1962-1963

15 1962

HMS PINAFORE (Revival) London run: Her Majesty's, February 9th

PIRATES OF PENZANCE (Revival) London run: Her Majesty's, February 15th

Playing alternate weeks (147 Performances)

Music: Arthur Sullivan

Lyrics: W.S. Gilbert

Director: Tyrone Guthrie

Choreographer: Douglas Campbell

Musical Director: Kenneth Alwyn Producer: H. M. Tennent Ltd

Pinafore Cast: Eric House (Sir Joseph Porter), Irene Byatt (Buttercup),

Andrew Downie (Ralph Rackstraw),

Marion Studholme (Josephine),

Harry Mossfield (Captain Corcoran)

Pirates Cast: Andrew Downie (Frederick), Harry Mossfield (Pirate King),

Marion Studholme (Mabel), Eric House (Major General),

Howell Glynne (Police Sergeant), Irene Byatt (Ruth)

Notes: This was prompted by the fact that from this year forward, the Gilbert &

Sullivan works were out of copyright. The only productions to date had been the

“authorised” D'Oyly Carte versions, faithful in every respect to the original

productions. Tyrone Guthrie had “re-thought” and re-staged these two shows, though

he had not been very revolutionary in his approach. The traditionalists hated any

changes, but the critics generally appreciated a fresh look at these old classics.

SCAPA London run: Adelphi Theatre, March 8th (44 Performances)

Music, Lyrics & Book: Hugh Hastings

Director: George Carden

Musical Director: Derek New Producer: Sandor Gorlinsky

Cast: David Hughes (Dusty), Edward Woodward (Haggis), Pete Murray (Badger),

Timothy Gray (Sprog), Leon Peers (Herbert)

Songs: Napoli, Seagull in the Sky, She Had a Beautiful Touch, The Sound of Bagpipes,

I Wish I Was an Orchestra, Squares Dance

Story: A group of volunteer sailors arrive on a disused naval fortress on an island near Scapa Flow where secret

radar experiements are being conducted. A young former orphanage boy, known as Sprog, immediately renames

the island “Sorrento”. Able-seaman “Badger” keeps the place alive with his jokes; Able-Seaman “Dusty” takes

Sprogg under his wing; Able-Seaman 'Aggis is a man with the dreamy eyes and the funny Scottish accent; Petty

Officer Herbert is the bullying kind. There are no women anywhere near this oddly assorted group of men, though

naturally women are frequently in the minds of the men.

Notes: Based on Hugh Hasting’s play

“Seagulls Over Sorrento”, none of the critics

seemed to pick up on an underlying gay

theme – even though the sailors go into drag

and cavort about at the end of Act 1 in a

number called “Bella”. The original play was

an enormous success and made a great deal

of money. Hugh Hastings invested it all in

this musical version and ended up seriously

out of pocket.

In Rehearsal : David Hughes & Pete Murray

with Hugh Hastings at the piano.

Photo by Angus McBean

Andrew Downie and Marion Studholme

16

BLITZ London run: Adelphi Theatre, May 8th (568 Performances)

Music & Lyrics: Lionel Bart

Book: Lionel Bart & Joan Maitland

Director: Lionel Bart & Eleanor Fazan

Choreographer: Peter Wright

Musical Director: Marcus Dods Producer: Donald Albery

Cast: Amelia Bayntun (Mrs Blitzstein), Grazina Frame (Carol Blitzstein),

Tom Kempinski (Harry Blitzstein), Bob Grant (Alfred Locke),

Graham James (Georgie Locke), Toni Palmer (Elsie), Anna Tzelniker,

Kaplan Kaye, Rose Hill, Julie Cohen.

Songs: Far Away, The Day After Tomorrow, Mums and Dads, Who's this Geezer 'Itler?,

Leave it to the Ladies, We're Going to the Country

Story: In Petticoat Lane, in the heart of London's East End, Mrs Blitzstein has a pickled herring stall next to

Alfred Locke's fruit stall. Mrs B hates Alfred almost as much as she hates Hitler. Their respective children,

Carol and Georgie, try to act as peacemakers and inevitably fall in love. Then Mrs B's eldest boy, Harry,

returns on leave with a Gentile girlfriend. The plot involves Carol being blinded in an air-raid, Harry deserting

from the army, Carol and Georgie in a

Jewish wedding, and Mrs B buried in the

wreckage after a bomb goes off. Alfred

digs her out, but the feud continues.

