Dance a Little Closer

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 and 25 previews. Directed by Lerner and choreographed by , the cast included Len Cariou, , Liz Robertson, George Rose, Don Chastain, Brent Barrett, and Alyson Reed. 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.^[1]

An original cast recording is available on CD.

Song list[]

References[]

External links[]

• Dance a Little Closer at the Internet Broadway Database
• Production, plot and songs at guidetomusicaltheatre.com