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LA, LA, LUCILLE

(26 May 1919, Henry Miller, 104 performances.) Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Arthur J. Jackson and B. G. De Sylva, book by Fred Jackson. Famous as the first Broadway show with a complete score by Gershwin, La, La, Lucille seemed headed to a successful run but was canceled due to an Actors’ Equity Association strike. In the show, creditors hound dentist John Smith (Jack Hazzard) to pay his bills. His aunt, who objects to his marriage to Lucille (Janet Velie), supposedly dies, and her will stipulates that John will inherit a fortune if he will divorce Lucille. The couple decides to divorce and then remarry but runs into comical problems as they try to feign John’s unfaithfulness. The aunt shows up alive, saying that she had only been testing the couple. Gershwin’s score actually figured little in the reviews of the show. The anonymous reviewer for the New York Times described the show as “the incarnation of jazz” but did not mention the composer’s name. Major songs were “The Best of Everything” and “Nobody but You.”

LACHANZE

(Rhonda LaChanze Sapp, 1961–.) Known for her sensitive portrayals of complex characters, LaChanze created the role of Ti Moune in Once on This Island (1990) and was a replacement Sarah in Ragtime (1998) before her Tony Award–winning performance as Celie in The Color Purple (2005). She originated the role of Kate, a lesbian kindergarten teacher, in If/Then (2014).

LACHIUSA, MICHAEL JOHN (1962–)

Composer whose musical language is characterized by a sophisticated, nearly operatic, and at times harmonically dissonant complexity. His Broadway musicals include Marie Christine (1999), produced by Lincoln Center Theatre, and The Wild Party (2000). Through his carefully constructed and musically integrated scores, he effectively captures the tragic themes and personalities that fill his shows.

LADY, BE GOOD!

(1 December 1924, Liberty, 330 performances.) Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, produced by Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley. The show has reached iconic status for having Fred and Adele Astaire in the cast and the inclusion of several Gershwin hits, especially “Fascinating Rhythm.” After being evicted from their apartment, the brother-and-sister dance team Dick and Susie (played by the Astaires) have a series of comic adventures. Far more important than the plot was the ecstatic reception of the Astaires and a score that came to represent the “Jazz Age” for the white audiences that frequented Broadway musicals. In addition to “Fascinating Rhythm,” the score included “So Am I” and the title song. The show originally included “The Man I Love,” but the song did not survive tryouts. The unnamed New York Times critic noted that the score included “a number of tunes that the unmusical and serious-minded will find hard to get rid of.”

LADY IN THE DARK

(23 January 1941, Alvin, 467 performances.) Music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book and staging by Moss Hart, produced by Sam H. Harris. An enduring myth of Broadway is that the musical play sprang nearly to life in Show Boat in 1927 and then remained dormant until Oklahoma! in 1943. This fallacy ignores a number of shows from between these milestones with solid integration of plot and music, including Lady in the Dark. The show was especially noteworthy for the manner in which musical numbers were integrated into the story line and for its modern plot concerning psychoanalysis.

Liza Elliott (Gertrude Lawrence) is a fashion editor who cannot make up her mind about either what to choose for a particular magazine cover or whom she wants to marry. She visits a therapist, Dr. Brooks (Donald Randolph), and together they investigate her feelings about the four men in her life: Kendall Nesbitt (Bert Lytell), the married man with whom she lives; Randy Curtis (Victor Mature), a superficial Hollywood star; Randall Paxton (Danny Kaye), the fashion photographer at her magazine; and Charlie Johnson (Macdonald Carey), her feisty advertising manager. Liza confesses to the therapist that she has been having disturbing dreams and that a song keeps playing in her mind, “My Ship.” With the exception of this recurring song, all of the show’s musical numbers occur during staged dream sequences. The “Circus Dream” featured two of the show’s extraordinary songs. First, Kaye performed “Tchaikovsky,” a tour de force patter routine in which he recited the tongue-twisting names of 54 Russian composers in a mere 38 seconds. Lawrence followed immediately with the ballad “Jenny” in a rendition filled with sexual innuendo. The two performers competed night after night on who received the greater applause for their respective numbers. Liza finally decides that Charlie is her true love since he is the only one who can complete her song “My Ship.” (“Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life” fulfills a similar function in Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta.) Brooks Atkinson raved in his New York Times review, calling Hart’s book “a dramatic story about the anguish of a human being,” leavened by the author’s typical humor. He did not think that anyone except Lawrence “could play a virtuoso part of such length and variety.”

THE LADY OF THE SLIPPER

(28 October 1912, Globe, 232 performances.) Music by Victor Herbert, lyrics by James O’Dea, book by Anne Caldwell and Lawrence McCarthy, produced by Charles Dillingham. A version of the Cinderella story conceived for its stars, The Lady and the Slipper ran the longest of any of Herbert’s shows on Broadway. Elsie Janis played the young lady who wants to go to the ball, and among her assistants were Punks (Dave Montgomery) and Spooks (Fred Stone), said to be “from the cornfield,” recalling the characters that the famous team played in The Wizard of Oz (1903). The three lead actors were hardly the best of singers and were more famous as dancers, so Herbert wrote to their various talents, and there was plenty of dancing. The unsigned New York Times reviewer praised many aspects of the production and called Stone a “marvel of agility” who does things without regard to safety, including grabbing the ascending curtain, taking a swan dive, and “reversing himself only just in time to avoid the hard knock in the place where they kill rabbits.” The critic panned the book as “humorless” but liked the show overall. Notable songs in the score included “A Little Girl at Home,” “Princess Far Away,” “All Hallowe’en,” and “Meouw, Meouw.”

LAHR, BERT

(Born Irving Lahrheim, 1895–1967.) Known for playing the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, Lahr was a star of Broadway revues and musical comedies. Credits included Hold Everything! (1928), Flying High (1930), Life Begins at 8:40 (1934), George White’s Scandals (1935), The Show Is On (1936), Du Barry Was a Lady (1939), Seven Lively Arts (1944), Two on the Aisle (1951), The Girls against the Boys (1959), and Foxy (1964). He won a Tony Award for Foxy.

LANE, BURTON (1912–1997)

Composer whose melodic gifts are particularly evident in his scores for Finian’s Rainbow (1947) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965). He also contributed to Earl Carroll’s Vanities (1931) and wrote the ill-fated musical Carmelina (1979).

