''Sugar Babies'' is a musical

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, with music by

Jimmy McHugh James Francis McHugh (July 10, 1894 – May 23, 1969) was an American composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he is credited with over 500 songs. His songs were recorded by many artists, including Chet Baker, Ju ...

, lyrics by

Dorothy Fields Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904 – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (1936), " On t ...

and Al Dubin and various others. The show is a tribute to the old burlesque era. (The show's name is taken from one of many shows on the old Mutual Burlesque wheel of the Roaring Twenties.) First produced in 1979 on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and running nearly three years, the revue attracted warm notices and was given subsequent touring productions.

Productions

Ann Jillian, Ann Miller, Mickey Rooney, Peter Leeds in Sugar Babies

''Sugar Babies'' opened on

at the

Mark Hellinger Theatre The Mark Hellinger Theatre (formerly the 51st Street Theatre and the Hollywood Theatre) is a church (building), church building at 237 West 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, which forme ...

on October 8, 1979 and closed on August 28, 1982 after 1,208 performances. Staging and choreography was by Ernest Flatt, with sketches directed by Rudy Tronto, musically directed by

Glen Roven Glen Paul Roven (July 13, 1957 – July 25, 2018) was an American two-time Emmy winning composer, lyricist, conductor and producer. He composed the music to "The Hillary Speeches" setting two of Mrs. Clinton's speeches to music which streamed o ...

, scenic and costume design by Raoul Pene Du Bois, lighting design by

Gilbert Vaughn Hemsley Jr. Gilbert Vaughn Hemsley Jr. (1936–1983) was a noted United States lighting designer and teacher of lighting design. Biography He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Hemsley studied history at Yale, earned an MFA at Yale Drama School in 1960, ...

, vocal arrangements and lyrics by Arthur Malvin, additional vocal arrangements by

Hugh Martin Hugh Martin (August 11, 1914 – March 11, 2011) was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He was best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical ''Meet Me in St. Louis'', in which Judy Garland ...

Ralph Blane Ralph Blane (July 26, 1914 – November 13, 1995) was an American composer, lyricist, and performer. Life and career Blane was born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He attended Tulsa Central High School. He studied singing with ...

, and orchestrations by Dick Hyman. The revue starred Mickey Rooney in his Broadway debut, Ann Miller, and featured

Ann Jillian Ann Jillian (born Ann Jura Nauseda; January 29, 1950) is a retired American actress and singer whose career began as a child actress in 1960. She is best known for her role as the sultry Cassie Cranston on the 1980s sitcom ''It's a Living''. Ea ...

and

Peter Leeds Peter Leeds (May 30, 1917 – November 12, 1996) was an American actor who appeared on television more than 8,000 times and also had many film, Broadway, and radio credits. The majority of his work took place in the 1950s and 1960s. Working ...

. After the original stars left, successors included

Juliet Prowse Juliet Anne Prowse (September 25, 1936 – September 14, 1996) was a dancer and actress whose four-decade career included stage, television and film. She was raised in South Africa, where her family emigrated after World War II. Known for her ...

Anita Morris Anita Rose Morris (March 14, 1943 – March 2, 1994) was an American actress, singer and dancer. She began her career performing in Broadway musicals, including ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', ''Seesaw'' and ''Nine'', for which she received a Tony Awa ...

Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk ...

Eddie Bracken Edward Vincent Bracken (February 7, 1915 – November 14, 2002) was an American actor. Bracken became a Hollywood comedy legend with lead performances in the films '' Hail the Conquering Hero'' and '' The Miracle of Morgan's Creek'' both from ...

Jeff Dunham Jeffrey Douglas Dunham (born April 18, 1962) is an American ventriloquist, stand-up comedian and actor who has also appeared on numerous television shows, including ''Late Show with David Letterman'', ''Comedy Central Presents'', ''The Tonigh ...

and

Rip Taylor Charles Elmer "Rip" Taylor Jr. (January 13, 1931 – October 6, 2019) was an American actor and comedian, known for his exuberance and flamboyant personality, including his wild moustache, toupee, and his habit of showering himself (and others ...

. The revue subsequently had a short-lived National tour which starred

Carol Channing Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...

and

Robert Morse Robert Alan Morse (May 18, 1931 – April 20, 2022) was an American actor, who starred in ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', both the 1961 original Broadway production ...

, from August through November 1980. The 1982 Bus and Truck Tour starred

and Jaye P. Morgan (who was succeeded by Mimi Hines). The 2nd National Tour, in 1984 and 1985, reunited Rooney and Miller.

