City of Angels

City of Angels is a deliciously funny musical spoof of 1940s film noir and hard-boiled detective fiction. A double story alternating between real life and ‘reel’ life that plays out in parallel on stage. One portrays the battle of Stine, a successful crime writer, struggling to prevent his screenplay-in-progress from being mutilated by a tyrannical movie mogul, Buddy Fiddler.

The other depicts the unfolding of the screenplay itself, in which Stine’s alter ego, the detective Stone, sidles through a Hollywood netherworld of vicious thugs and femmes fatales. Based on a book by Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H), and with lyrics by David Zippel and music by Cy Coleman (‘Sweet Charity’, ‘Barnum’), ‘City of Angels’ was the first hit Broadway musical to have a full blown jazz score and in 1990 won Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book.