Man On The Moon (musical)
Encyclopedia
Man On The Moon is a 1975 musical written by John Phillips
of the Mamas & The Papas, produced by Andy Warhol
and directed by Paul Morrissey
. The story concerns an American astronaut who leads a mission of interplanetary dignitaries to prevent the destruction of the universe by a bomb that has been placed on the moon by an evil scientist and primed to explode.
The original production ran at the Little Theatre
in New York for 43 preview performances (beginning December 27, 1974), opened on January 29, 1975 and closed two days later, on February 1, after disastrous opening night reviews.
, John Phillips came up with the idea for a space-themed musical project, inspired by his viewing of the July 1969 TV broadcast of the Apollo 11
moon landing. The initial title for the project was simply Space. Phillips worked on a script and wrote songs for Space over a period of two years with his second wife, Genevieve Waite
. Phillips envisioned that the lead role of the astronaut would be played by either Elvis or Ricky Nelson
, both of whom he was friendly with.
Initial funding for the project came from producer Michael Butler
, who had brought the stage musical Hair
to Broadway. Butler hired a young director called Michael Bennett
to work on the project, but he and Phillips did not gel and Bennett resigned during dress rehearsals for the production at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles. Phillips then attempted to generate interest in a film version of the book with the help of real estate heir Leonard Holzer (a producer on the Stones documentary, Gimme Shelter
and the former husband of Warhol superstar
, Baby Jane Holzer). Holzer took the project to Ray Stark, producer of Funny Girl, who brought the script to the attention of Barbara Streisand, while Holzer tried to hook Jack Nicholson
for the male lead. In 1972, Phillips also got a copy of the script to director George Lucas
through his daughter Mackenzie Phillips
, who was one of the stars of Lucas's film American Graffiti
. Phillips would later maintain that Lucas got the idea to make Star Wars
from Space.
When financing for the film seemed to be going nowhere, Phillips and Waite focused their energy into making the musical happen again. They went to New York to raise money, performing the songs to potential backers as part of their pitch. Waite managed to persuade Andy Warhol to come on board as producer. Warhol's manager and film-making collaborator Paul Morrissey signed on as director of the production, which was then renamed Man On The Moon. Rehearsals took place at Andy Warhol's Factory
.
Scene 2 – CANIS MINOR
Scene 3 – THE MOON
Scene 4 – EARTH
Phillips recorded demo versions of many of these songs, which were issued for the first time on a 2009 CD entitled Andy Warhol Presents Man On The Moon. Some were also recorded by Genevieve Waite for her 1974 album Romance is on the Rise
(namely, Girls, American Man On The Moon and Love Is coming Back. Versions of Star Stepping Stranger, Penthouse of Your Mind and Yesterday I Left The Earth appeared on the 2007 CD Jack Of Diamonds.
Celestial Choir
The original cast (and preview performances) featured Denny Doherty as Dr. Bomb and John Phillips as King Can. Two weeks before the production opened, Phillips was taken out of the production and replaced by Denny Doherty (who was originally to play Dr. Bomb). Harlan Foss was hired to play Dr. Bomb.
Newsday critic Allan Wallack said "Man on the Moon is the kind of show that ought to be reviewed on the obit page."
as part of the John Phillips Presents series of CDs. It contained 22 previously-unreleased recordings of song demos from the musical recorded by Phillips, along with 6 songs taken from a recording made by Andy Warhol himself at one of the dress rehearsals for Man On The Moon. A multimedia portion of the CD also included an early script for Space, photos taken of the production and backstage as well as photos of the star-studded opening night party at NYC theatre hangout Sardi's
and footage of two songs taken from a video of an early rehearsal of the show.
John Phillips (musician)
John Edmund Andrew Phillips , was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and promoter . Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas...
of the Mamas & The Papas, produced by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
and directed by Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
. The story concerns an American astronaut who leads a mission of interplanetary dignitaries to prevent the destruction of the universe by a bomb that has been placed on the moon by an evil scientist and primed to explode.
