The Robber Bridegroom opens at Springfield Contemporary Theatre this week. It has book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry with music by Donald Waldman, based on the novella of the same name by Eudora Welty (1942).
Alfred Uhry was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1936, graduated from Brown University and moved to New York to write plays. He attended a lyrics writing workshop and came to the attention of Frank Loesser who granted him a stipend to work on developing musicals. After a number of unsuccessful musicals, he adapted Welty’s novella and wrote the lyrics. He asked Donald Waldman, with whom he had earlier worked on an unsuccessful musical, to write the music. It was given a workshop production where it was seen by John Houseman at that time the head and founder of the Drama Division at Julliard.

(We will return to Alfred Uhry again as he is the author of Driving Miss Daisy to be presented at SCT in November.)

In 1972 John Houseman had formed a non-profit touring company The Acting Company made up of the graduates of the first class to graduate from Julliard. The company mounted two to three productions a year and presented them in repertory touring the United State. The Acting Company became a permanent organization consisting of new graduates from Julliard and other leading theatre schools touring across the United States.

After securing the rights for The Robber Bridegroom, the Acting Company presented it in summer 1975 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, and then at the Ravinia Festival in  Chicago. The Acting Company performed it at the Harkness Theatre in New York for 15 performances in October 1975, before going out on tour. The major roles in that production were Kevin Kline (Jamie), Patti LuPone (Rosamund), Mary Lou Rosatto (Salome). The limited run was so successful that Houseman secured investors to mount a new Broadway production that opened in October 1976 at the Biltmore Theatre. The leading roles were played by Barry Bostwick (Jamie), Rhonda Coullet (Rosamond), Barbara Lang (Salome). Bostwick had become a Broadway leading man being Danny Zuko in the original production of Grease; then Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show. (He later repeated the Majors role in the film version.) For The Robber Bridgroom he won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical in 1977. It ran 145 performances and then went on a national tour. The director was Gerald Freedman and choreographer Donald Saddler.

In 2016 the Roundabout Theatre Company mounted a production of The Robber Bradegroom in its off-Broadway theatre, the Laura Pels. The leading roles were played by Steven Pasquale (Jamie), Ahna O’Reilly (Rosamund), Leslie Kritzer (Salome). The director was Alex Timbers and choreographer Connor Gallagher. Of this production Ben Brantley in the New York Times wrote, [It] “suggests a classic European folk story reimagined by Charles Addams and staged by the Grand Ole Opry.”

In Springfield, Missouri State University’s Tent Theatre has produced The Robber Bridegroom twice: 1994 directed by Jack Parkhurst, and 1978 directed by Dennis Warning.

Dennis Warning graduated from the SMS (MSU) theatre program in 1972. The previous summer in Tent Theatre (the first summer in repertory staging) he played the Narrator in The Apple Tree and in HMS Pinafore he was Sir Joseph Porter—he of “his sisters, and his cousins and his aunts.” By the way Tess Harper was also in that production as one the sisters, cousin, aunts.”

Dennis’s first Broadway production was the 1976 The Robber Bridegroom in which he was cast in the chorus/townspeople. In 1978 Dennis proposed that he return to Tent to direct and choreograph a production of The Robber Bridegroom. On the national tour he had been the male swing, thus knowing all the male choreography. He would meet with the individual who was the female swing, and she would teach him all that choreography. Also, he would speak to Mr. Saddler about the project. In the program we gave credit: “Based on the original choreography of Donald Saddler.”

While Dennis was in rehearsal, I used to slip in the back of the rehearsal space to watch. When he would realize that the cast was not going to get the intricacies of the choreography in the time scheduled for rehearsals, he would figure out how to simplify but keep the essence of a step or move. In those last rehearsals before opening, he would proudly tell me that he had been able to slip that step or move back into the dance. The cast had worked to a level that they were now able to handle it. Discipline with the younger cast members frustrated him. “Why are they just sitting out there, talking? They could be working on their lyrics or dance movements.”  He was patient with but set high acting expectations. He explained clearly the acting choices, but let the individuals explore what was happening. The cast obviously “loved” him.  A few of the individuals, but unfortunately not most, had little inkling what an experience they were being given. Dennis had a wonderful summer, and friends from New York and former classmates came in to see the production.

Of the 53 seasons of Tent Theatre, I’ve missed seeing only eight productions. Of all those productions, including the 32 I directed, the 1978 The Robber Bridegroom is in my Tent’s all-time top ten favorites
Dennis died in the mid-80s—far too young.

Jamie Lockhart in that Tent production was played by Michael Quinn. He completed both the BA and MA programs in theatre with us. He was admitted to the Ph.D. program at Stanford University. Upon completing it, he took a teaching position at the University of Washington. In the mid-1990s he was diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease. He died leaving a wife and two young children.
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Dennis and Michael, gone, but still remembered.


