Fred G. Morritt’s initial involvement in the musical adaptation of the Besier play was documented in the following article published in The New York Times in early 1960.
SHOW SCORE DONE BY A CITY JUSTICE
Fred Moritt Writes Music, Lyrics for Barretts — Musical Option Lapses
By SAM ZOLOTOW
Municipal Court Justice Fred G. Moritt has written the score and lyrics for a musical version of "The Barretts of Wimpole Street," Katharine Cornell's greatest hit to date.
At first, the 54-year-old Justice hesitated yesterday to confirm his extra-curricular activity, saying he was not seeking publicity. When told it was verified elsewhere, he acknowledged his contribution to the show, which lacks an adapter.
It is to be produced in the fall under the auspices of Roger L. Stevens and Jay Blackton, musical director of "Redhead."
No one is set for the cast but three of the principal roles might be delineated by Julie Andrews or Sally Ann Howes as Elizabeth Barrett, John Raitt or Richard Kiley as Robert Browning and Charles Laughton as the dour Edward Moulton-Barrett.
In the first Broadway presentation of 1931, those parts were interpreted in the foregoing order by Miss Cornell, Brian Aherne and Charles Waldron.
Two years ago Jean Dalrymple was planning to introduce a song-and-dance treatment of the successful play. Helen Thomas had provided the adaptation, music and lyrics. Miss Thomas' option on the property expired last year.
Friend Got Option
A friend of Justice Moritt, Dr. Franco Colombo, president of the music publishing house of G. Ricordi & Co., obtained a four-year option on the drama in 1959 from Mr. Besier's estate. Dr. Colombo said the mission occupied him for three years.
Before contracts were signed, Justice Moritt, an accomplished pianist, played the score for the estate's representatives. AIthough the Justice had been a baritone soloist on radio programs and in night clubs, he said he recited the songs the way Rex Harrison did in "My Fair Lady."
Justice Moritt had studied music with tutors, taught music and has been composing all his life. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Before his election to the bench two years ago, he served as a State Assemblyman for seven years and a State Senator for thirteen years.
“The Barretts” has had a notable career. Besides the 1931 offering, which ran for 370 performances on Broadway, Miss Cornell was seen in the local revivals of 1935 and 1945. Despite its subject material, the play was taken by Miss Cornell in 1944 to Europe, where it was performed at American Army installations for 140 performances.
Two screen versions were released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. One with Norma Shearer in 1934; the other with Jennifer Jones in 1957.
The New York Times, 15 January 1960, p.38
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However, when the mooted New York production failed to materialise, Moritt turned instead to London producer Martin Landau, but when his score was subsequently replaced by that of Grainer and Millar and despite the resulting musical's West End success (and consequent financial compensation to Morrit for his “idea”), the miffed songwriter turned to the British courts in an attempt to secure a greater share of the glory.
Brooklyn Judge Loses Stage Suit in London
LONDON, May 10 (AP)—
A New York judge who dabbles in theatricals went into a British high court Tuesday to seek bigger billing for himself in a West End musical. He lost.
Judge Fred George Moritt of Brooklyn sued the producers of the musical "Robert and Elizabeth”. He wanted his name to match those of Ronald Millar and Ron Grainer, who wrote the libretto and music.
Justice Denys Burton Buckley conceded that Mr. Moritt conceived the idea of the musical, but pointed out that his music and lyrics were discarded along the way.
The New York Times, 11 May 1966, p.38
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Fred Moritt’s subsequent legal injunction to prevent Robert and Elizabeth from being staged in New York (in the hope that his musical The Third Kiss might eventually be produced there), effectively derailed the projected 1967 Broadway production, chiefly because the producer did not want to engage in a possible costly court case to overturn the injunction (especially given Moritt’s connection to the New York judiciary.)
Although Moritt still held out hopes that The Third Kiss would reach the stage, a compromise of sorts was worked out with the Broadway producer some 3 years later, as related in the NY Times:
News of the Rialto
‘Elizabeth’…
By LEWIS FUNKE
IT isn't often that contending parties in a long, legal hassle walk out of a courtroom, each whistling a happy tune. But that is apparently what happened the other day when the plaintiff, Fred G. Morilt, a judge of the Civil Court, and L. Slade Brown, the theatrical producer, signed an agreement ending a battle that began more than four years ago.
At that time. Brown was preparing a production of the musical "Robert and Elizabeth," which had been a success in London. But Judge Moritt put a stop to that, contending that the London producer of the musical, which had its origin in the judge's own original script, “The Third Kiss,” had no right to make a deal for the American production.
