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After years in prison, Jean Valjean tries to build a new life while Inspector Javert refuses to let his past disappear. Their paths cross with a struggling mother, her daughter, and young revolutionaries in nineteenth-century France. An adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel about mercy, justice, and the cost of hope.
Accused of murder in 1920s Chicago, Roxie Hart turns to a lawyer who knows how to make a trial into a spectacle. Fellow defendant Velma Kelly competes for the same attention. A sharp musical satire about celebrity, manipulation, and a justice system where publicity can change everything.
Young soprano Christine Daaé becomes the obsession of a mysterious musician living beneath the Paris Opera House. As her career grows and her childhood friend Raoul returns, a dangerous rivalry takes shape. Romance and menace share the stage in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel.
A baker and his wife venture into the woods to lift a witch’s curse, crossing paths with Cinderella, Jack, and Little Red Riding Hood. Each has a wish to pursue. Their stories become entangled, and getting what they want brings consequences that no one can face alone.
Maria leaves her convent to care for Captain von Trapp’s seven children in Austria. Her warmth and love of music transform the family’s daily life and bring her closer to their father. As Nazism threatens their country, the household must decide what it stands for and where it can find safety.
Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love in a world where warmth and security are scarce. When Eurydice is drawn into Hades’ industrial underworld, Orpheus follows with a song and an unlikely plan. Their story intertwines with Hades and Persephone’s troubled marriage in a musical retelling of the Greek myths.
Simba grows up expecting to inherit the Pride Lands, until a family tragedy sends him into exile. New friendships help him find a different life, but the home he left behind still needs him. Disney’s stage adaptation follows his journey through loss, belonging, and responsibility.
An American writer arrives in Berlin and meets singer Sally Bowles in the orbit of the Kit Kat Klub. Their relationships unfold against an increasingly threatening political backdrop. Inside the club, the Emcee offers songs, jokes, and a disturbing reflection of the world beyond its doors.
In the land of Oz, Elphaba, a gifted young woman with green skin, meets Glinda, her popular and ambitious classmate. As their rivalry becomes friendship, their encounters with power and prejudice lead them down very different paths. This musical revisits the world of Oz through the two women who will become its most famous witches.
A group of young artists in New York’s East Village struggles to keep creating and stay connected amid poverty and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Over the course of a year, their friendships and romances are tested by illness, ambition, and loss. Jonathan Larson’s rock musical draws inspiration from La bohème.
Tony and Maria meet at a dance in New York and fall in love across the lines separating the Jets and the Sharks. As rivalry between the gangs intensifies, their hopes collide with prejudice and loyalty. A musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet, with dance central to its storytelling.
Returning from exile, Sweeney Todd opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett’s struggling pie business. His search for revenge against a corrupt judge draws them into a macabre partnership. Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s dark musical combines obsession, injustice, and unsettling humour in nineteenth-century London.
After the September 11 attacks close American airspace, diverted passengers arrive in Gander, Newfoundland. Residents organize food, shelter, and support as visitors wait for news and a way home. Based on real events, the musical follows the connections that form during several days of uncertainty.
Two young Mormon missionaries are sent to Uganda, where their expectations meet a community facing problems far beyond the lessons in their handbook. One clings to the rules while the other improvises. This irreverent musical comedy explores belief, friendship, and the stories people tell to make sense of hardship.
Elvis is a jukebox musical based upon the life of American singer Elvis Presley, conceived by and Ray Cooney (producer and co-devisor) and Jack Good (director and co-devisor). It tells the story of Elvis's life and career, from the beginning until his death. The original cast included Shakin' Stevens, who later became the top-selling UK singles artist of the 1980s, and Tracey Ullman.
William Shakespeare is celebrated by the cast, at his first production of Romeo and Juliet, and welcomes the audience to his newest play ("Larger than Life"). Shakespeare introduces his wife, Anne Hathaway, who is visiting from Stratford-upon-Avon to see the play. She suggests he change the ending, wondering what would have happened if Juliet did not kill herself; Shakespeare greets the idea with displeasure ("I Want It That Way"). Nevertheless, he allows his wife to explain her idea for the further events of the play, beginning with Juliet waking up to find Romeo dead ("...Baby One More Time"). At Romeo's funeral, Juliet finds out that Romeo had many other relationships, with both men and women ("Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely") and, upon learning of their forbidden relationship, Juliet's parents decide they will send her to a convent. May, Juliet's non-binary friend, and Angelique, her nurse, come to her rescue, while Anne writes herself into the play as "April", another of Juliet's friends. The four of them decide to take a road trip to Paris ("Domino"). Anne writes Shakespeare into the story as the carriage driver, and the trip to Paris begins ("Show Me Love"). In France, a party is planned for François du Bois, a sensitive young musician. His father, Lance, tells him he must either marry or join the army, even though François does not wish to pursue either option. Juliet, Angelique, May, and April sneak into the party ("Blow"). François notices their arrival but does not mind them crashing his party. May tells Juliet about their struggles as a non-binary person in a binary world ("I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"). François and Juliet begin to bond about their stifled lives and shared experiences ("Overprotected"). François finds himself attracted to Juliet, and they dance together ("Confident"). Angelique and Lance spend the night together, and it is revealed that she was formerly the nurse to his children. Lance asks her to stay, while Angelique wants to continue to mentor Juliet ("Teenage Dream/Break Free"). Juliet wakes up next to François, who proposes, but Juliet worries about rushing into a new relationship so soon after her tumultuous romance with Romeo ("Oops!... I Did It Again"). When her parents arrive to take her to the convent, however, she quickly accepts François's proposal. Anne is irritated that Shakespeare has taken up the quill to force Juliet into another abrupt marriage; she complains that he never writes about happy marriages. Determined to introduce a conflict or a plot twist to Anne's version of the play, Shakespeare has François and May meet again. After the two share a sudden kiss, they both feel conflicted ("I Kissed a Girl"). Complicating situations, Shakespeare decides to bring Romeo back from the dead, despite Anne's protests. Romeo makes a flashy entrance, saying that he has come back for his wife ("It's My Life"). The arrogant, selfish Romeo finds Juliet, "forgives" her for not killing herself, and demands that she return to the marriage ("Love Me Like You Do"). Juliet reveals to Romeo that she is engaged to François ("Since U Been Gone"). Shakespeare is frustrated with Anne because Juliet did not submit to Romeo's view of events. Anne counters that giving Juliet's story a happy ending is important to her and protests that Shakespeare cares more about his plays than his family. Anne breaks Shakespeare's quill, so that neither of them can make further changes to the story. Meanwhile, May is annoyed that François is ignoring May's feelings and still planning on marrying Juliet ("Whataya Want from Me"), while Juliet complains to May that Romeo lied to and cheated on her. François is conflicted and increasingly uneasy because he hasn't told Juliet about his feelings for May. Juliet meets again with Romeo, who reflects that he only ever felt valued for his looks and says that Juliet made him want to be a better person ("One More Try"). Despite their recent bonding, Juliet remains uncertain of her feelings towards Romeo ("Problem/Can't Feel My Face"). François's brother (in fact Shakespeare in disguise) invites Romeo to join the family band, which is booked to play at Juliet and François' wedding. Angelique, in the meantime, proposes to Lance. Anne discovers that Juliet is still in love with Romeo and recounts her own romance with Shakespeare ("That's the Way It Is"). At the wedding, Lance, François, Shakespeare, May, and Romeo perform ("Everybody"). François reads his vows to Juliet ("As Long as You Love Me"). Confused by them, Juliet reneges on the marriage, and François confesses his feelings for May ("It's Gonna Be Me"). This prompts Romeo to again profess his love for Juliet, while her parents insist she return to Verona with them, which Juliet refuses to do ("Stronger"). Lance apologizes to François for trying to control his actions and accepts his and May's relationship ("Shape of My Heart"). Angelique reassures Juliet that she will never leave her ("Fuckin' Perfect"), but Juliet insists Angelique go with Lance, before taking charge of her own destiny ("Roar"). Shakespeare complains that Anne has ruined his play, and that he only brought back Romeo to give Juliet the happy ending he thought Anne wanted. Anne refutes this, saying she wants Juliet to be able to make her own choices. Realizing he has hurt Anne, Shakespeare apologizes ("I Want It That Way – Reprise"). Shakespeare and Anne agree there does not need to be a conclusive ending, rather a new beginning. Romeo apologizes to Juliet, and they decide to go on a first date, while Angelique and Lance get married, and François and May begin a relationship ("Can't Stop the Feeling!").
