Overview
Synopsis
Set in a cramped brownstone on New York City's Upper West Side, The Goodbye Girl follows Paula McFadden, a cynical former Broadway dancer, and her precocious pre-teen daughter, Lucy. After being abruptly abandoned by her latest boyfriend, Paula discovers he has surreptitiously sublet their apartment to Elliot Garfield, an eccentric and highly opinionated actor arriving from Chicago. Armed with a valid lease and nowhere else to go, Elliot insists on moving in, forcing the fiercely protective mother and the flamboyant artist into an uneasy cohabitation arrangement.
As the unlikely roommates establish strict boundaries to survive sharing the small space, friction give way to a tentative truce. Paula struggles to reinvent herself and re-enter the demanding professional dance world, while Elliot navigates the bizarre creative demands of his off-Broadway debut. Through daily domestic negotiations and shared career anxieties, a deeper connection begins to form between the two artists, testing Paula's deeply ingrained determination to never risk her heart on an actor again.
Show Information
Context
The musical adaptation of The Goodbye Girl originated from the highly successful 1977 romantic comedy film written by Neil Simon, which starred Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason. Following the cinematic success of the story, which earned Dreyfuss an Academy Award, Simon decided to adapt his own screenplay for the musical stage. To bring this project to fruition, he collaborated with legendary composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist David Zippel. Hamlisch was already a towering figure in musical
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Act One
The musical begins in a New York City Upper West Side apartment brownstone where Paula McFadden, an ex-dancer in her mid-thirties, and her sharp-witted twelve-year-old daughter, Lucy, are eagerly packing their lives away. They are preparing to move to Los Angeles with Paula's current boyfriend, Tony, an actor who has promised them a bright future together ("This Is as Good as It Gets"). However, the illusion quickly shatters when Paula discovers a letter left behind by Tony. He has
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Character Portrayals
See StageAgent members who have performed roles in The Goodbye Girl.
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Songs
- This Is as Good as It Gets—Paula and Lucy
- No More—Paula
- A Beat Behind—Paula, Billy and Ensemble
- This Is as Good as It Gets (Reprise)-- Lucy, Melanie and Cynthia
- My Rules—Elliot and Paula
- Good News, Bad News—Elliot, Paula and Lucy
- Footsteps—Paula and Lucy
- How Can I Win? -- Paula
- Richard Interred—Elliot, Paula, Lucy, Mark, Mrs. Crosby, Donna and Ensemble
- How Can I Win? (Reprise) -- Paula
- Good News, Bad News (Reprise)-- Elliot
- Too Good to Be Bad—Paula, Donna and Jenna
- 2 Good 2 Be Bad—Mrs. Crosby
- Who Would've Thought? -- Paula, Elliot, Lucy, Melanie and Cynthia
- Paula (An Improvised Love Song) -- Elliot and Paula
- Who Would've Thought? (Reprise) -- Lucy, Melanie and Cynthia
- I Think I Can Play This Part—Elliot
- Jump for Joy—Paula and Ensemble
- What a Guy—Paula
- Finale—Paula, Elliot and Lucy
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
THEMES
Trust and Emotional Vulnerability
Paula McFadden embodies the profound exhaustion of repeated romantic abandonment at the start of the musical. Having been burned by a succession of actors who jilt her and leave her financially and emotionally destitute, she builds a thick defensive wall against further intimacy. Her opening declaration in the song No More serves as a defensive manifesto, a desperate attempt to reclaim agency over her life by shutting out the possibility of
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