Le monde des musicals

Musical (1975)

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Musique: Andrew Lloyd Webber •
Paroles: Alan Ayckbourn •
Livret: Alan Ayckbourn • Andrew Lloyd Webber •
Production à la création:

Based on the Jeeves novels by P.G. Wodehouse

L'une des bonne résolutions prise par Wodehouse lors de la nouvelle année 1905, alors qu'il était âgé de 23 ans, était d'apprendre à jouer du banjo, …

1975: Jeeves)
It is difficult to present a synopsis for Jeeves as the musical underwent so many revisions and such substantial pruning that a definitive script was never produced. Because substantive cuts took place at every point in the process (including at several points once the musical was in performance), the website has turned to Alan Ayckbourn's original draft synopsis from July 1974, which formed the basis for the first complete draft script, parts of which were presented to P G Wodehouse in September 1974. This synopsis probably best represents Alan's original, unadulterated plan for the musical, which was then reduced by more than a third in length by the time it closed in London.

Acte I
Bertram Wooster is giving a lecture on the history of the banjo. However, when his banjo strings snap during his first song, Bertie dispatches Jeeves to get new strings, while he regales the audiences with reminiscence of his own adventures, which will show Jeeves in a particularly bad light.
Bertie has been court in front of Judge Watkyn Bassett accused of pinching a policeman's helmet. Now he and Jeeves are about to embark on a world cruise to escape a match, arranged by Aunt Dahlia, between Bertie and Honoria Glossop. Gussie Fink-Nottle arrives at Bertie's flat pronouncing his love for Bertie's ex-fiancée Madeline Bassett, who still holds a flame for Bertie. The shy Gussie implores Jeeves' help, particularly as there is a rival for Madeleine's affections in the form of Roderick Spode. Jeeves refuses to help and Bertie and Gussie agree the butler is past his best.
Bertie suggests the best way to tackle Spode is to humiliate him through insulting limericks. Gussies agrees and then announces Watkyn Bassett is coming to the flat to take him to Totleigh Towers; Gussie pretending he owns the flat to try and impress Bassett. Bertie hides in a closet when Bassett arrives with Spode in tow. Spode warns Gussie away from Madeleine (and her inheritance) or the full wrath of his Black Shorts organisation (the shop was out of shirts) will fall on Gussie. Spode discovers Bertie, who Bassett recognises from court, and throws him out of the flat.
Aunt Dahlia arrives having seen Spode leave the flat. Her Chef has been tricked into signing a contract to work for Spode and ahe asks Bertie to retrieve the contract from Totleigh Towers. Bertie refuses much to Dahlia's rage and she warns him to read The Times. There Bertie finds an announcement he is engaged to Bassett's ward Stephanie 'Stiffy' Byng. Bertie decides to go to Totleigh Towers to resolve matters.
At Totleigh Towers, Bertie inadvertently meets Spode and Bassett, who again recognise the 'thief', just as Bertie spots The Times. As Bassett threatens to call the police, Bertie eats the newspaper front page. Madeleine arrives and vouches for Bertie and he is invited to join tea. Gussie, confident in his limerick scheme, but discovers he has lost the notebook containing all the offending Limericks.
Bertie meets Stiffy, who is in love with Harold 'Stinker' Pinker but knows Bassett will think it an unsuitable match. By announcing he engagement to Bertie, she hopes Bassett will see Stinker as the lesser of two evils. She reveals unless Bertie declares his love for her to Bassett, she will not return the limerick notebook she has found.
If things could not get worse, Bingo Little arrives and asks for help in his unrequited love for Honoria. Bertie agrees to help if he can and also asks Gussie to get Madeleine to meet him in the garden so he can plead Gussie's case. They meet and Madeleine mistakes it as a declaration of love from Bertie. Spode meanwhile has discovered Bertie's relationship to Aunt Dahlia and threatens him not to get involved.
Bertie advises Bingo to express his feelings to Honoria as though they're for a friend. At Stiffy's insistence, Bertie then goes to Bassett and declares his love for Stiffy. A thunderstruck Bassett runs away into the next room where Madeleine tells him Bertie has proposed to her. Astonished, he runs to the next room where Honoria mistakenly believes Bingo was talking about Bertie. She tells Bassett she has agreed to Bertie's proposal and he leaves the house screaming while three women pronounce their undying love for Bertie.

