Got tu Have a Primer to Get '[title of show]' By ERIK PIEPENBURG

August 24, 2008
Theater
Got tu Have a Primer to Get '[title of show]' By ERIK PIEPENBURG

Correction Appended

WHEN Tom Stoppard's mammoth trilogy "The Coast of Utopia" played at Lincoln Center Theater in 2006, it was the snob hit of the year. Like many of Mr. Stoppard's plays it required of the viewer substantial intellectual agility; a certain fluency in Russian history, literature and philosophy helped, too. So to aid in understanding the rush of names being thrown around by Mr. Stoppard's historical characters, many sought out "Russian Thinkers," the 1978 collection of essays by Isaiah Berlin, which became so popular during the trilogy's early run that it virtually disappeared from the city's bookstores.

The idiosyncratic, meta-minded musical "[title of show]" may not match "The Coast of Utopia" as a snob hit. But the show, which opened on Broadway last month at the Lyceum Theater, has its own rich lexicon of insider jokes and obscure references — about musical theater lore instead of the 19th-century Russian intelligentsia. Where Mr. Stoppard tossed around names like Turgenev, Herzen and Belinsky, the creators and two of the co-stars of "[title of show]" — Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen — ask of their audiences a familiarity with flopsicals, Broadway gypsies and Gen X miscellany. Mamie Duncan-Gibbs? "Got tu Go Disco"? Shields and Yarnell? Anyone?

To ensure that no reference goes unappreciated, Mr. Bell and Mr. Bowen agreed to sit down and do for "[title of show]" what Isaiah Berlin's book did for "Utopia": create a cheat sheet for audiences not quite so in the know, explaining some of the names and shows that crop up during the musical. A home video of the young Hunter Bell performing a short play called "A Puzzling Obsession" in a relative's basement about 1981 can be found at left, along with links to the original reviews in The New York Times of the shows mentioned. ERIK PIEPENBURG

The People

MARY STOUT

A steadily employed actress who has done dinner theater, Disney voice-overs and practically everything else theatrical; Broadway credits include "Jane Eyre," "Beauty and the Beast" and "My Favorite Year."

Hunter Bell: "I think of her as the consummate Broadway character actress. She came onto the radar because, unfortunately, she was struck by a hot dog cart in the city. ... She was there on our opening night. She's an awesome talent. I like that she's game to be in the show."

DEE HOTY

Starred in the 1994 Broadway flop "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public" (the sequel to "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"), which ran for 16 performances. Received a Tony Award nomination for her performance, as well as nominations for her performances in "The Will Rogers Follies" (1991) and "Footloose" (1999).

Mr. Bell: This is an example of "when amazing performances are in shows that may not last very long; Dee Hoty is a rock star."

DINAH MANOFF

Lee Grant's daughter; won a 1980 Tony Award for best featured actress for her performance in Neil Simon's play "I Ought to Be in Pictures." Also played Marty Maraschino in the film version of "Grease" and on television played the roles of Elaine Lefkowitz-Dallas on "Soap" and Carol Weston on "Empty Nest."

ROMA TORRE

News anchor and theater critic on NY1 News, New York City's 24-hour local news channel.

Jeff Bowen: "My character's ambitions are all the way from being in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a big Broadway thing, to meeting Roma Torre, a really specific thing that only Broadway people would get to do. It means something to the character."

MAMIE DUNCAN-GIBBS

Broadway gypsy who has worked with Liza Minnelli in "Steppin' Out at Radio City Music Hall" and Gregory Hines in "Jelly's Last Jam"; Broadway credits include "Kiss Me, Kate," "Chicago" and "Cats." Also works as the executive and artistic director of Youth Theater Interactions, an after-school performing arts group in Westchester County.

Mr. Bell: "That one is kind of intentionally obscure. In the scene, these guys are flying over New York, and they see the Naked Cowboy, Red Lobster, everything that everyone knows. Then Hunter gets excited because he sees Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, and Jeff calls him out on it. But she is beautiful, sassy and super talented."

Mr. Bowen: "If you're going to pick one gypsy that probably everybody on Broadway has either worked with or knows or has respect for, grab Mamie Duncan-Gibbs."

