The arrival of the book’s most appealing character - young Francie Nolan - was unnecessarily delayed, and an elaborate nightmare Halloween ballet in the second act, depicting the final descent of her goodhearted but alcoholic father Johnny Nolan, was a mistake.' Frank Rizzo, in Variety, gave his opinion about the failure of the original production: 'The musical’s failure was largely blamed on a script too tailored to accommodate the comic talents of Shirley Booth, in what was essentially a supporting role. īooth's performance proved to be both an asset and detriment to the production, since it was an audience pleaser but detracted from what should have been the story's primary focus, the struggles faced by Johnny and Katie as their marriage slowly crumbles.

Van Dyke was honored with a Theatre World Award. In addition to Booth, the cast included Johnny Johnston as Johnny, Marcia Van Dyke as Katie, and Nomi Mitty as Francie. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Betty Smith, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and music by Arthur Schwartz.įirst produced in 1951, the musical is based on Smith's autobiographical novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943), but when Shirley Booth was cast as Aunt Cissy (spelled Sissy in the book), a secondary character in the novel, the prominence of this role was expanded and tailored to Booth's comedic talents, diminishing the relative importance of other characters, in particular young Francie, through whose eyes the plot of the novel unfolds.Īfter two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Abbott and choreographed by Herbert Ross, opened on April 19, 1951, at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 267 performances.

Smith betty a tree grows in brooklyn