I Can Get It for You Wholesale

Last updated

I Can Get It For You Wholesale
I Can Get It For You Wholesale Playbill.jpg
Broadway Opening Playbill
Music Harold Rome
LyricsHarold Rome
Book Jerome Weidman
BasisNovel by Jerome Weidman
Productions1962 Broadway
2023 (Off-Broadway)

I Can Get It for You Wholesale is a musical, produced by David Merrick, music and lyrics by Harold Rome, and book by Jerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel of the same title. Its 1962 production marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand, who was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. The story is set in the New York City Garment District in 1937, during the Great Depression, and the songs utilize traditional Jewish harmonies evocative of the setting and the period of the show.

Contents

Background

In the album Just for the Record , Streisand recalls, "My first audition for the show was on the morning after Thanksgiving in 1961. Since the action took place in the 1930s, I showed up in a '30s fur coat that I'd bought in a thrift shop for $10. I sang three songs, including my new standby "A Sleepin' Bee". They asked me to come back and gave me "Miss Marmelstein" to learn for my second audition a few hours later." Harold Rome said, "The 'Miss Marmelstein' number was written before the casting of Barbra Streisand in the role, but her part was then enlarged. Somebody is that good ... you try to use them as much as possible." [1]

Productions

The 1951 film with the same title is based very loosely on the original novel.

The musical premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on March 22, 1962. Directed by Arthur Laurents and choreographed by Herbert Ross, it starred Elliott Gould as Harry Bogen. In addition to Streisand in the small role of Bogen's secretary, Miss Marmelstein, the supporting cast included Lillian Roth as Mrs. Bogen and Marilyn Cooper as Ruthie Rivkin, with Harold Lang, Bambi Linn, Ken LeRoy, and Sheree North. On October 1, it transferred to The Broadway Theatre, where it closed on December 9 after a total run of two previews and 300 performances. Gould and Streisand later married.

In 1991, the American Jewish Theatre staged a revival directed and choreographed by Richard Sabellico. The production starred Evan Pappas as Bogen, Carolee Carmello as Ruthie, Jim Brachitta as Teddy, and Vicki Lewis as Miss Marmelstein. It was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award as Best Revival, and Best Actor in a Musical for Pappas. [2]

In 2002, Arcola Theatre in London, a former clothes factory, produced the show for its second anniversary. The director was Mehmet Ergen with co-director William Galinsky. [3]

In 2023, the Classic Stage Company staged a revival starring Santino Fontana, Judy Kuhn and Julia Lester. [4] [5]

Plot

Harry Bogen is an ambitious, unscrupulous young businessman in the 1930s New York City garment industry. He will stop at nothing to get to the top: he lies to his mother and his long-suffering girlfriend, Ruthie Rivkin, who try to help him become a better person, but he embezzles company funds from Apex Modes and betrays his friends and partners. Harry leaves Ruthie to take up with Martha Mills, a gold-digging dancer in Club Rio Rhumba, as tough and hard as the diamonds Harry rewards her with. But Harry goes bankrupt and loses his fairweather friends. Only his mother and Ruthie stand by him, but there is a surprising ally to re-emerge from the past.

Casts

Original Broadway (1962) [6] National Tour (1962) [7] Off-Broadway Revival (1991) [8] Off-Broadway Revival (2023) [9]
Harry Bogen Elliot Gould Larry Kert Evan Pappas Santino Fontana
Maurice Pulvermacher Jack Kruschen Jay Sadler Joel Brooks Adam Grupper
Miss Marmelstein Barbra Streisand Carol Arthur Vicki Lewis Julia Lester
Ruthie Rivkin Marilyn Cooper Andrea Stevens Carolee Carmello Rebecca Naomi Jones
Meyer BushkinKen LeRoyMichael Shaw Richard Levine Adam Chanler-Berat
Mrs. Ida Bogen Lillian Roth Fritzi Burr Patti Karr Judy Kuhn
Martha Mills Sheree North Nan CourtneyDeborah CarlsonJoy Woods
Blanche Bushkin Bambi Linn Sandra KentAlix Korey Sarah Steele
Teddy Asch Harold Lang Tony Monaco Jim Bracchitta Greg Hildreth

