The 2005 Shakespeare in the Park production was so much fun and had such a starry (well...NYC Starry) cast and was so well received that I was surprised that it didn't transfer to Broadway.
Never having seen a production before, I got why this joyous show with an infectious score, arguably better than the team's better known score for HAIR, beat out FOLLIES for Best Musical. Brilliant as FOLLIES is, audiences/voters at the time did not want a dark rumination on the past and the roads we didn't take tinged with bitterness and nervous breakdowns. They wanted fun (and possibly a boppy anti-Vietnam War message to boot). |
