| Songbook | |
|---|---|
| Music | Monty Norman |
| Lyrics | Monty Norman, Julian More |
| Book | Monty Norman, Julian More |
| Productions | 1979London 1979Wisbech 1981Broadway |
| Awards | Olivier Award (Best New Musical 1979) Ivor Novello Award |
Songbook (New York titleThe Moony Shapiro Songbook) is a musical with music byMonty Norman and book and lyrics by Monty Norman andJulian More. The musical tells the improbable life story of a fictional songwriter, born in Liverpool in 1908, who has a colourful career with extraordinary successes and setbacks, loves and losses, and brushes with celebrities and historic events; he dies celebrated.
It premiered at theGielgud Theatre in London on 25 July 1979, where it ran for 208 performances.
Through a series of witty pastiches, the musical tells the life story of a fictional songwriter, Mooney Shapiro, born Liverpool 1908, who emigrates to New York's Lower East Side, before finding Broadway and Hollywood success (cue Gershwin and deSylva/Brown/Henderson spoofs), marrying a Swedish film star and writing for early Busby Berkeley film musicals. Mooney flees the Depression for Europe, where he joins the expat Paris scene (cue Piaf spoof) and falls for an English aristocrat, whose sister is a close friend of Hitler (cue Berlin Olympics 1936). Returning to the US, Mooney scores an Andrews Sisters style hit, then returns to write patriotic numbers for Blitz-ed London (cue Cicely Courtneidge & Marlene Dietrich spoofs). After WW2, Mooney is back in the USA writing returning-GI hits (cue Como/Sinatra spoof) and hoe-down, mid-West feelgood Broadway musical before falling foul of McCarthyism. This brings him back to his native Liverpool (1960) where (surprise, surprise) he writes for a new pop group and a new generation (cue Beatles spoof)! The Swinging Sixties come and go, leaving Mooney stranded again, losing wife and lover, a teenage singer, who conquers the charts with an old Shapiro number reworked as a disco hit. Back on top again, the aged Mooney dies, rich in honours, with a parting song 'Nostalgia'. half-celebrating, half-mocking his long songwriting career.[citation needed]
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It premiered at theGielgud Theatre (then called "Globe Theatre"), in London on 25 July 1979 and ran for 208 performances.[1][2] The production was directed byJonathan Lynn with musical staging byGillian Lynne. On 23 September 1979 the cast performed for one night at the GeorgianAngles Theatre, Wisbech,Isle of Ely, relocating from the Gielgud Theatre for the single performance. This event was arranged by cast member and president of the Angles TheatreAnton Rodgers.[3]
The musical opened on Broadway at theMorosco Theatre on 3 May 1981 and closed after the 1 performance and 15 previews.[citation needed] Helmed again by Jonathan Lynn with musical staging byGeorge Faison, the musical featuredGary Beach,Jeff Goldblum,Judy Kaye and Timothy Jerome as "Mooney Shapiro".[citation needed] All of the cast members played several characters, one of which was their real-life name. The musical received aTony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical.[citation needed]
Songbook received theOlivier Award for the Best New Musical in 1979. In his review forThe New York Times,Frank Rich wrote that "There's the germ of a funny, spiffy satirical revue inThe Moony Shapiro Songbook, the forlorn little musical at the Morosco."[4]