1634 shows
Clear filtersThe Conquering Hero is a musical with a music by Mark Charlap, lyrics by Norman Gimbel, and book by Larry Gelbart. The musical was based on Preston Sturges's 1944 film Hail the Conquering Hero. The musical ran for only eight performances on Broadway in 1961.
Martin, an elderly cooper, loves his ward Fanny, but she loves his assistant Colin. Martin tries to find a reason to dismiss Colin, who outwits him with help from his uncle Jarvis, to whom Martin owes money. Martin interrupts Fanny and Colin’s secret meeting at night and is frightened by Colin’s barrel hiding place. Jarvis demands repayment, so Martin allows the young couple to marry.
The Grand Duke arranges for the penniless Count René to marry Angèle without seeing her, so she can gain a title and later marry the Duke. René and Angèle fall in love at the ceremony, then meet months later unaware that they remain married. Brissard reveals their identity, René repays the Duke and reunites with Angèle, while the Duke chooses a Russian countess.
The Count of Monte Cristo musical, book and music by James Behr, is adapted from the famous 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo was awarded as Finalist in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, 2011. It was performed in its entirety at the Off-Broadway Bleecker Street Theater in New York in 2012 as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. The Count of Monte Cristo was also performed in part in New York in 2010 at the New York Off-Broadway Wings Theater during the 2010 West Village Musical Theatre Festival. It received the festival award for Best Musical Score. Stylistically, the musical has a sound associated with traditional Broadway musicals given that it is orchestrated and recorded with a 30-piece orchestra (i.e., strings, woodwinds and brass).
The Cradle Will Rock is a 1937 play in music by Marc Blitzstein. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles and produced by John Houseman.
The Crooked Mile is an avant-garde musical set in Soho, London with music by Peter Greenwell and book and lyrics by Peter Wildeblood. It was based on Wildeblood's 1958 novel, West End People. The play premiered at the Cambridge Theatre, London, in 1959, directed by Kenneth Alwyn and starring Millicent Martin and Elisabeth Welch. The music was orchestrated by Gordon Langford. The show ran for 164 performances, closing prematurely on 30 January 1960, despite continuing mainly positive reviews.
A three-act zarzuela by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri based on the same story as Auber’s Les diamants de la couronne. The source identifies a 1854 performance but provides no separate plot synopsis or original Spanish title.
The Dancing Mistress is a musical comedy with music by Lionel Monckton, book by James T. Tanner and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank. It depicts the fortunes of a school dancing mistress who is dismissed and finds fortune and happiness in Switzerland. The piece ran in the West End of London in 1912 and 1913, and toured the British provinces in 1914.
In 1911, Rudi Kleber, a penniless young Jewish composer, plays the piano at an Austrian country inn, where he has been friends since childhood with the innkeeper's daughter, Grete; they pledge to marry someday. Maria Zeitler, an operetta star, arrives with her older admirer and patron, Prince Charles Metterling. She and Rudi fall in love, and she becomes his mistress; he composes successful operettas for her. Three years later, Grete returns from England. She has become a dancer, and Rudi swiftly includes her in his production. Maria is jealous, fearing Rudi is in love with Grete, even though Grete has a boyfriend, Franzl. Maria overhears Rudi proposing to Grete in jest and does not wait to hear Grete laughingly reject him. Pregnant and believing Rudi will never marry her, Maria returns to Vienna and immediately marries Prince Charles. Maria's child, Otto, is brought up to believe he is Metterling's son. A dozen years later, Maria introduces Otto to Rudi. Rudi and Maria discover that they are still love with each other, and Maria is unhappy in her marriage, but Rudi realizes he must not break up her marriage for the sake of their son. Another decade passes. In 1938 Rudi is arrested by the Nazis for helping Jews to escape Austria, but Maria uses her husband's connections to help him. She assures him that their son opposes the Nazis and tells him that he will be remembered for making "the whole world dance".
The Day Before Spring is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.
The Defender is a musical in three acts with music by Charles Dennée and both book and lyrics by Allen Lowe. It is best remembered for introducing the popular standard "In the Good Old Summer Time"; a song which was performed in the production by Blanche Ring (in the role of Millie Canvass) who made her Broadway debut in this show. Set in Newport, Rhode Island and on the yacht "Hibernia" while at sea, the musical's story focused on the rivalry between an American yachtsman and English yachtsman who are both attempting to win an international yachting competition. Its plot was loosely based on the life of American businessman and yachtsman Thomas W. Lawson. After an initial production in Boston, The Defender premiered on Broadway at the Herald Square Theatre on July 3, 1902. It ran there for a total of sixty performances; closing on August 23, 1902. The production was produced by A.H. Chamberlyn and was directed by Frank Smithson. In addition to Blanche Ring, the cast included Harry Davenport as Sir Thomas Ceylon Teaton, George Alison as Mr. Tom Pinkson, Emma Carus as Mrs. Jack Orchard, Richie Ling as Charles Dare, Mayme Kelso as Mrs. Everly Chase, Alexander Clark as Sam Keno, Paula Edwardes as Jellie Canvass, Charles Wayne as Pinkie Winkerton, Gilbert Clayton as Mr. Ivory D. Queers, Gordon Tomkins as Han Kuff, Sandol Milliken as Miss Hilda Shipton, and Edith Eldridge as Winsome.
French General Birabeau has been sent to Morocco to root out and destroy the Riffs, a band of desert rebels, who threaten the safety of the French outpost in the Moroccan desert. Their dashing, daredevil leader is the mysterious "Red Shadow", a Frenchman. The Red Shadow, his Berber lieutenant, Sid El Kar, and their wealthy host, Ali Ben Ali, discuss the relative merits of the Eastern tradition of love for a harem of women (like having a garden full of fragrant flowers), and the Western ideal of loving one woman for life. Margot Bonvalet, a lovely, sassy French girl, is soon to be married at the French fort to Birabeau's right-hand man, Captain Fontaine. Birabeau's son Pierre, in reality the Red Shadow, loves Margot, but pretends to be a milksop to preserve his secret identity. Meanwhile, Benny, a reporter, and Susan, the girl who loves him, provide comic relief. Margot tells Pierre that she secretly yearns to be swept into the arms of some bold, dashing sheik, perhaps even the Red Shadow himself. Pierre, as the Red Shadow, kidnaps Margot and declares his love for her. To her surprise, Margot's mysterious abductor treats her with every Western consideration. Benny and Susan are captured too. When the Red Shadow comes face to face with General Birabeau, the old man challenges the rebel leader to a duel. Of course Pierre will not kill his own father, so he refuses to fight, losing the respect of the Riffs. Azuri, a sinuous and secretive native dancing girl, who knows the secret of the Red Shadow's true identity, might be persuaded to reveal the information if she could capture the attention of Captain Fontaine. Eventually, the Red Shadow's identity is discovered, a deal is struck with the Riffs, and Pierre and Margot live happily ever after.
The District Leader is a musical that premiered in New York City on April 30, 1906, at Wallack's Theatre and closed on May 5, 1906, after eight performances. Music, lyrics, and book were by Joseph E. Howard.
English version: A young American oil tycoon, when recruiting domestic staff, takes on a succession of impoverished members of the European aristocracy. But the servants he selects are all very well connected. "Tho' we came here in the steerage, all are members of the peerage." His sister, who has money, later follows the course of true love and takes a job in another household pretending to be impoverished. American version: Three plot lines take place concurrently: First, an American girl, the daughter of the President of the Coal Trust (the dollar princess), falls in love with a young Englishman and tries to win his heart. Meanwhile, the millionaire father has an affair with a supposed Countess, who turns out to be a lion tamer. Also, his niece, Daisy, marries a young Marquis, but she refuses to be anything but his friend.
The Donkey Show: A Midsummer Night's Disco is a theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The production, created in a disco-era style, was written by Diane Paulus and her husband Randy Weiner and the members of Project 400, Emily Hellstrom, Jordin Ruderman, Rachel Murdy…
The Drifters Girl is a jukebox musical with a book by Ed Curtis based on an idea by Tina Treadwell. It is based on the story of the American vocal group The Drifters and their manager from 1967 until 2001, Faye Treadwell. The musical features The Drifters' music.
Man in Chair, a mousy, agoraphobic Broadway fanatic, seeking to cure his "non-specific sadness", listens to a recording of the fictional 1928 musical comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone, as he drinks. As he listens to this rare recording, the characters appear in his dingy apartment, and it is transformed into an impressive Broadway set with seashell footlights, sparkling furniture, painted backdrops, and glitzy costumes. Man in Chair provides a running commentary throughout the show from the stage, though he is on the audience's side of the fourth wall, invisible to the other characters. In the opening number, "Fancy Dress", the premise and characters of the show are introduced: it's the day of the wedding of oil tycoon Robert Martin and Broadway star Janet Van De Graaff, who plans to give up her career for married life. Those in attendance include aging hostess Mrs. Tottendale; her loyal employee known only as Underling; Robert's best man, George; Broadway producer Feldzieg, who is hoping to persuade Janet to forgo marriage and continue starring in Feldzieg's Follies; ditzy flapper Kitty, who hopes to take Janet's place in the Follies; two gangsters disguised as pastry chefs; self-proclaimed famed Latin lover Aldolpho; Janet's alcoholic Chaperone, who is supposed to keep her away from Robert until the wedding; and Trix, an aviatrix who Man in Chair suggests to be coded as lesbian. Throughout the show, Man in Chair reveals information about these characters’ fictional actors: Robert was played by Percy Hyman, the face of the fictional, cocaine-containing All Bright Toothpaste. Man in Chair expresses his admiration for Hyman, remarking he “[likes] to think of [Hyman] panting and sweating after a long dance routine”. The gangsters were played by John and Peter Tall. Kitty and Feldzieg were played by the acting couple Sadie and Jack Adler. The Chaperone was played by Dame Beatrice Stockwell, seemingly Man in Chair's icon. Janet was played by Jane Roberts, who was known as the “Oops Girl”, a girl whose “sexual energy was so strong it caused men around her to … spill their drinks, drive their cars into trees [and the works]”. Adolpho was played by Roman Bartelli. Trix is said to have been played by a black actress, which Man in Chair says was a progressive move for the time of the fictional production; no name is given for Trix’s actress. The gangsters reveal to Feldzieg that their boss has invested in the Follies and wants to make sure the show is a financial success, which it presumably will not be without Janet. They tell Feldzieg that he must sabotage the wedding and make sure Janet stays in show business. Feldzieg enlists the vain, easily manipulated Aldolpho to seduce Janet and spoil her relationship with Robert. Meanwhile, in his room, Robert realizes that he is nervous about the wedding. To get rid of his cold feet, he tap dances, and George, who is also nervous, joins in the dance (“Cold Feets”). George notes that tap dancing could be injurious, so he suggests that Robert go roller skating in the garden instead, while wearing a blindfold to keep him from seeing Janet. As George hypes himself up, the show is briefly interrupted by Man in Chair receiving a call, which he ignores (“Wedding Bells #1”). Outside by the pool, Janet tells reporters that she is happy to be getting married and ostensibly doesn't want to be an actress anymore ("Show Off"), but her song evolves into a big production number with stage tricks and an encore. In Janet's room, Janet is having doubts about whether Robert really loves her, and she asks the Chaperone for advice. The Chaperone responds with the extemporaneous "As We Stumble Along", a "rousing anthem to alcoholism", which, Man in Chair explains Beatrice Stockwell insisted on including in the show. More helpfully, the chaperone tells Janet that she is feeling "drowsy" and must take a nap, giving Janet the opportunity to ask Robert if he loves her. Janet leaves for the garden, and Aldolpho enters, mistaking the Chaperone for Janet. The Chaperone happily pretends to be Janet and allows Aldolpho to "seduce" her in the song "I Am Aldolpho", which Man in Chair says was his mother’s favorite. Janet meets the blindfolded and roller-skating Robert in the garden, and she pretends to be a French woman, "Mimi," "from ze middle part [of France], where zey make ze toast." She asks Robert how he met his bride, and he describes their lovestruck first meeting ("Accident Waiting to Happen"). Carried away by his emotions, Robert kisses "Mimi" because she seems just like Janet. Janet furiously storms off because Robert has "kissed a strange French girl". Kitty, hoping to take Janet's place in the Follies, tries to demonstrate her mind-reading talents to Feldzieg, but reads her own mind. The gangsters confront Feldzieg, threatening him with a murderous "Toledo Surprise" because he has not yet succeeded in cancelling the wedding. Feldzieg distracts them by insisting that they actually have singing and dancing talent, and they turn "Toledo Surprise" into an upbeat dance number. Aldolpho, with the Chaperone on his arm, announces that he has seduced the bride and the wedding is therefore cancelled, but Feldzieg angrily tells him he has seduced the wrong woman. Janet announces that she is cancelling the wedding, and Robert protests in vain that he only kissed "Mimi" because she reminded him of Janet ("Toledo Surprise"); the ensemble mourns Janet and Robert’s “happy wedding time” (“Act 1 Finale”). Man in Chair announces that this is the end of the first act and the first record of the two-record set. Man in Chair puts on another record, saying that the audience can listen to the opening of the second act of The Drowsy Chaperone, and leaves for the restroom. A scene set with characters in stereotypical East Asian costumes in a palace appears onstage, and the chaperone costumed as an Englishwoman in a hoopskirted dress ("Message from a Nightingale"). Man in Chair hurriedly stops the record, explaining to the audience that that was the wrong record – it was the musical The Enchanted Nightingale, not the second act of The Drowsy Chaperone. He finds the right record, and The Drowsy Chaperone continues. In a musical dream sequence, Janet laments her lost romance and decides to return to the stage ("Bride's Lament"). Mrs. Tottendale tells Underling that the wedding will proceed as planned because "love is always lovely" in the end. She reveals to Underling that she is in love with him ("Love Is Always Lovely in the End"). The Chaperone announces that there will be a wedding after all: she and Aldolpho are getting married (which Aldolpho helplessly protests). Mrs. Tottendale announces that she and Underling are getting married as well. Robert tells Janet that he loves her, and Man in Chair announces that one of his favorite parts is coming up. The chaperone gives Janet advice on what to do as Aldolpho drops his cane and the Chaperone says "l-ve while you can," in which the vowel in the first word is inaudible. Man in Chair has an emotional monologue where he expresses his wonderment about the phrase, asking if it says "live while you can," or "leave while you can." He shares a brief backstory about his unsuccessful marriage and about how you should never leave, only live. The scene transforms back to Janet where she admits that she was really the French girl and agrees to marry him. To appease the gangsters, Feldzieg tells them that he has discovered a new star: Kitty. He asks her to demonstrate her mind-reading talent, and when she "reads Feldzieg's mind", she announces that he is asking her to marry him; trapped, Feldzieg agrees. George, now best man for all four weddings, realizes that he has failed at his most important task: finding a minister. Trix suddenly lands her plane in the garden to fix her “navigatrix”, announcing she is about to depart for Rio (“Wedding Bells #2”). Because a captain on board a ship can perform marriages, everyone rationalizes that Trix, as a pilot, can perform marriages on board a plane, and she can fly them all to Rio for their honeymoons ("I Do, I Do in the Sky"). As the record is about to play the show's final chord, the power goes out in Man in Chair's apartment, and a superintendent — who had called earlier in the show — arrives to check the circuit breakers. The power returns, the final chord plays, and the show is over. Alone again, Man in Chair, sufficiently drunk, sadly expresses his deep love for a musical that he has never actually seen. He begins to sing "As We Stumble Along" and the cast members, for the first time, acknowledge his presence, join in, and cheer him on ("As We Stumble Along (Reprise)").
The Earl and the Girl is a musical comedy in two acts, with a book by Seymour Hicks, lyrics by Percy Greenbank and music by Ivan Caryll. It was produced by William Greet and opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 10 December 1903.
The time is 1919 to 1920, and the place is the Lower East Side of New York City. At a night class in English, Hyman Kaplan is an immigrant from Kiev, and tries to learn but has great difficulty. The teacher, Mr. Parkhill, finally concludes that Hyman cannot learn proper English.
The Errand Boy is a musical in two acts with lyrics by Edward P. Moore (or possibly Edward P. Moran) and a book by George Totten Smith. Set in the town of Georges Mills, New Hampshire, the plot centers around the local errand boy Patsy Bolivar who becomes involved with a troupe of traveling performers stranded in his town.
Satyrs and fairies guard Windsor Castle and its inhabitants during ceremonial occasions. The masque concludes with a banquet attended by the King and Queen.
