Sweet Smell of Success: The Musical
Encyclopedia
Sweet Smell of Success is a musical
created by Marvin Hamlisch
(music), Craig Carnelia
(lyrics), and John Guare
(book). The show is based on the 1957 movie of the same name
, which tells the story of a powerful newspaper columnist named J. J. Hunsecker (based on famed New York
columnist
Walter Winchell
) who uses his connections to ruin his sister's relationship with a man he deems inappropriate.
, Canada
, in August 1998, with an 18-member cast directed by Nicholas Hytner
. It then had a pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago
, Illinois
, in January 2002.
The musical opened on March 14, 2002 at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway
. Again directed by Hytner, it closed on June 15, 2002, after 109 performances and 18 previews. The show starred John Lithgow
as J.J. Hunsecker, and Brian d'Arcy James
as Sidney Falcone.
The creative team included choreography by Christopher Wheeldon
, sets and costumes by Bob Crowely, and lighting by Natasha Katz
. Sweet Smell garnered 7 Tony Award
nominations including Best Musical
. John Lithgow received the show's only Tony Award, winning Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.
Act I
Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. America. It’s New York, 1952. Welcome to Broadway, the glamour capital of the universe. JJ Hunsecker rules it all with his daily gossip column in the New York Globe, syndicated to sixty million readers across America. JJ has the goods on everyone, from the President to the latest starlet. And everyone feeds JJ scandal, from J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joe McCarthy down to a battalion of hungry press agents who attach their news to a client that JJ might plug. You’re no one if you’re not in JJ. You can become no one if JJ turns on you ("The Column").
Meet Sidney Falcone, a struggling press agent whose sole client is a nowhere jazz dive, the Club Voodoo. Tony, the owner, gives Sidney and ultimatum. No item in JJ, no job. Tonight, the only customer at the Voodoo is Susan, a classy beauty, who’s there to see Dallas, the hot young piano player. It’s his last night before going off to play a gig in Chicago. He wants Susan to go with him. She can’t. There’s someone who wouldn’t like it.
Looking for a client - any client - Sidney offers his services to Dallas ("I Can Get You In JJ") Dallas laughs off Sidney’s pitch. He will make it on his own. Sidney then turns to Susan and promises that, if she hires him, he’ll make her a star with one mention in JJ. She doesn’t bite. Sidney’s taken with her but when he sees Dallas sing to Susan, he realizes he hasn’t a chance ("I Cannot Hear the City").
Suddenly JJ shows up at the Voodoo, knowing nothing of Dallas. He’s followed Susan, furious that she walked out on him earlier at dinner at the Stork Club. Why is she in a dive like this? As Dallas moves to JJ to tell him why, Susan distracts JJ by introducing Sidney as the reason. She claims Sidney is her partner in acting class. Sidney is stunned. (He’d assumed Susan was JJ’s girlfriend but finds out she’s JJ’s sister). Sidney goes along with the ruse. As JJ questions Sidney on his nightly crawl of every hotspot in Manhattan ("Welcome to the Night").
JJ buys Sidney a new suit, and gets Sidney’s waitress girlfriend, Rita, a job at a fancy nightspot called the Cafe Elysian. JJ introduces Sidney to the powerful and sinister Police Detective Kello. JJ gets Sidney clients, and urges his new friend to “keep the ‘O’ and change his name to Falco.” Life’s great! ("Laughing All The Way To The Bank"). Sidney can’t believe his new friendship. The life he’s dreamed of is here. ("At The Fountain").
Weeks later, before dawn, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, in the presence of the Almighty, it’s payback time. JJ makes Sidney (the former altar-boy) swear he will follow Susan and report on all that he sees.
Susan and Dallas are in bed ("Don't Know Where You Leave Off") Susan’s agonized. She can’t tell JJ about their romance. JJ would never accept her loving a nobody like Dallas. Dallas gives her an ultimatum. He’s back from his latest gig in Philadelphia in three weeks. Tell JJ by then. Dallas says goodbye to Susan at Penn Station with an epic kiss, seen by Sidney. When Susan sees him, Sidney admits he’s following her on JJ’s behalf. He advises her to drop this nobody Dallas. Susan reminds Sidney how much she helped a nobody like him. In return, she asks Sidney to take on Dallas as a secret client and make him a somebody ("What If").
