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Tenderloin (musical)
Encyclopedia
Tenderloin is a musical
with a book by George Abbott
and Jerome Weidman
, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
, and music by Jerry Bock
, their follow-up to the highly successful Pulitzer Prize
-winning Fiorello!
a year earlier. The musical is based on a 1959 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams
. Set in the Tenderloin
, a red-light district
in 1890s Manhattan
, the show's story focuses on Reverend Brock, a character loosely based on American
clergyman and social reformer
Charles Henry Parkhurst
.
After six previews, the Broadway
production, directed by Abbott and choreographed by Joe Layton
, opened on October 17, 1960 at the 46th Street Theatre
, where it ran for 216 performances. The cast included Maurice Evans
(better known as a Shakespearean actor than a musical performer) as Reverend Brock and Ron Husmann
as Tommy.
Tony Award
nominations went to Evans for Best Actor in a Musical, Husmann for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and Cecil Beaton
for his costume design, and Husmann won the Theatre World Award
for his performance.
An original cast recording was released by Angel Records
, and Bobby Darin
's recording of "Artificial Flowers" reached #20 on the Billboard charts
http://www.bobbydarin.net/billboardhits.html.
In March 2000, the show was directed by Walter Bobbie
and choreographed by Rob Ashford
as part of New York City Center
's Encores!
series http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?html_title=&tols_title=TENDERLOIN%20(PLAY)&pdate=20000325&byline=By%20BRUCE%20WEBER&id=1077011431682. The cast included David Ogden Stiers
as Brock and Patrick Wilson
as Tommy. A concert cast recording was released by DRG Records.
who work the streets there. Tommy Howatt, a writer for the local scandal sheet
Tatler, infiltrates the minister's church and proceeds to play one side against the other, eventually framing Brock by revealing to the authorities his plan to raid the brothel
s, but ultimately saving him by siding with him at his trial. As a result, the Tenderloin is shut down and Brock, asked to resign from his church, heads for Detroit with the hope of succeeding there as well.
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 by George Abbott
George Abbott
George Francis Abbott was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than nine decades.-Early years:...
and Jerome Weidman
Jerome Weidman
Jerome Weidman was an American playwright and novelist. He collaborated with George Abbott on the book for the musical Fiorello! with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick...
, lyrics by 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 music by 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...
, their follow-up to the highly successful Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning Fiorello!
Fiorello!
Fiorello! is a musical about New York City mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, a reform Republican who took on Tammany Hall. The book is by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott, drawn substantially from the 1955 volume Life With Fiorello by Ernest Cuneo, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock...
a year earlier. The musical is based on a 1959 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Samuel Hopkins Adams
Samuel Hopkins Adams was an American writer, best known for his investigative journalism.-Biography:Adams was born in Dunkirk, New York...
. Set in the Tenderloin
Tenderloin, Manhattan
The Tenderloin was an entertainment and red-light district in the heart of the New York City borough of Manhattan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
, a red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
in 1890s Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, the show's story focuses on Reverend Brock, a character loosely based on American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
clergyman and social reformer
Reform movement
A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes...
Charles Henry Parkhurst
Charles Henry Parkhurst
Charles Henry Parkhurst was an American clergyman and social reformer, born in Framingham, Massachusetts. Although scholarly and reserved, he preached two sermons in 1892 in which he attacked the political corruption of New York City government...
.
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 Abbott and choreographed by Joe Layton
Joe Layton
Joe Layton was an American director and choreographer known primarily for his work on Broadway.-Biography:Born Joseph Lichtman in Brooklyn, New York, Layton began his career as a dancer in Wonderful Town , and he appeared uncredited in the ensemble of the original live TV production of Rodgers and...
, opened on October 17, 1960 at the 46th Street Theatre
Richard Rodgers Theatre
The Richard Rodgers Theatre, is a Broadway theater in New York City, built by Irwin Chanin in 1925. When it was first opened, it was called Chanin's 46th Street Theatre. Chanin almost immediately leased it to the Shuberts, who bought the building outright in 1931 and renamed it the 46th Street...
, where it ran for 216 performances. The cast included Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
(better known as a Shakespearean actor than a musical performer) as Reverend Brock and Ron Husmann
Ron Husmann
Ron Husmann is an American actor.Born in Rockford, Illinois, Husmann graduated from Northwestern University in 1959, and made his Broadway debut in Fiorello! later that year. In 1960 he was cast in Tenderloin, garnering a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and winning the...
as Tommy.
