''Come Back, Little Sheba'' is a
1950 play by the American dramatist
William Inge. The play was Inge's first, written while he was a teacher at
Washington University
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is ...
in
St. Louis,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
.
Plot
Set in the
Midwestern house of Lola and Doc Delaney, the plot centers on how their life is disrupted by the presence of a boarder, Marie, a college art student who has a keen interest in the young men around her.
Middle-aged Lola engages in mild flirtations with the milkman and the mailman. She sees in Marie a younger version of herself and encourages her pursuit of her hometown boyfriend, the wealthy Bruce, but also her classmate, the athletic Turk.
Doc, a chiropractor, abandoned a different career in medicine when he married a pregnant Lola, who subsequently lost the baby.
A recovering
alcoholic
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...
, Doc maintains a precarious
sobriety
Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels or effects from alcohol or drugs. Sobriety is also considered to be the natural state of a human being at birth. A person in a state of sobriety is considered sober. Organizations ...
. To him, Marie represents youth and opportunities long gone; seeing her with Turk brings out resentments against Lola for ruining his life. Ultimately these feelings cause him to fall off the wagon, and act violently toward Lola. Frightened, she calls Doc's
Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, who comes to collect Doc and take him to the police station, where he is detained for drunkenness. Afterward, forced hospitalization sobers him up, and once the boarder leaves, he and Lola reconcile.
The title refers to Lola's missing dog, who disappeared before the play's opening and remains gone throughout the story. Lola hopes for the puppy's return throughout the play by calling "Come back, little Sheba" daily from the front door, but eventually faces reality and gives up on Sheba's return.
Productions
The play premiered at the
Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut.
It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality stage.
History Cons ...
. Presented by the
Theatre Guild and directed by
Daniel Mann, the first
Broadway production premiered 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 Renaissan ...
on February 15, 1950, and ran 190 performances. The opening night cast included
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth (born Marjory Ford; August 30, 1898October 16, 1992) was an American actress. One of only 24 performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, Booth was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and three Tony ...
as Lola,
Sidney Blackmer as Doc, and
Joan Lorring as Marie. Booth won the
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre. The award is given to actresses for quality lead ...
and Blackmer won
Best Actor
Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play.
The term most often refers to th ...
.
Reprising her Broadway role, Booth starred opposite
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
as Doc and
Terry Moore as Marie in a
1952 film adaptation. Booth won both the 1953 Best Actress Academy award and Best Actress - Drama Golden Globe for her portrayal of Lola.
In 1974, Clint Ballard, Jr. and Lee Goldsmith adapted the play for the
musical stage.
Kaye Ballard portrayed Lola in the
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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tryout, but the production never reached Broadway as planned. In 2001, it was revived under the title ''Come Back, Little Sheba'' at the White Barn Theatre in
Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
History ...
with
Donna McKechnie as Lola. (A recording of this production was released by Original Cast Records.)
[ UPC 741117602526]
A
1977 television version starred
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage o ...
as Doc,
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...
as Lola, and
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983). She reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015), ''The Last ...
as Marie.
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
produced the movie as part of its ''
Laurence Olivier Presents
''Laurence Olivier Presents'' is a British television anthology series made by Granada Television which ran from 1976 to 1978.
The plays, with the exception of '' Hindle Wakes'', all starred Laurence Olivier. Some of the plays were based on pr ...
'' anthology series. In 2006, Acorn Media released the movie as part of a DVD set with six other productions from the series.
In 1984, the
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres.
History
The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabeth ...
mounted an
Off Broadway revival, directed by Paul Weidner and starring
Shirley Knight as Lola,
Philip Bosco
Philip Michael Bosco (September 26, 1930 – December 3, 2018) was an American actor. He was known for his Tony Award-winning performance as Saunders in the 1989 Broadway production of ''Lend Me a Tenor'', and for his starring role in the 2007 fi ...
as Doc,
Mia Dillon as Marie,
Steven Weber as Bruce, and
Kevin Conroy as Turk.
In his review in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'', William A. Henry III observed, "Like all of Inge's best plays, ''Sheba'' is slight of plot but musky with atmosphere . . . Middle age is portrayed as a time of aching sexual frustration, made more acute by the close-at-hand vision of youth . . . Inge did not transform his characters: they end where they began. But he understood them. In their interplay was genuine life, often blunted but ever resilient."
A Broadway revival of the Inge play opened on January 24, 2008, at the
Biltmore Theatre. Directed by
Michael Pressman, it starred
S. Epatha Merkerson as Lola,
Kevin Anderson as Doc, and
Zoe Kazan as Marie, and ran through March 16.
In his ''
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 ...
'' review,
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...
called it a "deeply felt revival" and a "revitalizing production of a play often dismissed as a soggy
period piece
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...
" and added, "Ms. Merkerson allows a kind of intimate access traditionally afforded by cinematic close-ups, when the camera finds shades of meaning in impassive faces. She rarely signals what Lola's feeling; she just seems to feel, and we get it, instantly and acutely. Such emotional sincerity is the hallmark of this revival from the
Manhattan Theater Club, directed with gentle compassion by Michael Pressman and featuring first-rate performances from Kevin Anderson and Zoe Kazan. The production's commitment to its characters uncovers surprising virtues in William Inge's play."
In 2017, the
Transport Group Transport Group Theatre Company is a non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City that stages new works and revivals of plays and musicals, with a focus on American stories told in visually progressive way.
History
Transport Group was ...
put up a production ''Come Back, Little Sheba'', which won the
Obie Award for performance by
Heather MacRae.
[Obie Awards]
2017 Winners
.
References
External links
*
TWO ACTORS; Shirley Booth and Sidney Blackmer Play 'Come Back, Little Sheba'{Dead link, date=July 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes By Brooks Atkinson, ''New York Times'', February 26, 1950
1950 plays
Plays by William Inge
Broadway plays
Literature about alcohol abuse
Midwestern United States in fiction
Plays set in the United States
Works about alcoholism
American plays adapted into films