Where’s Charley?

Abstract

Chapter 8 chronicles the inception and creation of Where’s Charley?, Bolger’s most important Broadway show. The estate that held rights to the show agreed to let Feuer and Martin produce it if three conditions were met: Bolger needed to be the star, the show had to play in a first-class Broadway theater, and Feuer’s edits to the original Samuel French edition of the play had to be the basis of the finished musical. The chapter includes accounts of director George Abbott, composer and lyricist Frank Loesser, choreographer George Balanchine, and new producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, who received assistance from Bolger’s wife, Gwen Rickard. In particular, Bolger’s “Once in Love with Amy” number is discussed for its importance and for the role it played in securing him a Tony Award for his performance as Charley Wykeham.