Oh! Calcutta!
Encyclopedia
Oh! Calcutta! is an avant-garde
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 London 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 Broadway
revival that ran for 5,959 performances, making the show the longest-running revue in Broadway history at the time.
As of 2011, its revival was still the sixth longest-running show in Broadway history, the second longest-running revival, after Chicago
, and the third longest-running American production ever on Broadway, after Chicago and A Chorus Line
.
The show sparked considerable controversy at the time, because it featured extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female. The title is taken from a painting by Clovis Trouille
, itself a pun
on "O quel cul t'as!" French
for "What an arse
you have!".
would direct the production, in order to give it avant-garde legitimacy, but Pinter declined. Sketches were written by, amongst others, Nobel prize
winner Samuel Beckett
, John Lennon
, Sam Shepard
, Leonard Melfi
, Edna O'Brien
, Jules Feiffer
, and Tynan himself, and featured the cast naked
. Peter Schickele
(aka "PDQ Bach"), Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden were the revue's composer
s, known as The Open Window. Beckett's contribution, Breath
, was not used, but his name was still used in advertising.
The musical opened off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre on June 17, 1969, transferred to the Belasco Theatre
on February 17, 1971, and closed on August 12, 1972 after a total of 1,314 performances. It was directed by Jacques Levy
(the songwriting partner of Bob Dylan
on his album Desire), choreographed by Margo Sappington
, and the cast were: Raina Barrett, Mark Dempsey, Katie Drew-Wilkinson, Boni Enten, Bill Macy
, Alan Rachins
, Leon Russom
, Margo Sappington
, Nancy Tribush and George Welbes, as well as the 3 "Open Window" composers.
The musical premiered in London on July 27, 1970 at the Roundhouse Theatre and transferred to the West End
Royalty Theatre
on September 30, 1970 running through January 27, 1974. The show then transferred to the Duchess Theatre
on January 28, 1974, where it ran until 1980 for a total of 3,918 performances.
A revival opened on Broadway
at the Edison Theatre
on September 24, 1976 and closed on August 6, 1989 after 5,959 performances, again directed and choreographed by Levy and Sappington. The revival briefly became the longest-running show in Broadway
history. It remains Broadway's sixth longest-running show and the longest-running revue in Broadway history.
A pay-per-view
video production played on closed-circuit TV
in select cities in 1971, and was released theatrically in 1972; in both cases many cities and municipalities banned its showing. Frank Herold, an editor who worked on the film, provides commentary on this in a brief post he contributed to the project's IMDB page.
The Spanish language premiere production opened on October 9, 1977 at Teatro Principe in Madrid, Spain, directed by Juan Jose Alonso Millan, who also translated the show.
The actors dance and remove their robes to the opening song ("Taking Off the Robe" (Oh! Calcutta!)).
Jack and Jill
A boy and a girl who just met are in their own playland, with the boy constantly trying to find ways to seduce the girl who is afraid of him because he's a boy. The sketch ends with the girl in a coma after the boy rapes her ("Jack & Jill").
A Suite of Five Letters
A song of five letters written by anonymous authors about their sexual preferences ("Suite for Five Letters"). Actually they were ads from various newspapers from olden times in London and later in the Suite, contemporary ads from sexual newspaper ads of the day.
Dick and Jane
An uptight girl gets a lesson in loosening up after her lover is sick of her constantly stiff ways ("Dick & Jane").
Will Answer All Serious Replies
A young couple start to rethink getting into the swingers lifestyle
after meeting the middle-aged couple who answer their ad ("(Will Answer All) Sincere Replies").
Delicious Indignities
A chaste woman is caught by her admirer, who then proceeds to learn that she isn't as chaste as he thinks she is ("Delicious Indignities (or The Deflowering of Helen Axminster") was written by Sherman Yellen
).
Was It Good for You, Too?
A man participates in a sex study and the whole experience ends up turning into one big farce ("Was It Good For You Too? (Green Pants, I Like the Look)"). The scene plays like the Marx Brothers
at a sex research facility.
Life Is Over Much Too Soon
A pre-filmed section, where the actors are nude outside doing interpretive dance ("Much Too Soon"), music and lyrics by Jacques Levy, Dennis, Schickele, and Walden.
One on One
Another nude interpretive dance ("One on One (Clarence and Mildred)").
Rock Garden
After a man rambles on about painting the fence and building a rock garden, his son talks about what girls really like ("Rock Garden").
Four in Hand
A newcomer to a masturbation
game can't seem to think of anything to masturbate to ("Four in Hand"). (The first draft of this sketch was written by John Lennon
).
