31. The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend is frequently revived by amateur groups, because it is easy to stage, has a small cast, and is not too taxing on young performers. It is delightful, too.
Launching in the West End in 1953 it arrived a little after the era of the great Rogers and Hammerstein productions that so defined the musical theatre of the time. It was neither pretentious nor high-tech, but its winning charm led to an opening season of over 2000 performances - one of the longest first runs of all time. And then on Broadway for near on 500 performances.
The story, the lyrics, and the music are all by Sandy Wilson. The "best" musical numbers (in my view) are The Boy Friend, I Could Be Happy With You, and It's Never Too Late to Fall in Love.
With a somewhat modified plot, M-G-M and director Ken Russell brought The Boy Friend to the screen in 1971, winning two Golden Globe awards for newcomer Twiggy.
The season at Her Majesty's began on 31 March 1956: and the programme invites us to “Meet me at Scott's for Supper” – a forlorn last supper, perhaps? given that Scott's Hotel of 444 Collins Street, telephone MY1901, was gone by 1962; one of Melbourne's finest hotels, with renowned table and cellar, with a history of 109 years, with a galaxy of previous guests, and the longest continuously licensed hotel in Victoria, demolished by Royal Insurance for offices.
32. Nina
To think of Edward Everett Horton as little more than the Hollywood character actor of the '30s is to think too narrowly. Horton had an acting career of nearly 70 years, which speaks of longevity, both genetic and thespian. He was singing, dancing and acting in vaudeville from 1906 (at age 20), and in movies from 1922 - not yet talkies; but, until the talkies arrived, providing much practice for the funny faces and double takes of later years. He made more than a hundred movies. The programme describes him as “America’s most beloved comedian”, but even for a theatre programme that's a big stretch. At the time he was lively enough, and well able to put over the stage "business", but he was then 76 and nearing the close of his career.......although he did live for another eight years and for another half-dozen films.
Nina had its origins in the French-language play of the same name by Andre Roussin, and arrived at the Tivoli, in the translation by Samuel Taylor, for a season commencing 30 April, 1962. Taylor had success as the playwright of Sabrina Fair and The Pleasure of His Company, and wrote a number of film scripts. His obituary (he died in 2000, aged 87) describes him as an American playwright in the tradition of Philip Barry, and Kaufman and Hart, and alludes to the time, through to the late 1960s, "when witty well-made drawing-room comedies about rich people were a staple of both Broadway and the West End". Not surprising, then, that Taylor chose to translate and present a play fitting this profile.
But I doubt that Nina would be staged today - it has not worn well. And I doubt it was up to much in 1962, although no overall impression has stayed with me. Indeed, if the following synopsis of the opening scene is an indication, then Nina was of less substance than either froth or bubble:
Shortly after the curtain goes up Nina's husband confronts Nina's lover with a revolver. He comes to do his duty as the protector of the social order. But he has, unfortunately, taken a bad cold, and finds he must hand over the gun to the lover while he fetches the necessary medication from his pockets.
A concluding bit of trivia. In 1925 Horton bought a property in the Encino district (later suburb) of Los Angeles, a bit less than 20 miles from the city centre. He lived there for the remaining 45 years of his life. "Belleigh Acres" accommodated separate residences for his brother and his sister, and their respective families. Unfortunately for Horton, part of the estate was compulsorily acquired in the 1950s for construction of a freeway.
33. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was such a monumental success that it was staged all over the globe, and has been reprised many times. It premiered at Melbourne University's Union Theatre on 28 November, 1955, then had a Sydney season in January 1956. Then a thirteen-week tour of country regions; followed, in 1957, by a regional tour of the U.K. culminating in the West End; and Broadway in 1958. Plus film and television adaptations. The programme is for the production I saw, I think, in January 1959. It was at the Comedy Theatre.
Wikipedia's generous introduction: "The play is considered to be the most significant in Australian theatre history, and a 'turning point', openly and authentically portraying distinctly Australian life and characters. It was one of the first truly naturalistic 'Australian' theatre productions."
The original cast had the author, Ray Lawler, playing Barney and Noel Ferrier playing Roo - the comic Ferrier later to be the host of a television late night variety/talk show, and a significant star in the Australian entertainment firmament. The 1959 United Artists film significantly bastardised the story: it had John Mills as Barney and Ernest Borgnine as Roo (also Anne Baxter and Angela Lansbury), thus significantly "Americanising" its "Australianness". It switched the locale from Melbourne to Sydney, and substituted a "happy ending". Not happy Jan!
The play, set in 1953, was the centrepiece of playwright, Ray Lawler's, career. He later wrote two prequels, Kid Stakes (set in 1937) and Other Times (set in 1945), and the three plays together are colloquially known as The Doll Trilogy, and have been staged as a set.
Barney and Roo are Queensland sugarcane cutters who for sixteen years past have spent the five months lay-off season in Melbourne with their respective inamoratas, Nancy and Olive. Each year Roo brings Olive a kewpie doll, this year the seventeenth. But this year the relationships unravel - Nancy has married someone else, Pearl is brought in for Barney as a substitute for Nancy, the men are conscious of their tiredness and worrying about their ability to continue with their laborious working lives, and Roo - fatally - suggests to Olive that they should marry. The established order is shattered.
