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Set at a Catskills resort in 1960, this is the sweetly comic story of Lois and Marge, two friends from Brooklyn in search of good times and romance over one wild Labor Day weekend. The score showcases 18 Neil Sedaka classics, including "Where the Boys Are", "Sweet Sixteen", "Calendar Girl", "Love Will Keep Us Together", and of course, the chart-topping title song.
Marge and her stagestruck best friend Lois arrive at Esther's Paradise Resort in the Catskills on Labor Day Weekend in 1960, on a vacation that was intended to be Marge's honeymoon — until the groom left her at the altar. Lois attempts to console Marge by setting her up with the resort's handsome, self-obsessed singer DelDelmonaco. But her plans backfire when Del mistakenly assumes that Marge's father can further his ambitions to become the next teen heartthrob on American Bandstand. Gazing forlornly at Marge from the wings is geekish cabana boy and aspiring songwriter Gabe.
When he isn't entertaining the guests with classic, but still comical Borscht Belt shtick, house comic Harvey secretly carries a torch for widowed resort owner Esther, who is more preoccupied trying to keep her resort open.
Eighteen Sedaka hits are incorporated into these doings, complemented by an onstage five-piece band and optional backup singers.
Ben H. Winters is the author of the novel The Last Policeman, which was selected as an Amazon “Best Book” of July 2012 and for the Indy NEXT List of the American Bookseller’s Association. His other works of fiction include the New York Times bestseller Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and the middle-grade novel The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman, an Edgar Award nominee and a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of 2011. Winters’ other books include the science-fiction Tolstoy parody Android Karenina and the supernatural thriller Bedbugs, which has been optioned for the screen by Warner Brothers. As a playwright, Winters co-wrote the Neil Sedaka musical Breaking Up is Hard To Do, as well as three musicals for young audiences: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, A (Tooth) Fairy Tale, and Uncle Pirate, based on the award-winning children’s book by Douglas Rees. www.BenHWinters.com
ERIK JACKSON has written four Off Broadway plays. The comedy CHARLIE! (1995) drew unprecedented "listening-room only" audiences to New York's P.S. 122 and the HERE Theater. His comic thriller TELL-TALE (1997) premiered at P.S. 122 then transferred to the Cherry Lane Theater. It received a GLADD nomination as best play of the year. DOLL (2000), a twisted take on Ibsen's A DOLL'S HOUSE, was produced at P.S. 122 and in Washington D.C. Jackson's comic adaptation of Stephen King's CARRIE premiered at P.S. 122 in 2006. Jackson is the playwright-in-residence for New York's Theatre Couture and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Jackson was a staff writer for season two of Here TV's supernatural series DANTE'S COVE. He also wrote the screen adaptation of his play CHARLIE! The movie premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998 and subsequently screened at festivals around the world. Jackson's poems appeared in the 1997 Showtime film THE ESCAPE, starring Patrick Dempsey.As a journalist and editor, Jackson's work has appeared in Glamour, InStyle, Town & Country, Time Out New York, W, Real Simple and Show People, among others. He has been an on-air reporter for the TV program Talking Movies on BBC/BBC America; acted as host of ABC's entertainment program The Us Weekly Report; and was a correspondent for ABC's News One radio show. He has appeared as an entertainment expert on a range of networks and shows, including CNN, VH1, Entertainment Tonight, The View, The O'Reilly Factor, and, in a moment of shining glory, on MTV's HOW TO LIVE LIKE A CELEBRITY PET.
Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 13, 1939.He first demonstrated musical aptitude in his second-grade choral class, and when his teacher sent a note home suggesting he take piano lessons, his mother took a part-time job in an Abraham & Straus department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright.In 1947, he auditioned successfully for a piano scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music's Preparatory Division for Children. He also maintained an interest in popular music, and when he was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist. The two began writing songs together.The best-known Billboard Hot 100 hits of his early career are "The Diary", "Oh! Carol", "Stairway To Heaven", "You Mean Everything to Me", "Calendar Girl", "Little Devil", "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", and "Next Door To An Angel".A similar sharing of creative hits came earlier with Sedaka and singer Connie Francis. Her recording of "Stupid Cupid" reached #14 on the Billboard charts, and among the other Sedaka/Greenfield Connie Francis hits are"The Diary" (Sedaka's first hit single,"Fallin" and "Where the Boys Are".Between 1960 and 1962, Sedaka had eight Top 40 hits.In 1972, Sedaka embarked on a successful English tour and in June recorded the Solitaire album in England, and a year later he recorded The Tra-La Days Are Over, which jump-started the second phase of his career.He then worked with Elton John, who signed him to his Rocket Records label. Sedaka returned to the public's attention with a flourish, topping the charts twice with "Laughter in the Rain" and "Bad Blood" (both 1975). Elton John provided backing vocals for the latter song. The flipside of "Laughter in the Rain" was "The Immigrant", a wistful, nostalgic piece recalling the days when America was more welcoming of immigrants, which Sedaka wrote to contrast the U.S. government's refusal to grant John Lennon permanent resident alien status.Sedaka and Greenfield also co-wrote "Love Will Keep Us Together", a No. 1 hit for Captain and Tennille and the best selling record of 1975.It was those hits, plus Sedaka's own stagecraft, that made him a comeback success story.Sedaka continues to perform regularly. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in October 2006.A special concert has been planned for October 2007 at the Lincoln Center in New York City, to honor the 50th anniversary of Sedaka's debut in show business.
Howard Greenfield was born in Brooklyn, New York, and worked out of the famous Brill Building with Neil Sedaka, a friend he had met as a teenager when they both lived in the same apartment building, in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn. Greenfield was educated at Abraham Lincoln High School.After first supplying "Passing Time" to The Cookies, Sedaka and Greenfield scored their first major pop hit single with Connie Francis' "Stupid Cupid". When, in 1959, Sedaka signed to RCA Records as a solo artist, he and Greenfield composed a string of hits - among them "Oh! Carol", "Stairway to Heaven", "Calendar Girl", "Little Devil", "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", "Next Door to an Angel" and the chart-topping "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - which sold a combined 25 million records.After Sedaka's career cooled in 1963, the duo continued writing hits for other artists, including The Fifth Dimension's "Workin' on a Groovy Thing" and Tom Jones' "Puppet Man". Apart from Sedaka, Greenfield also collaborated with Carole King ("Crying in the Rain"), Helen Miller ("Foolish Little Girl", The Shirelles' final Top Ten hit), and Jack Keller. The latter was his songwriting partner on "Breakin' in a Brand New Broken Heart", "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" and "When Somebody Loves You". In addition Greenfield and Keller supplied the theme music for U.S. television programs such as Bewitched and The Flying Nun.Although Sedaka and Greenfield ended their partnership in 1973, two years later their song "Love Will Keep Us Together" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for Captain & Tennille, as well as earning a Grammy for Record of the Year. He and Sedaka later resumed their collaboration, and continued writing together in the years to follow.Greenfield died, aged 49, in Los Angeles, California in 1986 from AIDS. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).In 1991, Howard Greenfield was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
Featuring the songs of Neil Sedaka
Book by ERIK JACKSON and BEN H. WINTERS
Music by NEIL SEDAKA
Lyrics by NEIL SEDAKA, HOWARD GREENFIELD, and PHILIP CODY
Orchestrations/Vocal Arrangements by Tom Kitt
Conceived by Marsh Hanson and Gordon Greenberg
Creative Consultation by Neil Sedaka
MARGE GELMAN (mid to late 20's; mezzo soprano, comfortable to an E and possibly beyond, preferably a legit sound): Abandoned at the altar, Marge is an aspiring dentist from Brooklyn who finds herself in the Catskills on what would have been her honeymoon weekend. (Think Jennifer Grey in DIRTY DANCING) Duped into falling for the suave band leader, she ultimately finds self-esteem, learns the value of honesty and friendship and finds love where she least expected it.
LOIS WARNER (mid to late 20's; alto with some mezzo soprano ability, comfortable to a C and possibly beyond, preferably a pop sound): An aspiring nightclub singer, Lois lives her life as if in a Betty Grable movie. She brings her best friend Marge up from Brooklyn to the Catskills for Labor Day Weekend. In trying to help her friend Marge recover from heartbreak, she inadvertently puts her in the line of fire with Del, the hotel's suave but manipulative bandleader. With a Marilyn Monroe simplicity, Lois is a sweet young girl with more heart than brainpower.
