Broadway 2 A Day: 1952 - 1955 (ish)

Hello everyone! It's week three of the Broadway 2 A Day challenge and this week it's starting to really feel, um, challenging. I'm not grouping these shows off by year perfectly so this blog will cover 1952 - 1955, with some 1955 shows coming in the next update. 

To me, this week was a 90% flop. Most of the shows were either ridiculous, boring, or just waaaaayyyy too long (sorry Porgy and Bess, looking at you.)

As a reminder, I am slowly building a playlist of my favorite song from each show (thanks to Andrew's Spotify premium) and you can follow along here for daily additions. And feel free to subscribe to the blog for an email notification of every new post! We've got exciting things coming (a fresh blog design) and more Broadway hot takes - so let's get into it. 

• Hazel Flagg
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No, weird plot and forgettable music. It did not run long.
• Synopsis: When the press finds out that a backwater Vermont girl is dying of radium poisoning, all of New York is talking about her story. Soon she falls in love with a sophisticated gentleman, Wallace Cook. When it turns out that Hazel does not have radium poisoning and is in fact healthy, everyone seems to forget about Hazel. Luckily, Wallace still loves her. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: I'm Glad I'm Leaving
• Wonderful Town
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No, all these shows are starting to sound the same but this did win Best Musical
• Synopsis: Wonderful Town is a bright and cheery love letter to the colorful experience of living life in New York. Wonderful Town tells the story of two sisters, Ruth and Eileen, who move from a rural town in Ohio to experience the bright lights, the big city, and the crazy characters of Greenwich Village, New York City. Ruth is an aspiring writer and Eileen is a dancer who wants to pursue a life on stage. One sister can’t find a man no matter what she does, the other can’t keep them away. Together, these two sisters take on the world, pursuing their dreams and finding love along the way. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Christopher Street 
• Porgy and Bess
• Have I heard of it before? Yes
• Did I enjoy it? No, it was really long and not really my style. But the Audra McDonald revival didn't absolutely suck. 
• Synopsis: Porgy and Bess tells the story of the unshakeable love between Porgy, a crippled beggar, and Bess, a beautiful woman haunted by the demons of her past. The tight-knit African-American community of Catfish Row is shocked when Crown, Bess’ brutal, violent lover, murders Robbins during a craps game. Left with no one amongst people who look down on her, Bess is taken in by the kind Porgy. As their love grows, Bess seems finally free from her past as the two look to spend a long, happy life together. When Crown returns, Porgy and Bess’ relationship is put in peril, as Crown seeks to exert his control over her once more. Porgy and Bess was the final stage work of composer George Gershwin. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Summertime (yup, the livin's easy one)
• An Evening with Beatrice Lillie
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? I would rather go to the dentist every day for a year than listen to this again 
• Synopsis: Beatrice Gladys Lillie, known as Bea Lillie, was a Canadian-born British actress, singer and comedic performer. She won a Tony Award in 1953 for her revue An Evening with Beatrice Lillie (truly do not know how.) (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: None, but The Party's Over Now can give you a less-painful taste of the show
• Two's Company
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? This is another forgettable one in my opinion, revues are not my thing
• Synopsis: Two's Company is a musical revue with principal sketches by Charles Sherman and Peter DeVries, principal lyrics by Ogden Nash and Sammy Cahn, and principal music by Vernon Duke. The evening consisted of a series of show business-themed comedy sketches and song-and-dance routines tailored for the talents of its centerpiece, Bette Davis, who accepted the challenge of an eight-shows-a-week schedule when good film roles failed to follow her triumph in All About Eve. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Turn Me Loose on Broadway
• Can-Can    
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? It had some fun moments
• Synopsis: Set in the year 1893, Can-Can tells the tale of Paris dance hall owner, La Mome Pistache, and her battle with a self-rightious judge, Aristide, who is determined to shut her business down. The sexy Can-Can dance has become popular and Judge Aristide is determined to stop it. When Judge Aristide investigates the Bal du Paradis, La Mome Pastache seduces him and the two eventually fall in love. By the time her case comes to trial, Aristide has had a change of heart and works to win her acquittal. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Every Man is a Stupid Man
• Me And Juliet 
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? Not really, another one that blended together with every other 50s show
• Synopsis: ‘Me and Juliet’ revolves around the inner mechanisms of a Broadway musical and two sets of lovers. The show-within-the-show is also titled "Me and Juliet" and stars famous literary heroes and heroines: Juliet, Don Juan, and Carmen, alongside an everyman named "Me." The main characters include the beautiful chorus singer Jeanie and Larry, the assistant stage manager. A love triangle develops when Jeanie's ex-boyfriend, Bob, a womanizing bruiser of a man and the show’s lighting technician, becomes jealous of the couple who have been secretly married. Drama ensues but after Bob knocks himself out on a radiator, all ends well. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Keep it Gay (Producers song of the same name is still better though)
• Kismet  
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? Firm no on this one, weird, racist, and still somehow boring
