(Born Nanette Ruby Bernadette Fabares, 1920–.) Musical comedy, television, and film actress who appeared in a long line of shows—some successful, others not—during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Let’s Face It! (1941), By Jupiter (1942, replacement), My Dear Public (1943), Jackpot (1944), Bloomer Girl (1944, replacement), High Button Shoes (1947), Love Life (1948, for which she won a Tony Award), Arms and the Girl (1950), and Make a Wish (1951). After more than a decade away from Broadway, she returned to play First Lady Nell Henderson in Mr. President (1962). The creators whose work she performed on Broadway included Rodgers and Hart, Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg, Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner, Morton Gould and Dorothy Fields, and Irving Berlin.
(17 February 1932, New Amsterdam, 165 performances.) Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by Moss Hart, book directed by George S. Kaufman, produced by Sam H. Harris. After Strike Up the Band and Of Thee I Sing paved the way for satirical musicals, efforts such as Face the Music followed. With a stable of creators that included Berlin, Hart, and Kaufman, one might have expected the show to have a longer run, but Face the Music was not a smash hit. The show begins in an automat, where New York’s elite eat cheaply because of the Depression. Broadway producer Hal Resiman (Andrew Tombes) comes in to locate backers for his latest production and finds one in Mrs. Meshbecker (Mary Boland), the wife of Martin Van Buren Meshbecker, a wealthy yet corrupt policeman. The policemen put their money into the show, Rhinestones of 1932, but also face investigations of their own. The show becomes a success only when they make it a bit more risqué. Berlin’s score included “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee,” sung in the automat; “Sort Lights and Sweet Music”; “Dear Old Crinoline Days,” a send-up of burlesque; and “A Roof in Manhattan.” Berlin’s lyrics were not quite as barbed as those of Ira Gershwin in Of Thee I Sing, a bit of a problem given the biting satire of Hart’s book, which took on politics, show business, and the Depression in equal measure. Writing in the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson remarked that Face the Music “is one of the good things in the new vein of song-and-dance arcade.”
(26 May 1964, Mark Hellinger, 271 performances.) Music by Jule Styne, lyrics and book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, staged by George Abbott. A somewhat disappointing show that nevertheless featured a winning performance by Carol Burnett, Fade Out—Fade In ran for a total of about eight months in two separate spans. Burnett caused the three-month gap when she became disenchanted with the show, but no substitute could be located, so she returned. She played Hope Springfield, a Broadway chorus girl mistakenly brought to Hollywood to be a star. The studio head who made the error was Lionel Z. Governor (Lou Jacobi), a broad satire on Louis B. Mayer. Hope throws herself at the film’s leading man, Byron Prong (Jack Cassidy), but instead ends up with one of Governor’s nephews, Rudolf (Dick Patterson). Governor decides to shelve the film, but Rudolf arranges a preview. It becomes a hit, and Hope is a star. Lampooning Hollywood in the 1930s was not a new idea on Broadway, but there were memorable moments for Burnett’s brand of comedy, and Jacobi was hilarious as a studio head who constantly needs a psychiatrist at his side. Among the score’s hits was “Call Me Savage,” a send-up of a seduction song sung by Hope after she slips a man’s jacket over her embarrassingly slight costume that is festooned with long beads.
(29 April 1992, John Golden, 486 performances.) Music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Finn and James Lapine, directed by Lapine. The increased visibility of gays and the AIDS crisis (which devastated the theatrical community) inspired two short off-Broadway musicals, March of the Falsettos (1981) and Falsettoland (1990), both created by Finn and Lapine. The shows were combined and brought to Broadway. Many of the original actors reprised their original roles. The plot revolves around a married Jewish man, Marvin (Michael Rupert), who leaves his wife and son, Jason (Jonathan Kaplan), for a man, Whizzer (Stephen Bogardus). Trina (Barbara Walsh), Marvin’s wife, ends up marrying Marvin’s psychotherapist, Mendel (Chip Zien). Marvin is self-absorbed and naively hopes that his entire “family” can somehow coexist. Whizzer, however, contracts AIDS, and as he dies, the cast discovers the importance of love. The score included the clever “Four Jews in a Room Bitching,” the expansive ballad “Unlikely Lovers,” and Trina’s seriocomic “I’m Breaking Down.”
A style of musical theater developed during the 1990s geared toward children accompanied by adults. Disney Theatrical Productions have been a major force in the genre through live-action versions of some of their animated properties, such as Beauty and the Beast (1994) and The Lion King (1997). Other examples include Seussical (2000), A Year with Frog and Toad (2003), and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!—The Musical (2006).
(4 November 1954, Majestic, 888 performances.) Music and lyrics by Harold Rome, book by S. N. Behrman and Joshua Logan, staged by Logan, dances by Helen Tamiris, presented by David Merrick. Based on Marcel Pagnol’s trilogy of films Marius, Fanny, and César, each telling part of the same story, the musical Fanny brought all of the trappings of a major musical to the tale. Some felt that this violated the intimate feeling and simplicity of the films, but the result was a hit musical that ultimately had little long-term importance. Fanny (Florence Henderson) falls in love with Marius (William Tabbert), son of César (Ezio Pinza), owner of a Marseilles café. Fanny becomes pregnant by Marius, who flees to become a seaman. Fanny agrees to marry Panisse (Walter Slezak), who adopts her son. Years later, Marius returns; Fanny still loves him, but César intervenes to keep Panisse from getting hurt. Panisse, however, is dying and tells Fanny to marry Marius so that the son, Césario, has a father. The show benefited from fine principal actors, a good score, and plenty of spectacle, including a full-rigged ship and ballets at the circus and under the sea. Writing in the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson objected only to what he considered a bloated production: “this theatregoer finds himself impatient with Mr. Logan’s passion for the supercolossal.” Highlights of the score included Pinza’s interpretations of “Love Is a Very Light Thing,” “Why Be Afraid to Dance?,” and “Welcome Home”; Slezak’s renditions of “To My Wife” and “Panisse and Son”; Tabbert’s work in “Restless Heart” and “Fanny”; Henderson’s performance of “Have to Tell You”; and the lovers’ act 2 duet, “The Thought of You.”
