SAN FRANCISCO (26 January 1999) -- San Francisco will play host to a musical about a larger-than-life mayor who did it his way or no way at all ... not the story of 'Da Mayor' Willie Brown, but of New York's Depression-era mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia. 42nd Street Moon, the city?s award-winning musical company, opens its seventh annual season of 'Lost Musical' with a special four-week run of FIORELLO!, the rarely produced Pulitzer Prize-winning musicalization of the life of this colorful political figure. FIORELLO!, directed by Frank Coppola with music direction by David Dobrusky, plays March 10 through April 4 at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center: for tickets ($12-22), the public can call 415/861-8972.

This musical tale of ideals, politics, corruption, love, and New York brass takes us through the turbulent times of Fiorello La Guardia: from his early years in a Greenwich Village law office to his election to Congress, his enlisting in World War I and his first marriage, through the stock market crash and Great Depression, and his first unsuccessful run for mayor and concurrent widowing. The musical ends on a happy note with marriage to his longtime secretary, Marie, and taking oath for the first of three terms in office. Filled with beautiful ballads, peppy dance tunes, and even a hilariously skewed barbershop number, FIORELLO! presents a heartwarming tale where honor triumphs over deceit, perseverance pays off, and the underdog comes out on top.

Written in 1959 by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott, the show originally starred Tom Bosley as Fiorello, and expanded that decade's new musical theater horizons with tremendous success, running two and a half years. In addition to the Pulitzer, FIORELLO! won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and six Tony Awards including Best Musical (tied with THE SOUND OF MUSIC). Jerry Bock's music and Sheldon Harnick's wonderfully blue-collar lyrics produce such lovely songs as 'Til Tomorrow' and 'When Did I Fall in Love?,' as well as the rousing and comic 'Little Tin Box,' 'Politics & Poker,' '(I Will Marry) The Very Next Man,' 'Gentleman Jimmy,' and 'I Love a Cop.' The New York Daily News cheered at its opening, 'Not since OF THEE I SING has there been a musical which achieves the sophisticated but cheerful attitude towards politics that FIORELLO! does.' The New York Herald Tribune called it 'A smashing victory at the polls with humor, heart and zest ... a song-and-dance jamboree, a top ticket for the amusement vote.'

Bob Greene will appear in the title role of 42nd Street Moon's production of FIORELLO!. Joining him will be 42nd Street Moon regulars including Stephanie Rhoads, Robin Steeves, Amy Cole, Steven Patterson, Bill Farhner, Michael Shipley, and Richard Pardini, known for his long stint in BEACH BLANKET BABYLON.

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