Raggedy Ann (musical)

Raggedy Ann
The Musical Adventure
Music	Joe Raposo
Lyrics	Joe Raposo
Book	William Gibson
Productions	1984 ESIPA 1985 ESIPA 1985 Moscow, Russia 1986 Kennedy Center 1986 Broadway

Raggedy Ann: The Musical Adventure (aka Rag Dolly) is a dark fantasy musical with a book by William Gibson and music and lyrics by Joe Raposo. It's based on the children's stories by Johnny Gruelle and is loosely related to the 1977 feature film Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, which included variations of a few songs. The story centers on Marcella, a dying young girl whose toys come to life and take her on a magical adventure to meet The Doll Doctor, in hopes that he can mend her broken heart. The show created a controversy in Albany,^[1] it was a renowned sensation in Moscow,^[2] a notorious flop on Broadway,^[3] and it went on to develop a cult following^[4] through bootleg recordings.

Ambitious young fans^[5] have recently been gathering rare production materials in a preservation effort to ensure an American revival.^[6]

Synopsis[]

The book didn't endure any drastic changes between its stagings at ESIPA, Moscow and Broadway, but songs were added, removed, and rearranged. Significant deviations are denoted below.

Act I[]

As the ensemble performs an introductory song ("Gingham and Yarn"), the backstory is presented with a montage of cut-outs. Mommy and Poppa dance at their wedding; Poppa holds the baby as Mommy runs away with the Rat in the Rolls Royce; Poppa swigs from a liquor bottle as Marcella sits alone in bed; three doctors hover over the girl. In the ESIPA version, the ensemble rolls the set onto the stage as the song is performed.

In Marcella's bedroom, the trio of doctors pokes and prods at her. In the original ESIPA staging, the song "Diagnosis" is situated here. Marcella cries out deliriously, claiming that her mother, bird, and dog all vanished through the closet door. The doctors give differing but equally dire warnings regarding the youngster's ailments, so Poppa gets annoyed and throws them out. Marcella hears Yellow Yum-Yum the canary (referred to as Tweety in the ESIPA production) singing from an empty birdcage, and it's revealed that Red Fang the puppy choked on the bird and they both died. Marcella remarks that Mommy ran away, and Poppa corrects her, stating that she was kidnapped by a Rat in a Rolls-Royce.

Lightening the mood, Poppa presents her with a doll that he created, which he names Raggedy Ann. Marcella declares that she has no heart, so Poppa pulls a candy heart from a box and stitches it onto the doll. He sings his daughter a lullaby, claiming that her toys spring to life when she's asleep ("Carry On"). After Marcella dozes off, Poppa pleads with God to let her live as he exits.

Marcella's bed whirls around, and out from the covers pops Raggedy Ann. The girl says she's dying, and suddenly the trio of doctors emerge from beneath the mattress to corroborate her story ("Diagnosis" (Broadway)). Raggedy Ann argues that they're wrong, and eventually the men vanish to report to a mysterious figure named General D. Raggedy Ann urges Marcella to get out of bed, revealing that this is a dream, so she can do anything she wants. The girl protests claiming she's too ill, so the rag dolly calls for help from her friends, Raggedy Andy, Baby, and Panda, who emerge from the toybox one by one ("The Light").

Andy is curious as to what's behind the closet door, so he opens it despite Marcella's pleas. With a crash of thunder and through a cloud of smoke, rat-faced General D. emerges along with his cronies, the sexy Bat and the roguish Wolf. He says that he's enlisting recruits for his Army of the Dead and thinks Raggedy Ann is the one he's looking for, but she argues that she's only "Make Believe" (Broadway). The General learns that Marcella is dying, so he declares that he'll be back to collect her at 6 a.m.

Suddenly, Marcella and the toys find themselves at the Miami shipyard, where old toys go to die. The doctors quarantine the Camel behind a chainlink fence ("Diagnosis (reprise)"), and the animal tells the toys that he's all alone and "Blue." (Broadway) Realizing that if Marcella dies, they'll all cease to exist, Raggedy Ann suggests that they should head to L.A. to visit The Doll Doctor, so they transform the bed into a boat and set sail ("Mexico" (ESIPA) / "Make Believe (reprise)" (Broadway)). In the ESIPA version, the camel with a wrinkle knees starts to sing his own sad song ("Blue" (ESIPA)) along with Ann. A fish with the voice of General D. bellows, and then a giant hand sporting a thumb ring appears and attempts to drag the boat down to Davy Jones' Locker, so the toys fashion a hot-air balloon from blankets, and the boat rises into the heavens ("Something in the Air" / "Delighted"). The original ESIPA version features a more vapid variation of the song and ensuing scene ("Quiet Night (Quintet)") which includes anthropomorphized versions of the clouds, sun, moon, and stars crooning along with Marcella and the dolls.

