Lock Up Your Daughters (musical)

Last updated

Lock Up Your Daughters is a musical based on the 1730 comedy Rape upon Rape , by Henry Fielding, and adapted by Bernard Miles. The lyrics were written by Lionel Bart and the music by Laurie Johnson. It was first produced on the London stage in 1959.

Contents

In 1969, it was made into a film starring Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, and Glynis Johns, but the songs were deleted.

Productions

Lock Up Your Daughters opened in London at the Mermaid Theatre on 28 May 1959, where it ran for 328 performances. This was the first production at the theatre. Directed by Peter Coe with choreography by Gilbert Vernon, and stage design by Sean Kenny, it featured Stephanie Voss (Hilaret Politic), Hy Hazell (Mrs. Squeezum), Terence Cooper (Capt. Constant), Frederick Jaeger (Ramble), John Sharp (Politic), Brendan Barry (Dabble), Richard Wordsworth (Squeezum), and Keith Marsh (Sotmore). A revival opened at the Mermaid Theatre on 17 May 1962 and ran for 664 performances. The director was Richard Wordsworth, with choreography by Denys Palmer. [1]

Another revival ran in the West End at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1963 with Hy Hazell as (Mrs. Squeezum) and Sally Smith as Hilaret.

A Broadway version of the show was planned but closed on the road in 1960. It was directed by Alfred Drake, and featured Nancy Dussault as Hilaret, John Michael King and George S. Irving, and Hy Hazell repeating her role as Mrs. Squeezum. [2] [3]

An Australian production opened at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne in April 1961, and toured to Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. [4]

The Goodspeed Opera House (Connecticut) has performed the show twice, in 1969 and 1982. The 1982 production was directed by Bill Gile (Darwin Knight was credited) and featured Carleton Carpenter (Mr. Squeezum), Dena Olstad (Hilaret), Keith Rice, (Constant), and Jeff McCarthy (Ramble).(Mr. Carpenter published a comic murder mystery about the production called "The Peabody Experience"). [5] [6]

Plot summary

Note: there is one set, which serves as a street scene, Justice Squeezum's courtroom, Mrs Squeezum's boudoir, a tavern bar-room, Politic's parlour, Hilaret's bedroom, a prison cell, an upstairs room at the tavern, and Justice Worthy's courtroom.

In London, 1735, naive young Hilaret leaves the over-protective walls of her father's house resolved to elope with her beloved Captain Constant. She charges Ramble with rape, and her maid Cloris charges Constant with rape. The cases are tried by the corrupt justice, Mr. Squeezum.

Characters

Singing Principals
Other characters

Songs

Film

The film based on the musical and play was directed by the musical's director, Peter Coe. It was released in the UK in March 1969 and in the US in October 1969. Filmed in Kilkenny, Ireland by Domino Films it ran for 102 minutes. The film originally was given an "X" certificate (over 18's) by the UK Censor, but it was given a "15" on video.

In his review, Roger Greenspun wrote: "...a three-strand plot that has been so smothered in atmosphere, activity and authenticity that even the great traditions of theatrical untruth cannot breathe life into it. The production values of "Lock Up Your Daughters!" are ambitious enough to fill three movies, but they are not sufficient to substitute for one." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Bart</span> British composer and writer (1930–1999)

Lionel Bart was a British writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical Oliver! (1960). With Oliver! and his work alongside theatre director Joan Littlewood at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, he played an instrumental role in the 1960s birth of the British musical theatre scene after an era when American musicals had dominated the West End.

<i>High Button Shoes</i> Musical

High Button Shoes is a 1947 musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by George Abbott and Stephen Longstreet. It was based on the semi-autobiographical 1946 novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Stephen Longstreet. The story concerns the comic entanglements of the Longstreet family with two con men in Atlantic City.

Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Mamma Mia!, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.

<i>Animal Crackers</i> (musical)

Animal Crackers is a musical play with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical starred the Marx Brothers and is set at the Long Island Home of Mrs. Rittenhouse; a character portrayed by Margaret Dumont in the 1928 production on Broadway.

<i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</i> (musical) 1949 musical

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a musical with a book by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos, lyrics by Leo Robin, and music by Jule Styne, based on the best-selling 1925 novel of the same name by Loos. The story involves an American woman's voyage to Paris to perform in a nightclub.

<i>Carmelina</i>

Carmelina is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Alan Jay Lerner, lyrics by Lerner, and music by Burton Lane.

Jenn Gambatese is an American actress and singer. Gambatese has performed in the musical production of Disney's Tarzan as Jane. Gambatese also played Glinda on the first National Tour of Wicked.

<i>Seven Brides for Seven Brothers</i> (musical)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a musical with a book by Lawrence Kasha and David Landay, music by Gene de Paul, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. It is based on the 1954 Stanley Donen film of the same name which is, itself, an adaption of the short story "The Sobbin' Women," by Stephen Vincent Benét, based on the Ancient Roman legend of The Rape of the Sabine Women.

