ON THE RECORD: The Donmar's Parade and the Long-Lost Simply Heavenly
By Steven Suskin
SIMPLY HEAVENLY [Sepia 1105]Simply Heavenly , which leads to another question: "Did you ever hear Simply Heavenly ?" This is one of Broadway's long-forgotten musicals; even people who trade in the Happy Town s and Happy as Larry s turn a blank ear when someone brings up Langston Hughes' 1957 musical or — even more so — his twin obscurities The Barrier (four performances at the Broadhurst in 1950) and Tambourines to Glory (three weeks at the Little — now the Hayes — in October 1963).
Hughes, who is better known as a Harlem poet, has one relatively well-known musical to his credit, Street Scene . But that was written in collaboration with Kurt Weill. His other Broadway visits came with lesser-known composers, and don't even make it into the Broadway trivia conversations. I cannot find any information whatsoever about David Martin, his composer on this occasion; this despite some rather lively music in a jazzy blues style.
Simply Heavenly had an interesting history, at least. Hughes devised a gentle soul of a character named Jess Simple in a newspaper column in 1943. He kept Simple alive, featuring him in stories and novels including the 1953 "Simple Takes a Wife," which served as the nominal source material for the musical. (The musical's underwritten plot follows the episodic nature of the stories; Simple sits around in a bar, more or less, trying to raise enough money so he can get a divorce so he can marry the girl he loves.) Simply Heavenly attracted friendly notices when it opened in May 1957 in a West Side venue temporarily dubbed the 85th Street Playhouse. (As best I can tell, this was the auditorium of a church or convent.) The place was condemned as a fire-trap after five weeks, leaving Simple and his friends homeless. Abe Enklewitz, the manager of the Alvin, picked it up and moved it to his other Broadway spot, the Playhouse. (This theatre, on 48th Street near the Cort, is perhaps best remembered for its Pulitzer-winners, Street Scene and The Glass Menagerie. It was memorialized on celluloid — prior to demolition in 1968 — as the home of Springtime for Hitler in "The Producers.") Simply Heavenly opened on Aug. 20, 1957 — five weeks before West Side Story came to town — and struggled on for two months. The affair recongregated at the Renata on Bleecker Street a month later, for another two months. All told, Simple and his friends played 169 performances.
The show then moved to London, with Melvin Stewart recreating the title role, and opened at the Adelphi on May 20, 1958. Lasting only two weeks, alas. For reasons unknown, Simply Heavenly resurfaced in London at the Old Vic in March 2003. The production met with far greater success than heretofore, warranting an eventual transfer back to the West End for a seven-month run at the Trafalgar.
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Back in September 1957, Goddard Lieberson saw fit to bring the original cast into the studio. This is perhaps the rarest of the Columbia original cast albums, although those who have heard it are well aware that it is of significantly more interest than some of the more questionable Columbia entries. Mr. Stewart and Claudia McNeil (soon to move on to
A Raisin in the Sun ) lead the cast, with support from John Bouie, Anna English and another dozen players; Sticks Evans — how's that for a name? — leads a band of eight. Several of the numbers are very nice indeed, led by the blues that caps this review. Sepia has supplemented the original Broadway cast with Ms. McNeil's single of "Did You Ever Hear the Blues?" plus the 1956 album "Jazz Singer," which features Bertice Reading — of the 1958 West End cast — and the Art Simmons Quartet.
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As a member of the 2008 Tony Award Nominating Committee, it is impolitic for me to comment upon this season's crop of musicals prior to Nomination Day. Cast albums have begun to appear from some of these new shows, to whit: Grease [Masterworks Broadway 88697-16398], Xanadu [PS Classics PS-858] and The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein [Decca Broadway B0010374]. All three faithfully reproduce the scores of the shows in question, and make suitable souvenirs of their respective experiences.
(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)