Poems by E. E. Cummings become songs and ensemble scenes about love, individuality, wonder, and change. The performance explores the poet’s playful language through musical storytelling.
Two sisters navigate romance, social expectations and their own identities at Padua High. Adapted from the film, the musical follows teenagers trying to decide who they want to be while resisting the roles that others have chosen for them.
110 in the Shade is a musical with a book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Tom Jones, and music by Harvey Schmidt. Based on Nash's 1954 play The Rainmaker, it focuses on Lizzie Curry, a spinster living on a ranch in the American southwest, and her relationships with local sheriff File, a cautious divorcé who fears being hurt again, and charismatic con man Bill Starbuck, posing as a rainmaker who promises the locals he can bring relief to the drought-stricken area. Nash's book is faithful to his original play, although all the interior scenes were moved outdoors to allow for the addition of townspeople for ensemble numbers and dances. Many of Jones' lyrics come directly from Nash's play.
Twelve-year-old New Yorker Evan Goldman is soon to become a man by having his Bar Mitzvah. He wants his party to be amazing, but that might not happen because his parents are splitting up as his father starts to fall in love with a stewardess, causing his mother to file a divorce against her husband ("13/Becoming a Man"). Just as Evan thinks that maybe things will be fine, his mother calls to tell him they are moving to Appleton, Indiana. Once there, Evan finds a friend in his neighbor, Patrice, who develops a crush on Evan while telling him about Appleton, Indiana ("The Lamest Place in the World"). Later that month, Evan meets Brett Sampson, the most popular kid in school, along with his goons, Malcolm and Eddie, and tells Brett and his friends to take Kendra, a very pretty girl whom Brett wants to date, to a scary movie where Brett can do "The Tongue". Brett nicknames Evan "Brain" because of his idea. Later, Brett asks out Kendra, but Lucy, her jealous friend who has a crush on Brett, tries to tell Kendra she can't go ("Hey, Kendra"). When Brett tells Evan that the idea seems to have worked, Evan is thrilled; this means that Brett will come to his Bar Mitzvah party, and if Brett comes, everyone else will come. Patrice, however, is displeased. If she goes to the Bar Mitzvah party, nobody else will go because the other kids don't like her and Evan will be viewed as "uncool" for hanging out with her. Evan does not think that it will be that bad, but when he hands out the invitations, he sees that Patrice is right, and in a moment of panic, rips up her invitation so the popular kids will come ("13 (Reprise)"). As the other kids express their excitement over Evan's party, Archie, a boy with muscular dystrophy, enters and introduces himself. He is upset at Evan for humiliating Patrice – his best and only friend – but promises to help make it up to her if Evan gets him a date with Kendra. When Archie's attempts to use his degenerative illness to guilt Evan into getting him the date do not work, Archie tries to convince him that Evan is the only one who can get Archie the date and if he doesn't, Archie will show up to Evan's Bar Mitzvah party and ruin it ("Get Me What I Need"). Evan finally relents. Later, at cheerleading practice, Kendra teaches a new cheer while Lucy resolves to make Brett her boyfriend ("Opportunity"). Archie tries to talk Patrice into giving Evan a second chance, especially since she has a crush on him, but she has lost faith in him and is still upset at what he did to her ("What It Means To Be A Friend"). In class, Brett tells Evan to get his mother to buy them all tickets to "The Bloodmaster." Evan protests that his mother will not buy them tickets to an R-rated movie, but Brett points out that if she doesn't, nobody will go to his Bar Mitzvah party and Evan will be uncool. Evan cycles through possible plans, eventually realizing that he will have Archie use his illness to guilt Evan's mother ("All Hail the Brain/Terminal Illness"). To make things better with Patrice, Evan asks her to go to the movie with him as a date. He then realizes that he "just set Brett and Archie up to be on dates with the same girl, on the same night, in the same place...." Evan makes Archie promise to do nothing more than sit next to Kendra so as not to screw up Brett's date. Archie agrees, and everyone prepares for Friday night ("Getting Ready"). Everyone gets to the movie and Brett prepares for "The Tongue." Lucy is on "Tongue Patrol" and Kendra waits for it along with Eddie and Malcolm. Amidst it all, Patrice is upset because Evan is not sitting with her; he is saving a seat for Archie, who arrives intending to win Kendra over ("Any Minute"). During the movie, Lucy pulls Kendra back while Archie and Brett try to kiss her at the same time, causing them to inadvertently kiss each other. Archie reveals how Evan set him up on a date with Kendra. Brett breaks up with Kendra, and Lucy asks if Brett's "tongue is still available." Meanwhile, Evan is left alone by Patrice ("Good Enough"). As Lucy and Brett begin dating, she forces him to spend more time with her. Brett's friends recognize that Lucy is good neither for Brett nor for them at all ("Bad Bad News"). Evan promises to help to get Brett and Kendra back together so that he can get back on everyone's good side. Archie, fearing that this is a lost cause, begs Patrice to help Evan. She tells Archie she is not going, but he knows she's lying. When Patrice gets there, she surprises Evan by helping him help Brett, but instead of telling Brett what to say to Kendra, they end up telling each other that they are sorry, but Brett is oblivious ("Tell Her"). Brett takes their advice, and when he learns that Lucy and Kendra are fighting over him, he interferes and makes a feeble attempt to get Kendra back, and to his surprise, she forgives him. Meanwhile, Lucy learns of it and won't take the hint. She spreads a rumor that Kendra is cheating on Brett with Evan, and then gets Evan and Kendra in the same place so that Brett can catch them ("It Can't Be True"). Her plan works, and Brett lashes out at Evan. Evan, finally having enough of Brett, stands up to him and says that Archie and Patrice are his real friends. After Brett insults Archie and Patrice, Evan shoves him, and Brett punches him in the nose, giving him a nosebleed. Patrice immediately rushes to Evan's aid. Kendra shows kindness towards Archie before running after Brett. Evan wants to call off the Bar Mitzvah party because it would only be him, Patrice, and Archie, but Patrice and Archie point out it that won't be that bad, and Evan starts to agree. He surprises Patrice with a kiss, and she surprises him back ("If That's What It Is"). Evan has his Bar Mitzvah party after all; he is starting to understand what growing up means, and the characters tell of what surprises turning thirteen brought for each of them ("A Little More Homework"). Evan tells the audience that he is "thirteen years old. And [he's] just getting started." An encore is performed to end the show and the band is brought onstage ("Brand New You").
