In My Life (musical)

In My Life was originated by Joseph Brooks, a composer, writer and director best known for writing the Debby Boone song "You Light Up My Life", the most successful single of the 1970s according to Billboard magazine,^[3] and for his various advertising jingles. He started to write the show after having taken a ten-year break from writing to raise his young son; he wanted to "do something that was not from any other source, like an old film or an old play – I wanted something that was totally new."^[4] In terms of stage experience, Brooks had previously written the music and co-written the lyrics for the 1989 London musical Metropolis.

Brooks decided not only to write the show's music, lyrics, and book by himself, but also to direct the production, saying, "I've seen article after article saying not to do it this way [...] But I'm going to do it anyway."^[4] Brooks had had prior experience as a multi-hyphenate on one project, particularly on the films You Light Up My Life (where he served as director, writer, producer and composer) and If Ever I See You Again (as director, producer, co-writer, composer, and lead actor).

The fact that the male lead, J.T., has Tourette's was inspired by Brooks's son's experience with the condition.^[4]

In a reference to Brooks's past work writing commercial jingles, at certain moments in the show, the character of God (who goes by the name "Al") sings Brooks's jingles for "Volkswagen" and "Dr. Pepper".

The story centers around a love story between two people: Jenny, who works at the Village Voice processing personal ads, and who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and J.T., a singer-songwriter with Tourette's syndrome who also shouts the word "lemon" whenever he's happy. As they meet and connect, they are observed from Heaven by an angel, Winston, who decides that their story would make a great "reality opera" - and since opera is often tragic, Winston decides to increase the drama by giving J.T. a brain tumor. They are also overseen by J.T.'s mother, Liz, and his little sister Vera, who were both killed in a car crash by a drunk driver who is also in Heaven; and by the Lord himself, who wants a vacation from his work as God and goes by the name 'Al'.

The show was played without an intermission.

• "LIfe Turns on a Dime" – Vera, J.T., Jenny
• "It Almost Feels Like Love" – J.T., Jenny
• "Perfect for an Opera" – Winston
• "What a Strange Life We Live" – Jenny
• "Doomed" – Winston, Nick and Ensemble
• "What a Strange Life We Live (reprise)" – Vera
• "Sempre Mio Rimani" – Liz
• "I Am My Mother's Son" – J.T.
• "Life Turns on a Dime (reprise)" – Jenny
• "Volkswagen" – Al
• "What a Strange Life We Live (reprise)" – Nick
• "Headaches" – Winston, Nick, Liz, Vera and Ensemble
• "When I Sing" – J.T.
• "Secrets" – Winston and Ensemble
• "In My Life" – Jenny, J.T.
• "A Ride on the Wheel" – Nick, Samantha, J.T., Ensemble
• "Perfect for an Opera (reprise)" – Winston, Liz, Nick, Vera
• "Didn't Have to Love You" – Jenny, J.T.
• "Listen to Your Mouth" – Winston, Al
• "When She Danced" – Liz, Vera
• "Volkswagen (reprise)" – Al
• "Not This Day" – Al
• "Floating on Air" – J.T.
• "Not This Day (reprise)" – J.T., Jenny, Liz, Nick, Vera, Al and Ensemble
• "Life Turns on a Dime (reprise)" – Vera and Full Company^[5]

In My Life opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre on October 20, 2005, after 23 preview performances.

• Joseph Brooks – Music, Lyrics, Book, Director
• Allen Moyer – Scenic design
• Catherine Zuber – Costume design
• Christopher Akerlind – Lighting design
• Wendall K. Harrington – Projection design
• John Shivers – Sound design
• Richard Stafford – Musical staging
• Kinny Landrum – Orchestrations
• Henry Aronson – Musical director

• Jessica Boevers – Jenny
• Christopher J. Hanke – J.T.
• David Turner – Winston
• Roberta Gumbel – Liz
• Michael Halling – Nick
• Laura Jordan – Samantha
• Chiara Navarra – Vera
• Michael J. Farina – Al
• Courtney Balan, Carmen Keels, Kilty Reidy, Brynn Williams – Ensemble^[2]

In My Life also marked the Broadway debut of Jonathan Groff, who served as an understudy for the roles of J.T. and Nick, in addition to being a swing and dance captain.

• Henry Aronson – conductor
• Ted Kooshian – keyboard 1
• Greg Dlugos – keyboard 2, associate conductor
• Maggie Torres – keyboard 3
• Fran Minarek – keyboard 4
• Bruce Uchitel – guitar 1
• J.J. McGeehan – guitar 2
• Randy Landau – bass
• Brian Brake – drums

Starting prior to previews, two CD samplers of songs from the musical were printed to hand out to passersby in the Broadway theatre district of New York City.^[6][7] This approach was considered notable for a Broadway production, given the relative expense of printing CDs compared to simply handing out flyers to promote a show. At least 200,000 CDs were made for the campaign;^[6] one version of the sampler featured the songs "In My Life", "I Am My Mother's Son", and "Life Turns on a Dime", while the other featured those songs plus "When She Danced".^[7] The CD jacket featured the sentence, "Listen to the best music you've heard in your life". Additionally, a report by Broadway.com noted that the samplers listed "an incorrect start of performance date" as "September 27 rather than the correct September 30".^[6] These samplers are the only official recording of any songs from the show.

After the uniformly negative reviews, the production began an ad campaign reported to cost at least $1.5 million; said Nancy Coyne, head of the show's marketing, "They decided to take the budget allocated for the next six months and spend it on the next six weeks". At one point, the campaign featured New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley's description of the show's "jaw-dropping moments of whimsy run amok" as a pull-quote.^[8]

However, the campaign was ineffective, even with the show's weekly running cost of $320,000, which, according to the New York Times, "is very low by Broadway musical standards."^[8] In My Life closed on December 11, 2005, after 61 performances. No cast recording was made, and the libretto has never been published.