Come Back, Little Sheba (play)
Encyclopedia
Come Back, Little Sheba is a 1950 play by the American dramatist William Inge
. The play was Inge's first, written while he was a teacher at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
.
house of Lola and Doc Delaney, the plot centers on how their life is disrupted by the presence of a boarder named Marie, a college art student with a strong lust
ful appetite.
Overweight and slovenly, the housebound middle-aged Lola engages in mild flirtations with the milkman and mailman, like the ingratiating coquette she once was. She sees in Marie herself at that age, and encourages her pursuit of wealthy Bruce and muscular Turk.
Doc, who ekes out a living as a chiropractor, was forced to abandon a promising career in medicine when he married a pregnant Lola. She subsequently lost the baby.
As a recovering alcoholic
Doc maintains a precarious sobriety
by avoiding the past. For him, Marie represents the youth and opportunity he sacrificed, and his eventual realization that she is not as pure and perfect as he imagined sends him back to the bottle and a slow descent into unbridled rage.
The title refers to Lola's missing dog, who remains lost at the play's end.
. Presented by the Theatre Guild
and directed by Daniel Mann
, the first Broadway
production premiered at the Booth Theatre
on February 15, 1950, and ran for 190 performances. The opening night cast included Shirley Booth
as Lola, Sidney Blackmer
as Doc, and Joan Lorring
as Marie. Booth won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
and Blackmer won Best Actor
.
Reprising her Broadway role, Booth starred opposite Burt Lancaster
as Doc and Terry Moore
as Marie in a 1952 film adaptation
.
In 1974, the play was adapted for the musical stage
by Clint Ballard, Jr. and Lee Goldsmith. Kaye Ballard
portrayed Lola in the Chicago
tryout, but the production never reached Broadway as planned. (In 2001, it was revived under the title Come Back, Little Sheba at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut
with Donna McKechnie
as Lola. A recording of this production was released by Original Cast Records.)
A 1977 television version starred Laurence Olivier
as Doc, Joanne Woodward
as Lola, and Carrie Fisher
as Marie.
In 1984, the Roundabout Theatre Company
mounted an Off Broadway revival starring Shirley Knight
as Lola, Philip Bosco
as Doc, Mia Dillon
as Marie, Steven Weber
as Bruce, and Kevin Conroy
as Turk. In his review in Time
, William A. Henry III observed, "Like all of Inge's best plays, Sheba is slight of plot but musky with atmosphere . . . Middle age is portrayed as a time of aching sexual frustration, made more acute by the close-at-hand vision of youth . . . Inge did not transform his characters: they end where they began. But he understood them. In their interplay was genuine life, often blunted but ever resilient."
A Broadway revival of the Inge play opened on January 24, 2008 at the Biltmore Theatre
. Directed by Michael Pressman
, it stars S. Epatha Merkerson
as Lola, Kevin Anderson as Doc, and Zoe Kazan
as Marie. In his review in The New York Times
, Ben Brantley
called it a "deeply felt revival" and a "revitalizing production of a play often dismissed as a soggy period piece
" and added, "Ms. Merkerson allows a kind of intimate access traditionally afforded by cinema
tic close-ups, when the camera finds shades of meaning in impassive faces. She rarely signals what Lola's feeling; she just seems to feel, and we get it, instantly and acutely. Such emotional sincerity is the hallmark of this revival from the Manhattan Theater Club, directed with gentle compassion by Michael Pressman and featuring first-rate performances from Kevin Anderson and Zoe Kazan. The production's commitment to its characters uncovers surprising virtues in William Inge's play."
William Inge
William Motter Inge was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s, he had a string of memorable Broadway productions, and one of these, Picnic, earned him a Pulitzer Prize...
. The play was Inge's first, written while he was a teacher at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
.
Plot
Set in the cramped, cluttered MidwesternMidwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
house of Lola and Doc Delaney, the plot centers on how their life is disrupted by the presence of a boarder named Marie, a college art student with a strong lust
Lust
Lust is an emotional force that is directly associated with the thinking or fantasizing about one's desire, usually in a sexual way.-Etymology:The word lust is phonetically similar to the ancient Roman lustrum, which literally meant "purification"...
ful appetite.
Overweight and slovenly, the housebound middle-aged Lola engages in mild flirtations with the milkman and mailman, like the ingratiating coquette she once was. She sees in Marie herself at that age, and encourages her pursuit of wealthy Bruce and muscular Turk.
Doc, who ekes out a living as a chiropractor, was forced to abandon a promising career in medicine when he married a pregnant Lola. She subsequently lost the baby.
As a recovering alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
Doc maintains a precarious sobriety
Sobriety
Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels, or effects from, alcohol or other drugs that alter ones mood or behaviors. According to WHO "Lexicon of alcohol and drug terms..." sobriety is continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use...
by avoiding the past. For him, Marie represents the youth and opportunity he sacrificed, and his eventual realization that she is not as pure and perfect as he imagined sends him back to the bottle and a slow descent into unbridled rage.
The title refers to Lola's missing dog, who remains lost at the play's end.
Productions
The play premiered at the Westport Country PlayhouseWestport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit theater in Westport, Connecticut. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos the Playhouse produces new and classic plays for the public....
. Presented by the Theatre Guild
Theatre Guild
The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of the Washington Square Players.Its original purpose was to...
and directed by Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...
