Remembering VERY GOOD EDDIE on its 100th Anniversary

It opened 100 years ago today, at the famous (though now demolished) Princess Theatre. It ran for an impressive 300+ performances, and was the first in a chain of successful small-scale musicals dubbed "The Princess Theatre Musicals" that are said to have been a turning point in the development of the American musical.

It is one of the oldest shows to have a modern commercial recording, coming in the form of a revival cast album from the 1975 Goodspeed/Broadway revival, making it one of the only shows of the period readily available for modern listeners. It is also the earliest score available by theatre legend Jerome Kern.

Did anyone see the revival in 1975/76?

An interesting theory! Maybe I saw the original productions in another life...

I do really enjoy the recording, it's not completely accurate to the 1915 score but has all the major numbers. The most significant additions I think are two songs from Kern's 1920 show THE NIGHT BOAT ("Left All Alone Blues" and "Good Night Boat".

I wish more of the Goodspeed revivals of the '70s and '80s had been recorded, they put on a vast array of pre-OKLAHOME/pre-SHOW BOAT shows that have still to this day never been recorded.

As the Man in Chair would say, it did what a musical is supposed to do! I think such remembrances are underrated, you don't have to remember ever detail just that it was a good time.

Weird things like that happen to me all the time, some random thing will pop up during my day for the first time then pop up again later that day or the next. Funny how that happens!

I've heard a bootleg of the WHOOPEE! revival, I think it was also done by Goodspeed. Wish there was an album of it.