''Five Guys Named Moe'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...

and others. The musical is based on an earlier musical short of the same name by Louis Jordan from 1943. It had its UK debut at the

Cottesloe Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. ...

at the National Theatre followed by a short run at the

Theatre Royal Stratford East The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...

, before moving to the West End for over four years in, and finally premiering 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 ...

in 1992. It was revived in 2010 at

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...

, starring Peters himself, and returned later in 2010 to the theatre in which it originally premiered. The musical won the

Laurence Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for Best Entertainment.

Plot summary

Nomax, whose girlfriend has left him and who is without money, finds Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Little Moe emerging from his 1930s-style radio to comfort him. They sing the hit songs of

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and saxophonist

, whose new slant on jazz paved the way for

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

in the 1950s.

Production history

The musical was originally presented at the

. Cameron Mackintosh opened it on 14 December 1990 at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's West End Lyric Theatre. The original Stratford East cast of Kenny Andrews, Paul J. Medford, Peter Alex Newton, Omar F. Okai, and Dig Wayne, were joined by Clinton Derricks-Carroll replacing Clarke Peters, all transferred with the production where it ran until 4 March 1995. It re-opened at the

Albery Theatre Albery is a name. It may refer to: ;People by given name *Albery Allson Whitman (1851−1901), African American poet, minister and orator ;People by surname: *A. S. Albery, British politician *Bronson Albery (1881−1971), English theatre director ...

on 25 May 1995 where it was recorded for commercial DVD with the following cast: Tee Jaye Jenkins, Trent Kendall, Monroe Kent III (Nomax), Jason Pennycooke, Richard D. Sharp and Feruma Williams. The production ran with this cast until 13 January 1996. There was a successful UK and European tour that followed under the Musical direction of Fiz Shapur. The

production, directed and

choreographed Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

by Charles Augins, opened on 8 April 1992 at the

Eugene O'Neill Theatre The Eugene O'Neill Theatre, previously the Forrest Theatre and the Coronet Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 230 West 49th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and ...

, where it ran for 445 performances and 19 previews. The cast included Jerry Dixon, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Nealy, Kevin Ramsey,

Jeffrey D. Sams Jeffrey D. Sams is an actor known primarily for his television work. Sams has been a main cast member of several television series, few of which have made it past their first season. These include '' Medicine Ball'', '' Sleepwalkers'', Rob Tho ...

, and Glenn Turner. The "Moe" band was: Reginald Royal, piano; Luico Hopper, bass; Brian Kirk, drums; Reggie Pittman, trumpet & flugelhorn;

Gregory Charles Royal Gregory Charles Royal, also known as Chuck Royal, is an American musician, trombonist, composer, writer, co-founder of '' The BeBop Channel''. founder of the New York Jazz Film Festival, a judge on '' America's Hot Musician''. and the artistic d ...

, trombone; and Mark Gross, saxophone and clarinet.

Original cast recordings A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sh ...

from both the London and Broadway productions were released. In 1993, the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson in Los Angeles kicked off the first U.S. National tour. Doug Eskew and Milton Craig Nealy continued the roles they played on Broadway: Big Moe and Four-Eyed Moe, respectively. Keith Tyrone, Jeffrey Polk and Kevyn Bracket, joined the cast as No Moe, Little Moe and Eat Moe. The production opened on 15 July 1993 at the James A. Doolittle Theatre on the campus of UCLA. The subsequent tour included stops in Toronto at the Royal Alexandra Theatre (Sept 29-Nov 6, 1993) eed more tour stop infoCincinnati, OH at the Taft Theatre (18–23 January 1994). In 2002 a "Theater in the Round" production was mounted at the Drury Lane South Theatre in Chicago, IL. Directed by Marc Robin and starring Sean Blake (No Moe), John Steven Crowley (Big Moe), Anthony Pierre Christopher (Little Moe), Parrish Collier (Four-Eyed Moe) and Byron Glenn Willis (Eat Moe) with Nikkieli Dimone as Nomax. The production earned two Joseph Jefferson Nominations in the Director and Ensemble categories. The 2010

/West End production, directed by

Paulette Randall Paulette Randall, MBE (born 1961) is a British theatre director of Jamaican descent.

and starring Clarke Peters himself as Nomax, as well as Ashley Campbell,

Christopher Colquhoun Christopher Colquhoun (born in Carlisle, England) is an English actor who trained at RADA. He is known for appearing as Simon Kaminski in the BBC drama series ''Casualty'', from 2002 to 2004. He also appeared in ''Holby City'' in this role as ...

, Carlton Connell, Paul Hazel and Horace Oliver as the Moes opened on 5 August 2010. During the 2014–15 season, a new, re-imagined production was co-produced by

Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...

and

Cleveland Play House Cleveland Play House (CPH) is a professional regional theater company located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1915 and built its own noted theater complex in 1927. Currently the company performs at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square wh ...

