Catch Pal Joey On Broadway

By Author: Al Terry
Total Articles: 787
Comment this article

The John O'Hara/Lorenz Hart/Richard Rogers musical play in Broadway made big news in the theatrical world in 1940. Pal Joey is about Joey, a small time entertainer who wants to make it big in a night club and own a club of his own. He meets his love Linda English outside a pet shop and gets romantically involved with her. As days go by he gets acquainted with an older, wealthy, married socialite Vera Simpson. She gets slowly attracted to Joey and gets into an affair with him. Joey takes advantage of Vera woos her into setting up a business for him. Vera falls for his tricks. As Joey becomes powerful he tells all about his disinterest in women. Linda tells Vera about Joey's scheming nature and Vera informs the police and has Joey thrown out of his own night club.

Pal Joey originally premiered in Broadway on December 25, 1940 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. There were 374 performances given then. The show was directed by George Abbott, choreographed by Robert Alton, with Gene Kelly as Joey, June Havoc as Gladys, Vivienne Segal as Vera, Van Johnson and Stanley Donnen. The show was revived on January 3, 1952 at the Broadhurst ...
... Theatre with 540 performances. Dance and musical numbers were by Robert Alton with Lang, Helen Gallagher and Segal in the star cast. It won the New York Drama Critics award for best musical and was the first to ever receive 11 Donaldson awards.

There were productions in London's West End, in March 1952, at Princes Theater where it had Harold Lang, Sally Bazely and Carol Bruce as actors. At Noel Coward Theater from September 1980 to the next year the show had Sian Phillips, Dennis Lawso and Danielle Carson in the lead roles. Pal Joey in 1963 gave 15 performances at City Center with Bob Fosse as Joey, Kay Medford as Melba and Viveca Lindfors as Vera.

The year 1976 saw a revival of the show in Broadway for 73 performances from Chistopher Chadman, Joan Copeland and Dixie Carter. Boston's Huntington Theater gave a revised version by director David Warren from September to October 1992 with the role of Vera played by Donna Murphy.

There was a revival again planned for Broadway and the team producer Marc E.Platt with Richard Greenberg and director Joe Mantello made it possible. Previews were given from November 14, 2008, the play will official open on December 11. The star cast includes Christian Hoff as Joey, Martha Plimpton as Gladys, Stockard Channing as Vera, Robert Clohessy as Mike. Scott Pask is the set designer, lighting is by Paul Gallo and costumes are by William Long.

Pal Joey is a classic musical of the 40s and 50s. It has always been known for big score, bright lights, great dance, foot tapping music and great talent. The show usually has limited number of performances; it is thus wise to get the tickets in advance. You can purchase these tickets online in order to avoid any last minute hassles.
Al enjoys writing online reviews of Broadway plays and musicals such as Pal Joey Resources in New York City. His reviews cover every show in the city and other major cities and are updated daily with resources for Pal Joey.