Cats and The Lion King have shown us that anthropomorphic felines can make for great theater and great box office.  Yet long before Grizzabella’s ascent to the Heavyside Layer or Simba took his rightful place as king of Pride Rock, there was Shinbone Alley, a musical in which a sultry feline shared the stage with…an anthropomorphic cockroach!

Based on the stories archy and mehitabel by Don Marquis, the show was originally presented as an album released by Columbia Records (making it one of the first ever concept albums) with lyrics by a pre-Man of La Mancha Joe Darion and music by George Kleinsinger, best known for his children’s musical piece Tubby the Tuba (he was also a mentor to a young Stephen Schwartz.  They lived in the same Long Island neighborhood).  Eventually a wily young writer named Mel Brooks collaborated with Darion on an expanded libretto and the show was first presented as a concert at Town Hall.  Then, in a major kamakazi mission, a Broadway production was mounted without either an out-of-town tryout or any previews.  Comic actor Eddie Bracken reprised his role of the cockroach Archy, having already played the little insect on the concept album (which also featured Carol Channing and David Wayne) and, a full decade before she played Catwoman on Batman, Ertha Kitt as Mehitabel, the sultry alley cat (her understudy was Chita Rivera).

It’s one thing to have a singing cat and cockroach on a record and in a concert, but quite another to see two full grown adults playing a cat and especially a cockroach.  The haphazard way the production was put together was also a recipe for disaster and director Norman Lloyd petitioned to have his name removed. Nothing if not imaginative, Shonbone Alleyonly lasted 49 performances. Yet the property did go on to have an afterlife.  In 1960 a TV version was presented as part of David Susskind’s anthology series Play of the Week with Jules Munshin as Archy and Tammy Grimes as Mehitabel.  Then in 1971 an animated version of Shinbone Alley was released, once again with Bracken as Archy and Carol Channing – who played the role on the original concept album – as Mehitable. The show is currently licensed under the title archy and mehitabel.  

The backstage TV drama “Smash” (which sadly did not live up to it’s title) centered around the production of a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. The creators did their homework because it was mentioned several times in the pilot that a Marilyn musical had already been done. In fact it had been done twice, one on each side of the pond in the early eighties.

The West End musical Marilyn was a serious EVITA style epic that dealt with the dark side of Marylin’s fame and early death. The Broadway Marilyn: An American Fable was a pretty silly affair with Marilyn being backed up by a Greek chorus called “destiny”. Though Allyson Reed received good notices for playing the screen goddess (Scott Bakula was also present, making his Broadway debut as Joe DiMaggio), she was forced to utter such lines as “you’re Arthur Miller, how can you be so boring?”

During the shows long and troubled rehearsal period nearly a dozen writers contributed to the show (almost always a sign of trouble) while director-choreographer Kenny Ortega was fired but retained his credit. Marilyn: An American Fable folded after seventeen performances.

After the resounding success ofMama Mia! and Moving Out, it looked as if all a producer had to do if they wanted a hit was to option a back catalog of golden oldies, slap together a book and put it on stage. How wrong they were. Over the next two season Broadway was assaulted with more Greatest Hits then a Time-Life record infomercial as shows based around the songs of Bob Dylan (The Times They Are a Change-In), Earth Wind and Fire (Hot Feet), Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire), John Lennon (Lennon) and the King himself (All Shook Up) closed before you could say “tankyou verymuch”. Shows like Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages and Beautiful: The Carol King Musical have granted the jukebox musical a stay of execution, but the junk from the early 2000’s left behind some unpleasant refuse. It’s hard to pick a biggest loser out of this bunch but the Beach Boys musical Good Vibrations was particularly awful.

Essentially, the show took a lame-o book that about a bunch of kids on spring break that would have had trouble keeping it’s balance in a Frankie and Annette beach party movie. Kids ran around carrying surfboards and pretending to hang ten while they struggled to create the unique harmonies that made the Beach Boys a legendary group in the first place. After 94 performances Good Vibrations wiped out. Still, there was some talent shooting the curl on stage. The cast included future Memphis star Chad Kimble and future Addams Family and Smash star Krysta Rodriguez.

