A Young Talent Takes On ALL The Roles!

OK, so here's a New Jersey kid named Robbie Angarone playing eight different parts from Les Miserables.
This young man has talent and a real passion for the musical stage.
It's absolutely wonderful to see a young person who's inspired by and enthused about Broadway.
Thanks, Robbie!

And Now, Two 'Lost Women' Find Audiences . . .

Two lost women are lighting up stages just a few blocks from one another on Broadway this summer.
Though they come from opposite sides of the world, both seem trapped and confused. Both are searching for greater freedom and greater meaning in their lives.
And both tales that form the basis for the musicals about them are swiped from the movies. One story is loosely based on history, the other is fiction. One story is set amidst the grandeur of Moscow and Paris in the early part of the 20th century. The other is more modern and is set in small town America.



Let's start with the better of the two which is the new live adaptation of the 1997 animated film, Anastasia based on the tale of the lost child (Grand Duchess Anastasia) who presumably went missing after the royal Romanov family was killed off during the Russian revolution.
The producers of this musical faced a daunting challenge as many aficionados of the animated form regard the 1997 film as the best animated movie ever made. Also, the 1956 live action film with Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes wasn't exactly chopped liver. It garnered a best actress Oscar for Ingrid Bergman and won numerous other awards.
In this Broadway version a young woman who may or may not be the last surviving child of the Russian royal family joins two con men to reunite with her grandmother, the Dowager Empress, while the villain Gleb seeks her death, hoping to complete the assassination of the royal family.
We never saw the widely-heralded animated film so we really can't make a valid comparison. The new Broadway version keeps six songs from the movie but adds 16 new pieces, making this a very musical undertaking.
About midway through the first act, however,  you may find yourself wondering why anybody thought that a musical set in Russia (and depicting the bloody revolution, no less) might be a good idea. Pretty much the whole first half of this show is very Russian, which is to say very grim, very sad, very gloomy. Communism ain't pretty, folks -- and there's just no way to make it colorful, glamorous, romantic or appealing. Still, when the would-be Anastasia (Anya/Christine Altomare) sings the beautiful and haunting In My Dreams, there's a sudden glimmer of hope amidst the grime. And the compelling Ramin Karimloo as Gleb has such stage presence and such a magnificent voice that he will captivate you as he alternately pursues and remains fascinated by Anya. Karimloo's delivery of a number simply called Still is particularly notable in the first half as is an inventive traveling sequence that moves pretty much the entire cast from Moscow to Paris.
And then as act two opens we get a rousing song about the ever-alluring city of lights. It's called Paris Holds The Key (To Your Heart) and now, everything is bright and vivid and beautiful and enchanting.
Well, it all  comes none too soon as by this point we are literally starving for some reverie. And we get it when the vivacious Caroline O'Connor arrives as Countess Lily and she literally brings down the house with Land of Yesterday and follows that with The Countess and the Common Man in which she teams up with John Bolton as Vlad. Suddenly, we're witnessing a veritable tour de force.
Anastasia runs two hours and 25 minutes and at times it can try your patience. But the performances are first-rate, much of the music is noteworthy, the sets and costumes are inventive when they're not downright lavish and, finally, there are those five magic words: saved by the second act!
Now, here's an important postscript: The mass grave near Yekaterinburg, Russia which held the remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three of their daughters was revealed in 1991, and the bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007. Anastasia's possible survival has been conclusively disproved. Forensic analysis and DNA testing confirmed that the remains are those of the imperial family, showing that all four grand duchesses were killed in 1918. Several women falsely claimed to have been Anastasia; the best known impostor is Anna Anderson. Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984, but DNA testing in 1994 on available pieces of Anderson's tissue and hair showed no relation to the DNA of the Romanov family.

But, back to Broadway and . . .

On to another show . . . 

A few blocks away at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre we finally got around to seeing Waitress, the musical version of the 207 movie about Jenna, a poor white waitress and pie maker who toils away in a small southern town. Jenna is stuck in an unhappy marriage to Earl, who's a real jerk. And Jenna is hoping for a way out but she doesn't even seem to know where to begin.

Anyway, she starts squirreling away money, and hoping to win a pie-baking contest so, with the prize money, she'll have enough cash to leave Earl and start a new life elsewhere. Ya see, Earl can't seem to hold a job and he basically lives off Jenna.