LANE, NATHAN (1956–)

Comic singing actor whose portrayal of Nathan Detroit in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls garnered him tremendous praise. He won a Tony Award for playing Prologus/Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1996 revival) and another for his creation of Max Bialystock in The Producers (2001), a role he reprised in the 2005 film version. He played Dionysos in the Lincoln Center Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s The Frogs (2004), which carried the remark “even more freely adapted by Nathan Lane.”

LANSBURY, ANGELA (1925–)

British actress who had a prolific career in Hollywood before becoming a major Broadway star in the 1960s. She made her Broadway musical debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle (1964) and went from success to success, starring in Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1974 revival), and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979). She played Madame Arnfeldt in the 2010 revival of A Little Night Music. A five-time Tony Award winner, Lansbury emphasizes the human qualities of her characters and uses her flexible character voice to give musical distinction to the roles she plays.

LAPINE, JAMES (1949–)

Director and librettist who worked with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), and Passion (1994) and with William Finn on Falsettos (1992). He and Sondheim shared a Pulitzer Prize for Sunday. Lapine received a Tony Award for Into the Woods and created new staging for the show’s 2002 revival. He also directed Amour (2002), the Michel Legrand French-themed musical, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005).

LARSON, JONATHAN (1960–1996)

Composer, lyricist, and librettist whose passions for rock music and musical theater culminated in Rent. During rehearsals for a production of Rent at the New York Theatre Workshop, Larson died suddenly and tragically of a brain aneurysm. His untimely death drew great media attention, and Rent, with its rave off-Broadway reviews, raced to Broadway that year. Larson received the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Book, Best Score, and Best Musical, all posthumously. His autobiographical musical tick . . . tick . . . BOOM played off-Broadway in 2001.

THE LAST SWEET DAYS OF ISAAC

(26 January 1970, East Side, 485 performances.) Music by Nancy Ford, lyrics and book by Gretchen Cryer. Despite the success of Hair, Broadway creators were slow to incorporate rock music in subsequent shows. Rock musicals were more plentiful off-Broadway, such as the successful The Last Sweet Days of Isaac. The show’s concept included strong social commentary, with its characters imprisoned in an elevator during the first act and in a prison cell during the second. It was not depressing, however, with the appealing Austin Pendleton and Fredricka Weber playing the leads. Isaac believes that life has not been lived unless it has been recorded, so he constantly carries a movie camera and tape recorder. An onstage rock band, the Zeitgeist, added to the show’s atmosphere. Clive Barnes, writing in the New York Times, called the music “tuneful and appealing” and the musical “one of the most preposterous shows in New York and yet also one of the happiest.”

LAURENTS, ARTHUR (1918–2011)

Playwright, librettist, and director who created the books for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979), and Nick & Nora (1991) and received a Tony Award for Hallelujah, Baby! He directed I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962), Anyone Can Whistle, Gypsy, The Madwoman of Central Park West, La Cage aux Folles (1983), and Nick & Nora and won a Tony for La Cage aux Folles. His memoir, Original Story By, was published in 2000.

LAWRENCE, CAROL (1932–)

Lawrence created the youthful role of Maria in West Side Story (1957) on Broadway days after her 23rd birthday. She had previously appeared in revues (Leonard Sillman’s New Faces of 1952, Ziegfeld Follies of 1957) and musical comedy as a dancer and singer. Post-Maria roles include Clio Dulaine in Saratoga (1959), Subways Are for Sleeping (1961), replacement She (Agnes) in I Do! I Do! (1966), and replacement Spider Woman/Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman—The Musical (1993). The expressiveness and purity of her voice elicited tremendous praise.

LAWRENCE, GERTRUDE (1898–1952)

English-born singing actress who created the title role in George Gershwin’s Oh, Kay! (1926) and introduced such standards as “Someone to Watch over Me” and “Do-Do-Do.” After appearing in straight plays, many with Noel Coward, she returned to the world of the Broadway musical with Lady in the Dark (1941, music by Kurt Weill) as Liza Elliott, singing “My Ship” and “Jenny.” In 1951, she created Anna in The King and I, a role that Rodgers and Hammerstein created especially for her. Lawrence had a commanding stage presence that made her one of the leading actresses of her generation.

LAYTON, JOE (1931–1994)

Director and choreographer whose credits include The Sound of Music (1959), Once upon a Mattress (1959), Tenderloin (1960), No Strings (1962), George M! (1968), Dear World (1969), and Barnum (1980). He appeared as Greenwich Villager in Wonderful Town (1953) and understudied Wreck. He conceived and directed Two by Two (1970) and Bring Back Birdie (1981, a sequel to Bye Bye Birdie). He also directed special performances on Broadway, including Bette Midler’s Clams on the Half Shell Revue (1975), An Evening with Diana Ross (1976), and An Evening with Harry Connick Jr. and His Orchestra (1990).

LEAVE IT TO JANE

(28 August 1917, Longacre, 167 performances.) Music by Jerome Kern, lyrics and book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. Based on George Ade’s play The College Widow, Leave It to Jane was another successful show from the creators of the famous Princess Theatre musicals. Jane (Edith Hallor) is the daughter of the president of Atwater College. As the big football game approaches, Atwater’s star player, Billy Bolton (Robert G. Pitkin), seems ready to defect to rival Bingham College. Jane not only wins Billy back to Atwater, for whom he plays on Saturday, but also wins his heart. Kern’s score included among its hits the title song, “The Crickets Are Calling,” “Cleopatra,” and “The Siren’s Song.”

LEAVE IT TO ME!

(9 November 1938, Imperial, 291 performances.) Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Bella and Samuel Spewack, staged by Samuel Spewack and George Smith, dances and ensemble arranged by Robert Alton. Based on the Spewacks’ 1932 play Clear All Wires, Leave It to Me! was a combination of straight musical comedy and political satire. Victor Moore played Alonso P. Goodhue, a bathtub salesman from Topeka, Kansas, whose ambitious wife (Sophie Tucker) made a large donation to Roosevelt’s reelection campaign that resulted in her husband being named ambassador to the Soviet Union. Goodhue is unhappy with the new job and tries to cause an international incident so that he gets recalled. When he kicks the Nazi ambassador and tries to shoot a Romanoff (instead hitting a counterrevolutionary), he instead receives tremendous praise. He finally becomes comfortable in the position and works for world peace, and it is because of this agenda that the State Department recalls him. The cast also included William Gaxton as an American journalist who tries to discredit Goodhue and Mary Martin, in her Broadway debut, as his secretary. Martin sang “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” a minor striptease number with lyrics filled with double entendres. A fur-clad male chorus (which included Gene Kelly) surrounded her onstage. Another highlight was the act 1 finale, during which Walter Armin, as a comic version of Josef Stalin, danced to “The Internationale.” Porter’s score also included “From Now On” and “Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love.” Brooks Atkinson liked the show, quipping that the plot might cause problems with Germany and Russia but “that is a small price to pay for a tumultuous comedy prank in music.”