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.

For some time now composer Larry Grossman has been Broadway’s best kept secret.  He has composed music for the shows Goodtime Charley, A Doll’s Lifeand Grind as well as a musical version of Paper Moon and Scrooge in Love! for regional theaters.  His only real hit so far has been Snoopy, an Off Broadway follow up to You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.  

Before either of these he and his frequent lyricist Hal Hackady (who passed away in 2015) wrote Minnie’s Boys, a musical about the young Marx Brothers and their Mom Minnie who pushed them onto the stage and fought for their right to be stars.  Shelly Winters starred as Minnie while a quintet of talented actors played the five Marx Brothers (brother Gummo Marx left the act long before they made any movies). There were some fine numbers and great antics were performed by the Marx Brother dopplegangers but in the end critics compared the show unfavorably to Gypsy, another show about a pushy stage mother.  Minnie’s Boys only ran for eighty performances.

Fun Fact:  If you’re a New York Mets fan then you’ll be interested to know that Hal Hackady wrote the lyrics for the Mets’ theme song “Let’s Go Mets.”

Another contender for the Dubious Acheivement Award would have to go to Hallelujah, Baby!, the only musical thus far to win the Tony Award for Best Musical after it had closed.  The show followed the life of a headstrong black woman named Georgina through the Great Depression, World War II and the Civil Rights era and her rise to stardom as a singer and her struggles against bigotry.  

Had Hair opened a little sooner it would have offered Hallelujah, Baby! Some real competition. Instead, the only viable competitor was the Kander and Ebb musical The Happy Time.  The only other two shows up for the Tony that year were How Now, Dow Jones and Illya Darling.  The show boasted a first rate staff of professionals behind the scenes.  They included included librettist Arthur Laurent’s, composer Jule Styne and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolf Green. All of them took home Tony Awards though it was far from their best work.  In the case of Jule Styne it would be the only Tony Award he’d ever win.

Whatever the short comings of the show it did have one undeniable asset and that was the marvelous Leslie Uggams who starred as Georgina.  Already familiar for her appearances on The Lawrence Welk Show, Ms. Uggams was simply irresistible.  So irresistible that after Hallelujah, Baby!ended its 293 performance run she landed her very own (albiet short lived) variety show The Leslie Uggam’s Show.  She has continued to appear on television and in film to this day.  Just recently she was seen in Deadpool 2.

In 1980 David Merrick presented 42^ndStreet on Broadway, the first successful movie musical to be transferred to the stage (unless you count Carnival which was based on the movie Lilli.  Since a whole new score was written for Broadway it’s not usually considered a direct adaptation).  In the years since many a movie musical has been turned into a stage show.  Some like Newsies and An American in Parish ave done well while others like Singing in the Rain, Meet Me in St. Louis and High Society have not.  The shows that succeed usually take liberties so that the stage version is more it’s own entity while the ones that fail just try to recreate the movie on the stage.  One case in point is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

This stage adaptation of the beloved MGM movie started out as a touring production with original stars Howard Keel and Jane Powell reprising their screen performances.  The show was announced for Broadway but the stars backed out after squabbling with director Lawrence Kasha and the producers.

Then in 1981 a new production was mounted, this time with pop singer Debby Boone in the lead.  It did extremely well on tour and opened on Broadway in July of 1982 (not a wise time to open a new show).  The show was panned by critics and only ran for five performances.  Several cast members protested the New York Times office demanding that Frank Rich retract his review, which he did not.  

When all was said and done the problem of adapting Seven Brides to the stage was obvious.  It was nearly impossible to translate many of the dances, most notably the famous barn raising scene, to the stage.  A subsequent London production was also unsuccessful.  Seven Brides has proven popular in stock and amature theaters where the demands are not as stringint as they are on Broadway.

Once again we have a West End smash that just didn’t take on Broadway.  The brainchild of Alan Janes, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story retold the life of pioneering rock & roll star through a series of mock rock concerts.  The show was first seen at the Theater Royal, Plymouth and then transferred to London’s Victoria Palace where it became a sensation and ran for twelve and a half years.

