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.

I’m writing this column having just seen the December 6^th matinee of ROAD SHOW at New York’s Public Theater. Starring Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani as real life brothers Wilson and Addison Mizner, today’s show is the latest variation in a long and winding road of creation. As Sondheim aficionados cross their fingers in anticipation of a higher profile future, I thought I’d chat a bit about the process to bring this long gestating project to Broadway.

Wilson & Addison Mizner Source: sondheim.com

Starting at the very beginning, we need to go back to the early 50’s, when composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim first read the dual biography entitled The Legendary Mizners by Professor Alva Johnston. (Sondheim himself laughs about the long, long out-of-town tryout the show has had, stating that it’s been 56 years since he first read the Johnston book.) The real life adventures and misadventures of Wilson and Addison proved to be stimulating reading, even if their riches to rags to riches to rags story seemed difficult to corral into a workable form for the stage.

In many interviews, Sondheim admits that most projects are brought to him by others, but this seems to have had an alluring fascination for Mr. Sondheim for over 50 years. Sondheim seems entranced with stories that look at the elusive American Dream, both the bright and dark side of it. Additionally, the character of Wilson was intriguing to him. "He was essentially not a good guy, he was a scam artist and a crook, but apparently he had great charm, and he was a great promoter. So, anyway, he fascinated me." The real Wilson Mizner has a couple of famous quotes attributed to him, including "Be nice to people on the way up because you'll see the same people on the way down," or, "If you copy from one author, it's plagiarism; if you copy from two, it's research." Of his time as a movie screenwriter in Hollywood during the early talkie era, Wilson described his experience as "a trip through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat."

Sondheim took an option on the book, only to find that producer David Merrick had beaten him to it, intending it to be musicalized by Irving Berlin as a vehicle for Bob Hope (starring as Wilson). Years passed with no progress and the options dropped. Sondheim looked into the idea of the show again in the early 90’s . He met with librettist John Weidman who was drawn into the project, finding fascination with the character of each brother. Weidman also liked delving into the complex relationship of the brothers as well as the anything goes attitude of America at the time.

The Boca Raton Resort & Club (originally The Cloister Inn) in Boca Raton, FL, one of several Florida hotels designed by Addison Mizner. Source: puttingzone.com

The Mizner story is indeed an intriguing one, filled with larger than life experiences that seem to be too plentiful to be true. Forays to the Alaskan Gold Rush, travels to the Far East, brushes with the law involving prize fighters and jockeys coupled with New York stage shows, Hollywood screenplays, architectural innovations and the Florida Land Boom and subsequent Land Bust all combine to provide the fabric to their story. With the decidedly more extroverted Wilson leading the way, the boys make and lose several fortunes over the course of their complicatedly convoluted lives.

Sondheim says: "... a little background about the Mizners themselves. Addison Mizner (1872-1933) and Wilson Mizner (1876-1933) were brothers who, although they played only a minor role in the cultural history of this country, might well be seen (at least by John and me) to represent two divergent aspects of American energy: the builder and the squanderer, the visionary and the promoter, the conformist and the maverick, the idealistic planner and the restless cynic, the one who uses things and the one who uses them up..." In the eyes of Sondheim and book writer John Weidman, it is the perfect fodder for the exploration of the elusive American Dream, the epitome of the Horatio Alger style story IF Alger’s heroes didn’t mind working on both sides of the law to reach their goal.

Sondheim and Weidman have created many variations of this piece over the ensuing years, each with its own merits. "I've written so many more songs for this show than any other show I've ever been connected with," Sondheim says. "Usually, there are two or three songs on the average that don't get into a show, or get cut out, or whatever — finished songs — but this one ... there are a couple of dozen."

The first real attempt at making the show a reality was in the mid 90’s, when Sondheim & Weidman were commissioned by the Kennedy Center to produce WISE GUYS there, but it never materialized. A Broadway production was announced in 1999, but after a workshop in October of that year in the East Village the show ended after the writers felt it needed more development. Starring Nathan Lane as Addison and Victor Garber as Wilson, the workshop provided the first look these two sibling rapscallions and featured songs such as "Wise Guys", "Brotherly Love", "My Two Brothers" and "A House For Mama". Though the workshop was directed by Sam Mendes, it was held that his vision often clashed with those of the creators.

Sondheim and Weidman continued to work on the show and two years later renamed it GOLD! Plans were made to put on a production of at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago with Hal Prince slated to direct. This came to a halt when producer Scott Rudin, a producer of the workshop, sent off cease & desist letters claming rights to the show. Because of this, the production was canceled. Sondheim then filed suit claiming Rudin's letters destroyed the Goodman production. It asked for 5 million dollars in damages and to "terminate defendant Rudin's intentional, malicious and wrongful interference." On December 4, 2001, State Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman granted a request for a preliminary injunction in favor of Sondheim & Weidman and ordered Mr. Rudin to stop claiming rights to the show. In a tit-for-tat move, Rudin countersued on December 5, 2001. Soon after, with far too much publicity, the parties reached a settlement.

GOLD! was renamed to BOUNCE on February 5, 2003. The project received a full production at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in June, 2003 with Hal Prince directing, featuring Howard McGillin as Wilson, Richard Kind as Addison, Jane Powell as Mama Mizner, Gavin Creel as Hollis Bessemer and Michele Pawk as an invented female love interest named Nellie. In A New York Times article, Hal Prince takes the credit for Nellie, stating that his first response to the new musical now known as BOUNCE was that there wasn't enough sex in it. Now that he's added Michele Pawk to the cast, he said, there is.''The girl can do anything,'' Mr. Prince said in an interview. ''And be gorgeous.'' Mr. Prince quotes that as an audience member of the first Mendes workshop he stated the following: ''I actually said what I've waited my whole life to say,'' Mr. Prince recalled. '' 'Where are the girls?' '' The role of Nellie appeared throughout the show, due to some convoluted playing with historical fact, to allow Wilson a female counterpart, appearing as a Yukon saloon girl who becomes a New York socialite and South Florida homeowner.

