Happy 50th Anniversary to IT'S A BIRD...IT'S A PLANE...IT'S SUPERMAN

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 12:19am

It opened 50 years ago today at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon).

It ran only 130 or so performances but is well remembered not only for the novelty of a musical Superman on Broadway, but also for its tuneful score and excellent original cast featuring Jack Cassidy as the villain and Linda Lavin as his scheming secretary, Lois Lane played by Patricia Marand (who had earlier starred in WISH YOU WERE HERE with Cassidy) and Bob Holiday as Superman. Holiday is considered the longest running live action Superman to this day.

The non-comic-based villain was undoubtedly a rights issue, and the treatment of the Chinese gang comic villains is cringey to say the least, but the reason I always go back to the album is the music. Several clunkers make no doubt, but altogether a very fun score with a nice mid 60's Broadway sound.

Original Cast Album:

Photos:































The show was also adapted into a bafflingly campy TV special in 1975. The lineup here is even more prestigious, including Lesley Ann Warren, Loretta Swit, Kenneth Mars and David Wayne. It's hard to watch.

Did anyone see it back in '66? How was it?

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 12:30am

I too am very fond of most of the score.  When the Drury Lane Oakbrook (Chicago) did the show a few years ago, the Chinese Acrobats became Russian KGB agents ( as opposed to the criminals in the horrid 70s television version which I think was aired late at night as I had to get parental permission to stay up to watch it).  I don't know what they did with the more recent production in Houston.  

Part of the problem with the show was that Jack Cassidy was the star - and the show had to be built around the villain - not Superman.  But the book authors used their experience as they were credited with the screenplay for the first Richard Donner Superman movie!

I think it is in the liner notes for the CD about a cut song called something like dot...dot...dot for Jack Cassidy.  They all thought it was a great song, but the first time Cassidy sang it out of town, it just died and he came to the wings looking sick - and no one could figure out why the song didn't work - only that it had to be cut.  Decades later, a similar song seemed to work for John Lithgow in Sweet Smell of Success.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 12:30am

I saw the show a few times (tickets were inexpensive back than) and thoroughly enjoyed it.The Encores version did it real justice. The tv special was an abomination.

 

Holiday enjoys the honor as the actor who portrayed Superman the most times including all tv and movie versions and both cliffhanger serials. After this role, Holiday never appeared on Broadway again.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 1:52am

I really hope we'll see Superman on Broadway again one day. It's such a fun score.

[Fan123]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 4:00am

It is a good score. 'The Woman for the Man' tends to be on high rotation for me.

Does anybody happen to have image/s of the staging of 'It's Superman (Reprise)'? I hear a life-size comic strip was created onstage, using a set a bit like the frame from the 'The Telephone Hour' in Bye Bye Birdie (http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e4-6c56-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99). Sounds like fun, but I haven't been able to find an image of the Superman version.

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 6:43am

Fun Superman fact: David Newman and Robert Benton who wrote the show's book went on to contribute to the screenplays for "Superman: The Movie" [1978], "Superman II" [1980], "Superman III" [1983].

 

It's a bouncy score for sure by the same team responsible for "Bye Bye Birdie", but the show as a whole is campy at best and a relic at worst.

 

Definitely a curiosity but not a show that is necessarily screaming for a revival.

 

Nice pics from the New York Public Library's Digital Collection website, by the way.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 7:07am

The only image I have of that very clever comic book page panels is in my teen memory.  I remember the audience's clapping at the colorful set when each of the principals, in their own separate comic book panels, revealed what they were going to try to do, whether for good (Lois' romantic wishes)  or ill (Max & Abner's evil plans), etc. At the time I didn't think anything of the Chinese acrobats; they were just the other set of villains, but in the ensuing years that concept does make one cringe a bit, especially since they sang in "pidjin" English.  Side note: Jack Cassidy and Michael O'Sullivan--who passed away way too soon--stole the show.

The TV version was god-awful, unfortunately.  Encores! did the show proud a couple of years ago.  It was a fun family show.

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 10:23am

 

Bob Holiday, Patricia Marand, Shirley Jones (at the time married to Jack Cassidy) and Jack Cassidy pose at the opening night performance of "It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman".

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 10:30am

 



Bob Holiday, Patricia Marand and Rob Ventre pose at a performance of "It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman" at the Duplex Cabaret Theater in Greenwich Village in 2007.

 

Updated On: 3/29/16 at 10:30 AM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 10:31am

Despite some naysayers here, this show deserves a revival. We need a non message show that you can go to and enjoy yourself and nothing more. I enjoyed the original and Encores which brought back many pleasant memories. We need a feel good show more than ever . We need a show that will not lecture to us or push those who see it to feel the need to lecture people about its deeply dark hidden meaning. We are supposed to be entertained by Broadway and not scolded by others for one thing or another.

