WOMAN OF THE YEAR Music by John Kander: Lyrics by Fred Ebb: Book by Peter Stone. Based on the film Woman Of the Year Palace Theatre, Broadway - March 29, 1981 (770 perfs) STORY: Tess Harding, nationally recognised TV news personality, is about to be named Woman of the Year. To Tess, however, it seems a somewhat dubious honour. As she waits in the wings to receive her award, she recalls a flippant editorial she wrote on the newspaper cartoon strips. The article really hit home and got to all the cartoonists who frequent the Ink Pot. It inspired Sam Craig to publish a caricature of her in his newspaper strip cartoon, Katz. Tess is annoyed by the dose of her own medicine but changes her tune when the handsome Sam shows up at her office. She invites him to dinner, but has great difficulty working a follow-up date into her impossible schedule. Eventually he manages to get her down to the Ink Pot, where she amazes Sam and the other cartoonists by her knowledge of comic art. Romance is in full bloom, and she invites Sam to move in with her. Marriage soon follows, but still there is so little time together. Sam's feelings are mirrored in his comic strip. One day Tess takes exception to a Katz strip in which Katz says Marriage is a breeze; it's the living together that's so damned hard. It becomes the focal point of an argument that ends with Sam announcing that he is moving out. Now it's time for her to go on stage to accept her award - Woman of the Year, - the woman who has just lost the man she cares most about! Some weeks later her heavy work schedule has slowed down somewhat. She has had time to analyse her role as busy media personality compared to the traditional role of wife and companion. She goes to the Ink Pot and talks with Sam. She also seeks advice from a Russian ballet dancer, whom she helped to defect, before he returns behind the Iron Curtain to be with his girlfriend. She then travels to the Rocky Mountain home of her first husband, in an attempt to determine what made his second marriage a success. Flying back to New York, she announces to the world that she is resigning her show to devote herself full time to Sam. Having been tipped off about her announcement, Sam meets her at the studio to tell her that he wants to try again, but that he wants her to keep her career. He just didn't want a relationship in which she was making all the decisions. They resolve to work things out and give it another go. MUSICAL NUMBERS: Act • Woman of the Year – Tess and Women • The Poker Game – Sam and Cartoonists • See You in the Funny Papers – Sam • When You’re Right, You’re Right! – Tess and Gerald • Shut Up, Gerald – Tess, Sam and Gerald • So What Else Is New? – Sam and Katz • One of the Boys – Tess, Cartoonists, Maury and Men • Table Talk – Tess and Sam • The Two of Us – Tess and Sam • It Isn’t Working – Cartoonists, Chip, Helga, Gerald and New Yorkers
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