Now Is the Time for All Good Men is a musical with music by Nancy Ford, book and lyrics and by Gretchen Cryer. The show premiered Off-Broadway in 1967. Production The musical premiered Off-Broadway at the Theatre De Lys on September 26, 1967 and closed on January 16, 1968. Synopsis The school board for the Bloomdale, Indiana, high school is convinced Mike Butler (David Cryer), the new English teacher, is a brash freethinker who is willing to teach students in unconventional ways and give them too much freedom for the board's liking. Albert McKinley (David Sabin), the principal, defends him. Sarah Larkin (Sally Niven), music teacher and church choir leader, is another of Albert's foundlings. Mike and Sarah meet and are attracted to each other. Mike tries to change her personality to suit his desires, and Sarah disapproves, but they enjoy their time together. For a while Mike and Sarah enjoy their teatimes and hayrides left alone. But Sarah has an enemy, her own sister, Eugenie Seldin (Judy Frank), a lively and outspoken waitress at the local truck-stop eatery. Eugenie spots Mike right away and sets her sights. After all, hadn't she known Sarah's late husband in ways Sarah never did? And soon enough, Mike develops an enemy of his own. The brightest kid in class, Tommy (Steve Skiles) is the son of the athletic coach, Herbert Heller (Art Wallace), who doesn't like English teachers to begin with because their drama classes mess up his gym floor. When he finds out that Mike is encouraging young Tommy to read Thoreau and think for himself, well, he can spot a Commie pretty far off. And Herbert Heller is a real "Americun". Only once a year he's apt to get drunk and shoot up the place. This year, as Mike and Sarah stand listening to Christmas carolers and enjoy being together, he comes upon them, carrying a shotgun in one hand, and Old Glory in the other. When he demands that Mike pledge allegiance to the flag, then and there, it gets kind of tight. Luckily, Herbert is too drunk to be effective and falls down. Mike carries Sarah off over his shoulder and Herbert is taken away for another year. By now, Sarah is enchanted with Mike, thought resisting him ("I'm not going to be a challenge to you and have you have the satisfaction of seeing me develop!") But develop