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[0:00] Paul Lazarus: Hi, this is Paul Lazarus. In the 1980s I produced and hosted a radio series called Anything Goes, a celebration of the American musical theater. Now the Broadway Podcast Network is bringing back these shows. This is the second of a three-part program featuring a comprehensive look at the opening number. This program originally aired in January of 1983. It features opening numbers from Broadway shows as far back as Showboat to more modern productions like Nine and Sweeney Todd. In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was a look on at something shocking, but now God knows anything goes. Many times in the musical theater, dance has been used to establish time and place and theme and probably no greater exponent of that craft of using dance to explore those elements of the presentation is Jerome Robbins. And we have already featured one number that Mr. Robbins was associated with, and that's Comedy Tonight, which was written at his insistence that the audience be made aware of what the low-comedy farce evening was about and was greatly responsible for the success of that show. As we heard Sondheim explain, he went on to do many more dance-related opening numbers, but his first really, and that ilk was in 1944 with On the Town, based on his own ballet, Fancy Free. And here, I thought it'd be interesting to compare three songs from three different decades. On the Town's opening, 1944, New York, New York. The prologue and jet song from West Side Story, 1957, an example from the 50s. And then we're going to skip the 60s and go to the 70s with Michael Bennett's evocation of New York and the World of the Gypsy in a chorus line with the opening of that show, I Hope I Get It. I think what's interesting about these three openings is that they're all heavily involved with dance as an expression of character, theme, and mood, and all profoundly New York in tone.

[3:04] Paul Lazarus: Sleep, sleep in your lady's arms. You got the time, bud? Three minutes to six. Oh, I left my old woman still sleeping. Oh, the air is sweet, but my woman's sweeter. Sleep, sleep in your lady's arms. Hey, what time is it? One minute to six. All night I was walking the baby. Whoa, oh, his eyes are blue, but her eyes are bluer. Sleep, sleep in your lady's arms. What time is it now, bud? Ah, six o'clock, will ya? Come on, Davey, hurry up! 24 hours! Hey, why don't you look where you're going? You think it was your first time in New York? It is! New York, New York! It's a hell of a town! We've got one day here and not another minute to see the famous sights. We'll find the romance and danger waiting