The Complete Book of 2000s Broadway Musicals (2017) PDF

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
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Copyright © 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield
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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 1
2000–2001 Season 29
2001–2002 Season 69
2002–2003 Season 99
2003–2004 Season 143
2004–2005 Season 183
2005–2006 Season 229
2006–2007 Season 267
2007–2008 Season 313
2008–2009 Season 353
2009 Season 397
APPENDIXES
A Chronology (by Season) 419
B Chronology (by Classification) 423
C Discography 429
D Filmography 431
E Other Productions 433
F Black-Themed Revues and Musicals 439
G Jewish-Themed Revues and Musicals 441
H Theatres 443
I Published Scripts 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 Broad-
way 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 Classifica-
tion)” (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 vari-
ous 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, Spama-
lot, 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 engage-
ments). 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, seventy-
one 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 Broad-
way 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, cho-
reographers (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; informa-
tive trivia; details about London and other major international productions; data about recordings and pub-
lished scripts; and information about film, television, and home video adaptations. In many cases, the com-
mentary 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 classifica-
tion; discography; filmography; a chronology of selected productions that included incidental songs or back-
ground 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 con-
temporary 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 Celebrating Sondheim 112

Aida 10 Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life 243
All Shook Up 211 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 215
Amour 107 A Chorus Line 271
An American in Paris 343 A Christmas Carol (2000) 37
The Apple Tree (three one-act musicals: A Christmas Carol (2001) 77
The Diary of Adam and Eve; The Lady or A Christmas Carol (2002) 111
the Tiger?; and Passionella) 289 A Christmas Carol (2003) 156
Assassins 167 Cinderella (2001) 63
Avenue Q 145 Cinderella (2004) 190
Barbara Cook’s Broadway! 166 Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy 353
Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends 79 A Class Act 44
Bells Are Ringing 50 The Color Purple 241
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 143 Company 283
Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home 135 Contact (three one-act dance musicals:
Billy Elliot 359 Swinging; Did You Move?; and Contact) 13
Blast 53 Copacabana 65
The Blonde in the Thunderbird 229 Cry-Baby 339
La boheme 115 Curtains 292
Bombay Dreams 169 Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! 192
Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway 29 Dance of the Vampires 117
Bounce 175 Dancing in the Dark 345
The Boy from Oz 149 Dancing on Dangerous Ground 7
The Boys from Syracuse 102 Dirty Blonde 25
Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) 188 Dirty Dancing 388
Burn the Floor 397 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 203
Bye Bye Birdie 400 Dracula 186
By Jeeves 75 Dreamgirls 411
La Cage aux Folles 197 The Drowsy Chaperone 260
Candide (2005) 205 Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Candide (2008) 337 (2006) 276
Caroline, or Change 171 Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Casper 93 (2007) 320
A Catered Affair 338 Elaine Stritch at Liberty 80
xiii
xiv ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SHOWS
Fela! 414 The Look of Love 133

Fiddler on the Roof 162 Love/Life: A Life in Song 217
Finian’s Rainbow 405 LoveMusik 299
Flower Drum Song 104 The Mambo Kings 225
Follies 46 Mame 304
Forever Tango 185 Mamma Mia! 71
42nd Street 61 Man of La Mancha 112
The Frogs 183 Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway 174
The Full Monty 30 Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore 189
Gemini 223 Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me 268
George Gershwin Alone 60 Marty 135
Giant 390 Mary Poppins 280
Glory Days 341 Meet John Doe 306
Good Vibrations 201 Memphis 403
Grease 315 Minsky’s 393
The Great Ostrovsky 179 Les Miserables 278
The Green Bird 21 Monty Python’s Spamalot 208
Grey Gardens 274 The Most Happy Fella 248
Guys and Dolls 374 Mostly Sondheim 77
Gypsy (2003) 131 Movin’ Out 110
Gypsy (2008) 332 Muscle 94
Hair 380 The Music Man 22
Hairspray 99 My Fair Lady 349
The Highest Yellow 224 Never Gonna Dance 160
High Fidelity 286 Next to Normal 385
Hot Feet 258 Nine 126
Imaginary Friends 119 9 to 5 387
In My Life 232 Oklahoma! 85
In the Heights 330 110 in the Shade 301
Into the Woods 90 One Mo’ Time 81
Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed 210 On the Record 226
Jackie Mason: Prune Danish 109 Pacific Overtures 194
James Joyce’s The Dead 1 The Pajama Game 245
Jane Eyre 42 Pal Joey 368
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only! 270 Passing Strange 328
Jerry Springer—the Opera 323 Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” 32
Jersey Boys 235 Penn & Teller 29
Jesus Christ Superstar 19 The Pirate Queen 294
Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway 267 The Play What I Wrote 125
Kristina 398 Porgy and Bess 5
Laughing Room Only 157 The Producers 54
Legally Blonde 297 Ragtime 407
Lennon 230 The Rhythm Club 66
Lestat 254 Ring of Fire 250
The Light in the Piazza 213 Riverdance on Broadway 9
Like Jazz 180 Robin Williams: Live on Broadway 99
Little House on the Prairie 392 Rock of Ages 383
The Little Mermaid 321 The Rocky Horror Show 33
A Little Night Music (2003) 121 Saving Aimee 308
A Little Night Music (2009) 416 The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the
Little Shop of Horrors 147 Universe 35
Little Women 199 Señor Discretion Himself 181
Liza’s at the Palace . . . 364 Seussical 39
Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of 700 Sundays 196
Windsor, Texas 347 Shrek 366
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SHOWS xv
Sister Act 310 The Threepenny Opera 252

Slava’s Snowshow 365 The Times They Are A’Changin’ 273
Some Like It Hot 136 [title of show] 354
Soul of Shaolin 371 The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 218
South Pacific 334 Urban Cowboy 123
Souvenir 238 Urinetown 69
Spring Awakening 287 The Visit (2001) 96
Squonk 4 The Visit (2008) 351
The Story of My Life 372 The Wedding Singer 256
Sunday in the Park with George 325 West Side Story 377
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? 140
Fleet Street (2004) 164 White Christmas (2008) 361
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of White Christmas (2009) 414
Fleet Street (2005) 233 Whoopi 192
Sweet Charity 220 Wicked 151
Sweet Smell of Success 83 The Wild Party 16
Taboo 154 The Woman in White 239
A Tale of Two Cities 356 Wonderful Town 158
Tarzan 262 Xanadu 313
13 358 A Year with Frog and Toad 129
Thoroughly Modern Millie 88 Young Frankenstein 317
Thou Shalt Not 72 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 acad-
emy 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 Jen-
kins; 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 Skin-
ner (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, Com-
pany); “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 evoca-
tive 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 Skin-
ner) 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 nonethe-
less 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 au-
dience, 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 intro-
duced 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 thirty-
eight 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 “shy-
ness.” 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 “unsatisfac-
tory”; 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 Play-
wrights 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 re-
working 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 Scor-
sese 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 in-
wardness” 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 replace-
ments, 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 ap-
pearances 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).
There was no original cast album, but a cast recording of a December 2004 revival produced by the Pitts-
burgh 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/Pa-
lumbo 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 sixty-
one 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 prob-
ably 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 un-
leashed “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 en-
tire 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 pre-
sented 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
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, Ev-
erett 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 rea-
son loves the selfish and sluttish Bess. When the demonic Sportin’ Life seduces her with drugs and the prom-
ise 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 Mar-
quita 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 per-
sonally 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 Some-
time Thing” (lyric by DuBose Heyward); “Here Come de Honey Man” (lyric probably by DuBose Hey-
ward); “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

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 Mc-
Cool’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 (Key-
boards), 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 Late-
Night 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 eve-
nings 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 fur-
ther, 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 ro-
mantic 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 vocabu-
lary 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 danc-
ing “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; Projec-
tions: 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 River-
dance 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 Dun-
phy, 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, Ke-
neilwe 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
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 Sing-
ers, 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 engage-
ment, 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 produc-
tions 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 Bal-
let 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 Mo-
ment (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; Light-
ing: 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, Sol-
diers); “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, Nu-
bians); “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 Head-
ley); “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 Dis-
ney’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 op-
erettas 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 Nu-
bian 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 so-
lemnities 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 char-
acter 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
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 cos-
tumes 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 run-
ning show, and it returned a healthy profit.
The $15 million musical was first presented as Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida at Atlanta’s Alli-
ance 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 Crow-
ley 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 car-
toon 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 teenyboppers-
at-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 musi-
cal’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 # 314-524-628-
2) 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 paper-
back 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

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, As-
sistant 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 mu-
sical 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 Stack-
pole, 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) (re-
cording: 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),
Nina Goldman (Restaurant Patron), Dana Stackpole (Restaurant Patron), Scott Taylor (Waiter), Sean Mar-
tin 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 One-
gin, 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 Ve-
rastique (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 Cava-
naugh) (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); “Sim-
ply 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 of-
fered 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 de-
picted 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 Com-
pany’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 mes-
sages 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 ob-
sessed with the beautiful girl and ultimately connects with her on the dance floor when they share a Fred-and-
Ginger 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 musi-
cal,” 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 Stro-
man’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
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 eventu-
ally 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 Weid-
man); 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/Dra-
maturg); 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 Mad-
elaine 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)
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 Mur-
phy, 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 simi-
larly 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 de-
picted 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 com-
pelling 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 musi-
cals. 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 desper-
ately 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” Off-
Broadway 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
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.” LaChiu-
sa’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 esti-
mated 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 di-
rected 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 Col-
lins, Rent, and Parade.
As noted, there have been three other musical versions of March’s poem. A 1975 film released by Mer-
chant/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 En-
tertainment (# 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 bal-
lads), “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 Sound-
stage 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 # 09026-
63695-2).
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.
2000 Season 19
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: Pat-
rick 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), Mi-
chael 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 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
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 bombas-
tic 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 previ-
ously 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 “dra-
matic 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 Disney-
inspired) 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, in-
cluding 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 per-
formances; 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-
2000 Season 21
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

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; Light-
ing: 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 (Wood-
winds, 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, Mere-
dith 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
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 sew-
ers 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, includ-
ing 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 sew-
ers, 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 cho-
reographer 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 lo-
cales 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
2000 Season 23
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 Har-
ris (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), Mar-
tha 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 Mackeck-
nie 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 Il-
les, 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 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, Towns-
people); “Sincere” (Michael-Leon Wooley, John Sloman, Jack Doyle, Blake Hammond); “The Sadder-but-
Wiser Girl” (Craig Bierko, Max Casella); “Pickalittle” (Leslie Hendrix, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Ruth Wil-
liamson, 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” (re-
prise) (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); “Shi-
poopi” (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
(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 al-
bum. 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 de-
lights” 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 perfor-
mances, 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 musi-
cal 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
2000 Season 25
characters, and the tuneful score is one of the best ever written for a musical. Willson provided idio-
syncratic 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 “Seventy-
Six Trombones” and Marian’s “Goodnight, My Someone” actually share the same melody, and thus musi-
cally 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/WAO-
990; 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 musi-
cal 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 Di-
rection 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
Opening Date: May 1, 2000; Closing Date: March 4, 2001
Performances: 352
Play: Claudia Shear
Direction: James Lapine (Gareth Hendee, Associate Director); Producers: The Shubert Organization, Chase Mish-
kin, and Ostar Enterprises ABC, Inc., in association with the New York Theatre Workshop; Choreography:
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 im-
personates 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 perfor-
mances. 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, Isher-
wood 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
2000 Season 27
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 Good-
bye” (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 Fea-
tured 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 “trick-
sters, conjurers, prestidigitators, illusionists or masters of legerdemain” juggled empty liquor bottles with jag-
ged and broken bottoms, calmly allowed a blindfolded audience member to hurl knives at them, and cut flow-
ers 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 De-
cember 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
29
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
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 Broad-
way 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. Law-
rence offered generous helpings of Borscht Belt humor.
Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times said the “polished professionals” here “served up old-
fashioned 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 Di-
rection: 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 Mac-
Gregor), 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)
2000–2001 Season 31

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 Mc-
Conahay); “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 Chip-
pendale 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 per-
formance 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 “ma-
chine-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
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”

Opening Date: November 13, 2000; Closing Date: December 17, 2000
Performances: 19
“Additional Dialogue”: John Weidman
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 informa-
tion 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 An-
derson); “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 “de-
light 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; Cos-
tumes: 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 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)
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, Al-
ice 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 Shar-
man 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 ca-
sual 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 be-
hold 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 tran-
scription” 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 Ulti-
mate 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 is-
sued 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 origi-
nal 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 perfor-
mances 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
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 Mc-
Carter 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 An-
geles); “Kate” (A Beauty Salon, New York City); “Paul” (A Health Club, Los Angeles); “Agnus” (Interna-
tional 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. Al-
bertine); “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 mu-
sic 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 ad-
ditional 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 The-
atre 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, includ-
ing 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
2000–2001 Season 37
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
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 Pe-
terson, 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 Picker-
ing, 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; Nicho-
las 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-to-
Be); 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 Mul-
laney, 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 Cano-
nico, Johnny Cenicola, Amelia Harris, Nicholas Jonas, Lily Havala Wen
The action takes place in London in 1880.
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, Every-
one” (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 Cas-
sidy, 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 mu-
sical version of Charles Dickens’s classic novella A Christmas Carol that played for ten consecutive Christ-
mas 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, shal-
low, 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 “imperi-
ous 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 per-
formances (November 18, 1997; ninety-six performances); Roger Daltry (November 27, 1998; sixty-nine per-
formances); 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

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); Pro-
ducers: 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 (Ger-
trude 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 Rich-
ards (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
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 Cham-
berlain, 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
McFuzz” (Janine LaManna); “Amayzing Mayzie” (Michele Pawk, Janine LaManna, Bird Girls); “Amayz-
ing 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 Cham-
berlin); “Mayzie in Palm Beach” (Michele Pawk, David Shiner, Kevin Chamberlin); “Alone in the Uni-
verse” (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, Ja-
nine 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” (per-
formed 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 in-
formation 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 “Ar-
tificial 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 pub-
lic 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 re-
portage. 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 com-
mit to a long run, and eventually her role went to Fool-Mooner David Shiner. For the musical’s second lead-
ing role, Kevin Chamberlin (who had made an impression in Dirty Blonde) was cast as Horton the Elephant.
2000–2001 Season 41
In the meantime, discord erupted among the creative team. Robin Pogrebin in the New York Times re-
ported that the show had been conceived by the musical’s lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Fla-
herty 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 crit-
ics 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 dis-
played 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.”
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 “un-
imaginative,” 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 The-
atre 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 As-
sociate); 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 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, Mar-
guerite MacIntyre, Ensemble); “Forgiveness” (Jayne Paterson, Lisa Musser, Marla Schaffel); “The Grave-
yard” (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”
2000–2001 Season 43
(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 Pro-
posal” (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 produc-
tion 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 per-
formances, 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 Ed-
ward 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 “scene-
by-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 pro-
duction (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 fifty-
nine 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 perfor-
mances 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
“theatrical deadwood,” and he even found fault with the basic story. He noted that the novel was “faintly ab-
surd 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 Gor-
don 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 fol-
lowed 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. Brockle-
hurst, 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 Govern-
ess” (Rochester, Jane); “Adele’s Opera” (Adele); “As Good as You” (Rochester); “The Fire” (Jane, Roches-
ter); “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. Fair-
fax); “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” (Roch-
ester); “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 Enter-
tainment, Executive Producer) (Robyn Goodman and Tokyo Broadcasting System/Kumiko Yoshii, Asso-
ciate 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)
2000–2001 Season 45

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” (Com-
pany); “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 trib-
ute 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 less-
than-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).
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
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); Pro-
ducer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director;
Julia C. Levy, Executive Director, External Affairs) (Frank P. Scardino, Executive Producer); Choreogra-
phy: 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
2000–2001 Season 47
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 Mc-
Cune (Young Theodore), Stephen Campanella (Kevin), Jessica Leigh Brown (“Sally”); Ladies and Gentle-
men 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 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” (Ju-
dith 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-You-
Love-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 thirtieth-
anniversary revival of the legendary Stephen Sondheim musical Follies wasn’t a complete shambles. Other-
wise, 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 de-
spair 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, re-
criminations, 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 under-
goes 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.”
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 con-
sists 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 in-
trospective 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 The-
atre, they haunted the stage, each one impossibly tall and regal and incredibly beautiful, and all wearing fabu-
lous 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 man-
aged 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-
2000–2001 Season 49
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 of-
fered 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 respec-
tive 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 per-
formances. 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 De-
sign (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 two-
CD 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
published Sondheim’s Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Prin-
ciples, 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-be-
demolished 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 Mu-
sical (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
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); Cho-
reography: Jeff Calhoun (Patti D’Beck, Associate Choreographer); Scenery: Riccardo Hernandez; Video:
Batwin + Robin Productions, Inc.; Costumes: David C. Woolard; Lighting: Donald Holder; Musical Direc-
tion: 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 Robin-
son, Linda Romoff; Dancers: Caitlin Carter, Roy Harcourt, Joan Hess, Emily Hsu, Shane Kirkpatrick, Greg
Reuter, Josh Rhodes
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); “Bet-
ter 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
2000–2001 Season 51
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 de-
mented 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, Blumen-
krantz 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 mo-
ment 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 answer-
ing 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 answer-
ing 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 Sleep-
ing). “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 Bon-
jour 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
point of view” upon the production, and even the “dutiful” ensemble never showed evidence of “that intoxicat-
ing 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, “long-
distance 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 charm-
less 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 Perfor-
mance 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 Relation-
ship,” “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 # 302-062-
115-2) 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; Hol-
liday, 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 Ac-
tress in a Musical (Faith Prince)
2000–2001 Season 53
BLAST
“An Explosive Musical Celebration”
Theatre: Broadway Theatre

Performances: 176
Direction: James Mason; Producers: Cook Group Incorporated and Star of Indiana (Donnie Vandoren, As-
sociate 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, Percus-
sion), Jodina Rosario Carey (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Robert Carmical, Alan “Otto” Compton (Percus-
sion, 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 Trum-
pet, 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, Percus-
sion, 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 (Vi-
sual 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 (Percus-
sion, Voice), Jonathan L. Schwartz (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Greg Seale (Percussion, Voice), Andy
Smart (Trumpet, Didgerydoo, Voice), Radiah Y. Stewart (Visual Ensemble, Voice), Bryan Anthony Sut-
ton (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)
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
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 en-
tertainment 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 glow-
ingly 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 show-
manship.”
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 sum-
mer 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, Asso-
ciate Choreographer); Producers: Rocco Landesman, SFX Theatrical Group, The Frankel-Baruch-Viertel-
Routh Group, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Rick Steiner, Robert F. X. Sillerman, and Mel Brooks in asso-
ciation with James D. Stern/Douglas Meyer by special arrangement with StudioCanal (Frederic H. and
2000–2001 Season 55
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 Gun-
hus (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
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 (Na-
than 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); “Prison-
ers 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 unstop-
pable 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”),
and the 1982 Off-Broadway revue Corkscrews spoofed Sondheim with Psychotic Overtures. The 1979 Brit-
ish 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 Hammerstein-
styled 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 glori-
fied 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 obvi-
ous, 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 limp-
wristed 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 cabi-
nets. 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
2000–2001 Season 57
York Daily News); “A rip-roaring, gut-busting, rib-tickling, knee-slapping, aisle-rolling (insert your own com-
pound 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 “light-
somely” 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 televi-
sion’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 Univer-
sal (# 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 re-
prised 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 perfor-
mance), 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 perfor-
mances), 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,
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 one-
billion 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 Good-
man 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 in-
cludes 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 Per-
formance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Roger Bart); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musi-
cal (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
2000–2001 Season 59
(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 Produc-
tions; 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 Hack-
ler (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 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-the-
road,” 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
“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 boy-
hood adventures.” And while Schlitz’s score had “many charming highlights and infectious melodies,” it re-
quired “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. Peters-
burg, 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 mem-
bers 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 Ad-
ventures 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 Saw-
yer. 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 adap-
tation 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”

Performances: 96
Book: Hershey Felder
Lyrics: Mostly by Ira 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)
2000–2001 Season 61
Musical Numbers
Note: The program didn’t list musical numbers; the following alphabetical list of music heard in the produc-
tion 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 Hey-
ward 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 Gersh-
win 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 over-
done, 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 pat-
ter.” 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 old-
fashioned 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 sea-
son, 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 Man-
agement 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 Fitzpat-
rick (Mac, Thug, Doctor), Catherine Wreford (Phyllis), Megan Sikora (Lorraine), Tamlyn Brooke Shuster-
man (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),
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, Mi-
chael 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 Ta-
maki, Jonathan Taylor, Jerry Tellier, Elisa Van Duyne, Erika Vaughn, Mike Warshaw, Merrill West, Shonn
Wiley, Catherine Wreford
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 adapta-
tion 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 Dig-
gers 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 thirty-
six 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 open-
ing 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 sincer-
ity,” 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 omit-
ted “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 Re-
cords (CD # 92953-2).
Awards
Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (42nd Street); Best Performance by a Leading Ac-
tress in a Musical (Christine Ebersole); Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Kate Lever-
ing); 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!”

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: Pup-
pets 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:
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 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); “Step-
sisters’ 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 Driv-
ing 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 Montal-
ban, 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 in-
cluded Julie Andrews (Cinderella), Jon Cypher (Prince), Edith (Edie) Adams (Fairy Godmother), Howard Lind-
say (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 pro-
duction 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 Co-
lumbia 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
2000–2001 Season 65
(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 an-
other 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 perfor-
mances. 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 Op-
era 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 (Step-
mother), 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 interpola-
tions 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
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 Ban-
falvi, 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, Den-
ton Tarver, Ron J. Todorowski, Thom Christopher Warren, Brooke Wendle
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 Kid-
ding” (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 twenty-
month 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 predict-
able” 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
2000–2001 Season 67
Direction: Eric Schaeffer; Producer: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Ronnie Gunderson,
Producing Director); Choreography: Jodi Moccia; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Light-
ing: 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 (Mir-
iam 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 action takes place in Hamburg, Germany, during 1938.
Musical Numbers
Act One: Prologue (Company); “Nothing to Do but Dance” (Marsh Hanson, Company); “Swing Baby” (Jer-
emy 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” (Lau-
ren 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 Janu-
ary 26. Because of problems in raising the show’s $8 million capitalization, the producers announced the mu-
sical’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 pro-
duced 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 musi-
cal 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,
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 “march-
ing 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 “adjust-
ments” 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 Theatre-
Dreams, Inc., and Lauren Mitchell; Choreography: John Carrafa; Scenery and Environmental Design:
Scott Pask; Costumes: Gregory Gale and Jonathan Bixby; Lighting: Brian MacDevitt; Musical Direc-
tion: 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. Mc-
Queen), 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 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)
69
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 av-
erage 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 over-
load 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 tempo-
rarily” 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 “wink-
ing 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)
2001–2002 Season 71
MAMMA MIA!
Theatre: Winter Garden Theatre (during run, the musical transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre)
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 associa-
tion with Universal; Choreography: Anthony Van Laast; Scenery and Costumes: Mark Thompson; Light-
ing: 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 Wash-
ington (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, Mar-
sha Waterbury
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 Mad-
digan, 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 play-
ing 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 memo-
rable 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 discov-
ering 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
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 # 543-
115-2). 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 Musi-
cal (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”

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, Musi-
cal 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 (Mon-
signor, 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 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
2001–2002 Season 73
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 Thomp-
son, 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 dra-
mas (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 Lever-
ing 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 Lever-
ing, Brantley said “forget it,” but Lahr indicated their “erotic charge” was “real enough” and Zoglin reported
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 Isher-
wood 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 laugh-
ter, 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 beauti-
ful 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 Mu-
sic (unnumbered edition CD), and includes the deleted “I Like Love More” (sung by Bierko and Lever-
ing). 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/Some-
thing’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, cos-
tumes, 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 pre-
Broadway 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
2001–2002 Season 75
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; Broad-
way, 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”

Opening Date: October 28, 2001; Closing Date: December 30, 2001
Performances: 73
Book and Lyrics: Alan Ayckbourn
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 Direc-
tion: 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 Wil-
son (Cyrus Budge III aka Junior); Other Personages: Tom Ford, Molly Renfroe, Court Whisman
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
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 tongue-
in-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 enter-
tainer 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 “emer-
gency entertainment” titled By Jeeves. Emergency there is, because Bertie’s banjo somehow mysteriously dis-
appears (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 be-
hind 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 oc-
casionally 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 fe-
licity,” 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 Val-
mouth 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
2001–2002 Season 77
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 eve-
ning “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.

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 perfor-
mance, 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
Opening Date: January 14, 2002; Closing Date: February 11, 2002
Performances: 9
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 un-
produced 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 Ber-
lin); “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
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 one-
woman shows that opened back-to-back over a five-week period during mid-season (the others were Bea Ar-
thur 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 be-
ing 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 Pur-
chase, 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

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)
Scenery: Ray Klausen (Scenic Consultant); Producers: Daryl Roth, M. Beverly Bartner, and USA Ostar The-
atricals; 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 Lans-
bury; 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” (Knick-
erbocker 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
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

Opening Date: February 21, 2002; Closing Date: May 26, 2002
Performances: 69
Material: “Constructed by” John Lahr and “reconstructed by” Elaine Stritch
Direction: George C. Wolfe; Producers: John Schreiber, Creative Battery, Margo Lion, and Robert Cole (Execu-
tive 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, Associ-
ate Producers); Scenery: Riccardo Hernandez; Costumes: Paul Tazewell; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy
Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Rob Bowman
Cast: Elaine Stritch
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
2001–2002 Season 81
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 Cow-
ard); “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
Performances: 21
Book: Vernel Bagneris
Direction: Vernel Bagneris; Producers: Williamstown Theatre Festival (Michael Ritchie, Producer) in asso-
ciation 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 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, Ro-
salind 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 Wil-
liams) (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 Wil-
liams, 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 trum-
peter 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 vaude-
ville-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 rou-
tines, modest production values, and a small cast.
2001–2002 Season 83
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 tem-
porarily 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

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-
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
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” (re-
prise) (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 un-
known 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 un-
derworld 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 Ham-
lisch’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.” Dia-
logue 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 gos-
sip 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.”
2001–2002 Season 85
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, includ-
ing 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 blar-
ing, 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-than-
enthusiastic 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 “Ru-
mor,” “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!
Opening Date: March 21, 2002; Closing Date: February 23, 2003
Performances: 388
Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
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; Light-
ing: David Hersey; Musical Direction: Kevin Stites
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), Aa-
sif 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 Loya-
cano (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 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, Jo-
sefina 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 Stro-
man (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 Si-
mon (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 stal-
lion 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 attrac-
tive, 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 secondary-
character 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
2001–2002 Season 87
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 famil-
iar 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 mys-
terious 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 connec-
tion” 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 re-
turn 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 au-
ral 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 re-
lease 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
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 produc-
tion 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, Fran-
chot 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 play-
ers 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

Performances: 903
Book: Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan
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
2001–2002 Season 89
Forces, John York Noble, and Whoopi Goldberg (Mike Isaacson, Kristin Caskey, and Clear Channel En-
tertainment, 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
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) (Sut-
ton 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, mu-
sic 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) (Sut-
ton Foster, Anne L. Nathan, Typists); “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life” and “I’m Falling in Love with Some-
one” (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 Fos-
ter, 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 would-
be 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
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 oth-
ers 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 “aggres-
sively eager” and “thoroughly modern production by the creatively bankrupt standards of the current Broad-
way 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 “pre-
cisely 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 con-
voluted” 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
Performances: 279
Book: James Lapine
2001–2002 Season 91

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 Kim-
ball (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 (Cin-
derella’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 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 Edel-
man, 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); “La-
ment” (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 re-
turned 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
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 gloat-
ing 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 charac-
ters, 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 other-
wise 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 espe-
cially 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 draw-
back, 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 Com-
munications 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 collec-
tion 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 # 6796-
2-RC), and a later release by Sony/BMG Music Entertainment/Masterworks Broadway (# 82876-68636-2) in-
cludes 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 perfor-
mances and included the new song “Our Little World” (for the witch and Rapunzel). The cast members in-
2001–2002 Season 93
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 (Cinder-
ella’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 Lead-
ing 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 pro-
duction 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, Min-
nie), 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 Laut-
erbach, Zakiya Young; Children’s Choir: Laura Barnes, Brittany Billings, Christy Boettcher, Amela Bruck-
ner, 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
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 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 mu-
sical’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 Com-
ics.” 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 men-
tioned 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
2001–2002 Season 95
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 Za-
briskie; 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 Ra-
vine (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 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” (Timo-
thy 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 Mc-
Nulty, 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 Han-
cock); “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 com-
poser 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, body-
building 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 hu-
mor.” But the musical was sometimes “a little flabby in its storytelling,” its laughs were “a little weak,”
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 cos-
tume. 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).
Lyrics: Fred Ebb
Music: John Kander
Based on the 1956 play Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Durrenmatt, which was produced on Broad-
way 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); Scen-
ery: 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 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 End-
ing” (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, En-
tourage, Brian Herriott, Tina Cannon, Family); “Look at Her” (Townspeople); “All You Need to Know”
(Chita Rivera, Entourage, Townspeople); “A Masque” (Mark Jacoby, Townspeople); “Eunuchs’ Testi-
mony” (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)
2001–2002 Season 97
John Kander and Fred Ebb’s The Visit was as dark a musical as ever was produced, and was based on Fried-
rich 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 per-
haps 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 sum-
mer 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 Lans-
bury 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 The-
atre’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

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 pro-
duced 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
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); Choreogra-
phy: 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
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 Mat-
thew Smith, Todd Michel Smith, Shayna Steele, Joel Vig
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” (Mat-
thew 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 Beauti-
ful” (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); “Hair-
spray” (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 Fier-
stein, 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 re-
ality 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 Tus-
sel (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, of-
ficially 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
2002–2003 Season 101
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 so-
cial 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 hid-
den 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 prob-
lems 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 May-
belle 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 congratu-
lated 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; oth-
ers 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 Mee-
han); 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
Design (David Rockwell); Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long); Best Lighting Design (Kenneth Pos-
ner); 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
Based on William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (written between 1589 and 1594), which was an adap-
tation 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 Direc-
tion: 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 (Adri-
ana), Erin Dilly (Luciana), Jackee Harry (Madam), Jeffrey Broadhurst (Angelo); Courtesans: Sara Gettelfin-
ger, Deidre Goodwin, Milena Govich, Teri Hansen, Elizabeth Mills
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” (Jona-
than 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 mu-
sical 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 ver-
sions of the originals and didn’t make much of an impression with the critics or the public.
2002–2003 Season 103
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 An-
tipholus 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 confu-
sion 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 sexual-
identity 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 “listless-
ness,” 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 produc-
tion 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 Eve-
ning”), 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 in-
cludes 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 televi-
sion on December 28, 1986.
On April 15, 1963, an Off-Broadway revival at Theatre Four played for five hundred performances, and in-
cluded 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 in-
cluded on the recording. The London production was recorded by Decca Records (LP # SLK/LK-4564), later reis-
sued 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).
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 musi-
cal 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 pro-
claimed 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

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
Based on the 1957 novel The Flower Drum Song by C. Y. Lee (a portion of the book had originally been pub-
lished 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, Immi-
grants, 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 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 Mira-
cles” (reprise) (Lea Salonga, Company)
2002–2003 Season 105
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 work-
able 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 Organiza-
tion 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 tal-
ent”), 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 personal-
ity to call her own.”
In the meantime, Mei-Li’s charming “A Hundred Million Miracles” (which for all purposes was the musi-
cal’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 differ-
ing 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 de-
scribed 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 suf-
fered from an “identity crisis.” In some oh, please moments, Richard Zoglin in Time proclaimed that the
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 pre-
Broadway tryout, and during the current revival’s Fall 2001 tryout in Los Angeles “The Next Time It Hap-
pens” (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 pub-
lished 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 Clas-
sical/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 ex-
cept 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 in-
cluded 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 Chinese-
styled 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 seventeen-
month tour in 1960 and 1961, and for the revival he sang “My Best Love,” which had originally been per-
formed by Keye Luke (in the role of Wang Chi Yang) before the song was cut during the tryout of the original
Broadway production.
2002–2003 Season 107
Awards
Tony Award Nominations: Best Book (David Henry Hwang); Best Costume Design (Gregg Barnes); Best Cho-
reography (Robert Longbottom)
AMOUR
Theatre: Music Box Theatre
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 Stein-
meyer; 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 Fitzger-
ald (Bertrand, Newsvendor, Advocate), Lewis Cleale (Charles, Prosecutor), Sarah Litzsinger (Madeleine),
Norm Lewis (Painter), John Cunningham (Policeman, Doctor, President of the Tribunal), Bill Nolte (Po-
liceman, Boss)
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, Mal-
colm Gets); “The Street Vendors’ Waltz” (Melissa Errico, Malcolm Gets, Lewis Cleale, John Cunning-
ham, 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 Litz-
singer, Nora Mae Lyng); “Painter’s Song” (Norm Lewis); “Isabelle on Her Balcony” (Melissa Errico, Mal-
colm 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); “Duso-
leil 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 Mi-
chel Legrand told the strange tale of the dull, trod-upon bureaucrat Dusoleil (Malcolm Gets) who suddenly
discovers his miraculous ability to walk through walls.
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 met-
ronomic 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 Ish-
erwood 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 Cauwe-
laert, 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)
2002–2003 Season 109
JACKIE MASON: PRUNE DANISH

Theatre: Royale Theatre
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 Harass-
ment”; “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)
MOVIN’ OUT
“A New Musical”

Performances: 1,303
Lyrics and Music: Billy Joel
Conception, Direction, and Choreography: Twyla Tharp (Scott Wise, Assistant Director and Assistant Chore-
ographer); 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 Vo-
cals); 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 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” (Eliza-
beth 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); “Rev-
erie” (“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, Ben-
jamin 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, Eliza-
beth Parkinson, Ensemble); “Captain Jack” (John Selya, Ensemble); “Innocent Man” (John Selya, Ensemble);
“Pressure” (Ashley Tuttle, John Selya, Ensemble); “Goodnight Saigon” (John Selya, Ashley Tuttle, Ben-
jamin 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, Eliza-
beth 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
2002–2003 Season 111
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 seam-
less 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 bal-
let.” 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 try-
out 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 Mu-
sical (John Selya); Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Elizabeth Parkinson); Best Per-
formance 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)

The ninth of ten productions of the musical version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at The The-
atre 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.”
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)
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” (Fol-
lies, 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 perfor-
mances 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; Light-
ing: 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
2002–2003 Season 113
(Jose), Michelle Rios (Maria), Lorin Latarro (Fermina, Gypsy Dancer), Natascia Diaz (Antonia), Mark Ja-
coby (Padre), Olga Merediz (Housekeeper), Jamie Torcellini (Barber), John Herrera (Guard), Jimmy Smagula
(Guard), Allyson Tucker (Prisoner), Robin Polseno (Onstage Guitarist)
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, Na-
tascia 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, Greg-
ory 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, Mu-
leteers); “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 Mas-
trantonio). 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. Oth-
erwise, “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 shimmer-
ing “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 Good-
speed 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 Novem-
ber 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
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 produc-
tion, 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 (# 012-159-
387-2) 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 stair-
case 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 Isher-
wood 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 bouf-
fant 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 “ro-
mantic 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)
2002–2003 Season 115
LA BOHEME
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), Wil-
liam 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 Cho-
rus: 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 Brancove-
anu, 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 fan-
ciculla!” (“Oh, beautiful girl”) (Rodolfo, Mimi)
Act Two: “E via i pensier!” (“Let’s have some fun!”) (Musetta, Marcello, Alcindoro, Mimi, Rodolfo, Schau-
nard, 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); “Mar-
cello, finalmente!” (“Marcello, we need to talk!”) (Rodolfo, Marcello, Mimi); “Addio! Che! Vai?” (“Good-
bye . . .”) (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 . . .”)
(Colline); “Sono andati?” (“Are they gone?”) (Mimi, Rodolfo); “Oh! Dio! Mimi!” (“Oh God! Mimi!”) (Ro-
dolfo, 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 Mu-
setta. 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 pres-
ent 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 gar-
ret, 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 Entertain-
ment, 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).
2002–2003 Season 117
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 mish-
mash,” 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 De-
my’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 Cos-
tume 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”

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: Pat-
rick 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 Har-
ris, Robin Irwin, Terace Jones, Larry Keigwin, Brendan King, Heather McFadden, Raymond McLeod, Erin
Leigh Peck, Andy Pellick, Joye Ross, Solange Sandy, Jennifer Savelli, Jonathan Sharp, Asa Somers, Doug
Storm, Jenny Lynn-Suckling, Jaston Wooten
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 Mc-
Cartney); “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 Auber-
jonois, 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” (Mi-
chael 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 humor-
ous location of the musical, in Carpathia’s Lower Belabartokovich (at least it wasn’t set in Samandbellabar-
tokovich 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 “indescrib-
able 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-
2002–2003 Season 119
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 re-
mained 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 wasp-
ish 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 intro-
duced “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 hor-
monal 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
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 All-
good (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 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.
Scenes and Musical Numbers

