First performance 9 March 1975 | ||
Lyrics Gene CurtyNitra ScharfmanChuck Strand Book Gene CurtyNitra ScharfmanChuck Strand Lyricists Nitra Scharfman, Chuck Strand, Gene Curty Composers Nitra Scharfman, Chuck Strand, Gene Curty Similar Big Deal, Sweet Smell of Success, High Spirits, Ain't Supposed to Die a N, How Now - Dow Jones | ||
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.
Contents
Production
The Original 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. 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. Alan Eichler was the press representative.
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
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 in New York City.
A 2018 revival of the show is in pre production.
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 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.
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".
He also mentioned in The Morning News that the Lieutenant is "attractive and supportive" and there is "never a dull moment"
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".
The Long Island Press said "If you never see another show, you must see this one"