- Performances: 1,281.
- Open / Close: December 1, 1968 – January 1, 1972
- Theater: The Shubert Theatre.
- Tony Awards: Nominated for 8, won 2 acting awards. Jerry Orbach picked up the only Tony of his vaunted career and Marian Mercer won Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the weird, amazing Marge MacDougall role. It lost Best Musical to “1776.”
- Fun Fact: Michael Bennett was nominated for choreography but did not win. Bennett was nominated for Tony Awards five years in a row (“Promises, Promises” was the third in that string) before ultimately winning two Tonys in 1972, for the direction and choreography of “Follies.” He would go on to win five more Tonys, the last being for “Dreamgirls” in 1982.
Podcast
“Promises, Promises” had a dream team of talent, both backstage and onstage. Neil Simon, Hal David, and Burt Bacharach are the big three, but it was also directed by Robert Moore (“The Boys in the Band” off-Broadway, “Woman of the Year”) and choreographed by Michael Bennett. It was also based on an incredible movie, “The Apartment.” What could go wrong?
Nothing did go wrong, really: the show was very popular and its best song, “Never Fall in Love Again,” was a big radio hit. But it’s another one of those shows that doesn’t really age well, the gender dynamics and workplace ethics being wildly out of step with modern sensibilities. The movie came out at 1960, at the tail end of the 50s, a decade where the story makes more sense. By the end of the 60s, with shows like “Hair” getting a lot of attention, this one seems like a dinosaur just on the edge of extinction.
I had one of the captains of my dream team of guests in the studio talking to me about “Promises, Promises” – Dr. Jesse Rabinowitz, who actually saw the original production on Broadway when he was a pre-teen. He brings his usual mix of savvy analysis and rampant good humor to our lively conversation.