Note: The program didn’t list individual scenes and musical numbers; the following is taken from the pub-
lished 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 eter-
nal 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 pro-
duced 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 ele-
ment 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 any-
thing 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 Fic-
tion,” which “tells us nothing about either.”
2002–2003 Season 121
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

Performances: 15
Book: Hugh Wheeler
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, Associ-
ate 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 Arm-
feldt), 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 (Count-
ess 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 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, Lau-
ren 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
town is Desiree’s old flame, lawyer Fredrik Egerman (Jeremy Irons), who has no idea he’s the father of De-
siree’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 Ku-
disch), 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 Carl-
Magnus 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 ap-
proach 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 some-
what 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 per-
formances 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 Ap-
plause 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,
2002–2003 Season 123
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 Com-
ments, 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 Glamor-
ous 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 sec-
ond 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 ver-
sions 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 perme-
ated 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”

Opening Date: March 27, 2003; Closing Date: May 18, 2003
Performances: 60
Book: Aaron Latham and Phillip Oesterman
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
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), Bar-
rett 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 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 Bur-
mester, 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 me-
chanical 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 “extrava-
gantly” bad, Dance of the Vampires was still “the season’s worst musical.” The “mechanical air of a show” had
2002–2003 Season 125
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 Me-
linda 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,” Ca-
vanaugh 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 An-
heuser-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 promi-
nently was Jason Robert Brown, who had written the Tony Award–winning score for Parade and here con-
tributed 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 Play-
house’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 ar-
ticle “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 DiGre-
gorio, 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
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
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 Broad-
way 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 Com-
petent” 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 Ken-
neth 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”

Performances: 285
2002–2003 Season 127
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 per-
formances), 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 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 Ban-
deras); “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. Sebas-
tian” (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 mar-
ried friends and girlfriends in a chilly Manhattan cityscape of steel, chrome, and Plexiglas, and film direc-
tor 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 Master-
son), 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 charac-
ters 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,
Young Guido will forever remain “nine,” but in the here and now, Guido is “forty” and comes to the realiza-
tion 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 eve-
ning 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-the-
throat 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 staccato-
like 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 Re-
cords # 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 pro-
duction 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
2002–2003 Season 129
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 de-
scribed as the show’s chandelier moment) and Isherwood noted that Krakowski was at the “top of the atten-
tion-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 trans-
lated “styles from Baroque opera to Kyrie eleisons into a flavorful pop idiom.” Lahr found the songs “viva-
cious,” 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 theatri-
cal 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

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 Direc-
tion: 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 Linn-
Baker (Toad)
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” (Or-
chestra); “Alone” (Jay Goede); “The Letter” (reprise) (Frank Vlastnik); “Cookies” (Jay Goede, Mark Linn-
Baker, Danielle Ferland, Jennifer Gambatese, Frank Vlastnik)
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 Vlast-
nik); “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)
2002–2003 Season 131
GYPSY
Theatre: Shubert Theatre
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 choreogra-
phy 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 Jen-
sen (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, Benja-
min 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 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 Pe-
ters, 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 re-
ally 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.
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 cute-
little-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 Isher-
wood 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 perfor-
mances. 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 None-
such 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 Entertain-
ment 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).
2002–2003 Season 133
The script was published in hardback by Random House in 1960 and in paperback by Theatre Commu-
nications 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 Com-
ments, 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 Per-
formance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Tammy Blanchard)
THE LOOK OF LOVE

“The Songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David”

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 Rich-
ard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director of External Affairs) (James David, Associate
Producer); Choreography: Ann Reinking; Scenery: Derek McLane; Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz; Light-
ing: Howell Binkley; Musical Direction: David Loud
Cast: Farah Alvin (Pit Singer), Liz Callaway, Kevin Ceballo, Nikki Renee Daniels (Pit Singer), Jonathan Do-
kuchitz, Eugene Fleming, Capathia Jenkins, Janine LaManna, Shannon Lewis, Rachelle Rak, Desmond
Richardson, Allyson Turner, Eric Jordan Young
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, Ca-
pathia 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 Flem-
ing, 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)
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 Gersh-
wins’ 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 as-
sured 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 unin-
spired” 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 Musi-
cal 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

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 lim-
ited 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 Lib-
erty “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, Massachu-
setts, 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; Mi-
chael 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 (Bar-
tender, Andy), Michael Allosso (Father DiBlasio), Barbara Andres (Mrs. Pilletti), Kate Middleton (Mary
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 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 cen-
tered 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,
2002–2003 Season 137
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), Le-
nora 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 Char-
lie), 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 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 Synco-
paters); “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 Berk-
man) (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 Synco-
paters); “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 prepro-
duction 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 in-
cludes 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
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 old-
time 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 Mi-
randa–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!,” “Beau-
tiful 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 dur-
ing 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 Pala-
zzo,” “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,” “Novem-
bersang,” “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
2002–2003 Season 139
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 re-
prise 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 Ed-
ward 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 pro-
duction; 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.”
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; Chore-
ography: 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 perfor-
mances), 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 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); “Tal-
ent” (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 Far-
rell, 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.
2002–2003 Season 141
The production was never commercially recorded, but pirated recordings have made the rounds of collec-
tors, 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 Tovar-
ich (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

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); Pro-
ducers: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Direc-
tor; 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 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 Jen-
kins); “Muddy Water” (Michael McElroy, Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins); “The Crossing” (aka “Cross-
ing Over”) (Slaves); “River in the Rain” (Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins, Michael McElroy); “When the
143
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 Barn-
hardt, Rod Keller, Company); “Worlds Apart” (Michael McElroy, Tyrone Giordano, Daniel Jenkins);
“Arkansas” (Ryan Schlecht, Scott Barnhardt); “How Blest We Are” (Gwen Stewart, Christina Ellison Du-
nams, 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 Elli-
son 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 Won-
derful Town and Fiddler on the Roof along with the New York City Opera’s limited-engagement presenta-
tion 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 ac-
tor (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 Ka-
nouse): 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 Isher-
wood 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 vi-
sion, 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.
2003–2004 Season 145
The original production season opened on April 25, 1985, at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for 1,005 perfor-
mances, 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 dur-
ing 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 Ad-
ventures 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
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); Choreogra-
phy: 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, Oth-
ers), 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); “Ev-
eryone’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”
(Stephanie D’Abruzzo, John Tartaglia); “I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today” (Jordan Gelber); “Spe-
cial” (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, Stepha-
nie 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 Tar-
taglia, 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 chil-
dren 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 perfor-
mances, 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 hav-
ing “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”).
2003–2004 Season 147
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 Per-
formance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Stephanie D’Abruzzo); Best Direction of a Musical (Jason Moore)
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

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 Fred-
eric 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 (Pro-
logue Voice); Audrey II Manipulation: Martin P. Robinson, Anthony Asbury, Bill Remington, Matt Vogel
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 Reno-
vation” (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
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 Sey-
mour 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 Broad-
way 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 eccentric-
ity,” 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 Com-
pany and Martin P. Robinson, the creature was “spectacularly realized” (per Isherwood) and set “a new stan-
dard 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
2003–2004 Season 149
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 Morn-
ing” 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

Performances: 364
Book: Martin Sherman; original book by Nick Enright
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: Pat-
rick 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 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 An-
derson) (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 Car-
ole 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)
Act Two: “Bi-Coastal” (lyric and music by Peter Allen, David Foster, and Tom Keane) (Hugh Jackman, Col-
leen 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, Jar-
rod 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-George-
embarrassment 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 much-
publicized 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 seventy-
two 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 sober-
ing 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 Lead-
ing Actor in a Musical.
2003–2004 Season 151
Jackman received raves, but the show itself was a shambles, which Ben Brantley in the Times found “ba-
thetic” and “indisputably bogus,” a “soggy cardboard world of a show” that “seems never to have met a show-
biz 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 short-
hand, 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 per-
formances 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 Broad-
way 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 Musi-
cal (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”

Opening Date: October 30, 2003; Closing Date: As of this writing, the production is still running on Broad-
way.
Performances: As of January 25, 2017, the musical has played 5,505 performances.
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 Mc-
Fadden, Jan Neuberger, Walter Winston O’Neil, Andrew Palermo, Andy Pellick, Michael Seelbach, Lorna
Ventura, Derrick Williams
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); “Popu-
lar” (Kristin Chenoweth); “I’m Not That Girl” (Idina Menzel); “The Wizard and I” (reprise) (Idina Men-
zel); “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, Chris-
topher Fitzgerald); “Wonderful” (Joel Grey, Idina Menzel); “I’m Not That Girl” (reprise) (Kristin Che-
noweth); “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 writ-
ing, 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 Kris-
tin 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 interest-
ing 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
2003–2004 Season 153
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 Mor-
rible, Carole Shelley was in “high gargoyle gear,” and Norbert Leo Butz as the prince provided “quirky bril-
liance.” 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 “over-
whelmed” 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 equa-
tion” 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 ova-
tion, 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 Den-
nis 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 anniver-
sary 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 informa-
tion 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 writ-
ing 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
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 Ci-
lento); Best Orchestrations (William David Brohn)
TABOO
“A New Musical”

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 (Nic-
ola), 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 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 Atten-
tion 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)
2003–2004 Season 155
Act Two: “Everything Taboo” (lyric and music by George O’Dowd and Kevan Frost) (George O’Dowd, Ensem-
ble); “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 re-
views. 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 set-
ting 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 it-
self. 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 con-
cert 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 better-
known 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 compel-
ling 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 “back-
stage” 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
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 Janu-
ary 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 perfor-
mance, 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” at-
tempted 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 rewrit-
ten” 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 Washing-
ton 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 none-
theless 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 Ste-
vens), “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)

2003–2004 Season 157
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 hint-
ing 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.
LAUGHING ROOM ONLY

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; Scen-
ery: 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
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 Creigh-
ton, 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
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
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 Lo-
nigan), 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 Edel-
man (Robert Baker), Randy Danson (Mrs. Wade), Mark Price (Kid), Michael McGrath (Chick Clark); Ca-
dets: 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 action takes place during 1935 in New York City.
Musical Numbers
Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Christopher Street” (Ken Barnett, Tourists, Villagers); “Ohio” (Donna Mur-
phy, 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 Ben-
son, 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, Jen-
nifer Westfeldt, Villagers); Finale (Company)
Wonderful Town was based on My Sister Eileen, a series of short stories by Ruth McKenney that had origi-
nally 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 per-
formances (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
2003–2004 Season 159
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 ver-
sions 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 “produc-
tion 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 per-
formance.” 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 produc-
tion, 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 col-
lections 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 Re-
cords (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 Re-
cords 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
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 # ENBO-
CD-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 Lead-
ing 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”

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. Morgan-
thal), 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 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-
2003–2004 Season 161
win) (Noah Racey); “I Won’t Dance” (1935 film version of Roberta; lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II, Doro-
thy 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 Rog-
ers’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 prob-
ably 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 “team-
work” 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.”
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 Cho-
reography (Jerry Mitchell)
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

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 En-
tertainment, 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 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
2003–2004 Season 163
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 di-
rector 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 re-
ported 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 coun-
tries. The musical ended on an especially poignant note when one realized that by fleeing Russia and its po-
groms 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 per-
formances, 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
scripts included in the Library of America’s 2014 hardback collection American Musicals. A fascinating ac-
count 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 record-
ings 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”

Book: Hugh Wheeler
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 Billing-
ton; Choral Direction: Gary Thor Wedow; Musical Direction: George Manahan
Cast: Keith Phares (Anthony Hope), Mark Delavan (Sweeney Todd), Timothy Nolen (Sweeney Todd, alter-
nate), 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 (To-
bias Ragg), Andrew Drost (Pirelli), William Ledbetter (Jonas Fogg); Ensemble: The New York City Opera
Company Chorus and Dancers
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
2003–2004 Season 165
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); “Jo-
hanna” (“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 perfor-
mances 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 char-
acters, 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 two-
CD 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,
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 (# ID1529EM-
DVD). 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 Bur-
ton 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 tonso-
rial 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 (Varese-
Sarabande 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!

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)
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-
2003–2004 Season 167
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 Hap-
pened 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 Har-
nick, 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 Brook-
lyn, 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 Ish-
erwood 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 autobiographi-
cal 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
Performances: 101
Book: John Weidman
Direction: Joe Mantello; Producer: Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen
Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director of External Affairs); Choreography: Jona-
than Butterell; Scenery: Robert Brill; Costumes: Susan Hilferty; Lighting: Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisen-
hauer; 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
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 Her-
old), 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 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, Ma-
rio 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); “Ev-
erybody’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 (tell-
ingly, 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 mis-
interpretation is perhaps somewhat understandable, but off the mark. Sondheim and book writer John Weid-
man 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 Sousa-
like 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 pro-
posed 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” be-
cause “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 “piece-
meal,” 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 ambi-
tions. Ben Brantley in the Times said that with “eloquence” and “intensity,” director Joe Mantello made a
2003–2004 Season 169
“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 cen-
tury 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 twenty-
five 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
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 associa-
tion 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 Tori-
goe; 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, Police-
man, Movie Akaash, Wedding Qawali Singer), Ayesha Dharker (Rani), Jolly Abraham (Shaheen), Sarah
Ripard (Kitty DaSouza), Darryl Semira (Movie Sweetie), Anjali Bhimani (Movie Shanti), Ian Jutsun (Wed-
ding Qawali Singer); Slum Dwellers, Beauty Pageant Contestants, TV and Film Crew, Feminist Demon-
strators, 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 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, Ensem-
ble); “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 char-
acters, 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 ap-
peared 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 Bol-
lywood 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.”
2003–2004 Season 171
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 fla-
vor.” 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”

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 De-
Mann, 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 Hernan-
dez; 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 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
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, Ra-
mona 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 Play-
ten, 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, Ca-
pathia 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 Ni-
cole Chapman, Marva Hicks, Ramona Keller); “Rose Recovers” (Veanne Cox, Tonya Pinkins, Chuck Coo-
per); “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 Play-
ten, 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 musi-
cal’s title. The boy has the habit of leaving loose change in his pockets, and his step-mother has told Caroline
2003–2004 Season 173
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 mar-
ginalized 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 Mem-
ber 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 prob-
ably 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 didac-
tic 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 un-
happy 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.
It seems clear no one actually expected the musical to succeed financially in the current Broadway mar-
ketplace, 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 The-
atre 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 suc-
cessful 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

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.
2003–2004 Season 175
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
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 action takes place in “America and Elsewhere, 1896–1933.”
Musical Numbers (Chicago)

Act One: “Bounce” (Howard McGillin, Richard Kind); “Opportunity” (Herndon Lackey, Richard Kind, How-
ard 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, Guatema-
lans, 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)
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, Rich-
ard Kind, Michele Pawk); “Boca Raton Sequence” (Boca Girl, Sportsmen, Fashion Models, Yachtsmen,
Caruso, Salvador Dali, Howard McGillin, Richard Kind, Michele Pawk, Gavin Creel, Prospector, Var-
mints, 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 Hap-
pened” (Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk); “I Love This Town” (Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk, Rich-
ard 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, How-
ard 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 dis-
cernible 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 mas-
ters 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 de-
spite 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 fasci-
nating, 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
2003–2004 Season 177
(“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 (Hol-
lis), 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 Vaude-
ville.”
As the years passed, Wise Guys became known as Gold!, and then in 2003 as Bounce it opened in Chi-
cago 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 elec-
trify 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.”
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 produc-
tion 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 dis-
turbing 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 “tough-
ened-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 be-
neath 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 broth-
ers, 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 Com-
plete 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 “Open-
ing 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
2003–2004 Season 179
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 Choreogra-
pher); 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 Mar-
cus (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 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 Ep-
stein” (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 Gun-
ton); “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 fail-
ures: 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
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 open-
ing 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 Der-
ricks, 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.
2003–2004 Season 181
SEÑOR DISCRETION HIMSELF

After a series of previews beginning on April 9, 2004, the musical opened on April 15 at Arena Stage’s Fichan-
dler 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 (Lu-
pita), Ivan Hernandez (Martin), John Bolton (Hilario), Diego Prieto (Jose), Eduardo Placer (Jimenez), Ste-
ven 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 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 Her-
nandez); “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 three-
hundred-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
“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 “ro-
mantic” 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 tune-
ful 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 Under-
stand 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”

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
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: Ken-
neth 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 Eichen-
berger, 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 Gillen-
tine, 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 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” (re-
prise) (Greek Chorus); “Final Instructions to the Audience” (Nathan Lane, Company)
183
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 Broad-
way.” 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 one-
man 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 open-
ing “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.
2004–2005 Season 185
The script was first published in paperback by the Dramatic Publishing Company in 1975, and was dedi-
cated 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 al-
bum 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 Janu-
ary 17, 1969, and played for 192 showings.
FOREVER TANGO
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)
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
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 car-
ries 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 origi-
nally 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”

Performances: 157
Book and Lyrics: Don Black and Christopher Hampton
Music: Frank Wildhorn (Note: The program indicated that Wildhorn “gratefully acknowledges the contribu-
tions 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 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
2004–2005 Season 187
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” (Com-
pany); “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, Dar-
ren 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 be-
fore, 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 emi-
nently, 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 “damna-
tion 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 inter-
rupting cell phone.” Frank Scheck in the New York Post said the score was “bland” with “bombastic medioc-
rity” 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 un-
dead,” 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.”
BROOKLYN (aka BKLYN)

“The Musical”

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 Enter-
tainment (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); Vocal-
ists: Manoel Feliciano, Caren Lyn Manuel, Haneefah Wood
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); “Some-
times” (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 perfor-
mance 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 ob-
server 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
2004–2005 Season 189
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 real-
ize 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 any-
way (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 authen-
tic 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 col-
lection 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

Performances: 66
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; Choreogra-
phy: Lisa Leguillou; Scenery: Robert Brill; Costumes: Wardrobe by Hugo Boss; Lighting: Jules Fisher and
Peggy Eisenhauer; Musical Direction: Tom Kitt
Cast: Mario Cantone
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 Christ-
mas 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 entertain-
ing” 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
Opening Date: November 12, 2004; Closing Date: November 21, 2004
2004–2005 Season 191
Performances: 13
Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
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 (Step-
mother), 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 God-
mother); Ensemble: The New York City Opera Company Chorus and Dancers
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 Pos-
sible” (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 tele-
vision 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 pre-
Broadway 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 “tow-
ering” 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.”
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 cred-
ited the book adaptation to both Tom Briggs and the 1997 teleplay by Robert L. Freedman).
WHOOPI
“The 20th Anniversary Show”

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 up-
dated “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. Oth-
erwise, 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 un-
knotted, 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!

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 Boxjelly-
fish 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”
2004–2005 Season 193
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 trade-
mark 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 down-
stairs 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 Olym-
pics, 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”). Fur-
ther, 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).
Awards
Tony Award Nomination: Best Special Theatrical Event (Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!)
PACIFIC OVERTURES
Theatre: Studio 54
Performances: 69
Book: John Weidman; additional material by Hugh Wheeler
Direction and Choreography: Amon Miyamoto (Darren Lee, Associate Choreographer); Producers: Round-
about 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 Compan-
ion, 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 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 Wata-
nabe, 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-
2004–2005 Season 195
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 be-
came 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 “ambi-
tious 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 senti-
ments. 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, semi-
documentary” 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 sixty-
foot puppet, a monster with death-ray eyes beaming bright white lights at the audience, and the “Next” se-
quence 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 cos-
tumes). 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 At-
tendant 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
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 pro-
duction, 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
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 Mi-
chael 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 Italian-
American 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 mat-
ter, and the show’s title referred to the approximate number of Sundays he and his father shared before his fa-
ther’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 “indi-
viduals” 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 sin-
cerity,” and while it was clear the loss of his parents was “tremendous,” the “parading” of such losses “blunts
2004–2005 Season 197
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 wed-
ding 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, mu-
sic 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 Won-
derful” (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 per-
formances; 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

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 Washing-
ton (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 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)
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 over-
looked 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 flam-
ing 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 im-
pression 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 choreogra-
phy 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 Da-
vis 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.”
2004–2005 Season 199
Following the current revival, the musical returned six years later on April 18, 2010, at the Longacre The-
atre 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 perfor-
mances; 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 pro-
duce, 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 Lead-
ing Actor in a Musical (Gary Beach); Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long); Best Choreography (Jerry
Mitchell)
LITTLE WOMEN
“The Musical”

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 Da-
vis, 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)

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 McAlexan-
der); “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 “suf-
fered 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 re-
strained” 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 show-
boat,” 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
2004–2005 Season 201
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”

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 Theat-
ricals 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, As-
sociate 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 Cal-
vert, Janet Dacal, Tom Deckman, Sarah Glendening, Milena Govich, Chad Kimball, Amanda Kloots, John
Jeffrey Martin, Jesse Nager, David Reiser, Jackie Seiden, Allison Spratt
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 Sum-
mer” (lyric and music by Brian Wilson and Bob Norman) (Heath Calvert, Chad Kimball, John Jeffrey Mar-
tin, 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, Ti-
tuss 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,
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 Rei-
ser, 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 Sum-
mer 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 Bur-
gess); “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 associ-
ated 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 bor-
rowed 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
2004–2005 Season 203
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 stan-
dard 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

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, Stan-
ley 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, Weiss-
berger 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); Cho-
reography: 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 Con-
nors, Rachel De Benedet, Laura Marie Duncan, Sally Mae Dunn, Tom Galantich, Jason Gillman, Amy
Heggins, Grasan Kingsberry, Michael Paternostro, Rachelle Rak
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, En-
semble); “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)
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, En-
semble); “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 Lith-
gow, 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 com-
edy (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 off-
color 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 undergradu-
ate.” 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”
2004–2005 Season 205
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 simple-
ton “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 (Har-
old Wheeler)
CANDIDE
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)
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 (Cu-
negonde; Georgia Jarman, alternate), Kyle Pfortmiller (Maximillian), Judy Kaye (Old Lady); Other roles
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 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” (Or-
chestra); “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 Ste-
phen 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 pi-
caresque 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 of-
fered “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 cre-
ated 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 Vol-
taire 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.
2004–2005 Season 207
A myth that surrounds the 1956 production is that it received poor reviews and went unseen and unappre-
ciated 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 “tri-
umph 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 Journal-
American said the “ambitious and brilliant” evening offered a bright book by Hellman, delightful music by
Bernstein, and scenery that was “imaginative and exciting.”
But Walter Kerr in the New York Herald Tribune 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 adapta-
tion 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 Wil-
liam Lewis and Madeleine Kahn was presented at Philharmonic Hall in an adaptation that combined Hell-
man, 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/Master-
works 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 Gram-
mophone (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
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”

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, Associ-
ate 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 May-
nard), 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 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, Mi-
chael 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 Az-
aria, 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?”)
2004–2005 Season 209
(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 Camelo-
tians, 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 (Christo-
pher 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 mel-
ody 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 anthe-
mic 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 Broad-
way 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 Broad-
way” 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 in-
novation—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 Chap-
man, 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
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 fore-
most 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 pack-
age”; 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 fantas-
tic,” “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, non-
linear 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 Musi-
cal (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!”

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.
2004–2005 Season 211
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 of Elvis Presley” / “The Story Is All New / The Hits Are All ELVIS” / “A
Hip-Swivelin’ New Musical Comedy”

Performances: 213
Book: Joe DiPietro
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 Cia-
sullo Conard (Marcia Goldberg, Greg Schaffert, and Phil Ciasullo Conard, Associate Producers); Chore-
ography: 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 Ander-
son, 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 Pat-
terson, Michael James Scott, Jenny-Lynn Suckling, Virginia Woodruff
The action takes place in “a small you-never-heard-of-it town somewhere in the Midwest” during a twenty-
four 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 Jack-
son); “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 Hol-
brook, Nikki M. James, Company); “Blue Suede Shoes” (lyric and music by Carl Perkins) (Jenn Gambatese,
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 Conversa-
tion” (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, Prison-
ers); “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 Pres-
ley, 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 mis-
erable 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 “mind-
numbing 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 ear-
lier 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 inves-
tors 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 pre-
sented 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

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 Nac-
carelli), 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 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”
(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); “Oc-
tet” (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 com-
plicated 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-year-
old 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 charac-
ters 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 un-
fulfilled.” 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.”
2004–2005 Season 215
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 ulti-
mately disappointing,” and while Guettel’s lyrics were “fluent and touching,” his music lacked a certain “me-
lodic 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 lyr-
ics 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 Di-
rection of a Musical (Bartlett Sher); Best Orchestrations (Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel, and Bruce Coughlin)
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

Theatre: Hilton Theatre
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 Broc-
coli, 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
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 action takes place in England and Vulgaria around 1910.
Musical Numbers
Act One: Overture (Orchestra); “Prologue” (Company); “You Two” (Raul Esparza, Henry Hodges, Ellen Mar-
low); “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 sing-
along 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
2004–2005 Season 217
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 “en-
tirely 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 (Car-
actacus), 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

Performances: 8
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)
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
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 Buc-
chino); “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 Impos-
sible 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 none-
theless 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 Por-
ter, 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 under-
lined by drum rolls,” and his was “a fierce, commanding baritone” that “anchors every song to a fully real-
ized 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 self-
conscious 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 Hun-
dred 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
2004–2005 Season 219
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 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 Keenan-
Bolger, 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 (Com-
pany); “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 gratu-
itous 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
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 im-
provisational 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
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 Pi-
nelli, 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 (Police-
man, Manfred, YMCA Receptionist), Janine LaManna (Nickie), Kyra Da Costa (Helene), Ernie Sabella
(Herman), Shannon Lewis (Ursula), Paul Schoeffler (Vittorio Vidal), Corinne McFadden (Frug Dancer), De-
nis 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 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 La-
Manna, 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
2004–2005 Season 221
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 some-
times 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 end-
ing 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, Apple-
gate broke a bone in her foot during a performance on March 11 as she twirled on a lamppost during a musi-
cal 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 Bos-
ton (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 re-
sumed 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
“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 Clas-
sical/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, includ-
ing 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 perfor-
mances, and Fosse directed and choreographed. Other cast members were McMartin (here reprising his origi-
nal 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”); “Char-
ity’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 re-
leased 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.”
2004–2005 Season 223
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 Direc-
tor); Choreography: Nancy Berman Kantra; Scenery: Tobin Ost; Costumes: Andre D. Harrington; Light-
ing: 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 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 dysfunc-
tional family and neighbors are eons away from the WASP world of Harvard and Boston, Francis (who attends
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 inten-
tional.” 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 No-
vember 7, and closed on December 14. As of this writing, the musical has yet to be produced in New York.
Book: John Strand
Direction: Eric Schaeffer; Producer: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Sam Sweet, Manag-
ing 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 Mi-
gliaccio (Patient One, Nurse, Madame), Stephen Gregory Smith (Patient Two, Doctor Barrault), R. Scott
Thompson (Patient Three, Inmate), Harry A. Winter (Doctor Urpar)
The action takes place in Arles, France, during the years 1888 and 1889 and focused on the last years of Vin-
cent 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 specifi-
cally 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.”
2004–2005 Season 225
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: Sav-
age 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 perma-
nently 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 Tor-
res, 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 Wal-
bye (Mrs. Shannon), Christiane Noll (Vanna Vane), Jeffrey Schecter (Manny), Dennis Staroselsky (Berna-
dito 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 San-
tana, Cathy Trien, Kay Walbye, Natalia Zisa
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
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, En-
semble); “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, Chris-
tiane 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 Hernan-
dez, 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 pre-
Broadway 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”)
Direction and Choreography: Robert Longbottom (Tom Kosis, Associate Director); Producers: Disney The-
atrical 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)
2004–2005 Season 227

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 Pin-
occhio; 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); Ses-
sion 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); Ses-
sion 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 How-
ard 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 Pinoc-
chio; 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, mu-
sic 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 El-
ephants 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);
“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); Ses-
sion 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 gath-
ered 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 “Supercalifragilisticexpi-
alidocious” 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”

Opening Date: July 17, 2005; Closing Date: July 23, 2005
Performances: 9
Material: Mitzie and Ken Welch
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 record-
ing 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 capi-
talized 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 celebri-
ties 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 “be-
tween 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 “re-
sounding 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
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, Ter-
rence Mann, Julia Murney, Michael Potts
The action takes place in Britain and the United States and looked at the life of John Lennon (1940–1980).
2005–2006 Season 231
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 Kim-
ball, 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 Danao-
Salkin); “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, con-
tinued 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 infatua-
tion 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 mu-
sic 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 assort-
ment” 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
he seemed more focused on “putting on a very big show” with “Lennon-by-way-of-Ethel-Merman arrange-
ments” 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 “com-
plaints” 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 “shape-
less,” “flavorless,” and “dull,” and he noted the story was told via “headline announcements” while its musi-
cal 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”

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; Cos-
tumes: 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 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) (Mi-
chael 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
2005–2006 Season 233
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 court-
iers. 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 “over-
blown 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” man-
aged 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 musi-
cal?,” and “When life gives you lemons . . . make a musical!”
SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

“A Musical Thriller”

Opening Date: November 3, 2005; Closing Date: September 3, 2006
Performances: 349
Book: Hugh Wheeler
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 (Beg-
gar Woman; Clarinet), Benjamin Magnuson (Anthony; Cello, Keyboard), Lauren Molina (Johanna; Cello)
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 pro-
duced 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 (twenty-
seven performers and twenty-seven musicians), but here there were just ten performers who doubled as mu-
sicians. 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 Broad-
way 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 produc-
tion 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 sce-
nic design peppered with special effects. No doubt some would claim this as a groundbreaking new perspec-
tive 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 Lu-
Pone and Michael Cerveris in full throttle as they took on two of musical theatre’s greatest roles, and the crit-
ics 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 ghoulish-
ness.” 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
2005–2006 Season 235
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 frame-
work 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), Timo-
thy 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 re-
vival by the New York City Opera Company.
Awards
Tony Awards and Nominations: Best Revival (Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street); Best Per-
formance 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 Direc-
tion 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
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 Entertain-
ment); 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 action takes place mostly in the 1950s and 1960s throughout the United States (and especially in New
Jersey).
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 mu-
sic 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) (Dan-
iel 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 Gau-
dio) (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 perfor-
mances 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”),
2005–2006 Season 237
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 writ-
ing 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 Musi-
cal (John Lloyd Young); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christian Hoff); Best Scenic
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”

Performances: 68
Play: Stephen Temperley
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 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 pub-
lished 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 try-
out]); 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 Ammuni-
tion” (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 oblivi-
ous 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 cre-
ated a poignant and touching portrait of a dedicated woman who truly believed in her art and found fulfill-
ment 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 pre-
sented 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 Green-
wich 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
2005–2006 Season 239
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 pup-
pet 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”

Opening Date: November 17, 2005; Closing Date: February 19, 2006
Performances: 109
Book: Charlotte Jones
Lyrics: David Zippel
Based on the 1859 novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
Direction: Trevor Nunn; Producers: Boyett Ostar Productions, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Sonia Fried-
man 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 Enter-
tainment BV); Movement Direction: Wayne McGregor; Scenery, Costumes, and Video Design: William
Dudley; Projection Realization: Mesmer-Dick Straker/Sven Ortel; Lighting: Paul Pyant; Musical Direc-
tion: 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), Mi-
chael 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 action takes place in England during the nineteenth century.
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” (Ma-
ria 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 com-
poser, 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 ap-
proaching 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 half-
sisters 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, skulldug-
gery, 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 (“un-
speakable 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 Web-
ber 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 di-
orama 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 combina-
tion of film and live performers to tell the story. Each audience member became the “eye of a whirling film
2005–2006 Season 241
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 Lon-
don 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 Mice-
tersinger) 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”

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 Bat-
tery, Anna Fantaci & Cheryl Lachowicz, Independent Presenters Network, David Lowy, Stephanie P. Mc-
Clelland, 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 Har-
ris (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 With-
ers-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.
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 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 Vic-
tor 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 Kings-
berry, 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 “sen-
sationally 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 breath-
lessness,” 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 cartoon-
ish episodes,” the direction was “by-the-numbers,” and “too many” songs felt “incomplete.” Richard Corliss
2005–2006 Season 243
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.” Cor-
liss 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.” Ulti-
mately, 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 (lyr-
ics 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 Per-
formance 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
Performances: 72
Text: Terrence McNally
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); Pro-
ducers: 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
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); “Danc-
ing on the Kitchen Table” (lyric by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty) (Chita Rivera with Rich-
ard 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 Kan-
der) (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 Brant-
ley 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 writ-
ten “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 consid-
ering 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
2005–2006 Season 245
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 re-
placement 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 (na-
tional 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 dur-
ing 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 re-
spective 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

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 Wol-
pert, 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 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”
(Michael McKean, Roz Ryan); “Hey, There” (Harry Connick Jr.); “Racing with the Clock” (reprise) (Fac-
tory 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 Work-
ers); “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 conde-
scension. Further, in Harry Connick Jr., a new Broadway star was born; the singer and bandleader had previ-
ously 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 reviv-
als 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 represen-
tative 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 fac-
tory’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 indi-
viduals. 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 de-
light,” 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 Hide-
away” 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 Do-
ris 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);
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 (Kath-
leen Marshall); Best Choreography (Kathleen Marshall); Best Orchestrations (Dick Lieb and Danny Troob)
THE MOST HAPPY FELLA

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 Direc-
tion: 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 Wi-
nant (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 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 pre-
vious 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 Sor-
vino, 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 Acquain-
tance” (Lisa Vroman, Paul Sorvino, Leah Hocking); “Big D” (Leah Hocking, John Scherer, All the Neigh-
bors); “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 Her-
nandez). 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 perfor-
mances, 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 haunt-
ing “Joey, Joey, Joey”; the gorgeous quartet “How Beautiful the Days”; Amy’s yearning “Somebody, Some-
where”; 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 rambunc-
tious 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 Sha-
ron 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, includ-
ing “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.
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 interest-
ing 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 per-
formances 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 Produc-
tions was a silent partner in the production’s investment, and during the episode selections from the Broad-
way 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 Mer-
rick–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 produc-
tion, 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 De-
sire 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”

Opening Date: March 12, 2006; Closing Date: April 30, 2006
Performances: 57
2005–2006 Season 251
“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)
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” (Com-
pany); “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 Ed-
wards, 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 Ed-
wards); “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) (Com-
pany); “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (lyric and music by Kris Kristofferson) (Jeb Brown); “Tempta-
tion” (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. Sil-
bersdorf, 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.
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 au-
ral 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
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 Alexi-
Malle (Jacob), Kevin Rennard (Eddie), Christopher Innvar (Tiger Brown), Christopher Kenney (Bruno,
Molly), Lucas Steele (Harry, Velma), Brian Charles Rooney (Lucy Brown); Policemen and Beggars: Mau-
reen Moore, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Terry Burrell, Romain Fruge, Deborah Lew, Brian Butterick, Carlos
Leon, Adam Alexi-Malle, Kevin Rennard, Christopher Kenny, Lucas Steele
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);
2005–2006 Season 253
“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 well-
received productions, but the company’s Threepenny Opera was a groan-inducing effort that received gener-
ally 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 gold-
standard 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 Blitz-
stein’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 ful-
crum 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 plati-
tudes. 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 “cross-
dressed 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.” Fur-
ther, 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 unfor-
tunate 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
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 Schiff-
bauerdamm 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 re-
vival 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 Fea-
tured Actor in a Musical (Jim Dale)
LESTAT
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 Ven-
tures; Choreography: Matt West; Scenery: Derek McLane (Bryan Johnson, Associate Scenic Design); Vi-
sual 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 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); “Mo-
rality 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 mu-
sicals 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 non-
vampiric (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 housekeep-
ing 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
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 of-
fered “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”

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 (Ju-
lia 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 Mar-
cos, 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 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 Gard-
ner, 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. Unfortu-
nately 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 trav-
els 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 forty-
eight years. She originated the character of The Girl (aka Luisa) in the 1960 Off-Broadway musical The Fanta-
sticks (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
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 di-
rected 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 “main-
stream” 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 one-
word 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 over-
decaded.”
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 # 82876-
82095-2); 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”

Performances: 97
Book: Heru Ptah
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), Mi-
chael 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 Vo-
calists: Brent Carter, Keith Anthony Fluitt, Theresa Thomason
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; presum-
ably, 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 Lau-
rence, 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 Ver-
dine 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 Pe-
ter 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) “Afri-
cano” (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
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 cli-
chés” 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 Vari-
ety 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”

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 Pro-
ductions, 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 action takes place in the present time as well in the past when it conjures up the (fictitious) 1928 musi-
cal 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” (Jenni-
fer 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
2005–2006 Season 261
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 musi-
cal 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 run-
ning 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.)
Incidentally, with the exception of some experimental cast album LPs in the early 1930s, the first Broad-
way 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 The-
atre 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 Mc-
Kellar); 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”

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 Theatri-
cal 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, Wednes-
day, 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 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-
2005–2006 Season 263
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 Gam-
batese, 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 Dan-
dridge, 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 be-
tween $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 “wise-
cracking 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 audi-
ence 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 ap-
peared to be “wrapped in a hula skirt.” And at one time or another most of the cast members were seen swing-
ing 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 say-
ing, “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
“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 ver-
dant,” 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; Choreogra-
phy: 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, En-
semble), 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 Kalo-
mas (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 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, Mau-
reen 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
2005–2006 Season 265
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 Valder-
rama, 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) (Jes-
sica Burrows, Mackenzie Holmes, Ivan Hernandez, Company)
Zhivago was of course a musical version of Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago, and it received gener-
ally 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 Hernan-
dez), 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 “pleas-
ing 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.” Hernan-
dez’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 “un-
finished,” 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 “inti-
macy” 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 “unremark-
able” 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

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 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 ap-
peared 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 eve-
ning’s most quoted line, she notes that if you weren’t molested as a child, then you must have been really
ugly).
267
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 en-
dearment 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 Ra-
mada 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

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
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 Broad-
way!” (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);
2006–2007 Season 269
“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 conven-
tions 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 Fran-
kenstein, [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 (Su-
zanne 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 eve-
ning, 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 stun-
ning 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 mis-
behavior, 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, re-
ally) 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 Ash-
manskas, 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 “self-
celebration,” 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.”
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!

