Le monde des musicals

Musical (1938)

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Musique: Richard Rodgers •
Paroles: Lorenz M. Hart •
Livret: George Abott • William Shakespeare •
Production à la création:

The Boys from Syracuse est un musical avec de la musique de Richard Rodgers et des paroles de Lorenz Hart, basées sur la pièce de William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, adaptée par le librettiste George Abbott. La partition comprend du swing et d’autres rythmes contemporains des années '30. Le spectacle est le premier musical basé sur une pièce de Shakespeare.
La pièce est créée à Broadway en 1938. Le spectacle a reçu de très bonnes critiques et la musique est considérée comme l’une des meilleures des spectacles du duo Rodgers & Hart. Le spectacle a été un succès financier et a tenu l'affiche une saison, mais compte tenu des critiques les plus enthousiastes et la popularité des chansons, cette période est étonnamment courte.

Les jumeaux Antipholus d’Ephèse (Ronald Graham) et Antipholus de Syracuse (Eddie Albert), séparés quand ils étaient jeunes, ont pris des domestiques jumeaux, tous deux nommés Dromio (Teddy Hart et Jimmy Savo). Lorsque le duo de Syracuse vient à Ephèse, s'ensuit une comédie d’erreurs qui implique la femme Adriana (Muriel Angelus), sa sœur Luciana (Marcy Wescott), et d’autres dans la ville.

Acte I
We are in the ancient Asia Minor city of Ephesus, whose Duke has taken a novel approach to the balance of payments situation: anyone from the rival trading city of Syracuse caught in Ephesus is put to death, unless he can pay a large ransom. (Syracuse apparently does the same, so there.)
Sure enough, an aged merchant from Syracuse has been found and brought before the Duke, but all we hear of them, in a brilliant bit of musical theater, are two clarinets, an E flat and a bass (backed with other orchestration here). In I Had Twins, a Sergeant of Police reports the action to us and to a loony mob-chorus right out of Duck Soup, who can't wait for the axe to fall There's going to be a killing, hurrah, hurroo!.
The old merchant's story is a sad one: years before, in a storm at sea, he lost his wife and one of his twin sons (both of whom, with a remarkable lack of creativity, he had named Antipholus). One of the twin servant boys (both named Dromio; those wacky Syracusans) was also lost. More recently, the son who was saved has gone off in search of his lost brother, taking with him the other Dromio, and has failed to return. The old man, who now has no one, has come after them.
The Duke is unmoved; the merchant has no money; the execution is set for noon the next day, which provides the suspense. And for those who haven't already guessed, both Antipholuses and both Dromios happen to be in Ephesus right at this moment. The twin who was lost at sea is now a prosperous merchant with his servant; both are married, not unhappily, really, but not faithfully, either. The other two have just wandered into town, weary from their searches and about ready to give up. This Antipholus only wants to go back to Dear Old Syracuse. He tells his Dromio (Carroll) to book passage on the next ship out.
Across town, the other Dromio and his fat and otherwise insatiable wife, Luce are having another domestic squabble What Can You Do With A Man?
The other marriage in the house, that of Antipholus and Adriana, won't win any prizes either. Antipholus ignores his wife and dallies with courtesans, leaving her to complain to her sister Luciana about the crumbling of her illusions: Falling In Love With Love. Tired of waiting, Adriana sets out to drag him home.
The mistaken identities now begin to multiply, with a lot of Groucho-Chico business between the respective Antipholuses and Dromios; the Dromios get hit over the head with Punch-and-Judy frequency. Adriana finds the wrong Antipholus, and he - afraid to be unmasked as a Syracusan - reluctantly goes home with her. As we consider what might happen there, the other Antipholus reappears, with friends and courtesans, and makes it clear that he really does love his wife: The Shortest Day Of The Year. Back at the house, the complications increase: Antipholus of Syracuse, while fending off Adriana's advances, sees her sister, and for both of them it's love at first sight. As soon as Adriana is out of the room, they try to figure it out: This Can't Be Love.
As night falls, Adriana and Luce go off to bed with the wrong Antipholus and Dromio, just as the two husbands finally return home to find the doors already locked. Another crazy crowd forms, Adriana won't let the husbands in, and as the first-act curtain comes down, the rightful Antipholus and Dromio are going off to spend the night with courtesans.