LEGALLY BLONDE

(29 April 2007, Palace, 595 performances.) Based on the 2001 film of the same name with its message of female empowerment and (perhaps) the importance of being pretty, Legally Blonde was a musical confection that left the New York Times reviewer calling it a “nonstop sugar rush of a show.” Jerry Mitchell, previously a Broadway choreographer, made his directorial debut, working with what the Times called “hyperkinetic effectiveness” and providing dances that reminded one of “music and exercise videos.” Lawrence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin provided the “cherry-soda score” with songs on the female empowerment theme along with a few numbers about legal study that carried a Gilbert and Sullivan jauntiness. Laura Bell Bundy starred as Elle Woods, the jilted sorority girl who attends Harvard Law School and wins a high-profile case using her keen powers of human observation.

LEHÁR, FRANZ (1870–1948)

Composer of Viennese operetta whose The Merry Widow, when it first appeared in an English-language adaptation on Broadway in 1907, caused a huge sensation and reinvigorated American audiences’ interest in Viennese-style operetta. Other Lehár works to appear on Broadway (with the years of their Broadway premieres) include Gypsy Love (1911), The Count of Luxembourg (1912, 1930), and Frederika (1937).

LEIGH, MITCH

(Born Irwin Michnick, 1928–2014.) A composition student of Paul Hindemith at Yale and a jazz musician, Leigh won a Tony Award for his most successful Broadway score, Man of the La Mancha (1965). He also wrote the less successful musicals Cry for Us All (1970), Saravà (1979), Chu Chem (1989), and Ain’t Broadway Grand (1993) and was active as a director and producer.

LEND AN EAR

(16 December 1948, National, 460 performances.) Music, lyrics, and sketches by Charles Gaynor; choreography by Gower Champion. A witty revue that introduced new stars to Broadway, Lend an Ear was a throwback to an earlier Broadway era with its humorous sketches and spoofs. The cast was young and not well known but included several people who later became stars, including Yvonne Adair, Carol Channing, William Eythe, and Gene Nelson.

LENNON

(14 August 2005, Broadhurst, 49 performances.) Music and lyrics by John Lennon, book by Don Scardino. Short-lived jukebox musical in which a nine-member ensemble and 10-piece onstage band tell the story of John Lennon’s life using the legend’s own words and music. Will Chase played the narrator/“lead” John Lennon. The show included unpublished songs in addition to well-known numbers, such as “Give Peace a Chance” and “Imagine.”

LENYA, LOTTE

(Born Karoline Wilhelmine Blamauer, 1898–1981.) Austrian-born actress and wife of Kurt Weill who played Jenny in the 1928 production of Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera). She won a Tony Award when she reprised the role on Broadway in Marc Blitzstein’s 1954 adaptation. Lenya created the part of Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret (1966) and was known for her distinctive speech-singing style.

LERNER, ALAN JAY (1918–1986)

Librettist and lyricist most famous for his collaborations with composer Frederick Loewe in a team popularly known as Lerner and Loewe. Lerner came from a wealthy family, the owners of Lerner Shops, a women’s clothing chain. Alan Jay Lerner received a high-quality education at Juilliard, Harvard, and Oxford. His lyrics and librettos possess an extraordinarily fine literary quality and reflect their creator’s romantic impulses and utopian vision. Lerner’s words move smoothly between spoken dialogue (libretto) and singing (lyrics). He worked with composers other than Loewe, including Kurt Weill (Love Life [1948]), Burton Lane (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever [1965] and Carmelina [1979]), André Previn (Coco [1969]), Leonard Bernstein (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue [1976]), and Charles Strouse (Dance a Little Closer [1983]). Andrew Lloyd Webber asked Lerner to create lyrics for The Phantom of the Opera (1986), but the wordsmith’s declining health prohibited him from accepting the offer.

LERNER AND LOEWE

The collaboration of librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe resulted in seven Broadway musicals: What’s Up? (1943), The Day before Spring (1945), Brigadoon (1947), Paint Your Wagon (1951), My Fair Lady (1956), Camelot (1960), and Gigi (1973, four new songs for the stage version of their 1958 film musical). Lerner and Loewe musicals possess a strong bond between story and music, and the appearance of Lerner’s name before that of Loewe’s in their collective name reflects the central importance they gave to words in their creative process.

LET ’EM EAT CAKE

(21 October 1933, Imperial, 90 performances.) Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, book staged by Kaufman, produced by Sam H. Harris. An unsuccessful sequel to Of Thee I Sing, Let ’Em Eat Cake was still satirical, but the targets were too broad and the mood too dour. President John P. Wintergreen (William Gaxton) and Vice President Alexander Throttlebottom (Victor Moore) seek reelection but lose. Observing the fascist movements in Italy and Germany with their black and brown shirts, they stage their own revolution with “Maryblue” shirts sewn by Mary Wintergreen (Lois Moran). In act 2, Throttlebottom umpires a baseball game between the Supreme Court and the League of Nations. His calls prove so unpopular that he might face the guillotine, but Mary saves the day by diverting attention with a fashion show. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times enjoyed aspects of the show and even called for another sequel but was distressed by the tone. He wrote that the show “is not the hearty, guffawing burlesque” of Of Thee I Sing and compared it to “a rowdy improvisation in one bitter, hysterical mood.”

LET’S FACE IT!

