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Flora the Red Menace
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Flora the Red Menace
Flora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The original 1965 production starred Liza Minnelli in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. This was the first collaboration between Kander and Ebb, who later wrote Broadway and Hollywood hits such as Cabaret and Chicago.
Although not full of well-known numbers ("A Quiet Thing" and "Sing Happy" aside), the score does present a valuable insight into the later work of Kander and Ebb. Like Cabaret and Chicago, it features a headstrong heroine and has a strong dose of political content.
Flora the Red Menace opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on May 11, 1965, and closed on July 24, 1965, after 87 performances. The cast featured Liza Minnelli as Flora, Bob Dishy as Harry Toukarian and Cathryn Damon as Comrade Charlotte. Direction was by George Abbott, choreography by Lee Theodore, with scenic design by William and Jean Eckart, costume design by Donald Brooks and lighting design by Tharon Musser. The poster art was by cartoonist-playwright Herb Gardner.
Liza Minnelli won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the youngest person to have done so at age 19.
Flora was not written for Minnelli, as is sometimes said; Robert Russell was rumored to have written the show as a vehicle for Barbra Streisand. George Abbott became involved, thinking it would be a vehicle for Eydie Gormé. Receiving promising out-of-town reviews in New Haven and Boston, the show was recorded two days before its Broadway opening. However, the New York critics were not enthusiastic, and when it closed it had lost almost all of its $400,000 investment.
The New York Times reviewer wrote: "The voice [of Minnelli] is not yet distinctive ... She is going to be a popular singer, all right. It [Flora the Red Menace] has the appearance of being pasted together with bits and pieces. A promising idea has not been enlivened by a creative spark."
On 24 December 1978, Camera Three aired Songs from "Flora the Red Menace", with Lenora Nemetz, Mary Louise Wilson, Laurence Guittard, and Bob Dishy.
The musical was revived at the off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre in December 1987 with a new book by David Thompson. Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, Flora was played by Veanne Cox with Peter Frechette as Harry. In the Vineyard Theatre revival, the story was told as though in a presentation by the Federal Theatre Project, part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) established by President Roosevelt (voiced by Art Carney). A company of actors played all the roles, with obvious props and scenery, not trying to hide the "amateur" look and feel of the show.
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Flora the Red Menace
Flora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The original 1965 production starred Liza Minnelli in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. This was the first collaboration between Kander and Ebb, who later wrote Broadway and Hollywood hits such as Cabaret and Chicago.
Although not full of well-known numbers ("A Quiet Thing" and "Sing Happy" aside), the score does present a valuable insight into the later work of Kander and Ebb. Like Cabaret and Chicago, it features a headstrong heroine and has a strong dose of political content.
Flora the Red Menace opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on May 11, 1965, and closed on July 24, 1965, after 87 performances. The cast featured Liza Minnelli as Flora, Bob Dishy as Harry Toukarian and Cathryn Damon as Comrade Charlotte. Direction was by George Abbott, choreography by Lee Theodore, with scenic design by William and Jean Eckart, costume design by Donald Brooks and lighting design by Tharon Musser. The poster art was by cartoonist-playwright Herb Gardner.
Liza Minnelli won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the youngest person to have done so at age 19.
Flora was not written for Minnelli, as is sometimes said; Robert Russell was rumored to have written the show as a vehicle for Barbra Streisand. George Abbott became involved, thinking it would be a vehicle for Eydie Gormé. Receiving promising out-of-town reviews in New Haven and Boston, the show was recorded two days before its Broadway opening. However, the New York critics were not enthusiastic, and when it closed it had lost almost all of its $400,000 investment.
The New York Times reviewer wrote: "The voice [of Minnelli] is not yet distinctive ... She is going to be a popular singer, all right. It [Flora the Red Menace] has the appearance of being pasted together with bits and pieces. A promising idea has not been enlivened by a creative spark."
On 24 December 1978, Camera Three aired Songs from "Flora the Red Menace", with Lenora Nemetz, Mary Louise Wilson, Laurence Guittard, and Bob Dishy.
The musical was revived at the off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre in December 1987 with a new book by David Thompson. Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, Flora was played by Veanne Cox with Peter Frechette as Harry. In the Vineyard Theatre revival, the story was told as though in a presentation by the Federal Theatre Project, part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) established by President Roosevelt (voiced by Art Carney). A company of actors played all the roles, with obvious props and scenery, not trying to hide the "amateur" look and feel of the show.