Notes: Because of Sean Kenny's scenery,

the show was spectacular and much

praised. Noel Coward described it as

“twice as long and twice as loud as the

real thing”. It was another hit for Lionel

Bart. One scene featured a “radio

broadcast” with Vera Lynn singing “The

Day After Tomorrow” - which she

specially recorded for the show.

LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS (1st Revival) London run: Mermaid Theatre, May 17th (111 Performances)

Transferred to Her Majesty’s Theatre, August 16th (553 performances)

Music: Laurie Johnson

Lyrics: Lionel Bart

Book: Bernard Miles

Director: Richard Wordsworth

Choreographer: Denys Palmer

Musical Director: Derek New

Cast: Sally Smith (Hilaret Politic), Bernard Miles (Squeezum), Hy Hazell (Mrs Squeezum),

Joss Ackland (Sotmore), Laurie Payne, Llewellyn Rees, Bernard Miles, Peter Gilmore, Mary Millar

Notes: This revival ran twice as long as the original production.

See: Original London Production, Mermaid Theatre, May 1959

1962

The Victoria Station Scene :

Toni Palmer sings to the boys

Credit Unknown

17

LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE

London run: Comedy Theatre, May 17th

(44 performances)

Music & Lyrics: Rick Besoyan

Book: Rick Besoyan

Director-Choreographer: Paddy Stone

Musical Director: Philip Martell

Cast: Patricia Routledge (Little Mary Potts),

Terence Cooper (Captain Big Jim Warington),

Joyce Blair (Nancy Twinkle),

Bernard Cribbins (Cpl. Billy Jester),

Erik Chitty (General Fairfax),

Gita Denise (Mme. Ernestine von Liebedich),

Edward Bishop (Chief Brown Bear)

Songs: Look for a Sky of Blue, In Izzenschnooken on the Lovely Ezzenzook Zee, Colorado Love Call, Naught

Naught Nancy, Do You Ever Dream of Vienna?

Story: Set high in the Colorado Rockies, this is the story of the romance between Little Mary Sunshine and Big

Jim Warrington of the Forest Rangers. Big Jim spends most of his time in pursuit of the treacherous Indian,

Yellow Feather, whose designs on Mary are thwarted at the last minute by the hero's re-appearance singing the

“Colorado Love Call”

Notes: Described as a “new musical about an old operetta” it was a send-up of the Naughty-Marietta-Rose-

Marie school of shows. It was a great hit in America, but failed to take off in London.

SAIL AWAY London run: Savoy Theatre, June 21st (252 Performances)

Music & Lyrics: Noel Coward

Director: Noel Coward

Choreographer: Joe Layton

Musical Director: Gareth Davies Producer: Harold Fielding

Cast: Elaine Stritch (Mimi Paragon),

David Holliday (Johnny van Mier),

Dorothy Reynolds (Eleanor Spencer-Bollard ),

Sheila Forbes (Nancy Foyle),

Grover Dale (Barnaby Slade)

Songs: Sail Away, Don’t Turn Away from

Love, Go Slow Johnny, Why Do The Wrong People Travel?,

Beatnik Love Affair, Bronxville Darby and Joan

Story: There's a mixed lot aboard the luxury cruise liner “Coronia”

including Mimi Paragon, the cruise organiser, Johnny van Mier, hoping

to forget a girl; the famous novelist Eleanor Spencer-Bollard and her

niece, Nancy Foyle who is hoping for an on-board romance with fellow

passenger, Barnaby Slade. The cruise sails to Gibraltar and Tangier,

allowing for some fun with foreign languages, and finally Johnny ends up

with Mimi,Nancy has her Barnaby and all ends happily.

Notes: Unusually, this was a Noel Coward show which began on

Broadway and then transferred to London. It was his first successful

musical for several years. It was also the show which established the

reputation of the previously un-recognised Elaine Stritch.

1962 Photo by Tom Hustler

Elaine Stritch

Photo by David Sim

18

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES London run: Princes Theatre, August 20th (223 Performances)

transferred to Strand, November 7th

Music: Jule Styne

Lyrics: Leo Robin

Book: Anita Loos & Joseph Fields

Director: Henry Kaplan

Choreographer: Ralph Beaumont

Musical Director: Alyn Ainsworth

Cast: Dora Bryan (Lorelei Lee), Anne Hart (Dorothy),

Donald Stewart (Gus), Robin Palmer (Henry), Bessie Love (Ella),

Guy Middleton (Sir Francis Beekman), Valerie Walsh,

Michael Malnick, Toti Truman Taylor, Michael Ashlin,

John Heawood.