13 Daughters was a short-lived Broadway musical with book, music and lyrics by Eaton Magoon, Jr., starring Don Ameche. It played for 28 performances in 1961. The story was influenced by the life of Magoon's great-grandparents Chun Afong and his wife Julia Fayerweather Afong and their twelve daughters.
On her thirteenth birthday, Jenna Rink wishes she were thirty. She wakes up as an adult and discovers how her choices have changed her friendships and her life.
1492 Up to Date; or, Very Near It (sometimes titled 1492) is a burlesque extravaganza created in 1892 in observance of the quadricentennial of Columbus's expedition to the New World. The libretto is by R. A. Barnet. with music by Carl Pflueger. Its Broadway production was presented by Edward E. Rice's "Surprise Party" in 1893. The plot centers on Columbus, but in burlesque style, it has little to do with his historical story. The show has been described as "a musical, historical, mellow drama that threw together bits of opera comique, comic opera, stereopticon projections, extravaganza, farce-comedy, vaudeville, local comedy, burlesque, and even minstrelsy."
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a 1976 musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. It is considered to be a legendary Broadway flop, running only seven performances. It was Bernstein's last original score for Broadway.
NOTE: The show can be performed in one or two acts. On May 8, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia at present-day Independence Hall, proceeds with its business. John Adams, the controversial delegate from Braintree, Massachusetts, is frustrated because Congress will not even debate his proposals on independence. The other delegates, preoccupied with the rising heat, implore him to "Sit Down, John". Adams is frustrated that the Congress does nothing but "Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve" as he imagines a conversation with his wife Abigail, who remains at the Adams homestead in Massachusetts and communicates by letter. Later, Adams meets delegate Benjamin Franklin, an elderly lecherous scamp, who suggests that Adams should let another, more popular delegate propose a resolution on independence and summons the charismatic Richard Henry Lee of Stratford, Virginia. Lee eagerly agrees to return to Virginia to procure an independence resolution from the Virginia House of Burgesses using his family's reputation and clout ("The Lees of Old Virginia"). Weeks later, new delegate Dr. Lyman Hall of Georgia arrives and is introduced to many important members of Congress, including Andrew McNair, the custodian; Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, an acerbic drunk; Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, the mysterious youngest delegate who leads the Congress's Southern caucus; and Caesar Rodney of Delaware, among others. As Congress is assembled, President John Hancock notes that the entire New Jersey delegation has been absent for quite some time. A gloomy dispatch from George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, arrives by courier and is read aloud by Secretary Charles Thomson. Shortly thereafter, Richard Henry Lee returns, bearing a resolution for independence. Elated, Adams seconds the motion to open debate on the resolution. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, a conservative and royal apologist, immediately moves to table the debate. The vote is close, but debate is ultimately approved, prompting Dickinson to denounce the desire for independence as an overreaction to petty squabbles with Great Britain. The debate becomes more heated and personal, sparking a physical fight between Dickinson and Adams and causing Caesar Rodney to intervene; Rodney collapses from cancer. Pro-independence Scotsman Thomas McKean escorts Rodney back to Delaware, leaving conservative George Read in control of Delaware's delegation. Read quickly seconds Rutledge's motion to end the debate and vote on independence, knowing it is likely to fail. At this moment, the Reverend John Witherspoon arrives, announcing that New Jersey's legislature has deposed its royal governor, Franklin's estranged loyalist son, and has sent Witherspoon as the new delegate with explicit instruction to vote for independence. Adams, now seeing a path to victory, pushes to proceed with the vote, since ties are broken by Hancock, an Adams ally who is also from Massachusetts. Dickinson moves to require the vote for independence to be unanimous. The vote ends in a tie, but Hancock unexpectedly votes in favor of unanimity, explaining that if the colonies are divided, the crown will pit the colonies against each other. Knowing that Dickinson will quash the resolution if the vote proceeds immediately, Adams moves to postpone the vote to buy time to rally the needed support; he proposes that Congress draft a Declaration of Independence to build support abroad for the cause. Again, the vote ties; this time, Hancock votes to postpone. Before they adjourn, John Hancock appoints a committee of Adams, Franklin, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert Livingston of New York, and Lee to draft the declaration. Lee informs the Congress that he has been appointed Governor of Virginia and departs, never to be seen again; Adams nominates another Virginian, the resident meteorologist Thomas Jefferson, who wants no part of the task as he is returning home to see his wife after six months. Jefferson is forced to accept the task after the other four explain why they cannot or should not ("But, Mr. Adams"). Adams sends for Jefferson's beloved wife Martha, reasoning that if Thomas cannot return to her, she can be summoned to him and potentially break his writer's block. When she arrives, she refuses to speak to Adams or Franklin and spends the night with her husband. Adams, alone, again exchanges letters with his wife Abigail ("Yours, Yours, Yours"). The next morning, Franklin and Adams again attempt to engage Martha in conversation; she speaks, but tersely, and talks of her courtship with Thomas ("He Plays the Violin"). Adams is delighted to find that Jefferson has written something, but instead of work on the declaration, it is a mere note asking for him and Martha to be left alone. In June, with the Congress in what looks like a state of total lethargy, another grim dispatch from General Washington arrives, denouncing the Continental Army recruits as useless, undisciplined and outmatched, having fallen prey to numerous prostitutes at the camp in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Adams, sensing that Washington is exaggerating the crisis in hopes of securing more money, convinces Samuel Chase of Maryland to go with him to New Brunswick to test Chase's fears that the Revolutionary War is doomed to end in defeat; Franklin, eager to see the prostitutes for himself, tags along. The other liberals also leave the chamber; with only the conservatives left, and a cold front having brought down the ambient temperature, John Dickinson leads his congressional allies in a defense of their wealth, status and politics ("Cool, Cool Considerate Men"), during which the courier arrives with another gloomy Washington dispatch. The conservatives depart, leaving McNair, the courier (a Continental Army corporal from Watertown, Massachusetts), and a teenage "leather apron" (workman) alone in the chamber. As McNair begins a mock session as president pro tempore, he escorts the courier to Adams's seat; there, the courier and McNair discourage the leather apron from joining the Army as the courier recalls his friends' deaths at Lexington ("Momma Look Sharp"). As Congress reconvenes in Philadelphia, Jefferson is outside the chamber while Thomson reads the completed draft of the declaration to the Congress. Adams and Franklin arrive, delighted: though the troops are indeed undisciplined, they showed exceptional shooting skill hunting waterfowl for dinner, and this convinced Chase to vote for independence. They congratulate Jefferson on his work, and Franklin compares the creation of this new country to the hatching of a bird, though they disagree on what kind ("The Egg"). On June 28, Hancock asks if there are any alterations to be offered to the Declaration of Independence. Many delegates voice suggestions, additions or deletions. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina objects in particular to a clause condemning the slave trade. He fiercely defends slavery as an institution, claiming that blacks are not people, that Jefferson is a hypocrite for also owning slaves while opposing their trade (to which Jefferson claims he has arranged for his existing slaves' manumission) and the northern colonies profit off it via the Triangle Trade ("Molasses to Rum"). Rutledge leads a walk-out with the delegates from both Carolinas and Georgia, and the rest of the Congress follows. Adams, who insists on including the slavery clause on principle that excluding it would make the Congress hypocrites, discusses the matter with Franklin, who tells Adams that he must accept some degree of compromise if he wants the independence resolution to pass. Adams calls on Abigail in his mind to help him, and she reminds him of his commitment to the cause ("Compliments"). Bolstered by her (and the arrival of a delivery of kegs of saltpeter he had previously requested from her), Adams recovers his energy and sends Franklin to try and win the support of Pennsylvania's James Wilson and Jefferson to talk to Rutledge. Re-reading a dispatch from Washington, Adams, now alone, wonders "Is Anybody There?" Hall returns; after considering the words of Edmund Burke, he decides to buck his constituency's loyalist preference and use his own judgment to vote Yea for independence on Georgia's behalf. It is now July 2. Hancock calls for the vote on the Lee Resolution. At this moment, Rodney returns to Congress to assure that Delaware will vote in favor of independence. Thomson calls on each delegation. Although Pennsylvania passes on their first call, the rest of the New England and Mid-Atlantic colonies vote in favor of independence except for New York, who reluctantly abstains. (New York's delegate, Lewis Morris, explained earlier that the New York Provincial Congress had been so dysfunctional that he had received no instructions on how to vote.) When South Carolina is called, Rutledge again insists that the slavery clause be removed in exchange for the southern colonies voting in favor; after a brief but passionate final argument about the matter, Jefferson himself reluctantly strikes out the passage. South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia all vote "yea". On Pennsylvania's second call, Dickinson is about to announce that his colony votes "nay" when Franklin requests that the delegation be polled. Franklin votes "yea" and Dickinson votes "nay", leaving the decisive vote in the hands of Wilson, who had previously subordinated himself to Dickinson; now, fearing that if he sides with Dickinson he will be remembered forever as the man who prevented American independence, he changes his vote to "yea." With twelve colonies voting in favor of independence, none against, and one colony abstaining, the resolution is unanimously adopted. Hancock proposes that no man be allowed to sit in Congress without signing the Declaration.
