Enchanted Evenings:The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber Block, Geoffrey (large ebook reader .txt) 📖

“You’re Nearer” (Rodgers and Hart), 190

“You’re the Top” (Porter), 40, 49, 53, 57, 159, 164, 165, 218

Zadan, Craig, 282

Zaks, Jerry, 49, 165, 337

Zeffirelli, Franco, 171, 291

Ziegfeld, Florenz, 20, 21, 22

“Zip” (Rodgers and Hart), 94, 103, 104, 107, 177–78, 179

“Zodiac Song” (Weill and I. Gershwin), 137, 138, 139

Zorbá (Kander and Ebb), 347

Zorina, Vera, 190

SYNOPSES

Anything Goes

Reno Sweeney (Ethel Merman), an evangelist turned bar hostess, gets such a kick out of Billy Crocker (William Gaxton) that she boards a Europe-bound liner to dissuade him from pursuing Hope Harcourt (Bettina Hall). Although Billy dreams of Hope all through the night, Hope is determined to marry an English peer. Crocker has boarded without a ticket, so is forced to adopt a number of disguises. Also aboard is a wistful little man, the Reverend Dr. Moon (Victor Moore), whom J. Edgar Hoover has branded “Public Enemy 13.” Moon’s ambition is to rise to the top of Hoover’s list. With a minister and former evangelist as passengers the captain hopes to cheer his Depression-ridden travelers with a revival meeting. Reno obliges with a rousing anthem directed at the archangel Gabriel. On landing, Hope discovers she has become an heiress. She drops her Englishman and consents to marry Billy. The Englishman turns his attention to Reno, while Moon, learning he has been judged harmless and dropped from the FBI list, walks away muttering nasty things about Hoover.

Carousel

When Billy Bigelow (John Raitt), a New England carnival barker, falls in love with Julie Jordan (Jan Clayton), he proves so shy that he can only convey his feelings by suggesting what might happen “If I Loved You.” Nonetheless, by the time “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over,” he wins Julie. Later he discovers she is pregnant, so he agrees to join the scowling Jigger Craigin (Murvyn Vye) in a robbery to earn extra money. The plan misfires, and Billy kills himself rather than be caught. Before a heavenly judge, he pleads for another chance to return to earth, to redeem himself and see his daughter. But when the daughter refuses his gift of a star he has stolen from the sky he slaps her and must return to purgatory. The widowed Julie and her child are left to continue alone in the world, in stark contrast to her old friend Carrie Pipperidge (Jean Darling), who has made a prosperous marriage to the rich Mr. Snow (Eric Mattson). Julie’s sole comforter, Nettie Fowler (Christine Johnson), assures her “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

The Cradle Will Rock

Scene 1. Street Corner: In “Moll’s Song” a prostitute (Olive Stanton) explains how the two dollars she earns on two days each week in Steeltown barely provides enough to eat for the five days her “efforts ain’t required.” A Gent enters, offers the Moll thirty cents, harasses her, and departs when a Dick comes to protect the Moll in exchange for sexual favors. A Cop instructed to pick up union workers mistakenly arrests the Liberty Committee, a group selected and cultivated by Mr. Mister (Ralph MacBane) to destroy the burgeoning attempts to form a union. The Liberty Committee and the Moll are taken to Night Court.

Scene 2. Night Court: The Liberty Committee explains how they were arrested as they were attempting to stop a union speech. Since they had gathered together for this purpose, and since Mr. Mister gave strict orders to “arrest anyone forming a crowd,” the police arrested the Liberty Committee instead of Larry Foreman (Howard da Silva), “the man who made the speech.” Significantly, the Moll and Harry Druggist (John Adair), the only nonmembers of the Liberty Committee to be arrested—the Moll for soliciting her body and the Druggist his soul—sing their exchange to the main theme from “Nickel under the Foot.” Harry explains that “they won’t buy our milkwhite bodies, / So we kinda sell out in some other way—to Mr. Mister.” While waiting for the latter to arrive at Night Court and bail them out, Harry Druggist explains in flashbacks how each of the Liberty Committee has sold out.

Scene 3. Mission: In a flashback sequence that moves from 1915 to 1917, Reverend Salvation (Charles Niemeyer) changes his sermon from peace to war in response to the requests of Mrs. Mister (Peggy Coudray), who represents her husband’s attempts to profit from World War I.

Scene 4. Lawn of Mr. Mister’s Home: Junior Mister (Maynard Holmes) and Sister Mister (Dulce Fox), Mr. Mister’s vapid children, sing “Croon-Spoon.” Editor Daily (Bert Weston) arrives and capitulates to the demands of Mr. Mister, the paper’s new owner (“The Freedom of the Press”), and agrees to print whatever his boss wants. After Junior and Sister wildly exhibit their boredom in “Let’s Do Something,” Editor Daily offers the bored Junior a post in “Honolulu” to get him out of the way of union trouble.

Scene 5. Drugstore: In a flashback Harry Druggist tells how he sold out to Mr. Mister six months earlier in order to keep the mortgage on his store, an act that led to the death of his son as well as the loving Polish immigrant couple, Gus and Sadie (“Love Song”).

Scene 6. Hotel Lobby: The artists Yasha (Edward Fuller) and Dauber (Jules Schmidt) show nothing but loathing and contempt for “The Rich,” but nevertheless eagerly accept Mrs. Mister’s invitation for additional patronage (“Ask Us Again”) and join Mr. Mister’s Liberty Committee to obtain a free meal. Since they are apolitical artists who espouse “Art for Art’s Sake,” Yasha and Dauber do not even want to know the cause the Liberty serves.

Scene 7. Night Court: After the Moll sings a complete version of “Nickel under the Foot,” the Liberty Committee witnesses the long-awaited arrival of Larry Foreman, “the man who made the speech.” Foreman explains to the Moll in “Leaflets” (an underscored rhythm song) how he has been formally charged with “Incitin’ to Riot.” He also asserts the power of the unions in the title song.

Scene 8. Faculty Room: President Prexie accedes to Mr. Mister’s demand for compulsory military training in exchange for funding.