Songs: A Little Girl from Little Rock, Diamonds Are a Girl's Best

Friend, Mamie is Mimi, It's Delightful

Down in Chile, I Love What I'm Doing,

Just a Kiss Apart

Story: Gold-digging Lorelei Lee in the Roaring Twenties is engaged to button

tycoon Gus Esmond. Whilst sailing aboard the Ile de France with her chum,

Dorothy, she discovers enough rich gentlemen to ensure she has a good time both

on ship and in various spots throughout Paris. The less predatory Dorothy finds true

romance with the Philadelphian Henry Spoffard.

Notes: This was the show that propelled Carol Channing to stardom on its New

York première in 1949. It was revived in 1974 in New York again with Carol

Channing, but this time Lorelei was now Gus's widow and was looking back and

reminiscing about her madcap youth. The show was re-titled “Gentlemen Still

Prefer Blondes”

FIORELLO London run: Piccadilly Theatre, October 8th (56 Performances)

Music: Jerry Bock

Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick

Book: Jerome Weidman & George Abbott

Director: Val May

Choreographer: Peter Wright

Musical Director: Marcus Dods Producer: Donald Albery & Oscar Lewenstein

Cast: Derek Smith (Fiorello), Nicolette Roig (Marie Fischer),

Marian Grimaldi (Thea LaGuardia), Peter Reeves (Ben Marino),

Simon Oates (Floyd Macduff),

Bridget Armstrong (Dora),

Bryan Blackburn (Stanley)

Songs: Home Again, When Did I Fall in Love, On the Side of the Angels,

Politics and Poker, I Love a Cop, Little Tin Box.

Story: Fiorello LaGuardia was the real-life pugnacious, volatile former mayor of

New York, whose larger-than-life political career and personality was the subject

of this musical, which covered ten years of his life – from just before World War 1

to his election as Mayor. Along the way he becomes a pilot in the US Air Force, a

reform Congressman and, initially, a failed mayoral candidate. It proved to be

“too American” for London.

1962

Dora Bryan

Photo by Tom Hustler

Bridget Armstrong as Dora

19

VANITY FAIR London run: Queen’s Theatre, November 27th (70 Performances)

Music: Julian Slade

Lyrics: Robin Miller

Book: Robin Miller & Alan Pryce-Jones

Director: Lionel Harris

Choreographer: Norman Maen Musical Director: Michael Moores

Producer: Linnit & Dunfee

Cast: Dame Sybil Thorndike (Miss Crawley), Frances Cuka (Becky Sharp),

Eira Heath (Amelia Sedley), Naunton Wayne (Mr Sedley), Joyce Carey (Mrs Sedley),

Gordon Boyd (William Dobbin), George Baker, (Rawdon Crawley), Gabriel Woolf (George Osborne)

Songs: There She Is, Someone to Believe In, The Waterloo Waltz, Advice to Women, How to Live Well on

Nothing a Year, I Could Be Good

Story: Two boarding-school friends, Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley find themselves in differing

circumstances. Becky is poor but clever, Amelia is rich and silly. Becky marries Rawdon Crawley because he

will inherit a fortune, but his inheritance falls through, and she flirts with other men and is forced to leave the

country because of the scandal. Amelia marries Captain George Osborne, and is too silly to see that he doesn't

really love her. She is loved by the faithful William Dobbin. Eventually George Osborne is killed in battle, and

after a long time Dobbin finally wins Amelia. Eventually, too, Rawdon Crawley dies, at last a rich man. Becky

has become a rich widow, and therefore she is now “respectable” and can return to society.

Notes: Based on W. M. Thackeray’s novel “Vanity Fair”, the production was created on a huge scale – massive

scenery, highly complicated technical changes and a big cast, including the 80 year old Sybil Thorndike in her

first ever musical role – and it suffered from music and lyrics that simply failed to measure up to the overall

splendour. It ended up losing a fortune.

CINDY-ELLA , Or I Gotta Shoe London run: Garrick Theatre, December 17th (Christmas Season)

Music, Lyrics & Book: Caryl Brahms & Ned Sherrin

Some songs: Ron Grainer

Director: Ned Sherrin

Cast: Cleo Laine, Elisabeth Welch, Cy Grant , George Browne

Story: An all-black version of the Cinderella story. “Cindy-Ella is set in no

regulation fairyland. We cannot say for sure whether we have set our Fairyland

down in the Deep South or removed the Deep South to our Fairyland; certainly we have borrowed the

Cinderella story from Perrault and told it as a Mammy might tell the tale of Cindy-Ella to her little girl in a

tenement yard in New Orleans “ (Ned Sherrin).

