''Oil City Symphony'' is a musical with a book by Mike Craver, Mark Hardwick,

Debra Monk Debra Monk (born February 27, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and writer, best known for her performances on the Broadway stage. She earned her first Tony Award for the 1993 production of '' Redwood Curtain'' and won an Emmy Award for se ...

, and Mary Murfitt and songs by various composers. It is a recreation of a recital by four middle-aged amateur musicians who have reunited in the auditorium of the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

high school they attended in the 1960s to pay tribute to music teacher Miss Hazel Reaves, who is retiring. The musical ran for 626 performances

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

. All four, whose combined talents "represent 127 years of total studying time," aspired to show business careers, but none of them ever left their small hometown. Debbie, the ex-

prom queen A promenade dance, commonly called a prom, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school ye ...

, plays the drums and percussion; Mark, the minister of music at his church, is a pianist and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

ist; Mary, a rabid fan of women's

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

remembered for her portrayal of Anita in a local production of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

'', plays the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, and

slide whistle A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee or swannee whistle, lotos flute piston flute, or jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. Thus it has an air reed like some woodwinds ...

; and Mike, a former member of an

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, di ...

band, is a master of the

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and

vibraslap The vibraslap is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent into a U-shape) connecting a wooden ball to a hollow box of wood with metal “teeth” inside. The percussionist holds the metal wire in one hand and strikes th ...

Background

Debra Monk and Mark Hardwick were fellow students at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

and later helped write and performed in the 1981 musical ''

Pump Boys and Dinettes ''Pump Boys and Dinettes'' is a musical written by a performance group of the same name. The group, Pump Boys and Dinettes, consists of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. The members directed and star ...

''. Hardwick and Mike Craver met during ''Pump Boys'' and began playing piano duets. The two were joined by Debra Monk on drums. The trio expanded to a quartet with Sharon Scruggs on violin and group made its premiere performance at the Doo Wop Club in New York City on May 12, 1986. When Scruggs decided to leave the group, she was replaced by Mary Murfitt via an audition. Miss Reaves, the evening's guest of honor who is seated in the audience but never seen, is based on Hardwick's music teacher Denny Eaves.''The New York Times'', December 29, 1987
/ref>

Productions

Following limited runs in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, the

production, starring the four creators, opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre Downtown in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

on November 5, 1987, and closed on May 7, 1989, after 626 performances. It won the

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

for Best Ensemble and the

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, and Mary Murfitt won the

Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway theatre, Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945� ...

for her performance.

Critical reception

In his review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Mel Gussow Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years. Biography Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville ...

called it "a musical with charm and a sure sense of its own identity," and the theatre critic for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said it was "an endearing slice of nostalgic Americana that few will resist." In ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', Michael Walsh called the musical "very funny indeed" and said it "lets the good times roll, and in the process skewers every high school music program in the country."''Time'', December 21, 1987
/ref> (but lovingly).

Musical numbers

* Count Your Blessings * Czardas * The

Anvil Chorus The "Anvil Chorus" is the English name for the (Italian for "Gypsy chorus"), a chorus from act 2, scene 1 of Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 opera ''Il trovatore''. It depicts Spanish Gypsies striking their anvils at dawn – hence its English name &nd ...

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (derived from "In the Garden of Eden") is a song recorded by Iron Butterfly, written by bandmember Doug Ingle and released on their 1968 album of the same name. At slightly over 17 minutes, it occupies the entire second s ...

* Ohio Afternoon *

Baby, It's Cold Outside "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and popularized in the 1949 film '' Neptune's Daughter''. While the lyrics make no mention of a holiday, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song owing to its winter ...

* The Hokey Pokey * Beaver Ball at the Bug Club * The Beehive Polka * A Patriotic Fantasy * Dizzy Fingers * Getting Acquainted * Iris * The End of the World * Dear Miss Reeves * Coaxing the Piano * Bus Ride * In the Sweet Bye and Bye * My Ol' Kentucky Rock and Roll Home * Exodus * Sleigh Ride * Christmas Medley * Summer Medley

References

External links

* {{IOBDB title *
Oil City Symphony
' at the Music Theatre International website 1987 musicals Off-Broadway musicals Drama Desk Award-winning musicals Musicals set in the 1960s Musicals set in Ohio Musicals set in schools