Baker Street is a musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 with a book by Jerome Coopersmith and music and lyrics by Marian Grudeff

Marian Grudeff

Marian Grudeff was a Canadian pianist and musical theatre composer.Born in Toronto, she studied piano under Mona Bates and performed Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11. She subsequently gave her first solo recital at the Eaton Auditorium...

 and Raymond Jessel.

Loosely based on the Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

 story A Scandal in Bohemia

A Scandal in Bohemia

"A Scandal in Bohemia" was the first of Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories to be published in The Strand Magazine and the first Sherlock Holmes story illustrated by Sidney Paget....

by Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

, it is set in and around London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1897, the year in which England

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 celebrated the Diamond Jubilee

Diamond Jubilee

A Diamond Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 60th anniversary in the case of a person or a 75th anniversary in the case of an event.- Thailand :...

 of the reign of Queen Victoria (an event marked by an elaborate royal procession depicted by Bil Baird

Bil Baird

William Britton Baird , professional name Bil Baird, but often referred to as Bill Baird, was an American puppeteer of the mid- and late 20th century.One of his better known creations was Charlemane the lion...

's marionettes). The musical veers from Conan Doyle's work in that Irene Adler becomes an associate of Holmes rather than his opponent, thus allowing an element of romance between the two.

After six previews, the Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production, directed by Hal Prince

Hal Prince

Harold Smith Prince is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century...

, opened on February 16, 1965 at The Broadway Theatre

The Broadway Theatre

The Broadway Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1681 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan....

, where it ran for nine months. It then transferred to the Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld Theatre

Al Hirschfeld Theatre

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 302 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh for vaudeville promoter Martin Beck, the theatre opened as the Martin Beck Theatre with a production of Madame Pompadour on November 11, 1924. It...

), but closed after only eleven days, for a total of 311 performances.

The opening night cast included Fritz Weaver

Fritz Weaver

Fritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...

, Peter Sallis

Peter Sallis

Peter Sallis, OBE is an English actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television. Although he was born and brought up in London, his two most notable roles require him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner.Sallis is best known for his role as the main character...

, Martin Gabel

Martin Gabel

Martin Gabel was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Life and career:Gabel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Ruth and Israel Gabel, who was a jeweler...

, Inga Swenson

Inga Swenson

Inga Swenson is an American actress.Inga Swenson was a graduate of Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska, Class of 1950...

, Virginia Vestoff

Virginia Vestoff

Virginia Vestoff was an American actress of film, television and Broadway.Vestoff was born into a family of vaudeville performers in New York City. Both her Russian immigrant father and mother, who was the great niece of American composer Stephen Foster, died and left Virginia an orphan at the age...

, and, in small supporting roles, Tommy Tune

Tommy Tune

Thomas James "Tommy" Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.-Early years:...

 and Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...

 in their Broadway debuts.

Producer Alexander H. Cohen

Alexander H. Cohen

Alexander H. Cohen was a prolific American theatrical producer who mounted more than one hundred productions on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the only American producer to maintain offices in the West End as well as on Broadway.-Personal life:Cohen was born in New York City...

 felt the show was such an event that he announced, prior to the opening, men would not be admitted unless they were clad in jackets and ties, and women would be allowed in only if they wore dresses. This policy quickly changed once the mixed reviews were in and Cohen realized he needed all the business he could get, no matter how it was attired.

Because of problems the show went through during out of town tryouts, Sheldon Harnick

Sheldon Harnick

Sheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....

 and Jerry Bock

Jerry Bock

Jerrold Lewis "Jerry" Bock was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical Fiorello! and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof with...

, the successful composing team of Fiddler On The Roof

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...

were brought in to contribute additional songs including "Cold Clear World" and "I Shall Miss You." They also wrote "I'm In London Again" which was the first number for Irene Adler, but after opening night, this number (which can be heard on the cast album) was dropped and replaced by another Bock-Harnick composition, "Buffalo Belle" which had Irene Adler performing an elaborate Wild West number.

Song list

• "It's So Simple"
• "I'm in London Again"
• "Leave it to Us, Guv"
• "Letters"
• "Cold, Clear World"
• "Finding Words for Spring"
• "What a Night This is Going to Be"
• "I Shall Miss You, Holmes"
• "Roof Space"
• "A Married Man"
• "I'd Do it Again"
• "Pursuit"
• "Jewelry"

Awards and nominations

• Tony Award
  Tony Award
  The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
  
  for Best Actress in a Musical (Swenson, nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Costume Design (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Author of a Musical (Coopersmith, nominee)