Jeeves (musical)

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Jeeves (1975) a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn, based on the novels of P.G. Wodehouse. Opened April 22nd 1975 and closed on May 24th after 38 performances at Her Majesty's Theatre, London.

Andrew Lloyd Webber conceived the idea of turning Wodehouse's Jeeves stories into a musical. Originally, he was to work with his then-partner, Tim Rice, but Rice backed out of the project. Eventually Lloyd Webber teamed up with famed British playwright Alany Ayckbourn, and the two of them began work with the personal blessing of P.G. Wodehouse himself. Ayckbourn utilized characters and plot lines from several Jeeves and Wooster stories, and Lloyd Webber provided a strong period score. When the show opened in London, starring David Hemmings as Bertie Wooster and Michael Aldridge as Jeeves, it received mixed-to-poor reviews and closed after less than a month. Several critics noted that the authors failed to develop the title character; Jeeves did not even have a solo song. The original cast album was recorded and released, but it is extremely hard to find. Lloyd Webber, reportedly acting on the advice of Alan Jay Lerner, withdrew the recording in order to be able to reuse some of the musical material in subsequent shows. Some London theatre fans tell (likely apocryphal) stories of Andrew Lloyd Webber going around to the London record shops to buy up the remaining copies of the album. Two songs from the score managed to find a life after the original production: "Half A Moment" was later recorded by Lloyd Webber's second wife, Sarah Brightman on the album The Songs That Got Away. The melody of "Limericks" was reused in Song And Dance, first as the finale "When You Want To Fall In Love", and later as a new song in the first act - "Unexpected Song".

In 1996 Alan Ayckbourn decided to revisit the work, and eventually wrote an entirely new book that retained the Wodehouse characters, but jettisoned the author's plots in favor of an entirely original story. Lloyd Webber agreed to write new music, and the new show was retitled By Jeeves. It premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre-in-the-round in Scarborough (owned by Ayckbourn), and has been performed all over the world, with several cast recordings and a DVD released. Lord Lloyd-Webber reported considers this to be the definitive version of the show, and has refused to allow the original London cast recording to be rereleased on compact disc.

[edit] Musical numbers

1. "Overture"
2. "Code Of The Woosters"
3. "Limericks"
4. "Travel Hopefully"
5. "Female Of The Species"
6. "Today"
7. "When Love Arrives"
8. "Code Of The Woosters (reprise)"
9. "Toda "(reprise)"
10. "Entr'acte"
11. "Jeeves Is Past His Peak"
12. "Half A Moment"
13. "S.P.O.D.E."
14. "Eulalie"
15. "Summer Day"
16. "Banjo Boy"