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"Soon It's Gonna Rain"
The Broadway musical started the 1960s with a roar and ended them with something akin to a nervous breakdown.

A publicity flyer for the original cast of The Fantasticks, which became the longest running musical in theatrical history.

The decade's first and most enduring hit was born Off-Broadway. The Fantasticks (1960 - 17,162) told the story of two well-meaning fathers who manipulate their idealistic children into a storybook romance, only to learn that "happily ever after" has its darker side. This innocent bit of whimsy soon caught on with the public, but no one could guess how successful the show would prove to be. The longest running musical in theatrical history, the show traveled the world with over 11,000 productions in more than a dozen languages. The score by composer Harvey Schmidt and lyricist Tom Jones includes "Soon It's Gonna Rain" and "They Were You." "Try to Remember" was introduced by Jerry Orbach, who narrated the show as the dashing El Gallo -- the first of many leading roles that he would originate over the next two decades.

Composer Richard Rodgers provided words and music for the score of No Strings (1962 - 580). As in the best of his work with the late Oscar Hammerstein II, Rodgers took an innovative approach (a string-less orchestra, musicians on stage) to a controversial topic. While in Paris, white writer Richard Kiley falls in love with black fashion model Diane Carroll, but they are ultimately torn apart because their interracial romance will be unworkable back home in the States. The lilting ballad "The Sweetest Sounds" was the highlight of an otherwise so-so score, but Rodgers won a Tony for Best Composer. His only other new stage musical in the 1960s was Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965 - 220) -- a collaboration with lyricist Stephen Sondheim which became so acrimonious that both men stayed away from Broadway until the next decade.

Gower Champion: "You Gotta Be Sincere"
Chita Rivera and Dick Van Dyke flirt beneath a portrait of the title character in Bye Bye Birdie.

Onetime MGM dancer Gower Champion won a Tony as  director-choreographer of the successful revue Lend An Ear (1947 - 460). Not coming from the usual show biz dance tradition (tap, kick lines, etc.), Champion used his ballroom background to give his musical numbers a fresh, seamless look. After spending the next decade primarily working in film, his breakthrough stage hit was Bye Bye Birdie (1960 - 607), a youthful farce depicting the hype surrounding an Elvis-like rock star being drafted into the army. Champion's all-encompassing sense of stage movement involved every cast member, set piece and prop. A memorable comic ballet had Chita Rivera seducing a stage full of astounded Shriners. Composer Charles Strouse and lyricist Lee Adams used the rock and roll sound in "One Last Kiss" and "Telephone Hour," while traditional showtunes like "Put On A Happy Face" and "Kids" made up the bulk of the score. The show and Champion received Tonys, as did featured actor Dick Van Dyke.

The next season, Champion directed Carnival (1961 - 719), based on the movie Lili (1953 - MGM). It told the story of a naive orphaned French girl who learns about love and life when she becomes the human co-star of a circus puppet show. Champion sent roustabouts and circus acts through the audience, making the entire auditorium a performance space. The true power of the show lay in the title character's enchanting scenes with the hand puppets. Audiences of all ages melted when Anna Maria Alberghetti performed "Love Makes the World Go Round" with the little charmers. Bob Merrill's score included the ballad "Her Face," sung by Jerry Orbach as the tormented puppeteer.

Champion's definitive triumph was Hello Dolly (1964 - 2,844) a musical version of Thornton Wilder's play The Matchmaker. With a giddy score by composer-lyricist Jerry Herman and a superb libretto by Michael Stewart, it told the story of a shrewd widow who brings young lovers together and finds a husband for herself (irascible Yonkers store owner, Horace Vanderguilder) in 1890s New York. The role of Dolly was first offered to Ethel Merman, but she was still recovering from her long run in Gypsy, and declined. This opened the way for Carol Channing (photo above left) to take on the most memorable role of her career. Producer David Merrick made the difficult pre-Broadway tour a nightmare for Champion, Channing and the entire creative team, threatening to replace almost every one of them at one point or another. Initial road reviews were mixed, but the New York opening was a glittering success.