Two neighboring parents pretend to feud in the hope that their children will fall in love. A staged abduction brings the lovers together, but discovering the deception sends them in search of experience beyond home. After disappointment and hardship, they return with a deeper understanding of love.
The Fascinating Widow is a 1910 musical comedy with music by Frederick W. Mills and both book and lyrics by Otto Harbach. It was created as a starring vehicle for the female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The play premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then toured the United States for 10 months before appearing on Broadway in September 1911.
ACT 1 A steamy summer morning in the rural deep South of 1918. A gang of prisoners works along the dusty roadway leading to Fairweather State Prison (Ball and Chain). Jonas Candide, an ex-carnival barker and con-man who is now employed as the state's official "travelling executioner" arrives at the prison with his electric chair (Hubbub). He has come to attend to his next "clients" Willie and Gretchen Herzallerliebst, brother and sister German immigrants who have been convicted of murder. Upon arrival, Jonas learns from the warden that the woman has been granted a short stay while her lawyer tries to convince the Governor to commute her sentence. Proceeding with Willie's execution, Jonas demonstrates his unique approach to the job (The Fields of Ambrosia). But something goes wrong (How Could This Happen?). Happy to put the day's events behind him, Jonas treats Jimmy, the gawky, young town mortician who idolizes him, to a night of debauchery at the local whorehouse (Nuthin'). The next evening, to satisfy his curiosity, Jonas visits Gretchen Herzallediebst in her cell. He is smitten by her beauty and wit (Who Are You?). In return for her "favors", Jonas is persuaded to buy her some more time by hiding his chair and convincing the warden that it was stolen (Reasonable Man). Gretchen's lawyer, not satisfied with that, discovers the hiding place and disables the chair with a fireaxe. Jonas must take the chair to the local fix-it shop for repair, where the sight of it creates quite a stir among the locals (Step Right Up). Unable to stay away, he visits Gretchen again and is seduced even further (Too Bad). Jonas comes up with a plan to save Gretchen. When the chair is ready, he will proceed with her execution, but give her only enough voltage to knock her out. Meanwhile, he will have struck a deal with the dissolute prison doctor to pronounce her dead and persuaded Jimmy to carry her out like a cadaver with no one the wiser. Doc is reluctant, saying that it's too risky and won't work. Jonas demonstrates his theory on a prison rat (The Rat is Dead). The Doc finally agrees to play his part... for a five hundred dollar bribe! Jonas vows to somehow raise the money and free Gretchen (Step Right Up - reprise). ACT 2 Gretchen takes her mandatory hour of exercise on the prison yard inside a huge, wire cage which protects her from the male prisoners (Hungry). Jonas arrives, and bribes the guard for a moment alone with Gretchen to let her know of his plan to save her (Continental Sunday). Jonas springs into action to raise the money to pay Doc, He smuggles the town whores into the prison late at night and, posting Jimmy as a lookout, turns Doc's infirmary into an impromptu bordello. Doc stumbles in and seeing Jonas' resourcefulness, raises his asking price to a thousand! Jonas, wondering what the hell happened to his lookout, finds Jimmy completely distraught after being assaulted by some of the inmates (Alone). Moved by Jimmy's plight, Jonas makes him his new assistant. Jonas gets into a high-stakes poker game (The Card Game) and wins the thousand, only to be jumped, beaten and robbed by the losers. Bruised, bloody and completely broke, Jonas returns to the prison to find Deputy Warden Piquant ready to string Gretchen up while the Warden is away at the county seat. By assuring him that the chair will be ready the next morning, Jonas gets him to relent (The Gallows). With time running out, Gretchen urges Jonas to try the local bank for the money (Do It for Me). By whipping the bank's patrons into a patriotic fervor over war bonds, he convinces the manager to give him a loan (All in this Together). However, when the manager discovers that Jonas is an ex-con, he reneges. Jonas, in a panic, makes a play for the money. With the bank alarm ringing in his ears, he beats a hasty retreat back to the prison (the getaway) to spring Gretchen, but the escape attempt goes terribly wrong (The Breakout). Several months later, the prison yard is packed with guards and witnesses as Jonas Candide is placed in the refurbished electric chair by Jimmy, the new executioner. Jimmy gets so excited as Jonas regales him with descriptions of the hereafter (The Fields of Ambrosia - reprise) that he revs the generator way too high. When Jimmy pulls the switch everything goes up in flame and smoke. As the smoke begins to clear, we glimpse an image of Gretchen and Jonas alone on stage, waltzing.
The Fig Leaves Are Falling is a musical with a book and lyrics by Allan Sherman and music by Albert Hague. It was inspired by Sherman's 1966 divorce following 21 years of marriage. The original Broadway production featured Barry Nelson, Dorothy Loudon and Jenny O'Hara; David Cassidy made his professional acting debut in a small role. The production was a flop, with only four performances and negative critical reviews.
Florence, 1535. Sculptor Benvenuto Cellini has been sentenced to hang for the attempted murder of Count Maffio ("When the Bell of Doom is Clanging"). The people of Florence gather in the public square, gaily celebrating the hanging ("Come to Florence"). On the gallows, the unrepentant, rakish Cellini says it's been a good life anyway ("Life, Love, and Laughter"). Suddenly Alessandro, Duke of Florence, pardons Cellini, because the statue of a nymph he commissioned from the sculptor has not been finished yet, though Alessandro has already paid for it. Walking away from the scaffold, Cellini is set upon by Maffio; this time he kills him (or so it seems). Back at Cellini's workshop, his apprentice Ascanio and servant Emilia rejoice in the reprieve ("Our Master Is Free Again"), as Cellini presents an embellished version of his latest duel with Maffio ("I Had Just Been Pardoned"). He resumes work on the statue, but he has trouble concentrating because of his attraction to his model, Angela. Angela reciprocates the attraction but with reservations ("You're Far Too Near Me"). The French ambassador enters, telling Cellini that the Duke intends to hang him for Maffio's murder, and suggesting that he flee to Paris, where the king wants him to decorate Fontainebleau. But before Cellini can bolt, Duke Alessandro arrives ("Alessandro the Wise") to ogle Angela. The Duke decides to carry off Angela to his summer palace, and he puts Cellini under house arrest (Finaletto). Cellini escapes his guards and hurries to the summer palace to rescue Angela. He accidentally encounters Alessandro's wife, the Duchess of Florence ("Entrance of the Duchess") on her way to Pisa. The Duchess makes no secret of her yen for Cellini, and she's not interested in romance, just sex ("Sing Me Not a Ballad"). The two plan an assignation for later. Next Cellini encounters the Duke's cousin, Ottaviano, who demands that he conspire to kill the Duke, but Cellini refuses, and Ascanio helps him escape. At the summer palace, the Duke exults in the opportunity to have his way with Angela ("While the Duchess is Away"). But Cellini has sneaked in, and he eavesdrops as the Duke makes his move. The Duke senses Cellini's presence and is unnerved, and his attempt at seduction degenerates into spoonerisms ("The Nosy Cook"). Cellini emerges, and a commotion ensues during which Cellini escapes with Angela and the Duchess unexpectedly returns, to the Duke's chagrin. The act concludes in a merry tarantella. Back in Florence at Cellini's workshop, Benvenuto and Angela finally consummate their passion. But they bicker the following morning, and when a missive from the Duchess arrives ("The Duchess's Letter") inviting Cellini to decorate the summer palace, he sets his mind on the Duchess rather than Angela. Cellini's inconstancy aggrieves Angela, who blames it all on Cupid ("The Little Naked Boy"). Meanwhile, at the city palace, the guards always have their spears at the ready ("Just in Case"). Inside the palace, the Duke schemes to woo Angela by writing her a love poem, but he cannot come up with "A Rhyme for Angela." When he learns that Cellini has taken Angela away, the Duke again threatens to hang him, but the Duchess persuades him to put him on trial first. The people of Florence gather in a carnival atmosphere once again ("Hear Ye!"). The judges read the charges against Cellini ("The World is Full of Villains") but Cellini protests that his past behavior, like everyone else's, is predetermined by the stars ("You Have to Do What You Do Do"). For a moment the Duke is amused by this, sensing that this astrological alibi covers his own amatory transgressions. Then Ottaviano testifies that Cellini conspired to kill the Duke. Just when Cellini appears doomed, Ascanio testifies that it was really Ottaviano who was plotting against the Duke ("How Wonderfully Fortunate"), and the Duchess supports the accusation. So the Duke again reverses himself, arresting Ottaviano and pardoning Cellini. Now Cellini decides to accept the commission to redecorate Fontainebleau. For the greater glory of art and posterity ("Love is My Enemy"), he swears off both the Duchess and Angela, while they commiserate with each other ("The Little Naked Boy" reprise). The scene shifts to Fontainebleau ("Come to Paris") where Cellini, deprived of Angela as a model/muse, has a bad case of "sculptor's block." Suddenly the Duke and Duchess of Florence arrive, with Angela in tow. Cellini reconciles with Angela. Finally he finishes and unveils his nymph statue, as commedia dell'arte players perform a motley dance. Bizarrely, Maffio reappears—he had not been killed after all. As Cellini and Maffio draw their swords, a spirit of gaiety lights up the stage in a final reprise of "Life, Love, and Laughter." Act 1 Scene 1: A Public Square in Florence. Time: 1535. Scene 2: Cellini's Workshop Scene 3: The City Gates Scene 4: The Garden of the Summer Palace Act 2 Scene 1: Cellini's Workshop Scene 2: Outside the City Palace Scene 3: A Loggia in the City Palace Scene 4: The Grand Council Chamber at the Palace Scene 5: The Palace of the King of France Act 1 Overture Opening Act 1: When the Bell of Doom is Clanging Come to Florence Life, Love, and Laughter Our Master is Free Again I Had Just Been Pardoned You're Far Too Near Me Alessandro the Wise Finaletto ("I Am Happy Here") Entrance of the Duchess Sing Me Not a Ballad When the Duchess is Away The Nosy Cook Act 1 Finale (Tarantella) Act 2 Entr'acte The Duchess's Letter The Little Naked Boy March of the Soldiers of the Duchy (Just in Case) A Rhyme for Angela Trial Scene: Hear Ye! The World is Full of Villains You Have to Do What You Do Do How Wonderfully Fortunate! Love Is My Enemy The Little Naked Boy (Reprise) Come to Paris Finale (Reprise: Life, Love, and Laughter)
Italian street singer Nina disguises herself as a boy and secretly boards a yacht bound for Bermuda to escape her drunken guardian. There she falls in love with Jack Travers. When police search for the pickpocket whose identity she has assumed, Nina reveals who she is and leaves with musician Franz. Three years later, Franz returns with Nina, now a celebrated singer, and she and Jack reunite.
The First is a musical with a book by critic Joel Siegel. The music was composed by Robert Brush, and Martin Charnin wrote the lyrics. The show is based on the life of Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play major league baseball in the 20th century. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on November 17, 1981 and closed on December 12, 1981 after 31 performances and 33 previews (although often erroneously reported as having 37 performances). Charnin has said that despite "stellar reviews," the musical failed to secure one: that of Frank Rich of The New York Times, "which at the time meant everything." Directed by Charnin and choreographed by Alan Johnson, the original cast included David Alan Grier as Jackie Robinson, and Lonette McKee as his wife Rachel.
The Five O'Clock Girl is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, music by Harry Ruby, and lyrics by Bert Kalmar. Set in New York City and South Hampton, Long Island, it focuses on wealthy Beekman Place playboy Gerald Brooks and impoverished shopgirl Patricia Brown, who become…
Act 1 Days before a United States presidential election, shoo-in candidate Reed Chandler suffers a fatal heart attack between the thighs of his mistress. Before the body has turned cold, the dead man's widow, Violet, and brother, Grahame (a speechwriter and spin doctor crippled from birth by polio and jealous of his brother's public success) - not keen to see their patience and preparation go to waste - are conspiring to replace him with his own son, an unambitious drifter, Calvin. Cal is enlisted in the army and married off to a perky debutante before developing a hard drug problem and being photographed during sex with his mistress, a nightclub singer named Tina McCoy. To cover up Cal's indiscretion, Grahame is forced to call upon the services of the city's criminal underworld, headed by Anthony Gliardi, who we are told is a "friend of the family". Act 2 The years pass. Cal is elected governor and his wife bears a son. The list of favours owed to Gliardi grows longer, Cal's addiction deepens and Grahame's legs finally give way and he is condemned to life in a wheelchair. After a drying-out period, Cal rediscovers his sense of self. He confronts the press, coming clean about his misgivings and the Chandlers' relationship with Gliardi. Cal becomes the media darling once again, however on the eve of the United States Senate nominations, Gliardi uses Tina to lure Cal away from his family, then shoots them both. The play comes full circle as at Cal's funeral, Violet and Grahame move in on Cal's young son. And suddenly the future doesn't look so dim after all.
The Fleet's Lit Up is a musical comedy first staged in London in 1938 with music and lyrics by Vivian Ellis and a book by Guy Bolton, Fred Thompson and Bert Lee. It ran for 191 performances at the London Hippodrome from August 1938 to February 1939. The original cast included Stanley Lupino, Frances Day and Adele Dixon. It was produced and directed by George Black. The title refers to the phrase used constantly by BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe during a drunken broadcast for the 1937 Spithead Review.
The Floor Walkers was a road musical that was created as a starring vehicle for the comedy duo of Hap Ward and Harry Vokes to feature their signature roles of the tramps Lord Percy Harden (portrayed by Ward) and Lord Harold Poorly (portrayed by Vokes); characters the duo had previously portrayed in the earlier musicals A Run On the Bank (1895) and The Governors (1898). The Floor Walkers had no attributed author for its book or lyrics, but the music for the production was created by composer Herbert Dillea who also served as the musical's music director. The most well known song from the show was "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder"; which was the only song to have an attributed lyricist, Arthur Gillespie. The Floor Walkers premiered at the Great Northern Theatre in Chicago on May 16, 1899. The Detroit publisher and theatre lawyer and manager Edward Douglas Stair was the producer of the show. It was originally written in three acts and each act presented a separate story that was only unified through the continuation of Ward and Vokes characters through each scenario. These acts were: "The-Three-Must-Get-Theres", "Sporting Life", and "The Floor Walkers". After leaving Chicago, The Floor Walkers went through several modifications, and by the time the production reached Broadway it was now only in two acts. The work had its New York debut at Broadway's Grand Opera House on January 29, 1900, where it ran for a single week before continuing on its national tour. Well received by New York audiences, the show later returned to the Grand Opera House for another week of performances in January 1901 before continuing to tour elsewhere. The show continued to tour the United States until another Ward and Vokes musical premiered later in 1901; The Head Waiters.
The Fortress of Solitude is a musical with music and lyrics written by Michael Friedman, and a book by Itamar Moses adapted from The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem.
Heiress Irma loves Captain Ladislas but is expected to marry Count Berezowski. She disguises herself as her twin Fedor to escape the marriage and protect him from a desertion charge. A gypsy fortune teller who resembles Irma is mistaken for her, and the resulting confusion delays the wedding until Fedor returns as a war hero; Irma marries Ladislas, and the other couples are paired off.
The Four Musketeers! is a musical with a score by Laurie Johnson and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. It was developed from a book by Michael Pertwee loosely based on The Three Musketeers. The musical premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London on 5 December 1967. It was directed by Peter Coe. The sets were designed by Sean Kenny. Harry Secombe played D'Artagnan, with Aubrey Woods as Richelieu. Also in the original London cast were: Elizabeth Larner, Glyn Owen, John Junkin, Stephanie Voss, Jeremy Lloyd, Sheena Marshe and Kenneth Connor. The show ran for 462 performances.
Suzette, a French maid, has attracted several men, including a jealous gendarme, Paul Lecuire, and a waiter at the hotel where she works, Charles Brown. She must choose an escort to the upcoming bal-masqué. But things are complicated when several visitors to the hotel all call for the pretty maid, including an Indian Prince, his attaché, and Jack Brown, an English soldier who is the waiter's twin brother. In traditional French style, Suzette strings them all along, causing confusion in the lives of all concerned, including the aristocratic Admiral and Lady Hawser, their niece Dolly and her lover, Harry, who gets involved in situations full of jealousy, disguises and misunderstandings. Finally everything is revealed, and a chastened Suzette returns to her faithful gendarme.