Raggedy Ann tells Marcella that wishes can come true in Cloudland, so the girl wishes to see Yellow Yum-Yum again, and suddenly the bird materializes with a heavenly chorus ("So Beautiful"). She wishes her father could see the bird, so Poppa bursts out of a cloud and tells her that he's watching. She wishes to see her mother again, so Mommy miraculously appears ("The Shooting Star"). The Rat tries to drag Mommy away, so Poppa punches him out, and Mommy agrees to remarry Poppa ("The Wedding"). Suddenly, the music stops and Mommy screams that Marcella is a rope around her neck as she runs away.

Marcella says that she's tired of pointless stories and walks off, which fills Raggedy Ann with self-doubt ("Rag Dolly"). The ESIPA version remains at a melancholic tone, but the Broadway version builds as Raggedy Ann tries to lift Marcella's spirits.

Soaring above the Mississippi River, Bat abruptly appears, punctures the hot-air balloon, and the boat plunges from the sky.

Act II[]

Bat sits atop the wreckage of the boat painting her toenails, and Wolf is pleased by the belief that there were no survivors - although everyone gradually emerges. They discover they've landed on a meatpacking plant in Omaha and have only four hours left to get to the Doll Doctor. As the toys study their map, Bat serenades them, claiming that they'll never make it to Los Angeles in time, ultimately seducing Raggedy Andy into handing over the map ("You'll Never Get Away" (ESIPA) / "You'll Love It" (Broadway)). In the ESIPA version, Marcella realizes that Bat and Wolf are actually her deceased pets, Tweety and Red Fang, but the animals deny it, and Panda declares that their memories were wiped when they were reincarnated.

Suddenly, a burst of smoke from the chimney, which is a diversion as General D. appears on the other side of the roof. After a few moments of taunting the toys and stroking his own ego, the General commands Marcella to look at his opal thumb ring. In the gem, she sees a bird's eye view of Omaha. A giant eyeball appears in the sky, declaring it sees all. Marcella asks if it can see the Doll Doctor, which the eyeball confirms. The General remarks that he himself is the Doll Doctor (as well as every other type of doctor), and states his intention to make Marcella his Queen. The toys briefly confer, lull the General to sleep with a song ("Would You Like a Little Music?"), and steal the ring. The melody fills the Camel with such spirit that he's able to soar on the wings of the song, so everyone hops on his back and they float away.

The General awakens and orders Bat to follow them, but she refuses, claiming that she's his bride, not Marcella. The General swoops in, seemingly for an embrace, but calls her a traitor, grasps her throat, and pushes her into the chimney, his hands emerging with a dead yellow canary. Wolf is saddened by her death as he leaves to find the dolls. In the ESIPA version, Wolf pauses in the forest to sing "He Comes Riding."

The toys find themselves separated in The Grisley Woods National Park, frantically searching for one another through a maze of trees littered with red-glowing-eyed skeletons ("Gone"). Lights rise on the characters as they emerge at different points in the forest until the scene settles on the Witch - who's not a stereotypical green-faced hag, but rather, a beautiful woman adorned in a shimmering flapper outfit with a large plume on her hat and a monkey fur collar on her coat. In the Broadway version, she plucks petals from a black rose, singing "Why Not?" In the ESIPA version, she is seated on a tree stump, distraught, pulling items from her handbag. She attempts to swig from a bottle, but there isn't a drop, so she hurls it to the ground, then sets an alarm clock aside, revealing a pink baby's shoe. She clutches it, caresses it lovingly against her face, and gently sets it beside her. She finds a handmirror and begins applying lipstick, but becomes saddened by the sight of her own face and despondently drops them.

She pulls a bundle of clothesline from her bag and wraps it around the highest tree limb she can reach. Raggedy Ann pops out of the forest, relieved to see signs of life, but the Witch tries to shoo her away while fumbling to fashion a noose. Gradually, other characters emerge from the woods as the Witch pleads with each of them to tie a running bowline knot in the rope. In the ESIPA version, Raggedy Andy succeeds and flops the noose over her neck, just as the Witch instructs. Raggedy Ann tells the Witch that it's a terrible idea to kill herself, and suddenly Baby Doll wanders through the trees. The toddler lays her head in the Witch's lap as the woman reflects on the life that she gave up ("What Did I Lose" / "Somewhere"). The Witch reveals that she had a daughter named Marcella, and comes to realize that the young lady standing before her is her child. They have a tearful reunion, which is interrupted by the arrival of Wolf. As Marcella and the dolls scatter, the Wolf is smitten by the Witch and pursues her.

