- Promenade (musical)
Infobox Musical
name=Promenade
caption=cover of the 1969 original off-Broadway cast album
music=Al Carmines
lyrics=María Irene Fornés
book=María Irene Fornés
basis=
productions= 1965 New York City 1969Off-Broadway
1983 Off-Broadway
awards=OBIE Award for Distinguished Plays [Cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0153545.html |title=19641965 Obie Awards — Infoplease.com |accessdate=2008-04-25]"Promenade" is an experimental musical with book and lyrics by
María Irene Fornés and music by Rev.Al Carmines . The show itself, although amusical comedy , falls more into the category ofTheatre of the Absurd . The most fitting description was given byStephen Holden in a review in the "New York Times" for a 1983 New York revival: "This work, which suggests a mixture of "Candide " andSamuel Beckett viewed throughLewis Carroll 's looking glass, is a little tooavant-garde andabsurdist to appeal to mainstream tastes. But in its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater."Original production
"Promenade" premiered on
April 9 1965 at theJudson Poets' Theatre ,Judson Memorial Church , 55 Washington Square, NYC, where it played for three weekends. It went on to a commercial run off-Broadway, at the Promenade Theatre (which was named for it), opening onJune 4 1969 . It closed there onJanuary 18 1970 after 259 performances. This production starred (among others)George S. Irving ,Gilbert Price ,Alice Playten ,Shannon Bolin ,Florence Tarlow , andMadeline Kahn . In 1969 Madeline Kahn left NY for Hollywood and was replaced by Sandy Schaeffer(Bergeson)who then went on to record the Original Cast Album. This production was recorded and preserved as an RCA-Victororiginal cast album : it can be found on CD (RCA Victor 09026 63333 2).References
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