By Steven Suskin THE BUCCANEER [Sepia 1059]
Back between the short and full versions of The Boy Friend, Wilson wrote another mini-musical. The Buccaneer opened at the Watergate in September 1953. After the successful relaunch of The Boy Friend, it was inevitable that a West End producer would commission a full-length edition of The Buccaneer. It opened at the Apollo on February 22, 1956, played there for a scant 29 performances and disappeared without a trace.
After 50 years, The Buccaneer is back, with its long-vanished original cast album surprisingly transferred to CD. Or not so surprisingly; due to British copyright law (which differs from the U.S. variety), cast albums of this vintage, under certain circumstances, become public domain. The recordings become public domain, that is; the songs themselves continue be protected. Readers of this column are aware that any number of rarities have shown up in the last few years. I know of at least two composer-lyricists who are thrilled to find their long-lost works back in circulation.
The Buccaneer was not a pirate show, mind you. As Wilson tells us in a charming liner note, the show was written in response to “the invasion from America of the so-called ‘Horror Comics’ which was threatening to corrupt our innocent children and led to questions being asked in the House of Commons.” The Buccaneer of the title was a traditional boys’ magazine, featuring “Good Clean Fun”; the plot centers on the battle to keep The Buccaneer in business.
As is the style with these British imports, The Buccaneer is stocked with additional material (some of which is only tangentially related). Fans of Sally Ann Howes will be glad to hear her on two tracks from Romance in Candlelight, a quick 1955 fizzle. This musical shared source material with the 1939 American musical flop, You Never Know. The British producer ignored the score by Cole Porter, which was pretty weak (other than “At Long Last Love”), and used songs by American tunesmith Sam Coslow. There are also, for very obscure reasons, two tracks from the 1943 Lisbon Story, which enjoyed a wartime run of more than a year at the Hippodrome.
Most interesting of the extras, perhaps, are two medley selections from the original 1957 Johannesburg production of The Boy Friend. Cast in the lead, believe it or not, is Hepburn. Not Audrey or Kate (who would have made quite a Polly, don’t you think?), but Shirley. . . .
— Steven Suskin, author of the forthcoming “Second Act Trouble” [Applause Books], “A Must See! Brilliant Broadway Artwork,” “Show Tunes” and the “Opening Night on Broadway” books. He can be reached by e-mail at Ssuskin@aol.com.
08 Jan 2006
British composer-lyricist Sandy Wilson burst upon the scene in April 1953 with The Boy Friend. First performed at a fringe theatre as a one-act trifle, the show was soon expanded to its familiar form and launched on both the West End (with Anne Rogers) and Broadway (with Julie Andrews) in 1954.
ON THE RECORD: Flaherty and Ahrens’ Dessa Rose and Sandy Wilson’s The Buccaneer
Fans of Wilson’s work are aware that the man had an uncanny ability to come up with exuberantly tuneful melody after exuberantly tuneful melody. While none of his shows lived up to the success of The Boy Friend, his several cast albums (including the highly enjoyable Divorce Me Darling and Valmouth) are full of high spirits and good cheer. Such is the case with The Buccaneer. This is not high-powered musical comedy nor innovative musical theatre; but if you want some cheerfully chipper songs, delivered in pert style by a friendly cast, The Buccaneer might well charm you. Kenneth Williams, playing a precocious 12-year-old, was the center of attention; not unnaturally so, as he turned 30 the day of the London opening. Three years later he starred in Carry On Nurse, the first of his 25 films in that popular series.
