(Also known as Bill Tabbert, 1919–1974.) Singing actor who began his Broadway career in the musical comedies What’s Up? (1943), Follow the Girls (1944), and Billion Dollar Baby (1945). He also appeared in the revue Seven Lively Arts (1944) before creating the role of Lieutenant Joseph Cable in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific (1949), where he introduced “Younger than Springtime” and “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.” He also played Marius in Fanny (1954).
(26 November 1932, Apollo, 243 performances.) Music by Nacio Herb Brown and Richard Whiting with additional songs by Vincent Youmans, book and produced by B. G. De Sylva and Laurence Schwab. A fast-paced musical comedy, Take a Chance had a memorable cast that propelled the show to a run of more than seven months. The plot involved putting on a revue called Humpty Dumpty. Producer Kenneth Raleigh (Jack Whiting) works with two dishonest associates, Duke Stanley (Jack Haley) and “Louie Webb” (Sid Silvers). Kenneth falls in love with another backer, Toni Ray (June Knight), a star in the revue. Ethel Merman played Wanda Brill, not a large role, but she sang every hit song in the show, including “Eadie Was a Lady,” “You’re an Old Smoothie,” and “Rise ’n Shine.” The first two were by Brown and Whiting, but the latter was by Youmans, one of his last Broadway songs. Brooks Atkinson, writing for the New York Times, captured the intent of Take a Chance. He simply stated, “Pay no attention to the plot,” and goes on to describe the silliness of the proceedings, especially those for which Jack Haley and Sid Silvers were responsible. Atkinson noted that Ethel Merman has never before approached her songs with “quite so much abandon.”
(22 October 1959, Shubert, 448 performances.) Music and lyrics by Bob Merrill, book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell, directed by Peter Glenville, choreography by Onna White, produced by David Merrick. Based on Eugene O’Neill’s play Ah, Wilderness!, Take Me Along boasted a strong cast. The plot took place in Centerville, Connecticut, around the turn of the century. Walter Pidgeon played Nat Miller, the newspaper editor. He watches his brother-in-law Sid (Jackie Gleason) woo his sister Lily (Eileen Herlie). Richard (Robert Morse), Nat’s young son, is in love with Muriel Macomber (Susan Luckey). Lily manages to reform Sid, who has a serious drinking problem, but he promises to go on the wagon if she will marry him. Muriel’s father drives her away from Richard, but the young man finds out that the breakup was her father’s idea and goes to college promising to wait for her. Merrill’s score worked well within the show, but few songs were heard outside the theater. The best tunes were the title song, “Staying Young,” and “Little Green Snake,” the latter concerning the evils of drinking too much. Gleason’s performance wowed the critics.
(21 December 1983, Broadhurst, 669 performances.) Music by Henry Krieger, lyrics by Robert Lorick, book by Charles Blackwell. Based to an extent on Louise Fitzhugh’s novel Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change, The Tap Dance Kid featured Alfonso Ribeiro as Willie, a child in a middle-class African American family who dreams of becoming a tap dancer. His father, William (Samuel E. Wright), is a lawyer and bitterly opposes his son entering a profession that he sees as part of his race’s demeaning past. He ignores, however, that the boy’s grandfather was a tap dancer, his uncle is a dancer and choreographer, and his mother is a former dancer. The uncle, Dipsey (Hinton Battle), did some wonderful tap dancing during the show, and Willie joined his grandfather’s ghost (Alan Weeks) in some routines. William remains stridently opposed to his son’s dreams until the finale, but there the show has its joyful ending. Frank Rich, reviewing the premiere for the New York Times, had a mixed view. He found one of the glories to be choreographer Danny Daniels, who was capable “of raising yesteryear’s routines to their fantastic apotheosis,” but thought the show overall was a “plodding domestic drama.”
(10 May 2006, Richard Rodgers, 486 performances.) Music and lyrics by Phil Collins, book by David Henry Hwang, produced by Disney Theatrical Productions. A live-action version of Disney’s 1999 animated film, Tarzan is best remembered for its athleticism, with cast members swinging from vines (bungee cords) throughout the show. American Idol alum Josh Strickland made his Broadway debut as the title character, and his pop-style voice was well suited for Collins’s music.
