Theatre Register
Greenwillow

Greenwillow

Shows · Greenwillow

B.J. Chute’s novel was turned into a homespun fantasy that had to do with quaint superstitions and folklore of a mythical village located on the Meander River — or somewhere down the road from Brigadoon and Glocca Morra. The whimsical tale takes up the conflict of young Gideon Briggs (Anthony Perkins) who would like nothing better than to remain at home and marry his summertime love, Dorrie (Ellen McCown), but who fe…

Opened
1960
Performances
95
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Frank LoesserLyrics: Frank LoesserBook: Lesser Samuels & Frank Loesser

Productions1 on Broadway

1960 Alvin Theatre Original. March 8, 1960 · George Roy Hill 95 performances

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

Licensing 1 entry

US Music Theatre International Greenwillow matched on title alone — a lead, not a confirmed licensor

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 literature19 passages

Though tarrying on Broadway only three months, Greenwillow has long been admired for the airy, otherworldly charms of Frank Loesser’s atypical score. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p182

His only flop to reach Broadway, Greenwillow. book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p150

Four years later Loesser himself was crying over the failure (ninety-seven performances) of the bucolic Greenwillow (1960). The show contained an excellent score, the best efforts of Tony Perkins in the leading role, and a positive review by Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times. Despite all this, Donald Malcolm would… book:enchanted-evenings-the-broadway-musical-from-show-boat-block-geoffrey-oxford-new#p308

Although originally announced as the lead, Tony Perkins—who starred in Frank Loesser’s 1960 Greenwillow and the 1966 Sondheim/James Goldman TV minimusical Evening Primrose—opted out. book:more-opening-nights-on-broadway-a-critical-quotebook-of-compiled-by-steven-suski#p217

Loesser’s Greenwillow, Weill and Ira Gershwin’s The Firebrand of Florence, Dietz and Schwartz’s Jennie, and Berlin’s Mr. President—from top talents. book:more-opening-nights-on-broadway-a-critical-quotebook-of-compiled-by-steven-suski#p1075

GREENWILLOW was a pastoral, folksy, tender musical that played whimsical and dull in performance. Loesser’s work, while enchanting, had no life outside the theatre (and very little in it). GREENWILLOW’s failure was a major disappointment to Loesser. book:show-tunes-1905-1985-the-songs-shows-and-careers-of-steven-suskin-1st-ed-new-yor#p435

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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