George M!
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George M! is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal and music and lyrics by George M. Cohan.
The plot covers the period from the late 1880s until 1937 and focuses on Cohan's life and show business career from his early days in vaudeville with his parents and sister to his later success as a Broadway singer, dancer, composer, lyricist, theatre director and producer.
After eight previews, the Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Joe Layton, opened on April 10, 1968 at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 433 performances. The cast included Joel Grey as George M. Cohan, Bernadette Peters as his sister, Josie, Jerry Dodge as his father, Jamie Donnelly as Ethel Levy, George's first wife, Jill O'Hara as Agnes Nolan, George's second wife, Betty Ann Grove as his mother, Loni Ackerman, Jonelle Allen, and Janie Sell.
A television adaptation, presented as a staged reading of the musical with the performers discussing Cohan's life and work between rehearsal-style song-and-dance routines, was broadcast by NBC on September 12, 1970. Grey and Peters were joined by Jack Cassidy, Nanette Fabray, Anita Gillette, and Blythe Danner.
[edit] Song list
Act I
- Musical Moon
- Oh, You Wonderful Boy
- All Aboard for Broadway
- Musical Comedy Man
- All Aboard for Broadway (Reprise)
- I Was Born in Virginia
- Twentieth Century Love
- My Town
- Billie
- Push Me Along in My Pushcart
- Ring to the Name of Rose
- Popularity
- Give My Regards to Broadway
Act II
- Forty-five Minutes from Broadway
- So Long, Mary
- Down by the Erie
- Mary
- All Our Friends
- Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Nellie Kelly I Love You
- Harrigan
- Over There
- You're a Grand Old Flag
- The City
- I'd Rather Be Right
- Give My Regards to Broadway (Reprise)
- Dancing Our Worries Away
- The Great Easter Sunday Parade
- Hannah's a Hummer
- Barnum and Bailey Rag
- The Belle of the Barber's Ball
- The American Ragtime
- All in the Wearing
- I Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Grey, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Choreography (winner)
- Theatre World Award (Peters, winner)
