Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy
Encyclopedia
Doonesbury is a musical
with a book and lyrics by Garry Trudeau
and music by Elizabeth Swados
.
Based on Trudeau's comic strip of the same name
, it focuses on that point in its history when the primary characters graduate from college
and enter the workforce after more than a decade of being perpetual students and commune
-dwellers.
Trudeau took a nearly two-year sabbatical from writing the strip to develop the project.
After twenty previews, the Broadway
production, directed by Jacques Levy
and choreographed by Margo Sappington
, opened on November 21, 1983 at the Biltmore Theatre
, where it ran for 104 performances. The cast included Mark Linn-Baker
as Mark Slackmeyer
, Keith Szarabajka
as B.D., Gary Beach
as Uncle Duke
, Lauren Tom
as Honey Huan, Kate Burton
as J.J. Caucus, and Laura Dean as Boopsie.
An original cast recording was released by MCA Records
, and a companion book including song lyrics and production photos was published in conjunction with the opening.
The musical's storyline opened the day before graduation at Walden College, with many of the characters (Mike Doonesbury
, B.D., Mark Slackmeyer
, Zonker Harris
, Boopsie) preparing for the day. B.D. has been drafted into professional football (later revealed to be the Dallas Cowboys
), Mike is preparing to propose to J.J., and Zonker has a flashback to his days as a pro suntanner. Meanwhile, Zonker's uncle Duke
and his aide/henchman Honey are at Duke's federal trial for cocaine possession in Los Angeles County, California. Acting as his own counsel, an apparently stoned Duke gives an impassioned defense in which he claims that his efforts to deal cocaine to undercover FBI agents in a STING operation was only indicative of his "caring too much."
The action returns to Walden, where Mike is on the phone with J.J., upset that Mike has invited her mother, Joanie
, who arrives with her infant son from her second marriage, Jeffrey. Boopsie and the cast discuss her plans to become a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, intending on following B.D. to Dallas. Mark reveals Mike's plan to propose to J.J. to Zonker and Joanie.
Back at the courthouse, Duke is found guilty and sentenced to probation, and required by the court to open and manage a drug rehabilitation center for the next five years. Then back at Walden, J.J. arrives, only to discover that Mike has planned out their weekend down to the very minute. Joanie returns from grocery shopping, and Mike attempts to mediate the tension between mother and daughter. This fails, and J.J. storms out. Meanwhile, at the campus radio station, Mark is interviewing Roland Hedley
, and the two campaign on the air to get Mark a job after graduation.
Back at Walden Commune, Mike is preparing dinner while Boopsie is exercising, Joanie is nursing Jeffrey, Zonker is building a beer-can pyramid, and B.D. is ranting about all of them. Mark returns from the radio station, and J.J. offers to help Mike with dinner. When the meal is served, the cast mocks Mike's cooking. As dinner concludes, Zonker attempts to renew the lease on the commune, but is turned down; someone else has already laid claim to the building. As Act One ends, it's discovered that Duke and Honey are having them evicted after graduation for his court-ordered drug rehabilitation center.
Act II
The following morning, the residents of Walden awake to find a bulldozer outside the house bulldozing the front yard and adjacent meadow. The cast, including Duke, threatening to force the residents to leave the house or get bulldozed, sing on the theme of whether or not Walden is "just a house." Joanie intervenes, telling Duke that her clients (the residents of Walden) will be seeking an injunction against his redevelopment of the house without rezoning permits, and threatens Duke with harassment charges. Duke exits, but soon resumes bulldozing. Mike leaves with Joanie to attempt legal action against Duke.
Boopsie and B.D. have a discussion about B.D.'s feelings, which is broken off when B.D. receives a message from Sid Kibbitz, his agent. B.D. is being traded to Tampa Bay from Dallas. B.D. leaves, Honey enters, and Honey and Boopsie sing about the complicated men in their lives (Duke and B.D., respectively). Outside, Zonker attempts to confront Duke, who lets his nephew in on his plan to use the "drug rehab facility" as a front to turn the land Walden sits on into a multi-million dollar condo
venture. The gullible Zonker agrees to help his uncle with the plan.
Mike and Joanie return to Walden, where J.J. has been taking care of Jeffrey. Mike runs off to get dressed for graduation, and Joanie and J.J. attempt reconciliation. Roland arrives with a crew to interview the new graduates, and informs Mark of a potential job offer at a radio station on Long Island, New York. Roland also discusses B.D.'s trade to Tampa Bay, both sing in praise of President Reagan's domestic policies, and introduce "Muffy and the Topsiders", a band made up of preppies (Boopsie, Mike, Mark and Zonker in different costumes).
Zonker reveals Duke's plan for condos to Mike and Mark, as Duke--his plans crushed after Joanie successfully obtains an injunction against him--succumbs to a massive amount of hallucinogens and crashes his bulldozer into their living room. Mike blurts out his proposal to J.J., who accepts.
