Two By Two is a 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...

 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 Peter Stone

Peter Stone

Peter Hess Stone was an American writer for theater, television and movies.-Life and career:Stone was born in Los Angeles. His mother, Hilda , was a film writer, and his father, John Stone was the writer and producer of many silent films, including Shirley Temple and Charlie Chan movies...

, lyrics by Martin Charnin

Martin Charnin

Martin Charnin is an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director and lyricist of the hit musical Annie....

, and music by Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers

Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...

.

Based on Clifford Odets

Clifford Odets

Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...

's play The Flowering Peach, it tells the story of Noah

Noah

Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...

's preparations for the Great Flood and its aftermath.

Directed by Joe Layton

Joe Layton

Joe Layton was an American director and choreographer known primarily for his work on Broadway.-Biography:Born Joseph Lichtman in Brooklyn, New York, Layton began his career as a dancer in Wonderful Town , and he appeared uncredited in the ensemble of the original live TV production of Rodgers and...

, the production opened on November 10, 1970 at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for ten months. The opening night cast included Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...

, Marilyn Cooper

Marilyn Cooper

Marilyn Cooper was an American actress, known primarily for her work on the Broadway stage.-Biography:Born in New York City, Cooper made her Broadway debut in 1956 in the chorus of Mr. Wonderful...

, Joan Copeland

Joan Copeland

Joan Copeland is an American actress and the younger sister of celebrated playwright Arthur Miller. She began her career appearing in theatre in New York City during the mid 1940s. She moved into television and film during the 1950s while still maintaining an active stage career...

, Harry Goz

Harry Goz

Harry Goz was an American musical theater actor and voice actor.He debuted in the 1964 Broadway production of Bajour, co-starring Chita Rivera and Nancy Dussault. Goz played Tevye in the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof from 1966 to 1968, both as understudy and lead actor...

, Madeline Kahn

Madeline Kahn

Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...

,
Michael Karm, Tricia O'Neil

Tricia O'Neil

Tricia O'Neil is an American actress.Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, O'Neil began her career as a model and cover girl before turning to acting. She first appeared in television commercials, then was cast many popular television series. She played Dr...

, and Walter Willison

Walter Willison

Walter Willison is an American stage actor. He received a Tony Award nomination and Theatre World Award for his Broadway musical debut in Richard Rodgers' and Martin Charnin's Biblical musical Two by Two.- Career :...

.

Reviews were mixed and Kaye, unhappy with the script, began to improvise on a nightly basis. His ad-libbed shtick and comic asides to the audience were crowd-pleasers, and word-of-mouth helped business. When he broke his foot, Kaye continued with the show, appearing at each performance either on crutches or in a wheelchair. Kaye's lack of professionalism and Rodgers' public grousing about the liberties he took with the script allegedly ruined his chances for a 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...

 nomination.

Willison was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and he and O'Neil received Theatre World Award

Theatre World Award

The 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:...

s for their performances.

Plot synopsis

On his 600th birthday, Noah receives a message from God, warning him about the impending flood. He is directed to save two of each animal and to build an ark for them. Noah's wife and family make fun of him as he starts to build the ark, but join in when it starts to rain.
The gitka
The "gitka" is a magical Old Testament species of mouse, created by Clifford Odets, that sings in the presence of God. The arrival of one convinces the family of Noah's story. It has no mate so they are unable to bring her aboard.

Songs

Act I

• Why Me?
• Put Him Away
• The Gitka's Song
• Something, Somewhere
• Everything That's Gonna be has Been (Cut Number)
• You Have Got to Have a Rudder on the Ark
• Something Doesn't Happen
• An Old Man
• Ninety Again!
• Two by Two
• Gettin' Married (Cut Number)
• I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You
• Something, Somewhere (Reprise)

Act II

• When It Dries
• Two by Two (Reprise)
• You
• Forty Nights (Cut Number due to demands of Danny Kaye who didn't want another male to have a funnier number than he)
• The Golden Ram
• Poppa Knows Best
• The Brother Department (Cut Number)
• The Death of Me (Cut Number)
• I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You (Reprise)
• As Far as I'm Concerned
• Hey, Girlie
• The Covenant

External links

• Two by Two listing at RNH
• Still Photographs from Two by Two from the NYPL Digital Gallery
  NYPL Digital Gallery
  The NYPL Digital Gallery is a digital archive created by the New York Public Library that provides free access to a large collection of over 500,000 digitized images, the majority of which are in the public domain...