film is in production; the screenplay is by O’Brien and Sharman, Curry plays the role of a criminologist, and the direction is by Kenny Ortega. In 2006, Rocky Horror Tribute Show was a concert production of the musical that was presented at the Royal Court Theatre, the musical’s original home (the DVD was released by Kultur White Star). In 2015, Rocky Horror Show Live was taken from a performance at London’s Playhouse Theatre and was released in theatres. The 1981 film Shock Treatment was a sequel of sorts in which Brad (Cliff De Young) and Janet (Jessica Harper) find themselves trapped in the world of a television game show. Directed by Sharman and with a cast that included O’Brien, the film was later adapted for the stage by O’Brien and Tom Crowley and opened in London in 2015. The current revival temporarily closed on September 23, 2001, and then on October 30 resumed performances and played nine more weeks before permanently shuttering.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical Revival (The Rocky Horror Show); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Tom Hewitt); Best Direction of a Musical (Christopher Ashley); Best Costume Design (David C. Woolard)

THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE Theatre: Booth Theatre Opening Date: November 16, 2000; Closing Date: May 20, 2001

36      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Performances: 185 Monologues: Jane Wagner Direction: Jane Wagner; Producers: Tomlin and Wagner Theatricalz (Janet Beroza, Coproducer) (Lily Tomlin, Producer) (produced in association with The Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle, Washington; and McCarter Theatre Company, Princeton, New Jersey); Scenery: Klara Zieglerova; Lighting: Ken Billington Cast: Lily Tomlin The comedy revue was presented in two acts.

Monologues Act One: “Lily” (The Booth Theatre, New York City); “Trudy” (49th & Broadway, New York City); “Lily” (The Booth Theatre, New York City); “Trudy” (49th & Broadway, New York City); “Agnus Angst” (The Anti Club, Indianapolis); “Trudy” (49th & Broadway, New York City); “Chrissy” (A Health Club, Los Angeles); “Kate” (A Beauty Salon, New York City); “Paul” (A Health Club, Los Angeles); “Agnus” (International House of Pancakes, Indianapolis); “Lud and Marie” (Suburban Home, Greenwood, Indiana);”Trudy” (A Pocket Park, New York City); “Tina” (A Pocket Park, New York City); “Lud and Marie” (Suburban Home, Greenwood, Indiana); “Agnus” (The Anti Club, Indianapolis) Act Two: “Trudy” (A Pocket Park, New York City); “Brandi and Tina” (49th & Broadway, New York City); “Trudy” (Howard Johnson’s, 49th and Broadway); “Lyn” (A Backyard, California); “Edie and Marge” (Lyn’s Reminiscence); “Trudy” (Outside Carnegie Hall, New York City); “Kate” (A Cocktail Lounge, New York City); “Trudy” (Outside the Booth Theatre) Note: The program also listed the following prerecorded musical numbers that were heard in the production: “Home Computer” (lyric and music by Ralf Hutter, Karl Bartos, and Florian Schneider) (performed by Kraftwerk); “The WarmUp” (“courtesy of Jane Fonda”); “A Mancuso” (lyric and music by Raul Jaurena); “Home” (lyric and music by Jerry Goodman) (Jerry Goodman); “Star Trek” (Main Theme) (lyric by Gene Roddenberry, music by A. Courage); “Lost” (Theme from The Young and the Restless) (lyric and music by B. Devorzon and P. Botkin Jr.) and “Days of Our Lives” (lyric and music by T. Boyce, B. Hart, and C. Albertine); “You Light Up My Life” (1977 film You Light Up My Life; lyric and music by Joe Brooks) (Debby Boone); “A Summer Place” (1959 film A Summer Place; lyric by Mack Discant, music by Max Steiner) (Percy Faith and His Orchestra); “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (lyric and music by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson) (Diana Ross); “Let’s Stay Together” (lyric and music by Al Green, Willie Mitchell, and Al Jackson) (Al Green); “Ode to a Gym Teacher” (lyric and music by Meg Christian) and “Sweet Woman” (lyric and music by Mary Christine Williamson); “Cheap Imitation” (music by John Cage) (John Zukofski); “New Electric India” (music by G. E. Stinson) (Shadowfax); “Cathedral Sunrise” (lyric and music by Robert Bearns and Ron Dexter) (Robert Bearns and Ron Dexter); “(You’re) Having My Baby” (lyric and music by Paul Anka); “Let’s Stay Together” (Tina Turner); “Partita II in D Minor” (music by Johannes Sebastian Bach) (Schlomo Mintz); “Minha” (lyric and music by Francis Hime and Ruy Guerra) (Bill Evans and Eddie Gomez); “Boogie Piano” (music by William D. Smith); Special Note: “Opening violin and additional music from the film score for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, composed and performed by Jerry Goodman.” Written by Jane Wagner and performed by Lily Tomlin, the revue The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe was a revival of the production that had first opened on September 26, 1985, at the Plymouth Theatre for 398 performances and won Tomlin the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. The evening was a series of monologues in which Tomlin presented a number of quirky characters, including Trudy, a bag lady who served as a narrator of sorts. Others in Tomlin’s menagerie were fitness-obsessed Chrissy (who was given the show’s most quoted line when she notes she always “wanted to be somebody” but “should have been more specific”), the somewhat snooty Kate, and Marie and Lud, a couple who take cold comfort in the fact that it’s the other one who can take the blame for their failures. The critics were glad to see the show again, but mentioned it was perhaps too faithful to the original production and as a result was stuck in the time warp of the 1980s with its feminist sensibility. The evening was of the era (if not ERA) of feminist consciousness-raising, which bandied about the mantra of having it all, but some fifteen years had passed and not only time but most women had moved on, and so perhaps the

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revue should have presented fresher and updated insights into its subject rather than revisit what had been so trendy in the 1980s. Bruce Weber in the New York Times said the production gave off “an unmistakable whiff of déjà vu” and “once-trenchant social commentary” was now “virtually unchanged” and felt “a bit too much like, well, history.” Charles Isherwood in Variety mentioned that the show had been “somewhat dated” even back in 1985, and Wagner’s “tender but acerbic examination of the foibles of the feminist movement seems positively antediluvian today.” But Tomlin gave a “virtuosic performance” of “frazzled charm” and “sly intelligence,” and she had “the energy of a dozen acrobats.” A 1991 film version was released by Laugh.com Video.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Revival of a Play (The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe)

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000) Theatre: The Theatre at Madison Square Garden Opening Date: November 30, 2000; Closing Date: December 31, 2000 Performances: 63 Book: Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens Music: Alan Menken; incidental music by Glen Kelly Based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Direction: Mike Ockrent (Ray Roderick, Associate Director); Producers: Marshall Jones, Producer; Howard Kolins, Executive Producer (presented by American Express); Choreography: Susan Stroman (Chris Peterson, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Tony Walton; Projections: Wendall K. Harrington; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Del-Bourree Bach (Beadle), Eric Pinnick (Mr. Smythe), Catherine Marie Downey or Amelia Harris (Grace Smythe), Frank Langella (Scrooge), Nick Corley (Bob Cratchit), Roland Rusinek (Charity Man, Poulterer, Judge), Wayne Schroder (Charity Man, Scrooge’s Father), Erik Stein (Charity Man), Kenneth McMullen (Old Joe, Mr. Hawkins); Street Urchins: Johnny Cenicola, Patrick Dunn, Nicholas Jonas, Lindsey Pickering, Justin Riordan, Lily Havala Wen; Whitney Webster (Mrs. Cratchit), Patrick Stogner or Jimmy Walsh (Tiny Tim), D’Ambrose Boyd (Sandwich Board Man, Ghost of Christmas Present), Gerard Canonico or Scott Owen Cumberbatch (Jonathon), Ken Jennings (Lamplighter, Ghost of Christmas Past), Joan Barber (Blind Hag, Scrooge’s Mother), James Judy (Fred), Marilyn Pasekoff (Mrs. Mops), Paul Kandel (Ghost of Jacob Marley); Lights of Christmas Past: Leo Alvarez, James Hadley, Deon Ridley, David Rosales; Nicholas Jonas or Justin Riordan (Scrooge at age of eight), Johnny Cenicola or Patrick Dunn (Scrooge at age of twelve), Lindsey Pickering or Lily Havala Wen (Fan), Daniel Marcus (Fezziwig), Joe Cassidy (Scrooge at age of eighteen), Ken Barnett (Young Marley), Kelly Ellenwood (Mrs. Fezziwig), Kate Dawson (Emily); The Cratchit Children: Johnny Cenicola, Patrick Dunn, Lindsey Pickering, Lily Havala Wen; La Tanya Hall (Sally), Nicholas Jonas or Justin Riordan (Ignorance), Amelia Harris or Catherine Marie Downey (Want), Ken Barnett and Wayne Schroder (Undertakers), Christine Dunham (Ghost of Christmas Yet-toBe); Business Men, Gifts, Ghosts, and People of London: Leo Alvarez, Del-Bourree Bach, Joan Barber, Ken Barnett, Hayes Bergman, Joe Cassidy, Candy Cook, James Hadley, La Tanya Hall, Amy Heggins, James Judy, Donna Kapral, Carrie Kenneally, Natalie King, Daniel Marcus, Kenneth McMullen, Patrick Mullaney, Shaun R. Parry, Marilyn Pasekoff, Gail Pennington, Erick Pinnick, Deon Ridley, David Rosales, Parisa Ross, Roland Rusinek, Wayne Schroder, Debra Denys Smith, Erik Stein, Yasuko Tamaki, Whitney Webster, Mindy Franzese; Angels: Terrill Middle School Broadway Chorus, YPC Jubilee Chorus, La Petite Musicale, South Side Middle School Chorale; Red Children’s Cast: Scott Owen Cumberbatch, Catherine Marie Downey, Patrick Dunn, Lindsey Pickering, Justin Riordan; Green Children’s Cast: Gerard Canonico, Johnny Cenicola, Amelia Harris, Nicholas Jonas, Lily Havala Wen The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in London in 1880.

38      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Musical Numbers “Jolly, Rich and Fat” (The Three Charity Men, The Smythe Family, Businessmen, Wives, Children); “Nothing to Do with Me” (Frank Langella, Nick Corley); “You Mean More to Me” (Nick Corley, Patrick Stogner or Jimmy Walsh); “Street Song” (The People of London, Frank Langella, James Judy, Gerard Canonico or Scott Owen Cumberbatch, D’Ambrose Boyd, Ken Jennings, Joan Barber, Eric Pinnick); “Link by Link” (Paul Kandel, Frank Langella, Ghosts); “The Lights of Long Ago” (Ken Jennings); “God Bless Us, Everyone” (Joan Barber, Lindsey Pickering or Lily Havala Wen, Nicholas Jonas or Justin Riordan); “A Place Called Home” (Johnny Cenicola or Patrick Dunn, Frank Langella); “Mr. Fezziwig’s Annual Christmas Ball” (Daniel Marcus, Kelly Ellenwood, Guests); “A Place Called Home”(reprise) (Kate Dawson, Joe Cassidy, Frank Langella); “The Lights of Long Ago” (Part II) (Joe Cassidy, Kate Dawson, The People from Scrooge’s Past); “Abundance and Charity” (D’Ambrose Boyd, Frank Langella, The Christmas Gifts); “Christmas Together” (Patrick Stogner or Jimmy Walsh, The Cratchit Family, James Judy, La Tanya Hall, Frank Langella, The People of London); “Dancing on Your Grave” (Grave Diggers, Christine Dunham, Monks, Businessmen, Marilyn Pasekoff, Undertakers, Kenneth McMullen, Erik Pinnick, Nick Corley); “Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today” (Frank Langella, Angels, Children of London); “London Town Carol” (Gerard Canonico or Scott Owen Cumberbatch); “Nothing to Do with Me” (reprise) (Frank Langella); “Christmas Together” (reprise) (The People of London); “God Bless Us, Everyone” (reprise) (Company) In December 1994, Madison Square Garden and Nickelodeon Family Classics produced a lavish new musical version of Charles Dickens’s classic novella A Christmas Carol that played for ten consecutive Christmas seasons at The Paramount Madison Square Garden Theatre (over the years, the venue, which had earlier been known as Felt Forum, underwent slight name changes, including The Madison Square Garden Theatre and The Theatre at Madison Square Garden). At one point, Radio City Entertainment stepped in as one of the show’s producers, and during the ten-year run, the musical featured an array of guest stars who portrayed Scrooge (see list below). The $12 million production was created by first-class talents: Alan Menken (music), Mike Ockrent (direction), Susan Stroman (choreography), Tony Walton (scenery), William Ivey Long (costumes), and Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer (lighting). The book was by Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens, and Menken’s score and Ahrens’s lyrics were pleasant and likable (and offered one outstanding number, “Christmas Together”), and the work itself was far more ingratiating than Michel Legrand and Sheldon Harnick’s 1981 musical Penny by Penny (aka Penny by Penny: The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge and A Christmas Carol). The Legrand-Harnick version briefly toured in 1981 and then again in 1982, and starred Richard Kiley as Scrooge during its first tour. That production looked skimpy and underpopulated, but the current adaptation boasted a huge cast and offered dazzling Christmas-card décor and family-friendly special effects that included a flying sequence or two as well as black-light theatre techniques for a ghostly graveyard. Walton’s scenery made good use of the Paramount’s somewhat problematic stage, which was elongated, shallow, and had a low ceiling, all of which resembled the shape of the CinemaScope screens of the 1950s. Walton devised sweeping vistas (such as cozy Victorian London shops and streets dressed in holiday finery and sprinkled with lightly falling snow as well as a magnificently menacing graveyard of chilly blacks and gloomy blues) which he extended beyond the sides of the proscenium and into the auditorium itself. As a result, the stage production could well have been a live action variation of a CinemaScope musical film from the mid-1950s. In reviewing the 1994 production, David Richards in the New York Times noted that “Broadway’s A Team” was here working “less on inspiration than on assignment” and thus earned only a “B.” But he hoped that for future holiday visits “the show’s heart will grow stronger.” For the current production, Lawrence Van Gelder in the Times commented that Dickens’s name was conspicuously absent from the program’s title page, and although the evening offered “diversion” one soon yearned “for the art, passion and sinew of Dickens’ words.” This year Frank Langella assumed the role of Scrooge, and Van Gelder found him “imperious and intimidating” in his early scenes while in the later ones he brought appropriately “bright humor and buoyant spirits.” The 1994 cast album was released by Columbia Records (CD # CK-67048), and a television adaptation by Hallmark Entertainment was shown by NBC on November 28, 2004, with Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge. The teleplay was by Ahrens, the production was directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, and the choreography was by Dan Siretta. The soundtrack album was issued by Jay Records (CD # CDJAY-1386).

2000–2001 Season     39

Following the original 1994 production with Walter Charles as Scrooge, various performers played the world’s best-known Christmas curmudgeon: Terrence Mann (November 20, 1995; eighty-eight performances); Tony Randall (November 22, 1996; ninety performances); Hal Linden and Roddy McDowall in alternating performances (November 18, 1997; ninety-six performances); Roger Daltry (November 27, 1998; sixty-nine performances); and Tony Roberts (November 26, 1999; seventy-two performances). After the current production, Tim Curry played Scrooge (November 23, 2001), then F. Murray Abraham (November 29, 2002), and finally Jim Dale (November 28, 2003), and these three productions played for approximately seventy performances apiece (for more information, see entries).

SEUSSICAL “The Musical”

Theatre: Richard Rodgers Theatre Opening Date: November 30, 2000; Closing Date: May 20, 2001 Performances: 197 Book: Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens Music: Stephen Flaherty Based on the children’s story books written and illustrated by Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), including Horton Hatches the Egg (1940) and Horton Hears a Who! (1954). Direction: Frank Galati (Stafford Arima, Associate Director; Bonnie Panson, Production Supervisor); Producers: SFX Theatrical Group, Barry and Fran Weissler, and Universal Studios (Gary Gunas and Alecia Parker, Executive Producers) (produced in association with Kardana/Swinsky Productions, Hal Luftig, and Michael Watt); Choreography: Kathleen Marshall (Rob Ashford and Joey Pizzi, Associate Choreographers); Scenery: Eugene Lee; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: David Holcenberg Cast: David Shiner (The Cat in the Hat), Kevin Chamberlin (Horton the Elephant), Janine LaManna (Gertrude McFuzz), Michele Pawk (Mayzie LaBird), Anthony Blair Hall (Jojo for most performances), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jojo for Wednesday evenings and Saturday matinees), Sharon Wilkins (Sour Kangaroo), Stuart Zagnit (The Mayor of Whoville), Alice Playten (Mrs. Mayor); Cat’s Helpers: Joyce Chittick, Jennifer Cody, Justin Greer, Mary Ann Lamb, Darren Lee, Jerome Vivona; Erick Devine (General Genghis Khan Schmitz); Bird Girls: Natascia Diaz, Sara Gettelfinger, Catrice Joseph; Wickersham Brothers: David Engel, Tom Plotkin, Eric Jordan Young; William Ryall (The Grinch), Darren Lee (Vlad Vladikoff), Devin Richards (Judge Yertle the Turtle), Ann Harada (Marshal of the Court); Citizens of the Jungle of Nool, Whos, Mayor’s Aides, Fish, Cadets, Hunters, The Circus McGurkus Animals and Performers: Joyce Chittick, Jennifer Cody, Erick Devine, Natascia Diaz, David Engel, Sara Gettelfinger, Justin Greer, Ann Harada, Catrice Joseph, Eddie Korbich, Mary Ann Lamb, Darren Lee, Monique L. Midgette, Casey Nicholaw, Tom Plotkin, Devin Richards, William Ryall, Jerome Vivona, Sharon Wilkins, Eric Jordan Young The musical was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: (*) denotes lyric by Lynn Ahrens and Dr. Seuss. Act One: “Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!” (David Shiner, Company); “Horton Hears a Who” (*) (Bird Girls, Kevin Chamberlin, Citizens of the Jungle of Nool); “Biggest Blame Fool” (Sharon Wilkins, Kevin Chamberlain, Wickersham Brothers, Bird Girls, Janine LaManna, Michele Pawk, Citizens of the Jungle of Nool, David Shiner); “Here on Who” (Stuart Zagnit, Alice Playten, William Ryall, Whos, Kevin Chamberlin); “A Day for the Cat in the Hat” (David Shiner, Anthony Blair Hall or Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Cat’s Helpers); “It’s Possible” (“In McElligot’s Pool”) (*) (Anthony Blair Hall or Andrew Keenan-Bolger, David Shiner, Fish); “How to Raise a Child” (Stuart Zagnit, Alice Playten); “The Military” (Erick Devine, Stuart Zagnit, Alice Playten, Anthony Blair Hall or Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Cadets); “Alone in the Universe” (Kevin Chamberlin, Anthony Blair Hall or Andrew Keenan-Bolger); “The One Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude

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McFuzz” (Janine LaManna); “Amayzing Mayzie” (Michele Pawk, Janine LaManna, Bird Girls); “Amayzing Gertrude” (Janine LaManna, David Shiner, Bird Girls); “Monkey Around” (Wickersham Brothers); “Chasing the Whos” (*) (Kevin Chamberlin, Sharon Wilkins, Bird Girls, Wickersham Brothers, David Shiner, Darren Lee, Whos); “How Lucky You Are” (David Shiner); “Notice Me, Horton” (Janine LaManna, Kevin Chamberlin); “How Lucky You Are” (Mayzie’s reprise) (Michele Pawk, Kevin Chamberlin, David Shiner); “Horton Sits on the Egg” (*) (Bird Girls, Horton); “How Lucky You Are” (reprise) and Act One Finale (Company) Act Two: “How Lucky You Are” (reprise) (David Shiner); “Egg, Nest, Tree” (*) (Sharon Wilkins, Bird Girls, Wickersham Brothers, David Shiner, Cat’s Helpers, Hunters); “The Circus McGurkus” (David Shiner, Kevin Chamberlin, The Circus McGurkus Animals and Performers); “The Circus on Tour” (Kevin Chamberlin); “Mayzie in Palm Beach” (Michele Pawk, David Shiner, Kevin Chamberlin); “Alone in the Universe” (reprise) (Kevin Chamberlain); “Solla Sollew” (Kevin Chamberlin, The Circus McGurkus Animals and Performers, Stuart Zagnit, Alice Playten, Anthony Blair Hall or Andrew Keenan-Bolger); “The Whos’ Christmas Pageant” (William Ryall, Whos); “A Message from the Front” (Erick Devine, Stuart Zagnit, Alice Playten, Cadets); “Havin’ a Hunch” (*) (David Shiner, Anthony Blair Hall or Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Cat’s Helpers); “All for You” (Janine LaManna, Bird Girls); “The People Versus Horton the Elephant” (Kevin Chamberlin, Sharon Wilkins, Wickersham Brothers, Ann Harada, Devin Richards, Bird Girls, Janine LaManna, Stuart Zagnit, Alice Playten, Anthony Blair Hall or Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Whos, David Shiner); Finale and “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!” (reprise) (Company); “Green Eggs and Ham” (performed by the company during the curtain call) Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported something new under the theatre sun when he observed that Seussical was “the first Broadway show to die the death of a thousand hits, as anonymous gossip-slingers on the Internet gleefully noted its every twist and turn.” In the old days, a new musical went out of town and pretty much stayed under wraps until it opened on Broadway. A few knowledgeable theatergoers might have sought out Variety or out-of-town newspapers in order to read tryout reviews, but by and large gossip and information about a new show was pretty much hard to come by and what news there was generally remained within the perimeters of the small world of theatre insiders. There were very occasional exceptions, such as Time’s cover story “The Rocky Road to Broadway” about the tryout agonies of Camelot, but for the most part the general public and even theatre fans had little information regarding the status of an incoming show. There were ads for new shows in the New York Times and there were cover versions of songs from new musicals played on the radio, and that was about it. For example, during the weeks before Tenderloin opened on Broadway in mid-October 1960, three songs from the production enjoyed varying degrees of radio exposure: “Bless This Land,” “First Things First” (a tryout casualty that was dropped prior to the show’s New York opening), and Bobby Darin’s hit recording of “Artificial Flowers.” Other pop versions of Broadway songs that dominated the airwaves during the fall of 1960 were “Our Language of Love” (Irma La Douce), “I Ain’t Down Yet” (The Unsinkable Molly Brown), “If Ever I Would Leave You,” the march, and the title song from Camelot, “Hey, Look Me Over” (Wildcat), and “Make Someone Happy” (Do Re Mi). (Sorry, the revue Vintage ’60 seems to have been overlooked in the rush, and apparently Percy Faith and The Pete King Chorale didn’t get around to recording Sheldon Harnick and David Baker’s “Isms” and “Forget Me,” but much later Liza Minnelli gave Fred Ebb, Paul Klein, and Lee Goldsmith’s “Dublin Town” a run for its money.) But the Internet and rapidly developing technology for instant communication changed everything, and an out-of-town newspaper review was old hat because now during the intermission of a new show’s first public performance many theatergoers posted their impressions, and within seconds anyone in the world who was interested could get an instant, on-the-spot review. Seussical had perhaps the most public and painful of births by means of social media and newspaper reportage. When as The Seussical the show was presented in a private workshop during August 1999 in Toronto, the stars seemed in alignment: here was the next Lion King, a show for kids that the parents could enjoy, and Andrea Martin’s performance as The Cat in the Hat excited everyone. But the following year when Martin appeared in a presentation for group sales’ ticket agents, Riedel reported the show didn’t go over so well, and complaints arose that the material was “too thin.” A few weeks later, Martin decided she didn’t want to commit to a long run, and eventually her role went to Fool-Mooner David Shiner. For the musical’s second leading role, Kevin Chamberlin (who had made an impression in Dirty Blonde) was cast as Horton the Elephant.

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In the meantime, discord erupted among the creative team. Robin Pogrebin in the New York Times reported that the show had been conceived by the musical’s lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty as well as by Monty Python’s Eric Idle. The latter told the Times he envisioned the work as calculated “mayhem,” but ultimately Ahrens and Flaherty told him they wanted to write the book by themselves, which Idle thought was a “mistake.” He later noted that the musical’s structure demanded a book, but Pogrebin quoted Ahrens as stating that “There is nothing wrong with this show, and I’m the first one to criticize my own show.” (The musical’s program officially credited Ahrens and Flaherty with the book, and also noted that the production was conceived by Ahrens, Flaherty, and Idle.) There was a further problem in regard to the musical’s central vision. Was it to be an intimate affair like The Fantasticks and Story Theatre? Or a huge production like The Lion King? Was the book route better? Or was the revue format best with The Cat in the Hat as the evening’s compere? Should the show’s essential nature be lighthearted? Or slightly dark? And how would Seuss’s quirky and subversive humor be handled? The production had a generous budget to work with (the initial investment was $8.5 million, which soon skyrocketed), but the creative team never pulled the evening together into a unified whole. As soon as Seussical began tryout performances at Boston’s Colonial Theatre in September 2000, a click on the keyboard told the entire universe that the show was in big trouble. The critics were unimpressed, and the Boston Globe said the show’s “blandness could be middle-of-the-road literal mindedness.” Soon costume designer Catherine Zuber and her creations were gone and William Ivey Long was brought in to replace her, and then scenic designer Eugene Lee was unofficially succeeded by Tony Walton. And although director Frank Galati retained program credit he was unofficially replaced by Rob Marshall, the brother of Kathleen Marshall, the musical’s choreographer. During the tryout and New York preview period, a number of songs were cut (including “Our Story Begins” and “Our Story Resumes”). But creative replacements and rewrites didn’t help, and neither did a major post-Broadway-opening cast change. And the postponement of the opening night from November 9 to November 30 didn’t make that much of a difference, except for vultures who circled over the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Variety reported that of the seventeen print and television reviews, twelve were negative, three mixed, and only two favorable. A few critics were disappointed with Shiner, and soon after the opening the producers announced he was on an extended vacation; he later permanently left the show and was replaced by a succession of guest performers, including Cathy Rigby, but nothing helped. And when the Tony Awards were announced Seussical was nominated for just one (Chamberlin for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical), which it didn’t win. When the show finally closed after less than 200 performances, the press estimated its total loss as between $10 and $11 million. The adaptation focused on two of Dr. Seuss’s books to form the basic plot of the show (Horton Hatches the Egg and Horton Hears a Who!) but also included characters from other Seuss stories. The story dealt with the elephant Horton (Chamberlin) who protects the tiny speck-sized world of the Who civilization (which only he can see) and who also finds himself in the precarious position of hatching the egg of a flighty bird who flew to Palm Beach for the winter season. Shiner’s Cat in the Hat served as a kind of master of ceremonies to hold the evening together, and even the mean Grinch made an appearance along with other notables from the Seussian world. The opening number “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!” was performed by Cat and company and it urged the audience to open its mind to the wonder of life’s possibilities. Unfortunately, the scattershot storyline and average score worked against any sense of wonder. Ben Brantley in the Times said the musical was a “flavorless broth,” and the “glazed feeling” it induced resulted from an “innately little” musical “trying to look big.” The show evoked The Lion King, Tommy, and even Smokey Joe’s Café, but never found its own voice, and the “crawling” story might have worked better had the creators structured the show as a revue. The costumes suggested The Lion King “reinvented for Las Vegas,” and thus there were sometimes “cleavage-flashing showgirls” and chorus boys who came across as “rough-trade-go-go boys.” Shiner’s normally “subversive” comic qualities were “straitjacketed” and he displayed a “queasy, frozen grin,” but Chamberlin came through with “a sweet, sober dignity.” Charles Isherwood in Variety paraphrased the show’s opening number by saying, “Oh, the mistakes you can make!” Although the evening was “fitfully charming,” it was “mighty disappointing nonetheless,” and in an appropriate theatrical and seasonal allusion said the musical gave off “the distinct fragrance of a two-ton, $10.5 million turkey.” The book was “disjointed,” “meandering,” and “overstuffed with words, characters, songs, plots and cheerful admonitions,” and the result was a “traffic jam” that proved to be a “fatal flaw.” As for the score, many of the songs were “catchy and appealing” but eventually they blurred together “in a woozy and increasingly formulaic haze.”

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John Lahr in the New Yorker said the musical had “curiously little charm” and “what’s missing in this relentlessly cute, plot-heavy musical is mayhem and magic.” The score was “generic,” the costumes “unimaginative,” and the direction and choreography “winded.” Shiner didn’t seem “to have an authentic antic bone in his gangly body,” but Chamberlin gave a “winning and gentle” performance. However, Time found the work “surprisingly charming” with “popsicle-colored” décor, a “tuneful” score, and an “irresistible” cast. The cast album was released by Decca Broadway (CD # 012-159-792-2). The musical was later radically revised for a brief national tour and eventual stock productions, and a short run of free performances was presented Off Broadway by Theatreworks USA at the Lucille Lortel Theatre beginning on July 19, 2007. One of the musical’s coproducers was Universal Studios, whose musical film Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas had opened two weeks before the Broadway premiere of Seussical and quickly became one of the hit films of the holiday season. With an exclamation point added to the title, a musical version of the story played for two engagements on Broadway in 2006 and 2007 (see entries).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Kevin Chamberlin)

JANE EYRE “The Musical”

Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: December 10, 2000; Closing Date: June 10, 2001 Performances: 209 Book: John Caird Lyrics: Paul Gordon; additional lyrics by John Caird Music: Paul Gordon Based on the 1847 novel Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Bronte under the nom de plume Currer Bell. Direction: John Caird and Scott Schwartz; Producers: Annette Niemtzow, Janet Robinson, and Pamela Koslow and Margaret McFeeley Golden in association with Jennifer Manocherian and Carolyn Kim McCarthy; Choreography: Jayne Paterson; Scenery: John Napier (Keith Gonzales, Scenic Design Associate); Projections Design: John Napier, Lisa Podgur Cuscuna, Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Computerized Scenic Effects: SMI/Showmotion, Inc.; Costumes: Andreane Neofitou; Music Direction: Steven Tyler Cast: Marla Schaffel (Jane Eyre), Lisa Musser (Young Jane), Lee Zarrett (Young John Reed, Young Lord Ingram), Gina Ferrall (Mrs. Reed, Lady Ingram), Don Richard (Mr. Brocklehurst, Colonel Dent, Vicar), Marguerite MacIntyre (Miss Scatcherd, Bertha, Mrs. Dent), Mary Stout (Marigold, Mrs. Fairfax), Jayne Paterson (Helen Burns, Mary Ingram); School Girls: Nell Balaban, Andrea Bowen, Elizabeth DeGrazia, Bonnie Gleicher, Rita Glynn, Gina Lamparella; Bruce Dow (Robert), Andrea Bowen (Adele), Nell Balaban (Grace Poole), James Barbour (Edward Fairfax Rochester), Elizabeth DeGrazia (Blanche Ingram), Stephen R. Buntrock (Mr. Eshton, St. John Rivers), Gina Lamparella (Louisa Eshton), Bill Nolte (Richard Mason), Marje Bubrosa (The Gypsy) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in England during the 1840s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Orphan” (Marla Schaffel); “Children of God” (School Girls, Don Richard, Gina Ferrall, Marguerite MacIntyre, Ensemble); “Forgiveness” (Jayne Paterson, Lisa Musser, Marla Schaffel); “The Graveyard” (Marla Schaffel, Lisa Musser, Ensemble); “Sweet Liberty” (Marla Schaffel, Ensemble); “Perfectly Nice” (Mary Stout, Andrea Bowen, Marla Schaffel); “As Good as You” (James Barbour); “Secret Soul”

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(Marla Schaffel, James Barbour); “The Finer Things” (Elizabeth DeGrazia); “Oh How You Look in the Light” (James Barbour, Elizabeth DeGrazia, Ensemble); “The Pledge” (Marla Schaffel, James Barbour); “Sirens” (James Barbour, Marla Schaffel, Marguerite MacIntyre) Act Two: “Things Beyond This Earth” (Ensemble); “Painting Her Portrait” (Marla Schaffel); “In the Light of the Virgin Morning” (Marla Schaffel, Elizabeth DeGrazia); “The Gypsy” (Marje Bubrosa); “The Proposal” (Marla Schaffel, James Barbour); “Slip of a Girl” (Mary Stout, Marla Schaffel, Bruce Dow, Andrea Bowen); “The Wedding” (Ensemble); “Wild Boy” (James Barbour, Marla Schaffel, Marguerite MacIntyre, Ensemble); “Sirens” (reprise) (Marla Schaffel, James Barbour); “Farewell, Good Angel” (James Barbour); “My Maker” (Marla Schaffel, Ensemble); “Forgiveness” (reprise) (Gina Ferrall, Marla Schaffel, Ensemble); “The Voice across the Moors” (Stephen R. Buntrock, Marla Schaffel, James Barbour); “Poor Sister” (Bill Nolte, Marla Schaffel); “Brave Enough for Love” (Marla Schaffel, James Barbour, Ensemble) Jane Eyre underwent a gestation of five years prior to its Broadway opening. It was first presented in 1995 at a reading at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and then in what was termed a workshop production at the Wichita Center for the Performing Arts in Wichita, Kansas, on December 1, 1995. It later was presented at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in December 1996, with Marla Schaffel and Anthony Crivello as Jane Eyre and Rochester, and then at La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, California, in July 1999. Despite the work’s long path to Broadway, it never quite jelled and the New York critics were generally cool and indifferent. The musical never generated the kind of word-of-mouth which guarantees sell-out performances, and it struggled along until the Tony Award season when it was nominated for five awards and won none. It closed the week following the Tony Award presentation at a loss of $7 million. The musical followed Charlotte Bronte’s familiar story of the orphan Jane Eyre (Schaffel) who becomes governess at Thornfield Hall where she teaches Adele (Andrea Bowen), the ward of the rich and brooding Edward Rochester (James Barbour). The story offers Gothic trappings, including a mysterious leading character (Rochester), a family secret, and a large and menacing manor house. But all ends if not exactly well then at least comfortingly, and ultimately Jane and Rochester are united once his familial misunderstandings are explained and sorted out. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “gloomy and mundane” musical adaptation captured “few of the richly available nuances” inherent in the source material. The evening was chockablock with “sceneby-scene problem solving” and a “connect-the-dots approach” to the narrative. Overall, the work was “fitful and hurried” with “a pace that accommodates a soundtrack but rarely pauses long enough for an actual song.” In fact, there were “few” songs, and instead the score was a series of “melodic snippets.” Charles Isherwood in Variety found the evening “soporific” and said the material lacked “a depth of focus.” The score was “as sober, dependable and unexciting” as the book’s characterization of Jane, and its “reams of wallpaper music” rarely broke out into “sharply defined melodies.” Richard Zoglin in Time said the score was “uninspired”; and an unsigned review in the New Yorker noted the book was “fair,” the score “schmaltzy,” and “the endless projections of trees and sky may make you feel like you’re watching the Weather Channel.” But Fintan O’Toole in the New York Daily News praised the “richly textured and superbly performed score.” The Broadway cast album was released by Sony Records (CD # SK-89482), and the earlier Canadian production (with Schaffel and Crivello) was also recorded (Mirvish Records CD # JE-01). Songs heard during the La Jolla production were “Let Me Be Brave,” “The Fever,” “The Master Returns,” “The Icy Lane,” “The Governess,” “Society’s Best,” “Enchante,” “Second Self,” “The Chestnut Tree,” and “Child in the Attic.” The virtually sung-through work included many brief musical sequences, and it seems the New York program listed only the major numbers (twenty-seven in all). To provide the reader with more information about the songs written for the production, the end of this entry includes the titles of all fiftynine musical numbers heard during the Toronto engagement. Another lyric adaptation of Bronte’s novel is Michael Berkeley’s opera, which premiered six months before the Broadway opening of the current production. The libretto was by David Malouf, and the work premiered on June 30, 2000, in a presentation by the Music Theatre Wales at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music. A recording of the opera was released by Chandos Records (CD # 9983). A lavish, nonmusical adaptation of the story by Huntington Hartford bombed after forty-four performances in 1958. Jane Eyre opened on May 1 at the Belasco Theatre and starred Jan Brooks (Jane Eyre), Eric Portman (Rochester), and Blanche Yurka (Mrs. Fairfax). Louis Kronenberger in Best Plays said the evening was

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“theatrical deadwood,” and he even found fault with the basic story. He noted that the novel was “faintly absurd and decidedly lurid,” but to “a story bordering on trash Bronte brought storytelling bordering on genius.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Jane Eyre); Best Book (John Caird); Best Score (lyrics by Paul Gordon and John Caird, music by Paul Gordon); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Marla Schaffel); Best Lighting Design (Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer) Note: The following is a complete list of songs performed in the 1996 Toronto production (each title is followed by the name of the character or characters who performed the song). Act One: “The Secrets of the House” (Ensemble); “The Fever” (Jane’s Mother and Father); “Rain” (Young Jane); “Ugly and Poor” (Young Jane, Mrs. Reed, The Reed Children); “Naughty Girl” (Mr. Brocklehurst, Mrs. Reed); “Rag Doll” (Young Jane, Jane); “Children of God” (School Girls, Miss Scatcherd, Miss Temple, Young Jane, Helen Burns, Mr. Brocklehurst); “Forgiveness” (Helen, Young Jane); “Friendship” (Helen, Miss Temple, Young Jane); “The Fever” (reprise) (Helen, Young Jane); “My Maker” (Helen); “There Is a Silence I Hear” (Jane); “The Advertisement” (Ensemble, Mrs. Fairfax); “Perfectly Nice” (Mrs. Fairfax); “The Secrets of the House” (reprise) (Ensemble); “The Upper Floor” (Mrs. Fairfax, Jane); “Silent Rebellion” (Jane); “Rider in the Lane” (Ensemble, Jane); “The Master Returns” (Mrs. Fairfax, Rochester); “The Governess” (Rochester, Jane); “Adele’s Opera” (Adele); “As Good as You” (Rochester); “The Fire” (Jane, Rochester); “Secret Soul” (Jane); “The Warning” (Grace Poole, Jane); “The Perfect Match” (The Guests, Blanche Ingram, Rochester); “Painting Her Portrait” (Jane); “Intriguing Man” (Ladies, Adele); “The Pledge” (Jane, Rochester); “The Upper Floor” (reprise) (Richard Mason); “The Wounded Man” (Mason, Rochester, Jane, Doctor Carter, Ensemble); “Wild Boy” (Rochester, Jane); “Secret Soul” (reprise) (Jane, Rochester) Act Two: “The Dream” (Jane, Young Jane, Ensemble); “The Gypsy” (“Oh, Sister”) (Rochester); “The Parting” (Rochester, Jane); “The Fever” (reprise) (Mrs. Reed, Jane, Eliza, Georgiana); “The Dream” (reprise) (John Eyre); “Forgiveness” (reprise) (Jane, Helen, Ensemble); “The Virgin Evening” (Jane, Rochester, Ensemble); “Second Self” (Jane, Rochester); “Childish, Slender Creature” (Rochester); “A Slip of a Girl” (Mrs. Fairfax); “The Intruder” (Ensemble, Rochester, Jane); “The Wedding” (Ensemble, Vicar, Mr. Briggs); “Behind the Door” (Rochester, Bertha); “Wild Boy” (reprise) (Rochester); “Farewell, Good Angel” (Rochester); “The Bitter Storm” (Ensemble, Jane); “My Maker” (reprise) (Jane, St. John); “The Moors and the Hillside” (Diana, Mary, St. John); “The Virgin Morning” (St. John, Jane, Young Jane); “The Portraits” (The Rivers Family, Jane); “The Standard of the Cross” (St. John); “Secret Soul” (reprise) (Jane, St. John); “Oh, Sister” (reprise) (Jane, Old Man, Ensemble); “Second Self” (reprise) (Jane, Rochester); “The Chestnut Tree” (Rochester); “Brave Enough for Love” (Jane, Rochester, Ensemble)

A CLASS ACT “A Musical

about

Musicals”

Theatre: Ambassador Theatre Opening Date: March 11, 2001; Closing Date: June 10, 2001 Performances: 105 Book: Linda Kline and Lonny Price Lyrics and Music: Edward Kleban; incidental music by Todd Ellison Direction: Lonny Price (Stafford Arima, Associate Director; David Benken, Technical Director); Producers: Marty Bell, Chase Mishkin, and Arielle Tepper (A Manhattan Theatre Club Production) (East Egg Entertainment, Executive Producer) (Robyn Goodman and Tokyo Broadcasting System/Kumiko Yoshii, Associate Producers); Choreography: Marguerite Derricks; Scenery: James Noone; Costumes: Carrie Robbins; Lighting: Kevin Adams; Musical Direction: David Loud Cast: Donna Bullock (Lucy), David Hibbard (Bobby, et al.), Lonny Price (Ed), Sara Ramirez (Felicia), Patrick Quinn (Lehman), Jeff Blumenkrantz (Charley, et al.), Nancy Anderson (Mona), Randy Graff (Sophie)

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The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the period 1958–1988 on the stage of the Shubert Theatre and in other locations.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Light on My Feet” (additional lyric by Brian Stein) (Lonny Price, Company); “The Fountain in the Garden” (Company); “One More Beautiful Song” (Lonny Price, Randy Graff); “Fridays at Four” (Company); “Bobby’s Song” (David Hibbard); “Charm Song” (Patrick Quinn, Company); “Paris through the Window” (additional lyric by Glenn Slater) (Lonny Price, David Hibbard, Jeff Blumenkrantz); “Mona” (Nancy Anderson); “Under Separate Cover” (Donna Bullock, Lonny Price, Randy Graff); “Don’t Do It Again” (Sara Ramirez, Lonny Price); “Gauguin’s Shoes” (Lonny Price, Company); “Don’t Do It Again” (reprise) (Patrick Quinn); “Follow Your Star” (Randy Graff, Lonny Price) Act Two: “Better” (Lonny Price, Company); “Scintillating Sophie” (Lonny Price); “The Next Best Thing to Love” (Randy Graff); “Broadway Boogie Woogie” (Donna Bullock); Excerpts from A Chorus Line (music by Marvin Hamlisch) (Company); “Better” (reprise) (Lonny Price, Company); “I Choose You” (Lonny Price, Donna Bullock); “The Nightmare” (Lonny Price); “Say Something Funny” (Company); “(When the Dawn Breaks in 2001) I Won’t Be There” (Lonny Price); “Self Portrait” (Lonny Price); “Self Portrait” (reprise) (Company) The revue-like A Class Act was about the life and career of Edward Kleban (1939–1987), the lyricist of A Chorus Line (1975). The work was clearly a labor of love by those who revered Kleban and admired his work. But it was poor judgment to offer the musical to the paying public, most of whom probably didn’t recognize Kleban’s name and who undoubtedly weren’t all that interested in him as a person (prior to the Broadway opening, Michael Riedel in the New York Post questioned whether the “general public” would buy tickets to a $2.8 million musical about an “obscure” and “minor figure in showbiz history”). The show took place at Kleban’s memorial service, and Riedel’s comments should have been heeded by the show’s creators. A Class Act was a glorified memorial to Kleban and it should have been presented as a brief tribute to him at a private or semi-private memorial, perhaps the kind that often takes place in a Broadway theatre during the afternoon of a non-matinee day when show folk celebrate the life of a recently departed theatre personality. Kleban may well have been a class act, but the tribute failed to make him interesting or to make one care about him. According to the musical, his great tragedy was that he never reached his goal of being recognized as both a lyricist and composer. This was not the stuff of high drama, and it was impossible to care about his angst, especially when the evidence on stage didn’t indicate he was a musical genius. At best, his songs were pleasantly average and they seemed to evaporate as soon as you heard them. Lonny Price’s performance was more self-indulgent than interesting, and as actor, director, and cowriter of the book, he failed to convey a single reason why anyone but Kleban’s nearest and dearest would want to spend an evening hearing about his life and career. As a result, A Class Act went to the head of the class as one of the most tiresome evenings imaginable. It brought to mind those hoary composer-tribute operettas of yore, but surely the trials and travails of Edvard Grieg in Song of Norway (1944) and Johann Strauss in Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston (1945) were more interesting. And inadvertently or not, A Class Act paid tribute to the old composer-biography musicals by presenting a guest “appearance” or two by a celebrity. The character of Ibsen dropped in on Norway, and President Ulysses S. Grant said hello to Mr. Strauss. But one assumes that most audience members who attended A Class Act had never heard of Lehman Engel (there were also “appearances” by Marvin Hamlisch and Michael Bennett). Kleban’s memorial service served as the musical’s framework, and his ghostly presence attends the tribute and disagrees with comments he hears about himself. In the published script, Price states the work takes place in four “multiple realities”: (1) the memorial service in which Kleban attempts to clarify and justify his life and career; (2) the flashbacks into his past; (3) the sequences in which another character interrupts Kleban’s stories in order to keep him focused; and (4) the scenes in which Kleban’s ghost tries to deal with the comments he hears about himself. Perhaps all these layers were laid on just a bit too thick and were more than the slender book could comfortably shoulder. If the score had been strong, the weak book and the lessthan-compelling depiction of Kleban might have gotten by. But, as noted, the songs (which were used as a combination of narrative and presentational numbers) were mostly average and gave no musical evidence that Kleban was another Hamlisch (or Stephen Sondheim or John Kander or Jerry Herman).

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Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the musical worked better on Broadway than off. It was now “a more satisfying show” and was less “a glorifying monument to the man” than “a tribute to the human qualities he embodied.” But Brantley wished Price had been a “surer and more commandeering” singer, and he noted that one dance sequence “rather painfully recalls the sendup of grooviness from the old television show Laugh-In.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the show’s “small-scale charm” was “still intact” for Broadway and had even been “gracefully expanded,” but noted that when Kleban “bridles at the idea of contributing only his lyrics” to A Chorus Line many audience members “will be ready to give up on him.” Richard Zoglin in Time found the evening “surprisingly fresh and engaging.” The musical had first been presented in workshop as The Kleban Project by Musical Theatre Works (of which Price was the artistic director), and as A Class Act was presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center Stage II on November 9, 2000, for twenty-nine performances. Price, Randy Graff, Nancy Anderson, and David Hibbard appeared in both the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, and for Off Broadway the other cast members were Carolee Carmello (Lucy), Jonathan Freeman (Lehman), Julia Murney (Felicia), and Ray Wills (Charley). “Making Up Ways” was heard Off Broadway, but was dropped for the transfer, and for the latter “Don’t Do It Again” and “The Nightmare” were added to the score. Incidentally, the excerpts from A Chorus Line (with music by Hamlisch, of course) were “One,” “What I Did for Love,” and “At the Ballet.” The original Off-Broadway cast album was recorded by RCA Victor/BMG Records (# 09026-63757-2). “Better” had earlier been heard in Phyllis Newman’s 1978 one-woman Off-Broadway show My Mother Was a Fortune-Teller (Hudson Guild Theatre on May 5 for twenty-four performances), which was later produced on Broadway in 1979 as The Madwoman of Central Park West (22 Steps Theatre on June 13 for eighty-five performances), and was recorded for the latter’s cast album (DRG Records CD # CDSL-5212). “Self Portrait” had been used in the 1988 Off-Broadway revue Urban Blight, which played for twelve performances and like the Off-Broadway production of A Class Act was also produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club (at City Center Stage I). The script of A Class Act was published in hardback by Stage & Screen in 2002, and was also published in the Summer 2002 issue of Show Music magazine.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (A Class Act); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Randy Graff); Best Book (Linda Kline and Lonny Price); Best Score (lyrics and music by Edward Kleban); Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman)

FOLLIES Theatre: Belasco Theatre Opening Date: April 5, 2001; Closing Date: July 14, 2001 Performances: 116 Book: James Goldman Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: Matthew Warchus (Thomas Caruso, Associate Director; Peter W. Lamb, Technical Director); Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director, External Affairs) (Frank P. Scardino, Executive Producer); Choreography: Kathleen Marshall (Joey Pizzi, Associate Director); Scenery: Mark Thompson; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Hugh Vanstone; Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Louis Zorich (Dimitri Weismann); Show Girls: Jessica Leigh Brown, Colleen Dunn, Amy Heggins, Wendy Waring; Judith Ivey (Sally Durant Plummer), Nancy Ringham (Sandra Crane), Dorothy Stanley (Dee Dee West), Carol Woods (Stella Deems), Peter Cormican (Sam Deems), Jane White (Solange La Fitte), Larry Raiken (Roscoe), Joan Roberts (Heidi Schiller), Marge Champion (Emily Whitman), Donald Saddler (Theodore Whitman), Polly Bergen (Carlotta Campion), Betty Garrett (Hattie Walker), Blythe Danner (Phyllis Rogers Stone), Gregory Harrison (Benjamin Stone), Treat Williams (Buddy Plummer), Erin Dilly (Young Phyllis), Lauren Ward (Young Sally), Roxane Barlow (Young Dee Dee, “Margie”), Carol Bentley (Young Emily), Sally Mae Dunn (Young Carlotta), Dottie Earle (Young Sandra), Jacqueline Hendy (Young

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Solange), Brooke Sunny Moriber (Young Heidi), Kelli O’Hara (Young Hattie), Allyson Tucker (Young Stella), Aldrin Gonzalez (Young Roscoe), Richard Roland (Young Ben), Joey Sorge (Young Buddy), Rod McCune (Young Theodore), Stephen Campanella (Kevin), Jessica Leigh Brown (“Sally”); Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ensemble: Roxane Barlow, Carol Bentley, Jessica Leigh Brown, Stephen Campanella, Colleen Dunn, Sally Mae Dunn, Dottie Earle, Aldrin Gonzalez, Amy Heggins, Jacqueline Hendy, Rod McCune, Kelli O’Hara, T. Oliver Reid, Alex Sanchez, Allyson Tucker, Matt Wall, Wendy Waring The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Weissman Theatre in New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue/Overture (Company); “Beautiful Girls” (Larry Raiken, Company); “Don’t Look at Me” (Judith Ivey, Gregory Harrison); “Waiting for the Girls Upstairs” (Treat Williams, Gregory Harrison, Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Joey Sorge, Richard Roland, Erin Dilly, Lauren Ward); “Rain on the Roof” (Marge Champion, Donald Saddler); “Ah, Paris!” (Jane White); “Broadway Baby” (Betty Garrett); “The Road You Didn’t Take” (Gregory Harrison); “Dance d’Amour” (Marge Champion, Donald Saddler, Carol Bentley, Rod McCune); “In Buddy’s Eyes” (Judith Ivey); “Who’s That Woman?” (Carol Woods, Ladies); “I’m Still Here” (Polly Bergen); “Too Many Mornings” (Gregory Harrison, Judith Ivey) Act Two: “The Right Girl” (Treat Williams); “One More Kiss” (Joan Roberts, Brooke Sunny Moriber); “Could I Leave You?” (Blythe Danner); “Loveland” (Ensemble); “You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow” (Erin Dilly, Richard Roland); “Love Will See Us Through” (Lauren Ward, Joey Sorge); “The God-Why-Don’t-YouLove-Me Blues” (Treat Williams, Roxane Barlow, Jessica Leigh Brown); “Losing My Mind” (Judith Ivey); “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” (Blythe Danner, Men); “Live, Laugh, Love” (Gregory Harrison, Ensemble) Thanks to a batch of old pros who brought frisson and excitement to their supporting roles, the thirtiethanniversary revival of the legendary Stephen Sondheim musical Follies wasn’t a complete shambles. Otherwise, the current production seemed clueless, as if no one really understood what the musical was about. Follies is arguably the greatest musical ever written, an inspired work that combines heartbreaking despair and show-business razzmatazz into an explosive look at life’s follies and self-deception. The story takes place on the stage of producer Dimitri Weissman’s fabled theatre, which is to be demolished the next day in order to build a parking garage. Weissman holds a first and last reunion party for cast members of his long-ago annual series of Follies revues, including former chorus girls Phyllis (Blythe Danner) and Sally (Judith Ivey) and the stage-door Johnnies they respectively married, Ben (Gregory Harrison) and Buddy (Treat Williams). All are now middle-aged and unhappy, and for the past thirty years have been caught in a web of regrets, recriminations, and sour what-might-have-beens. Weissman’s theatre is haunted by spirits of former show girls and cast members, including the quartet’s youthful ghosts, who watch their older selves and see the festering resentments that will soon erupt into a surreal Follies, a musical time warp where past and present collide when the four principals are thrust into the musical-comedy arcadia of Loveland. Each principal performs a double-edged Follies-like song and undergoes a musical nervous breakdown which simultaneously mirrors both old-time Broadway and the follies of their lives. Follies was first and foremost a delicate memory piece, and its nonlinear story line emphasized mood instead of plot, and never before or since has a musical so brilliantly presented such a fluid depiction of time and space with the intermingling of past and present into a single dimension. James Goldman’s masterful (and shockingly underrated) book was spare and incisive with its unflinching look at the loss of youth, ideals, and innocence. His Proustian remembrance of things from an unrecoverable past did its work with brittle wit and achingly sad insight. His book is one of the most compact in all lyric theatre, and it provides the perfect framework to tell its story and create haunting portraits of some of the most complex characters ever seen on the musical stage. Moreover, Goldman and the original directors Harold Prince and Michael Bennett created short film-like sequences that zoomed in and then quickly faded as they briefly but succinctly defined the party guests. The stage directions in the script explain that at times the stage seems “huge and empty” and then “closed in and intimate,” and the material “is free to be now here, now there or, on occasion, different places all at once.”

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Even a few songs flashed forward out of nowhere and then suddenly vanished, such as the sequence that included “Rain on the Roof,” “Ah, Paris!,” and “Broadway Baby.” The original production was presented in one act and never broke its stride as the action flowed continuously and unrelentingly toward the climactic Loveland sequence. Sondheim’s score may well be the finest in all musical theatre. He actually wrote two scores. The first consists of brilliant pastiche performed at the reunion party or in Loveland which conjured up Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly (“One More Kiss”), Irving Berlin (“Beautiful Girls”), Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer (“Losing My Mind”), Cole Porter (“Ah, Paris!”), Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin (“The Story of Lucy and Jessie”), and the team of Buddy (B. G.) De Sylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson (“Broadway Baby”). Sondheim even created a sequence (“You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow” and “Love Will See Us Through”) that brilliantly evoked Richard Rodgers with both Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II (note the slightly self-conscious and clever Hart-like rhymes for the first song and the allusion to Ado Annie and Will Parker in the latter). The second score is “pure” Sondheim, and the book songs found him at the peak of his powers: Ben’s introspective and self-loathing “The Road You Didn’t Take”; Phyllis’s blistering attack “Could I Leave You?”; Buddy’s bewilderment over who might be “The Right Girl”; and Sally’s self-effacing “Don’t Look at Me” and her self-deceptive “In Buddy’s Eyes.” And there was the ultimate I’ve-seen-it-all anthem “I’m Still Here,” which was sung by Carlotta (Polly Bergen), perhaps the only character in the musical who accepts the vagaries of existence and knows that life owes you absolutely nothing. The current revival missed both the musical’s grandeur and pathos. The staging lacked clarity, and the ghostly showgirls never made much of an impression. In the original production at the Winter Garden Theatre, they haunted the stage, each one impossibly tall and regal and incredibly beautiful, and all wearing fabulous costumes from musicals of times past. They slowly promenaded about the semi-darkened stage in a kind of reverie, perhaps in a state of shock over the realization that their youth, beauty, fame, and even their lives are long over. And now the very theatre that housed their former glory will soon vanish. Over the decades they’ve heard spectral applause from long-ago audiences and heard faint music from half-forgotten scores, and after tonight all of it will be gone forever. In the current production, the showgirls were simply intrusive and came across as shop girls with delusions of grandeur. Along with the direction, almost every aspect of the revival missed the mark. The choreography was unimaginative, the lighting aimed for atmosphere but was often too dark and smoky, the costumes were for the most part unimaginative, and the scenery was skimpy (Loveland looked like Bargain Basement Land, and Phyllis’s folly with its Pepto-Bismol pinks and cheap scenic effects looked like leftover dinner theatre). The four principals seemed ill at ease, and it was disappointing to see the talented Treat Williams and Gregory Harrison given little opportunity to shine (and the staging for Williams’s “The Right Girl” seemed to have been blocked once and then forgotten about). Ivey never quite captured Sally’s fragility, and Danner never quite conveyed the inner vulnerability hidden by Phyllis’s brittle mask. But Polly Bergen’s Carlotta was brilliant, and “I’m Still Here” was a showstopper (a decade or two earlier what a Phyllis she might have been!) and the most imaginatively staged sequence of the evening. The song began as a conversational book number that Bergen sang to the other cast members, and then it morphed into a soliloquy when the character ruminates over the ups and downs of her life and career. Betty Garrett was a delightful Hattie, and her “Broadway Baby” was all the more effective for its understatement and its playful hint of the shimmy. Former screen dancer Marge Champion and choreographer Donald Saddler were nostalgic as the dance team The Whitmans, and for pure chills the production offered no less than Joan Roberts as Heidi. Here was Oklahoma’s original Laurey back on the Broadway stage after fifty-two years, and she brought grace and nostalgia to her brief role. (The 1971 production of Follies had reintroduced Carousel’s original Julie Jordan when Jan Clayton was signed as Dorothy Collins’s standby and spelled Collins during her vacation. Clayton’s voice was no longer what it was, but her acting skills created a desolate and delusional Sally.) Variety reported that of the revival’s seventeen major print and television notices, eight were negative, three mixed, and six favorable. With mixed reviews and no Tony Awards, the $4.5 million production managed a run of just four months and went unrecorded. Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News noted that when Follies works properly it is “bathed in iridescent magic,” but the current production never reached that “critical mass”; and Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the staging “drab and unimaginative” with “little idea of the style needed.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times said director Matthew Warchus’s production was “pale and strangely tentative” with “a bone-dry emotional center.” What was once a “ravishing musical elegy for an era in Ameri-

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can show business” was now “a small, bleak and pedestrian tale of two unhappy marriages,” and Warchus had “little feel for Follies as fantasia.” The choreography was “bizarrely flavorless,” the décor and costumes were “gimcrack,” and he felt that no one had “bothered to direct the stars.” But Bergen transformed “I’m Still Here” from “the usual defiant anthem into something darker, suggesting the toll exacted by survival.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the revival was “middlingly sung” and “minimally designed,” and offered both “glories and disappointments.” As for Bergen, her “I’m Still Here” was “as much a fierce avowal of further endurance as a celebration of past survival” and was “not a mere show-stopper but a show in itself.” He concluded that even in its “diminished” state the musical was “hypnotic and deeply affecting” (note that the original 1971 production had fifty performers and twenty-six musicians, while the current one offered a respective thirty-eight and fourteen). Richard Zoglin in Time said Goldman’s book was “tiresome,” Sondheim’s score was his “best,” and Warchus’s production was “darker and more glum than it needs to be.” And an unsigned review in the New Yorker cautioned that while the revival was “less lavish” than the original, the musical’s “real grandeur lies in its imaginative structure and the unfolding of its lyrically rich, resonant songs.” The original production of Follies opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on April 4, 1971, for 522 performances. It was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won six, including Best Score, Best Choreography (Bennett), Best Scenic Design (Boris Aronson), Best Costume Design (Florence Klotz), and Best Lighting Design (Tharon Musser). It also won the Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical. After the Broadway run, the musical briefly toured and Variety estimated that the losses for the New York and two road engagements amounted to over $700,000, an astounding sum for the era. The abridged cast album was released by Capitol Records (LP # SO-761), and the CD has been issued three times, by Capitol (# CDP-7-92094-2), Broadway Angel (# ZDM-7-64666-2-0), and Kritzerland (# KR-20023-3); all three CDs include “One More Kiss,” which had been recorded during the cast album session but had been eliminated from the LP release due to lack of space. “Rain on the Roof,” “Loveland,” and “Bolero d’Amour” weren’t recorded, and many numbers were condensed. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1971. On September 6 and 7, 1985, a concert version was presented at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall by the New York Philharmonic with an array of guest performers that included Lee Remick, George Hearn, Barbara Cook, Elaine Stritch, Carol Burnett, and Phyllis Newman. It was recorded live by RCA Victor on two LPs (# HBC2-7128) and two CDs (# RCD2-7128), and was presented on public television in 1986. A DVD of the concert is included in The Stephen Sondheim Collection, a boxed set issued by Image Entertainment (# ID-17531MDVD). As noted, the current revival wasn’t recorded, but its slightly revised script was published in paperback by the Theatre Communications Group in 2001, and a later edition was released in 2011. Another concert version was presented by Encores! at City Center on February 8, 2007, for six performances, with Donna Murphy, Victoria Clark, Victor Garber, Mimi Hines, and Jo Anne Worley. The most recent fully staged New York revival opened at the Marquis Theatre on September 12, 2011, for 152 performances and was recorded on a two-CD set by PS Classics (CD # PS-1105). The New York Times reported that this production cost $5.5 million to mount and failed to recoup its investment and turn a profit. The London production opened on July 21, 1987, at the Shaftesbury Theatre for 644 performances, and cut “The Road You Didn’t Take,” “Bolero d’Amour,” “Love Will See Us Through,” “Loveland,” “The Story of Lucy and Jessie,” and “Live, Laugh, Love.” Added were “Country House,” “Social Dancing,” a new version of “Loveland,” “Ah, but Underneath,” and “Make the Most of Your Music,” the latter two replacing “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” and “Live, Laugh, Love.” The cast recording was released by First Night Records on a two-LP set (# 3) and also on a two-CD set (# CD-3). A production by the Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, New Jersey) opened on April 15, 1998, and its twoCD cast recording was released by TVT-1030-2. Along with the original 1971 cast album, the recording of this revival is the finest interpretation of the score; it substituted “Ah, but Underneath” for “The Story of Lucy and Jessie,” but happily included the latter as a bonus track along with eight songs written for, but not used, in the Broadway production (“Bring on the Girls,” “Can That Boy Foxtrot!,” “Pleasant Little Kingdom,” “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” “That Old Piano Roll,” “Who Could Be Blue?,” “Little White House,” and “Uptown, Downtown”) (but note that “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “That Old Piano Roll” were used as background music in the original Broadway production). Ted Chapin’s Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical “Follies” was published in hardback by Alfred A. Knopf in 2003 and is a firsthand account of the making of the original production. In 2010, Knopf

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published Sondheim’s Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes which includes the lyrics of all the songs written for Follies. There was a tantalizing moment when it appeared Twentieth Century-Fox was going forward with a film version of the musical. On April 15, 1973, A. E. Weiler in the New York Times reported that playwright Jean-Claude van Itallie would write the screenplay and that the locale would be changed from a soon-to-bedemolished Broadway theatre to a movie studio about to be razed. Weiler said old Fox movie sets as well as snippets from Fox musicals would be used in the projected film.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Follies); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Blythe Danner); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Polly Bergen); Best Costume Design (Theoni V. Aldredge); Best Orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick)

BELLS ARE RINGING Theatre: Plymouth Theatre Opening Date: April 12, 2001; Closing Date: June 10, 2001 Performances: 69 Book and Lyrics: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music: Jule Styne; incidental music by David Evans and Mark Hummel Direction: Tina Landau; Producers: Mitchell Maxwell, Mark Balsam, Victoria Maxwell, Robert Barandes, Mark Goldberg, Anthony R. Russo, and James L. Simon in association with Fred H. Krones and Allen M. Shore and Momentum Productions, Inc. (Alan S. Kopit and Richard Berger, Associate Producers); Choreography: Jeff Calhoun (Patti D’Beck, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Riccardo Hernandez; Video: Batwin + Robin Productions, Inc.; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: David Evans Cast: Shane Kirkpatrick (TV Announcer, Joey), Caitlin Carter (Telephone Girl, Olga), Joan Hess (Telephone Girl, Bridgette, Mrs. Mallet), Emily Hsu (Telephone Girl), Alice Rietveld (Telephone Girl), Beth Fowler (Sue), Angela Robinson (Gwynne), Faith Prince (Ella Peterson), Julio Agustin (Carl), Robert Ari (Inspector Barnes), Jeffrey Bean (Francis), David Garrison (Sandor), Marc Kudisch (Jeff Moss), David Brummel (Larry Hastings, Corvello Mob Man), Greg Reuter (Louie, Corvello Mob Man), Roy Harcourt (Paddy), Lawrence Clayton (Ludwig Smiley, Paul Arnold), Martin Moran (Doctor Kitchell), Darren Ritchie (Blake Barton), Linda Romoff (Maid), Josh Rhodes (Waiter, Man on Street), Joanne Baum (Madame Grimaldi); Ensemble: Julio Agustin, Joanne Baum, David Brummel, Caitlin Carter, Lawrence Clayton, Roy Harcourt, Joan Hess, Emily Hsu, Shane Kirkpatrick, Greg Reuter, Josh Rhodes, Alice Rietveld, Darren Ritche, Angela Robinson, Linda Romoff; Dancers: Caitlin Carter, Roy Harcourt, Joan Hess, Emily Hsu, Shane Kirkpatrick, Greg Reuter, Josh Rhodes The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during 1956.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Bells Are Ringing” (Caitlin Carter, Joan Hess, Emily Hsu, Alice Rietveld); “It’s a Perfect Relationship” (Faith Prince); “Independent” (Marc Kudisch, Dancers); “You’ve Got to Do It” (aka “Do It Yourself”) (Marc Kudisch); “It’s a Simple Little System” (David Garrison, Ensemble); “Better Than a Dream” (Faith Prince, Marc Kudisch); “Hello, Hello There” (Lawrence Clayton, Faith Prince, Marc Kudisch, Ensemble); “I Met a Girl” (Marc Kudisch, Ensemble); “Is It a Crime?” (Faith Prince, Robert Ari, Jeffrey Bean); “Long Before I Knew You” (Marc Kudisch, Faith Prince) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Mu-Cha-Cha” (Julio Agustin, Faith Prince, Angela Robinson, Ensemble); “Just in Time” (Marc Kudisch, Faith Prince, Ensemble); “Drop That Name” (Ensemble, with Faith

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Prince); “The Party’s Over” (Faith Prince); “Salzburg” (Beth Fowler, David Garrison); “The Midas Touch” (Martin Moran, Dancers); “I’m Goin’ Back” (Faith Prince); Finale (Company) The bells didn’t ring for the awkward and charm-free $6 million revival of Bells Are Ringing, at least on Broadway. With Faith Prince in the leading role of Ella Peterson (which had been created by Judy Holliday for the original 1956 production), Tina Landau’s adaptation was first seen as part of the short-lived series Words & Music: The Kennedy Center Celebrates the American Musical when it played at the Eisenhower Theatre in Washington, D.C., for the period July 16–19, 1998 (the other shows in the summer series were Purlie and Where’s Charley?). Among the cast members in the summer revival were Alan Campbell (Jeff Moss), Dick Latessa (Sandor), Joyce Van Patten (Sue), and Jeff Blumenkrantz (in a delicious cameo as the deliriously demented Doctor Kitchell, the songwriting dentist). The concert-styled revival was charming and a sure-fire crowd-pleaser: the Jule Styne -Betty Comden-Adolph Green score was as delightful as ever; Landau’s direction and adaptation moved breezily along; Prince was adorable, funny, and poignant; and, as mentioned, Blumenkrantz was hysterical and kept the audience in stitches every moment he was on stage. Some two-and-a-half-years later, Landau’s production opened on Broadway and dialed the wrong number. The fizz of the summer revival was long gone, and now nothing quite worked. The décor looked skimpy, the show looked underpopulated, the direction was mechanical and uninspired, and there was no Blumenkrantz around to spark the proceedings. Most surprisingly, Prince lacked the humor and warmth that she’d brought to the earlier production and was here rather wooden. Further, she looked uncomfortable and somewhat starchy and robotic in an unfortunate red wig, unflattering costumes, and what seemed like far too much makeup. It was also disappointing that Landau and choreographer Jeff Calhoun didn’t explore the possibilities of dance for the show. For a 1950s musical, and despite Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse’s involvement with the original production, the show never offered much in the way of choreography, and its one major dance moment was the throw-away “Mu-Cha-Cha,” which seemed liked an afterthought. The script and score offered numerous opportunities for dance, and if the revival had been reinvented perhaps a dance-driven production would have provided the oomph needed for the somewhat book-heavy, revue-like show. The plot covered a lot of territory, and centered around the office of Susanswerphone, a telephone answering service run by Sue Summers (Jean Stapleton in the original 1956 production, Beth Fowler in the revival), who warns switchboard operator Ella to take and relay messages but not get involved in the private lives of the subscribers. But Ella can’t resist helping people, and in “Is It a Crime?” explains that if Romeo and Juliet had subscribed to a telephone answering service and if she’d worked for Veronaphone, then “those two kids would be alive today.” Among those helped by Ella are frustrated dentist and would-be songwriter Doctor Kitchell (Bernie West/ Martin Moran), aspiring Method and Brandoesque actor Blake Barton (Frank Aletter/Darren Ritchie), and playwright Jeff Moss (Sydney Chaplin/Marc Kudisch), who is afflicted with writer’s block. For (Cinder)Ella, Jeff is a prince; sight unseen she’s fallen in love with him, but on the phone she pretends to be a sweet little old lady named Mom who works for Sue. Further, she finds time to both solve the problems of the answering service’s clientele and help the police unmask a syndicate run by Sue’s boyfriend (Eddie Lawrence/David Garrison), who unbeknownst to Sue has been using Susanswerphone as a cover for illegal gambling activities. And of course by the final curtain Jeff discovers who Ella really is and declares his love for her. The score includes two evergreens, the bouncy, upbeat ballad “Just in Time” and the torch song “The Party’s Over,” and Ella’s endearing “It’s a Perfect Relationship” set the plot in motion. Sandor’s scheme to use Susanswerphone for his race-track betting syndicate was cleverly explained in “It’s a Simple Little System” in which we learn that a telephone order to Titanic Records of 500 albums of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony Opus 3 means a bet of $500 at Belmont on horse Number 6 in the third race. “Hello, Hello There” took place in the subway and was another of the breezy Comden and Green salutes to Manhattan as a friendly small town, and it brought to mind their earlier “New York, New York” for On the Town and “Christopher Street”(Wonderful Town) and their later “Ride through the Night” (Subways Are for Sleeping). “Drop That Name” was an amusing comedy song performed at a chic cocktail party that managed to drop some fifty famous names of the era, and Ella’s “I’m Goin’ Back” was a “Mammy”-styled, Jolsonesque number when she decides to leave Susanswerphone and go back to the “great big switchboard” at the Bonjour Tristesse Brassiere Company. Ben Brantley in the New York Times stated that except for Prince the revival felt second- or thirdhand, with a tone neither “nostalgic” nor “ironic” but instead “simply affectless.” Landau failed “to impose any rejuvenating

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point of view” upon the production, and even the “dutiful” ensemble never showed evidence of “that intoxicating love of performing that makes even mediocre musicals enjoyable.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the “sweet but creaky” show had been given a “lively” and “competent” staging, and, in Prince, Judy Holliday had “at last found a soul sister.” But he noted that while “busy signals may not be a problem” for the revival, “longdistance service is a distinct long shot.” Richard Zoglin in Time suggested the book was “a bit of a slog,” but he praised the “irresistible” Prince and said Landau’s production was “very sharp and eye-catching.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the ensemble lacked “spirit,” Kudisch was “a singularly charmless if energized hero,” and the show looked “cheap rather than chic.” Prince was a “royal family all unto herself” but “even a queen needs a court, a master of ceremonies and a palace.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News “endured” the revival and said it seemed the producers had taken “every possible step to guarantee failure.” Prince was “woefully miscast” and the costume designer dressed her “as unflatteringly as possible”; Landau’s sense of humor was “largely coarse”; and the scenic designer’s work was “so bland you have the feeling” he’d never been in New York. The revival might have worked if the characters had been performed as “human beings,” but here they were cartoons; and Landau “pitched” almost every scene “at a level of hysteria” and left “no time for tenderness or quiet pathos.” But Elysa Gardner in USA Today said Bells Are Ringing looked and sounded “remarkably well-preserved” and the “inventive” cast and crew combined to provide a “vibrant style with affectionate camp.” The décor was “fanciful,” the costumes “delectable,” the lighting “dazzling,” and the choreography “exhilarating.” Moreover, Prince “was born to play” Ella, and in Kudisch had a “worthy partner.” The original production opened at the Shubert Theatre on November 29, 1956, for 924 performances and won Tony Awards for Holliday (Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical) and Chaplin (Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical). During the run of the original production, “Better Than a Dream” (a duet for Holliday and Chaplin) was added to the first act, but wasn’t used for the national tour (which starred Holliday and Hal Linden). During the show’s tryout, “Ooogie, Woogie, Shoogie” (for Jeff) was deleted, and “Drop That Name” was titled “The Name-Dropping Gavotte.” The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1957, and the cast album (the first to be issued in stereo) was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5170 and # OS-2006); the CD issued by Sony Classical/ Columbia/Legacy (# SK-89545) includes bonus tracks of Styne playing and singing “It’s a Perfect Relationship,” “Just in Time,” and, with a slightly variant title, “Boogie Woogie Shoogie, Baby of Mine.” The London production opened at the Coliseum on November 14, 1957, for 292 performances with a cast that included Janet Blair (Ella), George Gaynes (Jeff), and Allyn (Ann) McLerie (Gwynne). McLerie had formerly been married to the show’s lyricist Adolph Green, and was now Mrs. Gaynes. The current production’s cast album was recorded by Fynsworth Alley/Varese Sarabande (CD # 302-062115-2) and includes a bonus track of all those terrific songs written by Doctor Kitchell (that is, Dr. Joseph Kitchell, D.D.S.). The musical was later presented by Encores! at City Center on November 18, 2010, for five performances with Kelli O’Hara (Ella), Will Chase (Jeff), Judy Kaye (Sue), David Pittu (Sandor), and Brad Oscar (Doctor Kitchell). The delightful film version was released by MGM in 1960 and was directed by Vincente Minnelli; Holliday, Stapleton, and West reprised their Broadway roles, and others in the cast were Dean Martin (Jeff), Eddie Foy Jr. (Sandor), and Hal Linden (as the lead nightclub singer for “The Midas Touch” sequence). The film omitted the two interrelated songs “On My Own” (aka “Independent”) and “You’ve Got to Do It” along with “Is It a Crime?,” “Hello, Hello There!,” “Long Before I Knew You,” and “Salzburg.” However, “Is It a Crime?” was filmed, and its outtake was added for the movie’s DVD release (Warner Brothers # 65913). Also filmed but not used was the new song “My Guiding Star,” and along with an alternate take of “The Midas Touch,” these numbers were also added for the film’s DVD release. For the film, “Better Than a Dream” was included, and the new number “Do It Yourself” replaced the “On My Own”/“You’ve Got to Do It” sequence. Another new song for the film version was “To Love and to Lose,” which apparently wasn’t filmed. The soundtrack was issued by Capitol (LP # W-1435) and the CD by DRG (# 19027).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Bells Are Ringing); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Faith Prince)

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BLAST

“An Explosive Musical Celebration” Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: April 17, 2001; Closing Date: September 23, 2001 Performances: 176 Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: James Mason; Producers: Cook Group Incorporated and Star of Indiana (Donnie Vandoren, Associate Producer) (Dodger Management Group, Executive Producer); Choreography: Jim Moore, George Pinney, and Jonathan Vanderkolfe; Scenery and Costumes: Mark Thompson; Lighting: Hugh Vanstone; Musical Direction: Bradley Kerr Green and Ray Linkous (Note: When known, cast members’ names are followed by their roles and the instruments they played in the revue.) Cast: Trey Alligood III (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Rachel J. Anderson (French Horn, Mellophone, Voice), Nicholas E. Angelis (Snare Drum, Percussion, Voice), Matthew A. Banks (Tuba, Euphonium, Voice), Kimberly Beth Baron (French Horn, Mellophone, Keyboard, Voice), Wesley Bullock (Cornet, Trumpet, Didgerydoo, Voice), Mark Burroughs (Tuba), Jesus Cantu Jr. (Trumpet, Cornet, Keyboard, Voice, Percussion), Jodina Rosario Carey (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Robert Carmical, Alan “Otto” Compton (Percussion, Voice), Dayne Delahoussaye (French Horn, Mellophone, Voice), Karen Duggan (Visual Ensemble, Voice), John Elrod (Trombone, Euphonium, Voice), Brandon J. Epperson (Trombone, Didgerydoo, Bass Trombone, Voice), Kenneth Frisby (Visual Ensemble, Voice), J. Derek Gipson (Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, Cornet, Voice), Trevor Lee Gooch (Tuba, Didgerydoo, Percussion, Voice), Casey Marshall Gooding (Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, Cornet, Didgerydoo, Voice), Bradley Kerr Green (Trombone, Conductor, Trombonium, Didgerydoo, Voice), Benjamin Taber Griffin (Trombone, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Trombonium, Didgerydoo, Voice), Benjamin Raymond Handel (Percussion, Voice), Benjamin W. Harloff (Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Cornet, Mellophone, Voice), Joe Haworth (Euphonium, Percussion, Voice), Darren M. Haslett (Percussion, Didgerydoo, Voice), Tim Heasley (Trombone, Percussion, Voice), Freddy Hernandez Jr. (Trumpet, Mellophone, Didgerydoo, Voice), George Hester (Trumpet, Cornet, Mellophone, Voice), Jeremiah Todd Huber (Visual Ensemble, Percussion, Voice), Martin A. Hughes (Visual Ensemble, Voice, Percussion), Naoki Ishikawa (Percussion, Voice), Stacy J. Johnson (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Sanford R. Jones (Tuba, Didgerydoo, Voice), Anthony F. Leps (Trumpet, Cornet, Mellophone, Didgerydoo, Percussion, Voice), Ray Linkous (Conductor, Tuba, Didgerydoo), Jean Marie Mallicoat (Euphonium, Didgerydoo, Percussion, Voice), Jack Mansager (Percussion, Voice), Brian Mayle (Trombone, Trombonium, Didgerydoo, Percussion, Voice), Dave Millen (Trumpet, Voice), Jim Moore (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Westley Morehead (Trombone, Trombonium, Didgerydoo, Voice), David “Bula” Nash (Percussion, Voice), Jeffrey A. Queen (Snare Drum, Percussion, Voice), Douglas Raines (Percussion, Didgerydoo, Voice), Chris Rasmussen (Percussion, Voice), Joseph J. Reinhart (Trumpet, Cornet, Didgerydoo, Percussion, Voice), Jamie L. Roscoe (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Jennifer Ross (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Christopher Eric Rutt (French Horn, Mellophone, Didgerydoo, Percussion, Voice), Christopher J. Schletter (Trombone, Trombonium, Euphonium, Voice), Andrew Schneiders (Percussion, Voice), Jonathan L. Schwartz (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Greg Seale (Percussion, Voice), Andy Smart (Trumpet, Didgerydoo, Voice), Radiah Y. Stewart (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Bryan Anthony Sutton (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Sean Terrell (Trumpet, Didgerydoo, Voice), Andrew James Toth (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Joni Paige Viertel (French Horn, Mellophone, Didgerydoo, Voice), Kristin Whiting (Visual Ensemble, Voice) The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Bolero” (music by Maurice Ravel); “Color Wheel” (music by J. Lee); “Split Complimentaries” (music by Josh Talbott); “Everybody Loves the Blues” (lyric and music by Maynard Ferguson and Nicholas Lane) and “Loss” (music by Don Ellis); “Simple Gifts” (from Old American Songs, Set I and “Appalachian Spring” (music by Aaron Copeland); “Battery Battle” (music by T. Hannum, J. Lee, and P. Rennick); “Medea” (music

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by Samuel Barber); “The Promise of Living” (The Tender Land, 1954; lyric by Horace Everett, music by Aaron Copeland) Act Two: “Color Wheel Too” (music by Jonathan Vanderkolfe); “Gee, Officer Krupke” (West Side Story, 1957; lyric by Stephen Sondheim, music by Leonard Bernstein); “Lemontech” (music by Jonathan Vanderkolfe); “Tangerinamadidge” (music by James Mason and Jonathan Vanderkolfe); “Land of Make Believe” (music by Chuck Mangione); Spiritual of the Earth: “Marimba Spiritual” (music by Minoru Miki) and “Earth Beat” (music by Michael Spiro); “Malaguena” (music by Ernesto Lecuona) Blast (or Blast!, depending on how deeply you dug into the program) was a two-hour halftime show, but what happened to the ball game? The production (which originated with the drum corps Star of Indiana) may have been the show that could, but it would have been better served as an actual fifteen-minute halftime entertainment at a sporting event or as a brief segment on the old Ed Sullivan Show. Its relentless and sometimes obvious routines went on too long, and the evening was all out of proportion to its theatrical merit. One could say it didn’t really belong on Broadway, but it nonetheless managed a five-month run. (And, in truth, when was the last time a Broadway revue included a song from Aaron Copeland’s 1954 opera The Tender Land?) The fifty-odd performers ranged in age from nineteen to twenty-nine, and it was the kind of show in which the program and the CD booklet felt compelled to tell you their ages and where they came from (no less than two pages of the CD booklet provided a map of the United States and Japan, and arrows pointed to the “hometowns” of the performers). Bruce Weber in the New York Times said the show “got lost on the way to the stadium,” adding that the “rah, rah” group of brass and percussion players, dancers, marchers, jugglers, and baton twirlers were “a glowingly good-looking” and “irrepressibly” cheerful bunch, and they all bored him “cross-eyed.” Meanwhile, a trumpeter played while standing on a chair high above the stage and a trombonist made music while riding a unicycle, and Weber said if his review seemed “a little uncharitable and a little perverse,” well, he couldn’t help it because the show was “so relentlessly pleased with itself” and “so confident in its clean-cut showmanship.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the evening was “the latest mindless sight-and-sound spectacle” on Broadway, but the show nonetheless had “its own ingratiating charm” and should prove an “easy sell” to summer tourists and foreign audiences. Richard Zoglin in Time said he was “pretty darn impressed” at the sight of a dozen performers tossing batons thirty feet into the air and then catching them “at precisely the same instant a foot from the ground”; but for all that, the show probably belonged in Las Vegas instead of Broadway. The cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-63723-2). A live performance taken from London’s Apollo Hammersmith Theatre was shown on public television, and a DVD was released by PBS.

Awards Tony Award and Nomination: Best Choreography (Jim Morgan, George Pinney, and Jonathan Vanderkolfe); Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event (Blast)

THE PRODUCERS

“The New Mel Brooks Musical” Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: April 19, 2001; Closing Date: April 22, 2007 Performances: 2,502 Book : Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan Lyrics and Music: Mel Brooks Based on the 1967 film The Producers (direction and screenplay by Mel Brooks). Direction and Choreography: Susan Stroman (Steven Zweigbaum, Associate Director; Warren Carlyle, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Rocco Landesman, SFX Theatrical Group, The Frankel-Baruch-ViertelRouth Group, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Rick Steiner, Robert F. X. Sillerman, and Mel Brooks in association with James D. Stern/Douglas Meyer by special arrangement with StudioCanal (Frederic H. and

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Rhoda Mayerson, Lynn Landis, Associate Producers); Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: Patrick S. Brady Cast: Bryn Dowling (Usherette), Jennifer Smith (Usherette, Lick-me Bite-me), Nathan Lane (Max Bialystock), Matthew Broderick (Leo Bloom), Madeleine Doherty (Hold-me Touch-me), Ray Wills (Mr. Marks, Kevin, Jason Green, Sergeant, Trustee), Brad Oscar (Franz Liebkind), Roger Bart (Carmen Ghia), Gary Beach (Roger De Bris), Peter Marinos (Bryan, Jack Lepidus, Judge), Jeffry Denman (Scott, Donald Dinsmore, Guard), Kathy Fitzgerald (Shirley, Kiss-me Feel-me, Foreman of Jury), Cady Huffman (Ulla), Eric Gunhus (Lead Tenor), Abe Sylvia (O’Rourke, Bailiff), Matt Loehr (O’Riley), Robert H. Fowler (O’Houllihan); Ensemble: Jeffry Denman, Madeleine Doherty, Bryn Dowling, Kathy Fitzgerald, Robert H. Fowler, Ida Gilliams, Eric Gunhus, Kimberly Hester, Naomi Kakuk, Matt Loehr, Peter Marinos, Angie L. Schworer, Jennifer Smith, Abe Sylvia, Tracy Terstriep, Ray Wills The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City in 1959.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Opening Night” (Ensemble); “The King of Broadway” (Nathan Lane, Ensemble); “We Can Do It” (Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick); “I Wanna Be a Producer” (Matthew Broderick, Accountants); “We Can Do It” (reprise) (Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick); “In Old Bavaria” (Brad Oscar); “Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop” (Brad Oscar, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick); “Keep It Gay” (Gary Beach, Roger Bart, Peter Marinos, Ray Wills, Jeffry Denman, Kathy Fitzgerald, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick); “When You Got It, Flaunt It” (Cady Huffman); “Along Came Baily” (Nathan Lane, Little Old Ladies); Act One Finale (Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Brad Oscar, Cady Huffman, Gary Beach, Roger Bart, Peter Marinos, Ray Wills, Jeffry Denman, Kathy Fitzgerald, Ensemble) Act Two: “That Face” (Matthew Broderick, Cady Huffman, Nathan Lane); “Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band?” (“Have You Ever Heard the German Band?”) (Ray Wills, Brad Oscar); “Opening Night” (reprise) (Bryn Dowling, Jennifer Smith); “You Never Say ‘Good Luck’ on Opening Night” (Gary Beach, Nathan Lane, Roger Bart, Brad Oscar, Matthew Broderick); “Springtime for Hitler” (Eric Gunhus, Gary Beach, Cady Huffman, Ensemble); “Where Did We Go Right?” (Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick); “Betrayed” (Nathan Lane); “’Til Him” (Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane); “Prisoners of Love” (Convicts); “Prisoners of Love” (reprise) (Gary Beach, Cady Huffman, Ensemble); “Prisoners of Love: Leo and Max” (second reprise) (Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane); “Goodbye!” (Company) Every decade seems to anoint one musical as the show that defines the zeitgeist and becomes an unstoppable force that everyone in the world seems to have seen or at least heard about, even dear Aunt Tillie and Uncle Clem back in Podunk. In the 1940s, it was Oklahoma!, then My Fair Lady in the 1950s, Hair in the 1960s, A Chorus Line in the 1970s, Cats in the 1980s, Rent in the 1990s, and Mel Brooks’s The Producers in the 2000s (Hamilton is certainly the unstoppable force of the 2010s). These shows enjoyed long runs, and for the most part received ecstatic reviews, won awards, influenced musicals to come, and quickly became the emblems of their theatrical and cultural eras. The Producers institutionalized the feel-good, aren’t-we-silly school of musicals that spoofs musical comedy conventions: At the beginning of act two, Max asks his secretary how his heretofore shabby office could have been so quickly transformed into a luxurious one, and she responds, “Intermission.” Poking fun at popular musicals has always been a staple of revues and musicals (the 1944 musical Jackpot kidded Agnes de Mille’s style of Broadway choreography with “Grist for de Mille,” and the 1946 revue Three to Make Ready made hash of Oklahoma! with “Wisconsin, or Kenosha Canoe”). Other early examples of spoofy, ironic musicals are Charles Groden’s 1966 Off-Broadway Hooray !! It’s a Glorious Day . . . and All That (when the scene changes from an office to a park, a character wonders what happened to the office scenery) and the 1973 Off-Broadway/Broadway Smith (the show was under a smorgasbord of both Off-Broadway and Broadway contracts), whose titular hero says it’s unnatural to walk around in a “perfectly sickening baby pink spot,” and when he has to go on a business trip he’s aghast to find that the plane’s jetway “doesn’t go anywhere.” The later 1977 Off-Broadway musical North Atlantic laughed at Rodgers and Hammerstein (with such songs as “Duo Thoughts,” “I Held a Hope,” “Erase Him,” and “The Sleigh with the Cream-Colored Team”),

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and the 1982 Off-Broadway revue Corkscrews spoofed Sondheim with Psychotic Overtures. The 1979 British musical Songbook (which opened on Broadway as The Moony Shapiro Songbook in 1981) satirized the composer-tribute musicals with the fictitious songwriter Moony Shapiro and his Rodgers and Hammersteinstyled 1954 musical Happy Hickory (which seems to be a wild combination of Finian’s Rainbow, Paint Your Wagon, Plain and Fancy, and Li’l Abner and includes a number of “vocal gems” from the show, including “Rusty’s Dream Ballet” and “The Pokenhatchit’s Public Protest Committee”). But it was The Producers that led the vanguard of ironic spoof musicals, and it was followed by such shows as Urinetown, Avenue Q, The Musical of Musicals (2003, an Off-Broadway send-up of no less than five musicals, including Oklahoma!, which was parodied as Corn!, where farm-boy hero Big Willy sings that he’s “in love with a beautiful hoe,” and a Sweeney Todd spoof called A Little Complex, whose throat-slashing killer states that “a funny thing happened on the way to decorum”), Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein (by Brooks, of course), Adrift in Macao (2007, Off Broadway; in which someone says “See you around,” and the response is, “Well, it’s a small cast”), [title of show], and Something Rotten! (2015). For years, many critics referred to Springtime for Hitler when they reviewed a really bad show, and of course they were referencing the musical-within-the-musical of the 1967 film The Producers. And now The Producers and the “New Neo-Nazi Musical” Springtime for Hitler were on Broadway, and here was glorified bad taste made sacrosanct. The amusing show went out of its way to laugh at gays, lesbians, feminists, blacks, the elderly, the Irish, the Germans, you name it. But it soon became somewhat wearisome, and the final scenes were slightly desperate in their effort to wind up a plot that had wound down much earlier. The show demanded that you laugh at it, and during the Tony Awards season the show seemed cloaked in an aura of self-entitlement, as if it were the ultimate gift to musical theatre. And certainly the Tony Award voters agreed, and The Producers won a record twelve medallions, even one for Best Score when it was clear the best song in the show had been written for the 1967 film and the new songs were decidedly from the second if not third drawer. But the critics anointed the show, and you couldn’t keep audiences away. There was even a New Yorker cover that depicted a distinctly unamused Hitler watching the musical while the audience around him rolled in the aisles. The story was of course the one in which down-and-out producer Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) decides to oversell shares in a truly bad musical that is clearly doomed for failure. Because flops are quickly written off as bad investments, no one will ever notice all that surplus investment money, which will fund a luxurious early retirement down in Rio for Max and his hapless coproducer Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick). But Max’s scheme backfires when Springtime for Hitler becomes a hit, and soon he and Leo are headed for the big house. Susan Stroman’s direction moved merrily along, but the book’s humor was sometimes painfully obvious, the score was less than memorable, and the story all but gave up the ghost in the second act. The cast (Lane, Broderick, Gary Beach, Roger Bart, Brad Oscar, and Cady Huffman) gave performances grounded in deep shtick, which was just what the production required, and Bart went even further with his flaming limpwristed and gayer-than-thou portrayal of Carmen Ghia. In fact, his performance brought to mind the character Sebastian in Coco (1969): When someone wonders if Sebastian is “homosexual,” the answer is no, “he’s way beyond that.” Robin Wagner’s Technicolor décor and William Ivey Long’s equally colorful costumes were lavish, and Stroman’s choreography didn’t disappoint. For “I Wanna Be a Producer,” she borrowed an idea from her staging of “I Can’t Be Bothered Now” from Crazy for You. In that musical, Bobby’s fantasies lead him into a production number where a seemingly endless procession of chorines emerge from a Town Car, and in The Producers the drab accountant Leo conjures up a bevy of chorus girls who materialize from file cabinets. Meanwhile, in Little-Old-Lady Land, a flock of grannies become dancing fools as they form a geriatric chorus line on walkers, and for “Springtime for Hitler,” showgirls promenade in every possible cliché of Old Germany as they wear huge bratwurst, pretzels, and steins of foaming beer and urge Germany to go into its dance. All this, and let’s don’t forget Franz Liebkind’s dancing Nazi-saluting pigeons whose wings bear swastikas. Variety tabulated the nineteen major print and television reviews and came up with eighteen favorable notices and one mixed. The raves were valentines: “A big Broadway book musical that is so ecstatically drunk on its powers to entertain that it leaves you delirious” (Ben Brantley in the New York Times); “A cast-iron, copper-bottomed, super-duper, mammoth old-time Broadway hit” (Clive Barnes in the New York Post); “No new musical in ages has offered so much imagination, so much sheer pleasure” (Howard Kissel in the New

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York Daily News); “A rip-roaring, gut-busting, rib-tickling, knee-slapping, aisle-rolling (insert your own compound adjective here) good time” and “a big whoopee cushion of a musical” (Charles Isherwood in Variety); “Simply the funniest, most fearlessly irreverent thing I have ever seen on a Broadway stage” (Elysa Gardner in USA Today); Brooks has “asserted the authority of the comedian as the engine behind the Broadway musical” (John Lahr in the New Yorker); and “one loopy production number after another, with laughs coming from everywhere” (Nelson Pressley in the Washington Post). Time featured no less than three major articles about the musical within six months (“Theatre: Brush Up Your Goose Step” by Richard Zoglin; “Springtime for Mel Brooks (and Broadway)” by Martin Lewis; and “That Old Feeling: Brooks to Broadway: Get Happy” by Richard Corliss). But the headline of John Simon’s review in New York proclaimed “Blazing Twaddle.” He noted that around him people “wallowed in gusts of guffaws,” while he “chuckled fitfully.” Nonetheless, he said the production dazzled and he praised Stroman’s “riotous” staging, Long’s “uproarious” costumes, Wagner’s “mischievous” décor, and Kaczorowski’s “lightsomely” lighting. The lyrics were “workmanlike,” and if the music had a “slightly recycled sound,” it was nevertheless “melodious and at times even rousing.” During the tryout, Ron Orbach (who played Franz Liebkind) was succeeded by Brad Oscar. Note that some sources list “Heil to Myself” as a separate number, but the song is actually part of the “Springtime for Hitler” sequence. The original cast album was released by Sony Classical Records (CD # SK-89646), and for sheer weirdness one might want to seek out the 2005 Hungarian cast recording Producerek (Metro Records CD # RET-047), which includes “Nagy Producer Leszek Egyszer” and “Hitler Tavasza.” The Broadway cast album session was filmed as Recording “The Producers”: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks; it was shown on the public television’s Great Performances, and was released on DVD by Masterworks Broadway (# 897060). The script was published in hardback by Hyperion/Talk Miramax Books (A Roundtable Press Book) in 2001 and includes a generous sampling of color photographs from the musical and articles about the production. For all its Broadway pedigree (which included original Broadway cast members Lane, Broderick, Beach, and Bart, a screenplay by Brooks, direction and choreography by Stroman, and costume designs by William Ivey Long), the 2005 film version by Columbia was flat and disappointing. It was released on DVD by Universal (# 28437) and includes deleted scenes and outtakes. The soundtrack album was issued by Sony Classics (CD # 82876-74691-2), and includes “You’ll Find Your Happiness in Rio” and “There’s Nothing Like a Show on Broadway.” For the film, the lead tenor in the “Springtime for Hitler” sequence is John Barrowman, and in minor roles are such Broadway stalwarts as Brent Barrett, Hunter Foster, Judy Kaye, Sally Mayes, Debra Monk, Nancy Opel, and Marilyn Sokol. The London production opened at the Drury Lane on November 9, 2004, for 904 performances; Lane reprised his Broadway role, and Lee Evans was Leo. The 1967 film (which won Brooks the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay) was released on a two-disk DVD by MGM/Sony Pictures (# 13042) and includes an outtake, a documentary, and various photo and sketch galleries. For the 1967 film, the walls of Max’s office are covered with show posters (window cards) of actual plays and musicals, all but one of them Broadway flops (see below). Show buffs in particular will enjoy seeing them, and they include: The Astrakhan Coat (1967; 19 performances), Baby Want a Kiss (1964; 145 performances), Beekman Place (1964; 29 performances), Café Crown (1964; 3 performances), Diamond Orchid (1965; 5 performances), Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1965; 13 performances), First One Asleep, Whistle (1966; 1 performance), Foxy (1964; 72 performances), The Great Indoors (1966; 7 performances), La Grosse Valise (1965; 7 performances), Nature’s Way (1957; 61 performances), Night Life (1962; 63 performances), Nobody Loves an Albatross (1963; 212 performances), The Perfect Setup (1962; 5 performances), Photo Finish (1963; 159 performances), The Playroom (1965; 33 performances), Poor Bitos (1964; 17 performances), Something More! (1964; 15 performances), That Summer–That Fall (1967; 12 performances), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1966; 9 performances), and even Alice with Kisses, a 1964 Off-Broadway musical that closed in previews. Note that Variety’s 1963–1964 seasonal tabulation placed the limited-run comedy Baby Want a Kiss (which starred Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward) in the hit column. For the stage musical, we’re treated to posters and marquees of a number of Max’s productions, including such goodies as Funny Boy! (his flop musical version of Hamlet), King Leer, Death of a Salesman—On Ice!, A Streetcar Named Murray, The Kidney Stone (and its sequel This Too Shall Pass), The Breaking Wind, When Cousins Marry, Maim, Katz, 47th Street, South Passaic, High Button Jews, She Shtups to Conquer, and, happily,

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Funny Boy 2. (And lest we forget, when Max seduces old ladies out of their money, they play naughty games like “The Rabbi and the Contortionist” and “The Virgin Milkmaid and the Well-Hung Stable Boy.”) For the film version of the musical, the Shubert Alley of 1959 boasts three-sheet posters of such musicals as Redhead, Destry Rides Again, and The Sound of Music. Despite its six-year New York run, The Producers surprised Broadway insiders, who expected the musical to run at least two or three more years. Because the public associated the musical with Lane and Broderick, the show didn’t quite emerge as the marathon megahit many envisioned. Despite its reported grosses of onebillion dollars worldwide, its long Broadway run, and the quick return of its $10.5 million investment within eight months of its opening, the show was viewed by the public as a star vehicle for Lane and Broderick, and replacements didn’t incite a stampede to the box office. Lane and Broderick returned to the musical for a few weeks during the run, but otherwise some performers ran into trouble when they signed on. Henry Goodman was the first to succeed Lane, but he gave just thirty performances before he was replaced, and Richard Dreyfuss, who was scheduled to play the role in London, left the show four days before its opening (Lane was a quick substitution). Many hits (such as Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, and Man of La Mancha) were clearly identified with their original stars, but New York and road replacements didn’t hurt the shows in the eyes of the public, and they ran for years. Funny Girl and Mame, on the other hand, were so closely identified with their original leading ladies that they never quite made their mark on the road. Likewise The Producers seemed to suffer without the inspired teaming of Lane and Broderick. The Producers also made its mark because it institutionalized premium-price seating, something Max would no doubt appreciate. As soon as the New York reviews appeared, the producers raised the top ticket price to a Broadway record of $100, and later the price for the best seats was raised to $480. In the production, prop programs were used for Springtime for Hitler, Prisoners of Love, and Funny Boy!, and they found their way into the collectors’ market. These were either actual programs of The Producers with covers removed and replaced with new ones, or programs that contained blank sheets of paper inside. For Funny Boy!, there were black and white as well as color artwork covers, both with variations of Hamlet and Yorick sharing a musical moment; the cover for the color program notes that the show is “a new musical version of Shakespeare’s famous Hamlet. Entire production concieved [sic], created, devised, thought of and supervised by Max Bialystock.” The 1967 film version of The Producers was partially filmed in the now-demolished Playhouse Theatre (which was located on West 48th Street across from the Cort Theatre), and the Springtime for Hitler scenes were filmed there. The film also included prop programs for the Springtime audience members, and these programs occasionally surface in auctions of either theatre or movie memorabilia. For its cover, the program uses a generic “traffic” photo (which was sometimes used during the 1960s) with the Playhouse Theatre and Springtime for Hitler printed on the cover. These were actually programs of the revue Sing Israel Sing, which opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on May 11, 1967; for the movie, the covers were removed and the Springtime traffic cover was added. Another interesting prop program is one used for the 1954 film version of Clifford Odets’s 1950 play The Country Girl, in which the leading character, Frank Elgin, is now a singing performer instead of a dramatic one. For the film, Frank (Bing Crosby) appears in a Broadway musical called The Land around Us (which seems to be an earnest musical drama in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Oklahoma! mode and is set in what appears to be the Midwest of the 1850s). In the film, the prop program is shown while an audience member reads it, and we discover the show played at the Martin Beck (now Al Hirschfeld) Theatre. The film also includes the title song from The Land around Us (lyric by Ira Gershwin and music by Harold Arlen), and the musical staging was by Robert Alton, the legendary Broadway choreographer who excelled in jubilant, knock’em-dead dances and who here created somewhat stately and solemn Agnes de Mille-styled movement. (In the film, The Land around Us holds auditions in the Longacre Theatre.)

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (The Producers); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Matthew Broderick); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Nathan Lane); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Roger Bart); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Gary Beach); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Brad Oscar); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Cady Huffman); Best Book (Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan); Best Score

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(lyrics and music by Mel Brooks); Best Direction of a Musical (Susan Stroman); Best Choreography (Susan Stroman); Best Scenic Design (Robin Wagner); Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long); Best Lighting (Peter Kaczorowski); Best Orchestrations (Doug Besterman) New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award: Best Musical (2000–2001) (The Producers)

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: April 26, 2001; Closing Date: May 13, 2001 Performances: 21 Book: Ken Ludwig Lyrics and Music: Don Schlitz; dance and incidental music by David Krane Based on the 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Direction: Scott Ellis; Producers: James M. Nederlander, James L. Nederlander, and Watt/Dobie Productions; Choreography: David Marques (Jodi Moccia, Additional Choreography) (Rommy Sandhu, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Heidi Ettinger; Costumes: Anthony Powell; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Joshua Park (Tom Sawyer), Tommar Wilson (Ben Rogers), Joe Gallagher (George Bellamy), Blake Hackler (Lyle Bellamy), Erik J. McCormack (Joe Harper), Pierce Cravens (Alfred Temple), Ann Whitlow Brown (Amy Lawrence), Mekenzie Rosen-Stone (Lucy Harper), Elan (Susie Rogers), Nikki M. James (Sabina Temple), Stacia Fernandez (Sally Bellamy), Donna Lee Marshall (Sereny Harper), Amy Jo Phillips (Lucinda Rogers), Sally Wilfert (Naomi Temple), Linda Purl (Aunt Polly), Marshall Pailet (Sid Sawyer), Stephen Lee Anderson (Doc Robinson, Pap), Tommy Hollis (Reverend Sprague), Richard Poe (Lanyard Bellamy), Ric Stoneback (Gideon Temple), John Christopher Jones (Lemuel Dobbins), Jim Poulos (Huckleberry Finn), Kevin Durand (Injun Joe), Tom Aldredge (Muff Potter), John Dossett (Judge Thatcher), Kristen Bell (Becky Thatcher), Jane Connell (Widow Douglas) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in St. Petersburg, Missouri, during 1844.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Hey, Tom Sawyer” (The Boys, Joshua Park, Linda Purl, John Christopher Jones, Tommy Hollis, The People of St. Petersburg); “Here’s My Plan” (Joshua Park); “Smart Like That” (Joshua Park, Jim Poulos, The Boys); “Hands All Clean” (Kevin Durand); “The Vow” (Joshua Park, Jim Poulos); “Ain’t Life Fine” (The People of St. Petersburg); “It Just Ain’t Me” (Jim Poulos); “To Hear You Say My Name” (Joshua Park, Kristen Bell); “Murrel’s Gold” (Kevin Durand, Tom Aldredge, Joshua Park, Jim Poulos); “The Testimony” (Jim Poulos, The People of St. Petersburg) Act Two: “Ain’t Life Fine” (reprise) (The Boys and The Girls); “This Time Tomorrow” (Linda Purl); “I Can Read” (Joshua Park, Jane Connell); “You Can’t Can’t Dance” (John Dossett, Linda Purl, The People of St. Petersburg); “Murrel’s Gold” (reprise) (Kevin Durand); “Angels Lost” (Linda Purl, John Dossett, The People of St. Petersburg); “Light” (Joshua Park); “Angels Lost” (reprise) (Kristen Bell); “Light” (reprise) (The People of St. Petersburg); Finale (Joshua Park, Jim Poulos, Kristen Bell, The Boys and The Girls) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer opened at the end of the season and was gone in less than three weeks. The adaptation of Mark Twain’s familiar story of Tom Sawyer and his various escapades, including the whitewashed picket fence and cave episodes, didn’t strike sparks in a season of full montys and scheming producers, and of the fifteen major print and television reviews, Variety tallied ten negative notices and five mixed for the $8 million musical. Bruce Weber in the New York Times found the “muddled and torn” evening “tame” and “middle-of-theroad,” with sets that were “a little cheesy looking,” a cast that for the most part was “simply bland,” and “energetic” choreography that was “hampered” by a young ensemble “with evidently limited training.” The musical never aspired to “real creativity” and merely aimed for “the lowest level of acceptability” in order “to be good enough to engage those new to Broadway but not better than that.” And Don Schlitz’s score offered

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“abbreviated phrases and simplistic tick-tock rhythms,” and you waited “in vain for a twangy melody with any kind of melancholy swagger.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the musical was “sunny and handsome but deflatingly bland” with “dull” dances (the three choreographers listed in the program could do no better than a “decidedly unjubilant and unimaginative reel” for the show’s big dance number “You Can’t Can’t Dance”). Twain’s original novel was “a larking, episodic grab bag of images,” and its “lighthearted spirit” was captured by Ken Ludwig’s libretto, which did an “able job of stitching together a single narrative from the rambling collection of boyhood adventures.” And while Schlitz’s score had “many charming highlights and infectious melodies,” it required “more real tang and variety” because the “chicken-fried, perky fiddle-based” songs for Tom and Huck “seemed interchangeable” and the “moody” and “declamatory” ones for Injun Joe “might have wandered in from a Frank Wildhorn musical.” The show made a slight bow to political correctness in regard to Injun Joe’s treatment and with its color-blind casting, but Isherwood noted it was “disconcerting to see black boys and white girls merrily dancing together in 19th-century Missouri.” Richard Zoglin in Time found the evening “a second-rate refugee from summer stock.” The lyrics were “cornball,” but the music had “a country twang,” and he noted the “odd, earth-toned” décor made St. Petersburg, Missouri, “look like something the Pharaohs built.” However, while kids might enjoy the “exciting” cave sequence, there was little here for the “paying adults”—unless they needed “a rest after standing in line for tickets to The Producers.” The songs “Spirits” and “When That Boy Smiles at Me” were cut during Broadway previews. There was no cast album, but a promotional CD of four songs from the musical was recorded in October 2000 and had limited (free) distribution: “Hey, Tom Sawyer” (performed by a chorus that included cast members Joshua Park, Linda Purl, and Kristen Bell); “To Hear You Say My Name” (Joshua Park and Kristen Bell); “Smart Like That” (Joshua Park and chorus); and “This Time Tomorrow” (Linda Purl). There have been at least seventeen musical adaptations of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and they range from the 1902 musical Huckleberry Finn, which closed prior to Broadway, to the long-running 1985 Big River (about Huckleberry Finn), to the current one about Tom Sawyer. Other musicals about Tom Sawyer include Tom Sawyer (a 1956 television version presented on the U.S. Steel Hour); Livin’ the Life (Phoenix Theatre, April 27, 1957, twenty-five performances); a 1960 British adaptation titled Tom Sawyer (which didn’t play the West End); Tom Sawyer (The Goodman School of Drama/ Children’s Theatre at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, on October 18, 1975, for thirty-three performances); The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (The Magic Turtle Children’s Theatre at the Dallas Theatre Center on April 8, 1978, for eight performances); and Great Big River (by the Mississippi), a revised version of Livin’ the Life which played in regional theatre in 1981.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Scenic Design (Heidi Ettinger); Best Lighting Design (Kenneth Posner)

GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE “A New Play

with

Music”

Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: April 30, 2001; Closing Date: July 22, 2001 Performances: 96 Book: Hershey Felder Lyrics: Mostly by Ira Gershwin Music: George Gershwin Direction: Joel Zwick; Producers: Richard Willis, Martin Markinson, and HTG Productions; Scenery: Yael Pardess; Costumes: Wardrobe provided by Kenneth Cole; Lighting: James F. Ingalls; Musical Direction: Hershey Felder Cast: Hershey Felder (George Gershwin) The musical was presented in one act.

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Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers; the following alphabetical list of music heard in the production is taken from newspaper and magazine reviews and from other sources. “An American in Paris” (1928): “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” (Porgy and Bess, 1935; lyric by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin); “Embraceable You” (Girl Crazy, 1930; lyric by Ira Gershwin); “I Got Rhythm” (Girl Crazy, 1930; lyric by Ira Gershwin); ”I Loves You, Porgy” (Porgy and Bess, 1935; lyric by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward); “The Man I Love” (cut during the tryout of Lady, Be Good!, 1924; heard as “The Girl I Love” in the 1927 version of Strike Up the Band, which closed prior to Broadway; and was later intended for the 1928 musical Rosalie, but wasn’t used; lyric by Ira Gershwin); “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924); “Someone to Watch Over Me” (Oh, Kay!, 1926; lyric by Ira Gershwin); “Summertime” (Porgy and Bess, 1935; lyric by DuBose Heyward); “Swanee” (Demi-Tasse Revue, which was part of the Capitol Revue, 1919; later interpolated into the tour of Sinbad, also 1919; lyric by Irving Caesar) Pianist and performer Hershey Felder’s George Gershwin Alone was a one-man biographical tribute to the Broadway, Hollywood, opera stage, and concert hall composer in which Felder played the role of Gershwin, who died in 1937 at the age of thirty-eight. Bruce Weber in the New York Times said the evening was “something of a shrine, a work of reverence and gratitude” with an atmosphere “part funeral home, part limbo.” Sometimes Felder’s “fervor” seemed overdone, and while he could have used “a slightly more distant perspective on his subject,” he was at “his most relaxed and most entertaining when he replicates the composer composing.” Charles Isherwood in Variety indicated the evening was “not so much a play as a nightclub act with extra helpings of between-song patter.” The song selections never went beyond Gershwin’s “greatest hits,” there was a “lecture-ish tone” to the “modest and inoffensive” evening, and the critic wondered who was the show’s intended audience because the composer’s aficionados would find the “Gershwin-for-beginners approach unilluminating and somewhat dull” and “mainstream theatergoers” might not be interested in the subject. But Felder was an “energetic” and “natural” performer and despite his concert-hall background he nonetheless evoked the aura of “an oldfashioned all-around showbiz type.” George Gershwin Alone was originally developed at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles. Broadway’s most recent tribute to Gershwin had been The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm, which opened on April 25, 1999, at the Longacre Theatre for seventeen performances. Earlier in the 2000–2001 season, Off Broadway saluted Gershwin with American Rhapsody, a revue with Mark Nadler and KT Sullivan that opened at the Triad Theatre on November 10 for 231 showings.

42nd STREET Theatre: Ford Center for the Performing Arts Opening Date: May 2, 2001; Closing Date: January 2, 2005 Performances: 1,524 Book: Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble Lyrics: Al Dubin; additional 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: Mark Bramble; Producers: Dodger Theatricals, Joop van den Ende, and Stage Holding (Dodger Management Group, Executive Producer); Choreography: Gower Champion’s original choreography recreated by Randy Skinner, and new choreography by Skinner (Kelli Barclay, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Costumes: Roger Kirk; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Todd Ellison Cast: Michael Arnold (Andy Lee), Mary Testa (Maggie Jones), Jonathan Freeman (Bert Barry), Allen Fitzpatrick (Mac, Thug, Doctor), Catherine Wreford (Phyllis), Megan Sikora (Lorraine), Tamlyn Brooke Shusterman (Diane), Mylinda Hull (Annie), Amy Dolan (Ethel), David Elder (Billy Lawlor), Kate Levering (Peggy Sawyer), Billy Stritch (Oscar), Michael Cumpsty (Julian Marsh), Christine Ebersole (Dorothy Brock),

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Michael McCarty (Abner Dillon), Richard Muenz (Pat Denning); Waiters: Brad Aspel, Mike Warshaw, Shonn Wiley; Jerry Tellier (Thug); Ensemble: Brad Aspel, Becky Berstler, Randy Bobish, Chris Clay, Michael Clowers, Maryam Myika Day, Alexander deJong, Amy Dolan, Isabelle Flachsmann, Jennifer Jones, Dontee Kiehn, Renee Klapmeyer, Jessica Kostival, Keirsten Kupiec, Todd Lattimore, Melissa Rae Mahon, Michael Malone, Jennifer Marquardt, Meredith Patterson, Darin Phelps, Wendy Rosoff, Megan Schenck, Kelly Sheehan, Tamlyn Brooke Shusterman, Megan Sikora, Jennifer Stetor, Erin Stoddard, Yasuko Tamaki, Jonathan Taylor, Jerry Tellier, Elisa Van Duyne, Erika Vaughn, Mike Warshaw, Merrill West, Shonn Wiley, Catherine Wreford The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City and Philadelphia during 1933.

Musical Numbers Note: (*) indicates song was heard in the original 1933 film 42nd Street (all lyrics for the film’s songs are by Al Dubin). Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Audition” (Michael Arnold, Ensemble); “Young and Healthy” (*) (David Elder, Kate Levering); “Shadow Waltz” (1933 film Gold Diggers of 1933; lyric by Al Dubin) (Mary Testa, Christine Ebersole, Ensemble); “Go into Your Dance” (1935 film Go into Your Dance; lyric by Al Dubin) (Mary Testa, Mylinda Hull, Kate Levering, Catherine Wreford, Megan Sikora, Michael Arnold); “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me” (*) (Christine Ebersole, David Elder, Kate Levering, Ensemble); “Getting Out of Town” (written for the 1931 Broadway musical The Laugh Parade, the song was first introduced as “Got to Go to Town” with lyric by Mort Dixon and Joe Young; the lyric was revised for the stage adaptation of 42nd Street) (Company); “Dames” (1934 film Dames; lyric by Al Dubin) (David Elder, Men); “Keep Young and Beautiful” (1933 film Roman Scandals; lyric by Al Dubin) (Mary Testa, Jonathan Freeman, Girls); “Dames” (reprise) (Company); “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1934 film Dames; lyric by Al Dubin) (Christine Ebersole, Billy Stritch); “I Only Have Eyes for You” (reprise) (David Elder, Girls); “We’re in the Money” (1933 film Gold Diggers of 1933; lyric by Al Dubin) (Mylinda Hull, Kate Levering, Megan Sikora, Catherine Wreford, David Elder, Ensemble); Act One Finale (Christine Ebersole, Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “(There’s a) Sunny Side to Every Situation” (1938 film Hard to Get; lyric by Johnny Mercer) (Mylinda Hull, Ensemble); “Lullaby of Broadway” (1935 film Gold Diggers of 1935; lyric by Al Dubin) (Michael Cumpsty, Company); “Getting Out of Town” (reprise) (Jonathan Freeman, Mary Testa, Company); “Montage” (Michael Cumpsty, Michael Arnold, Kate Levering, Ensemble); “About a Quarter to Nine” (1935 film Go into Your Dance; lyric by Al Dubin) (Christine Ebersole, Kate Levering); Pretty Lady sequence: (1) Overture (Orchestra); (2) “With Plenty of Money and You” (1937 film Gold Diggers of 1937; lyric by Al Dubin) (Kate Levering, Men); (3) “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” (*) (Jonathan Freeman, Mary Testa, Mylinda Hull, Girls); and (4) “42nd Street” (*) (Kate Levering, David Elder, Ensemble); “42nd Street” (reprise) (Michael Cumpsty); Finale (Company) It seemed as though the original 1980 production of 42nd Street had just closed, and during the era one sometimes suspected that as soon as a show posted its closing notice plans got underway for a revival. The original production of 42nd Street had opened on August 25, 1980, and closed on January 8, 1989, after a run of 3,486 performances, and won two Tony Awards, for Best Musical and for Best Choreography (Gower Champion). So a lavish revival just twelve years later seemed foolhardy. But like the original it also won two Tony Awards (including Best Revival) and ran for 1,524 performances, so clearly the production drew in the audiences and kept the box office busy. But for all that, the production reportedly was unable to pay off its initial capitalization. The story of 42nd Street was the ultimate backstage tale of the unassuming and unknown chorus girl who at the last minute goes on for the ailing and imperious star and becomes a star herself. The chorine has just thirtysix hours to learn twenty-five pages of dialogue, six songs, and ten dance routines, and it’s probably best if she doesn’t dwell on the fact that failure means she’s personally responsible for putting a hundred people out of work. The original production received enthusiastic reviews, but its opening night was tempered by the tragic news of the death of its director and choreographer Gower Champion. He had died just hours before the opening night curtain, and his death was announced by producer David Merrick to the 42nd Street company and

2000–2001 Season     63

to the audience after the curtain call when the cast was still on stage. Had the event happened in a movie, no one would have believed it, but the opening night of 42nd Street was one of a handful of truly dramatic and memorable opening ones. Champion’s death made headlines, and everyone agreed that no stage show could ever hope to emulate the drama of this historic opening night. Of the revival’s sixteen major print and television reviews, Variety reported four were negative, one was mixed, and eleven were favorable. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “premature” revival was “flavorless,” and while he recalled the original production as “uncertain” in tone “between spoof and sincerity,” it was “positively electric” compared to the current one, which had “the thrice-watered-down feeling of a pastiche of a pastiche.” As a result, most of the evening had the “cold blaze of synthetic glamour, of the sort found in floor shows in high-end hotels in Las Vegas.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the show sought to “slay” the audience with its “old-fashioned, lavish showmanship,” and from the “wow” opening number to the curtain call the musical continued to slay “with mechanical regularity.” Richard Zoglin in Time admitted he hadn’t been “clamoring” to see a revival of 42nd Street, but despite the “creaky” book the show was “pure candy” that would “probably rot your teeth, but who can resist?” Both the 1980 production and the revival retained four songs from the original film 42nd Street (“Young and Healthy,” “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” and the title song) and omitted “It Must Be June.” The original production included “I Know Now” (1937 film The Singing Marine; lyric by Johnny Mercer), which was cut from the revival, and two songs were 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). During the tryout of the 1980 production, the now reinstated “Keep Young and Beautiful” was cut, as was “You Gotta Know How to Dance” (source and lyricist unknown), and “Getting Out of Town” was titled “Time to Leave Town.” The 1980 cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # CBL1-3891 and CD # 3891), and there were a number of foreign cast albums, including the Australian recording (RCA Victor LP # VRL1-0812), which included “I Only Have Eyes for You.” The recording of the current revival was issued by Atlantic Records (CD # 92953-2).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (42nd Street); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Kate Levering); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Testa); Best Direction of a Musical (Mark Bramble); Best Scenic Design (Douglas W. Schmidt); Best Costume Design (Roger Kirk); Best Lighting Design (Paul Gallo); Best Choreography (Randy Skinner)

CINDERELLA

“The Musical That Makes Dreams Come True!” Theatre: The Theatre at Madison Square Garden Opening Date: May 3, 2001; Closing Date: May 13, 2001 Performances: 11 Book: Oscar Hammerstein II; adapted for the stage by Tom Briggs, from the 1997 teleplay by Robert L. Freedman Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Richard Rodgers Based on the 1697 fairy tale Cinderella by Charles Perrault. Direction: Gabriel Barre; Producer: Radio City Entertainment; Choreography: Ken Roberson; Scenery: James Youmans; Costumes: Pamela Scofield; Lighting: Tim Hunter; Musical Direction: John Mezzio; Note: Puppets by Integrity Designworks. Cast: Eartha Kitt (Fairy Godmother), Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Cinderella), Paolo Montalban (Prince Christopher), Everett Quinton (Stepmother), NaTasha Yvette Williams (Grace), Alexandra Kolb (Joy), Victor Trent Cook (Lionel), Leslie Becker (Queen Constantina), Ken Prymus (King Maximillian); Four White Mice:

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Kip Driver, Kevin Duda, Jason Ma, Jason Robinson; Ensemble (Villagers, Merchants, Maidens, and Palace Guests): Joanne Borts, Natalie Cortez, Kip Driver, Kevin Duda, Davis Kirby, Amy Nicole Krawcek, Jason Ma, Christy Morton, Kerri Nowe, Monica Patton, Karine Plantadit-Bageot, Lyn Philistine, Christeena Michelle Riggs, Jason Robinson, Jessica Rush, Jonathan Stahl, Kate Strohbehn, Keith L. Thomas, Ron J. Todorowski, Todd L. Underwood, Andre Ward, Patrick Wetzel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a royal kingdom a long time ago.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue (Eartha Kitt, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Ensemble); “The Sweetest Sounds” (No Strings, 1962; lyric by Richard Rodgers) (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Paolo Montalban); “The Prince Is Giving a Ball” (Victor Trent Cook, Everett Quinton, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Alexandra Kolb, Villagers); “In My Own Little Corner” (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Animals); “The Sweetest Sounds” (reprise) (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Paolo Montalban); “In My Own Little Corner” (reprise) (Jamie-Lynn Sigler); “Fol-de-Rol” (Eartha Kitt); “Impossible” (Eartha Kitt, Jamie-Lynn Sigler); “The Transformation” (Eartha Kitt, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Animals); “It’s Possible!” (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Eartha Kitt, Horses, Coachman, Footman) Act Two: “Gavotte” (Paolo Montalban, Maidens, Other Guests); “The Cinderella Waltz” (aka “Waltz for a Ball”) (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Paolo Montalban, Company); “Ten Minutes Ago” (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Company); “Stepsisters’ Lament” (NaTasha Yvette Williams, Alexandra Kolb); “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” (Paolo Montalban, Jamie-Lynn Sigler); “Ten Minutes Ago” (reprise) (Paolo Montalban); “When You’re Driving Through the Moonlight” (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Everett Quinton, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Alexandra Kolb); “A Lovely Night” (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Everett Quinton, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Alexandra Kolb, Animals); “A Lovely Night” (reprise) (Jamie-Lynn Sigler); “The Search” (Victor Trent Cook, Paolo Montalban, Maidens); “There’s Music in You” (1953 film Main Street to Broadway) (Eartha Kitt, Company) Cinderella was a limited-run engagement of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1957 television musical, and the production was directly based on a 1997 television adaptation by Robert L. Freedman that included racially diverse casting (including Paolo Montalban as the prince, a role he reprised for the current revival) and the interpolation of two non-Cinderella songs, “There’s Music in You” (from the 1953 film Main Street to Broadway, lyric by Hammerstein and music by Rodgers) and “The Sweetest Sounds” (from the 1962 Broadway musical No Strings, lyric and music by Rodgers). (The 1997 telecast also included “Falling in Love with Love” from the 1938 musical The Boys from Syracuse with lyric by Lorenz Hart and music by Rodgers, but this song wasn’t retained for the current production.) Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times praised the “lively” and “bright family entertainment,” said Everett Quinton (in the drag role of Cinderella’s stepmother) positively reveled “in rottenness,” and Eartha Kitt as the Fairy Godmother “purred a feminist message of love” and impelled Cinderella “to go out and get her man.” Van Gelder also praised the production’s puppeteers who brought mice, a cat, and a white bird to life. The musical was first presented on March 31, 1957, when it was televised by CBS with a cast that included Julie Andrews (Cinderella), Jon Cypher (Prince), Edith (Edie) Adams (Fairy Godmother), Howard Lindsay (King), Dorothy Stickney (Queen), Ilka Chase (Stepmother), Iggie Wolfington (Chef), Robert Penn (Town Crier), and Alice Ghostley and Kaye Ballard in the respective roles of Cinderella’s stepsisters Joy and Portia. (Lindsay and Stickney were husband and wife in real life, and the New York City Opera Company’s 1993 production also boasted the real-life married couple George S. Irving and Maria Karnilova as the King and Queen.) The 1957 telecast was shown in color, but apparently only a black-and-white print now exists, and this was issued on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ROG2127DVD). The television soundtrack was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5190 and # OS-2005) and on CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy (# SK-60889). A second television adaptation was presented by CBS on February 22, 1965, with Lesley Ann Warren (Cinderella), Stuart Damon (Prince), Celeste Holm (Fairy Godmother), Walter Pidgeon (King), Ginger Rogers (Queen), Jo Van Fleet (Stepmother), and Pat Carroll and Barbara Ruick as the stepsisters who here sported new names (Prunella and Esmerelda, respectively). Joseph Schrank wrote the teleplay, and “Loneliness of Evening” (which had been dropped during the tryout of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific in 1949 and had been titled “Will My Love Come Home to Me?”) was added for the prince. The soundtrack was issued by Columbia

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(LP # OL-6330 and # OS-2730) and on CD by Sony Broadway (# SK-53538), and the DVD was released in color by Columbia Tristar (# 07320) and later by the Shout! Factory. The third television version was shown by ABC on November 2, 1997; the teleplay was by Robert L. Freedman, and as noted this adaptation included racially diverse casting and interpolated songs. Besides Montalban, the cast included Brandy Norwood (Cinderella), Whitney Houston (Fairy Godmother), Bernadette Peters (Stepmother), and Victor Garber (King). And for this production the two stepsisters underwent yet another name change, to Minerva and Calliope. The DVD was released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment (# 21516). The first stage adaptation of the work was produced in pantomime at the Coliseum in London on December 18, 1958, as a showcase for Tommy Steele in the newly created role of Buttons, and along with the songs written for the 1957 telecast four numbers were added, three from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1953 musical Me and Juliet (“A Very Special Day,” “Marriage-Type Love,” and “No Other Love”) and a new one by Steele (“You and Me”). The musical was later revived in London at the Adelphi Theatre on December 22, 1960, for 101 performances. The cast album of the 1958 production was released by That’s Entertainment Records (LP # TER-1045). The musical was later produced in the United States in regional theatre with an adaptation by Don (aka Donn) Driver, including productions at the Cleveland Musicarnival in 1961 and the St. Louis Municipal Opera in 1961 and 1965. The first New York stage presentation was produced by the New York City Opera Company at the New York State Theatre on November 9, 1993, for fourteen performances in a new book adaptation by Steve Allen, which in turn had been based on an earlier stage version by Robert Johanson, who directed and choreographed. As noted, George S. Irving and Maria Karnilova were the King and Queen, and others in the cast were Crista Moore (Cinderella), George Dvorsky (Prince), Sally Ann Howes (Fairy Godmother), Nancy Marchand (Stepmother), and Alix Korey and Jeanette Palmer as the two stepsisters who here reclaimed their original names of Joy and Portia. The production included ”Loneliness of Evening” as well as “My Best Girl,” which had been dropped during the tryout of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song (1958). City Opera revived the musical on November 9, 1995, for twelve performances; the cast included Rebecca Baxter (Cinderella), Jean Stapleton (Stepmother), and Jane Powell (Queen). The company later revived the work on November 12, 2004, for thirteen showings (see entry) with a cast that included Eartha Kitt (reprising her role of Fairy Godmother from the current production) and, in what was becoming a drag tradition, John “Lypsinka” Epperson as Cinderella’s stepmother. The most recent New York production of Cinderella opened in a new adaptation at the Broadway Theatre on March 13, 2013, for 769 performances in a would-be edgy interpretation (its poster proclaimed that “Glass Slippers Are So Back”). The new book was by Douglas Carter Beane, with additional lyrics by Beane and by David Chase, and the cast included Laura Osnes (Cinderella, and here called Ella), Santino Fontano (Prince Topher, as in Christopher), and Victoria Clark (Fairy Godmother). This production included two interpolations from earlier versions (“Loneliness of Evening” and “There’s Music in You”), and added “Me, Who Am I” (based on material from Me and Juliet) and “Now’s the Time” (which had been cut from the tryout of South Pacific). The cast album was released by Ghostlight Records (CD # 84472). (You’ll want to note that the names of the two stepsisters were now Charlotte and Gabrielle.) The lyrics for Cinderella are included in the 2008 hardback collection The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II.

COPACABANA The musical began its U.S. tour on June 15, 2000, at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and played in various venues for about a year. As of this writing, the musical has never been presented on Broadway. Book: Barry Manilow, Bruce Sussman, and Jack Feldman Lyrics: Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman Music: Barry Manilow Inspired by the 1978 song “Copacabana” (lyric by Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman and music by Barry Manilow). Direction: David Warren; Producers: A Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Dallas Summer Musicals, American Music Theatre Group of San Jose, and Paradigm Group Presentation in association with Garry Kief, John

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Ashby, and Stiletto Entertainment; Choreography: Wayne Cilento; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Andrew Rumble Cast: Darcie Roberts (Lola), Franc D’Ambrosio (Stephen, Tony), Gavin MacLeod (Sam Silver), Beth McVey (Gladys Murphy), Philip Hernandez (Rico Castelli), Terry Burrell (Conchita Alvarez); Ensemble: Ted Banfalvi, Carolyn Doherty, Ashley Hull, John Jacquet Jr., David Koch, Vicky Lambert, Lisa Mandel, Barrett Martin, Karyn Overstreet, Dale Radunz, Judine Richard, Parisa Ross, Vikki Schnurr, Dennis Stowe, Denton Tarver, Ron J. Todorowski, Thom Christopher Warren, Brooke Wendle The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the present time and in 1947 in New York City and Havana.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Copacabana” (Franc D’Ambrosio, Company); “Just Arrived” (Darcie Roberts, Women); “Dancin’ Fool” (Franc D’Ambrosio, Copa Boys); “Sweet Heaven” (Franc D’Ambrosio, Copa Girls and Boys); “How Can I Ever Thank You” (aka “The Thank You Song”) (Male Auditioner); “The Jungle”; “The Audition” (Darcie Roberts); “Changin’ My Tune” (Franc D’Ambrosio); “When You’re a Copa Girl” (Beth McVey); “Man Wanted” (Darcie Roberts); “Lola”; “Who Needs to Dream?” (music by Barry Manilow and Artie Butler) (Franc D’Ambrosio, Women); “I Gotta Be Bad” (Darcie Roberts, Copa Girls); “Bolero d’Amor” (Philip Hernandez, Dance Couples) Act Two: “Welcome to Havana” and “Ay Caramba” (Terry Burrell, Chorus); “Havana?”; “Who Am I Kidding” (Gavin MacLeod, Ensemble); “This Can’t Be Real” (Darcie Roberts, Franc D’Ambrosio); “El Bravo” (Darcie Roberts, Pirate Men and Women); “Copacabana” (reprise) (Company) The musical was inspired by Barry Manilow’s hit 1978 recording “Copacabana” (lyric by Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman and music by Manilow), and the song’s saga about showgirl Lola was later developed into a television movie aired by CBS on December 3, 1985, with Annette O’Toole as Lola, the girl from “Tulsa, Oklanowhere” whose ambition in life is to become a Copa Girl. The teleplay was eventually reworked into a short musical which premiered at Caesar’s in Atlantic City, and from there the song was redeveloped into a full-length musical, which opened in London at the Prince of Wales Theatre on June 23, 1994, for a twentymonth run. The 1985 soundtrack album was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # R32P-1083) and the London cast album was issued by First Night Records (CD # CAST42). The current production was a revised version of the London musical, and it toured the United States on and off for a few years but never played Broadway. Chris Jones in Variety found the “formulaic and predictable” evening a “tuneful and generally enjoyable” show that should avoid Broadway but would nonetheless do well in the “hinterlands.” The musical’s book and choreography were “badly” in need of “expansion and revision” and the dialogue and plot were “terribly stilted,” but Manilow’s score was “hummable” and “very pleasant” and Darcie Roberts (who had been the female lead in the aborted 1995 musical Busker Alley) was “the biggest pleasure of the evening.” During the work’s various incarnations, the following songs and musical sequences were heard at one time or another: “Night on the Town,” “The Mermaid’s Tale,” “Hoover Commercial,” “Rico’s Entrance,” “Drunk Scene,” “Let’s Go Steppin’,” and “Call Me Mr. Lucky.”

THE RHYTHM CLUB

“A New Musical” / “A New Broadway Musical” The musical began previews on September 5, 2000, at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, opened on September 27, and permanently closed there on October 22. The musical canceled its second tryout engagement (in Chicago) as well as its New York run, where it had been scheduled to begin previews at the Virginia Theatre on January 26, 2001, and open on February 15. Book and Lyrics: Chad Beguelin Music: Matthew Sklar

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Direction: Eric Schaeffer; Producer: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Ronnie Gunderson, Producing Director); Choreography: Jodi Moccia; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Jonathan Blandin; Musical Direction: Robert Billig Cast: Marsh Hanson (Jimmy Kingston), Jeremy Kushnier (Jake Beck), Tim Martin Gleason (Adam Gernstein), Buzz Mauro (Gustav Herbert), Megan Lawrence (Greta Hauser), Kirk McDonald (Samuel Krause), Kevin Kern (Thomas Berndt), Lauren Kennedy (Petra Wolff), Florence Lacey (Anna Wolff), Barbara Walsh (Miriam Gernstein), Larry Cahn (John Gernstein), Joe Kolinski (Carl Beck), Michael Goddard (Herr Schmidt), Jonathan Hogan (Herr Kroger); Ensemble: Tesha Buss, Catherine Chiarelli, Brien Keith Fisher, Michael Goddard, Jamie Harris, Joni Michelle, Rusty Mowery, Jennifer Swiderski, Denton Tarver The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Hamburg, Germany, during 1938.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue (Company); “Nothing to Do but Dance” (Marsh Hanson, Company); “Swing Baby” (Jeremy Kushnier, Tim Martin Gleason, Buzz Mauro); “That Harlem Sound” (Jeremy Kushnier, Tim Martin Gleason, Lauren Kennedy, Megan Lawrence, Kirk McDonald, Kevin Kern); “When Wooding Plays” (Larry Cahn); “Every Time I Raise These Hands” (Jeremy Kushnier); “Up in Heaven They Play Swing” (Jeremy Kushnier, Tim Martin Gleason, Kirk McDonald, Kevin Kern); “Pretending That I’m Somebody Else” (Lauren Kennedy, Company); “Hello New York” (Jeremy Kushnier, Tim Martin Gleason, Lauren Kennedy); “Tell That to My Heart” (Lauren Kennedy, Tim Martin Gleason); “They Taught Me Well” (Florence Lacey, Barbara Walsh); “Onward” (Company); Act One Finale (Megan Lawrence, Florence Lacey, Barbara Walsh, Company) Act Two: “The Rag” (Company); “Whatever It Takes” (Barbara Walsh); “You Can’t Buy My Love” (Lauren Kennedy); “What’s There to Lose?” (Lauren Kennedy); “Inside the Music” (Tim Martin Gleason, Lauren Kennedy); “They Always Come Back to Me” (Megan Lawrence); “Nothing to Do but Dance” (reprise) (Company); “What’s There to Lose?” (reprise) (Florence Lacey); Finale (Jeremy Kushnier, Lauren Kennedy, Tim Martin Gleason) The promotional recording of the show invited you to the Rhythm Club, which at least metaphorically was just down the block from the Kit Kat Klub. And that was one of the major problems with the new musical The Rhythm Club, which opened and permanently closed at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, the first stop of its proposed two-city tryout. The musical had been later scheduled to play in Chicago and then open on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on February 15, 2001, after a series of previews beginning on January 26. Because of problems in raising the show’s $8 million capitalization, the producers announced the musical’s New York opening would be delayed until March 26, but a Broadway production never materialized. The musical covered well-worn territory about the dark years in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and how its citizens escaped from its horrors through music. Yes, come to the cabaret (or the rhythm club) and there you can forget your troubles, even though the Nazi Party frowns upon such Western decadence as big-band swing music. Unfortunately The Rhythm Club had troubles of its own and had absolutely nothing new to say about its subject matter. Cabaret was the definitive musical about the subject, and there were three other musicals that explored the theme: the 1993 film Swing Kids looked at German youngsters in love with verboten swing music; Barry Manilow’s musical Harmony (which had major regional productions in 1997 and 2014 but was never produced on Broadway) dealt with the real-life German musical group The Comedian Harmonists, a group of Jewish and Gentile musicians who played popular American music; and the 1999 short-lived Broadway musical Band in Berlin also told the story of The Comedian Harmonists. The creators and producers of The Rhythm Club obviously believed in their new musical, but its subject was tired and overdone, and such familiar material required a fresh outlook and a superior production, both of which were lacking. In almost every respect the show was painfully obvious, and the script, score, direction, choreography, and most of the performances were lost in a fog of predictability, including Derek McLane’s window-paned décor (which of course would be destroyed on Crystal Night). Yes, it was that kind of show,

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and even the love story was steeped in cliché. Swing musicians and best-buddies Jake Beck (Jeremy Kushnier) and Adam Gernstein (Tim Martin Gleason) just want to play their forbidden music with band singer Petra Wolff (Lauren Kennedy). Jake of course falls in love with Petra, and of course Petra falls in love with Adam, and, yes, Adam falls in love with Petra. Lloyd Rose in the Washington Post said the love triangle was just “the usual stuff” and perhaps “a little creepy” because here “Nazism is evil because it upsets the romance of a couple of swell kids” and “Nazism is one of those boring adult things they have to put up with—irrelevant to their lives.” As Rose noted, it was hard to believe that even young adults could have been so “insulated” from what was going on in the Germany of 1938, and the authors’ use of “flimsy, derivative material into the heart of one of history’s most appalling episodes isn’t so much tasteless as nutty.” Rose also commented that the first-act finale’s “marching Nazis” and “blond chanteuse” recalled the similar first-act finale of Cabaret and its “far superior” song “Tomorrow Belongs to Me.” Paul Harris in Variety generally liked the musical but noted the “problematic” book needed “adjustments” because it was “intriguing” as well as “uneven” with “witless and trite moments.” Otherwise, the score was “a nice blend” of swing styles. The Broadway cast album was to have been recorded by RCA Victor, but was canceled once the musical permanently closed during its tryout. However, RCA issued a CD sampler of the score that received limited distribution for promotional purposes. The recording consists of three songs from the show: “That Harlem Sound” (cast members Kushnier, Kennedy, Lawrence, Kern, and Hanson as well as non-cast member Brian d’Arcy James, who sang the role of Adam Gernstein); “Inside the Music” (d’Arcy James and Kennedy); and “Hello New York” (Kushnier, Kennedy, and d’Arcy James). The production’s musical director, Robert Billig, also conducted the orchestra for the recording. The musical was later scheduled as part of the Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2003–2004 season where it was to have played during the period April 1–May 30, 2004, at City Center Stage I. However, the show was canceled and a spokesman for the club announced the work was “not ready for production.”

2001–2002 Season

URINETOWN “The Musical”

Theatre: The Henry Miller Theatre Opening Date: September 20, 2001; Closing Date: January 18, 2004 Performances: 965 Book: Greg Kotis Lyrics: Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann Music: Mark Hollmann Direction: John Rando; Producers: The Araca Group and Dodger Theatricals in association with TheatreDreams, Inc., and Lauren Mitchell; Choreography: John Carrafa; Scenery and Environmental Design: Scott Pask; Costumes: Gregory Gale and Jonathan Bixby; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Ed Goldschneider Cast: Jeff McCarthy (Officer Lockstock), Spencer Kayden (Little Sally), Nancy Opel (Penelope Pennywise aka Penny), Hunter Foster (Bobby Strong), Jennifer Laura Thompson (Hope Cladwell), David Beach (Mr. McQueen), John Deyle (Senator Fipp), Ken Jennings (Old Man Strong, Hot Blades Harry), Rick Crom (Tiny Tom, Doctor Billeaux), Rachel Coloff (Soupy Sue, Cladwell’s Secretary), Jennifer Cody (Little Becky Two Shoes, Mrs. Millennium), Victor W. Hawks (Robbie the Stockfish, Business Man # 1), Lawrence E. Street (Billy Boy Bill, Business Man # 2), Kay Walbye (Old Woman, Josephine Strong), Daniel Marcus (Officer Barrel), John Cullum (Caldwell B. Cladwell) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place “sometime after the Stink Years” in “a Gotham-like city.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Urinetown” (Jeff McCarthy, Company); “It’s a Privilege to Pee” (Nancy Opel, The Poor); “It’s a Privilege to Pee” (reprise) (Jeff McCarthy, The Poor); “Mr. Cladwell” (John Cullum, David Beach, Jennifer Laura Thompson, UGC Staff); “Cop Song” (Jeff McCarthy, Daniel Marcus, Cops); “Follow Your Heart” (Jennifer Laura Thompson, Hunter Foster); “Look at the Sky” (Hunter Foster, The Poor); “Don’t Be the Bunny” (John Cullum, UGC Staff); Act One Finale (Ensemble) Act Two: “What Is Urinetown?” (Ensemble); “Snuff That Girl” (Ken Jennings, Jennifer Cody, The Rebel Poor); “Run, Freedom, Run!” (Hunter Foster, The Poor); “Follow Your Heart” (reprise) (Jennifer Laura Thompson); “Why Did I Listen to That Man?” (Nancy Opel, John Deyle, Jeff McCarthy, Daniel Marcus, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Hunter Foster); “Tell Her I Love Her” (Spencer Kayden, Hunter Foster); “We’re Not Sorry” (The Rich, The Poor); “We’re Not Sorry” (reprise) (John Cullum, Nancy Opel); “I See a River” (Jennifer Laura Thompson)

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Urinetown’s opening night program for September 13, 2001, had already been printed, but because of the terrorist attacks on September 11 the show didn’t go on and the opening night was postponed for a week. On the surface, it would seem that the ironic and caustic musical (in which some of the leading characters are thrown off the tops of skyscrapers) was the victim of bad timing, but the tongue-in-cheek work proved to be a welcome tonic to critics and audiences, and it played for almost 1,000 performances and won a number of awards. The musical was a spoof of agitprop musicals, specifically Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock (1937) and No for an Answer (1941) with a dash of Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera (Berlin, 1928; New York, 1933) thrown in. In fact, the catchy, pastiche-laden score was reminiscent of Weill’s masterpiece, which of course had later been adapted by Blitzstein for the long-running mid-1950s Off-Broadway revival. Clearly, Blitzstein and Weill were the spiritual mentors of Urinetown, and even the names of the characters conjured up the ones in The Cradle Will Rock (such as Mr. Mister, Mrs. Mister, Junior Mister, and Sister Mister, as well as President Prexy, Professor Trixie, Doctor Specialist, Reverend Salvation, and the laborer-hero Larry Foreman, who rebels against capitalistic management). For Urinetown, we had Officers Lockstock and Barrel (Jeff McCarthy and Daniel Marcus), the rich well-clad Caldwell B. Cladwell (John Cullum), and stalwart hero Bobby Strong (Hunter Foster). The musical was a sardonic look at government and big business and its fascist-like control over the average Joe, specifically its mandate that the public must pay for the privilege of using restrooms. The public facilities are owned and operated by Urine Good Company, and while the corporation gets rich, the public water supply is admittedly saved through this regimented brand of conservation. And like The Producers and other musicals of the era, the show spoofed musical-comedy conventions. The cop and narrator Lockstock welcomes the audience to Urinetown (the musical, not the place), notes that “it’s filled with symbolism,” and states he’s not worried about dying because he’s the narrator and the show can’t end without him. And while street urchin Little Sally (Spencer Kayden) indicates it’s best not to overload an audience with “too much exposition,” Lockstock notes that while Cladwell may have been a villain, he nonetheless kept “pee off the street and water in the ground,” and once he was thrown off a building and the town could urinate at will, the water soon turned brackish and dried up. Little Sally just can’t understand the turnabout: the bad guys were banished, the good guys took over, and yet everything fell apart. At this point, Lockstock reminds her that Urinetown is not a “happy musical.” We also discover that, like Glocca Morra, there is actually no Urinetown (only a musical titled Urinetown). Bruce Weber in the New York Times said Urinetown was “the most gripping and galvanizing theatre experience in town” and its components came together “in the collaborative creation of something that feels entirely original.” He noted that The Producers (which also makes us “laugh at tyranny”) and Urinetown were a “stanchion—no, a twin tower—of pure American vibrancy.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the musical “skewers the kind of shows in which good triumphs over evil” and he wondered if “at least temporarily” the work might be “out of tune” with “the tenor of the times.” Although he praised the “impressive” score and the “strongly etched” and “grand guignol excesses” of the performances, he felt the show’s “winking tone” quickly grew “monotonous” and it became “hard to muster sustained interest in a cast of characters stalking the stage with ironic quotation marks around their ears.” But Nancy Franklin in the New Yorker praised the “terrifically spirited sendup of musicals and their conventions.” The show was “as self-conscious and gag-happy as a Warner Bros. cartoon,” and she noted that a secret hideout sported a sign that read “Secret Hideout” and also had an arrow pointing to it. The musical had first been produced Off Off Broadway by the New York International Fringe Festival in August 1999 at the Theatre of the Apes, and later was presented Off Broadway at the American Theatre of Actors on May 6, 2001, for fifty-eight performances. The Off-Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-63821-2), and the script was published in paperback by Faber and Faber in 2003.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Urinetown); Best Book (Greg Kotis); Best Score (lyrics by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann, music by Mark Hollmann); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (John Cullum); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Nancy Opel); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Jennifer Laura Thompson); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Spencer Kayden); Best Direction of a Musical (John Rando); Best Choreography (John Carrafa); Best Orchestrations (Bruce Coughlin)

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MAMMA MIA! Theatre: Winter Garden Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre) Opening Date: October 18, 2001; Closing Date: September 12, 2015 Performances: 5,758 Book: Catherine Johnson Lyrics and Music: Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (some songs were written with Stig Anderson) Direction: Phyllida Lloyd; Producers: Judy Craymer, Richard East, and Bjorn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal; Choreography: Anthony Van Laast; Scenery and Costumes: Mark Thompson; Lighting: Howard Harrison; Musical Direction: Martin Koch Cast: Tina Maddigan (Sophie Sheridan), Sara Inbar (Ali), Tonya Doran (Lisa), Karen Mason (Tanya), Judy Kaye (Rosie), Louise Pitre (Donna Sheridan), Joe Machota (Sky), Mark Price (Pepper), Michael Benjamin Washington (Eddie), Dean Nolen (Harry Bright), Ken Marks (Bill Austin), David W. Keeley (Sam Carmichael), Bill Carmichael (Father Alexandrios); Ensemble: Meredith Akins, Leslie Alexander, Stephan Alexander, Kim-E J. Balmilero, Robin Baxter, Brent Black, Tony Carlin, Bill Carmichael, Meghann Dreyfuss, Somer Lee Graham, Kristin McDonald, Adam Monley, Chris Prinzo, Peter Matthew Smith, Yuka Takara, Marsha Waterbury The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time on a tiny Greek island.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); Prologue: “I Have a Dream” (Tina Maddigan); “Honey, Honey” (Tina Maddigan, Sara Inbar, Tonya Doran); “Money, Money, Money” (Louise Pitre, Karen Mason, Judy Kaye, Mark Price, Company); “Thank You for Your Music” (Dean Nolen, Tina Maddigan, Ken Marks, David W. Keeley); “Mamma Mia” (Louise Pitre, Ken Marks, Dean Nolen, David W. Keeley); “Chiquitita” (Judy Kaye, Karen Mason, Louise Pitre); “Dancing Queen” (Judy Kaye, Karen Mason, Louise Pitre); “Lay All Your Love on Me” (Joe Machota, Tina Maddigan, Boys, Mark Price, Michael Benjamin Washington, Girls); “Super Trouper” (Louise Pitre, Judy Kaye, Karen Mason, Girls); “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” (Girls); “The Name of the Game” (Tina Maddigan, Ken Marks); “Voulez-vous” (Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Under Attack” (Tina Maddigan, Nightmare Chorus); “One of Us” (Louise Pitre); “S.O.S.” (David W. Keeley, Louise Pitre); “Does Your Mother Know” (Karen Mason, Mark Price, Ensemble); “Knowing Me, Knowing You” (David W. Keeley); “Our Last Summer” (Dean Nolen, Louise Pitre); “Slipping through My Fingers” (Louise Pitre, Tina Maddigan); “The Winner Takes It All” (Louise Pitre); “Take a Chance on Me” (Judy Kaye, Ken Marks); “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” (David W. Keeley, Girls, Louise Pitre); “I Have a Dream” (reprise) (Tina Maddigan, Company) The British import Mamma Mia! was a worldwide phenomenon that became one of the most profitable musicals ever produced. It played on Broadway for almost fourteen years and racked up 5,758 performances, and its original British production, which opened on April 6, 1999, at the Prince Edward Theatre, is still playing as of this writing. All this, and yet its trite story brought to mind the plot of the 1968 film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (and its unofficial 1979 musical stage adaptation Carmelina, which despite an often memorable score by Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner lasted just two weeks on Broadway). And Mamma Mia! didn’t even offer a new score, and was instead a retread of the singing group ABBA’s greatest hits. Further, the songs were shoehorned into the plot and were forced to carry the weight of a story and characters for which they never were intended. The musical was a mindless mediocrity, but that didn’t matter to the millions who adored it and who apparently found the show a way to relive the past while the soundtrack of their lives played ABBA songs in the background. The story centered on the upcoming wedding of Sophie Sheridan (Tina Maddigan) and her hope of discovering which of three men fathered her. It seems her mother, Donna (Louise Pitre), had sex with all three in quick succession, and as a result is clueless as to which one got her pregnant. All the to-do is never resolved, and apparently the characters never heard of DNA testing. The critics were unusually kind, and the feel-good romp received surprisingly indulgent reviews. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “sitcom” script often suggested “a world in which everyone is the

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star of his or her own music video,” and while the show was “the theatrical equivalent of comfort food” it was “surely the canniest exercise in klutziness to hit Broadway.” Charles Isherwood in Variety found the “thoroughly preposterous” musical a “giddy, guilty pleasure” of “incipient idiocy,” Richard Zoglin in Time said it was “escapist trifle,” and John Lahr in the New Yorker said the “chucklehead pleasures” of the evening were “nothing but hokum” and the “slick cartoon” of a book connected “the dots between ABBA’s No. 1 singles.” There was no Broadway cast album, but the London cast recording was released by Polydor (CD # 543115-2). Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? The Inside Story of “Mamma Mia!” and the Songs of ABBA by Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Judy Craymer was published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2006 and provides background information about the musical and the songs used in the production. “Mamma Mia!” The Movie: Exploring a Cultural Phenomenon was published in paperback in 2013 by I.B. Tauris (edited by Louise FitzGerald and Melanie Williams). The 2008 film version was released by Universal Pictures and became one of the most profitable and popular of all musical films, and its cast included Meryl Streep (Donna), Amanda Seyfried (Sophie), Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, and Christine Baranski. The soundtrack was released by Decca Records (CD # B0011439-02), and the DVD by Universal. “The Name of the Game” was deleted from the final release print but is included on the soundtrack and the DVD.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Mamma Mia!); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Louise Pitre); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Judy Kaye); Best Book (Catherine Johnson); Best Orchestrations (Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Martin Koch)

THOU SHALT NOT “A New Musical”

Theatre: Plymouth Theatre Opening Date: October 25, 2001; Closing Date: January 6, 2002 Performances: 85 Book: David Thompson Lyrics and Music: Harry Connick Jr. Based on the 1867 novel Therese Raquin by Emile Zola. Direction and Choreography: Susan Stroman (Tara Young, Associate Director and Associate Choreographer); Producers: Lincoln Center Theatre (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors) (Ira Weitzman, Musical Theatre Associate Producer); Scenery: Thomas Lynch; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: Phil Reno Cast: J. C. Montgomery (Flim Flam), Ted L. Levy (Papa Jack, Busker, Sanctify Sam), Patrick Wetzel (Monsignor, Antoine), Rachelle Rak (Sass), Davis Kirby (Sugar Hips), Craig Bierko (Laurent LeClaire), Kate Levering (Therese Raquin), Debra Monk (Madame Raquin), Norbert Leo Butz (Camille Raquin), Leo Burmester (Officer Michaud), Brad Bradley (Oliver), Joann M. Hunter (Suzanne); Ensemble: Timothy J. Alex, Brad Bradley, Dylis Croman, Michael Goddard, Amy Hall, Ellen Harvey, Amy Heggins, Joann M. Hunter, Cornelius Jones Jr., Davis Kirby, Ted L. Levy, J. C. Montgomery, Rachelle Rak, Kelli Severson, Patrick Wetzel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New Orleans during 1946 and 1947.

Musical Numbers Act One: “It’s Good to Be Home” (J. C. Montgomery, Ted L. Levy, Ensemble); “I Need to Be in Love” Ballet (Kate Levering); “My Little World” (Debra Monk); “While You’re Young” (Craig Bierko); “I Need to Be in

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Love” (Kate Levering); “The Other Hours” (Craig Bierko); “The Other Hours” Ballet (Craig Bierko, Kate Levering); “All Things” (Norbert Leo Butz); “Sovereign Lover” (Kate Levering, Craig Bierko, Ted L. Levy, Ensemble); “I’ve Got My Eye on You” (Debra Monk, Norbert Leo Butz); “Light the Way” (Ensemble); “Take Her to the Mardi Gras” (Craig Bierko, Norbert Leo Butz, Kate Levering, Ensemble); “Tug Boat” (Norbert Leo Butz, Kate Levering) Act Two: “Tug Boat” (reprise) (Craig Bierko); “My Little World” (reprise) (Debra Monk); “Won’t You Sanctify” (Ted L. Levy, Ensemble); “Time Passing” (Kate Levering, Craig Bierko, Debra Monk, Ensemble); “Take Advantage” (Leo Burmester); “Oh! Ain’t That Sweet” (Norbert Leo Butz); “Thou Shalt Not” Ballet (Kate Levering, Craig Bierko, Ensemble); “It’s Good to Be Home” (reprise) (Norbert Leo Butz) The pretentious and somnolent $5 million failure Thou Shalt Not is perhaps best remembered as the show that finally came to life in the second act when a murder victim returns from the dead and goes into an irresistible show-stopping shimmy called “Oh! Ain’t That Sweet.” (Talk about waking up a show.) The critics raved about Norbert Leo Butz’s performance as the hapless and formerly alive Camille, a schnook married to his voluptuous cousin Therese (Kate Levering) and dominated by his mother (Debra Monk). When Therese falls in love (or perhaps just falls into sex) with Camille’s best friend, Laurent (Craig Bierko), the latter drowns Camille, who later enjoys sweet revenge with the evening’s only knock-’em-dead number. (Thou Shalt Not is also grimly if not fondly recalled for its musical morgue number; more below, if you dare.) By the end of the musical, three—count ’em—three of the major characters are dead (Camille murdered, Therese a suicide after having gone insane, and Laurent a suicide as well) and one (Camille’s mother) a stroke victim now confined to a wheelchair (and let’s not forget that Therese is also gang-raped). Yes, all this gory gumbo (which John Lahr in the New Yorker described as “a theme park of self-destruction”) was based on Emile Zola’s classic 1867 naturalistic novel Therese Raquin, here transposed from nineteenth-century France to mid-1940s New Orleans. All this was of course clichéd Big Easy Land, a show-business N’Awlins where people have names like Flim Flam, Papa Jack, Sass, Sugar Hips, and Sanctify Sam, and where there’s a Mardi Gras around every corner and the requisite funeral marching band on every block (somehow the creators forgot to conjure up a voodoo scene in what Ben Brantley in the New York Times described as a convoluted story that moved “as sluggishly as a creek in a rain-free August”). From the very first instant of the show’s conception, the musical’s creators (book writer David Thompson, lyricist and composer Harry Connick Jr., and director and choreographer Susan Stroman) should have known their project was completely hopeless because it took place in the most unfriendly city in all musical comedy territory. Had they set the show in Duluth it would still be running, but N’Awlins is a verboten land where over thirty Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway musicals have been buried (and, unlike Camille, most with little hope of resurrection). There have been the occasional exceptions (such as Victor Herbert’s 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta, Irving Berlin’s 1940 hit Louisiana Purchase, and the 1979 long-running Off-Broadway revue-like One Mo’ Time!), but otherwise New Orleans and Louisiana in general seem allergic to musicals and tolerate only dramas (A Streetcar Named Desire and Toys in the Attic). (For a partial list of the endless parade of musical flops set in New Orleans and environs, see below.) Brantley said it took “a singing dead man” to bring “a spark of life” to the “limp and lugubrious” show, and Butz was full of “showbiz adrenaline.” Charles Isherwood in Variety noted that not until the arrival of that “suavely, crooning corpse” did the “competent but unexciting musical” register “a dramatic pulse.” Richard Zoglin in Time said Butz was the musical’s “standout” performer as the “song-and-dance ghost.” And Lahr found this “Topper of terror” a “lip-smacking avenging angel who watches the downfall of his murderers like a weedy Tom imagining having Jerry for his dinner.” Brantley decided the musical’s message must be that “ghosts have more fun.” Otherwise, the leads Levering and Bierko were “fatally miscast.” Levering was an “elegant and expressive” dancer, but her acting was “more sullen than possessed” and her singing lacked a “visceral pull.” In one of her ballets, she “pranced” around folding laundry, and Brantley said he expected to hear a “voice-over” that announced, “New improved Tide: smell the freshness.” And continuing the analogy of commercials, Isherwood noted Levering was “an ingénue out of her depth” and her characterization evoked “a singing, dancing Estee Lauder ad.” Isherwood added that Bierko lacked the “imposing” and “emotionally” vivid quality required of the “brutish” Laurent, but Lahr said he exuded “a palpable predatory musk.” As for the sexual chemistry between Bierko and Levering, Brantley said “forget it,” but Lahr indicated their “erotic charge” was “real enough” and Zoglin reported

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that Levering “slithers and writhes and wraps her legs around Bierko as seductively as Cyd Charisse used to envelop Gene Kelly.” Brantley noted that Monk was “about as Creole as Bella Abzug,” but Isherwood said she played her role with “savvy professionalism.” Zoglin said that thanks to Connick’s “flavorful” score the show wasn’t a “complete downer,” but Isherwood felt the composer’s “pleasant pastiches” weren’t up to the “demanding task of breathing fiery new life” into what was essentially a typical love triangle. Brantley commented that the music if not the lyrics came “much closer to a Zolaesque tone” with a “steady percussive beat to mark a fatalistic current.” Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that the morgue sequence “elicited gasps, awkward laughter, and hisses” from preview audiences, who perhaps weren’t comfortable with such a scene so soon after September 11, 2001. Riedel said that for the “Dumb Luck” number chorus members clad in hospital scrubs wheeled around gurneys of dead bodies, and at one point the Laurent character notices the body of a beautiful woman on a slab, fondles her corpse, and then proceeds to climb on top of her (an audience member told Riedel that Bierko “looked visibly embarrassed”). The song was soon pulled from the musical, and while the scene itself remained in the show, Brantley indicated the “revised” version was “tamer.” “Dumb Luck” is no doubt one of the most notorious sequences in recent musical theatre history, and can proudly take its place with the “King Lear Ballet” from Café Crown (1964), the “Interrogation Ballet” from Mata Hari (1967), the so-called lettuce-harvest ballet (dully titled “Ballet” in the program) from Here’s Where I Belong (1968), and the Holocaust Ballet (“Dov’s Nightmare”) from Ari (1971). During previews, “Prologue,” “Such Love,” “I Like Love More,” and of course “Dumb Luck” were cut; the music of “Such Love” was used for the title ballet. The cast album was released by Swing Music (unnumbered edition CD), and includes the deleted “I Like Love More” (sung by Bierko and Levering). In 2003, Connick and three musicians recorded Office Hours (Marsalis Music/Rounder Records CD # 116-613-304-2) which consists of twelve songs Connick had written for the musical: five were heard in the show (“Take Advantage,” “Sovereign Lover,” “My Little World,” “Oh! Ain’t That Sweet,” and “The Other Hours”); one was dropped during previews and recycled for the title ballet (“Such Love”); another was dropped during previews (the infamous “Dumb Luck”); and five were cut in preproduction (“What a Waste,” “How about Tonight,” “Oh, My Dear/Something’s Gone Wrong,” “Can’t We Tell,” and “Your Own Private Love”). In 2006, Connick and Kelli O’Hara starred in the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game, and the cast album was released as part of a two-CD set by Columbia/Sony BMG Music Records (CD # CK-99035/36) titled Harry on Broadway, Act I, which includes a CD of Connick and O’Hara performing eleven vocals from Thou Shalt Not: seven heard in the show (“I Need to Be in Love,” “My Little World,” “The Other Hours,” “All Things,” “Take Her to the Mardi Gras,” “Take Advantage,” and “Oh! Ain’t That Sweet”); two dropped in previews (“Such Love” and “I Like Love More”); and two cut during preproduction (“Oh, My Dear/Something’s Gone Wrong” and “Can’t We Tell”). As for all those N’Awlins and Louisiana musicals, even One Mo’ Time! paid the price for its earlier Off-Broadway success of 1,372 performances, and so its first (and presumably last) Broadway revival (which opened a few months after the premiere of Thou Shalt Not; see entry) ran less than three weeks and lost its entire $2.5 million investment. Here’s a partial list of those unlucky revues and musicals set wholly or partially in New Orleans and Louisiana: Deep River (1926; 32 performances); The Lace Petticoat (1927; 15 performances); Great Day (1929; 36 performances); A Noble Rogue (1929; 9 performances); Great Day in New Orleans (1929; closed during pre-Broadway tryout); Sunny River (1941; the musical was titled New Orleans during its tryout, and despite the name change it still bombed with just 36 showings to its discredit); Cocktails at 5 (1942; closed during pre-Broadway tryout); In Gay New Orleans (1947; closed during pre-Broadway tryout); Louisiana Lady (1947; 3 performances, and talk about dumb luck: this show was set in New Orleans and recycled the sets, costumes, and poster artwork for the aforementioned In Gay New Orleans); Saratoga (1959; 80 performances); Pousse-Café (1966; 3 performances); House of Leather (Off Broadway, 1970; 1 performance); Prettybelle (1971; closing during pre-Broadway tryout); Bayou Legend (Off Off Broadway, 1975; 12 performances); Doctor Jazz (1975; 5 performances); Saga (Off Off Broadway, 1979; 12 performances); Storyville (1979; closed during preBroadway tryout); Daddy Goodness (1979; closed during pre-Broadway tryout); Jam (Off Broadway, 1980; 14 performances); Louisiana Summer (Off Off Broadway, 1982; 16 performances); 1,000 Years of Jazz (1982; closed during pre-Broadway tryout); Basin Street (Off Off Broadway, 1983; 15 performances); Staggerlee (Off Broadway, 1987; 118 performances); A Walk on the Wild Side (Off Off Broadway, 1988; 20 performances); The

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Middle of Nowhere (Off Broadway, 1988; 20 performances); Further Mo’ (a 1990 Off-Broadway sequel of sorts to One Mo’ Time!; 174 performances); Whistle Down the Wind (1996; closed during pre-Broadway tryout); Marie Christine (1999; 44 performances); Caroline, or Change (Off Broadway, 2003, 106 performances; Broadway, 2004, 136 performances); and Lestat (2006, 39 performances). The month after the opening of Thou Shalt Not, Tobias Picker’s operatic version of Therese Raquin premiered at the Dallas Opera on November 30, 2001; the libretto was by Gene Scheer, and the opera was recorded on a two-CD set by Chandos Records. Picker and Scheer also collaborated on An American Tragedy, which was based on Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel; the work premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in 2005, and its plot also revolved around a murder by drowning (for more information, see appendix E). Another lyric version of Zola’s novel was Therese Raquin, which opened in London in 2014 (book and lyrics by Nona Shepphard and music by Craig Adams); the musical was recorded on a two-CD set by Jay Records.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Score (lyrics and music by Harry Connick Jr.); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Norbert Leo Butz)

BY JEEVES

“A Musical Entertainment” / “A Diversionary Entertainment” Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: October 28, 2001; Closing Date: December 30, 2001 Performances: 73 Book and Lyrics: Alan Ayckbourn Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Based on the Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Direction: Alan Ayckbourn; Producer: Goodspeed Musicals (Michael P. Price, Producer); Choreography: Sheila Carter; Scenery: Roger Glossop; Costumes: Louise Belson; Lighting: Mick Hughes; Musical Direction: Michael O’Flaherty Cast: John Scherer (Bertie Wooster), Martin Jarvis (Jeeves), Donna Lynne Champlin (Honoria Glossop), Don Stephenson (Bingo Little), James Kall (Gussie Fink-Nottle), Sam Tsoutsouvas (Sir Watkyn Bassett), Becky Watson (Madeline Bassett), Emily Loesser (Stiffy Byng), Ian Knauer (Harold “Stinker” Pinker), Steve Wilson (Cyrus Budge III aka Junior); Other Personages: Tom Ford, Molly Renfroe, Court Whisman The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during “this very evening” in a church hall, which later represents a London flat and the house and grounds of Totleigh Towers.

Musical Numbers Act One: “A False Start” (John Scherer); “Never Fear” (John Scherer, Martin Jarvis); “Travel Hopefully” (John Scherer, Don Stephenson); “That Was Nearly Us” (Donna Lynne Champlin); “Love’s Maze” (Emily Loesser, John Scherer, Company); “The Hallo Song” (John Scherer, Steve Wilson, James Kall) Act Two: “By Jeeves” (John Scherer, Don Stephenson, James Kall); “When Love Arrives” (John Scherer, Becky Watson); “What Have You Got to Say, Jeeves?” (John Scherer, Martin Jarvis); “Half a Moment” (Ian Knauer, Emily Loesser); “It’s a Pig!” (Donna Lynne Champlin, Becky Watson, Sam Tsoutsouvas, James Kall, John Scherer); “Banjo Boy” (Company); “The Wizard Rainbow Finale” (Company) By Jeeves was a modest but delightful bit of nonsense that deserved a much longer run than its two months in New York. Here was an unassuming, light-as-air story with melodious songs and delicious performances, but the critics were generally dismissive, and so, despite a cast of thirteen, an orchestra of

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six, and a booking at Broadway’s smallest house, the musical quickly disappeared (the show lost its entire investment, which depending on the source was either $1.9 or $2.5 million). Alan Ayckbourn’s tonguein-cheek book, lyrics, and direction and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s summery score were a send-up of P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories, which depict upper-class British twits as completely helpless without the aid of their wise and stiff-upper-lip menservants. In this case, Bertie Wooster (John Scherer) is always in dire need of Jeeves (Martin Jarvis), but Bertie is so clueless he never realizes how much he depends on his cool and commanding valet. The evening’s conceit is that at the local church hall Bertie is to present on behalf of The Friends of Little Wittam Church his benefit concert, An Evening with Bertram Wooster, in which as the evening’s sole entertainer he’ll sing and play the banjo (among his selections will be “Banjo Boy” and Percy Granger’s Greatest Hits). Most productions of By Jeeves included an insert sheet for Bertie’s banjo program, along with a notation that “in the highly unlikely event” of the concert’s cancellation, Bertie and his friends will perform an “emergency entertainment” titled By Jeeves. Emergency there is, because Bertie’s banjo somehow mysteriously disappears (perhaps because Jeeves realizes his master is not quite the player and singer he thinks he is), and as a result Bertie and friends present an impromptu charade loosely based on themselves. It includes star-crossed love affairs, assumed identities, a convenient garden maze for everyone to get lost in, a truly loopy sequence involving the necessity of Bertie donning a pig mask while he’s chased about by cast members dressed in batik-styled pajamas, and a mega-mix finale when the company appears as characters from The Wizard of Oz. The result was a delicious and unpretentious farce peppered with a number of infectious songs by Lloyd Webber, including the completely irresistible “Banjo Boy,” the gently insistent “Travel Hopefully,” and the lovely ballad “Half a Moment.” Bruce Weber in the New York Times complained that the evening’s tone was “more of a kick in the behind than an arched eyebrow,” and he felt the musical was a “cobbled” affair with nonsense less “inspired” than “merely built, albeit by a skilled carpenter.” John Lahr in the New Yorker suggested the evening was about “nothing calling attention to itself,” and he felt Lloyd Webber’s score and Ayckbourn’s lyrics made “the unexceptional sound—well, unexceptionable.” Although Charles Isherwood in Variety praised the “terrific” cast and Lloyd Webber’s “slender but occasionally quite charming score,” he felt the shenanigans were “overplayed” and too “frenzied” to justify the two and a half hours of playing time. On the other hand, Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “genial little chamber musical” offered a book “carpentered with immaculate craftsmanship,” lyrics of “wit and felicity,” and music “very easy on the ear” which revealed “a sheer, easy, almost transparent lyricism” Lloyd Webber hadn’t “shown since his woefully underestimated Aspects of Love.” By Jeeves was a radically revised version of Ayckbourn and Lloyd Webber’s Jeeves, which had premiered in London on April 22, 1975, at Her Majesty’s Theatre with David Hemmings (Bertie) and Michael Aldridge (Jeeves). The musical was a major failure and lasted for just thirty-eight performances. Hawk in Variety said there was “a sameness about much of the show as well as the songs, several of which are pleasant enough, which tends to make a long evening seem longer”; but Ronald Bryden in Plays and Players said Ayckbourn had written “the most literate and genuinely witty” book for a British musical since Sandy Wilson’s Valmouth in 1958. Irving Wardle in the London Times noted the show gave “considerable pleasure” and was a “modest, well-written, unspectacular piece,” and reported that in one scene Bertie must rescue his friend Bingo from no less than a gilt chandelier. Happily, the 1975 production was recorded by MCA Records (LP # MCF-2726) but curiously has never been issued on CD. The recording includes seven songs not used in By Jeeves: “Code of the Woosters,” “Female of the Species,” “Today,” “Jeeves Is Past His Peak,” “S.P.O.D.E.,” “Eulalie,” and “Summer Day,” all quite delightful, with “Code of the Woosters” an especially warm and ingratiating opening number and “Female of the Species” a devilish bit of early feminist philosophy. Songs in the production that weren’t included on the cast album are: “Literary Men,” “My Sort of Man,” and “’Tis Nature’s Plan,” and snippets of the score resurfaced in other Lloyd Webber musicals (a touch of “Summer Day” can be heard in Evita’s “Another Suitcase in Another Hall”). Jeeves was revised as By Jeeves in Scarborough, England, on May 1, 1996, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre with Steven Pacey (Bertie) and Malcolm Sinclair (Jeeves) and this version retained “Code of the Woosters” and “Female of the Species” (here, “Deadlier Than the Male”), both of which were dropped for the eventual London production (billed as an “Almost Entirely New Musical”), which opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre on July 2, 1996, and included the song “Wooster Will Entertain You.” The U.S. premiere took

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place at Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut, on October 17, 1996, and included “Wooster Will Entertain You.” In his review of the Chester production, Ben Brantley in the Times said Lloyd Webber’s score offered “simple, cheerful ditties” and noted that at times during the evening “you are indeed transported into Wodehouse’s world of blissfully organized chaos.” And while more such moments were needed, it didn’t mean that the show’s producers “should start thinking about falling chandeliers and floating staircases.” The Scarborough cast album was issued by Really Useful/Polydor Records (CD # 531-723-2) in a limited edition that included abridged dialogue sequences. The cast album of the London revival was released by the same company (CD # 533-187-2), as was the Broadway cast recording (CD # 314-589-309-2). A DVD produced in Canada with most of the Broadway company was issued by Universal in 2001.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2001) Theatre: The Theatre at Madison Square Garden Opening Date: November 23, 2001; Closing Date: December 27, 2001 Performances: 70 (estimated) The eighth of ten productions of the musical version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden starred Tim Curry as Scrooge. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times said Curry gave a “valuable, thoughtfully acted performance, serviceably sung and infused at the proper time with winning warmth and comedy.” And with the tragedy of September 11 in mind, Van Gelder suggested that in this “time of loss and apprehension and conflict, the message of A Christmas Carol seems more pertinent than ever.” The critic also noted that the production seemed to have undergone “a welcome fluff, tweak and infusion of humor and energy.” For more information about the musical, see entry for the 2000 production.

MOSTLY SONDHEIM Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: January 14, 2002; Closing Date: February 11, 2002 Performances: 9 Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Producer: Lincoln Center Theatre at the Vivian Beaumont (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors); Musical Direction: Wally Harper Cast: Barbara Cook; Wally Harper (Piano), Jon Burr (Bass) The concert was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers “Everybody Says Don’t” (Anyone Can Whistle, 1964; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Buds Won’t Bud” (dropped from Hooray for What!, 1937; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); “I Wonder What Became of Me” (dropped from St. Louis Woman, 1946; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harold Arlen); “The Eagle and Me” (Bloomer Girl, 1944; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); “I Had Myself a True Love” (St. Louis Woman, 1946; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harold Arlen); “Another Hundred People” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “So Many People” (from unproduced 1954 musical Saturday Night, which was first presented in New York in a 2000 Off-Broadway production; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “In Buddy’s Eyes” (Follies, 1971; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “I Got Lost in His Arms” (Annie Get Your Gun, 1946; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Hard Hearted Hannah” (“The Vamp of Savannah”) (lyric by Jack Yellen, Bob Bigelow, and Charles Bates, music by Milton Ager); “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” (lyric by L. Wolfe Gilbert, music by Lewis F. Muir); “San Francisco” (1936 film San Francisco; lyric by Gus Kahn, music by Walter Jurmann and

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Bronislau Kaper); “When in Rome” (lyric by Carolyn Leigh, music by Cy Coleman); “Happiness” (Passion, 1994; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Loving You” (Passion, 1994; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Send in the Clowns” (A Little Night Music, 1973; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Ice Cream” (She Loves Me, 1963; lyric by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock); “Not a Day Goes By” (Merrily We Roll Along, 1981; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Losing My Mind” (Follies, 1971; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “The Trolley Song” (1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis; lyric and music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane); “Anyone Can Whistle” (Anyone Can Whistle, 1964; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim) Barbara Cook’s limited-engagement concert Mostly Sondheim ushered in a succession of three onewoman shows that opened back-to-back over a five-week period during mid-season (the others were Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends and Elaine Stritch at Liberty). Cook’s concerts were presented on Sunday and Monday evenings at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre when Contact was dark. Cook was generally true to the concert’s title, and of the twenty-two selections half were by Sondheim and half by others; Sondheim was the most represented composer of the evening, and Harold Arlen came in second place with four songs. Cook noted she had selected the non-Sondheim songs from a list provided by the master himself, songs he wished he’d written. Despite her distinguished years in musical theatre, Cook was always a bit stingy in her concerts when it came to performing songs she introduced during her career. “Ice Cream” (from She Loves Me, 1963) popped up the most and became her signature song, but otherwise “Magic Moment” and “Something You Never Had Before” (The Gay Life, 1961), “I Feel Like New Year’s Eve” and “Better All the Time” (Something More!, 1964), and “Chain of Love” (aka “I’ll Always Be in Love”) and “Yellow Drum” (The Grass Harp, 1971) never seemed to surface, and while it was understandable that she avoided the mock aria “Glitter and Be Gay” (Candide, 1956), she might have considered the above-mentioned songs as well as those that fellow performers had introduced in her shows, such as “Young and Foolish” (Plain and Fancy, 1955). In one of her earliest concerts, she began to sing the most popular song she ever introduced, “Till There Was You” (The Music Man, 1957), but after a few bars she stopped and made a dismissive comment about being tired of the number. You could practically feel the chill among the audience members, and perhaps her cavalier attitude toward the song was more disappointing than her decision not to finish it. (It’s fascinating that for Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Stritch performed “This Is All Very New to Me,” a song that Cook had introduced in Plain and Fancy.) Bruce Weber in the New York Times praised the “sublime evening” and said you’d never guess Cook was seventy-four years old because “her soprano pipes sound prime-of-life like: mellifluous, rangy, bell clear and either full or delicate, as necessary,” and her voice filled “the vertical silo space” of the theatre “as easily as if it were a broom closet.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said Cook’s “purity, restraint and attention to the specific emotional color of each phrase” were her hallmarks, and for two of Sally Durant’s songs in Follies she offered an “achingly bittersweet” interpretation of “In Buddy’s Eyes” and a “softly, steely ardent attack” on “Losing My Mind.” An earlier production of the concert had been performed at Carnegie Hall on February 2, 2001, and was recorded live by DRG Records (# 91464). Released as Barbara Cook Sings Mostly Sondheim: Live at Carnegie Hall, the two-CD set features a special guest appearance by Malcolm Gets, who performs solos as well as duets with Cook. DRG released a DVD taken from a live performance of the concert when it played in Purchase, New York. Besides Carnegie Hall, the concert had also been previously presented at Michael Feinstein’s supper club and in London. Prior to Mostly Sondheim, Cook had appeared in her one-woman concert Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre in 1987, and after the current presentation she returned two seasons later in another concert, Barbara Cook’s Broadway! She also appeared in the Sondheim tribute revue Sondheim on Sondheim in 2010.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Mostly Sondheim)

2001–2002 Season     79

BEA ARTHUR ON BROADWAY: JUST BETWEEN FRIENDS Theatre: Booth Theatre Opening Date: February 17, 2002; Closing Date: April 14, 2002 Performances: 65 Material: Bea Arthur and Billy Goldenberg in collaboration with Charles Randolph Wright (Mark Waldrop and Richard Maltby Jr., Production Consultants) Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Scenery: Ray Klausen (Scenic Consultant); Producers: Daryl Roth, M. Beverly Bartner, and USA Ostar Theatricals; Costumes: Jane Greenwood (Costume Consultant); Lighting; Matt Berman; Musical Direction: Billy Goldenberg Cast: Beatrice Arthur, Billy Goldenberg (Piano) The evening was presented in one act.

Monologues and Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual sequences; the following titles are taken from the original cast album and newspaper reviews. “Lamb Recipe”; “Fun to Be Fooled” (Life Begins at 8:40, 1934; lyric by Ira Gershwin and E .Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); Introduction; “What Can You Get a Nudist for Her Birthday?”; “Audition”; “Isn’t He Adorable”; Fiddler on the Roof; “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” (1936 film Follow the Fleet; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Bosom Buddies” (Mame, 1966; lyric and music by Jerry Herman); Angela Lansbury; The Threepenny Opera and “Pirate Jenny” (The Threepenny Opera, 1928; German lyric by Bertolt Brecht, English lyric for 1954 revival by Marc Blitzstein, music by Kurt Weill); “It Never Was You” (Knickerbocker Holiday, 1938; lyric by Maxwell Anderson, music by Kurt Weill); “And Then There’s Maude” (theme song from television show Maude; lyric by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, music by Dave Grusin); “Some People” (Gypsy, 1959; lyric by Stephen Sondheim, music by Jule Styne); “The Soup Ladle”; “Where Do You Start”; “Bernie Schwartz”; “If I Can’t Sell It, I’ll Keep Sittin’ on It!” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Alexander Hill); “Personal Hygiene”; “Who Cares” (possibly the song from the 1931 musical Of Thee I Sing; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “Fifty Percent” (Ballroom, 1978; lyric by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, music by Billy Goldenberg); “The Nun’s Story”; “You’re Gonna Hear from Me” (1965 film Inside Daisy Clover; lyric by Dory Previn, music by Andre Previn); “The Chance to Sing”; “The Man in the Moon” (Mame, 1966; lyric and music by Jerry Herman); “Lamb Leftovers”; “I Happen to Like New York” (added to the 1930 musical The New Yorkers after its opening; lyric and music by Cole Porter) Bea Arthur’s limited-engagement one-woman show Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends (in which she was accompanied by composer Billy Goldenberg at the piano) was an autobiographical evening in which she discussed her life and career. Arthur was best known to the general public for two long-running television series, Maude (CBS, 1972–1978) and The Golden Girls (NBC, 1985–1992), but she had a healthy life in the theatre as well. She appeared in the long-running Off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera in 1954 and 1955 (for more information, see below), understudied Shirl Conway (who played the wise-cracking big-city dame who sings “It’s a Helluva Way to Run a Love Affair”) in the 1955 Broadway musical Plain and Fancy, and later that season was seen in the musical Seventh Heaven, which lasted less than five weeks; the following year she was in Ziegfeld Follies (the one with Tallulah Bankhead that closed out of town, not the 1957 edition that opened on Broadway with Beatrice Lillie), and in 1957 she was featured in Herman Wouk’s comedy Nature’s Way, which lasted for sixty-one performances. In 1964, she created the role of Yenta (the matchmaker) in Fiddler on the Roof and introduced “I Just Heard” (aka “Gossip Song”), which was recorded at the time of the cast album session but wasn’t on the LP release due to space limitations (the song was included for the later CD release). Two years after Fiddler, she appeared as Vera Charles in the original Broadway production of Mame and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (and later reprised the role for the 1974 film version). Her one shot at headliner status in a big Broadway musical went down in flames when Richard Adler’s A Mother’s Kisses (1968) closed during its pre-Broadway tryout; she starred in what seemed a surefire audience-pleaser of a role as the Jewish

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Mother from Hell, one eternally determined to run if not ruin her son’s life (she explains in song to her son that she was able to book them into the same hotel room because she told the hotel staff they were lovers). (She also appeared in Elaine May’s 1962 comedy A Matter of Position, which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout; the show surfaced on Broadway in 2000, sans Arthur, as Taller Than a Dwarf, and lasted for fifty-six performances.) Arthur had also appeared in Off-Broadway revues and musicals. As noted, she was in the long-running Off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played the role of Lucy Brown (the production was briefly seen in 1954, reopened in 1955, and played for a total of 96 and 2,611 respective performances); the 1959 revue Chic; and the 1960 revival of Cole Porter’s Gay Divorce. She was also featured in Ben Bagley’s Shoestring Revue (1955) and sang Sheldon Harnick’s “Garbage,” a spoof of torch songs in which she laments that her former boyfriend’s treatment of her was “beyond the pale,” and appeared in two sketches, one in which she insists she “Couldn’t Be Happier” that a former flame has found a new girlfriend (a girl who has such a special glow, no doubt because she’s always lit) and another one about the Disneyfication of old stories and legends (“Medea in Disneyland”). In his review of Just Between Friends, Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Arthur’s television persona was “intact” as she “delivered put-downs with a withering majesty,” and no doubt an inveterate sit-com watcher who saw the show might later tell a friend, “You know, she was exactly the way she is on television, only more.” The evening was a stream of songs and patter, show-business stories about Tallulah Bankhead and Lotte Lenya, and a certain amount of “dissing” when it came to Jerome Robbins and Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz, Curtis’s name also popped up in Elaine Stritch at Liberty). On stage, Arthur was “free from the censor’s scissors,” she “spiked her vocabulary with lots of four-letter seasoning,” and in acknowledgment of the admiration of “the large claque of gay men” who enjoyed her “stylish eccentricity,” she told “dirty jokes” about them. Charles Isherwood in Variety said that “midway through this odd, wayward” evening he had the desire “to stand up and shout, ‘Is there a writer in the house?’” because the show was a series of “bizarre juxtapositions” of song, “aimless yet canned-sounding anecdotes,” and mediocre comic material. All this didn’t matter to the audience, but Isherwood felt it was a “shame” that Arthur’s “brilliant comic timing” lacked a real showcase. The original cast album was released by DRG Records. Billy Goldenberg composed the score for the 1978 musical Ballroom, and Just Between Friends included one number from that show (“Fifty Percent”).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends)

ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY Theatre: Neil Simon Theatre Opening Date: February 21, 2002; Closing Date: May 26, 2002 Performances: 69 Material: “Constructed by” John Lahr and “reconstructed by” Elaine Stritch Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: George C. Wolfe; Producers: John Schreiber, Creative Battery, Margo Lion, and Robert Cole (Executive Producer) in association with Dede Harris/Mort Swinsky, Cheryl Wisenfeld, and The Public Theatre/ New York Shakespeare Festival (Roy Furman, Jay Furman, Mark Krantz, and Charles Flateman, Associate Producers); Scenery: Riccardo Hernandez; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Rob Bowman Cast: Elaine Stritch The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: The program stated that “the following songs may or may not be performed” during the evening: “All in Fun” (Very Warm for May, 1939; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Jerome Kern); “Broadway Baby” (Follies, 1971; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “But Not for Me” (Girl Crazy, 1930; lyric

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by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “If Love Were All” (Bitter-Sweet, London and New York, 1929; lyric and music by Noel Coward); “Can You Use Any Money Today?” (Call Me Madam, 1950; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Civilization” (aka “Bongo, Bongo, Bongo”) (Angel in the Wings, 1947; lyric by Bob Hilliard, music by Carl Sigman); “Hooray for Hollywood” (1938 film Hollywood Hotel; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Richard A. Whiting); “I’m Still Here” (Follies, 1971; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “I’ve Been to a Marvelous Party” (aka “I Went to a Marvelous Party”) (Set to Music, 1938; lyric and music by Noel Coward); “I Want a Long Time Daddy” (lyric and music by Porter Grainger); “The Little Things You Do Together” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim);”Something Good” (1965 film The Sound of Music; lyric and music by Richard Rodgers); “The Ladies Who Lunch” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “The Party’s Over” (Bells Are Ringing, 1956; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne); “There Never Was a Baby Like My Baby” (Two on the Aisle, 1951; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne); “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (Annie Get Your Gun, 1946; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “This Is All Very New to Me” (Plain and Fancy, 1955; lyric by Arnold B. Horwitt, music by Albert Hague); “Why Do the Wrong People Travel?” (Sail Away, New York, 1961, and London, 1962; lyric and music by Noel Coward); “Zip” (Pal Joey, 1940; first Broadway revival, 1952; lyric by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers) Elaine Stritch at Liberty was the season’s third one-woman show in a row, and unlike the preceding ones with Barbara Cook and Bea Arthur, Stritch’s autobiographical evening was a more exposed one with a certain raw and visceral approach to her life and career, including her bouts with alcohol, her lost loves, and her career disappointments. But there were career highs, too, including her show-stopping “Civilization” in the 1947 revue Angel in the Wings; her show-stopping “Zip” in the 1952 hit revival of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey; her short-running Goldilocks (1958), which nonetheless provided her with the scorching torch song “I Never Know When (to Say When)”; her performance as a cruise ship’s seen-it-all social director who hates passengers in Noel Coward’s 1961 Sail Away (in which she introduced the shimmering ballad “Something Very Strange” and the wry comedy number “Why Do the Wrong People Travel?”); and her signature role of Joanne (and her signature song “The Ladies Who Lunch”) in Stephen Sondheim’s Company (1970). Elaine Stritch at Liberty had first opened Off Broadway at the Public’s Newman Theatre on November 6, 2001, for fifty performances. The cast album was released by DRG Records (CD # 12994) and was taken from three live performances late during the Off-Broadway run, and the concert was later filmed from a live performance at London’s Old Vic Theatre (it was eventually shown on Home Box Office and was issued on DVD by Image Entertainment # IDO7231PDVD). The concert was revived at the Café Carlyle beginning on January 1, 2008, for three weeks. For the Off-Broadway production, the headline of Ben Brantley’s review in the New York Times stated “The Role of a Lifetime: Elaine Stritch as Herself.” And in his notice for the Broadway transfer, Brantley said the “thrilling” evening had “only one performer onstage—a tough-as-rawhide, soft-as-butter veteran of some 50 years of show business” in a tale where “girl meets Broadway and Broadway—hooray!—gets girl.” Charles Isherwood in Variety noted that Stritch “dives into the show’s moments of lacerating introspection with a fierceness that scrapes away any veneer of sentimentality,” and hers was “a display of consummate stage technique that doesn’t hide the psychological underpinnings of that technique.”

Awards Tony Award: Best Special Theatrical Event (Elaine Stritch at Liberty) New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award: Special Citation (2001–2002) (Elaine Stritch for Elaine Stritch at Liberty)

ONE MO’ TIME Theatre: Longacre Theatre Opening Date: March 6, 2002; Closing Date: March 24, 2002 Performances: 21 Book: Vernel Bagneris Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits

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Direction: Vernel Bagneris; Producers: Williamstown Theatre Festival (Michael Ritchie, Producer) in association with Bob Boyett (Lisa Albright, Associate Producer); Choreography: Eddie D. Robinson; Scenery: Campbell Baird; Costumes: Toni-Leslie James; Lighting: John McKernon; Musical Direction: probably Orange Kellin Cast: Vernel Bagneris (Papa Du), B. J. Crosby (Ma Reed), Rosalind Brown (Thelma), Wally Dunn (Theatre Owner), Roz Ryan (Bertha); Band: The New Orleans Blue Serenaders The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at the Lyric Theatre in New Orleans in 1926.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture: “Darktown Strutters Ball” (lyric and music by Sheldon Brooks) (Band); “(Down in) Honky Tonk Town” (lyric and music by Charles McCarron and Chris Smith) (Vernel Bagneris, B. J. Crosby, Rosalind Brown); “Kiss Me Sweet” (lyric and music by Armand J. Piron and Steve J. Lewis) (Vernel Bagneris, Rosalind Brown); “Don’t Turn Your Back on Me” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Clarence Williams) (Roz Ryan); “(There’ll Be No Freebies at) Miss Jenny’s Ball” (lyric and music by Quenton Reed) (B. J. Crosby); “Cake-Walking Babies (from Home)” (lyric and music by Chris Smith, Henry Troy, and Clarence Williams) (Vernel Bagneris, B. J. Crosby, Rosalind Brown); “I’ve Got What It Takes” (lyric and music by Clarence Williams and Hezekiah Jenkins) (Rosalind Brown); “See See Rider” (aka “See See Rider Blues” and “C. C. Rider”) (lyric and music by Ma Rainey and Lena Arant) (B. J. Crosby); “He’s in the Jailhouse Now” (lyric and music by Toots Davis and Ed Stafford) (Vernel Begneris); “He’s Funny That Way” (aka “She’s Funny That Way” and “I Got a Woman, Crazy for Me”) (lyric by Neil Moret, music by Richard A. Whiting) (Rosalind Brown); “Tiger Rag” (lyric and music by Edwin B. Edwards, James D. LaRocca, W. H. Ragas, Anthony Sbarbaro, and Larry Shields) (Band); “Kitchen Man” (lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Alex Bellenda) (Roz Ryan); “Wait Till You See My Baby Do the Charleston” (lyric and music by Clarence Williams, Clarence Todd, and Rousseau Simmons) (B. J. Crosby, Roz Ryan, Rosalind Brown) Act Two: Entr’acte: “Muskrat Ramble” (music by Edward “Kid” Ory) (Band); “Black Bottom” (George White’s Scandals, 1926; lyric by Buddy B. G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, music by Ray Henderson) (Vernel Bagneris, B. J. Crosby, Rox Ryan); “Louise Louise” (possibly “Louise,” from 1929 film Innocents of Paris; lyric by Leo Robin, music by Richard A. Whiting) (Band, with trumpeter Mark Braud as vocalist); “Get On Out of Here” (“The Party”) (lyric and music by Wesley Wilson) (Vernel Bagneris, B. J. Crosby, Roz Ryan, Rosalind Brown); “Weary Blues” (“Shake It and Break It”) (lyric and music by Artie Matthews) (Band, with trumpeter Mark Braud as vocalist); “New Orleans Hop Scop Blues” (lyric and music by George W. Thomas) (Vernel Bagneris); “Hindustan” (lyric and music by Oliver G. Wallace and H. Weeks) (Band, with B. J. Crosby in a dance solo) ; “What It Takes to Bring You Back” (lyric and music by Spencer Williams) (Vernel Bagneris, Roz Ryan); “Everybody Loves My Baby” (lyric and music by Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams) (Rosalind Brown); “(You’ve Got the) Right Key but the Wrong Keyhole” (lyric and music by Eddie Green and Clarence Williams) (Roz Ryan); “After You’ve Gone” (lyric by Henry Creamer, music by J. Turner Layton) (B. J. Crosby); “My Man Blues” (lyric and music by Bessie Smith) (Roz Ryan, Rosalind Brown); “Papa De Da Da” (lyric and music by Spencer Williams, Clarence Williams, and Clarence Todd) (Vernel Bagneris, B. J. Crosby, Roz Ryan, Rosalind Brown); “Muddy Water” (lyric and music by Peter de Rose, Harry Richman, and Jo Trent) (B. J. Crosby, Roz Ryan); “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” (lyric and music by Theodore A. Metz) (Vernel Bagneris, B. J. Crosby, Roz Ryan, Rosalind Brown) The hit 1979 Off-Broadway revue One Mo’ Time! lost more than the exclamation point for its Broadway debut. What had charmed critics and audiences almost a quarter-century earlier was now deemed slightly labored and old-hat, and so the bloom was definitely off the honeysuckle rose. The revue-like musical took place in 1926 at the Lyric Theatre in New Orleans where Bertha Williams (Roz Ryan) and her troupe of black players on the T.O.B.A. circuit (the Theatre Owners Booking Agency, which black performers referred to as Tough on Black Asses) present One Mo’ Time!, an evening of vaudeville-styled acts. On stage, it’s all song and dance, but there are backstage intrigues, mostly of the romantic variety. Within its narrowly defined scope (which never really explores the inherent racism of the situation or delves into the performers’ relationships), the show was entertaining enough with pleasant if familiar routines, modest production values, and a small cast.

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The original Off-Broadway production opened at the Village Gate Downstairs, a cozy space just right for the show’s ambience. And when the revue played at Washington, D.C.’s intimate Arena Stage, the show and theatre were a perfect fit; but in a later D.C. booking at the 1,600-seat National Theatre, the revue was all but lost within the confines of the large road house. So it was probably a mistake to revive the show at a regular-sized Broadway theatre, and the modest production would have been better served downtown in an Off-Broadway venue or perhaps at the Helen Hayes, Broadway’s smallest theatre (which at approximately 600 seats is about half the size of the Longacre). Despite a small cast of five plus five band members, the revival cost $2.5 million to mount, and after dismissive reviews closed after just twenty-one performances. It also didn’t help that by 2002, Broadway had seen a string of long-running black revues (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Eubie!, Sophisticated Ladies, Black and Blue, and It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues), and perhaps audiences were temporarily tired of the genre. Bruce Weber in the New York Times noted that the book had always been “thin” and had failed to tie up some of the plot’s loose ends, the characters were stereotypical, and the humor was only “intermittently funny” and mostly “familiar” and “tiresome.” An “overall redundancy” permeated the evening and it seemed longer than its two-hour playing time, “a sign that this One Mo’ Time is one too many.” Charles Isherwood in Variety decided there was “something a bit creaky and secondhand” about the show and thus “the joint resolutely fails to jump,” and he suggested the “flimsy” book scenes should have been jettisoned in favor of a straightforward revue. The Off-Broadway production opened on October 22, 1979, for 1,372 performances, and even then a critic or two had reservations about the entertainment. John Corry in the New York Times liked the “onstage” sequences, but otherwise found the backstage plot “embarrassing” and somewhat “offensive” because the performers played racial stereotypes as though everyone associated with the show had forgotten that “Amos and Andy are dead.” The original production was conceived and directed by Vernel Bagneris, who also starred in the role of Papa Du, and he both directed the revival and reprised his former role. The original 1979 cast album was released by Warner Brothers Records (LP # HS-3454), and the script was published in paperback by Samuel French in an undated edition (probably circa 1981). During the period of the original Off-Broadway production and its touring company, various songs were deleted and others added. Further Mo’ was a sequel of sorts that opened at the Village Gate Downstairs on May 17, 1990, for 174 performances. Again conceived and directed by Bagneris (who again played Papa Du), the characters from the earlier show were back at the Lyric in another vaudeville revue.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS “A New Musical”

Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: March 14, 2002; Closing Date: June 15, 2002 Performances: 109 Book: John Guare Lyrics: Craig Carnelia Music: Marvin Hamlisch Based on Ernest Lehman’s 1950 novella Tell Me about It Tomorrow and the 1957 film Sweet Smell of Success (direction by Alexander Mackendrick, screenplay by Clifford Odets and Lehman). Direction: Nicholas Hytner (Drew Barr, Assistant Director); Producers: Clear Channel Entertainment, David Brown, Ernest Lehman, Marty Bell, Martin Richards, Roy Furman, Joan Cullman, Bob Boyett, East of Doheny, and Bob and Harvey Weinstein in association with The Producer Circle Company and Allen Spivak and Larry Magid (Beth Williams and East Egg Entertainment, Executive Producers); Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon (Jodi Moccia, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes: Bob Crowley; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Jeffrey Huard Cast: John Lithgow (J. J. Hunsecker), Brian d’Arcy James (Sidney), Kelli O’Hara (Susan), Jack Noseworthy (Dallas), Stacey Logan (Rita), Joanna Glushak (Madge), Elena L. Shaddow (Abigail Barclay), Frank Vlastnik (Tony), Michael Paternostro (Billy Van Cleve), Jamie Chandler-Torns (Pregnant Woman), Eric Sciotto (Pepper White’s Escort), Michelle Kittrell (Charlotte Von Habsburg), Eric Michael Gillett (Otis Elwell), Steven Ochoa (Lester), David Brummel (Kello), Bernard Dotson (Club Zanzibar Singer), Kate Coffman-

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Lloyd (Cathedral Soloist), Allen Fitzpatrick (Senator), Jill Nicklaus (Senator’s Girlfriend), Jennie Ford (J. J.’s Vaudeville Partner), Timothy J. Alex (Press Agent); Other parts played by members of the company The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during 1952.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Column” (John Lithgow, Brian d’Arcy James, Ensemble); “I Could Get You in J. J.” (Brian d’Arcy James); “I Cannot Hear the City” (Jack Noseworthy); “Welcome to the Night” (John Lithgow, Brian d’Arcy James, Ensemble); “Laughin’ All the Way to the Bank” (Bernard Dotson); “At the Fountain” (Brian d’Arcy James); “Psalm 151” (John Lithgow, Brian d’Arcy James); “Don’t Know Where You Leave Off” (Jack Noseworthy, Kelli O’Hara); “What If” (Kelli O’Hara, Ensemble); “For Susan” (John Lithgow); “One Track Mind” (Jack Noseworthy); “I Cannot Hear the City” (reprise) (Jack Noseworthy); End of Act One (Ensemble) Act Two: “Break It Up” (John Lithgow, Brian d’Arcy James, Ensemble); “Rita’s Tune” (Stacey Logan); “Dirt” (Ensemble); “I Could Get You in J. J.” (reprise) (Brian d’Arcy James); “I Cannot Hear the City” (reprise) (Kelli O’Hara, Jack Noseworthy); “Don’t Look Now” (John Lithgow, Ensemble); “At the Fountain” (reprise) (Brian d’Arcy James, Ensemble); End of Act Two (John Lithgow, Kelli O’Hara, Brian d’Arcy James, Ensemble) Based on the 1957 film noir of the same name, Sweet Smell of Success takes place in 1952 and centers on the powerful Walter Winchell–like columnist J. J. Hunsecker (John Lithgow) who can make or break a celebrity with just a few keystrokes of the typewriter, and the ambitious press agent Sidney Falco (Brian d’Arcy James) who hopes his tips will find their way into Hunsecker’s column. Hunsecker is obsessively and almost incestuously devoted to his young sister Susan (Kelli O’Hara), and despite her love for the unknown piano player Dallas (Jack Noseworthy), Hunsecker deems him unworthy of her. In order to curry favor with Hunsecker, Falco attempts to destroy Dallas with both innuendo and the muscle of a few underworld goons. But the plan ultimately backfires and in order to preserve his reputation, and in tandem with the corrupt police, Hunsecker sees to it that Falco is killed. For his next column, Hunsecker writes that Falco was “the victim of a vicious robbery” and tells his secretary that “Sidney would be happy. He made today’s column.” Winchell is perhaps best remembered by theatre buffs for his groan-inducing four-word rave for the flop 1967 Broadway musical How Now, Dow Jones: “How Now Dow Wow!” And one line of dialogue in John Guare’s book no doubt brought chuckles to the cognoscenti when Hunsecker dictates to his secretary that Bette Davis and Jerome Robbins are “huddling” at Luchow’s “over a big project.” (The project, of course, is the musical revue Two’s Company, one of the biggest Broadway flops of the 1950s.) The ambitious $10 million musical received mostly indifferent notices, won just one Tony Award (Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for John Lithgow), and closed after three months. The critics were cruel, and most of them vastly underrated Guare’s strong book (its weakest point was the endlessly circling Greek-like chorus that hovered about and commented on the action) and Marvin Hamlisch’s mostly striking and impressive score. But Bob Crowley’s ominous décor was universally praised: hovering above the characters was a claustrophobic cyclorama of endless city-street canyons surrounded by black and blue Manhattan skyscrapers under dark skies that sometimes turned blood red with threats of violence and evil. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the show’s elements promised a “Benzedrine cocktail, served straight up” but instead offered a “narcotic concoction” in which one heard “the cries of . . . zzzzzzz.” Dialogue that was “cool and mordant” on the screen now seemed “phony and bombastic” on stage; the score aimed for “urban anxiety and film noir portentousness” but soon morphed into “one sustained admonitory melody”; and the evening was “less compellingly dark than simply muddy.” He was also unimpressed with the ever-present chorus “in and out (and in and out and in and out) in their mystic circle as they repeat gossip and prophesy doom.” In the same newspaper, Margo Jefferson said the book added “too much sweetness” in order “to alleviate the rank meanness at the heart of the story,” and the score drifted “through tunes and time periods” with “70’s pop here” and “Leonard Bernstein there.”

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Charles Isherwood in Variety said the creators’ assignment was to “turn a cinematic martini with a strychnine twist into a palatable stage entertainment,” and their finished product was “accomplished” with “diligence and care.” But “in pure entertainment terms” the musical never quite delivered “enough crunch to offset its sour flavor.” A “plodding monotony” ultimately set in, and “at one point or another” the “more competent than exciting” score let down the characters. As for the tiresome presence of that Gotham chorus, Isherwood asked, “Don’t these people have a subway to catch?” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “diamond-tough” and mostly “brilliant” musical, including Crowley’s “wondrous” décor and Guare’s “pushy, pushing and damnably clever” book. He also noted that Hamlisch’s score was “evocatively colorful but less than truly memorable.” John Lahr in the New Yorker said the musical was a “missed opportunity” that had been “a labor of love” in development over a four-year period and now seemed “more like a labor.” The musical needed to depict both sides of Hunsecker’s Manhattan coin, the “evil” as well as the “glamorous, witty, and seductive” sides, but the show’s “problem” was that it offered “the dirt but not the love.” Further, the “wit” of Guare’s book wasn’t “sustained” in the “soft” and “undistinguished” music, “flat” lyrics, and “generic” choreography. Nelson Pressley in the Washington Post said the production “swaggers pretty well” and the “deliberately blaring, pulsing score has some grit and muscle.” But the story “utterly” fell apart with the decision to give Susan “the resilient spunk of a Disney heroine,” and if she’s so “lively, dishy, and sharp,” why has she allowed herself to be squashed under Hunsecker’s thumb? As for the Greek chorus, it was “obnoxiously insistent” and “omnipresent” with its constant “dark little melodies” and “prodding” lyrics. Like Sutton Foster in the title role of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Lithgow received a number of less-thanenthusiastic notices, but like Foster he too picked up a Tony Award for his efforts. Lahr praised the actor and said it was a “barometer” of his skills that he was “able to hide his inveterate decency and intelligence and turn Hunsecker into a memorable bully with the backbone of a chocolate éclair.” But Brantley felt that Lithgow was uncomfortable with his unpleasant character and wore “evil authority like a clanking suit of armor” which you could “feel him itching” to take off; Jefferson found it “disheartening” to watch the “adept and likable” Lithgow “work so hard and not succeed” because he was “likable and funny” when he should have been “a tyrant and a killer”; and Richard Zoglin in Time said the actor was “too soft and pliable, less Satan than satin.” During the tryout, the musical was presented in one act; songs dropped during the tryout included “Rumor,” “That’s How I Say Goodbye,” and “Pier 88.” The cast album was released by Sony Classical Records (CD # SK-89922), and the script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 2006.

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Sweet Smell of Success); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (John Lithgow); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Brian d’Arcy James); Best Book (John Guare); Best Score (lyrics by Craig Carnelia, music by Marvin Hamlisch); Best Lighting Design (Natasha Katz); Best Orchestrations (William David Brohn)

OKLAHOMA! Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: March 21, 2002; Closing Date: February 23, 2003 Performances: 388 Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Richard Rodgers Based on the 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs. Direction: Trevor Nunn; Producers: A Cameron Mackintosh Presentation of the NT Royal National Theatre Production (David Caddick, Nicholas Allott, and Matthew Dalco, Executive Producers); Choreography: Susan Stroman (Warren Carlyle, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes: Anthony Ward; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites

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Cast: Andrea Martin (Aunt Eller), Patrick Wilson (Curly), Josefina Gabrielle (Laurey), Ronn Carroll (Ike Skidmore), Justin Bohon (Will Parker), Shuler Hensley (Jud Fry), Jessica Boevers (Ado Annie Carnes), Aasif Mandvi (Ali Hakim), Mia Price (Gertie Cummings), Michael McCarty (Andrew Carnes), Michael X. Martin (Cord Elam); Ensemble: Matt Allen (Corky), Clyde Alves (Jess), Bradley Benjamin (Susie), Kevin Bernard (Slim), Amy Bodnar (Aggie), Stephen R. Buntrock (Joe), Nicolas Dromard (Sam), Merwin Foard (Chalmers), Rosena M. Hill (Ellen), Chris Holly (Jake), Michael Thomas Holmes (Mike), Elizabeth Loyacano (Kate), Audrie Neenan (Armina), Rachelle Rak (Rosie), Jermaine R. Rembert (Tom), Laura Shoop (Vivian), Sarah Spradlin-Bonomo (Emily), Greg Stone (Fred), Kathy Voytko (Sylvie), Catherine Wreford (Lucy); Children: Julianna Rose Mauriello (Li’l Titch), Stephen Scott Scarpulla (Travis), Lauren Ullrich (Desiree), William Ullrich (Maverick) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) just after the turn of the twentieth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” (Patrick Wilson); “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” (Patrick Wilson, Josefina Gabrielle, Andrea Martin); “Kansas City” (Justin Bohon, Andrea Martin, The Boys); “I Cain’t Say No” (Jessica Boevers); “Many a New Day” (Josefina Gabrielle, The Girls); “It’s a Scandal! It’s a Outrage!” (Aasif Mandvi, Farmers); “People Will Say We’re in Love” (Patrick Wilson, Josefina Gabrielle); “Pore Jud Is Dead” (Patrick Wilson, Shuler Hensley); “Lonely Room” (Shuler Hensley); “Out of My Dreams”—Ballet (Josefina Gabrielle, The Girls, Dream Figures) Act Two: “The Farmer and the Cowman” (Andrea Martin, Michael McCarty, Patrick Wilson, Justin Bohon, Jessica Boevers, Ronn Carroll, Company); “All er Nothin’” (Justin Bohon, Jessica Boevers); “People Will Say We’re in Love” (reprise) (Patrick Wilson, Josefina Gabrielle); “Oklahoma” (Patrick Wilson, Josefina Gabrielle, Andrea Martin, Company); Finale Ultimo (Company) The current revival of Oklahoma! originated in London where it opened at the Royal National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre on July 15, 1998, for a run of one year; the production was presented by Cameron Mackintosh, and for Broadway the entire creative team from London was present: Trevor Nunn (direction), Susan Stroman (choreography), Anthony Ward (scenic and costume designer), and David Hersey (lighting designer). The leads in London were Hugh Jackman (Curly), Josefina Gabrielle (Laurey), Shuler Hensley (Jud Fry), Vicki Simon (Ado Annie), Jimmy Johnston (Will Parker), and Maureen Lipman (Aunt Eller), and Gabrielle and Shuler reprised their roles for Broadway (Shuler won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical). For New York, the cast also included Patrick Wilson (Curly), Jessica Boevers (Ado Annie), Justin Bohon (Will Parker), and Andrea Martin (Aunt Eller). A few critics noted that the production had a darker tone than usual, and they had either forgotten or didn’t know that the splendid 1979 Broadway revival was similarly distinguished for its slightly darker take on the otherwise sunny musical. That production was capped with memorable performances by Christine Andreas (Laurey) and Martin Vidnovic (Jud). Andreas’s Laurey was more brooding than usual, and this time around the ballet “Laurey Makes Up Her Mind” (for the current revival titled “Out of My Dreams—Ballet”) was really about something. A choice between Curly or Jud? Normally, there’s no contest, and in traditional stagings Jud is completely out of Laurey’s league. But Vidnovic was a Jud we’d never before seen, a sexy stallion who makes Curly look positively coltish. Vidnovic’s galvanic performance was charged with frustrated sexual energy, and it was clear from his performance that when Jud was alone in his shack he did more than just look at the racy French postcards nailed to the wall above his bunk. He was darkly and dangerously attractive, and it was now understandable why Laurey considers and then consents to go to the box social with him. Heretofore, and like Carousel’s Jigger, Jud had always seemed a somewhat intrusive but necessary secondarycharacter plot device. But here Jud was a presence, and Vidnovic’s beautifully and achingly performed “Lonely Room” made this generally ignored song a powerful and memorable statement about Jud’s outsider status. One or two critics for the current production mentioned that it took a while for Oklahoma! to reach its conclusion, a criticism that went all the way back to the musical’s premiere in 1943. In his analysis of the 1942–1943 season, George Jean Nathan noted that after the late second-act title-song sequence, there was some “extension of the action” that “loses the audience.” In fact, a few critics from 1943 also commented

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that the musical began a bit too slowly. John Anderson in the New York Journal-American suggested that the long first act needed tightening, and Wilella Waldorf in the New York Post found the long opening scene “mild” and “somewhat monotonous” with everyone “warbling” in front of the farm house (she thought that life on the old farm was a bit “tiresome”). The London production came to Broadway with high expectations. It had been hailed in the West End, its director was Trevor Nunn, and its choreographer Susan Stroman was Broadway’s sweetheart of the moment. But the revival never quite took off, and it lasted less than a year in New York. Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that the “freshly conceived” revival indicated the “West was won on the strength of sexual hormones” with “rushing erotic currents in the frontier spirit.” He praised Anthony Ward’s scenic design, which presented a cyclorama of endless sky that evoked the seemingly endless frontier (this was indeed Big Sky Country). And instead of offering Agnes de Mille’s iconic but overly familiar dances, Stroman here created new ones, and for the first time there weren’t dance alternates (Laurey and the Dream Laurey) for the dream ballet, and so Laurey was now acted, sung, and danced by the same actress (Charles Isherwood in Variety noted that for the ballet Laurey discovers that amid the corn stalks are mysterious fingers summoning her into the dream). But overall those who hadn’t seen the well-received London production might “wonder what all the fuss was about.” The Broadway version seemed “underrehearsed” and while the evening was “eminently agreeable” it was “only occasionally transporting.” Isherwood felt the production was “imperfectly realized,” and some of the supporting roles rubbed “against the grain” (he wondered if Andrea Martin was “anyone’s idea” of a Midwestern pioneer). Further, Gabrielle didn’t “succeed in finding the right recipe” for her role and there was never “a real human connection” between her and Wilson, who was an “appealingly laid-back” and “handsomely sung” Curly. John Lahr in the New Yorker said Gabrielle’s Laurey “lacks that very American sense of gumption, a combination of buoyancy and backbone”; Boevers’ didn’t find “genuine humor” in her role of Ado Annie; and the character of Ali Hakim (Aasif Mandvi) was a “racist stereotype” of the “chiseling Jew.” Oklahoma! premiered at the St. James Theatre on March 30, 1943, for a then record-breaking run of 2,212 performances. Including the current production, the musical has been revived on Broadway nine times: a return engagement by the national touring company opened at the Broadway Theatre on May 29, 1951, for 72 performances, and was followed by five productions at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company on August 31, 1953 (40 performances), March 19, 1958 (15 performances), February 27, 1963, with a return engagement on May 15, 1963 (a total of 30 performances), and December 15, 1965 (24 performances). The musical was next produced by the Music Theatre of Lincoln Center at the New York State Theatre on June 23, 1969, for 88 performances and then the aforementioned 1979 revival on December 13 at the Palace Theatre for 293 performances. The 1943 cast album was released on a 78 RPM set by Decca Records (# 359) and was the first commercial Broadway cast album. Previously there had been occasional individual recordings by cast members (such as Helen Morgan’s songs from Show Boat, highlights from Porgy and Bess, and Ethel Merman’s numbers from Panama Hattie) and in 1937 the cast album of Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock had been recorded for limited distribution. But with the wildly successful recording of Oklahoma! cast albums became part and parcel of a Broadway musical production (and record companies competed for recording rights) as both an aural souvenir of a particular show as well as a historical record of how a show actually sounded in the theatre. We can speculate about Jerome Kern’s 1925 hit Sunny, but we don’t really know how the songs and singers and orchestra came across; but thanks to the MGM cast recording, we know what Moose Charlap’s 1958 Whoop-Up sounded like, and its songs “Nobody Throw Those Bull” and “‘Caress Me, Possess Me’ Perfume” are preserved for the ages. With the advent of the cast album era, we have a generous preservation of both hits and flops, although intriguing titles (such as the ambitious Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe 1945 musical The Day Before Spring, which played for five months) and outright flops (Café Crown, Come Summer, and Into the Light) went sadly unrecorded. The Broadway cast album of Oklahoma! was later issued on LP (# DL-8000) and its most recent CD release by MCA Classics (# MCAD-10798) includes both an alternate take and a complete version of “Pore Jud Is Dead.” The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1943, was included in the 1959 Modern Library hardback collection Six Plays by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was issued in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2010, and was included in the 2014 hardcopy collection American Musicals by Library of America (which also includes the scripts of fifteen other musicals). All the lyrics for the used and cut songs are included in the hardback collection The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, published

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by Alfred A. Knopf in 2008. Max Wilk’s Ok! The Story of “Oklahoma!” was published in hardback by Grove Press in 1993 and was republished in paperback by Applause Books in 2002. The musical’s first London production was at the Drury Lane on April 29, 1947, for 1,548 performances. The 1955 film version (which cut “It’s a Scandal! It’s a Outrage!” and “Lonely Room”) was filmed twice, for both the Todd-AO and CinemaScope screen processes; the Todd-AO road show release was distributed by Magda Theatre Corporation, and the CinemaScope version by RKO Radio Pictures. The film has been released on home video by Twentieth Century-Fox, and a recent two-DVD set (# 0-24543-20843-3) includes both the Todd-AO and CinemaScope versions. The 1979 Broadway revival was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # CBL1-3572), and while there wasn’t a Broadway cast album of the current revival, its 1998 London production was recorded by First Night Records (CD # CAST-CD69) and a DVD was issued by Image Entertainment (# ID1055700KDVD). A Japanese production by the Takarazuka company was released on DVD (Takarazuka Creative Arts Co. Ltd. # TCAD-149). Oklahoma! is of course based on Lynn Riggs’s play Green Grow the Lilacs, which opened on January 26, 1931, at the Guild (now Virginia) Theatre for a short run of sixty-four performances. For Broadway, Franchot Tone was the original Curly McClain (James Patterson had created the role during the tryout, and was succeeded by Tone), and others in the cast were June Walker (Laurey Williams), Helen Westley (Aunt Eller Murphy), Richard Hale (as Jeeter Fry), Ruth Chorpenning (Ado Annie Carnes), and Lee Strasberg (“A Peddler”). The program of Green Grow the Lilacs describes the work as a “folk-play,” and notes that the evening includes “old and traditional” songs, all of them Western-styled numbers. Although none were listed in the program, the score included: “Sam Hall,” “Hello, Girls,” “I Wish I Was Single Again,” “Home on the Range,” “Goodbye, Old Paint,” “Strawberry Roan,” “Blood on the Saddle,” “Chisholm Trail,” and “Next Big River.” The traditional “Whoop Ti Ay” (“Git Along, You Little Dogies!”) and “Skip to My Lou” were also performed, and other songs in the production (all apparently by Riggs) include “A-ridin’ Ole Paint,” “Miner Boy,” “Sing Down, Hidery Down!,” “Wo, Larry, Wo!,” “The Little Brass Wagon,” “Git Yore Pardners,” “Custer’s Last Charge,” “And Yet I Love Her Till I Die,” “When I Was Young and Single,” and a title song (some of these are best-guess titles). Robert Benchley in the New Yorker said the work was “more in the nature of a musical show,” noted there was “a Sammy Lee chorus routine” (see below), and mentioned that Tone made “lyric love” to Walker “between song cues.” Brooks Atkinson in the Times noted that Riggs had set “his cowboys and milkmaids to singing broad, swinging ballads” with a stageful of “cowboys, farmers, fiddlers, banjo players and singers.” Dancer Sammy Lee was best known as a choreographer, and he created the dances for the original Broadway productions of Lady, Be Good! (1924), No, No, Nanette (1925), The Cocoanuts (1925), Oh, Kay! (1926), Rio Rita (1927), and Show Boat (1927).

