So Long, 174th Street

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So Long, 174th Street
SoLong.jpg
Original Cast Recording
Music Stan Daniels
LyricsStan Daniels
Book Joseph Stein
Basis Enter Laughing
by Joseph Stein
Enter Laughing
by Carl Reiner
Productions1976 Broadway

So Long, 174th Street is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and lyrics and music by Stan Daniels.

Contents

Based on Stein's play Enter Laughing , which had been adapted from the Carl Reiner book of the same name and served as the basis for a 1967 film, it focuses on the journey of David Kolowitz from factory helper to actor and from insecure adolescence to self-assured adulthood in three whirlwind days in New York City in the late 1930s.

After six previews, the Broadway production, directed by Burt Shevelove and choreographed by Alan Johnson, opened on April 27, 1976, at the Harkness Theatre, where it closed after only 16 performances. The cast included Robert Morse, George S. Irving, Loni Ackerman, and Rita Rudner. Morse starred as David. Though "boyish looking," he was 45 years old and played a character half his age. [1]

Clive Barnes of the New York Times observed "The people involved are talented enough...So what went wrong? How did Enter Laughing end up leaving us yawning?" He noted composer/lyricist Stan Daniels was a producer of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and suggested "he should stay where he is well off...when the music and lyrics do not work for a musical, the musical does not work." [2]

Reiner said years later that he walked out on the play, that Morse was too old, and that "they made an abortion out of it." [3]

Despite the initial unfavorable reviews, one number from the show, "The Butler's Song," became a cabaret standard. [4] A recording of the score, with Kaye Ballard added to the cast, was released in 1981.

Song list

Revivals

The musical was revised in 2008 as Enter Laughing and staged Off-Broadway by the York Theatre. [5] The York revived Enter Laughing again in 2019. [6]

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References

  1. ↑ Berkvist, Robert (2022-04-21). "Robert Morse, Impish Tony-Winning Comedy Star, Is Dead at 90". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  2. ↑ New York Times review, April 28, 1976
  3. ↑ Byrd, Craig (2015-02-11). "Curtain Call: Carl Reiner's Enter Laughing Finally Gets a Worthy Musical Adaptation Los Angeles Magazine". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  4. ↑ Simmons, Paulanne (May 31, 2019). "Enter Laughing". Theater Life. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Enter Laughing". Variety. 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  6. ↑ "Enter Laughing: The Musical". York Theatre Company. 2019-08-20. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
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