(3 May 1960, Sullivan Street Playhouse, 17,162 performances.) Music by Harvey Schmidt, lyrics and book by Tom Jones. Its entire run was off-Broadway, where The Fantasticks became the longest-running American musical. Schmidt and Jones based The Fantasticks on Rostand’s Les Romantiques. They created what Brooks Atkinson called in the New York Times a “dainty masque” in two acts. The story’s framing device is the Narrator (Jerry Orbach, in his first starring role), who introduces the Girl (Rita Gardner) and the Boy (Kenneth Nelson) to each other. They are neighbors and in love but separated by a wall. They believe their fathers disapprove of their attraction, but the parents actually erected the wall to keep them apart and thus help their hearts to grow fonder. To increase the longing, the fathers hire the Narrator to abduct the Girl. The youngsters discover the ruse and are together at the end. The simple story is part of the show’s charm, as is the fairy-tale atmosphere and archetypal quality of the characters. The score included the waltz “Try to Remember,” a major hit, as well as “Soon It’s Gonna Rain,” another song that became popular on its own. The instrumental ensemble at the tiny theater consisted of just piano and harp. The Fantasticks provided a charming evening of theater that played for more than 40 years.
(23 November 2009, Eugene O’Neill, 463 performances.) A show that combined the jukebox musical with African cultures, thanks to the memorable efforts of director-choreographer Bill T. Jones, Fela! was an exploration of the life and work of Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938–1997), creator of Afrobeat. Kuti was famous in the West for this synthesis of Yoruba tribal rhythms and melodies with funk, pop, and jazz, styles that he learned while living in London and the United States. In his native Nigeria, he was an icon who spent time in jail for his opposition to the government and ran for the country’s presidency. A number of his songs appear in the show’s score (performed by the Brooklyn-based band Antibalas), enlivening a plot that has Kuti (Sahr Ngaujah) communing in his mind with the spirit of his dead mother, Funmilayo (Lillias White), who was killed by Nigerian forces in an invasion of the singer’s compound. By the end, Kuti himself has died and has been reunited with his mother. Jones conceived the show along with Jim Lewis (with whom he wrote the thin book) and Steve Hendel. The New York Times praised the show as one “that triumphantly stakes out its own pioneer territory in the expanding land of musicals.” The production returned to the Al Hirschfield Theatre for a 28-performance run in the summer of 2012.
(Born Seymour Arnold Feuer, 1911–2006.) With Ernest Martin, he was the producer for successful shows with scores by Cole Porter or Frank Loesser, including Guys and Dolls (1950), Can-Can (1953), Silk Stockings (1955), and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1961).
(22 September 1964, Imperial, 3,242 performances.) Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by Joseph Stein, staged and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, presented by Harold Prince. Based on short stories by Sholom Aleichem, Fiddler on the Roof became the longest-running musical in Broadway history to that point. The work is profoundly Jewish but also carries a compelling universality. The audience watches the poor residents of the Jewish shtetl in Anatevka fight bigotry with humor and strength in Russia of 1905. When the government orders them to evacuate, they respond with the resignation of a people of faith and move on. It is a sentimental story but involves plausible people that the audience comes to understand. The plot surrounds Tevye (Zero Mostel), a devout milkman with a penchant for simple philosophy and long conversations with God. His wife Golde (Maria Karnilova) is blunt and argumentative, but they share an abiding respect for each other. They have five daughters, three of whom are old enough to marry. The busybody Yente (Beatrice Arthur) makes the matches, but she is unsuccessful with Tevye’s brood. Tzeitel (Joanna Merlin) is matched with the much older butcher, but she is in love with the young tailor Motel (Austin Pendleton). They convince Tevye, against all traditions, to allow them to marry. The Christians in Anatevka destroy the wedding reception in a brief but nasty pogrom. Tevye’s second daughter Hodel (Julia Migenes) falls in love with Perchik (Bert Convy), a young revolutionary. The couple receive Tevye’s blessing, but Perchik is arrested for his antigovernment activities, and Hodel follows him to distant Siberia. The next daughter, Chava (Tanya Everett), elopes with a Christian, which Tevye cannot accept. The show concludes with the Jews’ exodus from Anatevka, many of the villagers heading to the United States. Fiddler included many memorable performances, but Mostel’s was especially captivating. Writing in the New York Times, Howard Taubman called Tevye “one of the most glowing creations in the history of the musical theater.” Taubman extended his extravagant praise to most aspects of the show, finding it a landmark in the genre. He wrote that Jerome Robbins’s staging shows “sensitivity and fire,” with dance woven in to the whole “with subtlety and flaring theatricalism.”