Brown gave up, though he already had signed his staff, as well as two stars of the London production, June Bronhill and Keith Michell. In fact, Brown already had booked the production into theaters in New Haven, Toronto and Detroit when the whistle blew.
Now, according to the agreement, Brown can—and is—going ahead with his project, hoping for an opening in the fall. And Judge Moritt is free to proceed, if he wishes, with any plans he may put together for “The Third Kiss," which, the truth be told, has given him more heartache than he ever bargained for.
The tale is a 15-year history of frustration. Judge Moritt happens also to be a musician—a pretty good baritone in his day, when he was performing on radio.
Some 15 years ago he got the notion to set to music the romance of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Later he acquired the rights to the celebrated "The Barretts of Wimpole Street," which all over-30's know gave Katharine Cornell one of the great roles of her life.
The judge wrote the book, music and lyrics for what he called “The Third Kiss” derived from a line out of “Sonnets from the Portuguese.” It took him seven years of his spare time. American producers were interested. But, in 1963, Associated British Pictures Corp. Ltd. put up most of the money to enable Martin Landau to mount a production in London. Landau gave the judge's work to Ronald Millar and Ron Grainer who wound up turning out a new book, score and lyrics. When the musical opened in 1964, the program simply stated that the show was “From an idea by Fred G. Moritt.”
The judge, to be sure, received payment, though he asserts it was only partial—as of the moment the London producer, according to Judge Moritt, is in bankruptcy proceedings. Thus "everybody in London will be left holding the bag" unless “Robert and Elizabeth” has a big American success.
So, where does it all stand? Brown has gotten in touch with both Miss Bronhill and Michell in the hope that they will be available to resume their roles. He also hopes that Robin Phillips, who was to stage the American production, will be able to take on the directing assignment. Judge Moritt? He says he'll do everything he can to get his "Third Kiss" produced, but, he adds, since his judicial duties have always come first, he expects to be "the tortoise" in the race with Brown.
P.S. The first time around Brown budgeted the musical at $500.000. Inflation now makes that $150,000 more.
The New York Times, 6 April 1969, p. 1 & 20
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For whatever reason the rescheduled Broadway premiere of Robert and Elizabeth did not eventuate and so it was left to a regional theatre company to present its U.S. debut at the Forum Theatre, Chicago on Wednesday, 30 October 1974 in a production directed by William Pullinsi, with choreography by John Landovsky, starring Stephen Arlen and Catherine Christensen in the title roles, with Richard Woods as Moulton-Barrett. The limited run season closed on Sunday, 15 December 1974.
Chicago Tribune, 13 December 1974, p.53
"ROBERT AND ELIZABETH", the highly acclaimed London musical hit, opens its American premiere at the Forum Theater with low priced previews Wednesday, October 30 and Thursday, October 31 and opening Friday, November 1. Based on "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" by Rudolph Besler with book and lyrics by Ronald Miller and music by Ron Grainer, "Robert and Elizabeth is the tempestuous love story of poet Robert Browning and poetess Elizabeth Barret, his headlong wooing and their triumphant elopement. "Robert and Elizabeth", which ran four years in London, was acclaimed as "the most outstanding musical in London" with an excellent score. Cast in this highly comic, dramatic and romantic musical comedy are Stephen Arlen as Robert Browning, Catherine Chrlstensen as his adored poetess Elizabeth Barrett and Richard Woods as her domineering, unyielding and uncommunicative father Edward Moulton-Barrett. Iris Lieberman and Neil Hunt appear as Elizabeth's younger sister Henrietta and her comic beau Capt. Surtees Cook. The rest of Elizabeth's larger cluttering family comprised of six brothers and another sister are played by Danius Turek, Robert Alton, Ed Krieger, Gary Giocomo, Peter Anster, Larry Russo, and Paul Scrofano. Others in this happy-as-heart musical are Pat Fraser as Wilson, the maid; David [sic] Hitt as Elizabeth's bewitching Cousin Bella; Barbara Cooke as Lady Mary; Dennis Kelly as Dr. Chambers; and Richard Ashford as Richard Macready. William Pullinsi will produce and direct; Neil Vender is musical director; Choreography by John Landovsky; Scenery is by Anthony D'Angelo; Costumes by James Campbell and Sandy Tignor of New York Costume Company and Lighting by Ed Krieger. Tickets range from $5 to $7. Preview tickets will be specially priced at a 20 percent discount.
