The title character, Joey Evans, is a manipulative small-time nightclub performer whose ambitions lead him into an affair with the wealthy, middle-aged and married Vera Simpson.

Richard Watts (New York Herald Tribune) called it "brilliant", but other critics and some members of the theatre-going public disliked the subject matter.

Ludlow Lowell, Gladys' old flame, introduces himself as an agent with papers that Joey unthinkingly signs as the rehearsal continues ("Plant You Now, Dig You Later").

† 2008 revival: "Zip" is sung by Gladys; cut songs restored; Linda's reprise added Pal Joey premiered on Broadway on December 25, 1940, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and ran for 374 performances.

Directed by George Abbott with choreography by Robert Alton, the opening-night cast included Gene Kelly as Joey, Vivienne Segal as Vera, and June Havoc as Gladys.

[11] In 1950, the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" became popular and was recorded by various bands and pop singers, including Mel Torme, Doris Day, and Gordon Jenkins and The Harmonicats.

[18] Mounted at New York City Center, the production starred Bob Fosse as Joey Evans, Viveca Lindfors as Vera Simpson, Rita Gardner as Linda English, Elaine Dunn as Gladys Bumps, Kay Medford as Melba Snyder, and Jack Durant as Ludlow Lowell.

The show was directed by Theodore Mann; choreography by Margo Sappington; musical direction/additional dance arrangements by Scott Oakley; scenery John J. Moore; costumes Arthur Boccia; lighting Ron Wallace; principal orchestrator Michael Gibson; production stage manager Randall Brooks; stage manager James Bernardi; and press by Merle Debusky and Susan L. Shulman.

The opening-night cast featured Christopher Chadman (Joey); Harold Gary (Mike); Terri Treas (Kid); Janie Sell (Gladys); Gail Benedict (Gail); Murphy Cross (Murphy); Rosamond Lynn (Rosamond); Marilu Henner (Marilu); Deborah Geffner (Debbie); Boni Enton (Linda); David Hodo (Gent); Austin Colyer (Ernest); Denny Martin Flinn (Waldo the Waiter); Michael Leeds (Victor); Kenn Scalice (Delivery Boy); Adam Petroski (Louis); Joe Sirola (Ludlow Lowell); Ralph Farnworth (O'Brien); Dixie Carter (Melba); and Joan Copeland (Vera).

The Huntington Theatre in Boston presented a revised version, adapted by Richard Greenberg and director David Warren, from September to October 1992.

Producer Marc E. Platt, along with Richard Greenberg (who had written the 1992 Boston adaptation) and director Joe Mantello planned a revival for fall 2007,[23] which was postponed.

[24] The Roundabout Theatre Company and Platt presented a limited engagement, with previews beginning on November 14, 2008, officially opening on December 18, 2008, and closing on March 1, 2009.

[28] The production starred Stockard Channing as Vera, Martha Plimpton as Gladys, Matthew Risch as Joey, Jenny Fellner as Linda, and Robert Clohessy as Mike.

[20][29] Advance publicity for the show included a full page spread in the November issue of Vogue, featuring Christian Hoff in costume as Joey.

[30] Hoff began previews as Joey, but when he was forced to leave the production on November 22, 2008, due to an injury, his understudy, Matthew Risch, took over the part.

Casting will feature Brooks Ashmanskas as Melvin, Loretta Devine as Lucille (replacing the originally announced Jennifer Holliday in a role newly created for this production due to scheduling conflicts), Aisha Jackson as Linda, Elizabeth Stanley as Vera, and Ephraim Sykes as Joey.

[32] In the 1940 New York Times review, Brooks Atkinson wrote: If it is possible to make an entertaining musical comedy out of an odious story, Pal Joey is it.

[33] When he reviewed the 1952 revival, Atkinson called the production "brilliant", writing: There is no sign of age in the brisk performance that Robert Alton has expertly staged; and the acting is sharp and original... Miss Segal presides over the sordid affairs of an astringent tale with humor, reserve, and charm.

concert, Vincent Canby noted: Here was a show in which cynicism, sophistication, bogus sentimentality and high spirits were as much the content as the form of an otherwise traditional Broadway musical.

"[26] The Times quoted Haimes as saying that he thought the Greenberg adaptation transformed the original "flawed book" by enriching the dialogue and sharpening the characters of not only Joey but the women in his life, like the damaged society wife Vera Simpson... and the wronged chanteuse Gladys Bumps....

"[37] Variety wrote: The Rodgers and Hart songs...are certainly easy on the ear, but what makes the Roundabout revival of their 1940 show so compelling is Richard Greenberg's trenchant adaptation of the original book by John O'Hara.

Erasing the sanitizing stamp of musical-theater coyness, Greenberg brings a fascinating melancholy grubbiness to this cynical story of sordid emotional transactions and opportunistic behavior in late-1930s Chicago.

It's a dark show for desperate times...The major discovery is [Martha] Plimpton's heretofore-hidden musicality ... even half-talking her songs, [Stockard Channing] puts across the rueful resignation of "What Is a Man?"

[39] The Associated Press wrote: Richard Greenberg ... has given John O'Hara's original book ... a new sheen without changing the general outline of the story: punkish song-and-dance man scores big, gets his comeuppance but soldiers on.

[40] Variety, praising the production and specifically Risch, wrote a follow-up response to the mixed reviews stating it's bizarre to see Mantello's staging pejoratively described as "ruthless", "joyless" and "unhappy"—as if such qualities don't compute in musical theater.

One of the controversies of this "Joey" is that its leading man, newcomer Matthew Risch, the understudy who replaced Christian Hoff in the eleventh hour, fails to deliver the requisite dollop of charm to his catting around.

Reviewers have compared him with actors they never saw in the role, namely Gene Kelly, or men who have never essayed Joey onstage, including Hugh Jackman, Harry Connick Jr. and, yes, Frank Sinatra, who insisted, among other woeful ideas, that he sing "The Lady Is a Tramp" in the misconceived (and far happier) 1957 film version.

[41] adding Coincidence or not, Risch's Joey is a younger brother of Erwin Schrott's Don Giovanni, seen at the Met Opera earlier this season.

[42] Historians Everett and Laird wrote that Pal Joey is the "most important work produced by Rodgers and Hart", and is the "most integrated of their musicals".

It featured Helen Gallagher, Elaine Stritch and others from the revival cast, but starred non-cast members Jane Froman and Dick Beavers as Vera and Joey, in place of Segal and Lang.