Champion's staging gave Hello Dolly! a stunning sense of visual fluidity, evoking the gaslight era in a thrilling whirl of dancers, sets and a luminous Channing. Herman's score caught the period to perfection, with "It Only Takes a Moment" as the standout ballad. The catchy title number became one of Broadway's all-time great showstoppers, with Channing descending a staircase to lead a line of waiters through a rollicking cakewalk. The number was considered a problem on the road, but Broadway's opening night audience demanded (and got) an encore. Choruses of apron-clad waiters have been escorting women of a certain age around runways ever since.

Almost every popular actress "of a certain age" played Dolly. Channing's Broadway replacements included Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, Martha Raye and Phyllis Diller. An all-black cast headed by Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway revitalized the show for hundreds of additional performances. At one point, Merrick claimed he wanted Jack Benny as a drag Dolly with George Burns as Horace, a bizarre yet tantalizing possibility that never got beyond the discussion stage. Mary Martin took the show to London, followed by a tour of the Far East. Ethel Merman was the original production's last Dolly, making her final Broadway appearances in a role that had been conceived for her. But Channing was the one who became forever identified with Dolly, performing the role more than 4,000 times over the years.

Champion next directed I Do, I Do (1966 - 560), with Mary Martin and Robert Preston turning in tour de force performances as a couple surviving fifty years of marriage. The Happy Time (1968 - 286) boasted a Kander & Ebb score and stellar performances by Robert Goulet and David Wayne, but even Champion's innovative use of photographic effects could not overcome a humdrum book. Champion went on to a frustrating series of flops and near misses during the 1970s, including the beloved Mack and Mabel and the horrifying Rockabye Hamlet. He would end his career on a triumphant note with 42nd Street (1980). Arguably Champion's greatest directorial achievement, it opened hours after his death. (More on this in our 1980s essay.)

British Musicals of the 60s: "Where is Love?"
The orphans sing of "Food, Glorious Food" on the NY program cover for Lionel Bart's international hit Oliver!

While the Beatles conquered the world of rock and roll, the London stage more or less remained in a creative slump that had plagued it since the end of World War II. Only three British musicals achieved international success during the 1960s, thanks to fresh writing and several electrifying performers –

–Oliver! (UK 1960 - 2,618) sweetened the plot of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, added a glorious score by Lionel Bart and placed the result on an ingenious double turntable set by designer Sean Kenny. Ron Moody as Fagin and Georgia Brown as Nancy headed a cast that left critics and audiences cheering. "Consider Yourself," "Where is Love," "Oom-Pah-Pah" and "As Long As He Needs Me" were sung all over the world. Brown repeated her role on Broadway (NY 1963 - 744), with Clive Revill as Fagin. Six years later, Moody starred in a superb film version that won the Oscar for Best Picture. And why not? It was the most dynamic British book musical since the days of Gilbert and Sullivan. Often revived, it remains a worldwide favorite.

–Stop the World I Want to Get Off (UK 1961 - 485) was an allegorical look at the emptiness of ruthless ambition. Co-written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, it featured Newley as the clown-faced "Littlechap," who's lifelong search for happiness culminates in the disillusioned ballad "What Kind of Fool Am I?" After a Broadway production (NY 1962 - 555) met with similar success, Bricusse and Newley spent most of the decade working on less memorable Broadway and Hollywood projects.

–Songwriter David Henecker's Half a Sixpence (UK 1963 - 677) is not often performed today, but its charming tale of an Edwardian clerk who inherits and loses a fortune made pop rock singer Tommy Steele London's top musical comedy star. When the show moved to Broadway (NY 1965 -512), it boasted sensational new choreography by Onna White. An over-produced film version did the show little justice, and it would take a star with Steele's unique charm to make the show workable today.

Mediocre British originals like a rock-heavy version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1964 - UK 2,080) or the tuneful class system spoof Charlie Girl (1965 - UK 2,202) delighted English audiences through long runs, but they failed in New York. Broadway musicals still dominated the art form, and for most of the decade, the West End was clogged with imported American hits. Some wags suggested that the British musical was dead, but they would be eating lots of crow (basted with English mustard) before the 1970s were over.

In the mid-1960s, Broadway produced a string of long-running hits. Then, everything changed forever as the moon moved into the seventh house "and Jupiter aligned with Mars . . ."

Next: Stage 1960s - Part II