Seesaw is a musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 with a book by Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett was an American musical theater director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for an additional eleven....

, music by Cy Coleman

Cy Coleman

Cy Coleman was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.-Life and career:He was born Seymour Kaufman on June 14, 1929, in New York City to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason...

, and lyrics by Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...

.

Based on the William Gibson

William Gibson (playwright)

William Gibson was an American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938.He was of Irish, French, German, Dutch and Russian ancestry...

 play Two for the Seesaw

Two for the Seesaw

Two for the Seesaw is a 1962 romance-drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine. It was adapted from the Broadway play written by William Gibson.-Plot:...

, the plot focuses on a brief affair between Jerry Ryan, a young lawyer from Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

, and Gittel Mosca, a kooky, streetwise dancer from the Bronx

The Bronx

The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

. The musical numbers evoke colorful aspects of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 life but have relatively little to do with the story. The most notable feature of the score's original orchestrations was their wide use of brass instruments.

The production faced seemingly insurmountable problems during its pre-Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 tryout period, and when it reached Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

, producers Joseph Kipness and Lawrence Kasha

Lawrence Kasha

Lawrence Kasha was a Tony Award-winning American theatre producer and director, playwright, and stage manager....

 brought in Bennett for advice. He recommended they abandon the book by Michael Stewart

Michael Stewart (playwright)

Michael Stewart was an American playwright and librettist.Born Michael Stuart Rubin in Manhattan, Stewart attended Queens College, and is a graduate of Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts from 1953. Michael Stewart (August 1, 1924 – September 20, 1987) was an American playwright...

 and fire director Edwin Sherin

Edwin Sherin

Edwin Sherin is an American theatre and television director and producer. He is the husband of actress Jane Alexander. He has directed many episodes of the television drama Law & Order, as well as directing for the stage, mainly on Broadway, including The Great White Hope.-Biography:Born in...

 and leading lady Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...

, who he felt was too hefty to portray a dancer convincingly. Upon agreeing to helm the show, Bennett recast most of the ensemble, convinced Robin Wagner

Robin Wagner (designer)

Robin Wagner is an American scenic designer.Born Robin Samuel Anton Wagner in San Francisco, he attended art school and started his career in theatres in that city with designs for Don Pasquale, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Tea and Sympathy, and Waiting for Godot, among others...

 to replace his original realistic design with a sleek, stylized set, had Coleman and Fields rework their score, and brought in Neil Simon

Neil Simon

Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...

 to help him rewrite the book, although final credit went solely to Bennett.

After 25 previews, the Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Bennett, opened on March 18, 1973 at the Uris Theatre

George Gershwin Theatre

The Gershwin Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 51st Street in midtown-Manhattan in the Paramount Plaza building. The theatre is named after composer George Gershwin and lyricist Ira Gershwin...

. It later transferred to the Mark Hellinger

Mark Hellinger Theatre

The Mark Hellinger Theatre is a generally used name of a former legitimate Broadway theater, located at 237 West 51st Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Since 1991, it has been known as the Times Square Church...

; between the two venues, it ran a total of 296 performances. The opening night cast included Ken Howard

Ken Howard

Kenneth Joseph "Ken" Howard, Jr. is an American actor, best known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show The White Shadow...

, Michele Lee

Michele Lee

Michele Lee is an American singer, dancer, actress, producer, director and frequent game show panelist of the 1970s. She is best-known for her role as Karen Cooper Fairgate MacKenzie on the 1980s prime-time soap opera, Knots Landing...

, Tommy Tune

Tommy Tune

Thomas James "Tommy" Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.-Early years:...

, Giancarlo Esposito

Giancarlo Esposito

Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is a Danish-born American film and television actor and director.-Early life:Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father and African-American mother. His mother was an opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, who once appeared on the same...

, Thommie Walsh

Thommie Walsh

Thomas Joseph “Thommie” Walsh III was an American dancer, choreographer, and director.-Biography:Born in Auburn, New York, Walsh was interested in dance from the age of five, but seriously considered foregoing it as a career when he was rejected by Juilliard...

, Amanda McBroom

Amanda McBroom

Amanda McBroom is an American singer, songwriter and cabaret performer. One of the songs she has written is "The Rose", which Bette Midler sang in the film of the same name...

 and Baayork Lee

Baayork Lee

Baayork Lee is an Asian-American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author.-Early life and career:Lee was born in New York City's Chinatown to an Indian mother and Chinese father...

.

Reviews were universally good, but there was no money for newspaper ads to quote them or thirty-second television spots to promote the show. As a publicity stunt, New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay was persuaded to appear on stage during a production number set in Times Square

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

, and the ensuing media coverage resulted in a boost at the box office. But the move from the Uris to the Mark Hellinger was costly, and although a post-Broadway run in Philadelphia and Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 was a financial success, Seesaw failed to earn back its sizable investment.

Lucie Arnaz

Lucie Arnaz

Lucie Désirée Arnaz is an American actress, singer, dancer and producer. She is the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and is the sister of actor Desi Arnaz, Jr..- Early life :...

, John Gavin

John Gavin

John Gavin is an American film actor and a former United States Ambassador to Mexico. Gavin is half Mexican and fluent in Spanish....

, and Tommy Tune

Tommy Tune

Thomas James "Tommy" Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.-Early years:...

 starred in the very well received national tour of the musical in 1974.

Songs

Act I

• Seesaw
• My City
• Nobody Does It Like Me
• In Tune
• Spanglish
• Welcome to Holiday Inn!
• You're a Lovable Lunatic
• He's Good for Me
• Ride Out the Storm

Act II

• We've Got It
• Poor Everybody Else
• Chapter 54, Number 1909
• The Concert
• It's Not Where You Start
• I'm Way Ahead
• Seesaw (Reprise)

Awards and nominations

• Tony Award
  Tony Award
  The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
  
   for Best Musical (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Original Score (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Lee, nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Tune, winner)
• Tony Award for Best Choreography (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominee)
• Drama Desk Award
  Drama Desk Award
  The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
  
  for Outstanding Performance (Lee, winner)