Shows M

their friends say. Now You Know ... Act II 1964: at the Alvin Theatre, the opening night of "Musical Husbands". Gussie, having just discovered that Frank really fancies her, lustily sings He's Only a Boy. Meanwhile the curtain comes down on the show, and, as the applause swells, Broadway's latest words-and-music team, Charley and Frank, have to admit: It's a Hit! ... Merrily We Roll Along and peal the years back further to 1962 and a party at Gussic and Joe's elegant Sutton Place apartment. Gussic has thrown her soirée so that Frank and Charley, who are going to write a musical for Joe to produce, can meet all the richest and most influential people in town - she calls themThe Blob because "they absorb everything". "Fermez those bouches," Gussie orders and invites the songwriters to perform their latest number, Good Thing Going. The guests love it, but not enough to wait until the end before resuming their cocktail chatter ... Merrily We Roll Along, back to 1960, the dawn of a new decade with new hopes. Charley, Frank and Beth are playing a small nightclub and celebrating the accession of America's new First Family,Bobby and Frankie and Jack. Joe is in the tiny audience and he's quite impressed, as is Gussic who is strongly attracted to Frank at this first meeting. Afterwards, Frank explains that he's marrying Beth and pledges that Not a Day Goes By when she's not a part of his life. At an adjoining table, Mary echoes the sentiment: it's how she'll always feel about Frank ... 1959-57: Frank, Charley and Mary are busy in New York, establishing their careers, Opening Doors. The boys audition for Joe, but he wants more hummable tunes. So they decide to do their own show and end up hiring Beth. October 1957, 5.30 am, on the roof of an old apartment house on New York City's 110th Street, waiting for the first-ever earth-orbiting satellite. Suddenly, Sputnik is there in the sky and for the three young friends - Frank, Charley and Mary - anything is possible: this is Our Time - "and there's so much stuff to sing!. CHARACTERS • Franklin Shepard - An idealistic student who becomes a successful composer and then an even more successful Hollywood executive - so successful that he no longer has time to write music, even for his own films. • Charley Kringas - Frank’s best friend and his lyricist, when Frank isn’t tied up acquiring rights and wiring the Coast. • Mary Flynn - A writer and drama critic; also Frank’s good pal, although Mary wishes it was a little more than that. • Joe Josephson - The producer of Frank and Charley’s Broadway shows, even though he only likes tunes that go burn-burn-burn-didum ... • Beth Spencer - A singer in Frank and Charley’s nightclub act, subsequently Frank’s first wife. • Gussie Carnegie - Joe’s wife, a Broadway star, Frank’s interior decorator and mistress, subsequently Frank’s second wife. • Meg - An actress in Frank’s latest movies and his new mistress. • K. T. Lewis - A TV journalist, who asks Frank and Charley the old question “how do you two work together?” and gets a livelier answer than she ever expected. • Bartender, Waiters and Waitresses, Party Guests etc.

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