(29 October 1941, Imperial, 547 performances.) Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields, produced by Vinton Freedley. Based on the play Cradle Snatchers (1925), Let’s Face It! combined workmanlike efforts from some fine Broadway creators and the inspired clowning of Danny Kaye to run for more than 15 months. Three wives (Eve Arden, Vivian Vance, and Edith Meiser) hire three soldiers (Kaye, Benny Baker, and Jack Williams) to take them around town because they believe their husbands are having affairs. Their husbands, of course, show up and begin to date the soldiers’ girlfriends. Silly excuses and creative lying save the day for everyone as the loved ones reunite. A young Nanette Fabray also appeared in the show. Brooks Atkinson, writing in the New York Times, called it a “wonderfully joyous musical show” and cited “Jerry, My Soldier Boy,” “You Irritate Me,” “Farming,” and “Let’s Not Talk about Love” (a patter song of considerable difficulty for Kaye) as outstanding songs. Porter actually allowed interpolations, including “Melody in Four F” and “Fairy Tale” by Sylvia Fine (Kaye’s wife) and Max Liebman. Atkinson praised director MacGregor for the show’s speed and humor and for making “no concessions to favorites,” meaning that he did not allow Kaye to dominate the proceedings.

LEWIS, NORM (1963–)

Known for his exceptional baritone voice, Lewis created the roles of Jake in Side Show (1997), Eddie Mackrell in The Wild Party (2000), the Painter in Michel Legrand’s Amour (2002), and King Triton in The Little Mermaid (2008). He was a replacement John in Miss Saigon and Billy Flynn in Chicago and in 2014 became the first African American actor to play the title role in the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera. He captivated audiences as Javert in the 2006 revival of Les Misérables, reprising the role in London and in the 25th Anniversary Concert, and as Porgy in the 2012 revival of Porgy and Bess opposite Audra McDonald.

LIBRETTO/LIBRETTIST

The plot of a musical, or “book,” is often called a libretto, while the person who creates the story and writes the spoken dialogue is the librettist. Most Broadway musical librettos have some sort of love story as their primary focus. Successful musical librettos have included social or political satires (Of Thee I Sing [1931], Urinetown [2001]), literary adaptations (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [1951], Wicked [2003]), and works based on films (A Little Night Music [1973], Thoroughly Modern Millie [2002]). Many librettists are also noted lyricists, including Rida Johnson Young, Dorothy Donnelly, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Dorothy Fields, Alan Jay Lerner, Alain Boublil, and Lynn Ahrens. Several well-known playwrights, such as P. G. Wodehouse, Neil Simon, and Terrence McNally, have written musical librettos.

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LIFE BEGINS AT 8:40

(27 August 1934, Winter Garden, 237 performances.) Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and E. Y. Harburg, sketches provided by many authors, production devised and staged by John Murray Anderson, dances arranged by Robert Alton, produced by the Shuberts. An effective revue with an impressive cast, Life Begins at 8:40 managed a run of about seven months. The title was a play on Walter Pitkin’s book Life Begins at Forty. The impressive cast included Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Frances Williams, and Luella Gear. The finale saw Lahr as the new Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Gear as Eleanor Roosevelt, and Bolger and Williams as the former Mayor Jimmy Walker and his wife. Songs included “Fun to Be Fooled,” “What Can You Sing in a Love Song?,” and “Let’s Take a Walk around the Block.”

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA

(18 April 2005, Vivian Beaumont, 504 performances.) Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, book by Craig Lucas. Based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer, The Light in the Piazza is a sophisticated musical version of the heartfelt story about a mother and daughter traveling in Italy. The daughter, Clara (Kelli O’Hara), falls in love with an Italian, Fabrizio Naccarelli (Matthew Morrison), but her mother, Mrs. Johnson (Victoria Clark), is concerned about her daughter’s developmental disabilities, which are the result of a childhood accident. During the show, Mrs. Johnson confronts her own marital woes (in the moving “Dividing Day”), and ultimately all ends happily at the wedding of Clara and Fabrizio. Guettel’s dramatically evocative and compositionally advanced (when considering Broadway norms) music, along with the brilliant lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, scenic design by Michael Yeargan, and use of the Italian language (without supertitles or translation), makes this show in many ways a hybrid between a typical Broadway musical and opera. Among the many notable musical numbers are the opening number, “Statues and Stories,” as well as “The Beauty Is,” “Say It Somehow,” and “The Light in the Piazza.” Directed by Bartlett Sher, the show won Tony Awards for Best Score (Guettel), Best Actress in a Musical (Clark), Best Orchestrations (Bruce Coughlin, Guettel, and Ted Sperling), Best Scenic Design (Yeargan), Best Costume Design (Catherine Zuber), and Best Lighting Design (Akerlind).

LI’L ABNER

(15 November 1956, St. James, 693 performances.) Music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd. Based on Al Capp’s popular comic strip, the creators of Li’l Abner brought sufficient depth to Dogpatch’s simple characters to make a genial show that ran for most of two years. The title character, played by Peter Palmer, is pursued by Daisy Mae (Edith Adams). Complications arise from other suitors, and the show included many other famous occupants of Dogpatch, including Marryin’ Sam (Stubby Kaye). The town faces destruction because the government wants to test an atomic bomb there, but the community saves itself by showing that Abraham Lincoln had declared Dogpatch a national treasure. Brooks Atkinson, writing for the New York Times, praised Michael Kidd for his direction and dances, discussing in detail the mating race, which Kidd “has made something exciting and hilarious.” Atkinson admitted that it is hard to fashion an effective book out of characters with “hearts of gold” but also “not very bright in the upper story”; still, he described the score as “pleasant” with “entertaining lyrics” and remarked about the effectiveness of “Jubilee T. Cornpone,” “Namely You,” and “The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands.”

LILLIE, BEATRICE

(Born Constance Sylvia Munsfird, also known as Lady Peel, 1894–1989.) Canadian-born revue star who appeared in André Charlot’s Revue of 1924, Walk a Little Faster (1932), At Home Abroad (1935), The Show Is On (1936), Set to Music (1939), Seven Lively Arts (1944), Inside U.S.A. (1948), and Ziegfeld Follies of 1957. She created the role of Madame Arcati in High Spirits (1964).

LINCOLN CENTER THEATRE

Reestablished in 1985, Lincoln Center Theatre produces musicals and plays at the 1,100-seat Vivian Beaumont Theater (which is considered a Broadway house), the 299-seat Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, and other venues. In addition to notable revivals of shows such as Anything Goes (1987), Lincoln Center Theatre is known for mounting dramatically and musically innovative and challenging shows, such as Parade (1998), Marie Christine (1999), and The Light in the Piazza (2005).

LINDEN, HAL (1931–)

Actor who won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Mayer Rothschild in The Rothschilds (1970). Other credits include Bells Are Ringing (1956, understudy and replacement for Jeff), The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N (1968), The Pajama Game (1973 revival), and Cabaret (1998 revival, replacement Herr Schultz [2002]).