Acte II

Jeeves suggests it would be best to leave the country now, Bertie disagrees and say he has to follow the Code of the Woosters and sort this all out. He asks Jeeves to spike Gussies orange juice at tea as Dutch courage may give him confidence. Dahlia arrives at the Towers and accuses Bertie of not helping her.
Stiffy now tells Bertie he must steal Bassett's silverware allowing Stinker to recover it and be declared a hero. Bertie has no choice as Stiffy has hidden the notebook in the silverware collection.
Bingo meanwhile is determined the way to woo Honoria - now smitten with Spode - is to beat Spode at Tennis. Spode cheats to defeat Bingo though leaving Honoria disgusted by Spode's tactics and Bingo's defeat. She declares Bertie is till the man for her. Spode warns Bertie off and he pleads with Jeeves for help, who hints he may found something of interest and mentioning the word Eulalie might have an effect.
Bertie's has a last ditch masterplan in which Bingo will apparently try to commit suicide out of love for Honoria, who Gussie will rescue impressing Madeleine. Bertie meanwhile will steal the silverware and retrieve the notebook and Dahlia's contract. Unfortunately, Jeeves has now spiked Gussie's drink.
At midnight, Bertie persuades Bingo to climb the hall railing for his 'suicide' attempt. Unfortunately Gussie has drunk himself into a stupour and Bertie props him up by the front door. Everything in place, he sets off the fire alarm. Bingo panics, slips and gets caught in the railings. The women rush from the house in panic, not even noticing Bingo. Spode and Bassett arrive and presume Bertie is not trying to save Bingo but to kill him - given further credence by the apparently dead Gussie. Bertie tries to escape but runs into Dahlia, disguised as Spode. Faced with two Spodes, Bertie remembers to shout Eulalie. Spode cringes away and Bertie escapes into the silver room, where he is floored by an over-enthusiastic Stinker.
Bertie awakes in bed to discover Jeeves recovered both the notebook and Dahlia's contract in the chaos. Stinker has proved his worth by stopping Bertie and Honoria and Madeleine believe Bingo and Gussie had been victims of exceptional bravery in also trying to thwart Bertie. The only problem is pages from the notebook have fallen out and have been found by Spode and the rest of the household.
In a rage, Spode come for Bertie who again shouts Eulalie, driving Spode away. Dahlia tears up the contract and berates Bertie, who is suddenly being with pity rather than as a criminal; Jeeves having announced Bertie's behaviour is caused by being a little weak in the head. Bertie decides they should take the cruise now and as he can't face everyone, he will leave by the window. Unfortunately, everyone is gathered outside and sees Bertie struggling to get away from Totleigh Towers.
The story finished, Jeeves announces he has obtained some special strings have arrived - muted unknown to Bertie - and there is time for a final unique rendition of Banjo Boy. Bertie leaves the stage asking Jeeves what precisely Eulalie means. (In the Wooster novels, Eulalie refers to Eulalie Soeurs, a lingerie shop in Bond Street of which Spode is the founder and proprietor of. A secret he is obviously not keen is revealed.)

