The Fields of Ambrosia is a musical written by Joel Higgins

Joel Higgins

Joel Franklin Higgins is an American actors and singer with a stage career spanning over 30 years.- Life and Career :...

 and Martin Silvestri. It was performed in notable theatres such as the George Street Playhouse

George Street Playhouse

George Street Playhouse is a theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, one of the state's preeminent professional theatres committed to the production of new and established plays....

 in New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

 in 1993 and it was directed by Gregory Hurst, choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett

Lynne Taylor-Corbett

Lynne Taylor-Corbett is a choreographer, director, lyricist, and composer. She was born in Denver, Colorado.She works in theatre and film, and also choreographs for dance companies, both ballet and modern, and is the principal guest choreographer for Carolina Ballet...

, staged by Gregory Hurst, and set design by Deborah Jasien. The cast included Christine Andreas

Christine Andreas

-Biography:BroadwayAndreas was born in Camden, New Jersey. She made her Broadway debut in a 1975 revival of Angel Street. The following year she was cast as Eliza Doolittle in the 20th Anniversary production of My Fair Lady, for which she received the Theatre World Award...

 as Gretchen Herzallerliebst, Higgins as Jonas Candide, Peter Samuel as Warden Brodsky, and Eddie Korbich

Eddie Korbich

Eddie Korbich is an actor, singer, dancer. He was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.-1980s:He graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a B.F.A...

 as the mortician.

The 1996 production premiered at the Aldwych Theatre

Aldwych Theatre

The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and was directed by Hurst again, with Mark Warman as musical director and a cast that included Andreas as Gretchen Herzallerliebst, Higgins as Jonas Candide, Michael Fenton Stevens

Michael Fenton Stevens

Michael Fenton Stevens , sometimes credited as Michael Fenton-Stevens, is a UK actor and comedian, a founder member of The Hee Bee Gee Bees and the voice behind the Spitting Image 1986 number 1 hit "The Chicken Song"...

 as Doc, Mark Heenehan as Malcolm Piquant, Marc Joseph as Jimmy Crawford, and Roger Leach as Warden Brodsky. Unfortunately, British critics and audiences were not ready for a show about such grisly subject matter and the show closed after only 23 performances.

Based on the 1970 film The Traveling Executioner

The Traveling Executioner

The Traveling Executioner is a 1970 American film starring Stacey Keach, Bud Cort, Stefan Gierasch and Marianna Hill and directed by Jack Smight.-Plot:...

, The Fields of Ambrosia is a black comedy

Black comedy

A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...

and contains violence, sex, romance and sentiment. It takes place in a deep rural town in the South in 1918.

Song List

1996 Original Cast Recording

• Ball and Chain
• Hubbub
• The Fields of Ambrosia
• How Could This Happen?
• Nuthin
• Who are You?
• Reasonable Man
• Step Right Up
• Too Bad
• Scene: That Rat is Dead/Step Right Up (reprise)
• Hungry
• Continental Sunday
• Alone
• The Card Game
• Scene: The Gallows
• Do It For Me
• All in this Together
• Scene: The Getaway
• Scene: The Breakout
• The Fields of Ambrosia (reprise)

Reviews

Mike Gibb of Show Music said, "The score, courtesy of Martin Silvestri and Joel Higgins, is a joy, from the melodic and powerful titletrack through quality production numbers like 'Nuthin and 'Step Right Up' and that is without mentioning two of the most glorious duets you are likely to encounter in the form of 'Too Bad' and 'Continental Sunday'"

Paul Taylor of The Independent described "a reprehensibly enjoyable new musical", saying "Often very funny in its own right, the show has a number of moments where it seems to be tone deaf to its own ridiculousness."