"Welcome to the first rehearsal" James Naughton intoned as emcee of this extraordinary tribute to the man who "married sound and emotion, heroes and hookers, heels and loafers, and loafers in heels".

You could have opened it the following night as a great big Broadway show, but of course with that cast you would have had to charge $1,000 a ticket. As it was, the full capacity of the Majestic Theater saw James Naughton, Ann Reinking, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Donna McKechnie, Lillias White, Chita Rivera, Michele Lee, Gregg Edelman, Judy Kaye and a galaxy of others, including playwrights Neil Simon and A.E. Hotchner, free of any charge beyond the stipulation that you love Cy Coleman at a Monday matinee honoring the recently and tragically departed composer/lyricist.

Memorial tributes to such as George Gershwin (to whom Cy was compared), Jerome Kern, Cole Porter or Richard Rodgers regularly present stars donating their time and talent to sing the great songs, but how about a fully-staged production number, freshly choreographed, with a dozen singer-dancers?

That was what opened the show as the full compliment of dance hall floozies belted out "Hey, Big Spender!" from "Sweet Charity," Bob Fosse's fabulous choreography of that slice of lowbrow sex life in New York re-created by Lainie Sakakura, featuring the still-sexy, God bless them, Ann Reinking and Chita Rivera. Middle-aged and elderly gentlemen in the audience who remember the Varsity Ballroom, one flight up on Broadway, may have leaned over to their wives and murmured, "Although it may look incredible, that's exactly what it was like," adding hastily, " Of course that was before I knew you, Dear."

Thus could Cy Coleman delineate the seamier side of Americana as well as he did the sunnier side in "The Best Is Yet to Come," "Hey, Look Me Over," "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "Real Live Girl," all of which that enraptured audience heard from the parade of stars.

Wendy Wasserstein, author of "Pamela's First Musical" on which she and Cy were working for a new show, lauded his collaboration with female lyricists, love of Rialto gossip and that he was a fervent Democrat. Jim Dale resurrected his award winning Barnum role with "There's A Sucker Born Every Minute".

And a series of Broadway's female megastars plucked some dramatic works from the past: Chita delivered an emotional "Where Am I Going?", Donna McKechnie reprised her 42 year old Sweet Charity number "If They Could See Me Now", Judy Kaye wow-ed 'em with "Never" from On the Twentieth Century, Michele Lee, accompanied by Donald Pippin, belted out "I'm Way Ahead" from Seesaw, even Bea Arthur returned to Broadway with her rendition of "It Amazes Me". And Lucille Ball would have been so proud. Her daughter and granddaughter, Lucie Arnaz and Katharine Luckinbill, performed "Real Live Girl" from Cy's first musical, Katherine's first musical appearance and Lucy's only show, Wildcat.

And back on the downbeat side, the old hooker's lament, "The Oldest Profession," lyrics by Ira Gasman, may have been the greatest joy of a hilarious day as performed with dry irony by the biggest girl out there, with a voice even bigger, Lillias White. She moaned and muttered and soared and screamed the house down, always in perfect pitch.

As she exited to cheers, Neil Simon (the book of "Sweet Charity"), on next, got a chuckle by starting off his remarks with a dry "I want to thank you for putting me on after her."

And there was so much more. Many cherish the memory of "City of Angels," in which Larry Gelbart, with music by Cy and lyrics by David Zippel, created a Hollywood fantasy in which an author is plagued by the fact that the character he created is famous while he is an obscure unknown. As the author (Gregg Edelman) broods over this the character appears before him in human form (James Naughton), and each tells the other what he thinks of him in the duet, "You're Nothing Without Me." The perfect blending of Edelman's clear tenor and Naughton's sonorous baritone only made one sad that it would just be this one time.

Those who admire the work of Bryan Stokes Mitchell have for the most part only seen him sing and dance and act. Those who have never heard him talk as himself came out of the theater marveling, "What a charming man!" (I heard it twice as we lunched in the restaurant across the street afterwards.) He had to explain that Tony Bennett, who had wanted to participate, was unable to sing because of laryngitis, and he was replacing his own choice, " Witchcraft", with Bennett's chosen "The Best Is Yet To Come". A lot of the warmth in the hand he got had to do with that demonstration of his personal charm.

Long time collaborator Larry Gelbart, speaking through Marilyn Bergman, friend and ASCAP President, summed it up: "He was show wise and street smart, more at home on the East Side than on the West Coast".        

The program concluded with a spotlight on an empty piano stool, a photo of the star of the show, Coleman himself, hovering over it, recorded, singing his latest on this occasion, from In the Pocket , (a show with music by Coleman and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman that is slated to open on Broadway in the fall of 2006) "A Little Travelin' Music, Please", poignant because it includes the line, "Help me to exit with ease."

Neil Simon said it for us all: "We'll miss you, Cy."

Some additional facts about our tragically lost friend.

• Born Seymour Kaufman in 1929, note his creative use of phonetic alliteration when he chose his stage name (in those days, nobody was allowed to be Jewish.)
• He was a child prodigy on the piano, giving his first full dress concert at the age of 9.
• As a young man, he was a huge success with his Cy Coleman Trio, which many nightclub recall fondly – and the other two members of which both played, on drums and string bass respectively, at the Majestic on Monday.
• After a successful but stormy collaboration with Carolyn Leigh (they created "Witchcraft," one of Sinatra's greatest hits, and "The Best Is Yet to Come"), he met Dorothy Fields, a lyricist from his parents' ; generation whom he admired, at a party in 1964 and asked her if she would like to collaborate with him. She hugged him and cried: "Thank God somebody asked!" They went on to do "Sweet Charity" together.
• Cy Coleman died on the night of November 24, 2004, after attending the opening night party for the play "Democracy." He had just finished In the Pocket the day before. The cause of death was heart failure. He was 75. But whenever he died, it would always have been too soon.
• At the time of his death, Mr. Coleman was juggling several productions, including a revival of "Sweet Charity"; separate musical biographies of Napoleon, Grace Kelly and Elaine Kaufman, the proprietor of Elaine's restaurant in Manhattan; and "Pamela's First Musical," based on the playwright Wendy Wasserstein's book for children. And as late as last month, he was performing in cabaret at Feinstein's at the Regency.