Book, Music, and Lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen
Based on the novel by William Goldman
Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award Three Outer Circle Nominations including BEST REVIVAL Drama Desk nominee and three Helen Hayes nominations including Best Musical International productions in Italy, Germany, London, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Spain, and Japan Licensed through Samuel French: www.samuelfrench.com/p/461/no-way-to-treat-a-lady
A theatrically charged musical thriller about a publicity crazed actor turned killer and the lonely mensch of a detective who pursues him…while balancing the attention of a beautiful socialite and a meddling mother.
“It’s a joy from start to finish,” Jeremy Chapman, Musical Theatre Review, January 25, 2014
“Catchy tunes and snappy lyrics…Mr. Cohen’s score is a reassuring fusion, a mastery of traditional musical comedy style adorning and informing an offbeat story. A beguiling musical!” – The New York Times
“A fine way to treat a musical! A real winner.” – The New York Post
“Terrific! Hilarious! Dynamic! An unabashedly histrionic romp with plenty of laughs, a fair share of romance and a welcome abundance of drollery.” – The Los Angeles Times
“The best news about this 1987 Off-Broadway vehicle, which incorporates an oddball premise for a musical into a surprisingly conventional framework, was the arrival of a major musical-theatre tunesmith. Cohen’s delightful songs (love ballads, soft-shoe ditties, jazz, and more), boasting smart lyrics and lilting melodies, display a hand adept at revealing character nuances and advancing the story. Four triple-threat performers maximize the pleasures here…fresh and vibrant offering is a splendid way to treat an audience.” – Backstage
NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY might even change the way we think of musicals…it’s to die for!” – The Boston Globe
“CRITIC’S PICK! 5 out of 5 Stars! A divinely fresh entertainment!” – StageHappenings.com
“A lighthearted romp.” – Associated Press
“A fine and dandy way to treat an audience…It should be on Broadway.” – The New York Observer
“How to describe this old-fashioned, new fangled, thoroughly beguiling musical? Picture the mismatched romantics of ‘SHE LOVES ME,’ hunted by Sweeney Todd, and haunted by Mama Rose.” Peter Travers (critic for Rolling Stone)
