Madame Aphrodite (musical)
Encyclopedia
Madame Aphrodite was a short-lived off-Broadway
musical by playwright Tad Mosel
and composer/lyricist Jerry Herman
, which ran for 13 performances in 1961. It is notable as the only stage musical in the entire Jerry Herman canon (which includes smash hits such as Hello Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles as well as less successful but highly respected flops like Dear World
, Mack & Mabel
and The Grand Tour
) that never spawned an original cast album, and has never been performed since its original production.
series, starred Ruth White
in the title role, with Philip Abbot as her salesman.
Although Mosel was responsible for many similar TV plays during the 1950s, he would not write anything specifically for the theatre until 1960, when he adapted James Agee
's novel, A Death in the Family
into a play. Entitled All the Way Home
, it opened on Broadway on November 30, 1960, to considerable acclaim; by the time it closed ten months and 333 performances later, it had received a Tony nomination, a Drama Critics' Circle Award
, and the 1961 Pulitzer Prize
for Drama.
In December 1960, only a few weeks after the opening of All the Way Home, it was reported that Mosel had now turned his attention to adapting his earlier TV play, Madame Aphrodite, into a musical for the off-Broadway stage. It was pointed out that it not only represented Mosel's first stage musical, but also "the first musical to come to off-Broadway from television". The new Madame Aphrodite was to be sponsored by a team of three young producers (Howard Barker, Cynthia Baer and Robert Chambers) who were already well-known for producing another off-Broadway show, Little Mary Sunshine
, which opened in November 1959 and ran for almost three years. Music and lyrics were to be provided by newcomer Jerry Herman who, at that time, was known in New York only for two minor but well-received off-Broadway revues Nightcap (1958) and Parade (1960). In his memoirs, Herman recalls being brought into the project through his agent, Priscilla Morgan, who often held musical evenings for her clients. At one such event, Herman met Tad Mosel and, after being shown the script for Madame Aphrodite, admitted "I was fascinated because it was so different from the kind of thing that I had been doing".
, staged by the Equity Library Theatre earlier that same year.
The repeated delays in the development of Madame Aphrodite allowed composer-lyricist Jerry Herman to become involved in the creation of another musical, Milk & Honey
, which underwent its out-of-town tryout between August and September 1961 before opening on Broadway on October 10. It was only then that an opening date for Madame Aphrodite was finally announced to the public: the new show would open on Wednesday, December 27, at the Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue. Although some observers expressed surprise that Herman seemed to be returning to off-Broadway after a minor Broadway hit, the composer-lyricist stated that he was simply returning to his roots, pointing out also that "Madame Aphrodite was on my agenda before Milk & Honey – production just didn't develop as rapidly”.
By the time that an opening date had been set for Madame Aphrodite, TV and stage comedienne Nancy Andrews
had already been cast in the title role. During November, it was revealed that actress Cherry Davis (last seen in the Broadway production of Gypsy
) had been signed to play Rosemary, the ingenue lead. The key role of Barney, Madame Aphrodite's salesman, was to be played by Jack Drummond, whose previous experience included minor roles in such Broadway shows as Beg, Borrow or Steal (1960), The Pyjama Game (1956) and Me and Juliet
(1954). The show's cast also included future film and television star Lou Cutell
(best known for the cult 1965 film Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster
, and more recent TV sitcom appearances) in the small role of Mr. Schultz.
s uttered by the fake beautician". He was referring to Madame Aphrodite's habit of substituting words of similar sound but different meaning: examples cited by Funke included "migratin' headache" (for "migraine
headache") and "incinerating" for "insinuating". The comic device was also reflected in at least one song, "Sales Reproach" (i.e. "Sales Approach"). Most of the show's critics, however, found this irritating rather than endearing.
