Pal Joey (musical)

Pal Joey
Studio cast album 1950
Music	Richard Rodgers
Lyrics	Lorenz Hart
Book	John O'Hara
Basis	John O'Hara's novel Pal Joey
Productions	1940 Broadway 1952 Broadway revival 1954 West End 1963 Broadway[1] 1976 Broadway revival 1980 West End revival 2008 Broadway revival

Pal Joey is a 1940 musical with a book by John O'Hara and music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The musical is based on a character and situations O'Hara created in a series of short stories published in The New Yorker, which he later published in novel form. The title character, Joey Evans, is a manipulative small-time nightclub performer whose ambitions lead him into an affair with the wealthy, middle-aged and married Vera Simpson. It includes two songs that have become standards: "I Could Write a Book" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".

The original 1940 Broadway production was directed by George Abbott and starred Vivienne Segal and Gene Kelly. Though it received mixed reviews, the show ran for 10 months, the third-longest run of any Rodgers and Hart musical. There have been several revivals since, including a 2008–09 Broadway run, and a 1957 film adaptation starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.