The Mad Show was an off-Broadway revue based on guess-what-magazine that opened in New York on January 9, 1966, racking up a pretty impressive 871 performances. It later came back for a brief run not because of audience demand but because (reportedly) MAD publisher William Gaines had a bet with a friend as to how well it would do if he did bring it back. Mr. Gaines did that kind of thing. The show was written by MAD writers Larry Siegel and Stan Hart with music by a couple of folks, one of whom (he contributed one song) was Stephen Sondheim hiding behind a fake name.
Revues tend to get remembered because of the talent that came out of them. In addition to Mr. Sondheim, there was the show's on-stage piano player…a gent named Joe Raposo who was murdered every night during the performance but still somehow went on to write some of the most memorable tunes for Sesame Street and The Muppets. And on stage you also had Linda Lavin, Jo Anne Worley, Paul Sand, Richard Libertini and MacIntyre Dixon. Ms. Worley was later in the L.A. company with Alan Sues, not long before both turned up on the somewhat-similar Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
It's rarely revived but it's being revived for three performances — July 29, 30 and 31 — at the York Theater in New York. The only person I know who's in the cast is my supremely-talented friend Christine Pedi, who's also heard daily on the Broadway channel for SiriusXM Radio, but she's reason enough to go if you're in the area. I, alas, will not be in the area so please attend so I can live vicariously through you. Details and tix here.