Johnny Johnson is a musical

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...

 with a book and lyrics by Paul Green and music by Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill

Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...

.

Based on Jaroslav Hašek

Jaroslav Hašek

Jaroslav Hašek was a Czech humorist, satirist, writer and socialist anarchist best known for his novel The Good Soldier Švejk, an unfinished collection of farcical incidents about a soldier in World War I and a satire on the ineptitude of authority figures, which has been translated into sixty...

's satiric

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 The Good Soldier Švejk

The Good Soldier Švejk

The Good Soldier Švejk , also spelled Schweik or Schwejk, is the abbreviated title of a unfinished satirical/dark comedy novel by Jaroslav Hašek. It was illustrated by Josef Lada and George Grosz after Hašek's death...

, it focuses on a naive and idealistic young man who, despite his pacifist

Pacifism

Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...

 views, leaves his sweetheart Minny Belle Tompkins to fight in Europe in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He manages to bring the skirmish to a temporary halt by incapacitating a meeting of the generals with laughing gas

Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...

, but once they recover he finds himself committed to an asylum for ten years. He returns home to discover Minny Belle has married a capitalist

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

, and he settles down as a toymaker who will create anything except tin soldier

Tin soldier

Tin soldiers are miniature figures of toy soldiers that are extremely popular in the world of collecting. They can be bought finished or in a raw state to be hand-painted. They are generally made of pewter, tin, lead, other metals or plastic...

s, his personal gesture of peace in an increasingly warlike society.

Its title was inspired by the fact the name appeared on United States casualty

Casualty (person)

A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or trauma. The word casualties is most often used by the news media to describe deaths and injuries resulting from wars or disasters...

 rolls more often than any other.

The play was written and composed by Green and Weill during the summer of 1936 in a rented old house located in Nichols, Connecticut near the summer rehearsal headquarters of the Group Theatre at Pine Brook Country Club

Pine Brook Country Club

-Introduction:Pine Brook Country Club began when Benjamin Plotkin purchased Pinewood Lake and the surrounding countryside on Mischa Hill in the historic village of Nichols, Connecticut. Plotkin built an auditorium with a revolving stage and forty rustic cabins and incorporated as the Pine Brook...

.

Productions and background

Weill was asked to develop the project by the socially-conscious Group Theatre, but much of his music was scrapped when original director Harold Clurman

Harold Clurman

Harold Edgar Clurman was a visionary American theatre director and drama critic, "one of the most influential in the United States". He was most notable as one of the three founders of the New York City's Group Theatre...

 was replaced by Lee Strasberg

Lee Strasberg

Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...

, who opted to emphasize text over music. The 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 opened on November 19, 1936 at the 44th Street Theatre

44th Street Theatre

The 44th Street Theatre was a New York City Broadway theatre from 1912 to 1945 in the United States of America. It was located on Broadway, at West 44th Street. Architect was William A. Swansea. Built by the Shuberts, and first named Weber and Fields' Music Hall, its name was changed when the...

, where it ran for 68 performances. The cast included Russell Collins as Johnny and Phoebe Brand

Phoebe Brand

Phoebe Brand was an American actress, who was blacklisted along with her husband, Morris Carnovsky, in the McCarthy era.-Early life:...

 as Minny Belle, with Luther Adler

Luther Adler

Luther Adler was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway.-Life and career:...

, Morris Carnovsky

Morris Carnovsky

Morris Carnovsky was an American stage and film actor born in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked briefly in the Yiddish theatre before attending Washington University in St. Louis...

, Lee J. Cobb

Lee J. Cobb

Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...

, Curt Conway

Curt Conway

Curt Conway was an American actor. He was sometimes billed as Curtis Conway or Kurt Conway.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Conway began his career with small parts in films of the late 1940s, but appeared principally on TV from 1960 until his death...

, John Garfield

John Garfield

John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...

, Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...

, Robert Lewis, and Sandy Meisner in supporting roles.