He became music editor of the New York Times in 1935 and in 1955 was named chief music critic. From 1960 to 1965, he was chief drama critic. He was a consultant for the PBS series Great Performances and wrote eight books, seven about music and one about theater.
Comic contralto who worked in burlesque and vaudeville before playing Mary Jane Jenkins in George M. Cohan’s Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway (1906) and introducing “Mary’s a Grand Old Name.” She appeared in several shows produced by Joseph Weber and Lew Fields, including Fiddle-dee-dee (1900) and Hokey-Pokey (1912). Decades later, she played Aunt Minnie in Jerome Kern’s Roberta (1933).
(17 October 1960, 46th Street, 216 performances.) Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by George Abbott and Jerome Weidman, staged by Abbott, choreography by Joe Layton, presented by Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince. Based on Samuel Hopkins Adams’s 1959 novel of the same name, Tenderloin was a fictionalized account of Reverend Charles K. Pankhurst’s attempt at the end of the 19th century to clean up the Tenderloin district near West 23rd Street. Created by the same team that produced Fiorello!, the show starred Maurice Evans as Reverend Brock. His supposed helper in this effort is Tommy (Ron Husmann), who actually works with a corrupt policeman, Lieutenant Schmidt (Ralph Dunn). They alter photographs to frame the pastor, but Tommy later admits his deeds through the influence of Laura (Wynne Miller). The authorities start to clean up the Tenderloin district. The score’s highlights included “Artificial Flowers,” “The Picture of Happiness,” and “The Tenderloin Celebration.”
After appearing in the musical comedy Queen O’Hearts (1922) and several revues, Terris created the roles of Magnolia and Kim (as an adult) in Show Boat (1927). She reprised the role in the 1932 revival.
Tesori’s early Broadway credits were as a dance arranger for the 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music. But it is as a composer of the scores for Violet (1998, off-Broadway; 2014, Broadway), Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002), Caroline, or Change (2004), Shrek: The Musical (2008), and Fun Home (2015) that she has become best known. Tesori’s music matches the characters and situations for which she writes, whether it is the classic musical comedy style of Thoroughly Modern Millie or the nearly sung-through post-Sondheim approach in Caroline, or Change and Fun Home.
Comic actress whose credits include Domina in the 1996 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Madame Maude in the 1998 revival of On the Town, and Maggie in the 2001 revival of 42nd Street. In a radically different vein, she created the role of Magdalena in Marie Christine.
Legendary modern dancer who became a significant Broadway presence in the early 21st century with Movin’ Out (2002), based on music by Billy Joel, and the Bob Dylan musical The Times They Are a-Changin’ (2006). In her shows, Tharp conceives all aspects of the work without the aid of book writers.
The Theatre Guild, an organization established in 1919, was a respected producer of plays before it staged musicals such as Porgy and Bess (1935) and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first three shows: Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945), and Allegro (1947). Other musical productions include Bells Are Ringing (1956) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960).
Founded in 1896, the Theatrical Syndicate controlled bookings of the top touring theatrical productions until 1910. Touring was a significant component of theatrical performance, including musical theater. The founding members of the Syndicate—Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, Klaw and Erlanger (A. L. Erlanger, Marc Klaw), Samuel F. Nirdlinger, and Frederick Zimmerman—joined forces to create a monopoly that dominated American theater until the Shubert Brothers rose to prominence.
