On the Town

The time is 1944, the “Town” is New York City, and the three sailors who are “On” it are Gabey (John Reardon), Chip (Cris Alexander), and Ozzie (Adolph Green – also one of the writers for this show) on twenty-four hour shore leave. They are determined to pack as much fun as they can into the time they have ("New York, New York"). Chip is excited to see all the sights (in spite of his seriously outdated guidebook), Ozzie plans to meet a lot of girls and do some partying, but the more serious Gabey hopes to find one special girl.

On their way into a subway station, Gabey spots a poster of this month’s “Miss Turnstiles” and figures that this is that special girl. His mission for all three sailors: find her! The billboard model’s name is Ivy Smith and she is one of two and a half million women in New York. When Gabey steals the poster off the wall, a policeman chases them and the buddies fan out separately across the city.

Gabey heads for Carnegie Hall where Ivy takes singing lessons, Ozzie heads for the Museum of Modern Art where she studies painting, and Chip thinks he’ll find her through the subway’s advertising department, which created the poster.

Chip takes a cab driven by the aggressively amorous Brunnhilde “Hildy” Esterhazy (Nancy Walker), who completely distracts him from his task ("Come Up to My Place"). Ozzie winds up in the wrong museum, where he encounters the engaging – and engaged – anthropology graduate student Claire DeLoone (Betty Comden – also one of the writers for this show). Though she appreciates him clinically as the quintessential “primitive man,” Ozzie gets completely "Carried Away" and knocks over a reconstructed dinosaur.

But for Gabey it's a "Lonely Town" – until by good luck he actually finds Ivy at "Carnegie Hall," standing on her head waiting for Madame Dilly, her singing teacher, who has made a quick run to the store to buy Scotch. Gabey and Ivy make a date to meet that night in Times Square.

Ozzie and Chip find themselves in their respective girls’ New York apartments. Claire’s is beautifully top-drawer, but the couple is unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of Claire’s clueless fiancé, Judge Pitkin W. Bridgework (George Gaynes). Hildy’s (where she boasts, “I Can Cook, Too”) is more modest and she has a roommate, Lucy.

Gabey goes at the appointed time to meet Ivy in Times Square (“Lucky to Be Me”), but she never shows up. On her way to meet him she has been diverted by the disapproving Madame Dilly: Ivy is supposed to be working as a hooch dancer at Coney Island, not wasting her time with a footloose sailor.

So the three sailors are short one girl. Hildy calls her roommate Lucy to join them at Diamond Eddie’s, but Lucy gets the address wrong and doesn’t show. However, they do run into Pitkin W. Bridgework, who they stick with the bill at Diamond Eddie’s while they dash off to the Congacabana. The Congacabana is too dead, so they split for the Slam-Bang just as Pitkin arrives at the Congacabana in time to pay their bill (Night Club Sequence). Pitkin will wait for Lucy there and join them later at the Slam-Bang.

The Slam-Bang is a fun place, but the group doesn't stay long. Gabey recognizes Madame Dilly at a nearby table, who tells him that Ivy is working as a hooch dancer at Coney Island. Gabey dashes out of the club and his four friends race after him, passing Lucy and Pitkin as they arrive at the Slam-Bang.

Finally, Gabey finds Ivy on Coney Island. His four friends are hot on his heels, but before the six can decide where to go, they are surrounded by everyone they have encountered in the past twenty hours and get arrested. Pitkin has wised up ("I Understand") and won’t use his influence to keep the group out of jail. At dawn’s early light the three sailors are escorted back to their ship by the police and they head off to war (“Some Other Time”). A new ship docks and a new crew of sailors looks forward to a twenty-four hour shore leave.

– LEC