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...
nominations went to Evans for Best Actor in a Musical, Husmann for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...
for his costume design, and Husmann won the Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The 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:...
for his performance.
An original cast recording was released by Angel Records
Angel Records
Angel Records is a record label belonging to EMI. It was formed in 1953 and specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score...
, and Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
's recording of "Artificial Flowers" reached #20 on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
http://www.bobbydarin.net/billboardhits.html.
In March 2000, the show was directed by Walter Bobbie
Walter Bobbie
Walter Bobbie is an American theatre director, choreographer, and occasional actor and dancer. Bobbie has directed both musicals and plays on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and was the Artistic Director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series...
and choreographed by Rob Ashford
Rob Ashford
Rob Ashford is an American choreographer and director. He is a seven-time Tony Award nominee , five-time Olivier Award nominee, Emmy Award winner, Drama Desk winner, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner.-Biography:...
as part of New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
's Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
series http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?html_title=&tols_title=TENDERLOIN%20(PLAY)&pdate=20000325&byline=By%20BRUCE%20WEBER&id=1077011431682. The cast included David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
as Brock and Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson (actor)
Patrick Joseph Wilson is an American actor and singer. Wilson has spent years singing lead roles in major Broadway musicals, beginning in 1996. In 2003, he appeared in the HBO mini-series Angels in America...
as Tommy. A concert cast recording was released by DRG Records.
Synopsis
Reverend Brock, a single-minded 1890s social reformer works to sanitize the Tenderloin, a red-light neighborhood in western Manhattan. He is foiled by everyone associated with the district, including the corrupt politicians and police who are taking their cut from the earnings of the prostitutesProstitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
who work the streets there. Tommy Howatt, a writer for the local scandal sheet
Scandal Sheet
Scandal Sheet is a black-and-white film noir directed by Phil Karlson. The film is based on the novel The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, who himself was a newspaper reporter before his career in film...
Tatler, infiltrates the minister's church and proceeds to play one side against the other, eventually framing Brock by revealing to the authorities his plan to raid the brothel
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...
s, but ultimately saving him by siding with him at his trial. As a result, the Tenderloin is shut down and Brock, asked to resign from his church, heads for Detroit with the hope of succeeding there as well.
Songs
Act I- Bless This Land - Chorus
- Little Old New York - Nita, Gertie, Girls, All
- Dr. Brock - Brock
- Artificial Flowers - Tommy, Jessica, All
- What's in it for You? - Tommy, Brock
- Reform - Girls
- Tommy, Tommy - Laura
- The Picture of Happiness - Tommy, Margie, Chorus
- My Miss Mary - Company
- Dear Friend - Brock, Group
- The Army of The Just - Martin, Tommy, Brock, Men
- How the Money Changes Hands - Company
Act II
- Good Clean Fun - Brock, Chorus
- My Miss Mary
- My Gentle Young Johnny - Nita
- The Trial -Company
- The Tenderloin Celebration
- Reform (Reprise)
- Tommy, Tommy (Reprise)
- Little Old New York (Reprise) -Company
Characters
- Reverend Brock - an idealistic old preacher
- Tommy Howatt - An ambitious young reporter
- Laura Crosbie - a society girl who falls for Tommy
- Ellington Dupont Smythe II - Laura’s elegant young suitor
- Purdy - Laura’s wealthy uncle
- Bridget - Purdy’s maid
- Frye - a detective
- Gertie - a vivacious young prostitute
- Joe Kovack - a farmer who discovered coal on his land
- Nita - escapes prostitution when she falls in love with Joe
- Margie - One of the girls Tommy shares an act with
- Jessica Havemeyer - clerk at the church Parish House
- Martin - a prudish church choirmaster
- Mrs. Barker -a church lady and friend of Rev. Brock
- Chairman - officiates over the trial of the Tenderloin
- Deacon - an old man who Tommy hires to take pictures
- Rooney - a police officer
- Sergeant - collects the money all the derelicts give the police
- Schmidt - a corrupt police lieutenant
- Derelicts; Prostitutes at Clark’s tavern (Pearl, Maggie, Nellie, Liz)