(11 February 1979, Imperial, 1,082 performances.) Music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, book by Neil Simon, directed by Robert Moore. Said to have been based on Hamlisch’s complicated relationship with Sager, They’re Playing Our Song offered Simon’s funny book, good songs, and goofy characterizations by Lucie Arnaz and Robert Klein. They played Sonia Walsk, a successful lyricist, and Vernon Gersch, a famous popular songwriter. They spend the show trying to deal with each other and their own neuroses, the latter often acted out for the audience by choruses of three men and three women, alter egos for the stars. These eight people were the entire cast seen onstage, but there were also offstage voices. Sonia and Vernon part at the end, perhaps to meet again. Simon made heavy use of several running gags, such as Sonia continually purchasing her clothes from defunct stage productions and phone messages from her hopeless ex-lover, Leon. Richard Eder, writing in the New York Times, was not convinced. He called the book “one of Mr. Simon’s weakest” plays but found Hamlisch’s score “the show’s main distinction.” Among the songs are “Fallin’,” “If He Really Knew Me,” and the title number. The latter occurs in a restaurant, with both main players wildly overreacting when one of their songs is heard in the canned music.
(4 July 1942, Broadway, 113 performances.) Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by James MacColl, directed by Ezra Stone, produced by Uncle Sam. Irving Berlin’s World War II sequel to Yip! Yip! Yaphank!, This Is the Army was one of the most extraordinarily selfless, patriotic acts ever performed by a member of the American entertainment industry. Broadway has long waved the flag as a way of saluting the country and packing in audiences, but no Broadway figure ever gave as much to a national war effort as Berlin did during the two world wars. After selling out on Broadway for almost four months (after an announced run of four weeks), This Is the Army was filmed, and then the live production went on a world tour that lasted until late 1945, playing to American servicemen in both theaters of the war. Berlin accepted no payment for his participation and dedicated all royalties from his hit-laden score to the Army Emergency Relief Fund, the charity that also benefited from the Broadway run. Like Yip! Yip! Yaphank!, This Is the Army was a revue presented entirely by soldiers, but in this case, the cast was assembled from throughout the country and included such professional entertainers as Burl Ives, Gary Merrill, Julie Oshins, and Joe Cook Jr. Berlin framed the show with the title song, “This Is the Army, Mr. Jones,” sung by the 300-member cast. The opening skit continued with the songs “I’m Getting Tired so I Can Sleep,” “I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen,” “My Sergeant and I,” “The Army’s Made a Man Out of Me,” and finally “Mandy,” a hit from Yip! Yip! Yaphank! Other skits encompassed predictable references to the German and Japanese and men in drag. In the second act, Berlin and other veterans of the first show sang “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” called by the New York Times the “theme still regarded as undying among members of the lower military orders.”
(18 April 2002, Marquis, 903 performances.) New music by Jeanine Tesori, new lyrics by Dick Scanlan, book by Scanlan and Richard Morris, directed by Michael Mayer. Based on the 1967 film starring Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Channing, Thoroughly Modern Millie is the tale of Millie Dillmount (Sutton Foster) and her experiences after moving to New York City in 1922, which include working as a secretary, exposing a kidnapping ring run by the proprietress of the hotel where she lives (under the auspices of a Chinese laundry), and finding true love. Songs from the film, including the title number and “Jimmy,” appeared on stage, and Tesori and Scanlan’s new numbers, including the opening “Not for the Life of Me,” “Forget about the Boy,” and Millie’s 11-minute number “Gimme Gimme,” endorsed the show’s overall 1920s musical comedy style. The show won numerous Tony Awards in 2002, including Best Musical.
(13 March 1928, Lyric, 319 performances.) Music by Rudolf Friml, lyrics by Clifford Grey, book by William Anthony McGuire, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, choreographed by Albertina Rasch. Based on Alexandre Dumas’s novel, the operetta included only three adventures from the book: the first meeting of d’Artagnan (Dennis King) and the Musketeers Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and d’Artagnan’s romance with Constance (Vivienne Segal) and his efforts to protect the honor of the Queen (Yvonne D’Arle) from the evil Cardinal Richelieu (Reginald Owen). The score included the lyrical “Ma Belle,” “One Kiss,” “My Dreams,” and “My Sword and I” and the heroic marches “All for One and One for All” and “March of the Musketeers.” The show capitalized on the 1920s love of all things French and had a short-lived Broadway revival in 1984.
