Bajour (musical)
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| Bajour | |
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| Original Cast Album | |
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| Music | Walter Marks |
| Lyrics | Walter Marks |
| Book | Ernest Kinoy |
| Based upon | the Joseph Mitchell short stories The Gypsy Women and The King of the Gypsies |
| Productions | 1964 Broadway |
Bajour is a musical with a book by Ernest Kinoy and music and lyrics by Walter Marks. Based on the Joseph Mitchell short stories The Gypsy Women and The King of the Gypsies published in The New Yorker, its title is a gypsy word that refers to a con game in which lonely and unhappy women are swindled out of their life savings. It focuses on New York University anthropology student Emily Kirsten, whose study of the customs of the Demeschti tribe of nomadic gypsies for her Ph.D. thesis brings her in contact with tribal leader Cockeye Johnny Dembo, who works out of a dilapidated storefront in a Manhattan slum and needs to raise $9,000 to purchase Anyanka from the Moyva King of Newark as a bride for his handsome son Steve. Anyanka is so anxious to seal the deal she offers to stage a bajour to help finance it, and complications ensue when she targets Emily's widowed mother as her victim.
The Broadway production, directed by Lawrence Kasha and choreographed by Peter Gennaro, opened on November 23, 1964 at the Shubert Theatre, then transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne to complete its 232-performance run. The cast included Nancy Dussault as Emily, Herschel Bernardi as Johnny, Chita Rivera as Anyanka, Gus Trikoris as Steve, Herbert Edelman as the Moyva King, and Mae Questel as Mrs. Kirsten, with Paul Sorvino, Harry Goz, Michael Bennett, and Leland Palmer among the ensemble players.
Tony Award nominations went to Dussault for Best Actress in a Musical and Gennaro for Best Choreography.
An original cast recording was released by Columbia Masterworks.
[edit] Song list
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