Redhead (1959)

Redhead (1959)

Music by Albert Hague
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields, Sidney Sheldon, and David Shaw

Directed by Dennis M. Lickteig
Musical Director: Sam Schieber
Choreography: Jayne Zaban

Playbill Notes

Redhead opened February 5, 1959 at the 46th Street Theatre, New York. Directed and Choreographed by Bob Fosse. Starred Gwen Verdon as Essie Whimple and Richard Kiley as Tom Baxter, with Leonard Stone as George Poppett, Doris Rich as Aunt Sarah; Cynthia Latham as Aunt Maude and Patrick Horgan as Sir Charles. Dancers in the chorus included Harvey Hohnecker (Evans.)

Reviews: 4 Raves, 3 Favorable
"Now we have four really tip-top musicals in town: My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Music Man, and Redhead" -- NY Daily News

"Something original in the way of ironic musical theatre" -- NY Times

The show won 8 Tony awards including Best Musical and Best Score and awards for Verdon, Kiley, and Leonard Stone.

Performances: 455; closed with a substantial profit.

Broadway, 1959: Other new musicals in the 1958-1959 Broadway season included Gypsy, Goldilocks, Flower Drum Song, Destry Rides Again, Whoop-Up, Once Upon a Mattress and First Impressions. Holdovers included My Fair Lady, The Music Man, West Side Story, and Bells Are Ringing. Gwen Verdson brought Redhead to San Francisco as part of the 1960 Civic Light Opera Season. The show then moved to LA, preparatory to being filmed by MGM; the film never happened. A production is currently in rehearsal at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. The original 1959 cast album is available on CD from RCA Victor.

Composer Albert Hague's credits include Plain & Fancy, The Fig Leaves are Falling, and Miss Moffett, which closed during a notorious out of town try-out with Bette Davis. He played Prof. Shorofsky in the film and TV show Fame. Dorothy Fields also wrote lyrics for Blackbirds of '28, International Revue, Stars in Your Eyes, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, By the Beautiful Sea, Sweet Charity, and Seesaw. She won an Oscar for "The Way You Look Tonight," written with Jerome Kern for Swing Time in 1936.

Gwen Verdon enjoyed one of the truly legendary Broadway careers. Born in Culver City in 1926, Verdon first appeared as a dancer in the chorus of Alive and Kicking in 1948. She burst upon the consciousness of Broadway in 1953 when she played the supporting role of Claudine in Cole Porter's Can-Can. On the opening night Verdon finished her big apache number and was already in her dressing room when she had to be dragged back on-stage, in veritable deshabille, to greet the audience's roaring applause. Can-Can brought her the first of four Tony Awards (for performers a record matched only by Angela Lansbury in musicals, and in straight plays only by Julie Harris' five). Her next role cemented her stardom--the sultry Lola (whatever she wanted, she got) in Damn Yankees. She next played Anna Christie in New Girl in Town, then filmed Yankees for Warner Brothers. Following Redhead, Verdon took a break, although in 1964 she came close to playing Elvira, the blithe ghost in High Spirits.

She finally came back to Broadway in 1966 in Sweet Charity. Her final Broadway appearances were in the straight play Children, Children and her triumphant turn as Roxie in Chicago. Verdon has had a notable film career as a character actress in the last few years, and is currently serving as consultant to Ann Reinking for the revue Fosse. She returned to Broadway a few months ago when she recreated a scene from Sweet Charity in a special concert version of the show (along with fellow Charitys Chita Rivera, Donna McKechnie, Debbie Allen, and Bebe Neuwirth).

Plot Summary

When a young actress has been murdered in early 1900s London, the enterprising Simpson Sisters' Waxworks installs a tableau of the grisly deed. The exhibit offends muscle-bound actor Tom Baxter, who considered the deceased actress to be like a kid sister – and with whom the Simpsons’ excitable niece Essie promptly falls in love. Determined to see Tom again, Essie pretends she's been attacked by the murderer, and so begins a romantic, fast-paced adventure involving cunning disguises, spine-tingling chases, startling visions, an ill-fated show at the Odeon Music Hall, and a cold-blooded killer on the loose… not to mention some great songs and high-spirited dancing!

Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO (23 July 1998) -- San Francisco-based 42nd Street Moon adds an unusual murder-mystery comic romp to its repertoire of forgottenmusicals with its production of Redhead, a 1959 creation with music by Albert Hague and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Although originally writtenfor Beatrice Lillie, the show starred Gwen Verdon as a young woman who has visions of a killer stalking actresses in Victorian London. Redhead won eight Tony awards, including Best Musical and Best Actress for Verdon, and two more nominations. The score for Redhead contains the beautiful "Look Who's In Love" and the hilarious "'Erbie Fitch's Twitch," among other songs. Redhead, presented in concert version by 42nd Street Moon, will play September 2 through 20 (press opening: September 3) at New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco: tickets may be purchased by calling 415/861-8972.

In this delightful musical comedy, Essie Whimple is a wistful young woman working in her aunts' wax museum in London at the turn of the century. A local music hall dancer is strangled, and Essie is entangled in the search for the killer, aided by mysterious, mystical visions and an American strongman who turns out to be the man of her dreams. In addition to Best Musical and Best Actress, Redhead also won Tony Awards for Choreographer (the legendary Bob Fosse), Costume Designer (Rouben Ter-Arutunian) and Best Actor (Richard Kiley), and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Leonard Stone) and Best Conductor and Musical Director (Jay Blackston). Redhead was written by Dorothy and Herbert Fields, Sidney Sheldon and David Shaw, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields and music by Albert Hague.

Redhead is the first of two shows in 42nd Street Moon's DELICIOUS DAMES OF BROADWAY! season celebrating lyrics by the great Dorothy Fields. The second Fields classic will be A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, based on the famous book and film of the same name, which will be presented in October. Fields, who also wrote lyrics for Sweet Charity and Seesaw, won an Academy Award for "The Way You Look Tonight." She teamed up with her brother Herbert and songwriter Irving Berlin to create the unforgettable show as Annie Get Your Gun.

Co-author Sidney Sheldon went on to become a best-selling writer, penning mystery novels and creating the long-running television series I Dream of Jeannie; and David Shaw wrote librettos for Broadway's Tovarich and the television musicals Our Town and Ruggles of Red Gap. Composer Albert Hague wrote the music for Broadway's Plain and Fancy as well as the television Christmas classic, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. An accomplished actor as well, Hague is probably best remembered as the music teacher Shorofsky in the television series Fame.

42nd Street Moon's production of Redhead will star Bay Area favorite Lesley Hamilton (Something for the Boys, A Connecticut Yankee, Three Sisters) in the role of Essie. Also featured will be Pierce Brandt (Fanny), as Tom Baxter, her American strongman boyfriend. Steve Patterson will play Howard, the flamboyant owner of the music hall, and Coralee Persse and Ruth Robbins are the Simpson sisters, Essie's aunts who own the waxworks. Also appearing will be Tom Elliott, Sharron Drake, Robin Steeves, George Quick, Arwen Anderson, and Jessie Gray. Redhead will be directed by Dennis Lickteig, with music direction by Sam Schieber and choreography by Jayne Zaban.