It’s A Bird…It’s A Plane…It’s Superman
OPENING: March 29, 1966
CLOSING: July 16, 1966
Seen: May 1966
LOCATION: Alvin
Happy Holidays, Theatre Kids! I hope you and your loved ones are happy and healthy, whatever you may be celebrating this year.
My gift to you is the 1966 flop It’s A Bird…It’s A Plane…It’s Superman.
I wish I were making this up. If this flop happened in 1966, shouldn’t a certain superhero musical in 2011 have heeded its cautionary tale? Apparently not. I have always said that history classes should be mandatory for everyone because as Winston Churchill put it, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
The Superman musical came about when Robert Benton and David Newman – later of Bonnie and Clyde fame - teamed up with Charles Strouse and Lee Adams. Benton and Newman were getting their feet wet in BroadwayLand while Strouse and Adams had not had a hit since Bye Bye Birdie. After an initial conversation, the four men realized that they all loved comics and thus the idea to bring the man of steel to Broadway was born.
The question then became how to adapt a beloved comic strip into a Broadway musical. In the end, they decided to create a new storyline with several new characters including several new villains and a new love interest. But what about Lois Lane, you might ask? Never fear Theater Kids, Benton and Newman didn’t cut her. They made her the third corner of a love triangle instead.
Overall, while Superman brought in an initial draw of fellow adult comic fans, the mojo just wasn’t there and Superman ended up closing after only three and a half months on Broadway. Some theorized that a particularly hot summer discouraged New Yorkers from leaving their homes; others surmised that it was the hugely expensive ticket price of twelve dollars. That is not a typo. A part of my inner groupie is both laughing and dying of the ridiculousness of that statement in today’s economy.
However, the theory I’ve seen that makes the most sense to me was that of writer Martin Strouse. He conjectured that because Batman aired on television screens mere months before Superman flew into the Alvin Theater, audiences were content to stay at home and watch Batman from the comfort of their living rooms and passed on Superman. This was long before superheroes were the pop icons that they are today. As far as audiences were concerned, why should they leave the house and pay twelve bucks to see Superman when you could just turn on the TV and see Batman?
But whatever the reason audiences didn’t flock to the theater, the fact of the matter is that the show was a mess. According to my research, the plot was a disaster and had racist elements. At the time, the racism was accepted, but from a 2022 standpoint, it is completely unacceptable. Audiences were confused by the love triangle aspect of the story – who was this Sydney Carlton person and why was Lois thrown to the side?
Interestingly (or strangely), none of this seemed to be addressed when Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark was produced in 2011. I remember when it was announced there was a lot of chatter and confusion regarding how they were going to pull this off. Unfortunately during both Superman and Spiderman, the harnesses of our heroes malfunctioned. In the case of Superman, it wasn’t a catastrophe. Bob Holliday fell six feet and was able to pull it off as a stunt. Spiderman wasn’t so lucky. Christopher Tierney’s stunt choreography had him leaping from a platform and landing in the orchestra pit. His harness was improperly secured and he fell, unattached, thirty feet and sustained serious injuries (Youtube videos of the incident are available. I have chosen not to watch them). If anyone from Spiderman had bothered to do any kind of research into Superman, would this tragedy have been avoided? Maybe not in this case, but I can’t help thinking that the past can leave valuable clues.
Future repercussions aside, Superman did leave a mark for comic book lovers. Eleven years later, Charles Strouse did successfully turn a comic strip into a musical. In April 1977, Annie opened at the same theater that Superman briefly inhabited. Superman had a short run at Goodspeed in 1992 and in 2010 at Dallas Theater Center where they attempted to revise it before DC Comics played a slick legal game and shut it down. (DC was trying to match Marvel’s popularity by launching their own modern Superman franchise).
Maybe someday with new and improved technology another reincarnation of Superman will resurface successfully. And maybe, just maybe, it will be the superhero musical that becomes the hero.
CAST: REPLACEMENT
SUPERMAN/CLARK KENT: Bob Holiday
MAX MENCKEN: Jack Cassidy
LOIS LANE: Patricia Marand
PERRY WHITE: Eric Mason
SYDNEY: Linda Lavin
DR ABNER SEDGWICK: Michael O’Sullivan
JIM MORGAN: Don Chastain
FATHER LING: Jerry Fujikawa
DONG LING: Bill Starr
TAI LING: Murphy James
FAN PO LING: Juleste Salve
JOE LING: Joseph Gentry
THE SUSPECTS:
1. Les Freed
2. Dick Miller
3. Dal Richards
4. John Grigas
5. John Smolko
BYRON, THE BANK GUARD: Eugene Edwards
HARVEY, THE TOUR GUIDE: Bob Scherkenbach
BONNIE, THE MOLL: April Nevins
SUE-ELLEN, THE TEENAGER: Tina Faye
MARNIE, THE MODEL: Judy Newman
GORDON, THE STUDENT: Bick Goss
ANNETTE, THE SECRETARY: Michelle Barry
WANDA, THE WAITRESS: Barbara Christopher
ROSALIE, THE HIGH SCHOOL GIRL: Marilyne Mason
LESLIE, THE SHOPPER: Jayme Mylroie
CATHY, THE CHILD: Lori Browne
BARBIE, THE RECEPTIONIST: Mara Landi
AL, THE BANK ROBBER: George Bunt
MILTON, THE HOOD: Dallas Edmunds
KEVIN, THE COLLEGE BOY: Roy Smith
WILLIAM, THE EXCHANGE STUDENT: Haruki Fujimoto
STANDBY FOR BOB HOLIDAY: John Smolko
STANDBY FOR JACK CASSIDY: MACE BARRETT
STANDBY FOR MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN: Anthony Holland,
UNDERSTUDIES: Dick Miller (Max Mencken); Dal Richards (Dr. Abner Sedgwick); Marilyne Mason (Lois Lane); Don Chastain (Jim Morgan); Jayme Mylroie (Sydney Carlton); Haruki Fujimoto, Jerry Fujikawa (The Flying Lings); and Diane McAfee (Swing Girl).
Bordman, Gerald. “American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle.” New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1978.
Holden, Stephen. “Review/Theater; Superman as Dimwit in 1966 Parable.” New York Times, June 20, 1992. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/20/theater/review-theater-superman-as-dimwit-in-1966-parable.html?searchResultPosition=1
New York Times. “Tomorrow May See The End of ‘Superman’”. July 16, 1966. https://www.nytimes.com/1966/07/16/archives/tomorrow-may-see-end-of-superman.html?searchResultPosition=1
Riesman, Abraham Josephine. “When Superman Flew Briefly on Broadway.” Vulture, August 10, 2010. https://www.vulture.com/article/superman-broadway-musical-its-a-bird-flop.html
Stang, Joanne. “He Flies Higher Than Superman.” New York Times, May 15, 1966. https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/15/archives/he-flies-higher-than-superman.html?searchResultPosition=1
Tony Awards. www.tonyawards.com. Accessed October 2022.
