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Out of This World (musical)
Encyclopedia
Out of This World is a musical
with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Dwight Taylor and Reginald Lawrence. The show, an adaptation of Plautus
' comedy Amphitryon
, debuted on Broadway
in 1950.
and Jupiter are in search of some entertainment of the human kind. The focus of their attention is a young bride, Helen and her husband, Art. Mercury joins the two on their trip to Athens, intending to put himself between the blushing newlyweds. While the men are busy chasing Helen, the goddess Juno
(Jupiter's wife) is playing games of her own with inept gangster Nikki as her reluctant sidekick.
Act 2
on December 21, 1950 and closed on May 5, 1951 after 157 performances. Staging was by Agnes De Mille
, additional direction by George Abbott
and choreography was by Hanya Holm
. The cast featured George Gaynes
as Jupiter, Charlotte Greenwood
as Juno, Priscilla Gillette as Helen, David Burns
as Nikki, William Eythe as Art O'Malley, and William Redfield
as Mercury.
The Encores!
New York City Center
Series concert production ran from March 30 - April 1, 1995, directed by Mark Brokaw
with choreography by John Carrafa
. The song "From This Moment On
" that had been dropped from the original Broadway production was used, with orchestration by Jonathan Tunick
and sung by Helen (Marin Mazzie
) and Art (Gregg Edelman
). The cast also included Andrea Martin
(Juno), Peter Scolari
(Mercury), and La Chanze (Chloe).
observed in his book Coming Up Roses:The Broadway Musical in the 1950s (Oxford University Press): "Something went wrong, because after a hectic tryout period the show opened in New York to tepid reviews, and the gala score couldn't produce a single hit. (It had had one till Abbott threw out "From This Moment On" in Boston, apparently because William Eythe, a non-singer, was killing his half of the whirlwind love duet. Why didn't Abbott reassign the number to Redfield and Ashley, whose characters it would in fact have suited?)
I blame Dwight Taylor, for his original plan was misconceived and humorless...It was too silly, too given to masquerade and unmotivated appearances, as twenties musicals had been."
In the role of Juno, eccentric dancer Charlotte Greenwood's hit comic numbers were "Nobody's Chasing Me", "Climb Up The Mountain", and "I Sleep Easier Now". Brooks Atkinson
described Greenwood's performance as "warmhearted clowning"; she "throws her head back when she plunges into a song. She plays a few tricks with a collapsible camera tripod. She moves around the stage in a sort of grotesque crouch. And once, in the happiest moment of the show, she swings those long legs in a cartwheel-motion that delighted New Yorkers after the first World War, and delights New Yorkers of today."
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 music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Dwight Taylor and Reginald Lawrence. The show, an adaptation of Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
' comedy Amphitryon
Amphitryon
Amphitryon , in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis.Amphitryon was a Theban general, who was originally from Tiryns in the eastern part of the Peloponnese. He was friends with Panopeus....
, debuted on 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...
in 1950.
Synopsis
The Roman gods MercuryMercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
and Jupiter are in search of some entertainment of the human kind. The focus of their attention is a young bride, Helen and her husband, Art. Mercury joins the two on their trip to Athens, intending to put himself between the blushing newlyweds. While the men are busy chasing Helen, the goddess Juno
Juno (mythology)
Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera...
(Jupiter's wife) is playing games of her own with inept gangster Nikki as her reluctant sidekick.
Songs
Act 1- I Jupiter, I Rex - Jupiter and Ensemble
- Use Your Imagination - Mercury and Helen
- Hail, Hail, Hail - Vulcania, Mercury and Ensemble
- I Got Beauty - Juno and Ensemble
- Maiden Fair - Ensemble
- Where, Oh, Where - Chloe and Dancer Boys and Girls
- I Am Loved - Helen
- They Couldn't Compare to You - Mercury, Singing Girls and Dancing Girls
- What Do You Think About Men? - Helen, Chloe and Juno
- Dance - Night
- I Sleep Easier Now - Juno
- Ballet - Night, Strephon and Dancing Ensemble
Act 2
- Climb Up the Mountain - Juno, Niki Skolianos and Company
- No Lover for Me - Helen
- Cherry Pies Ought to Be You - Mercury, Chloe, Juno and Niki Skolianos
- I Am Loved (Reprise) - Helen
- Hark to the Song of the Night - Jupiter
- Dance - Strephon, Chloe and Ensemble
- Nobody's Chasing Me - Juno
- Dance - Ensemble
- Use Your Imagination (Reprise) - Entire Company
Productions
Out of This World began pre-Broadway tryouts on November 4, 1950 at the Shubert Theatre, Philadelphia, and then moved to the Shubert Theatre, Boston on November 28, 1950. The musical opened on Broadway at the New Century TheatreNew Century Theatre
The New Century Theatre was a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 932 Seventh Avenue at West 58th Street in midtown Manhattan.The house, which seated 1700, was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp for the Shuberts, who originally named it Jolson's 59th Street Theatre after Al Jolson, who...
on December 21, 1950 and closed on May 5, 1951 after 157 performances. Staging was by Agnes De Mille
Agnes de Mille
Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMille and her uncle Cecil B. DeMille were both Hollywood directors...