Acte II
Act Two begins the next morning, with the emergence of the courtesans Ladies Of The Evening to tell their troubles to the cops, who have nothing better to do at this hour than to arrest them. At the home of Antipholus, Luce and the wrong Dromio have only just got out of bed when she catches him flirting with the housemaids, and the now-arguing couple archly imagine a very modern marriage in which both partners go off and do as they please: "He And She".
Adriana and the wrong Antipholus, however, have not consummated anything: he complained of a headache and went off to sleep alone; Adriana is therefore uncompromised. The unhappiest couple in Ephesus are now Luciana, in love with a man she believes is her sister's husband, and Antipholus of Syracuse, in love with a woman who pushes him away, pursued by another who claims to be his wife, and generally lost in the Twilight Zone. Fed Up, he tells Luciana he's getting on a ship and never coming back, however much he may miss her: You Have Cast Your Shadow On The Sea.
The next complication involves a gold chain, bought but not paid for by one Antipholus and given to the other. In the confusion the hometown Antipholus is arrested for non-payment, and sings , as he is hauled off by the cops, the laugh out loud-funny Come With Me (to jail). Back at the house, Luciana finally tells his Adriana what's been going on, and Adriana is more resigned than angry; it' s just the way men are. Luce joins them, and all agree it's best to Sing For Your Supper. Word arrives of Antipholus' arrest, and everyone charges to the rescue. One by one , the central characters wander into the market square , where we find the chief courtesan , who expected to receive the gold chain, complaining to everyone that she can't find an honest man Oh, Diogenes.
At the Temple of Justice, all knots are unravelled: the merchant is ransomed, his sons restored to him; Luciana and Antipholus of Syracuse have a clear path to the altar; Antipholus of Ephesus has learned to appreciate his wife, although we suspect he will still be no stranger to the courtesans; and Adriana, for her part, is told by a seeress, "The venom clamor of a jealous woman poisons more deadly than a mad dog's tooth." In case we missed this sole line retained from The Comedy Of Errors, one of the Dromios leaps out and cries, "Shakespeare!"