1962

Photo by Angus McBean

20

3 MUSKETEERS ? London run: Lyric Hammersmith, January 30th (11 Performances)

Music: Kenny Graham

Lyrics& Book: Gerald Frow

Director: Sally Miles

Cast: Christopher Tranchwell (D'Artagnan), Jack Tweddle (Athos),

Anthony Paul (Porthos), Brian Hewlett (Archbishop), Emma Young (Princess)

Story: A satirical pantomime based very loosely on the story of the Three Musketeers, the main message

seems to be that British civilisation is being destroyed by Bingo, only our old buildings and the Royal Family

are worth hanging on to, and we should continue to hate the French.

Notes: The show had been staged at the Theatre Royal Margate in May 1962. The general reaction was no one

could understand why it was considered worthy of revival. Critical comment included: “the real fault comes

back to the script and its solitary funny gag where the Archbishop of Canterbury has the habit of kicking

everyone in the crotch before giving them his blessing”.

CARNIVAL London run: Lyric Theatre, February 8th (34 Performances)

Music & Lyrics: Bob Merrill

Book: Michael Stewart

Director: Champion, re-staged by Lucia Victor

Choreographer: Gower Champion, re-staged by Doria Avila

Musical Director: Jan Cervenka Producer: H. M. Tennent Ltd

Cast: Sally Logan (Lili ), James Mitchell (Marco), Michael Maurel (Paul Bertrhalet),

Shirley Sands (Rosalie), Bob Harris (Jacquot), Peter Bayliss (Schlegel)

Songs: Direct from Vienna, A Very Nice Man, I've Got to Find a Reason, Yes My Heart, Everybody Likes

You, Love Makes the World Go Round.

Story: Lili, an orphaned waif from a town called Mira, joins a carnival and falls in love with Marco the

Magnificent. She makes friends with the puppets in the show then realises that her heart really belongs to Paul,

the lame puppeteer.

Notes: Gower Champion was much praised for a dramatic opening with no overture in which the cast set up

the carnival tents at dawn and reveal a seedy, second-rate fairground. In a later scene the sleeping company

dream and appear in the Grand Imperial Cirque de Paris. Despite a long Broadway run (719 performances) the

show failed in London. The show was based on the Leslie Caron/Mel Ferrer Hollywood film, “Lili”.

1963

Photo

by A

ngus

McB

ean

21

HALF A SIXPENCE London run: Cambridge Theatre, March 21st

(677 Performances)

Music & Lyrics: David Heneker

Book: Beverley Cross

Director: John Dexter

Choreographer: Edmund Balin

Musical Director: Kenneth Alwyn Producer: Harold Fielding

Cast: Tommy Steele (Arthur),

Anna Barry (Helen Walsingham)

Marti Webb (Ann),

James Grout, Jessica James, Anthony Valentine

Songs: Half a Sixpence, Money to Burn, If the Rain’s Got to Fall,

Flash Bang Wallop, I’ll Build a Palace, She’s Too Far Above Me

Story: This is the career of the orphan, Arthur Kipps, a draper’s

apprentice in Folkestone at the turn of the 19th Century. Arthur loves and

loses rich Helen Walsingham, inherits and loses a fortune, but finds

eventual happiness with faithful Ann Pornick.

Notes: Based on the novel “Kipps” by H.G.Wells, this was written

specially as a vehicle for Tommy Steele. It transferred to Broadway but

was much altered to suit the American audiences.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING London run: Shaftesbury Theatre, March 28th (520 Performances)

Music & Lyrics: Frank Loesser

Book: Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstein & Willie Gilbert

Director: Abe Burrows & Bob Fosse

Choreographer: Hugh Lambert

Musical Director: Roy Lowe Producer: Arthur Lewis

Cast: Warren Berlinger (J. Pierpoint Finch),

Billy de Wolfe (J.B.Biggeley), David Knight (Bud Frump),

Patricia Michael (Rosemary), Eileen Gourlay (Hedy la Rue),

Josephine Blake (Smitty)

Songs: Coffee Break, The Company Way, A Secretary is not a Toy, Grand

old Ivy, I Believe in You, Brotherhood of Man.

Story: This was a satire of the Horatio Alger

myth: the boyish hero, J. Pierpoint Finch owes his

advancement from window-cleaner to Chairman

of the Board of the World Wide Wicket Company

not to hard work but to his ability to make others

work hard for him. As it traces his step-by-step

rise, back-stabbing his way up the business

ladder, the show makes fun of nepotism, old

school ties, the coffee break, the office party, the

executive wash-room and the board-room dramas.

