Welcome to a new Musical Theatre Monday! This month, I’m celebrating the 85th anniversary of The Man Who Came To Dinner by spotlighting the play’s fun 1967 musical adaptation, Sherry!

The Man Who Came To Dinner — featured earlier this year in my Literary Society of Broadway series — is one of my favorite plays. It’s a fast-paced Kaufman and Hart comedy with a fine construction and a handful of big, funny characters. It must have been a seemingly surefire choice for musicalization in the mid-1960s given the established successes of Hello, Dolly! (1964) and Mame (1966), both adaptations of classic Broadway laffers that could have provided some inspiration and guidance. Unfortunately, Sherry! arrived on the scene in an era of aesthetic flux, when Broadway’s Golden Age was over and the American culture’s shifting tastes were battling it out on the New York stage as well, leaving critics divided about what was ideal. Although reviews were generally kind to stars Clive Revill and the great Dolores Gray, opinions on the rest of the show — especially its score by Laurence Rosenthal and its book/lyrics by James Lipton (yes, that guy!) — were mixed to negative, as they had been during the tryouts, when George Sanders was replaced in the title role and a new director/choreographer was brought aboard for some major tinkering. This public turbulence, and an already rough critical climate, led the production to an early demise after just two months. Looking at some of its press, I think Sherry! simply seemed to be a too-traditional musical comedy for the palettes of critics in 1967, lacking in the seriousness that many were championing as a sign of the form’s maintained dramatic relevance during this cultural progression, and with Mame the latest benchmark for determining whether inconsequential and somewhat formulaic froth was good enough to be permissible as an amiable diversion, it was easy to say Sherry! fell short by comparison.

But that wasn’t the last word for the Sheridan Whiteside musical. Sherry!’s title song popped up on an Unsung Musicals compilation CD in the 1990s, leading to a star-studded recording of the (nearly) entire score — including selections that were cut out of town — which finally allowed this show a true clear-eyed appraisal, free of the baggage of its difficult gestation and the critical malaise that typified its original era. The results are, I think, mostly positive, for despite some wobbly performances, this new recording reveals a fun, lively score with more than a handful of delightful character-building and plot-progressing songs. In fact, I’d say Sherry! is pretty darn good actually… with one key caveat. I have not been able (as of this writing) to read the final Broadway book. I’ve only got an early pre-Boston script that, just from glancing through, indeed has its troubles. So, I don’t know exactly to what opening night critics were directly responding.

However, I do know there were major changes between Boston and Broadway, and just based on the tune stack alone (that is, the rundown of songs that were played on Broadway), I’m led to believe that the story got tighter and more focused… significantly. Accordingly, my combined knowledge of both the source material and this musical’s complete Broadway score has led me to believe that Sherry!, in its final staged form, was indeed an exciting adaptation of this great play — and not just because the songs themselves are actually better than critics of ’67 alleged, but because it’s quite capable by the standards of any musical: its pleasant numbers progress the action, advancing story beats rather than diverting from them, and more crucially, they give vital insight into the characters and their relationships that enhances how they exist within the plot. Specifically, the bond between Sherry and Maggie gets extra emotional heft through songs (and dances) that clarify and deepen his feelings for her, which then ratchets up all the comedic and dramatic tension. In short, it genuinely adds to the strengths of the original play.

Now, okay, not everything in the score is perfect, and again, I haven’t read the final book. I’m sure it’s hard to compete with Kaufman and Hart. But so much of what’s here is good… good for a musical, and good for a musical of The Man Who Came To Dinner, specifically. So, in honor of both Man and Sherry!, I’m offering, to subscribers who comment below to alert me of their private, non-commercial interest, access to two live (songs-only) audios of Sherry! — one from Boston (with George Sanders) and one from Broadway (with Clive Revill, who’s a better fit for the role). Above, from Boston, is Elizabeth Allen as Maggie with Sanders’ Sherry in “How Can You Kiss Those Good Times Goodbye?” — a strong relationship-building number.

There’s so much I really like from this score — among them Sherry’s character-defining “Why Does The Whole Damn World Adore Me?,” Maggie’s plaintive “I Want” number called “Maybe It’s Time For Me,” the melodic and story-pushing “With This Ring,” Lorraine’s bombastic title tune in the Mame vein (sampled above from its first recording, with Christine Baranski), and her funny one-sided phone conversation in “Proposal Duet,” not to mention perhaps the highlight of the original production, “Marry The Girl Myself,” where Sherry imagines himself with Maggie in a dance number à la Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But the song I most want to sample is “Putty In Your Hands,” a showstopper for Dolores Gray where Lorraine attempts to seduce the small-town playwright under the pretenses of a collaboration. This is a plot point from the original play that gets so much additional life here when it’s tweaked and theatrically exaggerated (in song) by this inherently theatrical character. It’s just one example of why Sherry! is maybe the most underrated musical of the 1960s and a real tribute to The Man Who Came To Dinner, highlighting that wonderful play’s original charms while adding some of its own. I’d love to see the final Broadway version of Sherry! (or thereabouts) performed one day by an institution like Encores! There’s a lot here that’s delightful and deserving of some attention.

Come back next month for another musical rarity! And stay tuned tomorrow for more Earl!