Good News 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 Laurence Schwab and B.G. DeSylva, lyrics by DeSylva and Lew Brown

Lew Brown

Lew Brown was a lyricist for popular songs in the United States.Brown was born as Louis Brownstein in Odessa, Russian Empire...

, and music by Ray Henderson

Ray Henderson

Ray Henderson , was an American songwriter.Born Raymond Brost in Buffalo, New York, Henderson moved to New York City and became a popular composer in Tin Pan Alley...

.

The show opened on Broadway in 1927, the same year as Show Boat

Show Boat

Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...

, but its plot was decidedly old-fashioned in comparison to Show Boats somewhat tragic and (for the time) daring storyline involving gambling, desertion, and miscegenation

Miscegenation

Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....

. Good News spawned two films and a Broadway revival and still is performed occasionally.