NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Pal Joey (musical)

Pal Joey is a 1940 Broadway musical by American writer John O'Hara, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The play is based on the character and situations that O'Hara created in a series of short stories published in The New Yorker magazine. It included two songs that have become standards: I Could Write a Book and Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (see Great American Songbook). Broadway theatre[1] is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ... The art of singing and dancing in a prepared fictional play has been a time-honored tradition ranging to the early days of civilization. ... John Henry OHara (31 January 1905 â€“ 11 April 1970) was an American writer. ... For more on his work with his two partners, see Rodgers and Hart and Rodgers and Hammerstein. ... Lorenz (Larry) Hart (May 2, 1895 - November 22, 1943) was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. ... Pal Joey is a 1939 epistolary (written in the form of a series of letters) novel by John OHara, which became the basis of a 1940 musical comedy and 1957 motion picture of the same name. ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ... Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered is a popular song with lyrics by Lorenz Hart and music by Richard Rodgers. ... Songwriter Harold Arlen (right) with singer Bing Crosby (left) and Decca Records owner Jack Kapp (center) The Great American Songbook is an informal term referring to a period of American popular music songwriting that took place between the 1930s and 1960s. ...

Directed by George Abbott, the opening-night cast included Gene Kelly, Vivienne Segal, Van Johnson, and June Havoc. It opened on December 25, 1940 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and ran for 374 performances. A film of the musical was made in 1957, starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, and Kim Novak. George Abbott (June 25, 1887 - January 31, 1995) was among the greatest of Broadway showmen. ... Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 â€“ February 2, 1996), better known as Gene Kelly, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Vivienne Sonia Segal (April 19, 1897 - December 29, 1992) was an American actress and singer. ... Van Johnson in Battleground (1949) Van Johnson (born Charles Van Johnson on August 25, 1916, in Newport, Rhode Island) is an American film and television actor and dancer. ... June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick on November 8, 1916 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is an actress and dancer. ... The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is located in New York City, on 243 W. 47th St (between 8th Avenue and Broadway). ...

Revivals

The play was a greater success when revived on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in 1952, running for 540 performances. Starring were Harold Lang, Vivienne Segal, and Helen Gallagher. Dances and musical numbers were staged by Robert Alton, the original choreographer. Broadway theatre is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ... The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theatre. ... See also: 1951 in music, other events of 1952, 1953 in music, 1950s in music and the list of years in music // Events Pierre Schaeffer publishes his A la recherche dune musique concrÃ¨te (The Search for a Concrete Music), an explanation of his experimental approach to composing. ... Harold Lang (December 21, 1920 - July 26, 1985) was an American dancer and actor. ... Helen Gallagher (born July 19, 1926 in New York City) is an American actress, dancer and singer. ...

It was revived off-Broadway in 1963 (15 performances), on Broadway in 1976 (73 performances), and in 1995, as a concert staging at City Center Encores! starring Peter Gallagher and Patti Lupone. Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions. ... See also: 1962 in music, other events of 1963, 1964 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music // January 1 - The Beatles start a 5 day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, Love Me Do. January 4 - At Cortina dAmpezzo... Broadway theatre is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ... See also: other events of 1976 list of years in music 1970s in music // January 6 - Peter Frampton releases Frampton Comes Alive! January 7 - Kenneth Moss, a former record company executive, is sentenced to 120 days in the Los Angeles County Jail and four years probation for involuntary manslaughter in... See also: 1994 in music, other events of 1995, 1996 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music // January 18 - Jerry Garcia wrecks his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California. ... Downtown Honolulu in Hawaii, United States, an example of an urban downtown district Central business district (CBD) and downtown are terms referring to the commercial heart of a city. ... New York City Centers Encores!Â® Great American Musicals in Concert has been performing since 1994. ... Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is a Golden Globe award winning American actor. ... Patti LuPone in her Tony Award winning role as Eva PerÃ³n in the Broadway musical Evita. ...

There were two productions in London's West End: in March 1954 at the Princes Theatre, starring Harold Lang, Carol Bruce and Sally Bazely; and the Noel Coward Theatre, from September 1980 until September 1981, starring Sian Phillips, Danielle Carson, and Denis Lawson. // West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland . Along with New Yorks Broadway Theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of theatre in the... The Shaftesbury Theatre is located on Shaftesbury Ave in London, England. ... New Theatre, postcard, circa 1905. ... SiÃ¢n Phillips, CBE is a Welsh actress who was born Jane Elizabeth AilwÃªn Phillips in Betws, Carmarthenshire, Wales, on May 14, 1934. ... Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Denis Lawson (born September 27, 1947 in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland), is a Scottish actor. ...

