Pal Joey is a
musical with book by John O'Hara and music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart based on a character O'Hara created for a series of story installments in
The New Yorker.
The original production opened December 25, 1940 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and ran for 374 performances. When it was created,
Pal Joey was considered too dark and brooding for a Broadway musical which may account for it's short run in 1940-1941. However, when the show was revived on Januray 3, 1952 it opened to rave reviews and enthusiasm, and enjoyed a longer run of 542 performances.
By far the most famous song to emerge from this show was
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered which is Vera's celebration of her own sexuality that has been awakened by Joey and his attentions toward her albeit, and
unbeknownst to her, wrong intentioned.
The photos in today's post are from the most recent revival starring
Stockard Channing, Martha
Plimpton, and Matthew
Risch as Joey. This revival was met with great reviews and excitement as it ran from November 14, 2008-March 1, 2009 at Studio 54. I won't be surprised to see some of these names in the Tony categories for Best Revival this year.
Set in Chicago in the late 1930's, Pal Joey is the story of Joey Evans, a brash scheming song and dance man with dreams of owning his own nightclub. Joey abandons his wholesome girlfriend, Linda English, to charm a rich married older woman, Vera Simpson in the hope she'll set him up in business. 
1 comment:
This sounds like a GREAT play!!!
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