A 1956 production was presented 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...

 at the Little Carnegie Playhouse at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

. It was directed by Stella Adler

Stella Adler

Stella Adler was an American actress and an acclaimed acting teacher, who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and the The Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles with long-time protege Joanne Linville, who continues to teach and furthers Adler's legacy...

 and starred among others James Broderick

James Broderick

James Joseph Broderick III was an American actor.-Life and career:Broderick was born in Charlestown, New Hampshire, the son of Mary Elizabeth and James Joseph Broderick, Jr....

 as Johnny Johnson and Gene Saks

Gene Saks

Gene Saks is an American stage and film director.-Life and career:Saks was born in New York City, the son of Beatrix and Morris J. Saks...

 as the Mad Psychiatrist. It ran from October 21, 1956 through October 28. Samuel Matlowsky was the Musical Director

Music director

A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

 and also conducted

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 the 1956 record album which had none of the cast from the Stella Adler production.

After ten previews, a revival directed by José Quintero

José Quintero

José Benjamin Quintero was a Panamanian theatre director, producer and pedagogue best known for his interpretations of the works of Eugene O'Neill.-Early years:...

 and choreographed

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 by Bertram Ross opened on April 11, 1971 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....

, where it closed after one performance. The cast included Ralph Williams as Johnny and Alice Cannon as Minny Belle.

In 2009 a concert-staging was mounted in London by the Discovering Lost Musicals Charitable Trust, with Max Gold in the title role.

Recordings

A November 1956 studio recording ("MGM Records" MGM E 3447, later released on Heliodor, Polydor, and online at ArkivMusik.com) has Burgess Meredith

Burgess Meredith

Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...

 as Johnny, Evelyn Lear

Evelyn Lear

Evelyn Lear is an American soprano and opera singer.During her career between 1959 and 1992, Evelyn Lear appeared in more than forty operatic roles, appeared with every major opera company in the US and won a Grammy Award in 1966...

 as Minny Belle, and Hiram Sherman

Hiram Sherman

Hiram Sherman was an American actor.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Sherman made his Broadway debut as a playwright with the short-lived comedy Too Much Party in 1934. It proved to be his sole attempt at writing. Two years later he made his first appearance as an actor in Horse Eats Hat...

 as the Mad Psychiatrist; smaller roles are taken by Jane Connell, Lotte Lenya

Lotte Lenya

Lotte Lenya was an Austrian singer, diseuse, and actress. In the German-speaking and classical music world she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language film she is remembered for her Academy Award-nominated role in The Roman Spring of Mrs...

, and Thomas Stewart, and the conductor is Samuel Matlowsky. A 1996 Erato release offers Donald Wilkinson as Johnny, Ellen Santaniello as Minny Belle, and Paul Guttry as the Mad Psychiatrist; Joel Cohen

Joel Cohen

Joel Cohen, is an American musician specializing in early music repertoires. Joel graduated Classical High school in Providence, R.I. in 1959. He then graduated from Brown University in 1963. He continued graduate education at Harvard University...

conducts.

1971 revival song list

Act 1

• Over in Europe
• Democracy's Call
• Up Chuckamauga Hill
• Johnny's Melody
• Aggie's Song
• Oh Heart of Love
• Farewell, Goodbye
• The Sergeant's Chant
• Valentine's Tango
• You're in the Army Now (Interlude)
• Johnny's Oath
• Song of the Goddess
• Song of the Wounded Frenchmen
• Tea Song
• Cowboy Song
• Johnny's Dream
• Song of the Guns
• Music of the Stricken Redeemer

Act 2

• Mon Ami My Friend
• Allied High Command
• The Laughing Generals
• The Battle
• Prayer: In Times of War and Tumults
• No Man's Land
• Song of the Goddess (Reprise)
• The Psychiatry Song
• Hymn to Peace
• Johnny Johnson's Song
• How Sweetly Friendship Binds
• Oh Heart of Love (Reprise)
• Johnny's Melody