Diva/Mensch pair for Aug 26, 2026
- ladiesvoices
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
The Tony for Best Musical in 1985 went to Big River. That show's mix of down-home Americana and show biz flash sort of straddled the Diva/Mensch divide. Thankfully two other nominated shows played in one camp or the other:
Diva: Leader of the Pack
Mensch: Quilters
Leader of the Pack appears to be one of the first hit Broadway shows to be a proper jukebox musical, a show built around songs that were lying around, in this case songs written by Ellie Greenwich. And what a catalog it is: "Be My Baby," "And Then He Kissed Me," "Chapel of Love," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "River Deep, Mountain High," and of course "Leader of the Pack." This is a show whose sole purpose is to put a smile on your face and a tap in your foot.
The Wikipedia page on Quilters quoted the Washington Post review, which fairly reeks of Menschlichkeit: "Quilters should probably be billed as a 'play with music,' lest you go expecting a big musical number to lift the proceedings a peg or two. Nothing is really big in this production. Its greatest strength is its unassuming honesty. It creates moods, more than it does drama, and its best moods are straightforward, like the people it is celebrating."
Quilters had such a severe case of the Mensches that there isn't even a clip from the Tony telecast on YouTube! Here's a (scathing) review by Judith Christ with a few glimpses of the show:
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