Stage 1960s II: Long Running Hits
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Sunset of a Golden Age
Zero Mostel's Tevye tells God what life would be "If I Were a Rich Man" in Fiddler on the Roof.
With a brutal winter just ahead, the traditional      Broadway musical had a bounteous autumn harvest that stretched from 1964 through 1966.   No less than six      musicals that opened in this three year period ran for over a thousand     performances  an unprecedented crop of long-running hits.
Boasting solid     scripts and superb integrated productions, they were the ultimate     fulfillments of the post-Oklahoma tradition 
1. Hello Dolly! (1964 - 2, 844  performances) -        For details on this show, please see the section discussing Gower Champion on the previous page .
2. Funny Girl (1964 -       1,348  performances) - After torturous previews, multiple directors and extensive rewrites,       this fictionalized biography of comedienne Fanny Brice was given some much     needed polish by Jerome Robbins .     The results made a star of Barbra Streisand , who wisely avoided       imitating Brice, building her own fresh characterization and relying on     her own distinctive vocal stylings. Composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill 's brassy score included        the hit songs "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade." The gifted Streisand went off to Hollywood for the screen version, winning an        Academy Award for Best Actress. She never appeared in another stage musical.
3. Fiddler on the Roof (1964 -       3,242  performances) - Composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick teamed with       librettist Joseph Stein for this adaptation of Sholom Aleichem's        stories about Tevya, a philosophical dairy farmer who tries to uphold Jewish       Orthodox traditions against overwhelming odds in Tsarist Russia. Zero Mostel 's powerful but self-indulgent        performance in the lead helped establish the show. It then went on to a record-setting       run under a long series of fine actors in the role of Tevya.
Audiences       the world over identified with this unlikely but ultimately irresistible hit. The much        loved score includes "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," "If I Were a Rich Man," and "Do You Love Me?," and "Sunrise, Sunset." The final and arguably        the most memorable Broadway staging by Jerome Robbins ,        it included jubilant wedding celebrants balancing wine bottles on their hats, and a dancing        circle of townspeople that embodied the idea of a community coming together and coming apart.
4. Man of La Mancha (1965 - 2,328  performances) - Librettist Dale Wasserman, composer Mitch Leigh and lyricist Joe Darion built a musical around the story of Spanish novelist        Cervantes. He is thrown into prison by the Inquisition and tries to save the       manuscript for his masterful Don Quixote from destruction by his fellow       prisoners -- by enacting it with their assistance.
Richard Kiley scored the greatest triumph of his        career in the title role, as did co-star Joan Diener playing the tattered kitchen girl Aldonza. Despite mixed reviews, the show enjoyed long runs        everywhere from London to Tokyo, and "Impossible Dream (The Quest)" became an       international standard. Director Albert Marre's    unpretentious staging was so effective that it was          copied by most major professional productions of La Mancha for more than thirty years.
5. Mame (1966 - 1,508  performances) - Jerry Herman followed up his smash Hello Dolly by teaming with playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee        for an adaptation of their long-running comedy Auntie Mame. Angela Lansbury wowed audiences in the title        role, winning her first Tony for Best Actress playing the eccentric       heiress who liberates her orphaned nephew from a stodgy upbringing. Beatrice Arthur 's hilarious performance as the        bitchy actress Vera Charles brought her a Tony for Best       Featured Actress.
Herman's score included the show-stopping title tune,        the moving "If He Walked Into My Life," and the hilarious Lansbury-Arthur        duet "Bosom Buddies." Mame proved a worldwide favorite,       enjoying successful productions into the next century.
6. Cabaret (1966 - 1,165  performances) - Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb worked with librettist Joe Masteroff on this searing adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's play I Am a      Camera. As a young American writer falls in love with a cabaret      singer, we meet seedy chorus girls, Nazi storm troopers, and other denizens      of the demi-monde in early 1930s Berlin.
Joel Grey gave an electrifying performance as the leering Master of Ceremonies, a role he repeated in       the acclaimed 1972 film version  becoming one of the very few actors to win the Tony       and Academy Awards for the same role. The score included "Wilkommen" and the hit       title song. Three decades later, an innovative Broadway revival would rack up an even longer       run (1998 - 2,398  performances).
With characters and stories that speak to the heart of human experience  offering different perspectives on the search for love and triumph of the human spirit in a       harsh world  it is no wonder that these six shows remain among the most frequently       performed musicals. But the late 1960s marked a time of cultural upheaval. Young Americans       were rocking to a different beat, and the Broadway musical was about to be dragged      into a new, uncertain era. The changes would prove painful for many - including those behind       the scenes, as well as those in the audience.