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and her job, afraid the city will swallow her whole. Desperate, she heads to the ofice of Dr. Brooks, who analyzes her. Part of the brilliance of this show was its refusal to play to type: The ultra-glamorous Lawrence had no star entrance or flashy moments, one of her main confidants was a gay man, and all the musicalsequences in the show were dream scenes which illuminated her demons—a “Glamour Dream,” a “Wedding Dream,” and the spectacular “Circus Dream.”
9.
NEIL SIMON’S THE GOODBYE GIRL
    The title is actually longer than the run of this show, which started with a fine pedigree, but somewhere went very wrong. Neil Simon adapting his very funny (and stage-smart) hit film, Tony-winning pros David
(City of Angels)
Zippel and Marvin
(A Chorus Line)
Hamlisch to score it, and Bernadette Peters and Martin Short to star as a fading Broadway hoofer and an up-and-coming thespian.
    So. Santo Loquasto’s sets were mainly interiors, and too cartoonish at that, and the book and score never rose to the occasion offered—a sexy musical comedy about two lonely people against the big backdrop of New York Show Business. Simon himself opined that the only good thing about the show was Short’s performance, and Simon later rewarded Short with 1999’s revival of
Little Me,
for which Short won a Tony.
10.
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
    Like the great film that inspired it, 2002’s
Sweet Smell of Success
was a poison-pen letter to New York City— this “Dirty Town,” as lyricist Craig Carnelia called it. Marvin Hamlisch wrote the music, and John Guare adapted the cynical screenplay to the stage.
    A story of ruthless ambition run amok, a young press agent is willing to do anything to anybody to curry favor with star columnist J.J. Hunsecker, who still manages to make the young man’s life a living hell.Despite a commanding, Tony-winning performance from John Lithgow as Hunsecker,
Sweet Smell
failed, probably because its film noir, wormy-Big-Apple outlook was not exactly what Broadway audiences wanted to see after 9/11.

We Shout, “Look Out, Yale!”
10. Musicals about Sports
    Though not necessarily mutually inclusive (except for Show League softball), the worlds of sports and musicals have much in common: brightly-colored clothing, legions of fans who take their passion far too seriously, corporate-sponsored homes, and scantilyclad women for those not interested in the business at hand. Here are ten musicals all about sports—the athletes and the games.
1.
DAMN YANKEES
    The story of Joe, a middle-aged couch potato who’d sell his soul to the devil to see his Washington Senators win the pennant over those “damn Yankees,” this cheery 1959 show gave the songwriting team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross their second consecutive smash, hot on the heels of
The Pajama Game
a year earlier.
    The Senators, of course, are a hapless nine (presaging Gotham’s own original Mets) rejuvenated by the arrival of “Shoeless Joe From Hannibal, Mo.,” the reincarnation of our old couch-bound Joe. Under the eyes of George Abbott and Bob Fosse, the Senators roared to the flag despite the presence of Ray Walston as “Mr. Applegate,” old Scratch himself, and the star turn of Gwen Verdon as Lola, his first-string home-wrecker, sent by Applegate to tempt Joe to distraction.
2.
TOO MANY GIRLS
    Three Eastern lads with gridiron skills and their prepphenom friend Manuelito (a young Desi Arnaz) journey west to Pottawottamie College in Stop Gap, New Mexico, at the behest of a rich man intent on providing bodyguards for his spoiled, beautiful daughter.
    A fairly run-of-the-mill 1939 Rodgers & Hart college musical,
Too Many Girls
was best as a showcase for its young stars, notably Eddie Bracken, Van Johnson, and the aforementioned Desi Arnaz. Young Arnaz literally stopped the show during the production number “Spic and Spanish” by coming onstage in his football uniform, with his conga drum strapped to his chest, and drumming up a storm.
3.
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