1 Boys from Syracuse (The) est une adaption à la scène d'une oeuvre littéraire: The Comedy of Errors - Shakespeare.

Comme le raconte l’histoire, Rodgers et Hart étaient dans un train pour Atlantic City, où leur I Married An Angel () était en répétition, quand Rodgers a demandé à Hart d'imaginé un spectacle basé sur Shakespeare. Aujourd’hui, bien sûr, après West Side Story () (considérée comme un des meilleurs musicals de l'histoire) et Rockabye Hamlet () (peut-être l'un des pires de l'histoire), et plusieurs spectacles entre les deux, l’idée aurait sans doute suscité à Hart une reponse du type: «Et pourquoi pas un opéra-rock?», mais au début de 1938, aucun musical basé sur Shakespeare n’avait atteint Broadway, et Hart a aimé le principe.
Il a particulièrement aimé l’idée de créer une opportunité pour son jeune frère, l’humoriste Teddy Hart. Teddy avait un problème: il ressemblait beaucoup à un autre comique plus connu, Jimmy Savo; mais la ressemblance pouvait être mise à profit dans une adaptation de The Comedy Of Errors, dans laquelle les rôles de basse comédie des jumeaux Dromios sont la base du spectacle.
Rodgers et Hart ont fait venir George Abbott, qui travaillait avec eux par intermittence depuis Jumbo () en 1935. Pour The Boys From Syracuse (), Abbott allait produire, mettre en scène et adapter la pièce. «Le livret qu’il a écrit était exactement ce que nous voulions», a rappelé Rodgers dans le New York Herald Tribune à l’époque du revival de 1963, «brillant, avançant rapidement, mais, dans son propre style loufoque, très dans la tradition grivoise shakespearienne.»
Le 23 novembre 1938, The Boys From Syracuse () a été, étonnamment, le sixième spectacle de Rodgers et Hart à Broadway en trois ans. Mais malgré une belle distribution qui comprenait Eddie Albert, Muriel Angelus et Burl Ives, les critiques ont été mitigées, et le spectacle a tenu l'affiche seulement 235 représentations. Pour la plupart des auteurs, cela aurait été un hit mais mais pas pour Rodegrs et Hartc'était une déception.
La chanson This Can’t Be Love, cependant, a atteint le top 10 national à deux reprises en 1938-39, dans les enregistrements de Horace Heidt puis de Benny Goodman en 1939. Falling In Love With Love de Frances Langford a été un second succès du spectacle.
Abbott met en scène et George Balanchine chorégraphie la production originale, qui ouvre sur Broadway à l'Alvin Theater le 23 novembre 1938, après des Try-Out à New Haven et Boston. Le spectacle ferme le 10 juin 1939 après 235 représentations. Il a mis en vedette Eddie Albert (Antipholus de Syracuse), Ronald Graham (Antipholus d’Ephèse), Teddy Hart (Dromio d’Ephèse), Jimmy Savo (Dromio de Syracuse), Muriel Angelus (Adriana) et Marcy Westcott (Luciana).
Le spectacle a été repris Off-Broadway au Theatre Four le 15 avril 1963 pour 500 représentations. Mise en scène par Christopher Hewett, la distribution met en vedette Stuart Damon (Antipholus of Syracuse), Clifford David (Antipholus of Ephesus), Danny Carroll (Dromio of Syracuse), Rudy Tronto (Dromio of Ephesus), Ellen Hanley (Adriana), Julienne Marie (Luciana) et Cathryn Damon.
Une production dans le West End de Londres a ouvert au Theatre Royal Drury Lane le 7 novembre 1963, basée sur la production off-Broadway, mettant en vedette Denis Quilley, Maggie Fitzgibbon, Paula Hendrix, Pat Turner, Sonny Farrar, Adam Deane, John Adams, Edward Atienza, Ronnie Corbett, Lynn Kennington et Bob Monkhouse.
Une version cinématographique est sortie le 9 août 1940 par Universal Pictures. Réalisé par A. Edward Sutherland, le film met en vedette Allan Jones dans les rôles doubles des deux Antipholus, Joe Penner dans les rôles doubles des Dromio, Martha Raye et Irene Hervey.
Un revival dirigé par Judi Dench a été monté au Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre à Londres en juillet et août 1991, et a fait un UK-Tour en septembre et octobre 1991. Louise Gold a joué Adriana.
Le revival du Roundabout Theatre a débuté à Broadway à l'American Airlines Theatre le 18 août 2002 pour 73 représentations et 29 previews. Le revival a présenté un nouveau livret de Nicky Silver basé sur le livret original. Il a été mis en scène par Scott Ellis avec des chorégraphies de Rob Ashford, et la distribution comprenait Jonathan Dokuchitz (Antipholus de Syracuse), Tom Hewitt (Antipholus d’Ephèse), Lee Wilkof (Dromio de Syracuse), Chip Zien (Dromio d’Ephèse), Erin Dilly (Luciana) et Lauren Mitchell (Adriana).

Acte I
“I Had Twins” (aka “He Had Twins”) (Bob Lawrence, James Wilkinson, Ensemble)
“Dear Old Syracuse” (Jimmy Savo, Eddie Albert; danced by Eddie Albert, Alice Craig, Vivien Moore, Lita Lede, Claire Wolf, Dancers)
“What Can You Do with a Man?” (Wynn Murray, Teddy Hart)
“Falling in Love with Love” (Muriel Angelus, Ladies)
“The Shortest Day of the Year” (Ronald Graham, Delores Anderson, Policemen; danced by Betty Bruce, Heidi Vosseler, George Church)
“This Can’t Be Love” (Marcy Wescott, Eddie Albert)
“Let Antipholus In” (Company)

Acte II
“Ladies of the Evening” (Bob Lawrence, James Wilkinson, Policemen, Courtezans; danced by Heidi Vosseler and George Church)
“He and She” (Wynn Murray, Jimmy Savo)
“You Have Cast Your Shadow on the Sea” (Marcy Wescott, Eddie Albert)
“Come with Me” (Bob Lawrence, Ronald Graham, James Wilkinson, John Clarke, Singers)
“Big Brother” (Teddy Hart)
“The Ballet” (aka “Big Brother Ballet” and “Twins’ Ballet”) (Jimmy Savo, Eddie Albert, Buddy Douglas, Heidi Vosseler, Robert Howard, Wynn Murray, Dancers)
“Sing for Your Supper” (Muriel Angelus, Marcy Wescott, Wynn Murray, Ladies; danced by Betty Bruce, ensemble)
“Oh, Diogenes” (Wynn Murray; danced by George Church, Betty Bruce, Ensemble)
Finale (“Happy Ending,” per program) (Ensemble)

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