Runaways (musical)

Runaways
Music Elizabeth Swados
Lyrics Elizabeth Swados
Book Elizabeth Swados
Productions 1978 off-Broadway
1978 Broadway

Runaways is a musical which was written, composed and directed by Elizabeth Swados, about the lives of children who run away from home and live on the city streets. The characters were taken from workshops conducted by Swados with real-life runaways in the late 1970s.

Contents

Background

Swados took her idea for a musical with the theme of running away "from home, from a boyfriend, from a predator,... from yourself" to Joseph Papp, who agreed to produce it. She looked for the children who would be in the musical in various places in New York City, such as a community center, and "little by little, we built a world where runaways came together, told their stories, and acted out the hardships they endured."[1] Swados did research for her project as she gathered the cast, and some in the cast were actual runaways. The show was done in a series of songs, monologues, scenes, poems, and dances.[2]

Productions

The musical premiered off-Broadway on February 21, 1978 at the Public Theater Cabaret as presented by the New York Shakespeare Festival. It moved to Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre on May 13, 1978 and closed on Dec 31, 1978 after 274 performances and 12 previews. The director and choreographer was Elizabeth Swados, with scenic design by Douglas W. Schmidt and Woods Mackintosh, costume design by Hilary Rosenfeld, and lighting design by Jennifer Tipton.

The orchestra consisted of Piano and Toy Piano, String Bass, Congas, Timbales, Bongos, Bell Sirens and Others, Trap Set, Triangle, Glass and Ratchet, Saxophone and Flutes, and Guitar (played by Elizabeth Swados).

Original Broadway cast

Synopsis summary

28 "multi racial, multi ethnic" children explore the "fragmented" life of the runaway[3] in an inner city. Through songs, monologues and poems the children examine and explain why they are runaways. They are abused, come from broken families, or are in an orphanage. The children show a range of emotions, and are seen as victims but also "perpetrators". They "plead with their families and society 'Let Me Be A Kid Again.'"[4]

Songs and scenes

Act I
  • You Don't Understand
  • I Had to Go
  • Parent/Kid Dance
  • Appendectomy
  • Where Do People Go (song)
  • Footsteps
  • Once Upon a Time
  • Current Events
  • Every Now and Then (song)
  • Out on the Street
  • Minnesota Strip (song)
  • Song of a Child Prostitute (song)
  • Christmas Puppies
  • Lazar's Heroes
  • Find Me a Hero (song)
  • Scrynatchkielooaw
  • The Undiscovered Son (song)
  • I Went Back Home
  • This is What I Do When I'm Angry
  • The Basketball Song (song)
  • Dance
  • Spoons
  • Lullaby for Luis (song)
  • We Are Not Strangers (song)
Act II
  • In the Sleeping Line
  • I Will Not Tell a Soul
  • Revenge Song (song)
  • Enterprise (song)
  • Lullaby from Baby to Baby (song)
  • Sometimes (song)
  • Clothes
  • Mr. Graffiti
  • The Untrue Pigeon (song)
  • Señoras de la Noche
  • We Have to Die?
  • Where Are Those People Who Did 'Hair'? (song)
  • Appendectomy II
  • Let Me Be a Kid (song)
  • To the Dead of Family Wars
  • Problem After Problem
  • Lonesome of the Road/Let Me Be a Kid (Reprise) (song)

Response

According to Cecil A. Smith, "It was a novel show, even for a period of musical theatre that sought novelty. Angry, disturbing, and ultimately too prosaic for sustained musical flight, it was complete proof that Elizabeth Swados had new plans for the musical and that she had the talent to realize them.[5]

Harold Clurman wrote: "Though the show offers a number of attractive features, only a few of them are actually congruent with its theme...There are...a few charming numbers: one of them is called 'Enterprise' derisive of our national fetish...The Swados music is utilitarian rather than lyrically or dramatically expressive-it is employed, as in the Japanese or Chinese theatres, as sound to call attention to signal moments...Even if I had liked more of the numbers than I did, I would still have thought 'too much show!' ".[6]

The New York Times reviewer wrote of the Public Theatre production that the show was an "inspired musical collage...[it] takes a harsh and uncompromising look at the world of runaways, but it is written and performed with great compassion." The music is "disco, salsa, country and western and blues...Not just the songs, but the soliloquies and poems - some of them contributed by members of the cast - are also deeply personal...In all aspects 'Runaways' is a triumph."[2]

Awards and nominations

Original Off-Broadway production

Year Award Category Nominee Result
1978 Obie Award Best Direction Elizabeth Swados Won

Original Broadway production

Year Award Category Nominee Result
1978 Tony Award Best Musical Nominated
Best Book of a Musical Elizabeth Swados Nominated
Best Original Score Nominated
Best Direction of a Musical Nominated
Best Choreography Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Nominated
Outstanding Director of a Musical Elizabeth Swados Nominated
Outstanding Lyrics Nominated
Outstanding Music Nominated

References

  1. ^ Swados, Elizabeth. At play: Teaching Teenagers Theater, Macmillan, 2006, ISBN 0571211208, pp.xxix- xxii
  2. ^ a b Gussow, Mel. "Stage:Inspired 'Runaways' ", The New York Times, March 10, 1978, p. C3
  3. ^ Jones, John Bush. Our Musicals, Ourselves:A Social History of the American Musical Theater, UPNE, 2003, ISBN 0874519047, p. 287
  4. ^ Filichia, Peter. Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community, Or Professional Theater, Watson-Guptill, 1997, ISBN 0823088170, p. 173
  5. ^ Smith, Cecil A. Musical Comedy in America:From The Black Crook to South Pacific, From The King & I to Sweeney Todd, Routledge, 1987, ISBN 0878305645, p. 320
  6. ^ Clurman, Harold. The Collected Works of Harold Clurman, Hal Leonard Corporation, 1994, ISBN 1557831327, pp. 902-903

External links