The show opens with two "actors," played by the same actors as the main characters of the play but considered different in the libretto, discussing which play they should perform. One actor suggests "the one about the man who kills his father and sleeps with his mother", but the other actor is in too good a mood for tragedy and they decide to perform a comedy instead. However, before they can perform, they must make an invocation: dedicating the performance to the theatre gods, and instructing the audience how to behave ("Invocation and Instructions to the Audience"). Just as they are about to further delay the action, the Chorus enters demanding the actors begin. The Actors return as Dionysos, god of wine and drama, and his slave Xanthias. Dionysos is in despair about the state of the world, and has decided to travel to Hades to bring back the great writer George Bernard Shaw, who Dionysos believes will speak to society and help with its problems ("It Is Time We Start Our Journey") ("I Love to Travel"). His first stop is at the house of his half-brother Heracles to gain advice on how to enter Hades. Heracles says that Dionysos should don a lion-skin and pretend to be Heracles, and instructs the rather weak-willed god in proper heroic behaviour ("Dress Big"). The lesson seems to take, although Dionysos soon reverts to his old self. Heracles also warns them of the Frogs, dangerous creatures who live on the River Styx and are terrified of change. The pair travel to the Styx ("I Love to Travel (Reprise)"), where they meet the severely depressive ferryman, Charon ("All Aboard"). Charon agrees to take Xanthias and Dionysos to the Underworld, and claims that there are no Frogs on the river. Traveling on the River, Dionysos recounts the (mythologically accurate) story of his deceased wife Ariadne ("On The River Styx"). When he took her to Mount Olympus to marry her, she was worried that she could not compare to the Olympian gods, he made her a crown of stars to help her look like a goddess. However, as she was only a mortal, she died soon afterwards, and Dionysos threw her crown back into the sky. He says he is glad that there are no stars in Hell ("Ariadne"). Later that night, Dionysos is awoken by a cry of "brek-ek-ek-ek!" He soon works out that the Frogs have come; they drag him out of the boat and tempt him into a life of frogdom, hopping around without any cares or worries ("The Frogs"). Although Dionysos is briefly rescued by Xanthias, the Frogs return while Xanthias is distracted, and drag Dionysos back into the water. Dionysos climbs back on the boat drenched and covered with weeds, still quivering from his horrible confrontation with the frogs. Undaunted, Charon steers them to the dock, where Dionysos and Xanthias disembark. They run into Dionysian worshipers ("Hymn to Dionysos"), but Xanthias reminds Dionysos of their mission, and they continue to the Palace of Pluto. Aeakos, keeper of the keys to the palace, sees Dionysos in his Heracles disguise and vows vengeance on the god who slew the three-headed watchdog of Hades. At the urging of Dionysos, Xanthias dons the Heracles suit, and they encounter Charisma, the beautiful handmaiden to Persephone. Mistaking Xanthias for Heracles, she invites him to a sensuous bath in hippopotamus milk. Tantalized, Dionysos takes back the lion skin and encounters Virilla, Queen of the Amazons, who accuses him (Dionysos, again dressed as Heracles) of stealing the girdle of her leader Hippolyte. At the height of all the confusion, Pluto enters, surrounded by the flames of Hades. Dionysos sheds his Heracles disguise, and Pluto welcomes the god with open arms, disabusing him of the misconception that Hades is a dangerous place ("Hades"). Dionysos tells Pluto of his plan to bring Shaw back to earth, and Pluto reveals that all the dead playwrights are banqueting at his palace at that very moment. As Pluto and Dionysos discuss the dire situation on Earth, the Greek Chorus offers ironic commentary to the audience: though serious matters are being weighed onstage, there is no cause for alarm ("It's Only a Play"). Following the banquet, Dionysos bursts out of the palace to proclaim the entrance of George Bernard Shaw and his loyal passel of Shavians ("Shaw"). When William Shakespeare emerges from the palace, the philosophical tension between the two titans escalates swiftly until they almost come to blows. Dionysos defuses the situation by declaring a contest between the two playwrights. Each will address the important issues of humanity using only the words of his own writings. The supporters of Shaw and Shakespeare assemble into an arena where the verbal battle begins. Dionysos, high in his referee's chair, calls out the topics: first woman, then man, then the Life Force. Shaw and Shakespeare are sharp in their responses, Shaw delivering his pointed orations and Shakespeare responding with his poetic imagery. Grappling for a final topic (and concerned whether the people of earth will accept Shaw's rigorous social views), Dionysos calls a time-out. His deceased wife Ariadne appears, comforting her husband and advising him to follow his heart. Looking lovingly into his eyes, Ariadne assures Dionysos that the final topic is "staring you in the face". The contest resumes, and Dionysos announces the final topic: Death. Shaw responds with a stirring passage from Saint Joan, and the crowd is hushed. Then Shakespeare speaks of death from an old man's point of view ("The Contest"). Dionysos, wanting to hear more asks him to speak of a young man's feelings. Shakespeare's response is the song ("Fear No More") from Cymbeline. The powerful poetry moves Dionysos to declare Shakespeare the winner and offer him passage to the world of the living. A disgruntled Shaw is dragged kicking and screaming from the stage as Charon the boatman announces the return trip ("All Aboard"). Xanthias, who has elected to remain in Hades with the Amazon Virilla, bids his master farewell, as the voices of Ariadne and the chorus accompany Dionysos home ("Hymn to Dionysos (Reprise)"). Dionysos and Shakespeare arrive back at the same theatre that the actors were at in the beginning. Dionyus beckons Shakespeare to speak, and the playwright responds by calling for a new play to be written to inspire humanity. As the entire company is revealed, Dionysos steps forward and addresses the audience. He urges us to shake off lethargy, to take action to resolve the earthly problems that plague our times ("Final Instructions to the Audience"). And with that, his mission is complete.
While relocated to Buffalo, New York, the musical closely follows the film. In depressed Buffalo, New York, the once-successful steel mills have grown brown with rust, rolling equipment has been removed, and the lines are silent. Best friends Jerry Lukowski and Dave Bukatinsky, along with the other unemployed mill workers, collect unemployment checks and ponder their lost lives ("Scrap"). Elsewhere, Dave's wife Georgie and her friends are celebrating their newfound independence and wealth as the sole earners of their families by attending a Chippendales performance ("It's a Woman's World"). While hiding in the bathroom of the strip club, Jerry and Dave hear how unhappy Georgie is over Dave's insecurities (in part because of his weight) and Pam, Jerry's ex-wife, laments the loss of her marriage and her plans to take court action against him for the child support payments that he's failed to make since losing his job. Compromising the situation further is Jerry's son, Nathan, who reluctantly spends time with him; he has grown tired of his father's seeming lack of motivation. After talking to the stripper in the Chippendales act, Jerry and Dave are intrigued by the women's willingness to pay for a striptease act. Jerry is convinced that his ship has finally come in: he decides to organize a similar act of his own, with the intent to earn enough money to pay for his child support obligations ("Man"). The first to join the act is gauche and lonely Malcolm, a security guard at the steel mill where Dave and Jerry once worked. Malcolm tries to commit suicide by asphyxiating himself in his car through carbon monoxide poisoning. Dave pulls him out, and Jerry and Dave discuss various methods to commit suicide ("Big-Ass Rock"). Malcolm ultimately joins in and with the reassurance of his new-found friends behind him, he joins the fledgling lineup. His rescue and inclusion in the group gives him a newly optimistic and confident outlook on life. He also starts to grow more independent from his domineering, invalid mother, Molly. Next on Dave and Jerry's list is their former foreman, the middle-class aspirant Harold Nichols, who is taking a ballroom dance class with his immaculately groomed wife, Vicki. While Harold explains that he has concealed his unemployment from his materialistic wife, Vicki blithely sings about their marriage ("Life with Harold"). Dave and Jerry tell him of their scheme; with literally no options left, Harold agrees to be the act's choreographer. In a sequence of scenes, former co-workers perform strip-tease auditions. One of the auditionees is invited to sit down after he flunks; he declines, saying that his children are outside waiting 'in the car' and that 'this is no place for kids' before glancing over at Nathan before leaving. Other auditioners are, hired: Noah 'Horse' Simmons, for his comprehensive dance knowledge (while overlooking evidence of advanced arthritis), and Ethan Girard, who longs to dance like Donald O'Connor in Singin' in the Rain and has a jaw-dropping, euphemism-inducing penis ("Big Black Man"). They are also joined by Jeanette Burmeister, a tough, seen-it-all showbiz musician who "shows up, piano and all" to accompany the boys' rehearsals. Elsewhere, Dave contemplates his weight and Harold contemplates Vicki's spending habits ("You Rule My World"). At the first rehearsal, Harold feels the men are hopeless, but Jerry fires them up, encouraging them to think of it not as dance, but as sports moves ("Michael Jordan's Ball"). As the men practice, doubts continue to creep in about whether this is the best way to make some money, due to their individual insecurities over their appearances. Jeanette is particularly straightforward ("Jeanette's Showbiz Number"). Requiring a deposit at the club, Jerry tries to get seed money from Pam, which she denies. Nathan eventually provides some college funds, and Jerry is moved by Nathan's growing belief in his father ("Breeze Off the River"). Later, as the men are rehearsing at Harold's house, they undress in front of each other for the first time, and have nightmare visions that the women of the town will find them inadequate ("The Goods"). They are interrupted by repossessors who are scared off by the scantily clad men; their mutual friendships continue to grow. During a dress rehearsal, the boys get literally caught with their pants down wearing thongs, causing Jerry, Horse, Harold, Jeanette, and Nathan to be brought into a police station. Malcolm and Ethan successfully escape, and fall into a homoerotic embrace after they climb through the window of Malcolm's house. They are interrupted by the sudden illness of Molly. After Pam tearfully picks up Nathan ("Man (Reprise)"), the boys are brought together at the funeral of Malcolm's mother, where he is joined by Ethan in subtly announcing their relationship ("You Walk with Me"). Later, the men are approached on the street by local women acquaintances who have heard of their show. Jerry declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they'll go "the full monty"—strip all the way. Dave, meanwhile, quits less than a week before the show, deprecating himself as a 'fat bastard' whom no one would want to see in the nude—including his wife, Georgie. Their secret out, all seems lost for the members of Hot Metal—their "stage name". But Georgie and Vicki reconfirm their love for their husbands despite their failures ("You Rule My World (Reprise)"). It is also revealed the arrest publicity has spiked ticket sales. With not much left to lose, and a sold-out show, the men decide to go for it for one night, including Harold, who has finally gotten a job. Dave finds his confidence and joins the rest of the group, but Jerry has a last minute loss of his. Nathan convinces him to go on and he joins the boys for the final performance. With the support of friends, family, and townspeople, the boys perform one final show ("Let It Go").
The Gardens of Anuncia is a stage musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Michael John LaChiusa. The show is based on the life of Graciela Daniele, a prolific figure in modern musical theatre. Daniele was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the show is set. It follows her life from a young girl in Argentina during the years of Juan Perón, and her journey that lead her to New York City and eventually becoming an acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and director.
The castle of the Scottish Gordon clan has been leased to a wealthy American, Andrew Quainton, whose daughter is the charming Peggy. Unfortunately, the heir to the clan's chief has been lost, and the castle will eventually have to be ceded to the Crown. Peggy has no interest in joining the British aristocracy and has sworn not to marry a nobleman. She disguises herself as a strolling fortune teller and soon meets a young private in the Gordon Highlanders, Angus Graeme. Angus woos Peggy and gains her affection, and she is delighted to fall in love with the humble Scottish soldier lad. News arrives that the long-lost heir to the Gordon titles and fortune is Angus. He is worried that this might cause Peggy to leave him, so he continues to pretend to be plain Angus until he can figure out a way to tell her that he is really an Earl. Peggy's brother is expected to arrive soon, and Angus intends to involve him in the deception. The plan goes awry, as Peggy impersonates her brother, and Angus tells her the secret. Peggy is annoyed at having been misled, but she is a practical American and loves Angus, so all ends happily.
The Gay Hussars is the English adaptation title of Emmerich Kálmán’s three-act operetta, first performed in Hungarian as Tatárjárás.
In Vienna in 1904, Anatol von Huber is to marry Liesl, but his former mistress is discovered with him on his wedding day. In flashback Anatol remembers how he arrived at this circumstance. Anatol, a confirmed bachelor and playboy, has decided the time has come to settle down and get married. His target is the sister of his best friend Max, the virginal Liesl, whose longtime crush on him makes her the likeliest candidate. But the young lady is determined to tame the philanderer and make him swear to be true to her before she accepts his proposal. After meeting Anatol for the first time since she was a child at the marriage mart in Carlsbad, Liesl decides that Anatol is the man for her. However, as the guests waltz, Anatol leaves with the Frenchwoman Mimi. When they meet again on Christmas Eve, Liesl tells Anatol how she feels, even though he is with Mimi. Anatol learns that Mimi plans on leaving him, and he invents a story about his relationship with Liesl. Anatol does in fact propose, but Liesl is doubtful they will really marry. Her doubts seem to come true when his old flame, Magda, is found in his bedroom. Although Liesl declares that she will not marry him, he proposes again, and they marry.
Mr. Honeycomb is restrained and decorous while in England but abroad, he is unfettered, including on a trip to Paris. Mlle. Julie Bon-Bon of Paris sues him for breach of promise. Afraid of his wife's wrath, Honeycomb flees to Switzerland and is reported drowned. His supposed widow seeks his remains, accompanied by her friend, Major Fossdyke. Meanwhile, Honeycomb sees them together in Switzerland, and pretending righteous anger, he turns the tables.
Stationed in Japan, far from his fiancée Molly, Lt. Reggie Fairfax of the Royal Navy is lonely. He begins to spend much of his free time at the Tea House of Ten Thousand Joys which is run by Chinaman Wun-Hi. There he meets the geisha O Mimosa San, with whom he builds a friendship, but she is in love with Katana, a soldier, so she discourages him with her tale of 'The Amorous Goldfish'. However, Reggie gives Mimosa a lesson in kissing. The relationship does not go unnoticed by Lady Constance Wynne, a touring English aristocrat, who catches Reggie engaged in his tête-a-tête with Mimosa and reminds him that he is engaged to Molly. Lady Constance contacts Molly, telling her to travel to Japan as quickly as possible. The local overlord Marquis Imari, who also fancies Mimosa, is annoyed that his intended bride is consorting with the newly-arrived British sailors, and he orders that the teahouse be closed and the girls be sold off. The Marquis himself is pursued by the French interpreter Juliette. Molly arrives unexpectedly. Left alone, Molly is joined by Mimosa and Lady Constance, who tell her how fond Reggie has become of one geisha in particular. Mimosa then suggests that Molly should dress up as a geisha herself to try and win him back. It is now time for the sale of the geishas' indentures. The Marquis tries to buy Mimosa for himself, but Lady Constance manages to outbid him to keep her out of his clutches. Unfortunately, she cannot stop him from purchasing lot number 2, a new geisha called Roli Poli whom nobody has seen before. Only after the Marquis has made his purchase is it revealed that this geisha is actually Molly in disguise. In the chrysanthemum gardens of the Imari palace, Molly, still disguised as Roli Poli, awaits her impending marriage to the Marquis, who has become much attracted to her. Mimosa proposes a plan to save Molly from her fate: Mimosa will sneak into the bridal suite and exchange the veiled Molly for another veiled bride - Juliette, the French interpreter. The wedding ceremony starts, and the plan is put into effect: Juliette is exchanged with Molly, and the Marquis unwittingly marries the wrong bride. On discovering the ruse, he accepts his fate philosophically, concluding that "every man is disappointed in his wife at some time or other". Mimosa is now free to marry her lover Katana, and Molly is re-united with Reggie, declaring that she would never marry a foreign nobleman when she could have a British sailor.
In 1584, Bertha pretends to love Baron Otto to make her fiancé Hans jealous. Each man wishes to exchange bodies with the other, and the Gentleman in Black, king of the gnomes, transfers their souls for a month. The Baron then tricks Hans into signing away his claim to the Baron’s station. A calendar reform that removes thirteen days makes the month expire immediately, returning each soul to its original body. Hans and Bertha gain youthful nobility, while the Baron is left an old peasant.
The Gingerbread Man is a musical in two acts with music by A. Baldwin Sloane and both book and lyrics by Frederic Ranken. Described by the creators as a "Fanciful Fairyesque", the work was essentially a Christmas musical with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus serving as the heroes of the piece.
The Girl Behind the Counter is an Edwardian musical comedy with a book by Arthur Anderson and Leedham Bantock, music by Howard Talbot and lyrics by Arthur Anderson (and additional lyrics by Percy Greenbank). It opened at Wyndham's Theatre on 21 April 1906, produced by Frank Curzon and directed by Austen Hurgon. and starred Lew Fields and Connie Ediss. It toured successfully thereafter in the British provinces, the U.S., Australia and elsewhere and enjoyed several revivals.
The Girl Friend is a musical comedy with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Herbert Fields. This was the longest running show for the trio to that date.