Meanwhile, Robert Tunoff's direction was described as "adequate", and there was some praise for the sets, costumes and lighting, and also for the performances of Jack Drummond and the "tremendously attractive" Cherry Davis as the salesman and his love interest. Funke observed that, although Nancy Andrews was more than adequate in the title role, the character of Madame Aphrodite herself was not particularly pleasant or sympathetic, while Jack Gaver noted that the actress "suffers in the title role due to the general malaise of the script". The aspect of the show that received the most praise, however, was Herman's score, with Gaver stating that "there is a pleasure to be had in practically every one of the thirteen songs". Funcke reported that "although his songs don't quite mix with the chronicle itself, they are individually attractive and melodious". He singled out three songs ("Beautiful", "Only Love" and "The girls who sit and wait") as the score's highlights, and further observed that "Beat the world" had "a bitter current to it" while "A drop of lavender oil" had "the right sinister undertone". With admirable foresight, Funke concluded that "the score as a whole has a nice quality, and is further evidence that Mr. Herman will be heard from again".
that beauty is more than skin deep. The titular Madame Aphrodite (Nancy Andrews), described as "a bitter recluse", lived alone in a dingy apartment. Working from her kitche, she manufactured a phony beauty cream using unpleasant and ineffective ingredients, which she planned to sell to her neighbours as revenge for what she perceived as meaness towards her. To help distribute the phony product, Madame Aphrodite hired an attractive but naive young man named Barney (Jack Drummond) as her salesman. Believing the cream to have genuine magical powers, Barney sells it to a shy young girl, Rosemary (Cherry Davis), who becomes attracted to him. The rather plain Rosemary believes that she is being trandsformed into a beauty, and attributes this to the phony product. Madame Aphrodite, touched by the girl's innocence, confesses that the beauty cream is a hoax, and points out that the change in Rosemary's demeanor was, in fact, due to her love for the likeable Barney. Madame Aphrodite further reveals that she sold the cream to take revenge on womankind because, as a child, she herself had been duped by an advertisement for a fake beauty product. The show concludes with her moment of self-realisation, where "another life has been saved on Second Avenue".
Act Two
Cut songs
's Crime and Crime, which folded after one night in 1963. Madame Aphrodite herself, actress Nancy Andrews, went on to create the lead role in the Broadway musical Little Me
(1962) but thereafter appeared only as a standby (e.g. in the 1971 Broadway production 70, Girls, 70
) or in regional tours of shows such as Funny Girl and A Little Night Music
. However, after Andrews' death in 1989, several of her obituaries noted that, back in 1961, she had created the role of Madame Aphrodite in Jerry Herman's first book musical.
In his memoirs, Jerry Herman described Madame Aphrodite as "a strange little show [that] was well ahead of its time", while conceding that the production "really wasn't very well done and maybe wasn't the interesting piece that I thought it was at the time".. Nevertheless, he remains proud of his score and maintains that, despite the show's failure, he became involved for the right reasons - "because I had a very strong affinity for the material, and because I felt it would make me grow as an artist".
Madame Aphrodite occupies a unique place amongst Herman's stage musicals in that it has never been revived since its original production. Unlike some of his later flops, it has neither been the subject of a one-off concert performance (c.f. Mack & Mabel) nor has there been any reported attempt to revise and re-stage the show to eliminate the problems associated with its original production (c.f. Dear World and The Grand Tour). In the mid-1980s, it was even reported that Herman was officially not interested in making Madame Aphrodite available for new professional or amateur productions. Furthermore, songs from the show have never been interpolated into any of the numerous musical revues celebrating Herman's substantial back-catalogue, including An Evening with Jerry Herman
(1974, 1998), Jerry's Girls
(1984), Showtune (2003 - aka Tune the Grand Up and The Best of Times). Herman did, however, renew the copyright to the songs from Madame Aphrodite as recently as 1989.
The only song from the Madame Aphrodite score to have escaped to become a standard of sorts is "The Girls who Sit and Wait". A cover version, performed by Fay DeWitt, was included in the 1977 compilation album Contemporary Broadway Revisited, released on Ben Bagley
's Painted Smiles
label. More recently, another version was recorded by Leanne Masterton for her 2003 CD, Before the Parade Passes By: The Jerry Herman Songbook. That same year, the song was the only selection from Madame Aphrodite to be included in a lavish published anthology of Herman's work, entitled Jerry Herman: The Lyrics – A Celebration
The first song to re-appear in this way was "Only Love", which, with new lyrics, became "It's Today" in Herman's 1966 hit, Mame. Another song, "Gotta be a Dream" was re-written as "Love is only Love" for the same production; it was cut from the score of Mame, but later interpolated in the film version of Hello, Dolly (1969). Around the same time, some of the music from "The Girls who Sit and Wait" was incorporated in the song "And I was Beautiful", from Dear World. Finally, the tune from Madame Aphrodites "Beautiful" re-emerged some years later as "A Little More Mascara" in Herman's 1983 comeback show, La Cage aux Folles. It might also be noted that Herman evidently liked the title of the song "You I Like" so much that he used it again for an entirely new song (i.e. with new lyrics and music) in his 1979 Broadway show, The Grand Tour.
