London Musicals 1970-1974.pub - Over The Footlights

‘ERB
London run: Strand, April 7 th (38 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Trevor Peacock
Book: Trevor Peacock
Director: Braham Murray
Choreographer: Deborah Grant
Musical Director: Gordon Mackie
Producer: Richard Pilbrow
1970
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good clothes.
Cast: Trevor Peacock, Deborah Grant, Bridget Turner, Malcolm Rennie, - a cast
of 28 playing numerous roles
Story: ‘Erb is a railwayman who rises in his Union through approved acts but
loses the confidence of his more committed brethren when he makes an attempt
to foment understanding between employers and labour while, culpably, wearing
Notes: Based on the novel “’Erb” by W. Pett Ridge, this was originally staged at the Manchester University
Theatre.
MANDRAKE
London run: Criterion Theatre, April 25 th (12 Performances)
Music: Anthony Bowles
Book & Lyrics: Michael Alfreds
Director: Edward Caddick
Choreographer: Geraldine Stephenson
Musical Director: David Cullen
Producer: Donald Albery
Cast: Ian Patterson (Fra Timoteo), Roy Kinnear (Ligurio), Paul Shelley (Callimaco),
Sarah Atkinson (Lucrezia), Edward Caddick (Nicia) , Roger Davenport, Sandra Michaels, Cindy Wells
Songs: She Never Knew What Hit Her, The Waters of the Spa, To Get it Off My Chest.
Story: Set in 16th century Florence where, as local priest Fra Timoteo says, “church attendance has dropped
from its medieval peak and devotion is no longer chic”. Callimaco wants to seduce Lucrezia, whose huband
Nicia is an old fool, desperate to produce a son and heir. Aided by Ligurio, merchant of aphrodisiacs, chastity
belts and assorted erotica, Callimaco disguises himself as a doctor and convinces Nicia to drug Lucrezia with
mandrake, guaranteed to increase her fertility – but with the side-effect of killing the first man who has sex
with her. So they need to find an unwitting fool for this purpose. A reluctant Lucrezia eventually complies with
her husband's wishes and allows the disguised Callimaco into her bed. Believing the events which caused her
to break her marriage vows were due to divine providence, thereafter she accepts him as her lover on a more
permanent basis.
Notes: Based on Machiavelli’s Mandragola, this had originally run for a month at Bristol Old Vic in May 1969.
The critics complained of its schoolboy humour, four letter words and its “lets-be-rude-now-there’s-no censor”
smuttiness. It came off within two weeks.
THE FANTASTICKS (1st Revival)
London run: Hampstead Theatre Club, May 4th (26 Performances)
Music: Harvey Schmidt
Lyrics: Tom Jones
Director: Anton Rodgers
Cast: John Gower (El Gallo), Beth Anne Cole (Luisa), Billy Boyle (Matt), David Bauer (Bellamy),
Mike Murray (Hucklebee), Clyde Pollitt (Henry), David Suchet (Mortimer)
Notes: See Original production: Apollo Theatre, September 1961

SING A RUDE SONG
London run: Garrick Theatre, May 26 th (71 Performances)
Music: Ron Grainer (and interpolated existing songs)
Book & Lyrics: Caryl Brahms & Ned Sherrin
Director: Ned Sherrin
Choreographer: Virginia Mason
Musical Director: Alfred Ralston
Producer: Robert Stigwood
Cast: Barbara Windsor (Marie Lloyd), Denis Quilley (Alec Hurley),
Maurice Gibb (Bernard Dillon)
Songs: That’s What They Say, ‘Ang ‘Abaht, Whoops Cockie!, I’ve Been
and Gone and Done It, You Don’t Know What It’s Like to Fall in Love at
Forty – and (The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery,
My Old Man Said Follow The Van)
1970
Story: The life story of Marie Lloyd, with her rise
from poverty to national fame, her disastrous
Barbara Windsor as Marie Lloyd
marriages to Alec Hurley, a fellow music hall
performer, and the violent and drunken marriage
to jockey Bernard Dillon, her physical exhaustion and death at the age of 52. (Marie Lloyd
was married three times, but only two husbands feature in the show)
Notes: This was created to mark the centenary of the birth of Marie Lloyd, and opened at
Greenwich Theatre on February 18 th for a four week run. It was then revised for a West End
transfer - but it didn’t really work. The new songs didn’t truly capture the true period feel,
Barbara Windsor was said to be too young and too chirpy for the part, and the pop-singer
Maurice Gibb failed to convey any of the sinister characteristics of Bernard Dillon.
Between the Greenwich and West End productions the director Robin Phillips joined the
team to try and correct some of the faults in the show – however it was felt by the critics
that theatrical legends cannot be exhumed.
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Photo by S.C.Moreton-Prickard
1776
London run: New Theatre, June 16 th (168 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Sherman Edwards
Book: Peter Stone
Director: Peter H.Hunt
Choreographer: Oona White
Musical Director: Ray Cook
Producer: Alexander Cohen
Cast: Lewis Flanders (John Adams), John Quentin (Thomas Jefferson),
Ronald Radd (Benjamin Franklin), Cheryl Kennedy (Martha Jefferson),
Bernard Lloyd (John Dickinson), David Kernan (Edward Rutledge),
Vivienne Ross (Abigail Adams), Lewis Fiander (John Adams)
Songs: Piddle Twiddle and
Resolve, The Lees of Old Virginia, He Plays the Violin,
Cool Cool Considerate Men, Momma Look Sharp,
Molasses to Rum, Is Anybody There?
Photo by Reg Wilson
Story: A dramatic re-telling of the events leading up to
the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the
Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. The story
focuses on the efforts of John Adams to break down the
opposition to independence, revolving primarily around the
issue of free states versus slave states. The New York
production ran for 1,217 performances, but London was
nothing like as keen on American history.
Ronald Radd, Lewis Fiander,
Cheryl Kennedy & John Quentin

