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My Three Angels
by Sam & Bella Spewack
DIRECTED BY JENN THOMPSON
December 8, 2007 at 7:30
December 9 at 2:00
December 10 at 7:30
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| OVERVIEW |
Adapted from ?Angels? Kitchen? by Albert Husson.
In French Guiana, a helplessly na?ve family is threatened by a rapacious landlord and his ruthless son. Fortunately, on hand to rescue them, are three convicts (two murderers and a swindler) who have been sent by the local penal colony to repair their roof.
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| CAST/CREW |
JAMES PRENDERGAST*
Felix Ducotel
JAMES MURTAUGH*
Henri Trochard
FRANCESCA Di MAURO*
Emilie Ducotel
MARGARET NICHOLS*
Marie Louise Ducotel
CYNTHIA HARRIS*
Mme. Parole
DAVID CHRISTOPHER WELLS
Paul
AMIR KHOSROWPOUR
Composer
* TACT Company Member |
| DRAMATURGY |
Albert Husson was a late bloomer in the French theatre world. The son of a jeweler, Husson followed in his father?s footsteps after obtaining a law degree in his hometown of Lyon. Husson wrote in his spare time, but it wasn?t until his thirties that he got his first job in theatre--an administrative position in Lyon?s Th??tre des Celestins. He would remain there his entire life, becoming artistic director in 1968 alongside Jean Meyer. La Cuisine des Anges was Husson?s first play to receive a major production in Paris. When it opened at the Th??tre du Vieux-Colombier in 1952, Husson was forty years old.
The play was a great success, winning the Tristan Bernard prize for excellence in comedy. The New York Times previewed the play at the Vieux-Colombier and reported that it was well received and ?likely to tour the continent,? but thought it would be ?too corny for Broadway.? The French Review loved the ?fantastic quality? of the play, which ?mixed with the craftiness, earthiness and cynical humor of the ?angels??gives this play its charm and special flavor.?
La Cuisine des Anges drew the attention of Hollywood and Broadway producers alike. Paramount studios snagged the rights for the film for $16,000. Arnold Saint-Subber, who had just had his first hit as producer with the musical Kiss Me, Kate, outbid veteran producer Gilbert Miller for the rights to adapt a Broadway version of the play. He called upon Kiss Me, Kate?s writers, husband and wife team Bella and Samuel Spewack, to adapt the play.
Bella and Samuel Spewack were both immigrants born in Eastern Europe in 1899: Bella was from Romania and Samuel was from the Ukraine. Bella?s memoirs, ?Streets: A Memoir of the Lower East Side? chronicle her childhood in the tenement slums of Manhattan. Samuel had moved to New York as a teenager, and after a few years at Columbia University, he dropped out to take a job as a reporter for The World. Bella, who never made it to college, began writing for Socialist papers such as The New York Call. Her work drew the attention of Samuel, who, according to Bella, fell in love with her writing.
They married in 1922 and moved to Moscow where they worked as news correspondents for four years. During that time, Bella began writing short stories. ?Journalism fed the creative thing,? Bella would later explain. Soon Samuel and Bella were writing comedies together. When asked why they chose comedies over tragedies, Bella replied ?To survive, you have to get away from the tragic elements in life.?
Their first play, Solitaire Man, was produced in 1926 and though it never made it to Broadway it was adapted into a film version in 1933. Over the next twenty-five years, the two wrote over thirty plays and films together, including the play Boy Meets Girl (1935, TACT 1999/2000) and the hit Cary Grant film My Favorite Wife (1940). Their most famous work was Kiss Me, Kate, written in 1948. The Cole Porter musical, about a feuding husband and wife acting duo, mirrored the Spewacks? own marital troubles. Samuel had moved out when Bella began work on the script, but before long she called Samuel in for help and the two were able to reconcile. The show was a huge success, earning Tonys for Best Musical and for Best Author of a Musical.
Once Saint-Subber had secured the Spewacks to adapt La Cuisine des Anges, he selected the acclaimed actor/director Jos? Ferrer to direct the piece. Ferrer had made a name for himself as an actor with his portrayal of Iago in Margaret Webster?s famous production of Othello (1943) as well as his Tony winning portrayal of the title role in Edmond Rostand?s Cyrano de Bergerac (1946). In 1952, he won the Tony for Best Director for three different productions?The Shrike, Fourposter and Stalag 17?as well as the Tony for Best Actor in a Play (for The Shrike).
