Sherry!

Infobox Musical
name= Sherry!
subtitle=


caption= 2004 Studio Recording
music= Laurence Rosenthal
lyrics= James Lipton
book= James Lipton
basis= George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart play
"The Man Who Came to Dinner"
productions= 1967 Broadway
awards=

"Sherry!" is a musical with a book and lyrics by James Lipton and music by Laurence Rosenthal. The musical is based on the George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart play "The Man Who Came to Dinner".

Production

George Sanders originally was signed to play Whiteside, but the Boston critics found his performance lacking, and when his wife, actress Benita Hume, became terminally ill with cancer, he withdrew from the project. Choreographer Ron Field was replaced by Joe Layton, who allegedly took over the directing chores as well, although Morton DaCosta retained credit in the program.

After fourteen previews, the Broadway production opened on March 28 1967 at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 72 performances. The cast included Clive Revill as Whiteside, Elizabeth Allen as Maggie, Jon Cypher as Bert, Dolores Gray as Lorraine, Eddie Lawrence as Banjo, Byron Webster as Beverly, and Cliff Hall as Dr. Bradley.

"Sherry!" took a gambit quite typical for musicals based on straight plays by "opening up" the story: that is, by adding scenes in locations not featured onstage in the original play. In order to "open up" "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (which takes place entirely in the Stanleys' living room) it was necessary to maintain the premise that Sheridan Whiteside is confined to a wheelchair. Therefore the second-act climax of "Sherry!" moved the action to a nearby skating rink, with several characters on roller skates and Whiteside perambulating in his wheelchair.

The critics were unanimous in their disapproval, finding the taut Kaufman-Hart humor of the original play was diluted by the inclusion of mediocre musical numbers that were dropped into the action rather than allowed to evolve naturally from the plot.

tudio recording

Following the show's closing, the orchestrations were packed for transport to the writers' publisher, but inadvertently were put on the wrong truck and together with the sets were hauled to New Jersey and burned. More than three decades later, music producer Robert Sher discovered a copy of the complete score housed at the Library of Congress and contacted Lipton, who had achieved fame as the moderator of Bravo's "Inside the Actors Studio", to propose an all-star studio recording. The result was a 2004 Angel Records 2-CD set that was recorded in separate sessions over a period of three years, with the orchestral portions recorded in Bratislava and Prague and the vocals recorded in New York City. The recording cast includes Nathan Lane as Whiteside, Bernadette Peters as Maggie, Carol Burnett as Lorraine, Tom Wopat as Bert, Tommy Tune as Beverly, and Mike Myers as Banjo, with Lillias White and Phyllis Newman in small supporting roles [http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm?int_news_id=4363] .

ynopsis

Sheridan Whiteside, an egregiously pompous and self-centered radio personality terrorizes the family of Ernest W. Stanley of Mesalia, Ohio when a slip on their icy front steps forces him to recuperate in their home at Christmas time. The highly critical and extremely egotistical wheelchair-bound Whiteside commandeers the household and staff and disrupts the lives of everyone who comes within his orbit, including his private secretary Maggie Cutler, journalist-playwright Bert Jefferson, Broadway diva Lorraine Sheldon, antic Harpo Marx-like comedian Banjo, bon vivant Beverly Carlton, and absent-minded physician and aspiring memoirist Dr. Bradley.

Original Broadway song list

;Act I
* In the Very Next Moment
* Why Does the Whole Damn World Adore Me?
* Maggie's Date
* Maybe It's Time for Me
* How Can You Kiss Those Good Times Goodbye?
* With This Ring
* Sherry
* Au Revoir
* Proposal Duet
* Listen Cosette
* Christmas Eve Broadcast;Act II
* Putty in Your Hands
* Imagine That
* Marry the Girl Myself
* Putty in Your Hands (Reprise)
* Harriet Sedley
* Sherry (Reprise)

tudio recording song list

;Act I
* Why Does the Whole Damn World Adore Me?
* Whiteside's Prayer
* In the Very Next Moment
* Crockfield
* Maybe It's Time for Me
* How Can You Kiss Those Good Times Goodbye?
* With This Ring
* Sherry!
* Alas, Lorraine/Au Revoir
* Proposal Duet
* I Always Stay at the Ritz
* Christmas Eve;Act II
* Putty in Your Hands
* Imagine That
* Preen Beguine
* Marry the Girl Myself
* Putty in Your Hands (Reprise)
* Harriet Sedley
* Au Revoir (Reprise)
* Whiteside's Prayer (Reprise)
* Sherry (Reprise)

References

*"Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops" by Ken Mandelbaum, published by St. Martin's Press (1991), pages 192-94 (ISBN 0-312-06428-4)
* [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/84394.html playbill article, 2/15/04, STAGE TO SCREENS: James Lipton Chats About Sherry and "Inside the Actor's Studio"]

External links

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