Book
by Joseph Dougherty |
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Music
by Stephen Flaherty |
Lyrics
by Lynn Ahrens |
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Based
on the Motion Picture My Favorite Year Courtesy of Turner Entertainment Company |
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Screenplay
by Norma Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo |
Story
by Dennis Palumbo |
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| November
16-17 at 7:30pm November 18 at 2:00pm |
Kirkland
Fine Arts Center Milikin University, Decatur, IL |
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My
Favorite Year, based on the 1982 film of the same name,
is a good old-fashioned musical comedy. Benjy Stone is 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. The recipient of three Tony Award nominations, My
Favorite Year was written by Ahrens and Flaherty, the Tony-award
winning team who brought you Ragtime, Once on this
Island, and Lucky Stiff. |
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From
the early 30’s to the mid 60’s, one of Hollywood’s
largest money making genres was the movie musical. A great many
of these films were Oscar-winning adaptations of the smash hits
gracing the stages of New York during the Golden Age of Broadway.
The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, West
Side Story and the recent hit, Chicago, are just
a few of the Hollywood blockbusters that were born on the Broadway
stage. In recent years, Broadway producers have turned the tables and have opened a host of shows with story lines borrowed from the Hollywood repertoire. The stage versions of Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, The Lion King, Saturday Night Fever, Urban Cowboy, The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Footloose and most recently, Young Frankenstein and The Little Mermaid (starring Millikin’s own, Sierra Boggess as Ariel) all had Hollywood beginnings, as did the show you are about to see. My Favorite Year was released in 1982 starring Peter O’Toole as Alan Swann, the swashbuckling hero of the silver screen. The movie enjoyed enormous popularity upon its release and for many, has become a comedy classic. In 1992 the writing team of Ahrens and Flaherty (Ragtime, Lucky Stiff, Once on this Island, Seussical) took on the challenge of turning this popular film into a Broadway musical. While this “old-fashioned musical” struggled to compete with the changing Broadway trends set by the musicals of the British Invasion (Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, etc.) it very cleverly captured the heart and soul of the film and in many ways improved upon it. Mixing broad, slapstick humor with old-fashioned vaudeville production numbers, witty lyrics and musical jokes with colorful characters, and wrapping it all up in orchestrations as rich as some of the most lavish Hollywood musicals, My Favorite Year is a gem of a show steeped in romance and sentiment, sure to make you laugh and reflect upon your fondest memories. Enjoy. Sean T. Morrissey |
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