Merlin (musical)

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Merlin was a Broadway musical which ran for approximately six months in 1983. It was based on a concept by popular illusionist Doug Henning and Barbara De Angelis. It purported to tell the story of the legendary magician/wizard Merlin ... not as an elderly man (as Merlin is usually depicted) but as a young man (played by Henning), still an apprentice wizard learning the rules of magic.

The show was directed by Ivan Reitman and choreographed by Christopher Chadman and Billy Wilson. Reitman was also a producer, along with Columbia Pictures Stage Productions, Inc., Marvin Krauss, and James Nederlander. Joe Medjuck was its associate producer. The cast included Chita Rivera as an evil sorceress and, in a supporting role, the not-yet-famous Nathan Lane.

The script ("book") of the musical was intended as a framework for as many magic tricks as possible, some of them quite spectacular. During the production number "Put a Little Magic in Your Life", Henning mounted a white horse and rode it into a gigantic box, which was then closed and hoisted into the air above the stage. In midair, the box suddenly broke open ... turning out to be empty. A moment later, Henning appeared at the opposite edge of the stage, still mounted on presumably the same horse. (Actually, the illusion required two identical horses.) In another scene, Henning levitated and flew above the stage with no visible support. Anticipating the audience's suspicion that Henning was hanging on invisible wires, the set design for this scene included several large Stonehenge-like trilithons: Henning levitated beneath the lintels of these structures, which would have caught any wires hanging above him. In a battle sequence, Rivera's villainess character and her minions -- in full view of the audience -- assembled several large pieces of armor into a giant warrior, which immediately began walking and wielding a sword even though the armor had no discernible human occupant.

During the musical's troubled tryouts, the tune for the song "Put a Little Magic in Your Life" had previously supported a different lyric: "These Are Not the Merriest of Days".

Its book was written by Richard Levinson and William Link, with music (and incidental music) written by Elmer Bernstein and orchestrated by Larry Wilcox. Lyrics were by Don Black. Bernstein and Black were nominated for a Tony Award.