Three Wishes for Jamie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original Cast Recording
Three Wishes for Jamie

Music	Ralph Blane
Lyrics	Ralph Blane
Book	Charles O'Neal Abe Burrows
Based upon	Charles O'Neal' novel The Three Wishes of Jamie McRuin
Productions	1952 Broadway

Three Wishes for Jamie is a musical with a book by Charles O'Neal and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Ralph Blane.

Based on O'Neal's 1949 novel The Three Wishes of Jamie McRuin, the fantasy focuses on the title character, a young Irishman who, when offered three wishes by the Queen of the Fairies, chooses travel, a bride, and a son who can speak Gaelic. The granting of the first brings him to Atlanta, Georgia, where the second is fulfilled in the form of Maeve Harrigan. But the third will prove to be more difficult to enjoy when it is discovered his new wife is unable to conceive and the couple adopts a mute boy.

In the summer of 1951, the musical was staged in Los Angeles and San Francisco with Cecil Kellaway in the title role, but neither critical nor audience reaction justified a move to New York City. Burrows stepped in and replaced O'Neal's original collaborator Charles Lederer, consolidated the three acts into two, tailored the role of Jamie specifically for John Raitt, and eliminated most of the West Coast cast.

After tryouts in New Haven and Boston, the Broadway production, directed by Burrows and choreographed by Herbert Ross, Eugene Loring, and Ted Cappy, opened on March 21, 1952 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. It transferred to the Plymouth for the final week of its 92-performance run. In addition to Raitt, the cast included Anne Jeffreys as Maeve, with Bert Wheeler, Charlotte Rae, Walter Burke, Malcolm Keen, and Jeff Morrow in supporting roles.