1996: By Jeeves
About to give a charity banjo performance, Bertram Wooster discovers his banjo has been ‘stolen’ and replaced with a frying pan. With a call out for a replacement, his butler Jeeves suggests he instead recall one of his adventures with what props are available….
Bertie, under the assumed name of Gussie Fink-Nottle, is facing Judge Watkyn Bassett having knocked a policeman’s helmet off. He is sentenced but problems immediately arise. The real Gussie appears at Bertie's flat, pronouncing his love for Madeline, daughter of Bassett. To impress Bassett, he has taken Bertie’s name and pretended to be the owner of the flat.
Just to complicate matters, Basset also has a ward, Stephanie ‘Stiffy’ Byng, who wants Bertie to help her romance with The Revd Harold ‘Stinker’ Pinker. As Bertie has failed to respond, Stiffy has announced in The Times she is engaged to Bertie.
In a bid to prevent disaster and Bassett reading The Times, Bertie decides to go to Bassett’s home, Totleigh Towers. Driving to the Towers, he picks up his friend Bingo Little and his intended love, Honoria Glossop, along the way. Honoria and Bertie were once an item to the annoyance of Bingo, who believes Honoria still holds a flame for Bertie. At the Towers, they meet Bassett's guest, the American Cyrus Budge III - who also has eyes on Madeline – and just to confuse matters, Bertie introduces himself as Bingo Little and Bingo is introduced as Gussie….
At the end of the first act, Bertie is also Gussie and Bingo; Bingo is Gussie; Gussie is Bertie; Stiffy is ‘engaged’ to Bertie, but loves Stinker; Honoria fancies Bertie, but is loved by Bingo; Gussie longs for Madeline, but is afraid of Cyrus who also wants Madeline's affections. Everything is about to get much more confused….
Bertie decides to talk to Madeline on Gussie’s behalf, but she misinterprets his words and believes Bertie has declared his love for her. Gussie is enraged. Honoria has also proclaimed her love for Bertie, much to Bingo’s annoyance. The only woman apparently not interested in Bertie is Stiffy, who is 'engaged' to him.
With Bertie being blamed for everyone's woes, Stiffy comes up with a daring and risky plan. If only for Bertie. He will pretend to be a burglar, who will be thwarted by Stinker, thus putting the latter in a good light.
Bertie climbs a ladder – also intending to stop Bassett reading his Times - but enters the wrong room and, wearing and unable to remove a pig mask, is hunted through Totleigh Towers. Chaos erupts until Cyrus is accidentally knocked out by Stinker and becomes entangled in a fountain with Bertie. With Bertie’s identity as the cad and burglar about to be revealed, Jeeves steps in as deus ex machina, pauses the action, spins the fountain round and instead Cyrus is unmasked as the thief and cad.
Furthermore during the hunt through the house, the correct people have ended up with the correct partners much to everyone's satisfaction. Stinker is with Stiffy, Gussie is reunited with Madeline and Bingo is now with Honoria. Bassett has also been relieved of his copy of The Times. No-one believes this state of affairs has anything whatsoever to do with Bertie's actions and he has done little to help the situation.
The tale over, a banjo – muted unknown to Bertie – arrives and there is time for a final unique rendition of Banjo Boy.

By Jeeves (revival title)

Le 22 Avril 1975, au théatre Her Majesty de Londres, c'est la première de "Jeeves" avec David Hemmings (Blow Up) dans le rôle de Bertie Wooster et Michael Aldridge dans celui de Jeeves.
Mais avant même la première, Andrew Lloyd Webber est conscient des problèmes qui parasitent la comédie musicale : trop de texte entre les chansons, un livret pas suffisamment drôle , des chansons peu inspirées, et surtout un spectacle trop long.
Les critiques, le lendemain de la première, sont assassines.
On remanie, on coupe, on tente de réparer les dégats, mais c'est trop tard, au bout de 38 représentations devant un public parsemé, "Jeeves" ferme ses portes le 24 Mai 1975, à peine un mois plus tard.
L'album qui sort deux mois après l'arrêt du spectacle, ne se vend bien évidemment pas.
C'est un échec retentissant, qui va marquer durablement Andrew Lloyd Webber, même si ce sera le seul et unique flop de sa carrière.

