''Butterflies Are Free'' is a play by

Leonard Gershe Leonard Gershe (June 10, 1922 – March 9, 2002) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and lyricist. Born in New York City, Gershe made his Broadway debut as a lyricist for the 1950 revue '' Alive and Kicking''. He wrote the book for Harold Ro ...

. Loosely based on the life of attorney Harold Krents, the plot revolves around a blind man living in downtown Manhattan whose controlling mother disapproves of his relationship with a free-spirited

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

. The title was inspired by a passage in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

' 1853 novel ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...

'': "I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies." After 12 previews, the Broadway production, directed by

Milton Katselas Milton George Katselas (December 22, 1933 – October 24, 2008) was an American director and producer of stage and film, as well as a Hollywood acting instructor and coach who trained under Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg at the acclaimed ''Act ...

, opened on October 21, 1969 at the

Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance ...

, where it ran for 1,128 performances. The original cast consisted of

Keir Dullea Keir Atwood Dullea (; born May 30, 1936) is an American actor. He played astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and its 1984 sequel, '' 2010: The Year We Make Contact''. His other film roles include ''David and Lisa' ...

Blythe Danner Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzy Huffstodt on '' Huff'' (2004–2006), and ...

Eileen Heckart Anna Eileen Heckart ( Herbert; March 29, 1919 – December 31, 2001) was an American stage and screen actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years. Early life Heckart was born Anna Eileen Herbert in Columbus, Ohio. The daughter of Esther (), ...

, and Paul Michael Glaser. Replacements during the run included

Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...

Pamela Bellwood Pamela Bellwood (born Pamela King) is an American actress known for her role as Claudia Blaisdel Carrington on the 1980s prime time soap opera, '' Dynasty''. Life and career Bellwood became interested in an acting career when she portrayed Em ...

, Kipp Osborne and

David Huffman David Oliver Huffman (May 10, 1945 – February 27, 1985) was an American actor and producer. Personal life Huffman was born on May 10, 1945, in Berwyn, Illinois, to Clarence and Opal Huffman (née Dippel). Huffman married casting director P ...

. The title song, which was performed in the play as an original composition by the blind character played by Keir Dullea, was written by composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Dullea subsequently recorded the song for his 1969 self-titled solo album. It was also covered and released as a single by a number of other artists including The Cinnamon Ship (in a version arranged and produced by Schwartz),

The Free Design The Free Design was a Delevan, New York-based vocal group, whose music can be described as sunshine pop and baroque pop. Though they did not achieve much commercial recognition during their main recording career, their work later influenced ba ...

Ed Ames Ed Ames (born Edmund Dantes Urick; July 9, 1927), who also recorded as Eddie Ames, is an American singer and actor. He is known for playing Mingo in the television series ''Daniel Boone'', and for his pop hits of the mid-to-late 1960s including " ...

and The Going Thing. Gershe, Katselas, Heckart, and Glaser were reunited for the 1972

screen adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

(set in

North Beach, San Francisco North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, the Financial District, and Russian Hill. The neighborhood is San Francisco's " Little Italy" and has historically been home to a large Italian American p ...

) with

Edward Albert Edward Laurence Albert (February 20, 1951 – September 22, 2006) was an American actor. The son of actor Eddie Albert and Mexican actress Margo, he starred opposite Goldie Hawn in ''Butterflies Are Free'' (1972), a role for which he won a ...

and

Goldie Hawn Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...

. Heckart won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for best supporting actress for her role in the film.

Broadway awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butterflies are Free 1969 plays Broadway plays American plays adapted into films Plays set in New York City