, the first 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...
production premiered at the Booth Theatre
Booth Theatre
The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York City.Architect Henry B. Herts designed the Booth and its companion Shubert Theatre as a back-to-back pair sharing a Venetian Renaissance-style façade...
on February 15, 1950, and ran for 190 performances. The opening night cast included Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
as Lola, Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
as Doc, and Joan Lorring
Joan Lorring
Joan Lorring is a Hong Kong-born American actress.-Early life:Lorring fled with her mother in 1939 following the Japanese invasion...
as Marie. Booth won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The award has been presented since 1947, and is for performance in new productions or revivals.-1940s:...
and Blackmer won Best Actor
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.-1940s:*1947 - José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac / Fredric March – Years Ago...
.
Reprising her Broadway role, Booth starred opposite Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
as Doc and Terry Moore
Terry Moore (actress)
Helen Luella Koford , better known as Terry Moore, is an American actress. Terry Moore made her film debut at age 11 and grew up with all the icons of the Hollywood era that made Hollywood what it is today, also known as "The Golden Age of Hollywood". Moore is an Academy Award nominated actress...
as Marie in a 1952 film adaptation
Come Back, Little Sheba (1952 film)
Come Back, Little Sheba is a drama film produced by Paramount Pictures which tells the story of a loveless marriage that is rocked when a young woman rents a room in the couple's house. The film stars Burt Lancaster and Shirley Booth with Terry Moore and Richard Jaeckel...
.
In 1974, the play was adapted for the musical stage
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
by Clint Ballard, Jr. and Lee Goldsmith. Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard is an American musical theatre and television actress, comedienne, and singer.-Life and career:Ballard was born as Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Italian American family, the daughter of Lena and Vincent James Balotta.Ballard established herself as a musical...
portrayed Lola in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
tryout, but the production never reached Broadway as planned. (In 2001, it was revived under the title Come Back, Little Sheba at the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut
Westport, Connecticut
-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
with Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie is an American musical theater dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer. She is known for her professional and personal relationship with choreographer Michael Bennett, with whom she collaborated on her most noted role, "Cassie" from the musical A Chorus Line, for which she...
as Lola. A recording of this production was released by Original Cast Records.)
A 1977 television version starred Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
as Doc, Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
as Lola, and Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
as Marie.
In 1984, the Roundabout Theatre Company
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in New York City.-History:The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist and Elizabeth Owens and now operates five theatres, all in Manhattan: the American Airlines Theatre ; Studio 54 ; the Stephen Sondheim Theatre The...
mounted an Off Broadway revival starring Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
as Lola, Philip Bosco
Philip Bosco
-Personal life:Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Margaret Raymond , a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. Bosco went to high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He attended the Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Bosco married Nancy...
as Doc, Mia Dillon
Mia Dillon
Mia Dillon is an American actress.Born in Colorado, Dillon graduated from Marple-Newtown Senior High School in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. She made her Broadway debut in Hugh Leonard's Da in 1978...
as Marie, Steven Weber
Steven Weber (actor)
Steven Robert Weber is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the television show Wings which aired throughout the 1990s on NBC.-Early life:...
as Bruce, and Kevin Conroy
Kevin Conroy
Kevin Conroy is an American stage, screen, and voice actor, best known for his acclaimed voice role as Batman in numerous animated television series, feature films, and video games that make up the DC Animated Universe.-Early life:...
as Turk. In his review in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, William A. Henry III observed, "Like all of Inge's best plays, Sheba is slight of plot but musky with atmosphere . . . Middle age is portrayed as a time of aching sexual frustration, made more acute by the close-at-hand vision of youth . . . Inge did not transform his characters: they end where they began. But he understood them. In their interplay was genuine life, often blunted but ever resilient."
A Broadway revival of the Inge play opened on January 24, 2008 at the Biltmore Theatre
Biltmore Theatre
The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 261 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:...
. Directed by Michael Pressman
Michael Pressman
Michael Pressman is an American director and producer of film and television.Some of the films he has directed are The Great Texas Dynamite Chase , Doctor Detroit , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze , To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday .For television, he has directed episodes of...
, it stars S. Epatha Merkerson
S. Epatha Merkerson
S. Epatha Merkerson is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has won a Golden Globe, Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Obie Award and four NAACP Image Awards. She has also received two Tony Award nominations...
as Lola, Kevin Anderson as Doc, and Zoe Kazan
Zoe Kazan
-Early life and education:Kazan was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord, and the granddaughter of film and theatre director Elia Kazan...
as Marie. In his review in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
called it a "deeply felt revival" and a "revitalizing production of a play often dismissed as a soggy period piece
Period piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
" and added, "Ms. Merkerson allows a kind of intimate access traditionally afforded by cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
tic close-ups, when the camera finds shades of meaning in impassive faces. She rarely signals what Lola's feeling; she just seems to feel, and we get it, instantly and acutely. Such emotional sincerity is the hallmark of this revival from the Manhattan Theater Club, directed with gentle compassion by Michael Pressman and featuring first-rate performances from Kevin Anderson and Zoe Kazan. The production's commitment to its characters uncovers surprising virtues in William Inge's play."
External links
- TWO ACTORS; Shirley Booth and Sidney Blackmer Play 'Come Back, Little Sheba' By BROOKS ATKINSON, New York Times, February 26, 1950