JANA ROBBINS sings "DON'T ASK A LADY" by CY COLEMAN & CAROLYN LEIGH

I first heard "DON'T ASK A LADY" the night I attended a tribute to Cy Coleman at the Friar's Club hosted by Rex Reed [the Legendary film critic and theatre journalist who currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer]. The song was sung by Julie Wilson, and I had never heard it before. When I decided to put together "ONE HELL OF A RIDE!" ( The Songs of Cy Coleman) I just knew I had to include it. I was doing "TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE" on Broadway at the time, and strangely enough found out that Charles Busch (who wrote "ALLERGIST'S WIFE") had actually played Belle and sang the song in a production of "LITTLE ME" in Detroit, and Valerie Harper who I was in "ALLERGIST'S WIFE" with at that time, had been in the chorus of the show in 1962." -- Jana Robbins, 2010
Ms. Robbins' Broadway appearances include "GOOD NEWS", "I LOVE MY WIFE", "ROMANCE/ROMANCE", "CRIMES OF THE HEART", Mazeppa and Mama Rose in "GYPSY", and "THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE", starring opposite Valerie Harper in the National Tour. Also on Broadway, she produced 'LITTLE WOMEN" starring Sutton Foster and Maureen McGovern, "I LOVE YOU BECAUSE", and the 2009 revival of "RAGTIME". Legendary Broadway composer Cy Coleman's (June 14, 1929 - November 18, 2004) composed the music for "SWEET CHARITY", "LITTLE ME", "THE LIFE", "THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES", "CITY OF ANGELS", "WELCOME TO THE CLUB", "BARNUM", "ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY", "I LOVE MY WIFE" and "WILDCAT". Song included in ONE HELL OF A RIDE! (The Songs of Cy Coleman) are "Seesaw" "You Can Always Count On Me"/"Nobody Does It Like Me" "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" "Baby Dream Your Dream" "A Moment of Madness" "The Best Is Yet To Come"/"The Best Is Yet To Come" "When In Rome" "You Fascinate Me So" "On The Other Side Of The Tracks" "Don't Ask A Lady" "With Every Breath I Take" "Where Am I Going" "I'm Way Ahead" "Rules Of The Road" "It Started With A Dream." "LITTLE ME" originally opened on Broadway in 1962 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre directed by Cy Feuer and Bob Fosse with choreography by Fosse, Sid Caesar starred playing multiple roles, with Virginia Martin was Young Belle and Nancy Andrews as Old Belle. "DON'T ASK A LADY"- music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Carolyn Lee - was added into the London production of "LITTLE ME" at the Cambridge Theatre in 1964.

There was also a 1982 revival of the show at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre The multiple Caesar roles were split between Victor Garber and James Coco. The director was Robert Drivas and choreographer was Peter Gennaro, with Mary Gordon Murray as Belle; Bebe Neuwirth was in the ensemble.

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