''The Me Nobody Knows'' 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
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
by
Gary William Friedman Gary William Friedman is an American musical theatre, symphonic, film and television composer. His career began in the 1960s in New York City as a saxophonist in an improvisational ensemble and as a composer for experimental theater. Friedman's 19 ...
and
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
by
Will Holt
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
. It debuted
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
in 1970 and then transferred to
Broadway, making it one of the earliest
rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept ...
s to play on Broadway, and the first Broadway hit to give voice to the sentiments of inner-city American youth. It received the
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
and the
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...
for best New Musical, and Five
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
nominations, including Best
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 ...
.
Synopsis
There is no plot, but the theme is children in low-income neighborhoods of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, who are "complex, introspective characters. Each 'I' is an authentic voice saying attention must be paid." The children are self-assertive in the face of difficult lives.
[Jones, John Bush (2004). ''Our Musicals, Ourselves''. UPNE. , pp. 278–80] Various stories are told through song by the cast of 8 black and 4 white children. One story is about a 13-year-old boy taking
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
for the first time. Another involves a child shocked to hear a white boy order "milk and a nigger". Another boy watches as a drunk black man is taken away in an ambulance after an accident. In the musical number "If I Had a Million Dollars", the
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
children ponder what they would do with the money and express "tightwad selfishness to outrageous spending sprees."
[
]
Songs
;Act I
* Dream Babies – Melba
* Light Sings ‡ – William and Company
* This World ‡ – Company
* Numbers – Company
* What Happens to Life – Lillian and Lloyd
* Take Hold the Crutch – Nell and Company
* Flying Milk and Runaway Plates – Benjamin and Company
* I Love What the Girls Have – Donald
* How I Feel – Catherine and Carlos
* If I Had A Million Dollars – Company
;Act II
* Fugue for Four Girls – Lillie Mae, Catherine, Lillian and Nell
* Rejoice – Clorox
* Sounds – Nell and Catherine
* The Tree – Carlos
* Robert, Alvin, Wendell and Jo Jo – Rhoda, Lillian, Lillie Mae and William
* Jail-Life Walk – Donald, Lloyd, Clorox and Carlos
* Something Beautiful – Rhoda
* Black – Benjamin, Clorox, Lillie Mae, Lloyd, Melba, Nell, Rhoda and William
* The White Horse – Lloyd
* War Babies – Lloyd
* Let Me Come in – Company
‡ These songs by The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...
("This World") and The 5th Dimension
The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire includes pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera, and Broadway.
Formed as the Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "the 5th Dimension" by 1966. Betwee ...
(" Light Sings") became hits.
Productions
''The Me Nobody Knows'' premiered off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre on May 18, 1970, and closed on November 15, 1970, after 208 performances. It then opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on December 18, 1970, transferred to the Longacre Theatre
The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1913, it was desi ...
, and closed on November 14, 1971, after 378 performances. Directed by Robert H. Livingston with musical staging by Patricia Birch
Patricia Birch (born October 16, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, film director, and theatre director.
Early life
Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Birch began her career as a dancer in Broadway musicals, including ''Brigadoon (musical), ...
, the cast included a young Irene Cara
Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and f ...
as Lillie Mae, Hattie Winston
Hattie Mae Winston (born March 3, 1945) is an American film, television and Broadway actress and voice artist. She is known for her roles as Margaret Wyborn on ''Becker'', Lucy Carmichael in ''Rugrats'', ''The Rugrats Movie'', and the spin off se ...
as Nell, Beverly Bremers
Beverly Ann Bremers (born March 10, 1950) is an American singer and actress. After roles on Broadway, Bremers recorded the 1972 Top 20 hit single, "Don't Say You Don't Remember".
Early life/ career
Beverly Bremers - her surname is pronounced ''bre ...
(at the time credited as Beverly Ann Bremers) as Catherine, and Northern J. Calloway
Northern James Calloway (September 10, 1948 – January 9, 1990) was an American actor and singer, best known for playing List of human Sesame Street characters, David on ''Sesame Street'' from 1971 to 1989. He was institutionalized in a psychiat ...
.
The adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
by director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
Robert H. Livingston and additional lyricist Herb Schapiro was inspired by the anthologized writings of nearly 200 New York City students, aged 7 through 18. Stephen M. Joseph, a teacher, edited the collection, which was subtitled "Children's Voices From the Ghetto" and first published in 1969. The children wrote about "How I See Myself", "How I See My Neighborhood", "The World Outside", and "Things I Can't See or Touch". According to Mr. Joseph, they wrote "for keeps" and "like it is." At odds with a squalid setting and a cynical, materialistic view of the world, themes of hope and renewal emerged. To guarantee uplift, samples from the students' work were interwoven with a ground-breaking score that combined rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
, classical fugue
In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...
s, early rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
and jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
.[Klein, Alvi]
"Theatre:'The Me Nobody Knows,' an Updated Musical"
''The New York Times'', May 2, 1993
The musical was performed throughout the world, in cities such as Tel Aviv, London, Paris, Hamburg, and Johannesburg.
The German-language version, "Ich Bin Ich" was premiered at the Bremen Stadt-Theater, Berman, Germany and was performed there and in Munich on a rotating basis. The stage director was Norman Foster, musical director, Noel Jones. The cast included a singer who eventually became known as Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...
.
In 1980, the musical was produced for the U.S. pay television network, Showtime as part of the Broadway on Showtime series. Recorded at the CBS television studio now known as The Ed Sullivan Theater, the project was recast but included one original cast member, Jose Fernandez. Tisha Campbell (now, Tisha Campbell-Martin) performed as Lillie Mae, a role originated by Irene Cara.
Response
The musical was "universally praised for its candidness and honesty."[ Harold Clurman in reviewing for ''The Nation'', wrote "What I cherished about the show is the talent and vitality of the cast, the bubble of its playfulness, the raciness of its expression which, with or without the advantages of privileged training among the actors, is still the product of the streets in the dim and sequestered parts of our town.
Clive Barnes, the theatre critic for '']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 ...
'' wrote (of the off-Broadway opening): "I loved it. I loved its understanding and compassion, and I loved its pain and yet also its unsentimental determination for hope." Steven Suskin noted that he agreed with Barnes and added "The Me was energetic, tuneful, talent-filled and thought-provoking." Barnes, in reviewing the musical upon the Broadway opening, noted that the musical was "one of the best musicals on Broadway-and unequivocally the most moving, the most poignant." He wrote that it offers "an insight into ghetto youth. It is raw, tough, and yet truly compassionate...The effect could be depressing but it isn't. The sheer tenacity of the human spirit against oppression, against rats, against drugs, against the numbing, almost soothing grind of poverty, is glorious and triumphant."
Recording
The Original cast album was released January 1, 1970 by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
. The recording was released in CD form in September 2001 by 150 Music. (ASIN: B00005NSV9).[Jones, Kennet]
"'The Me Nobody Knows' Finally Gets CD Release Sept. 5"
playbill.com, September 5, 2001
Awards and nominations
Original Off-Broadway production
Original Broadway production
References
External links
*
*
Lortel listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Me Nobody Knows
Broadway musicals
1970 musicals
Musicals inspired by real-life events
Off-Broadway musicals