Cover to Original Cast RecordingALL AMERICAN

A Musical Comedy in 2 acts, 22 scenes. Book by Mel Brooks; (based on the novel Professor Fodorski by Robert Lewis Taylor. Music by Charles Strouse. Lyrics by Lee Adams.

Winter Gardens, Broadway - 19 February , 1962 - (80 perfs)

Synopsis

The composers of Bye, Bye, Birdie have written another musical: this one set at a small, football-oriented college. Professor Fodorski arrives with other immigrants singing a naturalisation rag with such lines as Make us Hungarians/Into Rotarians/Change us Romanians/To Pennsylvanians. Frantic to please, Professor Fodorski finally reaches his sports minded students by stating his engineering concepts in football terms and, in the course of demonstrating a principle, turns a mousy student drudge named Bricker into a phenomenal kicker. (Your hip is the fulcrum, multiply by the force of the lever, your knee.) The team becomes a sensation, as do Bricker and the astonished Professor. This show makes a comment on education today by putting it in terms of a bright and marvellous musical comedy. This musical has one of the most beautiful love songs ever written for a musical, the haunting Once Upon a Time.

Cast: 6m., 6w., flexible chorus

Principals

Professor Fodorski
Elizabeth Hawkes-Bullock
Susan
Edwin Bricker
Henderson

Airline Stewards; Immigration Officers; travellers, tour guides, etc.

Scenes and Settings

Act I

Scene 1: Idlewild Airport, (New York). Today.
Scene 2: New York and Panorama of America.
Scene 3: Dean's Office, S.B.I.T. (Southern Baptist Institute of Technology)
Scene 4: Football Field.
Scene 5: Classroom, S.B.I.T.
Scene 6: On the Campus.
Scene 7: Classroom, S.B.I.T.
Scene 8: Front Porch of Elizabeth's House.
Scene 9: Front Porch of Girls' Dormitory.
Scene 10: Susan's Room in Girls' Dormitory.
Scene 11: On the Window of Susan's Room.
Scene 12: Locker Room.
Scene 13: Football Field and Stadium.

Act II

Scene 1: Office of Exploiters Unlimited.
Scene 2: Exterior and Interior of Union Building, S.B.I.T.
Scene 3: Fodorski's Seduction.
Scene 4: On the Campus.
Scene 5: Office of Fodorski Foundation.
Scene 6: Bricker's Room in Boys' Dormitory.
Scene 7: On the Campus.
Scene 8: The Cotton Bowl.
Scene 9: Classroom, S.B.I.T.

Musical Numbers:

  1. Melt Us - Fodorski, Immigrants
  2. What a Country! - Fodorski, Company
  3. Our Children - Fodorski, Elizabeth
  4. Animal Attraction - Susan, Edwin
  5. Our Children (reprise) - Fodorski, Elizabeth
  6. We Speak the Same Language - Fodorski, Edwin
  7. I Can Teach Them! - Fodorski, Elizabeth, Edwin, Professor Dawson
  8. It's Fun to Think - Fodorski, Professors, Students
  9. Once Upon a Time Fodorski, Elizabeth
  10. Nightlife - Susan, Girls
  11. I've Just Seen Her Edwin
  12. Once Upon a Time (reprise) - Susan
  13. Physical Fitness - The Football Team
  14. The Fight Song - Fodorski, the Football Team
  15. What A Country! (reprise) - Fodorski, Company
  16. I Couldn't Have Done It Alone - Edwin, Susan
  17. If I Were You - Fodorski, Elizabeth
  18. Have a Dream - Fodorski, Henderson, Company
  19. I've Just Seen Him (reprise) - Susan
  20. I'm Fascinating - Fodorski
  21. Once Upon a Time (reprise) - Elizabeth
  22. The Real Me - Elizabeth
  23. It's Up to Me - Fodorski
  24. The Fight Song (reprise) - Fodorski, Company
  25. It's Fun to Think (reprise) - Company

Orchestration available.

Discography:

Original Cast Recording - Sony Broadway SK 48216