On February 13th 1983, a new musical called "Merlin" with a score by Elmer Bernstein and Don Black, book by Richard Levinson and William Link, direction by Ivan Reitman, and choreography by Christopher Chadman and Billy Wilson, opened officially at the Mark Hellinger Theatre after 69 previews. It starred Doug Henning as the titular magician, Chita Rivera, Edmund Lyndeck, George Lee Andrews, Rebecca Wright, Gregory Mitchell, a very young Christian Slater. Also in the cast was Nathan Lane, just 27 years old, making his musical debut on Broadway. He had appeared in "Present Laughter" in 1982, and left it to do this show. According to an April 2023 interview for Playbill, he recalled:

"I remember getting a knock on the dressing room door and it was George C. Scott who said 'you're leaving me to do a fuckin' magic show?' And I said 'well George, y'know, this is the first musical I would get to do on Broadway, and Chita Rivera's in it, and it's starring this very popular magician, Doug Henning... and he said 'Well yeah, Chita's great, but Doug Henning?... By the time we opened, people thought it was a revival."

Taken from an audience recording of the full show, recorded May 13th 1983.

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