The original production ran at the Little Theatre
Helen Hayes Theatre
Helen Hayes Theatre with 597 seats is the smallest Broadway theatre and is located at 240 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan....
in New York for 43 preview performances (beginning December 27, 1974), opened on January 29, 1975 and closed two days later, on February 1, after disastrous opening night reviews.
Background
Soon after completing work on his debut album John, the Wolf King Of L.A.John Phillips (John, the Wolf King of L.A.)
John Phillips is the first solo recording by the Mamas & the Papas leader John Phillips. All songs were Phillips originals, dealing mostly with recent events in Phillips' life, including references to his new girlfriend Geneviève Waïte and longtime friend Ann Marshall...
, John Phillips came up with the idea for a space-themed musical project, inspired by his viewing of the July 1969 TV broadcast of the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
moon landing. The initial title for the project was simply Space. Phillips worked on a script and wrote songs for Space over a period of two years with his second wife, Genevieve Waite
Geneviève Waïte
Genevieve Waite is a South African actress, singer and former model. She married John Phillips on January 31, 1972, and they had two children, Tamerlane Phillips and Bijou Phillips. They divorced in 1985. She later married Norman Buntaine, now separated.-Filmography:* Just a Kiss ......
. Phillips envisioned that the lead role of the astronaut would be played by either Elvis or Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
, both of whom he was friendly with.
Initial funding for the project came from producer Michael Butler
Michael Butler
Michael Butler is a musician and podcaster from San Francisco, California, United States.He is well-known for his popular podcast, The Rock and Roll Geek Show, one of the earlier podcasts and a featured program on Mevio , a Podcasting start-up and Butler's employer since late 2005. Butler is the...
, who had brought the stage musical Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
to Broadway. Butler hired a young director called Michael Bennett
Michael Bennett
Michael Bennett was an American musical theater director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for an additional eleven....
to work on the project, but he and Phillips did not gel and Bennett resigned during dress rehearsals for the production at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles. Phillips then attempted to generate interest in a film version of the book with the help of real estate heir Leonard Holzer (a producer on the Stones documentary, Gimme Shelter
Gimme Shelter (documentary)
Gimme Shelter is a 1970 documentary film directed by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, chronicling the last weeks of The Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour, which culminated in the disastrous Altamont Free Concert. The film is named after "Gimme Shelter", the lead track from The Rolling...
and the former husband of Warhol superstar
Warhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
, Baby Jane Holzer). Holzer took the project to Ray Stark, producer of Funny Girl, who brought the script to the attention of Barbara Streisand, while Holzer tried to hook Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
for the male lead. In 1972, Phillips also got a copy of the script to director George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
through his daughter Mackenzie Phillips
Mackenzie
-People:* Mackenzie , surname origin, and a list of people with the surname..* Mackenzie , name origin, and a list of people with the name.* Clan Mackenzie, a Scottish clan.- Fictional characters:...
, who was one of the stars of Lucas's film American Graffiti
American Graffiti
American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
. Phillips would later maintain that Lucas got the idea to make Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
from Space.
When financing for the film seemed to be going nowhere, Phillips and Waite focused their energy into making the musical happen again. They went to New York to raise money, performing the songs to potential backers as part of their pitch. Waite managed to persuade Andy Warhol to come on board as producer. Warhol's manager and film-making collaborator Paul Morrissey signed on as director of the production, which was then renamed Man On The Moon. Rehearsals took place at Andy Warhol's Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
.
