NEW YORK -- Since the death last year of her writing partner Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden has carried on alone, attending rehearsals of "Wonderful Town," which she co-wrote with Adolph Green and Bernstein and working on a new book about her legendary collaboration with the effervescent Green.\n"It was Adolph's favorite show of ours," she said. "Everything came together: the songs, the characters and the stories. He would be so happy that it's being done again. We usually met at my place because that's where most of the records of our work were. I miss him desperately. I really do. We were so close."\nTheir collaboration included more than a dozen Broadway musicals from "On the Town" in 1944 to "The Will Rogers Follies" in 1991 and at least two motion picture classics, "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Band Wagon." And performing stints of their own, from a Greenwich Village club act called "The Revuers" in the late 1930s and early 1940s to a stylish, two-person show, appropriately titled "A Party With Betty Comden and Adolph Green."\n"They were on the same track and thought a lot about the same things," Phyllis Newman said, who is Green's widow. "They had different senses of humor, actually. My husband's was much more out there and antic. Betty's is more sophisticated and quiet. They met every day of their lives. That was a huge thing to keep meeting whether they had a new project or didn't have a project. They were always working and trying to find one."\nThese days, "Wonderful Town" and her memories of Green have Comden's complete attention, she said.\nComden sits at a corner table in Sardi's, the venerable theater-district restaurant where caricatures of theater notables grace the walls. Of course, Comden and Green are there. Together, naturally.\nAt 88, Comden speaks slowly yet deliberately and with a soft, almost shy laugh as she recalls the frantic birth pains of "Wonderful Town," which first opened on Broadway on Feb. 25, 1953.\nThe involvement of Comden, Green and Bernstein was born out of director George Abbott's desperation. The musical, based on Ruth McKinney's short stories for The New Yorker and the play "My Sister Eileen," tells the story of two sisters from Ohio who come to New York in 1935 to make it big. Rosalind Russell was set to star as Ruth and Edie Adams was hired to play her sister, Eileen. With rehearsals only five weeks away, the original composer and lyricist didn't work out and were paid off.\nDirector George Abbott put in a desperate call to Comden for help with a new score. She and Green raced to Bernstein's apartment to talk over the offer. During their discussions, the phone rang and the no-nonsense Abbott said, growling, "Well, is it 'yes' or is it 'no'?"\n"Yes," it was, and five weeks later, Abbott had his new music and lyrics.
\nWriting that fast didn't faze the trio. \n"They were like one organism," said his sister Jamie Bernstein. "And not just when they were working, but all of the time. They were such good friends. Usually, that doesn't work out quite so thoroughly. They were as happy working as they were playing."\nComden said the rehearsal deadline pressures of "Wonderful Town" forced them to abandon any preconceived notions of collaboration.\n"Sometimes we would get an idea for a song and would start the lyrics. Then Lenny would write some music and we would put it together," Comden says. "And there were cases where he had a couple of melodies already finished and we would set lyrics to them."\nComden and Green were experts at writing material for specific stars Judy Holliday in "Bells Are Ringing," Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker in "Do Re Mi" and Carol Burnett in "Fade Out, Fade In," for example.\nRussell, a big movie star, presented specific problems. \n"She came to us and said, 'I have four notes and you have to write for those four notes.' Of course, she was a lot better than that." Comden said. "She was very musical. So we wrote songs we knew she could do and do them well. Besides, she was a wonderful performer, although not necessarily a singer."\nThe revival cast is headed by Donna Murphy in Russell's role and Jennifer Westfeldt as the winsome Eileen. The production was born in May 2000 at City Center where a version starring Murphy was done at "Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert" to rave reviews.\nOn Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, "Wonderful Town" will be directed by Kathleen Marshall and feature a 24-piece, on-stage orchestra, one of the largest on Broadway, so Bernstein's melodies will get their proper due.\nComden, for one, can't wait for the opening. \n"The cast is marvelous." he said. "There is so much talent on that stage. I just know it will be great"