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
musical by playwright Tad Mosel
Tad Mosel
Tad Mosel was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play All the Way Home....
and composer/lyricist Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman is an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage...
, which ran for 13 performances in 1961. It is notable as the only stage musical in the entire Jerry Herman canon (which includes smash hits such as Hello Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles as well as less successful but highly respected flops like Dear World
Dear World
Dear World is a Broadway musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. With its opening, Herman became the only composer-lyricist in history to have three productions running simultaneously on Broadway...
, Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand , who became one of his biggest stars...
and The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour (musical)
The Grand Tour is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.Based on S. N. Behrman's play Jacobowsky and the Colonel, the story concerns an unlikely pair. S.L. Jacobowsky, a Polish-Jewish intellectual, has purchased a car he cannot drive....
) that never spawned an original cast album, and has never been performed since its original production.
Background
The musical Madame Aphrodite traces it origins back to a one-hour TV play of the same name, which was written in the early 1950s by playwright Tad Mosel, one of the leading exponents of that genre at that time. The play told the simple and fable-like story of a middle-aged beautician who manufactured and sold fake beauty cream to gullible woman. The televised version, first screened on December 9, 1953 as part of the Goodyear Television PlayhouseGoodyear Television Playhouse
The Goodyear Television Playhouse produced live television dramas from 1951 to 1957 during the "Golden Age of Television".Sponsored by Goodyear, the hour-long anthology series was telecast Sundays at 9pm on NBC...
series, starred Ruth White
Ruth White (actress)
Ruth Patricia White was an American Emmy Award-winning and movie actress.-Early career:A lifelong resident of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, White graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Literature from Rutgers University in 1935. While pursuing her acting career in nearby New York City, she taught acting...
in the title role, with Philip Abbot as her salesman.
Although Mosel was responsible for many similar TV plays during the 1950s, he would not write anything specifically for the theatre until 1960, when he adapted James Agee
James Agee
James Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
's novel, A Death in the Family
A Death in the Family
A Death in the Family is an autobiographical novel by author James Agee, set in Knoxville, Tennessee. He began writing it in 1948, but it was not quite complete when he died in 1955. It was edited and released posthumously in 1957 by editor David McDowell. Agee's widow and children were left with...
into a play. Entitled All the Way Home
All the Way Home (play)
All the Way Home is a 1960 play written by American playwright Tad Mosel, adapted from the 1957 James Agee novel, A Death in the Family. Both authors received the Pulitzer Prize for their separate works....
, it opened on Broadway on November 30, 1960, to considerable acclaim; by the time it closed ten months and 333 performances later, it had received a Tony nomination, a Drama Critics' Circle Award
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
, and the 1961 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Drama.
In December 1960, only a few weeks after the opening of All the Way Home, it was reported that Mosel had now turned his attention to adapting his earlier TV play, Madame Aphrodite, into a musical for the off-Broadway stage. It was pointed out that it not only represented Mosel's first stage musical, but also "the first musical to come to off-Broadway from television". The new Madame Aphrodite was to be sponsored by a team of three young producers (Howard Barker, Cynthia Baer and Robert Chambers) who were already well-known for producing another off-Broadway show, Little Mary Sunshine
Little Mary Sunshine
Little Mary Sunshine is a musical that parodies old-fashioned operettas and musicals. The book, music, and lyrics are by Rick Besoyan. The musical should not be confused with the 1916 silent film of the same name ....
, which opened in November 1959 and ran for almost three years. Music and lyrics were to be provided by newcomer Jerry Herman who, at that time, was known in New York only for two minor but well-received off-Broadway revues Nightcap (1958) and Parade (1960). In his memoirs, Herman recalls being brought into the project through his agent, Priscilla Morgan, who often held musical evenings for her clients. At one such event, Herman met Tad Mosel and, after being shown the script for Madame Aphrodite, admitted "I was fascinated because it was so different from the kind of thing that I had been doing".