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Oklahoma!); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Patrick Wilson); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Shuler Hensley); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Andrea Martin); Best Lighting Design (David Hersey); Best Direction of a Musical (Trevor Nunn); Best Choreography (Susan Stroman)

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE “The New Broadway Musical Comedy”

Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: April 18, 2002; Closing Date: June 20, 2004 Performances: 903 Book: Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Based on the 1967 film Thoroughly Modern Millie (direction by George Roy Hill and screenplay by Richard Morris). Direction: Michael Mayer; Producers: Michael Leavitt, Fox Theatricals, Hal Luftig, Stewart F. Lane, James L. Nederlander, Independent Presenters Network, L. Mages/M. Glick, Berinstein/Manocherian/Dramatic

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Forces, John York Noble, and Whoopi Goldberg (Mike Isaacson, Kristin Caskey, and Clear Channel Entertainment, Associate Producers); Choreography: Rob Ashford; Scenery: David Gallo; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Michael Rafter Cast: Sutton Foster (Millie Dillmount), Gavin Creel (Jimmy Smith), Megan Sikora (Ruth), JoAnn M. Hunter (Gloria), Jessica Grove (Rita, New Modern), Alisa Klein (Alice), Joyce Chittick (Ethel Peas), Catherine Brunell (Cora, Mathilde), Kate Baldwin (Lucille, Daphne), Harriet Harris (Mrs. Meers), Angela Christian (Miss Dorothy Brown), Ken Leung (Ching Ho), Francis Jue (Bun Foo), Anne L. Nathan (Miss Flannery), Marc Kudisch (Mr. Trevor Graydon), Casey Nicholaw (Speed Tappist, Officer, Dexter), Noah Racey (Speed Tappist, George Gershwin), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Muzzy Van Hossmere), Brandon Wardell (Kenneth, Dishwasher), Julie Connors (Dorothy Parker), Aaron Ramey (Rodney, Dishwasher), Aldrin Gonzalez (Dishwasher); Muzzy’s Boys: Gregg Goodbrod, Darren Lee, Dan LoBuono, John MacInnis, Noah Racey, T. Oliver Reed; Ensemble: Kate Baldwin, Roxane Barlow, Catherine Brunell, Joyce Chittick, Julie Connors, David Eggers, Gregg Goodbrod, Aldrin Gonzalez, Jessica Grove, Amy Heggins, JoAnn M. Hunter, Alisa Klein, Darren Lee, Dan LoBuono, John MacInnis, Casey Nicholaw, Noah Racey, Aaron Ramey, T. Oliver Reed, Megan Sikora, Brandon Wardell The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during 1922.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Not for the Life of Me” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Sutton Foster); “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Jimmy Van Heusen) (Sutton Foster, Ensemble); “Not for the Life of Me” (reprise) (Megan Sikora, JoAnn M. Hunter, Jessica Grove, Alisa Klein, Catherine Brunell, Kate Baldwin); “How the Other Half Lives” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Angela Christian, Sutton Foster); “Not for the Life of Me” (reprise) (Ken Leung, Francis Jue); “The Speed Test” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Arthur Sullivan) (Mark Kudisch, Sutton Foster, Anne L. Nathan, Office Workers); “They Don’t Know” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Harriet Harris); “The Nuttycracker Suite” (dance) (music by Jeanine Tesori based on music by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky) (Sutton Foster, Angela Christian, Gavin Creel, JoAnn M. Hunter, Alisa Klein, Megan Sikora, Speakeasy Patrons); “What Do I Need with Love?” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Gavin Creel); “Only in New York” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Jimmy” (lyric and music by Jay Thompson; additional lyric by Dick Scanlan, additional music by Jeanine Tesori) (Sutton Foster) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Forget about the Boy” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Sutton Foster, Anne L. Nathan, Typists); “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life” and “I’m Falling in Love with Someone” (Naughty Marietta, 1910; lyrics by Rida Johnson Young, music by Victor Herbert) (Marc Kudisch, Angela Christian); “I Turned the Corner” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Gavin Creel, Sutton Foster); “Muqin” (lyric and music by Sam Lewis, Joe Young, and Walter Donaldson; additional lyric by Dick Scanlan) (Harriet Harris, Ken Leung, Francis Jue); “Long as I’m Here with You” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Sutton Foster, Ensemble); “Gimme, Gimme” (lyric by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori) (Sutton Foster); “The Speed Test” (reprise) (Sutton Foster, Marc Kudisch, Gavin Creel, Sheryl Lee Ralph); “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (reprise) (Gavin Creel, Angela Christian, Moderns) The 1967 film Thoroughly Modern Millie was one of the biggest behemoths of its era, a lumbering wouldbe spoof of the 1920s that fell flat on its face despite an irresistible title song and a cast that included Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing, and Beatrice Lillie. The dreadfully long film (which clocked in at 138 minutes for regular showings and 153 minutes for the road-show edition) came across like a four-hour epic that had been indiscriminately butchered in the editing room with all its crucial scenes and songs left on the cutting-room floor. The wispy story never quite flowed, and instead of being a full-fledged musical it was more in the nature of a comedy with incidental songs. The stage version converted the film script into a full-length book musical, and the book was credited to Dick Scanlan and to Richard Morris (the latter, who had died in 1996, was the author of the original

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screenplay). The stage production retained two songs that had been written for the film (the title number and “Jimmy”); Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori wrote the respective lyrics and music for nine new songs; and four others were by a variety of lyricists and composers. The flimsy story dealt with the title character (Sutton Foster), a young woman fresh from Kansas who arrives in New York on a mission to nab a rich husband. She momentarily flirts with the idea that her boss, Trevor Graydon III (Marc Kudisch), might fill the bill, but soon finds she’s falling in love with plain Jimmy Smith (Gavin Creel), who happily turns out to be none other than Herbert J. Hossmere III, one of New York’s richest and most eligible bachelors. There was also a comic subplot revolving around the Hotel Priscilla, a boarding house for young women where Millie lives, which turns out to be the center of a white-slavery ring run by the hotel’s owner Mrs. Meers (Harriet Harris). Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the words “hard sell” were the operative ones for the “aggressively eager” and “thoroughly modern production by the creatively bankrupt standards of the current Broadway season.” It was all “whinnying and clomping and brightly decorated bouncing heads” and you either left the theatre “grinning like an idiot or with a migraine the size of Alaska.” The evening was “built less on style than on hard-driving enthusiasm,” which was “perfectly embodied” by Foster, who had the “pearly toothed, clean-scrubbed glow of the young Marie Osmond.” But Harris showed a “genuine, slapdash feel for comic timing” as the “Oriental dragon lady,” and Kudisch gave the most “memorable” performance with his “precisely drawn cartoon” which brought “a flicker of wit and a spirited stylishness to a show that is otherwise, at best, only spirited.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said “the soul and spirit that are needed to sprinkle magic dust over the mechanical efficiency and transform the evening into something memorable” were absent. The “coy and convoluted” adaptation was on the “synthetic and shallow side,” and while Foster was “hardworking and shiny,” she was also “overdetermined” and “even a bit crass” as she “insistently” and “ingratiatingly” displayed her “splendid assortment” of “pearly whites” so that you either “smiled right back or reached for sunglasses.” But Kudisch “sends himself up delightfully as the plastic matinee idol,” and Harris had “a grand old time playing the camp villainess” as “a hammy cross between Barbara Stanwyck and Fu Manchu.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker stated that “the only thing you recall” about Foster’s performance are “her huge white teeth and bouncy black bob,” and so “call it thoroughly boring, shrilly.” But for all that, Foster won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical and the show managed to run over two years. The cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-63959-2), and the London production opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre on October 11, 2003, for a run of eight months. The musical had first been presented on October 10, 2000, at La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, California. Kristin Chenoweth had created the title role in an earlier workshop production, and Erin Dilly played the role in early San Diego performances before she was succeeded by Foster, her understudy. The cast members in this production also included Sarah Uriarte Berry (Miss Dorothy Brown), Pat Carroll (Mrs. Meers), Jim Stanek (Jimmy), and Tonya Pinkins (Muzzy).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Thoroughly Modern Millie); Best Book (Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan); Best Score (lyrics by Dick Scanlan, music by Jeanine Tesori); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Gavin Creel); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Marc Kudisch); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Harriet Harris); Best Costume Design (Martin Pakledinaz); Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Mayer); Best Choreography (Rob Ashford); Best Orchestrations (Doug Besterman and Ralph Burns)

INTO THE WOODS Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre Opening Date: April 30, 2002; Closing Date: December 29, 2002 Performances: 279 Book: James Lapine

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Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: James Lapine; Producers: Dodger Theatricals, Stage Holding/Joop van den Ende, and TheatreDreams (Dodger Management Group, Executive Producer) (Lauren Mitchell, Associate Producer); Choreography: John Carrafa; Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Projections: Elaine J. McCarthy; Special Effects: Gregory Meeh; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: John McMartin (Narrator, Mysterious Man), Laura Benanti (Cinderella), Adam Wylie (Jack), Chad Kimball (Milky-White), Stephen DeRosa (Baker), Kerry O’Malley (Baker’s Wife), Pamela Myers (Cinderella’s Stepmother, Granny), Tracy Nicole Chapman (Florinda), Amanda Naughton (Lucinda), Marylouise Burke (Jack’s Mother), Molly Ephraim (Little Red Ridinghood), Vanessa Williams (Witch), Dennis Kelly (Cinderella’s Father), Gregg Edelman (Wolf, Cinderella’s Prince), Christopher Sieber (Wolf, Rapunzel’s Prince), Melissa Dye (Rapunzel), Trent Armand Kendall (Steward), Jennifer Malenke (Horse), Judi Dench (Voice of Giantess) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place “once upon a time” in a “far-off kingdom.”

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “Into the Woods” (Company); “Hello, Little Girl” (Gregg Edelman, Christopher Sieber, Molly Ephraim); “I Guess This Is Goodbye” (Adam Wylie); “Maybe They’re Magic” (Kerry O’Malley); “Our Little World” (Vanessa Williams, Melissa Dye); “I Know Things Now” (Molly Ephraim); “A Very Nice Prince” (Laura Benanti, Kerry O’Malley); “Giants in the Sky” (Adam Wylie); “Agony” (Gregg Edelman, Christopher Sieber); “It Takes Two” (Stephen DeRosa, Kerry O’Malley); “Stay with Me” (Vanessa Williams); “On the Steps of the Palace” (Laura Benanti); “Ever After” (John McMartin, Company) Act Two: Prologue: “So Happy” (Company); “Agony” (reprise) (Gregg Edelman, Christopher Sieber); “Lament” (Vanessa Williams); “Any Moment” (Gregg Edelman, Kerry O’Malley); “Moments in the Woods” (Kerry O’Malley); “Your Fault” (Adam Wylie, Stephen DeRosa, Vanessa Williams, Laura Benanti, Molly Ephraim); “Last Midnight” (Vanessa Williams); “No More” (Stephen DeRosa, John McMartin); “No One Is Alone” (Laura Benanti, Molly Ephraim, Stephen DeRosa, Adam Wylie); Finale: “Children Will Listen” (Vanessa Williams, Company) It seemed a bit premature for a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1987 musical Into the Woods. The original production had closed just thirteen years earlier, and it was foolhardy to bring back a show that reportedly returned only a modest profit on its initial investment. Its original 765-performance run was good for a Sondheim show, but the musical was never a megahit and despite multiple awards (including Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle) many critics had reservations about James Lapine’s disappointing book. A satisfying revival would surely require a radically revised script because the old complaints would surface again, but despite minor tinkering it was still the same show and its deficiencies were again noted by the critics. The reviews for the new production weren’t good enough to catapult it into must-see status, and despite its Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, the production ran for just eight months and lost its entire $6 million capitalization. Like Sondheim and Lapine’s earlier Sunday in the Park with George (1984), the musical had a generally strong first act and a weak second. The work presented a skewed look at such fairy-tale favorites as Cinderella and Rapunzel (and their respective princes), Little Red Riding Hood (and the wolf), Jack (of the beanstalk), Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, but made the fatal mistake of introducing newly created characters and plotlines. In his review of the 1960 musical Greenwillow for the New York Herald-Tribune, Walter Kerr noted that “do-it-yourself folklore” may “just be the one dish in the world that can’t be cooked to order,” and certainly Lapine and Sondheim’s tiresome baker, his equally tiresome wife, and the even more tiresome (and ugly) witch who just wants to be beautiful were awkwardly shoehorned into the story in order to pull all the subplots together. Unfortunately, the mix of old and new didn’t quite mesh, and the show was further burdened with the weary device of a narrator. Everyone in the musical is looking for happiness of one sort or another, and all have familiar fairy-tale goals. Cinderella pursues the prince, Jack hopes to steal the beans from the local neighborhood giant but instead just spills them, and the witch wants to be glamorous. The baker and his wife have a more clinical problem, and perhaps would have been more at home in Ashes (1977), Baby (1983), and Infertility (2005), three

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plays and musicals about conception or the lack thereof. Because of the witch’s curse, they’re unable to have a child, but the witch agrees to remove the curse if the baker will bring her various magical items she needs in order to become a beauty. The show’s amusing conceit showed that when people get what they want, they don’t want it. And many of the characters had refreshingly quirky traits: Little Red Riding Hood is a rather unpleasant brat, the gloating wolf enjoys the unique thrill of chatting with someone who will soon become his dinner, and Cinderella’s prince admonishes her that he was born to be charming, not sincere. Despite the intrusion of the new characters, much of the musical had a witty point of view with its somewhat selfish characters and their eventual disillusionment upon discovering that dreams-come-true don’t necessarily guarantee happy endings. Years earlier Sondheim himself had actually summed up the conceit of Into the Woods in a discarded lyric for Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965) when a character describes her disillusionment by noting that once upon a time a prince would slay a dragon but now he just gets eaten by it. Unfortunately, the second half of Into the Woods took on a dark tone that was hopelessly contrived, confusing, and pretentious. Here we had Important Statements to make about Life and Relationships, but these were crushingly obvious and were grafted into the story to give it gravitas. Despite the loveliness of the 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 case for its second-act seriousness, these songs and the overall somber tone would have been organic within the overall framework. But instead the characters were given doses of instant wisdom and insight in order to bring the curtain down on a solemn, smug, and slightly preachy note that we’re all in this together and it takes a village to make our garden grow. The book introduced Big Concepts that it couldn’t handle, and the device of the rampaging giantess brought the musical into hopelessly affected and symbolic territory. As soon as the original production opened, the musical’s supporters seemed compelled to cite the names of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and especially Bruno Bettelheim in their discussions of the work, as if such references gave the musical more weight and significance (one practically expected to see Bettelheim’s name on the program’s credit page). The current production added a song (“Our Little World”), which had been written for the 1990 London premiere, and the more family-friendly approach toned down the wolf’s sexuality and offered special effects, the voice of Judi Dench as the unseen giantess, and a dancing cow, which no doubt was marking time until the next Gypsy revival. The current production didn’t include the characters of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, and omitted three songs (“Cinderella at the Grave,” “First Midnight,” and “Second Midnight”). Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the woods “awfully crowded” and noted that Lapine’s book “keeps piling on details that are more distracting than illuminating with subplots swooping in from left field.” He also noted that the Witch was “more of a stretched-out guest star turn than a completely realized leading lady.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the show “still lacks cohesion and concision” as well as an “authentic emotional appeal,” and the “engaging” performers couldn’t “overcome” the show’s “chief drawback, which is that it never quite ceases to be a theatrical conceit.” Nancy Franklin in the New Yorker praised the “magic” of Sondheim’s lyrics and music, but noted “the overly busy plot is sometimes hard to follow.” The original production opened at the Martin Beck (now Al Hirschfeld) Theatre on November 5, 1987, for 765 performances. The script was published in both paperback and hardback editions by Theatre Communications Group in 1989 and an illustrated adaptation of the musical by Hudson Talbott was issued in both paperback and hardback editions by Crown Publishers in 1988 (a later paperback edition was released by Scribner in 2002). The lyrics for the used and unused songs are included in Sondheim’s hardback collection Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011). The original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # 6796-1-RC and CD # 67962-RC), and a later release by Sony/BMG Music Entertainment/Masterworks Broadway (# 82876-68636-2) includes bonus tracks of songs reworked for a proposed 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, the latter heard during the original production’s tryout and preview period). The cast album of the current revival was released on a two-CD set by Nonesuch Records (# 79686-2). The musical was presented on public television’s American Playhouse with the original 1987 Broadway cast and was released on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ID5967MBDVD); this DVD is also included in the six-DVD boxed set The Stephen Sondheim Collection (# ID1753IMDVD). The original London production opened on September 25, 1990, at the Phoenix Theatre for 197 performances and included the new song “Our Little World” (for the witch and Rapunzel). The cast members in-

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cluded Julia McKenzie (Witch), Imelda Staunton (Baker’s Wife), and Jacqueline Dankworth (Cinderella), and the cast album was issued by RCA Victor/BMG Classics (CD # 60752-2-RC). Other recordings of the score include a Barcelona production (Boscos Endins) that opened on November 22, 2007, and was released by TempsRecords (CD # TR-1113-GE08) and an “accompaniment CD” that offers tracks with and without guide vocals (Stage Stars Records # RPT-508). 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), Tracy Ullman (Jack’s Mother), and Christine Baranski (Cinderella’s 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 (including “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.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Into the Woods); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (John McMartin); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Vanessa Williams); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Gregg Edelman); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Laura Benanti); Best Scenic Design (Douglas W. Schmidt); Best Costume Design (Susan Hilferty); Best Lighting Design (Brian MacDevitt); Best Choreography (John Carrafa); Best Direction of a Musical (James Lapine)

CASPER

“The Musical” The musical’s Summer 2001 tour opened on June 9 at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, and later played in such cities as Kansas City, Dallas, and Atlanta (the cast, credits, and song information below is taken from the musical’s July run at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta). The musical was based in part on a puppet show that had been produced in London; after the current tour, the musical closed without playing on Broadway. Book and Lyrics: Stephen Cole and David H. Bell Music: Matthew Ward; additional music by Henry Marsh Based on the character created by Harvey Comics. Direction and Choreography: David H. Bell (Lainie Sakakura, Co-choreographer); Producer: Producing credits seem to have been the theatres where the musical was booked (the Variety review for the Pittsburgh production indicates the musical was given as a Pittsburgh Light Opera Production, and the Atlanta program indicates the producer is Atlanta’s Theatre of the Stars, Christopher B. Manos, Producer); Scenery: Terry Parsons (John Farrell, Scenic Consultant); Costumes: Barbara Anderson; Lighting: John McLain; Choir Direction: Bill Newberry; Musical Direction: Michael Moricz; production developed by Van Kaplan Cast: Chita Rivera (Magdalena Montverde), Eric Daniel Santagata (Guido), Matthew Thibedeau (Armondo), Jesse Nager (Bellmondo), Jason Patrick Sands (Chuck), Paul Tiesler (Casper), Laurie Gamache (Maggie the Maid, Nun, Hathaway), LaParee Young (Fatso), Jamie Torcellini (Stinky), Tim Hartman (Stretch), Anika Bobb (Bettina Morgenstern), Courtney Neville (Precious McGillicuddy), Kristen Graeber (Gretchen Cleaver), Bernardo J. Eyth (Pierce Kramden), Gerard Canonico (Bradley Mertz), Tina Johnson (Nun, Minnie), Cynthia Thomas (Nun, Lane), Mitchell Jarvis (Donald Marie), Gaelen Gilliland (Coco); Ensemble: Nicholas Belton, Tim Brady, Gerard Canonico, Leo Ash Evens, Gaelen Gilliland, David Larsen, Anne Lauterbach, Zakiya Young; Children’s Choir: Laura Barnes, Brittany Billings, Christy Boettcher, Amela Bruckner, Leslie Anne Creedon, Sarah Lindsay Creedon, Shane Cunningham, Kirsten Olivia D’Addio, Ava Davis, Ivy Davis, Skyler Day, Benjamin Deutsch, Danielle Dowell, Paul Farina, Ariel Fenster, Zachary Fenster, Natalie Forbes, Gabrielle Goldklang, Anne Gregory, Britt Herina, John Herina, Adam Holder, Christina Jones, Tyler Judd, Chelsey Kannan, Noelle Kayser, Jamall Makanjuola, Malik Makanjuola, Andy Manos, Kate Manos, Abigail Mauragas, Meredith Mullins, Alyssa Joy Olson, Paris Lashay Paggett, Julie Parker, Elise Polston, Kenny Polston, Shaun Polston, Tatianna Polston, Brittany Portman, Jamal R. Releford, Holli

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Ruth, Brittany Schiavone, Jodi Sheffield, Kaula S. Strickland, Kyndal Turner, Marissa Vinson, Raven Ward, Maggie Watts, T. J. Webb, Marah Williams, Kimberly Yosslowitz, Caleb Young, Kendrick Young The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in a haunted mansion.

Musical Numbers Act One: “No Such Things as Ghosts” (Chita Rivera, Henchmen, Crew, Company); “Someone’s Coming Over to Play” (Paul Tiesler); “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” (LaParee Young, Jamie Torcellini, Tim Hartman); “Goodbye, Sweet Angel” (Chita Rivera, Kids, Parents, Company); “No Such Things as Ghosts” (reprise) (Chita Rivera, Henchmen); “Friend” (Mitchell Jarvis, Paul Tiesler); “One Hand Washes the Other” (Chita Rivera, LaParee Young, Jamie Torcellini, Tim Hartman); “Happy Haunting Ballet”; “Charge!” (Chita Rivera, Henchmen); “Pretend” (Paul Tiesler, Mitchell Jarvis, Anika Bobb, Kristen Graeber, Kids); Finale Act One (Paul Tiesler) Act Two: “Dot.Com” (Chita Rivera, Henchmen); “He’s a Nerd” (Anika Bobb, Paul Tiesler); “In the Spirit” (Chita Rivera, Company); “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” (Tina Johnson, Gaelen Gilliland, Cynthia Thomas, LaParee Young, Jamie Torcellini, Tim Hartman); “Charge!” (reprise) (Laurie Gamache, Jason Patrick Sands); “Half Way Home” (Paul Tiesler, Mitchell Jarvis); “Howl at the Moon” (Company); “The Greatest Treasure of All” (Paul Tiesler, Kids, Company); Note: The program stated that the musical’s score included “Casper the Friendly Ghost Theme” (lyric by Mack David and music by Jerry Livingston). According to the program, the musical Casper was “based on the character created by Harvey Comics.” Casper (popularly known as Casper the Friendly Ghost) first appeared in the 1939 children’s book The Friendly Ghost by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, found fame in comic books, and beginning in 1945 starred in a series of film cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures. The musical was partially inspired by a puppet version that had been seen in London, and the current U.S. summer tour, which used live performers and was developed by Pittsburgh producer Van Kaplan, played in a few cities before giving up the ghost. The story revolved around media celebrity Magdalena Montverde (Chita Rivera), who wants the deed to the mansion where Casper (Paul Tiesler) and his three ghostly uncles live. She believes that a secret message on the back of the deed will lead to “the greatest treasure of all,” and to that end she hosts the television reality show Find the Deed Treasure Hunt, which will award one-million dollars to whoever finds the deed. But it seems the deed’s message is that the greatest treasure of all is . . . friendship. Chris Jones in Variety noted that the musical was two shows in one, a “kiddie show” and a “Chita Rivera vehicle,” and he quickly noted that “never the twain do meet.” As a result, there was both a family-friendly show with broad comedy in the “Peter Pan-style world of fairy tales” and a show with “contempo dialogue” that seemed “uncomfortable” under the circumstances and that found Rivera “dancing and vamping with a coterie of handsome hoofing boys” and speaking innuendo-laden material along the lines of how “software” can turn into “hardware.” But Jones said Rivera had been given “some snazzy moments” and the second-act opener “Dot.Com” was “witty” and featured “a swirling, semi-nude Rivera.” He noticed there was an “odd sneer” on the chorus boys, as if they “were wondering what they’re doing here,” but through it all the “incomparable” Rivera was a “trouper” who gave “her considerable all to rows of empty seats at a weekend matinee.” Jones also mentioned that one sequence utilized an “especially weird costume choice” that made the performers “look like members of the Ku Klux Klan.”

MUSCLE The musical was presented at the O’Rourke Center for the Performing Arts at Truman College in Chicago, Illinois, from June 13, 2001, to July 22, 2001, and permanently closed there. Book: James Lapine Lyrics: Ellen Fitzhugh

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Music: William Finn Based on the 1991 novel Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder by Samuel Wilson Fussell. Direction: Gareth Hendee; Producer: Pegasus Players (Arlene J. Crewdson, Executive Director, and John Economos, Managing Director); Choreography: Ann Filmer; Scenery: Jack Magaw; Costumes: Nan Zabriskie; Lighting: David Lander; Musical Direction: Joe Steinhagen Cast: Jane Blass (Elaine, Act Two Muse), Rob Hancock (Max Riddle), Anita Hoffman (Mother), Cory James (Paul, Act Two Muse), Timothy Jon (Ajax), Chuck Karvelas (Mousie), Dan Loftus (Father), Carrie McNulty (Tara, Act One Muse), Henry Michael Odum (College President, Milton), Brad Potts (Vinnie), Chavez Ravine (Gina, Act One Muse), Michael Reyes (Jocko, Act One Muse), Eddie Shumacher (Albert), Kate Staiger (Carmen, Act Two Muse), Joel Sutliffe (Jack), Megan Van De Hey (Mary Ann), Audrey Yeck (Alice) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1980s in New York City and Los Angeles.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Nothing Like a Beginning” (Rob Hancock, Anita Hoffman, Dan Loftus, Audrey Yeck, Joel Sutliffe, Megan Van De Hey, Carrie McNulty, Chavez Ravine, Michael Reyes, Ensemble); “Street Scene” (Carrie McNulty, Chavez Ravine, Michael Reyes); “This Is Not Cornell” (Jane Blass, Eddie Schumacher, Kate Staiger); “Arnold Schwarzenegger” (Rob Hancock, Carrie McNulty, Chavez Ravine, Michael Reyes); “The Brain and the Body” (Robert Hancock, Audrey Yeck); “Never Look Back” (Timothy Jon); “Muscle” (Timothy Jon, Chuck Karvelas, Rob Hancock, Carrie McNulty, Chavez Ravine, Michael Reyes); “Theory” (Anita Hoffman, Dan Loftus, Henry Michael Odum); “A Day at the Office” (Carrie McNulty, Chavez Ravine, Michael Reyes); “Theory” (reprise) (Kate Staiger, Eddie Schumacher); “Athlete” (Timothy Jon, Chuck Karvelas, Rob Hancock); “Now I Understand” (Rob Hancock, Anita Hoffman); “California” (Timothy Jon, Rob Hancock, Chuck Karvelas, Anita Hoffman, Dan Loftus, Stewardess [Unidentified Performer], Ensemble) Act Two: “Athlete” (reprise) (Jane Blass, Cory James, Kate Staiger, Chuck Karvelas); “Beauty” (Carrie McNulty, Brad Potts, Ensemble); “The Brain and the Body” (reprise) (Rob Hancock, Audrey Yeck); “A Nice Thing” (Rob Hancock, Chavez Ravine, Anita Hoffman, Dan Loftus); “Nothing Like a Beginning” (reprise) (Jane Blass, Cory James, Kate Staiger, Chavez Ravine); “Judges” (Company); “Almost Perfect” (Rob Hancock); “Now I Understand” (reprise) (Jane Blass, Cory James, Kate Staiger); Finale (Company) When Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1994 Broadway musical Passion was first conceived, it was to have been a one-act work paired with their proposed musical version of Muscle, a semi-autobiographical novel (published under the full title of Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder) by Samuel Wilson Fussell. The two one-act musicals were to offer differing views on the nature of physical attractiveness and body self-esteem (or the lack of it), but once Passion grew into a full-length evening Sondheim no longer had any interest in the Muscle project. But Lapine continued on, and eventually lyricist Ellen Fitzhugh and composer William Finn collaborated on the score. Muscle and Passion might have made interesting companion pieces, and the former’s lightly satiric tone might have been a welcome anecdote for the longueurs of Passion, which proved to be too long, too serious, and too unbelievable to make a favorable impression and remains Sondheim’s least interesting musical. Muscle centers on recent Cornell grad Max Riddle (Rob Hancock), who works for a publishing company in Manhattan and has issues with his poor physique. Soon he’s off to California and the world of gyms, bodybuilding equipment, and steroids, and before long he sports a buffed, muscular body. Ultimately, he gets over his hang-up with muscle-building and heads back to New York. Chris Jones in Variety praised the show’s “gorgeous” music and singled out the “lovely” opening number “Nothing Like a Beginning” and the score’s “best” song “The Brain and the Body.” Otherwise, the “off-kilter” and “less than credible” musical was “crass and cartoonish,” most of the book needed to be “junked,” and Lapine and Finn would have “to find the more believable show that undoubtedly is lurking amid all the garbage.” Richard Christiansen in the Chicago Tribune praised the “urgent” and “rousing” opening, found “The Brain and the Body” a “stringent” duet, and noted the romantic quartet “A Nice Thing” offered “gentle humor.” But the musical was sometimes “a little flabby in its storytelling,” its laughs were “a little weak,”

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and overall the show needed more development. In Lucia Mauro’s Chicago Theatre column, she wrote that Muscle overlooked “the most powerful muscle of all,” the heart, and as a result the work was “emotionally flabby.” The musical was full of stereotypes, the “shabby” production seemed like “an amateur run-through,” and the “connect-the-dots music” was “simplistic and thoroughly undistinguishable.” As for the hero’s transformation from scrawny nerd to Schwarzenegger, it was all done with a body costume. For Christiansen, the “muscle suit” was witty, but Mauro said it looked “ridiculous” and reminded her of “one of those anatomical charts in a doctor’s office.” The Pegasus Players’ production was capitalized at $100,000. In 1999 at the same O’Rourke Center, the company presented the U.S. premiere of Sondheim’s Saturday Night, which had originally been scheduled to open on Broadway in 1954 and finally opened in New York in an Off-Broadway production in 2000.

THE VISIT (2001) The musical opened at the Goodman Theatre’s Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, on October 1, 2001, and closed there on October 28. The musical was revived at the Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia, in 2008, and later opened on Broadway in 2015 (for more information about the 2008 and 2015 productions, see entry for the 2008 revival). Book: Terrence McNally Lyrics: Fred Ebb Music: John Kander Based on the 1956 play Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Durrenmatt, which was produced on Broadway in 1958 as The Visit in a translation by Maurice Valency. Direction: Frank Galati; Producer: The Goodman Theatre (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director); Choreography: Ann Reinking (Deborah McWaters, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: David Loud Cast: Tina Cannon (Young Claire), Brian Herriott (Young Anton, Kurt), Mark Jacoby (The Mayor), McKinley Carter (The Mayor’s Wife), Steven Sutcliffe (The Schoolmaster), Jim Corti (The Doctor), Jonathan Weir (The Priest), Joseph Dellger (The Police Inspector), John McMartin (Anton Schell), Ami Silvestre (Matilda Schell), Guy Adkins (Karl), Cristen Paige (Ottilie); Townspeople: Scott Calcagno, Tina Cannon, Roberta Duchak, John Eskola, Rosalyn Rahn Keirns, Leisa Mather, Adam Pelty, Greg Walter, Bernie Yvon; Chita Rivera (Claire Zachanassian), James Harms (Rudi), Adam Pelty (Evgeny), Mark Crayton (Louis Perch), Raymond Zrinsky (Jacob Chicken), Rob Hatzenbeller (Lenny), Matt Orlando (Benny) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during winter in Brachen, a small town somewhere in Switzerland.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue (Tina Cannon, Brian Herriott, John McMartin, Townspeople); “Out of the Darkness” (Townspeople); “At Last” (Chita Rivera, Rob Hatzenbeller, Matt Orlando, Townspeople); “A Happy Ending” (Mark Jacoby, Joseph Dellger, Jim Corti, Jonathan Weir, Steven Sutcliffe, Townspeople); “You, You, You” (Brian Herriott, John McMartin, Chita Rivera, Tina Cannon); “I Know Claire” (John McMartin); “You Know Me” (Ami Silvestre, McKinley Carter); “Look at Me” (John McMartin, Chita Rivera, Entourage, Brian Herriott, Tina Cannon, Family); “Look at Her” (Townspeople); “All You Need to Know” (Chita Rivera, Entourage, Townspeople); “A Masque” (Mark Jacoby, Townspeople); “Eunuchs’ Testimony” (Rob Hatzenbeller, Matt Orlando); “Winter” (Chita Rivera); “Yellow Shoes” (Brian Herriott, Jim Corti, Townspeople) Act Two: “Chorale” (Townspeople); “A Confession” (Chita Rivera, Entourage); “I Would Never Leave You” (Entourage, Chita Rivera); “Back and Forth” (Ami Silvestre, Cristen Paige, Guy Adkins); “The Only One” (Steven Sutcliffe); “A Car Ride” (John McMartin, Ami Silvestre, Cristen Paige, Guy Adkins, Chita Rivera); “Winter” (reprise) (Brian Herriott); “Love and Love Alone” (Chita Rivera); “In the Forest Again” (John McMartin, Chita Rivera, Brian Herriott, Tina Cannon); Finale (Townspeople)

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John Kander and Fred Ebb’s The Visit was as dark a musical as ever was produced, and was based on Friedrich Durrenmatt’s 1956 play Der Besuch der alten Dame, which opened on Broadway in 1958 as The Visit in a translation by Maurice Valency which starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. The story centered on the small and impoverished Swiss village of Brachen, where the world’s richest woman, Claire Zachanassian (Chita Rivera), has come to seek revenge on Anton Schell (John McMartin), who seduced her when she was a young woman, threw her aside, and turned her into an outcast. Claire has manipulated events to ensure that Brachen is little more than a ghost town, and she makes a proposal to the townspeople: Kill Anton, and I’ll give each of you a million dollars. Despite the assurances of those around him that they’ll keep him safe and protected and that they’d never succumb to Claire’s offer, greed rules the day, and Anton is strangled to death by one of the townsmen. Kander and Ebb’s score was one of their finest, right up there with Cabaret and Chicago, and Terrence McNally’s book was spare and unsparing and one of his finest achievements. And as Claire, Rivera gave perhaps her greatest performance. But the musical itself has had a rocky life and is almost as unlucky as Anton. The Visit had first been announced for production in 1999 with Angela Lansbury in the lead, but for personal reasons she withdrew from the project. Michael Riedel in the New York Post announced that an author’s run-through in early summer 1999 went well, a projected staged reading would follow in the fall, a workshop in the winter, and an out-of-town tryout during the summer of 2000 would be followed by a Broadway opening that fall. Once Lansbury was no longer associated with the production, there was speculation that either Glenn Close or Shirley MacLaine might replace her, or that a London engagement might star either Judi Dench or Diana Rigg. During this period, Philip Bosco’s name was mentioned for the role of Anton. The project finally got off the ground with the current Chicago production at the Goodman Theatre with Rivera and McMartin. During the 2003–2004 season, the musical was scheduled to open at the Public Theatre (in a production financed by private investors) with Rivera and Frank Langella in the leading roles. But the backing fell through, and while there was later talk that the musical might be part of the Roundabout Theatre’s 2003–2004 season, nothing happened until 2008, when the show was revived with Rivera and George Hearn at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia (see entry). The musical later opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on April 23, 2015, for sixty-one performances with Rivera and Roger Rees. In his review of the Chicago production, Chris Jones in Variety said The Visit “rumbles unmistakably with the heft, substance, and originality of a significant new American musical.” Rivera and McMartin were “excellent” and there was “a thoroughly provocative and memorable blend of tuneful” contributions from Kander and Ebb, including “You, You, You,” “I Would Never Leave You,” and “Yellow Shoes,” the latter a “fabulous” and “deliciously cynical” show-stopper, a “nasty tapper” with Ebb at his “sardonic lyrical best.” Jones felt that the production needed to “exorcise much esoteric clutter” and should instead focus on the “palpable strengths” of this “potentially harrowing piece.”

2002–2003 Season

ROBIN WILLIAMS: LIVE ON BROADWAY Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: July 11, 2002; Closing Date: July 14, 2002 Performances: 3 Direction: Marty Callner; Producers: Marty Callner (Marsha Garces Williams and David Steinberg, Executive Producers) (The Comedy Garden and Metropolitan Entertainment Presentation); Scenery: Steve Cohen and Jim Day; Lighting: Allen Branton Cast: Robin Williams Robin Williams’s stand-up comedy show was a limited engagement of three performances that was produced for HBO and telecast live for its final performance on July 14, 2002. The comedian talked about topical matters, including politics, the anthrax scare, and breast implants. The production was released on DVD by Sony Legacy.

HAIRSPRAY Theatre: Neil Simon Theatre Opening Date: August 15, 2002; Closing Date: January 4, 2009 Performances: 2,642 Book: Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan Lyrics: Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman Music: Marc Shaiman Based on the 1988 film Hairspray (direction and screenplay by John Waters). Direction: Jack O’Brien; Producers: Margo Lion, Adam Epstein, The Baruch-Viertel-Routh-Frankel Group, James D. Stern/Douglas L. Meyer, Rick Steiner/Frederic H. Mayerson, SEL & GFO, and New Line Cinema in association with Clear Channel Entertainment, A. Gordon/E. McAllister, D. Harris/M. Swinsky, and J. & B. Osher (Rhoda Mayerson, The Aspen Group, and Daniel C. Staton, Associate Producers); Choreography: Jerry Mitchell; Scenery: David Rockwell; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Lon Hoyt Cast: Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracy Turnblad), Clarke Thorell (Corny Collins), Laura Bell Bundy (Amber Von Tussle), Peter Matthew Smith (Brad), Hollie Howard (Tammy), John Hill (Fender), Jennifer Gambatese (Brenda), Adam Fleming (Sketch), Shoshana Bean (Shelley), Todd Michel Smith (IQ), Katharine Leonard (Lou Ann), Matthew Morrison (Link Larkin), Jackie Hoffman (Prudy Pingleton, Gym Teacher, Matron), Harvey Fierstein (Edna Turnblad), Kerry Butler (Penny Pingleton), Linda Hart (Velma Von Tussle), Joel Vig (Harriman F. Spritzer, Principal, Mr. Pinky, Guard), Dick Latessa (Wilbur Turnblad), Corey Reynolds (Seaweed J. Stubbs), Eric Anthony (Duane), Eric Dysart (Gilbert), Danielle Lee Greaves (Lorraine), Rashad 99

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Naylor (Thad); The Dynamites: Kamilah Martin, Judine Richard, and Shayna Steele; Danelle Eugenia Wilson (Little Inez), Mary Bond Davis (Motormouth Maybelle); Denizens of Baltimore: Eric Anthony, Shoshana Bean, Eric Dysart, Adam Fleming, Jennifer Gambatese, Danielle Lee Greaves, John Hill, Jackie Hoffman, Hollie Howard, Katharine Leonard, Kamilah Martin, Rashad Naylor, Judine Richard, Peter Matthew Smith, Todd Michel Smith, Shayna Steele, Joel Vig The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Baltimore during 1962.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “Good Morning, Baltimore” (Marissa Jaret Winokur); “The Nicest Kids in Town” (Clarke Thorell, Council Members); “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” (Harvey Fierstein, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Linda Hart, Laura Bell Bundy, Kerry Butler, Jackie Hoffman); “I Can Hear the Bells” (Marissa Jaret Winokur); “(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs” (Linda Hart, Council Members); “The Madison” (Clarke Thorell, Company); “The Nicest Kids in Town” (reprise) (Clarke Thorell, Council Members); “It Takes Two” (Matthew Morrison, Marissa Jaret Winokur); “Welcome to the ’60s” (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Harvey Fierstein, Kamilah Martin, Judine Richard, Shayna Steele, Company); “Run and Tell That” (Corey Reynolds); “Run and Tell That” (reprise) (Corey Reynolds, Danelle Eugenia Wilson, Company); “Big, Blonde and Beautiful” (Mary Bond Davis, Danelle Eugenia Wilson, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Harvey Fierstein, Dick Latessa) Act Two: “The Big Dollhouse” (Women); “Good Morning, Baltimore” (reprise) (Marissa Jaret Winokur); “Timeless to Me” (Dick Latessa, Harvey Fierstein); “Without Love” (Matthew Morrison, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Corey Reynolds, Kerry Butler); “I Know Where I’ve Been” (Mary Bond Davis, Company); “Hairspray” (Clarke Thorell, Council Members); “Cooties” (Laura Bell Bundy, Council Members); “You Can’t Stop the Beat” (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Matthew Morrison, Kerry Butler, Corey Reynolds, Harvey Fierstein, Dick Latessa, Mary Bond Davis, Company) Hairspray was the first musical of the season, and along with A Year with Frog and Toad was the only one with a completely new score. It became one of the biggest hits of the decade, with over a six-year run and a total of 2,642 performances. Based on John Waters’s popular 1988 film of the same name, the well-meaning musical was set in the Baltimore of 1962 and was a liberal fantasy of how things should have been back then: an overweight girl almost instantly wins the love of a handsome boy, an agoraphobic mom quickly sheds her inhibitions and fears, and integration comes at the drop of a hat, all admirable events that just weren’t the reality of 1962. As a result, the show was perhaps a bit too self-congratulatory about its progressive credentials, and one felt the creators didn’t trust the audience, who might be too stupid to know about social evils. The evening’s postmodern ironic sheen didn’t quite jibe with the story, and what might have suited 2002 didn’t ring true for 1962. But the pleasant score, the bouncy performances, and especially the comic turns by Harvey Fierstein and Dick Latessa scored, and the musical’s juggernaut was unstoppable. The plot centered around Tracy (Marissa Jaret Winokur), an overweight teenager who lives with her mother, Edna (Fierstein, in a drag role), and father, Wilbur (Latessa), and longs to appear on Baltimore’s local late-afternoon teenage-dance program The Corny Collins Show, an all-white sock hop. Tracy is smitten with the show’s handsome-hunk teenager Link (Matthew Morrison), who in turn is smitten with Amber Von Tussel (Laura Bell Bundy), the show’s reigning dance queen and whose mother Velma (Linda Hart) is a manager of the television station that airs the show. In Lady Bountiful tradition, Corny’s producers turn the program over to blacks once a month for “Negro Day,” and when Tracy makes an appearance on the show she announces on air that every day should be “Negro Day.” Tracy overcomes any obstacles her weight may have previously caused her, and becomes Link’s girl when he gives her his precious Corny Collins Council ring, and when the show is broadcast nationally in honor of Miss Teenager Hairspray, Tracy’s black friends enter by the front door of the studio and take the stage, officially making the show an integrated one. As mentioned, Fierstein was the evening’s centerpiece as Tracy’s equally overweight mother, Edna, who takes in laundry at home under the name of “Edna’s Occidental Laundry” but who throughout her life has wanted to be a clothes designer (her dream was to be “the biggest thing in brassieres”). Fierstein’s performance perhaps institutionalized drag roles as de rigueur for at least one musical every season, either with a male

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playing a female role (such as what Fierstein did in Hairspray) or a male who plays a drag queen. The conceit was occasionally amusing, but soon it became a cliché and almost as tiresome as what film critic Pauline Kael once referred to as all those “damn” dream ballets in old musicals. Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted the show’s “rosy” viewpoint included “the righting of social inequities,” and it was sometimes “more than a little pushy in its social preaching” and it “definitely overdoes the self-help-style anthems of uplift.” Moreover, the evening’s racist villain, Velma, was “probably a shade too strident” and Motormouth Maybelle (Mary Bond Davis, playing a black record-shop owner) was “a bit too thick with stoical virtue and inspirational advice.” Otherwise, Hairspray was “as sweet as a show can be without promoting tooth decay,” the songs had “genuine Broadway effervescence,” and Fierstein was “every forgotten housewife, recreated in monumental proportions and waiting for something to tap her hidden magnificence” (and when on Corny’s coast-to-coast broadcast a gigantic can of hairspray is rolled onstage, guess who pops out). Charles Isherwood in Variety said the “message of racial harmony is a bit past its sell-by date” and the book began to “sag” when it toiled through its social concerns (and Motormouth Maybelle’s song “I Know Where I’ve Been” came across as too “dutiful”). But the show offered “infectious jubilation” and was a “sweet, infinitely spirited, bubblegum-flavored confection.” David Denby in the New Yorker said Fierstein was “the soul” of Hairspray as “the matriarch of the ironing board” who “speaks with authority on the marital problems of Debbie Reynolds and the Gabor sisters.” But while the show’s book mocked “whites’ fear of blacks,” it wasn’t “above indulging Broadway-blue stereotypes about black sexuality,” and when Motormouth Maybelle sings “I Know Where I’ve Been,” the show “bizarrely turns into a civil-rights protest.” Denby noted that when the white kids demand that Corny’s show be integrated, the “sweet” idea might make blacks in the Hairspray audience “shrug” and whites in the audience might “wonder why they’re being freshly congratulated for something that happened a long time ago.” Richard Zoglin in Time said that in “theatre-coiffure terms,” the musical was “in the sweet spot between Grease and Hair,” the score “skillfully” provided a pastiche of 1960s “perky pop ditties,” and Fierstein was “showstopping.” But the “politically correct” evening turned Waters’s “subversive” movie into a “feel-good sitcom,” the “smiley social commentary” made the show’s “facetiousness more glaring,” and kidding the 1950s and 1960s had become “so passé that this cartoon version gets old pretty fast.” During the tryout, two songs were cut, “Blood on the Pavement” and “Velma’s Cha-Cha.” The cast album was released by Sony Records (CD # SK-87708). A paperback edition of the script was published in 2003 by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books and includes “Velma’s Revenge,” a song not listed in the program or on the cast album but included at the end of the sixth scene in the first act. The script was also published in a lavish 2003 hardback edition by Roundtable Press/Faber & Faber as Hairspray: The Roots, and includes dozens of color photos and additional material (but doesn’t include “Velma’s Revenge”). The musical was filmed in 2007 by New Line Cinema; directed by Adam Shankman, the cast included John Travolta (Edna), Nikki Blonsky (Tracy), Christopher Walken (Wilbur), Michelle Pfeiffer (Velma), James Marsden (Corny Collins), and Queen Latifah (Motormouth Maybelle). The film omitted two songs (“The Madison” and “The Big Dollhouse”) and added three (“Ladies’ Choice,” “The New Girl in Town,” and “Come So Far but So Far to Go”). The two-CD soundtrack was issued by WaterTower Records and the DVD by New Line Home Video. Hairspray was presented live by NBC on December 7, 2016, with Fierstein reprising his role of Edna; others in the cast were Maddie Baillio (Tracy), Kristin Chenoweth (Velma Von Tussle), Dove Cameron (Amber Von Tussle), Martin Short (Wilbur), Garrett Clayton (Link Larkin), Jennifer Hudson (Motormouth Maybelle), Andrea Martin (Prudy Pingleton), Rosie O’Donnell (Gym Teacher and Matron), and Sean Hayes (Mr. Pinky). The teleplay was by Fierstein, the direction by Kenny Leon and Alex Rudzinski, and the choreography by Jerry Mitchell, who created the dances for the original Broadway production. This version included two songs written for the 2007 film. The DVD was released by Universal Studios and the CD by Masterworks Broadway.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Hairspray); Best Book (Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan); Best Score (lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, music by Marc Shaiman); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Harvey Fierstein); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Marissa Jaret Winokur); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Dick Latessa); Best Scenic

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Design (David Rockwell); Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long); Best Lighting Design (Kenneth Posner); Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell); Best Direction of a Musical (Jack O’Brien); Best Orchestrations (Harold Wheeler) New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award: Best Musical (2002–2003): Hairspray

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE Theatre: American Airlines Theatre Opening Date: August 18, 2002; Closing Date: October 20, 2002 Performances: 73 Book: Original book by George Abbott; new book by Nicky Silver Lyrics: Lorenz Hart Music: Richard Rodgers Based on William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (written between 1589 and 1594), which was an adaptation of Plautus’s comedy Menaechmi. Direction: Scott Ellis; Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director of External Affairs); Choreography: Rob Ashford; Scenery: Thomas Lynch; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: David Loud Cast: Fred Inkley (A Sergeant), J. C. Montgomery (The Duke), Walter Charles (Aegean), Scott Robertson (A Merchant), Davis Kirby (A Soldier), Jonathan Dokuchitz (Antipholus of Syracuse), Lee Wilkof (Dromio of Syracuse), Tom Hewitt (Antipholus of Ephesus), Chip Zien (Dromio of Ephesus), Joseph Siravo (A Tailor), Kirk McDonald (An Apprentice), Toni Dibuono (Luce), George Hall (A Sorcerer), Lauren Mitchell (Adriana), Erin Dilly (Luciana), Jackee Harry (Madam), Jeffrey Broadhurst (Angelo); Courtesans: Sara Gettelfinger, Deidre Goodwin, Milena Govich, Teri Hansen, Elizabeth Mills The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on a Thursday in Ephesus, a city in ancient Greece.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Hurrah! Hurroo! (I Had Twins)” (Frank Inkley, J. C. Montgomery, Walter Charles, Crowd); “Dear Old Syracuse” (Jonathan Dokuchitz, Lee Wilkof); “What Can You Do with a Man?” (Toni Dibuono, Chip Zien); “Falling in Love with Love” (Lauren Mitchell); “A Lady Must Live” (Courtesans); “The Shortest Day of the Year” (Tom Hewitt, Lauren Mitchell); “This Can’t Be Love” (Jonathan Dokuchitz, Erin Dilly); “This Must Be Love” (reprise version of “This Can’t Be Love”) (Jonathan Dokuchitz, Erin Dilly) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “You Took Advantage of Me” (Courtesans); “He and She” (Toni Dibuono, Lee Wilkof); “You Have Cast Your Shadow on the Sea” (Jonathan Dokuchitz); “Big Brother” (Chip Zien, Lee Wilkof); “Come with Me” (Fred Inkley, Policemen); “Oh, Diogenes!” (Lauren Mitchell, Erin Dilly, Toni Dibuono); “Hurrah! Hurroo!” (reprise) (Crowd); “Sing for Your Supper” (Jackee Harry, Courtesans, Toni Dibuono, Lauren Mitchell, Erin Dilly, Crowd); “This Can’t Be Love” (reprise) (Company) Roundabout Theatre Company’s current production of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s1938 hit musical The Boys from Syracuse led a parade of revivals for the 2002–2003 season, and was followed by three commercial ones (Flower Drum Song, Man of La Mancha, and Gypsy); two institutional revivals (A Little Night Music and Nine); a return engagement (A Christmas Carol); and a commercial revival of an opera (La Boheme). Movin’ Out, Celebrating Sondheim, and The Look of Love were evenings of recycled songs; Urban Cowboy offered both old and new numbers; Amour, Dance of the Vampires, and The Play What I Wrote were imports; and only the recently opened Hairspray and the season’s-end A Year with Frog and Toad were shows that offered completely new music. The back-to-back revivals of Rodgers’s The Boys from Syracuse and Flower Drum Song were revised versions of the originals and didn’t make much of an impression with the critics or the public.

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Set in ancient Greece, the story of Syracuse (which was based on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors) centered on two sets of twins, both separated at birth, Antipholus of Syracuse (Jonathan Dokuchitz) and Antipholus of Ephesus (Tom Hewitt) and their respective servants Dromio of Syracuse (Lee Wilkof) and Dromio of Ephesus (Chip Zien). Antipholus S. arrives in Ephesus in search of his brother, and soon all hell breaks loose when Adriana (Lauren Mitchell) and Luce (Toni Dubuono), the respective wives of Antipholus E. and Dromio E., mistake the boys from Syracuse for their husbands. Meanwhile, Adriana’s sister Luciana (Erin Dilly) has fallen in love with Antipholus S. and feels guilty because she believes him to be her brother-in-law, and Antipholus E. perhaps spends too much time at the best little whorehouse in Ephesus. But all the confusion eventually resolves itself: Antipholus E. and Adriana reunite and Antipholus S. and Luciana become a pair. As for the Dromios, Luce embraces both, and it appears the threesome will enter into a cozy ménage. George Abbott’s delightful book plays well, but for the revival someone made the decision to revise it, and so playwright Nicky Silvers was brought in to undertake the dubious reconstruction. He sprinkled sexualidentity gags throughout, tinkered with the score, expanded the roles of the courtesans, and brought in a mystery guest star for each performance (shades of The Play What I Wrote, the London show that opened on Broadway later in the season) to play the role of the twins’ mother. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “languid reworking” of the show resulted in “listlessness,” and here ancient Greece was more reminiscent of the “Roman revels at Caesar’s Palace” because the production “somehow landed in Las Vegas in the mid-1960s.” In Silvers’s take on the story, Antipholus E. visits prostitutes only to talk about his insecurities and his martial exploits, and Dromio S. has a “bizarre encounter” with a “swishy” tailor’s apprentice that also “casts doubt on the sexual proclivities” of Dromio E. Charles Isherwood in Variety noted that “an odd note of sexual dysfunction has crept into the proceedings” and all the boys (from Syracuse and Ephesus) “have a pathological fear of females.” The revival was indeed “peculiar,” and the “bland” and “only fitfully funny” production” was like “Champagne served in a Dixie cup—make that flat Champagne.” The musical’s legendary trio “Sing for Your Supper” (for Adriana, Luciana, and Luce) was now a production number headed by the madam of the bawdy house, played by Jackee Harry (the number included the three leads along with all the courtesans and the ensemble), and Isherwood noted it was a “desperate effort to inflate the song into a big 11 o’clock number.” As for the mystery guest, at the critics’ performance it was Georgia Engel, and Isherwood decided it was “somehow fitting” to end the “empty” revival “with a star turn by a performer best known for impersonating an airhead” (on the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show). Brantley commented that for the staging, most of the cast tended “to plant themselves downstage and deliver their solos like singing trees,” and Isherwood found the showgirls “plastic” and said no one in the cast “really rises above the serviceable.” The revival omitted two songs from the original production (“Let Antipholus In” and “Ladies of the Evening”), and interpolated two from other Rodgers and Hart productions, “You Took Advantage of Me” (Present Arms, 1928) and “A Lady Must Live” (America’s Sweetheart, 1931), both for the courtesans. The original production opened at the Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre on November 23, 1938, for 235 performances, a healthy run for the era. The obscure film version by Universal was released in 1940 and includes two new songs by Rodgers and Hart (“The Greeks Have No Word for It” and “Who Are You?”) and retained four from the stage production (“Sing for Your Supper,” “He and She,” “Falling in Love with Love,” and “This Can’t Be Love”). Allan Jones played both Antipholus roles, Joe Penner both Dromios, and Luce was performed by Martha Raye. A revival by the Stratford Festival was taped live and shown on Canadian television on December 28, 1986. On April 15, 1963, an Off-Broadway revival at Theatre Four played for five hundred performances, and included Stuart Damon (Syracuse), Clifford David (Ephesus), Danny Carroll (Dromio S.), Rudy Tronto (Dromio E.), Ellen Hanley (Adriana), Julienne Marie (Luciana), Karen Morrow (Luce), and Cathryn Damon (Courtesan). Except for “Let Antipholus In,” all the songs were retained (and a dance sequence titled “Ladies’ Choice Ballet” was added). The musical’s first London production was based on the Off-Broadway version and opened at the Drury Lane on November 7, 1963, for one hundred showings (the cast included Denis Quilley as Ephesus). The Off-Broadway revival was recorded by Capitol Records (LP # STAO/TAO-1933) and was later issued on CD by Broadway Angel (# ZMD-0777-7-64695-2-2); although “Big Brother” was performed in the revival, it wasn’t included on the recording. The London production was recorded by Decca Records (LP # SLK/LK-4564), later reissued by Stet Records (LP # DS-15016), and Decca issued the CD (# 422-882-281-2). The album also omitted “Big Brother” (but included bonus tracks of Rudy Vallee and Frances Langford performing six songs from the score).

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Other recordings include a 1953 studio cast album (with Jack Cassidy and Portia Nelson in the leading roles) released by Columbia Records (LP # ML-4837) and later issued on CD by Sony Broadway (# SK-53329). The musical was presented in concert by Encores! on May 1, 1997, for five performances, with a cast that included Davis Gaines (Syracuse), Malcolm Gets (Ephesus), Mario Cantone (Dromio S.), Michael McGrath (Dromio E.), Rebecca Luker (Adriana), Sarah Uriarte Berry (Luciana), Debbie (Shapiro) Gravitt (Luce), and others in the cast were Marian Seldes, Tom Aldredge, and Danny Burstein; the concert was recorded by DRG Records (CD # 94767) and includes the heretofore unrecorded brief first-act finale “Let Antipholus In,” “Big Brother,” and the second-act ballet from the original Broadway production (known as “Ballet,” “Big Brother Ballet,” and “Twins’ Ballet”). The script was published in paperback in 1965 by Chappell & Co, and the lyrics are included in the 1986 hardback collection The Complete Lyrics of Lorenz Hart. Another musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s play was the critically pummeled Oh, Brother!, which opened at the ANTA (now Virginia) Theatre on November 10, 1981. Despite a game cast, lively music by Michael Valenti, and an agreeably silly book and lyrics by Donald Driver, the underrated musical, which proclaimed that “Musical Comedy Breaks Out in the Middle East!,” ran for just three performances. There was also the more successful The Bomb-itty of Errors, which opened Off Broadway at 45 Bleecker on December 12, 1999, for 216 showings (as a self-described “add-rap-tation” based on “Willy” Shakespeare’s comedy). Incidentally, the program cover for the current revival was probably the most off-putting for the entire decade and may make you feel the need to stock up on Baby Wipes.

FLOWER DRUM SONG Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: October 17, 2002; Closing Date: March 16, 2003 Performances: 169 Book: Oscar Hammerstein II and Joseph Fields; new book by David Henry Hwang Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Richard Rodgers Based on the 1957 novel The Flower Drum Song by C. Y. Lee (a portion of the book had originally been published in the New Yorker). Direction and Choreography: Robert Longbottom (Tom Kosis, Associate Director; Darlene Wilson, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Benjamin Mordecai, Michael A. Jenkins, Waxman Williams Entertainment, and Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum/Gordon Davidson/Charles Dillingham with Robert G. Bartner, Dragotta/Gill/Roberts, Kelpie Arts/Dramatic Forces, Stephanie McClelland, Judith Resnick, and by arrangement with the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization (Dallas Summer Musicals, Inc., Brian Bolly/Alice Chebba Walsh, and Ernest De Leon Escaler, Associate Producers); Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: David Chase Cast: Lea Salonga (Mei-Li), Randall Duk Kim (Wang), Alvin Ing (Chin), Jose Llana (Ta), Allen Liu (Harvard), Sandra Allen (Linda Low), Jodi Long (Madame Liang), Hoon Lee (Chao); Chinese Opera Company, Immigrants, Nightclub Performers, Factory Workers, Wedding Party, and Citizens of Chinatown: Rich Ceraulo, Eric Chan, Marcus Choi, Ma-Anne Dionisio, Emily Hsu, Telly Leung, J. Elaine Marcos, Daniel May, Marc Oka, Lainie Sakakura, Yuka Takara, Kim Varhola, Ericka Yang The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1960 in China and in San Francisco.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “A Hundred Million Miracles” (Lea Salonga, Company); “I Am Going to Like It Here” (Lea Salonga); “Jazz Bit” (aka “You Be the Rock”) (Showgirls, Sandra Allen); “I Enjoy Being a Girl” (Sandra Allen, Company); “You Are Beautiful” (Jose Llana, Lea Salonga); “Grant Avenue” (Jodi Long, Company); “Sunday” (Jose Llana); “I Enjoy Being a Girl” (reprise) (Lea Salonga); “Fan Tan Fannie” (Sandra Allen, Company); “Gliding through My Memoree” (Randall Duk Kim, Company); “A Hundred Million Miracles” (reprise) (Lea Salonga, Company)

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Act Two: “Chop Suey” (Randall Duk Kim, Company); “My Best Love” (Alvin Ing); “I Am Going to Like It Here” (reprise) (Lea Salonga, Hoon Lee, Factory Workers); “Don’t Marry Me” (Jodi Long, Randall Duk Kim); “Love, Look Away” (Lea Salonga); “Like a God” (Jose Llana); “Processional” (aka “Wedding Parade”) (Company); “A Hundred Million Miracles” (reprise) (Lea Salonga, Jose Llana, Company) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s hit 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song might have been out of their second drawer, but it was a lavish old-fashioned show with an ingratiating score and a workable sitcom-styled book that looked at generation-gap issues through the prism of young Chinese-Americans and their traditional, old-world elders. One song (“The Other Generation”) was a two-part summation of this theme in which first the oldsters and then the kids pair off with their own ideas about the other generation, and one teenager even sang a brief rock-and-roll number (“You Be the Rock”) to emphasize his assimilation into American culture. “The Other Generation” was dropped by playwright David Henry Hwang for his new book for the revival of Flower Drum Song, and with the approval of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization his script was an attempt to correct perceived racist and sexist aspects in the original 1958 script. As a result, the new version was less interested in generational issues and more with female empowerment along with a dash of political comment. But as Ben Brantley reported in the New York Times, this revival “wants to crumble its fortune cookie and eat it, too.” The original story centered on meek Mei-Li and her father, both newly arrived in San Francisco from the old country, with Mei-Li the mail-order bride for nightclub owner Sammy Fong, who is interested only in nightclub entertainer Linda Low and is more than happy when wealthy Wang Chi Yang buys up the wedding contract with the intention of arranging a marriage between Mei-Li and his son Wang Ta (who, like Sammy, is interested in Linda). Meanwhile, Wang Ta is completely unaware that seamstress Helen carries a torch for him. Rounding out the proceedings is the predictable but amusing sitcom banter between Madame Liang and the old-school Wang Chi Yang, her stuffy brother-in-law. Hwang’s adaptation dropped poor Helen (who actually should have been dropped on the road back in 1958), the kids, and the teenagers. Heretofore homebody Madame Liang is now a theatrical agent (“for Oriental talent”), and Wang Chi Yang is the owner of an opera house for traditional Chinese opera, but one evening each week it becomes “Nightclub Night” when Wang Ta presents flashy revues with Linda as the star. Mei-Li is now a Chinese refugee whose father was executed by the Communists, and despite having been in the United States for what seems like about ten minutes she’s well on her way to becoming an assertive New Woman. Hwang brought too much baggage to the lighthearted story with its familiar old-style musical comedy characters and its brassy old-time Broadway songs, and so the work couldn’t comfortably bear the weight of social commentary and what Brantley noted were characters who provided “positive Asian role models.” Brantley reported that Mei-Li’s speech is “as crisp and confident as a television anchorwoman’s” and she seems to be “auditioning for the new, improved Charlie’s Angels team.” By shedding the “passivity and stock picturesqueness” of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Mei-Li, Hwang gave her no “evidence of a personality to call her own.” In the meantime, Mei-Li’s charming “A Hundred Million Miracles” (which for all purposes was the musical’s title song) became a number for refugees who flee Mao’s China, and Brantley said the formerly “sweet” song was now presented with “surprising somberness.” Further, the exquisite “I Am Going to Like It Here” was heard (per the new script) in an “ironic reprise” which Brantley said was a “bleak” number for “oppressed workers in a fortune-cookie factory.” And as if to apologize for such songs as “Chop Suey” (like “The Other Generation,” it provided differing viewpoints, in this case about assimilation and cultural differences) and “I Enjoy Being a Girl” (a song for Linda in which she revels in her femininity), the numbers were now performed not as book songs but as performances in the nightclub. If Hwang was so intent on presenting a politically correct book that banished stereotypes, why did he create the new role of Harvard, a costume designer at the nightclub whom Charles Isherwood in Variety described as a “flaming queen” and “flimsy stereotype”? Brantley said the “swishy” character was “a font of pastel humor” reminiscent of such types on current sitcoms. Further, why allow the Asian characters to refer to Americans in such offensive terms as “white devils,” “white demons,” and “Caucasian boys”? To Isherwood, Hwang’s attempt “to restore the natural aroma to a bouquet” of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs ended up being “something closer to Glade air freshener,” and Brantley suggested that the revival suffered from an “identity crisis.” In some oh, please moments, Richard Zoglin in Time proclaimed that the

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revival was “a work of bravery and intelligence and real faith in the possibilities of musical theatre,” and John Lahr in the New Yorker said Hwang “eliminates stereotypes” and put a “new chassis on an old engine.” A curiosity surrounding the original production of Flower Drum Song is that despite Mei-Li’s prominence as the main character, she was given virtually nothing to sing after the middle of the first act. Hwang happily corrected this by ensuring that she had six more songs (including reprises), among them “Love, Look Away” (which had previously been a song for Helen, the minor character who was written out of the revival) and “You Are Beautiful” (which originally had been a duet for Wang Ta and Madame Liang and was now one for Wang Ta and Mei-Li). As noted, the revival cut “The Other Generation,” and also dropped the big second-act dance number (dully titled “Ballet”). The revival added one song (“My Best Love”) that had been cut during the 1958 preBroadway tryout, and during the current revival’s Fall 2001 tryout in Los Angeles “The Next Time It Happens” (for Mei-Li) was temporarily interpolated into the score but was dropped prior to Broadway (the song had originally been heard in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1955 musical Pipe Dream). Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that post-holiday grosses for one week added up to $380,000, some $200,000 lower than the holiday intake. Riedel suggested that the Rodgers & Hammerstein brand name would attract the spring and summer tourists and the musical might run until the end of the year, but instead the show never saw spring and closed after five months. Flower Drum Song’s original production opened on December 1, 1958, at the St. James Theater for six hundred performances. The original script was published twice, first in hardback by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy in 1959 and then in an undated paperback edition issued in Great Britain by Williamson Music; Hwang’s script was published in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 2003, and all the lyrics are included in the 2008 hardback collection The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. David H. Lewis’s Flower Drum Songs: The Story of Two Musicals is an analysis of the musical and its two adaptations and was published in paperback by McFarland & Company, in 2006. The 1958 cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5350, and issued on CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy # SK-60958), and a later CD release by Sony Masterworks Broadway/ArkivMusic (# 50136) includes various bonus tracks (pop versions of “Love, Look Away” and “Sunday” by original cast member Pat Suzuki, “Fan Tan Fannie” by Sandra Church, and “Grant Avenue,” “Like a God,” and “I Enjoy Being a Girl” by Florence Henderson). The overture for the original Broadway production didn’t include “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” but when the song became a hit it was added to the overture for the musical’s national tour and this overture is included in the collection Rodgers & Hammerstein: Opening Night—The Overtures (Philips CD # 434-932-2). There were also two studio cast recordings of the score released at the time of the original production, one by Studio East (LP # DCF-1011) and another by Bell Records (# BLP-13). The latter features Cely Carrillo as Mei-Li, who understudied Miyoshi Umeki in the original Broadway production and eventually succeeded her during the last months of the run. The London production opened on March 24, 1960, at the Palace Theatre for 464 performances and was released on LP twice (by EMI # CLP-1359 and # CSD-1350 and by Angel # 35886). The CD was issued by EMI/ West End Angel (# 0777-7-89953-2-6). The faithful and lavish if overlong film version was released in 1961 by Universal-International, and except for “Like a God” all the musical numbers were retained, including “You Be the Rock” and the second-act ballet. Miyoshi Umeki (Mei-Li), Juanita Hall (Madame Liang), and Patrick Adiarte (Wang San) reprised their Broadway roles, and Nancy Kwan was Linda (her singing voice was dubbed by B. J. Baker). The cast also included James Shigeta (Wang Ta), Benson Fong (Wang Chi Yang), and Reiko Sako (Helen, whose singing voice was dubbed by Marilyn Horne). In a reversal, Jack Soo, who had originated the role of Frankie Wing in the original Broadway production and had understudied and later performed the role of Sammy Fong, here played the role of Sammy. The film was produced by Ross Hunter, directed by Henry Koster, and scripted by Joseph Fields, who with Hammerstein had of course cowritten the book for the original Broadway production. The film’s overture and opening credits were particularly inspired in their depiction of a series of delicate Chinesestyled prints that showed Mei-Li and her father’s departure from China, their sea voyage to the United States, and their arrival in San Francisco. When the credits were over, the visuals had given the audience all the information it needed in regard to the characters’ background and the basic plot situation. The current revival was notable for the casting of Alvin Ing in the role of Chin. Ing had performed the role of Wang Ta in the musical’s original national tour, which played in twenty-two cities during its seventeenmonth tour in 1960 and 1961, and for the revival he sang “My Best Love,” which had originally been performed by Keye Luke (in the role of Wang Chi Yang) before the song was cut during the tryout of the original Broadway production.

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Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Book (David Henry Hwang); Best Costume Design (Gregg Barnes); Best Choreography (Robert Longbottom)

AMOUR Theatre: Music Box Theatre Opening Date: October 20, 2002; Closing Date: November 3, 2002 Performances: 17 Libretto: Didier van Cauwelaert; English adaptation by Jeremy Sams Music: Michel Legrand Based on the 1943 short story “Le passe-muraille” by Marcel Ayme. Direction: James Lapine; Producers: The Shubert Organization, Jean Doumanian Productions, Inc., and USA Ostar Theatricals; Choreography: Jane Comfort; Scenery: Dan Moses Schreier; Illusion Design: Jim Steinmeyer; Costumes: Dona Granata; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Todd Ellison Cast: Malcolm Gets (Dusoleil), Melissa Errico (Isabelle), Nora Mae Lyng (Claire, Whore), Christopher Fitzgerald (Bertrand, Newsvendor, Advocate), Lewis Cleale (Charles, Prosecutor), Sarah Litzsinger (Madeleine), Norm Lewis (Painter), John Cunningham (Policeman, Doctor, President of the Tribunal), Bill Nolte (Policeman, Boss) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in Paris shortly after World War II.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers. The following titles are taken from the original Broadway cast album. Overture (Company); “Office Life” (Malcolm Gets, Lewis Cleale, Christopher Fitzgerald, Sarah Litzsinger, Nora Mae Lyng); “Going Home Alone” (Malcolm Gets); “Other People’s Stories” (Melissa Errico, Malcolm Gets); “The Street Vendors’ Waltz” (Melissa Errico, Malcolm Gets, Lewis Cleale, John Cunningham, Christopher Fitzgerald, Norm Lewis, Nora Mae Lyng, Bill Nolte); “Dusoleil Walks through the Wall” (Malcolm Gets); “The Doctor” (Malcolm Gets, John Cunningham); “An Ordinary Guy” (Malcolm Gets); “Dusoleil’s Revenge” (Malcolm Gets, Lewis Cleale, Christopher Fitzgerald, Sarah Litzsinger, Nora Mae Lyng, Bill Nolte); “Somebody” (Melissa Errico); “Prosecutor’s Song” (Lewis Cleale); “Whore’s Lament” (Malcolm Gets, Nora Mae Lyng); “Monsieur Passepartout” (Malcolm Gets, Lewis Cleale, John Cunningham, Christopher Fitzgerald, Norm Lewis, Sarah Litzsinger, Nora Mae Lyng, Bill Nolte); “Special Time of Day” (Melissa Errico, Malcolm Gets); “Waiting” (Malcolm Gets); “The Latest News” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Norm Lewis, Nora Mae Lyng); “Dusoleil in Jail” (Malcolm Gets, Sarah Litzsinger, Nora Mae Lyng); “Painter’s Song” (Norm Lewis); “Isabelle on Her Balcony” (Melissa Errico, Malcolm Gets, Lewis Cleale); “Transformation” (Company); “The Advocate’s Plea” (Christopher Fitzgerald, John Cunningham); “The Trial” (Company); “Duet for Dusoleil and Isabelle” (Melissa Errico, Malcolm Gets, Company); “Whistling Ballet” (Malcolm Gets, John Cunningham, Christopher Fitzgerald, Norm Lewis, Sarah Litzsinger, Nora Mae Lyng, Bill Nolte); “Amour” (Malcolm Gets, Melissa Errico); “Dusoleil Meets the Press” (Malcolm Gets, John Cunningham, Christopher Fitzgerald, Company); “Serenade” (Melissa Errico, Malcolm Gets, Company) The import Amour was the first of two Paris-centric musicals that opened during the season, and it preceded La boheme by a few weeks. Amour first opened in Paris on January 15, 1997, as Le passe-muraille (roughly translated as The Man Who Could Walk through Walls) at the Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens where it played for a year. Based on Marcel Ayme’s 1943 short story “Le passe-muraille,” the sung-through fantasy with libretto by Didier van Cauwelaert (which for Broadway was adapted by Jeremy Sams) and music by Michel Legrand told the strange tale of the dull, trod-upon bureaucrat Dusoleil (Malcolm Gets) who suddenly discovers his miraculous ability to walk through walls.

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At first, Dusoleil consults his doctor (John Cunningham), who gives him some pills (which he ignores), and then with his new prowess proceeds to get even with his overbearing boss. But soon he becomes a French Robin Hood and steals food, money, and even diamonds for the deserving poor, such as the local prostitute whose business has fallen off since the war. Dusoleil also falls in love with his married neighbor Isabelle (Melissa Errico), whose husband is a cruel and boorish public prosecutor. But Dusoleil is ultimately brought to trial for his robberies, and in quick succession the prosecutor is revealed to have been a Nazi collaborator, Dusoleil is pardoned for his crimes because they all stemmed from l’amour, and he and Isabelle spend a night of love (and champagne) together. The next day Dusoleil has a morning-after hangover, and in order to cure his headache he fatally gulps down the doctor’s pills. A few minutes later when he’s walking through a wall, the pills take effect and he becomes forever stuck there. The fantasy was probably a bit twee for Broadway tastes, and perhaps there was too much of the cliché about it (the Paris types included a painter, a prostitute, a street vendor, and a nun, and the New Yorker noted that of course there were gendarmes and baguettes not to mention berets and the Eiffel Tower). Like so many intimate musicals before it, the show might have had a chance in an Off-Broadway venue (the small-scaled Amour had a cast of nine and an orchestra of five). The musical received mild reviews, and the lyrics came in for special criticism because of their obvious rhymes and overly sing-song nature (and some seemed unnecessarily vulgar). The show folded after seventeen performances and became the season’s shortest-running musical. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “exceedingly mild” evening was saddled with “the metronomic persistence” of its “rhymed libretto” and “the low-boil bubbliness of the music.” As a result, the show felt “claustrophobically fey.” The headline of Howard Kissel’s review in the New York Daily News announced that the “Whimsy Is Too Flimsy,” and the critic suggested if “sing-song monotony is your cup of tea,” you might enjoy the show with its “blandly pleasant” score and its “thin” action. And Charles Isherwood in Variety complained about the “sing-songy” lyrics and noted that the evening’s “airy, soufflé-like consistency is eventually more exasperating than enchanting.” As for the leads, Brantley praised the “deftly shaded idiosyncrasies” that Gets brought to his role, and Isherwood said he managed to negotiate his character’s “comic and sentimental aspects honorably” and sang “terrifically.” Brantley commented that Errico’s “china-doll prettiness” and “shimmering” soprano hadn’t “been put to such tasty use” since she had appeared in the 1996 Encores! concert production of One Touch of Venus, and Isherwood said the “ravishingly pretty” actress had a “gorgeous, silvery” voice and her “lilting” solo numbers provided a “natural gracefulness that eludes the evening as a whole.” The French cast recording was taken from a live performance and was released by Touchstone Records (CD # F-TST-9913-2); a 2000 Japanese production was released on a two-CD set by EMI/Toshiba Records (CD # TOCT-24335-36); and the Broadway cast album was issued by Sh-K-Boom Records (CD # 4003-2) and includes a bonus track of “An Ordinary Guy” performed by Legrand. Marcel Ayme wrote a number of short stories, novels, and plays, and his 1955 comedy Les oiseaux de lune was produced on Broadway as Moonbirds in an adaptation by John Pauker. With a cast that included Wally Cox, Michael Hordern, Anne Meacham. Phyllis Newman, Rex Everhart, William Hickey, Peggy Pope, Dran Seitz, Joseph Buloff, and Dorothy Sands, the play opened on October 9, 1959, at the Cort Theatre where it ran for just three performances. Like Amour, Moonbirds was a whimsical fantasy that in this case focused on a dull and mousy French school teacher (Cox) who suddenly discovers he has the power to turn people into birds. Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times said the “fiasco” was “almost meaningless and thoroughly dull.” In Montmartre, there is a sculpture by actor Jean Marais that depicts Dusoleil walking through a wall. It was erected in 1989, and early programs of Amour included a postcard of the sculpture.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Amour); Best Score (original French lyrics by Didier van Cauwelaert, English lyrics by Jeremy Sams, music by Michel Legrand); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Malcolm Gets); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Melissa Errico)

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JACKIE MASON: PRUNE DANISH Theatre: Royale Theatre Opening Date: October 22, 2002; Closing Date: December 1, 2002 Performances: 39 Monologues: Jackie Mason Direction: Jackie Mason; Producers: Jyll Rosenfeld and Jon Stoll; Lighting: Traci Klainer Cast: Jackie Mason The stand-up comedy revue was presented in two acts.

Monologues Note: The titles of the monologues are taken from the cast album. “Too Jewish”; “Jews Don’t Gain Weight”; “I Don’t Like Ethnic Jokes”; “Homosexuals”; “Sexual Harassment”; “Fat Free”; “X-Rays”; “The Treadmill”; “The Worse It Tastes the More It Costs”; “Jews Love Sushi”; “Why Do You Need a Bigger?”; “Are Jews Pushy?”; “Tickets to Shows”; “The Grand Canyon”; “Taking an Intermission”; “Jews Are Not All the Same”; “Car Accident”; “Foreign Policy”; “Smoke ’em Out”; “President Clinton”; “Bin Laden”; “Anyone Handle Your Luggage?”; “Turkish Terrorist”; “Ted Kennedy”; “William Buckley”; “The Check”; “I’ll Send a Car” Jackie Mason: Prune Danish was the stand-up comic’s sixth solo visit to Broadway, and had been preceded by Jackie Mason’s “The World According to Me!” (two runs in 1986 and 1988 for 367 and 203 respective showings); Jackie Mason/Brand New (1990, 216 performances); Jackie Mason: Politically Incorrect (1994, 347 performances); Love Thy Neighbor (1996, 225 performances); and Much Ado about Everything (1999, 183 performances). After Prune Danish, the comedian returned in the 2003 intimate revue Laughing Room Only and in the 2005 solo stand-up comedy revue Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed. Mason’s first Broadway venture was his and Mike Mortman’s 1969 comedy A Teaspoon Every Four Hours, in which he starred; the show played just one official performance, but not before it had set a then record number of ninety-seven previews. Mason flaunted political correctness and didn’t follow the party line that a Jewish New Yorker should be respectful of certain sacred cows. One suspects that a few reviewers didn’t approve of his un-PC-like stage behavior, but clearly audiences enjoyed the fact that everyone was a target for Mason’s acerbic view of the world. The critics quoted a few of his lines: “People are stupid, and I say that with the greatest respect” and “I was invited to perform in Palestine; they offered me half a million, plus funeral expenses.” He also asked just how can you tell a bride that “white is not your color”? Mason poked his usual fun at Gentiles and Jews; at politicians on both sides of the aisle; at the obnoxious behavior of cell phone users; and at the increasing crudeness in the titles of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Charles Isherwood in Variety reported that “judging from the laughter” in the audience Mason was “still hitting mostly bull’s-eyes.” Bruce Weber in the New York Times noted that Mason’s “newest display of chutzpah” was generally “mean-spiritedness delivered as a winking joke,” but his comic style remained “priceless and unique” (although he said the comic’s “strain of conservative soapbox language” didn’t suit him). The cast album was released by Oglio Records and is available in MP3 format. Prune Danish played at the Royale Theatre, which three years later was renamed the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (the name change occurred during the run of the revival of David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross). The first lyric work to play at the Jacobs was Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Jackie Mason: Prune Danish)

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MOVIN’ OUT “A New Musical”

Theatre: Richard Rodgers Theatre Opening Date: October 24, 2002; Closing Date: December 11, 2005 Performances: 1,303 Lyrics and Music: Billy Joel Conception, Direction, and Choreography: Twyla Tharp (Scott Wise, Assistant Director and Assistant Choreographer); Producers: James L. Nederlander, Hal Luftig, Scott E. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Clear Channel Entertainment, and Emanuel Azenberg; Scenery: Santo Loquasto; Costumes: Suzy Benzinger; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Tommy Byrnes Cast: John Selya (Eddie), Elizabeth Parkinson (Brenda), Keith Roberts (Tony), Ashley Tuttle (Judy), Benjamin G. Bowman (James), Scott Wise (Sergeant O’Leary, Drill Sergeant), Michael Cavanaugh (Piano, Lead Vocals); Ensemble: Mark Arvin, Karine Bageot, Alexander Brady, Holly Cruikshank, Ron DeJesus, Melissa Downey, Pascale Faye, Scott Fowler, David Gomez, Rod McCune, Jill Nicklaus, Rika Okamoto Cast (for Wednesday and Saturday matinees): William Marrie (Eddie), Holly Cruikshank (Brenda), David Gomez (Tony), Dana Stackpole (Judy), Benjamin G. Bowman (James), Scott Wise (Sergeant O’Leary, Drill Sergeant), Wade Preston (Piano, Lead Vocals); and Ensemble The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Long Island and in Vietnam during the 1960s.

Musical Numbers Note: Michael Cavanaugh was the lead singer for all the songs. Act One: Overture: “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” (Company); “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” (Elizabeth Parkinson, John Selya, Keith Roberts, Benjamin G. Bowman, Ashley Tuttle, Scott Wise, Ensemble); “Movin’ Out” (“Anthony’s Song”) (Keith Roberts, John Selya, Benjamin G. Bowman, Scott Wise); “Reverie” (“Vila D’Este”) and “Just the Way You Are” (Benjamin G. Bowman, Ashley Tuttle, Ensemble); “For the Longest Time” and “Uptown Girl” (Elizabeth Parkinson, John Selya, Keith Roberts, Ensemble); “This Night” (Keith Roberts, Elizabeth Parkinson, Ensemble); “Summer, Highland Falls” (John Selya, Elizabeth Parkinson, Keith Roberts, Ensemble); “Waltz # 1” (“Nunley’s Carousel”) (Keith Roberts, John Selya, Benjamin G. Bowman, Scott Wise, Ensemble); “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (Ashley Tuttle, Elizabeth Parkinson, Benjamin G. Bowman, Keith Roberts, John Selya, Ensemble); “She’s Got a Way” (Keith Roberts, Elizabeth Parkinson, Ensemble); “The Stranger” (Ashley Tuttle, Ensemble); “Elegy” (“The Great Peconic”) (Ashley Tuttle, Elizabeth Parkinson, Keith Roberts, John Selya, Scott Wise, Ensemble) Act Two: “Invention in C Minor” (John Selya, Ensemble); “Angry Young Man” (John Selya, Ensemble); “Big Shot” (Keith Roberts, Elizabeth Parkinson, Ensemble); “Big Man on Mulberry Street” (Keith Roberts, Elizabeth Parkinson, Ensemble); “Captain Jack” (John Selya, Ensemble); “Innocent Man” (John Selya, Ensemble); “Pressure” (Ashley Tuttle, John Selya, Ensemble); “Goodnight Saigon” (John Selya, Ashley Tuttle, Benjamin G. Bowman, Keith Roberts, Ensemble); “Air” (“Dublinesque”) (Elizabeth Parkinson); “Shameless” (Elizabeth Parkinson, Keith Roberts); “James” (Ashley Tuttle, John Selya); “River of Dreams”/“Keeping the Faith”/ “Only the Good Die Young” (John Selya, Ensemble); “I’ve Loved These Days” (Keith Roberts, Elizabeth Parkinson, John Selya, Ensemble); “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” (reprise) (Company) Choreographer Twyla Tharp’s dance musical Movin’ Out utilized songs by popular songwriter and singer Billy Joel to tell the perhaps all-too-familiar baby-boomer story about coming of age in the 1960s. Set in Long Island (and with a brief sojourn to Vietnam), the plot focused on five men and women, two couples (Brenda and Eddie at the end of their relationship, and James and Judy who are thinking of marriage) and Tony, who loves Brenda. The three men are drafted and shipped to Vietnam, where James is killed in combat. When Eddie and Tony return to the States they feel like outcasts and the latter takes to drugs. Ultimately, Eddie connects with Judy, and Tony with Brenda. It was the kind of show in which the program told us that Brenda “has become her own woman” and the characters need “to heal their wounds” and find “their way back home.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the final scenes of “salvation” weren’t really convincing and they

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suggested “the answer to depression and suicidal tendencies is jogging.” Further, much of what transpired had “been examined to the point of weariness in films like The Deer Hunter and Coming Home and novels like Machine Dreams” and thus “you’ve heard it all before.” There was no spoken dialogue in the jukebox musical, and the songs were performed mostly by Michael Cavanaugh, the lead singer and piano player, and nine other musicians, who were located high above the stage hovering over the proceedings. The songs, which of course had been independently written over a period of years and weren’t meant to take on the exposition, characterization, and atmosphere required for a book musical, were forced to carry the brunt of the story. There may have been some in the audience who didn’t always understand the goings-on, and so the program included two storyline explanations, one a full-page plot synopsis and the other a shorthand description of each scene within the list of musical numbers. But for many the plot probably wasn’t all that important, and it was enough to hear the songs and watch the dancing. Charles Isherwood in Variety found the story “rather generic” and noted it never coalesced into “a seamless mixture of music, dance and narrative,” and because the plot was “neither arresting in itself nor relayed with consistent clarity,” the show was “best enjoyed as a suite of dances.” Although Tharp’s choreography was “rarely subtle” and she wasn’t “at the top of her form,” the show was nonetheless a “first-class pop ballet.” Richard Zoglin in Time called the dances “an exhilarating display of frenetic, fist-pumping choreography that seems to want to burst out of the theatre,” and Anna Kisselgoff in the Times praised them as “virtuosic and emotionally charged” and noted that “nobody but classically trained dancers could even begin to cope with the superhuman partnering and stamina required by this choreography.” During the Chicago tryout, audiences were apparently confused by the story, and so Tharp reworked the show and clarified the plot. Songs dropped prior to Broadway were “I Go to Extremes” and “2000 Years.” The cast album was recorded live during the August 13 and 14, 2002, performances of the musical’s tryout and was released by Sony Records (CD # 87877). The musical was taped during its national tour and was shown on the public television series Great Performances in 2007. The London production opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre on April 10, 2006, and ran for less than two months. Later in the decade, Tharp created another dance musical based on catalog songs by a popular composer (this time, Bob Dylan). But The Times They Are A-Changin’ couldn’t manage a full month on Broadway.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Movin’ Out); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (John Selya); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Elizabeth Parkinson); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Cavanaugh); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Keith Roberts); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Ashley Tuttle); Best Lighting Design (Donald Holder); Best Choreography (Twyla Tharp); Best Direction of a Musical (Twyla Tharp); Best Orchestrations (Billy Joel and Stuart Malina)

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2002) Theatre: The Theatre at Madison Square Garden Opening Date: November 29, 2002; Closing Date: December 29, 2002 Performances: 70 (estimated) The ninth of ten productions of the musical version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden starred F. Murray Abraham as Scrooge. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times reported that Abraham’s Scrooge wasn’t the “bleak miser” created by Dickens but was instead a man who “can scarcely contain the good cheer waiting to burst out in little bits of business” and who seemed “positively relieved” when he released “his giddy good cheer” upon the Cratchit family and the world. The production remained “crisp,” and the evening was “a pleasant family experience marshaled here to satisfying effect.” For more information about the musical, see entry for the 2000 production.

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CELEBRATING SONDHEIM Theatre: Henry Miller Theatre Opening Date: December 2, 2002; Closing Date: January 6, 2003 Performances: 10 Lighting: Eric Cornwell; Producer: Dodger Stage Holding Cast: Mandy Patinkin, Paul Ford (Piano) The concert was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers Note: The concert included over thirty songs written by Stephen Sondheim. The following alphabetical list is taken from reviews of the concert. “Beautiful” (Sunday in the Park with George, 1984); “Broadway Baby” (Follies, 1971); “Finishing the Hat” (Sunday in the Park with George, 1984); “Free” (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1962); “Johanna” (Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 1979); “Lesson No. 8” (Sunday in the Park with George, 1984); “Live Alone and Like It” (1990 film Dick Tracy); “Live, Laugh, Love” (Follies, 1971); “Losing My Mind” (Follies, 1971); “Not While I’m Around” (Sweeney Todd, 1979); “Pretty Women” (Sweeney Todd, 1979); “Rich and Happy” (Merrily We Roll Along, 1981); “Send in the Clowns” (A Little Night Music, 1973); “Someone Is Waiting” (Company, 1970); “Sunday” (Sunday in the Park with George, 1984); “Take the Moment” (Do I Hear a Waltz?, 1965; music by Richard Rodgers); “Uptown, Downtown” (cut from Follies, 1971); “When” (1966 television musical Evening Primrose); “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” (Company, 1970) Mandy Patinkin’s concert Celebrating Sondheim was presented in a limited engagement of ten performances at the Henry Miller Theatre on Sunday and Monday evenings when Urinetown was dark. The singer performed some thirty of Stephen Sondheim’s songs. Marilyn Stasio in Variety wrote that for this “idiosyncratic” concert Patinkin didn’t perform Sondheim’s songs “in original character or context” but instead presented them “in the here-and-now character of Patinkin and within the context of his personal interpretation of their special meaning,” and Stephen Holden in the New York Times praised the “dauntingly intense” show and said Patinkin’s voice was in “top-notch shape.” Revivals and celebrations of Sondheim shows peppered the decade, with an average of two per season. Celebrating Sondheim was the first of three Sondheim evenings presented during the 2002–2003 season, and was followed by revivals of A Little Night Music and Gypsy.

MAN OF LA MANCHA Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre Opening Date: December 5, 2002; Closing Date: August 31, 2003 Performances: 304 Book: Dale Wasserman Lyrics: Joe Darion Music: Mitch Leigh; new dance music by David Krane Based on the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (the first volume of the novel was published in 1605, and the second in 1615) and the 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote by Dale Wasserman. Direction: Jonathan Kent (Peter Lawrence, Associate Director); Producers: David Stone, Jon B. Platt, Susan Quint Gallin, Sandy Gallin, Seth M. Siegel, and USA Ostar Theatricals in association with Mary Lu Roffe (Nina Essman, Nancy Nagel Gibbs); Choreography: Luis Perez; Scenery and Costumes: Paul Brown; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Robert Billig Cast: Brian Stokes Mitchell (Cervantes, Don Quixote), Frederick B. Owens (Captain of the Inquisition), Ernie Sabella (Sancho), Don Mayo (Governor, Innkeeper), Stephen Bogardus (Duke, Carrasco), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Aldonza), Andy Blankenbuehler (Quito, Gypsy Dancer), Timothy J. Alex (Tenorio), Thom Sesma (Juan), Dennis Stowe (Paco), Bradley Dean (Anselmo), Gregory Mitchell (Pedro), Wilson Mendieta

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(Jose), Michelle Rios (Maria), Lorin Latarro (Fermina, Gypsy Dancer), Natascia Diaz (Antonia), Mark Jacoby (Padre), Olga Merediz (Housekeeper), Jamie Torcellini (Barber), John Herrera (Guard), Jimmy Smagula (Guard), Allyson Tucker (Prisoner), Robin Polseno (Onstage Guitarist) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during 1594 in Seville, Spain, and in the imagination of Don Miguel de Cervantes.

Musical Numbers “Man of La Mancha” (“I, Don Quixote”) (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ernie Sabella); “It’s All the Same” (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Muleteers); “Dulcinea” (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Muleteers); “I’m Only Thinking of Him” (Natascia Diaz, Olga Merediz, Mark Jacoby); “We’re Only Thinking of Him” (Stephen Bogardus, Natascia Diaz, Mark Jacoby, Olga Merediz); “The Missive” (Ernie Sabella); “I Really Like Him” (Ernie Sabella); “What Does He Want of Me?” (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “Little Bird, Little Bird” (Bradley Dean, Gregory Mitchell, Muleteers); “Barber’s Song” (Jamie Torcellini); “Golden Helmet of Mambrino” (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ernie Sabella, Jamie Torcellini, Mark Jacoby, Muleteers); “To Each His Dulcinea” (“To Every Man His Dream”) (Mark Jacoby); “The Impossible Dream” (“The Quest”) (Brian Stokes Mitchell); “The Combat” (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Ernie Sabella, Muleteers); “The Dubbing” (“Knight of the Woeful Countenance”) (Don Mayo, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Ernie Sabella); “The Abduction” (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Muleteers, Lorin Latarro); “The Impossible Dream” (“The Quest”) (reprise) (Brian Stokes Mitchell); “Man of La Mancha” (“I, Don Quixote”) (reprise) (Brian Stokes Mitchell); “Gypsy Dance” (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ernie Sabella, Lorin Latarro, Andy Blankenbuehler, Muleteers); “Aldonza” (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “A Little Gossip” (Ernie Sabella); “Dulcinea” (reprise) (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “The Impossible Dream” (“The Quest”) (reprise) (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “Man of La Mancha” (“I, Don Quixote”) (reprise) (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ernie Sabella, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio); “The Psalm” (Mark Jacoby); Finale (Company) Man of La Mancha took place in a prison where Miguel de Cervantes (Brian Stokes Mitchell) is held because he foreclosed on property owned by the Catholic Church. His fellow prisoners hold a mock trial and charge him with being an “idealist, a bad poet, and an honest man.” For his defense, Cervantes offers a “charade” to plead his case and asks the prisoners to portray various characters in his narrative. The charade is of course Cervantes’s story of Don Quixote and his manservant Sancho (Ernie Sabella) and their quixotic adventures of tilting at windmills and fighting dragons. Along the way, they meet a padre (Mark Jacoby), an innkeeper (Don Mayo), the scholar Carrasco (Stephen Bogardus), and the harlot Aldonza (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). Quixote’s innate innocence affects all whom he encounters, and his death leaves them ennobled and hopeful for the future. At the end of the charade, Cervantes is summoned for trial by the Inquisition and is taken from the prison to meet his fate. Mitch Leigh’s score was often flavored with Spanish and flamenco-styled rhythms, and the pulsating music was a mostly perfect fit for the characters and situations. Mostly, because as written, the character of Sancho was out of place: his Borscht Belt humor and weak songs reeked of the worst kind of Broadway shtick, and Sancho along with that windbag Zorba is one of the most tiresome characters in all musical theatre. Otherwise, “I, Don Quixote” (“Man of La Mancha”), “Golden Helmet of Mambrino,” “Barber’s Song,” and “The Impossible Dream” (“The Quest”) were full-blooded theatre music, and the latter was one of the biggest hits in an era when Broadway songs were becoming increasingly irrelevant to the general public. The shimmering “Dulcinea” was perhaps the score’s finest moment, and, with the exception of Sancho’s material, Leigh’s score was a richly textured and unified whole in the manner of a song cycle. Dale Wasserman’s adaptation was first seen on November 9, 1959, as the nonmusical I, Don Quixote on the CBS series Dupont Show of the Month with Lee J. Cobb (Cervantes and Don Quixote), Colleen Dewhurst (Aldonza), Eli Wallach (Sancho), and Hurd Hatfield (Carrasco). The musical was first produced at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, during summer 1965, and most of the cast and creative team transferred to New York when the musical opened at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre on November 22, 1965, for a marathon run of 2,328 performances with Richard Kiley (Cervantes and Don Quixote), Joan Diener (Aldonza), Irving Jacobson (Sancho), Robert Rounseville (The Padre), Ray Middleton (The Innkeeper), and Jon Cypher (Carrasco). Cast member Eddie Roll had created the choreography for Goodspeed, but for New York the dances were credited to Jack Cole. Some later revivals dropped Cole’s name from the credits and

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didn’t even cite a choreographer, and in truth what little dancing the show offered was generally negligible and unmemorable and was perhaps best described as “movement.” Besides the current production, the musical was revived in New York three other times: on June 22, 1972, at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre with Kiley for 140 performances; on September 15, 1977, at the Palace Theatre with Kiley for 124 performances; and on April 24, 1992, at the Marquis Theatre with Raul Julia for 108 performances. The original London production opened on April 24, 1968, at the Piccadilly Theatre for 253 performances with Keith Mitchell and Diener, and the boring and bloated 1972 film version by United Artists was directed by Arthur Hill, and the cast included Peter O’Toole, Sophia Loren, and, from the original Broadway production, Gino Conforti as the barber. The barber was one of three small but memorable roles Conforti created on Broadway within three seasons; in 1963, he was the noisy waiter who didn’t contribute to the “romantic atmosphere” of She Loves Me and in 1964 created the title role of Fiddler on the Roof. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1966, and is also included in the hardback collection Great Musicals of the American Theatre Volume Two (Chilton Book Company, 1976). The original cast album was issued by Kapp Records (LP # KRL-4505), and the CD by Decca Broadway Records (# 012-159387-2) includes a bonus track of the previously unreleased sequence “The Combat,” which had been recorded at the time of the cast album session. Kiley also recorded a version of the musical for children on Golden Records (LP # 265), and the singers include Gerrianne Raphael, Eddie Roll, and Chev Rodgers, all members of the original Broadway company. The two-LP London cast album (issued by Decca Records # DXSA-7203) includes the complete score and dialogue, the soundtrack was released by United Artists (LP # UAS-9906), and the current revival was recorded by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-64007-2). The $6 million revival was a solid one that benefited from Mitchell’s heartfelt performance and glorious voice; he had seemed somewhat strained and uncomfortable in the hammy world of the 1999 Kiss Me, Kate revival, but here he was in his element as the traditional stalwart leading man. Further, director Jonathan Kent’s production was a welcome relief from the traditional ones of La Mancha which always used Albert Marre’s original staging and Howard Bay’s impressive drawbridge-styled set. Designer Paul Brown still utilized a staircase as the centerpiece of the mise-en–scène, but it was completely different in conception to Bay’s with an intricate honeycomb of metal walls that surrounded almost vertigo-inducing walkways that would suddenly break apart and then reassemble in a flash. It was refreshing to see a completely reimagined look for La Mancha, but Ben Brantley in the New York Times felt the décor’s “sinister majesty” made the “let’s-pretend geniality” of the book, the “high-flown” lyrics, and the “sentimental sweetness” of the music seem “puny.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said Brown’s set struck a “thunderous note” with a “remarkable and remarkably ugly set” that seemed constructed from “scrap metal scrupulously saved from the sets of the Mad Max movies.” Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was a strong Aldonza, but one or two critics suggested she was miscast. Brantley said she reminded him of “a Judy Collins–like folk singer, newly sprung from Sarah Lawrence and hitting the coffeehouse circuit,” and Isherwood found her “a rather dry, contemporary-sounding Aldonza.” But hers was a strong performance, and it was nice to see an Aldonza without her 1960s go-go boots and bouffant hair style, the de rigueur look for Marre’s original production and almost all which followed. Brantley felt that when Mitchell sang “The Impossible Dream,” the Martin Beck was suddenly “suffused with a hokey but undeniable grandeur that is peculiar to musical theatre.” The performer was “drenched” in what seemed like “the convergence of a thousand spotlights,” and as he let his “voice reach for the heavens” the familiar song sounded “as if it had never set foot in Las Vegas.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker praised the “proficient talent” of Mitchell and Mastrantonio but said the evening was a “cartoon” of “romantic kitsch,” and if hearing “The Impossible Dream” sung four times “is your idea of a good night out” then this Man of La Mancha “is for you.” Nevertheless, the revival was “superbly” directed by Kent, and it featured a “sensational” set by Brown. During the revival’s run, the name of the Martin Beck Theatre was changed to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on June 21, 2003.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Man of La Mancha); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Brian Stokes Mitchell); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio)

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LA BOHEME Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: December 8, 2002; Closing Date: June 29, 2003 Performances: 228 Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica Music: Giacomo Puccini Based on the 1851 collection of stories Scenes de la vie de boheme by Henri Murger (the stories were first published in the journal Le Corsair between 1847 and 1849). Direction: Baz Luhrmann (David Crooks, Associate Director); Producers: Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Emanuel Azenberg, and Bazmark Live; Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Korea/Pictures/Doyun Seol, J. Sine/I. Pittelman/S. Nederlander, and Fox Searchlight Pictures (Noel Staunton and Adam Silberman, Executive Producers; Daniel Karslake/Coats Guiles/Mort Swinsky/Michael Fuchs, Associate Producers); Scenery: Catherine Martin (Prisque Salvi, Associate Scenic Designer); Costumes: Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie; Lighting: Nigel Levings; Musical Direction: Constantine Kitsopoulos Cast: Eugene Brancoveanu (Marcello) or Ben Davis (Marcello), Alfred Boe (Rodolfo) or Jesus Garcia (Rodolfo) or David Miller (Rodolfo), Daniel Webb (Colline), Daniel Okulitch (Schaunard), Adam Grupper (Benoit), Lisa Hopkins (Mimi) or Wei Huang (Mimi) or Ekaterina Solovyeva (Mimi), Dan Entriken (Parpignol), William Youmans (Alcindoro), Jessica Comeau (Musetta) or Chloe Wright (Musetta), Sean Cooper (Customs Officer), Graham Fandrei (Sergeant); Ensemble: Enrique Abdala, Christine Arand, Janinah Burnett, Gilles Chiasson, Charlotte Cohn, Michael Cone, Vanessa Conlin, Sean Cooper, Patricia Corbett, Evangelia Constantakos, Lawrence Craig, Dan Entriken, Graham Fandrei, Bobby Faust, Katie Geissinger, Jennifer Goode, Paul Goodwin-Groen, Adam Grupper, Joy Hermalyn, Robb Hillman, Adam Hunter, Tim Jerome, Katherine Keyes, Laurice Lanier, Peter Lockyer, Morgan Moody, Marcus Nance, Daniel Neer, Debra Patchell, Patricia Phillips, Jamet Pittman, Martin Sola, Radu Springhel, Mark Womack; Children’s Chorus: Ryan Andres, Ellen Hornberger, Joseph Jonas, Antonia Kitsopoulos, Alyson Lange, David Mathews, Suzanna Mathews, Luca Mannarino, Nathan Morgan, Jennifer Olsen, Ben Pakman, Samantha Massell Rakosi, Melissa Remo, Justin Robertazzi, Matthew Salvatore Note: Six singers alternated in the roles of Mimi and Rodolfo, and they were paired as follows—Wei Huang and Alfred Boe, Lisa Hopkins and Jesus Garcia, and Ekaterina Solovyeva and David Miller; four singers alternated in the roles of Musetta and Marcello, paired as follows—Jessica Comeau and Eugene Brancoveanu, and Chloe Wright and Ben Davis. The opera was presented in four acts with an intermission between the second and third. The action takes place mostly in Paris (and also on the French-Belgian border) from Christmas Eve 1957 to late June 1958.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers. The following titles are taken from the original Broadway cast album. Act One: “Non sono in vena” (“I am not in the mood”) (Rodolfo, Mimi); “Che gelida manina” (“Your hand is freezing”) (Rodolfo); “Si, mi chiamano Mimi” (“They call me Mimi”) (Mimi, Rodolfo); “O soave fanciculla!” (“Oh, beautiful girl”) (Rodolfo, Mimi) Act Two: “E via i pensier!” (“Let’s have some fun!”) (Musetta, Marcello, Alcindoro, Mimi, Rodolfo, Schaunard, Colline, Full Ensemble, Children’s Chorus); “Quando me’n vo . . .” (“When I walk . . .”) (Musetta, Marcello, Alcindoro, Mimi, Rodolfo, Schaunard, Colline, Full Ensemble, Children’s Chorus); “Chi l’ha richiesto?” (“Who asked for the check?”) (Colline, Schaunard, Rodolfo, Marcello, Musetta, Mimi, Full Ensemble, Children’s Chorus) Act Three: “Mimi?! Speravo di trovarvi qui” (“I was hoping I would find you here”) (Marcello, Mimi); “Marcello, finalmente!” (“Marcello, we need to talk!”) (Rodolfo, Marcello, Mimi); “Addio! Che! Vai?” (“Goodbye . . .”) (Rodolfo, Mimi); “Dunque: e proprio finita!” (“So that’s it!”) (Rodolfo, Mimi, Marcello, Musetta) Act Four: “O Mimi tu piu non torni” (“O Mimi you’ll never return again . . .”) (Rodolfo, Mimi); “Gavotta! Minuetto” (“Let’s dance”) (Colline, Schaunard, Marcello, Rodolfo); “C’e Mimi . . .” (“It is Mimi . . .”) (Musetta, Rodolfo, Schaunard, Mimi, Marcello, Colline); “Vecchia zimarra . . .” (“Dear old friend . . .”)

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(Colline); “Sono andati?” (“Are they gone?”) (Mimi, Rodolfo); “Oh! Dio! Mimi!” (“Oh God! Mimi!”) (Rodolfo, Schaunard, Mimi, Musetta, Marcello, Colline) Film director Baz Luhrmann’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera La boheme was first presented by Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, on July 28, 1990, and the 2002 Broadway premiere was no doubt encouraged by the popularity of Rent, Jonathan Larson’s 1996 version of the opera. Larson, of course, wrote original songs for his adaptation, but he retained the basic plot and characters, albeit in an updated mid-1990s setting that took place in the East Village. Luhrmann retained Puccini’s music, and the work was sung in the original Italian, but a modern English translation was used for the supertitles. For Luhrmann’s version, the musical was set in the Paris of 1957 and 1958, and in his program notes he states the milieu is “the Left Bank world” of “jazz clubs and cafes of Sartre, Nico and Sagan” in an era “in which death by tuberculosis was still a credible reality.” In addressing the matter of the English supertitle translation, Luhrmann noted the original Italian was here “distilled” into the “spirit” of “1950s vernacular” (as a result, the word carriage is sung in its original Italian, but the overhead projections used the words Rolls Royce). Inspired by Henri Murger’s 1851 collection of short stories Scenes de la vie de boheme, Puccini’s opera premiered on February 1, 1896, at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy, in a production conducted by Arturo Toscanini. In 1946 for the opera’s fiftieth anniversary, Toscanini conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra for a live radio broadcast of the opera for NBC, which was recorded and is available on CD (by RCA Legacy Records). As a result, La boheme is the only Puccini opera to have been recorded with its original conductor. (Besides La boheme, Toscanini also conducted the world-premiere performances of Verdi’s Otello in 1887 and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci in 1892.) The opera’s first New York performance was on May 16, 1897, at Wallack’s Theatre for four performances by the Royal Italian Grand Opera Company of La Scala. The first performance by the Metropolitan Opera Company took place on November 9, 1900, in Los Angeles, and the company’s first New York performance of the work was on December 26, 1900. As of this writing, the Met has performed the opera over 1,200 times. The story centers on a group of poor young bohemians who live in Paris in a rooftop garret, including struggling poet Rodolfo, painter Marcello, philosopher Colline, and musician Schaunard. It is Christmas Eve 1957, and Schaunard has tricked the landlord and has spent the rent money for a Christmas celebration of food, wine, and wood for the fire. When Rodolfo meets Mimi, the seamstress who lives next door, the two immediately fall in love, and for a while all is well when the group (including Marcellus’s old flame Musetta) spends the winter months together, usually at their favorite hangout, the Café Momus. But Mimi is ill with tuberculosis, and as the months go by she and Rodolfo part, as do the temporarily reunited Marcello and Musetta. By summer, Mimi is in the fatal throes of her illness and Musetta brings her to the garret, where she dies in Rodolfo’s arms. The critics lavished praise on Luhrmann’s production and his particular uses of color and décor to present the story. Ben Brantley in the New York Times reported that the director “translates cinematic effects with expressly theatrical tools” and purposely “calls attention to the mechanics of doing so.” For example, stagehands appeared in full view of the audience as they held lamps to depict ripples of firelight from the garret, the décor’s palette morphed from black and white into brilliant color, and Nigel Levings’s “ravishingly shaded” lighting design depicted the singers “in ways more common to movie studios than Broadway stages.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the production unfolded “with the fluidity of a crisply edited movie,” and the evening’s visuals included a huge red electric sign outside the garret window that proclaimed “L’amour,” and a street scene outside the Café Momus was “a terrific coup de theatre” with its teeming crowds and blazing red-and-white neon signs. Because the opera was transplanted into the Paris of 1957 and 1958, there were plenty of visual references to the era: Marlon Brando, Rolls Royces, Dior-styled dresses, and leather coats and jackets, and there was even a flash forward of sorts when Rodolfo’s landlord appears and utters one word: “Rent!” If the critics had any qualms, it was in regard to the size of the orchestra, large for Broadway (with some thirty musicians) but puny by opera house standards. Isherwood said the orchestra sounded “weakened” and “distinctly anemic” when it was “left alone to punch up a climax or introduce a scene with a powerful burst of music,” and it detracted “from the emotional impact of the tragic finale.” A performance by the Opera Australia company was filmed and released on DVD by Image Entertainment, and the CD of the Broadway cast album was issued by Dreamworks and includes highlights from the opera (the recording includes vocals by all the alternating principals).

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The Public Theatre tried to duplicate the success of its wildly popular revival of The Pirates of Penzance (Off Broadway in 1980 and Broadway in 1981 for a total of 802 performances) with two productions of other established works. One was La boheme, which opened at the Anspacher Theatre on November 28, 1984, for thirty-eight performances in an adaptation by David Spencer and with a cast that included Linda Ronstadt (Mimi), David (James) Carroll (Rodolfo), Cass Morgan (Musetta, and here Musette), and Howard McGillin (Marcello, here Marcel). Frank Rich in the New York Times said the revival was a “benign collegiate mishmash,” and he made the interesting observation that the production couldn’t seem to make up its mind to retain the opera’s original time frame or to move it to “contemporary TriBeCa (a not unpromising fancy),” and of course this is what later happened with Rent, which was set in the East Village. The Public’s other failed operatic adaptation was Non Pasquale, based of course on Gaetano Donizetti’s 1843 opera Don Pasquale. The misguided production gave free performances in Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre beginning on August 9, 1983, for thirty-two performances in an adaptation by Nancy Heiken and Anthony Giles and was based on an Italian RCA recording of the work. Mel Gussow in the New York Times found the evening “hectic” rather than “hysterical” and cautioned that in order to “Sid Caesarize” an Italian opera the spoof must be “short and hilarious.” The time frame of Luhrmann’s adaptation was December 1957 through June 1958, and these two years (specifically November 1957 through March 1958) comprised the period for most of the action for Jacques Demy’s 1964 film musical Les parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). The musical utilized the then-current French-Algerian War as the means to separate the film’s lovers when the young man is drafted and sent off to war. But it seems that for Luhrmann’s version Rodolfo, Marcello, Colline, and Schaunard are exempt from the draft and are allowed to follow their artistic ambitions and their love affairs.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (La boheme); Best Scenic Design (Catherine Martin); Best Costume Design (Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie); Best Lighting Design (Nigel Levings); Best Direction of a Musical (Baz Luhrmann); Best Orchestrations (Nicholas Kitsopoulos)

DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES “A New Musical”

Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: December 9, 2002; Closing Date: January 26, 2003 Performances: 56 Original German Book and Lyrics: Michael Kunze Book: David Ives, Jim Steinman, and Michael Kunze Lyrics and Music: Jim Steinman Based on the 1967 film The Fearless Vampire Killers (direction by Roman Polanski and screenplay by Gerard Brach and Polanski). Direction: John Rando; Producers: Bob Boyett, USA Ostar Theatricals, Andrew Braunsberg, Lawrence Horowitz, Michael Gardner, Roy Furman, Lexington Road Productions, and David Sonenberg (Fuchs/ Swinsky, LFG Holdings, Clear Channel Entertainment, Kathryn Conway, Arielle Tepper, Norman Brownstein, and William Carrick); Choreography: John Carrafa (Tara Young, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: David Gallo; Costumes: Ann Hould-Ward; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: Mandy Gonzalez (Sarah), Erin Leigh Peck (Zsa-Zsa), E. Alyssa Claar (Nadja), Michael Crawford (Count von Krolock), Ron Orbach (Chagal), Liz McCartney (Rebecca), Leah Hocking (Magda), Mark Price (Boris), Rene Auberjonois (Professor Abronsius), Max von Essen (Alfred), Dame Edith Shorthouse (Madame von Krolock), Jennifer Savelli (Dream Sarah), Asa Somers (Herbert), Jonathan Sharp (Dream Alfred), Edgar Godineaux (Dream Vampire); Villagers, Vampires, and Creatures of the Night: David Benoit, E. Alyssa Claar, Jocelyn Dowling, Lindsay Dunn, Jennie Ford, Edgar Godineaux, Ashley Amber Haase, Derric Harris, Robin Irwin, Terace Jones, Larry Keigwin, Brendan King, Heather McFadden, Raymond McLeod, Erin

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Leigh Peck, Andy Pellick, Joye Ross, Solange Sandy, Jennifer Savelli, Jonathan Sharp, Asa Somers, Doug Storm, Jenny Lynn-Suckling, Jaston Wooten The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1880s in Lower Belabartokovich, Carpathia.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Angels Arise” (Mandy Gonzalez, E. Alyssa Claar, Erin Leigh Peck); “God Has Left the Building” (Vampires, Mandy Gonzalez, E. Alyssa Claar, Erin Leigh Peck); “Original Sin” (Michael Crawford, Mandy Gonzalez, Vampires); “Garlic” (Ron Orbach, Liz McCartney, Leah Hocking, Mark Price, Peasants); “Logic” (Rene Auberjonois, Max von Essen, Ron Orbach, Leah Hocking, Liz McCartney); “There’s Never Been a Night Like This” (Max von Essen, Mandy Gonzalez, Ron Orbach, Liz McCartney, Leah Hocking, Rene Auberjonois); “Don’t Leave Daddy” (Ron Orbach); “A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely” (Michael Crawford); “Death Is Such an Odd Thing” (Liz McCartney, Leah Hocking); “Braver Than We Are” (additional lyric by Don Black) (Mandy Gonzalez, Max von Essen); “Red Boots Ballet” (Mandy Gonzalez, Company, Michael Crawford); “Say a Prayer” (Company); “Come with Me” (Michael Crawford) Act Two: “Vampires in Love” (Mandy Gonzalez, Michael Crawford, Vampires); “Books, Books” (Rene Auberjonois, Michael Crawford); “Carpe Noctem” (Company); “For Sarah” (Max von Essen); “Death Is Such an Odd Thing” (reprise) (Liz McCartney, Leah Hocking, Ron Orbach); “When Love Is Inside You” (Max von Essen, Asa Somers); “Eternity” (Vampires); “Confession of a Vampire” (Michael Crawford); “The Ball: The Minuet” (Rene Auberjonois, Max von Essen, Asa Somers, Mark Price, Vampires); “Never Be Enough” (Michael Crawford, Vampires); “Come with Me” (reprise) (Michael Crawford); “Braver Than We Are” (reprise) (Mandy Gonzalez, Max von Essen); “The Dance of the Vampires” (Company) For everything there is a season, and just as Off Broadway had enjoyed a brief moment of zombie musicals in the mid-1990s, Broadway was visited with a trio of vampire musicals in the 2000s. And so the $12 million Austrian import Dance of the Vampires led the pack, and it was soon followed by Dracula and Lestat. All three were impaled by the critics’ stakes and aren’t likely to show up on the Encores! schedule any time soon. Richard Ouzounian in the Toronto Star called Dance of the Vampires a “Transylvanian trainwreck,” and the headline of his review proclaimed “These Vampires Suck.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said “this vampire excursion needs a transfusion.” The headline of Peter Marks’s review for the Washington Post stated the show was “Down for the Count”; Ben Brantley in the New York Times said there were moments that “climb into the stratosphere of legendary badness”; and Charles Isherwood in Variety wondered if the whole thing might have sounded better in German. And these were the good reviews. But, seriously, they loved it in Austria and Germany, where it ran for years as a straightforward opera-styled Gothic thriller. So perhaps the New York version faltered because it was presented as a tongue-in-cheek and fangs-in-throat vampiric spoof. Just what made Dance of the Vampires so memorably bad? Could it have been a determined group effort by the cast and creators to create one of the worst musicals of the decade? Maybe so, because the show rolled out one jaw-dropper after another. There was “Garlic” in which the merry villagers sang of the vegetable’s special powers (keeps you young, makes you well hung). And there was the special gift of a penis-shaped sponge that head vampire Count Krolock (Michael Crawford) gives to a male guest. And don’t forget Krolock’s son, the flaming queen Herbert (Asa Somers), who hopes to seduce the straight hero Alfred (Max von Essen), asks if Alfred would like to see his balls, gives him a tour of his library (which includes the reference book Sucking for Dummies), and sings a number titled “When Love Is Inside You.” And there was the memorable lyric about “being sucked drier than a mummy’s scrotum.” And of course, there was the supposedly humorous location of the musical, in Carpathia’s Lower Belabartokovich (at least it wasn’t set in Samandbellabartokovich in West Wunderbar). And there were always those knee-slappers, such as an innkeeper’s reaction when Professor Abronsius (Rene Auberjonois) introduces his assistant Alfred as “his young factotum”: “If that means what I think it does, those two can leave right now!” As for John Carrafa’s choreography, Brantley found it “thudding,” Isherwood noted it was an “indescribable mixture of ballet, Broadway, MTV and Solid Gold” and said one number was reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video, and Ouzounian noted it had an “ersatz 80s MTV sheen” in which “Michael Jack-

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son meets Madonna.” Brantley noted the direction was “wit-free,” the book was “light as lead,” the décor was “fungus like,” and the lighting was of the “junior-prom” variety. Ouzounian also found it “positively creepy” that the object of Krolock’s evil desire is the virginal Sarah (Mandy Gonzalez), who is less than half his age (the critic also noted the actress had “the frozen-smile demeanor of a Rhine Valley Girl”). And there was Crawford himself, back on Broadway after thirteen years and perhaps wishing he’d remained a phantom. He made his grand entrance in a swirl of fog as he emerged from a hydraulically propelled coffin, and his first line was “God has left the building.” Back in his dressing room Crawford no doubt needed fresh infusions of blood in order to weather a string of withering reviews: “He looks like a Goth version of Siegfried, Roy and Wayne Newton combined” (Brantley); his “mortifying makeup job” makes him “look like a drag queen whose vanity mirror could use a few more light bulbs” (Isherwood); he’s “gathered some girth” (Barnes); he “swaggers onto the stage with a puffy face that suggests Wayne Newton and a self-satisfied grin reminiscent of Bill Clinton” (Ouzounian); and he’s “decked out in fangs, capes and hair in a Liberace pouf” and (“what can I tell you?”) speaks in an Italian accent (Marks). Michael Riedel in the New York Post wrote an article titled “Hate at 1st Bite,” which described the waspish happenings both backstage and on. He reported that Crawford had “complete creative control” over his character and had opted for an accent that blended Italian and Cockney; Crawford and Auberjonois both tried “to step on the other’s punch lines during performances”; and Crawford was “obsessed” with his weight and “demanded ruffled collars to hide his jowls”—but eventually agreed to toss the ruffles. Riedel also noted that the show’s lyricist, composer, and cowriter Jim Steinman didn’t even show up on opening night. The musical premiered as Tanz der Vampire on October 4, 1997, at the Raimund Theatre in Vienna in a production directed by Roman Polanski and starring Steve Barton as Krolock (the actor had created the role of Raoul in both the original London and Broadway productions of The Phantom of the Opera and had introduced “All I Ask of You”). The production enjoyed a marathon run, and the two-CD cast album was released by Polydor Records (# 559379-2). And let’s not forget those Off-Broadway zombie musicals. Zombies from the Beyond (1995) was set in the Milwaukee of 1955, a truly terrible time during which the beleaguered city is beset with both zombies from outer space and Communists. Zombie Prom (1996) took place in the “Nuclear Fifties” and deals with a teenager whose girlfriend dumps him, a disaster that causes him to commit suicide by jumping into the nuclear waste treatment silo of the local neighborhood power plant, a death ruled as “a tragic case of a hormonal imbalance resulting in a class-three nuclear disaster.” But all is not lost, and our hero returns from the dead as a zombie, is reunited with his girlfriend, and happily is now able to complete his senior year, get his diploma, and attend the all-important senior prom (his girlfriend sagely notes that “there are bound to be a lot of people out there who won’t accept us as a couple”).

IMAGINARY FRIENDS “A Play

with

Music”

Theatre: Ethel Barrymore Theatre Opening Date: December 12, 2002; Closing Date: February 16, 2003 Performances: 76 Play: Nora Ephron Lyrics: Craig Carnelia Music: Marvin Hamlisch Direction: Jack O’Brien; Producers: USA Ostar Productions; Choreography: Jerry Mitchell; Scenery: Michael Levine; Video Projections: Jan Hartley; Costumes: Robert Morgan; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Ron Melrose Cast: Swoosie Kurtz (Lillian Hellman), Cherry Jones (Mary McCarthy), Harry Groener (The Man), Anne Allgood (Abby Kaiser, Others), Bernard Dotson (Leo, Others), Rosena M. Hill (Mrs. Stillman, Others), Gina Lamparella (Beguine Dancer, Others), Dirk Lumbard (Fact, Others), Peter Marx (Fiction, Others), Perry Ojeda (Vic, Others), Karyn Quackenbush (Fizzy, Others), Anne Pitoniak (A Woman) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the present time (apparently in an eternal Hell) and during the past in such locales as New Orleans, New York City, Sarah Lawrence College, and Minneapolis.

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Scenes and Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list individual scenes and musical numbers; the following is taken from the published script. Act One: Scene 1; Scene 2—Childhood; Song: “The Fig Tree Rag” (Ensemble, Swoosie Kurtz); Scene 3—A Nightclub; Song: “A Smoke, a Drink and You” (Bartenders, Harry Groener, Cherry Jones, Swoosie Kurtz); Scene 3—Reds; Scene 4—What Happened at Sarah Lawrence College Act Two: Scene 1; Song: “Imaginary Friend” (Cherry Jones, Swoosie Kurtz, Dolls); Scene 2—Fact & Fiction; Song: “Fact and Fiction” (Dirk Lumbard, Peter Marx); Scene 3—Rich and Famous; Scene 4—The Dick Cavett Show, January 25, 1980; Scene 5—Voila; Scene 6—Imaginary Friends/The Fig Tree Again; Song: “The Fig Tree Rag” (reprise) (Ensemble); Song: “I Would But I Can’t” (Harry Groener); Scene 7—Hellman versus McCarthy Nora Ephron’s self-described “play with music” Imaginary Friends was a witty look at the literally eternal feud (on Earth and in Hell) between writers Lillian Hellman (1905–1984) and Mary McCarthy (1912–1989), who disliked one another from the very first time they met at Sarah Lawrence College in 1948. Except for sharing an intense dislike for one another, they were otherwise diametrically opposed on virtually everything, including their approach to writing: for McCarthy, “truth” in writing was sacrosanct, but for Hellman the “story” was more important. Their lifelong enmity came to a head on January 25, 1980, when McCarthy appeared as a guest on The Dick Cavett Show and stated that everything Hellman ever wrote was a “lie,” including the words “and” and “the.” Hellman sued McCarthy, Cavett, and the television network that produced the show, but died two months before the case went to trial. McCarthy later stated she hadn’t wanted Hellman to die because “I wanted her to lose in court. I wanted her around for that.” Ephron’s play reads well, and is a delight in its depiction of the “imaginary” friendship between the two gorgons of literary fame. The writers apparently met just once or twice, but their mutual hostility is cleverly depicted by Ephron in the very first lines of dialogue: Hellman asks McCarthy if they ever met; the latter states, “Once or twice”; Hellman retorts, “I don’t really remember”; and McCarthy snaps back with, “Well then I don’t remember either.” Ephron’s look at Hellman and McCarthy’s professional and personal lives, and her clever conceit that their afterlife continues as a fantasia of one-upmanship, self-justification, put-downs, and grandstanding makes for a juicy and dishy book that nonetheless at its heart contains an underlying element of rueful sadness. One suspects the play would have been more successful had it been a two-woman show; the inclusion of ten other performers, and the use of five incidental songs (and eight musicians), intruded upon Ephron’s trenchant commentary. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Hellman (Swoosie Kurtz) and McCarthy (Cherry Jones) went at it “with tooth, claw and typewriter” in “the intellectual cat fight of the century” that took place in a “cosmic show palace called hell.” But the evening felt like “an especially jazzy class project” that sacrificed “dramatic energy to Cliff Notes–like expositions.” He noted that Kurtz and Jones brandished “both their cigarettes and their smiles like daggers,” but with “a touch of drag-queen exaggeration.” Charles Isherwood in Variety stated that the “odd doodle of a play” offered “theatrical ingenuity” that ultimately was “fancy window dressing.” The text was “superficial” and “theatrically lifeless,” the two main characters played “tour guide to their lives,” and while there was “a fine sense of what they did,” there was “less insight into who they were.” John Lahr in the New Yorker felt the evening never really explored its subject because the “actual story is far uglier” and “the range of Hellman’s bad behavior far worse than anything discussed onstage.” He noted that the production itself “glittered with professionalism,” but there was “almost no point” to the enterprise. Richard Zoglin in Time found Kurtz “brittle and snappish” and Jones “elegant and withering,” and suggested there was one issue that Hellman and McCarthy would agree upon, that Imaginary Friends needed “Roger Rewrite.” Brantley felt that Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia’s songs were “tuneful, jingle-like numbers” that added “little period flavor or character definition” and “simply slowed things down.” Isherwood said the songs were “pleasant-enough pastiche” but for the most part felt “tangential to the proceedings.” Lahr liked the “clever” lyrics but decided the songs didn’t “advance the notional plot” or “illuminate the emotional or literary issues.” And Zoglin noted that “the depths of pointlessness” were reached in the song “Fact and Fiction,” which “tells us nothing about either.”

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The play was published in paperback in 2003 by Vintage Books/Random House and in 2006 by Samuel French. Best Plays chose it as one of the best of the season. Hellman herself was the subject of William Luce’s one-woman play Lillian, which opened on January 16, 1986, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (the home of Imaginary Friends) for forty-five performances with Zoe Caldwell in the title role. The evening found Hellman reminiscing about her life, including her relationship with Dashiell Hammett. (Note that the 1998 Off-Broadway play Lillian by David Cale is also a one-person show, but in subject matter isn’t about Hellman.) Neil Simon’s 2003 play Rose’s Dilemma (which earlier in the year had been produced as Rose & Walsh in regional theatre) opened Off-Broadway on December 18 at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s City Center Stage 1 for fifty-four performances, and while it seems the critics didn’t mention that the work was a thinly disguised portrait of Hellman and Hammett, Variety’s seasonal preview of upcoming shows noted that the play was “based” on the relationship between the two writers.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 11, 2003; Closing Date: March 29, 2003 Performances: 15 Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Based on the 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night (direction and screenplay by Ingmar Bergman). Direction: Scott Ellis; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Paul Kellogg, General and Artistic Director; Sherwin M. Goldman, Executive Producer); Choreography: Susan Stroman (Tara Young, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Lindsay W. Davis; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Stephanie Woodling (Mrs. Segstrom), Michael Chioldi (Mr. Lindquist), Anna Christy (Mrs. Nordstrom), Lauren Skuce (Mrs. Anderssen), James Schaffner (Mr. Erlanson, Bertrand), Anna Kendrick (Fredrika Armfeldt), Claire Bloom (Madame Armfeldt), Quentin Mare (Frid), Danny Gurwin (Henrik Egerman), Kristin Huxhold (Anne Egerman), Jeremy Irons (Fredrik Egerman), Jessica Boevers (Petra), Juliet Stevenson (Desiree Armfeldt), Raven Wilkinson (Malla), Marc Kudisch (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm), Michele Pawk (Countess Charlotte Malcolm), Kristen Garver (Osa); Serving Gentlemen: Brian Keith Allen, Walter Hershman, Roddy Kinter, Collin McGee, Keith Partington, Paul Reyes, John Henry Thomas, Mike Timoney The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Sweden at the turn of the twentieth century.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers. Act One: Overture (Stephanie Woodling, Michael Chioldi, Anna Christy, Lauren Skuce, James Schaffner); “Night Waltz” (aka “Night Waltz I”) (Company); “Now” (Jeremy Irons); “Later” (Danny Gurwin); “Soon” (Kristin Huxhold); “The Glamorous Life” (Anna Kendrick, Juliet Stevenson, Raven Wilkinson, Claire Bloom, Stephanie Woodling, Michael Chioldi, Anna Christy, Lauren Skuse, James Schaffner); “Remember?” (Stephanie Woodling, Michael Chioldi, Anna Christy, Lauren Skuse, James Schaffner); “You Must Meet My Wife” (Jeremy Irons, Juliet Stephenson); “Liaisons” (Claire Bloom); “In Praise of Women” (Marc Kudisch); “Every Day a Little Death” (Michele Pawk, Kristin Huxhold); “A Weekend in the Country” (Company) Act Two: “The Sun Won’t Set” (Stephanie Woodling, Michael Chioldi, Anna Christy, Lauren Skuce, James Schaffner); “The Sun Sits Low” (aka “Night Waltz II”) (Anna Christy, James Schaffner); “It Would Have Been Wonderful” (Jeremy Irons, Marc Kudisch); “Perpetual Anticipation” (Stephanie Woodling, Anna Christy, Lauren Skuce); “Send in the Clowns” (Juliet Stevenson); “The Miller’s Son” (Jessica Boevers); Finale (Company) Set in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden, Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music centers on actress Desiree Armfeldt (Juliet Stevenson) who is currently on tour with a play that happens to be booked in the town where her mother Madame Armfeldt (Claire Bloom) lives on a great country estate. Also living in the

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town is Desiree’s old flame, lawyer Fredrik Egerman (Jeremy Irons), who has no idea he’s the father of Desiree’s teenage daughter Fredrika (Anna Kendrick). Fredrik is married to Anne (Kristine Huxhold), who is just five years older than Fredrika, and almost a year after their marriage the union is still unconsummated (but a lyric asks, “What’s one small shortcoming?”). Desiree and Fredrik are clearly still interested in one another, just as Henrik (Danny Gurwin), Fredrik’s son from his first marriage, is attracted to Anne, who is alternately taunting and flirtatious. Desiree’s current amour is the pompous, jealous, and married Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm (Marc Kudisch), who makes an unexpected visit and is distressed to learn of her involvement with Fredrik, and he’s soon followed by his wife Countess Charlotte (Michele Pawk), who loves her husband and is determined to win him back. On the periphery of the plot are Madame Armfeldt’s butler Frid (Quinton Mare) and Anne’s maid Petra (Jessica Boevers), both of whom view love less cerebrally than the other characters. And hovering over the proceedings is Madame Armfeldt herself, and it is she who orchestrates the romantic entanglements by inviting everyone to her estate for the weekend. The relationships soon sort themselves out when Henrik runs off with Anne, Fredrik realizes he’s always been in love with Desiree, and Charlotte and Count CarlMagnus resume their wary and waspish relationship. Sondheim’s lush waltz-time score (all the songs were in three-quarter time or in variations thereof) was dazzling. The three-part “Now,” “Later,” and “Soon” was a brilliant set piece in which Fredrik, Henrik, and Anne address their sexual frustrations and hang-ups; “Liaisons” was Madame Armfeldt’s bittersweet and slightly sardonic look at the past; “You Must Meet My Wife” was a gorgeous conversational duet for Fredrik and Desiree; “Every Day a Little Death” was an introspective moment for Charlotte and Anne that describes how daily trivialities overtake and diminish one’s life; “The Sun Won’t Set” was possibly the most haunting waltz heard on Broadway in decades; the sweeping choral number “A Weekend in the Country” found the guests anticipating the weekend at Madame Armfeldt’s estate; “The Miller’s Son” depicted Petra’s direct approach to life and love; and Desiree’s wry “Send in the Clowns” (with appropriate theatrical imagery) became one of the most popular Broadway songs of the era and remains Sondheim’s most famous number. The revival was mounted by the New York City Opera Company and was highlighted by the appearances of Jeremy Irons as Fredrik and Claire Bloom as Madame Armfeldt. Charles Isherwood in Variety said Irons couldn’t carry a tune and his “thin singing voice” was “devoid of texture and vibrato.” But the actor was nevertheless “immensely appealing,” delivered an “honest, funny and touching performance,” and radiated “the kind of star quality that a spectacular set of vocal chords can’t necessarily provide.” As for Bloom, the actress was a “disappointment” who was “suitably grand” but “strangely devoid of compassion.” Isherwood noted that the New York State Theatre was too large for what was “really a chamber musical” and the show looked “scattered and diffuse on the wide expanse” of the stage. Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times felt the theatre was “at least twice too large” for the work and suggested it was time for the company to build itself “a smaller and acoustically proper opera house.” The critic commented that Irons “brought a dapper, sad-eyed quality” to his role, and while his singing was somewhat shaky “he steadily gained confidence”; for “Liaisons,” Bloom didn’t “hit a single note of the melody” but “nailed every single nuance of the lyrics”; and conductor Paul Gemignani “came through with a lithe, crisp, yet beautifully relaxed account of the score.” The headline for Peter G. Davis’s review in New York proclaimed the production was “Uneven Stephen.” The musical was “overrated” with “wispy waltzing,” and Davis wondered why City Opera “chose to mount this sorry one-off venture.” He complained that Irons gave a “vaguely pitched” account of “Now” and Juliet Stevenson a “shaky traversal” of “Send in the Clowns,” but noted they brought “brittle verbal humor” to their characters. Other members of the company were just as “vocally challenged” as Irons, Stevenson, and Bloom, and compared to his fellow cast members Kudisch sounded like Lawrence Tibbett. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on February 25, 1973, for six hundred performances and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. City Opera’s first revival was presented on August 3, 1990, for eleven performances and was followed by a second on July 9, 1991, for seven showings. The current revival was the company’s final production of the musical, and the work was later commercially revived on Broadway in 2009 (see entry). The script was published in hardback by Dodd, Mead & Company in 1973, and again in hardback by Applause Theatre Book Publishers in 1991. The latter edition includes the lyrics of the unused songs “Two Fairy Tales” and “My Husband the Pig” and the cut “Silly People” and “Bang!” The script is also included in the hardback collections Great Musicals of the American Musical Theatre Volume Two (Chilton Book Company,

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1976) and Four by Sondheim (Applause Books, 2000). The lyrics for the used and unused songs are included in Sondheim’s 2010 hardback collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes (the collection includes “Numbers” and “Night Waltz III,” both of which seem to have gone unrecorded). The original Broadway cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # KS-32265), and a later CD issue by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy (# SK-65284) includes the previously unreleased “Night Waltz II” (aka “The Sun Sits Low”), which had been recorded during the original cast album session but for reasons of length wasn’t included on the LP release. The CD also includes a bonus track of the rewritten “The Glamorous Life,” which was heard in the 1978 film version. The recording of the 2009 Broadway revival was released on a two-CD set by Nonesuch/PS Classics (# 523488-2). The first London production opened at the Adelphi Theatre on April 15, 1975, for 406 performances, and the cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # LRL1-5090, and later on CD # RCD1-5090). A second London version opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on October 6, 1989, for 144 performances. Other recordings of the score include a 1990 studio cast recording (Jay Records CD # CDTER-1179); a 2000 Barcelona production released by K Industria Cultural, S.L. (CD # KO26CD); and Terry Trotter’s piano recording issued by Varese Sarabande Records (CD # VSD-5819), which includes both the stage and film versions of “The Glamorous Life.” The 1978 film was produced by New World and Sacha-Wien Films and released by Roger Corman and New World Pictures. Sondheim wrote new lyrics for “Night Waltz” (as “Love Takes Time”) and “The Glamorous Life” and revised the lyric of “Every Day a Little Death”; the film also includes “Now,” “Later,” “Soon,” “You Must Meet My Wife,” “A Weekend in the Country,” “It Would Have Been Wonderful,” and “Send in the Clowns.” The soundtrack was released by Columbia Records (LP # JS-35333) and the DVD was issued by Hen’s Tooth Video. The 1990 City Opera revival was taped and shown on public television, but there was no home video release of the telecast. A Little Night Music has two annoying flaws, ones that could have been easily corrected during either the preproduction or tryout phases of the musical. One was the redundant device of a dumb show at the beginning of the musical that in effect played out the plot in shorthand. But its action was oblique, and was no doubt fully grasped only upon a second viewing. The other flaw was even more serious because it permeated the entire action of the musical. For some reason, the creators used the device of a strolling quintet who wandered in and out of the story and commented upon the action in song. This distraction added nothing to the evening, and in fact intruded upon it because the singers were almost-but-not-quite characters and thus received more attention from the audience than was warranted. At times they seemed to be singing about themselves, and were assigned names and even titles (Mrs. Segstrom, Mr. Lindquist), and they appeared too smug, too effusive, too gemutlich (they would have been more at home in a revival of Song of Norway). Surely the quintet could have been eliminated, and with a judicious reworking of the script most of their songs could have been assigned to the main characters.

URBAN COWBOY “The Musical”

Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre Opening Date: March 27, 2003; Closing Date: May 18, 2003 Performances: 60 Book: Aaron Latham and Phillip Oesterman Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Based on the 1980 film Urban Cowboy (direction by James Bridges, screenplay by Aaron Latham and James Bridges), which in turn was based on an article by Aaron Latham published in the September 12, 1978, issue of Esquire magazine titled “The Urban Cowboy: Saturday Night Fever, Country & Western Style” (apparently subtitled “The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America’s Search for True Grit”). Direction: Lonny Price; Producers: Chase Mishkin and Leonard Soloway in association with Barbara and Peter Fodor (Barbara Freitag, Associate Producer); Choreography: Melinda Roy (Chad L. Shiro, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Projections: James Noone; Costumes: Ellis Tillman; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Jason Robert Brown

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Cast: Matt Cavanaugh (Bud), Rozz Morehead (Jesse), Michael Balderrama (Travis “Trouble” Williams), Mark Bove (Marshall), Gerrard Carter (Roadkill), Justin Greer (J. D. Letterlaw), Brian Letendre (Baby Boy), Barrett Martin (Trent Williams), Chad L. Shiro (Luke “Gator” Daniels), Nicole Foret (“Tuff” Love Levy), Lisa Gadja (Bambi Jo), Michelle Kittrell (Bebe “Bubbles” Baker), Kimberly Dawn Newmann (Barbie McQueen), Tera-Lee Pollin (Candi Cane), Kelleia Sheerin (Billie “Veruka” Wynette), Paula Wise (Sam), Sally Mayes (Aunt Corene), Leo Burmester (Uncle Bob), Jenn Colella (Sissy), Jodi Stevens (Pam), Marcus Chait (Wes) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Houston, Texas, in 1980.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Leavin’ Home” (lyric and music by Jeff Blumenkrantz) (Matt Cavanaugh); “Long Hard Day” (lyric and music by Bob Stillman) (Rozz Morehead, Ensemble); “All Because of You” (lyric and music by Jeff Blumenkrantz) (Sally Mayes); “Another Guy” (lyric and music by Jeff Blumenkrantz) (Jenn Colella); “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” (lyric and music by Ronnie Dunn) (Hardhats, Matt Cavanaugh, Jenn Colella, Ensemble); “It Don’t Get Better Than This” (lyric and music by Jason Robert Brown) (Matt Cavanaugh); “Dancin’ the Slow Ones with You” (lyric and music by Danny Arena and Sara Light) (Jodi Stevens); “Cowboy, Take Me Away” (lyric and music by Marcus Hummon and Martie Maguire) (Jenn Colella); “Could I Have This Dance?” (lyric and music by Wayland D. Holyfield and Bob Lee House) (Matt Cavanaugh, Ensemble); “My Back’s Up Against the Wall” (lyric and music by Carl L. Byrd and Pevin Byrd-Munoz) (Marcus Chait, Cowboys); “If You Mess with the Bull” (lyric and music by Luke Reed and Roger Brown) (Rozz Morehead, Ensemble); “Honey, I’m Home” (lyric and music by Shania Twain and R. J. Lange) (Jenn Colella, Rozz Morehead, Cowgirls); “That’s How She Rides” (lyric and music by Jason Robert Brown) (Marcus Chait); “I Wish I Didn’t Love You” (lyric and music by Jason Robert Brown) (Matt Cavanaugh) Act Two: “That’s How Texas Was Born” (lyric and music by Jason Robert Brown) (Band); “Take You for a Ride” (lyric and music by Danny Arena, Sara Light, and Lauren Lucas) (Jodi Stevens, Marcus Chait); “Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak” (lyric and music by Jason Robert Brown) (Jenn Colella); “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” (lyric and music by Jerry Chestnut) (Mark Bove); “Dances Turn into Dreams” (lyric and music by Jerry Silverstein) (Rozz Morehead); “The Hard Way” (lyric and music by Clint Black and James Hayden Nicholas) (Jenn Colella, Matt Cavanaugh); “Git It” (lyric and music by Tommy Conners and Roger Brown) (Leo Burmester, Rozz Morehead, Ensemble); “Something That We Do” (lyric and music by Clint Black and Skip Ewing) (Sally Mayes, Leo Burmester, Ensemble); “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (lyric and music by Charles Daniels, Tom Crain, Fred Edwards, Taz DiGregorio, Jim Marshall, and Charlie Hayward) (Mark Bove, Ensemble); “It Don’t Get Any Better Than This” (reprise) and “Lookin’ for Love” (lyric and music by Wanda Mallette, Patti Ryan, and Bob Morrison) (Matt Cavanaugh, Jenn Colella, Ensemble) The would-be cowboys in Urban Cowboy didn’t ride on the range, but they sure liked to ride the mechanical bull in a honky-tonk beer joint in order to impress their gals. Yes, we were in Deep Country here, even though the locale was Houston. And virtually every character sported show-biz Western names (some with such citified airs as quotation marks around them), including “Trouble,” Roadkill, Baby Boy, “Gator,” “Tuff” Love, Bambi Jo, “Bubbles,” Barbie, Candi Cane, and Sissy. Come to think of it, with names like Bambi Jo, “Bubbles,” Barbie, and Candi Cane, shouldn’t the show have taken place in a burlycue or maybe at a nearby little whorehouse? The musical was based on the popular 1980 film of the same name, which starred John Travolta and Debra Winger as the semi-losers Bud (Matt Cavanaugh in the musical) and Sissy (Jenn Colella), who are just looking for love and happiness and sort of find it in a round-about kind of way. The story was innocuous and audiences no doubt felt they’d seen it all before in one variation or another. And it probably didn’t help that the songs were a smorgasbord of the old and new, and with a total of thirty-two lyricists and composers it was probably impossible for the score to offer a unified tone and vision. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the honky-tonk was Texas’s answer to the Kit Kat Klub, and it suggested “Cabaret by way of Branson, Mo,” the kind of place where the guys and gals “introduce themselves to each other after they’ve had sex” and where both genders “show lots of cleavage.” The musical proved it was “possible to be vulgar and bland at the same time,” and because it didn’t have the” imagination” to be “extravagantly” bad, Dance of the Vampires was still “the season’s worst musical.” The “mechanical air of a show” had

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a “patchwork” score (the kind of songs that “might be heard in a Texas-themed pavilion in Disney World”), the book was pure “rote,” the jokes were “sub-sitcom,” and Lonny Price directed the evening “with a hand of lead.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said that for Broadway Sissy had become a “chicken-fried feminist,” but the book lacked consistency because she pines away for a real-man cowboy, and when she and Bud momentarily split, she gives their trailer a real good a-cleanin’ in order to woo him back to the nest. Isherwood praised Melinda Roy’s choreography, which used the movements of country line-dancing to bring some “excitement” to the show, and said that Price’s direction was “smooth but faceless.” And as for all that guy-and-gal cleavage, he noted there was “scarcely an ounce of fat on the whole cast” but regretted that the show itself was “just so much lard.” Richard Zoglin in Time said the book scrubbed away “most of the grit and sensibility of the movie,” Cavanaugh was too bland, and the show was “probably headed for the last roundup.” Brantley noted that the musical was awash in product placement and suggested “the executives at Anheuser-Busch should be pleased.” For there were Budweiser beer bottles, cases, and advertisement posters on view throughout the evening, and, of course, the hero’s name was Bud. With negative notices, no names above the title, and little in the way of an advance sale, the producers immediately posted a closing notice, and the show was set to shut down after four performances. But a day later the notice was rescinded and all concerned hoped for a miracle that would reverse the show’s fortunes. While the $4.5 million musical never had a realistic chance of escaping its fate, it nonetheless managed to hang around for sixty performances and pick up three Tony Award nominations. As noted, there were almost three dozen lyricists and composers listed in the program, and most prominently was Jason Robert Brown, who had written the Tony Award–winning score for Parade and here contributed five numbers and served as the show’s conductor. Isherwood said Brown’s songs blended “smoothly” into the score, and mentioned that Brown was “a surprising guy to be found pounding out a rockabilly riff on the keyboards and singing ‘That’s How Texas Was Born.’” Earlier in the season, the musical had premiered on November 16, 2002, at the Coconut Grove Playhouse’s Mainstage Theatre in Miami, Florida. Urban Cowboy was inspired by Aaron Latham’s above-cited 1978 Esquire magazine article about the roadhouse rituals of young blue-collar Texans, and was similar in subject to Nik Cohn’s 1976 New York article “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night” about Brooklyn boys who forget their dreary weekday ruts and routines when they step onto the Saturday Night disco dance floor. Both articles, of course, inspired movies that starred John Travolta, and both were adapted into stage musicals. In the 1974 Broadway musical Over Here!, Travolta had a role similar to his characters in Fever and Urban Cowboy. He played a young soldier (named Misfit) who loses himself not in a disco or a honky-tonk but on a bandstand where in his fantasy “Dream Drummin’” he imagines he’s a big-band drummer in the style of Gene Krupa.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Matt Cavanaugh); Best Score (lyrics and music by Danny Arena, Clint Black, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Jason Robert Brown, Roger Brown, Carl L. Byrd, Pevin Byrd-Munoz, Jerry Chestnut, Tommy Conners, Tom Crain, Charles Daniels, Taz DiGregorio, Ronnie Dunn, Fred Edwards, Skip Ewing, Charlie Hayward, Wayland D. Holyfield, Bob Lee House, Marcus Hummon, R. J. Lange, Sara Light, Lauren Lucas, Martie Maguire, Wanda Mallette, Jim Marshall, Bob Morrison, James Hayden Nicholas, Luke Reed, Patti Ryan, Jerry Silverstein, Bob Stillman, and Shania Twain); Best Choreography (Melinda Roy)

THE PLAY WHAT I WROTE Theatre: Lyceum Theatre Opening Date: March 30, 2003; Closing Date: June 15, 2003 Performances: 89 Play: Hamish McColl, Sean Foley, and Eddie Braben Lyrics and Music: Gary Yershon Direction: Kenneth Branagh; Producers: David Pugh, Joan Cullman, Mike Nichols, Hamilton South, Charles Whitehead, and Stuart Thompson (A Mike Nichols and David Pugh Production) (Dafydd Rogers, Executive

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Producer); Choreography: Irving Davies and Heather Cornell; Scenery and Costumes: Alice Power; Lighting: Tim Mitchell; Musical Direction: (probably by) Steve Parry Cast: Sean Foley (Sean), Hamish McColl (Hamish), Toby Jones (Arthur), and at each performance Mystery Guest Star (played by Mystery Guest Star) The play with songs was presented in two acts (the program didn’t include a list of musical numbers). The British import The Play What I Wrote was an evening of purposely silly British humor written by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley, and Eddie Braben in which McColl and Foley played themselves and paid tribute to the stage and television double-act Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, who made their theatre debut in 1941 and later enjoyed fame on British television. The program asked if the show was “about” Morecambe and Wise or McColl or Foley, and decided “neither.” Instead, the evening celebrated “something more universal— that wonderful comic machine—the double act.” Here the double act has two minds of its own, or something like that. McColl sees their upcoming Broadway show The Play What I Wrote as a means of presenting his new play A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple, but Foley wants them to perform their traditional variety act and hopes their friend Arthur (Toby Jones) can sway McColl. Ultimately, McColl’s terrible play is (sort of) performed, but not before the twosome present occasional songs, dances, and patter, including comic folderol with a name star (the mystery guest star!) who will perform in the Scarlet Pimple. At each performance of The Play What I Wrote, this special mystery guest star takes the leading role in the Scarlet Pimple, and among the victims were Roger Moore, Nathan Lane, Liam Neeson, and Kevin Kline (when the latter tells the comic team that he has one Oscar and two Tonys, they quickly inform him they have absolutely no interest in his private life). And that’s the way the evening went, with one wonderfully bad joke after another. The “critics” provided a sampling of same: a poster with critical quotes heralding McColl and Foley’s show states “Usually Competent” and “I Didn’t Mind It”; for the Scarlet Pimple, McColl announces “I Am France, and parts of me are revolting”; an incompetent restaurant worker announces that he’s a “dumb waiter”; and during an exchange between Foley and McColl, the former says to playwright McColl: “You want to be the next Eugene O’Flynn”; McColl replies, “Neill”; and so Foley kneels and repeats, “You want to be the next Eugene O’Flynn.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times praised the “strangely lyrical magic in the production’s full-frontal gag-driven humor,” an evening of “gut-level comedy” that is “rooted in the unlikely poetry of ineptitude,” and Charles Isherwood in Variety said a description of the comedy revue didn’t “come close to evoking the evening’s ingratiating, self-consciously idiotic spirit,” which suddenly at one moment required Jones to impersonate Daryl Hannah and in another offered an “indescribable extravaganza” for the first-act finale in which the performers sport Carmen Miranda headgear (“Ask not why,” advised Isherwood). Richard Zoglin in Time didn’t think the “tiresome” show survived its trip to Broadway, but noted it was “partially redeemed by the good cheer and polish” of the stars. The play had originally been produced at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, and was first presented in London at Wyndham’s Theatre on November 5, 2001, where it played two engagements for a total of eight months. For the May 22, 2003, episode of his talk show, Charlie Rose interviewed McColl, Foley, and director Kenneth Branagh about The Play What I Wrote, and the interview is included on the DVD titled Charlie Rose: 22-May-03.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (The Play What I Wrote)

NINE

“The Musical” Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: April 10, 2003; Closing Date: December 14, 2003 Performances: 285

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Book: Arthur Kopit Lyrics and Music: Maury Yeston Based on an adaptation by Mario Fratti (the musical’s unacknowledged source was the 1963 film 8½, which was directed by Federico Fellini with a screenplay by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi). Direction: David Leveaux; Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director, External Affairs); Choreography: Jonathan Butterell; Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: Vicki Mortimer; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites Cast: William Ullrich (Little Guido, evening performances), Anthony Colangelo (Little Guido, matinee performances), Antonio Banderas (Guido Contini), Mary Stuart Masterson (Luisa), Jane Krakowski (Carla), Elena Shaddow (Renata), Mary Beth Peil (Guido’s Mother), Saundra Santiago (Stephanie Necrophrous), Rachel deBenedit (Diana), Linda Mugleston (Olga von Sturm), Sara Gettelfinger (Maria), Nell Campbell (Linda Darling), Kathy Voytko (Sofia), Myra Lucretia Taylor (Saraghina), Rona Figueroa (Juliette), Kristine Marks (Annabella), Laura Benanti (Claudia), Deidre Goodwin (Our Lady of the Spa), Chita Rivera (Liliane La Fleur) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a Venetian spa in the early 1960s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Overture Delle Donne”/“Spa Music”/“Not Since Chaplin” (Company); “Guido’s Song” (Antonio Banderas); “Coda di Guido” (Company); “My Husband Makes Movies” (Mary Stuart Masterson); “A Call from the Vatican” (Jane Krakowski); “Only with You” (Antonio Banderas); “The Script” (Antonio Banderas); “Folies Bergeres” (Chita Rivera, Saundra Santiago, Company); “Nine” (Mary Jane Peil, Company); “Ti voglio bene”/“Be Italian” (Myra Lucretia Taylor, William Ullrich, Company); “The Bells of St. Sebastian” (Antonio Banderas, William Ullrich or Anthony Colangelo, Company) Act Two: “A Man Like You”/“Unusual Way” (Laura Benanti, Antonio Banderas); “The Grand Canal”: (1) “Contini Submits”; (2) “The Grand Canal”; (3) “Every Girl in Venice”; (4) “Recitativo”; (5) “Amor”; (6) “Recitativo”; (7) “Only You”; (8) Finale (Antonio Banderas, Company); “Simple” (Jane Krakowski); “Be On Your Own” (Mary Stuart Masterson); “Waltz di Guido” (aka “Waltz from Nine”) (Orchestra); “I Can’t Make This Movie” (Antonio Banderas); “Getting Tall” (William Ullrich or Anthony Colangelo); “My Husband Makes Movies” (reprise)/“Nine” (Antonio Banderas) Like Stephen Sondheim’s Company (1970) and its central character, Bobby, Nine focused on a man (Guido Contini, played by Raul Julia in the original 1982 production and by Antonio Banderas for the revival) and his tangled relationships. Both Company and Nine were concept musicals less interested in linear story lines than in somewhat surreal glimpses at Bobby and Guido, whose lives are presented in a framework that used vignettes to depict their personal (and in Guido’s case, professional) lives. Bobby is surrounded by both married friends and girlfriends in a chilly Manhattan cityscape of steel, chrome, and Plexiglas, and film director Guido’s space is a dazzling interior of white-tiled walls and boxes framed by an enormous window that overlooks Venice and is described in the published script as a “dreamspace” that “bears a resemblance to a steambath in a sanatorium or to a spa.” The dreamspace is dominated by Guido, the only man on the premises and in the musical. His world is populated by the women in his life, including his mother (Mary Beth Peil), wife Luisa (Mary Stuart Masterson), mistress Carla (Jane Krakowski), lover and would-be muse Claudia (Laura Benanti), and producer Liliane La Fleur (Chita Rivera), 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 film musical version of Casanova’s life, one that mirrors his own romantic and sexual obsessions. For “The Grand Canal” sequence, the stage suddenly exploded into the world of Guido’s movie (and includes almost ten musical numbers to depict the film’s plot) in which he portrays Casanova. And also in Follies fashion Guido meets his younger self (William Ullrich), who in the final moments of the musical advises the older Guido in “Getting Tall” that it’s time to grow up and face life: In the long-ago past,

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Young Guido will forever remain “nine,” but in the here and now, Guido is “forty” and comes to the realization that he’s always loved Luisa. 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 are dressed in black and make a striking contrast to the white world of the spa, and only in the Casanova sequence did the stage burst into dazzling color. For the original production, Tommy Tune’s imaginative and fluid staging infused the action with memorable moments: the positions of the women on pedestal-styled boxes, which rendered them statue-like, especially in the musical’s opening and closing scenes; the unusual overture in which Guido “conducts” the women as they sing in a capella fashion; Liliane La Fleur’s one-woman embodiment of an evening at the Folies Bergeres; and Carla’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 brilliant score was beautifully composed and orchestrated and was less a collection of individual musical numbers than a seamless cantata. Luisa’s soaring “Be On Your Own” was a lump-in-thethroat moment in which she offered Guido his freedom (and in its own way mirrored “Could I Leave You?” in Follies). Guido’s dissonant “I Can’t Make This Movie” was a musical nervous breakdown in which he tries to grapple with his conflicting emotions. His entrancing ballad (to Luisa . . . to Carla . . . to Claudia) “Only with You” was one of the era’s finest (if a Hit Parade had existed, this song would have been Number One). And the Casanova sequence included the Gilbert-and-Sullivan-styled “Guido Submits” (with G & S staccatolike music and a brio of clever wordplay). “The Grand Canal” was an imposing and expansive choral number, and “Every Girl in Venice” a shimmering depiction of expectation on the part of the Venetian women who await Casanova’s attentions. The original Broadway production won five Tony Awards (including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Direction), and the cast album was issued by Columbia Records (LP # JS-38325); for reasons of space, not all the music was included on the LP but was added for the audiocassette release. The first CD release (by Sony/ Classical/Columbia/Legacy # S2K-86858) includes material added for the audiocassette, expanded versions of material previously offered on the LP, and three heretofore unreleased demo recordings. Another CD was released on Masterworks/Broadway (# 88697-59183-2) and added expanded material but didn’t include the demo recordings. The script was published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in 1983. The musical’s original national tour starred Sergio Franchi (who along with Bert Convy had succeeded Julia during the Broadway run) and included the new song “Now’s the Moment” for Guido early in the second act. The musical was presented in concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall on June 7, 1991, and was released on a two-CD set by That’s Entertainment Records (# CDTER2-1193; later issued on a two-CD set by Jay Records # CDJAY-1410 and on a single-CD highlights version by BMG/RCA Victor Records # 09026-61433-2) with Jonathan Pryce (Guido), Liliane Montevecchi (as Liliane, in a reprise of her Broadway role), Ann Crumb (Luisa), and Elaine Paige (Claudia) (due to the indisposition of the performer who appeared in the concert, Paige sang the role for the recording). 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 current revival was recorded 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 (Guido), Marion Cotillard (Luisa), Penelope Cruz (Carla), Judi Dench (Liliane, here Lili), Fergie (Saraghina), Kate Hudson (Stephanie), Nicole Kidman (Claudia), and Sophia Loren (Guido’s Mother). Seven songs were retained from the stage production (“Overture Delle Donna,” “Guido’s Song,” “A Call from the Vatican,” “Folies Bergeres,” “Be Italian,” “My Husband Makes Movies,” and “I Can’t Make This Movie”), and Yeston wrote three new ones for the film, “Cinema Italiano” (for Stephanie), “Guarda la luna” (for Guido’s Mother), and “Take It All” (for Luisa). The soundtrack was released by Geffen Records (CD # B0013801-02) and the DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (# 34883). David Leveaux’s current revival dropped one song, the rather extraneous if amusing “The Germans at the Spa,” which always seemed like a cousin to “This Week Americans” from Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965). The production’s calling card was its casting coup of matinee idol Antonio Banderas, and for his musical theatre debut he received good notices. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Banderas was perhaps too “passive” for Guido, but nonetheless had “an appealingly easy stage presence and an agreeable singing voice”; Charles

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Isherwood in Variety praised his “wonderfully full-blooded” performance and said he had a “fervent energy and emotional vibrancy” that was “always engaging”; and John Lahr in the New Yorker said of the Guidos he’d seen on stage (including Julia and Pryce) Banderas was the “best” and was both “passionate” and “sweet” besides being “amusing,” “confident,” and “good-looking.” Of the other cast members, Jane Krakowski as Guido’s overheated mistress stole the show, especially with her “sublime” entrance (which Brantley described as the show’s chandelier moment) and Isherwood noted that Krakowski was at the “top of the attention-getting list” of performances as she was “airlifted in and out” of the action in a kind of “fabric cocoon.” Brantley praised Yeston’s “ravishingly inventive and tuneful” music,” a “first-rate” score that translated “styles from Baroque opera to Kyrie eleisons into a flavorful pop idiom.” Lahr found the songs “vivacious,” and Isherwood suggested that audiences unfamiliar with the show would probably find themselves “bewitched by the heady pleasures” of the score. Lahr said Kopit’s book was a “substantial narrative achievement: a show whose architecture is as much a star as its actors,” and as a result the musical was not only “a satisfying exploration of creative self-absorption,” it was also “a sophisticated exercise in theatrical spectacle.” As for the production itself, which Leveaux had directed at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 1997, Brantley felt it wasn’t “big on momentum or coherence” and Isherwood said it offered “respectable but thrill-free” staging.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Nine); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Antonio Banderas); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Jane Krakowski); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Stuart Masterson); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Chita Rivera); Best Lighting Design (Brian MacDevitt); Best Direction of a Musical (David Leveaux); Best Orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick)

A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD Theatre: Cort Theatre Opening Date: April 13, 2003; Closing Date: June 15, 2003 Performances: 73 Book and Lyrics: Willie Reale Music: Robert Reale Based on the Frog and Toad series of books by Arnold Lobel (Frog and Toad Are Friends, 1970; Frog and Toad Together, 1972; Frog and Toad All Year, 1976; and Days with Frog and Toad, 1979). Direction: David Petrarca; Producers: Bob Boyett, Adrianne Lobel, Michael Gardner, Lawrence Horowitz, Roy Furman, and Scott E. Nederlander (A Children’s Theatre Company Production); Choreography: Daniel Pelzig; Scenery: Adrianne Lobel; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: James F. Ingalls; Musical Direction: Linda Twine Cast: Danielle Ferland (Bird, Turtle, Squirrel, Mother Frog, Mole), Jennifer Gambatese (Bird, Mouse, Squirrel, Young Frog, Mole), Frank Vlastnik (Bird, Snail, Lizard, Father Frog, Mole), Jay Goede (Frog), Mark LinnBaker (Toad) The musical was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “A Year with Frog and Toad” (Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik, Jay Goede, Mark Linn-Baker); “It’s Spring” (Jay Goede, Mark Linn-Baker, Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik); “Seeds” (Mark Linn-Baker); “The Letter” (Frank Vlastnik); “Getta Loada Toad” (Mark Linn-Baker, Jay Goede, Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik); “Underwater Ballet” (Orchestra); “Alone” (Jay Goede); “The Letter” (reprise) (Frank Vlastnik); “Cookies” (Jay Goede, Mark LinnBaker, Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik)

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Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “The Kite” (Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik, Jay Goede, Mark Linn-Baker); “A Year with Frog and Toad” (reprise) (Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik); “He’ll Never Know” (Mark Linn-Baker, Jay Goede); “Shivers” (Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik, Danielle Ferland, Mark Linn-Baker, Jay Goede); “The Letter” (reprise) (Frank Vlastnik); “Down the Hill” (Jay Goede, Mark Linn-Baker, Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik); “I’m Coming Out of My Shell” (Frank Vlastnik); “Toad to the Rescue” (Mark Linn-Baker, Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik); “Merry Almost Christmas” (Mark Linn-Baker, Jay Goede, Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik); Finale (Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik, Jay Goede, Mark Linn-Baker) Based on Arnold Lobel’s series of Frog and Toad books, the $3 million family-friendly musical A Year with Frog and Toad croaked out after just two months on Broadway. In an interview with Robert Hofler in Variety, one of the musical’s coproducers indicated that an Off-Broadway run had been considered but Broadway won the day because “it would be great for kids to have their first theatre experience” in a Broadway house. Nice sentiment, but it’s a shame that after the show’s limited fall engagement at Off-Broadway’s not-for-profit New Victory Theatre, the producers didn’t move to a commercial Off-Broadway venue for an open-end run. There, probably more kids could have seen the show, and at less expensive downtown prices. Although the Cort is one of Broadway’s most intimate theatres, Frog and Toad with its five cast members and eight musicians might have worked best in a cozy space that brought the performers and audience members closer together. The light-as-air musical had a pleasant score (including the title song, which served as an on-the-mark opening number) and a wispy book that was really a series of vignettes that focused on the somewhat unlikely friendship of Frog (Jay Goede) and Toad (Mark Linn-Baker), who live next door to one another and share such simple pleasures as baking cookies, flying kites, and enjoying Christmas with hot chocolate and a warm fire. The musical looked at their lives over the period of one year, and the trio of Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, and Frank Vlastnik rounded out the cast by playing the roles of birds, frogs, and moles as well as the occasional snail, turtle, mouse, and lizard. Happily, the musical avoided rubberized masks and overly descriptive costumes to depict the animal characters, and Martin Pakledinaz’s clever costumes instead used such low-key touches as feathers for the birds’ hats and green socks for Frog. Ben Brantley in the New York Times praised the “gentle” and “agreeable” musical with its “undeniable but fragile charms” and noted that “on its own terms” it worked “perfectly.” But opening on Broadway was “even more daring” than bringing La boheme to the commercial Broadway stage because the show’s target audience was “preschool theatergoers with large disposable incomes” who could afford seats with a top ticket price of $90. Further, this might be the first Broadway show he’d attended “where audience members are more likely to go for booster seats than for infrared hearing devices.” But for all that, Brantley said he’d rather spend time with Frog and Toad “than revisit a spangled runaway elephant like Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Marilyn Stasio in Variety enjoyed the “amusing” and “endearing” show with its “articulate” lyrics and “bright and bouncy” vaudeville-like songs, but said the plot was “unstructured” and “largely undramatic,” and an unsigned review in the New Yorker found the book, lyrics, and music “charming” and singled out the “terrific” song “Getta Loada Toad” (about how “funny” he looks in a bathing suit). The musical was first presented on August 23, 2002, by the Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis, Minnesota), and prior to the Broadway production was seen Off Broadway earlier in the season at the New Victory Theatre on November 15, 2002, for a two-week limited engagement. The Minneapolis cast album was released by 101 Productions. (unnumbered CD) and later reissued by PS Classics (CD # PS-416). Except for Kate Reinders (who was succeeded by Jennifer Gambatese for Broadway), all the cast members on the recording appeared in the New York production. The musical was something of a family affair. Adrienne Lobel coproduced the musical, which was based on her late father’s series of Frog and Toad books, and her scenic designs were inspired by his illustrations for the series; her husband Mark Linn-Baker starred as Toad; and brothers Willie Reale (book and lyrics) and Robert Reale (music) were the show’s creators.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (A Year with Frog and Toad); Best Book (Willie Reale); Best Score (lyrics by Willie Reale, music by Robert Reale)

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GYPSY Theatre: Shubert Theatre Opening Date: May 1, 2003; Closing Date: May 30, 2004 Performances: 451 Book: Arthur Laurents Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Music: Jule Styne Based on the 1957 Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. Direction: Sam Mendes; Producers: Robert Fox, Ron Kastner, Roger Marino, Michael Watt, Harvey Weinstein, and WWLC (Peter Lawrence, Associate Producer); Choreography: Jerome Robbins (additional choreography by Jerry Mitchell) (Jodi Moccia, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes: Anthony Ward; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: Michael McCormick (Uncle Jocko, Cigar), Stephen Scott Scarpulla (Clarence, Newsboy), Molly Grant Kallins (Balloon Girl), Addison Timlin (Baby Louise), Heather Tepe (Baby June), Bernadette Peters (Rose), Coco (Chowsie), William Parry (Pop, Kringelein), Eamon Foley (Newsboy), Jordan Viscomi (Newsboy), MacIntyre Dixon (Weber, Phil), John Dossett (Herbie), Tammy Blanchard (Louise), Kate Reinders (June), David Burtka (Tulsa, Farmboy), Matt Bauer (Yonkers, Farmboy), Brandon Espinoza (Yonkers, Farmboy), Benjamin Brooks Cohen (L.A., Farmboy), Brooks Ashmanskas (Mr. Goldstone, Pastey), Julie Halston (Miss Cratchitt, Electra), Joey Dudding (Farmboy), Tim Federle (Farmboy, Bougeron-Cochon), Sarah Jayne Jensen (Cow, Hollywood Blonde), Dontee Kiehn (Cow, Hollywood Blonde), Chandra Lee Schwartz (Agnes), Jenna Gavigan (Hollywood Blonde), Genifer King (Hollywood Blonde), Julie Martell (Hollywood Blonde), Heather Lee (Tessie Tura), Kate Buddeke (Mazeppa), Cathy Trien (Rene); Ensemble: Matt Bauer, Benjamin Brooks Cohen, MacIntyre Dixon, Joey Dudding, Brandon Espinoza, Tim Federle, Eamon Foley, Jenna Gavigan, Sarah Jayne Jensen, Molly Grant Kallins, Dontee Kiehn, Genifer King, Gina Lamparella, Julie Martell, Stephen Scott Scarpulla, Chandra Lee Schwartz, Cathy Trien, Jordan Viscomi The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1920s and 1930s in various cities throughout the United States.

Musical Numbers Act One: “May We Entertain You” (Heather Tepe, Addison Timlin); “Some People” (Bernadette Peters); “Travelling” (Bernadette Peters); “Small World” (Bernadette Peters, John Dossett); “Baby June and Her Newsboys” (Heather Tepe, Addison Timlin, Newsboys); “Mr. Goldstone, I Love You” (Bernadette Peters, Ensemble); “Little Lamb” (Tammy Blanchard); “You’ll Never Get Away from Me” (Bernadette Peters, John Dossett); “Dainty June and Her Farmboys” (Kate Reinders, Tammy Blanchard, Farmboys); “If Momma Was Married” (Tammy Blanchard, Kate Reinders); “All I Need Is the Girl” (David Burtka, Tammy Blanchard); “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Bernadette Peters) Act Two: “Madame Rose’s Toreadorables” (Tammy Blanchard, Hollywood Blondes); “Together, Wherever We Go” (Bernadette Peters, Tammy Blanchard, John Dossett); “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” (Heather Lee, Kate Buddeke, Julie Halston); “Small World” (reprise) (Bernadette Peters); “Let Me Entertain You” (Tammy Blanchard, Company); “Rose’s Turn” (Bernadette Peters) It was now Bernadette’s Turn, and she followed Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, and Tyne Daly in the iconic role of Rose, the Medea of stage mothers who will do anything and everything to ensure that her daughters June and Louise make it in show business. And if hearts are stomped on, so what? Nothing is more important than standing there center stage in the glow of the spotlight as you hear the roar of the audience. And Rose should know. All her life she’s been on the sidelines hearing applause for everyone else, and if her dream is June and Louise’s nightmare, too bad, because Mother knows best and doesn’t really give a damn. A few seasons after Peters’s run in the musical, Gypsy returned with Patti LuPone (see entry), and while Lansbury, Daly, and LuPone won Tony Awards for their portrayals, Peters along with Merman (the role’s creator, who lost to Mary Martin’s Maria in The Sound of Music) didn’t take home a medallion.

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Broadway’s vultures circled the Shubert when it was announced that Peters would take on one of the great Broadway roles, and everyone wondered if she could shake off her Betty Boop and Kewpie Doll persona and grapple with one of the toughest and most complex characters in all musical theatre. A few seasons earlier she had starred in another Merman role in the 1999 revival of Annie Get Your Gun, and she clearly looked uncomfortable (and slightly ridiculous) in hillbilly garb. It was also painful to endure her backwoods twang. So would she trip up as the steamroller Rose who can’t understand why everyone walks out on her? As a little girl, Peters had appeared in 1961 and 1962 national tour and summer stock productions of Gypsy with at least three Roses (Mary McCarty, Mitzi Green, and Betty Hutton). She played the “Hawaiian Girl” in the opening scene of the musical (a role not always listed in later programs), was the understudy for Dainty June and Agnes, and eventually played Dainty June herself. For Rose, would Peters summon up cutelittle-girl shtick more appropriate to Dainty June? And when Broadway previews began and Peters started missing performances, the Broadway rumor mill went into cardiac arrest. The final result was no Tony, a one-year run, and more favorable than negative reviews. Charles Isherwood in Variety said the “accomplished and lively” revival couldn’t do justice to the material without “a powerful performance in the central role,” and Peters’s casting was a “miscalculation” that her “hard work simply cannot overcome.” Her “big moments register small,” there was “no conviction in her steeliness,” her performance had “little emotional force,” and she used “repetitive, generic Broadway gestures” such as “splayed hands stabbing at the sky.” But Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Peters delivered “the surprise coup of many a Broadway season” and her performance made another visit to Gypsy “essential.” John Lahr in the New Yorker found Peters a “marvel” who provided “a startling reinvention of a musical warhorse.” And Richard Corliss in Time said that at the performance he attended Peters battled hoarseness and a cough but nonetheless “invested full lung power in every note, every word,” “expertly milked laughs,” and ”revved up” Rose’s sexuality. The original production with Merman opened at the Broadway Theatre on May 21, 1959, for 702 performances. The Lansbury revival (which had originated in London where the musical made its belated West End premiere at the Piccadilly Theatre on May 29, 1973, for 300 performances) opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 23, 1974, for a limited engagement of 120 performances. The Daly revival opened at the St. James Theatre on November 16, 1989, for 477 performances, and a return engagement with Daly opened at the Marquis Theatre on April 28, 1991, for 105 showings. An Encores! concert presentation with LuPone first played at City Center for fifteen performances on July 14, 2007, and then opened at the St. James Theatre on March 27, 2008, for 332 performances. The 1959 cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5240) and the CD (which includes deleted and unused songs) was issued by Masterworks Broadway (# 88697-49406-2). There was no Broadway recording for the Lansbury version, but the London cast album was issued by RCA Victor (LP # LBL1-5004) and was later released on CD by RCA/BMG (# 60571-2-RG). The Daly revival was released by Elektra Nonesuch Records (CD # 9-79239-2); the current production was issued by Angel Records (CD # 7243-5-83858-2-3); and the LuPone revival was released by Time Life (CD # 80020-D) and includes a number of bonus tracks of cut and unused songs. A 2015 London revival with Imelda Staunton was recorded by First Night Records (CD # CASTCD-117) and the DVD was issued by the Shout! Factory. 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, who was unforgettable as Miss Mazeppa. With the exception of “Together, Wherever We Go” (which was filmed but cut prior to the final release), the entire score was retained (and an abbreviated overture was conducted on screen by Jule Styne). The DVD by Warner Brothers (# 16755) includes “Together” as well as the duet version of “You’ll Never Get Away from Me,” and the CD edition of the soundtrack on Rhino Records (# R2-73873) 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 at 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 1976 South African production with Libby Morris (Rose) and Bonnie Langford (Baby June) (the latter created the role for the 1973 London production and reprised it for the 1974 Broadway revival).

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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 America hardback collection American Musicals, which includes the scripts of fifteen other shows. All the lyrics are included in Stephen Sondheim’s 2010 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. Incidentally, the musical’s depiction of Baby June and Baby Louise’s vaudeville routines is apparently quite authentic, right down to the newsboys. The Orpheum Circuit Vaudeville program for the week of July 20, 1924, at the Palace Music Hall in Chicago offered “Dainty June and the Newsboy Songsters” and Rose Louise in eight numbers, including “Fast Eccentric Dancing” and, er, “Two Little Wops.” The same bill also featured Fannie Brice, “Late Star of the Ziegfeld Follies,” who “will sing [m]any of her old songs together with some new numbers.” Yes, incredible but true, for here on this one bill were three performers who decades later would be immortalized in two hit Broadway musicals, both with music by Jule Styne.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Gypsy); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Bernadette Peters); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (John Dossett); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Tammy Blanchard)

THE LOOK OF LOVE “The Songs

of

Burt Bacharach

and

Hal David”

Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: May 4, 2003; Closing Date: June 15, 2003 Performances: 49 Lyrics: Hal David Music: Burt Bacharach Direction: Scott Ellis; Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director of External Affairs) (James David, Associate Producer); Choreography: Ann Reinking; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: David Loud Cast: Farah Alvin (Pit Singer), Liz Callaway, Kevin Ceballo, Nikki Renee Daniels (Pit Singer), Jonathan Dokuchitz, Eugene Fleming, Capathia Jenkins, Janine LaManna, Shannon Lewis, Rachelle Rak, Desmond Richardson, Allyson Turner, Eric Jordan Young The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Look of Love” (1967 film Casino Royale) (Capathia Jenkins, Company); “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” (Eugene Fleming, Jonathan Dokuchitz, Kevin Ceballo); “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)” (Janine LaManna); “I Say a Little Prayer” (Liz Callaway, Capathia Jenkins, Janine LaManna); “Promise Her Anything” (1966 film Promise Her Anything) (Jonathan Dokuchitz, Shannon Lewis, Rachelle Rak); “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” (Liz Callaway); “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” (1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) (Eugene Fleming, Desmond Richardson); “Are You There (with Another Girl)” (Capathia Jenkins); “Another Night” (Janine LaManna); “Yo nunca volvere amar” (“I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”) (Promises, Promises, 1968) (Kevin Ceballo, Shannon Lewis); “She Likes Basketball” (Promises, Promises, 1968) (Eugene Fleming); “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965 film What’s New Pussycat) (Shannon Lewis, Janine LaManna, Rachelle Rak); “Walk on By” (Capathia Jenkins); “A House Is Not a Home” (1964 film A House Is Not a Home) (Jonathan Dokuchitz); “One Less Bell to Answer” (Liz Callaway)

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Act Two: “Casino Royale” (1967 film Casino Royale) (Orchestra, Farah Alvin, Nikki Renee Daniels); “Wishin’ and Hopin’” (Janine LaManna, Shannon Lewis, Rachelle Rak); “This Guy’s in Love with You”/“This Girl’s in Love with You” (Eugene Fleming, Capathia Jenkins); “Alfie” (1966 film Alfie) (Liz Callaway); “Trains and Boats and Planes” (Desmond Richardson); “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” (Kevin Ceballo, Jonathan Dokuchitz, Eugene Fleming, Desmond Richardson); “Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa” (Rachelle Rak); “Whoever You Are, I Love You” (Promises, Promises, 1968); “Close to You” (Jonathan Dokuchitz); “Wives and Lovers” (1963 film Wives and Lovers) (Shannon Lewis, Desmond Richardson, Kevin Ceballo); “Make It Easy on Yourself” (Capathia Jenkins); “Knowing When to Leave” (Promises, Promises, 1968); “Promises, Promises” (Promises, Promises, 1968) (Liz Callaway, Capathia Jenkins, Janine LaManna, Company); “What the World Needs Now” (Company) Those mysterious unseen mobs who demand that a show be held over by popular demand are no doubt the same ones who insisted that Broadway offer up a song tribute to the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. “Conceived” by David Thompson, Scott Ellis, David Loud, and Ann Reinking, the revue opened at the end of the season and was gone just two weeks into the new one. Jeffrey Eric Jenkins in Best Plays questioned the reason for “song after song with no narrative” and decided “the point of the entire exercise” was “elusive— except, perhaps, that love is a good thing.” And, yes, you just knew the evening would end with the entire company singing the syrupy anthem “What the World Needs Now” (“is love, sweet love”), and they did. Perhaps the evening aspired to be the new century’s answer to the unlamented 1999 revue The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm, which Charles Isherwood in Variety called Smokey George and Ira’s Café (Ben Brantley in the New York Times said if Gershwin evoked “dusk in Gramercy Park” to Woody Allen, then the revue brought to mind an “afternoon at the mall”). John Lahr in the New Yorker reported that the Times’ reviewer Bruce Weber told him his date didn’t come back after The Look of Love’s intermission, and Weber didn’t know whether “it’s me or the show.” Lahr assured him, “It was the show, Bruce.” Weber said that hearing song after song by Bacharach and David made “you realize how limited their range” was, and the evening proved “you can have far too much of an O.K. thing.” The “breathtakingly uninspired” revue was “an unaccountably lazy production” and was “the theatre’s version of a greatest-hits album relegated to the remainder bin.” Richard Corliss in Time commented that the revue was an “ugly, ungainly concoction” that had “zero inspiration” and seemed “determined to embarrass its cast.” There were “bizarre cross-period” costumes and “stranger-still dance routines,” including one for “What’s New Pussycat” that offered “crotch-flashing” choreography and was a downright “pussy-catastrophe.” Isherwood said the “thoroughly misconceived” revue was “the theatrical equivalent of Muzak” and had “sluggish” direction, “bland and derivative” choreography, and décor that suggested “the exercise yard at a minimum-security prison” (Weber had also picked up on this comparison and said the set “could easily be used for a musical that takes place in a prison”). During previews, the following songs were cut: “My Little Red Book,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Check-Out Time,” “Beginnings,” and “Half as Big as Life” (the latter from the 1968 musical Promises, Promises). Other revues and book musicals that recycled the Bacharach-David songbook are: the Off-Off-Broadway (and later Off-Broadway) revue Back to Bacharach and David, which opened at Club 53 on March 25, 1993, for sixty-nine performances with a cast that included Lillias White; What the World Needs Now . . . A Musical Fable, which premiered at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre on April 2, 1998, with a book by Kenny Solms, direction by Gillian Lynne, and a cast that included Sutton Foster; and Love Sweet Love, which opened at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona, on November 20, 2007, in what a press release announced was a musical about “four contemporary Los Angeles women looking for love during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day.” Of these four Bacharach-David tributes, it appears only What the World Needs Now . . . A Musical Fable had the courage to include a song (“The World Is a Circle”) from the team’s ill-fated 1973 film musical Lost Horizon, which Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide summed up as “‘Lost’ is right” (Bette Midler was one of the twelve people in the universe who saw the movie because as she famously stated, she never missed a Liv Ullmann and Peter Finch musical). Most of the Bacharach and David tributes seemed to go nowhere, but the curse was lifted with What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined, which opened Off Off Broadway on December 5, 2013, at the New York

2002–2003 Season     135

Theatre Workshop, was later produced at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory during Summer 2015, and then opened as Close to You: Bacharach Reimagined in the West End on October 16 of that year at the Criterion Theatre. The London cast album was released on a two-CD set by Ghostlight Records. And the revue even included a song from Lost Horizon (“I Come to You”).

BILL MAHER: VICTORY BEGINS AT HOME Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: May 5, 2003; Closing Date: May 18, 2003 Performances: 16 Monologues: Bill Maher Producers: Eric Krebs, Jonathan Reinis, CTM Productions, and Anne Strickland Squadron in association with Michael Viner, David and Adam Friedson, Allen Spivak/Larry Magid, and M. Kilburg Reedy (Sheila Griffiths, Executive Producer); Scenery and Lighting: Peter R. Feuchtwanger Cast: Bill Maher The stand-up comedy revue was presented in one act. Like Robin Williams’s one-man stand-up comedy revue earlier in the season, Bill Maher’s two-week limited run was produced for eventual telecast. The current production was for all purposes a tryout for a later engagement that opened at the Hudson Theatre for three days beginning on July 17, 2003, and the July 19 performance was broadcast live on Home Box Office. A DVD was later released by HBO Studios. Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times said Maher’s comic delivery was “smooth and persuasive” with “a tetchy, self-righteous tone that makes him hard to like” and body language that was “defiant” and “not welcoming.” If he wasn’t “one of the most outspoken critics of the Bush administration,” he was “at least one of the most contrarian,” and when he ranted about the “overly ‘feminized’ culture” he “drew hisses” from the audience. Charles Isherwood in Variety reported that the comedian also said the country’s “values are better” and that all civilizations are “not equal,” and as he spoke a poster materialized that depicted the Statue of Liberty “wrapped head to toe in a burka.” Maher also said he was “pro-profiling, in airport security at least,” and in regard to his Roman Catholic upbringing joked that “I’m kind of offended I was never molested.”

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home)

MARTY The musical premiered at the Huntington Theatre Company’s Boston University Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, on October 30, 2002, and permanently closed there without opening on Broadway. Book: Rupert Holmes Lyrics: Lee Adams Music: Charles Strouse Based on the 1953 telefilm and 1955 theatrical film Marty (both with direction by Delbert Mann and teleplay/ screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky). Direction: Mark Brokaw; Producer: Huntington Theatre Company (Nicholas Martin, Artistic Director; Michael Maso, Managing Director); Choreography: Rob Ashford; Scenery: Robert Jones; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Mark McCullough; Musical Direction: Eric Stern (conductor during previews and through October 30) and Joshua Rosenblum (conductor from October 31 through the end of the run) Cast: John C. Reilly (Marty), Cheryl McMahon (Mrs. Fusari), Jim Bracchitta (Angie), Alexander Gemignani (Tilio, Bandleader), Marilyn Pasekoff (Aunt Catherine), Jennifer Frankel (Virginia), Evan Pappas (Thomas), Frank Aronson (Patsy), Joey Sorge (Joe), Robert Montano (Ralph), Matt Ramsey (Leo), Tim Douglas (Bartender, Andy), Michael Allosso (Father DiBlasio), Barbara Andres (Mrs. Pilletti), Kate Middleton (Mary

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Feeney), Anne Torsiglieri (Clara), Michael Walker (Mr. Ryan), Kent French (Keegan), Shannon Hammons (Rita), Jim Augustine (Dance Hall Patron), Bethany J. Cassidy (Dance Hall Patron) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the Bronx during the mid-1950s.

Musical Numbers Note: Songs were performed in this order; song assignments and division of acts are unknown. “Marty”; “Whaddya Feel Like Doin’?”; “Saturday Night Girl”; “Play the Game”; “That Blue Suit”; “Why Not You and Me?”; “She Sees Who I Am”; “Recessional”; “My Star”; “Niente da fare”; “What Else Could I Do?”; “Almost”; “Life Is Sweet”; “Wish I Knew a Love Song” Like its television and film antecedents, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams’s musical version of Marty centered on an amiable schmo from the Bronx, an Italian-American who lives with his mother and works in a butcher shop. He doesn’t have much in the way of a life, but when he meets a lonely school teacher it’s clear the two wallflowers have found happiness for the first time. In a sense, the musical mirrored Strouse’s 1979 London musical Flowers for Algernon (produced on Broadway as Charlie and Algernon in 1980) which focused on a mentally disabled young man who works in a bakery shop and thanks to a futuristic medical procedure, his IQ temporarily soars to Einstein proportions. Along the way he has an affair with a teacher who helped train him in his pre-genius days. Marty first surfaced as a television drama on May 24, 1953, on the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse with Rod Steiger in the title role; Delbert Mann directed and Paddy Chayefsky wrote the script, roles they reprised for the 1955 film version with Ernest Borgnine. The film was a sleeper that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor. The choice of John C. Reilly for the musical version seemed an inspired bit of casting, but the musical closed after its pre-Broadway tryout in Boston and hasn’t surfaced since. Markland Taylor in Variety said the musical adaptation brought nothing new to the essentially “naïve and dated” story, and the score was “efficient rather than memorable.” The opening title song worked best, as it established the milieu of Marty’s life. A few songs verged on the operatic, but the number “nearest to a take-home tune” (“Wish I Knew a Love Song”) was curiously cut short. Oddly enough, sometimes the evening seemed more Jewish-American than Italian-American, including “Niente Da Fare,” a duet for Marty’s mother and aunt. Had the musical’s creators taken an “entirely new approach” to the material, Taylor felt the results “might have been invigorating, rather than merely familiarly pleasant.” Later in the decade, Chayefsky’s The Catered Affair was produced on Broadway (as A Catered Affair), and like Marty it too had first been a television drama and then later a movie during the mid-1950s. In this case, the creators actually rethought the material, but even so their efforts didn’t work and the musical lasted just a little over three months. The collection The Musicality of Charles Strouse (JAY Records CD # CDJAZ-9014) includes one song from Marty, “My Star” (performed by Ron Raines), and the collection Charles Sings Strouse (PS Classics CD # PS-646) includes the deleted number “My Mother-in-Law.” Marty marked a reunion of sorts for Strouse and Adams, here collaborating for the first time in over twenty years. They had previously written the scores for Bye Bye Birdie (1960), All American (1962), Golden Boy (1964), “It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s SUPERMAN” (1966), Applause (1970), I and Albert (1972, London), A Broadway Musical (1978), and Bring Back Birdie (1981). Their best known song is “Those Were the Days,” which was heard in the opening-credit sequence for the CBS television series All in the Family. During the era of Marty, Strouse and Adams also wrote an as yet still unproduced musical adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel An American Tragedy (on December 2, 2005, an operatic version of the novel premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House for eight performances with music by Tobias Picker and libretto by Gene Scheer).

SOME LIKE IT HOT The musical opened on June 8, 2002, at the Theatre Under the Stars, Houston, Texas, and played a twenty-five city tour in such venues as the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 24, 2002, Wolf Trap in Vienna,

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Virginia, on August 27, 2002, and the Golden Gate Theatre, San Francisco, California, on October 8, 2002. The musical never played Broadway, and its final booking was at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon, where it opened on May 6, 2003. Book: Peter Stone Lyrics: Bob Merrill Music: Jule Styne; dance music by Mark Hummel Based on the 1959 film Some Like It Hot (direction by Billy Wilder, screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond) and on a story by Robert Thoeren. Direction and Choreography: Dan Siretta; Producers: Diane Masters, Jeffrey Spolan, Robert Dragotta, Michael Jenkins, Steve F. Gagnon, and Gravity Entertainment in association with MGM On Stage; Scenery: James Leonard Joy; Costumes: Suzy Benzinger; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Lynn Crigler Cast: William Ryall (Spats), Scott Burrell (Spat’s Thug), Bobby Clark (Spat’s Thug), Tim Falter (Spat’s Thug, Newsboy), Mark Adam (Spat’s Thug, Train Conductor), Arthur Hanket (Joe), Timothy Gulan (Jerry), Lenora Nemetz (Sweet Sue); Society Syncopaters: Sarah Anderson, Jacqueline Bayne, Ashlee Fife, Brenda Hamilton, Pamela Jordan, Elise Molinelli, Heather Parcells, Elizabeth Polito, Marisa Rozek, Karen Sieber; Gerry Vichi (Bienstock), Sarah Anderson (Union Secretary, Mary Lou), David Monzione (Toothpick Charlie), Derek Isetti (Member of Toothpick Charlie’s Gang, Bellboy), Ryan Migge (Member of Toothpick Charlie’s Gang), Gair Morris (Mechanic), Jodi Carmeli (Sugar), Jacqueline Bayne (Olga), Elise Molinelli (Delores), Heather Parcells (Rosella), Tony Curtis (Osgood Fielding III) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1929 in Chicago, Miami, and “in between.”

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); Prologue (Orchestra); “We Play in the Band” (Lenora Nemetz, Society Syncopaters); “Penniless Bums” (Timothy Gulan, Arthur Hanket, Musicians); “Tear the Town Apart” (dance) (William Ryall, Men); “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad” (includes original dance music by John Berkman) (Timothy Gulan, Arthur Hanket, Chorus); “Runnin’ Wild” (lyric by Joe Grey and Leo Wood, music by A. Harrington Gibbs) (Jodi Carmeli, Lenora Nemetz, Arthur Hanket, Timothy Gulan, Society Syncopaters); “We Could Be Close” (Jodi Carmeli, Timothy Gulan); “Sun on My Face” (Jodi Carmeli, Lenora Nemetz, Arthur Hanket, Timothy Gulan, Gerry Vichi, Girls); “November Song” (Tony Curtis, Ensemble); “Doin’ It for Sugar” (Arthur Hanket, Timothy Gulan) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Sun on My Face” (reprise) (Girls); “Shell Oil”/“Hey, Why Not!” (includes original dance music by John Berkman) (Arthur Hanket, Jodi Carmeli, Men); “Beautiful Through and Through” (Tony Curtis, Timothy Gulan); “I Fall in Love Too Easily” (1945 film Anchors Aweigh; lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne) (Tony Curtis); “Magic Nights” (Timothy Gulan); “It’s Always Love” (Arthur Hanket); “When You Meet a Man in Chicago” (original dance music by John Berkman) (Lenora Nemetz, Ensemble); “The People in My Life” (Jodi Carmeli); Finale: “Some Like It Hot” (Company) Some Like It Hot was the second reworked version of the 1972 Broadway musical Sugar (which in preproduction had been known as All for Sugar), and both revisions were titled Some Like It Hot. All three were of course based on the 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot, which was directed by Billy Wilder and written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (in preproduction, the film was known as Fanfares of Love and Not Tonight, Josephine, but eventually the rights were secured for the final title [an earlier film called Some Like It Hot had been released in 1939 by Paramount, and that film is now known as Rhythm Romance]). The classic film farce includes memorable performances by Marilyn Monroe (Sugar), Jack Lemmon (Jerry/Daphne), Tony Curtis (Joe/ Geraldine), and Joe E. Brown (Osgood), a hilarious screenplay with madcap and almost surreal situations and nonstop one-liners, and smooth and ingenious direction. The story begins in the Chicago of 1929 when down-and-out musicians Joe (Arthur Hanket for the current revival) and Jerry (Timothy Gulan) have the bad luck to witness the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. In order to throw off the gangsters, Joe and Jerry don drag as the respective Geraldine and Daphne and join an all-girl band headed for Miami. One of the band members is Sugar (Jodi Carmeli), and in Miami Joe dons playboy drag and pretends to be a millionaire in order to romance her. In the meantime, Jerry-as-Daphne is pursued by Osgood Fielding III (Tony Curtis), a genuinely dirty old man and a genuine millionaire. All hell breaks loose when

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the gangsters arrive at the hotel where the band is booked, but all ends well when the boys escape from the gangsters and Sugar decides she loves Joe despite his being just a poor saxophone player. But we’re not quite sure of the outcome of Jerry/Daphne and Osgood’s relationship because the latter seems neither surprised nor concerned that Daphne is really a man. After a long and chaotic three-month-plus tryout which at the last minute even added an extra tryout city to its itinerary, Sugar opened on April 9, 1972, at the Majestic Theatre for 505 performances; despite the relatively short run, the show turned a profit, and while Jack Lemmon would seem to have no equal in the role of Jerry/Daphne, Robert Morse was a deliriously demented Daphne and the sequence when he realizes he’s the subject of Osgood’s affection was one of memorable insanity. Morse flounced about the stage like a moonstruck school girl in the throes of first romance, and came to the happy realization that diamonds can be a boy’s best friend, too. The score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill was pleasant, but had just two stand-out numbers, “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad,” a rousing old-fashioned show tune that Joe and Jerry sang with the gusto of oldtime Broadway, and “When You Meet a Man in Chicago,” a quirky off-the-wall admonishment to “never ask what business he’s in” because, after all, this is the era of gangsters and Prohibition (a third memorable number was Sugar’s torch song “The People in My Life,” which was cut on the road). Many made the case for Joe’s overwrought and bombastic “It’s Always Love,” a number that unaccountably was not left on the road. The amusing “The Kooka Rooki Bongo” was performed during early tryout performances at the musical’s world premiere at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House in Washington, D.C., but a Carmen Miranda–styled production number was all wrong for a musical set in the Prohibition Era and the sequence was quickly dropped. The following musical numbers were performed in Sugar when the musical opened on Broadway: “Windy City Marmalade,” “Penniless Bums,” “Tear the Town Apart,” “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad,” “We Could Be Close,” “Sun on My Face,” “The November Song,” “(Doin’ It for) Sugar,” “Hey, Why Not!,” “Beautiful Through and Through,” “What Do You Give to a Man Who’s Had Everything?,” “Magic Nights,” “It’s Always Love,” and “When You Meet a Man in Chicago.” There were an inordinate number of songs cut during the tryout, including “The Girls in the Band,” “Wish We Could Turn Back the Clock,” “The Speakeasy,” “All You Gotta Do Is Tell Me,” “The Massacre,” “The People in My Life,” “My Nice Ways,” “Spats-s-s Palazzo,” “The Kooka Rooki Bongo,” “Sun on Your Face” (different from “Sun on My Face”), and “These Eyes Have Seen Too Much.” “Jerry’s Ecstasy” was probably an early tryout title for “Magic Nights,” and “Sugar” and “(Doin’ It for) Sugar” were different songs heard during the tryout (the former was eventually cut). “My Nice Ways” is the same song that had earlier been performed during the pre-Broadway tryout of Holly Golightly (1966) with lyric and music by Bob Merrill (retitled Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the musical closed during Broadway previews and during these performances “My Nice Ways” was no longer part of the score). In Show Tunes, Steven Suskin reports that “The People in My Life” was originally heard as “Look at You, Look at Me” in the 1941 film Sis Hopkins (lyric by Frank Loesser, music by Styne). The original cast recording of Sugar was released by United Artists (LP # UAS-9905), and was twice issued on CD. The first release was by Ryko Records (# 10760) and the second by Kritzerland (# KR-20016-7) (the latter includes the original album mix as well as a newly remixed version). The cast recording omits three numbers heard in the Broadway production (“Windy City Marmalade,” the dance sequence “Tear the Town Apart,” and “Magic Nights”), but as noted below the latter two numbers are included on the cast albums of foreign productions. The demo recording (Chappell Records LP # C-102-A) includes the cut songs “The People in My Life,” “All You Gotta Do Is Tell Me,” “Sun on Your Face,” and “My Nice Ways.” The latter is also included on the two-CD studio/original cast recording of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Original Cast Records CD # OC-2100) where it’s sung by Sally Kellerman, who introduced it during the tryout of the 1966 production of the show. Besides the Broadway cast album, there are a number of foreign recordings. A 1999 Norwegian version (titled Sugar) was issued by Tylden Records (CD # GTACD-8121) and includes “Pengelens boms,” “Novembersang,” “Hva kan du gi til en mann som har provet alt,” “Shell Oil,” “Sugar Shell,” and “Magisk natt.” The 2000 Italian cast album A Qualcuno place caldo (Compagnia della Rancia Record CD # 3C) includes a number of songs from the Broadway production (including “Canzone dei Gangsters” and “Quando incontri un vomo a Chicago”) as well as two 1920s numbers heard in the original film (“Runnin’ Wild” and “I Wanna Be Loved by You,” the latter from the 1928 Broadway musical Good Boy with lyric and music by Herbert Stothart, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby). And the 2003 Polish version Sugar: Nekdo to rad horke (unnumbered

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CD by CSOB) offers six numbers from the musical (including “Tear the Town Apart”), a number of standards that were performed in the film, and a variety of popular songs (“Blue Moon” as well as “Bei mir bist du schon” and “Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar,” both of which seem as singularly out of place as “The Kooka Rooki Bongo”). An undated Mexico City cast album (titled Sugar) was recorded by Raff Records (LP # RF-9011) and includes nine songs from the score (“Penniless Bums.” “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad,” “We Could Be Close,” “November Song,” “Doin’ It for Sugar,” “Hey, Why Not?,” “Beautiful Through and Through,” “What Do You Give to a Man Who’s Had Everything?,” and “When You Meet a Man in Chicago”). In 1974, Sugar briefly toured in a slightly revised version with Robert Morse and Steve Condos in a reprise of their Broadway roles, and others in the cast were Larry Kert (Joe), Leland Palmer (Sugar), Gale Gordon (Osgood), and Virginia Martin (Sweet Sue). This production omitted “Windy City Marmalade,” “Sun on My Face,” “What Do You Give to a Man Who’s Had Everything?,” and “It’s Always Love”; reinstated “My Nice Ways” and “The People in My Life” (here sung by Joe) from the original tryout; and added three new songs, “See You Around” (for Sugar), “Don’t Be Afraid” (Joe and Sugar), and “I’m Engaged” (Jerry). As Some Like It Hot, the first adaptation of Sugar opened in London on March 2, 1992, at the Prince Edward Theatre with Tommy Steele as Jerry. The production retained nine songs from Sugar (“Penniless Bums,” “When You Meet a Man in Chicago,” “The Beauty That Drives Men Mad,” “Sun on My Face,” “Doin’ It for Sugar,” “What Do You Give to a Man Who’s Had Everything?,” “Beautiful Through and Through,” “Magic Nights,” and “It’s Always Love”); reinstated “Wish We Could Turn Back the Clock,” which had been dropped during the 1972 tryout of Sugar; added “I’m Naïve” from Styne and Merrill’s 1965 television musical The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood and “Dirty Old Men” (aka “Lament for Ten Men”) from Merrill’s Holly Golightly—Breakfast at Tiffany’s (which is included in the aforementioned studio cast recording of Breakfast at Tiffany’s as well as on a limited-edition cast album taken live from one of the Broadway preview performances of Tiffany’s and released on LP by S.P.M. Records); included a new song (a title number) by Styne and Merrill; “Sugar Shell,” which had been included in the Norwegian production and was recorded for its cast album; and interpolated the standard “Maple Leaf Rag.” The London cast recording was issued by First Night Records (CD # CD-28) but didn’t include “Wish We Could Turn Back the Clock” and “Sugar Shell.” “I’m Naïve” is included in the collection Lost in Boston IV (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5768) and on the soundtrack album of The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (ABC-Paramount Records LP # ABC/ABCS-536) where it is sung by Liza Minnelli. The current revival’s calling card was Tony Curtis, who had originally created the role of Joe/Geraldine in the 1959 film and who now played Osgood. The show toured for one year, but wisely never risked Broadway. Curtis brought a certain amount of nostalgia to the production, but that was about all, and except for a feisty Sweet Sue (played by Lenora Nemetz) the cast was mostly bland. But James Leonard Joy’s sets were fanciful and offered a chilly black-and-white look for wintry Chicago and a Technicolor summer-carnival glow for Miami, and Dan Siretta’s choreography was surprisingly delightful. The revival omitted two songs from the Broadway production (“Windy City Marmalade” and “What Do You Give to a Man Who’s Had Everything?”); reinstated “The People in My Life,” which had been dropped during the 1972 tryout; included the title song written for the London version; added “Shell Oil,” which was heard in and recorded for the Norwegian production; and “We Play in the Band,” no doubt a reworked version of “The Girls in the Band,” which had been cut during the 1972 tryout. The revival also added “Runnin’ Wild,” which had been performed in the original film, and interpolated “I Fall in Love Too Easily” (lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne) from the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh. Chris Jones in Variety stated that Siretta “couldn’t decide if he wanted to do a revisionist revival” or a routine summer-stock production. The “sultry” and “superbly staged” sequence of “When You Meet a Man in Chicago” suggested the former approach, but unfortunately the show leaped “right back into summer stock.” Otherwise, the musical offered “decent hoofing” (especially the gangsters’ dance “Tear the Town Apart”), “solid production values,” and a version of “The People in My Life” that “brought down the house.” But fans of Tony Curtis might leave the show “wishing they had relied instead on their celluloid memories,” and Jones noted that if the production had gone “in a more provocative direction” Curtis’s performance would no doubt have been happier. William Triplett in the Washington Post praised the “brassy” and “swinging” score with its “bouncy” music and “double-entendre-laden” lyrics, Siretta’s “lively” staging and choreography, and Joy’s “lean and colorful” sets. He liked most of the cast, but said Curtis had no stage presence and “without the drawing power of his name and his association with the movie, it’s hard to imagine him getting past a first audition.”

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WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? The musical opened on October 9, 2002, at the Theatre Under the Stars’ Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Houston, Texas, and permanently closed there on October 27 without opening on Broadway. Book: Henry Farrell Lyrics: Hal Hackady Music: Lee Pockriss Based on the 1960 novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell and the 1962 film of the same name (direction by Robert Aldrich and screenplay by Lukas Heller). Direction: David Taylor (Roy Hamlin, Assistant Director); Producers: Theatre Under the Stars (Frank M. Young, President; John C. Breckenridge, Producer) by arrangement with Michael Rose Limited; Choreography: Dan Siretta (Tim Foster and Karen Sieber, Assistant Choreographers); Scenery and Projections: Jerome Sirlin; Costumes: Eduardo Sicangco; Lighting: Richard Winkler; Musical Direction: Michael Biagi (for first half of run) and Steven Smith (for second half of run) Cast: Lea Marie Golde (Baby Jane for evening performances), Brooke Singer (Baby Jane for matinee performances), Jim Weston (Daddy), Joanne Bonasso (Flora Hudson, Young Jane), Cara Cochran (Baby Blanche), Millicent Martin (Jane Hudson), Bambi Jones (Edna), Leslie Denniston (Blanche Hudson), Mary Illes (Young Blanche), A. J. Vincent (Young Martin), John Raymond Barker (Walter Stone, Mailman), Jim Blanchette (Edwin), Paul Hope (Mr. Gault), Francie Mendenhall (Bonnie Dunbar); Ensemble: John Raymond Barker, Joanne Bonasso, Leslie Marie Collins, Andrew Fitch, Tim Foster, Paul Hope, Helena Hultberg, Brad Madison, Louise Madison, Scott L. Maher, Barry McNabb, Francie Mendenhall, Kathryn Mowat Murphy, Danea Lee Polise, Katharine Randolph, Pamela Remler, Matthew J. Vargo The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Hollywood and in the minds of both Blanche and Jane.

Musical Numbers Act One: “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (Ensemble); “Where Would I Be without You Out There?” (Lea Marie Golde or Brooke Singer); “Daddy” (Jim Weston, Lea Marie Golde or Brooke Singer); “If I Was That Lady” (Bambi Jones); “Four Walls” (Leslie Denniston); “You’re There, Blanche” (Millicent Martin); “Talent” (Millicent Martin); “Two Who Move as One” (Mary Illes, A. J. Vincent, Leslie Denniston, Ensemble); “Sisters” (Leslie Denniston, Millicent Martin); “China Doll” (Lea Marie Golde or Brooke Singer); “What D’You Think?” (Millicent Martin); “I Still Have Tomorrow” (Leslie Denniston) Act Two: “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (reprise) (Ensemble); “China Doll” (reprise) (Millicent Martin); “He’s Here” (Millicent Martin, Jim Blanchette); “When Am I Gonna Be Me?” (Millicent Martin, Male Ensemble); “If This House Could Talk” (Ensemble); “Do I Care?” (Mary Illes, Ensemble); “Time We Had a Party” (Leslie Denniston); “Her” (Millicent Martin) The book for the musical version of the 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was by Henry Farrell, who also wrote the 1960 novel upon which the film was based. The campy thriller centered on the aging sisters Jane (Bette Davis for the film, Millicent Martin for the musical) and Blanche (Joan Crawford and Leslie Denniston), who share show-business backgrounds. The former was a popular child star in vaudeville who drifted into obscurity and Blanche became a Hollywood star, and now the two live together in a tug-of-war world where Jane keeps the wheelchair-bound Blanche a prisoner in their home, serves her the occasional pet-parakeet dinner, sometimes gags and binds her, and also finds time to murder their housekeeper. A happy ending is not had by all. Steven Oxman in Variety noted that besides the show’s title there were a number of song titles that asked questions (five in all), but dramatically speaking the musical’s creators asked the “wrong” questions in their attempt “to transform a horror story into a splashy, even peppy, show” and he suggested the material might have worked better as an opera. The musical offered a “clichéd” score and “even-more clichéd” lyrics, and Millicent Martin’s performance was “cute” when it should have been “creepy.” The musical’s workshop took place in London, and then a concert version was performed on November 25, 1998, at the Theatre Royal in Brighton with Martin in the title role.

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The production was never commercially recorded, but pirated recordings have made the rounds of collectors, including a demo version with Alix Korey and a live performance recording of the Brighton concert with Martin (which includes the unused song “Next Door to a Star”). Composer Lee Pockriss had contributed a delightful score for the 1960 Off-Broadway musical Ernest in Love (an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest) and his 1963 Broadway musical Tovarich (which won Vivien Leigh a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical) offered a number of ingratiating songs. His Off-Broadway musical Bodo was scheduled to open at the Promenade Theatre during the 1983–1984 season but because it couldn’t meet its $350,000 capitalization it shut down at literally the last minute and never gave a single New York performance (literally because the sets had been delivered to the Promenade and the programs had already been printed). Pockriss also composed such popular non-theatre songs as “Catch a Falling Star,” “My Little Corner of the World,” “Johnny Angel,” and “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.”

2003–2004 Season

BIG RIVER: THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN Theatre: American Airlines Theatre Opening Date: July 24, 2003; Closing Date: September 21, 2003 Performances: 67 Book: William Hauptman Lyrics and Music: Roger Miller Based on the 1884 novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Direction and Choreography: Jeff Calhoun (Coy Middlebrook, Associate Director and Choreographer); Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director, External Affairs) and Deaf West Theatre (Ed Waterstreet, Artistic Director; Bill O’Brien, Producing Director) in association with Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum; Scenery: Ray Klausen; Costumes: David R. Zyla; Lighting: Michael Gilliam; Musical Direction: Steven Landau Cast: Daniel (H.) Jenkins (Mark Twain, Voice of Huck), Tyrone Giordano (Huckleberry Finn), Michael McElroy (Jim), Michael Arden (Tom Sawyer, Ensemble), Gina Ferrall (Widow Douglas, Voice of Sally, Ensemble), Phyllis Frelich (Miss Watson, Sally, Ensemble), Melissa van der Schyff (Mary Jane Wilkes, Voice of Miss Watson, Voice of Joanna Wilkes, Ensemble), Josif Schneiderman (Judge Thatcher, Harvey Wilkes, Silas, First Man, Ensemble), Scott Barnhardt (Ben Rogers, Puppeteer, Andy, Ronald Robinson, Voice of Young Fool, Voice of Sheriff Bell, Ensemble), Rod Keller (Jo Harper, Lafe, Donald Robinson, Ensemble), Ryan Schlecht (Dick Simon, Hank, Young Fool, Sheriff Bell, Ensemble), Drew McVety (Voice of Dick Simon, Voice of Harvey Wilkes, Voice of Hank, Second Man, Ensemble), Troy Kotsur (Pap, Duke, Ensemble), Lyle Kanouse (Pap, King, Voice of Silas, Ensemble), Alexandria Wailes (Joanna Wilkes, Ensemble), Walter Charles (Preacher, Doctor, Voice of Judge, Voice of Duke, Voice of First Man, Ensemble), Gwen Stewart (Alice, Voice of Alice’s Daughter, Slave, Ensemble), Christina Ellison Dunams (Alice’s Daughter, Slave, Ensemble) 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 Wanna Go to Heaven?” (Company); “We Are the Boys” (aka “The Boys”) (Michael Arden, Gang); “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine” (Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins); “Guv’ment” (Troy Kotsur, Lyle Kanouse); “Hand for the Hog” (Michael Arden); “I, Huckleberry, Me” (Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins); “Muddy Water” (Michael McElroy, Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins); “The Crossing” (aka “Crossing Over”) (Slaves); “River in the Rain” (Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins, Michael McElroy); “When the

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Sun Goes Down in the South” (Lyle Kanouse, Troy Kotsur, Walter Charles, Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins, Michael McElroy) Act Two: “The Royal Nonesuch” (Troy Kotsur, Walter Charles, Ryan Schlecht, Drew McVety, Scott Barnhardt, Rod Keller, Company); “Worlds Apart” (Michael McElroy, Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins); “Arkansas” (Ryan Schlecht, Scott Barnhardt); “How Blest We Are” (Gwen Stewart, Christina Ellison Dunams, Company); “You Oughta Be Here with Me” (Melissa van der Schyff, Alexandria Wailes, Rod Keller, Scott Barnhardt); “How Blest We Are” (reprise) (Gwen Stewart, Christina Ellison Dunams); “Leavin’s Not the Only Way to Go” (Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins, Melissa van der Schyff, Michael McElroy); “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine” (reprise) (Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins, Gwen Stewart, Christina Ellison Dunams, Michael McElroy, Company); “Free at Last” (Michael McElroy, Company); “Muddy Water” (reprise) (Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins, Michael McElroy) The Deaf West Theatre’s revival of Big River was an unusual one that used a combination of speaking and nonspeaking performers, and of the latter some were completely deaf while others were hearing impaired. The combination of speech and song and sign language resulted in a unique evening that played for a limited engagement as part of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2003–2004 season. The production also ushered in the new musical season and was the first of eight revivals and/or return engagements, although four of them (Little Shop of Horrors, Avenue Q, Assassins, and Caroline, or Change) were here making their Broadway debuts after their initial Off-Broadway runs. The other revivals were Wonderful Town and Fiddler on the Roof along with the New York City Opera’s limited-engagement presentation of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the final return engagement of A Christmas Carol, which closed after ten annual holiday bookings. The season also offered three imports (The Boy from Oz, Taboo, and Bombay Dreams), a revue (Laughing Room Only), a concert (Barbara Cook’s Broadway!), a magic show (Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway), and a book musical with recycled songs (Never Gonna Dance). As a result, the season went down in the record books as the first and so far only one to offer just one new book musical with new music (Wicked). Deaf West’s production often included two performers in the same role, most often a nonspeaking and a speaking performer. In the case of Huckleberry Finn, the nonspeaking Tyrone Giordano was Huck while Daniel (H.) Jenkins (who had created the character in the original 1985 Broadway production) spoke and sang the role (Jenkins also served as the evening’s narrator, in the person of Mark Twain). In some cases, one actor (such as Michael McElroy as Jim) spoke, sang, and signed. The critics noted that the double-casting often created some innovative and amusing sequences, such as one with Pap (played by Troy Kotsur and Lyle Kanouse): one actor took a swig of moonshine, and the other wiped his mouth on his sleeve. The critics also noted that the reprise version of “Waitin’ for the Light to Shine” was especially memorable, for suddenly the orchestra stopped playing and all the performers (including the speaking ones) signed the song. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said “this is one song you are likely to remember less as you heard it than as you saw it.” Otherwise, Brantley noted the revival didn’t make a case for Big River as “a major American musical,” and Roger Miller’s “lively” score was more in the nature of “incidental instead of integral music.” Charles Isherwood in Variety praised the “magical,” “exhilarating,” and “sterling” revival, and an unsigned review in the New Yorker referred to Big River as a “classic” musical and praised the “lively, ingeniously staged” production. Richard Zoglin in Time reported that director and choreographer Jeff Calhoun said the production opened up “a whole new vocabulary” for him, and as a result the hearing actors provided “surreptitious cues” to the deaf performers so that “a wink or a nudge” was worked into the action in order to signal when the music started. Further, the costume designers “had to avoid sleeve cuffs or loud patterns that might distract from the signing,” and props “required special attention” because both hands had to be free for signing. Based on Twain’s novel about Huckleberry Finn’s adventures with his friend Tom Sawyer, his drunken father, and the slave Jim, the work was a coming-of-age story in which Huckleberry grows up and learns important lessons, especially in his realization that Jim is not “just” a slave but a man with feelings like everyone else, a man who deserves freedom. Unfortunately, Big River needed an epic vision to convey its picaresque narrative and its humanistic vision, and perhaps a Nicholas Nickleby–styled staging was needed, not a conventional Broadway book musical interpretation (in his review of the original production, Frank Rich in the Times said the book “flattens out an American Ulysses into The Hardy Boys”). And Miller’s score was mostly disappointing in its tiresome (“Guv’ment”) and clichéd songs (such as the gospel numbers). Only Huck and Jim’s haunting “River in the Rain” transcended the material, and it’s one of the era’s finest theatre songs.

