The Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7-1/2 Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded. In the midst of this ordeal, love blossoms between Babe, the grievance committee head, and Sid, the new factory superintendent.
The original Broadway production opened on May 13 , 1954 , and ran for 1,063 performances. It was revived in 1973, and again in 2006 by The Roundabout Theatre Company. The original production won a Tony for Best Musical, and the 2006 Broadway revival won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The musical is a popular choice for community group productions.
Characters
- Sid Sorokin , the handsome new factory superintendent who falls in love with Babe, despite their being on opposite sides of the labor dispute central to the plot.
- Catherine "Babe" Williams , the leader of the Union Grievance Committee, who in turn falls in love with Sid.
- Myron "Old Man" Hasler , the strict head of the pajama factory who keeps a secret.
- Gladys Hotchkiss , Hasler's attractive, quick-witted secretary, who dates Hines and is chased by Prez.
- Vernon Hines , the factory timekeeper, who thinks Gladys flirts too much and, as a result is always jealous.
- Prez , the head of the union and a skirt chaser, despite being a married man.
- Mabel , the mother hen of the factory and Sid's secretary.
- Mae , a loud-mouthed member of the Grievance Committee, who accepts Prez's advances, much to his surprise.
- Pop , Babe's kind and agreeable father.
- Max , A salesman.
- Charley , a worker in the factory and the handyman.
- Joe , a factory worker and Prez's right-hand man.
- Brenda , A member of the Grievance Committee.
- Virginia , a factory girl and union activist.
- Poopsie , a factory girl and union activist.
- First helper , an unhappy factory helper who Sid shoves.
Plot
A strike is imminent at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory, introduced to us by Hines, the factory efficiency expert, where the workers churn out pajamas at a backbreaking pace ("Racing with the Clock"). In the midst of this, a new superintendent, Sid Sorokin, has come from out of town to work in the factory ("A New Town Is a Blue Town"). The union, led by Prez, is seeking a wage raise of seven and a half cents an hour. Sid and Babe are in opposite camps yet a romance is born between them. At first, despite accusations from her fellow garment workers, Babe rejects Sid ("I'm Not At All in Love"). Meanwhile, Hines, the popular efficiency expert, is in love with Gladys, the company president's secretary, but is pushing her away with his jealous behavior. After witnessing a fight between the couple, Sid's secretary, Mabel, tries to help Hines break from his jealous ways ("I'll Never Be Jealous Again"). Meanwhile, Sid, rejected once more by Babe, is forced to confide his feelings to a dictaphone ("Hey There").
During the picnic for the factory workers, kicked off with the official Sleep-Tite Company Anthem, Prez chases after Gladys, who rejects his advances ("Her Is"), a drunken Hines demonstrates his knife throwing act, and Babe begins to warm up to Sid ("Once a Year Day"). As the picnic-goers head home, Prez turns his attentions to Mae, who responds in the positive far more quickly and aggressively than he'd expected ("Her Is (Reprise)").
Visiting Babe's home, Sid tries to broach the subject of a relationship with Babe, who in turn, attempts to deflect by making casual conversation on tangential subjects ("Small Talk"). Eventually the walls come down between the two, who admit their love for one another ("There Once Was a Man") but their estrangement is reinforced when they return to the factory. A slow-down is staged by the union, strongly supported by Babe ("Racing with the Clock (Reprise)"). Sid, as factory superintendent, demands an "honest day's work" and threatens to fire slackers. Babe is enraged by his attitude and kicks her foot into the machinery, causes a general breakdown and is immediately fired by Sid ("Hey There (Reprise)").
At the Union meeting, Gladys (Mae in the 2006 revival) performs for the rest of the union, with "the boys from the cutting room floor" ("Steam Heat"). After the main meeting, the Grievance Committee meets at Babe's house, to discuss further tactics, such as mismatching sizes of pajamas and sewing the fly-buttons onto the bottoms such that they are likely to come off and leave their wearer, pants-less. As the meeting, and Prez and Mae's relationship, is breaking up, Sid arrives, and tries to smooth things over with Babe, who, despite her feelings, pushes him away ("Hey There (Reprise)").
