London Musicals 1965-1969.pub - Over The Footlights

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CANTERBURY TALES London run: Phoenix, March 21 st (2,082 Performances) Music: Richard Hill & John Hawkins Lyrics: Nevill Coghill Book: Nevill Coghill & Martin Starkie Director: Martin Starkie & Vlado Habunek Choreographer: David Drew Musical Director: Gordon Rose Cast: James Ottaway (Chaucer), Nicky Henson (Squire, Nicholas, Alan, Damian), Pamela Charles (Prioress, Prosperina), Jessie Evans (Wife of Bath, Old Woman), Gay Soper (Alison), Kenneth J. Warren (Miller, Gervase, Pluto), Wilfrid Brambell (Steward, Carpenter, January), Trevor Bannister, Daniel Thorndike 1968 Songs: I Have a Noble Cock, There’s the Moon, Some Call it Love, I’ll Give My Love a Ring, Love Will Conquer All, If She Has Never Loved Before, April Song. Notes: Based on Professor Nevill Coghill’s translation of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, the show primarily uses four of the tales: “The Miller’s Tale” (two students competing for an affair with the carpenter’s wife); “The Merchant’s Tale” (the wife of a rich old man cheats on him with the young Squire); “The Steward’s Tale” (multiple bed-hopping in the house of the Miller) ; and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” (a witch turns into a beautiful young girl to please an amorous Knight.) This was another example of how American and British musicals could differ: over 2,000 performances in London, and just 121 when the show flopped on Broadway in 1969. 17 MAN OF LA MANCHA London run: Piccadilly Theatre, April 24 th (253 Performances) Music: Mitch Leigh Lyrics: Joe Darion Book: Dale Wasserman Director: Albert Marre Choreographer: Jack Cole Musical Director: Denys Rawson Producer: Donald Albery Cast: Keith Michell (Don Quixote), Joan Diener (Aldonza), Bernard Spear (Sancho Panza), David King (Innkeeper), Alan Crofoot (Padre), Peter Arne (Dr Carrasco), Olive Gilbert (Housekeeper) Songs: Little Bird, It’s All the Same, Dulcinea, I Really Like Him, Golden Helmet of Mambrino, The Impossible Dream. Story: There are two threads to the story: the first deals with Cervantes and his imprisonment for debts during the Spanish Inquisition, the second deals with the adventures of Don Quixote that Cervantes tells his fellow-prisoners. Most of the adventures deal with the Don’s love for the servant girl, Aldonza – whom he calls his Dulcinea – and his battles to save her honour. At the end, as the old man lies dying, he manages to convey to the girl his belief in dreaming the impossible dream. Notes: The show was adapted from Dale Wasserman’s TV play “I, Don Quixote”, which itself was based on the novel by Cervantes. It had a very long run in New York, playing 2,328 performances, almost ten times as long as the London run! In the Broadway production Richard Kiley played Quixote and gained great personal success. (He also appeared in a London revival – see June 1969) . Joan Diener came from America to repeat the role she had played in the original production. Bernard Spears and Keith Michell Photo by Anthony Crickmay
I DO! I DO! London run: Lyric Theatre, May 16 th (115 Performances) Music: Harvey Schmidt Lyrics & Book: Tom Jones Director: Gower Champion (restaged by Lucia Victor) Musical Director: Ian MacPherson Producer: H. M. Tennent Ltd Cast: Anne Rogers, Ian Carmichael 1968 18 Songs: I Love My Wife, My Cup Runneth Over, Love isn’t Everything, Nobody’s Perfect, The Honeymoon is Over, Where are the Snows?, When the Kids Get Married, Roll Up the Ribbons Story: With a cast of just two people, the show covers 50 years in the life of a married couple, Agnes and Michael, from their wedding day to the day they move out of their house. In between, they bring up a family, quarrel, threaten to break up, reconcile, plan for a life without children in the house, and reveal in song exactly what they mean to each other. Notes: Adapted from Jan de Hartog’s 1951 play “The Fourposter”, a musical with a cast of just two was an enormous risk, though the New York production was helped by having two of Broadway’s biggest stars in the show – Mary Martin and Robert Preston. It ran for 560 performances. Perhaps Anne Rogers and Ian Carmichael did not have the same pulling power in London, where the show was regarded as over-sickly and rather dull. It has become part of theatre folk-lore for the moment when during Act Two there was an offstage knock on the door, and a voice cried out from the front stalls “For God’s sake let them in – whoever it is!” Ian Carmichael & Anne Rogers Photo by Angus McBean CINDY London run: Fortune Theatre, May 30 th (29 Performances) Music & Lyrics: Johnny Brandon Book: Joe Sauter & Mike Sawyer Director: Alexander Bridge Cast: Geraldine Morrow (Cindy Kreller), Johnny Tudor (Lucky), Kalman Glass (Irving Kreller), Hy Hazell (Zeuida Kreller), Dudley Stevens (Chuck Rosenfeld) Songs: Once Upon a Time, Is There Something to What He Said?, A Genuine Feminine Girl, Cindy, Think Mink, Tonight's the Night, If You've Got It You've Got It, Got the World in the Palm of My Hand Story: This was a version of the Cinderella story, which had done quite well in New York but did not succeed in London. Notes: Originally an off-Broadway success in 1964, written by British performer Johnny Brandon (who had moved to the USA after appearing several West End shows, including a featured star role in “Love From Judy”). The English production played a week of previews at the Palace Theatre Westcliff and moved into the Fortune. The critics hated it and it managed a run of just 29 performances.
Page 1 and 2: WHO'S PINKUS? WHERE'S CHELM? London
Page 3 and 4: OLIVER (1 st Revival) London run: P
Page 5 and 6: SWEET CHARITY London run: Prince of
Page 7: 1968 YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE B
Page 11 and 12: THE STUDENT PRINCE (3 rd Revival) L
Page 13 and 14: HAIR London run: Shaftesbury Theatr
Page 15: THE YOUNG VISITERS London run: Picc

London Musicals 1965-1969.pub - Over The Footlights

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