34. With Devilish Glee: An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer
In these Pandemic times the subject of mortality has become rather more front and centre, and the need to finish off half-completed projects just a tad more pressing. And with this little Piece, in particular, the realisation that Tom Lehrer is aged 93 and is still with us [as is Ray Lawler, at 100], means that it remains available to discuss him in the present tense.
Tom Lehrer was a mathematics academic: a Harvard graduate, who had taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other institutes, closing out his academic career (in 2001) at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Tom Lehrer was also a songwriter and performer of satirical songs, songs he himself had written. He was a rare example of a performer for whom the spotlight was not a drug. He occupied the spotlight's brilliant glare for near 20 years, from his debut/discovery circa 1953 to his effective retirement in 1972. Artists are not prone to retire: regardless of whether the muse keeps inspiring at the highest level the creative juices generally keep flowing. Rare exceptions are Rossini, who retired - after composing his 37th opera - to enjoy his riches at age 37, and lived near another 40 years; and Tom Lehrer, who has spent nearly 50 years in "retirement". He has noted that in his 20-year public career he wrote 37 songs, and performed 109 shows - including, obviously, his Melbourne gig in 1960. The venue was the Melbourne Town Hall.
Lehrer arrived, already with a huge following - huge, certainly, among the student population. Lehrer's first album, the 1953 Songs by Tom Lehrer, was an inconsequential 10" LP - so inconsequential that it had whipped up sufficient storm to pack the Town Hall! By that time Lehrer's second album, More of Tom Lehrer (1959 - 12" LP) had been released, so there was plenty in Lehrer's oeuvre familiar to the receptive audience.
Lehrer's shtick was satire, satire underpinned by his great skill as a wordsmith, and all overlaid by his skills with rhyme, melody and metre. His songs are surpassingly clever, and his nasal tenor delivery (self-accompanied at the piano) permits of no cover artist........with the possible exception of this correspondent, who for years sustained his kids with renditions of Lehrer songs on long car journeys!
On a topical note: last year Lehrer forwent his rights to copyright, and placed all his works in the public domain. Cynics might say that this is a way of encouraging an audience from a younger generation, but it's an altruistic (and uncommon) step nonetheless. The royalties would, otherwise, have kept accruing to his heirs for 70 years beyond his death.
35. The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal was written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 to 1816). Sheridan, born in Dublin, was not particularly prolific - ten plays only - but writing for the stage was but one of his interests. He had a career in British politics: in the House of Commons for 32 years, and sometime Treasurer of the Navy. From 1776 he was a principal owner of The Theatre Royal. On a downbeat note: The Theatre Royal was destroyed by fire in 1809. It was not insured. The story goes that Sheridan was taking a glass of wine while watching the conflagration, and when challenged for his insensitivity, rejoined that surely a man might be allowed to take a glass of wine before his own fireside. Sheridan died in poverty, but they had the grace to bury him in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.
The School for Scandal is a seriously famous play; at least it was seriously famous when I saw it as one of the mainstays of the 1956 Drama Festival held at the National Theatre. It was first performed in 1777, and had thus had nearly 200 years either to sink without trace, or to remain in the repertoire. The theatre-going public had chosen the latter. As had the devisers of school curricula; the play was on the study list in my year 10 school year; and I suppose it tweaked enough interest for me to attend the stage performance a couple of years later.
As to my study of the play, I remember nowt; and, as to the staging, I remember little....except for the performance of one Adrian Rawlins. Rawlins and I were contemporaries, and schoolfellows in years 7 through 9. He always marched to the beat of a different drum, and his fruity portrayal of Sir Benjamin Backbite was memorable, especially given that he was a mere 17 or 18 at the time. Rawlins lived a Bohemian life, centred principally on the world of jazz. And also the world of poetry, in which he was both a writer and a performance artist. He had the distinction of being sculpted during his lifetime: his depiction is atop a pole at the corner of Brunswick and Argyle Streets, Fitzroy. He died of cancer in 2001.
Mention of the character, Sir Benjamin Backbite, prompts acknowledgement of Sheridan the writer, and his proclivity for aptronyms, names that are peculiarly suited to their owners. Sir Benjamin Backbite is a gossip and a scandal-monger - as his name suggests. The names of other characters in the play - Lady Sneerwell, Joseph Surface, Mrs. Candour, Snake - invite speculation.
Reverting to my earlier comments, I query whether The School for Scandal - over 240 years from its first production, and some 65 years from my earliest exposure in 1956 - remains seriously famous. One litmus test: is it much performed today? I have not been able to answer my own question. There are Wikipedia references to latter day productions, but no way of gauging the frequency worldwide. For those wanting the smell of some contemporary greasepaint I recommend the website stf-theatre.org.uk [Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory], specifically the publicity for their production of The School for Scandal, which ran from 9 April to 9 May, 2015. This company is based in Bristol, and the report of their 2015 production is extensive, and is accompanied with copious Director's Notes about Sheridan and his times, and several thoughtful reviews of the STF production.
Gary Andrews
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