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The original production season opened on April 25, 1985, at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for 1,005 performances, and because the 1984–1985 had been one of the most lackluster in recent theatre history (the Tony Award committee decided to eliminate the categories of Best Leading Actor and Actress in a Musical and Best Choreographer), the musical looked better than it really was and ended up with seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score. That season the four Best Musical nominees were Big River, Grind, Leader of the Pack, and Quilters, and the nominees for Best Score were Big River, Grind, and Quilters. The script was published in hardback by Grove Press in 1986, and the original 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). Miller recorded “River in the Rain” and “Hand for the Hog,” and during the original Broadway run he succeeded John Goodman (as Pap) for three months. As noted, Daniel (H.) Jenkins was Huck in the original production, and in the current version he sang and spoke the role and also played the character of Mark Twain. There have been almost twenty musical adaptations of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (the latter published in 1876, eight years before Huckleberry Finn), including Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, regional, television, film, and West End productions. The earliest one seems to be Huckleberry Finn (which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1902) and one of the most recent is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (which opened on Broadway in 2001 and played for twenty-one performances). Big River shouldn’t be confused with the regional musical Great Big River, aka Great Big River (by the Mississippi), which opened in 1985 (book by Dale Wasserman and Bruce Geller, lyrics by Michael Colby and Geller, and music by Jack Urbont) and was a revised version of Livin’ the Life, which premiered in New York at the Phoenix Theatre in 1957 (the work was based on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as well as on a number of Twain’s other writings, including his 1883 memoir Life on the Mississippi). Deaf West returned to Broadway in 2015 with a revival of Spring Awakening.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Big River); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael McElroy)

AVENUE Q Theatre: John Golden Theatre Opening Date: July 31, 2003; Closing Date: September 13, 2009 Performances: 2,534 Book: Jeff Whitty Lyrics and Music: Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx; incidental music by Gary Adler Direction: Jason Moore; Producers: Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, Jeffrey Seller, Vineyard Theatre, and The New Group (Sonny Everett, Walter Grossman, and Mort Swinsky, Associate Producers); Choreography: Ken Roberson; Scenery: Anna Louizos; Puppet Designs: Rick Lyon; Animation Design: Robert Lopez; Costumes: Mirena Rada; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Gary Adler Cast: John Tartaglia (Princeton, Rod), Jordan Gelber (Brian), Stephanie D’Abruzzo (Kate Monster, Lucy, Others), Rick Lyon (Nicky, Trekkie Monster, Bear, Others), Ann Harada (Christmas Eve), Natalie Venetia Belcon (Gary Coleman), Jennifer Barnhart (Mrs. T., Bear, Others); Ensemble: Jodi Eichelberger, Peter Linz The revue-like musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in an outer borough of New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Avenue Q Theme” (Company); “What Do You Do with a BA in English?” and “It Sucks to Be Me” (Company); “If You Were Gay” (Rick Lyon, John Tartaglia); “Purpose” (John Tartaglia); “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” (John Tartaglia, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Natalie Venetia Belcon, Jordan Gelber, Ann Harada); “The Internet Is for Porn” (Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Rick Lyon, Men); “Mix Tape”

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(Stephanie D’Abruzzo, John Tartaglia); “I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today” (Jordan Gelber); “Special” (Stephanie D’Abruzzo); “You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Making Love)” (Natalie Venetia Belcon, Rick Lyon, Jennifer Barnhart); “Fantasies Come True” (John Tartaglia, Stephanie D’Abruzzo); “My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada” (John Tartaglia); “There’s a Fine, Fine Line” (Stephanie D’Abruzzo) Act Two: “There Is Life Outside Your Apartment” (Jordan Gelber, Company); “The More You Ruv Someone” (Ann Harada, Rick Lyon); “Schadenfreude” (Natalie Venetia Belcon, Rick Lyon); “I Wish I Could Go Back to College” (Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Rick Lyon, John Tartaglia); “The Money Song” (Rick Lyon, John Tartaglia, Natalie Venetia Belcon, Ann Harada, Jordan Gelber); “For Now” (Company) The sophomoric revue-like musical Avenue Q was a transfer from Off Broadway that became one of the biggest hits of the era. It was primarily aimed at the thirty-five-and-younger crowd and wore its supposed irony on the sleeves of the characters and their puppet alter egos. In subject, it was reminiscent of all those baby-boomer plays and movies that proliferated during the 1970s and 1980s and depicted boomer-centrics who believe theirs is the only generation to undergo angst, unfulfillment, and the realization they’re closer to their death day than their birth day. And more often than not, Avenue Q brought to mind the topical 1950s and 1960s revues of Julius Monk, although Monk’s were clever and witty and didn’t stoop to crude humor. Avenue Q’s skin-deep insights were often smug, the music was unmemorable, and the lyrics were sometimes unnecessarily vulgar, as if four-letter words were the only verbal reality for the characters. But the show’s failings didn’t stop the juggernaut, and the work continues to be enormously popular. The critics were taken with the production, and it played six years for a total of 2,534 performances. Ben Brantley in the New York Times found it “savvy, sassy and eminently likable” and praised the “twinkly” songs, which were “unfailingly tuneful and disgustingly irresistible.” But he noted that the first act was too long and the “plot line sometimes seems to sag and wander in the manner of its aimless characters.” Charles Isherwood in Variety liked the “sweetly sour” evening, which “cleverly co-opts the style of a tyke TV show,” but he mentioned the show’s content was “a necessarily limiting one” and the score had a certain “sing-songy style.” Further, the “charm” of the “smart subversion of the saccharine simplicities of kiddie TV shows will wear off earlier for some than others.” Kate Betts in Time hailed the “hip new musical” and she suggested “puppet-on-puppet action” was “quite a sight.” As for Hinton Als in the New Yorker, the show offered a “strong” book and “equally strong” music and lyrics, and for him “to focus on the highs in the production is rather like begging at a banquet when one’s plate and cup are full to overflowing.” The revue originally opened Off Broadway on March 19, 2003, at the Vineyard Theatre for forty-seven performances, and almost immediately after the marathon Broadway run returned to Off Broadway where it opened on October 21, 2009, at New World Stages/Stage 3 and as of this writing is still running. The Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 82876-55923-2) and for those who might assume the show is a riff on Sesame Street, the recording came with a parental advisory for explicitness in regard to language and sexual content. A separate recording of “Tear It Up and Throw It Away (The Jury Duty Song),” which was cut from the production during rehearsals, was issued on a single CD (unidentified label # 04021013). The script was published in a lavish edition by Hyperion Books in 2006 with a warning it was “for children over 18 only!” The 2007 documentary film Show Business: The Road to Broadway (released on DVD by Genius Products and Liberation Entertainment # 805543) chronicles Avenue Q and three other musicals (Wicked, Taboo, and Caroline, or Change) that opened on Broadway during the 2003–2004 season. The musical premiered in London in 2006 at the Noel Coward Theatre for 1,179 performances, and was almost immediately followed by a second engagement in June 2009 at the Gielgud Theatre for 327 performances, and then later played at Wyndham’s Theatre. Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that instead of an immediate national tour, the revue’s producers opted to sell the show’s exclusive American rights to Las Vegas casino and hotel owner Steve Wynn, who in order to house the production built a theatre within his new resort complex, Wynn Las Vegas. According to Riedel, the theatre’s orchestra section was “half empty at most performances” and despite having “sunk more than $15 million into the little puppet show that couldn’t,” Wynn closed the show after less than a year (Riedel noted that when it came to Avenue Q “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, oh, no more than nine months”).

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Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Avenue Q); Best Book (Jeff Whitty); Best Score (lyrics and music by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (John Tartaglia); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Stephanie D’Abruzzo); Best Direction of a Musical (Jason Moore)

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: October 2, 2003; Closing Date: August 22, 2004 Performances: 372 Book and Lyrics: Howard Ashman Music: Alan Menken Based on the 1960 film Little Shop of Horrors (direction by Roger Corman and screenplay by Charles Griffith). Direction: Jerry Zaks; Producers: Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, James D. Stern, Douglas L. Meyer, Rick Steiner/John and Bonnie Osher, and Simone Genatt Haft in association with Frederic H. Mayerson and Amy Danis/Mark Johannes (HoriPro/Tokyo Broadcasting System, Clear Channel Entertainment, Endgame Entertainment, Zemiro, M. Swinsky/M. Fuchs, Judy Marinoff Cohn, and Rhoda Mayerson, Associate Producers); Choreography: Kathleen Marshall; Scenery: Scott Pask; Puppet Designs: The Jim Henson Company and Martin P. Robinson; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Henry Aronson Cast: DeQuina Moore (Chiffon), Trisha Jeffrey (Crystal), Carla J. Hargrove (Ronnette), Rob Bartlett (Mushnik), Kerry Butler (Audrey), Hunter Foster (Seymour); Derelicts, Skid Row Occupants: Anthony Asbury, Bill Remington, Martin P. Robinson, Douglas Sills, Michael-Leon Wooley, Matt Vogel; Douglas Sills (Orin, Bernstein, Luce, Snip, Everyone Else), Michael-Leon Wooley (The Voice of Audrey II), Don Morrow (Prologue Voice); Audrey II Manipulation: Martin P. Robinson, Anthony Asbury, Bill Remington, Matt Vogel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Greenwich Village circa 1960.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Little Shop of Horrors” (DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove); “Downtown (Skid Row)” (Company); “Da-Doo” (Hunter Foster, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove); “Grow for Me” (Hunter Foster); “(Don’t It Go to Show) Ya Never Know” (Rob Bartlett, Hunter Foster, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove); “Somewhere That’s Green” (Kerry Butler); “Closed for Renovation” (Rob Bartlett, Hunter Foster, Kerry Butler); “Dentist!” (Douglas Sills, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove); “Mushnik and Son” (Rob Bartlett, Hunter Foster); “Git It” (Hunter Foster, Michael-Leon Wooley, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove); “Now (It’s Just the Gas)” (Douglas Sills, Hunter Foster) Act Two: “Call Back in the Morning” (Kerry Butler, Hunter Foster); “Suddenly Seymour” (Hunter Foster, Kerry Butler, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove); “Suppertime” (Michael-Leon Wooley, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove); “The Meek Shall Inherit” (Hunter Foster, DeQuina Moore, Trisha Jeffrey, Carla J. Hargrove, Douglas Sills); “Sominex” and “Suppertime” (reprise) (Kerry Butler, Michael-Leon Wooley); “Somewhere That’s Green” (reprise) (Kerry Butler); Finale: “Don’t Feed the Plants” (Company) The $10.1 million revival of Little Shop of Horrors was of course based on Roger Corman’s 1960 cult film of (almost) the same name (The Little Shop of Horrors) about a nebbish of a clerk named Seymour (Hunter Foster) who works for Mushnik (Rob Bartlett), the owner of a floundering florist shop deep in the heart of Greenwich Village. Seymour comes across a strange plant that he names Audrey II in honor of the shop’s salesgirl Audrey (Kerry Butler), whom he secretly loves. Unfortunately, Audrey II is no ordinary plant and thrives only on a diet of special plant food, namely human blood. So Seymour has no choice but to seek out

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human victims to satiate Audrey II’s unquenchable thirst for blood and her constant demands of “Feed me!” As the show progresses, so does Audrey II and soon she’s virtually taken over the entire stage as she speaks jive, sings rhythm-and-blues, and occasionally uses a word or two that could never have been mentioned in a 1960 movie. Howard Ashman’s book cleverly adapted Corman’s screenplay and added such amusing touches as a black girl-group singing trio who weave in and out of the action as a sort of street-smart chorus. And to show that we’re in the early 1960s, each girl (Chiffon, Crystal, and Ronnette) sports the name of an actual girl group of the era, and so anyone named Supreme need not apply. Along with Ashman’s lyrics, Alan Menken’s slight but catchy score complemented the proceedings and in one instance (“Somewhere That’s Green”) he and Ashman created a quiet and touching moment for the hapless and doomed-to-be-plant-food Audrey. The current revival premiered on May 13, 2003, at the Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, with Hunter Foster, Alice Ripley (Audrey), and Lee Wilkof (who had created the role of Seymour for the musical’s 1982 premiere and here played Mushnik, and whose wife, Connie Grappo, directed the revival). Jack Zink in Variety said the show “remains, as ever, a sassy chamber (of horrors) musical,” Ripley was “an astonishingly ditzy Audrey” and stopped the show with “Somewhere That’s Green,” and she and Foster belted “Suddenly Seymour” “with all the panache of an 11 o’clock number.” After Florida, the musical had been scheduled to open at the Virginia Theatre on August 14, but Jesse McKinley in the New York Times reported that coproducer Marc Routh said the show wasn’t ready for Broadway because the Florida run didn’t “come together in the way we would have liked.” Instead, the revival opened in October with a mostly new cast, and while Foster remained, Kerry Butler (Audrey), Rob Bartlett (Mushnik), and Douglas Sills (in various roles) joined the company; and director Grappo was succeeded by Jerry Zaks. Ben Brantley in the Times noted that “recycling” was the “principal industry” on Broadway these days, and the current revival suggested “the conversion of sharp, shiny tin into something closer to Teflon.” The show’s “edges” had “been sanded to a smooth finish that never pricks, nicks or otherwise stimulates” and so “a bit of vulgarity might be welcome.” Most of the performers didn’t offer “much oomph or original eccentricity,” and only Sills broke through “the enveloping skin of blandness” and brought “an appropriately toothy, hard-smiling zest” to his role of the sadistic dentist. But Charles Isherwood in Variety liked the “snappy, endearing and gorgeously sung” revival (and noted Sills was “deliciously smarmy”). Clearly, the star of the evening was Audrey II, and thanks to the puppet designs by the Jim Henson Company and Martin P. Robinson, the creature was “spectacularly realized” (per Isherwood) and set “a new standard for monstrous egos on Broadway” (per Brantley). Throughout the evening, Audrey II grows and grows, and by the finale has taken over the entire stage and then performs her own little 3-D effect when suddenly her deadly leaf-like tentacles zoom out over the heads of those audience members seated in the first few rows. The musical had originally premiered Off Off Broadway on May 20, 1982, at the WPA Theatre, and three months later on July 27 transferred Off Broadway to the Orpheum Theatre where it ran over five years for a total of 2,209 performances. The script was published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday, in 1982, and the cast album was released by Geffen Records (LP # GHSP-2020 and CD # 2020). Marlene Danielle had created the role of Chiffon, but on August 10, two weeks after the production opened at the Orpheum, Leilani Jones assumed the role and she is heard on the recording. The London production opened on January 1, 1983, at the Comedy Theatre for 813 showings with Barry James (Seymour) and Ellen Greene (who reprised her Audrey from the 1982 New York production and who would later perform the role for the film version). The amusing 1986 film by the Geffen Company was directed by Frank Oz, and the cast, besides Greene, included Rick Moranis (Seymour), Steve Martin (Orin), Vincent Gardenia (Mushkin), and guest appearances by James Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Guest, and Bill Murray. Two songs were added to the film, “Some Fun Now” and “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space.” The soundtrack was issued by Geffen Records (LP # GHS-24145 and CD # 924125), and a laser disc edition of the film included an alternate ending. The DVD was released by Warner Home Video. There are a number of recordings of the score, including a 1985 Icelandic cast album (HMI Records CD # 108); a 1992 Berlin cast album (Der kleine Horror-Laden) released by Polydor Records (CD # 513547-3); and a 1994 British recording (C & B Records CD # LS94CD01). The collection Lost in Boston IV (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5768) includes two cut songs (“A Little Dental Music” and “Bad,” the latter intended for

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the film version but not used). The cast album of the current production was issued by DRG Records (CD # 12998) and includes material that wasn’t recorded for the 1982 production (the song “Call Back in the Morning” as well as more complete versions of other numbers); it also includes five demo recordings of unused songs (“The Worse He Treats Me,” “We’ll Have Tomorrow,” “I Found a Hobby,” and the above-mentioned “A Little Dental Music” and “Bad”), performed by Ashman, Menken, and Ron Taylor.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Hunter Foster)

THE BOY FROM OZ “The Musical

of a

Lifetime”

Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: October 16, 2003; Closing Date: September 12, 2004 Performances: 364 Book: Martin Sherman; original book by Nick Enright Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Philip Wm. McKinley; Producers: Ben Gannon and Robert Fox; Choreography: Joey McKneely; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: Hugh Jackman (Peter Allen), Mitchel David Federan (Young Peter), Beth Fowler (Marion Woolnough), Michael Mulheren (Dick Woolnough, Dee Anthony), Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald (Chris Bell), Isabel Keating (Judy Garland), John Hill (Mark Herron), Stephanie J. Block (Liza Minnelli); Trio: Colleen Hawks, Tari Kelly, and Stephanie Kurtzuba; Jarrod Emick (Greg Connell); Ensemble: Leslie Alexander, Brad Anderson, Kelly Crandall, Naleah Dey, Nicolas Dromard, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Christopher Freeman, Tyler Hanes, Colleen Hawks, John Hill, Pamela Jordan, Tari Kelly, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Heather Laws, Brian J. Marcum, Jennifer Savelli, Matthew Stocke The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place from the 1950s to the 1990s in such locales as Tenterfield, Australia; Hong Kong; and New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Lives of Me” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Hugh Jackman); “When I Get My Name in Lights” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Mitchel David Federan, Ensemble); “When I Get My Name in Lights” (reprise) (Hugh Jackman); “Love Crazy” (lyric and music by Peter Allen and Adrienne Anderson) (Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Hugh Jackman, Ensemble); “Waltzing Matilda” (lyric and music by Marie Cowan and A. B. “Banjo” Paterson) (Hugh Jackman, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald); “All I Wanted Was the Dream” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Isabel Keating); “Only an Older Woman” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Isabel Keating, Hugh Jackman, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, John Hill); “Best That You Can Do” (aka “Arthur’s Theme”) (lyric and music by Christopher Cross, Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen) (Hugh Jackman, Stephanie J. Block); “Don’t Wish Too Hard” (lyric and music by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Isabel Keating); “Come Save Me” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Stephanie J. Block, Hugh Jackman); “Continental American” (lyric and music by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Hugh Jackman, Ensemble); “She Loves to Hear the Music” (lyric by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Stephanie J. Block, Ensemble); “Quiet Please, There’s a Lady on the Stage” (lyric and music by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Hugh Jackman, Isabel Keating); “I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love” (lyric and music by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Stephanie J. Block, Hugh Jackman); “Not the Boy Next Door” (lyric and music by Peter Allen and Dean Pitchford) (Hugh Jackman, Beth Fowler)

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Act Two: “Bi-Coastal” (lyric and music by Peter Allen, David Foster, and Tom Keane) (Hugh Jackman, Colleen Hawks, Tari Kelly, Stephanie Kurtzuba); “If You Were Wondering” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Hugh Jackman, Jarrod Emick); “Sure Thing Baby” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Michael Mulheren, Jarrod Emick, Hugh Jackman, Colleen Hawks, Tari Kelly, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Male Ensemble); “(When) Everything Old Is New Again” (lyric and music by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Hugh Jackman, “The Rockettes”); “(When) Everything Old Is New Again” (reprise) (Beth Fowler, Michael Mulheren, Jarrod Emick); “Love Don’t Need a Reason” (lyric and music by Peter Allen, Marsha Malamet, and Michael Callen) (Hugh Jackman, Jarrod Emick); “I Honestly Love You” (lyric and music by Peter Allen and Jeff Barry) (Jarrod Emick); “You and Me (We Wanted It All)” (lyric and music by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Stephanie J. Block, Hugh Jackman); “I Still Call Australia Home” (lyric and music by Peter Allen) (Hugh Jackman, Ensemble); “(We) Don’t Cry Out Loud” (lyric by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen) (Beth Fowler); “Once Before I Go” (lyric and music by Peter Allen and Dean Pitchford) (Hugh Jackman); “I Go to Rio” (lyric and music by Peter Allen and Adrienne Anderson) (Hugh Jackman, Company) Singers and songwriters Peter Allen and Boy George were the subjects of two musical imports that opened during the season, but somehow neither show replaced Gypsy as the definitive show-business musical. These didn’t even make the category of Funny Girl, and one suspects that even Sophie outclassed the Boy-Georgeembarrassment of Taboo. Although Boy George actually appeared in his musical autobiography (but not as himself), Broadway audiences didn’t seem all that interested in learning about his life and times, and no doubt many had only the vaguest notion of who he was and probably couldn’t have named one song he had popularized. The show received damning reviews, was gone after a few weeks, and lost a small fortune. The Boy from Oz would no doubt have suffered the same fate, because Peter Allen (1944–1992) wasn’t exactly a name on everyone’s lips and he could hardly have been classed as one of the great performers of the age. In fact, despite his Hawaiian-shirt flamboyance, he came across as a moderately talented chorus boy who suddenly had been thrust into the leading-man role five minutes before the opening-night curtain. His modest talent was quite resistible to many, but the Australian-born performer managed to keep his career aloft with recordings (including an occasional popular song such as the irresistible “I Go to Rio,” which might be termed his Barry-Manilow-by-way-of-“Copacabana” moment), concert appearances, a muchpublicized booking with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, and his brief marriage to Liza Minnelli. He also won the Academy Award for Best Song, “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” from the 1981 film Arthur. The song is officially credited to Christopher Cross, Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Allen, and it turns out that Allen’s contribution was one line of the lyric (which earlier had been written for an unpublished song with music by Sager). He was thus entitled to songwriting credit, and his eleven words are perhaps the most lucrative ones in the history of recent song-writing. Allen’s first Broadway appearance was in the short-lived musical Soon, which opened at the Ritz Theatre on January 12, 1971, for three performances, and his next time out on Broadway was eight years later when his concert-like Up in One opened at the Biltmore Theatre on May 23, 1979, for forty-six showings (John Rockwell’s lukewarm review in the New York Times said “it would be wrong to say [Allen] scored a raving, hysterical triumph” and his baritone wasn’t “the most commanding instrument imaginable,” but the evening could “be warmly recommended to almost anybody”). Allen’s final Broadway outing was Legs Diamond, a fiasco that was the final show to play at the legendary Mark Hellinger Theatre (for its sins, the Hellinger was soon converted into a church). After a string of seventytwo chaotic previews, the musical opened on December 26, 1988, for sixty-four performances and closed at a reported loss of $5.2 million. Frank Rich in the New York Times said the “lackluster” evening was like “a sobering interlude of minimum-security imprisonment,” and while Allen may have lacked talent he was nonetheless blessed “with a genius for self-promotion.” Howard Kissel in the New York Daily News suggested Allen’s talent was “supper-club sized,” and Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press said that for the role of the gangster Allen didn’t “quite deliver,” and thus the evening was “a musical in search of a leading man.” The Boy from Oz would no doubt have gone the way of Taboo except for the inspired and somewhat surprise casting choice of popular film star Hugh Jackman in the title role. Thanks to Jackman’s performance and his commitment to remain with the show for a year, the musical was a popular success, recouped its reported $9 million investment, and rewarded the star with the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

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Jackman received raves, but the show itself was a shambles, which Ben Brantley in the Times found “bathetic” and “indisputably bogus,” a “soggy cardboard world of a show” that “seems never to have met a showbiz cliché it didn’t like.” Martin Sherman had revised Nick Enright’s book for Broadway, but the tiresome device of using Allen as the narrator in his own story fell along the lines of the Then-I-Wrote-and-Then-I-Met variety. As a result, even Jackman’s “blazing presence” as “the Swinging 70s answer to Liberace” couldn’t disguise the “staleness” and “hollowness” of the evening. Hinton Als in the New Yorker said Allen was “Ann Miller in an Hawaiian shirt,” and Charles Isherwood in Variety noted that Allen seemed to have spent most of his life “changing his Hawaiian shirts” (all of them no doubt in fierce competition for the Best Hawaiian Shirt Tony Award). And in the midst of all this shirt changing (except for a scene when Jackman tossed the shirt and went topless, all to the swooning delight of many ticket-holders), the audience heard about Allen’s troublesome childhood, his boyfriends, his early showbiz years when he was part of Judy Garland’s opening act, his eyebrow-raising marriage to Liza Minnelli, and his death from AIDS at the age of forty-eight. Isherwood said the musical was a “sad waste” of Jackman’s “exciting talent” and it forced the performer to work within an “aesthetic vacuum,” and Sherman’s script was like the “outline for a book, not the thing itself.” Isherwood noted that Allen was never a “major figure” in the United States, and “in showbiz shorthand, you might call him an eternal understudy for Barry Manilow.” As a result, Allen’s “relative obscurity” no doubt resulted in the hiring of Sherman for a “wholesale rewrite” of Enright’s original book, but of course even the rewritten script didn’t please the critics. But there were some amusing lines of dialogue, and among those that the critics reported, a couple of bits stood out. In response to Allen’s statement that he had a “difficult childhood,” the character of Judy Garland says, “You’re saying that with a straight face to Judy Garland?” And when an upset Allen gets a pep-talk from Liza, he states, “This is so showbiz what you’re doing,” to which I’m-not-Judy’s-daughter-for-nothing replies, “But, darling, we are showbiz.” The musical premiered on March 5, 1998, at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney, Australia, for 766 performances with Todd McKenney in the leading role, and the cast album was released by EMI Records (CD # 7243-4-95660-2-6). The 1995 television documentary Peter Allen: The Boy from Oz was directed by Stephen MacLean, who was listed as the musical’s “consultant,” and the television production was released on DVD by Acorn Media. The original Broadway cast album was issued by Decca Broadway (CD # B0001578-02). As for Allen’s flop Legs Diamond, it was recorded by RCA Victor (LP # 7983-1-RC and CD # 7983-2-RC), and five songs from the score surfaced in The Boy from Oz: “When I Get My Name in Lights,” “All I Wanted Was the Dream,” “Only an Older Woman,” “Sure Thing Baby,” and “Come Save Me,” the latter cut from Legs Diamond during previews. Three songs from the Australian production weren’t retained for the Broadway version, “Pretty Keen Teen,” “(I’ve Been) Taught by Experts,” and “Tenterfield Saddler.” Songs performed in The Boy from Oz that were also heard in Up in One are: “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” “Don’t Wish Too Hard,” “(When) Everything Old Is New Again,” “I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love,” “If You Were Wondering,” “I Go to Rio,” “I Honestly Love You,” “Love Crazy,” and “Tenterfield Saddler” (as noted, the latter was performed only in the Australian version of The Boy from Oz).

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Book (Martin Sherman); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Hugh Jackman); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Beth Fowler); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Isabel Keating)

WICKED

“A New Musical” Theatre: Gershwin Theatre Opening Date: October 30, 2003; Closing Date: As of this writing, the production is still running on Broadway. Performances: As of January 25, 2017, the musical has played 5,505 performances.

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Book: Winnie Holzman Lyrics and Music: Stephen Schwartz Based on the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. Direction: Joe Mantello (Lisa Leguillou, Assistant Director); Producers: Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, and David Stone (Marcia Goldberg and Nina Essman, Executive Producers); Choreography: Wayne Cilento; Scenery: Eugene Lee (Edward Pierce, Associate Set Designer); Projections: Elaine J. McCarthy; Special Effects: Chic Silber; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Stephen Oremus Cast: Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda aka Galinda), Sean McCourt (Witch’s Father, Ozian Official), Cristy Candler (Witch’s Mother), Jan Neuberger (Midwife), Idina Menzel (Elphaba), Michelle Federer (Nessarose), Christopher Fitzgerald (Boq), Carole Shelley (Madame Morrible), William Youmans (Doctor Dillamond), Norbert Leo Butz (Fiyero), Joel Grey (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), Manuel Herrera (Chistery); Monkeys, Students, Denizens of the Emerald City, Palace Guards, and Other Citizens of Oz: Ioana Alfonso, Ben Cameron, Cristy Candler, Kristy Cates, Melissa Bell Chait, Marcus Choi, Kristoffer Cusick, Kathy Deitch, Melissa Fahn, Rhett G. George, Manuel Herrera, Kisha Howard, LJ Jellison, Sean McCourt, Corinne McFadden, Jan Neuberger, Walter Winston O’Neil, Andrew Palermo, Andy Pellick, Michael Seelbach, Lorna Ventura, Derrick Williams The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in sundry places, including the Wizard’s palace in the Emerald City in the Land of Oz, Shiz University, and Munchkinland.

Musical Numbers Act One: “No One Mourns the Wicked” (Kristin Chenoweth, Citizens of Oz); “Dear Old Shiz” (Students); “The Wizard and I” (Carole Shelley, Idina Menzel); “What Is This Feeling?” (Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Students); “Something Bad” (William Youmans, Idina Menzel); “Dancing through Life” (Norbert Leo Butz, Kristin Chenoweth, Christopher Fitzgerald, Michelle Federer, Idina Menzel, Students); “Popular” (Kristin Chenoweth); “I’m Not That Girl” (Idina Menzel); “The Wizard and I” (reprise) (Idina Menzel); “One Short Day” (Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Denizens of the Emerald City); “A Sentimental Man” (Joel Grey); “Defying Gravity” (Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Guards, Citizens of Oz) Act Two: “No One Mourns the Wicked” (reprise) (Citizens of Oz); “Thank Goodness” (Kristin Chenoweth, Carole Shelley, Citizens of Oz); “The Wicked Witch of the East” (Idina Menzel, Michelle Federer, Christopher Fitzgerald); “Wonderful” (Joel Grey, Idina Menzel); “I’m Not That Girl” (reprise) (Kristin Chenoweth); “As Long as You’re Mine” (Idina Menzel, Norbert Leo Butz); “No Good Deed” (Idina Menzel); “March of the Witch Hunters” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Citizens of Oz); “For Good” (Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel); “No One Mourns the Wicked” (reprise) (Company) Wicked was the season’s megahit of megahits in an era when almost every season produced one such show (using the benchmark of 2,000 or more performances, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, and Avenue Q preceded Wicked, and Jersey Boys, Mary Poppins, and Rock of Ages followed it). As of this writing, Wicked is still running on Broadway and is now the ninth-longest-running musical in Broadway history. Based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the musical’s book used Maguire’s take on the backstory of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Baum also wrote thirteen other Oz novels, and Maguire has written three more Oz books, along with ones about Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice). We meet Galinda (later known as Glinda, and played by Kristin Chenoweth) and Elphaba (Idina Menzel), respectively and popularly known as Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West, and the plot looked at their initial rivalries and mutual disdain and their eventual friendship. The musical also provided such background information as how the Tinman got that way, the news that someone named Dorothy has arrived in Munchkinland, and the very interesting fact that instead of melting away Elphaba actually ran away with a prince. At times, Glinda and Elphaba seemed like stand-ins for the old story of the most popular and unpopular girls in high school (and indeed in the musical’s early scenes they roomed together at school), and this no doubt appealed to the teenage girls who flocked to the show. The musical also provided lessons in tolerance, such as not being hateful to those

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of another color: Elphaba is, of course, a person of (green) color. There were also side issues regarding animal rights and the dangers of fascism, especially when a government allegedly creates an enemy in order to unite the masses behind its political agenda. Despite the musical’s resounding success, it received surprisingly cool reviews. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Chenoweth provided “the essential helium” in the “bloated” production; nothing could “top” her “undiluted star power,” and whenever she left the stage the “swirling pop-eretta score sheds any glimmer of originality.” Further, the musical tried to be a “parable” about “fascism and freedom” and as a result it wore “its political heart as if it were a slogan button.” But as the evil schoolmistress Madame Morrible, Carole Shelley was in “high gargoyle gear,” and Norbert Leo Butz as the prince provided “quirky brilliance.” Despite her green skin, Menzel’s role was “bizarrely colorless,” and the “flashy ways” of her singing voice “should be required study for all future contestants on American Idol” and would no doubt please those audience members “whose musical tastes run to soft-rock stations.” Charles Isherwood in Variety found the $14 million production “murky,” “muddled,” “lumbering,” and “overstuffed” with “a bewildering thicket of themes, characters and throwaway gags,” and its “jarring jumble of tones and styles” defeated the efforts of the “talented” director Joe Mantello, who here seemed “overwhelmed” by the demands of a Broadway musical. (But Mantello won the year’s Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical—not for Wicked but for Assassins.) Isherwood said the score included too many “competent but bland anthems,” the décor seemed to “add to the weight bearing down on the musical unfolding beneath it,” the costumes were “inventive” but “ultimately overbearing,” and the choreography was “undistinguished.” Richard Zoglin in Time said the evening was “shrewd but enjoyable” and noted its reimagination of a children’s story “in grownup psychopolitical terms” was more successful than Into the Woods. However, the sets were “big but blah,” the score was “unmemorable,” and although the dances threatened “to break out” they unfortunately remained “elusively somewhere over the rainbow.” John Lahr in the New Yorker commented that while The Wizard of Oz was dedicated to “hope,” Wicked was “an exercise in high camp” dedicated to “irony.” The plot “had all the suspense of an algebraic equation” and “not one” of the songs was “memorable,” but the book was “crisp,” the décor offered “a spectacular whirligig set,” the costumes had a “wryly surreal Old World look,” and Chenoweth delivered “the goods.” Lahr reported that at the performance he attended the audience gave the “piece of folderol” a standing ovation, and he decided this “phenomenon” was explained in one of the show’s lyrics, which stated life was “painless” for the “brainless.” During the tryout, Robert Morse (The Wizard), John Horton (Doctor Dillamond), and Kirk McDonald (Boq) were respectively succeeded by Joel Grey, William Youmans, and Christopher Fitzgerald, but note that Dennis Harvey in Variety found Morse an “amiably bumbling” Wizard in Sterling Holloway mode. Songs deleted during the tryout were: “Which Way’s the Party?,” “We Deserve Each Other,” “The Chance to Fly,” and “I Couldn’t Be Happier.” The original cast album was released by Decca Broadway Records (CD # B0001682-02), and other anniversary recordings of the score have been released with additional material. In 2016, the cast album was released on a two-LP set by Verve Records. Among the foreign cast albums is the 2007 German Wicked: Die Hexen von Oz (Polydor Records CD # 1756254). The script is included in Wicked: The Grimmerie, which was published in hardback in 2005 by Hyperion/Melcher Media, and the book includes articles and background information as well as numerous photographs. Don’t be fooled by the look of The Grimmerie: in order to provide an antiquated feel to the volume, the cover was given a purposely worn and wrinkled look, and a few pages are decoratively foxed. Paul R. Laird’s Wicked: A Musical Biography was published in hardback by Scarecrow Press in 2011 and examines the musical via interviews and source materials, such as early drafts. The 2007 documentary film Show Business: The Road to Broadway (released on DVD by Genius Products and Liberation Entertainment # 805543) chronicles Wicked and three other musicals (Avenue Q, Taboo, and Caroline, or Change) which opened on Broadway during the 2003–2004 season. The London production opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre on September 27, 2006, and as of this writing is still playing. Years before Wicked opened, another “wicked” Oz musical premiered in New York, and it centered on Almira Gulch. Fred Barton’s Miss Gulch Returns! (subtitled “The Wicked Musical”) opened Off Broadway at The Duplex on August 12, 1985, and in Margaret-Hamilton drag Barton told the backstory of poor misunderstood Miss Gulch, “the dog-snatching, bicycle-riding, basket-wielding, spiteful spinster-next-door” who complains that “I’m a Bitch,” her only song in the 1939 MGM musical The Wizard of Oz, was cut from the movie before its

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release in order to make room for alleged star Judy Garland’s sappy little song about rainbows and lemon drops. The cast album for the musical was released by Gulch Mania Productions (LP # MGR-5757), and the liner notes indicate Miss Gulch has a penchant for show tunes (among her available albums is Miss Gulch Sings the Larry Grossman Songbook). And unless Barton decides to write a sequel, there’s nothing on file regarding Miss Gulch’s reaction to the current Wicked and how it completely ignores her important role in the Oz oeuvre.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Wicked); Best Book (Winnie Holzman); Best Score (lyrics and music by Stephen Schwartz); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Kristin Chenoweth); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Idina Menzel); Best Scenic Design (Eugene Lee); Best Costume Design (Susan Hilferty); Best Lighting Design (Kenneth Posner); Best Choreography (Wayne Cilento); Best Orchestrations (William David Brohn)

TABOO

“A New Musical” Theatre: Plymouth Theatre Opening Date: November 13, 2003; Closing Date: February 8, 2004 Performances: 100 Book: Charles Busch (book adapted from the original by Mark Davies) Lyrics and Music: Boy George (George O’Dowd); Kevan Frost, Co-composer; John Themis and Richie Stevens, Music Cowriters; Note: When known, specific credits are given in the list of musical numbers. Direction: Christopher Renshaw; Producers: Rosie O’Donnell and Adam Kenwright (Daniel MacDonald, Lori E. Seid, and Michael Fuchs, Associate Producers); Choreography: Mark Dendy; Scenery: Tim Goodchild; Costumes: Mike Nicholls and Bobby Pearce; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Jason Howland Cast: Liz McCartney (Big Sue), Raul Esparza (Philip Sallon), Euan Morton (George), Sarah Uriarte Berry (Nicola), Jeffrey Carlson (Marilyn), Cary Shields (Marcus), George O’Dowd (Leigh Bowery); Ensemble: Jennifer Cody, Dioni Michelle Collins, Brooke Elliott, Felice B. Gajda, William Robert Gaynor, Curtis Holbrook, Jennifer K. Mrozik, Nathan Peck, Alexander Quiroga, Asa Somers, Denise Summerford, Gregory Treco The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in “a great variety of places in and about London” and in particular in an abandoned warehouse that was once the locale of Taboo, “the hottest club of the ’80s.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Freak” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Richie Stevens, and John Themis) and “Ode to Attention Seekers” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and John Themis) (Raul Esparza, Ensemble); “Stranger in This World” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Richie Stevens, and John Themis) (Euan Morton, Liz McCartney, Raul Esparza, Ensemble); “Safe in the City” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (Sarah Uriarte Berry, Ensemble); “Dress to Kill” (Ensemble); “Genocide Peroxide” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and John Themis) (Jeffrey Carlson, Ensemble); “I’ll Have You All” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (George O’Dowd, Men); “Sexual Confusion” (Liz McCartney, Raul Esparza, Euan Morton, Cary Shields); “Pretty Lies” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (Euan Morton); “Guttersnipe” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (Euan Morton, Jeffrey Carlson, Ensemble); “Love Is a Question Mark” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (Cary Shields, Euan Morton, George O’Dowd, Sarah Uriarte Berry); “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, John Moss, Michael/Mikey Craig, and Roy Hay) (Euan Morton, Ensemble); “Church of the Poison Mind” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Jon Moss, Michael/Mikey Craig, and Roy Hay) and “Karma Chameleon” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Jon Moss, Michael/ Mikey Craig, Roy Hay, and Phil Pickett) (Euan Morton, Ensemble)

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Act Two: “Everything Taboo” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (George O’Dowd, Ensemble); “Talk Amongst Yourselves” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (Liz McCartney); “The Fame Game” (Euan Morton, Ensemble); “I See Through You” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Richie Stevens, and John Themis) (Cary Shields); “Ich Bin Kunst” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (George O’Dowd); “Petrified” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Richie Stevens, and John Themis) (Raul Esparza); “Out of Fashion” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Judge Jules, and Paul Masterson) (Euan Morton, Jeffrey Carlson, Raul Esparza, Cary Shields, George O’Dowd); “Il Adore” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and John Themis) (Sarah Uriarte Berry, Ensemble); “Come on in from the Outside” (Company) Taboo was a heavily revised London import that originally had a modest run of one year at the Venue Theatre, where it opened on January 14, 2002, and officially premiered on January 29. The original book was by Mark Davies, and for New York was rewritten by Charles Busch. The musical looked at the trendy club scene of London during the 1980s, and focused on the club Taboo, one of the in spots for the terminally trendy who frequented it. George O’Dowd, who is better known as the singer and songwriter Boy George, had a major hand in the writing of the score and appeared in both the London and New York productions. But he didn’t play himself, and instead portrayed Leigh Bowery, a fashion designer with whom he once had a relationship (Euan Morton played Boy George for both London and New York). The Broadway production was one of the biggest bombs of the era, and received mostly devastating reviews. It managed 100 performances before it collapsed at a reported loss of $10 million, most if not all of it financed by Rosie O’Donnell. First and foremost, the musical was certainly a labor of love on O’Donnell’s part, and she clearly believed in the show and sank a small fortune into getting it produced on Broadway. Once the negative reviews poured in and the audiences dwindled, she covered the weekly losses and kept the show running for a few weeks in the hope it would eventually find its audience. For some, she became a kind of backstage villain (see below), but it appears she did all she could to support the show, and at the very worst was guilty of misjudgment about the viability of such an iffy prospect in the current Broadway marketplace. The musical had survived in London because it was produced in a small theatre space whose ambiance mirrored the theme and the setting of the show, and perhaps a traditional Broadway theatre wasn’t the best venue for the offbeat musical and its edgy material. Off Broadway had changed over the years and was now mostly the home of nonprofits, and those musicals that originated there seemed to view Off Broadway as a stepping stone to Broadway rather than as an end in itself. But perhaps a small-scale production in a downtown theatre would have worked for Taboo, where its shaky book might have been more tolerated and its casual ambiance and flippant style would have been more welcome. Otherwise, it was difficult to pinpoint the show’s target audience. Boy George was no doubt a peripheral figure to most theatergoers, who probably couldn’t have identified his photo, let alone name one of his songs, and so the majority of meat-and-potatoes ticket buyers wouldn’t have been interested in the musical. Perhaps those who knew Boy George’s name weren’t typical theatergoers and would have preferred their boy in concert and not on the Broadway stage in a show where he didn’t even play himself. And the artwork campaign probably did the show no favors: there were four window cards (posters), each with different artwork, and one included a man at a urinal who seems to be cruised by another. The Boy from Oz was not all that dissimilar to Taboo, but it focused on Peter Allen, a slightly betterknown personality who was at least generally familiar to the public and who had enjoyed the occasional mainstream hit song, such as “I Go to Rio” and “Don’t Cry Out Loud.” Further, Oz included Judy and Liza as supporting characters, and of course its drawing card was Hugh Jackman, a well-known film star. Taboo unfortunately didn’t have a Broadway name attached to its cast, its songs were generally unknown to typical Broadway theatergoers, and probably the club scene of 1980s London wasn’t a particularly urgent and compelling subject for most potential audience members. The show had columnists and reporters working overtime, and much of what follows is a distillation of reportage from Michael Riedel and Richard Johnson in the New York Post, Robert Dominguez, Alisha Berger, and Bill Hoffmann in the New York Daily News, and Jesse McKinley in the New York Times. McKinley reported that during New York previews the show was embroiled in “creative” and “backstage” turmoil, unspecified “technical delays,” and, at one rehearsal, a temporary walk-out by Raul Esparza (who ultimately was the only cast member nominated for a best-performance Tony Award). Riedel stated

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O’Donnell was prepared to replace director Christopher Renshaw with Chris Ashley, but Boy George vetoed the substitution. Meanwhile, Jeff Calhoun unofficially joined the creative team to doctor the show and jazz up the choreography. Riedel noted that one source found O’Donnell “emasculating,” another said she wasn’t “ruthless,” and another emphasized her commitment to both the show and the cast. But after the premiere, the audiences didn’t come. Riedel reported that the musical cost $500,000 a week to run, and for the opening week of seven performances it took in $320,872.49, and for a week in early January the receipts were just $280,000. And at one Saturday night performance in November, only 250 of 1,050 seats were filled, and the paid attendance for the show’s first week (of seven performances) represented 3,803 patrons out of a potential 6,501. Domingeuz noted that when Nathan Lane briefly returned to The Producers, he was given a new line of dialogue: “Everyone knows you shouldn’t invest your own money in a Broadway show. That’s taboo.” Berger and Hoffman reported that Riedel was “banned” from the opening night performance, but it didn’t bother him and he said, “Fine. I’ll cover the closing next week.” Ben Brantley in the Times found the musical “a disastrously overcrowded tableau” that “foolishly” attempted to depict the story of seven relationships, all of which became “as entangled as those quaint things” called telephone cords. The show was a “mixed-up mess” that overdosed on plotlines with “interchangeable” characters. Charles Isherwood in Variety said the show was a “mess” but not a “disaster,” and had a “busy but diagrammatic plot” that relied on narration “to stitch together” the story. The headline of Clive Barnes’s review in the Post announced, “Boy, George, Is This Production a Mess,” and he said the show was “as lost and bereft as a wet cod on a fishmonger’s slab” with a “disastrously rewritten” book by Busch. The characters were of no “compelling interest” and the story “crisscrosses like a crazed game of tic-tac-toe” and nothing was left but “an uninvolving dramatic mess.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post said Taboo revealed “how far” the Broadway musical had “strayed from traditional craftsmanship.” The show was “hokum,” the book was “amazingly lame,” and had the “estimable” Esparza’s performance been “any more intense, it could embarrass even Mandy Patinkin.” While Richard Zoglin in Time said Taboo had “a messy book and a less-than-ideal production,” he nonetheless liked the work and noted it was “vivid, uncompromising and often funny” and the score was among “the best [he’d] heard on Broadway in the past few seasons.” At the end of the program credits, the following songs were cited (although they weren’t part of the regular list of musical numbers, they were perhaps heard in previews prior to being cut from the score): “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Jon Moss, Michael Craig, and Roy Hay); “It’s a Miracle” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Jon Moss, Michael Craig, Roy Hay, and Phil Pickett); and “I Wanna Be Loved by You” (Good Boy, 1928; lyric and music by Herbert Stothart, Bert Kalmar, and Harry Ruby). The London cast album was released by First Night Records (CD # 020-7383-7767) and includes four songs not heard in New York: “Shelter” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd, Kevan Frost, and Richie Stevens), “Touched by the Hand of Cool” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost), “Independent Woman” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost), and “Pie in the Sky” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost). The Broadway cast recording was issued by DRG Records (CD # 94773). The 2007 documentary film Show Business: The Road to Broadway (released on DVD by Genius Products and Liberation Entertainment # 805543) chronicles Taboo and three other musicals (Avenue Q, Wicked, and Caroline, or Change) which opened on Broadway during the 2003–2004 season.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Score (lyrics and music by Boy George); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Raul Esparza); Best Costume Design (Mike Nicholls and Bobby Pearce)

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2003) Theatre: The Theatre at Madison Square Garden Opening Date: November 28, 2003; Closing Date: December 27, 2003 Performances: 70 (estimated)

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The tenth and final production of the musical version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden starred Jim Dale as Scrooge. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times said Dale was a properly “frosty, aggressively mean-spirited skinflint,” and the actor “wisely spurns the temptation to curry favor with the audience by so much as hinting at the existence of an inner Good Guy.” As a result, Scrooge’s ultimate transformation was “genuinely poignant.” Van Gelder also praised the “lavishly spectacular” and “eye-catching” show, and said it seemed “crisper than usual.” During its ten years of annual Christmastime performances, the musical chalked up approximately 759 showings. For more information about the musical, see entry for the 2000 production.

LAUGHING ROOM ONLY Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: November 19, 2003; Closing Date: November 30, 2003 Performances: 14 Book: Dennis Blair and Digby Wolfe Additional Material: Jackie Mason Lyrics and Music: Doug Katsaros Direction: Robert Johanson; Producers: Jyll Rosenfeld, Jon Stoll, and James Scibelli in association with Sidney Kimmel, John Morgan, and the Helen Hayes Theatre Company; Choreography: Michael Lichtefeld; Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Thom Heyer; Lighting: Peter Hylenski; Musical Direction: Joseph Baker Cast: Jackie Mason, Ruth Gottschall, Cheryl Stern, Darrin Baker, Robert Creighton, Barry Finkel The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Million Dollar Musical” (Jackie Mason, Company); “French Chanteuse” (Cheryl Stern, Barry Finkel); “This Jew Can Sing” (Jackie Mason, Company); “Frieda from Fresno” (Ruth Gottschall, Robert Creighton, Darrin Baker); “Only in Manhattan” (Jackie Mason, Company); “Starbucks” (Robert Creighton, Company) Act Two: “Comedy Ambulance” (Company); “Jackie’s Signature Song” (Jackie Mason, Cheryl Stern, Robert Creighton, Barry Finkel); “I Need a Man” (Ruth Gottschall, Darrin Baker); “Perfect” (Cheryl Baker, Barry Finkel, Ruth Gottschall, Darrin Baker); “Jew Gentile Tap-Off” (Robert Creighton, Barry Finkel); “Tea Time” (Jackie Mason, Ruth Gottschall, Cheryl Stern); “Musical Chairs” (Jackie Mason, Company); Finale (Jackie Mason, Company) This time around Jackie Mason didn’t appear in an evening of solo stand-up comedy and instead starred in an intimate revue that included five other performers as well as six musicians. The program credited Dennis Blair and Digby Wolfe with the “book,” but Laughing Room Only was no book musical and was instead a series of comic monologues performed by Mason that were interspersed with songs and routines by the other cast members, who were occasionally joined by Mason in such numbers as “This Jew Can Sing.” The revue wasn’t well received and was gone within two weeks. The critics complained that Mason’s shtick was too familiar (the differences between gentiles and Jews) or too stale (Bill Clinton jokes), and that he should have offered fresh material. And it appears that Mason wasn’t quite so welcome as he used to be because these days he skewered many of the cows so sacred to the politically correct police. Bruce Weber in the New York Times criticized Mason’s use of so much “recycled material” and said the original vaudeville-styled numbers performed by the cast were “some of the trashiest musical comedy material ever written for the Broadway stage.” Weber decided that much of Mason’s commentary played “fast and loose with the line between humor and hate speech” and that one of his quips “might be the oldest tasteless joke ever uttered on a Broadway stage.” Charles Isherwood in Variety found the evening “a staged throwback to

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TV variety shows—the lesser ones,” said Mason’s material was too familiar, and noted the musical sequences didn’t “exactly smell fresh as a daisy.” For more information about Mason’s Broadway visits, see Jackie Mason: Prune Danish.

WONDERFUL TOWN Theatre: Al Hirschfeld Theatre Opening Date: November 23, 2003; Closing Date: January 30, 2005 Performances: 497 Book: Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov Lyrics: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on the 1938 collection of short stories My Sister Eileen by Ruth McKenney and the 1940 play of the same name by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov. Direction and Choreography: Kathleen Marshall (Vince Pesce, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Roger Berlind and Barry and Fran Weissler in association with Edwin W. Schloss, Allen Spivak, Clear Channel Entertainment, and Harvey Weinstein (Alecia Parker, Executive Producer) (Daniel M. Posener, Associate Producer); Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: Rob Fisher Cast: Ken Barnett (Tour Guide, Associate Editor), David Margulies (Appopolous), Timothy Shew (Officer Lonigan), Raymond Jaramillo McLeod (Wreck), Nancy Anderson (Helen), Linda Mugleston (Violet), Stanley Wayne Mathis (Speedy Valenti), Jennifer Westfeldt (Eileen Sherwood), Donna Murphy (Ruth Sherwood), Vince Pesce (Italian Chef), Rick Faugno (Italian Waiter), David Eggers (Drunk), Devin Richards (Drunk), Ray Wills (Strange Man, Associate Editor, Shore Patrolman), Peter Benson (Frank Lippencott), Gregg Edelman (Robert Baker), Randy Danson (Mrs. Wade), Mark Price (Kid), Michael McGrath (Chick Clark); Cadets: David Eggers, Rick Faugno, Vince Pesce, Mark Price, Devin Richards, J. D. Webster; Policemen: Ken Barnett, David Eggers, Vince Pesce, Devin Richards, J. D. Webster, Ray Wills; Greenwich Villagers: Ken Barnett, Joyce Chittick, Susan Derry, David Eggers, Rick Faugno, Lorin Latarro, Linda Mugleston, Tina Ou, Vince Pesce, Mark Price, Devin Richards, Angela Robinson, Megan Sikora, J. D. Webster, Ray Wills The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1935 in New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Christopher Street” (Ken Barnett, Tourists, Villagers); “Ohio” (Donna Murphy, Jennifer Westfeldt); “Conquering New York” (Donna Murphy, Jennifer Westfeldt, Peter Benson, New Yorkers); “One Hundred Easy Ways” (Donna Murphy); “What a Waste” (Gregg Edelman, Ken Barnett, Ray Wills); “Ruth’s Story Vignettes” (Gregg Edelman, Donna Murphy, Ken Barnett, Ray Wills); “A Little Bit in Love” (aka “Never Felt This Way Before”) (Jennifer Westfeldt); “Pass the Football” (Raymond Jaramillo McLeod, Villagers); “Conversation Piece” (aka “Nice People, Nice Talk”) (Jennifer Westfeldt, Peter Benson, Donna Murphy, Michael McGrath, Gregg Edelman); “A Quiet Girl” (Gregg Edelman); “A Quiet Girl” (reprise) (Donna Murphy); “Conga!” (Donna Murphy, Cadets); “Conga!” (reprise) (Company) Act Two: “My Darlin’ Eileen” (Timothy Shrew, Jennifer Westfeldt, Policemen); “Swing” (Donna Murphy, Villagers); “Ohio” (reprise) (Donna Murphy, Jennifer Westfeldt); “It’s Love” (Jennifer Westfeldt, Gregg Edelman, Villagers); “Ballet at the Village Vortex” (Villagers); “Wrong Note Rag” (Donna Murphy, Jennifer Westfeldt, Villagers); Finale (Company) Wonderful Town was based on My Sister Eileen, a series of short stories by Ruth McKenney that had originally appeared in the New Yorker and were later published in book format in 1938. In 1940, the stories were adapted by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov for the Broadway play My Sister Eileen, which ran for 864 performances (Shirley Booth was Ruth and Jo Ann Sayers was Eileen). (Four days before the comedy’s premiere, the real-life Eileen and her husband writer Nathanael West were killed in an automobile accident.) The film

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version of the play was released in 1942 (Rosalind Russell and Janet Blair), and the musical adaptation opened in 1953 (Rosalind Russell and Edith [later Edie] Adams) with a book by Fields and Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein. The short stories, the play, and subsequent adaptations of the material centered on small-town sisters Ruth and Eileen, who move to New York City and become involved in madcap adventures with their colorful Greenwich Village neighbors, local drunks, the cops on the beat, and even the Brazilian Navy. All these versions neatly sidestepped the fact that the real-life Ruth was a Communist who in Marion Meade’s fascinating Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010) is quoted as saying she wanted “to smash up things” (and this from the wacky gal who tells us she was “re-reading Moby-Dick the other day . . . it’s about this whale”?). As for Eileen, she was apparently a “mild Communist” who never actually joined the Party. The current $5 million revival had originated as an Encores! production that opened on May 4, 2000, at City Center for five performances with Donna Murphy and Laura Benanti; Kathleen Marshall directed and choreographed, Rob Fisher was the musical director, and John Lee Beatty was the “scenic consultant,” and these three along with Murphy returned for the 2003 revival. Murphy was showered with raves for her portrayal of Ruth and seemed a shoo-in for the Tony Award, but for various reasons she missed a number of performances and the rialto grapevine went into overdrive. In his September 8, 2004, column, Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that a member of the Wonderful Town company said Murphy had missed “some 60” performances as of early September, and that a “production source” indicated Westfeldt “has not been very happy” in the show. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Murphy gave “one of the most dazzlingly accomplished comic performances that you’re ever likely to see in a musical” and Charles Isherwood in Variety praised her “gem of a performance,” said she “knocks one out of the park,” and there was “no end to the pleasures of her performance.” Otherwise, Brantley felt much of the revival wasn’t “up to Murphy’s standard.” He also noted the décor looked “oddly provisional, as if waiting for the real sets to arrive,” and some of the dances as well as “the ensemble as a whole” had “an unfinished quality.” The musical first opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on February 25, 1953, for 559 performances, and the national tour starred Carol Channing. A faithful television version was presented by CBS on November 30, 1958, with Russell, Jacquelyn McKeever, and Sydney Chaplin, and besides Russell the cast included other members from the original Broadway company, including Cris Alexander, Jordan Bentley, and Dort Clark. In 1960, the stories were adapted for a CBS television series (Elaine Stritch and Shirley Bonne) that lasted for just one season. The musical has been revived in New York five times. The three productions at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company opened on March 5, 1958, for fifteen performances (Nancy Walker and Jo Sullivan), on February 13, 1963, for sixteen performances (Kaye Ballard and Jacquelyn McKeever), and May 17, 1967, for twenty-three performances (Elaine Stritch and Linda Bennett). Prior to the current production, the musical was revived on November 8, 1994, by the New York City Opera Company at the New York State Theatre for fourteen performances (Kay McClelland and Crista Moore). The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1953, and was included in the hardback collections Great Musicals of the American Theatre Volume 2 (Chilton Book Company, 1976) and The New York Musicals of Comden & Green (Applause Books, 1996). The latter includes the books and lyrics of On the Town (1944) and Bells Are Ringing (1956) but not Subways Are for Sleeping (1961). There are numerous recordings of the delightful score, including the original cast album by Decca Records (LP # DL-7/9010, and later issued on CD by Decca Broadway Records # 440-014-602-2) and the 1958 television soundtrack album released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5360 and # OS-2008, and later issued by Sony Broadway Records CD # SK-48021). The 1998 studio cast recording (Karen Mason and Rebecca Luker) was issued on a two-CD set by Jay Records (# CDJAY2-1281) and is the most complete version of the score (including “Story Vignettes”), and the following year another studio cast recording was released (by EMI Records CD # 7243-5-56753-2-3) with Kim Criswell and Audra McDonald. A concert version of the latter was filmed live at the Philharmonie in Berlin on December 30 and 31, 2002, and was released on DVD by EuroArts (# 2052298). There is also a cast album of a 1961 Los Angeles production (Location Records LP # 1261-368) that includes Phyllis Newman and Jerry Lanning among the cast members. The cast album of the current version was recorded by DRG Records (CD # DRG-12999) and includes bonus tracks of Comden and Green performing “Ohio,” “It’s Love,” “A Quiet Girl,” and “Wrong Note Rag”; a second cast album of the 2003

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production was released by DRG (CD # DRG-94776) with tracks by Brooke Shields and Jennifer Hope Wills, who succeeded Murphy and Westfeldt. The original London production opened on February 23, 1955, at the Princes Theatre for 205 performances (Pat Kirkwood and Shani Wallis); the cast members recorded seven songs from the production, all of which are included in the collection Americans in London (Encore’s Box Office Production Records CD # ENBOCD-2/91). The cast album of the 1986 London revival at the Queens Theatre (Maureen Lipton and Emily Morgan) was released by First Night Records (CD # OCRCD-6011). A different lyric version of the material is Columbia’s 1955 film My Sister Eileen (Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh, with Bob Fosse, Tommy Rall, and Jack Lemmon), which was released on DVD by Columbia (# 07327). The lyrics are by Leo Robin and the music by Jule Styne. A few weeks before the original production of Wonderful Town went into rehearsal, the show’s lyricist Arnold B. Horwitt and composer Leroy Anderson left the show due to artistic differences with Fields and Chodorov. Comden and Green agreed to write new lyrics, and Bernstein stepped in to compose the music. The Horwitt and Anderson version is the Holy Grail of Broadway Scores, and is reportedly lost (although this assertion seems somewhat unlikely) and one can only hope the “lost” score will one day resurface.

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Wonderful Town); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Donna Murphy); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Jennifer Westfeldt); Best Direction of a Musical (Kathleen Marshall); Best Choreography (Kathleen Marshall)

NEVER GONNA DANCE “The New Jerome Kern Musical”

Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre Opening Date: December 4, 2003; Closing Date: February 15, 2004 Performances: 84 Book: Jeffrey Hatcher Lyrics: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Music: Jerome Kern Based on the 1936 film Swing Time (direction by George Stevens and screenplay by Howard Lindsay and Allan Scott) and on a short story by Erwin Gelsey. Direction: Michael Greif; Producers: Weissberger Theatre Group (Jay Harris, Producer), Edgar Bronfman Jr., James Walsh, Ted Hartley/RKO Pictures, and Harvey Weinstein; Choreography: Jerry Mitchell (Jodi Moccia, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Robert Billig Cast: The Charms—Roxane Barlow, Sally Mae Dunn, and Jennifer Frankel; Noah Racey (Lucky Garnett), Philip LeStrange (Mr. Chalfont), Deborah Leamy (Margaret Chalfont), Kirby Ward (Minister, Construction Worker), Karen Ziemba (Mabel Pritt), Nancy Lemenager (Penny Carroll), Peter Gerety (Alfred J. Morganthal), Peter Bartlett (Mr. Pangborn), Ron Orbach (Major Bowes), Julie Connors (Miss Tattersall), David Pittu (Ricardo Romero); The Rome-Tones—Julio Agustin, Jason Gillman, and T. Oliver Reid; Eugene Fleming (Spud), Deidre Goodwin (Velma), Timothy J. Alex (Dice Raymond); Waitresses—Sally Mae Dunn, Jennifer Frankel, and Ipsita Paul; Vaudevillians, Wedding Guests, New Yorkers, Reporters: Julio Agustin, Timothy J. Alex, Roxane Barlow, Julie Connors, Sally Mae Dunn, Jennifer Frankel, Jason Gillman, Greg Graham, Kenya Unique Massey, Ipsita Paul, T. Oliver Reed, Kirby Ward, Tommar Wilson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1936 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and in New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Dearly Beloved” (1942 film You Were Never Lovelier; lyric by Johnny Mercer) (Noah Racey, Roxane Barlow, Sally Mae Dunn, Jennifer Frankel); “Put Me to the Test” (1944 film Cover Girl; lyric by Ira Gersh-

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win) (Noah Racey); “I Won’t Dance” (1935 film version of Roberta; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, and Jimmy McHugh) (Noah Racey, Company); “Pick Yourself Up” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Nancy Lemenager, Noah Racey); “Pick Yourself Up” (reprise) (Karen Ziemba, Peter Gerety); “Who?” (Sunny, 1925; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach) (David Pittu, Julio Agustin, Jason Gillman, T. Oliver Reid); “I’m Old-Fashioned” (1942 film You Were Never Lovelier; lyric by Johnny Mercer) (Nancy Lemenager); “She Didn’t Say ‘Yes’” (The Cat and the Fiddle, 1931; lyric by Otto Harbach) (Eugene Fleming, Deidre Goodwin); “The Song Is You” (Music in the Air, 1932; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Karen Ziemba, Peter Gerety, Sally Mae Dunn, Jennifer Frankel, Ipsita Paul); “The Way You Look Tonight” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Noah Racey, Nancy Lemenager) Act Two: “Waltz in Swing Time” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Company); “Shimmy with Me” (1921 London musical The Cabaret Girl; lyric by P. G. Wodehouse) (Karen Ziemba, Company); “A Fine Romance” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Nancy Lemenager, Noah Racey, Karen Ziemba, Peter Gerety); “I’ll Be Hard to Handle” (Roberta, 1933; lyric by Bernard Dougall) (Eugene Fleming, Deidre Goodwin); “I Got Love” (1935 film I Dream Too Much; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Karen Ziemba); “The Most Exciting Night” (1952 film Lovely to Look At; lyric by Dorothy Fields and Otto Harbach) (David Pittu, Julio Agustin, Jason Gillman, T. Oliver Reid); “Remind Me” (1940 film One Night in the Tropics; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Nancy Lemenager, Noah Racey); “Never Gonna Dance” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields) (Noah Racey, Nancy Lemenager); “Dearly Beloved” (reprise) and “I Won’t Dance” (reprise) (Company) Never Gonna Dance was based on the 1936 film Swing Time, the best of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’s teamings and one of the great Hollywood musicals. Fred and Ginger were at their peak, Howard Lindsay and Allan Scott’s screenplay sparkled with wit and visual jokes, dance was used as a means to tell the story, and, in an era when most film songs were performance numbers heard in such venues as nightclubs, four of the film’s songs were book numbers. The film’s décor practically defines art deco, and Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields’s score is one of the finest ever written for the movies: “Pick Yourself Up,” “The Way You Look Tonight” (which won the Academy Award for Best Song), “A Fine Romance,” “Bojangles of Harlem,” the dance “Waltz in Swing Time” (which during the film’s overture is heard with a brief lyric), and “Never Gonna Dance,” the latter the film’s title during preproduction. With the exception of “Bojangles of Harlem,” the stage version retained all the film’s songs and added twelve others by Kern, all from various sources. The slight but amusing story centered on Lucky Garnett (Noah Racey), whose engagement to a society girl is contingent upon his earning and saving $25,000. But he soon becomes entranced with dance instructor Penny Carroll (Nancy Lemenager), and together they become a dance team in a supper club. The musical received mixed reviews and managed little more than two months on Broadway. It was probably a given that the show would disappoint: after all, Racey and Lemenager weren’t Fred and Ginger, and who could be? Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the season had thus far offered such “musical klutzburgers” as The Boy from Oz and Taboo, and so Never Gonna Dance emerged as “an inoffensive, gracefully danced and pleasantly sung diversion.” Otherwise, the production was “spiceless” with “flatteningly generic” characters, “ersatz” décor, and choreography that wasn’t “shaped to go anywhere or tell a story.” Racey had “the makings of an elegant and original character dancer” who brought to mind Ray Bolger, and both he and Lemenager were “likable” and “brave” to follow in Astaire and Rogers’s footsteps. But when they danced their “teamwork” was a case “of the bland leading the bland.” Charles Isherwood in Variety commented that the “bland” evening “twinkles along amiably but only rarely dazzles.” Racey and Lemenager were “terrific” dancers, but “that ineffable thing called chemistry” wasn’t evident, and Lemenager was further “handicapped” by the book because, as written for the stage, Penny’s heretofore edgy character was now refashioned as “a standard-issue ingénue, all sweetness.” Karen Ziemba was Penny’s sidekick (a role played by Helen Broderick in the film), and Isherwood noted her presence supplied the evening “with a welcome jolt of plain personality whenever she’s onstage.” Hilton Als in the New Yorker spent the first four paragraphs of his review praising Deidre Goodwin, who was tenth-billed in the show as the newly created character of Velma (she was partnered with Eugene Fleming as contestants in a dance contest). Als hailed her “powerful presence,” but curiously referred to the judges of the contest as “ofays.” The critics were particularly impressed with the expansive “I Won’t Dance” sequence, which was set in Grand Central Station (Isherwood said it was the show’s “most inventive” number and Brantley found it “delightful”), and Als noted that both director Michael Greif and choreographer Jerry Mitchell handled both the song and the entire show “with great sophistication and effervescence.”

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There was no cast album, but a promotional CD (unnumbered, and released by an unnamed company) was issued for the show’s advertisement campaign and offered three songs performed by Racey and Lemenager (“Pick Yourself Up,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” and “A Fine Romance”).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Ziemba); Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell)

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Theatre: Minskoff Theatre Opening Date: February 26, 2004; Closing Date: January 8, 2006 Performances: 781 Book: Joseph Stein Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Music: Jerry Bock Based on various short stories by Sholem Aleichem. Direction: David Leveaux; Producers: James L. Nederlander, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Harbor Entertainment, Terry Allen Kramer, Bob Boyett/Lawrence Horowitz, and Clear Channel Entertainment; Choreography: Jerome Robbins (Jonathan Butterell, Musical Staging); Scenery: Tom Pye; Costumes: Vicki Mortimer; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites Cast: Alfred Molina (Tevye), Randy Graff (Golde), Sally Murphy (Tzeitel), Laura Michelle Kelly (Hodel), Tricia Paoluccio (Chava), Lea Michele (Shprintze), Molly Ephraim (Bielke), Nancy Opel (Yente), David Wohl (Lazar Wolf), Yusef Bulos (Rabbi), Philip Hoffman (Mordcha), Mark Lotito (Avram), David Rossmer (Jakov), Bruce Winant (Chaim), Barbara Tirrell (Shandel), Marsha Waterbury (Mirala), Rita Harvey (Fredel), Joy Hermalyn (Rivka, Fruma Sarah), John Cariani (Motel), Robert Petkoff (Perchik), Chris Ghelfi (Mendel, Bottle Dancer), Enrique Brown (Yussel, Bottle Dancer), Randy Bobish (Yitzuk, Bottle Dancer), Jeff Lewis (Label, Bottle Dancer), Francis Toumbakaris (Shloime, Bottle Dancer), Melissa Brown (Anya), Haviland Stillwell (Surcha, Grandma Tzeitel), Tom Titone (Nachum), Nick Danielson (Fiddler), Michael Tommer (Boy), Stephen Lee Anderson (Constable), David Ayers (Fyedka), Jonathan Sharp (Sasha), Stephen Ward Billeisen (Vladek), Keith Kuhl (Vladimir), Craig Ramsay (Boris) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1905 in the Russian village of Anatevka.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Tradition” (Company); “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” (Sally Murphy, Laura Michelle Kelly, Tricia Paoluccio, Lea Michele, Molly Ephraim); “If I Were a Rich Man” (Alfred Molina); “Sabbath Prayer” (Alfred Molina, Randy Graff, Sally Murphy, Laura Michelle Kelly, Tricia Paoluccio, Lea Michele, Molly Ephraim, Villagers); “To Life” (Alfred Molina, David Wohl, Village Men); “Miracle of Miracles” (John Cariani); “Tevye’s Dream” (aka “The Tailor, Motel Kamzoil” and “The Dream”) (Company); “Sunrise, Sunset” (Alfred Molina, Randy Graff, Sally Murphy, Laura Michelle Kelly, Tricia Paoluccio, Lea Michele, Molly Ephraim); “Wedding Dance” (Villagers); “Bottle Dance” (Randy Bobish, Enrique Brown, Chris Ghelfi, Jeff Lewis, Francis Toumbakaris) Act Two: “Now I Have Everything” (Robert Petkoff, Laura Michelle Kelly); “Do You Love Me?” (Alfred Molina, Randy Graff); “Topsy-Turvy” (Nancy Opel, Joy Hermalyn, Marsha Waterbury); “Far from the Home I Love” (Laura Michelle Kelly); “Chavaleh” (aka “Chava”) (Alfred Molina); “Anatevka” (Tevye’s Family, Villagers) The current revival of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s Fiddler on the Roof was, unfairly or not, referred to as the Gentile version of the classic musical, and Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that some

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called it Goyim on the Roof. He also cited an article in the Los Angeles Times by Thane Rosenbaum who said there was “an absence of Jewish soul” in the production, and Jeffrey Eric Jenkins in Best Plays quoted an anonymous “elderly Jewish legend of the theatre” who stated, “No Jews, no Tevye, no heart, no show.” And things came to such a pretty pass that Robert Hofler in Variety wrote that the revival’s British director David Leveaux and New York Post theatre columnist Michael Riedel “reportedly got physical” in a New York restaurant because Riedel had referenced Rosenbaum’s article in his column and also said Leveaux had “de-Jewed” the musical. The director perhaps thought Riedel had used the phrase “ethnic cleansing” to describe the revival, but it turns out neither Riedel nor Rosenbaum had used such a term, and the phrase in question had appeared in Page Six, a New York Post gossip column. At any rate, Riedel and Leveaux apparently talked about the revival, about whether the British had an “instinctive feel” for Broadway musicals, and Riedel made a reference to “Oxford intellectuals.” And then Riedel suddenly found himself on the floor (the columnist stated, “I don’t know how I got there”). Hofler reported that one observer said the director had “wrestled” Riedel to the floor, while another witness said there was a “pushing match” between the two men. But a spokesman for Fiddler “denied that any punches were delivered” (Leveaux couldn’t be reached for comment because he had left for London). And all this over a touching and heartwarming musical about a small pre-revolutionary Russian shtetl in 1905! Fiddler looked at the concept of change, and its brilliant opening number “Tradition” explored that theme, including both personal and political changes. In the well-ordered Jewish Orthodox life of the poor milkman Tevye (Alfred Molina for the revival), one daughter moves away to be with her husband and another marries a Gentile. And Tevye; his wife, Golde (Randy Graff); their five daughters; and fellow villagers must endure pogroms and then exile when they are forced to leave their homeland and emigrate to faraway countries. The musical ended on an especially poignant note when one realized that by fleeing Russia and its pogroms and prejudice many of the villagers were headed toward middle Europe and the impending Holocaust. Despite the controversies surrounding the “Jewishness” of the revival, the production managed to play for almost two full years (during the run, Harvey Fierstein and Rosie O’Donnell succeeded Molina and Graff). The revival didn’t include “I Just Heard” and added “Topsy-Turvy,” a new song written especially for the production by Bock and Harnick. The headline of Brantley’s review read “A Cozy Little McShtetl,” and the critic suggested that if “the entertainment entrepreneurs of Branson, Mo., ever come up with a pavilion called Shtetl Land” it would look like the current revival with its “bland, dutiful cheer.” The “antiseptically acted” production lacked “human passion and idiosyncrasy” and was instead “perversely cool,” a state that had in some part been achieved by the “dogged miscasting” of Molina, who was “heartbreakingly uneasy” in the role of Tevye. There was a “wary restraint” surrounding his performance, and “nearly all” the cast members sang and acted “as they might have in a cold reading delivered by seasoned professionals who had yet to add the shading and tics that define original character.” Charles Isherwood in Variety noted that “a Chekhovian air of defeat haunts Molina’s Tevye from the beginning,” and while his was a “respectable” and “intelligent” performance, it lacked “stage-filling scope.” Isherwood found Graff’s Golde “adequate but a trifle bland,” and although the British Laura Michelle Kelly gave a “spirited, beautifully sung” performance, he wondered if a “more ethnically appropriate” actress could have been cast. The original production opened on September 22, 1964, at the Imperial Theatre for 3,242 performances with Zero Mostel as Tevye It won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical and nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Besides the current showing, the work has been revived on Broadway four other times: on December 28, 1976, at the Winter Garden Theatre for 167 performances with Mostel re-creating his original role; on July 9, 1981, at the New York State Theatre for fifty-three performances with Herschel Bernardi, who had succeeded Mostel during the original Broadway run; on November 18, 1990, at the Gershwin Theatre for 241 performances with Topol, who had created the role for the original 1967 London production and starred in the 1971 film version (this mounting won the Tony Award for Best Revival); and on December 20, 2015, at the Broadway Theatre for 464 performances with Danny Burstein. The original London presentation opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on February 16, 1967, for 2,030 performances, and the dreary and bloated film version was directed by Norman Jewison and released by United Artists. The script was published in hardback by Crown Publishers in 1965, was included in the 1973 hardback collection Ten Great Musicals of the American Theatre (Chilton Book Company), and was also one of sixteen

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scripts included in the Library of America’s 2014 hardback collection American Musicals. A fascinating account of the work is The Making of a Musical: Fiddler on the Roof by Richard Altman and Mervyn Kaufman (Crown Publishers, 1971), and 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 issued by RCA Victor Records (LP # LSO/LOC-1093), and RCA’s CD release (# 51430) includes “I Just Heard,” which had been recorded at the time of the original recording session but hadn’t been included on the LP release because of space limitations. There are numerous recordings of the score, many of which offer cut and unused 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 (“Wedding Dance” and the Chava sequence). The cast recording of the current revival was released by PS Classics (CD # PS-420) and includes the “Wedding Dance,” “Chavaleh,” and Tevye’s spoken monologues.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Fiddler on the Roof); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Alfred Molina); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (John Cariani); Best Scenic Design (Tom Pye); Best Lighting Design (Brian MacDevitt); Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman)

SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET “A Musical Thriller”

Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 9, 2004; Closing Date: March 28, 2004 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: Arthur Masella (David Grabarkewitz and Helena Binder, Assistant Directors); Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Paul Kellogg, General and Artistic Director; Sherwin M. Goldman, Executive Producer); Choreography: Larry Fuller; Scenery: Eugene Lee; Costumes: Franne Lee; Lighting: Ken Billington; Choral Direction: Gary Thor Wedow; Musical Direction: George Manahan Cast: Keith Phares (Anthony Hope), Mark Delavan (Sweeney Todd), Timothy Nolen (Sweeney Todd, alternate), Judith Blazer (Beggar Woman), Elaine Paige (Mrs. Lovett), Myrna Paris (Mrs. Lovett, alternate), Walter Charles (Judge Turpin), Roland Rusinek (The Beadle), Sarah Coburn (Johanna), Keith Jameson (Tobias Ragg), Andrew Drost (Pirelli), William Ledbetter (Jonas Fogg); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Company Chorus and 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” (Keith Phares, Mark Delavan, Judith Blazer); “The Barber and His Wife” (Mark Delavan); “The Worst Pies in London” (Elaine Paige); “Poor Thing” (Elaine Paige); “My Friends” (Mark Delavan, Elaine Paige); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (”Lift Your Razor High, Sweeney!”) (Company); “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” (Sarah Coburn); “Ah, Miss” (Keith Phares); “Johanna” (“I’ll Steal You, Johanna”) (Keith Phares); “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir” (Keith Jameson, Mark Delavan, Elaine Paige, Company); “The Contest” (Andrew Drost); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Sweeney Pondered and Sweeney Planned”) (Judith Blazer, Company); “Johanna” (“Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa”) (Walter Charles); “Wait” (Elaine Paige); “The

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Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“His Hands Were Quick, His Fingers Strong”) (Three Tenors); “Kiss Me” (Sarah Coburn, Keith Phares); “Ladies in Their Sensitivities” (Roland Rusinek); “Kiss Me” (aka “Quartet”) (Sarah Coburn, Keith Phares, Roland Rusinek, Walter Charles); “Pretty Women” (Mark Delavan, Walter Charles); “Epiphany” (Mark Delavan); “A Little Priest” (Mark Delavan, Elaine Paige) Act Two: “God, That’s Good!” (Keith Jameson, Elaine Paige, Mark Delavan, Judith Blazer, Customers); “Johanna” (“I Feel You, Johanna”) (Keith Phares, Mark Delavan, Elaine Paige, Judith Blazer); “By the Sea” (Elaine Paige); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Sweeney’d Waited Too Long Before—”) (Quintet); “Not While I’m Around” (Keith Jameson, Elaine Paige); “Parlor Songs” (“Sweet Polly Plunkett” and “Ding Dong”) (Roland Rusinek); “City on Fire!” (Lunatics, Sarah Coburn, Keith Phares); “Final Sequence” (Keith Phares, Judith Blazer, Mark Delavan, Walter Charles, Elaine Paige, Sarah Coburn, Keith Jameson); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Lift Your Razor High, Sweeney!”) (Company); “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” (“Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd”) (Company) In his review of the New York City Opera Company’s third revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Bernard Holland in the New York Times said Sondheim’s “devilishly clever music” was “handsomely served” and the presentation “left a good taste in the mouth.” But sometimes Sondheim’s even “more devilishly clever” lyrics “didn’t stand a chance” in the “cavernous” New York State Theatre, and the amplification system made the “indistinctness” just so much louder. Some cast members had “small successes in communication,” including “theatre” pros Elaine Paige (Mrs. Lovett) and Walter Charles (Judge Turpin), but for all her “lovely operatic soprano,” Sarah Coburn (Johanna) “might as well have been singing in Hungarian” and although director Arthur Masella might have lent a “restraining hand” to Mark Delavan (Sweeney Todd), “opera singers can’t help being ‘operatic.’” Charles Isherwood in Variety said Paige gave “a rollicking, thoroughly delightful” performance,” that her “comic acting” was “lively without stooping to caricature,” and that she brought “a touch of warmth” to the role. Delavan seemed “oddly subdued,” and he “all but evaporated” in “A Little Priest,” but his “rich, dark baritone did full justice” to the score. Isherwood reported that the production included the Judge’s version of “Johanna” (which had been cut during previews of the original Broadway version), but “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir” was heard in a “truncated version.” The musical premiered on Broadway at the Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre on March 1, 1979, for 557 performances and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score. The plot centers on the falsely imprisoned Benjamin Barker, who, under the alias of Sweeney Todd, returns to London 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 characters, seven are murdered (five have their throats slit, one is shot, and another 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 was published in hardback and paperback by the Applause Musical Library in 1991. The script is also part of the hardback collection Four by Sondheim (Applause, 2000), and all 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 (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010). The original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (two-LP set # CBL2-3379 and twoCD set # 3379-2-RC), and includes the Judge’s version of “Johanna.” During the musical’s national tour with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn, the September 12, 1982, performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles was taped and shown on the Entertainment Channel, and was later released on DVD by Warner Home Video, Inc. (# T-6750). As of this writing, the musical has been revived in New York eight times (in Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, opera, and concert productions). The first of two Broadway revivals opened at the Circle in the Square on September 14, 1989, for 189 performances (Bob Gunton and Beth Fowler) in a production originally presented Off Off Broadway by the York Theatre Company at the Church of the Heavenly Rest on March 31, 1989, for a limited engagement of twenty-four performances. The second Broadway revival opened on November 3, 2005,

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at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for 349 showings (Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone) and was recorded on a two-CD set by Nonesuch Records (# 79946-2) (see entry). Prior to the current revival by City Opera, the work had been produced there twice at the New York State Theatre on October 11, 1984, for thirteen performances (Timothy Nolen and Rosalind Elias) and on July 29, 1987, for eleven performances (Timothy Nolen/Stanley Wexler and Marcia Mitzman/Joyce Castle). The work was also presented in two concert versions 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 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco with Hearn and LuPone 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 latter two won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. The 1980 production opened on July 2 at the Drury Lane for 157 performances (Denis Quilley and Sheila Hancock) and included a new second-act musical sequence (“Beggar Woman’s Lullaby”) for the Beggar Woman (Dilys Watling). A recording of highlights from the 2012 revival was released by First Night Records (CD # CASTCD-113) with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton. The 2007 film version was released by Dreamworks and Warner Brothers Pictures; directed by Tim Burton and scripted by John Logan, the film’s cast included 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” begins in Todd’s tonsorial parlor and then surreally catapults him onto the streets of London as he glowers at and sings 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 a blue sky and sparkling water background. The two-CD soundtrack album was released by Nonesuch Records (# 368572-2), the DVD was issued on a special two-disk edition by Dreamworks/Home Entertainment (# 13215), and a lavish 2007 hardback book by Titan Books 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 sung in English (BR Classics # 900316); a two-CD “accompaniment” recording with tracks without vocals and complete tracks with guide vocals (Stage Star Records # RPT-516); and the Trotter Trio’s Sweeney Todd . . . in Jazz (VareseSarabande CD # VSD-5603), an instrumental album with a vocal by Lorraine Feather for one selection (“Not While I’m Around”). The current revival was one of three Sondheim musicals produced during the season. Three weeks after Sweeney Todd closed, the lyricist and composer’s 1991 Off-Broadway musical Assassins made its Broadway premiere, and earlier in the season his Bounce had closed in Washington, D.C. (but as Road Show was later revived Off Broadway in 2008).

BARBARA COOK’S BROADWAY! Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: March 28, 2004; Closing Date: April 18, 2004 Performances: 7 Producers: Lincoln Center Theatre at the Vivian Beaumont (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors); Musical Direction: Wally Harper Cast: Barbara Cook, Wally Harper (Piano), Richard Sarpola (Bass) The concert was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers Note: The program indicated the songs heard in the concert would be chosen from the following: “It’s Not Where You Start” (Seesaw, 1973; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Cy Coleman); “(Walking) Among My Yesterdays” (The Happy Time, 1968; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “Wait ’Til We’re Sixty-

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Five” (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, 1965; lyric by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Burton Lane); “A Wonderful Guy” (South Pacific, 1949; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “My White Knight” (The Music Man, 1957; lyric and music by Meredith Willson); “Mister Snow” (Carousel, 1945; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “Nobody Else but Me” (1946 revival of Show Boat; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Jerome Kern); “It’s a Perfect Relationship” (Bells Are Ringing, 1956; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne); “Look What Happened to Mabel” (Mack & Mabel, 1974; lyric and music by Jerry Herman); “What’ll I Do?” (added to the score of Music Box Revue [1923, Third Edition] after its opening; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “Time Heals Everything” (Mack & Mabel, 1974; lyric and music by Jerry Herman); “The Gentleman Is a Dope” (Allegro, 1947; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “His Face” (as “Her Face” from Carnival!, 1961; lyric and music by Bob Merrill); “She Loves Me”/“No More Candy”/“A Trip to the Library”/“Tell Me I Look Nice”/“Tonight at Eight” (She Loves Me, 1963; lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock; Note: “Tell Me I Look Nice” was introduced by Cook during the tryout of She Loves Me before it was dropped prior to the Broadway opening); “This Nearly Was Mine” (South Pacific, 1949; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers); “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Jerome Kern); “Bill” (Show Boat, 1927; lyric by P. G. Wodehouse and Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Jerome Kern); “The Very Next Man” (Fiorello!, 1959; lyric by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock); “Make the Man Love Me” (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1951; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Arthur Schwartz); “The Party’s Over” (Bells Are Ringing, 1956; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne); “Why Did I Choose You?” (The Yearling, 1965; lyric by Herbert Martin, music by Michael Leonard) Two years earlier, Barbara Cook had appeared in her one-woman concert Mostly Sondheim, and now she was back for another solo evening of Broadway songs (in which she was accompanied by her longtime music director and arranger Wally Harper as well as bass player Richard Sarpola). But this time around it was Hardly Sondheim (“In Buddy’s Eyes” from the 1971 musical Follies wasn’t listed in the program, but Charles Isherwood in Variety praised the “crystalline clarity” and “complex weave of emotion” that she brought to it). “I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight?” wasn’t listed in the program, either, but Isherwood mentioned Cook offered a “snippet” of the number as a nod to King Lear, which was playing concurrently at the Vivian Beaumont (Cook’s performances were given when Lear was dark). Barbara Cook’s Broadway! was a limited engagement, and the evening was a mixture of autobiographical patter and songs, including six numbers from two of her Broadway musicals, and among them were “Tell Me I Look Nice,” which was cut from She Loves Me (1963) during its pre-Broadway tryout, and “My White Knight” from The Music Man (1957). Although her show-stopping aria “Glitter and Be Gay” from Candide (1956) was another number not listed in the program, Stephen Holden in the New York Times intriguingly noted that Cook played an “amusing joke” on the song. Isherwood reported that when Cook reflected upon her Broadway career, she stated “I wish someone had told me it was the golden age of musical comedy. I would have had more fun.” But the critic said Cook was “a golden age unto herself.” For more information about Cook’s concerts on Broadway, see Mostly Sondheim.

ASSASSINS Theatre: Studio 54 Opening Date: April 22, 2004; Closing Date: July 18, 2004 Performances: 101 Book: John Weidman Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: Joe Mantello; Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director of External Affairs); Choreography: Jonathan Butterell; Scenery: Robert Brill; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Marc Kudisch (Proprietor), James Barbour (Leon Czolgosz), Alexander Gemignani (John Hinckley), Denis O’Hare (Charles Guiteau), Jeffrey Kuhn (Giuseppe Zangara), Mario Cantone (Samuel Byck), Mary

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Catherine Garrison (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme), Becky Ann Baker (Sara Jane Moore), Michael Cerveris (John Wilkes Booth), Neil Patrick Harris (Balladeer, Lee Harvey Oswald), Brandon Wardell (David Herold), Anne L. Nathan (Emma Goldman), James Clow (James Blaine, President Gerald Ford), Merwin Foard (President James Garfield), Eamon Foley (Billy); Ensemble: James Clow, Merwin Foard, Eamon Foley, Kendra Kassebaum, Anne L. Nathan, Brandon Wardell The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in a surreal amusement park.

Musical Numbers “Everybody’s Got the Right” (Marc Kudisch, James Barbour, Denis O’Hare, Mary Catherine Garrison, Mario Cantone, Michael Cerveris, Jeffrey Kuhn, Alexander Gemignani, Becky Ann Baker); “The Ballad of Booth” (Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Cerveris); “How I Saved Roosevelt” (Jeffrey Kuhn, Ensemble); “Gun Song” (James Barbour, Michael Cerveris, Denis O’Hare, Becky Ann Baker); “The Ballad of Czolgosz” (Neil Patrick Harris, Ensemble); “Unworthy of Your Love” (Alexander Gemignani, Mary Catherine Garrison); “The Ballad of Guiteau” (Denis O’Hare, Neil Patrick Harris); “Another National Anthem” (Marc Kudisch, James Barbour, Michael Cerveris, Alexander Gemignani, Mary Catherine Garrison, Jeffrey Kuhn, Becky Ann Baker, Denis O’Hare, Mario Cantone, Neil Patrick Harris); “Something Just Broke” (Ensemble); “Everybody’s Got the Right” (reprise) (Becky Ann Baker, Mario Cantone, James Barbour, Jeffrey Kuhn, Mary Catherine Garrison, Alexander Gemignani, Neil Patrick Harris, Denis O’Hare, Michael Cerveris) Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is probably his most misunderstood musical, and may well be the most controversial one ever written. It clearly pushes buttons, and its raw subject matter isn’t for all tastes (tellingly, when the Kennedy Center presented its Sondheim Celebration in 2002, Assassins wasn’t part of the series which offered eight of the composer’s musicals). The work looks at assassins and would-be assassins of United States presidents, and some have suggested the musical analyzes the assassins to such a degree that it excuses and maybe even glorifies them. This misinterpretation is perhaps somewhat understandable, but off the mark. Sondheim and book writer John Weidman depict the assassins as marginalized and delusional losers who believe their acts will change the nation for the better and who are incapable of understanding that their evil deeds will bring nothing but chaos and tragedy. They crave attention and are driven by their egos and beliefs, and in an ironic sense they are indeed “winners” because they change the course of history. The musical takes place in a surreal amusement park where potential assassins can pick out their targets at a literal and metaphorical shooting gallery. They speak to us and to one another as they transcend time and space and exist in a dark and chilly limbo where it’s only fitting that their spiritual mentor is John Wilkes Booth, the first American presidential assassin. In a series of revue-like vignettes, each assassin has his or her moment of delusional self-justification with emotional grandstanding and often unmitigated hubris. Sondheim’s score was a masterful pastiche of American-styled music, including three story ballads, a Sousalike march, touches of Copeland, barbershop quartets, a few bars of “Hail to the Chief,” and for Hinckley and Fromme a Burt Bacharach parody that could have been a hit for the Carpenters (“Unworthy of Your Love”). The original 1991 Off-Broadway production had the misfortune to open during the Gulf War, and a proposed Broadway booking at the Music Box Theatre where previews were set to begin on November 1, 2001, was canceled after the terrorist attacks of September 11. In an interview with Richard Zoglin in Time just prior to the opening of the current revival, Sondheim joked, “Get your family out of town till we open” because “we seem to be the harbingers of disaster.” The 1991 production received mixed reviews. Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the evening was “odd” and “uncertain” with “thin” music, and in the same newspaper Douglas Watt found the book “piecemeal,” the direction “merely workmanlike,” the lyrics “inferior,” and the music “astonishingly weak”; but David Richards in the New York Times said the “audacious” work with its “instantly appealing” score was “like receiving a death notice in the form of a singing telegram” and he noted that “no musical in the last decade has dared this much.” The current revival was generally well received, but a critic or two felt it failed to achieve its lofty ambitions. Ben Brantley in the Times said that with “eloquence” and “intensity,” director Joe Mantello made a

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“compelling case” for the “glitteringly dark” musical. Here was a “lavish” production. The “brilliant design team” created “the look of tawdry splendor,” and the lighting scheme brought forth “glaring walls of color and deep pockets of shadows.” Charles Isherwood in Variety praised the “flawless” and “impeccably performed” production. He noted that Robert Brill’s décor offered “stark but wittily intricate sets,” and Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer’s lighting was “one of the signal artistic achievements of the Broadway season.” Isherwood found Sondheim’s songs “cohesive” and “artfully conceived,” and said the score was like “a single piece of music composed of theme and variations” in the manner of an oratorio that fused together more than a century of American music. And while John Lahr in the New Yorker felt the musical didn’t “think deeply” and had been “freighted with more weight than it can properly carry,” it at least thought “out of the box, which is itself an achievement.” And the revival was “well sung, gorgeous to look at, and meticulous in its detail.” Assassins was first presented Off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on January 27, 1991, for twentyfive performances. The production was directed by Jerry Zaks, and the cast members included Victor Garber (Booth), Patrick Cassidy (Balladeer), Terrence Mann (Czolgosz), Jonathan Hadary (Guiteau), Eddie Korbich (Zangara), Lee Wilkof (Byck), Debra Monk (Moore), and Annie Golden (Fromme). The cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 60737-2-RC) and the script was published in hardback and paperback editions by Theatre Communications Group in 1991. The lyrics of the songs are included in the hardback collection Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011). The cast album of the current production was recorded by PS Classics (CD # PS-421), and includes “Something Just Broke,” which had been added to the score for the London premiere at the Donmar Warehouse on October 29, 1992. Although the work had never before been presented on Broadway, the Tony Award committee deemed it eligible for Best Musical Revival and it won that award along with four others, including Best Direction for Mantello and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (for Michael Cerveris, who played Booth).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical Revival (Assassins); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Cerveris); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Denis O’Hare); Best Scenic Design (Robert Brill); Best Lighting Design (Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer); Best Direction of a Musical (Joe Mantello); Best Orchestrations (Michael Starobin)

BOMBAY DREAMS Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: April 29, 2004; Closing Date: January 1, 2005 Performances: 284 Book: Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan Lyrics: Don Black Music: A. R. Rahman Direction: Steven Pimlott; Producers: Waxman Williams Entertainment and TGA Enterprises in association with Denise Rich and Ralph Williams, Scott Prisand and Danny Seraphine, H. Thau/M. Cooper/AD Prods., and Independent Presenters Network (An Andrew Lloyd Webber Production) (Waxwill Theatrical Division, Executive Producer) (Sudhir Vaishnav, The Entertainment Partnership, and Alexander Fraser and Ken Denison, Associate Producers); Choreography: Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan; Scenery and Costumes: Mark Thompson; Lighting: Hugh Vanstone; Musical Direction: James L. Abbott Cast: Manu Narayan (Akaash); Eunuchs (Hijira)—Ron Nahass, Bobby Pestka, Darryl Semira, and Kirk Torigoe; Mueen Jahan Ahmad (Ram), Aalok Mehta (Salim), Madhur Jaffrey (Shanti), Sriram Ganesan (Sweetie), Neil Jay Shastri (Munna, for Monday, Friday, and Saturday evening performances), Tanvir Gopal (Munna, for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening performances and for Saturday matinee performances), Suresh John (Hard Hat), Gabriel Burrafato (Hard Hat, Policeman, Wedding Qawali Singer), Deep Katdare (Vikram), Anisha Nagarajan (Priya), Marvin L. Ishmael (Madan), Zahf Paroo (Pageant Announcer, Policeman, Movie Akaash, Wedding Qawali Singer), Ayesha Dharker (Rani), Jolly Abraham (Shaheen), Sarah

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Ripard (Kitty DaSouza), Darryl Semira (Movie Sweetie), Anjali Bhimani (Movie Shanti), Ian Jutsun (Wedding Qawali Singer); Slum Dwellers, Beauty Pageant Contestants, TV and Film Crew, Feminist Demonstrators, Shakalaka, Chaiyya Chaiyya, Film Salaa’m Bombay Dancers, Fishermen: Jolly Abraham, Mueen Jahan Ahmad, Aaron J. Albano, Celine Alwyn, Anjali Bhimai, Shane Bland, Gabriel Burrafato, Wendy Calio, Tiffany Michelle Cooper, Sheetal Gandhi, Krystal Kiran Garib, Tania Marie Hakkim, Dell Howlett, Suresh John, Ian Jutsun, Miriam Laube, Aalok Mehta, Ron Nahass, Michelle Nigalan, Zahf Paroo, Danny Pathan, Bobby Pestka, Kafi Pierre, Sarah Ripard, Darryl Semira, Kirk Torigoe The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in India during the present time.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture: “Salaa’m Bombay” (Manu Narayan, Sriram Ganesan, Ensemble); “Bollywood” (Manu Narayan, Ensemble); “Love’s Never Easy” (Sriram Ganesan, Anisha Nagarajan, Ensemble); “Lovely, Lovely, Ladies” (Ayesha Dharker, Ensemble); “Bhangra” (Manu Narayan, Ayesha Dharker, Ensemble); “Shakalaka Baby” (additional lyric and music by Marius de Vries) (lip-synched by Ayesha Dharker, Manu Narayan, and Ensemble; prerecorded vocal by Preeya Kalidas); “I Could Live Here” (Manu Narayan); “Is This Love?” (Anisha Nagarajan); “Famous” (Marvin L. Ishmael, Ayesha Dharker, Manu Narayan, Guests); “Love’s Never Easy” (reprise) (Anisha Nagarajan, Sriram Ganesan) Act Two: “Chaiyya Chaiyya” (Hindi lyric by Gulzar) (Manu Narayan, Ayesha Dharker, Ensemble); “How Many Stars?” (Manu Narayan, Anisha Nagarajan); “Salaa’m Bombay” (reprise) (Ayesha Dharker, Ensemble); “Hero” (Sriram Ganesan, Anisha Nagarajan); “Ganesh Procession” (Company); “The Journey Home” (Manu Narayan); “Wedding Qawali” (Punjabi lyric by Sukwinder Singh) (Company) Charles Isherwood in Variety noted that Taboo had drag queens and The Boy from Oz had Liza and Judy, but the $14 million London import Bombay Dreams “goes ’em one better” with a eunuch (actually, four better, with a quartet of them). The musical trod the familiar trail about Making It in Show Business, and thus had even more in common with Taboo and The Boy from Oz. Set in the world of Bollywood filmmaking, the story focused on Akaash (Manu Narayan), a young man from the slums who hopes to break into the movies. When he reaches stardom, he finds himself sexually involved with the shallow and narcissistic film diva Rani (Ayesha Dharker). But soon our hero realizes his heart belongs to his old neighborhood and Priya (Anisha Nagarajan), his girlfriend of yore, who makes independent documentaries about social conditions, or something like that. The musical first opened in London on June 19, 2002, at the Apollo Victoria Theatre for a run of two years, and for the Broadway version lead producer Andrew Lloyd Webber ensured that the musical underwent a makeover to make it clearer and more Americanized. To that end, Thomas Meehan was brought in to revise the book, David Yazbek rewrote some of Don Black’s lyrics, the songs were more integrated into the story, relationships among the characters were clarified, the number of musicians was almost doubled (London had ten, New York, nineteen), and composer A. R. Rahman wrote five new songs (“Bollywood,” “Lovely, Lovely, Ladies,” “Bhangra,” “Is This Love?,” and “Hero”). (For Broadway, eight musical sequences were dropped: “Bombay Awakes,” “Like an Eagle,” “Don’t Release Me,” “Happy Endings,” “Ooh La La,” “Only Love,” “Closer Than Ever,” and “Bombay Sleeps.”) The plot itself may have been old-hat, but Bombay Dreams offered a Bollywood setting and Indian characters, all fresh subject matter for Broadway. And it didn’t hurt that the show was one of the most lavish of the era, and even offered its own chandelier moment when a production number featured a fountain that appeared to be at least thirty-feet high. According to Jeffrey Eric Jenkins in Best Plays, the musical’s “honest” yet parodic look at Bollywood filmmaking probably confused “mainstream” Broadway audiences, who no doubt were unfamiliar with Bollywood movies and were perhaps unlikely to appreciate the joke. And Ben Brantley in the New York Times also noted that to enjoy pastiche “it helps to be in on the joke of what is being imitated.” Brantley found the evening “friendly, flat and finally unengaging,” an “expensive model of blandness” that nonetheless was not “painful to watch” and was sometimes “rather pleasant.” But for all the “gorgeous heaping helpings” of colors, the oranges, purples, and pinks blurred into “a monochromatic symphony in the key of beige.”

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Isherwood said the production was “synthetic at its core” and despite this “streamlined” and “more cleanly structured” version for Broadway, the evening was “blander” than the one in London and the show’s “worn-to-the-stump banalities” were still “no less prominent.” Ultimately, the saris were woven “from suspiciously synthetic fibers,” the décor often had “a plastic, factory-produced look” like “Barbie’s Bombay Dream House,” and the “bloated” and “shallow” production was like “curry made with ketchup.” John Lahr in the New Yorker said the evening was “one of the silliest musicals in recent memory,” and noted the hero “briefly forgets his roots, but not, unfortunately, the lyrics.” Isherwood liked Rahman’s “alluring” music, and noted it was “somehow appropriate” that “Shakalaka Baby” was “entirely lip-synched” because Bombay Dreams had “a karaoke kind of feeling, a secondhand flavor.” Actually, this touch is amusing because it kids the conventions of most movie musicals in which the cameras are rolling as the singers mouth prerecorded lyrics to an unseen orchestra, and so here for the filming of Diamond in the Rough (the musical-movie-within-the-musical) the show momentarily ignores Broadway conventions and turns the number upside down by presenting it in a soundstage version. The London cast album was released by Sony Records (CD # 508435-2/5084352000); and the four-hour documentary Salaam Bombay Dreams is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the London production, which was released on DVD by Really Useful Films (# EE-39033-9). The 2004 Swedish film Bombay Dreams is not related to the musical.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Costume Design (Mark Thompson); Best Choreography (Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan); Best Orchestrations (Paul Bogaev)

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE “A New Musical”

Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: May 2, 2004; Closing Date: August 29, 2004 Performances: 136 Book and Lyrics: Tony Kushner Music: Jeanine Tesori Direction: George C. Wolfe; Producers: Carole Shorenstein Hays, HBO Films, Jujamcyn Theatres, Freddy DeMann, Scott Rudin, Hendel/Morten/Westfeld, Fox Theatricals/Manocherian/Bergere, Roger Berlind, Clear Channel Entertainment, Joan Cullman, Greg Holland/Scott Nederlander, Margo Lion, Daryl Roth, and Zollo/Sine in association with the Public Theatre; Choreography: Hope Clarke; Scenery: Riccardo Hernandez; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Linda Twine Cast: Tonya Pinkins (Caroline Thibodeaux), Capathia Jenkins (The Washing Machine); The Radio: Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller; Harrison Chad (Noah Gellman), Chuck Cooper (The Dryer, The Bus), Alice Playten (Grandma Gellman), Reathel Bean (Grandpa Gellman), Veanne Cox (Rose Stopnick Gellman), David Costabile (Stuart Gellman), Chandra Wilson (Dotty Moffett), Aisha de Haas (The Moon), Anika Noni Rose (Emmie Thibodeaux), Leon G. Thomas III (Jackie Thibodeaux), Marcus Carl Franklin (Joe Thibodeaux), Larry Keith (Mr. Stopnick) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Lake Charles, Louisiana, during November and December 1963.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t include a list of musical numbers; the following information is taken from the original cast album. Act One: Washer/Dryer: “16 Feet Beneath the Sea” (Tonya Pinkins, Capathia Jenkins); “The Radio” (Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller); “Laundry Quintet” (Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva

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Hicks, Ramona Keller, Tonya Pinkins, Capathia Jenkins); “Noah Down the Stairs” (Harrison Chad); “The Cigarette” (Tonya Pinkins, Harrison Chad, Capathia Jenkins); “Laundry Finish” (Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller); “The Dryer” (Chuck Cooper, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller); “I Got Four Kids” (Tonya Pinkins, Chuck Cooper, Capathia Jenkins); Cabbage: “Caroline, There’s Extra Food” (Veanne Cox, Tonya Pinkins, Alice Playten, Reathel Bean, Harrison Chad); “There Is No God, Noah” (David Costabile); “Rose Stopnick Can Cook” (Alice Playten, Reathel Bean, David Costabile, Veanne Cox, Tonya Pinkins, Harrison Chad); Long Distance: “Long Distance” (Veanne Cox); Moon Change: “Dotty and Caroline” (Chandra Wilson, Tonya Pinkins, Aisha de Haas); “Moon Change” (Aisha de Haas); “Moon Trio” (Aisha de Haas, Chandra Wilson, Tonya Pinkins); “The Bus” (Chuck Cooper); “That Can’t Be” (Chandra Wilson, Tonya Pinkins, Aisha de Haas); “Noah and Rose” (Harrison Chad, Veanne Cox); “Inside/Outside” (Aisha de Haas, Harrison Chad, Veanne Cox); “JFK” (Alice Playten, Reathel Bean, Chandra Wilson, Aisha de Haas, Harrison Chad); Duets: “Duets: No One Waitin’” (Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller, Anika Noni Rose, Tonya Pinkins); “Duets: ‘Night Mamma” (Anika Noni Rose); “Duets: Gonna Pass Me a Law” (Tonya Pinkins, Harrison Chad); “Duets: Noah Go to Sleep” (Tonya Pinkins, Harrison Chad); The Bleach Cup: “Noah Has a Problem” (Tonya Pinkins, Veanne Cox); “Stuart and Noah” (David Costabile, Harrison Chad, Tonya Pinkins); “Quarter in the Bleach Cup” (Harrison Chad, Tonya Pinkins, Capathia Jenkins); “Caroline Takes My Money Home” (Harrison Chad, Tonya Pinkins, Anika Noni Rose, Leon G. Thomas III, Marcus Carl Franklin); “Roosevelt Petrucius Coleslaw” (Harrison Chad, Anika Noni Rose, Leon G. Thomas III, Marcus Carl Franklin, Tonya Pinkins) Act Two: Ironing: “Santa’s Comin’ Caroline” (Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller, Capathia Jenkins); “Little Reward” (Capathia Jenkins, Tonya Pinkins, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller); “1943” (Tonya Pinkins, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller, Capathia Jenkins); “Mr. Gellman’s Shirt” (Veanne Cox, Tonya Pinkins); “Ooh Child” (Capathia Jenkins, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller); “Rose Recovers” (Veanne Cox, Tonya Pinkins, Chuck Cooper); “I Saw Three Ships” (Leon G. Thomas III, Marcus Carl Franklin, Anika Noni Rose, Tonya Pinkins); The Chanukah Party: “The Chanukah Party” (David Costabile, Harrison Chad, Veanne Cox, Alice Playten, Reathel Bean, Larry Keith); “Dotty and Emmie” (Chandra Wilson, Anika Noni Rose, Tonya Pinkins); “I Don’t Want My Child to Hear That” (Tonya Pinkins, Larry Keith, Alice Playten, Reathel Bean, Veanne Cox); “Mr. Stopnick and Emmie” (Anika Noni Rose, Larry Keith, Tonya Pinkins, Veanne Cox); “Kitchen Fight” (Chandra Wilson, Anika Noni Rose, Tonya Pinkins); “A Twenty Dollar Bill and Why” (Larry Keith, Veanne Cox, Harrison Chad, Alice Playten, Chandra Wilson); “I Hate the Bus” (Anika Noni Rose); “Moon, Emmie and Stuart Trio” (Aisha de Haas, Anika Noni Rose, David Costabile); The Twenty Dollar Bill: “The Twenty Dollar Bill” (Harrison Chad, Veanne Cox, Larry Keith, Reathel Bean, Alice Playten, Capathia Jenkins, Tonya Pinkins); “Caroline and Noah Fight” (Harrison Chad, Tonya Pinkins, Chuck Cooper); Aftermath: “Aftermath” (Veanne Cox, Harrison Chad, David Costabile, Larry Keith); Lot’s Wife: “Sunday Morning” (Tonya Pinkins, Chandra Wilson); “Lot’s Wife” (Tonya Pinkins); How Long Has This Been Going On?: “Salty Teardrops” (Tracy Nicole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller); “Why Does Our House Have a Basement?” (Harrison Chad, Veanne Cox, Capathia Jenkins); “Underwater” (Tonya Pinkins, Harrison Chad); Epilogue: “Epilogue” (“Emmie’s Dream”) (Aisha de Haas, Anika Noni Rose, Leon G. Thomas III, Marcus Carl Franklin) Caroline, or Change was a serious and ambitious musical, and its creators were clearly sincere in their desire to present an almost Chekhovian story about Caroline (Tonya Pinkins), a black maid who works for the Jewish Gellman family in 1963 Louisiana. Caroline is bitter with the realization that she’s trapped by the choices she’s made during her life as well as by those strictures imposed upon her by society. Political, economic, and cultural changes are in the wind, but they don’t really affect her, and her life is defined by her work for the Gellmans, which seems to be an endless round of washing, drying, and ironing; by her four children (one in military service and three still at home), including Emmie (Anika Noni Rose), who sees the possibilities promised by the future; and by her relationship with the Gellman’s lonely eight-year-old son, Noah (Harrison Chad), who tries to cope with the death of his mother, his indifferent father, and his father’s new wife. It’s Noah who sets the story in motion with the double-edged meaning of the word change in the musical’s title. The boy has the habit of leaving loose change in his pockets, and his step-mother has told Caroline

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she may keep any change she finds in the laundry. Noah purposely leaves change in his pockets, as he secretly delights in the prospect that Caroline probably discusses the found money with her family. If Noah feels marginalized within his own family circle, he takes a certain comfort that perhaps he’s the subject of conversation with Caroline and her children. But matters come to a head when he accidentally leaves a twenty-dollar bill in his pocket, and he demands that Caroline give it back, even though by rights the money is hers. Cruel words are spoken between them, and the musical ends with their tenuous relationship not quite resolved. Noah asks if they can be friends again, but Caroline tells him they “weren’t never friends.” The two will no doubt resume their old ways to at least a certain extent because after all Caroline is employed by Noah’s family, but it’s clearly too late for Caroline to change. Like Lot’s wife, Caroline no longer has a heart of flesh and she’s too rigid and too unhappy to unbend and embrace change and the future. The creators were perhaps too close to the work, and without distance were unable to realize that the virtually sung-through musical verged on being smug and preachy as well as too jejune. As a result, the social context of the narrative never quite rang true and its people never became real human beings. It also didn’t help that Jeanine Tesori’s ambitious but nonetheless disappointing score didn’t compensate for librettist and lyricist Tony Kushner’s problematic story and characters. For one thing, the musical trod well-known territory. We’d seen other works that looked at Southern white families with black employees, and Caroline brought to mind both Carson McCullers’s 1950 drama The Member of the Wedding (which dealt with a lonely little white boy neglected by his widowed father and the boy’s relationship with the family’s black maid) and Alfred Uhry’s 1987 play Driving Miss Daisy (which focused on the prickly employer-employee relationship between a wealthy Jewish widow and her black chauffer). A source told Michael Riedel in the New York Post that Caroline was “Beulah without the laughs,” perhaps an unfair assessment but one that underscored the story’s overly familiar framework and made everyone assume they’d traveled down this well-worn path before. (Beulah was an ABC sitcom that ran from 1950 to 1953 and dealt with a black maid who always comes to the rescue of her bumbling and hapless white employers [the title character was first played by Ethel Waters, who had starred in The Member of the Wedding, and then by Louise Beavers].) Another problem with Caroline was its overly self-aware characters, who would have been more interesting had they not analyzed themselves so much. (Uhry’s play was all the more effective because its wry manner spoke volumes and its political points were made with irony and understatement.) The musical also employed fantasy elements to round out the storytelling, and as a result some of the performers were human embodiments of the washing machine, the dryer, the radio, a bus, and the moon. In theory, the conceit was no doubt promising, and within the confines of a more lighthearted work would probably have been successful. But Caroline was too dark and brooding a musical, and the use of actors to portray inanimate objects never quite worked within the serious context of the story. As a result the effect was far too cute and drew attention to itself. The show depicted the radio as a three-member, black-girl group, and thus was unlucky to be no less than the third currently running Broadway musical to utilize the tiresome three-black-girl gimmick (after Hairspray and the revival of Little Shop of Horrors); and there was no getting away from the use of girl groups, and so later in the decade they cropped up in Legally Blonde and Shrek. Even in Elliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor’s 2006 opera Grendel the titular dragon sported a Dragonette trio, who, according to Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times, provided “jokey vocal refrains”). Because Caroline came along after Hairspray and Horrors, perhaps the radio should have been reconceived as a solo singer, and maybe even a white one at that, which at least might have added a touch of originality to the radio’s appearances. The musical of course made social statements about race relations, but 2004 seemed a little late in the day for the show’s creators to discuss the events of the 1960s as groundbreaking news. Grandstanding didactic instruction was a fault of many shows of the era. There was a certain amount of condescension on the part of some writers and directors who with a smug and self-congratulatory air seemed compelled to inform presumably stupid and clueless audiences that discrimination in any form is unacceptable (even Hairspray and Wicked fell into this trap). Caroline had much working against it, and it was a hard sell to general audiences. It might have been unfair that some wags described it as the grumpy and sulky maid musical, but that’s the way the show came across. In fact, the impressive artwork by Paul Davis (which depicted the lonely, downcast, and clearly unhappy Caroline sitting dejectedly at a bus stop smoking a cigarette) was more evocative of a serious drama than a Broadway musical and wasn’t the kind of advertisement that encouraged potential ticket buyers to scurry to the box office.

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It seems clear no one actually expected the musical to succeed financially in the current Broadway marketplace, and in two columns prior to the Broadway opening Riedel wrote that “the musical doesn’t stand a chance of making a dime on Broadway, and everybody who’s willing to invest knows it,” adding, “it’s hard to imagine” that a show so “spectacularly uncommercial will ever have any profits.” But if insiders didn’t think the musical would emerge as a long-running and profitable venture, they no doubt thought it would enjoy a reasonably healthy run and so were no doubt surprised that the work could muster no more than four months on Broadway. It didn’t help that the musical was virtually shut out of the Tony Awards; despite six major nominations, it was awarded just one medal, to Anika Noni Rose for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. And Riedel was right: When the musical closed, it went down in the record books at a reported loss in the neighborhood of $5.5–$6 million. The musical had first been presented Off Broadway on November 30, 2003, at the Public’s Newman Theatre for 106 performances, and the Broadway transfer was well received by the critics. In his review of the Off-Broadway production, Ben Brantley in the New York Times said that “in ambition and achievement” the musical “handily tops any new musical this fall” and Pinkins had “never been better.” And for the Broadway transfer, the work was still “piercingly clear.” Charles Isherwood in Variety felt that for all “its intelligence and its eloquence,” the musical was “short on feeling, and on drama” and was “more successful at dissecting social dynamics than bringing to full theatrical life the human beings caught up in them.” When Pinkins launched into the eleven o’clock aria “Lot’s Wife,” it was a “big moment” that nonetheless was “more an intellectual than an emotional occasion” and Isherwood noted that Kushner had “left a vital element out of [Caroline’s] character, one that leaves an emotional hole at the center of his musical: a heart.” Richard Zoglin in Time reviewed the downtown production, and noted that although the musical aimed “for operatic tragedy” and kept “promising a big payday,” he couldn’t help but feel “a little shortchanged.” But one or two critics went into gush-overdrive, as if Caroline was the musical of the age, and John Lahr in the New Yorker suggested the evening brought forth a moment “in the history of theatre when stagecraft takes a new turn” and the show’s creators had here “bushwhacked a path beyond the narrative dead end of the deconstructed, overfreighted musicals” of the recent past. For Lahr, Caroline took the American musical “back to storytelling, to a moral universe, to a dissection of American society, and to folklore.” The two-CD cast album was released by Hollywood Records (# 2061-62436-2), and the script was published in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 2004. The 2007 documentary Show Business: The Road to Broadway chronicled Caroline, or Change and three other musicals that opened during the season (Wicked, Taboo, and Avenue Q) and was released on DVD by Genius Products and Liberation Entertainment (# 80543).

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Caroline, or Change); Best Book (Tony Kushner); Best Score (lyrics by Tony Kushner, music by Jeanine Tesori); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Tonya Pinkins); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Anika Noni Rose); Best Direction of a Musical (George C. Wolfe)

MARC SALEM’S MIND GAMES ON BROADWAY Theatre: Lyceum Theatre Opening Date: May 24, 2004; Closing Date: November 22, 2004 Performances: 30 Producer: Delphi Productions Cast: Marc Salem The magic revue was presented in one act. The mentalist Marc Salem performed his revue at the Lyceum Theatre on those Monday nights when the drama I Am My Own Wife was dark (and for a few consecutive Mondays after the drama permanently closed); and when the play closed for vacation during the week beginning August 30, 2004, Salem gave a full week of performances.

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Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times praised the “mind-boggling entertainment sugared with quick wit and plenty of laughter,” and said Salem was so adroit with his tricks that “in another age he would kindle the fever of witch hunters.” Van Gelder reported that the mentalist amazed a doctor in the audience by speeding up and then stopping his (Salem’s) pulse; could produce a previously recorded tape of his voice in which he had recited a series of numbers that had just been provided to him by an audience member; and blindfolded could identify a $2 dollar bill, including its serial number. Salem stated “he doesn’t do anything that can’t be done by a 10-year-old with 30 years of practice.” As MindGames, an earlier version of the revue had been produced Off Broadway at the Westside Theatre Downstairs on November 17, 1997, for 237 performances, and Marc Salem’s Mind Games Too played at the Duke on 42nd Street beginning on December 3, 2001, for forty-eight performances. In his review of the 1997 production, Van Gelder said the evening was “good, old-fashioned family fun” and Salem was “genial,” “quick-witted,” and a “busy thief of thoughts.” A few weeks after the opening of MindGames, Rick Lyman in the Times reported that the revue’s producers announced they’d award both a certified check for $100,000 to anyone who could prove Salem used “electronic devices, hidden cameras or unseen assistants” and a $50,000 check to be given to the winner’s charity of choice.

BOUNCE

“A New Musical” The musical began previews at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, on June 20, 2003, officially opened on June 30, and closed there on August 10. It then played at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre where it began previews on October 21, officially opened on October 30, and closed on November 16, without playing in New York. (As Road Show, a revised version of the musical opened Off Broadway in 2009; for more information, see below.) Book: John Weidman Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: Harold Prince; Producer: The Goodman Theatre (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director) (for Washington, D.C., the credits also cited The Kennedy Center as a producer); Choreography: Michael Arnold; Scenery: Eugene Lee; Costumes: Miguel Angel Huidor; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: David Caddick Cast: Sean Blake (Ensemble), Marilynn Bogetich (Ensemble), Gavin Creel (Hollis Bessemer), Tom Daugherty (Ensemble), Jeff Dumas (Ensemble), Deanna Dunagan (Ensemble), Nicole Grothues (Ensemble), Rick Hilsabeck (Ensemble), Richard Kind (Addison Mizner), Herndon Lackey (Papa Mizner), Howard McGillin (Wilson Mizner), Jeff Parker (Ensemble), Michele Pawk (Nellie), Harriet Nzinga Plumpp (Ensemble), Jane Powell (Mama Mizner), Jenny Powers (Ensemble), Craig Ramsay (Ensemble), Jacquelyn Ritz (Ensemble), Fred Zimmerman (Ensemble); Note: The cast members appeared in both the Chicago and Washington, D.C., productions; the Washington program included an expansion of Herndon Lackey’s roles, and besides Papa Mizner he also played the following characters: Yukon Bartender, Hawaiian Businessman, Hong Kong Businessman, Plantation Owner, Cyrus Bessemer, Minister, Paul Armstrong, Land Boom Promoter, and Edward Stotesbury. The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in “America and Elsewhere, 1896–1933.”

Musical Numbers (Chicago) Act One: “Bounce” (Howard McGillin, Richard Kind); “Opportunity” (Herndon Lackey, Richard Kind, Howard McGillin, Jane Powell); “Gold!” (Prospector, Howard McGillin, Jane Powell, Richard Kind, Alaskans); “Gold!” (reprise) (Poker Players); “What’s Your Rush?” (Michele Pawk); “Next to You” (Richard Kind, Howard McGillin, Jane Powell); “Addison’s Trip Around the World” (Richard Kind, Salesmen, Guatemalans, Servants); “What’s Your Rush?” (reprise) (Howard McGillin, Mrs. Yerkes); “Alaska” (Mrs. Yerkes, Howard McGillin); “New York Sequence” (Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk, Reporters, Photographer, Ketchel, Armstrong, Jockey, Gamblers, Policemen, Wilson’s Women); “The Best Thing That Ever (Has)

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Happened to Me” (Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk); “Isn’t He Something?” (Jane Powell); “Bounce” (reprise) (Richard Kind) Act Two: “The Game” (Richard Kind, Michele Pawk, Howard McGillin, Promoter); “Talent” (Gavin Creel); “You” (Richard Kind, Gavin Creel, Aristocrats); “Addison’s City” (Gavin Creel, Howard McGillin, Richard Kind, Michele Pawk); “Boca Raton Sequence” (Boca Girl, Sportsmen, Fashion Models, Yachtsmen, Caruso, Salvador Dali, Howard McGillin, Richard Kind, Michele Pawk, Gavin Creel, Prospector, Varmints, Bobby Jones, Mae West, Princess Ghika, Chorus); “Last Fight” (Richard Kind, Howard McGillin); “Bounce” (reprise) (Howard McGillin, Richard Kind)

Musical Numbers (Washington, D.C.) Act One: “Bounce” (Howard McGillin, Richard Kind); “Opportunity” (Herndon Lackey, Jane Powell); “Gold” (Prospector, Howard McGillin, Jane Powell, Richard Kind, Alaskans); “What’s Your Rush?” (Michele Pawk); “The Game” (Howard McGillin); “Next to You” (Richard Kind, Howard McGillin, Jane Powell); “Addison’s Trip” (Richard Kind, Salesmen, Guatemalans, Servants); “The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened” (Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk); “I Love This Town” (Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk, Richard Kind, Company); “Isn’t He Something!” (Jane Powell); “Bounce” (reprise) (Richard Kind) Act Two: “The Game” (reprise) (Richard Kind, Michele Pawk, Howard McGillin, Herndon Lackey); “Talent” (Gavin Creel); “You” (Richard Kind, Gavin Creel, Aristocrats); “Addison’s City” (Gavin Creel, Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk, Richard Kind); “Get Rich Quick” (Company); “Last Fight” (Richard Kind, Howard McGillin); “Bounce” (reprise) (Howard McGillin, Richard Kind) As of this writing, Stephen Sondheim’s most recent musical is Bounce (earlier known as Wise Guys and Gold! and later as Road Show), a work perhaps best described as the show that bounced around without a discernible concept. Perhaps all the title changes are indicative of indecision on the part of the show’s creators, because the musical never settled on a tone or theme, and for all its nurturing was maddeningly elusive with a hazy point of view that seemed content to bounce along without bothering to focus on a single through line. Geographically, the characters wandered all over the map, and theatrically the show was a wanderer, too, as it trod a long road of ideas and themes that never reached a destination. One expected more from such masters of the form as Sondheim and director Harold Prince, and when the musical closed in Washington, D.C., it went down as a deep disappointment because it was Sondheim’s first musical in nine years (the desultory Passion had opened on Broadway in 1994) and was Prince and Sondheim’s first collaboration since Merrily We Roll Along in 1981. The musical was based on the lives of two real-life brothers, Addison Mizner (Richard Kind) and Wilson Mizner (Howard McGillin) who made a fortune in the Alaskan Gold Rush of the 1890s and later became pivotal figures in the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Along the way, Addison becomes professionally and romantically involved with the rich architect Hollis Bessemer (Gavin Creel), and Wilson with Nellie (Michele Pawk), a Yukon dance-hall hostess who works her way up the ladder of wealth and social respectability. In the meantime, the brothers spar over their relationship with Mama Mizner (Jane Powell), who dotes on the undependable Wilson and gives short shrift to the dutiful Addison. At times the musical verged into Gypsy territory with its look at the sometimes tenuous relationship between Mama and her boys; at other moments it focused on American optimism and resilience where despite momentary setbacks one always bounces back for a metaphorical second or third act; and sometimes it seemed ready to emerge as a witty and unique musical look at real estate and American entrepreneurship. The depiction of Addison and Hollis’s affair never quite rang dramatically true, and the gay subplot seemed gratuitous to the main action; and last but not least the musical touched upon but never delved into the dual nature of the brothers’ relationship, one of simultaneous rivalry and interdependence. Whatever Bounce was, it was about nothing much, and it was disappointing that the story threads of John Weidman’s book were little more than a collection of narrative loose ends. To be sure, the show was never boring and often fascinating, but was ultimately frustrating because it never pulled together the evening’s disparate elements into a satisfying and unified whole. Sondheim’s score came off best, and the master was especially dazzling in expanded pieces that played like mini-musical scenes. As a result, “Addison’s Trip” and the second-act Boca Raton/real estate sequences

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(“Talent,” “Addison’s City,” and “Boca Raton”) were among the show’s finest moments and were theatrically and musically exciting. Nellie’s ballad “The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened” was appealing, and best of all was Mama’s ballad “Isn’t He Something!” The latter was Mama’s valentine to the wayward Wilson, who hardly writes or calls but is nonetheless her favorite, and the double-edged and clever lyric both served the story and at the same time worked independently as a torch song. In some ways, the number is reminiscent of Jerry Herman’s “If He Walked into My Life” from Mame, where in the context of that musical it’s about an aunt’s relationship with her nephew but outside the show found life as a straightforward ballad. Bounce began life as Wise Guys when it was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the theatre complex in 1996, and although the presentation never came to fruition at that time, the show was later announced for a Kennedy Center run during the summer of 1998, a booking that was eventually canceled. A 1998 reading of Wise Guys was followed by three weeks of private workshop performances at the New York Theatre Workshop beginning on October 29, 1999. Directed by Sam Mendes, the cast included Nathan Lane (Addison), Victor Garber (Wilson), Candy Buckley (Mama), William Parry (Papa), Michael C. Hall (Hollis), Brooks Ashmanskas, Jessica Boevers, Kevin Chamberlin, Christopher Fitzgerald, Jessica Molasky, Nancy Opel, Clarke Thorell, Lauren Ward, and Ray Wills. The book used the promising format of a vaudeville show to tell its picaresque story, and the title song (also known as “First Vaudeville,” “Second Vaudeville,” etc., and in effect the show’s theme song heard numerous times throughout the evening) was an old-time dazzling bit of musical horseplay for the two boys, but it got lost on the road to Bounce and Road Show. For the 1998 reading of Wise Guys, the following songs were heard (per Sondheim’s collection of lyrics Look, I Made a Hat): “First Vaudeville,” “Benicia,” “My Two Young Men,” “Gold!,” “Second Vaudeville,” “Next to You,” “Addison’s Trip,” “Dowagers,” “The Good Life,” “The Game,” “Journalists,” “What’s Next?,” “The Game” (reprise), “What’s Next?” (reprise), “Third Vaudeville,” “What’s Next?” (second reprise), “I’m on My Way,” “Fourth Vaudeville,” “Palm Beach Sequence,” “Fifth Vaudeville,” “Boca Raton Sequence,” “Get Out of My Life,” and “Final Vaudeville.” For the 1999 workshop, the following numbers were presented: “First Vaudeville,” “It’s in Your Hands Now,” “My Two Young Men,” “Gold!,” “The Game,” “Second Vaudeville,” “Next to You,” “Addison’s Trip,” “Stay Right Where You Are,” “That Was a Year,” “A Little House for Mama,” “Isn’t He Something!,” “Third Vaudeville,” “Fourth Vaudeville,” “Talent,” “Palm Beach Sequence,” “Make It Through the Night,” “Fifth Vaudeville,” “Boca Raton Sequence,” “Call It Home,” “Get Out of My Life,” “Go,” and “Final Vaudeville.” As the years passed, Wise Guys became known as Gold!, and then in 2003 as Bounce it opened in Chicago and Washington, D.C., in a production directed by Prince. The national critics were requested to review only the Washington edition, but both productions were reviewed and cool notices from both runs squelched any talk of a Broadway transfer. But the cast album was recorded in Washington by Nonesuch Records (CD # 79830-2) in two separate editions (one with a red cover, the other in white) and included a song cut from the 1999 workshop (“A Little House for Mama”). Songs cut just prior to the Chicago production were “On My Left” and “Never Say Die,” and while “I Love This Town,” “Get Out of My Life,” and “Go” weren’t listed in the Chicago program, they may have been heard at one point or another during the run there (“I Love This Town” was performed in the Washington production). In his review of the Chicago production, Chris Jones in Variety said the musical “spluttered” onto the stage “in a sad case of dramaturgical chaos” and there was so much “chaotic filler” in Weidman’s book that the show failed “to establish a key idea.” It was a pity, because Sondheim’s “thoroughly splendid, traditional Broadway score” with its “jaunty and poignant melodies” deserved better. Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune said that despite “flashes of inspiration,” Bounce wasn’t “quite enough” and “too many” of the book scenes “plain don’t work.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post found the first act sheer “drudgery,” and Prince did “little to electrify it”; there were occasional “drips and drabs of so-so choreography”; the brothers’ relationship “never takes hold”; and the score didn’t seem “overwhelming on first hearing.” Jayne Blanchard in the Washington Times said the evening lacked “buoyancy,” the book was “clunky,” the characters “unappealing,” and the score “brilliant only in fits and starts.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that Bounce lacked “a good book,” the relationship between the two brothers needed to be “focused and exploited,” Prince’s direction was “flaccid,” the performances by Kind and McGillin were “frantic,” and the décor looked “cheap” in the manner of a “concept gone awry.”

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Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the musical never left its “starting point” and kept “a quaint distance from its subjects, as if viewing them through a stereopticon.” The score offered “a whispering of earlier, more flashily complex Sondheim scores” and had “a conventional surface perkiness that suggests a more old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing kind of show,” and as a result it was Sondheim the “craftsman” and not Sondheim the “artist” who dominated the evening. Elysa Gardner in USA Today suggested that perhaps Sondheim wasn’t the “right” lyricist and composer for Bounce, but nonetheless the evening’s “sharper” and most “revealing exchanges” between the brothers were to be found in Sondheim’s lyrics, and these reaffirmed his “legendary cleverness and his undervalued emotional acuity.” Otherwise, the book was “less than fully formed” and the “tone and pace” of the production felt both “rushed and enervated.” Linda Winer in Newsday said Bounce was “minor Sondheim” and Weidman’s book was “doggedly straightforward.” But Sondheim and Weidman didn’t give up, and a revised version of Bounce opened on November 18, 2008, at the Public Theatre’s Newman Theatre as Road Show for twenty-eight performances. Directed by John Doyle, the cast included Alexander Gemignani (Addison), Michael Cerveris (Wilson), Alma Cuervo (Mama Mizner), and William Parry (Papa Mizner). The work was presented in one act, and included three new songs (“Waste,” “Brotherly Love,” and “Land Boom!”) and retained thirteen from earlier versions (“It’s in Your Hands Now,” “Gold!,” “The Game,” “Addison’s Trip,” “Isn’t He Something!,” “That Was a Year,” “Talent,” “You,” “The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened,” “Addison’s City,” “Boca Raton Sequence,” “Get Out of My Life,” and “Go”). The critics found Road Show a darker, more complex, and more satisfying production than Bounce, and now Gardner said it was “a decidedly different work” that was “tighter and darker” and “more disturbing and exhilarating.” The musical was “taut” and “thrilling, and the “dysfunctional” yet “tortured rapport” between the brothers was now “painfully convincing.” Brantley found the new version “toughened-up and seriously darkened” and “more somber” with “creepier Freudian accents.” But the evening wasn’t “affecting” and there were too many expository songs that became “repetitive” and didn’t allow the audience to know and understand the brothers. The work hinted “at dark and shimmering glories beneath the surface” that were never realized, and Road Show simply didn’t “quite know what to do with the riches at its disposal.” David Rooney in Variety felt the “imperfect” musical was nonetheless an “alluring odyssey” that needed “more emotional texture and lucidity.” Sondheim’s score was “less complex” than usual, but the songs were “nonetheless unmistakably Sondheim.” He noted that “Isn’t He Something!” was “memorable” and “The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened” was “sweet” (heretofore, the latter had been performed by Wilson and Nellie, but when her character was written out of Road Show, the song became a duet for Addison and Hollis). Hinton Als in the New Yorker said the book was “confused” and one couldn’t be sure if the work was a vaudevillian piece about money or “a serious drama about fraternal love and hate.” The “potentially complex” story wasn’t “borne out by the text,” and Weidman’s book provided “sketches” while Sondheim was “intent on making a painting,” and thus the audience was “unsure where to focus.” Further, Sondheim’s usual brilliance could sometimes be “undercut” by the “weaknesses in the books for his shows,” and this was the case for Road Show. But “Isn’t He Something!” was a “gorgeous aria.” The cast album of Road Show was issued by Nonesuch/PS Classics Records (CD # 518940-2), and the script was published in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 2009. All the lyrics for the musical are included in Sondheim’s 2011 collection Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany. As far back as the early 1950s, Sondheim had been interested in writing a musical about the Mizner brothers, and it’s worth noting that Irving Berlin was also fascinated with the subject and during 1955 and 1956 actually wrote sixteen songs for a proposed but unproduced musical version. In the 2001 collection The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, Robert Kimball and Linda Emmet report that Wise Guy and The Mizner Story were the musical’s early titles before Sentimental Guy was finally settled upon, and S. N. Behrman wrote the book. The following songs (including one titled “Gold”) were written by Berlin for the show, and their lyrics are of course included in his Complete Lyrics: “Three More Minutes to Midnight” (“Opening”) (aka “Opening the Mizner Story”), “Two More Minutes to Midnight” (“Opening Chorus”) (aka “Opening the Mizner Story”), “Card Sense,” the “double song” “Dallas” and “I Like New York,” “Love Leads to Marriage,” “You’re a Sucker for a Dame,” “The Snobs on the Wrong Side of the Track,” “You’re a Sentimental Guy,” “I Never Want to See You Again,” “Anybody Can Write” (a revised version of this song was intended for Berlin’s 1962

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musical Mr. President), “Gold,” “Klondike Kate,” “It Takes More Than Love to Keep a Lady Warm,” “Love Is for Boys,” and “You’d Make a Wonderful Wife for Some Man.” The songs “Love Leads to Marriage,” “You’re a Sucker for a Dame,” and “You’re a Sentimental Guy” are included in the two-CD collection Unsung Irving Berlin (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD2-5632).

THE GREAT OSTROVSKY “A New Musical Comedy”

After a series of previews that began on March 6, 2004, the musical premiered at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 13 and permanently closed there on March 28 without opening in New York. Book: Avery Corman Lyrics: Cy Coleman and Avery Corman Music: Cy Coleman Direction: Douglas C. Wager (Patricia Birch, Codirector); Producer: The Prince Music Theatre (Marjorie Samoff, Producing Artistic Director); Choreography: Patricia Birch (Deanna Dys, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Zach Brown, Scenic Consultant; Costumes: Miguel Angel Huidor (Martin Lopez, Assistant Costume Designer); Lighting: Troy A. Martin-O’Shia; Musical Direction: Steven Gross Cast: Bob Gunton (David Ostrovsky), Edward Staudenmayer (Liebowitz), Paul Kandel (Pincus), Daniel Marcus (Schwartz), Nick Corley (Gransky), Jeffry Denman (Fiedler, Otto), Logan Lipton (Morris), Deanna L. Dys (Devorah, Etta, Zelda), Louise Pitre (Rose), Jonathan Hadary (Epstein), Kirsten Wyatt (Minna), Rachel Ulanet (Jenny), Jeff Edgerton (B. D. Kotlow) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during the 1920s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “It’s Good to Be Alive” (Bob Gunton, Company); “My People” (Bob Gunton); “Digga-Digga-Di” (Rachel Ulanet); “I’m Good” (Bob Gunton); “Have You Ever Been to Lakewood?” (Daniel Marcus, Nick Corley); “On Top” (Jonathan Hadary); “The Liebowitz Theatre” (Edward Staudenmayer, Bob Gunton); “The Socialist Party” (Jeff Edgerton, Rachel Ulanet); “The List of ‘Ist’” (Bob Gunton); “Pincus and Epstein” (Paul Kandel, Jonathan Hadary); “A Mother’s Love” (Louise Pitre, Bob Gunton); “I’d Love to Be in Love with You” (Rachel Ulanet); “Be an Actor” (Bob Gunton) Act Two: “On with the Show” (Bob Gunton); “The Answer Has Always Been You” (Louise Pitre, Bob Gunton); “The First Time” (Rachel Ulanet, Jeff Edgerton); “The Liebowitz Theatre” (Edward Staudenmayer); “You Took Me by Surprise” (Bob Gunton, Jeff Edgerton); “It’s Good to Be Alive” (reprise) (Bob Gunton, Company) Cy Coleman’s The Great Ostrovsky was an affectionate look at the world of Yiddish theatre in New York during the 1920s, but according to Toby Zinman in Variety the evening featured “ham and cheese with lots of schmaltz,” the jokes were “clichéd,” the lyrics obvious, and every song was laden with “too many” verses, most of them set to music “vaguely reminiscent of a song you already know.” Ultimately, the “stupefying” score turned into “a kind of Yiddish Muzak.” The world of Second Avenue’s Yiddish theatre had been explored in a number of musicals, all of them failures: Café Crown (1964) shuttered after three performances, and despite Robert Preston as its star The Prince of Grand Street (1978) collapsed during its pre-Broadway tryout. Even the obscure 1978 television musical Actor (about Paul Muni’s early years in Yiddish theatre, which starred Michael Kidd) didn’t make much of an impression. These and The Great Ostrovsky were of course book shows, but there were also a smattering of Off- and Off-Off-Broadway revues which paid tribute to the glory days of Yiddish theatre, including Vagabond Stars (1982). Yiddish theatre is particularly remembered for its adaptations of serious plays (such as King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, and A Doll House) which were sprinkled with a Jewish sensibility and a happy ending. Ostrovsky

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looked at Ibsen’s classic, but here Nora never gets near the door: her husband informs her that a nice Jewish wife doesn’t walk out on her family and so sit down and let’s have a nice cup of tea. King Lear also found its way into Ostrovsky, and of course it had been the subject of a ballet in Café Crown, a sequence which Walter Kerr in the New York Herald-Tribune found “grisly.” The Great Ostrovsky was the second of two musicals by Cy Coleman that opened during the season and failed to reach Broadway (the other was Like Jazz).

LIKE JAZZ “A New Kind

of

Musical”

After a series of previews that began on November 21, 2003, the musical opened on December 3 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, California, and permanently closed there on January 25, 2004, without opening on Broadway. Book: Larry Gelbart Lyrics: Alan and Marilyn Bergman Music: Cy Coleman Direction: Gordon Davidson; Producer: A Center Theatre Group Presentation; Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery and Lighting: D. Martyn Bookwalter; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Musical Direction: Tom Kubis Cast: Patti Austin, Jennifer Chada, Cleavant Derricks, Kathy Durham, Harry Groener, Dameka Hayes, Greg Poland, Jack Sheldon, Timothy Ware, Lillias White, Carlton Wilborn, Natalie Willes

Musical Numbers Notes: When known, performers’ names are given. Act One: “Intro”; “Biography”; “He Was Cool” (Lillias White); “In Miami”; “Don’t Touch My Horn” (Jack Sheldon); “59th and 3rd” (Jennifer Chada; danced by Natalie Willes); “Quality Time”; “Another Night, Another Song” (Cleavant Derricks); “An Autumn Afternoon” (Patti Austin); “Those Hands” (Lillias White) Act Two: “Scattitude” (Patti Austin); “Music That You Know by Heart” (Lillias White); “The Double Life of Billy T.” (Jennifer Chada); “A Little Trav’lin Music” (Jack Sheldon); “Being without You” (Cleavant Derricks, Patti Austin); “Cheatin’” (Patti Austin, Lillias White); “Before We Lose the Light”; “Makin’ Music” The revue Like Jazz was the first of two musicals by Cy Coleman that opened during the season, and like The Great Ostrovsky it closed during its tryout and never played on Broadway. The show’s “book” was credited to Larry Gelbart, and its intention was to provide a history of jazz that was peppered by Coleman’s score. But the evening was more in the nature of a revue in which Harry Groener served as commentator, and while Coleman’s songs served as examples of jazz, one wonders if the work might have been stronger had it used actual jazz material rather than new examples of such music. Phil Gallo in Variety said the show was “a cursory history lesson” with “a load of stream-of-conscious malarkey in the text and lyrics.” Further, Coleman’s score consisted of “show tunes,” and to coax jazz from the numbers the musical arrangers should have left room “for syncopation and improvised solos” and the singers should have accented “blue notes” and abandoned “Broadway techniques.” The dances and costumes evoked a number of eras, and Gallo noted that “the clothing works better than the choreography” (but the “untucked black outfits” for the eighteen musicians looked like pajamas). Prior to the opening of Like Jazz, advertisements stated that Patti Austin would be out of the show for five performances during the period December 28–31, and that Jennifer Holliday would substitute for those showings. Like Jazz had first been presented on May 17, 2002, at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall in Washington, D.C., as Songs for a New Millennium—Portraits in Jazz: A Gallery of Songs. The cast included later Like Jazz cast members Lillias White and Patti Austin, and others in the Washington production were Carl Anderson and Steve Tyrell. Two years after Like Jazz closed, a revised version known as In the Pocket was announced for Broadway but was never produced.

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SEÑOR DISCRETION HIMSELF After a series of previews beginning on April 9, 2004, the musical opened on April 15 at Arena Stage’s Fichandler Theatre in Washington, D.C., where it permanently closed on May 24 without opening in New York. Book: Frank Loesser and Culture Clash (Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza) Lyrics and Music: Frank Loesser. Based on the 1966 short story “Señor Discretion Himself” by Budd Schulberg (which was first published in Playboy magazine). Direction: Charles Randolph-Wright; Producer: Arena Stage (Molly Smith, Artistic Director; Stephen Richard, Executive Director); Choreography: Doriana Sanchez (Jamal Story, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Thomas Lynch; Costumes: Emilio Sosa; Lighting: Michael Gilliam; Musical Direction: Brian Cimmet Cast: Doreen Montalvo (Curandera), Shawn Elliott (Pancito), Tony Chiroldes (Father Francisco), Carlos Lopez (Father Manuel), Robert Almodovar (Father Orlando), Margo Reymundo (Carolina), Elena Shaddow (Lupita), Ivan Hernandez (Martin), John Bolton (Hilario), Diego Prieto (Jose), Eduardo Placer (Jimenez), Steven Cupo (Cantinero), Lynnette Marrero (La India Maria), Laura-Lisa (Aerialist), Rayanne Gonzales (Old Woman), Deanna Harris (Dolores), Venny Carranza (Inspector Garcia); Ensemble: Venny Carranza, Steven Cupo, Rayanne Gonzales, Deanna Harris, Laura-Lisa, Lynnette Marrero, Eduardo Placer, Diego Prieto The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at the present time in Tepancingo, a small town in Southern Mexico.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Incantation” (Doreen Montalvo); “Padre, I Have Sinned” (Carlos Lopez, Tony Chiroldes, Elena Shaddow, Ivan Hernandez, Ensemble); “To See Her” (John Bolton, Tony Chiroldes); “Pan, Pan, Pan” (John Bolton, Ensemble); “Papa, Come Home” (Margo Reymundo, Ensemble); “I Dream” (Ivan Hernandez); “I Got to Have a Somebody” (Elena Shaddow, Girls); “Nightmare” (Doreen Montalvo, Shawn Elliott, Ensemble); “The Real Curse of Drink” (Shawn Elliott, Doreen Montalvo); “You Understand Me” (John Bolton, Shawn Elliott); “Heaven Smiles on Tepancingo” (Shawn Elliott, Ensemble) Act Two: “Companeros” (John Bolton, Shawn Elliott, Ivan Hernandez, Ensemble); “I Love Him, I Think” (Elena Shaddow); “Fifteen to Eighteen” (Ensemble); “Hasta La Vista” (John Bolton, Tony Chiroldes, Carlos Lopez, Robert Almodovar, Shawn Elliott, Ensemble); “I Cannot Let You Go” (Elena Shaddow, Ivan Hernandez); “What Is Life?” (Robert Almodovar, Tony Chiroldes, Carlos Lopez); “Pancito” (Shawn Elliott); “The Wisdom of the Heart” (Shawn Elliott, Doreen Montalvo); Finale (Ensemble) When Frank Loesser died in 1969, he left behind twenty-five songs, two song fragments, and a threehundred-page script for Señor Discretion Himself, which he adapted from a short story by Budd Schulberg published three years earlier in Playboy magazine. The musical was eventually produced (as Señor Discretion, Himself ) in a limited-run workshop performance by Musical Theatre Works in the mid-1980s with a book credited to Loesser, Schulberg, and Anthony Stimac, who directed the production and was the artistic director of Musical Theatre Works. Later, Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage became interested in the property, and the current version, which cost $1 million to produce, was part of the theatre’s 2003–2004 season. The Chicano/ Latino performance troupe Culture Clash (Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza) refashioned the script, and the program officially credited the book to Loesser and Culture Clash. The musical was set in a small and forgotten Mexican village and centered on Pancito (Larry Keith in the Musical Theatre Works production and Shawn Elliott for the Arena staging), who is the town baker and also the town drunk. When he’s mistakenly credited with saintly if not miraculous qualities, the town and especially its three priests promote Pancito’s transformation as heaven-sent and almost overnight the village becomes a tourist mecca. Paul Harris in Variety said the musical was set in a town “lost in time,” but it was “no Brigadoon, no way, Jose.” The evening was “clearly a work in progress” with a “jumbled concoction” of a book and performers who reached “for the limits of stereotypes.” Harris noted that the Roman Catholic Church took a “relentless drubbing” which was “certain to offend” some in the audience, and there was “even a dig at U.S. foreign policy.” As a result, there was “too much going on” and Culture Clash needed to take a

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“machete” to the second act “where so many loose ends are tangled.” But Loesser’s “extremely inviting” score included “rousing” choral numbers, “tender” ballads, “funny and sad” songs, and was “a regular showcase of Latin beats.” In another allusion to Brigadoon, Peter Marks in the Washington Post praised the “plaintive” and “romantic” ballad “I Cannot Let You Go,” and said its melody and performance provided a “transcendent” effect that was “spectacular” and “almost like being in love.” In fact, the score was “loaded with numbers of tuneful splendor.” But the story and dialogue were “beyond lame,” the characters were “too weakly or broadly conceived,” and unfortunately Culture Clash was “unable to reconcile the fantastical and farcical elements” with the “lush emotion of the score.” The plot was of course reminiscent of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’s 1964 musical Anyone Can Whistle, in which a down-and-out town is brought to life when its corrupt officials concoct a phony miracle in which water springs from a rock and thus brings in streams of money-spending tourists. Señor Discretion Himself cries out for a studio cast album, but unfortunately has gone unrecorded. The collection Loesser by Loesser: A Salute to Frank Loesser (DRG Records CD # 5170) includes two songs from the score, “I Cannot Let You Go” (sung by Loesser’s daughter Emily Loesser and by Don Stephenson) and “You Understand Me” (sung by Loesser’s widow Jo Sullivan Loesser and by Emily Loesser). The collection Frank Loesser Revisited (Painted Smiles Records CD # PSCD-115) includes another recording of “You Understand Me,” also sung by Jo Sullivan Loesser and Emily Loesser. The lyrics are included in the 2003 hardback collection The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser. Note that the Musical Theatre Works and Arena Stage versions didn’t use the complete score as rendered in Complete Lyrics; for example, “Mexico City” and “World Peace” were heard only in the former production while “Hasta La Vista” was used only in the latter. Neither production used such numbers as “If You Love Me, You’ll Forgive Me,” “I Only Know,” “Goodbye Agitato,” “Traveling Carnival,” and “Hilario’s Home-Made Ballad.”

2004–2005 Season

THE FROGS “A New Musical”

Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: July 22, 2004; Closing Date: October 10, 2004 Performances: 92 Based on the 405 BC play The Frogs by Aristophanes. Book: “Freely adapted” by Burt Shevelove and “even more freely adapted” by Nathan Lane Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction and Choreography: Susan Stroman (Tara Young, Associate Director and Choreographer); Producers: Lincoln Center Theatre (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors) in association with Bob Boyett; Scenery: Giles Cadle; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Puppet Designs: Martin P. Robinson; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Nathan Lane (Dionysos), Roger Bart (Xanthias), Burke Moses (Herakles), John Byner (Charon, Aeakos), Peter Bartlett (Pluto), Daniel Davis (George Bernard Shaw), Michael Siberry (William Shakespeare); A Greek Chorus, A Splash of Frogs, A Revel of Dionysians: Ryan L. Ball, Bryn Dowling, Rebecca Eichenberger, Meg Gillentine, Pia C. Glenn, Tyler Hanes, Francesca Harper, Rod Harrelson, Jessica Howard, Naomi Kakuk, Kenway Hon Wai K. Kua, Luke Longacre, David Lowenstein, Kathy Voytko, Steve Wilson, Jay Brian Winnick; Fire Belly Dancing Frogs: Ryan K. Ball, Luke Longacre; Three Graces: Meg Gillentine, Jessica Howard, Naomi Kakuk; Bryn Dowling (Handmaiden Charisma), Pia C. Glenn (Virilla [The Amazon]), Kathy Voytko (Ariadne); Pluto’s Hellraisers: Bryn Dowling, Meg Gillentine, Francesca Harper, Jessica Howard, Naomi Kakuk; Shavians: Rebecca Eichenberger, Meg Gillentine, Tyler Hanes, Francesca Harper, David Lowenstein, Jay Brian Winnick The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in ancient Greece.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “Invocation and Instructions to the Audience” (Nathan Lane, Roger Bart, Greek Chorus); “I Love to Travel” (Nathan Lane, Roger Bart, Greek Chorus); “Dress Big” (Burke Moses, Nathan Lane, Roger Bart); “I Love to Travel” (reprise) (Nathan Lane, Roger Bart); “All Aboard” (John Byner); “Ariadne” (Nathan Lane); “The Frogs” (Nathan Lane, A Splash of Frogs, Fire Belly Dancing Frogs) Act Two: “Hymn to Dionysos” (Three Graces, Dionysians, Nathan Lane, Roger Bart); “Hades” (Peter Bartlett, The Hellraisers); “It’s Only a Play” (Greek Chorus); “Shaw” (Nathan Lane, Daniel Davis, Shavians); “Fear No More” (lyric from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, circa 1611) (Michael Siberry); “Hymn to Dionysos” (reprise) (Greek Chorus); “Final Instructions to the Audience” (Nathan Lane, Company)

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The Lincoln Center Theatre production of Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove’s The Frogs was billed as a new musical, and although the mounting (in an adaptation by Nathan Lane based on Shevelove’s original script) marked the show’s New York premiere, the musical had first been seen thirty years earlier when it was presented by the Yale Repertory Theatre. That production was given for eight performances beginning on May 24, 1974, at Yale University’s Olympic-sized swimming pool in the Payne Whitney gymnasium. The cast was a mixture of guest performers, including Larry Blyden (Dionysos), Alvin Epstein, and Carmen de Lavallade (who also choreographed), and Yale drama students, among whom were Christopher Durang, Meryl Streep, and Sigourney Weaver. The production was directed by Shevelove, and the music was orchestrated and supervised by Jonathan Tunick. The evening included seven songs by Sondheim: “Invocation to the Gods and Instructions to the Audience,” “The Frogs,” “Dionysos,” “It’s Only a Play,” “Evoe! For the Dead,” “The Sound of Poets,” and “I Love to Travel,” the latter not listed in the Yale program. The musical received sporadic productions over the years, and according to Ben Brantley in the New York Times the current version had “the highest concentration of blue-ribbon talent of any show now on Broadway.” Based on Aristophanes’s play of the same name, the story, which was set in ancient Greece during the present time, dealt with Dionysos, the god of theatre (Lane) and his slave Xanthias (Roger Bart), who journey to the underworld in search of a playwright from the past who can set the world aright. To that end they interview George Bernard Shaw (Daniel Davis) and William Shakespeare (Michael Siberry), with the latter the winner. In Aristophanes’s original, the playwrights in question were Aeschylus and Euripides, and David Rooney in Variety noted that if Lane’s adaptation had retained Aristophanes’s choice of the “militaristic” Aeschylus, Lane would have been “flayed alive” by the (liberal) Lincoln Center audience. Presumably both Lane and most of his audience shared the same political convictions, and so criticism of the George W. Bush administration was welcomed by all. But imposing the politics of 2004 on the musical didn’t quite work because with Lane’s free-wheeling adaptation and Susan Stroman’s direction and choreography the political satire took a backseat to the comic festivities. As a result, Dionysos and Xanthias’s trip to the underworld didn’t have much weight and the point of their journey got lost with too much funny business on the way to the symbolic underworld forum. Rooney noted the evening offered “manic energy and cheerful vulgarity,” but the “political through line” never became “integral” to the story and thus the mission to Hades had “no real urgency” and Lane and Bart were “under the constraint of being funny just for the sake of being funny.” Brantley noted that even “the crème de la crème can curdle every now and then,” and what could have been “a zesty, airy soufflé” became “a soggy, lumpy batter” that never showed “the slightest signs of rising.” All Dionysos did was “crack wise or preach piously,” and it soon became obvious that “only shtick” kept the performers and the musical afloat. Richard Zoglin in Time said The Frogs was “minor Sondheim—and even minor Nathan Lane,” and John Lahr in the New Yorker suggested if you liked “your Aristophanes by way of overproduced Burt Bacharach slickness” you’d enjoy the musical. Otherwise Stroman’s direction and choreography were “so-so,” and Lane’s adaptation had been written “to match his astonishing ego” because with his “self-consciously adorable oneman band in a toga” and “wind-up-puppy style of acting” the performer went “out of his way to upstage all the other performers.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post noted that the show was a “self-adoring gasbag” that “all but gags on its own gags,” and he wished Lane “had not felt it necessary to dump the [political] party line so blatantly in our laps.” Marks was glad that Sondheim’s score “breezily avoids Lane’s smug brand of political righteousness” and “rampant editorializing.” Sondheim contributed six new songs to the score (“Dress Big,” “All Aboard!,” “Ariadne,” “Hades,” “Shaw,” and “Final Instructions to the Audience”); added “Fear No More” (words by Shakespeare from his circa 1611 play Cymbeline and music by Sondheim); updated six from the 1974 production (“Invocation to the Gods and Instructions to the Audience,” “I Love to Travel,” “The Frogs,” “Hymn to Dionysos,” “It’s Only a Play,” and “The Sound of Poets”); and omitted one song from 1974 (“Evoe! For the Dead”). “Hymn to Dionysos” and “The Sound of Poets” are essentially variations of the same number, and while “I Love to Travel” isn’t listed in the Yale program, it’s included in the script and almost immediately follows the opening “Invocation”/“Instructions” sequence. For “Instructions to the Audience,” Sondheim updated the lyric to include an admonishment to please turn off all cell phones, but with self-entitlement running rife these days, such pleas are probably ignored. Perhaps what every show needs is a short prerecorded curtain speech by Patti LuPone: “Cell phone abusers, I know who you are.” During most of the preview performances Chris Kattan played Xanthias, and almost at the last minute was succeeded by Roger Bart.

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The script was first published in paperback by the Dramatic Publishing Company in 1975, and was dedicated to Larry Blyden, who had died in June 1975 as the result of an automobile accident. A later paperback edition issued by Dodd, Mead & Company in 1983 also included the script of Sondheim, Shevelove, and Larry Gelbart’s “other” ancient musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. All the lyrics for The Frogs are included in Sondheim’s 2010 hardback collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes The musical was first recorded in 2001 when Nonesuch Records (CD # 79638-2) issued a studio cast album that also included the songs from Sondheim’s 1966 television musical Evening Primrose. For The Frogs, the singers include Nathan Lane (Dionysos), Brian Stokes Mitchell (Xanthias and Pluto), and Davis Gaines (Shakespeare); Lane had earlier appeared in a concert version of the musical at the Library of Congress in 2000. The Broadway cast recording was issued by PS Classics (CD # PS-525). The production generated audience interest, but the middling reviews scotched any chance of an extended run, and so the musical closed after less than three months of performances. No doubt any musical based on Aristophanes’s works will have a hard time of it, because the playwright seems to be his own musical theatre curse (he’s right up there with the New Orleans, Italian, Hot-Air Balloon, Silent-Movie Making, Joey Faye, Carmen Matthews, Alexander Cohen, and Adelphi Theatre Curses). There have been numerous lyric adaptations of Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, and almost as soon as they were produced they disappeared. The Happiest Girl in the World opened at the Martin Beck (now Al Hirschfeld) Theatre on April 3, 1961, and played for just ninety-six performances; in 1972, two musical versions of the play opened (both as Lysistrata), the first on August 27 at the Murray Theatre in Chicago for three weeks and the second at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on November 13 for eight showings. The Off-Off-Broadway Lyz! opened at the Samuel Beckett Theatre on January 10, 1999, for thirteen performances; and Lysistrata Jones opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre on December 14, 2011, for thirty performances. Even the mere mention of Lysistrata seems to doom a production. The Off-Broadway musical The Athenian Touch opened at the Jan Hus Playhouse on January 14, 1964, and because it dared to reference the play in its story, offered a song titled “Lysistrata,” and even included Aristophanes as a minor character, the musical paid for its sins by closing after just one performance. Aristophanes’s play The Birds was adapted into the musical Wings, which opened Off Broadway at the Eastside Playhouse on March 16, 1975, and lasted nine performances. But Al Carmines’s Peace (adapted from Aristophanes’s play of the same name) did better; it opened Off Broadway at the Astor Place Theatre on January 17, 1969, and played for 192 showings.

FOREVER TANGO Theatre: Shubert Theatre Opening Date: July 24, 2004; Closing Date: November 28, 2004 Performances: 114 Direction: Luis Bravo; Producers: Jack Utsick Presents/BACI Worldwide, LLC; Choreography: Choreography by the company’s dancers; Costumes: Argemira Affonso; Musical Direction: Victor Lavallen Cast: Dancers—Jorge Torres, Marcela Duran and Guillermina Quiroga, Gabriel Ortega and Sandra Bootz, Carlos Vera and Laura Marcarie, Francisco/Mercado Forquera and Natalia Hills, Marcelo Bernadaz and Veronica Gardella, Claudio Gonzalez and Melina Brufman, Alejandra Gutty and Juan Paulo Horvath; Singer—Miguel Velazquez; Musicians—Victor Lavallen, Santos Maggi, Jorge Trivisonno, Carlos Niesi (Banoneons), Rodion Boshoer and Abraham Becker (Violins), Alexander Sechkin (Viola), Patricio Villarejo (Cello), Pablo Motta (Bass), Jorge Vernieri (Piano), Gustavo Casenave (Keyboard) The dance revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Preludio del bandoneon y la noche” (Sandra Bootz and Gabriel Ortega); Overture (Orchestra); “El suburbio” (Company); “A los amigos” (Orchestra); “Derecho viejo” (Francisco/Mercado Forquera and Natalia Hills); “Los mareados” (Miguel Velazquez); “La mariposa” (Carlos Vera and Laura Marcarie); “Comme il faut” (Claudio Gonzalez and Melina Brufman); “Berretin” (Orchestra); “La tablada” (Marcelo

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Bernadez and Veronica Gardella); “Negracha” (Alejandra Gutty and Juan Paulo Horvath); “Responso” (Orchestra); “Oro y plata” (“Candombe”) (Company) Act Two: “Vampitango” (Sandra Bootz and Gabriel Ortega); “Romance entre el bandoneon mi alma” (Jorge Torres and Guillermina Quiroga); “Payadora” (Orchestra); “Quejas de Bandoneon” (Carlos Vera and Laura Marcarie); “Gallo ciego” (Francisco Forquera and Natalia Hills); “Zum” (Alejandra Gutty and Juan Paulo Horvath); “El dia que me quieras” (Miguel Velazquez); “Tanguera” (Claudio Gonzalez and Melina Brufman); “La Cumparsita” (Francisco/Mercado Forquera and Natalia Hills, Alejandra Gutty and Juan Paulo Horvath, Carlos Vera and Laur Marcarie); “Jealousy” (Orchestra); “Felicia” (Marcelo Bernadaz and Veronica Gardella); “Preludio a mi Viejo” (Orchestra); “Romance del bandoneon y la noche” (Sandra Bootz and Gabriel Ortega); “A Evaristo Carriego” (Jorge Torres and Marcela Duran); Finale (Company) Jennifer Dunning in the New York Times praised the limited-engagement revival of Forever Tango with its “wittily stylized dancing” and “tantalizingly minimalist razzle-dazzle.” Marilyn Stasio in Variety noted the evening provided a “mini-history” of the tango and singled out “El suburbio,” a “smoldering” sequence set in a bordello where “the mood is tense, the dancing rough, and the costumes deliciously vulgar.” The eleven-piece orchestra was “superb” and included four bandoneons, an “accordion-like instrument that carries in its throat the distinctive sound—the very essence—of tango.” The revival was part of the fourth annual New York Summer Tango Festival. The dance revue had originally opened in New York on June 19, 1997, at the Walter Kerr Theatre for 453 performances, and was later revived at that theatre on July 14, 2013, for seventy-three performances. The original 1997 Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor/BMG Records (CD # 09026-68966-2), and a cast album of another (possibly Los Angeles) production was issued on a two-CD set (company and label number unknown). A 2008 revival at Argentina’s Teatro Coliseo Podesta was recorded live and was released on both CD and DVD by DPTV Media.

DRACULA “The Musical”

Theatre: Belasco Theatre Opening Date: August 19, 2004; Closing Date: January 2, 2005 Performances: 157 Book and Lyrics: Don Black and Christopher Hampton Music: Frank Wildhorn (Note: The program indicated that Wildhorn “gratefully acknowledges the contributions made by Jeremy Roberts to the music of Dracula.”) Based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Direction: Des McAnuff; Producers: Dodger Stage Holding and Joop van den Ende in association with Clear Channel Entertainment (Dodger Management Group, Executive Producer); Choreography: Mindy Cooper; Aerial Staging: Rob Besserer; Scenery: Heidi Ettinger; Projections: Michael Clark; Costumes: Catherine Zuber; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Constantine Kitsopoulos Cast: Darren Ritchie (Jonathan Harker), Tom Hewitt (Dracula), Melissa Errico (Mina Murray), Jenifer Foote or Tracy Miller (at alternate performances as First Vampire), Elizabeth Loyacano or Celina Carvajal (at alternate performances as Second Vampire), Melissa Fagan or Pamela Jordan (at alternate performances as Third Vampire), Don Stephenson (Renfield), Shonn Wiley (Jack Seward), Kelli O’Hara (Lucy Westenra), Bart Shatto (Quincey Morris), Chris Hoch (Arthur Holmwood), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Abraham Van Helsing), Michael Herwitz or Matthew Nardozzi (at alternate performances as the Child); Ensemble: Celina Carvajal, Melissa Fagan, Jenifer Foote, Pamela Jordan, Elizabeth Loyacano, Tracy Miller, Graham Rowat The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place a century ago in Transylvania, England, across Europe, and aboard the Orient Express.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Prelude” (Darren Ritchie); “A Quiet Life” (Tom Hewitt); “Over Whitby Bay” (Darren Ritchie, Melissa Errico); “Forever Young” (First, Second, and Third Vampires); “Fresh Blood” (Tom Hewitt);”The

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Master’s Song” (Don Stephenson, Shonn Wiley); “How Do You Choose?” (Kelli O’Hara, Melissa Errico, Bart Shatto, Shonn Wiley, Chris Hoch, Company); “The Mist” (Kelli O’Hara); “Modern World” (Company); “A Perfect Life” (Melissa Errico); “The Weddings” (Company); “Prayer for the Dead” (Company); “Life after Life” (Tom Hewitt, Kelli O’Hara) Act Two: “The Heart Is Slow to Learn” (Melissa Errico); “The Master’s Song” (reprise) (Don Stephenson, Tom Hewitt); “If I Could Fly” (Melissa Errico); “There’s Always a Tomorrow” (Tom Hewitt, Melissa Errico); “Deep in the Darkest Night” (Stephen McKinley Henderson, Bart Shatto, Chris Hoch, Shonn Wiley, Darren Ritchie, Melissa Errico); “Before the Summer Ends” (Darren Ritchie); “All Is Dark” and “Life after Life” (reprise) (Tom Hewitt, Melissa Errico); Finale (Tom Hewitt, Melissa Errico) Dracula was the second of the decade’s three failed vampire musicals (Dance of the Vampires came before, and Lestat would soon follow), but it ran the longest (a little more than four months), lost the least (only $7.7 million), and, in more ways than one, was the only straight version because it pretty much was an earnest interpretation of Bram Stoker’s famous novel (to be sure, Stoker’s name was ignored in the program credits). And of course the song titles told us we were in deep vampiric territory: “Forever Young,” “Fresh Blood,” “Prayer for the Dead,” “Life after Life,” “Deep in the Darkest Night,” and “All Is Dark.” The story centered on the famous Count Dracula (Tom Hewitt) and his pursuit of lovely young women, including the luckless Lucy (Kelli O’Hara), who becomes his victim, and the lucky Mina (Melissa Errico), who, thanks to concerned vampire hunter Van Helsing (Stephen McKinley Henderson), escapes Dracula’s fangs. The headline of Ben Brantley’s review in the New York Times stated “The Bat Awakens, Stretches, Yawns,” and the critic noted that expectations had been “exceedingly low” for Frank Wildhorn’s new musical and those expectations had “not been disappointed.” But it wasn’t all that “much fun to trash something that’s so eminently, obviously trashable,” and Dracula was more than “simply bad,” it was “bad and boring” and didn’t offer the kind of “ripely terrible” fun provided by Dance of the Vampires. Charles Isherwood in Variety said the show had “a crippling case of anemia” with “aimlessly churning” music, “banal” lyrics, and a “lumbering” book. But there were “oodles of whiz-bang mechanical effects” with airborne vampires, glass coffins dripping blood (“well, Hawaiian Punch, anyway”), trap doors, and “spooky statuary.” While Dance of the Vampires offered “exuberant vulgarity” and a “shrugging awareness of its own absurdity” which “generated a few healthy titters” and “even a guffaw or two,” Dracula didn’t cough up even “a sidelong snicker.” Isherwood ultimately decided that “damnation seems a benign fate when measured against the prospect of a lifetime of Frank Wildhorn musicals.” John Simon in New York said the direction was “busy and bizarre,” the book and lyrics were “abysmal,” and the performers did what they could “to avoid being utterly ridiculous.” The music was “even ghastlier” than the lyrics and book and could “give monotony a bad name,” and he longed for the “melody of an interrupting cell phone.” Frank Scheck in the New York Post said the score was “bland” with “bombastic mediocrity” and the book was clichéd, and he and one or two other critics were pleased to provide one particularly memorable choice bit of dialogue: “I ain’t been on tenterhooks like this since that night we were waiting for the tiger to come for that tethered goat down in Sumatra!” Scheck decided the musical would be the first to kill Dracula not by a stake in the heart but by an “insipid” ballad, and he assumed the critics would do to Dracula “what garlic, crucifixes and wooden stakes couldn’t.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post said there was indeed a fate “for Dracula more terrible than undead,” and that fate was “uninteresting.” The evening never freed itself from “the bonds of monotony” and “monochromatic” music, and the musical was in fact “the stage equivalent of a powerful muscle relaxant: the snoozical.” He noted that the “very best” thing to say about Dracula is “that you’ve seen worse,” but even then the show wasn’t in the league of such “disasters of grander scope” like Urban Cowboy and Dance of the Vampires. Marks suggested it was probably time “to drive a stake through the whole overexposed vampire genre,” but little could he know that Lestat would soon come to terrorize Broadway. There was no Broadway cast album, but two recordings of the score eventually emerged. One was a studio cast album that included James Barbour, Kate Shindle, Lauren Kennedy, Rob Evan, Norm Lewis, and Euan Morton (released on CD by GlobalVision Records, LCC, and on MP3 format) and another in German (Dracula, which also included songs from Der Graf von Monte Cristo) released on CD by HitSquad in an edition marked the “WILDHORN Edition/Sing Along.” The musical had first been produced on October 21, 2001, at La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, California, with Hewitt, Jenn Morse (Mina), and Amy Rutberg (Lucy). Songs heard in this version that weren’t included in the Broadway production were: “One More Lonely Night,” “First Taste,” “There Is a Love,” “Nosferatu,” “The Invitation,” “Van Helsing’s Proposal,” “Risks Worth Taking,” and “I’ll Be Waiting for You.”

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BROOKLYN (aka BKLYN) “The Musical”

Theatre: Plymouth Theatre Opening Date: October 21, 2004; Closing Date: June 26, 2005 Performances: 284 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson Direction: Jeff Calhoun (Coy Middlebrook, Associate Director); Producers: Producers Four, John McDaniel, Jeff Calhoun, Leiter/Levine & Scott Prisand, and Jay & Cindy Gutterman Productions in association with Robert G. Bartner, Dallas Summer Musicals, Inc., Danny Seraphine, Rick Wolkenberg, and Sibling Entertainment (Feurring/Maffei/Pinsky, Associate Producers; Ken Denison, Associate Producer; Lauren Doll, Coordinating Producer); Scenery: Ray Klausen; Costumes: Tobin Ost; Lighting: Michael Gilliam; Musical Direction: James Sampliner Cast: Kevin Anderson (A City Weed, Taylor), Cleavant Derricks (A City Weed, Streetsinger), Eden Espinosa (A City Weed, Brooklyn), Ramona Keller (A City Weed, Paradice), Karen Olivo (A City Weed, Faith); Vocalists: Manoel Feliciano, Caren Lyn Manuel, Haneefah Wood The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during the present time at a street corner under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Musical Numbers “Heart Behind These Hands” (Company); “Christmas Makes Me Cry” (Karen Olivo, Kevin Anderson); “Not a Sound” (Company); “Brooklyn Grew Up” (Eden Espinosa, Company); “Creating Once Upon a Time” (Eden Espinosa, Karen Olivo); “Once Upon a Time” (Eden Espinosa, Company); “Superlover” (Ramona Keller, Company); “Brooklyn in the Blood” (Ramona Keller, Eden Espinosa, Company); “Magic Man” (Cleavant Derricks, Company); “Love Was a Song” (Kevin Anderson); “I Never Knew His Name” (Eden Espinosa); “The Truth” (Kevin Anderson, Eden Espinosa, Company); “Raven” (Ramona Keller); “Sometimes” (Kevin Anderson, Company); “Love Me Where I Live” (Ramona Keller, Company); “Love Fell Like Rain” (Eden Espinosa); “Streetsinger” (Eden Espinosa, Cleavant Derricks, Company); “Heart Behind These Hands” (reprise) (Company) Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson were the book writers, lyricists, and composers of Brooklyn, and in a program note the collaborators provided a “thought” when they asked, “Ain’t it funny the things we come to value in this life?,” and in his program bio Schoenfeld thanked various people and noted, “They believed in Barri and I when we had nothing to believe in but ourselves.” But the critics found little to value in the new musical, and found it difficult to believe its whimsical story, which seemed inspired by the moods and attitudes of such disparate shows as The Fantasticks and Rent. In fact, the critics suggested that in one way or another the musical offered touches of Hair, Godspell, The Me Nobody Knows, Dreamgirls, and even a smattering of Jacques Brel and Horatio Alger. And because the major plot thread dealt with an unfinished melody which haunts the heroine, the musical also evoked Naughty Marietta and Lady in the Dark. And if all these associations weren’t enough, the show’s performance style brought to mind American Idol, Star Search, and Wicked (the musical’s lead, Eden Espinosa, had understudied Idina Menzel in the latter, and David Rooney in Variety said she seemed to channel Menzel and to confuse “screeching” with “real emotional power”). And, last but not least, the trash-strewn set and garbage-inspired costumes of Brooklyn were reminiscent of the look for Cats. The musical’s cast of five was supplemented by three background vocalists and nine musicians, and the quintet doubled as a street chorus called the City Weeds who present to the audience their “little sidewalk show” about Brooklyn (Espinosa) and her search for her father, Taylor (Kevin Anderson). One of the players is a street singer known as Streetsinger (Cleavant Derricks), who also serves as a narrator of sorts and is an occasional observer of the action. Brooklyn is the love child of a French waitress named Faith (Karen Olivo) and a Brooklyner in Paris, a musician named Taylor, who is soon drafted and shipped to Vietnam and never knows he fathered a child. Faith, who names the baby Brooklyn because Taylor was a native of the borough, kills herself when Brooklyn is a toddler, but returns as an angel to guide the girl. In the meantime, Brooklyn grows up, becomes a famous singer, and sets off for New York in search of Taylor, her only clues being his Brooklyn origins and

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an unfinished lullaby he left behind. Brooklyn gets a gig at Carnegie Hall and sings the lullaby, which she figures is a surefire way to find her father, who incidentally is now a drug addict, an alcoholic, and a street person. (Does Brooklyn actually believe her father will buy a ticket for the concert, hear his lullaby, and realize that she’s his daughter?) In the meantime, Paradice (Ramona Keller) is the reigning diva of New York’s music scene, and she challenges Brooklyn to a musical battle at Madison Square Garden. Brooklyn announces that if she wins the contest she’ll donate all her winnings to feed and shelter the homeless, but she loses the contest anyway (the refreshingly confident Paradice states that when she wins the competition she’ll “keep every last dime”). And because the musical is a “little sidewalk fairy tale,” it seems Brooklyn is at last reunited with her father. Despite a spate of negative reviews, the $7 million musical managed to run eight months, but with its trite story and dreary score one assumes the show won’t be a candidate for an Encores! revival any time soon. The cast album was released by Razor & Tie Records (CD # 7930182930-2) as Bklyn: The Musical Live!, and at least one source indicates the recording was taken from a live stage performance; on the other hand, the CD’s liner notes state the album was “recorded live at Right Track Studios, NYC,” so who knows. The critics had a field day providing snippets of dialogue and lyrics: “You can change the world by changing someone”; “Sometimes with our tears we can water roses”; “The truth is but a flame that engulfs the butterfly”; “This is America, and the winners always win”; and “You love to hate me but that’s still love.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the “aggressively maudlin” and “loud and gooey” musical less like Rent “than a soot-and-sugar revue bound for Vegas where it might fit comfortably amid the simulated big-city authenticity of the New York–New York Hotel”; Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that “the story is a story within a story—which here becomes a folly surrounded by a falsehood, wrapped in a bad idea,” the lyrics were “banal,” and the music “uneasily straggles between soul and Andrew Lloyd Webberesque anthem”; and Rooney said the “terminally precious” and “ratty patchwork” was “a series of overwrought white-bread gospel ballads strung together in search of a book,” with “preprogrammed, one-note inspirational sound and a stock of clichés worthy of a Hallmark catalogue” (he also noted that “musically” the number “Love Was a Song” is “a dog’s dinner”). And Rooney’s notice surely won the Best Review Headline Award: “‘Brooklyn’ Feels Like Low ‘Rent’ District.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post was confronted with a dilemma. Was Brooklyn “second-worst, fifth worst, eighth worse?,” because when a show was “this awful” he was compelled to peruse his “personal Book of the Lame” as he recalled Taboo, Jekyll & Hyde, Dance of the Vampires, Urban Cowboy, Dracula, and Dream. The musical was a “plastic bit of amateurishness” and the “feelings it expresses are about as authentic as a holiday dreamed up by a greeting card company.” The musical’s décor was a rubble-strewn landscape that was accented by the performers’ costumes, a collection of outfits accessorized by bubble wrap, empty bags of snack food, garbage bags, and crime-scene tape, and Brantley suggested if one was in the mood for “madcap improvised fashion” one could save money by attending Greenwich Village’s annual Halloween Parade. The star of the evening was indisputably Ramona Keller as the super diva Paradice, who warns America that if it turns its back on her “you can all kiss my black ass.” She also notes that her outfits come from “Salvation Armani.” Rooney said that every time Keller took center stage she brought an “adrenaline shot” to the show as “the ruthless bitch-queen” who was “unapologetically trashy”; Brantley said the show was at its “most bearable” when Keller was “strutting her stuff and being wicked”; and Marks said Keller was the “production’s one and only bit of good news.” Brooklyn was first presented in May 2003 at the New Denver Civic Theatre, and was the last show to open at the Plymouth Theatre before the venue’s name was changed on May 9, 2005, to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre during the musical’s run. By the way, there doesn’t appear to be any connection between Brooklyn’s cowriter and co-composer Mark Schoenfeld and the Shubert Organization’s chairman Gerald Schoenfeld.

MARIO CANTONE: LAUGH WHORE Theatre: Cort Theatre Opening Date: October 24, 2004; Closing Date: January 2, 2005 Performances: 66

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Material: Mario Cantone Lyrics: Mario Cantone, Jerry Dixon, and Harold Lubin Music: Jerry Dixon; additional music by Mario Cantone and Harold Lubin Direction: Joe Mantello; Producers: Showtime Networks in association with Jonathan Burkhart; Choreography: Lisa Leguillou; Scenery: Robert Brill; Costumes: Wardrobe by Hugo Boss; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Tom Kitt Cast: Mario Cantone The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “This Is My Life” (“La Vita”); “A Jim Morrison Christmas”; “H. H. Liza” (Medley); “I Ain’t Finished Yet” Act Two: “Nevertheless”; “My Name Is Gumm”; “Laugh Whore” Stand-up comic Mario Cantone was the whole show in Laugh Whore, although he was supported by four musicians for occasional song interludes. The comic had appeared in the previous season’s Assassins, which had been directed by Joe Mantello (who also helmed the current evening), and was in the 1999 world premiere of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Over & Over (later revised as All About Us), which never made it to Broadway. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said Cantone could morph from a “yapping puppy” into a “snarling Doberman,” and, yes, he was at his “most appealing when he’s seething.” Much of his “funniest material” was expressed with a “buoyantly, exuberantly, even belligerently gay sensibility,” and in fact the show was “even gayer than a Cher rerun.” When Cantone asked if a straight man in the audience could assist him in a routine, Isherwood thought the show might have to come to a halt while someone left the theatre and searched 48th Street for a “a bona fide heterosexual male.” And while he “mercilessly” mocked and mimicked them, Cantone nonetheless paid “loving tribute” to Judy, Liza, Cher, and all the “leading members of the Official Registry of Gay Icons,” and in one almost surreal sequence he reenacted the odd coupling of Carol Channing and LL Cool J at the previous year’s Tony Awards show: when told that her co-presenter is a “rapper,” Cantone-as-Channing asked, “Like in the Christmas department at Bloomingdale’s?”And much of what transpired during the evening couldn’t “be printed, or indeed even described.” David Rooney in Variety regretted that the evening lacked “narrative shape” to elevate the “superior standup” comedy into a “full-blooded theatrical experience,” but he said Cantone was “wickedly entertaining” and provided “more laughs per minute than anything else on a New York stage right now.” Although much of the comic’s material was drawn from his Italian-American background, a good part of the show was his “one-man celebrity massacre” and his “dazzling talent for barbed impersonation.” Cantone stated that “Cher has an Oscar,” and then quickly said, “And that’s the punch line.” He also offered a “priceless” look at a “sputtering” Shelley Winters, who states she “fucked all my leading men, Kirk Douglas, Tony Franciosa, Lauren Bacall.” He also impersonated Tina Turner in full “Proud Mary” mode and then provided an Elvis and Ann-Margret moment from Viva Las Vegas. The production was filmed live for cable television, and was presented by Showtime on May 28, 2005. Cantone also appeared in An Evening with Mario Cantone, which played for four performances at the American Airlines Theatre during a four-week period beginning on May 19, 2002.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore)

CINDERELLA Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: November 12, 2004; Closing Date: November 21, 2004

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Performances: 13 Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II Music: Richard Rodgers Based on the 1697 fairy tale Cinderella by Charles Perrault. Direction and Choreography: Baayork Lee; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Paul Kellogg, General and Artistic Director; Sherwin M. Goldman, Executive Producer); Scenery: Henry Bardon and David Jenkins; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Richard Winkler; Choral Direction: Gary Thor Wedow; Children’s Choral Direction: Anthony Piccolo; Musical Direction: Gerald Steichen Cast: Scott Hogsed (Royal Herald), Ana Gasteyer (Portia), Lea DeLaria (Joy), John “Lypsinka” Epperson (Stepmother), Sarah Uriarte Berry (Cinderella), Renee Taylor (Queen), Dick Van Patten (King), Roland Rusinek (Royal Chef), Eric Michael Gillett (Royal Stewart), Christopher Sieber (Prince), Eartha Kitt (Fairy Godmother); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Company Chorus and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a royal kingdom a long time ago.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “The Prince Is Giving a Ball” (Scott Hogsed, Company); “In My Own Little Corner” (Sarah Uriarte Berry); “Your Majesties” (Roland Rusinek, Eric Michael Gillett, Dick Van Patten, Renee Taylor, Dancers); “Loneliness of Evening” (Christopher Sieber); “Boys and Girls Like You and Me” (Renee Taylor); “Impossible” (Eartha Kitt, Sarah Uriarte Berry); “Transformation” (Dancers); “It’s Possible” (Sarah Uriarte Berry, Eartha Kitt) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Gavotte” (Company); “Ten Minutes Ago” (Christopher Sieber, Sarah Uriarte Berry); “Stepsisters’ Lament” (Lea DeLaria, Ana Gasteyer); “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” (Christopher Sieber, Sarah Uriarte Berry); “Cinderella Waltz” (Company); “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” (reprise) (Christopher Sieber, Renee Taylor); “When You’re Driving through the Moonlight” (Sarah Uriarte Berry, Ana Gasteyer, Lea DeLaria, John “Lypsinka” Epperson); “A Lovely Night” (Sarah Uriarte Berry, Ana Gasteyer, Lea DeLaria, John “Lypsinka” Epperson); “A Lovely Night” (reprise) (Sarah Uriarte Berry); “The Search” (Company); Finale: “The Wedding” (Company) The New York City Opera Company’s revival of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1957 television musical Cinderella was the company’s third presentation of the work, following productions in 1993 and 1995. And three years prior to the current revival, the musical had been produced in New York on May 3, 2001, by Radio City Entertainment at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden for eleven performances (see entry for information about this production as well as a general history of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical). The 2001 revival and the City Opera productions varied in their selection of songs (for example, “The Sweetest Sounds,” with lyric and music by Rodgers, was from the 1962 Broadway musical No Strings and was included only in the 2001 revival, while City Opera’s version interpolated Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Boys and Girls Like You and Me,” which had been written for Oklahoma! and was dropped during its preBroadway tryout in 1943). However, Eartha Kitt appeared as the Fairy Godmother in both the 2001 and 2004 productions, and, in what was becoming a drag tradition, John “Lypsinka” Epperson played the stepmother (Everett Quinton played the role in 2001). Anne Midgette in the New York Times found the score “rich and lovely,” but felt the plot was too familiar and lacked “dramatic urgency” and the supporting characters weren’t given “substance.” But Kitt did “her thing” and was “effective,” and Epperson was a “fine figure” as the stepmother. Shirley Fleming in the New York Post liked the “dazzling” production and noted that Kitt’s “gravelly” voice and “‘don’t mess with me’ persona” made it clear that the Fairy Godmother’s magic would prevail. As for the “towering” Epperson, he was “a rare sight and a rare delight,” and with him for a mother no wonder the two stepsisters were “so wayward.” The revival included four ponies that drew Cinderella’s carriage, and the critics reported that one of them was recalcitrant. Midgette said he was “eager to steal the show” and “repeatedly” got up on his hind legs “in protest,” and Fleming felt he clearly “wanted very much to be elsewhere.”

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The previous City Opera revivals of Cinderella credited the stage adaptation to Steve Allen and Robert Johanson, but for the current revival only Hammerstein was cited (the Radio City Entertainment revival credited the book adaptation to both Tom Briggs and the 1997 teleplay by Robert L. Freedman).

WHOOPI

“The 20th Anniversary Show” Theatre: Lyceum Theatre Opening Date: November 17, 2004; Closing Date: January 30, 2005 Performances: 72 Monologues: Whoopi Goldberg Direction: Arthur Siccardi, “Production Supervisor”; Producers: Mike Nichols, Hal Luftig, Leonard Soloway, Steven M. Levy, Tom Leonardis, Eric Falkenstein, and Amy Nederlander; Lighting: Benjamin Pearcy Cast: Whoopi Goldberg The comedy revue was presented in one act. Best Plays categorized Whoopi as a revival because Whoopi Goldberg reintroduced characters she had presented during her first Broadway solo show Whoopi Goldberg in 1984. But the annual noted she had updated “her comic turns to reflect current American culture.” Theatre World indicated the evening was “part reunion of favorite routines and characters” from 1984 and was also “part political tent revival.” Further, Goldberg explored “new riffs” on such previous character creations as “Fontaine,” “Disabled Woman,” and “Surfer Chick,” and introduced new ones such as “Lurleen.” Charles Isherwood in the New York Times suggested the evening would “delight” Goldberg’s “most ardent” fans and might possibly “charm” those who hadn’t seen her 1984 one-woman presentation. Otherwise, the production was “in desperate need of a stringent theatrical intelligence” that could shape the “intermittently funny but sluggish” show. David Rooney in Variety noted that Goldberg was not “unfunny” and offered much in the way of “salty hilarity.” But the performance brought to mind “an unknotted, over-inflated balloon” which was initially “loudly” and “buoyantly airborne” but was soon seen “sputtering with gradually decreasing energy and landing with a splat on the ground.” Rooney reported that during her “rather perfunctory bows” Goldberg seemed “conscious” of “how flat” the final portions of the evening were, but “perhaps not so aware as the premium orchestra ticket buyers who paid $151.25 per seat.” In 1983, Goldberg appeared in her Off-Off-Broadway solo show The Spook Show, and Best Plays described her as “a cross between Lily Tomlin and Richard Pryor.” This production was reworked and presented on Broadway as Whoopi Goldberg for 148 performances beginning on October 24, 1984, where (like the current production) it opened at the Lyceum Theatre.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Whoopi)

DAME EDNA: BACK WITH A VENGEANCE! Theatre: Music Box Theatre Opening Date: November 21, 2004; Closing Date: May 1, 2005 Performances: 163 Material: Barry Humphries; additional material by Andrew Ross and Robert Horn Lyrics: Barry Humphries and Wayne Barker Music: Wayne Barker Direction: Barry Humphries; Producers: Creative Battery by arrangement with Harley Medcalf and Boxjellyfish LLC; Choreography: Jason Gilkison; Scenery: Brian Thomson; Costumes: Will Goodwin and Stephen Adnitt; Lighting: Jane Cox; Musical Direction: Wayne Barker, “Master of the Dame’s Musick”

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Cast: Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage), Wayne Barker (“Master of the Dame’s Musick”); The Gorgeous Ednaettes: Teri DiGianfelice and Michelle Pampena; The Equally Gorgeous TestEdnarones: Randy Aaron and Gerrard Carter The revue was presented in two acts (with “a fifteen-minute pause for reflection” between the two, and a note that “the lovely program contains no marsupial products”).

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers, but among the songs heard during the evening were: “You! You! You!,” “The Nicest Show in Town,” “Back with a Vengeance,” and “Wave That Glad.” Yes, there was nothing like this irrepressible Dame with her bouffant of violently violet hair, her trademark curlicued, rhinestone-studded, and oversized glasses (“face furniture,” of course), and her, well, colorful dresses (designed by her son Kenny, a window and dress designer who just never seems to find “Miss Right”). Australian-born Barry Humphries’s alter ego Dame Edna Everage owned not only the stage but the theatre itself and commandeered it with her take-no-prisoners approach to life (she acknowledged the poor souls up there in the balcony, and when they responded to her cry of “Hello, paupers!,” she told those sitting downstairs to “listen to their wistful cries”). The impossibly smug and self-righteous suburban housewife Dame Edna has now reached the pinnacle of fame and is certainly not to blame if the rest of us are mere possums in her universe. And she’s incredibly honest about herself: she informs the audience she’d never pay good money to see them, and while other performers use their program autobiography to thank everyone from the Creator to their Aunt Minnie, Dame Edna succinctly states “she wishes to thank nobody but herself!” But fear not: she continues to grow, and while she’s the founder and governor of “Friends of the Prostate” and the creator of the World Prostate Olympics, she’s now turning her attention to the deviated septum. Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the revue “tirelessly funny.” Dame Edna stated she had left megastardom behind, was now a “glittering gigastar,” and in fact hinted to the audience that her good friend the pope is clearly thinking that “full canonization” is just around the corner. She also shared that her next venture would be her “bio-extravaganza” The Girl from Oz. David Rooney in Variety said that for the show’s patrons the evening was “part papal audience, part group therapy and part public humiliation” (Dame Edna tells one audience member, “I don’t know how I’d describe what you’re wearing. Affordable, I think”). Further, the star tells us her show is one of “cutting-edge caring” and “radical unselfishness,” and Rooney noted that “never before have harmless-sounding requests like ‘Tell me about your home, darling’ or ‘Talk me through your day, possum’ struck such terror into people’s hearts.” John Lahr in the New Yorker said the gigastar told the audience, “You see me as a neighbor,” and then quickly added, “Admittedly, a neighbor with a home bigger and nicer than yours.” And when she wondered if an audience member’s outfit was reversible, she suggested, “Try it inside out” because “you have nothing to lose.” But Dame Edna told the possums she never picked on people and instead empowered them. Lahr stated that here was a “great clown” who took the audience “to the frontiers of the marvelous” with a “vaudeville turn,” one who “has almost singlehandedly taken that tradition of glorious frivolity into the twenty-first century” in a “spectacle” not “just exhilarating” but “heroic.” Dame Edna made her first New York appearance in the Off-Broadway show Housewife! Superstar!, which opened on October 19, 1977, at Theatre Four for thirty-four performances, and her Broadway debut occurred on October 17, 1999, at the Booth Theatre, where it played for 297 showings and won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. Following the current production, Dame Edna returned to Broadway on March 18, 2010, in the revue All about Me, which opened at Henry Miller’s Theatre for twenty performances and also starred Michael Feinstein. As for Barry Humphries, he created the role of Mr. Sowerberry in the original 1960 London production of Oliver!, and can be heard on the show’s original cast album in the trio “That’s Your Funeral.” He wasn’t part of the show’s lengthy pre-Broadway tour, but joined the company for the 1963 New York opening, where he again played the role of Sowerberry (“That’s Your Funeral” was heard in the Broadway production, but wasn’t included on the Broadway cast album).

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Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!)

PACIFIC OVERTURES Theatre: Studio 54 Opening Date: December 2, 2004; Closing Date: January 30, 2005 Performances: 69 Book: John Weidman; additional material by Hugh Wheeler Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction and Choreography: Amon Miyamoto (Darren Lee, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director, External Affairs) in association with Gorgeous Entertainment (Sydney Beers, Executive Producer); Scenery and Mask Designs: Rumi Matsui; Costumes: Junko Koshino; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: B. D. Wong (Reciter), Evan D’Angeles (Observer, Officer, Warrior, British Admiral), Joseph Anthony Foronda (Samurai, Thief, Soothsayer, Storyteller), Yoko Fumoto (Tamate), Alvin Y. F. Ing (Shogun’s Mother, Old Man), Fred Isozaki (Noble), Francis Jue (Madam, Dutch Admiral), Darren Lee (Officer, American Admiral, Sailor), Hoon Lee (Merchant, Commodore Perry, Lord of South, Sailor), Michael K. Lee (Kayama), Ming Lee (Councilor, Priest, Emperor Priest), Telly Leung (Observer, Shogun’s Companion, Boy, Noble, Sailor), Paolo Montalban (Manjiro), Alan Muraoka (Councilor, Grandmother), Mayumi Omagari (Kanagawa Girl, Daughter), Daniel Jay Park (Priest, Kanagawa Girl, French Admiral), Hazel Anne Raymundo (Shogun’s Wife, Kanagawa Girl), Sab Shimono (Lord Abe), Yuka Takara (Son, Shogun’s Wife’s Servant, Kanagawa Girl), Scott Watanabe (Fisherman, Physician, Older Swordsman, Russian Admiral, Samurai Bodyguard); Townspeople, Officers, Priests, Samurai: Members of the Company The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Japan from 1853 to the present.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea” (B. D. Wong, Company); “There Is No Other Way” (Evan D’Angeles, Telly Leung); “Four Black Dragons” (Scott Watanabe, Joseph Anthony Foronda, B. D. Wong, Company); “Chrysanthemum Tea” (B. D. Wong, Alvin Y. F. Ing, Hazel Anne Raymundo, Joseph Anthony Foronda, Ming Lee, Daniel Jay Park, Telly Leung, Scott Watanabe, Yuka Takara); “I Will Make a Poem” (aka “Poems”) (Michael K. Lee, Paolo Montalban); “Welcome to Kanagawa” (Francis Jue, Mayumi Omagari, Daniel Jay Park, Hazel Anne Raymundo, Yuka Takara); “Someone in a Tree” (Alvin Y. F. Ing, B. D. Wong, Telly Leung, Evan D’Angeles); “Lion Dance” (Company) Act Two: “Please Hello!” (Sab Shimono, B. D. Wong, Darren Lee, Evan D’Angeles, Francis Jue, Scott Watanabe, Daniel Jay Park); “A Bowler Hat” (Michael K. Lee); “Pretty Lady” (Darren Lee, Hoon Lee, Telly Leung); “Next” (B. D. Wong, Company) Like Assassins and Passion, Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures is one of his most controversial and most misunderstood musicals. There’s no linear plot and no real characters, and instead the concept musical deals with such abstract matters as change and the passing of time, and the characters are more symbolic and functional than flesh and blood people. For Pacific Overtures, change deals with the social, political, cultural, and economic upheavals within Japan. For some two hundred fifty years, that nation has lived in self-imposed isolation from the world, but when Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry visits the nation in 1853 there’s no going back. The West wants to open up Japan for trade, and soon emissaries from the major Western nations arrive to hammer out the diplomatic and business details for the export and import of goods. The “floating” world of delicate sliding screens, chrysanthemum tea, and haiku vanishes, and the country will eventually boast that in 1976 it exported sixteen million kilograms of monosodium glutamate and four hundred thou-

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sand tons of polyvinyl chloride resin. The nation’s transformation is encapsulated by “A Bowler Hat,” one of Sondheim’s most brilliant creations: at first, a Japanese businessman is impressed by the bowler hats worn by the Europeans; soon he’s actually sporting one himself; and finally he dismisses the hat as old-hat and is contemptuous of anyone who’d wear anything so passé. The musical was conceived as if the practitioners of Kabuki theatre had written a production in the style of an American musical, and so in Kabuki fashion many of the performers wore outlandish wigs and makeup in order to immediately suggest the nature of their characters; stagehands who changed scenery were dressed in black so as to render themselves “invisible” to the audience; and only male actors were seen during most of the evening, including those who portrayed females. In the original production, women appeared only in the musical’s explosive final scene, which catapulted the action from Japan’s distant past into the garish world of mid-1970s Tokyo, where the citizens wear pantsuits, T-shirts, leather jackets, and sunglasses and where the weather bureau proudly proclaims that during calendar year 1975 Tokyo had “acceptable” air quality for 162 days. Here the remnants of Kabuki theatre and musical comedy were tossed aside and Pacific Overtures became an industrial show that marketed the products of Japan, such as Toyotas and Seiko watches. And there was the somewhat ominous observation that 57 percent of the Bicentennial souvenirs hawked in Washington, D.C., during 1975 were . . . made in Japan. Unlike the original production, the revival used female performers throughout the evening, and other changes included a truncated “Lion Dance” and the addition of a male concubine for the Shogun’s pleasure, something he didn’t have in 1976. Ben Brantley in the New York Times felt the new production had “the bleary, disoriented quality of someone suffering from jet lag after a sleepless trans-Pacific flight,” and “something” had “definitely been lost in the translation.” An “uneasy tentativeness” pervaded the stage, and the performance style suggested the actors weren’t clear if they were playing “proper characters or stylized archetypes.” But David Rooney in Variety said director Amon Miyamoto “brought clarity, accessibility and thematic resonance” to the “ambitious and audacious” musical, which was “imperfect yet admirable.” The 1976 production had met with a good deal of criticism because of its perceived anti-American sentiments. T. E. Kalem in Time said the musical belonged to the “flagellant school of contemporary American self-criticism,” which held forth that the opening of Japan caused “the whirlwind of Pearl Harbor and global commercial competition,” and Douglas Watt in the New York Daily News noted that the “dull, semidocumentary” evening dealt with “the corrupting influence of Western civilization on Asian culture,” and thus the show was “as thin and insubstantial as the painted screens used for scenery.” Jack Kroll in Newsweek stated that the didactic book blamed America for bringing evil upon “poor little Nippon,” and Jack Beaufort in the Christian Science Monitor said the show followed the “trendy liberal yen for national recrimination” and presented Perry as a “barbarian.” Beaufort wondered if Sondheim and director Harold Prince really preferred the old Japan of “feudalism and the samurai code.” The current revival clearly viewed America as the devil, and here Perry was depicted as a grotesque sixtyfoot puppet, a monster with death-ray eyes beaming bright white lights at the audience, and the “Next” sequence offered a scene that referenced Hiroshima (but apparently didn’t mention Pearl Harbor). Rooney stated that America may be a “cultural rapist,” but Japan quickly became an “eager victim.” John Lahr in the New Yorker suggested that being “lectured on the corruption of capitalism from the Broadway stage is rather like being taught the virtues of chastity by a whore,” and he found it ironic that in the theatre lobby T-shirts from Pacific Overtures were selling for $23 apiece. The musical first opened on January 11, 1976, at the Winter Garden Theatre for 193 performances and was nominated for ten Tony Awards (and won two, for Boris Aronson’s scenic designs and Florence Klotz’s costumes). The work won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical of the 1975–1976 season. The script was published in hardback by Dodd, Mead & Company in 1976, and in both hardback and paperback editions by the Theatre Communications Group in 1991. All the lyrics written for the musical are included in Sondheim’s 2010 hardback collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. The original Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # AR1-1-1367 and CD # RCD1-4407), and a 1987 production by the English National Opera was issued on a two-LP set by That’s Entertainment Records (LP # TER2-1151), which was later released on a two-CD set (# TER2-1152). “Someone in a Tree” was the subject of the March 28, 1976, telecast of the CBS series Camera Three (the episode was titled “Anatomy of a Song”). The post-Broadway tour of the 1976 production was filmed live for eventual showing on Japanese television, but except for pirated

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copies that have made the rounds of collectors the taping has never been shown on American television or released on home video. The musical’s first New York revival opened Off Off Broadway on March 27, 1984, by the York Theatre Company at the Church of the Heavenly Rest for twenty performances, and the same production opened later that year on October 25 when the musical transferred to Off Broadway at the Promenade Theatre for 109 showings. The Lincoln Center Festival 2002 presented a Japanese production of the work by Tokyo’s New National Theatre at Avery Fisher Hall for five performances beginning on July 9, 2003 (this revival first premiered in Tokyo on October 2, 2000, for twenty-five performances). The Japanese production (directed by Amon Miyamoto and with scenery by Rumi Matsui) was the basis for the current presentation, which was recorded by PS Classics (CD # PS-528). The cast album includes a bonus track of “Prayers,” that was cut from the show prior to Broadway; the “Prayers” recording dates from 1975 and is narrated by Harold Prince and is sung by Sondheim, who accompanies himself on the piano. This revival included two cast members from the 1976 production, Sab Shimono (Manjira in 1976, Lord Abe in 2005) and Alvin Ing (now Alvin Y. F. Ing) (Shogun’s Mother, Observer, Merchant, and the American Admiral in 1976, Shogun’s Mother and Old Man in 2005). Paul Gemignani was the musical director for the 1976 production, and he also conducted the current version.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Pacific Overtures); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Rumi Matsui); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Junko Koshino); Best Orchestration (Jonathan Tunick)

700 SUNDAYS Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre Opening Date: December 5, 2004; Closing Date: June 12, 2005 Performances: 163 Material: Billy Crystal; additional material by Alan Zweibel Direction: Des McAnuff; Producers: Janice Crystal, Larry Magid, and Face Productions in association with Clear Channel Entertainment; Scenery: Scenic Design by David F. Weiner and Production Design by Michael Clark; Wardrobe: David C. Woolard, “Clothing Stylist”; Lighting: David Lee Cuthbert Cast: Billy Crystal; incidental music performed by Stephen “Hoops” Snyder (Piano), Ken Dow (Bass), and Kevin Dow (Drums) The comedy revue was presented in two acts. Comedian Billy Crystal’s evening of stand-up comedy was a kinder and gentler version of Mario Cantone’s acerbic Laugh Whore, which opened earlier in the season. Part of Cantone’s revue focused on his ItalianAmerican family, but the evening also mercilessly skewed celebrities and the idea of celebrity-hood. For Crystal, his Jewish background and his early years of growing up in Long Island were an integral part of his subject matter, and the show’s title referred to the approximate number of Sundays he and his father shared before his father’s untimely death when Crystal was a boy of fifteen. The production used home movies and old photographs to accentuate the world of the past which Crystal nostalgically evoked in stories about himself and his family. Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that for an evening with Dame Edna or Jackie Mason one needed to wear “psychological armor,” but the “ideal attire” for Crystal’s show was an “old bathrobe with plenty of Kleenex in its pockets.” Although the evening occasionally dealt with “bolder” matters (including Crystal’s sexual awakening), the first act focused on the performer’s father and the second on his mother. While his “affection and warmth” for them were clearly real, they never quite came entirely to life as “individuals” and there was a certain “synthetic gloss” to the show. As for the “bolder” matters to which Brantley referred, one suspects these moments were welcomed by Crystal’s fan base but may have turned off others, who no doubt felt he overshared information they really could have lived without. David Rooney in Variety said the show’s “slickness and overscripted lack of spontaneity tarnish the sincerity,” and while it was clear the loss of his parents was “tremendous,” the “parading” of such losses “blunts

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the pathos” with a sense of “a carefully calculated effect and of false humility.” Ultimately, the evening had an “inescapable artificiality” that threatened “to turn genuine grief into a prosaic schmaltzfest.” But there were many moments of humor, such as when Crystal looked back upon various family members, including his “brittle, chain-smoking” Aunt Sheila who had to deal with her husband’s reluctance to attend the wedding of their lesbian daughter. So what did Aunt Sheila do? Simple: “I made him a Judy Garland. That’s nine Seconals and a half quart of vodka.” Incidental music heard in the production included: “Candy” (lyric by Joan Whitney and Mack David, music by Alex Kramer); “Memories of You” (Blackbirds of 1930; lyric by Andy Razaf, music by Eubie Blake); “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (International Revue, 1930; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh); “Someone to Watch Over Me” (Oh, Kay!, 1926; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “Sunrise, Sunset” (Fiddler on the Roof, 1964; lyric by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock); and “They Say It’s Wonderful” (Annie Get Your Gun, 1946; lyric and music by Irving Berlin). 700 Sundays was revived on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on November 13, 2013, for forty-six performances; in early January 2014, two performances were taped for television, and a version which combined the two was shown on HBO on April 19, 2014. The telecast was later released on DVD by HBO Studios.

Awards Tony Award: Best Special Theatrical Event (700 Sundays)

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: December 9, 2004; Closing Date: June 26, 2005 Performances: 229 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: Jerry Zaks; Producers: James L. Nederlander, Clear Channel Entertainment, Kenneth Greenblatt, Terry Allen Kramer, and Martin Richards (TGA Entertainment, Leni Sender, Bob Cuillo, and Kathi Glist, Associate Producers); Choreography: Jerry Mitchell; Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: Daniel Davis (Georges); Les Cagelles: T. Oliver Reid (Chantal), Christopher Freeman (Monique), Eric Otte (Dermah), Nathan Peck (Nicole), Brad Musgrove (Hanna), Josh Walden (Mercedes), Joey Dudding (Bitelle), Jermaine R. Rembert (Lo Singh), Charlie Sutton (Odette), Andy Pellick (Angelique, White Bird), Will Taylor (Phaedra), and Paul Canaan (Clo-Clo); John Shuman (Francis), Michael Benjamin Washington (Jacob), Gary Beach (Albin), Gavin Creel (Jean-Michel), Angela Gaylor (Anne), Ruth Williamson (Jacqueline); St. Tropez Townspeople: Merwin Foard (M. Renaud), Dorothy Stanley (Mme. Renaud), Emma Zaks (Paulette), Joey Dudding (Hercule), John Hillner (Etienne), Dale Hensley (Fisherman), Patty Goble (Colette), Adrian Bailey (Fisherman); Michael Mulheren (Edouard Dindon), Linda Balgord (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” (Gary Beach, Friends); “With Anne on My Arm” (Gavin Creel, Daniel Davis); “With You on My Arm” (reprise) (Daniel Davis, Gary Beach); “The Promenade” (Townspeople); “Song on the Sand” (Daniel Davis); “La Cage aux Folles” (Gary Beach, Les Cagelles); “I Am What I Am” (Gary Beach)

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Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Song on the Sand” (Daniel Davis, Gary Beach); “Masculinity” (Daniel Davis, Gary Beach, Townspeople); “Look Over There” (Daniel Davis); “Cocktail Counterpoint” (Daniel Davis, Michael Mulheren, Linda Balgord, Michael Benjamin Washington, Gavin Creel, Angela Gaylor); “The Best of Times” (Gary Beach, Ruth Williamson, Patrons); “Look Over There” (reprise) (Gavin Creel); Grand Finale (Company) When Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s La Cage aux Folles opened at the Palace Theatre on August 21, 1983, it 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 in the original, and Daniel Davis in the revival) and Albin (George Hearn/Gary Beach). Set in St. Tropez, the musical centered on La Cage aux Follies, Georges and Albin’s 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 along with the chorus line of the “notorious” Cagelles, most of whom are men in drag but with a token woman or two to fool the customers. Twenty-five years earlier, Georges’s first and only one-night stand with a woman resulted in the birth of his son Jean-Michel, whom he and Albin have raised since birth. When Jean-Michel returns home to announce his impending marriage to Anne, a girl whose father is an anti-gay 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 the boy’s mother. Soon comic chaos erupts, but all ends well after a frantic sequence when Anne’s parents, fearful of being spotted in a gay club, are forced to don drag as part of the club’s floorshow in order to escape detection by photographers. When the original production opened, the obvious sitcom aspects of the musical were somewhat overlooked because of its then edgy depiction of gay marriage and a two-father household. But time caught up with the material, and twenty-one years later the story seemed a bit old-hat. As a result, the critics were kind but cool to the revival, and despite a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, the show could muster little more than six months on Broadway. Moreover, the role of Jacob (Georges and Albin’s black and flaming houseboy) was always an uncomfortable caricature which played like an overbearing supporting role on a sitcom, and here the character was as blatantly stereotyped as ever. Further, it wouldn’t have hurt if the score had been tinkered with because three of the show’s weakest numbers were still included: “With Anne on My Arm” was hopelessly generic; “Masculinity” was obvious and lacked wit; and the undistinguished “Cocktail Counterpoint” was a time-filler. Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the revival both “garish and pallid” and said it gave “the impression of merely going through the motions, amiably but robotically.” He said the material was stale with “its formulaic cartoon characters and wink-wink liberalism,” which seemed to say “gays are like us, only more colorful.” Davis and Beach were “bright,” but the evening’s calling card was Jerry Mitchell’s choreography which offered a “racy, self-mocking tone in the opening scenes” that was never “equaled again.” Those Cagelles brought “acrobatic oomph and angularity” to their dances, and as long as they were “doing their thing” one’s attention stayed “thoroughly engaged.” David Rooney in Variety said the revival was “agreeable if somewhat pedestrian.” Jerry Zaks’s direction did little “to disguise [the] fatigue” of the “creaky” and “clunky” book, and the incipient “culture clash” between the gay and conservative families was given a “cursory” treatment in Fierstein’s book. But the show got “an adrenaline shot” from Mitchell’s “athletic” choreography, which was “a significant improvement” over the dances for the original production. An unsigned review in the New Yorker also praised the dances, and said the “high-kicking” Cagelles gave “the Rockettes a run for their money.” During the run, the grapevine ran wild with stories about backstage friction between the stars Daniel Davis and Gary Beach, and between Davis and other members of the company. Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that Davis was asked to leave the production, and when he departed an understudy performed his role until Robert Goulet stepped in on April 15, about nine weeks before the revival closed. The original production played for 1,761 performances and won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1987, and the 1983 original cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # HBC1-4824 and CD # 4824); the CD was later reissued by Arkiv/Sony BMG Masterworks Broadway (# RCA-59997) and includes a bonus track of Herman at the piano during which he discusses the song “I Am What I Am.”

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Following the current revival, the musical returned six years later on April 18, 2010, at the Longacre Theatre for 433 performances with Douglas Hodge (Albin) and Kelsey Grammer (Georges); it too won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The cast recording of the 2010 revival was released by PS Classics (CD # PS-1094), but there was no recording of the current revival. There are numerous foreign cast recordings of the score, including a 1991 Rome production released by Nuova Carisch (CD # CL-39) and an Australian version released by RCA Victor (LP # VPL-1-0520), which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney on March 1, 1985, with Keith Mitchell (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 musical adaptation of the material was scheduled to open on Broadway during the 1981–1982 season as The Queen of Basin Street. The work 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 musical was to have premiered at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on December 19, 1981, for a ten-week engagement prior to opening on Broadway during the spring of 1982, but soon Carr announced in Variety that Tune and Nichols were no longer associated with the production because of “artistic, creative and financial differences.” This proposed version soon completely collapsed, but Carr and other producers brought Fierstein and Herman’s version to Broadway a little more than a year after Yeston’s adaptation 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 the original La Cage material (this one took place in Miami and 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 replaced with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (La Cage aux Folles); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Gary Beach); Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long); Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell)

LITTLE WOMEN “The Musical”

Theatre: Virginia Theatre Opening Date: January 23, 2005; Closing Date: May 22, 2005 Performances: 137 Book: Allan Knee Lyrics: Mindi Dickstein Music: Jason Howland Based on the 1868 novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Direction: Susan H. Schulman (Darcy Evans, Associate Director); Producers: Randall L. Wreghitt, Dani Davis, Ken Gentry, Chase Mishkin, Worldwide Entertainment, Ruben Brache, Lisa Vioni, Jana Robbins, and Addiss Duke Associates in association with John and Danita Thomas, Thomas Keegan, Scott Freiman, and Theatre Previews at Duke; Choreography: Michael Licheteld; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Catherine Zuber; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Andrew Wilder Cast: John Hickok (Professor Bhaer), Sutton Foster (Jo), Amy McAlexander (Amy), Jenny Powers (Meg), Megan McGinnis (Beth), Maureen McGovern (Marmee), Robert Stattel (Mr. Laurence), Danny Gurwin (Laurie), Janet Carroll (Aunt March, Mrs. Kirk), Jim Weitzer (John Brooke); “Operatic Tragedy” Players: Jenny Powers (Clarissa), Jim Weitzer (Braxton), Danny Gurwin (Rodrigo), Maureen McGovern (The Hag), Amy McAlexander (The Troll), Robert Stattel (The Knight), Megan McGinnis (Rodrigo Too)

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The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Concord, Massachusetts; Falmouth, Cape Cod; and in New York City during the period from Christmas 1863 to Spring 1867.

