Foxy 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 Ian McLellan Hunter

Ian McLellan Hunter

Ian McLellan Hunter was an English screenwriter, most noted for fronting for the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo as the credited writer of Roman Holiday in 1953. Hunter was himself later blacklisted.-Roman Holiday:...

 and Ring Lardner, Jr., lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Johnny Mercer

John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...

, and music by Robert Emmett Dolan.

Based on Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson

Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...

's Volpone

Volpone

Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...

, it transports the original play's setting of early-17th century Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 to the Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

 during the gold rush of 1898

Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...

. When prospector

Prospecting

Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...

 Jim Fox confides in buddies Bedrock, Shortcut, and Buzzard that he's discovered a mother lode

Mother Lode

Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of veins of gold or silver ore. The term probably came from a literal translation of the Spanish veta madre, a term common in old Mexican mining...

 in the Klondike River

Klondike River

The Klondike River is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada that gave its name to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Klondike River has its source in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at Dawson City....

, they set off to claim it as their own. Foxy and con man

Confidence trick

A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...

 Doc Mosk join forces to swindle the greedy trio out of their stolen wealth. The two arrive in the Yukon with an enormous chest they claim is filled with gold and announce that Foxy is dying and looking to name an heir. As expected, the three begin to cater to their pal's every whim in the hope they'll be selected.

Subplots focus on Doc's affair with local madam

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

 Brandy; destitute Celia, who decides to sell herself to the highest bidder; and Bedrock's son Ben, who returns from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 in time to save Celia and become involved in Foxy's shenanigans.

Foxy was tailored specifically for the talents of Bert Lahr

Bert Lahr

Bert Lahr was an American actor and comedian. Lahr is remembered today for his roles as the Cowardly Lion and Kansas farmworker Zeke in The Wizard of Oz, but was also well-known for work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.-Early life:Lahr was born in New York City, of German-Jewish heritage...

, although his tendency to ad lib and insert slapstick

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 antics into the proceedings were stifled by the creative team, a mistake given there wasn't much humor to be found within the dialogue. The tryout was scheduled not for venues in more traditional cities like Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 or Boston but the practically unreachable Palace Grand Theatre in Dawson City

Dawson City, Yukon

The Town of the City of Dawson or Dawson City is a town in the Yukon, Canada.The population was 1,327 at the 2006 census. The area draws some 60,000 visitors each year...

. Co-produced by the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 government, which was anxious to promote tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 to the remote area, it ran for seven weeks in the summer of 1962, usually to a practically empty house, and its producers lost their $400,000 investment.

Lahr returned to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and signed for S. J. Perelman

S. J. Perelman

Sidney Joseph Perelman, almost always known as S. J. Perelman , was an American humorist, author, and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for The New Yorker...

's The Beauty Part, and Foxy was abandoned. In late 1963 producer David Merrick

David Merrick

David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...

 decided to revive it. The book was revamped and seven new songs were added to the score.

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 Robert Lewis and choreographed

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 by Jack Cole

Jack Cole (choreographer)

Jack Cole was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as the father of theatrical jazz dance.-Early life:...

, opened on February 16, 1964 at the Ziegfeld Theatre, where it ran for 72 performances. In addition to Lahr, the cast included Larry Blyden

Larry Blyden

Larry Blyden was an American actor and game show host, best known for his appearances on Broadway and as the host of the game show What's My Line?-Personal life:...

 as Doc, Robert H. Harris

Robert H. Harris

Robert H. Harris was an American character actor born in New York City, New York.-Career:...

 as Bedrock, Gerald Hiken as Shortcut, Edward Greenhalgh as Buzzard, Cathryn Damon

Cathryn Damon

Cathryn Lee Damon was an American actress, best known for her roles on television sitcoms in the 1970s and 1980s....

 as Brandy, Julienne Marie as Celia, and Will Parkins as Ben.

Foxys failure was due less to critical reaction, which for the most part was favorable, and more to Merrick's lack of interest in the project. His Hello, Dolly!

Hello, Dolly! (musical)

Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....

 had opened the month before, and he was too involved with its immediate success to devote any time or money to promoting the lesser effort. Additionally, the Ziegfeld was off the beaten Broadway track, losing walk-in business to venues more centrally located in the theatre district.

Lahr won the 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 Actor in a Musical, and Marie was nominated as Best Featured Actress in a Musical. RCA Victor, which had acquired the cast album rights, opted not to release an original cast recording.

Song list

Act I

• Prologue
• Many Ways to Skin a Cat
• Rollin' in Gold
• My Weight in Gold
• Money Isn't Everything
• Larceny and Love
• Ebenezer McAfee III
• Talk to Me, Baby
• This Is My Night to Howl
• Bon Vivant

Act II

• It's Easy When You Know How
• Run, Run, Run Cinderella
• Talk to Me, Baby (Reprise)
• I'm Way Ahead of the Game
• A Case of Rape
• In Loving Memory