Fiddler has remained in the repertory partly because of its unusually fine score and was revived on Broadway in 1976, 1990, and 2004. Bock managed to weave together elements of popular song with recognizable Jewish idioms, such as the inspired cantillation in “If I Were a Rich Man.” “Tradition” is the perfect opening number, identifying all of the characters and illustrating what holds them together. Tevye’s “If I Were a Rich Man” epitomizes the character-defining number. The songs for the young people—“Matchmaker,” “Miracle of Miracles,” “Now I Have Everything,” and “Far from the Home I Love”—also accentuated aspects of the characters that sing them. “Sabbath Prayer” is simple but heartrending, and “To Life” carries palpable excitement in a suitable ethnic vein. Tevye’s snow job for Golde concerning Tzeitel’s marriage to Motel, “The Dream,” is both humorous and touching. “Sunrise, Sunset” expresses the feelings of all parents as they watch their children age, and the waltz has become the show’s most popular tune. Harnick’s lyrics in “Do You Love Me?” beautifully capture the feelings of an arranged marriage. The finale, “Anatevka,” carries the same elegant simplicity and restraint as “The Sabbath Prayer.”
Prolific librettist and lyricist who wrote words for more than 400 songs on Broadway and in Hollywood. One of her early Broadway successes was “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” with music by Jimmy McHugh, which appeared in The International Revue (1930). After working in Hollywood, she returned to Broadway in 1939 for Stars in Your Eyes, with music by Arthur Schwartz. With her brother Herbert Fields, she cowrote the books for three shows with music and lyrics by Cole Porter—Let’s Face It! (1941), Something for the Boys (1943), and Mexican Hayride (1944)—as well as for Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun (1946) and Sigmund Romberg’s Up in Central Park (1948), Morton Gould’s Arms and the Girl (1950), and Albert Hague’s Redhead (1959). She was also lyricist for Up in Central Park, Arms and the Girl, and Redhead and created lyrics for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951, music by Schwartz), Sweet Charity (1966, music by Cy Coleman), and Seesaw (1973, music by Coleman), among others. Fields’s character-specific lyrics employ vernacular idioms that accentuate particular dimensions of the people who sing them. She was the daughter of Lew Fields and sister of Joseph Fields.
Performer-turned-librettist who made his Broadway debut onstage in the revue Miss 1917. He worked with Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart as librettist for Dearest Enemy (1925), The Girl Friend (1926), Peggy-Ann (1926), A Connecticut Yankee (1927), and Present Arms (1928). Fields created libretti for notable musical comedies, such as Hit the Deck (1927, music by Vincent Youmans), Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929, music by Cole Porter), The New Yorkers (1930, music by Porter), Pardon My English (1933, music by George Gershwin), and Du Barry Was a Lady (1939, music by Porter, cowritten with B. G. De Sylva). With his sister Dorothy Fields, he cowrote the books for three more shows with music by Porter—Let’s Face It! (1941), Something for the Boys (1943), and Mexican Hayride (1944)—as well as for Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun (1946) and Sigmund Romberg’s Up in Central Park (1948), Morton Gould’s Arms and the Girl (1950), and Albert Hague’s Redhead (1959). He was the son of Lew Fields and brother of Joseph Fields.
Playwright and librettist who created the books for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949, music by Jule Styne, cowritten with Anita Loos), Wonderful Town (1953, music by Leonard Bernstein, cowritten with Jerome Chodorov and based on his and Chodorov’s play My Sister Eileen), and Flower Drum Song (1958, music by Richard Rodgers, cowritten with Oscar Hammerstein II). He was the son of Lew Fields and brother of Dorothy Fields and Herbert Fields.
(Born Moses Schoenfeld, 1867–1941.) Actor, comedian, manager, and producer who constituted half of “Weber and Fields,” one of the most successful comic duos of the late 19th century. With Joe Weber, he created, among other skits, the “Dutch Act,” in which the team portrayed German immigrants. In 1896, they opened the Weber and Fields Music Hall. After the team disbanded in 1904, Fields continued his Broadway career as a performer and producer. Among the works he produced was the musical comedy Poor Little Ritz Girl (1921), for which he also wrote the book. The show began his collaboration with the team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, which lasted through Chee-Chee (1928). Three of his children were notable Broadway wordsmiths: Dorothy Fields, Herbert Fields, and Joseph Fields.
(Born William Claude Dukenfield, 1880–1946.) Comic performer with a nasal voice who was active in vaudeville as an “eccentric juggler” and appeared in several editions of Ziegfeld Follies in addition to other revues. He played con man Eustace McGargle in the musical comedy Poppy (1923); the show’s unsigned review in the New York Times reported that Fields “has never been quite so amusing as he is in ‘Poppy’—nor so versatile,” adding that he “creates comedy where certainly none existed in the libretto.” Fields was also famous for his work on radio and in film.
Performer and playwright who wrote the librettos for La Cage aux Folles (1983), Legs Diamond (1988), and Newsies (2012). He won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (2002) and was a replacement Tevye in the 2004 revival of Fiddler on the Roof.
(27 November 1929, Lyric, 254 performances.) Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Herbert Fields, settings by Norman Bel Geddes. Billed as “a musical comedy tour of Paris,” Fifty Million Frenchmen was Broadway’s recognition that many Americans adored the French capital. The show concerns Peter Forbes (William Gaxton), a rich young American who falls in love with Looloo Carroll (Genevieve Tobin). He bets his friend Michael Cummins (Jack Thompson) that he can win Looloo’s heart without making his wealth known. In various disguises, he manages to lure Looloo away from the Russian aristocrat her parents have picked out for her. Brooks Atkinson, writing in the New York Times, described Gaxton as “enormously amusing with a boyish sort of irresponsibility.” Norman Bel Geddes, who worked on Broadway before becoming one of the first famous industrial designers, conceived sets that emerged as among the stars of the show, including the Ritz Bar, Eiffel Tower, and other Parisian haunts. Cole Porter wrote a strong score with such songs as “Find Me a Primitive Man,” “So You Want to See Paris?,” “I Worship You,” “Tale of an Oyster,” and “I’m in Love,” the last of which inspired a memorable dance routine costumed entirely in black and white.
