The run closed November 20, 1965
- Opened
- October 4, 1965
- Closed
- November 20, 1965
- Performances
- 56
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Richard Rodgers Theatre
Of the 603 productions we hold that opened in the 1960s and record a performance count, this is the 259th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Other stagings of Pickwick 1 more that season
| 1927 | Empire Theatre Original · Campbell Gullan | 72 perf. |
Who was in it55 named
Jill Alexander
Michael Amber
Nancy Barrett
Bruce Becker
Bill Black
Helena Carroll
Susan Cartt
Brian Chapin
Jim Connor
William Coppola
Peter Costanza
Michael Darbyshire
Ann C Davies
Gerrit de Beer
Michael Easton
Richard Easton
Tracy Evans
Jo Freilich
Nancy Haywood
Mary Keller
Clyde Laurents
Don Lawrence
Roger le Page
Michael Logan
Allan Lokos
Leslie Ann Mapes
Selma Marcus
Ginia Mason
Lani Michaels
Ross Miles
Richard Neilson
Bill Nuss
Julian Orchard
Keith Perry
Oscar Quitak
Taylor Reed
Joe Richards
Anton Rodgers
Sybil Scotford
Stanley Simmonds
Haydon Smith
Nancy Stevens
Don Strong
Tony Sympson
Ann Tell
Bonnie Turner
Edmond Varrato
Larry Whiteley
7 of these 55 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 48 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
- Peter Coe
- Choreographer
- Gillian Lynne
- Orchestrations
- Eric Rogers
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
Pickwick is a musical with a book by Wolf Mankowitz, music by Cyril Ornadel, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Based on the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, it is set in and around London and Rochester in 1828. Produced by Bernard Delfont, Pickwick premiered in the West End in 1963, with Harry Secombe in the lead role and choreography by Gillian Lynne.
- David Merrick’s twin 1965 imports Roar of the Greasepaint (232 perfs) and Pickwick (with an astoundingly low 56). The producer recouped costs on both during extensive pre-Broadway tours, a trick he learned with his 1963 Oliver! More Opening Nights On Broadway A Critical Quotebook of Compiled By Steven Suski, p. 38
- The musical was intended to follow the success of Oliver!, which it did not. The Golden Age of American Musical Theatre 1943 1965 Naden Corinne J Rowman Litt, p. 131
- Golden Age musicals: As the 46th Street: Finian’s Rainbow, 1/10/47; Love Life, 10/7/48; Guys and Dolls, 11/10/50; Damn Yankees, 5/5/55; New Girl in Town, 5/14/57; Redhead, 2/5/59; Tenderloin, 10/17/60; Donnybrook!, 5/18/61; How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, 10/14/61; Do I Hear a Waltz?, 3/18/65; Pickwic… The Golden Age of American Musical Theatre 1943 1965 Naden Corinne J Rowman Litt, p. 209
- Noteworthy musicals included “Baker Street,” “Half A Sixpence,” “Pickwick,” “Do I Hear A Waltz?,” “The Roar of The Greasepaint—The Smell of The Crowd,” “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever,” “Flora, The Red Menace,” and ‘‘Skyscraper.” A Pictorial History of the American Theatre 1860 1985 Blum, p. 387
- British dramatist, Stanley Young, had four unsuccessful plays produced on Broadway: Robin Landing (1937), Bright Rebel (1938), Ask My Friend Sandy (1943), and a dreary Dickens adaptation, Mr. Pickwick, in 1952. Broadway Bound A Guide To Shows That Died Aborning, p. 278
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 Pickwick at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.