The story is set in 1911 London at the time of George V's coronation. American-born chorus girl Mary Morgan becomes involved with Balkan archduke Charles, the widowed prince regent of Carpathia, after he sees a performance of her West End musical The Coconut Girl. She soon becomes involved with the actions of his teenaged son, King Nicholas, as well as the Queen Mother.
The Girl from Kays is a musical comedy in three acts, with music by Ivan Caryll and book and lyrics by Owen Hall. Additional songs were by Paul Rubens, Howard Talbot, Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank and others. The farcical story concerns a misguided kiss. The original London production, from 1902 to 1903, played for a long run of 432 performances and was followed by provincial tours. A successful New York run of 223 performances began in 1903, and successful Australian runs followed. The musical was later revised as The Belle of Bond Street.
The Girl From Nantucket is a two-act comedy musical with lyrics by Kay Twomey and music by Jacques Belasco. The musical's book, by Paul Stamford, Harold Sherman and Hi Cooper, is based on a story by Fred Thompson and Bernie Giler.
The Girl from Utah is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with music by Paul Rubens, and Sidney Jones, a book by James T. Tanner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank and Rubens. The story concerns an American girl who runs away to London to avoid becoming a wealthy Mormon's newest wife.
The Girl in Pink Tights is a musical comedy with music by Sigmund Romberg; lyrics by Leo Robin; and a musical book by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields.
The Girl in the Taxi is a three-act musical comedy written by Stanislaus Stange, with music by Benjamin Hapgood Burt. Set in New York City, it is one of several adaptations of Le Fils à papa, a French comedy by Antony Mars and Maurice Desvallières. The 1910 Broadway production was produced by Albert H. Woods and directed by Carter DeHaven; the latter of whom also performed the role of Bertie Stewart.
The Girl of My Dreams is a musical in two acts with music by Karl Hoschna, lyrics by Otto Harbach, and a book by Harbach and Wilbur Nesbit. It premiered at Broadway's Criterion Theatre on August 7, 1911. It ran for 40 performances, closing on September 9, 1911. Produced by Joseph M. Gaites and directed by Frank Smithson, the production starred the married vaudevillian entertainers Leila McIntyre (as Lucy Medders) and John Hyams (as Harry Swifton). The New York Times critique of the production stated that McIntyre had "a pretty saucer-eyed innocent stare and quavering treble" suited to her ingenue role. The musical was adapted into a silent film of the same name.
Winifred disguises herself as a boy to join film producer Max Daly’s production of a Napoleon film. When Max falls for Italian actress Maria Gesticulata, Winifred mistranslates his love letter and Maria quits. Winifred takes Maria’s role, and Max does not discover that she is a girl until after the film is screened.
The Girls of Gottenberg is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts by George Grossmith, Jr. and L. E. Berman, with lyrics by Adrian Ross and Basil Hood, and music by Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton. P. G.
In the U.S. state of Washington, near Mt. Olympus at the turn of the 20th century, the small town of Angel's Roost is thrown into confusion when old Menelaus's fancy-free wife, Helen, runs off with a traveling salesman named Paris who is visiting the community to judge an apple pie baking contest. Ulysses, who has just returned from military service in the Spanish–American War, leaves his wife Penelope as he joins in a ten-year expedition to get Helen to return.
The Good Companions is a musical with a book by Ronald Harwood, music by André Previn, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same title by J. B. Priestley.
The Goodbye Girl is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by David Zippel, and music by Marvin Hamlisch, based on Simon's original screenplay for the 1977 film of the same name.
The Gospel at Colonus is an African-American musical version of Sophocles's tragedy, Oedipus at Colonus. The show was created in 1983 by the experimental-theatre director Lee Breuer, one of the founders of the seminal American avant-garde theatre company Mabou Mines, and composer Bob Telson. The musical was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The show had a brief run on Broadway in 1988.
Act I S. L. Jacobowsky relates that his incurable optimism has guided him well through a life of flight from one country to another in search of his place in the world ("I'll Be Here Tomorrow"). We are in Paris in the spring of 1940. The Germans are advancing rapidly, and Jacobowsky calmly waits outside a hotel for a man with a car for sale, by which he hopes to leave the capital. We meet two other hotel guests, a stiff-necked Polish aristocrat, Colonel Tadeusz Boleslav Stjerbinsky and his orderly, Szabuniewicz. The Colonel has a list of undercover agents in occupied Poland and is to meet a man with a flower in his lapel in the café of Papa Clairon in the French coastal village of St. Nazaire. The man will arrange passage for him to England so he can turn the papers over to the Polish government in exile. Jacobowsky buys the car but as he cannot drive and has overheard the Colonel's plans, proposes that he and the Colonel travel together. The Colonel will have no part of it, but Jacobowsky finally persuades him to do it for Poland ("For Poland"), and their Grand Tour begins. In St. Cyrille the two meet Marianne, a lovely young French woman to whom the Colonel has promised to return. Mme Vauclain tries to persuade Marianne to leave St. Cyrille before the Germans come, but she will do nothing of the kind ("I Belong Here"). Late that night the car bearing Jacobowsky, the Colonel, and Szabuniewicz arrives outside Marianne's house, gives a final gasp, and expires. The Colonel wakens Marianne with music ("Marianne"), and although she is reluctant to leave St. Cyrille, Jacobowsky persuades Marianne that the best way to fight for her home is by leaving and remaining free. As she sews the Colonel's papers into her hat for safekeeping, they hurry to catch a local train heading west ("We're Almost There"). The train is halted by a bombed-out rail section and the group moves on to its next mode of transport, the caravan of the traveling Carnival Manzoni. Jacobowsky and Marianne talk, and we see that he is slowly falling in love with her. When the Carnival stops, Jacobowsky sets up a picnic at the side of the road and entertains Marianne while the Colonel glowers jealously in the background ("More and More / Less and Less"). The furious Colonel challenges Jacobowsky to a duel, and they are only stopped from shooting each other by the sudden arrival of an SS Captain. To save themselves, the four masquerade as performers in the Carnival: The Colonel and Szabuniewicz as two clowns, Jacobowsky as the human cannonball, and Marianne as his assistant ("One Extraordinary Thing"). Jacobowsky is about to climb into the cannon when the Colonel inadvertently gives the game away and they are forced to fire the cannon and make their escape under cover of its smoke and confusion. They meet several hours later. Jacobowsky has arranged for a truck hauling nets to take them to the coast, but he will not go. It is time for him to head south to Spain and safety. But in his rush the Colonel has left the papers behind. Moments too late, Jacobowsky finds the papers and inspired by duty and the thought of seeing Marianne once more, he starts off to find her and the Colonel in St. Nazaire. Act II Jacobowsky, on his way to St. Nazaire aboard a small barge, reflects on the one person who has never been a part of his life ("Mrs. S. L. Jacobowsky"). When he arrives at Papa Clairon's café, his friends have not yet shown up. But a wedding is about to take place, and he momentarily mistakes the boutonniered bride's father for the underground contact with the flower in his lapel. The guests are overjoyed to learn that Jacobowsky's father taught biblical history and that he can perform the wedding ("Wedding Conversation / Mazeltov"). As the ceremony is concluded, the guests barely have time to scramble to safety as the Nazis enter. A man who remains behind is revealed to the Nazis as a Gestapo agent, but in fact, he is the Colonel's contact. Realizing that the café is no longer safe, he sends a waitress to intercept the Colonel and tell him the meeting place has been changed to 23 Rue Mace, to the relief of Jacobowsky. En route to the café and now very much aware of the missing papers, Marianne, the Colonel, and Szabuniewicz agonize over their loss. The Colonel realizes how much like Jacobowsky he is — running, hunted, and in fear of his life ("I Think, I Think"). Arriving on a bicycle the waitress tells them of the new meeting place. At 23 Rue Mace, the convent of the Sisters of Charity, the Germans have come to billet their troops in spite of Mother Madeleine's outrage. The foursome arrive for their meeting and over-power the Germans. The Colonel is forced to kill the SS Captain, and Jacobowsky throws the other soldiers into the coal cellar and gives the Colonel the secret papers. By now the last barriers are down between the two men, and we see that Jacobowsky and the Colonel are friends at last ("You I Like"). Later that night on the wharf outside St. Nazaire they wait for the boat that will take them to England, but there will be room only for two of the four. Szabuniewicz will not go but will return to Poland and fight the Nazis there. Jacobowsky, though he knows that there is no place for him in France, insists that Marianne leave with the Colonel. Jacobowsky's flight will continue, but this time with a difference; if he has found a place in the heart of a Marianne, then what can stop him from finding his place in the world? His Grand Tour is just beginning ("I'll Be Here Tomorrow (Reprise)").
The Grass Harp tells the story of eccentric Southern spinster Dollyheart Talbo, her companion Catherine, and her nephew Collin, who flee their home and the clutches of Dolly's demanding sister Verena and her opportunistic boyfriend; even deciding to leave the house and live in a tree. They do this to protect Dolly's secret recipe for an elixir from Verena's greedy plans. Verena, driven by ambition, wants to exploit the recipe for riches and marriage.
The Great American Trailer Park Musical is a two-act musical, written by David Nehls and Betsy Kelso. It explores the relationships between the tenants at the Armadillo Acres Trailer Park in Starke, Florida, particularly between Pippi, "the stripper on the run," the Dr. Phil-loving agoraphobic, Jeannie, and Jeannie's tollbooth-collector husband, Norbert. It was performed in the first annual New York Music Theater Festival in 2004 and Off-Broadway in 2005.
The Great Big Radio Show! is a musical comedy, with music and lyrics by Philip Glassborow. Piano arrangements and dance music are by David Rhind-Tutt. Book is by Philip Glassborow with Nick McIvor.
The Great British Bake Off Musical is a musical with book and lyrics by Jake Brunger and music and lyrics by Pippa Cleary, based on the British television baking competition of the same name.
In 1922, Nick Carraway, a Midwestern young World War I veteran, arrives in New York to work as a bond salesman. He is lucky to find a cheap rental in a cottage adjoining, and owned by, his mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Nick is awestruck at the wealth and excess on display, particularly Gatsby's palatial estate ("Roaring On"). Nick travels directly across the bay to the home of his cousin Daisy and her husband, his old-money Yale college acquaintance Tom Buchanan, a former football star. Daisy introduces Nick to her friend, golfer Jordan Baker, a vivacious and independent young woman. Daisy is pleased to see Nick flourish in New York and implies that her marriage is unhappy ("Absolute Rose"). Daisy and Jordan learn that Nick has received an invitation to one of Gatsby's famous over-the-top parties; Daisy becomes pensive at the mention of Gatsby's name, but Jordan is eager to experience the lavish party and asks Nick to take her ("New Money"). During the party, Gatsby sends for Nick; they meet privately in the study, where Gatsby shows Nick his war medals for valor. Gatsby confesses that he has built his fortune and estate solely to win back his pre-war sweetheart, Daisy, whose father had rejected him as a suitor for Daisy before the war because of his poor social position. He asks for Nick's help in reacquainting them ("For Her"); Nick is hesitant, finding the overture distasteful, since his cousin is married. George Wilson, at his run-down garage and gas station in the shadow of a gigantic billboard, questions his position in life ("Valley of Ashes"). George receives regular shipments from Gatsby's shady business associate, Meyer Wolfsheim. Tom visits the garage to get gas, and all realize, except George, that his wife Myrtle is Tom's mistress; Myrtle hates being poor and is excited to be the mistress of a rich man ("Second-Hand Suit"). Meanwhile, Daisy and Jordan discuss Tom's indiscretions and the state of her marriage; Jordan is staunchly against getting married ("For Better or Worse"). Tom takes Myrtle and Nick (who thought they were going for a day at the Met) to the Manhattan apartment of Myrtle's sister Catherine, and they carry on their affair. Tom breaks Myrtle's nose during an argument; Nick despises Tom's brutality and snobbery and decides to reintroduce Daisy and Gatsby ("The Met"). As Gatsby had suggested, Nick invites Daisy to an afternoon tea. Gatsby is to casually drop by, but he panics and provides Nick's cottage with lavish decorations and expensive food ("Only Tea"). Daisy is pleased to see Gatsby, and the two converse privately inside the cottage while Nick and Jordan flirt outside during a rainshower and share a kiss ("Only Tea (reprise)"). Daisy goes with Gatsby back to his mansion, finds out that her father had destroyed Gatsby's wartime letters to her, and the two begin an affair ("My Green Light"). Wolfsheim reflects about illicit acts and secrecy ("Shady"). Nick and Jordan's relationship deepens; Jordan proposes to Nick. ("Better Hold Tight"). Gatsby, convinced that Daisy will leave Tom for him, begins to plan a party recreating their relationship during the war, neglecting his business affairs with Wolfsheim ("Past Is Catching Up to Me"). At the party, Gatsby hires performer Gilda Gray and dances with Daisy as Tom watches enviously and converses with Wolfsheim ("La Dee Dah with You"). Daisy tells Gatsby that she wants to run away with him ("Go"). Tom demands that Daisy leave but is persuaded to visit the Plaza Hotel with Nick, Jordan, and Gatsby instead. Tom, driving Nick and Jordan, stops at the Wilsons' garage; Jordan loudly says they are going to the Plaza and Myrtle (who, unbeknownst to them, is pregnant) hears ("Valley of Ashes (reprise)"). At the Plaza, Daisy and Gatsby's affair comes to light, infuriating Tom. Gatsby demands that Daisy swear she never loved Tom, but Daisy cannot; she becomes more reluctant to leave Tom after Tom reveals that Gatsby's fortune is from bootlegging alcohol ("Made to Last"). Everyone leaves the hotel. Myrtle has been walking to the Plaza, thinking about her pregnancy with Tom's child. She is hit and killed by a yellow Rolls-Royce ("One-Way Road"). Tom sees Myrtle's body being carried away by the police. Jordan and Nick realize that Gatsby's car killed Myrtle, but Jordan wants to stay quiet. After witnessing the events at the Plaza, Jordan's cynicism returns and she, believing that all marriages are destined to fail, calls off her engagement with Nick ("For Better or Worse" (reprise)). Tom tells George that Gatsby owned the car; George despairs ("God Sees Everything"). Daisy retreats into her own home. Nick finds Gatsby alone at his mansion. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy had been driving the car. He thinks Daisy will return to him and says he intends to take the fall. Nick leaves as Gatsby begins to take a swim. George arrives and shoots Gatsby and then himself ("For Her" (reprise)). Nick is the only friend at Gatsby's funeral as people gossip about his death ("New Money" (reprise)). Nick confronts Daisy, who is now leaving with Tom for Honolulu, about her abandonment of Gatsby. Daisy tells Nick that she hopes her young daughter has no further ambitions beyond becoming a beautiful and docile rich wife ("Beautiful Little Fool"). Deciding to return to the Midwest, Nick visits Gatsby's abandoned mansion one last time and thinks he sees the man briefly standing on the dock ("Finale: Roaring On").
The Great Waltz is a musical conceived by Hassard Short with a book by Moss Hart and lyrics by Desmond Carter, using themes by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. It is based on a pasticcio by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner called Walzer aus Wien, first performed in Vienna in 1930. The story of the musical is loosely based on the real-life feud between the older and younger Strauss, allegedly because of the father's jealousy of his son's greater talent. The Great Waltz debuted on Broadway at the Center Theatre on September 22, 1934 and ran for 289 performances. The production was directed by Hassard Short and presented by Max Gordon, with choreography by Albertina Rasch, settings by Albert Johnson and costumes by Doris Zinkeisen together with Marion Claire, Marie Burke and Guy Robertson. The musical was made into a motion picture by MGM in 1938 with a screenplay and new lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. In 1949 impresario Edwin Lester hired Robert Wright and George Forrest to adapt Strauss's German lyrics and music for a production at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera starring Dorothy Kirsten and John Charles Thomas. This version was used for a London revival that opened at the Drury Lane Theatre on July 9, 1970 and ran for 605 performances. It was also used for a 1972 film remake.
The Greenwich Village Follies of 1919 is a musical revue in two acts with music by A. Baldwin Sloane and lyrics co-authored by John Murray Anderson and Arthur Swanstrom. Anderson also wrote the book in collaboration with Philip Bartholomae. The first of The Greenwich Village Follies series of revues, the work premiered Off-Broadway at the Greenwich Village Theatre on July 15, 1919. Theatre scholar Thomas S. Hischak described it as "the first Off-Broadway musical to gain wide recognition in New York", and credited designer Charles Buckles Falls for adopting many new innovations in set design both original to him and from Europe which had a significant impact on future set design on Broadway. Shirley Baker was also praised for her costume designs. Collectively, the show was performed a total of 232 times between the two theaters. The production starred Bessie McCoy Davis, Cecil Cunningham, Harry Delf, Bobby Edwards, Harry K. Morton, and Ted Lewis and his Orchestra.
