Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope

Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope
original cast recording
Music	Micki Grant
Lyrics	Micki Grant
Book	Revue
Productions	1971 Washington, D. C. 1972 Broadway 1972 Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles
Awards	1972 Outer Critics Circle Award

Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope is a musical revue with music and lyrics by Micki Grant. It was originally produced by Edward Padula.

The all-singing, all-dancing show focuses on the African American experience with songs on such topics as tenements, slumlords, ghetto life, student protests, black power, and feminism. The music is a mixture of gospel, jazz, funk, soul, calypso, and soft rock.

The show had its first staging at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 1971, with subsequent stagings at the Locust and Walnut Street Theatres in Philadelphia. The Broadway production, directed by Vinnette Carroll and choreographed by George Faison, opened on April 19, 1972 at the Playhouse Theatre, where it ran for two months before transferring to the Edison. It had a total run of 1065 performances. The cast included Grant, Alex Bradford, Hope Clarke, and Arnold Wilkerson. It was the first Broadway play to be directed by an African American woman. Time Magazine theatre critic T. E. Kalem praised the show, writing "This is the kind of show at which you want to blow kisses." The Los Angeles production featured Paula Kelly.

An original cast recording was released on the Polydor label, produced by Jerry Ragovoy.

Song list

• "I Gotta Keep Movin'" (reprised at play's end)
• "Harlem Streets"
• "Lookin' Over from Your Side"
• "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope"
• "Fighting for Pharaoh"
• "Good Vibrations"
• "You Think I Got Rhythm?"
• "They Keep Coming"
• "My Name is Man"
• "Love Power"
• "Questions"
• "It Takes a Whole Lot of Human Feeling"
• "Time Brings About a Change"
• "So Little Time"
• "Thank Heaven for You"
• "All I Need"

Awards and nominations

• Outer Critics Circle Award, best musical, 1972
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance (Grant)
• Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Lyricist
• Obie Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Bradford)
• Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album (Grant & Ragavoy)
• Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, Distinguished Direction, 1972 (Carroll)
• Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, Distinguished Performance (Kelly)
• Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, Distinguished Choreography (Claude Thompson)
• Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, Distinguished Musical Direction and Arranging (H.B. Barnum)^[1]
• nominee, Tony Award for Best Musical, 1972
• nominee, Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
• nominee, Tony Award for Best Original Score
• nominee, Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical

References

1. ^ [1]

• Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, Micki Grant. Polydor PD 6013, 1972

External links

• Internet Broadway Database listing