Back at the factory, the girls reassure Hines, who is personally offended by the slow down ("Think of the Time I Save"), and Sid, now convinced that Babe's championship of the union is justified, simulates an interest in Gladys by taking her out for the evening to a night club, "Hernando's Hideaway." There he wheedles the key to the company's books from Gladys, and departs, leaving her in the care of Prez. Hines and Mae each discover the two and assume them to be on a date. Mae storms out, and Hines believes his jealous imaginings have come true ("I'll Never Be Jealous Again Ballet"). With Gladys' key, Sid is eventually able to gain access to the firm's books and discovers that the boss Hasler has already tacked on the extra seven and one-half cents to the overall cost, but has kept all the extra profits for himself.
In Gladys' office, Hines, still jealous out of his mind, flings knives past Gladys (deliberately missing, he claims) narrowly missing an increasingly paranoid Mr. Hassler. After detaining Hines, Sid then brings about Hassler's consent to a pay raise and rushes to bring the news to the Union Rally, already in progress ("7 1/2 Cents"). This news brings peace to the factory and to his love life ("There Once Was a Man (Reprise)"). Everyone goes out to celebrate—at Hernando's Hideaway ("Pajama Game").
Musical numbers
Notes on the music
The music is generally played by a big band, the music being a jazzy, upbeat type of music.
For the 2006 revival, Harry Connick, Jr., played the piano, when Gladys (Megan Lawrence), Sid, and Company were on stage for "Hernando's Hideaway". "The length and form of the song remain steady," Kathleen Marshall said, "but he can improvise within it."
In the original production, and in the film version, the famed dance number "Steam Heat" was danced by Gladys. In the 2006 revival, the number was made with Mae (Joyce Chittick), instead of Gladys. Kathleen Marshall explains: "Hines accuses Gladys of being a flirt, and she's not. So does it make sense that she'd go and strut her stuff in front of the whole union? Hines would say, 'Aha, you floozy, I caught you!' Also, she's the boss's secretary, so why would she be at a union meeting? I think it's much more fun that Gladys doesn't really let go until she goes out with Sid, gets real drunk, and throws caution to the wind."
New songs for the 2006 revival
In 2006, Hines (Michael McKean) performed the new number, "The Three of Us" at show's end with Gladys (Megan Lawrence). At the time of the revival, Adler was quoted as saying that he wrote the song for Jimmy Durante in 1964. "It was written for Jimmy Durante," says McKean, "and Durante used to do it in his act, but he never recorded it, so it’s kind of an orphan." The song was actually featured in the 1966 television musical, Olympus 7-000 , part of the ABC Stage 67 series which also produced Stephen Sondheim's Evening Primrose . Eddie Foy, Jr. (who had played Hines in the original Broadway and movie versions of The Pajama Game ) introduced the song in Olympus 7-000 and can be heard singing it on the Command Records soundtrack album. Donald O'Connor, Larry Blyden and Phyllis Newman also starred in the TV special with Foy.
"The World Around Us" was part of the 1954 Broadway previews and opening, but was dropped during the first week of the Broadway run, replaced by Babe's reprise of "Hey There". This would leave Sid with no songs in the second act, aside from the "The Once was a Man" reprise. The number was restored for the 2006 Broadway revival, allowing star Harry Connick, Jr., to have a second-act song.
For the 1973 revival, in place of the second-act "Hey There" reprise, there was a new song, "Watch Your Heart". Retitled "If You Win, You Lose", the song has been heard in recent productions of the show and was heard in the 2006 Broadway production.
Production history
Original Broadway
The original Broadway production opened on May 13 , 1954 , and closed on November 24 , 1956 , after 1,063 performances. It was directed by George Abbott and Jerome Robbins and featured choreography by Bob Fosse. The original cast included John Raitt,
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