The production experienced many challenges, and constant revisions were made by the creative team during previews.[1]
My Favorite Year received mixed-to-negative reviews. The New York Times's Frank Rich called the musical "a missed opportunity, a bustling but too frequently flat musical that suffers from another vogue of the 1950s, an identity crisis,"[2] and disapproved of the melodramatic turn taken in the show's second act. Time magazine called it a "barren Broadway musical."[3]
The original cast recording was released by RCA Victor.
In March 2007, The Chicago Sun-Times revealed that Flaherty and Ahrens were "reworking the show with an eye on a new Broadway production."[4] Flaherty said that "In hindsight, I think our decision to paint the musical in somewhat darker colors was a mistake." Among the revisions made to the show are two new songs, incorporated into a March 2007 production of the show at the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago.[5]
Musicals Tonight! in New York City presented a staged concert in April 2003.[6]
The York Theatre Company Musicals in Mufti in New York City presented a staged concert in December 2014. Lynn Ahrens reminisced about the first time Andrea Martin sang "Professional Showbizness Comedy": "It bombed.... By the time we got done with our rewrites...she stopped the show."[7]
In the 1950s, Benjy Stone (a Mel Brooks-type), is a sketch writer for a live television variety show starring King Kaiser (a Sid Caesar-type) ("Twenty Million People"). Signed for a guest appearance is Alan Swann (an Errol Flynn-type), a one-time movie idol whose career was disrupted by his addiction to alcohol and loose women. Benjy writes a sketch for Swann about a Musketeer and a princess being captured ("The Musketeer Sketch"). The task of keeping him sober and celibate until airtime falls to Benjy, who soon finds himself involved in a sequence of shenanigans.
Various characters, including Benjy's pushy mother Belle Steinberg Carroca and Alan Swann's estranged daughter Tess, complicate Benjy's task. The other writers, Sy, Alice and Herb, add to the chaos.
Differences from the original film
In the film, there is a subplot surrounding King Kaiser angering Karl Rojeck, a corrupt union boss with a comedy sketch depicting Rojek as a stereotypical gangster. Neither the character of Rojeck nor the sketch that angered him is included in the plot of the musical.
In the film's epilogue, Benjy relates that Swann agreed to visit his daughter Tess in person; in the musical, Tess invites Swann to an award ceremony, and they meet there. They also reunite in the final song.
The Musketeer sketch is minor to the plot in the film; in the musical, it is central to the plot, being that it is the sketch Benjy wrote for Swann. Four of the show's songs are dedicated to it.
Songs
Act I
"Twenty Million People" – Benjy and Company
"Larger Than Life" – Benjy
"The Musketeer Sketch" – Benjy, Sy, King, Alice, K.C., Leo and Herb
"Waldorf Suite" – Benjy, Offstage Chorus
"Rookie in the Ring" – Belle
"Manhattan" – Alan and Ensemble
"Naked in Bethesda Fountain" – Sy, Alice, Leo, Herb and K.C.
"The Gospel According to King" – King, Alan and Ensemble
"The Musketeer Sketch Rehearsal" – Musketeers, Benjy, and Alan
"Funny / The Duck Joke" – K. C. and Alice
"The Musketeer Sketch Rehearsal Part II" – King, Alan and Ensemble
"Welcome to Brooklyn" – Morty, Rookie, Belle, Sadie, Benjy, Alan and Neighbors
"If the World Were Like the Movies" – Alan
Act II
"Exits" – Alan
"Shut Up and Dance" – K.C., Benjy, Offstage Chorus
"Professional Showbizness Comedy" – Alice, King and Ensemble
