| Look to the Lilies | |
| Music: | Jule Styne |
| Basis: | Novel by William Edmund Barrett Lilies of the Field |
| Productions: | 1970 Broadway |
Look to the Lilies is a stage musical with a book by Leonard Spigelgass, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, and music by Jule Styne.
Based on both the 1962 novel and film versions of Lilies of the Field, it tells the story of a group of German nuns, headed by a determined, dauntless Mother Superior, who manage to get an African American itinerant handyman/jack-of-all-trades named Homer Smith to build a chapel for the New Mexico community in which they live, despite not having money to pay him.
Styne composed his score with Ethel Merman in mind, but director Joshua Logan cast Shirley Booth instead. Sammy Davis Jr.'s salary demands put him out of the running, and the role of Homer went to Al Freeman Jr., whom Logan later described as "difficult" and "antagonistic."
| Character | Broadway (1970)[1] | |
|---|---|---|
| Mother Maria Marthe | Shirley Booth | |
| Homer Smith | Al Freeman Jr. | |
| Juan Archuleta | Titos Vandis | |
| Sister Albertine | Taina Elg | |
| Rosita | Carmen Alvarez | |
| Juanita | Patti Karr | |
| Sister Gertrude | Maggie Task | |
| Monsignor O'Hara | Richard Graham | |
| Sister Elizabeth | Virginia Craig |
The musical premiered on Broadway on March 29, 1970 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where it ran for 25 performances and 31 previews. The musical was the last for Booth, over 70 years old at the time of the premiere, but she garnered unanimous critical raves from the critics.
Raymond Bordner wrote: "Miss Booth is simply marvelous all the way, and it is a real treat to see her again on Broadway". Richard Watts, in the New York Post, mentioned "Miss Booth's warm and gracious appeal."[2] They also praised designer Jo Mielziner's use of desert tones, projections, scrims, and lighting to create the atmosphere and mood of the desert Southwest, but found little else of merit in the show.
Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops by Ken Mandelbaum, published by St. Martin's Press (1991), pages 29–31