BROADWAY RECALL: Nice Musical If You Can Revise It

Welcome to BROADWAY RECALL, a bi-monthly column where BroadwayWorld.com's Chief Theatre Critic, Michael Dale, delves into the archives and explores the stories behind the well-known and the not so well-known videos and photographs of Broadway's past. Look for BROADWAY RECALL every other Saturday.

Old Gershwin musicals never die, they just get revised into new Gershwin musicals.  I’m not referring to the current opera-to-musical transformation of Porgy and Bess, but the now-officially-a-trend of taking popular George and Ira hit shows, revamping the books, tweaking the scores and renaming the new musical after one of the duo’s classic tunes.

The newest entry into this exclusive genre, opening in April, is Nice Work If You Can Get It, which traces its roots back to the 1926 Gertrude Lawrence vehicle, Oh, Kay!, which was revived on Broadway by David Merrick in 1990 with Brian pre-Stokes Mitchell serving as leading man.  Joe DiPietro has taken on the assignment of creating a new text from P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton’s original book about Long Island upper crusters and English bootleggers, using songs from the original peppered with additional Gershwin gems.

 

Here’s Matthew Broderick, Kelli O’Hara and Judy Kaye with a few samples of what to expect from director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall’s newest effort:

The show that started the trend was My One And Only, which began as an attempt to revise the Fred and Adele Astaire vehicle, Funny Face, for Tommy Tune and Twiggy.  The project would have been the Broadway debut for avant-garde director Peter Sellars, but his dark, confusing vision for the musical failed to engage audiences and he was replaced by Tune, who, with a little help from friends (Mike Nichols, Michael Bennett, Tony Walton and Peter Stone) turned a show that was getting disastrous buzz from out of town into a Broadway smash.

Here’s a classic example of Tune’s stylish choreography, from a scene where the two leading characters express their love after being washed ashore on an empty beach:

The 1930 Broadway opening of Girl Crazy will always be remembered as the night that made Ethel Merman a star as she belted “I Got Rhythm” to the back rows of the Alvin Theatre.  You might say that opening night of Crazy For You, the new version of Girl Crazy with a book by Ken Ludwig, made a star out of Susan Stroman.  Making her debut as a Broadway choreographer, Stroman’s Tony-winning dances thrilled and delighted audiences.  Here’s Harry Groener and company being delightful:

Photo of Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara by Walter McBride / Retna Ltd.

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