Dance a Little Closer

1983 American musical play

Dance a Little Closer
Original Cast Recording
Music	Charles Strouse
Lyrics	Alan Jay Lerner
Book	Alan Jay Lerner
Basis	Robert E. Sherwood's play Idiot's Delight
Productions	1983 Broadway

Dance a Little Closer is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Charles Strouse. The story is an updated version of Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 antiwar comedy Idiot's Delight.

Plot overview

The musical is set on New Year's Eve "in the avoidable future" in the grand Alpine Barclay Palace Hotel, where the guests find themselves in the midst of a potential nuclear Armageddon. The characters are American singer Harry Aikens and Cynthia Brookfield-Bailey, who may have had a romantic fling years earlier. Among the others present are Cynthia's current paramour, Henry Kissinger-like diplomat Dr. Josef Winkler, a gay couple, a minister, and a freedom fighter.

Production

The musical opened on Broadway at the Minskoff Theatre on May 11, 1983, where it closed after one performance^[1] and 25 previews. Directed by Lerner and choreographed by Billy Wilson, the cast included Len Cariou, Noel Craig, Liz Robertson, George Rose, Don Chastain, Jeff Keller, Brent Barrett, and Alyson Reed.^[2] Show business insiders dubbed it "Dance a Little Faster...Close a Little Sooner."^{[citation needed]}

In his New York Times review Frank Rich described it as "a huge, extravagant mishmash...that seems to have taken on a rampaging, self-destructive life of its own," a sentiment similar to those expressed by the other critics.^[3]

An original cast recording is available on CD.

Song list

Act I

It Never Would've Worked
Happy, Happy New Year
No Man Is Worth It
What Are You Going to Do About It?
A Woman Who Thinks I'm Wonderful
Pas de Deux
There's Never Been Anything Like Us
Another Life
Why Can't the World Go and Leave Us Alone?
He Always Comes Home to Me
I Got a New Girl
Dance a Little Closer
There's Always One You Can't Forget

Act II

Homesick
Mad
I Don't Know
Auf Wiedersehen
I Never Want to See You Again
On Top of the World
I Got a New Girl (Reprise)
Dance a Little Closer (Reprise)

References

^ "'Dance Closer' Ends". The New York Times. 1983-05-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
^ The Broadway League (May 11, 1983). "Dance a Little Closer – Broadway Musical – Original". IBDB. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
^ Rich, Frank (1983-05-12). "Stage: Lerner Musical 'Dance a Little Closer'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-12.