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
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, ventrilo-
quism 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 ge-
neric,” 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
2006–2007 Season 271
made the evening so “engaging” was Johnson’s “unapologetic defense of his arcane calling,” his “sweet, self-
effacing 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 men-
tioned 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
Performances: 759
Book: James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante
Lyrics: Edward Kleban
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; Scen-
ery: 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), Na-
dine 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 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, Jes-
sica 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); “Noth-
ing” (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.
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 trans-
ferred 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 produc-
tion. 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 choreog-
raphy but was often excessively maudlin with its naval-gazing characters who endlessly over-analyzed them-
selves 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 pro-
spective 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 ac-
cept 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 “recy-
cled.” 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.”
2006–2007 Season 273
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 Master-
works 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 Edi-
tions 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 At-
tenborough 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 produc-
tion 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’

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
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 op-
era,” 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 com-
mand 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 of-
fered “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 Swin-
sky, Michael Alden, and Edwin W. Schloss in association with Playwrights Horizons (Beth Williams, Ex-
ecutive Producer); Choreography: Jeff Calhoun; Scenery: Allen Moyer; Projection Design: Wendall K. Har-
rington; 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 Bou-
vier Beale); For Act One (1941)—Christine Ebersole (Edith Bouvier Beale), Erin Davie (Young “Little” Edie
2006–2007 Season 275
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 Mc-
Martin (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 incor-
porates “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, Com-
pany); “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 musi-
cal’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-garbage-
infested 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 docu-
mentary 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 Broad-
way edition “never quite” took flight, but the deletion and addition of songs and the rewrites and rearrangements
of the script offered a “more cleanly” focused story about the “unending, paralyzingly ambivalent struggle” be-
tween 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 sur-
render” 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 beguil-
ing” 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 splin-
tery 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 mount-
ing 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 in-
cludes 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 fifty-
minute 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 Mi-
chael 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”

Performances: 107
Book and Lyrics: Timothy Mason (see list of musical numbers for additional credits)
2006–2007 Season 277
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 Produc-
tions/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 Direc-
tion: 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 Gar-
ner, 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 (An-
nie 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 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 Neuber-
ger, 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. Seuss-
related Broadway musical braved Broadway. But the hopeful producers of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christ-
mas! 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 Decem-
ber 10, 2006, it broke all Broadway house records with almost $1.6 million in ticket sales (albeit on a twelve-
performance-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).
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 unde-
terred 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
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 Mackin-
tosh (Nicholas Allott, Matthew Dalco, and Fred Hanson, Executive Producers); Movement Consultant:
Kate Flatt; Scenery: John Napier; Costumes: Andreane Neofitou; Lighting: David Hersey; Musical Direc-
tion: Kevin Stites
Cast: Alexander Gemignani (Jean Valjean), Norm Lewis (Javert), Doug Kreeger (Farmer), Drew Sarich (Inn-
keeper), 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, Fau-
chelevant), 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,
2006–2007 Season 279
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 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.
The headline of Ben Brantley’s review in the New York Times asked, “Didn’t We Just See This Revolu-
tion?” 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 ver-
sion 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 Re-
cords 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 Alex-
ander 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-
2006–2007 Season 281
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 (Glamor-
ous 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 Os-
terhaus, Dominic Roberts, Janelle Anne Robinson, Shekitra Starke, Catherine Walker, Kevin Samuel Yee
The action takes place in and around the Banks’s household in London during the turn of the twentieth cen-
tury.
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 Rob-
inson, 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 Sche-
itinger, Katherine Leigh Doherty or Kathryn Faughnan or Delaney Moro, Rebecca Luker, Mark Price, Dan-
iel 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 Cher-
ee” (*) (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
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,” “Supercalifragilisticexpiali-
docious,” “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 Shoot-
ing 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 Suffrag-
ette,” “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.
2006–2007 Season 283
Awards
Tony Award and Nominations: Best Musical (Mary Poppins); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musi-
cal (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”

Opening Date: November 29, 2006; Closing Date: July 1, 2007
Performances: 246
Book: George Furth
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 action takes place in New York City.
Musical Numbers
Act One: “Company” (Raul Esparza, Company); “The Little Things You Do Together” (Barbara Walsh, Com-
pany); “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 Hun-
dred 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 ac-
tors 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.
Company examined contemporary relationships in Manhattan, in this case from the perspective of bach-
elor Robert (otherwise known as Bobby, and played by Raul Esparza for the current revival), his five married-
couple 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 com-
mitment (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 relation-
ships.
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 sto-
ryline 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 resolu-
tions 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 mo-
ment 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 eleva-
tors. 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 Sond-
heim’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 My-
ers’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 conclud-
ing 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
2006–2007 Season 285
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 mem-
bers 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 is-
sued 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 hard-
back collection Ten Great Musicals of the American Theatre, edited by Stanley Green and published by Chil-
ton 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”).
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”

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 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 Resolu-
tion I” (Will Chase); “Conflict Resolution II” (Will Chase, Jay Klaitz, Christian Anderson); “Conflict Reso-
lution 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 Brook-
lyn 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-
2006–2007 Season 287
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 lyri-
cist 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 profanity-
strewn dialogue.” Structurally, the musical failed to make Rob and Laura’s relationship “urgent and compel-
ling,” 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 daugh-
ter 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 suc-
ceeded 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”

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 Mc-
Ginnis/Judith Ann Abrams, ZenDog Productions/Jennifer Manocherian/Ted Snowdon, Harold Thau/Terry
Schnuck/Cold Spring Productions, Amanda Dubois/Elizabeth Eynon Wetherell, Jennifer Maloney/Tamara
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 John-
son (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 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” (Jona-
than 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 awak-
ening 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 em-
broiled 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 direc-
tion 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-
2006–2007 Season 289
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 Wol-
pert, 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 Dia-
ries 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 Ku-
disch); “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)
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 Mc-
Gowan (Prisoner, Guard), Sean Palmer (Tiger), Sarah Jane Everman (Prisoner’s Bride), Lorin Latarro (Nad-
jira), 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 Nich-
ols, 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-and-
woman-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 San-
jar; 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).
2006–2007 Season 291
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 be-
gin 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 real-
ize 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 musi-
cal 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 pro-
duction 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 mil-
lisecond 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
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 per-
formances 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 per-
formance 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 mis-
sion” 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”

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
2006–2007 Season 293
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 Mc-
Cormick (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 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 Rob-
bin’ 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 musi-
cal 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-a-
comeback 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 am-
bitious 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);
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 “would-
be 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”

Performances: 85
Book: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, and Richard Maltby Jr.
2006–2007 Season 295
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 Cho-
reography); 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, Ja-
mie 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 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 You-
mans, Lords, Ladies-in-Waiting); “The Choice Is Mine” (Stephanie J. Block, Jeff McCarthy, Joseph Mahow-
ald, 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 Cheal-
laigh, 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, Com-
pany); “She Who Has All” (Linda Balgord, Stephanie J. Block); “Lament” (Stephanie J. Block, Brooke El-
liott, 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
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 gener-
ally 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 remi-
niscent 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 Dis-
ney 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 Eliza-
beth, 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 Mis-
erables 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 sung-
through 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 be-
comes 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-
2006–2007 Season 297
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 num-
bers 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”

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 Chore-
ographer); Producers: Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals, Dori Bernstein, James L. Nederlander, Independent Pre-
senters 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; Light-
ing: Ken Posner and Paul Miller; Musical Direction: Michael Keller
Cast: Laura Bell Bundy (Elle Woods), Richard H. Blake (Warner Huntington III), Kate Shindle (Vivienne Kens-
ington), 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 Gil-
liland (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, Man-
uel Herrera, Natalie Joy Johnson, Andy Karl, Nick Kenkel, Michelle Kittrell, Kevin Pariseau, Matthew
Risch, Jason Patrick Sands, Noah Weisberg, Kate Wetherhead
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” (An-
naleigh 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, Rich-
ard H. Blake); “Chip on My Shoulder” (Christian Borle, Laura Bell Bundy, Greek Chorus, Company); “So
Much Better” (Laura Bell Bundy, Greek Chorus, Company)
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 light-
hearted 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 Har-
vard, 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 “non-
stop 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 “hy-
perkinetic 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” chi-
huahua 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 show-
stopper 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 re-
cord, the song was retained for New York and is included on the cast album.)
2006–2007 Season 299
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 Musi-
cal, 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 Produc-
tions, 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 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, Ju-
dith 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”
(aka “Mack the Knife”; The Threepenny Opera, 1928; lyric by Bertolt Brecht; English lyric by Marc Blitz-
stein) (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 Pas-
sage” (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 (Mi-
chael 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 com-
mon, 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 perfor-
mance 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 be-
came 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.
2006–2007 Season 301
LoveMusik lasted less than two months on Broadway, and perhaps would have been better served down-
town 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 “al-
lure” 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 Per-
formance 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
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 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, Towns-
people); “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 in-
telligent 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 West-
ern 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 at-
tracted 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 intel-
ligence 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
2006–2007 Season 303
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 pre-
sented 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,” “Every-
thing Beautiful Happens at Night,” and the cut “Too Many People Alone”; and Opening Night with Ed Ames
(RCA Victor LP # LPM/LSP-8126) includes the unused “Pretty Is.” Except for two 45 RPM singles on Colum-
bia (# 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 Sara-
bande 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 Op-
era’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 “charm-
ing 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 Ac-
tress 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. Schwarz-
man, Chairman; Michael M. Kaiser, President) (Max Woodward, Producer); Choreography: Warren Carlyle
(Parker Esse, Assistant Choreographer); Scenery: Walt Spangler; Costumes: Gregg Barnes; Lighting: Ken Bil-
lington; Musical Direction: James Moore
Cast: Harrison Chad (Young Patrick Dennis), Emily Skinner (Agnes Gooch), Harriet Harris (Vera Charles), Chris-
tine Baranski (Mame Dennis), Alan Muraoka (Ito), James Patterson (Ralph Devine), Ed Dixon (M. Lindsay-
2006–2007 Season 305
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 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 Ba-
ranski, 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 Mu-
raoka, 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” (Chris-
tine Baranski, Ensemble); “If He Walked into My Life” (Christine Baranski); “It’s Today” (reprise) (Chris-
tine 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 pro-
duced 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 eve-
ning lost its sense of fun and the tried-and-true shtick of the musical’s book never quite took off. The always-
delightful 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.
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 mem-
bers (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 num-
bers 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 Ter-
ris Theatre in Chester, Connecticut, for the period November 9–December 7, 2006. The current “world
2006–2007 Season 307
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, As-
sociate 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, Chan-
nez McQuay, Amy McWilliams, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Thomas Adrian Simpson
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 Blick-
enstaff, 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” (Com-
pany); “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 ficti-
tious 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 perfor-
mances 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
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 melodra-
matic 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 Jel-
lison, 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 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, Car-
olee 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, En-
semble); “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-
2006–2007 Season 309
anz) (Steve Wilson, Slaves, Moses [performer unknown]); “Why Can’t I Just Be a Woman” (reprise) (Car-
olee 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 Car-
mello, 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 phe-
nomenon 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 barbitu-
rates 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 Car-
mello 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 “interchange-
able” 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 Com-
pany 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.
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 Ai-
mee, 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 produc-
tion 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 Play-
house (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, Lim-
ited 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 Cart-
ier), 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-
2006–2007 Season 311
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 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 Delo-
ris). 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. Pro-
duced 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 dur-
ing 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
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”

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/Mag-
gie 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 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
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 in-
cluded 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 musi-
cal 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 per-
formances, 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 ir-
resistible” 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 dis-
covers 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 “ridicu-
lously 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 temporar-
ily 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).
2007–2008 Season 315
A lavish coffee-table-sized book about the musical (Xanadu! The Book! Seriously!) was published in pa-
perback 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!”

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, Associ-
ate 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 Re-
strepo (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 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-a-
lifetime thrill of seeing two simultaneously running Grease productions and the unique chance of measuring
what were surely subtle nuances between the two presentations.
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 inalien-
able 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 pres-
ence.” 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 pre-
miered 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 relation-
ship 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 vir-
ginity.”
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 Novem-
ber 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),
2007–2008 Season 317
Edd Byrnes, Lorenzo Lamas, Eve Arden, Joan Blondell, Sid Caesar, Dody Goodman, and Alice Ghostley. Patri-
cia 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 (# RS-
2-4002; 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”

Performances: 484
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: Wil-
liam Ivey Long; Lighting: Peter Kaczorowski; Musical Direction: Patrick S. Brady
Cast: Paul Castree (Herald, Bob), Jim Borstelmann (Ziggy, Shoeshine Man, Lawrence), Fred Applegate (In-
spector 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, Mat-
thew LaBanca, Kevin Ligon, Barrett Martin, Linda Mugleston, Christina Marie Norrup, Justin Patterson,
Brian Shepard, Sarrah Strimel
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, Jus-
tin 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 Pro-
ducers, 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 Franch-
unschteen, as he’s previously identified himself.
Ben Brantley in the New York Times found the evening “less like a sustained book musical than an over-
blown 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 consider-
ing 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 Doc-
tor Frankenstein, but for all its “huffing and puffing” the show just “can’t get it up.” (In his review of the post-
Broadway 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 en-
dowment,” 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 Broad-
way 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
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 indus-
try 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”

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 Mu-
sic 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 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 Christ-
mas 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) (Citi-
zens 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 Christ-
mas?” (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, lyr-
ics 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, Direc-
tor) (Todd Lacy, Associate Producer); Choreography: Stephen Mear (Tara Young, Associate Choreogra-
pher); 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 Tri-
ton), 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
J. Robinson; Sherie Rene Scott (Ursula), Tyler Maynard (Flotsam), Derrick Baskin (Jetsam), Heidi Blick-
enstaff (Carlotta), John Treacy Egan (Chef Louis); Ensemble: Adrian Bailey, Cathryn Basile, Heidi Blick-
enstaff, 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 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 Free-
man); “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” (***) (Si-
erra 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 invest-
ment that recouped after just seven months of performances), and Aladdin (2014; as of this writing, still run-
ning and doing near sell-out business).
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale “The Little Mermaid,” the musical looked at the long-
ings 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” cos-
tumes 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-
2007–2008 Season 323
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 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 Win-
frey” (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 Be-
della, 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);
“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 Diderik-
sen); “Some Are Descended from Angels” (Linda Balgord, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Sean Jenness); “Jer-
rycam” (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); “Ev-
ery 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, Ka-
trina 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 Bat-
tersea 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 oth-
ers 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 Warm-
Up 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 “re-
markable” 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 com-
mercial 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.
2007–2008 Season 325
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 “promis-
ing.” 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
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 Cre-
ative 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 Cump-
sty (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 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 Gemi-
gnani, Anne L. Nathan, Mary Beth Peil, Michael Cumpsty, Jessica Molaskey): “The Day Off” (Daniel Ev-
ans, 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)
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 chromolu-
minarism 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 great-
grandfather, the young man is beholden to museum politics, rich donors, foundation money, grants, and the
like. There is incipient irony in how the two Georges differ, the first dependent on nothing but his artistic
vision, the second on commissions and the approbation of the art community because in his words “vision”
is “no solution.” The second half suffered because the present-day George was generally bland and uninterest-
ing. 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 Bun-
trock 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-
2007–2008 Season 327
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 as-
pects 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 pub-
lished 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 # RCD1-
5042), 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 Orches-
tra 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 Col-
lection 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
Network); Best Costume Design of a Musical (David Farley); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Ken Bil-
lington); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Sebastian Frost); Best Direction of a Musical (Sam Buntrock);
Best Orchestrations (Jason Carr)
PASSING STRANGE
“The New Musical”

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 Ken-
wright, 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); Cho-
reography: 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 col-
laboration” with Annie Dorsen, the production’s director.
Cast: Stew aka Mark Stewart (Narrator), Heidi Rosewald (Bass, Vocals), Jon Spurney (Keyboard, Guitar, Back-
ing Vocals), Christian Cassan (Drums), Christian Gibbs (Guitar, Keyboard, Backing Vocals); Los Ange-
les—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 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 Con-
nection (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
2007–2008 Season 329
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 adventur-
ous 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 here-
tofore 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 invest-
ments, 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 sub-
scription 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 phe-
nomenon 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 iden-
tity (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 theat-
rical 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
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 engag-
ing.” 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 self-
described “tapestries,” “mosaics,” “cantatas,” “collages,” and “song-cycles,” terms that seemed like inadver-
tent 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 in-
tended for mainstream patrons.
Passing Strange had first been developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab in July 2005, and was then pre-
sented at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre on October 19, 2006. The Off-Broadway run at the Public’s Ans-
pacher 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 Ac-
tor in a Musical (Daniel Breaker); Best Orchestrations (Stew and Heidi Rodewald)
IN THE HEIGHTS
“A New Musical”

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 Gonza-
lez (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 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,
2007–2008 Season 331
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); “At-
encion” (Carlos Gomez); “Alabanza” (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mandy Gonzalez, Company); “Everything
I Know” (Mandy Gonzalez); “No me diga” (reprise) (Andrea Burns, Janet Decal, Karen Olivo); “Cham-
pagne” (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 Domini-
can 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 tradi-
tional 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 mem-
bers 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 “fundamen-
tal 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 com-
mented 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.”
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
Performances: 332
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: Je-
rome 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 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)
2007–2008 Season 333
Act Two: Entr’acte (Orchestra); “Madame Rose’s Toreadorables” (Laura Benanti, The Hollywood Blondes); “To-
gether 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 mu-
sical 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 ova-
tion” 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 single-
minded 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 expan-
sive range of expressiveness” and her “twin showstoppers” at the close of each act “cement LuPone’s per-
formance 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)
SOUTH PACIFIC
Opening Date: April 3, 2008; Closing Date: August 22, 2010
Performances: 996
Book: Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
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 (Lieuten-
ant Genevieve Marshall), Laura Marie Duncan (Ensign Dinah Murphy), Margot De La Barre (Ensign Con-
nie 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 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); “Dites-
moi” (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
2007–2008 Season 335
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 Lieuten-
ant 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 jill-
of-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 “care-
fully 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 sophistica-
tion” 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 his-
tory,” and he was grateful that the “robust” forty-member cast was matched by a “generous” thirty-piece or-
chestra. 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
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 # 82876-88393-
2). 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 al-
most 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 charac-
ters 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 finish-
ing 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 Broad-
way 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 sing-
ing 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 try-
out 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 Ameri-
can 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 de-
signed 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 Re-
cords (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,
2007–2008 Season 337
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 Mu-
sical (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 Musi-
cal (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)
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)
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 Inquisi-
tor, 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 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 “fail-
ure” 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
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 “Constanti-
nople,” both of which had been heard in the 2005 revival.
A CATERED AFFAIR
“A Musical”

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 Af-
fair (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/Davis-
Tolentino, 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 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 mas-
ter 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 re-
gional theatres willing to take a chance on a small, unassuming musical.
2007–2008 Season 339
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 Ag-
gie 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 over-
looked 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 num-
ber 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 char-
acters [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 apolo-
gizing 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 uni-
formly 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 “mod-
esty, grace, gentleness and emotional integrity” and praised the “exquisite underscoring” for Bucchino’s “in-
trospective” 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 bor-
ing 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”

Performances: 68
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: Cath-
erine 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 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, Co-
lin 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 Pro-
ducers, and Cry-Baby quickly proved it wasn’t up to its predecessor, either. However, Brooks’s musical man-
aged 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.
2007–2008 Season 341
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 dan-
gerous.” 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 transi-
tions 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 “paper-
thin” 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

Performances: 1
Book: James Gardiner
Lyrics and Music: Nick Blaemire
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 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 crit-
ics 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” perfor-
mances 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 first-
person 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 “ge-
neric” and “talky” with “awkwardly inarticulate lyrics,” the “slender conflict” revolved around getting the
2007–2008 Season 343
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 mu-
sical 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 compel-
ling 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 encourage-
ment,” 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. Inciden-
tally, 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 perfor-
mance: 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
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), Shan-
non 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,
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 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 prepro-
duction 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 Gersh-
win) (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 Pat-
terson, Company); “’S Wonderful” (Funny Face, 1927) (Kerry O’Malley); “Delishious” (1931 film Deli-
cious) (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 Hous-
ton 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-
2007–2008 Season 345
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 lim-
ited 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 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 per-
formances 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 sur-
face 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
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 (includ-
ing 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 Le-
vant), 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 sea-
son’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 ad-
aptation 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 ru-
mor 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
2007–2008 Season 347
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 pre-
miere 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 Produc-
tions, 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 Billing-
ton 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); Addi-
tional Band: Sam Bardfield, Gary Bristol, Shannon Ford
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,
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” (Com-
pany)
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 Skin-
ner, 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, Washing-
ton, 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 acci-
dentally shot an officer. He has “borrowed” the officer’s rank and with his cohorts makes merry in the hap-
less 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.
2007–2008 Season 349
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 Ameri-
can suburb named Windsor during the 1950s.
Of course, the definitive lyric version of Shakespeare’s work (which also incorporated the Falstaff se-
quences 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 Washing-
ton, 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 Cam-
eron 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 Direc-
tion: 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 (Coster-
monger, Servant, Policeman), Warren Freeman (Costermonger, Embassy Waltz Dancer), Adam Laird (Cos-
termonger), 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 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)
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 Washing-
ton 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 inge-
nuity” 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 satisfy-
ing, 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 Hol-
loway (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 repris-
ing 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
2007–2008 Season 351
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 sponta-
neity. 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 en-
try), and was later produced on Broadway in 2015.
Lyrics: Fred Ebb
Music: John Kander
Based on the 1956 play Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Durrenmatt, which was produced on Broad-
way in 1958 as The Visit in a translation by Maurice Valency.
Direction: Frank Galati (Matthew Gardiner, Assistant Director); Producer: Signature Theatre (Eric Schaef-
fer, 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 Hayward-
Jones (The Priest), Jeremy Webb (The Schoolmaster), Jerry Lanning (The Doctor), Hal Robinson (The Po-
liceman), Brian O’Brien (Kurt); Townspeople: Leslie Becker, Brianne Moore, Christy Morton; D. B. Bonds
(Young Anton), Mary Ann Lamb (Young Claire)
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 Rob-
inson, 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 cel-
ebration (“Yellow Shoes”), and lush melody (“You, You, You”). But the work’s bleak and cynical tone worked
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 back-
ground information and a synopsis of the plot, see entry for the earlier version), and seven years after the cur-
rent 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 “admi-
rable 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 falsetto-
harmonizing 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 move-
ments, 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 “com-
mand 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

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: Wil-
liam Olson; Costumes: Cirque Productions, Lenora Taylor, Santiago Rojo; Lighting: Kate Johnston; Musi-
cal 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 action takes place in a jungle.
Musical Numbers
Act One: The Adventure—Jungle by Day: “A Bird Is Born” (Konstantin Serov, Zachary Carroll, Glenn Rog-
ers); “Eyes Wide Open” (Jill Diane, Jared Burnett, Lee Miller, Company); “Jungle Jumpin’” (Marcello Bal-
estracci, Company); “Hop Stretch” (Jill Diane, Jared Burnett, Ensemble); “Nature’s Balance” (Uranman-
dakh 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
(Jill Diane, Konstantin Serov, Other Emus); “Butterflying” (Sergey Parshin, Naomi Sampson, Ensemble);
“Courage” (Jill Diane, Jared Burnett, Marcello Balestracci, Uranmandakh Amarsanaa, Buyankhishig Gan-
baatar, 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, Al-
exander 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 as-
sociated 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 Bal-
estracci) who is taken by Mother Nature (Jill Diane) on a tour of a jungle populated by a company who por-
trayed 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 ob-
sessed 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-meets-
funked-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 re-
lief” 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]
Opening Date: July 17, 2008; Closing Date: October 12, 2008
2008–2009 Season 355
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)
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 Black-
well, 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-put-
on-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 ap-
plication 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 self-
congratulatory 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 Musi-
cal 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.
Awards
Tony Award Nomination: Best Book (Hunter Bell)
A TALE OF TWO CITIES

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 Rus-
sell, 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 as-
sociation 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; Light-
ing: 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, Cath-
erine 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 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)
2008–2009 Season 357
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 Broad-
way, 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 hear-
ing 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 eve-
ning “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 first-
act 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 nar-
ration 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 adapta-
tion 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 produc-
tion 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.”
As Two Cities, a 2006 adaptation was presented in regional theatre in Great Britain with a book by How-
ard 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

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 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, in-
cluding 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 Musi-
cal 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.
2008–2009 Season 359
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 poli-
tics.” 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 high-
school-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 “Oppor-
tunity,” 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”

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 Produc-
tions, 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); Cos-
tumes: Nicky Gillibrand (Claire Murphy, Associate Costume Designer); Lighting: Rick Fisher (Vic Smer-
don, 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,
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 Han-
son-Johnston, Caroline London, Marina Micalizzi, Tessa Netting, Corrieanne Stein, and Casey Whyland
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 Danc-
ing” (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, Com-
pany); “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 varia-
tion 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 grand-
mother 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 “over-
blown” 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).
2008–2009 Season 361
In his review, Rooney had mentioned a “whimsical” if odd number in which “giant dresses on coat hang-
ers” 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)

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, Nor-
man 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, Associ-
ate 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 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.
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 Man-
sur, 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 Patter-
son, 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 Fol-
low) 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 busi-
ness 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 sup-
port 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 Cap-
ture 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).
2008–2009 Season 363
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 mem-
ory 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, com-
mitment, 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 Den-
man 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 Christ-
mas 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.
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 . . .

Performances: 22
Additional Material: David Zippel
Direction and Choreography: Ron Lewis; Producers: John Scher/Metropolitan Talent Presents, LLC and Ju-
bilee 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
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
2008–2009 Season 365
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 “cha-
risma” 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 spec-
tacle 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 nightclub-
styled 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
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 Direc-
tion 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
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 point-
less, 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 con-
fines 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 snow-
storm 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”

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), Jen-
nifer Cody (Shoemaker’s Elf, Duloc Performer, Blind Mouse), Bobby Daye (Sticks, Bishop), Ryan Dun-
can (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 God-
mother, 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
2008–2009 Season 367
(Mama Ogre, Humpty Dumpty), Dennis Stowe (Barker, Papa Bear, Thelonius), John Tartaglia (Pinocchio,
The Magic Mirror, Dragon Puppeteer)
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 cur-
rent 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 show-
stopper” 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” de-
feated them, and because the result was a “listless” evening, a prospective ticket-buyer should just rent the
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 char-
acter 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
Based on a series of short stories by John O’Hara that were published in the New Yorker (the first story ap-
peared 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 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-
2008–2009 Season 369
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” (Mat-
thew Risch, Girls); “Happy Hunting Horn” (continuation) (Matthew Risch, Girls); “Bewitched, Bothered
and Bewildered” (Stockard Channing); “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (reprise) (Stockard Chan-
ning); “Pal Joey” (“What Do I Care for a Dame?”) (Matthew Risch); “Chez Joey” (Matthew Risch, Com-
pany)
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 Chan-
ning); “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 per-
formances. 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 cho-
reography 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 as-
sume the role. Patrick Healy in the Times noted that “several people” involved in the revival said the produc-
tion “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 produc-
tion 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 char-
acter (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
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-My-
Own-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 skirt-
chasing pursuit was not of “a tooting horn but a tolling bell,” and even Vera’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Be-
wildered” 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 none-
theless 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 col-
lection 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 Musi-
cals, 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
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 Di-
rectors: 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
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 produc-
tion 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”

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 De-
signs: 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 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 Al-
vin’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 fi-
nale, 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 repeti-
tive, 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 world-
wide 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.
GUYS AND DOLLS

“A Musical Fable of Broadway”
Theatre: Nederlander Theatre

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 En-
tertainment, 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 Char-
lie), 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 (Lieuten-
ant 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 action takes place in New York City “in the time of Damon Runyon.” (The original 1950 Broadway pro-
duction 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 Cham-
berlain); “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 Re-
vival, 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 some-
what 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 Brant-
ley 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) ex-
uded “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 watt-
age,” 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 pre-
sentations 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 Tin-
horns” (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
the two-CD studio cast recording by Jay Records (# CDJAY2-1294) includes Emily Loesser (the lyricist/com-
poser’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 in-
cluded 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 musi-
cal 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 re-
leased 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 pro-
duction’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 at-
tended 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 Estab-
lished” (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.
2008–2009 Season 377
“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 per-
formed 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 “Three-
Cornered 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 Aberna-
thy (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

Performances: 748
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. Neder-
lander, 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 You-
mans; 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 mati-
nee 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), Jen-
nifer Sanchez (Rosalia), Yurel Echezarreta (Tio); The Adults—Greg Vinkler (Doc), Michael Mastro (Glad
Hand), Lee Sellars (Krupke), Steve Bassett (Lieutenant Shrank)
The action takes place during the last days of Summer 1957 on the Upper West Side of New York City.
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” (Quin-
tet) (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 in-
cluded 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 libret-
tist 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 Ameri-
can 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 admit-
ted 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 “pain-
fully 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
2008–2009 Season 379
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. Thank-
fully, 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 Broad-
way 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 (“Pro-
logue,” “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 per-
formances; 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 ver-
sion released by United Artists was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (the film won nine competi-
tive 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 At-
tendant 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)
HAIR
“The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical”

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. Ham-
ingston, 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; Scen-
ery: Scott Pask; Costumes: Michael McDonald; Lighting: Kevin Adams; Musical Direction: Nadia Digial-
lonardo
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 (Abra-
ham 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 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” (Cais-
sie 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, Bran-
don 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.
2008–2009 Season 381
The hippies and drop-outs of Hair railed and ranted against the establishment and celebrated their coun-
terculture 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 musi-
cal 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 infor-
mation 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 con-
ventional 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 perfor-
mances 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 “noth-
ing 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 ap-
peared 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
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 “oc-
casionally overstates” Hair’s “profundity,” and it was “arguable” that Hair was “hip and profound cutting-
edge 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 previ-
ously 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 hard-
back 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 per-
formances, 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.
2008–2009 Season 383
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)
Performances: 2,328
Book: Chris D’Arienzo
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/Jen-
nifer 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 Bod-
nar, 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 (Re-
porter), 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 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 Chris-
tian” (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 Den-
nis 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
Jones) (James Carpinello, Amy Spanger, Ensemble); “Cum On Feel the Noize” (lyric and music by Nev-
ille 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 mu-
sic 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 Des-
mond 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 Feel-
ing” (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 (Con-
stantine 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 de-
mure” 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 ver-
sion 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 Whit-
more, 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 Musi-
cal (Peter Hylenski); Best Direction of a Musical (Kristin Hanggi)
NEXT TO NORMAL
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); Cho-
reography: 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 action takes place during the present time.
Musical Numbers
Act One: Prelude (“Light”) (Orchestra); “Just Another Day” (Company); “Everything Else” (Jennifer Dami-
ano); “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 Rip-
ley); “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
Spencer); “It’s Gonna Be Good” (reprise) (J. Robert Spencer, Alice Ripley); “Why Stay?” (Alice Ripley, Jen-
nifer 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 “power-
ful” 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 “well-
performed,” “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 Fes-
tival 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”

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 Hig-
gins).
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 Pre-
senters 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 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); “Al-
ways 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, Par-
ton 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 box-
office 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-your-
sexes 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
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 off-
putting 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, Il-
linois, closed there on January 17, 2009, and then toured without opening on Broadway.
Book: Eleanor Bergstein
2008–2009 Season 389
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), Jona-
than 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 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 exam-
ple, 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 Cof-
fee” (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 mu-
sic 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 Bar-
rett); “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 Berg-
stein); “Duke of Earl” (lyric and music by Dixon, Edwards, and Williams); “Love Is Strange” (lyric and
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 per-
forms 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 The-
atre 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 musi-
cal 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 “baf-
fling” 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, Ar-
lington, 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
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 (Baw-
ley), Marisa Echeverria (Juana), Jessica Grove (Heidi, Lil’ Luz), Michael Thomas Holmes (Pinky), Betsy
2008–2009 Season 391
Morgan (Leslie), Jordan Nichols (Jordy Jr.), Andres Quintero (Angel Sr. and Jr.), Michelle Rios (Lupe), Ash-
ley 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 Echever-
ria); “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 Echever-
ria); “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 adapta-
tion 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 Ar-
lington, 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 compel-
ling 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 run-
ning 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
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 “some-
thing 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 Minne-
apolis, 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 infor-
mation 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 Novem-
ber 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 Sy-
dow 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); Chore-
ography: 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 Box-
leitner (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, Car-
oline Innerbichler, Lizzie Klemperer, Garen McRoberts, Brian Muller, Will Ray, Gayle Samuels, Dustin
Sullivan, Todd Thurston, Christian Whelan
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);
2008–2009 Season 393
“I Can Rock” (Kara Lindsay, Meredith Inglesby, School Children); “Good” (Kara Lindsay, Melissa Gil-
bert); “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, Minne-
sota, 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 popu-
lar, 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 “ham-
strung 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, Jef-
frey 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
Direction and Choreography: Casey Nicholaw (Casey Hushion, Associate Director; Lee Wilkins, Associate
Choreographer); Producer: Center Theatre Group (Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director; Charles Dilling-
ham, 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 Bil-
lington; 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), Sa-
bra 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 Ham-
mond (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
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 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” (re-
prise) (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 Mona-
han 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.
2008–2009 Season 395
Although Minsky’s received mixed reviews, Patrick Healy in the New York Times reported that produc-
ers 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 mate-
rialized, 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 propul-
sive 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 Min-
sky’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
Performances: 185
Direction and Choreography: Jason Gilkison; Producers: Harley Medcalf, Joe Watson, Richard Levi, Rich-
ard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Raise the Roof One; Toppall/Stevens/Mills, Be-
nigno/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; Vocal-
ists: Ricky Rojas and Rebecca Tapia; Special Guest Stars: Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
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); “Maga-
lena” (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)”
397
(Salsa, Samba) (lyric and music by Louis Prima); “Tanguera” (Tango) (music by Mores-Warner); “Mata-
dor” (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 Chmerkov-
skiy, 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 cruise-
ship 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 Mu-
sic; Scenery: Robin Wagner; Projection Design: Howard Werner; Costumes: Kersti Vitali; Lighting: Nata-
sha 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 Schro-
der, Greg Stone, Jessica Vosk, Kathy Voytko
The action takes place during the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century, mostly in Sweden and
Minnesota.
2009 Season 399
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” (Rus-
sell Watson, Helen Sjoholm, Unidentified Performer [singing role of Anna], Ensemble); “No!” (Helen Sjo-
holm, 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, Rus-
sell 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 Herma-
lyn, 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 Sjo-
holm); “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-four-
year period in various productions. The book and lyrics were by Bjorn Ulvaeus and the music by Benny An-
dersson, 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 engage-
ment 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 Kris-
tina 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
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 cur-
rent “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
Performances: 117
Book: Michael Stewart
Lyrics: Lee Adams
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 Pe-
terson), 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 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)
2009 Season 401
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 cred-
its, 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 Mi-
chael 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 (Al-
ice 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, com-
munity, and high school theatre, but oddly enough, it took forty-nine years for a Broadway revival. Unfortu-
nately, 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 di-
rection” 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 neo-
vaudevillian 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 “mon-
strous” 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
Adams’s “cute” lyrics “to lift them up over the footlights.” But the “imperious” Houdyshell couldn’t be ac-
cused of “being unmemorable,” and her character was “laden” with “every castrating-Jewish-mother stereo-
type 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 daugh-
ter, 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 al-
bum 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 Ku-
disch (Birdie); the score included one new song (“Take a Giant Step,” for Albert), and, in a nod to political cor-
rectness, 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 dis-
mal 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 of-
fer 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
2009 Season 403
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 inter-
polated “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
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 Produc-
tions, 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 Frishwas-
ser, 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, As-
sociate Choreographer); Scenery: David Gallo; Projection Design: David Gallo and Shawn Sagady; Cos-
tumes: 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 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” (Der-
rick Baskin)
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 ro-
mance never really has a chance and they face prejudice when they kiss on a public street and she is summar-
ily 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
2009 Season 405
a Musical (Paul Tazewell); Best Direction of a Musical (Christopher Ashley); Best Orchestrations (Daryl
Waters and David Bryan)
FINIAN’S RAINBOW
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 Richen-
thal, Jack Viertel, Alan D. Marks, Michael Speyer, Bernard Abrams, David M. Milch, Stephen Moore, Deb-
bie 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 Hart-
man 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 Geolo-
gist), 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 Li-
gon (Frank), Monica L. Patton (Charlotte), Joe Aaron Reid (Jessie), Devin Richards (Eugene), Steve Schepis
(Sam), Rashidra Scott (Dolores), James Stovall (Willie)
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, Christo-
pher 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 Rich-
ards, 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?” (re-
prise) (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 ex-
ception 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.
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 flavor-
ings 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 “sugar-
kissed,” 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 Janu-
ary 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
2009 Season 407
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 (# 1057-
2-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 Es-
sen (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 Musi-
cal (Kate Baldwin); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Fitzgerald)
RAGTIME
“The Musical”

