| Tenderloin | |
|---|---|
 Original Cast Recording | |
| Music | Jerry Bock |
| Lyrics | Sheldon Harnick |
| Book | George Abbott andJerome Weidman |
| Basis | 1959 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams,Tenderloin |
| Productions | 1960Broadway 2000Broadway concert |
Tenderloin is amusical with a book byGeorge Abbott andJerome Weidman, lyrics bySheldon Harnick, and music byJerry Bock, their follow-up to the highly successfulPulitzer Prize-winningFiorello! a year earlier. The musical is based on a 1959 novel bySamuel Hopkins Adams. Set in theTenderloin, ared-light district in 1890sManhattan, the show's story focuses on Reverend Brock, a character loosely based onAmericanclergyman andsocial reformerCharles Henry Parkhurst.
After six previews, theBroadway production, directed by Abbott andchoreographed byJoe Layton, opened on October 17, 1960, at the46th Street Theatre, where it ran for 216 performances. The cast includedMaurice Evans (better known as aShakespearean actor than a musical performer) as Reverend Brock andRon Husmann as Tommy.
Tony Award nominations went to Evans forBest Actor in a Musical, Husmann forBest Featured Actor in a Musical, andCecil Beaton forBest Costume Design in a Musical, and Husmann won theTheatre World Award for his performance.
Anoriginal cast recording was released byCapitol Records, andBobby Darin's recording of "Artificial Flowers" reached #20 on theBillboard charts.[1]
The musical was produced inNew York City Center'sEncores! staged concert series in March 2000, directed byWalter Bobbie and choreographed byRob Ashford. The cast includedDavid Ogden Stiers (Brock),Debbie Gravitte (Nita),Tom Alan Robbins (Joe),Patrick Wilson (Tommy),Sarah Uriarte Berry (Laura),Kevin Conway (Lt. Schmidt), and Jessica Stone (Margie).[2][3]
A concert cast recording was released by DRG Records.
Reverend Brock, a single-minded 1890s social reformer works to sanitize the Tenderloin, a red-light neighborhood in western Manhattan. He is foiled by everyone associated with the district, including the corrupt politicians and police who aretaking their cut from the earnings of theprostitutes who work the streets there. Tommy Howatt, a writer for the localscandal sheetTatler, infiltrates the minister's church and proceeds to play one side against the other, eventually framing Brock by revealing to the authorities his plan to raid thebrothels, but ultimately saving him by siding with him at his trial. As a result, the Tenderloin is shut down and Brock, asked to resign from his church, heads forDetroit with the hope of succeeding there as well.
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William andJames Goldman were called in to doctor the show. "We'd been writing those other things and somebody must have read it and liked it and we were probably cheap and they asked us to do it," recalls William Goldman.[4] Goldman also said the writer they replaced would not leave the project. "It was terrifying."[4]
