MUSIC ON BROADWAY

ALONG Broadway this week theatergoers were pushing their way into packed houses offering an assortment of musical comedies that ranged from the sparkle of George Bernard Shaw to the gurgle of Al Capp (see color pages). Despite the absence this season of such magic names as Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein, the box-office boom for a show with a lilting tune and a hearty joke has continued to thump as loudly as ever.

By far, the top hit is My Fair Lady (from Shaw's Pygmalion), a holdover from last season that is still blooming after some 400 performances, pouring back profits to CBS, its sole angel ($401,000), which got exclusive television rights. Except for stray seats, My Fair Lady is dated up until September. Other hits from past seasons that are still flourishing are Frank Loesser's operatic The Most Happy Fella, and Damn Yankees, a rollicking tale of sex, baseball and the devil.

Added to the three carryovers are three new musicals that rely heavily on lively, lavish productions and name stars: Happy Hunting offers the unmuted brass of Ethel Merman, Bells Are Ringing the smart dumb-blonde antics of Comedienne Judy Holliday, and Li'l Abner the howling hillbillies of Dogpatch plus a display of a lot of a few girls. "There has been a return to the old form of musicals," says Oscar Hammerstein II, looking back over the season to date, "shows with irresponsible, gay books that are fast and lively."*

Financially, the books of Broadway musicals cannot afford to be irresponsible. Soaring overhead costs have shot the tab for a new musical up to a minimum of $300,000, compared to $180,000 for Kiss Me, Kate in 1948. Since it takes a solid run of some six months in one of the big theaters to get back the big money, a musical producer knows he must have a solid hit or strike out. A prime casualty of Broadway overhead is the intimate revue that needs a small theater to catch on. Shoestring '57, a fresh, 30-skit production, managed a three-month run--but at an off-Broadway house.

To increase their chances of hitting a homer, producers are relying more than ever on advance ticket sales. By far the best way to peddle tickets before opening night is to hire a name star, e.g., Ethel Merman, whose cult is large and enthusiastic. Twelve backers, including NBC, coughed up $450,000 to provide Merman with Happy Hunting. As anticipated, she drove her sputtering vehicle to solvency before the first-night curtain. The advance sale: $1,500,000. Part of this take came from theater parties, a growing force on Broadway, which trade tickets for contributions to charity. (Happy Hunting drew 74 sellout parties plus 50 others that partially filled the theater.) Another force that sweeps up tickets in wholesale lots: the expense-account economy, in which advertising agencies and public-relations men pass out good seats to good clients and visiting friends.

Knowing Manhattan critics do not consider this a distinguished season in Broadway's musical houses. But it is lively and colorful and booming. And the box-office run of theatergoers has to be as persistent and patient as ever to get seats for the show they want to see when they want to see it.

* Still to come this season: Ziegfeld Follies, starring British Comedienne Bea Lillie; Shinbone Alley, taken from the archie and mehitabel fables of the late Playwright-Columnist Don Marquis; and New Girl in Town, an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie.

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