(22 March 1962, Shubert, 300 performances.) Music and lyrics by Harold Rome, book by Jerome Weidman, directed by Arthur Laurents, presented by David Merrick. Based on Weidman’s book of the same name, I Can Get It for You Wholesale took a jaundiced view of the garment industry and Jewish family life and provided Barbra Streisand with her Broadway debut. Elliott Gould played Harry Bogen, a businessman who runs over everyone on his way up the corporate ladder and ends up bankrupting his firm. Streisand was the secretary, Miss Marmelstein, stopping the show every night with a song named after her character. Howard Taubman, writing for the New York Times, described the show as “keenly professional.” The book is “not uplifting” but “honest.” He called Streisand “the evening’s find” and a “natural comedienne.” Among the better songs were the act 1 finale, “Ballad of the Garment Trade,” and “Have I Told You Lately.”
(5 December 1966, 46th Street, 584 performances.) Music, lyrics, and book by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones; direction and choreography by Gower Champion. Based on Jan de Hartog’s play The Fourposter, I Do! I Do! was a two-person show that starred Mary Martin and Robert Preston and ran for 17 months. The entire musical takes place in the couple’s bedroom, from their early married years when Preston sings “I Love My Wife” (while barefoot but strutting in dressing gown with top hat and cane) through his admission of an affair at the end of the first act. Preston sings “A Well Known Fact” about how women cannot resist a middle-aged man. At the show’s close, they must sell their large house to a young couple and leave a bottle of champagne on the pillow for them. A more mirthful moment comes with the birth of a child, marked by the famous song “My Cup Runneth Over.” One of Martin’s biggest numbers was “Flaming Agnes,” during which she put on a feathered hat and declared that she will make herself irresistible to other men. Gower Champion effectively used the limited set and never allowed the action to stop. In the New York Times, Walter Kerr raved about the performers but found the songs and book “barely passable.”
(17 April 1977, Ethel Barrymore, 872 performances.) Music by Cy Coleman, lyrics and book by Michael Stewart, musical numbers staged by Onna White. Based on a French play by Luis Rego, I Love My Wife seemed to fit into the age of the sexual revolution with its theme about wife swapping. It was a trendy and smart show that managed a run of more than two years. Wally (James Naughton) and Alvin (Lenny Baker), two friends from high school, decide that exchanging wives as bed partners might be fun. Their spouses, played by Joanna Gleason and Ilene Graff, enter the project with different degrees of willingness, and complications quickly ensue. Four onstage musicians, sometimes costumed as devils or wearing pajamas, accompanied and commented on the action. Clive Barnes, writing for the New York Times, described the plot as “cigarette-paper thin,” but he praised it as “light-hearted, light-fingered and original.” He found Stewart’s lyrics “neat, nifty and very literate,” while Coleman’s varied music was “tuneful, infectious and slightly impish.” He described the cast as “gorgeous . . . just right.”
(11 May 1938, Shubert, 338 performances.) Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, book by Rodgers and Hart, staged by Joshua Logan, choreography by George Balanchine. Based on a Hungarian play by John Vaszary, I Married an Angel was one of the literate and forward-looking gems that Rodgers and Hart wrote in the years before World War II. They adapted the book, but Hart’s drinking was becoming more serious, so Joshua Logan helped with no credit. Set in Budapest, Willie Palaffi (Dennis King) is a banker unlucky in business and love. He ends his relationship with Anna (Audrey Christie) and concludes that he can marry only an angel. Vera Zorina plays the divine messenger sent to him. He marries her but finds out that an angel too can cause difficult situations. Countess Palaffi (Vivienne Segal) teaches the angel how to live in the world and assists Willie in saving his bank from creditors. In addition to their usual fine songs, such as the title number and “Spring Is Here,” Rodgers and Hart also wrote extended sequences with rhymed dialogue over music. Balanchine’s two ballets depicted the couple’s honeymoon in act 1 and an ironic look at the Roxy Music Hall in act 2. Such a lengthy consideration of a New York City theater in a musical that took place in Budapest was unusual but so clever that the critics were kind about the disjunction. Brooks Atkinson, writing for the New York Times, called it “one of the best musical comedies for many seasons” with “an extraordinarily beautiful production.” He raved about Zorina as the angel and also appreciated the remainder of the cast, especially Segal, who sang “A Twinkle in Your Eye” with “matchless relish.”
(31 May 1979, Majestic, 108 performances.) Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Martin Charnin, book by Thomas Meehan. Remembered as Richard Rodgers’s Broadway swan song and proof that Liv Ullmann would never be a Broadway musical star, this adaptation of the famous 1944 play of the same name was a major disappointment. Rodgers wrote at least one winning melody in “You Could Not Please Me More,” sung beautifully by George Hearn as the husband, but little else worked. Richard Eder in the New York Times found that the creators “buried most of the strengths under a mass of clichés and a pervading, forced cuteness.”
