London Musicals - Over The Footlights

1965
1
THE WAYWARD WAY
Photo by Houston Rogers
London run: Vaudeville Theatre, January 27th
(36 Performances)
Music: Lorne Huycke
Lyrics; Bill Howe
Director: Dan Eckley
Musical Director: Ray Cook
Cast: David Holliday (Edward Middleton),
Roberta D'Esti (Mary Wilson) Jim Dale (William Dowton),
Cheryl Kennedy (Agnes Dowton), John Gower (Squire Cribbs),
Peter Sugden (Drover Stevens)
Songs: Haven that is Graven on My Heart, It's Old to Some but New
to Me, Oh Sweet Revenge
Cheryl Kennedy & Jim Dale
Story: The hero, Edward Middleton, is in love with Mary Wilson,
and all looks fine until Squire Cribbs tempts him to partake of a whisky. The Squire's wicked intent towards Mary
is thwarted by gangling William Dowton, who leaps onto the scene just in time to prevent an imminent rape.
William's other problem is his insane sister, Mad Agnes. However, by the end, Mad Agnes is restored to sanity,
Edward is restored to sobriety, and the Squire gets his come-uppance.
Notes: Based on the famous 1844 temperance Victorian melodrama, “The Drunkard”, this musical version was
originally staged at the Lyric Hammersmith as a Christmas 1964 attraction. The original play was revived in 1933
at Theater Mart - a 340 seat Los Angeles Theatre, where to everyone’s amazement, it kept selling out week after
week. The production marked its first year, and then another and as the years passed, actors began a tradition of
recording performances and events on the wall of one of the dressing rooms. On the date of the 2,245th
performance, Hitler invaded Poland. On the 3,088th performance, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. By its
7,085th performance on July 6, 1952, “The Drunkard” had been seen by more than 2 million people. Finally, new
fire regulations reduced the number of seats permitted in the theatre from 340 to 260 and the play was no longer
financially viable. On Oct. 17th 1959, “The Drunkard” closed after 9,477 performances. It had run for some 26
years. This musical version of the play, however, was a flop.
DIVORCE ME DARLING
Photo by Flair Photography ltd
London run: Globe Theatre, February 1st (87 performances)
Music, Lyrics & Book: Sandy Wilson
Director: Steven Vinaver
Choreographer: Buddy Bradley
Musical Director: Ian MacPherson
Cast: Violetta (Hortense), Jenny Wren (Nancy), Maria Charles (Dulcie),
Cy Young (Bobby van Husen), Patricia Michael (Polly),
Geoffrey Hibbert (Lord Brockhurst), Philip Gilbert (Tony),
Joan Heal (Madame K)
Songs: Here We Are in Nice Again, Whatever Happened to Love?, The Paradise
Hotel, Here am I But Where’s the Guy? , Someone to Dance With, Swing-Time
is Here to Stay
Story: Hortense is now the receptionist at the Hotel du Paradis and welcomes
Fay, Nancy and Dulcie back to the scene of their carefree life (as celebrated in
Joan Heal as Madame K
“The Boy Friend”!). Bobby van Husen is there, alone, without Maisie, and
looking for someone to dance with; Polly Browne is there, also alone, since her husband, now Sir Tony, is back in
England sorting out the estate. Lord Brockurst is back, as randy as ever, as are Marcel, Adolphe and Pierre – all
wondering whatever happened to the girls they used to sigh over. Madame K, the famous cabaret singer arrives,
and confides to Hortense that she is, in fact, Madame Dubonnet – she had secretly married Polly’s father, but he
had fled to South America after the stock market crash, and she is short of money and has become a cabaret singer.
Then Polly’s father arrives in disguise, and Tony turns up, and after much to-ing and fro-ing, all ends happily.
Notes: This sequel to “The Boy Friend” carried the story into the 1930s, and dealt with the time when love’s first
bloom has faded a little. It was nothing like the success of its predecessor – possibly because the 1930s did not
respond quite so readily to parody and pastiche.