The toys suddenly find themselves at The Doll Hospital, surrounded by rows of beds filled with inert figurines. In the Broadway version, a group of nurses bids them "Welcome," in the ESIPA version, the trio of doctors sing a brief reprise of "Diagnosis." When the toys are told that the Doll Doctor is dead, Panda suggests looking into the ring, where Raggedy Ann sees the head doc still alive and chained in the dungeon. Before they can react, General D. emerges from the cellar holding the dead wolf. Eluding to the fact that he ate the Witch, the General quips that the Wolf died of "indigestion" in the ESIPA version, and from "independent thinking" in the Broadway version. The General declares that this is his field hospital for the terminally wounded, and proceeds to croon "I Come Riding" (Broadway). He demands the ring back, so Raggedy Ann tells him to come and get it. He becomes curious about the heart on her chest, but upon touching it, he collapses in spastic convulsions, crying that he's been poisoned by love. Raggedy Ann tugs the yarn heartstrings from her chest, they tie up the General, swipe his keys, and head downstairs. He vows that he'll get loose.

In the dungeon, the Doll Doctor is shrowded in a surgical mask and gown, tended to by a nurse who remarks that he's been drinking himself to death. The toys remove his shackles and he examines Marcella, declaring the "chick" has a broken heart. Upon hearing her father's pet name, Marcella realizes the Doll Doctor is actually Poppa, who removes his mask and joyfully embraces her. Poppa says that a heart transplant is the only thing that can save her, but those haven't been invented yet, so he suggests a candy heart. Just as the General bursts in to collect Marcella, Raggedy Ann realizes that she has a candy heart, which she coerces the girl to eat ("The Light (reprise)") before sacrificing herself and leaving with the General.

Back in her bedroom, a now-healthy Marcella tells Poppa of her adventure, and he offers to sew a new heart on Raggedy Ann's chest.

The dolls and ensemble return for a closing reprise of "Gingham and Yarn."

Musical numbers[]

The original ESIPA production had a slightly different setlist which included the songs "Mexico" (Raggedy Ann & Andy), "Quiet Night (Quintet)" (Dolls, Clouds, Moon, Sun & Stars), and "You Never Get Away" (The Bat).

Casts[]

Background[]

Genesis[]

After finding success with their 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame production of The Littlest Angel, Broadway producers Richard Horner and Lester Osterman searched for another property that they could adapt into a live-action TV special. "Raggedy Ann came up in our conversation," Horner recalled, "and I said, 'Gee, that would be a great thing for what we have in mind.'"^[7] Horner acquired permission from Bobbs-Merrill Company, who owned the rights to the characters, and set to work developing the project, with Littlest Angel co-writer (and Osterman's daughter) Patricia Thackray penning the script. At a 1974 Friar's Club roast for Johnny Carson, Lester and Osterman found themselves seated at a table next to Emmy-winning Sesame Street composer Joe Raposo,^[7] who took a shine to their idea. "I was then presented with about two dozen books of Raggedy Ann and Andy," Raposo recalled.^[7] The composer studied the books and composed 25 songs for potential inclusion. Titled Rag Dolly: The Raggedy Ann Musical (a title eventually used for the Russian stage production), the show was slated to feature Goldie Hawn and Dick Van Dyke as the rag dolls.^[8] "Then as we got further and further into the project, we realized that it had wider possibilities for acceptance than just as a television special," Horner said. "So we thought we should do it as a movie for theaters."^[7] Raposo personally^[7] worked his magic to get ITT, then the parent corporation to the Bobbs-Merrill Company, to produce^[7] and animator Richard Williams to direct the film.^[9] The result was the 1977 animated feature Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure. " It was going to be the kids movie of the season," recalled Raposo. "It opened on Sunday... and on Wednesday a little movie called Star Wars that nobody thought would do anything opened and the rest is history."^[10]

Several years later, Raposo found himself joining the board of The Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts, (ESIPA) where producing director Patricia Snyder, who had caught the movie on television,^[11] urged him to adapt a stage musical for the character.^[10] Raposo reteamed with Patricia Thackray for a play titled Rag Dolly^[12] in 1981, which was directed by Raposo's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown collaborator, Patricia Birch,^[13] and followed the dolls as they ran away from home to join the circus.^[14] Raposo concluded, "It simply didn't work."^[10] The same year, Thackray dropped the music and reworked the film's script as a different play, titled Raggedy Ann & Andy, which remains available to license for regional/school productions in the US and Canada.^[15] Another early version was performed from December 10-20, 1983. This version, titled Raggedy Ann and Andy, was written by Tim Mason and directed by Bill Gile.

