The Robber Bridegroom
Roundabout Theatre Company – The Laura Pels Theatre
The Robber Bridegroom is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry and music by Robert Waldman. The story is based on the 1942 novella by Eudora Welty of the same name, with a Robin Hood-like hero; the adaptation placed it in a late 18th-century American setting.
Opening Date February 18, 2016
Closing Date May 29, 2016
Reviews
Entertainment Weekly
Time Out New York
Deadline
2016 Cast
Steven Pasquale Jamie Lockhart
Andrew Durand Little Harp
Evan Harrington Big Harp
Greg Hildreth Goat
Jeremiah James Jaime Lockhart s/b
Leslie Kritzer Salome
Marissa McGowan Rosamund/Raven/ Goat’s Mother s/b
Ahna O’Reilly Rosamund
Nadia Quinn Raven/Goat’s Mother/Salome u/s
Lance Roberts Clement Musgrove
Devere Rogers Ariel/Man/Little Harp u/s
Graham Stevens Clement/Big Harp/Goat/Airie u/s
The show started with an early 1970s production at St Clements Theatre in producer Stuart Ostrow’s Musical Theatre Lab, which invented the concept of the “workshop” development process for musicals. Raul Julia starred as Lockhart.. Other cast members included Steve Vinovich (Clemment Musgrove), Rhonda Coullet (Rosamund), John Getz (Little Harp), Ernie Sabella (Big Harp), Trip Plymale (Goat), Dana Kyle (Airie), Susan Berger (Salome), John Houseman bought the show for his group, The Acting Company and took it to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York with Kevin Kline replacing Julia, Patti LuPone as Rosamund, and Mary Lou Rosato as Salome. It then was staged at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago in the summer of 1975.
The first Broadway production, with the same Ravinia cast directed by Gerald Freedman and choreographed by Donald Saddler, opened in a limited engagement on October 7, 1975 at the Harkness Theatre, where it ran for 14 performances and 1 preview before setting out on a one-year US national tour. Its success on the road convinced the producers to mount a revamped Broadway production with an extended book and expanded, heavily bluegrass-tinged score. The music, deemed “country and southern” by Clive Barnes, was arranged for guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass and banjo.
The second Broadway production opened on October 9, 1976 at the Biltmore Theatre, where it ran for 145 performances and 12 previews. The show was directed by Freedman, choreographed by Saddler, scenery Douglas W. Schmidt, costumes Jeanne Button, lighting David F. Segal, associate producer Porter Van Zandt, production stage manager Mary Porter Hall, stage manager Bethe Ward, and press by Sandra Manley and The Merlin Group, Ltd. The band, or the “McVourie River Volunteers”, consisted of Bob Jones (guitar, fiddle), Alan Kaufman (fiddle, mandolin), Steve Mandell (guitar, banjo), Roger Mason (acoustic and electric bass), Evan Stover (fiddle), and Tony Trischka (banjo, bandleader). The cast included Barry Bostwick (Lockhart), Steve Vinovich (Clemment Musgrove), Rhonda Coullet (Rosamund), Lawrence John Moss (Little Harp), Ernie Sabella (Big Harp), Trip Plymale (Goat), Susan Berger (Goat’s Mother), Jana Schneider (Airie), Carolyn McCurry (Raven), and Barbara Lang (Salome). The residents of Rodney included George DeLoy (Kyle Nunnery), Gary Epp (Harmon Harper), B.J. Hardin (Norman Ogelsby), Mary Murray (Queenie Brenner), Melinda Tanner (Rose Otto), Dennis Warning (Gerry G. Summers), and Tom Westerman (K.K. Pone).
2016 Creative Team
Alfred Uhry Book & Lyrics
Robert Waldman Music
Alex Timbers Director
Connor Gallagher Choreographer
Justin Levine Music Director
Donyale Werle Set Design
Emily Rebholz Costume Design
Jake DeGroot Lighting Design
Jeff Croiter Lighting Design
Darron L. West Sound Design
Charles Coes Sound Design
Justin Levine and Martin Lowe Co-Orchestrations
Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum Fight Director
