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Promenade (musical)
Encyclopedia
Promenade is an experimental musical with book and lyrics by María Irene Fornés
and music by Rev. Al Carmines
. The show itself, although a musical comedy, originally produced off-broadway by Edgar Lansbury & Joseph Beruh, falls more into the category of Theatre of the Absurd
. The most fitting description was given by Stephen Holden
in a review in the New York Times for a 1983 New York revival: "This work, which suggests a mixture of Candide
and Samuel Beckett
viewed through Lewis Carroll
's looking glass, is a little too avant-garde
and absurdist
to appeal to mainstream tastes. But in its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater."
, 55 Washington Square, NYC, where it played for three weekends.
It went on to a commercial run off-Broadway, at the Promenade Theatre (for which it was named), produced by Edgar Lansbury & Joseph Beruh,opening on June 4, 1969. It was the show to see in its time. The cast was superb, led by Madeline Kahn, playing the role of the Servant, but also including Shannon Bolin (Damn Yankees, Denny's Restaurants "Lenny's"), Ty McConnell (Ryan's Hope:TV), Gilbert Price (Roar of the Greasepaint), Alyce Playton (Oliver, Seussical, "Alka Seltzer:Marshmallowed Meatballs" etc etc), Michael Davis (Coco, 1776, Company etc etc), Carrie wilson (Lincoln Center & The Pinter Plays). When Ms Kahn left Promenade to make her first film "What's Up Doc", she was replaced by Sandra Schaeffer, an unknown singer from the NYC Opera and understudied by Marie Santell. However, despite a lovely voice, Ms Schaeffer was no Madeline Kahn so the producers brought in the talented Pamela Hall, in the hopes of reclaiming its initial appeal. (Ms Hall went on to impressively direct the revival of Promenade in 2010.) After a successful run, Promenade closed on January 18, 1970 after 259 performances.
"Promenade is listed in the "Time Life Decade Book Series" as an "anti-Viet Nam War" statement...perhaps because of the scene towrds the end where rich people are dancing in a maypole around the two convicts who are now dressed in bandages as war victims.
It was said, and this is perhaps a cast joke, that Rev Carmines and Ms Fornes got together one evening and each said that they had lyrics and songs that they loved but that had never been included in a musical. So they threw them in a hat and pulled out a batch which they then wrote a story around. Thus became the interesting and eclectic "Promenade".
Complete original cast:
Originally, Columbia was interested in recording the cast album as a two-record set, but after a disagreement between the record company and the cast over salaries, Columbia abandoned the project. RCA agreed to record the album, but only as a single LP. By the time the recording was finally made Ms. Kahn was no longer available, having gone on to Hollywood to star in films. And so the role was sung on the album by Sandy Schaeffer. Cast members George S. Irving and Mark Allen III were on vacation, and so their musical numbers were not recorded. Because of the time limitations of a single disc, several production numbers, including "Spring Beauties" and "The Laughing Song," also were not recorded. The recording, such as it is, can be found on CD (RCA Victor 09026 63333 2).
