"Turkey Lurkey Time" is a song-and-dance number from Act 1 of ''
Promises, Promises'', the
Burt Bacharach
Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...
/
Hal David
Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick.
Early life
David ...
musical, with a book by
Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
. It was originally choreographed for the 1968
Broadway production by
Michael Bennett. The dance takes place as part of an office
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
party scene.
The dance
As conceived by Bennett "with stunning energy and inventiveness",
[Long, p. 227] "Turkey Lurkey Time" is a dance performed by three secretaries at an office Christmas party. Their infectious singing and gyrations build into a frenetic chorus dance, as the office staff copy the trio, climaxing with some atop the office desks. According to
Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
, "we were having some problems at the end of the first act ... the number
ennettcame up with didn't just solve the problem, it was a sensation."
[
Some of the dancers later claimed they had needed regular trips to the chiropractor, so severe was the strain of Bennett's relentless head-bopping choreography. The secretaries of the original cast were Margo Sappington, ]Baayork Lee
Baayork Lee (born December 5, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author.
Early life and career
Lee was born in New York City's Chinatown, to an Indian mother and Chinese father. She started dancing ...
and Donna McKechnie.
The number was televised at the 1969 Tony Awards
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 ce ...
and also performed in the 2003 movie '' Camp''. The song was also featured in a season four episode of the hit Fox show ''Glee
Glee means delight, a form of happiness.
Glee may also refer to:
* Glee (music), a type of English choral music
* ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy
* ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...
''.
Watch
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*
Notes
References
*Long, Robert Emmet (2001). ''Broadway, the Golden Years: Jerome Robbins and the Great Choreographer-directors: 1940 to the Present'', Continuum International Publishing Group,
*Mandelbaum, Ken (1990). A Chorus Line' and the Musicals of Michael Bennett''. St Martins Press,
*McKechnie, Donna; Lawrence, Greg (2006). ''Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life'', New York: Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN, 0-7432-5520-8.
1968 songs
American Christmas songs
Songs from musicals
Songs with music by Burt Bacharach
Songs with lyrics by Hal David