Development
When news of the musical version of Madame Aphrodite was announced towards the end of 1960, it was asserted that "from the way the talk went the other day, it should be along before Winter's end". By the following February, however, the project was being slated for production in the Spring. Then, in May 1961, it was reported that the show would not open until the Fall. At that time, the producers announced that they had recently secured the services of director Robert Turoff, whose only previous off-Broadway musical credit was directing a short-lived revival of The Golden AppleThe Golden Apple (musical)
The Golden Apple is a musical adaptation of parts of each of the Iliad and Odyssey epics of Homer, with music by Jerome Moross and lyrics by John Treville Latouche...
, staged by the Equity Library Theatre earlier that same year.
The repeated delays in the development of Madame Aphrodite allowed composer-lyricist Jerry Herman to become involved in the creation of another musical, Milk & Honey
Milk and Honey (musical)
Milk and Honey is a musical with a book by Don Appell and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The story centers on a busload of lonely American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel and is set against the background of the country's fight for recognition as an independent nation...
, which underwent its out-of-town tryout between August and September 1961 before opening on Broadway on October 10. It was only then that an opening date for Madame Aphrodite was finally announced to the public: the new show would open on Wednesday, December 27, at the Orpheum Theatre on Second Avenue. Although some observers expressed surprise that Herman seemed to be returning to off-Broadway after a minor Broadway hit, the composer-lyricist stated that he was simply returning to his roots, pointing out also that "Madame Aphrodite was on my agenda before Milk & Honey – production just didn't develop as rapidly”.
By the time that an opening date had been set for Madame Aphrodite, TV and stage comedienne Nancy Andrews
Nancy Andrews (actress)
Nancy Andrews was an American stage and film actress and singer.- Biography :Nancy Andrews was born in Minneapolis on December 16, 1920. Her parents were James Currier Andrews and Grace Ella Andrews . She attended Beverley Hills High School and the Los Angeles City College...
had already been cast in the title role. During November, it was revealed that actress Cherry Davis (last seen in the Broadway production of Gypsy
Gypsy: A Musical Fable
Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
) had been signed to play Rosemary, the ingenue lead. The key role of Barney, Madame Aphrodite's salesman, was to be played by Jack Drummond, whose previous experience included minor roles in such Broadway shows as Beg, Borrow or Steal (1960), The Pyjama Game (1956) and Me and Juliet
Me and Juliet
Me and Juliet is a musical comedy by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and their sixth stage collaboration. The work tells a story of romance backstage at a long-running musical: assistant stage manager Larry woos chorus girl Jeanie behind the back of her electrician boyfriend, Bob...
(1954). The show's cast also included future film and television star Lou Cutell
Lou Cutell
Lou Cutell is a movie and television actor. He portrayed the proctologist, Dr. Cooperman, in "The Fusilli Jerry" episode of the television series Seinfeld and Leo Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Among cult movie fans, he is best known for his portrayal of Dr...
(best known for the cult 1965 film Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is a science fiction cult film, directed by Robert Gaffney and starring Marilyn Hanold, James Karen, and Lou Cutell. The film was released in Great Britain as Duel of the Space Monsters. It is also known as Frankenstein Meets the Space Men, Mars Attacks Puerto...
, and more recent TV sitcom appearances) in the small role of Mr. Schultz.
Opening and reception
In mid-December, it was announced that the premiere of Madame Aphrodite had been postponed yet again, albeit this time by only two days. True to form, the show opened on Friday, December 29, 1961, at 7:30pm. The reviews were mixed to negative, with Mosel's book repeatedly identified as the biggest problem. Jack Gaver stated that "the libretto is not a good one. The story seemed to border almost on fantasy, yet never quite takes a step over that line. Might have been better if it had". Writing in the New York Times, Lewis Funke commented that "the story is lumbering and humourless, with much of what is passed off as comedy being malapropismMalapropism
A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".-Etymology:...
s uttered by the fake beautician". He was referring to Madame Aphrodite's habit of substituting words of similar sound but different meaning: examples cited by Funke included "migratin' headache" (for "migraine
Migraine
Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
headache") and "incinerating" for "insinuating". The comic device was also reflected in at least one song, "Sales Reproach" (i.e. "Sales Approach"). Most of the show's critics, however, found this irritating rather than endearing.
