Sir Edmund Kean is a swaggering eighteenth century actor, famous and infamous in equal parts for both his prowess with Shakespeare and his chaotic love life. Although he would appear to be a self-reliant man, his dalliances with two different women conspire to bring about his downfall...

Kean is loosely based on the famous Shakespearian actor Edmund Kean (17 March 1789 - 15 May 1833) and ran for an oddly short ninety-two performances, between Nov 1961 and Jan 1962. The musical was written as a vehicle for Alfred Drake (Oklahoma!, Kiss Me, Kate, Kismet) who was nominated for a Tony award as was the musical direction and conducting.

To say that Kean (1961) had an excellent literary pedigree might be a bit of an understatement as the Libretto was based on a comedy by that illustrious existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, which was itself based on a play by Alexandre Dumas. Kean followed their phenomenal success with Kismet (1953), possibly George Forrest and Robert Wright’s most famous piece which they adapted for the screen. Although the music, for Kismet, was borrowed from Borodin, the current soaring score with its melodic faux opera style was very much in tune with their work.

Whilst Kean cannot boast such a sublime piece as ‘Stranger in Paradise’ most of the tracks show the same musical sensibility. ‘Elena’ is a lilting love song which works well as an isolated musical number. Many musical songs only make sense within the context of the show and at worst function as an extension of speech, There are numbers, both within the body of this work and their work in general which transcend the limitations of their original show to become fully fledged songs. This is not just true of Forrest and Wright, others like West Side Story, The Sound of Music or more modernly "I Know Him So Well", from Chess have all shown that they can produce songs which will appeal to a wider audience.

Other strong songs from the show are ‘Willow, Willow, Willow’ another signature Forrest and Wright love song, full of sweeping strings building to a powerful climatic finish. Now, if you think it’s all love songs and massive emotions the comic songs ‘Let’s Improvise’ and the ever so jolly, ‘Chime in’ provides a toe tapper, proving that both musically and lyrically the show was able to effortlessly straddle a number of emotions.

The original cast recording consists of thirteen tracks from the show:-

'Penny Plain / Twopence Colored', 'Man and Shadow', 'Sweet Danger', 'Queue at Drury Lane', 'Let's Improvise', 'Elena', 'The Fog and the Grog', 'Civilized People', 'Service for Service', 'Willow, Willow, Willow', 'Chime In', 'Swept Away' and 'Apology'

Drake was more than ably supported by Lee Venora (Ann Danby), Oliver Gray (Prince of Wales) and Joan Weldon. It’s another classic show full of alto, baritone and souring soprano. So what’s not to like from these two giants of musical theatre?

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Charles Packer