Editing Mickey Rooney (section)

==== Broadway shows ====
A major turning point came in 1979, when Rooney made his [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut in the acclaimed stage play ''Sugar Babies'', a [[musical revue]] tribute to the [[burlesque]] era co-starring former MGM dancing star [[Ann Miller]]. [[Aljean Harmetz]] noted, "Mr. Rooney fought over every skit and argued over every song and almost always got things done his way. The show opened on Broadway on October 8, 1979, to rave reviews, and this time he did not throw success away.<ref name="Harmetz-obit-4-7-14">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/arts/mickey-rooney-master-of-putting-on-a-show-dies-at-93.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0%20www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07%20Mickey%20Rooney%20master%20of%20putting%20on%20a%20show,%20dies%20at%2093|title=Mickey Rooney, Master of Putting On a Show, Dies at 93|work=The New York Times|date=April 7, 2014|access-date=April 9, 2014|author=Harmetz, Aljean|page=1}}</ref> Rooney and Miller performed the show 1,208 times in New York and then toured with it for five years, including eight months in London.<ref>Video: {{YouTube|TIrWvUYnbiA|"Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney at the Palladium, 1988"}} 8 min.</ref> Co-star Miller recalls that Rooney "never missed a performance or a chance to ad-lib or read the lines the same way twice, if he even stuck to the script".<ref name=marill /> Biographer Alvin Marill states, "at 59, Mickey Rooney was reincarnated as a baggy-pants comedian—back as a top banana in show biz in his belated Broadway debut."<ref name=marill /> For his performance, Rooney received nominations for [[Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical|Tony Award]] and [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical|Drama Desk Award]] for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.

Following this, he toured as Pseudelous in Stephen Sondheim's ''[[A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum]]''.{{sfn|Lertzman|Birnes|2015|p=351}} In the 1990s, he returned to Broadway for the final months of ''[[Will Rogers Follies]]'', playing the ghost of Will's father.{{sfn|Lertzman|Birnes|2015|p=547}} On television, he starred in the short-lived sitcom, ''[[One of the Boys (American TV series)|One of the Boys]]'',{{sfn|Lertzman|Birnes|2015|p=539}} along with two unfamiliar young stars, [[Dana Carvey]] and [[Nathan Lane]], in 1982.

He toured Canada in a [[dinner theater]] production of ''The Mind with the Naughty Man'' in the mid-1990s.{{sfn|Lertzman|Birnes|2015|p=548}} He played The Wizard in a stage production of ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1987 musical)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' with [[Eartha Kitt]] at [[Madison Square Garden]].{{sfn|Lertzman|Birnes|2015|p=489}} Kitt was later replaced by [[Jo Anne Worley]].