''Home Sweet Homer'' is a 1976

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 a book by Roland Kibbee and

Albert Marre Albert Marre (September 20, 1924 – September 4, 2012) was an American stage director and producer. He directed the stage musical '' Man of La Mancha'' in 1965, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. Biography Early life ...

, lyrics by Charles Burr and

Forman Brown Forman Brown (January 8, 1901 – January 10, 1996) was one of the world's leaders in puppet theatre in his day, as well as an important early gay novelist. He was a member of the Yale Puppeteers and the driving force behind Turnabout Theatre. ...

, and music by

Mitch Leigh Mitch Leigh (born Irwin Michnick; January 30, 1928March 16, 2014) was an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical ''Man of La Mancha''. Biography Early years Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York as Irw ...

. Originally called ''Odyssey'', it is one of the most notorious

flops In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

history. Loosely based on

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

, it focuses on

Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...

and

Penelope Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or el, Πηνελόπη, ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius and naiad Periboea. Pe ...

, awaiting his return to

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

Background

The show was designed as a vehicle for

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...

, who was anxious to duplicate his success in ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childre ...

'' more than two decades earlier. The original book and lyrics were by author

Erich Segal Erich Wolf Segal (June 16, 1937January 17, 2010) was an American author, screenwriter, educator, and classicist who wrote the bestselling novel '' Love Story'' (1970) and its hit film adaptation. Early life and education Born and raised in a ...

, and a fairly modest production with a small cast began a national tour in December 1974 at the Hanna Theater in Cleveland, Ohio.Calta, Louis
"After Year's Tour, ‘Homer’ Dies Quickly on Broadway"
''The New York Times'', January 8, 1976 The musical was titled ''Odyssey'' at that time. The tour was plagued with problems from the start. Both Brynner and co-star

Joan Diener Joan Diener (February 24, 1930 – May 13, 2006) was an American theatre actress and singer with a three-and-a-half-octave range. Early life Born in Columbus, Ohio, Diener majored in psychology at Sarah Lawrence College and moonlighted as ...

frequently were ill and missed performances. In April 1975, the two, together with Diener's husband Marre and Brynner's wife Jacqueline, filed a $7.5 million lawsuit against

Trader Vic's Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (December 10, 1902 in San Francisco – October 11, 1984 in Hillsborough, California) founded a chain of Polynesi ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, alleging shortribs they ate there shortly before the start of the tour were poisonous and had left them "ill, weak, and infirm."Mandelbaum, Ken
"Homer"
''Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops'', Macmillan, 1992, , p. 32 In each city the show received consistently bad reviews, and when it reached

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Segal asked that his name be removed from the credits. Marre, whose career had unsuccessful shows like '' Cry for Us All'' and ''

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

'', not only revamped the book and lyrics, but fired

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Billy Wilson and took over the musical staging as well. In August, an unhappy Brynner sued to terminate his contract but backed down when he was threatened with a $1 million countersuit. By November, the producers decided to close the show at the end of the tour and forgo a Broadway opening. Brynner threatened to quit if they did not proceed to

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 ...

as planned.

Production

The musical, now an extravagant production retitled ''Home Sweet Homer'', opened officially at the Sunday matinee on January 4, 1976 at the

Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including: Australia *Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria *Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Canada *Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, Mo ...

after eleven previews. The closing notice was posted as soon as the curtain fell. In addition to Brynner and Diener, the cast included

Martin Vidnovic Martin Vidnovic (born January 4, 1948) is an American actor and singer. Career Born in Falls Church, Virginia, Vidnovic graduated from the College-Conservatory of Music (part of the University of Cincinnati) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.Lovendus ...

and Russ Thacker. The producers spent all of the show's capitalization by the time it opened in New York. Because of the postponement of the Broadway opening $250,000 of group sales had been cancelled.Culwell-Block, Logan
"22 Broadway Musicals That Closed on Opening Night"
Playbill, September 8, 2017

Musical numbers

''The show was without an intermission.'' The musical numbers from the 1976 Broadway production are as follows: *"The Tales" - Penelope and The Suitors *"The Future" - Penelope *"The Departure" - Odysseus and Dekati Evdomi *"Home Sweet Homer" - Odysseus *"The Ball" - Nausikaa and her Handmaidens *"How Could I Dare to Dream" - Odysseus and Telemachus *"I Never Imagined Goodbye" - Penelope *"Love Is the Prize" - Odysseus *"Penelope's Hand" - Antinous *"He Will Come Home Again" - Telemachus *"Did He Really Think" - Penelope *"I Was Wrong" - Odysseus *"The Rose" - Penelope *"Tomorrow" - Antinous and The Suitors *"The Contest" - Odysseus, Telemachus, Antinous, and The Suitors *"He Sang Songs" - Penelope and Odysseus The musical numbers from the 1975 Broadway previews are as follows: *"The Sorceress" - Penelope and The Suitors *"The Departure" - Odysseus and Dekati Evdomi *"Home Sweet Homer" - Odysseus *"The Ball" - Nausikaa and her Handmaidens *"How Could I Dare to Dream" - Odysseys and Telemachus *"I Never Imagined Goodbye" - Penelope *"Love Is the Prize" - Odysseus *"Penelope's Hand" - Antinous *"He Will Come Home Again" - Telemachus *"Did He Really Think" - Penelope *"I Was Wrong" - Odysseus *"The Rose" - Penelope *"Tomorrow" - Antinous and The Suitors *"The Contest" - Odysseus, Telemachus, Antinous, and The Suitors

Notes

References

''Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops'' by

Ken Mandelbaum Ken Mandelbaum is a Jewish American columnist, critic, and author whose primary field of expertise is musical theatre. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Mandelbaum was introduced to Broadway musical theatre by his parents and grandparents at ...

, published by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

(1991), pages 31–33 ()

External links

''Home Sweet Homer'' at ibdb.com
{{Odyssey navbox 1976 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals based on poems Works based on the Odyssey