See The Tramp

The Tramp

The Tramp, also known as The Little Tramp was Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character, a recognized icon of world cinema most dominant during the silent film era....

 for the character played by Charles Chaplin.

Little Tramp 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 by David Pomeranz

David Pomeranz

David Pomeranz is an American singer, composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theatre. He is also ambassador for Operation SmileBorn in Reno and raised on Long Island, Pomeranz expressed interest in music from an early age, singing in the synagogue choir, learning to play the piano, guitar, and...

 and Steven David Horwich and music and lyrics by David Pomeranz.

Based on the life of comedian Charles Chaplin and named after his most famous character

The Tramp

The Tramp, also known as The Little Tramp was Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character, a recognized icon of world cinema most dominant during the silent film era....

, it opens at the 1971 Academy Awards

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 ceremony at which the aging star, long exiled from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, is about to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. The trajectory of the impressive professional career and turbulent private life that leads to this moment is traced via flashback

Flashback (narrative)

Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...

s in which Chaplin recalls his introduction to Hollywood and silent movie

Silent Movie

Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...

s, his failed marriages and problems with the press, his dealings with the FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

, and the creation of his most beloved character, the iconic Little Tramp.

In 1992, in order to create interest in a staged production, Pomeranz gathered together what he referred to as his "dream cast" and recorded a CD of the score. Artists participating in the project included Petula Clark

Petula Clark

Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...

, Lea Salonga

Lea Salonga

Lea Salonga-Chien is a mezzo-soprano singer and actress from the Philippines well known for originating the lead role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon, for which she won the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World awards.She was the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and...

, Tim Curry

Tim Curry

Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....

, Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...

, Treat Williams

Treat Williams

Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...

, and Peter Duncan

Peter Duncan (actor)

Peter Duncan is a British actor and television presenter, best known as a former presenter of Blue Peter and for his later family travel documentaries.-Education:...

 as Chaplin. It was released on the Warner Music UK Ltd. label.

Little Tramp received its first staging in 1995 at the prestigious Eugene O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...

 Theater Festival in Waterford, Connecticut

Waterford, Connecticut

Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,152 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place .-Geography:...

 (Eugene O'Neill having been the father of Chaplin's wife, Oona O'Neill

Oona O'Neill

Oona, Lady Chaplin was the daughter of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill and writer Agnes Boulton, and the wife of British actor, director and producer Charlie Chaplin....

). The following year, a concert version was presented in St. Petersburg, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 to inaugurate the world's first East/West Musical Theater Conference.

The show was first performed in the UK by Imagine Production in Preston and was endorsed by Richard Attenborough, director of the biopic Chaplin.

Synopsis

At the 1971 Academy Awards

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 ceremony in Los Angeles, an 82 year-old Charlie Chaplin is about to receive a special Life Achievement award. 20 years earlier, Charlie had been barred from re-entry into the United States on the grounds that he was a Communist ("In America Again").

Charlie looks back at his life. His mother, a failed music hall performer, trying to make ends meet to support little Charlie and his older brother Sydney, reminds her sons that they have something more than mere material possessions ("Something No One Can Ever Take Away").

Not able to support her children, Hanna Chaplin is taken to the workhouse. The boys try selling their old clothing on the streets but there are no takers. Hungry and heartbroken, Sydney tries to cheer things up ("When the World Stops Turning") while the Charlie of 1971 rejoins them.

When Sydney joined the Navy, Charlie is left to fend for himself. Determined to help his mother, Charlie joined a dance troupe called "The Eight Lancashire Lads", but his mother's condition worsens and she is placed in an insane asylum. Dodging truant officers, Charlie sees a sign, "Blackmore's Theatrical Agency" and barges into the agent's office ("Number One").

Now grown up and a consummate English Stage comedian, Charlie is discovered by filmmaker Mack Sennett

Mack Sennett

Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...

 and signed to a contract at Keystone Studios

Keystone Studios

Keystone Studios was an early movie studio founded in Edendale, California in 1912 as the Keystone Pictures Studio by Mack Sennett with backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman, owners of the New York Motion Picture Company...

 in California. Sennett's style of "pie in the face" comedy is different from Chaplin's slower, more deliberate style, and when Charlie tries to assert his ideas, Sennett gives him some strong advice ("Less It Ends With a Chase").

Charlie is relentless. Sennett finally throws up his hands in frustration and gives Charlie a chance ("The Tramp"/"He's Got to be Someone").

Charlie becomes an overnight sensation. Film distributors, fans and theater owners can't get enough of him ("Chaplin Films").