(10 March 1954, Theatre de Lys, 96 performances; 20 September 1955, 2,611 performances.) Music by Kurt Weill, lyrics and book by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Marc Blitzstein. One of the most significant pieces of musical theater in a Western language from the first half of the 20th century, The Threepenny Opera premiered in Berlin as Die Dreigroschenoper in 1928. Brecht and Weill conceived the work during the Weimar Republic and drew the story from The Beggar’s Opera, a hit in London from exactly two centuries before that celebrated the lower classes and their struggle against oppression. In his libretto, Brecht borrowed techniques and stances from the agit/prop theater but still showed more than one side of the characters and managed other nuances. The story involves the love between Polly Peachem and Macheath (“Mack the Knife”) and their relationships with others in a seedy district of Soho. Weill, a sophisticated composer with solid classical training, wrote a score in which he effectively mixed elements of popular and concert music. “Morität,” known in English as “Mack the Knife,” has been popular in several countries. Dei Dreigroschenoper became far better known in the United States through an English translation by composer Marc Blitzstein that premiered at the Brandeis University Festival of the Creative Arts on 14 June 1952. Leonard Bernstein, then a Brandeis professor, directed the concert production, and Lotte Lenya, the composer’s widow, played Jenny, reprising her role in the original 1928 production.
Blitzstein’s translation opened almost two years later in a fully staged production at the Theatre de Lys, again with Lenya as Jenny. It played only 96 performances because of a previous commitment at the theater, but great interest caused it to reopen the next season. The run was at the time the longest in the history of the American musical stage. The 1954 opening was reviewed for the New York Times by “L. F.,” who opens with a “heartfelt thanks” to Blitzstein for his “remarkable contribution” of placing the work in accessible English while retaining the “bite, the savage satire, the overwhelming bitterness.” The cast featured, in addition to Lenya, Charlotte Rae (Mrs. Peachem), Jo Sullivan (Polly), Beatrice Arthur (Lucy), and Scott Merrill (Macheath). The Threepenny Opera has played several more times on Broadway, including the 2006 revival starring a black-leather–clad cast led by bisexually charged Macheath (Alan Cumming) and Jenny (Cyndi Lauper).
(15 October 1930, Selwyn, 271 performances.) Music and lyrics by Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz, and others; conceived and compiled by Dietz; staged by Hassard Short; produced by Max Gordon. A revue that is perhaps most famous for introducing the British hit “Body and Soul” to the United States, Three’s a Crowd had a winning cast and fine material. Its three stars were comedian Fred Allen, singer Libby Holman, and singer-dancer Clifton Webb, each also a cast member in The Little Show, another revue to which this was a sort of sequel. Allen’s material included a skit about an Admiral Byrd–like figure suggesting that the unemployed could be hired to shovel polar snow. The unnamed reviewer in the New York Times praised the revue for its “pleasant lightness, a sort of unforced gayety, and, for the most part, a quizzical, knowing point of view.” He called attention to the innovative lighting, which used lights hung from the balcony rather than footlights.
Musical comedy composer of the late 1910s and 1920s whose most important scores include Irene (1919) and Rio Rita (1927), two of his seven collaborations with lyricist Joseph McCarthy. He also contributed to revues, including various editions of The Passing Show and Ziegfeld Follies.
The crossroads of Broadway and Seventh Avenue in the heart of Manhattan, originally called Longacre Square, was renamed Times Square in 1904, when the New York Times erected a building on the southern edge of the site. It was also in that year that the famous New Year’s Eve celebrations began. During World War I, the area became the nexus of American theater, with 42 houses in a 13-block area. In the 1960s and 1970s, the area was filled with sex-oriented shows, films, and shops, particularly along 42nd Street, and the district became one of the most dangerous areas of New York City. At the turn of the 21st century, a tremendous Times Square renaissance took place, and the area was transformed into a family-friendly entertainment district. Sleaze shops closed, and new theaters, hotels, attractions (such as MTV and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum), and stores (including a Toys“R”Us) opened.
(26 October 2006, Brooks Atkinson, 28 performances.) Music and lyrics by Bob Dylan; conceived, directed, and choreographed by Twyla Tharp. The Bob Dylan jukebox musical relied heavily on dance, following in the line of Contact and Tharp’s Movin’ Out.