Susan takes Sidney home to JJ’s penthouse. JJ regales Sidney with stories about Susie’s childhood, their life together and how much everyone loves his little sister ("For Susan"). Sidney, seeing how oppressive JJ’s love is to Susan, feeds JJ an item about a great young piano player named Dallas Cochran who needs a break. JJ will print it. Susan is silently grateful. When Sidney leaves, JJ asks Susan to dance like they used to when she was a little girl. When she rejects him, JJ suspects Susan of seeing someone and counts on Sidney to tell him who that someone is.
Thanks to JJ’s rave, Dallas is in New York headlining at the hip Cafe Elysian ("One Track Mind"). JJ proudly introduces Susan to his discovery, Dallas. Then he sees Susan’s loving reaction. Sidney tries to hustle JJ out of the club. Tony from the Voodoo has stopped by to see Dallas’ success, Tony unwittingly drops the bombshell that Susan and Dallas have been an item for a while. JJ is incensed at having been duped by Sidney. Nobody lies to JJ. Sidney is trapped.
Act II
As Act II opens, Sidney vows to JJ he’ll clear up this Susan/Dallas thing. Clear it up? JJ insists that he "Break It Up". Or else. And Susan must never know JJ’s behind it.
Sidney tries every ploy he can think of to end the romance. Nothing works. Sidney’s downfall is swift. He’s blackballed from the column and loses all his clients. JJ, while pretending to be happy for Susan and Dallas, gives Sidney a deadline to demolish their relationship. By morning.
In desperation to get back into JJ’s favor, Sidney tries to plant a vicious smear about Dallas in the column of a rival gossip monger, Otis Elwell. However, the repulsive Otis will only print the item for a price. Sidney realizes he has “the price” at home, where Sidney’s girlfriend Rita is eagerly waiting for him ("Rita's Tune"). Sidney shows up with Elwell. His purpose is clear. Rita’s revolted that Sidney would use her like this. Sidney needs Otis’s column. He’s desperate. He bullies and manipulates Rita into going along with his scheme. After Otis phones in Sidney’s smear, Sidney leaves them together.
The public descends on the morning edition. They revel in how the item will ruin Dallas ("Dirt").
JJ is hosting a charity telethon. Susan comes backstage to show JJ the lie of a smear in a rival paper, and begs JJ for help. Sidney assures Susan that JJ will. Bring Dallas in. JJ is enraged. Sidney advises JJ to do what Susan wants, get Dallas his job back, then leave Dallas alone with him for five minutes. He will wind Dallas so tight that Dallas will snap, and the relationship with Susan will be over. JJ admires his protege. “You’re a cookie full of arsenic” JJ calls the Elysian and gets Dallas reinstated, then goes on with his telethon. Sidney then reveals to Dallas how he got his career-making gig ("I Could Get You In JJ" (reprise)). JJ returns in time to hear Dallas’ angry disbelief at Susan's deception. Dallas insults JJ and his column. Susan tells Dallas to leave. Sidney is triumphant. JJ tells Susan he’s taking her to England for the coronation, immediately after the telethon. She agrees to go, then runs after Dallas. She tries to explain that he’ll never escape JJ’s power. He won’t be safe ("I Can Hear the City" (reprise)).
JJ can’t forget Dallas’ insults. Not satisfied that Susan and Dallas have parted, JJ wants Sidney to “take Dallas apart”. Sidney doesn’t do stuff like that. Then JJ suggests Sidney call Lt. Kello to do it. Never. What if JJ gave Sidney his column, what then? JJ gives him Kello’s number. While JJ performs his old vaudeville routine on the telethon ("Don't Look Now"), Sidney calls Kello and sets up Dallas to be brutally and lethally beaten.
Sidney informs JJ the deed is done. JJ announces to America that, while he’s away in England, Sidney will write the column. Sidney’s at the pinnacle ("At The Fountain" (reprise)).