But before Jenna  even begins to develop an escape plan, right from the start, she finds herself pregnant. She doesn't really want to have the baby but she won't get an abortion, either. 

It's hard to figure out how Jenna got into such a fix -- something that is never really explained. But there is ample evidence that Earl is abusive and there's the suggestion that Jenna's mother also suffered abuse at the hands of her father. Plus Earl claims that he was there for Jenna when he mother died and she had no one.

Well, there's no doubt that Jenna bakes phenomenal pies at Joe's diner. She also listens to old Joe's wisdom, tolerates her sour boss Cal and is friends with Dawn and Becky (her fellow waitresses). It's all rather dreary. But then Jenna begins an affair with the handsome new doctor in town -- her doctor, the one who will deliver her baby. As the pregnancy advances, life with Earl gets downright dangerous, a way out becomes less clear, and Jenna has to come to some sort of determination about her affair with the doctor, the pie contest, the new baby, her marriage, etc. Whew! What choices does a waitress really have, after all?

OK, so we didn't see the show with Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller who originated the role of Jenna. And we didn't see it with Sara Bareilles who stepped in to replace Mueller and who also wrote the music and lyrics. We suppose one has to account for that. But the show's current star, Betsy Wolfe came off as shrill. 

We did enjoy Drew Gehling as the doctor, Joe Tippit as Earl (a very tough role and he nails it with surprising subtlety), Larry Marshall as Joe, Caitlin Houlihan as Dawn and, in a real standout performance, Christopher Fitzgerald as Dawn's suitor, Ogie. Fitzgerald stops the show and brings things back to life more than once. Thank you kindly, sir!

Still, Waitress strikes us as a tiny little musical trying to fill a big Broadway stage. It's what they sometimes call an "intimate musical"when they don't want to offend. It's a little bit Pump Boys and Dinettes and a little bit Little Shop of Horrors and a little bit The Last Five Years that adds up to not much of anything.

There's a small band on stage and the musicians sort of interact with the players from time to time. The music sounds cheap and the songs are over amped so it all comes across as tinny. Plus, the show itself has some really raunchy moments. Not very much to like, huh?

Oh, The Icons, The Legend, The Truth - Backstage!

We recently took a tour of Broadway's most legendary watering hole and eatery, Sardi's.
Sardi's sits on 44th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue just as it's done for 90 years. This classic restaurant anchors Shubert Alley (between 44th and 45th) and welcomes you to the Great White Way as it faces the storied Schubert Theater. In fact, the Sardi's Building (which is not really owned by Sardi's) houses the offices of the Shubert Organization.
Known for the hundreds of caricatures of show-business celebrities that adorn its walls, Sardi's  has played host to all of the greats of Broadway as well as famous names of TV, radio and the movies. These include not just actors and actresses but producers, directors, composers, lyricists, playwrights, choreographers, journalists and many others.

In 1927, recalling the movie star caricatures that decorated the walls of Joe Zelli’s, a Parisian restaurant and jazz club, Vincent Sardi (Sardi's founder) decided to recreate that effect in his establishment. He hired a Russian refugee named Alex Gard born Alexis Kremkoff in Kazan, Russia) to draw Broadway celebrities. Sardi and Gard drew up a contract that stated Gard would make the caricatures in exchange for one meal per day at the restaurant. The first official caricature by Gard was of Ted Healy, the vaudevillian of Three Stooges fame. 

When Sardi’s son, Vincent Sardi, Jr. took over restaurant operations in 1947, he offered to change the terms of Gard's agreement. Gard refused and continued to draw the caricatures in exchange for meals until his death.

After Gard, John Mackey took over drawing for the restaurant but was soon replaced by Don Bevan. Bevan did the drawings until 1974 when he retired, and was replaced by Brooklyn-born Richard Baratz, a banknote and certificate engraver by profession. Baratz, who lives in Pennsylvania, continues to the present day as the Sardi's caricaturist. It's ectimated that there are more than 1,300 celebrity caricatures on display.