At graduation, Mike and J.J. reveal their plans to Zonker to go off and be married, and Mark reveals his plans to go to New York, leaving Zonker as the only remaining resident of Walden. Roland covers the ceremony, in which full names of several of the characters are revealed.
Act II
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 and lyrics by Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...
and music by Elizabeth Swados
Elizabeth Swados
Elizabeth Swados is an American writer, composer, musician, and theatre director. While some of her subject matter is humorous, such as her satirical look at Ronald Reagan, Rap Master Ronnie, and Doonesbury - both collaborations with Garry Trudeau - much of her work deals with dark issues such as...
.
Based on Trudeau's comic strip of the same name
Doonesbury
Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...
, it focuses on that point in its history when the primary characters graduate from college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
and enter the workforce after more than a decade of being perpetual students and commune
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
-dwellers.
Trudeau took a nearly two-year sabbatical from writing the strip to develop the project.
After twenty 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 Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy was an American songwriter, theatre director, and clinical psychologist.Levy was born in New York City in 1935, and attended its City College. He received a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State University. Levy was a trained psychoanalyst, certified by the Menninger Institute...
and choreographed by Margo Sappington
Margo Sappington
Margo Sappington is an American choreographer and dancer born July 30, 1947 in Baytown, Texas. She was nominated in 1975 for both a Tony Award as Best Choreographer and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on the play Where's Charley?. In 1988, her ballet Virgin Forest was...
, opened on November 21, 1983 at the Biltmore Theatre
Biltmore Theatre
The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 261 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:...
, where it ran for 104 performances. The cast included Mark Linn-Baker
Mark Linn-Baker
Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.-Early life and career:...
as Mark Slackmeyer
Mark Slackmeyer
Mark Sheldon Slackmeyer is a character in the comic strip Doonesbury. Mark starts out as a radical at Walden College, and leads several peace rallies . The character was initially modeled after Mark Rudd, then in the news as a leader of Columbia University's student protests of 1968...
, Keith Szarabajka
Keith Szarabajka
Keith Szarabajka is an American actor and voice artist.-Early life:Szarabajka was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Anne, a school teacher, and Edward Szarabajka, a savings and loan officer....
as B.D., Gary Beach
Gary Beach
Gary Beach is an American actor, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Biography:Beach was born in Alexandria, Virginia and later went on to graduate from the North Carolina School of the Arts, the same school as Terrence Mann, his Beauty and the Beast costar.Beach and his partner, Jeffrey...
as Uncle Duke
Uncle Duke
Uncle Duke is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau.He is nominally Zonker Harris's uncle, albeit an "uncle by courtesy" only. Duke was originally a straightforward caricature of the late gonzo journalist Hunter S...
, Lauren Tom
Lauren Tom
Lauren Tom is an American actress and voice actress perhaps best known for her roles as Lena St Clair in The Joy Luck Club, Julie in the TV series Friends, and for providing the voices for both mother and daughter characters on two animated TV comedy series: on Futurama she voices Amy Wong and her...
as Honey Huan, Kate Burton
Kate Burton (actress)
-Personal life:Burton was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the daughter of producer Sybil Burton and actor Richard Burton . She was thus the stepdaughter of actress Elizabeth Taylor and of Sybil's second husband Jordan Christopher. In 1979, Burton earned a bachelor's degree in Russian studies and...
as J.J. Caucus, and Laura Dean as Boopsie.
An original cast recording was released by MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
, and a companion book including song lyrics and production photos was published in conjunction with the opening.
Synopsis
Act IThe musical's storyline opened the day before graduation at Walden College, with many of the characters (Mike Doonesbury
Mike Doonesbury
Michael James "Mike" Doonesbury is the main character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury. He started out as a nerdish freshman from Tulsa at the fictional Walden College, and shared a dorm room with B.D. Currently he is married to Kim Rosenthal, and divorced from J.J. Caucus. Mike's...
, B.D., Mark Slackmeyer
Mark Slackmeyer
Mark Sheldon Slackmeyer is a character in the comic strip Doonesbury. Mark starts out as a radical at Walden College, and leads several peace rallies . The character was initially modeled after Mark Rudd, then in the news as a leader of Columbia University's student protests of 1968...
, Zonker Harris
Zonker Harris
Zonker Harris is the stereotypical hippie character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury. He made his first appearance as a perennial pot-smoking pest plaguing B.D.'s football team in 1971...