Berwyn Life, (Chicago, Illinois), 25 October 1974, p.13
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Director - William Pullinsi
The production was nominated for 9 awards of which it won 4 major awards at the Chicago-based 7th Annual Joseph Jefferson Awards (aka the Jeff Awards) for Best Actor in a Principal Musical Role (Stephen Arlen); Best Supporting Musical Actress (Iris Lieberman in the role of ‘Henrietta’); Best Director of a Musical (William Pullinsi); and Best Costume Designer (James Campbell and Sandra Kay Tignor).
Following its nine-week run in Guildford and Brighton, England, the British revival of Robert and Elizabeth directed by Val May and starring Jeremy Brett, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Denison premiered in the Canadian city of Ottawa at the Opera House in the National Arts Centre on 1 March 1977 as the first stop in what was billed as its pre-Broadway tour. Further limited runs followed in Hamilton and at Toronto’s O’Keefe Centre, but the production failed to cross the border into the U.S., possibly due to the largely negative reviews it received from the Canadian critics.
The Ottawa Citizen, 19 February 1977, p.41
The musical’s second major U.S. production was mounted by Brunswick Music Theater for a season at the Pickard Theatre at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine from 21 August to 2 September 1978, directed by Charles Abbot and choreographed by Dennis Grimaldi with Mark Jacoby and Carol Wilcox in the co-lead roles and Bernard Wurger as Moulton-Barrett.
Brunswick programme
Brunswick cast
A premiere at Brunswick
The first full-stage American premiere of Robert and Elizabeth opens a two- week run Monday at the Brunswick Music Theater.
Based on the love story of poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett staged so successfully a generation, or two ago, as The Barretts of Wimpole Street, this musical version is the work of Ronald Millar, who is responsible for the book and lyrics, and Ron Grainer, composer.
The idea of a musical version of The Barretts was originated by Judge Fred G. Moritt of Brooklyn, N.Y. In the mid-‘50s, he and Victoria Crandall played many backer's auditions work. Mr. Moritt later sold his rights to the idea to Grainer and Millar which they adapted into the present version. Miss Crandall's connection with the musical is long and very personal. She is presently considering a New York production of Robert and Elizabeth.
Mark Jacoby as Robert Browning has played in several productions at Brunswick this summer. He is a featured soloist with the Norman Luboff Choir and the National Chorale and has recorded with the Gregg Smith Singers, 'Renaissance’ a 1975 Carnegie Hall Concert, America in Song, Charles Ives, the Celestial Country with the Gregg Smith Singers and a modern opera, Einstein on the Beach.
Elizabeth will be played by Carol Wilcox, another popular member of the Brunswick company. Following her graduation from the University of Kansas, she traveled in Eastern Europe, visited the North Pole on USO tours. After two summers as an apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera Company, she studied at the Manhattan School of Music as a scholarship student and was offered a contract with the Metropolitan Opera Company. She has sung with the Houston Grand Opera, The Opera Guild of Greater Miami, the New Orleans Opera, Lyric Theatre, Caracas National Opera of Venezuela, Portland and Pittsburgh Opera Companies. In July she appeared with the St. Louis Municipal Opera and the Kansas City Starlight Musicals.
Sun-Journal (Maine), 18 August 1978, p.3
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"The Family Moulton-Barrett" at Brunswick Music Theater
The Reviews:
Victoria Crandall launches a show with a real future
By Sukie Rice
It is indeed a pleasure to have the opportunity to see, and review a play as exceptional and moving as is Robert and Elizabeth which opened Monday night at Victoria Crandall's Brunswick Music Theater. Viewed for one of the first times by American audiences, this musical version of the story of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning is based on the old-time favorite "The Barretts of Wimpoie Street." The story has charm and substance, is restrained when one most fears the melodramatic, buoyant and warm where one tends to expect a certain slackness. It offers an unusual opportunity for acting and character development, an opportunity of which the cast takes full advantage.
The music and lyrics by Ron Granier and Ronald Millar are perhaps the best we've heard all season. Generally more complex and subtle than that of most musicals, the score carries an important role in bringing out essential elements and transitions in the play — weaving a thread that guides one through the many soul moods of the story.
Robert and Elizabeth are lovers before they meet — through their letters, their poetry and their spirits destined to affect one another's lives. The barrier: Elizabeth's crippled state, and her tyrannical father whose severity and possessive hold on his family is the counterpoint for all that is beautiful and free in the play. In contrast to the submissive manner in which Eiizabeth’s brothers and sisters seem to accept their father's rule, is the self-possessed directness of Robert Browning, a man of confrontation.