But here are a few facts about the restaurant and the caricatures that you may not have known:

• Originally, the drawings were not very flattering as they were extreme exaggerations of facial types. Many of the actors depicted were not happy with their depictions. So, over time, the drawing have been softened to be more  flattering to the (often vain) celebrities that are enshrined on Sardi's walls.
• Some of the famous are shown more than once. Since Sardi's has three floors (the main first floor, a second floor bar with tables for dining overlooking 44th St. and Shubert Alley and a fourth floor event space) there are duplicate drawings displayed to fill up all the wall space. But you have to be very perceptive to find the duplicates as they are obviously not placed near one another.
• The drawings that you see on the walls are not the originals. The originals are kept in a safe place. The caricatures displayed are very fine copies that are really exact replicas.
• Some drawings have been removed as the display is periodically freshened since new luminaries are added to the gallery while old stars are retired. In 1979, Vincent Sardi, Jr. donated a collection of 227 caricatures from the restaurant to the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• Not all of the caricatures are autographed. The autographing (by those depicted) started in later years when Sardi's launched dedication ceremonies as each new celebrity portrait was hung.
• Sardi's is the birthplace of the Tony Award; after Antoinette Perry's death in 1946, her partner, theatrical producer and director, Brock Pemberton, was eating lunch at Sardi's when he came up with the idea of a theater award to be given in Perry's honor. For many years Sardi’s was the location where Tony Award nominations were announced. Vincent Sardi, Sr. received a special Tony Award in 1947, the first year of the awards, for "providing a transient home and comfort station for theatre folk at Sardi's for 20 years." In 2004, Vincent Sardi, Jr. received a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. 
• Sardi's is also the venue for the presentation of the Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as many other Broadway events, press conferences, and celebrations.
• The third floor of Sardi's houses the restaurant's executive offices. 
• When Catherine Zeta Jones' portrait was unveiled in a celebratory event at Sardi's, her husband Michael Douglas was a deliberate no show. Douglas' reasoning? This was her moment and he wanted to do nothing to take the spotlight from his wife. Zeta Jones won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music.
• Being caricatured at Sardi's is not merely a matter of starring in a Broadway show or being a famous person. That alone will not get you on the wall. You have to be a friend of the restaurant. In other words, you have to show up. You have to dine there.

Now, here are some photos, including a look inside Sardi's fourth floor event space, rarely seen by the common folk. We've also included some celebrity caricatures. See if you can identify each one.

YOU May Be Able To Claim This Important Prize!

The Ziegfeld Club, Inc., one of New York City’s first performing arts charities to benefit women, is thrilled to announce the third Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award will open to applicants beginning Monday, July 31, 2017. A prestigious grant of $10,000, the award honors a female composer of musical theatre. In addition, the recipient will receive one year of artistic and professional mentorship from a prominent composer and a producer of musical theatre.

The grant, which aims to celebrate an emerging female composer or composer/lyricist who compellingly demonstrates outstanding artistic promise in musical theater composing and who can clearly show how the grant money and mentorship will further her artistic career. This grant was inspired by a noticeable lack of female composers being produced on Broadway today.

Past recipients of the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award are composer/lyricist Masi Asare in 2015 and Anna Jacobs in 2016. In addition to the cash prize received, each recipient also receives a year of mentorship from industry composers and producers. Last year Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori and Tony Award-winning producer Daryl Roth served as mentors to Ms. Asare, while composer Kristen Anderson-Lopez and producer Barbara Whitman served as mentors to Ms. Jacobs.

Those interested in applying for the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award must submit their application between Monday, July 31, 2017 and Friday, September 1, 2017.

Interested applicants can submit all application materials (see list below) via email to submissions@theziegfeldclubinc.com.

The following application materials are required for consideration:

• Demo recordings of 3 contrasting songs from at least 2 separate original works of musical theater, as well as dramatic context. These songs must be from different shows. Professional recordings are appreciated but not necessary. Piano-and-vocals are sufficient. The songs should be sent as individual MP3 files, and labeled with both the candidate’s name and the songs’ title (Last Name, First Name- Title). Applicants retain all copyright of their work. Please do not submit live recordings. 
• An Artistic Statement of one page or less (no more than 500 words) describing your work in musical theater, and how the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award will aid you in your artistic and professional goals. 
• A current resume that lists your experience and production history as an emerging musical theater composer. Applicants will be considered eligible as emerging artists if, in the judgment of the committee, they have not already received substantial recognition in American musical theater. 

A completed application form is available for download at www.theziegfeldclubinc.com/award-submissions/

Note: The recipient of this grant will be awarded through Fractured Atlas, pending acceptance into their fiscal sponsorship program. For more information about Fractured Atlas and their fiscal sponsorship program, please visit www.fracturedatlas.org

For more information about The Ziegfeld Club, Inc. or about the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award please visit www.TheZiegfeldClubInc.com

  

ABOUT THE ZIEGFELD CLUB, INC.

