A Hop, Skip, Jump Down Memory Lane

The Scene: Opening night for “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” Wednesday at the Shubert Theatre. The performance was followed by a party for 600 at the nearby Century Plaza Tower. The musical re-creates scenes from productions Robbins staged in the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, including “West Side Story,” “Peter Pan,” “Gypsy” and “The King and I.” It seemed as though Robbins had choreographed everything on Broadway except the rush-hour traffic.

Who Was There: Robbins (whose 72nd birthday was the following day), and dozens of collaborators from his past shows, including Eddie Albert, who was in “Miss Liberty,” and Gino Conforti, the original fiddler in “Fiddler on the Roof”; also, the stars of “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” Tony Roberts, Scott Wise and Debbie Shapiro; guests Neil Simon, Betty White, John Forsythe, Carl Reiner, Anthony Perkins, Marisa Berenson, Orel Hershiser, Lucie Arnaz with Lawrence Luckinbill, and directors Sidney Pollack and James Bridges.

The Buzz: They ain’t makin’ musicals like they used to. Repeated zillions of times. “It confirms the paucity of Andrew Lloyd Webber,” said one acid-tongued critic.

Dress Mode: The invite called for “black-tie optional.” This translates locally as “OK, you can wear a jacket and tie. But absolutely no Bermuda shorts or Raiders warm-up jackets.”

Chow: An expansive buffet packed with jumbo shrimp, smoked salmon, carved beef and turkey, three types of pasta and enough sweets to deplete the Cuban sugar harvest.

Quoted: Robbins on meeting alumni of his shows: “I wish I knew you were around. I’d have said, ‘Come to New York and show us what you did.’ ”

Also Quoted: “This show is about genius and memory,” said Carl Reiner. “It’s about re-creating numbers and seeing if they’re as fantastic as you remember them being the first time you saw them.”

Pastimes: Veteran dancers regaled each other with psychological tortures practiced on them by Robbins. All agree he’s the Vince Lombardi of dance.

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