| I Can Get It For You Wholesale | |
|---|---|
 Broadway Opening Playbill | |
| Music | Harold Rome |
| Lyrics | Harold Rome |
| Book | Jerome Weidman |
| Basis | Novel by Jerome Weidman |
| Productions | 1962Broadway 1962 National tour 1991Off-Broadway 2023 Off-Broadway revival |
I Can Get It for You Wholesale is a musical originally produced byDavid Merrick, with music and lyrics byHarold Rome, and book byJerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel of the same title. Its 1962 production marked theBroadway debut of 19-year-oldBarbra Streisand, who was nominated for theTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. The story is set in the New York CityGarment District in 1937, during theGreat Depression, and the songs utilize traditional Jewish harmonies evocative of the setting and the period of the show.
In the albumJust for the Record, Streisand recalls, "My first audition for the show was on the morning after Thanksgiving in 1961. Since the action took place in the 1930s, I showed up in a '30s fur coat that I'd bought in a thrift shop for $10. I sang three songs, including my new standby "A Sleepin' Bee". They asked me to come back and gave me "Miss Marmelstein" to learn for my second audition a few hours later." Harold Rome said, "The 'Miss Marmelstein' number was written before the casting of Barbra Streisand in the role, but her part was then enlarged. Somebody is that good ... you try to use them as much as possible."[1]
The 1951film with the same title is based very loosely on the original novel.
The musical premiered on Broadway at theShubert Theatre on March 22, 1962. Directed byArthur Laurents and choreographed byHerbert Ross, it starredElliott Gould as Harry Bogen. In addition to Streisand in the small role of Bogen's secretary, Miss Marmelstein, the supporting cast includedLillian Roth as Mrs. Bogen andMarilyn Cooper as Ruthie Rivkin, withHarold Lang,Bambi Linn, Ken LeRoy, andSheree North. On October 1, it transferred toThe Broadway Theatre, where it closed on December 9 after a total run of two previews and 300 performances. Gould and Streisand later married.
In 1991, the American Jewish Theatre staged a revival directed and choreographed by Richard Sabellico. The production starredEvan Pappas as Bogen,Carolee Carmello as Ruthie, Jim Brachitta as Teddy, andVicki Lewis as Miss Marmelstein. It was nominated for theOuter Critics Circle Award as Best Revival, and Best Actor in a Musical for Pappas.[2]
In 2002, Arcola Theatre in London, a former clothes factory, produced the show for its second anniversary. The director was Mehmet Ergen with co-director William Galinsky.[3]
In 2023, theClassic Stage Company staged a revival starringSantino Fontana,Judy Kuhn andJulia Lester.[4][5]
Harry Bogen is an ambitious, unscrupulous young businessman in the 1930s New York City garment industry. He will stop at nothing to get to the top: he lies to his mother and his long-suffering girlfriend, Ruthie Rivkin, who try to help him become a better person, but he embezzles company funds from Apex Modes and betrays his friends and partners. Harry leaves Ruthie to take up with Martha Mills, a gold-digging dancer in Club Rio Rhumba, as tough and hard as the diamonds Harry rewards her with. But Harry goes bankrupt and loses his fairweather friends. Only his mother and Ruthie stand by him, but there is a surprising ally to re-emerge from the past.
| Original Broadway (1962)[6] | National Tour (1962)[7] | Off-Broadway Revival (1991)[8] | Off-Broadway Revival (2023)[9] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Bogen | Elliott Gould | Larry Kert | Evan Pappas | Santino Fontana |
| Maurice Pulvermacher | Jack Kruschen | Jay Sadler | Joel Brooks | Adam Grupper |
| Miss Marmelstein | Barbra Streisand | Carol Arthur | Vicki Lewis | Julia Lester |
| Ruthie Rivkin | Marilyn Cooper | Andrea Stevens | Carolee Carmello | Rebecca Naomi Jones |
| Meyer Bushkin | Ken LeRoy | Michael Shaw | Richard Levine | Adam Chanler-Berat |
| Mrs. Ida Bogen | Lillian Roth | Fritzi Burr | Patti Karr | Judy Kuhn |
| Martha Mills | Sheree North | Nan Courtney | Deborah Carlson | Joy Woods |
| Blanche Bushkin | Bambi Linn | Sandra Kent | Alix Korey | Sarah Steele |
| Teddy Asch | Harold Lang | Tony Monaco | Jim Bracchitta | Greg Hildreth |
Original Broadway (1962)
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Off-Broadway Revision (2023)
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| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Tony Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | Barbra Streisand | Nominated |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Revival | Pending | |
| Outstanding Leading Performer in a Musical | Santino Fontana | Pending | ||
| Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | Nominated | ||
| Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | Won | ||
| Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical | Judy Kuhn | Won | ||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | Won | ||
| Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical | Santino Fontana | Nominated | ||
Theoriginal cast recording was released byColumbia Records. According to Gary Marmorstein, "Columbia badly wanted Harold Rome'sI Can Get it For You Wholesale. As an inducement to Rome [Goddard] Lieberson offered to record the twenty-fifth anniversary version of hisInternational Ladies' Garment Workers' Union showPins and Needles."[10]
Goddard Lieberson, who produced theWholesale cast album for Columbia Records, signed Streisand to a contract, and her first solo album was released two months after the show closed.
The musical garnered mixed reviews and lost money despite a run of 300 performances. As theatre historianKen Mandelbaum noted,How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying had opened five months earlier with a similar, but more palatable, story. J. Pierrepont Finch is a much more "cuddly betrayer... and audiences were less willing to confrontWholesale's unflinching portrayal of Harry's little world of "men and ulcers on parade... that shouldn't detract from the fact that it was a daring and distinctive musical.".[11]
Howard Taubman ofThe New York Times wrote that the show generated a "lot of momentum" and added, "It is spirited in its appreciation of the garment-trade milieu, and both winning and tearfully sentimental in its treatment of Jewish folks and some of their Bronx folkways." He thought the score was pleasant, using "folklife motifs to distill the flavor of Jewish life." Saving the most lavish praise for last, he wrote that Streisand was the "evening's find... a girl with an oafish expression, a loud irascible voice and an arpeggiated laugh. Miss Streisand is a natural comedienne."[12]
TheTime critic observed, "Wholesale relies heavily on Jewish folk and speech ways. But as comedy, Jewish dialect is in awkward transition, no longer funny and not yet English. Harold Rome's score is drab and his lyrics resemble either singing dialogue or nursery rhymes... Harold Lang and Sheree North make a scorching sex rite out of 'What's In It for Me?'... Barbra Streisand trips the show into stray laughs. For the rest,Wholesale is as quiet as Seventh Avenue onYom Kippur."[13]
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