The Name's Still LaGuardia

10/2/2019

A while back, I presented one of my occasional Elisberg International Film Festivals, where I cobbled together as many videos as I could of songs from the musical Fiorello! The show, written by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, a few years before they would write Fiddler on the Roof. The musical told the story of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia of New York and not only tied with The Sound of Music for the Best Musical Tony Award in 1959 (beating West Side Story), but also became only the third musical to receive the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Much as readers of these pages know that I love to write about Fiorello!, there's actually an added point to this here. Bear with me.

About 50 years after writing the show, and despite its awards and acclaim, lyricist Harnick thought that there was a moment in the second act that always needed a new song for Fiorello. Not only because the character doesn't have many songs to sing in the second act, but more because it's a very dramatic moment in the show and he had always felt LaGuardia had to express himself and without that, something was missing. He got composer Bock's permission to come up with what was needed, and remarkably they wrote three versions over the next few years, finally coming up with what they were happy with, It was largely a reprise of the music of an earlier song, "The Name's LaGuardia" with a section with new music composed by Bock. With the significant alternations, it's not a strict reprise, but closer to a soliloquy. I saw the first two versions in separate productions -- one in Los Angeles done by the Reprise! organization, and the other in Chicago done by the Timeline Theatre. This below is the final version that Harnick and Bock added.

(By the way, it's important to note that, despite their huge success as a team, Harnick and Bock had broken up their partnership around 1970, 30 years earlier. They hadn't written together since -- although, it's important to add, they'd remained good friends and in regular touch.)

I mention all this because I think some of the lyrics have fascinating resonance to today.

At this point in the story, LaGuardia's life is fraying. During his campaign for mayor, pressure from the dangerous and crooked Tammany Hall grows, and threats by their flunkies are made against his life, from which he barely escapes. Then, the voters reject him in favor of Tammany's figurehead mayor, the corrupt playboy Jimmy Walker, and he loses the election. But worst of all, throughout all this, his wife Thea's health takes a serious turn, and she passes away.

Left alone, all his hopes and plans spun out of control, and the love of his life gone, Fiorello is left alone on stage. Which brings us to the new reprise of "The Name's LaGuardia." The song features Kenny Francouer as LaGuardia in an NYU production -- and is a moving number on its own but which, as I said, surprisingly holds a prescient and eerie connection to the world of politics today.

Since the show was written, Fiorello! has had few productions and no film or TV version made -- despite winning the Tony Award and Pultizer Prize. The main reason is that the perception is the show is only about New York City and of interest to New Yorkers. It's not even remotely, it's a double love story with a political tale of universal appeal, as this video makes clear.

P.S. There's a happy, very real ending: Jimmy Walker later goes to prison, and LaGuardia is elected mayor in his second race.

7 Comments

Lisa Kadonaga

10/6/2019 01:10:16 am

I was reading an interview with Sheldon Harnick, who commented that at the time they were writing the musical, director George Abbott had nixed the various attempts that they'd made to write a song for that scene in the second act where things are going badly for LaGuardia. Abbott didn't want any hint that Fiorello was "self-pitying" ... maybe because he wanted the story to be upbeat (rather than the more complex and conflicted plot that Arthur Penn, who'd first pitched the idea, had envisioned).

But not showing vulnerability, especially given the personal and political setbacks he's experienced, closes off the character to the audience. (In real life, biographers noted that when Thea died -- in 1921, though the musical changes the timing to coincide with LaGuardia's failed mayoral bid -- he was grief-stricken. Especially since they'd lost their only child earlier that year. It took months -- years -- for him to start recovering.)

I like the new song -- I think it develops Fiorello's character in a very human way, and makes his eventual victory (and his new start with Marie) that much more enjoyable. I suspect that George Abbott would still disapprove, but the dismay expressed by Fiorello about New Yorkers setting aside his service to them, and choosing the corrupt Walker instead, makes a lot of sense to me. From what I've read in biographies of LaGuardia, it's not inconsistent with his personality -- he could be moody and judgmental, as well as ebullient. He had a big heart and emotions to match, and who else could be "the city's immortal soul"?

I've worked on plenty of losing campaigns, and seen disillusioned and frustrated candidates ... so there's a certain timeless quality to the feelings being expressed by Fiorello. It just so happens to be especially relevant now.

I get the impression that Abbott was the boss on that production -- he had decades of experience (he was more than 70 years old by then) and already was respected as a "show doctor" and hitmaker. Producers Bobby Griffith and Hal Prince were his proteges, and Bock and Harnick had only started working on Broadway earlier that decade (and had been a team for just three years). Jerome Weidman wrote most of the book for the show, but I think it was his first musical -- from what Hal Prince described, Abbott would tell Weidman what he wanted in a scene, Weidman would write it, then Abbott would edit his drafts in a way he felt would work. So if George Abbott didn't want to change anything about the lead character, I don't think anyone would have opposed him. (Tom Bosley may have become a star because of that show, but when it was being written, Abbott was threatening to replace him because he felt Bosley's voice didn't sound enough like the real-life LaGuardia's ... so I doubt he was in any position to ask for rewrites.)

http://www.playbill.com/article/playbill-brief-encounter-with-sheldon-harnick-the-tony-and-pulitzer-winning-lyricist-of-fiorello-com-329723
http://www.playbill.com/article/fiorello-gets-a-second-vote-of-confidence-from-encores-in-new-concert-revival-com-201849

Robert Elisberg

10/6/2019 09:24:41 pm

Lisa, thanks for your note. George Abbott was The Boss on any show he was involved in. And he wasn't inherently wrong here -- the musical did win the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize. And Harnick isn't wrong either -- he found a way not to make it self-pitying, but ends up strong as a call to action.

