Today’s word of the day, thanks to the Word of the Day app from ADS Services, is quandary, a noun meaning “a tough decision or dilemma.” It is pronounced /’kwand(ɘ)ri/, where the second syllable is unstressed and reduced to ɘ (schwa) or lost completely, like the second syllable in interesting, which most people pronounce “interesting.”

According to www.etymonline.com, the word is first attested in English in the 1570s, but that it is a “a word of unknown origin and even the pronunciation is unsettled in old dictionaries (it seems to have been originally accented on the second syllable). Perhaps it is a quasi-Latinism based on Latin quando ‘when? at what time?; at the time that, inasmuch,’ pronominal adverb of time, related to qui ‘who’ (from PIE root *kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns).” The Oxford English Dictionary agrees, saying “perhaps partly from Latin quando ‘when.’” It is interesting that linguists have such uncertainty about the origin of a word, and it is also interesting that the word was originally pronounced /kwan’dari/.

On this date in 1985, a musical opened at the Longacre Theater on Broadway called Harrigan & Hart, starring Harry Groening as the 19^th century vaudevillian Edward Harrigan and Mark Hamill as his partner Tony Hart. The show featured “a book by Michael Stewart, lyrics by Peter Walker, and music by Max Showalter. The show is based on the book The Merry Partners by Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr. and material found by Nedda Harrigan Logan” (Wikipedia).

Edward Harrigan was a dancer, a singer, an actor, and, ultimately, a writer and producer of full-length shows with music and dancing. In that regard he is considered one of the fathers of American musical theater. Tony Hart, eleven years younger than Harrigan, was also a singer, dancer, and comedian, in in 1870, when the two met in Chicago, they formed a partnership. Harrigan was the brains behind the duo, but Hart was the charmer, and the two blended together well.

Their big break came in 1873 with a sketch called “The Mulligan Guard,” about a local militia in an Irish neighborhood. The music was actually written by David Braham, who later became the pair’s musical director and Harrigan’s father-in-law. While at first their shows were almost pure slapstick, eventually their shows began to deal with the everyday problems of New Yorkers—racial tensions, political corruption, and even gangs. But after about 15 years together, the two parted ways. Hart continued to perform with his wife, but he died just a few years after at 36. Harrigan kept writing and performing, opening his own theater in 1890. He died in 1911.

One would think that a play about a couple of the parents or grandparents of musical theater would be a hit. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. NY Times reviewer Frank Rich called it a “dull, but dutifully professional evening” (“Stage: ‘Harrigan ‘n Hart’ Opens at the Longacre,” New York Times, 1 Feb. 1985); “a sinking sensation sets in early.” Just four days later, the Times posted this notice: “’’Harrigan ‘n Hart,’’ the $2 million musical starring Mark Hamill and Harry Groener and directed by Joe Layton, closed after its Sunday matinee at the Longacre Theater. It had played 5 performances and 24 previews” (“‘Harrigan ‘n Hart’ Closes.” New York Times, 5 Feb. 1985).

As an aside, previews are actual performances that occur before the official opening of a show, usually for a lower ticket price and with smaller audiences; I saw Carol Channing in a preview of a revival of Hello, Dolly, way back in 1978. A preview is an unfinished product. Scenes can be changed. If it’s a musical, numbers can be added or dropped. Even characters can be dropped or added. You have seen the show, but you may not have seen The Show. So those first 24 performances, the previews, may very well have been a time for the director to polish things up and make them perfect for the opening.

Unfortunately, the opening wasn’t perfect. But the producers invested $2 million into the show; Mark Hamill and the others invested countless hours into the show. They may have thought that they had a hit on their hands (Groening and Hamill were both nominated for Tony awards, though neither won). But the reviews were bad, and after five performances, all that time and money was what accountants call a sunk cost. Still, what a quandary.

The image today is a photo from the Playbill of the Broadway production of Harrigan n Hart, with Mark Hamill hamilling it up as Tony Hart.