Halfway Up the Tree

Last updated
Halfway Up the Tree
Written by Peter Ustinov
Date premiered 7 November 1967
Original language English
Genre comedy

Halfway Up the Tree is a comedy play about a British general who pretends to be a hippie. [1] It was originally a stage vehicle for Robert Morley.

Robert Morley English actor

Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, often in supporting roles. In Movie Encyclopedia, film critic Leonard Maltin describes Morley as "recognisable by his ungainly bulk, bushy eyebrows, thick lips and double chin, ... particularly effective when cast as a pompous windbag." More politely, Ephraim Katz in his International Film Encyclopaedia describes Morley as "a rotund, triple-chinned, delightful character player of the British and American stage and screen." In his autobiography, Responsible Gentleman, Morley said his stage career started with managements valuing his appearance for playing "substantial gentleman" roles — as a doctor, lawyer, accountant or other professional member of society.

The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway .

William Goldman American novelist, screenwriter and playwright

William Goldman was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and All the President's Men (1976). His other works include his thriller novel Marathon Man and comedy-fantasy novel The Princess Bride, both of which he adapted for the film versions.

<i>The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway</i> book by William Goldman

The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway is an account of the 1967–68 season on and off Broadway by American novelist and screenwriter William Goldman. It was originally published in 1969 and is considered one of the best books ever written on American theater. In The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt called the book “Very nearly perfect. ... It is a loose-limbed, gossipy, insider, savvy, nuts-and-bolts report on the annual search for the winning numbers that is now big-time American commercial theatre.”

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References

  1. Playbill listing for the play accessed 15 June 2013
Internet Broadway Database online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel

The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community. The website also has a corresponding app for both the IOS and Android.