Musical Numbers Act One: “An Operatic Tragedy” (Sutton Foster, Jenny Powers, Jim Weitzer, Danny Gurwin, John Hickok); “Better” (Sutton Foster); “Our Finest Dreams” (Sutton Foster, Megan McGinnis, Jenny Powers, Amy McAlexander); “Here Alone” (Maureen McGovern); “Could You?” (Janet Carroll, Sutton Foster); “I’d Be Delighted” (Maureen McGovern, Jenny Powers, Sutton Foster, Megan McGinnis); “Take a Chance on Me” (Danny Gurwin); “Better” (reprise) (Sutton Foster); “Off to Massachusetts” (Megan McGinnis, Robert Stattel); “Five Forever” (Sutton Foster, Danny Gurwin, Megan McGinnis, Jenny Powers, Amy McAlexander); “More Than I Am” (Jim Weitzer, Jenny Powers); “Astonishing” (Sutton Foster) Act Two: “The Weekly Volcano Press” (Company); “Off to Massachusetts” (reprise) (Megan McGinnis, Robert Stattel); “How I Am” (John Hickok); “Some Things Are Meant to Be” (Megan McGinnis, Sutton Foster); “The Most Amazing Thing” (Danny Gurwin, Amy McAlexander); “Days of Plenty” (Maureen McGovern); “The Fire within Me” (Sutton Foster); “Small Umbrella in the Rain” (John Hickok, Sutton Foster) Director Susan H. Schulman was back again with another girl-empowerment musical, but Little Women ran just four months as opposed to The Secret Garden, which mustered almost two years on Broadway. Perhaps the air was too full of female empowerment musicals (mostly of the little-girl variety, and with the very occasional token little-boy show), and each season offered at least one, including Jane Eyre, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hairspray, Wicked, The Pirate Queen, Legally Blonde, The Little Mermaid, Billy Elliot, 9 to 5, Cinderella (the 2013 version), Matilda, and Waitress. Besides the de rigueur female empowerment musical, each season seemed to require at least one Sondheim revival (or retrospective) as well as a drag-queen musical. Little Women was of course a version of Louisa May Alcott’s familiar story of the four March girls and their mother, who live in Massachusetts during the Civil War era while Mr. March is at war, and elements of the story include Jo’s literary ambitions, various genteel romances, and one death. The critics weren’t all that impressed, but the musical hung on for the remainder of the season, and one or two reviewers were glad to note that Sutton Foster (as Jo) had calmed down since Thoroughly Modern Millie and here wasn’t overdoing the smiles, the teeth, and the perky performance style. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “sketchy” adaptation was tantamount to “speed reading” Alcott’s novel, and he noted Jane Eyre was another adaptation of a “girl’s-growing-pains classic” that “suffered from similar shoehorning.” The events rushed by in “telegraphic haste,” most of the characters seemed “to pass before your eyes like labeled luggage on a conveyor belt,” and the score was “brisk, sprightly and forgettable” and offered power ballads of the “sub-Lloyd Webber variety.” David Rooney in Variety found the score “bland” and “mostly unmemorable,” and said the evening was “pleasant but staid” with “amiable and tasteful enough” direction that was nonetheless “a little wan and not entirely absorbing.” However, he was glad to see that Foster had “mercifully” toned down the “chronic perkiness” from her Millie days. Richard Zoglin in Time said the evening was “pretty, unpretentious, warmhearted, but surprisingly restrained” and was “an unexpectedly satisfying meal” that might have been “a real banquet” had the score offered “a few decent tunes.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker noted that Jo’s song “Astonishing” was a “made-for-schoolgirls anthem,” the “anachronistic” book turned Jo “into a strident, sitcom variety showboat,” and the adaptation flattened her sisters into “caricatures.” The cast album was recorded by Ghostlight Records (CD # 7915584405-2). During the tryout, “Beyond This Tiny Room” and “I’ll Love You Anyway” were cut. The current adaptation of Little Women is one of a long line of lyric works based on Alcott’s novel, and earlier ones include: A Girl Called Jo (London, 1955; music by John Pritchett, additional music by Stanley Myers); Little Women (written for amateur productions in Britain, 1955); Little Women (1958 CBS television version; lyrics and music by Richard Adler); Jo (Off Broadway, 1963; music by William Dyer); Little Women (produced in Guildford, Great Britain, 1970, and later presented in concert in 2005; music by Lionel Segal); Dear Jo (Great Britain, 1974); Little Women (produced in Great Britain, but not in London, 1974; music by

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Peter Sanderson); and the opera Little Women (1998, workshop; 2000, Houston Grand Opera Company; 2003, The New York City Opera Company; libretto and music by Mark Adamo). It appears that only the Adler, Adamo, and current adaptation have been recorded.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster)

GOOD VIBRATIONS “A New Musical”

Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: February 2, 2005; Closing Date: April 24, 2005 Performances: 94 Book: Richard Dresser Lyrics and Music: Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys (see list of musical numbers for specific credits) Direction and Choreography: John Carrafa; Producers: NCJ Productions/Michael Watt and Dodger Theatricals with SEL & GFO, Theatre Dreams, and Stage Holding/Joop van den Ende (Dodger Management Group and Sally Campbell Morse, Executive Producers) (William Kennedy and Silverman Partners, Associate Producers); Scenery: Heidi Ettinger; Projections: Elaine J. McCarthy; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt and Jason Lyons; Musical Direction: Susan Draus Cast: Heath Calvert (Surfer Guy, Cowboy), Chad Kimball (Surfer Guy, Randy), John Jeffrey Martin (Surfer Guy, Country Dude), Jesse Nager (Surfer Guy), David Reiser (Surfer Guy, Dean), David Larsen (Bobby), Amanda Kloots (Bikini Girl), Jessica-Snow Wilson (Marcella), Kate Reinders (Caroline), Brandon Wardell (Dave), Tituss Burgess (Eddie), Tom Deckman (Class President, Giggles Manager), Milena Govich (Rhonda), Sebastian Arcelus (Jan), Jackie Seiden (Deirdre), Tracee Beazer (Wendy); Ensemble—High School Kids, Mechanics, Chili Dog Kids, Giggles Girls, Beach Kids: Sebastian Arcelus, Tracee Beazer, Heath Calvert, Janet Dacal, Tom Deckman, Sarah Glendening, Milena Govich, Chad Kimball, Amanda Kloots, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser, Jackie Seiden, Allison Spratt The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place “here,” and the time is “now.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “Our Prayer” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson) (Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Fun, Fun, Fun” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (David Larsen, Company); “Karate” (lyric and music by Carl Wilson) (High School Kids); “Keep an Eye on Summer” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Bob Norman) (Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, and Mike Love) (Tituss Burgess, Jessica-Snow Wilson, Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “In My Room” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher) (Kate Reinders, Jessica-Snow Wilson, High School Kids); “I Get Around” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Brandon Wardell, David Larsen, Tituss Burgess, Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jess Nager, David Reiser); “When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Kate Reinders, David Larsen, Brandon Wardell, Tituss Burgess, Jessica-Snow Wilson, High School Kids); “Breakaway” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Murray Wilson) (David Larsen, Brandon Wardell, Tituss Burgess, Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Don’t Worry Baby” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian) (Kate Reinders, David Larsen, High School Kids); “Surf City” (lyric and music by Jan Berry and Brian Wilson) (Brandon Wardell, David Larsen, Kate Reinders, Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Shut Down” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian) (David Larsen, Kate Reinders, Brandon Wardell,

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Tituss Burgess, Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Be True to Your School” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (John Jeffrey Martin, Chili Dog Kids); “Car Crazy Cutie” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian) (David Larsen, Brandon Wardell, Tituss Burgess, Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Warmth of the Sun” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Jessica-Snow Wilson, Kate Reinders, Giggles Girls); “Pet Sounds” (music by Brian Wilson) (Orchestra); “Surfin’ U.S.A.” (lyric and music by Chuck Berry) (Sebastian Arcelus, David Reiser, Beach Kids); “Dance, Dance, Dance” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Mike Love) (Kate Reinders, Sebastian Arcelus, Beach Kids) Act Two: “California Girls” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Sebastian Arcelus, David Reiser, Beach Kids); “Help Me, Rhonda” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Tituss Burgess, David Larsen, Brandon Wardell, Beach Guys); “Stoked” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson) (Beach Guys); “Surfer Girl” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson) (David Larsen, Beach Guys); “Darlin’” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Sebastian Arcelus, Kate Reinders, Beach Kids); “Your Imagination” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson, Joseph Thomas, Steve Dahl, and Jim Peterik) (Kate Reinders, Jessica-Snow Wilson); “Caroline, No” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) (David Larsen); “All Summer Long” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (Beach Kids); “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) (Brandon Wardell, David Larsen, Tituss Burgess); “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (reprise) (Tituss Burgess, Jessica-Snow Wilson, Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Sail On, Sailor” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson, Ray Kennedy, John F. Rieley III, Tandyn Almer, and Van Dyke Parks) (Tituss Burgess, David Reiser, Beach Kids); “Sloop John B” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson) (Sebastian Arcelus, David Reiser, Beach Kids); “Friends” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Al Jardine) (Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser); “Good Vibrations” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) (David Larsen, Company); “God Only Knows” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) (David Larsen, Kate Reinders, Company); Finale (Company) The jukebox musical Good Vibrations featured songs by the Beach Boys, and no doubt everyone associated with the show thought, “Count three and pray Mamma Mia.” But lightning didn’t strike twice, and the show was one of the most vilified of the decade, losing $7.7 million and closing after less than three months. Although the program’s vague “here” and “now” description didn’t say much, the “here” was clearly California and the “now” was a kind of idealized 1950s and 1960s limbo of surfing, swimming, splashing, sunbathing, sun-tan lotion, and sunglasses in which only surfer guys, beach guys, beach kids, Chili Dog Kids, and Giggles Girls (as well as a bikini girl, a cowboy, and a country dude) were allowed. The show also borrowed a dollop of Grease for its slender plot about the high school romance between a rebel-like bad boy and a nice and respectable girl. The musical also included a mixed-race couple and a gay or two, characters one suspects wouldn’t be found in authentic beach-party flicks of the 1960s. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “rickety” musical was a “singing headache,” but noted the show had a “purpose” because its reason for existence was “to make all other musicals on Broadway look good.” The season had thus far offered such “clunkers” as Dracula, Brooklyn, and Little Women, but these shows now seemed like “a high point of professionalism.” The book was a “blockheaded comic strip,” the direction and choreography were sloppy, the costumes were a “potpourri” of styles and eras that could have come from “a mass-market department store,” the “overaccessorized” sets included beach balls galore, the cast had apparently “spent more time in the gym than in the rehearsal studio,” and “the sum effect” was “a lumbering, brainless Frankenstein’s monster, stitched together from stolen body parts and stuffed into a wild bikini.” David Rooney in Variety said the “amateurish” musical didn’t approach the “staggering tedium” of The Look of Love but was “so inept” it made Mamma Mia! look like Sunday in the Park with George. The show wasn’t “just cheesy,” it was “Velveeta cheesy, spread thick on white bread,” and the performers weren’t “beached but entirely at sea” (and one cast member did “herself no favors by relentlessly channeling Kristin Chenoweth”). Rooney also mentioned those beach balls that the cast occasionally tossed into the audience, and he wondered what would come first, the show’s closing notice or a lawsuit over broken eyeglasses. Clive Barnes in the New York Post also used the B-word, and noted that the show was “beached” with a “drab” book, “ugly” décor, and “conventional” costumes, and he concluded that Good Vibrations was “the wrong time, the wrong show and the wrong beach.” In the same newspaper, Michael Riedel reported that two

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Tony voters complained about the beach ball “assault,” and Riedel noted that instead the audience should have been “throwing things at the cast” because here was a show that made Footloose (“once the gold standard of awfulness”) and Dracula “look like masterpieces of the American musical theatre.” Songs cut during previews were: “Catch a Wave” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love); “Do It Again” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love); “Let’s Go Away for a While” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson); “Little Deuce Coupe” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian); “Little Honda” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love), “Surfin’ Safari” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love); and “Wendy” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love). Earlier, the musical had been presented at Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theatre in July 2004. The debacle of Good Vibrations apparently made everyone forget about New York’s first Beach Boys’ musical, although perhaps the word suppressed is more accurate. Yes, Surf City (subtitled “The Beach Boys Musical,” and originally titled Surfin’ USA) was scheduled to open Off Broadway at the Entermedia Theatre on April 9, 1985, and one of its coproducers told the New York Times the show was inspired by “the idealized lifestyle of the California myth, and the feelings, spirit and fantasies epitomized by the Beach Boys music.” But the fantasies went only so far, and the $1.5 million musical shuttered after eleven previews.

DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: March 3, 2005; Closing Date: September 3, 2006 Performances: 627 Book: Jeffrey Lane Lyrics and Music: David Yazbek Based on the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (direction by Frank Oz and screenplay by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro, and Paul Henning), which in turn was based on the 1964 film Bedtime Story (direction by Ralph Levy and screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning). Direction: Jack O’Brien; Producers: Marty Bell, David Bell, Aldo Scrofani, Roy Furman, Dede Harris, Amanda Lipitz, Greg Smith, Ruth Hendel, Chase Mishkin, Barry and Susan Tatelman, Debra Black, Sharon Karmazin, Joyce Schweickert, Bernie Abrams/Michael Speyer, David Belasco, Barbara Whitman, Weissberger Theatre Group Company/Jay Harris, Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Jean Cheever, Florenz Ziegfeld, Clear Channel Entertainment, and Harvey Weinstein in association with High on Stage/Darcie Denkert and Dean Stolber and The Entire Prussian Army (Marty Bell and Aldo Scrofani, Executive Producers); Choreography: Jerry Mitchell; Scenery: David Rockwell; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Fred Lassen Cast: Gregory Jbara (Andre Thibault), John Lithgow (Lawrence Jameson), Joanna Gleason (Muriel Eubanks), Norbert Leo Butz (Freddy Benson), Sara Gettelfinger (Jolene Oakes), Sherie Rene Scott (Christine Colgate); Ensemble: Timothy J. Alex, Andrew Asnes, Roxane Barlow, Stephen Campanella, Joe Cassidy, Julie Connors, Rachel De Benedet, Laura Marie Duncan, Sally Mae Dunn, Tom Galantich, Jason Gillman, Amy Heggins, Grasan Kingsberry, Michael Paternostro, Rachelle Rak The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the summer of the present time in Beaumont sur Mer, a resort on the French Riviera.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra, Ensemble); “Give Them What They Want” (John Lithgow, Gregory Jbara, Ensemble); “What Was a Woman to Do?” (Joanna Gleason, Women); “Great Big Stuff” (Norbert Leo Butz, Ensemble); “Chimp in a Suit” (Gregory Jbara); “Oklahoma?” (Sara Gettelfinger, John Lithgow, Ensemble); “All about Ruprecht” (John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Sara Gettelfinger); “What Was a Woman to Do?” (reprise) (Joanna Gleason); “Here I Am” (Sherie Rene Scott, Ensemble); “Nothing Is Too Wonderful to Be True” (Sherie Rene Scott, Norbert Leo Butz); Act One Finale: “The Miracle” (Company)

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Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra, Ensemble); “Ruffhousin’ mit Shuffhausen” (Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott, John Lithgow); “Like Zis/Like Zat” (Gregory Jbara, Joanna Gleason); “The More We Dance” (John Lithgow, Sherie Rene Scott, Ensemble); “Love Is My Legs” (Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott, Ensemble); “Love Sneaks In” (John Lithgow); “Son of Great Big Stuff” (Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott); “The Reckoning” (John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Gregory Jbara); “Dirty Rotten Number” (John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz); Finale (Company) Based on the 1988 film of the same name (which in turn had been based on the 1964 film Bedtime Story), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was an old-fashioned farce about two rival con men on the Riviera, an odd coupling of the cool, dapper, and debonair Lawrence Jameson (John Lithgow) who poses as an exiled European prince and the crude and sloppy Freddy Benson (Norbert Leo Butz) who has temporarily adopted the persona of a selfless Red Cross worker just trying to raise money for his ailing grandmother. Lawrence is the resort’s number-one scammer, and he’s not happy to discover that flimflammer Freddy (who is apparently the mysterious Jackal, the world’s number-one con artist) plans to take over his lucrative territory where vacationing rich women are only too happy to shower him with money so that he can regain his long lost kingdom. Lawrence and Freddy form an uneasy alliance and enter into a contest to determine which one is the crown prince of con artists, and to that end they focus on visiting heiress Christine Colgate (Sherie Rene Scott), otherwise known as the American Soap Queen. Whoever first cons her out of $50,000 is the winner, and the loser will clear out of the Riviera for good. But the tables are turned when too late the boys realize that Christine is actually the Jackal, and they’re the ones who’ve been monumentally suckered. The evening was a jokey affair that laughed at almost everything, even the conventions of musical comedy (read through the names of the producers in the show’s credits), and occasionally the performers broke the fourth wall and made knowing comments about the plot to the audience. And in keeping with farcical story, there were of course disguises, lies, general underhandedness, and purposely groan-inducing dialogue and jokes. Clearly, the other musical about con men was the show’s spiritual mentor, and indeed the ironic tone of Mel Brooks’s show had taken root and sprouted numerous offspring. In fact, less than two weeks after Scoundrels premiered, another tongue-in-cheek musical opened and Spamalot became the biggest hit of the season. David Yazbek’s delightful score perfectly captured the twists and tangles of the plot, and for once offcolor lyrics worked because they mirrored the incipient coarseness of the characters. Butz blew the roof off with his show-stopping “Great Big Stuff,” an old-fashioned star-in-stage-center-limelight show piece in which he laundry-lists all the things in life he wants (enough money to buy a mansion with a moat, enough money for “unnecessary surgery,” and enough money to afford a ticket for a Broadway show). And in the role of Jolene Oakes, a pushy, no-holds-barred oil heiress from Oklahoma, Sara Gettelfinger salutes the joys of “Oklahoma?” where the leading cause of death is melanoma (as for the state’s pesky coyote population, she knows a “few tricks with a thirty-ought-six” and so you can watch her “blow those little fuckers heads clean off”). And “Like Zis/Like Zat” was a sinuously vampy if purposely silly and off-the-wall duet for the resort’s crooked cop Andre (Gregory Jbara) and rich American Muriel (Joanna Gleason) in which the former’s fractured English turns “prince” and “wince” into “prance” and “wance,” and “romance,” and “dance” into “ro-mince,” and “dince.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times was cool to the musical, and noted that “to court comparison” with The Producers the show needed to “stand tall” but instead never straightened “out of a queasy slouch.” He felt the evening had “been assembled according to an oft-checked shopping list for a borrowed recipe” and felt many of the cast members were uncomfortable in their roles. But the “criminally talented” Butz switched on “a vocal and comic power that jolts an audience to attention,” and “Great Big Stuff” was “an inspired parody of the hip-hop odes to the materialism of music videos.” David Rooney in Variety felt the musical was “a disharmonious jumble of sophisticated, urbane humor and frat-boy crassness,” and said Yazbek’s lyrics ranged from the “droll” to the “cringe-inducing undergraduate.” But the “truly talented” Butz had a “rich, nuanced singing voice” and possessed “a lively command of verbal and physical comedy,” which came across “like John C. Reilly by way of Jerry Lewis.” The headline in Clive Barnes’s review for the New York Post exclaimed, “No Butz about Hit!” and the critic suggested if W. C. Fields were still alive his rule about never working with children and animals would be expanded to include Butz. Here was “one of the liveliest, best-performed musicals in years” and was “in every way” a “superior” show. John Lahr in the New Yorker said the musical was “a cause for celebration”

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and was a “gleeful” adaptation of its film source. The score was “good-natured,” the show was “as sprightly as a trick pony,” and when Butz hit the stage with his “irresistible mischief” and his “show-stopping” ode “Great Big Stuff,” the “comic engine” of Jeffrey Lane’s “perky” book “revs up.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post said the “musical mischief” was “pure escapist silliness” guaranteed to make the audience “feel good and tipsy.” Further, the score was “droll and appealing,” and any lyricist who had “the brass” to rhyme “Oklahoma” with “melanoma” and “Lorenzo Lamas” with “pajamas” was “all right by me.” The “prodigiously talented” Butz gave a performance “so earthy and ripe you can smell it,” and his “Great Big Stuff” was a “slam dunk.” At one point the plot required Butz to impersonate Lawrence’s fictitious little brother Ruprecht, and the song “All about Ruprecht” described the boy as the kind of simpleton “one sees in Appalachia.” Marks noted the song dealt with the boy’s “unseemly obsessions, which will not be described any further” (but for those with inquiring minds, Ruprecht’s simple joys include “milkshake enemas,” “fresh-shaved testicles on Christmas day,” and “KY Jelly on a rubber glove”). During the tryout, the songs “Above the Waist” and “The Soap” were deleted. The original cast album was released by Ghostlight Records (CD # 7915584406-2) and includes two demos by Yazbek (“Here I Am” and “All about Ruprecht”) and a track of Sherie Rene Scott performing “Nothing Is Too Wonderful to Be True” to the accompaniment of Bill Charlap on piano. The cast album of the 2008 Mexico City production (Una Eva y dos patanes) was released by RetroLab Music (unnumbered CD). The plot synopsis included in the CD booklet provides extra information about the characters: Christine later becomes governess to a family of Austrian children and saves them from the Nazis, Freddy goes insane and opens up a combination barber shop and pie emporium, and Lawrence regretfully leaves his hometown of Anatevka for a new life in America. The jokey liner notes were surely a secret homage to the ones written for the cast-album liner notes of Off-Broadway’s 1959 The Billy Barnes Revue. These indicate the revue had originally been intended as a vehicle for Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, was to have taken place in River City, Iowa, and included a plot concerning the mother of a Chinese strip-tease artist (from the west side of River City), a redheaded man, and a tights-wearing Frenchman from the Jamaican section of town. Alas, “the entire project was junked as ‘uncommercial.’”

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels); Best Book (Jeffrey Lane); Best Score (lyrics and music by David Yazbek); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Norbert Leo Butz); Best Leading Actor in a Musical (John Lithgow); Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Sherie Rene Scott); Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Kenneth Posner); Best Direction of a Musical (Jack O’Brien); Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell); Best Orchestrations (Harold Wheeler)

CANDIDE Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 8, 2005; Closing Date: March 19, 2005 Performances: 10 Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics: Richard Wilbur (additional lyrics by Leonard Bernstein, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim; see list of musical numbers for specific credits) Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on the 1759 novel Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet). Direction: “Production” by Harold Prince and “Stage Direction” by Arthur Masella; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Paul Kellogg, Director); Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Clarke Dunham; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: George Manahan Cast: John Cullum (Voltaire, Doctor Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, Second Gambler [Police Chief], Sage), Keith Jameson (Candide; William Ferguson, alternate), Stacey Logan (Paquette), Anna Christy (Cunegonde; Georgia Jarman, alternate), Kyle Pfortmiller (Maximillian), Judy Kaye (Old Lady); Other roles

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played by Peter Samuel, Gina Ferrall, Robert Ousley, Eric Michael Gillett, William Ledbetter, David Viletta, John Paul Almon, Rob Reynolds, Salim Gauwloos, Warren Adams, David Spangenthal, William Ward, Keith Partington, Mike Timoney, John Henry Thomas, Nanne Puritz, Deborah Lew, Christopher Jackson; Ensemble: The New York City Opera Company 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.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Life Is Happiness Indeed” (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (Keith Jameson, Anna Christy, Kyle Pfortmiller, Stacey Logan); “The Best of All Possible Worlds” (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (John Cullum, Keith Jameson, Anna Christy, Kyle Pfortmiller, Stacey Logan); “Oh, Happy We” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Keith Jameson, Anna Christy); “It Must Be So” (aka “Candide’s Meditation”) (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Keith Jameson); “Westphalian Fanfare” (Orchestra)/“Chorale” (Chorus)/“Battle” (Orchestra); “Glitter and Be Gay” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Anna Christy); “Dear Boy” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (John Cullum, Male Chorus); “Auto-da-fe” (aka “What a Day”) (lyric by Richard Wilbur and Stephen Sondheim) (Company); “Candide’s Lament” (aka “This World”) (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (Keith Jameson); “You Were Dead, You Know” (lyric by John Latouche) (Keith Jameson, Anna Christy); “I Am Easily Assimilated” (lyric by Leonard Bernstein) (Judy Kaye, Male Chorus); “Quartet Finale” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Keith Jameson, Anna Christy, Judy Kaye, John Cullum, Chorus) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Ballad of the New World” (lyricist unknown) (Keith Jameson, Chorus); “My Love” (lyric by John Latouche and Richard Wilbur) (John Cullum, Kyle Pfortmiller); “The Old Lady’s Tale” (lyricist unknown) (Judy Kaye); “Barcarolle” (Orchestra); “Alleluia” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Kyle Pfortmiller, Anna Christy, John Cullum, Chorus); “Sheep Song” (lyric by Stephen Sondheim) (Sheep); “Governor’s Waltz” (Orchestra); “Bon Voyage” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (John Cullum, Chorus); “Quiet” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Judy Kaye, Anna Christy, Keith Jameson); “The Best of All Possible Worlds” (reprise) (Judy Kaye, Keith Jameson, Anna Christy); “Constantinople” (Orchestra); “What’s the Use” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (John Cullum, Men); “You Were Dead, You Know” (reprise) (Keith Jameson, Anna Christy); “Make Our Garden Grow” (lyric by Richard Wilbur) (Company) Leonard Bernstein’s lyric version of Voltaire’s Candide 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 life in the quest of 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. All this was set to what is probably the most brilliant score ever composed for the theatre, and, despite a variety of writers, a unified set of witty and ironic lyrics that seem written by one hand. Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times noted that the New York City Opera Company’s revival offered “beefed-up orchestrations and colorful (though dusty-looking) sets that fill the stage with drops, props, sight gags and activity, too much activity for my taste.” Unfortunately, the company continued to use both the book that Hugh Wheeler adapted for the 1973–1974 production of the musical as well as the staging created by Harold Prince for that presentation, which originated at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on December 11, 1973, for forty-eight showings and transferred to Broadway on March 5, 1974, at the Broadway Theatre where it lost money despite a run of 740 performances. This was a kindergarten Candide that reduced Voltaire to Laugh-In styled antics, and at times Bernstein’s scintillating score came across as an afterthought in an evening designed to support the foolish goings-on in a so-called environmental staging that reduced the venerable Broadway Theatre to a hodgepodge of overly busy playing areas. The original production of Candide opened on Broadway on December 1, 1956, at the Martin Beck (now Al Hirschfeld) Theatre for seventy-three performances, and Lillian Hellman’s book struck just the right note of barbed satire that never went over the top into sitcom-styled foolishness. Unfortunately, the terms of her will preclude the use of her book in any staging, but surely somewhere there is a librettist who could create a book in the style of Voltaire, one that could match the satiric tone of Bernstein’s stunning score.

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A myth that surrounds the 1956 production is that it received poor reviews and went unseen and unappreciated until the 1973 and 1974 presentations. In truth, most of the critics gave the musical rapturous notices. John Chapman in the New York Daily News hailed the “artistic triumph” and said it was the best light opera since the 1911 premiere of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier; he further 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 he noted that nothing in Bernstein’s previous theatre music had the “joyous variety, humor and richness” of this “wonderful” score. He also said 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 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 as “voluptuous as velvet” it was “as frostily pretty as a diamond bell.” Although Robert Coleman in the New York Daily Mirror said the musical had its “faults” (which he didn’t specify), it was nonetheless “distinguished” and “towers heads and shoulders above most of the song-and-dancers you’ll get this or any other season”; Richard Watts in the New York Post felt the libretto sometimes lacked “bite and pungency” but was still “brilliant” and offered “so much in the way of musical excellence, visual beauty, grace of style and boldness of design”; and John McClain in the New York JournalAmerican 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 stated that 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 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.” In 1958, a concert version of the musical toured 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-only concert with William Lewis and Madeleine Kahn was presented at Philharmonic Hall in an adaptation that combined Hellman, Stewart, and Patinkin’s versions. In 1971, a lavish revival with Frank Porretta and Mary Costa toured for four months but closed prior to Broadway; the adaptation was by Patinkin, and the décor was by Oliver Smith, who had designed the original production. The original Broadway cast album has never been out of print, and was first released by Columbia Records (LP # OS-2350) and later 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, and the script of the 1974 revival was issued in hardback by Schirmer Books/MacMillan Performing Arts Series in 1976. The 1974 production was recorded on a two-LP set by Columbia (LP # S2X-32923) and later issued on a two-CD set by Sony/Masterworks Broadway (# 82876-88391-2). Besides the current City Opera revival, the company revived the musical in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1989, 2008, and 2017 (for more information about the 2008 production, see entry). The 1982 City Opera revival was recorded on a two-LP set by New World Records (LP # NW-340/341), which the company later released on a two-CD set. The musical was also revived at the Gershwin Theatre on April 29, 1997, for 103 performances and was recorded by RCA Victor Records (CD # 00926-68835-2). The score’s “final, revised version, 1989” was conducted by Bernstein and released by Deutsche Grammophone (LP # 429-743-1; CD # 429-743-2), and a concert version that directly preceded the 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 seen on public television’s Great Performances and was later released on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ID2762EMDVD). The musical was first produced in London on April 30, 1958, at the Saville Theatre for sixty performances, and the cast included Denis Quilley (Candide), Mary Costa (Cunegonde), Laurence Naismith (Pangloss), Edith

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Coates (The Old Lady), Ron Moody (The Governor), and Victor Spinetti (The Marquis). The book was credited to Hellman (who was “assisted” by Michael Stewart).

MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT “A New Musical Lovingly Ripped Off

from the

Motion Picture Monty Python

and the

Holy Grail”

Theatre: Shubert Theatre Opening Date: March 17, 2005; Closing Date: January 11, 2009 Performances: 1,575 Book and Lyrics: Eric Idle Music: John Du Prez and Eric Idle Note: See list of musical numbers for more song credits. Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (direction by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones and screenplay by Gilliam, Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin). Direction: Mike Nichols (Peter Lawrence, Associate Director); Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, The Shubert Organization, Arielle Tepper, Stephanie McClelland/Lawrence Horowitz, Elan V. McAllister/ Allan S. Gordon, Independent Presenters Network, Roy Furman, GRS Associates, Jam Theatricals, TGA Entertainment, and Clear Channel Entertainment (Randi Grossman and Tisch/Avnet Financial, Associate Producers); Choreography: Casey Nicholaw (Darlene Wilson, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes: Tim Hatley; Projections: Elaine J. McCarthy; Lighting: Hugh Vanstone; Musical Direction: Todd Ellison Cast: Christian Borle (Historian, Not Dead Fred, French Guard, Minstrel, Prince Herbert), Michael McGrath (Mayor, Patsy, Guard 2), Tim Curry (King Arthur), David Hyde Pierce (Sir Robin, Guard 1, Brother Maynard), Hank Azaria (Sir Lancelot, The French Taunter, Knight of Ni, Tim the Enchanter), Christopher Sieber (Sir Dennis Galahad, The Black Knight, Prince Herbert’s Father), Steve Rosen (Dennis’s Mother, Sir Bedevere, Concorde), Sara Ramirez (The Lady of the Lake), Kevin Covert (Sir Not Appearing), John Cleese (The Voice of God), Thomas Cannizzaro (French Guard), Greg Reuter (French Guard, Minstrel), Brad Bradley (Minstrel, Sir Bors), Emily Hsu (Minstrel); Ensemble: Brad Bradley, Thomas Cannizzaro, Kevin Covert, Jennifer Frankel, Lisa Gajda, Jenny Hill, Emily Hsu, Abbey O’Brien, Ariel Reid, Greg Reuter, Brian Shepard, Scott Taylor The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in England during 932 AD.

Musical Numbers Note: (*) denotes song was first introduced in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Act One: “Finland” (*) (lyric and music by Michael Palin) and “Fisch Schlapping Song” (Christian Borle, Michael McGrath, Villagers); “King Arthur’s Song” (Tim Curry, Michael McGrath); “Monks’ Chant” and “I Am Not Dead Yet” (Christian Borle, Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Bodies, Monks); “Come with Me” (Tim Curry, Sara Ramirez, Laker Girls); “The Song That Goes Like This” (Christopher Sieber, Sara Ramirez); “All for One” (Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria, Christopher Sieber, Steve Rosen); “Knights of the Round Table” (*) (lyric by Graham Chapman and John Cleese, music by Neil Innes) (Sara Ramirez, Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria, Christopher Sieber, Steve Rosen, The Camelot Dancers); “The Song That Goes Like This” (reprise) (Sara Ramirez); “Find Your Grail” (Sara Ramirez, Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria, Christopher Sieber, Steve Rosen, Knights, Grail Girls); “Run Away!” (French Taunters, Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria, Christopher Sieber, Steve Rosen, French Guards, French Citizens) Act Two: “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” (from the 1979 film Life of Brian; lyric and music by Eric Idle) (Michael McGrath, Tim Curry, Knights, Knights of Ni); “Brave Sir Robin” (*) (lyric by Eric Idle, music by Neil Innes) (David Hyde Pierce, Brad Bradley, Emily Hsu, Greg Reuter); “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” (David Hyde Pierce, Ensemble); “The Diva’s Lament” (“Whatever Happened to My Part?”)

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(Sara Ramirez); “Where Are You?” (Christian Borle); “Here Are You” (Christian Borle); “His Name Is Lancelot” (Hank Azaria, Christopher Borle, Ensemble); “I’m All Alone” (Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, Knights); “The Song That Goes Like This” (reprise; as “Twice in Every Show”) (Sara Ramirez, Tim Curry); “The Holy Grail” (Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria, Christopher Sieber, Steve Rosen, Knights); “Find Your Grail” (reprise) and Medley (Company) The m’lords and m’ladies of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Camelot (1960) were a pretty stodgy bunch who never let themselves go except when they sang out a “Tra-la” over the promise of the lusty month of May. But the knights and ladies of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s A Connecticut Yankee (1927 and revived in 1943) were decidedly merrier, with radios and telephones, and those in the 1943 version were hep cats with jeeps, walkie-talkies, defense factories, swing shifts, and canteens. They even spoke jive lingo (“Thou has put me on the beam”) and danced “The Camelot Samba.” But Spamalot (or, more specifically, Monty Python’s Spamalot) delved into the psyches of the Camelotians, and explained that their true natures were hardwired into musical comedy, and each one craved a center-stage moment in the limelight where he or she could stop the show. Sir Dennis Galahad (Christopher Sieber) tosses his tresses about in the manner of a petulant school girl (Ben Brantley in the New York Times thought he might be “auditioning for a Clairol commercial”), and he and the Lady of the Lake (Sara Ramirez) like to sing “The Song That Goes Like This,” a tribute to the Andrew Lloyd Webber school of melody in which notes are incessantly repeated and then endlessly reprised (and while they float on a lake in a “magnificent” boat and sing away, a chandelier suddenly appears and hovers over them). And The Lady of the Lake is no slouch, either: she and her pom-pom-waving girl-group The Lakers spoof Camelot’s “Follow Me” with “Come with Me,” their seduction of that “doubting Dennis.” Later the Lady’s performance style pays homage to every thrush who ever headlined a Las Vegas showroom (David Rooney in Variety noted that everyone from Liza and Cher to Joey Heatherton and Lola Falana were evoked). With “The Knights of the Round Table,” King Arthur (Tim Curry) introduces the pleasures of Camelot (“not days, but knights”) in a Vegas-styled nightclub number, and Brantley noted that Arthur morphs “into a Rat Pack-style master of ceremonies.” And it wasn’t just Lloyd Webber who was spoofed: Mitch Leigh was remembered with the upbeat anthemic admonishment to find your impossible dream or, at least, to “Find Your Grail” (backed by a chorus of Grail Girls); “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” (which was interpolated into the score and was first heard in the 1979 Monty Python film Life of Brian) took the genre of the uplifting, get-happy-styled Broadway songs in the mode of “Look for the Silver Lining” (Sally, 1920; lyric by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva, music by Jerome Kern) and twisted it into the cynicism of “You Mustn’t Be Discouraged” (Fade Out-Fade In, 1964; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne). And, if you please, there was even a hello to Stephen Sondheim (“another hundred people just contracted the plague”). Meanwhile, Sir Robin (David Hyde Pierce) offers friendly advice to Broadway producers with the reminder that “You Can’t Succeed on Broadway” without Jews (you see, there’s just “a very small percentile / who enjoys a dancing gentile”), and so of course there’s a dance homage to Fiddler on the Roof and its “Bottle Dance” (here, the dancers sport grails on their heads). And let’s don’t forget Sir Lancelot (Hank Azaria), who finds his inner butterfly, not to mention his inner Peter Allen, and comes out in “His Name Is Lancelot” (he “bats for the other team,” “wears tight pants a lot,” and hangs out at the Camelot YMCA). And there was even a plot of sorts, something about King Arthur and his knights and their “very, very, very round table,” their quest for the Holy Grail, and their encounters with the Killer Rabbit and the Taunting Frenchman. But with the nonstop laughs it seems probable most audience members had long since forgotten the story line and were focusing on the madness of it all. The insanity went on all night, and the guilty pleasure pleased critics and audiences for almost four years and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. And of course Monty Python addicts were in heaven. A few critics mentioned that just one choice word of dialogue or one significant gesture sent the Pythoniacs into convulsions (Peter Marks in the Washington Post noted the musical could “claim at least one theatrical innovation—inciting entrance applause for bits of dialogue as well as actors”). The musical was of course based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which was directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones and which starred the six Monty Pythoners, Gilliam, Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin. Idle wrote the book and lyrics for Spamalot, and cowrote the score, and the prerecorded voice of Cleese was heard (as God). The six Pythons had appeared on Broadway in

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their comedy revue Monty Python Live! in a limited engagement of twenty-three performances at City Center 55th Street Theatre on April 14, 1976. The revue’s program provided the audience with a sampling of critical quotes about the group and their show: “Terrific, Fantastic, Wonderful, Great” (Roget’s Thesaurus) and “A must for all the family” (Al Capone). For Spamalot, Marks had noted the “entrance applause” for familiar bits of dialogue and shtick, and for Monty Python Live! Benjamin Stein in the Wall Street Journal reported that as soon as the very first words of a sketch were spoken and “before anything funny has happened,” the audience went “crazy with laughter.” Brantley said the “resplendently silly” and “amusing, agreeable, forgettable” musical was first and foremost what an $11 million production of Forbidden Broadway might look like; Rooney found the evening an “episodic patchwork” that was “more memorable on a scene-by-scene basis than as a somewhat forced package”; and Richard Zoglin in Time said you’d “have to be a Python maniac to place this genial mishmash in the Broadway pantheon,” but the show was nonetheless “fun” with a “rowdy anything-goes spirit.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “dazzlingly staged” musical which was “bloody fantastic,” “gorgeously silly,” and “superlative and better.” John Lahr in the New Yorker enjoyed the “jesters’ jamboree,” an “unrelenting visual and verbal sendup of Broadway banality” with a “free-wheeling, nonlinear style and wacky non-sequiturs,” and he quoted Sir Robin, who states that Broadway is a “special place” with “very special people” who “can sing and dance often at the same time” and who are “people who need people.” Songs deleted during the tryout were “Burn Her!,” “He’s Going to Tell,” and “The Cow Song.” The cast album was recorded by Decca Broadway (CD # B0004265-02). The London production opened at the Palace Theatre on October 17, 2006, and played for over two years; Curry and Sieber reprised their original Broadway roles.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Monty Python’s Spamalot); Best Book (Eric Idle); Best Score (lyrics by Eric Idle, music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Hank Azaria); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Tim Curry); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael McGrath); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Sieber); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Sara Ramirez); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Tim Hatley); Best Costume Design for a Musical (Tim Hatley); Best Lighting Design for a Musical (Hugh Vanstone); Best Direction of a Musical (Mike Nichols); Best Choreography (Casey Nicholaw); Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman)

JACKIE MASON: FRESHLY SQUEEZED “Just One Jew Talking!” / “No Pulp!”

Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: March 23, 2005; Closing Date: September 4, 2005 Performances: 172 Material: Jackie Mason Direction: Jackie Mason; Producers: Jyll Rosenfeld, Jon Stoll, and James Scibelli; Lighting: Paul Miller Cast: Jackie Mason The comedy revue was presented in one act. The freshly squeezed Jackie Mason here made his third Broadway appearance of the decade following his solo stand-up comedy show Prune Danish and the comedy and musical revue Laughing Room Only (for more information about Mason’s Broadway appearances, see entry for the former). As of this writing, Freshly Squeezed marks the comedian’s most recent Broadway outing. Mason’s welcome bag of shtick trod the familiar territory his audiences loved, and so he ruminated over several topics of the day, including public figures George Bush, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Howard Stern, and Martha Stewart, as well as such issues as gay marriage, Oscar ceremonies, modern technology, the maze of hospital bureaucracy, Cialis, and room service.

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According to Frank Rizzo in Variety, the evening was still “standard kvetch-up time” and Mason was a “theatergoing tradition” who alternated between the “know-it-all, self-important, sometimes bitter, boorish yet delightful uncle who can make you cringe one moment with an embarrassing stereotype and then say something pretty wise the next.” Charles Isherwood in the New York Times noted that just like Spamalot (which was playing down the street) the evening dealt in “comfort comedy” (Mason told the audience that Spamalot’s patrons were simply those “disappointed” souls who couldn’t get tickets for his show). Isherwood reported that Mason’s “dyspeptic comic persona” was “endearing” and he got “some of his biggest laughs by complaining that he’s not getting laughs.” But this time around Mason shelved his “well-worn routines” about how Jews and gentiles differ, and the critic stated, “Dare I confess I missed them?” Freshly Squeezed was released on DVD by Standing Room Only, and a few of the routines are available on MP3 format.

ALL SHOOK UP

“Inspired by and Featuring the Songs Hip-Swivelin’ New Musical Comedy”

of

Elvis Presley” / “The Story Is All New / The Hits Are All ELVIS” / “A

Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: March 24, 2005; Closing Date: September 25, 2005 Performances: 213 Book: Joe DiPietro Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Christopher Ashley (Daniel Goldstein, Associate Director); Producers: Jonathan Pollard, Bernie Kukoff, Clear Channel Entertainment, Harbor Entertainment, Miramax Films, Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Stanley Buchthal, Eric Falkenstein, Nina Essman/Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Jean Cheever, and Margaret Cotter in association with Barney Rosenzweig, Meri Krassner, FGRW Investments, Karen Jason, and Phil Ciasullo Conard (Marcia Goldberg, Greg Schaffert, and Phil Ciasullo Conard, Associate Producers); Choreography: Ken Roberson (Sergio Trujillo, Additional Choreography) (Lorna Ventura and JoAnn M. Hunter, Associate Choreographers); Scenery: David Rockwell; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Stephen Oremus Cast: Jenn Gambatese (Natalie Haller, Ed), Jonathan Hadary (Jim Haller), Mark Price (Dennis), Sharon Wilkins (Sylvia), Nikki M. James (Lorraine), Cheyenne Jackson (Chad), Alix Korey (Mayor Matilda Hyde), Curtis Holbrook (Dean Hyde), John Jellison (Sheriff Earl), Leah Hocking (Miss Sandra); Ensemble: Brad Anderson, Justin Brown, Justin Brill, Paul Castree, Cara Cooper, Michael Cusumano, Francesca Harper, Trisha Jeffrey, Michelle Kittrell, Anika Larsen, Michael X. Martin, Karen Murphy, John Eric Parker, Justin Patterson, Michael James Scott, Jenny-Lynn Suckling, Virginia Woodruff The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in “a small you-never-heard-of-it town somewhere in the Midwest” during a twentyfour hour period during the summer of 1955.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Love Me Tender” (lyric and music by Elvis Presley and Vera Matson) (Jenn Gambatese, Mark Price, Company); “Heartbreak Hotel” (lyric and music by Elvis Presley, Mae Boren Axton, and Tommy Durden) (Barflies); “Roustabout” (lyric and music by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum, and Florence Kaye) (Cheyenne Jackson); “One Night with You” (lyric and music by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King) (Jenn Gambatese); “C’mon Everybody” (lyric and music by Joy Byers) (Cheyenne Jackson, Company); “Follow That Dream” (lyric by Fred Wise, music by Ben Weisman) (Cheyenne Jackson, Jenn Gambatese); “Teddy Bear” (lyric and music by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe) and “Hound Dog” (lyric and music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) (Cheyenne Jackson, Leah Hocking, Mark Price, Jenn Gambatese); “That’s All Right” (lyric and music by Arthur Crudup) (Sharon Wilkins, Nikki M. James, Cheyenne Jackson, Mark Price, Barflies); “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise” (lyric and music by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum, and Florence Kaye) (Alix Korey, Ladies’ Church Council); “It’s Now or Never” (lyric and music by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold) (Curtis Holbrook, Nikki M. James, Company); “Blue Suede Shoes” (lyric and music by Carl Perkins) (Jenn Gambatese,

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Cheyenne Jackson); “Don’t Be Cruel” (lyric and music by Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley) (Cheyenne Jackson, Jonathan Hadary); “Let Yourself Go” (lyric and music by Joy Byers) (Leah Hocking, Statues); “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (lyric and music by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore) (Company) Act Two: “All Shook Up” (lyric and music by Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley) (Company); “It Hurts Me” (lyric and music by Joy Byers and Charles E. Daniels) (Mark Price, Company); “A Little Less Conversation” (lyric and music by Mac Davis and Billy Strange) (Jenn Gambatese, Company); “The Power of My Love” (lyric and music by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum, and Florence Kaye) (Cheyenne Jackson, Jonathan Hadary, Leah Hocking); “I Don’t Want To” (lyric by Janice Torre, music by Fred Spielman) (Cheyenne Jackson); “Jailhouse Rock” (lyric and music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) (Cheyenne Jackson, Prisoners); “There’s Always Me” (lyric and music by Don Robertson) (Sharon Wilkins); “If I Can Dream” (lyric and music by W. Earl Brown) (Cheyenne Jackson, Nikki M. James, Curtis Holbrook, Company); “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (reprise) (John Jellison, Jonathan Hadary, Sharon Wilkins, Alix Korey); “Fools Fall in Love” (lyric and music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) (Jenn Gambatese, Company); “Burning Love” (lyric and music by Dennis Linde) (Cheyenne Jackson, Jenn Gambatese, Company) All Shook Up was a jukebox musical that featured songs popularized by (and a few cowritten by) Elvis Presley, but the story itself had nothing to do with Presley and his life. Instead, in Mamma Mia!–fashion book writer Joe DiPietro (who had written the highly successful 1996 Off-Broadway musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, which racked up 5,003 performances) took songs associated with the singer and grafted them into an all-too-familiar story set in the decade show business loves to hate: the allegedly repressed 1950s. But at least the show preserved the classical Greek unities! Yes, the entire action takes place within twenty-four hours, specifically in a “small you-never-heard-of-it town” somewhere in the Midwest during the summer of 1955. Audiences may have thought they’d walked into a revival of the late but unlamented Footloose, the miserable headache that opened in 1998 and dealt with a small Midwestern town in the “recent past” where the town’s elders have outlawed dancing because of its supposedly lewd rock-and-roll associations. For All Shook Up, the town’s bluenoses disapprove of rock-and-roll music itself. Footloose introduced a big-city teenager who comes to small-town America and brings joy to all with the realization that dancing can be fun, and All Shook Up offered rebel-like outsider Chad (Cheyenne Jackson), a combination of hip-a-swivelin’-and-a-singin’ Elvis and motorcycle-a-ridin’ Marlon Brando (from his Wild One days). When local girl and grease monkey Natalie (Jenn Gambatese) falls for the uninterested Chad, she logically decides the best way to get to know him is to disguise herself as a fellow motor-cyclin’ fool named Ed, and in Twelfth Night-fashion, gender confusion abounds. Chad finds himself attracted to Ed and later a woman in town also becomes infatuated with Natalie/Ed. There’s even some business about a sonnet that changes hands, and a night scene in an abandoned fairground evoked A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But to be sure, no one confused All Shook Up with Shakespeare. For all the supposed repression in a “square” town in a “square” state in a “square” decade, everything seemed pretty much up to date in All Shook Up City, and the show’s sensibility was clearly smack dab in the middle of 2005, not 1955. Here in this backwater, a woman has been elected mayor; blacks and whites live in happy integration where they all hang out together at the local saloon owned by black businesswoman Sylvia (Sharon Wilkins); the mayor’s (white) son and Sylvia’s daughter become an item; the white sheriff and Sylvia herself fall in love; and the supposedly straight Chad has no problem telling Ed that he’s in love with him. For such a “repressed” town, it’s amazing that anyone had time to worry about the ill effects of rock-and-roll. By the finale, three weddings take place: two of them for two racially mixed couples and one for a white couple. And when Chad realizes Ed is really Natalie, the two take off together on their motorcycles and explore the open road. The liberal values of 2005 imposed on the 1955 story just didn’t ring true, but this was the least of it. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “bland” and “synthetic” show that pumped its “plastic pelvis” was “prefab” and “fresh off the assembly line.” It seemed to have been “assembled by committee according to market research on mainstream tastes,” and what could have been a “moderate hoot” was instead a “mindnumbing holler.” Further, the leading role was conceived as an “airbrushed, edgeless composite” of Presley and Brando, and the production’s “relative slickness” highlighted its “emptiness.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the “soulless” show with its “factitious” plot “constitutes final proof that Elvis is dead.” The headline of Clive Barnes’s review in the New York Post read “Return to Sender,” and the critic noted the musical “trundled hopefully but dourly” into the Palace with a cast that sang Presley’s old hits “without much rhyme or reason.” The show was “dead on arrival,” and Elvis “has left the building” and “put out the lights.” David Rooney in Variety brushed his positive comments with qualifiers, and so commented that he

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liked the “unapologetically synthetic” musical, which offered “an unexpected, shameless good time” and was “a lot fresher and funnier than anyone had a right to expect.” Broadway veteran Alix Korey added another quirky character to her repertoire, and here played the town’s uptight Mayor Matilda Hyde, who issues a “decency proclamation” banning “everything I consider dirty.” She’s afraid Chad will turn the old hometown into “Sodom and Gomorrah but with rhythm.” Korey had earlier appeared in the revised 1996 Off-Off-Broadway version of No Way to Treat a Lady, in which she played the dizzy, dance-mad Carmella, whose cha-cha partner died three days ago, an event she remembers just “like it was yesterday.” All Shook Up hung on for six months, and two weeks before it shuttered Michael Riedel in the New York Post speculated it was likely to lose “more than $10 million.” He reported that backstage the mood was “grim,” and each day when the cast arrived at the theatre they expected to see a closing notice. Further, some of the investors refused to pour any more money into the show and stated, “We’re gone” because “the thing is a disaster.” The cast album was released by Sony/BMG Records (CD # 8287669124-2), and the musical was first presented at Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut, on May 13, 2004, with many of the leads who later appeared in the New York production (for Goodspeed, the role of Chad was played by Manley Pope). For audience members with really long memories, All Shook Up (and Footloose) brought to mind the 1956 film Don’t Knock the Rock, an authentic relic of that era. Here a rock-and-roll star decides to spend some time in his old hometown of Mellonville. But to the horror of the town’s teens, their elders don’t want no rock-and-roll music in these here parts! Such repression is not to be borne, but happily all ends well when the bluenoses learn the error of their ways and everybody is soon singing and dancing to the songs of Little Richard, The Treniers, and Bill Haley and the Comets. (At the film’s conclusion, the customary words “The End” were replaced by “Dig It Soon,” and in his review for the New York Times Bosley Crowther replied, “Your own grave, no doubt.”) And of course Broadway theatergoers of the 1950s had been exposed to wicked intolerance when to their shock they discovered that certain Parisian party-poopers back in the 1890s wanted the daring title dance of Can-Can banned and banished.

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: April 18, 2005; Closing Date: July 2, 2006 Performances: 525 Book: Craig Lucas Lyrics and Music: Adam Guettel Based on the 1960 novella The Light in the Piazza by Elizabeth Spencer (first published in the June 18, 1960, issue of the New Yorker and later that year in a slightly expanded version published in book format as The Light in the Piazza and Other Italian Tales) and the 1962 film Light in the Piazza (direction by Guy Green and screenplay by Julius J. Epstein). Direction: Bartlett Sher; Producers: Lincoln Center Theatre (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors); Choreography: Jonathan Butterell; Scenery: Michael Yeargan; Costumes: Catherine Zuber; Lighting: Christopher Akerlind; Musical Direction: Ted Sperling Cast: Victoria Clark (Margaret Johnson), Kelli O’Hara (Clara Johnson), Matthew Morrison (Fabrizio Naccarelli), Mark Harelik (Signor Naccarelli), Michael Berresse (Giuseppe Naccarelli), Sarah Uriarte Berry (Franca Naccarelli), Patti Cohenour (Signora Naccarelli), Beau Gravitte (Roy Johnson), Felicity LaFortune (Tour Guide), Joseph Siravo (Priest); Ensemble: David Bonanno, David Burnham, Laura Griffith, Prudence Wright Holmes, Jennifer Hughes, Felicity LaFortune, Michael Moinot, Joseph Siravo The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Florence and Rome during the summer of 1953, “with occasional side trips to America.”

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Statues and Stories” (Victoria Clark, Kelli O’Hara); “The Beauty Is” (Kelli O’Hara); “Il mondo era vuoto” (“The World Was Empty”) (Matthew Morrison); “American Dancing”

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(Orchestra); “Passeggiata” (Matthew Morrison, Kelli O’Hara); “The Joy You Feel” (Sarah Uriarte Berry); “Dividing Day” (Victoria Clark); “Hysteria” (Kelli O’Hara, Victoria Clark); “Lullaby” (“Little Clara”) (Victoria Clark); “Say It Somehow” (Kelli O’Hara, Matthew Morrison) Act Two: “Aiutami” (“Help Me”) (Matthew Morrison, Michael Berresse, Mark Herelik, Patti Cohenour, Sarah Uriarte Berry); “The Light in the Piazza” (Kelli O’Hara); “Octet” (Company); “Tirade” (Kelli O’Hara); “Octet” (reprise) (Company); “The Beauty Is” (reprise) (Victoria Clark); “Let’s Walk” (Mark Harelik, Victoria Clark); “Clara’s Interlude” (Kelli O’Hara); “Love to Me” (Matthew Morrison); “Fable” (Victoria Clark) The Light in the Piazza was a thoughtful and gentle musical with a solid old-fashioned book, often complicated characters, and a score unafraid of melody. In earlier years, the work would have been a (somewhat) typical musical of a typical Broadway season, a musical for an adult audience. But by 2005, Broadway had turned into a theme park for children and children wannabes, and most seasons offered up jukebox musicals with recycled songs (of the Mamma Mia! and All Shook Up variety), feel-good silly musicals (The Producers and Spamalot), musicals aimed at the children and teenage-girl markets (Seussical, Wicked, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and an endless parade of revivals (at the time of the opening of The Light in the Piazza on April 18, 2005, almost thirty commercial and institutional revivals had opened on Broadway since the beginning of the decade, and for the remainder of the decade over twenty more would follow). As a result, Piazza was a refreshing change from the current Broadway fare, and although it received mixed reviews it won six Tony Awards and played over five hundred performances. The musical was based on the 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer (which had first been published in a shorter version earlier that year when it appeared in the New Yorker), and the 1962 MGM film version with Olivia de Havilland (Margaret), Yvette Mimieux (Clara), and George Hamilton (Fabrizio). Set in 1953, the bittersweet story focused on Margaret Johnson (Victoria Clark) and her twenty-six-yearold daughter Clara (Kelli O’Hara) who because of a childhood accident hasn’t developed mentally beyond the age of twelve. The two are vacationing in Italy when they meet twenty-year-old Fabrizio Naccarelli (Matthew Morrison), who immediately falls in love with Clara. Fabrizio is like a boy himself, and his infatuation with Clara perhaps clouds his acuity (and no doubt his broken English and Clara’s tentative Italian prevent him from realizing the girl is handicapped). Margaret is at first distraught over the possibility of romance between the two, but when she reflects upon her own loveless marriage she decides to encourage the relationship in order to give Clara a chance for the kind of happiness that has eluded her. Craig Lucas’s book utilized the interesting notion of having Italian spoken and sung by the Italian characters who don’t know English, but for a cheap laugh one of them broke through the fourth wall and in English informed the audience that although she didn’t speak English she wanted to tell the audience what was going on during a song performed in Italian. And unfortunately Lucas used the tiresome device of a narrator, and so sometimes Margaret stepped out of the action to address the audience. Otherwise, the subject matter was fresh, and audiences were perhaps surprised to find that the musical was less about Clara and Fabrizio than about Margaret and her guilt over Clara’s childhood accident, her regrets over her unfulfilling marriage (her song “Dividing Day” was one of the score’s highlights), and her emotional tug-of-war regarding how much of the truth she should share about Clara. Here were interesting and complicated dilemmas not usually found in musical theatre, and one could argue that either Margaret did the right thing by not explicitly discussing Clara’s condition or was guilty of an ethical lapse. Perhaps Stephen Holden in the New York Times was hyperbolic with his statement that Adam Guettel had composed “the most intensely romantic score of any Broadway musical since West Side Story,” for in truth the songs were somewhat of a letdown after the composer’s masterful 1996 Off-Broadway musical Floyd Collins. The Piazza score may have lacked the rich emotional surge that the story, characters, and setting demanded, but it was always romantic and listenable if a bit chilly and distant. Although one waited in vain for a rhapsodic and cathartic musical moment, the score was nonetheless far above the usual Broadway fare, and Guettel’s lyrics had a sparse and direct urgency. Besides “Dividing Day,” other highlights of the score were “Statues and Stories,” “Fable,” and the title song. Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the musical “encouragingly ambitious but discouragingly unfulfilled.” The production lacked “sustained vision and complexity” and looked and sounded both “pretty and confused.” But the music was “ravishingly orchestrated,” there was a “gorgeous autumn-strewn set,” “lush golden lighting,” and “delectable period costumes.” David Rooney in Variety said the “problematic” musical had a “descriptive and sensitively observed” book and a score that seemed “ill-conceived and unsatisfying.”

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He felt there was a “shortage of robust melodies” and noted the lyrics ran “out of steam,” but mentioned that “Dividing Day” was the score’s musical “anchor.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the musical was a “sweet oddity” that was “interesting but ultimately disappointing,” and while Guettel’s lyrics were “fluent and touching,” his music lacked a certain “melodic quality.” Jacques Le Sourd in the Journal News said the “wan and boring” show had “no lead in its pencil,” and instead of a “real tune” the score offered “a fragment of something small and vague, in a minor key.” But Peter Marks in the Washington Post praised the “lush, impassioned score,” which was “poured out” like “velvety soup” with “tantalizing” melodies. But he complained that a few numbers tended to “trail off” and the “personalities” of the songs were “difficult to distinguish in a single sitting.” Further, the lyrics were “unmemorable,” one song was “indecipherable” because it was sung in Italian, and at other times words were “simply done away with” and the singers made do “with long curlicuing ‘ahhhhhhhs.’” John Lahr reviewed the earlier Chicago production for the New Yorker and praised the “richly textured and warmly atmospheric” music and suggested the show didn’t “want to make theatergoers feel good; it wants to make them feel deeply.” The musical’s world premiere took place on June 14, 2003, at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, and was later produced on January 19, 2004, at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. During the Seattle and Chicago runs, Celia Keenan-Bolger was Clara; for Seattle, Steven Pasquale was Fabrizio, and for Chicago Wayne Wilcox played the role. (For the Seattle and Chicago engagements, Kelli O’Hara played the role of Franca.) During the tryout, the songs “Savonarola,” “Appuntamento,” and “Margaret” were dropped. The script was published in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 2007, and the cast album was recorded by Nonesuch Records (CD # 79829-2). When the musical was still running on Broadway it was shown on public television’s Live from Lincoln Center on June 15, 2006, with Victoria Clark, Katie Rose Clarke (Clara), and Aaron Lazar (Fabrizio).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (The Light in the Piazza); Best Book (Craig Lucas); Best Score (lyrics and music by Adam Guettel); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Victoria Clark); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Matthew Morrison); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Kelli O’Hara); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Michael Yeargan); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Catherine Zuber); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Christopher Akerlind); Best Direction of a Musical (Bartlett Sher); Best Orchestrations (Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel, and Bruce Coughlin)

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG Theatre: Hilton Theatre Opening Date: April 28, 2005; Closing Date: December 31, 2005 Performances: 285 Book: Jeremy Sams; additional material by Ivan Menchell Lyrics and Music: Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman Based on the 1964 novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car by Ian Fleming and the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (direction by Ken Hughes and screenplay by Roald Dahl). Direction: Adrian Noble (Peter Von Mayrhauser, Associate Director); Producers: Dana Broccoli, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Frederick Zollo, Nicholas Paleologos, Jeffrey Sine, Harvey Weinstein, East of Doheny Theatricals, and Michael Rose Limited by special arrangement with MGM on Stage (Frank Gero, Associate Producer); Choreography: Gillian Lynne (Tara Young, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes: Anthony Ward; Lighting: Mark Henderson; Musical Direction: Kristen Blodgette Cast: Raul Esparza (Caractacus Potts), Erin Dilly (Truly Scrumptious), Philip Bosco (Grandpa Potts), Marc Kudisch (Baron Bomburst), Jan Maxwell (Baroness Bomburst), Chip Zien (Goran), Robert Sella (Boris), Kevin Cahoon (Childcatcher), Frank Raiter (Toymaker), Henry Hodges (Jeremy Potts), Ellen Marlow (Jemima Potts), JB Adams (Coggins, Chicken Farmer), Dirk Lumbard (Phillips), Kenneth Kantor (Lord Scrumptious), Kurt Von Schmittou (Sid), Robyn Hurder (Violet), Michael Herwitz (Toby); Inventors: JB

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Adams, Robert Creighton, Rick Faugno, Dirk Lumbard, William Ryall, Kurt Von Schmittou; Ensemble: JB Adams, Tolan Aman, Julie Barnes, Troy Edward Bowles, Jeffrey Broadhurst, Robert Creighton, Antonio D’Amato, Struan Erlenborn, Rick Faugno, Ashlee Fife, Emily Fletcher, Kearran Giovanni, Rod Harrelson, Ben Hartley, Merritt Tyler Hawkins, Michael Herwitz, Robyn Hurder, Libbie Jacobson, Matt Loehr, Dirk Lumbard, Mayumi Miguel, Malcolm Morano, Jaclyn Neidenthal, Heather Parcells, Lurie Poston, Craig Ramsay, William Ryall, Alex Sanchez, Bret Shuford, Janelle Viscomi, Kurt Von Schmittou, Emma Wahl, Brynn Williams The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in England and Vulgaria around 1910.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Prologue” (Company); “You Two” (Raul Esparza, Henry Hodges, Ellen Marlow); “Them Three” (Philip Bosco); “Toot Sweets” (Raul Esparza, Erin Dilly, Kenneth Kantor, Ensemble); “Act English” (Robert Sella, Chip Zien); “Hushabye Mountain” (Raul Esparza); “Come to the Fun Fair” (Company); “Me Ol’ Bamboo” (Raul Esparza, Ensemble); “Posh” (Philip Bosco, Henry Hodges, Ellen Marlow); “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (Raul Esparza, Erin Dilly, Henry Hodges, Ellen Marlow); “Truly Scrumptious” (Henry Hodges, Ellen Marlow, Erin Dilly); “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (Nautical reprise) (Raul Esparza, Erin Dilly, Henry Hodges, Ellen Marlow); “Chitty Takes Flight” (Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Vulgarian National Anthem” (Company); “The Roses of Success” (Philip Bosco, Inventors); “Kiddy-Widdy-Winkies” (Kevin Cahoon); “Teamwork” (Raul Esparza, Frank Raiter, Erin Dilly, Juvenile Ensemble); “Chu-Chi Face” (Marc Kudisch, Jan Maxwell); “The Bombie Samba” (Jan Maxwell, Marc Kudisch, Ensemble); “Doll on a Music Box”/“Truly Scrumptious” (reprise) (Raul Esparza, Erin Dilly); “Us Two”/“Chitty Prayer” (Henry Hodges, Ellen Marlow); “Teamwork” (reprise) (Frank Raiter, Company); Finale: “Chitty Flies Home” (Company) The London import Chitty Chitty Bang Bang about a magical flying car was based on the 1968 film musical of the same name (and the novel that preceded it by four years). While the movie never approached the classic status of The Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins, the popular West End stage adaptation ran over three-and-a-half years. But the Broadway production wasn’t so lucky: It received mixed reviews, played for just eight months, and drowned in a sea of red ink (Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported the musical was “going the way of the Edsel,” and one of the show’s coproducers sent a notice to the investors that stated “the $15 million show ‘will close at a complete loss’”). Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the name of a magical car that struggling inventor Caractacus (Raul Esparza), a widower with two children, has constructed out of odds and ends. When the evil rulers of Vulgaria, Baron Bomburst (Marc Kudisch) and Baroness Bomburst (Jan Maxwell), hear about the unique car, they plot the kidnapping of Caractacus’s father under the impression he’s the inventor. So Caractacus, his two children, and candy-company heiress Truly Scrumptious (Erin Dilly) fly off in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Vulgaria to save the elderly man, and when they arrive in that mysterious land they discover that the Baron and Baroness hate all children, have outlawed them, and even have employed the wicked Childcatcher to ensure no kids are around. But of course all ends well, the family returns to England, and wedding bells are certainly in store for Caractacus and Truly Scrumptious. Ben Brantley in the New York Times suspected the musical had “the youngest median age of any show on Broadway” and made The Lion King “look as lurid as Mondo Cane.” Esparza played the “winsomely awkward” inventor and widower, Philip Bosco played his “winsomely tedious” father, and Henry Hodges and Ellen Marlow were his two “winsomely wistful” children who “would wuv a mummy of their own.” The dialogue didn’t “stint on exclamation points,” the songs were “not unlike what you might hear in singalong hour in a pre-K class,” and Gillian Lynne’s choreography was “mechanically efficient.” But designer Anthony Ward created “some breathtakingly monumental scenic effects,” which included the title-character car, a blimp, a plane, windmills, Rube Goldberg-styled machines, and (“for that irresistible dash of bathroom humor”) an outhouse. David Rooney in Variety also mentioned the latter, and stated that the sight of a zeppelin airlifting an outhouse must be a “Broadway first.” Otherwise, the dances were “creaky” and big on cartwheels, and the

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Sherman Brothers’ score was a “pallid echo” of their songs for Mary Poppins. The evening offered “cheery clap-along distraction for the under-12s” and although the “plodding” first act was “overstuffed” with “entirely dispensable” songs, the show offered “some genuinely enjoyable moments.” Rooney also reminded his readers that when the 1968 film was released it “separated the cool kids from the geeks.” The critics particularly praised Kudisch and Maxwell as the Vulgarian child-haters, and everyone seemed to love the guest appearance of a pack of dogs that dashed across the stage at one point. And of course the title car was a hit. Brantley said it received “more enthusiastic applause” than any of the cast members and no doubt its dressing room “would make Nathan Lane choke with envy.” The West End production premiered at the London Palladium on April 16, 2002, with Michael Ball (Caractacus), Emma Williams (Truly Scrumptious), Brian Blessed (Baron Bomburst), Nichola McAuliffe (Baroness Bomburst), and Richard O’Brien (Childcatcher). There was no Broadway cast album, but the London cast recording was released by Mr. Bang Bang Records (CD # MRBB-001) and later on Broadway Masterworks. A documentary about the London production (The Making of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”) was released on DVD. During the London run, Boris and Goran’s song “Think Vulgar!” was dropped in favor of a new one titled “Act English,” and the latter was heard in the Broadway version. The 1968 film was released by United Artists. The cast included Dick Van Dyke (Caractacus) and Sally Ann Howes (Truly Scrumptious), the maddening and annoying title number was actually nominated for a Best Song Academy Award, and there have been numerous soundtrack and home video editions of the movie. One song from the film (“Lovely Lonely Man”) wasn’t included in the London and Broadway versions, but was later interpolated into other productions of the musical. For the stage version, the Sherman Brothers wrote an additional six songs for the score. The musical was the first to play at the newly named Hilton Theatre, formerly the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. But it wouldn’t be the Hilton for long. Five years later it was renamed the Foxwoods Theatre, and four years after that was rechristened as the Lyric, a fitting name because the shell of the venue was the original site of two theatres, the Lyric and the Bryant (and the latter underwent various name changes over the decades, and was later known as the Apollo, the New Apollo, and the Academy).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Erin Dilly); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Marc Kudisch); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Jan Maxwell); Best Scenic Design for a Musical (Anthony Ward); Best Lighting Design for a Musical (Mark Henderson)

LOVE / LIFE: A LIFE IN SONG Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: May 1, 2005; Closing Date: May 23, 2005 Performances: 8 Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Director: Charles Randolph-Wright; Producer: Lincoln Center Theatre (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors); Costumes: Geoffrey Polischuk, Wardrobe Supervisor; Lighting: Michael Spadaro, Lighting Consultant; Musical Direction: Gerard D’Angelo Cast: Brian Stokes Mitchell; Gerard D’Angelo (Musical Director, Piano), Bob Cranshaw (Bass), Lou Marini (Woodwinds), Warren Smith (Percussion), Buddy Williams (Drums) The concert was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers Note: The program indicated the musical numbers would be chosen from the following songs: “Another Hundred People” (Company, 1970; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); “Bein’ Green” (aka “Not Easy Being Green”) (lyric and music by Joe Raposo); “Embraceable You” (Girl Crazy, 1930; lyric

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by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “Grateful” (from the seven-part musical Urban Myths, which in a complete version was produced in regional theatre in 1998; lyric and music by John Bucchino); “Hooray for Tom” (lyric and music by Bruce Hornsby); “How Long Has This Been Going On?” (dropped from the 1927 musical Funny Face during its tryout, and with a slightly revised lyric was used in the 1928 musical Rosalie; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “I’m an Ordinary Man” (My Fair Lady, 1956; lyric by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe); “I’m Beginning to See the Light” (lyric and music by Duke Ellington, Harry James, Johnny Hodges, and Don George); “The Impossible Dream” (Man of La Mancha, 1965; lyric by Joe Darion, music by Mitch Leigh); “It’s All Right with Me” (Can-Can, 1953; lyric and music by Cole Porter); “Love for Sale” (The New Yorkers, 1930; lyric and music by Cole Porter); “Make Someone Happy” (Do Re Mi, 1960; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne); “New Words” (1987 Off-Off-Broadway musical One Two Three Four Five, which was later revised as In the Beginning; lyric and music by Maury Yeston); “Show Me” (My Fair Lady, 1956; lyric by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe); “Some Other Time” (On the Town, 1944; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Leonard Bernstein); “Take the ‘A’ Train” (lyric by The Delta Rhythm Boys and later lyric by Joya Sherrill, music by Billy Strayhorn); “The Best Is Yet to Come” (lyric by Carolyn Leigh, music by Cy Coleman); “The Very Thought of You” (lyric and music by Ray Noble); “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (1937 film Shall We Dance; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin) When Brian Stokes Mitchell’s concert Love/Life was announced for production, no doubt the hearts of some musical theatre aficionados momentarily skipped a beat when they thought Alan Jay Lerner and Kurt Weill’s 1948 musical Love Life was to be revived on Broadway. While Love/Life wasn’t Love Life, it was nonetheless an evening heavy on show and film standards (although nothing from the Lerner and Weill musical was included). The concert originated as a cabaret act that Mitchell had performed during February 2005 at Feinstein’s at the Regency, and the current production was a revised version of that concert that played for a limited engagement of eight performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on Sunday and Monday nights when The Light in the Piazza was dark. Mitchell had recently appeared in the Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha, and for the concert sang “The Impossible Dream,” and from his appearance in the 1999 Encores! concert version of Do Re Mi he performed “Make Someone Happy.” Otherwise, the selections were from the classic songbooks of Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and Leonard Bernstein; songs by newer composers and lyricists included Maury Yeston, John Bucchino, and Joe Raposo; and there was a sprinkling of pop standards not written for the stage (such as “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “The Very Thought of You,” and “The Best Is Yet to Come”). Stephen Holden in the New York Times said Mitchell’s voice “rumbled out of him like thunder underlined by drum rolls,” and his was “a fierce, commanding baritone” that “anchors every song to a fully realized character while maintaining a measure of improvisatory freedom.” Although David Rooney in Variety praised Mitchell’s “glorious,” “formidable,” and “magnificent” voice, he said the performer came across as a “character in the role of a crooning lounge lizard” in an evening “more Vegas than Broadway.” The concert was “naggingly mechanical” and “slick but rather soulless.” Mitchell’s finger-snapping seemed like “a selfconscious pose,” his patter was “over-rehearsed,” and the musical arrangements were too “mannered.” Mitchell’s 2006 collection Brian Stokes Mitchell (Playbill Records/Sony BMG Music Entertainment CD # 82876-80980-2) includes five songs heard in the current concert (“The Best Is Yet to Come,” “Another Hundred People,” “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “How Long Has This Been Going On?,” and “Grateful”).

THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE Theatre: Circle in the Square Opening Date: May 2, 2005; Closing Date: January 20, 2008 Performances: 1,136 Book: Rachel Sheinkin (“conceived” by Rebecca Feldman) Lyrics and Music: William Finn

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Direction: James Lapine; Producers: David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo, Barrington Stage Company, and Second Stage Theatre; Choreography: Dan Knechtges; Scenery: Beowulf Boritt; Costumes: Jennifer Caprio; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Vadim Feichter Cast: Derrick Baskin (Mitch Mahoney), Deborah S. Craig (Marcy Park), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Leaf Coneybear), Dan Folger (William Barfee), Lisa Howard (Rona Lisa Peretti), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Olive Ostrovsky), Jose Llana (Chip Tolentino), Jay Reiss (Douglas Panch), Sarah Saltzberg (Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre aka Schwarzy) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at a junior high school gym during the present time.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t include a list of musical numbers; the following song list is taken from the original Broadway cast recording, which doesn’t indicate the division of acts. The song “Why We Like Spelling” is included on the Broadway cast album, but it’s unclear if the number was performed on Broadway (the liner notes state the song was “not included in the original production,” which could mean the original Off-Broadway version and not the original Broadway production; however, the song was performed in the musical’s 2004 world premiere in regional theatre). “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (Company); “The Spelling Rules”/“My Favorite Moment of the Bee 1” (Jay Reiss, Lisa Howard, Spellers); “My Friend, the Dictionary” (Jay Reiss, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Company); “The First Goodbye” (Company); “Pandemonium” (Jose Llana, Company); “I’m Not That Smart” (Jesse Tyler Ferguson); “The Second Goodbye” (Company); “Magic Foot” (Dan Folger, Company); “Pandemonium” (reprise)/“My Favorite Moment of the Bee 2” (Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Lisa Howard, Company); [“Why We Like Spelling” (Spellers); see above]; “Prayer of the Comfort Counselor” (Derrick Baskin, Company); “My Unfortunate Erection” (aka “Chip’s Lament”) (Jose Llana); “Woe Is Me” (Sarah Saltzberg, Schwarzy’s Dads, Company); “I’m Not That Smart” (reprise) (Jesse Tyler Ferguson); “I Speak Six Languages” (Deborah S. Craig, Girls); “The I Love You Song” (Celia KeenanBolger, Lisa Howard, Derrick Baskin); “Woe Is Me” (reprise) (Sarah Saltzberg, Company); “My Favorite Moment of the Bee 3”/“Second” (Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Dan Folger, Company); Finale (Company); “The Last Goodbye” (Company) The revue-like musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee looked at a group of nerdy kids who compete for the all-important honor of Best Speller. Besides the contestants, the other characters include the school’s vice president (who calls out the words) and the contest’s hostess (and former winner), and at each performance a handful of audience members were invited to join in the action. As a result, there was a certain amount of improvisation (however, the show was scripted throughout, and the spelling bee champion was always the same student). The tongue-in-cheek musical was popular with critics and audiences, won the Tony Award for Best Book and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, and played over one thousand performances. Although Rachel Sheinkin’s wispy book served the story well, William Finn’s score was amiable but slight, and didn’t make much of an impression. At least one song seemed to go out of its way to be vulgar in what was essentially a family show that didn’t really need a number in which a teenage boy is annoyed about his “unfortunate erection,” and one wondered if it was really necessary for a bit of dialogue to include a gratuitous swipe at the Catholic Church. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said that with its transfer to Broadway the “happy-making little show” had lost “none of its quirky charm,” and noted that if the score “occasionally suggests a Saturday morning television cartoon set to music by Stephen Sondheim, that’s not inappropriate.” David Rooney in Variety liked the “delightful” show and said the Broadway transfer retained its “modesty and charms.” The critics were particularly happy to note that the musical was a good fit for the Circle in the Square, which Rooney described as Broadway’s “most problematic space.” The venue’s elongated stage ran the length of the theatre and was surrounded by seats on three sides, and the musical cleverly built upon the awkward arrangement by turning the space into a school’s gymnasium, and so in effect the stage became the basketball court and the seats the surrounding bleachers. Isherwood said set designer Beowulf Boritt had “managed to

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make lemonade from one of Broadway’s most lemony spaces,” and thus the “antiseptic” theatre now had a “cheesy warmth” with school posters, commemorative plaques, and even the outlines of a basketball court drawn on the floor of the stage. As C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, Spelling Bee was first performed as a nonmusical in 2002 by The Farm, an improvisational theatre company. The musical version was first produced by the Barrington Stage Company in Sheffield, Massachusetts, on July 7, 2004 (songs in this version that weren’t used in the New York productions were: “Serenity Prayer,” “Finalists,” “I Don’t Remember Anything at All,” and “I Always Come in Second” [this production included “Why I Love Spelling”]). The Off-Broadway production opened at the Second Stage Theatre on February 7, 2005, for forty-eight performances and opened on Broadway later in the spring. The Broadway cast album was released by Ghostlight Records (CD # 7915584407-2).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee); Best Book (Rachel Sheinkin); Best Score (lyric and music by William Finn); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Folger); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Celia Keenan-Bolger); Best Direction of a Musical (James Lapine)

SWEET CHARITY Theatre: Al Hirschfeld Theatre Opening Date: May 4, 2005; Closing Date: December 31, 2005 Performances: 279 Book: Neil Simon Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Music: Cy Coleman Based on the 1957 film Nights of Cabiria (direction by Federico Fellini and screenplay by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, and Ennio Flaiano). Direction: Walter Bobbie (Marc Bruni, Associate Director); Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler and Clear Channel Entertainment in association with Edwin W. Schloss (Alecia Parker, Executive Producer) (Daniel Posener and Jay Binder, Associate Producers in association with Hazel and Sam Feldman, Allen Spivak, and Harvey Weinstein); Choreography: Wayne Cilento (Ted Banfalvi and Corinne McFadden, Associate Choreographers); Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Don York Cast: Christina Applegate (Charity Hope Valentine), Tyler Hanes (Charlie), Timothy Edward Smith (Policeman, Manfred, YMCA Receptionist), Janine LaManna (Nickie), Kyra Da Costa (Helene), Ernie Sabella (Herman), Shannon Lewis (Ursula), Paul Schoeffler (Vittorio Vidal), Corinne McFadden (Frug Dancer), Denis O’Hare (Oscar Lindquist), Rhett George (Daddy Johann Sebastian Brubeck); Daddy’s All-Girl Rhythm Choir: Joyce Chittick, Anika Ellis, Mylinda Hull; Quartet: Todd Anderson, Bob Gaynor, Tyler Hanes, Timothy Edward Smith; Dylis Croman (Rosie); Ensemble: Todd Anderson, Joyce Chittick, Tim Craskey, Dylis Croman, Anika Ellis, Bob Gaynor, Rhett George, Tyler Hanes, Manuel I. Herrera, Kisha Howard, Mylinda Hull, Amy Nicole Krawcek, Shannon Lewis, Corinne McFadden, Marielys Molina, Timothy Edward Smith, Seth Stewart The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City during the 1960s.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “You Should See Yourself” (Christina Applegate); “Big Spender” (Janine LaManna, Kyra Da Costa, Ensemble); “Charity’s Soliloquy” (Christina Applegate); “The Rich Man’s Frug” (Ensemble); “If My Friends Could See Me Now” (Christina Applegate); “Too Many Tomorrows” (Paul

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Schoeffler); “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” (Christina Applegate, Janine LaManna, Kyra Da Costa); “I’m the Bravest Individual” (Christina Applegate, Denis O’Hare) Act Two: “The Rhythm of Life” (Christina Applegate, Denis O’Hare, Rhett George, Daddy’s All-Girl Rhythm Choir, Ensemble); “A Good Impression” (Denis O’Hare, Quartet); “Baby, Dream Your Dream” (Janine LaManna, Kyra Da Costa); “Sweet Charity” (Denis O’Hare, Ensemble); “Big Spender” (reprise) (Ensemble); “Where Am I Going?” (Christina Applegate); “I’m a Brass Band” (Christina Applegate, Ensemble); “I Love to Cry at Weddings” (Ernie Sabella, Ensemble); “I’m the Bravest Individual” (reprise) (Christina Applegate) Despite almost two months of news and publicity about its leading lady’s injured foot, her temporary (or possibly permanent!) replacement, a closing notice and then a rescinded one, a last-minute infusion of cash to keep the show going, and finally the return of the leading lady, the revival of Sweet Charity didn’t stir up all that much interest with critics or ticket buyers and closed after a disappointing run of eight months. Neil Simon’s revue-like book was a series of vignettes that followed the adventures of luckless dance-hall hostess Charity Hope Valentine (Christina Applegate) in 1960s New York City, and in fact the script sometimes read like a Cook’s Tour of Madcap Manhattan Adventures. Besides trips to Central Park and Coney Island, Charity goes to a chic East Side discotheque where she meets a dashing Italian film star. Eventually she visits his posh apartment, and she later attends a downtown hippie religious service. But despite her tourist-route meanderings, the evening was also filled with sadness and cruelty for the hapless heroine, from the opening scene when her boyfriend Charlie (Tyler Hanes) robs her and pushes her into Central Park Lake to the last one when she’s dumped by her fiancé Oscar (Denis O’Hare). The final curtain indicates Charity is still plucky with hope, but it seems unlikely she’ll ever find happiness and is instead destined to be an eternal doormat. The show’s score was upbeat with Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields’s lively music and lyrics, and the book provided plenty of opportunities for dancing (the original production was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, and under his helm the show was one of the most dance-driven of the era). But the musical’s 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 such a sour and off-putting conclusion? The denouement may have been artistically honest, but it went against the grain of the sassy score and slinky dances. Like the season’s earlier backstage gossip-filled revival of La Cage aux Folles, the revival of Sweet Charity perhaps generated even more talk and publicity for its offstage drama. The musical was originally capitalized at $7.5 million, and its New York opening was scheduled for April 4, then April 21, and then finally May 4. The pre-Broadway tryout began in Minneapolis in February, but then during its next stop in Chicago, Applegate broke a bone in her foot during a performance on March 11 as she twirled on a lamppost during a musical number. The accident mirrored what happened to Tommy Tune when he and a lamppost didn’t get along during a musical number from the 1995 pre-Broadway tryout of Stage Door Charley (aka Buskers and Busker Alley) and he broke an ankle, an event that led producers Barry and Fran Weissler to permanently close the show. The Weisslers were also the producers of Charity, and one hopes they have permanently banned any lampposts from the design schemes of their future productions. With Applegate at least temporarily sidelined, the Weisslers brought in Charlotte D’Amboise to replace Applegate for the third and final tryout stop in Boston (Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that a number of actresses were sought for Applegate’s replacement, including Melanie Griffith, Gloria Estefan, and Goldie Hawn). Along the tryout trail, Natascia Diaz and Solange Sandy (as Charity’s sidekicks Nickie and Helene) were succeeded by Janine LaManna and Kyra DaCosta. The show’s pre-Broadway reviews were good to middling, and the New York advance sales stalled with reportedly just $2 million in the coffers; as a result, the Weisslers announced the show would permanently close in Boston. But at almost the last minute, they reversed their decision when an infusion of $1.5 million allowed the revival to continue, and for New York Applegate resumed performances and the musical opened on May 4. The book was tweaked for the revival, Fosse’s original dances were tossed and new ones were devised by Wayne Cilento, and a new song (“A Good Impression”) was added to the score. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “lukewarm” revival closed the Broadway season with a “wistful whimper” instead of a “fanfare,” and he found Applegate “appealing but underequipped” and noted her persona was that of a “merry cherub, an ingénue fresh from the suburbs” instead of a “shopworn angel.” In her musical numbers she seemed “to grow smaller rather than bigger,” and in the trio “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” she “more or less” disappeared. As for the dances, Cilento’s choreography was

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“ersatz and soft-edged” as it both acknowledged and blurred “the original Fosse blueprint.” Although the best dances were the “unapologetically Fosse-like” sequences “The Rich Man’s Frug” and “Big Spender,” the choreography never achieved “more than a low-grade fever when what’s wanted is that old steam heat.” But David Rooney in Variety found Applegate “sweet,” “sexy,” and “vulnerable,” and said she gave an “unforced performance” that provided “a booster shot of gusto and heart” to “help fill the voids” of the “uneven” production and the “eternally problematic” book. However, Peter Marks in the Washington Post said Applegate was “unable to pull off the star-of-a-musical-comedy thing” in the “robotic” revival. Despite her “admirable attempts to move like a real dancer,” she wasn’t one, and for a character whose profession is a dance-hall hostess this deficiency was “as fatal to the production as root rot is to a garden.” Further, the choreography quoted Fosse “in predictable ways,” but Cilento’s version of “The Rich Man’s Frug” was “pale” and “drained of sexiness.” The original production opened at the Palace Theatre on January 29, 1966, for 608 performances with Gwen Verdon (Charity), John McMartin (Oscar), Helen Gallagher (Nickie), and Stubby Kaye (Herman). The first revival opened on April 27, 1986, at the Minskoff Theatre for 368 showings (Debbie Allen starred, and the production won four Tony Awards, including Best Revival). The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1966, and the original 1966 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 was later recycled for the musical’s title song); and various tracks from the opening night party, including interviews with Verdon, Gallagher, Simon, and Ethel Merman. 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) and later on CD by Sony Classical. The faithful 1969 Universal Pictures film version starred Shirley MacLaine in one of her finest performances, and Fosse directed and choreographed. Other cast members were McMartin (here reprising 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’s time-capsule quality has aged well, and it looks better now than when first released. Two endings were filmed, one the downbeat finale and the other a more 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 album of the 1986 revival was released by EMI America Records (LP # SV-17196), and the CD was issued by EMI/DRG Records (# 19077); the latter release includes two sequences from the three-part “The Rich Man’s Frug,” “The Aloof,” and “The Big Finish” (the middle sequence is “The Heavyweight”); “Charity’s Theme” (“And She Lived Hopefully Ever After”); and two tracks of Coleman performing “The Rhythm of Life” and “Big Spender.” The current revival’s cast album was issued by DRG Records (CD # 94777) and includes the entr’acte and six bonus tracks: the verse version of “Where Am I Going?” (sung by 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 by Jay Records (# JAY2-1284) 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 as well as bonus tracks of the three songs written for the film version. Another interesting recording is the 1989 Rotterdam cast released by Disky Records (CD # DCD-5126) with Simone Kleinsma in the title role (the songs include “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” (a CD release has been announced for about ten years, but one supposes it’s gone the way of the long-promised studio cast album releases of A Mother’s Kisses and Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen). Skitch Henderson and His Orchestra Play Music from “Sweet Charity” (Columbia Records LP # CL-2471) includes the unused “When Did You Know?” (which was rewritten as “Love Makes Such Fools of Us All” for Coleman’s 1980 musical Barnum) and “You Wanna Bet.”

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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.” The unused “Pink Taffeta Sample Size 10” is included on two collections, Mimi Hines Sings (Decca Records LP # DL-4709) and Lost in Boston III (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5563), and the unused “Gimme a Rain Check” is included in Lost in Boston IV (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5768).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Sweet Charity); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Christina Applegate); Best Choreography (Wayne Cilento)

GEMINI

“The Musical” / “An Achingly Funny Musical Comedy” The musical opened on October 9, 2004, at the Prince Musical Theatre in Philadelphia and closed there on October 31. It was later presented at the Acorn Theatre for the 2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival, which was held from September 17 through October 7. Book: Albert Innaurato Lyrics: Albert Innaurato and Charles Gilbert Music: Charles Gilbert Based on the 1977 play Gemini by Albert Innaurato. Direction: Douglas C. Wager; Producer: The Prince Music Theatre (Marjorie Samoff, Producing Artistic Director); Choreography: Nancy Berman Kantra; Scenery: Tobin Ost; Costumes: Andre D. Harrington; Lighting: Troy A. Martin-O’Shia; Musical Direction: Eric Ebbenga Cast: Barry James (Francis), Robert Picardo (Fran), Anne DeSalvo (Maria, Lucille), Linda Hart (Bunny), Jillian Louis (Judith), Jeremiah B. Downes (Randy), Todd Buonopane (Herschel) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in South Philadelphia during two days in June 1973.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Lo cantero per te” (Barry James, Company); “Avanti!” (Barry James, Anne DeSalvo); “Happy Birthday, Francis” (Company); “The Hunk Who’s Got the Funk” (Barry James, Jillian Louis, Jeremiah B. Downes, Linda Hart, Todd Buonopane); “The Boy I Thought I Knew” (Jillian Louis); “Time for an Aria” (“Intermezzo”) (Anne DeSalvo, Barry James); “Welcome to My Life” (Barry James); “Women, Wonderful Women” (Robert Picardo); “Trolley” (Todd Buonopane, Jillian Louis); “Strut, Bunny, Strut” (Linda Hart); “Concrete” (Robert Picardo); “Francis’s Nightmare” (Company) Act Two: “Not Your Typical Fairy Tale” (Jillian Louis); “I’m Gonna Jump” (Company); “Someday You’ll Turn Into Me” (Anne DeSalvo); “Tu padre e per siempre” (Barry James, Robert Picardo); “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” (Robert Picardo, Linda Hart); “Let’s Find Out” (Barry James, Jeremiah B. Downes); “Judith’s Mad Scene” (Jillian Louis); “Here’s to You” (Barry James); “Francis, My Son” (Robert Picardo); “Francis’s Final Moments” (Barry James); “Welcome to My Life” (reprise) (Barry James); Finale Ultimo (Company) After two Off-Off-Broadway engagements (one at Playwrights Horizons and one at a theatre in Long Island), Albert Innaurato’s comedy Gemini opened Off Broadway at the Circle Repertory Company’s Circle Theatre on March 13, 1977, for sixty-three performances, and then later in the spring transferred to Broadway at the Little (now Helen Hayes) Theatre on May 21 for a marathon run of 1,778 performances. Set in an Italian neighborhood in South Philadelphia, the play centers on the twenty-first birthday of Francis Geminiani (Barry James) who receives a surprise visit from two of his Harvard classmates, brother and sister Randy (Jeremiah B. Downes) and Judith (Jillian Louis), both Boston bluebloods. Because his dysfunctional family and neighbors are eons away from the WASP world of Harvard and Boston, Francis (who attends

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Harvard on a scholarship) is embarrassed by their habits and actions. And to top it off, he realizes he’s sexually attracted to Randy. The play was filmed in 1980 as Happy Birthday, Gemini. For the musical, Robert Picardo, who created the role of Francis in the original production, was now Fran (Francis’s father), and Anne DeSalvo, who in 1977 had played Fran’s girlfriend Lucille here reprised that role and also portrayed Maria, a new character added to the musical. As noted, the musical later played at the 2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival, and for this production Linda Hart reprised her role of Bunny (she had also played the same character in the play’s 1999 Off-Broadway revival) and at least one new song was added (“Good People”). Toby Zinman in Variety said Gemini’s “charm” was still “intact after nearly three decades” and while Francis’s coming out was no longer “shocking,” the work was “still entertaining if not actually moving.” The score was “sometimes tuneful, often thin,” and the new character of Maria (the ghost of Callas) was given songs that sounded like those heard in The Phantom of the Opera “in what seems a witty touch if it’s intentional.” Zinman also noted that the evening didn’t fall “into sitcom cliché,” the décor suggested an “entire Italian neighborhood,” and “Trolley” was the score’s best song (he also singled out Fran’s “Concrete,” which began “comic and slides into heartbreak”).

THE HIGHEST YELLOW The musical began previews at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, on October 26, 2004, opened on November 7, and closed on December 14. As of this writing, the musical has yet to be produced in New York. Book: John Strand Lyrics and Music: Michael John LaChiusa Direction: Eric Schaeffer; Producer: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Sam Sweet, Managing Director; Ronnie Gunderson, Producing Director); Scenery: Walt Spangler; Costumes: Anne Kennedy; Lighting: Daniel MacLean Wagner; Musical Direction: Jon Kalbfleisch Cast: Jason Danieley (Doctor Felix Rey), Marc Kudisch (Vincent van Gogh), Judy Kuhn (Rachel), Donna Migliaccio (Patient One, Nurse, Madame), Stephen Gregory Smith (Patient Two, Doctor Barrault), R. Scott Thompson (Patient Three, Inmate), Harry A. Winter (Doctor Urpar) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Arles, France, during the years 1888 and 1889 and focused on the last years of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890).

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t include a list of musical numbers, but Best Plays provided a list of titles, as follows: “Somewhere: Paris,” “Such Sad, Lost Souls,” “Doctor Rey’s Patient # 1,” “The Highest Yellow,” “Doctor Rey’s Patient # 2,” “Have You Ever Loved?,” “His Heart,” “Doctor Rey’s Patient # 3,” “To Make the Light, Lighter,” “The Mistral Wind,” “Intermezzo: The Madam’s Song,” “You,” “Doctor Rey’s Patient # 4,” “Dark and Light,” “Rachel’s Room,” “Doctor Rey’s Patient # 5,” “Portrait of Doctor Rey,” “Rachel’s Letter” Michael John LaChiusa’s The Highest Yellow dealt with Vincent van Gogh (Marc Kudisch), and specifically looked at the time the artist underwent a mental breakdown when he sliced off an ear while visiting a prostitute named Rachel (Judy Kuhn) at a bordello. Van Gogh is treated by Dr. Felix Rey (Jason Danieley), and the musical’s conceit is that the doctor becomes fascinated if not obsessed with Rachel. Peter Marks in the Washington Post noted there was a “passion gap” between the artist and the doctor because the latter is jealous that van Gogh’s “tormented embrace of art” gives him “secret communication with the mysteries of the cosmos” while the doctor will always be an “ordinary” man, never an “extraordinary” one. Phil Harris in Variety noted that despite sometimes “crisp” writing, the musical was a “dour saga” that got “carried away with its own self-importance” and had an “irritating pretentiousness” about it. As for the score, it was an “interesting mix” that “soars occasionally but leaves precious few lasting melodies.” Marks noted that the evening was “cerebral, inventive and ever so earnestly arty” and the seven-member cast gave the sense of “performing in one voice” which “traps the enterprise in an all-too-uniform emotional orbit.”

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Harris reported that the director didn’t want The Highest Yellow to be coined Sunday in the Park with Vincent, but noted “alas, he should be so lucky” because the new musical “sadly falls short of Sondheim’s standards in numerous departments.” Further, the show actually brought to mind Sondheim’s Passion, which it resembled “in style” and “eclipses in angst.” In truth, after Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George opened on Broadway in 1984, there were a number of lyric works that looked at the lives of artists and/or their works, and the trend became somewhat monotonous. Besides The Highest Yellow, there were: Times and Appetites of Toulouse-Lautrec (by various writers; Off Broadway, 1985); Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera Goya (world premiere at the Kennedy Center in 1986); Maury Yeston’s Goya . . . A Life in Song (1989; unproduced but recorded); William Harper’s opera El Greco (Off Off Broadway, 1993); Charles Aznavour’s Lautrec (London, 2000); George Fischoff’s Gauguin: Savage Light (four separate Off Off Broadway productions in 2006 and 2007); John Musto’s opera Later That Same Evening (regional theatre; based on five paintings by Edward Hopper); and Stephen Flaherty’s Little Dancer (2014, regional theatre; Edgar Degas).

THE MAMBO KINGS “The Musical”

The musical opened on May 31, 2005, at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, California, and permanently closed there on June 19. The production had been scheduled to begin previews in New York on July 20 at the Broadway Theatre for an official opening sometime in August. Book: Oscar Hijuelos and Arne Glimcher Lyrics: Arne Glimcher Music: Carlos Franzetti Based on the 1989 novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos and the 1992 film The Mambo Kings (direction by Arne Glimcher and screenplay by Cynthia Cidre). Direction: Arne Glimcher (Mark Waldrop, Associate Director); Producers: Daryl Roth, Jordan Roth, and True Love Productions in association with Clear Channel Entertainment (Debra Black and Randi Grossman/ Leonard Riggio and Starec Productions, Associate Producers); Choreography: Sergio Trujillo (Maria Torres, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Riccardo Hernandez; Costumes: Ann Roth; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Constantine Kitsopoulos Cast: Albita (Evalina Montoya), Esai Morales (Cesar Castillo), Natalia Zisa (Maria Flores), Allen Hidalgo (Luis, Emcee, Desi Arnaz), Jaime Camil (Nestor Castillo), Robert Montano (Pablo), Monica Salazar (Blanca), Cathy Trien (Aunt Celia), Natalie Cortez (Chi Chi), Ivan Hernandez (Roberto, Izzy, Mike Wells), Kay Walbye (Mrs. Shannon), Christiane Noll (Vanna Vane), Jeffrey Schecter (Manny), Dennis Staroselsky (Bernadito Mandlebaum), Justina Machado (Ana Maria Fuentes), Cote de Pablo (Dolores Fuentes), Warren Adams (Johnny Cassanova), Raymond Rodriguez (Rico), Liz Ramos (Beauty), Luis Salgado (Frankie Suarez), David Alan Grier (Fernando Perez); Ensemble: Warren Adams, Natalie Cortez, Joey Dowling, James Harkness, Ivan Hernandez, Allen Hidalgo, Ruthie Inchaustegui, Michelle Marmolejo, Robert Montano, Liz Ramos, Raymond Rodriguez, Luis Salgado, Monica Salazar, Jeffrey Schechter, Carlos Sierra Lopez, Marcos Santana, Cathy Trien, Kay Walbye, Natalia Zisa The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1950s in Havana, New York City, Hollywood, and other locales.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Theatre of Dreams” (Albita); “Here to Stay” (Esai Morales, Jaime Camil); “Mambo, Rhumba, Cha Cha Cha” (Esai Morales, Jaime Camil, Monica Salazar, Natalie Cortez, Ivan Hernandez, Cathy Trien); “Ran Kan Kan” (lyric and music by Tito Puente) (Esai Morales, Ensemble); “El cumbanchero” (lyric and music by Rafael Hernandez) (Company); “Te amo” (Esai Morales, Christiane Noll); “A New Bolero” (Jaime Camil); “Dreams Come True” (Justina Machado, Cote de Pablo, Ensemble); “Mambo Caliente” (lyric and music by Arturo Sandoval) (Company); “Can’t Live without My Love” (Jaime Camil, Cote de Pablo, Esai Morales); “Guantanamera” (based on a poem by José Martí, the music

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by José Fernández Diaz was adapted by Pete Seeger and Julian Orban, and the lyric was adapted by Orban) (Albita, Ensemble); “Can’t Live without My Love” (reprise) (Cote de Pablo, Ensemble) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra)/“The Quartet” (Cote de Pablo, Jaime Camil, Esai Morales, Christiane Noll, Ensemble); “Beautiful Maria of My Soul” (lyric and music by Robert Kraft and Arne Glimcher) (Esai Morales, Jaime Camil); “Beautiful Maria of My Soul” (reprise) (Esai Morales, Jaime Camil, David Alan Grier, Christiane Noll, Cote de Pablo); “Fame” (Albita); “Fame” (reprise) (Albita); “Out on My Own” (Jaime Camil, Esai Morales); “Mambo, Rhumba, Cha Cha Cha” (reprise) (Kay Walbye, Christiane Noll, Esai Morales, Cote de Pablo, Robert Montano, Monica Salazar, Justina Machado, Dennis Staroselsky, Natalie Cortez, Ivan Hernandez, Albita); “Sign! Sign! Sign!” (David Alan Grier) “I Bring You Books” (Esai Morales); “Alone in the Dark” (Christiane Noll); “Mambo # 5 (A Little Bit of)” (lyric and music by Peres Prado) (Company); “Accidental Mambo” (Company); “Lit by Love” (Albita, Ensemble); “Dreams Come True” (reprise) (Justina Machado); “Beautiful Maria of My Soul” (reprise) (Esai Morales, Jaime Camil); “Mambo, mi gente” (Albita, Ensemble); Note: Other musical numbers heard in the production were: “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” (lyric and music by Eugene Ageron Marcel, Mack David, and Guglielmo Luis Guglielmi); “Sunny Ray” (lyric and music by Raymond Santos); and “I Love Lucy” (lyric by Harold Adamson, music by Eliot Daniel). The Mambo Kings was based on Oscar Hijuelos’s 1989 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love, a nostalgic mood piece that centered on two brothers, Cesar (Esai Morales) and Nestor (Jaime Camil), who leave Cuba for the States in search of show-business fame and the hope of one day having their own band. They briefly flirt with fame when Desi Arnaz (Allen Hidalgo) hears them play at a mambo contest and signs them for a guest appearance on an episode of I Love Lucy. But soon fate steps in when the brothers are in an automobile accident which kills Nestor. The touching novel was filmed in 1992 as The Mambo Kings, and the underrated film starred Armand Assante (Cesar) and Antonio Banderas (Nestor), and in a clever bit of casting Desi Arnaz Jr. played his father. Arne Glimcher directed both the film and the musical, and both he and Hijuelos wrote the musical’s book. Dennis Harvey in Variety said the “lukewarm” musical was “an uneven, sometimes tepid package more middling than sizzling,” and he found the evening “haltingly directed” with “paltry” décor and an overall look that seemed “underpopulated and underdressed.” Further, the score suffered from cheesy “p’operetta elements” and “banal” lyrics. He also noted that the purposely atmospheric novel was strong on mood, and the musical needed less emphasis on straightforward narrative and “psychological naturalism” and instead should have emphasized a certain “heightened artificiality.” The tryout of the $12 million musical opened in San Francisco, and was scheduled to begin previews in New York at the Broadway Theatre in late July for an August opening. But the show underwent a grueling preBroadway engagement, beginning when Billy Dee Williams left the show during rehearsals and was succeeded by David Alan Grier. And when the show opened to negative reviews, the producers planned to postpone New York performances so that a new creative team could work on the production. Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that Tommy Tune and Maury Yeston might step in for the salvage job, and Variety indicated Jerry Mitchell, David Ives, and Jason Robert Brown were “in talks” to join the production team in the respective areas of direction, book, and score. But it was the end of the line when the musical closed in San Francisco, and the projected Broadway engagement was completely abandoned.

ON THE RECORD The revue opened on November 19, 2004, at Playhouse Square Center’s Palace Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio, and after a nine-month national tour permanently closed on July 31, 2005, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Colorado. Book: Chad Beguelin (“Scenarist”); Robert Longbottom (“Co-conceiver”) Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction and Choreography: Robert Longbottom (Tom Kosis, Associate Director); Producers: Disney Theatrical Productions (Thomas Schumacher, Producer; Marshall B. Purdy, Associate Producer); Scenery: Robert Brill; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Marco Paguia Cast: Ashley Brown (Kristen), Brian Sutherland (Julian), Emily Skinner (Diane), Andrew Samonsky (Nick); Quartet: Meredith Inglesby, Andy Karl, Tyler Maynard, Keewa Nurallah; Richard Easton (Voice of the Recording Engineer)

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The revue was presented in two acts. The action takes place at the present time in a recording studio.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” (1950 film Cinderella; lyric and music by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston); “Whistle While You Work” (1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; lyric by Larry Morey, music by Frank Churchill); “Give a Little Whistle” (1940 film Pinocchio; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Leigh Harline); Session I: “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” (1994 film The Lion King; lyric by Tim Rice, music by Elton John); “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” (1997 film Hercules; lyric by David Zippel, music by Alan Menken); “Let’s Get Together” (1961 film The Parent Trap; lyric and music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); “Belle” (1991 film Beauty and the Beast; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); “Someday My Prince Will Come” (1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; lyric by Larry Morey, music by Frank Churchill); “Once Upon a Dream” (1959 film Sleeping Beauty; lyric and music by Sammy Fain and Jack Lawrence); Session 2: “The Walrus and the Carpenter” (1951 film Alice in Wonderland; lyric by Bob Hilliard, music by Sammy Fain); “I Wan’na Be Like You” (1967 film The Jungle Book; lyric and music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); “Prince Ali” (1992 film Aladdin; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” (The Lion King, 1994; lyric by Tim Rice, music by Elton John); “Lavender Blue” (1949 film So Dear to My Heart; lyric by Larry Morey, music by Eliot Daniel); “When Somebody Loved Me” (probably “When She Loved Me”; 1999 film Toy Story 2; lyric and music by Randy Newman); Session 3: “You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!” (1953 film Peter Pan; lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Sammy Fain); “So This Is Love” (1950 film Cinderella; lyric and music by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston); “A Whole New World” (1992 film Aladdin; lyric by Tim Rice, music by Alan Menken); “The Second Star to the Right” (1953 film Peter Pan; lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Sammy Fain); Session 4: “Reflection” (1998 film Mulan; lyric by David Zippel, music by Matthew Wilder); Session 5: “Minnie’s Yoo-Hoo” (1930 film The Shindig; lyric by Walt Disney and Carl Stalling, music by Carl Stalling); “Heigh-Ho” (1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; lyric by Larry Morey, music by Frank Churchill); “The Work Song” (1950 film Cinderella; lyric and music by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston); “One Song” (1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; lyric by Larry Morey, music by Frank Churchill); “I’m Wishing” (1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; lyric by Larry Morey, music by Frank Churchill); Session 6: “Under the Sea” (1989 film The Little Mermaid; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); “Part of Your World” (1989 film The Little Mermaid; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); “Poor Unfortunate Souls” (1989 film The Little Mermaid; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); “Kiss the Girl” (1989 film The Little Mermaid; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); Session 7: “Bella Notte” (1955 film Lady and the Tramp; lyric and music by Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee); “Les poissons” (1989 film The Little Mermaid; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat” (1970 film The Aristocats; lyric by Floyd Huddleston, music by Al Rinker); “He’s a Tramp” (1955 film Lady and the Tramp; lyric and music by Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee); Session 8: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (1964 film Mary Poppins; lyric and music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee” (1940 film Pinocchio; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Leigh Harline); “Following the Leader” (1953 film Peter Pan; lyric by Winston Hibler and Ted Sears, music by Oliver Wallace); “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” (1946 film Song of the South; lyric by Ray Gilbert, music by Allie Wrubel); “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” (1950 film Cinderella; lyric by Jerry Livingston, music by Mack David and Al Hoffman) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); Session 9: “I Will Go Sailing No More” (1995 film Toy Story; lyric and music by Randy Newman); “Just Around the Riverbend” (1995 film Pocahontas; lyric by Stephen Schwartz, music by Alan Menken); “Strangers Like Me” (1999 film Tarzan; lyric and music by Phil Collins); “Colors of the Wind” (1995 film Pocahontas; lyric by Stephen Schwartz, music by Alan Menken); Session 10: “When I See an Elephant Fly” (1941 film Dumbo; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Oliver Wallace); “Look Out for Mister Stork” (1941 film Dumbo; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Frank Churchill); “Pink Elephants on Parade” (1941 film Dumbo; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Oliver Wallace); “Baby Mine” (1941 film Dumbo; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Frank Churchill); Session 11: “The Bells of Notre Dame” (1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame; lyric by Stephen Schwartz, music by Alan Menken);

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“Sanctuary” (The Hunchback of Notre Dame ; lyric by Stephen Schwartz, music by Alan Menken); “Out There” (1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame; lyric by Stephen Schwartz, music by Alan Menken); “Something There” (1991 film Beauty and the Beast; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); “A Change in Me” (1991 film Beauty and the Beast; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); Session 12: “Be Our Guest” (1991 film Beauty and the Beast; lyric by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken); Session 13: “Will the Sun Ever Shine Again?” (2004 film Home on the Range; lyric by Glenn Slater, music by Alan Menken); Session 14: “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” (1995 film Toy Story; lyric and music by Randy Newman); “If I Never Knew You” (1995 film Pocahontas; lyric by Stephen Schwartz, music by Alan Menken); “You’ll Be in My Heart” (1999 film Tarzan; lyric and music by Phil Collins); Session 15: “When You Wish Upon a Star” (1940 film Pinocchio; lyric by Ned Washington, music by Leigh Harline); Finale: “The Bare Necessities” (1967 film The Jungle Book; lyric and music by Terry Gilkyson) On the Record was a retrospective revue of songs written for films produced by Walt Disney during the period 1930–2004, and its national company played in almost two-dozen cities during a nine-month tour. For some reason, the catalog revue was set in a recording studio where a group of eight singers have gathered to record old Disney favorites. Chris Jones in Variety reported they not only sang but moved big boom mikes around, which made them look like “scene-shifters.” Their characters were too “vague” and lacked freshness, and in the manner of A Chorus Line there was a disembodied voice (of the Recording Engineer) that spoke to the singers in “thudding, humorless, prepackaged tones” via the loudspeaker. One suspects the revue was too long, diffuse, and confusing to keep a child’s attention, and probably most adults didn’t really need an evening of songs of the “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” variety. As the revue moved from city to city, the text was altered, the device of the Recording Engineer was dropped, and songs were added, deleted, and repositioned. By the time the cast recording was made, one or two performers (such as Emily Skinner) had left the show and others were added. The two-CD album was released by Walt Disney Records (# 5008-61249-7).

2005–2006 Season

THE BLONDE IN THE THUNDERBIRD “A One-Woman Musical Joyride”

Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: July 17, 2005; Closing Date: July 23, 2005 Performances: 9 Material: Mitzie and Ken Welch Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Based on the books Keeping Secrets (1988) and After the Fall (1998) by Suzanne Somers. Direction: Mitzie and Ken Welch; Producer: Alan Hamel; Scenery and Lighting: Roger Ball; Costume: The one outfit worn by Suzanne Somers during the evening doesn’t seem to have been credited to a particular designer; Musical Direction: Doug Walter Cast: Suzanne Somers The solo show was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers “The Blonde in the Thunderbird” (lyric and music by Mitzie and Ken Welch); “Fifty Percent” (Ballroom, 1978; lyric by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, music by Billy Goldenberg); “How Do I Say I Love You” (lyric and music by Mitzie and Ken Welch); “If I Could Live It Over Again” (lyric and music by Mitzie and Ken Welch); “If I Only Had a Brain” (1939 film The Wizard of Oz; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen); “If You Knew Susie” (interpolated into Big Boy, 1925; lyric by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva, music by Joseph Meyer); “Inventory” (lyric and music by Mitzie and Ken Welch); “Johnny’s Theme” (music by Paul Anka and Johnny Carson); “Langston’s Reel” (music by Celtic Fiddle Festival); “No More Secrets” (lyric and music by Mitzie and Ken Welch); “Pick Yourself Up” (1936 film Swing Time; lyric by Dorothy Fields, special lyric by Mitzie and Ken Welch, music by Jerome Kern); “Repartee” (from the 2002 recording The Underground Sounds of Holland; lyric and music by Kenneth Doekhie and Jaimy); “Self Portrait” (Urban Blight, 1988; later used in A Class Act, 2001; lyric and music by Edward Kleban); “She Loves Me” (She Loves Me, 1963; lyric by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock); “Take Back Your Mink” (Guys and Dolls, 1950; lyric and music by Frank Loesser); “That Face” (lyric and music by Alan Bergman and Lew Spence); “The Phil Donahue Show Theme” (music by Frank Vincent Malfa); “Wake Up, Little Susie” (lyric and music by Boudleaux Bryant and Felice Bryant) Suzanne Somers’s one-woman show The Blonde in the Thunderbird received the most savage reviews of the decade, cut short its engagement by some six weeks, and closed after nine performances. Presumably Broadway prices didn’t attract Somers’s fan base from her television sitcom years of Three’s Company, her

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appearances on the Home Shopping Network, and her best-selling self-help books (such as Suzanne Somers’ Eat, Cheat and Melt the Fat Away and 365 Ways to Change Your Life). The production was reportedly capitalized at $1.6 million, but Somers’s husband and the show’s producer Alan Hamel told Variety he estimated the total cost would top out at $4 million. The show, which included songs and incidental music, was essentially an autobiographical evening in which Somers discussed the highs and lows of her personal and professional lives, and like so many celebrities of her ilk she perhaps shared more than her audience really wanted to know. Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the evening “a drab and embarrassing display of emotional exhibitionism masquerading as entertainment” that had “all the emotional grit of an infomercial.” Somers’s show was “liberally laced” with the “bland jargon of self-help books,” and her life becomes “a victory over low self-esteem [that] often comes at the price of a swan-dive into narcissism.” She told the audience that “everything” that happened to her was a “blessing,” and Brantley was comforted to know she believed this “bromide” because “the blessing I have hereby administered is unusually well disguised.” David Rooney in Variety slammed the “chutzpah-driven vanity production” and “bargain-basement Vegas act” with its “jaw-dropping reworked lyrics” of various standard songs as well as new ones by Mitzie and Ken Welch, and he noted that one number about modeling was “bizarrely vulgar.” Ultimately, there was “good” and “bad” about the show: the “good” was its short running time, and the “bad” was everything “between first entrance and final bows.” And in answer to Somers’s rhetorical question about living one’s life over, Rooney said if he could do so he’d “assign this show to another reviewer.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Thunderbird “was all about Suzie’s uphill struggle against her lack of self-esteem,” and that even her therapist told her, “You have the lowest self-esteem of anyone I’ve ever met” (“That’s telling her!,” Barnes quipped.) Otherwise, the “smug” evening was replete with “stridently sung” show tunes and “relentlessly perky” monologues. Peter Marks in the Washington Post was clear: the show was not a “flop,” it was a “bomb,” and would-be ticket-buyers had no interest in attending the “bargain-basement confessional.” He hoped the show’s “resounding failure” would send a message to other celebrities who think everyone is interested in their family and medical histories, for this show was the “nadir” of the confessional solo show. Somers’s “hubris was breathtaking,” and while there was a “tiny coterie” of fans in the theatre, most of the audience “appeared to be in a mild state of shock.” Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that Somers was upset over the reviews and stated that the critics “decided to kick me and step on me, just like these visions you see in Iraq.” Riedel noted, “It may be the height of celebrity hubris to compare your bad reviews to Abu Ghraib.” Somers told Riedel that Barry Manilow had said Broadway would break her heart, “and it has.” (On the title page of the program, Somers gave “special thanks to my friend Barry Manilow.”) An earlier version of Thunderbird had been given on August 30, 2003, at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio.

LENNON Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre Opening Date: August 14, 2005; Closing Date: September 24, 2005 Performances: 49 Book: Don Scardino Lyrics and Music: Unless otherwise noted, all lyrics and music by John Lennon Direction: Don Scardino; Producers: Allan McKeown, Edgar Lansbury, Clear Channel Entertainment, and Jeffrey A. Sine (Nina Lannan, Executive Producer) (Louise Forlenza, Associate Producer); Choreography: Joseph Malone; Scenery and Projections: John Arnone; Costumes: Jane Greenwood; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Jeffrey Klitz Cast: Will Chase, Chuck Cooper, Julie Danao-Salkin, Mandy Gonzalez, Marcy Harriell, Chad Kimball, Terrence Mann, Julia Murney, Michael Potts The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Britain and the United States and looked at the life of John Lennon (1940–1980).

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Musical Numbers Act One: “New York City” (Will Chase, All); “Mother” (Chad Kimball, Will Chase, Julie Danao-Salkin, All); “Look at Me” (All); “Money (That’s What I Want)” (lyric and music by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford) (Mandy Gonzalez, Marcy Harriell, Julia Murney, Julie Danao-Salkin); “Twist and Shout” (lyric and music by Bert Russell aka Bert Berns and Phil Medley) (Mandy Gonzalez, Marcy Harriell, Julia Murney, Julie Danao-Salkin); “Instant Karma” (Chuck Cooper, All); “India, India” (Julia Murney, Mandy Gonzalez, Will Chase, All); “Real Love (Boys and Girls)” (Chuck Cooper, Will Chase); “Mind Games” (Chad Kimball, Julie Danao-Salkin, All); “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (lyric and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) (All); “How Do You Sleep?” (Mandy Gonzalez); “God” (Michael Potts, All); “Give Peace a Chance” (Terrence Mann, All) Act Two: “Power to the People” (All); “Woman Is the Nigger of the World” (Marcy Harriell, Women); “Attica State” (Michael Potts, Julie Danao-Salkin); “Gimme Some Truth” (Will Chase, All); “I’m Losing You” and “I’m Moving On” (lyric and music by Yoko Ono) (Chad Kimball, Julie Danao-Salkin); “I’m Stepping Out” (Will Chase, Chuck Cooper, All); “I Don’t Want to Lose You” (Terrence Mann, Julie Danao-Salkin); “Whatever Gets You Through the Night” (Marcy Harriell, Will Chase); “Woman” (Will Chase, All); “Beautiful Boy” (Julia Murney, All); “Watching the Wheels” (Will Chase, Chad Kimball, Michael Potts, Terrence Mann); “(Just Like) Starting Over” (Chuck Cooper, All); “Grow Old with Me” (Julie DanaoSalkin); “Imagine” (All); Note: A special music credits section at the end of the program indicated the following songs were also heard in the production: “Nixon’s the One” (lyric and music by Vic Caesar); “Blue Suede Shoes” (lyric and music by Carl Lee Perkins); and “Luck of the Irish” (lyric and music by John Lennon) The musical theatre season began disastrously with Suzanne Somers’s The Girl in the Thunderbird, continued with the train wreck Lennon, and then crashed with the Titanic-sized disaster In My Life (one of the latter’s taglines was “when life gives you lemons . . . make a musical!”). The three shows played for a total of 119 performances and lost a combined amount of just over $21 million. Like Thunderbird, the $10 million Lemon, er, Lennon was a vanity production on the part of its creators, who were determined to deify singer and songwriter John Lennon. The critics noted that Lennon’s infatuation with drugs was neatly sidestepped and his bisexuality went unmentioned, and instead the evening was a hosanna-filled love-fest that thanked the gods Lennon got lucky when Yoko Ono walked into his life. As the keeper of the flame, she kept close watch on the production, and she controlled all the rights to the music heard in the show (virtually all of them were post-Beatles songs written by Lennon, and one was by Ono herself). The revue-like book didn’t have much in the way of a narrative thread, and its gimmick was that all nine cast members played the title role at one point or another during the evening. Don Scardino conceived, directed, and wrote the musical’s book, and his program notes stated that Lennon “believed in the possibility of peace all around the globe. His defining belief was that we are all One and that eventually all people will wake up to the truth, lay down their enmities and conflicts and embrace one another.” After reading such claptrap, would one really want to sit through Lennon and be exposed to such a naïve and infantile outlook? Apparently few did, and once the negative reviews appeared the show was doomed. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Yoko Ono’s “immortal” word “Aieeeee!” was “surely the healthiest response to the agony of Lennon,” which was a “jerry-built musical shrine.” Here was a “drippy” look at Lennon’s life directed “with equal clunkiness” by Scardino and it featured a “Muzak-alized assortment” of Lennon’s songs. The “fortune-cookie wisdom” of such “Lennonisms” as “We’re all one” and “Love is the answer” and “Be real” was projected on a screen for all to contemplate, and Lennon’s “substance abuse, womanizing and acts of violence” were minimized, his drug arrest was “presented as a frame-up,” and his use of heroin was “never mentioned.” And when he meets Yoko Ono, the evening’s tone shifted “to the kind of romantic earnestness usually accompanied by a thousand violins.” The show also “reverently” portrayed “the persecution and deification of Lennon and Ms. Ono.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post commented that the show’s book and concept was “so shaky it can scarcely stagger from one side of the stage to the other.” The evening was “positioned between a rock and a hard Ono” and was a “grayish whitewash” of Lennon, who was here “heroically bowdlerized” and given a persona “more saintly than convincing.” Hinton Als in the New Yorker said Scardino’s concept failed because

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he seemed more focused on “putting on a very big show” with “Lennon-by-way-of-Ethel-Merman arrangements” rather than looking at the ”subtleties” involved in the interpretation of the subject’s life. Michael Riedel in the New York Post wrote a series of columns about the onstage and backstage problems with Lennon (he noted that around Shubert Alley the show was known as Yoko’s Folly), including “complaints” that “under Ono’s tight rein” the musical had become a “Lennon whitewash” that turned the title character into “a bland, peace-loving hippie.” As a result, his drug use was “just hinted at,” his “bisexuality ignored,” and his “serial philandering only dealt with head-on in one scene.” Songs cut during the tryout were: “Working Class Hero,” “Cold Turkey,” “Oh My Love,” and “Crippled Inside.” New York had previously endured another musical about John Lennon, also titled Lennon. Written and directed by Bob Eaton, the show opened Off Broadway on October 5, 1982, for twenty-five performances after having been previously produced in Britain. Frank Rich in the New York Times found the evening “shapeless,” “flavorless,” and “dull,” and he noted the story was told via “headline announcements” while its musical numbers were presented as a series of This Is Your Life-styled song cues. He reported that the evening had no point of view whatsoever, “unless total reverence counts as such.”

IN MY LIFE “A New Musical”

Theatre: Music Box Theatre Opening Date: October 20, 2005; Closing Date: December 11, 2005 Performances: 61 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Joseph Brooks Direction: Joseph Brooks (Dan Fields, Associate Director); Producers: Watch Hill Productions and TBF Music Corp.; Choreography: Richard Stafford; Scenery: Allen Moyer; Projections: Wendall K. Harrington; Costumes: Catherine Zuber; Lighting: Christopher Akerlind; Musical Direction: Henry Aronson Cast: Chiara Navarra (Vera), Christopher J. Hanke (J. T.), Jessica Boevers (Jenny), David Turner (Winston), Michael J. Farina (Al), Laura Jordan (Samantha), Roberta Gumbel (Liz), Michael Halling (Nick); Ensemble: Courtney Balan, Carmen Keels, Kilty Reidy, Brynn Williams The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during the present time.

Musical Numbers “Life Turns on a Dime” (Chiara Navarra, Christopher J. Hanke, Jessica Boevers); “It Almost Feels Like Love” (Christopher J. Hanke, Jessica Boevers); “Perfect for an Opera” (David Turner); “What a Strange Life We Live” (Jessica Boevers); “Doomed” (David Turner, Michael Halling, Ensemble); “What a Strange Life We Live” (reprise) (Chiara Navarra); “Sempre mio rimani” (Roberta Gumbel); “I Am My Mother’s Son” (Christopher J. Hanke); “Life Turns on a Dime” (reprise) (Jessica Boevers); “You Never Quite Get What You Paid For” (Michael J. Farina); “What a Strange Life We Live” (reprise) (Michael Halling); “Headaches” (David Turner, Michael Halling, Roberta Gumbel, Chiara Navarra, Ensemble); “When I Sing” (Christopher J. Hanke); “Secrets” (David Turner, Ensemble); “In My Life” (Jessica Boevers, Christopher J. Hanke); “A Ride on a Wheel” (Michael Halling, Laura Jordan, Christopher J. Hanke, Ensemble); “Perfect for an Opera” (reprise) (David Turner, Roberta Gumbel, Michael Halling, Chiara Navarra); “Didn’t Have to Love You” (Jessica Boevers, Christopher J. Hanke); “Listen to Your Mouth” (David Turner, Michael J. Farina); “When She Danced” (Chiara Navarra, Roberta Gumbel); “You Never Quite Get What You Paid For” (reprise) (Michael J. Farina); “Not This Day” (Michael J. Farina); “Floating on Air” (Christopher J. Hanke); “Not This Day” (reprise) (Christopher J. Hanke, Jessica Boevers, Roberta Gumbel, Michael Halling, Chiara Navarra, Michael J. Farina, Ensemble); “On This Day” (David Turner, Roberta Gumbel, Michael Halling, Chiara Navarra, Michael J. Farina, Ensemble); “In My Life” (reprise) (Jessica Boevers, Christopher J. Hanke) A field of floating giant-sized lemons was the primary artwork for the program and advertisements of In My Life, and perhaps another equally appropriate motif would have been a flock of floating turkeys. The artwork was

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regrettably, if inadvertently, the perfect image for the show, which was the third musical flop in a row for the new theatre season. The Broadway rumor mill had been working overtime in regard to the troubled production, and when the newspaper ads proclaimed that “the most anticipated original musical of the season opens tonight” it was indeed telling the truth because no doubt lovers of megaflops were looking forward to the new musical with book, lyrics, music, and direction by Joseph Brooks, whose earlier output included television advertisement jingles as well as the Oscar-winning song “You Light Up My Life” from the 1977 film of the same name. And how could In My Life have possibly succeeded? The critics had a field day outlining the strands of its scattershot plot, and all the story elements promised and delivered a camp disaster of epic proportions. The songwriting hero J. T. (Christopher J. Hanke) has Tourette syndrome, and if that’s not enough he also has a brain tumor. The doctors want to operate immediately, but J. T.’s on the verge of getting a record deal and so can’t possibly waste time on a pesky operation when all he really wants to do is write songs to share with the world. J. T. meets the love of his life in Village Voice editor Jenny (Jessica Boevers), and she’s got problems, too, including obsessive-compulsive disorder. J. T.’s opera-loving mother, Liz (Roberta Gumbel), and his ballet-loving little sister, Vera (Chiara Navarra), have problems as well because they’ve been killed in a car crash by a drunk driver. Nonetheless, they figure prominently in the action because from the afterlife they inspire J. T. And they’re good souls, and have even forgiven the drunk who killed them, who turns out to be in heaven and not in the other place. There’s also an archangel named Winston (David Turner), conceived and played as a flaming transvestite queen who looks like a combination of Boy George and Marilyn Manson. Winston is writing an opera for God, and asks the audience members to clap if they “believe in fairies.” And then there’s God himself, a guy who just wants to be called Al (Michael J. Farina) and likes to wear a baseball cap backward, ride bikes, and sing jingles from television commercials (Brooks had written such jingles for Volkswagen and Dr. Pepper, and these figure prominently in God’s repertoire). If all this weren’t enough, there were also dancing pirates, dancing skeletons, and dancing French courtiers. And there were lyrics on the level of greeting-card sentiments (Ben Brantley in the New York Times said he felt trapped inside “a musical Hallmark card” and David Rooney in Variety noted that just one song, “I Am My Mother’s Son,” didn’t sound like “random Hallmark gurgling”). Brantley said that while watching the musical he felt he was “drowning in a singing sea of syrup” that offered a “few jaw-dropping moments of whimsy run amok” (Brooks later told Jesse McKinley in the Times that Brantley’s comment about jaw-dropping whimsy was “a rave”). Brantley noted the advance word on In My Life “suggested that finally the real Springtime for Hitler had arrived in New York,” but beneath all the “swirling madcap flourishes and willful tastelessness” was an “excuse to deliver inspirational messages that are commonly found on television movies of the week.” Rooney stated that the evening was a “hit parade of trite platitudes,” a “megalomaniacal folly,” an “overblown soap opera,” an “astonishing misfire,” a collection of mostly “pre-teen poetic” lyrics, and a “must-see for all the Broadway tuner-train wreck completists who still speak wistfully of Carrie.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the musical was an “inspired train wreck,” and Brooks’s “unwieldy brainchild” managed to be a “brazenly incoherent camp spectacle.” Once the reviews came out, Brooks ensured that the show’s marketing campaign went into overdrive, and as a result an additional $1.5 million was poured into the $8 million production. But the musical continued to bleed money (McKinley reported its weekly running costs were $320,000, and Michael Riedel in the New York Post noted that one week the show took in just $186,000) and managed to run for just seven weeks. During previews, the song “Volkswagen” was cut or was at least dropped from the program’s song list. Two promotional CDs were widely distributed; one included three songs from the score (“I Am My Mother’s Son,” “Life Turns on a Dime,” and the title number), and the other also included these three songs along with “When She Danced.” The CD jackets proclaimed “It’s sure to be love at first listen!,” “Listen to the best music you’ve heard in your life,” “When was the last time you fell in love with a Broadway musical?,” and “When life gives you lemons . . . make a musical!”

SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET “A Musical Thriller”

Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: November 3, 2005; Closing Date: September 3, 2006

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Performances: 349 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, Scenery, and Costumes: John Doyle; Producers: Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, Ambassador Theatre Group, Adam Kenwright, and Tulchin/Bartner/Bagert; Lighting: Richard G. Jones; Musical Supervision: Sarah Travis Cast: Patti LuPone (Mrs. Lovett; Tuba, Orchestra Bells, Percussion), Michael Cerveris (Sweeney Todd; Guitar, Orchestra Bells, Percussion), Mark Jacoby (Judge Turpin; Trumpet, Orchestra Bells, Percussion), Donna Lynne Champlin (Pirelli; Accordion, Keyboard, Flute), Manoel Felciano (Tobias; Violin, Clarinet, Keyboard), Alexander Gemignani (The Beadle; Keyboard, Trumpet), John Arbo (Jonas Fogg; Bass), Diana Dimarzio (Beggar Woman; Clarinet), Benjamin Magnuson (Anthony; Cello, Keyboard), Lauren Molina (Johanna; Cello) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in an insane asylum in England during the nineteenth century. John Doyle’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street originated in Great Britain at the Watermill Theatre in Berkshire on July 27, 2004, and was later produced in London at the Trafalgar Studios and then at the Ambassadors Theatre. The $3.5 million revival received raves from the New York critics, ran almost a full year, returned a profit, was nominated for six Tony Awards, and won two, including Best Direction for Doyle. But one couldn’t help but feel the venture was somewhat gimmicky. The 1979 production included a company of fifty-four (twentyseven performers and twenty-seven musicians), but here there were just ten performers who doubled as musicians. The conceit might have been “theatrical,” but it was still a gimmick, and it no doubt most pleased those who enjoy radically different interpretations of familiar musicals. The revival was clearly a serious attempt to look at the musical under new light, but one is grateful these down-sized productions haven’t taken wing. Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella was produced on Broadway in 1992 in a small-scale production that featured twin pianos, and one year after the current Sweeney Todd Doyle’s production of Company also utilized performers who doubled as musicians. The Fella production was felicitous and Doyle’s Sweeney Todd and Company pleased critics and audiences, but does one really want a steady diet of low-cal revivals? Most musicals are written big, and are orchestrated for fifteen or more musicians and require large casts, and cut-rate versions at full Broadway prices seem like stunts as well as a cynical means for producers to make money off low-budget productions. There’s also the kind of audience member who reacts in Pavlovian fashion to anything that’s different. One suspects if a revival of Carousel required Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan to speak their lyrics in dialogue fashion, some audience members would swoon that here was the “real” Carousel because it concentrated on the words and didn’t allow all that pesky music to interfere with the plot. And one waits for a full-scale $20 million revival of The Fantasticks with an orchestra of twenty-six and a cast of forty, replete with a grand scenic design peppered with special effects. No doubt some would claim this as a groundbreaking new perspective on an overly familiar show: “We thought we knew The Fantasticks, but not until the stage was awash in a pounding rainstorm as Matt and Luisa sang the final notes of ‘Soon It’s Gonna Rain’ while a Texas-sized umbrella in the shape of a chandelier hovered over them did we see the true heart and soul of Schmidt and Jones’s heretofore pocket-sized musical.” At any rate, the new production of Sweeney Todd gave audiences a welcome opportunity to see Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris in full throttle as they took on two of musical theatre’s greatest roles, and the critics praised their interpretations. Ben Brantley in the New York Times hailed the “helluva show,” a “thrilling” production that surely surpassed all previous versions with its “high quotient of truly unsettling horror” and its “low quotient of conventional stage spectacle.” For the “angriest major musical ever written,” Cerveris created a “stunningly realized” character who “seems destined to haunt the nightmares of anyone who sees him” and LuPone was a “fiendish delight” whose Mrs. Lovett was “ravaged, coarse and carnal.” David Rooney in Variety said Cerveris made his first appearance as he emerged “like Nosferatu from a black coffin,” and it was clear his was a different and younger Sweeney who possessed “arresting ghoulishness.” He and LuPone’s “gleeful malice” created a “rollicking” mood for the first act and a “harrowing” one for the second. Further, LuPone was “priceless” as the “deliciously tarty vulgarian” and she coaxed “every ounce of humor from her role.” John Lahr in the New Yorker praised the “unbearably exciting” revival, and noted that its “vulgar, raffish immediacy of showmanship” was “luminous and a sort of landmark.” Cerveris

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was “terrifying” in his “dark majesty” and was “a model of sulfurous restraint,” and LuPone was a “gargoyle of toughness” who looked “positively Weimar.” Besides the matter of doubling the performers as both actors and musicians, Doyle reconceived the framework of the musical with a workable conceit that focused on Tobias Ragg (Manoel Felciano). At the end of the musical, Toby has gone mad, and for the opening scene of the new production he’s seen in a strait-jacket in an insane asylum. He tells his fellow inmates to attend the tale he must tell (and that he was a part of), and they in turn play out the horrific story of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, much in the way that the prisoners in Man of La Mancha play the roles in Cervantes’s story about Don Quixote. The cast album of the revival was released on a two-CD set by Nonesuch Records (# 79946-2). Five years earlier, LuPone had appeared with George Hearn in a concert production of the musical on May 4, 2000, for three performances at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. This version was released on a two-CD set by Philharmonic Special Editions (# NYP-2001/2002), and a 2001 production of the concert at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco with Hearn, LuPone, Davis Gaines (Anthony), Victoria Clark (Beggar Woman), Timothy Nolen (Judge Turpin), Neil Patrick Harris (Tobias), and the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Rob Fisher was released on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ID1529EMDVD). With the two recordings and the video release, three of LuPone’s performances of Mrs. Lovett are preserved and provide a unique opportunity to enjoy the era’s greatest musical theatre performer in one of the towering roles in all musical theatre. For that matter, Hearn’s performances in the title role have also been preserved three times, in the CD and home video releases of the 2000 concert, and on a performance taped live at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on September 12, 1982, during the musical’s original national tour with Angela Lansbury (released on DVD by Warner Home Video, Inc. # T-6750). For more information about the musical, including a list of musical numbers, see entry for the 2004 revival by the New York City Opera Company.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Michael Cerveris); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Patti LuPone); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Manoel Felciano); Best Direction of a Musical (John Doyle); Best Orchestrations (Sarah Travis)

JERSEY BOYS “The Story

of

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons”

Theatre: August Wilson Theatre Opening Date: November 6, 2005; Closing Date: As of this writing, the musical is still running on Broadway but is scheduled to close on January 15, 2017. Performances: 4,642 Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Des McAnuff; Producers: Dodger Theatricals, Joseph J. Grano, Pelican Group, and Tamara and Kevin Kinsella in association with Latitude Link and Rick Steiner/Osher/Staton/Bell/Mayerson Group (Sally Campbell Morse, Executive Producer) (Lauren Mitchell, Rhoda Mayerson, and Stage Entertainment); Choreography: Sergio Trujillo; Scenery: Klara Zieglerova; Projections: Michael Clark; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Ron Melrose Cast: Tituss Burgess (Hal Miller, Others), Steve Gouveia (Hank Majewski, Others), Peter Gregus (Bob Crewe, Others), Christian Hoff (Tommy DeVito), Donnie Kehr (Norm Waxman, Others), Michael Longoria (Joey, Others), Mark Lotito (Gyp DeCarlo, Others), Jennifer Naimo (Mary Delgado, Others), Erica Piccininni (Lorraine, Others), Daniel Reichard (Bob Gaudio), Sara Schmidt (Francine, Others), J. Robert Spencer (Nick Massi), John Lloyd Young (Frankie Valli) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place mostly in the 1950s and 1960s throughout the United States (and especially in New Jersey).

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Ces soirees-la (Oh What a Night)” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio, Judy Parker, Yannick Zolo, and Edmond David Bacri) (Tituss Burgess, Erica Piccininni, Ensemble); “Silhouettes” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Frank Slay Jr.) (Christian Hoff, John Lloyd Young, Company); “You’re the Apple of My Eye” (lyric and music by Otis Blackwell) (Christian Hoff, Company) “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” (Blackbirds of 1928; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh) (John Lloyd Young, Company); “Earth Angel” (lyric and music by Jesse Belvin, Curtis Williams, and Gaynel Hodge) (Christian Hoff, Company); “A Sunday Kind of Love” (lyric and music by Barbara Belle, Anita Leanord Nye, Stan Rhodes, and Louis Prima) (John Lloyd Young, Company); “My Mother’s Eyes” (lyric and music by Abel Baer and L. Wolfe Gilbert) (John Lloyd Young, Company); “I Go Ape” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Frank Slay Jr.) (John Lloyd Young, J. Robert Spencer, Christian Hoff); “(Who Wears) Short Shorts” (lyric and music by Bill Crandall, Tom Austin, Bob Gaudio, and Bill Dalton) (Ensemble); “I’m in the Mood for Love” (1935 film Every Night at Eight; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh) and “Moody’s Mood for Love” (lyric and music by James Moody, Dorothy Fields, and Jimmy McHugh) (John Lloyd Young, Company); “Cry for Me” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer); “An Angel Cried” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio) (Tituss Burgess, Ensemble); “I Still Care” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio) (Erica Piccininni, Ensemble); “Trance” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio) (Donnie Kehr, Ensemble); “Sherry” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer); “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer); “Walk Like a Man” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer); “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker) (Daniel Reichard, Tituss Burgess, Ensemble); “My Boyfriend’s Back” (lyric and music by Robert Feldman, Gerald Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer) (Sara Schmidt, Female Ensemble); “My Eyes Adored You” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan) (John Lloyd Young, Jennifer Naimo, Christian Hoff, Daniel Reichard, J. Robert Spencer): “Dawn, Go Away” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio and Sandy Linzer) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer, Ensemble); “Walk Like a Man” (reprise) (Company) Act Two: “Big Man in Town” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer); “Beggin’” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer); “Stay” (lyric and music by Maurice Williams) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, J. Robert Spencer); “Let’s Hang On (to What We’ve Got)” (lyric and music by Denny Randell, Bob Crewe, and Sandy Linzer) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young); “Opus 17 (Don’t You Worry ’Bout Me)” (lyric and music by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer) (Daniel Reichard, John Lloyd Young, The New Seasons); “Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio) (John Lloyd Young, The Four Seasons); “C’mon Marianne” (lyric and music by L. Russell Brown and Ray Bloodworth) (John Lloyd Young, The Four Seasons); “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio) (John Lloyd Young); “Working My Way Back to You” (lyric and music by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer) (John Lloyd Young, The Four Seasons); “Fallen Angel” (lyric and music by Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett) (John Lloyd Young); “Rag Doll” (lyric and music by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio) (The Four Seasons); “Who Loves You”” (lyric and music by Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker) (The Four Seasons, Company) The runaway hit Jersey Boys became one of the most successful shows of its era. It ran for 4,642 performances and became the twelfth longest-running musical in Broadway history. The Jersey Boys are of course the singing group The Four Seasons, which include its lead singer Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) as well as Bob Gaudio (Daniel Reichard), Tommy DeVito (Christian Hoff), and Nick Massi (J. Robert Spencer), and the show’s book cleverly divides the evening into the four seasons of the year. During the four segments, each member of the group tells his version of the group’s history (and of course each member sees his role as the pivotal one that thrust the group into the winner’s circle). Rashomon it wasn’t, but thankfully the jukebox musical wasn’t a Mamma Mia! either. The evening was mostly a collection of the songs popularized by the group (“Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Let’s Hang On to What We’ve Got,” “Working My Way Back to You,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”),

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although the early scenes offered a few pop songs of the era, ones not particularly associated with The Four Seasons (“Silhouettes,” “I Go Ape”). Unlike Mamma Mia! and other jukebox musicals, Jersey Boys for the most part used all the songs as presentational ones performed in concerts or recording studios, and only a handful were utilized as plot numbers. The story was the old one about trying to make it in show business, achieving success, losing it, and regaining it (in other words, every cliché in Musical Comedy Biography 101). But Jersey Boys was swiftly paced and never took itself too seriously. When Frankie meets his future wife, Mary (Jennifer Naimo), and tells her he’s changed his name from Francis Castelluccio to Frankie Vally, she informs him he needs to change the “y” in Vally to “i” because “y” is such a “bullshit letter” it doesn’t even know whether it’s a vowel or a consonant. Later Frankie tells us that Nick Massi died on Christmas Eve 2000, and asks, “I mean, for a Catholic, is that style or what?” And in John Lloyd Young (who won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical) the show offered a performer with charisma who could reach those Frankie Valli falsetto notes with ease. Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that the plot followed “a much-traveled stretch of highway with few illuminating detours,” but he found the “straightforward biographical approach” refreshing after such jukebox shows as Mamma Mia!, All Shook Up, and Lennon. He also commented that director Des McAnuff lent “clarity and crispness” to the “shifting narrative,” and he praised Young as the show’s “chief source of fresh air.” Young channeled “all the messy, happy, angry feelings” of Valli’s life “without straying from the required official voice,” and the actor had a certain “quirky authenticity that can’t be faked or learned.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post praised the “nostalgic stroll down rock’s Memory Lane” and said as a musical the show was “dynamically alive” and as drama it caught “the very texture, almost the actual smell, of its time.” The cast was “plain wonderful” and Young sang “his high-pitched heart out.” John Lahr in the New Yorker liked the “rollicking” direction, “clever” book, and “splendid” performers. But jukebox or catalog musicals offered “jerry-built” plots that were little more than “a concert with conflict” and were produced in search of “the golden egg.” Jersey Boys was “a money tree,” and although the audience was “tickled to death,” he felt that “given enough of these ersatz events, Broadway musical theatre may be, too.” David Rooney in Variety found the book “clunky” with “a lot of exposition” and a script that offered “no insight” into its leading character, but despite its “plot soup” he predicted the “agreeably modest” musical might become “a sizable hit” with “strong hinterland touring prospects.” During the pre-Broadway run, David Norona originated the role of Frankie Valli, and was succeeded by John Lloyd Young. The Broadway cast album was released by Rhino Records (CD # R2-73271), and the script, which was published in hardback by Broadway Books/Melcher Media in 2007, includes numerous background articles about the musical and the Four Seasons. The London production opened on March 19, 2008, at the Prince Edward Theatre, and as of this writing is still playing (for the West End, Ryan Molloy played the role of Frankie Valli). The 2014 film version released by Warner Brothers was directed by Clint Eastwood, and Lloyd reprised his stage performance. The soundtrack was released by Rhino and includes original tracks by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons as well as tracks by the film’s cast; the DVD was issued by Warner Home Video. Jersey Boys may have been one of these new-fangled jukebox musicals, but it was good to see that it genuflected to the conventions of the Great Composer Musicals of the 1940s. In those days, it seemed that whenever a musical centered on the life of a composer (or a celebrity) it was imperative to include a scene or at least a mention of a famous person or two. For example, in the biographical Song of Norway (1944) about composer Edvard Grieg, Henrik Ibsen is the Visiting Celebrity, and in a Christmas scene someone notes that one of the presents under the tree is from that “Russian composer Tschiakowsky.” And when Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston (1945), it’s no less than President Ulysses S. Grant who steps in and helps out Johann and Hetty Strauss when it appears their marriage is under duress because of the composer’s wandering eye. In later years, Judy and Liza were part of The Boy from Oz, and for Jersey Boys, “Joey Pesci” makes an appearance (at the performance I attended, the audience members around me seemed to go into titter-and-twitter overdrive, as if the cameo was a chandelier moment).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Jersey Boys); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (John Lloyd Young); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christian Hoff); Best Scenic

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Design of a Musical (Klara Zieglerova); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Howell Binkley); Best Direction of a Musical (Des McAnuff); Best Orchestrations (Steve Orich)

SOUVENIR “A Fantasia

on the

Life

of

Florence Foster Jenkins”

Theatre: Lyceum Theatre Opening Date: November 10, 2005; Closing Date: January 8, 2006 Performances: 68 Play: Stephen Temperley Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Vivian Matalon; Producers: Ted Snowdon in association with Janice Montana by arrangement with The York Theatre Company; Scenery: R. Michael Miller; Costumes: Tracy Cristensen; Lighting: Ann G. Wrightson; Musical Direction: Donald Corren Cast: Judy Kaye (Florence Foster Jenkins), Donald Corren (Cosme McMoon) The play with music was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1964 at “a supper club with a resident pianist somewhere in Greenwich Village, New York City,” and in memory the pianist returns to the period 1932–1944.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t include a complete list of musical numbers; the following is taken from the published script. Act One: “One for My Baby” (1943 film The Sky’s the Limit; lyric by Johnny Mercer, music by Harold Arlen) (Donald Corren); “Crazy Rhythm” (Here’s Howe, 1928; lyric by Irving Caesar, music by Joseph Meyer and Roger Wolfe Kahn) (Donald Corren); “Caro nome” (1851 opera Rigoletto; words by Francesco Maria Piave, music by Giuseppe Verdi) (Judy Kaye); “Ave Maria” (words are the traditional Roman Catholic prayer, music by Charles Gounod) (Judy Kaye); “Crazy Rhythm” (reprise) (Donald Corren, Judy Kaye) Act Two: “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” (Glad to See You, 1944 [closed during pre-Broadway tryout]); lyric by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne) (Donald Corren); “It All Depends on You” (lyric by Lew Brown and B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva, music by Ray Henderson; interpolated into Big Boy, 1925) (Donald Corren); “Violets for Your Furs” (lyric by Tom Adair, music by Matt Dennis) (Donald Corren); “Serenata Mexicana” (lyric and music by Stephen Temperley) (Judy Kaye); “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” (lyric and music by Frank Loesser); “L’air des bijoux” (“The Jewel Song”) (1859 opera Faust; words by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre, music by Charles Gounod); “Ave Maria” (reprise) (Judy Kaye); “Ave Maria” (finale) (Judy Kaye); Note: The play with music also included brief interludes from various operas as well as “Stardust” (lyric by Mitchell Parish, music by Hoagy Carmichael). Souvenir was a play with music, a self-described “fantasia” about Florence Foster Jenkins (1868–1944), a wealthy New York socialite who was convinced she possessed a great singing voice and was blissfully oblivious that audiences came to laugh at her (she appeared in a solo sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall on October 25, 1944, just weeks before her death). But Stephen Temperley’s play didn’t laugh at Jenkins and instead created a poignant and touching portrait of a dedicated woman who truly believed in her art and found fulfillment in her dream (audiences heard “one thing,” but Jenkins heard “something else”). Judy Kaye starred as Jenkins in a production first seen Off Broadway on December 1, 2004, by The York Theatre Company at the Theatre at Saint Peter’s Church for fifty-two performances (the work was later presented by the Berkshire Theatre Festival the following summer). Vivian Matalon directed, and Jack F. Lee was Jenkins’s accompanist Cosme McMoon, who twenty years after her death reminisces about her in a Greenwich Village supper club and returns in memory to the years when he knew her. Matalon also directed the Broadway production, and for this version Donald Corren was Cosme. Ben Brantley in the New York Times reported that “the first squawk is still a shocker,” and so when Kaye plunged into “the crystalline waters” of Verdi’s “Caro nome” from Rigoletto she provided “the aural

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equivalent of a belly flop, the two-ton kind that empties a swimming pool.” And David Rooney in Variety noted that Kaye’s ability to produce such “shrill noise” was “a stunning technical achievement” when you realized she was actually an accomplished singer. Hers was a “towering comic performance,” and the evening was a “sustained delight.” Otherwise, Rooney felt the play could have been “more resourceful” because it relied “too heavily” on McMoon’s description of events rather than presenting a dramatization of them. Brantley said the first act was “an unexpectedly gentle and affecting comedy,” but too often the second act lapsed into “the stuff of drag shows” with “a succession of fragments from arias delivered in bad voice and outrageous costumes” (but Brantley noted that Kaye always remained “resolutely true to her character”). The work’s coup de theatre came at the end of the evening. Hinton Als in the New Yorker praised Kaye’s “real” and “heart-breaking” performance, and reported that for the finale she created a “gorgeous folly that goes into making a work of art” with “a portrait of triumph, disillusion, and belief.” For here Kaye sang “Ave Maria” as Jenkins “thought” she sang it, and thus Kaye performed the song “richly, con brio.” The script was published in paperback by Dramatists Play Service in 2006. In September 2005, Peter Quilter’s play about Jenkins titled Glorious opened in London with Maureen Lipton; the 2015 French film Marguerite (released in the United States the following year) was inspired by Jenkins’s life (played by Catherine Frot, the character was here called Marguerite Dumont, which caused some to assume the film was about Groucho Marx’s eternal screen foil Margaret Dumont); and in 2016 the film Florence Foster Jenkins was released by Paramount with Meryl Streep in the title role (Hugh Grant was also in the cast, and the film was directed by Stephen Frears). In 1962, the Off-Broadway puppet revue for adults Les poupees de Paris spoofed Jenkins (here as “Mme. Jenkins Foster”) and her voice was prerecorded by Edie Adams (a revised edition of the revue was also produced in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play (Judy Kaye)

THE WOMAN IN WHITE “A New Musical”

Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: November 17, 2005; Closing Date: February 19, 2006 Performances: 109 Book: Charlotte Jones Lyrics: David Zippel Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Based on the 1859 novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Direction: Trevor Nunn; Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Sonia Friedman Productions, Ltd., The Really Useful White Company, Inc., Lawrence Horowitz/Jon Avnet, Ralph Guild/Bill Rollnick, Bernie Abrams/Michael Speyer, and Clear Channel Entertainment/PIA (Stage Entertainment BV); Movement Direction: Wayne McGregor; Scenery, Costumes, and Video Design: William Dudley; Projection Realization: Mesmer-Dick Straker/Sven Ortel; Lighting: Paul Pyant; Musical Direction: Kristen Blodgette Cast: Adam Brazier (Walter Hartright), Norman Large (Signalman, Pawnbroker), Angela Christian (Anne Catherick), Maria Friedman (Marian Halcombe), Walter Charles (Mr. Fairlie), John Dewar (Mr. Fairlie’s Servant), Jill Paice (Laura Fairlie), Justis Bolding (A Village Girl), Ron Bohmer (Sir Percival Glyde), Michael Ball (Count Fosco), Richard Todd Adams (Con Man), Patty Goble (Warden); Ensemble: Richard Todd Adams, Justis Bolding, Lisa Brescia, John Dewar, Courtney Glass, Patty Goble, Norman Large, Michael Shawn Lewis, Elizabeth Loyacano, Daniel Marcus, Greg Mills, Elena Shaddow, Daniel Torres The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in England during the nineteenth century.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “I Hope You’ll Like It Here” (Maria Friedman); “Perspective” (Maria Friedman, Jill Paice, Adam Brazier); “Trying Not to Notice” (Maria Friedman, Adam Brazier, Jill Paice); “I Believe My Heart” (Adam Brazier, Jill Paice); “Lammastide” (Villagers); “You See I Am No Ghost” (Angela Christian); “A Gift for Living Well” (Michael Ball); “The Holly and the Ivy” (Congregation, A Village Girl); “All for Laura” (Maria Friedman); “The Document” (Ron Bohmer, Jill Paice, Maria Friedman, Michael Ball); Act One Finale (Jill Paice, Angela Christian, Maria Friedman, Men, Ron Bohmer) Act Two: “If I Could Only Dream This World Away” (Jill Paice); “The Nightmare” (Ensemble); “All for Laura” (reprise) (Maria Friedman); “Evermore without You” (Adam Brazier); “Lost Souls” (Londoners); “You Can Get Away with Anything” (Michael Ball); “The Seduction” (Michael Ball, Maria Friedman); Epilogue Andrew Lloyd Webber’s London import The Woman in White was another disappointment for the composer, who was having a bad streak of luck on Broadway: Whistle Down the Wind closed in Washington, D.C., during its 1996–1997 pre-Broadway engagement; By Jeeves ran for two months on Broadway; and now the $10 million The Woman in White collapsed after three months in New York. The musical premiered in London on September 15, 2004, at the Palace Theatre and played for nineteen months. During the London run, the work underwent extensive revisions, and the New York production was reportedly thirty minutes shorter than the West End edition. For London, Michael Crawford created the role of Count Fosco, and during the run was succeeded by Michael Ball who also performed the role on Broadway (others who reprised their West End performances for Broadway were Maria Friedman, Jill Paice, and Angela Christian). Like The Color Purple which opened on Broadway two weeks later, the musical was based on a lengthy novel with an array of character and plot complications, and so the script was crammed with information, some of it perhaps lost on the audience. Hinton Als in the New Yorker noted that a crucial plot point wasn’t even mentioned until the second act, and the show was “all hysterical action, with artifice as its heart.” He also said that the lyrics and music were “so over-the-top dramatic that it’s impossible to have anything approaching real feeling for any of the characters, let alone their situations.” The program stated that the musical was “freely adapted” from Wilkie Collins’s 1859 novel, which is generally considered to be the first major gothic romance, a mystery with the requisite gloomy atmosphere, a villain or two, and of course a mysterious woman (Christian played Anne Catherick, the ghostly woman in white). The musical centered on art teacher Walter Hartright (Adam Brazier) and his two students, the halfsisters Marian Halcombe (Friedman) and Laura Fairlie (Paice), all of whom become enmeshed in a nefarious scheme by the evil and greedy Count Fosco (Michael Ball) and Laura’s equally nasty and rapacious husband Sir Percival Glyde (Ron Bohmer) to steal Laura’s fortune. As a result, murkiness, secrets, a marriage, skullduggery, drugs, nightmares, mysterious papers, wife-beating, rape, wrongful incarceration (in an insane asylum), murder (by drowning), death (by train-crushing), more secrets, romance, a love child, even more secrets (“unspeakable secrets,” noted Ben Brantley in the New York Times), and intertwined blood relationships abound, not necessarily in that order. Brantley said the evening offered “a long march of recitative that explains and re-explains the elaborate plot in exceedingly clunky lyrics” by David Zippel, and there was a “cold efficiency” in Charlotte Jones’s “streamlining and rearranging” of the “labyrinthine” novel. The music itself offered “freeze-dried Lloyd Webber motifs” to which “water has been added,” and there was “that familiar glucose sweep of melody” which occasionally turned dirge-like but was always ready to “return to its natural valentine frilliness.” Ultimately, the musical wasn’t “terrible,” just “awfully pallid,” and it felt “as personally threatening as a historical diorama behind glass.” David Rooney in Variety found the evening “solemn” and “lumbering,” and said the melodrama was “sadly hollow.” The composer tempered “the syrupy romanticism” of his score “by weaving more complex, discordant textures,” but soon the music went into “repetitive overdrive.” Richard Corliss in Time found the music “laboriously lush” and the lyrics “clumsy,” but was “enthralled” by the scenic effects. If The Woman in White wasn’t a “great” musical it was nonetheless a “sensational” movie because filmed video projections surrounded the stage on a curved screen and thus utilized a combination of film and live performers to tell the story. Each audience member became the “eye of a whirling film

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camera” that glided over the English countryside and floated into the interiors of mansions and their haunted rooms. Corliss noted that “never on so ambitious a scale or to such vertiginous effect” had film heretofore been utilized on the stage. But Brantley felt the computer-animated projections made you feel “trapped inside a floating upscale travel magazine,” and Rooney commented that for all the high-tech trappings of the giant screen (which included a central screen panel that sometimes separated and moved toward the audience in 3-D fashion), the modern technology was “fundamentally at odds with this show’s Victorian sensibility.” There was no Broadway cast album, but the London production was recorded live on a two-CD set by EMI Classics (# 7243-5-57938-2-9), which includes two tracks of “You Can Get Away with Anything” (audience reaction could be heard on the live track, and so it was rerecorded in a studio, and both versions are on the CD). Incidentally, for the role of the epicene and bloated Fosco, both Crawford (for London) and Ball (for London and New York) appeared in a fat suit (and for that matter a fat mask), and both actors were completely unrecognizable as themselves. Crawford’s appearance in the musical’s London production marked his second “mouse” musical. He had appeared in the 1979 London musical Flowers for Algernon (titled Charlie and Algernon for its 1980 New York version, which starred P. J. Benjamin), which was based on various source materials eventually adapted into the 1968 film Charly, and the high point of the evening was the title song in which Charlie and his pet mouse Algernon take the stage in an old-time vaudeville-styled sequence with Charlie spouting hoary jokes (one of Algernon’s latest gigs was at the Conrad Stilton, and one day Algernon will appear at the Met in Micetersinger) while Algernon scampers up and down Charlie’s arm. For The Woman in White, Fosco sang his ode to crime “You Can Get Away with Anything” while a mouse sat on his shoulder. Brantley noted this provided the musical’s only moment of “actual suspense” because briefly it seemed “the rat might not respond on cue.” (There seems to be some confusion as to whether Fosco’s friend is a mouse or a rat, but the CD booklet refers to it as the former.)

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Score (lyrics by David Zippel, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber)

THE COLOR PURPLE “A New Musical”

Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: December 1, 2005; Closing Date: February 24, 2008 Performances: 910 Book: Marsha Norman Lyrics and Music: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray Based on the 1982 novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker and the 1985 film of the same name (direction by Steven Spielberg and screenplay by Menno Meyjes). Direction: Gary Griffin; Producers: Oprah Winfrey, Scott Sanders, Roy Furman, Quincy Jones, Creative Battery, Anna Fantaci & Cheryl Lachowicz, Independent Presenters Network, David Lowy, Stephanie P. McClelland, Gary Winnick, Jay Kallish, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Andrew Asnes and Adam Zotovich, and Todd Johnson; Choreography: Donald Byrd; Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Linda Twine Cast: Chantylla Johnson (Young Nettie, Mister Daughter, Chief’s Daughter), Zipporah G. Gatling (Young Celie, Mister Daughter, Young Olivia, Henrietta), Carol Dennis (Church Soloist), Kimberly Ann Harris (Church Lady, Doris), Virginia Ann Woodruff (Church Lady, Darlene), Maia Nkenge Wilson (Church Lady, Jarene, Daisy), Doug Eskew (Preacher, Prison Guard), JC Montgomery (Pa, Grady), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Nettie), LaChanze (Celie), Kingsley Leggs (Mister), Leon G. Thomas III (Young Harpo, Young Adam), Brandon Victor Dixon (Harpo), Felicia P. Fields (Sofia), Krisha Marcano (Squeak), Elisabeth Withers-Mendes (Shug Avery), Lou Myers (Ol’ Mister), Nathaniel Stampley (Buster, Chief), James Brown III (Bobby), Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines (Older Olivia), Grasan Kingsberry (Older Adam); Ensemble: James Brown III, LaTrisa A. Coleman, Carol Dennis, Anika Ellis, Doug Eskew, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Zipporah G.

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Gatling, Charles Gray, James Harkness, Francesca Harper, Kimberly Ann Harris, Chantylla Johnson, Grasan Kingsberry, JC Montgomery, Lou Myers, Angela Robinson, Nathaniel Stampley, Jamal Story, Leon G. Thomas III, Maia Nkenge Wilson, Virginia Ann Woodruff The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place mostly in Georgia during the period 1909–1949.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Huckleberry Pie” (Zipporah G. Gatling, Chantylla Johnson); “Mysterious Ways” (Carol Dennis, Kimberly Ann Harris, Virginia Ann Woodruff, Maia Nkenge Wilson); “Somebody Gonna Love You” (LaChanze); “Our Prayer” (Renee Elise Goldsberry, LaChanze, Kingsley Leggs); “Big Dog” (Kingsley Leggs, Field Hands); “Hell No!” (Felicia P. Fields, Sisters); “Brown Betty” (Brandon Victor Dixon, Men, Krisha Marcano); “Shug Avery Comin’ to Town” (Kingsley Leggs, LaChanze, Company); “Too Beautiful for Words” (Elisabeth Withers-Mendes); “Push da Button” (Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, Company); “Uh Oh!” (Kimberly Ann Harris, Virginia Ann Woodruff, Maia Nkenge Wilson); “What about Love?” (LaChanze, Elisabeth Withers-Mendes) Act Two: “African Homeland” (Renee Elise Goldsberry, LaChanze, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Grasan Kingsberry, Villagers); “The Color Purple” (Elisabeth Withers-Mendes); “Mister’s Song” (Kingsley Leggs); “Miss Celie’s Pants” (LaChanze, Elisabeth Withers-Mendes, Felicia P. Fields, Women); “Any Little Thing” (Brandon Victor Dixon, Felicia P. Fields); “I’m Here” (LaChanze); “The Color Purple” (reprise) (LaChanze, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Company) The Color Purple covered a forty-year period, mostly in Georgia but with side trips to Tennessee and Africa. At the beginning of the musical, Celie (Zipporah G. Gatling played the Young Celie, LaChanze the adult) is a fourteen-year-old girl raped and twice impregnated by her stepfather Pa (JC Montgomery), who both times gets rid of the babies and eventually gets rid of Celie by forcing her into marriage with Mister (Kingsley Leggs), who expects her to be a workhorse on his farm. In the meantime, Celie’s sister Nettie (Renee Elise Goldsberry) is almost seduced by Pa, and so she runs away and Celie loses track of her. When entertainer Shug Avery (Elisabeth Withers-Mendes) meets Celie, the two become lovers, and later Celie discovers that her two babies, now grown into adulthood, are with Nettie in Africa. When Nettie and the children return to Georgia, Celie is at last reunited with her family. The $10 million musical received generally mixed notices but played over two years on Broadway. Like Jane Eyre, The Woman in White, Zhivago, and other musicals based on lengthy novels, the critics noted the evening was too episodic and never quite got down to cases in its analysis of the complex heroine. But they liked the clever device of using three so-called Church Ladies as narrative glue in order to hold the evening together with their musical comments and asides. John Lahr in the New Yorker said the “noisy” musical was “overamplified, overheated, and overhyped” and was “about presentation, not penetration” because the script had “a kind of color-me-purple comic-book outline” that provided only the “externals” of the plot and depicted characters who functioned “more as anecdotes than as dramatic influences” on Celie. Even the choreography for the African sequence was “sensationally inauthentic” and came across as “Olympic gymnastics meets National Geographic.” The “banal,” “inert,” and “strangely soulless” evening offered direction that had “speed” but no “momentum,” “pace but no rhythm,” and songs that illustrated but didn’t advance the plot. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the musical’s “incident-crammed” source material was here “built for speed” in a “beat-the-clock” production that never slowed down “long enough for you to embrace it.” As a result, the “whirlwind of story lines” passed by “in a watercolor blur” and an “overwhelming breathlessness,” and the “narrative rush” included too many plot twists. The director’s function was more in the nature of a “skilled traffic conductor,” and the show became “a long and winding journey” in which a song began and then was “killed to make way for yet another narrative-propelling number.” Although the plot included such “ugly” events as rape and domestic violence, Celie somehow “morphed” into a heroine not unlike those found in books by Barbara Taylor Bradford and Danielle Steel. David Rooney in Variety said the “big, messy patchwork” reduced a “sprawling feminist saga to cartoonish episodes,” the direction was “by-the-numbers,” and “too many” songs felt “incomplete.” Richard Corliss

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in Time said the musical reduced the source novel into “a catalogue of abuses” and the evening’s “men bad”– “women good” message indicated that women must “turn to each other for solace, and sometimes sex.” Corliss noted that the novel’s film version “stayed skittishly on the periphery” of “lesbian empowerment,” but the musical “strolls right on in” to the subject. The choreography was occasionally “pedestrian,” and while the score was undistinguished and sometimes had a “perfunctory air,” it served the work “honorably.” Ultimately, the first act was “terrific,” but the second staggered “a bit” as it depicted “redemption or epiphany” for many of the characters. In his review of the cast album for the Washington Post, Peter Marks found the score “a pleasant if not particularly memorable listen.” The cast album was released by Angel/EMI Records (CD # 0946-3-42954-2-0). For the tryout, Ken Roberson choreographed, and for Broadway was succeeded by Donald Byrd; Adriane Lenox and Saycon Sengbloh created the respective roles of Shug Avery and Nettie, and for Broadway they were succeeded by Elisabeth Withers-Mendes and Renee Elise Goldsberry. Songs listed in the pre-Broadway tryout program but not in the Broadway program are: “Walkin’ Home,” “Move On Up,” “I Really Want That Girl,” “That Fine Mister,” “She Be Mine,” “Bring My Nellie Back,” “Dear God, Sofia!,” “Hussy That Ain’t Too Fussy,” “Dear God, Shug Avery!,” “Dear Celie,” “Africa,” “Olinka Exodus,” “God Is,” “A Church Ladies’ Easter,” “I’m Free,” “Let Her Grace Lift Me Up,” “Is There Anything I Can Do for You?,” and “A Church Ladies’ 4th of July.” Although not listed in the New York program, “That Fine Mister,” “Dear God—Sophia,” “Dear God—Shug (Avery!),” and “A Church Ladies’ Easter” are included on the Broadway cast album. Other songs heard on the cast album but not listed in the New York program are “Lily of the Field,” “A Tree Named Sofia,” “All We’ve Got to Say,” “I Curse You, Mister,” and “Celie’s Curse.” A revised version of the musical was revived on December 10, 2015, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre and played for 450 performances; directed by John Doyle, the production reportedly trimmed the original show by forty minutes. The cast album was released by Broadway Records.

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (The Color Purple); Best Book (Marsha Norman); Best Score (lyrics and music by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (LaChanze); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Felicia P. Fields); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Elisabeth Withers-Mendes); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (John Lee Beatty); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Paul Tazewell); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Brian MacDevitt); Best Choreography (Donald Byrd)

CHITA RIVERA: THE DANCER’S LIFE Theatre: Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Opening Date: December 11, 2005; Closing Date: February 19, 2006 Performances: 72 Text: Terrence McNally Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction and Choreography: Graciela Daniele (Madeleine Kelly Associate Choreographer) (Jerome Robbins’s choreography reproduced by Alan Johnson) (Bob Fosse’s choreography reproduced by Tony Stevens); Producers: Marty Bell, Aldo Scrofani, Martin Richards, Chase Mishkin, Bernard Abrams/Michael Speyer, Tracy Aron, and Joe McGinnis in association with Stefany Bergson, Scott Prisand/Jennifer Maloney, G. Marlyne Sexton, Judith Ann Abrams/Jamie deRoy, and Addiss/Rittereiser/Carragher (Marty Bell and Aldo Scrofani, Executive Producers) (Dan Gallagher and Michael Milton, Associate Producers); Scenery: Loy Arcenas; Costumes: Toni-Leslie James; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Mark Hummel Cast: Chita Rivera (Chita Rivera), Liana Ortiz (Little Chita Rivera, Lisa); Ensemble: Richard Amaro, Lloyd Culbreath, Malinda Farrington, Edgard Gallardo, Deidre Goodwin, Richard Montoya, Lainie Sakakura, Alex Sanchez, Allyson Tucker The revue was presented in two acts.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Perfidia” (lyric and music by Alberto Dominguez, English lyric by Milton Leeds) (Chita Rivera with Liana Ortiz and Richard Amaro); “Secret o’ Life” (lyric and music by James Taylor) (Chita Rivera); “Dancing on the Kitchen Table” (lyric by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty) (Chita Rivera with Richard Montoya, Edgard Gallardo, Allyson Tucker, Lainie Sakakura, Malinda Farrington, Richard Amaro); “Ballet Class” (Chita Rivera with Malinda Farrington, Deidre Goodwin, Lainie Sakakura, Liana Ortiz); “Something to Dance About” (Call Me Madam, 1950; lyric and music by Irving Berlin) (Chita Rivera with Richard Montoya); “I’m Available” (Mr. Wonderful, 1956; lyric and music by Jerry Bock, Larry Holofcener, and George Weiss) (Chita Rivera); “Camille, Colette, Fifi” (Seventh Heaven, 1955; lyric by Stella Unger, music by Victor Young) (Chita Rivera with Allyson Tucker and Deidre Goodwin) ; “Garbage” (Shoestring Revue, 1955; lyric and music by Sheldon Harnick) (Chita Rivera); “Can-Can” (Can-Can, 1953; lyric and music by Cole Porter) (Chita Rivera with Allyson Tucker, Malinda Farrington, Lainie Sakakura, Deidre Goodwin); “Mr. Wonderful” (Mr. Wonderful, 1956; lyric and music by Jerry Bock, Larry Holofcener, and George Weiss); West Side Story (1957; lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, music by Leonard Bernstein): (1) “A Boy Like That” (Chita Rivera); (2) “Mambo” from “Dance at the Gym” (Chita Rivera and Edgard Gallardo, Ensemble); and (3) “Somewhere” (Chita Rivera with Ensemble); “Put on a Happy Face” (Bye Bye Birdie, 1960; lyric by Lee Adams, music by Charles Strouse) (Chita Rivera with Lloyd Culbreath); “Rosie” (Bye Bye Birdie, 1960; lyric by Lee Adams, music by Charles Strouse) (Chita Rivera with Lloyd Culbreath); “Don’t ‘Ah Ma’ Me” (The Rink, 1984; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) (Chita Rivera); “Big Spender” (Sweet Charity, 1966; lyric by Dorothy Fields, music by Cy Coleman) (Chita Rivera with Deidre Goodwin); “Nowadays” (Chicago, 1975; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) (Chita Rivera) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “The Audition” (Lloyd Culbreath as The Choreographer with Ensemble); Tangos (music by Astor Piazzolla): “Adios Nonino,” “Detresse,” and “Calambre” (Chita Rivera with Richard Amaro and Liana Ortiz); “More Than You Know” (Great Day!, 1929; lyric by Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu, music by Vincent Youmans) (Chita Rivera with Ensemble); “The Choreographers” (Chita Rivera with Ensemble); “A Woman the World Has Never Seen” (lyric by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty) (Chita Rivera); “Class” (Chicago, 1975; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) (Chita Rivera); “Chief Cook and Bottlewasher” (The Rink, 1984; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) (Chita Rivera); “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1993; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) (Chita Rivera); “Where You Are” (Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1993; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) (Chita Rivera with Ensemble Men); “All That Jazz” (Chicago, 1975; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) (Chita Rivera with Liana Ortiz and Ensemble) The revue Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life was a salute to the legendary Broadway performer’s life and career, and for the evening Rivera offered a generous sampling of stories, songs, and dances from her days in dancing classes in Washington, D.C., to her string of Broadway shows, two of which (The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman) brought her Tony Awards for Best Leading Performance by an Actress in a Musical. The critics felt Rivera could do no wrong, but were disappointed that her show let her down. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the star had “the voice, the attitude and—oh yes—the legs to magnetize all eyes in an audience.” But she was backed by ten supporting players who felt “like smudges on a camera lens, obscuring the view of what you really want to see.” Further, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty had written “tapioca-bland original songs,” Terrence McNally’s text was “standard-issue sentimental script,” Loy Arcenas offered “Vegas-revue-style” décor, and as a result what should have been the setting “for a glittering ruby of a star” instead dimmed rather than enhanced her. But if the show itself was not “electric” it couldn’t disguise “the electricity of the woman at its center.” David Rooney in Variety felt the “undercooked” showcase was “never less than enjoyable” but was still “uneven” and “rarely exhilarating.” There was a “thrown-together, shapeless feel” to the evening, and considering that McNally had written the impressive Master Class (about Maria Callas) he “shouldn’t come off like a bumbling novice” with such “pedestrian writing.” As a result, Rivera was given “single-line summations” instead of “personal revelations” and was forced to say such bland lines as “The day our daughter Lisa was born was the happiest day of my life.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker found the evening “seamless schmaltz” that resembled “a dramatized resume,” but noted that the ageless performer skirted her way through two hours of patter, song, and dance and made it all “look easy.” The reviewer commented that at one point, Rivera stated

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that in the august presence of Broadway royalty (the likes of Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, and Gwen Verdon) she felt “humble and hapless in their company—a surprising sentiment for this eternal spitfire.” During the course of the show’s disappointing nine-week run, Dick Van Dyke (who was Rivera’s costar in 1960’s Bye Bye Birdie) made a guest appearance in the revue for four performances. Rivera’s career reads like a who’s who of musical hits and flops over a period of a half-century, and they include: Call Me Madam (1950; as a replacement dancer; and in national tour), Guys and Dolls (1950; as a replacement dancer), Can-Can (1953; as a replacement dancer; later starred in national tour with the Rockettes), Shoestring Revue (1955, Off Broadway), Seventh Heaven (1955), Mr. Wonderful (1956), Shinbone Alley (1957; standby for Eartha Kitt), West Side Story (1957; London, 1958), The Threepenny Opera (national tour), Bye Bye Birdie (1960; London, 1961), Zenda (1963; closed during pre-Broadway tryout), Bajour (1964), Sweet Charity (national tour of 1966 production; 1969 film version), Zorba (national tour of 1968 production), 1491 (1969; closed during pre-Broadway tryout), Chicago (1975; cameo appearance in 2002 film version), Bring Back Birdie (1981), Merlin (1983), The Rink (1984), Jerry’s Girls (1986), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), Casper (2001; closed during pre-Broadway tryout), Nine (2003 revival), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012 revival), and The Visit (2015). Rivera shares a certain irony with Uta Hagen because both performers originated roles on Broadway that for their film versions won other actresses Academy Awards. Rivera created the roles of Anita for West Side Story and Velma for Chicago, and for the film versions Rita Moreno and Catherine Zeta-Jones were the respective Oscar winners. Uta Hagen created the leading roles in the plays The Country Girl and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and for their respective performances in the film adaptations Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor won Oscars.

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

THE PAJAMA GAME Theatre: American Airlines Theatre Opening Date: February 23, 2006; Closing Date: June 17, 2006 Performances: 129 Book: George Abbott and Richard Bissell; book revisions by Peter Ackerman Lyrics and Music: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross Based on the 1953 novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell. Direction and Choreography: Kathleen Marshall (Marc Bruni, Associate Director; Vince Pesce, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director) by special arrangement with Jeffrey Richards, James Fuld Jr. and Scott Landis; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: Rob Berman Cast: The Factory Workers—Peter Benson (Prez), Joyce Chittick (Mae), Bridget Berger (Virginia), Stephen Berger (Charlie), Kate Chapman (Martha), Paula Leggett Chase (Martha), Jennifer Cody (Poopsie), David Eggers (Lewie), Michael Halling (Cyrus), Bianca Marroquin (Carmen), Vince Pesce (Jake), Devin Richards (Joe), Jeffrey Schecter (Ralph), and Debra Walton (Shirley); Michael McKean (Hines), Richard Poe (Mr. Hasler), Megan Lawrence (Gladys), Roz Ryan (Mabel), Michael McCormick (Ganzenlicker, Pop), Harry Connick Jr. (Sid Sorokin), Kelli O’Hara (Babe Williams) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during 1954.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Racing with the Clock” (Factory Workers); “A New Town Is a Blue Town” (Harry Connick Jr.); “I’m Not at All in Love” (Kelli O’Hara, Factory Girls); “I’ll Never Be Jealous Again”

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(Michael McKean, Roz Ryan); “Hey, There” (Harry Connick Jr.); “Racing with the Clock” (reprise) (Factory Workers); “Sleep Tite” (Devin Richards, Paula Leggett Chase, Kate Chapman, Michael Halling); “Her Is” (Peter Benson, Megan Lawrence); “Once-a-Year-Day” (Harry Connick Jr., Kelli O’Hara, Company); “Her Is” (reprise) (Peter Benson, Joyce Chittick); “Small Talk” (Harry Connick Jr., Kelli O’Hara); “There Once Was a Man” (Harry Connick Jr., Kelli O’Hara); “Hey, There” (reprise) (Harry Connick Jr.) Act Two: “Steam Heat” (Joyce Chittick, David Eggers, Vince Pesce); “The World Around Us” (Harry Connick Jr.); “Hey, There” (reprise) and “If You Win, You Lose” (lyric and music by Richard Adler) (Kelli O’Hara, Harry Connick Jr.); “Think of the Time I Save” (Michael McKean, Factory Girls); “Hernando’s Hideaway” (Megan Lawrence, Harry Connick Jr., Company); “The Three of Us” (lyric and music by Richard Adler) (Michael McKean, Megan Lawrence); “Seven-and-a-Half Cents” (Peter Benson, Kelli O’Hara, Factory Workers); “There Once Was a Man” (reprise) (Kelli O’Hara, Harry Connick Jr.); “The Pajama Game” (Company) The Roundabout Theatre Company’s jubilant revival of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’s 1954 hit musical The Pajama Game was one of the season’s delightful surprises. It received glowing reviews, and the critics were particularly happy to note that the production didn’t turn its 1950s milieu into high camp and condescension. Further, in Harry Connick Jr., a new Broadway star was born; the singer and bandleader had previously appeared on Broadway in concert, and had written the score for Thou Shalt Not, but here he came into his own as a viable leading man (he later appeared on Broadway in another concert, but unfortunately his next and to date most recent performance in a book musical was the 2011 revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, a short-running and unhappy affair that didn’t even leave behind a cast album). As for Kelli O’Hara, she now emerged from ingénue and secondary roles (Sweet Smell of Success, Dracula, and Light in the Piazza) to leading ones, and thus far her Broadway career has been an interesting one that weaves between new works (the three aforementioned shows and The Bridges of Madison County) and revivals of classic musicals (besides the current production of The Pajama Game and an earlier 2001 revival of Follies, she has appeared in successful New York revivals of South Pacific and The King and I, and for the latter won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical; she also starred in the “new” George and Ira Gershwin musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, which grafted Gershwin songs into a new book show that vaguely channeled Oh, Kay!). 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 superintendent Sid Sorokin (Connick) and factory worker and union representative Babe Williams (O’Hara). Yes, with The Pajama Game we were in the world of 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 look at the comic shenanigans of the secondary leads, the factory’s time-study-obsessed executive Hines (Michael McKean) who is insanely jealous of his secretary Gladys (Megan Lawrence). The lighthearted book was beautifully complemented by Adler and Ross’s tuneful score, which yielded such standards as “Hey, There,” “Hernando’s Hideaway,” and “Steam Heat.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the revival “goes down as easily and intoxicatingly as spiked lemonade at a summer picnic,” and, like many of the critics, he noted that “There Once Was a Man” offered an explosion of “sexual chemistry” when O’Hara and the Sinatra-sounding Connick (who here channeled “the restless ghost of Elvis”) went wild in the “rockabilly pelvis pumper that turns the thermostat way up on a show that has already been generating plenty of steam heat.” Brantley noted that Kathleen Marshall’s choreography for the big dance sequences was “agreeable” but had a “generic sock-hop quality.” However, “Hernando’s Hideaway” scintillated with “choreographic wit,” and she particularly excelled in creating “personality-defining” quirks for all the dancers, and so all the members of the company emerged as individuals. For this production, the book was revised by Peter Ackerman, and so “Steam Heat” now featured the character of Mae (Joyce Chittick) instead of Gladys. Brantley said the number nodded “politely to Fosse” but Marshall never found “an equally compelling style of her own.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the revival “actually matches—perhaps even surpasses” the “much-loved” 1954 production. The show was “unusually funny,” the performers were of the “purest delight,” and Connick’s debut was one of “legendary proportions.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post said with the “bull’s-eye casting” of Connick “a Broadway musical star has been minted,” and the show itself was “a reflection of the solid entertainment values of golden-age musical comedy” and “packed with satisfying standards.” He also praised Derek McLane’s set, which offered a “buoyant” pajama factory that included “a belt conveying pajama tops and bottoms across the stage” (John Lahr in the New Yorker noted that “huge

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pink and orange buttons decorate the proscenium arch,” and David Rooney in Variety found the sets “boldly colored” and “cartoonish,” Martin Pakledinaz’s costumes “snazzy,” and Peter Kaczorowski’s lighting full of “rainbow hues”). Richard Zoglin in Time praised the “effortlessly engaging” musical, a score “consistently fresh, tuneful and organic to the plot,” and two “utterly convincing romantic leads.” In fact, the evening made you believe “doing a musical is the easiest thing in the world. (Until you have to sit through Lestat.)” Rooney said the show was a “tonic,” and if you heard the sounds of a “collective swoon of hundreds of women—and quite a few men” it was because of the “handsome” Connick and his “mellifluous Sinatra-esque pipes.” He also noted that “Hernando’s Hideaway,” which heretofore had been sung and danced by Gladys and the customers who hang out at Hernando’s, had been reconceived to include Connick, who played some “dazzling jazz riffs” on a convenient piano. This sequence was the production’s “most inspired touch” and its “exuberance and spontaneity” made “the entire theatre crackle with energy.” Lahr said “Hernando’s Hideaway” was “one of the few genuinely show-stopping musical moments in recent years,” and the revival itself was all “fizz and flow” with “deft” direction and choreography. Lahr had seen the 1954 production, and he said the current one “outshines the original in both its production values and its male lead.” 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 for Bob Fosse). When the production 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 included in the 2014 Library of America hardback collection American Musicals, which includes the scripts of fifteen other musicals. The 1954 cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-4840), and the CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy (# SK-89253) offers bonus tracks, such as the virtually throw-away number “Sleep Tite” (which was recorded in 1954 but not included on the original cast album) and “The World Around Us,” which was heard during the 1954 Broadway premiere performance but was immediately dropped in favor of a reprise of “Hey, There” and wasn’t recorded for the original cast album. The 1997 studio cast recording by Jay Records (# CDJAY2-1250) includes the “Jealousy Ballet” (which wasn’t used in the current revival) as well as the factory slowdown music, entr’acte, finale, curtain, and exit music. 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). 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 original roles. A new song (“The Man Who Invented Love”) was written by Adler for Day, and although the number was filmed it was cut prior to the movie’s release (but its outtake is included as a bonus on the DVD issued by Warner Brothers # 70599). Including the current revival, the musical has been revived in New York four times, first on May 15, 1957, at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company for twenty-three performances; on December 9, 1973, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for sixty-five performances; and on March 3, 1989, at the New York State Theatre by the New York City Opera Company for fifty-one performances. 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 musical Kwamina. The current revival included “The World Around Us,” “Watch Your Heart” (“If You Win, You Lose”), “Sleep-Tite,” and “The Three of Us,” the latter a new song by Adler, and the cast album was released by Columbia Records (CD # CK-99036) on a two-CD set that includes vocals by Connick and O’Hara from his score of Thou Shalt Not. George Abbott and Richard Bissell had adapted Bissell’s 1953 novel 7½ Cents into The Pajama Game, and Bissell was later inspired to write the 1957 novel Say, Darling, which was about a writer’s observations concerning the adaptation of his novel 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”).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (The Pajama Game); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Harry Connick Jr.); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Kelli O’Hara);

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Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Megan Lawrence); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Derek McLane); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Martin Pakledinaz); Best Direction of a Musical (Kathleen Marshall); Best Choreography (Kathleen Marshall); Best Orchestrations (Dick Lieb and Danny Troob)

THE MOST HAPPY FELLA Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: March 7, 2006; Closing Date: March 25, 2006 Performances: 11 (in repertory) Book, Lyrics, and Music: Frank Loesser Based on the 1924 play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. Direction: Phillip Wm. McKinley; Producer: The New York City Opera Company; Choreography: Peggy Hickey; Scenery: Michael Anania; Costumes: Ann Hould Ward; Lighting: Robert Wierzel; Choral Direction: Charles F. Prestinari; Musical Direction: George Manahan Cast: William Ryall (Cashier, Postman), Leah Hocking (Cleo), Lisa Vroman (Amy aka Rosabella), Kelly Crandall (Waitress), Paul Sorvino (Tony), Karen Murphy (Marie), Boyd Schlaefer (Max), John Scherer (Herman), Matt Bailey (Clem), Paul Castree (Jake), Ryan Silverman (Al), Ivan Hernandez (Joe), Bruce Winant (Pasquale), Matthew Surapine (Giuseppe), Andrew Drost (Ciccio), Eddie Korbich (Doctor), Gregory Hostetler (Priest); Chorus and Dancers: The New York City Opera Company Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in San Francisco and the Napa Valley during 1934.

Musical Numbers Note: The song list below is taken from Theatre World 2005–2006, Volume 62. The musical has always been presented in three acts, but according to Theatre World the current revival was presented in two (in previous productions, the second act ended with “Mamma, Mamma”). Following the song titles, I’ve added the name or names of the cast members who performed them, and for the two songs reinstated into the score for this revival (“Nobody’s Ever Gonna Love You” and “Eyes Like a Stranger”), I’ve referenced The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser to identify which characters Loesser intended to sing them. It appears that the current revival omitted several songs and musical sequences, including “Seven Million Crumbs,” “Sposalizio,” “I Don’t Like This Dame,” and “I Made a Fist.” Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Ooh! My Feet!” (Leah Hocking); “Somebody, Somewhere” (Lisa Vroman); “The Most Happy Fella” (Paul Sorvino, All the Neighbors); “Nobody’s Ever Gonna Love You” (Paul Sorvino, Karen Murphy, Leah Hocking); “Standing on the Corner” (John Scherer, Matt Bailey, Paul Castree, Ryan Silverman); “Joey, Joey, Joey” (Ivan Hernandez); “Rosabella” (Paul Sorvino); “Abbondanza” (Matthew Surapine, Bruce Winant, Andrew Drost); “Benvenuta” (Matthew Surapine, Bruce Winant, Andrew Drost, Ivan Hernandez); “Eyes Like a Stranger” (Karen Murphy); “Don’t Cry” (Ivan Hernandez, Lisa Vroman) Act Two: “Fresno Beauties” (The Workers, Lisa Vroman, Ivan Hernandez); “Happy to Make Your Acquaintance” (Lisa Vroman, Paul Sorvino, Leah Hocking); “Big D” (Leah Hocking, John Scherer, All the Neighbors); “How Beautiful the Days” (Paul Sorvino, Lisa Vroman, Karen Murphy, Ivan Hernandez); “Warm All Over” (Lisa Vroman); “I Like Ev’rybody” (Leah Hocking, John Scherer); “My Heart Is So Full of You” (Paul Sorvino, Lisa Vroman); “Mamma, Mamma” (Paul Sorvino); “I Like Everybody” (reprise) (John Scherer, Leah Hocking); “Song of a Summer Night” (Eddie Korbich, All the Neighbors); “Please Let Me Tell You” (Lisa Vroman); Finale (Paul Sorvino, Lisa Vroman, The Whole Napa Valley) The current New York City Opera Company production of Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella was the musical’s sixth and as of this writing most recent full-fledged revival of the richly melodic work, which is based on Sidney Howard’s 1924 Pulitzer Prize–winning drama They Knew What They Wanted. The story focused on vineyard-owner Tony (Paul Sorvino for the current revival), a lonely middle-aged man who courts by mail a young San Francisco waitress named Amy whom he christens Rosabella (Lisa Vroman). He saw her once in a restaurant, but she never noticed him and assumes from his letters that he’s

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young and handsome because he’s included a photo of his young and good-looking hired hand Joe (Ivan Hernandez). When Amy discovers the truth, she goes ahead with the marriage to Tony but goes to bed with Joe on her wedding night. She becomes pregnant by him, but the itinerant Joe takes off for the wide open spaces without ever knowing he fathered a child. When Tony discovers Amy deceived him, he banishes her from his home but soon realizes he loves her and must forgive her because, after all, her mistake was one of the head, not the heart. The nearly sung-through musical premiered at the Imperial Theatre on May 3, 1956, for 678 performances, and the bountiful score offered a wealth of soaring melody, including Tony and Amy’s explosively joyous “My Heart Is So Full of You”; the shimmering choral number “Song of a Summer Night”; Joe’s haunting “Joey, Joey, Joey”; the gorgeous quartet “How Beautiful the Days”; Amy’s yearning “Somebody, Somewhere”; Tony’s swirling and exultant “Rosabella”; and the lovely ballads “Don’t Cry” and “Warm All Over.” The story also included an Ado Annie and Will Parker–like subplot that dealt with Amy’s waitress-friend Cleo (Leah Hocking) and vineyard hired-hand Herman (John Scherer), and the two shared “Big D,” a rambunctious hoedown that saluted Dallas. Herman and his friends celebrated the joys of “Standing on the Corner,” a virile and easy-going barbershop-styled quartet that became the show’s hit song; and Cleo’s “Ooh! My Feet!” was a comic lament about her chosen profession. The musical also included a trio of Italian chefs, Giuseppe (Matthew Surapine), Pasquale (Bruce Winant), and Ciccio (Andrew Drost), who stopped the show with their “Italian” crowd-pleaser, the irresistible “Abbondanza.” In his review of the current revival, Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times praised the “glorious” music which was “more complex, varied and inventive than the scores of quite a few 20th-century works that proudly call themselves operas.” He asked just how many Broadway musicals could offer both a “streetwise classic” (“Standing on the Corner”) and a “complex operatically tinged” song (“How Beautiful the Days”) which evolved “subtly from duet to trio to quartet?” And he concluded that “Richard Strauss would have been envious.” As for Sorvino, the actor was “terrific” and “dramatically perfect” for Tony, but his voice was “pretty raw” and his “pitch very shaky.” In his early scenes, the actor’s “vocal struggles impeded his acting” and at times he appeared visibly nervous. But when early in the second act Tony argued with his doctor, the “tough” Sorvino appeared and he seemed “liberated.” While his singing voice was “still rough,” he “cared less and let go.” David Rooney in Variety said the score was “uncommonly rich,” but City Opera offered a staging like “a stale bonbon that fails to make the story resonate emotionally.” The “fine actor” Sorvino was “in many ways a fitting choice” for Tony, but his voice wasn’t “robust enough.” Lisa Vroman’s Amy/Rosabella “nailed every crystalline note” with her “lovely” soprano, but her acting was “flat and unengaging,” and the evening’s “most winning presence” was Leah Hocking’s “brassy” Cleo. The musical’s first two revivals were presented at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company (NYCCLOC), on February 10, 1959, for sixteen performances (Norman Atkins and Paula Stewart), and on May 11, 1966, for fifteen performances (Atkins and Barbara Meister); the latter revival was part of a NYCCLOC salute to Loesser which included productions of four of his musicals. The work was next revived on Broadway on October 11, 1979, at the Majestic Theatre for fifty-two performances (Giorgio Tozzi and Sharon Daniels), and on March 6, 1980, was shown on public television. The New York City Opera Company revived the musical at the New York State Theatre on September 4, 1991, for 10 performances (Louis Quilico and Elizabeth Walsh), and later that season on February 13, 1992, an intimate and winning twin-piano-scored revival opened at the Booth Theatre for 244 performances (Spiro Malas and Sophie Hayden). Following the current revival, a limited-engagement concert version was produced by Encores! on April 2, 2014, for 7 performances (Shuler Hensley and Laura Benanti). The original London production opened on April 21, 1960, at the Coliseum for 288 showings (Inia Te Wiata and Helena Scott). The 1956 cast album was released on a three-LP set by Columbia Records (# OL-5120-22) and was later issued on a two-CD set by Sony Broadway (# S2K-48010). A three-CD studio cast recording released by Jay Records (# CDJAY3-1306) offers a number of songs written for but not used in the original production, including “I’ll Buy Everybody a Beer,” “Eyes Like a Stranger,” and “House and Garden” (the latter two were added to the 1979 revival, and as noted above “Eyes Like a Stranger” was heard in the current production), and the recording’s cast members include Louis Quilico and Karen Ziemba (Cleo) from the 1991 revival and Richard Muenz (Joe) from the 1979 revival. The cast album of the London production was released by Angel Records (LP # 35887), and the later CD issue by Sepia Records (# 1154) includes bonus tracks of eight pop recordings from the score.

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The collection An Evening with Frank Loesser (DRG Records CD # 5169) includes a first scene/first act sequence with Maxine Andrews (as Cleo) and unidentified singers who perform “Ooh! My Feet!” as well as the unused songs “How’s about Tonight?,” “House and Garden,” “The Letter” (aka “Love Letter”), and “Wanting to Be Wanted” (despite the latter’s title, it’s not the same song as “Somebody, Somewhere,” which uses the same phrase and some of the same music). The script was published in the October 1958 issue of Theatre Arts magazine, which is also an interesting issue because its cover features a photo of Barry Sullivan in costume from a scene in Leroy Anderson’s 1958 musical Goldilocks. Sullivan assumed the role after Ben Gazzara dropped out of the show during its preproduction phase (but not before flyers were distributed with Gazzara’s name), and soon after tryout performances began Sullivan himself left the show and was succeeded by Don Ameche. The lyrics for the used and unused songs are included in the 2003 collection The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser. During the many years when television’s Lucy and Ricky Ricardo lived in New York, they occasionally attended the theatre, and Lucy and her friend Ethel memorably disrupted a performance of the (fictitious) drama Over the Teacups. But one time Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and the latter’s irascible husband Fred went to a Broadway musical, and that musical was The Most Happy Fella (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s Desilu Productions was a silent partner in the production’s investment, and during the episode selections from the Broadway cast album were heard). Before seeing the show, Fred said he didn’t know anything about the plot, but given the musical’s title it was clear the story was about a bachelor. Incidentally, the various productions of the musical have jumped all over the calendar when it comes to the year when the action takes place. The 1956, 1959, 1966, 1979, and 1992 productions occur in 1927, but the 1991 revival is set in 1953 and the current one in 1934. The program for the original 1924 production of They Knew What They Wanted (which identifies itself as a “comedy”) doesn’t specify a year. With its basic triangle of older man/young woman/and young man, They Knew What They Wanted/ The Most Happy Fella brought to mind three musicals with similar plots, all set in France: the David Merrick–produced long-running hit Fanny (1954), which was based on a play by Marcel Pagnol, who had directed and cowritten the screenplay of La Femme de Boulanger, which was the source of another Merrick production, The Baker’s Wife (which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1976), and the 1964 film musical Les parapluies de Cherbourg aka The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (which was given an enchanting Off-Broadway production in 1979). And these four musicals were also similar in theme to the nonmusical 1957 film Wild Is the Wind, this one a tangled triangle that starred Anthony Quinn (as an Italian immigrant who runs a sheep ranch in Nevada), Anna Magnani (his new wife), and Anthony Franciosa (his young and randy ranch hand). Stephen Schwartz’s melodic score for The Baker’s Wife included his finest song “Meadowlark,” which was memorably introduced by Patti LuPone (who replaced Carole Demas during the first weeks of the show’s six-month tour). (Chaim) Topol played the role of the baker, and during the final two weeks of the musical’s last tryout stop at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House he was succeeded by Sorvino, who gave one of the most touching and captivating performances I’ve ever seen on the musical stage. Happily, a recording of the score with many of the cast members (including Sorvino and LuPone) was recorded. Sorvino was also an impressive presence on the recording of Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane’s short-running 1979 failure Carmelina, which starred Metropolitan Opera bass Cesar Siepi and Georgia Brown. Siepi refused to participate in the cast album, and so Sorvino stepped in and contributed another strong musical performance. Perhaps the granddaddy of this spate of “triangle” plays, musicals, and movies is Eugene O’Neill’s Desire under the Elms, which opened on Broadway two weeks before the premiere of They Knew What They Wanted. An operatic adaptation of Desire Under the Elms was first produced in New York at City Center on January 11, 1989, for three performances; the music was by Edward Thomas, the composer of the ambitious but flawed 1967 musical Mata Hari, which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout, and the libretto was by Joe Masteroff, who had written the books for She Loves Me (1963) and Cabaret (1966).

RING OF FIRE

“The Johnny Cash Musical Show” Theatre: Ethel Barrymore Theatre Opening Date: March 12, 2006; Closing Date: April 30, 2006 Performances: 57

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“Created by” Richard Maltby Jr., and “Conceived by” William Meade; Producers: William Meade, CTM Productions, Bob Cuillo, and GFour Productions and James B. Freydberg (James B. Freydberg, Executive Producer) (IDT Entertainment, Associate Producer) (Tamlyn Freund Yerkes and David Maltby, Associate Producers); Choreography: Lisa Shriver; Scenery: Neil Patel; Projections: Michael Clark; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Jeff Lisenby Cast: Jeb Brown, Jason Edwards, Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone, Cass Morgan, Lari White; Musicians—David M. Lutken (Banjo, Dobro, Evoharp, Guitar, Harmonica, Mandolin), Randy Redd (Keyboards, Mandolin), Jeff Lisenby (Conductor, Accordion, Keyboards), Eric Anthony (Electric Guitar, Mandolin), Laurie Canaan (Fiddle, Mandolin), Dan Immel (Bass), Ron Krasinski (Drums), Brent Moyer (Guitar, Coronet) The revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: Unless otherwise noted, all lyrics and music by John R. (Johnny) Cash. Act One: “Hurt” (lyric and music by Michael Trent Reznor) (Jason Edwards, Company); “Country Boy” (Company); “Thing Called Love” (lyric and music by Jerry Hubbard) (Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone, Company); “There You Go” (Beth Malone, Company); “While I’ve Got It on My Mind” (Jeb Brown, Lari White); “My Old Faded Rose” (lyric and music by John R. Cash and June Carter Cash) (Jason Edwards, Cass Morgan, Ron Krasinski, David M. Lutkin, Randy Redd, Dan Immel); “Daddy Sang Bass” (lyric and music by John R. Cash and Carl L. Perkins) (Company); “Straight A’s in Love” (Jarrod Emick); “Big River” (Jason Edwards, Jarrod Emick, Jeb Brown, Dan Immel); “I Still Miss Someone” (lyric and music by John R. Cash and Roy Cash Jr.) (Beth Malone); “Five Feet High and Rising” (Jason Edwards, Jarrod Emick, Lari White, Beth Malone, Jeb Brown, Cass Morgan); “Flesh and Blood” (Lari White, Jeb Brown, Cass Morgan, Jason Edwards); “Look at Them Beans” (lyric and music by Joseph Arrington Jr.) (Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone, Cass Morgan, Lari White); “Get Rhythm” (Company); “Flushed . . .” (aka “Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart”) (lyric and music by Jack H. Clement) (Cass Morgan); “Dirty Old . . . Dog” (aka “Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog”) (lyric and music by Jack H. Clement) (Randy Redd, Brent Moyer, David M. Lutken); “Angel Band” (Company); “If I Were a Carpenter” (lyric and music by James Timothy Hardin) (Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone); “Ring of Fire” (lyric and music by June Carter and Merle Kilgore) (Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone); “Jackson” (lyric and music by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler) (Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone, Jeb Brown, Lari White, Jason Edwards, Cass Morgan) Act Two: “Big River” (reprise) (Company); “I’ve Been Everywhere” (lyric and music by Geoff Mack) (Company); “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (lyric and music by Kris Kristofferson) (Jeb Brown); “Temptation” (1933 film Going Hollywood; lyric by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown) (Lari White, Jeb Brown); “I Feel Better All Over” (lyric and music by Ken Rogers and Ferlin Husky) (Jeb Brown, Lari White); “A Boy Named Sue” (lyric and music by Shel Silverstein) (Jeb Brown, Jarrod Emick, Jason Edwards); “Going to Memphis” (Men); “Delia’s Gone” (lyric and music by John R. Cash, Karl M. Silbersdorf, and Richard Toops) (David M. Lutken); “Austin Prison” (Randy Redd, Company); “Orleans Parish Prison” (lyric and music by Dick Feller) (Cass Morgan, Lari White, Beth Malone, Company); “Folsom Prison Blues” (Jarrod Emick); “Man in Black” (Jeb Brown); “All Over Again” (Lari White); “I Walk the Line” (Jeb Brown, Lari White, Jason Edwards, Cass Morgan, Jarrod Emick, Beth Malone); “The Man Comes Around” (Jason Edwards, Beth Malone, Cass Morgan, Jarrod Emick, Jeb Brown, Lari Brown); “Waiting on the Far Side Banks of Jordan” (lyric and music by Terri Smith) (Cass Morgan, Jason Edwards); “Why Me” (lyric and music by Kris Kristofferson) (Jason Edwards, Company); “Hey Porter” (Company) Ring of Fire was yet another catalog musical, and this time around the songs of singer and songwriter Johnny Cash were featured. Of the thirty-seven numbers in the revue, all had been recorded by Cash during the period 1955–2002 but less than half had been written solely by him. The others were either collaborations or written by other lyricists and composers. A Broadway theatre was probably not the best venue for an evening of recycled Cash songs, and perhaps the concert-styled show would have been better served as a touring production or as an offering in Branson or Nashville. The production received so-so reviews and managed just seven weeks on Broadway.

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Ben Brantley in the New York Times complained that Cash’s essentially dark presence was subjugated to “a really bad case of the cutes.” The performer’s “troubled and excitingly dangerous” persona was now “a friendly ghost with dimples and a twinkling disposition,” and The Lawrence Welk Show and Sing Along with Mitch were evoked instead of the Grand Ole Opry. Songs about murder and apocalypse now took on “the aural pastels associated with elevator music” and the performance style tended to include “adorable interpretive gestures.” David Rooney in Variety found the “spirited tribute” a “Lawrence Welk Grand Ole Opry” with a “generic beer-and-sawdust variety-hour feel” that shortchanged Cash’s complexity, and as a result the man in black was now “rosy” and even a trio of prison songs came across as “fairly upbeat.” The show was too long and had a “thin concept,” and was “so peppy” it made the recent 2005 film about Cash (Walk the Line) look like an Ingmar Bergman movie. The cast recording was released on a two-CD set by Time Life Records (# M19539). The revue included two novelty songs written by Jack H. Clement that Cash had recorded, “Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart” and “Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog.” For one reason or another, the show neglected a number by Clement that Cash recorded in 1958, the jaw-dropping “Ballad of a Teenage Queen,” which told the story of a beautiful small-town girl who loved the boy next door who worked at the candy store. When Hollywood called she answered, but fame and fortune were but nothing to her without true love, and so she turned her back on the silver screen and returned to her home town and the boy next door who still worked at the candy store.

THE THREEPENNY OPERA Theatre: Studio 54 Opening Date: April 20, 2006; Closing Date: June 25, 2006 Performances: 77 Book and Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht (adaptation by Wallace Shawn) 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 Hauptman’s German translation of the work. Direction: Scott Elliott; Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director); Choreography: Aszure Barton; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Isaac Mizrahi; Lighting: Jason Lyons; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites Cast: Cyndi Lauper (Jenny), John Herrera (Smith), Maureen Moore (Walter, Betty), Brooke Sunny Moriber (Jimmy, Dolly), Terry Burrell (Reverend Kimball, Eunice), Romain Fruge (Robert), Deborah Lew (Vixen), David Cale (Matthew), Alan Cumming (Macheath), Jim Dale (Mr. Peachum), Brian Butterick (Beggar, Beatrice), Carlos Leon (Filch), Ana Gasteyer (Mrs. Peachum), Nellie McKay (Polly Peachum), Adam AlexiMalle (Jacob), Kevin Rennard (Eddie), Christopher Innvar (Tiger Brown), Christopher Kenney (Bruno, Molly), Lucas Steele (Harry, Velma), Brian Charles Rooney (Lucy Brown); Policemen and Beggars: Maureen Moore, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Terry Burrell, Romain Fruge, Deborah Lew, Brian Butterick, Carlos Leon, Adam Alexi-Malle, Kevin Rennard, Christopher Kenny, Lucas Steele The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London, and for this production the time period seems to be the present day.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Song of the Extraordinary Crimes of Mac the Knife” (Cyndi Lauper, Company); “Peachum’s Morning Hymn” (Jim Dale); “The ‘Rather-Than’ Song” (Ana Gasteyer, Jim Dale); “Wedding Song” (David Cale, Gang); “Pirate Jenny” (Nellie McKay); “The Army Song” (Alan Cumming, Christopher Innvar, Nellie McKay, Gang); “Wedding Song” (reprise) (David Gale, Gang); “Love Song” (Alan Cumming, Nellie McKay); “The ‘No’ Song” (Nellie McKay); “Certain Things Make Our Life Impossible” (Jim Dale, Ana Gasteyer, Nellie McKay); “Goodbye” (Alan Cumming); “Polly’s Song” (Nellie McKay) Act Two: “The Ballad of the Overwhelming Power of Sex” (Ana Gasteyer); “The Ballad of the Pimp” (Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper); “The Ballad of the Happy Life” (Alan Cumming); “The Jealousy Duet” (Brian Charles Rooney, Nellie McKay); “How Do Humans Live?” (Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, Company);

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“The Ballad of the Overwhelming Power of Sex” (reprise) (Ana Gasteyer); “The Song of Inadequacy of Human Striving” (Jim Dale); “The Song of Inadequacy of Human Striving” (reprise) (Jim Dale); “Solomon Song” (Cyndi Lauper); “Lucy’s Aria” (Brian Charles Rooney); “Cry from the Grave” (Alan Cumming); “The Ballad in Which Macheath Asks Everyone’s Forgiveness” (Alan Cumming); Finale (Company) The Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of The Pajama Game was one of the season’s most wellreceived productions, but the company’s Threepenny Opera was a groan-inducing effort that received generally negative reviews and lasted just two months. In 1998, Roundabout had revived John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, which was a huge critical and popular hit but was nonetheless a disappointment because it tried to equate the political horrors of Nazi Germany with the kinkier-than-thou sexual goings-on at the Kit Kat Klub. The production overplayed its hand and was more laughable than edgy because it aimed for shock for shock’s sake, and thus the overall effect was that of naughty little children all dressed up in mommy and daddy’s S&M party wear. With Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, Roundabout clearly tried to capitalize on its success with Cabaret, and even brought back Alan Cumming, who had earlier played the role of the M.C. and was now Macheath. The revival of The Threepenny Opera offered a new translation by Wallace Shawn, and, like so many revivals of the work, it attempted to capture the franker elements of Brecht’s dialogue and lyrics. The goldstandard adaptation of Threepenny is Marc Blitzstein’s of 1952, which later opened Off-Broadway in 1954, and for its 1955 return engagement settled in for a marathon run of six years. Blitzstein’s adaptation may have softened some of Brecht’s coarser elements, but it nonetheless captured the mood and atmosphere of the nineteenth-century London underworld, and Blitzstein’s English lyrics are eminently singable. It was Blitzstein’s version of “Mack the Knife” that became one of the best-known of all show songs, an evergreen with memorable renditions by about a million singers, and most famously by Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin. Shawn’s adaptation and Scott Elliott’s direction went the Cabaret route, and again sex became the fulcrum for the evening. But the musical is really a satire about capitalism, social injustice, the hopelessness of petty bourgeois values, and even the clichés of traditional theatre, which provide empty if comforting platitudes. Brecht’s script focused on Macheath and his involvement with two kinds of women, the pure Polly (Nellie McKay) and the prostitute Lucy (Brian Charles Rooney). Shawn’s Lucy is now a male transvestite, and throughout the evening it was clear Macheath slept on both sides of the sexual tracks. But all this was superfluous to Brecht, and the endless sexual window-trimming led Ben Brantley in the New York Times to note that the “shrill” and “numbing” revival was full of “crossdressed men and women” and “leather boys and glitter queens.” Further, most of them snort cocaine and no doubt live the life that Cabaret’s Sally Bowles would call “divine decadence.” And when Brecht kidded the conventions of a deus ex machina that saves Macheath from the gallows, Shawn envisioned the god as a “bare-chested hunk in a gold lamé bathing suit” who rides a blue horse. Brantley said that no one in the musical’s “days of swine and poses” seemed to have any fun, and “the hangover begins almost as soon as the evening does.” The revival was all for “shock effect,” and here the “kink quotient” was even higher than the one for Roundabout’s Cabaret. David Rooney in Variety said the “off-putting” adaptation and direction had “sledgehammer subtlety.” The show was “sunk” by “one-note sleaziness and puerile provocation,” and it so clobbered “you over the head with surfaced subtext for nearly three hours” that it should “have come with a migraine warning.” Further, the adaptation was “flat and tedious” and trivialized Brecht with its “lurid burlesque without texture.” The headline of Clive Barnes’s review in the New York Post advised you to “Save Your Brecht.” The revival offered a “touch of boredom,” and Shawn aimed for “a sexual explicitness and scatological frankness” that outdistanced Brecht. Further, Elliott “applied his own individual concept of Brechtian acting on his unfortunate cast” and it was only Jim Dale (as Mr. Peachum) who was “nimble, graceful, vulgar and funny” and showed “the world” and “probably even the misguided Elliott just what The Threepenny Opera is about.” (Barnes complained that Nellie McKay performed Polly “as if she were auditioning for The Sound of Music,” but to give Elliott credit, that may have been the intended effect because Polly is the only untainted character in the entire musical.) John Lahr in the New Yorker said the “flaccid” revival was the victim of Elliott’s “mediocre imagination,” which excised the show’s purposeful “ugliness,” its “sense of historical period,” and its “sense of place.” As a result, the audience was in a “contemporary no-man’s land,” and for Brecht’s “staunchly heterosexual agenda” Elliott imposed a “homosexual one” in which Macheath is a “bisexual sex addict.” But Lahr praised Shawn’s adaptation, which was “the finest work of the evening” and brought a “colloquial cunning” to the text. Richard

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Zoglin in Time praised Elliott because his “audacious” production “managed to outrage nearly every theatre critic in New York City,” and while Shawn’s adaptation went “a bit overboard in its ostentatious crudeness,” the musical seemed “reinvigorated” and the cast made “the great, astringent score sizzle again.” As Die Dreigroschenoper, the musical premiered in Berlin on August 31, 1928, at the Theatre am Schiffbauerdamm 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. The work virtually disappeared in the United States until Blitzstein’s version opened on June 14, 1952, at the Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis University, then played a limited engagement Off Broadway at the Theatre de Lys on March 10, 1954, and later returned there on September 20, 1955, for a marathon run and a total of 2,707 performances for both downtown productions. On March 11, 1965, the musical played at City Center for 6 performances in a production by the New York City Opera Company, which marked the first U.S. performances in German (Julius Rudel conducted). 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 1954 Off-Broadway cast album. Another Broadway revival opened on May 1, 1976, for 307 showings at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in an adaptation by Ralph Mannheim and John Willett and later played Off Broadway at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre starting on June 28, 1977, for 27 performances. On November 5, 1989, an adaptation by Michael Feingold as 3 Penny Opera opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for 65 performances (Rudel also conducted this production, which starred Sting). And on October 26, 1995, an Off-Broadway revival by the National Youth Music Theatre opened at City Center for a limited run of 3 performances (it’s unclear which translation was used). There have been three film versions of the musical. The first was produced in Germany in 1931, directed by G. W. Pabst and starring Rudolph Forster and Lotte Lenya. A 1962 adaptation used Blitzstein’s lyrics, and the 1989 Mack the Knife included some of Blitzstein’s lyrics. The cast album of the 1954 Off-Broadway production was released by MGM Records (LP # E/SE-3121), and the CD was issued by Decca Broadway (# 012-159-463-2); the 1976 revival 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 soundtrack was issued by CBS Records (LP # SM-45630). The finest recording is a 1959 studio cast album performed in German by Lenya and other singers that was released by Columbia on a two-LP set (# 02S-201) and later issued on CD by CBS Masterworks. The script of the 1976 adaptation 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. The current revival restored “Lucy’s Aria,” which was dropped in 1928 when the singer who was to perform it left the production (the song was also heard in the 1989 Broadway revival). Here the number was performed in German by Brian Charles Rooney. As noted, with its mostly dismissive reviews and short run, The Threepenny Opera was a disappointment for Roundabout. No doubt because the revival’s quest for divine decadence proved so fruitless, Roundabout re-revived Cabaret in 2014 (and, yes, brought back Alan Cumming as the M.C.).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (The Threepenny Opera); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Jim Dale)

LESTAT Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: April 25, 2006; Closing Date: May 28, 2006 Performances: 39

2005–2006 Season     255

Book: Linda Woolverton Lyrics: Bernie Taupin Music: Elton John Based on Anne Rice’s series of novels The Vampire Chronicles, which include Interview with the Vampire (1976), The Vampire Lestat (1985), and The Queen of the Damned (1988). Direction: Robert Jess Roth (Sam Scalamoni, Associate Director); Producer: Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures; Choreography: Matt West; Scenery: Derek McLane (Bryan Johnson, Associate Scenic Design); Visual Concept Design: Dave McKean; Projections Coordinator: Howard Werner; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Brad Haak Cast: Hugh Panaro (Lestat), Carolee Carmello (Gabrielle), Drew Sarich (Armand), Jim Stanek (Louis), Roderick Hill (Nicolas), Michael Genet (Marius), Allison Fischer (Claudia), Joseph Dellger (Magnus), Will Swenson (Marquis, Laurent), Megan Reinking (Beautiful Woman); Ensemble: Rachel Coloff, Nikki Renee Daniels, Joseph Dellger, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Patrick Mellen, Christ Peluso, Dominique Plaisant, Megan Reinking, Will Swenson, Tommar Wilson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the eighteenth century in Paris and New Orleans.

Musical Numbers Act One: “From the Dead” (Hugh Panaro); “Beautiful Boy” (Carolee Carmello); “In Paris” (Roderick Hill, Hugh Panaro); “The Thirst” (Hugh Panaro); “Right before My Eyes” (Hugh Panaro); “Make Me as You Are” (Carolee Carmello, Hugh Panaro); “To Live Like This” (Drew Sarich, Hugh Panaro, Ensemble); “Morality Play” (Hugh Panaro, Drew Sarich, Ensemble); “The Crimson Kiss” (Carolee Carmello) Act Two: “Welcome to the New World” (Ensemble); “Embrace It” (Jim Stanek, Hugh Panaro); “I Want More” (Allison Fischer); “I’ll Never Have That Chance” (Allison Fischer); “Sail Me Away” (Hugh Panaro); “To Kill Your Kind” (Drew Sarich, Ensemble); “Embrace It” (reprise) (Jim Stanek); “After All This Time” (Drew Sarich); Finale Lestat was the third vampire musical of the decade, and like its predecessors was quickly put to death with a stake in its heart and a dapple of sunlight on its skin. Or perhaps it was simply overcome by the smell of critical garlic. Like Dance of the Vampires and Dracula before it, the musical received negative reviews and lost a small fortune (Lestat’s capitalization was an estimated $12 million). With three flop vampire musicals in a row (which lost a combined total of approximately $31.7 million), one assumes Broadway is safe from the undead for now, but not forever. Because in a June 2016 column, Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that HBO was developing a stage musical version of its popular vampire series True Blood. One wishes it well, but let’s face it, vampire musicals have their work cut out for them, and it doesn’t help that True Blood (like Lestat) takes place in Louisiana, a most unfriendly locale for musicals vampiric or nonvampiric (see Thou Shalt Not for a list of musicals resting in the Louisiana graveyard). Based on Anne Rice’s series of novels The Vampire Chronicles, Lestat was pure Sturm und Drang and full of existential angst as poor Lestat (Hugh Panaro) and his fellow vampires and vampirettes bemoan their loneliness and their damnation to eternal existence. But Lestat always has time for a blood break, and soon turns both his mother, Gabrielle (Carolee Carmello), and the orphaned little girl Claudia (Allyson Fischer) into vampires. According to Ben Brantley in the New York Times, his newly undead mom gets a “Stevie Nicks makeover” and “channels Faye Dunaway.” She soon becomes the “undead answer” to Auntie Mame, and applies her fangs to the neck of a “passing fop like some shrieking WWE banshee.” And Lestat and his newfound lover (and, courtesy of Lestat, brand-new vampire) Louis (Jim Stanek) decide to set up housekeeping with Claudia as their child. Brantley said Lestat was a “musical sleeping pill” that might cause the Undead Anti-Defamation League to rise up in arms against the plot, which “feebly” vacillated “between low tragedy and lower camp” with “pulpy and mostly interchangeable songs.” He noted that some might find “amusement” or “indignation” in the interpretation of Lestat as “an old-fashioned allegory of homosexuality as a life-warping affliction,” which comes across as a “fancy-dress” version of Mart Crowley’s 1968 play The Boys in the Band (with its famous line, “You show me a happy homosexual, and I’ll show you a gay corpse”). Meanwhile, darling little Claudia

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is a “high-decibel version of Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed who is all “sweetness, light and lethal bite” and gives the musical its “high point” when she “throws a musical temper tantrum [“I Want More”] after being reprimanded for killing her tutor.” With her blonde pigtails and bangs, Fischer was indeed Patty McCormack’s Rhoda gone really bad, and although Clive Barnes in the New York Post assigned the musical one-half of one star, he noted Fischer played “the nastiest little girl in need of a transfusion currently on Broadway.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post said Fischer proved “quite a handful” living with Lestat and Louis in their New Orleans Addams Family– styled mansion, a variation of “Heather Has Two Nosferatus.” (Brantley noted that the Lestat-Louis-Claudia ménage was “so-bad-it’s-good camp” and could be called “Claudia Has Two Daddies.”) Unfortunately, the happy little household goes temporarily awry when Claudia decides to somehow turn Lestat from undead-to-even-more-undead status, but things temporarily sort themselves out when the terrible trio end up in Paris. In the City of Light, however—or Darkness—Lestat encounters the truly nasty Armand (Drew Sarich), a vampire queen who’s been harboring love or possibly just lust for Lestat for ever so long a time. When the Paris branch of blood brothers discovers that Claudia once tried to kill Lestat, they murder her, and eventually Louis leaves Lestat for greener or perhaps redder pastures. But we are assured that Lestat will never die and will go on forever (or, for Broadway purposes, at least for thirty-nine performances). David Rooney in Variety said the “fatally dull” musical was “sadly beyond rescue” with “generic at best” music, “clumsy” and “overly literal” lyrics, “inert” direction, “mostly static” musical staging, and a visual look that was “flat and underpopulated.” The “overwrought and coy” musical seemed “merely silly,” like “a collision of over-earnest melodrama and unintentional camp,” and the “rampant homoerotic elements” came across like the “prosaic plot of a gay vampire soap opera (Guiding Bite, perhaps?).” Marks noted this particular vampire musical was “distinguished” only because the vampires “play for the, er, other team” and the musical’s “contribution to art and equality” was to demonstrate “that a gay vampire with a two-octave range can be just as dull as a straight one.” The production was directed with “grandiose solemnity,” Panero played the title character as “a particularly earnest and humorless demon,” and the “musical pickings” were “considerably slimmer” than those Elton John composed for The Lion King and Aida. Barnes suggested the musical arrived on Broadway “either half-dead or, perhaps, half-alive,” the music was “loud and boring,” and the book and lyrics were “well down to the standard” of the score. Richard Zoglin in Time said the score was mostly “indistinguishable from Broadway’s usual power-pop Muzak,” and the show was “a predictable bore” and “sometimes a laughable one.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker decided the most “disappointing” aspect of Lestat was not that it failed but that it failed “unspectacularly.” The show teemed “with homoerotic and Oedipal overtones,” and because the score offered “uninteresting” ballads it needed “a power anthem to propel its histrionic sails.” But without such a number the evening sagged. During the tryout, Jack Noseworthy played the role of Armand and was succeeded by Drew Sarich, and the songs “Nothing Here” and “The Origin of the Species” were cut. The cast album was recorded by Mercury Records, but has never been released. Incidentally, Anne Rice’s program biography stated that she “gives herself—her life in full—as a gift to the world in every spellbinding chapter, every carefully turned page, every meaningful word.” All these were “mere footprints of a life lived in art,” and her latest novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt was “the beginning of her literary contribution to Christian art.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Carolee Carmello); Best Costume Design for a Musical (Susan Hilferty)

THE WEDDING SINGER

“A New Musical” / “The Musical Comedy” Theatre: Al Hirschfeld Theatre Opening Date: April 27, 2006; Closing Date: December 31, 2006

2005–2006 Season     257

Performances: 285 Book: Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy Lyrics: Chad Beguelin Music: Matthew Sklar Based on the 1998 film The Wedding Singer (direction by Frank Coraci and screenplay by Tim Herlihy). Direction: John Rando; Producers: Margo Lion, New Line Cinema, The Araca Group, Roy Furman, Douglas L. Meyer/James D. Stern Productions, Rick Steiner/The Staton Bell Osher Mayerson Group, and Jam Theatricals in association with Jujamcyn Theatres and Jay Furman, Michael Gill, Dr. Lawrence Horowitz, Marisa Sechrest, Gary Winnick, and Elan V. McAllister/Allan S. Gordon/Adam Epstein (Mark Kaufman, Executive Producer); Choreography: Rob Ashford (JoAnn M. Hunter, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: Gregory Gale; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: James Sampliner Cast: Stephen Lynch (Robbie Hart), Matthew Saldivar (Sammy), Kevin Cahoon (George), Laura Benanti (Julia Sullivan), Amy Spanger (Holly), Richard H. Blake (Glen Guglia), Rita Gardner (Rosie), Felicia Finley (Linda), Adinah Alexander (Angie); Imposters: Tracee Beazer, Cara Cooper, Peter Kapetan, J. Elaine Marcos, T. Oliver Reid, Christina Sivrich, Matthew Stocke; Ensemble: Adinah Alexander, Matt Allen, Tracee Beazer, Cara Cooper, Ashley Amber Haase, Nicolette Hart, David Josefsberg, Peter Kapetan, Spencer Liff, J. Elaine Marcos, T. Oliver Reid, Christina Sivrich, Matthew Stocke, Eric LaJuan Summers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Ridgefield, New Jersey, in 1985.

Musical Numbers Act One: “It’s Your Wedding Day” (Stephen Lynch, Company); “Right on Time” (Laura Benanti); “Awesome” (Stephen Lynch, Laura Benanti); “It’s Your Wedding Day” (reprise) (Stephen Lynch, Matthew Saldivar, Kevin Cahoon); “Right on Time” (reprise) (Stephen Lynch, Rita Gardner); “A Note from Linda” (Felicia Finley); “Pop” (Amy Spanger, Laura Benanti, Adinah Alexander); “Somebody Kill Me” (lyric and music by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy) (Stephen Lynch); “Rosie’s Note” (aka “A Note from Grandma”) (Rita Gardner); “Casualty of Love” (Stephen Lynch, Company); “Come Out of the Dumpster” (Laura Benanti, Stephen Lynch); “Today You Are a Man” (Stephen Lynch, Matthew Saldivar, Kevin Cahoon); “George’s Prayer” (Kevin Cahoon); “Not That Kind of Thing” (Stephen Lynch, Laura Benanti, Company); “Saturday Night in the City” (Amy Spanger, Company) Act Two: “All About the Green” (Richard H. Blake, Stephen Lynch, Company); “Caught by Surprise” (Amy Spanger, Matthew Saldivar); “Single” (Matthew Salvidar, Stephen Lynch, Kevin Cahoon, Eric LaJuan Summers, Peter Kapetan, Men); “If I Told You” (Stephen Lynch, Laura Benanti); “Let Me Come Home” (Felicia Finley); “If I Told You” (reprise) (Stephen Lynch, Laura Benanti); “Move That Thang” (Rita Gardner, Kevin Cahoon); “Grow Old with You” (lyric and music by Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy) (Stephen Lynch, Laura Benanti); “It’s Your Wedding Day” (reprise) (Company) Set in 1985, The Wedding Singer was based on the popular 1998 film of the same name, which dealt with Robbie Hart (Stephen Lynch), a New Jersey singer and bandleader who performs at local weddings. Unfortunately at his very own wedding he’s jilted by his fiancée, Linda (Felicia Finley), but soon becomes infatuated with waitress Julia Sullivan (Laura Benanti), who turns out to be engaged to greedy Wall Streeter Glen Guglia (Richard H. Blake). When Robbie discovers Julia and Glen have taken off for Las Vegas to get married, he travels there and with the help of various Vegas celebrity impersonators (such as Tina Turner, Mr. T, Billy Idol, Cyndi Lauper, and Imelda Marcos) he finds the couple and crashes their wedding party. He proposes to Julia, she accepts, and soon they leave Vegas for Jersey and their own wedding (which sure seems to be against the natural order of things, but maybe that’s the joke). The lighthearted story was in most respects an homage to the fads, music, and styles of the 1980s. Who knew that the decade would so quickly become bathed in rose-colored nostalgia? And speaking of nostalgia, the musical brought back veteran Rita Gardner, who here created her first Broadway musical role in fortyeight years. She originated the character of The Girl (aka Luisa) in the 1960 Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks (where she introduced such songs as “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” and “Much More”), and in 1962 appeared in John Kander’s A Family Affair opposite Larry Kert. During the years between A Family Affair and The

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Wedding Singer, she had been associated with three musicals on Broadway, as a replacement (Ben Franklin in Paris; 1964), a standby (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever; 1965), and an understudy (Ari; 1971), but didn’t originate a role. (She also appeared as Molina’s mother in the national tour of Kiss of the Spider Woman.) Ben Brantley in the New York Times suggested that the “assembly-kit” musical could be titled That 80s Show and was a theatrical example of “recycled recycling, or second-hand nostalgia.” The show was directed with “bland peppiness,” the choreography paid “literal-minded” tributes to 1980s music videos (such as “Thriller” and “Material Girl”) as well as the film Flashdance, the sets were devised with “affectionate cartoon tackiness,” and the “even tackier” costumes “should by rights single-handedly put a stop to an 80’s revival in fashion.” As for the cast, they were “personable enough” but didn’t actually possess “personality,” and many of the characters were celebrity wannabes of the Madonna, Van Halen, and Boy George variety. David Rooney in Variety said the “fizzy confection” verged on “retro overkill,” but he decided “mainstream” audiences probably wouldn’t mind the “tireless resurrection of cheesy ’80s fashion trends and pop staples” because the pop culture of 1980s was “locked” into “permanent recycle mode”; Clive Barnes in the New York Post said “sophisticated, it ain’t,” and he noted that “crude” and “obvious” were good oneword descriptions of the show, which was peppered with New Jersey jokes and Jewish jokes, not to mention “time-sensitive visual jokes” (such as when a character sports one of those new-fangled “cell phones” and then proceeds to hold up “a device hardly small enough to fit under an airplane seat”); and Peter Marks in the Washington Post suggested the musical felt “like a show composed as much at a board meeting as a keyboard” and noted there were so many 1980s references that one might feel “seriously OD’d. As in overdecaded.” Richard Zoglin in Time said the show “winks at the audience so relentlessly” with 1980s references that “eventually you just tune out.” He felt that “some good tunes would have helped,” but in this case the score was “forgettable, like most of this overblown show.” But an unsigned review in the New Yorker praised the “energetic” musical, and said the direction brought “a clever touch of irony” to the proceedings. The evening offered “splendid” choreography and “shrewdly written” songs, and was “as enjoyable and nostalgic as a power walk on the mall.” The cast album was released by Masterworks Broadway/Sony Classical/BMG Records (CD # 8287682095-2); the music tracks were recorded a few days before opening night, and the vocals a few days after. The songs “Right on Time,” “Awesome,” and “Caught by Surprise” were heard at the premiere, but aren’t on the recording, and the album includes two numbers not listed in the opening-night program (“Someday” and “Right in Front of Your Eyes”). During the tryout, the following songs were cut: “Wonder,” “Eight Men,” and “Never Let You Go.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (The Wedding Singer); Best Book (Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy); Best Score (lyrics by Chad Beguelin, music by Matthew Sklar); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Stephen Lynch); Best Choreography (Rob Ashford)

HOT FEET

“A New Dance Musical” / “The Musical That Dances

to the

Sounds

of

Earth, Wind & Fire”

Theatre: Hilton Theatre Opening Date: April 30, 2006; Closing Date: July 23, 2006 Performances: 97 Book: Heru Ptah Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Unofficially based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1845 fairy tale “The Red Shoes.” Direction and Choreography: Maurice Hines (Ricardo Kahn, Assistant Director); Producers: A Transamerica Presentation produced by Rudy Durand in association with Kalimba Entertainment, Inc., Meir A & Eli C, LLC, Polymer Global Holdings, and Godley Morris Group, LLC; Scenery: James Noone; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Clifton Taylor; Musical Direction: Jeffrey Klitz

2005–2006 Season     259

Cast: Allen Hidalgo (Louie), Samantha Pollino (Emma), Vivian Nixon (Kalimba), Ann Duquesnay (Mom), Michael Balderrama (Anthony), Keith David (Victor Serpentine), Wynonna Smith (Naomi); Ensemble: Kevin Aubin, Gerrard Carter, Dionne Figgins, Ramon Flowers, Karla Puno Garcia, Nakia Henry, Duane Lee Holland, Iquail S. Johnson, Dominique Kelley, Steve Konopelski, Sumie Maeda, Jon-Paul Mateo, Vasthy Mompoint, Tera-Lee Pollin, Monique Smith, Daryl Spiers, Felicity Stiverson, Hollie E. Wright; Band Vocalists: Brent Carter, Keith Anthony Fluitt, Theresa Thomason The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in New York City.

Musical Numbers Notes: For some reason, the program’s Music Credits section provided composer but not lyricist credits; presumably, the names cited below in the list of musical numbers include lyricists, but these were not specified as such. Further, the program’s title page provided three sections of lyric and music credits, given as follows: (1) “Music and Lyrics by Maurice White”; (2) “New Songs Additional Music & Lyrics by Cat Gray, Brett Laurence, Bill Meyers, Heru Ptah, and Allee Willis”; and (3) “Additional Music & Lyrics: Philip Bailey, Reginald Burke, Valerie Carter, William B. Champlin, Peter Cor, Eddie Del Barrio, Larry Dunn, David Foster, Garry Glenn, Jay Graydon, James N. Howard, Jonathan G. Lind, Al McKay, Skip Scarbrough, Skylark, Charles Stepney, Beloyd Taylor, Wayne Vaughn, Wanda Vaughn, Verdine White, Allee Willis.” Note that some of the cited names and spellings don’t jibe with those provided in the Music Credits, such as Skip Scarbrough/Skip Scarborough, Al McKay/Albert Philip McKay, Beloyd Taylor/Bernard Taylor, and Philip Bailey/Philip James Bailey. Further, at least one lyricist/composer listed on the title page (Gary Glenn) isn’t credited with any specific songs in the Music Credits section. Also note that for most of the musical numbers the principals didn’t sing. Of the thirty-three musical sequences, the program indicates that only eight songs were performed by the leading cast members; the other numbers were performed by the band musicians, who were accompanied by three background vocalists. Act One: Overture (Band); “Hot Feet (Latin)” (music by Brett Laurence, William Keith Meyers, and Maurice White) (Allen Hidalgo); “In the Stone” (music by David Foster, Maurice White, and Allee Willis) (Band); “Rock That” (music by David Foster and Maurice White) and “Boogie Wonderland” (music by Jonathan G. Lind and Allee Willis) (Band); “When I Dance” (music by William Keith Meyers, Maurice White, and Allee Willis) (Band); “Dearest Heart” (William Keith Meyers, Maurice White, and Allee Willis) (Ann Duquesnay, Vivian Nixon); “September” (music by Albert Philip McKay, Maurice White, and Allee Willis) (Band); “Turn It into Something Good” (music by Valerie Carter, James Howard, and Maurice White) (Band); “Ponta de Areia” (music by Fernando Brant and Milton Nascimento) (Band); “Thinking of You” (music by Wanda Vaughn, Wayne Vaughn, and Maurice White) (Band); “Mighty Mighty” (music by Maurice White and Verdine White) (Band); “Serpentine Fire” (music by Reginald Burke, Maurice White, and Verdine White) (Band); “Fantasy” (music by Eduardo Del Barrio, Maurice White, and Verdine White) (Band) Act Two: “Louie’s Welcome” (music by Cat Gray and Heru Ptah) (Allen Hidalgo); “Getaway” (music by Peter Cor and Bernard Taylor) (Band); “Dirty” (music by Maurice White) (Band); “After the Love Has Gone” (music by William B. Champlin, David Foster, and Jay Graydon) (Band); “Can’t Hide Love” (music by Skip Scarborough) (Keith David); “You Don’t Know” (music by William Keith Meyers, Maurice White, and Allee Willis) (Ann Duquesnay, Keith David); “Kali” (music by Brett Laurence, William Keith Meyers, and Maurice White) (Ann Duquesnay); “Hot Feet Ballet”: (1)“Ballet Intro” (Band); (2) “Hot Feet (Funky)” (music by Brett Laurence, William Keith Meyers, and Maurice White) (Allen Hidalgo); (3) “Let Your Feelings Show” (music by David Foster, Maurice White, and Allee Willis) (Band); (4) “System of Survival” (music by Skylark) (Band); (5) “Saturday Night” (music by Philip J. Bailey, Albert Philip McKay, and Maurice White) (Band); (6) “Africano” (music by Lorenzo Dunn and Maurice White) (Band); (7) “Star” (music by Eduardo Del Barrio, Maurice White, and Allee Willis) (Band); and (8) “Faces” (music by Philip Bailey, Lorenzo Dunn, Maurice White, and Verdine White) (Band); “Kali” (reprise) (Ann Duquesnay); “Mega Mix” (Band); “September” (reprise) and “Gratitude” (music by Lorenzo Dunn, Maurice White, and Verdine White) (Band) The uncredited source and inspiration for Hot Feet was Hans Christian Andersen’s 1845 fairy tale “The Red Shoes,” which of course inspired the classic 1948 film The Red Shoes as well as Jule Styne’s final Broadway

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musical The Red Shoes, which opened in 1993 and closed after five performances at a loss of $8 million, the same amount that Hot Feet lost. The plot centered on Kalimba (Vivian Nixon, daughter of dancer and choreographer Deborah Allen), an aspiring dancer and her relationships with her overly protective mother (Ann Duquesnay), dance impresario Victor Serpentine (Keith David), choreographer Anthony (Michael Balderrama), and jealous dance diva Naomi (Wynonna Smith). Despite Kalimba’s love for her art, she’s doomed, just like all those who danced in red shoes before her. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “dire dance musical” was a “dancing encyclopedia of clichés” and “about as gripping as a two-and-a-half-hour episode of Soul Train.” The evening was “ludicrous” and “interminable,” and the choreography was “a busy but mostly undistinguished amalgam of ballet, modern-dance and street styles,” some of which were “all the rage 15 minutes ago.” David Rooney in Variety found the evening a “jumbled cliché collection,” and said “the principal death being experienced in this incoherent, by-the-numbers retelling is the slow one suffered by the audience.” The choreography for “this amateurish excuse for a dance musical” had “limited scope” and was “repetitive,” and for an $8 million price tag the show looked “disconcertingly cheap.” The headline of Clive Barnes’s review in the New York Post said “Admit De-feet,” and noted that the choreography was “repetitive” and “tedious.” But he praised Vivian Nixon’s “class and style.”

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE “A Musical

within a

Comedy”

Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: May 1, 2006; Closing Date: December 30, 2007 Performances: 674 Book: Bob Martin and Don McKellar Lyrics and Music: Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison Direction and Choreography: Casey Nicholaw; Producers: Kevin McCollum, Roy Miller, Boyett Ostar Productions, Stephanie McClelland, Barbara Freitag, and Jill Furman (Sonny Everett and Mariano Tolentino Jr.); Scenery: David Gallo; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Ken Billington and Brian Monahan; Musical Direction: Phil Reno Cast: Bob Martin (Man in Chair), Georgia Engel (Mrs. Tottendale), Edward Hibbert (Underling), Troy Britton Johnson (Robert Martin), Eddie Korbich (George), Lenny Wolpe (Feldzieg), Jennifer Smith (Kitty), Jason Kravits (Gangster # 1), Garth Kravits (Gangster # 2), Danny Burstein (Aldolpho), Sutton Foster (Janet Van de Graaf), Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone), Kecia Lewis-Evans (Trix), Joey Sorge (Super); Ensemble: Linda Griffin, Angela Pupello, Joey Sorge, Patrick Wetzel The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in the present time as well in the past when it conjures up the (fictitious) 1928 musical The Drowsy Chaperone. Overture (Orchestra); “Fancy Dress” (Company); “Cold Feets” (Troy Britton Johnson, Eddie Korbich); “Show Off” (Sutton Foster, Company); “As We Stumble Along” (Beth Leavel); “I Am Aldolpho” (Danny Burstein, Beth Leavel); “Accident Waiting to Happen” (Troy Britton Johnson, Sutton Foster); “Toledo Surprise” (Jason Kravits, Garth Kravits, Jennifer Smith, Danny Burstein, Eddie Korbich, Sutton Foster, Troy Britton Johnson, Edward Hibbert, Georgia Engel, Beth Leavel, Company); “Message from a Nightingale” (Jennifer Smith, Jason Kravits, Garth Kravits, Danny Burstein, Beth Leavel); “Bride’s Lament” (Sutton Foster, Company); “Love Is Always Lovely in the End” (Georgia Engel, Edward Hibbert); “I Do, I Do in the Sky” (Kecia Lewis-Evans, Company); “As We Stumble Along” (reprise) (Company) The madcap musical The Drowsy Chaperone opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on September 18, 1928; the book was by Abe Flom, the lyrics by Jule Gable, and the music by Sidney Stein. Set in the Roaring Twenties, the story centered on Broadway star Janet Van de Graaf (Sutton Foster), who decides to leave show business and get married to oil scion Robert Martin (Troy Britton Johnson). The action takes place during the couple’s wedding weekend on the Long Island estate of the rich and ditzy socialite Mrs. Tottendale (Georgia Engel), who is hosting the wedding party. Other eccentrics involved in the proceedings are Janet’s chaperone, the eternally tipsy and martini-loving Drowsy Chaperone (Beth Leavel); producer Feldzieg (Lenny Wolpe), who

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isn’t happy about the upcoming nuptials because he wants Janet to star in the next edition of his new Feldzieg Follies; Feldzeig’s talent-free and scheming girlfriend, Kitty (Jennifer Smith), who wants Janet’s role in the upcoming revue; Latin lover and gigolo Adolpho (Danny Burstein); a pair of gangsters (Jason Kravits and Garth Kravits), who masquerade as pastry chefs; Mrs. Tottendale’s veddy proper butler, Underling (Edward Hibbert); Robert’s best man, George (Eddie Korbich); and a deus ex machina who literally appears from the skies in the person of Trix (Kecia Lewis-Evans), an aviatrix who because she’s the captain of an (air)ship can perform the wedding ceremony. Meanwhile, everyone gets to join in the latest dance craze “Toledo Surprise,” and with her big number “Show Off” Janet sincerely explains that she’s delighted to put show biz behind her so she doesn’t have to show off anymore, and then determinedly and single-mindedly proceeds to hog the spotlight by performing cartwheels, doing splits, spinning plates, shooting targets, and charming snakes. But wait, this isn’t what The Drowsy Chaperone is about. Not at all. The musical is actually set in the present time, and takes place in the one-room apartment of someone known as Man in Chair (Bob Martin, who also cowrote the show’s book), and this guy’s a show queen who likes to sit in his living room and listen to old cast albums (the record kind, the LP kind, the vinyl kind), especially the cast album of the hit 1928 musical The Drowsy Chaperone (which is of course a fictitious musical written for the current show). And (of course) Broadway musicals in the 1920s weren’t recorded (with the exception of the occasional song or two by one of the leads), but the show’s conceit is that the entire original 1928 cast of The Drowsy Chaperone recorded the score, which was later remastered and released on LP. While the Man listens to the cast album, the show The Drowsy Chaperone comes to life in his mind’s eye. His apartment is magically transformed into the lavish stage set for the musical and the Broadway cast from long ago performs the show in his living room. The Man becomes the evening’s onlooker, and half the fun was his running commentary about musicals in general and The Drowsy Chaperone in particular. He looks back on the heady days when the likes of George Gershwin and Cole Porter wrote musicals, and asks, “Please, Elton John, must we continue this charade?” And he helpfully explains that one of the characters in The Drowsy Chaperone is an aviatrix, “or what we now call a lesbian.” The evening included such amusing moments as when the needle of the LP becomes momentarily stuck, and thus the orchestra replays the same musical notes over and over while the dancers endlessly repeat the same dance steps. And a momentary power outage stops the recording midway through a dance sequence, but when the power returns the dance resumes where it left off. At one point, the Man changes the LP to side two, but in the process mixes up his cast albums and accidentally puts on the recording of another musical by the team of Stein and Gable called The Enchanted Nightingale, and thus that show suddenly materializes on stage and the “Oriental” cast performs the song “Message from a Nightingale.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “ingratiating” musical was “not any kind of masterpiece” but was nonetheless “poised to become the sleeper” of the season after a series of disappointing shows such as Ring of Fire and Lestat. He noted that in her earlier musicals Sutton Foster was often “exhausting” in her “peppiness,” but here she gave a “gloriously artificial, deadpan” performance and her “Show Off” lifted the audience into “a helium paradise of pure pleasure.” David Rooney in Variety found the “irresistible” and “refreshing cocktail of a show” a “superior, smartly crafted pastiche and no less entertaining for being so.” Richard Zoglin in Time said the show’s “cheery, self-mocking inventiveness wins you over” and with “Show Off,” the “sensational” Foster enjoyed a “knockout” number. John Lahr in the New Yorker found The Drowsy Chaperone “the most original musical of the season” and praised the “impish” lyrics and music and “first-rate” performers. The show had “intelligence and high style,” and the “winning” Foster’s “Show Off” was “a genuinely show-stopping number.” But Clive Barnes in the New York Post frowned upon the “little, horrifying pastiche musical” and suggested a revival of No, No, Nanette would be more welcome. The Broadway cast album was released on CD by Ghostlight Records (# 7915584411-2), and includes running commentary by the Man in Chair. In keeping with the spirit of the show, Ghostlight also issued a limited edition of 1,000 LP copies of the cast album (# CL-755). Because the LP is supposedly the cast recording of the 1928 production, the singers on the recording are given the names of those who supposedly were in the show back then. As a result, the leading character Janet Van De Graff is sung by “Jane Roberts,” the actress who “created” the role in 1928, and Sutton Foster isn’t credited. Because the LP is supposedly the authentic cast album of the 1928 show, the Man’s running commentary, the song “A Message from Nightingale,” and the cut song “I Remember Love,” which had been written for the original 1928 production of The Drowsy Chaperone, aren’t on the LP (but the LP package includes a CD of the commentary and the two extra songs). (But for the CD edition, the commentary is given in sequential order along with the songs, and “I Remember Love” and “Message from Nightingale” are included as bonus tracks.)

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Incidentally, with the exception of some experimental cast album LPs in the early 1930s, the first Broadway musical to be released on the LP format was South Pacific in 1949, and when the LP’s fortunes declined in the late 1980s and gave way to compact discs, it appears the last Broadway musical released on LP was City of Angels in 1989. It seems the limited edition LP of The Drowsy Chaperone was the first Broadway cast recording to be released on LP in seventeen years (a few more have followed, including Wicked, American Idiot, and Hamilton). The musical originated in Toronto, Ontario, at the Fringe of Toronto Festival, and then in three more productions in Toronto: on July 2, 1999, at the George Ignatieff Theatre; on November 29, 1999, at the Theatre Passe Muraille; and then on June 12, 2001, at Toronto’s Winter Garden Theatre. The musical was later produced in New York in a showcase on October 3, 2004, for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. The London production opened on June 6, 2007, at the Novello Theatre with Elaine Paige in the title role, and played for two months.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (The Drowsy Chaperone); Best Book (Bob Martin and Don McKellar); Best Score (lyrics and music by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Bob Martin); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Danny Burstein); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Beth Leavel); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (David Gallo); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Gregg Barnes); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Ken Billington and Brian Monahan); Best Direction of a Musical (Casey Nicholaw); Best Choreography (Casey Nicholaw); Best Orchestrations (Larry Blank)

TARZAN

“The Broadway Musical” Theatre: Richard Rodgers Theatre Opening Date: May 10, 2006; Closing Date: July 8, 2007 Performances: 486 Book: David Henry Hwang Lyrics and Music: Phil Collins Based on Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (first published in the October 1912 issue of All-Story Magazine and then in book format in 1914) and the 1999 film Tarzan (direction by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck, and screenplay by Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker, and Noni White). Direction, Scenery, and Costumes: Bob Crowley (Jeff Lee, Associate Director); Producers: Disney Theatrical Productions (Thomas Schumacher, Director) (Marshall B. Purdy, Associate Producer); Choreography: Meryl Tankard; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Jim Abbott Cast: Shuler Hensley (Kerchak), Merle Dandridge (Kala), Daniel Manche (Young Tarzan for Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday evenings and for Saturday matinees), Alex Rutherford (Young Tarzan for Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday evenings and for Sunday matinees), Chester Gregory II (Terk), Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Jenn Gambatese (Jane Porter), Tim (Timothy) Jerome (Professor Porter), Donnie Keshawarz (Mr. Clayton), Horace V. Rogers (Snipes); Ensemble: Marcus Bellamy, Celina Carvajal, Dwayne Clark, Kearran Giovanni, Michael Hollick, Kara Madrid, Kevin Massey, Anastacia McCleskey, Rika Okamoto, Marilyn Ortiz, John Elliott Oyzon, Andy Pellick, Stefan Raulston, Horace V. Rogers, Sean Samuels, Niki Scalera The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a jungle during the late nineteenth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Two Worlds” (Josh Strickland, Ensemble); “You’ll Be in My Heart” (Merle Dandridge, Ensemble); “Jungle Funk” (Orchestra); “Who Better Than Me?” (Chester Gregory II, Daniel Manche or Alex Ruth-

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erford); “No Other Way” (Shuler Hensley); “I Need to Know” (Daniel Manche or Alex Rutherford); “Son of Man” (Chester Gregory II, Josh Strickland, Ensemble); “Son of Man” (reprise) (Chester Gregory II, Josh Strickland, Ensemble); “Sure as Sun Turns to Moon” (Merle Dandridge, Shuler Hensley); “Waiting for This Moment” (Jenn Gambatese, Ensemble); “Different” (Josh Strickland) Act Two: “Trashin’ the Camp” (Chester Gregory II, Ensemble); “Like No Man I’ve Ever Seen” (Jenn Gambatese, Tim Jerome); “Strangers Like Me” (Josh Strickland, Jenn Gambatese, Ensemble); “For the First Time” (Jenn Gambatese, Josh Strickland); “Who Better Than Me?” (reprise) (Chester Gregory II, Josh Strickland); “Everything That I Am” (Daniel Manche or Alex Rutherford, Josh Strickland, Merle Dandridge, Ensemble); “You’ll Be in My Heart” (reprise) (Josh Strickland, Merle Dandridge); “Sure as Sun Turns to Moon” (reprise) (Merle Dandridge); “Two Worlds” (reprise) (Ensemble) Tarzan was another entry in Disney’s Broadway sweepstakes, but this time around the winning ticket went to some boys from Jersey. Tarzan received generally poor reviews, didn’t become a must-see, received just one Tony Award nomination, played for only 486 performances, and lost an investment estimated at between $12 and $15 million. But the production was a first in at least two categories because it was probably the only musical in Broadway history to sport credits for Special Creatures (courtesy of Ivo Coveney) and for Aerial Design (created by Pichon Baldinu) (we had Flying by Foy for decades, but aerial design was a new concept, or at least new wordage, and soon The Pirate Queen and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark boasted aerial designs, too). The musical followed the general outline of the Tarzan story: white baby survives shipwreck, is adopted by the local jungle apes and christened Tarzan (Young Tarzan was played in rotation by Daniel Manche and Alex Rutherford, and the older Tarzan by Josh Strickland), and leads a happy life until civilization steps in via Jane (Jenna Gambatese), her scientist father (Tim Jerome), and requisite villain Clayton (Donnie Keshawarz). Of course, Tarzan and Jane fall in love, and soon he plans to sail to England with her. When he realizes the apes need him, he decides to remain in the jungle, and because Jane loves him, she stays with him. The various apes include Tarzan’s loving stepmother Kala (Merle Dandridge), his distant stepfather Kerchak (Shuler Hensley), and street-smart (or perhaps veldt-smart) Terk (Chester Gregory II) whom David Rooney in Variety said was a “wisecracking ghetto-hipster ape who seems to share Prince’s stylist” and pronounces “swinging” as “swing-ing.” Much was made of Bob Crowley’s set which dressed the stage in layers of Deep Jungle Green. The stage walls were covered with green hangings and the stage floor with green trappings, but perhaps for some audience members the effect was like being trapped within a giant box of frozen spinach. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the design induced claustrophobia and Peter Marks in the Washington Post said the stage appeared to be “wrapped in a hula skirt.” And at one time or another most of the cast members were seen swinging on ropes to create the vine-swinging mood of the original Tarzan stories and movies, but Marks reported that the performers tended “to cling to solitary ropes” and didn’t “attempt much vine-to-vine transport.” The headline of Marks’s review said there was “Fumble in the Jungle,” and he began his notice by saying, “You Tarzan. Me looking at watch.” Clive Barnes’s review headline in the New York Post proclaimed “Bungle in the Jungle,” and the critic started his notice with the comment, “YOU, Tarzan! Me, Agonized!” Yes, the reviews weren’t pretty, and it was immediately clear that Tarzan was no Beauty and the Beast or Lion King. Barnes said the show was a “sad, busy and loud evening” which made him “nostalgic” for The Drowsy Chaperone and “even” Lestat (but then he quickly added, “Well, perhaps not Lestat”). Brantley said the presentation was a “giant, writhing green blob with music,” and while virtually everyone “swings” in Tarzan, the show “definitely ain’t got that swing” (while Marks noted that “it don’t mean a thing if it’s just got those swings”). Brantley suggested that the show felt “like a super-deluxe day care center,” and Phil Collins’s score was “treacle” with “soda-pop songs” that surfaced and then evaporated “more or less at random, like bubbles on a pond.” There was a “wiseguy tone” to David Henry Hwang’s book, and the story dealt with Oedipal issues and looked at “family-therapy dynamics and uplifting messages about misfits finding their places in the world.” But good old Jane was more straightforward and didn’t beat around the bush: She seemed “ready to strip down to her underwear and party,” and she openly “drools over” Tarzan’s “naked torso.” Marks said that Tarzan was “meant to be the show’s designated babe” (“sorry, Jane”), and he also noted that the British Jane “somehow manages” to teach Tarzan “to speak English with an American accent.” Marks said the “mechanics” of the show were “wan” and “perfunctory,” the humor was “lame,” and the songs were “sound-alike pop ditties,” but while Richard Zoglin in Time found the book “stodgy” and the evening

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“more like a theme-park ride than a Broadway musical,” he said the show was “the most visually enthralling” since The Lion King. Rooney said the score was “insipid” but “tuneful” and the lyrics “serviceable,” but he was unhappy that the “overmiked” show provided “too much evidence of backing-track enhancement.” However, the musical delivered “eye-popping spectacle and unexpected emotional involvement,” the sets were “lusciously verdant,” and thus Tarzan would be a “prosperous fixture” on Broadway and “should be seeing green at the box office for some time to come.” The musical was directly based on Disney’s 1999 film, which included four songs by Collins, “Two Worlds,” “Son of Man,” “Strangers Like Me,” and “You’ll Be in My Heart,” the latter an Academy Award winner for Best Song. All four were retained for the stage version, and Collins wrote eleven new ones. The Broadway cast album was released by Walt Disney Records (# 61541-7), and while the CD didn’t include the dance sequence “Jungle Funk” (which Rooney described as a “muscular gorilla ballet”) it offered a bonus track of “Everything That I Am” performed by Collins. Daniel Manche and Alex Rutherford were Young Tarzan (each played in four performances weekly) and both were heard on the cast album. The film’s soundtrack album was released by Walt Disney Records (CD # 60645-7).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Lighting (Natasha Katz)

ZHIVAGO The musical began previews at La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, California, on May 10, 2005, opened on May 24, and closed on June 25. The musical was later revised, and as Doctor Zhivago opened in New York on April 21, 2015, at the Broadway Theatre. Book: Michael Weller Lyrics: Michael Korie and Amy Powers Music: Lucy Simon Based on the 1957 novel Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. Direction: Des McAnuff (Holly-Anne Ruggiero, Assistant Director); Producer: La Jolla Playhouse; Choreography: Serge Trujillo (Kelly Devine, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Heidi Ettinger; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Dominic Bogart (Bloodied Soldier, Ensemble), Matt Bogart (Pasha Antipov, Strelnikov), Jessica Burrows (Lara Guishar Antipova), Sandy Campbell (Nurse, Ensemble), Edward Conery (Alexander Gromeko, Ensemble), Ryan Drummond (Cossack Commander, Ensemble), Mark Emerson (Tusia, Shulygin, Ensemble), David Carey Foster (Priest, Ensemble), Jason Heil (Young Rake, Priest, Ensemble), Ivan Hernandez (Yurii Andreyevich Zhivago), Tom Hewitt (Viktor Komarovsky), Melissa Hoff (Nurse, Ensemble), Mackenzie Holmes (Katarina), Christopher Kale Jones (Yanko, Ensemble), Rebecca Kaasa (Ensemble), Melina Kalomas (Olya, Ensemble), David McDonald (Kornakov, Gints, Ensemble), Spencer Moses (Tolya, Ensemble), Eduardo Placer (Ensemble), Graham Rowat (Liberius, Ensemble), Maureen Silliman (Anna Gromeko, Ensemble), Tina Stafford (Kubarikha, Gulyobova, Ensemble), Rena Strober (Tonya Gromeko), Nick Ullett (Markel, Quartermaster, Ensemble), Bibi Valderrama (Sasha, Ensemble), Melissa van der Schyff (Yelenka, Ensemble) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Russia during the period of the Revolution.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Peace, Bread and Land” (Matt Bogart, Students); “To Light the New Year” (Edward Conery, Maureen Silliman, Rena Strober, Ivan Herdandez, Tom Hewitt, Company); “Who Is She?” (Ivan Hernandez); “Wedding Vows” (David Carey Foster, Matt Bogart, Jessica Burrows, Students); “It’s a Godsend” (Matt

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Bogart, Students); “When the Music Played” (Jessica Burrows); “Watch the Moon” (Ivan Hernandez, Rena Strober); “Forward March for the Czar” (David McDonald, Graham Rowat, Christopher Kale Jones, Soldiers); “Forward March for the Czar” (reprise) (David McDonald, Soldiers); “Now” (Ivan Hernandez, Jessica Burrows); “Blood on the Snow” (Dominic Bogart, Soldiers, Nurses); “In the Perfect World” (Mark Emerson, Tina Stafford, Melina Kalomas, Rena Strober, Edward Conery, Maureen Silliman, Bibi Valderrama, Committee Members, Communists); “A Man Who Lives Up to His Name” (Ivan Hernandez); “In This House” (Bibi Valderrama, Rena Strober, Edward Conery, Ivan Hernandez, Company) Act Two: “The Hope of the Peasants” (Unidentified performer in the role of Mayor, Ensemble); “No Mercy at All” (Matt Bogart); “In This House” (reprise) (Edward Conery); “Love Finds You” (Jessica Burrows, Ivan Hernandez, Tom Hewitt, Matt Bogart); “Nowhere to Run” (Graham Rowat, Partisans); “It Comes as No Surprise” (Jessica Burrows, Rena Strober); “Ashes and Tears” (Ivan Hernandez, Graham Rowat, Partisans); “Watch the Moon” (reprise) (Rena Strober); “On the Edge of Time” (Ivan Hernandez, Jessica Burrows); “Now” (reprise) (Ivan Hernandez); “Blood on the Snow” (Red Army); “On the Edge of Time” (reprise) (Jessica Burrows, Mackenzie Holmes, Ivan Hernandez, Company) Zhivago was of course a musical version of Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago, and it received generally mixed and unenthusiastic reviews when it played out its engagement in San Diego. The familiar story was set during the era of the Russian Revolution and focused on Zhivago (Ivan Hernandez), who is torn between his wife Tonya (Rena Strober) and his lover Lara (Jessica Burrows), and their triangle is set against the nation’s upheaval when the Czar is overthrown and the country embraces Communism and becomes a Socialist republic. Jennifer de Poyen in Variety noted that the adaptors needed to find a way to successfully condense the epic novel into a two-act musical. The evening was “sprawling, ambitious and occasionally stirring,” but the “pace of the storytelling” was “nearly relentless” and the creative team needed to “streamline” the “pleasing yet predictable” story “without reducing the characters to cardboard and the politics to pulp.” While the direction was “swift and sure” and the score was “thoughtful,” the lyrics were “less-than-poetic.” Hernandez’s Zhivago was “passionate and noble” and yet generic, and Burrows’s Lara was “radiant” with a “lovely soprano” but remained an “abstraction” within the context of the script. Anne Marie Welch in the San Diego Union-Tribune said Michael Weller’s “relentless” book had “wooden” and sometimes “musty” dialogue, and Zhivago was a “hollow heroic figure.” The musical began “high-pitched,” and as it unfolded remained “exhaustingly at that same insistent pitch.” The show felt “unfinished,” and Lara was depicted as a “pale” and “sacrificial saint” of Mother Russia rather than an “erotically alive” woman, and Weller’s book excised “much of her backstory.” Otherwise, the score was “tuneful” but had to contend with “bombastic” orchestrations and an “overloud sound design.” Zhivago went into hiatus for a few years, but resurfaced on Broadway as Doctor Zhivago when it opened on April 21, 2015, at the Broadway Theatre. Of the San Diego principals, only Tom Hewitt appeared in the New York production, which received negative reviews and lasted for just twenty-three performances. The headline of Terry Teachout’s review in the Wall Street Journal read “The Doctor Is Out,” and the critic said the “slow-paced commodity musical [was] suitable only for consumption by tone-deaf tweenagers.” Joe Dziemianowicz in the New York Daily News said the “epic miss” was “miscalibrated” and the story’s “intimacy” was “gobbled up in broad strokes and ill-conceived sets and projections.” The score offered “occasional Russian-inflected melodies and lots of ardent power ballads,” and while “respectable” they were “unremarkable” songs that hung like “wallpaper.” The novel’s 1965 film adaptation yielded the standard “Somewhere, My Love,” which wasn’t part of the San Diego production but was interpolated into the Broadway version and was performed by a group of Russian nurses. The Broadway cast album was released by Broadway Records.

2006–2007 Season

KIKI & HERB: ALIVE ON BROADWAY Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: August 15, 2006; Closing Date: September 10, 2006 Performances: 27 Created and Executed (Directed) by: Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman Producers: David J. Foster, Jared Geller, Ruth Hendel, Jonathan Reinis, Inc, Billy Zavelson, Jamie Cesa, Ann Strickland Squadron, and Jennifer Manocherian in association with Gary Allen and Melvin Honowitz; Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: Marc Happel; Lighting: Jeff Croiter Cast: Justin Bond (Kiki), Kenny Mellman (Herb) The concert was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in a nightclub.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t include a list of musical numbers. The following alphabetical list is taken from newspaper reviews: “Crazy”; “Creep”; “Don’t Believe the Hype”; “First Day of My Life”; “Forever Young”; “King’s Crossing”;“Let’s Go to Bed”; “Make Yourself Comfortable”; “No Children”; “One Tin Soldier”; “Running Up That Hill”; “Same Old Lang Syne”; “Second Coming”; “Take Your Mama Out”; “Total Eclipse of the Heart” Kiki and Herb are somewhat old-hat and retro cabaret performers who threaten to retire but always seem to make another comeback. Justin Bond played the drag role of the singer Kiki, and Kenny Mellman was Herb, her pianist. The characters of Kiki and Herb were the alter egos of Bond and Mellman, who since 1992 have appeared Off Broadway and in concert, including their Carnegie Hall appearance Kiki and Herb Will Die for You. Like many of the era’s theatrical offerings, the evening was an ironic send-up of entertainers and show business, and here Kiki and Herb had the lounge-act shtick down to a science as they portrayed performers if not of an advanced age then certainly of seasoned years, and as Kiki sings and chats up the customers she constantly sips a glass of what she assures the audience is Canadian Club soda. Ben Brantley in the New York Times described Kiki as a “molting songbird” and Herb as her “happily suffering shadow and accompanist.” Here was a “hyper-magnified cabaret concert” that had “the heat and dazzle of great balls of fire,” and it was set against a décor that evoked Salvador Dali in Las Vegas. As for Kiki’s frocks, they were a wild morphing of “Loretta Young-meets-Cher costumes.” Between songs, Kiki’s patter covers her and Herb’s life (she was living in a Pennsylvania orphanage when she met Herb, “a gay Jewish foundling”) and talks of her “uncaring mother and abusive father” (in the evening’s most quoted line, she notes that if you weren’t molested as a child, then you must have been really ugly). 267

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David Rooney in Variety noted that Kiki talked about her children in Mommie Dearest fashion (Coco, the one who drowned at the French Riviera because Kiki couldn’t swim fast enough to save her; her estranged gay son, Bradford; and her biracial daughter, Miss D, who was “taken away by child services”), and during the evening she promises, “I will try to manufacture some genuine emotion.” Rooney said the show was a “cabaret for punk rockers,” and when Kiki told the audience she loved them, her comment was “less an endearment than a rageful threat.” He also mentioned that the “winning” revue didn’t cite a credited director (the program noted the production was “executed” by the performers themselves) and as a result the concert was “allowed to ramble at times,” and he also wondered if even the intimate Helen Hayes Theatre was the most ideal venue for the team’s quirky ambience. An unsigned review in the New Yorker indicated that an “outside director” might have streamlined some of the script’s “redundancies.” Brantley mentioned that performers of Kiki and Herb’s ilk were most likely to play the gamut from Ramada Inns to the Carlyle and the Algonquin. Keeping in mind Kiki and Herb’s personas, one might speculate on the type of audience member who would attend their act (as opposed to the actual audience members who went to see Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman’s impersonations of Kiki and Herb). Were those audiences at Kiki and Herb’s appearances the ones most likely to enjoy the duo’s often edgy, not-quite-mainstream songs? Imagine the mincemeat Kiki and Herb could make of the “Feelings”/“The Way We Were”/“Who Can I Turn To?” brand of song, numbers that they could turn inside out in order to accommodate their quirky personas and camp patter.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway)

MARTIN SHORT: FAME BECOMES ME “A Comedy Musical”

Theatre: Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Opening Date: August 17, 2006; Closing Date: January 7, 2007 Performances: 165 Book: Martin Short and Daniel Goldfarb; additional material by Alan Zweibel Lyrics: Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman Music: Marc Shaiman Direction: Scott Wittman; Producers: Base Entertainment, Harbor Entertainment, Roy Furman, and Jeffrey A. Sine in association with Lisa Lapan and Terry E. Schnuck (Joanna Hagan and Bernie Brillstein, Executive Producers) (Brown-Pinto Productions, Associate Producer); Choreography: Christopher Gattelli; Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Chris Lee; Musical Direction: Charlie Alterman Cast: Martin Short; The Comedy All Stars: Brooks Ashmanskas, Mary Birdsong, Nicole Parker, Marc Shaiman, Capathia Jenkins The revue was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers “Another Curtain Goes Up” (Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas, Mary Birdsong, Capathia Jenkins, Marc Shaiman); “All I Ask” (Martin Short); “Three Gorgeous Kids” (Martin Short); “Babies” (Nicole Parker, Martin Short, Brooks Ashmanskas, Mary Birdsong); “The Farmer’s Daughter” (Mary Birdsong); “Sittin’ on the Fence” (Martin Short, Mary Birdsong); “Don’t Wanna Be Me” (Martin Short); “Ba-Ba-Ba-Bu-Dah Broadway!” (Mary Birdsong, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas); “Hello Boy!” (Martin Short); “Step Brother de Jesus” (Martin Short, Mary Birdsong, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas); “Married to Marty” (Nicole Parker); “The Triangle Song” (Martin Short); “Sniff, Sniff” (Martin Short, Mary Birdsong, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas); “Twelve Step Pappy” (Martin Short); “Would Ya Like to Star in Our Show?” (Brooks Ashmanskas, Nicole Parker, Mary Birdsong); “I Came Just as Soon as I Heard” (Martin Short); “The Lights Have Dimmed on Broadway” (Nicole Parker, Mary Birdsong); “Michael’s Song” (Brooks Ashmanskas);

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“Heaven, Heaven” (Mary Birdsong, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas, Marc Shaiman); “Stop the Show” (Capathia Jenkins, Mary Birdsong, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short); “All I Ask” (reprise) (Martin Short); “Another Curtain Comes Down” (Nicole Parker, Mary Birdsong, Brooks Ashmanskas, Capathia Jenkins, Marc Shaiman, Martin Short); “Glass Half Full” (Martin Short) During most of the 2000s, angry mobs circled the Theatre District, and like those outraged torch-carrying villagers in Universal’s horror movies they too were out for blood. Ironic Musicals Must Come to an End!, they demanded, but no one heard their pleas. The so-called ironic and self-referential musicals had been around for decades, and early examples include Charles Grodin’s 1966 Off-Broadway Hooray!! It’s a Glorious Day . . . and All That and the 1973 Broadway Smith. One of the Ironic Show Rules is that musicals must spoof show business and/or wink at the conventions of musical theatre. And so at the beginning of the second act of The Producers Max Bialystock asks how his heretofore shabby office could have been so suddenly transformed into a luxuriously appointed one, and his secretary Ulla replies, “Intermission.” And the audience howled with uncontrollable laughter. It was Mel Brooks’s hit musical that institutionalized the ironic musical, and as a result Urinetown, The Musical of Musicals (Off Broadway, 2003), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, [title of show], Curtains, Something Rotten!, and, yes, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me were all guilty of wink-wink, elbow-in-the-ribs ironic humor, almost all of it related to the world of show business and the Broadway musical. Of course, Dame Edna also fell into the Ironic Category, as she too was obsessed with megastardom, celebrityhood, and unadulterated audience adoration, and Kiki and Herb kidded stardom of the lounge-act variety. Fame Becomes Me particularly laughed at the celebrity culture of one-man or one-woman shows in which stars (or stars, of sorts) bare it all for the audience and endlessly talk about dealing with childhood traumas, overcoming various addictions, and confessing that they too have faults (especially the fault of caring too much for others and not enough about oneself). (As Dame Edna put it so honestly in song, “I’m Thinking of Myself This Christmas.”) Recent Broadway excursions by celebrities included Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, 700 Sundays (Billy Crystal), The Blonde in the Thunderbird (Suzanne Somers), and Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, and in Fame Becomes Me Short skewed such evenings, and musicals in general. Short was supported by five “Comedy All Stars,” including Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman, who with his Hairspray collaborator Scott Wittman cowrote the lyrics (Wittman also directed the revue, and with Short “conceived” the evening). One of the five all-stars included black singer Capathia Jenkins, who wasn’t around for most of the evening, and this was because one of the Unwritten Rules of Broadway Musicals is that a black female singer must appear for the eleven o’clock number (preferably of the gospel or blues variety) and knock the audience off its feet with a rousing take-no-prisoners show-stopper. And so late in the show, Jenkins appeared and sang the show-stopper “Stop the Show,” which indeed stopped the show. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the song “ruthlessly” dissected this “overexploited entertainment stereotype” and Jenkins’s character wondered just who wrote these kinds of songs, all of which were gospel or blues, and she came to the stunning realization they all were written by “gay white Jews.” As for Short, he portrayed a famous performer who provides all the details of his life. Brantley noted that our hero describes a “dysfunctional childhood, a Broadway-gypsy youth, a descent into drugs and public misbehavior, a glorious comeback and an untimely death.” The revue was “eager and amiably scattershot” but the show was a “little late” for such a parody “to feel very fresh.” Otherwise, the songs were “serviceably melodic,” a brief Wizard of Oz spoof (“The Farmer’s Daughter”) found cast member Mary Birdsong (yes, really) as Dorothy and Short as a singing picket fence (don’t ask), and during another sequence Short took on the persona of a fawning celebrity interviewer named Jiminy Glick, who hosts his very own entertainment cable show live and direct from Butte, Montana (at each performance, a real-life celebrity was interviewed, and during the run the victims included Nathan Lane and Tracey Ullman). And throughout the evening, the cast impersonated such glitterati as Andy Warhol, Joan Rivers, Bob Fosse, Jodie Foster, Renee Zellweger, Celine Dion, and, of course, the No-Last-Names-Needed Liz and Liza. Tommy Tune was also spoofed by Brooks Ashmanskas, who sported skyscraper-high stilts, white bell-bottoms, and a Texas drawl, and who encountered a truly distressing problem when he tried to cross his legs. David Rooney in Variety said Short’s “winsome musical showcase” allowed him to indulge in “selfcelebration,” and the comic made “a virtue of the glib smugness that’s almost a prerequisite of the form” and offered “self-love” with “shamelessly insincere soul-searching.”

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Michael Riedel in the New York Post wrote about the revue a few months before it opened, and reported that its original title had been If I’d Saved, I Wouldn’t Be Here. He also described a sequence in which the Fosse character smokes and drinks as he choreographs a dance for the ensemble, and in the middle of the rehearsal has a heart attack. His dancers assume “his convulsions are steps” and so they “mimic him until they wind up dead.” (Riedel noted that if this sounded funny to you, “then you’re probably a showbiz insider—or at least a theatre queen.”) For the record, when Fame Becomes Me was eventually produced Fosse was indeed spoofed, but it isn’t clear if what Riedel described was in the Broadway version (Brantley commented that both Fosse and Tune were “most devilishly” kidded, but he and the other critics didn’t go into detail about the Fosse sequence).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Brooks Ashmanskas)

JAY JOHNSON: THE TWO AND ONLY! Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: September 28, 2006; Closing Date: November 26, 2006 Performances: 70 Material: Jay Johnson Music: Michael Andreas Direction: Murphy Cross and Paul Kreppel; Producers: Roger Alan Gindi, Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley, Dan Whitten, Herbert Goldsmith Productions, Ken Grossman, Bob & Rhonda Silver, Michael A. Jenkins/ Dallas Summer Musicals, Inc., and Wetrock Entertainment (Jamie deRoy, Associate Producer); Scenery: Beowulf Boritt; Wardrobe: Nick Graham’s “nick-it” collection; Lighting: Clifton Taylor Cast: Jay Johnson The revue was presented in one act.

Musical Numbers The production included original music by Michael Andreas. Other songs heard during the evening were: “My Way” (lyric and music by Paul Anka, Jacques Revaux, Claude Francois, and Gilles Thibault); “Send in the Clowns” (A Little Night Music, 1973; lyric and music by Stephen Sondheim); and “Teddy Bear Two-Step” (music by John W. Bratton), which served as a kind of theme song throughout the evening. Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! was a one-man ventriloquist act that charmed the critics and led the production to win the Tony Award for the season’s Best Special Theatrical Event. In recent decades, ventriloquism seemed to have gone the way of quick-change artists and other vaudeville-styled specialties, and with the demise of television variety hours such as The Ed Sullivan Show it appeared that the entire tradition of somewhat quaint and quirky one-man entertainments on the order of ventriloquists, magicians, jugglers, and quick-change artists would be lost forever. But magic shows (led by Doug Henning, Blackstone, and David Copperfield) continued to prosper, and for ventriloquism Jay Johnson was the keeper of the flame. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said the “genial if flimsy” evening sometimes felt “oddly generic,” but Johnson possessed “crack timing” and throughout the evening served as both straight man for his eleven puppets (which included a vulture and a monkey) as well as a professor of sorts for the audience with his stories about the history of ventriloquism and anecdotal asides about the profession. The give-and-take between Johnson and his puppets was brought “to flavorful and various comic life with [Johnson’s] antic arm and magic voice box,” and Isherwood reported some of the welcome old-time repartee between Johnson and his vulture, Nethernore (Johnson: “Don’t be shocked by the crowd.” Nethernore: “I’m shocked you could draw a crowd”; Johnson: “What do you call a group of vultures?” Nethernore: “A law firm.”). David Rooney in Variety said Johnson “so persuasively and lovingly animates the inanimate” that the stage seemed “populated by multiple personalities.” Ventriloquism may be “stubbornly unhip,” but what

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made the evening so “engaging” was Johnson’s “unapologetic defense of his arcane calling,” his “sweet, selfeffacing quality,” and his “unforced stage manner.” By the way, Rooney reported that Nethernore likes to describe himself as “the bird of death,” and Johnson refers to his costars as Wooden-Americans. Rooney mentioned that the evening felt “more like superior club entertainment than a Broadway vehicle” but assumed the show’s upcoming national tour would work better in “more intimate houses.” The presentation had been previously produced Off Broadway on May 13, 2004, by the Atlantic Theatre Company for 110 performances.

Awards Tony Award: Best Special Theatrical Event (Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!)

A CHORUS LINE Theatre: Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Opening Date: October 5, 2006; Closing Date: August 17, 2008 Performances: 759 Book: James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante Lyrics: Edward Kleban Music: Marvin Hamlisch Direction: Direction for original production by Michael Bennett; for this revival, direction by Bob Avian; Producer: Vienna Waits Productions; Choreography: Choreography for original production by Michael Bennett and co-choreography by Bob Avian; for this revival, choreography re-staged by Baayork Lee; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Costumes: Theoni V. Aldredge; Lighting: Tharon Musser as adapted by Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: Ken Alan (Bobby), Brad Anderson (Don), Michelle Aravena (Tricia), David Baum (Roy), Michael Berresse (Zach), Mike Cannon (Tom), E. Clayton Cornelious (Butch), Natalie Cortez (Diana), Charlotte d’Amboise (Cassie), Mara Davi (Maggie), Jessica Lee Goldyn (Val), Deidre Goodwin (Sheila), Tyler Hanes (Larry), Nadine Isenegger (Lois), James T. Lane (Richie), Lorin Latarro (Vicki), Paul McGill (Mark), Heather Parcells (Judy), Michael Paternostro (Greg), Alisan Porter (Bebe), Jeffrey Schecter (Mike), Yuka Takara (Connie), Jason Tam (Paul), Grant Turner (Frank), Chryssie Whitehead (Kristine), Tony Yazbeck (Al) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in 1975 at a Broadway theatre.

Musical Numbers “I Hope I Get It” (Company); “I Can Do That” (Jeffrey Schecter); “And . . .” (Ken Alan, James T. Lane, Jessica Lee Goldyn, Heather Parcells); “At the Ballet” (Deidre Goodwin, Alisan Porter, Mara Davi); “Sing!” (Chryssie Whitehead, Tony Yazbeck); “Hello, Twelve, Hello, Thirteen, Hello, Love” (Company); “Nothing” (Natalie Cortez); “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three” (Jessica Lee Goldyn); “The Music and the Mirror” (Charlotte d’Amboise); “One” (Company); “The Tap Combination” (Company); “What I Did for Love” (Natalie Cortez, Company); “One” (reprise) (Company) Something new and terrifying was happening along the Main Stem. Revivals were of course endemic, and the current decade boasted more revivals than new musicals. But an unsettling sub-trend was setting in: long-running shows that had (finally) closed were suddenly returning, and one suspected that once a producer posted a show’s closing notice he was in conference to plan its revival. One felt that Broadway didn’t need quite-so-soon revivals of A Chorus Line, Les Miserables (no less than two within eight years), La Cage aux Folles (two within six years), Company (two within eleven years), Into the Woods (two within fifteen years), and others. As of this writing, Cats is back on Broadway (now and forever, indeed), Falsettos has been revived, and Miss Saigon is on the horizon.

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A Chorus Line first opened Off Broadway at the Public Theatre’s Newman Theatre on April 15, 1975, for 101 showings (the ticket prices for the original production ranged from $3.50 to $8.00), and then transferred to the Shubert Theatre on July 25, 1975 (because of a musicians’ strike, the show’s official opening took place a few weeks later on October 19). The work won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Direction, and Best Choreography; won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical; and won the 1975–1976 Pulitzer Prize. When the show closed on April 28, 1990, it had played 6,137 performances and was the longest running musical in Broadway history (as of this writing, it’s the sixth longest-running). The musical is about a group of some two-dozen dancers who audition for a new Broadway show. They line up across the stage, and the director asks each one to step forward and talk about himself. Throughout the evening, he eliminates various dancers until eight are chosen for the new musical, but for the finale the entire cast appears in a fantasy extravaganza of glitter and gold as they perform the new show’s big number (“One”), which is designed to showcase the “singular sensation” of the unseen female star in the upcoming production. But rather than featuring the star, the finale celebrates the chorus line of dancers, who ironically are not “singular sensations” but appear on stage as a tightly choreographed unit without a shred of individuality. All the elements in the production supported the thin, revue-like story, and although some aspects of the plot were less successful than others the musical nonetheless struck a responsive chord with audiences, who made the work one of the most beloved and successful in Broadway history. The original director and choreographer Michael Bennett created a spectacular production because he fused every facet of the evening into a constant flow of musical movement. The book, lyrics, music, décor, and performances supported his vision, and so the evening was one of the most fluid stagings ever seen in New York. Bennett’s brilliant stage groupings were like images from a sharply edited film in which the dancers weaved in and out of the action on wings of movement. Marvin Hamlisch’s score worked in perfect tandem with Bennett’s concept, and the music complemented the mood with a dance-oriented score that infused the action and provided a musical background for such expansive sequences as “At the Ballet,” “Hello, Twelve, Hello, Thirteen, Hello, Love,” “The Music and the Mirror,” “The Tap Combination,” and “One.” Only once did Bennett’s choreography miss the mark: “The Music and the Mirror” brought to mind the worst excesses of interpretive dancing. James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante’s book was spare and supported the staging techniques and choreography but was often excessively maudlin with its naval-gazing characters who endlessly over-analyzed themselves to the point of parody. The musical was the perfect embodiment of the so-called Me Decade, and the constant babbling by some of the characters was right in step with the zeitgeist (if these people were around today, they’d be screaming into their cell phones, posting selfies, and providing minute-by-minute accounts of their day on Facebook). The story’s basic premise was also weak because it wasn’t believable that a director would require prospective dancers to submit to probing questions in a public forum; and why would the dancers go along with his nosiness? Didn’t any of them have a notion of what personal matters are, of what privacy is? One could accept a serious one-on-one interview between director and performer, but a group confessional among strangers stretched credibility. It was also somewhat distasteful to witness the dancers all but grovel as they swallow their pride and cast aside their dignity in order to get a spot in the new show. But perhaps all of them were closet exhibitionists who reveled in excessive soul-baring. A few seemed somewhat unhappy in their chosen profession, and one suspected some were perhaps not completely suited for a life in the theatre. No vocation is perfect, and why should theirs be any different? Hopefully, they all attended Working a few years later and picked up some tips on non-show-business jobs. Edward Kleban’s lyrics were generally ordinary and were in no way a match for Hamlisch’s score. Like the librettists, he emphasized the self-pitying and inward-looking sides to many of the characters, but thankfully the music, direction, and choreography came through to salvage the often smug, self-satisfied air of so many of the dancers. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the revival was generally “pedestrian” and often seemed “recycled.” Here was an “archivally and anatomically correct reproduction,” but the revival’s creators “neglected to restore” the “central nervous system” and “throbbing heart” of the “landmark” musical. David Rooney in Variety suggested that the revival lacked “ownership,” and while “everybody works hard, no one quite dazzles” and the performers felt “like topnotch replacements rather than originators.” Richard Zoglin in Time noted that no one had rethought the musical, and while it was “too soon” to revive the work it was “also too soon to dismiss the show with mere nostalgia.”

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The script was belatedly published by Applause Books in a hardback edition in 1995. The original cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # PS-33581); the CD was issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/ Legacy Records (# SK-65282) and includes an expanded version of “Hello, Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello, Love.” Other recordings of the score include the 1983 Oslo cast (NorDisc Records LP # NORLP-422); the 1988 German cast (LP # 835-485-1 and CD # 835-485-2; company unknown); and the 1990 Italian cast (Carisch Records CD # CL-36). Columbia Records also released the LP collection Andre Kostelanetz Plays “A Chorus Line,” “Treemonisha,” and “Chicago.” The cast recording of the current revival was issued by Sony Masterworks Broadway Records (CD # 82876-89785-2), and the documentary Every Little Step: The Journey of “A Chorus Line” looks at the dancers who auditioned for the current production (the DVD was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment). There are numerous books about the musical, including: What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of “A Chorus Line” by Denny Martin Flinn (published in paperback by Bantam Books in 1989); On the Line: The Creation of “A Chorus Line” by Robert Viagas, Baayork Lee, and Thommie Walsh (published in hardback by William Morrow & Company in 1990, and reprinted in paperback by Limelight Editions in 2006); and The Longest Line: Broadway’s Most Singular Sensation: “A Chorus Line” by Gary Stevens and Alan George (published in hardback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 1995). The dreadful 1985 film version released by Polygram Pictures was indifferently directed by Richard Attenborough and included two unremarkable new songs (“Surprise, Surprise” and “Let Me Dance for You”); the soundtrack was issued by Casablanca and Filmworks Records (LP # 826-306-1M-1) and MGM released the DVD. The musical’s title was first used for an unproduced play by George Furth, who had of course written the book for Company, which had been choreographed by Michael Bennett. The play was announced for production in 1970 and for a time was under option by David Merrick.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (A Chorus Line); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Charlotte d’Amboise)

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: October 26, 2006; Closing Date: November 19, 2006 Performances: 28 Story Conceived by: Twyla Tharp Lyrics and Music: Bob Dylan Direction and Choreography: Twyla Tharp; Producers: James L. Nederlander, Hal Luftig/Warren Trepp, Debra Black, East of Doheny, Rick Steiner/Mayerson Bell Staton Group, Terry Allen Kramer, Patrick Catullo, and Jon B. Platt/Roland Sturm (Jesse Huot, Ginger Montel, and Rhoda Mayerson, Associate Producers); Scenery and Costumes: Santo Loquasto; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Henry Aronson Cast: Michael Arden (Coyote), Thom Sesma (Captain Ahrab), Lisa Brescia (Cleo); Ensemble: Lisa Gajda, Neil Haskell, Jason McDole, Charlie Neshyba-Hodges, Jonathan Nosan, John Selya, Ron Todorowski The dance musical was performed in one act. The action takes place “sometime between awake and asleep.”

Musical Numbers Note: The opening night program and Best Plays didn’t cite the names of the musical numbers, but Theatre World provided a list of the songs, as follows: “The Times They Are A-Changin’”; “Highway 61 Revisited”; “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right”; “Just Like a Woman”; “Like a Rolling Stone”; “Everything Is Broken”; “Desolation Row”; “Rainy Day Women # 12 and # 35”; “Mr. Tambourine Man”; “Masters of War”; “Blowin’ in the Wind”; “Please Mrs. Henry”; “On a Night

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Like This”; “Lay Lady Lay”; “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”; “Simple Twist of Fate”; “Summer Days”; “Gotta Serve Somebody”; “Not Dark Yet” (Part One); “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”; “Maggie’s Farm”; “Not Dark Yet” (Part Two); “I Believe in You”; “Dignity”; “Forever Young”; Playout: “Country Pie” Medley Choreographer-director Twyla Tharp had enjoyed success with her dance musical Movin’ Out, which used songs from Billy Joel’s catalog. But her next venture The Times They Are A-Changin’ (which featured numbers from Bob Dylan’s songbook) was a huge flop that lasted less than a month. The season thus far had offered modest, small-scaled shows of the Fame Becomes Me variety, but Tharp’s debacle led the season’s parade of big-budget, short-running fiascos, which included High Fidelity and The Pirate Queen. The program notes were ominous with their unwitting promise (and perhaps threat) of a coy and pretentious evening. The “fable” took place in a “dreamscape” that depicted Coyote Circus and its occupants, the greedy ringmaster, Captain Ahrab (Thom Sesma); his idealistic son, Coyote (Michael Arden); the runaway Cleo (Lisa Brescia), who seeks shelter in the circus, and all those circus clowns who “need direction but are getting tired of Ahrab’s rules.” We’re informed that the musical “uses prophecy, parable, metaphor, accusation and confession” in order “to confront us with images and ideas of who we are and who it is possible to be.” In response to such pretentious poppycock, one could only say: Sigh. The critics dismissed the show, potential ticket-buyers stayed away, and Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that the production lost $10 million. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the new dance musical was “Broadway’s own reality soap opera,” which could be titled When Bad Shows Happen to Great Songwriters. Jukebox musicals had taken over Broadway, and if you thought Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys), (John) Lennon, and Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) were “spectacles of torture,” they were “but bagatelles compared with the systematic steamrolling” done to Bob Dylan in The Times They Are A-Changin’. Tharp “single-handedly drags Mr. Dylan into the shallows,” and if the choreography sometimes defied gravity, the musical itself “may be the most earthbound work” ever devised by Tharp. And so while the dancers seemed to “fly,” Dylan’s lyrics were “hammered, one by one, into the ground.” David Rooney in Variety said the “unengaging mess” probably happened because Tharp’s “auteurial command prevented anyone from pointing out” that her concept was “just plain lame.” The “silly story” had a “feeble” narrative that “lurches from one number to the next without flow or development” and seemed “more like a circus-themed revue than an actual story.” Tharp had “no idea how to make the songs dynamic,” and her choreography was “disappointing” because there was “no correlation between music and movement” and her usual “buoyant physicality and anarchic elasticity” were here “almost marginal.” Richard Zoglin in Time said the “problematic” evening had a “murky” plot, and its “grungy-chic” circus setting was “more distracting than illuminating.” But the musical reflected Tharp’s “personal vision” and offered “one of the best sound tracks on Broadway.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker noted that “without any expansion of the characters you weary of them quickly.” Further, the production included “a great deal” of circus acts, and what was “a Twyla Tharp show if it doesn’t have dance?” And without much dance there wasn’t “a lot to watch.”

GREY GARDENS Theatre: Walter Kerr Theatre Opening Date: November 2, 2006; Closing Date: July 29, 2007 Performances: 308 Book: Doug Wright Lyrics: Michael Korie Music: Scott Frankel Based on the 1976 documentary film Grey Gardens (directed by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer, and Susan Froemke). Direction: Michael Greif; Producers: East of Doheny, Staunch Entertainment, Randall L. Wreghitt/Mort Swinsky, Michael Alden, and Edwin W. Schloss in association with Playwrights Horizons (Beth Williams, Executive Producer); Choreography: Jeff Calhoun; Scenery: Allen Moyer; Projection Design: Wendall K. Harrington; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: Lawrence Yurman Cast: For Prologue (1973)—Mary Louise Wilson (Edith Bouvier Beale), Christine Ebersole (“Little” Edie Bouvier Beale); For Act One (1941)—Christine Ebersole (Edith Bouvier Beale), Erin Davie (Young “Little” Edie

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Bouvier Beale), Bob Stillman (George Gould Strong), Michael Potts (Brooks Sr.), Sarah Hyland (Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier), Kelsey Fowler (Lee Bouvier), Matt Cavanaugh (Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr.), John McMartin (J. V. “Major” Bouvier); For Act Two (1973)—Mary Louise Wilson (Edith Bouvier Beale), Christine Ebersole (“Little” Edie Bouvier Beale), Michael Potts (Brooks Jr.), Matt Cavanaugh (Jerry), John McMartin (Norman Vincent Peale) The musical was presented in two acts (and a prologue). The action takes place in Grey Gardens, East Hampton, Long Island, New York; for the prologue and act two, the time is 1973, and for act one the time is 1941.

Musical Numbers Prologue (1973): “The Girl Who Has Everything” (Mary Louise Wilson) Act One (1941): “The Girl Who Has Everything” (reprise) (Christine Ebersole); “The Five-Fifteen” (which incorporates “Itty Bitty Geisha”) (Christine Ebersole, Bob Stillman, Sarah Hyland, Kelsey Fowler, Michael Potts); “Mother, Darling” (Erin Davie, Christine Ebersole, Bob Stillman); “Goin’ Places” (Matt Cavanaugh, Erin Davie); “Marry Well” (John McMartin, Michael Potts, Sarah Hyland, Kelsey Fowler, Erin Davie); “Hominy Grits” (Christine Ebersole, Bob Stillman, Sarah Hyland, Kelsey Fowler); “(Two) Peas in a Pod” (Erin Davie, Christine Ebersole); “Drift Away” (Bob Stillman, Christine Ebersole); “The Five-Fifteen” (reprise) (Christine Ebersole); “Daddy’s Girl” (Eric Davie); “The Telegram” (Erin Davie); “Will You?” (Christine Ebersole) Act Two (1973): “The Revolutionary Costume for Today” (Christine Ebersole); “The Cake I Had” (Mary Louise Wilson); “Entering Grey Gardens” (Company); “The House We Live In” (Christine Ebersole, Company); “Jerry Likes My Corn” (Mary Louise Wilson, Christine Ebersole); “Around the World” (Christine Ebersole); “Will You?” (reprise) (Mary Louise Wilson, Christine Ebersole); “Choose to Be Happy” (John McMartin, Company); “Around the World” (reprise) (Christine Ebersole); “Another Winter in a Summer Town” (Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson); “The Girl Who Has Everything” (reprise) (Mary Louise Wilson, Christine Ebersole) The program for Grey Gardens was quick to note that the events depicted in the musical were based on both fact and fiction, but the essence of the story was factual in its look at Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy’s cousins Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith’s daughter “Little” Edie Bouvier Beale, who during the early 1970s were found living in squalor in Grey Gardens, their decaying twenty-eight-room mansion in Long Island. The musical’s first act was set in 1941 when Edith (Christine Ebersole) and “Little” Edie (Erin Davie) were major figures in New York society, and the first half of the evening revolved around a family party in which “Little” Edie’s engagement to Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (Matt Cavanaugh) is announced (apparently no evidence exists of an actual engagement between the two, but in her later years “Little” Edie insisted there was an understanding between the Bouvier and Kennedy families). For the musical’s first act, Edith and “Little” Edie’s guests include Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (Sarah Hyland), Jacqueline’s sister Lee Bouvier Radziwill (Kelsey Fowler), and young Joe Kennedy. The second act takes place at Grey Gardens in 1973 when “Little” Edie (now played by Christine Ebersole) and Edith Bouvier Beale (Mary Louise Wilson) have become squabbling recluses in their raccoon-and-garbageinfested mansion where “Little” Edie dresses in bits and pieces of clothing that might charitably be described as eccentric (“Little” Edie describes her “costumes” as “revolutionary”). Grey Gardens was eventually condemned by the Suffolk County Board of Health in 1972, but reportedly Jacqueline Kennedy and other distant relatives provided funds to clean up the mansion and make it habitable enough to suit the requirements of the authorities. As a result, Edith lived there until her death in 1977, and “Little” Edie remained there until she sold the property in 1979. In his review of the film Grey Gardens, Leonard Maltin in his annual Movie Guide noted that the documentary would have been stronger had it provided perspective on the early lives of the two women, and Doug Wright’s book for the musical did just that with its backstory of Edith and “Little” Edie’s golden years of wealth and glamour. Wright’s strong book was well-matched by Michael Korie’s lyrics and Scott Frankel’s music, and the most outstanding numbers in the distinguished score were the amusing “The Revolutionary Costume for Today” and the devastating “Another Winter in a Summer Town.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times said like the earlier Off-Broadway production, the first act of the Broadway edition “never quite” took flight, but the deletion and addition of songs and the rewrites and rearrangements

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of the script offered a “more cleanly” focused story about the “unending, paralyzingly ambivalent struggle” between Edith and “Little” Edie. He noted that watching Ebersole’s star turn was “the best argument I can think of for the survival of the American musical,” and he mentioned that the layers of “despair, rebellion, and surrender” that the actress brought to “Another Winter in a Summer Town” became “a heartbreaking epitaph for an entire life.” David Rooney in Variety said the “emotionally trenchant” musical was “boldly odd, original and beguiling” and Ebersole’s performance was “sure to become a new benchmark for musical-theatre excellence.” The work was a “spellbinding account of fallen American royalty” who slip from “high society to its forlorn fringes,” and Allen Moyer’s “inventive” set mirrored their fall when it morphed “from sleek elegance to splintery squalor.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker indicated the first act was “a bit of a fusty bore” and the second half suffered “from odd, uninspired ghost sequences,” but the performances of Ebersole and Davie and the new tragic ending resonate “after the curtain goes down.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post indicated the musical was “of mixed and possibly limited interest.” Wright’s “clever” and “smart” book “ingeniously expanded” the story, but the score was the evening’s “one grave, even deadly disadvantage” because it was “derivative” with “secondhand, second-rate pastiche” that evoked Cole Porter, Noel Coward, Irving Berlin, Rudolf Friml, George M. Cohan, and “of course” Stephen Sondheim (Barnes noted that if he’d left anyone out, “rest assured” that the lyricist and composer had not). The musical had been first presented Off Broadway where it opened on March 7, 2006, at Playwrights Horizons for sixty-three performances. The cast included Sara Gettelfinger (as the first act’s “Little” Edie), who was succeeded by Erin Davie for the Broadway production. Five songs heard in the Off-Broadway mounting were dropped for Broadway (“Toyland,” “Body Beautiful Beale,” “Better Fall Out of Love,” “Tomorrow’s Woman,” and “Being Bouvier”) and three were added when the musical transferred to Broadway later in the year (“The Girl Who Has Everything,” “Goin’ Places,” and “Marry Well”). The Off-Broadway cast recording was released by PS Classics Records (CD # PS-642) and of course includes the five eventually deleted songs. In an unusual move, PS Classics withdrew the Off-Broadway cast album from its catalog when it released the Broadway recording (also numbered # PS-642); this recording includes the three new songs, one (“The Telegram”) which was in both versions but went unrecorded for the Off-Broadway album, and newly recorded versions of some of the other songs (including “Mother, Darling,” “Peas in a Pod,” and “Daddy’s Girl”). The artwork for the Off-Broadway recording depicts both a crumbling piece of statuary (which was also used for the cover of the Off-Broadway program) and a photograph of “Little” Edie in furs, and the artwork for the Broadway album depicts a photograph of “Little” Edie’s face hidden by an oval mirror, an image that was also used for the Broadway program. The script was published in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2007, and in 2008 an acting edition of the script was issued in paperback by Dramatists Play Service (the scripts include “It’s Her,” which had been incorporated into the eventually deleted song “Body Beautiful Beale”). In 2008, the fiftyminute documentary film Grey Gardens: From East Hampton to Broadway was shown on television, but it doesn’t appear to have been released on home video.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Grey Gardens); Best Book (Doug Wright); Best Score (lyrics by Michael Korie, music by Scott Frankel); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Mary Louise Wilson); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Allen Moyer); Best Costume Design of a Musical (William Ivey Long); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Peter Kaczorowski); Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Greif); Best Orchestrations (Bruce Coughlin)

DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! “The Musical”

Theatre: Hilton Theatre Opening Date: November 8, 2006; Closing Date: January 7, 2007 Performances: 107 Book and Lyrics: Timothy Mason (see list of musical numbers for additional credits)

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Music: Mel Marvin Based on the 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), which was also published in the December 1957 issue of Redbook. Direction: Matt August (production supervised by Jack O’Brien); Producers: Running Subway, EMI Music Publishing, and Michael Speyer and Bernie Abrams with Allen Spivak, Janet Pailet, and Spark Productions/Maximum Entertainment/Jonathan Reins (presented by Target) (Audrey Geisel, Associate Producer) (Joshua Rosenblum, Associate Producer) (James Sanna, Executive Producer); Choreography: John DeLuca (choreography restaged by Bob Richard); Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Special Effects Designer: Gregory Meeh; Costumes: Robert Morgan; Puppet Designer: Michael Curry; Lighting: Pat Collins; Musical Direction: Joshua Rosenblum Cast: John Cullum (Old Max), Price Waldman (JP Who), Kaitlin Hopkins (Mama Who), Michael McCormick (Grandpa Seth Who), Jan Neuberger (Grandma Who); Citizens of Whoville: Janet Dickinson, Andre Garner, Josephine Rose Roberts, William Ryall, Pearl Sun, Jeff Skowron; Rusty Ross (Young Max), Patrick Page (The Grinch) Note: For some roles, there were alternate cast members, and these were divided into a Red Cast and a White Cast. Red Cast Members—Nicole Bocchi (Cindy Lou Who), Malcolm Morano (Boo Who), Heather Tepe (Annie Who), Eamon Foley (Danny Who), Brynn Williams (Betty Who); Little Whos: Antonio D’Amato, Danielle Freid, Jess LeProtto, Katie Micha, Nikki Rose, Corwin Tuggles, and Kelly Rock Wiese; White Cast Members: Caroline London (Cindy Lou Who), Aaron Dwight Conley (Boo Who), Caitlin Belick (Annie Who), James Du Chateau (Danny Who), and Libbie Jacobson (Betty Who); Little Whos: Jahaan Amin, Kevin Csolak, Brianna Gentilella, Sky Jarrett, Daniel Manche, Jillian Mueller, and Molly J. Ryan The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place at Christmas Time in Whoville.

Musical Numbers “Who Likes Christmas?” (Citizens of Whoville); “I Hate Christmas Eve” (Patrick Page, Rusty Ross, Price Waldman, Kaitlin Hopkins, Jan Neuberger, Michael McCormick, Nicole Bocchi or Caroline London, Brynn Williams or Libbie Jacobson, Heather Tepe or Caitlin Belick, Eamon Foley or James Du Chateau, Malcolm Morano or Aaron Dwight Taylor); “WhatchamaWho” (Patrick Page, Little Whos); “Welcome, Christmas” (lyric by Theodor Geisel, music by Albert Hague) (Citizens of Whoville); “Once in a Year” (Price Waldman, Kaitlin Hopkins, Jan Neuberger, Michael McCormick, Citizens of Whoville, Little Whos); “One of a Kind”(Patrick Page); “Now’s the Time” (Price Waldman, Kaitlin Hopkins, Jan Neuberger, Michael McCormick); “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (John Cullum, Rusty Ross, Patrick Page); “Santa for a Day” (Nicole Bocchi or Caroline London, Patrick Page); “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (reprise) (John Cullum); “Who Likes Christmas?” (reprise) (Citizens of Whoville); “One of a Kind” (reprise) (Rusty Ross, Patrick Page, Nicole Bocchi or Caroline London); “Welcome, Christmas” (reprise) (Citizens of Whoville); Finale (Patrick Page, Nicole Bocchi or Caroline London, Whos Everywhere); “Who Likes Christmas?” (reprise) (Whos Everywhere, Patrick Page) After the debacle of Seussical, one assumed many a theatrical moon would go by before another Dr. Seussrelated Broadway musical braved Broadway. But the hopeful producers of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! brought their show to New York for the holidays where the critics stressed the family-friendly aspects of the musical. The production played out its limited engagement of 107 performances, and for the week of December 10, 2006, it broke all Broadway house records with almost $1.6 million in ticket sales (albeit on a twelveperformance-week schedule). The musical then returned the following season for another 96 showings (see entry). The popular book by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) was published in 1957, and the 1966 CBS television cartoon version directed by Chuck Jones became a popular holiday perennial. An early stage version of the current production was first produced in November 1994 by the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a later adaptation conceived and directed by Jack O’Brien was presented in 1998 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, where it was revived each Christmas season. This version included new songs with lyrics by Timothy Mason and music by Mel Marvin, and two from the 1966 telecast were interpolated into the score (“Welcome, Christmas” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” both with lyrics by Geisel and music by Albert Hague).

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The story took place in Whoville, where the Scrooge-like mean-and-green Grinch (Patrick Page) tries to quash all things Christmas by stealing everyone’s holiday decorations. But the people of Whoville are undeterred because the true meaning of Christmas transcends decorations and presents and thus the Grinch can never truly take Christmas away from them. Eventually, the Grinch comes to realize this truth and soon embraces Christmas with his newfound knowledge that the material aspects of the holiday are less important than the joy found in the spirits and hearts of those who celebrate the season. Jeffrey Eric Jenkins in Best Plays said that even “without a child in tow,” Grinch was “fun.” The critics mentioned the amusing paradox that Target was a producer of a musical that downplayed presents and the material aspect of Christmas, and they noted the further irony that the show celebrated the noncommercial aspects of Christmas but boasted a theatre lobby full of souvenirs for sale. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said the original television version was twenty-six minutes in length, and so the ninety-minute stage version felt somewhat bloated and “protracted.” But in comparison to the recent 2000 film based on Dr. Seuss’s story, the musical was “more faithful to the spirit and letter” of the original and was therefore “more pleasing.” The evening’s highlight was “One of a Kind,” the Grinch’s ode to himself (Isherwood said the number seemed to spoof the “glittering climax” of the current revival of Chicago). Another enjoyable moment occurred when the “tinkling strains of a distinctly sentimental nature” emanated from the pit. Upon hearing this music, the Grinch looked at the audience and “most grinchily” growled, “Oh, it’s a ballad!” Mark Blankenship in Variety said Page turned “One of a Kind” into a “showstopper” as the Grinch hails his singular status as the world’s only Grinch, and like Isherwood the critic was also reminded of Chicago when the Grinch comes across “like a children’s book Velma Kelly” and shows off before a tinseled curtain of “shimmering green.” And, yes, the Grinch was a “charming cad” when he announced with delight, “I love it when the little ones cry.” Blankenship also noted that the evening was “loud and busy” in its efforts to keep the kids in the audience “occupied,” and indeed it seemed that the “tykes stayed largely attentive.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the production was “as attractive as a window display at Saks” and “Christmas-weary parents will likely appreciate the stage show’s charm and restraint.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the musical was “certainly a lot better than” Seussical, and the show “should prove easy on a child’s attention span.” John Cullum (who as the old dog Max was the show’s narrator) and Rusty Ross (as Max’s younger puppyish self) gave “stylish performances” and Page played the Grinch “with old-time Shakespearean relish on green eggs and ham.” In 2013, Masterworks Broadway released a recording of the score that included among others Broadway cast members John Cullum, Patrick Page, and Rusty Ross.

LES MISERABLES Theatre: Broadhurst Theatre Opening Date: November 9, 2006; Closing Date: January 6, 2008 Performances: 463 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 John Caird and Trevor Nunn) Lyrics: Herbert Kretzmer Music: Claude-Michel Schonberg Based on the 1862 novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Direction: John Caird and Trevor Nunn (Shaun Kerrison, Associate Director); Producers: Cameron Mackintosh (Nicholas Allott, Matthew Dalco, and Fred Hanson, Executive Producers); Movement Consultant: Kate Flatt; Scenery: John Napier; Costumes: Andreane Neofitou; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites Cast: Alexander Gemignani (Jean Valjean), Norm Lewis (Javert), Doug Kreeger (Farmer), Drew Sarich (Innkeeper), Karen Elliott (Innkeeper’s Wife, Old Woman, Old Beggar Woman), JD Goldblatt (Laborer, Pimp), James Chip Leonard (The Bishop of Digne), Nehal Joshi (Constable, Sailor), Jeff Kready (Constable, Fauchelevant), Robert Hunt (Factory Foreman, Champmathieu), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Fantine), Haviland Stillwell (Factory Girl); Factory Workers: Becca Ayers, Daniel Bogart, Justin Bohon, Kate Chapman, Nikki Renee Daniels, Karen Elliott, Marya Grandy, Blake Ginther, JD Goldblatt, Victor Hawks, Nehal Joshi,

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Jeff Kready, Doug Kreeger, James Chip Leonard, Megan McGinnis, Drew Sarich, and Idara Victor; Justin Bohon (Sailor, Major Domo), Victor Hawks (Sailor), Kate Chapman (Madame); Whores: Becca Ayers, Nikki Renee Daniels, Ali Ewoldt, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Megan McGinnis, Haviland Stillwell, and Idara Victor; Marya Grandy (Crone), Daniel Bogart (Bamatabois), Tess Adams or Kylie Liya Goldstein or Carly Rose Sonenclar (Young Cosette), Gary Beach (Thenardier), Jenny Galloway (Madame Thenardier), Tess Adams or Kylie Liya Goldstein or Carly Rose Sonenclar (Young Eponine), Nikki Renee Daniels (Madeleine), Brian D’Addario or Jacob Levine or Austyn Myers (Gavroche), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Eponine), Ali Ewoldt (Cosette); Thenardier’s Gang: JD Goldblatt (Montparnasse), Jeff Kready (Babet), Victor Hawks (Brujon), and James Chip Leonard (Claquesous); Students: Aaron Lazar (Enjolras), Adam Jacobs (Marius), Daniel Bogart (Combeferre), Blake Ginther (Feuilly), Robert Hunt (Courfeyrac), Justin Bohon (Joly), Drew Sarich (Grantaire), Nehal Joshi (Lesgles), and Doug Kreeger (Jean Prouvaire): Chain Gang, The Poor, Factory Workers, Sailors, Whores, Pimps, and Wedding Guests: Members of the Ensemble The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in France during the years 1815–1832.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue (Company); “Soliloquy” (Alexander Gemignani); “At the End of the Day” (The Unemployed, Factory Workers); “I Dreamed a Dream” (Daphne Rubin-Vega); “Lovely Ladies” (Ladies, Clients); “Who Am I?” (Alexander Gemignani); “Come to Me” (Daphne Rubin-Vega, Alexander Gemignani); “Castle on a Cloud” (Tess Adams or Kylie Liya Goldstein or Carly Rose Sonenclar); “Master of the House” (Gary Beach, Jenny Galloway, Customers); “Thenadier Waltz” (Gary Beach, Jenny Galloway, Alexander Gemignani); “Look Down” (Brian D’Addario or Jacob Levine or Austyn Myers, Beggars); “Stars” (Norm Lewis); “Red and Black” (Aaron Lazar, Adam Jacobs, Students); “Do You Hear the People Sing?” (Aaron Lazar, Students, Citizens); “In My Life” (Ali Ewoldt, Alexander Gemignani, Adam Jacobs, Celia Keenan-Bolger); “A Heart Full of Love” (Ali Ewoldt, Adam Jacobs, Celia Keenan-Bolger); “One Day More” (Company) Act Two: “On My Own” (Celia Keenan-Bolger); “A Little Fall of Rain” (Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Jacobs); “Drink with Me to Days Gone By” (Drew Sarich, Students, Women); “Bring Him Home” (Alexander Gemignani); “Dog Eats Dog” (Gary Beach); “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” (Adam Jacobs); “Wedding Chorale” (Guests); “Beggars at the Feast” (Gary Beach, Jenny Galloway); Finale (Company) A revival of Les Miserables seemed a bit premature because the original Broadway production had closed just six-and-a-half years earlier after a sixteen-year run, but there was enough of an audience to support the musical for over another year. And six years after the current revival closed, yet another one opened on March 23, 2014, at the Imperial Theatre where it played for 1,024 performances. Clearly New York can’t get enough of being Miserables, and surely the next revival is just around the barricade. The musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel was an earnest but tiresome Classic Comics version that despite occasional weak and obvious attempts at humor was a mostly lugubrious evening that wore its heart on its tear-stained sleeve in an endless parade of either self-important, weight-of-the-world-on-my-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 musical stage had ever seen, and many of the characters met death in a variety of colorful and dramatic ways; in fact, it seemed that half of them didn’t make it to the finale. No wonder some dubbed the musical The Glums. But many were impressed by it all and were astounded by the décor: the barricade wowed ’em, as if they’d never seen the junk heap in Cats. But the critics gushed, and audiences made the musical one of the most successful in theatre history. It won eight Tony Awards (including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Direction) and won the New York Drama Critics’ Award for Best Musical. When it closed it was the second-longest-running musical in Broadway history, and as of this writing is in fifth place. The plot dealt with the decades-long pursuit by the obsessed Inspector Javert (Norm Lewis for the revival), who is fixated on the capture of the escaped convict Jean Valjean (Alexander Gemignani), whose crime was to steal a loaf of bread for his starving child. The personal story of Valjean’s persecution was mirrored by the French Student Revolution.

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The headline of Ben Brantley’s review in the New York Times asked, “Didn’t We Just See This Revolution?” The show looked “undercast,” the “slightly scaled-down” production functioned “in a state of mild sedation,” and what should have been a “sweet, burning kick of a shot of Courvoisier” instead tasted “like a warm glass of milk.” This “revival by Xerox” was “a facsimile of its prototype” and was less the “real thing” than “a hyper-enlarged scrapbook memento.” There was a lack of “fiery passion” in the performances, and without “bona fide barnstormers storming the barricades” the evening seemed “almost as quaint as a movie operetta starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.” Gemignani and Lewis sang “handsomely,” but their “emotional temperatures” felt “fixed at about 96 degrees”; Daphne Rubin-Vega’s “breathy, little-girl voice and sultry mannerisms” clashed with her character of Fantine; and as Thenardier, Gary Beach used “the same florid, jiggly-gelatin mannerisms” he employed in The Producers. (Brantley reported that the engagement was to be a limited one of six months, but as noted the revival played for over a year.) David Rooney in Variety said the musical “still works,” noted the “surprise factor” in the “hasty revival” was its “top-tier cast,” and suggested the “show’s fans could do a lot worse than this sturdy production.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker was less than impressed with some of the major cast members and said the producers of the “quickie revival” should have let “this poor, bloated musical rest in peace.” The musical was first produced in Paris at the Palais des Sports on September 24, 1980, and a revised version premiered in London at the Barbican Center on October 8, 1985, where as of this writing it’s still playing. The original West End cast included Colm Wilkinson (Valjean) and Frances Ruffelle (Eponine), both of whom reprised their roles for the New York premiere, and others in the London cast were Patti LuPone (Fantine) and Michael Ball (Marius). 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 (Relativity 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 (in 2016, the book was re-issued in paperback by Arcade Publishing). 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 in paperback by Applause Theatre and Cinema Books in 2007.

MARY POPPINS “The New Musical”

Theatre: New Amsterdam Theatre Opening Date: November 16, 2006; Closing Date: March 3, 2013 Performances: 2,619 Based on the Mary Poppins stories by P. L. Travers (eight books published during the period 1934–1988) and the 1964 film Mary Poppins (direction by Robert Stevenson, screenplay by Bill Walsh and Don Da Gradi, lyrics and music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman). Book: Julian Fellowes Lyrics and Music: Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman New Lyrics and Music: Lyrics by Anthony Drewe and music by George Stiles (with additional lyrics by Drewe and additional music by Stiles for certain numbers in the Sherman Brothers’ score) Direction: Richard Eyre (Matthew Bourne, Codirector; Anthony Lyn, Associate Director); Producers: Disney and Cameron Mackintosh (produced for Disney Theatrical Productions by Thomas Schumacher) (James Thane, Associate Producer); Choreography: Matthew Bourne (Stephen Mear, Co-choreographer; Geoffrey Garratt, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes: Bob Crowley; Lighting: Howard Harrison; Musical Direction: Brad Haak Cast: Gavin Lee (Bert), Daniel Jenkins (George Banks), Rebecca Luker (Winifred Banks), Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro (Jane Banks), Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger (Michael Banks), Megan Osterhaus (Katie Nanna, Annie), James Hindman (Policeman, Mr. Punch), Ann Arvia (Miss Lark), Michael McCarty (Admiral Boom, Bank Chairman), Jane Carr (Mrs. Brill), Mark Price (Robertson Ay), Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins), Nick Corley (Park Keeper), Brian Leten-

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dre (Neleus), Ruth Gottschall (Queen Victoria, Miss Smythe, Miss Andrew), Sean McCourt (Von Hussler), Matt Loehr (Northbrook), Cass Morgan (Bird Woman), Janelle Anne Robinson (Mrs. Corry), Vasthy E. Mompoint (Fannie), Tyler Maynard (Valentine), Eric B. Anthony (William), Catherine Walker (Glamorous Doll); Ensemble (as Statues, Bank Clerks, Customers, Toys, Chimney Sweeps, Lamp Lighters, and Inhabitants of Cherry Tree Lane): Eric B. Anthony, Ann Arvia, Kristin Carbone, Nick Corley, Case Dillard, Ruth Gottschall, James Hindman, Brian Letendre, Matt Loehr, Michelle Lookadoo, Tony Mansker, Tyler Maynard, Michael McCarty, Sean McCourt, Vasthy E. Mompoint, Jesse Nager, Kathleen Nanni, Megan Osterhaus, Dominic Roberts, Janelle Anne Robinson, Shekitra Starke, Catherine Walker, Kevin Samuel Yee The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around the Banks’s household in London during the turn of the twentieth century.

Musical Numbers Note: (*) denotes songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman as adapted by Anthony Drewe and George Stiles; and (**) denotes new songs by Drewe and Stiles. Act One: “Chim Chim Cher-ee” (*) (Gavin Lee); “Cherry Tree Lane” (Part One) (**) (Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Luker, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Jane Carr, Mark Price); “The Perfect Nanny” (Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger); “Cherry Tree Lane” (Part Two) (**) (Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Luker, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Jane Carr, Mark Price); “Practically Perfect” (**) (Ashley Brown, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger); “Jolly Holiday” (*) (Gavin Lee, Ashley Brown, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Brian Letendre, Statues); “Cherry Tree Lane” (**) (reprise)/“Being Mrs. Banks” (**)/“Jolly Holiday” (*) (reprise) (Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Luker, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger); “A Spoonful of Sugar” (Ashley Leigh, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Mark Price, Rebecca Luker); “Precision and Order” (**) (Michael McCarty, Bank Clerks); “A Man Has Dreams” (*) (Daniel Jenkins); “Feed the Birds” (Cass Morgan, Ashley Brown); “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (*) (Ashley Brown, Janelle Anne Robinson, Gavin Lee, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Vasthy E. Mompoint, Megan Osterhaus, Customers); “Temper, Temper” (**) (Tyler Maynard, Eric B. Anthony, James Hindman, Catherine Walker, Toys); “Chim Chim Cher-ee” (*) (reprise) (Gavin Lee, Ashley Brown) Act Two: “Cherry Tree Lane” (**) (reprise) (Jane Carr, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Rebecca Luker, Mark Price, Daniel Jenkins);”Brimstone and Treacle” (Part One) (**) (Ruth Gottschall); “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” (Gavin Lee, Nick Corley, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger); “Cherry Tree Lane” (**) (second reprise) and “Being Mrs. Banks” (**) (reprise) (Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Luker); “Brimstone and Treacle” (Part Two) (**) (Ashley Brown, Ruth Gottschall); “Practically Perfect” (**) (reprise) (Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Ashley Brown); “Chim Chim Cheree” (*) (reprise) (Gavin Lee); “Step in Time” (*) (Gavin Lee, Ashley Brown, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, The Sweeps); “A Man Has Dreams” (*) (reprise) and “A Spoonful of Sugar” (reprise) (Daniel Jenkins, Gavin Lee); “Anything Can Happen” (**) (Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Matthew Gumley or Henry Hodges or Alexander Scheitinger, Ashley Brown, Company); “A Spoonful of Sugar” (reprise) (Ashley Brown); “A Shooting Star” (*) (Orchestra) The London import Mary Poppins was a joint production by Disney Theatrical Productions and Cameron Mackintosh and was the first Disney stage musical to premiere in London prior to New York. The British

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production opened at the Prince Edward Theatre on December 15, 2004, for a three-year run, and the cast included Laura Michelle Kelly (Mary Poppins), Gavin Lee (Bert), and Linzi Hately (Winifred Banks). For New York, Lee reprised his West End role, and the production played for almost six-and-a-half years. The musical was based both on P. L. Travers’s Mary Poppins stories (there were eight in the series that had been published during the years 1934–1988) and Disney’s 1964 musical film version, which earned a Best Actress Academy Award for Julie Andrews in the title role. “Chim Chim Cher-ee” also won the Academy Award for Best Song, and Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman’s score included such popular novelties as “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Jolly Holiday,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Set in Edwardian London, the story dealt with magical flying nanny Mary Poppins (Ashley Brown), who sets aright the slightly dysfunctional Banks family, father George (Daniel Jenkins), mother Winifred (Rebecca Luker), and children Jane (played at alternating performances by Katherine Leigh Doherty, Kathryn Faughnan, and Delaney Moro) and Michael (played at alternating performances by Matthew Gumley, Henry Hodges, and Alexander Scheitinger). Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the musical “handsome, homily-packed and rather tedious,” and noted the evening was “less concerned with inexplicable magic than with practical psychology.” As a result, “every act of sorcery” came with “a fortune-cookie life lesson attached” because “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,” and the musical seemed to have an “almost Puritanical suspicion of theatrical enchantment for its own sake.” The work never achieved “the undiluted wonder” of the opening segment of Disney’s The Lion King, and the show’s fantasies seemed “to exist principally for didactic purposes.” The title character was really an “advice guru,” who surely carried in her satchel a “heavy invisible volume on family counseling.” David Rooney in Variety said the musical was “somewhat overstuffed” but nonetheless offered “dazzling stagecraft, stunning design, old-fashioned storytelling virtues, and genuine charm.” He noted that for the musical’s climax Mary soared above the audience “before disappearing into the heavens” and the effect was “both simple and enthralling,” and Mary’s friend the chimney-sweeper Bert (Lee) created his own magic when for “Step in Time” he somehow managed to tap “up and around the entire proscenium arch.” Hinton Als in the New Yorker suggested the musical was about “extravagance.” It therefore “overloads the senses to such a degree that you stumble out of the theatre in a daze, uncertain whether you have had a theatrical experience or a bag of Cheetos and a Big Gulp.” But no doubt “this is as it should be—certainly if you are a child,” and in order “to make this particular dramaturgical medicine go down,” director Richard Eyre coated “the entire production with spoonfuls of sugar.” Richard Corliss in Time “quite liked” the musical, and while it wasn’t “absolutely super,” he predicted it would outlast “the cavils of its critics” and he gave it “a decade.” He was particularly impressed with the “technical legerdemain” that allowed Lee to “walk up the wall and on the ceiling of the proscenium,” and he “loved hating” Ruth Gottschall (as George Banks’s own former nanny Mrs. Andrews) in “Margaret Hamilton wicked-witch mode.” But the “Jolly Holiday” sequence included “nudish” statues, an idea that he relegated “to the What Were They Thinking? bin.” For London, the “Temper, Temper” sequence raised eyebrows when Jane and Michael’s toys rebel against them and sentence them to death by firing squad, but the sequence was softened for New York. However, Corliss noted that because the toys become alive and grow “giant-size,” the scene would scare kids in the time-honored fashion of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, and Pinocchio, and Brantley happily reported that the toys “still get angry, but not homicidal,” and so there wasn’t much “to frighten anyone, except possibly diabetics.” During the New York run, “Temper, Temper” was permanently dropped from the musical and replaced with “Playing the Game.” The stage version retained ten songs from the original film (“Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “The Perfect Nanny,” “Jolly Holiday,” “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “A Man Has Dreams,” “Feed the Birds,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” “Step in Time,” and “A Shooting Star”), of which six (“Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Jolly Holiday,” “A Man Has Dreams,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Step in Time,” and “A Shooting Star”) were adapted with new lyrics and music by lyricist Anthony Drewe and composer George Styles. Drewe and Styles also wrote seven new songs for the stage version (“Cherry Tree Lane,” “Practically Perfect,” “Being Mrs. Banks,” “Precision and Order,” “Temper, Temper,” “Brimstone and Treacle,” and “Anything Can Happen”). Five songs from the original film weren’t included for the stage adaptation (“Sister Suffragette,” “The Life I Lead,” “I Love to Laugh,” “Stay Awake,” and “Fidelity Fiduciary Bank”). The London production included “Good for Nothing,” which for New York was retitled (as the second act’s second reprise of “Cherry Tree Lane”). The London cast album was released by First Night Records (CD # 93), and a recording taken live from the Australian production was issued by Walt Disney Records.

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Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Mary Poppins); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Gavin Lee); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Rebecca Luker); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Bob Crowley); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Bob Crowley); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Howard Harrison); Best Choreography (Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear)

COMPANY

“A Musical Comedy” Theatre: Ethel Barrymore Theatre Opening Date: November 29, 2006; Closing Date: July 1, 2007 Performances: 246 Book: George Furth Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: John Doyle (Adam John Hunter, Associate Director); Producers: Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Ambassador Theatre Group, Tulchin/Bartner Productions, Darren Bagert, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Choreography: Mary-Mitchell Campbell; Scenery: David Gallo; Costumes: Ann Hould-Ward; Lighting: Thomas C. Hase; Musical Direction: Mary-Mitchell Campbell Cast: Raul Esparza (Bobby; Percussion, Piano), Barbara Walsh (Joanne; Orchestra Bells, Percussion), Keith Buterbaugh (Harry; Trumpet, Trombone), Matt Castle (Peter; Piano/ Keyboards, Double Bass), Robert Cunningham (Paul; Trumpet, Drums), Angel Desai (Marta; Keyboard, Violin, Alto Sax), Kelly Jeanne Grant (Kathy; Flute, Alto Sax), Kristin Huffman (Sarah; Flute, Alto Sax, Piccolo), Amy Justman (Susan; Piano/Keyboards, Orchestra Bells), Heather Laws (Amy; French Horn, Trumpet, Flute), Leenya Rideout (Jenny; Violin, Guitar, Double Bass), Fred Rose (David; Cello, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax), Bruce Sabath (Larry; Clarinet, Drums), Elizabeth Stanley (April; Oboe, Tuba, Alto Sax) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Company” (Raul Esparza, Company); “The Little Things You Do Together” (Barbara Walsh, Company); “Sorry-Grateful” (Keith Buterbaugh, Fred Rose, Bruce Sabath); “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” (Elizabeth Stanley, Jeanne Grant, Angel Desai); “Have I Got a Girl for You” (Bruce Sabath, Matt Castle, Robert Cunningham, Fred Rose, Keith Buterbaugh); “Someone Is Waiting” (Raul Esparza); “Another Hundred People” (Angel Desai); “Getting Married Today” (Heather Laws, Robert Cunningham, Amy Justman, Company); “Marry Me a Little” (Raul Esparza) Act Two: “Side by Side by Side” (Raul Esparza, Company); “What Would We Do without You?” (Raul Esparza, Company); “Poor Baby” (Kristin Huffman, Leenya Rideout, Amy Justman, Heather Laws, Barbara Walsh); “Barcelona” (Raul Esparza, Elizabeth Stanley); “The Ladies Who Lunch” (Barbara Walsh); “Being Alive” (Raul Esparza) Like his production of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, director John Doyle’s revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical Company used a dubious gimmick that did away with the traditional orchestra and instead required the performers to double as musicians. Thankfully, this conceit seems to have been short-lived, although producers looking to save money may pick up on it again. And of course there are those who automatically anoint any production which is different as being brilliant and creative. But let’s hope there won’t be a future production of Company where the music is completely eliminated and the actors speak both lyrics and dialogue. The current revival originated at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 18, 2006, and all its cast members appeared in the Broadway production. The revival omitted the second-act, solo-dance sequence “Tick Tock,” and like the musical’s 1995 revival by the Roundabout Theatre Company included “Marry Me a Little,” which had been cut during the tryout of the original Broadway production.

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Company examined contemporary relationships in Manhattan, in this case from the perspective of bachelor Robert (otherwise known as Bobby, and played by Raul Esparza for the current revival), his five marriedcouple friends Sarah and Harry (Kristin Huffman and Keith Buterbaugh), Susan and Peter (Amy Justman and Matt Castle), Jenny and David (Leenya Rideout and Fred Rose), Amy and Paul (Heather Laws and Robert Cunningham), and Joanne and Larry (Barbara Walsh and Bruce Sabath), and his three casual girlfriends Marta, Kathy, and April (Angel Desai, Kelly Jeanne Grant, and Elizabeth Stanley). The sour and cynical view of commitment (and the lack of it) struck a raw nerve for many, who were also startled by the musical’s nonlinear plot, for which librettist George Furth provided staccato, revue-like glimpses into Bobby’s various relationships. The work was one of the most successful concept musicals, a genre in which plot and character are subjugated to the mood, atmosphere, and viewpoint of the production. For the concept musical, a linear storyline with a defined beginning, middle, and end is less important than the overall pattern in which book, lyrics, music, direction, choreography, visual design, and performance style tell an essentially abstract story that avoids a traditional narrative and a clear-cut conclusion. Company depicts restless and discontented New Yorkers seemingly in search of companionship, but in some instances they either inadvertently or purposely reject it, and by the final curtain we don’t really know what Bobby will do and what will become of him. The concept musical presents situations and asks questions for which perhaps there aren’t easy resolutions or answers. Company begins with a surprise birthday party thrown for Bobby by his friends, and at the end of the evening they throw another one for him. But he skips the final party, which might be a surreal extension of the first one. Did all the action in between reflect his observations about his relationships? Is the entire show a flashback where he muses about his empty life? And what about that disconcerting moment when he visits one couple and witnesses a contentious moment between them? Oddly enough, when he leaves them and they’re alone, they embrace. Was Bobby projecting tension that wasn’t really there? As one character notes toward the end of the show, “You see what you look for, you know.” The revival was well received, but some of the critical comments were curious. Much was made over David Gallo’s impressively frigid and austere décor, and some viewers apparently forgot (or didn’t know) that Boris Aronson’s original designs for the 1970 production had also created a dark and chilly mise en scène of stainless steel and Plexiglas playing areas that were connected by walkways, stairs, and moving elevators. Aronson also used bleak and blurry photographic representations of Manhattan cityscapes and streets, a musical-noir look that gave an overall impression of black and white with little in the way of traditional musical-comedy color. Similarly, much was made of the revival’s performances, as if here were real interpretations of Sondheim’s magnificent score. Again, many had apparently forgotten the sterling interpretations by the original cast members, such as Beth Howland’s breathless and vulnerable “Getting Married Today” and Pamela Myers’s equally impressive “Another Hundred People.” But at least no one quite dared to forget or ignore Elaine Stritch’s definitive “The Ladies Who Lunch.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the revival “elegant” and “unexpectedly stirring,” and he noted that the use of musical instruments helped define Bobby’s alienation from the rest of the characters because while all the others played instruments of one kind or another, Bobby (except for a bit of percussion and kazoo playing) only came into his own with a musical instrument when he sang and played the concluding number, the cathartic “Being Alive.” David Rooney in Variety commented that bachelor Bobby’s “sexual identity is called more directly into question here than perhaps ever before,” but Peter Marks in the Washington Post noted that the sequence when Peter propositions Bobby felt “tacked on, as if intended to quell the guessing.” Marks also mentioned that the “savvy” and “inventive” musical had an “importance” that seemed “only to grow with time,” and John Lahr in the New Yorker said the “brilliantly innovative” musical contained a score that “opened up a whole Pandora’s box of ambivalence.” But he felt Furth’s book was weak, and that Company was really a song cycle, “albeit a spectacular one.” Company first opened on April 26, 1970, at the Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre for 705 performances and won six Tony Awards (for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book, Best Lyrics, Best Score, and Best Scenic Design) and was chosen as the season’s Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. The work was revived Off Broadway by the York Theatre Company on October 23, 1987, for 20 performances (for this version, “Tick Tock” was retitled “Love Dance,” and for the current production the

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sequence was eliminated), and then at the Harold Clurman Theatre on November 5, 1991, for 14 showings. Prior to the current production, the musical was revived on Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company on October 5, 1995, for 68 performances (like the current one, this production added “Marry Me a Little” to the score). On April 7, 2011, a concert version of the work was presented at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall for 4 performances with Neil Patrick Harris (Bobby), Patti LuPone (Joanne), Craig Bierko (Peter), and the New York Philharmonic. The London production opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on January 18, 1972, for 344 performances with many of the Broadway cast members, including Larry Kert (who as Bobby replaced Dean Jones early in the New York run), Elaine Stritch, Beth Howland, Terri Ralston, and Steve Elmore. The original 1970 Broadway cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # OS-3550), and the most recent CD edition was issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy (# SK-65283) and includes a bonus track of “Being Alive” sung by Larry Kert. The so-called London cast album (CBS Records LP # 70108 and later issued by Sony West End Records CD # SMK-53446) is actually the Broadway cast album for which newly recorded tracks by Kert were substituted for those of Dean Jones. The demo recording of the score includes “Happily Ever After” (which was dropped during the musical’s pre-Broadway tryout) and both a regular and a “rock” version of the title song. Columbia released a private promotional recording of the musical (LP # AS-6/ XLP-153168) that includes interviews by Lee Jordan with Sondheim, director Harold Prince, and cast members Dean Jones, Elaine Stritch, and Barbara Barrie; the recording also offers selections from the original cast album (“Someone Is Waiting,” “Side by Side by Side,” “Sorry-Grateful,” “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “Another Hundred People,” and the title song). The 1995 revival was recorded by Broadway Angel (CD # 7243-5-55608-2-7), and the current one was issued by Nonesuch/PS Classics (CD # 108876-2). A 1996 London revival was recorded by First Night Records (CD # CASTCD-57); a 2001 German cast recording (unnamed label and unnumbered CD) includes eight selections from the show; and a 2001 Brazilian cast album was issued on CD (# VSCD-0001). Except for the German album, all these recordings include the interpolated “Marry Me a Little.” Company . . . in Jazz (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5673) by the Trotter Trio includes nine songs from the score. The cut song “Happily Ever After” is included in SONDHEIM: A Musical Tribute where it was sung by Larry Kert (the evening was recorded on a two-LP set by Warner Brothers Records # 2WS-2705 and was later issued on a two-CD set by RCA Victor Records # 60515-2-RC), and the unused “Multitudes of Amys” is included in the collection Unsung Sondheim (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5433). The 1981 Off-Broadway song-cycle Marry Me a Little (which consists of mostly obscure Sondheim songs set to a wispy plot) includes “Marry Me a Little” and “Happily Ever After” and was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # ABL1-4159 and later issued on CD # 7142-2-RG). The recording session for the 1970 cast album was the subject of D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary film Company, which was issued on DVD by DocuRama (# NVG-9457); the current Broadway revival was shown on public television on February 20, 2008, and was released on DVD by Image Entertainment (# ID4480EKDVD); and the 2011 concert was also shown on public television and was also released on DVD by Image Entertainment. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1970, and was also included in the 1973 hardback collection Ten Great Musicals of the American Theatre, edited by Stanley Green and published by Chilton Book Company (although the collection isn’t notated as the first volume, there was also a second volume in the series). In 1996, Theatre Communications Group published both paperback and hardback editions of the script, which include various additions and revisions for different productions, including the interpolation of “Marry Me a Little”; at least one politically corrected lyric (for “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “gay” is now substituted for “fag”); and in one revised scene Peter makes a pass at Bobby (which the latter chooses to interpret as a joke). The lyrics for both the used and unused songs are included in Sondheim’s 2010 hardback collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. George Furth’s book was originally written as an evening of short one-act, nonmusical playlets titled Threes, in which Kim Stanley was to star and Tony Perkins to direct. The project never materialized, and eventually Furth’s script evolved into the book for Company. Furth later reworked one of the unused playlets into his 1971 comedy-drama Twigs (which consisted of four short plays, Emily, Celia, Dorothy, and Ma, and for which Sondheim contributed the song “Hollywood and Vine”).

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Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Company); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (Raul Esparza); Best Direction of a Musical (John Doyle)

HIGH FIDELITY “A New Musical”

Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: December 7, 2006; Closing Date: December 17, 2006 Performances: 13 Book: David Lindsay-Abaire Lyrics: Amanda Green Music: Tom Kitt Based on the 1995 novel High Fidelity by Nick Hornby and the 2000 film of the same name (direction by Stephen Frears and screenplay by D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg). Direction: Walter Bobbie (Marc Bruni, Associate Director); Producers: Jeffrey Seller, Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, Live Nation, Roy Miller, Dan Markley, Ruth Hendel/Danzansky Partners, and Jam Theatricals (Sonny Everett and Mariano Tolentino Jr.); Choreography: Christopher Gattelli; Scenery: Anna Louizos; Costumes: Theresa Squire; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Adam Ben-David Cast: Will Chase (Rob), Andrew C. Call (Hipster, Roadie), Justin Brill (Futon Guy), Matt Caplan (Guy with Mohawk, Neil Young), Christian Anderson (Dick), Jay Klaitz (Barry), Jenn Colella (Laura), Kirsten Wyatt (Anna, Alison), Anne Warren (Penny, Back-Up Singer), Emily Swallow (Charlie, Marie LaSalle), Caren Lyn Manuel (Sarah), Rachel Stern (Liz, Jackie), Jon Patrick Walker (T.M.P.M.I.T.W., Bruce), Jeb Brown (Ian, Middle-Aged Guy) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Brooklyn during “the recent past.”

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Last Real Record Store on Earth” (Will Chase, Pale Young Men, Christian Anderson, Jay Klaitz); “Desert Island Top-Five Break-Ups” (Will Chase, Top-Five Girls); “It’s No Problem” (Christian Anderson); “She Goes” (Rachel Stern, Will Chase); “Ian’s Here” (Jeb Brown, Jenn Colella); “Number Five with a Bullet” (Jenn Colella, Top-Five Girls); “Ready to Settle” (Emily Swallow, Anne Warren); “Terrible Things” (Emily Swallow); “The Last Real Record Store on Earth” (reprise) (Jay Klaitz, Christian Anderson, Will Chase, Pale Young Men); “Nine Percent Chance” (Will Chase, Jay Klaitz, Christian Anderson, Pale Young Men) Act Two: “I Slept with Someone (Who Slept with Lyle Lovett)” (Will Chase); “I Slept with Someone (Who Handled Kurt Cobain’s Intervention)” (Jenn Colella); “I Slept with Someone” (reprise) (Will Chase, Jenn Colella); “Exit Sign” (Matt Caplan); “Cryin’ in the Rain” (Will Chase, Top-Five Girls); “Conflict Resolution I” (Will Chase); “Conflict Resolution II” (Will Chase, Jay Klaitz, Christian Anderson); “Conflict Resolution III” (Will Chase, Jay Klaitz, Christian Anderson, Gangstas, Bitches); “Goodbye and Good Luck” (Jon Patrick Walker, Will Chase); “It’s No Problem” (reprise) (Christian Anderson, Kirsten Wyatt); “”Ian’s Prayer” (Jeb Brown); “Laura, Laura” (Will Chase); “Saturday Night Girl” (The Skids); “Turn the World Off (and Turn You On)” (Jay Klaitz, Jon Patrick Walker, Klepto Boy, Will Chase, Jenn Colella, Rachel Stern) High Fidelity was one of the biggest bombs of the season, and it ran up a $10 million loss. And at thirteen performances, it was also the season’s shortest-running musical. Based on both Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel and its 2000 film version, which respectively took place in London and Chicago, the musical was set in Brooklyn and focused on Rob (Will Chase), a pop-music fanatic who runs a record store and is obsessed with vinyl records (Michael Riedel in the New York Post noted that High Fidelity was “sort of a heterosexual” Drowsy Chaperone). Rob’s an expert on all things esoteric regarding popular music and is also compulsive about list-

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making, but otherwise is a failure in his relationships, especially with women in general and his girlfriend Laura (Jenn Colella) in particular. As the evening progresses, Rob learns to grow up emotionally and relate to people, not things, and by the final curtain he and Laura are reunited. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the show “erases itself from your memory even as you watch it,” and characters in the novel and film who were “obnoxious” with “rough edges and prickly quirks” were now softened into “uniform blandness.” Tom Kitt’s score included “watered-down pop and rock elements” which had been thrown “into a pot” with hopes they’d “congeal,” and the lyrics by Amanda Green (daughter of lyricist Adolph Green) were “obscenity-heavy.” David Rooney in Variety said the “bland” musical lacked “charm, sincerity and heart,” had a “generic” and “imitative” score, and “by-the-numbers” direction. And while Green’s lyrics scored “occasional comic points,” the “strain of striving for coolness shows in both lyrics and profanitystrewn dialogue.” Structurally, the musical failed to make Rob and Laura’s relationship “urgent and compelling,” and neither character was “interesting enough for us to care much whether they get back together.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the evening was a “brave if foolhardy attempt” to translate the book and film to the musical stage because “you need music,” and here Kitt’s score was “copycat, reverential, referential pastiche” which resulted in “the fatal combination of sounding familiar yet unmemorable.” But Green’s “razzle-dazzle” lyrics had “a style and grace that zing in the ear.” In his pre-opening analysis of the musical, Riedel reported that the show had a small advance sale of $600,000, and the Boston tryout was a “disaster.” Further, the musical’s target audience was “straight males in their 20s and 30s,” all of whom “would rather be caught in a gay bar than at a Broadway musical.” Further, the film had used established pop songs by the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, and Stevie Wonder, and Velvet Underground devotees wouldn’t line up to buy tickets for a show with lyrics by Green, “the daughter of the man who wrote Subways Are for Sleeping,” and music by Pitt, who had earlier conducted Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore. The cast album was released by Ghostlight Records (# 84421) and the CD includes a bonus track of “Too Tired,” a song cut during the show’s rehearsals. During the tryout, Justin Brill played the roles of Sarah and Pathetic Guy, and for New York he played the Futon Guy (a character not listed in the tryout program) and Caren Lyn Manuel (who didn’t appear in the tryout) played the role of Sarah (the role of Pathetic Guy was written out of the show). Also, for the tryout Katy Mixon played Liz and Jackie, and for New York was succeeded by Rachel Stern. The opening night program didn’t cite the names of the musical numbers, and the above list is taken from a variety of sources, such as Best Plays and the cast recording. Best Plays indicates the songs “Terrible Things,” “Ian’s Prayer,” and “Saturday Night Girl” were heard on opening night, but Theatre World doesn’t include them (and these three songs aren’t heard on the cast album, which was recorded a month after the musical closed).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Anna Louizos)

SPRING AWAKENING “A New Musical”

Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: December 10, 2006; Closing Date: January 18, 2009 Performances: 859 Book and Lyrics: Steven Sater Music: Duncan Sheik Based on the 1891 play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind. Direction: Michael Mayer; Producers: Ira Pittelman, Tom Hulce, Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Atlantic Theatre Company (Jeffrey Sine, Freddy DeMann, and Max Cooper), Mort Swinsky/Cindy and Jay Gutterman/Joe McGinnis/Judith Ann Abrams, ZenDog Productions/Jennifer Manocherian/Ted Snowdon, Harold Thau/Terry Schnuck/Cold Spring Productions, Amanda Dubois/Elizabeth Eynon Wetherell, Jennifer Maloney/Tamara

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Tunie/Joe Cilibrasi/StyleFour Productions (Joan Cullman Productions and Patricia Flicker Addiss, Associate Producers); Choreography: Bill T. Jones; Scenery: Christine Jones; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Kevin Adams; Musical Direction: Kimberly Grigsby Cast: Lea Michele (Wendla), Christine Estabrook (The Adult Women), Lilli Cooper (Martha), Lauren Pritchard (Ilse), Phoebe Strole (Anna), Remy Zaken (Thea), Stephen Spinella (The Adult Men), Brian Charles Johnson (Otto), Jonathan B. Wright (Hanschen), Gideon Glick (Ernst), Skylar Astin (Georg), John Gallagher Jr. (Moritz), Jonathan Groff (Melchoir); Ensemble: Gerard Canonico, Jennifer Damiano, Robert Hager, Krysta Rodriguez The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a provincial German town in the 1890s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Mama Who Bore Me” (Lea Michele); “Mama Who Bore Me” (reprise) (Girls); “All That’s Known” (Jonathan Groff); “The Bitch of Living” (John Gallagher Jr., with Boys); “My Junk” (Girls and Boys); “Touch Me” (Boys and Girls); “The Word of Your Body” (Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff); “The Dark I Know Well” (Lilli Cooper, Lauren Pritchard with Boys); “And Then There Were None” (John Gallagher, Jr. with Boys); “The Mirror-Blue Night” (Jonathan Groff with Boys); “I Believe” (Boys and Girls) Act Two: “The Guilty Ones” (Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff with Boys and Girls); “Don’t Do Sadness” (John Gallagher Jr.); “Blue Wind” (Lauren Pritchard); “Left Behind” (Jonathan Groff); “Totally Fucked” (Jonathan Groff with Company); “The Word of Your Body” (reprise) (Jonathan B. Wright, Gideon Glick with Boys and Girls); “Whispering” (Lea Michele); “Those You’ve Known” (John Gallagher Jr., Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff); “The Song of Purple Summer” (Company) Spring Awakening was based on Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play of the same name, and the musical was first produced Off Broadway on June 15, 2006, by the Atlantic Theatre Company for fifty-four performances. It transferred to Broadway with most of the cast intact (for Off Broadway, the roles of the adult men were played by Frank Wood and the adult women by Mary McCann, and for Broadway the characters were played by Stephen Spinella and Christine Estabrook). The writers were clearly sincere in their effort to create a musical that dealt frankly with the sexual awakening of a group of adolescents in the Germany of 1891, and the book’s dialogue was generally formal in the manner of the period. But otherwise the performance style reflected the attitude of the present day, and the lyrics were peppered with vulgarity; further, the score was rock-driven and sometimes the performers sang in rock-concert fashion. The juxtaposition of the 1891 time frame and the present day worked for many, but one felt the musical was neither-nor and might have been more satisfying and certainly more ironic had the lyrics and music utilized or at least reflected some of the musical styles of the 1890s. The story itself was tiresome with its endless array of angst-ridden adolescents, all of whom were embroiled in over-the-top melodramatic and overwrought episodes worthy of an X-rated soap opera that included an unwanted pregnancy, gay romance, rape, child molestation, two deaths (one a suicide, another from a botched abortion), group masturbation, and a flashy hands-on solo masturbation act. And if the kids were just innocents trying to find their way through a sexual forest, the adults were of course depicted as cruel, bumbling, or indifferent. The critics praised the musical, which ran over two years and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times found the work “brave,” “haunting,” and “electrifying,” said the score was “ravishing,” and in an oh, please moment stated that with the premiere of the musical Broadway “may never be the same.” David Rooney in Variety praised the “exhilarating” and “truly original” show, and said the evening bristled “with rawness, vitality and urgency.” Here was an “audacious balancing” of “period drama and contemporary edge” with “starchy language” for the dialogue and a “distinctly modern” sound for the musical sequences (but he noted the lyrics tended “at times to stray toward purple, prosaic vagueness”). An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the work was “exciting” and Michael Mayer’s direction communicated “a powerful and poetic intelligence.” Ten years earlier, critics and audiences had swooned over Rent, which at the time was considered the last word in edgy, iconoclastic musical theatre. But for Rooney, Rent was now “hampered by bad-ass, living-

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on-the-edge posturing,” while Spring Awakening had “an authenticity that connects the show directly to the generation being depicted.” The Broadway cast recording was released by Decca Broadway Records (CD # B00008020-02) and came with a parental advisory. As Fruhlings Erwachen (with the tagline “Das Rock-Musical”), a German cast recording was released by HitSquad Records; and a Frankfurt cast album (performed in English) was also released on CD. The script was published in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 2007, and the hardback Spring Awakening: In the Flesh was published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment in 2008 and includes the “unabridged” libretto (the volume is self-described as “the official companion to the Broadway musical,” and for some reason was “designed to resemble a vandalized book”). Songs cut during preproduction and during the Off-Broadway run were: “Great Sex,” “The Clouds Will Drift Away,” “All Numb,” “A Comet on Its Way,” and “There Once Was a Pirate.” The musical was revived in a Deaf West production that opened on September 27, 2015, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre for 135 performances.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Spring Awakening); Best Book (Steven Sater); Best Score (lyrics by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Jonathan Groff); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (John Gallagher Jr.); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Christine Jones); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Susan Hilferty); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Kevin Adams); Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Mayer); Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones); Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik) New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award: Best Musical (2006–2007) (Spring Awakening)

THE APPLE TREE Theatre: Studio 54 Opening Date: December 14, 2006; Closing Date: March 11, 2007 Performances: 99 Book: Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock; additional book material by Jerome Coopersmith Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick Music: Jerry Bock Direction: Gary Griffin; Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director); Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler; Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Rob Fisher The Apple Tree consists of three separate musicals; the original 1966 production was presented in three acts, but for the revival The Diary of Adam and Eve and The Lady or the Tiger? were seen in the first act, and Passionella in the second. Act One: The Diary of Adam and Eve Based on the short stories “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” (1904) and “Eve’s Diary” (published in magazine format in 1905 and in book format in 1906) by Mark Twain (both works are generally known as The Diaries of Adam and Eve). The action takes place in Eden on Saturday, June 1. Cast: Brian d’Arcy James (Adam), Kristin Chenoweth (Eve), Marc Kudisch (Snake)

Musical Numbers “Eden Prelude” (Orchestra); “Here in Eden” (Kristin Chenoweth); “Feelings” (Kristin Chenoweth); “Eve” (Brian d’Arcy James); “Friends” (Kristin Chenoweth); “The Apple Tree” (“Forbidden Fruit”) (Marc Kudisch); “Beautiful, Beautiful World” (Brian d’Arcy James); “It’s a Fish” (Brian d’Arcy James); “Go to Sleep, Whatever You Are” (Kristin Chenoweth); “What Makes Me Love Him” (Kristin Chenoweth)

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Act One: The Lady or the Tiger? Based on the 1882 short story “The Lady, or the Tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton. The action takes place a long time ago in a semi-barbaric kingdom. Cast: Marc Kudisch (Balladeer), Walter Charles (King Arik), Kristin Chenoweth (Princess Barbara), Mike McGowan (Prisoner, Guard), Sean Palmer (Tiger), Sarah Jane Everman (Prisoner’s Bride), Lorin Latarro (Nadjira), Brian d’Arcy James (Captain Sanjar), Julie Connors (Guard); King Arik’s Court: Meggie Cansler, Julie Connors, Sarah Jane Everman, Justin Keyes, Loin Latarro, Mike McGowan, Sean Palmer, Dennis Stowe

Musical Numbers “The Lady or the Tiger Prelude” (Orchestra); “I’ll Tell You a Truth” (Marc Kudisch); “Make Way” (Walter Charles, King Arik’s Court); “Forbidden Love”/“In Gaul” (Kristin Chenoweth, Brian d’Arcy James); “The Apple Tree” (reprise) (Marc Kudisch); “I’ve Got What You Want” (Kristin Chenoweth); “Tiger, Tiger” (Kristin Chenoweth); “Make Way” (reprise) (King Arik’s Court); “Which Door?” (Brian d’Arcy James, Kristin Chenoweth, Walter Charles, King Arik’s Court); “I’ll Tell You a Truth” (reprise) (Marc Kudisch) Act Two: Passionella “A Romance of the ’60s” Based on the 1957 short story “Passionella” by Jules Feiffer. The action takes place “then,” and the location is “here.” Cast: Marc Kudisch (Narrator), Kristin Chenoweth (Ella, Passionella), Walter Charles (Mr. Fallible, Producer), Justin Keyes (Newsboy), Dennis Stowe (Director), Julie Connors (Film Critic), Mike McGowan (Stage Hand), Brian d’Arcy James (Flip, The Prince, Charming and George L. Brown); Subway Riders, El Morocco Patrons, Fans, Flip’s Following, Movie Set Crew: Meggie Cansler, Julie Connors, Sarah Jane Everman, Justin Keyes, Lorin Latarro, Mike McGowan, Sean Palmer, Dennis Stowe

Musical Numbers “Passionella Mini-Overture” (Orchestra); “Oh, to Be a Movie Star” (Kristin Chenoweth); “Gorgeous” (Kristin Chenoweth); “(Who, Who, Who, Who,) Who Is She?” (Company); “Wealth” (Kristin Chenoweth); “You Are Not Real” (Brian d’Arcy James); “George L.” (Kristin Chenoweth, Brian d’Arcy James) Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s The Apple Tree was an evening of three one-act musicals that opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 18, 1966, for 463 performances. The production was directed by Mike Nichols, and Barbara Harris gave one of the great comic performances of the era, a splendid star turn that won her the Tony Award for Best performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. The original production also starred Alan Alda and Larry Blyden, and Robert Klein was among the other cast members. The evening consisted of three musicals, The Diary of Adam and Eve (based on material by Mark Twain), The Lady or the Tiger? (based on Frank R. Stockton’s short story), and Passionella (based on Jules Feiffer’s short story). The musicals shared two rather vague and unrelated themes. Each story utilized the man-andwoman-with-devil-as-tempter theme (Adam, Eve, and the devil/snake; Princess Barbara, Captain Sanjar, and the Balladeer; and Ella/Passionella, Flip, the Prince, Charming/George L. Brown, and local neighborhood fairy godmother). And for a reason known only to the show’s creators, all three musicals were tied together by a reference to the color brown: a brown house for Adam and Eve, a “house painted brown” for Barbara and Sanjar; and the character of George L. Brown. (During preproduction, Bock and Harnick had considered a number of short stories for The Apple Tree, including Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.”) The underrated books for the three musicals were amusing, pithy, and direct, and in Nichols’s original production they abounded in both verbal and visual wit. All three were told with a wealth of music (not counting reprises and orchestral sequences, there were a total of twenty-four separate songs, including one added after the opening). Bock’s score was rich in melody and rhythm, and Harnick’s lyrics were among his best. But today the delightful score is generally overlooked and unappreciated (and the lack of an extractable hit song didn’t help identify the show for the general public).

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The Diary of Adam and Eve begins on Saturday, June 1, when Adam and Eve share the blissfulness of the Garden of Eden (but “something” tells Eve she’d better enjoy it while she can). In the meantime, the two begin to assign names to things around them. Adam uses awkward appellations (one bird is a “loud-mouthed fat beak”), while Eve has the uncanny ability to give everything its perfectly right and exact name (in this case, “parrot”). And when they come across a “great waterfall,” Eve names it Niagara Falls because, well, it just looks like Niagara Falls. When the First Baby arrives, they aren’t sure what it is, but Eve instinctively sings it to sleep with the First Lullaby (“Go to Sleep, Whatever You Are”), while in hyperkinetic fashion Adam sings that “It’s a Fish.” Adam and Eve grow to love one another, and with “What Makes Me Love Him” Eve sang one of the most gorgeous and shimmering ballads of the Broadway era. And when she dies, Adam comes to realize their being forced to leave the Garden wasn’t a tragedy because “wheresoever” Eve was “there was Eden.” The gentle charms of The Diary of Adam and Eve soon exploded into the tongue-in-cheek madness of The Lady or the Tiger? Set in an ancient “semi-barbaric” kingdom, the musical opened with a rainstorm of flashing whips as hell-cat Her Royal Highness (also known as Her Flashing Eyeness and Her Self-Indulgeness) makes her grand entrance on a throne carried by royal guards. We soon discover that Her Regal Proudness is in love with commoner Captain Sanjar, a “forbidden love” that perhaps can only flower if they steal away to a place called Gaul (it’s divided in three parts, and they’ll choose the part that’s closest to their hearts). But their dreams are for naught, and Sanjar is brought to trial for the sin of loving Her Goddessness, and thus he must choose one of two doors. Behind one is a beautiful woman whom he can marry, and behind the other a ravenous tiger that will kill him. The jealous princess knows what’s behind each door, and as the curtain falls she signals to him which door he should choose. The third musical was Passionella, which offered some of the most hilarious moments in modern musical comedy. Chimneysweep Ella is a drudge, a slavey, and a nobody, and her only desire is to be a “mooo-vie star” (if her wish is granted, she’ll be so grateful that after premieres she’ll sweep up the theatre and fold up the chairs). The original production offered a clever bit of stage magic in which Ella is instantly (instantly) transformed into the sexy, curvaceous, and blonde Passionella whose very bosoms blossom like balloons (the segment was restaged for the 1967 Tony Awards show, and it doesn’t completely reflect all the stage business seen in the theatre). But Passionella is forewarned: she is only a gorgeous movie star between the hours of the Huntley-Brinkley early evening news show and the late, late movie show. So Passionella becomes a great underground movie star who naturally takes the subway to El Morocco and only makes her films at night. Like so many who achieve the heights of movie stardom, Passionella realizes that It’s Lonely at the Top (“Oh, how hollow is all this beauty”), but at the opening of Sunset Strip’s newest “psychedelic drugstore” she meets the man of her dreams, the rock star Flip, the Prince, Charming who possesses the “sulky masculinity of Presley” and “the hairstyle of Eleanor Roosevelt.” However, Flip, the Prince, Charming is unimpressed with her and in “You Are Not Real” derides her Cinerama body and her celluloid heart (she’ll never make his heart throb because the girl of his dreams is a slob). Passionella decides she’s “tired of being a cardboard figure on a tinsel background” and demands that the studio give her the chance to play one of the “real people.” So soon she’s starring in the $20 million production The Chimney-Sweep, which is filmed in no less than daylight, and the entire free world (“with the exception of France”) is stunned. Suddenly, it’s Oscar Night, and against the backdrop of a King Kong–sized Oscar, presenter Flip, the Prince, Charming, opens-the-envelope-please and announces that Passionella is the winner. In one of the funniest moments of the evening, Barbara Harris (as Passionella) swept down the aisle of the Shubert Theatre to accept her Oscar, and her acceptance speech was one for the record books. At first, Passionella is all breathless high-pitched little-girl squeals of excited babble and incoherency, but in a millisecond she suddenly switches to a deep and controlled contralto and matter-of-factly thanks all those who made possible her great and grand achievement. Passionella and Flip, the Prince, Charming immediately decide to marry (“Passionella, I love you, man”), and from the Oscar ceremony go to Passionella’s chic Bel-Air hideaway where they spend the night “making tender love in front of the television set.” But when the late, late show is over, the lights black out, a huge flash is seen, and suddenly Passionella has reverted to Ella . . . and Flip, the Prince, Charming, is now a nerdy mouse of a man named George L. Brown. Both realize they’d been granted wishes by their respective friendly neighborhood fairy godmothers, and oh how they merrily laugh and giggle at the wackiness of it all. As the curtain falls, the National Anthem is played while a screen shows the American flag in all its glory. Early in the original Broadway run, “I Know” (sung by Barbara Harris during the Passionella sequence) was added, and the number is included on the cast album, which was issued by Columbia Records (LP # KOS-3020

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and # KOL-6620, and later released on CD by Sony Broadway Records # SK-48209). The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1967 (which also includes “I Know”). The Diary of Adam and Eve was presented in Canada at Niagara-on-the-Lake during Summer 1972, and the following year opened at Toronto’s Theatre in the Dell; the cast album of Diary was released by Trillium Records (LP # TR-2000). The 1994 Takarazuka production was recorded on a two-CD set by TMP Records (# TMPC-194). The cut song “I’m Lost” is included in the collection Lost in Boston II (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5485). The musical was revived by the York Theatre Company at the Church of the Heavenly Rest on March 20, 1987, for nineteen performances, and an Encores! production was presented at City Center for five performances beginning on May 12, 2005, with Kristin Chenoweth, Malcolm Gets (Adam, Sanjar, and Flip, the Prince, Charming), and Michael Cerveris (Snake, Balladeer, Narrator). When the Encores! concert production was revived on Broadway the following year, Chenoweth reprised her roles and Brian d’Arcy James and Marc Kudisch played respectively the Adam and Snake characters (and the voice of an unbilled Alda was heard as God during the Diary sequence). Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Simba, Tarzan, Beauty, and Beast weren’t “even in the running” because “the most winning performance by an animated cartoon” on Broadway was being given by a “blindingly radiant package” named Kristin Chenoweth. She had the “feral comic instincts of Lucille Ball,” she could turn “canapé-styled jokes and songs into banquets,” and her transformation from Ella to Passionella was a “virtuosic achievement.” As for the material itself, Brantley liked The Diary of Adam and Eve but otherwise felt the evening was “pretty bare” and noted the “slender series of sketches” were probably “already looking faded in the 1960s.” David Rooney in Variety said that “as star vehicles go” The Apple Tree was “a female musical comedy performer’s dream,” and it provided Chenoweth with “a snug showcase” for her “effervescent vocal and comic gifts.” She possessed “the timing and physical comedy skills of a classic screwball star like Carole Lombard,” and during the Diary sequence she was “hilarious” as “a biblical Martha Stewart on a décor mission” as she did a makeover of Adam’s house. Otherwise, the revival was a “slapped-together” production with “workmanlike” direction that exposed “the flimsy material’s limitations.” John Lahr in the New Yorker praised the “adorable” Chenoweth and noted she “owns the Broadway franchise” with her “particular brand of 4-H Club buoyancy.” He found the Diary portion of the evening the “most satisfying,” and commented that the other two musicals were little more than “diva spoofs” and “theatrical vamping.” Bock and Harnick’s Passionella was actually the second stage adaptation of the short story. A different version had been seen in The World of Jules Feiffer, which was produced in summer stock four years earlier, and it too was directed by Mike Nichols. The evening consisted of four short plays that Feiffer adapted from his short stories, and it opened at the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse in Clinton, New Jersey, on July 2, 1962, and permanently closed there on July 7. The cast included Ronny Graham, Dorothy Loudon, and Paul Sand, and although the production wasn’t a musical, Stephen Sondheim contributed background music for two of the playlets, including one song for Passionella (“Truly Content” was sung by Loudon).

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Revival (The Apple Tree)

CURTAINS

“A Great Big New Musical Comedy” Theatre: Al Hirschfeld Theatre Opening Date: March 22, 2007; Closing Date: June 29, 2008 Performances: 511 Book: Rupert Holmes (original book and concept by Peter Stone) Lyrics: Fred Ebb (additional lyrics by John Kander and Rupert Holmes) Music: John Kander Direction: Scott Ellis; Producers: Roger Berlind, Roger Horchow, Daryl Roth, Jane Bergere, Ted Hartley, and Center Theatre Group (Barbara and Peter Fodor, Associate Producers); Choreography: Rob Ashford (JoAnn M. Hunter, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Anna Louizos; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: David Loud

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Cast: Patty Goble (Jessica Cranshaw, Connie Subbotin), Jim Newman (Randy Dexter), Jill Paice (Niki Harris), Megan Sikora (Bambi Bernet), Noah Racey (Bobby Pepper), Michael X. Martin (Johnny Harmon), Karen Ziemba (Georgia Hendricks), Jason Danieley (Aaron Fox), Debra Monk (Carmen Bernstein), Michael McCormick (Oscar Shapiro), Edward Hibbert (Christopher Belling), David Hyde Pierce (Lieutenant Frank Cioffi), Mary Ann Lamb (Mona Page), Matt Farnsworth (Harv Fremont), Darcie Roberts (Roberta Wooster), Ernie Sabella (Sidney Bernstein), Kevin Bernard (Detective O’Farrell, Roy Stetson), John Bolton (Daryl Grady), David Loud (Sasha Iljinksky), Paula Leggett Chase (Marjorie Cook), Nili Bassman (Arlene Barruca), Ward Billeisen (Brick Hawvermale), Jennifer Dunne (Jan Setler), Brittany Marcin (Peg Prentice), Joe Aaron Reid (Ronnie Driscoll), Christopher Spaulding (Russ Cochran) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1959.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Wide Open Spaces” (Jim Newman, Jill Paice, Patty Goble, Noah Racey, Ensemble); “What Kind of Man?” (Debra Monk, Michael McCormick, Jason Danieley, Karen Ziemba); “Thinking of Him” (Karen Ziemba, Jason Danieley, Noah Racey); “The Woman’s Dead” (Company); “Show People” (Debra Monk, David Hyde Pierce, Company); “Coffee Shop Nights” (David Hyde Pierce); “In the Same Boat 1” (Karen Ziemba, Jill Paice, Megan Sikora); “I Miss the Music” (Jason Danieley); “Thataway!” (Karen Ziemba, Noah Racey, Ensemble) Act Two: “He Did It” (Company); “In the Same Boat 2” (Noah Racey, Jim Newman, Matt Farnsworth); “It’s a Business” (Debra Monk, Stagehands); “Kansasland” (Jim Newman, Jill Paice, Matt Farnsworth, Noah Racey, Megan Sikora, Ensemble); “I Miss the Music” (reprise) (Jason Danieley, Karen Ziemba); “A Tough Act to Follow” (David Hyde Pierce, Jill Paice, Ensemble); “In the Same Boat 3” (Company); “A Tough Act to Follow” (reprise) (Company) The musical murder mystery Curtains had been long gestating, and during the preproduction period both its librettist Peter Stone and lyricist Fred Ebb died. Rupert Holmes eventually joined the show and received credit for the book, with the acknowledgment that the original book and concept were by Stone (Holmes was a good choice, as he had written the book, lyrics, and music for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, aka Drood, the scripts for the respective 1990 and 1992 Broadway thrillers Accomplice and Solitary Confinement, and the 2013 Broadway stage adaptation of John Grisham’s mystery A Time to Kill). Holmes and composer John Kander also wrote additional lyrics for the production. Kander and Ebb had written a few unproduced shows, and after Ebb’s death, Curtains was the first of three posthumously produced Broadway musicals with lyrics by Ebb (the other two were The Scottsboro Boys and The Visit). Curtains took place at Boston’s Colonial Theatre in 1959 during the tryout of a new musical titled Robbin’ Hood! (subtitled “A New Musical of the Old West”).The time period of 1959 was particularly apposite because the first musical to open on Broadway that year was the Tony Award–winning murder-mystery musical Redhead (which was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse and starred Gwen Verdon) and it was soon followed by Destry Rides Again, a musical set in the Old West. It turns out that Robbin’ Hood! is in big trouble because its talent-free and over-the-hill-and-in-need-of-acomeback leading lady, Jessica Cranshaw (Patty Goble), is murdered on stage during the finale of the show’s opening night. So . . . whodunit? That’s the problem for stage-struck Boston police detective Frank Cioffi (David Hyde Pierce), who once appeared in a community theatre production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where his Bottom was very well-received. Lieutenant Cioffi has a theatre full of suspects, and he must capture the killer before he or she strikes again, which indeed he or she does. Time is running out, and furthermore, the show must go on. And so while the lieutenant has a big job to do, he still has enough time to play show doctor and give advice on how to improve Robbin’ Hood! (after all, he’s seen it in previews). Among the suspects are the overly sweet understudy, Niki Harris (Jill Paice); the hard-boiled producer, Carmen Bernstein (Debra Monk); her perhaps too pliable husband, Sidney (Ernie Sabella); the Bernstein’s ambitious and untalented daughter and chorine, Bambi Bernet (Megan Sikora); the swishy director, Christopher Belling (Edward Hibbert), who discovers he’s one of the prime suspects and states, “It’s an honor just to be nominated”; the squeaky-clean leading man, Bobby Pepper (Noah Racey); the stage manager, Johnny Harmon, who may know too much (Michael X. Martin); the possibly too nice composer, Aaron Fox (Jason Danieley);

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snide theatre critic Daryl Grady (John Bolton); and the all-too-willing replacement for the dead Jessica, lyricist Georgia Hendricks (Karen Ziemba), who just happens to be Aaron’s former wife. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Curtains was a “talent-packed” and “thrill-starved” production that “lies on the stage like a promisingly gaudy string of firecrackers, waiting in vain for that vital, necessary spark to set it off.” The musical had an “unaggressive predictability” about it and soon started to feel like an episode of Columbo or Murder, She Wrote “caught in reruns on a sleepless night.” Many of the “wouldbe showstoppers” were “often repetitious without being rousing,” the dialogue tried but failed for arch bon mots (“The only thing you could arouse is suspicion”), and the anachronistic “crotch-centered” choreography “would have repulsed audiences of 1959.” John Lahr in the New Yorker praised the “smart” and “ingeniously put together” musical, and noted Anna Louizos’s décor and William Ivey Long’s costumes “expertly spoofed everything to do with the clichés of the Broadway musical.” The dialogue had amusing moments (when Monk reads a disastrous review of Robbin’ Hood!, she wonders if the word debacle might have two meanings), the dances were “humorous,” and the score was “bright without being distinguished.” Although David Rooney in Variety said the show wasn’t “funny enough,” it was “all the more surprising” that it ultimately worked. The first act meandered, but after intermission the musical bounced back with “infectious, ingratiating spirit,” and while the diverting evening didn’t dazzle, it nonetheless registered “as satisfying entertainment.” Rooney singled out a number of songs, including the mock salute to theatre critics (“What Kind of Man?”), the “solemnly unsympathetic dirge” to the murdered leading lady (“The Woman’s Dead”), the big Robbin’ Hood! numbers (“Thataway!” and “Kansasland”), the company’s song of accusations and paranoid suspicions concerning who the killer might be (“He Did It”), a paean to commercial as opposed to nonprofit theatre (“It’s a Business” sums up its philosophy in two words, “Gorky/Schmorky”), and a dance fantasy (“A Tough Act to Follow”), which Rooney found reminiscent of Marge and Gower Champion but Lahr and Brantley thought was more evocative of Fred and Ginger. The score also included the introspective ballads “Coffee Shop Nights” and “I Miss the Music.” The cast album was released by EMI/Broadway Angel Records (CD # 0946-3-92212-2-6). One of the newspaper ads for Curtains used a backdrop of a New York Times–styled ABC column that advertised other musicals that were seen on Broadway during the calendar year of 1959. Besides Redhead and Destry Rides Again, the hits Bells Are Ringing, Fiorello!, Flower Drum Song, Gypsy, Jamaica, The Most Happy Fella (in a City Center revival),The Music Man, Once Upon a Mattress, The Sound of Music, and West Side Story were listed, as well as the marginal hit Take Me Along, the short-running Goldilocks, and the legendary flop Whoop-Up. As befits a mystery musical like Curtains, there was a red-herring among the shows listed in the ad: an edition of New Faces of 1959 is playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, but this was a nonexistent show (during the era of Curtains, two editions of Leonard Sillman’s New Faces had opened, one in 1956 and the other in 1962). The ad also features what appears to be a mistake: Li’l Abner opened on Broadway in November 1956 and closed in July 1958 (but perhaps we can give Li’l Abner a pass because its film version was released in 1959).

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Curtains); Best Book (Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone); Best Score (lyrics by Fred Ebb, Rupert Holmes, and John Kander, music by John Kander); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Hyde Pierce); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Debra Monk); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Ziemba); Best Direction of a Musical (Scott Ellis); Best Choreography (Rob Ashford)

THE PIRATE QUEEN “A New Musical”

Theatre: Hilton Theatre Opening Date: April 5, 2007; Closing Date: June 17, 2007 Performances: 85 Book: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, and Richard Maltby Jr.

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Lyrics: Alain Boublil, Richard Maltby Jr., and John Dempsey Music: Claude-Michel Schonberg Based on the 1986 novel Grania—She-King of the Irish Seas by Morgan Llywelyn. Direction: Frank Galati (Tara Young, Associate Director); Producers: Riverdream (Moya Doherty and John McColgan, Directors) (Edgar Dobie, Executive Producer) (Dancap Productions, Inc., Associate Producer); Choreography: Graciela Daniele (Rachel Bress, Associate Choreographer) (Mark Dendy, Additional Choreography); Irish Dance Choreography: Carol Leavy Joyce; Scenery: Eugene Lee (Edward Pierce, Scenic Design Associate); Special Effects Design: Gregory Meeh; Aerial Sequence Design: Paul Rubin; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Julian Kelly Cast: Stephanie J. Block (Grace aka Grania O’Malley), Hadley Fraser (Tiernan), Jeff McCarthy (Dubhdara), Aine Ui Cheallaigh (Evleen), Linda Balgord (Queen Elizabeth I), William Youmans (Sir Richard Bingham), Marcus Chait (Donal O’Flaherty), Joseph Mahowald (Chieftain O’Flaherty), Brooke Elliott (Majella), Christopher Grey Misa (Eoin on Wednesday and Sunday matinee and Thursday and Saturday evening performances), Steven Barath (Eoin on Friday and Saturday matinee and Tuesday and Wednesday evening performances); Ensemble: Nick Adams, Richard Todd Adams, Caitlin Allen, Sean Beglan, Jerad Bortz, Troy Edward Bowles, Grady McLeod Bowman, Alexis Ann Carra, Noelle Curran, Bobbie Ann Dunn, Brooke Elliott, Christopher Garbrecht, Eric Hatch, Cristin J. Hubbard, David Koch, Timothy Kochka, Jamie LaVerdiere, Joseph Mahowald, Tokiko Masuda, Padraic Moyles, Brian O’Brien, Kyle James O’Connor, Michael James Scott, Greg Stone, Katie Erin Tomlinson, Daniel Torres, Jennifer Waiser, Briana Yacavone The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the late sixteenth century in Ireland and England.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser); “The Pirate Queen” (Jeff McCarthy, Hadley Fraser, Stephanie J. Block, Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Oarsmen, Company); “Woman” (Stephanie J. Block); “The Storm” (Company); “My Grace” (Jeff McCarthy, Stephanie J. Block); “Here on This Night” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Crew); “The First Battle” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Jeff McCarthy, Company); “The Waking of the Queen” (Linda Balgord, Ladies-in-Waiting); “Rah-Rah, Tip-Top” (Linda Balgord, William Youmans, Lords, Ladies-in-Waiting); “The Choice Is Mine” (Stephanie J. Block, Jeff McCarthy, Joseph Mahowald, Hadley Fraser, Marcus Chait, Company); “The Bride’s Song” (Stephanie J. Block, Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Women); “Boys’ll Be Boys” (Marcus Chait, Mates, Barmaids); “The Wedding” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Marcus Chait, Jeff McCarthy, Joseph Mahowald, Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Company); “I’ll Be There” (Hadley Fraser); “Boys’ll Be Boys” (reprise) (Marcus Chait, Mates, Stephanie J. Block, Joseph Mahowald); “Trouble at Rockfleet” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Marcus Chait, William Youmans, Company); “A Day beyond Belclare” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Marcus Chait, Company); “Go Serve Your Queen” (Linda Balgord, William Youmans); “Dubhdara’s Farewell” (Jeff McCarthy, Stephanie J. Block); “Sail to the Stars” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Marcus Chait, Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Company) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “It’s a Boy” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Marcus Chait, Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Brooke Elliott, Sailors); “Enemy at Port Side” (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Marcus Chait, Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Brooke Elliott, Sailors); “I Dismiss You” (Stephanie J. Block, Marcus Chait, Sailors); “If I Said I Love You” (Hadley Fraser, Stephanie J. Block); “The Role of the Queen” (Linda Balgord, William Youmans, Lords, Ladies-in-Waiting); “The Christening” (Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Company); “Let a Father Stand By His Son” (Marcus Chait, Stephanie J. Block, William Youmans, Hadley Fraser, Aine Ui Cheallaigh); “Surrender” (William Youmans, Hadley Fraser, Linda Balgord, Company); “She Who Has All” (Linda Balgord, Stephanie J. Block); “Lament” (Stephanie J. Block, Brooke Elliott, Christopher Grey Misa or Steven Barath); “The Sea of Life” (Stephanie J. Block, Company); “Terra Marique Potens” (Linda Balgord, Stephanie J. Block, William Youmans); “Woman to Woman” (Linda Balgord, Stephanie J. Block); “Behind the Screen” (Company); “Grace’s Exit” (Stephanie J. Block, Linda Balgord, William Youmans, Company); Finale (Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Company) Like Hairspray and Wicked before and Legally Blonde after it, The Pirate Queen wanted the all-important teenage-girl audience, and like those and many other musicals of the era it was about girl empowerment, or at least Broadway’s conception of you-go-girl attitude. The musical’s creators included lyricist and librettist

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Alain Boublil and composer Claude-Michel Schonberg, who had enjoyed two enormous successes with Les Miserables (which had been revived on Broadway earlier in the season) and Miss Saigon. But their London import Martin Guerre was a lugubrious dud that closed during its pre-Broadway tryout, and with The Pirate Queen they came a cropper with one of the biggest debacles in Broadway history. Michael Riedel in the New York Post said the “lumbering” musical was a “historic flop” that would have won the Tony Award for Best Flop had there been such a category. The musical managed little more than two months on Broadway and lost the staggering amount of $18 million. The story was set in sixteenth-century Ireland and England and focused on the title character, one Grace or Grania O’Malley (Stephanie J. Block), who rebels against England’s conquest of her homeland and who challenges the Irish policies of Queen Elizabeth I (Linda Balgord). The two women meet and seem to come to a mutually advantageous understanding, but history suggests their conference ultimately yielded little in the way of progress. The evening clearly tried to depict two powerful women in an era when women generally didn’t have power, but an unsigned review in the New Yorker indicated the title character was really all about “equal-opportunity swashbuckling” in a show “as soggy as the seven seas” with a “meagre” plot and “a bargain-basement sampling of megamusical clichés.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “fuzzy” and “loud and restless” musical was a blur reminiscent of “the aimless milling of a crowd on a carnival midway” in an attempt to “deliver firm thumps to feminist and nationalistic reflexes.” The title character was “like the feisty young heroines of animated Disney musicals,” and while Block worked hard she sometimes turned “into a Celine Dion screecher” and the production undercut her performance with a “haziness of focus and a slow drift toward campiness.” As Elizabeth, Balgord (who had appeared in one of the national tours of Sunset Boulevard) seemed to again portray Norma Desmond, and this was “kind of enjoyable when you’re starved for distraction.” And with Hollywood continuing to inspire the performances, William Youmans’s conniving Sir Richard Bingham brought to mind no less than Vincent Price in cad-and-villain overdrive. As for the music, it sounded “like a garbled echo” of more “stirring” songs from Les Miserables, and the lyrics had “sweaty, shoehorned rhymes.” David Rooney in Variety said the “dull,” “inert,” and “lumbering” musical sat “stodgily onstage” and never forged an “emotional connection” with the audience. It bulged with “cumbersome exposition,” the characters were “bland cutouts suffocated by plot” (because of his large codpiece, Marcus Chait’s Donal was clearly a “philandering scoundrel”), and Elizabeth I and the Pirate Queen’s historical confrontation came across as a “Krystal and Alexis–type showdown.” The “plodding Harlequin historical romance” offered “elaborate but visually uninteresting” sets, the “largely unmemorable” score strived “too hard for stirring moments,” and there were “about 15 I-pledge, I-vow, I-swear songs too many.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said The Pirate Queen was an unfortunate meeting between Les Miserables and Riverdance that “somehow” missed the boat. The production was “shakily captained” by Frank Galati and Graciela Daniele, the music was “repetitive and self-congratulatory,” and the lyrics and sungthrough book were “banal.” Barnes noted that Balgord’s Elizabeth was a scene stealer, and her performance emphasized the “joyous malice” of Bette Davis rather than the “circumspect dignity” of Helen Mirren. But despite Balgord’s welcome presence, both musical theatre and the seven seas shared the same rule: “When the ship’s going down, you’re going down with it.” The opening-night program credited four choreographers: Daniele (“musical staging”), Carol Leavy Joyce (“Irish Dance Choreographer”), Rachel Bress (“Associate Choreographer”), and two or three pages following the main credits page a note cited Mark Dendy for “Additional Choreography.” For the tryout, Dendy was listed on the program’s main credit page as “Choreographer,” and Joyce and Bress were listed as the respective “Irish Dance Choreographer” and “Associate Choreographer.” At one point during the tryout, choreographer Daniele was brought in for “musical staging.” The musical’s producers were Moya Doherty, the producer of the popular Riverdance presentations, and John McColgan, who directed Riverdance. Because of The Pirate Queen’s mostly Irish characters and mainly Irish setting, the new musical was heavy on Irish step dancing. Brantley noted the “halfhearted, stage-bruising” Celtic dances were created for fans of Riverdance; Rooney said the “explosions” of step dancing during wedding, funeral, and christening sequences were “the only times” the musical “really becomes alive”; and Barnes said the combination of Irish dances and “Broadway Dance 101” was “terrific.” Riedel commented that the show’s “heavy” emphasis on Irish-styled dancing turned The Pirate Queen into “Riverdance with Oars.” The cast album was released by Sony/Broadway Masterworks/BMG Records (CD # 88697-11810-2). The book The Musical World of Boublil and Schonberg: The Creators of “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon,” “Mar-

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tin Guerre,” and “The Pirate Queen” by Margaret Vermette was published in paperback in 2007 by Applause & Cinema Books. During the tryout, Boublil and Schonberg were credited for the book, and Boublil and John Dempsey for the lyrics; Richard Maltby Jr., soon joined the production, and by the time the show reached New York he shared credit for the book and lyrics with the other cited writers (for Miss Saigon, Maltby had been credited with “additional material” for the book and with Boublil shared credit for the English lyrics). One or two songs underwent slight name changes between the tryout and the Broadway opening, and at least five numbers were cut prior to New York: “All Aboard the Ceol Na Mara,” “Because I Am a Wife,” “Son of the Irish Seas,” “Each in Time,” and “May Long We Sail the Sea.”

LEGALLY BLONDE “The Musical”

Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: April 29, 2007; Closing Date: October 19, 2008 Performances: 595 Book: Heather Hatch Lyrics and Music: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin Based on the 2001 novel Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown and the 2001 film of the same name (direction by Robert Luketic and screenplay by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith). Direction and Choreography: Jerry Mitchell (Marc Bruni, Associate Director; Denis Jones, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals, Dori Bernstein, James L. Nederlander, Independent Presenters Network, Roy Furman, Amanda Lipitz, Broadway Asia, Barbara Whitman, FWPM Group, Hendel/ Wiesenfeld, Goldberg/Binder, Stern/Meyer, Lane/Comley, Bartner-Jenkins/Nocciolino, and Warren Trepp in association with MGM On Stage and Darcie Denkert and Dean Stolber (PMC Productions, Yasuhiro Kawana, and Andrew Asnes/Adam Zotovich); Scenery: David Rockwell; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Ken Posner and Paul Miller; Musical Direction: Michael Keller Cast: Laura Bell Bundy (Elle Woods), Richard H. Blake (Warner Huntington III), Kate Shindle (Vivienne Kensington), Christian Borle (Emmett Forrest), Michael Rupert (Professor Callahan), Orfeh (Paulette), Leslie Kritzer (Serena), Annaleigh Ashford (Margot), DeQuina Moore (Pilar), Nikki Snelson (Shandi, Brooke Wyndham), Kate Wetherhead (Kate, Chutney), Becky Gulsvig (Leilani), Michelle Kittrell (Cece), April Berry (Kristine), Beth Curry (Gabby), Natalie Joy Johnson (Veronica, Enid), Amber Efe (Judge), Gaelen Gilliland (Mom, Whitney), Andy Karl (Grandmaster Chad, Dewey, Kyle), Kevin Pariseau (Dad, Winthrop), Matthew Risch (Carlos, Lowell), Manuel Herrera (Padamadan, Nikos), Noah Weisberg (Aaron, Guard), Chico (Bruiser), Chloe (Rufus); Harvard Students, Marching Band, Cheerleaders, Inmates, Salespeople: April Berry, Paul Canaan, Beth Curry, Amber Efe, Gaelen Gilliland, Jason Gillman, Becky Gulsvig, Manuel Herrera, Natalie Joy Johnson, Andy Karl, Nick Kenkel, Michelle Kittrell, Kevin Pariseau, Matthew Risch, Jason Patrick Sands, Noah Weisberg, Kate Wetherhead The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time in Southern California and in and around the Harvard Law School campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Omigod You Guys” (Annaleigh Ashford, Leslie Kritzer, DeQuina Moore, Delta Nu’s, Laura Bell Bundy, Shopgirl, Manager); “Serious” (Richard H. Blake, Laura Bell Bundy); “Daughter of Delta Nu” (Annaleigh Ashford, Leslie Kritzer, DeQuina Moore, Kate Wetherhead, Delta Nu’s); “What You Want” (Laura Bell Bundy, Annaleigh Ashford, Leslie Kritzer, DeQuina Moore, Gaelen Gilliland, Kevin Pariseau, Andy Karl, Jason Gillman, Matthew Risch, Delta Nu’s, Company); “The Harvard Variations” (Christian Borle, Noah Weisberg, Natalie Joy Johnson, Manuel Herrera, Harvard Students); “Blood in the Water” (Michael Rupert, Company); “Positive” (Laura Bell Bundy, Annaleigh Ashford, Leslie Kritzer, DeQuina Moore, Greek Chorus); “Ireland” (Orfeh); “Ireland” (reprise) (Orfeh); “Serious” (reprise) (Laura Bell Bundy, Richard H. Blake); “Chip on My Shoulder” (Christian Borle, Laura Bell Bundy, Greek Chorus, Company); “So Much Better” (Laura Bell Bundy, Greek Chorus, Company)

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Act Two: “Whipped into Shape” (Nikki Snelson, Michael Rupert, Company); “Take It Like a Man” (Laura Bell Bundy, Christian Borle, Salespersons); “Bend and Snap” (Laura Bell Bundy, Orfeh, Leslie Kritzer, Annaleigh Ashford, DeQuina Moore, Salonfolk); “There! Right There!” (Laura Bell Bundy, Michael Rupert, Christian Borle, Nikki Snelson, Kate Shindle, Richard H. Blake, Natalie Joy Johnson, Amber Efe, Manuel Herrera, Matthew Risch, Company); “Legally Blonde” (Laura Bell Bundy, Christian Borle); “Legally Blonde Remix” (Kate Shindle, Natalie Joy Johnson, Laura Bell Bundy, Company); “Omigod You Guys” (reprise) (Laura Bell Bundy, Company); “Find My Way Home” (Laura Bell Bundy, Orfeh, Company) Legally Blonde was another musical aimed at the teenage-girl market that stressed girl empowerment. In this case, the message seemed to be that you can have your power and your powder puff, too. The lighthearted story, which was based on the popular 2001 film, followed peppy California sorority girl Elle Woods (Laura Bell Bundy), whose ambitious and social-climbing Harvard Law School–bound boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Richard H. Blake) dumps her because he deems her too shallow. Elle follows Warner to Harvard, enrolls in law school, finds true love with teaching assistant Emmett Forrest (Christian Borle), and in a court case somehow manages to prove a client’s innocence by Technical Knowledge of Hair Permanents. Along the way she also helps the legal team uncover the lies of a witness with the age-old question, “Is he gay or just European?” Others in Elle’s life are Warner’s new and vicious girlfriend, Kate Shindle (Kate Wetherhead); cut-throat law professor Callahan (Michael Rupert); ditzy hairdresser Paulette (Orfeh); and Paulette’s boyfriend, UPS guy Kyle (Andy Karl), whose tight shorts nominate him as instant “walking porn.” And Elle is often comforted by a three-girl Greek chorus of sorority sisters who guide and advise her, not to mention her pet chihuahua Chico (played by Bruiser, in what was surely an egregiously overlooked Tony-worthy performance). In some ways, the $13 million musical could have been titled Pretty in Pink if that title hadn’t already been used for the 1986 teenage-girl-coming-of-age movie. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “nonstop sugar rush of a show” boasted “pink-dominated” color schemes for David Rockwell’s décor and Gregg Barnes’s costumes, and Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin wrote a “cherry-soda” score (might one suggest O’Keefe’s 2001 Off-Broadway musical Bat Boy had a root beer by way of birch beer score?). The production was directed by Jerry Mitchell (with Legally Blonde, the choreographer made his directorial debut) with “hyperkinetic effusiveness” in its message that “it’s O.K. to be a princess.” David Rooney in Variety praised the “pinksapoppin funhouse” and its “candy-kissed” lighting design by Ken Posner and Paul Miller, and noted that Mitchell brought an “almost dizzying” perspective to the show’s first thirty minutes. The opening scene between jabbering “bubblehead” Elle and her “yapping” chihuahua was enough to win over the crowd, and the “delirious” beginning continued with a series of musical sequences fired off in “bam-bam-bam” fashion. Rooney noted that one of them (“What You Want”) depicted Elle’s LSAT preparation and her determination to forgo spring break parties, and it burst into a “rousing showstopper with her Harvard admission application complete with cheerleaders and drum corps.” And Rooney quickly noted, “That’s just the first half-hour.” Brantley also noted the dances included a touch of hip-hop as interpreted by “Malibu rich kids,” and there was even a spoof of Riverdance (and Pirate Queen) choreography. And while Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Mitchell’s “choreography is to choreography what paint-by-numbers is to portraiture,” the dances nonetheless had a “slick snap, crackle and pop,” and the Irish step-dances and the “whip-and-skip” routine (“Whipped into Shape”) were “zippy fun.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker was somewhat indifferent to the musical’s charms but noted Mitchell infused the production with “breakneck buoyancy” and Orfeh stood out as a hairdresser who likes Celtic music and the UPS guy. Barnes said the saga of “sorority chick” turned “legal eaglet” was “pleasant” but “noisy,” and he found the score “amorphous, synthetic and maniacally empty-headed.” During the San Francisco tryout, “Love and War” was replaced by “Positive.” Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that during the tryout, the courtroom number (“There! Right There!”) became an issue because it asked whether a witness was gay or simply European. The show’s “older producers” thought the possibly “problematic” number was “hilarious,” but “younger members” of the company felt it was “old hat” material that had long ago been covered in a Seinfeld episode. Further, the lyrics cataloged “one stereotype after another” and verged on the “offensive.” Riedel noted that one of the producers (Hal Luftig) said “gay groups” that had seen the show “enjoyed” the number, but the material was still up for debate. (For the record, the song was retained for New York and is included on the cast album.)

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The cast album was released by Ghostlight Records, and the September 18, 2007, performance was filmed live and shown on MTV on October 13, 2007. The London production opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 13, 2010, was recorded live by 101 Distribution Records, won the Olivier Award for Best Musical, and at 924 performances bested the New York run by almost a year.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Book (Heather Hatch); Best Score (lyrics and music by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Laura Bell Bundy); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christian Borle); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Orfeh); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Gregg Barnes); Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell)

LOVEMUSIK

“A New Broadway Musical” Theatre: Biltmore Theatre Opening Date: May 3, 2007; Closing Date: June 24, 2007 Performances: 60 Book: Alfred Uhry Lyrics: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Music: Kurt Weill Suggested by the letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya; Speak Low (When You Speak Love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya (edited and translated by Lys Symonette and Kim H. Kowalke) was published in 1996. Direction: Harold Prince; Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) by special arrangement with Marty Bell, Aldo Scrofani, Boyett Ostar Productions, Tracy Aron, Roger Berlind/Debra Black, Chase Mishkin, and Ted Snowdon; Choreography: Patricia Birch; Scenery: Beowulf Boritt; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Nicholas Archer Cast: Michael Cerveris (Kurt Weill), Donna Murphy (Lotte Lenya), David Pittu (Bertolt Brecht), John Scherer (George Davis), Judith Blazer (Woman on Stairs), Herndon Lackey (Magistrate, Judge), Rachel Ulanet (Court Secretary); Brecht’s Women: Judith Blazer, Ann Morrison, Rachel Ulanet; Auditioners: Herndon Lackey, Rachel Ulanet; Erik Liberman (Interviewer, Handyman), Ann Morrison (Photographer), Graham Rowat (Otto, Allen Lake) The musical was presented in two acts. The first act takes place in Europe, the second in the United States.

Musical Numbers Act One: Europe: “Speak Low” (One Touch of Venus, 1943; lyric by Ogden Nash) (Michael Cerveris, Donna Murphy); “Nanna’s Lied” (aka “Nannas Lied”; independent song; lyric by Bertolt Brecht; English lyric by Michael Feingold) (Judith Blazer); “Kiddush” (independent song; lyric taken from the traditional Hebrew prayer) (Weill’s Family); “Song of the Rhineland” (aka “Divine Land”; 1945 film Where Do We Go from Here?; lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Lenya’s Family); “Klops Lied” (“Meatball Song”) (independent song; English lyric by Milton Granger) (Michael Cerveris); “Berlin im Licht” (independent song; lyric by Kurt Weill; English lyric by Milton Granger) (Donna Murphy); “Wooden Wedding” (One Touch of Venus, 1943; lyric by Ogden Nash) (Michael Cerveris, Donna Murphy, Herndon Lackey, Rachel Ulanet); “Tango Ballad” (The Threepenny Opera, 1928; lyric by Bertolt Brecht; English lyric by Marc Blitzstein) (David Pittu, Judith Blazer, Ann Morrison, Rachel Ulanet); “Alabama Song” (aka “Oh, Moon of Alabama”; Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, 1930; English lyric by Bertolt Brecht) (Herndon Lackey, Rachel Ulanet, Donna Murphy); “Girl of the Moment” (Lady in the Dark, 1941; lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Ensemble); “Moritat”

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(aka “Mack the Knife”; The Threepenny Opera, 1928; lyric by Bertolt Brecht; English lyric by Marc Blitzstein) (David Pittu, Donna Murphy, Graham Rowat, Ensemble); “Schickelgruber” (Lunchtime Follies, 1942 [may also have been heard in Three Days Pass, 1942]; lyric by Howard Dietz; lyric adapted by Alfred Uhry) (Michael Cerveris, David Pittu); “Come to Paris” (The Firebrand of Florence, 1945; lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Ensemble); “I Don’t Love You” (independent song; lyric by Maurice Magre; English lyric by Michael Feingold) (Michael Cerveris, Donna Murphy); “Wouldn’t You Like to Be on Broadway?” (Street Scene, 1947; lyric by Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice) (Michael Cerveris, Donna Murphy); “Alabama Song” (reprise) (Donna Murphy, Michael Cerveris, David Pittu, Ensemble) Act Two: America: “How Can You Tell an American?” (Knickerbocker Holiday, 1938; lyric by Maxwell Anderson) (Ensemble); “Very, Very, Very” (One Touch of Venus, 1943; lyric by Ogden Nash) (Michael Cerveris); “It’s Never Too Late to Mendelssohn” (dropped during tryout of Lady in the Dark, 1941; a few lines were retained for the New York production and were included in the “Wedding Dream” sequence; lyric by Ira Gershwin) (Michael Cerveris, Donna Murphy, Rachel Ulanet, Herndon Lackey); “Surabaya Johnny” (Happy End, 1929; lyric by Bertolt Brecht; English lyric by Michael Feingold) (Donna Murphy); “Youkali” (aka “Tango Habanera”; Marie Galante, 1934; lyric by Roger Fernay) (David Pittu, Judith Blazer, Ann Morrison, Rachel Ulanet); “Buddy on the Night Shift” (Lunchtime Follies, 1942 [may have also been heard in Three Days Pass, 1942]; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II) (Graham Rowat); “That’s Him” (One Touch of Venus, 1943; lyric by Ogden Nash) (Michael Cerveris); “Hosannah Rockefeller” (aka “God Bless Rockefeller”; Happy End, 1928; lyric by Bertolt Brecht; English lyric by Michael Feingold) (David Pittu, Judith Blazer, Ann Morrison, Rachel Ulanet); “I Don’t Love You” (reprise) (Donna Murphy, Michael Cerveris); “The Illusion Wedding Show” (a new title for material originally heard during the second-act minstrel show sequence of Love Life, 1948; lyric by Alan Jay Lerner) (John Scherer, Ensemble); “It Never Was You” (Knickerbocker Holiday, 1938; lyric by Maxwell Anderson) (Michael Cerveris); “A Bird of Passage” (Lost in the Stars, 1949; lyric by Maxwell Anderson) (Ensemble); “September Song” (Knickerbocker Holiday, 1938; lyric by Maxwell Anderson) (Donna Murphy, John Scherer) For the average Broadway theatergoer, the names of composer Kurt Weill and singer and actress Lotte Lenya were probably not all that familiar, and a musical about them was no doubt less than compelling. A show about Liz and Dick, or even Sonny and Cher, yes, but Kurt and Lotte were no doubt too esoteric to interest the typical theatergoer, and an attempt to bring their story to the Broadway stage was a risky and quixotic if admirable venture. LoveMusik explored the odd-couple relationship of the cerebral and outwardly cool and distant Weill (Michael Cerveris) and the down-to-earth Lenya (Donna Murphy), who made no secret of her early years when she made her living on the streets (David Rooney in Variety noted that Lenya once told Weill, “I am common, Herr Weill, not stupid”). Weill and Lenya met in 1924, married in 1926, divorced in 1933, and remarried in 1937, and she appeared in the original German productions of Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. They escaped from Nazi Germany, eventually settled in the United States, and throughout their years together enjoyed an open relationship that included affairs with others. Of Weill’s American works, Lenya appeared in his and Ira Gershwin’s 1945 Broadway musical The Firebrand of Florence. Weill died in 1950, and ultimately Lenya became the keeper of the flame and starred in Marc Blitzstein’s legendary 1954 Off-Broadway adaptation of The Threepenny Opera at the Theatre de Lys for a limited run of ninety-six performances. Blitzstein’s version had first been presented at Brandeis University’s Festival of the Creative Arts in 1952 with Lenya as Jenny (the festival also included the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti). With Lenya again reprising her role of Jenny, The Threepenny Opera returned to the Theatre de Lys in 1955 and played there over six years, for a total of 2,611 performances, and Blitzstein’s version of “Mack the Knife” became one of the most famous and widely performed and recorded of all show songs. For her performance in Threepenny, Lenya won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (the Tony committee deemed the Off-Broadway revival a Broadway production, no doubt because that theatre season was particularly lean and there was a need to fill all the nominating slots), and over the years she became the definitive interpreter of Weill’s songs. She also appeared as the cold-blooded spy in the 1963 James Bond film To Russia with Love, and in 1966 created the role of Fraulein Schneider in John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, which was directed by Harold Prince.

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LoveMusik lasted less than two months on Broadway, and perhaps would have been better served downtown in an intimate venue with more receptive audiences. In fact, the musical brought to mind the heyday of Off Broadway when at least thirteen retrospective productions (some return engagements and revivals) opened between 1963 and 2004 and celebrated Weill, his life, and his music (these include two versions of The World of Kurt Weill in Song in 1963 and 1964, two of Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill in 1972 and 2000, and four of A Kurt Weill Cabaret in 1976, 1979, 1981, and 1984). And this number doesn’t count full-fledged revivals of The Threepenny Opera, Happy End, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Silverlake, Johnny Johnson, Street Scene, and Lost in the Stars, all of which were presented in New York during the period, on Broadway and off as well as in opera house productions by either the Metropolitan or New York City Opera companies. Although Ben Brantley in the New York Times felt Alfred Uhry’s book for LoveMusik was “conventionally sentimental,” he noted that Uhry chronicled Weill and Lenya’s relationship with “admirable clarity” albeit with “annoying clunkiness.” Harold Prince’s direction was “self-consciously jaded,” and at times the evening came across as a Brecht-directed version of “one of those hoary old” Hollywood biographies on the order of A Song to Remember. The overall production strived for both “chilly distance” and “cozy intimacy” and at times leaned “perilously toward self-parody,” but Cerveris and Murphy’s performances were “stunningly shaded,” and because Prince had directed Lenya in Cabaret, his “knowledge of her” had “enriched” Murphy’s performance. Rooney praised the “collage of striking theatre craft,” said Cerveris played Weill with “acute sensitivity,” and noted that Murphy’s Lenya was a “brilliant caricature ennobled by truth.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said Uhry’s idea for a musical about Weill and Lenya was “eye-popping,” and although his book was “clunky” and “loose-paged” the evening offered “more than enough” to “savor and enjoy.” And John Simon in Bloomberg.com said the book was “emphatically inventive” and that the musical “leaves its recent and current competition miles, if not light years, behind.” In spite of the “great” performers, music, and direction, John Lahr in the New Yorker felt the evening was “pure packaging” that found Prince “dressing up a turkey.” The “thought process” of a composer and the “allure” of a singer weren’t “inherently dramatic,” and as a result Uhry and Prince had to “rely on a great deal of explication to get their points across.” Cerveris was “miscast” because he was “too powerful” a performer to convey the “retiring” Weill, and as a result the actor held “himself back in the role” in the manner of “a Great Dane trying to hide in a corner.” As for Murphy, she played her part “by rote” and tried to be “adorable” and “charm” the audience. She “desperately” wanted “to be liked as a star,” and thus couldn’t “quite grasp a character who doesn’t project an atmosphere of health and good will.” The original cast album was released by Ghostlight Records. During previews, “Lust” (The Seven Deadly Sins, 1933; lyric by Bertolt Brecht; English lyric by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman) was deleted.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Michael Cerveris); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Donna Murphy); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (David Pittu); Best Orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick)

110 IN THE SHADE Theatre: Studio 54 Opening Date: May 9, 2007; Closing Date: July 29, 2007 Performances: 94 Book: N. Richard Nash Lyrics: Tom Jones Music: Harvey Schmidt Based on the 1953 teleplay and 1954 play The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash. Direction: Lonny Price; Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director); Choreography: Dan Knechtges; Scenery and Costumes: Santo Loquasto; Lighting: Christopher Akerlind; Music Direction: Paul Gemignani

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Cast: Christopher Innvar (File), John Cullum (H. C. Curry), Chris Butler (Noah Curry), Bobby Steggert (Jimmy Curry), Audra McDonald (Lizzie Curry), Carla Duren (Snookie), Steve Kazee (Starbuck), Valisia Lekae Little (Little Girl), Darius Nichols (Clarence); Townspeople—Colleen Fitzpatrick (Odetta Clark), Valisia Lekae Little (Vivian Lorraine Taylor), Darius Nichols (Clarence J. Taylor), Devin Richards (Curjith Curt McGlaughlin), Michael Scott (Reverend Clark), Will Swenson (Cody Bridger), Elisa Van Duyne (Lily Ann Beasley), Betsy Wolfe (Katheryn Brawner) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place on July 4, 1936, in the Texas Panhandle.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Another Hot Day” (Christopher Innvar, Townspeople); “Lizzie’s Comin’ Home” (John Cullum, Chris Butler, Bobby Steggert); “Love, Don’t Turn Away” (Audra McDonald); “Poker Polka” (Christopher Innvar, John Cullum, Chris Butler, Bobby Steggert); “The Hungry Men” (Audra McDonald, Townspeople); “The Rain Song” (Steve Kazee, Townspeople); “You’re Not Fooling Me” (Steve Kazee, Audra McDonald); “Cinderella” (Valisia Lekae Little); “Raunchy” (Audra McDonald); “A Man and a Woman” (Christopher Innvar, Audra McDonald); “Old Maid” (Audra McDonald) Act Two: “Evenin’ Star” (Steve Kazee); “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night” (Audra McDonald, Townspeople); “Melisande” (Steve Kazee); “Little Red Hat” (Bobby Steggert, Carla Duren); “Is It Really Me?” (Audra McDonald); “Wonderful Music” (Steve Kazee, Christopher Innvar, Audra McDonald); “The Rain Song” (reprise) (Townspeople) In the fall of 1963, New York City was in the midst of a drought, and water restrictions were in place. Coincidentally, two Broadway productions opened in late October that reflected rain or the lack of it. On October 22, Howard Teichmann’s comedy A Rainy Day in Newark opened for a one-week run, and two days later Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’s 110 in the Shade premiered. The musical wasn’t a blockbuster, but it ran out the season for a total of 330 performances and managed to show a small profit. During the 1963–1964 season, the gentle and subdued charms of 110 in the Shade had to compete with brassy hits (such as Hello, Dolly! and Funny Girl) and an array of big-name stars in various plays and musicals (Charles Boyer, Carol Burnett, Richard Burton, Carol Channing, Claudette Colbert, José Ferrer, Albert Finney, Tammy Grimes, Alec Guinness, Julie Harris, Steve Lawrence, Beatrice Lillie, Mary Martin, Paul Newman, Robert Preston, Barbra Streisand, and Joanne Woodward). And despite 110’s memorable score, it didn’t produce a hit song like “People” or Dolly’s title number to identify it to the public. But the musical has continued to be produced over the decades and is probably more appreciated now than it was in 1963. Its heartfelt story may well be the most touching and dramatic of all the musicals that opened during the 1963–1964 season, and its intelligent and melodic score offers atmospheric songs, character-driven soliloquies, ballads, and choral numbers. N. Richard Nash based his libretto on The Rainmaker, his 1953 television drama and subsequent 1954 Broadway adaptation (it was later filmed in 1956). The story takes place from dawn to dusk in a small Western town during a time of drought, and focuses on Lizzie Curry (Audra McDonald for the current revival), a rather plain young woman in the midst of an emotional drought as she contemplates an empty future as a small-town spinster doomed to keep house for her widowed father H. C. (John Cullum) and two unmarried brothers Noah (Chris Butler) and Jimmy (Bobby Steggert). Suddenly the flashy con man Bill Starbuck (Steve Kazee) struts into both the town and Lizzie’s life; he’s a spiritual cousin not only to The Music Man’s Harold Hill but also to Joe Dynamite, the leading male character in Nash’s libretto for the 1960 musical Wildcat. Dynamite promises oil, Starbuck guarantees rain. The town’s lonely, divorced, and slightly embittered sheriff File (Christopher Innvar) is somewhat attracted to Lizzie but is at first too wary to openly show any interest. As the show progresses, Lizzie must choose between the stalwart and dependable File and the romantic but unreliable Starbuck. The choice is a musical-comedy cliché, but here it wasn’t presented in a facile manner and was instead handled with intelligence and insight, and the “challenge” song for File and Starbuck found each man beckoning Lizzie with his own brand of “Wonderful Music.” The rich score offered a striking opening number for File and the townspeople as they faced “Another Hot Day,” in which minor key harmonics reflected a kind of Western movie-soundtrack ambience. The first act

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curtain fell on Lizzie’s fear of being an “Old Maid,” as she cried out against a blazingly hot red sky, and the second act began during the cooler twilight with the enchanting lantern-lit “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night.” The musical ended with a reprise of Starbuck’s “Rain Song” as thunder rolled and rain poured down. Along with “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night,” the score included a quintet of lovely ballads (the other four were “Love, Don’t Turn Away,” “Simple Little Things,” “A Man and a Woman,” and “Is It Really Me?,” solos for Lizzie or duets for her and either File or Starbuck). Starbuck’s “Melisande” gave Lizzie a more glamorous name as he confusedly told the tale of Melisande, who was courted by King Hamlet of Mexico as he sought the golden fleece. And Lizzie and Starbuck shared the angry duet “You’re Not Fooling Me.” A lighter number was the jaunty “Poker Polka” for File, H. C., Noah, and Jimmy, and Lizzie’s “Raunchy” was a pull-all-the-stops-out fantasy in which she sees herself as a wicked and worldly vamp (three years later, Schmidt and Jones wrote a similar number for proper Agnes in I Do! I Do!, who also conjures up a naughty and flirtatious alter ego as “Flaming Agnes”). The score’s weakest number was “Little Red Hat,” an obvious and smarmy song for Bobby and his girlfriend Snookie (Carla Duren). The musical’s most poorly written character is File, who comes across as something of a stick (he must be cousin to Marie, Tony’s dour spoilsport sister in The Most Happy Fella). Pity the actor who plays the role, because it’s one that causes critics to carp. Musically, File is handed a batch of good songs, but otherwise he’s a fuzzily written cipher, and when the ladies at the picnic excitedly exclaim that “File’s coming! File’s coming!,” one momentarily assumes there must be another character in the musical with the same name because the File we’ve come to know would surely never stir up such interest. One can hope a future revival will reshape the character and make him more interesting, and thus give Lizzie a real choice between two equally fascinating men. But the other characters are well-written, the book is generally strong, and the score is one of the finest of the 1960s. Unfortunately, the work has never enjoyed the breakthrough production that might solidify its place as one of Broadway’s warmest and most touching musicals. The story might benefit from being presented in one act, and “Little Red Hat” should be cut. And while The Rainmaker takes place in the 1920s, the musical seems to occur a decade or two later (the 1992 City Opera revival placed the time period as 1934, and the current revival was quite specific: July 4, 1936). But generally productions of the musical are somewhat vague with the time frame and often the dialogue, lyrics, costumes, and performance styles seem to come from a potpourri of decades. The story would probably work better in a much earlier time period, around the turn of the twentieth century. It seems unlikely that mid-twentieth-century townspeople would fall for Starbuck’s claim to bring rain, just as they’d question a Harold Hill who sells musical instruments based on a “think” system. But we accept The Music Man because it occurs in 1912, and although we know better we like to think that era was a more innocent and trusting time. Placing 110 in the Shade in an early 1900s setting would add to its charm and give it a somewhat nostalgic fable-like quality. As it stands, Lizzie’s return home after a short visit with distant relatives (“Lizzie’s Comin’ Home”) is treated as a major event by her family, and hearing the song for the first time the listener might assume Lizzie’s been away for months instead of two weeks. But it’s not a stretch to assume a train trip would have been more exotic in 1900. Further, a modern woman would have a career and wouldn’t write off her life because she’s single and is expected to stay home and tend to her father and brothers. But Lizzie’s antiquated sensibility would be more understandable during an earlier era. Judicious tweaking of the dialogue and some of the songs (especially “Raunchy”), the omission of “Little Red Hat,” and a change in the story’s time frame would give the musical a sure sense of time and place and would clarify both the basic plot premise (that a man can cause rain to fall) and the various conflicts within the characters. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 24, 1963, for 330 performances and was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Score. The London production opened at the Palace Theatre on February 8, 1967, and added a title song, which was dropped during the run. Prior to the current production, the musical was first revived in New York by the New York City Opera Company at the New York State Theatre on July 18, 1992, for twelve performances in repertory. The original Broadway cast album was issued by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1085), and the later CD release (# 1085-2-RG) includes the overture, which had been recorded during the 1963 cast album session but hadn’t been included on the LP. The show’s demo recording includes seven numbers. Living Strings: New from Broadway (RCA Camden LP # CAL/CAS-790) offers “Is It Really Me?,” “Another Hot Day,” “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night,” and the cut “Too Many People Alone”; and Opening Night with Ed Ames

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(RCA Victor LP # LPM/LSP-8126) includes the unused “Pretty Is.” Except for two 45 RPM singles on Columbia (# DB-8126 [the title song and “Little Red Hat”] and # DB-8131 [“A Man and a Woman” and “Another Hot Day”]), there was no London cast recording. Susan Watson’s lovely collection Earthly Paradise (Nassau CD # 96568) is a tribute to Schmidt and Jones and includes “Simple Little Things” and the unused “Sweet River”; The Show Goes On, the 1997 Off-Broadway salute to Schmidt and Jones, includes “Another Hot Day,” “Melisande,” “Simple Little Things,” and the unused “I Can Dance,” “Desseau Dance Hall,” “Flibbertigibbet,” and “Come on Along.” The collection Lost in Boston III (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5563) offers the unused “Inside My Head”; and Lost in Boston IV (Varese Sarabande CD # VSD-5768) includes the unused “Pretty Is” and “Evenin’ Star.” In 1997, a two-CD studio cast recording was released by Jay Records (# CDJAY-2-1282) that includes Karen Ziemba (Lizzie), Richard Muenz (File), and Walter Charles (Noah)—all of whom appeared in City Opera’s 1992 revival—Ron Raines (Starbuck), George Lee Andrews (H. C.), and Kristin Chenoweth (Snookie). Schmidt and Jones make brief appearances on the recording, which includes the entr’acte, curtain music, exit music, and the unused “Cinderella,” which had been heard in the City Opera production (that version also included “Overhead,” “Why Can’t They Leave Me Alone,” “Come on Along,” and “Shooting Star”—all of which hadn’t been part of the original Broadway production—and cut “Hungry Men”). Roundabout Theatre Company’s current revival, which included “Cinderella” and “Evenin’ Star” and reinstated “Hungry Men,” was recorded by PS Classics (CD # 7545). Note that “Evenin’ Star” includes some of the music heard in the opening number “Another Hot Day.” Although the critics were unanimous in their praise of McDonald, Cullum, and Steggert, Roundabout’s production received generally mixed notices. There was also some carping that the musical wasn’t politically correct, and it seems there’ll always be those who can’t get beyond these hang-ups and insist on judging a work from the perspective of the present and not from the context of the era in which it was written (and the era in which it takes place). Ben Brantley in the New York Times said Kazee suggested “a Boy Scout posing as a biker dude” while Innvar “smolders,” and the critic asked, “Role switch, anyone?” Otherwise, Brantley said the “small,” “homey,” and “underwhelming” show offered a score that didn’t “rattle the rafters” and seemed “to melt away even as it’s being performed.” David Rooney in Variety said the “low-rent” Oklahoma! had a “charming score” (he found “Little Red Hat” a “frisky delight” but noted that both “Poker Polka” and “You’re Not Fooling Me” were “hokey” and “disposable” and that “Melisande” was a “dud”). Otherwise, the show looked “distinctly underpopulated” and the story wasn’t “dynamic.” Hinton Als in the New Yorker praised the “splendid” revival, said Kazee was “lovely,” and the lyrics “adequate.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (110 in the Shade); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Audra McDonald); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (John Cullum); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Christopher Akerlind); Best Orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick)

MAME The musical began previews on May 27, 2006, in Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre, opened on June 1, and closed on July 2. The revival didn’t transfer to Broadway. 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: Eric Schaeffer; Producers: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman; Michael M. Kaiser, President) (Max Woodward, Producer); Choreography: Warren Carlyle (Parker Esse, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Walt Spangler; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: James Moore Cast: Harrison Chad (Young Patrick Dennis), Emily Skinner (Agnes Gooch), Harriet Harris (Vera Charles), Christine Baranski (Mame Dennis), Alan Muraoka (Ito), James Patterson (Ralph Devine), Ed Dixon (M. Lindsay-

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Woolsey, Uncle Jeff), Joe Paparella (Bishop, Doorman, Stage Manager), Michael Buchanan (Elevator Boy), Clark Johnsen (Messenger), Michael L. Forrest (Dwight Babcock), Parker Esse (Leading Man), Ruth Gottschall (Madame Branislowski, Mrs. Upson), Jeff McCarthy (Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside), Chad L. Schiro (Gregor),Tory Ross (Cousin Fan), Alison Cimmet (Sally Cato), Mary Stout (Mother Burnside), Max von Essen (Patrick Dennis), Shane Braddock (Junior Babcock), Harry A. Winter (Mr. Upson), Sarah Jane Everman (Gloria Upson), Melissa Rae Mahon (Pegeen Ryan), Ethan Langsdorf-Willoughby (Peter Dennis); Ensemble: Jeremy Benton, Shane Braddock, Michael Buchanan, Alison Cimmet, Susan Derry, Parker Esse, Sarah Jane Everman, Suzanne Hylenski, Megan Hart Jimenez, Clark Johnson, Dennis Kenney, Kelly Kohnert, Melissa Rae Mahon, Sean McKnight, Joe Paparella, James Patterson, Tory Ross, Chad L. Schiro, Kiira Schmidt, Laura E. Taylor The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City and other locales during the period 1924–1946.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “St. Bridget” (Emily Skinner, Harrison Chad); “It’s Today” (Christine Baranski, Harriet Harris, Ed Dixon, Ensemble); “It’s Today” (reprise) (Christine Baranski, Harrison Chad, Ensemble); “Open a New Window” (Christine Baranski, Harrison Chad, Ensemble); “The Moon Song” (aka “The Man in the Moon”) (Christine Baranski, Harriet Harris, Ensemble); “My Best Girl” (Christine Baranski, Harrison Chad); “We Need a Little Christmas” (Christine Baranski, Emily Skinner, Alan Muraoka, Harrison Chad); “We Need a Little Christmas” (reprise) (Christine Baranski, Emily Skinner, Alan Muraoka, Harrison Chad, Jeff McCarthy); “The Fox Hunt” (Ed Dixon, Harrison Chad, Tory Ross, Mary Stout, Alison Cimmet, Ensemble); “Mame” (Jeff McCarthy, Mary Stout, Ed Dixon, Ensemble); Act One Finale (Harrison Chad, Ensemble) Act Two: “Mame” (reprise) (Max von Essen); “My Best Girl” (reprise) (Max von Essen); “Bosom Buddies” (Christine Baranski, Harriet Harris); “Gooch’s Song” (Emily Skinner); “That’s How Young I Feel” (Christine Baranski, Ensemble); “If He Walked into My Life” (Christine Baranski); “It’s Today” (reprise) (Christine Baranski, Harriet Harris, Alan Muraoka, Ed Dixon, Ensemble); “My Best Girl” (reprise) (Max von Essen); Act Two Finale (Christine Baranski) The Kennedy Center’s $5 million revival of Jerry Herman’s Mame didn’t stint on production values, and it provided a welcome chance for theatrical time travel to an era when entertaining and professionally produced musicals opened with regularity on Broadway. It didn’t look tacky and underpopulated, and in fact the lavish décor and costumes seemed more opulent than the original 1966 production. And it was a delight to see a large cast of thirty-six onstage and hear twenty-three musicians in the pit. Mame might never be an A List musical, but it rates a solid B, and with the exception of a few questionable casting choices and generally uninspired staging, the revival was otherwise a first-class production. Unfortunately, the casting was somewhat disappointing. Christine Baranski looked terrific but didn’t seem comfortable in the title role (it was later reported that during the run she settled into her character); as Young Patrick Dennis, Harrison Chad looked too old; and as the older Patrick Dennis, Max von Essen seemed a tad too mature to portray a college boy. But one member of the company was riotous, and that was Harriet Harris as Vera Charles. As the evening progressed, one wished that Baranski and Harris had switched roles: Baranski would have been a perfect Vera, and Harris might have made a slightly unusual but viable Mame, less glamorous perhaps than Mames of yore (Angela Lansbury, Ann Miller, Susan Hayward, Ginger Rogers) but one who captured the madcap essence of the character. The dance sequences by Warren Carlyle were brisk and pleasant, but somewhere along the way the evening lost its sense of fun and the tried-and-true shtick of the musical’s book never quite took off. The alwaysdelightful Emily Skinner was well cast as Gooch, but the staging never allowed her to shine, and something was very wrong when the show’s funniest line bombed. Mame has urged the repressed Gooch to go out into the world and open a new window, and when a few months later the visibly pregnant Gooch returns, she states in deadpan fashion, “I opened a new window.” The line always gets a big laugh, but at the performance I saw the line and the delivery fell flat and barely raised a titter in the audience. There was talk the production might move to New York at the Palace Theatre for a limited run of twenty weeks, but cooler heads prevailed. For without radical recasting and restaging, it seems unlikely this Mame could have survived on Broadway for even a limited engagement.

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Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “deluxe” and “brightly polished” revival managed to be both “lively and listless,” and Baranski registered as “reluctant,” “self-conscious,” and “oddly passive,” and seemed “to be changing attitudes almost as often as she changes costumes.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post found the revival “workmanlike,” and noted that Baranski hadn’t yet made Mame “totally her own” and wasn’t “sufficiently take-charge.” He concluded his review with the plea, “Please, Ms. Baranski: Relax and be a star.” David Rooney in Variety said there was an “overall sluggishness” to the show with “creaky” book scenes, and he noted that while the production numbers were “solid” their “execution generally could be a fraction higher.” The show racked up “more costume changes than a Cher concert,” there was “enough beading to blind entire nations of garment workers,” and the “priceless” Harris struck an “irresistible balance between the imperious but hammy grande dame of the theatre and the blowsy old soak.” Mame was a huge hit when it opened on May 24, 1966, at the Winter Garden Theatre for a run of 1,508 performances, but it never enjoyed the lustrous afterlife of the era’s other successes, such as Hello, Dolly! (1964), Fiddler on the Roof (1964), and Man of La Mancha (1965). Those shows had lengthy and successful national tours, but like Funny Girl (1964), Mame’s tour (with Celeste Holm) didn’t generate much in the way of excitement and came across as an also-ran on the road (however, Lansbury eventually appeared in a few engagements in major cities, and in the early 1970s undertook a summer-stock tour). And of course the disastrous 1974 film version didn’t help the show’s reputation. The musical’s only New York revival opened on July 24, 1983, at the Gershwin Theatre, and despite the presence of Lansbury and other original cast members (Jane Connell, Sab Shimono, Willard Waterman, and John C. Becher), the production managed just 41 performances. Perhaps Mame’s briskly efficient book is too mechanical and lacks inspiration with its slightly formulaic approach to the picaresque saga of an indomitable woman who always rises to the top despite such pesky intrusions as the Depression, Babbittry, waspish romantic rivals, widowhood, and other travails. Herman’s score might have been a bit heavy on carpe-diem-styled numbers (“It’s Today,” “Open a New Window,” “We Need a Little Christmas,” and “That’s How Young I Feel”), and for a twelve-number score it perhaps employed a few too many reprises (six in all). But the songs were mostly sunny and diverting, and three numbers became standards: the title song was an infectious cakewalk, “We Need a Little Christmas” a cheerful holiday number, and “If He Walked into My Life” a haunting ballad. In the show’s context the latter served as an introspective moment for Mame when she examines her relationship with Patrick (and out of context the number worked beautifully as a smoky torch song, and was given an especially memorable interpretation by Eydie Gorme). “It’s Today” had been previously heard in two Off-Broadway revues by Herman, albeit with a different lyric. It was first performed in his 1958 revue Nightcap as “Show Tune in 2/4” (aka “There Is No Tune Like a Show Tune” and “Show Tune”), and he recycled the number for the 1960 revue Parade. The song was recorded for the latter’s cast album on Kapp Records (LP # 7005), which was later issued on CD by Decca Broadway (# 440-064-738-2). 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 issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/ Legacy Records (# SK-60959) and then by Sony/Arkiv (# 61739), and both issues include five bonus tracks with vocals by 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 (there was no London cast album, and according to the rumor mill Rogers and the producers couldn’t come to a financial agreement regarding her participation in the recording).

MEET JOHN DOE

“A New Musical” / “A New American Musical” During the period 2002–2006, the musical was presented in workshop and concert productions as well as in staged readings. Among the workshop productions was one at Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut, for the period November 9–December 7, 2006. The current “world

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premiere” production at Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., represents the first full-fledged staging of the musical; it began previews on March 16, 2007, officially opened on March 26, and closed on April 29. Book: Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman; additional story elements by Matt August Lyrics: Eddie Sugarman Music: Andrew Gerle Based on the 1924 short story “A Reputation” by Richard Connell and the 1941 film Meet John Doe (direction by Frank Capra and screenplay by Robert Riskin). Direction: Eric Schaeffer; Producer: Ford’s Theatre (Paul R. Tetreault, Producing Director) (Mark Ramont, Associate Artistic Producer) (Kristin Fox-Siegmund, Associate Production Producer); Choreography: Karma Camp; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Alejo Vietti; Lighting: Rui Rita; Musical Direction: Jamie Schmidt Cast: Patrick Ryan Sullivan (D. B. Norton), Stephen Gregory Smith (Beany), Heidi Blickenstaff (Ann Mitchell), Guy Paul (Richard Connell), James Moye (John Willoughby), Joel Blum (Colonel); Ensemble: Christopher Bloch, Suzanne Briar, Michael Bunce, Evan Casey, Daniel Cohen, Danielle Eden, Eleasha Gamble, Channez McQuay, Amy McWilliams, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Thomas Adrian Simpson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during Winter 1931, mostly in New York City and also in New Jersey and throughout the United States.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Yesterday’s News” (Patrick Ryan Sullivan, Stephen Gregory Smith, Guy Paul, Heidi Blickenstaff, Ensemble); “I’m Your Man” (Heidi Blickenstaff); “Page Eight at the Top” and “Fast Talking” (Heidi Blickenstaff, Guy Paul, Stephen Gregory Smith, Ensemble); “My Aunt Sally” (James Moye, Joel Blum); “I Hope You Can See This” (Heidi Blickenstaff); “Perfect Days” (Stephen Moye); “Get the Picture” (James Moye, Heidi Blickenstaff); “Page Eight at the Top” (reprise) (Heidi Blickenstaff, Ensemble); “Be More” (Patrick Ryan Sullivan, Heidi Blickenstaff); “Money Talks” (Stephen Gregory Smith, Joel Blum); “He Threw Me” (Heidi Blickenstaff); “He Speaks to Me” (Company) Act Two: “Meet John Doe Jingle” (Jingle Singers); “Thank You” (Ensemble); “Bigger Than Baseball” (Company); “Who the Hell . . . ?” (aka “Who the Hell Forgot to Tell My Heart”) (Heidi Blickenstaff, James Moye); “Be More” (reprise) (Patrick Ryan Sullivan); “Who the Hell . . . ?” (reprise) (Heidi Blickenstaff); “Lighthouses” (Guy Paul); “Here’s to America” (Patrick Ryan Sullivan, Bosses); “My Own Words” (James Moye); “Before You” (Heidi Blickenstaff); Finale (Heidi Blickenstaff, Ensemble) Set during the Depression, the bittersweet musical Meet John Doe was based on the classic 1941 Frank Capra film of the same name which starred Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, and Edward Arnold. In order to keep her job, ambitious newspaper columnist Ann Mitchell (Heidi Blickenstaff) creates the story of a fictitious man named John Doe who states that if the world doesn’t change for the better he’ll commit suicide on Christmas Eve by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. The public becomes fascinated with John Doe’s story, and when Ann meets the itinerant and slightly disillusioned John Willoughby (James Moye), she asks him to assume the persona of John Doe in order to perpetuate the hoax. Soon John Doe fan clubs blossom all over America, and it’s clear the John Doe movement has struck a responsive chord in the hearts of the nation’s average and forgotten population, all of whom find hope in John Doe’s ideals for a better world. Ultimately, both Ann and Willoughby are caught up in the John Doe message, and Willoughby embraces his new persona by asking his fellow Americans to care for one another and to toss aside money-grubbing and corrupt politicians. When Ann discovers that publishing tycoon D. B. Norton (Patrick Ryan Sullivan) intends to use the John Doe movement to fashion a Fascist society, she exposes the plot, but not before John Doe Willoughby kills himself (in Capra’s film, the hero doesn’t commit suicide). But Willoughby’s death is not in vain, and Ann and the John Doe followers commit themselves to the John Doe cause in their determination to create a better America. The musical was a gem that unaccountably has fallen by the wayside. The book was strong, the performances touching, and Eddie Sugarman and Andrew Gerle’s score was one of the most exciting of the era. The lyrics were alternately clever and touching and the score was melodic. Among the highlights were the opening

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numbers (“Yesterday’s News,” “Page Eight at the Top,” and “Fast Talking,” which worked themselves into a heady cacophony in their depiction of a busy newsroom) and the quiet and touching a cappella sequence in a New Jersey diner when ordinary people tell John Doe how much he has inspired them (“Thank You”). Peter Marks in the Washington Post praised the “extremely interesting new show” with its “clever lyrics and bright and supple melodies,” and he noted that Heidi Blickenstaff was “a knockout of a leading lady” who gave a “star performance.” Paul Harris in Variety said the “weighty” book offered “a few too many melodramatic moments,” but the evening was “blessed with an occasional soaring score” and he singled out “Thank You,” “Perfect Days,” and “Who the Hell . . . ?” He also noted that “Page Eight at the Top” was “enjoyably fast-paced” but suggested it was so fast-paced the lyric wasn’t always understandable. During previews, “This Other Guy” was cut. In 2013, Broadway Records released a studio cast recording of the score (CD # BR-CD01113) that includes Blickenstaff, Moye, and Joel Blum from the Ford’s Theatre production as well as Robert Cuccioli, John Jellison, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger. The album includes three songs not heard in the Ford’s Theatre staging (“I Feel Like a Man Again,” “New American Times,” and “It’s Not Over”).

SAVING AIMEE The musical began previews on April 10, 2007, at Signature Theatre’s Max Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, opened on April 22, and closed on May 13. The musical was subsequently revised, and as Scandalous opened on Broadway on November 15, 2012 (for more information, see below). Book and Lyrics: Kathie Lee Gifford Music: David Pomeranz and David Friedman; additional music by Kathie Lee Gifford; incidental music by Paul Raiman Based on the life of Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944). Direction: Eric Schaeffer (Matthew Gardiner, Assistant Director and Choreographer); Producer: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Sam Sweet, Managing Director); Choreography: Christopher d’Amboise; Scenery: Walt Spangler; Projections: Michael Clark; Costumes: Anne Kennedy; Lighting: Chris Lee; Musical Direction: Jenny Cartney Cast: Andrew Long (Asa Keyes), Carolee Carmello (Aimee Semple McPherson), E. Faye Butler (Emma Jo Schaeffer), Florence Lacey (Minnie Kennedy), Ed Dixon (James Kennedy, Brother Bob), Steve Wilson (Robert Semple, David Hutton), Harry A. Winter (Doctor Samuels, Judge), Adam Monley (Harold Mac McPherson, Kenneth), Michael Bannigan (Rolph), Corrieanne Stein (Roberta); Ensemble: Doug Bowles, Priscilla Cuellar, James Gardiner, Evan Hoffmann, Jennifer Irons, Carrie A. Johnson, Diego Prieto, Tammy Roberts, Margo Seibert, Harry A. Winter The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the United States and Canada during the period 1890–1944.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Stand Up!” (music by David Pomeranz and Kathy Lee Gifford) (Carolee Carmello, Ensemble); “For Such a Time as This” (music by David Friedman) (Florence Lacey); “Why Can’t I?” (music by David Pomeranz) (Carolee Carmello); “He Will Be My Home” (music by David Pomeranz) (Steve Wilson, Carolee Carmello, Florence Lacey, Ed Dixon); “That Sweet Lassie from Cork” (music by Kathie Lee Gifford) (Ensemble); “Come Whatever May” (music by David Friedman) (Steve Wilson, Ensemble); “I Will Love You That Way” (music by David Friedman) (Adam Monley, Carolee Carmello); “Letter from Home” (music by David Pomeranz) (Ed Dixon); “Follow Me!” (music by David Pomeranz) (Carolee Carmello, Ensemble); “A Girl’s Gotta Do What a Girl’s Gotta Do” (music by David Friedman) (E. Faye Butler, Women); “Why Can’t I Just Be a Woman” (music by David Pomeranz) (Carolee Carmello, Adam Monley); “For Such a Time as This” (reprise) (Carolee Carmello, Ensemble) Act Two: “God Will Provide” (music by David Pomeranz) (E. Faye Butler, Ensemble); “Adam and Eve” (music by David Friedman) (Steve Wilson, Eve [performer unknown], Carolee Carmello); “Samson and Delilah” (music by David Friedman) (Carolee Carmello, Ensemble); “Let My People Go!” (music by David Pomer-

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anz) (Steve Wilson, Slaves, Moses [performer unknown]); “Why Can’t I Just Be a Woman” (reprise) (Carolee Carmello, Steve Wilson); “Saving Aimee” (music by David Friedman) (Florence Lacey); “The Silent, Sorrowful Shadows” (music by David Friedman) (Carolee Carmello); “Why Can’t I?” (reprise) (Carolee Carmello); “Demon in a Dress” (music by David Pomeranz) (Ed Dixon, Ensemble); “Emma Jo’s Lament” (music by David Friedman) (E. Faye Butler); “Lost or Found” (music by David Pomeranz) (Carolee Carmello, Ensemble); “Paying the Price” (music by David Pomeranz) (E. Faye Butler, Florence Lacey, Carolee Carmello); “I Had a Fire” (music by David Friedman) (Carolee Carmello); “Stand Up!” (reprise) (Company) Saving Aimee looked at the life of Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944) who became a worldwide phenomenon as a controversial celebrity evangelist who practiced divine healing and speaking in tongues, not to mention her innovative use of radio to preach the gospel and her 5,300-seat temple in Los Angeles where she offered theatrical-styled “illustrated” sermons. She was married three times (widowed once and divorced twice), allegedly kidnapped twice, preached all over the world (including Broadway and the vaudeville circuit), underwent public estrangements with both her daughter and her mother, and died of an overdose of barbiturates at the age of fifty-four. The musical underwent a series of workshop performances during October 2006 at the White Plains Performing Arts Center in White Plains, New York, and after the current 2007 mounting in Virginia was reworked and played at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington, in October 2011. Carolee Carmello played the title role in all three productions; for the 2006 and 2007 productions, Florence Lacey played McPherson’s mother Minnie Kennedy, and for the 2011 production Judy Kaye was Minnie. This viewer found the musical so tiresome he left after the first act. The first half offered clichéd staging and an ordinary book and score, and while Carmello was valiant, the book did her no favors by requiring her to portray a teenaged Aimee during the musical’s early scenes. Jayne Blanchard in the Washington Times said Carmello gave McPherson a “larger-than-life bravura” performance that wasn’t “matched” by the “modest” lyrics and “derivative, repetitive, and unmemorable” music. The production needed “a more sophisticated, nuanced score and lyrics less reminiscent of Sunday school hymns,” and “all the show-biz razzle-dazzle in the world” couldn’t conceal that “this musical just has no soul.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post found the work “opaque and uninvolving” and noted it lacked “a compelling point of view.” The “frustratingly guileless” evening had characters who seemed “interchangeable” and came across like “mere singing shadows on a newsreel.” But he found the score “lively” and singled out the title song and “A Girl’s Gotta Do What a Girl’s Gotta Do.” Phil Harris in Variety liked “the engaging little musical,” praised the “pleasingly melodic and varied score” and “clever” lyrics, and although the book was “exceedingly thorough” he felt the second act dragged somewhat. In reviewing the Seattle production in 2011, Lynn Jacobson in Variety said that during the years following the musical’s premiere “no miracles” had occurred in regard to the show’s script and score and thus the musical would “require additional laying-on of hands before it’s ready to ascend” to Broadway. There are other lyric works about McPherson. Jack Beeson’s opera The Sweet Bye and Bye with libretto by Kenward Elmslie (not to be confused with the musical Sweet Bye and Bye with lyrics by Ogden Nash and music by Vernon Duke, which closed during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1946) was certainly inspired by the famous evangelist. Its world premiere took place in New York at the Juilliard Opera Theatre in November 1957, and here the protagonist was named Sister Rose Ora Easter (Shirlee Emmons); among the other cast members was Ruth Kobart, just a few years away from her memorable appearances in the original Broadway productions of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. A 1974 production of The Sweet Bye and Bye by the Kansas City Lyric Opera was recorded on a two-LP set by Desto Records (# DC-7179/80), and notes for the recording indicate the work “is a fictional creation, and any resemblance to other religious groups is coincidental.” The libretto was published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1966. McPherson was also the subject of the song “Sister Aimee” from the revue Billy Barnes’ L.A., which opened at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles on October 10, 1962. Joyce Jameson performed the number, which is included on the show’s cast album released by BB Records (LP # 1001). Aimee was another musical about the evangelist, and it opened at Trinity Square Repertory Theatre Company in Providence, Rhode Island, on December 6, 1973, for forty-six performances. Pamela Peyton-Wright played the title role, the music was by Worth Gardner, and the book and lyrics were by William Goyen.

