Saturday, April 16, 2011

Baby Its You on Broadway is a Winner

Karen, Lee and I go to Broadway shows a few times a year on special occasions.  Karen and I have birthdays on April 22 and 21 respectively so every April we hit the Great White Way.  We have seen many so called jukebox musicals over the years and have enjoyed them very much.  Many of them like The Times They are a Changin', Ring of Fire and All Shook Up did not fare well on Broadway.  Whenever we see a new musical that covers the oldies era we usually hurry to get tickets since we are afraid the show will close shortly after its opening.  We missed Good Vibrations which of course was about the Beach Boys.  Previews for Baby Its You begain March 26 while the official opening is April 27.

The show tells the story of how Florence Greenberg, a New Jersey housewife, met the Shirelles through her daughter and guided them through the career from 1958-1965.  Obviously the show featured the music of that era which is rarely heard these days on terrestrial radio.  I can hear them on SiriusXM's 50s on 5 channel and on Cousin Brucie's show.  This show is another Jersey Boys and will be a winner.  The directors of the show do a good job of integrating the songs with the story line of the show.  My radio friends will appreciate that Jocko Henderson was featured in the show.  Cousin Brucie was mentioned once.

The following statement was made in the Playbill - "Although this play is inspired by actual events, xome material has been fictionalized for dramatic purposes."  One of the story lines is a romantic relationship between Florence Greenberg and songwriter/producer Luther Dixon.  I wonder if that was exaggerated in the show.

I highly highly recommend this show to my readers.  I predict it will last as long as Jersey Boys.  I would also like to refer my readers to a New York Times obituary of Florence Greenberg.

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