The Three Musketeers (musical)

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The Three Musketeers
Music
Alexandre Dumas, père
Productions1928 Broadway
1930 West End
1984 Broadway revival

The Three Musketeers is a

Athos, Porthos and Aramis
.

The original 1928 production on

Dennis King
as d'Artagnan, were successful, but a 1984 attempt at a much-revised Broadway revival flopped.

Plot synopsis

In early 17th century France, the poor but virile

d'Artagnan travels to Paris to join the Musketeers (the King's bodyguard). He meets and falls in love with Lady Constance Bonacieux, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne. Meanwhile, Cardinal Richelieu learns that the Queen has given a diamond heart brooch, which was a present to her from the King, as a token of love to the Duke of Buckingham. Richelieu suggests that the King ask the Queen to wear it at a planned royal gala. Richelieu dispatches the Comte de Rochefort and Milady de Winter
to London to recover the gem, which he plans to unveil at the gala in order to reveal that the Queen has been unfaithful.

The Queen asks her lady-in-waiting, Constance Bonacieux, to involve the Musketeers in the jewel's speedy recovery so that she might foil the plot. But when the Musketeers reach London, they are too late: Lady de Winter has arrived first. D’Artagnan uses his seductive charms upon Milady de Winter and steals the bauble. After a rousing sword fight, the Musketeers kill de Rochefort and rush back to Paris just in time to bring the jewel to the gala. King Louis fastens it to the Queen's shoulder just as he did when he first gave it to her.

Musical numbers

The 1984 revival deleted many of the original songs, added other Friml songs, and moved others to different positions in the story.[1]

Productions

Original production

The original

Louis XIII of France, Vivienne Segal as Constance Bonacieux, and Reginald Owen as Cardinal Richelieu.[2][3][4]

1930 West End

King reprised his role for a 1930 West End production at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane that ran for 242 performances. The cast also included Marie Ney as Lady De Winter, Jerry Verno as Planchet, Webster Booth as The Duke of Buckingham and Arthur Wontner as Cardinal Richelieu.[5][6][7]

1984 Broadway

A 1984 revival with a new book by

The Broadway Theatre.[9] It closed after just 9 performances despite a cast that included Michael Praed as d'Artagnan, Chuck Wagner as Athos, Ron Taylor as Porthos, Brent Spiner as Aramis, Roy Brocksmith as Louis XIII, Liz Callaway as Lady Constance Bonacieux, Marianne Tatum as Milady de Winter and Ed Dixon as Cardinal Richelieu.[9] Tatum was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. In his review in The New York Times, Frank Rich
commented:

"The Three Musketeers is a good-natured attempt to jazz up Rudolf Friml's Dumas-inspired operetta ... much as the

Three Stooges. ... Joe Layton has tried to give the show the illusion of excitement by staging it at a frantic pace and by sending the actors running up and down the aisles ... [but] everyone seems to be scurrying pointlessly about just to keep busy. After a while, the company begins to look like a road troupe of Camelot on amphetamines."[9]

2010 and 2011 South Korea

A South Korean production ran from December 15, 2010 to mid-January 2011 starring

D'Artagnan.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c The Three Musketeers, IBDB database, accessed May 10, 2012
  2. ^ "'The Three Musketeers', 1928 Production" Internet Broadway Database listing, accessed February 13, 2011
  3. ISBN 0-7935-7750-0
    , p. 63
  4. ISBN 0-8101-1994-3
    , p.178
  5. ^ The Complete Plays of P.G. Wodehouse thelooniverse.com
  6. ^ "Chronology, 1930" guidetomusicaltheatre.com, accessed February 13, 2011
  7. ^ "'The Three Musketeers' Productions, Musical Numbers and Synopsis of Scenes" guidetomusicaltheatre.com, accessed February 13, 2011
  8. ^ Wagner, Chuck. Chuck Wagner biography, Chuck Wagner Online, accessed May 10, 2012
  9. ^ a b c Rich, Frank (November 12, 1984). "Review, A Musical 'Three Musketeers' Opens". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  10. ^ (Kang Seung-hun) "Super Junior Kyuhyun says advice from cast members helps with musical", 10Asia, December 17, 2010, accessed August 12, 2011
  11. ^ "The Three Musketeers", Visit Seoul (blog), December 4, 2011, accessed November 22, 2012
  12. ^ "Reservations Musical The Three Musketeers", Visit Seoul, accessed November 22, 2012
  13. ^ "SS501′s Heo Young Saeng and Oh Won Bin Will Star in the "Three Musketeers" Musical". Soompi. Retrieved 2013-08-19.

External links

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