Sherry!
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Sherry! is a musical with a book and lyrics by James Lipton and music by Laurence Rosenthal.
Based on the George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart play The Man Who Came to Dinner, it focuses on Sheridan Whiteside, an egregiously pompous and self-centered radio personality who terrorizes the family of Ernest W. Stanley of Mesalia, Ohio when a slip on their icy front steps forces him to recuperate in their home at Christmas time. The highly critical and extremely egotistical wheelchair-bound Whiteside commandeers the household and staff and disrupts the lives of everyone who comes within his orbit, including his private secretary Maggie Cutler, journalist-playwright Bert Jefferson, Broadway diva Lorraine Sheldon, antic Harpo Marx-like comedian Banjo, bon vivant Beverly Carlton, and absent-minded physician and aspiring memoirist Dr. Bradley.
George Sanders originally was signed to play Whiteside, but the Boston critics found his performance lacking, and when his wife became ill he withdrew from the project. Choreographer Ron Field was replaced by Joe Layton, who allegedly took over the directing chores as well, although Morton DaCosta retained credit in the program.
After fourteen previews, the Broadway production opened on March 28, 1967 at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 72 performances. The cast included Clive Revill as Whiteside, Elizabeth Allen as Maggie, Jon Cypher as Bert, Dolores Gray as Lorraine, Eddie Lawrence as Banjo, Byron Webster as Beverly, and Cliff Hall as Dr. Bradley.
The critics were unanimous in their appraisal, finding the taut Kaufman-Hart humor of the original play was diluted by the inclusion of mediocre musical numbers that were dropped into the action rather than allowed to evolve naturally from the plot.
Following the show's closing, the orchestrations were packed for transport to the writers' publisher, but inadvertently were put on the wrong truck and together with the sets were hauled to New Jersey and burned. More than three decades later, music producer Robert Sher discovered a copy of the complete score housed at the Library of Congress and contacted Lipton, who had achieved fame as the moderator of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio, to propose an all-star studio recording. The result was a 2004 Angel Records 2-CD set that was recorded in separate sessions over a period of three years, with the orchestral portions recorded in Bratislava and Prague and the vocals recorded in New York City. The cast includes Nathan Lane as Whiteside, Bernadette Peters as Maggie, Carol Burnett as Lorraine, Tom Wopat as Bert, Tommy Tune as Beverly, and Mike Myers as Banjo, with Lillias White and Phyllis Newman in small supporting roles [1].
Contents |
[edit] Original production song list
Act I
- In the Very Next Moment
- Why Does the Whole Damn World Adore Me?
- Maggie's Date
- Maybe It's Time for Me
- How Can You Kiss Those Good Times Goodbye?
- With This Ring
- Sherry
- Au Revoir
- Proposal Duet
- Listen Cosette
- Christmas Eve Broadcast
Act II
- Putty in Your Hands
- Imagine That
- Marry the Girl Myself
- Putty in Your Hands (Reprise)
- Harriet Sedley
- Sherry (Reprise)
[edit] Studio recording song list
Act I
- Why Does the Whole Damn World Adore Me?
- Whiteside's Prayer
- In the Very Next Moment
- Crockfield
- Maybe It's Time for Me
- How Can You Kiss Those Good Times Goodbye?
- With This Ring
- Sherry!
- Alas, Lorraine/Au Revoir
- Proposal Duet
- I Always Stay at the Ritz
- Christmas Eve
Act II
- Putty in Your Hands
- Imagine That
- Preen Beguine
- Marry the Girl Myself
- Putty in Your Hands (Reprise)
- Harriet Sedley
- Au Revoir (Reprise)
- Whiteside's Prayer (Reprise)
[edit] Reference
Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops by Ken Mandelbaum, published by St. Martin's Press (1991), pages 192-94 (ISBN 0-312-06428-4)
