Marilyn: An American Fable is a musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 with a book by Patricia Michaels and music and lyrics by Jeanne Napoli, Doug Frank, Gary Portnoy

Gary Portnoy

Gary Portnoy is a singer/ songwriter from New York, best known for co-writing and singing the theme songs to two U.S. television sitcoms:*Cheers Theme: "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"*Punky Brewster Theme: "Every Time I Turn Around"...

, Beth Lawrence, and Norman Thalheimer.

Not to be confused with the West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 production Marilyn starring Stephanie Lawrence

Stephanie Lawrence

Stephanie Lawrence was a British musical theatre actress.-Background:Stephanie Lawrence was born in Hayling Island, Hampshire, the daughter of a singer and classically trained dancer.She was from an early age close friends with another Famous Islander Peter Chilvers who in 1958 invented the...

, this allegedly "authorized" version (officially endorsed by acting coach Lee Strasberg

Lee Strasberg

Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...

's wife Anna), while also based on events in the life of screen icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

 Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

, was a highly fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

alized account, complete with a happy ending, set on a huge, vacant Hollywood soundstage.

The production underwent numerous changes throughout its development period. During rehearsals, original star Gerolyn Petchel was replaced by Alyson Reed

Alyson Reed

Alyson Reed is an American dancer and actress.Reed grew up in Anaheim, California and attended Anaheim High School, where she graduated in 1976. She was a varsity songleader for two years, and was ASB President as a senior. She began performing in high school, and one of her major roles was as...

, and after previews began, director/choreographer Kenny Ortega

Kenny Ortega

Kenneth John "Kenny" Ortega is an American producer, director, and choreographer. He is known for directing the High School Musical trilogy and Michael Jackson's This Is It concert tour.-Life and career:...

 was replaced by Thommie Walsh

Thommie Walsh

Thomas Joseph “Thommie” Walsh III was an American dancer, choreographer, and director.-Biography:Born in Auburn, New York, Walsh was interested in dance from the age of five, but seriously considered foregoing it as a career when he was rejected by Juilliard...

 and Baayork Lee

Baayork Lee

Baayork Lee is an Asian-American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author.-Early life and career:Lee was born in New York City's Chinatown to an Indian mother and Chinese father...

, although Ortega retained credit in the program. Ten musical numbers were dropped and forty-five minutes of dialogue were excised before opening night. Among the characters retained were young Norma Jean Baker, who interacted with her adult self, and a Greek chorus

Greek chorus

A Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....

-like trio called Destiny, who provided a running commentary about the sex goddess' woes.

After thirty-four previews, the Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production opened on November 20, 1983 at the Minskoff Theatre

Minskoff Theatre

The Minskoff Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre, located at 1515 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan. It is now showing the musical The Lion King, based on the Disney animated film of the same name....

, where it ran for only seventeen performances. In addition to Reed, the cast included Scott Bakula

Scott Bakula

Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...

 (making his Broadway debut) as Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio

Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...

, Will Gerard as Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller

Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...

, and Kristi Coombs as young Norma Jean.

Reed was nominated for the Drama Desk Award

Drama Desk Award

The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...

for Outstanding Actress in a Musical.

Songs

Act I

• We Are the Ones
• Close the Door, Norma
• A Single Dream
• Jimmy Jimmy
• Church Doors
• Miss Parachute
• The Golden Dream
• Uh-Huh
• Can't Keep My Heart from Racing
• Money, Men and Moore
• I'll Send You Roses
• Church Doors (Reprise)
• I'll Send You Roses (Reprise)
• It's a Premiere Night
• Stairway Leading Nowhere

Act II

• We'll Help You Through the Night
• Shootin'
• Run Between Raindrops
• You Are So Beyond
• In Disguise
• A Special Man
• Church Doors (Reprise)
• Don't Hang Up the Telephone
• All Roads Lead to Hollywood
• My Heart's an Open Door
• Miss Bubbles
• A Single Dream (Reprise)

External links

• New York Times review