Meanwhile, Robert Tunoff's direction was described as "adequate", and there was some praise for the sets, costumes and lighting, and also for the performances of Jack Drummond and the "tremendously attractive" Cherry Davis as the salesman and his love interest. Funke observed that, although Nancy Andrews was more than adequate in the title role, the character of Madame Aphrodite herself was not particularly pleasant or sympathetic, while Jack Gaver noted that the actress "suffers in the title role due to the general malaise of the script". The aspect of the show that received the most praise, however, was Herman's score, with Gaver stating that "there is a pleasure to be had in practically every one of the thirteen songs". Funcke reported that "although his songs don't quite mix with the chronicle itself, they are individually attractive and melodious". He singled out three songs ("Beautiful", "Only Love" and "The girls who sit and wait") as the score's highlights, and further observed that "Beat the world" had "a bitter current to it" while "A drop of lavender oil" had "the right sinister undertone". With admirable foresight, Funke concluded that "the score as a whole has a nice quality, and is further evidence that Mr. Herman will be heard from again".
Plot synopsis
Madame Aphrodite is essentially a modern fable built around the aphorismAphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
that beauty is more than skin deep. The titular Madame Aphrodite (Nancy Andrews), described as "a bitter recluse", lived alone in a dingy apartment. Working from her kitche, she manufactured a phony beauty cream using unpleasant and ineffective ingredients, which she planned to sell to her neighbours as revenge for what she perceived as meaness towards her. To help distribute the phony product, Madame Aphrodite hired an attractive but naive young man named Barney (Jack Drummond) as her salesman. Believing the cream to have genuine magical powers, Barney sells it to a shy young girl, Rosemary (Cherry Davis), who becomes attracted to him. The rather plain Rosemary believes that she is being trandsformed into a beauty, and attributes this to the phony product. Madame Aphrodite, touched by the girl's innocence, confesses that the beauty cream is a hoax, and points out that the change in Rosemary's demeanor was, in fact, due to her love for the likeable Barney. Madame Aphrodite further reveals that she sold the cream to take revenge on womankind because, as a child, she herself had been duped by an advertisement for a fake beauty product. The show concludes with her moment of self-realisation, where "another life has been saved on Second Avenue".
Songs
Act One- I Don't Mind
- Sale Reproach
- Beat the World
- Miss Euclid Avenue
- Beautiful
- You I like
- And a Drop of Lavender Oil
- Gotta be a Dream
- The Girls who Sit and Wait
- Beat the World (Reprise)
Act Two
- You I Like (reprise)
- Afferdytie
- There Comes a Time
- Miss Euclid Avenue (reprise)
- Only Love
- Take a Good Look Around
Cut songs
- Theme
- Turkish Corner
Production and creative team
The failure of Madame Aphrodite which closed after only 13 performances, appears to have soured some of its production team on further theatrical ventures. Tad Mosel, for example, never wrote for the New York theatre scene again. Similarly, the show's three young producers never worked together again, although one of them, Cynthia Baer did go on to produce an off-Broadway play on her own: a production of August StrindbergAugust Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
's Crime and Crime, which folded after one night in 1963. Madame Aphrodite herself, actress Nancy Andrews, went on to create the lead role in the Broadway musical Little Me
Little Me (musical)
Little Me is a musical written by Neil Simon, with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. The original Broadway production was memorable with Sid Caesar in multiple roles with multiple stage accents playing all of the heroine's husbands and lovers...
(1962) but thereafter appeared only as a standby (e.g. in the 1971 Broadway production 70, Girls, 70
70, Girls, 70
70, Girls, 70 is a musical with a book by Fred Ebb and Norman L. Martin adapted by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Ebb, and music by John Kander.The musical is based on the 1958 play Breath of Spring by Peter Coke...
) or in regional tours of shows such as Funny Girl and A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
. However, after Andrews' death in 1989, several of her obituaries noted that, back in 1961, she had created the role of Madame Aphrodite in Jerry Herman's first book musical.
In his memoirs, Jerry Herman described Madame Aphrodite as "a strange little show [that] was well ahead of its time", while conceding that the production "really wasn't very well done and maybe wasn't the interesting piece that I thought it was at the time".. Nevertheless, he remains proud of his score and maintains that, despite the show's failure, he became involved for the right reasons - "because I had a very strong affinity for the material, and because I felt it would make me grow as an artist".