Development[]

Soon after the show closed on Broadway, playwright William Gibson (of The Miracle Worker fame) composed an undated, unpublished journal simply titled Raggedy Ann,^[16] which is known to exist in two drafts - the longest totaling 39 pages - both of which abruptly conclude The story is one-sided, meandering^[17] (two pages are irrelevant), and incomplete, but It's the only detailed account of the early production that's come to light. In it, Gibson revealed himself to be an outsider^[18][19] among dispirate collaborators^[20] who were so intimidated by his stature^[21] that they were unable to provide challenging constructive criticism of his work, which he confessed "was a pity."^[22][23]

According to this memoir, Gibson was Snyder's first choice for the book, so she pursued him for several years with the persistence of "a tank."^[24][25] She retained the stage rights to the character after the closure of the Raposo/Thackray play - provided that she got the production back on its feet by December 1984 - so she talked Gibson into giving his opinion on the script and music, which largely unimpressed him. In passing, she told the fabled story of Johnny Gruelle creating the Raggedy Ann character to entertain his sickly daughter, Marcella, who died at the age of 14. He recalled, "I stared at Snyder and said, Wow. That's a potent item, didn't it occur to anyone that's where a book begins?'" Continuing, he exclaimed, "I was hooked; death is a subject that always brings me to life as a writer."^[16] Gibson began sketching the plot that evening and had his first phone call with Raposo, he met with Snyder and director Pat Birch the next day, knocked out an 11-page short story, and composed the first draft over three weeks in August 1984.^[16]

Although they remained outwardly amicable toward one another,^[26] there was an internal rift between the playwright and composer^[27][28] practically from the start. Raposo was set to receive two royalty payments that totaled double Gibson's salary, so Gibson demanded a $10,000 advance.^[29] The two had scheduled a meeting to discuss the book, but after receiving the finished pages, Raposo attempted to back out of it.^[30] The meeting ultimately occurred, but after hearing why the script and music didn't compliment one another, Gibson was surprised when Raposo informed him that the Bobbs-Merrill Company had script approval.^[31] In turn, Raposo was surprised when the company approved it, so he refused to take Gibson's calls^[32][33] and attempted to have him ousted from the project.^[34][35] When that proved unsuccessful, Raposo finally relented, with nary a word of the coup attempt ever spoken directly to Gibson.^[36][26] It was only at this point when Gibson learned that Raggedy Ann had been Raposo's pet project for a decade, and he began to have empathy for the composer.^[37] Unfortunately, this occurred too late to halt production or seal the rift between them, so the show limped ahead.

Gibson tweaked the script endlessly to accommodate song-and-dance numbers, but his story structure and huge swaths of the dialogue remained unchanged throughout the various iterations.^[38][22] He had salvaged eight of the songs from Raposo's previous collaboration with Thackray, but Birch and Raposo ultimately decided to scrap four of them^[39] ("Movin' Along," "The Worst Little Carnival on Earth," "I'm No Girl's Toy," "Where Do I Go Now?").^[40] Most that survived ("Gingham and Yarn," "The Light," "Rag Dolly," "Blue") demanded lyrical substitutions,^[41] plus many new compositions were required. Raposo was overloaded with other projects,^[42] he wasn't on the same page with the writer and director concerning the lyrical tone,^[43] he was consistently late with new material,^[44] and his heart wasn't in it.^[45] However, despite whatever reservations he may have had, the show's eventual transfers to Moscow, Washington D.C., and Broadway were a direct result of Raposo's efforts.^[46]

Production history[]

ESIPA productions[]

Casting was held in a rehearsal studio at The Egg in Albany, New York over three days in October 1984.^[47][48] Landing the title role was Ivy Austin, who had pre-established ties with both Birch and Raposo. Portraying pigtailed "hot nerd" Francine,^[49] she was a featured member of the ensemble in Grease 2, which Birch directed and choreographed,^[50] and her father was Danny Epstein,^[51] a longtime collaborator of Raposo's,^[52] which afforded her the opportunity to perform on several Sesame Street albums prior to this production.^[53][54] The part of the Camel went to Joel Aroeste, who was a teacher at ESIPA,^[2] Carolyn Marble (Baby Doll), Tom Pletto (Wolf), Jeanne Vigliante (Panda) were members of the ESIPA company, while Tricia Brooks (Marcella) was a local Albany resident.^[55][56]

Gibson invited two friends to audition. An actress gave an impressive reading but was quickly dismissed because she wasn't a singer, which miffed the writer.^[57] The other friend was Shakespearian actor Paul Haggard,^[58] a self-described failure^[59] whom Gibson had gone out of his way to help out on numerous occasions.^[16] Reading for General D., Haggard was far too good to ignore despite his lack of musical credentials.^[60] At this point, his character was not intended to sing,^[61] but Birch sent him to Raposo for security, and after an hour-long session, the composer concluded that he could carry a tune, so he booked the part.^[62]

