Broadway By The Year: The Broadway Musicals of 1960

Not only has the "Broadway By The Year" series continued to attract the attention and admiration of musical theater lovers, but the recent edition, The Broadway Musicals of 1960, proves to be the best so far. You might be tempted to say 1960 wasn't that brilliant a season for musicals to be considered classics, and that many of the most tuneful shows were actually flops. But show for show and song for song, 1960 is the year that probably best defines what has become known as the last years of the golden age of original American musicals.

As host and creator of the series Scott Siegel reminds us that 1960, the year Kennedy became president, Adolph Green married Phyllis Newman, and Barbra Streisand appeared Off-Broadway in The Insect Comedy, was also a year notable for its lack of any musical revivals.

If it wasn't the creme de la creme that was showing up from our most eminent composers such as Lerner and Loewe, Meredith Willson, and Frank Loesser, their creations Camelot, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Greenwillow, respectively, maintained a melodic and compositional integrity that was rapidly being drowned out on the airways by the new wave of rock and roll. Newcomers Lee Adams and Charles Strouse responded best with their rock-mock score for Bye Bye Birdie, while veterans Jule Styne with Betty Comden and Adolph Green also kept pace with the time with the riotous and witty Do Re Mi.

Trying to follow up their smash Fiorello, Sheldon Harnick & Jerry Bock failed with Tenderloin, a nice tuneful little show about pimps and prostitutes. It took the French import Irma La Douce, to show the yanks how to make the demimonde delightful. As beautiful and talented as movie star Maureen O'Hara was, she couldn't keep "the melodic Christine," open more than a week. However TV/film star Lucille Ball lasted a bit longer in the vehicle Wildcat, that boasted a rousing score by Carolyn Leigh & Cy Coleman. So much for a history lesson.

If not the shows, the seven terrific and attractive singers proved to be the creme de la creme. With special guest stars Brent Barrett, fresh from his run as King Arthur in Camelot at the Paper Mill, and Drama Desk Award-winner and 1960 baby Tovah Feldshuh, still a dramatic force Off-Broadway in Golda, the roster included Eddie Korbich, Marc Kudisch, Douglas Ladnier, Liz Larsen and Lisa Vroman.

"Hey, Look Me Over," (Wildcat) provided the ensemble with a perfect opening number. That show also provided Kudisch and Larsen with a chance to be amusingly feisty with"You're a Liar." Also from the same show, comely Ladnier crooned appealingly through "Tall Hope." Ladnier's mellow approach was even more intoxicating in the title song Paul F. Webster and Sammy Fain wrote for Christine, and the pulsating "Summertime Love," from Greenwillow.

Barrett impressively sustained his King Arthur character for "Camelot," and "How to Handle a Woman," while Kudisch, taking his night off from Thoroughly Modern Millie, made many in the audience swoon with "If Ever I Would Leave You," magnificently sung without amplification. But it was his pelvis-propelled Presley-ized "One Last Kiss," (from Birdie), that made the ladies scream.

Vroman, who recently concluded a two-year run as Christine in Phantom, sang gloriously "The Lusty Month of May," and "Before I Gaze at You Again," a nice contrast to Feldshuh's robust and riveting rendition of "I Love You Once in Silence." Feldshuh's polished and dynamic versions of the hilarious "Kids" (from Birdie) and the politically satiric "Ism," from Sheldon Harnick & David Baker's almost forgotten revue, Vintage 60, were highlights. Six songs from Do Re Mi were all it took to remind us what a treasure trove is often hidden by time. While "Make Someone Happy," as sung without amplification by Kudisch & Vroman, continues to resonate as one of the best showtunes ever, such irresistible charmers as "I Know About Love" (Kudisch), "Cry Like the Wind" (Vroman), "Fireworks" (Barrett & Vroman) and "Adventure" (Feldshuh & Korbich) were each sung to sound like the proverbial 11 o'clock number. They were.

Two pleasurable songs were culled from Irma La Deuce. Larson gave "the title song the chanteuse treatment, and Ladnier and Vroman gazed into each others eyes convincingly in "Our Language of Love." "Little Old New York," and "Picture of Happiness" suggested the bawdy gaiety that was Tenderloin. The comic highlight of the evening was provided by Larson and the plunger-carrying Korbich and Kudisch, who gave a hilariously corny spin to "I Ain't Down Yet," (from The Unsinkable Molly Brown). The occasional song sung without amplification, however, provided my favorite moments. Another winner in this instance was Barrett's rafter-reaching "I'll Never Say No to You," also from Molly Brown.

Ross Patterson's "Little Big Band" provided splendid instrumental support as well as a jazzy Entr'acte. Kudos also to BT McNicholl for his slick direction. I doubt if it will get much better than this.