DEL DELMONACO (late 20's to 30's; tenor, comfortable to an A—the higher the better): An Elvis wannabe, Del is not the brightest bulb on the tree. (Think Conrad Birdie or Joey from FRIENDS). Del will do anything to get ahead, including misleading Marge into thinking he loves her and stealing his cousin Gabe's songs for his own use.
GABE (mid to late 20's; tenor, Bb-C range): The clumsy, brainy and terribly shy Guy Friday at the hotel, Gabe is on a fast track to joining his father's orthodontia practice. Lacking the self-confidence to perform his own music, Gabe he is secretly the songwriting genius behind the music Del claims as his own. When Gabe meets Marge, he is compelled to take action to win her heart and, ultimately, to reveal himself as the true musician, performing his own songs in front of the whole resort.
ESTHER (50's to 60's; alto, comfortable to a C, or at least a Bb, but should really be rich in her low to mid register): The owner of the mid-size hotel named after her (Esther's Paradise), Esther is a survivor. Since the death of her husband, she has single-handedly kept the hotel afloat using crafty solutions, boundless energy and creativity to keep guests happy. She is fiercely independent, refusing help or support from anyone, and she's always there with a quip or smart remark.
HARVEY (50's to 60's; baritone, should have range to an F# or a G): The resident "tummler" (comedian/social director) at Esther's Paradise, Harvey is old-school Catskills. He is all about the punch line (and the set-up). A confirmed bachelor, Harvey spends most of his life cracking wise and avoiding any show if genuine emotion or vulnerability. When he witnesses the extreme lengths to which Marge will go to make love work for her again, he is inspired to take a leap of faith with Esther, the one person who truly appreciates the man behind the jokes.
THE BAND (Piano, Bass, Guitar, Drums): The band is visible onstage as the "House Band" at Ester's Paradise Resort, and also sings backup (poorly at times) as needed.
(4 musicians)
Piano/conductor
Guitar (Acoustic, Electric)
Bass (Acoustic, Electric)
Drums
(Optional: all band members sing)
Two
BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO Prop List
-note card
-hand-held microphone
-large roll of toilet paper
-corned beef sandwich
-bracelet (broken/repaired)
-Western Union Telegram
-ladder
-lightbulb
-diary/pen
-pen
-Indian headdress
-bundle of logs
-guitar
-whiskey in drinking glass
-cigar
-accounting ledger
-rubber chicken wrapped as a gift
-first aid spray/bandages
-shoe with breakable/broken heel
-juggling balls
-lyric sheet
-prop trunk
-plastic bouquet
-suitcase
- 2 matching jackets
-check ($8,000)
If you would like to add to this list, e-mail licensing@theatricalrights.com
Show|Ready™ and Stage|Tracks™ provided by ROCS (Right on Cue Services) are now available for BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO.
With Show|Ready™, you can virtually send your Musical Director home with each and every member of your cast! Show|Ready allows you to play a customizable rehearsal track of your show, complete with individual vocal parts and all dance breaks on a Mac, PC, and soon on your iOS device. Your Musical Director simply uploads any edits made at that day’s rehearsal and your cast can access and download the newest version with all of the new changes. This enables your entire cast to rehearse correctly from the beginning, saving you valuable time and effort.
With an intuitive interface, Show|Ready gives you complete control over which parts you hear, and lets you modify the key or tempo and cut, vamp, or repeat measures as you please. All shows include the piano, bass, drum, all vocal parts, and click track as well as a sheet music viewer that automatically displays the piano/conductor score and changes the page as you listen and navigate throughout the show.
Stage|Tracks™ provides quality performance tracks, edited to integrate your individual changes from Show|Ready. With the best sounding tracks at an affordable price, Stage|Tracks will greatly enhance your production if you do not have live musicians to accompany the show. However, you should be advised that while Stage|Tracks provides quality performance tracks of the full orchestration, it is not recommended to be used alongside live musicians. Stage|Tracks is only for performance and is sent approximately 3-4 weeks prior to the opening date of your production. Stage|Tracks is currently only available on an iOS device, with Mac and PC coming soon.
For pricing information and to order Show|Ready™ or Stage|Tracks™ please call: 646-736-3232 or email: licensing@theatricalrights.com
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