> > There is a lot of
> > dialogue, and then about 14 or 15 songs.
>
> Who wrote the dialogue?
Ray did both the book and the lyrics and the musical is loosely based on Herman Melville's novel "The Confidence Man", in case you didn't know already. There are changes from the book, e.g. Melville HIMSELF is a character in the musical.
> Was it written after the songs?
I don't know. But I do know that not all the songs were written at once. "Something of this masquerade may follow", I believe, was first performed in the 1986 production. It needed a closing number (and I thought they did a swell job.)
> Are there scripts of the various productions available
> online?
No, there's nothing online, only lyrics. And in general, you won't find a lot of musical librettos online, because of copyright reasons.
Have you ever heard the recording of the original
> 70's production?
If one exists, I've never heard it. But the performances would be something I would want to hear, and the musical arrangements. I wonder if Steve was involved at that point. I never asked.
I am wondering if Steve Margoshes made a
> huge contribution to later productions. I'm sure that he
> did.
His orchestrations, as always, are fantastic. I love his orchestrations. He has never disappointed me, Steve, although I've never heard his score for "Fame" and I've heard that it's bad.
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