The original production of APPLAUSE opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on Mar 30, 1970, starring Lauren Bacall, Len Cariou, Penny Fuller, Robert Mandan, Ann Williams, Brandon Maggart, Lee Roy Reams, and Bonnie Franklin. The original production was Directed and Choreographed by Ron Field; Musical Direction by Donald Pippin; Orchestrations by Philip J. Lang; Scenic Design by Robert Randolph; Costume Design by Ray Aghayan and Lighting Design by Tharon Musser. Originally produced by Joseph Kipness and Laurence Kasha. The production ran for 896 performances.

AWARDS

	Winner! 4 1970 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Lauren Bacall), Best Choreography (Ron Field) and Best Direction of a Musical (Ron Field) with a further 7 nominations for Best Actor in a Musical (Len Cariou), Best Scenic Design (Robert Randolph), Best Costume Design (Ray Aghayan), Best Lighting Design (Tharon Musser), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Brandon Maggart), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Bonnie Franklin) and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Penny Fuller) ✧⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯✧
	Winner! 2 1970 Theatre World Awards for Best Actor (Len Cariou) and Best Featured Actress (Bonnie Franklin) ✧⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯✧
	Winner! 3 1970 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Director (Ron Field), Choreography (Ron Field), and Performance (Lauren Bacall)

SYNOPSIS

Act One

Middle-aged actress Margo Channing presents the Tony Award to rising star Eve Harrington, who graciously thanks ‘my producer, my director, my writer and above all, Margo Channing’. In flashback, Margo recalls the opening night for one of her plays a year-and a-half before, when Eve entered her life. Margo’s admirers crowd her dressing room and fill the air with “Backstage Babble“. Among the admirers is Eve, a young woman who says that she, alone and friendless in New York, has found solace in watching her hero, Margo, perform. As soon as Margo can be alone with Bill Sampson, her director and fiancé, she tries to convince him to stay with her and not go to Rome to direct a movie. Bill firmly but lovingly tells her goodbye. Margo dreads facing the opening night party alone, and, wanting to have a good time, she persuades, Duane, her gay hairdresser, to take her and Eve to a gay nightclub in Greenwich Village. The lively evening ends back at Margo’s apartment. Eve declares that it has been the best time she’s ever had. Margo, seeing her 19-year-old self in one of her old movies on TV, senses the impact her increasing age will have on her career and sarcastically asks “Who’s That Girl?“.

Four months later, Eve has become Margo’s indispensable assistant, impressing Margo’s close friends, including her producer, Howard Benedict. Howard takes Eve to a “gypsy” hangout. “Gypsy,” Howard explains,’is the name dancers affectionately give themselves as they go camping from show to show.’ The “gypsies”, led by one of their own, Bonnie, celebrate ‘the sound that says love‘ – “Applause“. That night, at three a.m. after a phone call from Bill in Rome, Margo longingly wishes he would “Hurry Back“. Bill arranges to hurry back two weeks later, but at Margo’s welcome home party for him a misunderstanding leads to a disastrous evening. Eve, as Margo’s ever-present assistant, knows Margo’s part in the play completely, and Eve contrives to get herself hired as Margo’s understudy. Margo, feeling betrayed and threatened, faces Eve with an ironic “Welcome to the Theatre“. Bill accuses her of being paranoid about Eve, and after a bitter fight, he says goodbye to Margo, ending his relationship with her. Margo is left alone on an empty stage.

Act Two

Margo is visiting her friends, playwright Buzz Richards and his wife Karen, in their Connecticut home. Karen, thinking Margo behaved unfairly to Eve, arranges for Margo to miss a performance by draining the car’s gas tank so they cannot return to New York in time for the evening’s performance. Stuck in the country for the night, they express their warm feelings as “Good Friends“. Back in New York, Eve gives a triumphant performance in Margo’s role. Howard again takes Eve to the “gypsy” hangout where she snubs Bonnie and her friends, who do a scathing parody of a girl who becomes an overnight star.

Margo is devastated when she reads a nasty interview that Eve has given in which she refers to ‘aging stars’. Bill now realizes what Eve’s true intentions are and rushes back full of love for Margo, telling her she’s “One of a Kind“. Margo, though, is too focused on her career to want to return to Bill. Eve, who has made an unsuccessful pass at Bill, ensnares the playwright, Buzz, and she rejoices that she now has a man who can help her career. Her plans with Buzz are crushed by Howard who claims her for himself, telling her ‘We both know what you want and you know I’m the one who can get it for you’ – Eve needs Howard’s influence as a producer as well as his silence concerning her devious rise to stardom.

Margo seems to have lost everything because of Eve, but suddenly she realizes she could be the winner because she now has a chance at “Something Greater” – a life with Bill. In the finale, she and Bill join with everybody answering the question ‘why do we live this crazy life?‘

CHARACTERS

 ◇ Margo Channing — Superstar actress, queen of the theatre
 ◇ Eve Harrington — Aspiring actress, a generation younger than Margo
 ◇ Karen Richards — Margot’s friend, married to Buzz
 ◇ Bonnie — Principal singer among the show biz gypsies
 ◇ Bill Sampson — Margo’s lover and her director
 ◇ Howard Benedict — Theatrical producer
 ◇ Buzz Richards — Playwright, married to Karen
 ◇ Duane Fox — Margo’s hairdresser
 ◇ Peter — Margo’s agent
 ◇ Bob — Margo’s lawyer
 ◇ Stan Harding — Newspaper columnist
 ◇ Bert — Stage manager for Margo’s play
 ◇ Sammy — One of the Village Bar patrons
 ◇ Orrin — TV director and stage piano player for gypsies
 ◇ Mike – Show biz gypsy
 ◇ Danny Burns — Dedicated show biz gypsy
 ◇ Debi — Solo voice among show biz gypsies
 ◇ Tony Awards Announcer
 ◇ Tony Awards Host
 ◇ Village Bartender

Ensemble: Show Biz Gypsies: Carol, Joan, Gene, American and Italian telephone operators’ voices, Stage hands, show business gypsies, autograph seekers, party guests, waiters, musicians, Village Bar customers, TV technicians and script girl.

MUSICAL NUMBERS

Act One

⭐︎ Backstage Babble – First Nighters
⭐︎ Think How It’s Gonna Be – Bill Sampson
⭐︎ But Alive – Margo Channing, Gay Bar Patrons
⭐︎ The Best Night of My Life – Eve Harrington
⭐︎ Who’s That Girl? – Margo
⭐︎ Applause – Bonnie, Gypsies
⭐︎ Hurry Back – Margo
⭐︎ Fasten Your Seat Belts – Margo, Party Guests
⭐︎ Welcome to the Theatre – Margo

Act Two

⭐︎ Good Friends – Buzz Richards, Karen Richards, Margo
⭐︎ She’s No Longer a Gypsy – Bonnie, Gypsies
⭐︎ One of a Kind – Bill, Margo
⭐︎ One Hallowe’en – Eve
⭐︎ Something Greater – Margo
⭐︎ Finale – Company