It's time for "a seventeen gun salute" as hosts Bobby and Kristina discuss 1953's Carnival In Flanders on the act one finale of My Favorite Flop.
ABOUT CARNIVAL IN FLANDERS
Based on the 1934 French comedy film La Kermesse Héroïque, Carnival In Flanders is set in 1616 in the small Flemish village of Flackenburg, where a Spanish duke and his entourage descend upon the community while the mayor plays dead, hoping that his ruse will force the visitors to depart. The musical features a book by Preston Sturges, music by Jimmy Van Heusen, and lyrics by Johnny Burke.
The road to Broadway for Carnival In Flanders was a troubled one. The film that the musical was based on was, and still is, considered one of the finest films every made and is ripe for musical adaptation. Initially, Harold Arlen was to have written the score, but the task ultimately fell to Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke instead, their only other theatrical credit being another Broadway flop. Famed singer and actor Bing Crosby believed in the pair, as they had already written many hits for him, and ended up financing much of the eventual production. The show went through a series of book writers, directors, and choreographers before it finally made it to The Great White Way.
The Broadway production was universally panned, with raves only for its female star, Dolores Gray, and lead dancer Matt Mattox. Despite everything, Gray was nominated and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for having only played 5 of the 6 performances the show ran on Broadway - the shortest-lived Tony-winning performance to date.
Original Broadway Cast
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