Finale
Players come out to sing the final song and dance, also doing voiceover as to what the theater patrons are really thinking about the experience. Examples include: "She has pretty eyes" (the joke being that all of the actors are nude at this point), "How come none of the guys have hard-ons?" "That's my boyfriend -- that IS a hard-on," and "If they showed this in Washington, Agnew
would shit!" ("Coming Together, Going Together")
in his 1969 New York Times review wrote that "the humor is so doggedly sophomoric and soporific", adding "The failure here is almost exclusively a failure of the writers and the producers. The director, Jacques Levy, has done his best with the weak material at hand...the nude scenes, while derivative, are attractive enough. The best effects--including the rather sweet grope-in immediately after the intermission--have been taken from Robert Joffrey's ballet "Astarte," and the show uses the same projected media designers...In sum, "Oh! Calcutta!" is likely to disappoint different people in different ways, but disappointment is the order of the night."
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
theatrical revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
, created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Peacock Tynan was an influential and often controversial English theatre critic and writer.-Early life:...
. The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway
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...
in 1969 and then in London 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 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
revival that ran for 5,959 performances, making the show the longest-running revue in Broadway history at the time.
As of 2011, its revival was still the sixth longest-running show in Broadway history, the second longest-running revival, after Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
, and the third longest-running American production ever on Broadway, after Chicago and A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch....
.
The show sparked considerable controversy at the time, because it featured extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female. The title is taken from a painting by Clovis Trouille
Clovis Trouille
Camille Clovis Trouille was born on 24 October 1889, in La Fère, France. He worked as a restorer and decorator of department store mannequins, but is remembered as a Sunday painter who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts of Amiens from 1905 to 1910...
, itself a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
on "O quel cul t'as!" French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for "What an arse
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
you have!".
Background and productions
Tynan had hoped that Harold PinterHarold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
would direct the production, in order to give it avant-garde legitimacy, but Pinter declined. Sketches were written by, amongst others, Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
, Leonard Melfi
Leonard Melfi
Leonard Melfi is an American playwright and actor whose work has been widely produced for the American stage.-Career:...
, Edna O'Brien
Edna O'Brien
Edna O'Brien is an Irish novelist and short story writer whose works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men and to society as a whole.-Life and career:...
, Jules Feiffer
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
, and Tynan himself, and featured the cast naked
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
. Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele
Johann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
(aka "PDQ Bach"), Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden were the revue's composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s, known as The Open Window. Beckett's contribution, Breath
Breath (play)
Breath is a notably short stage work by Samuel Beckett. An altered version was first included in Kenneth Tynan's revue Oh! Calcutta!, at the Eden Theatre in New York City on June 16, 1969. The UK premiere was at the Close Theatre Club in Glasgow in October 1969; this was the first performance of...
, was not used, but his name was still used in advertising.
The musical opened off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre on June 17, 1969, transferred to the Belasco Theatre
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist...
on February 17, 1971, and closed on August 12, 1972 after a total of 1,314 performances. It was directed by Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy was an American songwriter, theatre director, and clinical psychologist.Levy was born in New York City in 1935, and attended its City College. He received a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State University. Levy was a trained psychoanalyst, certified by the Menninger Institute...
(the songwriting partner of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
on his album Desire), choreographed by Margo Sappington
Margo Sappington
Margo Sappington is an American choreographer and dancer born July 30, 1947 in Baytown, Texas. She was nominated in 1975 for both a Tony Award as Best Choreographer and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on the play Where's Charley?. In 1988, her ballet Virgin Forest was...
, and the cast were: Raina Barrett, Mark Dempsey, Katie Drew-Wilkinson, Boni Enten, Bill Macy
Bill Macy
Bill Macy is an American television and stage actor.Macy was born in Revere, Massachusetts, to Mollie and Michael Garber, a manufacturer...
, Alan Rachins
Alan Rachins
Alan Rachins is an American television actor, best known for his role as Douglas Brackman in L.A. Law, which earned him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, as well as for his portrayal of Dharma's hippie father, Larry, on the hit television series, Dharma & Greg...
, Leon Russom
Leon Russom
Leon Russom is an American Emmy-nominated actor.Russom has appeared in numerous television shows, particularly soap operas. He portrayed Admiral Toddman and the Starfleet Commander-in-Chief in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country...
, Margo Sappington
Margo Sappington
Margo Sappington is an American choreographer and dancer born July 30, 1947 in Baytown, Texas. She was nominated in 1975 for both a Tony Award as Best Choreographer and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on the play Where's Charley?. In 1988, her ballet Virgin Forest was...
, Nancy Tribush and George Welbes, as well as the 3 "Open Window" composers.
The musical premiered in London on July 27, 1970 at the Roundhouse Theatre and transferred to the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
Royalty Theatre
Royalty Theatre
The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho and opened on 25 May 1840 as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938. The architect was Samuel Beazley, a resident in Soho Square, who also designed St James's Theatre, among...
on September 30, 1970 running through January 27, 1974. The show then transferred to the Duchess Theatre
Duchess Theatre
The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels....
on January 28, 1974, where it ran until 1980 for a total of 3,918 performances.