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The Off-Off-Broadway musical Sister Aimee opened at the Gene Frankel Theatre on April 17, 1981, for thirteen performances with Deb G. Girdler in the title role and Willi Kirkham as Minnie (Jenifer Lewis was also in the cast, and her program biography noted she had recently appeared in the workshop production of Michael Bennett’s new musical Big Dreams, where she created the role of Effie Melody White). The book, lyrics, and music for Sister Aimee were by Worth Gardner, who had composed the music for the earlier Aimee, and at least four songs from the earlier production were heard in Sister Aimee (“Sister Is My Daughter,” “Concrete and Steel,” “Joy, Joy, Joy,” and “Sister Aimee”). The Off-Broadway musical Radio Gals, which opened on October 1, 1996, at the John Houseman Theatre for forty performances, took place during the 1920s. The liner notes for the cast album explained that the show was inspired by the early days of radio when many independent mom-and-pop stations peppered the country before the U.S. Department of Commerce cracked down on them (these independent stations jumped from channel to channel to whatever frequencies had open broadcast space). Specifically, Radio Gals was inspired by an incident involving McPherson, who operated an illegal radio station in Los Angeles during the early 1920s (by 1924, McPherson became the first woman to be granted a commercial license to run a radio station). The cast album of Radio Gals was released by Varese Sarabande Records (# VSD-5604), and the script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1997. On November 15, 2012, a revised version of Saving Aimee was produced on Broadway as Scandalous (subtitled “The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson”) where it opened at the Neil Simon Theatre for twenty-nine performances. Carmello reprised her earlier performances as McPherson, and others in the cast were George Hearn (James Kennedy), Candy Buckley (Minnie Kennedy), and Roz Ryan (Emma Jo Shaeffer). The Broadway cast album was released by Shout Records (CD # 14310). New songs for the Broadway production included “Minnie’s Prayer,” “How Could You?,” “Hollywood Aimee,” “Foursquare March” (for Seattle, the song was titled “Foursquare Hymn”), “Moses and Pharaoh,” “The Coconut Grove,” “No Other Choice,” and “What Does It Profit?” Songs heard in the Virginia production that were cut for New York include “I Will Love You That Way,” “Letter from Home,” “Why Can’t I Just Be a Woman,” “God Will Provide,” “Adam and Eve,” “Let My People Go!,” “Saving Aimee,” “The Silent, Sorrowful Shadows,” “Emma Jo’s Lament,” and “Paying the Price.” Songs heard in the Seattle production that weren’t part of the earlier versions or the eventual Broadway production were “Oh, the Power” and “This Time I’ll Blame It on Love.” The script of Saving Aimee was published in paperback in a so-called “preview edition” by First Look Press in 2007 (with the notation “Revised April 11, 2007”). Although “Moses and Pharaoh” wasn’t listed in the Virginia program, the song is included in the script.

SISTER ACT

“The Musical” / “The Smash Hit Musical Comedy” The musical began previews on October 24, 2006, at the Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena, California, officially opened on November 3, and closed on December 17. It later opened at the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, on January 17, 2007, and closed on February 25, and then was produced in London at the London Palladium for the period June 21, 2009–October 30, 2010. The eventual New York production opened at the Broadway Theatre on April 20, 2011, for 561 performances. Book: Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner Lyrics: Glenn Slater Music: Alan Menken Based on the 1992 film Sister Act (direction by Emile Ardolino and screenplay by Joseph Howard). Direction: Peter Schneider (Marcus Miller, Assistant Director); Producers: Coproduced by Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director; Lyla White, Executive Director) and Alliance Theatre (Susan V. Booth, Artistic Director; Tom Pechar, Managing Director) under special arrangement with SisActs, Limited Liability Company); Choreography: Marguerite Derricks (Michelle Elkin, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: David Potts; Costumes: Garry Lennon; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Brent-Alan Huffman Cast: Elizabeth Ward Land (Mother Superior), Patina Renea Miller (Kay-T, Sister Mary Charles, Go-Go Dancer), Badia Farha (Larosa, Sister Mary Francis, Cocktail Waitress), Dawnn Lewis (Deloris Van Cartier), Harrison White (Curtis Shank), Melvin Abston (TJ, Muscle-T), Danny Stiles (Bones, Leather), Dan Domenech (Dinero, Doo-Rag), Henry Polic II (Willard, Monsignor Howard, Old Bearded Biker), David Jen-

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nings (Sergeant Eddie Souther), Amy K. Murray (Sister Mary Patrick), Beth Malone (Sister Mary Robert), Audrie Neenan (Sister Mary Lazarus), Andi Gibson (Sister Mary Hope, Go-Go Dancer), Roberta B. Wall (Sister Mary Bertrand, Maxine), Lisa Robinson (Sister Mary Edward, Biker Chick), Claci Miller (Sister Mary Dominique, Cocktail Waitress), Wendy Melkonian (Sister Mary Gabriel, Biker Chick), Wendy James (Sister Mary Augustine, Biker Chick), Wilkie Ferguson (Biker); Ensemble: Melvin Abston, Patina Renea Miller, Dan Domenech, Badia Farha, Wilkie Ferguson, Andi Gibson, Wendy James, Wendy Melkonian, Claci Miller, Henry Polic II, Lisa Robinson, Danny Stiles, Roberta B. Wall The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Philadelphia “some time ago.”

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “Light My Way” (Elizabeth Ward Land, Nuns);”Take Me to Heaven” (Patina Renea Miller, Badia Farha, Dawnn Lewis); “Fabulous, Baby!” (Dawnn Lewis); “A Simple Life” (Elizabeth Ward Land); “How I Got the Calling” (Amy K. Murray, Audrie Neenan, Nuns, Dawnn Lewis); “Dress to Kill” (Harrison White, Melvin Abston, Danny Stiles, Dan Domenech); “How I Got the Calling” (reprise) (Beth Malone, Amy K. Murray, Dawnn Lewis); “Goin’ to Hell” (Audrie Neenan, Amy K. Murray, Bikers, Biker Chicks); “I Could Be That Guy” (David Jennings, Bikers, Biker Chicks); “Raise Your Voice” (Dawnn Lewis, Nuns); “Take Me to Heaven” (reprise) (Dawnn Lewis, Amy K. Murray, Audrie Neenan, Beth Malone, Nuns) Act Two: “Sunday Morning Fever” (Company); “Lady in the Long Black Dress” (Danny Stiles, Melvin Abston, Dan Domenech); “A Simple Life” (reprise) (Amy K. Murray, Audrie Neenan, Dawnn Lewis, Nuns); “Sister Act” (Dawnn Lewis, Elizabeth Ward Land); “The Life I Never Led” (Beth Malone); “Would It Kill Me?” (Dawnn Lewis); “Dress to Kill” (reprise) (Harrison White); “I Haven’t Got a Prayer” (Elizabeth Ward Land); “Light My Way” (reprise) (Dawnn Lewis, Elizabeth Ward Land, Beth Malone, Amy K. Murray, Audrie Neenan, Nuns); “Mirror Ball” (Company) Sister Act was based on the popular feel-good 1992 film about flashy entertainer Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg in the film, Dawnn Lewis for the musical) who witnesses a gangland murder and under the witness-protection program is temporarily placed in a convent. The obvious if amusing setup derived its humor from the odd-couple pairing of the flippant and street-smart Deloris and the acerbic and wise Mother Superior (Maggie Smith/Elizabeth Ward Land). The nuns live in semi-seclusion from the community around them, and through Deloris’s efforts the sisters revitalize their mission by the use of popular music to reach out to the neighborhood and its people and to make religion a vital part of their lives. After the world premiere in 2006 at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, the musical played at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. It was later produced in the West End by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment, where it opened on June 2, 2009, at the London Palladium for a seventeen-month run with Sheila Hancock (Mother Superior) and Patina (Renea) Miller (Deloris) (for the Pasadena and Atlanta productions, Miller had played the parts of Kay-T, Sister Mary Charles, and a go-go dancer, and had understudied the role of Deloris). For a few performances late in the London run, Goldberg appeared as Deloris. The London cast album was released on CD by First Night Records, and includes five songs added for the production (“Here Within These Walls,” “When I Find My Baby,” “Do the Sacred Mass,” “Bless Our Show,” and “Spread the Love Around”). Seven songs from the two U.S. regional productions weren’t used for the London version (“Light the Way,” “A Simple Life,” “Dress to Kill,” “Goin’ to Hell,” “Would It Kill Me?,” “I Haven’t Got a Prayer,” and “Mirror Ball”). The musical opened in New York at the Broadway Theatre on April 20, 2011, for 561 performances. Produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment in association with the Shubert Organization and Disney Theatrical Productions, the musical’s direction was by Jerry Zaks, the choreography by Anthony Van Laast, and additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane. Patina Miller again played the role of Deloris, and Victoria Clark was Mother Superior. The production added one new song (“It’s Good to Be a Nun”); deleted one of the numbers added for London (“Do the Sacred Mass”); and used one of the songs heard in the regional productions that wasn’t included for the London version (“I Haven’t Got a Prayer”). In his review of the Pasadena production, Bob Verini in Variety said the “essence” of the original film had been “simplified and distorted to the point of character incoherence and dubious taste.” The film was set during the early 1990s, but the musical took place in the 1970s and included a dance sequence of “out-of-period” hip-hop; further, the idea that nuns would present a “booty-shaking” song like “Sunday Morning Fever” in

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the presence of the pope was “ludicrous.” The show’s message was that “underneath every wimple” is a nun who wants “to don purple disco boots,” and the confrontations between Deloris and the Mother Superior were filled with “sitcomish one-liners that land with a thud.” Charles McNulty in the Los Angeles Times indicated the show was “mostly nunsense” and would “need a little divine intervention” because it kept “getting diverted down clichéd pathways.” And while there was “something inherently winning” in the basic Sister Act concept, the “human dynamics get lost in the onstage shuffle.”

2007–2008 Season

XANADU

“A Life-Altering New Musical Comedy” / “Broadway’s Surprise Musical Hit” / “Broadway’s Musical Comedy Hit” Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: July 10, 2007; Closing Date: September 28, 2008 Performances: 510 Book: Douglas Carter Beane Lyrics and Music: Jeff Lynne and John Farrar Based on the 1980 film Xanadu (direction by Robert Greenwald and screenplay by Richard Danus and Marc Rubel). Direction: Christopher Ashley; Producers: Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Tara Smith/B. Swibel, and Sarah Murchison/Dale Smith (Cari Smulyan, Marc Rubel, Allison Bibicoff, and Christopher R. Webster III/Maggie Fine, Associate Producers); Choreography: Dan Knechtges; Scenery: David Gallo; Projections: Zachary Borovay; Costumes: David Zinn; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Eric Stern Cast: Cheyenne Jackson (Sonny Malone), Curtis Holbrook (Thalia, Siren, Young Danny, ’80s Singer, Cyclops), Anika Larsen (Euterpe, Siren, ’40s Singer, Thetis), Kenita Miller (Erato, Siren, ’40s Singer, Eros, Hera), Mary Testa (Melpomene, Medusa), Jackie Hoffman (Calliope, Aphrodite), Andre Ward (Terpsicore, Siren, ’80s Singer, Hermes, Centaur), Kerry Butler (Clio, Sheila/Kira), Tony Roberts (Danny Maguire, Zeus), Marty Thomas (Featured Skater) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during 1980 in Los Angeles and on Mount Olympus.

Musical Numbers Note: (*) denotes lyrics and music by Jeff Lynne; (**) denotes lyrics and music by John Farrar. “I’m Alive” (*) (Muses, Kerry Butler); “Magic” (**) (Cheyenne Jackson, Kerry Butler, Muses); “Evil Woman” (*) (Mary Testa, Jackie Hoffman, Sirens); “Suddenly” (**) (Cheyenne Jackson, Kerry Butler); “Whenever You’re Away from Me” (**) (Tony Roberts, Kerry Butler, Curtis Holbrook); “Dancin’” (**) (’40s Singers, ’80s Singers, Kerry Butler, Cheyenne Jackson, Tony Roberts); “Strange Magic” (*) (Cheyenne Jackson, Kerry Butler, Mary Testa, Jackie Hoffman, Kenita Miller); “All Over the World” (*) (Company); “Don’t Walk Away” (*) (Cheyenne Jackson, Kerry Butler, Muses); “Fool” (**) (Kerry Butler, Mary Testa, Jackie Hoffman); “The Fall” (*) (Cheyenne Jackson, Muses); “Suspended in Time” (**) (Kerry Butler, Cheyenne Jackson); “Have You Never Been Mellow?” (**) (Tony Roberts, Kenita Miller, Jackie Hoffman, Anika Larsen, Curtis Holbrook, Mary Testa, Andre Ward); “Xanadu” (*) (Company) Throughout the United States of America and the rest of the free world, eyebrows were raised in fear if not pure horror with the announcement that a stage adaptation of the 1980 film Xanadu was headed for 313

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Broadway. Was this just a rumor? Insidious propaganda by an unfriendly nation? A cruel joke? After all, the movie was a flop and one of the most vilified of its era (only the 1980 musical film Can’t Stop the Music was hated more, and in case you’ve forgotten, that’s the one with Bruce Jenner, the Village People, June Havoc, and Tammy Grimes, all of whom were directed by Nancy Walker). Further, Xanadu would require the cast to zoom around the stage on roller skates, and so wouldn’t the evening turn into Xanadu Express? But in one respect the film had been a success: the soundtrack album went platinum and the score included a number of hits, including “Suddenly,” “Magic,” and the title song. And one song was a genuine jewel: the insinuating big-band ballad “Whenever You’re Away from Me,” which was sung by Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John. The happy news is that Douglas Carter Beane’s stage adaptation proceeded to astound everyone in the world when it turned out to be a tongue-in-cheek spoof of its film source. Further, the $5 million musical winked at the 1981 film Clash of the Titans and poked fun at musical comedies in general (the critics were quick to pick up on one particular line of dialogue, “This is like children’s theatre for 40-year-old gay people!”). So the musical was well received by critics and audiences, played for more than five hundred performances, and was nominated for four Tony Awards (Best Musical, Best Book, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography). But Michael Riedel in the New York Post noted that despite a long run the show returned “just .5 percent to its investors.” The story was loosely inspired by the 1947 film Down to Earth in which the goddess Terpsichore (Rita Hayworth) visits Earth when she discovers she’s the subject of an upcoming Broadway musical. Hayworth made a glorious goddess, the film was drenched in 1940s Technicolor, there were some interesting dance sequences choreographed by Jack Cole that featured Broadway dancer Marc Platt, and one lyric was almost dadaesque in its inanity (“People have more fun than anyone”). For the stage version of Xanadu, the goddess Clio (Kerry Butler) comes to Earth as an Australian named Sheila (but known as Kira) to save despondent artist Sonny Malone (Cheyenne Jackson), who likes to create chalk murals of “ancient Greek arty chicks” on sidewalks. Yes, she will be his Muse and she will inspire him to artistic greatness with the creation of a roller disco. Along for the ride are Clio’s two jealous Muse sisters Melpomene (Mary Testa) and Calliope (Jackie Hoffman) as well as Danny Maguire (Tony Roberts), the owner of a dilapidated theatre called the Xanadu, which would be the perfect spot for a roller disco. When Danny meets Clio he remembers the time back in the 1940s when he was inspired to build the Xanadu by a girl named Tangerine (who was actually Clio in Southern-Belle drag), but the cast album liner notes assure us that we’re “not going to see a plot complication like that in Spring Awakening.” Charles Isherwood in Variety said the “outlandishly enjoyable” Xanadu was both “indefensible and irresistible” with Beane’s “adorably ditzy” book, Christopher Ashley’s “roller-derby speed” direction, Dan Knechtges’s “mercilessly cheesy choreography,” and musical director Eric Stern’s “zesty pop arrangements.” Butler was “pretty” and “funny” and sang “gloriously”; chalk artist Sonny (who has “chalk for brains, too”) was played “beautifully” by Jackson; and Testa and Hoffman were “criminally funny.” Roberts played the dual roles of Danny Maguire (played by Kelly in the film, and whose character’s name was taken from Kelly’s role in the 1944 film musical Cover Girl) and Zeus. And the all-knowing Zeus looks into the future and discovers that “creativity” in musical theatre “shall remain stymied for decades” and “they’ll just take some stinkeroo movie or some songwriter’s catalog, throw it onstage and call it a show.” David Rooney in Variety exclaimed that it was “a feat worthy of Zeus himself that such dreck yields so much enjoyment.” The “gleefully low-rent production” was an “unexpectedly sustained and refreshingly unassuming crowd-pleaser,” and he noted that Kira informs us that she’ll take “the stage adaptation of the inferior cinematic offering” or “the musical of the box that is Juke” and will use them to reveal “the human experience rendered comprehensible through art.” Hinton Als in the New Yorker found the musical “ridiculously brilliant,” a confection both “lavish and sublime,” and a work that will probably be “the most fun you’ll have on Broadway this season.” Further, Butler was “a powerhouse, ethereal and daffy at once,” Jackson was “excellent,” and Testa and Hoffman were “the perfect stand-ins for every form of stunted lasciviousness.” James Carpinello, who played the role of Sonny, was injured during a preview performance, was temporarily replaced by two cast members who assumed his role at various performances, and then was permanently replaced by Cheyenne Jackson, who had played the role during an early workshop of the musical with Jane Krakowski (the opening night program included Carpinello’s name in the cast, and so it seems everyone thought Carpinello would soon rejoin the production). But Jackson remained in the show throughout the run and can be heard on the original cast album, which was released by PS Classics (CD # PS-858).

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A lavish coffee-table-sized book about the musical (Xanadu! The Book! Seriously!) was published in paperback by KD Productions, LLC in 2008.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Xanadu); Best Book (Douglas Carter Beane); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Kerry Butler); Best Choreography (Dan Knechtges)

GREASE

“The One That You Want!” Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre Opening Date: August 19, 2007; Closing Date: January 4, 2009 Performances: 554 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey (additional lyrics and music by Barry Gibb, John Farrar, Louis St. Louis, and Scott Simon; unless otherwise noted, all songs by Jacobs and Casey) Direction and Choreography: Kathleen Marshall (Marc Bruni, Associate Director; Joyce Chittick, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Paul Nicholas and David Ian, Nederlander Productions, Inc., and Terry Allen Kramer by arrangement with Robert Stigwood (Max Finbow, Executive Producer); Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Kimberly Grigsby Cast: Max Crumm (Danny Zuko), Laura Osnes (Sandy Dumbrowski), Matthew Saldivar (Kenickie), José Restrepo (Sonny LaTierri), Daniel Everidge (Roger), Ryan Patrick Binder (Doody), Jenny Powers (Betty Rizzo), Robyn Hurder (Marty), Lindsay Mendez (Jan), Kirsten Wyatt (Frenchy), Allison Fischer (Patty Simcox), Jamison Scott (Eugene Florczyk), Susan Blommaert (Miss Lynch), Jeb Brown (Vince Fontaine), Natalie Hill (Cha-Cha DiGregorio), Stephen R. Buntrock (Teen Angel); Ensemble: Josh Franklin, Cody Green, Natalie Hill, Emily Padgett, Keven Quillon, Brian Sears, Christina Sivrich, Anna Aimee White The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1959 and centers around Rydell High School and other hang-outs of the Rydell set.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Grease” (lyric and music by Barry Gibb) (Company); “Summer Nights” (Max Crumm, Laura Osnes, Company); “Those Magic Changes” (Ryan Patrick Binder, Company); “Freddy, My Love” (Robyn Hurder, Pink Ladies); “Greased Lightnin’” (Matthew Saldivar, Guys); “Rydell Fight Song” (Laura Osnes, Allison Fischer); “Mooning” (Daniel Everidge, Lindsay Mendez); “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” (Jenny Powers); “We Go Together” (T-Birds and Pink Ladies) Act Two: “Shakin’ at the High School Hop” (Company); “It’s Raining on Prom Night” (Lindsay Mendez, Laura Osnes); “Born to Hand-Jive” (Jeb Brown, Company); “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (lyric and music by John Farrar) (Laura Osnes); “Beauty School Dropout” (Stephen R. Buntrock, Girls); “Sandy” (lyric and music by Louis St. Louis and Scott Simon) (Max Crumm); “Rock ’n’ Roll Party Queen” (Ryan Patrick Binder, Daniel Everidge); “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” (Jenny Powers); “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” (reprise) (Laura Osnes); “You’re the One That I Want” (lyric and music by John Farrar) (Max Crumm, Laura Osnes, Company); “We Go Together” (reprise) (Company) Following the tongue-in-cheek nostalgia of Xanadu, the irony-free revival of Grease opened. This wasn’t your 1994 Barry and Fran Weissler theme park Grease with a revolving door of celebrity guest appearances during its marathon four-year run, and it wasn’t even your 1996 Weissler revival, a touring production that briefly played in New York over the Thanksgiving holiday and gave discerning theatergoers the once-in-alifetime thrill of seeing two simultaneously running Grease productions and the unique chance of measuring what were surely subtle nuances between the two presentations.

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No, the current Grease was the reality-show version which began with NBC’s twelve-part series Grease: You’re the One That I Want when politically energized Americans took a stand and exercised their inalienable right to cast ballots to determine which lucky American boy and girl contestants would be elected by a popular majority and win the honor of playing Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski, roles that were the musical theatre equivalent of Romeo and Juliet. Ben Brantley in the New York Times voted, too, because he reported the television contest “was a sobering reminder of why the remote control exists.” Brantley noted that audiences would be “baffled” by the revival’s “lack of wit, charisma or original presence.” Max Crumm’s Danny was like the “nerdy class clown” and thus was a “refreshing if improbable choice for the studly” Danny Zuko. He never projected “natural leader of the pack” authority, and whenever he pulled up the collar of his leather jacket he did so because he was “actively remembering” that it was “something he needed to do.” Laura Osnes’s Sandy possessed a “sweet singing voice,” but she approached her role “with the earnestness of a first-year acting student doing Juliet.” David Rooney in Variety found the revival “dispiritingly bland” and “in terms of energy and freshness” it was as “flat as a pancake.” He noted that Crumm and Osnes had “no business carrying a Broadway show,” and for that matter no one in the cast appeared “to be trying very hard.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the two leads didn’t “resemble flesh-and-blood performers so much as statistical inevitabilities,” but Richard Zoglin in Time said they weren’t “bad at all” and “you could do a lot worse” in what was an “effortlessly enjoyable” show. The current revival included the four new songs written for the 1978 film version (for more information, see below), and dropped “Alma Mater,” “Alone at a Drive-In Movie,” and “All Choked Up.” The revival’s cast album was released by Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Masterworks Broadway (CD # 88697-16398-2). As of this writing, Crumm has appeared in one more Broadway musical, the disastrous Disaster! (2016), but Osnes was a replacement for Nellie Forbush during the long run of the hit 2008 revival of South Pacific; was the romantic lead Hope Harcourt in the popular 2011 revival of Anything Goes; was Bonnie in the 2011 musical Bonnie & Clyde; and created the title role in the long-running 2013 production of Cinderella. Grease had first been produced in Chicago on February 5, 1971, at the Kingston Mines Theatre and premiered in New York at Off-Broadway’s Eden Theatre (formerly the Phoenix Theatre and the original home of The Golden Apple, and now a movie complex) on February 14, 1972; it transferred uptown four months later to the Broadhurst Theatre. Best Plays reported that the Eden run was Off Broadway in location only because from the very first Eden performance the show was always under a Broadway contract. The musical ran from 1972 to 1980 for a total of 3,388 performances. Grease was an obvious but affectionate look at high school life in the late 1950s when everyone must make The Choice: you’re either a Pat Boone or an Elvis Presley type (for the musical, it was clear only the latter need apply). Rydell High is the place (its name surely an homage to Bobby), and among the kids are duck-tailed, leather-jacketed Danny Zuko and innocent pony-tailed and poodle-skirted Sandy Dumbrowski, both of whom shared an innocent summer romance. But come September it’s back to school and the relationship is apparently over. So Sandy reinvents herself as a tough and slightly slutty motorcycle babe who spouts four-letter words, wears tight slacks, sports gold-hooped earrings, and, yes, dons a leather jacket. So how can there by anything but true love for Danny and Sandy? The musical was filled with high-school archetypes: the tough Italian “fast” girl Betty Rizzo; the class clown who proudly wears the title of “mooning champ of Rydell High”; the overweight wallflower Cha-Cha DiGregorio, who prides herself on being a really great dancer; and the loser “Beauty School Dropout” Frenchy, who is brutally accused by the heavenly Teen Angel of being “a teenage ne’er-do-well.” The songs were in the style of the era’s popular hits, and did their job well. “Summer Nights,” “Freddy, My Love,” “Shakin’ at the High School Hop,” and “All Choked Up” might well have turned up on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. Sandy contemplated the horror of “It’s Raining on Prom Night”; Danny sang the lament of being “Alone at a Drive-In Movie” where he’s reduced to “watchin’ werewolves without you”; and for “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” Rizzo suggested she could play it sweet and coy and “lousy with virginity.” As noted, the musical was first revived in 1994, when it opened on May 11 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for 1,503 performances, and the limited-engagement Thanksgiving revival opened at City Center on November 29, 1996, for 6 showings. The 1978 film adaptation released by Paramount Pictures was a rarity, a hit film version of a hit Broadway musical. The cast included John Travolta (Danny), Olivia Newton-John (Sandy), Stockard Channing (Rizzo),

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Edd Byrnes, Lorenzo Lamas, Eve Arden, Joan Blondell, Sid Caesar, Dody Goodman, and Alice Ghostley. Patricia Birch had choreographed the original Broadway production and here created the film’s dances. Four songs were written for the movie: the irresistibly catchy title song (lyric and music by Barry Gibb); the creamy ballad “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and the lively duet “You’re the One That I Want” (both with lyrics and music by John Farrar); and “Sandy” (lyric and music by Louis St. Louis and Scott Simon). Along with Saturday Night Fever (which was released the previous year and also starred Travolta), the film managed to be one of the first film musicals in decades to boast a number of hit songs (the first three noted above), and later stage revivals sometimes interpolated these songs. In 1982, Birch directed the film’s sequel Grease 2, which was produced by Paramount and starred Maxwell Caulfield, Michele Pfeiffer, Lorna Luft, Tab Hunter, Connie Stevens, and, from the 1978 film, Arden, Caesar, and Goodman. Except for the imaginative and bouncy opening number “Back to School Again,” the dreary movie had little to offer. Fox Network produced a live television adaptation on January 31, 2016, and the cast included Aaron Tveit (Danny), Julianne Hough (Sandy), and Vanessa Hudgens (Rizzo). The CD was released by Republic Records and the DVD by Paramount. The musical’s script was published in hardback by Winter House in 1972, and was also included in the hardback collection Great Rock Musicals, edited by Stanley Richards and published by Stein and Day in 1979. The original 1972 cast album was issued by MGM Records (LP # 1SE-34-OC) and the CD was released by Polydor Records (# 827-548-2). The 1978 soundtrack was released by SRO Records on a two-LP set (# RS2-4002; CD # 825-096-2), and the soundtrack of the 1982 sequel was issued by Polydor (CD # 42282-5096-2). The 1996 revival was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-62703-2), and when Brooke Shields joined the production (as Rizzo), the CD was rereleased with her tracks (# 09026-68179-2). As noted above, the cast album of the current revival was issued by Masterworks Broadway. The first London production opened on June 26, 1973, at the New London Theatre for 236 performances (some sources cite 258 showings), and the cast included Richard Gere as Danny. There was no cast recording, but a later 1993 London revival was released by Epic Records (LP # 474632-1; CD by Sony # 474632-2), and a studio cast recording by That’s Entertainment Records (CD # CDTER-1220) includes John Barrowman as Danny. There are some twenty recordings of the score, including a 1978 South African album issued by Music for Pleasure Records (LP # SRSJ-8079), a 1991 Norwegian cast album issued by Polydor (CD # 513-367-2), and a 1993 Hungarian cast album released by Polygram Records (CD # 521520-2). As for the musical’s creators Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, Grease was their only Broadway musical. Their Island of Lost Co-eds (“A New Jungle Musical”) opened on May 27, 1981, in Chicago at the 11th Street Theatre under the sponsorship of Columbia College Chicago’s Music Center (the team collaborated on the book, and the lyrics and music were by Casey). The musical spoofed Dorothy Lamour South Sea Island and jungle epics of the late 1930s and early 1940s, and Glenna Syse in the Chicago Sun-Times suggested “if properly honed, there is just the possibility that this musical may have more appeal than did Grease.” She noted the evening included sarong-clad maidens, an evil island queen, a mad scientist, a rampaging gorilla, a menacing volcano, and even an Ann Miller–styled tap dance. The songs included “Moon over Melmac,” “Bananas Growing Yellower Every Day,” and “Leisure Suit Wedding,” and various scenes took place in “a spooky part of the jungle,” “a not spooky part of the jungle,” and at “St. Vitus Hospital.” Sounds amusing, but unfortunately the show never found its way to New York or a recording studio.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Revival of a Musical (Grease)

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN “The New Mel Brooks Musical”

Theatre: Hilton Theatre Opening Date: November 8, 2007; Closing Date: January 4, 2009 Performances: 484

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Book: Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan Lyrics and Music: Mel Brooks Based on the 1974 film Young Frankenstein (screenplay by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks and direction by Mel Brooks). Direction and Choreography: Susan Stroman (Steven Zweigbaum, Associate Director); Producers: Robert F. X. Sillerman and Mel Brooks in association with The R/F/B/V Group (One Viking Productions and Carl Pasbjerg, Associate Producers); Scenery: Robin Wagner; Special Effects: Marc Brickman; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: Patrick S. Brady Cast: Paul Castree (Herald, Bob), Jim Borstelmann (Ziggy, Shoeshine Man, Lawrence), Fred Applegate (Inspector Kemp, Hermit), Justin Patterson (Medical Student, Equine), Matthew LaBanca (Medical Student, The Count), Kevin Ligon (Medical Student, Victor), Roger Bart (Frederick Frankenstein), Jack Doyle (Mr. Hilltop), Brian Shepard (Telegraph Boy), Megan Mullally (Elizabeth), Christopher Fitzgerald (Igor), Eric Jackson (Equine, Sasha, Ritz Specialty), Sutton Foster (Inga), Andrea Martin (Frau Blucher), Shuler Hensley (The Monster); Transylvania Quartet: Paul Castree, Jack Doyle, Kevin Ligon, and Brian Shepard; Heather Ayers (Masha), Christina Marie Norrup (Basha), Linda Mugleston (Tasha); Ensemble: Heather Ayers, Jim Borstelmann, Paul Castree, Jennifer Lee Crowl, Jack Doyle, Renee Feder, Amy Heggins, Eric Jackson, Matthew LaBanca, Kevin Ligon, Barrett Martin, Linda Mugleston, Christina Marie Norrup, Justin Patterson, Brian Shepard, Sarrah Strimel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1934 in Transylvania and New York City.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Happiest Town in Town” (Villagers); “(There Is Nothing Like) The Brain” (Roger Bart, Justin Patterson, Matthew LaBanca, Kevin Ligon); “Please Don’t Touch Me” (Megan Mullally, Voyagers); “Together Again” (Roger Bart, Christopher Fitzgerald); “Roll in the Hay” (Sutton Foster, Roger Bart, Christopher Fitzgerald); “Join the Family Business” (Kevin Ligon, Roger Bart, Ancestors); “He Vas My Boyfriend” (Andrea Martin); “The Law” (Fred Applegate, Villagers); “Life, Life” (Roger Bart); “Welcome to Transylvania” (Paul Castree, Jack Doyle, Kevin Ligon, Brian Shepard); “Transylvania Mania” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Roger Bart, Sutton Foster, Fred Applegate, Villagers) Act Two: “He’s Loose” (Fred Applegate, Villagers); “Listen to Your Heart” (Sutton Foster); “Surprise” (Megan Mullally, Christopher Fitzgerald, Andrea Martin, Eric Jackson, Heather Ayers, Christina Marie Norrup, Linda Mugleston, Paul Castree); “Please Send Me Someone” (Fred Applegate); “Man about Town” (Roger Bart); “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (1930 film Puttin’ on the Ritz; lyric and music by Irving Berlin) (Roger Bart, Shuler Hensley, Sutton Foster, Christopher Fitzgerald, Andrea Martin, Ensemble); “Deep Love” (Megan Mullally); “Frederick’s Soliloquy” (Roger Bart); “Deep Love” (reprise) (Shuler Hensley); Finale Ultimo (Company) Young Frankenstein was Mel Brooks’s long-anticipated follow-up to his enormously successful The Producers, and like its predecessor the new musical was based on one of Brooks’s memorable film comedies. From the earlier musical both Susan Stroman and Roger Bart returned, she again as director and choreographer and he as Doctor Frankenstein (in The Producers he was the gayer-than-thou Carmen Ghia). Similarly, Robin Wagner, William Ivey Long, and Peter Kaczorowski returned as respective scenery, costume, and lighting designers and Patrick S. Brady was once again the musical director. But theatrical lightning didn’t strike twice (except as a special effect in the good doctor’s laboratory), and Young Frankenstein proved to be a disappointment. The Producers had played for 2,502 performances, won the still-standing record of twelve Tony Awards, and was a box-office bonanza. But Young Frankenstein managed just 484 showings, received cool reviews, walked away without a Tony to its name, and clearly didn’t recoup its reported $16 million investment. The story dealt with Doctor Frankenstein, who sets sail from New York City on the H.M.S. Queen Murray for his ancestral home of Transylvania, and once there he just can’t stay away from the old family business of sewing various body parts together in order to create a new human being. He’s never learned the Life Lesson known to anyone who’s dutifully watched a lifetime of horror and science-fiction movies: Some Things Are Best Left Alone. The musical reprised all the favorite shticks from the film, including Igor’s wandering humpback, Inga’s beck-and-call to roll in the hay, Frau Blucher and her curious effect on horses, the lonely blind hermit and

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his dangerous bowl of hot soup (or, in this case, a lit cigar), and of course the razz-ma-tazzy top-hat-and-cane shuffle of Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz” for Doctor Frankenstein and his monster when they pull all the stops out in order to entertain the villagers at the local theatre. And if all these goodies weren’t enough, there was a Transylvania Quartet, another foursome named Sasha, Masha, Basha, and Tasha; a new dance craze (“Transylvania Mania”); the doctor’s song salute to his favorite organ (“The Brain,” because your “genitalia” might “fail ya,” and so you can always “bet your ass on the brain”); corny jokes (when the doctor gets off the train, he asks the Shoeshine Man, “Pardon me, boy, is this the Transylvania Station?” and receives the reply, “Track 29. Can I give you a shine?”); and all those always-outraged villagers (except for the opening number where they’re all-so-merry as they sing about living in “The Happiest Town in Town”). And, yes, the doctor has his moment of epiphany when he proudly tells the world he goes by the name of Frankenstein, not Franchunschteen, as he’s previously identified himself. Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the evening “less like a sustained book musical than an overblown burlesque revue.” Stroman’s direction took the show “one joke at a time,” while a gag was milked “for as long as possible,” and the musical marked time with “standard-issue ensemble dancing until you move on to the next” gag. The performances operated “on a gag-by-gag basis,” and the “vaudeville sensibility” led to a certain amount of “disconnectedness” in Bart’s performance, in which he “sort of disappears” and was unable to “create a continuous character.” The songs had a “throwaway quality” as if “dashed off on the day of the performance,” and as a choreographer Stroman seemed “on automatic pilot.” Ultimately, the show “never stopped screaming at you” and you were left “with a monster-size headache.” Richard Zoglin in Time felt the songs were “generic, off-the-rack items,” and Stroman seemed “to have used up most of her best ideas in The Producers.” Bart was “likable, but only that”; Sutton Foster (Inga) seemed “to be slumming”; and Megan Mullally (as Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s fiancée) seemed “wrong” for her role. He decided that Andrea Martin (Frau Blucher) was “probably best in show,” a fitting comment considering her special relationship with horses. Clive Barnes in the New York Post found the music more “ho-hum than hummable,” but said the lyrics were “bright and witty.” The book did a “great job” of adapting the movie, and Stroman did an even “greater job.” In her entire career, she had “done nothing better,” including her work for The Producers. John Lahr in the New Yorker said “a tale of romantic agony” was now “theatrical agony” and an “exhausting show,” and he noted the performers were “swallowed up by the cavernous holes in the script” and the “generic” songs. He also mentioned that the monster’s “enormous schwanz-stucker” is scientifically transferred to Doctor Frankenstein, but for all its “huffing and puffing” the show just “can’t get it up.” (In his review of the postBroadway tour, Peter Marks in the Washington Post indicated the show was the kind of “juvenile jaunt down memory lane” where “no joke about penis size goes untold” and the song “Deep Love,” a “paean to erectile endowment,” provided “evidence that a mandatory cap on phallic jokes should immediately be imposed.”) David Rooney in Variety said a show that should have been a “blast” ended up “being just good enough.” It was “far more mechanical” than The Producers and was “not so much reimagined as regurgitated,” but for all that it had “no shortage of chuckles” and Stroman offered up some “zesty” numbers. However, there was a certain “insider animosity” toward the musical, and this added a “sour taste” to what was “likely to be [a] fairly general disappointment” of a “once eagerly anticipated show.” Rooney reported that a curtain-call lyric heralded “a possible Blazing Saddles tuner next year,” but once it became clear Young Frankenstein was no Producers any talk of a stage adaptation of Brooks’s 1974 Western movie spoof quickly faded. If there were critical grumbles about the musical itself, there was also much gossip regarding what might be termed the business side of the production. The choice of the enormous Hilton Theatre was considered a mistake because its vast space would certainly undermine much of the musical’s elbow-in-the-ribs charm (but of course if the musical was a hit of Producers proportions, there would be all those additional profits from all those hundreds of extra seats). Prior to the musical’s tryout in Seattle, Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that Broadway insiders were aghast by the announcement that premium seats for Broadway would cost $450, and one “veteran producer” observed that the production hadn’t even opened but was already regarded as “the biggest hit ever,” and another asked, “$450 for the Roger Bart show? Please.” Patricia Cohen in the New York Times noted that when the musical posted its closing notice, there was “an unusually guilty glee among theatre people” because they found the “arrogance” of the musical’s production team “particularly hard to forgive” (the article’s headline stated that “Broadway Is Dry-Eyed as Monster Falls Hard”). Besides those $450 premium tickets, the show charged $375 for “second-best orchestra seats.” Granted, The Producers had institutionalized the concept of high-priced premium seats, but that show raised prices only when the rave reviews were in and the musical had become the hottest ticket in town. But Young Frankenstein

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charged astronomical prices before its opening and thus hadn’t proven itself with critics and audiences. Cohen also reported that tickets for group sales had been “initially limited,” and this probably proved to be a poor marketing decision because thousands of pre-sold seats for charities, theatre parties, and various groups were the “lifeblood” for many shows. Theatre insiders were also steamed that the show’s producers decided not to follow the standard industry practice of reporting weekly ticket sales (as a result, Variety reported “unofficial box-office estimates”). Cohen reported that about halfway through the run and in order to cut costs, the number of musicians in the pit had been reduced, and Riedel revealed that when the leading performers’ contracts expired in August 2008 they were asked to take a nonnegotiable 50 percent pay cut. During the tryout, “Frankenstein Is Dead” and “Alone” were cut. The cast album was released by Decca Broadway Records (CD # B0010374-02); it didn’t include “The Law” but offered a bonus track of “Alone” by Megan Mullally, who had performed the song during the pre-Broadway run. In 2016, BroadwayWorld.com reported that Brooks announced he and Stroman were working on a “streamlined” version of the musical which they hoped to revive in London in mid-2017. Brooks said if the revival “really works” and if “people really love it,” then he and Stroman would open the show on Broadway “in a nice little theatre” and they wouldn’t “do an over-blown production like we did originally.”

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Fitzgerald); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Andrea Martin); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Robin Wagner)

DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! “The Musical”

Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: November 9, 2007; Closing Date: January 6, 2008 Performances: 96 Book and Lyrics: Timothy Mason (see list of musical numbers for additional credits) Music: Mel Marvin Based on the 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), which was also published in the December 1957 issue of Redbook. Direction: Matt August (original production directed by Jack O’Brien); Producers: Running Subway, EMI Music Publishing, Michael Speyer, Allen Spivak, Janet Pailet, Amy Jen Sharyn, and Maximum Entertainment (presented by Citi) (Audrey Geisel, Associate Producer) (James Sanna, Executive Producer); Choreography: Original choreography by John DeLuca (Bob Richard, Co-choreographer); Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Special Effects Designer: Gregory Meeh; Costumes: Robert Morgan; Puppet Designer: Michael Curry; Lighting Designer: Pat Collins; Musical Direction: Joshua Rosenblum Cast: Ed Dixon (Old Max), Aaron Galligan-Stierle (Papa Who), Tari Kelly (Mama Who), Darin De Paul (Grandpa Who), Jan Neuberger (Grandma Who); Citizens of Whoville: Hunter Bell, Janet Dickinson, Carly Hughes, Josephine Rose Roberts, William Ryall, Jeff Skowron; Rusty Ross (Young Max), Patrick Page (The Grinch) Note: For some roles, there were alternate cast members, and these were divided into a Red Cast and a White Cast. Red Cast Members—Caroline London (Cindy-Lou Who), Jordan Samuels (Boo Who), Katie Micha (Annie Who), Sky Flaherty (Danny Who), Janelle Viscomi (Betty-Lou Who); Little Whos: Brianna Gentilella, Michael Hoey, Marina Micalizzi, Simon Pincus, Tianna Jane Stevens; White Cast Members: Athena Ripka (Cindy-Lou Who), Johnny Schaffer (Boo Who), Sami Gayle (Annie Who), Andy Richardson (Danny Who), Jahaan Amin (Betty-Lou Who); Little Whos: Juliette Allen Angelo, Caitlin Belcik, Joseph Harrington, Jillian Mueller, Jacob Pincus The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place at Christmas Time in Whoville.

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Musical Numbers “Who Likes Christmas?” (Citizens of Whoville); “This Time of Year” (Ed Dixon, Rusty Ross); “I Hate Christmas Eve” (Patrick Page, Rusty Ross, Aaron Galligan-Stierle, Tari Kelly, Darin De Paul, Jan Neuberger, Caroline London or Athena Ripka, Janelle Viscomi or Jahaan Amin, Sky Flaherty or Andy Richardson, Katie Micha or Sami Gayle, Jordan Samuels or Johnny Schaffer); “Whatchama Who” (Patrick Page, Little Whos); “Welcome, Christmas” (lyric by Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Seuss, music by Albert Hague) (Citizens of Whoville); “I Hate Christmas Eve” (reprise) (Patrick Page); “It’s the Thought That Counts” (Tari Kelly, Aaron Galligan-Stierle, Jan Neuberger, Darin De Paul, Citizens of Whoville, Little Whos); “One of a Kind” (Patrick Page); “Now’s the Time” (Aaron Galligan-Stierle, Tari Kelly, Jan Neuberger, Darin De Paul); “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (lyric by Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Seuss, music by Albert Hague) (Ed Dixon, Rusty Ross, Patrick Page); “Santa for a Day” (Caroline London or Athena Ripka, Patrick Page); “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (reprise) (Ed Dixon); “Who Likes Christmas?” (reprise) (Citizens of Whoville); “One of a Kind” (reprise) (Rusty Ross, Patrick Page, Caroline London or Athena Ripka); “This Time of Year” (reprise) (Ed Dixon); “Welcome, Christmas” (reprise) (Citizens of Whoville); “Santa for a Day” (reprise) (Patrick Page, Caroline London or Athena Ripka, Citizens of Whoville); “Who Likes Christmas?” (reprise) (Patrick Page, Rusty Ross, Ed Dixon, Whos Everywhere) During the previous Christmas season, the limited engagement of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was a surprise hit, and for the week of December 10, 2006, the show broke all Broadway house records with $1.6 million in ticket sales (albeit on a twelve-performance-week schedule). This year the $6 million musical returned for another round of holiday performances, which were briefly interrupted by a stagehands’ strike. In his review of the new edition (which included two new songs, “This Time of Year” and “It’s the Thought That Counts,” and omitted one, “Once in a Year”), Ben Brantley in the New York Times praised the “grand sets and clever stagecraft,” and noted that Patrick Page was once again the Grinch in all his “crab face” glory. Brantley decided the actor must be “out of stamps” because when “half of your audience hasn’t yet celebrated a 10th birthday, you’re supposed to be mailing it in.” But not Page. His was an “extraordinary performance” and he gave the audience “its money’s worth, especially with his hilarious delivery of his big solo, ‘One of a Kind.’” Mark Blankenship in Variety said the show was “no masterpiece” but had “improved” with new songs and “some welcome recasting” with Ed Dixon now in the role of Old Max. As for the additional songs, “This Time of Year” was “a sturdy new ballad” and “It’s the Thought That Counts” was “upbeat.”

THE LITTLE MERMAID Theatre: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Opening Date: January 10, 2008; Closing Date: August 30, 2009 Performances: 685 Book: Doug Wright Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater Music: Alan Menken Based on the 1837 fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen and the 1989 film The Little Mermaid (direction by John Musker and Ron Clements, screenplay by Musker, Clements, and others, lyrics by Howard Ashman, and music by Alan Menken). Direction: Francesca Zambello (Brian Hill, Associate Director) (David Benkin, Technical Director) (Clifford Schwartz, Production Supervisor); Producer: Disney Theatrical Productions (Thomas Schumacher, Director) (Todd Lacy, Associate Producer); Choreography: Stephen Mear (Tara Young, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: George Tsypin; Projections and Video Designs: Sven Ortel; Costumes: Tatiana Noginova; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Michael Kosarin Cast: Merwin Foard (Pilot), Sean Palmer (Prince Eric), Jonathan Freeman (Grimsby), Norm Lewis (King Triton), Tituss Burgess (Sebastian), Sierra Boggess (Ariel); Flounder: Trevor Braun, Brian D’Addario, Cody Hanford, and J. J. Singleton; Eddie Korbich (Scuttle); Gulls: Robert Creighton, Tim Federle, and Arbender

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J. Robinson; Sherie Rene Scott (Ursula), Tyler Maynard (Flotsam), Derrick Baskin (Jetsam), Heidi Blickenstaff (Carlotta), John Treacy Egan (Chef Louis); Ensemble: Adrian Bailey, Cathryn Basile, Heidi Blickenstaff, Robert Creighton, Cicily Daniels, John Treacy Egan, Tim Federle, Merwin Foard, Ben Hartley, Michelle Lookadoo, Alan Mingo Jr., Zakiya Young Mizen, Arbender J. Robinson, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Bret Shuford, Chelsea Morgan Stock, Kay Trinidad, Daniel J. Watts The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place mostly under the sea.

Musical Numbers Note: (*) denotes lyrics by Howard Ashman; (**) denotes lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater; (***) denotes lyrics by Glenn Slater Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Fathoms Below” (**) (Merwin Foard, Sailors, Sean Palmer, Jonathan Freeman); “Daughters of Triton” (*) (Mersisters); “The World Above” (***) (Sierra Boggess); “Human Stuff” (***) (Scuttle, Gulls); “I Want the Good Times Back” (Sherie Rene Scott, Tyler Maynard, Derrick Baskin, Eels); “Part of Your World” (*) (Sierra Boggess); “Storm at Sea” (Orchestra); “Part of Your World” (reprise) (Sierra Boggess); “She’s in Love” (***) (Mersisters, Flounder); “Her Voice” (***) (Sean Palmer); “The World Above” (reprise) (Norm Lewis); “Under the Sea” (***) (Tituss Burgess, Sea Creatures); “Sweet Child” (***) (Tyler Maynard, Derrick Baskin); “Poor Unfortunate Souls” (*) (Sherie Rene Scott) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Positoovity” (***) (Scuttle, Gulls); “Beyond My Wildest Dreams” (***) (Sierra Boggess, Heidi Blickenstaff, Maids); “Les poissons” (*) (John Treacy Egan); “Les poissons” (reprise) (John Treacy Egan, Chefs); “One Step Closer” (***) (Sean Palmer); “I Want the Good Times Back” (reprise) (Sherie Rene Scott, Tyler Maynard, Derrick Baskin); “Kiss the Girl” (*) (Tituss Burgess, Animals); “Sweet Child” (reprise) (Tyler Maynard, Derrick Baskin); “If Only” (***) (Sierra Boggess, Sean Palmer, Tituss Burgess, Norm Lewis); “The Contest” (***) (Jonathan Freeman, Princesses); “Poor Unfortunate Souls” (reprise) (Sherie Rene Scott); “If Only” (reprise) (Norm Lewis, Sierra Boggess); Finale (**) (Sean Palmer, Sierra Boggess, Ensemble) The critics were mostly cool to The Little Mermaid, Disney’s stage adaptation of its hit 1989 film, and audiences didn’t make it a long-running hit. When it closed, it had racked up just 685 performances and in conjunction with the earlier Tarzan (May 2006; 486 performances with an estimated loss of between $12 and $15 million) skeptics were quick to predict that Disney’s heyday on Broadway was drawing to a close. The Disney parade of hits had included Beauty and the Beast (1994; 5,461 performances), The Lion King (1997; as of this writing, still running on Broadway with over 8,000 performances to its credit), and Aida (2000; 1,852 performances). But despite the disappointing runs of Tarzan and The Little Mermaid, Disney enjoyed more hits with Mary Poppins (November 2006; 2,619 performances), Newsies (2012; 1,004 showings and a $5 million investment that recouped after just seven months of performances), and Aladdin (2014; as of this writing, still running and doing near sell-out business). Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale “The Little Mermaid,” the musical looked at the longings of Ariel (Sierra Boggess), a mermaid who wishes she could live on land and marry handsome Prince Eric (Sean Palmer). And of course in the musical her wishes come true. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said he “loathed” the $15 million “musical blunderbuss.” The “charm-free” and “unfocused spectacle” was “thoroughly plastic and trinket-like” and was “more parade than narrative.” The performers were burdened with Tatiana Noginova’s “ungainly guess-what-I-am” costumes and George Tsypin’s “distracting” décor, which was “awash in pastels gone sour and giant tchotchkes that suggested a Luau Lounge whipped up by an acid-head heiress in the 1960s.” Further, those pesky and “inconvenient” costumes required the cast members to constantly manipulate their tails, fins, flippers, and wings, and poor Sherie Rene Scott had to deal with eight octopus-like tentacles. Ultimately, everyone looked as if they were “costumed employees” from Disney World’s Magic Kingdom who were “marking time in a theme park.” Brantley also warned those who planned to see the musical to first rent the movie; otherwise, they’d be “utterly at sea” and would find the show’s ending “incomprehensible.” David Rooney in Variety said the “bloated” evening offered “sluggish” direction, “routine” choreography, and a book that lacked “clarity and concision.” He noted that many of the performers wore Heelys (skate-

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like footwear that gave the illusion of gliding and swimming) and therefore they seemed like “Ice Capades refugees” instead of denizens of the deep. An unsigned review in the New Yorker said Ariel had “leg envy,” and as a “lovestruck girl from the wrong side of the foam” she was in the middle of a “half stunning” and “half soggy” show. And in a nod to Coleridge, Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted there was “plastic, plastic everywhere, enough to lead you to drink.” With its “perkily lugubrious” score, the show was awash in a “sea of almost calculated mediocrity,” and underneath its “baroque ornamentation was a tiny, tinny little musical struggling for its life.” But Richard Zoglin in Time found The Little Mermaid “one of the most ravishing” shows he’d ever seen on Broadway. He praised both the “subtle and airy visual design,” which was a “gorgeous color palette” of pastels, and the “lush and witty” costumes. And the Heelys allowed the performers to glide “with an ease that nicely approximates aquatic movement.” He said the effects that simulated rising to the surface of the water or sinking below it were “breathtaking.” The cast album was released by Walt Disney Records (CD # D000103302).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Score (lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, music by Alan Menken); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Natasha Katz)

JERRY SPRINGER—THE OPERA Theatre: Carnegie Hall Opening Date: January 29, 2008; Closing Date: January 30, 2008 Performances: 2 (the run was limited to two performances) Book and Lyrics: Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas Music: Richard Thomas Direction: Jason Moore; Producers: David J. Foster, Jared Geller, and Avalon Promotions in association with Ruth Hendel and Jonathan Reinis, Inc.; Choreography: Josh Prince; Scenery: David Korins; Video Design: Aaron Rhyne; Costumes: Ilona Somogyi; Lighting: Jeff Croiter; Musical Direction: Stephen Oremus Cast: Sam Kitchin (Steve), David Bedella (Warm-Up Man, Satan), Harvey Keitel (Jerry Springer), Luke Grooms (Dwight, God), Patricia Phillips (Peaches), Linda Balgord (Zandra, Irene, Mary), Patty Goble (Valkyrie), Max von Essen (Tremont, Angel Gabriel), Lawrence Clayton (Montel, Jesus), Emily Skinner (Andrea, Archangel Michael), Laura Shoop (Baby Jane), Katrina Rose Dideriksen (Shawntel, Eve), Sean Jenness (Chucky, Adam); Ensemble: Katie Banks, Kristy Cates, Patty Goble, Chris Gunn, Celisse Henderson, Robert Hunt, John Eric Parker, Kate Pazakis, Eddie Pendergraft, Richard Poole, Soara-Joye Ross, Tory Ross, Roland Rusinek, John Schiappa, Michael James Scott, Dennis Stowe, Edwin Vega, Sasha Weiss, Jim Weitzer, Betsy Werbel, Lauren Worsham The musical was presented in two acts. The first act takes place in a television studio during the taping of an episode of The Jerry Springer Show and the second takes place in Hell.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Overtly-ture” (Audience); “Audience Very Plainsong” (Audience); “Ladies and Gentlemen” (David Bedella, Audience); “Have Yourselves a Good Time” (David Bedella, Audience); “Bigger Than Oprah Winfrey” (David Bedella, Audience); “Foursome Guest” (Luke Grooms, Patricia Phillips, Linda Balgord, Patty Goble, Max von Essen, Audience); “Talk to the Hand” (David Bedella, Max von Essen, Luke Grooms, Patricia Phillips, Linda Balgord, Audience); “Adverts 1” (Audience); “Intro to Diaper Man” (David Bedella, Patty Goble, Audience); “Diaper Man” (Lawrence Clayton, Emily Skinner, Patty Goble, Audience); “Montel Cums Dirty” (Lawrence Clayton); “This Is My Jerry Springer Moment” (Laura Shoop, Audience); “Mama Gimmee Smack on the Asshole” (Laura Shoop, Emily Skinner, Lawrence Clayton, Patty Goble, David Bedella, Audience); “I Want to Sing Something Beautiful” (Emily Skinner); “Adverts 2” (Audience);

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“The First Time I Saw Jerry” (David Bedella, Patty Goble, Audience); “Backstage Scene” (David Bedella, Patty Goble, Audience); “Poledancer” (Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Sean Jenness, Audience); “I Just Wanna Dance” (Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Audience); “It Has No Name” (Linda Balgord, Katrina Rose Dideriksen); “Some Are Descended from Angels” (Linda Balgord, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Sean Jenness); “Jerrycam” (Audience); “Entrance of Klan” (End of Act One) (Chorus Klan) Act Two: “Gloomy Nurses” (Nurses); “Purgatory Dawning” (Orchestra); “Eat Excrete” (Dead Guests, Nurses); “The Haunting” (Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Sean Jenness, Emily Skinner, Max von Essen, Luke Grooms, Linda Balgord, Laura Shoop, Nurses); “Him Am the Devil” (David Bedella, Dead Guests, Nurses); “Every Last Mother Fucker Should Go Down” (David Bedella, Dead Guests, Nurses); “Grilled and Roasted” (David Bedella, Dead Guests, Nurses); “Transition Music” (Laura Shoop, Dead Guests, Nurses); “Once in Happy Realms of Light” (David Bedella, Lawrence Clayton, Hell’s Audience); “Fuck You Talk” (David Bedella, Lawrence Clayton, Hell’s Audience); “Satan and Jesus Spat” (David Bedella, Lawrence Clayton, Hell’s Audience); “Adam and Eve and Mary” (Sean Jenness, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Lawrence Clayton, David Bedella, Linda Balgord, Hell’s Audience); “Where Were You?” (Linda Balgord, David Bedella, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Sean Jenness, Lawrence Clayton, Hell’s Audience); “Behold God” (Max von Essen, Emily Skinner, Luke Grooms, Angels, Hell’s Audience, Hell’s Guests); “It Ain’t Easy Being Me” (Part 1) (Luke Grooms, Hell’s Audience, Hell’s Guests, Angels, David Bedella); “It Ain’t Easy Being Me” (Part 2) (Company); “Marriage of Heaven and Hell” (Company); “The Big Cheesy Jerry Springer Moment” (Angels, Hell’s Angels, Hell’s Guests); “Jerry, It Is Finished” (Laura Shoop); “Jerry Eleison” (Laura Shoop); “Please Don’t Die” (Company); “Take Care” (Company); “Martin’s Richard-esque Finale” (Company) The title said it all. The first act of Jerry Springer—the Opera was a virtually sung-through representation of a typical episode of The Jerry Springer Show where lost souls from trailer parks go for their fifteen minutes of fame. While a raging studio audience taunts them, the participants happily expose their fetishes, fantasies, and dysfunctional relationships for all to see, and the depressing and humiliating doings are peppered with the crudest of four-letter words. In this episode, we have a man with a diaper fetish (don’t ask), a woman whose inner-most dream is to become a pole dancer, another one who delights in being spanked, a chorus of Ku Klux Klan tap dancers, and a confetti of phrases on the order of “dwarf lesbians” and “bull dykes.” Except for the title character (Harvey Keitel) who in deadpan fashion observes and occasionally referees the action, everyone else sings or dances out their pathetic claims for attention. The second act was more problematic, and it took place in Hell (although one might argue that any Jerry Springer episode was hell) where Springer moderates a debate between Jesus and Satan. This sequence brought on a boatload of controversy that no doubt delighted the musical’s writers and producers, for here was an offensive, in-your-face slap at Christianity and the Judeo-Christian ethos (to be sure, no other religions were denigrated and one notes that few if any of the critics seemed bothered by the blasphemous attitude toward such Christian figures as Jesus and the Virgin Mary). The musical was first presented in workshop performances beginning on August 21, 2001, at London’s Battersea Arts Centre; it reopened there for a few weeks in February 2002, was later produced for a few weeks at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2002, and then at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton venue for six months beginning in April 2003. The Lyttelton production transferred to the West End on October 10, 2003, at the Cambridge Theatre for 609 performances, and was shown on the BBC on January 8, 2005. The telecast caused a number of protests because of the nature of the material, and while some were opposed to the off-color language others took offense with the anti-Christian aspects of the evening (during the musical’s brief New York visit, The Catholic League complained about the “patently obscene” and “viciously anti-Christian musical”). The work was released on DVD by Pathe Distribution, apparently in Region 2 (non-U.S.) format only, and the cast album was taken from a live theatre performance and issued on a two-CD set by Sony Music (# 514792-2-5147922000). For London, Michael Brandon was Jerry Springer and David Bedella was the WarmUp Man and Satan (the latter reprised his portrayals for the Carnegie Hall production, which was a limited run of two performances). Ben Brantley in the New York Times gushed over the production and suggested the work was “the great American musical of the early 21st century,” albeit one that originated in Britain. The “celestial” and “remarkable” evening was “gorgeously sung” and offered a “spectacularly inventive” score. David Rooney in Variety praised the “superbly staged” presentation, and decided “if a case can be made for mounting a commercial production in New York, the creative team here makes it.” He stated that the staging gave “dignity to human detritus,” but noted the second act was “structurally repetitious” and lost its focus.

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Jeremy McCarter in New York thought the evening was “pretty funny” even though it didn’t “really work.” The show opted “to fire indiscriminately into a crowd of Judeo-Christian beliefs,” and he noted Jesus was depicted as a “bit gay” and Adam and Eve were shown to be “brawling trailer trash.” Frank Scheck in the New York Post felt the “one-note satirical humor wears thin quickly,” but decided what gave the evening its “comic edge” was “the incongruity between the lushness of the music and the relentless profanity and vulgarity of the subject matter.” Christopher Werth in Newsweek said that because of the musical’s London success, it “seemed destined for Broadway,” and he decided that “blasphemy is in the eye of the beholder.” He noted that the actual Jerry Springer shows were “almost beyond parody,” but the first act was “promising.” However, the “unmemorable music began to wear thin,” the second act “failed to ignite,” and the show “commits a far bigger show biz sacrilege by just not being very clever.”

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE Theatre: Studio 54 Opening Date: February 21, 2008; Closing Date: July 29, 2008 Performances: 149 Book: James Lapine Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Direction: Sam Buntrock; Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director) in association with Bob Boyett, Debra Black, Jam Theatricals, Stephanie P. McClelland, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Barbara Manocherian/ Jennifer Manocherian, and Ostar Productions (Sydney Beers, Executive Producer); The Menier Chocolate Factory Production (David Babani, Aristic Director); Choreography: Christopher Gattelli; Scenery and Costumes: David Farley; Lighting: Ken Billington; Projection Design: Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network; Musical Direction: Caroline Humphris Cast: Act One—Daniel Evans (George), Jenna Russell (Dot), Mary Beth Peil (Old Lady), Anne L. Nathan (Old Lady’s Nurse, Mrs.), David Turner (Franz), Santino Fontana (Bather, Soldier), Drew McVety (Bather, Louis), Kelsey Fowler (Bather and Louise for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday evening performances and for Saturday matinee performances), Alison Horowitz (Bather and Louise for Wednesday and Sunday matinee performances and for Thursday and Saturday evening performances), Michael Cumpsty (Jules), Jessica Molaskey (Yvonne), Alexander Gemignani (Boatman), Brynn O’Malley (Celeste # 1), Jessica Grove (Celeste # 2), Stacie Morgain Lewis (Frieda), Ed Dixon (Mr.) Cast: Act Two—Daniel Evans (George), Jenna Russell (Marie), Alexander Gemignani (Dennis), Michael Cumpsty (Bob Greenberg), Jessica Molaskey (Naomi Eisen), Anne L. Nathan (Harriet Pawling), Drew McVety (Billy Webster), Jessica Grove (Photographer), Ed Dixon (Charles Redmond), Santino Fontana (Alex), Stacie Morgain Lewis (Betty), David Turner (Lee Randolph), Mary Beth Peil (Blair Daniels), Brynn O’Malley (Elaine) 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 act takes place in 1984 at an American art museum, and on the island.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Sunday in the Park with George” (Jenna Russell); “No Life” (Michael Cumpsty, Jessica Molaskey); “Color and Light” (Jenna Russell, Daniel Evans); “Gossip” (Brynn O’Malley, Jessica Grove, Alexander Gemignani, Anne L. Nathan, Mary Beth Peil, Michael Cumpsty, Jessica Molaskey): “The Day Off” (Daniel Evans, Anne L. Nathan, David Turner, Stacie Morgain Lewis, Alexander Gemignani, Santino Fontana, Brynn O’Malley, Jessica Grove, Jessica Molaskey, Kelsey Fowler or Alison Horowitz, Michael Cumpsty, Drew McVety); “Everybody Loves Louis” (Jenna Russell); “Finishing the Hat” (Daniel Evans); “We Do Not Belong Together” (Jenna Russell, Daniel Evans); “Beautiful” (Mary Beth Peil, Daniel Evans); “Sunday” (Company) Act Two: “It’s Hot Up Here” (Company); “Chromolume # 7” (Company); “Putting It Together” (Daniel Evans, Company); “Children and Art” (Jenna Russell); “Lesson # 8” (Daniel Evans); “Move On” (Daniel Evans, Jenna Russell); “Sunday” (reprise) (Company)

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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 to complete the painting, 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 figure who follows his muse and places his art above everything else in life. His appropriately named mistress, Dot, 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 Dot, his mother, and a fellow artist. Some of the figures were represented by members of the company, others were depicted by life-sized cut-outs, and some by pop-ups which emerged from the floor of the stage. At the close of the first act Seurat has completed his 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 ended and the subjects of La Grande Jatte fell into place, the audience witnessed one of the most stunning theatrical images of the era as Seurat stood on the apron of the stage before the completed painting. The first act was a perfect self-contained musical, but unfortunately there was a second one to contend with, and it never matched the magnificence of the first. 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 greatgrandfather, 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 “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 tiresome in his journey through the labyrinth of museum intrigues. Lapine’s first act was a supreme achievement, and one regretted that the second half was never urgent or compelling. But Sondheim’s entire score was brilliant, and at its nucleus were a handful of songs that dealt with art from the perspective of artists, critics, the general art community, and even the subjects of the paintings themselves (“No Life,” “Color and Light,” “Finishing the Hat,” “Putting It Together,” “Children and Art,” and “It’s Hot Up Here”). The first act finale, the ethereal “Sunday,” was a shimmering and almost ghostly promenade in which the characters in the painting assume their final poses, and for the second-act opening “It’s Hot Up Here” the figures on the canvas complain of being forever trapped within the painting where there’s no sense of 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 the present day. 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 get back home. In his review of the original production, Howard Kissel in Women’s Wear Daily noted that Mr. and Mrs. were the “most offensive” of Lapine’s stereotypes, and he found it ironic that such supposedly “vulgar” and “stupid” Americans bought so many “major works of French art of the period” (including La Grande Jatte) that are now housed in American rather than French collections. Clive Barnes in the New York Post also mentioned that the two tourists are eventually seen “carting off a couple” of Renoirs “as souvenirs,” and he found this “a small visual joke—but a cheap one.” The original production received a few raves, but many of the critics were surprisingly indifferent. The show was almost completely shut out of the Tony Awards, winning just two (for Best Scenic and Lighting Designs). But the work was designated Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle and it won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The current production had originated in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory on November 29, 2005, and then transferred to the West End on May 23, 2006, at Wyndham’s Theatre. It was directed by Sam Buntrock and starred Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell, all of whom reprised their work for the Broadway revival. David Rooney in Variety reported that the current production utilized the cut-outs and pop-ups created by the musical’s original set designer Tony Straiges, but also incorporated new technology and thus the scenery by David Farley and the projections by Timothy Bird and The Knifedge Creative Network combined to pro-

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vide a “skewed-perspective set” and “details” which were “rapidly sketched in” by the projections. Rooney also noted that the “fast-forward shift” from the 1880s to the present day received a “stunning assist” from Bird’s digital design. As for the cast, Daniel Evans brought “moving intensity” to his roles, and Jenna Russell was “incandescent.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times praised the “glorious” revival, but noted the work was “lopsided” with “a near perfect, self-contained” first act and a “lumpier, less assured” second half. He too praised the visual aspects of the evening, including “delightful” animated dogs and a “lovely time-traveling segue.” John Lahr in the New Yorker found the work “admirably ambitious but patchy,” and while Seurat’s painting was “dynamic,” his character as depicted in the musical was a “stick figure.” The production was “lively” and the digital animation was a “novelty,” but nothing could “reanimate the strained, deadly second act.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post was impressed with the computer-generated images and noted they were projected on various parts of the set and thus became “an integral, profoundly moving reflection” of the show’s “central conceit” of a “blank page as the portal to limitless possibility.” Marks noted that Sondheim’s score was “passion-filled” and Lapine’s book was “playful,” and while the first act was “superior,” the second “felt like a lesser appendage.” The original production of the musical opened at the Booth Theatre on May 2, 1984, for 604 performances with Mandy Patinkin (the two Georges) and Bernadette Peters (Dot and Marie). 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 Sondheim’s 2011 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 in a paperback edition that includes articles and background information about the musical. The 1984 Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # HBC1-5042 and CD # RCD15042), and a later CD release issued 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” (sung by the Off-Broadway cast of the 1993 Sondheim retrospective revue Putting It Together). The 1984 production was filmed at the Booth Theatre with most of the original cast and was shown on both cable and public television in 1986. The film was released on home video on videocassette, laser disk, and DVD formats, and its most recent video release is part of the DVD boxed set The Stephen Sondheim Collection issued by Image Entertainment (# ID-17531-MDVD). A tenth anniversary concert production with most of the original Broadway principals was presented for one performance at the St. James Theatre on May 15, 1994. The original London production was given 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. The current production’s London run 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 this song, see below). 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 showings, only the first act was presented, and for the final three performances the second act was also given. Most of the cast members were seen in the Broadway version, which opened ten months later, and those in the workshop who didn’t appear in the Broadway production 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 that wasn’t listed in the Broadway program but was sung between “Everyone Loves Louis” and “Finishing the Hat.” Although “The One on the Left” was performed during the entire Broadway run 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 subsequent programs.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Sunday in the Park with George); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Daniel Evans); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Jenna Russell); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (David Farley, Timothy Bird and the Knifedge Creative

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Network); Best Costume Design of a Musical (David Farley); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Ken Billington); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Sebastian Frost); Best Direction of a Musical (Sam Buntrock); Best Orchestrations (Jason Carr)

PASSING STRANGE “The New Musical”

Theatre: Belasco Theatre Opening Date: February 28, 2008; Closing Date: July 20, 2008 Performances: 165 Book and Lyrics: Stew (aka Mark Stewart) Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald Direction: Annie Dorsen; Producers: The Shubert Organization, Elizabeth Ireland McCann LLC, Bill Kenwright, Chase Mishkin, Barbara and Buddy Freitag, Broadway Across America, Emily Fisher Landau, Peter May, Boyett Ostar, Elie Hirschfeld/Jed Bernstein, Wendy Federman/Jackie Barlia Florin, Spring Sirkin/ Ruth Hendel, and Vasi Laurence/Pat Flicker Addiss; and Joey Parnes (Executive Producer) in association with The Public Theatre and The Berkeley Repertory Theatre (S. D. Wagner, Associate Producer); Choreography: Karole Armitage; Scenery: David Korins; Costumes: Elizabeth Hope Clancy; Lighting: Kevin Adams; Musical Direction: Heidi Rodewald; a program note indicated the musical was “created in collaboration” with Annie Dorsen, the production’s director. Cast: Stew aka Mark Stewart (Narrator), Heidi Rosewald (Bass, Vocals), Jon Spurney (Keyboard, Guitar, Backing Vocals), Christian Cassan (Drums), Christian Gibbs (Guitar, Keyboard, Backing Vocals); Los Angeles—Eisa Davis (Mother), Daniel Breaker (Youth), Chad Goodridge (Terry), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Sherry), Colman Domingo (Franklin), De’Adre Aziza (Edwina); Amsterdam—Rebecca Naomi Jones (Renata), Chad Goodridge (Christophe), Colman Domingo (Joop), De’Adre Aziza (Marianna); Berlin—Chad Goodridge (Hugo), De’Adre Aziza (Sudabey), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Desi), Colman Domingo (Mr. Venus) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Berlin.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue (“We Might Play All Night”) (Stew, Heidi Rodewald, Band); “Baptist Fashion Show” (Stew, Ensemble); “Blues Revelation”/“Freight Train” (Stew, Ensemble); “Arlington Hill” (Stew); “Sole Brother” (Daniel Breaker, Chad Goodridge, Rebecca Naomi Jones); “Must’ve Been High” (Stew); “Mom Song” (Stew, Eisa Davis, Ensemble); “Merci Beaucoup, M. Godard” (Stew, Stewardesses); “Amsterdam” (Ensemble); “Keys” (De’Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Stew); “We Just Had Sex” (Daniel Breaker, De’Adre Aziza, Rebecca Naomi Jones); “Stoned” (Daniel Breaker, Stew) Act Two: “May Day” (Stew, Ensemble); “Surface” (Colman Domingo); “Damage” (Stew, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Daniel Breaker); “Identity” (Daniel Breaker); “The Black One” (Stew, Ensemble); “Come Down Now” (Heidi Rodewald, Rebecca Naomi Jones); “Work the Wound” (Daniel Breaker, Stew); “Passing Phase” (Daniel Breaker, Stew); “Love Like That” (Stew, Heidi Rodewald) Passing Strange should have perhaps heeded a variation of a popular advertisement: in this case, what opens downtown, stays downtown. The musical’s engagement at the Public Theatre had been well received, and in the old days when Off Broadway was a viable commercial alternative to Broadway it was the perfect place for productions that weren’t mainstream enough for Broadway audiences and Broadway prices. As a result, Rick Besoyan’s Little Mary Sunshine (a 1959 spoof of Rudolf Friml-styled operettas) found its audience at the tiny Orpheum Theatre and managed a long and profitable run of 1,143 performances; similarly, Jack Gelber’s 1959 drama The Connection (about the world of drug users) played for 722 performances, Jean Genet’s controversial 1961 diatribe The Blacks (a raw and unforgiving look at the state of racial tensions between blacks and whites) ran for 1,408 performances, and Jean-Claude van Itallie’s 1966 trio of short plays America Hurrah (which thumbed

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its nose at traditional values) lasted for 634 showings. One might say these shows knew their physical space and place: they weren’t traditional Broadway fare, and thus their wise producers kept them downtown, where they could reach their target audience and reap modest profits rather than risk uptown indifference and huge financial losses. To be sure, some Off-Broadway productions successfully transferred to Broadway, but these were usually crowd pleasers that comfortably blended into the Broadway landscape. Otherwise, shows of The Connection and The Blacks variety were representative of what was offered during Off Broadway’s Golden Age, a period that began during the third week of March 1954, when two musicals put Off Broadway on the map: Marc Blitzstein’s adaptation of The Threepenny Opera (which enjoyed a marathon run of 2,707 performances in two separate engagements) and Jerome Moross and John Latouche’s The Golden Apple (which became the first Off-Broadway musical to win the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical). And for about fifty years small-scale commercial plays and musicals found their home in small venues for adventurous audiences (The Golden Apple learned its lesson too late when it transferred to Broadway and closed after 125 showings). The Golden Age ended in the early years of the twenty-first century. Off-Broadway productions had heretofore been relatively inexpensive to produce, but now small theatres couldn’t keep up with continuously rising production costs, and despite sell-out performances couldn’t possibly realize a return on their investments, let alone make a profit. And the theatres themselves became redundant when their real estate proved more valuable than their theatrical worth. As a result, Off Broadway reinvented itself and moved in the direction of noncommercial theatre and became the home of nonprofits, where shows could more easily thrive without the pressure of New York theatre economics. In a nonprofit venue, shows were presented for limited runs that had the cushion of subscription audiences and thus had a better chance to explore their commercial viability beyond the perimeters of downtown. During an Off-Broadway run, a producer could hopefully make an informed decision about a show’s commercial future and a possible transfer to Broadway. But a successful Off-Broadway reception in a not-for-profit theatre clearly didn’t translate into a popular and long-running Broadway hit. Passing Strange was the victim of a marketing decision that ultimately led to a disappointing uptown run, and despite its solid welcome at the Public and a rave review from the New York Times, the quirky musical never found its audience at the Belasco and was gone within six months. With non-star Stew at the helm and an episodic story that explored black self-identity, Passing Strange probably never had a chance in the new Broadway theme park of feel-good family musicals, but one suspects it would have enjoyed a long run during the heyday of commercial Off Broadway. Perhaps the musical should have either remained at the not-for-profit Public or been streamlined and reconceived as a cabaret revue. Like the musicals Caroline, or Change and [title of show], Passing Strange was representative of the phenomenon in which an Off-Broadway sensation can’t survive on Broadway. The musical’s theme and structure may have been too offbeat for the average Broadway theatergoer, and perhaps its story didn’t resonate with the typical ticket-buyer. The musical was a picaresque look at a middle-class young black from Los Angeles in search of his identity (named Youth, the young man was played by Daniel Breaker, and the character’s older self was embodied by Stew, who here played the guitar and was the show’s unnamed narrator). Youth’s Candide-like quest takes him from California to Europe, and while in Amsterdam and Berlin he flirts with the avant-garde set, discovers sex and drugs, and in an attempt to find himself takes on various identities. One of the musical’s amusing conceits is that the very middle-class Youth, who never knew a mean street in his life, takes on a ghetto persona in order to impress Europeans and conform to their idea of an oppressed American black man from the inner city. For Charles Isherwood in the Times, the “exuberant” musical burst “at the seams with melodic songs,” the décor was “spectacular,” the production was directed with “finesse,” and there were “a handful of theatrical performances to treasure,” including Breaker (“sensational”) and Colman Domingo (“priceless” in two different roles). But for all his gush (“Call [the show] whatever you want . . . I’ll just call it wonderful”), the musical never attained must-see status. David Rooney in Variety said the show was “defiantly unclassifiable” in its mix of “concert, concept album, cabaret and revivalist meeting.” He suggested the work would be “an odd fit in the mainstream commercial landscape” and would need to “aggressively court music fans beyond the standard theatergoing pool if it’s to find a niche on Broadway.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker praised the “brilliant” musical, but Clive Barnes

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in the New York Post was decidedly less enthusiastic. The work was “beautifully performed,” but he asked if it was “a pop punk-rock concert without the hoopla—or a lounge act without the lounge?” It was “far too long for a lounge act,” it “hardly measured up to a Broadway musical,” and was perhaps more in the way of a “cantata.” The book and lyrics were “witty and pointed,” the music was “less original,” and Stew was “altogether engaging.” Broadway might not be up Stew’s “alley,” but he would “be a delight to encounter in cabaret.” Barnes noted that Passing Strange reminded him of all those Public Theatre musicals from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Indeed, those and other shows of that era had sketchy, vignette-like books that were selfdescribed “tapestries,” “mosaics,” “cantatas,” “collages,” and “song-cycles,” terms that seemed like inadvertent admissions (or perhaps apologies) that the evenings were loosely structured. In fact, for knowledgeable theatergoers such descriptions (by the productions themselves or by the critics) served as a caveat emptor warning because these kinds of shows usually spoke to a narrowly defined audience and often weren’t intended for mainstream patrons. Passing Strange had first been developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab in July 2005, and was then presented at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre on October 19, 2006. The Off-Broadway run at the Public’s Anspacher Theatre opened on May 14, 2007, for fifty-six performances. The April 14, 2008, performance was recorded live and released by Ghostlight Records (CD # 8-4429), and the script was published in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2009. The final Broadway performance was filmed and directed by Spike Lee and was released by Apple Core Productions and 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks in association with Thirteen for WNET.org (the DVD was issued by IFC Films # IFC9519).

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Passing Strange); Best Book (Stew); Best Score (Stew and Heidi Rodewald); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Stew); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Daniel Breaker); Best Orchestrations (Stew and Heidi Rodewald)

IN THE HEIGHTS “A New Musical”

Theatre: Richard Rodgers Theatre Opening Date: March 9, 2008; Closing Date: January 9, 2011 Performances: 1,184 Book: Quiara Alegria Hudes Lyrics and Music: Lin-Manuel Miranda Direction: Thomas Kail; Producers: Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Jill Furman, Sander Jabobs, Goodman/ Grossman, Peter Fine, and Everett/Skipper (Ruth Hendel and Harold Newman, Associate Producers); Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler; Scenery: Anna Louizos; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Alex Lacamoire Cast: Seth Stewart (Graffiti Pete), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Usnavi), Eliseo Roman (Piragua Guy), Olga Merediz (Abuela Claudia), Janet Decal (Carla), Andrea Burns (Daniela), Carlos Gomez (Kevin), Priscilla Lopez (Camila), Robin de Jesus (Sonny), Christopher Jackson (Benny), Karen Olivo (Vanessa), Mandy Gonzalez (Nina); Ensemble: Tony Chiroldes, Rosie Lani Fiedelman, Joshua Henry, Afra Hines, Nina LaFarga, Doreen Montalvo, Javier Munoz, Krysta Rodriguez, Eliseo Roman, Luis Salgado, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Rickey Tripp The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Washington Heights in the present time during three days in July.

Musical Numbers Act One: “In the Heights” (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Company); “Breathe” (Mandy Gonzalez, Company); “Benny’s Dispatch” (Christopher Jackson, Mandy Gonzalez); “It Won’t Be Long Now” (Karen Olivo,

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Lin-Manuel Miranda, Robin de Jesus); “Inutil” (“Useless”) (Carlos Gomez); “No me diga” (Andrea Burns, Janet Decal, Karen Olivo, Mandy Gonzalez); “96,000” (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Robin de Jesus, Karen Olivo, Andrea Burns, Janet Decal, Company); “Paciencia y fe” (“Patience and Faith”) (Olga Merediz, Company); “When You’re Home” (Mandy Gonzalez, Christopher Jackson, Company); “Piragua” (Eliseo Roman); “Siempre” (“Always”) (Priscilla Lopez); “The Club”/“Fireworks” (Company) Act Two: “Sunrise” (Mandy Gonzalez, Christopher Jackson, Company); “Hundreds of Stories” (Olga Merediz, Lin-Manuel Miranda); “Enough” (Priscilla Lopez); “Carnaval del Barrio” (Andrea Burns, Company); “Atencion” (Carlos Gomez); “Alabanza” (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mandy Gonzalez, Company); “Everything I Know” (Mandy Gonzalez); “No me diga” (reprise) (Andrea Burns, Janet Decal, Karen Olivo); “Champagne” (Karen Olivo, Lin-Manuel Miranda); “When the Sun Goes Down” (Mandy Gonzalez, Christopher Jackson); Finale (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Company) In some respects, In the Heights brought to mind Micki Grant’s short-lived It’s So Nice to Be Civilized, which opened at the Martin Beck (now Al Hirschfeld) Theatre on June 3, 1980, for eight performances. Grant’s story took place over a late-summer weekend in an idealized inner-city neighborhood called Sweetbitter Street, and in vignette-like fashion looked at the modest lives of Grandma (Mabel King), nightclub owner Mollie (Vivian Reed), street-smart narrator Sharky (Obba Babatunde), Bag Lady (Juanita Grace Tyler), and earnest white social worker Jefferson Anderson (Stephen Pender, who during the show’s brief run was succeeded by Paul Harman). In the Heights (which was “conceived” by Lin-Manuel Miranda with a book by Quiara Alegria Hudes) took place during three sweltering days in July, and it too focused on the hopes and dreams of residents in a New York neighborhood, specifically those who live and work in a Dominican barrio in Washington Heights. They include the elderly Abuela (Grandmother) Claudia (Olga Merediz) who hopes one day to return to the Dominican Republic, De La Vega Bodega owner and narrator-of-sorts Usnavi (Lin-Manuel Miranda) who evokes “my man Cole Porter” when he complains that the weather is “too darn hot,” hair-salon owner Daniela (Andrea Burns), and Kevin and Camila (Carlos Gomez and Priscilla Lopez), who run a taxi dispatch service. Both musicals featured a song that celebrated the grandmother figure. For Civilized, Grandma’s family reverentially salutes her with their song “Antiquity,” but when she’s alone she kicks up her heels in traditional musical-comedy fashion in “I’ve Still Got My Bite” (Mel Gussow in the New York Times said that here Grandma proved she “had the bite and bluster and the soul of a vaudevillian”). For In the Heights, Abuela Claudia’s “Paciencia y fe” was an introspective sequence in which she looks back on her girlhood in Cuba and reflects on her present life in New York, and she wonders if the birds overhead ever fly away to her old neighborhood of La Vibora, which she calls “the Washington Heights of Havana.” And in both musicals the image of a mural was used to depict the symbol of a unified neighborhood that its residents can truly call home. For Grant’s musical, social worker Anderson hopes to teach local gang members the joy of creating a mural that reflects the life and pulse of their neighborhood, and for In the Heights Abuela Claudia’s death inspires Usnavi to commission Graffiti Pete (Seth Stewart) to paint her portrait on the grate of his bodega as a message that despite gentrification he plans to remain in the neighborhood where his roots are. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times praised the “spirited” musical and the “tuneful” score (which emphasized salsa, merengue, hip-hop, and rap), although he mentioned the ballads were “generic” (but the “musically bland selections” were helped by the “fresh gloss” of the lyrics). However, the show’s “fundamental deficiencies” included a “series of vignettes that form a vivid but somewhat airbrushed mural of urban life” that was “basically a salsa-flavored soap opera.” The story lines were “developed and resolved” in an “efficient but mechanical way,” and if “there is an equivalent of schmaltz in Spanish, this musical is happily swimming in it.” David Rooney in Variety liked the “buoyant” and “affectionate musical mosaic” (as noted in the entry for Passing Strange, terms such as “mosaic,” “tapestry,” “cantata,” and “collage” were often code words for musicals that didn’t have much in the way of strong story lines and were in effect mood pieces). Rooney commented that when the production played Off Broadway some disliked the show’s “sentimental” book and its “sanitized” view of inner-city life, but he noted this was “a musical, after all, not a ghetto angstfest.” In an unsigned review of the Off-Broadway production, the New Yorker said the musical was “181st Street by way of Brigadoon,” and this kind of “traditionalism” ultimately served “to hem in the psychology of its characters.” For the Broadway version, another unsigned review praised the “buoyant” musical and noted that the addition of new songs and “tighter staging” help to mask the “slips” in the book, which tended “toward cliché.”

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The Broadway cast album was released on a two-CD set on Ghostlight Records (# 8-4428), and the script was published in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2013. In 2009, In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams, a documentary film about the musical, was released. Prior to Broadway, the musical had opened on February 8, 2007, for 181 performances at 37 Arts (a theatre complex for both commercial and not-for-profit productions). At least five songs heard during this production were cut for the Broadway presentation: “Fire Escape,” “Plan B,” “The Day Goes By,” “Hear Me Out,” and “Goodbye.”

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (In the Heights); Best Score (lyrics and music by Lin-Manuel Miranda); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Lin-Manuel Miranda); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Robin de Jesus); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Olga Merediz); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Anna Louizos); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Paul Tazewell); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Howell Binkley); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Acme Sound Partners); Best Direction of a Musical (Thomas Kail); Best Choreography (Andy Blankenbuehler); Best Orchestrations (Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman)

GYPSY Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: March 27, 2008; Closing Date: January 11, 2009 Performances: 332 Book: Arthur Laurents Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Music: Jule Styne Based on the 1957 Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. Direction: Arthur Laurents; Producers: Roger Berlind, The Routh-Frankel-Baruch-Viertel Group, Roy Furman, Debra Black, Ted Hartley, Roger Horchow, David Ian, Scott Rudin, and Jack Viertel; Choreography: Jerome Robbins (as reproduced by Bonnie Walker); Scenery: James Youmans; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: Jim Bracchitta (Uncle Jocko, Pastey), Bill Bateman (Georgie, Mr. Goldstone, Bougeron-Cochon), Kyrian Friedenberg (Vladimir, Rich Boy), Katie Micha (Balloon Girl), Sami Gayle (Baby June), Emma Rowley (Baby Louise), Matthew Lobenhofer (Charlie, Tap Dancer), Rider Quentin Stanton (Hopalong), Patti LuPone (Rose), Bill Raymond (Pop, Cigar), Pearce Wegener (Driver, Yonkers), Andy Richardson (Boy Scout), Brian Reddy (Weber, Phil), Boyd Gaines (Herbie), Leigh Ann Larkin (Dainty June), Laura Benanti (Louise), Steve Konopelski (L.A.), Tony Yazbeck (Tulsa), John Scacchetti (Kansas), Geo Seery (Little Rock), Matty Price (East St. Louis), Jessica Rush (Waitress, Renee), Lenora Nemetz (Miss Cratchitt, Mazeppa), Nicole Mangi (Agnes), Alicia Sable (Marjorie May), Mindy Dougherty (Geraldine), Nancy Renee Braun (Edna Mae), Sarah Marie Hicks (Carol Ann), Beckley Andrews (Betsy Ann), Alison Fraser (Tessie Tura), Marilyn Caskey (Electra) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the 1920s and 1930s in various cities throughout the United States.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “May We Entertain You” (Sami Gayle, Emma Rowley); “Some People” (Patti LuPone); “Some People” (reprise) (Patti LuPone); “Small World” (Patti LuPone, Boyd Gaines); “Baby June and Her Newsboys” (Sami Gayle, Emma Rowley, Newsboys); “Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone” (aka “Mr. Goldstone, I Love You”) (Patti LuPone, Boyd Gaines, Leigh Ann Larkin, Bill Bateman, Boys); “Little Lamb” (Laura Benanti); “You’ll Never Get Away from Me” (Patti LuPone, Boyd Gaines); “Dainty June and Her Farmboys” (Leigh Ann Larkin, Farmboys); “If Momma Was Married” (Laura Benanti, Leigh Ann Larkin); “All I Need Is the Girl” (Tony Yazbeck, Laura Benanti); “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Patti LuPone)

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Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Madame Rose’s Toreadorables” (Laura Benanti, The Hollywood Blondes); “Together Wherever We Go” (Patti LuPone, Boyd Gaines, Laura Benanti); “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” (Lenora Nemetz, Marilyn Caskey, Alison Fraser); “The Strip” (Laura Benanti); “Rose’s Turn” (Patti LuPone) Now it was Patti’s turn. Gypsy had been revived just five years earlier, but critics and audiences always welcomed the classic musical and were ecstatic that Patti LuPone was now taking on one of the greatest roles in all musical theatre. And take it she did, with a Tony Award-winning performance that shook the critical rafters. LuPone had first appeared in the iconic role of Rose at the Ravinia Festival (Highland Park, Illinois) on August 11, 12, and 13, 2006, with Jessica Boevers (Louise) and Jack Willis (Herbie), and then starred in an Encores! Summer Stars production at City Center that opened on July 14, 2007, for fourteen performances (following a series of previews that began on July 9). With the exception of Nancy Opel (who played Mazeppa), all the principals in the Encores! production appeared in the Broadway presentation that opened later in the season. In his review of the Encores! revival, Frank Scheck in the New York Post said the “indomitable” LuPone was a “powerhouse” whose “treasured” portrayal “easily ranks as one of the best Roses ever.” And when she finished her “tour de force rendition” of “Rose’s Turn,” the audience “rose for a spontaneous standing ovation” and the actress “acknowledged the applause fully in character as the self-aggrandizing Mama Rose.” She bowed “floridly,” and thus brought the audience “into her character’s elaborate fantasy.” For the Broadway production, Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “wallop-packing” revival offered a “powerhouse” LuPone who at City Center had given a “diffuse” and “narcissistic” performance but was now a “laser” who “incinerates” and was “truly focused.” Although Rose was a “dauntingly singleminded creature,” LuPone played her “less on one note than any actress” he’d seen. She focused on “a single, highly disciplined interpretation that combines explosively contradictory elements into a single, deceptively ordinary-looking package,” and for “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” her character’s “darkness” was revealed as if she’d “been peeled down to her unadorned id.” And for “Rose’s Turn,” LuPone took the audience “on a guided tour of all Rose’s inner demons.” David Rooney in Variety exclaimed that LuPone’s “voice remains a powerful instrument with an expansive range of expressiveness” and her “twin showstoppers” at the close of each act “cement LuPone’s performance as one for the history books.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post noted that of all the Broadway’s Roses, LuPone “most closely resembles Ethel Merman, but she’s still her own woman and her own Rose,” and along with Angela Lansbury was “surely the most formidable actress to ever assume the role.” Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that the estimated $9–$10 million production didn’t return its entire investment, but as an “artistic achievement this Gypsy was hands-down the most exciting revival Broadway’s seen in a long time” and it “cemented LuPone’s standing as Broadway’s reigning diva.” The revival’s cast album was released by TimeLife Records (CD # 80020-D), and includes a number of bonus tracks of songs written but not used for the original 1959 production, here sung by members of the current revival: “Tomorrow’s Mother’s Day” (Sami Gayle and Emma Rowley); “Mother’s Day” (an alternate solo version of “Tomorrow’s Mother’s Day”) (Sami Gayle); “Small World”/“Momma’s Talkin’ Soft” (for the original production, these two songs had been intended to be performed together as a quartet of sorts, but during rehearsals “Momma’s Talkin’ Soft” was cut) (Patti LuPone, Boyd Gaines, Leigh Ann Larkin, Laura Benanti); “Nice She Ain’t” (Boyd Gaines); “Smile, Girls” (Patti LuPone); “Who Needs Him?” (Patti LuPone); and “Three Wishes for Christmas” (Tony Yazbeck, Female Ensemble). For the original 1959 cast album, Pop’s line of dialogue in “Some People” was spoken by Stephen Sondheim, and for the current revival’s recording it was librettist and director Arthur Laurents’s turn to utter the immortal line. For more information about the musical, see entry for the 2003 revival.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (Gypsy); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Patti LuPone); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Boyd Gaines); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Laura Benanti); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Martin Pakledinaz); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Moses Schreier); Best Direction of a Musical (Arthur Laurents)

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SOUTH PACIFIC Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre Opening Date: April 3, 2008; Closing Date: August 22, 2010 Performances: 996 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’”) served as the main basis for the musical. Direction: Bartlett Sher; Producers: Lincoln Center Theatre (Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten, Directors) in association with Bob Boyett; Choreography: Christopher Gattelli; Scenery: Michael Yeargan; Costumes: Catherine Zuber; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: Ted Sperling Cast: Kelli O’Hara (Ensign Nellie Forbush), Paulo Szot (Emile de Becque), Laurissa Romain (Ngana), Luka Kain (Jerome), Helmar Augustus Cooper (Henry), Loretta Ables Sayre (Bloody Mary), Li Jun Li (Liat), Maryann Hu (Bloody Mary’s Assistant), Emily Morales (Bloody Mary’s Assistant), Kimber Monroe (Bloody Mary’s Assistant), Danny Burstein (Luther Billis), Victor Hawks (Stewpot), Noah Weisberg (Professor), Matthew Morrison (Lieutenant Joseph Cable), Skipp Sudduth (Captain George Brackett), Sean Cullen (Commander William Harbison), George Merrick (Lieutenant Buzz Adams), Christian Delcroix (Yeoman Herbert Quale), Matt Caplan (Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey), Genson Blimline (Seabee Morton Wise), Nick Mayo (Seabee Richard West), Jeremy Davis (Seabee Johnny Noonan), Robert Lenzi (Seabee Billy Whitmore), Mike Evariste (Sailor Tom O’Brien), Jerold E. Solomon (Sailor James Hayes), Christian Carter (Sailor Kenneth Johnson), Charlie Brady (Petty Officer Hamilton Steeves), Zachary James (Marine Staff Sergeant Thomas Hassinger), Andrew Samonsky (Lieutenant Eustis Carmichael), Lisa Howard (Lieutenant Genevieve Marshall), Laura Marie Duncan (Ensign Dinah Murphy), Margot De La Barre (Ensign Connie Walewska), Garrett Long (Ensign Sue Yeager), Becca Ayers (Ensign Cora MacRae); Islanders, Sailors, Seabees, and Party Guests: Becca Ayers, Genson Blimline, Charlie Brady, Matt Caplan, Christian Carter, Helmar Augustus Cooper, Jeremy Davis, Margot De La Barre, Mike Evariste, Laura Griffith, Lisa Howard, Maryann Hu, Zachary James, Robert Lenzi, Garrett Long, Nick Mayo, George Merrick, Kimber Monroe, Emily Morales, Andrew Samonsky, Jerold E. Solomon 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” (Laurissa Romain, Luka Kain); “A Cockeyed Optimist” (Kelli O’Hara); “Twin Soliloquies” (Kelli O’Hara, Paulo Szot); “Some Enchanted Evening” (Paulo Szot); “Ditesmoi” (reprise) (Laurissa Romain, Luka Kain, Paulo Szot); “Bloody Mary” (Seabees); “There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame” (Danny Burstein, Seabees); “Bali Ha’i” (Loretta Ables Sayre); “My Girl Back Home” (Matthew Morrison, Kelli O’Hara); “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” (Kelli O’Hara, Nurses); “Some Enchanted Evening” (reprise) (Paulo Szot, Kelli O’Hara); “A Wonderful Guy” (Kelli O’Hara, Nurses); “Bali Ha’i” (reprise) (Island Women); “Younger Than Springtime” (Matthew Morrison); Finale Act One (Kelli O’Hara, Paulo Szot) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Happy Talk” (Loretta Ables Sayre, Li Jun Li); “Honey Bun” (Kelli O’Hara, Danny Burstein, Ensemble); “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” (Matthew Morrison); “This Nearly Was Mine” (Paulo Szot); “Some Enchanted Evening” (reprise) (Kelli O’Hara); Finale Ultimo (Paulo Szot, Kelli O’Hara, Laurissa Romain, Luka Kain) The original Broadway production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s South Pacific opened on April 7, 1949, at the Majestic Theatre for 1,925 performances with direction by Joshua Logan, who cowrote the show’s book with Hammerstein. The cast included Mary Martin (Nellie Forbush), Ezio Pinza (de Becque), William Tabbert (Cable), Juanita Hall (Bloody Mary), Betta St. John (Liat), and Myron McCormick (Billis), and the work won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It also won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle

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Award for Best Musical and was the second musical to receive the Pulitzer Prize for drama (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, George S. Kaufman, and Morrie Ryskind’s 1931 satire Of Thee I Sing was the first, although George Gershwin himself didn’t win because at the time the committee deemed eligible only the lyricist and the librettists, not the composer). South Pacific focused on military nurse Nellie Forbush (Kelli O’Hara in the current revival) and Lieutenant Joseph Cable (Matthew Morrison), two young Americans caught up in the South Pacific war theatre where they encounter racial and romantic challenges in a world radically different from Nellie’s hometown of Little Rock and Cable’s blue-blooded Philadelphia and Princeton background. Nellie has fallen in love with Emile de Becque (Paulo Szot), a wealthy and older French émigré planter who has two children by his late Polynesian mistress (Nellie has assumed the children are the offspring of a servant), and Cable falls in love with native Tonkinese girl Liat (Li Jun Li), daughter of the boisterous Bloody Mary (Loretta Ables Sayre), the island’s jillof-all-trades who sells everything from grass skirts to shrunken heads. For Nellie and Cable, the Polynesian children and Liat are their first exposures to other races, and while at first they recoil in confusion from this new experience, they learn to accept and embrace it. When de Becque goes on a secret war mission, Nellie befriends his children and is ready to become their surrogate mother if and when de Becque returns. Cable also realizes that Liat is his only love, and decides that once the war is over he’ll live on the island and marry her. But it’s too late for Cable, and he’s killed during a reconnaissance mission. The complex roles are so well written that some seven decades after the musical’s premiere there are still intense debates among critics and audiences about the nature of the characters’ motives and feelings. In trying to marry off Liat into a better life, is Bloody Mary no less than a procurer? Does she condone Liat and Cable’s sexual encounters because she’s truly convinced he’ll eventually marry her daughter? As for Cable, there’s the school of thought that he “deserves” to die because he’s a racist. Of course, he’s not. He’s simply a bewildered young man who has never dated girls outside of Princeton and mainline Philadelphia society, and so his feelings for Liat almost overwhelm him as they seem to go against everything his background has “carefully taught” him. But racist? Hardly, because it is Cable who sings “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” the musical theatre’s seminal song about racial intolerance. Those who accuse Cable of racism have simply not listened to the dialogue: Toward the end of the musical he tells de Becque that after the war he’s coming back to the island because all he cares about is “right here” and “to hell with the rest.” John Lahr in the New Yorker said Rodgers and Hammerstein’s score was the “incontrovertible star” of the evening, but he praised the “superb” Szot and his “resounding creamy” voice. Richard Zoglin in Time said the singer scaled down the “operatic bombast” and thus found “new depths of emotion in a touching song like ‘This Nearly Was Mine’”; David Rooney in Variety saluted his “velvety” voice; Ben Brantley in the New York Times was impressed with his “deep-reaching” baritone; Clive Barnes in the New York Post said he had a “splendid voice” and “fine presence” and acted “superbly”; and Peter Marks in the Washington Post decided the performer was the show’s “passionate center.” Lahr felt that O’Hara brought a “fine shine” to Nellie, but the actress was “too classy and too knowing to fit the idiosyncratic comic contours of the role”; Zoglin said she “falls a couple of notches short on the adorability meter”; Rooney said her “creamy vocals” were “perfection,” but she had “more innate sophistication” than her character should have possessed; Brantley noted that she created a “superbly shaded portrait” of Nellie; Barnes said she offered an “uncannily precise re-creation” of Martin’s version of “Honey Bun” but otherwise “delivered” Nellie on her “own terms”; and Marks found her characterization believable and “convincing.” Lahr said Morrison had a “forceful presence,” but when he reached for “high emotion,” he didn’t seem “quite as secure” and thus “overeggs the pudding,” but Danny Burstein’s Billis hit the “right note of sour sass.” Rooney liked the way Morrison “darkened” Cable’s “innocence” by “a few shades” and noted that Sayre brought “ambiguous nuances” to the role of Bloody Mary. And Marks said Morrison was “revelatory” for his creation of a Cable who had a “harder exterior than you might anticipate.” Rooney said Rodgers’s score was “one of the most lush, tuneful and romantic in American musical history,” and he was grateful that the “robust” forty-member cast was matched by a “generous” thirty-piece orchestra. He also noted that Scott Lehrer’s sound design deserved plaudits for a sound mix that allowed “every note of Rodgers’s score” and “every lyric the same brilliant clarity.” A few reviews of the current revival probably misled some readers to assume the musical hadn’t been seen in New York since the original production closed (on January 24, 1954). But the 2008 presentation actually marked the work’s seventh major New York visit. The first four revivals were produced at City Center by the

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New York City Light Opera Company on May 7, 1955 (15 performances), April 24, 1957 (23 performances), April 26, 1961 (23 performances), and June 3, 1965 (15 performances). The fifth was presented by the Music Theatre of Lincoln Center at the New York State Theatre for 104 performances beginning on June 12, 1967, with Florence Henderson and Giorgio Tozzi (who dubbed Rossano Brazzi’s singing voice for the 1958 film version of South Pacific); the cast album of the 1967 revival was released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-6700 and # OS-3100) and by Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Masterworks Broadway Records (CD # 82876-883932). Prior to the current revival, the New York City Opera Company had presented the musical at the New York State Theatre on February 27, 1987, for 68 showings. Clearly, South Pacific was not an ignored musical, and New York theatergoers had ample opportunities to see the show over the decades. Further, the musical was twice presented at nearby Jones Beach on Long Island, on June 27, 1968, and on June 3, 1969. The London production opened at the Drury Lane on November 1, 1951, for 802 performances with a cast that included Martin, Wilbur Evans (de Becque), Peter Grant (Cable), Muriel Smith (Bloody Mary), and Ray Walston (Billis). Martin’s son Larry Hagman was one of the Seabees, and during the run Sean Connery joined the cast as one of the Seabees. An authorized private film of a live performance of the London presentation is a perfect visual record of the original stage production, and it captures Joshua Logan’s innovative staging techniques, which blended one scene into another; there were no stage waits, no in-front-of-the-curtain “in one” scenes to mark time while the stagehands shifted scenery. As a result, there are smooth interlocking scenes that unfold in an almost surreal manner. For example, the musical’s first scene concludes on the terrace with de Becque and his children. As they sing a reprise of “Dites-moi” and start to walk off stage, the Seabees in the second scene have suddenly materialized on the terrace and are singing “Bloody Mary.” For a few moments, the characters in both scenes share the same space in a stage limbo of terrace and beach, and then almost instantly de Becque, the children, and the terrace have disappeared and the stage is full of servicemen on the beach finishing their musical salute to Bloody Mary (the stage directions state that all scene transitions for the musical “are achieved in this manner” in order to provide the effect that each scene dissolves into the next one). The 1958 film version released by Twentieth Century-Fox starred Mitzi Gaynor (Nellie), Rossano Brazzi (de Becque), John Kerr (Cable), and France Nuyen (Liat), and Hall and Walston reprised their respective Broadway and London roles; others in the cast were Russ Brown (who had created the title role for the notorious 1941 musical flop Viva O’Brien and in 1955 won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Damn Yankees, where he was one of a quartet who introduced the hit song “Heart”), Tom Laughlin, Ron Ely, Doug McClure, and James Stacy. Although Hall had created the role of Bloody Mary on Broadway, her singing voice was dubbed by Muriel Smith, who had played the role in London, and the singing voice of de Becque’s daughter Ngana was dubbed by Betty Wand, who during the same year dubbed Leslie Caron’s singing voice in Gigi. The film included “My Girl Back Home,” which had been cut during the tryout of the original production, and part of the lyric for the deleted song “Loneliness of Evening” was briefly spoken as words in a letter. A television adaptation was presented by CBS in 2003, and a concert version was given at Carnegie Hall in 2006. In 1949, the script was published in hardback by Random House; it was included in the 1959 hardback collection Six Plays by Rodgers & Hammerstein by the Modern Library; was published in a 2014 paperback edition by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books; and was also published in the 2014 hardback collection American Musicals by the Library of America. The lyrics for both the used and unused songs are included in the 2008 hardback collection The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. 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 only one is essential: the original 1949 Broadway cast album released by Columbia Records (LP # ML/OL-4180), which, except for some experimental cast album LPs in the early 1930s, was the first Broadway cast album to be released on the new long-playing format. The CD release (Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records # SK-60722) includes bonus tracks (among them Martin singing the deleted songs “My Girl Back Home” and “Loneliness of Evening” and Pinza performing “Bali Ha’i”). The current presentation was recorded by Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Masterworks Broadway Records (CD # 88697-30457-2), and a special Barnes & Noble edition (CD # 88697-32171-2) includes a number of bonus tracks. The production was shown on public television’s Live from Lincoln Center on August 18, 2010,

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with most of the opening-night leads (because Matthew Morrison had left the production, Andrew Samonsky played the role of Cable).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (South Pacific); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Paulo Szot); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Kelli O’Hara); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Danny Burstein); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Loretta Ables Sayre); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Michael Yeargan); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Catherine Zuber); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Donald Holder); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Scott Lehrer); Best Direction of a Musical (Bartlett Sher); Best Choreography (Christopher Gattelli)

CANDIDE (2008) Theatre: New York State Theatre Opening Date: April 8, 2008; Closing Date: April 20, 2008 Performances: 14 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 (Francoise-Marie Arouet). Direction: “Production” by Harold Prince and “Stage Direction” by Arthur Masella; Producer: The New York City Opera Company (Gerard Mortier, General Manager-Designate); Choreography: Patricia Birch (Deanna L. Dys, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Clarke Dunham; Costumes: Judith Dolan; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: George Manahan Cast: Richard Kind (Voltaire, Doctor Pangloss, Businessman, Governor, Second Gambler [Police Chief], Sage), Daniel Reichard (Candide), Peter Samuel (Huntsman, Bulgarian Soldier, Judge, Don), Jessica Wright (Paquette), Sandy Rosenberg (Baroness, Calliope Player), Robert Ousley (Baron, Grand Inquisitor, Slave Driver, Pasha-Prefect), Lauren Worsham or Lielle Berman (Cunegonde), Kyle Pfortmiller (Maximilian), Eric Michael Gillett (Servant of Maximilian, Bulgarian Soldier, Don Issachar, Judge, Father Bernard, First Gambler), Trey Gillen (Bulgarian Soldier, Inquisition Agent, Don, Pirate), Travis Kelley (Bulgarian Soldier, Inquisition Agent, Don, Sailor), Robin Masella (Bulgarian Soldier), Francis Toumbakaris (Bulgarian Soldier, Don), William Ledbetter (Westphalian Soldier, Judge, Don, Pirate), William Ward (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Sailor), Carolyn Doherty (Westphalian Soldier), Tyler Ingram (Westphalian Soldier, Don, Pirate), Matt Rivera (Westphalian Soldier, Don), John Paul Almon (Heresy Agent, Don), Judith Blazer (Old Lady), Noah Aberlin (Don, Governor’s Aide), Dennis O’Bannion (Don), Richard Almanshofer (Sailor), Tom Myers (Sailor), John Henry Thomas (Pirate), Sarah Moulton (Pink Sheep), Deborah Lew (Pink Sheep), Christopher Jackson (Lion); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Company Singers and Dancers The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the eighteenth century in Westphalia, Lisbon, Cadiz, Buenos Aires, and sundry places throughout the world. The current production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide was the musical’s second revival of the decade by the New York City Opera Company (for more information, including a list of musical numbers, see entry for the 2005 production). Allan Kozinn in the New York Times noted that the revival was “several steps removed from” the “failure” that had “landed with a thud” in 1956. But the current mounting was “by no means free of problems.” The production was billed as “The Opera House Version,” but City Opera had “cranked up” its amplification system and because the voices had “unnatural heft” and a “metallic hue,” the “pretense that [Candide] is an opera seems even sillier.” Further, the “cartoonish, pointedly overstated acting” got “tired awfully fast.” Lauren Worsham and Lielle Berman alternated in the role of Cunegonde, and for the opening night the former

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sang the part. She possessed “a tightly wound, fast vibrato and had the high notes” required for “Glitter and Be Gay,” and former Jersey Boy Daniel Reichard offered “a light, attractive tenor.” It’s unclear if this production included Pangloss’s “Dear Boy” and the orchestral sequence “Constantinople,” both of which had been heard in the 2005 revival.

A CATERED AFFAIR “A Musical”

Theatre: Walter Kerr Theatre Opening Date: April 17, 2008; Closing Date: July 27, 2008 Performances: 116 Book: Harvey Fierstein Lyrics and Music: John Bucchino Based on the 1955 teleplay A Catered Affair that aired on the Goodyear/Philco Television Playhouse on May 22, 1955 (direction by Robert Mulligan, teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky) and the 1956 film The Catered Affair (direction by Richard Brooks and screenplay by Gore Vidal). Direction: John Doyle (Adam John Hunter, Associate Director); Producers: Jujamcyn Theatres, Jordan Roth, Harvey Entertainment/Ron Fierstein, Richie Jackson, Daryl Roth, John O’Boyle/Ricky Stevens/DavisTolentino, and Barbra Russell/Ron Sharpe in association with Frankel-Baruch-Viertel-Routh Group, Broadway Across America, True Love Productions, Rick Steiner/Mayerson-Bell-Staton-Osher Group, and Jan Kallish (Stacey Mindich and Rhoda Mayerson, Associate Producers); Scenery: David Gallo; Projection Design: Zachary Borovay; Costumes: Ann Hould-Ward; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Constantine Kitsopoulos Cast: Harvey Fierstein (Winston), Lori Wilner (Pasha, Mrs. Halloran), Kristine Zbornik (Myra, Wedding Dress Saleswoman), Heather Mac Rae (Dolores, Caterer), Leslie Kritzer (Janey Hurley), Matt Cavanaugh (Ralph Halloran), Philip Hoffman (Sam, Mr. Halloran), Tom Wopat (Tom Hurley), Faith Prince (Aggie Hurley), Katie Klaus (Alice, Army Sergeant) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during 1953 in the Bronx, New York, on “the morning after Memorial Day and onward.”

Musical Numbers “Partners” (Tom Wopat, Philip Hoffman, Matt Cavanaugh, Leslie Kritzer); “Ralph and Me” (Leslie Kritzer); “Married” (Faith Prince); “Women Chatter” (Kristine Zbornik, Lori Wilner, Heather Mac Rae); “No Fuss” (Faith Prince); “Your Children’s Happiness” (Philip Hoffman, Lori Wilner); “Immediate Family” (Harvey Fierstein); “Our Only Daughter” (Faith Prince); “One White Dress” (Leslie Kritzer, Faith Prince); “Vision” (Faith Prince); “Don’t Ever Stop Saying ‘I Love You’” (Leslie Kritzer, Matt Cavanaugh); “I Stayed” (Tom Wopat); “Married” (reprise) (Faith Prince); “Coney Island” (Harvey Fierstein); “Don’t Ever Stop Saying ‘I Love You’” (reprise) (Matt Cavanaugh, Leslie Kritzer, Tom Wopat); “Coney Island” (reprise) (Harvey Fierstein, Company) During the early and mid-1950s, so-called “little people” dramas proliferated on television, and the master of this genre was Paddy Chayefsky, who wrote the teleplays for Marty (1953), The Bachelor Party (1953), and A Catered Affair (1955). All were filmed (in 1955, 1957, and 1956, respectively, the latter as The Catered Affair), and Marty won the Academy Award for Best Picture. A musical version of Marty (book by Rupert Holmes, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse) played in regional theatre in 2002 but wasn’t produced in New York, and John Bucchino’s musical adaptation of A Catered Affair lasted little more than four months on Broadway. Perhaps the subdued mood of A Catered Affair was out of place in the Broadway of the late 2000s where brassy blockbusters, grandiose spectacles, and tongue-in-cheek spoofs ruled the day. Even Off Broadway wouldn’t have been right for A Catered Affair, and one suspects the show really belongs in innovative regional theatres willing to take a chance on a small, unassuming musical.

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Set in the Bronx during 1953, the story centers on Aggie (Faith Prince) and Tom (Tom Wopat) who live in a small apartment with their daughter Janey (Leslie Kritzer) and Aggie’s unmarried brother Winston (Harvey Fierstein). Janey’s upcoming wedding to Ralph (Matt Cavanaugh) sets the stage for a family crisis when Aggie insists that the wedding reception must be a lavish and catered affair. But taxi driver Tom had hoped to use his and Aggie’s meager nest egg to buy half-interest in a taxi medallion in order to give them a chance for financial security and independence. As a result, he and Aggie come to a showdown regarding how the money should be spent. In the midst of the family furor, Winston comes to the realization that in some ways he’s an unwanted or at least peripheral fifth wheel, and decides to move out and make a new life for himself. Except for one glaring misfire, the musical stayed close to its source material. The misstep was that the heretofore straight Winston was now gay, and it was hard to accept the notion that a man in 1953 would have been so open and out-of-the-closet about his sexual orientation. Moreover, there seemed little point in framing the musical as a memory play for Winston, who serves as a narrator. The musical received mixed if mostly respectful reviews, and while Bucchino’s score was sadly overlooked and underrated, a few critics praised Aggie’s “Vision” (in which the upcoming wedding and marriage become an objective correlative for her own lost dreams) and Tom’s bitter “I Stayed,” an eleven o’clock number in which he reveals that he remained in the marriage despite years of unhappiness. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “undramatic” musical never allowed “its repressed characters [to] cut loose” because they didn’t “have an awful lot to sing about.” The show was “so low-key that it often seems to sink below stage level” and was “all pale, tasteful understatement that seems to be apologizing for asking for your attention.” The score was “trickling” and “self-effacing” and “styled as extended recitative,” and “even melodic ballads and love duets tend to trail off into wistful silence.” Although the characters offered “tight-lipped stoicism” and weren’t “given to extreme reactions,” the performances were “scrupulously acted” and you had to credit the show’s creators “for sticking to their muffled guns.” David Rooney in Variety suggested it was “almost radical” for a musical to be so “deliberately and uniformly subdued” with a “rigorously unflashy approach” to its “sober material,” and he noted the work’s “ideal staging might be as a pared-down chamber piece years from now.” He said the musical possessed “modesty, grace, gentleness and emotional integrity” and praised the “exquisite underscoring” for Bucchino’s “introspective” songs. He also liked the “minor-key beauty of the music as heard in Jonathan Tunick’s delicate, filigreed orchestrations.” For “Vision,” Prince’s “restrained rapture” was “lovely,” Wopat’s performance was “enormously moving,” and for “I Stayed” his character “erupts” when he realizes how tenuous his marriage has always been. In his review of the pre-Broadway tryout, Bob Verini in Variety suggested that the song could easily be titled “Tom’s Turn” with “its late-inning, self-justifying effect” when the character defends himself as he bridles over Aggie’s “decades of sniping about miserliness and unconcern.” In fact, Aggie has heretofore “engaged all our sympathy,” and “suddenly” the show “flips on a dime as Tom flips out.” Hinton Als in the New Yorker found the lyrics “vague” and the music “ultimately forgettable,” and said the show itself was “alternately as obscuring as fog and as loud and distracting as a bag of cicadas.” As for Winston, his gayness was “surprisingly uninhibited for the Bronx in 1953,” and his sexual sea-change seemed “contrived and tacked on.” In fact, the musical seemed intent on proving “that a gay character can be as boring and unremarkable” as a straight one. The original cast album was released by PS Classics (CD # PS-864).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Tom Wopat); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Faith Prince); Best Orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick)

CRY-BABY “The Musical”

Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: April 24, 2008; Closing Date: June 22, 2008 Performances: 68

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Book: Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan Lyrics and Music: David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger; incidental music by Lynne Shankel Based on the 1990 film Cry-Baby (direction and screenplay by John Waters). Direction: Mark Brokaw; Producers: Adam Epstein, Allan S. Gordon, Elan V. McAllister, and Brian Grazer; James P. MacGilvray, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Anne Caruso, Adam S. Gordon, Latitude Link, and The Pelican Group in association with Philip Morgaman and Andrew Farber/Richard Mishaan; Choreography: Rob Ashford (Joey Pizzi, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: Catherine Zuber; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Lynne Shankel Cast: Harriet Harris (Mrs. Vernon-Williams), Christopher J. Hanke (Baldwin), Elizabeth Stanley (Allison), Ryan Silverman (Skippy Wagstaff), Carly Jibson (Pepper), Lacey Kohl (Wanda), Tory Ross (Mona), Chester Gregory II (Dupree), James Snyder (Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker), Alli Mauzey (Lenora); The Whiffles: Nick Blaemire, Colin Cunliffe, and Peter Matthew Smith; Marty Lawson (Bailiff), Richard Poe (Judge Stone), Stacey Hodd Holt (Father Officer O’Brien), Michael Buchanan (Radio DJ); Ensemble: Cameron Adams, Ashley Amber, Nick Blaemire, Michael Buchanan, Eric L. Christian, Colin Cunliffe, Stacey Todd Holt, Laura Jordan, Marty Lawson, Spencer Liff, Mayumi Miguel, Eric Sciotto, Ryan Silverman, Peter Matthew Smith, Allison Spratt, Charlie Sutton The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Baltimore during 1954.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Anti-Polio Picnic” (Harriet Harris, Elizabeth Stanley, Christopher J. Hanke, Ensemble); “Watch Your Ass” (Carly Jibson, Lacey Kohl, Tory Ross, Chester Gregory II, James Snyder, Ensemble); “I’m Infected” (Elizabeth Stanley, James Snyder, Ensemble); “Squeaky Clean” (Christopher J. Hanke, Nick Blaemire, Colin Cunliffe, Peter Matthew Smith); “Nobody Gets Me” (James Snyder, Carly Jibson, Lacey Kohl, Tory Ross, Ensemble); “Nobody Gets Me” (reprise) (Elizabeth Stanley); “Jukebox Jamboree” (Chester Gregory II); “A Whole Lot Worse” (Carly Jibson, Lacey Kohl, Tory Ross); “Screw Loose” (Alli Mauzey); “Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby (Baby Baby)” (James Snyder, Elizabeth Stanley, Ensemble); “Girl, Can I Kiss You . . . ?” (James Snyder, Elizabeth Stanley, Ensemble); “I’m Infected” (reprise) (Elizabeth Stanley, James Snyder); “You Can’t Beat the System” (Company) Act Two: “Misery, Agony, Helplessness, Hopelessness, Heartache and Woe” (Elizabeth Stanley, James Snyder, Chester Gregory II, Carly Jibson, Lacey Kohl, Tory Ross, Harriet Harris, Ensemble); “All in My Head” (Christopher J. Hanke, Alli Mauzey, Ensemble); “Jailyard Jubilee” (Chester Gregory II, Ensemble); “A Little Upset” (James Snyder, Chester Gregory II, Elizabeth Stanley, Ensemble); “I Did Something Wrong . . . Once” (Harriet Harris); “Thanks for the Nifty Country!” (Christopher J. Hanke, Nick Blaemire, Colin Cunliffe, Peter Matthew Smith); “This Amazing Offer” (Christopher J. Hanke, Nick Blaemire, Colin Cunliffe, Peter Matthew Smith); “Do That Again” (James Snyder, Elizabeth Stanley); “Nothing Bad’s Ever Gonna Happen Again” (Company) Like Hairspray, Cry-Baby was based on a John Waters film set in the Baltimore of the rock-and-roll era and it too was adapted for the stage by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan (Waters was credited as the musical’s “creative consultant”). Young Frankenstein was Mel Brooks’s disappointing follow-up to The Producers, and Cry-Baby quickly proved it wasn’t up to its predecessor, either. However, Brooks’s musical managed a year’s run and an eventual national tour, but poor Cry-Baby lasted just two months on Broadway (but resurfaced almost eight years later with the surprise release of an album that featured a full “88.4 percent” of the original cast members). The familiar plot took place in 1954 and centered on bad-boy, leather-type Cry-Baby (James Snyder) and proper good-girl Allison (Elizabeth Stanley), and, yes, it was the same old 1950s story in which the heroine must make The Choice: she’s either an Elvis or a Pat Boone type. And of course Grease (which was set in the late 1950s and had been revived earlier in the season) and even All Shook Up (which took place in 1955) taught us there was really no choice at all, because sooner or later the poodle skirt is always tossed for a pair of blue jeans. The critics felt the musical never captured the loony flavor of Waters’s film, and in fact Ben Brantley in the New York Times suggested that was the entire problem: there was no flavor at all to the musical.

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To be sure, the evening provided some quirky moments. Cry-Baby and Allison meet at an anti-polio picnic sponsored by the latter’s blue-blooded grandmother Mrs. Vernon-Williams (Harriet Harris). At said picnic, a boy in an iron lung is placed on display as he wistfully notes that he sure wished he could have gotten that polio shot! Local girl Lenora (Alli Mauzey) is mentally deranged and celebrates her specialness in song (“Screw Loose”). And Cry-Baby and Allison sing their own brand of joyful ballad (“I’m Infected”) (“with your love”). Brantley decided the “mild-mannered” and “terminally flat” musical was “tasteless” in that it lacked “flavor: sweet, sour, salty, putrid or otherwise.” The show was “in search of an identity” and had no “style to call its own” because no one was “genuinely eccentric” and “genuinely sexy.” In fact, the performers “all seem like good kids impersonating bad kids for kicks” and thus Snyder “never registered as remotely dangerous.” As for Stanley, she was “robust” and “brassy” and thus seemed “more suited to playing a gung-ho biology teacher than a blushing student.” For the choreography, the “ever-aerobic” Rob Ashford displayed his “customary gymnastic vigor” with “lots of revved-up jumping jacks, push-ups and leg lifts.” And the score offered just one number with “original spark” (“Nothing Bad’s Ever Gonna Happen Again”). David Rooney in Variety said the “vanilla show lacks a fresh identity of its own.” The evening was “watered-down Waters” with a “flavorless” and “stubbornly synthetic” approach that “never quite ignites,” and as a satire about class barriers during the 1950s the show lacked “teeth” as well as “an insightful point of view and a contemporary echo.” Most of the evening’s “electricity” derived from Ashford’s “raunchy” dances, and “Jailyard Jubilee” was “a terrific display of movement-based storytelling full of lightning transitions and funny asides.” As for “Screw Loose,” the song was a “subversive spin on Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy.’” And Harriet Harris demonstrated her “estimable comic chops with the drollest of deadpans,” including the “zippy” opening number “The Anti-Polio Picnic” and the “tricky wordplay” of “I Did Something Wrong . . . Once.” Hinton Als in the New Yorker noted that Harris’s “double takes and highly exaggerated reactions to almost everything” made Cry-Baby “a richer show all around” and probably “funnier than its creators could have imagined.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post said Hairspray “took off like a shot” when it opened, but Cry-Baby “fall down and go boom.” The show limped “pallidly in the shadow of Grease” and suffered from a “paperthin” and “been-there-done-that conceit,” and the tone of the score’s parodies lacked Waters’s “embrace of kitsch” and instead offered “a coarser brand of smugness.” He also felt that the mentally ill Lenora was presented as a “borderline-cruel caricature” and the conservative Mrs. Vernon-Williams was depicted as “the type that became a dependable comic foil by the anti-Establishment ’60s.” Als mentioned that the character was “dippy and square and not much in the way of a villain,” and Rooney commented that it was “no shock” that Waters, O’Donnell, and Meehan sympathized with “stigmatized lowlifes” and criticized “white-bread conservatives as underhanded bullies, bigots and hypocrites.” During previews, the role of Mona was played by Courtney Balan, who was succeeded by Tory Ross. The songs “Let’s Get Some Air” and “Class Dismissed” were cut during previews. The belated album was released by Broadway Records (CD # BR-CD03415) and featured cast members Snyder, Stanley, Harris, and Mauzey.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Cry-Baby); Best Book (Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan); Best Score (lyrics and music by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger); Best Choreography (Rob Ashford)

GLORY DAYS

“A New American Musical” Theatre: Circle in the Square Theatre Opening Date: May 6, 2008; Closing Date: May 6, 2008 Performances: 1 Book: James Gardiner Lyrics and Music: Nick Blaemire

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Direction: Eric Schaeffer; Producers: John O’Boyle, Ricky Stevens, Richard E. Leopold, Lizzie Leopold, Max Productions, and Broadway Across America in association with the Signature Theatre; Scenery: Jim Kronzer; Costumes: Sasha Ludwig-Siegel; Lighting: Mark Lanks; Musical Direction: Ethan Popp Cast: Steven Booth (Will), Andrew C. Call (Andy), Adam Halpin (Skip), Jesse JP Johnson (Jack) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place during the present time on the bleachers of a high school football field.

Musical Numbers “My Three Best Friends” (Steven Booth); “Are You Ready for Tonight?” (Steven Booth, Andrew C. Call, Adam Halpin, Jesse JP Johnson); “We’ve Got Girls” (Steven Booth, Andrew C. Call); “Right Here” (Steven Booth, Andrew C. Call, Adam Halpin, Jesse JP Johnson); “Open Road” (Jesse JP Johnson); “Things Are Different” (Steven Booth, Andrew C. Call); “Generation Apathy” (Adam Halpin); “After All” (Steven Booth); “The Good Old Glory Type Days” (Steven Booth, Andrew C. Call, Adam Halpin, Jesse JP Johnson); “The Thing about Andy” (Steven Booth, Jesse JP Johnson); “Forget About It” (Steven Booth, Andrew C. Call, Adam Halpin, Jesse JP Johnson); “Other Human Beings” (Jesse JP Johnson, Andrew C. Call); “My Turn” (Andrew C. Call); “Boys” (Steven Booth, Adam Halpin); “My Next Story” (Steven Booth) Glory Days closed out the 2007–2008 season on a dismal note and became the first Broadway musical in twenty-three years to play for just one performance (prior to Glory Days, the 1985 revival of Take Me Along had been the most recent musical one-night-stand). The $2.5 million show had first opened at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, less than four months earlier on January 20, and the perception among the critics was that the Broadway opening was premature because the show required more work and development. The story took place at a reunion of sorts on the bleachers of a high school football field where four friends meet a year after graduation. They were among the unpopular guys in school who never made the football team and were never part of the in-crowd, and now they hope to seek revenge on those who snubbed them by—get this—setting off the football field’s sprinkler system at the next game. Don’t these guys have anything better to do? (Maybe there was a reason they were perceived as losers.) Have they never heard about getting on with your life? Since they’re now in college, why don’t they focus on their studies and on new people and challenges? And let’s face it, they can’t be more than about nineteen years old, and so isn’t it a bit premature to obsess over high-school days as if they were decades ago? Ben and Phyllis and Buddy and Sally in Follies are middle-aged and have good reason to look back on a lifetime of regrets and recriminations. But these boys are still below the legal drinking age in most states, and it seemed a mark of self-indulgence, or maybe just foolhardiness, on the part of the musical’s creators to expect audiences to care about such callow, untested, and uninteresting people whose problems don’t really amount to anything. By the end of the evening, the heretofore friendly foursome realize they’ve grown apart and so apparently decide to go their separate ways. And so even the ending rang false, as it seemed unlikely the four would just walk away from one another. Clive Barnes in the New York Post mentioned that for the program notes the show’s lyricist and composer Nick Blaemire said he “can’t believe [the Broadway production] is happening. Not one bit,” and Barnes agreed that neither could he. The music was “utterly unmemorable,” the lyrics “jejune,” the “high-spirited” performances were “engaging” for only “the first five minutes,” and the “dramatic tension” revolved around those water sprinklers. Before long, Barnes began to wish the guys would turn them on so that everyone could “go home and read a good book.” Of course, the foursome had Secrets, and Barnes mentioned that one or maybe two of the boys came out of the closet. Otherwise, the ninety-minute one-act evening seemed “longer than all of Tristan and Isolde without Wagner.” Joe Dziemianowicz in the New York Daily News gave the musical one star out of five. The ”barely-there, clichéd plot” didn’t develop the characters “beyond one dimension,” the direction consisted of “having the cast run up and down” the bleachers, the music was “general-purpose pop-rock,” and the lyrics lacked “focus” (the critic also commented that for his program bio Blaemire couldn’t “decide whether to write in the firstperson or third, and so does both”). David Rooney in Variety said the musical was an “insipid” and “immature self-indulgence” which might “hold some charm for anyone still immersed in the adolescent experience.” Otherwise, the songs were “generic” and “talky” with “awkwardly inarticulate lyrics,” the “slender conflict” revolved around getting the

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key to the field’s sprinkler system, the performers were “out of their depth trying to stamp a personality on this one-dimensional show,” and the evening was “anonymously directed.” Ben Brantley in the New York Times wasn’t impressed by the “callow portrait” and said it was “the musical equivalent of a story for an introductory college fiction class.” The evening was less about “dangerous rebellion” and more concerned with “mild-mannered confusion,” and such “blurriness rarely makes compelling theatre.” Michael Sommers in the New Jersey Star-Ledger wryly noted, “Disillusionment at 19. What a tragedy.” The writers had “little perspective on adolescence” and for all the show’s “teen navel-gazing, all they ever pick out is lint.” The score was “vanilla pop rock” which “blandly” bounced off the ear and the book was “terribly prosaic,” but the “real dramatic tension” resulted from wondering if the actors would hurt themselves while “clambering around on those metal bleachers.” Sommers reported that the “sparse” set was backed by a wall of 480 lights, and audience members might “well find themselves repeatedly counting them as the show’s tedious 90 minutes drag along.” Peter Marks in the Washington Post noted that during its tryout the musical “deserved lots of encouragement,” but it clearly needed more development. But unfortunately it was rushed to Broadway for the “intense seasonal bake-off” and thus felt “a bit undercooked” and “something less a musical than a song cycle about the disintegration of childhood ties.” Despite the short run, the musical was recorded by Ghostlight Records on an unnumbered CD. Incidentally, composer-lyricist Nick Blaemire was a cast member of Cry-Baby, which had premiered on Broadway two weeks before the opening and closing night of Glory Days. For the record, there have been twenty-eight Broadway musicals that struck out after just one performance: Mystery Moon (1930), Hummin’ Sam (1933), ’Tis of Thee (1940), Kelly (1965), Here’s Where I Belong (1968), Billy (1969), La Strada (1969), Gantry (1970), Blood Red Roses (1970), Johnny Johnson (1971 revival), Frank Merriwell, or Honor Challenged (1971), Wild and Wonderful (1971), Heathen! (1972), Rainbow Jones (1974), Mourning Pictures (1974; technically a play with music, which included nine songs), Home Sweet Homer (1976), Gorey Stories (1978; a revue of sketches with incidental songs), A Broadway Musical (1978), The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall (1979), Onward Victoria (1980), Broadway Follies (1981), The Moony Shapiro Songbook (1981), Little Johnny Jones (1982 revival), Cleavage (1982), Play Me a Country Song (1982), Dance a Little Closer (1983), Take Me Along (1985 revival), and Glory Days (2008).

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS An American in Paris (or, to be precise, The Gershwins’ An American in Paris) began preview performances at the Alley Theatre’s Hubbard Stage in Houston, Texas, on April 29, 2008, and officially opened on May 18. The musical was originally scheduled to close on June 1, but was extended to June 22. This production (with a book by Ken Ludwig) is different from the one produced on Broadway as An American in Paris on April 12, 2015 (with a book by Craig Lucas). Book: Ken Ludwig Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Music: George Gershwin Direction: Gregory Boyd (Jen Waldman, Assistant Director); Producer: Alley Theatre (Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director; Dean R. Gladden, Managing Director); Choreography: Randy Skinner (Sara Brians, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Douglas W. Schmidt; Costumes: Carrie Robbins; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Andrew Bryan Cast: At the Crème Brulee in Paris—Harry Groener (Michel Gerard), Meredith Patterson (Yvette), Shannon M. O’Bryan (Mimi), Kristen J. Smith (Chloe), Kristen Beth Williams (Monique), Alison Levenberg (Janelle), Sae La Chin (Dominique), Erin Crouch (Desiree), Lianne Marie Dobbs (Julienne); Hollywood— Kristen Beth Williams (“Fidgety Feet” Girl, Hedda), Ron Orbach (Louis Goldman), Kerry O’Malley (Miss Klemm), Jeffry Denman (Preston), Michael Thomas Holmes (Victor Spinelli), Felicia Finley (Hermia), Stephen DeRosa (Hamish), Alix Korey (Hilda); Paris—Tony Lawson (Rene), Wendy James (Francoise), JD Webster (Raymond), James Patterson (Jean Paul), Jeremy Benton (Achille), Drew Humphrey (Emil), Wes Pope (Yves), Joseph Medeiros (Bastien), Benjie Randall (Pierre); “(I’ve Got) Beginner’s Luck” Trio: Lianne Marie Dobbs, James Patterson, and Benjie Randall; Wes Pope (Single Guy about Town), James Patterson (Gendarme), Benjie Randall (Gendarme), Sae La Chin (Flower Girl); Marching Band: Lianne Marie Dobbs,

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JD Webster, and Kristen Bell Williams; Jeremy Benton (Sailor), Drew Humphrey (Sailor), Joseph Medeiros (Sketch Artist); Can-Can Dancers: Erin Crouch, Alison Levenberg, and Kristen J. Smith The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Paris and Hollywood.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Funny Face” (Funny Face, 1927) (Harry Groener, Les Girls); “Fidgety Feet” (Oh, Kay!, 1926) (Kristen Beth Williams, Boys); “Wake Up, Brother, and Dance” (dropped during preproduction of 1937 film Shall We Dance; music later adapted for “Sophia” from 1964 film Kiss Me, Stupid) (Jeffry Denman, Company); “Meadow Serenade” (1927 version of Strike Up the Band) (Kerry O’Malley); “(I’ll Build a) Stairway to Paradise” (lyric by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva and Arthur Francis aka Ira Gershwin) (Fourth Edition of George White’s Scandals, 1922) (Harry Groener, Company); “(I’ve Got) Beginner’s Luck” (1937 film Shall We Dance) (Lianne Marie Dobbs, James Patterson, Benjie Randall); “Love Walked In” (1938 film The Goldwyn Follies) (Harry Groener); “Clap Yo’ Hands” (Oh, Kay!, 1926) (Meredith Patterson, Company); “’S Wonderful” (Funny Face, 1927) (Kerry O’Malley); “Delishious” (1931 film Delicious) (Jeffry Denman, Meredith Patterson, Ron Orbach, Shannon M. O’Bryan, Les Girls); “An American in Paris” (1928 symphonic tone poem by George Gershwin) (Company); “Fascinating Rhythm” (Lady, Be Good!, 1924) (Felicia Finley, Company) Act Two: “They All Laughed” (1937 film Shall We Dance) (Harry Groener, Felicia Finley, Eunuchs); “Nice Work If You Can Get It” (1937 film A Damsel in Distress) (Ron Orbach, Jeffry Denman, Kerry O’Malley); “Just Another Rhumba” (written for but not used in 1938 film The Goldwyn Follies) (Singer: JD Webster; Dancers: Benjie Randall and Kristen J. Smith); “Treat Me Rough” (Girl Crazy, 1930) (Kerry O’Malley, Boys); “Isn’t It a Pity?” (Pardon My English, 1933) (Kerry O’Malley, Harry Groener); “The Bad, Bad Men” (cut during tryout of Lady, Be Good!, 1924) (Jeffry Denman, Ron Orbach, Stephen DeRosa); “Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!” (Girl Crazy, 1930) (Felicia Finley, Meredith Patterson, Alix Korey); “Home Blues” (based on the blues theme from An American in Paris, and heard in 1929 musical Show Girl) (Kerry O’Malley); “They All Laughed” (reprise) (Kerry O’Malley, Harry Groener); Finale (Company) The Gershwins’ An American in Paris played out its world-premiere run at Houston’s Alley Theatre and then disappeared. But a few years later a different version surfaced and was far more successful. The current version’s book was by Ken Ludwig, Harry Groener was the lead, and the score raided the George and Ira Gershwin song catalog, so in many respects the evening was a reprise of Crazy for You, the hit 1992 Gershwin catalog musical that starred Groener and whose book was by Ludwig (Crazy for You and The Gershwins’ An American in Paris shared just one song, “Nice Work If You Can Get It”). To be sure, the current musical wasn’t based on the classic 1951 MGM film that won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Story and Screenplay (for Alan Jay Lerner). D. L. Groover in the Houston Press described the new musical as a “backstage prequel” to the film, and the basic plot dealt with the efforts of movie producer Louis Goldman (Ron Orbach) to get French music hall star Michel Gerard (Groener) to honor his Hollywood film contract. Groover said the evening opted for the “obvious” with “cheap, easy laughs” and a “leaden dearth of imagination.” Further, there was an “utter lack of chemistry” between Groener and Kerry O’Malley (although the former knew “his way around a Gershwin musical blindfolded,” he was here “so low-key and repressed” that he seemed to fade away as you watched him). But for all the “stick characters and stock situations,” the secondary couple played by Jeffry Denman and Meredith Patterson were the show’s “true headliners,” the production itself was “opulent,” and choreographer Randy Skinner provided “rousing, inventive tap routines” that “radiate electricity.” But ultimately Groover was forced to conclude that the title of one of Gershwin’s songs summed up the enterprise: “Isn’t It a Pity?” Seven years after the current musical was produced, a completely different An American in Paris opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 12, 2015, for 623 performances (as of this writing, the musical’s national tour has opened, and the London production is set to open on March 21, 2017). The book by Craig Lucas was based on the 1951 film and utilized a number of songs from the film as well as others from the Gershwin song book (all told, six numbers in this version had also been heard in the Alley Theatre produc-

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tion). The adaptation won four Tony Awards, for Best Choreography (for Christopher Wheeldon), Best Scenic Design for a Musical, Best Lighting Design for a Musical, and Best Orchestrations. The Gershwins’ An American in Paris wasn’t the season’s only failed attempt to capitalize on a popular MGM movie (see Dancing in the Dark, which was based on the 1953 film musical The Band Wagon).

DANCING IN THE DARK The musical began preview performances on March 4, 2008, at the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, California, officially opened on March 13, and closed on April 20. A revised version of the production was given in New York at City Center in a special Encores! presentation that opened on November 9, 2014, for a limited engagement (see below). Book: Douglas Carter Beane Lyrics: Howard Dietz Music: Arthur Schwartz Based on the 1953 film The Band Wagon (direction by Vincente Minnelli and screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green). Direction: Gary Griffin; Producer: The Old Globe (Louis G. Spisto, Executive Producer; Darko Tresnjak, Resident Artistic Director); Choreography: Warren Carlyle; Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Don York Cast: Scott Bakula (Tony Hunter), Mara Davi (Gabrielle aka Gaby Gerard), Adam Heller (Lester Marton), Benjamin Howes (Hal Meadows), Sebastian La Cause (Paul Byrd), Beth Leavel (Lily Marton), Patrick Page (Jeffrey Cordova); Ensemble: Jacob ben Widmar, Brandon Bieber, Robin Campbell, Angie Canuel, Rachel Coloff, Dylis Croman, Nicolas Dromard, Adam Perry, Eric Santagta, Kiira Schmidt, Branch Woodman, Ashley Yeater The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York and other cities.

Musical Numbers Note: The following list reflects the performance order of the songs; division of acts and names of specific performers for each song are unknown. “That’s Entertainment” (1953 film The Band Wagon); “Triplets” (Between the Devil, 1937; see below for more information about this song); “The Pitch”; “Got a Bran’ New Suit” (At Home Abroad, 1935); “By Myself” (Between the Devil, 1937); “Something You Never Had Before” (The Gay Life, 1961); “You and the Night and the Music” (Revenge with Music, 1934); “You and the Night and the Music” (reprise); “I Love Louisa” (The Band Wagon, 1931); “New Sun in the Sky” (The Band Wagon, 1931); “Louisiana Hayride” (Flying Colors, 1932); “Something to Remember You By” (Three’s a Crowd, 1930); “Rhode Island Is Famous for You” (Inside U.S.A., 1948); “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan” (The Little Show, 1929); “Sweet Music” (The Band Wagon, 1931); “Something You Never Had Before” (reprise); “A Shine on Your Shoes” (Flying Colors, 1932); “Dancing in the Dark” (The Band Wagon, 1931); “That’s Entertainment” (reprise) The hit revue The Band Wagon opened on June 3, 1931, at the New Amsterdam Theatre for 260 performances with a cast that included Fred Astaire, Adele Astaire, Frank Morgan, and Helen Broderick. The sketches were by George S. Kaufman and Howard Dietz, the lyrics by Dietz, the music by Arthur Schwartz, and the score introduced the standard “Dancing in the Dark” along with such memorable songs as the naughty and sly “Confession,” the cheery and optimistic “New Sun in the Sky,” and the beer-stein salutes to “I Love Louisa.” In 1949, Twentieth Century-Fox released Dancing in the Dark, an obscure film that never seems to surface on cable television or home video. The plot dealt with backstage problems when a movie studio plans to bring The Band Wagon to the silver screen. The movie starred Adolphe Menjou, William Powell, Betsy Drake, and Mark Stevens, and the score included at least three songs from The Band Wagon (“Dancing in the Dark,” “New Sun in the Sky,” and “I Love Louisa”) and one from Schwartz and Dietz’s 1930 revue Three’s a

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Crowd (“Something to Remember You By”). In his review for the New York Times, Bosley Crowther noted that the morning-show attendees at the Roxy gave the film “sparse and fitful” laughter, and he surmised they no doubt “were stockholders of Twentieth Century-Fox.” In 1954, the equally obscure summer-stock revue Aboard the Bandwagon played the straw-hat circuit with a cast that included Roddy McDowall, Ethel Smith, Jerome Cowan, Peter Conlow, Ray Mason, Rain Winslow, and Tommy Wonder. The evening featured songs by Schwartz and Dietz, many from The Band Wagon (including the seldom-heard “Nanette”) and others from the team’s catalog (including “We Won’t Take It Back,” from the 1948 revue Inside U.S.A.). The production offered at least one sketch from the 1931 production (“Pour le bain,” here “Pour le toilette”) as well as “That’s Entertainment,” which served as the opening number. “That’s Entertainment” was of course from the classic 1953 MGM film The Band Wagon, which was directed by Vincente Minnelli, choreographed by Michael Kidd, and written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. One of the crown jewels of the Freed Unit, the film starred Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan, and James Mitchell, and the story focused on Tony Hunter (Astaire) who hopes to make a comeback in a new Broadway show written by his friends Lily and Lester (Fabray and Levant), characters who were essentially stand-ins for Comden and Green. Unfortunately, Tony’s style of dance is old-fashioned Broadway hoofing and is at odds with his leading lady Gaby (Charisse), who is a classically trained ballerina. To make matters worse, the plumy and pompous British director Jerry Cordova (Buchanan) envisions Lily and Lester’s musical as a modern retelling of the Faust story, and his pretentious production is literally booed off the stage. But everyone re-invents the musical as an old-fashioned revue, the show becomes a hit, and naturally Tony and Gaby are now an Item. The film incorporated songs from the Schwartz and Dietz song book, including numbers from the 1931 production The Band Wagon. The team wrote one new song for the movie, the jaunty and clever “That’s Entertainment,” which quickly took its place with Irving Berlin’s “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (Annie Get Your Gun, 1946) and Cole Porter’s “Another Op’nin’, Another Show” (Kiss Me, Kate, 1948) as part of a show-tune triptych that saluted show business. Years later, the song’s title served as the overall name for a series of three films released between 1974 and 1994 that featured scenes from MGM musicals (there was also a fourth related film, 1985’s That’s Dancing!). The current Dancing in the Dark was, along with The Gershwins’ An American in Paris, one of the season’s two aborted attempts to send an evergreen MGM musical to Broadway. Based on the film version of The Band Wagon, the script was by Douglas Carter Beane and the cast included Scott Bakula (Tony), Mara Davi (Gaby), Beth Leavel (Lily), Adam Heller (Lester), and Patrick Page (Cordova). Bob Verini in Variety said the adaptation was “uneven,” the characterizations didn’t always make sense, the dances lacked “excitement,” and the evening was devoid of “visual pizzazz.” But for all these problems, there was no reason why a reworked production couldn’t “soar once it jettisons its extraneous and self-contradictory elements.” The adaptation went into a long hiatus, but reemerged six years later as The Band Wagon in a special production by Encores! that opened at City Center on November 9, 2014. Beane reworked his original script, Kathleen Marshall directed and choreographed, and the cast included Brian Stokes Mitchell (Tony), Laura Osnes (Gaby), Tracey Ullman (Lily), Michael McKean (Lester), and Tony Sheldon (Cordova) (the latter seems to have been a last-minute replacement for Roger Rees). Except for “Rhode Island Is Famous for You,” the 2014 version of The Band Wagon retained all the numbers heard in Dancing in the Dark. The 2014 production also included “A Rainy Day” (Flying Colors, 1932) and two songs from Jennie (1963), “When You’re Far Away from New York Town” and “I Still Look at You That Way.” Producers Barry and Fran Weissler were involved in the 2014 production, and as a result the Broadway rumor mill speculated that the musical was on a fast-track for a late-season Broadway opening. But Ben Brantley in the New York Times was cool to the show, and said that despite its promise to be a “lark” it never became “airborne” and rarely emerged from its “torpor.” The book was “chockablock with bright, quippy lines” and the evening was for all purposes a “full-dress” presentation, but the ingredients never combined “into the longed-for theatrical energy drug that sends audiences kick-stepping into the streets.” Mitchell lacked the “natural embodiment of the light-handed, lighthearted form of entertainment Tony is meant to stand for,” and as written Osnes’s role was too “passive.” However, Sheldon possessed a “twinkling sheen” and was “an irrepressibly stylish, fun-loving soul.” As a result, he was the “the true life of the party” (Brantley also reported that for this version, Cordova was given a boyfriend who also served as his “assistant”). The 1953 film The Band Wagon was released on a two-DVD set by Warner Home Video, Inc. (# 66984), and the bonus material includes Cyd Charisse (whose singing voice was dubbed by India Adams) and chorus performing the deleted song “Two-Faced Woman” (Flying Colors, 1932), which was filmed but deleted from

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the final release print. The soundtrack was issued by Rhino Records (CD # R2-72253) and includes the outtake recording of “Two-Faced Woman” (with Adams) as well as a demo version of the song (by associate producer and musical arranger Roger Edens). The soundtrack also offers the recordings of two other outtakes, “Sweet Music” (sung by Fabray and Levant) and “Got a Bran’ New Suit” (Fabray and Astaire with Levant on piano), and a demo version of “That’s Entertainment” (Edens with Richard Beavers) (unlike “Two-Faced Woman,” it appears that “Sweet Music” and “Got a Bran’ New Suit” were recorded but not filmed). With essentially the same set and costumes, and with Adams’s prerecording lip-synched by Joan Crawford instead of Charisse, “Two-Faced Woman” made it to the screen when it was included in the 1953 film Torch Song. The somewhat mind-blowing number can be viewed in the film’s DVD release in which Joan appears in what might charitably be called Tropic Face. She’s a sight and a fright to behold, especially at the end of the number when she yanks off her wig in despair over some soap-operatic plot point (Joan Crawford Collection, Volume 2, issued by Warner Home Video, Inc., # 3000014223). As noted above, “Triplets,” which has a convoluted history, was heard in the current production. The madcap song about three babies who hate one another was first presented during the tryout of Flying Colors where it was performed by Clifton Webb, Patsy Kelly, and Imogene Coca; it was cut from the revue prior to Broadway, but later resurfaced during the tryout of the 1935 revue At Home Abroad, where it was performed as a solo by Beatrice Lillie. But it was again dropped prior to New York, and the song finally made its debut in the 1937 book musical Between the Devil where it was introduced by the Tune Twisters (Andy Love, Jack Lathrop, and Bob Wacker), who during the show’s tryout were known as The Savoy Club Boys. For the 1953 film The Band Wagon, the triplets were Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray, and Jack Buchanan (who had starred in Between the Devil sixteen years earlier).

LONE STAR LOVE, OR THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, TEXAS The musical began previews on September 8, 2007, at The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle, Washington, officially opened on September 19, permanently closed on September 30, and canceled its scheduled Broadway premiere for December 3 at the Belasco Theatre. Book: Robert Horn and John L. Haber Lyrics and Music: Jack Herrick Note: The program cited Haber for conceiving the production, and credited Michael Bogdanov, Lynn Davis, Bland Simpson, and Tommy Thompson for additional material. Based on William Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor (written circa 1597). Direction and Choreography: Randy Skinner (Sara Brians, Assistant Choreographer); Producers: Edmund and Eleanor Burke, Robert Boyette Theatricals, Roger Berlind, Rusty and Susan Carter, Avenue A Productions, Daisy Theatricals, Michael Speyer, and Bernard Abrams (Kenneth and Marleen Alhadeff, Executive Producing Partner) (Mary Ann Anderson, Executive Producer) (Frank Golden, Frederic B. Vogel, and Linda Wright, Associate Producers); Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Jane Greenwood; Lighting: Ken Billington and Paul Miller; Musical Direction: Jack Herrick Cast: The Residents of Windsor, Texas—Robert Cuccioli (Frank Ford), Lauren Kennedy (Agnes Ford), Dan Sharkey (George Page), Dee Hoty (Margaret Ann Page), Kara Lindsay (MissAnne Page), Ramona Keller (Miss Quickly), Nick Sullivan (Sheriff Bob Shallow), Brandon Williams (Abraham Slender), Drew McVety (Doctor Caius); Windsor Ranch Hands—Chad Seib (Lucas), Ryan Murray (Chester), Miguel A. Romero (Rugby); Windsor Gals—Stacey Harris (Consuela), Monica Patton (Grace), Amanda Lea Lavergne (Ruby); The Interlopers—Randy Quaid (Colonel John Falstaff); Colonel John Falstaff’s Band: Chris Frank (Private Bardolph), Jack Herrick (Captain Pistol), Emily Mikesell (Corporal Nym); Clarke Thorell (Fenton); Additional Band: Sam Bardfield, Gary Bristol, Shannon Ford The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1870 in Windsor, Texas.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prelude: “The Ballad of John Falstaff” (The Band); “Texas Cattlemen” (Men of Windsor); “Wild West Women” (Women of Windsor); “Only a Fool” (The Pages and The Fords); “Fat Man Jump” (Randy Quaid,

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The Band); “The Ballad of John Falstaff” (reprise) (Chris Frank, Jack Herrick, Emily Mikesell); “A Fatal Dosage” (Drew McVety); “Slender’s Theme” (Brandon Williams); “Throwdown in Windsor” (Ramona Keller, Company); “Prairie Moon” (Kara Lindsay, Clarke Thorell); “Cowboy’s Dream” (Clarke Thorell, Ramona Keller); “Hard Times” (Chris Frank, Jack Herrick, Emily Mikesell); “Ask Me No Reason” (Randy Quaid, Wives); “World of Men” (Wives, Other Women); “The Ballad of John Falstaff” (reprise) (Chris Frank, Jack Herrick, Emily Mikesell); “Vaquero” (Robert Cuccioli, Company); “Lone Star Love” (Company) Act Two: “A Man for the Age” (Randy Quaid, Ramona Keller, The Band); “Jump on the Wagon” (Dee Hoty, Ranch Hands); “Count on My Love” (Clarke Thorell, Kara Lindsay); “Code of the West” (Company); “Quail-Bagging” (Ramona Keller, Company); “Texas Wind” (Lauren Kennedy, Robert Cuccioli); “Love in the Light of the Moon” (Company); “The Ballad of John Falstaff” (reprise) (Randy Quaid, The Band); “Lone Star Love” (reprise) (Company); Dance Finale (Company, The Band) Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas, had a convoluted history that began as The Merry Wives of Windsor in a nonmusical version by John L. Haber, which played in North Carolina during the late 1970s. Haber eventually collaborated on a musical version with the Red Clay Ramblers (who later appeared with Bill Irwin and David Shiner in the Broadway editions of Fool Moon) for which he wrote the book and Red Clay Rambler member Jack Herrick wrote the lyrics and music (this adaptation seems to have played sporadically in regional theatre during the late 1980s and early 1990s, including a presentation at Houston’s Alley Theatre). As Lone Star Love, the musical was produced by the Great Lakes Theatre Festival where it opened at the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland on October 20, 2001, with Jay O. Sanders in the role of Falstaff. From there, Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas played in an Off-Off-Broadway production by the AMAS Musical Theatre at the John Houseman Theatre for an estimated run of seventy-one performances beginning on December 8, 2004, again with Sanders as Falstaff; others in the cast were Beth Leavel, Clarke Thorell, Julie Tolivar, Stacey Harris, Drew McVety, Emily Mikesell, The Red Clay Ramblers (Clay Buckner, Chris Frank, and Jack Herrick), and the production was directed by Michael Bogdanov and choreographed by Randy Skinner, who later directed and choreographed the 2007 version. The current 2007 production (which credited the book to Haber and to Robert Horn) starred Randy Quaid as Falstaff; it opened and closed in Seattle, Washington, and canceled its Broadway opening of December 3 at the Belasco Theatre. Besides Quaid, the Seattle cast included Dee Hoty, Robert Cuccioli, Lauren Kennedy, and Red Clay Rambler members Chris Frank (Private Bardolph) and lyricist and composer Herrick (who played the role of Captain Pistol and also served as the production’s musical director). The musical centered around comic romantic escapades in Windsor, Texas, when the town is visited by Sergeant John Falstaff (Quaid) who was dishonorably discharged from the Confederate Army when he accidentally shot an officer. He has “borrowed” the officer’s rank and with his cohorts makes merry in the hapless town of Windsor where according to Lynn Jacobson in Variety the musical offered “a series of attempted seductions, double-crossings and comeuppances involving concealed identities.” Jacobson indicated the musical didn’t have a point of view and seemed conflicted as to whether it wanted “to celebrate down-home, cowboy culture” or “to make fun of it.” The evening was filled with “cowboy kitsch” which included “yodelin’ and ropin’ and square-dancin’—and even campy silent-movie footage of doggies stampedin’.” Further, the show lacked “forward momentum and deep characterizations.” As for Quaid, he was an “interesting choice” for Falstaff and his “outsized presence and louche appeal” was “undeniably fun to watch.” But he seemed to perform “in a vacuum” because the other cast members either couldn’t “feed energy back” to his “loose” and “spontaneous” acting style or they came from a “more traditional musical-theatre world.” The cast album of the 2004 Off-Off-Broadway production was recorded by PS Classics Records (CD # PS-531). Another adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor was the Off-Off-Broadway musical Boston Boston, which like Lone Star Love played at the AMAS (when it was known as the AMAS Repertory Theatre). The production opened on April 27, 1978, for twelve performances; the book was by William Michael Maher, the lyrics by Maher and by Bill Brohn, and the music by Brohn. The adaptation took place in Boston on July 4, 1905, and the program noted the musical was about “the amorous jousts of a funny, portly, old soldier in the land of the F.F.B.’s . . . First Families of Boston.” Philip Shaw played the role of Major Titus T. Flagstaff.

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Another musical version of Shakespeare’s comedy was I Love Alice, which played at the American Stage Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida, on November 29, 1985. This time around the merry wives live in an American suburb named Windsor during the 1950s. Of course, the definitive lyric version of Shakespeare’s work (which also incorporated the Falstaff sequences from Henry IV, Parts I and II) is Giuseppe Verdi’s 1893 opera Falstaff.

MY FAIR LADY The national tour of the musical began on September 12, 2007, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa Bay, Florida, and then played in a number of cities throughout the 2007–2008 season, including St. Petersburg, Florida; Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; and Los Angeles, California. The production did not play on Broadway. The cast information below is taken from the tour’s Kennedy Center engagement at the Opera House in Washington, D.C., where it played during December 2007 and January 2008. Book and Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Frederick Loewe Based on the 1912 play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and the 1938 film of the same name (direction by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard; among others, Shaw was one of the film’s script writers and he won the Academy Award for the screenplay). Direction: Trevor Nunn (“redirected” by Shaun Kerrison); Producers: The Kennedy Center in arrangement with NT NETworks Presentations LLC, David Ian for Live Nation and Cameron Mackintosh; The Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre of Great Britain production (Seth C. Wenig, Executive Producer); Choreography: Matthew Bourne (choreographed “restaged” by Fergus Logan); Scenery and Costumes: Anthony Ward (Matt Kinley, Set Design Associate; Christine Rowland, Costume Design Associate); Lighting: David Hersey (lighting design “adapted” by Oliver Fenwick and Bob Halliday); Musical Direction: James Lowe Cast: Lisa O’Hare (Eliza Doolittle), Dana DeLisa (Eliza Doolittle at some performances, Servant), Justin Bohon (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Cathy Newman (Mrs. Eynsford-Hill), Lisa Kassay (Clara Eynsford-Hill, Servant), Walter Charles (Colonel Hugh Pickering), Byron St. Cyr (Bystander, Costermonger, Dustbin Lid Dancer), John Paul Almon (Hoxton Man, George, Professor Zoltan Karpathy), Ronald L. Brown (Selsey Man, Costermonger, Lord Boxington), Christopher Cazenove (Professor Henry Higgins), David Abeles (Costermonger, Servant, Policeman), Warren Freeman (Costermonger, Embassy Waltz Dancer), Adam Laird (Costermonger), Tim Jerome (Alfred P. Doolittle), Bill Dietrich (Jamie, Charles), Lee Zarrett (Harry, Footman), Harlan Bengel (Dustbin Lid Dancer, Prince of Transylvania), Kyle DesChamps (Dustbin Lid Dancer), John Scacchetti (Dustbin Lid Dancer, Embassy Waltz Dancer), Cathy Newman (Angry Neighbor), Barbara Marineau (Mrs. Pearce), Georga Osborne (Mrs. Hopkins), Robin Haynes (Butler, Sir Reginald Tarrington), Eric Briarley (Servant), Debra Cardona (Servant, Queen of Transylvania), Marnee Hollis (Servant, Lady Boxington), Jazmin Gorsline (Servant), Sally Ann Howes (Mrs. Higgins), Erin Willis (Flower Girl, Embassy Waltz Dancer), Stephanie Van Duynhoven (Embassy Waltz Dancer, Mrs. Higgins’s Maid); Others: Kyle DesChamps, Adam Laird, Lauren Pastorek, John Scacchetti, Erin Willis The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in London in 1910 (the original production of My Fair Lady was set in 1912, but for the current version the action was moved back by two years).

Musical Numbers Act One: “Why Can’t the English?” (Christopher Cazenove); “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” (Lisa O’Hare, David Abeles, Ronald L. Brown, Warren Freeman, Adam Laird, Byron St. Cyr, Company); “With a Little Bit of Luck” (Tim Jerome, Company); “I’m an Ordinary Man” (Christopher Cazenove); “With a Little Bit of Luck” (reprise) (Tim Jerome, Lee Zarrett, Bill Dietrich, Neighbors); “Just You Wait” (Lisa O’Hare); “The Rain in Spain” (Christopher Cazenove, Lisa O’Hare, Walter Charles); “I Could Have Danced All Night” (Lisa O’Hare, Barbara Marineau, Maids); “Ascot Gavotte” (Race Spectators); “On the Street Where You Live” (Justin Bohon)

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Act Two: “The Embassy Waltz” (Company; Lead Dancers: Warren Freeman, John Scacchetti, Stephanie Van Duynhoven, Erin Willis); “You Did It” (Walter Charles, Christopher Cazenove, Barbara Marineau, David Abeles, Eric Briarley, Debra Cardona, Dana DeLisa, Marnee Hollis, Lisa Kassay, Jazmin Gorsline); “On the Street Where You Live” (reprise) (Justin Bohon); “Show Me” (Lisa O’Hare, Justin Bohon); “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” (reprise) (David Abeles, Ronald L. Brown, Warren Freeman, Adam Laird, Byron St. Cyr); “Get Me to the Church on Time” (Tim Jerome, Lee Zarrett, Bill Dietrich, Company); “A Hymn to Him” (Christopher Cazenove, Walter Charles); “Without You” (Lisa O’Hare, Christopher Cazenove); “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” (Christopher Cazenove) The National Theatre of Great Britain’s hit revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s My Fair Lady opened at the Royal National Theatre on March 15, 2001 (forty-five years to the day of the musical’s Broadway premiere), and then at the Drury Lane on July 21, 2001 (the original London production had opened at the Drury Lane in 1958). The members of the company included Jonathan Pryce (Henry Higgins), Martine McCutcheon (Eliza Doolittle), and Dennis Waterman (Alfred P. Doolittle), and the cast album was released by First Night Records (CD # CAST-CD83). During the 2007–2008 season and without the 2001 London cast, this production toured throughout the United States but wisely avoided Broadway. The tour was for the most part indifferently cast, and its Higgins and Eliza (played by Christopher Cazenove and Lisa O’Hare) were adequate enough but lacked the spark and star power needed to carry the show much beyond what it was, a solid if generally uninspired touring version. Cazenove seemed a shade too old and portly for the role, and one felt he’d have been more at home as Colonel Pickering, and while O’Hare sang well she didn’t possess the alternating currents of fire and fragility that constitute a memorable Eliza. In fact, with two exceptions the entire cast seemed a trifle road-weary. Thankfully, Tim Jerome brought old-fashioned Broadway know-how to Doolittle, and Sally Ann Howes (who had succeeded Julie Andrews as Eliza during the run of the original 1956 Broadway production) offered a nice touch of nostalgia as Higgins’s wry mother (Howes left the production after the Washington, D.C., engagement, and was succeeded by Marni Nixon, another former Eliza). The revival stumbled once or twice with would-be attempts at relevancy. As a result, suffragettes marched throughout Edwardian London, and a quartet called the Dustbin Lid Dancers performed Stomp-like dance movements on the city pavements. And for some reason the action was moved from 1912 to 1910, the year of Edward VII’s death, and thus some of the characters wore black as a sign of mourning. But the tour received good reviews. For the Washington, D.C., engagement, Peter Marks in the Washington Post found the production “charming” and said it bore the “earmarks of first-rate engineering.” Cazenove and O’Hare were “polished”; the décor and costumes were “luxe”; and Matthew Bourne offered “joyful ingenuity” in his “gamboling” choreography. In reviewing the Chicago booking, Steven Oxman in Variety said the production didn’t “quite have the freshness” of the London edition but was nonetheless “a fully satisfying, exceptionally high-level road production.” Cazenove gave a “fine performance” which was “skilled, solid and spirited” but somewhat “too familiar,” and Jerome was a “dynamic” and “superb” Doolittle. The original Broadway production opened on March 15, 1956, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre for a then record-breaking run of 2,717 performances with Rex Harrison (Higgins), Julie Andrews (Eliza), Stanley Holloway (Doolittle), and Robert Coote (Pickering). As of this writing, the musical has been revived in New York five times: two productions at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company, on June 28, 1964, for 47 performances (Myles Easton and Marni Nixon) and on June 13, 1969, for 22 performances (Fritz Weaver and Inga Swenson, with George Rose as Doolittle); a twentieth-anniversary production at the St. James Theatre on March 25, 1976, for 377 showings (Ian Richardson and Christine Andreas, with Rose reprising his Doolittle); a production with Harrison at the Uris (now Gershwin) Theatre on August 18, 1982, for 119 showings (Nancy Ringham was Eliza); and on December 9, 1993, at the Virginia Theatre for 165 performances with Richard Chamberlain and Melissa Errico in what was a visually arresting production with an amusingly boyish and petulant performance by Chamberlain. As noted, the original London production played at the Drury Lane, where it opened on April 30, 1958, for 2,281 performances with all four of the Broadway leads. For the Warner Brothers’ 1964 film version, Harrison and Holloway reprised their 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 released by Columbia Records (LP # OL-5090), which has twice been reissued on CD (the most recent by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy # SK-89997 includes

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contemporary 1956 interviews with Harrison, Andrews, and Lerner and Loewe). Beware of the 1958 London 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 (Columbia Records LP # OS-2980 and # OL-6580), which includes a young Placido Domingo credited as one of Doolittle’s friends in “Con un poquitin” (in at least one Mexico City program, his name is given as Placido Domingo Jr.). For more information about the musical, Keith Garebian’s The Making of “My Fair Lady” (published by ECW Press in 1993) is recommended (in 2016, Garebian’s Lerner & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” was published by Routledge), and another solid source is Dominic McHugh’s The Life and Times of “My Fair Lady” (Oxford University Press, 2012).

THE VISIT (2008) The musical began previews on May 13, 2008, at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, officially opened on May 27, and closed on June 22. The work had first been presented in Chicago in 2001 (see entry), and was later produced on Broadway in 2015. Book: Terrence McNally Lyrics: Fred Ebb Music: John Kander Based on the 1956 play Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Durrenmatt, which was produced on Broadway in 1958 as The Visit in a translation by Maurice Valency. Direction: Frank Galati (Matthew Gardiner, Assistant Director); Producer: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Maggie Boland, Managing Director); Choreography: Ann Reinking (Gary Chryst, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: David Loud Cast: The Visitors—Chita Rivera (Claire Zachanassian), Doug Kreeger (Evgeny), James Harms (Rudi), Howard Kaye (Lenny), Alan H. Green (Benny), Ryan Lowe (Jacob Chicken), Matthew Deming (Louis Perch); The Visited—George Hearn (Anton Schell), Karen Murphy (Matilda Schell), Kevin Reed (Carl Schell), Cristen Paige (Ottilie Schell), Mark Jacoby (The Mayor), Bethe (aka Beth) B. Austin (Annie), Michael HaywardJones (The Priest), Jeremy Webb (The Schoolmaster), Jerry Lanning (The Doctor), Hal Robinson (The Policeman), Brian O’Brien (Kurt); Townspeople: Leslie Becker, Brianne Moore, Christy Morton; D. B. Bonds (Young Anton), Mary Ann Lamb (Young Claire) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during winter in Brachen, a small town somewhere in Switzerland.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Out of the Darkness” (Townspeople); “At Last” (Chita Rivera, Townspeople); “I Walk Away” (Chita Rivera, Entourage); “I Know Claire” (George Hearn); “A Happy Ending” (Mark Jacoby, Hal Robinson, Jerry Lanning, Michael Hayward-Jones, Jeremy Webb, Townspeople); “You, You, You” (George Hearn, Chita Rivera); “I Must Have Been Something” (George Hearn); “Look at Me” (George Hearn, Chita Rivera, Entourage, Eunuchs, James Harms, D. B. Bonds, Mary Ann Lamb, Family); “A Masque” (Mark Jacoby, Townspeople); “(Eunuch’s) Testimony” (Matthew Deming, Ryan Lowe); “Winter” (Chita Rivera); “Yellow Shoes” (Townspeople) Act Two: “Chorale” (Townspeople); “A Confession” (Chita Rivera, Entourage); “I Would Never Leave You” (Entourage, Chita Rivera); “The One-Legged Tango” (Entourage, Chita Rivera); “Back and Forth” (Karen Murphy, Cristen Paige, Kevin Reed); “The Only One” (Jeremy Webb); “Fear” (George Hearn); “A Car Ride” (George Hearn, Karen Murphy, Cristen Paige, Kevin Reed); “Winter” (reprise) (D. B. Bonds); “Love and Love Alone” (Chita Rivera); “In the Forest Again” (George Hearn, Chita Rivera); Finale (Townspeople) John Kander and Fred Ebb’s The Visit was one of the darkest and most affecting musicals of the era, and the score was one of the team’s best. Kander’s music was alternately flavored with mysterioso (the eunuchs’ falsetto-chanting motif, the dance music for “The One-Legged Tango”), old-fashioned musical comedy celebration (“Yellow Shoes”), and lush melody (“You, You, You”). But the work’s bleak and cynical tone worked

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against it and the musical has never found favor with the public or the critics. It had previously been produced in Chicago in 2001 with Chita Rivera (as Claire Zachanassian) and John McMartin (Anton Schell) (for background information and a synopsis of the plot, see entry for the earlier version), and seven years after the current production the musical was finally presented on Broadway (with Rivera and Roger Rees) at the Lyceum Theatre on April 23, 2015, for a disappointing run of sixty-one performances. In his review of the current presentation, Peter Marks in the Washington Post found the work “admirable if not consistently embraceable” and said the score was “second-from-the-top-drawer.” Because of its “severe” source material, The Visit was “perhaps destined to be a musical of ambivalent rewards” and it therefore came across “as something short of electrifying with the addition of song and dance.” The musical was sometimes “a jarring art-house spectacle,” especially with the “creepy contribution” of the falsettoharmonizing eunuchs. But Frank Galati’s direction offered “fine craftsmanship,” the design team created “a laconic, Brechtian physical realm,” Hearn was “distinguished,” and Rivera looked “commanding and swell,” which for her was “not a stretch.” Of special note was Ann Reinking’s impressive choreography, which included a rather macabre tango for the one-legged Claire and her entourage and the jubilant “Yellow Shoes” for the townspeople. On the surface, the latter was a seemingly old-fashioned bit of musical comedy whoop-dee-doo, but it masked the dark and ironic message that the villagers are buying luxury goods on credit in anticipation of the money they’ll receive when Anton is murdered. Reinking also offered an amusing moment for the villagers when they meet Claire upon her arrival and dutifully and joylessly undergo a moment of clichéd Swiss cuckoo-clock-styled movements, as if they’re required to offer up such clichés for the tourists. The song “All You Need to Know” from the Chicago run was dropped, and “I Walk Away,” “I Must Have Been Something,” and “Fear” were added for the current production. As noted, the 2015 Broadway production had a short run of sixty-one performances. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the musical’s “problems of tone and pacing” hadn’t been resolved by director John Doyle, and “despite a score that at its best has the flavor of darkest chocolate,” the evening “only rarely” shook off “a stasis that suggests a carefully carved mausoleum frieze.” But Rivera’s “expertise” held “command of the stage” and she found “a concerto of feelings in what might have been a single-note role.” The Broadway cast recording was released by Broadway Records/Yellow Sound Label (CD # BRYSL-CD02).

2008–2009 Season

CIRQUE DREAMS JUNGLE FANTASY Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: June 26, 2008; Closing Date: August 24, 2008 Performances: 70 Lyrics and Music: Jill Winters; additional music by David Scott, Keith Heffner, Billy Paul Williams, Tony Aliperti, Lance Conque, and Christopher Pati Direction: Neil Goldberg; Producers: A+ Theatricals, Broadway Across America, Cirque Productions, Adam Troy Epstein, Fox Associates, New Space Entertainment, Albert Nocciolino, Providence Performing Arts Center, and Theatre League (Alan Wasser and Allan Williams, Executive Producers) (James Geisler, Executive Producer); Choreography: Tara Jeanne Vallee; Scenery: Jon Crain; Act Design: Neil Goldberg, Heather Hoffman, and Iouri Klepatsky; Production Design: Betsy Herst; Animal Sculpture Design: William Olson; Costumes: Cirque Productions, Lenora Taylor, Santiago Rojo; Lighting: Kate Johnston; Musical Direction: Not credited Cast: Uranmandakh Amarsanaa (Contorting Lizard, Aerial Bird), Marcello Balestracci (Adventurer), Jared Burnett (Soultree Violinist), Zachary Carroll (Jungleboy), Jill Diane (Mother Nature), Lauren Diblasi (Bee, Ensemble), Ruslan Dmytruk (Frog Juggler), Iryna Dmytruk (Bee, Ensemble), Ivan Dotsenko (Trapeze Owl), Vladimir Dovgan (Balancing Giraffe, Snake Roller), Nataliya Egorova (Monkey Foot Manipulator), Judah Frank (Unicorn, Ensemble), Buyankhishig Ganbaatar (Contorting Lizard, Aerial Bird), Erdenesuvd Ganbaatar (Contorting Lizard, Aerial Bird), Stefka Iordanova (Blackbird Hairialist), Denys Kucher (Vine Swinger), Vitalii Lykov (Vine Swinger), Lee Miller (Percushroomist), Odgerel Oyunbaatar (Contorting Lizard, Aerial Bird), Sergey Parshin (Butterflyer, Jungle King), Pavel Pozdnyakov (Jungle King, Ensemble), Glenn Rogers (Jungleboy), Naomi Sampson (Butterflyer, Ensemble), Konstantin Serov (Emu, Ensemble), Carly Sheridan (Trapeze Owl), Serguei Slavski (Jungle King, Monkey Manipulator), Alexander Tolstikov (Jungle King, Monkey Manipulator), Anatoliy Yeniy (Balancing Giraffe) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in a jungle.

Musical Numbers Act One: The Adventure—Jungle by Day: “A Bird Is Born” (Konstantin Serov, Zachary Carroll, Glenn Rogers); “Eyes Wide Open” (Jill Diane, Jared Burnett, Lee Miller, Company); “Jungle Jumpin’” (Marcello Balestracci, Company); “Hop Stretch” (Jill Diane, Jared Burnett, Ensemble); “Nature’s Balance” (Uranmandakh Amarsanaa, Buyankhishig Ganbaatar, Erdenesuvd Ganbaatar, Odgerel Oyunbaatar); “Falling” (Stefka Iordanova, Zachary Carroll, Glenn Rogers); “Swinging Vines” (Denys Kucher, Vitalii Lykov); “You Can Grow Too” (Jill Diane, Marcello Balestracci, Ensemble); “Froggling” (Ruslan Dmytruk, Frogs); “Monkey Business” (Marcello Balestracci, Serguei Slavski, Alexander Tolstikov, Nataliya Egorova); “Personality” 353

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(Jill Diane, Konstantin Serov, Other Emus); “Butterflying” (Sergey Parshin, Naomi Sampson, Ensemble); “Courage” (Jill Diane, Jared Burnett, Marcello Balestracci, Uranmandakh Amarsanaa, Buyankhishig Ganbaatar, Erdenesuvd Ganbaatar, Odgerol Oyunbaatar); “Amazing” (Company) Act Two: The Adventure—Jungle by Night: “Coloring Dreams” (Company); “Rollin’ Around” (Vladimir Dovgan, Zachary Carroll, Glenn Rogers, Marcello Balestracci); “Strange Things” (Jill Diane, Company); “Owls on a Perch” (Ivan Dotsenko, Carly Sheridan, Jared Burnett); “Take Credit” (Jill Diane, Marcello Balestracci, Ensemble); “Jungle-ibrium” (Vladimir Dovgan, Anatoliy Yeniy, Ensemble); “How Do You Feel?” (Jill Diane, Marcello Balestracci); “Roar” (Sergey Parshin, Pavel Pozdnyakov, Serguei Slavski, Alexander Tolstikov); “Stampede” (Sergey Parshin, Pavel Pozdnyakov, Serguei Slavski, Alexander Tolstikov, Company); “Jungle Fantasy Finale” (Company) Neil Goldberg was the creator of Cirque Productions, which he founded in 1993 and which was not associated with the Cirque de Soleil (David Rooney in Variety reported that Goldberg had won a six-year legal battle to use the word cirque for his shows). Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy was the company’s first visit to Broadway, where it was booked for a two-month limited engagement, and it had been preceded by such shows as Cirque Dreams Holidaze, Cirque Dreams Pandemonia, and Cirque Branson, and these and other Cirque productions had played in such venues as Harrah’s, Caesar’s, Bally’s, Trump and Hilton hotels, and at various international casinos. Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy was almost revue-like in its slight story of Adventurer (Marcello Balestracci) who is taken by Mother Nature (Jill Diane) on a tour of a jungle populated by a company who portrayed animals adept as jugglers, aerialists, acrobats, trapeze artists, contortionists, and gymnasts. According to Charles Isherwood in the New York Times, the adult viewers in the audience no doubt had just one thought (“I must get back to the gym”). Otherwise, Isherwood said the “stunts-and-spandex” production would mostly appeal to youngsters obsessed with jungle fauna, gymnastics, or sequins. And surely Mother Nature didn’t disappoint those whose tastes ran to the latter: Isherwood reported she must have had “a fruitful confab” with Bob Mackie because her “glittery, midriff-baring sheath is purest Cher.” Her headdress was a “souped-up variation” on all those “flowery” rubber bathing caps women used to wear at the swimming pool; something attached to her back resembled a “wall sconce” from the “discontinued baroque collection” at Restoration Hardware; and she also sported a feathered train. The lyrics were of “wince-making inanity,” and the “upbeat, thumpy electronic” music seemed to come from a CD that might have been titled “Ibiza Gay Fun Disco Party 2.” Rooney found the evening “luridly costumed,” and Mother Nature seemed to slink about “like a refugee from some high-art drag show.” The show offered little that was “truly inventive,” “repetitiveness” soon set in, and it was “merciful” that “long stretches of lyrics” were “incomprehensible over the disco-Muzak-meetsfunked-up-faux-classical score” with “interchangeable” songs and lyrics that were “pure nonsense.” In referring to the Cirque de Soleil’s “reinvented circus model,” Rooney noted that those “immune” to it must “share relief” that “venue logistics have kept that international virus partly quarantined in Vegas” with only occasional New York visits to Madison Square Garden or nearby Randall’s Island. (Little could Isherwood know that the Cirque de Soleil would claim a Broadway home when it took up residence at the Lyric Theatre in 2016.) An unsigned review in the New Yorker found the songs “incomprehensible,” but the circus acts themselves were “simply awesome.” And compared to other Broadway offerings that included performers “cast via reality TV” (this was a swipe at the recent Grease revival), the new entertainment was like “a breath of fresh jungle air.” Isherwood noted that one of the evening’s “strangest” specialties was “hairialist” Stefka Iordanova, who high above the stage performed “spinning feats while hanging from her ponytail” (Rooney felt this surely couldn’t “be good for the follicles”). It’s good to know that Iordanova was a keeper of the flame for such an esoteric art and that she followed in the great tradition of Chrys Holt, who appeared in the legendary 1972 flop ClownAround. In that revue, Holt flew high above the stage attached to a huge helium-filled, clown-faced balloon that floated above her, and she was attached to the balloon only by her long hair.

[title of show] Theatre: Lyceum Theatre Opening Date: July 17, 2008; Closing Date: October 12, 2008

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Performances: 102 Book: Hunter Bell Lyrics and Music: Jeff Bowen Direction and Choreography: Michael Berresse; Producers: Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Roy Miller, Laura Camien, Kris Stewart, and Vineyard Theatre (Rachel Nelson, Sara Katz, Lams Entertainment, Jaimie Mayer, Heather Provost, and Tom Smedes, Associate Producers); Scenery: Neil Patel; Costumes: Chase Tyler; Lighting: Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz; Musical Direction: Larry Pressgrove Cast: Jeff Bowen (Jeff), Hunter Bell (Hunter), Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Susan Blackwell (Susan) The musical was presented in one act. According to the program, the action takes [place] during the present [time].

Musical Numbers “Untitled Opening Number” (Company); “Two Nobodies in New York” (Jeff Bowen, Hunter Bell); “An Original Musical” (Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen); “Monkeys and Playbills” (Company); “The Tony Award Song” (Hunter Bell)”; “Part of It All” (Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen); “I Am Playing Me” (Heidi Blickenstaff); “What Kind of Girl Is She?” (Heidi Blickenstaff, Susan Blackwell); “Die, Vampire, Die!” (additional lyric and material by Susan Blackwell) (Susan Blackwell, Company); “Filling Out the Form” (Company); “Montage Part 1: September Song” (Company); “Montage Part 2: Secondary Characters” (Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenstaff); “Montage Part 3: Development Medley” (Company); “Change It, Don’t Change It”/“Awkward Photo Shoot” (Company); “A Way Back to Then” (Heidi Blickenstaff); “Nine People’s Favorite Things” (Company); Finale (Company) [title of show] was indeed the title for this updated and somewhat edgy variation of the old let’s-puton-a-show musical. In this case, two aspiring writers, lyricist and composer Jeff Bowen and book writer Hunter Bell (who played themselves in the musical) decide to write a musical for an upcoming musical theatre festival. Their problem is what to write about because all the good plots seem to have been taken, but they quickly adopt the old adage of writing about what you know, and so their musical is one which looks at two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical which they’ll submit to a musical theatre festival for possible production. The musical’s title came from the entry field on the festival’s application form, which states that the titles of submitted musicals must be written in the entry field labeled [title of show]. The bright and pleasant score included “Monkeys and Playbills,” which managed to work in the titles of forty-eight musical flops, five of which were the hallowed failures Carnival in Flanders (1953), Hit the Trail (1954), Portofino (1958), Something More! (1964), and Here’s Where I Belong (1968), all of which played for a grand total of twenty-nine performances. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times hailed the “peculiar and quite adorable” musical, which was “genial, unpretentious and far funnier than many of the more expensively manufactured musicals that make it to Broadway these days.” The lyrics were “often clever,” the music was “ear-friendly but melodically substantial,” and Michael Berresse’s choreography was “zippy.” And with allusions to Kwamina (1961), Got tu Go Disco (1979), and The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public (1994), the musical was “catnip for show queens.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker found the evening “a joy from start to finish—original, clever, and surprisingly moving.” But Marilyn Stasio in Variety was cool to the musical and said it worked better in its Off-Off-Broadway edition. The show had now lost “whatever charm sustained it downtown,” and much of its “offbeat appeal has evaporated in the move” to Broadway. Clive Barnes in the New York Post was also unenthusiastic and noted that “when the self-conscious and terminally cute and the pixie-like fey are all mixed up with selfcongratulatory smugness, it results in a piece of—oh, let’s call it garbage.” The cast album was released by Ghostlight Records (CD # 7915584414-2) and includes a bonus track of the title song. The musical had first been produced at a musical theatre festival in September 2004 (The New York Musical Theatre Festival), and from there it played Off Off Broadway at the not-for-profit Vineyard Theatre in two separate engagements on February 15, 2006, and July 14, 2006, for a total of 159 performances.

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Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Book (Hunter Bell)

A TALE OF TWO CITIES Theatre: Al Hirschfeld Theatre Opening Date: September 18, 2008; Closing Date: November 9, 2008 Performances: 60 Book, Lyrics, and Music: Jill Santoriello Based on the 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Direction and Choreography: Warren Carlyle (Parker Esse, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Barbra Russell, Ron Sharpe, Bernard Brogan, Sharon A. Fordham, Theatre Associates, David Sonnenberg/Rami Evar, The Monagle Group, Joseph J. Grano, Fanok Entertainment, Mary E. Laminack, Nancy and Paul Audet, Jim Barry, Gasperino Entertainment, Vincent Russell, William M. Broderick, and Alex Santoriello in association with David Bryant, Spencer Brody, and Harry Casey (Ron Sharpe and Barbra Russell, Executive Producers); Scenery: Tony Walton; Special Effects Design: Gregory Meeh; Costumes: David Zinn; Lighting: Richard Pilbrow; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites Cast: Gregg Edelman (Doctor Alexander Manette), Catherine Missal (Little Lucie), Les Minski (Marquis St. Evremonde), Michael Hayward-Jones (Jarvis Lorry), Katherine McGrath (Miss Pross), Brandi Burkhardt (Lucie Manette), Craig Bennett (Jerry Cruncher), Natalie Toro (Madame Therese Defarge), Kevin Earley (Ernest Defarge), Michael Halling (Gaspard), Miles Kath (Little Gaspard), Mackenzie Mauzy (Seamstress), Kevin Greene (Gabelle), Aaron Lazar (Charles Darnay), Nick Wyman (John Barsad), James Barbour (Sydney Carton), Fred Inkley (Stryver), William Thomas Evans (Attorney General), James Moye (English Judge); Tim Hartman and Walter Winston Oneil (Cronies); Raymond Jaramillo McLeod (French President), Drew Aber (Young Man), Jay Lusteck (Turnkey), Devin Richards (Number Keeper); Ensemble: Drew Aber, Catherine Brunell, Alison Cimmet, William Thomas Evans, Kevin Greene, Michael Halling, Tim Hartman, Fred Inkley, Georgi James, Jay Lusteck, Mackenzie Mauzy, Raymond Jaramillo McLeod, James Moye, Walter Winston Oneil, Dan Petrotta, Devin Richards, Rob Richardson, Rebecca Robbins, Jennifer Smith, Anne Tolpegin, Mollie Vogt-Welch, Alison Walla The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Paris and London during the late eighteenth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “The Shadows of the Night” (Gregg Edelman, Brandi Burkhardt); “The Way It Ought to Be” (Natalie Toro, Kevin Earley, Men and Women of Paris); “You’ll Never Be Alone” (Gregg Edelman, Brandi Burkhardt); “Argument” (Les Minski, Aaron Lazar); “Dover” (Sailors, Katherine McGrath, Craig Bennett); “The Way It Ought to Be” (reprise) (James Barbour); “No Honest Way” (Nick Wyman, Craig Bennett, James Barbour, Scoundrels); “The Trial” (William Thomas Evans, Fred Inkley, Craig Bennett, Nick Wyman, James Barbour, Crowd); “Round and Round” (Tavern Folk); “Reflection” (James Barbour); “The Way It Ought to Be” (reprise) (Natalie Toro); “Letter from Uncle” (Les Minski); “The Promise” (Gregg Edelman, Aaron Lazar); “I Can’t Recall” (James Barbour); “Now at Last” (Aaron Lazar, Brandi Burkhardt); “If Dreams Came True” (Aaron Lazar, James Barbour); “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” (Natalie Toro); “I Always Knew” (Kevin Greene, Aaron Lazar); “Little One” (Michael Halling, Catherine Missal, James Barbour, Kevin Earley, Men); “Until Tomorrow” (Kevin Earley, Natalie Toro, James Barbour, Men and Women of Paris) Act Two: “Everything Stays the Same” (Natalie Toro, Kevin Earley, Men and Women of Paris); “No Honest Way” (reprise) (Nick Wyman); “The Tale” (Natalie Toro, Gregg Edelman, Drew Aber, Les Minski, Crowd); “If Dreams Came True” (reprise) (James Barbour); “Without a Word” (Aaron Lazar, Brandi Burkhardt); “The Bluff” (James Barbour, Nick Wyman); “Let Her Be a Child” (James Barbour, Catherine Missal, Aaron Lazar); “The Letter” (James Barbour); “Lament” (Kevin Earley); “I Can’t Recall” (reprise) (Mackenzie Mauzy, James Barbour, Men and Women)

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A Tale of Two Cities was a musical about the other French Revolution, and the critics felt that the Charles Dickens–based work was a Les Miserables wannabe. The show lasted less than two months on Broadway, and like its source was set against the background of the Revolution and focused on Sydney Carton, who suffers from unrequited love and sacrifices his life to the guillotine by taking the place of the husband of the woman he loves. Like Les Miserables, the story was high-level soap opera set against momentous historical events and it included a wide range of characters, coincidences, and plot complications. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said that just because the “lumpish” and “stolid poperetta” could have been “worse” was “not a cause for rejoicing.” And listening to “twisting exposition set to music” was like hearing Il Trovatore in English because most of the score was a “blur of unfolding recitative” occasionally interrupted by “blasting” ballads. Further, the “strangely static” evening gave the performers “cute, contemporary-sounding badinage” that was “thrown in as a bridge between songs.” As the evil Madame Lafarge who knits the names of the guillotine’s victims into her handiwork, Natalie Toro came across like a “generally amiable arts-and-crafts type, temporarily in a bad mood because she lost her Carole King CDs.” And as Carton, James Barbour gave the “kind of high-camp, hair-tossing” leading-man performance not seen on a New York stage since Robert Cucciolo tossed his tresses in Jekyll & Hyde. His singing voice was a combination of “thunder” and Marilyn Monroe“breathlessness,” and his “leaning posture” seemed in search of a lamppost. But Brantley congratulated the actor for showing “signs of life,” a quality which was otherwise “perversely lacking in this tale of historic turmoil.” David Rooney in Variety said the “lumbering artifact” was “overwrought, under-nuanced and hopelessly old-fashioned” with a “laboriously expository first act,” “florid” dialogue, “clunky” direction, and “familiar” songs that were “forgettable and all pitched at the same strident emotional level.” He noted that the evening “closely” adhered to the Les Miserables formula, and so there was the “boisterous tavern number,” the “scoundrels’ ditty,” the “impassioned declaration of love,” the “introspective” number of “self-reprimand,” an “embarrassing Josh Groban-esque epiphany,” the “seething revenge vow,” a “child’s lullaby,” and a firstact curtain sequence that brought the cast together in “a revolutionary call to arms.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker stated that the “overblown” score was “from another time: not the seventeen-eighties but the nineteen-eighties, when the Les Miserables brand of megamusical ruled,” and thus the first-act finale (“Until Tomorrow”) was “a thesaurus entry away” from Les Miserables’ first-act finale (“One Day More”). This was an evening of “unerring triteness” and it was “dismaying to think of Broadway as a home for gussied-up Cliffs Notes.” Clive Barnes in the New York Post said the “slow-paced pedestrian” musical had “unimaginative” lyrics and music that sounded like “Les Miz and dishwater.” The script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 2010. A 2002 concept recording was released on CD by Tale Productions with a cast that included Christiane Noll, J. Mark McVey, Nick Wyman, and Natalie Toro, and a later “international studio recording” was issued on CD by Libra Verde Records with narration by Michael York and a cast that included Broadway cast members James Barbour, Brandi Burkhardt, and Natalie Toro. The cast of the international recording performed the work in concert, and as A Tale of Two Cities: Live in Concert, it was shown on public television and released on DVD by Libra Verde. There have been at least four other lyric versions of A Tale of Two Cities. As Two Cities, the first adaptation opened in London on February 27, 1969, at the Palace Theatre for forty-four performances with Edward Woodward (Sydney Carton), Kevin Colson (Charles Darney), Nicolette Roeg (Madame Defarge), Elizabeth Power (Lucie), and Leon Green (Defarge); the book was by Constance Cox, the lyrics by Jerry Wayne, and the music by Jeff Wayne. The cast album was released by EMI/Columbia Records (LP # SX/SCX-6330) and was later issued on CD by Stage Door Records. The score included such numbers as “The Best of Times,” “The Machine of Doctor Guillotine,” “Knitting Song,” and “It’s a Far, Far Better Thing”; “Let Them Eat Cake” was listed in the opening night program but according to Rich in Variety wasn’t performed. Rich said the production was a “creditable try” that would probably do well in London but was “doubtful for Manhattan,” and he found the score “pleasantly tuneful.” Irving Wardle in the New York Times said the musical was “quite efficient” on its “chosen level,” the score was in a “sub-Romberg groove,” and the performances were “rigid effigies of stainless honor and romantic love.” The CD includes ten demo recordings from the score, of both used and cut songs (including “Let Them Eat Cake”). Another adaptation, also titled Two Cities, opened on August 20, 2004, at the Rich Forum at the Stamford Center for the Arts in Stamford, Connecticut. The book was by Chad Hardin, the lyrics and music by Dan Schillaci and Hardin, and the cast included Matt Bogart (Sydney Carton) and Linda Balgord (Madame Defarge). Frank Rizzo in Variety said the evening’s “recipe is the same one used for Les Miz,” but the adaptors were “less skilled in making it come alive in musical or dramaturgical terms” and “the treatment makes the Cliff Notes version” seem “epic by comparison.”

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As Two Cities, a 2006 adaptation was presented in regional theatre in Great Britain with a book by Howard Goodall and Joanna Read and lyrics and music by Goodall; for this production, the two cities were Paris and St. Petersburg, and the action was set against the Russian Revolution of 1917. For Charles Dickens’s bicentenary, another version (titled A Tale of Two Cities) played in London at the Charing Cross Theatre for a limited engagement beginning on April 5, 2012; the book and lyrics were by Steven David Horwich (with additional book material by David Soames) and the music was by David Pomeranz.

13

“A New Musical” Theatre: Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Opening Date: October 5, 2008; Closing Date: January 4, 2009 Performances: 105 Book: Dan Elish and Robert Horn Lyrics and Music: Jason Robert Brown Direction: Jeremy Sams; Producers: Bob Boyett, Roger Berlind, Tim Levy, Ken Davenport, Ted Hartley, Stacey Mindich, Jane Bergere, Broadway Across America, Sharon Karmazin, Carl Moellenberg, Tom Miller, True Love Productions/Olympus Theatricals, and Center Theatre Group (101 Productions, Ltd., Executive Producer) (Shorenstein Hays Nederlander and The Araca Group); Choreography: Christopher Gattelli; Scenery and Costumes: David Farley; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direction: Tom Kitt Cast: Graham Phillips (Evan Goldman), Corey J. Snide (Evan on Saturday evenings), Allie Trimm (Patrice), Eric M. Nelsen (Brett), Al Calderon (Eddie), Malik Hammond (Malcolm), Elizabeth Egan Gillies (Lucy), Delaney Moro (Kendra), Brynn Williams (Cassie), Caitlin Gann (Molly), Joey La Varco (Simon), Eamon Foley (Richie), Ariana Grande (Charlotte), Aaron Simon Gross (Archie) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in New York City and in a small town in Indiana during the present time.

Musical Numbers “13”/“Becoming a Man” (Graham Phillips or Corey J. Snide, Company); “The Lamest Place in the World” (Allie Trimm); “Hey Kendra” (Eric M. Nelsen, Malik Hammond, Al Calderon, Elizabeth Egan Gillies, Delaney Moro); “Get Me What I Need” (Aaron Simon Gross, Company); “What It Means to Be a Friend” (Allie Trimm); “All Hail the Brain” (Graham Phillips or Corey J. Snide); “Terminal Illness” (Graham Phillips or Corey J. Snide, Aaron Simon Gross, Company); “Getting Ready” (Company); “Any Minute” (Eric M. Nelsen, Delaney Moro, Allie Trimm, Aaron Simon Gross); “Good Enough” (Allie Trimm); “Bad Bad News” (Al Calderon, Malik Hammond, Joey La Varco, Eamon Foley); “Tell Her” (Graham Phillips or Corey J. Snide, Allie Trimm); “It Can’t Be True” (Elizabeth Egan Gillies, Caitlin Gann, Brynn Williams, Ariana Grande, Company); “If That’s What It Is” (Aaron Simon Gross, Allie Trimm, Graham Phillips or Corey J. Snide); “A Little More Homework” (Graham Phillips or Corey J. Snide, Company); “Brand New You” (Brynn Williams, Ariana Grande, Caitlin Gann, Company) Audiences who attended 13 might be excused for thinking the evening was a spin-off of Footloose and All Shook Up, two other musicals about a big-city boy who suddenly finds himself transplanted in a small Midwestern town. In this case, when the parents of New York Jewish teenager Evan Goldman are divorced, the boy and his mother move to a small town in Indiana where he must adjust to cultural differences (would these people have any idea what a bar mitzvah is?) and go through the standard-issue angsts of teenage life. Perhaps there were a few too many musicals about teenagers and young adults in search of themselves, including Spring Awakening, Passing Strange, Glory Days, Billy Elliot, and the revival of Hair, and only so many could survive in the competitive Broadway market place. And because of Disney’s High School Musical franchise, the subject matter of 13 was all too familiar (in 2006, 2007, and 2008, there had been three television movies of HSM as well as a concert tour, an ice-show version, and a touring stage production that wisely avoided Broadway). As a result, 13 was gone in three months, but it seems to have found its niche in community and children’s theatre.

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Ben Brantley in the New York Times liked Robert Jason Brown’s “buoyant” and “bubbling” score but said the book bordered on “bad taste” and came across as a “pre-processed and formulaic” story with characters who never emerged as “genuine individuals.” The “shiny and brash” show offered “bright, flat cartoon” sets, “briskly exaggerated” direction, and a “fine” cast, but generally “unremarkable” choreography. Further, the lyrics were “clever” and there were some “genuinely funny jokes,” but otherwise Brantley couldn’t “imagine that anyone who isn’t in early adolescence would be crazy about 13.” David Rooney in Variety praised Brown’s “melodic” songs that were able to “nimbly straddle pop and musical theatre idioms” and were “several notches above the standard processed pap for teen tuners.” As for the plot, “OMG, it’s all sooooo complicated” and would be a “yawn” to most adults. But no doubt it would “connect” with teenagers since they’d be “more willing to attach life-or-death urgency to playground politics.” Rooney suggested that if the “story had been told with more wit, complexity or universal insight” it might have had “something” to say to “the rest of us.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the “catchy” songs and “endearing” performers couldn’t quite overcome the “corny” gags, and overall the show felt created by adults “trying to cash in on a certain highschool-musical crowd.” The original cast album was released by Ghostlight Records (CD # 4413) and includes two songs cut prior to the Broadway production, “Opportunity” and “Here I Come,” as well as bonus tracks of solo versions of the title song and “A Little More Homework.” Ghostlight also released a two-CD set of both the cast album and a karaoke version; in this case, the cast album still includes the two bonus tracks and the cut song “Opportunity,” but omits “Here I Come” and adds “Being a Geek,” which is included in the licensed edition of the musical. The script was published in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2011, and includes “Opportunity” and “Being a Geek.” The musical was first produced on December 22, 2006, by the Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, California, and later played at the Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre, in Chester, Connecticut, on May 9, 2008. During these productions the musical was presented in two acts, and the following songs were heard (and later dropped for the Broadway version): “I’ve Got a Feeling,” “Here I Come,” “Opportunity,” “Anything You Want,” “Big Day,” and “Perfect Pieces.”

BILLY ELLIOT “The Musical”

Theatre: Imperial Theatre Opening Date: November 13, 2008; Closing Date: January 8, 2012 Performances: 1,312 Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall Music: Elton John Based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot (direction by Stephen Daldry and screenplay by Lee Hall). Direction: Stephen Daldry (Julian Webber, Associate Director); Producers: Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films, and Old Vic Productions in association with Weinstein Live Entertainment (David Furnish and Angela Morrison, Executive Producers) (also produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn, and Sally Greene); Choreography: Peter Darling (Kathryn Dunn, Associate Choreographer; Nikki Belsher, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Ian MacNeil (Paul Atkinson, Associate Set Designer); Costumes: Nicky Gillibrand (Claire Murphy, Associate Costume Designer); Lighting: Rick Fisher (Vic Smerdon, Associate Lighting Designer/Programmer); Musical Direction: David Chase Cast: David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish (all three alternated in the role of Billy Elliot), Haydn Gwynne (Mrs. Wilkinson), Gregory Jbara (Dad), Carole Shelley (Grandma), Santino Fontana (Tony), Joel Hatch (George), David Bologna or Frank Dolce (both alternated in the role of Michael), Erin Whyland (Debbie), Mitchell Michaliszyn or Matthew Mindler (both alternated in the role of Small Boy), Daniel Oreskes (Big Davey), Stephanie Kurtzuba (Lesley), Donnie Kehr (Scab, Posh Dad), Leah Hocking (Mum), Thommie Retter (Mr. Braithwaite), Stephen Hanna (Older Billy, Scottish Dancer), Keean Johnson (Posh Boy), Jayne Paterson (Clipboard Woman); “Expressing Yourself” Dancers: Kevin Bernard, Grady McLeod Bowman, Jeff Kready, Stephanie Kurtzuba, David Larsen, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Jamie Torcellini, and Grant Turner); Ensemble: Kevin Bernard, Grady McLeod Bowman, Eric Gunhus, Stephen Hanna, Leah Hocking, Aaron Kaburick, Donnie Kehr, Jeff Kready, Stephanie Kurtzuba, David Larsen, Merle Louise,

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Darrell Grand Moultrie, Daniel Oreskes, Jayne Paterson, Thommie Retter, Jamie Torcellini, and Grant Turner; Ballet Girls: Juliette Allen Angelo, Heather Ann Burns, Eboni Edwards, Meg Guzulescu, Izzy Hanson-Johnston, Caroline London, Marina Micalizzi, Tessa Netting, Corrieanne Stein, and Casey Whyland The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Great Britain in 1984 and 1985.

Musical Numbers Act One: “The Stars Look Down” (Company); “Shine” (Haydn Gwynne, Ballet Girls, Billy); “We’d Go Dancing” (aka “Grandma’s Song”) (Carole Shelley, Men’s Ensemble); “Solidarity” (Company); “Expressing Yourself” (Billy, Michael, Ensemble); “Dear Billy” (“Mum’s Letter” aka “The Letter”) (Billy, Haydn Gwynne, Leah Hocking); “Born to Boogie” (Billy, Haydn Gwynne, Thommie Retter); “Angry Dance” (Billy, Men’s Ensemble) Act Two: “Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher” (Company); “Deep into the Ground” (Gregory Jbara, Company); “He Could Go and He Could Shine” (aka “He Could Be a Star”) (Gregory Jbara, Santino Fontana, Ensemble); “Electricity” (Billy); “Once We Were Kings” (Company); “Dear Billy” (“Billy’s Reply”) (Billy, Leah Hocking); “Company Celebration” (Company) The London import Billy Elliot was in the words of Ben Brantley in the New York Times a musical about a coal miner’s son in northern England “who discovers he was born to pirouette.” Yes, the show was a variation on the old make-it-in-show-business theme, but in this case the story focused on a young boy who wants to be a ballet dancer, and to add emotional heft to the slight story, the musical was set against the backdrop of the British coal miners’ strike of the mid-1980s. Brantley noted that the British production had sent critics and audiences into a “mass swoon,” and he noted the work had a “seductive, smashingly realized premise.” Unfortunately, the score was occasionally dull, tiresome, and sometimes obvious, and it often seemed that all the characters had Issues, Problems, and Behavior Patterns from Trendy Playwriting 101: Billy’s grandmother was married to an abusive alcoholic; his best friend likes to dress up in women’s clothes and moreover has a crush on him; his teacher’s rehearsal pianist clearly harbors weird urges (Brantley reported that the character “strips out of his civvies to become a gyrating disco boy”); and while Richard Zoglin in Time noted that Billy says he’s not a “pouf,” he nonetheless “dons women’s dresses” in one number. But Brantley said the musical’s “prodigiously inventive team” followed through “on every level” to ensure that the audience never forgot the “elemental tug of war” between Billy’s desire to dance and the forces that pull him away from it. Elton John’s music was “far more restrained” than his scores for Disney musicals, and Peter Darling’s “inspired scene-melding” choreography gave “a new spin to the idea of the integrated musical.” Although David Rooney in Variety noted that the musical’s “angry liberal political agenda” was made “emotionally accessible to audiences regardless of their background or politics,” one questions that statement when one considers the cruel lyric that states that each day is a cause for celebration because it marks “one day closer” to the death of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Rooney said John’s score was “more often serviceable than memorable”; the ballads were “treacle,” “Born to Boogie” was a “dud,” and the “overblown” number “Expressing Yourself” included “giant dresses on coat hangers cavorting around the stage,” a bit of “whimsy” that “sits a little oddly.” But otherwise the musical was “a winner.” Zoglin suggested the show had “lost some of the grit” of the London production and the domestic scenes didn’t quite have London’s “authenticity,” but nonetheless, this was the best British musical import since Miss Saigon. In his review of the show’s London cast album for the Washington Post, Peter Marks found the score “serviceable,” noting that based on “exposure” to the CD it was “hard to imagine being compelled to dial up Telecharge” for tickets. The musical opened in London on May 12, 2005, at the Victoria Palace Theatre for 4,600 performances; the London cast album was released on CD by Polydor Records (# 987-521-6) and later reissued by Decca Broadway Records (CD # B0006130-72) (there was no original Broadway cast recording). A later edition of the album was released by Mercury/Rocket Records (CD # 9872184) and includes three bonus tracks sung by Elton John. In 2014, the British production was broadcast live in theatres and was later shown on public television’s Great Performances (the DVD was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment).

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In his review, Rooney had mentioned a “whimsical” if odd number in which “giant dresses on coat hangers” cavorted about the stage, and this sequence brought to mind Grover Dale’s choreography for dancing clothes in the 1979 musical King of Schnorrers. Mel Gussow in the New York Times reported this was Dale’s “most artful stroke,” a wardrobe that comes to life “with sleeves and shoes moving in rhythm as if activated by an unseen puppeteer.” For Agnes de Mille’s staging of “Money Isn’t Everything,” the wives in Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Allegro (1947) sang and danced against a backdrop of clotheslines, wash baskets, and clothes-pins, and for Susan Stroman’s staging in Thou Shalt Not Kate Levering danced about while folding laundry (Brantley said he fully expected to hear a voiceover proclaim, “New improved Tide. Smell the freshness”). Maybe someone will eventually create a thematic dance homage for Darling, Dale, de Mille, and Stroman’s choreographic clothes-related inspirations, with perhaps a nod to the laundresses in Michael Kidd’s staging of “Maidens Typical of France” from Cole Porter’s Can-Can (1953).

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Billy Elliot); Best Book (Lee Hall); Best Score (lyrics by Lee Hall, music by Elton John); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Note: All three actors who performed the title role were given this award; David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (David Bologna); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Gregory Jbara); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Haydn Gwynne); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Carole Shelley); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Ian MacNeil); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Nicky Gillibrand); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Rick Fisher); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Paul Arditti); Best Direction of a Musical (Stephen Daldry); Best Choreography (Peter Darling); Best Orchestrations (Martin Koch in a tie with Michael Starobin and Tom Kitt for Next to Normal)

WHITE CHRISTMAS (2008) Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: November 23, 2008; Closing Date: January 4, 2009 Performances: 53 Book: David Ives and Paul Blake Lyrics and Music: Irving Berlin Based on the 1954 film White Christmas (direction by Michael Curtiz; screenplay by Norman Krasna, Norman Panama, and Melvin Frank; and lyrics and music by Irving Berlin). Direction: Walter Bobbie (Marc Bruni, Associate Director); Producers: Kevin McCollum, John Gore, Tom McGrath, Paul Blake, The Producing Office, Dan Markley, Sonny Everett, and Broadway Across America in association with Paramount Pictures (Richard A. Smith and Douglas L. Meyer/James D. Stern, Associate Producers); Choreography: Randy Skinner (Kelli Barclay, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Anna Louizos; Costumes: Carrie Robbins; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Rob Berman Cast: Stephen Bogardus (Bob Wallace), Jeffry Denman (Phil Davis), Peter Reardon (Ralph Sheldrake), Charles Dean (General Henry Waverly), Sheffield Chastain (Ed Sullivan Announcer, Mike Nulty, Regency Room Announcer), Ann Horak (Rita), Katherine Tokarz (Rhoda), Amy Justman (Tessie), Kerry O’Malley (Betty Haynes), Meredith Patterson (Judy Haynes), Jarran Muse (Jimmy); Quintet: Cliff Bemis, Drew Humphrey, Wendy James, Amy Justman, and Kevin Worley; Cliff Bemis (Mr. Snoring Man, Ezekiel Foster), Wendy James (Mrs. Snoring Man, Sheldrake’s Secretary), Drew Humphrey (Train Conductor), Susan Mansur (Martha Watson), Melody Hollis (Susan Waverly); Regency Room Dancers: Stephen Carrasco, Chad Seib, and Kevin Worley; Ensemble: Phillip Attmore, Stephen Carrasco, Margot de La Barre, Anne Horak, Drew Humphrey, Wendy James, Amy Justman, Matthew Kirk, Sea La Chin, Jarran Muse, Alessa Neeck, Shannon O’Bryan, Con O’Shea-Creal, Kiira Schmidt, Chad Seib, Kelly Sheehan, Katherine Tokarz, Kevin Worley The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1944 and 1954 in a European Army camp, in Florida, on a train bound northward, in Vermont, and in New York City.

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Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Happy Holiday” (1942 film Holiday Inn) (Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman); “White Christmas” (1942 film Holiday Inn) (Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman, Peter Reardon, Ensemble); “Let Yourself Go” (1936 film Follow the Fleet) (Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman, Ensemble); “Love and the Weather” (independent song written in 1947) (Stephen Bogardus, Kerry O’Malley); “Sisters” (1954 film White Christmas) (Kerry O’Malley, Meredith Patterson); “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” (1954 film White Christmas) (Jeffry Denman, Meredith Patterson, Quintet); “Snow” (1954 film White Christmas) (Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman, Kerry O’Malley, Meredith Patterson, Cliff Bemis, Wendy James, Ensemble); “What Can You Do with a General?” (1954 film White Christmas) (Susan Mansur, Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman); “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” (1930 film Mammy) (Susan Mansur, Ensemble); “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” (1954 film White Christmas) (Stephen Bogardus, Kerry O’Malley); “Blue Skies” (Betsy, 1926) (Stephen Bogardus, Ensemble) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “I Love a Piano” (Stop! Look! Listen!, 1915) (Jeffry Denman, Meredith Patterson, Ensemble); “Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun” (Miss Liberty, 1949) (Susan Mansur, Kerry O’Malley, Meredith Patterson); “Sisters” (reprise) (Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman); “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me” (1954 film White Christmas)/“How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)” (independent song written in 1932) (Kerry O’Malley, Stephen Bogardus); “(We’ll Follow) The Old Man” (1954 film White Christmas) (Stephen Bogardus, Male Ensemble); “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” (reprise) (Melody Hollis); “How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)” (reprise) (Stephen Bogardus, Kerry O’Malley); “(We’ll Follow) The Old Man” (reprise) (Stephen Bogardus, Jeffry Denman, Peter Reardon, Male Ensemble); “White Christmas” (reprise) (Stephen Bogardus, Company); “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” (1937 film On the Avenue) (Company) It’s understandable if Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn (1942) and White Christmas (1954) seem to blur into one movie, and occasionally the latter film is even described as a remake of the first. But both had completely different stories, albeit with much in common: Christmas themes, songs by Berlin, Bing Crosby as the star, and plots that revolved around New England inns. Holiday Inn starred Crosby as a nightclub entertainer who becomes tired of the pressures of show business and decides to run an inn in Connecticut that is open only on holidays. White Christmas is about two former army buddies who become a famous song-and-dance team and who meet two sisters who sing at a nightclub; when the girls are booked for an engagement at an inn in Vermont, the boys follow them and discover the inn is run by their former general who is distraught because the unseasonably warm Vermont weather is killing business. The boys bring their temporarily on-vacation Broadway show to the inn, and on nationwide television make a plea that those who served under the general in wartime visit Vermont to support the inn and their former commander. Of course, the weather turns, and a White Christmas is had by all. Holiday Inn introduced Berlin’s “White Christmas,” which won the Academy Award for Best Song. The score also included a number of new ballads and holiday-themed songs by Berlin as well as an interpolation or two, including “Easter Parade,” which had first been heard in the 1933 Broadway revue As Thousands Cheer. It was first introduced by none other than Clifton Webb (during the entire one-year run of the revue, the program incorrectly listed the song’s title as “Her Easter Bonnet”). The film’s songs saluted holidays in general (“Happy Holiday”), New Year’s (“Let’s Start the New Year Right”), Abraham Lincoln and George Washington’s birthdays (the respective “Abraham” and “I Can’t Tell a Lie”), Valentine’s Day (“Be Careful, It’s My Heart”), Easter (“Easter Parade”), the Fourth of July (“Let’s Say It with Firecrackers”), Armistice Day (“Song of Freedom”), Thanksgiving (“Plenty to Be Thankful For”), and of course Christmas (“White Christmas”). The film also included two non-holiday songs, the ballads “I’ll Capture Your Heart Singing” and “You’re Easy to Dance With.” And besides the interpolated “Easter Parade,” the score included another early Berlin song, the 1924 “Lazy,” an independent non-show-related song. The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin reports that during the film’s preproduction phase there were song spots considered for St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Decoration (Memorial) Day, Flag Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Halloween, but with one exception no songs for these holidays were written and thus these specific holidays were passed over for the film (the song “This Is a Great Country” was intended for the Fourth of July, Labor Day, or Columbus Day, but wasn’t used; a later song with the same title was included in Berlin’s 1962 Broadway musical Mr. President).

