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There are plenty of surprises in Albert Poland’s memoir STAGES, but one stands out among all the rest. Although Poland was a general manager for nearly five dozen off-Broadway productions, his first foray into downtown theater was as a co-producer of a 1967 musical. You can see his name atop the original cast album of […]

The exclamation point has always been part of the 1974 musical OVER HERE!  But even if it hadn’t been, it should be there now.  Aren’t we all excited that this musical — which hasn’t been seen in New York since the original production closed in the early days of 1975 — will return? (Well, in […]

The eighty-sixth anniversary of LET ‘EM EAT CAKE is a good enough reason to celebrate George and Ira Gershwin. No, their sequel to OF THEE I SING that opened on Oct. 21, 1933 didn’t do nearly as well as the original. But when you consider the four-performance fate of BRING BACK BIRDIE and the out-of-town […]

Fifty-eight years ago this week, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING opened to raves from all seven (!) New York newspapers. A Best Musical Tony and even the Pulitzer Prize were in its future, as well as the distinction of becoming the fifth-longest-running musical in Broadway history. HOW TO SUCCEED’s road to success […]

“Who wants to live in New York?” goes a lyric in one of Hal Prince’s most famous productions. The line is soon followed by “I do.” And I do, because I’ve now been three times to The Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts to see the extraordinary exhibition entitled IN THE COMPANY OF HAROLD […]