Act I Auditions for 1933's newest show, Pretty Lady, are nearly over when Peggy Sawyer, fresh off the bus from Allentown, Pennsylvania, arrives in New York City with valise in hand. Billy Lawlor, already cast as one of the juvenile leads, notices her and hopes to charm her into accepting a date with him ("Young and Healthy"). He informs her she has missed the audition but he can help her bypass that process, but choreographer Andy Lee has no time for Billy's latest conquest and tells her, "Amscray, toots." Embarrassed and flustered, she rushes off, only to run into director Julian Marsh. One-time star Dorothy Brock, indignant at being asked to audition for a role, is reassured by co-writer and producer Bert Barry that he merely wants to make sure the songs are in her key ("Shadow Waltz"). Despite feeling she is a prima donna past her prime, Marsh agrees to cast her in order to get financial backing from her wealthy beau, Abner Dillon. Outside the theatre, co-writer and producer Maggie Jones and chorus girls Ann "Anytime Annie" Reilly, Phyllis Dale, and Lorraine Flemming take pity on Peggy and invite her to join them for lunch and some advice. They encourage her to show them a dance routine that is witnessed by Julian, who decides there might be room for one more chorus girl after all ("Go Into Your Dance"). Dorothy and Billy rehearse a kissing scene, but Abner refuses to put money into a show where he has to watch Dorothy kiss someone else. The kiss is removed from Pretty Lady ("You're Getting to be a Habit With Me"). Peggy faints and is taken to Dorothy's dressing room. Pat Denning (Dorothy's secret long-term boyfriend and former vaudeville partner) is there and tries to help her. Dorothy finds them there together and, assuming they are having an affair, blows up at them. Julian overhears the argument and, fearing that Abner will pull funding for the show, decides to end the affair between them. A phone call to an unsavory acquaintance brings Pat a visit from a couple of thugs who convince him to break it off with her. The show's cast then departs to Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, for the out-of-town tryout ("Getting Out of Town"). The scenery and costumes will not arrive on time, but the cast begins their dress rehearsal regardless ("Dames/Keep Young and Beautiful/Dames (Reprise)"). Peggy asks Julian if he will be attending a planned party, and he accepts because he is attracted to her. At the party, a drunk Dorothy, who misses Pat, tells Abner she was only with him because of his money and breaks up with him. Abner wants to close the show, but he is convinced to keep it running. Dorothy finds Pat, but he is once again driven off by Julian at the hands of the gangsters. Peggy tries to warn Pat, and Dorothy catches them together, becoming greatly upset ("I Only Have Eyes For You" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"). "Pretty Lady" finally opens ("We're in the Money"), but someone bumps into Peggy, which causes her to knock over Dorothy. When Dorothy cannot get up, an angered Julian immediately fires Peggy, and tells the audience that the show is canceled. Act II Dorothy's ankle is broken, and the show may close, but the chorus kids will not give up ("Sunny Side to Every Situation"). The chorus kids, certain Peggy could fill the lead role, find Julian and tell him that she's a fresh young face who can sing and dance circles around Dorothy. He decides it is worth a shot and rushes off to the train station to catch her before she departs. At Philadelphia's Broad Street Station, Julian apologizes to Peggy and asks her to stay and star in the show, but she responds that she has had enough of show business and wants to go home to Allentown. Dumbfounded, he tries to coax her with the words "Come on along and listen to the lullaby of Broadway..." After the cast joins him in the serenade, she decides to accept his offer ("Lullaby of Broadway"). Forced to learn the part in two days, Peggy is about to mentally collapse when Dorothy, who has been watching the rehearsals, unexpectedly visits her and realizes that beneath her nervous exterior, Peggy is good, "maybe even better than I would have been". She even offers a little friendly advice on how to perform the last song, "About a Quarter to Nine." It is time for the curtain to rise again ("Shuffle Off to Buffalo"). The opening night curtain is about to rise when Julian, now completely in love with Peggy, stops by for a last minute lip-lock and pep talk in which he utters the now iconic line, "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" The show is a huge success sure to catapult her into stardom ("42nd Street"). In addition, although she is invited to and expected to attend the official opening night party, she decides to go to the chorus one instead. Julian is left alone onstage with only a single ghost light casting his huge shadow on the back wall. He quietly begins to sing, "Come and meet those dancing feet on the avenue I'm taking you to...42nd Street" ("42nd Street (Reprise)").
A musical about the Obama presidency, as Joe Biden "kinda sorta remembers it."
70, Girls, 70 is a musical with a book by Fred Ebb and Norman L. Martin adapted by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Ebb, and music by John Kander. The musical is based on the 1958 play Breath of Spring by Peter Coke, which was adapted for the movies in 1960 as Make Mine Mink. The plot concerns a group of larcenous old folks who steal furs from various New York City stores with the intent of using the proceeds from their resale to buy their Upper West Side retirement hotel, the New Sussex Arms, which is slated to be sold to developers.