Broadway was the obvious next stop but not before playing to packed houses in Toronto.  Buddy then made it’s way to Broadway with Paul Hipp reprising his London performance as the title character.  Buddy had the unenviable job of re-opening the Shubert Theater after A Chorus Line’s monumental fifteen-year run had ended.  In the end the show received mixed reviews from the critics and folded after just 225 performances.  Yet don’t feel blue Peggy Sue, a national tour of Buddy was launched and proved to be a massive success, touring for fifty-three weeks!  There have since been five U.S. tours plus numerous productions around the world, proving that a short run on Broadway is hardly the end of the world.  If only the real Buddy Holly had as long a life as his show.

For many years Esquire Magazine has created a satiricle article called “the Dubious Acheivment Award.”  One man who might be a good nominee for that award would be Jason Robert Brown.  This unbelievably talented composer-lyricist has won two Tony’s for both Parade and The Bridges of Madison County.  Alas, both shows had closed by the time he won the awards.

The first of these shows was a musical about Leo Frank (Brent Carver), a Jewish factory manager who was accused of rapping and killing a thirteen year old girl.  His trail was fuled by anti-semitism and it ultimately ended with Frank being lynched.  The book was by Alfred Uhry, author of Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo and who’s family owned that very pencil factory that Frank worked for.  The production was brought to the stage by master director Harold Prince.

Reviews for Parade were good but not great.  The show was presented by Lincoln Center Theater and Garth Drabinsky’s Livent corporation.  The show might very well have run longer and found an audience but Livent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Mr. Drabinsky would later be convicted of fraud (he would be a fugitive for many years before being brought to justice).  Without their funds to cover the weekly production costs, Parade marched off into the sunset.

Still, it was hardly a total loss.  As mentioned before Brown, in his Broadway debut, won a Tony for his score while Uhry won for his book.  Parade has since been widley performed with numerous productions in the English speaking world including a highly acclaimed 2007 production at London’s Donmar Warhouse.

Aside from Parade and The Bridges of Madison County, Brown has also written 13 and Honeymoon in Vegas, all of which received short runs.  Hopefully a show will come along that will give Mr. Brown the hit he deserves. 

And the Tony Award for “Just what the hell were they thinking?” goes to…

In the annals of ill-conceived musicals, Raggedy Ann was a doozy.  The show originated as a little-seen animated film called Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure with songs by Joe Raposo, best known for writing many memorable songs for Sesame Street.  He later joined The Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts and was encouraged to turn Raggedy Ann & Andy into a stage musical (which means that Beauty and the Beast was not the first animated film adapted for the Broadway stage). William Gibson, author of The Miracle Worker was then brought in to write a new book.  Putting it mildly, he took things in a different direction.

Gibson dove into the backstory of the Raggedy Ann books, concentrating specifically on how author Johnny Gruelle wrote the stories while his daughter Marcella was dying from diphtheria.  His book had a young girl named Marcella traveling to an enchanted world full of macabre imagery which included the girl’s mother committing suicide after abandoning her, a forest made from skeletons and a character named the Doll Collector (played by the same actor who played Marcella’s alchoholic father) who tries to seduce the young child.

The show was first shown in Albany, New York where it ignited controversy after a mother took her children to see the show.  School groups canceled field trips to see it and it looked like Raggedy Ann was going to die in the New York State capital. 

Alas, the show was revived when it was sent to Moscow on a cultural exchange program.  The Ruskies seemed to like the dark subject matter and Raggedy Ann was picked up for Broadway.  Not surprisingly the show was panned by critics and school groups were told to stay away.  Raggedy Ann closed after just five performances.

Why anyone thought such a dark subject matter would appeal to a family audience is anyone’s guess. Prior to William Gibson’s involvement a stage adaptation of the animated film was written and to this day is available for stock and amateur productions.  However saccharine that version may have been, it would have no doubt fared better than the pitch black one that played on Broadway.