LINDSAY, HOWARD (1889–1968)

Director, librettist, producer, and actor with a long list of credits for both musical and nonmusical Broadway shows. He staged and performed in the revue The ’49ers (1922) before achieving fame in the realm of musical comedy in the 1930s by staging shows such as Anything Goes (1934), for which he also revised the book with Russel Crouse, and Red, Hot and Blue! (1936), the book of which he cowrote with Crouse. He and Crouse also cowrote the books Call Me Madam (1950) and The Sound of Music (1959).

LINDSAY, ROBERT (1949–)

English actor who won a Tony Award for his performance in Me and My Girl (1986), having starred in the London revival the previous year. Frank Rich’s New York Times review raved about the actor, who “at times recalls [Gene] Kelly and [James] Cagney.”

THE LION KING

(13 November 1997, New Amsterdam, 7,257 performances as of 26 April 2015 [moved to the Minskoff Theatre on 13 June 2006].) Music by Elton John; lyrics by Tim Rice; additional lyrics and music by others; book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi; adapted from the screenplay by Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton; direction and costumes by Julie Taymor; choreography by Garth Fagan; mask and puppet design by Taymor and Michael Curry; presented by Disney Theatrical Productions. Adapted from Disney’s popular animated feature, The Lion King’s imaginative staging merges human actors with various types of puppets and gives the show an enchanting look and appeal.

The fundamental story from the animated film remains. Simba (Scott Irby-Ranniar), son of King Mufasa (Samuel E. Wright), will inherit the kingdom; however, his evil uncle, Scar (John Vickery), kills Mufasa and blames Simba, who flees into the jungle. As he matures, Simba realizes what his uncle has done and returns to reclaim his kingdom. Heather Headley played Nala, Simba’s love interest. The stage version included all of the beloved moments from the film and a great deal more since the running length increased by well more than an hour. The new music (including songs such as “The Lioness Hunt” and “Rafiki Mourns”) carried more of an African feel than did the songs from the film, just one aspect of a production that featured a sincere attempt to deal with the multicultural aspects of the story. Some felt that the show was too long and had some slow moments, but this was minor criticism of what became one of New York’s great tourist attractions. Reviewing the show in the New York Times, Ben Brantley raved about the “transporting magic” of the opening “Circle of Life,” when all of the animals parade in front of the audience as “creatures of air and light and even a touch of divinity.” Brantley was somewhat less sanguine about other aspects of the show but credited Taymor with bringing to Broadway “a whole new vocabulary of images.” Regarding the new numbers, he heard “an irresistible pull to this music,” especially as the performers came down the aisles with their puppets. The Lion King inaugurated the Disney-owned and renovated New Amsterdam Theatre, an important part of the rebirth of Times Square in the late 1990s.

LITHGOW, JOHN (1945–)

Actor who won a Tony Award for his first lead role in a Broadway musical, J. J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (2002). He also created the role of Lawrence in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005).

LITTLE, CLEAVON (1939–1992)

African American actor who played the title role in Purlie and won a Tony Award for his performance.

LITTLE JOHNNY JONES

(7 November 1904, Liberty, 52 performances.) Music, lyrics, book, and direction by George M. Cohan; produced by Sam H. Harris. One of the most storied shows in Broadway history, Little Johnny Jones reveled in its creator’s popular brand of American patriotism, and its score included some of Cohan’s greatest songs, including “The Yankee Doodle Boy,” “Give My Regards to Broadway,” and “Life’s a Funny Proposition After All.” Although the original run in New York was short, Little Johnny Jones, like many shows of the time, went on an extended tour and returned to New York. The cast included Cohan’s wife, Ethel Levey, as his romantic interest and both of his parents in prominent roles. Cohan advertised the show as a “musical play,” and it did bear a somewhat serious plot based loosely on the adventures of “Tod” Sloan’s recent experiences as an American jockey in England. Johnny Jones (George M. Cohan) is supposed to ride in the English Derby. He refuses an offer to throw the race, but then the villain, Anthony Anstey (Jerry Cohan), spreads the word that he lost on purpose. Johnny’s name is cleared at the end of act 1. In act 2, Anstey kidnaps his love Goldie Gates and takes her to San Francisco. Johnny, of course, frees her and takes appropriate revenge on Anstey. The unnamed critic in the New York Times seemed unaware that history was being made. He criticized both Cohan and Levey for reciting rather than singing their songs but admitted that both “dance well.”

LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE

(18 November 1959, Orpheum, 1,143 performances.) Music, lyrics, and book by Rick Besoyan. A hugely successful off-Broadway show, Little Mary Sunshine spoofed 1920s operetta, especially Rudolf Friml’s Rose Marie. Eileen Brennan played the title character, owner of a Colorado Rocky Mountains inn and adoptee of the Kadota Indians, a tribe with only three surviving members. She loves Captain Jim (William Graham) of the Rangers, but an opera star, Mme. Ernestine von Liebedich (Elizabeth Parrish), who visits the inn, and the Native American criminal Yellow Feather (Ray James) complicate matters. The lovers sang “Colorado Love Call” (a direct parody of Rose Marie’s “Indian Love Call”) and the diva sang of exotic Central Europe with the ridiculously titled “In Izzenschnooken on the Lovely Essenzook Zee.” Mary Sunshine sang of her optimism in “Look for a Sky of Blue.” Louis Calta, writing a review for the New York Times, called the show “a merry and sprightly spoof” and treated operetta with more of a “light cartoon treatment” than a “sharp wit.”

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LITTLE ME

(17 November 1962, Lunt-Fontanne, 257 performances.) Music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, book by Neil Simon, staged by Cy Feuer and Bob Fosse, choreography by Fosse, presented by Feuer and Ernest H. Martin. Based on the novel by Patrick Dennis, Little Me was primarily a vehicle for Sid Caesar, who made his return to Broadway in the show after an absence of 14 years. A huge television star famous for his ability to play many characters, Caesar, in Little Me, portrayed a string of lovers for Belle (Virginia Martin). She is from the proverbial “wrong side of the tracks” but rises to social prominence and wealth. Caesar played a rich boy, an aged miser, a French music hall singer, a foolish soldier, a German director working in Hollywood, and a gambling Slavic prince. Neither the book nor the score garnered much admiration, but many wished to see Caesar, allowing an eight-month run. Howard Taubman, writing for the New York Times, compared the show to an “ordinary wine” that will inspire some admiration in a “nonvintage year” for musicals and admired the songs “Deep Down Inside,” “Be a Performer!,” and “I’ve Got Your Number.”

