And the World Goes 'Round is a musical revue showcasing the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb. The revue takes its title from a tune the songwriting team wrote for Liza Minnelli to sing in the film New York, New York
| And the World Goes 'Round | |
|---|---|
 Original Cast Recording | |
| Music | John Kander |
| Lyrics | Fred Ebb |
| Book | Revue |
| Productions | 1991 Off-Broadway 1992 U.S. Tour |
Productions
The show consists of an eclectic collection of love songs, torch songs, and acerbicly witty comic numbers. It was conceived by director Scott Ellis, choreographer Susan Stroman, and librettist David Thompson, who collaborated on such Kander and Ebb shows as Steel Pier and the 1996 revival of Chicago.
It opened on March 18, 1991 at Manhattan's off-Broadway Westside Theatre, and closed on March 8, 1992, after 408 performances. The original cast featured Karen Ziemba, Robert Cuccioli, Karen Mason, Brenda Pressley, and Jim Walton. Joel Blum and Marin Mazzie were replacements later in the run.
It won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, and Cuccioli received the Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance. Additional honors included Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical Revue, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Ziemba), and Outstanding Director of a Musical.[1]
An original cast recording was released by RCA Records.
Starting in August 1992, Ziemba, Blum, and Mazzie were joined by John Ruess and Shelley Dickinson for a 10-month US national tour. With scenic and technical embellishments added and the title simplified to The World Goes 'Round, the revised edition included mostly upbeat, unfamiliar songs from the team's lesser musicals: The Happy Time, The Rink, The Act, Flora the Red Menace, and what was then a work-in-progress, Kiss of the Spider Woman.[2]
Throughout the years the revue has been staged by regional and community theatre groups and as a fringe theatre production in London.
Song List
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Critical response
In his New York Times review, Frank Rich wrote:
"And the World Goes 'Round: The Songs of Kander and Ebb," the new revue at the commodiously renovated Westside Theater, may be its authors' long overdue smash. The evening is an unexpected delight: a handsome, tasteful, snazzily staged outpouring of song and dance that celebrates all the virtues of the Kander-Ebb catalogue while scrupulously avoiding most of the cloying cliches of and-then-I-wrote anthologies. The revue is sophisticated enough to satisfy aficionados like myself, who recently spent a week's allowance to replace a worn copy of the out-of-print cast album of "The Happy Time," and welcoming enough to convert new audiences to the Kander-Ebb fold. The five fresh performers, mostly familiar but unheralded Broadway hands, are the best team of its sort to hit town since the quintet in "Ain't Misbehavin'."
References
- ^ Drama Desk Awards, 1990-91dramadesk.com, accessed April 2, 2009
- ^ Klein, Alvin."Kander and Ebb's 'World' on Tour",The New York Times, August 23, 1992
- ^ Rich, Frank."All the Best of Kander and Ebb", New York Times, March 19, 1991