Performances: 65
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 Presi-
dent); 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
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 Chris-
topher 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 Beau-
ties, 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, Savan-
nah Wise, Eric Jordan Young
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, Quen-
tin 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
2009 Season 409
performances and lost its entire $7 million investment, but it returned in 2014 for an even shorter run (fifty-
six 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 entertain-
ing spectacle.”
The musical premiered on December 8, 1996, at the Apotex Theatre in Toronto’s Ford Center for the Per-
forming 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 Perform-
ing 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 er-
rand.” 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 informa-
tion 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 Dar-
rington) and his lover Sarah (Stephanie Umoh); the Jewish immigrant and widower Tateh (Robert Petkoff) and
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 in-
tersect during the Age of Ragtime.
Harry Houdini also figured into the plot, and thus he has made two brief appearances in latter-day mu-
sicals, 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 some-
times “derivative” with patches of Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber (“particularly on the sev-
eral 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 Docto-
row’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 ac-
tions 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 pro-
tect 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 as-
sassination 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
2009 Season 411
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 poten-
tially interesting figure was Evelyn Nesbit (Savannah Wise), who unfortunately was reduced to virtual walk-
on 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 Mu-
sical (Marcia Milgrom Dodge)
DREAMGIRLS
Theatre: Apollo Theatre
Performances: 16 (estimated; see below)
Book and Lyrics: Tom Eyen; additional material by Willie Reale
Music: Henry Krieger
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), Jar-
ran 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 Brin-
son, 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 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, Sye-
sha Mercado, Adrienne Warren); “Fake Your Way to the Top” (Chester Gregory, Moya Angela, Syesha Mer-
cado, 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, Adri-
enne 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, Sye-
sha 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
2009 Season 413
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 show-
stopper “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 Wil-
liam Ivey Long provided an “endless parade” of 580 costumes, and Ben Brantley in the New York Times sug-
gested 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 produc-
tion. 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 back-
stage intrigues in which the trio’s lead singer, the overweight Effie Melody White (Moya Angela, for the cur-
rent 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 mu-
sic. But Tom Eyen’s book shunted aside the story’s more cynical aspects and never truly addressed the poten-
tially 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 # 7559-
79656-2) 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 The-
atre 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
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
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, Nor-
man 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, Associ-
ate 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 Horo-
witz, Drew Humphrey, Joseph Medeiros, Anna Aimee White; Cliff Bemis (Mr. Snoring Man, Ezekiel Fos-
ter), 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” Danc-
ers 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 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 engage-
ment.
FELA!
“A New Musical”

2009 Season 415
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 Chore-
ographer); 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), Say-
con 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 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 Rever-
end 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, Com-
pany); “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, mu-
sic 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 cor-
rupt 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
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 ce-
lebrities”). There had “never been anything on Broadway like this production,” and the “energy” of this “sin-
gular, 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 pro-
duction opened in repertory at the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre on November 16, 2010, and was tele-
cast 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 (Lil-
lias 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 Orchestra-
tions (Aaron Johnson)
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Performances: 425
2009 Season 417
Book: Hugh Wheeler

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, Associ-
ate 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 per-
formances), 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 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 pole-
dancing position.” But Hanson was “suitably suave” in his “measured performance,” and as Madame Arm-
feldt 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 vulgar-
ize 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 proceed-
ings. 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 produc-
tion 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).
Awards
Tony Award and Nominations: Best Revival of a Musical (A Little Night Music); Best Performance by a Lead-
ing 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 42nd Street

James Joyce’s The Dead Cinderella (2001)
Squonk * Copacabana
Porgy and Bess * The Rhythm Club
Dancing on Dangerous Ground
Riverdance on Broadway
Aida 2001–2002
Contact Urinetown
The Wild Party Mamma Mia!
Jesus Christ Superstar Thou Shalt Not
The Green Bird By Jeeves
The Music Man A Christmas Carol (2001)
Dirty Blonde Mostly Sondheim
Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends
Elaine Stritch at Liberty
2000–2001 One Mo’ Time
Penn & Teller Sweet Smell of Success
Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway Oklahoma!
The Full Monty Thoroughly Modern Millie
Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart” Into the Woods
The Rocky Horror Show * Casper
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe * Muscle
Seussical * The Visit (2001)
A Christmas Carol (2000)
Jane Eyre
A Class Act 2002–2003
Follies Robin Williams: Live on Broadway
Bells Are Ringing Hairspray
Blast The Boys from Syracuse
The Producers Flower Drum Song
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Amour
George Gershwin Alone Jackie Mason: Prune Danish
419
420 APPENDIX A
Movin’ Out 700 Sundays

A Christmas Carol (2002) La Cage aux Folles
Celebrating Sondheim Little Women
Man of La Mancha Good Vibrations
La boheme Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dance of the Vampires Candide (2005)
Imaginary Friends Monty Python’s Spamalot
A Little Night Music (2003) Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed
Urban Cowboy All Shook Up
The Play What I Wrote The Light in the Piazza
Nine Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
A Year with Frog and Toad Love/Life: A Life in Song
Gypsy (2003) The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The Look of Love Sweet Charity
Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home * Gemini
* Marty * The Highest Yellow
* Some Like It Hot * The Mambo Kings
* Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? * On the Record
2003–2004 2005–2006
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Blonde in the Thunderbird
Avenue Q Lennon
Little Shop of Horrors In My Life
The Boy from Oz Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2005)
Wicked Jersey Boys
Taboo Souvenir
A Christmas Carol (2003) The Woman in White
Jackie Mason: Laughing Room Only The Color Purple
Wonderful Town Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life
Never Gonna Dance The Pajama Game
Fiddler on the Roof The Most Happy Fella
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2004) Ring of Fire
Barbara Cook on Broadway! The Threepenny Opera
Assassins Lestat
Bombay Dreams The Wedding Singer
Caroline, or Change Hot Feet
Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway The Drowsy Chaperone
* Bounce Tarzan
* The Great Ostrovsky * Zhivago
* Like Jazz
* Señor Discretion Himself
2006–2007
Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway
2004–2005 Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
The Frogs Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!
Forever Tango A Chorus Line
Dracula The Times They Are A-Changin’
Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) Grey Gardens
Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2006)
Cinderella (2004) Les Miserables
Whoopi Mary Poppins
Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! Company
Pacific Overtures High Fidelity
CHRONOLOGY (BY SEASON) 421
Spring Awakening 2008–2009

The Apple Tree Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy
Curtains [title of show]
The Pirate Queen A Tale of Two Cities
Legally Blonde 13
LoveMusik Billy Elliot
110 in the Shade White Christmas (2008)
* Mame Liza’s at the Palace . . .
* Meet John Doe Slava’s Snowshow
* Saving Aimee Shrek
* Sister Act Pal Joey
Soul of Shaolin
The Story of My Life
2007–2008 Guys and Dolls
West Side Story
Xanadu
Hair
Grease
Rock of Ages
Young Frankenstein
Next to Normal
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2007)
9 to 5
The Little Mermaid
* Dirty Dancing
Jerry Springer—the Opera
* Giant
Sunday in the Park with George
* Little House on the Prairie
Passing Strange
* Minsky’s
In the Heights
Gypsy (2008)
South Pacific 2009
Candide (2008) Burn the Floor
A Catered Affair Kristina
Cry-Baby Bye Bye Birdie
Glory Days Memphis
* An American in Paris Finian’s Rainbow
* Dancing in the Dark Ragtime
* Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Dreamgirls
Texas White Christmas (2009)
* My Fair Lady Fela!
* The Visit (2008) 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 spe-
cific 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 de-
cade’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 catego-
rized them as institutional (noncommercial) revivals (but note that The Frogs was also produced in associa-
tion 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
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
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)
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
Billy Elliot
Slava’s Snowshow
Soul of Shaolin
Burn the Floor
Kristina
A Little Night Music (2009)
COMMERCIAL REVIVALS (31)

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
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

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 dis-
cography.
For specific information about the recordings of the shows listed below, see entries.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Color Purple

Aida Company
All Shook Up Contact
Amour Copacabana
The Apple Tree Cry-Baby
Assassins Curtains
Avenue Q Dance of the Vampires
Bea Arthur: Just Between Friends Dirty Dancing
Bells Are Ringing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Billy Elliot Dracula
Blast Dreamgirls
La boheme The Drowsy Chaperone
Bombay Dreams Elaine Stritch at Liberty
Bounce Fela!
The Boy from Oz Fiddler on the Roof
The Boys from Syracuse Finian’s Rainbow
Brooklyn (aka Bklyn) Flower Drum Song
Bye Bye Birdie Follies
By Jeeves Forever Tango
La Cage aux Folles 42nd Street
Candide The Frogs
Caroline, or Change The Full Monty
A Catered Affair Giant
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Glory Days
A Chorus Line Grease
A Christmas Carol The Green Bird
Cinderella Grey Gardens
A Class Act Guys and Dolls
429
430 APPENDIX C
Gypsy Pal Joey

Hair Passing Strange
Hairspray Patti LuPone: “Matters of the Heart”
High Fidelity The Pirate Queen
In My Life Porgy and Bess
In the Heights The Producers
Into the Woods Ragtime
Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed The Rhythm Club
Jackie Mason: Prune Danish Ring of Fire
James Joyce’s The Dead Riverdance on Broadway
Jane Eyre Rock of Ages
Jerry Springer—the Opera The Rocky Horror Show
Jersey Boys Saving Aimee
Jesus Christ Superstar Señor Discretion Himself
Legally Blonde Seussical
Lestat (cast album recorded but not released) Shrek
The Light in the Piazza Sister Act
The Little Mermaid Some Like It Hot
A Little Night Music South Pacific
Little Shop of Horrors Spamalot
Little Women Spring Awakening
Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas The Story of My Life
Love/Life: A Life in Song Sunday in the Park with George
LoveMusik Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Mame Sweet Charity
Mamma Mia! Sweet Smell of Success
Man of La Mancha Taboo
Marty A Tale of Two Cities
Mary Poppins Tarzan
Meet John Doe 13
Memphis Thoroughly Modern Millie
Minsky’s Thou Shalt Not
Les Miserables The Threepenny Opera
Monty Python’s Spamalot [title of show]
The Most Happy Fella The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Mostly Sondheim Urinetown
Movin’ Out The Visit
The Music Man The Wedding Singer
Never Gonna Dance West Side Story
Next to Normal White Christmas
Nine Wicked
9 to 5 The Wild Party
Oklahoma! The Woman in White
110 in the Shade Wonderful Town
One Mo’ Time Xanadu
On the Record A Year with Frog and Toad
Pacific Overtures Young Frankenstein
The Pajama Game 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 Broad-
way 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 Grease

Bells Are Ringing Grey Gardens
Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home Guys and Dolls
Billy Elliot Gypsy
Blast Hair
La boheme Hairspray
Bombay Dreams In the Heights
The Boy from Oz Jackie Mason/Freshly Squeezed
The Boys from Syracuse Jerry Springer—the Opera
Bye Bye Birdie Jersey Boys
By Jeeves Jesus Christ Superstar
Candide Legally Blonde
Caroline, or Change The Light in the Piazza
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang The Little Mermaid
A Chorus Line A Little Night Music
A Christmas Carol Little Shop of Horrors
Cinderella Mame
Company Mamma Mia!
Contact Man of La Mancha
Copacabana Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore
Dancing in the Dark (as The Band Wagon) Mary Poppins
Dancing on Dangerous Ground Memphis
Dirty Dancing Les Miserables
Dreamgirls The Most Happy Fella
Elaine Stritch at Liberty Mostly Sondheim
Fela! Movin’ Out
Fiddler on the Roof The Music Man
Finian’s Rainbow My Fair Lady
Flower Drum Song Never Gonna Dance (as Swing Time)
Follies Nine
Forever Tango Oklahoma!
42nd Street Pacific Overtures
431
432 APPENDIX D
The Pajama Game South Pacific

Pal Joey Sunday in the Park with George
Passing Strange Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The Play What I Wrote Sweet Charity
Porgy and Bess Taboo
The Producers A Tale of Two Cities
Riverdance on Broadway Tarzan
Rock of Ages Thoroughly Modern Millie
The Rocky Horror Show The Threepenny Opera
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in West Side Story
the Universe Wicked
700 Sundays Wonderful Town
Shrek 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 De-
cember 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 Broad-
way 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 bal-
ladry, 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. Da-
vid 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 vo-
cal 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 perfor-
mances).
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 perfor-
mances; 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 two-
CD 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 re-
corded 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 ver-
sion 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 pre-
miere 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 reviv-
als that opened during the decade.

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.

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
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
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
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
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
Soul of Shaolin
9 to 5
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
Hairspray
Ragtime
NEW AMSTERDAM THEATRE

Mary Poppins
NEW YORK STATE THEATRE

Porgy and Bess
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

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 Apple Tree
110 in the Shade
Pal Joey
THEATRES 449
THE THEATRE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Cinderella (2001)
TOWN HALL
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
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 Into the Woods

The Apple Tree James Joyce’s The Dead
Assassins Jersey Boys
Avenue Q Jesus Christ Superstar
Bells Are Ringing The Light in the Piazza
Big River A Little Night Music
La boheme Little Shop of Horrors
Bounce (published as Road Show) Mame
The Boys from Syracuse Mamma Mia!
Bye Bye Birdie Man of La Mancha
La Cage aux Folles Memphis
Candide Les Miserables
Caroline, or Change The Most Happy Fella
A Chorus Line The Music Man
A Class Act My Fair Lady
Company Next to Normal
Dirty Blonde Nine
Fiddler on the Roof Oklahoma!
Finian’s Rainbow One Mo’ Time
Flower Drum Song Pacific Overtures
Follies The Pajama Game
The Frogs Pal Joey
The Full Monty Passing Strange
Grease The Pirate Queen
Grey Gardens Porgy and Bess
Guys and Dolls The Producers
Gypsy The Rocky Horror Show
Hair Saving Aimee
Hairspray South Pacific
Imaginary Friends Souvenir
In the Heights Spring Awakening
451
452 APPENDIX I
Sunday in the Park with George Urinetown

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street West Side Story
Sweet Charity Wicked
Sweet Smell of Success The Wild Party
A Tale of Two Cities Wonderful Town
13 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 Collabora-
tors. 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, Dog-
mas, 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 Aimee, 309–10

Abbott, George, 102, 245, 247 Akerlind, Christopher, 213, 215, 232, 301
Abbott, James L., 169 Alan, Ken, 271
Abbott, Jim, 262 Albita, 225
ABC Inc., 25 Albright, Lisa, 82
Abhann Productions, 9 Alcott, Louisa May, 199
Aboard the Bandwagon, 346 Alda, Alan, 290, 292
Abraham, F. Murray, 39, 111 Alden, Michael, 274
Abrams, Bernard, 243, 347, 405 Aldredge, Theoni V., 46, 271
Abrams, Bernie, 203, 239, 277 Aldrich, Robert, 140
Abrams, Judith Ann, 243, 287 Aldridge, Michael, 76
Abramson, Deborah, 1 Aleichem, Sholem, 162
Abston, Melvin, 310 Alex, Timothy J., 112, 203
Acevedo, Enrique, 390 Alexander, Cortes, 364
Ackerman, Peter, 245 Alexander, Jason, 402
Acocella, Joan, 416 Alhadeff, Alison and Andi, 403
Actor, 179 Alhadeff, Emily and Aaron, 403
Adam, Mark, 137 Alhadeff, Marleen and Kenny, 403
Adams, Cameron, 366 Ali, Saheem, 390
Adams, Craig, 75 Aliperti, Tony, 353
Adams, Edie, 239 Allan, Gwenael, 365
Adams, Edith, 64, 159 Allen, Debbie, 222
Adams, India, 346 Allen, Gary, 267
Adams, Kevin, 44, 288–89, 328, 380, 385 Allen, Ian, 8
Adams, Lee, 135, 394, 400 Allen, Jay Presson, 199
Adamson, Andrew, 366 Allen, Peter, 150
Addiss, Patricia Flicker, 288, 328 Allen, Sandra, 104
Addiss Duke Associates, 199 Allen, Sasha, 380
Addiss/Rittereiser/Carragher, 243 Allen, Steve, 65, 192
Adiarte, Patrick, 106 Allen, Tyrees, 10
Adler, Bruce, 30 Alley Theatre, 343
Adler, Gary, 145 Allgood, Anne, 119
Adler, Richard, 245 Alliance Theatre, 310
Adnitt, Stephen, 192 Alligood, Trey III, 53
AD Productions, 169 Allingham, William, 1
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 59–60 Allott, Nicholas, 85, 278
Affonso, Argemira, 185 All Shook Up, 211–13
Agustin, Julio, 50 Almodovar, Robert, 181
Ahmad, Mueen Jahan, 169 Almon, John Paul, 349
Ahrens, Lynn, 37, 39, 41, 407, 409–10 Als, Hinton, 146, 151, 161, 178, 231–32, 239–40, 282, 304,
Ahrens, Robert, 313 314, 339, 341, 382, 410
Aida, 10–13 Alterman, Charlie, 268, 385
455
Altman, Richard, 164 Arnaz, Desi, Jr., 226

Alton, Robert, 58 Arnold, Michael, 61, 175
Alvarez, Anita, 406–7 Arnoldy, Megan Nicole, 393
Alvarez, David, 359, 361 Arnone, John, 30, 230
Alvin, Farah, 133 Aron, Tracy, 243, 299
Amaro, Richard, 243 Aronson, Boris, 195, 284
Amarsanaa, Uranmandakh, 353 Aronson, Frank, 135
Ambassador Theatre Group, 234, 283, 374 Aronson, Henry, 33, 147, 232, 273
America Hurrah, 328 Arouet, François-Marie, 205, 337
American Express, 37 Arthur, Bea, 79–80
An American in Paris, 343–45 Artiste Management Productions, 8
American Music Theatre Group of San Jose, 65 Arvin, Mark, 110
An American Tragedy, 75, 136 Asbury, Anthony, 147
Amour, 107–8 Ascott, Mavis, 9
Anania, Michael, 121, 157, 248 Ashby, John, 65–66
Andersen, Hans Christian, 258, 321 Ashford, Annaleigh, 297
Anderson, Barbara, 93 Ashford, Rob, 39, 89–90, 102, 135, 257, 292, 340–41
Anderson, Brad, 271 Ashley, Christopher, 33, 211, 313–14, 403
Anderson, Carl, 20, 180 Ashman, Howard, 147, 321
Anderson, Christian, 286 Ashmanskas, Brooks, 268
Anderson, John, 87 Askin, Peter, 386
Anderson, Kevin, 188 Asnes, Andrew, 203, 241, 297
Anderson, Leroy, 160 Aspen Group, 99
Anderson, Nancy, 44, 158 Asquith, Anthony, 349
Anderson, Rachel J., 53 Assante, Armand, 226
Anderson, Stig, 71 Assassins, 167–69
Anderson, T. Weldon, 4 Astaire, Adele, 345
Andersson, Benny, 71, 398 Astaire, Fred, 161, 345–47, 407
Andreas, Christine, 86, 350 Atabal, Kamyar, 21
Andreas, Michael, 270 Atkins, Norman, 249
Andrews, George Lee, 304 Atkinson, Brooks, 88, 108, 207, 370
Andrews, Julie, 64, 282, 350 Atkinson, Paul, 359
Andrews, Maxine, 250 Atlantic Theatre Company, 287
Angela, Moya, 412 Attenborough, Richard, 273
Angelis, Nicholas E., 53 Auberjonois, Remy, 414
Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela, 415 Auberjonois, Rene, 117, 119
Anne Strickland Squadron, 135 Aubin, Kevin, 259
Ann-Margret, 402 Audet, Nancy and Paul, 356
Antoon, Jason, 13 August, Matt, 277, 307, 320
A+ Theatricals, 353 Austin, Michael, 6
Applegate, Christina, 220–22 Austin, Patti, 180
Applegate, Fred, 318 Avalon Promotions, 323
Apples and Oranges, 380, 403 Avenue A Productions, 347
The Apple Tree, 289–92 Avenue Q, 145–47
Araca Group, 69, 152, 257, 358, 383 Avian, Bob, 271
Aranas, Raul, 390 Avnet, John, 239
Aravena, Michelle, 271 Axe, Martyn, 389
Arbo, John, 234 Ayckbourn, Alan, 75–76
Arcenas, Loy, 243 Ayme, Marcel, 107–8
Archer, Nicholas, 299 Azaria, Hank, 208
Arden, Michael, 143, 273 Azenberg, Emanuel, 110, 115, 407
Arditti, Paul, 361
Ardolino, Emile, 310, 389 Babani, David, 325, 417
Arenal, Julie, 5 Bach, Del-Bourree, 37
Arena Stage, 181 Bacharach, Burt, 133–35
Arima, Stafford, 39, 44 BACI Worldwide, LLC, 185
Aristophanes, 183, 185 Bacon, Lloyd, 61
Arlen, Harold, 78, 363 Baddeley, Angela, 402
Armitage, Karole, 328, 380 Bagert, Darren, 283, 374
Armstrong, Louis, 253 Bagneris, Vernel, 81–83
INDEX 457
Bai Guojun, 371 Bartlett, Rob, 147

Baillio, Maddie, 101 Bartner, Beverly, 417
Baird, Campbell, 82 Bartner, Bob, 403
Baker, B. J., 106 Bartner, M. Beverly, 79
Baker, Becky Ann, 167–68 Bartner, Robert G., 104, 188
Baker, Corey, 415 Barton, Aszure, 252
Baker, Darrin, 157 Barton, Fred, 153
Baker, Joseph, 157 Barton, Steve, 119
Baker, Keith Alan, 18 Bartram, Neil, 372
Baker, Patty, 403 Baruch, Steven, 147, 234, 283, 397, 417
The Baker’s Wife, 250 Baruch-Viertel-Routh-Frankel Group, 99
Bakula, Scott, 345 Barzee, Anastasia, 363
Balanchine, George, 369 Base Entertainment, 268
Balderrama, Michael, 124, 259 Baskin, Derrick, 219, 403
Baldwin, Alec, 385 Bateman, Bill, 332
Baldwin, Kate, 392, 405 Bates, Dearbhail, 9
Balestracci, Marcello, 353 Batwin + Robin Productions, 33, 50
Balfe, Michael William, 1 Baum, David, 271
Balgord, Linda, 295–96, 323, 357 Bauner, Brad, 397
Ball, Lucille, 306 Baxter, Rebecca, 65
Ball, Michael, 166, 217, 240–41, 280 Bay, Howard, 114
Ball, Roger, 229 Bazmark Live, 115
Ball, Ryan L., 183 Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, 79–80
Ballagh, Robert, 9 Beach, David, 69
Ballard, Kaye, 22, 64, 159 Beach, Gary, 58, 197–98, 280
Balsam, Mark, 50 Beach Boys, 201–3
Banderas, Antonio, 127–29, 226 Beale, Edith and Edie, 274–76
The Band Wagon, 345–47 Beane, Douglas Carter, 65, 313–14, 345
Banfalvi, Ted, 66, 220 Beatty, John Lee, 158–59, 241, 277, 289, 320, 345, 405–6
Banks, Matthew A., 53 Beaufort, John, 195
Barandes, Robert, 50 Beaufoy, Simon, 30
Baranski, Christine, 72, 93, 304, 306, 327 Beaumont, Ralph, 22
Barbara Cook’s Broadway!, 166–67 Beavers, Louise, 173
Barbour, James, 42, 167, 187, 356–57 Beazer, Tracee, 403
Barclay, Kelli, 61, 361, 414 Becker, Leslie, 63
Bardon, Henry, 191 Bedella, David, 323–24
Barker, Wayne, 192–93 Bedtime Story, 203
Barlow, Roxane, 160, 393 Beers, Sydney, 194, 325, 368, 400
Barnes, Clive, 3, 29, 31, 48, 52, 56, 76, 85, 118–19, 156, Beg, Borrow or Steal, 20
168, 177, 202, 204, 210, 212, 215, 230–31, 237, 246, Beguelin, Chad, 66, 226, 257
253, 256, 258, 260–61, 263, 276, 278, 287, 296, 298, Belasco, David, 203
301, 319, 323, 326, 329–30, 333, 335, 342, 355, 357 Belcon, Natalie Venetia, 145
Barnes, Gregg, 67, 104, 191, 203, 226, 260, 262, 297–98, Bell, David, 203
304, 393, 400 Bell, David H., 93
Barnett, Ken, 158 Bell, Hunter, 320, 355
Barnhart, Jennife, 145 Bell, Kristen, 59
Barnhill, Hettie, 415 Bell, Marty, 44, 83, 203, 243, 299
Baron, Kimberly Beth, 53 Bells Are Ringing, 50–52
Barr, Drew, 83 Belsher, Nikki, 359
Barre, Gabriel, 63 Belson, Louise, 75
Barrett, Kelli, 385 Belushi, James, 148
Barrie, Barbara, 285 Belzer, Rick, 397
Barrington Stage Company, 219–20 Benanti, Laura, 91, 127, 159, 249, 257, 333
Barry, Brian, 368 Benchley, Robert, 88
Barry, Denny, 19 Ben-David, Adam, 286
Barry, Gene, 198 Benigno/Klein, 397
Barry, Jim, 356 Benjamin, Nell, 297–98
Bart, Roger, 55, 183, 318–19 Benken, David, 44
Barter-Jenkins/Nocciolino, 297 Benkin, David, 321
Bartlett, Peter, 183 Bennett, Craig, 356
Bennett, Michael, 45, 47, 271, 413 The Billy Barnes Revue, 205
Benson, Peter, 245 Billy Elliot, 359–61
Bentley, Eric, 376 Binder, Helena, 164
ben Widmar, Jacob, 345 Binder, Jay, 220, 405
Benzinger, Suzy, 110, 137 Binder, Ryan Patrick, 315
Berchard, Morris, 407 Binkley, Howell, 30, 133, 145, 175, 186, 235, 238, 264,
Bergen, Polly, 48–49 299, 313, 330, 332, 340, 351, 374, 377, 403
Berger, Alisha, 155–56 Birch, Patricia, 18, 179–80, 205, 299, 317, 337
Berger, Bridget, 245 Bird, Timothy, 325
Berger, Richard, 50 The Birdcage, 199
Berger, Stephen, 245 Birdsong, Mary, 268
Bergere, Jane, 292, 358, 417 Birkenhead, Susan, 393–94
Bergere, Lee, 171 Bishop, Andre, 13, 32, 72, 77, 166, 183, 213, 217, 334
Bergin, Joan, 9 Bisno, Debbie, 380, 405
Bergman, Alan, 180 Bissell, Richard, 245
Bergman, Ingmar, 121, 417 Bixby, Jonathan, 69
Bergman, Marilyn, 180 Black, Debra, 203, 225, 273, 299, 325, 332
Bergson, Simon, 383 Black, Don, 169, 186
Bergson, Stefany, 243, 383 The Blacks, 328
Bergstein, Eleanor, 388–89 Blackwell, Susan, 355
Berinstein/Manocherian/Dramatic Forces, 88–89 Blaemire, Nick, 341, 343
Berkeley, Busby, 61 Blaine, Vivian, 375
Berkeley, Michael, 43 Blair, Dennis, 157
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 328 Blair, Janet, 52, 159
Berkowitz, Michael, 364 Blair, Jim and Susan, 403
Berlin, Irving, 178, 361, 414 Blake, Josephine, 222
Berlind, Roger, 16, 158, 171, 292, 299, 332, 347, 358, 407, Blake, Paul, 361, 414
417 Blake, Richard H., 257, 297
Berman, Lielle, 337 Blake, Sean, 175
Berman, Matt, 79, 364 Blanchard, Jayne, 177
Berman, Rob, 245, 361, 405, 414 Blanchard, Steve, 392
Bermel, Albert, 21 Blandin, Jonathan, 67
Bernardi, Herschel, 163 Blane, Ralph, 363
Bernstein, Dori, 297 Blane, Sue, 33
Bernstein, Jed, 328, 380 Blank, Matthew C., 387
Bernstein, Leonard, 158, 205, 337, 377–78 Blankenbuehler, Andy, 112, 289, 330, 332, 387
Beroza, Janet, 36 Blankenship, Mark, 278, 321
Berresse, Michael, 213, 271, 355 Blass, Jane, 95
Berry, Sarah Uriarte, 90, 104, 154, 191, 213 Blast, 53–54
Besoyan, Rick, 328 Blazer, Judith (Judy), 164, 299, 390, 392
Besserer, Rob, 186 Blessed, Brian, 217
Besterman, Doug, 59, 90 Blickenstaff, Heidi, 307–8, 355
Betts, Kate, 146 Blige, Mary J., 385
Beulah, 173 Blitzstein, Marc, 253, 300
Bevan, Tim, 359 Bloch, Christopher, 307
Bezemes, Peter, 392 Block, Stephanie J., 149, 295–96, 387
Biagi, Michael, 140 Blodgette, Kristen, 215, 239
Bibicoff, Allison, 313 The Blonde in the Thunderbird, 229–30
Bierko, Craig, 23–24, 72–73, 285, 375 Blonsky, Nikki, 101
Bierman, Jon, 405 Bloom, Claire, 121–22
Big Dreams, 310 Blum, Joel, 307
Biggs, Natalie, 9 Blumenkrantz, Jeff, 44, 51
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 143–45 Blunt, Emily, 93
Billig, Robert, 67–68, 112, 160 Blyden, Larry, 184–85, 290
Billington, Ken, 36, 117, 137, 164, 205, 251, 260, 286, 304, Bobbie, Walter, 220, 286, 361, 414
325, 337, 345, 347, 355, 361, 372, 393, 400, 405–6, 412, Bock, Jerry, 162, 289
414 Bodnar, Bill, 383
Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home, 135 Bodo, 141
Billy Barnes’ L.A., 309 Boe, Alfred, 115
INDEX 459
Boevers, Jessica, 86–87, 232 Bracchitta, Jim, 135, 332

Bogaev, Paul, 10 Brach, Gerard, 117
Bogardus, Stephen, 3, 112, 361 Brache, Ruben, 199
Bogart, Dominic, 264 Bradley, Lorna, 9
Bogart, Matt, 264, 357 Brady, Patrick S., 55, 318
Bogdanov, Michael, 347 Bramble, Mark, 61
Bogetich, Marilynn, 175 Branagh, Kenneth, 125
Boggess, Sierra, 321 Brancoveanu, Eugene, 115
Bogue, Kevin, 23 Brando, Marlon, 375
La Boheme, 115–17 Brandon, Michael, 324
Bohmer, Ron, 407 Brantley, Ben, 2–3, 5, 12, 15, 17–18, 20, 22, 24, 26–27, 31,
Bohon, Justin, 86, 349 35, 41, 43, 46, 48–49, 51–52, 56, 63, 71–74, 77, 80–81,
Boland, Maggie, 351, 390 84–85, 87, 90, 92, 101, 103, 105, 108, 110–11, 114, 116,
Bolding, Justis, 239 118–20, 124–26, 128–30, 132, 134, 144, 146, 148, 151,
Bolger, John, 389 153, 156, 159, 161–63, 168–70, 174, 178, 184, 187, 189,
Bolly, Brian, 104 193, 195–96, 198, 200, 202, 204, 209–10, 212, 214, 216–
Bolton, John, 13 17, 221–22, 230–31, 233–34, 237–42, 244, 246, 252–53,
Bombay Dreams, 169–71 255–56, 258, 260–61, 263, 267–69, 272, 274–76, 280,
Bonasso, Joanne, 140 282, 284, 287, 292, 294, 296, 298, 301, 304, 306, 316,
Bond, Christopher, 164, 234 319, 321–22, 324, 327, 333, 335, 339–41, 343, 346, 352,
Bond, Justin, 267 357, 359–61, 367, 370, 373, 375, 378, 381–82, 384, 386,
Boneta, Diego, 385 388, 401, 406, 409–10, 413, 416–17
Bonne, Shirley, 159 Branton, Allen, 99
Bookwalter, D. Martyn, 180 Braun, Trevor, 321
Booth, Shirley, 158 Braunsberg, Andrew, 117
Booth, Steven, 342 Bravo, Luis, 185
Booth, Susan V., 310 Bray, Stephen, 241
Bootz, Sandra, 185 Brazier, Adam, 239
Borden, Alice, 306 Brazzi, Rossano, 336
Borgnine, Ernest, 136 Breaker, Daniel, 328–29, 366
Boritt, Beowulf, 219–20, 270, 299, 383 Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 138–39
Borle, Christian, 208, 297 Brecher, Irving, 402
Borovay, Zachary, 313, 338 Brecht, Bertolt, 252–53
Borovay, Zak, 383 Breckenridge, John C., 140
Borscht Belt Buffet on Broadway, 29–30 Breglio, John, 412
Borstelmann, Jim, 318 Brescia, Lisa, 273
Bosco, Philip, 215, 405 Bress, Rachel, 295, 387
Boss, Hugo, 190 Brians, Sara, 343, 347
Boston Boston, 348 Briar, Suzanne, 307
Bostwick, Barry, 35 Brice, Fannie, 133
Boswell, Felicia, 412 Brice, Richard, 32
Boublil, Alain, 278, 294–95 Brickman, Marc, 318
Bounce, 175–79 Brickman, Marshall, 235
Bourne, Matthew, 280, 349–50 Bridges, James, 123
Bove, Mark, 124 Briggs, Tom, 63, 192
Bowen, Jeff, 355 Brill, Justin, 286
Bowles, Jennifer, 393 Brill, Robert, 167, 169, 190, 226, 372, 374
Bowman, Benjamin G., 110 Brillstein, Bernie, 268
Bowman, Rob, 80 Bring Back Birdie, 402
Boxjellyfish LLC, 192 Brinson, Tallia, 412
Boyd, Gregory, 343 Broadway Across America, 328, 338, 342, 353, 358, 361,
Boyett, Bob, 82–83, 117, 129, 162, 183, 325, 334, 358, 392 377, 380, 403, 412, 414, 417
Boyett Ostar Productions, 208, 239, 260, 299, 328 Broadway Asia, 297
The Boy from Oz, 149–51 Broccoli, Barbara, 215
Boy George, 154–56 Broccoli, Dana, 215
Boyle, Loraine, 403 Brock, Rose Tuelo, 9
The Boys from Syracuse, 102–4 Broderick, Helen, 161
Boyz II Men, 13 Broderick, Matthew, 25, 55, 58
Braben, Eddie, 125 Broderick, William M., 356
Brody, Spencer, 356 Burnett, Carol, 49