(2 November 1937, Alvin, 290 performances.) Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, book by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, book staged by Kaufman, produced by Sam H. Harris. An original musical cast in the mold of satires such as Of Thee I Sing, I’d Rather Be Right featured George M. Cohan as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Two young lovers, Peggy Jones (Joy Hodges) and Phil Barker (Austin Marshall), are in Central Park, lamenting that they cannot marry until receiving pay raises, something that will not happen until Roosevelt balances the budget. Phil falls asleep and dreams that Roosevelt is in the park and that he wants to help the young couple. Along with his cabinet, Roosevelt hatches a number of ludicrous schemes, such as raising the price of postage stamps to $100. In the end, Roosevelt cannot balance the budget but advises Peggy and Phil to marry anyway. In his review in the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson expressed solid appreciation for Cohan’s work in the show, saying that he “has never been in better form.” Atkinson was less impressed with the book, which he termed “a pleasant-spoken musical comedy.” Musical highlights include the love duet “Have You Met Miss Jones?” and Roosevelt’s frustrating press conference, “Off the Record.” Tensions between Cohan and the team that wrote the score caused many problems, but these did not spill across the footlights, and the show settled in for a nine-month run.
(30 March 2014, Richard Rodgers, 401 performances.) The second musical from the creators of Next to Normal, librettist and lyricist Brian Yorkey and composer Tom Kitt, the musical concerns Elizabeth (Idina Menzel), who, newly divorced at age 38, returns to New York City. She encounters two friends, Kate (LaChanze) and Lucas (Anthony Rapp), each of whom suggests a plan for her life. The musical oscillates between Elizabeth’s two possible life paths, depending on whose advice she follows. Its nontraditional structure confused some critics and audiences, but everyone agreed that the cast was superb, including Ben Brantley, who wrote in the New York Times that Menzel “brings an anxious intensity to a featherweight part.”
(14 June 1978, Public, 1,165 performances.) Music by Nancy Ford, book and lyrics by Gretchen Cryer. Cryer also starred in this show about a middle-aged pop singer trying to make a comeback. She sings for her manager Joe (Joel Fabiani), but he is not impressed. They seem attracted to one another, but Joe returns to his wife, and Cryer is left to sing one last song, saying that she has always been lonely. Although Richard Eder called the songs “effortless and not in the best sense of the word” in his New York Times review, the show caught on with audiences and ran for almost three years.
(18 February 1903, New York, 53 performances.) Music by Will Marion Cook, lyrics by Paul Laurence Dunbar, book by J. H. Shipp. The first Broadway musical comedy conceived entirely by African Americans, In Dahomey shattered a number of conventions but managed a Broadway run of only less than two months. The anonymous New York Times critic started the review by recalling the “thunderclouds” that had been gathering since the production’s announcement, suggesting that perhaps “trouble-breeders” would use the occasion to start a “race war.” Such fears were unfounded, however, and the Times reports that the show went off “merrily.” The stars were Bert Williams and George Walker, black vaudeville stars making their first foray into Broadway theater. The story concerned some dishonest African Americans from Chicago who plan to make money with a shady scheme involving resettling blacks in the African country of Dahomey. They first send Rareback Pinkerton (Walker) to Florida to swindle a wealthy man out of his fortune. He is accompanied by Shylock Homestead (Williams), a fool with far more money than Pinkerton’s intended mark. Pinkerton becomes Homestead’s trustee and puts on airs in both Florida and Dahomey. The pair become governors in the African country, setting off a wild, dancing celebration. In Dahomey toured for years and played for seven months in London. The Times reviewer declared that “the headliners are the whole show” and points out that although the performers were black, the audience was white and that Williams used burnt cork to make himself darker. That In Dahomey enjoyed the success it did in such an atmosphere makes it clear that the show had something to offer.
(9 March 2008, Richard Rodgers, 1,184 performances.) The various Spanish-speaking cultures in the United States have rarely been the subject of Broadway musicals (with the notable exception of West Side Story), a gap partially filled by this sweet, long-running show set in a barrio in Upper Manhattan. Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also wrote music and lyrics and starred in the production as Usnavi, In the Heights looked at the challenging lives of a close-knit group of Dominican Americans living in Washington Heights, their dreams and realities temporarily confused by one of them winning $96,000 in the lottery. The book by Quiara Alegría Hudes and sets by Anna Louizos perhaps dealt too lightly with the squalor and difficulties of the characters’ lives, but the goal in this show was to bring the barrio to life for mainstream Broadway audiences. Miranda’s score combined several musical styles, including rap. The New York Times reviewer, who found the music uneven in quality, noted that “even the musically bland selections are given a fresh gloss by the specific details of experience embedded in Mr. Miranda’s lyrics.” Andy Blankenbuehler’s choreography appeared “to put invisible wings on the young cast’s neon-colored sneakers.” The musical won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
(30 April 1948, New Century, 399 performances.) Music and production by Arthur Schwartz, lyrics by Howard Dietz, sketches by Moss Hart and other writers. A revue vehicle for British comic Beatrice Lillie, Inside U.S.A. took a humorous look at American life and ran for nearly a year. Some of the inspiration came from John Gunther’s novel of the same title, but Inside U.S.A. was a typical revue with a mixture of comic sketches, dances, and songs. Some critics found the material lacking in wit, but Lillie was her usually uproarious self, and Jack Haley was a fine leading man. Lillie’s characters included, among others, a superstitious maid torturing the actress she works for on an opening night, a mermaid who is unlucky in love, and queen of a New Orleans Mardi Gras. Among Haley’s material was a song where he named important attractions in each state, but “Rhode Island Is Famous for You.” The only song to gain popularity outside of the show was “Haunted Heart.”
