Mayor, The Musical

The Original Cast Album

Music and lyrics by Charles Strouse
Book by Warren Leight
Based on “Mayor” by Edward I. Koch
Featuring Douglas Bernstein, Marion J. Caffey, Keith Curran, Nancy Giles, Ken Jennings, Ilene Kristen, Kathryn McAteer and Lenny Wolpe as The Mayor
Directed by Jeffrey B. Moss

Tracks

Overture
Mayor
You Can Be a New Yorker, Too!
You’re Not the Mayor
March of the Yuppies
Hootspa
What You See Is What You Get
Ballad
I Want to Be the Mayor
The Last ‘I Love New York’ Song
Good Times
I’ll Never Leave You
How’m I Doin’?
My City
Bows
The Last ‘I Love New York’ Song
Mayor
My City

Composer-lyricist Charles Strouse writes in his liner notes: “Historically speaking, not many years have passed since MAYOR opened on May 13, 1985. And yet, a number of names that filled its script and score are history. No longer with us are John Cardinal O’Connor, Roy Cohn and Harry and Leona Helmsley…. Donald Trump faded, then un-faded again.

“Still around is Edward I. Koch. Oh, he hasn’t been mayor for years, which has allowed him to spend his time co-writing a few novels, including Murder on Broadway, which had nothing to do with this Off-Broadway show. He’s also been a movie reviewer for a weekly giveaway, and an occasional media pitchman for political candidates and other products.

But it was the memoir called Mayor that he wrote while was still in office that concerns us. Actually, at the time it concerned many voters, who wondered it they should vote for a guy who might have better spent his time solving the city’s woes instead of writing about them. Maybe that’s why he lost to David Dinkins in 1989.
“Well, at least we got an entertaining musical out of it. That’s not surprising, because musicals have always loved big characters (Tevye, Dolly, Jesus) and big events (the signing of the Declaration of Independence; the sinking of the Titanic) – which MAYOR provided.”