, Boopsie) preparing for the day. B.D. has been drafted into professional football (later revealed to be the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
), Mike is preparing to propose to J.J., and Zonker has a flashback to his days as a pro suntanner. Meanwhile, Zonker's uncle Duke
Uncle Duke
Uncle Duke is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau.He is nominally Zonker Harris's uncle, albeit an "uncle by courtesy" only. Duke was originally a straightforward caricature of the late gonzo journalist Hunter S...
and his aide/henchman Honey are at Duke's federal trial for cocaine possession in Los Angeles County, California. Acting as his own counsel, an apparently stoned Duke gives an impassioned defense in which he claims that his efforts to deal cocaine to undercover FBI agents in a STING operation was only indicative of his "caring too much."
The action returns to Walden, where Mike is on the phone with J.J., upset that Mike has invited her mother, Joanie
Joanie Caucus
Joanie Caucus is a character in Garry Trudeau's comics strip Doonesbury.She first appeared in September 1972 in which she has a fight with her husband, Clinton, over her rights as a woman. She finds that her recently acquired feminist beliefs clash with his idea of how a wife should behave, and she...
, who arrives with her infant son from her second marriage, Jeffrey. Boopsie and the cast discuss her plans to become a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, intending on following B.D. to Dallas. Mark reveals Mike's plan to propose to J.J. to Zonker and Joanie.
Back at the courthouse, Duke is found guilty and sentenced to probation, and required by the court to open and manage a drug rehabilitation center for the next five years. Then back at Walden, J.J. arrives, only to discover that Mike has planned out their weekend down to the very minute. Joanie returns from grocery shopping, and Mike attempts to mediate the tension between mother and daughter. This fails, and J.J. storms out. Meanwhile, at the campus radio station, Mark is interviewing Roland Hedley
Roland Hedley
Roland Burton Hedley, III is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau, inspired by the on-air style of the veteran US reporter Sam Donaldson....
, and the two campaign on the air to get Mark a job after graduation.
Back at Walden Commune, Mike is preparing dinner while Boopsie is exercising, Joanie is nursing Jeffrey, Zonker is building a beer-can pyramid, and B.D. is ranting about all of them. Mark returns from the radio station, and J.J. offers to help Mike with dinner. When the meal is served, the cast mocks Mike's cooking. As dinner concludes, Zonker attempts to renew the lease on the commune, but is turned down; someone else has already laid claim to the building. As Act One ends, it's discovered that Duke and Honey are having them evicted after graduation for his court-ordered drug rehabilitation center.
Act II
The following morning, the residents of Walden awake to find a bulldozer outside the house bulldozing the front yard and adjacent meadow. The cast, including Duke, threatening to force the residents to leave the house or get bulldozed, sing on the theme of whether or not Walden is "just a house." Joanie intervenes, telling Duke that her clients (the residents of Walden) will be seeking an injunction against his redevelopment of the house without rezoning permits, and threatens Duke with harassment charges. Duke exits, but soon resumes bulldozing. Mike leaves with Joanie to attempt legal action against Duke.
Boopsie and B.D. have a discussion about B.D.'s feelings, which is broken off when B.D. receives a message from Sid Kibbitz, his agent. B.D. is being traded to Tampa Bay from Dallas. B.D. leaves, Honey enters, and Honey and Boopsie sing about the complicated men in their lives (Duke and B.D., respectively). Outside, Zonker attempts to confront Duke, who lets his nephew in on his plan to use the "drug rehab facility" as a front to turn the land Walden sits on into a multi-million dollar condo
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
venture. The gullible Zonker agrees to help his uncle with the plan.
Mike and Joanie return to Walden, where J.J. has been taking care of Jeffrey. Mike runs off to get dressed for graduation, and Joanie and J.J. attempt reconciliation. Roland arrives with a crew to interview the new graduates, and informs Mark of a potential job offer at a radio station on Long Island, New York. Roland also discusses B.D.'s trade to Tampa Bay, both sing in praise of President Reagan's domestic policies, and introduce "Muffy and the Topsiders", a band made up of preppies (Boopsie, Mike, Mark and Zonker in different costumes).
Zonker reveals Duke's plan for condos to Mike and Mark, as Duke--his plans crushed after Joanie successfully obtains an injunction against him--succumbs to a massive amount of hallucinogens and crashes his bulldozer into their living room. Mike blurts out his proposal to J.J., who accepts.
At graduation, Mike and J.J. reveal their plans to Zonker to go off and be married, and Mark reveals his plans to go to New York, leaving Zonker as the only remaining resident of Walden. Roland covers the ceremony, in which full names of several of the characters are revealed.
Song list
Act I- Graduation
- Just One Night
- I Came To Tan
- Guilty
- I Can Have It All
- Get Together
- Baby Boom Boogie Boy
- Another Memorable Meal
Act II
- Just A House
- Complicated Man
- Real Estate
- Mother
- It's The Right Time To Be Rich
- Muffy & The Topsiders
- Just One Night (Reprise)
- Graduation (Reprise)
Awards and nominations
- Theatre World AwardTheatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
(Dean, winner) - Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Book (nominee) - Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics (nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Dean, nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (nominee)