(15 April 2015, Lunt-Fontanne, 15 performances as of 26 April 2015.) Inspired by the 2004 film Finding Neverland, the musical version of the biopic about Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie (played by Matthew Morrison) featured a book by James Graham and a pop ballad–infused score by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. The sentimental tale of Barrie finding a way to conquer writer’s block through playtime also featured Laura Michelle Kelly as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and Kelsey Grammer in the dual role of Barrie’s real American producer Charles Frohman and the fictional Captain James Hook. Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review, was not overly impressed, quipping that the show was “largely made up of empty calories.”
(23 September 1930, Erlanger’s, 255 performances.) Music by Kay Swift, lyrics by Paul James, book by David Ogden Stewart. One of the few musicals from the first half of the 20th century with music by a woman, Fine and Dandy was a vehicle for the comedian Joe Cook. He appeared in several versions of Earl Carroll Vanities in the 1920s as a rapid-talking comic, a fine acrobat, and a juggler. Cook clearly dominated the show, but there were other high points as well. He played Joe Squibb, a worker for a tool company who becomes general manager through the prurient interest of the founder’s widow. Squibb also woos another young lady, even though he has a wife and children at home. His innovations as general manager are too expensive to implement, but the workers appreciated shorter hours and the company picnics. Writing in the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson described the book as “an amiable satire,” placed the score “in the fresher vein of musical comedy tunes,” and praised Eleanor Powell for her dancing. Fine and Dandy enjoyed a fine run of about eight months.
(10 January 1947, 46th Street, 725 performances.) Music by Burton Lane, lyrics by E. Y. Harburg, book by Harburg and Fred Saidy, choreography by Michael Kidd. Finian’s Rainbow opened two months before Brigadoon, another fantasy-laden tale. After stealing a pot of gold from leprechauns, Finian McLonergan (Albert Sharpe) comes to the United States with his daughter Sharon (Ella Logan). With a scheme to plant the gold at Fort Knox to see what it might grow, Finian and Sharon end up in Rainbow Valley in the mythical state of Missitucky. The leprechaun Og (David Wayne), who is trying to recover his gold and also has his eye on Sharon, pursues them. Sharon marries a local man, and Og settles for someone else. In the end, the audience learns that there is no gold and that Finian’s hometown of Glocca Morra, Ireland, is nothing more than a fantasy, but it remains real in Finian’s dreams as he journeys on. Brooks Atkinson, reviewing the show for the New York Times, found much of Finian’s Rainbow irresistible. He had reservations about the first act’s “conventional finale,” the “tawdry musical show enticements” in the second act that he traced back to Florenz Ziegfeld, and the plot’s union of make-believe with social commentary when the characters help the plight of African Americans in the fictional southern town. For Atkinson, however, these were small problems in a show that “puts the American musical stage several steps forward for the imagination with which it is written” and “the stunning virtuosity” of the actors and production. The score included several memorable songs. “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” was a huge hit with its soaring melody, and “If This Isn’t Love” also became known outside of the theater. Jim Norton played Finian in the 2009 revival (29 October 2009, St. James, 92 performances).
Composer, lyricist, and librettist who won Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Book for Falsettos (1992), for which he created music, lyrics, and a book. He wrote the music and lyrics for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005). Finn’s music has a directness that allows for the clear declamation of his witty and intelligent words. His lyrics concern life in contemporary America and include references to homosexuality, family, acceptance, and loss. He also wrote the song “Scarlet Pimpernel” for the Broadway play The Sisters Rosenweig (1993) and the musical A New Brain (1998), produced by the Lincoln Center Theater.
(23 November 1959, Broadhurst, 795 performances.) Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by Jerome Werdman and George Abbott, staged by Abbott, choreography by Peter Gennaro, produced by Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince. One of the musicals to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Fiorello! remains one of the highlights of Broadway history that was significant in its time but has seldom been performed since. It chronicled the early years of Fiorello La Guardia’s political career, when he rose from a lawyer championing the little guy to ward politician and congressman, and ends with his second run for mayor, when he defeated Jimmy Walker. Tom Bosley played the mayor and was described by Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times as having “a kindly face, abundant energy and an explosive personality.” Atkinson also noted that the cast could not include better actors and singers. Other members included Howard Da Silva as Ben Marino, a Republican Party hack of questionable integrity; Patricia Wilson as Marie, La Guardia’s secretary and second wife; and Pat Stanley as Dora, Marie’s friend and one of the young politician’s biggest fans. Atkinson praised Bock’s “bouncy score,” which shows the considerable influence of Frank Loesser, and Harnick’s “unfailingly humorous” lyrics. The songs were closely allied to the story and its situations, and, with the exception of “When Did I Fall in Love?,” none achieved success outside of the show.
