If you’ve never heard of this 2008 Stephen Sondheim musical, that’s understandable – it was produced under several different titles during its tortuous journey to the stage. When Sondheim and his Assassins collaborator John Weidman first conceived their show about the rackety real-life Mizner Brothers, in 1999, they named it Wise Guys. Later versions were called Gold! and Bounce.
The final title, Road Show, gives you the episodic flavour of the narrative, as early 20th-century hucksters Addison and Wilson Mizner follow their own interpretation of the American dream. Their series of adventures takes in everything from the Klondike gold rush to the bright lights and seedy stench of New York society, and if the songs aren’t quite classics, they are at least laced with their composer’s classic wit (“You were a gem, they were strictly paste”).
