Music Ervin Drake Book Ervin Drake Lyricist Ervin Drake | Lyrics Ervin Drake Productions 1968 Broadway Composer Ervin Drake | |
Basis George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra Similar Hallelujah - Baby!, Henry - Sweet Henry, Tenderloin, Blues in the Night, Baker Street | ||
Her First Roman is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Ervin Drake, based on the 1898 George Bernard Shaw play Caesar and Cleopatra.
Original production
During its out-of-town tryout, the original director Michael Benthall was fired and succeeded by Derek Goldby, and the original choreographer was fired and replaced. Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick were brought in to write new songs and wrote "Ptolemy", "(Kind) Old Gentleman", and "Caesar is Wrong". Goldby cut a lot of Drake's score and replaced whole sections of his libretto with lines from Shaw's play. The show opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on October 20, 1968 and closed after 17 performances.
The rest of the crew had set design and costume by Michael Annals, lighting design Martin Aronstein, musical director and dance and incidental music Peter Howard, music orchestrated and vocal arrangements Don Walker, production manager Tom Porter, stage managers George Rondo and Ellen Wittman, and press by Max Eisen and Carl Samrock.
The opening night cast was Richard Kiley (Julius Caesar), Leslie Uggams (Cleopatra), Cal Bellini (Apollodorus), Jack Dabdoub (Roman Centurion), Larry Douglas (Achillas), Philip Graves (Ptolemy), Bruce MacKay (Rufio), Claudia McNeil (Ftatateeta), Earl Montgomery (Pothinus), and Brooks Morton (Britannus), The ensemble included Suzanne Rogers, Trina Parks, Kenneth Kamal Scott, and Priscilla Lopez.