The story turns on the efforts made to recover the heart of Princess Pearl, carried off by the Goblin. The King and Prince Pert make the journey, but the Grim Goblin has carried the treasure to his stronghold, the Dragon's Dell, where a wonderful phantom fight takes place:... introducing many entirely new features, and some of the most astounding leaps, dives and flights ever witnessed at the Grecian, where it appears as natural for the human form to be seen flying through the air or projected through the floor, as to assume the ordinary postures of mankind. Mr. George Conquest fully maintains his old supremacy. The Octopus not only looks like the real thing, but in its movements we trace an exact resemblance. The delicate and complicated machinery by which the 'feelers' of this monster move are exceedingly ingenious, and the most complete command of them is noticeable. Not alone as the Octopus, but as a gigantic Ape, Mr. George Conquest displays his extraordinary ability. The grotesque movements of the animal are so naturally, and at the same time so humorously assumed, that one might fancy Mr. Conquest had spent a greater portion of his life in studying monkey antics.
The play opens with a narration by the court clown Barkilphedro as we are introduced to a fictional version of London. He muses about how laughing at the misfortune of others is the biggest joy in life ("Laughter Is The Best Medicine"), before introducing the royal family to the audience. King Clarence is a miserable king with three children: Duchess Josiana, his hedonistic daughter, Lord David Dirry-Moir, his conceited and foolish son and Princess Angelica, their half-sister who has been locked away and has gone mad from loneliness. On the day the story takes place, David wanders around the Trafalgar fair where he meets the wrangler Osric who presents to him an arrangement of people with different afflictions. David then stumbles upon a caravan owned by Ursus, a puppeteer and druggist touring with his act, a young man known as "The Grinning Man", as well as a blind young woman who has "gone blind from gazing at him too long". David is fascinated and pays Ursus to continue as long as he sees the deformed man's concealed face, and the tale begins. Many years prior, King Clarence purges the country of rebels and executed those who stood in his way. Those desperate to get away fought to escape by ship, Ursus and his family being one of them. However, Ursus is unsuccessful in boarding the last ship departing and can only spectate from a high cliff as he witnesses a woman attempt to climb onboard with her son. Against his mother's pleas, the captain forces the boy to remove the bandages on his mouth to reveal a hideous grin carved upon it ("Show Us Your Face"). The boy is forced off the vessel as the people on board conclude his deformity is a bad omen. He cries out to his mother and begs for her to return, before the ship is struck by a large wave, killing everyone on board, including the boy's mother, which leaves him devastated as he vows to never forget her ("Mother's Song"). The boy wanders aimlessly through the dark woods, before discovering an infant girl whose mother has frozen to death and takes her with him and makes his way past the bodies of the executed rebels until he collapses from exhaustion and awaits death. Just then, an apparition of one of the hanged men appears and encourages the boy to keep going. As the boy rises up, he vows to protect the girl and find whoever disfigured him (“Hymn of The Hanged”). The boy is discovered by Mojo, a wolf-hound who leads him to Ursus’ caravan. After resuscitating the girl, Ursus discovers that she is blind as well as the boy’s deformity and providing him with pain killers. The boy introduces himself as Grinpayne, and asks Ursus to help him find his perpetrator. He then begins telling Ursus what happened to him, before being overwhelmed and breaking down into tears (“Cry of Pain”). Ursus comforts Grinpayne and convinces him that it’s best for him to let go of the painful memories and forget his past. Ursus decides to adopt the children and raise Grinpayne and the girl, whom he names Dea, as they leave London to start a new life (“Stars in the Sky”). Ursus starts telling the children stories as a way for them to cope with their tragic pasts and does everything in his power to prevent them from finding out the truth, which gradually causes Grinpayne to forget practically everything about his past. Years pass, and Dea and Grinpayne grow up and fall in love with each other (“Beauty and the Beast”). Back in the present, just as Grinpayne’s face is about to be revealed, the Great Bell of Bermondsey rings, which is later revealed due to King Clarence’s death as they recite the royal motto: “To them that have much more shall be given, to them that have not the little they have shall be taken”. At first it seems that none of the king’s children bother to show up. Barkilphedro has an imaginary conversation with the dead king’s corpse, wishing to be made a lord, but the corpse laughs in his face. Suddenly, Angelica shows up to the funeral. As she is the successor, the bishop has no other choice but to crown her queen, despite pointing out that she is slightly mad. As soon as she’s crowned queen, she immediately makes the decree that all traitors must be brought to justice and those who catch them shall be rewarded handsomely (“Weep oh Weep”). An exhausted Josiana returns from an orgy, and is immediately confronted by Angelica about her incestuous relationship with David. She asks her to find a husband who isn’t related by blood and to stop David from going to the fair and neglecting his duties, or else she would strip him of his title and take his sword. She proclaims how if she were queen she would outlaw law itself and wishes for someone to love. Just then David bursts in and informs Josiana about Grinpayne’s act and expresses his delight and amusement in seeing the entire thing as they rush to the fair. (“Never Seen a Face like This). Back at the caravan, Grinpayne and Dea confide to each other that they feel as if they are one step closer to discovering their pasts. Grinpayne asks Dea to help him find whoever mutilated his face and Dea happily promises to do so, before they are interrupted by Ursus (“Something’s about to change”).
A group of singing "zombie/aliens" addresses the audience, setting the scene in the small town of Hatchetfield and introducing the eponymous "Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals", unremarkable everyman Paul Matthews ("The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals"). Paul works at an office with his coworkers Bill, Charlotte, and Ted. Bill invites Paul to a production of Mamma Mia! at the local Starlight Theater in downtown Hatchetfield, but Paul declines based on his distaste for musicals. He heads to the local coffee shop, Beanie's, to see Emma Perkins, a barista he has a crush on. As he leaves the shop, Paul is hounded by a Greenpeace advocate about donating to save the planet. During their argument, an approaching storm forces them to take shelter as an explosion can be heard. The next day, Paul encounters a group of people singing and dancing led by the Greenpeace advocate from the day before ("La Dee Dah Dah Day"). Paul heads to work and Bill recounts that a strange meteor struck the Starlight Theater during the previous night's performance of Mamma Mia!. Their boss, Mr. Davidson, calls Paul into his office, where he sings an "I Want" song at him. ("What Do You Want, Paul?"). Paul rushes to Beanie's and tells Emma that he fears the world is becoming a musical. Emma, unconvinced, is called by her coworkers Nora and Zoey to perform their new Beanie's tip song ("Cup of Roasted Coffee"). Nora and Zoey continue singing and dancing after the song is supposed to end, and the shop's customers join the baristas in song after drinking coffee contaminated with a mysterious blue substance ("Cup of Poisoned Coffee"). Paul and Emma flee the shop and head into an alleyway where they find Paul's coworkers, who tell them that the entire town has started to behave the same way. Charlotte calls her husband Sam for help, but he has already been infected. Sam and two other police officers attack the group ("Show Me Your Hands") until Ted hits him over the head, knocking him out and exposing his brain, which is bright blue. Emma proposes that they seek help from her eccentric biology teacher Professor Hidgens. They follow her and take the unconscious Sam with them. The group arrives at Hidgens' fortified home on the edge of town. Hidgens believes that the behavior of the townsfolk is the result of an alien invasion brought to Earth by the meteor, and restrains Sam. Hidgens leads Paul, Emma, and Bill to get drinks, leaving Charlotte and Ted with Sam. They argue, and as Ted leaves, Sam wakes up. He convinces Charlotte to untie him with a love song ("You Tied Up My Heart"), then kills and infects her. Meanwhile, Emma and Paul grow closer, and they discover that Paul's hatred of musicals was inspired by seeing Emma perform in Brigadoon in high school. Emma tells Paul that she hates living in Hatchetfield and left after graduating high school, but returned due to the death of her sister. Their conversation is interrupted when Sam and Charlotte enter and attack the group ("Join Us (And Die)"). Hidgens shoots and kills them both with a shotgun. Bill receives a call from his daughter Alice, saying that she is trapped in the choir room at Hatchetfield High School. Paul goes with Bill to rescue her. Paul and Bill search for Alice at Hatchetfield High. They find her and her girlfriend Deb already infected, and Alice tells Bill that she blames him for her death and has always resented him ("Not Your Seed"). The infected group kills Bill, then corners Paul, determined to make him suffer for his defiance. Before they can kill him, the Army arrives and fends off the group, before knocking Paul unconscious. Paul wakes up and is greeted by General John MacNamara, who leads a special unit of the US Army that deals with the strange and paranormal, called PEIP. MacNamara has been ordered to kill any survivors, but tells Paul that if he can rescue Emma, they are both welcome to join PEIP on the rescue helicopter. Meanwhile, at Hidgens' compound, Hidgens determines that the aliens are a hive mind that communicates through music. Emma theorizes that the meteor acts as the hive's central brain and that destroying it would end the invasion, but Hidgens has decided to embrace the hive's unity as a method to achieve world peace, and so sedates her to avoid her idea getting out. Emma wakes up tied to a chair alongside Ted as Hidgens deactivates his house's defences and reveals his hidden passion for musical theatre. Intending to draw the hive's attention, he performs the opening number of his self-penned musical Workin' Boys, glorifying his college undergrad experience (“Show Stoppin' Number”). The zombies arrive and join in the performance, and Hidgens, caught up in the song, believes them to be his old college friends, allowing them to disembowel and infect him. Paul arrives to rescue Emma and Ted and they head for the pickup site, but one of the infected attacks Paul. Ted abandons the others and continues to the pickup site alone. There he finds the army waiting, but is shot and assimilated by an infected General MacNamara ("America Is Great Again"). Paul and Emma manage to escape to the helicopter, but the pilot reveals herself to be Zoey, Emma's infected coworker. Zoey attempts to shoot them, but Paul kicks away the gun, causing the helicopter to crash and severely injure Emma. She tells Paul to leave her and destroy the meteor to end the invasion. Paul arms himself with grenades from the helicopter and leaves. Paul enters the collapsed Starlight Theater and is confronted by a group of the infected. They encourage Paul to express his feelings through song. His proximity to the meteor begins to infect him, and he fights for control over the musical virus, eventually managing to pull the pin on a grenade and throw it at the meteor ("Let It Out"). Two weeks later, Emma is recovering in a hospital in Clivesdale and is placed in witness protection with the help of PEIP. She is told there are no other survivors, but she will be escorted to her new life by someone she knows. Paul enters, and the two reunite, before Paul begins to sing, infected by the virus. He and the rest of the infected implore her to join the hive ("Inevitable"). As the cast take their bows at the end of the show, Emma realizes she is trapped on stage in a musical and cannot escape. She cries and begs the audience for help until the cast drag her backstage at the end of the curtain call.
Setting: Marion, North Carolina (Act 1); the Dover, Delaware region (Act 2); and New York City (Act 3) McIntyre and Heath reprised their well known African-American characters of Alexander Hambletonian (McIntyre) and Henry Jones (Heath) which they had previously portrayed in minstrel shows and in vaudeville. Played as "lovable tramps and scamps", the first act begins with the characters stranded in a small North Carolina town where Hambletonian pretends to be a Raja and Heath his chief minister in order to obtain free room and board at a local establishment. The second act finds the pair having a series of mis-adventures by a railroad track and in a dark wood where they are desperately seeking food; ultimately discovering a tree that grows hams. The final act brings the pair into the palatial New York City mansion of Lawrence Nickelbacker and his autocratic wife, Mrs. Nickelbacker; a house located on Fifth Avenue. The villain of the piece is the English Lord Spotcash, and the work's loose plot also included a man of mystery, Sherlock Baffles.
The Happiest Girl in the World is a musical with a book by Fred Saidy and Henry Mayers, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, and music taken from the works of Jacques Offenbach.
The Happy Day is a musical comedy in two acts by Seymour Hicks, with music by Sidney Jones and Paul Rubens, and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Rubens. It was produced by George Edwardes's company (by the estate's executor, Robert Evett) and was directed by Evett. Set in the fictional country of Valaria, the story concerns a royal couple who dislike each other but ultimately fall in love. A masquerade scene provides opportunities for mistaken identity. The musical opened at Daly's Theatre in London on 13 May 1916 and ran for 241 performances. It starred Winifred Barnes, José Collins and Arthur Wontner, who played the Ruritanian prince. Later Bertram Wallis joined the cast.
The Happy Time is a musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by N. Richard Nash loosely based on a 1950 hit Broadway play, The Happy Time by Samuel A. Taylor, which was in turn based on stories by Robert Fontaine. The story had also been made into a 1952 film version. The original 1967 Los Angeles and 1968 Broadway productions were directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, who won Tony Awards in each category.
An aspiring singer arrives in Kingston hoping to make a record and escape poverty. Exploitation in the music business draws him toward crime, while reggae songs chart his growing conflict with the authorities and the promises of fame.
The princess rejects all her suitors until her father gives her to a beggar. On the journey to his cottage, she learns that the lands they pass belong to kings she had rejected. She struggles with poverty and manual work, and her haughty spirit softens. Her husband finds her a job as a scullery maid at her own castle. At a royal wedding, the beggar reveals that he is the handsome king she once rejected and says he married her to change her character. They prepare for their wedding.
The Heart is a musical with a book by Kait Kerrigan and music by Ian and Anne Eisendrath with additional lyrics by Kerrigan. The musical is based on the 2014 French language novel Mend the Living (Réparer les vivants) by Maylis de Kerangal. The musical had its world premiere on August 19, 2025, at the La Jolla Playhouse and will transfer Off-Broadway in the fall of 2026 as part of the Roundabout Theatre Company season at the Laura Pels Theatre.
The Heart of Rock and Roll is a jukebox musical with a book by Jonathan Abrams and music and lyrics by Huey Lewis and his pop rock band Huey Lewis and the News, with new orchestrations of their music by Brian Usifer. The show features an original story revolving around a couple balancing their romance amidst their rock and roll world and corporate world dreams. It is not a biographical piece about the band. and closed on June 23, 2024.
The Hot Mikado was a musical theatre adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado with an African-American cast. It was first produced by Mike Todd on Broadway in 1939. It starred Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the title role, with musical arrangements by Charles L. Cooke and direction by Hassard Short.
The Hotel Mouse is a musical comedy with music by Armand Vecsey and Ivan Caryll, lyrics by Clifford Grey, and book by Guy Bolton, with additional music by Bert Hanlon, and additional lyrics by Alfred Bryan. The book is based on the French comedy Le souris d'hôtel by Marcel Gerbidon and Paul Armont and concerns a female cat burglar in Monte Carlo given the nickname "the hotel mouse" by the local police; one of her marks falls in love with her. It was produced in 1922 on Broadway by the Shubert brothers, followed by a tour.
The Human Comedy is a 1983 musical with a book and lyrics by William Dumaresq and music by Galt MacDermot. William Saroyan's tale originated as a screenplay he had been hired to write and direct for MGM. When the studio objected to its length and an uncompromising Saroyan was pulled from the project, he rewrote the story as a 1943 novel with the same title that was published shortly prior to the film's release.
The Hunting of the Snark is a musical based on Lewis Carroll's 1876 poem The Hunting of the Snark, written by composer Mike Batt.
The Imbible is a series of educational entertainment musicals created and produced by Anthony Caporale through his production company Broadway Theatre Studio.
The Immigrant is a four-person chamber musical with music by Steven M. Alper and lyrics by Sarah Knapp, with a book by Mark Harelik. The show is based on Harelik's 1985 play of the same name. A Jewish immigrant and his wife enter into the life of an American couple in Texas. In the end, there is a signal of a new start of friendship between the two families and the hope for future.
The Irish… and How They Got That Way is an American Off-Broadway musical first performed in 1997 at the Irish Repertory Theatre. Based on a book by Frank McCourt, the play featured an eclectic mix of Irish music ranging from the traditional "Danny Boy" to U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."
Liliandra is a famous English operatic soprano known as "The Jersey Lily" who returns to the city of her birth, St. Helier, Jersey. There her stubborn uncle attempts to coerce her into marrying the local veterinary surgeon, Doctor Bolivar. Another local girl, Sara, is also being pressured to marry Doctor Bolivar by her father. Sara, however, wants marry her secret boyfriend, the American lieutenant Edgar Jefferson. Meanwhile, Liliandra meets the wealthy South American diplomat Don Pedro de la Platza and her heart is drawn to him over Doctor Bolivar. Liliandra and Don Pedro marry. The musical also featured humorous secondary roles in the parts of the composer Offenbach Veriverdi (taken by combining the names of composers Jacques Offenbach and Giuseppe Verdi) and the German hotel employee Rosie Bauer.
