City of Angels (1990)
by Claire J Rottenberg
It is surprising that "City of Angels,"
which is a parody of the movie industry, never became
a film. The Tony award winner is a play within a
play, with two parallel stories - the story of
screenwriter Stine and the story of the screenplay he
is writing about a detective named Stone. Except for
the two male leads (Greg Edelman as Stine and
James Naughton as
Stone), the actors and actresses played two parts,
a real-life character in author Stine's life
and the counterpart character in Stine's
screenplay.
"City of Angels" ran on Broadway for 878
performances from December 1989 until January 1992.
It had a London production in 1993 but it has never
been revived on Broadway. Larry Gelbart wrote the
book and Cy Coleman composed the score with lyrics by
David Zippel. Michael Blakemore directed the
production.
"City of Angels" had an excellent cast
with 4 members receiving Tony nominations and both
James Naughton (Best Actor in a Musical) and Randy
Graff (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) winning
the awards. Rene Auberjonois and
Greg Edelman were the other nominated
actors.
The score for "City of Angels" included
14 songs and each of the 8 main characters had at
least one song. Each of the 4 female performers had a
solo number. The excellent score won a Tony award for
Cy Coleman and David Zippel. "City of
Angels" won a total of 6 Tony awards, including
the awards for Best Musical and Best Book of a
Musical. It was nominated for a total of 11
awards.
I was fortunate enough to see "City of
Angels" early in it Broadway run and it was
wonderful. The score has easily remembered melodies
and lyrics, many filled with humor that matches the
wit of the play.