It is through his challenge to Elizabeth's strength of will along with his forthright love which she is bound to trust that Elizabeth conquers her inability to stand on her own two feet. Her struggle to be well — to gain control of her life and choice of love — then becomes very important and very real for all in the theatre, her brothers and sisters, and audience alike.
Carol Wilcox is a genuine, warm and poised Elizabeth. Mark Jacoby is a gracious, passionate and strong Robert. Each with powerful, rich voices, they sing their duets (especially “I Said Love" and "In a Simple Way") beautifully. Bringing us some of the most convincing performances of this season, they make us realize that Vicki Crandall has proven an excellent matchmaker, pairing them to each other, and the two of them to this play.
Opposite Robert and Elizabeth stands Edward Barrett. Elizabeth’s father, whose distorted love and soul-numbing egoism is passionate and strong the primary source of the drama's tension. Edward Barrett is rendered as a man too forbidding to pity, too destructive to love; but all the way through, Bernard Wurger's playing of the man also makes him too human to dismiss. It is s difficult role, requiring an exceptional player. Bernard Wurger, Brunswick Music Theater's premiere veteran actor, is excellent.
A particular credit to the play is the essential importance that the supporting cast has for the whole. Elizabeth's two sisters and six brothers are gems in themselves — funny, alive and very credible. Special praise goes to her youngest brother Octavius (Robert Johanson) whose elfish ways and stutterings just at the right moment make him quite endearing; to Arabel (Joyce Tomanec), the sister prone to fainting at the slightest expression of emotion or enthusiasm; and most definitely to Henrietta (Christina Britton) the impulsive sister determined to throw off her cocoon and emerge joyful. As fully a "member" of this family as the rest is Wilson, the beloved maid. Lorna Ericson, playing Wilson, once more creates a character with humor and heart, giving others something solid and dependable to play off.
What we become immediately aware of is the tremendous closeness of this family — united in their common experience of Father Barrett's cold iron rule. For their excellent staging (the witty "The Family Moulton-Barrett” and spell-binding “The Girls That Boys Dream Of”), their contagious sense of humor, and their minor attempts at revolution we offer them a special round of applause.
Three things more deserve notice. First a fellow by the name of Robert Browning — a fine actor who plays with originality Henrietta's loveable suitor, Capt. Cook. Second is the dancing, which is comparatively minor in this play. But “The Real Thing" — particularly the ballet of Susan Whelan — is delightful. Third, the sets, designed by Karen Sparks Mellon, are magnificent. Having been touched for the first time opening night, however, they were the cause of a number of technical problems, now a marked regularity of BMT openings which the audience seems happily to accept as a part of the entertainment.
A grateful hand goes to Victoria Crandall for having the courage to put on an unknown musical play. Because of her excellent choice, Brunswick audiences are given the chance to be a part of the "discovery" of an exciting show with a real future. Let us give it the warm send-off it so well deserves.
The Times-Record (Maine), 23 August 1978, p.21
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Elizabeth (Carol Wilcox), expresses her longing for "The World Outside" to her sister, Henrietta (Christina Britton).
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'Robert and Elizabeth' a charmer
By FURST KNIGHTOR
It's a first! Victoria Crandall has brought to the Brunswick Music Theater the complete stage production of "Robert and Elizabeth" — the first in the United States by an all-professional company.
If you've ever been enchanted by the stage presentation, "The Barretts of Wimpole Street,'' you'll be more than impressed with this musical biography of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning.
Monday night, this critic entered the Victorian period of England and remained enthralled. The furnishings, sets and costumes satisfied the historian, but it was the beautiful voices of the cast which make Robert and Elizabeth the toast of the season.
Elizabeth, played by Carol Wilcox, gives her role the perfect touch. Her acting and singing are superb. The audience is hushed into complete silence as Elizabeth emerges from a wheelchair to the world of love. The portrayal of the confined Elizabeth is done with the best of acting.
Robert Browning is re-enacted by Mark Jacoby — and what a choice! Mark sings his way so successfully in this role, the viewers fall in love and are spellbound by the beloved poet. His acting reaches great heights.
Because Bernard Wurger lives his role as the father of Elizabeth, you'll not like him. Wurger is magnificent as Mr. Barrett. He is the dreadful villain whom psychologists would take great pleasure in analyzing. Bravo Mr. Wurger, the audience detested you!