Described by The New York Times as one of “New York’s pioneering feminist institutions,” and “Broadway’s best kept secret,” The Ziegfeld Club is among the first not-for-profits in the Broadway community. Founded in 1936 by Billie Burke in honor of her late husband Florenz Ziegfeld musical theater impresario and producer of the legendary Ziegfeld Follies. The organization was originally formed to provide help to Ziegfeld Girls who had fallen on hard times. As all of the Ziegfeld Girls have now passed away, the Ziegfeld Club’s mission remains to help women of today’s musical theatre.

Additionally, the Ziegfeld Club has preserved exciting theater history in their treasured archives that include original programs, sheet music, personal correspondence and costumes, as well as portraits of Ziegfeld Girls.

Today the Ziegfeld Club is expanding its legacy of helping women in the theatre by establishing, along with the Liz Swados Inspiration Grant, The Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award a $10,000 grant and a year of professional mentorship which is awarded to an emerging, female composer-lyricist who compellingly demonstrates outstanding artistic promise in musical theater composing and who can clearly show how the grant money and mentorship will further her artistic career.

  

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who should apply?
The BBZA is open to an emerging, single female composer or single composer-lyricist who compellingly demonstrates outstanding artistic promise in musical theater composing and who can clearly show how the grant money and mentorship will further her artistic career

When can I apply?
The application for the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award will be open from July 31, 2017 through Friday, September 1, 2017. We encourage you to apply early.

I’ve applied for the award in the past; can I apply again?
Yes.

I write with a collaborative team. Can we apply together?
No, the BBZA Award is only open to a single female composer or single composer-lyricist.

Can I apply if I am still in school?
The BBZA award is not intended as a scholarship. Ideal candidates should be working professionals.

Are there any age restrictions?
No, although an ideal candidate must classify as emerging, meaning that they have not already received substantial recognition in American musical theater.

What are the criteria for selection?
The selection committee will judge applicants based on financial need, professional initiative, and outstanding artistic promise in musical theater composing.

Can the songs I submit be from different works?
Yes, applications must consist of at least two different works.

Can I still apply if I cannot be in New York City in September for an interview?
Yes. In-person interviews are strongly encouraged, but a Skype interview can be arranged if necessary.

Welcome Back, You've Been Gone Far Too Long!

It might seem like culture shock to some but to those of us who actually remember big, brassy, boffo, bona fide Broadway musicals, the triumphant return of Hello, Dolly! has brought certain elements back to the musical stage -- elements that Broadway hasn't seen in quite awhile. Let's go over some of them:

1) The tableau.
When the curtain goes up on Dolly we are immediately struck by a huge, colorful, scenic, multi-character tableau. Like a fixed image in grand opera or a freeze frame in a movie, the tableau does more than set the scene. It seals an image in our minds. And while Dolly's appeal is timeless, the tableau fixes the time and place for the audience. Most often used to open or close a scene or act, the tableau is a highly theatrical device that reminds us that we're watching a story come to life -- live, on stage. In Dolly, the tableaus are nothing less than thrilling.

2) Choral singing.
Once upon a time, every great musical had a significant cast of singers. Choral singing was important. Sometimes the group of singers helped to back up the lead actors and actresses. Sometimes they filled in portions of the song. And sometimes they simply sang together as a group. This was particularly important before shows were miked. Strong, robust, up-to-the-balcony group singing was a staple of all the great Rodgers & Hammerstein shows and now, with Dolly, it's back in a big way!

3) Curtain down numbers.
In the early days of musicals some numbers were typically played on the lip of the stage with the curtain down. Before mechanized (and later, computerized) scenery, this allowed for continuous entertainment and advancement of the story even while scenery was being changed. Though Dolly's scenery turns on a turntable and glides forward and backward effortlessly, a few numbers are played in front of the curtain. You've got to be really good to pull off a number like this, without a set. Fortunately, this isn't even a challenge for the great Bette Midler and the versatile David Hyde Pierce.