Plot summary

The stage musical's plot is more coherent and sequential than the stories on which it is based. Joey Evans, as an unsympathetic antihero, is a striking departure from the usual musical-comedy formula. Richard Rodgers said of Joey: "Joey was not disreputable because he was mean, but because he had too much imagination to behave himself, and because he was a little weak." (New York Times, December 30, 1951) In literature and film, an anti-hero is a central or supporting character that has some of the personality flaws and ultimate fortune traditionally assigned to villains but nonetheless also have enough heroic qualities or intentions to gain the sympathy of readers or viewers. ...

Joey, a second-rate dancer with big plans, schemes to get his dream--his own nightclub--"Chez Joey". In doing so, he leaves his girlfriend Linda and romances an older wealthy married woman, Vera Simpson, to convince her to set him up in business. Vera thus becomes vulnerable to a blackmail attempt which is thwarted by Linda. Several minor characters, Gladys, a chorus girl and Melba, a reporter, figure into the plot. Vera, bored with Joey, throws him out and he ends up alone.

The burlesque spoof, the song "Zip", was sung as a speciality number by the character "Melba": Elaine Stritch in the 1952 revival, Kay Medford in the 1963 revival, Dixie Carter in the 1976 revival, and Bebe Neuwirth in the 1995 concert. Photograph of Sally Rand, 1934. ... Elaine Stritch, (born on February 2, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan) is an Irish-American actress and singer with a brassy, rough voice known for her brash, vocal characters. ... Kay Medford (September 14, 1914 - April 10, 1980), was an Oscar-nominated American character actress from New York. ... Dixie Carter in a 1986 Designing Women episode Dixie Virginia Carter (born May 25, 1939) is an American actress noted for her portrayals of Southern women. ... Bebe Neuwirth Beatrice Bebe Neuwirth (born December 31, 1958) is an American theater, television, and film actress. ...

Most of the actors who played Joey were dancers as well as actors and singers, since the character was a dancer: Gene Kelly, Harold Lang, Christopher Chadman (a choreographer, as well), and Bob Fosse.

Musical numbers

Act 2 Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered is a popular song with lyrics by Lorenz Hart and music by Richard Rodgers. ...

Tony Awards and nominations

Helen Gallagher (born July 19, 1926 in New York City) is an American actress, dancer and singer. ... Bob Fosse, early promotional image. ...

2007 Revival

It has been reported that producer Marc E. Platt, along with writer Richard Greenberg and director Joe Mantello are planning a revival, expected in the fall. (See www.jewishjournal.com, February 17, 2007, and The Syracuse Post Standard, February 28, 2007) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Marc E. Platt, sometimes credited as Marc Platt, is an American film, television and theatre producer. ... Richard Greenberg (1958-) is a Tony Award winning american playwright. ... Joe Mantello (born 27 December 1962) in Rockford, Illinois is a Tony Award-winning American actor and director. ...

External links

Categories: Broadway musicals | 1940 musicals | American musicals | Musical theatre stubs Rodgers and Hart was the songwriting team consisting of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. ... The Garrick Gaieties, which opened on Broadway in 1925, was first of a long line of Rodgers and Hart musicals. ... A Connecticut Yankee was a 1927 musical by Rogers and Hart, based upon A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, a novel by American humorist Mark Twain. ... Jumbo is also the title of a musical produced in 1935 by Billy Rose, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and book by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and directed by John Murray Anderson and George Abbott. ... On Your Toes has two possible meanings. ... Babes in Arms is a 1937 musical theater production which tells the story of a boy who puts on a show to avoid being sent to a work farm. ... Id Rather Be Right is a 1937 Moss Hart and George Kaufman musical play about Franklin Roosevelt, with George M. Cohan, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and music by Richard Rodgers. ... The Boys from Syracuse is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeares play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott, who also directed. ... I Married An Angel is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. ... Ray Bolger in the original Broadway production of By Jupiter By Jupiter is a musical with a book by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. ...