Rehearsal began at the end of October^[48] and spanned five weeks.^[63] Birch had a reputation for being good with performers^[64][65] and wanted to focus on her cast, so she excluded Gibson from participating on the first day of rehearsals,^[66] but was reprimanded by Snyder,^[67] who demanded he be present. From Gibson's account, she was receptive to some of his ideas,^[68] and he was initially very impressed by her manner of directing,^[69] but gradually began to feel that her staging was "overstuffed."^[70] Gibson had conceived a show for 14 actors, with 9 sets consisting of fabric scenery that could easily be switched,^[71] but expensed swelled when Birch brought in a chorus of 9 "ragettes" who doubled as stagehands, affording them the opportunity to utilize more elaborate sets which were often seamlessly rolled in and out by the ensemble during musical sequences.^[72][73]

Birch strived for a pleasant creative environment^[65] and was most at home doing choreography, which was not strictly confined to dances;^[74][75][76] she wanted to display the characters' emotions and intentions through movements.^[77] With musical supervisor and longtime collaborator Louis St. Louis at the primary piano - accompanied by a second pianist to enhance the sound^[78] - Birch guided the cast, creating routines on the spot at rehearsals,^[79] which she would keep track of in her head.^[80] Unfortunately, she was prone to making regular changes to the musical arrangement to accompany the ever-changing action, which ballooned the production costs.^[81]

Paul Haggard in the original General D. "rat" makeup alongside Tom Pleto as Wolf.

Gibson had conceived General D. as a human incarnation of a rat, but he was never happy with the visual depiction^[82] (it eroded further in successive stagings, where the facial appliances were dropped altogether),^[83][84] and his collaborators were concerned that the character was too much, so they urged him to tone it down - which he did not.^[85] Meanwhile, Birch and Raposo were finding Haggard to be an aggravation. Gibson alleged that Birch gave him conflicting directions and became upset when he couldn't get it right.^[86] Raposo finally composed a song for Haggard's character, "She Comes Riding,"^[87] which began a strenuous debate over pronouns and meaning before it was ultimately changed to "He."^[88] Haggard worked on the number for a week, with Raposo becoming increasingly hostile^[89] because he couldn't nail it,^[90] which served to further escalate tensions with Birch.^[91] Eventually, the song was given to the Wolf character,^[92] and Gibson complained that the whole debacle had ruined Haggard's performance.^[93]

The rest of the production team consisted of set designers Gerry Hariton and Vicki Baral, costume designer Carrie Robbins, lighting designer Richard Nelson, and musical director Ross Allen.

The play opened at ESIPA on December 7, 1984^[94] under the title Raggedy Ann. The show played a week of previews and a week of performances,^[95] with many occurring in the morning with audiences composed entirely of busloads of New York area schoolchildren.^[96]

Almost immediately controversy ensued when Ellen Allen, a mother from Albany, New York, took her children to see the show. Horrified by the dark subject matter, Allen first complained to producing director Snyder, and then she took her complaints to the local news.^[97] Following the broadcast, the Albany public school district abruptly canceled their reservations for the show,^[98] cutting their audience by a third.^[99] Gibson thought the entire controversy was absurd,^[100][101] but Snyder panicked, fearing censorship,^[102] and asked Gibson to go on the news to refute the controversy.^[103] Gibson obliged but didn't mince words, telling a reporter that it was a waste of airtime and that the parents making the claims were a danger to their own children.^[104] In a later interview, he remarked of the show, "The style is for children, the content is for me."^[10] Parents sought out Gibson at the performances to provide reassurance of his work,^[105] and several months later, when Snyder brought in famed child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim for a lecture,^[106] he directly addressed the blowup, supporting Gibson's comments by remarking that "parents who tried to shield their children from such experiences were not helping them develop."^[107]

A pro-shot video of the December 15 performance^[108][109] was discovered at the NYS Archives, although the recording was accidentally stopped at the end of "Carry On," so Raggedy Ann's initial moments of life were missed. The only notable difference between this performance and the script from an early preview is the omission of a brief moment in which the Witch was comically choked by a noose as Raggedy Ann and friends attempted to hoist her up to see beyond the forest.^[110]

Despite the negative publicity, the reviews were decent,^[111][112] and the audiences were wildly enthusiastic.^[113] On the final known page of Gibson's journal, he remarked that Raposo had set his sights on Broadway^[114] and invited a group of CBS executives to see the show, but they silently came and went.^[46] The production details become murkier at this point, but CBS was indeed interested in the project and ultimately financed the transfers out of Albany.

