Previously only a G&S legend, it's news to me
that a kinescope of this production survived. The
video I've seen is grainy and lacking contrast, but
the sound is surprisingly decent.
This presentation had one heck of a Broadway pedigree.
Celeste Holm (Phoebe) and Alfred Drake (Point) starred in the original
run of Oklahoma
as Ado Annie Carnes and Curly, respectively. Drake also won the 1954
Tony award for leading
actor in Kismet (Haji the poet) and was on Broadway in Gigi (1973),
Babes in Arms, Kean (1961), and many others.
Franz Allers, the conductor, was the musical director
for Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady and Camelot on Broadway.
Barbara Cook (Elsie) was in the original
casts of Candide, She Loves Me, The Music Man, etc, etc., and she played
Anna in the 1960 revival of The King and I.
Henry Calvin (Wilfred) was also in Kismet and in the TV adventure series
Zorro (Sgt. Garcia) from 1957-59.
Muriel O'Malley (Carruthers) starred in the original production of
Allegro (Grandmother) in 1947.
Hallmark's adaptation is very impressive,
especially given the limitations of the TV technology of the time. It seems to
have been done live on a large soundstage, with a two or three camera shoot.
The TV direction is excellent, with very good camera handling and no
awkward cuts. The interesting multi-level set allows for both
external Tower Green scenes and scenes shot inside (cross-section of)
the Meryll house and Cholmondeley's office. There is good choreography,
and the show seems very well rehearsed.
The music is probably live, with a full orchestra, and an offstage chorus.
Onstage townspeople and yeomen don't seem to be singing or even lip
synching.
The production, running 80 minutes, is abridged (see list of cuts, below).
The tale is narrated by Jack Point in a series of very well-written monologues.
Generally, characters deliver abridged dialogue, some over introductions
to numbers, probably to save time. (At a couple of points, the orchestra
pauses to wait for the actor to finish the dialog before beginning the
verse). The dialog is abridged, but far more complete than that on the
Neville Mariner/Academy of St. Martin's recording.
That the Act II finale was abridged and changed for TV is my biggest
complaint. Elsie's verse of "I have a song to sing" is cut, and the show
ends on a fade-out of a dejected (alive and conscious, yes) Point
clutching his folly stick.
The music, ignoring cuts, is played and sung straight in bel canto
style. Diction is excellent. There are two notable musical letdowns:
Celeste Holm's Broadway-style Phoebe with shaky pitches, and the chorus
which is sung, always mixed, in a Broadway/Norman Luboff style. Almost
all of the Yeomen's chorus music is cut, and even though "Yeomen" is the
title role, they have almost no presence in this production as a result.
Dialog is changed to expose plot points, but it is skillfully written on
the whole. The video opens with a very brief history of the Tower
narrated by an unidentified actor in a Yeoman costume against an
illustration of the Tower. This opens up to the main stage, with a
narration by Jack Point. All of this is done voice-over an abridged
rendition of the overture. Dialog is sometimes interpolated by other
characters to help explain the plot, and in a couple of cases, plot
holes! For example, Lt. Chomondeley gets the added line, "So that thou
may not be haunted by the memory of the poor gentleman, I will cover
both your faces...' and a cute interjection by Elise before running off
after "Tis done I am a bride" (looking at the money pouch): "Mother!"
The pacing is very good, and no plot points or characters are omitted. In
this reviewer's opinion, it is superior to the similar-in-concept
1960 Bell Telephone Hour Mikado.
To be fair, Hallmark's adaptor (Caplan) had about 30 minutes more playing
time than Martyn Green
Individual performances are all fine.
Alfred Drake's Point is outstanding--an excellent baritone, great
diction, good line delivery. It is a very centered well-measured performance,
played well to the cameras.
Barbara Cook, very young (and slim!), sings and acts a fine Elise, even
though her part is injudiciously cut.
Henry Cavin is a very good Wilfred, and Robert Wright displays a fine
bass as the Lieutenant.
The sole disappointment is Celeste Holm as Phoebe. Her broadway singing
style, too perky acting style, and trouble with pitches and some words
("Lovely HEART would rest... would make my heart rebel").
Poor Leonard has all his music cut!
The cuts are as follows:
- All of "In the autumn of our life" and the Yeomen in #2.
- First verse of "When our gallant Norman foes"
- "Here's a man of Jollity" and dialog up to "I have a song to sing,
Oh!" (the latter is intact)
- First verse of "Tis done, I am a bride"
- Act I finale "Oh Seargeant Meryll" through Phoebe's entrance
"Leonard!" (Plot explained in a voice over the introduction music by
Meryll)
- Chorus repeat of "As escort for the prisoner"
- All of "Night has spread" chorus and solos, except for the
introduction with voice over by Point to explain the plot
- 2nd and 4th verses of "Oh! A private buffoon"
- "Free from his fetters grim"
- "Rapture, Rapture"
- "Oh day of terror" chorus
- Some of "Sir I obey"
- Elsie's "I have a song to sing, Oh!" in the finale. Cut from chorus
repeat of Point's verse to "Heigh-dy"
