The Broadway musical based on Billy Crystal's movie Mr. Saturday Night opened April 27, 2022 at the Nederlander Theater in New York and closed the following September 4th after playing 28 previews and 116 performances. It would have played a few more between those dates but Mr. Crystal was out a couple times due to flu or COVID. He had no understudy because no one would have wanted to see it with someone else in the role. (I'm curious if anyone ever tries producing this show with another actor in the lead…and if so, if there's anyone in the audience when they do.)
I dunno what kind of run its producers were hoping for on Broadway but I bet it was a lot more than 116. As far as I know, there have been no plans of reviving it anywhere. I was hoping Crystal would do at least a brief run of it out here because I couldn't get back to New York when it was there and I wanted to see it. As far as I know, there are no such plans.
Fortunately for me and maybe for you, it was recorded on video and that video just debuted on the BroadwayHD Channel. Not a subscriber? Well, you can see it as I did last night — as part of the free seven-day trial they're offering through Amazon Prime. I may cancel when the week is out because there isn't a whole lot on this channel that I haven't seen (or can't see) elsewhere but before I do, I'll probably watch Mr. Saturday Night again. I enjoyed it that much.
The book, like the movie, was written by Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. I'm a fan of the movie and while there are some changes in the plot, they're mostly improvements or at least right for the conversion. They include some good opportunities for Buddy Young Jr. (Crystal's character) to interact with the live audience and a somewhat happier ending.
The songs were by Jason Robert Brown and Amanda Green and I think they had a thankless mission. I can't cite a particularly outstanding musical number. The songs service the material fine but the material did not cry out for musicalization and singing is not what Billy Crystal does best. Still, what's happening on that stage was enormously fun to watch.
David Paymer, who deservedly got an Oscar nomination for supporting Crystal in the movie, is back in the same role and, again, he provides the glue for most of the proceedings, as well as a dose of humanity when Buddy Young Jr. isn't acting very human. The part of Buddy's daughter has been fleshed out and given some great lines, played well by Shoshana Bean; likewise for Buddy's wife played by Randy Graff. Chasten Harmon is great as his agent — the role played in the movie by Helen Hunt — and everyone else in his life is played by either Jordan Gelber, Brian Gonzales or Mylinda Hull.
I thought everyone on stage was great. Mostly, I just felt the show was funny enough and "fun-spirited" enough to keep my attention for all two hours and 34 minutes. You might also. I'm sorry I didn't get to see it in person.