''Subways Are for Sleeping'' 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 ...

produced by David Merrick with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by

Jule Styne Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also becam ...

. The original Broadway production played in 1961–62. The musical was inspired by an article about

subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Intercontin ...

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

in the March 1956 issue of '' Harper's'' magazine and a subsequent 1957 book based on it, both by Edmund G. Love, who slept on subway trains throughout the 1950s and encountered many unique individuals. With the profits from his book, Love then embarked on a bizarre hobby: over the course of several years, he ate dinner at every restaurant listed in the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

yellow pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to Telephone direct ...

directory, visiting them in alphabetical order. A previous adaptation of the ''Harper's'' article was aired August 3, 1956 on '' CBS Radio Workshop''.Audio Classics
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Synopsis

Angie McKay is a magazine writer assigned to write a story about a group of well-dressed homeless people sleeping in the New York subway system. Their leader is Tom Bailey, a one-man employment agency who finds other drifters odd jobs and sleeping quarters. To help research her story, Angie goes undercover and pretends to be a stranded girl from out-of-town. Trouble ensues when Tom discovers her real identity.

Broadway production

After two previews, the Broadway 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 Michael Kidd, opened on December 27, 1961 at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 205 performances. The cast included Orson Bean, Sydney Chaplin, Carol Lawrence, Gordon Connell, Grayson Hall, and Green's wife Phyllis Newman (whose costume, consisting solely of a towel, was probably Freddy Wittop's easiest design in his distinguished career), with newcomers Michael Bennett and Valerie Harper in the chorus. ''Subways Are for Sleeping'' opened to mostly negative reviews. The show already was hampered by a lack of publicity, since the

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

refused to post advertisements on the city's buses and in subway trains and stations for fear they would be perceived as officially sanctioning the right of vagrants to use these facilities as overnight accommodations. Producer

David Merrick David Merrick (born David Lee Margoulis; November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000) was an American theatrical producer who won a number of Tony Awards. Life and career Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick gra ...

and press agent Harvey Sabinson decided to invite individuals with the same names as prominent theatre critics (such as

Walter Kerr Walter Francis Kerr (July 8, 1913 – October 9, 1996) was an American writer and Broadway theatre critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals as well as the author of several books, genera ...

Richard Watts, Jr. Richard Watts Jr. (1898–1981) was an American theatre critic. Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Watts was educated at Columbia University. He began his writing career as the film critic for the ''New York Herald Tribune'' before assuming the ...

and

Howard Taubman Hyman Howard Taubman (July 4, 1907 – January 8, 1996) was an American music critic, theater critic, and author. Biography Born in Manhattan, Taubman attended DeWitt Clinton High School and then won a four-year scholarship to Cornell Universit ...

) to see the show, and afterwards used their favorable comments in print ads. Thanks to photographs of the seven "critics" accompanying their blurbs (the well-known real Richard Watts was not

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

), the ad was discovered to be a deception. It was pulled from most newspapers, but not before running in an early edition of the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

''. However, the clever publicity stunt allowed the musical to continue to run and it eventually turned a small profit. Newman won the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and nominations went to Bean for Best Featured Actor and Kidd's choreography. An original cast recording was released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. A revival production was briefly mounted in 2009.

Songs

;Act I * Subways Are for Sleeping * Girls Like Me * Station Rush * I'm Just Taking My Time * I Was a Shoo-In * Subway Directions * Ride Through the Night * Who Knows What Might Have Been * Swing Your Projects * Strange Duet * I Said It and I'm Glad * Be a Santa ;Act II * Subway Incident * How Can You Describe a Face? * I Just Can't Wait * Comes Once in a Lifetime * What Is This Feeling in the Air?

References

External links

*
Museum of Hoaxes Article about David Merrick and ''Subways''
{{Comden and Green 1961 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals by Betty Comden and Adolph Green Musicals by Jule Styne Musicals inspired by real-life events Plays set in New York City Works set on the New York City Subway Tony Award-winning musicals

Synopsis

Broadway production

Songs

References

Further reading

External links