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The 1950 film musical My Blue Heaven made note that the Halloween holiday was ignored in Holiday Inn, and so its song “Halloween” referenced that fact in its lyric (the lyric was by Ralph Blane, the music by Harold Arlen, and the song was performed by Betty Grable and Dan Dailey). The film of White Christmas, which was 1954’s highest-grossing film, retained two songs from Holiday Inn (“White Christmas” and “Happy Holiday”), introduced nine new Berlin songs, “(We’ll Follow) The Old Man,” “Sisters,” “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing,” “Snow,” “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” “Choreography,” “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me,” “What Can You Do with a General?,” and “Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army,” and interpolated a few early Berlin standards such as “Mandy” and “I’d Rather See a Minstrel Show” (both from Ziegfeld Follies of 1919) and “Blue Skies” (Betsy, 1926). “Snow” was a reworked version of “Free,” which had been cut during the tryout of Berlin’s 1950 musical Call Me Madam. “Count Your Blessings” became a minor standard, and the blues “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me” was one of Berlin’s best, and here it was torched by Rosemary Clooney. She was backed by a group of chorus boys who included George Chakiris (during 1954, the latter also appeared in the chorus of three other films: one of the “occasional-man” chorus boys who backed up Gloria DeHaven in “An Occasional Man” from The Girl Rush, a chorus member in the fictitious musical The Land around Us for the film version of The Country Girl, and danced in MGM’s adaptation of Brigadoon). The year before he (and Larry Kert) had been one of Marilyn Monroe’s chorus-boy suitors in “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” for the film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The stage production of White Christmas included two songs from Holiday Inn (“White Christmas” and “Happy Holiday”), seven songs from White Christmas (“Sisters,” “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing,” “Snow,” “What Can You Do with a General?,” “Count Your Blessings,” “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me,” and “We’ll Follow the Old Man”), and a number of Berlin’s songs from other sources (see song list above for specific citations). Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said the musical was “a synthetically cozy trip down memory lane” with a book in “equal parts corn and syrup.” If you wanted “old-school Broadway escapism,” the show should be on your Christmas wish list, but he warned that for others the evening would “seem about as fresh and appealing as a roll of Necco wafers found in a mothballed Christmas stocking.” Otherwise, the sets were “colorful” and “spangly” and “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me” was the evening’s “vocal highlight.” David Rooney in Variety found the musical “somewhat mechanical” with “mummified” book scenes and “corny” jokes. But the “melodious” songs and “sparkling visuals” would no doubt “keep the tourist trade happy.” Before “bland efficiency” took over the production, it was “a thrill to see a large cast hammering the stage in ‘Happy Holiday,’” and Rooney noted the “back-to-back heartache” of “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me” and “How Deep Is the Ocean” provided the evening’s “most affecting sequence.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said Walter Bobbie did a “fine job” of direction, everything was “done with class, commitment, and just the tiniest degree of self-awareness,” and when the snow finally started to fall it was “like manna from the god of schmaltz.” The first stage version of White Christmas (a “developmental” production, according to the show’s later cast album) opened at the St. Louis Municipal Opera (The MUNY) in Missouri on July 17, 2000, with Lara Teeter, Karen Mason, Lauren Kennedy, and Lee Roy Reams. A revised version premiered on November 9, 2004, at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, California, with Brian d’Arcy James, Anastasia Barzee, Meredith Patterson, and Jeffry Denman. Theatre World reported that during the 2005 holiday season three simultaneous productions were mounted (in Boston, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; and again in San Francisco). During the following year the show played in various U.S. and Canadian cities, and by 2007 the musical had been licensed and produced by numerous regional companies, including dinner theatres. A recording of White Christmas was released in 2006 by Ghostlight Records (CD # 7915581225-2) and includes the four leads (James, Barzee, Patterson, and Denman) from the 2004 production (Patterson and Denman also appeared in the current Broadway version) as well as Karen Morrow, who played the role of Martha during the St. Louis and Boston productions. White Christmas returned to Broadway in 2009 (see entry), but like Elf (2010, 2012, 2015) and A Christmas Story (2012) it didn’t quite find its place as a Broadway holiday perennial. The Roundabout Theatre Company’s Holiday Inn opened on October 6, 2016, at Studio 54 with a book by Chad Hodge and Gordon Greenberg, and its scenic designer was Anna Louizos, who also created the décor for White Christmas.

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Note that the musical’s official title is Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, a careful and kindly touch on the part of the producers to ensure we didn’t confuse the show with Cole Porter’s White Christmas or Galt MacDermot’s White Christmas.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Choreography (Randy Skinner); Best Orchestrations (Larry Blank)

LIZA’S AT THE PALACE . . . Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: December 3, 2008; Closing Date: January 4, 2009 Performances: 22 Additional Material: David Zippel Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction and Choreography: Ron Lewis; Producers: John Scher/Metropolitan Talent Presents, LLC and Jubilee Time Productions, LLC (Gary Labriola, Executive Producer); Scenery: Ray Klausen; Costumes: Liza Minnelli’s costumes by Halston; Lighting: Matt Berman; Musical Direction: Michael Berkowitz Cast: Liza Minnelli; Singers: Johnny Rodgers, Cortes Alexander, Jim Caruso, Tiger Martina The concert was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Note: All musical numbers were performed by Liza Minnelli, who was backed by singers Johnny Rodgers, Cortes Alexander, Jim Caruso, and Tiger Martina. Act One: “Teach Me Tonight” (lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Gene de Paul); “I Would Never Leave You” (lyric and music by Billy Stritch, Johnny Rodgers, and Brian Lane Green); “If You Hadn’t but You Did” (Two on the Aisle, 1951; lyric by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Jule Styne); “What Makes a Man a Man?” (lyric and music by Charles Aznavour); “My Own Best Friend” (Chicago, 1975; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “Maybe This Time” (1964 independent song that was interpolated into the 1972 film version of Cabaret; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “He’s Funny That Way” (lyric by Richard A. Whiting, music by Neil Moret); “Palace Medley”: “new introduction” by David Zippel, John Kander, and Billy Stritch; original song by Roger Edens; “Shine On, Harvest Moon” (added for tour of Ziegfeld Follies of 1908; lyric by Jack Norworth, music by Nora Bayes); “Some of These Days” (lyric and music by Shelton Brooks); “My Man” (interpolated into Ziegfeld Follies of 1921; original French lyric by Jacques Charles and Albert Willemetz, English lyric by Channing Pollock, and music by Maurice Yvain); and “I Don’t Care” (The Sambo Girl, 1905; lyric by Jean Lenox, music by Harry O. Sutton); “Cabaret” (Cabaret, 1966; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander) Act Two: “And the World Goes ‘Round” (1977 film New York, New York; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “Hello, Hello” (lyric and music by Kay Thompson); “Jubilee Time” (lyric and music by Kay Thompson); “Basin Street Blues” (lyric and music by Spencer Williams, special verse by Kay Thompson); “Clap Yo’ Hands” (Oh, Kay!, 1926; lyric by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin); “Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away)” (Show Girl, 1929; lyric by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn, music by George Gershwin); “I Love a Violin” (lyric and music by Kay Thompson); “My Mammy” (lyric by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young, music by Walter Donaldson; first written for a vaudeville act where it was introduced by William Frawley, and then was later interpolated into the 1918 musical Sinbad, where it was sung by Al Jolson); “Theme from New York, New York” (1977 film New York, New York; lyric by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander); “I’ll Be Seeing You” (Right This Way, 1938; lyric by Irving Kahal, music by Sammy Fain) Liza was indeed at the Palace, which had been the venue for her 1999 concert Minnelli on Minnelli, and of course the Palace was the theatrical home where her mother, Judy Garland, lived out some of her greatest

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show-business moments. The Palace was also the setting for a pivotal scene or two in Garland’s 1941 film For Me and My Gal. As the heroine, Garland told the Gene Kelly character he’d never make the big time because he was small-time in his heart. Stephen Holden in the New York Times said Minnelli’s voice was in “tatters” and her diction “unsteady,” but she offered “occasional moments of beautifully focused dramatic singing.” She was a “force of will” that “became a triumph of spirit over flesh” and her stage philosophy was one that probably never questioned that her life was “a never-ending performance starring” herself. She was the embodiment of the spirit that the show must go on, and was “one of the last of a hardy vaudeville breed and the foremost custodian of that tradition.” She was a “pure entertainer,” there was “none purer,” and she was “at once voracious and extravagantly generous.” David Rooney in Variety said the “great entertainer” represented “an era of entertainment that’s all but gone.” While “so many female concert performers” were “overproduced automatons,” she possessed a “charisma” that was “undiminished” with a voice that still had “power, warmth and a startling ability to make every song personal.” But John Lahr in the New Yorker said her concert was more “rally” than “recital,” and for her “the spectacle of survival is the thrill.” She was “not real,” and “masquerade, not meaning” was her “forte.” He noted that she linked herself to the “glorious tradition” of vaudeville, but if she was “part of that tradition, she’s a decadent one” because she had “vitality but no joy” and “technique but no truth.” One of the evening’s highlights was a re-creation of Kay Thompson’s legendary nightclub act from the late 1940s and early 1950s, and Holden said that when Minnelli and her male quartet resurrected the mood and spirit of that act, the Palace “blasts off into orbit.” She and the foursome were “the last word in modern pop-jazz virtuosity from an era when the term modern meant sleek, cool, jet-propelled sophistication,” and Rooney noted that the “zesty facsimile” of Thompson’s act was “dynamite.” Thompson (1909–1998), who was Minnelli’s godmother, was a singer, vocal coach, and music arranger, and is now best remembered as the author of the series of Eloise books. Thompson also gave an emphatic and electric performance opposite Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 film Funny Face, and in Stephen Sondheim’s 1964 musical Anyone Can Whistle, Thompson and her chorus-boy quartet were the inspiration for “Me and My Town,” a nightclubstyled number for Angela Lansbury and the boys. Minnelli’s other Broadway concert appearances were Liza (1974), Liza Minnelli: Stepping Out at Radio City (1991), and Minnelli on Minnelli (1999). She originated three roles in Broadway musicals, Flora, the Red Menace (1965), The Act (1977), and The Rink (1984). During the run of Chicago (1975) she briefly replaced the ailing Gwen Verdon and later performed the title roles of Victor/Victoria (1995), which Julie Andrews had originated. Minnelli’s first New York stage appearance was in the 1963 Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward.

Awards Tony Award: Best Special Theatrical Event (Liza’s at the Palace . . .)

SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre Opening Date: December 7, 2008; Closing Date: January 4, 2009 Performances: 35 Direction: Slava (Slava Polunin) (“created and staged by Slava by arrangement with Slava, Gwenael Allan and Ross Mollison”); Producers: David J. Foster, Jared Geller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Marinoff Cohn, and John Pinckard (Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione, Associate Producers); Scenery and Costumes: Art Direction by Gary Cherniakhovskii; Lighting: Alexander Pecherskiy Cast: Slava Polunin, Robert Saralp, and Derek Scott rotated in the role of the Yellow Clown; and Spencer Chandler, Johnson, Tatiana Karamysheva, Dmitry Khamzin, Christopher Lynam, Fyodor Makarov, Ivan Polunin, and Elena Ushakova rotated in the roles of the Green Clowns The revue was presented in two acts.

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In 1979, Russian clown-meister Slava (Slava Polunin) founded Litsedei, his theatre company for clowns, and in 1993 he put together an evening of the highlights of his work in a show called Yellow, which opened in Moscow. The production was later retitled Snowshow and was performed in 1996 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Slava later toured in the Cirque de Soleil’s Alegria, which included excerpts from Snowshow, and the current limited engagement marked Slava’s Broadway debut. The evening included prerecorded music, and Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said the taped score of snippets from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and the soundtrack of Chariots of Fire left “a lot to be desired.” Slava and his troupe had previously appeared Off Broadway when Slava’s Snowshow had played at the Union Square Theatre on September 8, 2004, for 1,004 performances, an evening that Best Plays described as “part Cirque de Soleil, part Samuel Beckett.” Isherwood liked the “delightful kiddie curio” and said if he had to choose a Broadway show for the kids, Slava’s Snowshow would be the one; he decided that analyzing and describing the goings-on “would be pointless, like describing a kitten at play and expecting to transmit your pleasure at witnessing the scene.” Marilyn Stasio in Variety said the work was an “offbeat, otherworldly clown show,” but noted that in the larger confines of the Helen Hayes Theatre (which was nonetheless Broadway’s smallest house) some of the “magic” from the Off-Broadway production had “evaporated.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker praised the “giddy, plotless exercise in havoc,” and like the other critics said the evening’s piece de resistance was the finale in which a blizzard of small pieces of tissue paper blew throughout the theatre by the blasts of a huge wind machine. The audience was immersed in the snowstorm of paper, and drifts of paper snow piled up in the aisles. And to top it off, huge blue beach balls tumbled all over the theatre (Stasio noted one was larger than a baby hippo). Isherwood was so taken by the sequence that in his self-described “snow frenzy” he was inspired to conclude his review with a few “purloined” lines from the powerful conclusion of James Joyce’s The Dead, which depicted falling snow on Ireland and on the universe itself.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Slava’s Snowshow)

SHREK

“The Musical” Theatre: Broadway Theatre Opening Date: December 14, 2008; Closing Date: January 3, 2010 Performances: 441 Book and Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire Music: Jeanine Tesori Based on the 1990 illustrated book Shrek! by William Steig and the 2001 film Shrek (direction by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson and screenplay by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, with additional dialogue by other writers). Direction: Jason Moore (Peter Lawrence, Associate Director); Producers: Dreamworks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions; Choreography: Josh Prince; Scenery, Costumes, and Puppet Design: Peter Hylenski; Lighting: Hugh Vanstone; Musical Direction: Tim Weil Cast: Cameron Adams (Ensemble), Daniel Breaker (Donkey), Haven Burton (Sugar Plum Fairy, Gingy), Jennifer Cody (Shoemaker’s Elf, Duloc Performer, Blind Mouse), Bobby Daye (Sticks, Bishop), Ryan Duncan (Bricks), Sarah Jane Everman (Ugly Duckling, Blind Mouse), Sutton Foster (Princess Fiona), Aymee Garcia (Mama Bear), Leah Greenhaus (Young Fiona for Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday performances), Rachel Resheff (Young Fiona for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday performances), Lisa Ho (Baby Bear, Blind Mouse), Chris Hoch (King Harold, Big Bad Wolf, Captain of the Guard), Danette Holden (Fairy Godmother, Magic Mirror Assistant, Bluebird), Brian d’Arcy James (Shrek), Marty Lawson (Ensemble), Jacob Ming-Trent (Papa Ogre, Straw), Marissa O’Donnell (Teen Fiona), Denny Paschall (Peter Pan), Greg Reuter (Gnome, Pied Piper), Adam Riegler (Young Shrek, Dwarf), Noah Rivera (White Rabbit), Christopher Sieber (Lord Farquaad), Jennifer Simard (Queen Lillian, Wicked Witch, Magic Mirror Assistant), Rachel Stern

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(Mama Ogre, Humpty Dumpty), Dennis Stowe (Barker, Papa Bear, Thelonius), John Tartaglia (Pinocchio, The Magic Mirror, Dragon Puppeteer) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place once upon a time in a fairy-tale land.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Big Bright Beautiful World” (Brian d’Arcy James, Rachel Stern, Jacob Ming-Trent); “Story of My Life” (Marty Lawson, Fairytale Creatures); “The Goodbye Song” (performer[s] uncredited; possibly Brian d’Arcy James and Fairytale Creatures); “Don’t Let Me Go” (Daniel Breaker, Brian d’Arcy James); “I Know It’s Today” (Leah Greenhaus or Rachel Resheff, Marissa O’Donnell, Sutton Foster); “What’s Up, Duloc?” (Christopher Sieber, Ensemble); “Travel Song” (Brian d’Arcy James, Daniel Breaker); “Donkey Pot Pie” (John Tartaglia, Daniel Breaker); “This Is How a Dream Comes True” (Sutton Foster, Brian d’Arcy James, Daniel Breaker, John Tartaglia); “Who I’d Be” (Brian d’Arcy James, Sutton Foster, Daniel Breaker) Act Two: “Morning Person” (Sutton Foster, Greg Reuter); “I Think I Got You Beat” (Sutton Foster, Brian d’Arcy James); “The Ballad of Farquaad” (Christopher Sieber, Ensemble); “Make a Move” (Daniel Breaker, Jennifer Cody, Sarah Jane Everman, Lisa Ho, Brian d’Arcy James, Sutton Foster); “When Words Fail” (Brian d’Arcy James); “Morning Person” (reprise) (Sutton Foster, Brian d’Arcy James); “Build a Wall” (Brian d’Arcy James); “Freak Flag” (Fairytale Creatures); “Big Bright Beautiful World” (reprise) (Brian d’Arcy James); Finale (Company) Shrek (or, to make sure we didn’t mistake it for the movie, Shrek: The Musical, although perhaps a clearer truth-in-advertising title would have been Shrek! The Stage Show Musical Live and in Person on Broadway) was based on William Steig’s popular 1990 illustrated book Shrek! and its 2001 hit film adaptation, which spawned three sequels (in 2004, 2007, and 2010). But the popularity of the book and the films didn’t translate into Broadway glory, and the $24 million musical managed just a little more than a year’s run in New York, a period far too short to recoup its huge investment. The story dealt with the ogre Shrek (Brian d’Arcy James) and his sidekick donkey friend Donkey (Daniel Breaker) who set out to rescue Princess Fiona (Sutton Foster), whose beauty turns into ugliness every evening because of an evil curse (Fiona seems to be under the same spell as Ella and George in The Apple Tree), a curse that will be lifted once Fiona finds true love (with Shrek, of course). Like Wicked, the musical’s trite messages taught that beauty is only skin deep, that one daren’t judge anyone based on personal appearance, and that one should reach for high-esteem levels. And all this was told with hip attitudes, which in the current marketplace translates as crude and vulgar (for Shrek and Fiona’s bonding song “I Think I Got You Beat,” the two find pleasure in burping and passing gas). Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “not bad” evening was a “leaden fairy-tale theme costume party” that offered a few “jolly” sequences but otherwise was a “cavalcade of storybook effigies” that felt “like 40 blocks’ worth of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” and all of it “accompanied by an exhaustingly jokey running commentary.” The score was “cut from the same shiny synthetic pop metal of most youth-oriented Broadways shows since Wicked,” and only one song got “everything right” (“Morning Person,” a “big showstopper” for Fiona). Otherwise, many of the cast members were made up to resemble “fantasy characters,” and this tended “to cramp expressive acting.” In fact, Brian d’Arcy James was “so encumbered with padding and prosthetics” that it made one want to “rush the stage and tap his head to see if he’s really in there.” David Rooney in Variety said the book was “bumpy in patches” and the choreography was “pedestrian,” and while the score didn’t “quite soar” and the songs lacked “shape,” they were “never gratingly derivative.” But the lyrics were “clever,” the show never stinted on “spectacle or laughs,” Foster was “hilarious,” and “Morning Person” was the evening’s “musical and comic highlight.” As for Donkey, he was “a little limp in the hooves” but the script’s “wink-wink campiness” would no doubt “sail over” the kids’ heads and amuse the adults. These camp elements went into “exultant overdrive” with Christopher Sieber’s despotic Lord Farquaad, who was “a mix of flouncing petulance and abusive power,” and Rooney noted that both Donkey and Lord Farquaad appeared “to bat for the same team.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the show was “thirty minutes and four songs too long,” and the creators had settled for the “safely generic.” The leading players “gave it their all” but “mediocrity” defeated them, and because the result was a “listless” evening, a prospective ticket-buyer should just rent the

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film’s DVD and “suffer banality” in the comfort of home. The reviewer noted that the exit music was from a Monkees’ song called “I’m a Believer” (which had been heard in the film but not during the stage performance itself), and “this tells you how much faith the producers have in the Broadway score.” Richard Zoglin in Time found the show “pleasant enough” but felt that what was “light and offhand” in the movie was now “heavy and in-your-face.” The direction was “surprisingly ordinary” and the dragon looked like it could have been created “by a hardworking community children’s theatre group.” He concluded that he “wouldn’t discourage you from taking the kids” but warned that “Disney does it better.” During the tryout, the role of Donkey was played by Chester Gregory, who was succeeded by Daniel Breaker, and Dragon was played by Kecia Lewis-Evans, whose role apparently morphed into a puppet character that was eventually directed by John Tartaglia. Five musical sequences were deleted during the tryout (“The Line-Up,” “Let Her In,” “More to the Story,” “Wedding Procession,” and “The Wedding”). The cast album was released by Decca Broadway (CD # B0012627-02). During the run of the musical, the show was filmed live with the original cast leads and was later released on DVD by DreamWorks.

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Shrek); Best Book (David Lindsay-Abaire); Best Score (lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, music by Jeanine Tesori); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Brian d’Arcy James); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Sieber); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Tim Hatley); Best Orchestrations (Danny Troob and John Clancy)

PAL JOEY Theatre: Studio 54 Opening Date: December 18, 2008; Closing Date: March 1, 2009 Performances: 84 Book: John O’Hara; new book adaptation by Richard Greenberg Lyrics: Lorenz Hart Music: Richard Rodgers Based on a series of short stories by John O’Hara that were published in the New Yorker (the first story appeared in the October 22, 1938, issue); the collected short stories were published in book format in 1939. Direction: Joe Mantello; Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director) in association with Marc Platt (Sydney Beers, Executive Producer); Choreography: Graciela Daniele; Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Paul Gallo; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Matthew Risch (Joey Evans), Robert Clohessy (Mike), Nadine Isenegger (Val), Martha Plimpton (Gladys Bumps), Kathryn Mowat Murphy (Diane), Lisa Gajda (Cookie), Jenny Fellner (Linda English), Brian Barry (Hank Armour), Timothy J. Alex (Seaver Swift), Stockard Channing (Vera Simpson), Anthony Holds (Ted, Tailor Shop Customer), Eric Sciotto (Drummer), Steven Skybell (Ernest), Daniel Marcus (Ludlow Lowell), Hayley Podschun (The Kid), Mark Morettini (Workman); Ensemble: Timothy J. Alex, Brian Barry, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Lisa Gajda, Anthony Holds, Nadine Isenegger, Mark Morettini, Kathryn Mowat Murphy, Hayley Podschun, Krista Saab, Eric Sciotto; Club Patrons: Meredith Forlenza, Quinn Mattfield, Nicole Orth-Pallavicini The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the late 1930s in Chicago.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Chicago” (aka “Great Big Town”) (Matthew Risch); “You Mustn’t Kick It Around” (Matthew Risch, Martha Plimpton, Girls); “I Could Write a Book” (Matthew Risch, Jenny Fell-

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ner); “Chicago” (reprise) (Girls); “That Terrific Rainbow” (Martha Plimpton, Girls); “What Is a Man?” (Stockard Channing); “Are You My Love?” (Matthew Risch, Jenny Fellner); “Happy Hunting Horn” (Matthew Risch, Girls); “Happy Hunting Horn” (continuation) (Matthew Risch, Girls); “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (Stockard Channing); “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (reprise) (Stockard Channing); “Pal Joey” (“What Do I Care for a Dame?”) (Matthew Risch); “Chez Joey” (Matthew Risch, Company) Act Two: “The Flower Garden of My Heart” (Daniel Marcus, Martha Plimpton, Girls); “(In Our Little) Den of Iniquity” (Matthew Risch, Stockard Channing); “Zip” (Martha Plimpton); “Plant You Now, Dig You Later” (Girls); “Do It the Hard Way” (Matthew Risch, Jenny Fellner); “Zip” (reprise) (Nadine Isenegger); “I Still Believe in You” (Jenny Fellner); “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (reprise) (Stockard Channing); “Take Him” (Jenny Fellner, Stockard Channing); “I’m Talking to My Pal” (Matthew Risch); “I Still Believe in You” (reprise) (Jenny Fellner); “I Could Write a Book” (reprise) (Matthew Risch) The 2008 revival of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s Pal Joey was troubled, but not so much as its previous revival, which opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre on June 26, 1976, for seventy-three performances. During previews of that production, leading man Edward Villella (Joey) and leading lady Eleanor Parker (Vera Simpson) resigned and were succeeded by their understudies Christopher Chadman and Joan Copeland (who was Arthur Miller’s sister). Even musical director Gene Palumbo left and was replaced by Scott Oakley. The New York Times reported that Parker said the production was filled with a “climate of hate,” and as the first preview performance drew near there was grumbling that director Theodore Mann had yet to finish blocking the show. Further, a major source of friction centered around Margo Sappington’s choreography for classically trained ballet dancer Villella. The Times reported he was “uncomfortable” with her “angular, exuberant movements” and asked that his friends George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins unofficially create new choreography for him (perhaps the biggest surprise here was that someone actually considered the notoriously touchy and difficult Robbins a friend). But Sappington “strenuously” objected to Balanchine’s contributions because his balletic dances were at odds with the kind of dancing small-time hoofer Joey would know. When Villella and Parker left the production, that old villain “artistic differences” was blamed for their departure. To a certain extent, the current revival followed tradition and it too lost its leading man during previews. Tony Award-winner Christian Hoff played Joey during early preview performances, but when he hurt his foot it was announced he’d be unable to continue and that his understudy Matthew Risch would permanently assume the role. Patrick Healy in the Times noted that “several people” involved in the revival said the production “seemed destined to enter theatre lore as one of the more artistically troubled experiences of Broadway in recent years.” And he reported that industry insiders felt that Hoff “could have returned to the role in time,” and some “who spoke on condition of anonymity” indicated there were concerns among the production team that Hoff was “not an especially strong dancer.” To further muddy the waters, there was the feeling that the “chemistry” between Hoff and Stockard Channing was “not sizzling.” Also, Channing stated in an interview that “she had moments of self-doubt about her singing abilities,” while some “key members” of the production indicated Hoff’s age was an “issue” because he was forty and thus might be “too old” for the part. On the other hand, Risch was twenty-seven and Channing was sixty-four, and so others said Channing’s character might come across like a cradle snatcher. The musical was a tough, no-holds-barred character study of conceited, small-time hoofer Joey (Risch) and his tawdry world of seedy show business, and its first few lines of dialogue signaled that the evening was not your typical musical comedy (when a nightclub manager meets Joey, he offers him a drink, drugs, women, or, if Joey prefers, a young man). Joey’s ambition is to own a nightclub, and so he sleeps with society matron Vera Simpson (Channing), who agrees to bankroll him. He also becomes involved with the innocent Linda English (Jenny Fellner), but by the end of the show both the worldly and amoral Vera and the naïve nice-girl Linda dump him. John O’Hara’s book for the musical was always cumbersome, especially in the second act, and for the revival Robert Greenberg wrote a new adaptation that included an expanded role for the Gladys Bumps character (here played by Martha Plimpton), which offered hints of a previous relationship with Joey that resulted in an abortion. There was also a danced overture that depicted an alley where Joey is beaten up by underworld thugs. Further, David Rooney in Variety noted that “this” Pal Joey brought “frank treatment of the taboo side” of Joey’s world with “casual references” to drugs and “semi-clandestine homosexual relationships and

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gay society hangers-on” (but as noted above, the original 1940 production didn’t shy away from mentioning drugs and gay sex). The adaptation also included three interpolations, all by Rodgers and Hart. One was Joey’s I-Am-MyOwn-Best-Friend moment “I’m Talking to My Pal,” which had been dropped during the tryout of the original 1940 production but was reinstated for the 1995 Encores! version and was recorded for the concert’s cast album. (The song had earlier been recorded by Anthony Perkins for Ben Bagley’s collection Rodgers and Hart Revisited, Volume IV, released on CD by Painted Smiles Records # PSCD-126.) The other two were “Are You My Love?,” which was from the 1936 film Dancing Pirate, and “I Still Believe in You,” which had been introduced by Ruth Etting in the 1930 musical Simple Simon. (As “Singing a Love Song,” an earlier version of the latter had been heard in the 1928 musical Chee-Chee, best remembered as Broadway’s first musical about castration.) Ben Brantley in the Times found the revival “joyless” and without a “detectable pulse,” and he wondered how such a “racy little ditty” as “Happy Hunting Horn” could have turned into a “dirge.” Here Joey’s skirtchasing pursuit was not of “a tooting horn but a tolling bell,” and even Vera’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” might well have been titled “Benumbed, Bummed Out and Bored Silly.” The characters resembled “zombies,” the “gifted but misused” Channing pushed “deadpan into deadness” and she appeared to be in a “trance,” Risch came across “as a really nice guy trying to be bad,” the show’s look evoked Cabaret and Chicago, and the dances owed a “debt” to Bob Fosse’s Chicago and Sweet Charity. Only with the “qualified exception” of Plimpton was anyone in the cast “covered in stardust,” and even she was “undercut” by the dubious staging of the would-be showstopper “Zip.” But Rooney praised the “trenchant” adaptation, and said “the smoke-drenched, seamy world of this smart adult musical is intoxicating,” and John Lahr in the New Yorker liked the “exciting” production and said Channing made a “sensational” Vera and gave a “ravishing interpretation” of “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.” The original production of Pal Joey opened on December 25, 1940, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre for 374 performances with Gene Kelly (Joey) and Vivienne Segal (Vera), and theatrical legend has it that the musical was a failure which no one appreciated until it was revived on Broadway in 1952. But the original production of Pal Joey was a hit, and when it closed was the second-longest-running of all of Rodgers and Hart’s musicals (only the team’s 1927 A Connecticut Yankee had played longer with 418 showings, and in 1942 By Jupiter topped out as their longest-running show with 427 performances). The original production was also well-received by most of the critics. Richard Watts in the New York Herald-Tribune found the show a “hard-boiled delight” and an “outstanding triumph”; Sidney B. Whipple in the New York World-Telegram said it was “bright, novel, gay and tuneful”; and Burns Mantle in the New York Daily News gave the musical three out of four stars and said the show heralded “signs of new life” for the American musical. John Mason Brown in the New York Post felt the story was “unimportant” but nonetheless noted that the creators had attempted to discard the “old conventions” of musical comedy in their depiction of a leading man who is a “bum”; and Richard Lockridge in the New York Sun said the musical’s “amusedly ruthless examination” of Joey created one of the “most substantial” characters to ever “stand among the shadows of musical comedy.” Brooks Atkinson in the Times described the story as “odious” and Joey as a “heel,” a “punk,” and a “rat infested with termites,” and then asked perhaps the most famous question in the annals of theatre-reviewing: “Can you draw sweet water from a foul well?” But even his question is somewhat misleading because he said the musical was “expertly done” with “inventive” choreography and a score of “wit and skill.” The first Broadway revival opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on January 3, 1952, for 540 performances and won three Tony Awards as well as the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical; for the revival, Segal reprised her original role and Harold Lang was Joey. Two revivals were later produced at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company, both with Bob Fosse in the title role, the first on May 31, 1961, for 31 performances and the second on May 29, 1963, for 15 showings. After the 1976 production, the musical was presented by Encores! on May 4, 1995, at City Center in concert for a limited run of 4 showings. The first London production opened on March 11, 1954, at the Princes Theatre for 245 performances, and in the considerably revised and softened but nonetheless enjoyable 1957 film version by Columbia, Frank Sinatra gave one of his best performances (here, Joey is a singer, not a hoofer). There have been many recordings of the score, and the best is the 1950 studio cast album by Columbia Records with Segal and Lang (LP # 4364 and issued on CD by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy # SK-86856); this recording sparked new interest in the musical and led to the 1952 Broadway revival. Another recom-

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mended recording is the Encores! presentation (DRG Records CD # 94763), which includes an especially vivid singing performance by Patti LuPone. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1952, and the lyrics are included in the collection The Complete Lyrics of Lorenz Hart (hardback edition published in 1986, and an expanded edition by Da Capo Press in 1995), edited by Dorothy Hart and Robert Kimball. During the rehearsals, tryout, and early months of the original production’s New York run, Vera’s “Love Is My Friend” was performed, and it appears that some four months into the run the song was replaced by “What Is a Man?,” which utilizes the music of the former song but with a new lyric. The lyric of “Love Is My Friend” was considered lost and doesn’t appear in the 1986 collection, and according to Hart and Kimball when Vivienne Segal and Gene Kelly were interviewed prior to the publication of the collection, they stated they had no memory of the song. The lyric was later discovered and is included in the expanded edition of the collection (which notes that Rodgers may have written the lyric). The script was later published by the Library of America in the 2014 hardcopy collection American Musicals, which includes the scripts of fifteen other musicals; and in 2015 a paperback edition issued by Penguin Books includes O’Hara’s Pal Joey short stories as well as the book and lyrics of the musical (note that the 2014 and 2015 editions include O’Hara’s book, not Greenberg’s adaptation).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Pal Joey); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Stockard Channing); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Martha Plimpton); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Scott Pask)

SOUL OF SHAOLIN Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: January 15, 2009; Closing Date: January 31, 2009 Performances: 21 Music: Zhou Chenglong Direction and Choreography: Liu Tongbiao (Wang Zhenpeng, Director and Stage Supervisor); Martial Arts Directors: Jiang Dongxu and Zhu Huayin; Producers: Nederlander Worldwide Productions, LLC and Eastern Shanghai International Culture Film & Television Group; A China on Broadway Production (Fang Jun and Robert Nederlander Jr., Executive Producers) (Wang Jingbo, Shanghai Producer); Scenery: Xie Tongmiao; Costumes: Huang Gengying; Lighting: Song Tianjiao; Musical Direction: (The production didn’t include a conductor and musicians because the music was prerecorded.) Cast: The Shaolin Temple Wushu Martial Artists; Yu Fei (Hui Guang as a Young Man), Dong Yingbo (Hui Guang as a Teenager), Wang Sen (Hui Guang as a Boy), Zhang Zhigang (Na Luo), Bai Guojun (Abbot), Wang Yazhi (Hui Guang’s Mother), Li Lin (Special Appearance as Hui Guang’s Mother); Ensemble: Jia Honglei, Pan Fuynag, Li Guanghui, Dong Xingfeng, Lu Shilei, Zhang Xinbo, Xia Haojie, Li Panpan, Wang Yanshuang, Shi Zhendong, Liu Weidong, Cai Kehe, Yang Wei, Yang Xianyu, Sun Shengli, Dong Junpeng, An Pukang, Wang Xiaogang, Hou Yanjie, Tian Yinan, Wang Feihu, Liu Wancheng, Shang Yaofei The work was presented in two acts. The action takes place in ancient China.

Musical Numbers and Sequences Act One: Overture; Scene I: Saving an Orphan; Scene II: Learning Kung Fu Skills; Scene III: Kung Fu Skills Act Two: Scene IV: Encounter; Scene V: Looking for Her Son; Scene VI: Return Home As Charles Isherwood in the New York Times noted, Soul of Shaolin was a Chinese martial arts pageant. Specifically, the evening offered displays of Shaolin Kung Fu that were presented within the framework of a story set in ancient China about a little boy named Hui Guang who is separated from his mother during a time of war and is raised by monks. According to the program, the boy is “instructed in the unique ways and

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daily practices of Shaolin Kung Fu,” and three actors played the character during three stages of his life, as a boy, a teenager, and a young man. Isherwood reported that the “displays of rhythmic acrobatics and crisply choreographed combat” and the “splashy all-monks-on-deck numbers combine the pop of a Broadway dance routine with the testosteroney thrill of Hong Kong action movies.” Unfortunately (and like the earlier Slava’s Snowstorm), the production used prerecorded music, much of it “schlocky” in the mode of “the world’s most bombastic movie soundtracks.” The work was presented by China on Broadway, which the program explained was established by Nederlander Worldwide “to bring the best of Chinese culture to Broadway” as a “true exchange of culture and creative expressions.” Although Isherwood “seriously” doubted if Soul of Shaolin represented the “best” of Chinese culture, he admitted that the three musicals Nederlander planned to send to China in exchange (Aida, 42nd Street, and Fame) were “hardly the best of American culture, either.” He decided he’d rather see Soul of Shaolin again than Aida, and would prefer to be “hoisted aloft on metal spears” (as were some of the cast members of Shaolin) rather than to again endure the “wretched” Fame. An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the “walloping kung-fu extravaganza” offered actors “made of granite and rubber” whose performances were “in service of a truly hokey spectacular intent on pummeling its audience into awe.” Sam Thielman in Variety indicated the evening was “like a swift kick in the head” and “a rushed, expertly trained assault that leaves you slightly confused afterward.” But “battered” audiences would be able to follow the plot and many would find the stunts “amazing” and would “happily gawk at the crazier displays of agility.” Ultimately, the show wasn’t “a failure, exactly” but it didn’t “hit its target often enough to be a success, either.” The New York run was limited to three weeks, and during the previous summer the work had been featured during the telecast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as part of the Beijing Arts Festival. According to Theatre World, Soul of Shaolin was the first production from the People’s Republic of China to be presented on Broadway.

Awards Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Soul of Shaolin)

THE STORY OF MY LIFE “A New Musical”

Theatre: Booth Theatre Opening Date: February 19, 2009; Closing Date: February 22, 2009 Performances: 5 Book and Lyrics: Neil Bartram Music: Brian Hill Direction: Richard Maltby Jr. (Lisa Shriver, Associate Director); Producers: Chase Mishkin, Jack M. Dalgleish, Bud Martin, and Carole L. Haber in association with Chunsoo Shin; Scenery: Robert Brill; Projection Designs: Dustin O’Neill; Costumes: Wade Laboissonnier; Lighting: Ken Billington and Paul Toben; Musical Direction: David Holcenberg Cast: Will Chase (Thomas Weaver), Malcolm Gets (Alvin Kelby), Alex Maizus (Voice of Young Thomas), Austin McKinnis (Voice of Young Alvin) The musical was presented in one act. The action takes place in the present time at a memorial service and during the past.

Musical Numbers “Write What You Know” (Will Chase); “Mrs. Remington” (Malcolm Gets); “The Greatest Gift” (Malcolm Gets, Will Chase); “1876” (Will Chase); “Normal” (Will Chase); “People Carry On” (Malcolm Gets); “The

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Butterfly” (Will Chase); “Saying Goodbye” (Part 1) (Will Chase, Malcolm Gets); “Here’s Where It Begins” (Will Chase, Malcolm Gets); “Saying Goodbye” (Part 2) (Will Chase, Malcolm Gets); “Independence Day” (Malcolm Gets); “Saying Goodbye” (Part 3) (Will Chase, Malcolm Gets); “I Like It Here” (Will Chase); “You’re Amazing, Tom” (Malcolm Gets); “Nothing’s There” and “Saying Goodbye” (Part 4) (Will Chase, Malcolm Gets); “I Didn’t See Alvin” (Will Chase); “This Is It” (Malcolm Gets, Will Chase); “Angels in the Snow” (Malcolm Gets, Will Chase) The Story of My Life managed just five performances and was the season’s shortest-running musical. The two-character show dealt with the lifelong relationship between writer Thomas Weaver (Will Chase) and bookshop owner Alvin Kelby (Malcolm Gets), and the evening began at Alvin’s memorial service where Thomas is to give the eulogy. As the musical progresses, Thomas relives the events (“stories”) of his and Alvin’s lives, how they bonded as children, how It’s a Wonderful Life was their favorite movie, and how (God help us) they liked to make snow angels. Yes, it was that kind of evening, and the critics blasted the bland triteness of it all as we discovered that Thomas left the old hometown for fame in the big city while Alvin stayed homebound and ran his family’s bookshop. At some point, their friendship dissolved, and with Alvin’s death Thomas tries to figure out how things went so wrong between them. As a result, he revisits endless episodes of their relationship, and finally comes to the realization that it was always Alvin who inspired him throughout his life and writing career. By the finale, Thomas has the courage to finish his current work in progress, a story called Angels in the Snow, which also served as the title for the show’s final song. The critics regretfully noted that the evening was inspired by a touch of It’s a Wonderful Life, a pinch of the 1988 film soap opera Beaches, and a few dollops of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, Merrily We Roll Along, and Sunday in the Park with George. And while the musical attempted to make a virtue of its small-scale and modest production values (two cast members, nine musicians, and a simple set), Ben Brantley in the New York Times suggested the show’s creators had taken “their reducing program a little too far” and had “tossed away such niceties as originality, credibility, tension and excitement.” The evening was like the “chick flick” Beaches, but here “with a different set of chromosomes.” The “sub-Sondheim” score was “pretty but repetitive, registering as a blurred series of intricate vamps,” and it was to Chase and Gets’s “infinite credit that even when they’re extolling the precious glories of snow angels and a butterfly’s wings, you don’t feel like punching them in the face.” David Rooney in Variety said the “flavorless,” “dull,” and “drippy” musical was “a singing Hallmark card” that was “not exactly terrible” but “not terribly interesting.” And it wasted “no time genuflecting” to Sondheim in the very first number (“Write What You Know”). The production itself was “efficient” and “anonymous,” and the “white-on-white” set seemed to make a “virtue” of “vanilla-ness.” As written, Alvin was a “ridiculous” character who verged on being a “borderline idiot,” and thus Gets was given “nothing plausible to play,” and the role of Thomas was “barely” fleshed out into even “one dimension.” Rooney mentioned that we’re told Thomas’s success as an author has given him a “passionate worldwide readership” and numerous literary awards, but “all the evidence” indicates he wrote “sugary fables” in the mode of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and it didn’t seem likely that such material was written by a character depicted as “an unfeeling empty shell.” And with Chase’s appearances in such flops as Lennon and High Fidelity, “his habit of adopting dogs makes you wonder if his agent is sleeping through meetings.” But the decade hadn’t been all that kind to Gets, either, and he had earlier appeared in the short-running failure Amour. And what about Alvin and Thomas’s relationship? Rooney noted that all clues led to the assumption that Alvin was in love with Thomas, that Thomas was in “deep denial” and decided it was best to “sever ties,” and that Alvin never recovered from the “abandonment.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker commented that “among other flashes of wisdom,” the musical shared the thought that “years are like snowflakes / that pass in the blink of an eye.” And while the show never got “much deeper than that,” its “triteness is nothing if not sincere.” The cast album was released by PS Classics (CD # PS-981). The musical premiered at the Canadian Stage Company’s Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto, Canada, on November 2, 2006, and later opened at the Goodspeed Opera House’s Norma Terris Theatre on October 10, 2008.

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GUYS AND DOLLS “A Musical Fable

of

Broadway”

Theatre: Nederlander Theatre Opening Date: March 1, 2009; Closing Date: June 14, 2009 Performances: 121 Book: Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows Lyrics and Music: Frank Loesser Based on various characters in short stories by Damon Runyon, including “Blood Pressure” (1930) and “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” (1933). Direction: Des McAnuff; Producers: Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and Northwater Entertainment, Tulchin/Bartner and Darren Bagert, Bill Kenwright and Tom Gregory, and Nederlander Presentations, Inc., and Independent Presenters Network with David Mirvish and Olympus Theatricals and Michael Jenkins/Dallas Summer Musicals and Sonia Friedman Productions (Jill Lenhart and Peter Godfrey, Associate Producers) (David Lazar, Executive Producer); Choreography: Sergio Trujillo; Scenery: Robert Brill; Video Design: Dustin O’Neill; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Jeffrey Klitz Cast: Tituss Burgess (Nicely-Nicely Johnson), Steve Rosen (Benny Southstreet), Spencer Moses (Rusty Charlie), Kate Jennings Grant (Sarah Brown), Andrea Chamberlain (Agatha), Jessica Rush (Martha), William Ryall (Calvin), Jim Ortlieb (Arvide Abernathy), Jim Walton (Harry the Horse), Adam LeFevre (Lieutenant Brannigan), Oliver Platt (Nathan Detroit), Graham Rowat (Angie the Ox), James Harkness (Society Max), Nick Adams (Liver Lips Louie), Raymond Del Barrio (Damon), Joseph Medeiros (The Greek), Ron Todorowski (Brandy Bottle Bates), John Selya (Scranton Slim), Craig Bierko (Sky Masterson), Lorin Latarro (Mimi), Brian Shepard (Joey Biltmore), Lauren Graham (Miss Adelaide), Mary Testa (General Cartwright), Glenn Fleshler (Big Jule), Kearran Giovanni (Carmen); Hot Box Girls: Kearran Giovanni, Lorin Latarro, Rhea Patterson, Jessica Rush, Jennifer Savelli, Brooke Wendle The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City “in the time of Damon Runyon.” (The original 1950 Broadway production took place in the present time of 1950, and the current one in the 1930s.)

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Runyonland” (Company); “Fugue for Tinhorns” (Tituss Burgess, Steve Rosen, Spencer Moses); “Follow the Fold” (Kate Jennings Grant, Jim Ortlieb, William Ryall, Jessica Rush, Andrea Chamberlain); “The Oldest Established” (Tituss Burgess, Steve Rosen, Oliver Platt, The Crap Shooters); “Follow the Fold” (reprise) (Kate Jennings Grant, Jim Ortlieb, William Ryall, Jessica Rush, Andrea Chamberlain); “I’ll Know” (Kate Jennings Grant, Craig Bierko); “A Bushel and a Peck” (Lauren Graham, Hot Box Girls); “Adelaide’s Lament” (Lauren Graham); “Guys and Dolls” (Tituss Burgess, Steve Rosen); “Havana” (Company); “If I Were a Bell” (Kate Jennings Grant); “My Time of Day” (Craig Bierko); “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” (Craig Bierko, Kate Jennings Grant) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Take Back Your Mink” (Lauren Graham, Hot Box Girls); “Adelaide’s Lament” (reprise) (Lauren Graham); “More I Cannot Wish You” (Jim Ortlieb); “The Crap Shooters’ Dance” (The Crap Shooters); “Luck Be a Lady” (Craig Bierko, The Crap Shooters); “Sue Me” (Lauren Graham, Oliver Platt); “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” (Tituss Burgess, Company); “Follow the Fold” (reprise) (Company); “Marry the Man Today” (Lauren Graham, Kate Jennings Grant); “Guys and Dolls” (reprise) (Company) The opening of Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls marked the first of three spring revivals, all of them Manhattan-centric musicals. Guys and Dolls was a self-described fable of a New York Neverland populated by quaint Runyonesque characters whose lives center around Times Square, West Side Story looked at the dangerous gang-ridden streets of the Upper West Side, and Hair was a visit to the East Village where hippies act just the way tourists imagine they would. Hair’s most recent Broadway production had been in 1977, and the Leonard Bernstein musical had been last revived in 1980, and so perhaps these two shows were ready for another look. But Guys and Dolls had

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enjoyed a hit revival in 1992 which played for 1,143 performances and won four Tony Awards, including Best Revival (in 1992, revivals of both musicals and nonmusicals competed under the single category of Best Revival, and for that season Guys and Dolls was up against a revival of Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella and two plays, On Borrowed Time and The Visit). For many, the 1992 production was perfection and they cherished its memory (although cooler heads might note that Peter Gallagher and Josie aka Jossie de Guzman were somewhat bland, Nathan Lane was no more than up to his old shtick, and Faith Prince sometimes came across as Miss Adelaide the Drag Queen at the Hot Box Drag Club). But no matter: the 1992 revival quickly became its own Broadway legend, and it was foolhardy to revive a show so fondly remembered and so fresh in memory. The current revival of West Side Story ran longer than its original 1957 production, and Hair won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (by this time, musical and nonmusical revivals had been placed in two separate categories), but Guys and Dolls sputtered out after 121 showings. Chemistry (Sarah: “Chemistry?” Sky: “Yeah, chemistry”) is a keyword in Guys and Dolls, and Ben Brantley in the New York Times said that was just what the revival lacked, and he told Sarah, “Honey, there ain’t no chemistry in your show: not between the two pairs of leading lovers, or between the singers and their songs, or the actors and their parts.” The “tentativeness” of the performers gave “the impression of an entire cast of understudies” who had “technical qualifications” but “no natural affinity” for their characters. Oliver Platt (Nathan Detroit) seemed “terrified of being fingered as an imposter”; Lauren Graham (Miss Adelaide) delivered “Adelaide’s Lament” in the manner of a school valedictorian; Kate Jennings Grant (Sarah Brown) exuded “competence and confidence,” which weren’t in keeping with the character’s “vulnerability”; and while Craig Bierko (Sky Masterson) provided the evening’s “smoothest” performance he was nonetheless “bland.” David Rooney in Variety said the “collective charisma” of the four leads never rose “above medium wattage,” and the production values were “both gaudy and anemic” and “overdesigned and underdirected.” The physical décor did “battle” with digital projections, and an “overriding flatness” dominated the evening. John Lahr in the New Yorker noted that the production fell “under the spell of technology,” which sometimes threatened “to upstage the hardworking ensemble,” but otherwise he liked the cast (Platt “sweats and dithers to charming effect”; Graham’s “delight” in her character was “palpable”; Grant brought “starchiness” and “reserve” to Sarah, qualities that worked well with the character; and Bierko brought “a credible whiff of daring and decency” to his role). For some reason, director Des McAnuff set the musical two decades earlier, from 1950 to the 1930s, and he made Damon Runyon a character of sorts (Raymond Del Barrio played the silent role of “Damon”). Rooney said both these changes added “nothing” to the evening, and Brantley reported that Runyon was seen at his typewriter at the beginning and end of the show, and throughout the evening would suddenly materialize and observe the action, a device that had “the effect of putting a distancing frame around everything.” The original Broadway production opened at the 46th Street (now Richard Rodgers) Theatre on November 24, 1950, for 1,200 performances, won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction (for George S. Kaufman), Best Book, and Best Score, and won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical. Including the current production, the musical has been revived in New York six times. The first three presentations were by the New York City Center Light Opera Company and all played at City Center (April 20, 1955, 31 performances; April 28, 1965, 15 performances; and June 8, 1966, 23 performances); the 1955 visit is noteworthy because its cast included Walter Matthau (Nathan Detroit) and Helen Gallagher (Miss Adelaide). An all-black revival opened on July 21, 1976, at the Broadway Theatre for 239 showings, and as noted above the 1992 revival was a long-running hit. The original London production opened on May 28, 1953, at the Coliseum for 555 performances, and the overlong and talky but reasonably faithful film version was released by Samuel Goldwyn in 1955 with Marlon Brando (Sky Masterson), Jean Simmons (Sarah Brown), Frank Sinatra (Nathan Detroit), and Vivian Blaine, who reprised her original Broadway role of Miss Adelaide (she also appeared in the 1966 New York revival and in the original London production). For the film, Loesser wrote three new songs, “Adelaide,” “(Your Eyes Are the Eyes of) A Woman in Love,” and “Pet Me, Poppa.” There are numerous recordings of the score, but the definitive one is the original Broadway cast album (Decca Records LP # DL-8036 and Decca Broadway CD # 012-159-112-2). For the collection An Evening with Frank Loesser (DRG Records CD # 5169), Loesser sings six numbers from the original score: “Fugue for Tinhorns” (with Milton Delugg and Sue Bennett), “I’ll Know,” “Luck Be a Lady,” “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” and “Sue Me” (the latter in a solo version); one song dropped during the original production’s tryout (“Traveling Light”); and one number written for the film (“Adelaide”). The cast of

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the two-CD studio cast recording by Jay Records (# CDJAY2-1294) includes Emily Loesser (the lyricist/composer’s daughter, here as Sarah Brown), Gregg Edelman (Sky Masterson), Kim Criswell (Miss Adelaide), and Tim Flavin (Nathan Detroit). This recording includes the complete dance music for “Runyonland,” “Havana,” and “The Crap Shooters’ Dance”; the cut song “Traveling Light”; and the three songs written for the film. The script was published in paperback by Doubleday Anchor Books in the 1956 collection From the American Drama: The Modern Theatre Series, Volume Four (edited by Eric Bentley). The script is also included in The “Guys and Dolls” Book, published in paperback by Methuen Books in 1982 (the volume also offers the short story “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” and articles about both Loesser and the 1982 British National Theatre production). The script is also one of sixteen included in the 2014 hardback collection American Musicals, published by the Library of America. The lyrics for all the used and unused songs are included in the hardback collection The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003). In the original production, Sky and Sarah flew off to Havana for the weekend, but in a bow to later politics, the 1965, 1966, and 1976 revivals found them in San Juan. But for the 1992 and current revivals, they were back in Havana. Adelaide’s songs (her solo “Adelaide’s Lament,” her Hot Box numbers “A Bushel and a Peck” and “Take Back Your Mink” with the chorus girls, the duets “Sue Me” and “Marry the Man Today,” and “Pet Me, Poppa,” which Loesser wrote for the film version and was sung by Adelaide and the Hot Box girls) are comic numbers with tongue-twisting lyrics delivered somewhat frantically and breathlessly and are in fact very much in keeping with the novelty songs Loesser wrote for Betty Hutton in a series of four films released between 1943 and 1950. One wonders if the classic Hutton style of rapid-paced comic delivery was Loesser’s inspiration for the tone and spirit of Adelaide’s numbers. As solos, duets, and production numbers, Hutton introduced fourteen songs by Loesser in these four films, including “Murder, He Says” and “The Fuddy-Duddy Watch Maker” (Happy Go Lucky, 1943); “Rumble, Rumble, Rumble” and “Poppa, Don’t Preach to Me” (The Perils of Pauline, 1947); “Hamlet” (Red, Hot and Blue, 1949); and “Can’t Stop Talking” (Let’s Dance, released in November 1950, the same month Guys and Dolls opened on Broadway). (To be sure, Hutton also introduced a few heartfelt and introspective ballads in these films, such as “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” and “Where Are You Now That I Need You.”) Incidentally, on September 12, 1950 (two months before the Broadway premiere of Guys and Dolls), Hutton recorded “A Bushel and a Peck” in a duet version with Perry Como for RCA Victor Records (the recording is included in RCA’s CD collection Perry Como/Greatest Hits). Hutton’s film career was at its peak in 1950 when she appeared in the title role of MGM’s Annie Get Your Gun and made the cover of Time to boot. And while I can’t find any evidence that she was ever mentioned for Guys and Dolls, it seems unlikely she’d have been interested in returning to Broadway, especially in a musical that featured two leading female roles. And by the time Guys and Dolls was filmed in 1955, her movie career was virtually over (her final two films Somebody Loves Me and Spring Reunion were respectively released in 1952 and 1957), so she probably was never considered for the film (and of course by that time Vivian Blaine had become inextricably associated with the role). But it would seem likely that Hutton’s singing style gave Loesser the inspiration for the songs he created for Miss Adelaide. On a concluding note, here are some comments about a few songs from the musical that over time have caused occasional confusion in regard to whether or not they were performed either during the original production’s tryout or on the New York opening night. The tryout of Guys and Dolls played at two theatres in Philadelphia, the Shubert (October 14–October 28, 1950) and the Erlanger (October 31–November 18). To simplify, I’ve identified the tryout programs in my collection as either the Shubert program or the Erlanger program (the Shubert program has a printed date of Monday, October 23, 1950, and the undated Erlanger program includes a handwritten notation from an unknown theatergoer who writes that the performance attended was on Saturday, November 11, 1950 [matinee or evening performance not specified]). “Action”/“The Oldest Established”: It would seem that “Action” is an early title for “The Oldest Established” (the lyric for the latter includes the lines “If you’re looking for action” and “Where’s the action?”). “The Oldest Established” isn’t listed in either the Shubert or Erlanger programs, and “Action” isn’t listed in the Shubert program. But “Action” is listed in the Erlanger program where it’s sung by Sky Masterson (Robert Alda) and the ensemble in the spot between “Follow the Fold” and “I’ll Know.” For the New York opening night and subsequent programs throughout the Broadway run, “The Oldest Established” also falls between “Follow the Fold” and “I’ll Know.” And for New York, the song was performed not by Sky and the ensemble but by Nathan Detroit (Sam Levene), Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Stubby Kaye), Benny Southstreet (Johnny Silver), and the ensemble.

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“Traveling Light”: “Traveling Light” is listed only in the Shubert program, and at some point was dropped during the tryout. Although one or two sources cite Nathan as the character who performs the number, the program indicates the song is a duet for Sky and Nathan. At least one source states that the number was performed on the Broadway opening night, but the song is not listed in the opening night program. (The Collected Lyrics of Frank Loesser states that the song was “intended” for Sky and Nathan and was “dropped prior to New York opening although listed in the opening-night program.”) “Fugue for Tinhorns”/“Three-Cornered Tune”: Confusion reigns over “Fugue for Tinhorns” and “ThreeCornered Tune,” both of which share the same music. “Tune” was dropped during the tryout, and sometimes is assumed to be an early version of “Fugue,” but for the Shubert and Erlanger programs both songs are listed among the first act’s musical numbers. “Fugue” is sung by Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Benny Southstreet, and “Broadway Character” (played by Douglas Deane) (by New York, Deane’s character had been given the name Rusty Charlie), and is the first act’s second number, following the opening sequence (called “Opening” in the programs for the tryout, the New York opening night, and the entire Broadway run; the number is now often referred to as “Runyonland”). For both the Shubert and Erlanger programs, “Three-Cornered Tune” is sung about midway through the first act, following the scene where Miss Adelaide sings her lament; the song is performed by Arvide Abernathy (Pat Rooney, Sr.), Sarah Brown (Isabel Bigley), Agatha (Margery Oldroyd), and Calvin (Paul Migan). Perhaps the use of the same music for both songs is a sly hint comment by Loesser that both the Broadway and the mission types have more in common than meets the eye.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Guys and Dolls); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Robert Brill)

WEST SIDE STORY Theatre: Palace Theatre Opening Date: March 19, 2009; Closing Date: January 2, 2011 Performances: 748 Book: Arthur Laurents Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Music: Leonard Bernstein Based on a conception by Jerome Robbins and loosely based on William Shakespeare’s 1594 play Romeo and Juliet. Direction: Arthur Laurents (David Saint, Associate Director); Producers: Kevin McCollum, James L. Nederlander, Jeffrey Seller, Terry Allen Kramer, Sander Jacobs, Roy Furman/Jill Furman Willis, Freddy DeMann, Robyn Goodman/Walt Grossman, Hal Luftig, Roy Miller, The Weinstein Company, and Broadway Across America (LAMS Productions, Associate Producer); Choreography: Jerome Robbins (Robbins’s original choreography reproduced by Joey McKneely; Lori Werner, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: James Youmans; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Patrick Vaccariello Cast: The Jets—Curtis Holbrook (Action), Tro Shaw (Anybodys), Kyle Coffman (A-rab), Ryan Steele (Baby John), Eric Hatch (Big Deal), Joshua Buscher (Diesel), Pamela Otterson (Graziella), Marina Lazzaretto (Hotsie), Nicholas Barasch (Kiddo at all evening performances), Kyle Brenn (Kiddo at Wednesday and Saturday matinee performances), Amy Ryerson (Mugsy), Cody Green (Riff), Mike Cannon (Snowboy), Matt Cavenaugh (Tony), Lindsay Dunn (Velma), Kaitlin Mesh (Zaza), Sam Rogers (4H); The Sharks—Yanira Marin (Alicia), Karen Olivo (Anita), Mileyka Mateo (Bebecita), George Akram (Bernardo), Peter Chursin (Bolo), Joey Haro (Chino), Danielle Polanco (Consuela), Michael Rosen (Federico), Kat Nejat (Fernanda), Isaac Calpito (Inca), Manuel Santos (Indio), Tanairi Sade Vazquez (Lupe), Josefina Scaglione (Maria), Manuel Herrera (Pepe), Jennifer Sanchez (Rosalia), Yurel Echezarreta (Tio); The Adults—Greg Vinkler (Doc), Michael Mastro (Glad Hand), Lee Sellars (Krupke), Steve Bassett (Lieutenant Shrank) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the last days of Summer 1957 on the Upper West Side of New York City.

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Musical Numbers Act One: “Prologue” (The Sharks, The Jets); “Jet Song” (Cody Green, The Jets); “Something’s Coming” (Matt Cavanaugh); “Dance at the Gym” (Company); “Maria” (Matt Cavanaugh); “Tonight” (Matt Cavanaugh, Josefina Scaglione); “America” (Karen Olivo, Jennifer Sanchez, The Shark Girls); “Cool” (Cody Green, The Jets, The Jet Girls); “One Hand, One Heart” (Matt Cavanaugh, Josefina Scaglione); “Tonight” (Quintet) (Company); “The Rumble” (The Jets, The Sharks) Act Two: “I Feel Pretty” (“Siento hermosa”) (Josefina Scaglione, Jennifer Sanchez, Danielle Polanco, Kat Nejat); “Somewhere” (Nicholas Barasch or Kyle Brenn, Matt Cavanaugh, Josefina Scaglione, Company); “Gee, Officer Krupke” (Curtis Holbrook, The Jets); “A Boy Like That” (“Un hombre asi”)/“I Have a Love” (Karen Olivo, Josefina Scaglione); Note: The dance sequence “Taunting” was performed, but wasn’t included in the revival’s song list. John Lahr in the New Yorker noted that with the current revival of West Side Story the musical’s librettist Arthur Laurents claimed “ownership” with his “bold makeover” of the classic work. Composer Leonard Bernstein had called West Side Story “my baby,” and the original director, choreographer, and conceiver of the musical Jerome Robbins (“to whom no one was speaking” by the original opening night of September 26, 1957) “signaled his imperialism over the enterprise by contractually requiring a box around his billing in every production of the show.” And so for the new production Laurents took on directorial duties, but some of his questionable choices (which included some dialogue and lyrics spoken and sung in Spanish) didn’t quite make this a revival for the ages. Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the tough musical about gang warfare among the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks in New York City during the 1950s and its tragic Romeo and Juliet theme a “startlingly sweet” evening with hoodlums who are “really nice kids,” perhaps “suburban” kids out “slumming,” and Romeo and Juliet (Tony and Maria, played by Matt Cavanaugh and Josefina Scaglione) were like “imperiled babes in the woods.” The décor gave a “rainbow lyricism” to the gang-infested streets, and Brantley mentioned Peter Marks’s comment in the Washington Post that the costumes had the aura of the “color-coordinated peppiness of Gap ads.” As for Robbins’s choreography (which was here reproduced by Joey McKneely), the dancers made “all the right moves” but there was “no internal combustion going on, no hormone-fueled hostility forever on the verge of eruption.” And “sweet” was the operative adjective, and even “Somewhere” (which originally was sung by Consuelo, one of the Puerto Rican girls) was now performed by a new character named Kiddo (who came out of nowhere, or perhaps somewhere), a “pure-voiced boy soprano” (Nicholas Barasch and Kyle Brenn alternated in the role). David Rooney in Variety said the “masterwork” had “been given the revival it deserves,” but he admitted that “the squeaky-cleanness of the guys” took “some getting used to,” and Cavanaugh lacked a certain “dramatic heft.” He concluded that the evening’s “true stars” were Robbins’s “endlessly expressive” dances and Bernstein’s “bracingly modern” score. But Richard Zoglin in Time had qualifications about both the revival and the show itself. Although the Spanish interpolations were “a relatively minor distraction,” the choreography seemed somewhat “cramped and underwhelming” on the Palace stage, Cavanaugh didn’t seem ready for “a game of touch football, much less a street rumble,” and Scaglione seemed to act “by the numbers.” Most importantly, the revival made him wonder if the original production was “all it was cracked up to be.” The story was less “dated” than “painfully thin,” the love story needed “a hint of motivation, plausibility—or, here at least, sexual heat,” and he wondered if there was a “duller love ballad in any major American musical than ‘Maria’” or “its Muzak-ready twin brother, ‘Tonight.’” Karen Olivo (Anita) and newcomer Argentinean Josefina Scaglione received the best notices (although as noted Zoglin had reservations about the latter’s performance), and the former won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. Lahr said Olivo’s “rollicking” Anita contrasted well to the “innocence and sweetness” of Scaglione’s Maria; Rooney said Scaglione was a “knockout” in her Broadway debut, and Brantley noted that her Maria was “the one who’s really in charge, and for the first time I could imagine what Tony and Maria’s marriage might be like.” Laurents’s concept of having the Sharks sometimes speak and sing in Spanish was too obvious (Brantley suggested this was “an only partly successful experiment”), and for “I Feel Pretty” and “A Boy Like That” the

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lyrics were sung in Spanish in a translation by Lin-Manuel Miranda (during the Washington, D.C., tryout of this production, “I Have a Love,” or “Tengo un amor,” was also sung in Spanish, but was performed in English for New York). And for those in the audience who were hopelessly confused by the Spanish renditions of “I Feel Pretty” and “A Boy Like That,” the program helpfully included Stephen Sondheim’s original English lyrics. Laurents’s gimmick brought to mind John Doyle’s stagings for the recent Broadway revivals of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Company, where the performers doubled as musicians. Thankfully, Doyle’s concept didn’t catch on, and happily neither has Laurents’s stunt. Using Laurents’s logic, in order to reflect Japan’s closed society, a revival of Pacific Overtures should be performed in Japanese, with English, Dutch, Russian, and French, allowed only for the Western admirals (in “Please Hello”) and perhaps English for the Americanized modern-day Tokyo (“Next”). And there could be deep-in-the-night discussions as to whether “A Bowler Hat” should be sung in English or in Japanese, because Kayama has now become so Westernized that perhaps he thinks and sings in English at this point. (Come to think of it, maybe Laurents was on to something: with its weak book, a show like Can-Can might actually benefit from dialogue spoken only in French, and perhaps Roundabout Theatre Company can again trundle out its revivals of Cabaret, with Cliff and Sally singing and speaking in English, and everyone else performing in German.) With good but not superlative reviews, the musical played for 748 performances, a run longer than the original 1957 production, which opened at the Winter Garden Theatre for 732 performances. The new Broadway cast album was released by Masterworks Broadway (CD # 88697-52391-2). 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 their plots, but most dances emanated from, or were attached to, a song. For the most part, dance sequences could have been removed from most musicals and the plot would still have moved forward. But the elimination of the dances from West Side Story (“Prologue,” “The Dance at the Gym,” “America,” “Cool,” “The Rumble,” “Somewhere,” “Taunting,” and even the vaudeville-styled antics of “Gee, Officer Krupke”) is unthinkable: these dances advance the plot, explore character, and provide atmosphere, and without them the plot would be eviscerated. Few musicals are true landmarks, but with Robbins’s innovative use of dance West Side Story is one of the towering achievements of American musical theatre. After the 1957 production closed, it returned ten months later to its original home (the Winter Garden) and played 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 at City Center on April 8, 1964, for 31 performances; a Music Theatre of Lincoln Center engagement played at the New York State Theatre on June 24, 1968, for 89 performances; and prior to the current revival the musical was presented on February 14, 1980, at the Minskoff Theatre for 333 performances. The musical premiered in London at Her Majesty’s Theatre on December 12, 1958, for 1,039 performances (more than 300 performances longer than the original Broadway production), 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 for the London stage version, played the Sharks’ gang leader Bernardo for the film (he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; as Anita, Rita Moreno won for Best Supporting Actress; and Robbins won a special Academy Award for his choreography). The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1958, and all the used and unused lyrics are included in Sondheim’s 2010 hardback collection Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes (published by Alfred A. Knopf). There are numerous recordings of the score, and the best all-around version is the original 1957 Broadway cast album (Columbia Records LP # OL-5230 and # OS-2001; later issued on CD 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 and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (West Side Story); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Josefina Scaglione); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Olivo); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Howell Binkley)

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HAIR

“The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” Theatre: Al Hirschfeld Theatre Opening Date: March 31, 2009; Closing Date: June 27, 2010 Performances: 519 Book and Lyrics: Gerome Ragni and James Rado Music: Galt MacDermot Direction: Diane Paulus; Producers: The Public Theatre (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingston, Executive Producer), Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Gary Goddard Entertainment, Kathleen K. Johnson, Nederlander Productions, Inc., Fran Kirmser Productions/Jed Bernstein, Marc Frankel, Broadway Across America, Barbara Manocherian/Wencarlar Productions, JK Productions/Terry Schnuck, Andy Sandberg, Jam Theatricals, The Weinstein Company/Norton Herrick, Jujamcyn Theatres, and Joey Parnes (Executive Producer) by special arrangement with Elizabeth Ireland McCann (Jenny Gersten, Associate Producer) (Arielle Tepper Madover, Debbie Bisno/Rebecca Gold, Christopher Hart, Apples and Oranges, Tony and Ruth Ponturo, and Joseph Traina, Associate Producers); Choreography: Karole Armitage; Scenery: Scott Pask; Costumes: Michael McDonald; Lighting: Kevin Adams; Musical Direction: Nadia Digiallonardo Cast: Sasha Allen (Dionne), Will Swenson (Berger), Bryce Ryness (Woof), Darius Nichols (Hud), Gavin Creel (Claude), Caissie Levy (Sheila), Kacie Sheik (Jeanie), Allison Case (Crissy), Megan Lawrence (Mother, Buddahdalirama), Andrew Kober (Dad, Margaret Mead), Theo Stockman (Hubert), Saycon Sengbloh (Abraham Lincoln); Tribe Members: Ato Blankson-Wood, Steel Burkhardt, Jackie Burns, Lauren Elder, Allison Guinn, Anthony Hollock, Kaitlin Kiyan, Nicole Lewis, John Moauro, Brandon Pearson, Megan Reinking, Paris Remillard, Saycon Sengbloh, Maya Sharpe, Theo Stockman, Tommar Wilson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the 1960s in the East Village.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Aquarius” (Sasha Allen, Tribe); “Donna” (Will Swenson, Tribe); “Hashish” (Tribe); “Sodomy” (Bryce Ryness, Tribe); “Colored Spade” (Darius Nichols, Tribe); “Manchester, England” (Gavin Creel, Tribe); “I’m Black” (Darius Nichols, Bryce Ryness, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Tribe); “Ain’t Got No” (Bryce Ryness, Darius Nichols, Sasha Allen, Tribe); “Sheila Franklin” (Tribe); “I Believe in Love” (Caissie Levy, Trio); “Ain’t Got No” (reprise) (Tribe); “Air” (Kacie Sheik with Allison Case and Sasha Allen); “The Stone Age” (Will Swenson); “I Got Life” (Gavin Creel, Tribe); “Initials” (Tribe); “Going Down” (Will Swenson, Tribe); “Hair” (Gavin Creel, Will Swenson, Tribe); “My Conviction” (Andrew Kober); “Easy to Be Hard” (Caissie Levy); “Don’t Put It Down” (Will Swenson, Bryce Ryness, Tommar Wilson); “Frank Mills” (Allison Case); “Hare Krishna” (Tribe); “Where Do I Go” (Gavin Creel, Tribe) Act Two: “Electric Blues” (Steel Burkhardt, Andrew Kober, Megan Lawrence, Nicole Lewis); “Oh Great God of Power” (Tribe); “Black Boys” (Megan Reinking, Jackie Burns, Kaitlin Kiyan, Darius Nichols, Brandon Pearson, Tommar Wilson); “White Boys” (Sasha Allen, Nicole Lewis, Saycon Sengbloh); “Walking in Space” (Tribe); “Minuet” (Orchestra); “Yes, I’s Finished on Y’alls Farmlands” (Darius Nichols, Ato Blankson-Wood, Brandon Pearson, Tommar Wilson); “Four Score and Seven Years Ago”/“Abie Baby” (Saycon Sengbloh, Ato Blankson-Wood, Darius Nichols, Brandon Pearson, Tommar Wilson); “Give Up All Desires” (Megan Lawrence, Bryce Ryness, Caissie Levy, Allison Case); “Three-Five-Zero-Zero” (Tribe); “What a Piece of Work Is Man” (Paris Remillard, Maya Sharpe, Gavin Creel); “How Dare They Try” (Tribe); “Good Morning Starshine” (Caissie Levy, Tribe); “Ain’t Got No” (reprise) (Gavin Creel, Tribe); “The Flesh Failures” (Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy, Sasha Allen, Bryce Ryness); “Eyes Look Your Last” (Tribe); “Let the Sun Shine In” (Tribe) With Hair, the spring season continued with no less than its third revival in a row. The granddaddy of rock musicals managed a respectable run of fifteen months, which nonetheless seemed surprisingly short considering that it received mostly rave reviews and a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

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The hippies and drop-outs of Hair railed and ranted against the establishment and celebrated their counterculture lifestyle of illegal drugs, casual sex, and unending protest (most specifically against the draft and the Vietnam War). Like the later Rent (1996) and its sentimental glorification of self-obsessed Village types, Hair’s juvenile message and its smug, more-sensitive-than-thou hippies were passé even before the musical opened. But the combination of Galt MacDermot’s lively and melodic score (which included a number of songs that enjoyed Hit Parade status, including “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine,” and “Let the Sun Shine In”), the edginess of its clearly non-mainstream attitudes, and its rather innocent and sometimes tongue-in-cheek vulgarity (including its celebrated and gratuitous nude scene) made Hair the era’s zeitgeist. Despite the generally unimaginative and repetitive lyrics, the weak book, and characters who were little more than ciphers and mouthpieces, the musical was nonetheless an important one in the history of the American musical theatre. For here was an atmospheric mood piece that emphasized a particular point of view rather than plot and character, and hence Hair was the first successful concept musical (for more information about this genre, see Company). Later concept musicals (such as Follies, A Chorus Line, and Chicago) were more artistically satisfying and certainly more entertaining, but Hair got there first with its use of a nonlinear plot to evoke mood and atmosphere instead of a narrative that espoused straightforward and conventional storytelling methods. The musical was the first production to play at the Public Theatre’s new theatre complex on Lafayette Street, and it began previews at the Public’s Anspacher Theatre on October 17, 1967, and officially opened on October 29, for 49 performances. It transferred to the Cheetah nightclub on December 22, 1967, for 45 performances and then to Broadway in a revised version that opened at the Biltmore Theatre on April 29, 1968, for a marathon run of 1,750 showings. For Broadway, Tom O’Horgan succeeded Gerald Freedman as director, and Walker Daniels (Claude) and Jill O’Hara (Sheila) were respectively succeeded by co-lyricist and book cowriter James Rado and Lynn Kellogg. But the first Broadway revival was a disappointment; it too played at the Biltmore, where it opened on October 5, 1977, and managed just forty-three performances. The headlines of its reviews summed up the critical consensus that the show was past its prime: “Revived Hair Shows Its Gray” (Richard Eder, New York Times); “Defoliated” (T. E. Kalem, Time); and “Bald” (Jack Kroll, Newsweek). Eder noted that “nothing ages worse than graffiti,” Kalem said the work was “lavish in dispraise of things American” and gave vent to a generation that was “overprivileged, overindulged, and woefully undisciplined,” and Kroll said “the Revelation According to St. Hippie is both too close chronologically and too distant emotionally to work now.” Two years later the disappointing 1979 film version was released by United Artists. When Milos Forman was announced as the film’s director, he seemed like an inspired choice because his style and sensibility appeared to be a natural match for the iconoclastic material. But the movie proved as dull and uninteresting as most of the other Broadway film adaptations of the era, such as John Houston’s Annie, Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz, and Richard Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War and A Chorus Line. On May 3, 2001, the musical was presented in concert by Encores! at City Center for five performances; directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, the production’s cast included Luther Creek (Claude), Idina Menzel (Sheila), Gavin Creel, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Dead End” and “Oh Great God of Power” were added to the score), and on September 20, 2004, a concert version was produced as a benefit for the Actors’ Fund of America with a cast that included Gavin Creel, Sherie Rene Scott, and Annie Golden. On September 22, 2007, the musical was presented in concert at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre for three performances, returned there on June 18, 2008, for eleven performances, and then reopened there a few weeks later on August 7 for additional showings; the three Delacorte productions were directed by Diane Paulus, and these versions were the genesis for the current revival, which she also directed (these productions added a number of songs not in the original show: “Ain’t Got No Grass,” “Hello, There,” “Minuet,” “Yes, I’s Finished on Y’alls Farmlands,” “Give Up All Desires,” “How Dare They Try,” “Eyes Look Your Last,” “The Stone Age,” and “Sheila Franklin”). A return engagement of the current Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre on July 13, 2011, for sixty-seven showings. Paulus’s Broadway production turned the tables on the previously criticized revival and film version, and some reviewers all but swooned in their determination to find important nuances and meaning in the show’s message, as if somehow the heretofore cardboard story and characters were now complex. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said that for the “thrilling” and “emotionally rich” revival Paulus had found “vital elements that were always waiting to be discovered” in previous productions; the creative

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team provided “seamless spontaneity,” and even the “happy hippie choreography with its group gropes and mass writhing” looked “as if it’s being invented on the spot.” David Rooney in Variety indicated the evening was a “full-immersion happening” and the cast elevated “the audience to such a collective high during the first act’s nonstop exuberance that the apprehensive turn becomes all the more wrenching” and the “vaudeville collage” morphed into a “heartbreaking crescendo” for the final scenes. But Hinton Als in the New Yorker found fault with the musical, and for him all the “‘issues’” in Hair (aside from those relating to the draft) revolved around racial ones and “the task of representing them falls on the overburdened black characters, who have to do almost everything here except tap dance.” Als noted that undoubtedly the show’s writers felt they had handled racial matters “with ‘irony’ and a healthy dose of liberal self-consciousness,” but the black character Hud was really a “construction meant to validate the white hipness of the show.” In his review of a 2009 documentary about the musical (see below), David Hinckley in the New York Daily News stated Hair had been revived and now “we’re about to gush warmly over the 40th anniversary of Woodstock,” but “trust me, kids, the ’60s were way more fun, more complicated, more significant and much more interesting than either of these two overrated events suggest.” He reported that the documentary “occasionally overstates” Hair’s “profundity,” and it was “arguable” that Hair was “hip and profound cuttingedge political theatre.” The original 1967 Off-Broadway cast album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # LSO-1143), and the original Broadway production was also issued by RCA (LP # LSO-1150); a later LP reissue (# 1150-1-RC) included previously unreleased material that was recorded at the time of the Broadway cast album session (“Going Down” and “Electric Blues”). A 1988 CD release of the Broadway cast album included five previously unissued songs (“I Believe in Love,” “The Bed,” and reprise versions of “Ain’t Got No,” “Manchester, England,” and “Walking in Space”). In 2003, RCA released a “deluxe” two-CD edition (# 82876-56085-2) of both the Off-Broadway and Broadway cast albums, including previously unreleased tracks from the 1967 production (an “Opening” sequence; “Red Blue and White” [which evolved into “Don’t Put It Down” for the Broadway version]; and “Sentimental Ending” [a finale that wasn’t listed in the Off-Broadway program but was included in the published script]). Besides the above, RCA released the collection DisinHAIRited (LP # LSO-1163; it was later issued on CD by RCA/Arkiv Music # 05095), which included songs written for but not used in the musical as well as ones especially written for the recording, including “One-Thousand-Year-Old Man,” “So Sing the Children on the Avenue,” “Manhattan Beggar,” “Mr. Berger,” “I’m Hung,” and “Mess o’ Dirt” (among the performers are James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot, Melba Moore, Donnie Burks, and Leata Galloway). Other recordings include: a British studio cast album (Polydor Records LP # 583-043), a Paris cast album (Philips Records LP # 844-987-BY), a Tokyo cast album (RCA LP # LSO-1170), and even Hair Styles (Atco Records LP # SD-33-301), a selection of songs from the musical by the Terminal Barbershop. The above-mentioned 2004 benefit for the Actors’ Fund of America was recorded by Ghostlight Records (CD # 1968-2), and the current revival was also issued by Ghostlight (CD # 8-44-67). This revival was also the subject of the above-referenced 2009 documentary film “Hair”: Let the Sun Shine In (released on DVD by Kino Lober Films). The script was published in paperback by Pocket Books in 1969, and was also included in the 1979 hardback collection Great Rock Musicals, edited by Stanley Richards and published by Stein and Day. In 2003, Let the Sun Shine In: The Genius of “Hair” by Scott Miller was published in paperback by Heinemann Press, and in 2010 “HAIR”: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation by Eric Grode (with a forward by James Rado) was published in hardback by Running Press. The original London production opened on September 27, 1968, at the Shaftesbury Theatre for 1,998 performances, which surpassed the lengthy run of the original Broadway version. There was a sequel of sorts to Hair. James Rado wrote the lyrics and music and with Ted Rado cowrote the book for Rainbow, which opened Off Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre on December 18, 1972, for forty-eight performances. As The Rainbow Rainbeam Radio Show (subtitled Heavenzapoppin’), a revised version with James Rado toured for what seemed like about five minutes in 1973. The confusing concert-styled musical (which included some pleasant songs) focused on the spirit of a young man who was killed in the Vietnam War and who now travels through the universe in search of peace (or something). Perhaps he was Hair’s Claude, who was drafted and shipped to Vietnam.

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Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (Hair); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Gavin Creel); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Will Swenson); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Michael McDonald); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Kevin Adams); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Acme Sound Partners); Best Direction of a Musical (Diane Paulus)

ROCK OF AGES “A New Musical”

Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Helen Hayes Theatre) Opening Date: April 7, 2009; Closing Date: January 16, 2015 Performances: 2,328 Book: Chris D’Arienzo Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Direction: Kristin Hanggi (Adam John Hunter, Associate Director); Producers: Matthew Weaver, Carl Levin, Jeff Davis, Barry Habib, Scott Prisand, and Relativity Media in association with Corner Store Fund, Janet Billig Rich, Hillary Weaver, Ryan Kavanaugh, Toni Habib, Paula Davis, Simon and Stefany Bergson/Jennifer Maloney, Charles Rolecek, Susanne Brook, Craig Cozza, Israel Wolfson, Sara Katz/Jayson Raitt, Max Gottlieb/John Butler, David Kaufman/Jay Franks, Mike Wittlin, Prospect Pictures, Laura Smith/Bill Bodnar, Happy Walters, and The Araca Group (David Gibbs, Associate Producer); Choreography: Kelly Devine (Robert Tadad, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Beowulf Boritt; Projections: Zak Borovay; Costumes: Gregory Gale; Lighting: Jason Lyons; Musical Direction: Ethan Popp Cast: Mitchell Jarvis (Lonny Barnett, Record Company Man), Michele Mais (Justice Charlier, Mother), Adam Dannheisser (Dennis, Record Company Man), Constantine Maroulis (Drew), Amy Spanger (Sherrie), James Carpinello (Father, Stacee Jaxx), Lauren Molina (Regina, Candi), Andre Ward (Mayor, Ja’Keith Gill), Paul Schoeffler (Hertz), Wesley Taylor (Franz), Savannah Wise (Waitress), Katherine Tokarz (Reporter), Jeremy Woodard (Sleazy Producer, Joey Primo), Angel Reed (Young Groupie); Ensemble: Angel Reed, Katherine Tokarz, Andre Ward, Savannah Wise, Jeremy Woodard; Offstage Voices: Ericka Hunter, Tad Wilson The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Los Angeles and Hollywood during the late 1980s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Just Like Paradise” (lyric and music by David Lee Roth and Brett Tuggle) and “Nothin’ but a Good Time” (lyric and music by Bobby Dall, Bruce Anthony Johannesson, Bret Michaels, and Rikki Rocket) (Mitchell Jarvis, Ensemble, Michele Mais, Adam Dannheisser, Constantine Maroulis); “Sister Christian” (lyric and music by Kelly Keagy) (Mitchell Jarvis, James Carpinello, Michele Mais, Amy Spanger, Ensemble, Constantine Maroulis, Adam Dannheisser); “We Built This City” (lyric and music by Dennis Lambert, Martin George Page, Bernie Taupin, and Peter Wolf) and “Too Much Time on My Hands” (lyric and music by Tommy Shaw) (Lauren Molina, Paul Schoeffler, Wesley Taylor, Andre Ward, Adam Dannheisser, Mitchell Jarvis, Constantine Maroulis, Ensemble, James Carpinello, Groupies); “I Wanna Rock” (lyric and music by Daniel Dee Snider) (Amy Spanger, Constantine Maroulis, Ensemble); “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (lyric and music by Daniel Dee Snider) (Lauren Molina, Protestors); “Heaven” (lyric and music by Jani Lane, Erik Turner, Jerry Dixon, Steven Sweet, and Joey Allen)/“More Than Words” (lyric and music by Nuno Bettencourt and Gary F. Cherone)/“To Be with You” (lyric and music by Eric Martin, David Grahame, William Sheehan, Pat Torpey, and Paul Gilbert) (Amy Spanger, Savannah Wise, Adam Dannheisser, Constantine Maroulis, Choir); “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (lyric and music by Michael Leslie Jones and Louis Gramattico) (Mitchell Jarvis, Constantine Maroulis, Amy Spanger, James Carpinello); “Wanted Dead or Alive” (lyric and music by Jon Bon Jovi and Richard S. Sambora) (James Carpinello, Ensemble, Amy Spanger); “I Want to Know What Love Is” (lyric and music by Michael Leslie

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Jones) (James Carpinello, Amy Spanger, Ensemble); “Cum On Feel the Noize” (lyric and music by Neville Holder and James Lea) and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (reprise) (James Carpinello, Ensemble, Adam Dannheisser, Amy Spanger, Lauren Molina, Protestors, Andre Ward, Constantine Maroulis, Ensemble); “Harden My Heart” (lyric and music by Marvin Webster Ross) and “Shadows of the Night” (lyric and music by D. L. Byron) (Amy Spanger, Michele Mais, Mitchell Jarvis, Ensemble); “Here I Go Again” (lyric and music by David Coverdale and Bernard Marsden) (Amy Spanger, Constantine Maroulis, James Carpinello, Adam Dannheisser, Mitchell Jarvis, Lauren Molina, Wesley Taylor, Company) Act Two: “The Final Countdown” (lyric and music by Joey Tempest) (Paul Schoeffler, Wesley Taylor, Adam Dannheisser, Mitchell Jarvis, Ensemble, Lauren Molina, Protestors); “Any Way You Want It” (lyric and music by Steve Perry and Neil Schon) and “I Wanna Rock” (reprise) (Michele Mais, Strippers, Constantine Maroulis, Jeremy Woodard); “High Enough” (lyric and music by Jack Blades, Ted Nugent, and Tommy R. Shaw) (Amy Spanger, Constantine Maroulis); “I Hate Myself for Loving You” (lyric and music by Desmond Child and Joan Jett) and “Heat of the Moment” (lyric and music by Geoffrey Downes and John K. Wetten) (Amy Spanger, James Carpinello, Constantine Maroulis); “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” (lyric and music by E. Schwartz) (Wesley Taylor, Lauren Molina, Paul Schoeffler, Protestors); “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (lyric and music by Kevin Cronin) (Mitchell Jarvis, Adam Dannheisser, Ensemble); “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (lyric and music by Bobby Dall, Bruce Anthony Johannesson, Bret Michael, and Rikki Rocket) (Michele Mais, Amy Spanger, Constantine Maroulis, Wesley Taylor, Paul Schoeffler, Lauren Molina, Adam Dannheisser, Mitchell Jarvis, James Carpinello, Ensemble); “Oh, Sherrie” (lyric and music by Steve Perry, Randy Goodrum, Bill Cuomo, and Craig Krampf) (Constantine Maroulis, Ensemble, Amy Spanger); “The Search Is Over” (lyric and music by Frank Sullivan and Jim Peterik) (Constantine Maroulis, Amy Spanger, Wesley Taylor, Lauren Molina, Paul Schoeffler, Adam Dannheisser, Mitchell Jarvis, Ensemble); “Don’t Stop Believin’” (lyric and music by Jonathan Cain, Stephen Ray Perry, and Neal J. Schon) (Mitchell Jason, Constantine Maroulis, Amy Spanger, James Carpinello, Ensemble, Paul Schoeffler, Lauren Molina, Wesley Taylor, Adam Dannheisser, Michele Mais, Company) Rock of Ages was a huge hit, which surprisingly enough wasn’t a revue of heavy-metal (or was it perhaps just metal-heavy?) 1980s pop music. Instead, it was a book-musical-cum-rock-concert of sorts that used a conglomeration of songs from what one might term the 1980s MTV Hit Parade, all of them from a number of different lyricists and composers. It was the kind of musical you’d like if you liked that kind of musical, and lots of people did. It was the season’s longest-running show, and when it closed after almost six years and 2,328 performances it was one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history. Set in Los Angeles and Hollywood during the late 1980s, the slight story focused on busboy Drew (Constantine Maroulis), who works in the Bourbon Room and dreams of becoming a guitar-playing rock star, and small-town girl Sherrie (Amy Spanger), who hopes to crash Hollywood. Complications arise when the club is threatened with eviction by an evil real estate mogul for a redevelopment project, and so the club’s owner hopes to save the venue from the wrecker’s ball by holding a benefit concert starring the rock group Arsenal and its lead singer Stacee Jaxx (James Carpinello), who becomes interested in Sherrie. All ends well: the club is saved, and Drew and Sherrie are united in love. You weren’t far afield if some of this claptrap brought to mind various MGM musicals with the likes of Mickey and Judy. Ben Brantley in the New York Times praised the “seriously silly, absurdly enjoyable” show with its “winky wit,” zesty direction, and songs that were performed with “scorching heat” by a “spirited” cast. He singled out the “terrific” Carpinello, who in his rock-star outfit looked “suggestive of Cher at her least demure” and who exuded “commanding sexual charisma” with his “blasting” performance of “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Otherwise, this “karaoke comedy about warped-vinyl dreams” offered songs that were likely to be “utterly foreign” to some audience members, who no doubt would feel like they’d spent an “unusually raucous couple of hours in a monkey cage at the zoo.” David Rooney in Variety liked the “unapologetically silly” jukebox musical, and noted that behind its “trashy façade” was a “conventionally sweet” story of the boy-meets-loses-and-wins-girl variety, and an unsigned review in the New Yorker said the show was “the Broadway equivalent of a ride on a mechanical bull,” noted that the book was “surprisingly clever,” and suggested the evening deserved “kudos” for even having a plot. The musical was first presented on July 27, 2005, at a club called King King in Los Angeles (with James Snyder and Laura Bell Bundy), at the Vanguard Hollywood Theatre on January 26, 2006, and in other venues. Its New York premiere took place on October 16, 2008, when it opened Off Broadway at the New World

2008–2009 Season     385

Stages/Stage I for ninety-three performances. Will Swenson and Kelli Barrett played the respective roles of Stacee Jaxx and Sherrie. When the musical opened on Broadway later in the season, most of the Off-Broadway cast transferred with the exception of Barrett and Swenson (the latter was now appearing as Berger in the revival of Hair, which had opened a week earlier), both of whom were succeeded by Spanger and Carpinello. The Broadway cast album was released by New Line/WaterTown Music Records, and the 2012 film version released by New Line Cinema included Tom Cruise (Stacee Jaxx), Julianne Hough (Sherrie), Diego Boneta (Drew), Mary J. Blige (Justice Charlier), Alec Baldwin (Dennis), and Catherine Zeta-Jones (as Patricia Whitmore, a character not listed in the Broadway program). The soundtrack recording was issued by New Line/ WaterTown Music and the DVD was released by Warner Brothers. In his annual Movie Guide series, Leonard Maltin said the “bland” and “dreary” film was “just a collection of caricatures and clichés, and plays like an endless string of music videos.” The London production opened on September 27, 2011, at the Shaftesbury Theatre for a run of two years.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical (Rock of Ages); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Constantine Maroulis); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Gregory Gale); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Peter Hylenski); Best Direction of a Musical (Kristin Hanggi)

NEXT TO NORMAL Theatre: Booth Theatre Opening Date: April 15, 2009; Closing Date: January 16, 2011 Performances: 733 Book and Lyrics: Brian Yorkey Music: Tom Kitt Direction: Michael Greif; Producers: David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo, and Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director); Choreography: Sergio Trujillo; Scenery: Mark Wendland; Costumes: Jeff Mahshie; Lighting: Kevin Adams; Musical Direction: Charlie Alterman Cast: Adam Chanler-Berat (Henry), Jennifer Damiano (Natalie Goodman), Louis Hobson (Doctor Madden, Doctor Fine), Alice Ripley (Diana Goodman), J. Robert Spencer (Dan Goodman), Aaron Tveit (Gabe aka Gabriel Goodman) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the present time.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prelude (“Light”) (Orchestra); “Just Another Day” (Company); “Everything Else” (Jennifer Damiano); “Who’s Crazy”/“My Psychopharmacologist and I” (Company); “Perfect for You” (Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat); “I Miss the Mountains” (Alice Ripley); “It’s Gonna Be Good” (Company); “He’s Not Here” (J. Robert Spencer); “You Don’t Know” (Alice Ripley); “I Am the One” (J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Alice Ripley); “Superboy and the Invisible Girl” (Jennifer Damiano, Aaron Tveit, Alice Ripley); “I’m Alive” (Aaron Tveit); “Make Up Your Mind”/“Catch Me I’m Falling” (Company); “I Dreamed a Dance” (Alice Ripley, Aaron Tveit); “There’s a World” (Aaron Tveit); “I’ve Been” (J. Robert Spencer); “Didn’t I See This Movie?” (Alice Ripley); “A Light in the Dark” (J. Robert Spencer, Alice Ripley) Act Two: “Wish I Were Here” (Company); “Song of Forgetting” (Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Jennifer Damiano); “Hey #1” (Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat); “Seconds and Years” (Louis Hobson, J. Robert Spencer, Alice Ripley); “Better Than Before” (Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Jennifer Damiano, Louis Hobson); “Aftershocks” (Aaron Tveit); “Hey # 2” (Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat); “You Don’t Know” (reprise) (Alice Ripley, Louis Hobson); “How Could I Ever Forget?” (Alice Ripley, J. Robert

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Spencer); “It’s Gonna Be Good” (reprise) (J. Robert Spencer, Alice Ripley); “Why Stay?” (Alice Ripley, Jennifer Damiano); “A Promise” (J. Robert Spencer, Adam Chanler-Berat); “I’m Alive” (reprise) (Aaron Tveit); “The Break” (Alice Ripley); “Make Up Your Mind”/“Catch Me I’m Falling” (reprises) (Alice Ripley, Aaron Tveit, Louis Hobson); “Maybe” (“Next to Normal”) (Alice Ripley, Jennifer Damiano); “Hey # 3”/“Perfect for You” (reprises) (Jennifer Damiano, Aaron Tveit); “So Anyway” (Alice Ripley); “I Am the One” (reprise) (J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit); “Light” (Company) It was understandable if some groaned over the subject matter of Next to Normal (or, to be more precise, next to normal), a musical about a woman with bipolar disorder. It unfortunately brought to mind all those disease-of-the-week television movies from earlier years, and even more distressingly was a reminder of that brief period in the late 1970s when Broadway flirted with such stories, including The Shadow Box and Cold Storage (both 1977 and about patients with terminal illnesses), Wings (1978, about a stroke victim), and Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1979, about a paralyzed man). But Next to Normal received surprisingly favorable reviews, won a number of awards, and played on Broadway for twenty-one months, an impressive feat in an era when feel-good musicals were the rage and serious ones quickly floundered, such as Side Show (both its original 1997 production and its 2014 revival for 91 and 56 respective performances), The Scottsboro Boys (2010, 49 performances), The Last Ship (2014, 105 performances), and The Visit (2015, 61 performances). Next to Normal looked at Diana Goodman (Alice Ripley) and her bipolarity and how it affects her; her husband, Dan (J. Robert Spencer); and their teenage daughter, Natalie (Jennifer Damiano). And hovering over the action is the spirit of Diana and Dan’s dead son, Gabe (Aaron Tveit), whom Diana refuses to believe is dead. The musical was clearly a labor of love on the part of its creators, and it was refreshing to encounter a new musical that didn’t wear irony on its sleeve and avoided special effects and dumbed-down, feel-good shtick. But the evening was perhaps overly earnest with its somewhat contrived and pat book. Further, the musical seemed to go out of its way to use vulgar language, and the lyrics and music never quite matched the inherent intensity of the story and characters. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the “brave” and “breathtaking” musical was “sensitively” directed with a “surging tidal score” and an “astounding central performance” by Ripley, who here gave “the musical performance of the season.” David Rooney in Variety noted that the writers gave their subject “freshness, urgency and emotional integrity” but he felt the music was sometimes “uneven” with lyrics that fell “prey to Lifetime clichés of mental illness” (but he stated the score was often “affecting” and “powerful” in such numbers as “I Miss the Mountains,” “I Am the One,” “Superboy and the Invisible Girl,” and “I’m Alive”). An unsigned review in the New Yorker said the work “puts paid to the old Broadway musical axiom of ‘no girls, no gags, no chance,’” and although musicals were once meant to be an “escape from care” they were now “an escape from escape” with “all singing, all dancing despair.” Next to Normal was “wellperformed,” “inventively” directed, and had a “well-written book and lyrics,” but after a while one yearned “for a smiling face, a lifted heart, and just a smidgen of frivolity.” As Feeling Electric, an earlier version of the musical was produced at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in Fall 2005 where it was directed by Peter Askin. As Next to Normal, the musical played Off Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre on February 13, 2008, for thirty-seven performances with Ripley and Brian d’Arcy James in the leading roles of Diana and Dan, and was later presented at the Arena Stage’s temporary theatre in Crystal City, located in Arlington, Virginia, on November 21, 2008. The cast album was released on a two-CD set by Ghostlight Records (CD # 4433), and the script was published in paperback by Theatre Communications Group in 2010.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Next to Normal); Best Book (Brian Yorkey); Best Score (lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (J. Robert Spencer); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Jennifer Damiano); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Mark Wendland); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Kevin Adams); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Brian Ronan); Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Greif); Best Orchestrations (Michael Starobin and Tom Kitt in a tie with Martin Koch for Billy Elliot) Pulitzer Prize: Best Drama (2010) (Next to Normal)

2008–2009 Season     387

9 TO 5

“The Musical” Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: April 30, 2009; Closing Date: September 6, 2009 Performances: 148 Book: Patricia Resnick Lyrics and Music: Dolly Parton Based on the 1980 film 9 to 5 (direction by Colin Higgins and screenplay by Patricia Resnick and Colin Higgins). Direction: Joe Mantello (Dave Solomon, Associate Director); Producers: Green State Prods., Richard Levi, John McColgan/Moya Doherty/Edgar Dobie, James L. Nederlander/Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, Jam Theatricals, Bud Martin, Michael Watt, The Weinstein Co./Sonia Friedman/Dede Harris, Norton Herrick/Matthew C. Blank/Joan Stein, Center Theatre Group, Toni Dowgiallo, and GFour Productions (Robert Greenblatt, Producer); Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler (Rachel Bress, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Scott Pask (Edward Pierce, Scenic Design Associate); Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Kenneth Posner; Musical Direction: Stephen Oremus Cast: Allison Janney (Violet Newstead), Megan Hilty (Doralee Rhodes), Charlie Pollock (Dwayne), Stephanie J. Block (Judy Bernly), Kathy Fitzgerald (Roz Keith), Ann Harada (Kathy), Maia Nkenge Wilson (Anita), Tory Ross (Daphne), Marc Kudisch (Franklin Hart Jr.), Lisa Howard (Missy), Ioana Alfonso (Maria), Andy Karl (Joe), Karen Murphy (Margaret), Van Hughes (Josh), Dan Cooney (Dick), Jeremy Davis (Bob Enright), Michael X. Martin (Tinsworthy); Ensemble: Ioana Alfonso, Timothy George Anderson, Justin Bohon, Paul Castree, Dan Cooney, Jeremy Davis, Autumn Guzzardi, Ann Harara, Neil Haskell, Lisa Howard, Van Hughes, Michael X. Martin, Michael Mindlin, Karen Murphy, Jessica Lea Patty, Charlie Pollock, Tory Ross, Wayne Schroder, Maia Nkenge Wilson, Brandi Wooten The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during 1979 in a large city.

Musical Numbers Act One: “9 to 5” (Allison Janney, Megan Hilty, Charlie Pollock, Stephanie J. Block, Ensemble); “Around Here” (Allison Janney, Ensemble); “Here for You” (Marc Kudisch); “I Just Might” (Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty, Allison Janney); “Backwoods Barbie” (Megan Hilty); “The Dance of Death” (Stephanie J. Block, Marc Kudisch, Ensemble); “Cowgirl’s Revenge” (Megan Hilty, Marc Kudisch, Ensemble); “Potion Notion” (Allison Janney, Marc Kudisch, Ensemble); “Joy to the Girls” (Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty, Allison Janney, Marc Kudisch, Ensemble); “Heart to Hart” (Kathy Fitzgerald, Ensemble); “Shine Like the Sun” (Megan Hilty, Stephanie J. Block, Allison Janney) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “One of the Boys” (Allison Janney, Boys); “5 to 9” (Kathy Fitzgerald); “Always a Woman” (Marc Kudisch, Men’s Ensemble); “Change It” (Megan Hilty, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Ensemble); “Let Love Grow” (Andy Karl, Allison Janney); “Get Out and Stay Out” (Stephanie J. Block); “9 to 5” (reprise) (Company) The musical 9 to 5 was based on the popular 1980 film of the same name, which starred Dolly Parton (who also wrote the film’s title song) and was scripted by Patricia Resnick and Colin Higgins. For the musical, Parton wrote a complete score (which interpolated the movie’s title number) and Resnick wrote the show’s book. For all the hoopla about the musical’s message of sexual equality in the workplace and Parton’s debut as a Broadway lyricist and composer, the $14 million show didn’t pick up a single Tony Award, met with boxoffice indifference, and managed little more than four months in New York. The dubious revenge fantasy dealt with three female staff members who get even with their sexist boss, and because he was drawn in such obvious strokes as a clichéd chauvinist there was never any doubt about the outcome. And the women were just as reprehensible as their boss (was the show really meant to be a subtle satire with a pox-on-both-yoursexes message?). One of the women accidentally puts rat poison in his coffee, and although he doesn’t drink it, the women assume he died and thus go to the morgue to steal what they think is his body so they can toss it in the river and cover up the supposed murder. Later, they kidnap him, tie him up, gag him, threaten him

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with a gun, throw him into the trunk of a car, and keep him prisoner. If a musical had dared depict such a sequence with the sexes reversed it wouldn’t have survived beyond its first workshop performance. Besides the musical’s confused message, which seemed to excuse women from wrong-doing, the show further muddied the waters with an overall crude and smarmy sexual outlook. The evening began with the title song (a holdover from the nonmusical film), which depicted office workers getting ready for the work day, and one of the pictorial vignettes was that of a man who gets out of bed sporting an erection, which could be seen through his boxer shorts. (For more musical-comedy moments about the big city waking up for the day, see below.) Another scene showed a female character who fantasizes about a female topless dancer and an equally topless male, and David Rooney in Variety reported that for the sequence’s “dubious staging” there were dancers who appeared as the woman’s mirror image and who somehow magically emerged from bathroom stalls. And in yet another bathroom moment, a female character imagines she’s in the men’s room watching a chorus line of male office workers at urinals (and Ben Brantley in the New York Times assured us that, yes, there was the old joke about her not wanting to shake hands with a man who has just zipped up). Again, one suspects that a sex reversal of such scenes would have closed the show in preproduction. Brantley said the “overinflated whoopee cushion” of a show was “gaudy” and “empty” and appeared to be “assembled by an emulous shopaholic who looked around at the tourist-drawing hits of the last decade.” The evening offered “lewd slapstick” and “tastelessness,” and it “lumbered” along “in a blur of heavy moving scenery,” “sour-candy-color lighting,” and costumes that reminded us that “the Carter years were the nadir of 20th-century fashion.” Parton’s score was also a disappointment that never found an “original groove” and included “a standard-issue anthem of empowerment” (“Get Out and Stay Out”). Rooney said the musical was an “uneven cut-and-paste job” with many “hit and miss” creative aspects, and its new plot elements were “fairly pedestrian.” Besides the “crude sight gags,” the evening offered “clumsy story-building,” “unfocused” direction, dances that were “out of sync” with the show’s tone, and a “fussy” and “overwhelming” scenic design that included “cumbersome” hydraulics that shifted “panels, pillars, desks and overhead lighting tracks” and thus resulted in a “busy” look that “inhibited momentum and crowded the characters.” The cast album was released by Dolly Records (unnumbered CD), and even the artwork for the liner notes was sour and tasteless: as one flipped through the CD booklet, one saw unsubtle images of erect pencils standing on end, then later an image of a pencil broken into pieces, and then a final image of a pencil being whittled away in a pencil sharpener. Further, the show’s artwork depicted a group of smiling women who have suspended a man upside down with his leg tied to a telephone cord resembling a rope. Would this offputting and mean-spirited image been used if the sexes had been reversed? As for mornings in the city, 9 to 5 harkened back to the old days when it was almost de rigueur for a show to offer a scene that depicted the big city starting its day (and with any and all erections mercifully omitted): “I Feel Like I’m Not Out of Bed Yet” (On the Town, 1944); “Five A.M. Ballet” (Watch Out, Angel!, 1945 [closed during pre-Broadway tryout]); “Five More Minutes in Bed” (Are You With It?, 1945); “Morning in Madrid” (The Duchess Misbehaves, 1946); “The Morning Music of Montmartre” (Oh Captain!, 1958); “Run, Run, Run” (Let It Ride!, 1961); and “Station Rush” (Subways Are for Sleeping, 1961).

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Score (lyrics and music by Dolly Parton); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Allison Janney); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Marc Kudisch); Best Choreography (Andy Blankenbuehler)

DIRTY DANCING “The Classic Story

on

Stage”

The musical’s first American production opened on October 19, 2008, at the Cadillac Palace in Chicago, Illinois, closed there on January 17, 2009, and then toured without opening on Broadway. Book: Eleanor Bergstein

2008–2009 Season     389

Lyrics and Music: See list of musical numbers for specific credits Based on the 1987 film Dirty Dancing (direction by Emile Ardolino and screenplay by Eleanor Bergstein). Direction: James Powell; Producers: Jacobsen Entertainment in association with Lionsgate and Magic Hour Productions (Kevin Jacobsen and Col Joye, Producers) (Amber Jacobsen and Nina Lannan, Executive Producers); Choreography: Kate Champion (Craig Wilson, Ballroom and Latin Choreography) (David Scotchford, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Stephen Brimson Lewis; Video and Projection Designs: Jon Driscoll; Costumes: Jennifer Irwin; Lighting: Tim Mitchell; Musical Direction: Martyn Axe Cast: Amanda Leigh Cobb (Frances “Baby” Houseman), Josef Brown (Johnny Castle), John Bolger (Doctor Jake Houseman), Molly C. Callinan (Vivian Pressman), Joseph Costa (Mr. Schumacher), Katlyn Carlson (Lisa Houseman), Britta Lazenga (Penny Johnson), Adam Overett (Neil Kellerman), Gary Lynch (Moe Pressman), Ryan Farrell (Robbie Gould), Michael W. Howell (Tito Suarez), Ben Mingay (Billy Kostecki), Kaitlin Hopkins (Marjorie Houseman), Michael Lluberes (Stan), Lauren Klein (Mrs. Schumacher), Jonathan Epstein (Max Kellerman); Ensemble: John Antony, Jamie Bayard, Thea Brooks, Karen Burthwright, E. Clayton Cornelious, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald, Haley Henderson-Smith, Darina Jeleva, Erich McMillan McCall, Samuel Pergande, Andrew Pirozzi, Sarah Skogland, Easton Smith, Billy Harrigan Tighe, Aspen Vincent, Tony Vincent, Candice Marie Woods The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place at a summer resort in the Catskills during the early 1960s.

Musical Numbers Note: The program didn’t identify individual singers; most of the songs were sung by ensemble members, were played as instrumentals by the musicians, or were heard on recordings by various singers (for example, Lee Wiley’s recording of Cole Porter’s ”You Do Something to Me” was played). The lyric and music credits below are taken from the program. Act One: “This Magic Moment” (lyric by Doc Pomus, music by Mort Shuman); “Merengue” (lyric and music by Michael Lloyd, John D’Andrea, and Erich Bulling); “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” (lyric and music by Frankie Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz) (instrumental version);“You Do Something to Me” (Fifty Million Frenchmen, 1929; lyric and music by Cole Porter); “You’re the Cream in My Coffee” (Hold Everything, 1928; lyric by Buddy B. G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, music by Ray Henderson); “There Will Never Be Another You” (1942 film Iceland; lyric by Mack Gordon, music by Harry Warren); “Johnny’s Mambo” (lyric and music by Michael Lloyd, John D’Andrea, and Erich Bulling); “Do You Love Me?” (lyric and music by Berry Gordy Jr.); “Love Man” (lyric and music by Otis Redding); “Honey Love” (lyric and music by McPhatter and Wexler); “Infectious Cha Cha Cha” (lyric and music by Michael Lloyd and John D’Andrea); “Original Waltz” (lyric and music by Michael Lloyd); “Penny’s Waltz” (lyric and music by Lim and Helfrich); “Viva La Quince Brigada (Van Der Schelling)” (lyric and music by Pete Seeger); “This Land Is Your Land” (lyric and music by Woody Guthrie); “We Shall Overcome” (lyric and music adaptation by Horton, Hamilton, Carawan, and Pete Seeger); “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” (lyric and music by Berry Gordy, Marvin Gaye, and William Stevenson); “De todo un poco” (lyric and music by Perez); “Wipe Out” (lyric and music by Fuller, Berryhill, Connolly, and Wilson); “Hungry Eyes” (lyric and music by Frankie Previte and John DeNicola); “Overload” (lyric and music by Zappacosta and Luciani); “Hey! Baby!” (lyric and music by Channel and Cobb); “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” (reprise) (instrumental); “An Original Tango” (lyric and music by Lim and Helfrich); “Just One Look” (lyric and music by Gregory Carroll and Doris Payne aka Doris Troy); “De todo un poco” (reprise); “Maybe” (lyric and music by Barrett); “Melodie au crepuscule” (lyric and music by Reinhardt); “These Arms of Mine” (lyric and music by Otis Redding); “Cry to Me” (lyric and music by Russell) Act Two: “Dawn Interlude” (lyric and music by Helfrich and by Eleanor Bergstein); “A Fool in Love” (lyric and music by Ike Turner); “Besame mucho” (lyric and music by Consuelo Velazquez; English lyric by Sunny Skylar); “Blow the Man Down” (traditional); “Mama Said” (lyric and music by Denson and Dixon); “Save the Last Dance for Me” (lyric by Doc Pomus, music by Mort Shuman); “If You Were the Only Girl in the World” (1916 London musical The Bing Boys Are Here; lyric by Clifford Grey, music by Nat D. Ayer); “Mama Said” (reprise); “Magic Hour Serenade” (lyric and music by Helfrich and by Eleanor Bergstein); “Duke of Earl” (lyric and music by Dixon, Edwards, and Williams); “Love Is Strange” (lyric and

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music by Baker, Robinson, and McDaniel); “You Don’t Own Me” (lyric and music by John Madara and David White); “Nunca” (lyric and music by Cardenas, Lopez, and Mendez); “Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me” (traditional); “Lisa’s Hulu” (lyric and music by Brucker and Kenny Ortega); “Oh! Better Far to Live and Die” (1880 London operetta The Pirates of Penzance; lyric by W. S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan); “Yes!” (lyric and music by Cavanaugh, Fryer, and Graf); “In the Still of the Night (I’ll Remember)” (lyric and music by Fred Parris); “Summertime Incidental” (lyric and music by Lim and Helfrich); “Nocturnado” (lyric and music by Cairo); “Someone Like You” (lyric and music by Frankie Previte and John DeNicola); “She’s Like the Wind” (lyric and music by Patrick Swayze and Widelitz); “Kellerman’s Anthem” (lyric and music by Goldman); “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” (reprise) (vocal version) Based on the popular 1987 film of the same name, Dirty Dancing took place during a few weeks one summer in the early 1960s and was a coming-of-age story about teenage girl Frances “Baby” Houseman, who spends a family vacation at a Catskills’ resort where she finds romance with dancer Johnny Castle, who performs there. The film especially resonated with teenage girls, who were clearly the film’s target audience, but the movie’s adult characters possessed a certain wry charm, and so even oldsters were taken with the story. And the movie even boasted the hit “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” which won the Academy Award for Best Song. The American tour of Dirty Dancing opened in Chicago, but the production itself originated at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, Australia, on November 18, 2004; a later production opened in Hamburg, Germany, on March 24, 2006; and the London edition ran for five years at the Aldwych Theatre beginning on October 23, 2006. A Canadian production preceded the U.S. tour by about a year, and opened on November 15, 2007, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto (Variety reported that before it opened the Canadian production had a $17.3 million advance). The Dirty Dancing stage franchise continues to be produced on U.S. and international stages, and while not popular with critics the show is a crowd-pleaser. As of this writing, the musical hasn’t been produced on Broadway. Steven Oxman in Variety reviewed the American premiere, and decided the show wasn’t really a musical because it was “very hard to tell what music is played live by the hidden orchestra and what’s recorded.” And until the final quarter of the show, the main characters “rarely” sang. He decided Dirty Dancing was less a jukebox musical than a “DJ musical” because of “the off-stage nature of the music” and the “indirect relationship between the music and the drama.” The headline for Chris Jones’s review in the Chicago Tribune asked, “If Baby Doesn’t Sing, Is It Still a Musical?,” and he noted that the “Dirty Dancing phenomenon takes some figuring out.” The show used “mostly prerecorded music,” “minor” characters occasionally sang, and the show’s stars didn’t sing at all. If you were used to “the rules of legitimate musicals,” the show was “baffling” because the characters never sang about their feelings, the “theatrical environment” was so “digitized” it looked “like a movie on the stage,” the film’s most “prosaic” scenes were “re-created in expensive detail,” and instead of “full” and “legitimate” dance numbers there were instead “cinematic snatches of dance.” The London production was recorded by Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Masterworks Broadway (CD # 88697-37268-2), and both the Sydney and Hamburg cast albums were also recorded.

GIANT

“A New Musical” The musical began preview performances on April 28, 2009, at the Max Theatre at Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia, officially opened on May 14, and closed on May 31. The work was later presented Off Broadway at the Public Theatre in 2012 (for more information, see below). Book: Sybille Pearson Lyrics and Music: Michael John LaChiusa Based on the 1952 novel Giant by Edna Ferber. Direction: Jonathan Butterell (Saheem Ali, Assistant Director); Producers: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Maggie Boland, Managing Director) in association with The Shen Family Foundation; Choreography: Ernesto Alonso Palma; Scenery: Dane Laffrey; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Japhy Weideman; Musical Direction: Chris Fenwick Cast: Enrique Acevedo (Miguel), Raul Aranas (Polo), Judy Blazer (Luz), Lewis Cleale (Bick), John Dossett (Bawley), Marisa Echeverria (Juana), Jessica Grove (Heidi, Lil’ Luz), Michael Thomas Holmes (Pinky), Betsy

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Morgan (Leslie), Jordan Nichols (Jordy Jr.), Andres Quintero (Angel Sr. and Jr.), Michelle Rios (Lupe), Ashley Robinson (Jett), Isabel Santiago (Petra), Paul A. Schaefer (Mike), Martin Sola (Dimodeo), Nick Spangler (Bob Sr. and Jr., Lord Karfrey), Katie Thompson (Vashti), Julie Tolivar (Lady Karfrey), Mariand Torres (Analita), Lori Wilner (Adarene) The musical was presented in three acts. The action takes place in Texas and Virginia during the period 1925–1952.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Aurelia Dolores” (Raul Aranas, Company); “Did Spring Come to Texas?” (Lewis Cleale, Michael Thomas Holmes, Men); “Lost in Her Woods” (Lewis Cleale); “Your Texas” (Betsy Morgan, Lewis Cleale, Company); “No Time for Surprises” (Judy Blazer); “Private Property” (Ashley Robinson); “Lost” (Betsy Morgan, Company); “Elsie Mae” (Ashley Robinson); “He Wanted a Girl” (Katie Thompson, Lewis Cleale); “Hen Party” (Judy Blazer); “Heartbreak Country” (Lewis Cleale, Betsy Morgan); “Ruega por nosotros” (Michelle Rios, Isabel Santiago, Company); “Coyote”/“Look Back”/“Look Ahead”/Act One Finale (John Dossett, Betsy Morgan, Lewis Cleale, Company) Act Two: “Our Mornings”/“That Thing” (Lewis Cleale, Judy Blazer); “Topsy-Turvy” (Betsy Morgan, Lewis Cleale); “When to Bluff”/“One Day” (Ashley Robinson, Jessica Grove, Men); “My Texas” (Michael Thomas Holmes, Katie Thompson, Lewis Cleale, Betsy Morgan, Company); “A Stranger” (Betsy Morgan); “Lady L” (Ashley Robinson); Act Two Finale (John Dossett, Lewis Cleale, Company) Act Three: “Jump” (Andres Quintero, Jessica Grove, Nick Spangler); “There Is a Child” (Marisa Echeverria); “Un beso, beso!” (Michelle Rios, Andres Quintero, Mariand Torres, Company); “A Place in the World”/“Look Ahead” (reprise) (John Dossett, Lewis Cleale); “Midnight Blues” (Katie Thompson, Betsy Morgan, Mariand Torres); “The Dog Is Gonna Bark” (Ashley Robinson); “Juana’s Prayer” (Marisa Echeverria); “The Desert” Sequence (Lewis Cleale, Betsy Morgan); “Aurelia Dolores” (reprise) (Jordan Nichols); Act Three Finale (Jordan Nichols, Marisa Echeverria, Company) The word sprawling was surely invented for the kind of books Edna Ferber wrote, epics with involved multiple storylines and a vast canvas of characters, all of which took place over a number of decades. The 1927 lyric adaptation of her 1926 novel Show Boat is of course one of the great American musicals, but despite its lavish production values and Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen’s wonderful score, Saratoga (1959), which was based on Ferber’s 1941 novel Saratoga Trunk, was a short-running and now all-but-forgotten failure. (As of this writing, William Finn’s long-gestating musical version of Ferber and George S. Kaufman’s 1927 play The Royal Family has yet to be produced; titled The Royal Family of Broadway, two songs from this adaptation have surfaced on Infinite Joy, a collection of Finn’s music.) Giant was published in 1952, and looked at, and contrasted, the lives of wealthy Texas cattlemen who strike oil and the hardscrabble lives of Mexican-American laborers. Ferber doesn’t seem to be much in favor with readers anymore, and it’s likely that today Giant is remembered only because of its popular 1956 film version, which starred Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean. Michael John LaChiusa’s three-act musical adaptation was first presented at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, in 2008, and a revised two-act version was seen at the Dallas Center Theatre for one month beginning on January 18, 2012. This version was presented in New York later that year when it opened on November 15 at the Public Theatre’s Newman Theatre for thirty-seven performances. Despite what well may be LaChiusa’s most accessible score, the musical never found its way to Broadway. But happily the New York production was recorded by Ghostlight Records (CD # 8-4471). Peter Marks in the Washington Post said the score offered some of “the lithest, most dramatically compelling music” LaChiusa had yet written, but the script’s “lack of effective plot compression tends to muffle the piece’s power.” Although the performance at the Signature Theatre ran four hours, Marks noted that because of the “engaging” music and its “nerviness” he didn’t “squirm as much as I might have.” (The four-hour running time brought to mind the world premiere of another Ferber-based musical: the first performance of Show Boat at Washington, D.C.’s National Theatre on November 15, 1927, lasted four hours and twenty minutes.) The revised version of Giant was presented in two acts instead of three, and dropped four songs (“Lost in the Woods,” “Elsie Mae,” “A Stranger,” and “Lady L”) and added one (“Outside Your Window”). For the Signature production, the principal roles were played by Lewis Cleale (Bick), Betsy Morgan (Leslie), Ashley

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Robinson (Jett), Judy Blazer (Luz), and John Dossett (Bawley); for New York, the respective roles were played by Brian d’Arcy James, Kate Baldwin, PJ Griffith, Michele Pawk, and Dossett (who reprised his role of Bawley). In his review of the New York production for Variety, Steven Suskin found the score “tuneful, expansive, and more emotional than intellectual,” and noted the evening was “full-sized” with a cast of twenty-two and an orchestra of sixteen. He concluded by saying that here was “a musical of gigantic proportions” that needed more “trimming, some minor character clarification and a stronger ending.” But “even so,” this was “something to see.” An unsigned review in the New Yorker indicated the score offered “complex, sweeping, often beautiful music” and said the plot dealt with “themes of ethnic and familial equality.”

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE “The Musical”

The musical premiered on August 15, 2008, at the Guthrie Theatre’s McGuire Proscenium Stage in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a year later played at the Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut, for the period September 10–October 10, 2009, prior to the beginning of the musical’s twenty-eight-city U.S. and Canadian national tour, which began at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, during October 2009, and closed at the Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, Texas, where it played April 28–May 9, 2010 (some sources cite a twenty-five-city tour over a period of thirty-four weeks). The cast and credits information provided below is taken from the musical’s booking at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Andrew Jackson Hall, in Nashville, Tennessee, where the production played from October 27 to November 1, 2009. The tour closed without playing an engagement on Broadway. Book: Rachel Sheinkin Lyrics: Donna Di Novelli Musical: Rachel Portman; incidental music by Kevin Stites Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little Prairie books (eight novels published between 1932 and 1943, and one posthumously published in 1971). Direction: Francesca Zambello (Tim Federle, Associate Director); Productions: Ben Sprecher, Amy Sprecher, Louise Forlenza, Bob Boyett, Jay H. Harris/William Franzblau, Tony Fusco, Larry Feinman, Peter Bezemes, Friendly Theatrical, LLC, Jon B. Platt, Wendy Federman, Michael Filerman/Marc Schwartz, and Karl Sydow and Nelle Nugent in association with Bob Reich and Sharon Carr (The Guthrie Theatre Production; Joe Dowling, Artistic Director) (Kenneth Teaton, Tim Levy, and Lynn Shaw, Associate Producers); Choreography: Michele Lynch (Eric Sean Fogel, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Adrianne Lobel; Costumes: Jess Goldstein; Lighting: Mark McCullough; Musical Direction: Richard Carsey Cast: The Ingalls Family—Kara Lindsay (Laura Ingalls), Melissa Gilbert (Ma [Caroline Ingalls]), Steve Blanchard (Pa [Charles Ingalls]), Alessa Neeck (Mary Ingalls), Carly Rose Sonenclar (Carrie Ingalls); Homesteaders—Kevin Massey (Almanzo Wilder), Christian Whelan (Robert Boast, Mr. Brewster), Kate Loprest (Nellie Oleson), Meredith Inglesby (Eliza Wilder, Mrs. Brewster), Todd Thurston (Mr. Oleson), Shawn Hamilton (Doctor Tann); School Children of De Smet—Kurt Engh (Cap Garland), Michael Boxleitner (Willie Oleson), Jessica Hershberg (Ida), Caroline Innerbichler (Minnie Power); School Children of Brewster—Brian Muller (Clarence Brewster), Michael Boxleitner (Tommy), Taylor Bera (Ruby), Caroline Innerbichler (Martha); Student at Vinton School for the Blind—Lizzie Klemperer (Blanche); Ensemble: Taylor Bera, Michael Boxleitner, Kurt Engh, Shawn Hamilton, Jessica Hershberg, Meredith Inglesby, Caroline Innerbichler, Lizzie Klemperer, Garen McRoberts, Brian Muller, Will Ray, Gayle Samuels, Dustin Sullivan, Todd Thurston, Christian Whelan The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in and around the Dakota Territory during the early 1880s.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Thunder” (Kara Lindsay); “Up Ahead” (Company); “The Prairie Moves” (Steve Blanchard); “Old Enough” (Kevin Massey); “Make It Home” (The Ingalls); “Country Girls” (Kate Loprest, Caroline Innerbichler, Jessica Hershberg, Kara Lindsay, Alessa Neeck, Carly Rose Sonenclar);

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“I Can Rock” (Kara Lindsay, Meredith Inglesby, School Children); “Good” (Kara Lindsay, Melissa Gilbert); “Fire in the Kitchen” (The Ingalls); “Uncle Sam” (Steve Blanchard, Kevin Massey, Kurt Engh, Homesteaders); “Tin Cup” (Steve Blanchard); “I’ll Be Your Eyes” (Kara Lindsay, Alessa Neeck); “Go Like the Wind” (Kevin Massey, Kara Lindsay, Company); “I’ll Be Your Eyes” (reprise) (Kara Lindsay, Alessa Neeck) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Prairie Strong” (Kevin Massey, Homesteaders); “Without an Enemy” (Kate Loprest); “Good” (reprise) (Kara Lindsay, Alessa Neeck); “Faster” (Kara Lindsay, Kevin Massey, School Children, Aleesa Neeck); “Teach the Wind” (Meredith Inglesby); “Leaving” (Kevin Massey); “Make It Home”/“Up Ahead” (reprises) (Alessa Neeck, Steve Blanchard, Melissa Gilbert, Carly Rose Sonenclar, Homesteaders); “Restless Heart” (Kara Lindsay); “Wise Child” (Melissa Gilbert); Finale (Company) Little House on the Prairie was based on the nine Little Prairie novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder (eight were published between 1932 and 1943, and a ninth was published posthumously in 1971). The stories were the basis for NBC’s television series of the same name, which was telecast from 1974 from 1982, and for the series Melissa Gilbert played the role of Laura. For the musical, she played Laura’s mother, Ma Ingalls. As noted above, the musical was first presented in 2008 at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then in September 2009 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. From October 2009 through May 2010, the musical’s national tour played in over two dozen U.S. and Canadian cities. The musical touched upon the basic elements that made Ingalls’s books and the television series so popular, including the Ingalls family (Ma, Pa, Laura, and her sisters Mary and Carrie) and their determination to survive in the Dakota Territory of the early 1880s, the blindness that eventually afflicts Mary, and of course brat-to-the-manor-born Nellie Oleson, Laura’s seemingly eternal nemesis. In his review of the 2008 Guthrie production, Quinton Skinner in Variety felt the musical was “hamstrung by the weight of its own iconography,” and he couldn’t foresee the work ever “carving out a distinctive space in the contemporary musical landscape.” Rachel Portman’s score didn’t “provide much in the way of a signature tune to elevate the proceedings,” but he noted that Pa’s “The Prairie Moves” was a “lilting ode to open spaces” (the critic also mentioned “Endless Sky” and “Dirt Poor,” two songs that were cut for the following year’s national tour). In his review of the Nashville production which opened in October 2009, Jeffrey Ellis in BroadwayWorld.com said the script was “overly earnest and plodding,” the lyrics were “clumsily crafted,” and the music “completely unmemorable.” But he noted that Melissa Gilbert had an “engaging stage presence,” and Kate Loprest’s Nellie was “wonderfully wicked” and added “much-needed levity” to the evening.

MINSKY’S

“The New Musical Comedy” The musical began previews on January 21, 2009, at the Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California, officially opened on February 6, and closed on March 1 without opening on Broadway. Book: Bob Martin; original book by Evan Hunter Lyrics: Susan Birkenhead Music: Charles Strouse Direction and Choreography: Casey Nicholaw (Casey Hushion, Associate Director; Lee Wilkins, Associate Choreographer); Producer: Center Theatre Group (Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director; Charles Dillingham, Managing Director) (Neel Keller, Associate Producer) (presented in association with MGM on Stage [Darcie Denkert and Dean Stolber]); Scenery: Anna Louizos; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Phil Reno Cast: Christopher Fitzgerald (Billy Minsky), Kevin Cahoon (Buster), Beth Leavel (Maisie); The Girls—Megan Nicole Arnoldy (Sunny), Roxane Barlow (Giggles), Jennifer Bowles (Curls), Jennifer Frankel (Sylvie), Sabra Lewis (Flossie), Ariel Reid (Bubbles), Angie Schworer (Ginger), and Sarrah Strimel (Borschtie); Paul Vogt (Boris), John Cariani (Jason Shimpkin), Gerry Vichi (Scratch), Kirsten Bracken (Flame), Blake Hammond (Sergeant Crowley, Doctor Vinkle, Waiter), Katharine Leonard (Mary Sumner), Matt Loehr (Doctor Vankle), Patrick Wetzel (Blind Man), George Wendt (Randolph Sumner), Philip Hoffman (Mr. Freitag, Judge), Rachel Dratch (Beula), Jeffrey Schecter (Reporter), Stacey Todd Holt (Reporter); Ensemble: Megan

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Nicole Arnoldy, Nathan Balser, Roxane Barlow, Jennifer Bowles, Kirsten Bracken, Jennifer Frankel, Linda Griffin, Blake Hammond, Philip Hoffman, Stacey Todd Holt, Sabra Lewis, Matt Loehr, Ariel Reid, Jeffrey Schecter, Angie Schworer, Sarrah Strimel, Charlie Sutton, Patrick Wetzel The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place over the course of one week in the summer of 1930.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Workin’ Hot” (Christopher Fitzgerald, The Girls); “Cleopatra” (The Girls); “Happy” (Christopher Fitzgerald); “Someone” (Katharine Leonard, Blake Hammond, Matt Loehr); “Keep It Clean” (The Girls); “Bananas” (The Girls); “You Gotta Get Up When You’re Down” (Beth Leavel, Ensemble); “Eyes Like That” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Katharine Leonard); “God Bless the U.S.A.” (Beth Leavel, Gerry Vichi, Ensemble); “Every Number Needs a Button” (Kevin Cahoon, Beth Leavel, Christopher Fitzgerald, Gerry Vichi, Ensemble) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Tap Happy” (Kevin Cahoon, Katharine Leonard, Ensemble); “Bananas” (reprise) (The Girls); “I’ve Got Better Things to Do” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Waiters); “I Could Get Used to This”/“Bring Us Out of Our Shell” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Katharine Leonard, The Girls); “Home” (Beth Leavel, Ensemble); “I Want a Life” (John Cariani, Rachel Dratch); “Workin’ Hot” (reprise) (The Girls); “Cleopatra” (reprise) (The Girls); “Bananas” (reprise) (The Girls); “Nothing Lasts Forever” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Company); “Home” (reprise) (Christopher Fitzgerald, Katharine Leonard) Technically, Charles Strouse’s musical Minsky’s wasn’t based on his 1968 film The Night They Raided Minsky’s, which had been based on Rowland Barber’s 1960 novel of the same name. The film was distributed by United Artists and MGM and directed by William Friedkin, and the screenplay was by Norman Lear, Sidney Michaels, and Arnold Schulman, the lyrics were by Lee Adams, and of course Strouse composed the music. The film never quite came together, and any would-be merriment wasn’t visible on screen as the story looked at a young Amish woman who goes to New York to become a dancer and inadvertently “invents” the strip tease. Although most of his scenes had been filmed, it didn’t help that Bert Lahr died during the filming and that his performance had to be completed by the use of rehearsal footage and long-range stand-ins. To further muddy the waters, the film wasn’t a real musical and thus came across as a comedy with incidental music. Strouse and Adams contributed a handful of songs, including the title number, “Take Ten Terrific Girls (but Only Nine Costumes),” “Perfect Gentlemen,” and “You Rat, You.” The latter was a low-down Charleston performed in a speakeasy by Lillian Heyman, but with a slowed-down tempo and a new lyric by Martin Charnin the song surfaced in the 1977 musical Annie as the delicate waltz “Something Was Missing” for Warbucks. The program for the stage musical Minsky’s didn’t credit Barber’s novel or Lear, Michaels, and Schulman’s screenplay, but the fine print noted the musical was presented in association with MGM on Stage. As far back as the late 1990s, the stage adaptation had been in the works and had been scheduled for production by the Music Theatre Group. But director Mike Ockrent died in 1999, and the original librettist Evan Hunter died in 2005 (however, he received program credit for his “original” book). Ultimately, Bob Martin wrote the book for the musical, and Casey Nicholaw directed and choreographed; they had performed similar duties for The Drowsy Chaperone, and in fact Minsky’s was a reunion of sorts for the Chaperone creative staff as it also included the same costume designer (Gregg Barnes), lighting designer (Ken Billington, who with Brian Monahan had designed the lighting scheme for Chaperone), and musical director (Phil Reno). Further, Beth Leavel had played Chaperone’s title role and for Minsky’s played the part of Maisie, a tough-cookie dance director. The stage production was for all purposes an entirely different work from the 1968 film, and none of the Strouse and Adams songs were used (Susan Birkenhead wrote the lyrics for the new version). One song for the new presentation was called “I Could Get Used to This,” a title which had also cropped up in Strouse’s musical Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge, which closed in January 1990 during its pre-Broadway tryout in Washington, D.C. The number had been sung by Dorothy Loudon, and the lyric was by Martin Charnin, but it seems that other than the same title and the same composer, there was no similarity between the songs.

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Although Minsky’s received mixed reviews, Patrick Healy in the New York Times reported that producers Kevin McCollum and Bob Boyett hoped to mount the musical on Broadway during the early part of the 2009–2010 season for an estimated capitalization of $10–$12 million. The transfer to Broadway never materialized, and the production permanently closed after its scheduled Los Angeles run. Charles McNulty in the Los Angeles Times said the “not terribly authentic backstage musical” was both “intermittently delightful” and “intermittently bumbling” and had the “lumpy look of a dish that’s been fiddled with by too many cooks.” Strouse’s score was “tuneful” and Nicholaw provided “seductively propulsive choreography,” but ultimately the show “completely” lost “its bearings” when it threw “a wet-blanket narrative over more visceral entertainment pleasures.” Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said the “prosaic” musical lacked the “zing” of the film, and as a result you left the show “not with the tingly sensation of having seen something exciting and maybe a little sinful, but with the feeling that you’ve attended a comforting church service.” Further, Nicholaw’s dances were “fetching and competent but rarely inspired,” and although this was supposed to be the world of naughty burlesque it often felt “like plain-vanilla Broadway.” But the score offered “perky pastiche” and was generally “bubbly and pleasant, with an accent on brassy energy,” and he singled out “Home,” “I Want a Life,” and “You Gotta Get Up When You’re Down.” The CD collection The Musicality of Strouse (Jay Records # CDJAZ-9014) includes one song from Minsky’s (“Home,” sung by Karen Ziemba with Christiane Noll). Incidentally, the soundtrack album of The Night They Raided Minsky’s was released by United Artists Records (LP # UAS-5191) and by Kritzerland Records (CD # KR-20013-4) (the latter release also includes the soundtrack of the 1969 film Gaily, Gaily, lyrics by Marilyn and Alan Bergman and music by Henry Mancini). There have been various home video releases of The Night They Raided Minsky’s, including a 2015 Blu-ray edition issued by Olive Films.

2009 Season

BURN THE FLOOR Theatre: Longacre Theatre Opening Date: August 2, 2009; Closing Date: January 10, 2010 Performances: 185 Direction and Choreography: Jason Gilkison; Producers: Harley Medcalf, Joe Watson, Richard Levi, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Raise the Roof One; Toppall/Stevens/Mills, Benigno/Klein, Caldwell/Allen, Carrpailet/Danzansky, Bud Martin, The Production Studio, and Schaffert/ Schnuck; and Carrie Ann Inaba by special arrangement with Dance Partner, Inc. (Dan Frishwassser, Peta Roby, Nic Notley, and Brad Bauner); Scenery: Ray Klausen; Costumes: Janet Hine (“based on the original design by John Van Gastel”); Lighting: Rick Belzer; Musical Direction: Henry Soriano Cast: Sharna Burgess, Henry Byalikov, Kevin Clifton, Sasha Farber, Jeremy Garner, Gordana Grandosek, Patrick Helm, Sarah Hives, Melanie Hooper, Peta Murgatroyd, Giselle Peacock, Nuria Santalucia, Sarah Soriano, Damon Sugden, Rebecca Sugden, Trent Whiddon, Damian Whitewood, Robin Windsor; Vocalists: Ricky Rojas and Rebecca Tapia; Special Guest Stars: Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy The dance revue was presented in two acts.

Musical Numbers Act One: Inspirations: “Ballroom Beat” (Cha-Cha) (composer unknown); “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” (Viennese Waltz) (1936 film Follow the Fleet; lyric and music by Irving Berlin); “History Repeating” (Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Swing, Lindy, Jive, Samba, Rumba, Cha-Cha) (music by Alex Gifford); “Magalena” (Samba) (composer unknown); “Slip into Something More Comfortable” (Rumba) (lyric and music by Mark Blackburn, Frederick Karger, Julius Waters, and Robert Wells); “Weather Storm” (Rumba) (lyric and music by Craig McKenzie Armstrong, Robert Del Naja, Curtis Harmon, Nellee Hooper, James Lloyd, Grantley Marshall, Cameron J. Murray, Cedric Napoleon, and Andrew Lee Vowles)/“The Ballroom Boys” (Rumba) (composer unknown); “Fishies” (Jive, Cha-Cha) (lyric and music by Felix Riebl and Henry James Angus); “Nights in White Satin” (Viennese Waltz) (lyric and music by Justin Hayward); “Pastorale” (Waltz) (music by Lovland); Things That Swing: “Sway” (Cha-Cha, Swing) (lyric and music by Beltran, Ruiz, Rosas, and Girnbel); “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” (Quickstep) (lyric and music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills); “I Just Want to (Wanna) Make Love to You” (Swing) (lyric and music by Willie Dixon); “The Dirty Boogie” (Jive, Lindy, Swing) (music by Brian Setzer); “I’m a Ding Dong Daddy” (Quickstep, Lindy, Jive, Swing) (lyric and music by Phil Baxter) Act Two: The Latin Quarter: “Carino” (Cha-Cha) (lyric and music by Mongo Santamaria, Neil Creque, Manny Benito, Cory Rooney, Jennifer Lopez, Jose Sanchez, Frank Rodriguez, and Guillermo Edgehill Jr.); “Si tu supieras” (Rumba) (lyric and music by Kike Santander); “Sing Sing Sing (with a Swing)”

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(Salsa, Samba) (lyric and music by Louis Prima); “Tanguera” (Tango) (music by Mores-Warner); “Matador” (Paso Doble) (composer unknown); “Espana Cani” (Paso Doble) (traditional); Contemporary: “Burn for You” (Rumba) (lyric and music by John Farnham, Ross Fraser, and Phillip Buckle); “Club le Narcisse” (Cha-Cha) (lyric and music by M. McLaren, L. Gorman, and D. Hakagen-Bourgoin); “After All” (Waltz, Tango, Paso Doble, Rumba) (lyric and music by Tom Snow and Dean Pritchard); “Proud Mary” (Jive) (lyric and music by John C. Fogerty); “Turn the Beat Around” (Cha-Cha) (lyric and music by Jackson and Jackson) Burn the Floor was an evening of popular ballroom dancing (rumbas, sambas, cha-chas, lindys, waltzes, and the like) performed by a company of twenty dancers, two singers, and four live musicians (much of the music was prerecorded). Among the dancers were “special guests” Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who appeared only during the first few weeks of the show’s originally scheduled run of twelve weeks (the engagement was eventually extended to almost twice that length). Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said the “good news” was that the dance revue was “every bit as flashy and tacky as you would expect,” and then added, “Do I need add that this is also the bad news?” He thought it was a shame that Smirnoff and Chmerkovskiy were in the revue for so short a time because they brought “a jolt of real charisma and heightened style” to their turns. Otherwise, too much ballroom dancing became “monotonous and mechanical,” but he noted that one “dubious” sequence found a blindfolded female dancer with “six oily-chested men,” a number which suggested a scene from “a gay porn movie, only with better music—well slightly better music—and dry ice (and a woman).” David Rooney in Variety said “there’s only about 15 ounces of collective body fat” on the members of the company, but “also about 15 ounces of imagination” in the show. The dances were “effortful” and more “athletic than fluid or expressive,” and the evening managed to be both “slick and tacky at the same time,” a “vulgarized dance marathon” that brought to mind an “’80s Vegas variety show.” But an unsigned review in the New Yorker indicated the revue was “a classier operation than it lets on, despite the occasional cruiseship element (lounge singers, a disco ball) and a penchant for stage smoke.” Burn the Floor originated in Bournemouth, England, in 1999, and reportedly played in more than twenty countries before making its Broadway debut.

KRISTINA

“A Concert Event” Theatre: Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium/Ronald O. Perelman Stage Opening Date: September 23, 2009; Closing Date: September 24, 2009 Performances: 2 Lyrics: Bjorn Ulvaeus; English lyrics by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Herbert Kretzmer Music: Benny Andersson Based on four novels by Vilhelm Moberg (The Emigrants, 1949; Unto a Good Land, 1952; The Settlers, 1956; and The Last Letter Home, 1959). Direction: Lars Rudolfsson; Producers: Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, Ki-Chi-Saga, and Universal Music; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Projection Design: Howard Werner; Costumes: Kersti Vitali; Lighting: Natasha Katz; Musical Direction: Paul Gemignani Cast: Helen Sjoholm (Kristina), Russell Watson (Karl Oskar), Louise Pitre (Ulrika), Kevin Odekirk (Robert), David Hess (Daniel), Robert Ousley (Brusander), Greg Stone (Arvid), Joy Hermalyn (Fina-Kajsa), Walter Charles (Jackson), Raymond Jaramillo McLeod (Nojd), Jessica Vosk (Elin); Ensemble: Derin Altay, Chris Bohannon, Jane Brockman, Walter Charles, Rebecca Eichenberger, Osborn Focht, Blythe Gruda, Liz Griffith, Joy Hermalyn, David Hess, Michael James Leslie, T. Doyle Leverett, Rob Lorey, Frank Mastrone, Raymond Jaramillo McLeod, Linda Mugleston, Jane Neuberger, Robert Ousley, Sal Sabella, Wayne Schroder, Greg Stone, Jessica Vosk, Kathy Voytko The concert was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century, mostly in Sweden and Minnesota.

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Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Path of Leaves and Needles” (Helen Sjoholm); “Where You Go I Go with You” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson, Unidentified Performer [singing role of Marta], Ensemble); “Stone Kingdom” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson); “Down to the Sea” (Kevin Odekirk); “A Bad Harvest” (Russell Watson, Helen Sjoholm, Unidentified Performer [singing role of Anna], Ensemble); “No!” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson, Kevin Odekirk); “He’s Our Pilot” (David Hess, Ensemble); “Never” (Louise Pitre); “Golden Wheat Fields” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson, Unidentified Performer [singing role of Marta]); “All Who Are Grieving” (Ensemble); “We Open Up the Gateways” (Robert Ousley, Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson, Kevin Odekirk, Louise Pitre, David Hess, Ensemble); “Peasants at Sea” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson, Ensemble); “Lice” (Helen Sjoholm, Louise Pitre, Joy Hermalyn, David Hess, Ensemble); “In the Dead of Darkness” (Russell Watson); “A Sunday in Battery Park” (David Hess, Joy Hermalyn, Kevin Odekirk, Ensemble); “Home” (Helen Sjoholm, Children, Ensemble); “American Man” (Joy Hermalyn, Helen Sjoholm, Jessica Vosk, Louise Pitre, Walter Charles); “Dreams of Gold” (Kevin Odekirk, Greg Stone, Russell Watson); “Summer Rose” (Helen Sjoholm, Ensemble) Act Two: “Emperors and Kings” (Louise Pitre, Joy Hermalyn, David Hess, Russell Watson, Helen Sjoholm, Ensemble); “Twilight Images Calling” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson); “Queen of the Prairie” (Russell Watson, Children, Helen Sjoholm, David Hess, Joy Hermalyn, Raymond Jaramillo McLeod, Louise Pitre, Ensemble); “Wild Grass” (Raymond Jaramillo McLeod, Russell Watson, Ensemble); “Gold Can Turn to Sand” (Helen Sjoholm, Kevin Odekirk, Unidentified Performer [singing role of Marta]); “Wildcat Money” (Russell Watson, Ensemble); “To the Sea” (Kevin Odekirk); “Miracle of God” (Louise Pitre, Helen Sjoholm); “Down to the Waterside” (Ensemble); “Miscarriage” (Russell Watson, Louise Pitre); “You Have to Be There” (Helen Sjoholm); “Here I Am Again” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson); “With Child Again” (Helen Sjoholm, Ensemble); “Rising from Myth and Legend” (Ensemble); “I’ll Be Waiting There” (Helen Sjoholm, Russell Watson); “Summer Rose” (reprise) (Ensemble) Kristina was a self-described “concert event” of the hit musical Kristina fran Duvemala (Kristina from Duvemala), which opened in Stockholm on October 7, 1995, and played continuously during a three-to-fouryear period in various productions. The book and lyrics were by Bjorn Ulvaeus and the music by Benny Andersson, who founded and performed in the ABBA singing group and wrote the group’s songs, many of which were used in the hit jukebox musical Mamma Mia! (London, 1999; New York, 2001). Ulvaeus and Andersson also wrote the memorable songs for Chess (London, 1986; New York, 1988). Ulvaeus and Herbert Kretzmer wrote the English lyrics for Kristina, and the latter had also supplied the English lyrics for Les Miserables. The Carnegie Hall concert was presented under the shortened title of Kristina, and the limited engagement of two performances included twenty-seven singers and fifty-two musicians; among the cast members were Helen Sjoholm, who had created the title role in Sweden, and Louise Pitre, who played the leading role of the mother (Donna Sheridan) in the original Broadway production of Mamma Mia! The critics were impressed with Kristina’s score, but felt the evening was too long. Steven Suskin in Variety noted that the concert lasted almost three hours, and this led him to “wonder how long the uncut piece runs.” Suskin said the score was “more impressive” than Chess, but he suspected that for Broadway audiences the subject matter of poor Swedish farmers trying to eke out a living in the Minnesota Territory was perhaps “less than gripping.” Stephen Holden in the New York Times said the “lavish” concert version of the “bombastic” musical was, like Les Miserables, “another musical pageant with epic pretensions,” but felt that Kristina’s score was “more substantial” and had “more than its share of showstoppers.” He mentioned that once the Swedes settle in the United States the score became “deliberately more American in flavor,” including “Gold Can Turn to Sand,” which was “a robust quasioperatic cowboy song.” Richard Corliss in Time praised the “superb” score, which offered “some of the most rapturous melodies ever heard in Carnegie Hall.” He mentioned that many felt Chess was the “richest score” of its decade, and Kristina now offered “the most luscious score” since Chess. But he cautioned that the story jumped “from one crisis to another” and thus proved “not only too epic but too episodic” and “far too dour” for Broadway audiences. The musical was based on four novels by Vilhelm Moberg, The Emigrants (1949), Unto a Good Land (1952), The Settlers (1956), and The Last Letter Home (1959), and some of this material served as the source

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for the films The Emigrants (1971) and The New Land (1972), both of which were directed by Jan Troell and starred Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow. In March 2006, a private workshop of Kristina had been presented in New York, and Michael Riedel in the New York Post reported that those in attendance gave it mixed reviews: the “dramatic and stirring” score had been “successfully” translated into English, but otherwise the show was far too long (Riedel noted that one source said “it took less time to discover the New World,” and another quipped that “the trip to Minnesota was a long one”). Riedel also mentioned that librettist John Weidman was involved in the workshop. The musical was scheduled to begin its pre-Broadway tryout in Minneapolis during Fall 2006, with a Broadway opening the following spring. Of course, the tryout and Broadway production never happened, and so the current “concert event” is likely to be New York’s only exposure to the ambitious musical. A Swedish production of Kristina was released on a three-CD set by Mono Records, and the Carnegie Hall concert was recorded on a two-CD set by Decca Broadway (# B00014228-02). “You Have to Be There” was performed by Alice Ripley on the two-CD collection Emily Skinner/Alice Ripley: Raw at Town Hall (Kritzerland Records # KR-20011-0).

BYE BYE BIRDIE Theatre: Henry Miller’s Theatre Opening Date: October 15, 2009; Closing Date: January 22, 2010 Performances: 117 Book: Michael Stewart Lyrics: Lee Adams Music: Charles Strouse Direction and Choreography: Robert Longbottom (Tom Kosis, Associate Director); Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director) (Sydney Beers, Executive Producer); Scenery: Andrew Jackness; Projection Design: Howard Werner; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: David Holcenberg Cast: Bill Irwin (Harry MacAfee), Dee Hoty (Mrs. MacAfee), Jake Evan Schwencke (Randolph MacAfee), Alice Trimm (Kim MacAfee), Nolan Gerard Funk (Conrad Birdie), John Stamos (Albert Peterson), Gina Gershon (Rose Alvarez); The Teenagers: Allison Strong, Julia Knitel, Emma Rowley, Jess LeProtto, Daniel Quadrino, Paul Pilcz, Deanna Cipolla, Kevin Shotwell, Riley Costello, Catherine Blades, and Jillian Mueller; Brynn Williams (Ursula Merkle); The Fan Club Girls: Allison Strong, Julia Knitel, Emma Rowley, Deanna Cipolla, Catherine Blades, and Jillian Mueller; Jayne Houdyshell (Mae Peterson), Matt Doyle (Hugo Peabody); Reporters and Parents: Paula Leggett Chase, John Treacy Egan, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Todd Gearhart, Patty Goble, Suzanne Grodner, Natalie Hill, David McDonald, JC Montgomery, and Timothy Shew; Timothy Shew (Mayor Garfein), Patty Goble (Mrs. Edna Garfein), Suzanne Grodner (Mrs. Merkle), Paula Leggett Chase (Gloria Rasputin); TV Quartet: Matt Doyle, Jess LeProtto, Daniel Quadrino, and Kevin Shotwell; David McDonald (TV Stage Manager), Jim Walton (Charles Maude); Bar Quartet: John Treacy Egan, David McDonald, JC Montgomery, and Timothy Shew; Will Jordan (Ed Sullivan) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in New York City and in Sweet Apple, Ohio.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture/Prologue: “We Love You, Conrad” (The Fan Club Girls); “An English Teacher” (Gina Gershon); “The Telephone Hour” (The Teenagers); “How Lovely to Be a Woman” (Alice Trimm); “Put on a Happy Face” (John Stamos, The Fan Club Girls); “A Healthy, Normal American Boy” (aka “Normal American Boy”) (Gina Gershon, John Stamos, The Fan Club Girls, Reporters); “One Boy” (Alice Trimm, Matt Doyle, characters of Helen and Alice [character names and performers portraying them not identified in program], Gina Gershon); “Honestly Sincere” (Nolan Gerard Funk); “Hymn for a Sunday Evening” (The MacAfee Family); “One Last Kiss” (Nolan Gerard Funk, The MacAfee Family, TV Quartet, Company)

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Act Two: “What Did I Ever See in Him?” (Gina Gershon, Alice Trimm); “Kids” (Bill Irwin, Dee Hoty, Jake Evan Schwencke); “A Lot of Livin’ to Do” (Nolan Gerard Funk, Alice Trimm, The Teenagers); “Baby, Talk to Me” (John Stamos, Men’s Quartet); “Spanish Rose” (Gina Gershon); “Rosie” (John Stamos, Gina Gershon); “Bye Bye Birdie” (Company) In 1958, Elvis Presley was drafted into the army, and in recognition of one of the most momentous events in the annals of American history, a song called “Bye Bye Elvis” was released by ABC-Paramount Records (45 RPM # 45-9900-AMP-45-3202) (the record label itself provides three last names for lyricist and composer credits, Norton, Goldstein, and Carol, but the Library of Congress cites Harold Nussbaum, William S. Goldstein, and Jimmie Arnold as the creators of the number). Sung by Genee Harris, the song explores the existential angst facing the teenagers of America when they realize they must cope without Elvis, “Hound Dog,” and “Don’t Be Cruel” (and the song further asks the rhetorical question of what teens are going to sing and dance to at parties after school). Happily, the nation’s teens and the country itself were able to pull together and get through Elvis’s stint in the Army. Two years later, the Elvis-into-the-Army phenomenon was spoofed in Bye Bye Birdie with a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse (during the musical’s preproduction phase it was known as Love and Kisses and Let’s Go Steady). About-to-be-drafted rock ’n’ roll superstar Conrad Birdie (Nolan Gerard Funk) will sing “One Last Kiss” on national television to the lucky girl chosen from millions of hopeful teenage misses, and the one selected for such an honor turns out to be Kim MacAfee (Alice Trimm) from Sweet Apple, Ohio. Kim’s family members must deal with the blessing (and the publicity) bestowed upon them when, live and in person on The Ed Sullivan Show, Kim is to be given one last kiss from Birdie before he joins the boys in the barracks. And once Birdie’s inducted, his manager Albert Peterson (John Stamos) and Albert’s secretary Rosie (Gina Gershon) hope to get on with their lives, particularly Rosie, who in Adelaide-Guys-and-Dolls fashion has been waiting eight long years for a trip to the altar. But Rosie has a problem Adelaide never had to face: a formidable and hateful prospective mother-in-law. Yes, Albert’s bigoted and troublesome mother Mae (Jayne Houdyshell) is convinced that Allentown, Pennsylvania-born Rosie is really a hot tamale from south of the border. But all ends well: Birdie goes into the army, sanity is restored to the MacAfee household, Kim resumes her high school routine, and Albert decides it’s high time to untie the silver cord and tie the knot with Rosie. During the decades following its Broadway premiere, Bye Bye Birdie became a staple in regional, community, and high school theatre, but oddly enough, it took forty-nine years for a Broadway revival. Unfortunately, the current presentation was less than inspired, and its indifferent reception will no doubt relegate the musical to another forty-nine-year limbo before risking Broadway again. The revival interpolated a title song which had been written for the 1963 film version, and omitted two dance sequences (the “How to Kill a Man” ballet and “Shriners’ Ballet”), both which featured Chita Rivera, who played Rosie in the original Broadway production. The revival also omitted the film montage sequence “The World at Large,” which opened the second act and was accompanied by background music. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the revival had a “tin ear,” a “loss of comic timing,” and a “prickly disorientation” in which the leading performers were “equally inconsistent in their approaches” and were “cartoons” from “different comic books.” Director Robert Longbottom had “lost his sense of direction” in this “flattened” production, and for the MacAfee’s quartet “Hymn for a Sunday Evening,” Bill Irwin’s participation brought forth results that were “not pretty”; further, Irwin lapsed into “his familiar neovaudevillian shtick” in which he took on “disconnected funny postures and voices,” all of which led one to “wonder if Dad hasn’t gone psycho.” David Rooney in Variety complained that Irwin’s “mugging” was a “miss,” and with his “tics,” “moves,” and “fussy vocal affectations” he seemed “to be performing in an unrelated production.” And Rooney stated Irwin “should never be encouraged to sing in public again. Ever.” The revival’s one “bright spot” was Jayne Houdyshell, who hit “the satirical mark and fully inhabits her comic characterization” as Albert’s “monstrous” mother, an “unapologetic bigot and champion of maternal martyrdom.” The revival itself was like “warmed-over apple pie and flat soda pop” and it was both “miscast” and “over-designed.” An “aggressive blandness” permeated the evening, Stamos and Gershon shared “minimal chemistry,” and Longbottom made “little effort to refresh the material beyond smirking at it.” John Lahr in the New Yorker said Stamos and Gershon had “no whiff of humor” about themselves and without “idiosyncrasy and chemistry” they were unmemorable and had only Strouse’s “fetching” music and

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Adams’s “cute” lyrics “to lift them up over the footlights.” But the “imperious” Houdyshell couldn’t be accused of “being unmemorable,” and her character was “laden” with “every castrating-Jewish-mother stereotype known to man.” As for Irwin, he played Mr. MacAfee “in a broad, silly-walk version” and “sometimes seems to be appearing in his own play.” Lahr noted that as a comedian Irwin “never does it for me—he’s too self-conscious” and “you can see him working.” But Lahr noted that the audience loved the performer, and when his character appeared as Abraham Lincoln on The Ed Sullivan Show and he tried to upstage his daughter, it was “a moment of genuine and inspired slapstick.” The original Broadway production opened at the Martin Beck (now Al Hirschfeld) Theatre on April 14, 1960, for 607 performances, and won five Tony Awards, for Best Musical, Best Book (Stewart), Best Direction and Best Choreography (Gower Champion), and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (for Dick Van Dyke, as Albert). The hardback script was belatedly published by DBS Publications, Inc., in 1968, and the original cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # KOL/OL-5510 and # KOS/OS-2025); the CD was issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records (# SK-89254) and includes a bonus track of Strouse performing “Put on a Happy Face.” It appears that an early version of this song was first heard in the 1958 regional revue Take Me to Your Leader. Birdie’s demo recording by Adams and Strouse includes the unused song “All Woman.” “Older and Wiser” had been dropped in preproduction (and had been replaced with “What Did I Ever See in Him?”), but was recorded for the collection Lost in Boston III (Varese Sarabande Records CD # VSD-5563). The London production opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on June 15, 1961, for 268 performances; Rivera reprised her Rosie, and other cast members included Peter Marshall (Albert), Angela Baddeley (Mae), and Marty Wilde (Birdie). The cast recording was released by Mercury Records (LP # MGW-13000) and the CD was issued by Decca Broadway Records (# 314-586-432-2). The reasonably faithful 1963 film version by Columbia Pictures included Van Dyke in a reprise of his stage role, Janet Leigh (Rosie), Ann-Margret (her performance reveals that Kim attended high school in both Sweet Apple and Las Vegas), Maureen Stapleton (Mae), Bobby Rydell (Hugo), Jessie Pearson (Birdie), Paul Lynde (in high-flying form as Mr. MacAfee, a role he originated in the Broadway version), and Ed Sullivan as himself. The film included one new number (the title song); the screenplay was by Irving Brecher, and the film was directed by George Stevens and choreographed by Onna White. The soundtrack album was released by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1081-RE), and a later CD release by RCA/BMG Heritage Records (# 82876-54217-2) includes three outtakes, “We Love You, Conrad,” “One Last Kiss” (gym rehearsal version), and “The Sultans’ Ballet” (“Shriners’ Ballet” for Broadway, and in the final release print the dance is fleetingly performed). Rydell also recorded an album of songs from the musical on Cameo Records (LP # C-1043), and for the recording “How Lovely to Be a Woman” was refashioned as “How Lovely to Love a Woman.” In 1989, the musical was revived by the Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, Missouri (The MUNY), with Tommy Tune (Albert), Ann Reinking (Rosie), Marcia Lewis (Mae), Alan Sues (Mr. MacAfee), and Susan Egan (Kim). In 1991, a national tour starred Tune, Reinking, Marilyn Cooper (Mae), and Marc Kudisch (Birdie); the score included one new song (“Take a Giant Step,” for Albert), and, in a nod to political correctness, Rosie’s tongue-in-cheek “Spanish Rose” was reworked as the duet “He’s Mine” for Mae and Rosie. On December 3, 1995, a dreary television adaptation was presented on ABC; directed by Gene Saks and choreographed by Reinking, the cast included Jason Alexander (Albert), Vanessa Williams (Rosie), Tyne Daly (Mae), Kudisch (Birdie), Chynna Phillips (Kim), George Wendt (Mr. MacAfee), and Sally Mayes (Mrs. MacAfee). Two songs were written for this version, “Let’s Settle Down” (Rosie) and “When a Mother Doesn’t Matter Anymore” (Daly), and the score also included “Take a Giant Step” as well as “Spanish Rose.” The soundtrack was released by RCA Victor Records (CD # 09026-68356-2), and the DVD by Crown/America Video. Twenty-one years after Birdie’s Broadway premiere, Stewart, Adams, and Strouse collaborated on a dismal sequel called Bring Back Birdie that played for four performances beginning on March 5, 1981, at the Martin Beck, the original Broadway home of the 1960 production. Directed and choreographed by Joe Layton, the sequel took place twenty years after the action in the original production: Albert (Donald O’Connor) and Rosie (Rivera, reprising her original role) are married, and Rosie’s wish has come true because Albert is now an English teacher. But he’s called back into show business when the producers of the Grammy telecast offer him twenty-thousand dollars to locate Birdie so that the one-time and now has-been star can participate in a tribute to former pop singers on the upcoming television special. It seems that Birdie has drifted into obscurity, and so it’s up to Albert to track him down. Others in the cast were Maria Karnilova (Mae), Marcel

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Forestieri (Birdie [Forestieri was a real-life Elvis impersonator]), and Maurice Hines (who played a detective). The show was blasted by the critics for its weak book and score (Joel Siegel on WABC-TV said that the original Bye Bye Birdie “cooked,” but its sequel was “defrosted”). Although not listed in the program, the score interpolated “Rosie” from the original production, and the number is included on the sequel’s cast album issued by Original Cast Records (LP # OC-8132) and later released on CD by Varese Sarabande Records (# VSD-5440). Incidentally, Bye Bye Birdie is one of fourteen Broadway plays and musicals whose poster artwork was featured on colorful tiles/trivets released in the early 1960s by a company named Theatre Tiles. Besides Birdie, the following shows were represented in the series (although the tiles were released in the early 1960s, a few shows in the series had opened in the 1950s): Becket, Camelot, Carnival!, Do Re Mi, Fiorello!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Gypsy, Irma La Douce, Milk and Honey, My Fair Lady, No Strings, A Shot in the Dark, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

MEMPHIS Theatre: Shubert Theatre Opening Date: October 19, 2009; Closing Date: August 5, 2012 Performances: 1,165 Book: Joe DiPietro Lyrics: Joe DiPietro and David Bryan Music: David Bryan Direction: Christopher Ashley; Producers: Junkyard Dog Productions, Barbara and Buddy Freitag, Marleen and Kenny Alhadeff, Latitude Link, Jim and Susan Blair, Demos Bizar Entertainment, Land Line Productions, Apples and Oranges Productions, Dave Copley, Dancap Productions, Inc., Alex and Katya Lukianov, Tony Ponturo, 2 Guys Productions, and Richard Winkler in association with Lauren Doll, Eric and Marsi Gardiner, Linda and Bill Potter, Broadway Across America, Jocko Productions, Patty Baker, Dan Frishwasser, Bob Bartner/Scott and Kaylin Union, Loraine Boyle/Chase Mishkin, Remmel T. Dickinson/Memphis Orpheum Group, and ShadowCatcher Entertainment/Vijay and Sita Vashee (Emily and Aaron Alhadeff, Alison and Andi Alhadeff, Ken Clay, Joseph Craig, Ron and Marjorie Danz, Cyrena Esposito, Bruce and Joanne Glant, and Matt Murphy, Associate Producers); Choreography: Sergio Trujillo (Kelly Devine, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: David Gallo; Projection Design: David Gallo and Shawn Sagady; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: Kenny J. Seymour Cast: John Jellison (White DJ, Mr. Collins, Gordon Grant, Ensemble), Rhett George (Black DJ, Ensemble), J. Bernard Calloway (Delray), Derrick Baskin (Gator), James Monroe Iglehart (Bobby), John Eric Parker (Ensemble, Wailin’ Joe, Reverend Hobson), Tracee Beazer (Ensemble), Dionne Figgins (Ensemble), Vivian Nixon (Ensemble), LaQuet Sharnell (Ensemble, Ethel), Ephraim M. Sykes (Ensemble), Danny Tidwell (Ensemble), Daniel J. Watts (Ensemble), Dan’Yelle Williamson (Ensemble), Montego Glover (Felicia), Chad Kimball (Huey), Michael McGrath (Mr. Simmons), Jennifer Allen (Clara, Ensemble), Kevin Covert (Buck Wiley, Ensemble, Martin Holton), Hillary Elk (Ensemble), Bryan Fenkart (Ensemble), Cary Tedder (Ensemble), Katie Webber (Ensemble), Charlie Williams (Ensemble), Brad Bass (Perry Como, Ensemble, Frank Dryer), Cass Morgan (Mama) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place mostly in Memphis during the 1950s.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Underground” (J. Bernard Calloway, Montego Glover, Company); “The Music of My Soul” (Chad Kimball, Montego Glover, Company); “Scratch My Itch” (John Eric Parker, Company); “Ain’t Nothin’ but a Kiss” (Montego Glover, Chad Kimball); “Hello, My Name Is Huey” (Chad Kimball); “Everybody Wants to Be Black on Saturday Night” (Company); “Make Me Stronger” (Chad Kimball, Cass Morgan, Montego Glover, Company); “Colored Woman” (Montego Glover); “Someday” (Montego Glover, Company); “She’s My Sister” (J. Bernard Calloway, Chad Kimball); “Radio” (Chad Kimball, Company); “Say a Prayer” (Derrick Baskin)

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Act Two: “Crazy Little Huey” (Chad Kimball, Company); “Big Love” (James Monroe Iglehart); “Love Will Stand When All Else Fails” (Montego Glover, Company); “Stand Up” (J. Bernard Calloway, Montego Glover, Chad Kimball, Derrick Baskin, James Monroe Iglehart, Company); “Change Don’t Come Easy” (Cass Morgan, J. Bernard Calloway, Derrick Baskin, James Monroe Iglehart); “Tear Down the House” (Chad Kimball, Company); “Love Will Stand When All Else Fails”/“Ain’t Nothin’ but a Kiss” (reprises) (Montego Glover, Chad Kimball); “Memphis Lives in Me” (Chad Kimball, Company); “Steal Your Rock ’n’ Roll” (Chad Kimball, Montego Glover, Company) Memphis won a number of major awards, including Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book, and it ran almost three years. But for all that, the score was obvious and unmemorable, and the story was drenched in cornball cliché. Set in Memphis during the 1950s, the story focused on two show-business wannabes: the white Huey wants to be a disk jockey and his goal in life is to introduce black music to white teenagers, and the black singer Felicia wants to break out from local nightclub popularity into the big time. Despite objections from her brother and his mother, the two fall in love. But this being the 1950s, their romance never really has a chance and they face prejudice when they kiss on a public street and she is summarily beaten by a group of thugs who happen to come along and witness the forbidden kiss. Ultimately, Felicia finds national popularity as a singer, but Huey’s life is more modest and he remains in Memphis as a DJ for a small radio station. Charles Isherwood in the New York Times decided the “slick but formulaic” evening barely generated “enough heat to warp a vinyl record,” and while the show wasn’t a “comedy” it was nonetheless a “cartoon.” When Huey plays a black song in a department store’s record shop, the whites are suddenly “twitching their hips and snapping up 45s” of the number, and later for a radio program he plays black music and “instantly” all of Memphis is “getting down.” According to the show’s creators, “the depiction of sweet soul music” is capable of “dissolving bigotry in the hearts of white listeners,” and even Huey’s prejudiced mother is soon leading a “gospel sing-along.” Further, Isherwood noted that if you hadn’t guessed that a black character who witnessed his father’s lynching and has thus been mute since childhood will soon “find his voice at a crucial moment,” then “you really need to get out more.” As for the lyrics, they were “competent but cliché-ridden” and Memphis felt “like a cover version of a song you’ve heard done better before.” David Rooney in Variety said the musical evoked “familiar threads” from Hairspray and Dreamgirls and noted there was a “nagging predictability” to the “entertaining but synthetic” evening. The book was “superficial,” “sketchy,” and “unconvincing,” the second act was “weak,” the lyrics were “cliché-drenched,” and the “generic but well-crafted” score was “more imitative than inspired” and couldn’t “escape the feel of accomplished pastiche.” But Sergio Trujillo’s “muscular” choreography and his “high-energy” dancers maintained “momentum even when the storytelling flags.” John Lahr in the New Yorker stated that the “overproduced,” “overamplified,” and “overlong” evening offered a book that checked off “all the thematic boxes: prejudice, violence, hardship, stardom, failure, and redemption,” and while patrons might leave the theatre feeling they’d had an “exciting experience” they’d be “unable to recall a song, a melody, or a line of dialogue” and no doubt wouldn’t “quite remember” what the experience was. Patrick Healy in the Times reported that the musical cost an estimated $11 million to open, ticket sales had been “uneven,” and for one week during June 2012 the show grossed the “relatively modest” amount of $541,602, which was 44 percent of capacity. However, he noted that a representative of the musical said the production “was on the verge of recouping its full capitalization.” The original cast album was released by Delray/Rhino Records (CD # R2-523944) and includes a bonus track of composer and co-lyricist David Bryan performing “The Music of My Soul.” The script was published in paperback by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 2011, and the musical was filmed during a series of live New York performances and was released on DVD by the Shout! Factory.

Awards Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Musical (Memphis); Best Book (Joe DiPietro); Best Score (lyrics by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, music by David Bryan); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Chad Kimball); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Montego Glover); Best Costume Design of

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a Musical (Paul Tazewell); Best Direction of a Musical (Christopher Ashley); Best Orchestrations (Daryl Waters and David Bryan)

FINIAN’S RAINBOW Theatre: St. James Theatre Opening Date: October 29, 2009; Closing Date: January 17, 2010 Performances: 92 Book: E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy; book adaptation by Arthur Perlman Lyrics: E. Y. Harburg Music: Burton Lane Direction and Choreography: Warren Carlyle (Parker Esse, Associate Choreographer); Producers: David Richenthal, Jack Viertel, Alan D. Marks, Michael Speyer, Bernard Abrams, David M. Milch, Stephen Moore, Debbie Bisno/Myla Lerner, and Jujamcyn Theatres in association with Melly Garcia, Jamie Deroy, Jon Bierman, Richard Driehaus, Kevin Spirtas, Jay Binder, and StageVentures 2009 Limited Partnership (Andrew Hartman and Gail Lawrence, Associate Producers) (Nicole Kastrinos, Executive Producer); Scenery: John Lee Beatty; Costumes: Toni-Leslie James; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Rob Berman Cast: Guy Davis (Sunny), Terri White (Dottie), William Youmans (Buzz Collins), Brian Reddy (Sheriff), Alina Faye (Susan Mahoney), Jim Norton (Finian McLonergan), Kate Baldwin (Sharon McLonergan), Cheyenne Jackson (Woody Mahoney), Christopher Borger (Henry), Paige Simunovich (Diana), Christopher Fitzgerald (Og), Tyrick Wiltez Jones (Howard), David Schramm (Senator Rawkins), Joe Aaron Reid (Black Geologist), Taylor Frey (White Geologist), Steve Schepis (Deputy), Chuck Cooper (Bill Rawkins), James Stovall (Preacher, Second Gospeleer), Tim Hartman (Mr. Shears), Kevin Ligon (Mr. Robust), Bernard Dotson (First Gospeleer), Devin Richards (Third Gospeleer); Sharecroppers: Tanya Birl (Betty), Meggie Cansler (Meg), Bernard Dotson (George), Leslie Donna Flesner (Melinda), Sara Jean Ford (Arlene), Taylor Frey (Jack), Lisa Gajda (Rose), Kearran Giovanni (Suzanne), Tim Hartman (John), Tyrick Wiltez-Jones (Howard), Kevin Ligon (Frank), Monica L. Patton (Charlotte), Joe Aaron Reid (Jessie), Devin Richards (Eugene), Steve Schepis (Sam), Rashidra Scott (Dolores), James Stovall (Willie) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in the mythical state of Missitucky in the 1940s.

Musical Numbers Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “This Time of Year” (Sharecroppers); “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” (Kate Baldwin); “Look to the Rainbow” (Kate Baldwin, Jim Norton, Cheyenne Jackson, Sharecroppers); “Old Devil Moon” (Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin); “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” (reprise) (Kate Baldwin); “Something Sort of Grandish” (Christopher Fitzgerald, Kate Baldwin); “If This Isn’t Love” (Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin, Jim Norton, Sharecroppers); “Something Sort of Grandish” (reprise) (Christopher Fitzgerald, Christopher Borger, Paige Simunovich); “Necessity” (Terri White, Women, Guy Davis); “(That) Great Come-and-Get-It Day” (Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin, James Stovall, Christopher Borger, Sharecroppers) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich” (Jim Norton, Kate Fitzgerald, Kate Baldwin, Sharecroppers); “Old Devil Moon” (reprise) (Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin); “Dance o’ the Golden Crock” (Aline Faye, Guy Davis); “The Begat” (Bernard Dotson, James Stovall, Devin Richards, Chuck Cooper); “Look to the Rainbow” (reprise) (Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin, Sharecroppers); “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love” (Christopher Fitzgerald); “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” (reprise) (Cheyenne Jackson, Kate Baldwin, Company) The revival of Finian’s Rainbow originated at City Center in an Encores! concert production that was given for five performances beginning on March 26, 2009, in an adaptation by David Ives. With the major exception of Philip Bosco (who played Senator Rawkins, and for Broadway was succeeded by David Schramm), most of the Encores! principals appeared in the Broadway version that opened six months later.

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Finian’s Rainbow was a satiric and sly old-fashioned musical comedy with a social edge, and it focused on Irishman Finian (Jim Norton) who steals a pot of gold from the leprechaun Og (Christopher Fitzgerald), travels to the United States with his daughter Sharon (Kate Baldwin), and proceeds to hide the treasure somewhere in the state of Missitucky. But Og follows Finian to Missitucky in his determination to retrieve the stolen loot. The amusing story included an array of black and white sharecroppers, including Woody Mahoney (Cheyenne Jackson), who falls in love with Sharon, and Susan the Silent (Alina Faye), who dances out her dialogue. Also figuring into the story was bigoted Senator Billboard Rawkins (Schramm), whom Og turns into a black man in order to give the senator a taste of what discrimination is like. Burton Lane’s rich melodies and E. Y. Harburg’s alternately romantic and satiric lyrics provided one of the greatest Broadway scores: the lovely folk-like “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” (with its hyperbolic geography) could have been part of John McCormack’s repertoire (and for the musical’s final lines of dialogue, Glocca Morra is referenced in devastating and haunting fashion), the rousing “If This Isn’t Love,” the piquant “Look to the Rainbow,” the irresistible “Old Devil Moon” (with its especially insinuating and expansive melody), Og’s amusing and tongue-twisting “Something Sort of Grandish” and “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love,” the satiric “Necessity” and “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich,” and the gospel-styled flavorings of “(That) Great Come-and-Get-It Day” and “The Begat.” For years the musical was deemed unrevivable because of its use of blackface to depict the prejudiced white senator who is turned into a black. But the current production solved the problem in an easy way, a solution that should have always been obvious to everyone: a white actor and a black actor who bore a basic resemblance to one another were cast as the “before” and “after” sides of the senator. Despite good reviews, the revival didn’t catch on and closed after less than three months. Ben Brantley in the New York Times praised the “joyous” and “thoroughly winning” production, which offered “nimble” direction, “buoyant” choreography, and a “bounteous” score sung with “lively conviction.” But he cautioned that the show looked “cheap” and had been “only modestly upgraded” since the Encores! showings a few months earlier. David Rooney in Variety said that Arthur Perlman had “skillfully” adapted the book, and the evening was an “enchanting package” with choreography that blended “classical with Celtic with hoedown to buoyant effect.” Toni-Leslie James’s costumes were “characterful,” Ken Billington’s lighting was “sugarkissed,” and the score was one of Broadway’s “most consistently melodious” ones. John Lahr in the New Yorker liked scenic designer John Lee Beatty’s “beautiful burlap-and-floral patchwork curtain,” which was “well-lit” by Billington and thus set “the perfect mood for this American fantasia.” He noted that the lines on 44th Street indicated the revival would be “around for a while,” but as noted the show failed to become a must-see and was gone within a few weeks. The self-described “musical satire” first opened at the 46th Street (now Richard Rodgers) Theatre on January 10, 1947, for 725 performances. The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1947, and was later included in the 2014 hardback collection American Musicals published by the Library of America (which includes the scripts of fifteen other musicals). The cast album was released by Columbia Records (LP # ML-4062 and # OS-2080); the CD was issued by Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy Records (# SK-89208) and includes bonus tracks of Harburg discussing and singing “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?,” “When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love,” and the unused “Don’t Pass Me By.” The CD also includes an alternate take of “(That) Great Come-and-Get-It Day” which features Donald Richards (who played Woody in the original production). For the Broadway production, Richards, Ella Logan, and the singing ensemble performed the number (for which Richards was the lead singer), but for the cast album Logan was the lead singer. However, another take of the song was recorded during the original cast album session with Richards as lead singer, and it’s this version heard on the CD. The show’s original LP and first CD release (Columbia Records # 4062) offer the song with Logan as lead singer, and it’s curious why both the Logan and Richards versions weren’t included on the second CD release. Including the current production, the musical has been revived in New York six times (seven if one counts the 1960 revival as two separate productions; see below). The first three (in 1955, 1960, and 1967) were presented at City Center by the New York City Center Light Opera Company. The first opened on May 18, 1955, with Will Mahoney (Finian), Helen Gallagher (Sharon), Don (aka Donald) Driver (Og), Merv Griffin (Woody), and Anita Alvarez (reprising her original Broadway role of Susan the Silent). The 1960 revival opened on April 27 for fifteen performances, and then on May 23 transferred to Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre, the home of the original 1947 production. Unlike the not-for-profit City Center mounting, the transfer was produced by Robert Fryer and Lawrence Carr, with John F. Herman and Theatrical Interests Plan, Inc.; it played for twelve performances, and was the only musical to be commercially revived

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on Broadway during the entire decade of the 1960s. The cast for both productions included Bobby Howes (the father of Sally Ann Howes), who here made his Broadway debut as Finian (a role he also played in the original London production), Jeannie Carson (Sharon), Howard Morris (Og), and Biff McGuire (Woody). For the City Center mounting, Alvarez again appeared as Susan, but for Broadway she was succeeded by Carmen Gutierrez. The revival was recorded by RCA Victor Records (LP # LOC/LSO-1057), and the CD issued by RCA (# 10572-RG) includes the previously unreleased track of the finale/reprise of “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” The 1967 revival opened on April 5 for twenty-three performances with Frank McHugh (Finian), Nancy Dussault (Sharon), Len Gochman (Og), Stanley Grover (Woody), and Sandy Duncan (Susan). Produced by the Irish Repertory Theatre, the next revival opened Off Broadway on April 15, 2004, for 106 performances with Jonathan Freeman (Finian), Melissa Errico (Sharon), Malcolm Gets (Og), Max von Essen (Woody), and Terri White (who also appeared in both the Encores! and current revivals); the production was recorded by Ghostlight Records (CD # 4402-2) and includes a bonus track of Harburg singing “Old Devil Moon.” (The Irish Rep revived the musical in 2016). The London production opened at the Palace Theatre on October 21, 1947, for a disappointing run of fifty-five performances. A faithful if belated film version (which except for “Necessity” included the entire score) was released by Warner Brothers in 1968 with direction by Francis Ford Coppola. The cast includes Fred Astaire (Finian), Petula Clark (Sharon), Tommy Steele (Og), and Don Francks (Woody), the latter’s appearance just about the only chance to see the performer who created the title role for the notorious 1965 Broadway fiasco Kelly. The soundtrack was released by Warner Brothers Records (LP # BS-2550) and includes the outtake of “Necessity”; the CD was issued by Warner Brothers/Rhino Records (# RHM2-7852) and includes previously unissued tracks of the overture, entr’acte, and exit music. (Years before the film’s release, a cartoon version of the musical was announced for production, but never materialized.) As the years go by, the film version of Finian’s Rainbow looks better and better, and it’s one of the most enjoyable movie musicals from an era that generally offered mammoth, dead-on-arrival Broadway adaptations such as Camelot, Half a Sixpence, Paint Your Wagon, Hello, Dolly!, and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. The current revival was recorded by PS Classics (CD # PS-1088) and marks the musical’s fourth New York cast album.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival (Finian’s Rainbow); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Kate Baldwin); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Fitzgerald)

RAGTIME “The Musical”

Theatre: Neil Simon Theatre Opening Date: November 15, 2009; Closing Date: January 10, 2010 Performances: 65 Book: Terrence McNally Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens Music: Stephen Flaherty Based on the 1975 novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. Direction and Choreography: Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Josh Walden, Associate Director and Choreographer); Producers: Kevin McCollum, Roy Furman, Scott Delman, Roger Berlind, Max Cooper, Tom Kirdahy/ Devlin Elliott, Jeffrey A. Sine, Stephanie McClelland, Roy Miller, Lams Productions, Jana Robbins, Sharon Karmazin, Eric Falkenstein/Morris Berchard, RialtoGals Productions, Independent Presenters Network, Held-Haffner Productions, HRH Foundation, and Emanuel Azenberg in association with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Michael Kaiser, President; Max Woodward, Vice President); Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Santo Loquasto; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direction: James Moore Cast: Christopher Cox (The Little Boy), Ron Bohmer (Father), Christiane Noll (Mother), Bobby Steggert (Mother’s Younger Brother), Dan Manning (Grandfather), Quentin Earl Darrington (Coalhouse Walker

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Jr.), Stephanie Umoh (Sarah), Eric Jordan Young (Booker T. Washington), Robert Petkoff (Tateh [aka The Baron Ashkenazy]), Sarah Rosenthal (The Little Girl), Jonathan Hammond (Houdini), Michael X. Martin (J. P. Morgan, Admiral Peary), Aaron Galligan-Stierle (Henry Ford), Donna Migliaccio (Emma Goldman), Savannah Wise (Evelyn Nesbit), Terence Archie (Matthew Henson), Mike McGowan (Stanford White, Charles S. Whitman), Josh Walden (Harry K. Thaw), Jennifer Evans (Kathleen), Bryonha Parham (Sarah’s Friend), Mark Aldrich (Willie Conklin), Tracy Lynn Olivera (Brigit), Jayden Brockington or Kylil Christopher Williams (Coalhouse Walker Jr.); Ensemble (New Rochelle Citizens, Harlem Men and Women, Immigrants, Vaudevillians and Stagehands, Judge, Reporters, Child Buyer, Policemen, Ford Workers, Firemen, Trolley Conductor, Millworkers, Strikers, Militia, Train Conductor, Bureaucrats and Lawyers, Baron’s Assistant, Coalhouse Gang, Spectators, Welfare Official, Hotel Staff, Vacationers, Bathing Beauties, and Camera Crew): Mark Aldrich, Sumayya Ali, Terence Archie, Corey Bradley, Jennifer Evans, Aaron Galligan-Stierle, Jonathan Hammond, Carly Hughes, Valisia Lekae, Dan Manning, Michael X. Martin, Mike McGowan, Donna Migliaccio, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Bryonha Parham, Mamie Parris, Nicole Powell, Arbender J. Robinson, Benjamin Schrader, Wallace Smith, Josh Walden, Catherine Walker, Savannah Wise, Eric Jordan Young The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place mostly in New York City, New Rochelle, Ellis Island, Atlantic City, and Lawrence, Massachusetts, during the turn of the twentieth century.

Musical Numbers Act One: Prologue: “Ragtime” (Company); “Goodbye, My Love” (Christiane Noll); “Journey On” (Ron Bohmer, Robert Petkoff, Christiane Noll); “The Crime of the Century” (Savannah Wise, Bobby Steggert, Ensemble); “What Kind of Woman” (Christiane Noll); “A Shtetl Iz Amereke” (Robert Petkoff, Sarah Rosenthal, Ensemble); “Success” (Robert Petkoff, Michael X. Martin, Jonathan Hammond, Ensemble); “Gettin’ Ready Rag” (Quentin Earl Darrington, Ensemble); “Henry Ford” (Aaron Galligan-Stierle, Quentin Earl Darrington, Ensemble); “Nothing Like the City” (Robert Petkoff, Christiane Noll, Christopher Cox, Sarah Rosenthal); “Your Daddy’s Son” (Stephanie Umoh); “New Music” (Ron Bohmer, Christiane Noll, Bobby Steggert, Quentin Earl Darrington, Stephanie Umoh, Ensemble); “The Wheels of a Dream” (Quentin Earl Darrington, Stephanie Umoh); “The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square” (Bobby Steggert, Donna Migliaccio, Ensemble); “Gliding” (Robert Petkoff); “Justice” (Quentin Earl Darrington, Ensemble); “President” (Stephanie Umoh); “Till We Reach That Day” (Bryonha Parham, Quentin Earl Darrington, Donna Migliaccio, Bobby Steggert, Christiane Noll, Robert Petkoff, Ensemble) Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Coalhouse’s Soliloquy” (Quentin Earl Darrington); “Coalhouse Demands” (Company); “What a Game!” (Ron Bohmer, Christopher Cox, Ensemble); “Atlantic City” (Savannah Wise, Jonathan Hammond, Ron Bohmer); “New Music” (reprise) (Ron Bohmer); “Atlantic City” (Part II) (Savannah Wise, Jonathan Hammond, Ensemble); “Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc.” (Robert Petkoff); “Our Children” (Christiane Noll, Robert Petkoff); “Sarah Brown Eyes” (Quentin Earl Darrington, Stephanie Umoh); “He Wanted to Say” (Donna Migliaccio, Bobby Steggert, Quentin Earl Darrington, Coalhouse’s Gang); “Back to Before” (Christiane Noll); “Look What You’ve Done” (Eric Jordan Young, Quentin Earl Darrington, Coalhouse’s Gang); “Make Them Hear You” (Quentin Earl Darrington); “Ragtime” and “The Wheels of a Dream” (reprises) (Company) For some, the endless parade of revivals which began popping up on Broadway beginning in the 1970s turned into a kind of musical-theatre hell (although some of the revivals-cum-revisals were at least shows like No, No, Nanette and Good News, which hadn’t been seen on Broadway since their original productions in the 1920s). As the decades passed, it became more depressing when revivals outnumbered new musicals (in the 1960s, there was exactly one commercial revival and ninety-eight new book musicals, but by the 1990s, there were forty-two commercial revivals and thirty-two new book musicals). And soon Dorothy Parker’s comment about “fresh hell” seemed to define a new phenomenon among revivals, the return of shows that had played for seemingly endless years on Broadway and finally (and mercifully) closed, and then suddenly returned as if they’d never said goodbye. And then a fresh-hell offshoot began when shows that had been only moderately popular (or not popular at all) began to be revived. For example, the original 1997 production of Side Show played for only ninety-one

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performances and lost its entire $7 million investment, but it returned in 2014 for an even shorter run (fiftysix showings) and again lost its entire capitalization (this time an estimated $8 million). And the current revival of Ragtime was another example. The original 1998 production played two years, didn’t recoup its estimated $10 million investment, and had never been a hot ticket on everyone’s must-see list (but it won four Tony Awards, including Best Book for Terrence McNally and Best Score for lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty). The original reviews ranged from middling to enthusiastic. Ben Brantley in the New York Times said the characters had “Identikit personages” and the evening had “the earnestness of a civics lesson” and was like “an instructional diorama in a pavilion at a world’s fair”; in the same newspaper, Vincent Canby said the show was “a long, elaborate, sober-sided musical pageant”; and Greg Evans in Variety said the musical was “a long-winded affair, bloated and more than a little self-important.” But Richard Zoglin in Time praised the “brilliant” musical; John Lahr in the New Yorker favorably compared it to Show Boat; and Fintan O’Toole in the New York Daily News called the evening a “thrillingly entertaining spectacle.” The musical premiered on December 8, 1996, at the Apotex Theatre in Toronto’s Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now known as the Toronto Center for the Arts); a later Los Angeles production opened on June 15, 1997 (songs deleted prior to New York include “The Show Biz” and “I Have a Feeling”). The Broadway production opened on January 18, 1998, and it too played at a theatre named the Ford Center for the Performing Arts where it was the venue’s inaugural production (for more information about the theatre, see below). It ran for 861 performances, a surprisingly short run considering the show’s hype, a few rave reviews, and some major Tony Awards. The musical closed at a reported loss, and its national tour was also a disappointment. The West End premiere opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on March 19, 2003, for three months with a cast that included Maria Friedman (Mother) and David Willetts (Father). The production was reportedly set for a limited engagement, and perhaps there was no extension because the producers felt an open-end run wasn’t viable. Matt Wolfe in Variety noted that the opening night London audience sat “stony-faced” during the salute to baseball (“What a Game!”), and he mentioned the evening soon morphed “into theatre that is good for you.” And while Flaherty’s music was “impressive,” Ahrens’s lyrics “stumble along with Terence McNally’s book into bathos.” When the current revival opened on Broadway, Michael Riedel in the New York Post called it a “fool’s errand.” This time around it flopped after just two months (sixty-five performances) at a huge loss (Gordon Cox in Variety reported that the revival’s pre-Broadway engagement at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre cost almost $5 million to mount, and the New York transfer cost $8.5 million, the latter a figure that Riedel also mentioned). Both Ragtime and Side Show have had two chances on Broadway, and no doubt someone out there is already planning their third New York productions. You wanted Ragtime to succeed, but it was a major disappointment that collapsed under the weight of its narrow political and sociological boundaries, the kind of show that idolized Emma Goldman and damned J. P. Morgan. Based on E. L. Doctorow’s vastly overrated but moderately entertaining 1975 novel of the same name, the story was a kaleidoscopic look at factual and fictional turn-of-the-twentieth-century characters in a United States on the cusp of political, social, and cultural changes. In reviewing the revival, Brantley noted that the original 1997 production was an “opulence-bloated” evening that caused you to feel that a “big, fat dirigible” had “landed on your head.” The revival had definitely “lost weight” in its “appealingly modest” and “judiciously-pared down version,” but this was a show that would never “be described as subtle.” The musical was a well-meaning if pretentious and politically correct diatribe crammed with information and incident that bulged with over-the-top dramatic episodes presented one after the other in breathless Saturday-afternoon-movie-serial fashion. There was never time to reflect upon the events and the fates of the characters because there was always the next big scene or announcement coming up: a baby is buried alive by its mother but is saved at the last minute by a stranger; because of a misunderstanding, a character is fatally shot by police; another becomes a terrorist who plots to kill police and blow up New York City; and another goes down with the Lusitania. And it didn’t help that the laughably self-important cardboard characters spouted and sang what seemed like an endless litany of smug, more-sensitive-than-thou notions from Sociology 101. There were four groups of characters: an unnamed WASP family from New Rochelle headed by Father (Ron Bohmer) and Mother (Christiane Noll); the black piano player Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Quentin Earl Darrington) and his lover Sarah (Stephanie Umoh); the Jewish immigrant and widower Tateh (Robert Petkoff) and

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his unnamed little girl; and an array of the era’s historical figures, including J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, and Emma Goldman. In one way or another, the lives of all these people intersect during the Age of Ragtime. Harry Houdini also figured into the plot, and thus he has made two brief appearances in latter-day musicals, as his character was added to the Side Show revival. Perhaps these cameos made amends for Man of Magic, the 1966 London flop about Houdini that ran for 126 performances and starred Stuart Damon in the title role. Elisabeth Vincentelli in the New York Post noted that McNally seemed “to have never seen a heartstring he didn’t want to pluck” and that Ahrens’s lyrics were “leaden” and “jejune.” Flaherty’s music was sometimes “derivative” with patches of Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber (“particularly on the several big park-and-bark ballads”), and “Gettin’ Ready Rag” was less “genuine” ragtime than ragtime as heard through the prism of John Kander. But she noted Flaherty wasn’t afraid “to aim for the grandiose,” and he delivered when it came to the choral sequences. Brantley said the “appealingly modest” revival didn’t disguise the show’s “hearty preachiness,” which seemed “like an animated history lesson delivered by a liberal but square teacher.” The show turned Doctorow’s novel into “carefully diagrammed flow charts” full of “self-analysis and self-explanation that Dr. Phil might applaud,” and the songs suggested “anthems from a hymns-for-the-converted Weavers concert.” And while David Rooney in Variety stated that Ragtime was “trenchant and timely” and was delivered “with fresh clarity and emotional immediacy,” he noted that the score “overplays its hand with its succession of emphatic anthems.” Hinton Als in the New Yorker said the musical’s creators “drag the production down with a number of clichés and caricatures,” and he mentioned that the “hyped extravaganza” concluded with “the limp, liberal sight of Sarah’s son racing into the needy, show-biz arms of his adoptive white mother.” The musical insulted the audience with its simplistic, preachy, and condescending approach to serious issues, as if perhaps theatre patrons were either unaware or too stupid to know about the history of racism and sexism. The show further suggested that WASP males are the root of all evil, some because they are scions of industry and are therefore automatically despicable capitalists and others because of their general passivity and lack of interest in social matters. The well-meaning Father is hardly a villain, but as a WASP male who is both a patriot and a businessman whose company manufactures American flags and red, white, and blue bunting, he Gets His when he books passage on the last voyage of the Lusitania. It’s a convenient event, as it allows Mother to marry Tateh. She, of course, is a sensitive soul and a feminist before her time who seeks only to Become Her Own Person. Her second-act song “Back to Before” is one of the score’s most laborious numbers and one that no doubt aspired to become the feminist national anthem. The work’s greatest failure was its condescending and confusing depictions of Coalhouse Walker and Sarah, both of whom are clearly meant to be the evening’s heroes. But their actions are despicable, and it was difficult to care about them. Sarah buries alive her unwanted baby boy, and the child is saved only because Mother happens to come upon it, and when Coalhouse is victimized by racists he turns into a terrorist and he and his gang set fires all over New York City. Later they threaten the city with bombs and guns when they take over the Morgan Library. The musical suggested that Sarah’s and Coalhouse’s actions are excusable because they’re victims of an uncaring society, but her crime of attempted murder and his of terrorism are just as unacceptable as the ones they find objectionable. Coalhouse and Sarah’s characters should have been carefully delineated in a manner that made their actions more understandable if not forgivable, and their eventual deaths should have made powerful statements. But the book made it impossible to care about them, and, curiously, they came across as hopelessly simple and naïve. At the beginning of the musical, why does Coalhouse seem so unaware of racism and so trusting? The musical’s thesis is that racism is rampant in America, and so wouldn’t a black man at the turn of the twentieth century have acquired some psychological armor and a tougher skin in order to instinctively protect himself against those who wish him harm? And why would Sarah break through a line of police and secret service agents in a futile attempt to bring her and Coalhouse’s grievances to the vice president? Wouldn’t she have figured out that with the recent assassination of President McKinley it might not be wise to approach the vice president by breaking through a barricade of police and running toward him with her arms outstretched and her hands pointed at him while shouting about injustice? As for Tateh, he’s a poor Jewish immigrant who becomes a street entertainer but soon realizes the new medium of film can be used as social instruction to the masses. So he creates a series of enlightened movies

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that depict a racially diverse group of children and their adventures (Our Rascally and Racially Diverse Little Gang, one supposes). Although Ragtime frowns upon wealth, it’s presumably OK for Tateh to become a rich film director because he’s an artiste and not a mere money-grubbing capitalist. Once Father goes down with the Lusitania, Mother and Tateh are free to marry, and along with Mother’s son, Tateh’s daughter, and Sarah and Coalhouse’s orphaned son, the quintet walk off into the rainbow of a presumably more enlightened era. The truly sad aspect of Ragtime is that it wasn’t a parody of politically correct notions and was instead intended to be taken seriously. It had the potential to make incisive statements about social change and important issues, but instead opted to present its story through the prism of a simplistic bleeding-heart sensibility. Although the evening was a hopeless hodgepodge of half-baked notions and sketchily drawn characters, a strong score could have perhaps salvaged the evening. But the songs were generally as tiresome and superficial as the book. There were the familiar over-the-top Euro-pop power numbers that sometimes came across like political-club tirades (“Till We Reach That Day,” “Make Them Hear You,” “Back to Before”), and there was a curious, out-of-nowhere feel-good number celebrating baseball (“What a Game!”). The story’s most potentially interesting figure was Evelyn Nesbit (Savannah Wise), who unfortunately was reduced to virtual walkon status and whose trite specialty number “The Crime of the Century” completely missed the complexity of one of the most fascinating figures in American history. Only once did a striking musical number emerge from the cobwebs: the opening title song was stunningly written and staged as it depicted WASPs, blacks, and Jewish and other immigrants singing and dancing in their separate environments but ready to pounce upon one another at the slightest provocation. If Ragtime had sustained the grandeur of this opening number, it might have been a musical to reckon with. As Songs from “Ragtime” (BMG/RCA Victor Records # 09026-68629-2), the score was recorded about six months prior to the Toronto opening and included most of the leading cast members for both the Toronto and Broadway productions (with the major exception of Camille Saviola, who played Emma Goldman and was succeeded by Judy Kaye for New York). The recording includes the cut song “The Show Biz” (which was replaced by “The Crime of the Century”). The Broadway cast album was recorded on a two-CD set by BMG/RCA (# 09026-63167-2) and includes a bonus track (“The Ragtime Symphonic Suite”), and “Ragtime”: Themes from the Hit Musical by the Brad Ellis Little Big Band was released by Varese Sarabande Records (CD # VSD-5880). A 2002 British concert version was telecast on BBC Four. Incidentally, the musical’s original home at the Ford Center was a venue that combined the interiors of the back-to-back former Lyric and Apollo Theatres, but retained the original façade of the Lyric. With almost 2,000 seats, the house was somewhat problematic because like the Gershwin (formerly Uris) Theatre only big shows were comfortable fits and thus had to sell an inordinate number of tickets each week to meet the weekly nut. The theatre has undergone a number of name changes, from the Ford Center to the Hilton to the Foxwoods and then in circular fashion to its earliest name, the Lyric. The venue is currently the New York home of the Cirque de Soleil.

Awards Tony Award Nominations: Best Revival (Ragtime); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Christiane Noll); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Bobby Steggert); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Derek McLane); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Donald Holder); Best Direction of a Musical (Marcia Milgrom Dodge)

DREAMGIRLS Theatre: Apollo Theatre Opening Date: November 22, 2009; Closing Date: December 6, 2009 Performances: 16 (estimated; see below) Book and Lyrics: Tom Eyen; additional material by Willie Reale Music: Henry Krieger

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Direction and Choreography: Robert Longbottom (Shane Sparks, Co-choreographer); Producers: John Breglio and Vienna Waits Productions in association with Chunsoo Shin, Jake Productions, and Broadway Across America/TBS; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Media Design: Howard Werner/Lightswitch; Costumes: William Ivey Long; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Sam Davis Cast: Jared Joseph (M.C., Jerry), Felicia Boswell (Stepp Sister), Tallia Brinson (Stepp Sister), Nikki Kimbrough (Stepp Sister), Kimberly Marable (Stepp Sister), Milton Craig Nealy (Marty), Talitha Farrow (Joann), Brittany Lewis (Charlene), Chaz Lamar Shepherd (Curtis Taylor Jr.), Syesha Mercado (Deena Jones), Adrienne Warren (Lorrell Robinson), Trevon Davis (C. C. White), Moya Angela (Effie Melody White), Marc Spaulding (Little Albert), Robert Hartwell (Tru-Tone), Chauncey Jenkins (Tru-Tone, Wayne), Douglas Lyons (Tru-Tone), Jarran Muse (Tru-Tone, Frank), Chester Gregory (James “Thunder” Early aka Jimmy), James Harkness (Tiny Joe Dixon, Mr. Morgan), Bret Shuford (Dave), Emily Ferranti (Sweetheart), Stephanie Gibson (Sweetheart), Margaret Hoffman (Michelle Morris), Patrice Covington (Pit Singer); Ensemble: Felicia Boswell, Tallia Brinson, Ronald Duncan, Talitha Farrow, James Harkness, Robert Hartwell, Chauncey Jenkins, Jared Joseph, Nikki Kimbrough, Brittany Lewis, Douglas Lyons, Kimberly Marable, Jarran Muse, Marc Spaulding The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the period 1962–1975 in various U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Musical Numbers Act One: “I’m Lookin’ for Something” (Felicia Boswell, Tallia Brinson, Nikki Kimbrough, Kimberly Marable); “Goin’ Downtown” (Marc Spaulding, Robert Hartwell, Chauncey Jenkins, Douglas Lyons, Jarran Muse); “Takin’ the Long Way Home” (James Harkness); “Move (You’re Steppin’ on My Heart)” (Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren); “Fake Your Way to the Top” (Chester Gregory, Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren); “Cadillac Car” (Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Chester Gregory, Trevon Davis, Milton Craig Nealy, Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Company); “Steppin’ to the Bad Side” (Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Trevon Davis, Chester Gregory, Chauncey Jenkins, Adrienne Warren, Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Company); “Party, Party” (Moya Angela, Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Chester Gregory, Adrienne Warren, Company); “I Want You Baby” (Chester Gregory, Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren); “Family” (Moya Angela, Trevon Davis, Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Chester Gregory, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren); “Dreamgirls” (Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Moya Angela); “Press Conference” (Syesha Mercado, Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Company); “Heavy” (Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Moya Angela); “It’s All Over” (Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Trevon Davis, Margaret Hoffman, Chester Gregory); “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” (Moya Angela) Act Two: “What Love Can Do” (Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Margaret Hoffman, Trevon Davis, Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Chester Gregory, Company); “I Am Changing” (Moya Angela); “One More Picture Please” (Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Margaret Hoffman, Photographers); “You Are My Dream” (Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Syesha Mercado); “Got to Be Good Times” (The Five Tuxedos); “Ain’t No Party” (Adrienne Warren, Chester Gregory); “I Meant You No Harm” (Chester Gregory, Adrienne Warren, Syesha Mercado, Trevon Davis, Margaret Hoffman); “The Rap” (Chester Gregory, Chaz Lamar Shepherd, Adrienne Warren); “I Miss You Old Friend” (Moya Angela, Trevon Davis); “One Night Only” (Moya Angela); “One Night Only” (reprise) (Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Margaret Hoffman, Company); “I’m Somebody” (Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Margaret Hoffman); “Listen” (original lyric by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Beyoncé Knowles; revised lyric by Willie Reale) (Syesha Mercado, Moya Angela); “Hard to Say Goodbye, My Love” (Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Margaret Hoffman); “Dreamgirls” (reprise) (Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren, Margaret Hoffman) The limited-engagement revival of Dreamgirls at the Apollo Theatre was the show’s first stop on a new national tour. The production seems to have dropped four numbers from the original (“Only the Beginning,” “Love Love You Baby,” “When I First Saw You,” and “Faith in Myself”) and added two from the 2006 film version, “Listen” (lyric by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Beyonce Knowles, music by Henry Krieger, and a revised lyric by Willie Reale for the revival) and “What Love Can Do” (lyric by Reale and music by Krieger). David Rooney in Variety said the revival suffered from “stiff acting,” a “shortage of emotional clout,” “cartoonish” characters, some “wooden book scenes,” and a “mixed bag” of choreography, but nonetheless

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the evening provided “tremendous musical highs” and he decided “tour audiences are unlikely to mind the shortcomings.” He noted that Moya Angela sang “the hell out” of the “wrenching declaration” of her showstopper “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” but mentioned that she later veered “into screechy vocal grandstanding,” something that “audiences in the American Idol age seem to crave.” He reported that William Ivey Long provided an “endless parade” of 580 costumes, and Ben Brantley in the New York Times suggested that because the costume changes were “so fast and frequent” the “unseen dressers emerge as stars in this show.” He further noted that “like the show around her” Angela’s performance was “pitched mostly at one level, which is so intense and unshaded that it wears you out.” The characterizations demanded “greater texture and variety” because to “fully” feel Dreamgirls you had “to be able to breathe.” In many respects, this was Dreamgirls “the comic strip” in a “bluntly drawn, pastels-saturated production.” The original production opened on December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre for 1,522 performances and won six Tony Awards, including Best Choreography for Michael Bennett, who also directed the production. But the disappointing musical never realized its potential and was further lost in a fog of pretentious staging and décor. The story dealt with the Dreams, a black-girl group clearly patterned after The Supremes, and the backstage intrigues in which the trio’s lead singer, the overweight Effie Melody White (Moya Angela, for the current production), is ruthlessly fired by the group’s manager Curtis Taylor Jr. (Chaz Lamar Shepherd) when he decides the trio needs a more commercial and glamorous image if it’s to cross over and become popular with white record buyers and concertgoers. Effie is summarily replaced by the sleek and stylish Deena Jones (Syesha Mercado), and soon Taylor even shoves aside established singer James aka Jimmy “Thunder” Early (Chester Gregory) when it appears Early’s brand of soul music is passé. The inherent drama in these interweaving stories could have made an exciting and incisive musical that had something interesting to say about show-business backstabbing and the vagaries of the world of pop music. 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 generally unimpressive, and while most of the planet made a case for Effie’s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” it was an overwrought and bombastic show-off aria (which some wags dubbed “And I Am Telling You I Am Screaming”) which brought to mind the equally tiresome and pretentious “Fifty Percent” from Bennett’s previous Broadway musical Ballroom (1978). Despite the weaknesses inherent in the book, lyrics, and music, one would have thought Bennett’s magic would produce theatrical fireworks with his directorial and choreographic genius. Unfortunately, the musical all but ignored the use of dance, and Bennett seemed obsessed with the dreary décor which set off movements of eternally shifting pylons within pools of light. The pylons wouldn’t have been so insufferable had they been organic to the story, but as it was they seemed more suited to a musical about Stonehenge. The original Broadway 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 finale/reprise of the title song). A 2001 New York concert was recorded by Nonesuch Records (CD # 755979656-2) on a two-CD set. The 2006 film version was released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and was directed by Bill Condon. Most of the Broadway score was retained, and the following songs were added: “Love You I Do” and “Perfect World” (lyrics by Siedah Garrett and music by Krieger); “Patience” and “What Love Can Do” (lyrics by Reale and music by Krieger); “Listen” (lyric by Scott Cutler, Beyonce Knowles, and Anne Preven, music by Krieger); and “Big” and “Lorrell Loves Jimmy” (lyrics by Eyen and music by Krieger). The film also interpolated “Step on Over,” which had been added for the musical’s original national tour. The soundtrack was released on a two-CD set by Sony/BMG (# 88697-02012-2), and the DVD was issued by Warner Brothers. Two years after the original production closed, a revival opened on June 28, 1987, at the Ambassador Theatre for 177 performances. Theatre World states that the current revival chalked up forty-four performances, an unlikely number considering the tour officially opened on November 22, 2009, and closed two weeks later on December 6, and so about sixteen performances seems more accurate. The musical began previews on November 7, and perhaps the combination of preview and regular performances (with some extra holiday showings) added up to the forty-four cited by Theatre World. 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 names are variations of “Jennifer.” In early 1981, Jenifer Lewis created the role in a workshop production when the show was known as Big Dreams (Lewis discussed this experience in her one-woman autobiographical musical The Diva Is Dismissed, which opened on October 30, 1994, at

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the Public Theatre’s Susan Stein Shiva Theatre); for Broadway, Jennifer Holliday played Effie, and for the film version the role was played by Jennifer Hudson.

WHITE CHRISTMAS Theatre: Marquis Theatre Opening Date: November 22, 2009; Closing Date: January 3, 2010 Performances: 52 Book: David Ives and Paul Blake Lyrics and Music: Irving Berlin Based on the 1954 film White Christmas (direction by Michael Curtiz; screenplay by Norman Krasna, Norman Panama, and Melvin Frank; and lyrics and music by Irving Berlin). Direction: Walter Bobbie (Marc Bruni, Associate Director); Producers: Kevin McCollum, John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, Paul Blake, The Producing Office (Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, John S. Corker, Debra Nir, Scott A. Moore, and Caitlyn Thompson), Dan Markley, Sonny Everett, and Broadway Across America in association with Paramount Pictures (Richard A. Smith and Douglas L. Meyer/James D. Stern, Associate Producers); Choreography: Randy Skinner (Kelli Barclay, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Anna Louizos; Costumes: Carrie Robbins; Lighting: Ken Billington; Musical Direction: Rob Berman Cast: Peter Reardon (Ralph Sheldrake), James Clow (Bob Wallace), Tony Yazbeck (Phil Davis), David Ogden Stiers (General Henry Waverly), Remy Auberjonois (Ed Sullivan Announcer, Mike Nulty, Regency Room Announcer), Kiira Schmidt (Rita), Beth Johnson Nicely (Rhoda), Leah Horowitz (Tessie), Melissa Errico (Betty Haynes), Mara Davi (Judy Haynes), Matthew LaBanca (Jimmy); Quintet: Cliff Bemis, Leah Horowitz, Drew Humphrey, Joseph Medeiros, Anna Aimee White; Cliff Bemis (Mr. Snoring Man, Ezekiel Foster), Denise Nolin (Mrs. Snoring Man, Sheldrake’s Secretary), Drew Humphrey (Train Conductor), Ruth Williamson (Martha Watson), Madeleine Rose Yen (Susan Waverly); “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” Dancers and Regency Room Dancers: Chad Harlow, Drew Humphrey, and Ryan Worsing; “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” Solo Dancer: Joseph Medeiros; Ensemble: Abby Church, Sara Edwards, Chad Harlow, Leah Horowitz, Drew Humphrey, Matthew LaBanca, Joseph Medeiros, Taryn Molnar, Beth Johnson Nicely, Denise Nolin, Dennis O’Bannion, Con O’Shea-Creal, Kristyn Pope, Kiira Schmidt, Kelly Sheehan, Anna Aimee White, Ryan Worsing, Richard Riaz Yoder The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in 1944 and 1954 in a European Army camp, in Florida, on a train bound northward, in Vermont, and in New York City. White Christmas returned to the Marquis Theatre for the second year in a row, and as of this writing the return engagement marks the musical’s most recent Broadway visit. Neil Genzingler in the New York Times said the show was “tepid” with “bland” jokes and songs that were “polished yet lifeless” and didn’t “stand the test of time.” James Clow was “charmless” and Melissa Errico didn’t “make much of an impression,” but Tony Yazbeck brought “verve” to his character and Mara Davi had “spunk.” Genzingler seemed to blame White Christmas for not being South Pacific (which had closed on Broadway in 1954, the year of the release of the White Christmas film), and he noted that South Pacific dealt with “real issues” such as racism and the horrors of war. But surely it’s unfair to expect every musical to deal with Big Issues, especially an old-fashioned family musical like White Christmas where the biggest problem is a lack of snow at Christmastime. For more information about the musical (including a list of song numbers), see entry for the 2008 engagement.

FELA!

“A New Musical” Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Opening Date: November 23, 2009; Closing Date: January 2, 2011

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Performances: 463 Book: Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones Lyrics and Music: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti; additional lyrics by Jim Lewis and additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean Direction and Choreography: Bill T. Jones (Niegel Smith, Associate Director; Maija Garcia, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth and Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem, Slava Smolokowski, Chip Meyrelles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glaser, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/ Mort Swinsky, and Knitting Factory Entertainment (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Associate Producer); Scenery and Costumes: Marina Draghici; Projections: Peter Nigrini; Lighting: Robert Wierzel; Musical Direction: Aaron Johnson Cast: Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah (Fela Anikulapo-Kuti), Lillias White (Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti), Saycon Sengbloh (Sandra Isadore), Ismael Kouyate (Ismael, Geraldo Pino, Orisha, Ensemble), Gelan Lambert (J. K. Braiman [Tap Dancer], Egungun, Ensemble); Ensemble: Corey Baker, Hettie Barnhill, Lauren De Veaux, Nicole Chantal de Weever, Elasea Douglas, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Talu Green, Shaneeka Harrell, Abena Koomson, Gelan Lambert, Shakira Marshall, Afi McClendon, Adesola Osakalumi, Jeffrey Page, Jill M. Vallery, Daniel Soto, Iris Wilson, Aimee Graham Wodobode The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place during the summer of 1978, mostly in Lagos, Nigeria.

Musical Numbers Act One: “Everything Scatter” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Iba Orisa” (traditional Yoruba chant) (Ismael Kouyate, Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Hymn” (words and music by Reverend J. J. Ransome-Kuti) (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company, Band); “Medzi Medzi” (“High Life”) (lyric and music by E. T. Mensah) (Company, Band); “Mr. Syms” (music by John Coltrane) (Company, Band); “Manteca” (lyric and music by Chano Pozo) (Company, Band); “I Got the Feeling” (lyric and music by James Brown) (Ismael Kouyate, Company); “Originality” and “Yellow Fever” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Trouble Sleep” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Lillias White, Company); “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Lillias White, Company); “Lover” (English lyric by Jim Lewis) (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Saycon Sengbloh); “Upside Down” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Saycon Sengbloh, Company); “Expensive Shit” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Pipeline” (English lyric by Jim Lewis) and “I.T.T.” (“International Thief Thief”) (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Kere Kay” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company) Act Two: “Water No Get Enemy” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Saycon Sengbloh, Company); “Egbe Mio” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Queens, Lillias White); “Zombie” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Trouble Sleep” (reprise) (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Lillias White, Queens); “Na Poi” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Queens); “Sorrow, Tears and Blood” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Iba Orisa” (reprise) and “Shakara” (Company, Band); “Rain” (lyric by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean) (Lillias White, Company); “Coffin for Head of State” (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company); “Kere Kay” (reprise) (Kevin Mambo or Sahr Ngaujah, Company) The title character of Fela! was Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938–1997), a Nigerian musician who according to the program notes “created a new kind of music” known as Afrobeat. His nightclub the Shrine was located in Lagos, Nigeria, and the program explained that his music and “incendiary” lyrics “openly attacked the corrupt and repressive military dictatorships that rule Nigeria and much of Africa.” The program also indicated that Fela employed his own “small army” and that his compound was surrounded by electric wiring. The musical took place at the Shrine during the summer of 1978 at Fela’s final performance there, and while the evening looked at his music, politics, and relationships, a reading of the reviews indicates the script generally sidestepped various aspects of Fela’s life, including his criticisms of many of the world’s major religions, his marriage to twenty-seven women during a single ceremony, and his eventual death from AIDS. The musical had originated Off Broadway at 37 Arts on September 4, 2008, for one month with the title role played by Sahr Ngaujah (for Broadway, he performed five times each week, and for the remaining three

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weekly performances the title role was played by Kevin Mambo). At least two songs were cut for Broadway (“Shuttering and Shmiling” and “Shine”). For Off Broadway, the role of Fela’s mother Funmilayo was played by Abena Koomson, who was succeeded by Lillias White for Broadway (later during the Broadway run, Patti LaBelle assumed the role). One supposes that the typical Broadway theatergoer had never heard of Fela or his music (Michael Riedel in the New York Post quipped that the only “fela” known to Broadway insiders was the most happy one). The notion that Fela created a “new kind of music” brought back many a nostalgic singer/musician/composer biography in which the hero is out there in the musical wilderness looking for that elusive “new” sound, a quest James Stewart sought as far back as the 1954 film The Glenn Miller Story (and with Frankie Valli also seeking a new sound, the search was still going strong in Jersey Boys). And for more nostalgia, the show’s title even evoked the quaint exclamation-pointed heyday of 1960s and 1970s musicals. Considering some of Fela’s swoon-filled New York notices, it’s a wonder the musical didn’t play now and forever. But it lasted just a little more than a year, and gushing critical valentines didn’t catapult the evening into a breakout smash hit. And because Patrick Healy in the New York Times reported that the show cost “about” $10 million to produce and that some four months after the Broadway opening the weekly grosses were “steady” with unspectacular ticket sales, it seems unlikely the musical recouped its initial capitalization. According to Ben Brantley in the Times, there should have been “dancing in the streets,” and after the show it was a “shock” to discover passersby were “merely walking” and not dancing because at evening’s end you felt you’d “been dancing with the stars” (and he explained he meant “astral bodies, not dime-a-dozen celebrities”). There had “never been anything on Broadway like this production,” and the “energy” of this “singular, sensational” musical could “stretch easily to the borders of Manhattan and then across a river or two.” David Rooney in Variety said the musical “breaks bold new ground in musical theatre,” but noted that a show “more impressionistic than informational” had “limitations as well as rewards” and the evening was sometimes “repetitive and self-indulgent.” Joan Acocella in the New Yorker said Ngaujah was offstage for only five minutes during the entire two-and-a-half-hours running time and thus “it’s like Hamlet.” She noted that besides Ngaujah, the show’s “second glory” was the choreography. The Broadway cast album was released by Knitting Factory Records (CD # KFR-1103). The London production opened in repertory at the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre on November 16, 2010, and was telecast in 2011 on National Theatre Live. As the result of a lawsuit filed by Carlos Moore during the Broadway run, the production eventually cited his 1982 biography Fela: This Bitch of a Life: The Authorized Biography of Africa’s Musical Genius as the inspiration for the musical. Fela! briefly played on Broadway in a return engagement at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on July 12, 2012, for twenty-eight performances; Ngaujah reprised the title role for some performances, and for others Adesola Osakalumi or Duain Richmond alternated (“Mr. Syms” and “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense” were cut from this production). Brantley again praised the “exultant” musical, and noted that he couldn’t decide if this was the fourth or fifth time he’d seen it.