ISABEL’S A JEZEBEL
London run: Duchess Theatre, December 15 th (61 Performances)
Music: Galt MacDermot
Lyrics and book: William Dumaresqu
Director: Julie Arenal & Michael Wearing
Choreographer: Julie Arenal
1970
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Cast: Carol Hayman (Isabel), Joan Geary (Mother), Nicholas Ball (The Man),
Howard Wakeling (Tall Ogre), Peter Farrell (Compere)
Songs: Down by the Ocean, On Fish in the Sea, Mama Don’t Want no Baby, The
Moon Should be Rising Soon, In Another Life, So Ends Our Night, These are the
Things, It Just Can’t Be That Bad
Story: This is the story of Isabel and the two men in her life: The Tall Ogre, her deep-sea lover, who is a Panlike
fertility figure from the sea, and her husband, The Man. Isabel spends almost the entire show copulating
amongst arguments about bringing children into a world that is committed to death. Isabel undergoes several
stillborn births, and a hatpin abortion because her husband wants to be her “only baby man” in a series of
scenes involving dismembered dolls and huge howling baby face-masks on sticks.
Notes: Originally there were great hopes for this show since it came from the same composer and director of
the enormously successful “Hair”. It began early in 1970 on the London fringe and then had highly troubled
pre-London rehearsals with Rosemary McHale, the leading lady, dismissed at the first dress rehearsal. (Her
understudy, Carol Hayman, took over for the next day’s opening.) Two days after opening the leading man
was replaced (due, it was claimed, to illness). The book was based on one of Grimm’s lesser known fairy tales.
CATCH MY SOUL
London run: Roundhouse, December 21 st , (158 Performances)
Transferred to Prince of Wales Theatre,
Music: Ray Pohlman & Emil Dean Zoghby
Book: Jack Good
Director: Michael Elliot & Braham Murray
Cast: Jack Good (Othello),
Lance LeGault (Iago),
P.J.Proby (Cassio),
P.P.Arnold (Bianca),
Sharon Gurney (Desdemona)
Songs: Goats And Monkeys, Wedding Chant, If Wives Do Fall,
Cannikins, Put Out The Light, You Told A Lie, Very Well-Go To,
Willow, Seven Days And Night, Why, Black On White, Death Chant.
Story: Othello is a wandering evangelist who happens onto Iago's
remote commune. There he marries the lovely Desdemona much to the
chagrin of Iago, who also loves her. Iago, is a full-scale villain, a Klu-
Klux-Klan-man oozing hate and untrustworthiness and manages to
influence Othello until murder and tragedy ensue.
Notes: A “rock-opera” version of Shakespeare’s “Othello”. The
original American production had starred Jerry Lee Lewis. The
musical received some considerable praise, but did not run very long.
P.P.Arnold and P.J.Proby
Credit Unknown

