Each month has an animal associated with it, and May is associated with the squirrel. Who knew? Well, this week’s Dress Circle (5/3 7:00 p.m.) is definitely not squirrelly in any stretch of the imagination as we look at overtures and opening numbers from 11 of the musicals that opened this month.
We’re beginning with the overture to a Victor Herbert operetta which is celebrating the 119th anniversary of a revival of “Mlle. Modiste” which had its world premiere in a little town called Trenton, NJ with Herbert at the podium!
Our most recent opening comes from Cirque du Soliel’s only Broadway outing, “Paramour” which played in 2016; there hasn’t been another May musical opening on Broadway since, and before that, the last opening was in 2008!
Once again, we’ve got some familiar works that include the overtures from “Mame,” “Damn Yankees,” and “The Pajama Game.”
Lesser-known works include “Louisiana Purchase” and “New Girl in Town.”
There are others including a show that opened in Los Angeles in May, had hoped to work its way across the country to open in New York, but had so many issues that it never made it. It did, however, achieve legendary status but has defied many attempts at correcting the issues with the book even though it has a stellar score by Stephen Schwartz. It’s “The Baker’s Wife.”
There are a few more, but you’ll just have to tune in to see what they are. Tune in; be surprised, and enjoy another happy hour of excellent music.
