| Stop the World – I Want to Get Off | |
| Music: | Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley |
| Lyrics: | Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley |
| Productions: | 1961 West End 1962 Broadway 1966 Film 1978 Broadway revival |
Stop the World – I Want to Get Off is a 1961 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. In 1966 Warner Bros. released a film adaptation of the play. In 1996, a film version was produced for TV, made for the A&E Network.
According to Oscar Levant, the play's title was derived from a graffito.[1]
The show, set against a circus backdrop, focuses on Littlechap from the moment of his birth until his death. Each time something unsatisfactory happens, he calls out "Stop the world!" and addresses the audience. His progress through school, like his birth, having been briefly portrayed, he first finds work as an office helper performing menial tasks, or tea boy.[2] A little later, his first major step toward improving his lot is to marry his boss' daughter Evie after getting her pregnant out of wedlock; now saddled with the responsibilities of a family, he is given a job in his father-in-law's factory. He has two daughters, Susan and Jane, but truly longs for a son. He allows his growing dissatisfaction with his existence to lead him into the arms of various women in his business travels—Russian official Anya, German domestic Ilse, and American cabaret singer Ginnie—as he searches for something better than he has. He becomes rich and successful and is elected to public office. Only in his old age does he realize that what he has had all along, the love of his wife, was more than enough to sustain him. But Evie dies. Littlechap comes to terms with his own selfishness while writing his memoirs. As death approaches, he watches his second daughter give birth to a son. When the boy nearly dies, Littlechap intervenes and allows Death to take him instead. In that final moment, Littlechap mimes his own birth, beginning the cycle once again.
Opening originally in Manchester, England, the production transferred to the West End of London and opened on July 20, 1961, at what was historically called the Queen's Theatre. Directed by Newley, it ran for 485 performances. Newley starred as Littlechap, with Anna Quayle playing the multiple roles of Evie and the other women in his life. Marti Webb made her West End debut as a member of the chorus. An original cast recording was released by Decca Records.[3]
Producer David Merrick, characteristically impressed by the play's evidently representing a low-cost project requiring minimal sets and costumes and a small cast, decided to stage the show in New York City. It was directed by Newley, and featured scenery and lighting design by Sean Kenny, musical supervision by Ian Fraser, musical direction by Milton Rosenstock, orchestrations by Ian Fraser. After one preview, the Broadway production opened on October 3, 1962, at the Shubert Theatre, eventually transferring to the Ambassador to complete its 555-performance run.[4] Newley and Quayle reprised their London roles. Newley later was replaced by Kenneth Nelson, then Joel Grey; Joan Eastman assumed the roles of Evie et al.
A Broadway cast limited-run recording was originally released by RCA Victor Records.[5] (The mainstream version was subsequently released by London Records.) On the national company tour, the show starred Grey and Julie Newmar.
A Broadway revival directed by Mel Shapiro opened on August 3, 1978, at the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center, where it ran for 30 performances. The cast included Sammy Davis Jr. and Marian Mercer. A revival cast recording was released by Warner Bros. Records.[6]
A London revival, directed by Newley, opened on October 19, 1989, at a venue that was then, and may still today be, called the Lyric Theatre. (Today's venue evidently does not acknowledge having let that show go on.) Now starring Newley and Rhonda Burchmore, the show obtained a slight update, but it retained the Nazi-ish Fräulein, the Bolshevik Russian girl, and the Judy-Holliday-ditzy American blonde—all much more distant than in 1961 and thus outside the experience of anyone under 40. It received poor reviews and closed after just 52 performances over five weeks. Newley was very disappointed and bitter about the reviews, as he told the audience after the final curtain.
A 1966 Warner Bros. release was little more than a filmed version of a staged production. Directed by Philip Saville, it featured additional material by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, David Donable, and Al Ham. The cast included Tony Tanner and Millicent Martin. Neither a critical nor commercial success, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Music Scoring. The film deleted the German mistress sequence and substituted a Japanese mistress. It is not clear whether this was the Bergman contribution or if Newley and Bricusse created the new sequence. It is also unclear why this substitution was made. In the film version, the show ends with "What Kind of Fool Am I?" There is no birth of a grandson, nor of Littlechap choosing to die in his stead and being reborn, as in the original musical play. With the exception of "Typische Deutsche," the original score is transferred complete.
