42ND STREET MOON PRESENTS "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN,"
SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 18, 1998

SAN FRANCISCO (31 August 1998) -- 42nd Street Moon continues its "DELICIOUS DAMES OF BROADWAY!" season with A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, the stage musical based on the famous book and film of the same name. The New York Times crowed at its 1951 opening, "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN turns out to be one of those happy inspirations that the theater dotes on, with the richest score Arthur Schwartz has written in years."

Although this opinion was representative of the critical acclaim the show received, TREE closed within nine months in an unfortunate twist of fate. The musical has since become almost legendary among lost musical cognoscenti for its sheer delightfulness and charm, with such tunes as "Love Is The Reason" and "Make the Man Love Me." It is perhaps the finest example of a musical which deserved better success than it received. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN plays September 30 through October 18 (press opening: October 1) at New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco: tickets may be purchased by calling 415/861-8972.

Like the classic book from which it was born, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN is a poignant look at love, marriage, and family life set in turn-of-the-century New York. While the book focused primarily on Francie, the daughter of a troubled marriage, the musical centers more on her parents, Johnny and Katie Nolan, and their turbulent courtship and marriage. Katie, blinded by love, stands by the charming but undependable Johnny through years of broken promises and tarnished hopes. In a more humorous counterpoint to the main story, Katie's sister Cissy moves through a series of "common-law" husbands, each of which she insists on calling Harry after her first lover. Tender and truthful, the musical expresses in beautiful music the lengths to which people can go for love; the heartbreaks that can be endured for the sake of a lover or child. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN is the second of two shows in 42nd Street Moon's season which celebrate lyrics by the great Dorothy Fields, following REDHEAD, Fields' unusual comic murder-mystery.

The show opened in 1951 at the Alvin Theater, featuring film and television performer Johnny Johnston and concert violinist Marcia Van Dyke as the tumultuous couple. The real star of the show, however, was Shirley Booth as Cissy, in a triumphant musical follow-up to her colossal hit in COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA the previous year. Critics adored her, and she went on to capture Best Actress in a Musical in the New York Drama Critics' poll, beating out Gertrude Lawrence in THE KING AND I, Ethel Merman in CALL ME MADAM and Vivian Blaine in GUYS AND DOLLS. Although it started off strongly, the show's attendance soon tapered off -- possibly because the seriousness of the piece did not draw audiences as well as the comedy and spectacle of the competing musicals. A national tour was mounted: as a trivia note, the role of Cissy on the tour was assumed by Joan Blondell -- who played the role in the film -- while Shirley Booth was busy filming her role in "Come Back
Little Sheba"! For nearly 40 years the show languished without a major revival -- in 1971, it was announced that Sammy Davis, Jr. would star in an all-black version, but it never made it to the stage.

42nd Street Moon's production will feature Susan Powers (FACE THE MUSIC, NIGHTBOAT) as Katie, Joe Giuffre (DO I HEAR A WALTZ?) as Johnny, newcomer Lianne Dobbs as their daughter Francie, and Carla Befera (FACE THE MUSIC, JUBILEE) as Cissy (the role originally played by Shirley Booth). Rounding out the cast are Elisa Camahort, Jesse Caldwell, Bill Fahrner, Tom Elliott, Noah Haydon, Greg Grabow, Tina Kizla, Anthony Martinez, and Laura Jean Anderson. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN will be directed by Jon Di Savino, with music direction by Michael Horsley and choreography by 42nd Street Moon favorite Caroline Altman.

The creation of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN as a stage musical marked a full circle for the touching story; before the autobiographical novel was published in 1943, it had first been conceived by author Betty Smith as a play called FRANCIE NOLAN in 1930. Hardly a stranger to the theater, Smith was herself the author and collaborator on some 70 one-act plays, and had already won the coveted Avery Hopwood Award for playwriting before launching her writing career; and had even appeared onstage herself on occasion.

Two years after the publication of the book, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN was made into an acclaimed film starring Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, Peggy Ann Garner, Lloyd Nolan, and James Dunn who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Johnny Nolan. A few years later, veteran producer George Abbott approached Smith about creating a musical version; although initially she had no intention of collaborating, Abbott's enthusiasm won Smith over, and the two created the musical which opened in 1951. Although Irving Berlin originally expressed interest in writing the score, the task eventually fell to Schwartz and Fields, with renowned results.

42nd Street Moon's current "DELICIOUS DAMES OF BROADWAY!" series, celebrating composers and performers such as Dorothy Fields, Ethel Merman, and Ginger Rogers, opened with Sondheim's DO I HEAR A WALTZ, GIRL CRAZY, and REDHEAD; and continues with NYMPH ERRANT and CALL ME MADAM.

Back to the 1998 Season