, additional direction by George Abbott
George Abbott
George Francis Abbott was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than nine decades.-Early years:...
and choreography was by Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm is known as one of the “Big Four” founders of American modern dance...
. The cast featured George Gaynes
George Gaynes
George Gaynes is a Finnish-born American actor of stage, screen and television.He may be best known as Commandant Eric Lassard in the Police Academy series, and to television fans as the curmudgeonly Henry Warnimont on the NBC series Punky Brewster, in which his wife, Allyn Ann McLerie,...
as Jupiter, Charlotte Greenwood
Charlotte Greenwood
Frances Charlotte Greenwood was an American actress and dancer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Greenwood started in vaudeville, and eventually starred on Broadway, movies and radio. Standing around six feet tall, she was best known for her long legs and high kicks...
as Juno, Priscilla Gillette as Helen, David Burns
David Burns (actor)
David Burns was an American Broadway theatre and motion picture actor and singer.Burns was born on Mott Street in the Manhattan Chinatown of New York City. He made his Broadway debut in Face the Music in 1932, Cole Porter's Nymph Errant was his London debut, and he appeared in many comedies and...
as Nikki, William Eythe as Art O'Malley, and William Redfield
William Redfield (actor)
William Redfield was an American actor and author who appeared in numerous theatrical, film, radio, and television roles.-Acting career:...
as Mercury.
The Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
Series concert production ran from March 30 - April 1, 1995, directed by Mark Brokaw
Mark Brokaw
Mark Brokaw is a stage director. He won the Drama Desk Award, Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award as Outstanding Director of a Play for How I Learned to Drive.Brokaw was raised in Aledo, Illinois and graduated from the Yale Drama School...
with choreography by John Carrafa
John Carrafa
John Carrafa is a dancer and choreographer. He has been nominated for the Tony Award twice.Carrafa graduated from Bates College in 1976. He performed with the Twyla Tharp Company for ten years after graduation....
. The song "From This Moment On
From This Moment On (Cole Porter song)
"From This Moment On" is a 1951 popular song written by Cole Porter, for his musical Out of This World, where it was dropped, but included in MGM's Kiss Me Kate of 1953...
" that had been dropped from the original Broadway production was used, with orchestration by Jonathan Tunick
Jonathan Tunick
Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer, one of twelve people to have won all four major American show business awards: the Tony, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. He has also worked with all of the other eleven people. His principal instrument is the clarinet...
and sung by Helen (Marin Mazzie
Marin Mazzie
Marin Joy Mazzie is an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theater. She was nominated for the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Olivier Award for her role as Lilli/Katharine in Kiss Me, Kate, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award...
) and Art (Gregg Edelman
Gregg Edelman
Gregg Edelman is an American movie, television and theatre actor.Edelman was born in Chicago, Illinois, attended Niles North High School, where he starred as Lil' Abner opposite future soap star Nancy Lee Grahn, and was trained at Northwestern University...
). The cast also included Andrea Martin
Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
(Juno), Peter Scolari
Peter Scolari
Peter Scolari is an American television, film and stage actor best known for his roles in the television shows Newhart, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Bosom Buddies.-Career:...
(Mercury), and La Chanze (Chloe).
Response
Ethan MorddenEthan Mordden
Ethan Mordden is an American author.-Biography:Mordden was raised in Pennsylvania, in Venice, Italy, and on Long Island, and is a graduate of Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York, and the University of Pennsylvania...
observed in his book Coming Up Roses:The Broadway Musical in the 1950s (Oxford University Press): "Something went wrong, because after a hectic tryout period the show opened in New York to tepid reviews, and the gala score couldn't produce a single hit. (It had had one till Abbott threw out "From This Moment On" in Boston, apparently because William Eythe, a non-singer, was killing his half of the whirlwind love duet. Why didn't Abbott reassign the number to Redfield and Ashley, whose characters it would in fact have suited?)
I blame Dwight Taylor, for his original plan was misconceived and humorless...It was too silly, too given to masquerade and unmotivated appearances, as twenties musicals had been."
In the role of Juno, eccentric dancer Charlotte Greenwood's hit comic numbers were "Nobody's Chasing Me", "Climb Up The Mountain", and "I Sleep Easier Now". Brooks Atkinson
Brooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinson was an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960...
described Greenwood's performance as "warmhearted clowning"; she "throws her head back when she plunges into a song. She plays a few tricks with a collapsible camera tripod. She moves around the stage in a sort of grotesque crouch. And once, in the happiest moment of the show, she swings those long legs in a cartwheel-motion that delighted New Yorkers after the first World War, and delights New Yorkers of today."