The surprising success of that revival in the early 1980's is still something to behold, the likes of which we will probably never see again. The original incarnation at the Delacorte was preserved on a commercially available video. The production transferred for a nice run on Broadway and toured. It was even made into a movie with most of the original leads returning. That's really the jaw-dropper for me. How does that even happen?
Then, of course, it also inspired THE PIRATE MOVIE, which was...a less successful adaptation. But the fact that it got made at all is, again, jaw-dropping.
I cannot imagine a 100 year old piece of theatre, being revived for a limited run, taking the world by storm today, as that production did then.
It must have just hit the zeitgeist in exactly the right way and audiences went wild for it.
And, since there were no author royalties to pay, Joe Papp must have been laughing all the way to the bank. |