Susan interrupts his victory. She tells him Dallas has been found. Sidney won’t let her miss that boat. JJ waits impatiently at the dock. Susan refuses to get on board. She produces Rita as a witness who saw Sidney plant drugs on Dallas and signal Kello for the attack. JJ feigns shock that Sidney would do such a thing. Otis Elwell appears. Susan has called him with a story. Sidney and JJ are terrified. The story is that she and Dallas are going to marry and leave New York. Yes, Dallas is alive. Otis goes, grateful for the scoop. Susan tells JJ that he’ll never see her again. If he ever comes after her, she’ll tell every columnist in town what JJ and Sidney did to Dallas. “I always wondered which of your enemies would bring you down. I never dreamed it could be me.” She leaves.
Sidney urges JJ to get on the boat. JJ wants Sidney to get rid of Rita. Rita knows too much. “Do it and the column is yours.” Sidney rebels. Sidney will take Rita to a place where nobody ever heard of JJ. JJ smiles. No such place exists. Sidney runs. He sees hungry press agents, desperate to get in the column, the hysterical crowds in the nightclubs, hoping for a mention in JJ. Sidney is finally free of it all. Kello and his goons appear. They surround Sidney.
JJ goes back to work, preparing his next column ("Finale"). The lead item announces the death of Sidney Falco in a vicious robbery. But Sidney would be happy. He made today’s column.
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...
created by Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
(music), Craig Carnelia
Craig Carnelia
Craig Carnelia is an American musical theater composer and singer, known for his collaboration on the musicals Working and Sweet Smell of Success.-Biography:...
(lyrics), and John Guare
John Guare
John Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
(book). The show is based on the 1957 movie of the same name
Sweet Smell of Success
Sweet Smell of Success is a 1957 American film noir made by Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and stars Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison and Martin Milner. The screenplay was written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman...
, which tells the story of a powerful newspaper columnist named J. J. Hunsecker (based on famed New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
) who uses his connections to ruin his sister's relationship with a man he deems inappropriate.
Production history
A workshop was held in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, in August 1998, with an 18-member cast directed by Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
. It then had a pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, in January 2002.
The musical opened on March 14, 2002 at the Martin Beck Theatre on 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...
. Again directed by Hytner, it closed on June 15, 2002, after 109 performances and 18 previews. The show starred John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
as J.J. Hunsecker, and Brian d'Arcy James
Brian d'Arcy James
Brian d'Arcy James is an American actor and musician.-Personal life:James was born in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of Mary , a seller of children's books, and a lawyer father, Thomas F. James. Brian's maternal grandfather was Harry F. Kelly, former Governor of the state of Michigan...
as Sidney Falcone.
The creative team included choreography by Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Wheeldon is an international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Born in Somerset, England, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18...
, sets and costumes by Bob Crowely, and lighting by Natasha Katz
Natasha Katz
Natasha Katz is a lighting designer for the theatre, dance, and opera. She was educated at Oberlin College and did an internship with Roger Morgan....
. Sweet Smell garnered 7 Tony Award
Tony Award
The 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...
nominations including Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
. John Lithgow received the show's only Tony Award, winning Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.
Synopsis
- As taken from the original cast recording
Act I
Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. America. It’s New York, 1952. Welcome to Broadway, the glamour capital of the universe. JJ Hunsecker rules it all with his daily gossip column in the New York Globe, syndicated to sixty million readers across America. JJ has the goods on everyone, from the President to the latest starlet. And everyone feeds JJ scandal, from J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joe McCarthy down to a battalion of hungry press agents who attach their news to a client that JJ might plug. You’re no one if you’re not in JJ. You can become no one if JJ turns on you ("The Column").
Meet Sidney Falcone, a struggling press agent whose sole client is a nowhere jazz dive, the Club Voodoo. Tony, the owner, gives Sidney and ultimatum. No item in JJ, no job. Tonight, the only customer at the Voodoo is Susan, a classy beauty, who’s there to see Dallas, the hot young piano player. It’s his last night before going off to play a gig in Chicago. He wants Susan to go with him. She can’t. There’s someone who wouldn’t like it.
