Productions
- Broadway
City of Angels premiered on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on December 11, 1989 [1] [2] and closed on January 19, 1992 after 879 performances and 24 previews. It was directed by Michael Blakemore with sets designed by Robin Wagner, costumes by Florence Klotz and lighting by Paul Gallo. [3] [4] [5]
- US Tour
While the show continued on Broadway, the Los Angeles company opened in June 1991 at the Shubert Theater in Century City, with Stephen Bogardus as Stine, Lauren Mitchell as the villainess, with Randy Graff (Friday Oolie) and James Naughton (Stone) reprising their original roles. [6] Jeff McCarthy replaced Naughton and Catherine Cox replaced Graff in the Costa Mesa production. This production, along with the Los Angeles cast, played at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California from October 1991 through November 10, 1991. [7]
The production was revamped and embarked on a national tour, with Barry Williams in the role of Stone. Jordan Leeds was chosen from the tour's ensemble to play Stine, and Betsy Joslyn played the two secretaries. The tour played venues including the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa, Florida (February 1992); [8] the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. (June 1992); [9] the Ordway in Saint Paul, Minnesota (August 1992); the Crouse-Hinds Concert Theatre in Syracuse, New York (November 1992); [10] and the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (November 1992). [11]
- West End
The musical opened in the West End at the Prince of Wales Theatre in March 1993. Blakemore again directed, with Roger Allam as Stone, Martin Smith as Stine, and Henry Goodman as Buddy Fidler. [12] [13] [14] [15] The Los Angeles Times reported "...it was announced that the production here of 'City of Angels'....was closing prematurely after four months, despite excellent notices." [16] Frank Rich reported that "the West End production of the Broadway hit 'City of Angels' would close after only a four-month run. 'City of Angels' received rave reviews, and its box-office collapse was blamed on the gravity of the recession and the declining sophistication of West End audiences." [17]
The production was nominated for five 1994 Laurence Olivier Awards: Best Director of a Musical; Best Actor in a Musical (Roger Allam); Best Actress in a Musical (Haydn Gwynne); Best Supporting Performance in a Musical (Henry Goodman); and The American Express Award for Best New Musical, winning for Best New Musical. [18]
The first West End revival was staged at the Donmar Warehouse, opening officially on December 16, 2014 and running till February 2015. Directed by the Donmar Warehouse's artistic director Josie Rourke, the cast included Hadley Fraser as Stine, Tam Mutu as Stone, Rosalie Craig as Gabbi/Bobbi, Katherine Kelly as Alura/Carla, Rebecca Trehearn as Donna/Oolie and Samantha Barks as Mallory/Avril. [19] [20] [21] [22] This production was nominated for five 2015 Olivier Awards: Magic Radio Best Musical Revival (Winner); White Light Award for Best Lighting Design (Winner); Best Director; Best Costume Design; and XL Video Award for Best Set Design. [23] The production transferred to the Garrick Theatre in the West End beginning previews on 5 March 2020, however closed on 16 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cast included Craig, Fraser and Trehearn reprised their roles from the Donmar production as Gabbi/Bobbi, Stine and Donna/Oolie, with Theo James as Stone, Nicola Roberts as Mallory/Avril and Vanessa Williams as Alura/Carla.
- Other productions
The theatre company Reprise! Broadway's Best production ran in January–February 2006 at Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Los Angeles. The cast featured Burke Moses as Stone, Vicki Lewis as Oolie, Tami Tappan Damiano as Gabby, and Stephen Bogardus as Stine. [24] [25]
The work was presented by Life Like Company at the Arts Centre Melbourne from November 5, 2015 to November 8, 2015, directed by Martin Croft and starring Kane Alexander as Stone, Anton Berezin as Stine, Amanda Harrison as Donna/Oolie and Chelsea Plumley as Gabby/Bobbi. [26] [27] [28]
Porchlight Music Theatre presented City of Angels as a part of "Porchlight Revisits" in Chicago, Illinois in March 2015. It was directed by Christopher Pazdernik with musical direction by Aaron Benham. [29]
Plot
The setting is Hollywood, California in the late 1940s, with two stories occurring simultaneously: a Hollywood comedy and a detective drama. The real-life scenes feature full-color sets and costumes, while the movie scenes are in black-and-white. [24] With the exception of the actors playing Stine and Stone, most of the cast doubles as characters in the "real" world and their fictional counterparts.
Act I
Stone, a tough Los Angeles private eye, lies on a hospital gurney with a bullet in his shoulder and a lot on his mind. He flashes back to a week earlier, when his loyal Girl Friday secretary, Oolie, ushered in a rich, beautiful woman named Alaura. Alaura claims she wants Stone to find her missing stepdaughter, Mallory Kingsley, a beautiful "bad" girl. Against his better judgment, he takes the case.
A man at a typewriter appears onstage, and Stone and Alaura suddenly back up, "rewind", and play the scene with a few changes. The man at the typewriter is Stine, author of the popular detective novel City of Angels, which he is adapting into a screenplay at the behest of Hollywood producer-director Buddy Fidler. His wife Gabby has misgivings and wishes that he would stick to novels, but for now, Stine is enjoying the ride.
We begin to see the interplay between "reality" and fiction as Gabby (in the real world) and Oolie (in the story-within-the-story) lament how their men won't listen to them ("What You Don't Know About Women").
