The A-list of onstage and offstage talent for the new musical “Sweet Smell of Success” has landed in Chicago, convinced (at least in public) that they are working on an American theater masterpiece.
At a press conference Wednesday, John Lithgow, starring as a slick, powerful New York gossip columnist in the ’50s, acted as master of ceremonies. He told the assembled reporters he was positive that “we are on to something great” and introduced fellow cast members who sang three songs (by composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Craig Carnelia) from the production.
Nicholas Hytner, the director, said that just as Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” (1786) was a great opera derived from a great 1784 play of the same title, the 2001 “Sweet Smell,” with a book by John Guare, holds promise of becoming a great musical derived from a great 1957 movie of the same title.
The show begins previews Dec. 23, opens to the press to review Jan. 13 and runs through Jan. 27 at the Shubert Theatre.
