Welcome to SongsAndMemories.com




1956      "DAMN YANKEES"
       1019 PERFORMANCES
 5/5/1955 THRU  10/12/1957
REVIVAL: 533 PERFORMANCES
 2/14/1994  THRU  8/6/ 1995

Damn Yankees is a Musical Comedy with a book by George Abbott 
and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard  Adlerand Jerry Ross. Damn Yankees seemed to point to a bright future for them, but Ross  suddenly died of chronic bronchiectasis, at the age of twenty-nine, a few  months after Damn Yankees opened.
The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950's in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. The musical is based on  Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.
The production starred Gwen Verdon (Lola), Shannon Bolin (Meg), Robert Shafer (Joe Boyd),  Elizabeth Howell (Doris), Stephen Douglass (Joe Hardy), Al Lanti (Henry), Eddie  Phillips (Sohovik), Nathaniel Frey (Smokey), Albert Linville (Vernon,  Postmaster), Russ Brown (Van Buren), Jimmy Komack (Rocky), Rae Allen (Gloria), Cherry Davis (Teenager), Del Horstmann (Lynch, Commissioner), Richard Bishop (Welch), Janie Janvier (Miss Weston), Ray Walston (Mr. Applegate). and Jean Stapleton (Sister).
A film version, directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen, was released in 1958. With the exception of Tab Hunter in the role of Joe Hardy (replacing Stephen Douglass), the Broadway principals reprised their stage roles. The film version is very similar to the stage  version.
 A made-for-TV movie version was broadcast on April 8, 1967 on NBC.  Phil Silvers played Mr. Applegate. Also starring were Lee Remick as Lola and Ray Middleton as Joe Boyd. It has been announced that a new contemporary film adaptation of the musical will star Jim  Carrey as Applegate and Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe Hardy.

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
 Original Production:
  Tony Awards
 
Drama Desk Award
  •      Outstanding Musical Revival — nominated
  •      Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical — Jarrod Emick WON
    •      Outstanding Orchestrations — Douglas Besterman (nominated)

Theatre World Award
  •      Theatre World Award — Jarrod Emick
  •      Theatre World Special Award — Jerry Lewis
SHOW/MOVIE HIGHLIGHTS:

   HERE IS A  VERSION OF ONE OF THE TOP
       SONGS  BY THE EVER-POPULAR MUPPETS

FROM A SUMMER THEATRE VERSION OF THE SHOW IN 2007, HERE IS ONE OF THE SPIRITED SONGS FROM THE SHOW:
  "THOSE WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS" (The Devil's Theme Song): link
 

ONE MORE LOOK AT THE FANTASTIC GWEN VERDON
 WITH RAY WALSTON FROM THE SHOW...
          "A LITTLE BRAINS, A LITTLE TALENT"

   SOME OF THE SONGS FROM THE SHOW WERE BIG HITS :
              "TWO LOST SOULS"     PERRY COMO & J. P. MORGAN
            (YOU GOTTA HAVE) "HEART"       PEGGY LEE
             "WHATEVER LOLA WANTS"     SARAH VAUGHAN   

                 

1957   "MY FAIR LADY"
2,717 PERFORMANCES
3/11/56  TILL /29/62
A musical  based  upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion  with  book and lyrics by Alan Jay  Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from  professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a well born  lady. The lessons work so well she is acclaimed as a Hungarian Princess. Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews (in her first major Broadway role) took the play to  new heights, causing a major ruckus a few years later when it was filmed.
Harrison repeated his role, but Julie Andrews was replaced by Audrey Hepburn (a non singer). When Academy Awards time rolled around, although nominated, Hepburn  lost out to Julie Andrews from the movie MARY POPPINS.  Poetic Justice?
 The musical's 1956 Broadway  production was a hit, setting what was then the record for the longest run of  any major musical theatre production in history, and it remains on the list of the longest running Broadway musicals . It was followed by a hit London production, a popular 1964  film version which won the Academy Award for that year , and numerous revivals. It has been called  "the perfect musical” !  The original cast album from the show became the #1 Best Selling Album from 1956 and stayed on the charts for 9 years!!!

MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
"WHY CAN'T THE ENGLISH"


" WOULDN'T IT BE LOVERLY "

"THE RAIN IN SPAIN"

"THE ASCOTTE GAVOTTE" (HORSE RACE)

"I COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT"

"JUST YOU WAIT, HENRY HIGGINS"

"WHY CAN'T A WOMAN BE MORE
           LIKE A MAN"

"ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE"

"WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK"

"WITHOUT YOU"

"I'VE GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO HER FACE"

1958   "THE MUSIC MAN"
1375 Performances Opened 12/19/57
     ( closed 3 1/2 years later )
THE MUSIC MAN is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and  Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns Harold Hill, a con-man  who poses as a boys' band  organizer and leader and sells  bogus band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk  before skipping town with the cash. In River City, Iowa, prim librarian and piano teacher, Marian  Paroo sees through him, but when Hill helps her younger brother overcome his  fear of social interactions due to his lisp, Marian begins to fall in love with Harold. He, in turn, falling for Marian, risks being caught to win her.
In 1957, the show became a hit on Broadway, winning five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and running for 1,375  performances. The cast album won the Grammy Award for "Best Original Cast Album". The show's success led to  revivals and a popular 1962 film adaptation and a 2003 television remake, as well as  Broadway Revivals in 1980 and 2000. It frequently is produced by both professional and  amateur theater companies.

                      MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM 
             ORIGINAL PRODUCTION AND REVIVALS  
  

OPENING SCENE FROM MOVIE (ROBERT PRESTON/ORIGINAL CAST AS WELL)

                           Barbara Cook from the Original Broadway Production

                Robert Preston, Original Cast and Movie  "TROUBLE"

"GARY, INDIANA" TAKE TWO (WITH A YOUNG RONNIE HOWARD FROM FILM)

        "PICK A LITTLE/GOOD NIGHT LADIES"

                             "LIDA ROSE" (BARBERSHOP QUARTETTE)

"76 TROMBONES" FROM BROADWAY REVIVAL WITH CRAIG  BIERKO

"76 TROMBONES" FEATURING THE MASTER AND ORIGINATOR
OF THE HAROLD HILL CHARACTER, ROBERT PRESTON

Revival with Matthew Broderick



      CONTINUED ON NEXT SUBPAGE