85. GLORY DAYS (2008)

Once upon a time there were two out-of-work actors who got together and wrote a musical about their high school days.  After playing at a Chicago theater it was brought to New York, opened on Broadway and became a smash hit.  That show was Grease written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.  Thirty-six years later Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner, two actors who grew up in the greater Washington, D.C. area, joined forces to write a musical about their own high school memories.  Alas, the results were not as successful.

Glory Days follows the exploits of four high school friends who meet on their alma maters football field bleachers a year after graduation where they catch up and reminisce about the old days.  The show was presented at the Signature Theater in Arlington, Virginia where it received excellent reviews, including an outright rave in The Washington Post.  This understandably got the producers thinking about Broadway.  The problem was they weren’t thinking up a viable attack plan. 

 The producers brought the show straight to Broadway and began previews just one week before the Tony Awards deadline.  Reviews weren’t as good in New York, sales were weak and the show opened and closed on the same night, the first show in many years to do so.

Despite the shows mixed reviews the critics did have encouraging words for Blaemire and Gardiner.  The show is now being licensed for amateur theater groups and one with a limited budget should consider mounting a production.