We’re turning to our third and final (for now) program of Literary Based Musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (11/30 7:00 p.m.), and we’re once again looking at four very different works.
We’ll begin Stephen Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” which was based on a series of plays by third century BCE Roman playwright Maccius Plautus. During tryouts, audiences were unsure how to react to the material, but when they were told it was a comedy in the prologue, the show became a hit. We’ll look at two of its several leads in the original production, Zero Mostel, and the most recent revival, Nathan Lane.
We’ll look to television for the second show, and the February 1958 telecast of a musical based on Mary Mapes Dodge’s extremely popular novel, “Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland.” This Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation starred Tab Hunter, Peggy King, Dick Button, Jarmila Novotna, and Basil Rathbone. Music and lyrics for this musical were by Hugh Martin.
Our third musical was adapted from another novel that’s been a perennial favorite since it first appeared in serial form in “The American Magazine” from 1910 to 1911.“The Secret Garden” featured an adapted book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon. We’re sampling three songs from this Broadway version featuring performances by Daisy Eagen, Rebecca Luker, Mandy Patinkin, and Robert Westenberg. We’ll also sample one song from another version and a 1987 British studio cast featuring Barbara Cook and Victoria Coote.
The final musical this time was based on works by P.G. Wodehouse. The beloved and bungling Bertie Wooster is repeatedly saved by his manservant Jeeves and have long been favorites in film and TV adaptations. However, the Andrew Lloyd Webber / Alan Ayckbourn musical version fell short because of its treatment of the material. We’ll still listen to songs from the original 1975 London version (“Jeeves”) as well as the rewritten London revival (“By Jeeves”) from 1996 that did marginally better in London but failed in New York.
Tune in for some more musical fun with a literary bent.
