Little Mary Sunshine

Little Mary Sunshine.

Little Mary Sunshine is a parody stage musical.

Cast

• William Graham - Captain "Big Jim" Warrington
• Eileen Brennan - Little Mary Sunshine
• John McMartin - Corporal Billy Jester
• Elizabeth Parrish - Mme. Ernestine von Liebedich
• Mario Siletti - General Oscar Fairfax
• Jerry Melo - Pete
• Floria Mari - Cora
• Joe Warfield - Tex
• Sally Bramlette - Mabel
• Arthur Hunt - Slim
• Rita Howell - Henrietta
• Elmarie Wendel - Nancy Twinkle
• Ray James - Yellow Feather

Plot

Little Mary Sunshine, foster daughter of Chief Brown Bear of the Kadota tribe, is in trouble. The government is threatening to foreclose the mortgage on her Colorado Inn, located on land that is subject to a dispute between Brown Bear and Uncle Sam. On Mary's advice Brown Bear is engaged in peaceful legal proceedings rather than warfare to establish his rights.

Captain Jim and his Forest Rangers arrive. They are searching for the disruptive Indian Yellow Feather. Yellow Feather's "crimes" are actually not murder and pillage but indiscriminate hunting and irresponsible use of fire in the forest, but he is nonetheless a villain of the deepest dye, who has threatened to "have his way" with Mary. Jim woos Mary, after which the two get well-sung advice from Mary's opera star guest Mme. Ernestine Liebedich.

Some young ladies from the Eastchester Finishing School (implicitly in New York or Pennsylvania, which have Westchesters) are also Inn guests. While they entertain themselves playing croquet and swinging on swings, the Rangers come upon them. The Rangers' flirting elicits an immediate enthusiastic response, and love blooms once more as they joyfully sing together.

Later, the young ranger Billy and his girlfriend Nancy squabble about Nancy's appetite for other men. Jim and Mary return to the spotlight. Mary reveals her "Little Buttercup" secret: Yellow Feather is really Brown Bear's son, long believed dead. As the first act ends, Jim and his aged Indian guide Fleet Foot set off to capture Yellow Feather.

Mary holds a garden party featuring the Eastchester ladies and the Rangers. Retired General Oscar Fairfax shows up, bringing a box of gifts for the ladies. Taking command of the Rangers in Jim's absence, he directs the Rangers to depart, find Jim, and bring him back. Fairfax now has the ladies to himself. But his interest shifts to Mme. Ernestine when he meets her and learns they have something in common: in their youth, both spent happy days in Vienna.

Mary goes to her garden. Yellow Feather sneaks in, finds her there, ties her to a tree, and threatens to debase her. Jim returns just in time and wrests a knife from the villain. The Rangers, who have surrounded the Inn, capture Yellow Feather as he tries to escape.

The rest of the cast then emerges. Fairfax has good news: the courts have upheld Brown Bear's claim to the disputed land, a mere one-fourth of Colorado. The chief gives Mary the Inn's land and dedicates the rest for a national park, a place the Rangers can call home. In the finale, a miraculously reformed Yellow Feather reappears, waving a large American flag. Jim and Mary, Billy and Nancy, Oscar and Ernestine, and several Ranger-Eastchester couples seem headed for the altar.

Musical numbers

Act I

• "The Forest Rangers" - Captain Jim and Forest Rangers
• "Little Mary Sunshine" - Little Mary and Forest Rangers
• "Look for a Sky of Blue" - Little Mary and Forest Rangers
• "You're the Fairest Flower" - Captain Jim
• "In Izzenschnooken on the Lovely Essenzook Zee" - Mme. Ernestine
• "Playing Croquet" - Young Ladies
• "How Do You Do?" - Forest Rangers and Young Ladies
• "Tell a Handsome Stranger" - Pete and Cora, Tex and Mabel, Slim and Henrietta
• "Once in a Blue Moon" - Billy and Nancy
• "Colorado Love Call" - Captain Jim and Little Mary
• "Every Little Nothing" - Mme. Ernestine and Little Mary
• "What Has Happened?" (Act I Finale) - Tutti

Act II

• "Such a Merry Party" - Nancy, Forest Rangers and Young Ladies
• "Say 'Uncle!'" - Oscar and Young Ladies
• "The Forest Rangers" (Reprise) - Forest Rangers
• "Me, a Big Heap Indian" - Billy
• "Naughty, Naughty Nancy" - Little Mary and Young Ladies
• "Mata Hari" - Nancy and Young Ladies
• "Do You Ever Dream of Vienna?" - Mme. Ernestine and Oscar
• "A Shell Game" - Billy, Yellow Feather and Nancy
• "Coo Coo" - Little Mary
• "Colorado Love Call" (Reprise) - Captain Jim and Little Mary
• "Finale" - Company