Each month, Jason Fortner spotlights one or more musical theatre composers and/or lyricists, offering his own unique perspective on the songwriting legends of musical theatre. Send your comments/questions on this column to happgood@aol.com.

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As "fall nips the air" and October is here, thoughts turn to the most famous day in October… Halloween! Although not nearly as popular as White Christmases and Easter Parades, Halloween has provided inspiration for Broadway songwriters over the years as well…

We can start with Eve Harrington in the musical APPLAUSE. In this Charles Strouse / Lee Adams hit she had a minor nervous breakdown in song entitled One Halloween in which she recounted her creating a "fairy queen costume of your own design" and Daddy, upon seeing her all dolled up, telling her "you look like a whore." She replies, "well damn you Daddy, look at your little girl now" and instantly becomes Lauren Bacall. This one incident is the catalyst of her entire dazzling rise on Broadway. So the moral here is go ahead, let your parents criticize you, it'll make you a star!

From the lights of Broadway we next visit a much happier family in Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane's 1989 stage version of their film MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. Little Tootie, an Eve Harrington in the making if ever there was one, creates quite a stir at Halloween time, with Katie the Maid providing a musical introduction with Ghosties and Ghoulies and Things That Go Bump In the Night. This is immediately followed by the Halloween Ballet, more of a nightmare ballet than a dream ballet but a ballet nonetheless. If turn of the last century Halloween ballets are your thing you can find another in the musical version of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, this time with music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.

Gretchen Cryer &; Nancy Ford traveled over similar terrain in their musical NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN, this time evoking small town charm while facing the social issues of the turbulent 1960's in a Halloween Hayride. Speaking of quaint small towns, was there ever one more quaint that the title village of Frank Loesser's GREENWILLOW. In that short-lived show there's a Halloween Dance, although I'm not so sure I'd trust that guy playing Gideon Briggs, he was Norman Bates, you know!

The musicals of the 1920's brought us a couple of Halloween entries as well. The first is the long forgotten musical HONEYMOON LANE, with music by James F. Hanley and lyrics by Eddie Dowling. There was a song in this 1926 show entitled Hallowe'en. Two years later on Broadway Eddie Cantor scored a hit starring in WHOOPEE, with music by Walter Donaldson and lyrics by Gus Kahn. This show had the now forgotten Halloween Whoopee Ball which sounds like a lot of fun to me! Fast forward almost fifty years and you'll find a show that died on the way to Broadway entitled HALLOWEEN, although I doubt it had the same plot as the films of the same name. This 1972 Broadway road-kill had a title song as well, penned by composer Mitch Leigh and lyricist Sidney Michaels.

Now that we've found some Halloween titles we need to flesh out our casts. Surely we'll want to invite the title character from Pitchford & Gore's CARRIE, she can liven up any soiree! (Just make sure you've got an ample budget for pig blood!) If we need some witches we can find them in a number of Broadway sources, from the three soulful sisters singing Double Bubble in Styne/Comden & Green's HALLELUJAH, BABY! to the witches of Oz in both Arlen & Harburg's THE WIZARD OF OZ and Stephen Schwartz's juggernaut musical hit WICKED. Chita Rivera played an evil sorceress in the short lived MERLIN (music by Elmer Bernstein, lyrics by Don Black) while Lucie Arnaz, Joanna Riding and Maria Friedman played the titled trio in London's delightful THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, music by Dana P. Rowe and lyrics by John Dempsey. Of course, one need look no further than Rodgers & Hart's PAL JOEY to be Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.

Every witch needs a cat, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS is chock full of them, so many that they can't all stay on the damn stage. Those acrobatic felines might want to dance The Pussy Foot from GOLDILOCKS or sing about being Two Little Pussycats in THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY. A cat figures prominently in the story of THE BAKER'S WIFE and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (HOLLY GOLIGHTLY) but both shows closed in previews.

Next we need monsters, and there are plenty to choose from. The Frankenstein monster was spoofed in Ervin Drake's WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN? and in the Off Broadway Bride of Frankenstein musical entitled HAVE I GOT A GIRL FOR YOU! Speaking of Frankenstein monster-sized hits, Mel Brooks is preparing to launch his YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN musical on the Great White Way. (That's Frahnk en steen!)

If you need a Devil, Broadway musicals are full of them. Starting with THE BLACK CROOK in 1866, these horny little guys have popped up all over in Broadway musicals. Ray Walston took the subtle approach as Mr. Applegate in Ross & Adler's DAMN YANKEES while Ian McShane played it big as Darryl Van Horn in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK in London. Other devilish candidates could be SWEENEY TODD, that demon barber of Fleet Street, Norm Lewis & the cast of SIDESHOW singing The Devil You Know (Beats the Devil You Don't) or the cast of BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA singing the riotous (If The Devil's Callin') Hang Up! And let us not forget the crazy antics of the out of control HELLZAPOPPIN' and the strangest excuse for a stage musical ever put on a movie screen, the fictional Broadway musical SATAN'S ALLEY in the Sylvester Stallone/John Travolta film STAYIN' ALIVE.

Now that show really wouldn't have a ghost of a chance on a real stage, but musical theater has provided some ghostly, yet friendly shows as well. There are hordes of ghosts in Sondheim's FOLLIES, most of which just want to sing and dance again. London had a CASPER (the Friendly Ghost) musical a few years back, again starring Chita Rivera. (Where does she find these gems?) There's a passel of ghosts in THE SECRET GARDEN as well, although some less astute audience members missed the delineation at times. The 1950 flop musical GREAT TO BE ALIVE dealt with ghostly happenings as did HIGH SPIRITS, the musical retelling of Noel Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT, this time with tunes by Hugh Martin & Timothy Gray and an amazing performance of the ethereal Tammy Grimes as ghost wife Elvira. I suppose almost everybody in Lerner & Loewe's BRIGADOON is a ghost of some sort, although they wouldn't hurt a fly. Dietz & Schwartz penned a song called Haunted Heart for the revue INSIDE U.S.A. while the recent LA production of a musical version of THE GHOST & MRS. MUIR prove that the topic still fascinates writers.

Finally, we have vampires. After the triple whammy of DANCES OF THE VAMPIRES, DRACULA and LESTAT what more can I say? Is there any vampire ground left untold? Is there a LOST BOYS musical about to fly into New York? Let's hope not. But if there is, perhaps they can borrow a tune from AVENUE Q and sing a rousing chorus of It Sucks To Be You.