The Human Comedy (musical)

Infobox Musical
name= The Human Comedy
subtitle=


caption= Original Cast Recording
music= Galt MacDermot
lyrics= William Dumaresq
book= William Dumaresq
basis= William Saroyan's
"The Human Comedy"
productions= 1983 Off-Broadway
1984 Broadway
1997 York Theatre, NYC, Musicals in Mufti
awards=

"The Human Comedy" is a musical with a book and lyrics by William Dumaresq and music by Galt MacDermot.

William Saroyan's tale originated as a screenplay he had been hired to write and direct for MGM. When the studio objected to its length and an uncompromising Saroyan was pulled from the project, he rewrote the story as a novel with the same title that was published shortly prior to the film's release.

The coming-of-age tale focuses on young Homer Macauley, a telegram messenger who is exposed to the sorrows and joys experienced by his family and the residents of his small California town during World War II. Homer's mother Kate is struggling to support her children following the death of her husband, his older brother Marcus is in the Army, his teenaged sister Bess daydreams about romance, and his younger brother Ulysses divides his attention between the passing trains and an unrequieted desire to know why his father had to die. Other characters include Spangler and Grogan, who run the telegraph office, Spangler's girlfriend Diana, Marcus' orphaned army buddy Tobey and his sweetheart Mary, and prim and proper school teacher Miss Hicks, who serves as a one-woman Greek chorus.

Through-composed, "The Human Comedy" is far more an American folk opera like "Porgy and Bess" than it is a traditional book musical. Its score includes elements of 1940s swing, gospel, pop, folk music, and typical show tunes.

Production

The off-Broadway production, directed by Wilford Leach, opened on December 28 1983 at Joseph Papp's Public Theater, where it ran for 79 performances. The cast included Stephen Geoffreys as Homer, Bonnie Koloc as Kate, Don Kehr as Marcus, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Bess, Josh Blake as Ulysses, Rex Smith as Spangler, Gordon Connell as Grogan, Leata Galloway as Diana, Joseph Kolinski as Tobey, Caroline Peyton as Mary, and Laurie Franks as Miss Hicks.

Like "Hair" and "A Chorus Line" before it, "The Human Comedy" garnered reviews favorable enough to prompt Papp to transfer it a larger, uptown Broadway house. After twenty previews, with its downtown director and cast intact, it opened on April 5 1984 at the Royale Theatre, where it ran for only 13 performances.

Frank Rich's critique of the original production had been positive, but "New York Times" policy prohibited re-reviewing shows unless they were changed substantially, so his earlier comments were overshadowed by those damaging ones made more recently by Clive Barnes, among others. The general consensus was that "The Human Comedy", with its intimate story staged in a semi-oratorio style with no scenery save for rear projections used to define each scene's locale, was not suited for a large venue with a conventional proscenium stage. Following "Dude" and "Via Galactica", it was MacDermot's third critical and commercial failure, and proved to be his last attempt at a Broadway musical.

An original cast album was recorded but never released until 1997, when an 86-track, 2-CD set was issued by Original Cast Records [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000008UNR] .

In autumn of 1997, the show enjoyed a partially staged reading at the York Theatre in New York City as part of the York's Musicals In Mufti series. The show was directed by Roger Danforth and featured such New York actors as Heather MacRae as Kate, Richard Roland as Spangler, Diane Sutherland (Fratantoni) as Diana, Alan H. Green as Tobey, Jennifer Rosin as Bess, James Ludwig as Marcus, Joe Hynes as Homer, Traci Lyn Thomas as Mary, Aisha DeHaas as Beautiful Music, Benjamin Stix as Ulysses and Ron Carroll as Grogan.

ong list

;Act I
*In a Little Town in California
*Hi Ya, Kid
*We're a Little Family
*The Assyrians
*Noses
*You're a Little Young for the Job
*I Can Carry a Tune
*Happy Birthday
*Happy Anniversary
*I Think the Kid Will Do
*Beautiful Music
*Cocoanut Cream Pie
*When I Am Lost
*I Said, Oh No
*Daddy Will Not Come Walking Through The Door
*The Birds in the Sky
*Remember Always to Give
*Long Past Sunset
*Don't Tell Me
*The Fourth Telegram
*Give Me All the Money
*Everything Is Changed
*The World Is Full of Loneliness
*Hi Ya, Kid (Reprise);Act II
*How I Love Your Thingamajig
*Everlasting
*An Orphan I Am
*I'll Tell You About My Family
*I Wish I Were a Man
*Marcus, My Friend
*My Sister Bess
*I've Known a Lot of Guys
*Diana
*Dear Brother
*The Birds In The Trees/A Lot of Men
*Parting
*Mr. Grogan, Wake Up
*Hello, Doc
*What Am I Supposed to Do?
*Long Past Sunset (Reprise)
*I'm Home
*Somewhere, Someone
*I'll Always Love You
*Hi Ya, Kid (Reprise)
*Fathers And Mothers (And You And Me)

Awards and nominations

*Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Geoffreys, nominee)
*Theatre World Award (Geoffreys and Koloc, winners)
*Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Koloc, nominee)
*Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music (nominee)

References

"Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops" by Ken Mandelbaum, published by St. Martin's Press (1991), pages 339-41 (ISBN 0-312-06428-4)

External links

* [http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=2262 Lortel Archives listing]
* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4460 Internet Broadway Database listing]
* [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9A0DE6DE1238F93AA15751C1A965948260 New York Times review of the off-Broadway production]