THE LITTLE MERMAID

(10 January 2008, Lunt-Fontanne, 685 performances.) A leader in turning films into Broadway musicals, Disney brought The Little Mermaid to Broadway. Although it ran well into 2009, the live theater version of the 1989 animated feature did not enchant audiences. In the spirit of the innovative production of The Lion King, director Francesca Zambello had characters don “merblades” to approximate effortless movement through water, and Tatiana Noginova’s costumes tried to bring the animated figures alive, but the overall effort fell short of expectations. The New York Times called the production “charm-free” and “an unfocused spectacle” with “ungainly guess-what-I-am costumes” and “a distracting set.” The film featured songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. For the stage version, Menken collaborated with lyricist Glenn Slater on additional songs, efforts that the Times derided as “substandard,” and the well-known songs were damaged “by the muddled presentation.” Sierra Boggess played the title character, Ariel, with Sean Palmer as her Prince Eric, Sherie Rene Scott as the evil Ursula, and Norm Lewis as Ariel’s father, King Triton.

THE LITTLE MILLIONAIRE

(25 September 1911, George M. Cohan, 192 performances.) Music, lyrics, book, directed, and produced by George M. Cohan. Audiences knew what to expect from a Cohan show when they saw The Little Millionaire, and Cohan fulfilled their wishes. The star played Robert Spooner, and his father, Jerry Cohan, was Henry Spooner. Both the father and the son must marry in order to fulfill the conditions of their late wife and mother’s will and do so by the end of the show. Two outstanding songs in Cohan’s score were “Oh, You Wonderful Girl” and “The Musical Moon,” the latter a satirical look at love songs. No music appeared in the second of the show’s three acts; that segment consisted mainly of farce. The show had a great deal of dancing by soloists and ensembles, encompassing, among other things, a military drill with Cohan’s requisite flag-waving and the final wedding scene enacted as a dance pantomime. The unnamed reviewer for the New York Times wrote that the show “represents” Cohan “at his very best” but also admits “there was often something of bad taste.” He continued that “The Dancing Wedding” brought “the final note of novelty to an entertainment in which novelties abound.”

LITTLE NELLIE KELLY

(13 November 1922, Liberty, 276 performances.) Music, lyrics, book, directed, and produced by George M. Cohan. A later show in Cohan’s Irish vein, Little Nellie Kelly enjoyed a fine nine-month run. Nellie (Elizabeth Hines), fitting the New York Irish stereotype, is a policeman’s daughter who works at a department store. Jack Lloyd (Barrett Greenwood) is a wealthy man who courts her but loses her to a poor Irish boy, Jack Conroy (Charles King). In the show, Cohan lampooned the mysteries then popular on Broadway. Conroy stands accused of stealing jewels from Lloyd’s family but clears his name. The unsigned review in the New York Times deals with the show jovially but also with admiration for Cohan’s abilities. When trying to find the show’s “new turns,” the critic observes “this time it is Nellie that is the most wonderful name in the world.” The show has the “wild dancing, music . . . and the sentimentality” one expects but also more humor than sometimes found in a Cohan show. Not listed by name in the cast, Cohan was onstage and, according to the Times, would talk to the audience about the plot and promise to speed it up. The show’s notable songs include “The Voice in My Heart,” “You Remind Me of My Mother,” and “Nellie Kelly, I Love You.”

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

(25 February 1973, Shubert, 600 performances.) Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler, directed by Harold Prince, presented by Prince in association with Ruth Mitchell. Following Sondheim and Prince’s memorable collaboration on Company (1970) and Follies (1971), the pair struck gold with A Little Night Music, a show that garnered rave reviews and has remained in the repertory of both theater and opera companies. Hugh Wheeler loosely based his book on Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, a frothy farce about adults trying to find physical and emotional love. Fredrik Egerman (Len Cariou), a middle-aged Swedish lawyer, marries Anne (Victoria Mallory), who is his son’s age. Given her innocence, she remains a virgin even after 11 months of marriage. In desperation, Fredrik looks up his old mistress, Desirée Armfeldt (Glynis Johns), who, though years have passed, remains interested in Fredrik. The lawyer’s son, Henrik (Mark Lambert), is hopelessly in love with his stepmother. Everyone converges on the country home of Desirée’s mother, Madame Armfeldt (Hermione Gingold), for the second act. Henrik elopes with Anne, and Fredrik ends up with Desirée, and Madame Armfeldt dies peacefully after helping to arrange for this happy ending. Clive Barnes, in his enthusiastic New York Times review, reserved special praise for Prince, calling this his “particular triumph,” succeeding here in bringing a serious element into the musical in a way that he did not in either Follies or Company. He called the score “a celebration of time, an orgy of plaintively memorable waltzes,” all wonderfully nostalgic. He likened Sondheim to Gustav Mahler, a telling comment, and dubbed the lyrics “breathtaking” in the vein of Cole Porter. The score is filled with fine songs. Act 1 highlights include the memorable trilogy “Now,” “Later,” and “Soon”; Fredrik and Desirée’s hilarious yet touching “You Must Meet My Wife”; Madame Armfeldt’s “Liaisons,” in which she describes her libidinous memories; and the ensemble’s “A Weekend in the Country.” The second act included, among other delights, Desirée’s emotive soliloquy “Send in the Clowns,” Sondheim’s most famous song. The 2009 revival starred Catherine Zeta-Jones (in her Broadway debut) as Desirée and Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt. During the run, Bernadette Peters replaced Zeta-Jones as Desirée, and Elaine Stritch took over the role of Madame Armfeldt.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

(Off-Broadway, 27 July 1982, Orpheum, 2,209 performances; Broadway, 2 October 2003, Virginia, 372 performances.) Music by Alan Menken; lyrics, book, and direction by Howard Ashman. Based on producer Roger Corman’s campy 1960 film of the same name, Little Shop of Horrors initially ran off-Broadway. The spoof of horror movies features a bloodthirsty, talking plant named Audrey II, created by a nerd, Seymour (Lee Wilkof). Seymour suffers in silence in his love for Audrey (Ellen Greene), who works with him in a Skid Row floral shop. They put Audrey II in the shop window, and the plant becomes a tourist attraction, but its keepers also must resort to murder to keep feeding the plant. When needed, however, Audrey II will eat rare roast beef. Mel Gussow, reviewing for the New York Times the original off-Broadway production, admits that this is an unusual show, but he calls it “as entertaining as it is exotic.” The plant is “a cross between an avocado and a shark,” and dramatically, it proves “a scene-stealer.” Wilkof bears “an affable, offhanded manner” for a murderer, while Greene is “sweetly guileless.” The score is an eclectic tour through rock, pop, and Latin styles. A typically outrageous number from the show is the finale, “Don’t Feed the Plants,” along with the catchy title song. Although the 2003 production was the first time the show played on Broadway, it was considered a revival because of the successful 1986 film version and the popularity of various regional productions.

