Applause (musical)

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Applause is a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Lauren Bacall won the Tony for Best Leading Lady.

Based on the screenplay for the classic Bette Davis film All About Eve and the original story by Mary Orr upon which the movie was based, the plot retains the Broadway theatre background of the original but changes the characters to musical performers rather than dramatic actors. At its center is veteran actress Margo Channing, who innocently takes a fledgling actress under her wings, unaware that the ruthless Eve is plotting to steal her career and her man.

After four previews, the Broadway production opened on March 30 1970 at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 896 performances. Directed and choreographed by Ron Field, the original cast included Lauren Bacall, Len Cariou, Penny Fuller, Bonnie Franklin, Lee Roy Reams, Robert Mandan, Brandon Maggart, Ann Williams, and Nicholas Dante. Anne Baxter, who had portrayed Eve in the original film, replaced Bacall as Margo Channing when she departed the cast later in the run. Bacall won a Tony Award.

The musical was later adapted for television, starring Bacall and Larry Hagman replacing Len Cariou in the role of Bill Sampson. It aired in the United States on CBS on March 19th 1973. It has not been released commercially, but snippets of it have recently shown up on YouTube.com

City Center's Encores! presented a new production of Applause on February 7 to 10, 2008 directed by Kathleen Marshall and starring Christine Ebersole, Michael Park, Erin Davie, Megan Sikora, Mario Cantone, Tom Hewitt, Chip Zien, and Kate Burton.

Song list

Act I

• Backstage Babble
• Think How It's Gonna Be
• But Alive
• The Best Night of My Life
• Who's That Girl?
• Applause
• Hurry Back
• Fasten Your Seat Belts
• Welcome to the Theatre

Act II

• Inner Thoughts
• Good Friends
• The Best Night of My Life
• She's No Longer a Gypsy
• One of a Kind
• One Hallowe'en
• Something Greater
• Finale

Awards and nominations

• Tony Award for Best Musical (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Choreography (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Cariou, nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Maggart, nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Franklin and Fuller, nominees)
• Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Costume Design (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Lighting Design (nominee)
• Theatre World Award (Cariou and Franklin, winners)
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance (Bacall, winner)
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Director (winner)
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Choreography (winner)

External links

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Last updated on Thursday July 17, 2008 at 19:00:36 PDT (GMT -0700)
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