Lyrics
by Lynn Ahrens
Music
by Stephen Flaherty
Book
by Joseph Dougherty
Orchestrations
by Michael Starobin
"If
the world were like the movies
we
would never make mistakes
we'd
correct our little blunders
and
select our better takes"
After
the heavy emotional content of ONCE ON THIS
ISLAND, Ahrens & Flaherty decided to do something on
the opposite end of the scale for their next project. MY
FAVORITE YEAR,
based on the
1982 film of the same name, is a good old-fashioned musical comedy.
It tells the story of Benjy Stone, a comedy writer who looks back
fondly at 1954, when he was getting started in the business, fell
in love for the first time, and had the opportunity to meet his
childhood idol, the movie star Alan Swann. Though the overriding
tone is a comical one, the score deals very poignantly with the
issues of parental abandonment, and with our societal notions
of what heroism is all about.
The show
opened at the Vivian Beaumont theater at Lincoln Center on December
10th, 1992. Sadly, MY FAVORITE YEAR
was not well-received by the critics, and lasted only 37
performances. Thankfully, the score has been preserved on CD,
and the score is full of underappreciated gems. The opening number,
"Twenty Million People" is a wonderful portrait of the craziness
of television. "Larger than Life" is a very touching song about
the solace Benjy found at the movies after his father left. "If
the World Were Like The Movies" is a heartfelt plea that asks
us all to realize that movie stars are real people with real weaknesses,
and Andrea Martin shines on "Professional Showbizness Comedy."
In 2006,
Ahrens and Flaherty began taking another look at MY
FAVORITE YEAR. The book is being revised and some new songs
are being written. In April of 2007, two of the songs, "Always
Put On A Good Show" and "Swann Song" were introduced
in a regional production at the Bailiwick Theater Company in Chicago.
Stay tuned for further news on the future of the show.
You can
also read a more detailed plot
summary and liner notes
The
Cast:
Benjy
Stone-- Evan Pappas
King
Kaiser-- Tom Mardirosian
Sy Benson--
Josh Mostel
KC Downing--
Lannyl Stephens
Alice
Miller-- Andrea Martin
Herb
Lee-- Ethan Phillips
Belle
Steinberg Carroca-- Lainie Kazan
Leo Silver
-- Paul Stolarsky
Alan
Swann-- Tim Curry
Rookie
Carroca-- Thomas Ikeda
Tess--
Kate Finneran
Uncle
Morty -- David Lipman
Aunt
Sadie -- Mary Stout
Announcer--
Michael McGrath
The
Songs
- Overture/Twenty
Million People-- Evan Pappas, Company
- Larger than Life--
Evan Pappas
- The Musketeer
Sketch-- Evan Pappas, Josh Mostel, Tom Mardirosian, Andrea
Martin, Lannyl Stephens, Paul Stolarsky, Ethan Phillips
- Rookie in the
Ring-- Lainie Kazan
- Manhattan-- Tim
Curry
- Naked in Bethesda
Fountain-- Josh Mostel, Andrea Martin, Paul Stolarsky, Ethan
Phillips, Lannyl Stephens
- The Gospel According
to King -- Tom Mardirosian, Tim Curry, Ensemble
- Musketeer Sketch
Rehearsal -- Evan Pappas, Tim Curry, Ensemble
- Funny/The Duck
Joke-- Lannyl Stephens, Andrea Martin
- Welcome to Brooklyn--
David Lipman, Thomas Ikeda, Lainie Kazan, Mary Stout, Tim
Curry, Evan Pappas, Neighbors
- If the World
Were Like the Movies -- Tim Curry
- Exits -- Tim
Curry
- Shut Up and Dance--
Lannyl Stephens, Evan Pappas
- Professional
Showbizness Comedy-- Andrea Martin, Tom Mardirosian
- The King Kaiser
Comedy Cavalcade--Michael McGrath, Ensemble
- The Lights Come
Up-- Tim Curry, Evan Pappas
- Maxford House--
Ensemble
- The Musketeer
Sketch Finale-- Company
- My Favorite Year
-- Evan Pappas, Company
Sounds
1)
"If the World Were Like the
Movies" ( Tim Curry)
2) Larger
than Life ( Evan Pappas)
Quotables
- "I learned
about the Broadway musical by listening to hundreds of Original
Cast albums of shows I never saw. Much like Benjy Stone I
would listen to the records again and again, trying to imagine
the shows themselves. I wrote this melody as a sort of “musical
valentine” to those unseen Broadway musicals I grew
up loving as a boy." (Stephen Flaherty, on the finale,
"My Favorite Year.")
