Anything Goes · Broadway Podcast Network

Maury Yeston II

January 19, 2026·33 min·2 clips

Maury Yeston wrote Nine's Catholic parochial school song based entirely on his own experience at a New Jersey yeshiva.

Host Paul Lazarus introduces this 1982 archival broadcast as part two of a three-part series on composer-lyricist Maury Yeston, focusing on Nine, his musical adaptation of Federico Fellini's film 8½. Yeston opens by discussing the nature of cutting songs in professional theater, arguing that songs are rarely cut for being bad but rather for being inapt, and that the best work is often the hardest to remove. He describes two original songs written for the mistress character Carla — 'Let It Be Love' and 'Belongings' — that were cut at director Tommy Tune's suggestion. Tune pushed Yeston to reimagine Carla as more urbane and distinct from the other women, suggesting a seductive phone call scene. Three days later, Yeston returned with 'A Call from the Vatican,' a comic number in which Carla poses as a Vatican official to seduce Guido. A performance excerpt of the song is played. Yeston then describes the audition process for the 21-woman company, noting that candidates were asked to prepare a song in a foreign language to reflect the show's European setting. He recounts the memorable arrival of French actress Lillianne Montavecchie, who announced she had gone to Hollywood to give them a chance to make her a star and, having been declined, was now available. Someone in the room suggested she play the producer, and she was cast without being heard sing. Yeston wrote 'Folies Bergère' specifically for her after hearing her sing a single note, comparing her to Maurice Chevalier. A performance of 'Folies Bergère' is included. The conversation turns to Karen Akers, a cabaret singer cast as Guido's wife Luisa, whose voice sat lower than Yeston had originally conceived the role. Yeston transposed the material and was won over by her sincerity, musical brilliance, and aristocratic bearing, which he says communicated an unassailable dignity to audiences. A performance of 'My Husband Makes Movies' is played. Yeston defends Raul Julia's casting as Guido against critics who questioned his singing, arguing that Julia's voice grew stronger throughout the run and that his accent, boyishness, and resemblance to Mastroianni made him ideal for the role. Yeston describes his home composing practice of singing all vocal parts himself at high speed to demo multi-voice arrangements, a habit his family dubbed the 'Mori Tabernacle Choir,' illustrated with a performance of 'The Germans at the Spa.' He credits Tommy Tune's ability to translate music into stage pictures as central to the show's success, and quotes book writer Peter Stone's rule that everyone must be working on the same show. Finally, Yeston reveals that 'The Bells of St. Sebastian,' which many audience members identified as capturing their Catholic parochial school experience, was based entirely on his own education at a yeshiva in northern New Jersey, arguing that all parochial schools share a common emotional texture. The episode closes with a full performance of the song.

As heard by us

A steady look at how Nine was shaped by what stayed and what did not.

The review keeps its attention on Maury Yeston and on Nine as a score shaped by practical limits: what stayed, what went, and how a strong song can still miss the stage.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

*Hear Maury Yeston unpack how Nine lost songs for stage reasons, including the Carla numbers that had to go.*

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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