Cocktail Party Fact: The ending of the stage musical is not a happy one — much like the science fiction B-movies of the 50s that it parodies. But when the movie was shown to test audiences, they didn’t like the ending. So they went back and re-shot a new ending, in which our heroes live happily ever after. But the original, and better, finale (”Don’t’ Feed the Plants”) is still on the soundtrack CD. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman never had to “work his way to the top.” The first theatre score he ever wrote was for the 1961 Broadway musical Milk and Honey, which ran 543 performances, a moderate hit. In 1964, he wrote his second score for Hello, Dolly!, with Carol Channing (and later Ethel Merman, Pearl Bailey, and others), which ran 2,844 performances, followed by a movie version with Barbra Streisand, and three Broadway revivals since then. In 1966, he wrote this third score for Mame, with Angela Lansbury, which ran 1,508 performances, yet another big hit. Another fun tidbit — after stage legend Mary Martin turned down the leading role in Mame, they auditioned 40 other actresses before they gave it to Angela Lansbury. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: All the songs in the show that Frank writes — “The Hills of Tomorrow,” “Good Things Going,” and “Who Wants to Live in New York” — share the same melody, but they’re all in different styles so it’s not immediately noticeable.

Here’s the Plot: Merrily We Roll Along tells the story of Franklin Shepard, Charley Kringas, and Mary Flynn, and the disintegration of their friendship and lives. Meeting and becoming fast friends in 1957, the three pursue their careers — Frank and Charley as musical theatre writers and producers, Mary as a novelist. What makes the show unique is that the story is told backward chronologically. The show begins in 1976, Frank and Charley no longer friends, and Mary a drunken movie critic. What is devastating for the audience is seeing these three people become more innocent and idealistic as the story moves back through time, until we arrive in 1957, our three heroes full of youthful hope and optimism. The show is ultimately tragic because we know that those ideals will never be realized. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: Despite the mammoth original Broadway set (a reconstruction of an actual iron foundry), composer Stephen Sondheim has said he originally envisioned this show as a small chamber musical with very little set. More and more, that’s the way it’s being done now. The role of Mrs. Lovett was written especially for Angela Lansbury. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: Actors in the workshop production who did not do the show on Broadway included Kelsey Grammer (TV’s Frasier) as the Soldier, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Celeste 2, Brad Kane (the singing voice of Disney’s Aladdin) as Boy in the Water, and Christine Baranski (from TV’s Cybil) as Clarisse, the character later renamed Yvonne. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: The song which character “Ricky Nelson” sings in Sticks and Bones — “Baby, When I Find You” — was written with lyrics by Rabe and music by Galt MacDermott who had recently written the score to Hair. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: Original posters for the show are emblazed with the title, and the discreet initials M.C. behind them — a tribute to the star character of the show — Maria Callas.

Here’s The Plot: Inspired by a series of master classes the great diva conducted at Juilliard toward the end of her career, this drama puts Maria Callas at center stage as she coaxes, prods, and inspires students — “victims” she calls them — into giving the performances of their lives while revealing her own. As she slips into memories, we experience her days at La Scala, her marriage to Meneghini, and her great doomed love for Aristotle Onassis. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: Dale Wasserman, the author of the book, was in Madrid doing a motion picture when he read a newspaper article that mistakenly said he was there to research a dramatic version of Don Quixote. Although he had no intention of doing this, he was intrigued and read the book. He finally decided to create a piece which would combine the life of the book’s author Cervantes with the story of Don Quixote. It was not originally a musical, however, but was first seen as a 90 minute TV broadcast in 1959, I, Don Quixote starring Lee J. Cobb. When they finally put together the musical, it was one of the first new musicals performed at the Goodspeed Opera House, which has gone on to be the launching pad for countless others. MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: The last New York revival of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris opened in 1981, three years after Brel had died. They didn’t change the title.

Here’s the Plot: More than any other piece written for the musical stage, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris utterly defies description. It’s a plotless evening of independent songs, yet it’s not just a revue. It doesn’t have a story or even an immediately recognizable cast of characters, so it’s not really a book musical. It has been called the world’s first libretto-less musical. In reality, it’s a one-character musical with a cast of four. Two women and two men all portray one character: Jacques Brel, the French-Belgian poet/songwriter/singer. The words are Brel’s, the opinions, insights, and satiric wit is Brel’s. The underlying, sometimes nearly hidden optimism is Brel’s. The songs are about war, death, love, revenge, growing old, desperation, and the insanity of our modern world. Many of the songs are extremely funny, some of the fumiest about the darkest topics. Eric Blau, one of the creators of the stage show, said that Brel writes about the way we live in a world we did not create.

Memorable Melodies: “If We Only Have Love” (which Barry Manilow recorded), “My Death” (which David Bowie performed in the film Ziggy Stardust), “Amsterdam” (which Bowie also recorded), “Marieke” (which Judy Collins recorded), “Timid Frieda,” “The Desperate Ones,” “Girls and Dogs.” MORE…

Cocktail Party Fact: The play, written during the Nazi occupation of France, was not put on until after the fall of Germany and the author’s death. Its premiere, with General de Gaulle in the audience, was a national event. MORE…