THE LITTLE SHOW

(30 April 1929, Music Box, 321 performances.) Music mostly by Arthur Schwartz, lyrics by Howard Dietz. A witty revue featuring several stars, The Little Show ran for almost 10 months, helped make a star of Fred Allen, and introduced the team of Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz. Sketches encompassed such silliness as Fred Allen playing a hot-cross bun designer who works only one day per year. The best episode, though, was George S. Kaufman’s “The Still Alarm,” in which Romney Brent and Clifton Webb played two men in a burning hotel who are so proper that they cannot decide what to wear on the fire escape. The firemen (Allen and Harold Moffet) appear, and they are also in no hurry and very polite. Allen finally plays “Keep the Home Fires Burning” on his violin. Musical highlights included Libby Holman singing “Can’t We Be Friends?” (music by Paul James and Kay Swift) and, with Webb, “Moanin’ Low” (music by Ralph Rainger). Brooks Atkinson, in his New York Times review, praised the show as “unfailingly diverting,” more interested in amusing the audience than providing “abdominal laughter.” He called the show “gay, sardonic, trifling and remarkably good fun” and found the small cast to be “all . . . uncommonly busy.”

LITTLE WOMEN

(23 January 2005, Virginia, 137 performances.) Music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, book by Allan Knee. The lavish, nearly operatic treatment of Louisa May Alcott’s famous novel starred Sutton Foster as Jo and Maureen McGovern as Marmee. The score includes emotive ballads, duets, and ensembles; an extensive use of melodrama (spoken dialogue above music); songs whose primary purpose is to move the story forward; numbers in the style of 19th-century dances; and lush orchestrations by Kim Schamberg that infuse the show with a sense of warmth and sophistication. Musical highlights include Jo’s character-defining “Astonishing,” Beth and Jo’s touching duet “Some Things Are Meant to Be,” and Jo and Professor Bhaer’s lighthearted yet sentimental number “Small Umbrella in the Rain.”

LLOYD WEBBER, ANDREW (1948–)

British composer whose works have become among the most important Broadway musicals of the last quarter of the 20th century. Lloyd Webber’s style ranges from rock to operatic, and many of his works helped define the megamusical. Lloyd Webber’s earliest shows featured biblical characters in search of redemption: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968, London; 1982, New York) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1971, New York). This theme continued in Evita (1978, London; 1979, New York), where now it was the character of Eva Perón, who was seeking redemption and immortality. Two “competition” musicals followed in which nonhuman characters try to win something. Various felines want to be the one chosen to ascend to the Heaviside Layer in Cats (1981, London; 1982, New York), while trains seek to win the race and find “The Light at the End of the Tunnel” in Starlight Express (1984, London; 1987, New York). The stage spectacle associated with these shows led to The Phantom of the Opera (1986, London; 1988, New York), Lloyd Webber’s greatest stage success and what is in many ways its gender-reversed version based on a classic Billy Wilder film, Sunset Boulevard (1993, London; 1994, New York). Not everything Lloyd Webber does involves tremendous stage effects. The first act of Song and Dance (1982, London; 1985, New York) consists of a one-woman show, while the second features a solo dancer. Lloyd Webber’s more intimate shows, such as Aspects of Love (1989, London; 1990, New York) and The Woman in White (2004, London; 2005, New York), have not fared well on Broadway.

LOESSER, FRANK (1910–1969)

Songwriter, wordsmith, and pianist best known for the musicals for which he crafted music and lyrics, including Where’s Charley? (1948), Guys and Dolls (1950), The Most Happy Fella (1956, for which he also wrote the libretto), and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1961). Through his music and words, he created some of Broadway’s most memorable and beloved characters, creating specific musical idioms for his highly individualistic characters. Loesser’s musical palette ranged from classic musical comedy in Guys and Dolls to opera in The Most Happy Fella.

LOEWE, FREDERICK (1901–1988)

Berlin-born child prodigy pianist who, after failing to establish himself as a classical pianist in New York, formed a partnership with librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner popularly known as Lerner and Loewe that resulted in seven Broadway musicals, including My Fair Lady (1956). Loewe’s European-inspired music was well matched for Lerner’s romantic lyrics.

LOGAN, JOSHUA (1908–1988)

Director whose career began in writing and acting and whose directorial credits for Broadway musicals include Knickerbocker Holiday (1938), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), and South Pacific (1949). Logan possessed an ability to elicit truth and interest from a variety of stories.

LONG, WILLIAM IVEY (1947–)

Prolific costume designer whose Broadway career began in 1978 and whose musical credits include Nine (1982), Crazy for You (1992), The Producers (2001), Hairspray (2002), Grey Gardens (2006), Young Frankenstein (2007), Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (2013), and Bullets over Broadway (2014). Ivey’s personality-filled and Tony Award–winning costumes add to the storytelling, whether they are lavishly extravagant or simply understated. His designs allow for easy movement as well as visual opulence.

LORING, EUGENE

(Born Leroy Kerpestein, 1911–1982.) Choreographer and dancer whose choreographic credits include Carmen Jones (1943) and Silk Stockings (1955).