Songs placed into a show that are not part of the original score. Most common in the early decades of the 20th century, the practice typically occurred when stars wanted to sing one of their favorite songs from one show (or a popular standard) in another. This was especially common in revues and musical comedies, where songs are not necessarily closely tied to the plot. Al Jolson was especially famous for interpolations, introducing some of his classic numbers, such as “Swanee” and “California, Here We Come,” in this manner.
(5 November 1987, Martin Beck, 765 performances.) Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book and direction by James Lapine. Based on familiar fairy tales but with new twists, the show asked the question, “What happens after happily ever after?” Lapine brought together many famous fairy tale characters and added his own tale concerning a baker (Chip Zien) and his wife (Joanna Gleason), who desire a child but are under the spell of the Witch (Bernadette Peters). To undo the curse, they must go “into the woods” to gather specific items. There, they discover more about themselves and how one confronts an adult world. In the woods, they meet Cinderella (Kim Crosby), Jack (of beanstalk fame, Ben Wright), Little Red Riding Hood (Danielle Ferland), and characters from their tales. Their stories are intertwined, and everyone seems ready to live “happily ever after” at the end of act 1. Things change, however, in act 2. The giant’s wife comes down the beanstalk to seek revenge on Jack for killing her husband, marital vows fall by the wayside as the baker’s wife (Joanna Gleason) meets Cinderella’s Prince (Robert Westenberg), and the characters realize they must work together and that there are no easy answers to life’s difficult questions. Writing in the New York Times, Frank Rich found the story “wildly overgrown” and wondered if the show needed “less art and more craft.” Sondheim’s score includes several gems, including “Agony,” sung by the two princes; “Hello Little Girl,” performed, sometimes with physical gestures, by the sexually charged Wolf; and the songs that represent lessons to be learned: “No One Is Alone” and “Children Will Listen.” The show has become a favorite with community and school theater groups, and the 2002 Broadway revival included some new material and starred Vanessa Williams as the Witch.
(18 November 1919, Vanderbilt, 670 performances.) Music by Harry Tierney, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy, book by James Montgomery. Based on the unsuccessful play Irene O’Dare, also by James Montgomery, Irene was the tale of Irene O’Dare (Edith Day), a poor shopgirl of Irish descent who is sent on an errand to a posh Long Island estate. The estate owner’s son Donald Marshall (Walter Regan) falls in love with her and helps her find a better job. Irene charms his family, and eventually both families ignore their natural prejudices and allow the young couple to marry. Irene boasted an unusually strong book that moved back and forth between the two families. The score included the hits “Alice Blue Gown” and “The Last Part of Every Party.” Gower Champion directed the 1973 revival, which starred Debbie Reynolds.
(29 September 1960, Plymouth, 524 performances.) Music by Marguerite Monnot; French book and lyrics by Alexandre Breffort; English book and lyrics by Julian More, David Haneker, and Monty Norman; choreographed by Onna White; produced by David Merrick. Long before the shows of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil came to Broadway, Irma La Douce was a French import that had also been produced in London. Elizabeth Seal played the title role, the famous “prostitute with a heart of gold” who plies her trade in Paris’s Place Pigalle. She loses her heart to Nestor-Le-Fripé (Keith Mitchell), a law student who shares her with an elderly gentleman (also played by Mitchell). Howard Taubman’s review in the New York Times noted “the Gallic gift for genial satire,” which made the red-light district of Place Pigalle “into a kind of cynical fairyland.” He stated, however, that “the hearts of all of the creators . . . are well-nigh chaste,” even to the point that the English authors avoided many of the double entendres that the book might have offered.
(5 December 1904, Lew Fields, 154 performances.) Music by Victor Herbert, lyrics and book by Glen MacDonough. Written as the opening production for Lew Fields’s new theater, It Happened in Nordland was a critical and commercial success best remembered for its tension between actors and composers concerning interpolations. In the country of Nordland, the American ambassador, Katherine Peepfogle (Marie Cahill), is the double of the nation’s queen, who has disappeared. The ambassador reluctantly takes her place, in the process finding her brother Hubert (Lew Fields), who has been missing. Disguised as the queen, Katherine is able to get her brother out of several predicaments. Since Herbert failed to include a clause in his contract that forbade interpolations, Cahill brought in extra songs to sing, prompting an ugly incident that resulted in Fields firing her. Fields then fired her replacement Blanche Ring for the same reason before the show moved to Boston.