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My Favorite Year (musical)
Encyclopedia
My Favorite Year is a musical
with a book by Joseph Dougherty
, music by Stephen Flaherty
, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
. It is based on the film of the same name
.
at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre
on December 10, 1992 and closed on January 10, 1993 after 36 performances and 45 previews. The cast included Evan Pappas, Tim Curry
, Tom Mardirosian
, Katie Finneran
, Andrea Martin
(in her Broadway debut), Josh Mostel
, and Lainie Kazan
, who reprised the role of Benjy's mother she had played in the film. The show was directed by Ron Lagomarsino
and choreographed by Thommie Walsh
, with scenic design by Thomas Lynch, costume design by Patricia Zipprodt
, and lighting design by Jules Fisher
, with associate lighting designer Peggy Eisenhauer
.
The creative team constantly reworked the troubled production during previews.
My Favorite Year received mixed-to-negative reviews. The New York Timess Frank Rich
called the musical "a missed opportunity, a bustling but too frequently flat musical that suffers from another vogue of the 1950s, an identity crisis," and disapproved of the melodramatic turn taken in the show's second act, while Time
magazine condemned it as a "barren Broadway musical."
An original cast recording was released on the RCA Victor label.
In March 2007, The Chicago Sun-Times revealed that Flaherty and Ahrens were "reworking the show with an eye on a new Broadway production." Flaherty said that, "In hindsight, I think our decision to paint the musical in somewhat darker colors was a mistake." Among the revisions made to the show are two new songs, which were incorporated into a March 2007 repertory
production of the show at the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago.
Musicals Tonight! in New York presented a staged concert in April 2003.
-type), is a sketch writer for a live television variety show starring King Kaiser (a Sid Caesar
-type). Signed for a guest appearance is Alan Swann (an Errol Flynn
-type), a one-time movie idol whose career was disrupted by his addiction to alcohol and loose women. The task of keeping him sober and celibate until airtime falls to Benjy, who soon finds himself involved in a sequence of shenanigans unlike any he ever experienced before.
Various characters, including Benjy's pushy mother Belle Steinberg Carroca and Alan Swann's estranged daughter Tess, complicate Benjy's task. The other writers, Sy, Alice and Herb, add to the chaos.
Act II
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 Joseph Dougherty
Joseph Dougherty
Joseph Dougherty is an American television producer, writer and director. He won an Emmy Award and a Humanitas Prize for his writing on Thirtysomething...
, music by Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty is an American composer of musical theatre. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/bookwriter Lynn Ahrens...
, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years...
. It is based on the film of the same name
My Favorite Year
My Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, and Gloria Stuart. O'Toole was...
.
Production history
The musical opened on BroadwayBroadway 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...
at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre
Vivian Beaumont Theatre
The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a theatre located in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The structure was designed by Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen, and Jo Mielziner was responsible for the design of the stage and interior.The Vivian...
on December 10, 1992 and closed on January 10, 1993 after 36 performances and 45 previews. The cast included Evan Pappas, Tim Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
, Tom Mardirosian
Tom Mardirosian
Tom Mardirosian is an American actor. He is known for playing Agamemnon Busmalis in the HBO show Oz and Agent Kristos Koutris in the HBO show "The Wire"....
, Katie Finneran
Katie Finneran
Katie Finneran is an American actress of film, stage, and television noted for her Tony Award-winning performances in the Broadway play Noises Off in 2002, and the musical Promises, Promises in 2010.-Personal life:...
, Andrea Martin
Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
(in her Broadway debut), Josh Mostel
Josh Mostel
Joshua "Josh" Mostel is an American actor who is best known for his roles in Jesus Christ Superstar and two Adam Sandler films .-Life and career:...
, and Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...
, who reprised the role of Benjy's mother she had played in the film. The show was directed by Ron Lagomarsino
Ron Lagomarsino
-Life and education:Lagomarsino is from San Francisco, California. He is an alumnus of Santa Clara University and Tisch School of the Arts.-Directing credits:...
and choreographed 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...
, with scenic design by Thomas Lynch, costume design by Patricia Zipprodt
Patricia Zipprodt
Patricia Zipprodt was an American costume designer. She was known for her technique of painting fabrics and thoroughly researching a project's subject matter, especially when it was a period piece...
, and lighting design by Jules Fisher
Jules Fisher
Jules Fisher is a lighting designer and producer. He is credited with lighting designs for more than 200 productions over the course of his 45 year career in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well extensive work in film, ballet, opera, television, and rock and roll concert tours...
, with associate lighting designer Peggy Eisenhauer
Peggy Eisenhauer
Peggy Eisenhauer is an American lighting designer for both theatre and films. She has designed more than twenty Broadway shows and frequently collaborates with Jules Fisher.-Career:...
.
The creative team constantly reworked the troubled production during previews.
