- Dance a Little Closer
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Dance a Little Closer 
Original Cast RecordingMusic Charles Strouse Lyrics Alan Jay Lerner Book Alan Jay Lerner Basis Robert E. Sherwood's play Idiot's Delight' Productions 1983 Broadway Dance a Little Closer is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Charles Strouse. The story is an updated version of Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 antiwar comedy Idiot's Delight.
Contents
Plot overview
The musical is set on New Year's Eve "in the avoidable future" in the grand Alpine Barclay Palace Hotel, where the guests find themselves in the midst of a potential nuclear Armageddon. The characters are American crooner Harry Aikens and Cynthia Brookfield-Bailey, who may have had a romantic fling years earlier. Among the others present are Cynthia's current paramour, Henry Kissinger-like diplomat Dr. Josef Winkler, a gay couple, a minister, and a freedom fighter.
Production
The musical opened on Broadway at the Minskoff Theatre on May 11, 1983, where it closed after one performance and twenty-five previews. Directed by Lerner and choreographed by Billy Wilson, the cast included Len Cariou, Liz Robertson, George Rose, Don Chastain, Brent Barrett, and Alyson Reed. Showbusiness insiders dubbed it "Dance a Little Faster...Close a Little Sooner."
In his New York Times review Frank Rich described it as "a huge, extravagant mishmash . . . that seems to have taken on a rampaging, self-destructive life of its own," a sentiment similar to those expressed by the other critics.[1]
An original cast recording is available on CD.
Song list
- Act I
- It Never Would've Worked
- Happy, Happy New Year
- No Man is Worth It
- What are You Going to Do About It?
- A Woman Who Thinks I'm Wonderful
- Pas de Deux
- There's Never Been Anything Like Us
- Another Life
- Why Can't the World Go and Leave Us Alone?
- He Always Comes Home to Me
- I Got a New Girl
- Dance a Little Closer
- There's Always One You Can't Forget
- Act II
- Homesick
- Mad
- I Don't Know
- Auf Wiedersehen
- I Never Want to See You Again
- On Top of the World
- I Got a New Girl (Reprise)
- Dance a Little Closer (Reprise)
References
- ^ Rich, Frank. "Stage: Lerner Musical 'Dance A Little Closer'" New York Times, May 12, 1983
External links
Charles Strouse musicals Bye Bye Birdie · All American · Golden Boy · It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman · Applause · I and Albert · Annie · A Broadway Musical · Charlie and Algernon · Bring Back Birdie · Nightingale · Dance a Little Closer · Mayor · Rags · Nick & Nora · Annie Warbucks · Charlotte's Web
Categories:- 1983 musicals
- Broadway musicals
- Musicals based on plays
- LGBT-related musicals
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