Brogan, Bernard, 356 Burnett, Jared, 353
Brokaw, Mark, 135, 340 Burns, Andrea, 330
Bronfman, Edgar, Jr., 160 Burns, Nica, 417
Bronte, Charlotte, 42 Burns, Ralph, 90
Brook, Susanne, 383 Burn the Floor, 397–98
Brooklyn, 188–89 Burr, Jon, 77
Brooks, Jan, 43 Burrell, Scott, 137
Brooks, Joseph, 232 Burrell, Terry, 66, 252
Brooks, Mel, 54, 58–59, 318 Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 262
Brooks, Richard, 338 Burroughs, Mark, 53
Brosnan, Pierce, 72 Burrows, Abe, 374
Brown, Amanda, 297 Burrows, Jessica, 264–65
Brown, Amy Whitlow, 59 Burstein, Danny, 163
Brown, Anne, 7 Burton, Haven, 366
Brown, Ashley, 226, 280 Burton, Tim, 166
Brown, Blair, 1 Busch, Charles, 154
Brown, David, 83 Buscher, Joshua, 377
Brown, James Robert, 123 Bussert, Meg, 25
Brown, Jason Robert, 125, 358 Buterbaugh, Keith, 283
Brown, Jeb, 251 Butler, Chris, 302
Brown, Jessica Leigh, 46 Butler, E. Faye, 308
Brown, Joe E., 137 Butler, Jean, 8–9
Brown, John Mason, 370 Butler, John, 383
Brown, Josef, 389 Butler, Kerry, 147, 313–14
Brown, Paul, 112, 114 Butterell, Jonathan, 127, 162, 167, 213, 390
Brown, Rosalind, 82 Buttons, Red, 30
Brown, Russ, 336 Butz, Norbert Leo, 72–73, 153, 203, 205
Brown, Zach, 179 Byalikov, Henry, 397
Brown-Pinto Productions, 268 Bye Bye Birdie, 400–403
Brownstein, Norman, 117 Byers, Ralph, 23
Bruiser, 298 By Jeeves, 75–77
Brunell, Catherine, 89 Byner, John, 183
Bruni, Marc, 220, 245, 286, 297, 315, 361, 414 Byrd, Donald, 241
Bryan, Alfred, 27 Byrne, Gaylea, 25
Bryan, Andrew, 343 Byrnes, Tommy, 110
Bryan, David, 403–5
Bryan, Dora, 32 Cabaret, 253, 300
Bryant, David, 356 Caddick, David, 85, 175
Bryden, Ronald, 76 Cadle, Giles, 183
Bucchino, John, 338 Café Crown, 179
Buchanan, Jack, 347 La Cage Aux Folles, 197–99
Buchthal, Stanley, 211 Cahoon, Kevin, 215, 257, 393
Buck, Chris, 262 Caird, John, 42, 278
Buckley, Candy, 177, 310 Calderon, Al, 358
Buckner, Clay, 348 Caldwell/Allen, 397
Buena Vista Theatrical Group, 10 Cale, David, 121, 252
Bullock, Donna, 44 Calhoun, Jeff, 50, 143, 188, 274
Bullock, Wesley, 53 Call, Andrew C., 286, 342
Bundy, Laura Bell, 99, 297, 384 Callaway, Liz, 133
Buntrock, Sam, 326 Callinan, Molly C., 389
Buntrock, Stephen R., 417 Callner, Marty, 99
Buonopane, Todd, 223 Calloway, J. Bernard, 403
Burgess, Sharna, 397 Calvert, Heath, 201
Burgess, Tituss, 235, 321, 374 Cameron, Dove, 101
Burke, Edmund and Eleanor, 347 Camien, Laura, 355
Burke, Liam, 23 Camil, Jaime, 225
Burkhardt, Brandi, 356 Camp, Karma, 307
Burkhart, Jonathan, 190 Campbell, Alan, 51
INDEX 461
Campbell, Mary-Mitchell, 283 Castree, Paul, 318

Campbell, Sandy, 264 A Catered Affair, 338–39
Canby, Vincent, 409 Cathey, Reg E., 21
Can-Can, 213 Cattaneo, Peter, 30
Candide, 205–8, 337–38 Catullo, Patrick, 219, 273, 385
Candler, Cristy, 152 Caulfield, Maxwell, 317
Candy, John, 148 Cavanaugh, Matt, 124, 275, 338, 377
Cannon, Mike, 271 Cavanaugh, Michael, 110–11
Cannon, Tina, 96 Cavett, Dick, 33
Cantone, Mario, 104, 167, 189–90 Cazenove, Christopher, 349–50
Cantu, Jesus, Jr., 53 Ceballo, Kevin, 133
Caplan, Matt, 286 Celebrating Sondheim, 112
Capra, Frank, 307 Center Theatre Group, 104, 143, 180, 292, 358, 387, 393
Caprio, Jennifer, 219 Centracco, Cookie, 4
Carlson, Jeffrey, 154 Cervantes, Miguel de, 112
Carlson, Katlyn, 389 Cerveris, Michael, 166, 168–69, 178, 234–35, 292, 299, 301
Carlyle, Warren, 54, 85, 304, 345, 356, 405 Cesa, Jamie, 267
Carmeli, Jodi, 137 Chad, Harrison, 171, 304
Carmelina, 250 Chada, Jennifer, 180
Carmello, Carolee, 255, 308–10 Chadman, Christopher, 369
Carnelia, Craig, 83, 119–20 Chait, Marcus, 295
Caroline, or Change, 171–74 Chakiris, George, 363, 379
Carpinello, James, 314, 383–84 Chamberlain, Andrea, 374
Carr, Allan, 199 Chamberlain, Richard, 350
Carr, Sharon, 392 Chamberlin, Kevin, 26–27, 39–42
Carrafa, John, 26, 69, 91, 117, 201 Champion, Gower, 61–63, 402
Carrick, William, 117 Champion, Kate, 389
Carrillo, Cely, 106 Champion, Marge, 48
Carroll, Danny, 103 Champlin, Donna Lynne, 3, 75, 234
Carroll, David (James), 117 Chandler, Spencer, 365
Carroll, Pat, 90 Chanler-Berat, Adam, 385
Carroll, Ronn, 86 Channing, Carol, 159
Carroll, Zachary, 353 Channing, Stockard, 316, 368, 370
Carrpailet/Danzansky, 397 Chapin, Ted, 49
Carsey, Richard, 392 Chaplin, Sydney, 159
Carson, Jeanie, 407 Chapman, Graham, 208
Carter, Caitlin, 50 Chapman, John, 207
Carter, Gerrard, 124, 193 Chapman, Kate, 245
Carter, Glenn, 19–20 Chapman, Tracy Nicole, 91, 171
Carter, Helena Bonham, 166 Charisse, Cyd, 346
Carter, McKinley, 96 Charlap, Bill, 205
Carter, Rusty and Susan, 347 Charles, Walter, 39, 102, 164, 239, 290, 304, 349
Carter, Shawn “Jay-Z,” 415 Charles Rapp Enterprises, 30
Carter, Sheila, 75 Charlie and Algernon, 241
Cartney, Jenny, 308 Chase, David, 23, 65, 104, 359
Caruso, Anne, 340 Chase, Paula Leggett, 245
Caruso, Jim, 364 Chase, Will, 52, 230, 286, 372
Caruso, Thomas, 46 Chastain, Sheffield, 361
Carvajal, Celina, 186 Chayefsky, Paddy, 135–36, 338
Case, Allison, 380 Cheever, Jean, 203, 211
Casey, Harry, 356 Chenoweth, Kristin, 25, 90, 101, 152–53, 289–90, 292, 304
Casey, Warren, 315, 317 Cher, 190
Cash, Johnny, 250–52 Cherniakhovskii, Gary, 365
Caskey, Kristin, 89 Children’s Theatre Company Production, 129
Casper, 93–94 Chin, Sae La, 343
Cassan, Christian, 328 China on Broadway, 371–72
Cassidy, Jack, 104 Chioldi, Michael, 121
Cassidy, Patrick, 169 Chiroldes, Tony, 181
Castle, Matt, 283 Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, 243–45
Chittick, Joyce, 89, 245, 315 Cohn, Judith (Judy) Marinoff, 147, 365
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 215–17 Cohn, Nik, 125
Chmerkovskiy, Maksim, 398 Colangelo, Anthony, 127
Chodorov, Jerome, 158 Colby, Michael, 145
Chorpenning, Ruth, 88 Cold Spring Productions, 287
A Chorus Line, 271–73 Cole, Jack, 22, 113
Christian, Angela, 239 Cole, Kenneth, 60
Christiansen, Richard, 95–96 Cole, Robert, 80
A Christmas Carol, 37–39, 77, 111, 156–57 Cole, Stephen, 93
Christon, Lawrence, 3 Colella, Jenn, 286
Christy, Anna, 121, 205 Coleman, Cy, 179–80, 220
Chryst, Gary, 351 Coleman, Robert, 207
Church, Sandra, 106 Collette, Toni, 16, 18
Cidre, Cynthia, 225 Collins, Pat, 277, 320
Cilento, Wayne, 10, 66, 152, 220–22 Collins, Phil, 262–63
Cilibrasi, Joe, 288 Collins, Wilkie, 239
Cimmet, Brian, 181 The Color Purple, 241–43
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 283 Colson, Kevin, 357
Cinderella, 63–65, 190–92 Comden, Betty, 50, 158, 345
Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, 353–54 Comedy Garden, 99
Cirque Productions, 353 Comfort, Jane, 107
Citi, 320 Comley, Bonnie, 162, 270, 325
Claar, E. Alyssa, 117 Company, 283–86
Clancy, Elizabeth Hope, 328 Conard, Phil Ciasullo, 211
Clark, Bobby, 137 Condon, Bill, 413
Clark, Dwayne, 6 Condos, Steve, 139
Clark, Michael, 186, 196, 235, 251, 308 Conery, Edward, 264
Clark, Petula, 407 Conforti, Gino, 114
Clark, Victoria, 49, 65, 213, 215 Conlee, John Ellison, 30
Clarke, Hope, 171 Conn, Didi, 21
Clarke, Katie Rose, 215 The Connection, 328
A Class Act, 44–46 Connell, Jane, 22
Clay, Ken, 403 Connell, Richard, 307
Clayton, Garrett, 101 Connick, Harry, Jr., 72, 74, 245–47
Clayton, Jan, 48 Connors, Julie, 290
Cleale, Lewis, 107, 390–91 Conque, Lance, 353
Clear Channel Entertainment, 83, 89, 99, 110, 117, 147, Contact, 13–16
158, 162, 171, 186, 196–97, 203, 208, 211, 220, 225, Convy, Bert, 128
230, 239 Conway, Kathryn, 117
Cleese, John, 208 Cook, Barbara, 24, 49, 77–78, 166–67
Clement, Jack H., 252 Cook, Victor Trent, 63
Clements, Ron, 321 Cook Group Incorporated, 53
Clifton, Kevin, 397 Cooper, Chuck, 171, 230
Clohessy, Robert, 368 Cooper, Helmar Augustus, 334
Clooney, Rosemary, 363 Cooper, Lilli, 288
Close to You: Bacharach Reimagined, 135 Cooper, M., 169
Clow, James, 414 Cooper, Marilyn, 402
Coates, Edith, 208 Cooper, Max, 287, 407
Cobb, Amanda Leigh, 389 Cooper, Mindy, 186
Cobb, Lee J., 113 Coopersmith, Jerome, 289
Coca, Imogene, 347 Coote, Robert, 350
Cochran, Cara, 140 Copacabana, 65–66
Coco, 131 Copeland, Joan, 369
Coco, James, 18 Copley, Dave, 403
Cody, Jennifer, 154, 245, 366 Coppola, Francis Ford, 407
Coffman, Kyle, 377 Coraci, Frank, 257
Cohen, Patricia, 319–20 Corden, James, 93
Cohen, Steve, 99 Corker, John S., 414
Cohenour, Patti, 213 Corley, Nick, 179
INDEX 463
Corliss, Richard, 132, 134, 240–43, 282, 399 Crystal, Janice, 196
Corman, Avery, 179 CTM Productions, 135, 251
Corman, Roger, 123, 147 Cuccioli, Robert, 347
Cornelious, E. Clayton, 23, 271 Cuervo, Alma, 178
Cornell, Heather, 126 Cuillo, Bob, 197, 251
Corner Store Fund, 383 Culbreath, Lloyd, 243
Cornwell, Eric, 112 Cullman, Joan, 83, 125, 171, 288
Corren, Donald, 238 Cullum, John, 205, 277–78, 302
Corry, John, 83 Culture Clash, 181–82
Cortez, Natalie, 271 Cumming, Alan, 252
Corti, Jim, 96 Cumpsty, Michael, 61, 325
Costa, Joseph, 389 Cunningham, John, 107
Costa, Mary, 207 Cunningham, Johnny, 8
Cotillard, Marion, 128 Cunningham, Robert, 283
Cotley, Nick, 37 Curran, Sean, 1
Cotter, Margaret, 211 Curry, Michael, 277, 320
Coughlin, Bruce, 215 Curry, Tim, 34–35, 39, 77, 208
Cousin, Tome, 13 Curtains, 292–94
Cox, Christopher, 407 Curtis, Tony, 80, 137, 139
Cox, Jane, 192 Curtiz, Michael, 361, 414
Cox, Wally, 108 Cusack, John, 286
Cozza, Craig, 383 Cuscuna, Lisa Podgur, 42
Craig, Deborah S., 219 Cuthbert, David Lee, 196
Craig, Joseph, 403 Cutro, Nicholas, 30
Crain, Jon, 353 Cypher, Jon, 64, 113
Crandall, Kelly, 248 Czekaj, Anna, 417
Cranshaw, Bob, 217
Cravens, Pierce, 59 D’Abruzzo, Stephanie, 145
Crawford, Joan, 140, 347 Da Costa, Kyra, 220
Crawford, Michael, 117, 119, 240–41 DaCosta, Morton, 25
Craymer, Judy, 71 D’Addario, Brian, 321
Crazy for You, 344 Da Gradi, Don, 280
Creative Battery, 80, 192, 241 Dahl, Roald, 215
Creative Management Ltd., 8 Dailey, Dan, 363
Creek, Luther, 381 Daisy Theatricals, 347
Creel, Gavin, 89, 175, 380–81 Dalco, Matthew, 85, 278
C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, 220 Daldry, Stephen, 359, 361
Crewdson, Arlene J., 95 Dale, Grover, 361
Crigler, Lynn, 137 Dale, Jim, 39, 157, 252
Cristensen, Tracy, 238 Dalgleish, Jack M., 372
Criswell, Kim, 35, 159 Dallas Summer Musicals, 65, 104, 188, 270, 374
Crivello, Anthony, 43 Daltry, Roger, 39
Croft, Paddy, 1 Daly, Tyne, 131–32, 402
Croiter, Jeff, 267, 323 D’Amboise, Charlotte, 221, 271
Crooks, David, 115 D’Amboise, Christopher, 308
Crosby, B. J., 82 D’Ambrosio, Franc, 66
Crosby, Bing, 58, 362 Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!, 192–94
Cross, Murphy, 270 Damiano, Jennifer, 385
Crouch, Erin, 343 Damon, Cathryn, 103
Crowe, Russell, 280 Damon, Stuart, 64, 103, 410
Crowley, Bob, 10, 12, 83–84, 262–63, 280, 283 Danao-Salkin, Julie, 230
Crowther, Bosley, 213, 346 Dancap Productions, Inc., 295, 403, 417
Cruickshank, Holly, 13 Dance of the Vampires, 117–19
Cruise, Tom, 385 Dance Partner, Inc., 397
Crumb, Ann, 128 Dancing in the Dark, 345–47
Crumm, Max, 315–16 Dancing on Dangerous Ground, 7–9
Cruz, Penelope, 128 Dandridge, Merle, 262
Cry-Baby, 339–41 Dane, Faith, 132
Crystal, Billy, 196–97 D’Angeles, Evan, 194
D’Angelo, Gerard, 217 Deems, Mickey, 22

Daniele, Graciela, 243, 295, 368 de Havilland, Olivia, 214
Danieley, Jason, 30, 224, 293 de la Renta, Oscar, 32
Danielle, Marlene, 148 de la Reza, Michele, 4
Daniels, Nikki Renee, 133 DeLaria, Lea, 191
Daniels, Sharon, 249 de Lavallade, Carmen, 184
Daniels, Walker, 381 Delavan, Mark, 164–65
Danis, Amy, 147 DeLisa, Dana, 349
Dankworth, Jacqueline, 93, 222 Dellger, Joseph, 96, 255
Danner, Blythe, 46 Delman, Scott, 407
Dannheisser, Adam, 383 Delphi Productions, 174
Dante, Nicholas, 271 DeLuca, John, 277, 320
Danus, Richard, 313 DeMain, John, 5
Danz, Ron and Marjorie, 403 DeMann, Freddy, 171, 287, 377
Danzansky Partners, 286 De Mille, Agnes, 361
D’Arienzo, Chris, 383 Deming, Matthew, 351
Darin, Bobby, 253 Demos Bizar Entertainment, 403
Darion, Joe, 112 Dempsey, Jackie, 4
Darling, Peter, 359–61 Dempsey, John, 295
Darrington, Quentin Earl, 407 Demy, Jacques, 117
Daugherty, Tom, 175 Denby, David, 101
Davenport, Ken, 358 Dench, Judi, 92, 128
Davey, Alt, 1 Dendy, Mark, 154, 295
Davey, Shaun, 1 Denison, Ken, 169, 188
Davi, Mara, 345, 414 Denkert, Darcie, 203, 297, 393
David, Clifford, 103 Denman, Jeffry, 179, 344, 361, 363
David, Hal, 133–35 Dennen, Barry, 20
David, James, 133 Dennis, Carol, 241
David, Keith, 259 Dennis, Patrick, 304
Davidson, Gordon, 104, 180 Denniston, Leslie, 140
Davidson, Peter J., 19 De Paul, Darin, 320
Davie, Erin, 274 de Poyen, Jennifer, 265
Davies, Brian, 1, 3 Depp, Johnny, 93, 166
Davies, Irving, 126 DeRosa, Stephen, 91
Davies, Mark, 154 deRoy, Jamie, 243, 270, 405
Davis, Ben, 115 Derricks, Cleavant, 180, 188
Davis, Bette, 140 Derricks, Marguerite, 44, 310
Davis, Dani, 199 Desai, Angel, 283
Davis, Daniel, 183, 197–98 DeSalvo, Anne, 223
Davis, Eisa, 328 Desire under the Elms, 250
Davis, Guy, 405 DeVincentis, D. V., 286
Davis, Jeff, 383 Devine, Kelly, 264, 383, 403
Davis, Lindsay W., 121 Dewar, John, 239
Davis, Lynn, 347 Dewhurst, Colleen, 113
Davis, Paul, 173 Deyle, John, 69
Davis, Paula, 383 Diamond, I. A. L., 137
Davis, Peter G., 122 Diamond, Tom, 4
Davis, Sam, 412 Diane, Jill, 353
Davis-Tolentino, 338 Diaz, Natascia, 221
Day, Doris, 247 Diblasi, Lauren, 353
Day, Jim, 99 Dickens, Charles, 37, 356
Daye, Bobby, 366 Dickinson, Janet, 277, 320
Day-Lewis, Daniel, 128 Dickinson, Remmel T., 403
Days, Maya, 19 Dickstein, Mindi, 199
D’Beck, Patti, 50 Diener, Joan, 113–14
Deaf West Theatre, 143, 145, 289 Dietz, Howard, 345
Dean, Charles, 361 Dietz, Susan, 415
Dean, James, 391 Diggs, Taye, 18
Dear Jo, 200 Digiallonardo, Nadia, 380
Decal, Janet, 330 DiGianfelice, Teri, 193
INDEX 465
Dillingham, Charles, 104, 393 Dramatic Forces, 104

Dilly, Erin, 90, 215 Draus, Susan, 201
Dimarzio, Diana, 234 Dreamgirls, 411–14
Di Novelli, Donna, 392 Dreamworks Theatricals, 366
DiPietro, Joe, 211, 403–4 Dreiser, Theodore, 75
Dirty Blonde, 25–27 Dresser, Richard, 201
Dirty Dancing, 388–90 Drewe, Anthony, 280, 282
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 203–5 Dreyfuss, Richard, 58
Disaster!, 316 Driehaus, Richard, 405
Disney Theatrical Productions, 226, 262, 280, 321 Driscoll, Jon, 389
Disney Theatricals, 10 Driver, Don, 65, 406
Dixon, Ed, 304, 308, 320–21 Driver, Donald, 104
Dixon, Jerry, 190 Driving Miss Daisy, 173
Dixon, Mort, 61 The Drowsy Chaperone, 260–62
Dmytruk, Iryna, 353 Drummond, Ryan, 264
Dmytruk, Ruslan, 353 Dubin, Al, 61
Dobie, Edgar, 295, 387 Dubois, Amanda, 287
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, 276–78, Dudding, Joey, 197
320–21 Dudley, William, 239
Doctorow, E. L., 407 Dumas, Jeff, 175
Doctor Zhivago, 265 Dunagan, Deanna, 175
Dodge, Marcia Milgrom, 407 Duncan, Ryan, 366
Dodger Management Group, 23, 53, 61, 91, 186, 201 Duncan, Sandy, 407
Dodger Stage Holding, 112, 186 Duncan, Todd, 7
Dodger Theatricals, 23, 61, 69, 91, 201, 235 Dunham, Clarke, 205, 337
Doherty, Carolyn, 66 Dunn, Colleen, 46
Doherty, Katherine Leigh, 280, 417 Dunn, Kathryn, 359
Doherty, Madeleine, 55 Dunn, Sally Mae, 160
Doherty, Moya, 9, 295–96, 387 Dunn, Wally, 82
Dokuchitz, Jonathan, 102, 133 Dunne, Colin, 8–9
Dolan, Judith, 180, 205, 299, 337 Dunning, Jennifer, 10, 186
Dolan, Rick, 32 Du Prez, John, 208
Doll, Lauren, 4, 188, 403 Duquesnay, Ann, 259
Domenech, Dan, 310 Duran, Marcela, 185
Domingo, Colman, 329 Duran, Michael, 23
Domingo, Placido, 315 Durand, Rudy, 258
Dominguez, Robert, 155 Durang, Christopher, 184
Donen, Stanley, 247 Duren, Carla, 302
Dong Yingbo, 371 Durham, Kathy, 180
Donizetti, Gaetano, 117 Durrenmatt, Friedrich, 96, 351
Don’t Knock the Rock, 213 Dussault, Nancy, 407
Doran, Tonya, 71 Dvorsky, George, 65
Dorgan, Theo, 9 Dylan, Bob, 273–74
Dorsen, Annie, 328 Dys, Deanna, 179, 337
Dossett, John, 390, 392 Dziemianowicz, Joe, 265, 342
Dotson, Bernard, 119
Dow, Ken, 196 Eagan, Daisy, 3
Dow, Kevin, 196 East, Richard, 71
Dowgiallo, Toni, 387 East Egg Entertainment, 44, 83
Dowling, Bryn, 55 Eastern Shanghai International Culture Film & Television
Dowling, Joe, 392 Group, 371
Downes, Jeremiah B., 223 East of Doheny, 83, 215, 273–74
Downey, Catherine Marie, 37 Easton, Myles, 350
Doyle, Jack, 318 Eastwood, Clint, 237
Doyle, John, 178, 234–35, 243, 283, 338, 352, 379 Eaton, Bob, 232
Dracula, 186–87 Ebb, Fred, 96, 292
Draghici, Marina, 415–16 Ebbenga, Eric, 223
Dragotta, Robert, 137 Ebersole, Christine, 61, 63, 274–76
Dragotta/Gill/Roberts, 104 Echeverria, Marisa, 390
Drake, Betsy, 345 Economos, John, 95
Edelman, Gregg, 222, 356 Eustis, Oskar, 380

Eder, Richard, 381 Evans, Daniel, 325–27
Edmonds, Louis, 22 Evans, Darcy, 199
Edwards, Gale, 19 Evans, David, 50
Edwards, Jason, 251 Evans, Greg, 409
Egan, Seamus, 8–9 Evans, Wilbur, 336
Egan, Susan, 402 Evar, Rami, 356
Eggers, David, 245 Everett, Sonny, 145, 260, 286, 361, 414
Eichelberger, Jodi, 145 Everett/Skipper, 330
Eisenberg, Ned, 21 Everidge, Daniel, 315
Eisenhauer, Peggy, 16, 37, 42, 80, 107, 131, 167, 169, 171, Everman, Sarah Jane, 290, 366
190, 225, 243 Ewing, Jon, 199
Elaine Stritch at Liberty, 80–81 Eyen, Tom, 411
Electric Factory Concerts, 8 Eyre, Richard, 280, 282
Elias, Rosalind, 166 Ezralow, Daniel, 21
Elice, Rick, 235
Elish, Dan, 358 Fabray, Nanette, 346–47
Elkin, Michelle, 310 Face Productions, 196
Elliman, Yvonne, 20 Fagan, Melissa, 186
Elliott, Devlin, 407 Falkenstein, Eric, 4, 192, 211, 407, 417
Elliott, Karen, 278 Falls, Robert, 10, 96, 175
Elliott, Scott, 252–54 Falter, Tim, 137
Elliott, Shawn, 181 Fang Jun, 371
Elliott, Ted, 366 Fanok Entertainment, 356
Ellis, Jeffrey, 393 Fantaci, Anna, 241
Ellis, Scott, 59, 102, 121, 133, 292 The Fantasticks, 257
Ellison, Todd, 16, 44, 61, 107, 208 Farber, Andrew, 340
Elmore, Steve, 285 Farber, Sasha, 397
Elmslie, Kenward, 309 Farha, Badia, 310
Emerson, Mark, 264 Farina, Michael J., 232
Emery, Ted, 21 Farley, David, 325, 358, 417
Emick, Jarrod, 32–33, 251 Farrar, John, 313, 315
EMI Music Publishing, 277, 320 Farrell, Henry, 140
Emmet, Linda, 178 Farrell, John, 93
Endgame Entertainment, 147 Farrington, Malinda, 243
Engel, Georgia, 103, 260 Farrow, Talitha, 412
Engel, Lehman, 45 Faughnan, Kathryn, 280
Entertainment Partnership, 169 Faye, Alina, 405
Ephraim, Molly, 162 Faye, Pascale, 13
Ephron, Nora, 119 Feather, Lorraine, 166
Epperson, John, 65, 191 Federan, Mitchel David, 149
Epps, Sheldon, 310 Federer, Michelle, 152
Epstein, Adam, 99, 257, 340 Federle, Tim, 392
Epstein, Adam Troy, 353 Federman, Wendy, 328, 392
Epstein, Alvin, 184 Feeling Electric, 386
Epstein, Julius J., 213 Feichter, Vadim, 219
Ernest in Love, 141 Feiffer, Jules, 290
Errico, Melissa, 107–8, 186, 350, 407, 414 Feingold, Michael, 254
Erskine, Julian, 9 Feinman, Larry, 392
Escaler, Ernest De Leon, 104 Fela!, 414–16
Eskew, Doug, 241 Felciano, Manoel, 234
Esparza, Raul, 33, 154, 215, 283 Felder, Hershey, 60
Espinosa, Eden, 188 Feldman, Hazel and Sam, 220
Esposito, Cyrena, 403 Feldman, Jack, 65
Esse, Parker, 304, 356, 405 Feldman, Rebecca, 218
Essman, Nina, 112, 152, 211 Feliciano, Manoel, 188
Estabrook, Christine, 288 Fell, Andrew, 417
Etting, Ruth, 370 Fellini, Federico, 127, 220
Ettinger, Heidi, 59, 186, 201, 264 Fellner, Eric, 359
INDEX 467
Fellner, Jenny, 368 Flower Drum Song, 104–7

Fenholt, Jeff, 20 Floyd, Kenneth, 6
Fenton, James, 278 Floyd Collins, 214
Fenwick, Chris, 390 Foard, Merwin, 321
Fenwick, Oliver, 349 Fodor, Barbara and Peter, 123, 292
Ferber, Edna, 390 Fogel, Eric Sean, 392
Fergie, 128 Foley, Sean, 125–26
Ferguson, Jesse Tyler, 219, 381 Folger, Dan, 219–20
Ferguson, William, 205 Follies, 46–50
Ferland, Danielle, 129 Fong, Benson, 106
Ferrall, Gina, 42, 143 Fontana, Santino, 65, 325, 359
Feuchtwanger, Peter R., 135 Foote, Jenifer, 186
Feurring/Maffei/Pinsky, 188 Ford, Paul, 25, 112
FGRW Investments, 211 Fordham, Sharon A., 356
Fiddler on the Roof, 114, 162–64 Ford’s Theatre, 307
Fields, Dan, 232 Forestieri, Marcel, 402–3
Fields, Dorothy, 161, 220 Forever Tango, 185–86
Fields, Joseph, 104, 106, 158 Forlenza, Louise, 230, 392
Fierstein, Harvey, 99–101, 163, 197, 338 Forman, Milos, 381
Fierstein, Ron, 338 Foronda, Joseph Anthony, 194
Figgins, Dionne, 403 Forquero, Francisco, 185
Filerman, Michael, 392 Forster, Rudolph, 254
Filmer, Ann, 95 42nd Street, 61–63
Finbow, Max, 315 Fosse, Bob, 160, 222, 243, 247, 270, 370
Finch, Peter, 134 Foster, David Carey, 264
Fine, Maggie, 313 Foster, David J., 267, 323, 365
Fine, Peter, 330 Foster, Hunter, 69, 147–48
Finian’s Rainbow, 405–7 Foster, Sutton, 89–90, 134, 199, 260–61, 318, 366
Finkel, Barry, 157 Foster, Tim, 140
Finley, Felicia, 257 Four Seasons, 235–38
Finn, Jon, 359 Fowler, Beth, 50–51, 149, 165
Finn, William, 95, 218 Fowler, Kelsey, 275, 325
Fiocco, Arthur, 32 Fox, Bobby, 8
Firth, Colin, 72 Fox, Robert, 131, 149
Fischer, Allison, 255–56 Fox Associates, 353
Fisher, David “Dudu,” 30 Fox-Gieg, Nick, 4
Fisher, Jules, 16, 37, 42, 80, 107, 131, 167, 169, 171, 190, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 30, 115
225, 243, 387 Fox-Siegmund, Kristin, 307
Fisher, Rick, 359, 361 Fox Theatricals, 88, 171, 297
Fisher, Rob, 158–59, 289 Foy, Eddie, Jr., 22, 52
Fiss, Thomas Michael, 30 Franchi, Sergio, 128
Fitzgerald, Christopher, 107, 152, 318, 393, 405 Francks, Don, 407
Fitzgerald, Kathy, 387 Frank, Chris, 348
Fitz-Gerald, Timothy A., 149 Frank, Melvin, 361, 414
Fitzhugh, Ellen, 94 Frankel, Jennifer, 135, 160, 393
Fitzpatrick, Allen, 61 Frankel, Jerry, 287, 380, 417
Flaherty, Stephen, 39, 41, 407 Frankel, Marc, 380
Flaiano, Ennio, 127, 220 Frankel, Richard, 147, 234, 283, 397, 417
Flateman, Charles, 80 Frankel, Ronald, 417
Flatley, Michael, 9 Frankel, Scott, 274
Flatlow, Leon, 27 Frankel-Baruch-Viertel-Routh Group, 54, 338
Flatt, Kate, 278 Fran Kirmser Productions, 380
Flavin, Tim, 35 Franklin, Nancy, 12, 24, 70, 92
Fleming, Adam, 99 Franks, Jay, 383
Fleming, Eugene, 133 Franzblau, William, 392
Fleming, Ian, 215 Franzetti, Carlos, 225
Fleming, Shirley, 191 Fraser, Alexander, 169
Florence Foster Jenkins, 239 Fraser, Hadley, 295
Florin, Jackie Barlia, 328 Fratti, Mario, 127
Frears, Stephen, 239, 286 Gallin, Susan Quint, 112

Freedman, Robert L., 63, 65, 192 Gallo, David, 89, 117, 260, 262, 283–84, 313, 338, 403
Freeman, Christopher, 197 Gallo, Paul, 33, 61, 112, 160, 343, 368
Freeman, Jonathan, 61, 321, 407 Gallo, Phil, 180
Freeman, Kathleen, 31 Gamache, Laurie, 93
Freidman, Maria, 409 Gambatese, Jennifer (Jenn), 99, 129, 211, 262
Freiman, Scott, 199 Gannon, Ben, 149
Freitag, Barbara, 123, 260, 328, 403 Garber, Victor, 49, 65, 169, 177
Freitag, Buddy, 328, 403 Garcia, Bob, 8
Frelich, Phyllis, 143 Garcia, Jesus, 115
Freydberg, James B., 251 Garcia, Maija, 415
Friedenberg, Kyrian, 332 Garcia, Melly, 405
Friedman, David, 308 Gardenia, Vincent, 148
Friedman, Maria, 239 Gardiner, Eric and Marsi, 403
Friedman, Sonia, 374, 387 Gardiner, James, 341
Friedson, Adam and David, 135 Gardiner, Matthew, 308, 351
Friendly Theatrical, LLC, 392 Gardner, Elysa, 24, 52, 57, 178
Frishwasser, Dan, 397, 403, 417 Gardner, Michael, 117, 129
Froemke, Susan, 274 Gardner, Rita, 257
The Frogs, 183–85 Gardner, Worth, 309
Frost, Kevan, 154 Garebian, Keith, 315
Frot, Catherine, 239 Garland, Judy, 364–65
Fruge, Romain, 30, 252 Garner, Andre, 23, 277
Fuchs, M., 147 Garner, Jeremy, 397
Fuchs, Michael, 115, 154 Garratt, Geoffrey, 280
Fuchs/Swinsky, 117 Garrett, Betty, 48, 160
Fuld, James, Jr., 245 Garrison, Mary Catherine, 167–68
Fuller, Larry, 164 Gary Goddard Entertainment, 380
The Full Monty, 30–32 Gasperino, Entertainment, 356
Fumoto, Yoko, 194 Gasteyer, Ana, 191, 252
Funk, Nolan Gerard, 400 Gatling, Zipporah G., 241
Furman, Jay, 80, 257 Gattelli, Christopher, 268, 286, 325, 334, 358
Furman, Jill, 260, 330 Gay, John, 252
Furman, Roy, 80, 83, 117, 129, 203, 208, 241, 257, 268, Gayle, Sami, 332
297, 332, 377, 407 Gaynes, George, 52
Furnish, David, 359 Gaynor, Mitzi, 336
Furth, George, 273, 283, 285 Geary, Steve, 13
Further Mo’, 83 Geisel, Audrey, 277, 320
Fusco, Tony, 392 Geisel, Theodore, 39, 277, 320
Fussell, Samuel Wilson, 95 Geisler, James, 353
FWPM Group, 297 Gelbart, Larry, 180
Gelber, Jack, 328
Gabay, Roy, 415 Gelber, Jordan, 145
Gabrielle, Josefina, 86–87 Geller, Bruce, 145
Gagnon, Steve F., 137 Geller, Jared, 267, 323, 365
Gaida, Lisa, 368 Gelsey, Erwin, 160
Gaines, Boyd, 13, 15–16, 333 Gemignani, Alexander, 135, 167, 178, 234, 278, 280, 325
Gaines, Davis, 104, 185 Gemignani, Paul, 37, 59, 91, 121–22, 167, 183, 194, 196,
Gajda, Lisa, 273 301, 368, 398
Galati, Frank, 39, 41, 96, 295, 351–52 Gemini, 223–24
Gale, Gregory, 69, 257, 383 Genet, Jean, 328
Gallagher, Dan, 243 Genet, Michael, 255
Gallagher, Dick, 32 Gentry, Ken, 199
Gallagher, Helen, 22, 375, 406 Genzingler, Neil, 414
Gallagher, Joe, 59 George, Rhett, 403
Gallagher, John, Jr., 289 George Gershwin Alone, 60–61
Gallardo, Edgard, 243 Gere, Richard, 317
Galligan-Stierle, Aaron, 320 Gerle, Andrew, 307
Gallin, Sandy, 112 Gero, Frank, 215
INDEX 469
Gershon, Gina, 400–401 Golden, Frank, 347

Gershwin, George, 5, 60–61, 335, 343 Golden, Lea Marie, 140
Gershwin, Ira, 5, 60, 343 Golden, Margaret McFeeley, 42
The Gershwins’ An American in Paris, 343–45 Goldenberg, Billy, 79
Gersten, Bernard, 13, 32, 72, 77, 166, 183, 213, 217, 334 Golden Land Orchestra, 30
Gersten, Jenny, 380 Goldenthal, Elliot, 21–22, 173
Gets, Malcolm, 78, 104, 107–8, 292, 372, 407 Goldfarb, Daniel, 268
Gettelfinger, Sara, 203, 276 Goldilocks, 250
GFO, 201 Goldman, James, 46–47
GFour Productions, 251, 387 Goldman, Nina, 13
Ghostley, Alice, 64 Goldman, Sherwin M., 5, 121, 164, 191
Giacosa, Giuseppe, 115 Goldsberry, Renee Elise, 243
Giant, 390–92 Goldschneider, Ed, 69
Gibb, Barry, 315 Goldsmith, Harvey, 8
Gibbs, Christian, 328 Goldsmith, Herbert, 270
Gibbs, David, 383 Goldsmith, Oliver, 1
Gibbs, Nancy Nagel, 112, 211 Goldstein, Daniel, 211
Gifford, Kathie Lee, 308 Goldstein, Jess, 135, 201, 235, 268, 289, 392
Gilberg, Charles, 223 Goldwyn, Samuel, 7
Gilbert, Melissa, 392–93 Gomez, Carlos, 330
Giles, Anthony, 117 Gonzales, Keith, 42
Gilkison, Jason, 192, 397 Gonzalez, Mandy, 117, 230
Gill, Michael, 257 Goodall, Howard, 358
Gilliam, Michael, 143, 181, 188 Goodchild, Tim, 154
Gilliam, Terry, 208 Goodman, Henry, 58
Gillibrand, Nicki, 359 Goodman, John, 145
Gillies, Elizabeth Egan, 358 Goodman, Robyn, 44, 145, 286, 377
Gindi, Roger Alan, 270 Goodman/Grossman, 330
Gingold, Hermione, 25 Goodman Theatre, 96, 175
Giordano, Tyrone, 143 Goodridge, Chad, 328
Girdler, Deb G., 310 Goodspeed Musicals, 75
A Girl Called Jo, 200 Good Vibrations, 201–3
Gladden, Dean R., 343 Goodwin, Deidre, 161, 243
Glant, Bruce and Joanne, 403 Goodwin, Will, 192
Glaser, Cathy, 415 Gordon, A., 99
Gleason, Joanna, 203 Gordon, Adam S., 340
Gleason, Tim Martin, 67 Gordon, Allan S., 208, 257, 340
Glick, M., 88 Gordon, Gale, 139
Glimcher, Arne, 225 Gordon, Paul, 42
Glist, Kathi, 197 Gordon-Levitt, Joseph, 365
Glory Days, 341–43 Gore, John, 361, 414
Glossop, Roger, 75 Gorgeous Entertainment, 194
Glover, Montego, 403 Gorme, Eydie, 306
Glushak, Joanna, 83 Gottlieb, Max, 383
Goble, Patty, 293, 323 Gottschall, Ruth, 157, 282
Gochman, Len, 407 Goulet, Robert, 198
Goddard, Gary, 380 Gouveia, Steve, 235
Godfrey, Peter, 374 Goyen, William, 309
Godley Morris Group, LLC, 258 Gozzi, Carlo, 21
Goede, Jay, 129 Grabarkewitz, David, 164
Gold!, 176–77 Grable, Betty, 363
Gold, Rebecca, 380 Graff, Randy, 44, 162–63
Goldberg, Marcia, 152, 211 Graham, Arnold, 30
Goldberg, Mark, 50 Graham, Lauren, 374–75
Goldberg, Neil, 353 Graham, Nick, 270
Goldberg, Whoopi, 89, 192, 311 Graham, Ronny, 292
Goldberg/Binder, 297 Grammer, Kelsey, 38, 199, 327
Goldblatt, JD, 278 Granata, Dona, 107
Golden, Annie, 30, 169, 381 Grandosek, Gordana, 397
Grano, Joseph J., 235, 356 Grove, Barry, 299