(28 December 1925, Liberty, 192 performances.) Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, produced by Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley. A hit musical that came a year after Lady, Be Good! and concerned a trio of vaudeville performers (Andrew Tombes, Harry Watson Jr., and Queenie Smith) who are stranded without money in Florida. Their female member, Tip-Toes (Smith), romances a wealthy glue magnate (Allen Kearns) with whom she genuinely falls in love. Despite many complications, including Tip-Toes’s temporary amnesia, all ends happily. The score included a number of hits, such as “These Charming People,” “That Certain Feeling,” “Looking for a Boy,” and, especially, “Sweet and Low Down,” a production number staged with toy trombones and kazoos. Reviewers were very pleased with the show, including Alexander Woollcott of the New York World, who loved the score: “Gershwin’s evening so sweet and sassy are the melodies he has poured out . . . all told, the best score he has written in his days in the theater.”
(23 April 1997, Lunt-Fontanne, 804 performances.) Music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, book by Peter Stone. Although few musicals have ever given critics such obvious phrases with which to pan it, Titanic survived a critical drubbing and ran for two years but did not earn back its costs. John Cunningham played Captain E. J. Smith, often urged by the managing director of the White Star Line, J. Bruce Ismay, to try for more speed. An elderly couple that remained devoted to each other, Isidore and Ida Straus (Larry Keith and Alma Cuervo), provided some of the show’s human interest. The set, designed by Stewart Laing, was a masterpiece that showed all three classes of cabins simultaneously and tilted as the ship sank. At the climactic moment, the lights went out, and survivors then appeared in blankets to finish the story. The bridge was near the top of the stage, and panels on either side showed the date, time, and positions of latitude and longitude. Following the model of a megamusical, Titanic was mostly sung through. The score included the opening “In Every Age,” sung by Michael Cerveris as Thomas Andrews, the ship’s architect, followed immediately by the impressive multisectional “The Launching.” Another outstanding number was “The Proposal/The Night Was Alive,” a duet between the ship’s radio operator and a stoker.
The most prestigious Broadway award, sponsored by the American Theatre Wing, which founded the honors in 1947. The name honored Antoinette Perry (1888–1946), an actor, director, and producer who headed the American Theatre Wing during World War II. Until 1965, the award ceremonies took place in various large rooms and usually included some entertainment by Broadway stars. The event has been broadcast on television since 1967, first in theaters and, starting in 1997, from Radio City Music Hall. In the television era, the Tony broadcast has become known as a means whereby one can see a Broadway cast perform songs from current shows. Awards are for shows that have opened during the current season, before the cutoff date in early May. The broadcast is in early June. Approximately 750 eligible voters must attend all productions nominated in a particular category in order to vote.
The award for Best Musical first appeared in 1949, when Kiss Me, Kate won it. In 2006, there were 25 different categories, with the following that apply to musicals: Best Musical; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score (music and/or lyrics) Written for the Theatre; Best Choreography; Best Scenic Design for a Musical (split off in 2005 from the general category for any play); Best Costume Design for a Musical (split off from the play category in 1960–1961 and again in 2005); Best Lighting Design for a Musical; Best Director of a Musical (separated from the play category in 1960); Best Performances by a Leading Actor, Leading Actress, Featured Actor, Featured Actress; Best Orchestrations; and Best Revival of a Musical. The American Theatre Wing awards a Tony each year in all categories. As the number of musicals produced each year has declined, sometimes there are few possible competitors in various categories.