A revival opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Edison Theatre
Edison Theatre
The Edison Theatre was a legitimate Broadway theatre located in the Edison Hotel at 240 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Officially a 499-seat Broadway house, the Edison Theater actually had 541 seats....
on September 24, 1976 and closed on August 6, 1989 after 5,959 performances, again directed and choreographed by Levy and Sappington. The revival briefly became the longest-running show in Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
history. It remains Broadway's sixth longest-running show and the longest-running revue in Broadway history.
A pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
video production played on closed-circuit TV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
in select cities in 1971, and was released theatrically in 1972; in both cases many cities and municipalities banned its showing. Frank Herold, an editor who worked on the film, provides commentary on this in a brief post he contributed to the project's IMDB page.
The Spanish language premiere production opened on October 9, 1977 at Teatro Principe in Madrid, Spain, directed by Juan Jose Alonso Millan, who also translated the show.
Sketches and songs
Note: the musical revue was in the form of sketches. These are taken from the 1971 production shown on pay-per-view. Lyrics and music by Robert Dennis, Peter Schickele and Stanley Walden (unless otherwise noted).Act 1
Taking Off the RobeThe actors dance and remove their robes to the opening song ("Taking Off the Robe" (Oh! Calcutta!)).
Jack and Jill
A boy and a girl who just met are in their own playland, with the boy constantly trying to find ways to seduce the girl who is afraid of him because he's a boy. The sketch ends with the girl in a coma after the boy rapes her ("Jack & Jill").
A Suite of Five Letters
A song of five letters written by anonymous authors about their sexual preferences ("Suite for Five Letters"). Actually they were ads from various newspapers from olden times in London and later in the Suite, contemporary ads from sexual newspaper ads of the day.
Dick and Jane
An uptight girl gets a lesson in loosening up after her lover is sick of her constantly stiff ways ("Dick & Jane").
Will Answer All Serious Replies
A young couple start to rethink getting into the swingers lifestyle
Swinging
Swinging or partner swapping is a non-monogamous behavior, in which both partners in a committed relationship agree, as a couple, for both partners to engage in sexual activities with other couples as a recreational or social activity...
after meeting the middle-aged couple who answer their ad ("(Will Answer All) Sincere Replies").
Delicious Indignities
A chaste woman is caught by her admirer, who then proceeds to learn that she isn't as chaste as he thinks she is ("Delicious Indignities (or The Deflowering of Helen Axminster") was written by Sherman Yellen
Sherman Yellen
Sherman Yellen is a playwright and screenwriter.- Biography :Sherman Yellen was born in 1932 to Nathan and Lillian Yellen. He attended the High School of Music & Art in Harlem and graduated from Bard College on the Hudson in 1953 where he met his future wife, Joan Fuhr...
).
Was It Good for You, Too?
A man participates in a sex study and the whole experience ends up turning into one big farce ("Was It Good For You Too? (Green Pants, I Like the Look)"). The scene plays like the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
at a sex research facility.
Act 2
"Who,Whom (Exchanges of Information)" (Added during run)Life Is Over Much Too Soon
A pre-filmed section, where the actors are nude outside doing interpretive dance ("Much Too Soon"), music and lyrics by Jacques Levy, Dennis, Schickele, and Walden.
One on One
Another nude interpretive dance ("One on One (Clarence and Mildred)").
Rock Garden
After a man rambles on about painting the fence and building a rock garden, his son talks about what girls really like ("Rock Garden").
Four in Hand
A newcomer to a masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
game can't seem to think of anything to masturbate to ("Four in Hand"). (The first draft of this sketch was written by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
).
Finale
Players come out to sing the final song and dance, also doing voiceover as to what the theater patrons are really thinking about the experience. Examples include: "She has pretty eyes" (the joke being that all of the actors are nude at this point), "How come none of the guys have hard-ons?" "That's my boyfriend -- that IS a hard-on," and "If they showed this in Washington, Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
would shit!" ("Coming Together, Going Together")
Critical response
Clive BarnesClive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
in his 1969 New York Times review wrote that "the humor is so doggedly sophomoric and soporific", adding "The failure here is almost exclusively a failure of the writers and the producers. The director, Jacques Levy, has done his best with the weak material at hand...the nude scenes, while derivative, are attractive enough. The best effects--including the rather sweet grope-in immediately after the intermission--have been taken from Robert Joffrey's ballet "Astarte," and the show uses the same projected media designers...In sum, "Oh! Calcutta!" is likely to disappoint different people in different ways, but disappointment is the order of the night."
External links
- Oh, Calcutta! - June 17, 1969 original - Internet Broadway Data Base (IBDB page)
- Oh, Calcutta! - Sept 24, 1976 revival - Internet Broadway Data Base (IBDB page)
- Oh, Calcutta! - film of 1969 original - Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB page)
- Review of DVD release on DVD Verdict
- BroadwayWorld listing