THE GREAT WALTZ
London run: Drury Lane, July 9 th (632 Performances)
Music: Johann Strauss (adapted by Erich Korngold)
Lyrics: Robert Wright & George Forrest
Book: Jerome Chodorov
Director: Wendy Toye
Choreographer: Edmund Balin
Musical Director: Alexander Faris
Producer: Bernard Delfont & Harold Fielding
1970
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Cast: Walter Cassel (Johan Strauss Snr.),
David Watson (Schani), Sari Barabas (Helene Vernet),
Diane Todd (Resi), Robert Dorning (Dommeyer),
Leo Fuchs (Hirsch), Eric Brotherson (Hartkopf)
Songs: A Waltz With Wings, I’m in Love with Vienna, My
Philopsophy of Life, Perpetuum Mobile, Radetsky March, An
Artist’s Life, Tales from the Vienna Woods, No Two Ways, I
Hate Music, The Blue Danube Waltz
Story:
The rivalry between Johann Strauss I and his son, Sari Barabas and David Watson
Schani, is the background for an
absolute feast of waltzes, polkas, marches and pastries! Romance is supplied by
Strauss senior and his old love Helene Vernet, now a world-famous opera singer,
and by Schani and Resi, the baker’s daughter. Comedy comes from the three men in
the music business, Hirsch, Hartkopf and Dommeyer. (As always in musical
comedy, this is a highly fictionalised version of the true story!)
Photo by Tom Hustler
Notes: The book was pedestrian, the lyrics unexciting – and sometimes quite
dreadful – but the music was glorious, the costumes gorgeous and the scenery
entrancing. In spite of the critics it filled the vast Drury Lane for over 600
performances. Originally the producer Harold Fielding tried his best to persuade the
best-loved and most famous European operetta star, Anneliese Rothenberger to play
Helen Vernet, but the role eventually went to Hungarian opera star Sari Barabas, and
Walter Cassel from New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
LIE DOWN, I THINK I LOVE YOU
London run: Strand, October 14 th (13 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Ceredig Davies
Book: John Gorrie
Director : John Gorrie / Geoffrey Cauley
Choreographer: Geoffrey Cauley
Musical Director: David Cullen
Producer: Daniel Rees
Cast: Tim Curry (Peter), Antonia Ellis (Kate), Ray Brooks (Tom), Vanessa Miles (Anna)
Ray Davis, Malcolm Reynolds, Patricia Hammond.
Story: A strange kind of English version of “Hair”, where a group of student-hippies, led by Tom and Anna,
decide to “do their own thing”, which apart from sex, drugs and nudity, includes putting a bomb on the top of
the BBC’s Broadcasting House. Tom’s sister comes up from the country to see her gay brother and is shocked
to find him presiding over a house full of drop-outs, but she still manages to appropriate Tom’s boyfriend for
herself.
Notes: John Gorrie, the original director and librettist, walked out of the show during rehearsals, afnd
demanded that his name be taken off the posters and programmes.

KISS ME KATE (1st Revival)
London run: Coliseum , 24 th December
(Christmas season)
Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter
Book: Sam & Bella Spewack
Director: Peter Coe
Choreographer: Sheila O’Neill
Producer: Sadler’s Wells Opera
Cast: Emile Belcourt (Fred Graham),
Ann Howard (Lili), Eric Shilling (Harry),
Francis Egerton & John Bluthall (Gangsters)
Songs: Another Op’ning Another Show, Wunderbar,
So In Love, I Hate Men, Too Darn Hot, Always True to
You in My Fashion, Brush Up Your Shakespeare.
1970
Emile Belcourt, Franics Egerton & John Bluthall
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Photo by Donald Southern
Story: The entire action takes place in and around Ford’s Theater, Baltimore, during a tryout of a musical
version of “The Taming of the Shrew”. The time span is from 5pm following a run-through to midnight the
same day after the opening performance. The main story involves Fred Graham, directing and starring in the
show opposite his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi. During their off-stage brawls, which echo their on-stage roles, the
fact that they are still in love with each other becomes quite obvious – just like Petruchio and Kate. A
secondary romance deals with the actress Lois Lane, who is hooked on actor Bill Calhoun, who himself is
hooked on gambling.
Notes: It was said that the relationship between Fred and Lili was based on the famous husband-and-wife
partnership, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who continually quarrelled both onstage and off. The original
1948 Broadway production starred Alfred Drake and Patricia Morrison, and the London transfer at the
Coliseum in March 1951 starred Bill Johnson with Patricia Morrison. It ran for 501 performances. This first
revival was a Sadler’s Wells Opera Presentation with the dialogue “Anglicised” to make it more acceptable to
English audiences! It had a short run through the Christmas season.
Photo by Donald Southern
The chorus from the 1970 Sadler’s Wells Production at the Coliseum

