- Ankles Aweigh
Infobox Musical
name= Ankles Aweigh
caption= Original cast recording
music=Sammy Fain
lyrics=Dan Shapiro
book=Guy Bolton
Eddie Davis
basis=
productions=1955 Broadway
1989 Goodspeed Opera House revival
awards="Ankles Aweigh" is a musical with a book by
Guy Bolton and Eddie Davis, lyrics by Dan Shapiro, and music bySammy Fain .The plot centers on Hollywood starlet Wynne, who violates a clause in her contract by marrying Navy flyer Bill while filming a movie in
Sicily . With the aid of her sister Elsey and two of her husband's service buddies, Wynne disguises herself as a sailor and stows away on his ship. When they reachMorocco , Bill finds himself accused of participating in anespionage ring, and he and his bride must find a way to absolve him of the charges so they can live happily ever after.By 1955, audiences had become accustomed to
book musical s that seamlessly integrated dialogue scenes with musical numbers, so this throwback tovaudeville -style entertainment, complete withburlesque jokes, chorus girls, and impersonations ofMarlene Dietrich andZsa Zsa Gabor , was an anomaly for the times.Rodgers and Hammerstein invested in the show but made no creative contributions. During rehearsals, lead comicMyron McCormick was replaced by Lew Parker, andSonny Tufts was fired inNew Haven .Jerome Robbins spent two weeks revamping the show inBoston , to little avail.The Broadway production, directed by Fred F. Finklehoffe and
choreographed by Tony Charmoli, opened onApril 18 1955 at theMark Hellinger Theatre , where it ran for 176 performances. The cast included real-life sisters Jane and Betty Kean as Wynne and Elsey, Mark Dawson as Bill, andThelma Carpenter as featured singer Chipolata.The producers immediately posted the closing notice, but Mark Hellinger owner Brady Farrell decided to keep the show running with his own financing. Broadway columnists
Walter Winchell andEd Sullivan 's glowing reports failed to generate much business, and when salaries were cut to keep losses to a minimum, most of the major players quit in protest. After struggling for five months, the show finally closed at a loss of $340,000, $65,000 more than its initial investment.An original cast recording was released by
Decca Records .In the summer of 1989, the
Goodspeed Opera House revived the musical with a new book byCharles Busch , who transformed it into a camp satire of 1950s movie musicals and an affectionate tribute to the genre [http://www.charlesbusch.com/Ankles%20Aweigh!.htm] .References
*"Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops" by
Ken Mandelbaum , published bySt. Martin's Press (1991), pages 42-43 (ISBN 0-312-06428-4)External links
* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2512 Internet Broadway Database listing]
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