Tom Stretton:

A graduate of Dickinson College, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, Tom worked in the School District of Cheltenham Township for 36 years as both a teacher and Assistant Superintendent.   He retired from Cabrini College as Associate Professor of Theatre, English and Secondary Education. A long-time enthusiast of Broadway and Hollywood, Tom has directed more than a hundred and thirty plays and musicals and has been an investor in a variety of Broadway shows.   Tom has a wonderful (and long-suffering) wife and daughter, and two grandchildren, who he believes are very special.

Programs: Broadway - Behind The Scenes- Each program below reveals the backstage journey of a hit Broadway musical to the Great White Way.   Every show’s story reveals the surprising behind-the-scenes drama that rivals what audiences saw when the curtain was up.  

West Side Story is the show no producer would touch.   It is a tragedy.   Act I ends with the hero killing his girlfriend’s brother—an idea that sems unlikely to sell refreshments at intermission.  The presentation reveals the show’s tortured journey from generally expected failure to beloved classic American musical.

 Fiddler on the Roof starts as an adaptation of a novel about a theatrical troupe and morphs into the story of Tevye.   The show is fraught with tension: the director keeps demanding rewrites (50 songs are written and 34 sre discarded).   Detroit critics describe it as  “ordinary,” but in Washington it becomes the show that will triumph around the world.

 Guys and Dolls Is often described as a perfect musical.   Although never actually hired until after the show opens, Frank Loesser creates a brilliant score filled with memorable songs.   No matter that it starts as a romance and its director doesn’t like songs, it turns into a musical comedy smash.

 Hello, Dolly! wins ten Tony Awards, but the headline of the review of its out-of-town opening is “Goodbye, Dolly!”   The producer wants to close it, but Gower Champion—its director—is co-producer and refuses.   Then JFK is assassinated before the show moves to Washington.   Hello, Dolly!’s success is the result of determination and guts..

 Man of La Mancha would never have been created if the press agent for a famous actor had not planted a completely false item in a newspaper show business gossip column.  That false report gives life to a show that should have been an impossible dream.   The story of Man of La Mancha is the story of a theatrical miracle.

 The Music Man is that extremely rare show in which the script, music and lyrics are written by one man.  The producers of Guys and Dolls call Meredith Willson: “Mere, we think you could write a musical comedy.   About your Iowa boyhood.”   Six years later the show opens on Broadway after trying out in Philadelphia.   The word on Broadway is “they should have closed in Philadelphia.”   But all the reviews are raves.  Go figure.

 My Fair Lady is based on a play by G. B. Shaw—Pygmalion.   Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s partnership has broken up.   Rodgers and Hammerstein had try for a year to turn Pygmalion into a musical—and fail.  But Lerner & Loewe reunite and without owning the rights create a great show—in spite of enough backstage drama to fill a soap opera.

 Oklahoma! is the show that drug-addicted and depressed Lorenz Hart does not want to write with Richard Rodgers (after writing 500 songs and two decades of Broadway hits).   Rodgers convinces Oscar Hammerstein II to work with him, and in writing Oklahoma!, they create a new American art form and the most successful show in American history to date.