Oh -- and no one, save DR Elmore, has offered any criticism re Mr. Doyle's handling of the final number! 
I doubt anyone on Manhattan's team of critics ever saw IRMA LA DOUCE before now, so how can they complain about something of which they know little? They pan the libretto, but it's John Doyle's abridgment they are seeing, not the original Broadway libretto, but they know the book is lousy.
What I find amazing, and here I climb onto my soapbox, is that so many assholes claim to love musical theatre, but they are so intolerant: "Music in the Air" is old-fashioned, the libretto for "Babes in Toylad" stinks, "Irma La Douce" is a lousy show; well, all of these shows in 1932, 1903, and 1960 were for their time sophisticated, state of the art musicals. They were crafted and staged by some of the best show people of their time. Peter Brook was a great director, Hammerstein and Kern were major influences, and Julian Mitchell who had the sense to get the best theatre composer of the time for "Babes In Toyland," was the leading director-choreographer of his time.
Don't these jerks complaining of the Encores! shows they don't much like realize that so much of the current crop of writers and shows as the times change will also become yesterday's news? Broaden your minds and learn to appreciate the wide variety out there.