1963

Tommy Steele and James Grout

Photo by Tom Hustler

Warren Berlinger & David Knight Photo by Tom Hustler

22

VIRTUE IN DANGER London run: Mermaid Theatre, April 2nd

Transferred to Strand Theatre, June 3rd

(121 Performances)

Music: James Bernard

Lyrics & Book: Paul Dehn

Director-Choreographer: Wendy Toye

Musical Director: Michael Moores

Cast: Jane Wenham (Amanda) , Alan Howard (Loveless),

Patricia Routledge (Berinthia), Basil Hoskins (Mr Worthy), John

Moffatt (Lord Foppington), Barrie Ingham (Fashion), Richard

Wordsworth (Coupler), Patsy Byrne (Miss Hoyden)

Songs: Fortune Thou Art a Bitch, Stand Back Old Sodom,

Hoyden Hath Charms, I’m in Love with My Husband

Story: Despite a happy marriage to his virtuous wife, Amanda,

Loveless relapses into his former ways. During a visit to London he seduces Berinthia, a

pretty widow. At the same time Amanda remains faithful to her philandering husband in

spite of an attempt at seduction by Mr. Worthy. A sub-plot concerns the efforts of the

penniless young Mr Fashion to cheat Lord Foppington, his overbearing brother, out of

marrying for the sake of a fortune, and he succeeds by pretending to be his brother and

marrying the lady himself.

Notes: Based on the play “The Relapse” by John Vanbrugh, this was a rather daring romp

since the Lord Chamberlain's censorship powers were still in effect. A still remembered

couplet comes in the song “Stand Back old Sodom” when Mr Fashion repels the itchy

fingers of the matchmaker with the line: “Take your eye, Sir, Off my fly, Sir”. The reviews

were mixed, and the transfer from the Mermaid to the Strand lasted just four weeks. With

its pre-London tour, the Mermaid and the West End runs, it managed a total of 121

performances.

ON THE TOWN London run: Prince of Wales, May 30th (53 Performances)

Music: Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics & Book: Betty Comden & Adolph Green

Director & Choreographer: Joe Layton

Musical Director: Lawrence Leonard Producer: H. M. Tennent Ltd

Cast: Andrea Jaffe (Ivy Smith), Carol Arthur (Hildegarde Esterhazy),

Gillian Lewis (Clair DeLoon), Elliott Gould (Ozzie), Don McKay (Gabey),

Franklin Kiser (Chip Offenbloch), John Humphrey (Judge),

Rosamund Greenwood (Lucy)

Songs: New York New York, Come Up to My Place, Carried Away, Lonely Town, Ya Got Me, Some Other Time

Story: Three sailors, Gabey, Chip and Ozzie,

on 24-hour shore leave in New York, meet

three girls, Ivy, Claire and Hildy, and

discover such landmarks as the subway, the

Museum of Natural History, Central Park,

Times Square , assorted nightclubs and Coney

Island. Once their leave is up the boys go

bounding back to their ship and another trio of

bounding sailors go on the town. (There is a

sub-plot where Gabey mistakes Ivy, a

struggling ballet dancer, for a celebrity

because she was chosen Miss Turnstiles in a

subway competition.

1963

Photo by Angus McBean

Photo by Angus McBean

23

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR! London run: Wyndham's Theatre, June 29th (507 Performances)

Music:& Lyrics: Various

Book: Charles Chilton & Company

Director: Joan Littlewood

Cast: George Sewell, Avis Bunnage, Brian Murphy, Victor Spinetti,

Myvanwy Jenn, John Gowe, Murray Melvin, Bob Stevenson

Songs: Various songs from the Edwardian era, notably: We Don't Want to Lose

You But We Think You Ought To Go, I'll Make a Man of You, Keep the Home

Fires Burning, They Didn't Believe Me.

Story: Not a traditional musical, nor a revue – this was an intelligent and

sometimes bitter satire on the misery and the waste of human life, the incompetence of its military leaders, and

the grim reality of life in the

trenches in the First World War. It

was framed in the context of the

seaside Pierrot shows which had

been so popular in Edwardian days.

Notes: It was a Theatre Workshop

production which originally opened

at the Theatre Royal Stratford East

in March 1963. It marked the return

of Joan Littlewood as director, two

years after she had walked out on

the company. Surprisingly in view

of her scathing attacks on the West

End and commercial theatre, she

permitted this show to transfer.

