How Now, Dow Jones

How Now, Dow Jones is a musical comedy by Academy Award winner Elmer Bernstein, Tony Award nominee Carolyn Leigh and Max Shulman. The original Broadway production opened in December 1967. A critically acclaimed revised version premiered in August 2009.

How Now, Dow Jones, set in Wall Street, follows Kate who announces the Dow Jones numbers. Her fiancé will not marry her until the Dow Jones Industrial Average hits 1,000.

The original Broadway production opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on December 7, 1967 and closed on June 15, 1968 after 220 performances and 19 previews. The David Merrick production was directed by George Abbott with choreography by Gillian Lynne (who was actually replaced by an uncredited Michael Bennett). The cast starred Tony Roberts, Marlyn Mason, Brenda Vaccaro and Hiram Sherman.

In August 2009, a critically acclaimed revised version of How Now, Dow Jones was presented by UnsungMusicalsCo. Inc. at the Minetta Lane Theatre as part of the New York International Fringe Festival. The cast was led by Jefferson Award nominee Cristen Paige, Colin Hanlon and Fred Berman. As revised and directed by Ben West, the new version featured three new songs that were cut from the original production: “Don’t Let a Good Thing Get Away”, “Where You Are” and “Touch and Go”. Five other musical numbers, four major characters and the ensemble were eliminated and the show was presented in one act. The production was choreographed by Rommy Sandhu with musical direction and arrangements by Fran Minarik.