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Fela!); Best Book (Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (Sahr Ngaujah); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Lillias White); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Marina Draghici); Best Costume Design of a Musical (Marina Draghici); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Robert Wierzel); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Robert Kaplowitz); Best Direction of a Musical (Bill T. Jones); Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones); Best Orchestrations (Aaron Johnson)

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Theatre: Walter Kerr Theatre Opening Date: December 13, 2009; Closing Date: January 9, 2011 Performances: 425

2009 Season     417

Book: Hugh Wheeler Lyrics and Music: Stephen Sondheim Based on the 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night (direction and screenplay by Ingmar Bergman). Direction: Trevor Nunn (Seth Sklar-Heyn, Associate Director); Producers: Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Mark Routh, Richard Frankel, The Menier Chocolate Factory, Roger Berlind, David Babani, Sonia Friedman Productions, Andrew Fell, Daryl Roth/Jane Bergere, Harvey Weinstein/Raise the Roof 3, Beverly Bartner/ Dancap Productions, Inc., Nica Burns/Max Weitzenhoffer, Eric Falkenstein/Anna Czekaj, Jerry Frankel/ Ronald Frankel, and James D. Stern/Douglas L. Meyer (Broadway Across America, Dan Frishwasser, Jam Theatricals, and Richard Winkler, Associate Producers); Choreography: Lynne Page (Scott Taylor, Associate Choreographer); Scenery and Costumes: David Farley; Lighting: Hartley T A Kemp; Musical Direction: Tom Murray Cast: Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (Henrik Egerman), Stephen R. Buntrock (Mr. Lindquist), Jayne Paterson (Mrs. Nordstrom), Marissa McGowan (Mrs. Anderssen), Kevin David Thomas (Mr. Erlanson), Betsy Morgan (Mrs. Segstrom), Katherine Leigh Doherty (Fredrika Armfeldt for all Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday performances), Keaton Whittaker (Fredrika Armfeldt for all Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday performances), Angela Lansbury (Madame Armfeldt), Bradley Dean (Frid), Ramona Mallory (Anne Egerman), Alexander Hanson (Fredrik Egerman), Leigh Ann Larkin (Petra), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Desiree Armfeldt), Aaron Lazar (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm), Erin Davie (Countess Charlotte Malcolm) The musical was presented in two acts. The action takes place in Sweden at the turn of the twentieth century. The current revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music marked the work’s second New York visit during the decade (for more information about the musical and for a list of musical numbers, see entry for the 2003 production). The revival was based on one which had premiered in London on November 22, 2008, at the Menier Chocolate Factory and later transferred to the West End, where it opened on March 28, 2009, at the Garrick Theatre. Except for Alexander Hanson, who reprised his role of Fredrik Egerman for New York, the Broadway version was recast and included Catherine Zeta-Jones (as Desiree, and here making her Broadway debut) and Angela Lansbury (as Madame Armfeldt). Later in the run, Zeta-Jones and Lansbury were respectively succeeded by Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch. Ben Brantley in the New York Times decided that for the current revival the summer night smirked instead of smiled, and too many of the characters had “the exaggerated gusto of second-tier boulevard farce, of people trying a little too hard for worldliness.” As Desiree, the “lively” Zeta-Jones didn’t seem natural in “swapping arch banter, sung or spoken”; Hunter Ryan Herdlicka’s Henrik was “loud” and cartoonish”; and as Petra, Leigh Ann Larkin oversold “The Miller’s Son” and at times seemed to be auditioning for “a poledancing position.” But Hanson was “suitably suave” in his “measured performance,” and as Madame Armfeldt Angela Lansbury was “indomitable” and “invaluable.” David Rooney in Variety said Lansbury gave a “sublime” performance and Zeta-Jones was “luminous” and brought “a refreshing earthiness and warm-blooded sensuality” to Desiree, but unfortunately director Trevor Nunn had her “underline every suggestion of sexual innuendo” in the script. Nunn tended “to vulgarize the comedy” (Larkin came across “like a lusty refugee from a Benny Hill sketch”), and while his decision to “refocus” the musical “into a chamber piece was a smart one,” it “would have made more sense” if the producers had hired a director who brought “a more intuitive feel for intimacy and subtlety” to the proceedings. An unsigned review in the New Yorker indicated Zeta-Jones appeared to be “self-conscious” and utilized an accent “somewhere between her native Wales and Beverly Hills,” and Lansbury “hams it up without even trying.” But Hanson was the show’s “real revelation” because of his “sense of humor” and a sexiness that derived from his self-assurance. Elisabeth Vincentelli in the New York Post commented that the “murky-looking” production seemed to take the “night” of the show’s title too “literally,” and overall the evening lacked both “nuance and energy.” The headline of Peter Marks’s review in the Washington Post stated “‘Music’ in the Key of Blah,” and the sub-headline indicated that “Except for Angela Lansbury, This Is One Wan Sondheim.” The physical production was “especially grim” and the musical made “far too many unhappy detours into shrillness and even vulgarity,” including “The Miller’s Son,” which here was transformed “into a tacky sort of number for tired businessmen (‘Hey, Big Spender,’ anyone?).” The revival’s cast album was released by Nonesuch/PS Classics on a two-CD set (# 523488-2).

418      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS

Awards Tony Award and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (A Little Night Music); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Catherine Zeta-Jones); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Angela Lansbury); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Dan Moses Schreier and Gareth Owen)

Appendix A: Chronology (by Season)

The following is a seasonal chronology of the 213 productions discussed in this book. Musicals that closed prior to Broadway are marked with an asterisk (*) and are listed alphabetically at the end of the season in which they were produced.

2000

James Joyce’s The Dead Squonk Porgy and Bess Dancing on Dangerous Ground Riverdance on Broadway Aida Contact The Wild Party Jesus Christ Superstar The Green Bird The Music Man Dirty Blonde

2000–2001

Penn & Teller Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway The Full Monty Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” The Rocky Horror Show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Seussical A Christmas Carol (2000) Jane Eyre A Class Act Follies Bells Are Ringing Blast The Producers The Adventures of Tom Sawyer George Gershwin Alone

42nd Street Cinderella (2001) * Copacabana * The Rhythm Club

2001–2002

Urinetown Mamma Mia! Thou Shalt Not By Jeeves A Christmas Carol (2001) Mostly Sondheim Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends Elaine Stritch at Liberty One Mo’ Time Sweet Smell of Success Oklahoma! Thoroughly Modern Millie Into the Woods * Casper * Muscle * The Visit (2001)

2002–2003

Robin Williams: Live on Broadway Hairspray The Boys from Syracuse Flower Drum Song Amour Jackie Mason: Prune Danish

419

420      APPENDIX A

Movin’ Out A Christmas Carol (2002) Celebrating Sondheim Man of La Mancha La boheme Dance of the Vampires Imaginary Friends A Little Night Music (2003) Urban Cowboy The Play What I Wrote Nine A Year with Frog and Toad Gypsy (2003) The Look of Love Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home * Marty * Some Like It Hot * Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

700 Sundays La Cage aux Folles Little Women Good Vibrations Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Candide (2005) Monty Python’s Spamalot Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed All Shook Up The Light in the Piazza Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Love/Life: A Life in Song The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Sweet Charity * Gemini * The Highest Yellow * The Mambo Kings * On the Record

2003–2004

2005–2006

Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Avenue Q Little Shop of Horrors The Boy from Oz Wicked Taboo A Christmas Carol (2003) Jackie Mason: Laughing Room Only Wonderful Town Never Gonna Dance Fiddler on the Roof Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2004) Barbara Cook on Broadway! Assassins Bombay Dreams Caroline, or Change Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway * Bounce * The Great Ostrovsky * Like Jazz * Señor Discretion Himself

2004–2005

The Frogs Forever Tango Dracula Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore Cinderella (2004) Whoopi Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! Pacific Overtures

The Blonde in the Thunderbird Lennon In My Life Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2005) Jersey Boys Souvenir The Woman in White The Color Purple Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life The Pajama Game The Most Happy Fella Ring of Fire The Threepenny Opera Lestat The Wedding Singer Hot Feet The Drowsy Chaperone Tarzan * Zhivago

2006–2007

Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! A Chorus Line The Times They Are A-Changin’ Grey Gardens Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2006) Les Miserables Mary Poppins Company High Fidelity

CHRONOLOGY (BY SEASON)     421

Spring Awakening The Apple Tree Curtains The Pirate Queen Legally Blonde LoveMusik 110 in the Shade * Mame * Meet John Doe * Saving Aimee * Sister Act

2007–2008

Xanadu Grease Young Frankenstein Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2007) The Little Mermaid Jerry Springer—the Opera Sunday in the Park with George Passing Strange In the Heights Gypsy (2008) South Pacific Candide (2008) A Catered Affair Cry-Baby Glory Days * An American in Paris * Dancing in the Dark * Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas * My Fair Lady * The Visit (2008)

2008–2009

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy [title of show] A Tale of Two Cities 13 Billy Elliot White Christmas (2008) Liza’s at the Palace . . . Slava’s Snowshow Shrek Pal Joey Soul of Shaolin The Story of My Life Guys and Dolls West Side Story Hair Rock of Ages Next to Normal 9 to 5 * Dirty Dancing * Giant * Little House on the Prairie * Minsky’s

2009

Burn the Floor Kristina Bye Bye Birdie Memphis Finian’s Rainbow Ragtime Dreamgirls White Christmas (2009) Fela! A Little Night Music (2009)

Appendix B: Chronology (by Classification)

In this section, each one of the 213 productions discussed in this book is listed chronologically within a specific classification (for more information about a show, see particular entry). Some shows were revived more than once during the decade, and their titles are followed by the year of production. Many of the productions technically fall within more than one category, and because this is a gray area, I classified each musical under what seems to me its most “logical” category. For example, a few of the decade’s revivals originated in London (such as Sunday in the Park with George and the 2009 revival of A Little Night Music). These shows could be placed in the categories of either commercial revivals or institutional (noncommercial) revivals (depending on how they were produced on Broadway), but for the purposes of this appendix I believed their import status trumped their regular revival status (although in a general summary of the decade, these shows would be included as revivals). On the other hand, the British revival of My Fair Lady closed on the road without playing in New York, and as a result a pre-Broadway closing category trumps its import status. Prior to their 2004 productions, The Frogs (1974) and Assassins (1991) hadn’t been produced on Broadway but had been previously seen in regional, college, or Off-Broadway presentations (the former’s world premiere took place at Yale University, and the latter’s first production opened Off Broadway). Their 2004 revivals were respectively produced by the Lincoln Center Theatre and the Roundabout Theatre Company, and I categorized them as institutional (noncommercial) revivals (but note that The Frogs was also produced in association with Bob Boyett). Also note that the Tony Award committee categorized Assassins as a revival, and in fact awarded the production the Tony for Best Revival.

BOOK MUSICALS WITH NEW MUSIC (37) The following book musicals offered new lyrics and music. However, in some cases (such as The Producers and Thoroughly Modern Millie) a song or two from a show’s film source was included in the score. Aida The Wild Party The Full Monty Seussical Jane Eyre The Producers The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Thou Shalt Not Sweet Smell of Success Thoroughly Modern Millie Hairspray A Year with Frog and Toad 423

424      APPENDIX B

Wicked Dracula Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) Little Women Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Monty Phython’s Spamalot The Light in the Piazza In My Life The Color Purple Lestat The Wedding Singer Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2006) High Fidelity Curtains The Pirate Queen Legally Blonde Young Frankenstein A Catered Affair Cry-Baby Glory Days A Tale of Two Cities 13 Shrek 9 to 5 Memphis

BOOK MUSICALS THAT INCLUDE PREEXISTING MUSIC (15) Most of the scores for the following shows offered both preexisting and new music, and for those musicals that were based on films, the stage productions drew upon more than just a song or two from the film sources. Movin’ Out Urban Cowboy Never Gonna Dance Good Vibrations All Shook Up Lennon Jersey Boys Hot Feet Tarzan The Times They Are A-Changin’ LoveMusik Xanadu The Little Mermaid White Christmas (2008) Rock of Ages

PLAYS WITH INCIDENTAL SONGS (2) George Gershwin Alone Imaginary Friends

CHRONOLOGY (BY CLASSIFICATION)     425

REVUES (5) The productions in this category are more or less in the nature of traditional revues. Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway Blast The Look of Love Ring of Fire Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy

PERSONALITY REVUES AND CONCERTS (21) Personality revues are more in the nature of concert-like appearances by well-known performers. These revues sometimes included other entertainers, but it’s clear each production was designed to showcase the special skills and talents of a specific headliner. Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” Mostly Sondheim (Barbara Cook) Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends Elaine Stritch at Liberty Robin Williams: Live on Broadway Jackie Mason: Prune Danish Celebrating Sondheim (Mandy Patinkin) Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home Jackie Mason: Laughing Room Only Barbara Cook on Broadway! Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! 700 Sundays (Billy Crystal) Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed Love/Life: A Life in Song (Brian Stokes Mitchell) The Blonde in the Thunderbird (Suzanne Somers) Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway (Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman) Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! Liza’s at the Palace . . . (Liza Minnelli)

MAGIC REVUES (2) Penn & Teller Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway

MUSICALS AND REVUES THAT ORIGINATED OFF OR OFF OFF BROADWAY (18) James Joyce’s The Dead Squonk Contact The Green Bird Dirty Blonde

426      APPENDIX B

A Class Act Urinetown Avenue Q Caroline, or Change The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Souvenir Grey Gardens Spring Awakening Passing Strange In the Heights [title of show] Next to Normal Fela!

IMPORTS (25) Dancing on Dangerous Ground Jesus Christ Superstar Mamma Mia! By Jeeves Oklahoma! Amour Dance of the Vampires The Play What I Wrote The Boy from Oz Taboo Bombay Dreams Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2005) The Woman in White The Drowsy Chaperone Mary Poppins Jerry Springer—The Opera Sunday in the Park with George Billy Elliot Slava’s Snowshow Soul of Shaolin The Story of My Life Burn the Floor Kristina A Little Night Music (2009)

COMMERCIAL REVIVALS (31) Riverdance on Broadway The Music Man The Rocky Horror Show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Bells Are Ringing 42nd Street Cinderella (2001) One Mo’ Time

CHRONOLOGY (BY CLASSIFICATION)     427

Into the Woods Flower Drum Song Man of La Mancha La boheme Gypsy (2003) Little Shop of Horrors Wonderful Town Fiddler on the Roof Forever Tango Whoopi La Cage aux Folles Sweet Charity A Chorus Line Les Miserables Company Grease Gypsy (2008) Guys and Dolls West Side Story Hair Finian’s Rainbow Ragtime Dreamgirls

INSTITUTIONAL (NONCOMMERCIAL) REVIVALS (21) Porgy and Bess Follies The Boys from Syracuse A Little Night Music (2003) Nine Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2004) Assassins The Frogs Cinderella (2004) Pacific Overtures Candide (2005) The Pajama Game The Most Happy Fella The Threepenny Opera The Apple Tree 110 in the Shade South Pacific Candide (2008) Pal Joey Bye Bye Birdie

RETURN ENGAGEMENTS (6) The engagements of A Christmas Carol marked the final four bookings of a series of ten engagements that began in 1994.

428      APPENDIX B

A Christmas Carol (2000) A Christmas Carol (2001) A Christmas Carol (2002) A Christmas Carol (2003) Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2007) White Christmas (2009)

PRE-BROADWAY CLOSINGS (30) Copacabana The Rhythm Club Casper Muscle The Visit (2001) Marty Some Like It Hot Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Bounce The Great Ostrovsky Like Jazz Señor Discretion Himself Gemini The Highest Yellow The Mambo Kings On the Record Zhivago Mame Meet John Doe Saving Aimee Sister Act An American in Paris Dancing in the Dark Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas My Fair Lady The Visit (2008) Dirty Dancing Giant Minsky’s Little House on the Prairie

Appendix C: Discography

The alphabetical list below represents musicals in this book that were recorded. In some cases, the complete score may not have been recorded, but a song or two was included in a collection. The criterion for inclusion on the list is that the recordings were on sale to the public at one time or another (in the case of such shows as In My Life, promotional recordings were made available to the public for advertising purposes). The cast albums of some of the decade’s revivals (such as The Boys from Syracuse and The Apple Tree) weren’t recorded, but other recordings of these scores were made and so these shows are included in the discography. For specific information about the recordings of the shows listed below, see entries. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Aida All Shook Up Amour The Apple Tree Assassins Avenue Q Bea Arthur: Just Between Friends Bells Are Ringing Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Billy Elliot Blast La boheme Bombay Dreams Bounce The Boy from Oz The Boys from Syracuse Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) Bye Bye Birdie By Jeeves La Cage aux Folles Candide Caroline, or Change A Catered Affair Chitty Chitty Bang Bang A Chorus Line A Christmas Carol Cinderella A Class Act

The Color Purple Company Contact Copacabana Cry-Baby Curtains Dance of the Vampires Dirty Dancing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Dracula Dreamgirls The Drowsy Chaperone Elaine Stritch at Liberty Fela! Fiddler on the Roof Finian’s Rainbow Flower Drum Song Follies Forever Tango 42nd Street The Frogs The Full Monty Giant Glory Days Grease The Green Bird Grey Gardens Guys and Dolls 429

430      APPENDIX C

Gypsy Hair Hairspray High Fidelity In My Life In the Heights Into the Woods Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed Jackie Mason: Prune Danish James Joyce’s The Dead Jane Eyre Jerry Springer—the Opera Jersey Boys Jesus Christ Superstar Legally Blonde Lestat (cast album recorded but not released) The Light in the Piazza The Little Mermaid A Little Night Music Little Shop of Horrors Little Women Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas Love/Life: A Life in Song LoveMusik Mame Mamma Mia! Man of La Mancha Marty Mary Poppins Meet John Doe Memphis Minsky’s Les Miserables Monty Python’s Spamalot The Most Happy Fella Mostly Sondheim Movin’ Out The Music Man Never Gonna Dance Next to Normal Nine 9 to 5 Oklahoma! 110 in the Shade One Mo’ Time On the Record Pacific Overtures The Pajama Game

Pal Joey Passing Strange Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” The Pirate Queen Porgy and Bess The Producers Ragtime The Rhythm Club Ring of Fire Riverdance on Broadway Rock of Ages The Rocky Horror Show Saving Aimee Señor Discretion Himself Seussical Shrek Sister Act Some Like It Hot South Pacific Spamalot Spring Awakening The Story of My Life Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweet Charity Sweet Smell of Success Taboo A Tale of Two Cities Tarzan 13 Thoroughly Modern Millie Thou Shalt Not The Threepenny Opera [title of show] The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Urinetown The Visit The Wedding Singer West Side Story White Christmas Wicked The Wild Party The Woman in White Wonderful Town Xanadu A Year with Frog and Toad Young Frankenstein Zhivago

Appendix D: Filmography

The following alphabetical list represents film, television, and home video versions of musicals discussed in this book, and the list includes concert versions as well as documentaries about the shows. Some of the film versions were released in earlier decades well before the musicals were revived on Broadway during the years 2000–2009. A few musicals that opened during the decade were based on musical films (such as The Little Mermaid) and these films are included in the filmography. An American in Paris Bells Are Ringing Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home Billy Elliot Blast La boheme Bombay Dreams The Boy from Oz The Boys from Syracuse Bye Bye Birdie By Jeeves Candide Caroline, or Change Chitty Chitty Bang Bang A Chorus Line A Christmas Carol Cinderella Company Contact Copacabana Dancing in the Dark (as The Band Wagon) Dancing on Dangerous Ground Dirty Dancing Dreamgirls Elaine Stritch at Liberty Fela! Fiddler on the Roof Finian’s Rainbow Flower Drum Song Follies Forever Tango 42nd Street

Grease Grey Gardens Guys and Dolls Gypsy Hair Hairspray In the Heights Jackie Mason/Freshly Squeezed Jerry Springer—the Opera Jersey Boys Jesus Christ Superstar Legally Blonde The Light in the Piazza The Little Mermaid A Little Night Music Little Shop of Horrors Mame Mamma Mia! Man of La Mancha Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore Mary Poppins Memphis Les Miserables The Most Happy Fella Mostly Sondheim Movin’ Out The Music Man My Fair Lady Never Gonna Dance (as Swing Time) Nine Oklahoma! Pacific Overtures 431

432      APPENDIX D

The Pajama Game Pal Joey Passing Strange The Play What I Wrote Porgy and Bess The Producers Riverdance on Broadway Rock of Ages The Rocky Horror Show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe 700 Sundays Shrek

South Pacific Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweet Charity Taboo A Tale of Two Cities Tarzan Thoroughly Modern Millie The Threepenny Opera West Side Story Wicked Wonderful Town Xanadu

Appendix E: Other Productions

The following selected productions played on Broadway during the decade and included songs, dances, or background music. (This appendix also includes the operatic adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, which as of this writing has yet to be produced in New York.)

2001–2002 Mandy Patinkin in Concert Mandy Patinkin’s special one-performance concert was presented at the Neil Simon Theatre on September 10, 2001, a night when the theatre’s current production of The Music Man was dark. The singer was backed by Paul Ford at the piano.

Linda Eder at the Gershwin: The Holiday Concert Linda Eder’s holiday concert was presented at the Gershwin Theatre for five performances during the period December 26–December 30, 2001; Jeremy Roberts was the musical director, and the singer was backed by the Dave Clemmons Choir and eleven musicians. Eder returned with a second holiday concert in 2004 (see below).

Metamorphoses By Mary Zimmerman, and based on David R. Slavitt’s translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Circle in the Square Theatre, March 4, 2002, 400 performances). The production included incidental songs and background music by Willy Schwarz. The music is part of the collection Willy Schwarz: Metamorphoses and Other Plays Directed by Mary Zimmerman (the CD was released by the Knitting Factory and also offers music from The Odyssey and The Baltimore Waltz).

The Graduate By Terry Johnson and based on the novel by Charles Welch and the 1967 film with screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry (Plymouth Theatre, April 4, 2002, 380 performances). The 2000 London import included songs by Paul Simon and other lyricists and composers. Music heard in the Broadway production was released in the collection The Graduate by Columbia/Legacy Records (CD # 86468).

433

434      APPENDIX E

2002–2003 Hollywood Arms By Carrie Hamilton and Carol Burnett (Cort Theatre, October 31, 2002, seventy-six performances). Based on the life and career of Carol Burnett, the production was directed by Harold Prince and included music by Robert Lindsey Nassif, who wrote the lyrics and music for the Off-Broadway musicals Opal (1992) and Honky-Tonk Highway (1994). He also wrote the music (and some of the lyrics) for the Off-Off-Broadway musical Tropicana (1985), which was directed by George Abbott and appears to be the legendary director’s penultimate production (his 121st). The play also included a number of standards that were heard as background music, among them “Take Back Your Mink” (Guys and Dolls, 1950; lyric and music by Frank Loesser) and “We’re Off to See the Wizard” (1939 film The Wizard of Oz; lyric by E. Y. Harburg, music by Harold Arlen).

2003–2004 Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks By Richard Alfieri (Belasco Theatre, October 29, 2003, thirty performances). The play dealt with the friendship of an older woman (Polly Bergen) and her young dance instructor (Mark Hamill). The choreography was by Kay Cole, and among the songs used in the production were “Blue Tango” (lyric by Mitchell Parish, music by Leroy Anderson) and “The Best Is Yet to Come” (lyric by Carolyn Leigh, music by Cy Coleman).

2004–2005 Vanessa Williams: Silver & Gold Vanessa Williams’s concert played the Palace for approximately five performances during the period December 1– December 5, 2004. The evening also included the performers Cormac Breatnach and Martin Dunlea; Rob Mathes was the musical director and Liz Curtis the choreographer; and Richard Schenkman was credited as the writer.

Linda Eder: The Holiday Concert Linda Eder returned for her second holiday concert during the decade; it opened at the Palace Theatre on December 17, 2004, for two performances. The musical director was Jeremy Roberts, and the singer was backed by eight musicians and a forty-member choir (probably the Dave Clemmons Choir).

The Rivals By Richard Brinsley Sheridan (Vivian Beaumont Theatre, December 16, 2004, forty-five performances). The revival included choreography by Sean Curran, and the background score was composed by Robert Waldman, who wrote the music for Here’s Where I Belong (1968), The Robber Bridegroom (Off Off Broadway, 1974; Broadway, 1975, limited engagement; and Broadway, 1976, open-end run), Swing (closed prior to Broadway in 1980), and America’s Sweetheart (closed prior to Broadway in 1985).

2005–2006 After the Night and the Music By Elaine May (Biltmore Theatre, June 1, 2005, thirty-eight performances). The comedy included choreography by Randy Skinner.

OTHER PRODUCTIONS     435

2006–2007 The Grapes of Wrath Libretto by Michael Korie, music by Ricky Ian Gordon, and based on the 1939 novel of the same name by John Steinbeck. The operatic version of Steinbeck’s novel premiered at the Ordway Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on February 10, 2007, in a coproduction by the Minnesota Opera, the Utah Symphony and Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera, and the Houston Grand Opera. Bernard Holland in the New York Times said the nearly four-hour work was “much too long” and needed judicious pruning, but he said Gordon’s music illustrated the epic-like story with “skill, grace and flair” and Korie’s libretto was “literate” and “clever.” The music incorporated “the simple singing of American balladry, the wide-open-spaces style of American symphonists, and the bounce of the Broadway and Hollywood musical.” The opera was recorded live during a series of five performances (including the premiere performance), and was released on a three-CD set by PS Classics (# PS-866).

Coram Boy By Helen Edmundson (Imperial Theatre, May 2, 2007, thirty performances). The British import included music by Handel as well as original compositions by Adrian Sutton. David Rooney in Variety reported that the company included forty actors and choir members as well as eight musicians. He noted that Sutton’s music was “passionate,” but the production’s staging called for “blustery Boublil and Schonberg ballads.” He also indicated that occasionally the choir emitted “archly portentous vocal outbursts” that led him to expect they’d soon “start chanting ‘Damien’ in homage to The Omen.” And Charles Isherwood in the New York Times said that during the second act the chorus members leapt to their feet with “a burst of singing every 60 seconds,” and “this brought to mind the silly shrieking on soundtracks from horror movies like The Omen.”

2007–2008 The Ritz By Terrence McNally (Studio 54, October 11, 2007, sixty-nine performances). The revival of Terrence McNally’s 1975 farce included choreography by Christopher Gattelli.

Rock ’n’ Roll By Tom Stoppard (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, November 4, 2007, 123 performances). The British import suggested rock ’n’ roll music can influence political change. The production included a number of songs, including “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” (lyric and music by Bob Dylan) and “Give Peace a Chance” (lyric and music by John Lennon).

2009 The Royal Family By George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, October 8, 2009, seventy-seven performances). The revival of the 1927 comedy included original background music by Maury Yeston.

436      APPENDIX E

OPERAS During the decade, the following operas premiered in New York (all are discussed in my 2010 reference book Off-Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows).

The House of the Seven Gables Libretto and music by Scott Eyerly; based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel. The world premiere took place at the John C. Borden Auditorium/Manhattan School of Music on December 6, 2000, for three performances; the opera was recorded on a two-CD set by Albany Records (# TROY-447).

Roman Fever Libretto by Roger Brunyate, music by Robert Ward; based on Edith Wharton’s 1934 short story. The world premiere was presented at Duke University in 1993, and the New York premiere was in December 2001 at the Manhattan School of Opera Theatre (number of performances unknown); recorded by Albany Records (CD # TROY-505).

A View from the Bridge Libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Arthur Miller, music by William Bolcom; based on Miller’s 1955 play. The world premiere by the Lyric Opera of Chicago was in 1999, and the first New York production opened on December 5, 2002, at the Metropolitan Opera House for seven performances; the opera was recorded on a twoCD set by New World Records (# 80588-2) and the libretto was published in paperback by Edward B. Marks Music Company and Bolcom Music in 1999.

The Seagull Libretto by Kenward Elmslie, music by Thomas Pasatieri; based on the 1896 play The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. The opera’s world premiere by the Houston Grand Opera was on July 5, 1974 (the original cast members included Frederica Von Stade, Evelyn Lear, and John Reardon). The New York opening took place at the Manhattan School of Music on December 11, 2002, for two performances; the opera was recorded on a two-CD set by Albany Records (# TROY-579/580). There have been two Off-Broadway productions about theatre companies that presented revivals of The Seagull. Beware the Jubjub Bird (Theatre Four, June 14, 1976, two performances) was a play with music, and the cast members included Kevin Kline. Birds of Paradise (Promenade Theatre, October 26, 1987, twenty-four performances) included cast members Donna Murphy, John Cunningham, Mary Beth Peil, Crista Moore, and Barbara Walsh. The cast recording was released by That’s Entertainment Records (CD # CDTER-1196), and the script was published in paperback by Samuel French in 1988. Another lyric work based on Chekhov’s play is Gulls, which premiered in regional theatre in 2008.

Rain Libretto and music by Richard Owen; based on Somerset Maugham’s short story “Miss Thompson,” which in 1922 was adapted for the stage as Rain by John Colton and Clemence Randolph. The opera was performed at the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in February 2003 (number of performances unknown), and was recorded on a two-CD set by Albany Records (# TROY-623/624). There have been at least three other musical versions of Maugham’s story. The Broadway musical Sadie Thompson opened at the Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre on November 16, 1944, for sixty performances

OTHER PRODUCTIONS     437

(lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by Vernon Duke) (a studio cast album with Melissa Errico was released by Original Cast Records CD # OC-6042 in 2002). The 1952 Broadway revue Two’s Company (lyrics by Ogden Nash and music by Vernon Duke) included a mini-musical spoof of the Sadie Thompson story for Bette Davis. Titled “Roll Along, Sadie,” the sequence included original material and didn’t recycle any of the music from Duke’s 1944 adaptation. (The cast album of Two’s Company was released by RCA Victor Records LP # LOC-1009 and by Sepia Records CD # 1047.) And the 1953 film Miss Sadie Thompson offered four incidental songs (lyrics by Allan Roberts and Ned Washington, and music by Lester Lee), including “Blue Pacific Blues,” one of the finest film songs of the era (the soundtrack was issued on a ten-inch LP by Mercury Records # MG-25181).

Little Women Libretto and music by Mark Adamo; based on Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel Little Women. The opera was first produced in a 1998 workshop by the Opera Studio of the Houston Grand Opera, and in 2000 a final version was produced by the company on its main stage. The New York premiere took place on March 23, 2003, at the New York State Theatre for five performances by the New York City Opera Company. The opera was shown on public television in 2001, and a two-CD recording of the score was released by Ondine Records (# ODE-988-2D). For information about another lyric adaptation of Alcott’s novel, see entry in this book for a 2005 version of Little Women (the entry also references other musical adaptations of the material).

Haroun and the Sea of Stories Libretto by James Fenton, music by Charles Wuorinen; based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Salman Rushdie. The opera’s world premiere by the New York City Opera Company took place at the New York State Theatre on October 31, 2004, for four performances.

The Little Prince Libretto by Nicholas Wright, music by Rachel Portman; based on the 1943 novel The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The opera was first produced in 2003 by the Houston Grand Opera, and the New York premiere by the New York City Opera Company took place on November 12, 2005, for eight performances. The opera has been telecast on the BBC and on U.S. public television and has been released on DVD. A recording was issued by Sony Classical Records on a two-CD set (# S2K-93924). There have been at least four other lyric adaptations of the novel, including Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1974 film musical; Don Black and John Barry’s 1982 Broadway version (as The Little Prince and the Aviator), which closed during New York previews; and two Off-Off-Broadway versions (in 1982 and 1993).

An American Tragedy Libretto by Gene Scheer, music by Tobias Picker; based on the 1925 novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. The world premiere by the Metropolitan Opera Company took place on December 2, 2005, and was given for a total of eight performances.

Grendel Libretto by Julie Taymor and J. D. McClatchy, music by Elliot Goldenthal; based on the 1971 novel Grendel by John Gardner. The opera was first performed by the Los Angeles Opera on May 27, 2006, and the New York premiere took place on July 11 of that year for four performances at the New York State Theatre as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.

438      APPENDIX E

The First Emperor Libretto by Tan Dun and Ha Jin, music by Tan Dun. The opera’s world premiere was on December 21, 2006, at the Metropolitan Opera House where it was given for nine performances. It marked the first time that Placido Domingo appeared at the Met in a world premiere. The January 13, 2007, performance was shown live in selected movie theatres, and a two-DVD set was released by Warner Classics.

Margaret Garner Libretto by Toni Morrison, music by Richard Danielpour. The opera was first performed in 2003, and then in 2005, and the New York premiere was presented by the New York City Opera Company at the New York State Theatre on September 11, 2007, for seven performances.

Appendix F: Black-Themed Revues and Musicals

The following is an alphabetical list of revues and musicals that focus on black stories, characters, subject matter, and performers, including musicals that aren’t necessarily considered as traditional black musicals but that deal with black themes, stories, and characters (such as Finian’s Rainbow). This list includes revivals that opened during the decade. Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Caroline, or Change The Color Purple Dreamgirls Fela! Finian’s Rainbow Hairspray Hot Feet Love/Life: A Life in Song Memphis One Mo’ Time Passing Strange Porgy and Bess Ragtime Sister Act Whoopi

439

Appendix G: Jewish-Themed Revues and Musicals

The following is an alphabetical list of revues and musicals represented in this book that have Jewish themes, plots, characters, and subject matter. The list includes revivals that opened during the decade. Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway Fiddler on the Roof The Great Ostrovsky The Rhythm Club

441

Appendix H: 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 musicals that opened at these theatres during the decade (for shows that had more than one production during the decade, the titles are identified by year).

AL HIRSCHFELD THEATRE (See Martin Beck Theatre.)

AMBASSADOR THEATRE A Class Act

AMERICAN AIRLINES THEATRE The Boys from Syracuse Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Pajama Game

APOLLO THEATRE Dreamgirls

AUGUST WILSON THEATRE (See Virginia Theatre.)

BEACON THEATRE Penn & Teller

BELASCO THEATRE James Joyce’s The Dead Follies Dracula Passing Strange

443

444      APPENDIX H

BERNARD B. JACOBS THEATRE (See Royale Theatre.)

BILTMORE THEATRE LoveMusik

BOOTH THEATRE

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Bea Arthur: Just Between Friends The Story of My Life Next to Normal

BROADHURST THEATRE Into the Woods Urban Cowboy Never Gonna Dance 700 Sundays Lennon Les Miserables

BROADWAY THEATRE Blast Robin Williams: Live on Broadway La boheme Bombay Dreams The Color Purple Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy Shrek

BROOKS ATKINSON THEATRE Jane Eyre The Look of Love Jackie Mason: Laughing Room Only The Blonde in the Thunderbird The Times They Are A-Changin’ Grease Rock of Ages

CARNEGIE HALL Jerry Springer—the Opera Kristina

CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE THEATRE The Rocky Horror Show The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Glory Days

THEATRES     445

CORT THEATRE

The Green Bird A Year with Frog and Toad Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore

ETHEL BARRYMORE THEATRE Imaginary Friends Ring of Fire Company

EUGENE O’NEILL THEATRE

The Full Monty Nine Caroline, or Change Good Vibrations Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2005) Spring Awakening Fela!

FORD CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

(The venue was renamed the Hilton Theatre when Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opened there on April 28, 2005.) Jesus Christ Superstar (Ford Center) 42nd Street (Ford Center) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Hilton) Hot Feet (Hilton) Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2006) (Hilton) The Pirate Queen (Hilton) Young Frankenstein (Hilton)

GERALD SCHOENFELD THEATRE (See Plymouth Theatre.)

GERSHWIN THEATRE Riverdance on Broadway Oklahoma! Wicked

HELEN HAYES THEATRE Squonk Dirty Blonde George Gershwin Alone By Jeeves Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! Xanadu Slava’s Snowshow

446      APPENDIX H

HENRY MILLER’S THEATRE Urinetown Celebrating Sondheim Bye Bye Birdie

HILTON THEATRE

(See Ford Center for the Performing Arts.)

IMPERIAL THEATRE The Boy from Oz Dirty Rotten Scoundrels High Fidelity Billy Elliot

JOHN GOLDEN THEATRE Avenue Q

LONGACRE THEATRE One Mo’ Time Burn the Floor

LUNT-FONTANNE THEATRE The Little Mermaid

LYCEUM THEATRE

The Play What I Wrote Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway Whoopi Souvenir [title of show]

MARQUIS THEATRE Thoroughly Modern Millie La Cage aux Folles (2004) The Woman in White The Drowsy Chaperone Cry-Baby White Christmas (2008) Soul of Shaolin 9 to 5 White Christmas (2009)

MARTIN BECK THEATRE

(During the run of Man of La Mancha, the venue was renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on June 21, 2003.) Sweet Smell of Success (Martin Beck) Man of La Mancha (Martin Beck/Al Hirschfeld)

THEATRES     447

Wonderful Town (Al Hirschfeld) Sweet Charity (Al Hirschfeld) The Wedding Singer (Al Hirschfeld) Curtains (Al Hirschfeld) A Tale of Two Cities (Al Hirschfeld) Hair (Al Hirschfeld)

MINSKOFF THEATRE The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Dance of the Vampires Fiddler on the Roof

MUSIC BOX THEATRE

Amour Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! In My Life

NEDERLANDER THEATRE Guys and Dolls

NEIL SIMON THEATRE The Music Man Elaine Stritch at Liberty Hairspray Ragtime

NEW AMSTERDAM THEATRE Mary Poppins

NEW YORK STATE THEATRE

Porgy and Bess A Little Night Music (2003) Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2004) Cinderella (2004) Candide (2005) The Most Happy Fella Candide (2008)

PALACE THEATRE Aida All Shook Up Lestat Legally Blonde Liza’s at the Palace . . . West Side Story

448      APPENDIX H

PLYMOUTH THEATRE

(On May 9, 2005, during the run of Brooklyn (aka Bklyn), the venue was renamed the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.) Bells Are Ringing (Plymouth) Thou Shalt Not (Plymouth) Taboo (Plymouth) Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) (Plymouth/Gerald Schoenfeld) Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life (Gerald Schoenfeld) A Chorus Line (Gerald Schoenfeld)

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL Dancing on Dangerous Ground

RICHARD RODGERS THEATRE Seussical Movin’ Out Tarzan In the Heights

ROYALE THEATRE

(On May 9, 2005, during the run of the revival of David Mamet’s drama Glengarry Glen Ross, the venue was renamed the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.) Jackie Mason: Prune Danish (Royale) Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me (Bernard B. Jacobs) 13 (Bernard B. Jacobs)

ST. JAMES THEATRE

The Producers Dr. Seusss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2007) Gypsy (2008) Finian’s Rainbow

SHUBERT THEATRE Gypsy (2003) Forever Tango Monty Python’s Spamalot Memphis

STUDIO 54

Assassins Pacific Overtures The Threepenny Opera The Apple Tree 110 in the Shade Sunday in the Park with George Pal Joey

THEATRES     449

THE THEATRE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN A Christmas Carol Cinderella (2001) A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol

(2000) (2001) (2002) (2003)

TOWN HALL

Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway

VIRGINIA THEATRE

(On October 16, 2005, and prior to the opening of Jersey Boys, the venue was renamed the August Wilson Theatre.) The Wild Party (Virginia) Flower Drum Song (Virginia) Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home (Virginia) Little Shop of Horrors (Virginia) Little Women (Virginia) Jersey Boys (August Wilson)

VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATRE Contact Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” Mostly Sondheim Barbara Cook’s Broadway! The Frogs The Light in the Piazza Love/Life: A Life in Song South Pacific

WALTER KERR THEATRE Grey Gardens A Catered Affair A Little Night Music (2009)

WINTER GARDEN THEATRE Mamma Mia!

Appendix I: Published Scripts

The following is an alphabetical 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 includes published scripts of shows that were revived during the decade). The list also includes books that provide background information on shows that opened during the decade (such as Mamma Mia!, The Pirate Queen, and Xanadu). For more information, see specific entry (this appendix doesn’t include unpublished scripts).

Aida The Apple Tree Assassins Avenue Q Bells Are Ringing Big River La boheme Bounce (published as Road Show) The Boys from Syracuse Bye Bye Birdie La Cage aux Folles Candide Caroline, or Change A Chorus Line A Class Act Company Dirty Blonde Fiddler on the Roof Finian’s Rainbow Flower Drum Song Follies The Frogs The Full Monty Grease Grey Gardens Guys and Dolls Gypsy Hair Hairspray Imaginary Friends In the Heights

Into the Woods James Joyce’s The Dead Jersey Boys Jesus Christ Superstar The Light in the Piazza A Little Night Music Little Shop of Horrors Mame Mamma Mia! Man of La Mancha Memphis Les Miserables The Most Happy Fella The Music Man My Fair Lady Next to Normal Nine Oklahoma! One Mo’ Time Pacific Overtures The Pajama Game Pal Joey Passing Strange The Pirate Queen Porgy and Bess The Producers The Rocky Horror Show Saving Aimee South Pacific Souvenir Spring Awakening 451

452      APPENDIX I

Sunday in the Park with George Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweet Charity Sweet Smell of Success A Tale of Two Cities 13 The Threepenny Opera

Urinetown West Side Story Wicked The Wild Party Wonderful Town Xanadu

Bibliography

For the productions discussed in this book, I used original source materials, such as programs, souvenir programs, flyers, window cards (posters), scripts, and recordings. I also used brief excerpts from various newspaper and magazine reviews. In addition, many reference books were helpful in providing both information and reality checks, and these are listed below. Asch, Amy (ed.). The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. 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. Fordin, Hugh. The Movies’ Greatest Musicals: Produced in Hollywood USA by the Freed Unit. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1975. Green, Stanley (ed.). Rodgers and Hammerstein Fact Book: A Record of Their Works Together and with Other Collaborators. New York: The Lynn Farnol Group, 1980. Hart, Dorothy, and Robert Kimball (eds.). The Complete Lyrics of Lorenz Hart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986. Hirshhorn, Clive. The Hollywood Musical: Every Hollywood Musical from 1927 to the Present Day. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc., 1981. Kimball, Robert (ed.). The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. Kimball, Robert, and Steve Nelson (eds.). The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Kimball, Robert (ed.). The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. Kimball, Robert, and Linda Emmet (eds.). The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Kimball, Robert, Barry Day, Miles Kreuger, and Eric Davis (eds.). The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. 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, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Suskin, Steven. The Songs, Shows and Careers of Broadway’s Major Composers. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Theatre World. As of this writing, the most recent edition of this important annual is Theatre World, Volume 69, 2012– 2013, edited by Ben Hodges and Scott Denny. Milwaukee, WI: Theatre World Media, 2015. Weales, Gerald. American Drama since World War II. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962.

453

Index

Aaron, Randy, 193 Abbott, George, 102, 245, 247 Abbott, James L., 169 Abbott, Jim, 262 ABC Inc., 25 Abhann Productions, 9 Aboard the Bandwagon, 346 Abraham, F. Murray, 39, 111 Abrams, Bernard, 243, 347, 405 Abrams, Bernie, 203, 239, 277 Abrams, Judith Ann, 243, 287 Abramson, Deborah, 1 Abston, Melvin, 310 Acevedo, Enrique, 390 Ackerman, Peter, 245 Acocella, Joan, 416 Actor, 179 Adam, Mark, 137 Adams, Cameron, 366 Adams, Craig, 75 Adams, Edie, 239 Adams, Edith, 64, 159 Adams, India, 346 Adams, Kevin, 44, 288–89, 328, 380, 385 Adams, Lee, 135, 394, 400 Adamson, Andrew, 366 Addiss, Patricia Flicker, 288, 328 Addiss Duke Associates, 199 Addiss/Rittereiser/Carragher, 243 Adiarte, Patrick, 106 Adler, Bruce, 30 Adler, Gary, 145 Adler, Richard, 245 Adnitt, Stephen, 192 AD Productions, 169 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 59–60 Affonso, Argemira, 185 Agustin, Julio, 50 Ahmad, Mueen Jahan, 169 Ahrens, Lynn, 37, 39, 41, 407, 409–10 Ahrens, Robert, 313 Aida, 10–13

Aimee, 309–10 Akerlind, Christopher, 213, 215, 232, 301 Alan, Ken, 271 Albita, 225 Albright, Lisa, 82 Alcott, Louisa May, 199 Alda, Alan, 290, 292 Alden, Michael, 274 Aldredge, Theoni V., 46, 271 Aldrich, Robert, 140 Aldridge, Michael, 76 Aleichem, Sholem, 162 Alex, Timothy J., 112, 203 Alexander, Cortes, 364 Alexander, Jason, 402 Alhadeff, Alison and Andi, 403 Alhadeff, Emily and Aaron, 403 Alhadeff, Marleen and Kenny, 403 Ali, Saheem, 390 Aliperti, Tony, 353 Allan, Gwenael, 365 Allen, Debbie, 222 Allen, Gary, 267 Allen, Ian, 8 Allen, Jay Presson, 199 Allen, Peter, 150 Allen, Sandra, 104 Allen, Sasha, 380 Allen, Steve, 65, 192 Allen, Tyrees, 10 Alley Theatre, 343 Allgood, Anne, 119 Alliance Theatre, 310 Alligood, Trey III, 53 Allingham, William, 1 Allott, Nicholas, 85, 278 All Shook Up, 211–13 Almodovar, Robert, 181 Almon, John Paul, 349 Als, Hinton, 146, 151, 161, 178, 231–32, 239–40, 282, 304, 314, 339, 341, 382, 410 Alterman, Charlie, 268, 385 455

456      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Altman, Richard, 164 Alton, Robert, 58 Alvarez, Anita, 406–7 Alvarez, David, 359, 361 Alvin, Farah, 133 Amaro, Richard, 243 Amarsanaa, Uranmandakh, 353 Ambassador Theatre Group, 234, 283, 374 America Hurrah, 328 American Express, 37 An American in Paris, 343–45 American Music Theatre Group of San Jose, 65 An American Tragedy, 75, 136 Amour, 107–8 Anania, Michael, 121, 157, 248 Andersen, Hans Christian, 258, 321 Anderson, Barbara, 93 Anderson, Brad, 271 Anderson, Carl, 20, 180 Anderson, Christian, 286 Anderson, John, 87 Anderson, Kevin, 188 Anderson, Leroy, 160 Anderson, Nancy, 44, 158 Anderson, Rachel J., 53 Anderson, Stig, 71 Anderson, T. Weldon, 4 Andersson, Benny, 71, 398 Andreas, Christine, 86, 350 Andreas, Michael, 270 Andrews, George Lee, 304 Andrews, Julie, 64, 282, 350 Andrews, Maxine, 250 Angela, Moya, 412 Angelis, Nicholas E., 53 Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela, 415 Anne Strickland Squadron, 135 Ann-Margret, 402 Antoon, Jason, 13 A+ Theatricals, 353 Applegate, Christina, 220–22 Applegate, Fred, 318 Apples and Oranges, 380, 403 The Apple Tree, 289–92 Araca Group, 69, 152, 257, 358, 383 Aranas, Raul, 390 Aravena, Michelle, 271 Arbo, John, 234 Arcenas, Loy, 243 Archer, Nicholas, 299 Arden, Michael, 143, 273 Arditti, Paul, 361 Ardolino, Emile, 310, 389 Arenal, Julie, 5 Arena Stage, 181 Arima, Stafford, 39, 44 Aristophanes, 183, 185 Arlen, Harold, 78, 363 Armitage, Karole, 328, 380 Armstrong, Louis, 253

Arnaz, Desi, Jr., 226 Arnold, Michael, 61, 175 Arnoldy, Megan Nicole, 393 Arnone, John, 30, 230 Aron, Tracy, 243, 299 Aronson, Boris, 195, 284 Aronson, Frank, 135 Aronson, Henry, 33, 147, 232, 273 Arouet, François-Marie, 205, 337 Arthur, Bea, 79–80 Artiste Management Productions, 8 Arvin, Mark, 110 Asbury, Anthony, 147 Ascott, Mavis, 9 Ashby, John, 65–66 Ashford, Annaleigh, 297 Ashford, Rob, 39, 89–90, 102, 135, 257, 292, 340–41 Ashley, Christopher, 33, 211, 313–14, 403 Ashman, Howard, 147, 321 Ashmanskas, Brooks, 268 Askin, Peter, 386 Asnes, Andrew, 203, 241, 297 Aspen Group, 99 Asquith, Anthony, 349 Assante, Armand, 226 Assassins, 167–69 Astaire, Adele, 345 Astaire, Fred, 161, 345–47, 407 Atabal, Kamyar, 21 Atkins, Norman, 249 Atkinson, Brooks, 88, 108, 207, 370 Atkinson, Paul, 359 Atlantic Theatre Company, 287 Attenborough, Richard, 273 Auberjonois, Remy, 414 Auberjonois, Rene, 117, 119 Aubin, Kevin, 259 Audet, Nancy and Paul, 356 August, Matt, 277, 307, 320 Austin, Michael, 6 Austin, Patti, 180 Avalon Promotions, 323 Avenue A Productions, 347 Avenue Q, 145–47 Avian, Bob, 271 Avnet, John, 239 Axe, Martyn, 389 Ayckbourn, Alan, 75–76 Ayme, Marcel, 107–8 Azaria, Hank, 208 Azenberg, Emanuel, 110, 115, 407 Babani, David, 325, 417 Bach, Del-Bourree, 37 Bacharach, Burt, 133–35 BACI Worldwide, LLC, 185 Bacon, Lloyd, 61 Baddeley, Angela, 402 Bagert, Darren, 283, 374 Bagneris, Vernel, 81–83

INDEX     457 Bai Guojun, 371 Baillio, Maddie, 101 Baird, Campbell, 82 Baker, B. J., 106 Baker, Becky Ann, 167–68 Baker, Corey, 415 Baker, Darrin, 157 Baker, Joseph, 157 Baker, Keith Alan, 18 Baker, Patty, 403 The Baker’s Wife, 250 Bakula, Scott, 345 Balanchine, George, 369 Balderrama, Michael, 124, 259 Baldwin, Alec, 385 Baldwin, Kate, 392, 405 Balestracci, Marcello, 353 Balfe, Michael William, 1 Balgord, Linda, 295–96, 323, 357 Ball, Lucille, 306 Ball, Michael, 166, 217, 240–41, 280 Ball, Roger, 229 Ball, Ryan L., 183 Ballagh, Robert, 9 Ballard, Kaye, 22, 64, 159 Balsam, Mark, 50 Banderas, Antonio, 127–29, 226 The Band Wagon, 345–47 Banfalvi, Ted, 66, 220 Banks, Matthew A., 53 Barandes, Robert, 50 Baranski, Christine, 72, 93, 304, 306, 327 Barbara Cook’s Broadway!, 166–67 Barbour, James, 42, 167, 187, 356–57 Barclay, Kelli, 61, 361, 414 Bardon, Henry, 191 Barker, Wayne, 192–93 Barlow, Roxane, 160, 393 Barnes, Clive, 3, 29, 31, 48, 52, 56, 76, 85, 118–19, 156, 168, 177, 202, 204, 210, 212, 215, 230–31, 237, 246, 253, 256, 258, 260–61, 263, 276, 278, 287, 296, 298, 301, 319, 323, 326, 329–30, 333, 335, 342, 355, 357 Barnes, Gregg, 67, 104, 191, 203, 226, 260, 262, 297–98, 304, 393, 400 Barnett, Ken, 158 Barnhart, Jennife, 145 Barnhill, Hettie, 415 Baron, Kimberly Beth, 53 Barr, Drew, 83 Barre, Gabriel, 63 Barrett, Kelli, 385 Barrie, Barbara, 285 Barrington Stage Company, 219–20 Barry, Brian, 368 Barry, Denny, 19 Barry, Gene, 198 Barry, Jim, 356 Bart, Roger, 55, 183, 318–19 Barter-Jenkins/Nocciolino, 297 Bartlett, Peter, 183

Bartlett, Rob, 147 Bartner, Beverly, 417 Bartner, Bob, 403 Bartner, M. Beverly, 79 Bartner, Robert G., 104, 188 Barton, Aszure, 252 Barton, Fred, 153 Barton, Steve, 119 Bartram, Neil, 372 Baruch, Steven, 147, 234, 283, 397, 417 Baruch-Viertel-Routh-Frankel Group, 99 Barzee, Anastasia, 363 Base Entertainment, 268 Baskin, Derrick, 219, 403 Bateman, Bill, 332 Bates, Dearbhail, 9 Batwin + Robin Productions, 33, 50 Baum, David, 271 Bauner, Brad, 397 Baxter, Rebecca, 65 Bay, Howard, 114 Bazmark Live, 115 Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, 79–80 Beach, David, 69 Beach, Gary, 58, 197–98, 280 Beach Boys, 201–3 Beale, Edith and Edie, 274–76 Beane, Douglas Carter, 65, 313–14, 345 Beatty, John Lee, 158–59, 241, 277, 289, 320, 345, 405–6 Beaufort, John, 195 Beaufoy, Simon, 30 Beaumont, Ralph, 22 Beavers, Louise, 173 Beazer, Tracee, 403 Becker, Leslie, 63 Bedella, David, 323–24 Bedtime Story, 203 Beers, Sydney, 194, 325, 368, 400 Beg, Borrow or Steal, 20 Beguelin, Chad, 66, 226, 257 Belasco, David, 203 Belcon, Natalie Venetia, 145 Bell, David, 203 Bell, David H., 93 Bell, Hunter, 320, 355 Bell, Kristen, 59 Bell, Marty, 44, 83, 203, 243, 299 Bells Are Ringing, 50–52 Belsher, Nikki, 359 Belson, Louise, 75 Belushi, James, 148 Belzer, Rick, 397 Benanti, Laura, 91, 127, 159, 249, 257, 333 Benchley, Robert, 88 Ben-David, Adam, 286 Benigno/Klein, 397 Benjamin, Nell, 297–98 Benken, David, 44 Benkin, David, 321 Bennett, Craig, 356

458      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Bennett, Michael, 45, 47, 271, 413 Benson, Peter, 245 Bentley, Eric, 376 ben Widmar, Jacob, 345 Benzinger, Suzy, 110, 137 Berchard, Morris, 407 Bergen, Polly, 48–49 Berger, Alisha, 155–56 Berger, Bridget, 245 Berger, Richard, 50 Berger, Stephen, 245 Bergere, Jane, 292, 358, 417 Bergere, Lee, 171 Bergin, Joan, 9 Bergman, Alan, 180 Bergman, Ingmar, 121, 417 Bergman, Marilyn, 180 Bergson, Simon, 383 Bergson, Stefany, 243, 383 Bergstein, Eleanor, 388–89 Berinstein/Manocherian/Dramatic Forces, 88–89 Berkeley, Busby, 61 Berkeley, Michael, 43 Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 328 Berkowitz, Michael, 364 Berlin, Irving, 178, 361, 414 Berlind, Roger, 16, 158, 171, 292, 299, 332, 347, 358, 407, 417 Berman, Lielle, 337 Berman, Matt, 79, 364 Berman, Rob, 245, 361, 405, 414 Bermel, Albert, 21 Bernardi, Herschel, 163 Bernstein, Dori, 297 Bernstein, Jed, 328, 380 Bernstein, Leonard, 158, 205, 337, 377–78 Beroza, Janet, 36 Berresse, Michael, 213, 271, 355 Berry, Sarah Uriarte, 90, 104, 154, 191, 213 Besoyan, Rick, 328 Besserer, Rob, 186 Besterman, Doug, 59, 90 Betts, Kate, 146 Beulah, 173 Bevan, Tim, 359 Bezemes, Peter, 392 Biagi, Michael, 140 Bibicoff, Allison, 313 Bierko, Craig, 23–24, 72–73, 285, 375 Bierman, Jon, 405 Big Dreams, 310 Biggs, Natalie, 9 Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 143–45 Billig, Robert, 67–68, 112, 160 Billington, Ken, 36, 117, 137, 164, 205, 251, 260, 286, 304, 325, 337, 345, 347, 355, 361, 372, 393, 400, 405–6, 412, 414 Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home, 135 Billy Barnes’ L.A., 309

The Billy Barnes Revue, 205 Billy Elliot, 359–61 Binder, Helena, 164 Binder, Jay, 220, 405 Binder, Ryan Patrick, 315 Binkley, Howell, 30, 133, 145, 175, 186, 235, 238, 264, 299, 313, 330, 332, 340, 351, 374, 377, 403 Birch, Patricia, 18, 179–80, 205, 299, 317, 337 Bird, Timothy, 325 The Birdcage, 199 Birdsong, Mary, 268 Birkenhead, Susan, 393–94 Bishop, Andre, 13, 32, 72, 77, 166, 183, 213, 217, 334 Bisno, Debbie, 380, 405 Bissell, Richard, 245 Bixby, Jonathan, 69 Black, Debra, 203, 225, 273, 299, 325, 332 Black, Don, 169, 186 The Blacks, 328 Blackwell, Susan, 355 Blaemire, Nick, 341, 343 Blaine, Vivian, 375 Blair, Dennis, 157 Blair, Janet, 52, 159 Blair, Jim and Susan, 403 Blake, Josephine, 222 Blake, Paul, 361, 414 Blake, Richard H., 257, 297 Blake, Sean, 175 Blanchard, Jayne, 177 Blanchard, Steve, 392 Blandin, Jonathan, 67 Blane, Ralph, 363 Blane, Sue, 33 Blank, Matthew C., 387 Blankenbuehler, Andy, 112, 289, 330, 332, 387 Blankenship, Mark, 278, 321 Blass, Jane, 95 Blast, 53–54 Blazer, Judith (Judy), 164, 299, 390, 392 Blessed, Brian, 217 Blickenstaff, Heidi, 307–8, 355 Blige, Mary J., 385 Blitzstein, Marc, 253, 300 Bloch, Christopher, 307 Block, Stephanie J., 149, 295–96, 387 Blodgette, Kristen, 215, 239 The Blonde in the Thunderbird, 229–30 Blonsky, Nikki, 101 Bloom, Claire, 121–22 Blum, Joel, 307 Blumenkrantz, Jeff, 44, 51 Blunt, Emily, 93 Blyden, Larry, 184–85, 290 Bobbie, Walter, 220, 286, 361, 414 Bock, Jerry, 162, 289 Bodnar, Bill, 383 Bodo, 141 Boe, Alfred, 115

INDEX     459 Boevers, Jessica, 86–87, 232 Bogaev, Paul, 10 Bogardus, Stephen, 3, 112, 361 Bogart, Dominic, 264 Bogart, Matt, 264, 357 Bogdanov, Michael, 347 Bogetich, Marilynn, 175 Boggess, Sierra, 321 Bogue, Kevin, 23 La Boheme, 115–17 Bohmer, Ron, 407 Bohon, Justin, 86, 349 Boland, Maggie, 351, 390 Bolding, Justis, 239 Bolger, John, 389 Bolly, Brian, 104 Bolton, John, 13 Bombay Dreams, 169–71 Bonasso, Joanne, 140 Bond, Christopher, 164, 234 Bond, Justin, 267 Boneta, Diego, 385 Bonne, Shirley, 159 Bookwalter, D. Martyn, 180 Booth, Shirley, 158 Booth, Steven, 342 Booth, Susan V., 310 Bootz, Sandra, 185 Borden, Alice, 306 Borgnine, Ernest, 136 Boritt, Beowulf, 219–20, 270, 299, 383 Borle, Christian, 208, 297 Borovay, Zachary, 313, 338 Borovay, Zak, 383 Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway, 29–30 Borstelmann, Jim, 318 Bosco, Philip, 215, 405 Boss, Hugo, 190 Boston Boston, 348 Bostwick, Barry, 35 Boswell, Felicia, 412 Boublil, Alain, 278, 294–95 Bounce, 175–79 Bourne, Matthew, 280, 349–50 Bove, Mark, 124 Bowen, Jeff, 355 Bowles, Jennifer, 393 Bowman, Benjamin G., 110 Bowman, Rob, 80 Boxjellyfish LLC, 192 Boyd, Gregory, 343 Boyett, Bob, 82–83, 117, 129, 162, 183, 325, 334, 358, 392 Boyett Ostar Productions, 208, 239, 260, 299, 328 The Boy from Oz, 149–51 Boy George, 154–56 Boyle, Loraine, 403 The Boys from Syracuse, 102–4 Boyz II Men, 13 Braben, Eddie, 125

Bracchitta, Jim, 135, 332 Brach, Gerard, 117 Brache, Ruben, 199 Bradley, Lorna, 9 Brady, Patrick S., 55, 318 Bramble, Mark, 61 Branagh, Kenneth, 125 Brancoveanu, Eugene, 115 Brando, Marlon, 375 Brandon, Michael, 324 Brantley, Ben, 2–3, 5, 12, 15, 17–18, 20, 22, 24, 26–27, 31, 35, 41, 43, 46, 48–49, 51–52, 56, 63, 71–74, 77, 80–81, 84–85, 87, 90, 92, 101, 103, 105, 108, 110–11, 114, 116, 118–20, 124–26, 128–30, 132, 134, 144, 146, 148, 151, 153, 156, 159, 161–63, 168–70, 174, 178, 184, 187, 189, 193, 195–96, 198, 200, 202, 204, 209–10, 212, 214, 216– 17, 221–22, 230–31, 233–34, 237–42, 244, 246, 252–53, 255–56, 258, 260–61, 263, 267–69, 272, 274–76, 280, 282, 284, 287, 292, 294, 296, 298, 301, 304, 306, 316, 319, 321–22, 324, 327, 333, 335, 339–41, 343, 346, 352, 357, 359–61, 367, 370, 373, 375, 378, 381–82, 384, 386, 388, 401, 406, 409–10, 413, 416–17 Branton, Allen, 99 Braun, Trevor, 321 Braunsberg, Andrew, 117 Bravo, Luis, 185 Bray, Stephen, 241 Brazier, Adam, 239 Brazzi, Rossano, 336 Breaker, Daniel, 328–29, 366 Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 138–39 Brecher, Irving, 402 Brecht, Bertolt, 252–53 Breckenridge, John C., 140 Breglio, John, 412 Brescia, Lisa, 273 Bress, Rachel, 295, 387 Brians, Sara, 343, 347 Briar, Suzanne, 307 Brice, Fannie, 133 Brice, Richard, 32 Brickman, Marc, 318 Brickman, Marshall, 235 Bridges, James, 123 Briggs, Tom, 63, 192 Brill, Justin, 286 Brill, Robert, 167, 169, 190, 226, 372, 374 Brillstein, Bernie, 268 Bring Back Birdie, 402 Brinson, Tallia, 412 Broadway Across America, 328, 338, 342, 353, 358, 361, 377, 380, 403, 412, 414, 417 Broadway Asia, 297 Broccoli, Barbara, 215 Broccoli, Dana, 215 Brock, Rose Tuelo, 9 Broderick, Helen, 161 Broderick, Matthew, 25, 55, 58 Broderick, William M., 356

460      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Brody, Spencer, 356 Brogan, Bernard, 356 Brokaw, Mark, 135, 340 Bronfman, Edgar, Jr., 160 Bronte, Charlotte, 42 Brook, Susanne, 383 Brooklyn, 188–89 Brooks, Jan, 43 Brooks, Joseph, 232 Brooks, Mel, 54, 58–59, 318 Brooks, Richard, 338 Brosnan, Pierce, 72 Brown, Amanda, 297 Brown, Amy Whitlow, 59 Brown, Anne, 7 Brown, Ashley, 226, 280 Brown, Blair, 1 Brown, David, 83 Brown, James Robert, 123 Brown, Jason Robert, 125, 358 Brown, Jeb, 251 Brown, Jessica Leigh, 46 Brown, Joe E., 137 Brown, John Mason, 370 Brown, Josef, 389 Brown, Paul, 112, 114 Brown, Rosalind, 82 Brown, Russ, 336 Brown, Zach, 179 Brown-Pinto Productions, 268 Brownstein, Norman, 117 Bruiser, 298 Brunell, Catherine, 89 Bruni, Marc, 220, 245, 286, 297, 315, 361, 414 Bryan, Alfred, 27 Bryan, Andrew, 343 Bryan, David, 403–5 Bryan, Dora, 32 Bryant, David, 356 Bryden, Ronald, 76 Bucchino, John, 338 Buchanan, Jack, 347 Buchthal, Stanley, 211 Buck, Chris, 262 Buckley, Candy, 177, 310 Buckner, Clay, 348 Buena Vista Theatrical Group, 10 Bullock, Donna, 44 Bullock, Wesley, 53 Bundy, Laura Bell, 99, 297, 384 Buntrock, Sam, 326 Buntrock, Stephen R., 417 Buonopane, Todd, 223 Burgess, Sharna, 397 Burgess, Tituss, 235, 321, 374 Burke, Edmund and Eleanor, 347 Burke, Liam, 23 Burkhardt, Brandi, 356 Burkhart, Jonathan, 190

Burnett, Carol, 49 Burnett, Jared, 353 Burns, Andrea, 330 Burns, Nica, 417 Burns, Ralph, 90 Burn the Floor, 397–98 Burr, Jon, 77 Burrell, Scott, 137 Burrell, Terry, 66, 252 Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 262 Burroughs, Mark, 53 Burrows, Abe, 374 Burrows, Jessica, 264–65 Burstein, Danny, 163 Burton, Haven, 366 Burton, Tim, 166 Busch, Charles, 154 Buscher, Joshua, 377 Bussert, Meg, 25 Buterbaugh, Keith, 283 Butler, Chris, 302 Butler, E. Faye, 308 Butler, Jean, 8–9 Butler, John, 383 Butler, Kerry, 147, 313–14 Butterell, Jonathan, 127, 162, 167, 213, 390 Buttons, Red, 30 Butz, Norbert Leo, 72–73, 153, 203, 205 Byalikov, Henry, 397 Bye Bye Birdie, 400–403 Byers, Ralph, 23 By Jeeves, 75–77 Byner, John, 183 Byrd, Donald, 241 Byrne, Gaylea, 25 Byrnes, Tommy, 110 Cabaret, 253, 300 Caddick, David, 85, 175 Cadle, Giles, 183 Café Crown, 179 La Cage Aux Folles, 197–99 Cahoon, Kevin, 215, 257, 393 Caird, John, 42, 278 Calderon, Al, 358 Caldwell/Allen, 397 Cale, David, 121, 252 Calhoun, Jeff, 50, 143, 188, 274 Call, Andrew C., 286, 342 Callaway, Liz, 133 Callinan, Molly C., 389 Callner, Marty, 99 Calloway, J. Bernard, 403 Calvert, Heath, 201 Cameron, Dove, 101 Camien, Laura, 355 Camil, Jaime, 225 Camp, Karma, 307 Campbell, Alan, 51

INDEX     461 Campbell, Mary-Mitchell, 283 Campbell, Sandy, 264 Canby, Vincent, 409 Can-Can, 213 Candide, 205–8, 337–38 Candler, Cristy, 152 Candy, John, 148 Cannon, Mike, 271 Cannon, Tina, 96 Cantone, Mario, 104, 167, 189–90 Cantu, Jesus, Jr., 53 Caplan, Matt, 286 Capra, Frank, 307 Caprio, Jennifer, 219 Carlson, Jeffrey, 154 Carlson, Katlyn, 389 Carlyle, Warren, 54, 85, 304, 345, 356, 405 Carmeli, Jodi, 137 Carmelina, 250 Carmello, Carolee, 255, 308–10 Carnelia, Craig, 83, 119–20 Caroline, or Change, 171–74 Carpinello, James, 314, 383–84 Carr, Allan, 199 Carr, Sharon, 392 Carrafa, John, 26, 69, 91, 117, 201 Carrick, William, 117 Carrillo, Cely, 106 Carroll, Danny, 103 Carroll, David (James), 117 Carroll, Pat, 90 Carroll, Ronn, 86 Carroll, Zachary, 353 Carrpailet/Danzansky, 397 Carsey, Richard, 392 Carson, Jeanie, 407 Carter, Caitlin, 50 Carter, Gerrard, 124, 193 Carter, Glenn, 19–20 Carter, Helena Bonham, 166 Carter, McKinley, 96 Carter, Rusty and Susan, 347 Carter, Shawn “Jay-Z,” 415 Carter, Sheila, 75 Cartney, Jenny, 308 Caruso, Anne, 340 Caruso, Jim, 364 Caruso, Thomas, 46 Carvajal, Celina, 186 Case, Allison, 380 Casey, Harry, 356 Casey, Warren, 315, 317 Cash, Johnny, 250–52 Caskey, Kristin, 89 Casper, 93–94 Cassan, Christian, 328 Cassidy, Jack, 104 Cassidy, Patrick, 169 Castle, Matt, 283

Castree, Paul, 318 A Catered Affair, 338–39 Cathey, Reg E., 21 Cattaneo, Peter, 30 Catullo, Patrick, 219, 273, 385 Caulfield, Maxwell, 317 Cavanaugh, Matt, 124, 275, 338, 377 Cavanaugh, Michael, 110–11 Cavett, Dick, 33 Cazenove, Christopher, 349–50 Ceballo, Kevin, 133 Celebrating Sondheim, 112 Center Theatre Group, 104, 143, 180, 292, 358, 387, 393 Centracco, Cookie, 4 Cervantes, Miguel de, 112 Cerveris, Michael, 166, 168–69, 178, 234–35, 292, 299, 301 Cesa, Jamie, 267 Chad, Harrison, 171, 304 Chada, Jennifer, 180 Chadman, Christopher, 369 Chait, Marcus, 295 Chakiris, George, 363, 379 Chamberlain, Andrea, 374 Chamberlain, Richard, 350 Chamberlin, Kevin, 26–27, 39–42 Champion, Gower, 61–63, 402 Champion, Kate, 389 Champion, Marge, 48 Champlin, Donna Lynne, 3, 75, 234 Chandler, Spencer, 365 Chanler-Berat, Adam, 385 Channing, Carol, 159 Channing, Stockard, 316, 368, 370 Chapin, Ted, 49 Chaplin, Sydney, 159 Chapman, Graham, 208 Chapman, John, 207 Chapman, Kate, 245 Chapman, Tracy Nicole, 91, 171 Charisse, Cyd, 346 Charlap, Bill, 205 Charles, Walter, 39, 102, 164, 239, 290, 304, 349 Charles Rapp Enterprises, 30 Charlie and Algernon, 241 Chase, David, 23, 65, 104, 359 Chase, Paula Leggett, 245 Chase, Will, 52, 230, 286, 372 Chastain, Sheffield, 361 Chayefsky, Paddy, 135–36, 338 Cheever, Jean, 203, 211 Chenoweth, Kristin, 25, 90, 101, 152–53, 289–90, 292, 304 Cher, 190 Cherniakhovskii, Gary, 365 Children’s Theatre Company Production, 129 Chin, Sae La, 343 China on Broadway, 371–72 Chioldi, Michael, 121 Chiroldes, Tony, 181 Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, 243–45

462      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Chittick, Joyce, 89, 245, 315 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 215–17 Chmerkovskiy, Maksim, 398 Chodorov, Jerome, 158 Chorpenning, Ruth, 88 A Chorus Line, 271–73 Christian, Angela, 239 Christiansen, Richard, 95–96 A Christmas Carol, 37–39, 77, 111, 156–57 Christon, Lawrence, 3 Christy, Anna, 121, 205 Chryst, Gary, 351 Church, Sandra, 106 Cidre, Cynthia, 225 Cilento, Wayne, 10, 66, 152, 220–22 Cilibrasi, Joe, 288 Cimmet, Brian, 181 Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 283 Cinderella, 63–65, 190–92 Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, 353–54 Cirque Productions, 353 Citi, 320 Claar, E. Alyssa, 117 Clancy, Elizabeth Hope, 328 Clark, Bobby, 137 Clark, Dwayne, 6 Clark, Michael, 186, 196, 235, 251, 308 Clark, Petula, 407 Clark, Victoria, 49, 65, 213, 215 Clarke, Hope, 171 Clarke, Katie Rose, 215 A Class Act, 44–46 Clay, Ken, 403 Clayton, Garrett, 101 Clayton, Jan, 48 Cleale, Lewis, 107, 390–91 Clear Channel Entertainment, 83, 89, 99, 110, 117, 147, 158, 162, 171, 186, 196–97, 203, 208, 211, 220, 225, 230, 239 Cleese, John, 208 Clement, Jack H., 252 Clements, Ron, 321 Clifton, Kevin, 397 Clohessy, Robert, 368 Clooney, Rosemary, 363 Close to You: Bacharach Reimagined, 135 Clow, James, 414 Coates, Edith, 208 Cobb, Amanda Leigh, 389 Cobb, Lee J., 113 Coca, Imogene, 347 Cochran, Cara, 140 Coco, 131 Coco, James, 18 Cody, Jennifer, 154, 245, 366 Coffman, Kyle, 377 Cohen, Patricia, 319–20 Cohen, Steve, 99 Cohenour, Patti, 213

Cohn, Judith (Judy) Marinoff, 147, 365 Cohn, Nik, 125 Colangelo, Anthony, 127 Colby, Michael, 145 Cold Spring Productions, 287 Cole, Jack, 22, 113 Cole, Kenneth, 60 Cole, Robert, 80 Cole, Stephen, 93 Colella, Jenn, 286 Coleman, Cy, 179–80, 220 Coleman, Robert, 207 Collette, Toni, 16, 18 Collins, Pat, 277, 320 Collins, Phil, 262–63 Collins, Wilkie, 239 The Color Purple, 241–43 Colson, Kevin, 357 Comden, Betty, 50, 158, 345 Comedy Garden, 99 Comfort, Jane, 107 Comley, Bonnie, 162, 270, 325 Company, 283–86 Conard, Phil Ciasullo, 211 Condon, Bill, 413 Condos, Steve, 139 Conery, Edward, 264 Conforti, Gino, 114 Conlee, John Ellison, 30 Conn, Didi, 21 The Connection, 328 Connell, Jane, 22 Connell, Richard, 307 Connick, Harry, Jr., 72, 74, 245–47 Connors, Julie, 290 Conque, Lance, 353 Contact, 13–16 Convy, Bert, 128 Conway, Kathryn, 117 Cook, Barbara, 24, 49, 77–78, 166–67 Cook, Victor Trent, 63 Cook Group Incorporated, 53 Cooper, Chuck, 171, 230 Cooper, Helmar Augustus, 334 Cooper, Lilli, 288 Cooper, M., 169 Cooper, Marilyn, 402 Cooper, Max, 287, 407 Cooper, Mindy, 186 Coopersmith, Jerome, 289 Coote, Robert, 350 Copacabana, 65–66 Copeland, Joan, 369 Copley, Dave, 403 Coppola, Francis Ford, 407 Coraci, Frank, 257 Corden, James, 93 Corker, John S., 414 Corley, Nick, 179

INDEX     463 Corliss, Richard, 132, 134, 240–43, 282, 399 Corman, Avery, 179 Corman, Roger, 123, 147 Cornelious, E. Clayton, 23, 271 Cornell, Heather, 126 Corner Store Fund, 383 Cornwell, Eric, 112 Corren, Donald, 238 Corry, John, 83 Cortez, Natalie, 271 Corti, Jim, 96 Costa, Joseph, 389 Costa, Mary, 207 Cotillard, Marion, 128 Cotley, Nick, 37 Cotter, Margaret, 211 Coughlin, Bruce, 215 Cousin, Tome, 13 Cox, Christopher, 407 Cox, Jane, 192 Cox, Wally, 108 Cozza, Craig, 383 Craig, Deborah S., 219 Craig, Joseph, 403 Crain, Jon, 353 Crandall, Kelly, 248 Cranshaw, Bob, 217 Cravens, Pierce, 59 Crawford, Joan, 140, 347 Crawford, Michael, 117, 119, 240–41 Craymer, Judy, 71 Crazy for You, 344 Creative Battery, 80, 192, 241 Creative Management Ltd., 8 Creek, Luther, 381 Creel, Gavin, 89, 175, 380–81 C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, 220 Crewdson, Arlene J., 95 Crigler, Lynn, 137 Cristensen, Tracy, 238 Criswell, Kim, 35, 159 Crivello, Anthony, 43 Croft, Paddy, 1 Croiter, Jeff, 267, 323 Crooks, David, 115 Crosby, B. J., 82 Crosby, Bing, 58, 362 Cross, Murphy, 270 Crouch, Erin, 343 Crowe, Russell, 280 Crowley, Bob, 10, 12, 83–84, 262–63, 280, 283 Crowther, Bosley, 213, 346 Cruickshank, Holly, 13 Cruise, Tom, 385 Crumb, Ann, 128 Crumm, Max, 315–16 Cruz, Penelope, 128 Cry-Baby, 339–41 Crystal, Billy, 196–97

Crystal, Janice, 196 CTM Productions, 135, 251 Cuccioli, Robert, 347 Cuervo, Alma, 178 Cuillo, Bob, 197, 251 Culbreath, Lloyd, 243 Cullman, Joan, 83, 125, 171, 288 Cullum, John, 205, 277–78, 302 Culture Clash, 181–82 Cumming, Alan, 252 Cumpsty, Michael, 61, 325 Cunningham, John, 107 Cunningham, Johnny, 8 Cunningham, Robert, 283 Curran, Sean, 1 Curry, Michael, 277, 320 Curry, Tim, 34–35, 39, 77, 208 Curtains, 292–94 Curtis, Tony, 80, 137, 139 Curtiz, Michael, 361, 414 Cusack, John, 286 Cuscuna, Lisa Podgur, 42 Cuthbert, David Lee, 196 Cutro, Nicholas, 30 Cypher, Jon, 64, 113 Czekaj, Anna, 417 D’Abruzzo, Stephanie, 145 Da Costa, Kyra, 220 DaCosta, Morton, 25 D’Addario, Brian, 321 Da Gradi, Don, 280 Dahl, Roald, 215 Dailey, Dan, 363 Daisy Theatricals, 347 Dalco, Matthew, 85, 278 Daldry, Stephen, 359, 361 Dale, Grover, 361 Dale, Jim, 39, 157, 252 Dalgleish, Jack M., 372 Dallas Summer Musicals, 65, 104, 188, 270, 374 Daltry, Roger, 39 Daly, Tyne, 131–32, 402 D’Amboise, Charlotte, 221, 271 D’Amboise, Christopher, 308 D’Ambrosio, Franc, 66 Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!, 192–94 Damiano, Jennifer, 385 Damon, Cathryn, 103 Damon, Stuart, 64, 103, 410 Danao-Salkin, Julie, 230 Dancap Productions, Inc., 295, 403, 417 Dance of the Vampires, 117–19 Dance Partner, Inc., 397 Dancing in the Dark, 345–47 Dancing on Dangerous Ground, 7–9 Dandridge, Merle, 262 Dane, Faith, 132 D’Angeles, Evan, 194

464      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS D’Angelo, Gerard, 217 Daniele, Graciela, 243, 295, 368 Danieley, Jason, 30, 224, 293 Danielle, Marlene, 148 Daniels, Nikki Renee, 133 Daniels, Sharon, 249 Daniels, Walker, 381 Danis, Amy, 147 Dankworth, Jacqueline, 93, 222 Danner, Blythe, 46 Dannheisser, Adam, 383 Dante, Nicholas, 271 Danus, Richard, 313 Danz, Ron and Marjorie, 403 Danzansky Partners, 286 D’Arienzo, Chris, 383 Darin, Bobby, 253 Darion, Joe, 112 Darling, Peter, 359–61 Darrington, Quentin Earl, 407 Daugherty, Tom, 175 Davenport, Ken, 358 Davey, Alt, 1 Davey, Shaun, 1 Davi, Mara, 345, 414 David, Clifford, 103 David, Hal, 133–35 David, James, 133 David, Keith, 259 Davidson, Gordon, 104, 180 Davidson, Peter J., 19 Davie, Erin, 274 Davies, Brian, 1, 3 Davies, Irving, 126 Davies, Mark, 154 Davis, Ben, 115 Davis, Bette, 140 Davis, Dani, 199 Davis, Daniel, 183, 197–98 Davis, Eisa, 328 Davis, Guy, 405 Davis, Jeff, 383 Davis, Lindsay W., 121 Davis, Lynn, 347 Davis, Paul, 173 Davis, Paula, 383 Davis, Peter G., 122 Davis, Sam, 412 Davis-Tolentino, 338 Day, Doris, 247 Day, Jim, 99 Daye, Bobby, 366 Day-Lewis, Daniel, 128 Days, Maya, 19 D’Beck, Patti, 50 Deaf West Theatre, 143, 145, 289 Dean, Charles, 361 Dean, James, 391 Dear Jo, 200 Decal, Janet, 330

Deems, Mickey, 22 de Havilland, Olivia, 214 de la Renta, Oscar, 32 de la Reza, Michele, 4 DeLaria, Lea, 191 de Lavallade, Carmen, 184 Delavan, Mark, 164–65 DeLisa, Dana, 349 Dellger, Joseph, 96, 255 Delman, Scott, 407 Delphi Productions, 174 DeLuca, John, 277, 320 DeMain, John, 5 DeMann, Freddy, 171, 287, 377 De Mille, Agnes, 361 Deming, Matthew, 351 Demos Bizar Entertainment, 403 Dempsey, Jackie, 4 Dempsey, John, 295 Demy, Jacques, 117 Denby, David, 101 Dench, Judi, 92, 128 Dendy, Mark, 154, 295 Denison, Ken, 169, 188 Denkert, Darcie, 203, 297, 393 Denman, Jeffry, 179, 344, 361, 363 Dennen, Barry, 20 Dennis, Carol, 241 Dennis, Patrick, 304 Denniston, Leslie, 140 De Paul, Darin, 320 de Poyen, Jennifer, 265 Depp, Johnny, 93, 166 DeRosa, Stephen, 91 deRoy, Jamie, 243, 270, 405 Derricks, Cleavant, 180, 188 Derricks, Marguerite, 44, 310 Desai, Angel, 283 DeSalvo, Anne, 223 Desire under the Elms, 250 DeVincentis, D. V., 286 Devine, Kelly, 264, 383, 403 Dewar, John, 239 Dewhurst, Colleen, 113 Deyle, John, 69 Diamond, I. A. L., 137 Diamond, Tom, 4 Diane, Jill, 353 Diaz, Natascia, 221 Diblasi, Lauren, 353 Dickens, Charles, 37, 356 Dickinson, Janet, 277, 320 Dickinson, Remmel T., 403 Dickstein, Mindi, 199 Diener, Joan, 113–14 Dietz, Howard, 345 Dietz, Susan, 415 Diggs, Taye, 18 Digiallonardo, Nadia, 380 DiGianfelice, Teri, 193

INDEX     465 Dillingham, Charles, 104, 393 Dilly, Erin, 90, 215 Dimarzio, Diana, 234 Di Novelli, Donna, 392 DiPietro, Joe, 211, 403–4 Dirty Blonde, 25–27 Dirty Dancing, 388–90 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 203–5 Disaster!, 316 Disney Theatrical Productions, 226, 262, 280, 321 Disney Theatricals, 10 Dixon, Ed, 304, 308, 320–21 Dixon, Jerry, 190 Dixon, Mort, 61 Dmytruk, Iryna, 353 Dmytruk, Ruslan, 353 Dobie, Edgar, 295, 387 Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, 276–78, 320–21 Doctorow, E. L., 407 Doctor Zhivago, 265 Dodge, Marcia Milgrom, 407 Dodger Management Group, 23, 53, 61, 91, 186, 201 Dodger Stage Holding, 112, 186 Dodger Theatricals, 23, 61, 69, 91, 201, 235 Doherty, Carolyn, 66 Doherty, Katherine Leigh, 280, 417 Doherty, Madeleine, 55 Doherty, Moya, 9, 295–96, 387 Dokuchitz, Jonathan, 102, 133 Dolan, Judith, 180, 205, 299, 337 Dolan, Rick, 32 Doll, Lauren, 4, 188, 403 Domenech, Dan, 310 Domingo, Colman, 329 Domingo, Placido, 315 Dominguez, Robert, 155 Donen, Stanley, 247 Dong Yingbo, 371 Donizetti, Gaetano, 117 Don’t Knock the Rock, 213 Doran, Tonya, 71 Dorgan, Theo, 9 Dorsen, Annie, 328 Dossett, John, 390, 392 Dotson, Bernard, 119 Dow, Ken, 196 Dow, Kevin, 196 Dowgiallo, Toni, 387 Dowling, Bryn, 55 Dowling, Joe, 392 Downes, Jeremiah B., 223 Downey, Catherine Marie, 37 Doyle, Jack, 318 Doyle, John, 178, 234–35, 243, 283, 338, 352, 379 Dracula, 186–87 Draghici, Marina, 415–16 Dragotta, Robert, 137 Dragotta/Gill/Roberts, 104 Drake, Betsy, 345

Dramatic Forces, 104 Draus, Susan, 201 Dreamgirls, 411–14 Dreamworks Theatricals, 366 Dreiser, Theodore, 75 Dresser, Richard, 201 Drewe, Anthony, 280, 282 Dreyfuss, Richard, 58 Driehaus, Richard, 405 Driscoll, Jon, 389 Driver, Don, 65, 406 Driver, Donald, 104 Driving Miss Daisy, 173 The Drowsy Chaperone, 260–62 Drummond, Ryan, 264 Dubin, Al, 61 Dubois, Amanda, 287 Dudding, Joey, 197 Dudley, William, 239 Dumas, Jeff, 175 Dunagan, Deanna, 175 Duncan, Ryan, 366 Duncan, Sandy, 407 Duncan, Todd, 7 Dunham, Clarke, 205, 337 Dunn, Colleen, 46 Dunn, Kathryn, 359 Dunn, Sally Mae, 160 Dunn, Wally, 82 Dunne, Colin, 8–9 Dunning, Jennifer, 10, 186 Du Prez, John, 208 Duquesnay, Ann, 259 Duran, Marcela, 185 Duran, Michael, 23 Durand, Rudy, 258 Durang, Christopher, 184 Duren, Carla, 302 Durham, Kathy, 180 Durrenmatt, Friedrich, 96, 351 Dussault, Nancy, 407 Dvorsky, George, 65 Dylan, Bob, 273–74 Dys, Deanna, 179, 337 Dziemianowicz, Joe, 265, 342 Eagan, Daisy, 3 East, Richard, 71 East Egg Entertainment, 44, 83 Eastern Shanghai International Culture Film & Television Group, 371 East of Doheny, 83, 215, 273–74 Easton, Myles, 350 Eastwood, Clint, 237 Eaton, Bob, 232 Ebb, Fred, 96, 292 Ebbenga, Eric, 223 Ebersole, Christine, 61, 63, 274–76 Echeverria, Marisa, 390 Economos, John, 95

466      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Edelman, Gregg, 222, 356 Eder, Richard, 381 Edmonds, Louis, 22 Edwards, Gale, 19 Edwards, Jason, 251 Egan, Seamus, 8–9 Egan, Susan, 402 Eggers, David, 245 Eichelberger, Jodi, 145 Eisenberg, Ned, 21 Eisenhauer, Peggy, 16, 37, 42, 80, 107, 131, 167, 169, 171, 190, 225, 243 Elaine Stritch at Liberty, 80–81 Electric Factory Concerts, 8 Elias, Rosalind, 166 Elice, Rick, 235 Elish, Dan, 358 Elkin, Michelle, 310 Elliman, Yvonne, 20 Elliott, Devlin, 407 Elliott, Karen, 278 Elliott, Scott, 252–54 Elliott, Shawn, 181 Elliott, Ted, 366 Ellis, Jeffrey, 393 Ellis, Scott, 59, 102, 121, 133, 292 Ellison, Todd, 16, 44, 61, 107, 208 Elmore, Steve, 285 Elmslie, Kenward, 309 Emerson, Mark, 264 Emery, Ted, 21 Emick, Jarrod, 32–33, 251 EMI Music Publishing, 277, 320 Emmet, Linda, 178 Endgame Entertainment, 147 Engel, Georgia, 103, 260 Engel, Lehman, 45 Entertainment Partnership, 169 Ephraim, Molly, 162 Ephron, Nora, 119 Epperson, John, 65, 191 Epps, Sheldon, 310 Epstein, Adam, 99, 257, 340 Epstein, Adam Troy, 353 Epstein, Alvin, 184 Epstein, Julius J., 213 Ernest in Love, 141 Errico, Melissa, 107–8, 186, 350, 407, 414 Erskine, Julian, 9 Escaler, Ernest De Leon, 104 Eskew, Doug, 241 Esparza, Raul, 33, 154, 215, 283 Espinosa, Eden, 188 Esposito, Cyrena, 403 Esse, Parker, 304, 356, 405 Essman, Nina, 112, 152, 211 Estabrook, Christine, 288 Etting, Ruth, 370 Ettinger, Heidi, 59, 186, 201, 264

Eustis, Oskar, 380 Evans, Daniel, 325–27 Evans, Darcy, 199 Evans, David, 50 Evans, Greg, 409 Evans, Wilbur, 336 Evar, Rami, 356 Everett, Sonny, 145, 260, 286, 361, 414 Everett/Skipper, 330 Everidge, Daniel, 315 Everman, Sarah Jane, 290, 366 Ewing, Jon, 199 Eyen, Tom, 411 Eyre, Richard, 280, 282 Ezralow, Daniel, 21 Fabray, Nanette, 346–47 Face Productions, 196 Fagan, Melissa, 186 Falkenstein, Eric, 4, 192, 211, 407, 417 Falls, Robert, 10, 96, 175 Falter, Tim, 137 Fang Jun, 371 Fanok Entertainment, 356 Fantaci, Anna, 241 The Fantasticks, 257 Farber, Andrew, 340 Farber, Sasha, 397 Farha, Badia, 310 Farina, Michael J., 232 Farley, David, 325, 358, 417 Farrar, John, 313, 315 Farrell, Henry, 140 Farrell, John, 93 Farrington, Malinda, 243 Farrow, Talitha, 412 Faughnan, Kathryn, 280 Faye, Alina, 405 Faye, Pascale, 13 Feather, Lorraine, 166 Federan, Mitchel David, 149 Federer, Michelle, 152 Federle, Tim, 392 Federman, Wendy, 328, 392 Feeling Electric, 386 Feichter, Vadim, 219 Feiffer, Jules, 290 Feingold, Michael, 254 Feinman, Larry, 392 Fela!, 414–16 Felciano, Manoel, 234 Felder, Hershey, 60 Feldman, Hazel and Sam, 220 Feldman, Jack, 65 Feldman, Rebecca, 218 Feliciano, Manoel, 188 Fell, Andrew, 417 Fellini, Federico, 127, 220 Fellner, Eric, 359

INDEX     467 Fellner, Jenny, 368 Fenholt, Jeff, 20 Fenton, James, 278 Fenwick, Chris, 390 Fenwick, Oliver, 349 Ferber, Edna, 390 Fergie, 128 Ferguson, Jesse Tyler, 219, 381 Ferguson, William, 205 Ferland, Danielle, 129 Ferrall, Gina, 42, 143 Feuchtwanger, Peter R., 135 Feurring/Maffei/Pinsky, 188 FGRW Investments, 211 Fiddler on the Roof, 114, 162–64 Fields, Dan, 232 Fields, Dorothy, 161, 220 Fields, Joseph, 104, 106, 158 Fierstein, Harvey, 99–101, 163, 197, 338 Fierstein, Ron, 338 Figgins, Dionne, 403 Filerman, Michael, 392 Filmer, Ann, 95 Finbow, Max, 315 Finch, Peter, 134 Fine, Maggie, 313 Fine, Peter, 330 Finian’s Rainbow, 405–7 Finkel, Barry, 157 Finley, Felicia, 257 Finn, Jon, 359 Finn, William, 95, 218 Fiocco, Arthur, 32 Firth, Colin, 72 Fischer, Allison, 255–56 Fisher, David “Dudu,” 30 Fisher, Jules, 16, 37, 42, 80, 107, 131, 167, 169, 171, 190, 225, 243, 387 Fisher, Rick, 359, 361 Fisher, Rob, 158–59, 289 Fiss, Thomas Michael, 30 Fitzgerald, Christopher, 107, 152, 318, 393, 405 Fitzgerald, Kathy, 387 Fitz-Gerald, Timothy A., 149 Fitzhugh, Ellen, 94 Fitzpatrick, Allen, 61 Flaherty, Stephen, 39, 41, 407 Flaiano, Ennio, 127, 220 Flateman, Charles, 80 Flatley, Michael, 9 Flatlow, Leon, 27 Flatt, Kate, 278 Flavin, Tim, 35 Fleming, Adam, 99 Fleming, Eugene, 133 Fleming, Ian, 215 Fleming, Shirley, 191 Florence Foster Jenkins, 239 Florin, Jackie Barlia, 328

Flower Drum Song, 104–7 Floyd, Kenneth, 6 Floyd Collins, 214 Foard, Merwin, 321 Fodor, Barbara and Peter, 123, 292 Fogel, Eric Sean, 392 Foley, Sean, 125–26 Folger, Dan, 219–20 Follies, 46–50 Fong, Benson, 106 Fontana, Santino, 65, 325, 359 Foote, Jenifer, 186 Ford, Paul, 25, 112 Fordham, Sharon A., 356 Ford’s Theatre, 307 Forestieri, Marcel, 402–3 Forever Tango, 185–86 Forlenza, Louise, 230, 392 Forman, Milos, 381 Foronda, Joseph Anthony, 194 Forquero, Francisco, 185 Forster, Rudolph, 254 42nd Street, 61–63 Fosse, Bob, 160, 222, 243, 247, 270, 370 Foster, David Carey, 264 Foster, David J., 267, 323, 365 Foster, Hunter, 69, 147–48 Foster, Sutton, 89–90, 134, 199, 260–61, 318, 366 Foster, Tim, 140 Four Seasons, 235–38 Fowler, Beth, 50–51, 149, 165 Fowler, Kelsey, 275, 325 Fox, Bobby, 8 Fox, Robert, 131, 149 Fox Associates, 353 Fox-Gieg, Nick, 4 Fox Searchlight Pictures, 30, 115 Fox-Siegmund, Kristin, 307 Fox Theatricals, 88, 171, 297 Foy, Eddie, Jr., 22, 52 Franchi, Sergio, 128 Francks, Don, 407 Frank, Chris, 348 Frank, Melvin, 361, 414 Frankel, Jennifer, 135, 160, 393 Frankel, Jerry, 287, 380, 417 Frankel, Marc, 380 Frankel, Richard, 147, 234, 283, 397, 417 Frankel, Ronald, 417 Frankel, Scott, 274 Frankel-Baruch-Viertel-Routh Group, 54, 338 Fran Kirmser Productions, 380 Franklin, Nancy, 12, 24, 70, 92 Franks, Jay, 383 Franzblau, William, 392 Franzetti, Carlos, 225 Fraser, Alexander, 169 Fraser, Hadley, 295 Fratti, Mario, 127

468      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Frears, Stephen, 239, 286 Freedman, Robert L., 63, 65, 192 Freeman, Christopher, 197 Freeman, Jonathan, 61, 321, 407 Freeman, Kathleen, 31 Freidman, Maria, 409 Freiman, Scott, 199 Freitag, Barbara, 123, 260, 328, 403 Freitag, Buddy, 328, 403 Frelich, Phyllis, 143 Freydberg, James B., 251 Friedenberg, Kyrian, 332 Friedman, David, 308 Friedman, Maria, 239 Friedman, Sonia, 374, 387 Friedson, Adam and David, 135 Friendly Theatrical, LLC, 392 Frishwasser, Dan, 397, 403, 417 Froemke, Susan, 274 The Frogs, 183–85 Frost, Kevan, 154 Frot, Catherine, 239 Fruge, Romain, 30, 252 Fuchs, M., 147 Fuchs, Michael, 115, 154 Fuchs/Swinsky, 117 Fuld, James, Jr., 245 Fuller, Larry, 164 The Full Monty, 30–32 Fumoto, Yoko, 194 Funk, Nolan Gerard, 400 Furman, Jay, 80, 257 Furman, Jill, 260, 330 Furman, Roy, 80, 83, 117, 129, 203, 208, 241, 257, 268, 297, 332, 377, 407 Furnish, David, 359 Furth, George, 273, 283, 285 Further Mo’, 83 Fusco, Tony, 392 Fussell, Samuel Wilson, 95 FWPM Group, 297 Gabay, Roy, 415 Gabrielle, Josefina, 86–87 Gagnon, Steve F., 137 Gaida, Lisa, 368 Gaines, Boyd, 13, 15–16, 333 Gaines, Davis, 104, 185 Gajda, Lisa, 273 Galati, Frank, 39, 41, 96, 295, 351–52 Gale, Gregory, 69, 257, 383 Gallagher, Dan, 243 Gallagher, Dick, 32 Gallagher, Helen, 22, 375, 406 Gallagher, Joe, 59 Gallagher, John, Jr., 289 Gallardo, Edgard, 243 Galligan-Stierle, Aaron, 320 Gallin, Sandy, 112

Gallin, Susan Quint, 112 Gallo, David, 89, 117, 260, 262, 283–84, 313, 338, 403 Gallo, Paul, 33, 61, 112, 160, 343, 368 Gallo, Phil, 180 Gamache, Laurie, 93 Gambatese, Jennifer (Jenn), 99, 129, 211, 262 Gannon, Ben, 149 Garber, Victor, 49, 65, 169, 177 Garcia, Bob, 8 Garcia, Jesus, 115 Garcia, Maija, 415 Garcia, Melly, 405 Gardenia, Vincent, 148 Gardiner, Eric and Marsi, 403 Gardiner, James, 341 Gardiner, Matthew, 308, 351 Gardner, Elysa, 24, 52, 57, 178 Gardner, Michael, 117, 129 Gardner, Rita, 257 Gardner, Worth, 309 Garebian, Keith, 315 Garland, Judy, 364–65 Garner, Andre, 23, 277 Garner, Jeremy, 397 Garratt, Geoffrey, 280 Garrett, Betty, 48, 160 Garrison, Mary Catherine, 167–68 Gary Goddard Entertainment, 380 Gasperino, Entertainment, 356 Gasteyer, Ana, 191, 252 Gatling, Zipporah G., 241 Gattelli, Christopher, 268, 286, 325, 334, 358 Gay, John, 252 Gayle, Sami, 332 Gaynes, George, 52 Gaynor, Mitzi, 336 Geary, Steve, 13 Geisel, Audrey, 277, 320 Geisel, Theodore, 39, 277, 320 Geisler, James, 353 Gelbart, Larry, 180 Gelber, Jack, 328 Gelber, Jordan, 145 Geller, Bruce, 145 Geller, Jared, 267, 323, 365 Gelsey, Erwin, 160 Gemignani, Alexander, 135, 167, 178, 234, 278, 280, 325 Gemignani, Paul, 37, 59, 91, 121–22, 167, 183, 194, 196, 301, 368, 398 Gemini, 223–24 Genet, Jean, 328 Genet, Michael, 255 Gentry, Ken, 199 Genzingler, Neil, 414 George, Rhett, 403 George Gershwin Alone, 60–61 Gere, Richard, 317 Gerle, Andrew, 307 Gero, Frank, 215

INDEX     469 Gershon, Gina, 400–401 Gershwin, George, 5, 60–61, 335, 343 Gershwin, Ira, 5, 60, 343 The Gershwins’ An American in Paris, 343–45 Gersten, Bernard, 13, 32, 72, 77, 166, 183, 213, 217, 334 Gersten, Jenny, 380 Gets, Malcolm, 78, 104, 107–8, 292, 372, 407 Gettelfinger, Sara, 203, 276 GFO, 201 GFour Productions, 251, 387 Ghostley, Alice, 64 Giacosa, Giuseppe, 115 Giant, 390–92 Gibb, Barry, 315 Gibbs, Christian, 328 Gibbs, David, 383 Gibbs, Nancy Nagel, 112, 211 Gifford, Kathie Lee, 308 Gilberg, Charles, 223 Gilbert, Melissa, 392–93 Giles, Anthony, 117 Gilkison, Jason, 192, 397 Gill, Michael, 257 Gilliam, Michael, 143, 181, 188 Gilliam, Terry, 208 Gillibrand, Nicki, 359 Gillies, Elizabeth Egan, 358 Gindi, Roger Alan, 270 Gingold, Hermione, 25 Giordano, Tyrone, 143 Girdler, Deb G., 310 A Girl Called Jo, 200 Gladden, Dean R., 343 Glant, Bruce and Joanne, 403 Glaser, Cathy, 415 Gleason, Joanna, 203 Gleason, Tim Martin, 67 Glick, M., 88 Glimcher, Arne, 225 Glist, Kathi, 197 Glory Days, 341–43 Glossop, Roger, 75 Glover, Montego, 403 Glushak, Joanna, 83 Goble, Patty, 293, 323 Gochman, Len, 407 Goddard, Gary, 380 Godfrey, Peter, 374 Godley Morris Group, LLC, 258 Goede, Jay, 129 Gold!, 176–77 Gold, Rebecca, 380 Goldberg, Marcia, 152, 211 Goldberg, Mark, 50 Goldberg, Neil, 353 Goldberg, Whoopi, 89, 192, 311 Goldberg/Binder, 297 Goldblatt, JD, 278 Golden, Annie, 30, 169, 381

Golden, Frank, 347 Golden, Lea Marie, 140 Golden, Margaret McFeeley, 42 Goldenberg, Billy, 79 Golden Land Orchestra, 30 Goldenthal, Elliot, 21–22, 173 Goldfarb, Daniel, 268 Goldilocks, 250 Goldman, James, 46–47 Goldman, Nina, 13 Goldman, Sherwin M., 5, 121, 164, 191 Goldsberry, Renee Elise, 243 Goldschneider, Ed, 69 Goldsmith, Harvey, 8 Goldsmith, Herbert, 270 Goldsmith, Oliver, 1 Goldstein, Daniel, 211 Goldstein, Jess, 135, 201, 235, 268, 289, 392 Goldwyn, Samuel, 7 Gomez, Carlos, 330 Gonzales, Keith, 42 Gonzalez, Mandy, 117, 230 Goodall, Howard, 358 Goodchild, Tim, 154 Goodman, Henry, 58 Goodman, John, 145 Goodman, Robyn, 44, 145, 286, 377 Goodman/Grossman, 330 Goodman Theatre, 96, 175 Goodridge, Chad, 328 Goodspeed Musicals, 75 Good Vibrations, 201–3 Goodwin, Deidre, 161, 243 Goodwin, Will, 192 Gordon, A., 99 Gordon, Adam S., 340 Gordon, Allan S., 208, 257, 340 Gordon, Gale, 139 Gordon, Paul, 42 Gordon-Levitt, Joseph, 365 Gore, John, 361, 414 Gorgeous Entertainment, 194 Gorme, Eydie, 306 Gottlieb, Max, 383 Gottschall, Ruth, 157, 282 Goulet, Robert, 198 Gouveia, Steve, 235 Goyen, William, 309 Gozzi, Carlo, 21 Grabarkewitz, David, 164 Grable, Betty, 363 Graff, Randy, 44, 162–63 Graham, Arnold, 30 Graham, Lauren, 374–75 Graham, Nick, 270 Graham, Ronny, 292 Grammer, Kelsey, 38, 199, 327 Granata, Dona, 107 Grandosek, Gordana, 397

470      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Grano, Joseph J., 235, 356 Grant, Cary, 23–24 Grant, Hugh, 239 Grant, Kate Jennings, 374–75 Grant, Kelly Jeanne, 283 Grant, Micki, 331 Grant, Peter, 336 Grappo, Connie, 148 Gravitte, Beau, 213 Gravity Entertainment, 137 Gray, Kevin, 19 Grazer, Brian, 340 Grease, 315–17 Great Big River, 145 The Great Ostrovsky, 179–80 Green, Adolph, 50, 158, 345 Green, Alan H., 351 Green, Amanda, 286–87 Green, Bradley Kerr, 53 Green, Guy, 213 Green, Martyn, 22 Green, Stanley, 285 Greenberg, Richard, 368 The Green Bird, 21–22 Greenblatt, Kenneth, 197 Greenblatt, Robert, 387 Greene, Ellen, 148 Greene, Sally, 359 Green State Prods., 387 Greenwald, Robert, 313 Greenwood, Jane, 1, 79, 230, 347 Greer, Justin, 124 Gregory, Chester (II), 340, 368 Gregory, Tom, 374 Gregus, Peter, 235 Greif, Michael, 160–61, 274, 385 Greiner, Ken, 415 Grendel, 173 Greogry, Chester II, 262 Grey, Joel, 152 Grey Gardens, 274–76 Grier, David Alan, 226 Griffin, Gary, 241, 289, 345 Griffin, Merv, 406 Griffith, Charles, 147 Griffith, PJ, 392 Griffiths, Sheila, 135 Grigsby, Kimberly, 30, 288, 315 Grode, Eric, 382 Groener, Harry, 119, 180, 343 Groenewold, Chris, 4 Grooms, Luke, 323 Groover, D. L., 344 Gross, Steven, 179 Grossman, Ken, 270 Grossman, Randi, 208, 225 Grossman, Walt, 377 Grossman, Walter, 145 Grothues, Nicole, 175

Grove, Barry, 299 Grove, Jessica, 89, 390 Grover, Stanley, 407 GRS Associates, 208 Grupper, Adam, 115 Guare, John, 83–85 Guest, Christopher, 148 Guettel, Adam, 213–15 Guild, Ralph, 239 Guiles, Coats, 115 Gulan, Timothy, 137 Gumbel, Roberta, 232 Gumble, Albert, 27 Gumley, Matthew, 280 Gunas, Gary, 39 Gunderson, Ronnie, 67, 224 Gunton, Bob, 165, 179 Gurwin, Danny, 121, 199 Gussow, Mel, 117, 331, 361 Guthrie Theatre, 392 Gutierrez, Carmen, 407 Gutterman, Jay & Cindy, 188, 287 Guys and Dolls, 374–77 Gwynne, Haydn, 359 Gypsy, 131–33, 332–33 Haak, Brad, 255, 280 Haber, Carole L., 372 Haber, John L., 347–48 Habib, Barry, 383 Habib, Toni, 383 Hackady, Hal, 140 Hackett, Buddy, 25 Hackler, Blake, 59 Hadary, Jonathan, 169, 212 Haft, Simone Genatt, 147 Hagan, Joanna, 268 Hagen, Uta, 245 Hague, Albert, 277 Haimes, Todd, 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, 167, 194, 245, 252, 289, 301, 325, 368, 400 Hair, 380–83 Hairspray, 99–102 Hale, Richard, 88 Hall, Anthony Blair, 39 Hall, Juanita, 106 Hall, Lee, 359 Hall, Thomas, 30 Halliday, Bob, 349 Halling, Michael, 232 Halpin, Adam, 342 Halston, 364 Hamel, Alan, 229 Hamilton, George, 214 Hamingston, Andrew D., 380 Hamlin, Roy, 140 Hamlisch, Marvin, 45, 83, 85, 119–20, 271 Hammerstein, Oscar II, 63, 85, 104, 191, 334 Hammett, Dashiell, 121

INDEX     471 Hammond, Blake, 23 Hammond, Malik, 358 Hampton, Christopher, 186 Hancock, Rob, 95 Hancock, Sheila, 166, 311 Hanes, Tyler, 220 Hanggi, Kristin, 383 Hanke, Christopher J., 232, 340 Hanket, Arthur, 137 Hanley, Ellen, 103 Hanson, Alexander, 417 Hanson, Fred, 278 Hanson, Marsh, 67 Happel, Marc, 267 Harada, Ann, 145, 387 Harbor Entertainment, 162, 211, 268 Harburg, E. Y., 405–6 Hardin, Chad, 357 Harelik, Mark, 213 Hargrove, Carla J., 147 Harms, James, 351 Harnick, Sheldon, 38, 162, 289 Harper, Wally, 77, 166 Harriell, Marcy, 230 Harrington, Andre D., 223 Harrington, Wendall K., 37, 232, 274 Harris, Amelia, 37 Harris, Barbara, 290 Harris, D., 99 Harris, Dede, 23, 80, 203, 387 Harris, Genee, 401 Harris, Harriet, 90, 304–6, 340–41 Harris, Jay, 160, 203, 392 Harris, Kimberly Ann, 241 Harris, Neil Patrick, 285 Harris, Paul, 68, 181, 308 Harris, Phil, 224–25, 309 Harrison, Greogry, 46 Harrison, Howard, 71, 280 Harrison, Rex, 350 Harry, Jackee, 103 Hart, Christopher, 380 Hart, Dorothy, 371 Hart, Linda, 223 Hart, Lorenz, 102, 368 Hartford, Huntington, 43 Hartley, Jan, 119 Hartley, Ted, 160, 292, 332, 358 Hartman, Andrew, 405 Harvey, Dennis, 153, 226 Harvey Comics, 93 Harvey Entertainment, 338 Hase, Thomas C., 283 Haskell, Neil, 273 Hastings, John, 32 Hatch, Eric, 377 Hatch, Heather, 297 Hatch, Joel, 359 Hatcher, Jeffrey, 160

Hately, Linzi, 282 Hatfield, Hurd, 113 Hathaway, Anne, 280 Hatley, Tim, 8, 208, 368 Hauptman, Elisabeth, 252 Hauptman, William, 143 Hausam, Wiley, 16 Havoc, June, 22 Hayden, Sophie, 249 Hayes, Dameka, 180 Hayes, Sean, 101 Hays, Carole Shorenstein, 171 Hayward-Jones, Michael, 356 Hayworth, Rita, 314 HBO Films, 171 Headley, Heather, 10, 12–13 Healy, Patrick, 395, 404, 416 Heaney, Seamus, 9 Hearn, George, 49, 165–66, 198–99, 235, 310, 351 Heffner, Keith, 353 Heggins, Amy, 46 Heiken, Nancy, 117 Held-Haffner Productions, 407 Helen Hayes Theatre Company, 157 Heller, Adam, 345 Heller, Lukas, 140 Hellman, Lillian, 120–21, 206, 208 Helm, Patrick, 397 Hemmings, David, 76 Hendee, Gareth, 25, 95 Hendel, Ruth, 203, 267, 286, 323, 328, 330, 415 Hendel, Stephen, 415 Hendel/Morten/Westfield, 171 Hendel/Wiesenfeld, 297 Henderson, Florence, 106 Henderson, Mark, 215 Henderson, Stephen McKinley, 186 Henning, Paul, 203 Hensley, Shuler, 86, 88, 249, 262, 318 Hepburn, Audrey, 350 Herbert Goldsmith Productions, 270 Herdlicka, Hunter Ryan, 417 Herlihy, Tim, 257 Hermalyn, Joy, 398 Herman, Jerry, 197, 304, 306 Hernandez, Ivan, 181, 264–65 Hernandez, Philip, 66 Hernandez, Riccardo, 50, 80, 171, 225 Herold, Don, 11 Herrera, John, 252 Herrick, Jack, 347–48 Herrick, Norton, 380, 387 Herriott, Brian, 96 Hersey, David, 85, 278, 349 Herst, Betsy, 353 Hess, David, 398 Hess, Joan, 50 Hess, Michael, 35 Hester, Richard, 32

472      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Hewitt, Tom, 33, 102, 186, 265 Heyer, Thom, 157 Heyman, Lilian, 394 Heyward, Dorothy, 5 Heyward, DuBose, 5 Hibbard, David, 44 Hibbert, Edward, 21, 260 Hickey, Peggy, 248 Hickok, John, 10, 199 Hicks, Marva, 171 Hidalgo, Allen, 225, 259 Higgins, Colin, 387 The Highest Yellow, 224–25 High Fidelity, 286–87 High on Stage, 203 Hijuelos, Oscar, 225 Hilferty, Susan, 26, 91, 96, 152, 154, 167, 255, 288, 351, 390 Hill, Arthur, 114 Hill, Brian, 321, 372 Hill, Dru, 13 Hill, George Roy, 88 Hill, John, 99, 149 Hill, Roderick, 255 Hill, Rosena M., 119 Hilsabeck, Rick, 175 Hilty, Megan, 387 Hinckley, David, 31, 382 Hine, Janet, 397 Hines, Maurice, 258, 403 Hines, Mimi, 49 Hinwood, Peter, 35 Hirschfeld, Elie, 328 Hives, Sarah, 397 Hobson, Louis, 385 Hocking, Leah, 16, 117, 248–49 Hodge, Douglas, 199 Hodges, Henry, 280 Hoff, Christian, 235, 237, 369 Hoffman, Anita, 95 Hoffman, Bill, 155–56 Hoffman, Constance, 21 Hoffman, Heather, 353 Hoffman, Jackie, 313–14 Hoffman, Philip, 338 Hofler, Robert, 130, 163 Hofsiss, Jack, 3 Hogsed, Scott, 191 Holbrook, Curtis, 211, 313, 377 Holcenberg, David, 39, 372, 400 Holden, Stephen, 112, 214, 218, 365, 399 Holder, Donald, 21, 50, 66, 89, 102, 110, 147, 149, 197, 211, 273, 289, 310, 334, 337, 407 Holiday Inn, 362–63 Holland, Bernard, 6, 165 Holland, Greg, 171 Holliday, Jennifer, 180, 414 Holliday, Judy, 51 Hollmann, Mark, 69–70

Holloway, Stanley, 350 Holly Golightly, 138–39 Holm, Celeste, 64 Holmes, Michael Thomas, 390 Holmes, Rupert, 135, 292 Holt, Chrys, 354 Holzman, Winnie, 152 Honowitz, Melvin, 267 Hooper, Tom, 280 Hopkins, Kaitlin, 277 Hopkins, Lisa, 115 Horak, Ann, 361 Horchow, Roger, 292, 332 Hordern, Michael, 108 HoriPro, 147 Horn, Robert, 192, 347, 358 Hornby, Nick, 286 Horne, Marilyn, 106 Horowitz, Jeffrey, 21 Horowitz, Lawrence, 117, 129, 162, 208, 239, 257 Horowitz, Leah, 414 Horton, John, 153 Horwich, Steven David, 358 Horwitt, Arnold, 160 Hot Feet, 258–60 Hoty, Dee, 347, 400 Houdini, Harry, 410 Hough, Julianne, 317, 385 Hould-Ward, Ann, 117, 283, 338 Houston, Whitney, 65 Hovde, Ellen, 274 Howard, Hollie, 99 Howard, Joseph, 310 Howard, Leslie, 349 Howard, Lisa, 219 Howard, Ronny, 25 Howard, Sidney, 248 Howes, Benjamin, 345 Howes, Bobby, 407 Howes, Sally Ann, 1, 3, 65, 217, 350 Howland, Beth, 284–85 Howland, Jason, 154, 199 Hoyt, Lon, 99 HRH Foundation, 407 Hsu, Emily, 50 HTG Productions, 60 Hu, Maryann, 334 Huang, Wei, 115 Huang Gengying, 371 Huard, Jeffrey, 83 Hudes, Quiara Alegria, 330 Hudgens, Vanessa, 317 Hudson, Jennifer, 101, 414 Hudson, Kate, 128 Hudson, Rock, 391 Huffman, Brent-Alan, 310 Huffman, Cady, 58 Huffman, Kristin, 283 Hughes, Carly, 320

INDEX     473 Hughes, Ken, 215 Hughes, Mick, 75 Hugo, Victor, 278 Huidor, Miguel Angel, 175, 179 Hulce, Tom, 287 Hull, Mylinda, 61 Hummel, Mark, 50, 137, 243 Humphries, Barry, 192–94 Humphris, Caroline, 325 Hunter, Adam John, 283, 338, 383 Hunter, Evan, 393–94 Hunter, JoAnn M., 89, 211, 257, 292 Hunter, Ross, 106 Hunter, Tim, 63 Huntington Theatre company, 135 Huot, Jesse, 273 Hurder, Robyn, 315 Hushion, Casey, 393 Hutton, Betty, 376 Huxhold, Kristine, 121 Hwang, David Henry, 10, 104, 262–63 Hyland, Sarah, 275 Hylenski, Peter, 157, 366 Hyperion Theatricals, 10 Hytner, Nicholas, 83 Ian, David, 315, 332, 349 Idle, Eric, 41, 208 IDT Entertainment, 251 Iglehart, James Monroe, 403 Illica, Luigi, 115 I Love Alice, 349 Imaginary Friends, 119–21 Inaba, Carrie Ann, 397 Inbar, Sara, 71 Independent Presenters Network, 88, 169, 208, 241, 297, 374, 387, 407 Ing, Alvin (Y. F.), 104, 194, 196 Ingalls, James F., 60, 129 Inglesby, Meredith, 226 Inkley, Fred, 102 In My Life, 232–33 Innaurato, Albert, 223 Innvar, Christopher, 302 Integrity Designworks, 63 In the Heights, 330–32 Into the Woods, 90–93 Iordanova, Stefka, 354 Irons, Jeremy, 121–22 Irving, George S., 64–65 Irwin, Bill, 400–402 Irwin, Jennifer, 389 Isaacson, Mike, 89 Isenberg, Barbara, 164 Isenegger, Nadine, 368 Isherwood, Charles, 3, 5, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 31–33, 35, 37, 41, 43, 46, 49, 52, 54, 57, 60–61, 63, 70, 72–74, 76, 78, 80–81, 83, 85, 87, 90, 92, 101, 103, 105, 108–9, 111, 114, 116, 118–20, 122, 125–26, 128–29, 132,

134–35, 144, 146, 148, 151, 153, 156–59, 161, 163, 165, 167, 169–71, 174, 187, 190, 192, 211, 219–20, 270, 278, 288, 314, 329, 331, 354–55, 363, 366, 371–72, 395, 398 Island of Lost Co-eds, 317 Isozaki, Fred, 194 It’s So Nice to Be Civilized, 331 Ives, David, 117, 361, 414 Ivey, Judith, 46 Ivory, James, 18 Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed, 210–11 Jackie Mason: Prune Danish, 109 Jackman, Hugh, 86, 149–51, 280 Jackness, Andrew, 400 Jackson, Cheyenne, 211, 313–14, 405 Jackson, Janet, 13 Jackson, Richie, 338 Jack Utsick Presents, 185 Jacobs, Jim, 315, 317 Jacobs, Sander, 330, 377 Jacobsen, Amber, 389 Jacobsen, Kevin, 389 Jacobsen Entertainment, 389 Jacobson, Irving, 113 Jacobson, Lynn, 309, 348 Jacoby, Mark, 96, 234 Jaffrey, Madhur, 169 Jake Productions, 412 James, Barry, 148, 223 James, Brian d’Arcy, 18, 83, 289–90, 363, 366, 386, 392 James, Cory, 95 James, Nikki M., 211 James, Rian, 61 James, Toni-Leslie, 16, 82, 243, 405–6 James Joyce’s The Dead, 1–4 Jameson, Keith, 205 Jam Theatricals, 208, 257, 286, 380, 387, 417 Jane Eyre, 42–44 Janney, Allison, 387 Jarman, Georgia, 205 Jarvis, Martin, 75 Jarvis, Mitchell, 383 Jason, Karen, 211 Javerbaum, David, 340 Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!, 270–71 Jbara, Gregory, 203, 359, 361 Jean Doumanian Productions, Inc., 107 Jeeves, 76 Jefferson, Margo, 84 Jeffrey, Trisha, 147 Jellison, John, 403 Jenkins, Capathia, 133, 171, 268 Jenkins, Daniel, 143, 145, 280 Jenkins, David, 1, 191 Jenkins, Florence Foster, 238–39 Jenkins, Gordon, 21 Jenkins, Jeffrey Eric, 134, 163, 170, 278 Jenkins, Michael, 104, 137, 270, 374 Jennings, Ken, 69

474      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Jenson, Vicky, 366 Jerome, Tim, 262 Jerry Springer—The Opera, 323–25 Jersey Boys, 235–38 Jesus Christ Superstar, 19–21 Jett, Joan, 33 Jewison, Norman, 20, 163 Jia Honglei, 371 Jiang Dongxu, 371 Jibson, Carly, 340 Jillette, Penn, 29 Jim Henson Company, 147 JK Productions, 380 Jocko Productions, 403 Joel, Billy, 110–11 Johannes, Mark, 147 Johanson, Robert, 65, 157, 192 John, Elton, 10, 12–13, 255, 359–60 Johnson, 365 Johnson, Aaron, 415 Johnson, Alan, 243 Johnson, Anita, 6 Johnson, Brian Charles, 288 Johnson, Bryan, 255 Johnson, Catherine, 71 Johnson, Chantylla, 241 Johnson, Jay, 270–71 Johnson, Jesse JP, 342 Johnson, Kathleen K., 380 Johnson, Richard, 155 Johnson, Todd, 241 Johnson, Troy Britton, 260 Johnson, Van, 25 Johnston, Jimmy, 86 Johnston, Kate, 353 Jon, Timothy, 95 Jones, Allan, 103 Jones, Bambi, 140 Jones, Bill T., 288–89, 415–16 Jones, Charlotte, 239–40 Jones, Cherry, 119–20 Jones, Chris, 66, 94–95, 97, 139, 177, 228, 390 Jones, Christine, 21, 288 Jones, Chuck, 277 Jones, Dean, 285 Jones, Denis, 30, 297 Jones, Leilani, 148 Jones, Marshall, 37 Jones, Quincy, 241 Jones, Richard G., 234 Jones, Robert, 135 Jones, Shirley, 25 Jones, Terry, 208 Jones, Toby, 126 Jones, Tom, 301, 304 Jordan, Laura, 232 Jordan, Lee, 285 Jordan, Pamela, 186 Joseph, Jared, 412

Joseph Papp Public Theatre, 16 Joshi, Nehal, 278 Joy, James Leonard, 137 Joyce, Carol Leavy, 9, 295 Joye, Col, 389 Jubilee Time Productions, LLC, 364 Jue, Francis, 194 Jujamcyn Productions, 257 Jujamcyn Theatres, 171, 338, 380, 405 Julia, Raul, 114, 127 Junkyard Dog Productions, 403 Justman, Amy, 361 Kaczorowski, Peter, 13, 23, 55, 59, 72, 158, 245, 247, 274, 292, 318 Kael, Pauline, 101 Kahn, Madeline, 207 Kahn, Ricardo, 258 Kail, Thomas, 330 Kain, Luka, 334 Kaiser, Michael, 304, 407 Kalbfleisch, Jon, 224 Kalem, T. E., 34, 195, 381 Kalimba Entertainment, Inc., 258 Kall, James, 75 Kallins, Molly Grant, 131 Kallish, Jan, 338 Kallish, Jay, 241 Kandel, Paul, 19, 179 Kander, John, 96, 292, 351 Kantra, Nancy Berman, 223 Kantrowitz, Jason, 355 Kaplowitz, Robert, 416 Karamysheva, Tatiana, 365 Kardana/Swinsky Productions, 23, 39 Karl, Andy, 226 Karmazin, Sharon, 203, 358, 407 Karnilova, Maria, 64–65, 402 Karslake, Daniel, 115 Karvelas, Chuck, 95 Kassay, Clara, 349 Kastner, Ron, 131 Kastrinos, Nicole, 405 Katsaros, Doug, 157 Kattan, Chris, 184 Katz, Natasha, 10, 13, 39, 83, 104, 123, 154, 219, 226, 230, 262, 271, 321, 398 Katz, Sara, 355, 383 Kaufman, David, 383 Kaufman, George S., 375 Kaufman, Mark, 257 Kaufman, Mervyn, 164 Kavanaugh, Ryan, 383 Kawana, Yasuhiro, 297 Kayden, Spencer, 69 Kaye, Howard, 351 Kaye, Judy, 52, 71, 205, 238–39, 411 Kazee, Steve, 302, 304 Keating, Isabel, 149

INDEX     475 Keegan, Thomas, 199 Keenan-Bolger, Andrew, 39 Keenan-Bolger, Celia, 215, 219 Kehr, Donnie, 235 Keitel, Harvey, 323 Keith, Larry, 181 Keller, Michael, 297 Keller, Neel, 393 Keller, Ramona, 171, 188–89, 347 Kellerman, Sally, 138 Kellin, Orange, 82 Kellogg, Lynn, 381 Kellogg, Paul, 5, 121, 164, 191, 205 Kelly, 407 Kelly, Gene, 314, 370–71 Kelly, Glen, 37 Kelly, Julian, 295 Kelly, Laura Michelle, 162–63, 282 Kelly, Madeleine, 243 Kelly, Patsy, 347 Kelly, Tari, 320 Kelpie Arts, 104 Kemp, Hartley T A, 417 Kemp, Tony, 8 Kendrick, Anna, 93, 121 Kennedy, Anne, 224, 308 Kennedy, Brian, 9 Kennedy, Lauren, 67, 347, 363 Kennedy, William, 201 Kennedy Center, 23, 175, 304, 349, 407 Kenny, Tom, 8 Kent, Jonathan, 112, 114 Kenwright, Adam, 154, 234 Kenwright, Bill, 328, 374 Kern, Jerome, 160 Kern, Kevin, 67 Kerr, John, 336 Kerr, Walter, 24, 91, 180, 207 Kerrison, Shaun, 278, 349 Kert, Larry, 139, 285, 363 Keyes, Justin, 290 Khamzin, Dmitry, 365 Khan, Farah, 169 Ki-Chi-Saga, 398 Kidd, Michael, 25, 179, 346 Kidjo, Angelique, 13 Kidman, Nicole, 128 Kief, Garry, 65 Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway, 267–68 Kiley, Richard, 38, 113–14 Kim, Randall Duk, 104 Kimball, Chad, 91, 201, 230, 403 Kimball, Robert, 178, 371 Kimbrough, Nikki, 412 Kimmel, Sidney, 157 Kind, Richard, 337 King, Perry, 18 Kinley, Matt, 349 Kinsella, Tamara and Kevin, 235

Kirby, Davis, 72, 102 Kirdahy, Tom, 407 Kirk, Roger, 19, 61 Kirkham, Willi, 310 Kirkpatrick, Shane, 50 Kirkwood, James, 271 Kirkwood, Pat, 160 Kirmser, Fran, 380 Kissel, Howard, 48, 52, 56–57, 108, 150, 326 Kisselev, Andrei, 9 Kisselgoff, Anna, 9, 111 Kitchin, Sam, 323 Kitsopoulos, Constantine, 115, 186, 225, 338 Kitt, Eartha, 17–18, 63–65, 191 Kitt, Tom, 190, 286–87, 358, 385–86 Klainer, Traci, 109 Klaitz, Jay, 286 Klausen, Ray, 79, 143, 188, 364, 397 Kleban, Edward, 44–45, 271 Klein, Alisa, 89 Klein, Robert, 290 Kleinsma, Simone, 222 Klepatsky, Iouri, 353 Kline, Kevin, 126 Kline, Linda, 44 Klitz, Jeffrey, 230, 258, 374 Kloots, Amanda, 201 Klotz, Florence, 195 Knechtges, Dan, 219, 301, 313–14 Knee, Allan, 199 Knifedge Creative Network, 325 Knitting Factory Entertainment, 415 Kobart, Ruth, 309 Koch, Martin, 71, 361 Kohl, Lacey, 340 Kolb, Alexandra, 63 Kolins, Howard, 37 Koomson, Abena, 416 Kope, Peter, 4 Kopit, Alan S., 50 Kopit, Arthur, 127, 129 Korbich, Eddie, 169, 260 Korea/Pictures/Doyun Seol, 115 Korey, Alix, 18, 141, 211, 213 Korie, Michael, 264, 274 Korins, David, 323, 328 Kornicki, Kevin, 4 Kosarin, Michael, 321 Koshino, Junko, 194 Kosis, Tom, 104, 226, 400 Koslow, Pamela, 42 Koster, Henry, 106 Kotis, Greg, 69–70 Kouyate, Ismael, 415 Kowalik, Trent, 359, 361 Kowalke, Kim H., 299 Kozinn, Allan, 337–38 Krachmalnick, Samuel, 207 Krakowski, Jane, 127, 129, 314

476      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Kramer, Terry Allen, 110, 162, 197, 273, 315, 377, 387 Krane, David, 59, 112 Krantz, Mark, 80 Krasna, Norman, 361, 414 Krassner, Meri, 211 Kravits, Jason, 260 Kravitz, Lenny, 13 Krebs, Eric, 135 Kreeger, Doug, 278, 351 Kreppel, Paul, 270 Kretzmer, Herbert, 278, 398 Krieger, Henry, 411 Kristina, 398–400 Kritzer, Leslie, 297, 338 Kroll, Jack, 195, 381 Kronenberger, Louis, 43–44 Krones, Fred H., 50 Kronzer, Jim, 342 Kubis, Tom, 180 Kuchwara, Michael, 150 Kudisch, Marc, 16, 50, 52, 90, 121–22, 167, 215, 224, 289–90, 387, 402 Kuhn, Jeffrey, 167 Kuhn, Judy, 224 Kukoff, Bernie, 211 Kulish, Kiril, 359, 361 Kunze, Michael, 117 Kuo, Jay, 365 Kurtz, Swoosie, 119–20 Kushner, Tony, 171 Kushnier, Jeremy, 67 Kwan, Nancy, 106 LaBelle, Patti, 416 La Boheme, 115–17 Laboissonnier, Wade, 372 Labriola, Gary, 364 La Cage Aux Folles, 197–99 Lacamoire, Alex, 330, 332 LaCause, Sebastian, 33, 345 Lacey, Florence, 308 Lacey, Franklin, 23 LaChanze, 241, 243 LaChiusa, Michael John, 16–18, 224, 390 Lachowicz, Cheryl, 241 Lackey, Herndon, 299 Lacy, Todd, 321 Laffrey, Dane, 390 Lahr, Bert, 394 Lahr, John, 17, 42, 57, 73, 76, 80, 85, 87, 106, 120, 129, 132, 134, 153, 169, 171, 174, 193, 195, 204–5, 210, 215, 234–35, 237, 242, 246–47, 253, 284, 292, 294, 301, 319, 327, 335, 365, 370, 378, 401–2, 404, 406 Laird, Paul R., 153 La Jolla Playhouse, 264 LaManna, Janine, 39, 133, 220 Lamb, Peter W., 46 Lambert, Gelan, 415 Lambert, Lisa, 260, 262

Lambert, Patricia, 25 Laminack, Mary E., 356 Lamparella, Gina, 119 Lams Entertainment, 355 Lams Productions, 407 LAMS Productions, 377 Land, Elizabeth Ward, 310 Landau, Emily Fisher, 328 Landau, Steven, 143 Landau, Tina, 50, 52 Lander, David, 26, 95 Landesman, Rocco, 54 Landis, Lynn, 55 Landis, Scott, 245 Land Line Productions, 403 Lane, Burton, 405 Lane, Jeffrey, 203 Lane, Nathan, 55, 58, 126, 177, 183–85, 269 Lane, Stewart F., 88, 162, 270, 325 Lane/Comley, 297 Langella, Frank, 37–38, 97 Langford, Bonnie, 132 Lanks, Mark, 342 Lannan, Nina, 21, 230, 389 Lanning, Jerry, 159 Lansbury, Angela, 97, 131–32, 165, 306, 417 Lansbury, Edgar, 230 Lapan, Lisa, 268 Lapine, James, 25, 90–92, 94, 107, 219, 325 Large, Norman, 239 Larsen, Anika, 313 Larsen, David, 201 Lassen, Fred, 203 Latarro, Lorin, 290 Latessa, Dick, 51, 101 Latham, Aaron, 123, 125 Lathrop, Jack, 347 Latifah, Queen, 101 Latitude Link, 235, 340, 403 Latouche, John, 205, 337 Laughing Room Only, 157–58 Launer, Dale, 203 Lauper, Cyndi, 252 Laurence, Vasi, 328 Laurents, Arthur, 131, 332, 377, 379 Lavallen, Victor, 185 Law, Lindsay, 30 Lawrence, Eddie, 18 Lawrence, Gail, 405 Lawrence, Jerome, 304 Lawrence, Mal Z., 30 Lawrence, Megan, 67 Lawrence, Peter, 112, 131, 208, 366 Lazar, Aaron, 215 Lazar, David, 374 Lazenga, Britta, 389 Lazzaretto, Marina, 377 Leamy, Deborah, 160 Leavel, Beth, 262, 345, 348, 393–94

INDEX     477 Leavitt, Michael, 88 Lee, Baayork, 191, 271 Lee, Bert, 280 Lee, C. Y., 104 Lee, Chris, 268, 308 Lee, Christopher, 35 Lee, Darren, 194 Lee, Eugene, 39, 41, 152, 154, 164, 175, 295 Lee, Franne, 164 Lee, Gavin, 282 Lee, Gypsy Rose, 131, 332 Lee, Hoon, 104 Lee, Jack F., 238 Lee, Jeff, 262 Lee, Michael K., 19 Lee, Robert E., 304 Lee, Sammy, 88 Lee, Spike, 330 Lee, Stewart, 323 Legally Blonde, 297–99 Legrand, Michel, 38, 107 Legs Diamond, 150–51 Leguillou, Lisa, 152, 190 Lehman, Ernest, 83 Lehrer, Scott, 337 Leigh, Janet, 160, 402 Leigh, Mitch, 112 Leigh, Vivien, 141 Leiter/Levine, 188 Le Loka, Tsidii, 9 Lemenager, Nancy, 161 Lemmon, Jack, 137–38, 160 Lenhart, Jill, 374 Lennon, 230–32 Lennon, Garry, 310 Lennon, John, 230–32 Lenox, Adriane, 243 Lenya, Lotte, 254, 299–301 Leon, Kenny, 101 Leonard, James Chip, 278 Leonardis, Tom, 192 Leopold, Lizzie, 342 Leopold, Richard E., 342 Lerner, Alan Jay, 349 Lerner, Myla, 405 Les Miserables, 278–80 Le Sourd, Jacques, 215 Lestat, 254–56 LeStrange, Philip, 160 Letendre, Brian, 124 Leveaux, David, 127–28, 162–63 Levenberg, Alison, 343 Levering, Kate, 72–74 Levi, Richard, 387, 397 Levin, Carl, 383 Levine, Michael, 119 Levings, Nigel, 115–17 Levy, Caissie, 380

Levy, Julia C., 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, 167, 194, 245, 252, 289, 301, 325, 368, 400 Levy, Lorie Cowen, 23 Levy, Ralph, 203 Levy, Steven M., 192 Levy, Ted L., 72 Levy, Tim, 358, 392 Lew, Deborah, 252 Lewis, Bobo, 18 Lewis, Brittany, 412 Lewis, David H., 106 Lewis, Dawnn, 310 Lewis, Jenifer, 310, 413 Lewis, Jim, 415 Lewis, Ken Krashner, 29 Lewis, Marcia, 402 Lewis, Martin, 57 Lewis, Norm, 16, 107, 278, 280, 321 Lewis, Ron, 364 Lewis, Sabra, 393 Lewis, Shannon, 220 Lewis, Stephen Brimson, 389 Lewis, William, 207 Lewis-Evans, Kecia, 368 Lexington Road Productions, 117 LFG Holdings, 117 Li, Li Jun, 334 Lichtefeld, Michael, 157, 199 The Light in the Piazza, 213–15 Lightswitch, 412 Ligon, Kevin, 318 Like Jazz, 180 Li Lin, 371 Lillian, 121 Lillie, Beatrice, 347 Lima, Kevin, 262 Lincoln Center, 13, 32, 72, 77, 183, 213, 217, 334 Linden, Hal, 39, 52 Lindsay, Howard, 64, 160 Lindsay, Kara, 347, 392 Lindsay-Abaire, David, 286, 366 Linkous, Ray, 53 Linn-Baker, Mark, 129–30 Lion, Margo, 80, 99, 171, 257 Lionsgate, 389 Lipitz, Amanda, 203, 297 Lipman, Maureen, 86 Lippa, Andrew, 18 Lipton, Logan, 179 Lipton, Maureen, 239 Lisenby, Jeff, 251 Lister, Marquita, 6 Lithgow, John, 83, 85, 203 Little, Valisia Lekae, 302 Little House on the Prairie, 392–93 Little Mary Sunshine, 328 The Little Mermaid, 321–23 A Little Night Music, 121–23, 416–18 Little Shop of Horrors, 147–49

478      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Littlestar, 71 Little Women, 199–201 Litzsinger, Sarah, 107 Liu, Allen, 104 Liu Tongbiao, 371 Live Nation, 286, 349 Liza’s at the Palace..., 364–65 Llana, Jose, 104, 219 Lloyd, Phyllida, 71 Lloyd Webber, Andrew, 19, 75–77, 169, 239–40 Llywelyn, Morgan, 295 Lobel, Adrianne, 129–30, 392 Lobel, Arnold, 129–30 Lobenhofer, Matthew, 332 Lockridge, Richard, 370 Loesser, Emily, 75, 182, 376 Loesser, Frank, 25, 181, 248, 374–75 Loesser, Jo Sullivan, 182 Loewe, Frederick, 349 Loftus, Dan, 95 Logan, Ella, 406 Logan, Fergus, 349 Logan, John, 166 Logan, Joshua, 334, 336 Logan, Stacey, 83, 205 Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas, 347–49 Long, Andrew, 308 Long, Jodi, 104 Long, William Ivey, 13, 23, 37, 39, 41, 55, 59, 72, 99, 102, 147, 149, 160, 183, 197, 220, 274, 276, 292, 294, 318, 368, 387, 412–13 Longbottom, Robert, 104, 226, 400–401, 412 Longoria, Michael, 235 The Look of Love, 133–35 Lopez, Carlos, 181 Lopez, Martin, 179 Lopez, Priscilla, 330 Lopez, Robert, 145, 147 Loprest, Kate, 392–93 Loquasto, Santo, 110, 273, 301, 407 Loren, Sophia, 114, 128 Losey, Jana, 4 Lotito, Mark, 235 Loud, David, 44, 96, 102, 133, 292, 351 Loudon, Dorothy, 292, 394 Louis, Jillian, 223 Louizos, Anna, 145, 286, 292, 294, 330, 361, 393, 414 Love, Andy, 347 Love/Life: A Life in Song, 217–18 Lovemusik, 299–301 Lowe, Ryan, 351 Lowy, David, 241 Loyacano, Elizabeth, 186 Lubin, Harold, 190 Lucas, Craig, 213, 344 Luce, William, 121 Ludwig, Ken, 59–60, 343 Ludwig-Siegel, Sasha, 342

Luftig, Hal, 39, 88, 110, 192, 273, 297–98, 377 Luhrmann, Baz, 115 Luke, Keye, 106 Luker, Rebecca, 23–24, 104, 280 Luketic, Robert, 297 Lukianov, Alex and Katya, 403 Lumbard, Dirk, 119 LuPone, Patti, 3, 32–33, 131–32, 166, 234–35, 280, 285, 332–33, 371 Lutken, David M., 251 Lyman, Rick, 175 Lyn, Anthony, 280 Lynam, Christopher, 365 Lynch, Michele, 392 Lynch, Stephen, 257 Lynch, Thomas, 13, 23, 72, 102, 181 Lynde, Paul, 402 Lyng, Nora Mae, 107 Lynne, Gillian, 134, 215 Lynne, Jeff, 313 Lyon, Rick, 145 Lyons, Donald, 3, 17, 24 Lyons, Jason, 201, 252, 383 Lypsinka. See Epperson, John Lysistrata, 185 MacDermot, Galt, 18, 380 MacDevitt, Brian, 69, 91, 93, 96, 127, 162, 194, 201, 220, 241, 257, 338, 358 MacDonald, Daniel, 154 MacGilvray, James P., 340 Machota, Joe, 71 MacIntyre, Marguerite, 42 Mack, Robert, 6 Mackendrick, Alexander, 83 Mackintosh, Cameron, 85, 278, 280, 349 Mackrell, Judith, 8–9 MacLaine, Shirley, 222 MacLeod, Gavin, 66 MacNeil, Ian, 359, 361 MacNichol, Katie, 21 Mac Rae, Heather, 338 Maddigan, Tina, 71 Madover, Arielle Tepper, 380 Magaw, Jack, 95 Mages, L., 88 Magic Hour Productions, 389 Magid, Larry, 8, 83, 135, 196 Maguire, Ciaran, 8 Maguire, Gregory, 152 Maher, Bill, 135 Mahoney, Will, 406 Mahowald, Joseph, 295 Mahshie, Jeff, 385 Mais, Michele, 383 Maizus, Alex, 372 Malas, Spiro, 249 Malcolm, Christopher, 33 Malden, Karl, 132

INDEX     479 Malina, Stuart, 111 Malone, Beth, 251 Malone, Joseph, 230 Maloney, Jennifer, 243, 287, 383 Malouf, David, 43 Maltby, David, 251 Maltby, Richard, Jr., 79, 251, 294–95, 372 Maltin, Leonard, 134, 275, 385 Mambo, Kevin, 415 The Mambo Kings, 225–26 Mame, 304–6 Mamma Mia!, 71–72 Manahan, George, 164, 205, 248, 337 Manche, Daniel, 262 Mandvi, Aasif, 86–87 Manhattan Theatre Club, 44, 299 Manhattan Tower, 21 Manilow, Barry, 65, 230 Mann, Delbert, 135–36 Mann, Terrence, 39, 169, 230 Mann, Theodore, 369 Manning, Dan, 407 Manocherian, Barbara, 325, 380 Manocherian, Jennifer, 42, 171, 267, 287, 325 Man of La Mancha, 112–14 Manos, Christopher B., 93 Mantello, Joe, 152–53, 167, 169, 190, 368, 387 Mantle, Burns, 370 Manuel, Caren Lyn, 188 Marable, Kimberly, 412 Marais, Jean, 108 Marcarie, Laura, 185 March, Joseph Moncure, 16 Marc-Natel, Jean, 278 Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway, 174–75 Marcus, Daniel, 179 Mare, Quentin, 121 Margulies, David, 158 Marie, Julienne, 103 Marini, Lou, 217 Marino, Roger, 131 Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore, 189–90 Markes, P, 352 Markinson, Martin, 60 Markley, Dan, 286, 361, 414 Marks, Alan D., 405 Marks, Peter, 118–19, 156, 177, 182, 184, 187, 189, 205, 209, 215, 222, 224, 230, 243, 246, 256, 258, 263, 284, 306, 308–9, 319, 327, 335, 341, 343, 350, 360, 377, 391, 417 Marks, Walter, 18 Mark Taper Forum, 104, 143 Maroulis, Constantine, 383 Marques, David, 59 Marre, Albert, 114 Marsden, James, 101 Marsh, Henry, 93 Marshall, Kathleen, 39, 41, 46, 147, 158–60, 245–46, 248, 315, 346, 381

Marshall, Peter, 402 Marshall, Rob, 41, 93, 128 Martin, Andrea, 40, 86–87, 101, 319 Martin, Barrett, 124 Martin, Bob, 260, 262, 393 Martin, Bud, 372, 387, 397 Martin, Catherine, 115, 117 Martin, Dean, 52 Martin, Eileen, 9 Martin, John Jeffrey, 201 Martin, Mary, 334, 336 Martin, Michael X., 293 Martin, Millicent, 140 Martin, Nicholas, 135 Martin, Steve, 148 Martin, Virginia, 139 Martina, Tiger, 364 Martinez, Rick, 21 Martin-O’Shia, Troy A., 179, 223 Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, 268–70 Marty, 135–36 Marvin, Mel, 277, 320 Marx, Jeff, 145, 147 Mary Poppins, 280–83 Masella, Arthur, 164, 205, 337 Maso, Michael, 135 Mason, Jackie, 30, 109, 157, 210–11 Mason, James, 53 Mason, Karen, 71, 363 Mason, Timothy, 276, 320 Massey, Kevin, 392 Mastantuono/Palumbo, 4 Masteroff, Joe, 250 Masters, Diane, 137 Masterson, Mary Stuart, 127 Mastrantonio, Mary Elizabeth, 112, 114, 327 Matalon, Vivian, 238 Mathews, Carmen, 327 Mathis, Stanley Wayne, 158 Matsui, Rumi, 194 Matthau, Walter, 375 Mauro, Buzz, 67 Mauro, Lucia, 96 Maximum Entertainment, 277, 320 Max Productions, 342 Maxwell, Jan, 215 Maxwell, Mitchell, 50 Maxwell, Victoria, 50 May, Peter, 328 Mayer, Jaimie, 355 Mayer, Michael, 88, 288–89 Mayerson, Frederic H., 54–55, 99, 147 Mayerson, Rhoda, 54–55, 99, 147, 235, 273, 338 Mayerson Bell Staton Group, 273 Mayerson-Bell-Staton-Osher Group, 338 Mayes, Sally, 402 Maynard, Tyler, 226 Mayo, Don, 112 Mayrelles, Chip, 415

480      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Maysles, Albert, 274 Maysles, David, 274 McAlexander, Amy, 199 McAllister, E., 99 McAllister, Elan V., 208, 257, 340 McAnuff, Des, 186, 196, 235, 237, 264, 374–75 McAuliffe, Nichola, 217 McCann, Elizabeth Ireland, 328, 380 McCann, Mary, 288 McCarter, Jeremy, 325 McCarter Theatre Company, 36 McCarthy, Carolyn Kim, 42 McCarthy, Elaine J., 91, 152, 201, 208 McCarthy, Jeff, 69, 295 McCarthy, Mary, 120 McCartney, Liz, 117, 154 McCaul, Sorcha, 8 McClain, John, 207 McClelland, Kay, 159 McClelland, Stephanie, 104, 208, 241, 260, 325, 407 McColgan, John, 9, 295–96, 387 McColl, Hamish, 125–26 McCollum, Kevin, 115, 145, 260, 286, 330, 355, 361, 377, 407, 414 McCormack, Erik J., 59 McCormick, Michael, 131, 277 McCourt, Sean, 152 McCullah, Karen, 297 McCullers, Carson, 173 McCullough, Mark, 19, 135, 392 McCutcheon, Martine, 350 McDaniel, John, 188 McDole, Jason, 273 McDonald, Audra, 159, 302 McDonald, Kirk, 67, 153 McDonald, Michael, 380 McDowall, Roddy, 39, 346 McElroy, Michael, 143 McFadden, Corinne, 220 McGillin, Howard, 117 McGinnis, Joe, 243, 287 McGinnis, Megan, 199 McGovern, Maureen, 199 McGowan, Marissa, 417 McGowan, Mike, 290 McGrath, Katherine, 356 McGrath, Michael, 104 McGrath, Thomas B., 414 McGrath, Tom, 361 McGregor, Wayne, 239 McGuire, Biff, 407 McGurk, Michael, 23 McHugh, Dominic, 315 McHugh, Frank, 407 McKean, Michael, 245 McKeever, Jacquelyn, 159 McKellar, Don, 260, 262 McKenney, Eileen, 158 McKenney, Ruth, 158

McKenney, Todd, 151 McKenzie, Julia, 93 McKeown, Allan, 230 McKernon, John, 82 McKinley, Jesse, 148, 155, 233 McKinley, Philip William, 149, 248 McKinnis, Austin, 372 McKneely, Joey, 16, 149, 377 McLain, John, 93 McLane, Derek, 66–67, 96, 133, 199, 245–46, 252, 255, 307, 315, 347, 351, 407 McLean, Jordan, 415 McLeod, Raymond Jaramillo, 158 McLerie, Allyn Ann, 52 McMahon, Cheryl, 135 McMartin, John, 91, 97, 222, 352 McNally, Terrence, 30–32, 96, 243–44, 351, 407, 409–10 McNulty, Carrie, 95 McNulty, Charles, 312, 395 McPherson, Aimee Semple, 308–10 McPherson, Barri, 188 McVety, Drew, 325 McVey, Beth, 66 McVey, J. Mark, 357 McWaters, Deborah, 96 Meacham, Anne, 108 Meade, Marion, 159 Meade, William, 251 Meadow, Lynne, 299 Mear, Stephen, 280, 321 Meat Loaf, 35 Medcalf, Harley, 192, 397 Meeh, Gregory, 91, 277, 295, 320, 356 Meehan, Thomas, 54, 58, 99, 101, 169, 318, 340 Meet John Doe, 306–8 Mehta, Aalok, 169 Meir A & Eli C, LLC, 258 Meister, Barbara, 249 Mellman, Kenny, 267 Melrose, Ron, 119, 235 The Member of the Wedding, 173 Memphis, 403–5 Memphis Orpheum Group, 403 Menchell, Ivan, 215 Mendes, Sam, 131, 177 Menier Chocolate Factory, 325, 417 Menjou, Adolphe, 345 Menken, Alan, 37, 147, 310, 321 Menzel, Idina, 18, 152–54, 381 Mercer, Johnny, 61 Merediz, Olga, 330 Merman, Ethel, 131–32 Merrick, David, 62 Merrill, Bob, 137–38 Mesmer-Dick Straker/Sven Ortel, 239 Metropolitan Entertainment Presentation, 99 Metropolitan Talent Presents, LLC, 364 Meyer, Douglas, 54 Meyer, Douglas L., 99, 147, 257, 361, 414, 417

INDEX     481 Meyer, Michael, 287 Meyer, Muffie, 274 Meyjes, Menno, 241 Mezzio, John, 63 MGM On Stage, 137, 215, 297, 393 Micha, Katie, 332 Michael Rose Limited, 140, 215 Michele, Lea, 162, 288 Michener, James A., 334 Micone, Edward J., Jr., 8 Middlebrook, Coy, 143, 188 Middleton, Ray, 113 Midgette, Anne, 191 Midler, Bette, 132, 134 Migliaccio, Donna, 224 Milch, David M., 405 Miller, David, 115 Miller, Kenita, 313 Miller, Marcus, 310 Miller, Patina Renea, 310 Miller, Paul, 210, 297, 347 Miller, R. Michael, 238 Miller, Roger, 143–45 Miller, Roy, 260, 286, 355, 377, 407 Miller, Scott, 382 Miller, Tom, 358 Miller, Tracy, 186 Milton, Michael, 243 Mimieux, Yvette, 214 Mindich, Stacey, 338, 358 Minichiello, Michael, 4 Minnelli, Liza, 139, 150, 364–65 Minnelli, Vincente, 52, 345–46 Minski, Les, 356 Minsky’s, 393–95 Miramax Films, 211 Miranda, Lin-Manuel, 330, 332, 379 Mirvish, David, 374 Les Miserables, 278–80 Mishaan, Richard, 340 Mishkin, Chase, 25, 44, 123, 199, 203, 243, 299, 328, 372, 403 Missal, Catherine, 356 Miss Gulch Returns!, 153–54 Mitchell, Brian Stokes, 112, 114, 185, 217–18, 346 Mitchell, Jerry, 30, 33, 99, 101, 119, 131, 160–61, 197–99, 203, 297–98 Mitchell, Keith, 114, 199 Mitchell, Lauren, 69, 91, 235 Mitchell, Tim, 126, 389 Miyamoto, Amon, 194–96 Mizner, Wilson and Addison, 178 Mizrahi, Isaac, 252 Moberg, Vilhelm, 398 Moccia, Jodi, 59, 67, 83, 131, 160 Moellenberg, Carl, 358 Molaskey, Jessica, 325 Molina, Alfred, 162 Molina, Lauren, 383

Mollison, Ross, 365 Molloy, Ryan, 237 Momentum Productions, Inc., 50 Monagle Group, 356 Monahan, Brian, 260 Monk, Debra, 72, 74, 169, 293 Monk, Julius, 146 Monley, Adam, 308 Monroe, Marilyn, 137 Montalban, Paolo, 63 Montalban, Ricardo, 222 Montalvo, Doreen, 181 Montana, Janice, 238 Montano, Robert, 225 Montel, Ginger, 273 Montevecchi, Liliane, 128 Montgomery, J. C., 72, 102, 241 Montoya, Richard, 181, 243 Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 209 Monty Python’s Spamalot, 208–10 Moody, Ron, 208 Moonbirds, 108 Moore, Carlos, 416 Moore, Crista, 65, 159 Moore, DeQuina, 147 Moore, James, 304, 407 Moore, Jason, 145, 323, 366 Moore, Jim, 53 Moore, Maureen, 252 Moore, Roger, 126 Moore, Scott A., 414 Moore, Stephen, 405 Moore, Thomas, 1 Morales, Esai, 225 Moranis, Rick, 148 Mordecai, Benjamin, 104 Morecambe, Eric, 126 Morehead, Rozz, 124 Moreno, Rita, 379 Morgaman, Philip, 340 Morgan, Betsy, 391, 417 Morgan, Cass, 117, 251 Morgan, John, 157 Morgan, Robert, 30, 119, 277, 320 Morgan, Sydney, 1 Moriber, Brooke Sunny, 16, 252 Moricz, Michael, 93 Moro, Delaney, 280, 358 Morris, Howard, 407 Morris, Libby, 132 Morris, Richard, 88 Morrison, Angela, 359 Morrison, Greg, 260, 262 Morrison, Matthew, 213 Morrow, Karen, 103, 363 Morse, Jenn, 187 Morse, Robert, 138–39, 153 Morse, Sally Campbell, 201, 235 Mortier, Gerard, 337

482      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Mortimer, Vicki, 127, 162 Morton, Euan, 154 Moscow Folk Ballet Company, 9 Moses, Burke, 183 Moses, Spencer, 374 Mosher, Gregory, 1 Mostel, Joshua, 20 Mostel, Zero, 163 The Most Happy Fella, 248–50 Mostly Sondheim, 77–78 Movin’ Out, 110–11 Moye, James, 307 Moyer, Allen, 232, 274, 276 Muenz, Richard, 249, 304 Mugleston, Linda, 158 Mulheren, Michael, 149 Mullally, Megan, 318–19 Mulligan, Robert, 338 Muni, Paul, 179 Muraoka, Alan, 304 Murchison, Sarah, 313 Murger, Henri, 115 Murney, Julia, 18, 230 Murphy, Claire, 359 Murphy, Donna, 49, 158–59, 299, 301 Murphy, Karen, 248 Murphy, Kathryn Mowat, 368 Murphy, Matt, 403 Murphy, Sally, 16, 162 Murphy, Tab, 262 Murray, Bill, 148 Murray, Rupert, 9 Murray, Tom, 417 Muscle, 94–96 The Music Man, 22–25 Musker, John, 321 Musser, Lisa, 42 Musser, Tharon, 271 Myers, Pamela, 91, 284 My Fair Lady, 349–51 My Sister Eileen, 160 Nadler, Mark, 61 Nagel, Gil, 30 Nager, Jesse, 93, 201 Nahass, Ron, 169 Nahem, Edward Tyler, 415 Naimo, Jennifer, 235 Naismith, Laurence, 207 Napier, John, 42, 278 Narayan, Manu, 169 Nash, N. Richard, 301 Nathan, Anne L., 325 Nathan, George Jean, 86 National Theatre of Great Britain, 349 Navarra, Chiara, 232 NCJ Productions, 201 Neal Street Productions, 366 Nealy, Milton Craig, 412 Nederlander, Amy, 192

Nederlander, James L., 59, 88, 110, 162, 197, 219, 273, 297, 377, 385, 387 Nederlander, James M., 59 Nederlander, Robert, Jr., 371 Nederlander, S., 115 Nederlander, Scott, 171 Nederlander, Scott E., 110, 129 Nederlander Presentations, Inc., 239, 241, 374 Nederlander Producing Company of America, Inc., 19 Nederlander Productions, 315, 380 Nederlander Worldwide Productions, LLC, 371 Neeck, Alessa, 392 Neeley, Ted, 20 Neeson, Liam, 10, 126 Nelsen, Eric M., 358 Nelson, Kenneth, 22 Nelson, Portia, 104 Nelson, Rachel, 355 Nelson, Richard, 1, 3–4 Nemetz, Lenora, 137 Neofitou, Andreane, 42, 278 Nesbit, Evelyn, 411 Neshyba-Hodges, Charlie, 273 Neuberger, Jan, 152, 277, 320 Never Gonna Dance, 160–62 Newberry, Bill, 93 New Group, 145 New Line Cinema, 99, 257 Newman, Cathy, 349 Newman, Harold, 330 Newman, Jim, 293 Newman, Phyllis, 46, 49, 108, 159 New Space Entertainment, 353 Newton-John, Olivia, 314, 316 New York City Opera Company, 5, 121, 164, 191, 205, 248, 337 New York Shakespeare Festival, 16, 80 New York Theatre Workshop, 25 Next to Normal, 385–86 Ngaujah, Sahr, 415–16 Nicely, Beth Johnson, 414 Nicholas, Paul, 20, 315 Nicholaw, Casey, 208, 260, 393, 395 Nicholls, Mike, 154 Nichols, Darius, 380 Nichols, Mike, 125, 192, 199, 208, 210, 290, 292 Nielsen, Kristine, 21 Niemtzow, Annette, 42 The Night They Raided Minsky’s, 394 Nigrini, Peter, 415 Nine, 126–29 9 to 5, 387–88 Nir, Debra, 414 Nixon, Marni, 1, 3, 350 Nixon, Vivian, 259 Noble, Adrian, 215 Noble, John York, 89 Nocciolino, Albert, 353 Noginova, Tatiana, 321–22 Nolen, Timothy, 164, 166

INDEX     483 Noll, Christiane, 357, 395, 407 Noone, James, 44, 123, 258 Norman, Marsha, 241 Norona, David, 237 Northwater Entertainment, 374 Norton, Jim, 405 Norwood, Brandy, 65 Nosan, Jonathan, 273 Noseworthy, Jack, 83, 256 Notley, Nic, 397 No Way to Treat a Lady, 213 NT NETworks Presentations LLC, 349 NT Royal National Theatre, 85 Nugent, Nelle, 392 Nunn, Trevor, 85, 239, 278, 349, 417 Nurallah, Keewa, 226 Nuyen, France, 336 NYK Productions, Inc., 30 Oakley, Scott, 369 O’Boyle, John, 338, 342 O’Brien, Bill, 143 O’Brien, Jack, 30, 99, 102, 119, 203, 277, 320 O’Brien, Richard, 33–35, 217 O’Bryan, Shannon M., 343 Ockrent, Mike, 37, 394 O’Connor, Donald, 402 Odekirk, Kevin, 398 Odets, Clifford, 58, 83 O’Donnell, Mark, 99, 101, 340 O’Donnell, Rosie, 101, 154, 163 O’Dowd, George, 154–56 Oesterman, Phil, 123 O’Flaherty, Michael, 75 O’Hara, Jill, 22, 381 O’Hara, John, 368, 371 O’Hara, Kelli, 52, 74, 83, 186, 213, 215, 245–46, 334–35 O’Hare, Denis, 167 O’Hare, Liz, 349–50 O’Hearn, Steve, 4 O’Horgan, Tom, 20, 381 O’Keefe, Laurence, 297–98 Oklahoma!, 85–88 Okulitch, Daniel, 115 Old Globe Theatre, 345 Old Vic Productions, 359 Olivo, Karen, 188, 377, 379 Olson, William, 353 Olympus Theatricals, 358, 374 O’Malley, Kerry, 91, 344, 361 101 Productions, Ltd., 358 110 in the Shade, 301–4 O’Neill, Dustin, 372, 374 O’Neill, Eugene, 250 One Mo’ Time, 81–83 One Mo’ Time!, 74 One Viking Productions, 318 Ono, Yoko, 231–32 On the Record, 226–28 Opel, Nancy, 69, 162

Orbach, Ron, 57, 117 Oremus, Stephen, 152, 211, 323, 387 Oreskes, Daniel, 10 Orfeh, 297 Oriolo, Joe, 94 Ortega, Gabriel, 185 Ortel, Sven, 321 Ortiz, Liana, 243 Ortlieb, Jim, 374 Osakalumi, Adesola, 416 Oscar, Brad, 52, 55 O’Shaughnessy, Arthur, 9 Osher, J. & B., 99 Osher, John and Bonnie, 147 Osmond, Donny, 10 Osnes, Laura, 65, 315–16, 346 Ost, Tobin, 188, 223 Ostar Enterprises, 21, 25 Ostar Productions, 325 O’Toole, Annette, 66 O’Toole, Fintan, 18, 24, 43, 409 O’Toole, Peter, 114 Otte, Eric, 197 Otterson, Pamela, 377 Ousley, Robert, 337, 398 Ouzounian, Richard, 118–19 Overett, Adam, 389 Over Here!, 125 Overmyer, Eric, 21 Owens, Frederick B., 19, 112 Oxman, Steven, 140, 350, 390 Oz, Frank, 148, 203 Pabst, G. W., 254 Pacey, Steven, 76 Pacific Overtures, 194–96 Page, Lynne, 417 Page, Patrick, 277–78, 320, 345 Page, Prantley, Ben, 321 Pages, Maria, 9 Paguia, Marco, 226 Paice, Jill, 239, 293 Paiclio, Casi, 4 Paige, Elaine, 128, 164–65 Pailet, Janet, 277, 320 The Pajama Game, 245–48 Pakledinaz, Martin, 89–90, 102, 129, 133, 158, 245, 247, 295, 315, 332 Paleologos, Nicholas, 215 Palin, Michael, 208 Pal Joey, 368–71 Palma, Ernesto Alonso, 390 Palmer, Leland, 139 Palmer, Sean, 290, 321 Palumbo, Gene, 369 Pampena, Michelle, 193 Panama, Norman, 361, 414 Panaro, Hugh, 255–56 Panson, Bonnie, 39 Panter, Howard, 33, 374

484      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Paoluccio, Tricia, 162 Paparella, Joe, 305 Pappas, Evan, 135 Paradigm Group Presentation, 65 Paramount Pictures, 16, 361, 414 Pardess, Yael, 60 Paris, Myrna, 164 Park, Joshua, 59 Parker, Alecia, 39, 158, 220 Parker, Eleanor, 369 Parker, John Eric, 403 Parker, Nicole, 268 Parkinson, Elizabeth, 110 Parks, Bert, 25 Parnes, Joey, 328, 380 Parry, Steve, 126 Parry, William, 131, 177–78 Parsons, Terry, 93 Parton, Dolly, 387 Pasadena Playhouse, 310 Pasbjerg, Carl, 318 Pascal, Adam, 10 Pasekoff, Marilyn, 135 Pask, Scott, 69, 127, 147, 197, 220, 257, 267–68, 340, 368, 380, 387 Pasquale, Steven, 215 Passing Strange, 328–30 Pasternak, Boris, 264 Patel, Neil, 251, 355 Paterson, Jayne, 417 Pati, Christopher, 353 Patinkin, Mandy, 16–18, 112, 327 Patterson, James, 88, 304 Patterson, Meredith, 343–44, 361, 363 Patti LuPone/”Matters of the Heart,” 32–33 Pauker, John, 108 Paul, Guy, 307 Paulson, Harold, 254 Paulus, Diane, 380–81 Pawk, Michele, 39, 121, 392 Pearce, Bobby, 154 Pearcy, Benjamin, 192 Pearson, Jessie, 402 Pearson, Sybille, 390 Pechar, Tom, 310 Pecheriskiy, Alexander, 365 Peck, Erin Leigh, 117 Pegasus Players, 95 Peil, Mary Beth, 127, 325 Pelican Group, 235, 340 Pelzig, Daniel, 129 Penn & Teller, 29 Penn & Teller: The Refrigerator Tour, 29 Penn & Teller on Broadway, 29 Penn & Teller Rot in Hell, 29 Pepusch, Johann, 252 Perez, Luis, 112 Perkins, Anthony, 370 Perkins, Damian, 10

Perkins, Tony, 285 Perlman, Arthur, 405–6 Perrault, Charles, 63, 191 Pesce, Vince, 158, 245 Pesci, Joe, 237 Pestka, Bobby, 169 Peters, Bernadette, 65, 131–32, 327, 417 Peterson, Chris, 13, 37 Peterson, Jayne, 42 Petina, Irra, 207 Petrarca, David, 129 Peyton-Wright, Pamela, 309 Pfeiffer, Michelle, 101, 317 Pfortmiller, Kyle, 205 Phares, Keith, 164 Phillips, Chyna, 402 Phillips, Graham, 358 Phillips, Michael, 177 Phillips, Patricia, 323 PIA, 239 Picardo, Robert, 223 Piccolo, Anthony, 191 Picker, Tobias, 75, 136 Pidgeon, Walter, 64 Pierce, David Hyde, 208, 293–94 Pierce, Edward, 152, 295, 387 Pilbrow, Richard, 356 Pimlott, Steven, 169 Pinckard, John, 365 Pine, Chris, 93 Pinelli, Tullio, 127, 220 Pink, Steve, 286 Pinkins, Tonya, 90, 171 Pinney, George, 53 Pinnick, Eric, 37 Pinza, Ezio, 334 The Pirate Queen, 294–97 Piro, Sal, 35 Pitre, Louise, 71, 398 Pittelman, I., 115 Pittelman, Ira, 287 Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, 65 Pittu, David, 52, 299 Pizzi, Joey, 39, 46, 340 Platt, Jon B., 112, 152, 273, 392 Platt, Marc, 152, 368 Platt, Oliver, 374–75 Plautus, 102 Playten, Alice, 171 The Play What I Wrote, 125–26 Playwrights Horizons, 1, 274 Pleasant, Edward, 6 Plimpton, Martha, 368, 370 PMC Productions, 297 Pockriss, Lee, 140–41 Pogrebin, Robin, 41 Poiret, Jean, 197 Poland, Greg, 180 Polanski, Roman, 117, 119

INDEX     485 Polischuk, Geoffrey, 217 Pollard, Jonathan, 211 Pollino, Samantha, 259 Pollock, Charlie, 387 Polunin, Slava, 365 Polymer Global Holdings, 258 Pomeranz, David, 308, 358 Ponturo, Ruth, 380 Ponturo, Tony, 380, 403 Pope, Manley, 213 Popp, Ethan, 342, 383 Porgy and Bess, 5–7 Porretta, Frank, 207 Portman, Eric, 43 Portman, Rachel, 392–93 Posener, Daniel M., 158, 220 Posner, Ken, 297 Posner, Kenneth, 59, 99, 119, 121, 152, 183, 199, 203, 255, 295, 315, 387 Potter, Linda and Bill, 403 Potts, David, 310 Potts, Michael, 275 Potts, Nancy, 5 Poulos, Jim, 59 Powell, Alvy, 6 Powell, Anthony, 59 Powell, James, 389 Powell, Jane, 65 Powell, Shezwae, 222 Powell, William, 345 Power, Alice, 126 Powers, Amy, 264 Powers, Jenny, 199, 315 Preminger, Otto, 7 Presley, Elvis, 211, 401 Pressgrove, Larry, 355 Pressley, Nelson, 57, 85 Prestinari, Charles F., 248 Preston, Robert, 23–24, 179, 306 Price, Kelly, 13 Price, Lonny, 44–46, 123, 301 Price, Mark, 71, 117, 211 Price, Michael P., 75 Prince, 177 Prince, Charles, 1 Prince, Faith, 3, 50, 52, 338–39 Prince, Harold, 47, 175, 196, 205, 285, 299, 337 Prince, Josh, 323, 366 Prince Music Theatre, 179, 223 The Prince of Grand Street, 179 Prisand, Scott, 169, 188, 243, 383 Pritchard, Lauren, 288 Producer Circle Company, 83 The Producers, 54–59 Producers Four, 188 Producing Office, 361, 414 Production Studio, 397 Prospect Pictures, 383 Providence Performing Arts Center, 353

Provost, Heather, 355 Prowse, Juliet, 222 Pryce, Jonathan, 128, 350 Ptah, Heru, 258 Public Theatre, 80, 171, 328, 380 Puccini, Giacomo, 115 Pugh, David, 125 Purdy, Marshall B., 10, 226, 262 Purl, Linda, 59 Pyant, Paul, 239 Pye, Tom, 162 Quaid, Randy, 347 The Queen of Basin Street, 199 Quilico, Louis, 249 Quilley, Denis, 166, 199, 207 Quilter, Peter, 239 Quinn, Patrick, 44 Quinton, Everett, 63–64 Quiroga, Guillermina, 185 Racey, Noah, 160–61, 293 Rada, Mirena, 145 Radio City Entertainment, 8, 63 Radio Gals, 310 Rado, James, 380–82 Rafter, Michael, 89 Ragni, Gerome, 380 Ragtime, 407–11 Rahman, A. R., 169, 171 Raiman, Paul, 308 Rainbow, 382 Raines, Ron, 136, 304 Raise the Roof 3, 417 Raise the Roof One, 397 Raitt, Jayson, 383 Rak, Rachelle, 72 Rall, Tommy, 160 Ralston, Terri, 285 Ramirez, Sara, 44, 208, 210 Ramont, Mark, 307 Randall, Tony, 39 Rando, John, 69–70, 117, 257 Randolph-Wright, Charles, 181, 217 Raphael, Gerrianne, 114 Rapp, Howard, 30 Rare Gem Productions, 4 Read, Joanna, 358 Reale, Robert, 129–30 Reale, Willie, 129–30, 411 Really Useful Superstar Company, Inc., 19 Really Useful White Company, Inc., 239 Reams, Lee Roy, 363 Reardon, Peter, 361, 414 Redd, Randy, 251 Reddy, Brian, 405 The Red Shoes, 259–60 Reed, Bill, 7 Reedy, M. Kilburg, 135

486      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Reich, Bob, 392 Reichard, Daniel, 337 Reid, Alexander, 255 Reid, T. Oliver, 197 Reilly, John C., 135 Reinders, Kate, 130 Reinis, Jonathan, 135, 267, 323 Reinking, Ann, 96, 133, 351–52, 402 Reins, Jonathan, 277 Reiser, David, 201 Reiss, Jay, 219 Reit, Seymour, 94 Relativity Media, 383 Rembert, Jermaine R., 197 Remick, Lee, 49 Remington, Bill, 147 Reno, Phil, 72, 260, 393 Renshaw, Christopher, 154 Rent, 288–89 Repicci, William, 4 Resnick, Judith, 104 Resnick, Patricia, 387 Restrepo, José, 315 Reymundo, Margo, 181 R/F/B/V Group, 318 Rhyne, Aaron, 323 The Rhythm Club, 66–68 RialtoGals Productions, 407 Rice, Anne, 255–56 Rice, Tim, 10, 12–13, 19 Rich, 357 Rich, Denise, 169 Rich, Frank, 117, 144, 150, 232 Rich, Janet Billig, 383 Richard, Bob, 277, 320 Richard, Don, 42 Richard, Ellen, 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, 167, 194, 385 Richard, Stephen, 181 Richards, David, 38, 168 Richards, Donald, 406 Richards, Jeffrey, 245, 287, 380 Richards, Martin, 83, 197, 243 Richards, Stanley, 7, 382 Richardson, Ian, 350 Richenthal, David, 405 Richmond, Duain, 416 Rick Steiner/Osher/Staton/Bell/Mayerson Group, 235 Riedel, Michael, 12, 18, 24, 34, 40, 45, 74, 97, 106, 119, 146, 155–56, 159, 163, 173–74, 198, 202–3, 213, 216, 221, 226, 230, 232–33, 270, 274, 286–87, 296, 298, 314, 319, 333, 400, 409, 416 Rietveld, Alice, 50 Rigby, Cathy, 41 Riggio, Leonard, 225 Riggs, Lynn, 85, 88 Rimes, LeAnn, 13 Ringham, Nancy, 46, 350 Ring of Fire, 250–52 Ripley, Alice, 3, 33, 148, 385–86, 400 Risch, Matthew, 368, 370

Riskin, Robert, 307 Rita, Rui, 307 Ritchie, Darren, 186 Ritchie, Michael, 82, 393 Rivera, Chita, 93–94, 96–97, 127, 222, 243–45, 351–52, 402 Riverdance on Broadway, 9–10 Riverdream, 295 Rizzo, Frank, 211, 357 RKO Pictures, 160 Road Show, 175–76, 178 Robbins, Carrie, 44, 343, 361, 414 Robbins, Jana, 199, 407 Robbins, Jerome, 131, 162, 243, 332, 369, 377–79 Robbins, Rex, 3 Roberson, Ken, 63, 145, 211, 243 Robert Boyette Theatricals, 347 Roberts, Darcie, 66 Roberts, Jeremy, 186 Roberts, Joan, 48 Roberts, Josephine Rose, 277 Roberts, Keith, 110 Roberts, Tony, 39, 313 Robertson, Scott, 102 Robin, Leo, 160 Robinson, Angela, 50 Robinson, Ashley, 391–92 Robinson, Eddie D., 82 Robinson, Janet, 42 Robinson, Martin P., 147, 183 Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, 99 Roby, Peta, 397 Roche, Sebastian, 21 Rock of Ages, 383–85 Rockwell, David, 33, 99, 102, 203, 211, 297–98 Rockwell, John, 150 The Rocky Horror Show, 33–35 Roddy, Pat, 9 Roderick, Ray, 23, 37 Rodewald, Heidi, 328 Rodgers, Chev, 114 Rodgers, Johnny, 364 Rodgers, Richard, 63, 85, 102, 104, 191, 334, 368 Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, 104 Roffe, Mary Lu, 112 Rogers, Dafydd, 125 Rogers, Ginger, 64, 161, 306 Rojo, Santiago, 353 Rolecek, Charles, 383 Roll, Eddie, 113–14 Rollnick, Bill, 239 Romain, Laurissa, 334 Roman, Eliseo, 330 Rondi, Brunello, 127 Ronstadt, Linda, 117 Rooney, Brian Charles, 254 Rooney, David, 178, 184, 188–90, 192–93, 195–98, 200, 202, 204, 209–10, 212, 214–19, 222, 230, 233–34, 237, 239–40, 242, 244, 247, 249, 252–53, 256, 258, 260–61, 263–64, 268–72, 274, 276, 280, 282, 284, 288–89, 292, 294, 296, 298, 304, 306, 314, 316, 319, 322–24, 326–27,

INDEX     487 329, 331, 333, 339, 341–43, 354, 357, 359–60, 363, 365, 367, 369–70, 373, 375, 377, 382, 384, 386, 388, 398, 401, 404, 406, 410, 412–13, 416–17 Ropes, Bradford, 61 Rose, Anika Noni, 171, 174 Rose, Lloyd, 68 Rosen, Steve, 208, 374 Rosenbaum, Thane, 163 Rosenberg, Sandy, 337 Rosenberg, Scott, 286 Rosenblum, Joshua, 135, 277, 320 Rosenfeld, Jyll, 109, 157, 210 Rosen-Stone, Mekenzie, 59 Rosenzweig, Barney, 211 Rose’s Dilemma, 121 Ross, Andrew, 192 Ross, Jerry, 245 Ross, Rusty, 278 Ross, Tory, 340, 387 Rossio, Terry, 366 Roth, Ann, 225 Roth, Daryl, 79, 171, 225, 292, 338, 415, 417 Roth, Jordan, 33–34, 225, 338 Roth, Robert Jess, 255 Rothman, Carole, 385 Roundabout Theatre Company, 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, 167, 194, 245, 252, 289, 301, 325, 368, 400 Rounseville, Robert, 113, 207 Routh, Marc, 147, 234, 283, 397 Routh, Mark, 417 Routh-Frankel-Baruch-Viertel Group, 332 Rowland, Christine, 349 Rowley, Emma, 332 Roy, Melinda, 123, 125 The Royal Family, 391 Royal Flush, 22 Rubel, Marc, 313 Rubin, Paul, 295 Rubin-Vega, Daphne, 33, 278, 280 Rudel, Julius, 254 Rudin, Scott, 16, 171, 332 Rudolfsson, Lars, 398 Rudzinski, Alex, 101 Ruffelle, Frances, 280 Ruggiero, Holly-Anne, 264 Rumble, Andrew, 66 Running Subway, 277, 320 Runyon, Damon, 374 Rupert, Michael, 297 Rush, Jessica, 374 Rusinek, Roland, 37, 164, 191 Russell, Barbra, 338, 356 Russell, Brenda, 241 Russell, Jenna, 325–27 Russell, Rosalind, 132, 159 Russell, Vincent, 356 Russo, Anthony R., 50 Rutberg, Amy, 187 Rutherford, Alex, 262 Ryall, William, 137, 248, 374

Ryan, Roz, 82, 310 Rydell, Bobby, 402 Ryness, Bryce, 380 Sabella, Ernie, 112, 220 Saddler, Donald, 48 Sagady, Shawn, 403 Saidy, Fred, 405 Saint, David, 377 St. Cyr, Byron, 349 St. Louis, Louis, 315 Sakakura, Lainie, 93 Sako, Reiko, 106 Saks, Gene, 402 Salazar, Monica, 225 Saldivar, Matthew, 257, 315 Salem, Marc, 174–75 Salinas, Ric, 181 Salonga, Lea, 104 Salvi, Prisque, 115 Samoff, Marjorie, 179, 223 Samonsky, Andrew, 226 Sampliner, James, 188, 257 Sams, Jeremy, 107, 215, 358 Samuel, Peter, 337 Samuels, Howard, 35 Sanchez, Doriana, 181 Sand, Paul, 292 Sandberg, Andy, 380 Sanders, Jay O., 348 Sanders, Scott, 241 Sandhu, Rommy, 59 Sands, Jason Patrick, 93 Sandy, Solange, 221 Sanford, Tim, 1 Sanna, James, 277, 320 Santagata, Eric Daniel, 93 Santiago, Saundra, 127 Santoriello, Alex, 356 Santoriello, Jimm, 356 Santucci, Nathan, 29 Sappington, Margo, 369 Saralp, Robert, 365 Sarandon, Susan, 35 Saratoga, 391 Sarich, Drew, 255, 278 Sarpola, Richard, 166 Sater, Steven, 287, 289 Saternow, Tim, 4 Saving Aimee, 308–10 Saviola, Camille, 411 Savo, Nino, 22 Say, Darling, 247 Sayers, Jo Ann, 158 Sayre, Loretta Ables, 334 Scaglione, Josefina, 377 Scalamoni, Sam, 255 Scandalous, 308, 310 Scanlan, Dick, 88 Scardino, Don, 230

488      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Scardino, Frank P., 46 Scarpulla, Stephen Scott, 131 Schaeffer, Eric, 67, 224, 304, 307–8, 342, 351, 390 Schaeffert/Schnuck, 397 Schaffel, Marla, 42–43 Schaffert, Greg, 211 Schaffner, James, 121 Scheck, Frank, 187, 325, 333 Scheer, Gene, 75, 136 Scheitinger, Alexander, 280 Scher, John, 364 Scherer, John, 75, 248, 299 Schillaci, Dan, 357 Schlaefer, Boyd, 248 Schlesinger, Adam, 340 Schlitt, Robert, 22 Schlitz, Don, 59–60 Schloss, Edwin H., 158, 220, 274 Schmidt, Douglas, 343 Schmidt, Douglas W., 5, 61, 91 Schmidt, Harvey, 301, 304 Schmidt, Jamie, 307 Schmidt, Kiira, 414 Schneider, Peter, 10, 310 Schneiderman, Josif, 143 Schnuck, Terry, 268, 287, 380 Schoeffler, Paul, 220 Schoenfeld, Mark, 188 Schonberg, Claude-Michel, 278, 294–95 Schramm, David, 405 Schrank, Joseph, 64 Schreiber, John, 80 Schreier, Dan Moses, 107 Schroder, Wayne, 37 Schulberg, Budd, 181 Schulfer, Roche, 96, 175 Schulman, Roger S. H., 366 Schulman, Susan H., 199 Schumacher, Thomas, 10, 226, 262, 280, 321 Schwartz, Arthur, 345 Schwartz, Clifford, 321 Schwartz, Marc, 392 Schwartz, Scott, 42 Schwartz, Stephen, 152, 250 Schwarzman, Stephen A., 304 Schweickert, Joyce, 203 Schwencke, Jake Evan, 400 Scibelli, James, 157, 210 Scofield, Pamela, 63 Scotchford, David, 389 Scott, Allan, 160 Scott, David, 353 Scott, Derek, 365 Scott, Helena, 249 Scott, Sherie Rene, 10–12, 203, 205, 322, 381 Scrofani, Aldo, 203, 243, 299 Seal, Elizabeth, 247 The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, 35–37 Seattle Repertory Theatre, 36 Sechrest, Marisa, 257

Second Stage Theatre, 219, 385 Segal, Vivienne, 370–71 Seid, Lori E., 154 Seidelman, Arthur Allan, 38 SEL, 201 Sella, Robert, 215 Seller, Jeffrey, 115, 145, 286, 330, 355, 377, 414 Selya, John, 110 Semira, Darryl, 169 Semlitz, Steve, 415 Sender, Leni, 197 Sengbloh, Saycon, 243, 415 Señor Discretion Himself, 181–82 Seraphine, Danny, 169, 188 Sesma, Thom, 273 The Set-Up, 18 Seurat, Georges, 326 Seuss, Dr., 277, 320 Seussical, 39–42 700 Sundays, 196–97 Sexton, G. Marlyne, 243 Seyfried, Amanda, 72 Seymour, James, 61 Seymour, Kenny J., 403 SFX Theatrical Group, 39, 54 Shaddow, Elena, 83, 127, 181 ShadowCatcher Entertainment, 403 Shaiman, Marc, 99, 101, 268 Shakespeare, William, 102, 347–49, 377 Shankel, Lynne, 340 Shankman, Adam, 101 Shapiro, Stanley, 203 Sharkey, Dan, 347 Sharman, Jim, 34–35 Sharpe, Ron, 338, 356 Sharyn, Amy Jen, 320 Shaw, George Bernard, 349 Shaw, Lynn, 392 Shaw, Philip, 348 Shaw, Tro, 377 Shawn, Wallace, 252–54 Shear, Claudia, 25–27 Sheik, Duncan, 287, 289 Sheik, Kacie, 380 Sheinkin, Rachel, 218, 220, 392 Sheldon, Jack, 180 Sheldon, Tony, 346 Shelley, Carole, 152–53, 359 Shen Family Foundation, 390 Sheppard, Nona, 75 Sher, Bartlett, 213, 334, 337 Sherman, Bill, 332 Sherman, Martin, 149, 151 Sherman, Richard M., 215, 280 Sherman, Robert B., 215, 280 Shevelove, Burt, 183 Shew, Timothy, 158 Shields, Brooke, 160, 317 Shields, Cary, 154 Shigeta, James, 106 Shimono, Sab, 196

INDEX     489 Shin, Chunsoo, 372, 412 Shinbone Alley, 20 Shindle, Kate, 187, 297 Shiner, David, 39–42 Shiro, Chad L., 123–24 Shore, Allen M., 50 Shorenstein Hays Nederlander, 358 Short, Martin, 101, 268–70 Show Boat, 391 Showmotion, Inc., 33 Showtime Networks, 190 Shrek, 366–68 Shriver, Lisa, 251, 372 Shubert Organization, 25, 107, 208, 328 Shusterman, Tamlyn Brooke, 61 Siberry, Michael, 183 Sibling Entertainment, 188 Sicangco, Eduardo, 140 Siccardi, Arthur, 192 Sieber, Christopher, 208 Sieber, Karen, 140 Siegel, Joel, 24, 403 Siegel, Seth M., 112 Sigler, Jamie-Lynn, 63 Signature Theatre, 67, 224, 308, 342, 351, 390 Siguenza, Herbert, 181 Sikora, Megan, 61, 89, 293 Silber, Chic, 152 Silberman, Adam, 115 Sillerman, Robert F. X., 54, 318 Sills, Douglas, 148 Silver, Bob & Rhonda, 270 Silver, Nicky, 102–3 Silverman, Ryan, 340 Silverman Partners, 201 Simmons, Jean, 375 Simon, James L., 50 Simon, John, 17, 24, 57, 187, 301 Simon, Lucy, 264 Simon, Neil, 121, 220 Simon, Scott, 315 Simon, Vicki, 86 Simpson, Angela, 6 Simpson, Bland, 347 Simpson, Glenn, 8 Sinatra, Frank, 370, 375 Sinclair, Malcolm, 76 Sine, J., 115 Sine, Jeffrey, 215, 287 Sine, Jeffrey A., 230, 268, 407 Singer, Brooke, 140 Siretta, Dan, 30, 38, 137, 140 Siretta, Nikki, 30 Sirkin, Spring, 328 Sirlin, Jerome, 140 SisActs, LLC, 310 Sister Act, 310–12 Sister Aimee, 310 Sjoholm, Helen, 398 Skinner, Emily, 1, 31, 226, 304 Skinner, Quinton, 393

Skinner, Randy, 61, 343–44, 347, 361, 414 Sklar, Matthew, 66, 257 Sklar-Heyn, Seth, 417 Skuce, Lauren, 121 Slater, Christian, 25 Slater, Glenn, 310, 321 Slava’s Snowshow, 365–66 Slingsby, Chris, 9 Smedes, Tom, 355 Smerdon, Vic, 359 Smirnoff, Karina, 398 SMI/Showmotion, Inc., 42 Smith, Dale, 313 Smith, Douglas G., 415 Smith, Ethel, 346 Smith, Greg, 203 Smith, Jennifer, 55, 260 Smith, Kirsten, 297 Smith, Kristen J., 343 Smith, Laura, 383 Smith, Maggie, 311 Smith, Michael, 8 Smith, Molly, 181 Smith, Muriel, 336 Smith, Niegel, 415 Smith, Oliver, 207 Smith, Peter Matthew, 99 Smith, Richard A., 361, 414 Smith, Stephen Gregory, 224, 307 Smith, Steven, 140 Smith, Tara, 313 Smith, Timothy Edward, 220 Smith, Warren, 217 Smith, Will and Jada Pinkett, 415 Smith, Wynonna, 259 Smolokowski, Slava, 415 Smulyan, Cari, 313 Snide, Corey J., 358 Snowdon, Ted, 238, 287, 299 Snyder, James, 340–41, 384 Snyder, Stephen “Hoops,” 196 Soames, David, 358 Solms, Kenny, 134 Solomon, Alisa, 164 Solomon, Dave, 387 Solovyeva, Ekaterina, 115 Soloway, Leonard, 123, 192 Some Like It Hot, 136–39 Somers, Suzanne, 229–30 Sommers, Michael, 343 Somogyi, Ilona, 323 Sondheim, Stephen, 46–50, 91, 112, 121, 123, 131, 164, 167–68, 175, 177, 183, 194–96, 205, 234, 283, 285, 292, 325, 332, 337, 377, 417 Sonenberg, David, 117 Sonenclar, Carly Rose, 392 Songs for a New Millennium–Portraits in Jazz: A Gallery of Songs, 180 Song Tianjiao, 371 Sonia Friedman Productions, 239, 374, 417 Sonnenberg, David, 356

490      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Sony Pictures Entertainment, 415 Soo, Jack, 106 Soon, 150 Soriano, Henry, 397 Sorvino, Paul, 248–50 Sosa, Emilio, 181 Soul of Shaolin, 371–72 South, Hamilton, 125 South Pacific, 334–37 Souvenir, 238–39 Spadaro, Michael, 217 Spamalot, 208–10 Spanger, Amy, 257, 383 Spangler, Walt, 224, 304, 308 Spark Productions, 277 Sparks, Shane, 412 Spencer, David, 117 Spencer, Elizabeth, 213 Spencer, J. Robert, 385 Sperling, Ted, 213, 215, 334 Speyer, Michael, 203, 239, 243, 277, 320, 347, 405 Spice Girls, 13 Spielberg, Stephen, 241 Spinella, Stephen, 1, 288 Spinetti, Victor, 208 Spirtas, Kevin, 405 Spisto, Louis G., 345 Spivak, Allen, 8, 83, 135, 158, 220, 277, 320 Spolan, Jeffrey, 137 Sprecher, Amy, 392 Sprecher, Ben, 392 Spring Awakening, 287–89 Spurney, Jon, 328 Squadron, Ann Strickland, 267 Squire, Theresa, 286 Squonk, 4–5 Stafford, Richard, 232 Stage Entertainment, 235 Stage Entertainment BV, 239 Stage Holding, 61, 91, 201 StageVentures 2009 Limited Partnership, 405 Stamos, John, 400–401 Stanek, Jim, 90, 255 Stanley, Alessandra, 135 Stanley, Dorothy, 46 Stanley, Elizabeth, 340–41 Stanley, Kim, 285 Stanton, Rider Quentin, 332 Stapleton, Jean, 51, 65 Stapleton, Maureen, 402 Starec Productions, 225 Starobin, Michael, 169, 386 Star of Indiana, 53 Stasio, Charles, 366 Stasio, Marilyn, 112, 130, 186, 355 Staton, Daniel C., 99 Staton Bell Osher Mayerson Group, 257 Stattel, Robert, 199 Staudenmayer, Edward, 179 Staunch Entertainment, 274

Staunton, Imelda, 93, 166 Staunton, Noel, 115 Steele, Ryan, 377 Steele, Tommy, 65, 139, 407 Steggert, Bobby, 302, 407 Steichen, Gerald, 6, 191 Steig, William, 366 Steiger, Rod, 136 Stein, Benjamin, 210 Stein, Douglas, 26 Stein, Joan, 387 Stein, Joseph, 162 Steinberg, David, 99 Steiner, Rick, 54, 99, 147, 257, 273, 338 Steinhagen, Joe, 95 Steinkellner, Cheri and Bill, 310 Steinman, Jim, 117, 119 Steinmeyer, Jim, 107 Stephenson, Don, 75, 182 Stern, Cheryl, 157 Stern, Eric, 46, 135, 264, 313–14 Stern, James D., 54, 99, 147, 257, 361, 414, 417 Stern/Meyer, 297 Stevens, George, 160, 402 Stevens, Mark, 345 Stevens, Richie, 154 Stevens, Ricky, 338, 342 Stevens, Tony, 243 Stevenson, Juliet, 121–22 Stevenson, Robert, 280 Stewart, Kris, 355 Stewart, Mark, 328, 330 Stewart, Michael, 61, 208, 400, 402 Stewart, Paula, 249 Stewart, Seth, 330 Stiers, David Ogden, 414 Stigwood, Robert, 315 Stiles, Danny, 310 Stiles, George, 280, 282 Stiletto Entertainment, 66 Stillman, Bob, 26–27, 275 Stillman, Joe, 366 Stimac, Anthony, 181 Sting, 13 Stites, Kevin, 85, 127, 162, 252, 278, 356, 392 Stockdale, Gary, 29 Stockton, Frank R., 290 Stoker, Bram, 186 Stolber, Dean, 203, 297, 393 Stoll, Jon, 109, 157, 210 Stoller, Michael, 4 Stone, David, 112, 152, 219, 385 Stone, Greg, 398 Stone, Peter, 137, 292 Story, Jamal, 181 The Story of My Life, 372–73 Stout, Mary, 42 Stowe, Dennis, 290 Strand, John, 224 Strasberg, Lee, 88

INDEX     491 Strathie, Angus, 115 Stratton, Hank, 12 Streep, Meryl, 72, 93, 184, 239 Strickland, Josh, 262 Stritch, Elaine, 49, 80–81, 159, 284–85, 417 Strole, Phoebe, 288 Stroman, Susan, 13, 15–16, 23–24, 37, 54, 59, 72, 85, 87, 121, 183, 318–19, 361 Strong, Allison, 400 Strouse, Charles, 135, 393–95, 400, 402 Strunsky, Michael, 7 StudioCanal, 54 Sturge, Tom, 30 Sturm, Roland, 273 Sturt, Jeremy, 8 StyleFour Productions, 288 Styne, Jule, 18, 50, 132, 137, 160, 332 Suehsdorf, David, 21 Sues, Alan, 402 Sugar, 137 Sugarman, Eddie, 307 Sullivan, Barry, 250 Sullivan, Ed, 402 Sullivan, Jo, 159 Sullivan, KT, 61 Sullivan, Nick, 347 Sullivan, Patrick Ryan, 307 Summerhays, Jane, 16 Sunday in the Park with George, 325–28 Surf City, 203 Suskin, Steven, 138, 392, 399 Sussman, Bruce, 65 Sutcliffe, Steven, 96 Sutherland, Brian, 226 Sutton, Charlie, 197 Suzuki, Pat, 106 Swanton, Brian, 8 Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 164–66, 233–35 Sweet, Sam, 224, 308 The Sweet Bye and Bye, 309 Sweet Charity, 220–23 Sweet Smell of Success, 83–85 Swenson, Inga, 350 Swenson, Will, 380, 385 Swerling, Jo, 374 Swibel, B., 313 Swinsky, M., 99, 147 Swinsky, Mort, 80, 115, 145, 274, 287, 415 Syal, Meera, 169 Sydow, Karl, 392 Symonette, Lys, 299 Synnott, Cathal, 9 Syse, Glenna, 317 Szot, Paulo, 334–35, 337 Taboo, 154–56 Tadad, Robert, 383 Take Me Along, 342 A Tale of Two Cities, 356–58

Tankard, Meryl, 262 Target, 277 Tartaglia, John, 145, 368 Tarzan, 262–64 Tatelman, Barry and Susan, 203 Taupin, Bernie, 255 Taylor, Clifton, 258, 270 Taylor, David, 140 Taylor, Elizabeth, 391 Taylor, James, 13 Taylor, Lenora, 353 Taylor, Markland, 136 Taylor, Renee, 191 Taylor, Rob, 32 Taylor, Scott, 417 Taymor, Julie, 21–22, 173 Tazewell, Paul, 80, 171, 241, 258, 330, 374, 403 TBF Music Corp., 232 TBS, 412 Teachout, Terry, 15, 265 Teaton, Kenneth, 392 Teeter, Lara, 363 Teller, 29 Temperley, Stephen, 238 Tepe, Heather, 131 Tepper, Arielle, 1, 44, 117, 208 Terfel, Bryn, 166 Tesori, Jeanine, 90, 171 Testa, Mary, 61, 313–14 Tetreault, Paul R., 307 Te Wiata, Inia, 249 TGA Enterprises, 169 TGA Entertainment, 197, 208 Thane, James, 280 Tharp, Twyla, 110–11, 273 Thau, H., 169 Thau, Harold, 287 Theatre Associates, 356 Theatre Dreams, 69, 91, 201 Theatre for a New Audience, 21 Theatre League, 353 Theatre Previews at Duke, 199 Theatre Under the Stars, 140 The Entire Prussian Army, 203 The Farm, 220 Themis, John, 154 Therese Raquin, 75 The Rocky Horror Company, Ltd., 33 Thibedeau, Matthew, 93 Thielman, Sam, 372 Thione, Lorenzo, 365 13, 358–59 Thoeren, Robert, 137 Thomas, Edward, 250 Thomas, John and Danita, 199 Thomas, Kevin David, 417 Thomas, Richard, 323 Thompson, Ahmir “Questlove,” 415 Thompson, Caitlyn, 414 Thompson, Dave, 35

492      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Thompson, David, 72 Thompson, Emma, 166 Thompson, Jay, 22 Thompson, Jennifer Laura, 69 Thompson, Kay, 365 Thompson, Mark, 46, 53, 71, 169 Thompson, R. Scott, 224 Thompson, Stuart, 125 Thompson, Tazewell, 5 Thompson, Tommy, 347 Thomson, Brian, 192 Thorell, Clarke, 99, 348 Thoroughly Modern Millie, 88–90 Thou Shalt Not, 72–75 The Threepenny Opera, 252–54, 300 Thwak, 1 Tichler, Rosemarie, 16 Tiesler, Paul, 93 Tillman, Ellis, 123 The Times They Are A-Changin’, 273–74 Timlin, Addison, 131 Tipton, Jennifer, 1 Tisch/Avnet Financial, 208 [Title of Show], 354–56 Toben, Paul, 372 Tokarz, Katherine, 361 Tokyo Broadcasting System, 44, 147 Tolentino, Mariano, Jr., 260, 286 Tomlin, Lily, 36–37 Tomlin and Wagner Theatricalz, 36 Tommasini, Anthony, 122, 173, 206, 249 Tone, Franchot, 88 Topol, 163, 250 Toppall/Stevens/Mills, 397 Torigoe, Kirk, 169 Tornick, Michael, 30 Toro, Natalie, 356–57 Torres, Jorge, 185 Torres, Maria, 225 Toscanini, Arturo, 116 Tovarich, 141 Tozzi, Giorgio, 249 Traina, Joseph, 380 Transamerica, 258 Travers, P. L., 280 Travis, Sarah, 234–35 Travolta, John, 101, 124–25, 316–17 Trepp, Warren, 273, 297 Tresnjak, Darko, 345 Tricky Feat Ltd., 8 Trien, Cathy, 225 Trimm, Alice, 400 Trimm, Allie, 358 Triplett, William, 18, 139 Troel, Jan, 400 Tronto, Rudy, 103 Trotter, Terry, 123 True Love Productions, 225, 338, 358, 415 Trujillo, Sergio, 211, 225, 235, 264, 374, 385, 403

Tsoutsouvas, Sam, 75 Tsypin, George, 321–22 Tulchin/Bartner, 283, 374 Tulchin/Bartner/Bagert, 234 Tune, Tommy, 199, 269, 402 Tunick, Jonathan, 184, 339 Tunie, Tamara, 287–88 Turk, Bruce, 21 Turner, David, 232, 325 Turner, Tina, 13, 190 Tuttle, Ashley, 110 Tveit, Aaron, 317, 385 Twain, Mark, 59–60, 143 Twain, Shania, 13 The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 218–20 Twine, Linda, 129, 171, 241 Two Cities, 358 2 Guys Productions, 403 Tyler, Chase, 355 Tyler, Steven, 42 Tyrell, Steve, 180 Tzudiker, Bob, 262 Uhry, Alfred, 173, 299, 301 Ui Cheallaigh, Aine, 295 Ulanet, Rachel, 299 Ullman, Tracey, 93, 269, 346 Ullmann, Liv, 134, 400 Ullrich, William, 127 Ulvaeus, Bjorn, 71, 398 Umeki, Miyoshi, 106 Umoh, Stephanie, 408 Union, Scott and Kaylin, 403 Universal, 39, 42, 71, 152, 340, 359, 398 Up in One, 150–51 Urban Cowboy, 123–25 Urbont, Jack, 145 Urinetown, 69–70 USA Ostar Productions, 119 USA Ostar Theatricals, 79, 107, 112, 117 Vaccariello, Patrick, 19, 117, 131, 149, 197, 271, 332, 377 Vagabond Stars, 179 Vaishnav, Sudhir, 169 Valency, Maurice, 96, 351 Valenti, Michael, 104 Vallee, Tara Jeanne, 353 Valli, Frankie, 235–38 van Cauwelaert, Didier, 107 van den Ende, Joop, 61, 91, 186, 201 Vanderkolfe, Jonathan, 53 van der Schuff, Melissa, 143 Vandoren, Donnie, 53 Van Dyke, Dick, 24–25, 217, 245, 402 Van Gastel, John, 397 Van Gelder, Lawrence, 29–30, 38, 64, 77, 111, 157, 175 van Gogh, Vincent, 224–25 van Itallie, Jean-Claude, 50, 328 Van Laast, Anthony, 19, 71, 169

INDEX     493 Van Patten, Dick, 191 Van Patten, Joyce, 51 Vanstone, Hugh, 46, 53, 169, 208, 366 Vashee, Vijay and Sita, 403 Ventura, Lorna, 211 Vera, Carlos, 185 Verdi, Giuseppe, 10, 349 Verdon, Gwen, 222 Vereen, Ben, 222 Verini, Bob, 311–12, 346 Vickery, Dan, 313 Vidal, Gore, 338 Vidnovic, Martin, 86 Vienna Waits Productions, 271, 412 Viertel, Jack, 332, 405 Viertel, Tom, 147, 234, 283, 397, 417 Vietti, Alejo, 307 Villella, Edward, 369 Vincent, Tony, 19–20 Vincentelli, Elisabeth, 410, 417 Viner, Michael, 135 Vineyard Theatre, 145, 355 Vioni, Lisa, 199 The Visit, 96–97, 351–52 Vitali, Kersti, 398 Vlastnik, Frank, 83, 129 Vogel, Frederic B., 347 Voltaire, 205, 337 von Essen, Max, 305, 323, 407 Von Mayrhauser, Peter, 215 von Sydow, Max, 400 Vroman, Lisa, 248–49 Wacker, Bob, 347 Wager, Douglas C., 179, 223 Wagner, Daniel MacLean, 224 Wagner, Jane, 36 Wagner, Robin, 16, 55, 59, 104, 149, 160, 271, 318, 398, 412 Wagner, S. D., 328 Walden, Josh, 197, 407 Waldman, Jen, 343 Waldman, Price, 277 Waldorf, Wilella, 87 Waldrop, Mark, 79, 225 Walken, Christopher, 1, 3, 101 Walker, Alice, 241 Walker, Bonnie, 332 Walker, June, 88 Walker, Nancy, 159 Walker, Ray, 19 Wallach, Eli, 113 Wallis, Shani, 160 Walsh, Alice Chebba, 104 Walsh, Barbara, 283 Walsh, Bill, 280 Walsh, Elizabeth, 249 Walsh, James, 160 Walston, Ray, 336

Walter, Doug, 229 Walters, Happy, 383 Walters, Julie, 72 Walton, Tony, 37, 41, 356 Wand, Betty, 336 Wang Jingbo, 371 Wang Sen, 371 Wang Yazhi, 371 Wang Zhenpeng, 371 Warchus, Matthew, 46, 49 Ward, Andre, 313, 383 Ward, Ann Hould, 248 Ward, Anthony, 85, 87, 131, 215–16, 349 Ward, Kirby, 160 Wardle, Irving, 76, 357 Waring, Wendy, 46 Warner Brothers, 61, 255 Warren, David, 65 Warren, Harry, 61 Warren, Lesley Ann, 64 Wasser, Alan, 353 Wasserman, Dale, 112–13, 145 Watch Hill Productions, 232 Waterman, Dennis, 350 Waters, Daryl, 405 Waters, Ethel, 173 Waters, John, 99, 340 Waterstreet, Ed, 143 Watson, Becky, 75 Watson, Joe, 397 Watson, Russell, 398 Watson, Susan, 304 Watt, Douglas, 168, 195 Watt, Michael, 39, 131, 201, 387 Watt/Dobie Productions, 59 Watts, Richard, 370 Waxman Williams Entertainment, 104, 169 Waxwill Theatrical Division, 169 Weales, Gerald, 207 Weaver, Fritz, 350 Weaver, Hillary, 383 Weaver, Matthew, 383 Weaver, Sigourney, 184 Webb, Clifton, 347, 362 Webb, Daniel, 115 Webber, Julian, 359 Weber, Bruce, 33, 37, 54, 59–61, 70, 76, 78, 83, 109, 134, 157 Webster, Christopher R. III, 313 The Wedding Singer, 256–58 Wedekind, Frank, 287 Wedow, Gary Thor, 164, 191 Weeks, Todd, 30 Weems, Andrew, 21 Weideman, Japhy, 390 Weidman, John, 13, 15, 32, 167, 175, 178, 194, 400 Weil, Tim, 366 Weiler, A. E., 50 Weill, Kurt, 252, 299–301

494      THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2000s BROADWAY MUSICALS Weiner, David F., 196 Weinstein, Bob, 54, 83, 115, 211, 241 Weinstein, Harvey, 54, 83, 115, 131, 158, 160, 203, 211, 215, 220, 241, 417 Weinstein Company, 377, 380, 387 Weinstein Live Entertainment, 359 Weir, Jonathan, 96 Weissberger Theatre Group, 160, 203 Weissler, Barry and Fran, 39, 158, 220–21, 346 Weitzenhoffer, Max, 417 Weitzman, Ira, 13, 72 Welch, Anne Marie, 265 Welch, Ken, 229 Welch, Mitzie, 229 Welch, Raquel, 18 Weller, Michael, 264–65 Wencarlar Productions, 380 Wendland, Mark, 385 Wendt, George, 402 Wenig, Seth C., 349 Werner, Howard, 398, 400, 412 Werner, Lori, 377 Werth, Christopher, 325 West, Mae, 26–27 West, Matt, 255 West, Nathanael, 158 Westfeldt, Jennifer, 158–59 Westley, Helen, 88 Weston, Jim, 140 West Side Story, 377–79 Wetherell, Elizabeth Eynon, 287 Wetrock Entertainment, 270 Wetzel, Patrick, 72 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 140–41 What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined, 134–35 Wheeldon, Christopher, 83 Wheeler, Hugh, 121, 164, 194, 205, 234, 337, 417 Whelan, Bill, 9 Whelan, Christian, 392 Whipple, Sidney B., 370 White, Harrison, 310 White, Lari, 251 White, Lillias, 134, 180, 415 White, Lyla, 310 White, Noni, 262 White, Onna, 402 White, Terri, 405, 407 White Christmas, 361–64, 414 Whitehead, Charles, 125 Whitman, Barbara, 203, 219, 297, 385 Whittaker, Keaton, 417 Whitten, Dan, 270 Whitty, Jeff, 145, 147 Whoopi, 192 Wicked, 151–54 Wierzel, Robert, 5, 248, 415 Wiesenfeld, Cheryl, 203 Wilbur, Richard, 205, 337 Wilcox, Wayne, 215

Wilde, Marty, 402 Wilder, Andrew, 199 Wilder, Billy, 137 Wilder, Gene, 318 Wilder, Laura Ingalls, 392 Wildhorn, Frank, 186 The Wild Party, 16–19 Wilkins, Lee, 393 Wilkins, Sharon, 39, 211 Wilkinson, Colm, 280 Wilkof, Lee, 102, 148, 169 Willetts, David, 409 Williams, Allen, 353 Williams, Beth, 83, 274 Williams, Billy Dee, 226 Williams, Billy Paul, 353 Williams, Brandon, 347 Williams, Buddy, 217 Williams, Emma, 217 Williams, Kristen Beth, 343 Williams, Marsha Garces, 99 Williams, NaTasha Yvette, 63 Williams, Ralph, 169 Williams, Robin, 99 Williams, Schele, 10 Williams, Treat, 46 Williams, Vanessa, 91, 402 Williamstown Theatre Festival, 82 Williams/Waxman, 16, 23 Willis, Allee, 241 Willis, Jill Furman, 377 Willis, Richard, 60 Wills, Jennifer Hope, 160 Wills, Ray, 55 Willson, Meredith, 23, 25 Willson, Rini, 25 Wilner, Lori, 338 Wilson, Brian, 201 Wilson, Craig, 389 Wilson, Darlene, 104, 208 Wilson, Edwin, 24 Wilson, Jessica-Snow, 201 Wilson, Maia Nkenge, 241, 387 Wilson, Mary Louise, 274, 276 Wilson, Michael G., 215 Wilson, Patrick, 30, 86–87 Wilson, Steve, 308 Wilson, Tommar, 59 Winer, Linda, 178 Winfrey, Oprah, 241 Winger, Debra, 124 Wings, 185 Winkler, Richard, 140, 191, 403, 417 Winnick, Gary, 241, 257 Winokur, Marissa Jaret, 99, 101 Winston, Tarik, 9 Winter, Harry A., 224, 308 Winters, Jill, 353 Winters, Shelley, 190

INDEX     495 Wise, Ernie, 126 Wise, Robert, 18, 379 Wise, Scott, 110 Wise Guys, 176–77 Wisenfeld, Cheryl, 80 Withers-Mendes, Elisabeth, 243 Wittlin, Mike, 383 Wittman, Scott, 32, 99, 101, 268–69 Wodehouse, P. G., 75, 77 Wolfe, Digby, 157 Wolfe, George C., 16, 18, 80, 171 Wolfe, Matt, 409 Wolfington, Iggie, 24–25, 64 Wolfson, Israel, 383 Wolkenberg, Rick, 188 Wolpe, Lenny, 260 Wolpert, Harold, 245, 252, 289, 301, 325, 368, 400 The Woman in White, 239–41 Wonderful Town, 158–60 Wong, B. D., 194 Wood, Frank, 288 Wood, Haneefah, 188 Wood, Natalie, 132 Woodling, Stephanie, 121 Woodruff, Virginia Ann, 241 Woodward, Edward, 357 Woodward, Max, 304, 407 Woolard, David C., 33, 50, 66, 196, 211, 251, 264, 345, 377 Woolley, Monty, 24 Woolverton, Linda, 10, 255 Wopat, Tom, 338–39 Working Title Films, 359 Worldwide Entertainment, 199 Worley, Jo Anne, 49 Worsham, Lauren, 337 Wreford, Catherine, 61 Wreghitt, Randall L., 199, 274 Wright, Charles Randolph, 79 Wright, Doug, 274, 276, 321 Wright, Jessica, 337 Wright, Linda, 347 Wrightson, Ann G., 238 WWLC, 131 Wyatt, Kirsten, 286, 315 Wylie, Adam, 91 Wynn, Steve, 146 Xanadu, 313–15 Xie Tongmiao, 371 Yates, Deborah, 15 Yazbeck, Tony, 414 Yazbek, David, 30–32, 170, 203 Yeargan, Michael, 213, 215, 334, 337 A Year with Frog and Toad, 129–30 Yeats, W. B., 9 Yerkes, Tamlyn Freund, 251 Yershon, Gary, 125 Yeston, Maury, 127, 129, 199

York, Don, 220, 345 York, Michael, 357 Yorkey, Brian, 385–86 York Theatre Company, 238 Yoshii, Kumiko, 44 Youmans, James, 63, 332, 377 Youmans, William, 295–96, 405 Young, Eric Jordan, 408 Young, Frank M., 140 Young, John Lloyd, 235, 237 Young, LaParee, 93 Young, Tara, 13, 23, 72, 117, 121, 183, 215, 295, 321 Young Frankenstein, 317–20 You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 21 Yu Fei, 371 Yurka, Blanche, 43 Yurman, Lawrence, 274 Zabriskie, Nan, 95 Zagnit, Stuart, 39 Zaken, Remy, 288 Zaks, Jerry, 147, 169, 197–98 Zambello, Francesca, 321, 392 Zarrett, Lee, 42 Zavelson, Billy, 267 Zbornik, Kristine, 338 Zemiro, 147 ZenDog Productions, 287 Zeta-Jones, Catherine, 385, 417–18 Zhang Zhigang, 371 Zhivago, 264–65 Zhou Chenglong, 371 Zhu Huayin, 371 Ziegfeld, Florenz, 203 Zieglerova, Klara, 36, 235 Ziemba, Karen, 15–16, 160–61, 249, 293, 304, 395 Zien, Chip, 215 Zink, Jack, 148 Zinman, Toby, 179, 224 Zinn, David, 313, 356 Zippel, David, 239–40, 364 Zisa, Natalia, 225 Zoglin, Richard, 3, 12, 22, 26, 32, 43, 46, 49, 52, 54, 57, 60, 63, 72–74, 85, 101, 105–6, 111, 120, 125–26, 144, 153, 156, 168, 174, 184, 200, 210, 247, 253–54, 256, 258, 261, 263–64, 272, 274, 316, 319, 323, 360, 368, 377, 409 Zola, Emile, 72 Zollo, Frederick, 215 Zollo/Sine, 171 Zombie Prom, 119 Zombies from the Beyond, 119 Zorich, Louis, 46 Zotovich, Adam, 241, 297 Zuber, Catherine, 41, 186, 199, 213, 215, 232, 334, 337, 340 Zweibel, Alan, 196, 268 Zweigbaum, Steven, 54, 318 Zwick, Joel, 60 Zyla, David R., 143

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, world literature, and the history of modern drama at Western Carolina University, and 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), The Complete Book of 1970s Broadway Musicals (2015), The Complete Book of 1980s Broadway Musicals (2016), and The Complete Book of 1990s Broadway Musicals (2016), all published by Rowman & Littlefield.

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