SHIELDS AND YARNELL

Mime/comedy duo best known for their television appearances in the late 1970s; hosted their own television variety show on CBS in 1977. Starred in the Broadway flop "Broadway Follies," which opened and closed on March 15, 1981.

Mr. Bell: "If they went into a pitch meeting at CBS and were like, 'We're two mimes and we do a seven-minute piece in the Oval Office about pouring coffee for the president,' I can't imagine CBS would be like, 'Get the contract out.' Yet they had variety specials, they were on 'The Muppet Show' and on 'The Carol Burnett Show.' [Pause] They were mimes, for god's sake. ...They affected our world. A Shields and Yarnell variety show? That shouldn't happen at all. '[title of show]' shouldn't happen at all, yet here we are."

The Shows

"BAGELS AND YOX" (1951)

Synopsis: A Yiddish-flavored music, comedy and dance revue.

Fact: Ran for more performances than the Broadway revival of "Oklahoma!" the same year.

Times review: " 'Bagels and Yox' maintains an even level of noisy mediocrity."

Number of performances: 208

Mr. Bowen: "It was one of those borscht belt humor revues that were big in the '50s, kind of vaudeville style. 'Borscht Capades' was another one that was around at the time."

"KWAMINA" (1961)

Synopsis: A white American doctor falls in love with a black tribal leader in Africa.

Fact: Richard Adler ("Damn Yankees") wrote the music and lyrics, and Agnes de Mille created the choreography.

Times review: "There is a fiery theatricalism in the deployment of this company made up largely of Negroes."

Number of performances: 32

Mr. Bowen: "It was a biracial coupling, happening in the mid-'60s, which was pretty risqué. 'No Strings' was happening at the same time, but that was a black woman and a white man. I read a lot about those shows and how at the time it was somehow more acceptable for a white man to be with a black woman than it was for a white woman to be with a black man. Not that that's any reason why the show may have closed or not. It has a beautiful score."

"HENRY, SWEET HENRY" (1967)

Synopsis: Two wealthy teenage girls stalk a philandering composer; based on the book and film adaptation of "The World of Henry Orient."

Fact: Bob Merrill ("Carnival!") wrote the music and lyrics, and Michael Bennett was the choreographer.

Times review: "For Mr. Merrill to write a musical like this is tantamount to Karlheinz Stockhausen's trying to compose in the style of Mendelssohn."

Number of performances: 80

Mr. Bowen: "For a lot of people who became big in the '70s, it was their gypsy show of the late '60s."

"GOT TU GO DISCO" (1979)

Synopsis: "It was about disco and having to go do that," Mr. Bowen said. "That's about it."

Fact: Irene Cara made her last Broadway appearance in this show, one year before skyrocketing to "Fame."

Times review: "The dancing, the music and the performances ... may well recreate what is to be found in discos. But that is just the trouble."

Number of performances: 8

Mr. Bowen: "The story I remember is that they couldn't afford to pay to load the set out, so it sat at the Minskoff Theater for a very long time. And I want to say the marquee was up for a really long time. It has a really great logo, like a messy paint thing that's really active. I love that about it."

"RUTHLESS!" (1992)

Synopsis: Spoof about a little girl hellbent on becoming a star.

Fact: The original Off Broadway cast featured Laura Bundy (now Laura Bell Bundy, formerly of "Legally Blonde: The Musical") and, as understudies, Britney Spears and Natalie Portman.

Times review: A "campy musical farce that will do almost anything for a laugh."

Number of performances: 342

Mr. Bell: "I never saw it, but I fully have an opinion about it."

Correction: August 31, 2008
An article last Sunday about Broadway trivia that is referenced in the musical "[title of show]" referred incorrectly to Pia Zadora's appearance in "Henry, Sweet Henry" (1967). It was her third role on Broadway, not her first. (She made her Broadway debut in the short-lived 1961 run of "Midgie Purvis.")

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/theater/24intropiepenburg.html?sq=Got%20tu%20have%20a%20primer&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print

http://snipurl.com/7sju4