The run closed October 10, 1959
- Opened
- October 7, 1959
- Closed
- October 10, 1959
- Performances
- 5
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Adelphi Theatre
Of the 705 productions we hold that opened in the 1950s and record a performance count, this is the 628th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
This is a New York theatre. The address is Manhattan and the former names are Broadway names, but the record is filed as West End and its coordinates, architect and history were taken from the London theatre of the same name. Every one of these names exists on both streets. Reported to broadway-data as issue #97.
Who was in it43 named
Isabelle Farrell
Laurie Franks
James Gannon
Rita Golden
Connie Greco
Marian Haraldson
Marilyn Harris
George Ives
George Jack
Danny Joel
Judy Keirn
Maxine Kent
Michael Kermoyan
Bruce Mackay
Charles May
James Mcanany
Nixon Miller
Patricia Mount
Robbi Palmer
Howard Parker
Tom Pocoroba
Lizabeth Pritchett
Stuart Rose
Chester Watson
Roy Wilson
19 of these 43 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 24 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- Allan A. Buckhantz
- Choreographer
- Lee Scott
- Producer
- B & M Productions
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Around this production
Happy Town had closed after a week's tryout in Boston for a complete rewrite, but it unwisely came in to town as the first musical of the 1959-60 season.
- There was even a Doc Spooner and a Reverend Hornblow. And to let the audience know how exciting the songs were, the program boasted no less than seven titles which ended with exclamation points. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 816
- The six book musicals for which it appears no songs have been commercially recorded are: Happy as Larry, The Liar, Jotham Valley, Hit the Trail, Portofino, and Happy Town. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 875
- Happy Town was a hopeless vanity production that didn’t last beyond its first week on Broadway. Considering that it shut down during its Boston tryout for a complete rewrite, it’s surprising the musical even made it to New York. The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals Dan Dietz Hardcover 2014 Rowman Lit, p. 821
- The major flops of the year were Happy Town (5s), which left New York anything but, and Juno (16) West End Broadway the Golden Age of the American Musical Adrian Wright Boydell B, p. 169
- Because of the role’s vocal demands Edwin Steffe, fresh from a disaster of a Broadway musical Happy Town, was brought in to play Tony at certain performances, and unusually shared top billing with Wiata. West End Broadway the Golden Age of the American Musical Adrian Wright Boydell B, p. 177
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- No recording is held for Happy Town at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.