(22 March 1945, Alvin, 43 performances.) Music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by Edwin Justus Mayer. Based on Mayer’s play The Firebrand (1924) about the life of Benvenuto Cellini, this musical was a dismal and perhaps undeserved failure. Lewis Nichols of the New York Times describes Gershwin’s lyrics as “not outstanding,” Weill’s score as mostly “casual and not distinguished,” and the dancing as “brief” but also admits that “the production itself is a beautiful one to see.” Weill wrote an enormous score that he orchestrated himself; two of what Nichols considered the catchier songs were “There’ll Be Life, Love and Laughter” and “The Night Time Is Not Time for Thinking.” The opening sequence of Cellini’s scheduled execution and pardon included 20 minutes of continuous music, unusual for a Broadway musical at the time.
(2 December 1912, Lyric, 120 performances.) Music by Rudolf Friml, lyrics and book by Otto Hauerbach (later Otto Harbach). After the success of Naughty Marietta, Victor Herbert agreed to write another operetta for its leading lady, Emma Trentini, and Arthur Hammerstein’s company, but the star and composer/conductor had a disagreement over an encore while on tour. Herbert vowed never to write for Trentini again. Hammerstein hired the Czech pianist and composer Rudolf Friml, who had never written for Broadway, to create the score. It was an immense success. Trentini played Nina Corelli, a poor Italian street singer who dresses as a cabin boy on a ship bound for Bermuda in order to be near the man she loves, Jack Travers (Craig Campbell). By the end of the show, Nina has become a famous prima donna, and Jack has fallen in love with her. The New York Times review reported that Friml wrote “one of the most popular scores imaginable,” and almost every song of the evening was encored. Highlights of the score included “Sympathy,” “Giannina Mia,” and “Love Is Like a Firefly.” The plot and musical program were completely reworked for the 1937 MGM film starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones.
Composer whose collaborations with librettist, lyricist, and composer Lynn Ahrens include Once on This Island (1990), My Favorite Year (1992), Ragtime (1998), Seussical (2000), songs for Chita Rivera: A Singer’s Life (2005), and Rocky (2014). He conceived Seussical and is also active as a vocal and dance arranger. Flaherty and Ahrens’s songs possess a strong sense of dramatic purpose that allows them to be fully integrated into the plot as well as exist as independent entities outside of their original larger contexts.
(11 May 1965, Alvin, 87 performances.) Music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, staged by Abbott, presented by Harold Prince. A show created by Broadway songwriting legends and featuring the Broadway debut of Liza Minnelli, Flora, the Red Menace nevertheless failed. The plot was supposed to be a satire of American Communist Party activities during the 1930s. Flora (Minnelli) is a naive, aspiring fashion designer who joins the party at the urging of her boyfriend, Harry Toukarain (Bob Deshy). Howard Taubman, writing for the New York Times, was most impressed by Minnelli, especially her singing, “but her freshly burgeoning talent is not yet overpowering enough to save a faltering production.” He cites as specific examples of her good work the songs “A Quiet Thing” and “Sing Happy.”
(12 November 1900, Casino, 505 performances.) A London import with music and lyrics by unnamed songwriters, Floradora was the second musical in New York theatrical history to have more than 500 performances. The plot took place on Floradora, an island in the Philippines. Dolores (Fannie Johnston) is an heiress to a perfume fortune, and the evil Cyrus W. Gilfain (R. E. Graham) attempts to cheat her out of her inheritance. With the help of Dolores’s fiancé, Frank Albercoed (Bertram Godfrey), and the comic Anthony Tweedledee (Willie Edouin), Dolores foils Gilfain’s plans. After a rocky opening with a mixed critical reception, Floradora finally took off as the song “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden” became a popular standard.
(1 December 1958, St. James, 600 performances.) Music by Richard Rodgers; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; book by Hammerstein and Joseph Fields; directed by Gene Kelly; choreographed by Carol Haney; produced by Rodgers, Hammerstein, and Fields. For their eighth Broadway show, Rodgers and Hammerstein focused on the clash of cultures in the Chinese American immigrant community in San Francisco as portrayed in C. Y. Lee’s popular book The Flower Drum Song. It was probably the most contemporary of any of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals. The story centered on an arranged marriage between a native Chinese girl, Mei-Li (Miyoshi Umeki), and Americanized Sammy Fong (Larry Blyden), who is in love with nightclub hostess Linda Low (Pat Suzuki). While the scenery and score had a distinctively modern flare, the dancing evoked the style of the previous decade with dream sequences and separate dance sets, eschewing the modern Broadway practice of seamlessly integrating the dancing, as seen, for example, in West Side Story the previous year. After some recasting in out-of-town tryouts, Rodgers and Hammerstein decided that the company’s combined personality made up for any weaknesses in the show. Gene Kelly was an adequate director, but some commentators felt that he had lost touch with his Broadway roots. Brooks Atkinson, writing for the New York Times, deemed the show a mixed success: “‘Flower Drum Song’ is not one of their master works. It is a pleasant interlude among some most agreeable people.” The show’s hits included “A Hundred Million Miracles” and “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” the latter sung by Pat Suzuki. The short-lived 2002 Broadway revival featured a new book by David Henry Hwang and starred Lea Salonga as Mei-Li.
(3 March 1930, Apollo, 357 performances.) Songs by B. G. De Sylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson; book by De Sylva, Brown, and Jack McGowan; produced by George White. Most famous today as the show that Bert Lahr was unable to leave so that he could play the role written for him in Girl Crazy, Flying High actually ran nearly three months longer than the Gershwins’ more famous show. The plot of Flying High involved three couples and men who work around airplanes. Oscar Shaw played the pilot Tod Addison, who parachutes onto the roof of Eileen Cassidy (Grace Brinkley), initiating the inevitable love at first sight. Lahr played “Rusty” Krause, Addison’s mechanic, whose paramour was Pansy Sparks (Kate Smith). Brooks Atkinson’s review in the New York Times opened, “Nearly everything essential to a good Broadway musical comedy . . . is to be found in ‘Flying High.’” The show’s best songs included “Thank Your Father,” “Happy Landing,” “Without Love” (a vehicle for Brinkley), and “Red Hot Chicago,” which Kate Smith sang with the volume for which she was famous.
