Subways Are for Sleeping

Subways Are for Sleeping
Original cast recording
MusicJule Styne
LyricsBetty Comden
Adolph Green
BookBetty Comden
Adolph Green
BasisEdmund G. Love's article in Harper's[1] and subsequent book[2]
Productions1961 Broadway

Subways Are for Sleeping is a musical produced by David Merrick with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The original Broadway production played in 1961–62.[3]

The musical was inspired by an article about subway homelessness in the March 1956 issue of Harper's magazine and a subsequent 1957 book based on it, both by Edmund G. Love, who slept on subway trains throughout the 1950s and encountered many unique individuals. With the profits from his book, Love then embarked on a bizarre hobby: over the course of several years, he ate dinner at every restaurant listed in the Manhattan yellow pages directory, visiting them in alphabetical order. A previous adaptation of the Harper's article was aired August 3, 1956 on CBS Radio Workshop.[4]

  1. ^ Love, Edmund G. (March 1956). "Subways Are for Sleeping". Harper's Magazine.
  2. ^ Love, Edmund G. (1957). Subways Are For Sleeping (1st ed.). New York: Harcourt, Brace. OCLC 383031.
  3. ^ Styne, Jule (music); Comden, Betty (book & lyrics); Green, Adolph (book & lyrics) (2001) [1962]. Subways are for sleeping: original cast recording (Music CD). Los Angeles: Fynsworth Alley. OCLC 698397123.
  4. ^ Audio Classics