Theatre Register
Redhead

Redhead

Shows · Redhead

Redhead is a musical with music composed by Albert Hague and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, who with her brother, Herbert, along with Sidney Sheldon and David Shaw wrote the book/libretto. Set in London in the 1880s, around the time of Jack the Ripper, the musical is a murder mystery in the setting of a wax museum.

Opened
1959
Performances
452
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Albert HagueLyrics: Dorothy FieldsBook: Herbert & Dorothy Fields, Sidney Sheldon, David Shaw

Productions1 on Broadway

1959 46th Street Theatre Original. February 5, 1959 · Bob Fosse 452 performances · 1 Tony wins

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

Licensing 1 entry

US Music Theatre International Redhead 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 literature38 passages

Redhead seems to be the only Tony Award-winning musical no one knows about. It won eight awards, including Best Musical, but today even musical theatre aficionados consider it an also-ran. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p751

Although a London production and a film version by United Artists never materialized, the musical was produced in Mexico City at the Teatro de los Insurgentes on February 11, 1960; titled La Pelirroja, the musical starred Virma Gonzalez and the cast recording was released by RCA Victor (# MKL-1270). One of the delightf… book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p755

The incidental music for the drama was composed by Albert Hague, whose first Broadway musical Plain and Fancy opened in 1955; in 1959 he won the Tony Award for Best Composer for his score for Redhead . book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p885

They also turned out witty, character-driven libretti for Up in Central Park and Redhead (the first murder mystery musical). book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p21

In four more Broadway shows, all with Fosse, Verdon owned Broadway: New Girl in Town (where she proved herself as a very fine dramatic actress), the murder-mystery musical Redhead (where she won her fourth Tony Award in seven years), Sweet Charity (where her over-the-shoulder stance became as famous as the Damn Yankees… book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p84

Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse’s Chicago played the 46th Street, home of their consecutive 1950s hits Damn Yankees, New Girl in Town, and Redhead. book:more-opening-nights-on-broadway-a-critical-quotebook-of-compiled-by-steven-suski#p46

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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