4) Actual choreography.
Where are today's Michael Bennetts or Tommy Tunes or Bob Fosses? Why and when did choreography seem to disappear from Broadway? Now, we seem to have "movement directors" or people who are responsible for shifting actors around like members of an athletic troupe. Dolly has vivid, joyous, heartfelt dancing -- real dancing, thanks to Gower Champion's splendid choreography and Warren Carlyle's reinterpretation of same. Not only is there a whole number called Dancing but Elegance and The Waiters' Gallop are nothing short of miraculous.


5) The overture and entr'acte.
When the 28-piece orchestra strikes up the first notes of Dolly's overture, the audience at Broadway's storied Shubert Theater literally roars its approval. And, with good reason. Not only does it showcase a classically great score but musical overtures have been missing for far too long. The audience is not only welcoming Dolly back, it's also heralding the return of the overture back to its right place at the top of the show. Again, at the beginning of Act Two, the audience greets the entr'acte with the same approval.

There are other elements of Dolly (a synopsis of scenes, parallel love stories, distinct comic bits, vivid secondary characters) that have been missing from modern musicals for far too long. Now, on Broadway, it's great to have them back where they belong. Bravo!

A Gleeful, Glorious, Giddy, Unforgettable Romp!

The story of Dolly Gallagher Levi takes place at the turn of the turn of the century in 1890s New York. But its origins date all the way back to an Austrian play written in 1835 which eventually morphed into the 1938 Thornton Wilder play, The Matchmaker and then later the 1964 musical Hello, Dolly!
The emergence of Dolly is a story in itself inasmuch as Dolly was only a minor character in the 1835 play. It was Thornton Wilder who moved the story to New York and eventually built the whole play around Dolly.
And therein lies the magic of this perennial favorite.
Because Dolly herself is timeless. The heart and soul of this inimitable character is also ageless and universal.
When she accepted the 2017 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, Bette Midler reminded her colleagues that Broadway's current production of Hello, Dolly! is most assuredly not a revival. "A revival is for someone who is dead or dying," Midler said. "But Dolly never died. She's always been here. She's always been with us and her story is for everyone."
Nobody understands this better than Midler herself and her astounding turn as Dolly at Broadway's Shubert Theater is not only the singular most joyous, most irresistible, most incandescent performance on the Great White Way right now, it's also the best performance we've ever seen, period.
The secret here (if there is one) is that Midler doesn't give us a campy Dolly or a caricatured Dolly or a smirk-and-chuckle Dolly but a real, honest-to-goodness, fully-formed, three dimensional Dolly who laps up life like a rich turkey dinner and inspires others to do the same.
Dolly understands the human condition and that understanding helps her turn events her way. But when she "puts her hand in" matters (as she explains in) she does it not as a cynical manipulator but as a self-appointed benefactor who wants to see people get as much enjoyment as they can out of every moment. And thanks to Bette Midler and the wonderful cast of this new Dolly, all this is accomplished without a single ounce of sugary sentimentality.
Of course, this musical is richly blessed with good bones.
The book by Michael Stewart moves along solidly with all the right turns and trappings at all the right moments. The music and lyrics by Jerry Herman give us a bounty of show stoppers, ballads and even newly-inserted numbers (like Penny in My Pocket) that demonstrate time and again why this is Broadway gold. The direction by Jerry Zaks manages to be both faithful and inventive and snappy, no small feat when you consider the nature of the project. The choreography by Warren Carlyle pays homage to Gower Champion but is so fresh and alive, it makes you yearn for more and more dancing on Broadway right now. And the scenic and costume design by Santo Loquasto evokes a glorious American era in hues and flourishes that you will never forget.
Dolly has a cast of 37 with a 28-piece orchestra and the grandest, most spectacular numbers you'll see anywhere on Broadway. From the rousing Put on You Sunday Clothes to the breathless Before The Parade Passes By to the catchy Dancing, to the comic Elegance and the lushly romantic Ribbons Down My Back, Dolly never fails to deliver.
But of course, it's the near manic title number that brings down the house. Yes, when Bette Midler begins to walk down those steps into the Harmonia Gardens, she demonstrates once again that you don't need pyrotechnics or special effects to electrify an audience, even in 2017. She gleefully maximizes every moment of this infectious anthem but never, ever hams it up. Coming on the heels of the ingenious Waiters' Gallop (a classic of choreography) the Hello, Dolly! number lasts nearly seven minutes, with Midler joking at one point, "Oh, I think I got it on tonight!" But when it's over the audience is still literally screaming and crying for more.
Tony winner Gavin Creel is sheer perfection as Cornelius Hackl, David Hyde Pierce is marvelous as Horace Vandergelder and Kate Baldwin, Taylor Trensch, Will Burton and Beanie Feldstein are all perfectly cast as well.
It's hard to believe Dolly hasn't been on Broadway for more than two decades. While there have been revivals, there's been nothing like this since the original production closed in 1970 after 2,844 performances, holding Broadway's "longest running" record for 37 years.
But now Dolly is, indeed, back where she belongs and night after night audiences are in a state of near giddy ecstasy that begins with roars of approval as the first notes of the overture are played and doesn't end until well after the finale when big crowds gather outside the stage door on Shubert Alley to offer Benediction to Bette.
We've seen nearly 250 Broadway shows but we've never seen anything like this.
The star, the cast and the audience are joined in syncopated glee. It's something you'll never, ever forget.
Do whatever you have to do -- save your pennies, take out a second mortgage, bribe somebody, rearrange your schedule, hop a plane, bus, train, ride a bike, run, jog, walk -- but get to the Shubert Theater and see Hello, Dolly!
This is why Broadway was born!