Barretts' six sons and two daughters give the performance delight with their interpretations of the unique roles. They lift their voices to comedy, yet become sober when father Barrett appears on the scene. Lorna Erickson, a favorite of Brunswick audiences, pleases again with her role of Wilson. The scenes with Wilson and the beautiful dog are priceless. The dog paces through and deserves "paws" and Lorna is rewarded with "applause'' for her endeavor.
Dennis Grimaldi, choreographer and Charles Abbott, director, took on a challenge with "Robert and Elizabeth." They have succeeded and this writer is impressed.
It will be worth your while to end summer with this musical biography of Robert and Elizabeth. It has Victorian charm, marvelous talent and music for a summer night. You'll laugh and you'll feel sad, but you'll not forget your evening spent at the Brunswick Music Theatre.
When the curtain falls on Sept. 2. the 20th season will have concluded on what can only be termed as a successful tour de force. In spite of spiralling production costs, which may be reflected in next year's projected schedule change, 1978 saw 11 weeks and five productions of superior offerings. These topped previous Brunswick Music Theatre years in artistic achievement with one possible exception.
Kennebec Journal (Maine), 23 August 1978, p.6
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Robert (Mark Jacoby), and Elizabeth express their love for each other "In a Simple Way".
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The following review betrayed an unfortunate lack of research by the critic, as evidenced by the headline and opening paragraph.
'Robert and Elizabeth'—Its world premiere indicates it has a future
BRUNSWICK – 'Robert and Elizabeth' is the musical rendition of the romance of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It had its world premiere here Monday evening as the Brunswick Music Theater rendered a truly delightful performance. It is the hope of Vicky Crandell that the show, which is based on 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street' by Rudolph Besier, will make it to New York.
The audience definitely enjoyed the performance in spite of the obvious need of some condensation and smoother changes between scenes. This unusual musical centers around the love story of the two famous 19th century poets and the tyrannical father of Elizabeth, Edward Moulton Barrett. Also entering the story in a minor key are Elizabeth's two sisters and six brothers.
Those in both major and minor roles performed admirably. The many songs by Ron Grainer were generally pleasing, while the score featured some excellent lyrics.
Casting for 'Robert and Elizabeth' was ideal. Carol Wilcox played the role of the invalid Elizabeth to perfection. Her highs, as she discovered she could walk, and her lows as her dictatorial, self-centered father committed her to permanent invalidism, were portrayed effectively. As those have heard Ms. Wilcox as 'Margot' in the 'Desert Song' know, her voice is strong and rich. It achieved its ultimate in her solo, 'Woman and Man’.
The versatility of Mark Jacoby was in evidence in his depiction of Robert Browning. The role was a significant shift from such previous ones as Beauregard in 'Mame’ and 'Rikard' In 'Song of Norway.' Whether engaged in a serious effort to get Elizabeth to overcome her psychosomatic illness, or playing the clown in his delightful duet, 'In a Simple Way' with Ms. Wilcox, Jacoby struck the proper nuances. The voices of the two blended handsomely in such duets as 'Want to be Well,' ‘I Know Now' and 'Frustration.' Furthermore, during their conversations both hit exactly the right note and displayed effective reactions to each other.
The third major role of the father was given a most praise worthy performance by the veteran of the cast, Bernard Wurger. He was the perfect symbol of Victorian parental dictatorship in the extreme. And his utterly selfish intention of keeping his oldest daughter came through in a strong rendition of 'What the World Calls Love.' To know Burger as Edward Moulton Barrett is to hate him, and this is exactly what the role demands.
The lesser, but important parts, were handled fittingly by Christina Britton as Henrietta, the boldest of the Barrett menage, and by the way this is amusing, Robert Browning, her soldier lover, Capt. Surtees Cook. One of the most entertaining parts of the show was their comic duet, 'Hate Me Please’.
All of those depicting the Barrett children did well. Special kudos belong to Robert Johanson for his role as Octavious, the stuttering youngest of the offspring. Melanie Helton as the lisping cousin, Belle Hedley also won high favor with the audience, as did Joyce Tomanec in the part of the oft fainting Barrett sister, Arabel. Lorna Erickson was effective as usual in her portrayal of Wilson, the Barrett maid.
'Robert and Elizabeth' was one of the most entertaining productions at Brunswick in recent years. The fact that it ran somewhat overlong in its first night is something that can be readily corrected, but even with this problem the show is a definite winner. The music is pleasing and the lyrics for the same and the conversational segments of the show are witty and, where appropriate, dramatic.
This musical is remarkable conversion of one of the last century's most tender and unusual love stories – F. P.
