By Maryann Lopinto***Hosted by Rob Schneider and Charles Kirsch, Broadway Bound Part 4 at 54 Below gave the back stories to a selection of musicals with Broadway aspirations but no luck in getting there—although some got as close as Millburn, New 
Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse. Musical Director was Michael Lavine. Director was Robbie Rozelle. The cast were: Major Attaway, Allison Belinkoff, John Bolton, Mary Callanan, John Cariani, Lori Tan Chinn, Rachel Dratch, Joy Franz, Eric Michael Gillett, Marc Kudisch, Richard Maltby Jr., Lena Josephine Marano, Eric Millegan, Christine Pedi, Michele Ragusa, Sean Stephens and Talia Suskauer.
Here are some songs from those Broadway Bound musicals that didn’t make it:
1. Kicks and Co. (music and lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr.) opened at the Aria Crown in Chicago in 1961 and lasted only four performances. “Mr Kicks” from it was performed by Major Attaway.
2. “Almost Perfect,” sung by Sean Stevens, from Muscle, opened in 2001 at the Pegasus Players in Chicago as a workshop production, with libretto by James Lapine, music by Willian Finn and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh.
3. “The World According to Phil” was performed by Marc Kudisch, part of the cast of The Flamingo Kid (Scott Frankel, Robert I. Friedman), which opened in 1984 at the Hartford Stage.
4. Eric Milligan, with Michael Lavine, sang “The Real Thing” from Harold and Maude (Joseph Thalken, Tom Jones). The show tried out first at the Paper Mill Playhouse, was rewritten and placed in theatre in Palo Alto, California.
5. “Goodbye World” was performed by Allison Belinkoff, from Grover’s Corner (Harvey Schmidt, Tom Jones), based on the classic play, Our Town. It work-shopped at the Bank Street Theatre and was cast in 2014 with Mary Martin as the Stage Manager. It first opened at the Long Warf Theatre, but the tour was aborted.
6. “A Wonderful Life” (Joe Raposa, Sheldon Harnick) was sung by Christine Pedi and Michael Lavine from the musical of the same name. The show played in various locations, including at Paper Mill before it ended for good.
7. Songwriter Richard Malby, Jr. offered “America Will Break Your Heart” from his musical Waterfall (lyrics by David Shire), which opened in 2015 at the Pasadena Playhouse and closed at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre.
8. Paper Moon (Larry Grossman, Ellen Fitzhugh, Carol Hall ) yielded two songs: “Enterpreneur” performed by John Bolton and Lena Josephine Maranoc and “I Do What I Want With What I Get” by Michele Ragusa. It opened at Goodspeed, was revamped and opened at the Paper Mill in 1993. The marquee was already up at the Marriott Marquis theater when the producers decided to postponed the Broadway opening to make changes. It never happened.
9. The Paper Mill hosted Half Time in 2019. Lori Tan Chinn sang”The Water’s Rise” by Marvin Hamlish, who wrote some of the songs; the majority were written by Matthew Sklar and Neil Benjamin.
10. “Alice” from 1987’s The Honeymooners (Alan Menkin, Betty Comden and Adolph Green) was performed by Kevin Dolan, but the show was aborted because of rights issues. A 2017 another version played at the Paper Mill with music by Stephen Weiner and lyrics by Peter Mills.
11. “I Know It’s True” performed by Micheal Lavine, came from Bonanza Bound (Saul Chaplin, Betty Comden and Adolph Green) a 1947 show that played only in Philadelphia.
12. “At the Rialto” from Over and Over (John Kander, Fred Ebb) was performed by Eric Michael Gillett. After two title changes and tryouts at multiple theaters beginning in 1999, the producers are still hopeful for a Broadway run.
13. Rachel Dratch and John Cariani offered “I Want a Life” from Minsky’s (Charles Strouse, Susan Birkenhead), which opened in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theater in February 2009. A revamped production bound for Broadway never made it.
