Anyone Can Whistle
Original Cast Recoding
Music	Stephen Sondheim
Lyrics	Stephen Sondheim
Book	Arthur Laurents
Productions	1964 Broadway 1995 Carnegie Hall

Anyone Can Whistle is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The story concerns a corrupt mayoress, an idealistic nurse, a man who may be a doctor, and various officials, patients and townspeople, all fighting to save a bankrupt town. This musical was Angela Lansbury's first stage musical role. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Stephen Joshua Sondheim (b. ... Stephen Joshua Sondheim (b. ... Arthur Laurents (born July 14, 1918) is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, librettist and stage director. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... Note on spelling: While most Americans use er (as per American spelling conventions), the majority of venues, performers and trade groups for live theatre use re. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Arthur Laurents (born July 14, 1918) is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, librettist and stage director. ... Stephen Joshua Sondheim (b. ...

Productions

Eager to work with both Laurents and Sondheim, Angela Lansbury accepted the lead role, despite her strong misgivings about the script and her ability to handle the score. Also signed were Lee Remick and Harry Guardino. Following several weeks of rehearsal in New York City, the company moved to Philadelphia for a pre-Broadway tryout period. The reviews were brutal and the audiences hostile, talking back to the cast and walking out in droves. Director Laurents, ignoring criticism about the show's message being trite and its absurdist style difficult to comprehend, poured his energies into restaging rather than dealing with the crux of the problem. Also hampering the production was the fact that Lansbury was being overshadowed by actor Harry Lascoe (whose sudden death of a heart attack on stage resolved that problem in an unexpected way). Angela Lansbury CBE (born October 16, 1925) is a four-time Tony-winning, six-time Golden Globe-winning, three-time Oscar-nominated, and eighteen-time Emmy-nominated English actress. ... Lee Remick Lee Remick (December 14, 1935 - July 2, 1991), was an American actress admired for her versality and her great beauty. ... Harry Guardino (December 23, 1925 – July 17, 1995) was an American television actor. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... For other uses, see Philadelphia (disambiguation) and Philly. ...

After multiple revisions, the show opened on Broadway on April 4, 1964 at the Majestic Theatre, where it closed after nine performances, unable to overcome the generally negative reviews it had received. Choreographer Herbert Ross received the show's sole Tony Award nomination. The show has become a cult favorite, and a truncated original cast recording released by Columbia Records sold well among Sondheim fans and musical theater buffs. "There Won't Be Trumpets," a tune cut during previews, has become a favorite of cabaret performers. is the 94th day of the year (95th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... The Majestic Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 245 West 44th Street in Manhattan, New York City. ... Choreography (also known as dance composition) is the art of making structures in which movement occurs, the term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures. ... Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York - October 9, 2001 in New York City), also known as Herb Ross, was a prolific film director, producer, choreographer and actor from the 1950s to the 1990s. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... Cabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue — a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting around the tables (often dining or drinking) watching the performance. ...

On April 8, 1995, a staged concert was performed at Carnegie Hall as a benefit for the Gay Men's Health Crisis. The concert was recorded by Columbia Records, preserving for the first time musical passages and numbers not included on the original Broadway cast recording. (For example, the cut song "It's Always A Woman" were included at this concert.) Lansbury served as narrator, with Madeline Kahn as Cora, Bernadette Peters as Fay, and Scott Bakula as Hapgood. Additional cast included Chip Zien, Ken Page, and Harvey Evans, the only original cast member to reprise his role. Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street. ... The Gay Mens Health Crisis (GMHC) is a non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization that has lead the United States in the fight against AIDS. It was founded by seven gay men - Arthur Bell, Nathan Fain, Larry Kramer, Larry Mass, Paul Popham, Paul Rapaport and... Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish American actress of movie, television, and theater distinguished by an unusual gift for comedy. ... Bernadette Peters (born February 28, 1948) is an American actress and singer. ... Scott Stewart Bakula (born October 9, 1954) is an American actor who played leading roles in two science fiction television series: Quantum Leap and Star Trek: Enterprise. ... Chip Zien (born March 20, 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American actor. ... Ken Page (born in January 20, 1954) is an actor from St. ...

In 2003, Sony reissued the original Broadway cast recording on compact disc. Two revivals were staged that year, one in London, at the Bridewell Theatre, and one in Los Angeles, at the Matrix Theatre.Sondheim Guide Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $66. ... CD redirects here. ...

Plot synopsis

Set in an imaginary town that has gone bankrupt, it focuses on the unpopular, manipulative and corrupt mayoress, Cora Hoover Hooper and the practical but idealistic nurse, Fay Apple. Mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper together with her political cronies fakes a miracle--water flowing from a rock -- that they think will attract tourist dollars ("Miracle Song"). They find themselves challenged by skeptical Fay Apple, a nurse at the local sanitarium, the "Cookie Jar", who intends to use her patients to disprove the claim. The patients from the "Cookie Jar " mingle with the townspeople, creating chaos and confusion ("A-1 March"). J. Bowden Hapgood, a patient mistaken for a psychiatrist, divides the town into two groups, the sane and the loony, but refuses to divulge which is which. Nurse Apple, determined to learn the truth about the "miracle", disguises herself as a French verifier ("Come Play Wiz Me"). She becomes romantically involved with Hapgood but fears "letting go" ("Anyone Can Whistle"). Ultimately, Nurse Apple exposes the greed and cynicism of the elected officials and she and Hapgood are united ("With So Little to Be Sure Of"). This article is about the occupation. ... There are a few meanings of Sanitarium: A sanitarium can be a psychiatric hospital. ... For other uses, see Psychiatrist (disambiguation). ...

The story's point is that "normal" is a euphemism for self-control, conformity, and order, and its moral is that the true miracle simply is being alive. Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener; or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ...

Musical numbers

(From the Broadway production)

Note Added in the concert: "There Won't Be Trumpets"--Fay Apple; "There's Always A Woman"--Fay Apple and Cora

References

Balancing Act, The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury by Martin Gottfried, published by Little, Brown and Company, 1999 Martin Gottfried on the dust jacket of Balancing Act, his 1999 biography of Angela Lansbury Martin Gottfried is an American critic, columnist, and author. ... Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. ...

External links

• Anyone Can Whistle at the Internet Broadway Database
• sondheim.com
• MTI shows listing
• Live, Laugh, Love: Anyone Can Whistle-A Fan Site
• sondheimguide.com