Milk and Honey (musical)
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| Milk and Honey | |
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| Original Broadway Cast Album | |
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| Music | Jerry Herman |
| Lyrics | Jerry Herman |
| Book | Don Appell |
| Productions | 1961 Broadway 1994 Off-Broadway |
Milk and Honey is a musical with a book by Don Appell and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The story centers on a busload of lonely American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel and is set against the background of the country's fight for recognition as an independent nation. It was Herman's first Broadway book musical following a succession of off-Broadway revues.
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[edit] Production history
Herman was playing the piano for Parade, his most recent revue following I Feel Wonderful and Nitecap, when he was approached by theatre producer Gerard Oestreicher, who was seeking a composer for a project about Israel he hoped to mount on Broadway. He sent Herman and Appell there to absorb the culture and hopefully find inspiration. Herman was determined that the musical not be a patriotic love letter and, while he liked most of what he saw during his visit, he incorporated some of what had not appealed to him ("rock and dust and sand") into the lyrics of the title song.
Directed by Albert Marre and choreographed by Donald Saddler, Milk and Honey began its pre-Broadway tryout run at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven on August 28, 1961. The critical reception was positive, but Herman felt leading lady Molly Picon, who clearly was an audience favorite, needed another song, so it was here he composed "Chin Up, Ladies." The company moved on to the Colonial Theatre in Boston, playing there from September 5 - 23.
After one preview, Milk and Honey opened in New York City on October 10, 1961 in the Martin Beck Theatre and ran for 543 performances. In addition to Picon, the cast included Tommy Rall, Jose Gutierrez, and Metropolitan Opera stars Mimi Benzell and Robert Weede. Hermione Gingold replaced Picon later in the run.
An original cast recording was released by RCA Victor.
The musical was revived in 1994 at the off-Broadway American Jewish Theatre, where it ran for 59 performances. The cast included Chevi Colton, Katy Selverstone, Ron Holgate (who had a small role in the original production), and James Barbour. In his review in the New York Times, David Richards stated, "Jerry Herman's score is the best reason for reviving Milk and Honey.... Ranging from ballads... to marches... to waltzes, the songs have none of the show-business slickness that sometimes crops up in his subsequent musicals.... When all else fails... there is always Mr. Herman's score to soar to the rescue. I wouldn't want to dismiss Hello, Dolly! or Mame. But is it possible that his very best work came first?"[1]
[edit] Plot synopsis
- Act 1
The calmness of a morning street scene in modern Jerusalem is shattered when a policeman orders a Yemenite boy to remove his flock of sheep to a side street. Phil Arkin, an American visiting his married daughter, defends the boy, and in the ensuing fracas he meets Ruth Stein, a tourist travelling with a group of widows from the United States. She is impressed with Phil's command of Hebrew as he explains the meaning of the word "Shalom".
They keep running into each other and together they celebrate Israel's Independence Day. Their friendship begins to deepen and Phil's conscience starts troubling him. Although he has been separated from his wife for many years, he does not think it right to continue seeing Ruth since he is still a married man. Phil's daughter Barbara, however, likes Ruth and invites her to go with them to the farm that she and her husband own in the Negev. After some hesitation, Ruth accepts.
On the farm - called a Moshav - Phil tries to talk Barbara and David, her husband into going back to Baltimore with him. But the young man vows his devotion to his country and is joined in its praise by his neighbours, including his cynical friend Adi, who claims he would rather live in the city.
Phil, who is falling in love with Ruth, asks her to stay at the Moshav a little longer. In fact, he is even thinking of building a house of his own there that he would like her to share.
Meanwhile, the group of touring widows comes to visit the Moshav. When they eye the virile young farmers, the ladies, led by Clara Weiss reveal their hopes of finding suitable husbands. Though their dreams are quickly dashed when all the men turn out to be married, Clara is still optimistic.
Later, Phil tells Ruth that he has bought the property for a home, and she gives him her approval. But Barbara is shocked at the news, and urges her father to tell Ruth about his marriage. Reluctantly he does, but he also tells her why she must remain. At a wedding ceremony that they attend Phil and Ruth, envious of the younger people, express their deep love for each other and, forgetting the consequences for the moment, go off together.
- Act 2
Phil energetically feels the spirit of the new land and goes out to work the fields with the other farmers. Barbara, however, brings news that Ruth, realizing the consequences of living with a married man, has run away to Tel Aviv, and Phil goes off to bring her back. When they are alone, David, convinced that Barbara really longs to go back to the United States, asserts that he would go anywhere to be with her.
In Tel Aviv, Phil finds Clara at the Cafe Hotok, but she refuses to tell him where Ruth is. When he leaves, Clara accidentally meets Sol Horowitz, a widower from Jerusalem, and they promptly show mutual interest. Alone, she seeks her late husband's permission to remarry if Sol proposes.
Back at the Moshav, Phil, after much inner conflict, realizes that it would be wrong to live with Ruth. Although she comes back to him he tells her that she must leave.
At Lydda Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, the touring widows are preparing to board the airplane home. Phil and Ruth have their final, brief moment together during which he promises to fly to Paris, where his wife lives, and plead for a divorce. Ruth boards the plane with the hope that somehow Phil will succeed and she will be able to come back to him.
[edit] Original Broadway cast
- Mimi Benzell - Ruth
- Molly Picon - Clara Weiss
- Robert Weede - Phil
- Juki Arkin - Adi
- Diane Goldberg - Mrs. Segal
- Thelma Pelish - Mrs. Perlman
- Tommy Rall - David/Barbara's Husband
- Lanna Saunders - Barbara/Pil's Daughter
[edit] Songs
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[edit] Tony Award nominations
- Tony Award for Best Musical
- Tony Award for Best Original Score
- Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Molly Picon)
- Tony Award for Best Costume Design (Miles White)
- Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical
[edit] External links
- Internet Broadway Database entry
- Lortel Archives entry
- New York Times review of 1994 off-Broadway revival
[edit] Reference and notes
- Showtune by Jerry Herman and Marilyn Stasio, published by Donald I. Fine Books (1996), pages 37-55 ISBN 1-55611-502-4
- ^ Richards, David. "Amorous Adventures From a Simpler Time", May 20, 1994.
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