Concept

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
and his wife conceived of a modern Broadway musical combining all the elements of burlesque. He then came to the conclusion that the only person alive who could pull this off as a headliner was Mickey Rooney
- Richard Lertzman and
William J. Birnes William J. "Bill" Birnes (born November 7, 1944) is an American author, the incoming auditor for Solebury Township, Pennsylvania, the chairman of the board at Sunrise Community Counseling Center, and ufologist. Education Birnes earned a degre ...
, in "The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney"

Norman Abbott Norman Abbott (July 11, 1922 – July 9, 2016) was an American vaudevillian, actor, producer and television director. Abbott was born in New York City, where his uncle, comedian Bud Abbott, and his mother raised him. His early experience in ...

, nephew of famed straight man

Bud Abbott William Alexander "Bud" Abbott (October 2, 1897 – April 24, 1974) was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known as the straight man half of the comedy duo Abbott and Costello. Early life Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New J ...

, and his wife, conceived the idea of a Broadway musical based on burlesque after inheriting his uncle's "treasure trove of burlesque material, including written gags, props, music and posters". After two weeks of rehearsals, however, Abbott, who was directing the show, was fired, when Rooney told him "this isn't going to work out." Although Abbott didn't have a contract, he sued producer Harry Rigby and received a six-figure settlement.

( Ralph G. Allen) visited theaters around the country, sitting with elderly comics and taking down their routines. He amassed a collection of some 5,000 comedy sketches. He considered writing a book, but Dr. Allen realized it would be much more fun to put on a show. He wrote a revue, based on the sketches, which was performed at the University of Tennessee. Some time later, Dr. Allen gave a talk in New York at a conference on early-20th-century popular entertainment. As part of his lecture, he read the script of his revue. Afterward, he was approached by a member of the audience, Mr. Rigby, a producer.

In 1977, at a "scholarly four‐day conference to study the ''History of American Popular Entertainment''" at the

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

, Ralph G. Allen, a theater professor and historian fascinated with burlesque, presented a lecture, from a prior ''College of Fellows of the American Theatre'' Address, with pieces of a revue he wrote, that borrowed material from long-forgotten burlesque routines, "At My Mother's Knee (and Other Low Joints)". Rigby was in the audience and approached Allen about the material, and together they wrote the book for the show. ''Sugar Babies'' debuted two years later. The show consists of "traditional material ... routines going back 50 to 60 years. It contains standard songs such as " Don't Blame Me" and "I Feel a Song Comin' On", interspersed with newly created musical numbers, including "The Sugar Baby Bounce". The show had burlesque "tropes" such as the swing number, the sister act, the fan dance, the vaudeville dog act. "It was all fast and funny and it ended with a patriotic number...with the entire company in red, white, and blue with a flag background and Miller as the Statue of Liberty."

Songs and scenes

Source: Script ;Act 1 *Scene: A Memory of Burlesque :A Good Old Burlesque Show *Scene: Welcome to the Gaity : Let Me Be Your Sugar Baby *Scene: Meet Me Round the Corner *Scene: Travelin' :In Louisiana :Goin' Back to New Orleans *Scene: The Broken Arms Hotel *Scene: Feathered Fantasy (Salute to

Sally Rand Sally Rand (born Helen Gould Beck; April 3, 1904 – August 31, 1979) was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. ...

) :Sally *Scene: The Pitchmen *Scene: Ellis Island Lament :Immigration Rose *Scenes from Domestic Life *Scene: Torch Song *Scene: Orientale *Scene: The Little Red Schoolhouse *Scene: The New Candy-Coated Craze :The Sugar Baby Bounce *Scene: Special Added Attraction :Down At the Gaiety Burlesque :Mr. Banjo Man ;Act 2 *Scene: Candy Butcher *Scene: Girls and Garters :I'm Keeping Myself Available For You :Exactly Like You *Scene: Justice Will Out *Scene: In A Greek Garden :Warm and Willing *Scene: Presenting Madame Alla Gazaza *Scene: Tropical Madness :Cuban Love Song *Scene: Cautionary Tales *McHugh Medley :Every Day Another Tune :

I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby" is an American popular song and jazz standard by Jimmy McHugh (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics). The song was introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January 1928 in Lew L ...

:I'm Shooting High :When You and I Were Young, Maggie Blues :

On the Sunny Side of the Street "On the Sunny Side of the Street" is a 1930 song composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Some authors say that Fats Waller was the composer, but he sold the rights to the song. It was introduced in the Broadway musical '' Lew Lesli ...

*Scene: Presenting Bob Williams *Scene: Old Glory :You Can't Blame Your Death on Uncle Sammy

Reception

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, ...

'' wrote that the show is a "happy send-off to burlesque", and "Rarely has so much energy been packed into so small a package. Rooney dances, he sings, he mugs, he dresses in drag."

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

References

External links

Internet Broadway Database listing
{{Dorothy Fields 1979 musicals Broadway musicals