- The single most
memorable writing experience I've ever enjoyed was writing
the libretto for a musical, collaborating with Lynn Ahrens
and Stephen Flaherty, who recently won the Tony for the music
and lyrics for Ragtime. We wrote
the musical version of My Favorite Year.
It's a fascinating and immeasurably satisfying experience
to prepare material for people as talented as Lynn and Stephen
and participate in this remarkable distillation process that
transforms your work into song. It's a particularly invisible
sort of writing you have to do. You feel quite transparent
and ego free, in total service to the piece. Some of the best
writing I've ever done is in the book of that show."
( Joseph Dougherty, in an online WGA interview, 1999)
- "We're in a phase
with 'My Favorite Year' right
now where I'm trying to rewrite the whole show, but I know
I shouldn't do that, so I go to Bloomingdales" ( Lynn Ahrens,
in 1992)
- "The thing
that is great about doing this workshop is that our show is
about slapping a show together in seven days out of sheer
will and energy, and the workshop has been exactly that."
( Stephen Flaherty, in 1992)
Interesting
Facts
- MY
FAVORITE YEAR was originally intended to be part of
the New Musicals Project at SUNY Purchase The project folded
before the score was finished.
- During the Licoln
Center previews, the second act opened with a nightclub number
called "Pop, Fizz, Happy." The number was later
restored for the London production at Guildhall School. Also,
there was a ballad called "Clarence Duffy" (Swann's
real name) that was replaced by the song "Exits."
The song "The Gospel According to King replaced a song
that was called "It's Only Rehearsal." There was
also an expensive production number called "Monday, Monday"
that was cut during previews.
- "Professional
Show Business Comedy" was inspired by the particular
talents of Andrea Martin, and also from the fact that Tom
Mardirosian was not a dancer, and was having trouble learning
new steps ( and lines and words, for that matter), so the
only way to get around this was to write a comic number that
had him bound and gagged on the stage!
- Faith Prince and
Victor Garber played Alice Miller and Alan Swann in the early
readings of the show.
- There was originally
another character in the show named Iphey Hopper, based on
Sid Caesar's sidekick, Imogene Coca. The character was cut
when it was realized she was very similar to the Alice Miller
character.
- Andrea Martin
made her Broadway debut in this show, and won a Tony for her
performance.
- In the book
Broadway Stories, by Marty Bell, there is a chapter
detailing the workshop process which focuses on the development
of MY FAVORITE YEAR as a musical.
Ahrens and Flaherty talk openly and extensively about
their writing process, and one gets a real feel for
how a particular project comes together. Of course,
Bell, a Senior Vice President at LIVENT, would later prove
instrumental in the A&F story-- he was the one who suggested
the team as possible candidates for doing the RAGTIME
score.
- During the initial
workshop, so many changes were made, and so much paper was
used that some cast members wrote a parody of "Twenty
Million People" that went : "Twenty Million Pages/No
twenty million plus/twenty million oak and maple trees/died
for us"
- In October 1990,
when the authors did their first read-through for each other,
Lynn recalled that " the first act was about an hour
and forty five minutes, the second act was about seventeen
minutes."
Reviews
- Backstage.
December
18, 1992. Volume 33, no. 51, p. 40.
- Billboard.
December 26, 1992. Volume 104, no. 52, p. 49.
- New York.
January 4, 1993. Volume 26, no. 1, p.50.
- New Yorker.
December 28, 1992. Volume 68, no. 45, p. 192.
- Variety.
December 14, 1992. Volume 349, no. 8, p. 50.
Major
Awards / Nominations ( *
indicates a win)
- 1993 Tony Award
Nominations: Best Featured Actress in a Musical (*Andrea
Martin & Lainie Kazan ); Best Actor in a Musical (Tim
Curry)
- 1993 Drama Desk
Nominations : Best Featured Actress in a Musical (*
Andrea Martin); Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Josh Mostel);
Best Orchestrations (Michael Starobin)
CD
Information
"My
Favorite Year" Recording
| Original
Broadway Cast |
1993 |
BMG |
09026-61617-2 |
Production
Rights
Handled
by Music Theater International
|
|
|
