"Nick and Nora"

Nick and Nora. a Play. Book By Arthur Laurents, Music By Charles Strouse, and Lyrics By Richard Maltby, Jr.

Does anyone know if the performace right to this musical have been released, and if so who owns the rights?

I know it was a woofer of a musical...but I am rather taken with some of the songs, and wondering it anything else is salvagable.

I saw it. Actually, it doesn't have a half-bad score and some of the secondary performances were very good indeed -- it catapulted Faith Prince into Guys and Dolls. The book was a mess, though. And Barry Bostwick just didn't cut it. But not a disaster of Carrie-like proportions.

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I have to admit that as painful as some of it is to listen to, I don't mind dragging out the recording every now and then (hearing Joanna Gleason sing makes me beam). Now, I saw it too (in previews), and one the most painful moments I have ever had in a theater was the end of Act 1. Barry Bostwick hit the flattest note in "Look Who's Alone Now" that I have ever heard in a Broadway production. As the curtain fell, he looked as embarassed for himself as the audience did for the show. There is some good material in there, though, if someone ever wanted to clean the mess up.

I have thought about proposing it as a production for my theatre company's next season...but using the concept that it's being staged as a 1940's nightclub revue....men in tuxedos, and each women in one drop dead gorgeous 1940's style evening gown...huge grand piano handling the score...perhaps part nightclub revue / part live radio broadcast....i.e. elimating all of the multiple costumes and sets, and having a small core of supporting actors playing all of the "non Nick and Nora" roles.

I've gone through a number of Internet searches and I haven't been able to determine if the rights are available.

A clunky show with a few good tunes.

The show really isn't that great. One of its flaws is that it breaks up the Nick/Nora team. The musical pits them against each other. In addition, the end of Act 1 is dopey. It has the cast restaging the murder several times which gets REALLY monotonous even with top rate actors.

The style you talk about is interesting. Why don't you think about better material like "City of Angels" "Swingtime Canteen" or "The 1940s Radio Hour".

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Barry Bostwick hit the flattest note in "Look Who's Alone Now" that I have ever heard in a Broadway production.

Clearly you haven't been to Blonde recently.

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I'll check out those other options...I found Charles Strouse's website which is licensing information for many of his show, but not "Nick and Nora" so the right may have been pulled.