''Lend Me A Tenor'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

with

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

and Lyrics by Peter Sham and music by Brad Carroll. The musical is based on the 1986 play of the same name by

Ken Ludwig Ken Ludwig is an American playwright and theatre director whose work has been performed in more than 30 countries in over 20 languages. Personal life Ken Ludwig was born in York, Pennsylvania. His father was a doctor and his mother was a former ...

. There are several notable changes from the play turning it into a full-on musical comedy. Changes include major plot revisions between Tito Merrelli (opera star) and Saunders (opera director), eliminating Frank the Bellhop (one of the lead roles in the play), adding the role of Bernie, the stage manager, expanding the role of Julia into a musical trio of Saunders' three ex-wives, upping the mistaken identity farce from two to the magic number of three and making every character more three-dimensional than the original play. In 2014, it was revised, the musical now changes the opera within the musical to ''

Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who m ...

''; this change removes questionable elements from Ludwig's play, raising the hilarity to three men running around as opera clowns (Canios) rather than dressed as Otellos.

Productions

''Lend Me A Tenor'' was presented in May 2006 as a staged reading as part of the

Utah Shakespeare Festival The Utah Shakespeare Festival is a theatrical festival that performs works by Shakespeare as their cornerstone. The Festival is held during the summer and fall on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah, United States. Award ...

's New American Playwright Project, in Cedar City, Utah, followed by rewrites and a production as part of USF's Summer 2007 repertory season, which received rave reviews. The show had an out of town tryout at the

Theatre Royal, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Plymouth, is a theatre venue in Plymouth, Devon. It consists of a 1,300-seat main auditorium, The Lyric, which regularly hosts large-scale musicals, opera and ballet; a 200-seat studio, The Drum; and a 50-seat studio, The Lab. ...

running from 24 September to 6 October 2010, directed by Ian Talbot and choreographed by

Randy Skinner Randy Skinner is an American dancer, director and choreographer, primarily for the stage. He has been nominated four times for Tony Awards, three times for Drama Desk Awards, and four times for Outer Critics Circle Awards for choreography. Ear ...

. The show began previews in London's West End at the

Gielgud Theatre The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the corner of Rupert Street, in the City of Westminster, London. The house currently has 986 seats on three levels. The theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and ...

, the same venue where the original play premièred in 1986 on 2 June 2011 before officially opening on 15 June 2011. The show closed on 6 August 2011, with producers Martin Platt and David Elliott stating that "despite mostly wonderful notices from the press, great feedback from our audiences and nightly standing ovations, this has not translated into growing sales and we feel it is in everyone's best interests to close the production on August 6th."

Musical numbers

; Act I * Overture — Orchestra * "Verdi's Otello/I/1" — Ensemble * "Where the Hell is Merelli?" — Saunders, Max & Ensemble * "Fling" — Maggie & Max * "Where the Hell is Merelli?" (Reprise) — The Opera Guild Ladies * "How 'Bout Me?" — Max & Saunders * "For the Love of Opera" — Ensemble * "Facciamo L'Amor" — Tito & Maria * "The Last Time" — Maria * "Be You'self" — Tito & Max * "Before You Know It" — Max * "How 'Bout Me?" — Saunders & Max * Act I Finale — Saunders, Max & Ensemble ; Act II * Entr'acte — Orchestra * "Il Stupendo" — Ensemble * "Lend Me a Tenor" — Maggie & Max * "May I Have a Moment?" — Diana & Tito * "Il Stupendo" (Reprise) — Maggie, Max, Diana & Saunders * "Il Stupendo" (Reprise) — The Opera Guild Ladies, Tito & Ensemble * "Knowing What I Know" — Max * "The Last Time" (Reprise) — Maria * Finale — Company

Productions

Musical numbers

Original London Cast

Awards and nominations

Original London production

References

External links