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Days of Wine and Roses (Guettel/Lucas)

Full-Length Musical, Drama  /  3w, 6m, 1girl(s)

Book by Craig Lucas
Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettel

Based on the 1958 teleplay and 1962 film, this critically acclaimed musical explores the power and destruction of addiction as it follows Joe and Kirsten, a young couple falling in love – and into alcoholism – in 1950s New York City.

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Days of Wine and Roses (Guettel/Lucas)

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 6m, 1girl(s)
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Adaptation (Stage & Screen)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades

  • Nominee: Three 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Original Score
    Nominee: Five 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical

Details

Summary

Based on the 1958 teleplay and 1962 film, this critically acclaimed musical explores the power and destruction of addiction as it follows Joe and Kirsten, a young couple falling in love – and into alcoholism – in 1950s New York City. Featuring a spiky, jazz-inflected score, Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel’s challenging and provocative show is a feast of opportunities for a pair of exceptional musical theatre actors – and a revelation for its audience.

History

Days of Wine and Roses premiered off-Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater on 5 June 2023. Directed by Michael Greif, the production starred Brian d’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara. Shortly thereafter, the production transferred to Broadway, opening at Studio 54 on 28 January 2024.

Performing Groups

JOE CLAY – Just home from fighting in Korea
KIRSTEN ARNESEN – Executive secretary, second-generation Norwegian
ARNESEN – Kirsten’s father
JIM HUNGERFORD
LILA – Joe and Kirsten’s daughter, 7

A small ENSEMBLE plays all the additional roles, speaking and otherwise:

SEVERAL PASSERSBY
2 FEMALE PARTYGOERS
2 MALE EXECUTIVES
WAITER (Scene 1)
RAD – Joe’s immediate superior
DELANEY – A client
WAITER (Scene 2)
DINERS
DRUNK(S)
HOUSTON CLIENTS and WIVES
BARTENDER AT HOUSTON AIRPORT
NEIGHBORS and WORKERS
ENEMY COMBATANTS
WAITRESS AT DINER
MRS. NOLAN – A neighbor
WAITER or WAITRESS (Scene 23)
MALE DINER (Scene 23)
SALESWOMAN
SALESMAN

  • Time Period 1950s
  • Setting

    Various locations in New York City, Long Island and Houston. Late 1950s to early 1960s.

  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Strong Language
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“A jazzy, aching new musical with wells of compassion.” – The New York Times

“A gorgeously and expressionistically scored new musical.” – Chicago Tribune

“One of the century’s few great musicals! Sounds like nothing else in the theatre… an audacious masterstroke of theatrical derring-do.” – The Wrap

“You’ll never see anything like it again.” – TheaterMania

“Guettel’s anxious, spiky, sumptuous score… grabs hold of us and doesn’t let go.” – The New York Times

“A brutal and disturbing portrait of helplessness… one of the relatively few theatrical adaptations that expands upon its cinematic source material, as seen in how the score (which is grounded in mid-century jazz) artfully captures the characters’ circumstances (including the high-flying, euphoric rush of endless cocktails) and subsequent breakdowns and melancholy.” – amNY

“Ambitious, artful and musically sophisticated.” – TimeOut New York

Videos

  • Days of Wine and Roses – Broadway Montage youtube thumbnail

    Days of Wine and Roses – Broadway Montage

  • Days of Wine and Roses – Reviews Trailer youtube thumbnail

    Days of Wine and Roses – Reviews Trailer

  • Adam Guettel on Days of Wine and Roses youtube thumbnail

    Adam Guettel on Days of Wine and Roses

  • “There Go I (Reprise)” – Kelli O'Hara and Brian d'Arcy James youtube thumbnail

    “There Go I (Reprise)” – Kelli O'Hara and Brian d'Arcy James

Music

Music Samples

“Magic Time” – Joe
“The Story of the Atlantic Cable” – Kirsten
“There Go I” – Kirsten
“Evanesce” – Joe, Kirsten
“Sammen I Himmelen” – Kirsten
“As the Water Loves the Stone” – Joe, Kirsten
“Are You Blue” – Kirsten
“Underdeath” – Kirsten
“First Breath” – Kirsten, Lila
“Evanesce (Reprise)” – Joe, Kirsten
“Four Three Five” – Joe
“Morton Salt Girl” – Kirsten
“Forgiveness” – Joe
“As the Water Loves the Stone (Reprise)” – Kirsten, Joe
“Letters” – Kirsten, Lila
“Forgiveness (Reprise)” – Kirsten
“Sammen I Himmelen (Reprise)” – Joe, Lila
“There Go I (Reprise)” – Joe, Kirsten

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.

Authors

Adam Guettel

Adam Guettel

Adam Guettel is a composer/lyricist living in New York City. His musical The Light in the Piazza (cast album on Nonesuch Records), with a book by Craig Lucas, premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater's Beaumont Theater in April 2005, following a world premiere at the I ...

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Craig Lucas

Craig Lucas

Craig Lucas is a American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director. He is currently Associate Artistic Director at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle.

Born on April 30, 1951, and abandoned in a car in Atlanta, Lucas was adopted when he was eight ...

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