a play called "Look Homeward, Angel" based on a novel by (I believe) Tom Wolf. performed that my junior year in high school. one of the best productions done there.
Featured Actor Joined: 10/4/05
There are a lot of regional, college, camp, high school, etc. musicals that no-one will know. So can we change it to, say, Broadway shows you think no-one will know?
"Look Homeward, Angel" by Ketti Frings, from the novel by Thomas Wolfe, should be known by MANY people. It's an often produced play.
A show just a few of you will know...
Lionel Bart's "Blitz!" is one of my favorite forgotten musicals.
actually pab, a LOT of people i have talked to had no idea about the show.
i don't know if it's unheard of, but i will mention a lovely musical called HARBLEDOWN by the late mark houston.
Dre, I was in Look Homeward, Angel too! What part did you play?
Stop! You're Killing Me! - Never heard of it until we did it in high school. I can't find anything on it and can't find the music either.
I remember reading about Ben Hur. Wasn't that in Florida? I believe there was an animatronic chariot race.
I bet noone knows Dalby and the Sleeping Prince. And no, it's not a children's show.
Jack the Ripper: the musical
I know of at least one other person who's heard of this one.
"actually pab, a LOT of people i have talked to had no idea about the show."
Well, I don't know where those people have been but "Look Homeward Angel" ran on Broadway for 564 performances (granted that was back in 1959) and it was turned into a musical called "Angel" back in 1978 (a pretty bad musical I'll also grant you that). The "have you every touched one, a locomotive I mean" scene has been used in numerous acting classes over the years.
yeah "look homeward, angel" is kind of a high school standard now. its a good play. i enjoy it
and I would really be interested in seeing/hearing that jack the ripper musical! thats a pretty interesting concept.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/3/04
jack the ripper DOES sound interesting. and, if done to traditional musical theatre tunes, could prove an even worse idea than Carrie.
"All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten"---doing it right now...
it's musical, but can be done as a straight play too...
I'm sure some of you have heard of it though, some people do it for HS theatre fests and stuff...
Stand-by Joined: 10/1/05
"Church Basement Ladies," anyone? I thought the music was pretty catchy, but the book is rather uninspired.
wow, I had never heard of Look Homeward Angel till that year. Actually, everyone who auditioned had never heard of it either.
that is so cool Jac! I was a boarder. With almost all the boarder parts (except for Fatty), we created. so I made up my own character. my best guy friend played Eugene was fantastic. he won Best Actor at the NJ Governors awards. and we won best scene. best year ever there.
I was one of the few people who got to see the musical "Angel", which was based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play "Look Homeward, Angel", because as a student at AADA, at the time, we received a lot of free tickets to Broadway Previews. Unfortunately this production went nowhere. It has a total of eleven performances (including six previews) so it actually ran for only four days at the Minskoff Theatre. It had a reasonably good cast with Frances Sternhagen (recently in "Steel Magnolias" and soon to be seen in "Seascape"), Fred Gwynne (who most people will know as television's Herman Munster) and Eugene was played by Don Scardino who unfortunately was in another flop musical, just a few months later, that I also happened to see, called "The King of Hearts" (based on the movie). Scardino, a little over ten years later, directed a brilliant production of "A Few Good Men" and more recently the musical "Lennon".
I was in one of the few productions of SAYONARA. Most people have heard of the novel or the film by James A. Michener but few know that it is a musical. It's actually rather good but could stand to be workshopped again.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
Apropos of this time of year:
Halloween with David Wayne and Dick Shawn played a pre-Broadway run at the Bucks County Playhouse in the fall of 1972. Music was by Mitch Leigh and it was directed by Albert Marre both of whom did La Mancha. The chorus was made up of about 6 dwarf men. I am not making this up you know.
It even had a tentative date at the Martin Beck to open on Oct 31, but it never got out of New Hope.
Then there was Rachael Lily Rosenbloom and Don't You Ever Forget It! which died the death of a thousand screams at the Broadhurst after a week of previews in 1973. Ellen Greene and Anita Morris starred in that one. So bad it was kind of good. Well, it had a few moments.
Doctor Jazz - Bobby Van and Lola Falana and just awful. Winter Garden, 1975ish, 4 weeks of previews and 5 performances. Bye bye.
Wild and Wonderful. A musical. 1971. A week of previews and one performance. Enough said.
Ari. 1970ish. A musical based on Exodus! What else can I say?
Oh, there's lots of these from the 70s
"Shakespeare and the Indians"
Swing Joined: 5/30/05
my boss actually worked briefly on HALLOWEEN how funny is that! and as for Rachael Lily ... I have a windowcard from the show.. I also have windowcards for Wind in the Willows with Nathan Lane and Vicki Lewis... and Raggedy Ann the musical... also Dean: the musical. or how many of you saw METRO here in NYC... polish kids in a subway rock musical! HA HA HA
wonderboy: which production of SAYONARA were you in? I saw it at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA a few years bck and thought it was quite good.
I'll bet nobody has heard of ONE NIGHT STAND. Closed in previews 25 years ago this month. Music by Jule Styne, starring Jack Weston and Charles Kimbrough. It was the very first b'way show I ever saw and I loved it.
Swing Joined: 5/30/05
hushpuppy: I saw SAYONARA in San Diego years ago as well and also really liked it... think it was the same tour... even havea recording of it... and as for ONE NIGHT STAND I was listening to the cast recording this morning on the subway
Swing Joined: 10/31/05
Anyone ever heard of this.
"Trial By Jury" this was an opera written by a very famous pair of composers.
Their next opera after this was "The Sorcerer"
Can anyone tell me which pair of composers wrote it?
I've heard of a few of these: I have the recordings for Possessed, Nosferatu, Cannibal the Musical (I use the word Shpadoinkle every now and then) and the New Hopeville Comics -- none of which I ever really listen to.
Anyone know The Scarlet Letter by Mark Governor? - it's one of my favorite cds.
How about Young Thomas Edison?
Eagle Song? (Another one that's not too bad)
Forlorn Hope (about the Donner Party - seriously, though I guess if I know about Cannibal...).
Frankenstein: The Musical
How To Save the World In 90 Days? (or something like that - it was at the Fringe festival last year - it was great).
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