Looking for a client - any client - Sidney offers his services to Dallas ("I Can Get You In JJ") Dallas laughs off Sidney’s pitch. He will make it on his own. Sidney then turns to Susan and promises that, if she hires him, he’ll make her a star with one mention in JJ. She doesn’t bite. Sidney’s taken with her but when he sees Dallas sing to Susan, he realizes he hasn’t a chance ("I Cannot Hear the City").
Suddenly JJ shows up at the Voodoo, knowing nothing of Dallas. He’s followed Susan, furious that she walked out on him earlier at dinner at the Stork Club. Why is she in a dive like this? As Dallas moves to JJ to tell him why, Susan distracts JJ by introducing Sidney as the reason. She claims Sidney is her partner in acting class. Sidney is stunned. (He’d assumed Susan was JJ’s girlfriend but finds out she’s JJ’s sister). Sidney goes along with the ruse. As JJ questions Sidney on his nightly crawl of every hotspot in Manhattan ("Welcome to the Night").
JJ buys Sidney a new suit, and gets Sidney’s waitress girlfriend, Rita, a job at a fancy nightspot called the Cafe Elysian. JJ introduces Sidney to the powerful and sinister Police Detective Kello. JJ gets Sidney clients, and urges his new friend to “keep the ‘O’ and change his name to Falco.” Life’s great! ("Laughing All The Way To The Bank"). Sidney can’t believe his new friendship. The life he’s dreamed of is here. ("At The Fountain").
Weeks later, before dawn, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, in the presence of the Almighty, it’s payback time. JJ makes Sidney (the former altar-boy) swear he will follow Susan and report on all that he sees.
Susan and Dallas are in bed ("Don't Know Where You Leave Off") Susan’s agonized. She can’t tell JJ about their romance. JJ would never accept her loving a nobody like Dallas. Dallas gives her an ultimatum. He’s back from his latest gig in Philadelphia in three weeks. Tell JJ by then. Dallas says goodbye to Susan at Penn Station with an epic kiss, seen by Sidney. When Susan sees him, Sidney admits he’s following her on JJ’s behalf. He advises her to drop this nobody Dallas. Susan reminds Sidney how much she helped a nobody like him. In return, she asks Sidney to take on Dallas as a secret client and make him a somebody ("What If").
Susan takes Sidney home to JJ’s penthouse. JJ regales Sidney with stories about Susie’s childhood, their life together and how much everyone loves his little sister ("For Susan"). Sidney, seeing how oppressive JJ’s love is to Susan, feeds JJ an item about a great young piano player named Dallas Cochran who needs a break. JJ will print it. Susan is silently grateful. When Sidney leaves, JJ asks Susan to dance like they used to when she was a little girl. When she rejects him, JJ suspects Susan of seeing someone and counts on Sidney to tell him who that someone is.
Thanks to JJ’s rave, Dallas is in New York headlining at the hip Cafe Elysian ("One Track Mind"). JJ proudly introduces Susan to his discovery, Dallas. Then he sees Susan’s loving reaction. Sidney tries to hustle JJ out of the club. Tony from the Voodoo has stopped by to see Dallas’ success, Tony unwittingly drops the bombshell that Susan and Dallas have been an item for a while. JJ is incensed at having been duped by Sidney. Nobody lies to JJ. Sidney is trapped.
Act II
As Act II opens, Sidney vows to JJ he’ll clear up this Susan/Dallas thing. Clear it up? JJ insists that he "Break It Up". Or else. And Susan must never know JJ’s behind it.
Sidney tries every ploy he can think of to end the romance. Nothing works. Sidney’s downfall is swift. He’s blackballed from the column and loses all his clients. JJ, while pretending to be happy for Susan and Dallas, gives Sidney a deadline to demolish their relationship. By morning.
