Those questions of leadership amid a pandemic prompted Rosenthal to push for a new production of the musical, which begins Wednesday on the outdoor Terrace Stage at Sarasota’s Asolo Repertory Theatre.
“There’s a line in one of the adaptations that says, ‘When his people need him most, an Arthur will come to redeem them.’ I love that,” Rosenthal said.
The musical itself has been reinvented in recent years and for this new Asolo Rep production. Television writer David Lee, a co-creator of the hit series “Wings” and “Frasier,” has said he was a big fan of the music but found the show too long when he first saw it and didn’t understand why it took three hours to tell the story.