The show re-opened at ESIPA on October 25, 1985, under the title Rag Dolly,^[94] and played through November 1 as a dress rehearsal for the Russian production.^[115] Paul Haggard was terminally ill with cancer^[116] and died early the next year,^[117][118] although this likely had little to do with the decision to recast his part. David Schramm replaced Haggard as General D., Gibby Brand took over the role of Poppa,^[115] and two of the doctors were switched, but the rest of the principal cast was unchanged. Additionally, Nelson was replaced as lighting designer by Marc B. Weiss.

The Act I finale, "Something in the Air," began to resemble the successive Broadway version, General D. finally got to sing his song, and the nurses appeared with the new number "Welcome to L.A."^[119] Presumably, while the cast was in rehearsal, they recorded an album of demos^[120] which leaked and went on to circulate endlessly. The specific details of this recording remain unknown, but it's commonly been incorrectly attributed to the Broadway cast. Several of these songs had been altered and replaced by the time the show reached New York.

Moscow production[]

In 1972, Pat Snyder met and befriended Natalya Sats, legendary director of The Moscow Children's Theatre^[84] (later renamed in Sats' honor), through work with the International Children's Theatre Association.^[121][122] As part of a cultural exchange agreement, Snyder staged a production of The Wizard of Oz in Moscow in 1974 (featuring Joel Aroeste as the Cowardly Lion),^[123] and she helped bring two of Sats' productions to the United States in 1977 and 1978.^[124] The New Cold War prompted U.S. President Jimmy Carter to abruptly halt the cultural exchange in 1979,^[125] but this didn't diminish Snyder's and Sats' friendship. Hoping to help thaw the icy Soviet relations, Sats journeyed to the US in September 1984 with a proposal for a new cultural exchange. A ban had been imposed on Russian flights,^[126] so Sats flew to Montreal, took a train to New York, and popped into Snyder's office for a visit.^[127] She arrived just in time to see preliminary work on Raggedy Ann^[128] and she made a return trip in December to catch a full performance.^[129][130] By March 1985, tentative plans were made to bring the show to Moscow,^[131][132] but this was not ensured until November, when U.S. and Soviet leaders signed a new cultural agreement at the Geneva Summit.^[133] At 5 a.m. on the morning of December 3rd, Snyder received a formal invitation via telephone,^[134] the deal was finalized six days later,^[135] and the cast began rehearsals in Moscow on January 2, 1986.^[136]

The trip for the 75 American cast and crew members was funded by CBS, with the Soviet government footing the bill for their stay.^{[137][138][139]} Among them was State University of New York alum Tom Gliserman,^[140] who wrote, directed, shot and edited a 30-minute documentary titled Rag Dolly in the USSR,^[141] which features cast and crew interviews as well as behind-the-scenes footage and performance excerpts. Decades later as the show's popularity swelled, Ivy Austin generously shared this chronicle on YouTube,^[2] providing fans with seldom-seen visuals and little-known information to accompany the rampantly bootlegged audio.

Production moved at a breakneck pace, with all of the performers from the second ESIPA staging reprising their roles,^[142] and a crew consisting of a mixture of persons from both countries.^[133] In preparation, Ivy Austin endured a few weeks of Russian lessons,^[143] and learned to sing "Rag Dolly" in the Muscovites' native tongue.^[144] Soon after arriving, Raposo panicked, realizing that the Russians couldn't provide some unusual instruments that he needed, so his wife had them expressed from New York.^[145] Only six of the twenty musicians were American,^[146] which required an interpreter to convey Raposo's intentions. The language barrier occasionally led to difficulties - most notably, when the composer wanted to evoke the sound of a Mariachi band^[147] - but musical director St. Louis was thoroughly awed by the orchestra's intensity.^[148]

The show was not widely advertised in Moscow,^[149] but word of mouth quickly spread,^[150] the performances sold out,^[151] and tickets were scalped for ten times their original cost.^[152] It opened under the title Rag Dolly: The Raggedy Ann Musical on January 6 and ran for two previews and eight performances.^[153][154] The play was largely performed in English, but each act opened with Russian narration and cast members learned key phrases, occasionally breaking the fourth wall with little Russian asides that resulted in thunderous applause.^[155][156] Ivy Austin also received a three-minute standing ovation after she crooned the title song in Russian during the first preview,^[157][133] and all these pauses helped to bloat the running time to nearly three hours.^[158] Only a small percentage of the audience indicated a knowledge of English,^[159] and they sometimes laughed and clapped unexpectedly,^[160] but they were receptive to words like Rolls-Royce, Buick and granny knot.^[161] The Russians provided zero criticism of the dark themes, but controversy would resume when the show returned to the USA.^[162]

