Flora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by
John KanderJohn Harold Kander is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.-Biography:...
, and lyrics by
Fred EbbFred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera....
. The musical starred
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American singer and actress of film, stage and television. She is the daughter of entertainer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
for Best Actress in a Musical. This was the first collaboration between Kander and Ebb, who later wrote Broadway and Hollywood hits such as
Cabaret and
Chicago.
Although not full of well-known or show-stopping numbers, the score does present a valuable insight into the later work of Kander and Ebb. Like
Cabaret and
Chicago, it features a headstrong heroine with passion and idealism, and has a strong dose of political content.
Productions
Flora the Red Menace opened on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
at the Alvin Theatre on May 11, 1965 and closed on July 24, 1965, after 87 performances. Minnelli won the Tony Award, the youngest person to do so at age 19, until
Frankie MichaelsFrankie Michaels is an American actor of stage and film. He holds the record for being the youngest person to win a Tony Award at age ten for his performance in the Broadway musical Mame in 1966....
won in 1966 at age 11.
Flora was not written for Minnelli, as is sometimes said; Robert Russell was rumored to have written the show as a vehicle for
Barbra Streisand Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, film and theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer, liberal political activist, film producer, and film director. She has won two Academy Awards, ten Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, and a Peabody all by the age of...
. George Abbott became involved and thought it would be a vehicle for
Eydie GorméEydie Gormé is an American singer and chanteuse, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in traditional pop music, in the form of ballads and breezy swing. The couple are still active professionally .She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy and the Emmy...
. Receiving promising out-of-town reviews in New Haven and
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, the show was recorded two days before its Broadway opening. However, the New York critics were not enthusiastic, and when it closed it had lost almost all of its $400,000 investment.
The
New York Times reviewer wrote: "The voice [of Minnelli] is not yet distinctive... She is going to be a popular singer, all right. It [Flora the Red Menace] has the appearance of being pasted together with bits and pieces. A promising idea has not been enlivened by a creative spark."
The show was revived in New York at the
off-BroadwayOff Broadway theater is an umbrella term for a defined set of plays, musicals or revues performed in New York City. Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theatre District, the hub of the theater industry in the United...
Vineyard TheatreThe Vineyard Theatre is an off-Broadway non-profit theatre located in New York City. It is best known for its productions of the Tony award-winning musical Avenue Q, Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive and Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell's Obie award-winning musical title...
in December 1987 with a new book by David Thompson. Directed by
Scott EllisFor the technology expert Scott Ellis is an American stage director and television director.-Biography:He has directed numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, starting with the New York City Opera Company revivals at the New York State Theatre: A Little Night Music and 110 in the Shade ...
with choreography by
Susan StromanSusan Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director, and performer.-Early years:Stroman was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Frances and Charles Stroman. She was exposed to show tunes by her piano-playing salesman father. She began studying dance, concentrating on jazz,...
, Flora was played by
Veanne CoxVeanne Cox is an American stage and screen actress and former ballet dancer.Cox was born in Norfolk, Virginia. She studied ballet at the Washington School of Ballet, acting at the Studio Theatre's Conservatory and voice at Catholic University.Her Broadway debut was in the Marvin Hamlisch musical...
with
Peter FrechettePeter Frechette is an American film, stage and television actor.Born and raised in Coventry, Rhode Island, Frechette earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from the University of Rhode Island. Off-Broadway he has appeared in Absent Friends, The Destiny of Me, What the Butler Saw, and The...
as Harry.
The most recent professional production in the UK was at
Dundee Repertory TheatreDundee Repertory Theatre or Dundee Rep is a theatre and arts company in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house - staging at least six of its own productions each year, and a receiving house - hosting work from visiting companies throughout Scotland and the United...
, Scotland, autumn 2003.
The Reprise! Broadway's Best production at the Freud Theatre (
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
) ran from May 6, 2008 through May 18. The role of Flora was played by
Eden EspinosaEden Erica Espinosa is an American singer and stage actress.-Family:Eden Espinosa's parents are a pastor and Christian music composer, and a public school teacher. She also has a brother.-Career:...
.
Plot synopsis
Headstrong wannabe fashion designer Flora Mezaros (Liza Minnelli) is a member of an artists' co-operative of bohemian types - dancers, musicians, designers - struggling to find work during the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Hoping to find a job which pays at least $15 a week, she is hired by the head of a large department store at $30.
She falls in love with Harry Toukarian (
Bob DishyBob Dishy is an actor known for his deadpan humor. He is currently married to former The Electric Company actress Judy Graubart.In New York, he appeared on Broadway in:...
), another struggling designer, who attempts to convert Flora to his Communist ideals. Even though it compromises her job in an organisation which does not recognise the new unions she seeks to hold down both job and relationship. Complicating matters is a predatory Communist matriarch, Comrade Charlotte, (
Cathryn DamonCathryn Lee Damon was an American actress, best known for her roles on television sitcoms in the 1970s and 1980s....
) who wants Harry for herself, a secretary with designs on her boss, and Kenny and Maggie, a jazz dancing duo with their sights on greater things.
In the end, however, Flora finds herself torn between two vastly different ideals, and has to sacrifice one or the other for true happiness.
In the Vineyard Theatre revival, the story is told as though in a presentation by the
Federal Theatre ProjectThe Federal Theatre Project was a New Deal project to fund theatre and other live artistic performances in the United States during the Great Depression. It was one of five Federal One projects sponsored by the Works Projects Administration...
, part of the
WPAThe Works Progress Administration was the largest "New Deal" agency, employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations...
established by
President RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
(voiced by
Art CarneyArthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. Carney portrayed the upstairs neighbor and sewer worker Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners.-Personal life:Carney, youngest of six sons , was...
). A company of actors played all the roles, with obvious props and scenery, not trying to hide the 'amateur' look and feel of the show.
Songs
Act I
- Prologue -- Ensemble
- Unafraid -- Flora, Students and Ensemble
- All I Need Is One Good Break -- Flora, Harry Toukarian and Artists
- Not Every Day of the Week -- Flora and Harry Toukarian
- All I Need Is One Good Break (Reprise) -- Flora, Elsa and The Lady
- Sign Here -- Harry Toukarian
- The Flame -- Comrade Ada, Harry Toukarian and Comrades
- Palomino Pal -- The Lady and Cowboy
- A Quiet Thing -- Flora
- Hello, Waves -- Harry Toukarian and Flora
- Dear Love -- Flora and Ensemble
Act II
- Express Yourself -- Comrade Charlotte and Harry Toukarian
- Knock, Knock -- Comrade Ada and Cowboy
- Comrade Charlotte's Ballet (The Tree of Life) -- Comrade Charlotte, *Comrade Ada, Harry Toukarian and Ensemble
- Sing Happy -- Flora
- You Are You -- Mr. Weiss, Elsa, Flora, Mr. Stanley, Lulu, Katie and Joe
- Finale -- Entire Company
Recording
The Original Broadway cast recording was released by RCA Victor Broadway in May 1965; a CD was released March 10, 1992.
External links