If ENCORES Ever Returns, I Hope They Consider This! "The Yearling" and "RAGS" Might Be Strong Enough To Lure Me There!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              I have screamed enough about "RAGS" on here, but was privilged to see the Original Production,  back in 1986, and the show fortunately rendeered itself a Cast Recording,  which is one of my musical theater  treasrures.

                                               Now, "The Yearling," Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' novel,  first published in March of 1938, and  made into a masterful movie by MGM, in 1946, wherein Claude Jarman, Jr., as Jody Baxter,  gave one  of  the most  compelling  child performances,  especially for a boy.  He  won a Special  Juvenile  Oscar, for his incandescent performance.

                                                 As Broadway was getting ready to mount a musical of "The Yearling,"  I was just discovereing "The Yearling," as a novel.  Having read all  the key animal books  of  my youth--"Black Beauty," by Anna Sewell,  "Beautiful Joe," by Margaret Marshall Saunders,  "Lassie,  Come  Home," by Eric Knight, and "My Friend Flicka," by Mary O'Hara, it was inevitable I would get to "The Yearling."  And, like  most of  these titles, it is heartbreaking, yet with a message.

                                                    The message of "The Yearling" is that childhood must end, and puberty continues us onward.  Way past this point  now, I still don't cherish this fact.

                                                       Jody Baxter,  loved by his parents, Penny and  Ora,  (Penny is the father) is nevertheless lonely, until  he  encounters  a friend in an  orphaned fawn  he finds, whom he names Flag.  Flag is cute and sweet, bonds with Jody, and  things are happy,  until  Flag  begins  to age, and  Jody has to make the most  difficult choice of  his life, at that  point.  In addition  to Jody, there is another child, Fodder  Wing, hunchbacked and crippled, on  a farm nearby, in  swampland  Florida.  Fodder Wing and  Jody both love animals, and  Jody learns things from  his friendship with the disabled  youngster.

                                                       The time of  the story is several years past the Civil War!

                                                           Much as I would  love  to  watch the  film  again,  I don't think  I could bear to.  So, imagine  this being turned  into a Broadway musical,  which it was.  "The Yearling," the musical, was produced by Lore  Noto, who had delivered the hit,  "The Fantasticks."  He also served as the Book and Lyric writer,  along  with Herbert Martin, who also wrote  the lyrics.  The Composer was Michael  Leonard.  Save Noto,  I never heard of  them.  It opened at the Alvin Theatre, on West 52nd Street, (home of  such gems as  "Company" and "Annie") on December 10, 1965, and closed on December 11, 1965, after a run of 11 previews, and 3 actual performances.

                                                               I was  in  fifth grade  when I read  the book,  and  all this took  place. On a  childdren's program of  the day, I recall Sonny Fox  interviewing  a young  girl, who said that she auditioned for  the role  of  Jody in "The Yearling."  Steve Sanders, who went nowhere,  played the part,  while Peter Falzone,  also  unsuccessful, played Fodder-Wing.  The Baxter parents, Penny and  Ora, were portrayed, respectively, by David Wayne and Dolores  Wilson.  Lloyd Richards,  who would later  gain a  name  by  directing the  plays of August Wilson,  directed  the production, and I have to wonder if he was right for the project, or just took  it as a benchmark on his escalating  career  in the theater.

                                                                Lonny Price, where are you?

                                                               "The Yearling" was a benchmark, but not for glowing reasons.   It was panned, and  closed  almost immediately.  With  so few to see it,  and no cast recording,  it has become something  theater queens yearn for.  When I think of the score,  I imagine it sounding  similar  to "The Grass Harp," also a  flop, but not as big a one as this,  and Barbara Cook's last  books  show.  Adapted  from a novel by Truman Capote, Cook  played one of the Talbo Sisters, Dolly, and  the  score was magical  and  whimsical.  It was by Claibe Richardson (Music), with Book and Lyrics by Kenward Elmslie.  I hadn't heard of them, and while it ran for only four days (November  2-6, 1971), maybe, due to Barbara Cook,  it yielded an Original Cast Recording,  which is just glorious.  In  the over forty years of theatergoing in NYC,  I have only seen one revival of this show, in some Off-Broadway theatre, which probably now  does not exist,  back in the Eighties.

                                                                    "The Grass Harp" is, at least, accessible.  "The Yearling" is not.  However--

                                                                        Apparently, those few who actually saw the show went  crazy over the score (just like  with "RAGS") and somehow,  four songs,  by some enterprising individual were gotten  to Barbra Streisand, before she became  BARBRA, and she recorded  them.  One  is a  standard you may know--"I'm All Smiles," and darlings,  I am dying to learn this  and do as  it  as an audiiton piece.  The other songs  are "The Kind Of Man A Woman Needs,"  "Why Do I Choose You?," (also recorded by Barbara Cook!) and "My Pa."

                                                                             It is  just a taste,  but one that promises much.  It would be equally fascinating to see how these songs fit into the context of the musical.  Why no one  has ever  done  a  studio recording of the score, or ENCORES  has not  considered  it--well,  you tell  me!  But, maybe,  to lure us pandemic  paranoidiacs back to live  theatre,  it would take something this monumental to lure us!  And  tickets would  sell,  like  proverbial hot  cakes!  Maybe a cast recording  would come  out of  this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                              Like  the  song  says, "I'm all  chills,  darling........"

                                     Here is  a photo  from the  original production.  Note a real deer.  It must have had  some agent.  And how about its hygeiene???????????????????????????  The  photo is interesting, but tells little.

                           However--

                                       Here is BARBRA,  early on,  singing I'm All Smiles."  I am sure she tailored  it  to her  own  voice, because its  last  lines, "And that someone  is...you!"  I am sure got a big, belting finish on Broadway. At least,  that's the way I would do it, darlings.

                                          Hey,  if I was the right age, I'd grab the role  of Jody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!