Hallelujah, Baby!

Hallelujah, Baby!
Original cast recording
Music	Jule Styne
Lyrics	Adolph Green and Betty Comden
Book	Arthur Laurents
Productions	1967 Broadway
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Score

Hallelujah, Baby! is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, and a book by Arthur Laurents. The show is "a chronicle of the African American struggle for equality during the [first half of the] 20th century."

The musical premiered on Broadway in 1967 and made a young Leslie Uggams a star. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Georgina is a talented, beautiful and ambitious African American woman, determined to have a career. Overcoming many obstacles, she rises to stardom. She makes her way through the Great Depression, World War II, and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Her mother advises her to "keep her place" as a maid on a South Carolina estate, but Georgina negotiates the blocks to stardom from her negative and opportunistic mother. She encounters the racism that pervades society and show business.

Two men vie for Georgina's attention. Harvey, who is white, is able to provide opportunities for her. Her fiancé Clem, who is a black train porter, cannot help her on her journey. By the 1950s, she is a successful singer in an expensive night club. However, Clem has become an Army captain and then a civil rights activist and challenges Georgina's life goals.

"Witches Brew" had a tune that was recycled from "Call Me Savage," a song from a prior musical Fade Out – Fade In and was originally sung by Carol Burnett.

The musical opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on April 26, 1967 and closed on January 13, 1968 after 293 performances and 22 previews. It was directed by Burt Shevelove, choreographed by Kevin Carlisle, with scenic design by William and Jean Eckart, costumes by Irene Sharaff and lighting by Tharon Musser. The cast featured Allen Case as Harvey, Robert Hooks as Clem, Leslie Uggams as Georgina, and Marilyn Cooper as Mrs. Charles, Mistress, Ethel, Dorothy. The production won five Tony Awards (out of nine nominations), including Best Musical, and Uggams won the Tony for Best Actress for her performance.