Somehow, Ferrer still managed to find time to accept Saint-Subber?s offer, and the two flew to Paris to see Husson?s original piece. When they returned, they set about casting the show. Broadway veterans Henry Daniell and Will Kuluva were among the first cast, as Henri Trouchard and Felix Ducotel, respectively. Jerome Cowan, who had performed in the Spewacks? Boy Meets Girl, took the part of Jules and Darrin McGavin made his Broadway debut as Alfred.
The biggest name in Ferrer?s cast was Walter Slezak. Slezak had spent the last twelve years in film, most notably as the Nazi soldier in Alfred Hitchcock?s Lifeboat (1949). After creating dozens of villainous characters for film and television, Slezak was looking for a way back to the stage. Ferrer telephoned Slezak about the part of Joseph, and after reading the script?now titled My 3 Angels?Slezak accepted the role. His contract was worked out over the telephone and included an interesting stipulation. Slezak, known for saving and investing his money, was concerned about the financial risk of taking a stage role for the first time in over a decade. Slezak asked that he be allowed to stay in Ferrer?s home in Ossining, NY for the duration of the show. ?You must understand,? Slezak told the New York Times, ?that in outlook I am an optimist, but in business, a pessimist.?
Slezak?s fears were unfounded. The show opened at the Morosco Theatre on March 11, 1953 and ran for well over three hundred performances. The show received very favorable reviews, praising Ferrer?s direction as well as the performance of the cast and Mr. Slezak in particular. Time magazine wrote that ?under Jose Ferrer?s deft direction, the show gaily ripples along?As angel-in-chief, Falstaffian Walter Slezak is steadily delightful.? The New York Times? Brook Atkinson found the final two acts a bit ?Americanized,? but saw the first act as an example of ?the wicked insouciance of expert comedians.? Atkinson thought that Ferrer?s direction slowed down after the first act, but praised every performance, especially the three angels, who were ?taking the humor wherever they find it.?
In 1959, the Spewacks adapted their Broadway version into a 90-minute television special. Walter Slezak reprised his role as Joseph and the script was again praised by the New York Times, this time by John P. Shanley: ?The TV script?was a work of genuine quality?It takes deft writing to make premeditated murder seem entirely desirable, but the Spewacks (and M. Husson) achieved the trick brilliantly.?
The life of Husson?s La Cuisine des Anges did not end with the Spewacks? successful versions, however. Paramount?s film, titled We?re No Angels was produced in 1955. The cast and crew were star-studded, with Casablanca director Michael Curtiz taking the helm as director and Humphrey Bogart portraying the role of Joseph. Ranald Macdougal, best known for his Oscar nominated screenplay Mildred Pierce (1945), adapted the script from Husson?s original French version.
The film?s star talent did not result in critical success. ?The Paramount comedy,? said the New York Times, ?gives sole credit to the Gallic original, then stalks the Spewacks almost scene by scene, without, alas, most of the fun?[It is] generally a slow, talky affair of elephantine roguishness and a few genuine chuckles.? Time magazine wrote that ?Curtiz merely prods a footlighted script?Bogart, [Aldo] Ray and [Peter] Ustinov never even approach the suave charm of Walter Slezak in the Broadway version.?
Thirty years later, Canadian composer David Warrack gained the rights to turn the Spewack play into a musical. My Three Angels opened in December of 1985 at St. Lawrence Center in Toronto. Variety thought that the Spewack?s story was ?a real charmer? but that Warrack?s version was ?an appealing but largely uninspired effort with little risk-taking?David Warrack is known for his ?light? musicals and many of the numbers here are fluffy and forgettable, albeit entertaining.?
In 1989, Neil Jordan directed We?re No Angels, written by David Mamet and very loosely based on Husson?s work. In this version, the escaped convicts?Robert DeNiro and Sean Penn?are mistaken for priests. The film was a major box office flop. The Washington Post reviewed the film, which ?has only the vaguest connection to the similarly titled 1955 film?[It] seems to wobble somewhere between star-frolic?an homage to frivolous Hollywood escapism?and something?well, worthy of having David Mamet?s name attached to it.? The Apollo movie guide lists it as ?one of the most disappointing movies of the 1980s.?
With such high-profile variants--from the humdrum Curtiz/Bogart film in 1955 to the Jordan/Mamet disaster in 1989?attached to the Husson original, it?s easy to see how Bella and Sam?s Broadway hit got lost along the way. Even the title of the play (My 3 Angels) is often misprinted with the title from the David Warrack musical (My Three Angels). Hopefully, TACT?s production can restore appreciation for the Spewacks? original acclaimed adaptation, which is perhaps the only version that captured the enchantment of Albert Husson?s award-winning comedy. |
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