As the clocks ring and the workers wake up, Violet, Doralee, and Judy prepare for work ("9 to 5"). The workers begin another mundane and hellish day at work under Franklin Hart, Jr., President of Consolidated Industries. Judy and Violet meet for the first time and Judy reveals she does not have any work experience, but Violet states she will be proud to train her and gives her a few tips and pointers for surviving office life ("Around Here"). Franklin Hart, Jr., is a domineering and equally lecherous man, who lusts after his secretary, Doralee, and has no shame in making those feelings known, which discomfits Doralee ("Here for You"). Judy is having major issues on her first day (such as being unable to work a Xerox machine) and feels there is something more inhibiting her. All three women, in separate settings, share mutual feelings, but all feel they can overcome it and make it all work out in the end ("I Just Might"). A new day rises upon the begrudged workers of Consolidated and life resumes as normal. Around the lunch hour, Doralee and Judy speak for the first time as Doralee asks Judy to go to lunch with her, but Judy subtly refuses and Doralee doesn't know why. She then reflects on her whole life, about just being a pretty face and nothing much more ("Backwoods Barbie"). Violet is passed over for yet another promotion, which angers her since it is somebody that she personally trained. After a heated confrontation in Hart's office, Doralee finds out about Hart's rumor about their supposed 'affair', which infuriates her to the point of threatening him. All three of the women, who are now seemingly united in their contempt for Hart, go back to Violet's house and light up a joint. Suddenly, each woman lapses into a murderous fantasy involving Mr. Hart; Judy as an unforgiving femme fatale ("The Dance O' Death"), Doralee as a crack rodeo star ("Cowgirl's Revenge"), and Violet as a deranged Snow White ("Potion Notion"). All of these sadistic fantasies soon culminate into a celebration of Hart's death, which is quickly nixed after Hart is discovered alive ("Joy to the Girls"). The next day at the office, Violet unwittingly acts out her fantasy and believes she put rat poison into Hart's coffee. They all go to the hospital in a panic but learn he was never there. Roz overheard the ladies in the bathroom and tells Hart, who concocts a plan to scare them by pretending he was actually poisoned and to threaten them with the police. After Hart leaves, Roz sings a song confessing her obsessive love and fantasies for him ("Heart to Hart"). Hart confronts Doralee with the information and Doralee, acting on a fight or flight instinct, rips the phones out and ties up Hart with the wires, which he seems to get a quasi-sexual pleasure from. The women are seemingly puzzled as to what to do with Hart, but Judy and Violet create a plan in which they will imprison Hart in his own house. As they are carrying out their plan, they sing to Hart their issues with him and the problems in their own lives but will begin to make the changes in their lives and have the confidence to succeed ("Shine Like the Sun"). The women, empowered, have restrained Hart to a mechanical harness above his bed. After the Entr'acte, in Hart's office, the three women are pondering on how they can keep the office in the dark about Hart's disappearance when Doralee's skill at forging Hart's signature comes into play. Judy and Doralee both point out to Violet that she is, in a sense, the new Operating Officer of the company. Violet then lapses into a power fantasy and sings about her new hard-hitting role, like the rest of the male employees (who seem to rank above the women) ("One of the Boys"). Roz begins to get nosy and wonders where Hart actually is, which creates a new obstacle for the ladies to be rid of. Judy formulates the idea to send Roz to a one-month language seminar to learn French, which isn't necessary and is only a way to get rid of her. Roz receives the memo from Violet and is heartbroken because she believes that Hart doesn't like her and that the time she isn't at work is lonely and boring ("5 to 9"). As Hart is still strung up in his bedroom, he passes time by watching countless hours of soap operas. Doralee enters to give him a meal and Hart lashes out at her saying that he still has the control and will use it when he is free. Doralee brushes him off and leaves the room. Hart begins to recount how most of the men in history had "downfalls" by women and that he is no different, which angers him ("Always a Woman"). Back at the office, the new changes the women have made under Hart's name have seemed to ease the workers' lives and changed their outlook on work ("Change It"). Joe, who has shown admiration toward Violet through the show, asking her out many times, confronts her and asks why she rebuffs him. She claims she was a "one-man woman" and that her husband's death three years before has prevented her from dating again. Joe tells her that it is time to move on and possibly give someone new a chance ("Let Love Grow"). Violet accepts as they walk out of the scene holding hands. Later on that evening, Judy's ex-husband, Dick, shows up at Hart's house and asks her to take him back (since his secretary girlfriend dumped him). She rebuffs him and states she is a changed woman who will not crawl back to someone who broke her heart, showing strength as she orders him to leave ("Get Out and Stay Out"). The next day, Hart storms into the office with Judy hostage, which shocks the women, who have collected evidence about Hart's "creative accounting" and embezzling practices to use against him. The women, seemingly defeated, prepare to submit to Hart's wishes when they learn that the CEO of Consolidated, Mr. Tinsworthy, is paying a visit. The women and Hart meet Tinsworthy, who, after noting the changes in office life, gives the credit to Hart. Violet and the others step up and say they made the changes, but are shot down. However, in a comedic twist, Tinsworthy sends Hart to manage the South American branch in Bolivia. Violet is then promoted to Hart's position as President of the company and a celebration ensues, while Roz is devastated over the loss of her obsession. The characters deliver epilogues about what happened to everybody after the events of the story (Finale: "9 to 5" Reprise): Roz kept on working through the 90s. While she was unable to get through the departure of Hart, things changed when she met an old acquaintance on a social networking site and realized that she had found her soulmate. That turned out to be Hart's wife. Judy lived her life as a strong independent single woman and became a regular guest on The View after writing a bestselling memoir Life Without Dick. Doralee left Consolidated, went to Nashville, and became a successful country singer. Dwayne almost talked her into running for President of the United States, but bigger boobs have already been in the White House. Violet and Joe have been together for the past 30 years and are very happy together. She successfully ran Consolidated making it part of the top businesses in the country for employee satisfaction. Hart was abducted by a tribe of Amazons in the jungles of Bolivia and was never heard from again (in some versions, the tribe of Amazons are replaced with a tribe of angry warriors).
Premiered in full in 2016, the musical uses mainly pre-existing songs popular throughout the history of the United States to examine and reframe American history through the experiences of marginalized communities. Mac says that "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music is a reenactment of how the individual(s) may lose the long game but communities and movements, if continually brought together, have the potential to thrive while bending towards justice." Presented in eight acts and featuring 246 songs, the production is intended to last twenty-four hours when performed to completion.
A Beautiful Noise is a jukebox musical based on the life and music of Neil Diamond. It opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on December 4, 2022. It grossed more than $1 million at the box office in the week leading up to its Broadway premiere. Titled for Diamond's 1976 album of the same name, A Beautiful Noise was written by Anthony McCarten and produced by Ken Davenport and Bob Gaudio. The musical is structured around a series of therapy sessions during which Diamond reacts to his lyrics as they are read by his psychiatrist from a second-hand copy of The Complete Lyrics of Neil Diamond. In a June 19, 2022 interview with The Boston Globe McCarten said: “She opens the book, and all 60 years of his songwriting and all that exploration pours out into a majestic musical collage, and once unloosed from the book, the songs take on lives of their own."
A Broadway Musical is a musical with a book by William F. Brown, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. The Broadway production closed after 14 previews and only one performance on December 21, 1978. The plot about a sleazy white theatre producer's attempt to adapt an African-American writer's serious play as a commercial stage musical was inspired by Adams and Strouse's real-life experiences with their 1964 Broadway production of Golden Boy. The star of the musical-within-the-musical (Sneakers, about a basketball star) closely resembles Golden Boy star Sammy Davis Jr. When the star opts to leave the show, the playwright – who from the start had resisted turning his work into a musical – steps in and takes on the lead role in order to save the production.
A Bronx Tale is a musical based on the play by the same name with a book by Chazz Palminteri, music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by Glenn Slater. After a ten-year development process, the original one-man show was adapted into a new musical and premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse, in Millburn, New Jersey on February 4, 2016. It opened on Broadway December 1 later that year. The original Broadway production was co-directed by Robert De Niro, who had directed the original film, and Jerry Zaks, who had directed the one-man show on Broadway in 2007. The show also features choreography by Sergio Trujillo. Tommy Mottola serves as the production's leading producer.
