George M!

George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were by George M. Cohan himself, with revisions for the musical by Cohan's daughter, Mary Cohan. The story covers the period from the late 1880s until 1937 and focuses on Cohan's life and show business career from his early days in vaudeville with his parents and sister to his later success as a Broadway singer, dancer, composer, lyricist, theatre director and producer. The show includes such Cohan hit songs as "Give My Regards To Broadway", "You're a Grand Old Flag", and "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Productions The musical opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 10, 1968, and closed on April 26, 1969, after 433 performances and 8 previews. The show was produced by David Black and directed and choreographed by Joe Layton. The cast featured Joel Grey as George M. Cohan, Bernadette Peters, Jill O'Hara, Jamie Donnelly, and Betty Ann Grove. The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway. According to Goldman, before the musical opened "Everybody knew how bad George M! was, in spite of Layton's directing work. The show had had its share of troubles on the road. Everybody knew how disappointing Joel Grey was too." Goldman wrote it and Little Foxes "were the "two most painful productions of the season as far as most of the skilled theatre professionals were concerned" as both "were patently rotten and got away with it" in terms of receiving excellent reviews. " A lot of bright, caring people are trying to earn a decent living on Broadway, and when crap sells, panic sets in. The serious pros didn't smile a lot after George M! opened." However while the musical was expected to run for at least two years on the strength of its large advance sale and reviews it ended up only running a year.