All American

The composers of Bye, Bye, Birdie have written another musical, this one set at a small, football-oriented college. Professor Fodorski arrives with other immigrants singing a naturalization rag with such lines as "Make us Hungarians/Into Rotarians/Change us Roumanianso Pennsylvanians." Frantic to please, professor Fodorski finally reaches his sports-minded students by stating his engineering concepts in football terms and, in the course of demonstrating a principle, turns a mousy student drudge named Bricker into a phenomenal kicker. ("Your hip is the fulcrum, multiply by the force of the lever, your knee.") The team becomes a sensation, as do Bricker and the astonished professor. This show makes a comment on education today by putting it in terms of a bright and marvelous musical comedy. This musical has one of the most beautiful love songs ever written for a musical, the haunting "Once Upon a Time."