In the Bronx in 1953, young lovers Jane Hurley and Ralph Halloran decide to get married. Meanwhile, Jane's father, Tom, who owns a third-share in a taxi, agrees with one of his partners, Sam, that they will buy out the share of the third driver, Pasternak. Jane and Ralph, along with Tom and Sam, happily exclaim the virtues of partnership ("Partners"). Timing is inauspicious, since the bride's brother has just been killed in the Korean War. The couple does not want a large, expensive wedding, and Tom needs the money to buy out Pasternak. As Jane's mother Aggie announces that the upcoming wedding will be held quickly and quietly in City Hall, the neighborhood women react ("Women Chatter"). Dinner with Ralph's wealthier family leads Aggie to decide to give the couple a huge formal affair, committing her and Tom's life's savings and bereavement check to an elaborate wedding with an extensive guest list and a lavish catered reception ("Our Only Daughter"). Aggie feels guilty about having neglected Jane and sees an opportunity to plan the white wedding that she never had. The bride's gay Uncle Winston, initially hurt and furious at having been left off the original guest list, becomes a support for Aggie. Jane is initially beguiled by the attention, and happily picks out a wedding dress ("One White Dress"). But soon relationships are strained to the breaking point under the pressure of costly bridesmaids' dresses, cake layers, and each detail. Aggie confesses to Jane that she and Tom were married because she was pregnant ("Vision"), and because her father bought Tom his share in the taxi. Finally Jane and Ralph decide to call off the elaborate wedding and party and marry quietly as they had planned. The quiet and unemotional Tom finally expresses his love and caring for Aggie ("I Stayed"), and Tom and Aggie come closer together. As they get ready for the small wedding ceremony, Aggie secretly makes arrangements for Tom to buy his share of the taxi, which arrives in time for him to drive her to their daughter's wedding. Uncle Winston has the last word ("Coney Island"): "You paid your money, took the ride, but missed the view."
A Chinese Honeymoon is a musical comedy in two acts by George Dance, with music by Howard Talbot and additional music by Ivan Caryll and others, and additional lyrics by Harry Greenbank and others.
The show opens during an audition for an upcoming Broadway production. The formidable director Zach and his assistant choreographer Larry put the 24 dancers through their paces. Every dancer is desperate for work ("I Hope I Get It"). After a round of cuts, 17 dancers remain. Zach tells them he is looking for a strong eight-member dancing chorus of four boys and four girls. Wanting to learn more about them, he asks the dancers to introduce themselves. Reluctantly, the dancers reveal their pasts. The stories generally progress chronologically from early life experiences through adulthood to their chosen career. The first candidate, Mike Costa, explains that he is the youngest of 12 children. He recalls his first experience with dance, watching his sister Rosalie's dance class when he was a preschooler ("I Can Do That"). Mike replaced her one day when she refused to go to class—and he stayed. As Bobby Mills tries to hide his unhappy childhood by making jokes, the other dancers distrust this strange audition process and debate what they should reveal to Zach ("And..."), but since they all need the job, the session continues. Zach is angered that the streetwise Sheila Bryant is seemingly not taking the audition seriously. Opening up, she reveals that her mother married at a young age and her father neither cared about nor loved them. At age six she realized, as had fellow auditionees Bebe Benzenheimer and Maggie Winslow, that ballet helped her escape her unhappy family life ("At the Ballet"). Scatterbrained and tone-deaf Kristine Urich-DeLuca laments being unable to sing, while her husband Al finishes her phrases in tune ("Sing!"). Mark Anthony, the youngest dancer, relates his first exposure to the male and female anatomy and his first wet dream, and the Connie Wong laments the problems of being short, while the other dancers share their own memories of adolescence ("Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love"). Diana Morales describes her horrible high school acting class ("Nothing"), Don Kerr remembers his first job at a nightclub and Judy Turner reflects on her problematic childhood while others talk about their parents' opinions ("Mother"). Greg Gardner discusses discovering his homosexuality and Richie Walters recounts nearly becoming a kindergarten teacher ("Gimme the Ball"). Finally, the newly-buxom Val Clark explains that talent alone isn't everything without good looks, and plastic surgery can really help improve one's image and career prospects ("Dance: Ten, Looks: Three"). The dancers go downstairs to learn a song for the audition's next section, but experienced dancer Cassie Ferguson, who has had notable successes as a soloist, stays onstage to talk to Zach. They have a history together: Zach had previously cast her in featured parts, and they had lived together for several years. Zach tells Cassie that she is too good for the chorus and shouldn't be at this audition. However, she explains her current inability to find solo work and is willing to "come home" to the chorus where she can at least express her passion for dance ("The Music and the Mirror"). Zach relents and sends her downstairs to learn the dance combination. Zach calls Paul San Marco, who has been reluctant to share his past, onstage for a private talk, and he emotionally details his childhood and teenage years, his early career in a drag act, facing his manhood and his homosexuality, and his parents ultimately discovering his lifestyle and disowning him for it, before breaking down, with Zach comforting him. Cassie and Zach's complex relationship resurfaces during a run-through of the number created to showcase an unnamed star ("One"). Zach confronts Cassie, feeling that she is "dancing down," and they rehash the issues in their relationship and her career. Zach points to the machine-like movement of the other dancers, who have all blended together and will probably never be recognized individually, and mockingly asks if she wants this. Cassie defiantly defends the dancers: "I'd be proud to be one of them. They're wonderful....They're all special. I'd be happy to be dancing in that line. Yes, I would...and I'll take chorus...if you'll take me." During a tap sequence, Paul falls and injures his knee that recently underwent surgery. After Paul is carried off to the hospital, all at the audition stand in disbelief, realizing that their careers can also end in an instant. Zach asks the remaining dancers what they will do when they can no longer dance. Led by Diana, they assert that whatever happens next in their lives and/or careers, they will be free of regret for pursuing their dreams ("What I Did for Love"). The final eight dancers are selected: Mike, Cassie, Bobby, Judy, Richie, Val, Mark, and Diana. "One" (Reprise/Finale) begins with an individual bow for each of the 19 characters, their hodgepodge rehearsal clothes replaced by identical spangled gold costumes. As each dancer joins the group, it is suddenly difficult to distinguish one from the other: ironically, each character who was an individual to the audience seems now to be an anonymous member of a never-ending ensemble.
A Christmas Memory is a musical based on the short story of the same name by Truman Capote, with a book by Duane Poole, lyrics by Carol Hall, and music by Larry Grossman. The show premiered in 2010 at the TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in Palo Alto. It premiered Off-Broadway in 2014 at the Irish Repertory Theatre.
