(graphics: James Babbin)

As part of its George S. Irving Season presenting shows in which he originally appeared, Musicals Tonight! has rediscovered a lost treasure, Shinbone Alley. Based on Don Marquis' famous stories of the friendship between Archy the free verse cockroach and Mehitabel the alley cat, Shinbone Alley originally premiered on Broadway on April 13, 1957. The book was by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, one of three musicals Brooks wrote before The Producers. The witty lyrics were by Darion, later to be noted for the lyrics to Man of La Mancha. The jazzy score was by composer George Kleinsinger, most famous for the children's classic, Tubby the Tuba.

The original Broadway cast starred film actor Eddie Bracken as Archy and Eartha Kitt as Mehitabel.

The song “Toujours Gai” was to became one of Kitt's signature numbers. Irving played pugnacious Big Bill and the dancers included New York City Ballet stars Jacques d'Amboise and Allegra Kent. Although not a stage success, this “back alley opera” has remained alive in the concept album with Bracken and Carol Channing as Mehitabel which preceded and led to the Broadway version.

The history of the material begins in 1916 with New York Sun reporter Don Marquis. He claimed he arrived at his office one morning to find a note stuck in his typewriter. It was from archy the cockroach with the soul of a philosopher who had pecked it out during the night jumping on the keys (but was unable to hold down the shift key so that all the words were lower case.) Marquis' archy and mehitabel 's columns about the poet/philosopher's love for the fickle and streetwise alley cat were collected in three volumes from 1927 to 1935. In 1950, E.B. White wrote the preface for an omnibus edition.

Shinbone Alley turns out to be perfect for Musical Tonight!'s concert-style presentation as it does not require any props or costume changes to state its case. Thomas Sabella-Mills' production has obtained sharp characterizations from his cast of 14, and his dances ranging from ballet for the Moth to swing for the alley cats are some of the best he has ever staged. Darion's clever lyrics with their intricate, unusual rhythms are done full justice by the cast, and at Musicals Tonight!'s new home at the Upper West Side's McGinn/Cazale Theatre every word is crystal clear. Richard Hip- Flores' musical direction from behind the piano is upbeat and catchy. As Archie (sic), Lee Zarrett's New York whine is perfect for the oversensitive, neurotic poet/philosopher. Though not as slinky as Eartha Kitt must have been, Allyson Tucker is a sexy feline Mehitabel who is entirely her own woman.

The archy and mehitabel stories as presented in Shinbone Alley are introduced by newspaper man Don Marquis (played by Gene Jones) who tells how he found Archie's first note in his typewriter. Archie complains that the liberated Mehitabel has disappeared yet again from Shinbone Alley. After he bails her out of the lock up, she promises to improve her morals and her social standing but disappears again. When she next appears, her promise to change is immediate jettisoned as the English theater cat Tyrone T. Tattersall offers to make her a star. Archie attempts suicide but can't go through with it. When Tattersall's lessons don't take, Mehitabel, ever her own woman, disappears with Big Bill, a rough, tough tomcat.

In Act Two, Archie goes looking for Mehitabel but is knocked out by Big Bill who wants no stranger hanging about. When Mehitabel finds she is pregnant (once again,) Big Bill disappears. This time she takes Archie's advice and becomes a house cat on Maiden Lane. However, when he goes to visit her, she is now too good for him and she shows him the door. When Archie attempts to drown his sorrows at the Bug Snuggery, he is almost done in by a DDT cocktail. This time he swears off on loving Mehitabel, but can't stay away from Shinbone Alley. There he finds to his surprise, his lady love has returned, rejecting the upper-class luxury of the pampered house cat, with her “toujours gai” philosophy intact.

Zarrett has a wonderful time with the witty lyrics to “Ballad of Broadway, The Lightning Bug Song,” “Archie's Suicide Song,” and “ Archie's Blues.” Tucker makes the most of “There's A Dance or Two In the Old Girl Yet,” “A Woman Wouldn't Be A Woman” and the “ Cheerio, My Deario/Toujours Gai” sequence. Together Zarrett and Tucker burn up the stage in their odd couple duet, “Flotsam and Jetsam.”

Justin Sayre almost stops the show with Tattersall's parody aria, “Come to Me-Oww” and his Gilbert and Sullivan-like patter song, “They Haven't Got It Here,” which laments the poor acting of today. Trent Armand Kendall as the Cagney-like Big Bill applies his strong baritone to “the Stranger,” his rejection of a menage á trois with Mehitabel, and later as leader of the title song. “Way Down Blues” becomes a show-stopping number for Thursday Farrar's Broken-hearted Cat. Among the dancers, Elena Gutierrez is a fine balletic Moth and Leajato Amara Robinson gives able support in the ensembles.

Obviously ahead of its time when first presented on Broadway with its liberated heroine and its view of the lower depths, Shinbone Alley proves to have come of age. Musicals Tonight!, stepping wide of its usual Kern-Porter-Gershwin-Berlin fare, makes an excellent case for this lost treasure with its polished and professional revival.

Shinbone Alley (through November 19)

Musicals Tonight! at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Broadway and 76^th Street in Manhattan