My Favorite Year received mixed-to-negative reviews. The New York Timess Frank Rich
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
called the musical "a missed opportunity, a bustling but too frequently flat musical that suffers from another vogue of the 1950s, an identity crisis," and disapproved of the melodramatic turn taken in the show's second act, while Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine condemned it as a "barren Broadway musical."
An original cast recording was released on the RCA Victor label.
In March 2007, The Chicago Sun-Times revealed that Flaherty and Ahrens were "reworking the show with an eye on a new Broadway production." Flaherty said that, "In hindsight, I think our decision to paint the musical in somewhat darker colors was a mistake." Among the revisions made to the show are two new songs, which were incorporated into a March 2007 repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
production of the show at the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago.
Musicals Tonight! in New York presented a staged concert in April 2003.
Cast
Source:- Evan Pappas as Benjy Stone
- Tim Curry as Alan Swann
- Tom Mardirosian as King Kaiser
- Andrea Martin as Alice Miller
- Lannyl Stephens as K.C. Downing
- Lainie Kazan as Belle May Steinberg Carroca
- Josh Mostel as Sy Benson
- Ethan PhillipsEthan PhillipsEthan Phillips is an American actor, playwright and author. He is known for television roles such as Star Trek: Voyager's Neelix and Benson's Pete Downey.-Personal life:...
as Herb Lee - Paul Stolarsky as Leo Silver
- Thomas Ikeda as Rookie Carroca
- David Lipman as Uncle Morty
- Mary Stout as Aunt Sadie
- Katie Finneran as Tess
Plot
In the 1950s Benjy Stone (a Mel BrooksMel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
-type), is a sketch writer for a live television variety show starring King Kaiser (a Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
-type). Signed for a guest appearance is Alan Swann (an Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
-type), a one-time movie idol whose career was disrupted by his addiction to alcohol and loose women. The task of keeping him sober and celibate until airtime falls to Benjy, who soon finds himself involved in a sequence of shenanigans unlike any he ever experienced before.
Various characters, including Benjy's pushy mother Belle Steinberg Carroca and Alan Swann's estranged daughter Tess, complicate Benjy's task. The other writers, Sy, Alice and Herb, add to the chaos.
Differences from the Original Movie
- In the movie, there is a subplot surrounding King Kaiser angering a corrupt union boss. Neither this man, nor the sketch that angered him, is included in the plot of the musical.
- In the movie, Swann agrees to finally meet his daughter, Tess, in person during the epilogue. In the musical, they meet in a scene where she is leaving a clam bake, which Swann was invited to by her. They also reunite in the final song.
- In the movie, Swann revealed he'd been keeping tabs on his daughter for a while without ever meeting her face to face. In the musical, Swann revealed he hadn't seen Tess in three years.
- In the movie, the Musketeer sketch is very minor to the plotline. In the musical, the Musketeer sketch is central to the plotline, for it is the sketch Benjy wrote for Swann. There are even four songs dedicated to the Musketeer sketch!
- In the movie, it is revealed King's real first name is Stan. In the musical, King is Kaiser's real first name.
- In the movie, Swann enters the women's bathroom on one occasion. In the musical, the only man to enter the women's bathroom is Benjy.
Songs
Act I- Twenty Million People - Benjy and Company
- Larger Than Life - Benjy
- The Musketeer Sketch - Benjy, Sy, King, Alice, K.C., Leo and Herb
- Waldorf Suite - Benjy, Offstage Chorus
- Rookie in the Ring - Belle
- Manhattan - Alan and Ensemble
- Naked in Bethesda Fountain - Sy, Alice, Leo, Herb and K.C.
- The Gospel According to the King - King, Alan and Ensemble
- The Musketeer Sketch Rehearsal - Musketeers, Benjy, and Alan
- Funny / The Duck Joke - K. C. and Alice
- The Musketeer Sketch Rehearsal Part II - King, Alan and Ensemble
- Welcome to Brooklyn - Morty, Rookie, Belle, Sadie, Benjy, Alan and Neighbors
- If the World Were Like the Movies - Alan
Act II
- Exits - Alan
- Shut Up and Dance - K. C., Benjy, Offstage Chorus
- Professional Showbizness Comedy - Alice, King and Ensemble
- The Lights Come Up - Alan and Benjy
- Maxford House - Maxford House Girls
- The Musketeer Sketch Finale - King and Ensemble
- My Favorite Year - Benjy and Company
Awards and nominations
- Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Actor in a Musical (Tim CurryTim CurryTimothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
, nominee) - Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Andrea MartinAndrea MartinAndrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
, winner and Lainie KazanLainie KazanLainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...
, nominee) - Theatre World AwardTheatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
(Andrea Martin, winner) - Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe 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 Featured Actor in a Musical (Josh MostelJosh MostelJoshua "Josh" Mostel is an American actor who is best known for his roles in Jesus Christ Superstar and two Adam Sandler films .-Life and career:...
, nominee) - Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Andrea Martin, winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations (nominee)