1 By Jeeves peut-être considéré comme un Flop musical

1975: Jeeves)
Tim Rice conceived the idea of turning P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories into a musical. Originally, he was to work with his then-partner, Andrew Lloyd Webber, but Rice backed out of the project. Eventually Lloyd Webber teamed up with famed British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, and the two of them began work with the personal blessing of Wodehouse. Ayckbourn utilized characters and plot lines from several Jeeves and Wooster stories, notably-The Code of the Woosters. The action takes place at the East London Club for Unmanageable Boys, where Bertie Wooster is playing a banjo concert; his banjo keeps breaking down, so he is forced to tell stories to pass the time while Jeeves is sent off to fetch new strings. Bertie recounts how he managed to become engaged to three ladies simultaneously and how his valet Jeeves (through ingenious intervention) unravelled the complications.
Unfortunately, the loyalty to the Wodehouse material made for an epic length, (four and three-quarter hours at the Bristol tryouts) and reducing the duration made for creative tensions. Rows broke out about the presence of an all-male singing sextet accompanying Bertie Wooster and the realisation that the first woman did not appear on stage until thirty-five minutes had passed. Regardless of book-trouble, Lloyd Webber had provided a strong period score that eschewed all traces of the pop-inflections of his Jesus Christ Superstar. He seems to have lacked the confidence to orchestrate the score himself, so was prepared to pay for another's anonymous contributions. In the end, the sound of trumpets, banjos and saxophones flavouring this score were written by a group of arrangers: Keith Amos, Don Walker, Lloyd Webber himself and his future orchestrator, David Cullen.
The show opened in London on 22 April 1975 at Her Majesty's Theatre, starring David Hemmings as Bertie Wooster and Michael Aldridge as Jeeves. The role of Madeleine Bassett was performed by T.V. actress Gabrielle Drake. Other cast members included Debbie Bowen, Gordon Clyde, Angela Easterling, John Turner, Bill Wallis and David Wood. Actress Betty Marsden was cast as Aunt Dahlia, but the role and the accomplished actress were released before opening night.
The Director Eric Thompson (father of Actress- Emma) was alleged to be in over his head, trying to stage a small farce with a large group of singing chorus hanging around, near redundant. Thompson was fired just before the opening, so Ayckbourn himself stepped into the fray, aided by choreographer Christopher Bruce. It received mixed-to-poor reviews and closed after little over a month and 38 performances, on 24 May. Several critics noted that the authors failed to develop the title character, Jeeves not even having a solo song and unanimous condemnation of a long-winded and unfunny show. The original cast album (MCA Cat. No. MCF 2726) was recorded and released, but it is extremely hard to find. Lloyd Webber, reportedly acting on the advice of American Theatre Director- Harold Prince, withdrew the recording in order to be able to reuse some of the musical material in subsequent shows. Some London theatre fans tell (probably apocryphal) stories of Andrew Lloyd Webber going around London record shops to buy up the remaining copies of the album. The musical score does have some sprightly songs interwoven quite heavily into the plot.

1996: By Jeeves
Background : In 1996, Lloyd Webber and Ayckbourn decided to revisit the show, jettisoning most of the score and the entire original book. Retitled By Jeeves (so as to dispel all previous associations with the original production), the character of Roderick Spode and his fascistic intentions were eliminated from the plot. The character list was whittled down from 22 to 10, and the original orchestrations also underwent a reduction to a little band. Only three songs from the original show remained lyrically intact- "Banjo Boy", "Half a Moment" and "Travel Hopefully". The other songs and musical interludes were mostly new or reworked compositions by Lloyd Webber.
Productions : By Jeeves re-opened on 1 May 1996 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, an English seaside resort. Audience reaction was generally enthusiastic so the show moved on 2 July 1996 to London for a 12-week season at the fairly intimate Duke of York's Theatre. The show turned out to be more popular than first thought, and the run was extended to February 1997 with the show moved to The Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue.
Steven Pacey played Bertie Wooster and Malcolm Sinclair played his valet Jeeves. The Musical Director was Kate Young. The cast recording has an interesting format, taking a track between every song where Bertie and Jeeves discuss the plot. Pacey was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and By Jeeves also received nominations for Outstanding New Production and Best Costume Designer.
The show had its U.S. premiere on 12 November 1996, at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. U.S. actor John Scherer took the part of Bertie, and Richard Kline played Jeeves. The show was specially recorded and released on VHS and DVD where British actor Martin Jarvis took over from Richard Kline as Jeeves. It also had a brief run on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre, from 28 October 2001 (in previews October 16) to 30 December 2001, for 73 performances. Directed by Ayckbourn, the cast featured Scherer (Bertie) and Martin Jarvis (Jeeves) (who received the Theatre World Award).

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant By Jeeves

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant By Jeeves