City of Angels (musical)

City of Angels is a musical comedy with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and
book by Larry Gelbart. The musical weaves together two plots, the "real" world of a writer trying
to turn his book into a screenplay, and the "reel" world of the fictional film. The musical is an
homage to the film noir genre of motion pictures that rose to prominence in the 1940s.

Production
Broadway
City of Angels opened on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on December 11, 1989[1] [2] and
closed on January 19, 1992 after 879 performances and 24 previews. It was directed
by Michael Blakemore with sets designed by Robin Wagner, costumes by Florence Klotz and
lighting by Paul Gallo.[3][4][5]
US tour
While the show continued on Broadway, the Los Angeles company opened in June 1991 at
the Shubert Theater in Century City, with Stephen Bogardus as Stine, Lauren Mitchell as the
villainess, with Randy Graff (Friday Oolie) and James Naughton (Stone) recreating their
original roles.[6] Jeff McCarthy replaced Naughton and Catherine Cox replaced Graff in
the Costa Mesa production. This production, with the Los Angeles cast, played at the Orange
County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California from October 1991 through
November 10, 1991.[7]
The production was revamped and embarked on a national tour, with Barry Williams, in the role
of Stone. Jordan Leeds was chosen from the tour's ensemble to play Stine, and Betsy Joslyn
played the two secretaries. The tour played venues from the Tampa Bay Performing Arts
Center, Tampa, Florida in February 1992 [8] to the National Theatre, Washington, DC in June
1992[9] to the Crouse-Hinds Concert Theatre, Syracuse, New York, in November 1992.[10] The
national tour played the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in November 1992. [11]
West End
The musical opened in the West End at the Prince of Wales Theatre in March 1993. Blakemore
again directed with Roger Allam as Stone and Martin Smith as Stine, with Henry Goodman as
Buddy Fidler.[12][13][14][15] The Los Angeles Times reported "...it was announced that the production
here of 'City of Angels'....was closing prematurely after four months, despite excellent
notices."[16] Frank Rich reported that "the West End production of the Broadway hit 'City of
Angels' would close after only a four-month run. 'City of Angels' received rave reviews, and its
box-office collapse was blamed on the gravity of the recession and the declining sophistication
of West End audiences."[17]
The production was nominated for five 1994 Laurence Olivier Awards: Best Director of a
Musical; Best Actor in a Musical (Roger Allam); Best Actress in a Musical (Haydn Gwynne);
Best Supporting Performance in a Musical (Henry Goodman); and The American Express
Award for Best New Musical, winning for Best New Musical.[18]
The first West End revival was staged at the Donmar Warehouse, opening officially on
December 16, 2014, running until February 2015. Directed by the Donmar Warehouse's artistic
director Josie Rourke, the cast included Hadley Fraser as Stine, Tam Mutu as Stone, Rosalie
Craig as Gabbi/Bobbi, Katherine Kelly as Alura/Carla and Samantha Barks as Mallory/Avril.[19][20]
[21][22]
This production was nominated for five 2015 Olivier Awards: Magic Radio Best Musical

Revival (Winner); White Light Award for Best Lighting Design (Winner); Best Director; Best
Costume Design; and XL Video Award for Best Set Design.[23]
Other Productions
The theatre company Reprise! Broadway's Best production ran in JanuaryFebruary 2006 at
Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Los Angeles. The cast featured Burke Moses (Stone), Vicki
Lewis (Oolie), Tami Tappan Damiano (Gabby), and Stephen Bogardus (Stine).[24][25]
The work was presented by Life Like Company at the Arts Centre Melbourne from November
5, 2015 to November 8, 2015, directed by Martin Crift and starring Kane Alexander(Stone),
Anton Berezin (Stine), Amanda Harrison (Donna/Oolie) and Chelsea Plumley (Gabby/Bobbi). [26]
[27] [28]