After moving to California, teenager Daniel LaRusso learns karate from Mr. Miyagi as he faces bullies and prepares for a tournament.
Act I Dan is a gay sex advice columnist ("I'm Asking You"), and his partner is Terry. Dan composes a satirical letter to potential birth mothers listing entries which should obviously not be included ("If You Give Us Your Baby"). Dan and Terry meet with an adoption counselor named Anne to go over their worries about becoming parents. The adoption counselor tells them, "Man or woman, gay or straight, what you're facing is a long, long wait." The couple decide upon an open adoption process, where they will be able to meet the baby's birth mother. Melissa, a teenager who is pregnant and homeless, selects them as the couple to care for her child ("Her Name Is Melissa"). She describes her life to Dan and Terry ("Spare Changin'"). Act II Dan's mother informs him she knew he was gay as a child but did not meddle in his process of becoming a gay adult ("I Knew"). She reassures him during a period of nervousness, telling Dan, "If you think this is scary, wait. Do you know how terrified I was when you first had measles?" Bacchus, the biological father of Melissa's child, appears and becomes involved in the decision regarding the outcome for the baby ("Behind the Wheel"). Dan and Terry worry over whether Melissa will change her mind during the adoption process ("42 Hours"). After the child is born, the couple share the experience of holding their new baby together ("Beautiful"), and all ends happily ("My Kid").
In 1862, a strong-willed, widowed schoolteacher, Anna Leonowens, arrives in Bangkok, Siam (later known as Thailand) at the request of the King of Siam to tutor his many children. Anna's young son, Louis, fears the severe countenance of the King's prime minister, the Kralahome, but Anna refuses to be intimidated ("I Whistle a Happy Tune"). The Kralahome has come to escort them to the palace, where they are expected to live – a violation of Anna's contract, which calls for them to live in a separate house. She considers returning to Singapore aboard the vessel that brought them, but goes with her son and the Kralahome. Several weeks pass, during which Anna and Louis are confined to their palace rooms. The King receives a gift from the king of Burma, a lovely slave girl named Tuptim, to be one of his many wives. She is escorted by Lun Tha, a scholar who has come to copy a design for a temple, and the two are secretly in love. Tuptim, left alone, declares that the King may own her, but not her heart ("My Lord and Master"). The King gives Anna her first audience. The schoolteacher is a part of his plan for the modernization of Siam; he is impressed when she already knows this. She raises the issue of her house with him, he dismisses her protests and orders her to talk with his wives. They are interested in her, and she tells them of her late husband, Tom ("Hello, Young Lovers"). The King presents her new pupils; Anna is to teach those of his children whose mothers are in favor with him – several dozen – and is to teach their mothers as well. The princes and princesses enter in procession ("March of the Royal Siamese Children"). Anna is charmed by the children, and formality breaks down after the ceremony as they crowd around her. Anna has not given up on the house, and teaches the children proverbs and songs extolling the virtues of home life, to the King's irritation. The King has enough worries without battling the schoolteacher, and wonders why the world has become so complicated ("A Puzzlement"). The children and wives are hard at work learning English ("The Royal Bangkok Academy"). The children are surprised by a map showing how small Siam is compared with the rest of the world ("Getting to Know You"). As the crown prince, Chulalongkorn, disputes the map, the King enters a chaotic schoolroom. He orders the pupils to believe the teacher but complains to Anna about her lessons about "home". Anna stands her ground and insists on the letter of her contract, threatening to leave Siam, much to the dismay of wives and children. The King orders her to obey as "my servant"; she repudiates the term and hurries away. The King dismisses school, then leaves, uncertain of his next action. Meanwhile, Lun Tha comes upon Tuptim, and they muse about having to hide their relationship ("We Kiss in a Shadow"). In her room, Anna replays the confrontation in her mind, her anger building ("Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?"). Lady Thiang, the King's head wife, tells Anna that the King is troubled by his portrayal in the West as a barbarian, as the British are being urged to take over Siam as a protectorate. Anna is shocked by the accusations – the King is a polygamist, but he is no barbarian – but she is reluctant to see him after their argument. Lady Thiang convinces her that the King is deserving of support ("Something Wonderful"). Anna goes to him and finds him anxious for reconciliation. The King tells her that the British are sending an envoy to Bangkok to evaluate the situation. Anna "guesses" – the only guise in which the King will accept advice – that the King will receive the envoy in European style, and that the wives will be dressed in Western fashion. Tuptim has been writing a play based on a book that Anna has lent her, Uncle Tom's Cabin, that can be presented to the guests. News is brought to the King that the British are arriving much earlier than thought, and so Anna and the wives are to stay up all night to prepare. The King assembles his family for a Buddhist prayer for the success of the venture and also promises before Buddha that Anna will receive her own house "as provided in agreement, etc., etc." The wives are dressed in their new European-style gowns, which they find confining ("Western People Funny"). In the rush to prepare, the question of undergarments has been overlooked, and the wives have practically nothing on underneath their gowns. When the British envoy, Sir Edward Ramsay, arrives and gazes at them through a monocle, they are panicked by the "evil eye" and lift their skirts over their heads as they flee. Sir Edward is diplomatic about the incident. When the King is called away, it emerges that Sir Edward is an old flame of Anna's, and they dance in remembrance of old times, as Edward urges her to return to British society. The King returns and irritably reminds them that dancing is for after dinner. As final preparations for the play are made, Tuptim steals a moment to meet with Lun Tha. He tells her he has an escape plan, and she should be ready to leave after the performance ("I Have Dreamed"). Anna encounters them, and they confide in her ("Hello, Young Lovers", reprise). The play ("Small House of Uncle Thomas", narrated ballet) is presented in a Siamese ballet-inspired dance. Tuptim is the narrator, and she tells her audience of the evil King Simon of Legree and his pursuit of the runaway slave Eliza. Eliza is saved by Buddha, who miraculously freezes a river and conceals her in snow. Buddha then causes the river to melt, drowning King Simon and his hunting party. The anti-slavery message is blunt. After the play, Sir Edward reveals that the British threat has receded, but the King is distracted by his displeasure at Tuptim's rebellious message. After Sir Edward leaves, Anna and the King express their delight at how well the evening went, and he presents her with a ring. Secret police report that Tuptim is missing. The King realizes that Anna knows something; she parries his inquiry by asking why he should care, as Tuptim is just another woman to him. He is delighted; she is at last understanding the Siamese perspective. Anna tries to explain to him the Western customs of courtship and tells him what it is like for a young woman at a formal dance ("Shall We Dance?"). He demands that she teach him the dance. She does, and in that dance they experience and express a love for each other that they can never speak aloud. They are interrupted by the Kralahome. Tuptim has been captured, and a search is on for Lun Tha. The King resolves to punish Tuptim, though she denies she and Lun Tha were lovers. Anna tries to dissuade him, but he is determined that her influence shall not rule, and he takes the whip himself. He turns to lash Tuptim, but under Anna's gaze is unable to swing the whip, and hurries away. Lun Tha is found dead, and Tuptim is dragged off, swearing to kill herself; nothing more is heard about her. Anna asks the Kralahome to give her ring back to the King; both schoolteacher and minister state their wish that she had never come to Siam. Several months pass with no contact between Anna and the King. Anna is packed and ready to board a ship leaving Siam. Chulalongkorn arrives with a letter from the King, who has been unable to resolve the conflicts within himself and is dying. Anna hurries to the King's bedside and they reconcile. The King persuades her to take back the ring and to stay and assist the next king, Chulalongkorn. The dying man tells Anna to take dictation from the prince, and instructs the boy to give orders as if he were King. The prince orders the end of the custom of kowtowing that Anna hated. The King grudgingly accepts this decision. As Chulalongkorn continues, prescribing a less arduous bow to show respect for the king, his father dies. Anna kneels by the late King, holding his hand and kissing it, as the wives and children bow or curtsey, a gesture of respect to old king and new.
Based on the story of Cinderella, Irishman Major O'Neill (Robert Pateman) is faced with bankruptcy and financial ruin after running up large milliners bills for his daughters Maud (Adelaide Astor) and Beatrice (Blanche Barnett). In an attempt to stave off this disaster, with the assistance of Flo Honeydew (Jennie McNulty) he attempts to marry off his youngest daughter Phyllis (May Yohé) - the slavey of the title - to a rich man she doesn't love. Phyllis loves Vincent A. Evelyn (Henry Beaumont). She, assisted by Roberts, a Sheriff's Officer (Charles Danby) is determined to avoid this fate. Roberts enters disguised as an American millionaire to thwart the plan. All ends well and Phyllis is united with her true love.
The Lady in Red is a musical in three acts with music by Robert Winterberg and both book and lyrics by Anne Caldwell. It was an Americanized version of Winterberg's earlier German-language operetta Die Dame in Rot (1911) with entirely new lyrics and dialogue by Caldwell and some new music by Winterberg in addition to some of the music from the earlier 1911 work. Composer George Gershwin had two songs in the show, "Some Wonderful Sort of Someone," with lyrics by Schuyler Greene, and "Something About Love", with lyrics by Lou Paley. The Lady in Red premiered at Broadway's Lyric Theatre on March 12, 1919. This new version of Winterberg's operetta was created as a starring vehicle for Adele Rowland who portrayed Kitty St. Claire. Directed by Frank Smithson and produced by John P. Slocum, the production ran on Broadway for a total of 48 performances, closing on June 21, 1919.
The Lancers is a musical in three acts. The musical's book by Rida Johnson Young and J. Hartley Manners was adapted from Augustin Daly's 1881 play The Passing Regiment. Daly's play itself was based on Gustav von Moser and Franz von Schonthan's 1880 German-language play Krieg im Freiden (English: War in Peace). The musical had several contributing composers and lyricists, including Cecilia Loftus, George Spink, Milton Lusk, and Arthur Gumble to name just a few. The work premiered on Broadway at Daly's Theatre on December 5, 1907 with a cast that included Cecilia Loftus as Marcia Tremaine and Lawrence D'Orsay as Captain Cecil Fitzherbert. It was directed by Frank Smithson and produced by brothers Lee and Jacob J. Shubert.
Countess Lisa falls in love with Prince Sou-Chong and marries him, then travels with him to China. She struggles with the customs of his court, including his obligation to take additional wives, and becomes unhappy. Lisa returns to Vienna, while Sou-Chong remains in China; Mi and Gustav also part.
Empress Myeongseong tries to preserve Korean sovereignty as rival powers compete for influence at the royal court. Political manoeuvring, marriage, and resistance lead toward the assassination that made her a symbol of national struggle.
Cathy is sitting alone lamenting the end of her marriage ("Still Hurting"). Five years earlier, Jamie has just met Cathy. He is overjoyed that, for the first time in his life, he is in a romantic relationship with a non-Jewish woman. ("Shiksa Goddess"). Cathy and Jamie are in Ohio but not together. It is her birthday, and he has come to visit her as she works in a show there ("See I'm Smiling"). She is anxious to fix any problems in their marriage but she becomes angry when Jamie tells her he has to go back early to New York. During breaks in the music, we see a younger Jamie, talking to a literary agent about his book. Jamie is moving in with Cathy. He comments on how lucky he is that everything is going right for him; his book is being published and his life with Cathy seems too good to be true ("Moving Too Fast"). Meanwhile, an older Cathy is making a call to her agent; it seems her career is not going the way she planned it. Cathy is attending Jamie's book party. She sings about how he ignores her for his writing but she will always be in love with him ("I'm a Part of That"). Jamie and Cathy celebrate their second Christmas. He tells her a new story he has written about an old tailor named Schmuel and he gives her a Christmas present: a watch, promising to support her as she follows her dreams of acting. ("The Schmuel Song"). Cathy is in Ohio and writing to Jamie. She describes to Jamie her disappointing life in Ohio among her eccentric colleagues ("A Summer in Ohio"). Jamie is sitting with Cathy in Central Park. Jamie proposes to her and, for the first time in the musical, they sing together ("The Next Ten Minutes"). They get married, exchanging vows to stay together forever. Jamie is facing temptation from other women, especially now that his career as a writer has escalated ("A Miracle Would Happen"). Cathy, meanwhile, is auditioning for a role ("When You Come Home to Me"). She is feeling depressed because of the rejection she is facing in her acting career, and she complains to Jamie about it ("Climbing Uphill"). Jamie speaks to Cathy on the phone, trying to convince her that there is nothing going on with him and his editor, Elise. He wants to celebrate a book review, but Cathy refuses to go out. Jamie is fighting with Cathy, trying to get her to listen to him. He accuses her of being unsupportive of his career just because hers is failing. Though his words are harsh, he promises her that he believes in her ("If I Didn't Believe in You"). A younger Cathy is in the car with Jamie, who is going to meet her parents. She tells him about her past relationships and hopes not to end up in a small town life like her friend from high school ("I Can Do Better Than That"). She asks Jamie to move in with her. Near the end of the relationship, Jamie wakes up beside another woman ("Nobody Needs to Know"). He tries to defend his actions and blames Cathy for destroying his privacy and their relationship. Jamie promises not to lie to this woman and tells her that "I could be in love with someone like you," just as he said to Cathy in "Shiksa Goddess". Cathy is ecstatic after her first date with Jamie. She sings goodbye ("Goodbye Until Tomorrow"). She proclaims that she has been waiting for Jamie her whole life. Simultaneously but five years forward, Jamie sits in their shared apartment writing laments over the relationship ("I Could Never Rescue You"). As Cathy waves Jamie "goodbye until tomorrow", Jamie wishes Cathy simply "goodbye".
The Last Session is a musical with the book by Jim Brochu and the music and lyrics by Steve Schalchlin, with additional lyrics by John Bettis and Marie Cain. The musical is about a singer/songwriter who has decided to commit suicide to end his battle with AIDS, but only after one last recording session in the studio. The musical was presented Off-Broadway in 1997.
A man returns to his northeastern English hometown after years away and finds its shipyard threatened with closure. As workers fight for their livelihoods, old relationships and unresolved family ties pull him back into the community he left.
Title character Lelio can't stop lying and can't stop chasing the ladies, including the two daughters of Doctor Balanzoni who are respectively and romantically involved with Florindo and Octavio. Moreover, Lelio's servant Arlecchino becomes interested in Columbina, although she too is involved with another. But the romantic misadventures are resolved when it is revealed that Lelio is already married to Cleonice. So Lelio, Cleonice, and Arlecchino head for home, and the various Venetian couples pairing up without interference from Lelio and Arlecchino.
The Lieutenant is a rock opera with book, music and lyrics by Gene Curty, Nitra Scharfman and Chuck Strand. The musical concerns the court martial of Lieutenant William Calley during the Vietnam War and ran on Broadway in 1975.