(4 April 1971, Winter Garden, 522 performances.) Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Goldman, directed by Harold Prince, presented by Prince in association with Ruth Mitchell. An artistically successful but commercially unsuccessful look at a cast reunion for the Weismann Follies (based on the Ziegfeld Follies), Follies was another serious effort of musical theater from Sondheim and Prince. Those returning to their old theater before it is demolished include Sally and Buddy (Dorothy Collins and Gene Nelson) and Phyllis and Ben (Alexis Smith and John McMartin). In the old days, Sally and Ben had feelings for each other and now find themselves again attracted to each other, but Ben runs away, just as he did years earlier. The thin plot relied heavily on nostalgia with the older characters also appearing as their youthful selves and ghostly chorus girls parading around as in bygone days. Sondheim’s pastiche score evoked the styles of some earlier Broadway creators, particularly those involved with the revue. For example, “One More Kiss” was an operetta waltz. Other well-known songs from the show include “Waiting for the Girl Upstairs,” “Broadway Baby,” “In Buddy’s Eyes,” “Could I Leave You?,” and “Losing My Mind.” The set design was of a theater in the process of being torn down, an expensive concept that helped cause the show to lose money. Follies was a useful barometer of how far what was intended as art could succeed on Broadway in 1971. The acclaimed 2011 revival featured Danny Burstein as Bobby, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis, Elaine Paige as Carlotta, Bernadette Peters as Sally, and Ron Raines as Ben.
(8 September 1944, New Century, 882 performances.) Music and lyrics by Dan Shapiro, Milton Pascal, and Phil Charig; book by Guy Bolton and Eddie Davis. A show with more than its share of feminine pulchritude, Follow the Girls packed in soldiers and sailors on leave and managed a run that lasted a bit more than two years. Gertrude Niesen was Bubbles La Marr, a burlesque star who operates a servicemen’s canteen. Jackie Gleason played her 4-F boyfriend, Goofy Gale, who dressed as a Wave to see his love. The loose plot allowed for a number of specialty acts, and the show’s most memorable song was Niesen’s racy “I Wanna Get Married.”
(9 January 1929, 46th Street, 403 performances.) Music and lyrics by B. G. De Sylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson; book by Laurence Schwab and De Sylva. Created by the team responsible for Good News!, Follow Thru was another sports-minded hit and ran for a year. This show about golf took place at a country club, where Lora Moore (Irene Delroy) and Ruth Van Horn (Madeline Cameron) vie for both the female championship and the affections of Jerry Downs (John Barker). Ruth loses on both accounts. The delightful subplot had Angie Howard (Zelma O’Neal) running after the less assertive Jack Martin (Jack Haley). In a racy scene, the two male leads ventured into the women’s locker room disguised as plumbers. A young Eleanor Powell also appeared in the dance-heavy show. Brooks Atkinson raved in the New York Times, calling Follow Thru “a frenzied, sufficiently original carnival” that is best when “dancing a mad fandango of humors.” He singled out the “vigorous score,” which included “Button Up Your Overcoat,” “My Lucky Star,” and “I Could Give Up Anything but You.”
(22 October 1998, Richard Rodgers, 709 performances.) Music by Tom Snow; lyrics by Dean Pitchford; stage adaptation by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie, based on the screenplay by Pitchford; directed by Bobbie. Based on the 1984 film of the same name, Footloose was conceived for the teen market. A teenager named Ren McCormack (Jeremy Kushnier) moves from Chicago to a small town. He is an avid dancer but finds that his favorite activity has been outlawed through the efforts of Rev. Shaw Moore (Stephen Lee Anderson), whose son died in a drunk-driver crash after a dance. Ren agitates against the ban and further complicates matters by falling for the preacher’s daughter Ariel (Jennifer Laura Thompson). Everything works out in the end. The show included a great deal of dancing to music by Kenny Loggins, Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, and Jim Steinman, some of which was heard in the film.
Musical comedy star of the 1920s known especially for creating lead roles in three Rodgers and Hart shows: Dearest Enemy (1925), Peggy-Ann (1926), and Chee-Chee (1928).
Composer and lyricist whose work with Robert Wright began in Los Angeles nightclubs before they wrote songs for 58 different films. On Broadway, their best-known shows featured adaptations of famous melodies by classical composers. These included Song of Norway (1944, Edvard Grieg), Gypsy Lady (1946, Victor Herbert), Kismet (1953, Alexander Borodin), and Anya (1964, Sergei Rachmaninoff). Their original musical Grand Hotel, which closed out of town during its tryout in 1958, finally arrived on Broadway in 1989, directed by Tommy Tune and with additional music by Maury Yeston.
(26 September 1898, Wallack’s, 40 performances.) Music by Victor Herbert, lyrics and book by Harry B. Smith. An operetta in the grand European tradition, The Fortune Teller included Herbert’s winning score and soprano Alice Nielsen, who played three different roles, two of which were look-alike females: Musette, a gypsy who reads fortunes, and Irma, a young heiress and ballet student in Budapest. Nielsen’s third role was that of Irma’s twin brother. Both girls have trouble with their beaus because of their close physical resemblance, but this ultimately helps Irma marry her suitor. Songs included “Romany Life,” “Gypsy Love Song,” and “Only in the Play.” The brief New York run was part of a national tour, a typical practice of the time.