Songs

Awards and nominations

1962 Broadway Production

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
1962 Tony Awards Best Featured Actress in a Musical Barbra Streisand Nominated

2023 Off-Broadway Production

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
2023 Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding RevivalPending
Outstanding Leading Performer in a Musical Santino Fontana Pending

Recording

The original cast recording was released by Columbia Records. According to Gary Marmorstein, "Columbia badly wanted Harold Rome's I Can Get it For You Wholesale. As an inducement to Rome [Goddard] Lieberson offered to record the twenty-fifth anniversary version of his International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union show Pins and Needles ." [10]

Goddard Lieberson, who produced the Wholesale cast album for Columbia Records, signed Streisand to a contract, and her first solo album was released two months after the show closed.

Response

The musical garnered mixed reviews and lost money despite a run of 300 performances. As theatre historian Ken Mandelbaum noted, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying had opened five months earlier with a similar, but more palatable, story. J. Pierrepont Finch is a much more "cuddly betrayer... and audiences were less willing to confront Wholesale's unflinching portrayal of Harry's little world of "men and ulcers on parade... that shouldn't detract from the fact that it was a daring and distinctive musical.". [11]

Howard Taubman of The New York Times wrote that the show generated a "lot of momentum" and added, "It is spirited in its appreciation of the garment-trade milieu, and both winning and tearfully sentimental in its treatment of Jewish folks and some of their Bronx folkways." He thought the score was pleasant, using "folklife motifs to distill the flavor of Jewish life." Saving the most lavish praise for last, he wrote that Streisand was the "evening's find... a girl with an oafish expression, a loud irascible voice and an arpeggiated laugh. Miss Streisand is a natural comedienne." [12]

The Time critic observed, "Wholesale relies heavily on Jewish folk and speech ways. But as comedy, Jewish dialect is in awkward transition, no longer funny and not yet English. Harold Rome's score is drab and his lyrics resemble either singing dialogue or nursery rhymes... Harold Lang and Sheree North make a scorching sex rite out of 'What's In It for Me?'... Barbra Streisand trips the show into stray laughs. For the rest, Wholesale is as quiet as Seventh Avenue on Yom Kippur." [13]

Notes

  1. Corman, Avery (March 3, 1991). "THEATER; Music? Lyrics? He Can Get Them for You". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015.
  2. Internet Off-Broadway listing lortel.org, accessed July 30, 2009
  3. Listing arcolatheatre.com
  4. Gans, Andrew. "Santino Fontana and Judy Kuhn Will Star in Classic Stage Company's I Can Get It for You Wholesale Revival" playbill.com, March 22, 2023, accessed July 21, 2023
  5. Gans, Andrew. "Into the Woods Tony Nominee Julia Lester Will Be Miss Marmelstein in Off-Broadway's I Can Get It for You Wholesale Revival" playbill.com, June 8, 2023, accessed July 21, 2023
  6. "I Can Get It for You Wholesale (Original Broadway Production, 1962) | Ovrtur". ovrtur.com. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  7. "I Can Get It for You Wholesale (National Tour, 1962) | Ovrtur". ovrtur.com. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  8. "I Can Get It for You Wholesale (Off-Broadway Revival, 1991) | Ovrtur". ovrtur.com. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  9. Levitt, Hayley. "I Can Get It for You Wholesale Completes Casting for CSC Revival" TheaterMania, July 26, 2023, accessed September 5, 2023
  10. Marmorstein, Gary (2007). The label : the story of Columbia Records. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 90. ISBN   978-1-56025-707-3.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  11. Mandelbaum, Ken. "Insider: The Way Things Are: I Can Get It For You Wholesale" broadway.com, October 14, 2005
  12. Taubman, Howard. "Theatre: I Can Get It For You Wholesale Opens", The New York Times, March 23, 1962, p. 29
  13. "Delousing of Harry Bogen," Time Magazine, March 30, 1962

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Laurents</span> American playwright, theatre director and screenwriter (1917–2011)

Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, theatre director, film producer and screenwriter. With a career spanning seven decades he received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbra Streisand</span> American singer and actress (born 1942)

Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand is an American singer, actress, songwriter, film and television producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment and is among the few performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT).