Michelle Pawk & Howard McGillin in BOUNCE Photo by Liz Larsen Source: playbill.com

The other love interest in the show is Addison’s younger lover, originally named "Paris Singer" in the early versions and changed to "Hollis Bessemer" for subsequent ones. (Singer was an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune and developed Palm Beach with Addison.) This new creation, based on aspects of Mr. Singer, is the soulful aesthete who wishes to create an artist’s colony in South Florida and tries to realize it in collaboration with Addison.

BOUNCE got mixed to negative notices at the Goodman, despite Mr. Prince’s efforts. The style was broad, vaudevillian and often bordered on cartoonish. Even the show’s poster featured a very cartoonish look, something that was re-thought for the album release. In October of 2003, after some reworking, BOUNCE played a month-long run at The Kennedy Center, but after a slew of negative reviews the thought of a Broadway transfer ended.

Gavin Creel & Richard Kind In BOUNCE Photo by Liz Larsen Source: theatremania.com

Fast forward to early 2006, when a week of private readings for a reworked version of BOUNCE was held at the Public Theatre in New York City. None other than Bernadette Peters played Mama Mizner, with Richard Kind reprising his role of Addison Mizner. On June 29, 2007 John Weidman announced BOUNCE would get its New York premiere at the Public Theatre in 2008. In an announcement on April 18, 2008 it was released that John Doyle was on board to direct, having helmed the critically acclaimed actor/musician versions of SWEENEY TODD and COMPANY on Broadway as well as the (soon to be) short lived A CATERED AFFAIR.

On August 12, 2008 it was revealed that the show would be going through yet another name change. It would be now be called ROAD SHOW and would begin performances at the Public theatre on October 28, open on November 18 and run through December 28, 2008. The current cast features Michael Cerveris as Wilson, Alexander Gemignani as Addison, newcomer Claybourne Elder as Hollis Bessemer, Alma Cuervo as Mama Mizner, and long time Sondheim performer William Parry as Papa Mizner. The rest of the cast features a ten member ensemble, who stay onstage for 90% of the action serving as Greek Chorus, side characters and observers of the brothers’ rises and falls.

Michael Cerveris, Alma Cuervo and Alexander Gemignani in ROAD SHOW Photo by Sara Krulwich Source: New York Times.com

The set, also designed by director Doyle, is a multi leveled collection of furniture, steamer trunks, desks, suitcases and beds that form a collective shadow box effect of our obsession with owning things. As the story barrels along, handfuls of cash are thrown about, creating an ever messier setting of detritus on which to tell this story.

ROAD SHOW Poster Source: newyorktheatreguide.com

The show has been streamlined to one act, getting as bare bones as possible yet using simple theatricality to tell the tale. Having seen the show in Chicago and DC, I do feel that the newest version is the most accessible as far as concise storytelling, even if the show has lost a lot of its humor and, pardon the word, bounce. I missed songs like Papa’s "Opportunity" or Mama’s duet with the brothers "Next To You". But other changes, like giving "The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened" duet to Addison & Hollis, are an inspired choice. Although I’m still dubious as to whether the show will ever find a bigger audience, I was quite pleased with the Public Theater version, thoroughly enjoying the performances of Cerveris and Gemignani as well as admiring much of Doyle’s reserved direction.

Reviews of this latest incarnation of the show have been mixed. Here are some quotes:

Chicago Tribune: . . .For those of us long familiar with this piece, the differences from "Bounce" to "Road Show" are striking. Gone is the vaudevillian gestalt, the woman stuck between the brothers, the second act and many of the songs, including what was once the title number. In their place in John Doyle’s new, simpler production are two better-cast actors in the skilled persons of Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani, many deeper individual moments, a newer emphasis on personal relationship, and a minimalist concept that looks more like one of those City Center skeletal stagings.

These are positive developments. Then as now, the show contains more infectiously beautiful, curious, and resonant music and lyrics than any listener has a right to expect. It has found its final resting place as a rich song suite, with mostly pleasurable theatrical eccentricities. No more, no less.

Variety: . .After considerable reworking and another new title, "Road Show" arrives in New York streamlined by almost an hour and elegantly mounted by John Doyle, whose recent revivals of "Sweeney Todd" and "Company" make him the go-to guy for pared-down Sondheim. Expectations are inevitably inflated for the show, but whether or not this production turns out to be its definitive version, the rocky history feels oddly appropriate for a story about two restless masters of reinvention.

This is an intimate, almost whimsical musical that never strives for the emotional heights of, say, "Sunday in the Park With George" or the grand theatrical flourishes of "Sweeney Todd." In the Sondheim canon, it's closer to the esoterica of his previous Weidman collaborations, in particular "Assassins," which shares a skeptical view of American identity.

LA Times: . . .the work has the misfortune of being good without being sensational, artistically fascinating yet somewhat choppily constructed. Most damning of all, it refuses to pander, a sin that certain types of theater buffs consider unpardonable.

So here we are, after 55 years, with the latest incarnation of this long gestating musical playing a limited run in NYC. Any fan of Sondheim should make an effort to see it, for, despite the challenges of its creation, it is thrilling to see new works by this master of melody and rhyme. Teamed with librettist Weidman and director Doyle, they’ve come closer than any other team in making this newest Sondheim piece a work of distinction and beauty.