Producer Whitten Plans to Bring Enter Laughing to Broadway

By Andrew Gans
November 20, 2009

Enter Laughing, a recent hit for the York Theatre Company, is aiming for a Broadway bow during the 2010-11 season, according to the New York Times.

A spokesperson for producer Dan Whitten confirmed to the New York Times that Whitten plans to produce the comic, showbiz coming-of-age musical, which was once known as So Long, 174th Street and was inspired by the early life of writer Carl Reiner.

Reiner will also invest modestly in the production, according to the Times.

Whitten's spokesperson also said that the producer hopes Josh Grisetti, who received acclaim in the role of David Kolowitz, would recreate his work for Broadway audiences. Grisetti was part of the cast of Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, which recently closed during rehearsals, robbing him of his Broadway debut.

Enter Laughing has a book by Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof) and music and lyrics by Stan Daniels ("Taxi"). The musical is based on Stein's play Enter Laughing, which was inspired by Carl Reiner's semi-autobiographical novel.

As So Long, 174th Street, the show had a 16-performance run on Broadway in 1976 (at the Harkness Theatre, at 62nd and Broadway, which was razed in 1977). The bankable Robert Morse (How to Succeed…) was cast as the juvenile lead, David, but Morse was no longer a kid. The musical's score achieved a cult status.

The show, according to the York, tells "the hilarious story of young aspiring actor David Kolowitz in 1930s New York City as he tries to free himself from overly protective parents and girlfriends, all the while struggling to meet the challenge of an immense lack of talent."