WISH-LIST WEDNESDAY: The Boys From Syracuse

PREMIERED: 1938 (Alvin Theatre, NYC)

MUSIC: Richard Rodgers

LYRICS: Lorenz Hart

BOOK: George Abbott

-----

We’re back again, and this week we’ve truly gone classic, with a Rodgers and Hart musical that first had its world premiere almost 90 years ago. Taking inspiration from "The Comedy of Errors", this is the first ever musical to have been based on a Shakespeare tale, with librettist George Abbott adapting the original story of two sets of identical twins being accidentally separated at birth in ancient Greece to a more Vaudeville audience and cast. Following successful pre-broadway tryouts in New Haven and Boston, "The Boys From Syracuse" opened at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre) in November 1938, where it ran for 7 months and 235 performances, in a production led by the likes of Jimmy Savo, Eddie Albert and Ronald Graham.

The musical follows very much the same basic plot as the original Shakespearean play, itself an adaptation of older classical works by Roman writer Plautus, with the biggest distinction being the addition of Rodgers and Hart's score, a blend of traditional show tunes, jazz and swing music that really accentuates the comedic tone of this lightning fast farcical musical. Much like "Comedy of Errors", the comedy hinges on the idea of mistaken identity, physical comedy, and the complete deterioration of events ending in total pandemonium, playing into all the tropes than make up a great comedy farce.

Its initial modest but noticeable success may well have contributed to the scarcity of it having been subsequently performed, including it being put on the back burner for a good 14 years after its first run closed. Even its London premiere didn't get the green lit until over two and a half decades later, with a UK premiere at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a production based on the earlier off-broadway revival, taking place in November 1963, featuring the likes of TV favourites Ronnie Corbett, Bob Monkhouse and Maggie Fitzgibbon. This sadly did not gain the same love from audiences or critics, though it was revived in the west end in the early 90s, so perhaps it's time once again for this old Vaudevillian classic to return to UK stages, especially with its success at The Gatehouse two years ago...

-----

Have you seen "The Boys From Syracuse"? What did you think of it? Let me know below, oir via my instagram page.