The Lieutenant (musical)

The Lieutenant
Music Gene Curty
Nitra Scharfman
Chuck Strand
Lyrics Gene Curty
Nitra Scharfman
Chuck Strand
Book Gene Curty
Nitra Scharfman
Chuck Strand
Productions 1975 Broadway

The Lieutenant is a rock opera with book, music and lyrics by Gene Curty, Nitra Scharfman and Chuck Strand. The musical concerns the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and ran on Broadway in 1975.

Production

Directed by William Martin and choreographed by Dennis Dennehy, it opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on March 9, 1975 and closed on March 16, 1975 after 9 performances and 7 previews.[1] The cast featured Eddie Mekka and was produced by Joseph S. Kutrzeba and Spofford J. Beadle.

The show was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical, Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, Tony Award for Best Original Score and Best Actor in a Musical.

It was originally produced by Queens Playhouse, (Flushing Meadows, New York) in 1974 by Joseph S. Kutrzeba, who started the Playhouse.[2][3] Alan Eichler was the press representative.[4]

Producer and Holocaust survivor, Joseph Kutrzeba said of the reason he decided to produce "The Lieutenant" was "The show meant a lot ot me on human values. I think the theme is one of cardinal importance to our times: The concept of obedience versus exercising one's own conscience." The Philadelphia Inquirer September 3, 1974 [5]

Overview

The show poses the question of where does the guilt lie for the My Lai massacre of civilians in 1968 Vietnam? Does it reside solely in the person of The Lieutenant, who gave the order to "waste them"? Or perhaps in the larger military itself, where wars are planned, body counts are calculated, and inconvenient casualties are sometimes scrubbed from the record? Or just maybe the seeds for deeds like My Lai are latent in the very fabric of the human race, and once in awhile the perfect storm of events allows for something terrible like this to happen?

In 1994 an adaptation of The Lieutenant was performed under the title "...One of the Good Guys" by Israeli actor Meir Vardi and David Bolander at the Sanford Meisner Theatre at 164 11th Avenue, New York, New York.[6]

In August 2016, Miles Kreuger President of The Institute for the American Musical in Los Angeles, California, accepted the script, score, libretto, reviews and Playbill of The Lieutenant into their archives.

Cast

Musicians

Recording

The Cast album was released in 1975.[7]

Songs

Critical response

The musical was described by Clive Barnes in his New York Times review as "extremely well staged" a "rock opera", and "it works very well indeed".[8]

He also mentioned in The Morning News that the Lieutenant is "attractive and supportive" and there is "never a dull moment" [9]

Ernest Leogrande of the New York News Service felt that "they have two of the essentials for any musical show: telling lyrics and strong melodies".[10]

The Long Island Press said "If you never see another show, you must see this one" [11]

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Year Award Category Nominee Result
1975 Tony Award Best Musical Nominated
Best Book of a Musical Gene Curty, Nitra Scharfman and Chuck Strand Nominated
Best Original Score Nominated
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Eddie Mekka Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Nominated
Outstanding Music and Lyrics Gene Curty, Nitra Scharfman and Chuck Strand Nominated
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Eddie Mekka Nominated
Outstanding Director of a Musical William Martin Nominated
Outstanding Choreography Dennis Dennehy Nominated

References

  1. ↑ The Lieutenant Broadway Playbill (vault), accessed September 29, 2016
  2. ↑ "Tony‐Award Nominee From Queens" The New York Times, April 6, 1975
  3. ↑ "Obituary Joseph S. Kutrzeba" legacy.com (from New York Times, February 3, 2013), accessed September 30, 2016
  4. ↑ https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-lieutenant-3731
  5. ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/image/173465563/
  6. ↑ New York Magazine, January 3, 1994. Page 80
  7. ↑ Cast Recording castalbums.org
  8. ↑ Barnes, Clive. "‘Lieutenant’, Musical With Something Worth Singing" The New York Times, March 10, 1975
  9. ↑ The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) Tuesday, March 11, 1975 Page 2
  10. ↑ Philadelphia Inquirer, September 3, 1974 page 22
  11. ↑ Barnard Bulletin, March 3, 1975
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