WONDERFUL TOWN DVD

Wonderful Town was written by Leonard Bernstein (music), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (lyrics), and Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov (book). It was originally directed by George Abbott, choreographed by Donald Saddler and produced by Robert Fryer. It debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on February 25, 1953 and ran for 559 performances, closing in July 3, 1954. It was broadcast live as a television special on CBS in 1958, starring Rosalind Russell and here it is, still never released, airing just that one night.
The story is a reworking of the play My Sister Eileen, following the story of two sisters from Ohio who move to New York City in search of love and fortune. The main characters are Ruth and Eileen Sherwood, two sisters from Columbus, Ohio trying to make their way in the big city. The play is based on a collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney, also entitled My Sister Eileen, in which Ruth recounts memories of growing up with her sister. The collection was published as an orange hardcover book in 1938, three years after the events depicted in the musical. Only the final two stories in the book have anything to do with the plot of Wonderful Town, and they are heavily modified for the musical. In the original story, the sisters' landlord is named Mr. Spitzer, while his name is Mr. Appopolous in the musical version. Jackie McKeever excels as the bubble-headed blond, Eileen. All she cares about is when is her next man going to show up! Which dosen't seem to hard sense almost every man she meets starts to drool when he see's her! Her reasons for coming to New York are very simple: to break into the theater! Next you have Ruth, Eileen's big sister. Played by none other than Rosalind Russell. Ruth is attractive, tall, dark, sharped witted and repel almost every man she meets! ("I did run into one man. And he said, 'Why the hell don't you watch where your goin'!'") There are a lot of other character's that need no going into if you'v read the book, seen the movie or seen the play. The musical numbers for the most part are fun and easy to take. the best song's have to be, "Ohio," (preformed by McKeever and Russell.) One Hundered Easy Ways to Lose a Man," "Swing,"(both mainly done by Roz. Although she has never been thought of for her singing, she was brilliant! She made it all fun and gave everything she did "energy!" Even though she was 51 years, she was still beautiful and more vibrant then the whole cast put together!)"Quite Girl" and "The Wrong Note Rag." I musn't forget Cris Alexander! He was very funny, and very loveble in the role of Frank Lippincott.