For the next few days, I'm going to link to some clips of musical numbers from past Tony Awards telecasts. This one, from the 1990 awards, is a medley of three numbers from City of Angels, a fine show written by Larry Gelbart with songs by David Zippel and Cy Coleman.
For those of you who don't know the show: It's the story of a mystery novelist turned screenwriter who's trying to cope with what Hollywood does to people in his line of work. The stage is bisected and some scenes take place on the left side in full color as the screenwriter battles a crazed producer as well as his own conscience, trying to write the script. Other scenes take place on the right side in muted colors (to approximate black-and-white) and these are moments from the screenplay in progress. Most actors in the show play dual roles — one in the story on the left and one in the story on the right. In this medley, the first number is a duet for two women — the screenwriter's wife (Kay McClelland) is on your left, whereas the scene at right takes place in the office of the detective hero of the novel and movie, with his secretary (Randy Graff) lamenting the boss's propensity for ignoring her. The second number in the medley is an argument between the screenwriter (Gregg Edelman) and the private eye character he invented (James Naughton)…and this segues into an abbreviated version of the show's finale. It's a wonderful musical and if you ever get a chance to see more of it than this, do.