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 10:54am

It's a nice "sentiment" Mr. Roxy but I don't see producers investing in a full blown revival of this show on Broadway. Maybe some producer would be interested in investing in a staging off or maybe off off Broadway.

 

That being said, your "gloom and doom" stance on the state of Broadway today is way off base. There are plenty of shows out there that just serve to entertain the masses without the lectures and/or agendas you are referring to.

 

 

Updated On: 3/29/16 at 10:54 AM

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 10:57am

I have a deep affection for this show. Jack Cassidy was a problem as they never bother to integrate his character with the story. Dr. Abner Sedgwick drives the plot and Lois Lane has the biggest character arc. 

I used to dislike how Superman himself was written, but the press for the recent movies makes me appreciate some of the ideas there. It's not a re-enactment of Superman's origin story. His mythos is well established. Instead we get the angsty self doubt arc of many super-hero film sequels, but it is played for laughs.

Updated On: 3/29/16 at 10:57 AM

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 11:03am

The show looks like it's a parody/spoof of "Superman" and the super hero genre as a whole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sertzo19]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 11:10am

 "We need a show that will not lecture to us or push those who see it to feel the need to lecture people about its deeply dark hidden meaning."

I think this is essentially the triumph of the current revival of She Loves Me. It's pure, unadulterated candy. It's sweet, it's romantic, it's funny and you can enjoy yourself without having to worry about a dark message at heart. 

 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 11:30am

Sertzo19 said: I think this is essentially the triumph of the current revival of She Loves Me. It's pure, unadulterated candy. It's sweet, it's romantic, it's funny and you can enjoy yourself without having to worry about a dark message at heart. 

 

Yes, it is a wonderful show (from the same era) and the only message the show has, which (for me) is the most important message of all: L-O-V-E. 

 

 

 

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 12:44pm

I think the show was definitely intended to be a bit silly and campy, just like the Batman TV show that premiered several months earlier. Back then there wasn't really the notion of the dark gritty super hero story. Of course if people saw it today they would probably think it was as serious as those and laugh at it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 1:02pm

One theory re its early closure was Batman popped on the scene right before and people figured why should they pay for something they could get for free on TV even with low prices. 20 th Century Fox did The Green Hornet right after Batman and they thought lightning would strike twice. People thought it would be another Batman and stayed away. It was cancelled after one season. Funny thing is, it was not played for laughs and was deadly serious. It brought Bruce Lee to stardom. All 26 episodes are on you tube.

 

Had it opened nearer the Superman movie it might have been a different story. It was a feel good show and Broadway now needs a show like this. With a killer cast, it might very well succeed this time around.

Score is one of Strouse/Adams best and hearing it again with a full orchestra @ Encores brought back memories



Updated On: 3/29/16 at 01:02 PM

[Glory]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 2:40pm

I remember seeing the concert version of the show with Cheyenne Jackson, Jean Louisa Kelly, and Shoshana Bean back in 07. I loved the score! I wish I could have seen the full on production of the show, but the concert was just perfect casting!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 4:05pm

To Nerd 

 

When your wife is lectured to in a bathroom for not seeing a show, it is too much. When we start hearing opinions about various shows that need to make major changes before being revived so as not to offend a certain group , it is too much. This is much of the gloom and doom I am referring to. We have enough gloom and doom in real life these days without seeing it on Broadway.

Updated On: 3/29/16 at 04:05 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 4:10pm

Not offending large groups of human beings with ancient stereotypes is a cause for gloom and doom? Okay. 

 

There are a lot of ambitious and complex shows on Broadway rigt now, but dumb musical comedy is hardly dead. 

 

Anyway, I love "It's Superman."

Updated On: 3/29/16 at 04:10 PM

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 4:16pm

Scarywarhol said: "Not offending large groups of human beings with ancient stereotypes is a cause for gloom and doom? Okay. 

 

Dude. Re-read my post. I was referring to Mr. Roxy's description of the state of Broadway today as "gloom and doom". Okay? 
 

Some of you on here are so quick to respond "in retaliation" you fail to comprehend what you are reading to begin with. 
 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 4:19pm

? My post was in response to Roxy's directly above it. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 4:23pm

I agree that the offending characters would need to be changed or cut all together. I'm actually a fan of the revised book by Roberto Aguirre Sacasa which managed to update the show by resetting it in the 1930s, the decade Superman made his first comic book appearance. I feel like the 1930s setting more easily allowed for the tongue in cheek type humor of the original that he was able to maintain from the original book while more fully honoring the character and his comic book legacy.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 5:05pm

It's a shame DC put the kibosh on that version. Can the book or other...material...from that show be found anywhere?

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/29/16 at 5:08pm

DC keeps putting the kibosh on a version of the show including Lex Luthor instead of his knockoff Max Menken.