Sun-Journal (Maine), 23 August 1978, p.3
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At Vauxhall Station Elizabeth seeks the approval of her father for her marriage to Browning.
Elizabeth tries to reason with her father (Bernard Wurger)
Further resources:
1978 Brunswick Music Theater - Robert and Elizabeth programme - 1978 Brunswick Music Theater - Robert and Elizabeth production photos
Courtesy of Maine State Music Theatre (formerly Brunswick Musical Theater), with thanks to Maya Edgerley
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The next major production to open in the U.S. was staged at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, New Jersey for a season from 30 October to 19 December 1982, with the following cast, which included the Australian-born actor Ron Randell in the role of 'Edward Moulton-Barrett' and Mark Jacoby reprising the role of 'Browning' from the earlier Brunswick staging.
(courtesy of Kenneth Kantor)
The Reviews:
'Robert and Elizabeth' delights at Paper Mill
By BETTE SPERO
"Robert and Elizabeth" is a perfect attention-getter to herald the Paper Mill Playhouse's return to the New Jersey theatrical fold.
It is a big, splashy show, more like an operetta, really, than a musical.
Colors cascade from Paul Wonsek's overwhelming sets, complemented by Guy Geoly's Victorian costumes, like multi-hued rainbows on parade.
In fact, the sets almost steal the show. There are nine of them, ranging from stunning interiors of the Barrett house in London to a train that carries the hero and heroine to Italy. Their slick execution underscores a technological complexity not possible in the old Paper Mill.
Jim Coleman, musical director and vocal arranger, robustly conducts a 20 member orchestra so the score, if not memorable, is memorably performed.
Especially impressive as singers are Robert and Elizabeth, Mark Jacoby and Leigh Beery, both of whom have operatic experience.
The other principal, Ron Randell, is a competent vocalist but a far more commendable actor as Elizabeth's strong, stern father. Edward Moulton-Barrett.
Snapping all the multitudinous elements together—not to mention a 28 member cast—is director-choreographer Robert Johanson. He is much like the ringmaster in a circus as he keeps all the diverse, disparate activities colorfully moving while always keeping a central focus on the center ring. His ability to organize, to interpret and to excite is admirable.
There are some nice touches of balletic-like dancing but dance is not really at the fore. Song is. The cast's rousing vocal renditions translate totally forgettable tunes into enthusiastic production numbers and emotional solos and duets.
Everything is larger than life—some might say overblown—in operetta. Such gargantuan grandeur is appropriate, however, for the reopening of Paper Mill and its awesome, $5 million edifice along Brookside Drive in Millburn, where "Robert and Elizabeth" continues through Dec. 19.
Among all the technological advancements is a new microphone system designed to make all the words and music audible to every one of a performance's potential 1,192 patrons. Thus performers wear hidden microphones—a procedure now common on Broadway—so they do not have to project to the mezzanine, or to the orchestra, for that matter.
"Robert and Elizabeth," which is about a decade old, is a British musical by composer Ron Grainer and author-lyricist Ronald Millar. Their musical about poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning is based on Rudolf Besier's play, "The Barretts of Wimpole Street.”
Such subject matter perhaps is of more interest to English audiences than to their American counterparts. The Brownings, writers during the mid-19th Century, are among the famous figures whose pictures are in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Most American students who study English literature come across the Brownings, however, and are familiar with their exalted place in literary history. While non-scholars may be pressed to recall specific passages, nearly everyone knows Elizabeth Barrett's most famous poetical phrase: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
Miss Barrett was not a woman destined for a great romance. Since age 15 she was bedridden from a spinal injury and other complications. She led a reclusive life—not so unlike American poetess Emily Dickinson—except Miss Barrett had a virtual tribe of eight brothers and sisters and an extremely autocratic and authoritarian father.
One gift the gentle Elizabeth possessed was a talent for writing. Her published poems made her famous, and financially solvent, in her own time—both remarkable achievements for a woman in 1845.
Elizabeth's writing captured the attention of Robert Browning, himself a famous poet and playwright of their day. After a year of writing to one another, and expressing admiration for each other's work, Browning prevailed upon Miss Barrett to allow him to meet her.
She was a frail, 39-year-old spinster, scared of angering her caring but domineering father. Yet, after many protests, she succumbed to the flamboyant, 33-year-old Browning's impulsive proclamations of love.
At times the deliciously melodramatic musical takes on the characteristics of a high-toned soap opera. Robert encourages Elizabeth, literally and figuratively, "to stand on your own two feet." Despite her frailty, Elizabeth responds with courageous conviction.
