A Catered Affair

A Catered Affair
Cover of Original Broadway Cast Recording
Music	John Bucchino
Lyrics	John Bucchino
Book	Harvey Fierstein
Basis	The Catered Affair by Paddy Chayefsky
Productions	2007 San Diego Tryout 2008 Broadway

A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. This is the first of Bucchino's scores produced on Broadway.

The show premiered on September 20, 2007 at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in tryouts, with the official opening on September 30, running through November 11. The show began previews on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on March 25, 2008 and opened officially on April 17. The production closed on July 27, 2008 after 116 performances and 27 previews.John Doyle directed the production, which stars Fierstein, Faith Prince and Tom Wopat. This production received 12 Drama Desk Award nominations, the most of any show from the 2007-08 season.

In the Bronx in 1953, young lovers Jane Hurley and Ralph Halloran decide to get married. Meanwhile Jane's father, Tom, who owns a third-share in a taxi, agrees with one of his partners, Sam, that they will buy out the share of the third driver, Pasternak. Jane and Ralph, along with Tom and Sam, happily exclaim the virtues of partnership ("Partners"). Timing is inauspicious, since the bride's brother has just been killed in the Korean War. The couple does not want a large, expensive wedding, and Tom needs the money to buy out Pasternak. As Jane's mother Aggie announces that the upcoming wedding will be held quickly and quietly in City Hall, the neighborhood women react ("Women Chatter"). Dinner with Ralph's wealthier family leads Aggie to decide to give the couple a huge formal affair, committing her and Tom's life's savings and bereavement check to an elaborate wedding with an extensive guest list and a lavish catered reception ("Our Only Daughter"). Aggie feels guilty about having neglected Jane and sees an opportunity to plan the white wedding that she herself never had. The bride's gay Uncle Winston, initially hurt and furious at having been left off the original guest list, becomes a support for Aggie.