Madame Aphrodite occupies a unique place amongst Herman's stage musicals in that it has never been revived since its original production. Unlike some of his later flops, it has neither been the subject of a one-off concert performance (c.f. Mack & Mabel) nor has there been any reported attempt to revise and re-stage the show to eliminate the problems associated with its original production (c.f. Dear World and The Grand Tour). In the mid-1980s, it was even reported that Herman was officially not interested in making Madame Aphrodite available for new professional or amateur productions. Furthermore, songs from the show have never been interpolated into any of the numerous musical revues celebrating Herman's substantial back-catalogue, including An Evening with Jerry Herman
An Evening with Jerry Herman
An Evening with Jerry Herman is a musical revue of Jerry Herman's work and consists of songs written by him for several of his musicals and anecdotes about Herman's career. It ran on Broadway at the Booth Theatre from July 28, 1998 until August 23, 1998, after 13 previews...
(1974, 1998), Jerry's Girls
Jerry's Girls
Jerry's Girls is a musical revue based on the songs of composer/lyricist Jerry Herman.-Production history:Created by Herman and Larry Alford in 1981, the show originated as a modest presentation at Onstage, a nightclub located in the theatre district in midtown-Manhattan . Writing in The New York...
(1984), Showtune (2003 - aka Tune the Grand Up and The Best of Times). Herman did, however, renew the copyright to the songs from Madame Aphrodite as recently as 1989.
Recordings
Madame Aphrodite is also unique as the only Jerry Herman book musical for which a commercial cast album was never released. Herman's own demonstration recording is known to exist, which comprises his versions of the songs "Only Love", "Beautiful", "Take a Good Look Around" and "The Girls Who Sit and Wait". Another recording, often described as the 'studio demo', includes the same four songs plus "Miss Euclid Avenue". These songs are believed to have been performed by John Rickard, an Australian theatre actor who appeared in several West End musicals in the early 1960s.The only song from the Madame Aphrodite score to have escaped to become a standard of sorts is "The Girls who Sit and Wait". A cover version, performed by Fay DeWitt, was included in the 1977 compilation album Contemporary Broadway Revisited, released on Ben Bagley
Ben Bagley
Ben Bagley was an American musical theatre and record producer.-Career:Born in Burlington, Vermont, Bagley moved to New York City during the early 1950s, and in 1955, at age 22, he produced his first hit, Shoestring Revue, starring Beatrice Arthur and Chita Rivera , and with songs by Charles...
's Painted Smiles
Painted Smiles
Painted Smiles is the name of a small record label run by Ben Bagley and based in New York City. The first of this set of stereo albums were of the songs of his often satirical Shoestring Revues which were performed off-Broadway starting in the late 1950s...
label. More recently, another version was recorded by Leanne Masterton for her 2003 CD, Before the Parade Passes By: The Jerry Herman Songbook. That same year, the song was the only selection from Madame Aphrodite to be included in a lavish published anthology of Herman's work, entitled Jerry Herman: The Lyrics – A Celebration
Trunk songs
Jerry Herman's reluctance to make Madame Aphrodite available for public performance, coupled with his desire to renew the copyright on the score, is explained by the fact that several songs from the show became trunk songs – that is, their music was recycled, with new lyrics, to create new songs in some of Herman's subsequent stage musicals.The first song to re-appear in this way was "Only Love", which, with new lyrics, became "It's Today" in Herman's 1966 hit, Mame. Another song, "Gotta be a Dream" was re-written as "Love is only Love" for the same production; it was cut from the score of Mame, but later interpolated in the film version of Hello, Dolly (1969). Around the same time, some of the music from "The Girls who Sit and Wait" was incorporated in the song "And I was Beautiful", from Dear World. Finally, the tune from Madame Aphrodites "Beautiful" re-emerged some years later as "A Little More Mascara" in Herman's 1983 comeback show, La Cage aux Folles. It might also be noted that Herman evidently liked the title of the song "You I Like" so much that he used it again for an entirely new song (i.e. with new lyrics and music) in his 1979 Broadway show, The Grand Tour.