LOST IN THE STARS

(30 October 1949, Music Box, 273 performances.) Music by Kurt Weill, words by Maxwell Anderson, staged by Rouben Mamoulian. Billed as a “musical tragedy,” Lost in the Stars was Weill’s last work for the musical theater. He died during its run. An uncompromising work with operatic overtones, strong social commentary, and limited commercial possibilities, the show was a musicalization of Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country, set in South Africa under apartheid. Todd Duncan played Stephen Kumalo, a preacher married to Grace (Gertrude Jeannette). They are worried about their son, Absalom (Julian Matfield), who has moved to Johannesburg and is living in poverty with his pregnant lover. During a robbery, he kills a young white man who is against apartheid. Stephen comes to Johannesburg, learns about what has happened, and marries his son and his son’s girlfriend. After Absalom tells the truth, he receives the death penalty. The father of the murder victim, James Jarvis (Leslie Banks), a white conservative, sees how honorable the preacher and his son are and befriends Stephen. Weill and Anderson made frequent use of a chorus that commented on the action in such dramatic numbers as “Fear,” in which whites and blacks articulate the intense level of their fears. Among the show’s powerfully dramatic musical numbers are the title song and “Cry, the Beloved Country.” Brooks Atkinson, writing in the New York Times, called the musical’s climax “a grand and enlightening scene with unadorned beauty” and described the score as “overflowing with the same compassion that Mr. Paton brought to this novel.”

LOUDON, DOROTHY (1933–2003)

Comic actress with a belt voice who won back-to-back Tony Awards for her portrayal of the evil Miss Harrigan in Annie (1977) and Bea Asher in Ballroom (1978). She was a replacement Mrs. Lovett in the original production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), succeeding Angela Lansbury. A decade earlier, in 1969, she played Lillian Stone in The Fig Leaves Are Falling, a show that ran only four performances but nonetheless garnered her a Tony nomination.

LOUIE THE 14TH

(3 March 1925, Cosmopolitan, 319 performances.) Music by Sigmund Romberg, book and lyrics by Arthur Wimperis, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. The musical comedy about a U.S. Army cook, Louie Ketchup, who remains in France after World War I, was conceived as a vehicle for Ziegfeld Follies star Leon Errol. Ketchup’s superstitious employer invites the title character to be the 14th guest at a dinner party, afraid of having only 13 attendees since that would be an unlucky number. Among the scores highlights was the nostalgic male choral number “Homeland.”

LOUISIANA PURCHASE

(28 May 1940, Imperial, 444 performances.) Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by Morrie Ryskind, ballets arranged by George Balanchine, produced by B. G. De Sylva. Louisiana Purchase, though not groundbreaking, had quality material presented by a great cast, allowing it to run more than a year. Victor Moore played U.S. senator Oliver P. Loganberry, who goes to Louisiana to investigate alleged corruption by the Louisiana Purchase Company. Possible inspiration came from the assassination of Louisiana’s real senator and governor, Huey Long, but Ryskind did not write high satire here. William Gaxton played the company’s lawyer, Jim Taylor, who attempts to have the senator discredited by placing a photograph of Marina Van Linden (Vera Zorina) in his lap and then sending Madame Bordelaise (Irene Bordoni) to his hotel room at night. Loganberry, however, hilariously muddles through each possible scandal, as one might expect from the clown Moore. The score did not include any of Berlin’s greatest songs, but the title number was memorable, and “Sex Marches On” was a notable comic piece. New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote a workmanlike review of Louisiana Purchase, finding little wrong with it but also feeling that it did not represent the creators’ best work.

LOVE LIFE

(7 October 1948, 46th Street, 252 performances.) Music by Kurt Weill, lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner, staged by Elia Kazan, choreography by Michael Kidd. Billed as a vaudeville, Love Life was an unusual show that prefigured aspects of the concept musical two decades before the idea became popular. The plot followed a couple, Sam (Ray Middleton) and Susan Cooper (Nanette Fabray), and their children from 1791 through the next 150 years of American history. Interspersed between scenes telling the story were moments of vaudeville meant to comment on the plot, not unlike the nightclub acts in Cabaret. Brooks Atkinson, writing for the New York Times, described “a feeling of general disappointment” surrounding what he called “a general gripe masquerading as entertainment.” He called Weill’s work “flexible and idiomatic” and Kidd’s ballets “beguiling.” He complained, however, that the vaudeville elements are unrelated to Lerner’s thoughts about marriage and are “generally inferior.” Memorable songs included the lovely “Here I’ll Stay,” the joyful “Green-Up Time,” and the satirical “Progress” and “Economics.”

LUKER, REBECCA (1961–)

Operatic-style soprano who created the role of Lily in The Secret Garden (1991). She starred in several important revivals, including Hal Prince’s Show Boat (1994), The Sound of Music (1998), and Susan Stroman’s The Music Man (2000), and played Mrs. Banks in the Broadway version of Mary Poppins (2006).

LUPONE, PATTI (1949–)

Versatile singing actress whose array of vocal styles, ranging from belt to the nearly operatic, allows her to bring a tremendous interpretive depth to the roles she plays. She appeared in The Robber Bridegroom (1976) and won her first Tony Award for her riveting portrayal of the title role in Evita (1979). Other acclaimed roles include Nancy in the 1984 revival of Oliver!, Reno Sweeney in the 1987 revival of Anything Goes, Mrs. Lovett in John Doyle’s innovative 2005 reenvisioning of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (in which she also played tuba), a Tony Award–winning performance as Mama Rose in Gypsy (2008 revival), and Lucia in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010). In 1993, she created Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard in London, though Glenn Close played the part on Broadway.

LYNNE, GILLIAN (1926–)

Dancer and choreographer whose choreographic credits include Cats (1981, London; 1982, New York) and The Phantom of the Opera (1986, London; 1988, New York), two of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s biggest successes, as well as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2002, London; 2005, New York).

LYRICS/LYRICIST

The words to the songs in a Broadway musical or the person who creates the words. Lyricists come from a variety of backgrounds and employ a range of approaches. Many are also composers. In the musical comedies of the early 20th century, creators such as Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, and Cole Porter employed intricate rhyme and alliteration schemes in their lyrics, while others, such as Oscar Hammerstein II, illuminated dimensions of their characters’ personalities through the words they sing and tended to avoid cleverness for its own sake. Hammerstein was especially known for his ability to create dialect in lyrics for shows such as Show Boat (1927), Carmen Jones (1941), and South Pacific (1949), among others. Several prominent lyricists have been women, and it is as lyricists that women have made the most significant contributions as creators for Broadway musicals. Lyricists from the middle decades of the 20th century on, such as Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Alan Jay Lerner, Dorothy Fields, Stephen Sondheim (also a composer), and Fred Ebb, possess a keen awareness of the intricacies of the English language, its theatrical possibilities, and its potential for character portrayal.

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