9 /10 1 Votes
First performance 8 October 1979 | 9/10 AllMusic Orchestrator Dick Hyman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lyrics Dorothy Fields
Al Dubin
various Book Ralph G. Allen
Harry Rigby Productions 1979 Broadway
1987 Australia
1988 West End Playwrights Ralph G. Allen, Harry Rigby Lyricists Dorothy Fields, Al Dubin, Artie Malvin Composers Jimmy McHugh, Artie Malvin Similar Jimmy McHugh plays, Musicals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vlog 11 sugar babies opening night
Sugar Babies is a musical revue conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, with music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Al Dubin and various others. The show is a tribute to the old burlesque era. First produced in 1979 on Broadway and running nearly three years, the revue attracted warm notices and was given subsequent touring productions.
Contents
Productions
Sugar Babies opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on October 8, 1979 and closed on August 28, 1982 after 1,208 performances. Staging and choreography was by Ernest Flatt, with sketches directed by Rudy Tronto, musically directed by Glen Roven, scenic and costume design by Raoul Pene Du Bois, lighting design by Gilbert Vaughn Hemsley, Jr., vocal arrangements and lyrics by Arthur Malvin, additional vocal arrangements by Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane, and orchestrations by Dick Hyman.
The revue starred Mickey Rooney in his Broadway debut, Ann Miller, and featured Ann Jillian and Peter Leeds. After the original stars left, successors included Juliet Prowse, Anita Morris, Joey Bishop, Eddie Bracken, Jeff Dunham and Rip Taylor.
The revue subsequently had a short-lived National tour which starred Carol Channing and Robert Morse, from August through November 1980. The Bus and Truck Tour starred Eddie Bracken and Jaye P. Morgan (who was succeeded by Mimi Hines) and ran in 1982. The 2nd National Tour, in 1984 and 1985, reunited Rooney and Miller.
Concept
The show consists of "traditional material ... routines going back 50 to 60 years. It contains standard songs such as 'Don't Blame Me' and 'I Feel a Song Comin' On', interspersed with newly created musical numbers, including 'The Sugar Baby Bounce' ".
The show had burlesque "tropes" such as the swing number, the sister act, the fan dance, the vaudeville dog act. It was all fast and funny and it ended with a patriotic number...with the entire company in red, white, and blue with a flag background and Miller as the Statue of Liberty."
Songs and scenes
Source: Script
Reception
Time wrote that the show is a "happy send-off to burlesque", and "Rarely has so much energy been packed into so small a package. Rooney dances, he sings, he mugs, he dresses in drag."