The production became an outright spectacle. The cast were mobbed as they signed autographs and passed out letters from American kids who were seeking pen pals,^[163][2] the Moscow children performed rousing English folk songs during intermission,^[164] Raposo put on a concert of songs from Sesame Street,^[165] and prominent Russian figures like first lady Raisa Gorbacheva^[166] and minister of culture Pyotr Demichev attended performances.^[2] Russian audiences were generally very reserved, so their outpouring of emotion was highly unusual.^[167]

News traveled slowly prior to internet connectivity,^[168] so the crew returned home to find Ivy Austin's Raggedy Ann visage splashed across the front pages of The Daily News and The Economist, and their trip the subject of mass media coverage.^[169] Tensions had been high between the two countries for decades, with Hollywood fervently perpetuating the American perception that Russians were secretive villains^{[170][171][172]} and Russian propaganda depicting Americans to be General D.-like military extremists,^[173] so the media seized upon the heartwarming story of the company's goodwill trip to entertain the children of Moscow. Unfortunately, the English-language journalists largely neglected to remark on the play itself, and the state-controlled Russian press only lavished them with praises,^[174] which set the show up to be a punchline for countless mean-spirited jokes later in the year.^{[175][176][177]} The overwhelming experience^{[178][179][180]} led the company to believe that they'd be welcomed with a similarly warm reception in The Big Apple,^[181] rather than the red-hot roasting that they conclusively received.

The show went on to be translated into Russian^[182][183] and licensed for a variety of regional and amateur performances.^{[184][185][186][187]} Raposo's songs were cut from the version that's available for licensing (although they've been sneaked in on occasion),^[188] leaving the Russians to find their own songs to accompany the play - which wildly vary.

Kennedy Center/Broadway production[]

Plans had already been sketched to move the show to Broadway, but the worldwide media blitzkrieg surrounding the trip to Moscow solidified it,^[181] and gossip columnist Liz Smith even remarked that they would transfer to Los Angeles after the run in Manhattan.^[189] Birch admitted a tendency to leap before she looked;^[190] Gibson hadn't had a Broadway hit in decades and was eager to show up naysayers;^[191] and he claimed that Raposo was jealous of Stephen Sondheim, and aspired to top his success.^[192] Others associated with the production have remarked that many poor decisions were made.^[193][194]

Roger L. Stevens, founding chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts had seen one of the ESIPA stagings and agreed to produce the show, but urged the creators to bring back the original title,^[195] which had built-in brand awareness. The production, now titled Raggedy Ann: The Musical Adventure, had a month-long tryout at the Kennedy Center from August 23 to September 21, 1986. Some critics questioned why the Kennedy Center was producing it,^[196] and were told that it was because "it took Moscow by storm!"^[197] However well-intentioned, this remark wasn't a glowing endorsement during the Reagan era.

Eight of the principal actors were replaced, and an expanded budget allowed them to add a flying sequence, pyrotechnics, and more elaborate set dressings for the ensemble to cart around.^[198] The flash and razzle-dazzle did little to mask the flaws in Gibson's book, which remained largely unchanged and a bone of contention, even in the good reviews.^[199] But there were many positive notices, so it moved onto Broadway a month later. Although Birch was a veteran choreographer, she had never directed a Broadway show, and Gibson noted that she remarked to Snyder, "If I screw this one up, I'm all through in New York."^[200] As the pressures mounted, Birch stopped listening to Gibson altogether^[201] as she found herself contending with an assortment of people vying for her attention,^[202][203] many also trying to provide creative input.^[204]

The show went into previews on October 3, and officially opened on October 16, 1986, at the Nederlander Theatre,^[205][206] running for 15 previews and 5 performances before abruptly closing on October 19.^[207] An audio recording of one of these shows^[208] has been circulating among musical theater collectors for decades, although the precise date is unknown. The new poster art featured a blatant emulation of the logo from the popular Indiana Jones film franchise (though they reverted to the original poster image of the winking rag doll partway into the run),^[209] and the only known TV marketing focused on audience critiques rather than providing any glimpse of the show.^[210]

The press remained silent until the official opening. Austin recalled, "I cannot remember an audience that I felt rejected the show. The reviews on opening night were shocking to us all."^[211] Snyder elaborated, “It was just one bad review after another."^[212] Beneath a headline declaring the show was a "child's garden of bad dreams," The North Jersey Record's Robert Feldberg snidely quipped that Gibson "makes Macbeth look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm."^[213] The Headline from the New York Post's Howard Kissel was "Throw It Back Into the Rag Bag,"^[214] and he summarized by stating, "Any little girl who prizes her own Raggedy Ann doll can probably tell better stories about it than this disjointed and distasteful musical." They weren't even safe from scorn from the New Jersey Pennysaver, which complained that it boasted "an uncurable case of the cutes coupled with an unnerving rush of boredom."^[215]

