''The Nervous Set'' is a 1959 Broadway musical written by

Jay Landesman Irving Ned "Jay" Landesman (July 15, 1919 – February 20, 2011) was an American publisher, nightclub owner, writer, and long-time expatriate resident in London, England. With the Beats He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of the fo ...

and Theodore J. Flicker which centers on the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

. It tells the story of a wealthy publisher and his wife from a

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

suburb exploring the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

of New York City as they navigate their dysfunctional marriage.

History

The musical was based on Landesman's unpublished novel, inspired by Landesman's experiences as part of the Beat Generation or Cool Generation. It premiered on March 10, 1959, in the Crystal Palace theatre, located in the Gaslight Square of St. Louis. The cast of the original production included Don Heller, Arlene Corwin,

Tom Aldredge Thomas Ernest Aldredge (February 28, 1928 – July 22, 2011) was an American television, film and stage actor. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for playing the role of Shakespeare in ''Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare'' (1978). His Broadway ...

Del Close Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was ...

, Janice Meshkoff, and

Barry Primus Barry Primus (born February 16, 1938) is an American television and film actor, director, and writer. Career While Primus is primarily an actor, he has also worked as a writer and director in films in which he has acted. For the first decade ...

. A Broadway producer Robert Lantz, after watching the St. Louis production, brought the musical to Broadway of New York City and cast

Larry Hagman Larry Martin Hagman (September 21, 1931 – November 23, 2012) was an American film and television actor, director, and producer, best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera, ''Dal ...

, Richard Hayes, Tani Seitz,

Gerald Hiken Gerald Hiken (May 27, 1927 – January 6, 2021) was an American actor. Career A native of Milwaukee, he studied acting at HB Studio in New York City. Hiken was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1980 for his performance in ...

, David Sallade, and the original St. Louis cast, including Heller, Corwin, and Primus as the background chorus and understudies. The New York City production debuted on May 12, 1959, at the Henry Miller Theater and lasted 23 performances.

Songs

Songs include "Ballad of the Sad Young Men", "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", "Man, We're Beat", and "Laugh, I Thought I'd Die". An unused song "Pitch for Pot" features the controversial line, "I've got the finest grade of pot you've ever seen / I guarantee it'll get you high". The lyrics were written by

Fran Landesman Fran Landesman (October 21, 1927 – July 23, 2011) was an American lyricist and poet. She grew up in New York City and lived for years in St. Louis, Missouri, where her husband Jay Landesman operated the Crystal Palace nightclub. One of her best ...

, and the music was composed by

Tommy Wolf Thomas Joseph Wolf Jr. (1925 – 1979) was an American composer and piano player. He was best known for his songwriting collaboration with Fran Landesman. Life Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Wolf met Fran Landesman while playing piano at the Jeffer ...

. Four instrumentalists provided the accompaniment, listed in the opening-week Playbill as " 'The Nervous Set' Jazz Quartet": Tommy Wolf, piano; Billy Schneider, drums; Chuck Wayne, guitar; Joe Benjamin, bass. The song "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" would be later recorded by many popular vocalists including

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the Billboard Magazine, ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like M ...

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...

, and

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author. Over the course of a career that spans five decades, she has recorded in various musical styles including Rock music, rock, Rhythm and blues, R&B ...

. Jazz vocalist Mark Murphy also included the song on his album, "Bop for Kerouac." "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" would be popular among

gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once served as ...

Off-Broadway cast recording

Originally released by

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

on May 18, 1959, the Off-Broadway Cast Recording is 47 minutes and 15 seconds long, and contains the following 17 songs.

Act 1

* Overture/Man, We're Beat * New York * What's To Lose/Stars Have Blown My Way * Fun Life * How Do You Like Your Love * Party Song * Night People

Act 2

* Overture Act II * Party Song (Reprise) * I've Got a Lot to Learn About Life * The Ballad of Sad Young Men * A Country Gentleman * Max the MIllionaire * Travel the Road of Love * Laugh, I Thought I'd Die * Fun Life (Reprise) * Fun Life

Reception

The musical had mixed reception. The

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

praised it as "most brilliant, sophisticated, witty, and completely novel", while the

New York World-Telegram & Sun The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

called it "weird".

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

music critic Bob Rolontz praised three songs out of eighteen — "Ballad of the Sad Young Men", "I've Got to Learn About Life", and "Rejection"—as highlights of the musical. The New York Post found it to have "a certain juvenile brightness in its amiably frenetic activities." The Brooklyn Daily thought it "perhaps the best play to hit Broadway this year."Kaliff, Joe. "Magic Carpet over Broadway." Brooklyn Daily, 18 May 1959.

References

External links

*
The Nervous Set
- Library of Congress. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nervous Set 1959 musicals Beat Generation Musicals set in New York City