Musical numbers
Scene 1 – EARTH- Prologue – Dr Bomb
- Boys From The South – Ernie
- Midnight Deadline Blastoff – Ernie
- Mission Control – Dr. Bomb, Ernie, Leroy, President, Miss America
- Speed Of Light – Ernie, Leroy
Scene 2 – CANIS MINOR
- Though I'm A Little Angel – Angel
- Girls – King Can, Venus, Angel
- Canis Minor Bolero Waltz – Angel
- Starburst – Angel
- Penthouse Of Your Mind – King Can
- Champagne And Kisses – Venus
- Star Stepping Stranger/Convent – Ernie, Angel
- My Name Is Can – King Can
- American Man On The Moon – Angel
Scene 3 – THE MOON
- Welcome To The Moon – Company
- Sunny, Sunny Moon – Venus, Dr. Bomb
- Love Is Coming Back – Angel, Ernie
- Truth Cannot Be Treason – Leroy
- Place In Space – Ernie, Angel
Scene 4 – EARTH
- Family Of Man – Dr. Bomb
- Yesterday I Left The Earth – Company
- Stepping To The Stars – Company
Phillips recorded demo versions of many of these songs, which were issued for the first time on a 2009 CD entitled Andy Warhol Presents Man On The Moon. Some were also recorded by Genevieve Waite for her 1974 album Romance is on the Rise
Romance is on the Rise
Romance Is on the Rise was a 1973 album by Genevieve Waite. It was produced by her husband, John Phillips. At the time the album received some critical acclaim...
(namely, Girls, American Man On The Moon and Love Is coming Back. Versions of Star Stepping Stranger, Penthouse of Your Mind and Yesterday I Left The Earth appeared on the 2007 CD Jack Of Diamonds.
Characters and original cast
- Dr. Bomb – Harlan S Foss
- Ernie Hardy – Eric Lang
- Leroy (Little Red Box) – Mark Lawhead
- President and King Can – Denny DohertyDenny DohertyDennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty was a Canadian singer and songwriter. He was most widely known as a founding member of the 1960s musical group The Mamas & the Papas.-Early career:...
(as Dennis Doherty) - Angel – Genevieve WaiteGeneviève WaïteGenevieve Waite is a South African actress, singer and former model. She married John Phillips on January 31, 1972, and they had two children, Tamerlane Phillips and Bijou Phillips. They divorced in 1985. She later married Norman Buntaine, now separated.-Filmography:* Just a Kiss ......
- Venus – Monique Van Vooren
Celestial Choir
- Mercury and Miss America – Brenda Bergman
- Mars – John Patrick Sundine
- Neptune – Jennifer Elder
- Pluto – E. Lynn Nickerson)
- Saturn – Jeanette Chastonay
The original cast (and preview performances) featured Denny Doherty as Dr. Bomb and John Phillips as King Can. Two weeks before the production opened, Phillips was taken out of the production and replaced by Denny Doherty (who was originally to play Dr. Bomb). Harlan Foss was hired to play Dr. Bomb.
Critical reception
New York Times critic Clive Barnes reviewed the musical on its opening night. His write-up appeared the next day in the January 1975 edition of the newspaper. "For connoisseurs of the truly bad," he wrote, "Man On The Moon may be a small milestone." Barnes was particularly critical of Andy Warhol's involvement in the production ("Mr Warhol's artistic practice – if I have caught his drift aright - is to produce works of arts so inept that their ineptitude beams their value") but he also decried Philips story as "naive" … Barnes' review was so scathing that the musical closed the next day.Newsday critic Allan Wallack said "Man on the Moon is the kind of show that ought to be reviewed on the obit page."
Soundtrack
In 2009, a CD entitled Andy Warhol Presents Man On The Moon and credited to John Phillips was released by Varèse SarabandeVarèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
as part of the John Phillips Presents series of CDs. It contained 22 previously-unreleased recordings of song demos from the musical recorded by Phillips, along with 6 songs taken from a recording made by Andy Warhol himself at one of the dress rehearsals for Man On The Moon. A multimedia portion of the CD also included an early script for Space, photos taken of the production and backstage as well as photos of the star-studded opening night party at NYC theatre hangout Sardi's
Sardi's
Sardi's is a restaurant in New York City's theater district at 234 West 44th Street in Manhattan. Known for the hundreds of caricatures of show-business celebrities that adorn its walls, Sardi's opened at its current location on March 5, 1927....
and footage of two songs taken from a video of an early rehearsal of the show.
Reviews of the 2009 CD release
- [ All Music Guide]
- Blurt Online
- Dusted magazine
- Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
- Foxy Digitalis