. This production featured the five Moes as 21st century musicians and a slightly modernized musical arrangement. The production ran 14 November – 28 December 2014 at Arena Stage and 23 January – 15 February 2015 in Cleveland Play House's Allen Theatre. The production was directed by Robert O'Hara. Following a run in 2016 at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

, a

Off-West End revival produced by Underbelly Productions in association with Cameron Mackintosh, Steven Harris and Westminster Council ran from 14 September 2017 at the Marble Arch Theatre, a new pop-up venue in Marble Arch specifically designed for the production that reflected the 1940 New Orleans jazz bars. The venue was originally stopped from opening in

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfar ...

due to criticism from neighbours. From 7 September to 8 October 2017, Court Theatre in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood mounted a production featuring James Earl Jones II, Darrian Ford, Lorenzo Rush Jr., Kelvin Roston Jr., Eric Andrew Lewis, and Stephen Allen, directed by Ron OJ Parson with music direction by Abdul Hamid Royal. In their 2018–2019 season
Skylight Music Theatre
in Milwaukee Wisconsin, mounted a production featuring Lorenzo Rush Jr., Gavin Lawrence, James Carrington, Shawn Holmes, Sean Anthony Jackson, and Kevin James Sievert, directed by Malkia Stampley, music direction by Christie Chiles Twillie, and choreography by Lanette Costas. The show received a London fringe revival in 2021 at

Upstairs at The Gatehouse Upstairs at The Gatehouse is a small pub theatre in Highgate in the London Borough of Camden. The venue is a refurbished 1895 auditorium, upstairs from the Gatehouse pub, which has served over the years as a music hall, cinema, Masonic lodge, a ...

. Direction and choreography was by resident director of the 2017 London production, Mykal Rand. Musical supervision by John Reddel and musical direction by Griffin Jenkins. The cast featured Juan Jackson as Nomax; and KM Drew Boatan, Christian Maynard, AJ Lewis, Andre Coulson, Kieran McGinn as the Moes. The production has received favourable reviews.

Song list

;Act I * " Early in the Morning" (Music and Lyrics by Jordan, Leo Hickman, and Dallas Bartley) * " Five Guys Named Moe" (Music and Lyrics by Larry Wynn and

Jerry Bresler Jerome (Jerry) Bresler (May 29, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois – March 17, 2000 in Delray Beach, Florida) was an American conductor, songwriter and musician. He played piano at the age of 2 and conducted the NYU orchestra at 14. One of his most fa ...

) * "Beware Brother Beware" (Music and Lyrics by Morry Lasco, Dick Adams, and Fleecie Moore) * "I Like 'em Fat Like That" (Music and Lyrics by Claude Demetrius and Jordan) * "Messy Bessy" (Music and Lyrics by

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

) * "Pettin' and Pokin'" (Music and Lyrics by Lora Lee) * "Life Is So Peculiar" (Music and Lyrics by Johnny Burke and

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and care ...

) * "I Know What I've Got" (Music and Lyrics by Sid Robin and Jordan) * "Azure Te" (Music and Lyrics by

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

and Don Wolf) * "Safe, Sane and Single" (Music and Lyrics by Jordan,

Johnny Lange John George Lange (August 15, 1905 – January 6, 2006) was an American songwriter, working mostly in the motion picture industry. His chief musical collaborators were Archie Gottler and Jack Meskill. Biography Lange was born in Philadelphia ...

, and

Hy Heath Walter Henry "Hy" Heath (July 9, 1890 – April 3, 1965) was an American entertainer, songwriter, composer and writer. Born in Oakville, Tennessee, he received his education in public schools and then became a comedian in musical comedy, vaudevill ...

) * "Push Ka Pi Shi Pie" (Music and Lyrics by Jordan, Joe Willoughby, Walt Merrick) ;Act II *" Saturday Night Fish Fry" (Music and Lyrics by Ellis Walsh and Jordan) *"

What's the Use of Getting Sober "What's the Use of Getting Sober (When You Gonna Get Drunk Again)" is a song written by Busby Meyers, performed by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five, recorded in July 1942, and released on the Decca label (catalog no. 8645). The "B" side of the re ...

" (Music and lyrics by Busby Meyers) *"If I Had Any Sense (I'd Go Back Home)" (Music and Lyrics by Rose Marie McCoy) *"Dad Gum Your Hide Boy" (Music and Lyrics by Browley Bri) *" Let the Good Times Roll" (Music and Lyrics by Fleecie Moore and Sam Theard) *"Reet, Petite and Gone" (Music and Lyrics by Spencer Lee and Jordan) *"

Caldonia "Caldonia" is a jump blues song, first recorded in 1945 by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. Although credited to Fleecie Moore, his wife at the time, Jordan is the actual songwriter. The song was a hit for Jordan as well as several other musici ...

" (Music and Lyrics by Fleecie Moore) *" Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" (Music and Lyrics by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer) *"Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" (Music and Lyrics by Jo Greene) *" Choo, Choo, Ch'boogie" (Music and Lyrics by Vaughn Horton, Denver Darling, and Milton Gabler) *"Look Out Sister" (Music and Lyrics by Sid Robin and Jordan) *"Hurry Home" (Music and Lyrics by Joseph Meyer,

Buddy Bernier Henry 'Buddy' Bernier (April 21, 1910 – June 18, 1983) was an American lyricist born in Watertown, New York, who was mainly active during the 1940s and 1950s. He came from a show business family and had two sisters, Daisy and Peggy who were each a ...

, and Robert Emmerich) *" Is You Is or Is You Ain't Ma' Baby" (Music and Lyrics by Billy Austin and Jordan) *"Five Guys Named Moe" (Reprise)

Awards and nominations

Original London production

Original Broadway production

References

External links

*
''New York Times'' review, 9 April 1992
* '' ttp://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000142 Five Guys Named Moe' at the Music Theatre International website
Olivier Award winners, 1991 for 1990 season

Edinburgh Festival productionCleveland Play House production

Chicago Drury Lane South Production
{{Louis Jordan 1990 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals based on films Laurence Olivier Award-winning musicals West End musicals Edinburgh Comedy Festival