<i>Funny Girl</i> (musical) 1964 musical based on the life of Fanny Brice

Funny Girl is a musical with score by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and book by Isobel Lennart, that first opened on Broadway in 1964. The semi-biographical plot is based on the life and career of comedian and Broadway star Fanny Brice, featuring her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein.

<i>Gypsy</i> (musical) 1959 musical by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents

Gypsy: A Musical Fable is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Rome</span> American composer, lyricist, and writer

Harold Jacob "Hecky" Rome was an American composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theater.

Herbert David Ross was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruthie Henshall</span> English entertainer (born 1967)

Valentine Ruth Henshall, known professionally as Ruthie Henshall, is an English actress, singer and dancer, known for her work in musical theatre. She began her professional stage career in 1986, before making her West End debut in Cats in 1987. A five-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1995 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Amalia Balash in the London revival of She Loves Me (1994).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curran Theatre</span>

The Curran Theatre, located at 445 Geary Street between Taylor and Mason Streets in the Theatre District of San Francisco, California opened in February 1922, and was named after its first owner, Homer Curran. As of 2014, the theater is owned by Carole Shorenstein Hays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Morrow</span> American singer and actress (born 1936)

Karen Morrow is an American singer and actress best known for her work in musical theater. Her honors include an Emmy Award and a Theatre World Award, and an Ovation Award and five Drama-Logue Award nominations.

Jerome Weidman was an American playwright and novelist. He collaborated with George Abbott on the book for the musical Fiorello! with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. All received the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Arden</span> American actor

Michael Jerrod Moore, known professionally as Michael Arden, is an American actor, singer, musician, and theatre director. Arden won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2023 for the revival of the musical Parade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marilyn Cooper</span> American actress

Marilyn Cooper was an American actress known primarily for her work on the Broadway stage.

<i>Pins and Needles</i>

Pins and Needles (1937) is a musical revue with a book by Arthur Arent, Marc Blitzstein, Emmanuel Eisenberg, Charles Friedman, David Gregory, Joseph Schrank, Arnold B. Horwitt, John Latouche, and Harold Rome, and music and lyrics by Rome. The title Pins and Needles was created by Max Danish, long-time editor of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU)'s newspaper Justice.

<i>Funny Girl</i> (film) 1968 film by William Wyler

Funny Girl is a 1968 American biographical-musical film directed by William Wyler and written by Isobel Lennart, adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title. It is loosely based on the life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein.

<i>Timeless: Live in Concert</i> 2000 live album by Barbra Streisand

Timeless: Live in Concert is a live album released by Barbra Streisand on September 19, 2000. It was her fifth live album and was released on Columbia Records. The album was issued a week before what were said to be her final concerts in September 2000 and would reach platinum certification.

<i>I Can Get It for You Wholesale</i> (album) 1962 cast recording by various artists

I Can Get It for You Wholesale: Original Broadway Cast Recording contains the songs from the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale, with music and lyrics by Harold Rome. The album contains Barbra Streisand's show-stopping solo "Miss Marmelstein", which became the most memorable song of the show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miss Marmelstein</span> 1962 song performed by Barbra Streisand

"Miss Marmelstein" is a song composed by Harold Rome, first introduced by Barbra Streisand in the Broadway musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. The young secretary Miss Marmelstein is a supporting role in the show; in the song she laments everyone addressing her so formally. The song became the most memorable part of the musical, with Streisand routinely stopping the show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luba Lisa</span> American actress

Luba Lisa Gootnick was an American actress, singer, and television presenter. She received a Tony Award nomination and won a Theatre World Award for her performance in the 1964 musical I Had a Ball.

<i>Live at the Bon Soir</i> 2022 live album by Barbra Streisand

Live at the Bon Soir is the tenth live album by American singer Barbra Streisand. Originally intended as her debut album, the material was recorded over three nights in November 1962 shortly after Streisand was signed by Columbia Records. Retrieved from Streisand's archives and remastered, the live recordings were released November 4, 2022, to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of the original tapings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Lester</span> American actress and singer

Julia Rose Lester is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Ashlyn Caswell in the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and for her portrayal of the role of Little Red Ridinghood in the 2022 Broadway revival of Into the Woods, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

References

Listen to this article (6 minutes)
Sound-icon.svg
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 3 October 2019 (2019-10-03), and does not reflect subsequent edits.