Plot
The setting is Hollywood in the late 1940s, with two stories occurring simultaneously: a
Hollywood comedy and a detective drama. The real-life scenes feature full-color sets and
costumes, while the movie scenes are in black-and-white.[24] Most of the cast (with the
exception of the actors playing Stine and Stone) doubles as characters in the "real" world and
their fictive counterparts.
Act I
Stone, a tough Los Angeles private eye, lies on a hospital gurney with a bullet in his shoulder
and a lot on his mind. He flashes back to a week earlier, when his loyal Girl Fridaysecretary,
Oolie, ushered in a rich, beautiful woman named Alaura. Alaura claims she wants Stone to find
her missing stepdaughter, Mallory Kingsley, a beautiful "bad" girl. Against his better judgment,
he takes the case.
A man at a typewriter appears onstage, and Stone and Alaura suddenly back up, "rewind," and
play the scene with a few changes. The man at the typewriter is Stine, author of the popular
detective novel City of Angels, which he is adapting into a screenplay at the behest of
Hollywood producer-director Buddy Fidler. His wife Gabby has misgivings and wishes that he
would stick to novels, but for now, Stine is enjoying the ride.
We begin to see the interplay between "reality" and fiction as Gabby (in the real world) and
Oolie (in the story-within-the-story) lament how their men won't listen to them ("What You Don't
Know About Women").
Stone, alone in his dreary bungalow, is listening to the radio: Jimmy Powers and the Angel City
4 are singing "You Gotta Look Out For Yourself." Two thugs break down his door, beat him up,
and knock him out. Cut to Buddy Fidler reading this scene in the screenplay: we see that his
secretary, Donna, is the model for Oolie, and that Buddy can't help meddling with everything
("The Buddy System").
Stone is rudely awakened by Lieutenant Munoz, who was Stone's partner on the force but now
bears him a major grudge. Once, Stone loved a low-rent lounge singer named Bobbi, whom
Stine based on Gabby ("With Every Breath I Take"). But Bobbi wanted stardom more than
marriage, and when Stone caught her with a Hollywood producer (based on Buddy) tempers
flared, a gun went off, and the producer was killed. Munoz has never forgiven Stone for
"getting away with murder."
Stone, angry after the beating, confronts Alaura at her mansion and meets several more
unsavory characters, including her lustful stepson, her polio-stricken elderly husband, and his
quack doctor. Greed and malice hover like smog, but Alaura's charms and bankroll keep Stone

on the case ("The Tennis Song"). He fruitlessly pursues the missing Mallory in a scene that
recalls a film montage ("Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere"), only to find her waiting naked in
his bed ("Lost And Found"). Stone somehow manages to resist temptation -- which is more
than can be said for his creator. After Gabby returns to New York, Stine takes comfort in
Donna's bed.
A photographer breaks into Stone's bungalow and snaps a picture of him with Mallory. She
runs off with his gun, which is subsequently used to murder the quack doctor. Stone is framed
for the killing; Munoz gleefully arrests him ("All You Have To Do Is Wait").
Stine is having a lousy time of it too. Buddy is butchering his script, his conscience is nagging
him about his infidelity, and Stone, his own creation, is disgusted with him. The curtain falls
with each of them arguing, to a swinging big-band accompaniment, "You're Nothing Without
Me."
Act II
In a recording studio, Jimmy Powers and the Angel City 4 are singing "Stay With Me," which
then becomes a record playing in a bedroom that looks like Alaura's, but actually belongs to
Carla Haywood, Buddy's wife, who will play Alaura in the movie.
Stone languishes in jail, attended only by Oolie, who like her alter ego, Donna, is feeling used
by men ("You Can Always Count On Me"). Stone is mysteriously bailed out, but the two hoods
catch up with him and nearly blow him up before he neatly turns the tables.
Stine has troubles of his own. Lonely at a Hollywood party of Buddy's sycophants, including a
Hollywood composer ("Alaura's Theme"), Stine phones home only to find that Gabby has
discovered that he cheated on her. He flies to New York with an elaborately prepared excuse,
but she's not buying it ("It Needs Work").
Stone, fighting to clear his name, is led to a brothel ("LA Blues") where he is stunned to find
Bobbi. We learn it was she who shot the producer; Stone has been covering for her all this
time. Together, they face the wreckage of their love ("With Every Breath I Take").
In Hollywood, Stine is approached by a young starlet, Avril, who will be playing Mallory. She
begs him to reconsider killing off Mallory near the end. He says he'll think about it.
Oolie, meanwhile, has discovered that Alaura is a fortune hunter who has already murdered
one rich husband and is planning to do away with this one, once she had eliminated his son,
daughter, and doctor. She tried to get her stepson, Peter, to kill the doctor and Mallory, but he
couldn't bring himself to kill. Stone confronts her at the mansion; they grapple for her gun;
shots ring out. Alaura falls dead, Stone is gravely wounded, and we're back where we started.
But where does that leave Stine? Gabby has rejected him and his lover, Donna, has been
rewriting his script. Stine faces the collapse of his real and fictive worlds, and as his emotions
take over, his wit turns bitter ("Funny"). When Stine arrives on the movie set to find that
Buddy's name appears above his on the screenplay, and that the shallow crooner Jimmy
Powers will play Stone, Stine boils over. With the "real" Stone, his conscience, finally leading
him to make the right choice, he rages at Buddy, gets himself fired, and is about to get beat up
by two security guards when Stone somehow appears at Stine's typewriter and writes him the
fighting skills of a superhero, then tacks on a "Hollywood ending" in which Gabby returns,
forgiving all. Together they celebrate ("I'm Nothing Without You") as the curtain falls.