(18 October 1939, Imperial, 249 performances.) Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, book by George Marion Jr., staged and produced by George Abbott, dances arranged by Robert Alton. A Rodgers and Hart hit based on Abbott’s formula for a college musical, Too Many Girls concerned a rich easterner who sends his daughter, Consuelo Casey (Marcy Wescott), to Pottawatomie College in New Mexico. She enjoys a good party, so he also sends, unbeknownst to her, four bodyguards who play football. Consuelo falls in love with one of her protectors, Clint Kelley (Richard Kollmar), but wants to go home when she discovers his real purpose, but all works out in the end. The show had a sassy edge—Brooks Atkinson noted in the New York Times that some of the humor is “too anatomical for quick enjoyment”—and fine dancing. The score carried a popular Latin flavor, partly because one of the football players was Desi Arnaz. Atkinson liked the show’s “breezy impudence” and called it “humorous, fresh and exhilarating.” He thought the best tunes were a witty song about New York City, “Give It Back to the Indians,” and “I Like to Recognize the Tune,” the latter showing Rodgers’s real-life disgust with what swing arrangements did to his songs. The score also bore the wonderful standard “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was.”
(8 November 1928, Alvin, 68 performances.) Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, book by Fred Thompson and Vincent Lawrence, produced by Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley. Although this show brought back together creators of Lady, Be Good! and Oh, Kay!, including the star Gertrude Lawrence, it failed. Lawrence was Ann Wainwright, an unpleasant character who schemed ambitiously for a $100,000 treasure. The dancing of Clifton Webb and Mary Hay or comical efforts of Walter Catlett could not save the show, although the score included a number of fine songs, including “I’ve Got a Crush on You” and “Feeling I’m Falling.” Brooks Atkinson, in the New York Times, found that Lawrence “embodies most of the qualities that make for versatility and splendor in musical comedy stars,” but here she was an “evil thing.”
(19 April 1951, Alvin, 270 performances.) Music by Arthur Schwartz, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, book by Betty Smith and George Abbott, staged by Abbott, choreography by Herbert Ross, produced by Abbott with Robert Fryer. Based on Betty Smith’s popular novel by the same name, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn opened at the end of a season that had already included Call Me Madam, Guys and Dolls, and The King and I. Shirley Booth played Cissy, a woman who unknowingly married a bigamist years before and has a string of affairs. The young lovers Katie (Marcia Van Dyke) and Johnny Nolan (Johnny Johnston) have their own problems. Katie’s love is true, but Johnny can neither accept responsibility nor stay sober. Brooks Atkinson, in his New York Times review, called the show “one of those happy inspirations that the theatre dotes on” and thought that Booth gave a “glowing performance” in her best role yet, finding her interpretation of “Love Is the Reason” “musical comedy in its best form.” The score also included the songs “That’s How It Goes” and “I’ll Buy You a Star.”
Italian-born operatic soprano who Oscar Hammerstein brought to America in 1906 to sing in his Manhattan Opera Company. On Broadway, she created the title roles in Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta (1910), Rudolf Friml’s The Firefly (1912), and Friml’s The Peasant Girl (1915). Both composers wrote demanding coloratura numbers especially for her.
(9 November 1891, Madison Square, 657 performances.) Music by Percy Gaunt, lyrics and book by Charles Hoyt. One of the more storied shows in Broadway history, A Trip to Chinatown managed a record-breaking run of about 20 months. A Trip to Chinatown was a remarkably unified show for its time, with some songs adding to the plot development. The story, which bore some resemblance to Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker (the basis for Hello, Dolly!), concerned two young men who wish to take their lady friends to a masquerade ball. They are afraid that Uncle Ben will forbid such an evening, so they tell him they are going on a tour of Chinatown (the only reference to it in the entire plot) and invite a widow, Mrs. Guyer, to chaperone the party. Misunderstandings ensue, but all is well at the end. For his book, Hoyt depended largely on standing gags and vaudeville routines, and some of his characters were stock figures. Of the songs that he wrote with Gaunt, “The Bowery” is easily the most famous, but there were also many interpolations, such as Charles K. Harris’s famous “After the Ball.” Songs could also change according to need; for example, when a drinking song was required, almost any might be used. The show included plenty of dances. The unnamed critic for the New York Times wrote that the show was “simply a lot of impossible people doing wildly-absurd things” in various settings.
