The musical by composer Richard Adler (The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees), lyricist Will Holt (The Me Nobody Knows) and librettist George Abbott (The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, On Your Toes) played eight performances on Broadway in December 1976, and disappeared. Directed by the famed "Mr. Abbott," it was considered a throwback to musicals of an earlier period, with several standout songs but not enough good reviews or audience support to keep it going.

The work was unearthed by WCU associate professor of piano Bradley Martin, who is the musical director for the reconstructed production of the musical. The seed of this staging was formed when Martin discovered there was another Broadway musical written by composer Adler, whose flame burned hot (and briefly) in the 1950s with the musical comedy hits Damn Yankes and The Pajama Game.

"I first heard about the show from an album [called] 'Shakespeare on Broadway'," Martin told Playbill.com by phone from Cullowhee, NC. "The song that caught my attention was 'Should I Speak of Loving You.' It's beautifully melodic, it has a lovely flow and a sentimental longing to it. It was [intended to be] the hit song of the show…the melody is heard in the entr'acte and exit music."

	Original Playbill cover

A complete version of the Broadway script and score could not be found, but Folger Shakespeare Library had a copy of an earlier draft of the script in its files. Martin and his colleagues investigated further and ended up pulling the body parts of the script and score from the collections of the Library of Congress, the Folger and the New York Public Library.

"The [music] materials for the show came from the Rodgers and Hammerstein archives in the Library of Congress," Martin said. "[The process] was just trial and error — trying Music Theatre International, Tams Witmark, New York Public Library…to find any material for the show. Not even the holders of the copyright had material. With all the changes that occurred between first productions in Seattle and then the Kennedy Center [and] finally Broadway, there was no script that represented Mr. Abbott's final production."

As nearly as possible, the production being performed by undergraduate actors and musicians will be a reflection of the flop Broadway staging that ran Dec. 20-26, 1976, following developmental tryouts in Seattle and Washington, DC. This concert script was created by painstakingly listening to a pirated recording of a Broadway performance and transcribing it, Martin said.

The investigation also resulted in the uncovering of the show's original orchestrations by master Broadway orchestrator Hershy Kay (On the Town, Candide, Evita, A Chorus Line, 110 in the Shade, On the Twentieth Century). They will be heard for the first time since 1976.

Martin said he hopes a recording of the score will be made on campus, in its recording studio, and there is a wish among the creative team of this college revival that the script and score might be published and made available for licensing.

"It's great for colleges, especially," Martin said. "It's a little like The Boys From Syracuse — lots of comedy mayhem and songs."

Adler and Holt were invited to attend the production but are not able to make it.