Morton Da Costa

September, 1959

This Month in New York, rehearsals begin on a new musical based on Edna Ferber's Saratoga Trunk, with songs by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. The show's author, director and co-producer is a boyish 44-year-old named Morton Da Costa. The hits he's directed (The Music Man, No Time for Sergeants, Auntie Mame) have been big, fast dazzlers, unabashedly loud and colorful; yet Da Costa is cool and collected, and his recipes for theatrical success are low-pressure-cooked. Lest anyone confuse leniency w...