Closer Than Ever

Closer Than Ever
Original Cast Recording
Music	David Shire
Lyrics	Richard Maltby, Jr.
Book	Revue
Productions	1989 Off-Broadway 2012 Off-Broadway Revival
Awards	Outer Critics' Best Off-Broadway Musical

Closer Than Ever is a musical revue in two acts, with words by Richard Maltby, Jr. and music by David Shire. The revue contains no dialogue, and Maltby and Shire have described this show as a "bookless book musical". The show was originally conceived by Steven Scott Smith as a one act revue entitled "Next Time Now!", which was first given at the nightclub Eighty-Eights.

The success of "Next Time Now!" led to a much expanded production retitled Closer Than Ever that was co-directed by Maltby and Smith. This production began its life at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts during the Summer of 1989. It came to New York the following Fall, opening in previews on 17 October 1989, and officially opening on 6 November 1989 at the off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre, where it ran for 312 performances. The cast included Brent Barrett, Sally Mayes, Richard Muenz, and Lynne Wintersteller.

Closer Than Ever features self-contained songs which deal with such diverse topics as security, aging, mid-life crisis, second marriages, working couples, and unrequited love. Maltby and Shire based many of the songs on real-life experiences of their friends, or stories told to them. The revue won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and Maltby, Shire, and Wintersteller all garnered Drama Desk Award nominations for their respective contributions. The original New York cast recorded an album of the revue for RCA Victor (RCA Victor 60399).

The revue has received a number of revivals at Regional theatres throughout the United States, including a production at the Westport Country Playhouse in January 1991, an April 1996 production at the Fleetwood Stage in Mount Vernon, New York, an August 2002 production at the MetroStage in Washington D.C., a 2005 production at the Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago, and a March 2008 producti by Charlotte Shakespeare in Charlotte, North Carolina. In September 2006 the show had its London stage debut at the Bridewell Theatre. The production celebrated its 20th anniversary with runs at Queens Theater in the Park and The Bristol Riverside Theatre in April and May 2010; original cast members Wintersteller and Mayes co-starred with Sal Viviano and George Dvorsky, with Maltby and Kurt Stamm co-directing choreography by Stamm. The Shandaken Theatrical Society launched a production that ran from August 14–21, 2010 directed by Ricarda O'Conner and starred Janna Cardia, Alex Agard, and Austin Ku, Amy Wallace, and Chuck Sokolowski, and with musical director Eric Thomas Johnson.