Here's Ten I Wish I'd Seen . . .

In one form or another, I've seen more than 200 Broadway musicals. Yes, I've seen some of them in previews or on the road or in summer stock. But I've seen most of them on the Great White Way itself, the way they were meant to be seen.
Of course, it's near impossible to see every show, every season.
But there are some that I missed that I've never gotten over. Even now, years later, they gnaw at me.
In no particular order, here are ten that got away -- ten musicals I still long to see:

1) Mack & Mabel
Yeah, I know they say this Jerry Herman musical romance set in the early days of Hollywood was a flop. But the cast recording (with Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters) is brilliant and I wouldn't mind making up my own mind about the show, thank you.

2) Allegro
It's said that Stephen Sondheim has been working on this failed Rodgers and Hammerstein show (a rarity, indeed) for years in an effort to fix it. But even the great Sondheim (who was mentored by Hammerstein) hasn't yet come up with the solution. I'd love to see what the puzzlement is really all about.

3) Sail Away
Did the great Noel Coward write many other musicals? I plead guilty; I don't know. But I do know that he wrote this one for the great Elaine Stritch and that's certainly reason enough to want to see it. Plus, book, music and lyrics by Coward. How bad could it be?


4) Aspects of Love
Even a "flop" by Andrew Llyod Webber is better than most, right? It ran for 399 performances on Broadway and more than 1,300 in London. They say Lord Andrew is still tinkering with this one and may yet revive it. I can only hope!

5) Ballroom
Michael Bennett, Michael Bennett, Michael Bennett. He's the one who dreamed it all up, choreographed it and directed it. And it had lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman -- one of only two musicals they ever did. Plus, that great song Fifty Percent. Wish I'd been there for the full 100% of this one.

6) Anyone Can Whistle
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and starring Lee Remick, Angela Lansbury and Harry Guardino with a book by Authur Laurents. Includes the title song as well as With So Little To Be Sure Of, There's A Parade In Town and Everybody Says Don't. We say, do, do do try it again!

7) No Strings
The first post Rodgers and Hammerstein show for which Richard Rodgers wrote both the music and lyrics. Not only was it the first modern musical to deal with an interracial love affair but it also introduced Diahann Carroll to the world, along with the haunting The Sweetest Sound and the beautiful title song. Wrap it in a brown paper package tied up in strings and send it back to Broadway!

8) Oh, Kay!
We're talking the 1990 version of the Gershwin musical produced by David Merrick which was technically Merrick's last solo production on Broadway. This version was set in Harlem and featured an all black cast. We were intrigued. But somehow, we never got to one of the 112 performances. Oh, damn!

9) Two By Two
The story of Noah and his arc set to music with Danny Kaye hamming it up as Noah. We would have loved to have seen the arc and, by the way, what about all those animals? Another post R&H show with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Noteworthy: The catchy title song and the ballad I Did Not Know A Day I Did Not Love You which was recorded by Tony Bennett.

10) The Pajama Game
The 2006 Roundabout revival of this classic Abe Burrows, Jerome Robbins musical starring Kelli O'Hara and Harry Connick, Jr. with three songs added by the original composer-lyricist Richard Adler and directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall was at the top of my list. But it was a limited run and I never got to make any of the 170 performances.