Grant, Cary, 23–24 Grove, Jessica, 89, 390
Grant, Hugh, 239 Grover, Stanley, 407
Grant, Kate Jennings, 374–75 GRS Associates, 208
Grant, Kelly Jeanne, 283 Grupper, Adam, 115
Grant, Micki, 331 Guare, John, 83–85
Grant, Peter, 336 Guest, Christopher, 148
Grappo, Connie, 148 Guettel, Adam, 213–15
Gravitte, Beau, 213 Guild, Ralph, 239
Gravity Entertainment, 137 Guiles, Coats, 115
Gray, Kevin, 19 Gulan, Timothy, 137
Grazer, Brian, 340 Gumbel, Roberta, 232
Grease, 315–17 Gumble, Albert, 27
Great Big River, 145 Gumley, Matthew, 280
The Great Ostrovsky, 179–80 Gunas, Gary, 39
Green, Adolph, 50, 158, 345 Gunderson, Ronnie, 67, 224
Green, Alan H., 351 Gunton, Bob, 165, 179
Green, Amanda, 286–87 Gurwin, Danny, 121, 199
Green, Bradley Kerr, 53 Gussow, Mel, 117, 331, 361
Green, Guy, 213 Guthrie Theatre, 392
Green, Martyn, 22 Gutierrez, Carmen, 407
Green, Stanley, 285 Gutterman, Jay & Cindy, 188, 287
Greenberg, Richard, 368 Guys and Dolls, 374–77
The Green Bird, 21–22 Gwynne, Haydn, 359
Greenblatt, Kenneth, 197 Gypsy, 131–33, 332–33
Greenblatt, Robert, 387
Greene, Ellen, 148 Haak, Brad, 255, 280
Greene, Sally, 359 Haber, Carole L., 372
Green State Prods., 387 Haber, John L., 347–48
Greenwald, Robert, 313 Habib, Barry, 383
Greenwood, Jane, 1, 79, 230, 347 Habib, Toni, 383
Greer, Justin, 124 Hackady, Hal, 140
Gregory, Chester (II), 340, 368 Hackett, Buddy, 25
Gregory, Tom, 374 Hackler, Blake, 59
Gregus, Peter, 235 Hadary, Jonathan, 169, 212
Greif, Michael, 160–61, 274, 385 Haft, Simone Genatt, 147
Greiner, Ken, 415 Hagan, Joanna, 268
Grendel, 173 Hagen, Uta, 245
Greogry, Chester II, 262 Hague, Albert, 277
Grey, Joel, 152 Haimes, Todd, 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, 167, 194, 245, 252,
Grey Gardens, 274–76 289, 301, 325, 368, 400
Grier, David Alan, 226 Hair, 380–83
Griffin, Gary, 241, 289, 345 Hairspray, 99–102
Griffin, Merv, 406 Hale, Richard, 88
Griffith, Charles, 147 Hall, Anthony Blair, 39
Griffith, PJ, 392 Hall, Juanita, 106
Griffiths, Sheila, 135 Hall, Lee, 359
Grigsby, Kimberly, 30, 288, 315 Hall, Thomas, 30
Grode, Eric, 382 Halliday, Bob, 349
Groener, Harry, 119, 180, 343 Halling, Michael, 232
Groenewold, Chris, 4 Halpin, Adam, 342
Grooms, Luke, 323 Halston, 364
Groover, D. L., 344 Hamel, Alan, 229
Gross, Steven, 179 Hamilton, George, 214
Grossman, Ken, 270 Hamingston, Andrew D., 380
Grossman, Randi, 208, 225 Hamlin, Roy, 140
Grossman, Walt, 377 Hamlisch, Marvin, 45, 83, 85, 119–20, 271
Grossman, Walter, 145 Hammerstein, Oscar II, 63, 85, 104, 191, 334
Grothues, Nicole, 175 Hammett, Dashiell, 121
INDEX 471
Hammond, Blake, 23 Hately, Linzi, 282

Hammond, Malik, 358 Hatfield, Hurd, 113
Hampton, Christopher, 186 Hathaway, Anne, 280
Hancock, Rob, 95 Hatley, Tim, 8, 208, 368
Hancock, Sheila, 166, 311 Hauptman, Elisabeth, 252
Hanes, Tyler, 220 Hauptman, William, 143
Hanggi, Kristin, 383 Hausam, Wiley, 16
Hanke, Christopher J., 232, 340 Havoc, June, 22
Hanket, Arthur, 137 Hayden, Sophie, 249
Hanley, Ellen, 103 Hayes, Dameka, 180
Hanson, Alexander, 417 Hayes, Sean, 101
Hanson, Fred, 278 Hays, Carole Shorenstein, 171
Hanson, Marsh, 67 Hayward-Jones, Michael, 356
Happel, Marc, 267 Hayworth, Rita, 314
Harada, Ann, 145, 387 HBO Films, 171
Harbor Entertainment, 162, 211, 268 Headley, Heather, 10, 12–13
Harburg, E. Y., 405–6 Healy, Patrick, 395, 404, 416
Hardin, Chad, 357 Heaney, Seamus, 9
Harelik, Mark, 213 Hearn, George, 49, 165–66, 198–99, 235, 310, 351
Hargrove, Carla J., 147 Heffner, Keith, 353
Harms, James, 351 Heggins, Amy, 46
Harnick, Sheldon, 38, 162, 289 Heiken, Nancy, 117
Harper, Wally, 77, 166 Held-Haffner Productions, 407
Harriell, Marcy, 230 Helen Hayes Theatre Company, 157
Harrington, Andre D., 223 Heller, Adam, 345
Harrington, Wendall K., 37, 232, 274 Heller, Lukas, 140
Harris, Amelia, 37 Hellman, Lillian, 120–21, 206, 208
Harris, Barbara, 290 Helm, Patrick, 397
Harris, D., 99 Hemmings, David, 76
Harris, Dede, 23, 80, 203, 387 Hendee, Gareth, 25, 95
Harris, Genee, 401 Hendel, Ruth, 203, 267, 286, 323, 328, 330, 415
Harris, Harriet, 90, 304–6, 340–41 Hendel, Stephen, 415
Harris, Jay, 160, 203, 392 Hendel/Morten/Westfield, 171
Harris, Kimberly Ann, 241 Hendel/Wiesenfeld, 297
Harris, Neil Patrick, 285 Henderson, Florence, 106
Harris, Paul, 68, 181, 308 Henderson, Mark, 215
Harris, Phil, 224–25, 309 Henderson, Stephen McKinley, 186
Harrison, Greogry, 46 Henning, Paul, 203
Harrison, Howard, 71, 280 Hensley, Shuler, 86, 88, 249, 262, 318
Harrison, Rex, 350 Hepburn, Audrey, 350
Harry, Jackee, 103 Herbert Goldsmith Productions, 270
Hart, Christopher, 380 Herdlicka, Hunter Ryan, 417
Hart, Dorothy, 371 Herlihy, Tim, 257
Hart, Linda, 223 Hermalyn, Joy, 398
Hart, Lorenz, 102, 368 Herman, Jerry, 197, 304, 306
Hartford, Huntington, 43 Hernandez, Ivan, 181, 264–65
Hartley, Jan, 119 Hernandez, Philip, 66
Hartley, Ted, 160, 292, 332, 358 Hernandez, Riccardo, 50, 80, 171, 225
Hartman, Andrew, 405 Herold, Don, 11
Harvey, Dennis, 153, 226 Herrera, John, 252
Harvey Comics, 93 Herrick, Jack, 347–48
Harvey Entertainment, 338 Herrick, Norton, 380, 387
Hase, Thomas C., 283 Herriott, Brian, 96
Haskell, Neil, 273 Hersey, David, 85, 278, 349
Hastings, John, 32 Herst, Betsy, 353
Hatch, Eric, 377 Hess, David, 398
Hatch, Heather, 297 Hess, Joan, 50
Hatch, Joel, 359 Hess, Michael, 35
Hatcher, Jeffrey, 160 Hester, Richard, 32
Hewitt, Tom, 33, 102, 186, 265 Holloway, Stanley, 350

Heyer, Thom, 157 Holly Golightly, 138–39
Heyman, Lilian, 394 Holm, Celeste, 64
Heyward, Dorothy, 5 Holmes, Michael Thomas, 390
Heyward, DuBose, 5 Holmes, Rupert, 135, 292
Hibbard, David, 44 Holt, Chrys, 354
Hibbert, Edward, 21, 260 Holzman, Winnie, 152
Hickey, Peggy, 248 Honowitz, Melvin, 267
Hickok, John, 10, 199 Hooper, Tom, 280
Hicks, Marva, 171 Hopkins, Kaitlin, 277
Hidalgo, Allen, 225, 259 Hopkins, Lisa, 115
Higgins, Colin, 387 Horak, Ann, 361
The Highest Yellow, 224–25 Horchow, Roger, 292, 332
High Fidelity, 286–87 Hordern, Michael, 108
High on Stage, 203 HoriPro, 147
Hijuelos, Oscar, 225 Horn, Robert, 192, 347, 358
Hilferty, Susan, 26, 91, 96, 152, 154, 167, 255, 288, 351, Hornby, Nick, 286
390 Horne, Marilyn, 106
Hill, Arthur, 114 Horowitz, Jeffrey, 21
Hill, Brian, 321, 372 Horowitz, Lawrence, 117, 129, 162, 208, 239, 257
Hill, Dru, 13 Horowitz, Leah, 414
Hill, George Roy, 88 Horton, John, 153
Hill, John, 99, 149 Horwich, Steven David, 358
Hill, Roderick, 255 Horwitt, Arnold, 160
Hill, Rosena M., 119 Hot Feet, 258–60
Hilsabeck, Rick, 175 Hoty, Dee, 347, 400
Hilty, Megan, 387 Houdini, Harry, 410
Hinckley, David, 31, 382 Hough, Julianne, 317, 385
Hine, Janet, 397 Hould-Ward, Ann, 117, 283, 338
Hines, Maurice, 258, 403 Houston, Whitney, 65
Hines, Mimi, 49 Hovde, Ellen, 274
Hinwood, Peter, 35 Howard, Hollie, 99
Hirschfeld, Elie, 328 Howard, Joseph, 310
Hives, Sarah, 397 Howard, Leslie, 349
Hobson, Louis, 385 Howard, Lisa, 219
Hocking, Leah, 16, 117, 248–49 Howard, Ronny, 25
Hodge, Douglas, 199 Howard, Sidney, 248
Hodges, Henry, 280 Howes, Benjamin, 345
Hoff, Christian, 235, 237, 369 Howes, Bobby, 407
Hoffman, Anita, 95 Howes, Sally Ann, 1, 3, 65, 217, 350
Hoffman, Bill, 155–56 Howland, Beth, 284–85
Hoffman, Constance, 21 Howland, Jason, 154, 199
Hoffman, Heather, 353 Hoyt, Lon, 99
Hoffman, Jackie, 313–14 HRH Foundation, 407
Hoffman, Philip, 338 Hsu, Emily, 50
Hofler, Robert, 130, 163 HTG Productions, 60
Hofsiss, Jack, 3 Hu, Maryann, 334
Hogsed, Scott, 191 Huang, Wei, 115
Holbrook, Curtis, 211, 313, 377 Huang Gengying, 371
Holcenberg, David, 39, 372, 400 Huard, Jeffrey, 83
Holden, Stephen, 112, 214, 218, 365, 399 Hudes, Quiara Alegria, 330
Holder, Donald, 21, 50, 66, 89, 102, 110, 147, 149, 197, Hudgens, Vanessa, 317
211, 273, 289, 310, 334, 337, 407 Hudson, Jennifer, 101, 414
Holiday Inn, 362–63 Hudson, Kate, 128
Holland, Bernard, 6, 165 Hudson, Rock, 391
Holland, Greg, 171 Huffman, Brent-Alan, 310
Holliday, Jennifer, 180, 414 Huffman, Cady, 58
Holliday, Judy, 51 Huffman, Kristin, 283
Hollmann, Mark, 69–70 Hughes, Carly, 320
INDEX 473
Hughes, Ken, 215 134–35, 144, 146, 148, 151, 153, 156–59, 161, 163, 165,
Hughes, Mick, 75 167, 169–71, 174, 187, 190, 192, 211, 219–20, 270, 278,
Hugo, Victor, 278 288, 314, 329, 331, 354–55, 363, 366, 371–72, 395, 398
Huidor, Miguel Angel, 175, 179 Island of Lost Co-eds, 317
Hulce, Tom, 287 Isozaki, Fred, 194
Hull, Mylinda, 61 It’s So Nice to Be Civilized, 331
Hummel, Mark, 50, 137, 243 Ives, David, 117, 361, 414
Humphries, Barry, 192–94 Ivey, Judith, 46
Humphris, Caroline, 325 Ivory, James, 18
Hunter, Adam John, 283, 338, 383
Hunter, Evan, 393–94 Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed, 210–11
Hunter, JoAnn M., 89, 211, 257, 292 Jackie Mason: Prune Danish, 109
Hunter, Ross, 106 Jackman, Hugh, 86, 149–51, 280
Hunter, Tim, 63 Jackness, Andrew, 400
Huntington Theatre company, 135 Jackson, Cheyenne, 211, 313–14, 405
Huot, Jesse, 273 Jackson, Janet, 13
Hurder, Robyn, 315 Jackson, Richie, 338
Hushion, Casey, 393 Jack Utsick Presents, 185
Hutton, Betty, 376 Jacobs, Jim, 315, 317
Huxhold, Kristine, 121 Jacobs, Sander, 330, 377
Hwang, David Henry, 10, 104, 262–63 Jacobsen, Amber, 389
Hyland, Sarah, 275 Jacobsen, Kevin, 389
Hylenski, Peter, 157, 366 Jacobsen Entertainment, 389
Hyperion Theatricals, 10 Jacobson, Irving, 113
Hytner, Nicholas, 83 Jacobson, Lynn, 309, 348
Jacoby, Mark, 96, 234
Ian, David, 315, 332, 349 Jaffrey, Madhur, 169
Idle, Eric, 41, 208 Jake Productions, 412
IDT Entertainment, 251 James, Barry, 148, 223
Iglehart, James Monroe, 403 James, Brian d’Arcy, 18, 83, 289–90, 363, 366, 386, 392
Illica, Luigi, 115 James, Cory, 95
I Love Alice, 349 James, Nikki M., 211
Imaginary Friends, 119–21 James, Rian, 61
Inaba, Carrie Ann, 397 James, Toni-Leslie, 16, 82, 243, 405–6
Inbar, Sara, 71 James Joyce’s The Dead, 1–4
Independent Presenters Network, 88, 169, 208, 241, 297, Jameson, Keith, 205
374, 387, 407 Jam Theatricals, 208, 257, 286, 380, 387, 417
Ing, Alvin (Y. F.), 104, 194, 196 Jane Eyre, 42–44
Ingalls, James F., 60, 129 Janney, Allison, 387
Inglesby, Meredith, 226 Jarman, Georgia, 205
Inkley, Fred, 102 Jarvis, Martin, 75
In My Life, 232–33 Jarvis, Mitchell, 383
Innaurato, Albert, 223 Jason, Karen, 211
Innvar, Christopher, 302 Javerbaum, David, 340
Integrity Designworks, 63 Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!, 270–71
In the Heights, 330–32 Jbara, Gregory, 203, 359, 361
Into the Woods, 90–93 Jean Doumanian Productions, Inc., 107
Iordanova, Stefka, 354 Jeeves, 76
Irons, Jeremy, 121–22 Jefferson, Margo, 84
Irving, George S., 64–65 Jeffrey, Trisha, 147
Irwin, Bill, 400–402 Jellison, John, 403
Irwin, Jennifer, 389 Jenkins, Capathia, 133, 171, 268
Isaacson, Mike, 89 Jenkins, Daniel, 143, 145, 280
Isenberg, Barbara, 164 Jenkins, David, 1, 191
Isenegger, Nadine, 368 Jenkins, Florence Foster, 238–39
Isherwood, Charles, 3, 5, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, Jenkins, Gordon, 21
31–33, 35, 37, 41, 43, 46, 49, 52, 54, 57, 60–61, 63, 70, Jenkins, Jeffrey Eric, 134, 163, 170, 278
72–74, 76, 78, 80–81, 83, 85, 87, 90, 92, 101, 103, 105, Jenkins, Michael, 104, 137, 270, 374
108–9, 111, 114, 116, 118–20, 122, 125–26, 128–29, 132, Jennings, Ken, 69
Jenson, Vicky, 366 Joseph Papp Public Theatre, 16

Jerome, Tim, 262 Joshi, Nehal, 278
Jerry Springer—The Opera, 323–25 Joy, James Leonard, 137
Jersey Boys, 235–38 Joyce, Carol Leavy, 9, 295
Jesus Christ Superstar, 19–21 Joye, Col, 389
Jett, Joan, 33 Jubilee Time Productions, LLC, 364
Jewison, Norman, 20, 163 Jue, Francis, 194
Jia Honglei, 371 Jujamcyn Productions, 257
Jiang Dongxu, 371 Jujamcyn Theatres, 171, 338, 380, 405
Jibson, Carly, 340 Julia, Raul, 114, 127
Jillette, Penn, 29 Junkyard Dog Productions, 403
Jim Henson Company, 147 Justman, Amy, 361
JK Productions, 380
Jocko Productions, 403 Kaczorowski, Peter, 13, 23, 55, 59, 72, 158, 245, 247, 274,
Joel, Billy, 110–11 292, 318
Johannes, Mark, 147 Kael, Pauline, 101
Johanson, Robert, 65, 157, 192 Kahn, Madeline, 207
John, Elton, 10, 12–13, 255, 359–60 Kahn, Ricardo, 258
Johnson, 365 Kail, Thomas, 330
Johnson, Aaron, 415 Kain, Luka, 334
Johnson, Alan, 243 Kaiser, Michael, 304, 407
Johnson, Anita, 6 Kalbfleisch, Jon, 224
Johnson, Brian Charles, 288 Kalem, T. E., 34, 195, 381
Johnson, Bryan, 255 Kalimba Entertainment, Inc., 258
Johnson, Catherine, 71 Kall, James, 75
Johnson, Chantylla, 241 Kallins, Molly Grant, 131
Johnson, Jay, 270–71 Kallish, Jan, 338
Johnson, Jesse JP, 342 Kallish, Jay, 241
Johnson, Kathleen K., 380 Kandel, Paul, 19, 179
Johnson, Richard, 155 Kander, John, 96, 292, 351
Johnson, Todd, 241 Kantra, Nancy Berman, 223
Johnson, Troy Britton, 260 Kantrowitz, Jason, 355
Johnson, Van, 25 Kaplowitz, Robert, 416
Johnston, Jimmy, 86 Karamysheva, Tatiana, 365
Johnston, Kate, 353 Kardana/Swinsky Productions, 23, 39
Jon, Timothy, 95 Karl, Andy, 226
Jones, Allan, 103 Karmazin, Sharon, 203, 358, 407
Jones, Bambi, 140 Karnilova, Maria, 64–65, 402
Jones, Bill T., 288–89, 415–16 Karslake, Daniel, 115
Jones, Charlotte, 239–40 Karvelas, Chuck, 95
Jones, Cherry, 119–20 Kassay, Clara, 349
Jones, Chris, 66, 94–95, 97, 139, 177, 228, 390 Kastner, Ron, 131
Jones, Christine, 21, 288 Kastrinos, Nicole, 405
Jones, Chuck, 277 Katsaros, Doug, 157
Jones, Dean, 285 Kattan, Chris, 184
Jones, Denis, 30, 297 Katz, Natasha, 10, 13, 39, 83, 104, 123, 154, 219, 226, 230,
Jones, Leilani, 148 262, 271, 321, 398
Jones, Marshall, 37 Katz, Sara, 355, 383
Jones, Quincy, 241 Kaufman, David, 383
Jones, Richard G., 234 Kaufman, George S., 375
Jones, Robert, 135 Kaufman, Mark, 257
Jones, Shirley, 25 Kaufman, Mervyn, 164
Jones, Terry, 208 Kavanaugh, Ryan, 383
Jones, Toby, 126 Kawana, Yasuhiro, 297
Jones, Tom, 301, 304 Kayden, Spencer, 69
Jordan, Laura, 232 Kaye, Howard, 351
Jordan, Lee, 285 Kaye, Judy, 52, 71, 205, 238–39, 411
Jordan, Pamela, 186 Kazee, Steve, 302, 304
Joseph, Jared, 412 Keating, Isabel, 149
INDEX 475
Keegan, Thomas, 199 Kirby, Davis, 72, 102

Keenan-Bolger, Andrew, 39 Kirdahy, Tom, 407
Keenan-Bolger, Celia, 215, 219 Kirk, Roger, 19, 61
Kehr, Donnie, 235 Kirkham, Willi, 310
Keitel, Harvey, 323 Kirkpatrick, Shane, 50
Keith, Larry, 181 Kirkwood, James, 271
Keller, Michael, 297 Kirkwood, Pat, 160
Keller, Neel, 393 Kirmser, Fran, 380
Keller, Ramona, 171, 188–89, 347 Kissel, Howard, 48, 52, 56–57, 108, 150, 326
Kellerman, Sally, 138 Kisselev, Andrei, 9
Kellin, Orange, 82 Kisselgoff, Anna, 9, 111
Kellogg, Lynn, 381 Kitchin, Sam, 323
Kellogg, Paul, 5, 121, 164, 191, 205 Kitsopoulos, Constantine, 115, 186, 225, 338
Kelly, 407 Kitt, Eartha, 17–18, 63–65, 191
Kelly, Gene, 314, 370–71 Kitt, Tom, 190, 286–87, 358, 385–86
Kelly, Glen, 37 Klainer, Traci, 109
Kelly, Julian, 295 Klaitz, Jay, 286
Kelly, Laura Michelle, 162–63, 282 Klausen, Ray, 79, 143, 188, 364, 397
Kelly, Madeleine, 243 Kleban, Edward, 44–45, 271
Kelly, Patsy, 347 Klein, Alisa, 89
Kelly, Tari, 320 Klein, Robert, 290
Kelpie Arts, 104 Kleinsma, Simone, 222
Kemp, Hartley T A, 417 Klepatsky, Iouri, 353
Kemp, Tony, 8 Kline, Kevin, 126
Kendrick, Anna, 93, 121 Kline, Linda, 44
Kennedy, Anne, 224, 308 Klitz, Jeffrey, 230, 258, 374
Kennedy, Brian, 9 Kloots, Amanda, 201
Kennedy, Lauren, 67, 347, 363 Klotz, Florence, 195
Kennedy, William, 201 Knechtges, Dan, 219, 301, 313–14
Kennedy Center, 23, 175, 304, 349, 407 Knee, Allan, 199
Kenny, Tom, 8 Knifedge Creative Network, 325
Kent, Jonathan, 112, 114 Knitting Factory Entertainment, 415
Kenwright, Adam, 154, 234 Kobart, Ruth, 309
Kenwright, Bill, 328, 374 Koch, Martin, 71, 361
Kern, Jerome, 160 Kohl, Lacey, 340
Kern, Kevin, 67 Kolb, Alexandra, 63
Kerr, John, 336 Kolins, Howard, 37
Kerr, Walter, 24, 91, 180, 207 Koomson, Abena, 416
Kerrison, Shaun, 278, 349 Kope, Peter, 4
Kert, Larry, 139, 285, 363 Kopit, Alan S., 50
Keyes, Justin, 290 Kopit, Arthur, 127, 129
Khamzin, Dmitry, 365 Korbich, Eddie, 169, 260
Khan, Farah, 169 Korea/Pictures/Doyun Seol, 115
Ki-Chi-Saga, 398 Korey, Alix, 18, 141, 211, 213
Kidd, Michael, 25, 179, 346 Korie, Michael, 264, 274
Kidjo, Angelique, 13 Korins, David, 323, 328
Kidman, Nicole, 128 Kornicki, Kevin, 4
Kief, Garry, 65 Kosarin, Michael, 321
Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway, 267–68 Koshino, Junko, 194
Kiley, Richard, 38, 113–14 Kosis, Tom, 104, 226, 400
Kim, Randall Duk, 104 Koslow, Pamela, 42
Kimball, Chad, 91, 201, 230, 403 Koster, Henry, 106
Kimball, Robert, 178, 371 Kotis, Greg, 69–70
Kimbrough, Nikki, 412 Kouyate, Ismael, 415
Kimmel, Sidney, 157 Kowalik, Trent, 359, 361
Kind, Richard, 337 Kowalke, Kim H., 299
King, Perry, 18 Kozinn, Allan, 337–38
Kinley, Matt, 349 Krachmalnick, Samuel, 207
Kinsella, Tamara and Kevin, 235 Krakowski, Jane, 127, 129, 314
Kramer, Terry Allen, 110, 162, 197, 273, 315, 377, 387 Lambert, Patricia, 25
Krane, David, 59, 112 Laminack, Mary E., 356
Krantz, Mark, 80 Lamparella, Gina, 119
Krasna, Norman, 361, 414 Lams Entertainment, 355
Krassner, Meri, 211 Lams Productions, 407
Kravits, Jason, 260 LAMS Productions, 377
Kravitz, Lenny, 13 Land, Elizabeth Ward, 310
Krebs, Eric, 135 Landau, Emily Fisher, 328
Kreeger, Doug, 278, 351 Landau, Steven, 143
Kreppel, Paul, 270 Landau, Tina, 50, 52
Kretzmer, Herbert, 278, 398 Lander, David, 26, 95
Krieger, Henry, 411 Landesman, Rocco, 54
Kristina, 398–400 Landis, Lynn, 55
Kritzer, Leslie, 297, 338 Landis, Scott, 245
Kroll, Jack, 195, 381 Land Line Productions, 403
Kronenberger, Louis, 43–44 Lane, Burton, 405
Krones, Fred H., 50 Lane, Jeffrey, 203
Kronzer, Jim, 342 Lane, Nathan, 55, 58, 126, 177, 183–85, 269
Kubis, Tom, 180 Lane, Stewart F., 88, 162, 270, 325
Kuchwara, Michael, 150 Lane/Comley, 297
Kudisch, Marc, 16, 50, 52, 90, 121–22, 167, 215, 224, Langella, Frank, 37–38, 97
289–90, 387, 402 Langford, Bonnie, 132
Kuhn, Jeffrey, 167 Lanks, Mark, 342
Kuhn, Judy, 224 Lannan, Nina, 21, 230, 389
Kukoff, Bernie, 211 Lanning, Jerry, 159
Kulish, Kiril, 359, 361 Lansbury, Angela, 97, 131–32, 165, 306, 417
Kunze, Michael, 117 Lansbury, Edgar, 230
Kuo, Jay, 365 Lapan, Lisa, 268
Kurtz, Swoosie, 119–20 Lapine, James, 25, 90–92, 94, 107, 219, 325
Kushner, Tony, 171 Large, Norman, 239
Kushnier, Jeremy, 67 Larsen, Anika, 313
Kwan, Nancy, 106 Larsen, David, 201
Lassen, Fred, 203
LaBelle, Patti, 416 Latarro, Lorin, 290
La Boheme, 115–17 Latessa, Dick, 51, 101
Laboissonnier, Wade, 372 Latham, Aaron, 123, 125
Labriola, Gary, 364 Lathrop, Jack, 347
La Cage Aux Folles, 197–99 Latifah, Queen, 101
Lacamoire, Alex, 330, 332 Latitude Link, 235, 340, 403
LaCause, Sebastian, 33, 345 Latouche, John, 205, 337
Lacey, Florence, 308 Laughing Room Only, 157–58
Lacey, Franklin, 23 Launer, Dale, 203
LaChanze, 241, 243 Lauper, Cyndi, 252
LaChiusa, Michael John, 16–18, 224, 390 Laurence, Vasi, 328
Lachowicz, Cheryl, 241 Laurents, Arthur, 131, 332, 377, 379
Lackey, Herndon, 299 Lavallen, Victor, 185
Lacy, Todd, 321 Law, Lindsay, 30
Laffrey, Dane, 390 Lawrence, Eddie, 18
Lahr, Bert, 394 Lawrence, Gail, 405
Lahr, John, 17, 42, 57, 73, 76, 80, 85, 87, 106, 120, 129, Lawrence, Jerome, 304
132, 134, 153, 169, 171, 174, 193, 195, 204–5, 210, 215, Lawrence, Mal Z., 30
234–35, 237, 242, 246–47, 253, 284, 292, 294, 301, 319, Lawrence, Megan, 67
327, 335, 365, 370, 378, 401–2, 404, 406 Lawrence, Peter, 112, 131, 208, 366
Laird, Paul R., 153 Lazar, Aaron, 215
La Jolla Playhouse, 264 Lazar, David, 374
LaManna, Janine, 39, 133, 220 Lazenga, Britta, 389
Lamb, Peter W., 46 Lazzaretto, Marina, 377
Lambert, Gelan, 415 Leamy, Deborah, 160
Lambert, Lisa, 260, 262 Leavel, Beth, 262, 345, 348, 393–94
INDEX 477
Leavitt, Michael, 88 Levy, Julia C., 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, 167, 194, 245, 252,
Lee, Baayork, 191, 271 289, 301, 325, 368, 400
Lee, Bert, 280 Levy, Lorie Cowen, 23
Lee, C. Y., 104 Levy, Ralph, 203
Lee, Chris, 268, 308 Levy, Steven M., 192
Lee, Christopher, 35 Levy, Ted L., 72
Lee, Darren, 194 Levy, Tim, 358, 392
Lee, Eugene, 39, 41, 152, 154, 164, 175, 295 Lew, Deborah, 252
Lee, Franne, 164 Lewis, Bobo, 18
Lee, Gavin, 282 Lewis, Brittany, 412
Lee, Gypsy Rose, 131, 332 Lewis, David H., 106
Lee, Hoon, 104 Lewis, Dawnn, 310
Lee, Jack F., 238 Lewis, Jenifer, 310, 413
Lee, Jeff, 262 Lewis, Jim, 415
Lee, Michael K., 19 Lewis, Ken Krashner, 29
Lee, Robert E., 304 Lewis, Marcia, 402
Lee, Sammy, 88 Lewis, Martin, 57
Lee, Spike, 330 Lewis, Norm, 16, 107, 278, 280, 321
Lee, Stewart, 323 Lewis, Ron, 364
Legally Blonde, 297–99 Lewis, Sabra, 393
Legrand, Michel, 38, 107 Lewis, Shannon, 220
Legs Diamond, 150–51 Lewis, Stephen Brimson, 389
Leguillou, Lisa, 152, 190 Lewis, William, 207
Lehman, Ernest, 83 Lewis-Evans, Kecia, 368
Lehrer, Scott, 337 Lexington Road Productions, 117
Leigh, Janet, 160, 402 LFG Holdings, 117
Leigh, Mitch, 112 Li, Li Jun, 334
Leigh, Vivien, 141 Lichtefeld, Michael, 157, 199
Leiter/Levine, 188 The Light in the Piazza, 213–15
Le Loka, Tsidii, 9 Lightswitch, 412
Lemenager, Nancy, 161 Ligon, Kevin, 318
Lemmon, Jack, 137–38, 160 Like Jazz, 180
Lenhart, Jill, 374 Li Lin, 371
Lennon, 230–32 Lillian, 121
Lennon, Garry, 310 Lillie, Beatrice, 347
Lennon, John, 230–32 Lima, Kevin, 262
Lenox, Adriane, 243 Lincoln Center, 13, 32, 72, 77, 183, 213, 217, 334
Lenya, Lotte, 254, 299–301 Linden, Hal, 39, 52
Leon, Kenny, 101 Lindsay, Howard, 64, 160
Leonard, James Chip, 278 Lindsay, Kara, 347, 392
Leonardis, Tom, 192 Lindsay-Abaire, David, 286, 366
Leopold, Lizzie, 342 Linkous, Ray, 53
Leopold, Richard E., 342 Linn-Baker, Mark, 129–30
Lerner, Alan Jay, 349 Lion, Margo, 80, 99, 171, 257
Lerner, Myla, 405 Lionsgate, 389
Les Miserables, 278–80 Lipitz, Amanda, 203, 297
Le Sourd, Jacques, 215 Lipman, Maureen, 86
Lestat, 254–56 Lippa, Andrew, 18
LeStrange, Philip, 160 Lipton, Logan, 179
Letendre, Brian, 124 Lipton, Maureen, 239
Leveaux, David, 127–28, 162–63 Lisenby, Jeff, 251
Levenberg, Alison, 343 Lister, Marquita, 6
Levering, Kate, 72–74 Lithgow, John, 83, 85, 203
Levi, Richard, 387, 397 Little, Valisia Lekae, 302
Levin, Carl, 383 Little House on the Prairie, 392–93
Levine, Michael, 119 Little Mary Sunshine, 328
Levings, Nigel, 115–17 The Little Mermaid, 321–23
Levy, Caissie, 380 A Little Night Music, 121–23, 416–18
Little Shop of Horrors, 147–49
Littlestar, 71 Luftig, Hal, 39, 88, 110, 192, 273, 297–98, 377
Little Women, 199–201 Luhrmann, Baz, 115
Litzsinger, Sarah, 107 Luke, Keye, 106
Liu, Allen, 104 Luker, Rebecca, 23–24, 104, 280
Liu Tongbiao, 371 Luketic, Robert, 297
Live Nation, 286, 349 Lukianov, Alex and Katya, 403
Liza’s at the Palace..., 364–65 Lumbard, Dirk, 119
Llana, Jose, 104, 219 LuPone, Patti, 3, 32–33, 131–32, 166, 234–35, 280, 285,
Lloyd, Phyllida, 71 332–33, 371
Lloyd Webber, Andrew, 19, 75–77, 169, 239–40 Lutken, David M., 251
Llywelyn, Morgan, 295 Lyman, Rick, 175
Lobel, Adrianne, 129–30, 392 Lyn, Anthony, 280
Lobel, Arnold, 129–30 Lynam, Christopher, 365
Lobenhofer, Matthew, 332 Lynch, Michele, 392
Lockridge, Richard, 370 Lynch, Stephen, 257
Loesser, Emily, 75, 182, 376 Lynch, Thomas, 13, 23, 72, 102, 181
Loesser, Frank, 25, 181, 248, 374–75 Lynde, Paul, 402
Loesser, Jo Sullivan, 182 Lyng, Nora Mae, 107
Loewe, Frederick, 349 Lynne, Gillian, 134, 215
Loftus, Dan, 95 Lynne, Jeff, 313
Logan, Ella, 406 Lyon, Rick, 145
Logan, Fergus, 349 Lyons, Donald, 3, 17, 24
Logan, John, 166 Lyons, Jason, 201, 252, 383
Logan, Joshua, 334, 336 Lypsinka. See Epperson, John
Logan, Stacey, 83, 205 Lysistrata, 185
Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas,
347–49 MacDermot, Galt, 18, 380
Long, Andrew, 308 MacDevitt, Brian, 69, 91, 93, 96, 127, 162, 194, 201, 220,
Long, Jodi, 104 241, 257, 338, 358
Long, William Ivey, 13, 23, 37, 39, 41, 55, 59, 72, 99, 102, MacDonald, Daniel, 154
147, 149, 160, 183, 197, 220, 274, 276, 292, 294, 318, MacGilvray, James P., 340
368, 387, 412–13 Machota, Joe, 71
Longbottom, Robert, 104, 226, 400–401, 412 MacIntyre, Marguerite, 42
Longoria, Michael, 235 Mack, Robert, 6
The Look of Love, 133–35 Mackendrick, Alexander, 83
Lopez, Carlos, 181 Mackintosh, Cameron, 85, 278, 280, 349
Lopez, Martin, 179 Mackrell, Judith, 8–9
Lopez, Priscilla, 330 MacLaine, Shirley, 222
Lopez, Robert, 145, 147 MacLeod, Gavin, 66
Loprest, Kate, 392–93 MacNeil, Ian, 359, 361
Loquasto, Santo, 110, 273, 301, 407 MacNichol, Katie, 21
Loren, Sophia, 114, 128 Mac Rae, Heather, 338
Losey, Jana, 4 Maddigan, Tina, 71
Lotito, Mark, 235 Madover, Arielle Tepper, 380
Loud, David, 44, 96, 102, 133, 292, 351 Magaw, Jack, 95
Loudon, Dorothy, 292, 394 Mages, L., 88
Louis, Jillian, 223 Magic Hour Productions, 389
Louizos, Anna, 145, 286, 292, 294, 330, 361, 393, 414 Magid, Larry, 8, 83, 135, 196
Love, Andy, 347 Maguire, Ciaran, 8
Love/Life: A Life in Song, 217–18 Maguire, Gregory, 152
Lovemusik, 299–301 Maher, Bill, 135
Lowe, Ryan, 351 Mahoney, Will, 406
Lowy, David, 241 Mahowald, Joseph, 295
Loyacano, Elizabeth, 186 Mahshie, Jeff, 385
Lubin, Harold, 190 Mais, Michele, 383
Lucas, Craig, 213, 344 Maizus, Alex, 372
Luce, William, 121 Malas, Spiro, 249
Ludwig, Ken, 59–60, 343 Malcolm, Christopher, 33
Ludwig-Siegel, Sasha, 342 Malden, Karl, 132
INDEX 479
Malina, Stuart, 111 Marshall, Peter, 402

