King's Rhapsody

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Original programme cover, Palace Theatre, 1949 King's Rhapsody (1949 stage musical).jpg
Original programme cover, Palace Theatre, 1949

King's Rhapsody is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall.

Contents

The musical was first produced at the Palace Theatre, London, on 15 September 1949 and ran for 841 performances, surviving its author, who died in 1951. [1] It starred Novello in the title role of the heir to the throne under pressure from his long-lived mother, Queen Elana, to abdicate in favour of his infant son, [1] with Phyllis Dare as his mistress Marta Karillos, Zena Dare as Queen Elana, Vanessa Lee as Princess Cristiane, Robert Andrews as Vanescu, and Olive Gilbert as Countess Vera. [2]

A 1955 film adaptation was made, starring Errol Flynn. [3]

Musical numbers

Original Production

The production opened at the Palace Theatre, London, on 15 September 1949 and ran for 841 performances. [1] It was directed by Murray MacDonald, with the following cast:

The dancers were played by the Pauline Grant Ballet. [2]

Critical reception

In The Observer , Ivor Brown was of the opinion that Novello, "can with his tranquility stand up to all the bounding Oklahomans and Brigadooners in the world"; and in The Sunday Times , Harold Hobson considered it "a better musical than South Pacific ." [4]

Adaptations

The musical was novelised in 1950 by Hester W. Chapman. [5] The 1955 British film version was directed by Herbert Wilcox, and starred Errol Flynn as Nikki and Anna Neagle as his mistress. [3] A condensed 45-minute version, taken from the film's soundtrack, was broadcast as a BBC Radio play in September 1955. [6]

The piece was produced for BBC Radio in 1950, [7] 1951, [8] 1968 [9] and 1993 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Novello's birth. [10]

A television version was broadcast in 1957 by the BBC, who (according to the Radio Times ) "ingeniously cut the three and a quarter hours of the original action to an hour and a half." Vanessa Lee reprised her role of Princess Cristiane from the original stage production, and Griffith Jones played Nikki, with Margot Grahame as his mistress. [11]

Further reading

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Simon Callow (3 August 2012). "Ivor Novello, master of the musical". The Guardian . Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 "King's Rhapsody". The Guide to Musical Theatre. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 "King's Rhapsody (1955) - Herbert Wilcox - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  4. Ortolano, Scott (14 December 2017). Popular Modernism and Its Legacies: From Pop Literature to Video Games. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN   978-1501325120 via Google Books.
  5. Chapman, Hester W. King's Rhapsody, Houghton Mifflin (1951) ASIN: B0006ASO66
  6. "King's Rhapsody radio adaptation (1955)". BBC Genome.
  7. "On Stage, London: King's Rhapsody (1950)". BBC Genome.
  8. "King's Rhapsody (1951)". BBC Genome.
  9. "King's Rhapsody (1968)". BBC Genome.
  10. "King's Rhapsody (1993)". BBC Genome.
  11. "King's Rhapsody · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk.