Rodgers and Hart musicals always included a delicious sense of fun and their 1938 comedy The Boys from Syracuse was no exception. Based on William Shakespeare’s 1594 play (his shortest) The Comedy of Errors, The Boys from Syracuse features one of Rodgers and Hart’s most-enduring score with such gems as “Falling in Love with Love,” “Sing for Your Supper,” “This Can’t Be Love” and “What Do You Do with a Man” as standouts.
Remembering the Princess Musicals
Have any of you heard of “The Princess Musicals”? I am not speaking of the Disney musicals on Broadway featuring princesses as the show’s heroine, but rather a short-lived series of musicals that played at Manhattan’s Princess Theatre between 1915 and 1919. These intimate musical comedies would prove to be influential in shaping the future of musical comedy on Broadway. Taking a step away from the big-budget spectacles, musical revues, and operettas that were popular in the day, The Princess Musicals would take a different approach: youthful, exuberant musicals performed on a much smaller scale, manageably-sized to fit the 299 seat venue and its limited stage space. They would also be an early attempt at integrating the score with plot, though not as effectively as would be achieved with musicals such as Show Boat, Pal Joey, Lady in the Dark, and Oklahoma! further down the road.
Remembering the Musicals of Neil Simon
This weekend we received some incredibly sad new in the theatre community: the death of one of America’s most prolific and beloved playwrights, Neil Simon. Simon mixed humor with humanity, honesty with insanity, and always connected with the individual in each of us. Many of his plays remain well-regarded in theatre circles the world over. Titles such as Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Chapter Two, The Star-Spangled Girl, Plaza Suite, The Gingerbread Lady, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, and Rumorscontinue to be as poignant and funny as they were when they were first written. Simon won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1991 play Lost in Yonkers.
Though often celebrated first as a playwright, Simon was also an adept collaborator when writing books for Broadway musicals. Over the years, he was responsible for the librettos behind a handful of musicals, meeting varying degrees of success for his efforts. Here is a stroll down memory lane, taking a look at the musicals for which Simon provided the book.
Broadway Hits That Were Even BIGGER Hits in London
Last week, I wrote a piece on Broadway musicals that were hits in the United States, but that just didn’t have the staying power in London. This week, I thought I would look at the musicals that were hits on Broadway, but ran even longer on the West End. Obviously, musicals like 1776 and Fiorello! were going to have a limited appeal with British audiences due to their inherently American themes, but just what shows did outrun their American productions when they crossed the ocean?