Salad Days
Encyclopedia
Salad Days is a musical with music by Julian Slade
and lyrics by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade. It premiered at the Bristol Old Vic
in 1954, and transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in London
on August 5 of that year, running for 2,283 performances to become the longest-running show in British musical theatre history until overtaken by Oliver!
In the Evening Standard Awards
for 1955, Salad Days was given the Award for Most Enjoyable Show (although The Pajama Game
won as Best Musical).
A Canadian production was put together by Barry Morse
and Bill Freedman in 1958, which played quite successfully in Toronto and Montreal. This production was partly recast and brought to Broadway with much fanfare in 1959, where it flopped badly.
The musical's enduring popularity lay in its light-hearted innocence and apparent simplicity, in sharp contrast to the many "hard-nosed" American musicals of the era, and its bright score including the songs "We Said We Wouldn't Look Back", "I Sit in the Sun", and "We're Looking for a Piano".
The title is taken from William Shakespeare
's Antony and Cleopatra
: "My salad days, When I was green in judgment, cold in blood, To say as I said then!", and the phrase is now used to refer to one's days of youthful inexperience.
The show received a new production by Tête à Tête (opera company) directed by Bill Bankes-Jones, originally produced in November 2009 at Riverside Studios
in London, and revived for over two months 2010-2011.
in their skit Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days".
Julian Slade
Julian Penkivil Slade was an English writer of musical theatre best known for the show Salad Days, which he wrote in six weeks in 1954 and became the UK's longest-running show of the 1950s with over 2,288 performances....
and lyrics by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade. It premiered at the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
in 1954, and transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on August 5 of that year, running for 2,283 performances to become the longest-running show in British musical theatre history until overtaken by Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
In the Evening Standard Awards
Evening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
for 1955, Salad Days was given the Award for Most Enjoyable Show (although The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded...
won as Best Musical).
A Canadian production was put together by Barry Morse
Barry Morse
Herbert "Barry" Morse was an Anglo-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999...
and Bill Freedman in 1958, which played quite successfully in Toronto and Montreal. This production was partly recast and brought to Broadway with much fanfare in 1959, where it flopped badly.
The musical's enduring popularity lay in its light-hearted innocence and apparent simplicity, in sharp contrast to the many "hard-nosed" American musicals of the era, and its bright score including the songs "We Said We Wouldn't Look Back", "I Sit in the Sun", and "We're Looking for a Piano".
The title is taken from William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
: "My salad days, When I was green in judgment, cold in blood, To say as I said then!", and the phrase is now used to refer to one's days of youthful inexperience.
The show received a new production by Tête à Tête (opera company) directed by Bill Bankes-Jones, originally produced in November 2009 at Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios is a production studio, theatre and independent cinema on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. It plays host to contemporary and international dramatic and dance performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production.-History:In 1933, the...
in London, and revived for over two months 2010-2011.
Synopsis
Jane (originally played by Eleanor Drew) and Timothy Dawes (originally played by John Warner), meet in a park, soon after their graduation, to plan their lives. They agree to get married, and do so in secret, but Timothy's parents have urged him to ask his various influential uncles—a Minister, a Foreign Office official, a General, a scientist—to find him suitable employment. He and Jane, however, decide that he must take the first job that he is offered. A passing tramp offers them £7 a week to look after his mobile piano for a month, and, upon accepting, they discover that when the piano plays it gives everyone within earshot an irresistible desire to dance! After attempts by the Minister of Pleasure and Pastime (Timothy's Ministerial uncle) to ban the disruptive music, the piano vanishes, and Timothy enlists his scientific Uncle Zed to take them in his flying saucer to retrieve it. When it is found, the tramp reappears to tell them that their month is up and the piano must be passed on to another couple. He also reveals that he is a hitherto unknown uncle of Timothy (whose parents had referred to "the one we don't mention"). Timothy and Jane look forward to the future with confidence.Cultural impact
The musical was parodied, in a particularly bloody manner, by Monty PythonMonty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
in their skit Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days".