(1 January 1906, New Amsterdam, 90 performances.) Music, lyrics, book, and direction by George M. Cohan. Perhaps most famous for its title song, this show was intended as a vehicle for the noted stage personality Fay Templeton. She played Mary Jane Jenkins, a faithful maid for many years to a wealthy man. Everyone expects her to inherit his fortune, and she finally does but only after a number of complications. Another actor in the cast was future star Victor Moore, fresh from vaudeville. The New York Times reviewer disliked the spectacle of placing Fay Templeton in a show where she must be sad. The critic admits that “there are four or five capital songs.” In addition to the title song, the score included “So Long Mary” and “Mary’s a Grand Old Name.” The Times reviewer believed that it was in the songs “where the hand of George M. Cohan apparently shows itself at its best.”
(25 August 1980, Winter Garden, 3,486 performances.) Music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Al Dubin, direction and dances by Gower Champion, presented by David Merrick. Based on the 1933 film of the same name, 42nd Street effectively re-created the world of 1930s popular song and glorious tap dancing. The real star was Gower Champion, who gave his creation a legendary send-off when he died on opening day. Despite battling his final illness while mounting the show, Champion managed what Frank Rich called in the New York Times a “display of blazing theatrical fireworks.” The show was not a parody but rather a semiserious telling of the story about a chorus girl (Wanda Richert) who fills in for the show’s older star (Tammy Grimes) and delivers a hit for the desperate director (Jerry Orbach). Many lines from the film remained; Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble received credit only for “lead-ins and crossovers.” Since the film included only a handful of songs, the creators of the stage version interpolated other gems by Warren and Dubin into the score, treating audiences to splendid versions of “42nd Street,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” “Sunny Side to Every Situation,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “We’re in the Money,” and others. The highly successful 2001 revival played for 1,521 performances.
(14 January 1999, Broadhurst, 1,093 performances.) Choreography by Bob Fosse; conceived by Richard Maltby Jr., Chet Walker, and Ann Reinking; choreography re-created by Walker; directed by Maltby; codirected and co-choreographed by Reinking; artistic advice by Gwen Verdon. A Tony Award–winning musical despite the lack of any new music, dancing, or any book whatsoever, Fosse was an exciting tribute to the famed choreographer and director created by dancers who worked with him. The jukebox musical (and dance musical) demonstrated Fosse’s sexually charged, strutting, and singular style. It featured numbers spanning Fosse’s career and included work for both Broadway and film; however, the creators did not provide context or chronology. Famous excerpts included “Big Spender” and “The Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity, “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo” from Damn Yankees, “Steam Heat” from The Pajama Game, “Sing, Sing, Sing” from Dancin’, and segments from Fosse’s films All That Jazz and Cabaret. Ben Brantley of the New York Times appreciated the dancing and cast but compares the show to “an album of glossy, uncaptioned photographs.” They might be lovely, “but it takes your own memories of what they represent to animate those scenes . . . otherwise, they’re just pictures.”
Choreographer and director whose distinctive style developed from social and ethnic dances and demonstrated the influence of Jack Cole’s jazz dancing. After choreographing The Pajama Game (1954), Fosse worked with George Abbott on other projects, including Damn Yankees (1955), where he used typical baseball moves and created humorous, sexy dances for star Gwen Verdon. Fosse codirected How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1961) with Abe Burrows. His major successes as director-choreographer were Sweet Charity (1966), Pippin (1972), and Chicago (1975), each including the brilliant stage dances that showed Fosse’s blend of demanding choreography and showmanship. In Dancin’ (1979), he created an anthology of previous dances and new works. The culmination of his late work was Big Deal (1986), for which he chose preexisting music but achieved total control of the production. One of the features of his sexually charged choreography was the employment of close-bodied groups of dancers moving across the stage as discrete units.
Singing and dancing actress with a youthful exuberance who won a Tony Award for her portrayal of the vivacious title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002). She also created four roles in as many years: Jo in Little Women (2005), Janet Van De Fraaff in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), Inga in Young Frankenstein (2007), and Princess Fiona in Shrek: The Musical (2008). She mesmerized audiences as Reno Sweeney in the 2011 revival of Anything Goes and in the dramatically demanding title role in Violet (2014). Foster embodies the ideal of the “triple threat”—someone who truly excels at singing, dancing, and acting.
Producer who, with Alexander A. Aarons, worked closely with George and Ira Gershwin and brought many of their shows to the stage, including Lady, Be Good! (1924), Oh, Kay! (1926), and Girl Crazy (1930). At the height of the producers’ success, they built the Alvin Theater, creating its name from the first letters of their first names (Al + Vin). In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he produced shows on his own, including Red, Hot and Blue! (1936), Leave It to Me! (1938), Cabin in the Sky (1940), and Let’s Face It! (1941).