As the curtain falls on Act I, Elizabeth walks. At night's end, she weds. It's all so marvelous. On one hand, it is very entertaining and, on the other, it is truly touching.
Beyond their writing. Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning remain legendary figures because of their romance and its undeniable flair.
While the show's inspirational tone occasionally conjures up visions of Helen Keller learning to talk, complete with music, "Robert and Elizabeth" at heart is a great love story. And they never really go out of style, do they?
The Star-Ledger (New Jersey), Tuesday 9 November 1982, p.39
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A MUSICAL REOPENS PAPER MILL
By Alvin Klein
MILLBURN — WE'VE been waiting 18 years for ''Robert and Elizabeth,'' but it isn't quite what we've been waiting for. The popular English musical based on ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street,'' a play about the real-life love between the poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning — opened in London in 1964, and the original-cast album, still available, became something of a cult favorite.
It is now having its first major production in this country at the restored Paper Mill Playhouse. And what a major production it is — unstintedly so — with nine handsome sets and an enormous cast decked out in stunning, splendidly detailed costumes.
For openers, ''Robert and Elizabeth'' has plenty going for it: anticipation, opulence, an initially enticing outpouring of melody and the beginning of a love story that one actually cares about.
Indeed, ''The Wimpole Street Song'' isn't just an opening number of just another show. The company extols the joys of England, circa 1845.
''What a salubrious neighborhood,'' the chorus sings, as the music swells majestically. It sounds as if literacy, not just melodiousness, is in the offing, and it looks as if the scenery and lighting are going to ''illuminate the Victorian scene,'' as Ronald Millar's lyrics prescribe.
Visually, the show never lets us down. However, after a time, words fail Mr. Millar, who also wrote the book, and Ron Grainer's music dissolves into derivitiveness and repetition.
As the story progresses, the lyrics regress from elegance to banality — ''I love you in a simple way'' rhymes, fittingly, with ''pardon the cliche'' — and the story, which starts sweetly, has miles to go before it ends with a big yawn.
There are moments that stay with us. The buildup to the lovers' first meeting, after they have conducted one of literature's most legendary correspondence courses, really pays off. (At the time, Robert Browning was a household name and Elizabeth was a comer.)
In an attack of anxiety, Elizabeth spills all her pills. Robert picks them up. ''I cannot have Mr. Browning sprawled at my feet,'' she says with dread. ''My dear, he's been there for months,'' he replies with ardor. ''You are the centre of my life,'' he tells us. No shameless romanticist in the house is going to resist the line, or the soaring song that follows, ''I Said Love.'' Corny as it sounds, the musical's simplest moments are Elizabeth's first step, the lovers' first kiss, a tender dance in the garden and a walk around it.
The first ray of sun that pours into Elizabeth's room ought to be more overwhelming than it appears here, and Robert Johanson has over-directed the family scenes with more fuss than real musical theatre feeling.
As the book plods on from a first act that gracefully establishes people, period and place to a second act that's full of filler, it never seems clear whether Elizabeth's invalidism is hysterically induced or medically based. (She had a spinal injury as a teen-ager.)
Edward Moulton-Browning, her father, turns from an overbearing but human — and, at times, tender — figure into a merely mean man, and there's one cumbersome or superfluous song after another.
''I'm the Master Here,'' wherein the elder Barrett intimidates his sons into total submissiveness before he ships the whole family off to the country, is surely the most unfortunate of the lot. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the choo-choo train appears to chug the newly married lovers off to Florence.
As Elizabeth's father, Ron Randell gives the evening's surest performance. He can pile a lifetime of inflicted guilt into the proclamation, ''I'm cut to the heart,'' and make it pierce.
Leigh Beery is a serviceable Elizabeth, but a frailer presence and more voluptuous soprano would be the ideal combination here. The role's high-flying vocal demands are fierce indeed.
Mark Jacoby sings Robert with a resounding tenor and acts with brio. (Overall, the indistinct sound of music and voices suggests that the restored playhouse's acoustics — or is it amplification? — need work.)
Thomas Barbour is fine as Mr. Macready, a temperamental actor, and Jeannine Taylor is a perky Henrietta, one of the 11 Browning siblings.
Once ''Robert and Elizabeth'' begins its descent from grace, however, there isn't much anyone can do, short of a reconstruction job, like the one the Playhouse has happily had.
The New York Times (National edition), 14 November 1982, Section 11,p. 26
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Musical: The Brownings
By MEL GUSSOW
MlLLBURN, N.J.