In desperation to get back into JJ’s favor, Sidney tries to plant a vicious smear about Dallas in the column of a rival gossip monger, Otis Elwell. However, the repulsive Otis will only print the item for a price. Sidney realizes he has “the price” at home, where Sidney’s girlfriend Rita is eagerly waiting for him ("Rita's Tune"). Sidney shows up with Elwell. His purpose is clear. Rita’s revolted that Sidney would use her like this. Sidney needs Otis’s column. He’s desperate. He bullies and manipulates Rita into going along with his scheme. After Otis phones in Sidney’s smear, Sidney leaves them together.
The public descends on the morning edition. They revel in how the item will ruin Dallas ("Dirt").
JJ is hosting a charity telethon. Susan comes backstage to show JJ the lie of a smear in a rival paper, and begs JJ for help. Sidney assures Susan that JJ will. Bring Dallas in. JJ is enraged. Sidney advises JJ to do what Susan wants, get Dallas his job back, then leave Dallas alone with him for five minutes. He will wind Dallas so tight that Dallas will snap, and the relationship with Susan will be over. JJ admires his protege. “You’re a cookie full of arsenic” JJ calls the Elysian and gets Dallas reinstated, then goes on with his telethon. Sidney then reveals to Dallas how he got his career-making gig ("I Could Get You In JJ" (reprise)). JJ returns in time to hear Dallas’ angry disbelief at Susan's deception. Dallas insults JJ and his column. Susan tells Dallas to leave. Sidney is triumphant. JJ tells Susan he’s taking her to England for the coronation, immediately after the telethon. She agrees to go, then runs after Dallas. She tries to explain that he’ll never escape JJ’s power. He won’t be safe ("I Can Hear the City" (reprise)).
JJ can’t forget Dallas’ insults. Not satisfied that Susan and Dallas have parted, JJ wants Sidney to “take Dallas apart”. Sidney doesn’t do stuff like that. Then JJ suggests Sidney call Lt. Kello to do it. Never. What if JJ gave Sidney his column, what then? JJ gives him Kello’s number. While JJ performs his old vaudeville routine on the telethon ("Don't Look Now"), Sidney calls Kello and sets up Dallas to be brutally and lethally beaten.
Sidney informs JJ the deed is done. JJ announces to America that, while he’s away in England, Sidney will write the column. Sidney’s at the pinnacle ("At The Fountain" (reprise)).
Susan interrupts his victory. She tells him Dallas has been found. Sidney won’t let her miss that boat. JJ waits impatiently at the dock. Susan refuses to get on board. She produces Rita as a witness who saw Sidney plant drugs on Dallas and signal Kello for the attack. JJ feigns shock that Sidney would do such a thing. Otis Elwell appears. Susan has called him with a story. Sidney and JJ are terrified. The story is that she and Dallas are going to marry and leave New York. Yes, Dallas is alive. Otis goes, grateful for the scoop. Susan tells JJ that he’ll never see her again. If he ever comes after her, she’ll tell every columnist in town what JJ and Sidney did to Dallas. “I always wondered which of your enemies would bring you down. I never dreamed it could be me.” She leaves.
Sidney urges JJ to get on the boat. JJ wants Sidney to get rid of Rita. Rita knows too much. “Do it and the column is yours.” Sidney rebels. Sidney will take Rita to a place where nobody ever heard of JJ. JJ smiles. No such place exists. Sidney runs. He sees hungry press agents, desperate to get in the column, the hysterical crowds in the nightclubs, hoping for a mention in JJ. Sidney is finally free of it all. Kello and his goons appear. They surround Sidney.
JJ goes back to work, preparing his next column ("Finale"). The lead item announces the death of Sidney Falco in a vicious robbery. But Sidney would be happy. He made today’s column.
Musical numbers
Act I- The Column
- I Could Get You In J.J.
- I Cannot Hear The City
- Welcome To The Night
- Laughin’ All the Way to the Bank
- At the Fountain
- Don’t Know Where You Leave Off
- What If
- For Susan
- One Track Mind
Act II
- Break It Up
- Rita’s Tune
- Dirt
- I Could Get You in J.J. (Reprise)
- I Cannot Hear The City (Reprise)
- Don’t Look Now
- At The Fountain (Reprise)
- Finale