Scenes and Musical Numbers
ACT 1
SCENE 1: THE CELL
Promenade Theme—Orchestra
Dig Dig Dig* -- 105 & 106
SCENE 2: THE BANQUET ROOM
Unrequited Love—Misses I, O, U, Messrs. R, S, T, Servant, Waiter, 105, 106
Isn't That Clear—Mr. S with Ensemble
Don't Eat It* -- Ensemble
Four (Naked Lady) -- Misses I, O, U, Messrs. R, S, T, Servant, Waiter, 105, 106, Dishwasher
Chicken Is He—Rosita
The Moment Has Passed—Miss O
A Flower—Miss I
Rosita Rodriguez* -- Mayor
Apres Vous* -- 105, 106, Jailor
Bliss* -- Servant, 105, 106, and Ensemble
SCENE 3: THE STREET
The Cigarette Song—Servant, 105, 106
Thank You* -- Dishwasher
The Clothes Make The Man—Servant, 105, 106
Two Little Angels—Mother, 105, 106
The Passing of Time—105, 106
Capricious and Fickle (You Cad) -- Miss U
Crown Me—Servant, 105, 106
ACT 2
SCENE 1: THE BATTLEFIELD
Mr. Sidney N. Phelps* -- Waiter
Madeline* -- Waiter
Spring Beauties* -- Ensemble
Apres Vous (reprise)* -- Ensemble
A Poor Man (When I Was Born) -- 105, 106
Why Not? (Promenade Theme)* -- Servant, 105, 106, Mother, Dishwasher, Waiter
SCENE 2: THE DRAWING ROOM
The Finger Song* -- Mr. R, Ensemble
Little Fool—Mr. T, Ensemble
Chardiz* -- Servant
The Laughing Song* -- Ensemble
A Mother's Love* -- Mother
SCENE 3: THE CELL
Listen, I Feel—Servant
I Saw A Man—Mother
All is Well in the City—105, 106, Ensemble
(*Not on the original cast recording)
2010 Concert Cast:
María Irene Fornés
María Irene Fornés is a Cuban-American avant garde playwright and director who is associated with the establishment of the Off-off-Broadway movement in the 1960s. Fornes themes focused on poverty and feminism. In 1965, she won her first Obie Award for Promenade and her second for The Successful...
and music by Rev. Al Carmines
Al Carmines
Reverend Alvin Allison "Al" Carmines, Jr. was a key figure in the expansion of Off-Off-Broadway theatre in the 1960s.Carmines was born in Hampton, Virginia...
. The show itself, although a musical comedy, originally produced off-broadway by Edgar Lansbury & Joseph Beruh, falls more into the category of Theatre of the Absurd
Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work...
. The most fitting description was given by Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
in a review in the New York Times for a 1983 New York revival: "This work, which suggests a mixture of Candide
Candide
Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best ; Candide: or, The Optimist ; and Candide: or, Optimism...
and Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
viewed through Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's looking glass, is a little too avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
and absurdist
Absurdism
In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any...
to appeal to mainstream tastes. But in its odd way it's an exquisite piece of musical theater."
Original production
Promenade premiered on April 9, 1965 at the Judson Poets' Theatre, Judson Memorial ChurchJudson Memorial Church
The Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson and Sullivan Streets, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City...
, 55 Washington Square, NYC, where it played for three weekends.
It went on to a commercial run off-Broadway, at the Promenade Theatre (for which it was named), produced by Edgar Lansbury & Joseph Beruh,opening on June 4, 1969. It was the show to see in its time. The cast was superb, led by Madeline Kahn, playing the role of the Servant, but also including Shannon Bolin (Damn Yankees, Denny's Restaurants "Lenny's"), Ty McConnell (Ryan's Hope:TV), Gilbert Price (Roar of the Greasepaint), Alyce Playton (Oliver, Seussical, "Alka Seltzer:Marshmallowed Meatballs" etc etc), Michael Davis (Coco, 1776, Company etc etc), Carrie wilson (Lincoln Center & The Pinter Plays). When Ms Kahn left Promenade to make her first film "What's Up Doc", she was replaced by Sandra Schaeffer, an unknown singer from the NYC Opera and understudied by Marie Santell. However, despite a lovely voice, Ms Schaeffer was no Madeline Kahn so the producers brought in the talented Pamela Hall, in the hopes of reclaiming its initial appeal. (Ms Hall went on to impressively direct the revival of Promenade in 2010.) After a successful run, Promenade closed on January 18, 1970 after 259 performances.
"Promenade is listed in the "Time Life Decade Book Series" as an "anti-Viet Nam War" statement...perhaps because of the scene towrds the end where rich people are dancing in a maypole around the two convicts who are now dressed in bandages as war victims.
It was said, and this is perhaps a cast joke, that Rev Carmines and Ms Fornes got together one evening and each said that they had lyrics and songs that they loved but that had never been included in a musical. So they threw them in a hat and pulled out a batch which they then wrote a story around. Thus became the interesting and eclectic "Promenade".
