''Isabel's a Jezebel'' is a British musical with music by

Galt MacDermot Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (December 18, 1928 – December 17, 2018) was a Canadian-American composer, pianist and writer of musical theater. He won a Grammy Award for the song " African Waltz" in 1960. His most-successful musicals were '' Ha ...

and book and lyrics by William Dumaresq, based loosely on one of the

Grimm's Fairy Tales ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publi ...

, centers around Isabel and her deep-sea lover, who spend their time copulating and arguing about bringing children into a world committed to death. After out-of-town tryouts, the musical premiered on 15 December 1970 on the West End at the

Duchess Theatre The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street near Aldwych. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest West End theatres with a proscenium arch. It has 494 sea ...

, running for only 61 performances. The cast included Frank Aiello, Sharon Campbell, Helen Chappelle, Peter Farrell,

Carole Hayman Carole Hayman is an English writer, broadcaster, actor and director. She was born in Kent, and attended Leeds University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She has been an actress and theatre director and was an associate director at the Roy ...

, Michele Mowbray, Maria Popkiewitz, Miguel Sergides, Howard Wakeling. The production was co-directed by

Michael Wearing Michael Wearing (12 March 1939 – 5 May 2017) was a British television producer, who spent much of his career working on drama productions for the BBC. He is best known as the producer of the well received serials ''Boys from the Blackstuff'' (19 ...

and Julie Arenal, who also choreographed. After his spectacular success with the musical '' Hair'', expectations for MacDermot's next work, ''Isabel's a Jezebel'', were high. The musical underwent several last minute cast changes, including Hayman's joining the show just before opening night. ''The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' praised the score but called the book "irretrievably inert."''The New York Times'' review of 27 December 1970
/ref> A

cast album A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

was released in 1972 (Item 377673) Kilmarnock.

Musical numbers

*More Than Earth, More Than Air *Down by the Ocean *Oh Fish in the Sea *On Sand by the Sea *Isabel's a Jezebel *In Another Life/Nothing *Sand *Oh Mummy Darling *God, It Matters Now *The Saddest Moon *Mama Don't Want No Baby *These Are the Things *Stanley Irritability *Use My Name *The Moon Should Be Rising Soon/The Weeds In the Wind *My God When I Think *Hah *Love Knows No Season *So Ends Our Night

References

External links

Information from CastalbumDB.com
1970 musicals West End musicals Musicals based on secular traditions Rock musicals Musicals by Galt MacDermot {{musical-theat-stub