Malone, Beth, 251 Marshall, Rob, 41, 93, 128
Malone, Joseph, 230 Martin, Andrea, 40, 86–87, 101, 319
Maloney, Jennifer, 243, 287, 383 Martin, Barrett, 124
Malouf, David, 43 Martin, Bob, 260, 262, 393
Maltby, David, 251 Martin, Bud, 372, 387, 397
Maltby, Richard, Jr., 79, 251, 294–95, 372 Martin, Catherine, 115, 117
Maltin, Leonard, 134, 275, 385 Martin, Dean, 52
Mambo, Kevin, 415 Martin, Eileen, 9
The Mambo Kings, 225–26 Martin, John Jeffrey, 201
Mame, 304–6 Martin, Mary, 334, 336
Mamma Mia!, 71–72 Martin, Michael X., 293
Manahan, George, 164, 205, 248, 337 Martin, Millicent, 140
Manche, Daniel, 262 Martin, Nicholas, 135
Mandvi, Aasif, 86–87 Martin, Steve, 148
Manhattan Theatre Club, 44, 299 Martin, Virginia, 139
Manhattan Tower, 21 Martina, Tiger, 364
Manilow, Barry, 65, 230 Martinez, Rick, 21
Mann, Delbert, 135–36 Martin-O’Shia, Troy A., 179, 223
Mann, Terrence, 39, 169, 230 Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, 268–70
Mann, Theodore, 369 Marty, 135–36
Manning, Dan, 407 Marvin, Mel, 277, 320
Manocherian, Barbara, 325, 380 Marx, Jeff, 145, 147
Manocherian, Jennifer, 42, 171, 267, 287, 325 Mary Poppins, 280–83
Man of La Mancha, 112–14 Masella, Arthur, 164, 205, 337
Manos, Christopher B., 93 Maso, Michael, 135
Mantello, Joe, 152–53, 167, 169, 190, 368, 387 Mason, Jackie, 30, 109, 157, 210–11
Mantle, Burns, 370 Mason, James, 53
Manuel, Caren Lyn, 188 Mason, Karen, 71, 363
Marable, Kimberly, 412 Mason, Timothy, 276, 320
Marais, Jean, 108 Massey, Kevin, 392
Marcarie, Laura, 185 Mastantuono/Palumbo, 4
March, Joseph Moncure, 16 Masteroff, Joe, 250
Marc-Natel, Jean, 278 Masters, Diane, 137
Marc Salem’s Mind Games on Broadway, 174–75 Masterson, Mary Stuart, 127
Marcus, Daniel, 179 Mastrantonio, Mary Elizabeth, 112, 114, 327
Mare, Quentin, 121 Matalon, Vivian, 238
Margulies, David, 158 Mathews, Carmen, 327
Marie, Julienne, 103 Mathis, Stanley Wayne, 158
Marini, Lou, 217 Matsui, Rumi, 194
Marino, Roger, 131 Matthau, Walter, 375
Mario Cantone: Laugh Whore, 189–90 Mauro, Buzz, 67
Markes, P, 352 Mauro, Lucia, 96
Markinson, Martin, 60 Maximum Entertainment, 277, 320
Markley, Dan, 286, 361, 414 Max Productions, 342
Marks, Alan D., 405 Maxwell, Jan, 215
Marks, Peter, 118–19, 156, 177, 182, 184, 187, 189, 205, Maxwell, Mitchell, 50
209, 215, 222, 224, 230, 243, 246, 256, 258, 263, 284, Maxwell, Victoria, 50
306, 308–9, 319, 327, 335, 341, 343, 350, 360, 377, 391, May, Peter, 328
417 Mayer, Jaimie, 355
Marks, Walter, 18 Mayer, Michael, 88, 288–89
Mark Taper Forum, 104, 143 Mayerson, Frederic H., 54–55, 99, 147
Maroulis, Constantine, 383 Mayerson, Rhoda, 54–55, 99, 147, 235, 273, 338
Marques, David, 59 Mayerson Bell Staton Group, 273
Marre, Albert, 114 Mayerson-Bell-Staton-Osher Group, 338
Marsden, James, 101 Mayes, Sally, 402
Marsh, Henry, 93 Maynard, Tyler, 226
Marshall, Kathleen, 39, 41, 46, 147, 158–60, 245–46, 248, Mayo, Don, 112
315, 346, 381 Mayrelles, Chip, 415
Maysles, Albert, 274 McKenney, Todd, 151

Maysles, David, 274 McKenzie, Julia, 93
McAlexander, Amy, 199 McKeown, Allan, 230
McAllister, E., 99 McKernon, John, 82
McAllister, Elan V., 208, 257, 340 McKinley, Jesse, 148, 155, 233
McAnuff, Des, 186, 196, 235, 237, 264, 374–75 McKinley, Philip William, 149, 248
McAuliffe, Nichola, 217 McKinnis, Austin, 372
McCann, Elizabeth Ireland, 328, 380 McKneely, Joey, 16, 149, 377
McCann, Mary, 288 McLain, John, 93
McCarter, Jeremy, 325 McLane, Derek, 66–67, 96, 133, 199, 245–46, 252, 255,
McCarter Theatre Company, 36 307, 315, 347, 351, 407
McCarthy, Carolyn Kim, 42 McLean, Jordan, 415
McCarthy, Elaine J., 91, 152, 201, 208 McLeod, Raymond Jaramillo, 158
McCarthy, Jeff, 69, 295 McLerie, Allyn Ann, 52
McCarthy, Mary, 120 McMahon, Cheryl, 135
McCartney, Liz, 117, 154 McMartin, John, 91, 97, 222, 352
McCaul, Sorcha, 8 McNally, Terrence, 30–32, 96, 243–44, 351, 407, 409–10
McClain, John, 207 McNulty, Carrie, 95
McClelland, Kay, 159 McNulty, Charles, 312, 395
McClelland, Stephanie, 104, 208, 241, 260, 325, 407 McPherson, Aimee Semple, 308–10
McColgan, John, 9, 295–96, 387 McPherson, Barri, 188
McColl, Hamish, 125–26 McVety, Drew, 325
McCollum, Kevin, 115, 145, 260, 286, 330, 355, 361, 377, McVey, Beth, 66
407, 414 McVey, J. Mark, 357
McCormack, Erik J., 59 McWaters, Deborah, 96
McCormick, Michael, 131, 277 Meacham, Anne, 108
McCourt, Sean, 152 Meade, Marion, 159
McCullah, Karen, 297 Meade, William, 251
McCullers, Carson, 173 Meadow, Lynne, 299
McCullough, Mark, 19, 135, 392 Mear, Stephen, 280, 321
McCutcheon, Martine, 350 Meat Loaf, 35
McDaniel, John, 188 Medcalf, Harley, 192, 397
McDole, Jason, 273 Meeh, Gregory, 91, 277, 295, 320, 356
McDonald, Audra, 159, 302 Meehan, Thomas, 54, 58, 99, 101, 169, 318, 340
McDonald, Kirk, 67, 153 Meet John Doe, 306–8
McDonald, Michael, 380 Mehta, Aalok, 169
McDowall, Roddy, 39, 346 Meir A & Eli C, LLC, 258
McElroy, Michael, 143 Meister, Barbara, 249
McFadden, Corinne, 220 Mellman, Kenny, 267
McGillin, Howard, 117 Melrose, Ron, 119, 235
McGinnis, Joe, 243, 287 The Member of the Wedding, 173
McGinnis, Megan, 199 Memphis, 403–5
McGovern, Maureen, 199 Memphis Orpheum Group, 403
McGowan, Marissa, 417 Menchell, Ivan, 215
McGowan, Mike, 290 Mendes, Sam, 131, 177
McGrath, Katherine, 356 Menier Chocolate Factory, 325, 417
McGrath, Michael, 104 Menjou, Adolphe, 345
McGrath, Thomas B., 414 Menken, Alan, 37, 147, 310, 321
McGrath, Tom, 361 Menzel, Idina, 18, 152–54, 381
McGregor, Wayne, 239 Mercer, Johnny, 61
McGuire, Biff, 407 Merediz, Olga, 330
McGurk, Michael, 23 Merman, Ethel, 131–32
McHugh, Dominic, 315 Merrick, David, 62
McHugh, Frank, 407 Merrill, Bob, 137–38
McKean, Michael, 245 Mesmer-Dick Straker/Sven Ortel, 239
McKeever, Jacquelyn, 159 Metropolitan Entertainment Presentation, 99
McKellar, Don, 260, 262 Metropolitan Talent Presents, LLC, 364
McKenney, Eileen, 158 Meyer, Douglas, 54
McKenney, Ruth, 158 Meyer, Douglas L., 99, 147, 257, 361, 414, 417
INDEX 481
Meyer, Michael, 287 Mollison, Ross, 365

Meyer, Muffie, 274 Molloy, Ryan, 237
Meyjes, Menno, 241 Momentum Productions, Inc., 50
Mezzio, John, 63 Monagle Group, 356
MGM On Stage, 137, 215, 297, 393 Monahan, Brian, 260
Micha, Katie, 332 Monk, Debra, 72, 74, 169, 293
Michael Rose Limited, 140, 215 Monk, Julius, 146
Michele, Lea, 162, 288 Monley, Adam, 308
Michener, James A., 334 Monroe, Marilyn, 137
Micone, Edward J., Jr., 8 Montalban, Paolo, 63
Middlebrook, Coy, 143, 188 Montalban, Ricardo, 222
Middleton, Ray, 113 Montalvo, Doreen, 181
Midgette, Anne, 191 Montana, Janice, 238
Midler, Bette, 132, 134 Montano, Robert, 225
Migliaccio, Donna, 224 Montel, Ginger, 273
Milch, David M., 405 Montevecchi, Liliane, 128
Miller, David, 115 Montgomery, J. C., 72, 102, 241
Miller, Kenita, 313 Montoya, Richard, 181, 243
Miller, Marcus, 310 Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 209
Miller, Patina Renea, 310 Monty Python’s Spamalot, 208–10
Miller, Paul, 210, 297, 347 Moody, Ron, 208
Miller, R. Michael, 238 Moonbirds, 108
Miller, Roger, 143–45 Moore, Carlos, 416
Miller, Roy, 260, 286, 355, 377, 407 Moore, Crista, 65, 159
Miller, Scott, 382 Moore, DeQuina, 147
Miller, Tom, 358 Moore, James, 304, 407
Miller, Tracy, 186 Moore, Jason, 145, 323, 366
Milton, Michael, 243 Moore, Jim, 53
Mimieux, Yvette, 214 Moore, Maureen, 252
Mindich, Stacey, 338, 358 Moore, Roger, 126
Minichiello, Michael, 4 Moore, Scott A., 414
Minnelli, Liza, 139, 150, 364–65 Moore, Stephen, 405
Minnelli, Vincente, 52, 345–46 Moore, Thomas, 1
Minski, Les, 356 Morales, Esai, 225
Minsky’s, 393–95 Moranis, Rick, 148
Miramax Films, 211 Mordecai, Benjamin, 104
Miranda, Lin-Manuel, 330, 332, 379 Morecambe, Eric, 126
Mirvish, David, 374 Morehead, Rozz, 124
Les Miserables, 278–80 Moreno, Rita, 379
Mishaan, Richard, 340 Morgaman, Philip, 340
Mishkin, Chase, 25, 44, 123, 199, 203, 243, 299, 328, 372, Morgan, Betsy, 391, 417
403 Morgan, Cass, 117, 251
Missal, Catherine, 356 Morgan, John, 157
Miss Gulch Returns!, 153–54 Morgan, Robert, 30, 119, 277, 320
Mitchell, Brian Stokes, 112, 114, 185, 217–18, 346 Morgan, Sydney, 1
Mitchell, Jerry, 30, 33, 99, 101, 119, 131, 160–61, 197–99, Moriber, Brooke Sunny, 16, 252
203, 297–98 Moricz, Michael, 93
Mitchell, Keith, 114, 199 Moro, Delaney, 280, 358
Mitchell, Lauren, 69, 91, 235 Morris, Howard, 407
Mitchell, Tim, 126, 389 Morris, Libby, 132
Miyamoto, Amon, 194–96 Morris, Richard, 88
Mizner, Wilson and Addison, 178 Morrison, Angela, 359
Mizrahi, Isaac, 252 Morrison, Greg, 260, 262
Moberg, Vilhelm, 398 Morrison, Matthew, 213
Moccia, Jodi, 59, 67, 83, 131, 160 Morrow, Karen, 103, 363
Moellenberg, Carl, 358 Morse, Jenn, 187
Molaskey, Jessica, 325 Morse, Robert, 138–39, 153
Molina, Alfred, 162 Morse, Sally Campbell, 201, 235
Molina, Lauren, 383 Mortier, Gerard, 337
Mortimer, Vicki, 127, 162 Nederlander, James L., 59, 88, 110, 162, 197, 219, 273,
Morton, Euan, 154 297, 377, 385, 387
Moscow Folk Ballet Company, 9 Nederlander, James M., 59
Moses, Burke, 183 Nederlander, Robert, Jr., 371
Moses, Spencer, 374 Nederlander, S., 115
Mosher, Gregory, 1 Nederlander, Scott, 171
Mostel, Joshua, 20 Nederlander, Scott E., 110, 129
Mostel, Zero, 163 Nederlander Presentations, Inc., 239, 241, 374
The Most Happy Fella, 248–50 Nederlander Producing Company of America, Inc., 19
Mostly Sondheim, 77–78 Nederlander Productions, 315, 380
Movin’ Out, 110–11 Nederlander Worldwide Productions, LLC, 371
Moye, James, 307 Neeck, Alessa, 392
Moyer, Allen, 232, 274, 276 Neeley, Ted, 20
Muenz, Richard, 249, 304 Neeson, Liam, 10, 126
Mugleston, Linda, 158 Nelsen, Eric M., 358
Mulheren, Michael, 149 Nelson, Kenneth, 22
Mullally, Megan, 318–19 Nelson, Portia, 104
Mulligan, Robert, 338 Nelson, Rachel, 355
Muni, Paul, 179 Nelson, Richard, 1, 3–4
Muraoka, Alan, 304 Nemetz, Lenora, 137
Murchison, Sarah, 313 Neofitou, Andreane, 42, 278
Murger, Henri, 115 Nesbit, Evelyn, 411
Murney, Julia, 18, 230 Neshyba-Hodges, Charlie, 273
Murphy, Claire, 359 Neuberger, Jan, 152, 277, 320
Murphy, Donna, 49, 158–59, 299, 301 Never Gonna Dance, 160–62
Murphy, Karen, 248 Newberry, Bill, 93
Murphy, Kathryn Mowat, 368 New Group, 145
Murphy, Matt, 403 New Line Cinema, 99, 257
Murphy, Sally, 16, 162 Newman, Cathy, 349
Murphy, Tab, 262 Newman, Harold, 330
Murray, Bill, 148 Newman, Jim, 293
Murray, Rupert, 9 Newman, Phyllis, 46, 49, 108, 159
Murray, Tom, 417 New Space Entertainment, 353
Muscle, 94–96 Newton-John, Olivia, 314, 316
The Music Man, 22–25 New York City Opera Company, 5, 121, 164, 191, 205,
Musker, John, 321 248, 337
Musser, Lisa, 42 New York Shakespeare Festival, 16, 80
Musser, Tharon, 271 New York Theatre Workshop, 25
Myers, Pamela, 91, 284 Next to Normal, 385–86
My Fair Lady, 349–51 Ngaujah, Sahr, 415–16
My Sister Eileen, 160 Nicely, Beth Johnson, 414
Nicholas, Paul, 20, 315
Nadler, Mark, 61 Nicholaw, Casey, 208, 260, 393, 395
Nagel, Gil, 30 Nicholls, Mike, 154
Nager, Jesse, 93, 201 Nichols, Darius, 380
Nahass, Ron, 169 Nichols, Mike, 125, 192, 199, 208, 210, 290, 292
Nahem, Edward Tyler, 415 Nielsen, Kristine, 21
Naimo, Jennifer, 235 Niemtzow, Annette, 42
Naismith, Laurence, 207 The Night They Raided Minsky’s, 394
Napier, John, 42, 278 Nigrini, Peter, 415
Narayan, Manu, 169 Nine, 126–29
Nash, N. Richard, 301 9 to 5, 387–88
Nathan, Anne L., 325 Nir, Debra, 414
Nathan, George Jean, 86 Nixon, Marni, 1, 3, 350
National Theatre of Great Britain, 349 Nixon, Vivian, 259
Navarra, Chiara, 232 Noble, Adrian, 215
NCJ Productions, 201 Noble, John York, 89
Neal Street Productions, 366 Nocciolino, Albert, 353
Nealy, Milton Craig, 412 Noginova, Tatiana, 321–22
Nederlander, Amy, 192 Nolen, Timothy, 164, 166
INDEX 483
Noll, Christiane, 357, 395, 407 Orbach, Ron, 57, 117

Noone, James, 44, 123, 258 Oremus, Stephen, 152, 211, 323, 387
Norman, Marsha, 241 Oreskes, Daniel, 10
Norona, David, 237 Orfeh, 297
Northwater Entertainment, 374 Oriolo, Joe, 94
Norton, Jim, 405 Ortega, Gabriel, 185
Norwood, Brandy, 65 Ortel, Sven, 321
Nosan, Jonathan, 273 Ortiz, Liana, 243
Noseworthy, Jack, 83, 256 Ortlieb, Jim, 374
Notley, Nic, 397 Osakalumi, Adesola, 416
No Way to Treat a Lady, 213 Oscar, Brad, 52, 55
NT NETworks Presentations LLC, 349 O’Shaughnessy, Arthur, 9
NT Royal National Theatre, 85 Osher, J. & B., 99
Nugent, Nelle, 392 Osher, John and Bonnie, 147
Nunn, Trevor, 85, 239, 278, 349, 417 Osmond, Donny, 10
Nurallah, Keewa, 226 Osnes, Laura, 65, 315–16, 346
Nuyen, France, 336 Ost, Tobin, 188, 223
NYK Productions, Inc., 30 Ostar Enterprises, 21, 25
Ostar Productions, 325
Oakley, Scott, 369 O’Toole, Annette, 66
O’Boyle, John, 338, 342 O’Toole, Fintan, 18, 24, 43, 409
O’Brien, Bill, 143 O’Toole, Peter, 114
O’Brien, Jack, 30, 99, 102, 119, 203, 277, 320 Otte, Eric, 197
O’Brien, Richard, 33–35, 217 Otterson, Pamela, 377
O’Bryan, Shannon M., 343 Ousley, Robert, 337, 398
Ockrent, Mike, 37, 394 Ouzounian, Richard, 118–19
O’Connor, Donald, 402 Overett, Adam, 389
Odekirk, Kevin, 398 Over Here!, 125
Odets, Clifford, 58, 83 Overmyer, Eric, 21
O’Donnell, Mark, 99, 101, 340 Owens, Frederick B., 19, 112
O’Donnell, Rosie, 101, 154, 163 Oxman, Steven, 140, 350, 390
O’Dowd, George, 154–56 Oz, Frank, 148, 203
Oesterman, Phil, 123
O’Flaherty, Michael, 75 Pabst, G. W., 254
O’Hara, Jill, 22, 381 Pacey, Steven, 76
O’Hara, John, 368, 371 Pacific Overtures, 194–96
O’Hara, Kelli, 52, 74, 83, 186, 213, 215, 245–46, 334–35 Page, Lynne, 417
O’Hare, Denis, 167 Page, Patrick, 277–78, 320, 345
O’Hare, Liz, 349–50 Page, Prantley, Ben, 321
O’Hearn, Steve, 4 Pages, Maria, 9
O’Horgan, Tom, 20, 381 Paguia, Marco, 226
O’Keefe, Laurence, 297–98 Paice, Jill, 239, 293
Oklahoma!, 85–88 Paiclio, Casi, 4
Okulitch, Daniel, 115 Paige, Elaine, 128, 164–65
Old Globe Theatre, 345 Pailet, Janet, 277, 320
Old Vic Productions, 359 The Pajama Game, 245–48
Olivo, Karen, 188, 377, 379 Pakledinaz, Martin, 89–90, 102, 129, 133, 158, 245, 247,
Olson, William, 353 295, 315, 332
Olympus Theatricals, 358, 374 Paleologos, Nicholas, 215
O’Malley, Kerry, 91, 344, 361 Palin, Michael, 208
101 Productions, Ltd., 358 Pal Joey, 368–71
110 in the Shade, 301–4 Palma, Ernesto Alonso, 390
O’Neill, Dustin, 372, 374 Palmer, Leland, 139
O’Neill, Eugene, 250 Palmer, Sean, 290, 321
One Mo’ Time, 81–83 Palumbo, Gene, 369
One Mo’ Time!, 74 Pampena, Michelle, 193
One Viking Productions, 318 Panama, Norman, 361, 414
Ono, Yoko, 231–32 Panaro, Hugh, 255–56
On the Record, 226–28 Panson, Bonnie, 39
Opel, Nancy, 69, 162 Panter, Howard, 33, 374
Paoluccio, Tricia, 162 Perkins, Tony, 285

Paparella, Joe, 305 Perlman, Arthur, 405–6
Pappas, Evan, 135 Perrault, Charles, 63, 191
Paradigm Group Presentation, 65 Pesce, Vince, 158, 245
Paramount Pictures, 16, 361, 414 Pesci, Joe, 237
Pardess, Yael, 60 Pestka, Bobby, 169
Paris, Myrna, 164 Peters, Bernadette, 65, 131–32, 327, 417
Park, Joshua, 59 Peterson, Chris, 13, 37
Parker, Alecia, 39, 158, 220 Peterson, Jayne, 42
Parker, Eleanor, 369 Petina, Irra, 207
Parker, John Eric, 403 Petrarca, David, 129
Parker, Nicole, 268 Peyton-Wright, Pamela, 309
Parkinson, Elizabeth, 110 Pfeiffer, Michelle, 101, 317
Parks, Bert, 25 Pfortmiller, Kyle, 205
Parnes, Joey, 328, 380 Phares, Keith, 164
Parry, Steve, 126 Phillips, Chyna, 402
Parry, William, 131, 177–78 Phillips, Graham, 358
Parsons, Terry, 93 Phillips, Michael, 177
Parton, Dolly, 387 Phillips, Patricia, 323
Pasadena Playhouse, 310 PIA, 239
Pasbjerg, Carl, 318 Picardo, Robert, 223
Pascal, Adam, 10 Piccolo, Anthony, 191
Pasekoff, Marilyn, 135 Picker, Tobias, 75, 136
Pask, Scott, 69, 127, 147, 197, 220, 257, 267–68, 340, 368, Pidgeon, Walter, 64
380, 387 Pierce, David Hyde, 208, 293–94
Pasquale, Steven, 215 Pierce, Edward, 152, 295, 387
Passing Strange, 328–30 Pilbrow, Richard, 356
Pasternak, Boris, 264 Pimlott, Steven, 169
Patel, Neil, 251, 355 Pinckard, John, 365
Paterson, Jayne, 417 Pine, Chris, 93
Pati, Christopher, 353 Pinelli, Tullio, 127, 220
Patinkin, Mandy, 16–18, 112, 327 Pink, Steve, 286
Patterson, James, 88, 304 Pinkins, Tonya, 90, 171
Patterson, Meredith, 343–44, 361, 363 Pinney, George, 53
Patti LuPone/”Matters of the Heart,” 32–33 Pinnick, Eric, 37
Pauker, John, 108 Pinza, Ezio, 334
Paul, Guy, 307 The Pirate Queen, 294–97
Paulson, Harold, 254 Piro, Sal, 35
Paulus, Diane, 380–81 Pitre, Louise, 71, 398
Pawk, Michele, 39, 121, 392 Pittelman, I., 115
Pearce, Bobby, 154 Pittelman, Ira, 287
Pearcy, Benjamin, 192 Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, 65
Pearson, Jessie, 402 Pittu, David, 52, 299
Pearson, Sybille, 390 Pizzi, Joey, 39, 46, 340
Pechar, Tom, 310 Platt, Jon B., 112, 152, 273, 392
Pecheriskiy, Alexander, 365 Platt, Marc, 152, 368
Peck, Erin Leigh, 117 Platt, Oliver, 374–75
Pegasus Players, 95 Plautus, 102
Peil, Mary Beth, 127, 325 Playten, Alice, 171
Pelican Group, 235, 340 The Play What I Wrote, 125–26
Pelzig, Daniel, 129 Playwrights Horizons, 1, 274
Penn & Teller, 29 Pleasant, Edward, 6
Penn & Teller: The Refrigerator Tour, 29 Plimpton, Martha, 368, 370
Penn & Teller on Broadway, 29 PMC Productions, 297
Penn & Teller Rot in Hell, 29 Pockriss, Lee, 140–41
Pepusch, Johann, 252 Pogrebin, Robin, 41
Perez, Luis, 112 Poiret, Jean, 197
Perkins, Anthony, 370 Poland, Greg, 180
Perkins, Damian, 10 Polanski, Roman, 117, 119
INDEX 485
Polischuk, Geoffrey, 217 Provost, Heather, 355

Pollard, Jonathan, 211 Prowse, Juliet, 222
Pollino, Samantha, 259 Pryce, Jonathan, 128, 350
Pollock, Charlie, 387 Ptah, Heru, 258
Polunin, Slava, 365 Public Theatre, 80, 171, 328, 380
Polymer Global Holdings, 258 Puccini, Giacomo, 115
Pomeranz, David, 308, 358 Pugh, David, 125
Ponturo, Ruth, 380 Purdy, Marshall B., 10, 226, 262
Ponturo, Tony, 380, 403 Purl, Linda, 59
Pope, Manley, 213 Pyant, Paul, 239
Popp, Ethan, 342, 383 Pye, Tom, 162
Porgy and Bess, 5–7
Porretta, Frank, 207 Quaid, Randy, 347
Portman, Eric, 43 The Queen of Basin Street, 199
Portman, Rachel, 392–93 Quilico, Louis, 249
Posener, Daniel M., 158, 220 Quilley, Denis, 166, 199, 207
Posner, Ken, 297 Quilter, Peter, 239
Posner, Kenneth, 59, 99, 119, 121, 152, 183, 199, 203, 255, Quinn, Patrick, 44
295, 315, 387 Quinton, Everett, 63–64
Potter, Linda and Bill, 403 Quiroga, Guillermina, 185
Potts, David, 310
Potts, Michael, 275 Racey, Noah, 160–61, 293
Potts, Nancy, 5 Rada, Mirena, 145
Poulos, Jim, 59 Radio City Entertainment, 8, 63
Powell, Alvy, 6 Radio Gals, 310
Powell, Anthony, 59 Rado, James, 380–82
Powell, James, 389 Rafter, Michael, 89
Powell, Jane, 65 Ragni, Gerome, 380
Powell, Shezwae, 222 Ragtime, 407–11
Powell, William, 345 Rahman, A. R., 169, 171
Power, Alice, 126 Raiman, Paul, 308
Powers, Amy, 264 Rainbow, 382
Powers, Jenny, 199, 315 Raines, Ron, 136, 304
Preminger, Otto, 7 Raise the Roof 3, 417
Presley, Elvis, 211, 401 Raise the Roof One, 397
Pressgrove, Larry, 355 Raitt, Jayson, 383
Pressley, Nelson, 57, 85 Rak, Rachelle, 72
Prestinari, Charles F., 248 Rall, Tommy, 160
Preston, Robert, 23–24, 179, 306 Ralston, Terri, 285
Price, Kelly, 13 Ramirez, Sara, 44, 208, 210
Price, Lonny, 44–46, 123, 301 Ramont, Mark, 307
Price, Mark, 71, 117, 211 Randall, Tony, 39
Price, Michael P., 75 Rando, John, 69–70, 117, 257
Prince, 177 Randolph-Wright, Charles, 181, 217
Prince, Charles, 1 Raphael, Gerrianne, 114
Prince, Faith, 3, 50, 52, 338–39 Rapp, Howard, 30
Prince, Harold, 47, 175, 196, 205, 285, 299, 337 Rare Gem Productions, 4
Prince, Josh, 323, 366 Read, Joanna, 358
Prince Music Theatre, 179, 223 Reale, Robert, 129–30
The Prince of Grand Street, 179 Reale, Willie, 129–30, 411
Prisand, Scott, 169, 188, 243, 383 Really Useful Superstar Company, Inc., 19
Pritchard, Lauren, 288 Really Useful White Company, Inc., 239
Producer Circle Company, 83 Reams, Lee Roy, 363
The Producers, 54–59 Reardon, Peter, 361, 414
Producers Four, 188 Redd, Randy, 251
Producing Office, 361, 414 Reddy, Brian, 405
Production Studio, 397 The Red Shoes, 259–60
Prospect Pictures, 383 Reed, Bill, 7
Providence Performing Arts Center, 353 Reedy, M. Kilburg, 135
Reich, Bob, 392 Riskin, Robert, 307

Reichard, Daniel, 337 Rita, Rui, 307
Reid, Alexander, 255 Ritchie, Darren, 186
Reid, T. Oliver, 197 Ritchie, Michael, 82, 393
Reilly, John C., 135 Rivera, Chita, 93–94, 96–97, 127, 222, 243–45, 351–52, 402
Reinders, Kate, 130 Riverdance on Broadway, 9–10
Reinis, Jonathan, 135, 267, 323 Riverdream, 295
Reinking, Ann, 96, 133, 351–52, 402 Rizzo, Frank, 211, 357
Reins, Jonathan, 277 RKO Pictures, 160
Reiser, David, 201 Road Show, 175–76, 178
Reiss, Jay, 219 Robbins, Carrie, 44, 343, 361, 414
Reit, Seymour, 94 Robbins, Jana, 199, 407
Relativity Media, 383 Robbins, Jerome, 131, 162, 243, 332, 369, 377–79
Rembert, Jermaine R., 197 Robbins, Rex, 3
Remick, Lee, 49 Roberson, Ken, 63, 145, 211, 243
Remington, Bill, 147 Robert Boyette Theatricals, 347
Reno, Phil, 72, 260, 393 Roberts, Darcie, 66
Renshaw, Christopher, 154 Roberts, Jeremy, 186
Rent, 288–89 Roberts, Joan, 48
Repicci, William, 4 Roberts, Josephine Rose, 277
Resnick, Judith, 104 Roberts, Keith, 110
Resnick, Patricia, 387 Roberts, Tony, 39, 313
Restrepo, José, 315 Robertson, Scott, 102
Reymundo, Margo, 181 Robin, Leo, 160
R/F/B/V Group, 318 Robinson, Angela, 50
Rhyne, Aaron, 323 Robinson, Ashley, 391–92
The Rhythm Club, 66–68 Robinson, Eddie D., 82
RialtoGals Productions, 407 Robinson, Janet, 42
Rice, Anne, 255–56 Robinson, Martin P., 147, 183
Rice, Tim, 10, 12–13, 19 Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, 99
Rich, 357 Roby, Peta, 397
Rich, Denise, 169 Roche, Sebastian, 21
Rich, Frank, 117, 144, 150, 232 Rock of Ages, 383–85
Rich, Janet Billig, 383 Rockwell, David, 33, 99, 102, 203, 211, 297–98
Richard, Bob, 277, 320 Rockwell, John, 150
Richard, Don, 42 The Rocky Horror Show, 33–35
Richard, Ellen, 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, 167, 194, 385 Roddy, Pat, 9
Richard, Stephen, 181 Roderick, Ray, 23, 37
Richards, David, 38, 168 Rodewald, Heidi, 328
Richards, Donald, 406 Rodgers, Chev, 114
Richards, Jeffrey, 245, 287, 380 Rodgers, Johnny, 364
Richards, Martin, 83, 197, 243 Rodgers, Richard, 63, 85, 102, 104, 191, 334, 368
Richards, Stanley, 7, 382 Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, 104
Richardson, Ian, 350 Roffe, Mary Lu, 112
Richenthal, David, 405 Rogers, Dafydd, 125
Richmond, Duain, 416 Rogers, Ginger, 64, 161, 306
Rick Steiner/Osher/Staton/Bell/Mayerson Group, 235 Rojo, Santiago, 353
Riedel, Michael, 12, 18, 24, 34, 40, 45, 74, 97, 106, 119, Rolecek, Charles, 383
146, 155–56, 159, 163, 173–74, 198, 202–3, 213, 216, Roll, Eddie, 113–14
221, 226, 230, 232–33, 270, 274, 286–87, 296, 298, 314, Rollnick, Bill, 239
319, 333, 400, 409, 416 Romain, Laurissa, 334
Rietveld, Alice, 50 Roman, Eliseo, 330
Rigby, Cathy, 41 Rondi, Brunello, 127
Riggio, Leonard, 225 Ronstadt, Linda, 117
Riggs, Lynn, 85, 88 Rooney, Brian Charles, 254
Rimes, LeAnn, 13 Rooney, David, 178, 184, 188–90, 192–93, 195–98, 200,
Ringham, Nancy, 46, 350 202, 204, 209–10, 212, 214–19, 222, 230, 233–34, 237,
Ring of Fire, 250–52 239–40, 242, 244, 247, 249, 252–53, 256, 258, 260–61,
Ripley, Alice, 3, 33, 148, 385–86, 400 263–64, 268–72, 274, 276, 280, 282, 284, 288–89, 292,
Risch, Matthew, 368, 370 294, 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, Ryan, Roz, 82, 310
367, 369–70, 373, 375, 377, 382, 384, 386, 388, 398, Rydell, Bobby, 402
401, 404, 406, 410, 412–13, 416–17 Ryness, Bryce, 380
Ropes, Bradford, 61
Rose, Anika Noni, 171, 174 Sabella, Ernie, 112, 220
Rose, Lloyd, 68 Saddler, Donald, 48
Rosen, Steve, 208, 374 Sagady, Shawn, 403
Rosenbaum, Thane, 163 Saidy, Fred, 405
Rosenberg, Sandy, 337 Saint, David, 377
Rosenberg, Scott, 286 St. Cyr, Byron, 349
Rosenblum, Joshua, 135, 277, 320 St. Louis, Louis, 315
Rosenfeld, Jyll, 109, 157, 210 Sakakura, Lainie, 93
Rosen-Stone, Mekenzie, 59 Sako, Reiko, 106
Rosenzweig, Barney, 211 Saks, Gene, 402
Rose’s Dilemma, 121 Salazar, Monica, 225
Ross, Andrew, 192 Saldivar, Matthew, 257, 315
Ross, Jerry, 245 Salem, Marc, 174–75
Ross, Rusty, 278 Salinas, Ric, 181
Ross, Tory, 340, 387 Salonga, Lea, 104
Rossio, Terry, 366 Salvi, Prisque, 115
Roth, Ann, 225 Samoff, Marjorie, 179, 223
Roth, Daryl, 79, 171, 225, 292, 338, 415, 417 Samonsky, Andrew, 226
Roth, Jordan, 33–34, 225, 338 Sampliner, James, 188, 257
Roth, Robert Jess, 255 Sams, Jeremy, 107, 215, 358
Rothman, Carole, 385 Samuel, Peter, 337
Roundabout Theatre Company, 46, 102, 127, 133, 143, Samuels, Howard, 35
167, 194, 245, 252, 289, 301, 325, 368, 400 Sanchez, Doriana, 181
Rounseville, Robert, 113, 207 Sand, Paul, 292
Routh, Marc, 147, 234, 283, 397 Sandberg, Andy, 380
Routh, Mark, 417 Sanders, Jay O., 348
Routh-Frankel-Baruch-Viertel Group, 332 Sanders, Scott, 241
Rowland, Christine, 349 Sandhu, Rommy, 59
Rowley, Emma, 332 Sands, Jason Patrick, 93
Roy, Melinda, 123, 125 Sandy, Solange, 221
The Royal Family, 391 Sanford, Tim, 1
Royal Flush, 22 Sanna, James, 277, 320
Rubel, Marc, 313 Santagata, Eric Daniel, 93
Rubin, Paul, 295 Santiago, Saundra, 127
Rubin-Vega, Daphne, 33, 278, 280 Santoriello, Alex, 356
Rudel, Julius, 254 Santoriello, Jimm, 356
Rudin, Scott, 16, 171, 332 Santucci, Nathan, 29
Rudolfsson, Lars, 398 Sappington, Margo, 369
Rudzinski, Alex, 101 Saralp, Robert, 365
Ruffelle, Frances, 280 Sarandon, Susan, 35
Ruggiero, Holly-Anne, 264 Saratoga, 391
Rumble, Andrew, 66 Sarich, Drew, 255, 278
Running Subway, 277, 320 Sarpola, Richard, 166
Runyon, Damon, 374 Sater, Steven, 287, 289
Rupert, Michael, 297 Saternow, Tim, 4
Rush, Jessica, 374 Saving Aimee, 308–10
Rusinek, Roland, 37, 164, 191 Saviola, Camille, 411
Russell, Barbra, 338, 356 Savo, Nino, 22
Russell, Brenda, 241 Say, Darling, 247
Russell, Jenna, 325–27 Sayers, Jo Ann, 158
Russell, Rosalind, 132, 159 Sayre, Loretta Ables, 334
Russell, Vincent, 356 Scaglione, Josefina, 377
Russo, Anthony R., 50 Scalamoni, Sam, 255
Rutberg, Amy, 187 Scandalous, 308, 310
Rutherford, Alex, 262 Scanlan, Dick, 88
Ryall, William, 137, 248, 374 Scardino, Don, 230
Scardino, Frank P., 46 Second Stage Theatre, 219, 385