The Life depicts the pulsating life on the Times Square streets in the 1980s, where everything had a price, especially sex—the garish topless bars, the transvestite joints, the hookers who worked the side walks at the bidding of their pimps ("Check It Out!"). Jojo, an opportunistic, conniving white hustler in the thick of the action, has a bare knuckled plan for feeding his ambition ("Use What You Got"). But among these unsavoury characters there are appealing people who have been caught in the web of these sordid surroundings. Sonja, a veteran hooker who has seen better days, befriends Queen who is on the street because her man, Fleetwood, a displaced Vietnam veteran, needs her support. She has saved her money and on this day plans to get away with Fleetwood and leave the life for good, enjoying, with Sonja ("A Lovely Day to Be Out of Jail"). Returning to her hotel room, Queen discovers that Fleetwood has spent half of her savings to pay off his drug debts and feed his habit. Fleetwood has an unrealistic dream of attaining power and money ("A Piece of the Action"). Jojo tells him he'll never amount to anything as a pimp as long as he's romantically involved with the woman he's selling. Jojo takes him to the Port Authority where they find Mary, just off the bus from Minnesota, a girl with the mien of an angel but, as we eventually find out, she's no angel. Jojo grabs at her suitcase so that Fleetwood can rescue it and become her hero. The demi-monde hangs out at a bar owned by Lacy, who has seen it all but has certain affection for his clientele. In the company of her sister whores, Sonja bemoans the wear and tear of her life ("The Oldest Profession"). When Fleetwood and Mary arrive, Memphis, the "biggest businessman on the block" comments on the professionalism of his trade and soon zeroes in on the newcomer ("Don't Take Much"). Reluctantly, Queen takes Mary to the room she shares with Fleetwood and tries to persuade her to go home ("Go Home"). Later, as prostitutes eye potential customers, a gospel group parades by ("You Can't Get to Heaven"). The girls defiantly stand up for themselves ("My Body"), while the pimps complain about the harassment of the police ("Why Don't They Leave Us Alone?"). Jojo cajoles Mary into taking a turn as a go-go dancer. A smashing success, she celebrates her good fortune with Fleetwood and Jojo, who has her in mind for his "mentor" Lou, a gaudy Los Angeles producer of "motion pictures" of the triple X genre, who's looking for fresh corn-fed talent ("Easy Money"). Once again in jail, Queen reflects on her attachment to Fleetwood ("He's No Good"); while, enticed by Mary, Jojo and Fleetwood spend the night with her in a threesome. As Fleetwood turns his attentions toward Mary, Memphis makes his move to put "Queen in his deck". Queen discovers what's been going on between Fleetwood and Mary, and decides she's finally had enough ("I'm Leaving You"). As everyone parties at The Hookers' Ball, Lou makes off with Mary, while Queen, shunning Fleetwood, attaches herself to Memphis ("The Hooker's Ball"). Over a game of Three-card Monte ("Step Right Up"), Jojo and the pimps discuss their "silent partner", Mr. Greed ("Mr. Greed"). In Memphis' spacious apartment, Queen thanks him for getting her out of jail and for the beautiful dress he gave her to wear to the Hookers' Ball; but Memphis makes it very clear that the dress was a $6,000 loan that she must repay with her earnings ("My Way or the Highway"). He warns Queen that she better not leave town "cause you'll be coming back real soon for a funeral – Fleetwood's; followed shortly by your own". Queen tells Sonja that she must find Fleetwood and warn him about Memphis' threat. She asks Jojo to tell Fleetwood to meet her the next morning at Lacy's. Meanwhile, Mary, with Lou, toasts her acceptance of his offer of a movie career ("People Magazine"). The next morning Jojo double crosses Queen and comes to Lacy's with Memphis, who brutally flogs the terrified woman. When Fleetwood arrives, Queen reminds him of what they once had together ("We Had a Dream"). When Fleetwood returns to his hotel, he finds Mary leaving for Los Angeles. Near the Lincoln Tunnel, Memphis' henchman, Snickers, pushes Queen to get "plenty of action tonight. Memphis is dependin' on it" ("Use What You Got" (Reprise)). She, Sonja and other girls share their hopes for the future ("'Someday' is for Suckers"). Later, near the Hudson River in a spot once special to Queen and Fleetwood, Sonja hands Queen a bus ticket and a suitcase in a desperate attempt to get her away from Memphis. Fleetwood unexpectedly appears and tries to talk Queen into making a new start ("We Gotta Go"), but Queen bitterly rejects him. Jojo guides Memphis onto the scene. Fleetwood pulls a gun on Memphis, but Jojo knocks the gun loose as Memphis mortally stabs Fleetwood; Queen seizes the fallen gun and shoots Memphis. Sonja decides to take the rap for killing Memphis, claiming self-defence; she and Queen say goodbye ("My Friend"), then Queen departs for the bus, which will carry her to freedom, as Sonja surrenders to the police. ("Check It Out!" (Reprise))
The Light in the Piazza is a musical with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and a book by Craig Lucas. Based on the 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer, the show is set in the 1950s and tells the story of Margaret Johnson, a wealthy woman from the American South, and Clara, her daughter, who is developmentally disabled due to a childhood accident. The two spend a summer together in Florence, Italy. When Clara falls in love with a young Italian man, Fabrizio, Margaret is forced to reconsider not only Clara's future, but her own deep-seated hopes and regrets as well. The score breaks from the 21st century tradition of pop music on Broadway by moving into the territory of Neoromantic classical music and opera, with unexpected harmonic shifts and extended melodic structures, and is more heavily orchestrated than most Broadway scores. Many of the lyrics are in Italian or broken English, as many of the characters are fluent only in Italian.
At a masquerade in Nice, Georgine appears as the Lilac Domino and attracts Count André de St. Armand, who has been selected by his friends to marry a wealthy woman to repay gambling debts. Georgine hears of the plan and believes André seeks her money, though he loves her. A gypsy violinist helps resolve the misunderstanding, and the lovers unite.
The show opens with Henry Fraser introducing a story about an accident he experienced at the age of 17. The narrative moves to the summer of 2009, where a younger version of Henry is asked to travel to Portugal with his older brothers, Tom and Will (‘NEVER COMING HOME’). The story introduces the Fraser family, including Henry's younger brother Dom and his parents, Fran and Andrew, who permit Henry to go on the trip if he wins the Schools’ Cup Rugby Final. Henry speaks to Katie, a classmate from art class, and promises to go on a date with her upon his return. After winning the final and resolving an issue with an expired passport, Henry arrives on a Portuguese beach with his brothers (‘FEEL LIKE THIS’). Suddenly, Fran and Andrew arrive at a Portuguese hospital, frazzled and scared, and they are told that Henry hit his head on a bank of sand whilst diving into the sea, damaging the fourth vertebra in his neck. Henry is paralysed from the top of his shoulders down. In the shock of the news, Fran dissociates and disappears into her memories (‘ONE TO SEVENTEEN’). Man Henry can't remember the accident itself, and though Boy Henry does, he doesn't want to revisit that trauma. They imagine Katie on Henry's date – in a gallery with a perfect boyfriend – staring at a black canvas, ‘a tragic life devoid of colour’. But what does it mean? Henrys wake up in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, meeting the tireless staff, fronted by the no-nonsense Dr Graham (‘WORK OF HEART’). The Fraser family are struggling to cope with their shared trauma, with Dom unable to touch his brother, Andrew wondering if it was all his fault, and Fran nearly rejecting Katie's stacks of cards from his schoolmates – so terrified is she of what Henry's life will be like now. Luckily for her, Henry's ‘brutal but brilliant’ physio, Agnes, is there to help Fran begin to see that there is life after a life-changing accident and that the key lies in accepting change (‘PART OF THE PLAN’). Henry admits to struggling with acceptance, particularly at night time when he thinks he can hear the sea, so his younger self tries to distract him with joyous memories of their last night on holiday (‘UMA VIDA’). The next day, Henry is told he can go outside for the first time in six weeks, and feels his first ‘little big thing’ in the incredible warmth and colour of the yellow sunlight. But as Andrew pushes his wheelchair back inside, Henry sees his reflection in the hospital doors – the first time he has seen himself since Portugal – and he completely breaks down (‘WHY?’). His younger self tells him to pull it together for the sake of his family, who are also trying to put on brave faces (‘DON’T WANNA HAVE TO’). But Henry is in denial, and doesn't even want to consider Agnes's physiotherapy. Agnes tells him that acceptance and adaptation has to come from his family as much as it does him, and reveals that she can see Boy Henry. She suggests reading Katie's card, which she signed with a bright pink heart. The Henrys read all the messages of support from their loved ones (‘THE WORLD IS WAITING’), helping them find the strength to make their way out of hospital eleven months early. Agnes teaches the Fraser family how to ‘adapt for Henry, not the other way around’, and they set about making their home accessible for his return (‘WHAT I NEED’). Henry returns home with a new appreciation: ‘Was the grass always that green?’. However, he finds a different house than the one he left, with his bed in the living room, and even Dom having to take the role as carer. Henry has done so much work, but still hasn't faced the trauma of his accident, and begs Boy Henry to revisit the day on the beach, which he does, painfully (‘SILENCE OF THE SEA’). For the first time, Dom sleeps beside Henry and holds his hand: ‘I felt a warmth I never had before. It’s like the whole room glowed bright orange’. Trying to find a way forward, Agnes takes Fran and the Henrys on an emancipating night out clubbing (‘THINGS WE SHOULDN’T DO’), which is great fun until they get home, and find a worried Andrew, Tom and Will. The family get into a huge row, and some terrible things are said, leading to Andrew and Fran storming out, and the Fraser brothers fighting it out between them (‘SYMPATHY’). Man Henry breaks it up by telling them they can never go back to how it was and that all of them need to forget Boy. Andrew returns, apologising about the fight, and shows Henry his new invention: an adapted stylus using his ‘purple protector’ gum shield, so that he can make art on his tablet, using his mouth. Henry is grateful but doesn't know what to create, and asks his dad what he would paint. Andrew daydreams about good times with the entire Fraser family on his big red boat (‘MILES AND MILES’), and feels some relief in ‘letting go’ of Boy. Henry finds freedom and joy in painting, and doesn't stop – creating more and more art using his mouth - so many paintings in fact that Fran has secretly arranged a gallery showing, via Agnes, for all his pieces. Henry goes about inviting all the people from his life to his gallery, including Katie, who he finally gets to take on a date. But before the exhibition itself, he wants the entire Fraser family to go to the beach, and finally look at the bright blue sea. Andrew admits that he sold his boat because they're a team, and him and Fran find some healing in his sacrifice. Henry tells his brothers that they need to let go of the trauma of the accident, and remember Boy how he'd like: nearly as happy as he is now. Agnes drops by to tell the Henrys that the gallery want a big centre-piece for the showing, something ‘personal’, and Henry finally builds up the courage to ask her how he can stop seeing the Boy. She tells him that they never leave, but when you find peace and acceptance, they ‘take a step back’. Henry asks his younger self to help him paint the big centrepiece, where they celebrate their story together and use the pain of their past, to find joy in the present (‘GUIDE YOU’). Boy tells Henry that he would go on the holiday all over again, and that he can't wait to be him, before Henry can finally let him go. The day of the gallery arrives, and Fran and Andrew take a sneak peek of the centre-piece, which is revealed to be a painting of Andrew's boat. In that moment, Andrew sees a new future for Henry, and is so proud of his son. Henry braces himself to face his audience – mirroring the opening of the show – where he tells us about his story – a story about his life- changing accident at the age of seventeen, and how he wouldn't be who he is without it (‘THE LITTLE BIG THINGS’).
The show opens at the office of the fictional New York Inter-County Railroad. Augustus Rollett hires a local dancer, "Little Blue Devil", to pretend she is his wife and flirt with his boss. He then uses their flirtation to urge he get a raise. His actual wife finds out and uses the dancer to patch up her own marriage. The second act takes place in the apartment of "Little Blue Devil". The third act takes place in the home of Augustus Rollett.
The Little Duchess is a musical in three acts with music by Reginald De Koven and both book and lyrics by Harry B. Smith. Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., the work was an adaptation of Alfred Hennequin's 1878 play Niniche. The musical was created as a starring vehicle for Ziegfeld's longtime life partner, the actress Anna Held, who portrayed Clare de Brion, a.k.a. "The Little Duchess".
Prince Eric, his nautical expert Pilot, and his advisor, Grimsby, and sailors are aboard a ship at sea, discussing the "mythical" merfolk that supposedly live under the sea. Grimsby wants Eric to return to court to fulfill his birthright as king. However, Eric hears a beautiful voice and commands it to be followed ("Fathoms Below"). Deep on the ocean floor in the merfolk kingdom, a concert in honor of a thwarted coup d'état by the sea witch Ursula is underway, being performed by the daughters of King Triton, the ruler of the sea. King Triton's court composer, Sebastian the crab, has composed a song for the girls to perform ("Daughters of Triton"). However, the youngest daughter, Ariel, is not there for her solo, bringing the concert to a halt. Ariel has forgotten about the concert and is swimming around the surface, admiring a new item for her collection, a fork. She reveals that she is fascinated with the human world ("The World Above"). Together with her best friend Flounder, Ariel visits Scuttle and his fellow seagulls to ask about the human things she's collected, and he explains them somewhat erroneously ("Human Stuff"). Elsewhere, Ursula is seeking revenge against her brother, King Triton. She was banished from the palace for using black magic, and tells her minions Flotsam and Jetsam to keep an eye on Ariel, whom she thinks will be the key to getting the crown and trident ("I Want the Good Times Back"). When Ariel returns home, King Triton is angered to learn that she has been on the surface and reprimands her: King Triton is xenophobic towards humans, believing them to be nothing but savage fish-eaters. Ariel rushes off distraught, and King Triton assigns Sebastian to watch over Ariel to make sure she doesn't get into trouble. Ariel sits alone in her grotto, which contains her collection of human things, and imagines living in the human world ("Part of Your World"). Ariel and Flounder meet Scuttle at the surface to see Prince Eric's ship up close. On board, Grimsby tells Eric that he must find a bride and take his place as king. A storm suddenly hits, and Eric is tossed overboard. Ariel saves him from drowning and drags him to shore. She realizes that she is falling in love with him, and vows to find a way to be with him ("Part of Your World (Reprise)"). After Ariel returns home, her behavior makes her sisters and Flounder suspect that she has fallen in love ("She's in Love"). On land, Eric is determined to find the woman who saved his life, but the only clue he has is ("Her Voice"). Sebastian reveals to King Triton that Ariel has saved a human. Triton angrily confronts her about it ("The World Above (Reprise)"), uncovers her grotto and uses his trident to destroy Ariel's human collection. After the king leaves, Sebastian tries to comfort Ariel by pointing out the wonders of the undersea world ("Under the Sea"), but she is disappointed with him for reporting to her father and sneaks off with Flounder during the song. Once she is away, she is stopped by Flotsam and Jetsam, who sweet talk her into seeking help from Ursula ("Sweet Child"). Ariel goes to meet Ursula, who presents a deal: Ariel will be turned into a human for three days, during which she has to win the kiss of true love from Eric. If she does, she will be human permanently; if not, her soul will belong to Ursula. In exchange, Ariel must give up her voice, which will stay in Ursula's magic nautilus shell ("Poor Unfortunate Souls"). Ariel signs the agreement and sings into the shell, after which she is transformed into a human and swims up to the surface. Sebastian and Flounder bring Ariel, newly human, to shore. Scuttle and the seagulls give her a pep talk to raise her spirits and help her get used to her new legs ("Positoovity"). Eric arrives, but when Ariel tries to talk to him, she cannot speak. Eric brings Ariel back to his palace, where Carlotta, the head mistress, and the maids bathe and dress Ariel. Ariel is fascinated by the human world, while the maids wonder why Eric has brought such a girl to the palace ("Beyond My Wildest Dreams"). That night Chef Louis cooks dinner for Ariel, Grimsby, and Eric, and almost cooks Sebastian for the grand finale ("Les Poissons"/"Les Poissons (Reprise)"). Eric and Ariel spend time together, during which Eric teaches her to dance ("One Step Closer"). Meanwhile, Ursula is anxiously waiting for the three days to end and sends Flotsam and Jetsam to hurry things along ("I Want the Good Times Back (Reprise)"). After a tour of the kingdom, Eric takes Ariel on a quiet boat ride through a lagoon. Sebastian and Scuttle watch anxiously and try to create a romantic atmosphere for Eric to kiss Ariel ("Kiss the Girl"). As they are about to kiss, Flotsam and Jetsam give the boat an "electric shock", scare the animals away, and swim away gloating ("Sweet Child (Reprise)"). As the second day ends, Ariel wishes she had more time and could tell Eric everything, Triton worries about where his daughter has gone and vows to change if she were to return, Sebastian is concerned that Ariel's time as a human is almost up, and Eric still dreams of finding the girl who saved him even though he does not want to lose Ariel ("If Only (Quartet)"). Sebastian returns to the sea and tells an angry King Triton about Ariel's deal with Ursula. On Ariel's last day as a human, Grimsby has arranged a contest for all foreign princesses to sing for Eric, so he may choose one for his bride ("The Contest"). Eric isn't interested in any of them, and Ariel asks to participate, dancing for him. Eric picks her, but before they can embrace, Ursula appears, declaring that the sun has set and Ariel now belongs to her. Flotsam and Jetsam grab Ariel to take her back to the sea. King Triton arrives to confront his sister, agreeing to take Ariel's place. Ursula claims the trident and declares herself queen ("Poor Unfortunate Souls (Reprise)"). She banishes Triton with a wave of the trident. During a battle with Eric's ship, Ariel grabs Ursula's nautilus shell and regains her voice (which causes a horrified Flotsam and Jetsam to swim away). Ursula begs Ariel to return the shell to her, as her power is contained within it, and even tries to sweet-talk her into doing so, saying she can turn her human again and reunite her with her prince. Ariel is torn, but ultimately destroys the shell just in time, which destroys Ursula and restores King Triton to his throne and daughter. Eric and Ariel are reunited on the beach, and Eric asks King Triton for his blessing to marry Ariel. King Triton says that it is Ariel's place to answer, and she accepts Eric's proposal. King Triton then says goodbye to his daughter ("If Only (Reprise)"). In honor of his daughter, Triton declares peace between the humans and merfolk. Ariel and Eric are married and sail away on a ship ("Finale").