Czech-born pianist and composer who studied with Antonín Dvořák and began his Broadway career with the high-profile The Firefly (1912), an operetta written for soprano Emma Trentini after Victor Herbert quit the project. The Firefly began a fruitful collaboration with producer Arthur Hammerstein and lyricist-librettist Otto Harbach that lasted for most of the decade (works included High Jinks [1913], Katinka [1915], and Tumble In [1919]) and into the 1920s. Friml’s best-remembered musicals are his spectacular operettas of the 1920s: Rose Marie (1924), The Vagabond King (1925), and The Three Musketeers (1928). In each of these shows, the romantic story is set against a backdrop of oppression or injustice, which, like the challenges facing the lovers, is overcome by the final curtain. Friml continued to compose for Broadway in the 1930s, creating Luana (1930) and Music Hath Charms (1934), though neither show had a long run. Friml’s musical style is firmly rooted in 19th-century romanticism; the influences of Frederic Chopin and Bedřich Smetana are readily apparent. While his contemporary Sigmund Romberg excelled at waltzes, Friml created immortal ballads, such as the title song of Rose Marie and “Only a Rose” from The Vagabond King.
Active as a producer in both New York and London, Frohman brought many British musical comedies to the United States. In 1896, he was one of the founders of the Theatrical Syndicate, which controlled every aspect of contracts and bookings throughout the United States for nearly two decades.
(26 October 2000, Eugene O’Neill, 770 performances.) Music and lyrics by David Yazbek, book by Terrence McNally. A stage version of the popular British film about unemployed workers in Sheffield who create a male strip show in order to earn money, the setting of the Broadway version was changed to Buffalo, New York. The score includes many appealing songs in rock style, such as “Scrap,” a hard-hitting song of male despondency; “You Rule My World,” Dave’s love song to his stomach and Harold’s to Vicki, sung as a duet between the two men; and “Let It Go,” the striptease finale.
(19 April 2015, Circle in the Square, nine performances as of 26 April 2015.) Based on Alison Bechel’s 2006 graphic memoir Fun Home, the musical with book and lyrics by Lisa Korn and music by Jeanine Tesori concerns the relationship between Alison (played by Beth Malone) and her father, Bruce (played by Michael Cerveris), and Alison’s self-discovery of being a lesbian. The nonlinear plot exists in three time periods, with three Alisons—a 43-year-old version who is the story’s narrator (Beth Malone), a 19-year-old “Medium Alison” who is a student at Oberlin College (Emily Skeggs), and an eight-year-old “Young Alison” who struggles with her father’s expectations of her (Sydney Lucas). Judy Kuhn played Helen, Alison’s mother. Tesori’s score is filled with recurring musical lines and captures the intimacy and vulnerability of the story. Ben Brantley, in his glowing New York Times review, remarked that Tesori’s music “captures both the nagging persistence of memory and its frustrating insubstantiality.”
(22 November 1927, Alvin, 250 performances.) Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by Fred Thompson and Paul Gerard Smith, produced by Alexander A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley. A show that involved several Broadway legends and also the first to take place in the Alvin Theater (named after the first syllables of each producer’s first name), Funny Face had memorable songs and dances, good jokes, and a forgettable plot. Fred and Adele Astaire starred alongside William Kent, Victor Moore, and Allen Kearns, three of Broadway’s major male stars of the era. The story involved several teams of robbers trying to break into a jewel safe, but all that really matters is that the right people end up together at the end. This was the first show in which Fred Astaire danced in a tuxedo before a men’s chorus, here to Gershwin’s “High Hat.” Other notable songs include “S’Wonderful,” “My One and Only,” and “Funny Face.”
(26 March 1964, Winter Garden, 1,348 performances.) Music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, book by Isobel Lennart, staging by Gaison Kanin, production supervised by Jerome Robbins. Barbra Streisand became a Hollywood star after starring in Funny Girl. She eloquently and memorably recalled the career of Fanny Brice, a great Jewish comedienne and stage personality who starred for years in the Ziegfeld Follies. Funny Girl followed Brice’s early career and her relationship with gambler Nicky Arnstein (Sydney Chaplin). The show was sentimental, but Streisand’s luminous performance overwhelmed any problems with look or tone. Howard Taubman, writing in the New York Times, noted Streisand’s ability in “recalling the laughter and joy that were Fanny Brice.” He found her capable of making the tragic ending work because she “can make a virtue out of suffering, if she is allowed to sing about it.” Especially impressive numbers for Streisand included “People,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” Several production numbers evoked the early 20th century: “Cornet Man,” “His Love Makes Me Beautiful,” and “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat.” Streisand reprised her role in the film version (1968) and its sequel, Funny Lady (1975).
(8 May 1962, Alvin, 964 performances.) Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, staged by George Abbott, presented by Harold Prince. An outrageous farce based on plays by the ancient writer Plautus, this show included a wickedly funny book, outstanding performances, and an airy score by Sondheim with tons of spirited wordplay. Zero Mostel played Pseudolus, a slave trying to earn his freedom by acquiring the lovely courtesan Philia (Preshy Marker) for his master Hero (Brian Davies). Several conspire to stop the slave’s plan, so he announces that Philia has the plague and has died, leading to a madcap funeral. From there, the plot descends into total silliness, including Jack Gilford’s antics as the memorable Hysterium. New York Times critic Howard Taubman gleefully described some of the show’s more ridiculous situations, such as Jack Gilford “in a shimmering white gown and pretending to be a dead, yet agitated, virgin.” This was the first Broadway show for which Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics. Outstanding songs included the raucous opening number “Comedy Tonight” (staged without a credit line for Jerome Robbins), “Free,” “Lovely,” and the male quartet “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid.” The film version starring Mostel and featuring Michael Crawford as Hero appeared in 1966. Nathan Lane played Pseudolus in the 1996 revival and was succeeded in the part by Whoopi Goldberg.