Broadway 2 A Day: 1964 - 1966 (Man of La Mancha, Sweet Charity, Mame)

Hello again! I have now surpassed 130 shows and I can confidently say that only about 20% of that has been worth listening to. Nevertheless, I've come this far. 

This week was kind of all over the place, after Fiddler on the Roof last week it's hard to go back to shows that sound like they should have debuted in the 50s. It's weird to think about nostalgia for a time that wasn't that long ago but I guess we kind of still do that with the 90s/2000s. 

Let's dive in.

• Flora, The Red Menace
• Have I heard of it before? Yes but I knew nothing about it
• Did I enjoy it? This had some fun numbers, and Liza Minelli is very talented obviously 
• Synopsis: The plot follows headstrong wannabe fashion designer Flora Mezaros, one member of an artists' co-operative of bohemian types - dancers, musicians, designers - struggling to find work during the Depression. Hoping to find a job that pays at least $15 a week, she is hired by the head of a large department store at $30. She falls in love with Harry Toukarian, another struggling designer, who attempts to convert Flora to his Communist ideals. Even though it compromises her job in an organization that does not recognize the new unions she seeks to hold down both job and relationship. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: All I Need (Is One Good Break)
• The Roar of the Greasepaint-The Smell of the Crowd
• Have I heard of it before? I knew one song that's it
• Did I enjoy it? Mostly that one song
• Synopsis: The two main characters are Sir and Cocky. Since Sir is forever changing the rules of the game of life, downtrodden young Cocky always gets the short end of the stick. Assisting Sir is his eager disciple Kid, anxious to pick up bits of wisdom while helping keep Cocky in his place. Cocky tries to beat Sir at the game, first by getting a job, and then with love, but Sir bests him both times. Cocky is re-inspired when he sees a new character, the Negro, win the game behind his and Sir's backs. By ignoring the rules, Cocky manages to win, but neither he nor Sir can function without the other. The show ends with both of them frozen in a pose arguing which way to go next. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: A Wonderful Day Like Today
• On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, but again, I knew nothing
• Did I enjoy it? I was pretty bored, this one had a few skips
• Synopsis: A kooky young New Yorker, Daisy Gamble, visits a psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Bruckner, to get help in kicking her smoking habit in order to please her fiancé, Warren. However, Daisy is no ordinary patient. She has some unusual powers, such as hearing phones before they ring and making flowers grow just by talking to them. Under hypnosis, she reveals that she can regress into the past and unknowingly becomes Melinda Welles, an English lady from the eighteenth century. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
• The Zulu and The Zayda
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? This was another skip-through for me
• Synopsis: Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, this comedy is about a lively Jewish grandfather (zayda is the Yiddish word for grandfather) who moves to Africa from London, whose family (the Grossmans) hires Paulus, a native (a member of the Zulu tribe), and brother of a family servant, as a companion, and "grandfather sitter." The relationship between the zayda and Paulus, the Zulu, bridges the gulf between black and white, Africa and Europe, and age and youth, as Paulus teaches his new friend local Zulu phrases while he himself learns Yiddish expressions. Eventually, local prejudices interfere, but there is a happy ending. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: It's Good To Be Alive
• Skyscraper
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? It was fine
• Synopsis: The story is of Georgina, an antique dealer who is determined to save her midtown Manhattan brownstone from the bulldozer. The girders of a new skyscraper are stalking her, and she has 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. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Everybody Has The Right To Be Wrong (At Least Once)
• Man of La Mancha
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I honestly love the music in this show and used to listen to Aldonza's song all the time
• Did I enjoy it? Yeah, it's a classic
• Synopsis: Man of La Mancha, based on Cervantes’ epic 17th-century novel, Don Quixote, is a remarkable, poignant, moving musical that was one of the first shows to musicalize a piece of historical literature. Set in the context of the Spanish Inquisition, Man of La Mancha is presented as a play-within-a-play. We encounter historical author Miguel de Cervantes in prison, awaiting trial by the Inquisition. When his fellow prisoners try to take Cervantes’ belongings from him, including his manuscript, Cervantes proposes a trial in which he proves the merit of the manuscript through a reenactment, enlisting his fellow prisoners as characters in his play. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: The Impossible Dream
• Sweet Charity
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, Point Park did this one year, and I knew a couple songs before that
• Did I enjoy it? Yeah, it feels very old school but I was glad to see Gwen Verdon again and the songs are fun
• Synopsis: Sweet Charity follows the romantic trials and tribulations of Charity Hope Valentine, “a girl who wanted to be loved.” Charity is a taxi dancer, a dance partner-for-hire at a seedy dance hall in New York City. Though the job may be decidedly undesirable, Charity’s hopeful romanticism and unfailing optimism lift her out of her circumstances and help her reach for a life beyond. In the past, she’s been strung along and hung out to dry by a series of bad relationships and lousier men. When she meets Oscar, a neurotic, shy actuary seemingly from another world, will she finally find true love at last? (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: If My Friends Could See Me Now
• Pousse-Cafe
• Have I heard of it before? No, and I wish I still hadn't
• Did I enjoy it? This was so painful
• Synopsis: A German professor becomes obsessed with a cabaret singer in this musical adaptation of the film The Blue Angel. (Playbill.com.)
• Favorite song: My Heart Is A Stranger
• It’s a Bird...It’s a Plane...It’s Superman
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, only because one of the songs was in the revue, "Prince of Broadway," a tribute to Hal Prince
• Did I enjoy it? I think this one needs to be watched rather than listened to, but I liked moments of it
• Synopsis: The plot revolves around Superman's efforts to defeat Dr. Abner Sedgwick, a ten-time Nobel Prize-losing scientist who seeks to avenge the scientific world's dismissal of his brilliance by attempting to destroy the world's symbol of good. Additionally, Superman comes into romantic conflict with Max Mencken, a columnist for the Daily Planet newspaper, who resents Lois Lane's attraction to Superman, and later teams up with Sedgwick to destroy Superman. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: You've Got Possibilities (but this version) 
• Mame
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I love the song We Need A Little Christmas
• Did I enjoy it? I did, I'd definitely go see this
• Synopsis: The madcap life of eccentric Mame Dennis and her bohemian, intellectual arty clique is disrupted when her deceased brother's 10-year-old son Patrick is entrusted to her care. Rather than bow to convention, Mame introduces the boy to her free-wheeling lifestyle, instilling in him her favorite credo, "Life is a banquet, and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death." Figuring in the storyline are Agnes Gooch (Mame's personal secretary and nanny-in-law), Vera Charles (her "bosom buddy" baritone actress and world's greatest lush) and Dwight Babcock (the stuffy and officious executor of her brother's estate). Mame loses her fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and tries her hand at a number of jobs with comically disastrous results but perseveres with good humor and an irrepressible sense of style. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: Bosom Buddies (Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur duet - can't go wrong)