Five Guys Named Moe

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Five Guys Named Moe

Music	Louis Jordan Others
Lyrics	Louis Jordan Others
Book	Clarke Peters
Productions	1990 West End 1992 Broadway
Awards	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment

Five Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others.

His woman has left him, he's flat broke, and it's almost five o'clock in the morning when Nomax suddenly finds Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Little Moe emerging from his 1930s-style radio to comfort him with the hit songs of songwriter and saxophonist Louis Jordan, whose new slant on jazz paved the way for rock and roll in the 1950s. The audience is invited onstage just before intermission to participate in a conga line that weaves its way through the theater and into the lobby.

It originally was presented at the Theatre Royal Stratford East by Philip Hedley as an in-house production which was picked up by Cameron Mackintosh, who then opened it on December 14, 1990 at London's West End Lyric Theatre. The original Stratford East cast of Kenny Andrews, Paul J. Medford, Peter Alex Newton, Omar F. Okai, and Dig Wayne, were joined by Clinton Derricks-Carroll replacing Clarke Peters, all transferred with the production where it ran until March 4, 1995. Two months later, it re-opened at the Albery Theatre and ran for another eight months.

After 19 previews, the Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Charles Augins, opened on April 8, 1992 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where it ran for 445 performances. Jerry Dixon, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Nealy, Kevin Ramsey, Jeffrey D. Sams, and Glenn Turner composed the cast.

The "Moe" band was Reginald Royal,Piano; Luico Hopper, Bass; Brian Kirk, Drums; Reggie Pittman, Trumpet & Flugal Horn; Gregory Charles Royal, Trombone; and, Mark Gross, Saxophone and Clarinet.

Original cast recordings from both the London and Broadway productions were released.

[edit] Song list

Act I

Early in the Morning (Music and Lyrics by Jordan, Leo Hickman, and Dallas Bartley)
Five Guys Named Moe (Music and Lyrics by Larry Wynn and Jerry Bresler)
Beware Brother Beware (Music and Lyrics by Morry Lasco, Dick Adams, and Fleecie Moore)
I Like 'em Fat Like That (Music and Lyrics by Claude Demetrius and Jordan)
Messy Bessy (Music and Lyrics by Jon Hendricks)
Pettin' and Pokin' (Music and Lyrics by Lora Lee)
Life Is So Peculiar (Music and Lyrics by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen)
I Know What I've Got (Music and Lyrics by Sid Robin and Jordan)
Azure Te (Music and Lyrics by Bill Davis and Don Wolf)
Safe, Sane and Single (Music and Lyrics by Jordan, Johnny Lange, and Hy Heath)
Push Ka Pi Shi Pie (Music and Lyrics by Jordan, Joe Willoughby, Walt Merrick)

Act II

Saturday Night Fish Fry (Music and Lyrics by Ellis Walsh and Jordan)
What's the Use of Getting Sober (Music and lyrics by Busby Meyers)
If I Had Any Sense (Music and Lyrics by R. McCoy and C. Singleton)
Dad Gum Your Hide Boy (Music and Lyrics by Browley Bri)
Let the Good Times Roll (Music and Lyrics by Fleecie Moore and Sam Theard)
Reet, Petite and Gone (Music and Lyrics by Spencer Lee and Jordan)
Caldonia (Music and Lyrics by Fleecie Moore)
Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens (Music and Lyrics by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer)
Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying (Music and Lyrics by Jo Greene)
Choo, Choo, Ch'boogie (Music and Lyrics by Vaughn Horton, Denver Darling, and Milton Gabler)
Look Out Sister (Music and Lyrics by Sid Robin and Jordan)
Hurry Home (Music and Lyrics by Joseph Meyer, Buddy Bernier, and Robert Emmerich)
Is You Is or Is You Ain't Ma' Baby (Music and Lyrics by Billy Austin and Jordan)
Five Guys Named Moe (Reprise)