Welcome to a new Musical Theatre Monday! This month, I’m concluding our trilogy on fun but seldom performed shows from the mid-to-late 1960s. We’re rounding things out with The Happy Time (1968), which was loosely based on a 1950 play of the same name about a small-town French-Canadian family in the 1920s. Producer David Merrick gathered a stellar group of talent — including John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote the score; the great Gower Champion, who directed; N. Richard Nash, who penned the book; and a cast that boasted George S. Irving, Michael Rupert, Charles Durning, David Wayne, Julie Gregg, and star Robert Goulet. All did excellent work. But the show was not a success — going down in history as the first Broadway production to lose over a million dollars. So, what happened?

Well, according to William Goldman, who discussed The Happy Time in his remarkable 1969 book The Season, the problems basically came down to competing visions. Most of the above, especially Kander and Ebb (coming off the landmark Cabaret), wanted a darker piece about a charming but fraudulent photographer who returns home to his small town and temporarily threatens his family’s peaceful status quo when he entices his young nephew with dreams of a glamorous life that he himself doesn’t actually enjoy, before once again departing — without either the nephew or the girl he loves — back to his empty, unhappy existence. Director Gower Champion imagined something brighter and glossier, using the photographer hook to create a visual concept (with literal photographs projected throughout the show) that was big and spectacular, a musical fit for a star like Robert Goulet and some of the bigger production numbers that Kander and Ebb had obligingly offered, such as the outstanding “A Certain Girl.”

This tension between the competing visions existed all through rehearsals but finally came to a head during the show’s extensive Los Angeles tryout run in late 1967, when Champion pushed through several major changes to both the score and the text — the biggest being that Goulet’s character would now merely be deceptive about his reason for coming to town, not a complete liar about his entire life. No, now he really does have a fancy, impressive career. And, yes, now the hero does end up with the traditional happy ending as well — getting the girl he loves and a family of his own. These moves — a dilution of dramatic intent — only weakened a production that was already pulling punches with its story and primary characterizations, while the rival tonalities prohibited any thematic cohesion. This was unfortunate because the score is, well, great. It’s not as cynical or pointed as most Kander and Ebb stuff — in fact, some have even compared it to Jerry Herman in spots! — but the tunes are catchy and the lyrics are smart. And the cast recording is sublime, with gem after gem after gem. The problem, according to most, is the book — or rather, the lack of synergy with the narrative ideas, the dialogue, and the music.

However, after reading the Broadway libretto (and listening to a live audio from late in the L.A. run, sampled above), I don’t think it’s as disjointed as I expected. Sure, there’s a sense of lightness and joviality and sometimes triviality that undercuts both the serious moments and the central character’s arc, but it’s all there. And while I’d say some changes were definitely bad — the happy romantic ending is goofy after having depicted the lovers as so incompatible — I don’t agree that the core issue, of Goulet’s character Jacques no longer lying about himself, is corrosive to the drama. Instead, it’s merely a shift. That is, if Jacques is as successful as he claims, and he’s not some Harold Hill huckster peddling fraudulent dreams to an unsuspecting nephew, he’s still someone who chose glitz and glamour over a simple life with wife and kids, meaning his decision to come back home — ostensibly to take pictures of the town that he can sell — is really about him seeking a taste of something that he doesn’t have for himself… and, at this point, probably never will. That’s also a full, complicated dramatic idea to which many audience members might relate. It’s just different from the intention. And to be fair, it’s not crystallized in the book either — or even the score — as well as it needs to be.

Fortunately, Kander and Ebb kept tinkering with the show — first for a 1980 Goodspeed production that was the basis for mountings at Niagara University, Musicals Tonight!, and the Signature Theatre. They added back in songs that were cut either during rehearsals or the Los Angeles tryout (and wrote a new 11 o’clocker for Jacques, to replace “Being Alive,” which was dropped out of town and now has a title too associated with a certain Sondheim musical to be a viable inclusion — hear the demo recording, above), and they also restored some of the story’s edge, particularly by increasing the conflict Jacques causes within his family. It’s still not perfect, but it’s better, and since the original text itself is not as bad as some have said, I think The Happy Time — especially the newer version — is ripe for revival. Also, Champion’s photographic gimmicks, if not overused, could be an interesting, specific, thematically appropriate design framework as well. It’s just about pushing forward the dramatic beats, and not letting anything inessential drown them out. Otherwise, this is a solid, overlooked post-Golden Age charmer.

So, for subscribers who comment below to alert me of their private, non-commercial interest, I’m happy to share the demo tracks, along with live audios of both the Original L.A. tryout and Musicals Tonight!’s 2007 production (of the revised version). From the latter, excerpted above — a song that never made it to Broadway, now restored: “In His Own Good Time.” And lastly, there are so many more fine songs worth sharing — “Tomorrow Morning,” “I Don’t Remember You,” “(Walking) Among My Yesterdays,” “The Life Of The Party,” “Seeing Things,” etc. — but I’ll leave you with “If You Leave Me Now,” which was written for The Happy Time and isn’t necessarily right for it dramatically; it’s just a terrific little pop song. Here’s Kate Smith — offering a bit of effortless Kander and Ebb at their prime.

Come back next month for another musical rarity, and stay tuned for more sitcom fun!