Rick Besoyan
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| Rick Besoyan | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Richard Besoyan |
| Born | July 2, 1924 Reedley, California, United States |
| Died | March 13, 1970 (aged 45) Sayville, Long Island, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, director, composer, songwriter, playwright |
Richard Besoyan (July 2, 1924 – March 13, 1970) was a singer, actor, playwright, composer and director especially of operetta and musicals. He is best remembered for writing the successful satirical musical Little Mary Sunshine.
[edit] Life and career
Born in Reedley, California to Amos and Mabel (Madie) Besoyan, on July 2, 1924. In 1928 the Family moved to Alameda, California.
Besoyan attended Lincoln School, writing his first song when he was twelve. He graduated from Alameda High School in 1942. While in High School, Besoyan and a few friends wrote and produced a musical, High and Dry.
He enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley in 1942, but left during his first semester to volunteer for the army, serving in Europe for three years in the Special Services Division. While overseas, Besoyan attended the London School of Music, studying piano.
Upon his return, Besoyan joined the Bredon-Savoy Light Opera Company, where he performed the role of Koko in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. Besoyan left the company, after two years, moving to New York to try his luck. He studied at the American Theater Wing, and then taught musical comedy at Stella Adler’s Theater School.
In 1957, he had mild success with a revival of Cole Porter’s Out of this World at Actors Playhouse. Then Jim Paul Eilers asked him to write a revue for his nightclub The Showplace. In Your Hat was the result. An Act II finale, titled Gems from Little Mary Sunshine, featured some of the themes later to form part of the famous musical.
Little Mary Sunshine opened Off-Broadway in 1959, and was primarily a takeoff of old-fashioned operetta. Besoyan won the 1959–1960 Vernon Rice Memorial Award for outstanding theatrical achievement.
Besoyan wrote book, music and lyrics for two other shows. The 1963 Broadway production of The Student Gypsy or The Prince of Liederkranz, had just 22 performances. It starred Eileen Brennan and Dom DeLuise; however, it opened during negotiations with the musician union, and was also affected by a newspaper strike. Besoyan also wrote the 1964 off-Broadway production of Babes in the Wood starring Ruth Buzzi. (56 performances). Neither of these shows has been recorded.
In 1966, William S. Godfrey, Mayor of Alameda, California, proclaimed September 16th, “Rick Besoyan Day”. In 1969 Besoyan was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1970, Besoyan died of internal hemorrhages in Sayville, Long Island. At his death, he had just completed directing the Sayville Musical Workshop’s production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and was writing lyrics and music for a dramatization of Paul Gallico’s Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris.
Though rarely produced since its original Broadway incarnation 45 years ago, "The Student Gypsy" was recently produced by 42nd Street Moon in San Francisco, presented as a staged concert and starring Maureen McVerry as Zampa Allescu, Queen of the Gypsies, and Rena Wilson as Merry May Glockenspiel. The musical previewed March 27 and 28, with opening night on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at the Eureka Theatre, where it played till April 13, 2008, for a total of 14 performances. Directed by Greg MacKellan, with musical direction & accompaniment by Dave Dobrusky and choreography by Staci Arriaga, lighting by Ellen Brooks, scenic decoration by Mike Figueira, costume design by Louise Jarmilowicz and props & accessories by Tom Orr. The cast included: Gabriel Grilli as Prince Rudolph von Schlump, Tony Panighetti as Muffin T. Ragamuffin, Juliet Heller as Ginger Glockenspiel, Robert Robinson as Colonel Helmut Blunderbuss, Richard Pardini as Papa Johann Sebastian Glockenspiel and Molly Coogan as Elsie Umlaut, with Lillian Askew, Samantha Bartholomew, Buzz Halsing, Erin Hoffman, Christopher Nelson, Jarrod Quon and Andrew Woodward-Willis in the ensemble. It was the first 42nd Street Moon show done entirely without script-in-hand.