The practice of producing a show first in a city outside of New York in order to identify problems before an audience and fix them with cuts and rewrites. For many musicals, the out-of-town tryout has been replaced by previews at the New York theater for which audiences can buy tickets, with the understanding that cuts and rewrites may go on until the announced premiere. Frequent tryout cities included New Haven, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, and Baltimore, also at times including Cleveland, Detroit, and Toronto. Some s hows are developed in theaters such as the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, and the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, then brought to Broadway. Several Broadway musicals, including Godspell and Rent, have had their “tryouts” as off-Broadway shows.
Eclectic dancer, actor, director, and choreographer who received nine Tony Awards in four different categories, including Best Supporting Actor for Seesaw (1973); Best Actor for My One and Only (1983); Best Choreographer for My One and Only, A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine (1980), Grand Hotel (1989), and The Will Rogers Follies (1991); and Best Director for Nine (1982), Grand Hotel, and The Will Rogers Follies. He also choreographed and codirected The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978). Tune draws imaginatively on American dance and entertainment traditions and never forgets to delight the audience.
Orchestrator for many musicals by Stephen Sondheim, including Company (1970), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Into the Woods (1987), and Passion (1994), as well as A Chorus Line (1975), Nine (1982), Titanic (1997), Marie Christine (1999), and The Color Purple (2005). Tunick is known for creating a wide array of instrumental colors that complement the show’s dramatic development from a relatively small, amplified ensemble. He won Tony Awards for Passion and Titanic.
(2 May 2005, Circle in the Square, 1,136 performances.) Music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, conceived by Rebecca Feldman, directed by James Lapine. Based on the play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, the one-act show capitalized on the American fascination with spelling bees. Set at a spelling bee, the students, all of whom have their own stories to tell and challenges to overcome, compete for the coveted prize. Several audience members who do well on a preshow spelling test are invited onstage to join the festivities, creating some humorous moments in the choreography when the actors leave the audience participants on their own and stand by to watch. Among the more memorable students are William Barfee (Dan Fogler, who won a Tony Award for his performance), who spells out words with his foot before reciting the spelling, and Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Sarah Saltzberg), the daughter of a gay couple. The score included many fine songs, including the title number, William Balfee’s “Magic Foot,” and Logainne’s “Woe Is Me.”
(10 November 1970, Imperial, 352 performances.) Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Martin Charnin, book by Peter Stone, conceived and directed by Joe Layton, presented by Rodgers. Conceived as a vehicle for Danny Kaye, who had not been on Broadway in decades, Two by Two was a musical retelling of Clifford Odets’s 1954 play The Flowering Peach, where the story of Noah meets the Jewish humor and world of the Borscht Belt. Kaye played Noah and dominated the proceedings, creating a memorable stage persona that allowed a flawed show to run for more than 10 months. The cast also included his wife Esther (Joan Copeland) and his three sons and their wives, one of whom was played by Madeline Kahn. Not long after the show opened, Kaye tore a ligament and began to perform in a wheelchair or on crutches. He improvised extensively, angering Rodgers but delighting audiences. Among the finer songs in the score is “I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You.”
(1 December 1971, St. James, 613 performances.) Music by Galt MacDermot, lyrics by John Guare, adaptation by Guare and Mel Shapiro, directed by Shapiro, presented by New York Shakespeare Festival, produced by Joseph Papp. A musical version of Shakespeare’s play Two Gentlemen from Verona opened in Central Park in the summer of 1971. Its transfer to the St. James Theater tried to retain the spirit and informality of the outdoor staging. Clifton Davis and Raul Julia played Valentine and Proteus, the title characters, while Jonelle Allen and Diana Davila were their love interests, Silvia and Julia. Ming Cho Lee’s set consisted of scaffolding of different levels and colors placed in front of a rear wall painted sky blue, an effective background for the boisterous tale. Clive Barnes reviewed the musical for the New York Times, and he loved it, calling it “a lovely fun show.” He praised the show’s “New York feel” with its music “a mixture of rock, lyricism and Caribbean patter,” lyrics that are “spare, at times even abrasive,” and its “sense of irreverence.” Barnes remarked that MacDermot has grown as a composer since Hair and now uses more instruments and possesses a greater range in his songs.