ENRICO London run: Piccadilly Theatre, July 3rd (86 performances)

Music : Renato Rascel

Book & Lyrics: Pietro Garinei & Sandro Giovannini

English version by Peter Myers & Ronald Cass

Director-Choreographer: Ralph Beaumont

Cast: Renato Rascel, Roberto d’Esti, Julia Carne, Roger Delgado, Philip Hinton

Songs: Buona Sera, Socialist Anthem, Strike, Arriverderci Not Addio, The Song of Rome,

Resistance Song, Made in Italy

Story: This was a cavalcade of 100 years of Italian history, celebrating the

centenary of Italian unification. It was a kind of costume operetta tenuously

linking various aspects of Italian history through the experience of two families.

Notes: Garinei and Giovannini were the biggest names in Italy's light

entertainment and musical theatre scene. Their previous London venture had been

“When in Rome” (1959) and they would also stage “Beyond the Rainbow” in

1978. This production featured the Italian star, Renato Rascel, who wrote all the

songs. Its huge success in Italy was not repeated in London, where a chiefly

British cast and Rascel in his original role, didn't go down well. Many critics

claimed Rascel's Italian accent was impenetrable.

1963

Photo by Romano Cagnoni

24

PICKWICK London run: Saville Theatre, July 4th (694 Performances)

Music: Cyril Ornadel

Lyrics: Leslie Bricusse

Book: Wolf Mankowitz

Director: Peter Coe

Choreographer: Leo Kharibian

Musical Director: Michael Reeves Producer: Bernard Delfont & Tom Arnold

Cast: Harry Secombe (Mr Pickwick), Teddy Green (Sam Weller),

Anton Rodgers (Mr Jingle), Jessie Evans (Mrs Bardell),

Julian Orchard (Augustus Snodgrass),

Peter Bull

Songs: If I Ruled the World, Do as You Would Be Done By, That’s What

I’d Like for Christmas, You Never Met a Feller Like Me

Story: The story opens with Mr Pickwick in the Fleet prison for debtors

because of his refusal to settle with the lawyers Dodson and Fogg over the

lost case of breach of promise taken against him by Mrs Bardell.

Reminiscing with Sam Weller, he looks back over the best days of the

Pickwick Club recalling: Mr Jingle's mercenary behaviour with Rachel

Wardle; the Eatanswill election where Pickwick was mistaken for a

Parliamentary candidate; the George and Vulture Inn; the skating party.

The show was just as episodic as the novel itself.

Notes: Based on “The Pickwick Papers” by Charles Dickens, the musical

was a triumph for Harry Secombe. After its London run it transferred to the

USA, opening in San Francisco and having such huge success that it

recovered all its costs before arriving on Broadway. Strangely it was a flop

in New York and closed after 56 performances.

THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (Revival) London run: Aldwych Theatre, July 16th (43 Performances)

Music: Traditional newly arranged by Raymond Leppard

Book: John Gay

Director: Peter Wood

Choreographer: Pauline Grant

Musical Director: David Taylor

Cast: Ronald Radd (Peachum), Doris Hare (Mrs Peachum), Dorothy Tutin (Polly Peachum),

Derek Godfrey (Macheath), Patricia Kilgarriff

(Jenny Diver), Virginia McKenna (Lucy Lockitt),

Tony Church (Lockitt)

Notes: A Royal Shakespeare Company production

played in repertoire for a limited run of 43

performances. Set on a Thames hulk and performed

by a group of convicts awaiting transportation to the

West Indies, it was slaughtered by the critics in

every respect. It was claimed none of the actors

could sing, the production was unbelievably slow

and ponderous, Sean Kenny's sets were hideous and

unworkable, with some wildly inappropriate

additional music written by Raymond Leppard. The

Plays and Players critic wrote: “There were times in

fact when I began to wish I were watching some

relatively fast-moving work like Tristan at Bayreuth

instead of this monumental bore that the programme

so amusingly describes as a 'comedy by John Gay'”.

1963

Virginia McKenna, Derek Godfrey, Dorothy Tutin

Photo by Dominic

Credit Unknown

25

SO MUCH TO REMEMBER London run: Vaudeville, September 17th (54 Performances)

Music: Stanley Myers

Lyrics & Book: Johnny Whyte & Fenella Fielding

Director: William Chappell

Cast: Fenella Fielding (Maudie Marlowe), John Standing,

Tristram Jellinek, Jeffrey Gardiner

Story: Maudie Marlowe, an ageing actress, relates her memoirs

which cover a career starting as a Gaiety Girl, working alongside

Diaghilev, appearing in shows by Noel Coward and Ivor Novello,

playing variety with Gracie Fields, and even featuring in the

Brecht-Weill “Mahagonny”.

