The run closed January 21, 1961
- Opened
- January 16, 1961
- Closed
- January 21, 1961
- Performances
- 8
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- August Wilson Theatre
Of the 603 productions we hold that opened in the 1960s and record a performance count, this is the 458th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Who was in it44 named
John Aristides
Lee Barry
Burt Bier
Geoffrey Bryant
Richard Buckley
Shirley Chester
Tony Craig
Georgia Creighton
Marlene Dell
Brina Dexter
Bob Dixon
Shellie Farrell
Pat Ferrier
Charlotte Frazier
Marianne Gale
Edith Gresham
William Guske
T J Halligan
Kathe Howard
Reby Howells
Kenny Kealy
Elizabeth Kerr
Dick Korthaze
Erik Kristen
William Lemassena
Betty Hyatt Linton
Jane Mason
Ed Mastin
Bill Mcdonald
Bernie Meyer
Dale Moreda
Don Morgan
Charles Rule
James Senn
Marilyn Stark
Fred Stewart
Samye van
7 of these 44 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 37 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
- Albert Marre
- Choreographer
- Todd Bolender
- Orchestrations
- Robert Gi
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
The Conquering Hero had a chaotic tryout which inspired Gelbart's oft-quoted quip, "If Hitler is alive, I hope he's out of town with a musical." When the show received negative reviews in its second tryout town, producer Robert Whitehead fired the show's director–choreographer, Bob Fosse, who had directed only one previous musical (Redhead, a hit).
The reviews were encouraging and affirmed Fosse’s approach. “The musical is really a tribute to Bob Fosse... . a rousing entertainment, sparked by his exceptionally fascinating dance patterns,” enthused the New Haven Journal-Courier. Big Deal Bob Fosse and Dance In the American Musical Kevin Winkler Oxford Univer, p. 106
- The Conquering Hero (Tom Poston), I Picked a Daisy (which had been set to star Robert Horton, and which years later with another composer and another leading man became On a Clear Day You Can See Forever ), and Mata Hari (Pernell Roberts). Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 829
- Moose Charlap, composer of the hapless Whoop-Up (1958) and The Conquering Hero (1961). More Opening Nights On Broadway A Critical Quotebook of Compiled By Steven Suski, p. 530
- Fosse himself had undergone a few bumpy years, with severe disappointments on his post-Redhead director/choreographer gigs: The Conquering Hero (1961), from which he was konked, and Frank Loesser’s costume operetta Pleasures and Palaces (1965), which died in Detroit. More Opening Nights On Broadway A Critical Quotebook of Compiled By Steven Suski, p. 920
- Following the 1961 musical The Conquering Hero (from which he was fired), Fosse choreographed Frank Loesser’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961) and served as choreographer/codirector of Little Me (1962). More Opening Nights On Broadway A Critical Quotebook of Compiled By Steven Suski, p. 1094
- Fosse’s next project was THE CONQUERING HERO? [January 16, 1961], from which he was fired, out of town; the show finally stumbled in with no director or choreographer credited. Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 424
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 The Conquering Hero at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.