• Synopsis: With extreme cleverness and a fair amount of luck, the poor but wily Poet rises from the streets of Baghdad, avoids losing a hand when put on trial for theft, and is instead given the title of Emir by the Wazir of Baghdad. Meanwhile, the Wazir is in debt and has taken out a loan with the King of Ababu. In return, he must now marry the Caliph to one of Abbabu’s princesses...or all three! This plan hits a snag when the Caliph falls in love with the Poet’s beautiful daughter, Marsinah, while traveling around the city incognito. He announces his plans to the Wazir, who is not best pleased and relies on the assistance of his new Emir. In a series of unfortunate circumstances, Marsinah is spotted within the Wazir’s harem and announced as his new bride to the devastated Caliph. Realizing what has occurred, the Poet tricks the Wazir into entering a pool of water where he is drowned. Caliph and Marsinah are reunited, the Poet is pardoned for the Wazir’s murder and, for his “punishment” he is rewarded with a life in luxurious exile with the Wazir’s beautiful widow, Lalume. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Overture / Sands of Time
• The Girl in Pink Tights
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? Pretty basic 50s show, not good, but not awful
• Synopsis: A former star of the Ballets Roland Petit, French entertainer Zizi (Renée) Jeanmaire made a noticed debut on Broadway in The Girl In Pink Tights, an old-fashioned operetta and the last work with music by Sigmund Romberg. Taking for its background the turbulent creation in 1866 of The Black Crook, the acknowledged ancestor of the American musical, the book devised by Herbert Fields and Jerome Chodorov enabled Jeanmaire to show her flair for classic dancing as the prima ballerina of a traveling French ballet troupe in the U.S. “immediately following the Civil War.” Her presence – but little more – probably helped the show achieve its run of 115 performances. (Masterworks Broadway)
• Favorite song: You've Got To Be A Little Crazy
• By the Beautiful Sea
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No
• Synopsis: In 1907, Lottie Gibson is a vaudeville performer, who also owns a theatrical boarding house in Coney Island; that is, "by the sea". Her clientele are show people. On one of her vaudeville tours she falls in love with a Shakespearean actor, Dennis Emery. When he is to appear in Brighton, Lottie gets him to stay at her boarding house, where his divorced wife—and stage mother—Flora Busch and daughter "Baby Betsy" (although Baby is 17) are also residents. Baby Betsy is infatuated with Mickey Powers, a singing waiter. Mickey thinks that Baby is really as young as her mother forces her to dress, and so, although he has feelings for her, thinks that she is too young. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Hang Up
• The Golden Apple 
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? I think this one could be worth revisiting
• Synopsis: Homer's mythical tale of Penelope and Ulysses is relocated to the small town of Angel's Roost in Washington State in the first decade of the 20th Century, during the years of the Spanish-American War. The show satirizes cultural attitudes and icons of the time and place, and is entirely sung and danced through. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: The Sewing Bee
• John Murray Anderson's Almanac
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No, and I want to know who keeps allowing revues to be produced
• Synopsis: John Murray Anderson's Almanac opened on Broadway on December 10, 1953 at the Imperial Theatre, New York City and closed on June 26, 1954, after 229 performances. The revue was conceived and staged by John Murray Anderson, with sketches directed by Cyril Ritchard, and dances and musical numbers staged by Donald Saddler. The revue starred Harry Belafonte, Hermione Gingold, Polly Bergen, Orson Bean, Carleton Carpenter, Tina Louise, Monique van Vooren, and Billy DeWolfe. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: None, but Thanks Yanks is okay
• The Pajama Game 
• Have I heard of it before? Yes!!! Finally!!
• Did I enjoy it? Yes!!!
• Synopsis: Romance is blossoming at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Handsome new Superintendent Sid Sorokin falls hard for feisty Union rep “Babe” Williams, and, despite her dismissal of all things love-related, it seems she’s falling right back. That is, until Sleep-Tite employees are refused a seven-and-a-half cent raise, and the pair find themselves on either side of the union protest that results. Based on Richard Bissel’s novel, 7 ½ cents, Adler and Ross’ Pajama Game portrays the ups and downs of romance, with the added heat of politics making the temperature extra hot. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: I'm Not at All in Love
• The Boy Friend 
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, only because it was Dame Julie Andrews' American stage debut
• Did I enjoy it? I enjoyed listening to Julie Andrews
• Synopsis: It’s Carnival time on the French Riviera, and the “perfect young ladies” of Madame Dubonnet’s Finishing School are all a-flutter with excitement at the opportunity to dress in beautiful frocks, dance the Charleston, and acquire that most prized of possessions -- a Boy Friend. Sweet young heiress Polly Browne, whose stern father forbids her to encourage men out of fear that they are after her money, is embarrassed to admit her lack of suitors to her friends and must hide her shame by sending herself love notes. Enter Tony, a kind, romantic, handsome -- messenger boy! It is love at first sight for the darling duo, and Polly, pretending to be Madame Dubonnet’s secretary, enjoys for the first time a romance of equals. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: The Boy Friend
• On Your Toes 
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No
• Synopsis: While teaching music at Knickerbocker University, Junior Donal tries to pursuade Sergei Alexandrovich, the director of the Russain Ballet, to stage a friend's jazz ballet Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. After getting involved with the company's prima ballerina, Vera Barnova, Junior is forced to take over the male lead in Slaughter. Trouble ensues when Vera's lover and dance partner hires two thugs to kill Junior. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: On Your Toes