Notes: This was all a glorious send-up and a tour-de-force for Fenella Fielding, who was supported by four

men who served only as her stooges or to hold the stage momentarily during her rapid costume changes. It was

fast-moving and funny, but it depended on a real knowledge of the history of British musicals and contained a

lot of “in” jokes. It managed a six week run.

HOUSE OF CARDS London run: Phoenix Theatre, October 3rd (27 Performances)

Music & Book: Peter Greenwell

Lyrics: Peter Wildeblood

Director: Vida Hope

Choreographer: Terry Gilbert

Musical Director: Michael Moores

Cast: Douglas Byng (General Krutitzsky), Patrick Mower (Yegor Glumov),

Pat Gilbert (Mme Glumov), Stella Moray (Mme Mamayev),

Geoffrey Hibbert (Mamyev)

Songs: Somewhere There’s Someone, The Secret with Women, The Mashenka

Waltz, The End of Summer

Story: Yegor Glumov is an unscrupulous scoundrel making his way through Moscow society. His progress is

threatened when his diary is stolen – a diary that contains his real thoughts on the society around him. When his

“respectable” accusers turn on him and threaten him, he turns the tables on them, pointing out that they are

worse than him: he at least knows he is crooked, whereas they lie and cheat without scruple, masking it with

their outward show of good behaviour. Yegor's chief victim is Mme Mamayev, the most hypocritical of

Moscow's social scene.

Notes: This originally opened at the Players Theatre, and based on the Ostrovsky’s Russian comedy “Even a

Wise Man Stumbles” in the translation by David Margarshack.

Peter Wildeblood (1923-1999), a former wartime pilot, was invited to spend the weekend with Lord Montagu

of Beaulieu, and went with his lover, the RAF corporal Edward McNally and another serviceman. They were

joined for supper by Lord Montagu and his cousin, Michael Pitt-Rivers. That party became the subject of major

court case when the two servicemen turned Queen’s Evidence and claimed there had been 'abandoned

behaviour' at the party. Wildeblood, Lord Montagu and Pitt-Rivers were charged with 'conspiracy to incite

certain male persons to commit serious offences with male persons' - the first time this charge had been used in

a British court since the trials of Oscar Wilde. Found guilty, they were each jailed for 18 months.

After his release, Wildeblood became a very public campaigner for prison and homosexual law reform and

insisted his real name should be on the posters of his first musical, “The Crooked Mile” in 1959 and on this

one, even though the producers were afraid it would affect the business. When someone suggested that anti-

gay prejudice had contributed to the short run of this show, Wildeblood replied “No – the show itself doesn’t

work”.

1963

26

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON

THE WAY TO THE FORUM London run: Strand Theatre, October 3rd (762 Performances)

Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Book: Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart

Director: George Abbott

Choreographer: Jack Cole re-created by George Martin

Musical Director: Alyn Ainsworth Producer: Harold Prince, Tony Walton, Richard Pilbrow

Cast: Frankie Howerd (Pseudolus), Kenneth Connor (Hysterium),

“Monsewer” Eddie Gray (Senex), Robertson Hare (Erronius),

Jon Pertwee (Lycas), Linda Gray (Domina), John Rye (Hero), Isla Blair (Philia),

Leon Greene (Miles Gloriosus)

Songs: Comedy Tonight, Love I Hear, Free, Pretty Little Picture, Everybody Ought to Have a Maid

Story: Pseudolus, a slave in ancient Rome, is obliged to go through a series

of outlandish escapades in order to gain his freedom. These involve his

lascivious master, Senex, Domina, his formidable wife, and their son, Hero,

who is in love with the pretty but empty-headed Philia Additional

characters are Hysterium, a nervous fellow-slave, Marcus Lycus, a dealer in

courtesans, Erronius, a doddering old man who is kept from entering his

house because he thinks it is haunted, and the magnificent warrior, Miles

Gloriosus

Notes: Based on the plays of Plautus, in the interests of authenticity all the

three Unities are observed – time, place and theme. Miles Gloriosus's line “I

am a Parade” actually comes from Plautus's original. On Broadway the role

of Pseudolus was created by Zero Mostel. In London Frankie Howerd was

succeeded by the comedian Dave King.

BOYS FROM SYRACUSE London run: Drury Lane, November 7th (100 Performances)

Music: Richard Rodgers

Lyrics: Lorenz Hart

Book: George Abbott

Director: Christopher Hewett

Choreographer: Bob Herget

Musical Director: Robert Lowe Producer: Williamson Music Ltd

Cast: Bob Monkhouse (Antipholus of Syracuse), Maggie Fitzgibbon (Luce),

Lynn Kennington (Adriana), Paula Hendrix (Luciana),

Ronnie Corbett (Dromio of Syracuse) , Sonny Farrer (Dromio of Ephesus),

Denis Quilley (Antipholus of Ephesus)

Songs: Falling in Love with Love, This Can't Be Love, You Have Cast Your

Shadow on the Sea, Sing For Your Supper, Oh Diogenese.

