The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N

The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N.

The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N is a stage musical based on the stories by Leo Rosten.

Cast

• Tom Bosley - Hyman Kaplan
• Gary Krawford - Mr. Parkhill
• Nathaniel Frey - Sam Pinsky
• Barbara Minkus - Rose Mitnick
• Hal Linden - Yissel Fishbein
• Donna McKechnie - Kathy McKenna
• Dick Latessa - Giovanni Pastora
• David Gold - Reuben Plonsky
• Maggie Task - Fanny Gidwitz
• Mimi Sloan - Mrs. Mitnick
• Honey Sanders - Mrs. Moskowitz
• Dorothy Emmerson - Eileen Higby
• Beryl Towbin - Marie Vitale

Plot

Hyman Kaplan is an immigrant and a pupil at a New York night class in English. He is extremely diligent and enthusiastic, but completely incapable of learning: the teacher, Mr Parkhill, is eventually driven to conclude that, although Mr Kaplan admits that English has rules - "good rules, sensible rules" - he is quite unable to admit that the rules apply to him.

Mr Kaplan is extroverted and highly assertive, particularly when his moral sense has been outraged by some perceived injustice in class or in American history, and he frequently gets into noisy disagreements with other members of the class. He usually signs his name in coloured crayon with stars between the letters.

Mr Kaplan was born in Kiev, has lived in America for fifteen years, and claims (on Columbus Day) that his birthday is 12th October. From his pronunciation of English (the characters' various idioms are a major source of the stories' humour), it appears that Mr Kaplan's native language is Yiddish.

Musical numbers

Act I

• "Strange New World" - Mr. Parkhill
• "A Dedicated Teacher" - Miss Higby, Miss Vitale, Mr Parkhill
• "Lieben Dich" - Hyman
• "Loving You" - Rose
• "The Day I Met Your Father" - Mrs. Mitnick
• "Anything Is Possible" - Hyman, Students, Dancers, Singers
• "Spring in the City" - Kathy, Giovanni, Reuben, Sam, Mrs. Moskowitz, Fanny, Dancers and Singers

Act Two

• "Old Fashioned Husband" - Fishbein
• "Julius Caesar" - Hyman
• "I Never Felt Better in My Life" - Hyman, Dancers, Singers
• "When Will I Learn" - Rose
• "All American" Sam and Students