| Woman of the Year | |
|---|---|
 Original Cast Recording | |
| Music | John Kander |
| Lyrics | Fred Ebb |
| Book | Peter Stone |
| Basis | 1942 filmWoman of the Year |
| Productions | 1981Broadway 1983 First National Tour 1983Mexico 1983Argentina |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Score Tony Award for Best Book |
Woman of the Year is amusical with a book byPeter Stone and score byJohn Kander andFred Ebb.
Based on theRing Lardner Jr.-Michael Kanin written,Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy starring1942 film, the musical changes the newspaper reporters of the original to television personality Tess Harding andcartoonist Sam Craig, who experience difficulty merging their careers with their marriage. The musical premiered onBroadway in 1981 and starredLauren Bacall.
Just before Tess Harding, a nationally known television news personality, comes on stage to receive an award as "Woman of the Year", she reminisces about an on-aireditorial that she gave denigrating newspapercomic strips. The article offended thecartoonists who frequent the Ink Pot saloon and inspired syndicated cartoonist Sam Craig to publish acaricature depicting her as a snob in his stripKatz. Tess is annoyed, but when the handsome and charming Sam shows up at her office, she apologizes and invites him to dinner. At the Ink Pot, she charms Sam and his colleagues by revealing her knowledge about comic art.
Tess and Sam begin a romance, move in together, and finally marry, but their busy careers leave little time for them to spend together, and their big egos pose problems in their marriage. In one of his comics, Katz quips that marriage is a breeze - it's the living together that's so damned hard. Tess is offended, an argument ensues, and Sam announces he no longer can deal with the couple's fraying love life. The time moves forward to the present, and it's time for Tess to accept her award, just as she has lost the man she loves.
Several weeks later, Tess is conflicted about her role as a powerful newswoman versus her role as a wife. She seeks advice from Russianballet dancer Alexi Petrikov, whom she helped to defect. He tells her that he is returning to Russia, because the wife he left behind is more important than his career. Tess travels to visit first husband Larry Donovan and his wife Jan to discover why their marriage is a success. She decides to concentrate on her marriage and announces that she is resigning from her show. But Sam tells her that he wants her to keep her career; he just wants to be involved in the decisions in their relationship. They decide to work things out.
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| Character | Broadway (1981)[1] | 1st National Tour[2] | Summer Stock Tour[3] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tess Harding | Lauren Bacall | Barbara Eden | |
| Sam Craig | Harry Guardino | Don Chastain | |
| Pinky Peters | Gerry Vichi | Bill Bateman | Steven Kosinski |
| Phil Whittaker | Tom Avera | William H. McDonald | Larry Hansen |
| Ellis McMaster | Rex Hays | Ted Agress | Mace Barrett |
| Gerald Howe | Roderick Cook | Emory Bass | Edward Conery |
| Abbott Canfield | Lawrence Raiken | Dennis Parlato | Tom Flagg |
| Alexi Petrikov | Eivind Harum | James P. Hogan | Alexander Kramarevsky |
| Helga | Grace Keagy | Kathleen Freeman | Dolores Wilson |
| Chip Salisbury | Daren Kelly | John Hammil | Lee Chew |
| Floor Manager | Michael O'Gorman | Timm Stetzner | David Reitman |
| Chairperson | Helon Blount | Irma Rogers | |
| Maury | Rex Everhart | Michael Norris | Ken Ellis |
| Larry Donovan | Jamie Ross | Del Hinkley | Jered Holmes |
| Jan Donovan | Marilyn Cooper | ||
The Broadway production opened on March 29, 1981, at thePalace Theatre, where it ran for 770 performances and eleven previews. Directed byRobert Moore, the cast includedLauren Bacall,Harry Guardino,Marilyn Cooper,Grace Keagy, andRoderick Cook.[4]Raquel Welch filled in for Bacall during her two-week vacation and later replaced her in the run.[5]Debbie Reynolds replaced Welch in February 1983.[6]Barbara Eden played Tess in the 1984 national tour.[7]
Sets were designed byTony Walton and costumes were byTheoni V. Aldredge, and choreography was byTony Charmoli.Michael Sporn created ananimated cat that danced and sang with Guardino.
TheNew York Times provided considerable information about the original production's finances: 10% of gross receipts to Bacall; 9% split by Stone, Kander, and Ebb; 4% to the producers; nearly 3% to director Moore, 2% to MGM for the stage adaptation rights to the film, 1.5% to choreographer Charmoli, smaller royalties to the scene and costume designers; the Palace theater's owners received operating costs and a ticket share averaging 6% of the gross.[8]
Porchlight Music Theatre presented this show in November 2017 as a part of their "Porchlight Revisits" season in which they produce three forgotten musicals per year. This production was in Chicago, Illinois. It was directed by Artistic Director, Michael Weber, choreographed by Florence Walker Harris, and music directed by David Fiorello.