Act 1 After passing a Salvation Army Santa Claus, radio disc jockey Jean Shepherd tells his audience that it reminds him of a highly important Christmas from his childhood in Indiana, told through the eyes of young Ralphie Parker. In December 1940, Ralphie plans to convince his parents to get him his dream present ("It All Comes Down To Christmas"). The family goes to Higbees department store where, in the window, Ralphie sees the present in person, a "Red Ryder Carbine Action BB Gun". The next day, while Ralphie's father struggles with his entry in a crossword puzzle contest ("Genius On Cleveland Street"), Ralphie accidentally blurts out what he wants, which his mother promptly shuts down with the classic excuse "You'll shoot your eye out". On the way to school, Ralphie, his brother Randy and his friends are accosted by bully Scut Farkus and his toady Grover Dill ("When You're A Wimp"). In class, Ralphie's teacher, Ms. Shields, assigns a theme on what the class wants for Christmas. This makes Ralphie think he can use his theme to get Ms. Shields to talk his parents into getting the gun for him ("Ralphie To The Rescue"), but he starts to lose heart as the weeks pass without the paper being graded. One night during dinner ("That's What A Mother Does"), Mr. Parker is informed by telegram that he's won an award in the contest. Soon after, the award arrives: a lamp shaped like a woman's leg. Despite Mrs. Parker's clear disgust, Mr. Parker puts it in the front window for all to see ("A Major Award"). While going to get a tree, the family car gets a flat. Ralphie helps his father change the tire by carrying a hubcap full of the tire's bolts. When it's accidentally knocked out of his hands, he seemingly says, "Oh fudge", though Shepherd clarifies he actually said "the F--- word". He gets in huge trouble for this, and though he claims he heard it from his friend Schwartz - he really heard it from his father - which in turn gets Schwartz in trouble with his mom, he becomes worried that this incident will doom his Christmas ("Act 1 Finale"). Act 2 Determined to save his Christmas, Ralphie tries to behave the rest of the month, but this is jeopardized on the last day before winter break when Schwartz "triple dog dares" their friend Flick to stick his tongue to a pole to see if it will stick ("Sticky Situation"). It does, and though no one is caught, the fire department is called to free him. Worse, when the themes are finally returned, Ralphie only gets a C+ instead of the expected A and a note repeating the dreaded phrase ("You'll Shoot Your Eye Out"). On the way home, Ralphie is again accosted by Scut and Grover. Finally snapping, he attacks them in a blind rage, spewing curses all the while. His mother eventually pulls him off and takes him home, and though he's frightened of what will happen, she reassures him and lets the matter drop ("Just Like That"). Still with no way to get the gun, Ralphie next tries the Santa working "At Higbees". This is also a failure, as he's once again told, "You'll shoot your eye out" ("Up On Santa's Lap"). On Christmas Eve, Mrs. Parker "accidentally" breaks the lamp, leading to a big argument with her husband, though they soon make up ("Before The Old Man Comes Home"). That night, all the kids struggle to sleep as they anticipate the coming morning ("Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana"). On Christmas morning, the family receives gifts of varying quality, including a humiliating pair of pink bunny pajamas for Ralphie. At the last moment, Mr. Parker reveals he got Ralphie the gun, but when he goes outside, the first shot ricochets and hits his glasses, breaking them. Luckily, he makes up a story about a fallen icicle and his mother doesn't learn the truth. When the neighbor's dogs eat the family's Christmas turkey, they go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Despite the setbacks, they and other families have a great Christmas, and that night, Ralphie falls asleep with his cherished gun in his arms ("A Christmas Story").
A Class Act is a quasi-autobiographical musical loosely based on the life of composer-lyricist Edward Kleban, who died at the age of 48 in 1987. Featuring a book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price along with music and lyrics by Kleban himself, the musical uses flashbacks and the device of time running backwards to retrace the high and low points of the composer's personal and professional life.
A Connecticut Yankee is a musical based on the 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by American writer Mark Twain. Like most adaptations of the Twain novel, it focuses on the lighter aspects of the story.
A Country Girl, or, Town and Country is a musical play in two acts by James T. Tanner, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, additional lyrics by Percy Greenbank, music by Lionel Monckton and additional songs by Paul Rubens.
A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine is a musical comedy consisting of two essentially independent one-act plays, with a book and lyrics by Dick Vosburgh and music by Frank Lazarus. Additionally, songs by other composers are incorporated into the score. The musical premiered in the West End and then ran on Broadway.
A Doll's Life was a 1982 musical with music by Larry Grossman, and a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. A sequel to the 1879 Henrik Ibsen play A Doll's House, it told the story of what happened to the lead character, Nora Helmer, after she left her husband and her old life behind to face the world on her own; in doing so, it examined several aspects of feminism and the ways in which women are treated. A Doll's Life opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on September 23, 1982, in a production directed by Hal Prince and starring Betsy Joslyn, George Hearn and Peter Gallagher. It closed three days later, after a run of 18 previews and 5 performances.
A Family Affair is a musical with a book by James Goldman and William Goldman, lyrics by James Goldman and John Kander, and music by Kander. This was Kander's first show and his only one written without Fred Ebb in Ebb's lifetime.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (254–184 BC), specifically Poenulus, Curculio, Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus, and Mostellaria, the musical tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo the girl next door.
A Gaiety Girl is an English musical comedy in two acts by a team of musical comedy neophytes: Owen Hall (book, on an outline by James T. Tanner), Harry Greenbank (lyrics) and Sidney Jones (music).
A group dressed in mourning clothes enter and advise "those of you of weaker constitution" to leave the theater, as the show may prove disturbing ("Prologue: A Warning to the Audience"). In 1909, Lord Montague "Monty" D'Ysquith Navarro, Ninth Earl of Highhurst, is in jail. He says that he is writing his memoirs on the eve of his possible execution, and that his story could be called "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder". He begins his story. In 1907, Monty is living in a shabby Clapham flat and his mother, a washerwoman, has just died. Miss Marietta Shingle, a mysterious old woman, arrives to tell Monty that his mother was, in fact, a member of the aristocratic D'Ysquith family. Isabel D'Ysquith had eloped with a Castilian musician (now also deceased), which caused her family to disown her. Wishing to spare her son any shame, Isabel never told him the truth of his ancestry. Now, Miss Shingle says, Monty is ninth in line to inherit the earldom of Highhurst. She insists that he take his rightful place in the family ("You're A D'Ysquith"). Monty writes a letter to Lord Asquith D'Ysquith Sr., the head of the D'Ysquith family banking house, explaining his connection to the family and inquiring if there might be a job available for him. Monty is in love with Miss Sibella Hallward, but she will not marry him due to his poverty ("I Don't Know What I'd Do"). Sibella has also drawn the attention of another gentleman of higher status, Lionel Holland. She dubiously accepts Monty's story about his lineage, but remarks that eight people would have to die in order for him to become earl. Monty receives a reply from Lord Asquith's son, Asquith D'Ysquith Jr., denying Isabel's existence and warning Monty against contacting the family again or using their name. Monty is dejected, but refuses to accept his apparent destiny as a poor commoner ("Foolish to Think"). He takes a tour of Highhurst Castle, the D'Ysquiths' ancestral home, on Visitors Day, where the spirits of his D'Ysquith ancestors admonish him that he does not belong there ("A Warning to Monty"). Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith, the current Earl of Highhurst, catches Monty looking around the ancestral library and drives him out, expressing his disdain for the commoners flooding his home ("I Don't Understand the Poor"). Monty decides to try his luck with the clergyman in the family, a dithering old man named the Reverend Lord Ezekial D'Ysquith. Ezekial gives Monty a tour of the ancestral family church. He remembers Isabel as a charming girl who broke her father's heart, but refuses to advocate on Monty's behalf, believing that it is best to avoid family intrigue. Monty and Ezekial ascend the bell tower, where Ezekial nearly loses his balance, thanks to a gusty wind and his own inebriation. Monty realizes how easy it would be to let Ezekial fall, exacting revenge for his mother and bringing him one step closer to the earldom ("Foolish to Think (Reprise)"). Rather than assisting Ezekial to safety, Monty lets him fall to his death. Monty returns to his dead-end job as a clerk, frustrated that he toils away while unworthy men grow rich, including Asquith D'Ysquith Jr. He observes Asquith Jr. and his mistress Miss Evangeline Barley, a recent Florodora girl, steal away to a winter resort. Monty follows them with the intention of poisoning Asquith Jr., but is unable to get close enough to deliver the poison. Asquith Jr. and Miss Barley go ice-skating on a frozen lake, and Monty is struck by inspiration. He cuts a hole in the ice, and the skaters fall through and drown ("Poison in My Pocket"). Monty returns to London and receives a letter from Lord Asquith D'Ysquith Sr., apologizing for the tone of his son's letter and inviting Monty to the bank to speak about a job. He is grief-stricken by his son's death in the skating "accident", and offers Monty a comfortable salary and a job as a stockbroker. Monty accepts. Sibella informs Monty that she is engaged to marry Lionel Holland. Upon learning of Monty's new position and income, she begins to reconsider, but forces herself to go through with marrying Lionel ("Poor Monty"). Monty now fixes on his distant cousin Henry D'Ysquith, a country squire. He encounters Henry in a town pub and rescues him from an assault by a foreclosed-on tenant. Henry is married but clearly prefers the company of men; Monty picks up on this and befriends him ("Better With a Man"). Henry is also an avid beekeeper, and tells Monty that a person can be killed by an excess of bee-stings. Monty obtains a bottle of lavender perfume, to which bees are extraordinarily attracted. At the D'Ysquith country estate in Salisbury, Monty douses Henry's beekeeping clothes with the lavender before introducing himself to Henry's sister, Miss Phoebe D'Ysquith. As she and Monty discover their similarities, Henry is stung to death ("Inside Out"). Monty consoles Phoebe, and concludes that since he cannot be with Sibella, she would be the perfect woman to be his countess when he becomes earl. As a woman of his own generation, she does not stand before him in the line of succession, and she is highly sympathetic to the plight of his mother. There are other women who do come before Monty in the lineage, including Lady Hyacinth D'Ysquith, an unmarried woman of a certain age, who devotes herself to philanthropic causes, primarily with the aim of bolstering her own social position. Posing as a member of the Foreign Office, Monty encourages Lady Hyacinth to travel first to war-torn Egypt, then to the Punjab (during a malaria pandemic) to establish a leper colony, in order to dispose of her. She returns unharmed both times, before Monty sends her to an African jungle where a cannibal tribe lives. Lady Hyacinth is reported missing and presumed dead ("Lady Hyacinth Abroad"). Monty proves a talented stockbroker, securing a significant salary increase and praise from Lord Asquith D'Ysquith Sr. ("The Last One You'd Expect - Part I"). His romance with Sibella continues despite her marriage and it is clear that she is impressed by Monty's determination to succeed ("The Last One You'd Expect - Part III"). Monty's next target is Major Lord Bartholomew D'Ysquith, a staunch eugenicist, vegetarian and bodybuilder. Monty encounters Lord Bartholomew at a weight-lifting hall and charms his way into acting as the major's spotter on the bench-press apparatus. Pretending to misunderstand his cries for help, Monty adds more weight than Bartholomew can hold, and then allows the barbell to fall and decapitate him. Monty continues to console Phoebe; actions that during her period of mourning for her brother have endeared him to her greatly (“The Last One You'd Expect - Part V"). Lady Salome D'Ysquith Pumphrey is an appallingly bad actress currently starring in a production of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. Remembering that the play ends with Hedda's suicide by a pistol shot to the head, Monty sneaks backstage and loads the prop gun with real bullets. Lady Salome shoots herself and dies, to the shock of her fellow actors and the approval of the audience. The deaths of the Reverend Lord Ezekial, Asquith Jr., Henry, Lady Hyacinth, Major Lord Bartholomew, and Lady Salome now leave only two D'Ysquiths in the way: the present earl Lord Adalbert, and Lord Asquith Sr., Monty's employer and benefactor. Monty is suddenly conflicted, finding he has no desire to murder the kindly Lord Asquith, but is let off the hook when the old man suddenly succumbs to a heart attack ("The Last One You'd Expect - Part VIII"). As Lord Adalbert realizes that there is no one left between him and Monty, all of London is abuzz over the dashing young gentleman who's risen so far, so fast, and now stands next in line to inherit Highhurst ("The Last One You'd Expect - Part IX"). The curtain rises on Lord Asquith Sr.'s funeral. Monty delivers a stirring eulogy, but the assembled mourners are irritated at the endless string of D'Ysquith memorials they are compelled to attend ("Why Are All the D'Ysquiths Dying?"). Lord Adalbert worries that the curse that has fallen upon his family may strike him next ("Why Are All the D'Ysquiths Dying? (Reprise)"). Monty and Sibella continue their affair; he continues to love her despite his awareness of her flaws ("Sibella"). Sibella says that while she is unhappy with Lionel, she doesn't necessarily regret marrying for self-interest, and wouldn't begrudge Monty for doing the same. However, she would "forbid" him to marry for love. She also asks if Monty can secure Lionel an invitation to Highhurst, as he has political aspirations. Phoebe unexpectedly arrives, and Sibella hides in the next room. Phoebe declares her intention to marry Monty, even if the D'Ysquiths would look down on them. Monty accepts, but knows he is caught both figuratively and literally between the two women ("I've Decided to Marry You"). Monty is shocked to discover that Lady Hyacinth has survived her encounter with the cannibals and is returning to London. As she disembarks the ship, Monty uses an axe to cut the supports of the gangplank. It collapses, and she drowns in the harbor. Monty, Phoebe, Sibella, and Lionel are all invited to Highhurst for the weekend, so that Lord Adalbert can meet his heir. Monty and Phoebe arrive first, and meet the earl and his wife, Lady Eugenia D'Ysquith. The spirits of the D'Ysquith ancestors again warn Monty against presuming above his station ("Final Warning"). A long-brewing enmity between Lord Adalbert and Lady Eugenia is evident, and Adalbert makes several crass remarks about the scandal caused by Monty's mother. He and Monty head off to look at "some of the weapons that killed our ancestors" as Sibella arrives without Lionel, who's been called away for urgent business. Phoebe and Monty's engagement is news to Sibella. She begs him to break it off and declares that she loves him.
Heliodorus, a Persian soothsayer, looks into the future love lives of his wealthy matrons of Imperial Rome. His daughter Maia pretends to have the gifts of an oracle, and utters incomprehensible prophecies at a suitable price. Among their servants is one Archias, a talented sculptor, whose most recent achievement is a statue of Eros, God of Love, for which his fellow slave Diomed has acted as model. Maia has fallen in love with Diomed. The princess Antonia comes to the soothsayer in disguise and Maia, egged on by the Prefect Pomponius, who has been spurned by the princess, plans a humiliating trick. She announces to the princess that the God of Love has fallen in love with her. The statue is brought forth, and Heliodorus prepares to 'bring it to life'. Diomed is substituted and serenades the princess. But Heliodorus is planning a double-cross. He disapproves of his daughter's fancy for a slave, and when the seance is over and Maia has intended that Antonia should walk off with the statue, Heliodorus arranges that the real Diomed falls to the princess. But it does her little good. The slave, in his luxurious new surroundings, pines for Maia, and Antonia's love-making goes for nothing. Pomponius, who was anxious to see his marble lady wasting her affection on a marble statue, is furious at the social slight involved, and Heliodorus finds himself in hot water. Eventually, in the middle of the Roman Saturnalia, all is cleared up, and the correct pairs of lovers are united.
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