Stone, alone in his dreary bungalow, is listening to the radio: Jimmy Powers and the Angel City 4 are singing "You Gotta Look Out For Yourself". Two thugs break down his door, beat him up, and knock him out. Cut to Buddy Fidler reading this scene in the screenplay: we see that his secretary, Donna, is the model for Oolie, and that Buddy can't help meddling with everything ("The Buddy System").
Stone is rudely awakened by Lieutenant Munoz, who was Stone's partner on the force but now bears him a major grudge. Once, Stone loved a low-rent lounge singer named Bobbi, whom Stine based on Gabby ("With Every Breath I Take"). But Bobbi wanted stardom more than marriage, and when Stone caught her with a Hollywood producer (based on Buddy), tempers flared, a gun went off, and the producer was killed. Munoz has never forgiven Stone for "getting away with murder."
Stone, angry after the beating, confronts Alaura at her mansion and meets several more unsavory characters, including her lustful stepson, her polio-stricken elderly husband, and his quack doctor. Greed and malice hover like smog, but Alaura's charms and bankroll keep Stone on the case ("The Tennis Song"). He fruitlessly pursues the missing Mallory in a scene that recalls a film montage ("Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere"), only to find her waiting naked in his bed ("Lost And Found"). Stone somehow manages to resist temptation—which is more than can be said for his creator. After Gabby returns to New York, Stine takes comfort in Donna's bed.
A photographer breaks into Stone's bungalow and snaps a picture of him with Mallory. She runs off with his gun, which is subsequently used to murder the quack doctor. Stone is framed for the killing; Munoz gleefully arrests him ("All You Have To Do Is Wait").
Stine is having a lousy time of it, too. Buddy is butchering his script, his conscience is nagging him about his infidelity, and Stone, his own creation, is disgusted with him. The curtain falls with each of them arguing, to a swinging big-band accompaniment ("You're Nothing Without Me").
Act II
In a recording studio, Jimmy Powers and the Angel City 4 are singing "Stay With Me", which then becomes a record playing in a bedroom that looks like Alaura's, but actually belongs to Carla Haywood, Buddy's wife, who will play Alaura in the movie.
Stone languishes in jail, attended only by Oolie, who like her alter ego, Donna, is feeling used by men ("You Can Always Count On Me"). Stone is mysteriously bailed out, but the two hoods catch up with him and nearly blow him up before he neatly turns the tables.
Stine has troubles of his own. Lonely at a Hollywood party of Buddy's sycophants, including a Hollywood composer ("Alaura's Theme"), Stine phones home only to find that Gabby has discovered that he cheated on her. He flies to New York with an elaborately prepared excuse, but she's not buying it ("It Needs Work").
Stone, fighting to clear his name, is led to a brothel ("LA Blues") where he is stunned to find Bobbi. We learn it was she who shot the producer; Stone has been covering for her all this time. Together, they face the wreckage of their love ("With Every Breath I Take").
In Hollywood, Stine is approached by a young starlet, Avril, who will be playing Mallory. She begs him to reconsider killing off Mallory near the end. He says he'll think about it.
Oolie, meanwhile, has discovered that Alaura is a fortune hunter who has already murdered one rich husband and is planning to do away with this one, once she had eliminated his son, daughter, and doctor. She tried to get her stepson, Peter, to kill the doctor and Mallory, but he couldn't bring himself to kill. Stone confronts her at the mansion; they grapple for her gun; shots ring out. Alaura falls dead, Stone is gravely wounded, and we're back where we started.
But where does that leave Stine? Gabby has rejected him and his lover, Donna, has been rewriting his script. Stine faces the collapse of his real and fictive worlds, and as his emotions take over, his wit turns bitter ("Funny"). When Stine arrives on the movie set to find that Buddy's name appears above his on the screenplay, and that the shallow crooner Jimmy Powers will play Stone, Stine boils over. With the "real" Stone, his conscience, finally leading him to make the right choice, he rages at Buddy, gets himself fired, and is about to get beat up by two security guards when Stone somehow appears at Stine's typewriter and writes him the fighting skills of a superhero, then tacks on a "Hollywood ending" in which Gabby returns, forgiving all. Together they celebrate ("I'm Nothing Without You") as the curtain falls.
Critical response
Frank Rich wrote in his review in The New York Times : "...how long has it been since a musical was brought to a halt by riotous jokes?...This is an evening in which even a throwaway wisecrack spreads laughter like wildfire through the house, until finally the roars from the balcony merge with those from the orchestra and the pandemonium takes on a life of its own.... There is no end to the cleverness with which the creators of City of Angels carry out their stunt of double vision, starting with a twin cast list (a Hollywood Cast and a Movie Cast) in the Playbill....Mr. Coleman's score - a delirious celebration of jazz and pop styles sumptuously orchestrated by Billy Byers..." [2]
An article about Frank Rich in the Deseret News noted: "But a rave from Rich can translate quickly into box office dollars. 'City of Angels,' a new musical without big stars, was taking in about $18,000 a day in advance ticket sales before it opened, according to general manager Ralph Roseman. The day after it opened to mixed reviews - but lavish praise from Rich - the box office take was $324,700." [36]
Of the 2014 production at the Donmar, Matt Trueman from Variety wrote: "Gelbart makes his point early and his ciphers can't sustain a second act that gets itself tangled. Small matter, given the style on show. Practically every other line cracks a laugh, and Coleman's authentic jazz score is rich and infectious, combining variety with real integrity. Robert Jones's crisp greyscale design, artfully lit by Howard Harrison, and Duncan Mclean's colorful projections match them for class." [22]
