Productions2 on Broadway
| 1896 | Hoyts Theatre Original. September 2, 1896 · predates this show | |
| 1950 | Broadhurst Theatre Revival. May 18, 1950 · Alfred Drake | 12 performances |
Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. 1 of these predate the show itself and are almost certainly a different work of the same name. Shown, marked, not merged. West End runs are not yet held.
Licensing not confirmed
| Rights | — We have not been able to confirm the publisher. |
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 literature7 passages
The Liar was probably doomed before its first backers’ audition. The musical took place in Italy, and musicals set there are almost guaranteed to flop. There have been a few exceptions, such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) and Nine (1982), but the odds are against success: over three dozen musi… book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p61
As mentioned, Eythe replaced Dennis Harrison during the tryout of The Liar (three photographs from the production accompany the musical’s entry on page 108 of Theatre World Season 1949–1950 ; two small photos identify the performers, but the third, and larger, photo doesn’t; it seems that the handsome performer wearing… book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p64
The six book musicals for which it appears no songs have been commercially recorded are: Happy as Larry, The Liar, Jotham Valley, Hit the Trail, Portofino, and Happy Town. book:complete-book-of-1950s-broadway-musicals-the-dan-dietz#p875
Besides Johnny Johnson, Russell Collins also appeared in short-lived The Liar in 1950. book:the-complete-book-of-1930s-broadway-musicals-dietz-dan-rowman-littlefield-publis#p451
Only marginally less disastrous were The Liar (12), from the play about a sixteenth-century lothario by Carlo Goldoni, and Great to Be Alive! (52). book:west-end-broadway-the-golden-age-of-the-american-musical-adrian-wright-boydell-b#p85
He also directed and cowrote the musical The Liar, based on a Goldoni play, but it, too, folded quickly. book:i-m-the-greatest-star-broadway-s-top-musical-legends-from-1900-to-today-robert-v#p170
Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.