<i>Ankles Aweigh</i>

Ankles Aweigh is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Eddie Davis, lyrics by Dan Shapiro, and music by Sammy Fain. The plot involves Hollywood starlet Wynne, who secretly marries a Navy pilot while filming a movie in Sicily. She disguises herself as a sailor and stows away on his ship to grab a covert honeymoon. They get mixed up with an espionage ring.

Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominated role as Trina in the original Broadway production of Falsettos, as well as her turn as Joanne in the 2006 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Millar</span> English actress and singer

Irene Mary Wetton, better known by her stage name Mary Millar, was an English actress and singer best remembered for her role as the second actress to play Rose in the successful BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances from 1991 to 1995 and for originating the role of Madame Giry in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera

<i>King of Hearts</i> (musical)

King of Hearts is a 1978 musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Jacob Brackman, and music by Peter Link, orchestrated by Bill Brohn. It is based on the 1966 anti-war cult film of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M'el Dowd</span> American actress and singer

Mary Ellen Dowd was an American stage, musical theatre and film actress, and singer, whose career spanned half a century. Beginning in Shakespeare roles and films in the 1950s, Dowd continued to perform on stage, film and television into the 21st century. A frequent performer on Broadway in the 1960s, Dowd originated the role of Morgan le Fay in the musical Camelot.

Peter Bayliss was an English actor. Bayliss was born in Kingston upon Thames and trained at the Italia Conti Academy and the John Gielgud Company. More than six feet tall, with a voice to match, he supplemented it with a barrage of wheezings, croakings, mutterings and, as the opera singer in Frontiers of Farce, garglings. In 1956 he appeared on stage in "The Matchmaker" at the Royale Theatre in New York and in 1960 he appeared in "Ross" at the Royal Haymarket Theatre in London. His 20 films ranged from The Red Shoes (1948) to Darling (1965). He acted in more than 40 television productions including Please Sir!, The Sweeney, Coronation Street, Lovejoy and The Bill, plus dramas like Bye, Bye Columbus (1990), Merlin (1998) and The Arabian Nights (1999). On radio he was particularly good in Jacobean adaptations, playing characters with names such as Sir Moth-Interest and Walter Whorehound. He appeared in more than 100 theatre productions. He made several films for the Children's Film Unit in his later years.

<i>Lock Up Your Daughters</i> (1969 film) 1969 British film

Lock Up Your Daughters! is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Peter Coe and starring Christopher Plummer, Susannah York and Glynis Johns. It is an adaptation of the 1959 stage musical of the same name set in 18th-century Britain, which in turn is based on the 1730 comedy, Rape upon Rape, by Henry Fielding. It lacks all the songs from the original stage production. It was one of a number of British costume films released in the wake of the success of the 1963 film Tom Jones.

<i>Rape upon Rape</i>

Rape upon Rape; or, The Justice Caught in his own Trap, also known as The Coffee-House Politician, is a play by Henry Fielding. It was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre on 23 June 1730. The play is a love comedy that depicts the corruption rampant in politics and in the justice system. When two characters are accused of rape, they deal with the corrupt judge in separate manners. Though the play was influenced by the rape case of Colonel Francis Charteris, it used "rape" as an allegory to describe all abuses of freedom, as well as the corruption of power, though it was meant in a comedic, farcical manner.

Barbara Cason was an American character actress.

<i>Oh! Calcutta!</i> Avant-garde, risque theatrical revue (1969)

Oh! Calcutta! is an avant-garde, risqué theatrical revue created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in the West End in 1970. It ran in London for over 3,900 performances, and in New York initially for 1,314. Revivals enjoyed even longer runs, including a 1976 Broadway revival that ran for 5,959 performances, making the show the longest-running revue in Broadway history, the second longest-running revival (after Chicago, and the eighth longest-running Broadway show ever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Gattelli</span>

Christopher Gattelli is an American choreographer, performer and theatre director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hy Hazell</span> English film actress (1919–1970)

Hyacinth Hazel O'Higgins, stage name Hy Hazell, was a British actress of theatre, musicals and revue as well as a contralto singer and film actress. AllMusic described her as "an exuberant comic actor and lively singer and dancer". A pretty brunette, with long legs, she was billed as Britain's answer to Betty Grable.

References

  1. Green, Stanley (1980). Encyclopedia Of The Musical Theatre. Da Capo Press. pp.  259. ISBN   0-306-80113-2.
  2. Mandelbaum, Ken.The Insider, broadway.com, September 26, 2005
  3. Mandelbaum, Ken."Q & A: 9/9/05", broadway.com, September 9, 2005
  4. "AusStage - Lock Up Your Daughters". www.ausstage.edu.au. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  5. Goodspeed listings
  6. Frankel, Haskel. "A BIT OF FROTHY FUN AT THE GOODSPEED", New York Times, May 9, 1982
  7. "Lock Up Your Daughters! A Comic Resolution", New York Times, October 16, 1969