Story: Set in Ephesus in ancient Greece, the tale involves the attempt of

Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse to find their long lost twins. Complications

arise when Adriana and Luce, wives of Ephesian Antipholus and Dromio

mistake the boys from Syracuse for their husbands.

Notes: The fact that no one had ever before thought of basing a musical on a play by Shakespeare made the idea

more appealing to Rodgers and Hart. The original Broadway production was in 1938, but this version was a transfer

of an April 1963 Broadway revival.

1963

(Clockwise) Frankie Howerd, Robertson Hare, Kenneth Connor,

Eddie Gray, Jon Pertwee

Photo by David Sim

Ronnie Corbett, Bob Monkhouse

& Lynn Kennington

Photo by Tom Hustler

27

POCAHONTAS London run: Lyric Theatre, November 14th (12 performances)

Lyrics and Music: Kermit Goell

Director: Michael Manuel

Choreographer: Nelle Fisher

Musical Director: Philip Martell

Cast: Anita Gillette (Pocahontas), Terence Cooper (Captain John Smith),

Isabelle Lucas (Winnuska), Michael Barrington (Captain Dale Wingfield)

Songs: You Have to Want to Touch Him, She Fancied Me, Too Many Miles from London Town, I love You

Johnnie Smith, I Have Lost My Way, You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down.

Story: From a playgoer's diary entry at the time: “Captain Smith heads an expedition to the New World and is

confronted by some half-naked Indians (and some half-baked dialogue). He then meets a chorus of Indian maidens

(wearing bikinis), amongst them Pocohontas, the daughter of the Indian chief. Some Dorothy Lamour-Ray Milland

dialogue ensues (covered by a programme note which states “the Author recognises the historical deviations

necessitated in the creation of this musical”). Then comes the interval, at which point I escaped.”

Notes: Described by Hugh Leonard as “the most diabolically putrid musical anyone ever saw anywhere”. This was

the one and only London appearance of the leading lady, Anita Gillette.

THE MAN IN THE MOON London run: London Palladium, December 23rd (Christmas season)

Music& Lyrics: Tom Springfield, Max Diamond, John Taylor

Book: Charlie Drake, Lew Schwarz, John Waterhouse & Phil Park

Director: Tod Kingman

Choreographer: Michael Charnley

Cast: Charlie Drake, David Davenport, Reed de Rouen, Jess Clews, Barry Shawzin,

Notes: Based on a story by Jack Davies and Robert Nesbitt, this was billed as a “Space

Age Musical”. It was, however, a mixture of variety, revue and pantomime, playing

twice-daily to an audience expecting a traditional Palladium panto. The following year

the Palladium reverted to the tried and true and did not repeat its experiment of “a family

musical for modern times”.

NO STRINGS London run: Her Majesty's, December 30th (135 Performances)

Music & Lyrics: Richard Rodgers

Book: Samuel Taylor

Director & Choreographer: Joe Layton, re-stage by Wakefield Poole

Musical Director: Johnnie Spence Producer: Williamson Music Ltd

Cast: Art Lund (David Jordan), Beverly Todd (Barbara Woodruff),

Hy Hazell (Mollie Plummer), Ferdy Mayne (Louis de Pourtal),

David Holliday (Mike Robinson), Erica Rogers (Jeanette Valmy)

Songs: The Sweetest Sounds, Love Makes the World Go, Nobody Told Me, An

Orthodox Fool, Maine, No Strings

Story: This is an inter-racial love story, though race is never mentioned. Barbara Woodruff, a black fashion model

living in Paris meets David Jordan, a former Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, now living as a “Europe bum”. After

meeting they enjoy hearing the sweetest sounds in such locations as Monte Carlo, Honfleur, Deauville and St

Tropez. The story ends with no strings attached as the writer returns home to Maine to try and resume his writing

career.

Notes: This was Richard Rodgers's first show following the death of Oscar Hammerstein. Rodgers wrote both

music and lyrics, the only time he did this. The show was highly innovative: the orchestra was placed onstage; the

cast moved the scenery in full view of the audience; the orchestrations had no string section, as the title suggested.

The successful Broadway production starred Diahann Carroll. The London production only managed 135

performances.

1963