Theatre Register
Destry Rides Again

Destry Rides Again

Shows · Destry Rides Again

Hollywood’s classic Western had been filmed three times before David Merrick decided to turn the durable sagebrush saga into a Broadway musical. A whoopin’, shootin’, hollerin’ show, it starred Andy Griffith (in his only musical) as Thomas Jefferson Destry Jr., the violence-hating sheriff, and Dolores Gray as the peppery saloon entertainer known as Frenchy.

Opened
1959
Performances
473
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Harold RomeLyrics: Harold RomeBook: Leonard Gershe

Productions1 on Broadway

1959 Imperial Theatre Original. April 23, 1959 · Michael Kidd 473 performances

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 2 entries

US Concord Theatricals Tams-Witmark available
UK Concord Theatricals Tams-Witmark available

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature31 passages

Destry rides Again. An embarrassing moment when Destry accidentally tears off part of Frenchy’s dress. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p175

A revival of the musical at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London on September 30, 1982, was recorded by That’s Entertainment (LP # TER-1034); Jill Gascoine and Alfred Molina were the leads. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p787

Dolores Gray and Andy Griffith had a hit in Destry Rides Again (1959), a musical version of the James Stewart/Marlene Dietrich film, aided by dazzling Michael Kidd choreography, although a feud between Ms. Gray and Mr. Kidd made all the newspapers. book:at-this-theatre-100-years-of-broadway-shows-stories-and-botto-louis-viagas-rober#p180

Harold Rome had another hit at the Imperial with Destry Rides Again (4/23/59; 472 performances), starring Andy Griffith and Dolores Gray. Everyone thought a western musical would not be a hit on sophisticated Broadway, but Rome and librettist Leonard Gershe proved them wrong with this David Merrick production. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p279

His shows exhibited an unusual diversity in subject matter—from the Old West of Destry Rides Again to the New York garment district of J Can Get it for You Wholesale to the Old South of Gone with the Wind. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p477

Destry was the poorer cousin to Gypsy in the same way that Foxy was allowed to wither. book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p89

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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