Richard Cory Makes NY Debut At NYMF Starring Cady Huffman, Catherine Cox, Harris Doran Christeena Riggs, Lynne Wintersteller And More

I saw the workshop/reading at the O'Neill Center in Connecticut back in 1997. Herndon Lackey and Maureen Moore, who are both in this new production, were in it, along with Janet Metz.

At that point it was a one-act musical, just over an hour long.

In the article, they allude to the interesting structure and to the title character being "unable to find his own voice" until the end. There are songs and dialogue throughout, but he never sings, only talks, until he finally sings the very last line of the piece. If you know the poem on which the play is based, then you know what the last line is, and how the story ends!

Coincidentally, there were two musicals being workshopped that summer at the O'Neill Center, both based on epic peoms from the 1920's. Besides RICHARD CORY, the other was THE WILD PARTY by Andrew Lippa. It starred a virtually unknown Kristen Chenoweth, who had just closed in the flop STEEL PIER.