1965
2
HAPPY END
London Run: Royal Court Theatre, March 11th
(27 Performances)
Music: Kurt Weill
Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht
Book: “Dorothy Lane” (Bertolt Brecht & Elizabeth
Hauptmann)
Director: Michael Geliot
Unknown credit
Cast: Bettina Jonic (Lillian Holliday),
David Bauer (Bill Cracker),
Joe Melia (Sam Aulitzer),
Thick Wilson (Rev. Jimmy Dexter), Ros Drinkwater,
Marcella Markham, Chuck Julian,
Declan Mulholland
Songs: Sailors’s Tango, Surabaya Johnny,
The Bilbao Song, The Mandalay Song
Story: Chicago, 1919, where a group from the Salvation Army mission, headed by the passionate young
Lieutenant Lillian Holly, decides to launch a moral crusade against a group of gangsters headed by Bill Cracker
and based in his Beer Hall. Before the inevitable romance between Holly and Bill leads to the title of the show,
there is a Keystone Cops bank robbery, a power struggle for the gang’s leadership and Lilian Holly’s exile
from the Army, as well as the saints and sinners joining forces against the evils of Capitalism.
Notes: The original 1929 Berlin production was a 7 day flop, and Brecht removed his name from the credits –
although most of it was written by Elisabeth Hauptmann anyway. They substituted the pseudonym “Dorothy
Lane” on the work and for the rest of his life it did not appear in Brecht’s own list of his works. This production
had originated at the 1964 Edinburgh Festival.
FOUR THOUSAND BRASS HALFPENNIES
London run: Mermaid, July 8th (repertoire)
Music: Kenny Graham
Lyrics: Gerald Frow
Book: Bernard Miles
Director: Denys Palmer
Musical Director: Denny Wright
Cast: James Bolam (Mercury), Freddie Jones (Jupiter), Jennifer Clulow (Alcema),
Denise Coffey (Phaedra), Timothy Bateman (Sosia), Esmond Knight (Amphytrion)
Songs: What’s He Got?
Unknown credit
Story: The god, Jupiter, disguises himself as the
mortal Amphytrion, so that he can seduce
Amphytrion’s wife. As a result he fathers the halfhuman, half-god, Hercules.
The story is presented in a state of “modern
undress”, with a group of pop-singers, the
Alphabeats, popping on every now and again to
comment on the action.
James Bolam, Timothy Bateson and Denise Coffey
Notes: Adapted from John Dryden’s “Amphytrion”,
the show was torn to pieces by the critics: it was
described “like something from a poor fifth form
revue. . . the singing is appalling and the acting a
little better”.
The music was described as
“suggestive of the sounds made by a rat in trying to
extricate itself from a bedspring”.
1965
3
PASSION FLOWER HOTEL
London run: Prince of Wales Theatre, August 24th (148 Performances)
Music: John Barry
Lyrics: Trevor Peacock
Book: Wolf Mankowitz
Director: William Chappell
Choreographer: Peter Gordeno
Musical Director: Richard Holmes
Producer: Gene Gutowski
Cast: Pauline Collins (Lady Janet Wigton), Francesca Annis (Hon. Melissa Bristow),
Jane Birkin (Mary Rose Byng-Bentall), Nicky Henson , Jeremy Clyde,
Bill Kenwright, Bunny May
Songs: What Does This Country Need Today? Tick Which Applies, How Much of the Dream Comes True, I Love
my Love, Naughty-Naughty, The Syndicate, Something Different
Story: It’s the “Swinging Sixties” and the upper-class girls of the Bryant House Finishing School decide to open up
their dormitories to the boys of the nearby Longcombe School – after all, the girls need to be “finished”! It was a
titillating story, featuring five young leading ladies in various states of undress. Naturally enough in the age of stage
censorship, the show promised more permissiveness than it actually delivered.
Notes: Based on the 1962 novel by Rosalind Erkine (which was the pen-name for Roger Erkine Longrigg), it ran
just four months. Much later – in 1978 – the novel was adapted into a German-language film, minus the songs,
shown in the UK under the same title.`
HELLO DOLLY
London run: Drury Lane, December 2nd (794 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Jerry Herman
Book: Michael Stewart
Director-Choreographer: Gower Champion
Musical Director: Alyn Ainsworth
Producer: H. M. Tennent Ltd
Cast: Mary Martin (Dolly Levi), Loring Smith (Horace Vandergelder),
Marilyn Lovell (Irene Molloy), Coco Ramirez (Minnie Fay),
Garret Lewis (Cornelius Hackl), Johnny Beecher (Barnaby Tucker)
Songs: It Takes A Woman, Put on Your Sunday Clothes, Before the Parade Passes By,
Elegance, It Only Takes a Moment, So Long Dearie
Story: Dolly Levi, a New York matchmaker in the 1890s, is successful in
helping two young couples get together and at the same time manages to
match herself with Horace Vandergelder, a rich Yonkers merchant. Two
young shop-assistants in Vandergelder’s store, Cornelius and Barnaby, are
finally matched with Irene and Minnie, who work in Irene Molly’s hat
shop. Dolly’s big moment occurs in the second scene in Act II when she
makes a grand reappearance at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant.
