The cast included Clive Revill as Whiteside, Elizabeth Allen as Maggie, Jon Cypher as Bert, Dolores Gray as Lorraine, Eddie Lawrence as Banjo, Byron Webster as Beverly, and Cliff Hall as Dr. Bradley.

The recording cast includes Nathan Lane as Whiteside, Bernadette Peters as Maggie, Carol Burnett as Lorraine, Tom Wopat as Bert, Tommy Tune as Beverly, and Mike Myers as Banjo, with Lillias White, Keith David, James Lipton, Lawrence Pressman, Siobhan Fallon and Phyllis Newman in small supporting roles.

[3][4] Sheridan Whiteside, an egregiously pompous and self-centered radio personality, terrorizes the family of Ernest W. Stanley of Mesalia, Ohio, when a slip on their icy front steps forces him to recuperate in their home at Christmas time.

The highly critical and extremely egotistical Whiteside commandeers the household and staff and disrupts the lives of everyone who comes within his orbit, including his private secretary Maggie Cutler, journalist-playwright Bert Jefferson, Broadway diva Lorraine Sheldon, antic Harpo Marx-like comedian Banjo, bon vivant Beverly Carlton, and absent-minded physician and aspiring memoirist Dr. Bradley.

The critics were unanimous in their disapproval, finding the taut Kaufman-Hart humor of the original play was diluted by the inclusion of mediocre musical numbers that were dropped into the action rather than allowed to evolve naturally from the plot.

"[5] However, the World Journal Tribune wrote that "On the whole, Kaufman and Hart's comedy holds its own as a play and gains some entertaining embellishments in this prevailing merry musical adaptation.

"[5] In reviewing the studio cast album, John Kenrick wrote "Musical theatre buffs will not be able to resist this star-studded recreation...Nathan Lane is delicious...Bernadette Peters is perfect...and Carol Burnett sings the hell out of the show-stopping title tune".