MAYBE THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM
London run: Roundhouse, June 16 th (18 Performances)
Music: Walter Scharf
Lyrics: Don Black
Book: Lionel Chetwynd
Director: Charles Dennis
Choreographer: Virginia Mason
Musical Director: John Cameron
Producer: Andrew Mann
Cast: Douglas Lambert (Marvin) Harold Kasket (Dr Schlossman),
Andee Silver (Lynn) , Stacey Gregg, Al Mancini, Elaine Paige .
Songs: A Night to Remember
1971
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Story: Marvin has a premature ejaculation problem which is dealt with by
kindly Jewish psychiatrist, Dr Schlossman. The story gives the history of
Marvin’s sex life, and eventually the problem is revealed to be his girlfriend, Lynn.
Notes: Another of the post-Censor shows, universally criticised for being tasteless and witless. The lyricist Alan Jay
Lerner told Don Black the show should have been called “Shortcomings”.
SHOWBOAT (2nd Revival)
London run: Adelphi, June 29 th (910 Performances)
Music: Jerome Kern
Lyrics & Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
Director-Choreographer: Wendy Toye
Musical Director: Ray Cook
Producer: Harold Fielding
Cast: Cleo Laine (Julie), Andre Jobin (Ravenal), Lorna Dallas (Magnolia),
Thomas Carey (Joe), Kenneth Nelson, Derek Royles, Pearl Hackney, Jan Hunt,
Ena Cabayo, John Larsen
Songs: Ol’ Man River, Make Believe, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine, Life Upon the
Wicked Stage, Why Do I Love You?, Bill
Story: This is the story of Magnolia Hawkes and Gaylord Ravenal from their first meeting on the Natchez levee in
the mid 1880s, to their reunion aboard the “Cotton Blossom” in 1927. In between they fall in love, act in showboat
productions, marry, move to Chicago at the time of the 1893 World Fair, lose their money because of Ravenal’s
gambling addiction, and separate. Magnolia then becomes a musical-comedy star on Broadway. Secondary plots
involve the relationship between mixed-race Julie and showboat leading man Steve, and the harsh life of Negro
dockworkers represented by Joe.
Notes: Based on Edna Ferber’s novel, this is one of the most significant musicals of them all. It is notable for its
integrated plot and for being the first musical to
deal with love between different races. It dealt
with “real” issues - alcoholism, poverty, gambling -
and integrated them into the kind of show which up
to then had been a frothy, glamorous frivolous
escapist form of entertainment. The original
Broadway production ran for 572 performances in
New York’s Ziegfeld Theater in 1927, followed by
the London premiere at Druruy Lane in 1928.
The first London production featured Edith Day,
Cedric Hardwicke and Paul Robeson. The first
revival in London was in 1943 with Gwyneth
Lascelles and Bruce Carfax. This second revival
was the longest running of them all so far.
Lorna Dallas and Andre Jobin
Photo by Reg Wilson

THE LAST SWEET DAYS OF ISAAC
London run: Old Vic, September 6 th (8 Performances)
Music: Nancy Ford
Lyrics & Book: Gretchen Cryer
Director: Donald Bodley
Musical Director: Colin Dudman
1971
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Cast: Bob Sherman (Isaac), Julia McKenzie (Ingrid/Alice),
Philip Miller (Policeman)
Songs: My Most Important Moments Go By, I Want to Walk to San
Francisco, I Can’t Live in Solitary, Somebody Died Today, Yes I
Know That I’m Alive
Story: The story is told backwards: In Act 1, 32 year old Isaac
Bernstein is stuck in an elevator with Ingrid, a secretary who has
always wished to be a poet. In the hour that they are stuck in the lift
Isaac tries to teach Ingrid to live life to its fullest. In Act 2, Isaac is
now 19 and he and blond, beautiful Alice are locked away separately in solitary prison cells. They
communicate with each other and the world only through a closed-circuit TV system. A newscast interrupts
with a report of Isaac’s death at a demonstration. Isaac and Alice are left with each other’s images in their
once-removed world, unsure if they are alive or dead.
Notes: The show opened off-Broadway in January 1970 and ran for 485 performances, winning several awards.
During its usual summer break, the Old Vic invited several of the regional rep companies to play one-week
each with guest productions. This was from the Theatre Royal, York
ROMANCE
London run: Duke of York’s, September 28 th (6 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Charles Ross
Book: John Spurling
Director: Charles Ross
Choreographer: Sally Gilpin
Musical Director: Alan Leigh
Producer: Charles Ross
Cast: Jess Conrad (Norton Henry), Bill Simpson (Andrew Bradie), Joyce Blair (Serena Bradie),
Lynn Dalby (Laura Wainwright)
Story: Andrew Bradie, a bored businessman,
hankering for a little youth and freshness in his life,
dallies with Laura Wainwright, a typist; at the same
time Serena, his wife, is attracted to handsome Norton
Henry, a butler. After a lot of heavy plotting everyone
gets together for a disastrous dinner party as a result of
which husband and wife decide that being bored
together is probably the lesser of two evils.
Notes: Originated at Leeds Playhouse, it was
described as “a mediocre old time drawing room
comedy mixed with insipid revue songs”. It did not
last beyond its first week.
Joyce Blair
Credit Unknown

