Modern Saga of Will Rogers

Broadway musical premiered at the Palace Theatre on Broadway May 1, 1991. It played 982 performances on Broadway opening with Keith Carradine followed by Mac Davis then Larry Gatlin in the starring role. On the road, a talented newcomer Bill O'Brien played two national road tours while Carradine, Gatlin and Davis shared the lead in an equity tour.

• Choreographed and directed by Tommy Tune; book by Peter Stone; music composed and arranged by Cy Coleman; Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
• Producers Pierre Cossette, Martin Richards, Sam Crothers, James M. Nederlander, Stewart F. Lane and Max Weitzenhoffer in association with Japan Satellite Broadcasting Inc.
• Original cast included Dee Hoty, Dick Latessa and Cady Huffman.
• Jim Rogers, his three children Chuck, Betty and Kem and their children in attendance along with Chairman James Leake, Commissioner and Mrs. John Denbo, Director and Mrs. Joseph H. Carter and Curator and Mrs. Greg N. Malak of the Will Rogers Memorial Commission.
• The Will Rogers Memorial staff of Claremore contributed to research and consulted in the production.
• Michelle and Joe Carter installed the lobby exhibit.

And, yes, Will Rogers did perform in the Palace Theatre during his vaudeville years. The show played 981 times at the Palace and, through mid-1996, had been on four national tours and played a year in Branson, Missouri at the Will Rogers Theater where a mini-museum was installed in the lobby by the Claremore museum. Played at numerous community and scholastic theaters as licensed by Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc., 560 Lexington Ave., New York, N. Y. 10022 (212) 688-2525. According to Jim Rogers, the original concept of the show was by Phillip Browning, of the Cossette organization.

Songs in the Will Rogers Follies Cast Album