Sammy Davis Jr. and Marian Mercer reprised their Broadway revival roles for Sammy Stops the World, a 1978 television adaptation[7] taped at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California. It was theatrically released in a limited engagement in various American cities on September 21, 1979. As with the prior adaptation, this was neither a critical nor commercial success. Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times said that "there are closeups and attempts at creative editing in this film but these elements aren't nearly enough to make it more than a statically filmed play"; he added that "this is a star vehicle but he can't really make it go. Davis, who can be an overpowering presence on stage, doesn't come across vividly and forcefully in this play-movie. It's not totally his fault. His efforts don't add up to much because he has no exceptional material to work with. Putting Davis in this production is like renting a cannon and filling it with blanks."[8] Tom McElfresh of The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote: Michael Clark of the Detroit Free Press called it "one of the half-dozen most humiliating and embarrassing times any filmgoer can ever hope to spend in a motion picture theater."[9] Robert C. Trussell of The Kansas City Star said that "the Newley-Bricusse work has been stripped of most of its inherent—albeit marginal—interest and has been redesigned to allow Davis to mug shamelessly and milk the audience for cheap laughs with a multitude of low comedy routines."[10] Edwin Howard of the Memphis Press Scimitar called it "merely a dumb show with scenes pointlessly juggled and re-jiggered in the editing. Even cut to an hour and 35 minutes, it seems interminable."[11] Joe Baltake of the Philadelphia Daily News called it "a vanity film for Davis and his fans,"[12] while Ernest Leogrande of the New York Daily News wrote that "the passage of time painfully emphasizes the show's heavy-handed reliance on national stereotypes and the show, blown up to screen size, is a gassy business. The choppy editing, omitting chunks of action, doesn't help."[13] Greg Tozian of The Tampa Tribune called it "simply a terrible movie," and noted that only four other people were in attendance of the screening that he saw.[14]
David Mucci of The Lexington Leader wrote, "To truly enjoy the film, the viewer must be a Sammy Davis Jr. fan and appreciate the type of musical experience he delivers. Otherwise, when Sammy belts the final song What Kind Of Fool Am I? that’s exactly what the paying customer is going to be asking."[15] These sentiments were echoed in The Courier-Journal by Owen Hardy, who also called it "a boring, tasteless, offensive display of almost total non-talent."[16] Janet Maslin of The New York Times said that "this version of Stop the World features a gaudy set, a few uneasy references to current events, and floppy, ill-fitting costumes on everybody but Mr. Davis, who wears a silky sweater and pants but no jewelry, because he is supposed to start out poor"; she concluded the review by saying that "music, mime and merriment are in abundant supply—all the ingredients of a perfectly nice evening at a dinner theater in a suburb somewhere. Except for the dinner, that is."[17]
In 1996, a TV movie version was produced starring Peter Scolari as Littlechap and Stephanie Zimbalist as Evie.[18] Made for the A&E Network,[19] it adhered closely to the format of the original stage production.
| Role | Original London production | Original Broadway production[20] | 1963 US national tour[21] | 1978 Broadway revival[22] | 1989 London revival | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Littlechap | Anthony Newley | Joel Grey | Sammy Davis Jr. | Anthony Newley | ||
| Evie, Anya, Isle, Ginnie | Anna Quayle | Julie Newmar | Marian Mercer | Rhonda Burchmore | ||
| Jane (Littlechap's Daughter) | Jennifer Baker | Janet Allman | Shelly Burch | |||
| Susan (Littlechap's Daughter) | Susan Baker | Jennifer Allman | Wendy Edmead | |||
| Greek Chorus |
|
|
|
|
| |
Littlechap: Tony Tanner
Evie, Anya, Isle, Ginnie: Millicent Martin
Littlechap: Joel Grey, Kenneth Nelson
Littlechap: Kenneth Nelson