Broadway 2 A Day: 1988 - 1991 (Once on This Island, Miss Saigon, The Secret Garden)

Back at it again and we're crossing into the 90s! I can't believe we started with shows from 1950 I am in shock. A lot of these shows are boring, or forgettable, or just bad BUT there have been some gems within, and because of that, I am determined to finish this challenge. Let's go.

• Legs Diamond
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? It was okay, but it was cool to hear Peter Allen for the first time (The Boy from Oz)
• Synopsis: The Almost Totally Fictitious Musical History of Legs Diamond follows the travails of its title character, a Depression-era mobster who wants to break into show business. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Sure Thing Baby
• Jerome Robbins' Broadway
• Have I heard of it before? Not specifically
• Did I enjoy it? It's just a revue of shows Jerome Robbins worked on so it's fine
• Synopsis: Jerome Robbins' Broadway is an anthology comprising musical numbers from shows that were either directed or choreographed by Jerome Robbins. The shows represented include, for example, The King and I, On the Town and West Side Story. Robbins won his fifth Tony Award for direction. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Overture ;)
• Black and Blue
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? Not really
• Synopsis: Black and Blue is a musical revue celebrating the black culture of dance and music in Paris between World War I and World War II. Based on an idea by Mel Howard and conceived by Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia, it consists of songs by artists such as W. C. Handy, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake, and Big Maybelle and skits peppered with bits of bawdy humor. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: I'm A Woman
• City of Angels
• Have I heard of it before? I feel like I have but can't remember
• Did I enjoy it? It was okay
• Synopsis: When Hollywood offers New York novelist Stine the opportunity to adapt his books into a film for the silver screen, he packs up and moves to the home of perennial sunshine, palm trees, and stars. Tony award-winning City of Angels moves between the beautiful Technicolor world of Hollywood and Stine’s glamorous film noir-in-progress of the same title. While Stine’s movie plays out in black and white, Stine finds the dangerous temptations of the world of Los Angeles – the distraction of women, the lure of fame, and the artistic compromises being made right and left – all too colorful. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: You're Nothing Without Me
• Grand Hotel
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, but I knew nothing
• Did I enjoy it? It had some fun moments
• Synopsis: In 1928 Berlin, the world is between wars and the stock market is booming. The center of the action is the illustrious Grand Hotel. The show concerns the eccentric guests of the hotel including a beautiful Prima Ballerina; the charming but broke young Baron; the determined Hollywood hopeful; the deathly ill bookkeeper; the honest, hardworking father-to-be; and the cynical doctor. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: I Want To Go To Hollywood (more Jane Krakowski content)
• Aspects of Love
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? No, Andrew Lloyd Webber is really hit or miss is what I'm learning
• Synopsis: Lovers come together, break apart, exchange partners, and return to each other in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love. Adapted from David Garnett’s novella, the musical follows a group of friends and family and their fluctuating romantic entanglements: Alex Dillingham, a young Englishman who falls in love at first sight with Rose Vibert, a magnetic actress; his uncle, George, with whom Rose falls in love and chooses over Alex; George’s on-again-off-again mistress, Giulietta; and George and Rose’s teenage daughter, Jenny, who falls in love for the first time with her much-older cousin, Alex. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Love Changes
• Once on This Island
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I loved the clips I'd seen of the revival but didn't know much else
• Did I enjoy it? Yes! I wish more people talked about this show
• Synopsis: From the Tony Award-winning songwriting team, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, comes a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. With a Caribbean-tinged score, follow the story of Ti Moune as she goes on her quest to prove that love is stronger than death. Once on this Island is a fairy tale celebration of love, hope, life, and death. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Waiting for Life
• Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? I skipped through this one not gonna lie
• Synopsis: Buddy is a bio-musical about the legendary Buddy Holly. The story concerns Buddy's start in the music business as the lead singer for a Country & Western band, his marriage to a Puerto Rican receptionist after a courtship of five hours, his trials and tribulations as a solo artist, and finally his tragic death in an airplane accident. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: It's So Easy
• Miss Saigon
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I love this show so much and it was the last one I saw live before COVID.
• Did I enjoy it? Of course
• Synopsis: Miss Saigon is a powerful and poignant tale of love in a war-torn country. In the dangerous days before Saigon’s fall in 1975, Chris (an American GI) and Kim (a destitute Vietnamese orphan working her first night as a prostitute) fall in love. When the city falls, the lovers are forced apart, and each must find their own way, alone. When, years later, Chris is able to return to Vietnam, he brings with him an American wife. Kim, who has waited for Chris, has raised their son, Tam, who is “bui-doi”-- a term for a child conceived during the horrors of war. With so much devastation behind them, Kim and Chris must decide how to move forward. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: I'd Give My Life For You
• The Secret Garden
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I read the book growing up and knew a couple of the songs
• Did I enjoy it? Yes, this is going into my sad musicals rotation
• Synopsis: When young Mary Lennox loses her parents to a cholera outbreak in India, she is sent to live with her uncle, hermit Archibald Craven, who lives in an imposing, secluded manor on the British heath. Inside the haunting house upon the hill, Mary finds a reclusive, long-suffering collection of souls. Since her aunt Lily’s death, Mary’s uncle has pushed away his surviving loved ones, leaving his bedridden son, Colin, alone. Sickly Colin, hidden away in the depths of the manner, bears the guilt of his mother’s death on his crippled shoulders. When Mary discovers her Aunt Lily’s hidden garden, locked shot and overgrown with vines, stubborn Mary is determined to revive the beauty that once was. 
• Favorite song: How Could I Ever Know
• Will Rogers Follies
• Have I heard of it before? Yes
• Did I enjoy it? Not really I thought it was kind of boring 
• Synopsis: As decreed by the great Florenze Ziegfeld himself, the current spectacular celebrates the--somewhat elaborated--life of the great American cowboy, entertainer, and popular star, Will Rogers. With Ziegfeld’s voice booming out instructions, Rogers is your host for the evening. He leads you through his life, from his departure from the family cattle ranch to his exponential rise in fame, concluding finally with his untimely death. Accompanied by the glamorous Follies (led by Ziegfeld’s favorite), he introduces the important characters in his life. We begin in the small Oklahoma town where he grew up and meet his father, Clem, who just wants his only son to take over the ranch. But Will has other plans. He travels the world, experiencing life outside of Oklahoma and becoming a truly cosmopolitan cowboy. Will returns home to marry Betty, the love of his life, and she accompanies him on tour across the country as the star of a popular Wild West Show. When Will is offered a spot on Vaudeville, then a radio show, and finally the chance to be a star in Hollywood, who can refuse?! Though his family grows and Betty desperately wants him home, Will becomes more and more famous for his quirky humor and cowboy tricks. He even runs for President! However, when the Great Depression hits America and Will loses most of his fortune, he finds himself wondering what he has truly done with his life. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: The Ziegfeld Follies (My Big Mistake)