Skyscraper (musical)

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Skyscraper is a musical with a book by Peter Stone, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, and music by James Van Heusen.

Based on the 1945 Elmer Rice play Dream Girl, it focuses on an antiques dealer who is determined to save her midtown Manhattan brownstone from the bulldozer. The girders of a new skyscraper are stalking her, and she's been offered $165,000 for her Rutherford B. Hayes-era building. When she can manage to stay on track, Georgina is bright in her thinking and staunch in her beliefs. But far too often she strays into a Walter Mitty-like dream world full of funny fantasies with her effete shop assistant.

Aligning itself with an architect bent on destroying history in order to construct another glass-and-steel monolith at a time when everyone in New York City seemed to be aware of the importance of landmark preservation, the musical was oddly out of tune with the public's social conscience.

After 22 previews, the Broadway production, directed by Cy Feuer and choreographed by Michael Kidd, opened on November 13, 1965 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre where, hampered by lukewarm reviews and facing stiff competition from Hello, Dolly!, Mame, Man of La Mancha, and Sweet Charity, it ran for only 248 performances. The cast included Julie Harris, Peter Marshall, and Charles Nelson Reilly.