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''A Broadway Musical'' is a musical with a book by William F. Brown, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. The Broadway production closed after 14 previews and only one performance on December 21, 1978. The plot about a sleazy white theatre producer's attempt to adapt an African-American writer's serious play for a commercial stage musical was inspired by Adams and Strouse's real-life experiences with their 1964 Broadway production of ''Golden Boy''. The star of the musical-within-the-musical (''Sneakers'', about a basketball star) closely resembles ''Golden Boy'' star Sammy Davis, Jr. When the star opts to leave the show, the playwright - who from the start had resisted turning his work into a musical - steps in and takes on the lead role in order to save the production. ==Background and production== The creators hoped that the backstage story about the making of a musical would cash in on the success of ''A Chorus Line'' as well as the popularity of the black-themed musical, including Brown's own ''The Wiz'', which was still running at the time. But Brown's much-criticized book is a clichéd spoof of show business lawyers, idealistic young playwrights, glitzy Las Vegas performers, blue-haired matinée ladies, and the black-themed musical itself. ''The Wiz'' proved to be Brown's only success.〔Gilvey, John Anthony. ''Before the Parade Passes by: Gower Champion and the Glorious American Musical''. (2005) St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-33776-0〕 Following a dismal October–November tryout with Helen Gallagher and Julius LaRosa at the theatre in the Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, the producers fired most of the cast and creative personnel, including director/choreographer George Faison.〔Mandelbaum, page 138〕 Gower Champion was called in to rescue the Broadway-bound production with only a month to go, but he feared that the show's defects were too serious to remedy and insisted on receiving a "Production supervised by" credit only.〔 After 14 previews, the Broadway production opened and closed the same night at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on December 21, 1978. It lost $1 million.〔(Information about casts and songs in both productions and the show's loss ) 〕 The cast included Patti Karr (replacing Gallagher), Alan Weeks, Larry Marshall, Warren Berlinger (replacing LaRosa), Loretta Devine, Jackée Harry, and Tiger Haynes. A cast album was recorded before an audience during a live performance in December 1978.〔(Cast recording )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「A Broadway Musical」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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