GOOD NEWS for July!!!

The good news is that we'll be reading "Good News" on July 18 at 7pm. (A casting announcement will be posted in early June.) The show, which debuted on Broadway in 1927, was by Laurence Schwab and B.G. DeSylva, with lyrics by DeSylva and Lew Brown, and music by Ray Henderson. It opened in the same season as "Show Boat," which was the start of a new direction for musicals. By contrast, "Good News" was a decidedly old-fashioned, light story which capitalized on the popular focus on youth and rah rah college enthusiasm which was found in all sorts of entertainment (books, stage, and film) of the period.

The original production starred big box office names of the day: John Price Jones, Mary Lawlor, Gus Shy, and Inez Courtney - but none had much of a name beyond the stage, and have been forgotten with time. Good News spawned two movie versions (1930 and 1947 - see poster art for the latter to the right), a Broadway revival in the 1970s, and a regional production and cast album in 1993.

A great history of the show can be found here.