There's another factor involved in adding the new material. It also gives the actor playing Fiorello more to do musically in the second act. He really doesn't have much.

10/7/2019 12:53:32 pm

I think it's fascinating to look at the social changes in the decades since Fiorello! premiered -- it makes sense to me that at the time, Abbott's vision was a big success. Decades later, memories of LaGuardia had receded far enough into the past -- and styles and expectations had shifted -- that things don't work quite as well. (At the time, Patricia Wilson said that, when she and her friends were wondering how long the show would run (she hadn't bargained on two years), someone joked, "eventually you'll run out of people who remember LaGuardia". I think that turned out to be a factor, though it took quite a long time! I like what you pointed out recently -- the time for this musical may be coming around again. Empowerment and a desire for more open, accountable politics are a major concern for a lot of people now, so the timeless aspects of the story make it especially relevant.

I'd read that initially even Jerry Bock said that the show had won so many awards, he felt it didn't seem to need any improvements. But Sheldon Harnick persisted, and their changes to Act II do address that issue about the title character. So Harnick and Abbott were both right, in different contexts. I don't have much background in entertainment, but people I know who are performers explained to me that it would be harder to attract a big star to play Fiorello --unless that person had a particular interest in the show -- because of having relatively few numbers to perform, plus the limited amount of character development that happens. And maybe because of the focus on other characters in the second act, even Tom Bosley didn't get top billing at the time (as his Tony Award, "Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical" suggests).

10/7/2019 02:22:58 pm

Lisa, yes, as I noted in my reply, though it's the starring role, the limited number of songs is something that's made it difficult to mount a major revival because of attracting a Big Star. I've actually discussed this with Sheldon a few years ago when I brought up the possibility of a PBS production or an out-of-town production that could be transferred to Broadway. At the time, there was a Big Star who was interested, but other commitments came up, and it didn't come to pass. (It was a private conversation, so I don't want to give away any confidence.)

By the way, one thing to keep in mind about Tom Bosley winning the "Featured Actor" Tony. That probably wasn't because of the size of the role, or his lack of fame. At the time (and it still may be in effect) The Tony Awards have an odd rule where you can only be considered The Star if your name is above the title, or is listed as "starring in..." If they list all the names below the title, then the actor is not eligible to be nominated as "Lead Actor," and that's likely what happened with Tom Boslely.

Famously, that's what happened with "1776" -- the first show I ever saw on Broadway (and your adopted brother's favorite show..;) All the cast was listed as an ensemble below the title, and so William Daniels was nominated as "Featured Actor" despite starring as 'John Adams.' And he turned down the nomination -- he said it wasn't fair to him to be considered just a "Featured Actor" and wasn't fair to the other actors in the character who actually *were* "featured," and didn't have leading roles.

10/8/2019 01:00:15 am

That's fascinating about the arrangement of the names -- I found several images online of various playbills from productions -- the New Haven and Philadelphia tryouts, and the Broadway run. And exactly as you say, they've got all the cast names below the title, all together without Bosley's name over the others or in a bigger font. But the Paper Mill production afterwards (directed by Da Silva), and the Camden County Music Fair (from the year after the Broadway show closed), with Bosley and Wilson both reprising their roles, have Bosley's name above the title. The 1962 Broadway revival starring Sorrell Booke (one of the actors who auditioned during the rehearsal period as a possible replacement for Bosley, and later a standby for the role) has him (plus three other colleagues) above the title.

10/8/2019 08:29:43 am

Lisa, Yes, as I noted, the names in the original production were all below the title and also no "Starring..." credit, but rather just "With...". An odd Tony rule for award eligibility. As for the changed credits for those subsequent touring productions that Bosley and Wilson were in (one of which a good friend of mine saw -- and loved), it makes total sense. Not only were they both indeed from the Broadway show, and therefore a big selling point in the touring production, but he was now a Tony-winner. So, a producer would absolutely want his name most-especially (and hers) above the title for the attention.

As for Sorrell Booke, that was for a very-limited run Lincoln Center production that only ran for two weeks, and could be for any number of reasons -- contractual to get the actor, or that it was now a Tony-winning role, or to make clear that it was a separate production from the original which had closed not all that much earlier, or that being a limited run they wanted to add more attention to it -- or...or who knows what else?

10/20/2019 12:08:27 am

Here's an unusual photo showing both Fiorello LaGuardia and Jimmy Walker. Not surprisingly given the differences in their politics and personalities, they didn't usually hang out together -- this was taken at the funeral of well-known attorney Nathan Burkan.(Burkan was also a pretty colourful personality ... there's a book about him, "Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer".)
When Walker was in dire financial straits late in his life, LaGuardia found a job for him so he wouldn't be destitute. (Fiorello could be a tough and relentless opponent, but he wasn't a cruel man.)
https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/mayor-fiorello-laguardia-and-jimmy-walker-lead-ninety-news-photo/454254316

The Name's Still LaGuardia

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