Austin remarked that the show's future hinged on the New York Times review,^[216] which was assigned to Frank Rich, who's disparagingly known as "The Butcher of Broadway."^[217] He declared that the play "is loaded with psychoanalytic subtext - sex, death, and even a holocaustal mass grave are always peeking through Marcella's nightmares - but the author apparently considers it beneath him to wrap his highfalutin message in a coherent, let alone exciting, story."^[218] Rich went on to attack the "faceless pop songs" that made up Raposo's score, as well as Birch's direction and choreography, remarking that the Act I finale was "what Busby Berkeley might have done if he had only a half-dozen dancers and several celestial Hula-Hoops^[219] at his disposal."

The Philadelphia Daily News critic, Nels Nelson, fired back squarely at Rich^[220] and denounced other reviewers for their unfair and hostile vilification, praising the show for having an "intellectual equilibrium" and providing "more than a mere suggestion of the seamy underside of the universe." Nelson proclaimed it "bright, tuneful, funny and such wonderful nonsense that I would have happily sat through it again." He would never get that opportunity because the final performance occurred one day before his review was published. The show's closure only garnered a two-line blurb in The New York Times.^[221]

Birch summarized the production in an interview published a few days earlier:

"This is an unusual, even bizarre, piece for the Broadway theater, but it has been done by three people who really care - myself, Bill Gibson and Joe Raposo - and a score of actors, a lot of whom are overqualified for what we've asked them to do. Those actors believe in this piece, and that's gratifying."[222] -Patricia Birch

Reception[]

From Albany^[112] to Moscow^[223] to the Kennedy Center^[224] to Broadway,^[225] there was one common criticism: The story was difficult to follow. In the US, the play was also plagued by complaints/warnings concerning the dark themes. Reviews were mixed to positive until they opened on Broadway. Suddenly, the critics' assessments became so vitriolic^[226] that they served to close the show^[227] and generate continued interest decades later.^[228] However, there were defenders until the bitter end, and Raposo and titular star Ivy Austin were routinely singled out for praise.

Ken Mandelbaum described it as "one of the most bizarre musicals to ever reach Broadway" in his book, Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops. Touching on commonality in the reviews, he pointed out similarities to The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan, remarking that "it was difficult to follow and never managed, as those musicals did, to come up with a coherent plot." He concluded that it was "too grim and humorless for children and offered too little to entertain adults."^[229]

Of the Kennedy Center performance, The Washington Post's David Richards extolled, "For all the echoes of past shows, Raggedy Ann is potentially an original." He praised Raposo's score, calling Rag Dolly "as infectious as mumps." Richards' only major complaint was the Marcella character, whom he described as "peevish, whiny and ungrateful," although he was mindful not to fault actress Lisa Rieffel. He determined, "It has some puddles of confusion and one glaring error at its center. But assuming its creators can iron things out, they've got a rarity on their hands -- a musical that wants to talk to the child in the adult, just as it courts the adult in the child."^[230]

The Evening Sun's Lou Cedrone also remarked on the young audience's reaction, concluding, "Today's children, having listened to all those records and having seen all those horror movies, accept dark far more easily than adults."^[231] Cedrone also provided a bit of insight into the standards of the 1980s. One of Gibson's characters is a Panda (that briefly appeared as a monkey in the earliest known draft) who spouts off Confucius-like wisdom. Much has been made of this racist depiction in the 21st century, but the character never received more than a passing mention in the original press. The wise Asian who spoke fragmented English was a common storytelling trope,^[232] and with the play coinciding with an explosion of Asian characters in blockbuster movies such as Sixteen Candles, Gremlins, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and The Karate Kid, the stereotypical portrayal was not perceived as overtly offensive by audiences of the era. Cedrone commented on an Asian family seated behind him that was charmed, and quoted the father as saying it was "the best thing he had seen in many years."^[233]

Howard Kissel of the New York Daily News was very critical of the show, but he lavished the cast with praises, remarking that "Lisa Rieffel is especially appealing as the little girl, and Elizabeth Austin makes the most of her trampy mother. Leo Burmester, Gail Benedict, and Gordon Weiss are surprisingly winning as the villains."^[234] Jeffrey Lyons, an admitted classmate and friend of Raposo's, gave a glowing review. He raved about Ivy Austin, saying that she can "charm the rags off audiences, young and old," and Raposo's songs, which he called "some of the most endearing and inventive on Broadway in a long, long time."^[235]

References[]