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There have been several casting changes. The role of Mr. Hyde was played by three different actors in one week. Even the calico cat, who won a much publicized open casting call to be the Hansons' pet, was sacked.
The Hansons' cat is specifically a torn, and cat lovers soon pointed out that all calicoes are female. Now a big, orange torn has the part. Observes Meehan: "It's a tough business."
Still, the prognosis backstage is that I Remember Mama has at least a good commercial chance. "It won't be the artistic success of the season," says Silliman. "But if it reaches its potential, it could be a lovely show, another Sound of Music."
The frenzy at the Majestic has plenty of precedents. The 1971 remake of No, No, Nanette, for instance, seemed doomed. Rehearsals were a continual change in dance steps, dialogue and costumes. The legendary Busby Berkeley was superseded by Burt Shevelove. But when Nanette finally reached Broadway, it ran for 861 performances, and then toured the country. Funny Girl (1964) postponed its opening five times and went through 40 rewrites of the last scene. Finally, Jerome Robbins was brought in as production supervisor and added several songs, including You Are Woman, I Am Man.
Not all doctoring is complicated or dramatic. Robbins gave a lift to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by pushing for a jolly new opening number, Comedy Tonight. In some cases, the job is simple reorganization. After the current Broadway revival of Whoopee!, based on the 1928 musical, was slammed in St. Louis, Playwright Jonathan Reynolds (Yankees 3 Boston 0 Top of the Seventh) received an S O S. "In the opening scene, for instance, the main character, Henry Williams, was lost in the crowd, so I gave him more lines," says Reynolds. "I mainly reorganized the play so that the audience would know whom to follow." Whoopee! is doing steady business.
Despite the success stories, doctoring is often not enough. Composer Jule Styne believes that great hits—My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line—were great from the start and only needed polishing. "Ninety percent of plays that call in a new writer and director fail," says Styne. "Sometimes the best you can do is to convince them to close," adds Joseph Stein, who wrote Fiddler on the Roof and has doctored such plays as Irene and Raisin. "If you're lucky, the show will be mediocre."
Play doctors are a special breed. They must adapt their craft to another's style.
They must be able to work fast and pull all-nighters in hotel rooms. A good one knows how to eliminate a character, take out a scene, adjust a set. Says Stein: "You need a sixth sense, a feeling for where the show dips." The doctor's bill partly depends upon his success in salvaging the show. There is usually a flat fee, ranging from about $10,000 to $30,000 for five or six weeks' work, and often a percentage of the show's revenues.