A Review/Report: How Now, Dow Jones is what some call a "lost musical" — that is, one that is almost never performed. With a book by Max Shulman (creator of Dobie Gillis), lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and a score by Elmer Bernstein, it arrived on Broadway in December of 1967 and departed 220 performances later, having lost its entire capitalization. That it ran as long as it did was largely due to an incredible advance sale which, in his book The Season, William Goldman attributed to the title. The show had no huge stars (Tony Roberts, Brenda Vaccaro and Marlyn Mason were the three biggest) and its creators had no great track record…so the huge pre-sale had to be because of the title.
Goldman claims it was irresistible to "theatre party ladies" — women who arrange charity functions wherein a group sells a huge block of theatre tix to its members. The title suggested something light and frothy about the stock market, which was perfect for the kind of businessmen who pay for tickets to such charity events.
That's Mr. Goldman's theory and I can't say he's wrong…though it occurs to me that it also suggested something similar to How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, which had been a huge hit, not all that long before. In any case, though the show had one semi-hit song — "Step to the Rear" — it wasn't a success, and hasn't been revived often since then. Until last evening.
Monday evening, the Musical Theatre Guild staged — for one performance only — a "concert version" of How Now, Dow Jones at the Pasadena Playhouse. Since I never saw the Broadway version, the following is just a hunch: I think we saw a better show than the folks in New York 35 years ago. Even without sets or much in the way of rehearsal, and with actors who were still (mostly) reading from their scripts and had never before performed it before an audience, the production was enormous fun. The four lead roles were performed by Larry Raben, Mary Jo Mecca, Jennifer Gordon and Doug Carfrae and all were excellent. Also excellent was the musical direction by Brad Ellis, who is a helluva talent and a helluva guy.
This is the kind of thing that "concert versions" should do: Shows that won't otherwise get performed and which may even profit from a humble production. I suspect How Now would have gotten lost in a full-scale production with sets and costumes and choreography but it worked well on the Pasadena Playhouse stage. The storyline doesn't make a lot of sense —
Oops. Just realized I haven't summarized the storyline. Briefly, a woman named Kate works on Wall Street as "the voice of Dow Jones," announcing the latest averages. She has been waiting years for a low-level broker named Herbert to marry her. Herbert, however, won't wed until he gets a promotion, which won't happen until the Dow Jones average hits 1000, which it never has. (This is 1967) Frustrated, she runs off and has a one night affair with another low-level stock market employee named Charley, which results in her getting pregnant. Charley's about to marry someone else so, in a panic to give her child a father, she announces that the Dow has hit 1000. This touches off a huge buying boom, followed by all sorts of financial disaster when her fib is revealed and…well, like I said. The story doesn't make a lot of sense —
— but it almost doesn't have to. The songs are fun, the book is peppered with funny lines and the actors have wonderful, juicy roles which they play to full advantage. You can't go see this production but maybe its reception tonight will prompt others. This is a show that does not deserve to be lost.