Scarpulla, Stephen Scott, 131 Segal, Vivienne, 370–71
Schaeffer, Eric, 67, 224, 304, 307–8, 342, 351, 390 Seid, Lori E., 154
Schaeffert/Schnuck, 397 Seidelman, Arthur Allan, 38
Schaffel, Marla, 42–43 SEL, 201
Schaffert, Greg, 211 Sella, Robert, 215
Schaffner, James, 121 Seller, Jeffrey, 115, 145, 286, 330, 355, 377, 414
Scheck, Frank, 187, 325, 333 Selya, John, 110
Scheer, Gene, 75, 136 Semira, Darryl, 169
Scheitinger, Alexander, 280 Semlitz, Steve, 415
Scher, John, 364 Sender, Leni, 197
Scherer, John, 75, 248, 299 Sengbloh, Saycon, 243, 415
Schillaci, Dan, 357 Señor Discretion Himself, 181–82
Schlaefer, Boyd, 248 Seraphine, Danny, 169, 188
Schlesinger, Adam, 340 Sesma, Thom, 273
Schlitt, Robert, 22 The Set-Up, 18
Schlitz, Don, 59–60 Seurat, Georges, 326
Schloss, Edwin H., 158, 220, 274 Seuss, Dr., 277, 320
Schmidt, Douglas, 343 Seussical, 39–42
Schmidt, Douglas W., 5, 61, 91 700 Sundays, 196–97
Schmidt, Harvey, 301, 304 Sexton, G. Marlyne, 243
Schmidt, Jamie, 307 Seyfried, Amanda, 72
Schmidt, Kiira, 414 Seymour, James, 61
Schneider, Peter, 10, 310 Seymour, Kenny J., 403
Schneiderman, Josif, 143 SFX Theatrical Group, 39, 54
Schnuck, Terry, 268, 287, 380 Shaddow, Elena, 83, 127, 181
Schoeffler, Paul, 220 ShadowCatcher Entertainment, 403
Schoenfeld, Mark, 188 Shaiman, Marc, 99, 101, 268
Schonberg, Claude-Michel, 278, 294–95 Shakespeare, William, 102, 347–49, 377
Schramm, David, 405 Shankel, Lynne, 340
Schrank, Joseph, 64 Shankman, Adam, 101
Schreiber, John, 80 Shapiro, Stanley, 203
Schreier, Dan Moses, 107 Sharkey, Dan, 347
Schroder, Wayne, 37 Sharman, Jim, 34–35
Schulberg, Budd, 181 Sharpe, Ron, 338, 356
Schulfer, Roche, 96, 175 Sharyn, Amy Jen, 320
Schulman, Roger S. H., 366 Shaw, George Bernard, 349
Schulman, Susan H., 199 Shaw, Lynn, 392
Schumacher, Thomas, 10, 226, 262, 280, 321 Shaw, Philip, 348
Schwartz, Arthur, 345 Shaw, Tro, 377
Schwartz, Clifford, 321 Shawn, Wallace, 252–54
Schwartz, Marc, 392 Shear, Claudia, 25–27
Schwartz, Scott, 42 Sheik, Duncan, 287, 289
Schwartz, Stephen, 152, 250 Sheik, Kacie, 380
Schwarzman, Stephen A., 304 Sheinkin, Rachel, 218, 220, 392
Schweickert, Joyce, 203 Sheldon, Jack, 180
Schwencke, Jake Evan, 400 Sheldon, Tony, 346
Scibelli, James, 157, 210 Shelley, Carole, 152–53, 359
Scofield, Pamela, 63 Shen Family Foundation, 390
Scotchford, David, 389 Sheppard, Nona, 75
Scott, Allan, 160 Sher, Bartlett, 213, 334, 337
Scott, David, 353 Sherman, Bill, 332
Scott, Derek, 365 Sherman, Martin, 149, 151
Scott, Helena, 249 Sherman, Richard M., 215, 280
Scott, Sherie Rene, 10–12, 203, 205, 322, 381 Sherman, Robert B., 215, 280
Scrofani, Aldo, 203, 243, 299 Shevelove, Burt, 183
Seal, Elizabeth, 247 Shew, Timothy, 158
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Shields, Brooke, 160, 317
35–37 Shields, Cary, 154
Seattle Repertory Theatre, 36 Shigeta, James, 106
Sechrest, Marisa, 257 Shimono, Sab, 196
INDEX 489
Shin, Chunsoo, 372, 412 Skinner, Randy, 61, 343–44, 347, 361, 414
Shinbone Alley, 20 Sklar, Matthew, 66, 257
Shindle, Kate, 187, 297 Sklar-Heyn, Seth, 417
Shiner, David, 39–42 Skuce, Lauren, 121
Shiro, Chad L., 123–24 Slater, Christian, 25
Shore, Allen M., 50 Slater, Glenn, 310, 321
Shorenstein Hays Nederlander, 358 Slava’s Snowshow, 365–66
Short, Martin, 101, 268–70 Slingsby, Chris, 9
Show Boat, 391 Smedes, Tom, 355
Showmotion, Inc., 33 Smerdon, Vic, 359
Showtime Networks, 190 Smirnoff, Karina, 398
Shrek, 366–68 SMI/Showmotion, Inc., 42
Shriver, Lisa, 251, 372 Smith, Dale, 313
Shubert Organization, 25, 107, 208, 328 Smith, Douglas G., 415
Shusterman, Tamlyn Brooke, 61 Smith, Ethel, 346
Siberry, Michael, 183 Smith, Greg, 203
Sibling Entertainment, 188 Smith, Jennifer, 55, 260
Sicangco, Eduardo, 140 Smith, Kirsten, 297
Siccardi, Arthur, 192 Smith, Kristen J., 343
Sieber, Christopher, 208 Smith, Laura, 383
Sieber, Karen, 140 Smith, Maggie, 311
Siegel, Joel, 24, 403 Smith, Michael, 8
Siegel, Seth M., 112 Smith, Molly, 181
Sigler, Jamie-Lynn, 63 Smith, Muriel, 336
Signature Theatre, 67, 224, 308, 342, 351, 390 Smith, Niegel, 415
Siguenza, Herbert, 181 Smith, Oliver, 207
Sikora, Megan, 61, 89, 293 Smith, Peter Matthew, 99
Silber, Chic, 152 Smith, Richard A., 361, 414
Silberman, Adam, 115 Smith, Stephen Gregory, 224, 307
Sillerman, Robert F. X., 54, 318 Smith, Steven, 140
Sills, Douglas, 148 Smith, Tara, 313
Silver, Bob & Rhonda, 270 Smith, Timothy Edward, 220
Silver, Nicky, 102–3 Smith, Warren, 217
Silverman, Ryan, 340 Smith, Will and Jada Pinkett, 415
Silverman Partners, 201 Smith, Wynonna, 259
Simmons, Jean, 375 Smolokowski, Slava, 415
Simon, James L., 50 Smulyan, Cari, 313
Simon, John, 17, 24, 57, 187, 301 Snide, Corey J., 358
Simon, Lucy, 264 Snowdon, Ted, 238, 287, 299
Simon, Neil, 121, 220 Snyder, James, 340–41, 384
Simon, Scott, 315 Snyder, Stephen “Hoops,” 196
Simon, Vicki, 86 Soames, David, 358
Simpson, Angela, 6 Solms, Kenny, 134
Simpson, Bland, 347 Solomon, Alisa, 164
Simpson, Glenn, 8 Solomon, Dave, 387
Sinatra, Frank, 370, 375 Solovyeva, Ekaterina, 115
Sinclair, Malcolm, 76 Soloway, Leonard, 123, 192
Sine, J., 115 Some Like It Hot, 136–39
Sine, Jeffrey, 215, 287 Somers, Suzanne, 229–30
Sine, Jeffrey A., 230, 268, 407 Sommers, Michael, 343
Singer, Brooke, 140 Somogyi, Ilona, 323
Siretta, Dan, 30, 38, 137, 140 Sondheim, Stephen, 46–50, 91, 112, 121, 123, 131, 164,
Siretta, Nikki, 30 167–68, 175, 177, 183, 194–96, 205, 234, 283, 285, 292,
Sirkin, Spring, 328 325, 332, 337, 377, 417
Sirlin, Jerome, 140 Sonenberg, David, 117
SisActs, LLC, 310 Sonenclar, Carly Rose, 392
Sister Act, 310–12 Songs for a New Millennium–Portraits in Jazz: A Gallery
Sister Aimee, 310 of Songs, 180
Sjoholm, Helen, 398 Song Tianjiao, 371
Skinner, Emily, 1, 31, 226, 304 Sonia Friedman Productions, 239, 374, 417
Skinner, Quinton, 393 Sonnenberg, David, 356
Sony Pictures Entertainment, 415 Staunton, Imelda, 93, 166

Soo, Jack, 106 Staunton, Noel, 115
Soon, 150 Steele, Ryan, 377
Soriano, Henry, 397 Steele, Tommy, 65, 139, 407
Sorvino, Paul, 248–50 Steggert, Bobby, 302, 407
Sosa, Emilio, 181 Steichen, Gerald, 6, 191
Soul of Shaolin, 371–72 Steig, William, 366
South, Hamilton, 125 Steiger, Rod, 136
South Pacific, 334–37 Stein, Benjamin, 210
Souvenir, 238–39 Stein, Douglas, 26
Spadaro, Michael, 217 Stein, Joan, 387
Spamalot, 208–10 Stein, Joseph, 162
Spanger, Amy, 257, 383 Steinberg, David, 99
Spangler, Walt, 224, 304, 308 Steiner, Rick, 54, 99, 147, 257, 273, 338
Spark Productions, 277 Steinhagen, Joe, 95
Sparks, Shane, 412 Steinkellner, Cheri and Bill, 310
Spencer, David, 117 Steinman, Jim, 117, 119
Spencer, Elizabeth, 213 Steinmeyer, Jim, 107
Spencer, J. Robert, 385 Stephenson, Don, 75, 182
Sperling, Ted, 213, 215, 334 Stern, Cheryl, 157
Speyer, Michael, 203, 239, 243, 277, 320, 347, 405 Stern, Eric, 46, 135, 264, 313–14
Spice Girls, 13 Stern, James D., 54, 99, 147, 257, 361, 414, 417
Spielberg, Stephen, 241 Stern/Meyer, 297
Spinella, Stephen, 1, 288 Stevens, George, 160, 402
Spinetti, Victor, 208 Stevens, Mark, 345
Spirtas, Kevin, 405 Stevens, Richie, 154
Spisto, Louis G., 345 Stevens, Ricky, 338, 342
Spivak, Allen, 8, 83, 135, 158, 220, 277, 320 Stevens, Tony, 243
Spolan, Jeffrey, 137 Stevenson, Juliet, 121–22
Sprecher, Amy, 392 Stevenson, Robert, 280
Sprecher, Ben, 392 Stewart, Kris, 355
Spring Awakening, 287–89 Stewart, Mark, 328, 330
Spurney, Jon, 328 Stewart, Michael, 61, 208, 400, 402
Squadron, Ann Strickland, 267 Stewart, Paula, 249
Squire, Theresa, 286 Stewart, Seth, 330
Squonk, 4–5 Stiers, David Ogden, 414
Stafford, Richard, 232 Stigwood, Robert, 315
Stage Entertainment, 235 Stiles, Danny, 310
Stage Entertainment BV, 239 Stiles, George, 280, 282
Stage Holding, 61, 91, 201 Stiletto Entertainment, 66
StageVentures 2009 Limited Partnership, 405 Stillman, Bob, 26–27, 275
Stamos, John, 400–401 Stillman, Joe, 366
Stanek, Jim, 90, 255 Stimac, Anthony, 181
Stanley, Alessandra, 135 Sting, 13
Stanley, Dorothy, 46 Stites, Kevin, 85, 127, 162, 252, 278, 356, 392
Stanley, Elizabeth, 340–41 Stockdale, Gary, 29
Stanley, Kim, 285 Stockton, Frank R., 290
Stanton, Rider Quentin, 332 Stoker, Bram, 186
Stapleton, Jean, 51, 65 Stolber, Dean, 203, 297, 393
Stapleton, Maureen, 402 Stoll, Jon, 109, 157, 210
Starec Productions, 225 Stoller, Michael, 4
Starobin, Michael, 169, 386 Stone, David, 112, 152, 219, 385
Star of Indiana, 53 Stone, Greg, 398
Stasio, Charles, 366 Stone, Peter, 137, 292
Stasio, Marilyn, 112, 130, 186, 355 Story, Jamal, 181
Staton, Daniel C., 99 The Story of My Life, 372–73
Staton Bell Osher Mayerson Group, 257 Stout, Mary, 42
Stattel, Robert, 199 Stowe, Dennis, 290
Staudenmayer, Edward, 179 Strand, John, 224
Staunch Entertainment, 274 Strasberg, Lee, 88
INDEX 491
Strathie, Angus, 115 Tankard, Meryl, 262

Stratton, Hank, 12 Target, 277
Streep, Meryl, 72, 93, 184, 239 Tartaglia, John, 145, 368
Strickland, Josh, 262 Tarzan, 262–64
Stritch, Elaine, 49, 80–81, 159, 284–85, 417 Tatelman, Barry and Susan, 203
Strole, Phoebe, 288 Taupin, Bernie, 255
Stroman, Susan, 13, 15–16, 23–24, 37, 54, 59, 72, 85, 87, Taylor, Clifton, 258, 270
121, 183, 318–19, 361 Taylor, David, 140
Strong, Allison, 400 Taylor, Elizabeth, 391
Strouse, Charles, 135, 393–95, 400, 402 Taylor, James, 13
Strunsky, Michael, 7 Taylor, Lenora, 353
StudioCanal, 54 Taylor, Markland, 136
Sturge, Tom, 30 Taylor, Renee, 191
Sturm, Roland, 273 Taylor, Rob, 32
Sturt, Jeremy, 8 Taylor, Scott, 417
StyleFour Productions, 288 Taymor, Julie, 21–22, 173
Styne, Jule, 18, 50, 132, 137, 160, 332 Tazewell, Paul, 80, 171, 241, 258, 330, 374, 403
Suehsdorf, David, 21 TBF Music Corp., 232
Sues, Alan, 402 TBS, 412
Sugar, 137 Teachout, Terry, 15, 265
Sugarman, Eddie, 307 Teaton, Kenneth, 392
Sullivan, Barry, 250 Teeter, Lara, 363
Sullivan, Ed, 402 Teller, 29
Sullivan, Jo, 159 Temperley, Stephen, 238
Sullivan, KT, 61 Tepe, Heather, 131
Sullivan, Nick, 347 Tepper, Arielle, 1, 44, 117, 208
Sullivan, Patrick Ryan, 307 Terfel, Bryn, 166
Summerhays, Jane, 16 Tesori, Jeanine, 90, 171
Sunday in the Park with George, 325–28 Testa, Mary, 61, 313–14
Surf City, 203 Tetreault, Paul R., 307
Suskin, Steven, 138, 392, 399 Te Wiata, Inia, 249
Sussman, Bruce, 65 TGA Enterprises, 169
Sutcliffe, Steven, 96 TGA Entertainment, 197, 208
Sutherland, Brian, 226 Thane, James, 280
Sutton, Charlie, 197 Tharp, Twyla, 110–11, 273
Suzuki, Pat, 106 Thau, H., 169
Swanton, Brian, 8 Thau, Harold, 287
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 164–66, Theatre Associates, 356
233–35 Theatre Dreams, 69, 91, 201
Sweet, Sam, 224, 308 Theatre for a New Audience, 21
The Sweet Bye and Bye, 309 Theatre League, 353
Sweet Charity, 220–23 Theatre Previews at Duke, 199
Sweet Smell of Success, 83–85 Theatre Under the Stars, 140
Swenson, Inga, 350 The Entire Prussian Army, 203
Swenson, Will, 380, 385 The Farm, 220
Swerling, Jo, 374 Themis, John, 154
Swibel, B., 313 Therese Raquin, 75
Swinsky, M., 99, 147 The Rocky Horror Company, Ltd., 33
Swinsky, Mort, 80, 115, 145, 274, 287, 415 Thibedeau, Matthew, 93
Syal, Meera, 169 Thielman, Sam, 372
Sydow, Karl, 392 Thione, Lorenzo, 365
Symonette, Lys, 299 13, 358–59
Synnott, Cathal, 9 Thoeren, Robert, 137
Syse, Glenna, 317 Thomas, Edward, 250
Szot, Paulo, 334–35, 337 Thomas, John and Danita, 199
Thomas, Kevin David, 417
Taboo, 154–56 Thomas, Richard, 323
Tadad, Robert, 383 Thompson, Ahmir “Questlove,” 415
Take Me Along, 342 Thompson, Caitlyn, 414
A Tale of Two Cities, 356–58 Thompson, Dave, 35
Thompson, David, 72 Tsoutsouvas, Sam, 75

Thompson, Emma, 166 Tsypin, George, 321–22
Thompson, Jay, 22 Tulchin/Bartner, 283, 374
Thompson, Jennifer Laura, 69 Tulchin/Bartner/Bagert, 234
Thompson, Kay, 365 Tune, Tommy, 199, 269, 402
Thompson, Mark, 46, 53, 71, 169 Tunick, Jonathan, 184, 339
Thompson, R. Scott, 224 Tunie, Tamara, 287–88
Thompson, Stuart, 125 Turk, Bruce, 21
Thompson, Tazewell, 5 Turner, David, 232, 325
Thompson, Tommy, 347 Turner, Tina, 13, 190
Thomson, Brian, 192 Tuttle, Ashley, 110
Thorell, Clarke, 99, 348 Tveit, Aaron, 317, 385
Thoroughly Modern Millie, 88–90 Twain, Mark, 59–60, 143
Thou Shalt Not, 72–75 Twain, Shania, 13
The Threepenny Opera, 252–54, 300 The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 218–20
Thwak, 1 Twine, Linda, 129, 171, 241
Tichler, Rosemarie, 16 Two Cities, 358
Tiesler, Paul, 93 2 Guys Productions, 403
Tillman, Ellis, 123 Tyler, Chase, 355
The Times They Are A-Changin’, 273–74 Tyler, Steven, 42
Timlin, Addison, 131 Tyrell, Steve, 180
Tipton, Jennifer, 1 Tzudiker, Bob, 262
Tisch/Avnet Financial, 208
[Title of Show], 354–56 Uhry, Alfred, 173, 299, 301
Toben, Paul, 372 Ui Cheallaigh, Aine, 295
Tokarz, Katherine, 361 Ulanet, Rachel, 299
Tokyo Broadcasting System, 44, 147 Ullman, Tracey, 93, 269, 346
Tolentino, Mariano, Jr., 260, 286 Ullmann, Liv, 134, 400
Tomlin, Lily, 36–37 Ullrich, William, 127
Tomlin and Wagner Theatricalz, 36 Ulvaeus, Bjorn, 71, 398
Tommasini, Anthony, 122, 173, 206, 249 Umeki, Miyoshi, 106
Tone, Franchot, 88 Umoh, Stephanie, 408
Topol, 163, 250 Union, Scott and Kaylin, 403
Toppall/Stevens/Mills, 397 Universal, 39, 42, 71, 152, 340, 359, 398
Torigoe, Kirk, 169 Up in One, 150–51
Tornick, Michael, 30 Urban Cowboy, 123–25
Toro, Natalie, 356–57 Urbont, Jack, 145
Torres, Jorge, 185 Urinetown, 69–70
Torres, Maria, 225 USA Ostar Productions, 119
Toscanini, Arturo, 116 USA Ostar Theatricals, 79, 107, 112, 117
Tovarich, 141
Tozzi, Giorgio, 249 Vaccariello, Patrick, 19, 117, 131, 149, 197, 271, 332, 377
Traina, Joseph, 380 Vagabond Stars, 179
Transamerica, 258 Vaishnav, Sudhir, 169
Travers, P. L., 280 Valency, Maurice, 96, 351
Travis, Sarah, 234–35 Valenti, Michael, 104
Travolta, John, 101, 124–25, 316–17 Vallee, Tara Jeanne, 353
Trepp, Warren, 273, 297 Valli, Frankie, 235–38
Tresnjak, Darko, 345 van Cauwelaert, Didier, 107
Tricky Feat Ltd., 8 van den Ende, Joop, 61, 91, 186, 201
Trien, Cathy, 225 Vanderkolfe, Jonathan, 53
Trimm, Alice, 400 van der Schuff, Melissa, 143
Trimm, Allie, 358 Vandoren, Donnie, 53
Triplett, William, 18, 139 Van Dyke, Dick, 24–25, 217, 245, 402
Troel, Jan, 400 Van Gastel, John, 397
Tronto, Rudy, 103 Van Gelder, Lawrence, 29–30, 38, 64, 77, 111, 157, 175
Trotter, Terry, 123 van Gogh, Vincent, 224–25
True Love Productions, 225, 338, 358, 415 van Itallie, Jean-Claude, 50, 328
Trujillo, Sergio, 211, 225, 235, 264, 374, 385, 403 Van Laast, Anthony, 19, 71, 169
INDEX 493
Van Patten, Dick, 191 Walter, Doug, 229

Van Patten, Joyce, 51 Walters, Happy, 383
Vanstone, Hugh, 46, 53, 169, 208, 366 Walters, Julie, 72
Vashee, Vijay and Sita, 403 Walton, Tony, 37, 41, 356
Ventura, Lorna, 211 Wand, Betty, 336
Vera, Carlos, 185 Wang Jingbo, 371
Verdi, Giuseppe, 10, 349 Wang Sen, 371
Verdon, Gwen, 222 Wang Yazhi, 371
Vereen, Ben, 222 Wang Zhenpeng, 371
Verini, Bob, 311–12, 346 Warchus, Matthew, 46, 49
Vickery, Dan, 313 Ward, Andre, 313, 383
Vidal, Gore, 338 Ward, Ann Hould, 248
Vidnovic, Martin, 86 Ward, Anthony, 85, 87, 131, 215–16, 349
Vienna Waits Productions, 271, 412 Ward, Kirby, 160
Viertel, Jack, 332, 405 Wardle, Irving, 76, 357
Viertel, Tom, 147, 234, 283, 397, 417 Waring, Wendy, 46
Vietti, Alejo, 307 Warner Brothers, 61, 255
Villella, Edward, 369 Warren, David, 65
Vincent, Tony, 19–20 Warren, Harry, 61
Vincentelli, Elisabeth, 410, 417 Warren, Lesley Ann, 64
Viner, Michael, 135 Wasser, Alan, 353
Vineyard Theatre, 145, 355 Wasserman, Dale, 112–13, 145
Vioni, Lisa, 199 Watch Hill Productions, 232
The Visit, 96–97, 351–52 Waterman, Dennis, 350
Vitali, Kersti, 398 Waters, Daryl, 405
Vlastnik, Frank, 83, 129 Waters, Ethel, 173
Vogel, Frederic B., 347 Waters, John, 99, 340
Voltaire, 205, 337 Waterstreet, Ed, 143
von Essen, Max, 305, 323, 407 Watson, Becky, 75
Von Mayrhauser, Peter, 215 Watson, Joe, 397
von Sydow, Max, 400 Watson, Russell, 398
Vroman, Lisa, 248–49 Watson, Susan, 304
Watt, Douglas, 168, 195
Wacker, Bob, 347 Watt, Michael, 39, 131, 201, 387
Wager, Douglas C., 179, 223 Watt/Dobie Productions, 59
Wagner, Daniel MacLean, 224 Watts, Richard, 370
Wagner, Jane, 36 Waxman Williams Entertainment, 104, 169
Wagner, Robin, 16, 55, 59, 104, 149, 160, 271, 318, 398, Waxwill Theatrical Division, 169
412 Weales, Gerald, 207
Wagner, S. D., 328 Weaver, Fritz, 350
Walden, Josh, 197, 407 Weaver, Hillary, 383
Waldman, Jen, 343 Weaver, Matthew, 383
Waldman, Price, 277 Weaver, Sigourney, 184
Waldorf, Wilella, 87 Webb, Clifton, 347, 362
Waldrop, Mark, 79, 225 Webb, Daniel, 115
Walken, Christopher, 1, 3, 101 Webber, Julian, 359
Walker, Alice, 241 Weber, Bruce, 33, 37, 54, 59–61, 70, 76, 78, 83, 109, 134,
Walker, Bonnie, 332 157
Walker, June, 88 Webster, Christopher R. III, 313
Walker, Nancy, 159 The Wedding Singer, 256–58
Walker, Ray, 19 Wedekind, Frank, 287
Wallach, Eli, 113 Wedow, Gary Thor, 164, 191
Wallis, Shani, 160 Weeks, Todd, 30
Walsh, Alice Chebba, 104 Weems, Andrew, 21
Walsh, Barbara, 283 Weideman, Japhy, 390
Walsh, Bill, 280 Weidman, John, 13, 15, 32, 167, 175, 178, 194, 400
Walsh, Elizabeth, 249 Weil, Tim, 366
Walsh, James, 160 Weiler, A. E., 50
Walston, Ray, 336 Weill, Kurt, 252, 299–301
Weiner, David F., 196 Wilde, Marty, 402

Weinstein, Bob, 54, 83, 115, 211, 241 Wilder, Andrew, 199
Weinstein, Harvey, 54, 83, 115, 131, 158, 160, 203, 211, Wilder, Billy, 137
215, 220, 241, 417 Wilder, Gene, 318
Weinstein Company, 377, 380, 387 Wilder, Laura Ingalls, 392
Weinstein Live Entertainment, 359 Wildhorn, Frank, 186
Weir, Jonathan, 96 The Wild Party, 16–19
Weissberger Theatre Group, 160, 203 Wilkins, Lee, 393
Weissler, Barry and Fran, 39, 158, 220–21, 346 Wilkins, Sharon, 39, 211
Weitzenhoffer, Max, 417 Wilkinson, Colm, 280
Weitzman, Ira, 13, 72 Wilkof, Lee, 102, 148, 169
Welch, Anne Marie, 265 Willetts, David, 409
Welch, Ken, 229 Williams, Allen, 353
Welch, Mitzie, 229 Williams, Beth, 83, 274
Welch, Raquel, 18 Williams, Billy Dee, 226
Weller, Michael, 264–65 Williams, Billy Paul, 353
Wencarlar Productions, 380 Williams, Brandon, 347
Wendland, Mark, 385 Williams, Buddy, 217
Wendt, George, 402 Williams, Emma, 217
Wenig, Seth C., 349 Williams, Kristen Beth, 343
Werner, Howard, 398, 400, 412 Williams, Marsha Garces, 99
Werner, Lori, 377 Williams, NaTasha Yvette, 63
Werth, Christopher, 325 Williams, Ralph, 169
West, Mae, 26–27 Williams, Robin, 99
West, Matt, 255 Williams, Schele, 10
West, Nathanael, 158 Williams, Treat, 46
Westfeldt, Jennifer, 158–59 Williams, Vanessa, 91, 402
Westley, Helen, 88 Williamstown Theatre Festival, 82
Weston, Jim, 140 Williams/Waxman, 16, 23
West Side Story, 377–79 Willis, Allee, 241
Wetherell, Elizabeth Eynon, 287 Willis, Jill Furman, 377
Wetrock Entertainment, 270 Willis, Richard, 60
Wetzel, Patrick, 72 Wills, Jennifer Hope, 160
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 140–41 Wills, Ray, 55
What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined, 134–35 Willson, Meredith, 23, 25
Wheeldon, Christopher, 83 Willson, Rini, 25
Wheeler, Hugh, 121, 164, 194, 205, 234, 337, 417 Wilner, Lori, 338
Whelan, Bill, 9 Wilson, Brian, 201
Whelan, Christian, 392 Wilson, Craig, 389
Whipple, Sidney B., 370 Wilson, Darlene, 104, 208
White, Harrison, 310 Wilson, Edwin, 24
White, Lari, 251 Wilson, Jessica-Snow, 201
White, Lillias, 134, 180, 415 Wilson, Maia Nkenge, 241, 387
White, Lyla, 310 Wilson, Mary Louise, 274, 276
White, Noni, 262 Wilson, Michael G., 215
White, Onna, 402 Wilson, Patrick, 30, 86–87
White, Terri, 405, 407 Wilson, Steve, 308
White Christmas, 361–64, 414 Wilson, Tommar, 59
Whitehead, Charles, 125 Winer, Linda, 178
Whitman, Barbara, 203, 219, 297, 385 Winfrey, Oprah, 241
Whittaker, Keaton, 417 Winger, Debra, 124
Whitten, Dan, 270 Wings, 185
Whitty, Jeff, 145, 147 Winkler, Richard, 140, 191, 403, 417
Whoopi, 192 Winnick, Gary, 241, 257
Wicked, 151–54 Winokur, Marissa Jaret, 99, 101
Wierzel, Robert, 5, 248, 415 Winston, Tarik, 9
Wiesenfeld, Cheryl, 203 Winter, Harry A., 224, 308
Wilbur, Richard, 205, 337 Winters, Jill, 353
Wilcox, Wayne, 215 Winters, Shelley, 190
INDEX 495
Wise, Ernie, 126 York, Don, 220, 345

Wise, Robert, 18, 379 York, Michael, 357
Wise, Scott, 110 Yorkey, Brian, 385–86
Wise Guys, 176–77 York Theatre Company, 238
Wisenfeld, Cheryl, 80 Yoshii, Kumiko, 44
Withers-Mendes, Elisabeth, 243 Youmans, James, 63, 332, 377
Wittlin, Mike, 383 Youmans, William, 295–96, 405
Wittman, Scott, 32, 99, 101, 268–69 Young, Eric Jordan, 408
Wodehouse, P. G., 75, 77 Young, Frank M., 140
Wolfe, Digby, 157 Young, John Lloyd, 235, 237
Wolfe, George C., 16, 18, 80, 171 Young, LaParee, 93
Wolfe, Matt, 409 Young, Tara, 13, 23, 72, 117, 121, 183, 215, 295, 321
Wolfington, Iggie, 24–25, 64 Young Frankenstein, 317–20
Wolfson, Israel, 383 You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 21
Wolkenberg, Rick, 188 Yu Fei, 371
Wolpe, Lenny, 260 Yurka, Blanche, 43
Wolpert, Harold, 245, 252, 289, 301, 325, 368, 400 Yurman, Lawrence, 274
The Woman in White, 239–41
Wonderful Town, 158–60 Zabriskie, Nan, 95
Wong, B. D., 194 Zagnit, Stuart, 39
Wood, Frank, 288 Zaken, Remy, 288
Wood, Haneefah, 188 Zaks, Jerry, 147, 169, 197–98
Wood, Natalie, 132 Zambello, Francesca, 321, 392
Woodling, Stephanie, 121 Zarrett, Lee, 42
Woodruff, Virginia Ann, 241 Zavelson, Billy, 267
Woodward, Edward, 357 Zbornik, Kristine, 338
Woodward, Max, 304, 407 Zemiro, 147
Woolard, David C., 33, 50, 66, 196, 211, 251, 264, 345, 377 ZenDog Productions, 287
Woolley, Monty, 24 Zeta-Jones, Catherine, 385, 417–18
Woolverton, Linda, 10, 255 Zhang Zhigang, 371
Wopat, Tom, 338–39 Zhivago, 264–65
Working Title Films, 359 Zhou Chenglong, 371
Worldwide Entertainment, 199 Zhu Huayin, 371
Worley, Jo Anne, 49 Ziegfeld, Florenz, 203
Worsham, Lauren, 337 Zieglerova, Klara, 36, 235
Wreford, Catherine, 61 Ziemba, Karen, 15–16, 160–61, 249, 293, 304, 395
Wreghitt, Randall L., 199, 274 Zien, Chip, 215
Wright, Charles Randolph, 79 Zink, Jack, 148
Wright, Doug, 274, 276, 321 Zinman, Toby, 179, 224
Wright, Jessica, 337 Zinn, David, 313, 356
Wright, Linda, 347 Zippel, David, 239–40, 364
Wrightson, Ann G., 238 Zisa, Natalia, 225
WWLC, 131 Zoglin, Richard, 3, 12, 22, 26, 32, 43, 46, 49, 52, 54, 57, 60,
Wyatt, Kirsten, 286, 315 63, 72–74, 85, 101, 105–6, 111, 120, 125–26, 144, 153,
Wylie, Adam, 91 156, 168, 174, 184, 200, 210, 247, 253–54, 256, 258,
Wynn, Steve, 146 261, 263–64, 272, 274, 316, 319, 323, 360, 368, 377, 409
Zola, Emile, 72
Xanadu, 313–15 Zollo, Frederick, 215
Xie Tongmiao, 371 Zollo/Sine, 171
Zombie Prom, 119
Yates, Deborah, 15 Zombies from the Beyond, 119
Yazbeck, Tony, 414 Zorich, Louis, 46
Yazbek, David, 30–32, 170, 203 Zotovich, Adam, 241, 297
Yeargan, Michael, 213, 215, 334, 337 Zuber, Catherine, 41, 186, 199, 213, 215, 232, 334, 337,
A Year with Frog and Toad, 129–30 340
Yeats, W. B., 9 Zweibel, Alan, 196, 268
Yerkes, Tamlyn Freund, 251 Zweigbaum, Steven, 54, 318
Yershon, Gary, 125 Zwick, Joel, 60
Yeston, Maury, 127, 129, 199 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 Recep-
tion 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 Com-
plete Book of 1980s Broadway Musicals (2016), and The Complete Book of 1990s Broadway Musicals (2016),
all published by Rowman & Littlefield.
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The Complete Book of

2000s Broadway Musicals

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB

Copyright © 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield

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Names: Dietz, Dan, 1945–

™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

Printed in the United States of America

BROADWAY MUSICALS OF THE 2000s

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 59 Celebrating Sondheim 112

Fela! 414 The Look of Love 133

Sister Act 310 The Threepenny Opera 252

JAMES JOYCE’S THE DEAD

Theatre: Belasco Theatre

Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre

Musical Scenes (Libretto, per program)

PORGY AND BESS

DANCING ON DANGEROUS GROUND

Theatre: Radio City Music Hall

Dance and Musical Sequences

Theatre: Vivian Beaumont Theatre

Did You Move?

THE WILD PARTY

Theatre: Virginia Theatre

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

THE GREEN BIRD

Theatre: Cort Theatre

THE MUSIC MAN

PENN & TELLER

BORSCHT BELT BUFFET ON BROADWAY

Sketches and Musical Numbers

THE FULL MONTY

Theatre: Eugene O’Neill Theatre

The musical was presented in two acts.

PATTI LUPONE / “MATTERS OF THE HEART”

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000)

Theatre: Richard Rodgers Theatre

Theatre: Brooks Atkinson Theatre

Theatre: Ambassador Theatre

The musical was presented in two acts.

BELLS ARE RINGING

Theatre: Broadway Theatre

Theatre: St. James Theatre

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER

GEORGE GERSHWIN ALONE

Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre

Theatre: The Theatre at Madison Square Garden

THE RHYTHM CLUB

Theatre: The Henry Miller Theatre

THOU SHALT NOT

Theatre: Plymouth Theatre

Theatre: Helen Hayes Theatre

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2001)

BEA ARTHUR ON BROADWAY: JUST BETWEEN FRIENDS

Monologues and Musical Numbers

ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY

ONE MO’ TIME

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

Theatre: Martin Beck Theatre