Unknown credit
Notes: This show has a very long pedigree beginning with John
Oxenford’s English play “A Day Well Spent” (1835) , adapted into
German as “Einen Jux Will Er Sich Machen” (1842). The German version
was he basis of Thornton Wilder’s American play “The Merchant of
Yonkers” (1938), which he later re-wrote as “The Matchmaker” (1955).
This last version, “The Matchmaker”, was turned into the musical.
Originally rejected by Ethel Merman, Mary Martin and Ginger Rogers, it
was finally accepted by Carol Channing, and became the greatest role of
her career. (In subsequent tours and revivals Ginger Rogers, Mary Martin
and Ethel Merman along with Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey,
Phyllis Diller, Eve Arden and Dorothy Lamour all played the role. (In the
UK the role was played by Ginger Rogers, succeeded by Dora Bryan, and
was even once played by Danny la Rue!)
Mary Martin
1965
4
CHARLIE GIRL
London run: Adelphi Theatre, December 15th (2,202 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: David Heneker & John Taylor
Book: Hugh & Margaret Williams with Ray Cooney
Director: Wallace Douglas
Choreographer: Alfred Rodrigues
Musical Director: Kenneth Alwyn
Cast: Anna Neagle (Lady Hadwell), Joe Brown (Joe Studholme),
Derek Nimmo (Nicholas Wainwright), Christine Holmes (Charlie),
Hy Hazell (Kay Connor), Stuart Damon (Jack Connor).
Songs: Charlie Girl, Fish and Chips, Bells Will Ring, The Scooter Ballet,
I Hates Money, You Never Know What You Can Do
Story: Lady Hadwell has been forced to open
her stately home as a tourist attraction. Her
Anna Neagle as Lady Hadwell
daughter, Lady Charlotte (Charlie) is a tomboy
having a brief fling with a rich American
playboy, Jack Connor. By the time the show ends, Charlie is happy to settle down with a
local lad, Joe Studholme.
Notes: This show was expected to have wide appeal, with Anna Neagle making a musical
come-back to the West End after 12 years, and the stage debut of the young pop-star, Joe
Brown. The critics hated it, and it opened to what were described as “the worst notices
since Judas Iscariot”. In spite of universal damnation, the show caught on with the public,
and went on to run for over 2,000 triumphant performances. Except for holiday cover,
when Evelyn Laye took over temporarily, Anna Neagle stayed with the show throughout
its long run.
TWANG
London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, December 20th (43 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Lionel Bart
Book: Lionel Bart & Harvey Orkin
Director: Joan Littlewood, then Burt Shevelove
Choreographer: Paddy Stone
Musical Director: Gareth Davies
Producer: Bernard Delfont & John Bryan
Cast: James Booth (Robin Hood), Toni Eden (Maid Marian),
Barbara Windsor (Delphina), Howard Goorney (Guy of Gisborne),
Bernard Bresslaw (Little John), Ronnie Corbett (Will Scarlett),
Bob Grant (Sheriff of Nottingham), Maxwell Shaw (Prince John)
Songs: May a Man be Merry, Welcome to Sherwood, Roger the Ugly, With Bells On, Writing on the Wall.
Story: A send-up of the Robin Hood/Maid Marion story, with all the traditional characters.
Notes: A hugely expensive show, its pedigree was impeccable: music by Lionel Bart, whose “Oliver”, “Blitz” and
“Maggie May” had been big hits; designed by Oliver Messell, possibly the best English stage designer of the time;
choreographed by Paddy Stone, the brilliant young dance director; and directed by Joan Littlewood, the legendary
“Theatre Workshop” innovator.
However, on the pre-London try-outs Lionel Bart demanded his name be taken off the posters, claiming Joan
Littlewood had ruined his show; Joan Littlewood walked out; the Birmingham opening was cancelled; Joan
Littlewood returned. The Manchester opening was a disaster. Joan Littlewood blamed everyone else; everyone
else blamed Joan. She walked out again. She returned. Then she was fired by Bernard Delfont, and the American
Burt Shevelove was rushed in to try and save the show. It was a hopeless task. The show opened at the
Shaftesbury Theatre to the worst notices anyone could ever recall. It is said to be the biggest theatrical disaster of
modern times. The reputations of Bart and Littlewood were in tatters, and the only praise anyone heard was for
Barbara Windsor, said to be the only decent thing in the show.
Photo by Tom Hustler
Producer: Harold Fielding