Flora the Red Menace

Flora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by George Abbott and Robert Russell, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The original 1965 production starred Liza Minnelli in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. This was the first collaboration between Kander and Ebb, who later wrote Broadway and Hollywood hits such as Cabaret and Chicago.

Although not full of well-known or show-stopping numbers, the score does present a valuable insight into the later work of Kander and Ebb. Like Cabaret and Chicago, it features a headstrong heroine and has a strong dose of political content.

Productions

Flora the Red Menace opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on May 11, 1965 and closed on July 24, 1965, after 87 performances. The cast featured Liza Minnelli as Flora, Bob Dishy as Harry Toukarian and Cathryn Damon as Comrade Charlotte. Direction was by George Abbott, choreography by Lee Theodore, with scenic design by William and Jean Eckart, costume design by Donald Brooks and lighting design by Tharon Musser. Minnelli won the Tony Award, the youngest person to do so at age 19, until Frankie Michaels won in 1966 at age 11.

Flora was not written for Minnelli, as is sometimes said; Robert Russell was rumored to have written the show as a vehicle for Barbra Streisand. George Abbott became involved and thought it would be a vehicle for Eydie Gormé. Receiving promising out-of-town reviews in New Haven and Boston, the show was recorded two days before its Broadway opening. However, the New York critics were not enthusiastic, and when it closed it had lost almost all of its $400,000 investment.^[1]

The New York Times reviewer wrote: "The voice [of Minnelli] is not yet distinctive... She is going to be a popular singer, all right. It [Flora the Red Menace] has the appearance of being pasted together with bits and pieces. A promising idea has not been enlivened by a creative spark."^[2]

The musical was revived at the Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre in December 1987 with a new book by David Thompson. Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, Flora was played by Veanne Cox with Peter Frechette as Harry.^[3]

Other notable productions include:

Brighton Little Theatre, UK, 1998, directed by Simon Cross and musically directed by Gary Nock.

Dundee Repertory Theatre, Scotland, autumn 2003.^[4]

42nd Street Moon (San Francisco, California) presented the musical in concert in November - December 2006.^[5]

"Reprise! Broadway's Best" production, Freud Theatre (Los Angeles, California) - May 6 through May 18, 2008, with Eden Espinosa as Flora.^[6]

Oberlin College, 2011, notable for John Kander returning to his alma mater to consult on the production.

Plot synopsis

Headstrong wannabe fashion designer Flora Mezaros is a member of an artists' co-operative of bohemian types - dancers, musicians, designers - struggling to find work during the Great Depression. Hoping to find a job which pays at least $15 a week, she is hired by the head of a large department store at $30. She falls in love with Harry Toukarian, another struggling designer, who attempts to convert Flora to his Communist ideals. Even though it compromises her job in an organisation which does not recognise the new unions she seeks to hold down both job and relationship. Complicating matters is a predatory Communist matriarch, Comrade Charlotte, who wants Harry for herself, a secretary with designs on her boss, and Kenny and Maggie, a jazz dancing duo with their sights on greater things.

In the end, however, Flora finds herself torn between two vastly different ideals, and has to sacrifice one or the other for true happiness.

In the Vineyard Theatre revival, the story was told as though in a presentation by the Federal Theatre Project, part of the WPA established by President Roosevelt (voiced by Art Carney). A company of actors played all the roles, with obvious props and scenery, not trying to hide the 'amateur' look and feel of the show.

Songs

Recordings

The Original Broadway cast recording was released by RCA Victor Broadway in May 1965; a CD was released March 10, 1992.^[7]

The 1987 Broadway revival cast recording is also available on CD.^[8]

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

See also

• List of musicals: A to L

References

External links

• Flora the Red Menace at the Internet Broadway Database
• Synopsis
• Time Magazine review (abstract), May. 21, 1965