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And now at long last the wait is over. That is, for those of you who were unavailable, otherwise disposed, or unborn on Nov. 16, 1966, when Evening Primrose [E One] was telecast as part of the ABC Stage 67 series. For the one and only time; this 50-minute original television musical was fated never to air again, and has never been issued on VHS, DVD or anything. A copy has been available for viewing at the Paley Center (formerly The Museum of Television and Radio), and a bootleg has long been making the rounds of collectors. Otherwise, "Evening Primrose" has been invisible lo these 44 years.

And what of it? Ah, those who ask must not be Sondheim fans. Stephen Sondheim was already well established in 1966, with both A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) and Anyone Can Whistle (1964) on his composer resume (as well as a couple of popular shows for which he'd written the lyrics). But Sondheim was to enter a new stage in his creative life — and those into hyperbole might say singlehandedly changed the course of the Broadway musical — with Company (1970) and Follies (1971). And the four songs in this long-hidden "Evening Primrose" can be said to represent the first appearance of this new, improved, and incomparable Sondheim.

Sondheim, at the time, was severely underemployed. He was working with playwright James Goldman on a musical called The Girls Upstairs, which had been announced by his Gypsy producers but seemed to be permanently stalled. So when the Stage 67 project came along, Sondheim and Goldman wangled one of the slots for an original musical based on a macabre story by John Collier. Macabre in that the characters — refugees from the real world — live by night in a big city department store, with a very real risk of being transformed into very dead mannequins.

"Evening Primrose" is not great dramatic art, no. But the songs! If we say they are the harbinger of the mature Sondheim of the Company/Follies era, there is a reason. The Girls Upstairs, after six years or so, would finally see life — in rewritten form — as Follies. Thus, some of the songs — like "Waiting Around for the Girls Upstairs," a critical part of the Sondheim canon — were written prior to "Evening Primrose." Listening to the four songs in the 50-minute TV musical — "I'm Here," "I Remember," "Wait" and "Take Me to the World" — we hear the sound that by 1973 would be recognizable as distinctive Sondheim.

In addition to the music, "Evening Primrose" gives us Anthony Perkins — at the time a major motion picture star — as a conflicted thirty-something New York City poet; the same Anthony Perkins who was originally announced as star of the forthcoming Company. Was the role of Bobby created with Perkins, a friend of Sondheim's, in mind? Perhaps. Watching him in "Evening Primrose," we can see how well he would have fit in Company.

The DVD also gives us a chance to see Dorothy Stickney — star of the record-breaking Life with Father, wife to playwright Howard Lindsay, sort of a Helen Hayes without the extreme talent. Also on hand is Charmian Carr, who had recently made a splash as Liesl in the screen version of The Sound of Music. As Ella, Perkins' love interest among the night people, Ms. Carr turns out to be pretty good. And she does a great job with "I Remember." Bonus features include an interview with director Paul Bogart; an audio interview with Ms. Carr; and test footage of Perkins. This last isn't of much interest, as there is no sound included; it does however show us what "Evening Primrose" might have looked like in color. (The DVD has been reproduced from a black-and-white copy of the show, as no color print has been located.)

Read Playbill.com's recent conversation with Paul Bogart, the director of the 1966 TV production.