The run closed November 18, 1961
- Opened
- October 23, 1961
- Closed
- November 18, 1961
- Performances
- 32
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Adelphi Theatre
Of the 603 productions we hold that opened in the 1960s and record a performance count, this is the 329th 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 it51 named
Norman Barrs
Issa Arnal
Pepsi Bethel
Zebedee Collins
Doris Demendez
Doreese Duquan
Julius Fields
Renaye Fubler
Vaughn Fubler
Scott Gibson
Frank Glass
Altovise Gore
Victoria Harrison
Lee Hooper
Wanza L King
Mary Louise
James Lowe
Minnie Marshall
Rosalie Maxwell
John Miles
Charles Moore
Clark Morgan
Joan Peters
Helen Phillips
Ronald Platts
Mike Quashie
Charles Queenan
Lucinda Ransom
Mal Scott
Joan Seabrook
Ainsley Sigmond
Phillip Stamps
Barbara Ann Teer
Edward Thomas
George Tipton
Glory van Scott
Gordon Watkins
Myrna White
Arthur Wright
Camille Yarborough
11 of these 51 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 40 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
- Robert Lewis
- Choreographer
- Agnes de Mille
- Orchestrations
- Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal
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
It was conceived for his wife, Sally Ann Howes; at a party, Adler had discussed African nationalism with Adlai Stevenson, then ambassador to the United Nations, and then told television writer Robert Allan Aurthur of his conversation: Kwamina would be Aurthur's first and only musical book.
- Added to the production was Adler’s “Watch Your Heart,” a revised version of his lovely ballad “What’s Wrong with Me?” from the 1961 Broadway musical Kwamina ; the song was later recorded as “If You Win, You Lose.” Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 393
- Adler, without his late partner Jerry Ross, tried his hand at both music and lyrics for Kwamina (10/23/61; 32 performances), starring Robert Guillaume and Sally Ann Howes. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 207
- He wrote a television musical version of Little Women, followed by the quick flop (with a sometimes fine score) Kwamina, starring then-wife Sally Ann Howes. Broadway Musicals the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time Bloom Ken 1949 Vlastnik Fra, p. 261
- KWAMINA [October 23, 1961] showed his potential as a composer of serious theatre work, as well as proving he could write alone; but nothing of worth has been attempted since. Show Tunes 1905 1985 the Songs Shows and Careers of Steven Suskin 1st Ed New Yor, p. 444
- Watch Your Heart [music and lyric by Adler] —recorded as If You Win, You Lose; written for revival, revised version of What’s Wrong with Me from KWAMINA [October 23, 1961]; Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 280
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 Kwamina at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.