Set in New York at the turn-of-the-century, the Tony-nominated Tenderloin reunited the authors, director and producers of the Pulitzer Prize-winning smash-hit, Fiorello! The sparkling, youthful score by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock (Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me) stayed on the Billboard charts for 34 weeks when the original cast album was released.
Dr. Brock is a crusading Minister who has dedicated himself to cleaning up the section of New York devoted to vice, the area known as the "Tenderloin". The "do-gooder," Reverend Brock, is aided by a reporter, Tommy Howatt, with a hidden agenda of his own. Brock is unaware that Tommy, his supposed associate, is in league with a dishonest policeman, Lieutenant Schmidt. The two of them frame Brock with doctored photographs. In court, though, Tommy – who has been converted to religion by a choir girl named Laura – admits the truth. A cleanup of the area begins. Brock doesn't remain to witness the change – he moves his campaign on to Detroit.
Described as a "gay nineties" Guys and Dolls, Tenderloin is a must-produce for any theatre looking to produce Golden-Age Broadway musicals. A big, rousing, somewhat-risqué show with lots of dancing and the hit songs, "Artificial Flowers," "Little Old New York" and "Good Clean Fun," Tenderloin is a vintage show that still packs quite a punch.
