"Sugar Babies"

Performances: 1,208.
Open / Close: October 8, 1979 – August 28, 1982
Theater: Mark Hellinger Theatre.
Tony Awards: Like a lot of popular musicals, this one was nominated for 8. However, the Tonys in 1980 were dominated by “Evita” and whatever awards that show didn’t pick up, “Barnum” did. Earnest Flatt, who we discuss in the podcast, was nominated for both Best Direction and Best Choreography. Those would be his only Tony nominations, though he would go on to win Primetime Emmy Award for his work on “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Fun Fact: Norman Abbott, the nephew of Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello, came up with the idea for the show. As we discuss in the podcast, he was promptly kicked off the production by Mickey Rooney. However, Abbott ended up finding plenty of success as a director, directing dozens of episodes of sitcoms such as Leave It to Beaver, Welcome Back, Kotter, The Munsters and Sanford & Son.

Podcast

Need to write intro.

Miller and Rooney at the Tonys. This was the sketch they performed to promote the show most often. The slight variations in it each time are kind of fun to make note of.

This is a very bad bootleg of the whole show. While it’s a little annoying to watch, it one of the only ways to get a sense of how Miller and Rooney moved in and out of the show among the novelty acts.