Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919: From Greenwich Village Follies to The Toxic Avenger

523 Pages·2011·3.87 MB·English

by  Thomas S. Hischak

O -B
FF ROADWAY
M
USICALS
1919
SINCE
From Greenwich
Village Follies to
The Toxic Avenger
Thomas S. Hischak
THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
2011
http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield
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Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2011 by Thomas S. Hischak
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hischak, Thomas S.
Off-Broadway musicals since 1919 : from Greenwich Village follies to the toxic
avenger / Thomas S. Hischak.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8108-7771-9 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-7772-6
(ebook)
1. Musicals—New York (State)—New York. 2. Off-Broadway theater. I. Title.
ML1711.8.N3H57 2011
792.609747'1—dc22 2010037326
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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For Greg, who has the spirit of Off Broadway
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Much More ix
Alphabetical List of Off-Broadway Musicals xiii
Chronological List of Off-Broadway Musicals xxiii
1. Broadway’s Stepchild: Beginnings 1
2. A New Arena: The 1950s 25
3. Too Loud Not to Notice: The 1960s 57
4. Threat of Extinction: The 1970s 123
5. A New Face: The 1980s 181
6. Battling the Big Bucks: The 1990s 255
7. Fodder for Broadway: The 2000s 319
v
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vi CONTENTS
Appendix: Guide to Recordings 403
Bibliography 435
Index 439
About the Author 469
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Acknowledgments
I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY THANKS to Mark Robinson, Bill Whiting, and
Cathy Hischak who helped in the preparation of the manuscript; to the edi-
tors at Scarecrow Press; and to Ron Mandelbaum at Photofest.
vii
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Introduction: Much More
CONSIDER TWO MEMORABLE MOMENTS in the American musical theatre that
occurred within a year of each other:
On May 21, 1959, the opening night of Gypsy, one of Broadway’s biggest
stars, Ethel Merman, launched into the song “Some People” about fifteen
minutes into the show. With her bold and thrilling voice filling the Broadway
Theatre, the largest venue in the Theatre District at the time, Merman’s
Rose proclaimed that she was not like other people and boasted how she was
determined to make her young kids into stars. It was a brassy, unforgettable
Broadway moment.
On May 3, 1960, about fifteen minutes into the opening night of the
Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, the unknown ingénue Rita Gardner
sang the plaintive song “Much More,” a naive but heartfelt number in which
the Girl vows not to be like other people and exclaims how her life will be
filled with romance and adventure. There was no need to belt in the 144-
seat Sullivan Street Playhouse, but Gardner’s direct plea not to be “normal”
was enthralling all the same. It was a charming, disarming Off-Broadway
moment.
The difference between Broadway and Off Broadway can be understood
from these two contrasting moments. In both cases the female lead sings her
revealing “I am” song but each goes about it in her own unique way, influ-
enced by the theatrical venue where the production takes place. Broadway
musicals are bigger than life and offer outsized emotions expressed in large
theatres; Off-Broadway musicals are smaller in scale and explore emotions
that are more life-size as they are enacted in more intimate venues. When
Broadway offers musical comedy, the songs, the dancing, the laughs, even
ix
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