Category Archives: d Musical
A Christmas Story: The Musical
Click the title to display the script and download it to your reader.
A Christmas Story: The Musical
Book by Joseph Robinette
Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
*
Sing along with the Original Cast recording.
Sunday in the Park with George
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Sunday in the Park with George
by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
Sing along with the Original Cast Album on YouTube
Oklahoma!
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Oklahoma!
by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, II
South Pacific
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South Pacific
by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Jr
Sing along with the Original Cast Album on YouTube
A Chorus Line
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A Chorus Line
by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
Listen to the Original Cast recording on YouTube
ABOUT THE PLAY
A Chorus Line is a musical centered on seventeen Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line, and is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre during an audition. The play provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers.
Following several workshops and an Off-Broadway production, A Chorus Line opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway July 25, 1975, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett. An unprecedented box office and critical hit, the musical received twelve Tony Award nominations and won nine, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The original Broadway production ran for 6,137 performances, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history until surpassed by Cats in 1997, and the longest-running Broadway musical originally produced in the US, until surpassed in 2011 by Chicago. It remains the sixth longest-running Broadway show ever. A Chorus Line’s success has spawned many successful productions worldwide. It began a lengthy run in the West End in 1976 and was revived on Broadway in 2006, and in the West End in 2013.
Next to Normal
Click the title to download (and save) the script to your e-reader
(or print it out)
Next to Normal
by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
Listen to the Original Cast recording on YouTube
ABOUT THE PLAY
Next to Normal concerns a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that her illness and the attempts to alleviate it have on her family. The musical also addresses such issues as grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse, ethics in modern psychiatry, and the underbelly of suburban life.
Next to Normal received several workshop performances before it debuted Off-Broadway in 2008, winning the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Score and receiving nominations for Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Actress (Alice Ripley) and Outstanding Score. After an Off-Broadway run, the show then played at the Arena Stage in its temporary venue in Crystal City, VA (just outside Washington, DC) from November 2008 to January 2009.
The musical opened on Broadway in April 2009. It was nominated for eleven 2009 Tony Awards and won three, Best Original Score, Best Orchestration and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Alice Ripley. It also won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, becoming just the eighth musical in history to receive the honor. The previous musical to win the Pulitzer was Rent, in 1996, which was also directed by Michael Greif. In awarding the prize to Kitt and Yorkey, the Pulitzer Board called the show “a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals.”
The First US National Tour launched in November 2010, with Alice Ripley reprising her Broadway role; the tour concluded in July 2011. The Broadway production closed in January 2011 after over 700 performances. It has since spawned many international productions.
Fiorello!
This title is available courtesy the NY Public Library.
It can’t be downloaded; you’ll need WiFi access to read it.
Fiorello!
by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick
Listen to the Original Cast recording on YouTube
ABOUT THE PLAY
Fiorello! is a musical about New York City mayor (1934 to 1945) Fiorello H. LaGuardia, a reform Republican who took on the Tammany Hall political machine. The book is drawn substantially from the 1955 volume Life With Fiorello by Ernest Cuneo, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock. It is one of only nine musicals to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The play opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on November 23, 1959, moved to The Broadway Theatre on May 9, 1961, and closed on October 28, 1961, after 795 performances. It was directed by George Abbott with choreography by Peter Gennaro. Tom Bosley originated the title role opposite Howard Da Silva as the Republican machine boss Ben Marino. The cast featured Ellen Hanley as Thea, Pat Stanley as Dora, Patricia Wilson as Marie, Nathaniel Frey as Morris, and Broadway’s future Superman, Bob Holiday, as Neil.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
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How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
by Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows
Sing Along with the Original Cast recording on You Tube
ABOUT THE PLAY
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead’s 1952 book of the same name. The story concerns young, ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch, who, with the help of the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.
The musical, starring Robert Morse and Rudy Vallee, opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway in October 1961, running for 1,417 performances. The show won seven Tony Awards, the New York Drama Critics Circle award, and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
In 1967, a film based on the musical was released by United Artists, with Morse and Vallee recreating their stage roles.
A 1995 revival was mounted at the same theatre as the original production (now named the Richard Rodgers Theatre). It ran for 548 performances and starred Matthew Broderick and Megan Mullally. A 50th-anniversary Broadway revival directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford and starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette opened on March 27, 2011, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and ran for 473 performances.
History
In 1952, Shepherd Mead’s satirical book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, became a bestseller. Playwright Willie Gilbert and fellow playwright Jack Weinstock created a dramatic interpretation in 1955 that was unproduced for five years.Agent Abe Newborn brought the work to the attention of producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, with the intention of retooling it as a musical. Feuer and Martin had great success with the 1950 adaptation of Guys and Dolls and brought in the creative team from that show to work on How to….Abe Burrows and Frank Loesser set to work on the new adaptation, with rehearsals beginning in August 1961. Burrows collaborated on the book with Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, also serving as director. Their new adaptation became even more satirical and added romance to the story. Loesser wrote both music and lyrics for the show, which was orchestrated by Robert Ginzler.
The original Broadway production credited the choreography to an obscure dance director named Hugh Lambert, while the much better-known Bob Fosse received only a “musical staging by…” credit. Abe Burrows explains this in his autobiography Honest, Abe. While How to Succeed… was in its early development, producer Cy Feuer attended a trade show and was extremely impressed by an elaborate dance number created by Lambert, prompting Feuer to hire Lambert to choreograph the new musical. According to Burrows, it soon became clear in rehearsals that Lambert’s creative abilities were completely used up in that one elaborate dance number. Bob Fosse was brought in to replace him, but Fosse was unwilling to hurt Lambert’s career by having him fired. Lambert’s trade-show dance number was recycled as the “Treasure Hunt” dance in How to Succeed…, while Fosse agreed to take a “musical staging” credit for choreographing all the other dance numbers. Burrows also reveals that another crisis arose in rehearsals when former recording star Rudy Vallee wanted to interpolate some of his hit songs from the 1930s.
Cold Reads/International 