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These two brief stories are true. Walking down West 43rd Street last week, I saw a teenage boy and a teenage girl holding hands, swinging them back and forth, and loudly singing with great joy. Their song of choice was “I’d Do Anything” from OLIVER! Seven minutes later – and yes, I did check my watch to verify that so little time had passed – I […]

There have been knock-knock jokes, practical jokes and light-bulb jokes. But 60 years ago, the joke that was sweeping the country was the Tom Swifty. Never heard of it? Let your youth be your consolation. According to Wikipedia, “Tom Swiftys are named after the Tom Swift American adventure novels. The various authors would always describe […]

What does Chita Rivera not have in common with Jean Hersholt, Isabelle Stevenson and Irving G. Thalberg? She didn’t have to die to get an award named for her. Next week, choreographers and dancers will receive Chita Rivera Awards at the Skirball Center. It’ll be one of the two most notable events the legend will […]

What started out as a musical variation on HEE-HAW has had the last laugh. SHUCKED was originally inspired by that erstwhile TV series that’s been rarely off the air since its 1969 debut. Although it had clocked more than 350 episodes, in all that time, it was able to receive one and only one Emmy […]

Wait a minute! Where’s “Johanna”?!? Those who attend the current Broadway revival of SWEENEY TODD and are familiar with the score will miss one of the three songs that happen to have the same name. For those who don’t know Stephen Sondheim’s Tony-winning score for the Tony-winning musical, we don’t mean that there’s one song […]