The Penny Friend
Encyclopedia
The Penny Friend is a musical
with music, lyrics, and book by William Roy based on a play by J. M. Barrie
, A Kiss for Cinderella. It featured Bernadette Peters
in her first off-Broadway role. William Roy later worked with Peters as a writer, arranger and conductor for her nightclub act.
at Stage 73 on December 26, 1966, and closed on January 22, 1967, after 32 performances. The director was Benno D. Frank, and musical numbers were staged by Lou Kristofer. The producer was Thomas Hammond (Bernadette Peters' manager).
, and whose friends go along with her story. After talking about attending a ball, she actually appears to be at the ball. However, it is soon evident that her story is all fantasy. In reality Cinderella is lying unconscious in a snow bank. She is brought to a hospital where she dies.
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, lyrics, and book by William Roy based on a play by J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
, A Kiss for Cinderella. It featured Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
in her first off-Broadway role. William Roy later worked with Peters as a writer, arranger and conductor for her nightclub act.
Production history
The Penny Friend opened off-BroadwayOff-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 Stage 73 on December 26, 1966, and closed on January 22, 1967, after 32 performances. The director was Benno D. Frank, and musical numbers were staged by Lou Kristofer. The producer was Thomas Hammond (Bernadette Peters' manager).
Plot summary
The story involves a girl who thinks that she is CinderellaCinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
, and whose friends go along with her story. After talking about attending a ball, she actually appears to be at the ball. However, it is soon evident that her story is all fantasy. In reality Cinderella is lying unconscious in a snow bank. She is brought to a hospital where she dies.
Characters and cast
- Cinderella -- Bernadette PetersBernadette PetersBernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
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