Thursday, May 21, 2015

The Lesser Known!

Oh, Captain! lasted 6 months on Broadway...
it had music by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans,
who wrote three Oscar-winning movie themes...
"Buckles and Bows," "Mona Lisa," and "Que Sera Sera."

 It starred Tony Randall as Captain Henry St. James,
who received a Tony nomination for his performance.
He had just finished his stint as "Mr. Peepers" series on television.
The hit number of the show featured Tony
with ballerina Alexandra Danilova.
Tony in Tights...yikes!


 Jamaica, another show from 1958, had music by Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen,
and specifically created for Harry Belefonte...
but after Harry left, the show was rewritten with a female lead.
Lena Horne took over, with Ricardo Montalban as her love interest.
At the time, Harburg had been black-listed by Hollywood,
so he turned his sights on Broadway...
unsurprisingly, his tone was cynical.

 Co-starring with Lena was Josephine Premice
and Ossie Davis...it ran for 1 1/2 years, lots of nominations, but no big wins!

 A 1993 musical based in 1954...My Favorite Year.
It was based on the movie of 1982, with words and music
by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who created the songs for
 Once On This Island, Rags, and the music for Disney's Anastasia.
(Pictured above, "Welcome To Brooklyn.")

It starred Evan Pappas, Tim Curry, Andrea Martin (above, right)
Lainie Kazan, and Josh Mostel.
Only 36 performances, lousy reviews,
and despite several nominations,
only Andrea "collected!"

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