Gwen Verdon created the role of Charity in the original Broadway production of the musical Sweet Charity. She was nominated for (but did not win) a 1966 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Debbie Allen played the role of Charity in the first Broadway revival of the musical Sweet Charity. She was nominated for (but did not win) a 1986 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
The fact that Montgomery has a famous actress as a mother was mentioned in the movie version of Fame (1980), even though she did not make an appearance in that story.
Gwen Verdon, who guest-stars in this episode, won the 1959 Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award for "Redhead." Another Tony winner for "Redhead" was Albert Hague, who wrote its music. Later in his life, Hague became a teacher at New York's Fiorello H. Laguardia High School Of Music & Art and Performing Arts, a job he still held when he was cast as the music teacher Benjamin Shorofsky in the movie Fame; he subsequently continued the role in this TV show.