Charlie opens his own picture studio and he becomes one of the most beloved public figures. One evening, he is visited by a local chapter of Chaplin Fan Club ("Thank You").

By this time, Sydney returns as Charlie's personal manager. Getting ready for a swank Hollywood party, Sydney reminisces how far they've come ("Heaven").

Back to 1971, Charlie's wife, Oona is instructed by the show's assistant director on how Charlie should play to the camera. Furthermore, a government official then warns her that Charlie should avoid making any political comments. Oona is incensed ("He's Got to be Someone (Reprise)").

The story returns to the 1920s. Charlie's career and personal life are at a low point. His mother just died, and he just underwent two bitter divorces. He is overworked, reporters are on to him and to make things worse, talking pictures are threatening his artistic survival ("Too Many Words").

Nonetheless his success continued, and Charlie revisits England to attend a Royal Premiere of City Lights

City Lights

City Lights is a 1931 American silent film and romantic comedy-drama written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. It also has the leads Virginia Cherrill and Harry Myers. Although "talking" pictures were on the rise since 1928, City Lights was immediately popular. Today, it is thought of...

. He wanders through his old neighborhood and is stunned that injustice and poverty still exists. In an effort to improve such degenerate conditions, he decides to speak out on behalf of the Russian War Relief

Russian War Relief

Russian War Relief was an alleged Communist front group, circa 1944. According to a 1943 FBI report, the group was “infiltrated with known Communists, Communist leaders, fellow travelers, and front organizations.” The chairman of Russian War Relief was Edward C...

. He contends that it's no concern whether or not these people are Communist, they're being slaughtered by the Nazis. After one of his speeches, FBI agent Tippy Gray takes notes and reports his finding to Bureau Chief J. Edgar Hoover

J. Edgar Hoover

John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...

 ("I Got Me a Red"/"There's Got to be a Law").

A paternity suit is filed against Chaplin, giving Hoover ammunition he needed. Although a blood test disproves the allegation, the press crucifies him. His fans turn on him and his films are boycotted. Charlie is dejected. He is convinced that it is just a matter of time before his new wife Oona leaves him too. However. Oona assures him that she won't ("This is What I Dreamed").

The Chaplins decided to cruise Europe, but aboard the ship, Charlie receives a cable from Washington stating that in order to re-enter the U.S., he must answer to political and moral charges. Crestfallen, Charlie decided to spend the next 20 years living in Veney

Veney

Veney is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France....

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Back to 1971, Charlie is escorted to the stage while deeply regarding what he will tell his audience ("Finale").

Cast

Concept Album (1992)

Cast

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...

 (age 82) - Richard Harris

Richard Harris

Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....

Hannah Chaplin

Hannah Chaplin

Hannah Chaplin was the founding matriarch of the Chaplin family of actors as the mother of Sir Charlie Chaplin....

 - Petula Clark

Petula Clark

Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...

Charlie Chaplin (middle years) - Peter Duncan

Peter Duncan (actor)

Peter Duncan is a British actor and television presenter, best known as a former presenter of Blue Peter and for his later family travel documentaries.-Education:...

Mack Sennett

Mack Sennett

Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...

 - Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...

Oona Chaplin

Oona O'Neill

Oona, Lady Chaplin was the daughter of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill and writer Agnes Boulton, and the wife of British actor, director and producer Charlie Chaplin....

 - Lea Salonga

Lea Salonga

Lea Salonga-Chien is a mezzo-soprano singer and actress from the Philippines well known for originating the lead role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon, for which she won the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World awards.She was the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and...

Sydney Chaplin - Johnny Logan

Johnny Logan (singer)

Johnny Logan , is an Australian-born Irish singer and composer. He is regarded as "Mister Eurovision", having participated in the Eurovision Song Contest many times since the 1970s, and, since 1992, has been the most successful artist in Eurovision history.Logan has won the international contest on...

Tippy Gray - Tim Curry

Tim Curry

Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....

J. Edgar Hoover

J. Edgar Hoover

John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...

 - Treat Williams

Treat Williams

Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...

Fan Club President - David Pomeranz

David Pomeranz

David Pomeranz is an American singer, composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theatre. He is also ambassador for Operation SmileBorn in Reno and raised on Long Island, Pomeranz expressed interest in music from an early age, singing in the synagogue choir, learning to play the piano, guitar, and...

Mr. Blackmore - Mel Smith

Mel Smith

Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born...

Charlie Chaplin (age 9) - Leonard Kirby

Sydney Chaplin (age 12) - Jonathan Rudoe

Mrs. Henley - Jacquie Toye