Notes on ROAD SHOW by Tom Hatten

Text originally published in the show program for MTG’s performance of Road Show

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Road Show began life in 1998 at the New York Theatre Workshop as a private reading under the title Wise Guys and of the many startling anecdotes about its several outings before returning to New York in 2008, this one: that original script and score apparently bore a definite flavor of a series of Hollywood’s (Paramount’s) famous pair of wise guys of the 1940s Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and their On the Road to… adventures. Hope and Crosby didn’t play brothers in the series, whereas Road Show’s two leads are definitely siblings and identified as such by name: two celebrities of the early 1900s Wilson and Addison Mizner, their careers and adventures, of fact and fiction. Mr. Sondheim, quoted by Harry Haun in his popular New York Playbill column described his take on the Mizner brothers thusly: “Two divergent aspects of American energy; the builder and the scoundrel; the visionary and the promoter; the conformist and the maverick; the idealistic planner and the restless cynic; the one who uses things and the one who uses things up.” Whew. I mean, the Mizners would seem to be a somewhat daunting pair to give life (music and lyrics) to, but remember: Sondheim and Weidman had previously teamed up to challenge some very offbeat material, Pacific Overtures (1976) and Assassins (1991). Neither exactly a walk in the park.

To Road Show and Wise Guys add Gold and Bounce to titles tried out of town in stops including Chicago, at the Goodman, and Washington at the Kennedy Center. There are even two different cast recordings. Notice I don’t use the term Original Cast recordings because who ever heard of two original anythings. There are many wonderful performers on both, far too many to properly salute in the limited space here, but I will mention one person whose splendid work is always evident on both: the supreme Broadway show orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, a constant with the show from day one, through all the ins and outs of changes in musical numbers and cast members. Happily what you will be hearing tonight is from Jonathan Tunick’s original, yes, original orchestrations.

Finally, for many more specifics about Road Show I’m happy to suggest the best possible source: Stephen Sondheim’s second book of selected lyrics “Look, I Made a Hat.” In it he spends thirty-six pages which according to Wikipedia contain Mr. Sondheim’s quote, “attendant comments, amplifications, dogmas, harangues, digressions, anecdotes and miscellany” unquote. Or, in brief, Road Show on the road.