GRIND A Musical in Two Acts, a Prologue and 23 Scenes. Book by Fay Kanin. Music by Larry Grossman. Lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh. Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York - 16 April 1985 (79 perfs) SYNOPSIS ACT 1 Grind takes place in and around Harry Earle's Burlesk in Chicago, 1933, the depths of the depression. The black and white company of the burlesque house is allowed to exist through payoffs to local authorities, so long as segregation is maintained both on and off stage. Satin, the principal black stripper, who has fought her way out of the black Chicago Ghetto, teases the audience with her songs. Gus, the top white banana, tries valiantly to hide from the boss, Harry, the fact that he's going blind. With his timing awry, he's unable to hang on to his stooges, and in desperation recruits one of the bums, Thomas Doyle, who inhabit the theatre alley. Backstage, in playful camaraderie, LeRoy, the top black comic, engages the girls in song, using his rough childhood as a come-on. Unable to show his true feelings for her, LeRoy lets Satin think of him as only a good-time-guy. In her number she conveys to him the depth of what she's looking for. Onstage, LeRoy steps out of his funny-man role to share with the audience his unexpressed emotions. After Thomas Doyle's first day as a stooge, Gus urges him to return. Alone, Doyle appeals to the memory of his wife and asks forgiveness for still being alive. The next morning, as The Grind begins, the company is concerned that Gus' new stooge hasn't shown up. But, as Maybelle, the theatre's wardrobe mistress, predicts, Providence intervenes, and by the time the day is underway, Gus discovers Doyle waiting for him in the dressing room, and a new partnership has begun. LeRoy arrives backstage with a bicycle which Satin purchased as a birthday present for her little brother, Grover. Dreading the disapproval of her stoic mother over this gift bought with ill-gotten money, Satin lets LeRoy cheer her up with his impersonation of her mother's probable reaction. Since Doyle turns out to be the only person in the company who can ride a bike, he delivers it to the birthday party and, with his Irish charm, wins over Satin's mother. In a mood of celebration, LeRoy, Satin, and Doyle are teaching Grover to ride the bicycle when a gang of toughs appear, taunting them and eventually breaking the bike into pieces. Unable to deal with this violent act, LeRoy calls on the only remedy he knows — entertainment — and re-creates the burlesque house, their one safe place, in a frenzied escape from reality as the first act ends. ACT 2 The bond between Gus and Doyle is deepening as they continue to develop their bits. Satin looks on, intrigued by the mystery of Doyle. Her thoughts are heard in counterpoint to their musical conversation. After an onstage mishap and an ultimatum from Harry, Gus realises that it's no longer possible to cover for his worsening loss of vision. A strip number performed by Harry's wife, Romaine, comments on taking life as it comes while, offstage, Gus decides that it's time for his own life to end. Gradually, all of the company joins Maybelle in a tribute to their friend, Gus. During this, Doyle, grief-stricken, disappears. After a day's unsuccessful search for Doyle, LeRoy and Satin return to the theatre where LeRoy, finally letting himself be vulnerable, tells Satin how he feels. Touched, she agrees to meet him later for dinner, and LeRoy, overjoyed, celebrates his breakthrough. On her way to meet LeRoy, Satin stumbles on a once-again drunken Doyle who's being brutally rolled by a gang of toughs. She rescues him and takes him to her home where, in his tortured sleep, he reveals the secret
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