The Little Prince is a theatrical production based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 story The Little Prince that features dance, circus arts, video production and acrobatics. Tournié and Mouron began adapting the show for the stage in 2018. The show is directed and choreographed by Anne Tournié and ran in Paris, Dubai and Sydney before arriving on Broadway in spring 2022. The Sydney engagement marked the city's first major international production since the COVID-19 lockdown. Cast included Lionel Zalachas as the Little Prince, co-director Chris Mouron as The Narrator, Aurélien Bednarek as The Aviator together with a large ensemble cast. The Broadway production was slated to run from March through August at the Broadway Theatre but on April 26, it announced it would close on May 8 after receiving poor reviews.
The Little Prince and the Aviator is a musical with a book by Hugh Wheeler, lyrics by Don Black, and music by John Barry. Based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the musical deviates from the original in that aviator Toni, whose plane crashes in the Sahara Desert, explicitly is real-life…
The half-Elven maiden Arwen sings the prologue, urging those to whom she sings to trust their instincts ("Prologue" ('Lasto i lamath')). In the region of Middle-earth known as the Shire, Bilbo Baggins, an eccentric and wealthy Hobbit, celebrates his eleventyfirst birthday by vanishing from his birthday party, leaving his greatest treasure, a mysterious magic Ring, to his young relative Frodo Baggins ("Springle Ring"). The Ring is greatly desired by the Dark Lord Sauron, who could use it to conquer the world, and must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. Frodo and his friends Samwise Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took set out along the road that leads out of the Shire, where they meet a group of Elves led by Elránien, an original female character who fills the role of Gildor Inglorion from the source material ("The Road Goes On"). Meanwhile, the corrupt wizard Saruman also desires the Ring ("Saruman"). At the Inn of the Prancing Pony in the village of Bree, Frodo and his friends sing and dance for their fellow guests ("The Cat and the Moon"). With the assistance of the Ranger Strider, the four Hobbits escape pursuit by the Black Riders, servants of Sauron, and safely reach the Ford of Bruinen ("Flight to the Ford"). Awaiting them at the Elven settlement of Rivendell is Arwen, the beloved of Strider, whose true name is Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor ("The Song of Hope"). Arwen's father, Lord Elrond, calls a Council of Elves, Men and Dwarves at which it is decided that Frodo will carry the Ring to Mordor. The Fellowship of the Ring sets out from Rivendell: Frodo and his three fellow Hobbits, Aragorn, the warrior Boromir, the Elf Legolas, the Dwarf Gimli, and the wizard Gandalf. Arwen and the people of Rivendell invoke the power of the star Eärendil to protect and guide the Fellowship on its journey ("Star of Eärendil"). In the ancient, ruined Dwarf-mines of Moria, Gandalf confronts a Balrog, a monstrous creature of evil, and falls into the darkness. The Fellowship takes refuge in Lothlórien, the mystical realm of Galadriel, an Elven lady of great power and wisdom ("The Golden Wood", "Lothlórien"). As their journey south continues, Boromir attempts to take the Ring from Frodo; Frodo and Sam flee from the rest of the Fellowship, and Boromir falls in battle. Gandalf returns in time to intervene at the Siege of the City of Kings, where the Lands of Men are under attack by the forces of Saruman and the Orcs of Mordor ("The Siege of the City of Kings"). Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam are joined on their journey by Gollum, a wretched creature who possessed the Ring for centuries and desires to have it for his own again. As they approach Mordor, Frodo and Sam sing to each other about the power of stories ("Now and for Always"). Gollum is moved by their song, but the evil side of his personality asserts itself and he plans to betray the Hobbits ("Gollum/Sméagol"). If Aragorn can defeat the forces of evil and reclaim the kingship of Men, he will receive Arwen's hand in marriage ("The Song of Hope (Duet)"). Meanwhile, Gollum leads Sam and Frodo to the lair of an enormous spider named Shelob so he can take the Ring from Frodo when he is dead, but the hobbits manage to survive and make their way to Mount Doom. Galadriel casts spells to protect the forces of good in the final battle ("Wonder", "The Final Battle"). Frodo and Sam finally reach the Cracks of Doom to destroy the Ring once and for all, but Frodo is consumed by the Ring's power and claims it for himself. Suddenly, Gollum reappears and takes the Ring from Frodo, but he loses his balance and falls into the fire with it. With the Ring's destruction, Sauron is defeated and the dominion of Men begins. Aragorn becomes King and marries Arwen ("City of Kings"), but Frodo, wearied by his quest, decides to leave Middle-earth forever and sail with Bilbo, Gandalf and the Great Elves to the lands of the West ("Epilogue (Farewells)"). After bidding farewell to their friend, Sam, Merry and Pippin return to the Shire ("Finale").
Act I The musical opens in the supposedly abandoned Steelworks Factory of Santa Carla in 1987 where a lone Security Guard investigates a report on strange noises, finding a broadcast of then President Ronald Reagan speaking about the need for traditional family values, only to get captured and eaten by a flying figure, David. Meanwhile, the recently divorced Lucy Emerson and her sons, Michael and Sam, move from Phoenix Arizona to Lucy's childhood home, the California seaside town of Santa Carla for a fresh start ("No More Monsters"). As they unpack their car into Lucy's recently deceased father's house, it becomes clear that there's a rift between the three concerning the topic of the boys father and Lucy's ex-husband resulting in Michael to leave the house after an argument with his brother. Michael explores the boardwalk looking for cheap thrills as a way to escape the responsibilities he's been pushed into following the divorce ("Lose Yourself"), and ends up witnessing the performance of a local rock band called "The Lost Boys" (performing "Have to Have You") with Michael becoming infatuated with one of the band's singers, a young woman named Star. Down the boardwalk, the movie rental store owner Max offers Lucy a job that she needs to support her boys, momentarily running into the wife of the missing Security Guard who is looking for her husband. At the same time in the nearby comic book store, Sam meets the Frog Brothers, Edgar and Alan, where they warn him about dangers lurking in Santa Carla causing him to run from the shop terrified ("Murder Capital of the World"). Michael meanwhile meets Star and the two hit it off with her offering to pierce his ears prompting him to scrounge for the items Star needs, while David momentarily freezes time to warn Star that she needs to feed ("Hurt a Little"). Faced with Michael's blood after piercing his ear, Star runs off causing David to reveal himself and finishes the piercing before introducing Michael to the other band members: drummer Paul, guitarist Marko, and bassist Dwayne. David offers Michael a guitar lesson as a distraction showing off his hypnotism skills to make Michael hit the correct cords as the band crowds in around him, preparing to eat him ("Time to Kill"). Michael evades harm when Sam, Lucy, Max and one of Max's employees arrive, and Max escorts the Emersons back home. After they leave, the Lost Boys feast on Max's employee revealing their fangs and exposing them as vampires to the audience. At home, the rift between Michael and Sam get worse concerning their father favoring Sam over Michael. This puts more pressure on Lucy who begins work at Video Max where she hopes she can find happiness in Santa Carla after her failed marriage ("The Good Part"). That evening, Michael and Star admit their mutual attraction ("Now, Forever") and almost kiss before The Lost Boys interrupt, with David challenging Michael into a motorcycle race to Coronado Bluff ("Lost Boy") where Michael almost drives over the edge of the cliff. In anger, Michael hits David across the face challenging him to a fight, which simply amuses David who invites Michael to come to their hangout spot. Despite Star pleading with Michael to go home, he accepts David's invitation to the band's home in the steelworks factory. In the factory, David ends up getting Michael to take off his shirt where a deep bruise is revealed that came from Michael and Sam's father, revealing him to have been abusive, which David manipulates to get Michael closer to him and the others. After David adds his blood to a goblet of wine, Michael accepts the offer to drink and join their "family", Michael initially hesitating before Star tells him to do it ("Take My Heart with You"). The Lost Boys then take Michael to a bridge where they each drop from the railing as a train approaches. Instead of falling, Michael finds himself flying alongside the Lost Boys, finally feeling part of a family ("Belong to Someone"). While Michael assumes the previous night was a strange dream, waking up in bed the next morning with a slight sensitivity to the morning light. While Max takes Lucy on a tour of Santa Carla, the Frog Brothers sneak into the Emerson house at night and offer Sam a comic book called "Kill All Vampires" that supposedly acts as a vampire survival guide. As Sam reads the symptoms of a fledgling vampire, Michael starts exhibiting the strange symptoms including an unquenchable thirst, aversion to running water, and has a hallucination of his abusive father, nearly attacking Sam with a baseball bat as he tries to fight off the vision causing the younger boy to run upstairs and lock his door ("Secret Comes Out"). Michael begins to fly again, loses control, and crashes through Sam's window. Act II Sam tells the Frog Brothers about Michael's strange behavior. They confirm he's becoming a vampire and offer to kill Michael, which Sam immediately shuts down ("My Brother Is A..."). Max takes Lucy to the now-abandoned Neverland playground, once a fond part of her youth, and they romp around the old park ("Wild"). Michael confronts the Lost Boys at their concert, and David reassures him they are on this path together ("Belong to Someone" reprise). Watching in horror as the Lost Boys feed on a group of surfers, Michael runs away tormented by a vision of his father ("You Belong to Me"). Star refuses to feed despite her waning strength vowing to never become like the monsters that turned her ("War"). Sam and the Frog Brothers attempt to uncover the head vampire, putting Max through a series of tests during dinner at the Emerson house that result in Max advising Lucy to be more firm with her boys ("Your Mom's Boyfriend Is A..."). Michael and Star resolve to help each other no matter what ("Lose Yourself" reprise). Lucy laments that she can't seem to help her troubled son and blames herself for what happened with her husband and her boys ("Michael"). Motivated by the Frog Brothers and his comic books, Sam realizes how to tap into his inner strength and embrace his identity, openly calling himself queer ("Superpower"). Sam and the Frog Brothers raid the vampire hideout, killing Marko, and escaping with the help of Michael and Star as David, Dwayne, and Paul promise to avenge their brother ("Time to Kill" reprise). The Emersons and their allies gather courage for the looming conflict as Michael and Sam begin to heal their relationship and move on from their father's abuse ("No More Monsters" reprise). The vampires attack, and the ensuing battle kills Paul, who is melted in the bathroom thanks to a Holy Water trap from the Frogs, Dwayne, who is impaled to the stereo by a crossbow bolt from Sam, and David, who gets into a fight with Michael and is ran onto Star's stake. Lucy and Max come to the house after their date, and Max exposes himself as the head vampire, revealing his scheme to make Lucy the mother of his vampire clan. Lucy's protective instincts ultimately triumph and she stabs Max through the heart with her father's cross ("The Reckoning"). Fortunate to defeat the vampires, the survivors envision a better future together as a new found family is formed ("If We Make it Through the Night"). Sometime later, in the Steelworks Factory, the wife of the Security Guard finds her husband's cap and the bottle of vampire blood and drinks from the chalice.
The Love Racket is a musical comedy by Stanley Lupino with music by Noel Gay and lyrics by Frank Eyton, Barbara Gordon and Basil Thomas, and Leslie Gibbs, with additional dialogue by Arty Ash and additional numbers by Hubert Gregg and Freddie Bretherton. The original production was as a star vehicle for Arthur Askey and also featured Roy Royston and Carol Raye. After a season at the Opera House Manchester, it opened in the West End at the Victoria Palace Theatre in October 1943. It moved to the Princes Theatre in April 1944 before closing in July 1944.
Superstitious King Ouf learns from his astrologer Siroco that his life is bound to that of Lazuli, a travelling painter who loves the king’s intended bride, Princess Laoula. Ouf orders Siroco executed shortly after his own death, giving both men reason to keep Lazuli alive.
The Madwoman of Central Park West is a semi-autobiographical one-woman musical with a book by Arthur Laurents and Phyllis Newman and songs by various composers and lyricists. It focuses on the difficulties faced by an older actress who tries to balance her career with her life as a wife and mother. Among those whose songs are included in the production are Peter Allen, Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Bock, Martin Charnin, Betty Comden, Fred Ebb, Adolph Green, Sheldon Harnick, John Kander, Ed Kleban, Barry Manilow, Joe Raposo, Mary Rodgers, Carole Bayer Sager, and Stephen Sondheim.
The Magic Flute (Impempe Yomlingo) is a musical theatre work adapted from the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart opera of the same title by Mark Dornford-May, with words and music by Mandisi Dyantyis, Mbali Kgosidintsi, Pauline Malefane and Nolufefe Mtshabe. Mozart's score is transposed for an orchestra of marimbas, drums and township percussion. The musical, set in contemporary South Africa, re-interprets the story from a South African perspective, telling of Prince Tamino's quest to rescue Pamina (both of them are Xhosa-speaking teenagers), daughter of the Queen of the Night, from the Priest of the Sun. The musical premiered in 2007 at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa, before beginning a tour to the United Kingdom. The production opened at the Young Vic Theatre in London over the festive season, 2007. The cast performed The Magic Flute and an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol on alternate days for a nine-week run. The production won the Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Off-West End Production. Its success led to a transfer to the Duke of York's Theatre for a further run until 19 April, 2008. The musical won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival that year. Following its West End theatre season, the production toured to the Dublin Theatre Festival, the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Canterbury Festival. In November 2008, it returned to South Africa for a season at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. It then played in Tokyo and elsewhere, concluding its tour at the Singapore Arts Festival in June 2009. The production, directed by Dornford-May and choreographed by Lungelo Ngamlana, starred Dornford-May's wife, Pauline Malefane in the role of the Queen of the Night. It featured performers from the township of Khayelitsha in the Western Cape of South Africa. The Irish Times said that the work "gets right to the heart of the opera's humanist message".
This burlesque of Lohengrin recasts Elsa as an accused singer whose brother Godfrey has been turned into a swan by the enchantress Ortrud. Elsa summons a magic knight, who defeats Frederick and restores Godfrey. When Elsa asks the knight’s name, the spell breaks and he must return to fairyland, leaving her alone and singing cadenzas.
The setting for the show is a seedy nightclub, the Top Hat, where an aging alcoholic magician, "Feldman the Magnificent," chews the scenery in his overly grand performance. Manny, the Top Hat owner, wants to replace him and brings in Doug. Doug is very unconventional and has an assistant named Cal. Cal is in love with Doug, but he does not notice her and is focused on advancing his career. Donna and Dina are the rock act in the club. One of them dates the nephew of a big agent named Goldfarb. Goldfarb is coming to the club to check out Donna and Dina's act, and everyone is excited. Meanwhile, Doug pays little attention to Cal and decides that he needs a "beautiful assistant". Cal is hurt, as Doug conjures up the beautiful Charmin. Donna and Dina get jealous, and along with Feldman, plot to expose the secrets to Doug's tricks during the show. Doug finally realizes he loves Cal, and gets to her before she leaves. Charmin is sent back to wherever she came from, and all ends up well.
The Man from Cook's is a musical with music by Raymond Hubbell and a book and lyrics by Henry Blossom. Based on a story by Maurice Ordonneau, it is set in the cities of Paris and Naples. The original cast included Walter Percival as Prince Victor de Champagnax, Eleanor Pendleton as Estelle Dubois, Flavia Arcaro as Madame Leontine, Fred Walton as Toto Soulard, Leslie Kenyon as Lord Fitz-Bertie Baffingfone, John Daly Murphy as Zachary Benton, Stella Hoban as Marjorie Benton, Marion Murray as Mrs. Benton, William Pinkham as both Leonard de Biron and Pietro, John J. Dempsey as T. Laurence O'Donnell, Frances Rubens as Mariette, Bessie Durant as Louise, Josephine Harriman as Paula, Daisy Rudd as Marie, Rene Thornton as Floria, J.T. Chaillee as Chauffeur Giacommetti, W. Hobart as Wilhelm, Adele Kornau as Jeanne, and Fred A. Bishop as Johnson.
The Man in the Moon is a musical in three acts with music by composers Ludwig Engländer, Gustav Kerker and Reginald De Koven, and both book and lyrics by Louis Harrison and Stanislaus Stange. The work premiered on Broadway at the New York Theatre on April 24, 1899. The production closed after 192 performances on November 4, 1899. Produced and directed by George W. Lederer, the show used choreography by Carl Marwig, costumes by Caroline Siedle, and sets created by D. Frank Dodge, Henry E. Hoyt, St. John Lewis and Ernest Albert. The cast included Sam Bernard as Conan Doyle, Marie Dressler as Viola Alum, and Christie MacDonald as Diana.
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