Hazel - A Musical Maid in America opens at Drury Lane outside Chicago

I hate to be a downer on the subject of Hazel. I am a HUGE Hazel fan. I grew up watching Hazel. I know every episode. I also saw one of the staged readings directed by Lucy Arnaz. I sure hope they have reworked a lot of what I saw. I am afraid that the people who know and love the show Hazel will be disappointed on one level, and the people who didn't know the show will care less about who Hazel is. I love me some Klea Blackburn too. I think she is a really great talent. I just wish this material was as strong as her talent.

The story, for instance. When I saw it, and it could have changed, the first 30 or 40 minutes of the show is Mr B interviewing Hazel for the job to see if she is up to it. That is incorrect from the start. Hazel was Missy's nanny! Hazel was Mrs. Baxter's nanny and that's how she got the job. She wasn't a stranger off the street. And they spent too much time on this plot point.

It went off into some tangent about aliens coming down to get everyone. I can't really remember. I do remember the best thing in it was Harold had a song in Act Two that was amazing. And I think Hazel has a wonderful song in Act Two as well. I am not sure where they are going to squeeze all this dance into. The score was pretty mediocre and the script needed a lot of help. I sat there, as a Hazel fan, wondering how it had made it as far as it did.

I still wish it all the best. I hope they rewrote much of it. I hope they succeed. We will see. I am only commenting on what I saw. I didn't see the last staged reading. I saw the one before that, (but that wasn't that long ago) so they might have made lots of changes already. I just don't know if the material was strong enough to fix.


I don't think the young crowd is going to be attracted to a character like Hazel. Let's face it, Shirley Booth really brought A LOT to the role. Klea is great but she only has two hours to do it. Shirley Booth, one of the most amazing actresses ever, had several seasons to achieve that.

The first person I thought of who would be great in this role would be Faith Prince.

The new craze is musicalize movies and/or tv shows. Like you said, who wants to pay big bucks to see a musical of a tv sitcom.

I suppose there have been crazier ideas. ANNIE was supposedly turned down by every producer in NYC because they couldn't understand who would want to see a musical based on a creaky old comic strip that had been pulled from the newspapers because nobody read it anymore.

On paper, HAZEL THE MUSICAL sounds like a terrible idea but, well...anything could happen I guess.

Updated On: 3/26/16 at 10:17 PM

And Annie has a more specific, universal, upbeat theme... a poor young orphan who seemingly has the entire the world against her thrives and beats all odds because of her eternal optimism...... or something like that..... Hazel.. is well... just Hazel. And without the charm of Shirley Booth....

Some movies and TV shows have transitioned well to Broadway, but I agree. Why Hazel...of all television shows? Interesting, if not odd, choice.

Mixed reviews don't necessarily stop Broadway plans.



It's like an out-of-town preview. It seems like the issues raised can be fixed.



It may slow down the timetable, but I don't see mixed reviews causing anyone to give up on the show.

First ten pictures are from this production:

https://www.facebook.com/drurylanetheatre/photos/pb.184473104910902.-2207520000.1460130981./1204145482943654/?type=3&theater

For all the talk of making it as '60s as possible in the video it looks very '70s to me, and with a strange futuristic angle?? Not that I was actually alive for either decade.

I've never heard of the TV show but I think any domestic-set network TV show from that era would be very difficult to adapt and not feel super dated. It seems like they've tied to add some more progressive touches though.

Like I said from my post above... I attended one of the read-throughs in nyc. It seems the director was talented enough to elevate the material from awful to mixed reviews. It still isn't the Hazel I love.

I remember seeing the Gypsy run through of Will Rogers Follies on Broadway. No costumes, sets, lights...etc.... Stripped down, with nothing to cover it up, the book was really weak. I thought the show was doomed. I went back and saw it after it had opened, with all the spectacle and it was an entirely different experience. Some of you may be saying "Duh"... but the book still had the same structural problems. The book was still weak. WWF has a really weak book and should have never won the Tony that year. Same with Hazel. It's a terrible book and score, dressed up pretty. Apparently it passed with a Grade C.

Updated On: 4/9/16 at 09:41 AM

Clip from Broadway World:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-TV-A-Musical-Maid-Hits-Chicago-Watch-Highlights-of-Klea-Blackhurst-and-More-in-HAZEL-at-Drury-Lane-Theatre-20160408

I will be seeing this production on April 24 and will report back.

Updated On: 4/9/16 at 10:08 AM

The period is the 1960's (as indicated in this article): http://drurylanetheatre.com/news/hazel/hazel-musical-mix-comic-panel-classic-tv-series/

Note that the series ran from 1961-66 and was placed in that period.