''Man on the Moon'' is a 1975

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 Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

written by John Phillips of the Mamas & The Papas, produced by

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

and directed by

Paul Morrissey Paul Morrissey (born February 23, 1938) is an American film director, best known for his association with Andy Warhol. He was also director of the first film in which a transgender actress, Holly Woodlawn, starred as a girlfriend of the main cha ...

. The story concerns an American astronaut who leads a mission of interplanetary dignitaries to prevent the destruction of the universe by a bomb that has been placed on the moon by an evil scientist and primed to explode. The original production ran at the

Little Theatre Little Theatre or Little Theater may refer to: Australia * Little Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia * Little Theatre, Sydney, former name of the Royal Standard Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales * Melbourne Little Theatre, an amateur theatre compan ...

in New York for 43 preview performances (beginning December 27, 1974), opened on January 29, 1975 and closed two days later, on February 1, after disastrous opening night reviews.

Background

Soon after completing work on his debut album '' John, the Wolf King of L.A.'', John Phillips came up with the idea for a space-themed musical project, inspired by his viewing of the July 1969 TV broadcast of the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

moon landing. The initial title for the project was simply ''Space''. Phillips worked on a script and wrote songs for ''Space'' over a period of two years with his third wife, Geneviève Waïte. Phillips envisioned that the lead role of the astronaut would be played by either Elvis or

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

, both of whom he was friendly with. Initial funding for the project came from producer Michael Butler, who had brought the stage musical ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...

'' to Broadway. Butler hired a young director called Michael Bennett to work on the project, but he and Phillips did not gel and Bennett resigned during dress rehearsals for the production at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles. Phillips then attempted to generate interest in a film version of the book with the help of real estate heir Leonard Holzer (a producer on the Stones documentary, ''

Gimme Shelter "Gimme Shelter" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones. Released as the opening track from band's 1969 album ''Let It Bleed''. The song covers topics of war, murder, rape and fear. It features prominent guest vocals by American singe ...

'' and the former husband of

Warhol superstar Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by the pop artist Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life, epitomizing his fam ...

, Baby Jane Holzer). Holzer took the project to Ray Stark, producer of '' Funny Girl'', who brought the script to the attention of

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

, while Holzer tried to hook

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

for the male lead. In 1972, Phillips also got a copy of the script to director

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the '' Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as c ...

through his daughter Mackenzie Phillips, who was one of the stars of Lucas's film ''

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronny ...

''. Phillips would later maintain that Lucas got the idea to make ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

'' from ''Space''. When financing for the film seemed to be going nowhere, Phillips and Waïte focused their energy into making the musical happen again. They went to New York to raise money, performing the songs to potential backers as part of their pitch. Waite managed to persuade Andy Warhol to come on board as producer. Warhol's manager and film-making collaborator

signed on as director of the production, which was then renamed ''Man on the Moon''. Rehearsals took place at Andy Warhol's Factory. Morrissey, concerned about the script, hired

Michael O'Donoghue Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 – November 8, 1994) was an American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to ''National Lampoon'' magazine, and was the ...

to rewrite much of the dialogue, though these revisions were ultimately not used.

Musical numbers

;Scene 1 – EARTH * "Prologue" – Dr Bomb * "Boys from the South" – Ernie * "Midnight Deadline Blastoff" – Ernie * "Mission Control" – Dr. Bomb, Ernie, Leroy, President, Miss America * "Speed of Light" – Ernie, Leroy ;Scene 2 – CANIS MINOR * "Though I'm a Little Angel" – Angel * "Girls" – King Can, Venus, Angel * "Canis Minor Bolero Waltz" – Angel * "Starburst" – Angel * "Penthouse of Your Mind" – King Can * "Champagne and Kisses" – Venus * "Star Stepping Stranger/Convent" – Ernie, Angel * "My Name Is Can" – King Can * "American Man on the Moon" – Angel ;Scene 3 – THE MOON * "Welcome to the Moon" – Company * "Sunny, Sunny Moon" – Venus, Dr. Bomb * "Love is Coming Back" – Angel, Ernie * "Truth Cannot Be Treason" – Leroy * "Place in Space" – Ernie, Angel ;Scene 4 – EARTH * "Family of Man" – Dr. Bomb * "Yesterday I Left the Earth" – Company * "Stepping to the Stars" – Company Phillips recorded demo versions of many of these songs, which were issued for the first time on a 2009 CD entitled ''Andy Warhol Presents Man on the Moon''. Some were also recorded by Geneviève Waïte for her 1974 album ''

Romance Is on the Rise ''Romance Is on the Rise'' is an album released in July 1974 by Genevieve Waite. It was produced by her then husband, John Phillips. The album was fairly well received and in 1977 it made number No 98 on Paul Gambaccini's list of the Top 200 Al ...

'' (namely, "Girls", "American Man on the Moon" and "Love is Coming Back". Versions of "Star Stepping Stranger", "Penthouse of Your Mind" and "Yesterday I Left the Earth" appear on the 2007 CD ''Jack of Diamonds''.

Characters and original cast

*Dr. Bomb – Harlan S Foss *Ernie Hardy – Eric Lang *Leroy (Little Red Box) – Mark Lawhead *President and King Can – Denny Doherty (as Dennis Doherty) *Angel – Geneviève Waïte *Venus – Monique van Vooren ;Celestial Choir *Mercury and Miss America – Brenda Bergman *Mars – John Patrick Sundine *Neptune – Jennifer Elder *Pluto – E. Lynn Nickerson *Saturn – Jeanette Chastonay The original cast (and preview performances) featured Denny Doherty as Dr. Bomb and John Phillips as King Can. Two weeks before the production opened, Phillips was taken out of the production and replaced by Doherty. Harlan Foss was hired to play Dr. Bomb.

Critical reception

''The New York Times'' critic Clive Barnes reviewed the musical on its opening night. His write-up appeared the next day in the January 1975 edition of the newspaper. "For connoisseurs of the truly bad," he wrote, "''Man On The Moon'' may be a small milestone." Barnes was particularly critical of Andy Warhol's involvement in the production ("Mr Warhol's artistic practice – if I have caught his drift aright - is to produce works of art so inept that their ineptitude becomes their value") but he also decried Philips story as "naive." Barnes' review was so scathing that the musical closed the next day. ''Newsday'' critic Allan Wallack said "''Man on the Moon'' is the kind of show that ought to be reviewed on the obit page."

Soundtrack

In 2009, a CD entitled ''Andy Warhol Presents Man on the Moon'' and credited to John Phillips was released by

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer r ...

as part of the ''John Phillips Presents'' series of CDs. It contains 22 previously-unreleased recordings of song demos from the musical recorded by Phillips, along with 6 songs taken from a recording made by Andy Warhol himself at one of the dress rehearsals for ''Man on the Moon''. A multimedia portion of the CD also includes an early script for ''Space'', photos taken of the production and backstage as well as photos of the star-studded opening night party at NYC theatre hangout

Sardi's Sardi's is a continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York City. Sardi's opened at its current location on March 5, 1927. It is known for the carica ...

and footage of two songs taken from a video of an early rehearsal of the show.

References

External links

''Man on the Moon'' CD official release announcement

"Long Lost Footage of Musical Play by John Phillips, Produced by Andy Warhol (1975)"
*

Reviews of the 2009 CD release

* class=album, id=r1608010, pure_url=yes All Music Guidebr>Blurt OnlineDusted magazineFoxy Digitalis
1975 musicals Broadway musicals Science fiction musicals Works about astronauts