Good_news_(musical)

This article is about the Broadway musical. For other uses of the term, see good news.

Good News
Original 1927 Broadway Program
Music	Ray Henderson
Lyrics	B.G. DeSylva Lew Brown
Book	Laurence Schwab B.G. DeSylva
Productions	1927 Broadway 1930 Film 1947 Film 1974 Broadway revival 1993 Wichita

Good News is a musical with a book by Laurence Schwab and B.G. DeSylva, lyrics by DeSylva and Lew Brown, and music by Ray Henderson.

The show opened on Broadway in 1927, the same year as Show Boat, helping to mark a new era of book musicals. It spawned two films and a Broadway revival and still is performed regularly. It proved to be DeSylva, Brown, and Henderson\'s biggest hit out of a string of topical musicals [1].

Productions

The original Broadway production, directed by Edgar MacGregor and choreographed by Bobby Connolly, opened on September 6 1927 at The 46th Street Theatre, where it ran for 557 performances, which was a very successful run, as few if any Broadway shows had reached 500 performances since 1919\'s Irene. The cast included John Price Jones as Tom Marlowe, Mary Lawlor as Connie Lane, Gus Shy as Bobby Randall, and Inez Courtney as Babe O\'Day.

In the 1970s, Producer Harry Rigby, who started the Broadway nostalgia craze with his revivals of No, No, Nanette and Irene, decided Good News would be the ideal choice for his next project. After a try-out in Boston, a nationwide tour for almost a year and 51 previews, a lavish revamped production (with a number of songs interpolated from other sources) directed by Abe Burrows and choreographed by Donald Saddler opened on December 23 1974 at the St. James Theatre where, having failed to charm the critics as its predecessors had, it ran for only 16 performances. This version emphasized the more senior characters, at the expense of the college student characters who had made the 1927 version popular. It also moved the setting from the Twenties into the Depression era Thirties. The cast included Alice Faye, Gene Nelson, and Stubby Kaye. Saddler was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography.

In 1993, Mark Madama and Wayne Bryan revised the book for the Musical Theatre of Wichita, and their version has enjoyed many productions since [2]. A studio cast recording of this adaptation was released in 1995.[3]

MGM released two film versions, the first in 1930 and a remake in 1947.

Synopsis

World War I is over, the Roaring Twenties have arrived, women have won the right to vote, and college campuses, such as fictional Tait College, are as much a social scene as an academic one. Football is the big game, and star player Tom Marlowe is a prime catch. All the girls are interested in Tom, and vice-versa, although one society climber seems to have him in hand. Studious part-time school librarian Connie Lane doesn\'t seem to have a chance and stays out of the fray. When Marlowe fails a final exam, he needs a tutor to help him pass so he can play in the big game on Saturday. Connie is selected to help keep his nose to the grindstone, and the two fall for each other. The couples\' romance can only endure if the team wins the big game.

Song list

Original 1927 production

Revised 1993 production

References

• History of the show
• Information about the 1993 version

External links

• Good News at The Internet Broadway Database
• Review of the 1993 version

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