Evening Primrose (ABC Stage 67)
Evening Primrose | |
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![]() Original television soundtrack recording | |
Music | Stephen Sondheim |
Lyrics | Stephen Sondheim |
Book | James Goldman |
Basis | John Collier's short story |
Productions | 1966 US television series ABC Stage 67 |
Evening Primrose is a musical with a book by James Goldman and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on a John Collier short story published in the 1951 collection Fancies and Goodnights.
Written originally for television, the musical focuses on a poet who takes refuge from the world by hiding out in a department store after closing. He meets a community of night people who live in the store and falls in love with a beautiful young girl named Ella. Bizarre complications arise when the leader of the group forbids their relationship.
Synopsis
Poet Charles Snell takes refuge from the world by hiding out in a department store after closing ("If You Can Find Me, I'm Here"). Once there he finds a secret group who have lived in the store for years. The leader of the group, Mrs. Monday, permits Charles to stay after he convinces her that he is a poet.
Charles meets and is smitten with a beautiful young girl, Ella Harkins, Mrs. Monday's maid. Ella, who is now 19, has lived in the store since she was separated from her mother at age six, falling asleep in the women's hat department. Ella is unhappy and wants to leave, but is afraid of the "Dark Men." Should someone try to return to the outside world and risk revealing the group's existence, the Dark Men take them away and another mannequin appears in the clothing department.
Charles realizes Ella has not seen the sun for thirteen years, but she replies that she remembers ("I Remember"). Charles has fallen in love with Ella; as he plays cards with members of the group, he has a quiet duet with Ella ("When"). Ella finally decides to leave with Charles ("Take Me To The World"). Charles is initially reluctant to leave his now-comfortable life, but then understands that he loves Ella more than poetry. Mrs. Monday and the others hear their plans, and they call the Dark Men, as Ella and Charles try to escape.
The ending provides a Twilight Zone-like twist. The store opens the next morning and two new handsome bride and groom mannequins appear, eerily resembling Ella and Charles.
Productions
Written specifically for the television anthology series ABC Stage 67, it aired on November 16, 1966. Directed by Paul Bogart, the cast starred Anthony Perkins as Charles Snell, Charmian Carr as Ella Harkins, and Dorothy Stickney as Mrs. Monday. The one-hour program, which was telecast in black-and-white, was taped after regular business hours at the now-defunct Stern Brothers department store in Manhattan.
The original telecast of Evening Primrose is available for viewing at the Museum of Television & Radio branches in New York City and Beverly Hills.
The first professional theatrical production was staged in London as part of the Lost Musicals series. It opened at the Lilian Baylis Studio on July 3, 2005 and closed on July 24. Directed by Ian Marshall Fisher, it starred Betsy Blair as Mrs. Monday, Michael Matus as Charles Snell, Jennifer Higham as Ella Harkins, James Vaughn as Store Doorman/Night Watchman, and Gary Raymond as Roscoe, with Sylvia Seymour and Andrew Beavis in supporting roles.[1]
Musical score
- If You Can Find Me I'm Here
- Charles Meets Mrs. Monday (instrumental)
- Charles And Ella (instrumental)
- Check List (instrumental)
- The Basement (instrumental)
- I Remember
- When
- Take Me To The World
- The Ball (instrumental)
- Roscoe And The Guard (instrumental)
- The Ball, Part 2 (instrumental)
- Escape (instrumental)
- Take Me To The World (Reprise)
- Final Credits (instrumental)
Recordings
An official soundtrack recording was never released commercially until 2008, when Kritzerland, Inc. issued it in a limited release of 3,000 copies.[2] Previously, the four vocal selections had been recorded by Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters for his 1990 Dress Casual album. Patinkin sang "If You Can Find Me, I'm Here," Peters sang "I Remember", and the other two were performed as duets. In 1997, Liz Callaway and Gary Beach recorded them for a Varèse Sarabande release entitled Sondheim at the Movies. A studio recording with Neil Patrick Harris as Charles and Theresa McCarthy as Ella was released by Nonesuch Records in 2001.[3]
"I Remember" has been recorded by Sarah Brightman, Judy Collins, John Pizzarelli, Cleo Laine, Maureen McGovern, Betty Buckley, Julia Migenes, Dianne Reeves, and Barbra Streisand. Dawn Upshaw included "Take Me to the World" on her 1994 musical theatre album I Wish It So.
References
- ^ "Casting confirmed for Lost Musicals "Evening Primrose"londontheatre.co.uk, 14 June 2005
- ^ Suskin, Steven. Sondheim's "Evening Primrose" and Kelli O'Hara's "Wonder in the World", playbill.com, May 12, 2008
- ^ Suskin, Steven. The Frogs, Evening Primrose, Subways", playbill.com, October 18, 2001
External links
- Evening Primrose on The Stephen Sondheim Reference Guide
- Evening Primrose at IMDb
- Evening Primrose plot and production information at sondheim.com
- Information on the 2005 London production