Complete original cast:
| 105 | Ty McConnell (replaced during the run by Kenneth Carr) |
| 106 | Gilbert Price (replaced during the run by Tony Falco) |
| Jailer | Pierre Epstein |
| Servant | Madeline Kahn (replaced shortly after opening by Sandra Schaeffer(on album) (Understudy Marie Santell)and later by Pamela Hall) |
| Miss I | Margot Albert |
| Miss O | Carrie Wilson |
| Miss U | Alice Playten |
| Mr. R | Marc Allen III |
| Mr. S | Glenn Kezer |
| Mr. T | Michael Davis |
| Miss Cake (Rosita) | Florence Tarlow |
| Waiter | Edmund Gaynes |
| Dishwasher | Art Ostrin |
| Mayor | George S. Irving |
| Mother | Shannon Bolin (replaced during the run by Mary Jo Catlett) |
Originally, Columbia was interested in recording the cast album as a two-record set, but after a disagreement between the record company and the cast over salaries, Columbia abandoned the project. RCA agreed to record the album, but only as a single LP. By the time the recording was finally made Ms. Kahn was no longer available, having gone on to Hollywood to star in films. And so the role was sung on the album by Sandy Schaeffer. Cast members George S. Irving and Mark Allen III were on vacation, and so their musical numbers were not recorded. Because of the time limitations of a single disc, several production numbers, including "Spring Beauties" and "The Laughing Song," also were not recorded. The recording, such as it is, can be found on CD (RCA Victor 09026 63333 2).
Scenes and Musical Numbers
ACT 1
SCENE 1: THE CELL
Promenade Theme—Orchestra
Dig Dig Dig* -- 105 & 106
SCENE 2: THE BANQUET ROOM
Unrequited Love—Misses I, O, U, Messrs. R, S, T, Servant, Waiter, 105, 106
Isn't That Clear—Mr. S with Ensemble
Don't Eat It* -- Ensemble
Four (Naked Lady) -- Misses I, O, U, Messrs. R, S, T, Servant, Waiter, 105, 106, Dishwasher
Chicken Is He—Rosita
The Moment Has Passed—Miss O
A Flower—Miss I
Rosita Rodriguez* -- Mayor
Apres Vous* -- 105, 106, Jailor
Bliss* -- Servant, 105, 106, and Ensemble
SCENE 3: THE STREET
The Cigarette Song—Servant, 105, 106
Thank You* -- Dishwasher
The Clothes Make The Man—Servant, 105, 106
Two Little Angels—Mother, 105, 106
The Passing of Time—105, 106
Capricious and Fickle (You Cad) -- Miss U
Crown Me—Servant, 105, 106
ACT 2
SCENE 1: THE BATTLEFIELD
Mr. Sidney N. Phelps* -- Waiter
Madeline* -- Waiter
Spring Beauties* -- Ensemble
Apres Vous (reprise)* -- Ensemble
A Poor Man (When I Was Born) -- 105, 106
Why Not? (Promenade Theme)* -- Servant, 105, 106, Mother, Dishwasher, Waiter
SCENE 2: THE DRAWING ROOM
The Finger Song* -- Mr. R, Ensemble
Little Fool—Mr. T, Ensemble
Chardiz* -- Servant
The Laughing Song* -- Ensemble
A Mother's Love* -- Mother
SCENE 3: THE CELL
Listen, I Feel—Servant
I Saw A Man—Mother
All is Well in the City—105, 106, Ensemble
(*Not on the original cast recording)
2010 Concert
On Monday, April 12, 2010, a semi-staged concert of Promenade was performed Off-Broadway at New York City's New World Stages (Stage 2) as the first of a planned series called Legacy: the Musicals of Off-Broadway. It was produced by Edmund Gaynes and directed by Pamela Hall. Ken Lundie was music director.2010 Concert Cast:
| 105 | Brian Childers |
| 106 | Tim Ewing |
| Jailer | Gene Castle |
| Servant | Julie Cardia |
| Miss I | Victoria Mallory |
| Miss O | Neva Small |
| Miss U | Andrea McArdle |
| Mr. R | Ron Spivak |
| Mr. S | Jim Brochu |
| Mr. T | James Donegan |
| Miss Cake (Rosita) | Virginia Seidel |
| Waiter | Allen E. Read |
| Dishwasher | Joshua Nicholson |
| Mayor | Dale Radunz |
| Mother | Loni Ackerman |