THREE years ago the historic Paper Mill Playhouse, the official state theater of New Jersey, burned down. Recently rebuilt at a cost of $4.5 million, the handsome, spacious house has re-opened with "Robert and Elizabeth," a British musical adaptation of Rudolf Besier's "The Barretts of Wimpole Street." Unfortunately, the opening show is a musical potboiler.
For decades, Mr. Besier's original warhorse served as a vehicle for Katharine Cornell — and it was never more than serviceable. The musical version by Ronald Millar and Ron Grainer, first presented in London in 1964, turns this romantic melodrama into a cartoon.
What do you do with a musical heroine who spends more than half the evening lying on her couch? Cough, cough, swoon — and on with a production number as Elizabeth Barrett's six brideless brothers dance all over the furniture.
It is difficult to say lines such as "I've crushed the vileness in my nature," but Ron Randell makes Elizabeth's father unnecessarily overbearing, and it is no help to have him momentarily lapse into a Tartuffish lechery. As Robert Browning, Marc Jacoby seems to spend half of the evening on his knees proposing. Of the three principals, only Leigh Beery as Elizabeth has any believability, and her voice is one of the evening's few distinct assets. Another is a cocker spaniel, subtly underplaying the role of Flush.
Using scenery designed by Paul Wonsek, Robert Johanson's production is elaborate, shifting from Cavendish Square to the Barrett's baronial home. In this time of theatrical retrenchment, it is novel to see real scenery, moved mechanically and not by actors, but because the stage is over-miked, the scene changes are audible.
"Robert and Elizabeth" runs through Dec. 19, to be followed by an Ellis Rabb production of "You Can't Take It With You." As a year-round theater, the Paper Mill Playhouse has a worthwhile community purpose, and because of its proximity to New York, it could become a suburban cultural alternative.
The New York Times, 18 November 1982, p.C19
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Cover of Opening Night booklet for Robert and Elizabeth (courtesy of Kenneth Kantor)
Cast member Kenneth Kantor recalls the Paper Mill production:
The 1982 Paper Mill Playhouse production of ROBERT AND ELIZABETH sadly promised so much more than it delivered.
The theatre had been partially destroyed and subsequently rebuilt for a grand reopening in 1982.
Casting began almost a year ahead of this highly anticipated event. Many of us had been promised participation in a very grand production.
The cast was anticipated to star Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet and Alfred Drake. It turned out the stars would be Leigh Berry, Mark Jacoby and Ron Randall. All competent but quite a come down from the cast we were told would be in place.
We were also promised a swift transfer to the St. James Theatre on Broadway.
The show was selected with an eye towards pleasing the predilections of the Paper Mill audience. They wanted an operetta that would also carry the promise of being a “new”show.
The show was massively designed and in many ways overtaxed the capabilities of the theatre.
The director was so in love with the show that additional material was added from the play that the musical was based on. As a result, the show became an overlong overstuffed production that did not accurately represent the original material of the musical.
Quite frankly, the musical came off as a lumbering production that was, frankly, a bit of a bore.
The music program of the show was well served within the limitations of some of the casting choices.
From onstage we saw audience members dozing off during a far too overwritten Act Two.
Sadly, the major reviews reflected the shortcomings of the production as presented.
Unfortunately, the Paper Mill production tarnished the reputation of this charming show here in the United States.
Mr. Macready's acting troupe join in the production number "Moon in My Pocket" (courtesy of Kenneth Kantor - seen in the centre)
Cast members celebrate at the Opening Night party - l to r: Kenneth Kantor, Gene Masoner, Joyce Campana, John Foster, a member of the wardrobe staff and David Mallard. (courtesy of Kenneth Kantor)
Paper Mill Playhouse, Milburn, New Jersey (Wikimedia Commons)
Postscript:
The Third Kiss was not the only musical that Fred G. Moritt had written and tried to get produced, as the following report in the New York Daily News from 1974 detailed:
The Daily News (New York), 14 April 1974, p.136
It had been alleged by State Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Maurice H. Nadjari that Judge Moritt had conspired to put lawyer, Theodore Mann on the city payroll as his pretended law secretary, in order to divert part of the secretary's $18,500-a-year salary into Participating Investors Ltd., a company he had set up to produce The Love Lottery. After further legal wrangling by both prosecutor and defendant (detailed on Wikipedia), the case against Moritt was dismissed in February 1977 and the judge died 18 years later in May 1995 at the age of 89 with his ambition of seeing The Third Kiss and The Love Lottery receive professional productions remaining unfulfilled.