AMBASSADOR
London run: Her Majesty’s. October 19 th
(86 Performances)
Music: Don Gohman
Lyrics: Hal Hackady
Book: Don Ettlinger
Director: Stone Widney
Choreographer: Gillian Lynne
Musical Director: Gareth Davies
1971
Cast: Howard Keel (Lambert Strether),
Danielle Darrieux (Countess Marie),
Margaret Courtenay (Amelia Newsome),
Richard Heffer (Chad), Isobel Stuart,
Ellen Pollock
Howard Keel , Margaret Courtenay, Richard Heffer, Danielle Darrieux
Songs: The Right Time The Right Place,
Love Finds the Lonely, Happy Man, What Happened to Paris?, Why Do Women Have to Call it Love?, That’s
What I Need Tonight.
Story: It is 1908 and the very strait-laced and upright American, Lambert Strether, has
gone to Paris at the request of his fiancée, the widowed Mrs Newsome. She wants him
to find her wayward son, Chad, and rescue him from the clutches of the Frenchwoman,
Countess Marie de Vionnet, and bring him back to America to take his rightful place as
heir to the family fortune. In Paris Lambert experiences the clash of cultures and finds
the openness of the European lifestyle far more attractive than his own stifling
existence. By the end of the show he realises the only rescue the young man requires is
from the values of his manipulative mother.
Notes: Based on Henry James’s novel “The Ambassadors”. The London production was
not a success, even with two “big” names – Howard Keel and Danielle Darrieux - and it
ran for just 86 performances. In spite of this, it was decided to take the show to
Broadway. It underwent a lot of re-writing and a change of choreographer (Gillian
Lynne was not available) and it opened in November 1972, again with the same two
leading players. The New York production only managed 29 performances.
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Photo by Reg Wilson
GODSPELL
London run: Wyndham’s Theatre, November 17 th (1,128 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz
Book: John-Michael Tebelak
Director: John-Michael Tebelak
Musical Director: Clive Chaplin
Producer: H. M. Tennent
Cast: David Essex (Jesus), Jeremy Irons (Judas), Verity-Anne Meldrum,
Marti Webb, Tony Jackson, Mandy More, Derek Parkyn, Tom Saffery, Gay Soper
Songs: Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord, Save the People, Day by Day, All for the
Best, All Good Gifts, Light of the World, Turn Back O Man, We Beseech Thee, On
the Willows
Story: The show tells of the last seven days in the life of Jesus, with Jesus in
clown-like make-up sporting a Superman “S” on his shirt. The disciples are dressed like flower children, and
the parables are enacted in a child-like, jokey manner.
Notes: With exactly the same theme as the contemporary “Jesus Christ Superstar”, this show aimed at absolute
simplicity and a “Hippie”-feel as opposed to the heavy rock of JCS. Both achieved great success, but
surprisingly “Godspell” attracted very little religious opposition whereas JCS received howls of protest. The
show had transferred from the Roundhouse.

HIS MONKEY WIFE
London run: Hampstead Theatre, December 20 th (28 Performances)
Music: Sandy Wilson
Director: Basil Coleman
Choreographer: David Drew
Musical Director: Richard Holmes
Cast: June Ritchie (Emily), Robert Swann (Alfred), Bridget Armstrong (Fern),
Myvanwy Jenn (Susan), Roland Curran (Denis) , Jeffrey Wickham, Sally Mates,
Jonathan Elsom
Songs: Dear Human Race, Marriage
1971
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Story: Emily, a chimpanzee servant, falls in love with Alfred, her colonial master.
Wearing a bridal veil, she substitutes herself for his real bride, which causes a distraught Alfred, married to a
chimp, to run away from Africa and return to Haverstock Hill where his fortunes fail and he hits hard times.
Meantime Emily becomes a star in a Cochran revue and becomes very rich. Alfred’s bride-to-be, Fern, with her
friends, the bitchy Susan and the effete Denis, prove to Alfred that he was much better off with the simple
virtues and love offered by his monkey wife. He returns to Africa and Emily, and to wealth and happiness.
Notes: Based on John Collier’s novella. In spite of a warm critical reception and much discussion on hidden
meanings in the show, it did not catch on with the public and ran just four weeks.