Addenda
May 20, 2017

1. Correction: The Robber Bridegroom (1976) opened for eight weeks at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, before moving to Broadway. No tour followed after the Broadway production closed.
2. The 1976 cast went into the recording studio and a vinyl LP original cast album was released. Barry Bostwick was the producer. When the CD of the LP album was released, it had six bonus tracks. It seems that a “story theatre” version of the musical was discussed and additional songs were written. It never was developed., but the songs were recorded at the time of the original cast album. Two of the tracks are solos performances by Dennis Warning.
3. The largest role performed by Warning on Broadway was Herman in a revival production of The Most Happy Fella (1979 with Giorgio Tozzi). Herman sings “Standing on the Corner” as part of the quartet, and “Big D” opposite Cleo. Unfortunately the production did not last long on Broadway--59 performances. It was videorecorded by PBS on the out-of-town tour on the way to Broadway. It was shown at least twice in 1980. A commercial release was never made, but DVD copies exist. If you hunt around, you might find one. 

Springfield Little Theatre at the Landers opens a production of Jesus Christ Superstar this week. The original productions in New York and London were vastly different from each other.

JCS was actually the first produced musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The two had in the mid-1960s written some songs and one musical that was not produced. Then they received a commission to write a cantata for London’s Colet Court School. They chose as the subject Joseph and his cloak of many colors. They wrote enough songs to fill 20 minutes and then kept adding to them. They decided to make a concept record album, and it became a best seller. The basic sound was late 60s British rock with calypso, country, pop and few others thrown in for good measure.  On the basis of the success of that album, they wrote a single song “Superstar” that was released and became highly successful. The recording company asked that they develop a concept album that became Jesus Christ Superstar and was released in 1969.

The concept album was a dud in England but was a great seller in the US. For that reason Robert Stigwood in 1971 decided to produce Jesus Christ Superstar in New York first. The original director was Frank Corsaro, but he became injured in a automobile accident and had to withdraw. The hottest director in New York at that time was Tim O’Horgan. He had been the director for the Broadway production of Hair that he turned into sensation with the critics and public and a box office smash. He then created Lenny, a multimedia production about the comedian Lenny Bruce--another smash.

O’Horgan’s approach to JCS was similar to what he had done with Hair. He saw the work as a phantasmagoria, much like Hair. His direction and the work of the visual artists carried that approach through.  It would be an over-the-top production. As the music started to play, the entire up stage wall began to slide down to the floor and cover it. It now revealed a huge cross hanging on the permanent up stage wall. The staging was hyperkinetic, and the sound was loud. It was one of the early Broadway musicals to use body mics, and the cast made a business of tossing the microphones around to each other. The crucifixion went beyond all boundaries. After Jesus was placed on the cross, it slowly began to be propelled on a forward thrust straight downstage toward the audience until it nearly reached the edge of the stage. The production was electric, exciting, excessive and vulgar (in the original meaning). It became a box office sensation but only for a few months. It did not manage to make it to its second anniversary.

When a production is a hit in either London or New York, the usual custom is that it is then replicated with the original director in the other city. The cast may or may not make the move. Both Lloyd Webber and Rice hated the New York production. They made sure that it would be a different production with a different director in London.

The London mounting was much simpler with platforms and curtains (and maybe projections). My first impression was that it was a staged oratorio. While the chorus had costumes, they were staged more like an oratorio chorus. They did enter and exit, but did not have much interaction with the characters. All the characters’ songs were fully staged. The production became a sensation in England and ran for more than eight years. It became the longest running musical in London’s history until it was surpassed by another the musical that Lloyd Webber wrote when he became king of the poperetta.

In 1969 The Who wrote and performed a concert work Tommy that they called a “rock opera.” With the success of JCS the way opened for more rock-operas, works that eschewed dialogue in favor of more songs.
There is an irony here. The original production of Hair, produced at the Public Theatre by Joseph Papp, was directed by Frank Corsaro. After the limited run concluded, Papp made a mistake that he never made again. He sold the rights for Hair, and it made history when it moved to Broadway transformed by Tim O’Horgan. The intended original director for JCS was Corsaro, but he had to withdraw. He was replaced by O’Horgan who then transformed JCS.  Corsaro was a noted director for both plays and operas. He probably would have been a better director for the work that Lloyd Webber and Rice envisioned.

For interesting material on and an excellent analysis of Jesus Christ, Superstar, see the chapter on it in Scott Miller’s From Assassins To West Side Story; the Director’s Guide to Musical Theatre. In fact, for anyone interested in musical theatre all the books by Scott Miller are fascinating reading.

After the successful reception for Jesus Christ Superstar, it was decided Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat could be given a fully mounted stage production. The Young Vic in London did so first, and then in 1973 with additional songs it was given in London’s West End and on Broadway in 1982.
This is the third time that Springfield Little Theatre has mounted a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. A touring company with Ted Neeley (Jesus in the film version) in his farewell appearance in the role was presented at Juanita K. Hammons Hall.