Lolita, My Love (1971 Boston Tryout)
Full soundboard recording of Lolita, My Love during a 1971 Boston tryout performance.
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner (Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, Camelot, etc), music by John Barry (most known for Goldfinger and other Bond films).
The cast featured John Neville (later seen as the lead in Gilliam's Baron Munchausen) as Humbert Humbert, Dorothy Loudon (most known for originating Miss Hannigan in Annie) as Charlotte Haze, Leonard Frey (musical fans might recognize him from the film of Fiddler on the Roof, where he played Motel) as Clare Quilty, and, of course, the terrifyingly young Denise Nickerson, who had only the year before been in Germany filming her role as Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which would be released a couple months after this recording.
One other production note - the sets were by Ming Cho Lee, a wonderful but now slightly overlooked theatrical designer. I've only been able to find one element of the set, which is a sketch by him of the opening scene:
https://collection.mcnayart.org/objec...
If anyone happens to have access to more images of the set, perhaps from the book "Ming Cho Lee: A Life In Design", I would love to see them!
After the show flopped, Lerner continued to labor on it, writing new lyrics and even keeping the sets in storage, hoping to produce a more audience-tolerable version, but it never came to be. In Spring of 2019, Musicals in Mufti staged a version that utilized various elements of the assorted scripts and songs, producing a version that ran three hours and incorporated several cut numbers and characters, including a psychiatrist that Humbert narrates to.
Something to note is that it seems Lerner took inspiration primarily from Kubrick's film adaptation, rather than the book, considering the number of gags that are straight from it, along with John Neville's imitation of James Mason, though neither Lerner nor Kubrick, were able to solve the structural issue of killing off the most entertaining character halfway through.
Also, I think it's really interesting how Lerner utilizes the musical format. The book's conceit is that the reader is constantly having to look through Humbert's wit and charm to see the horror story that's lying underneath. In the musical, Humbert similarly plays emcee, controlling the narrative, until Lolita asserts her independence and the musical turns on Humbert in the tumultuous, dissonant breakdown of "How Far Is It To The Next Town?".
Finally, the motel bedroom scene early in Act 2 is so disturbing that it's difficult to listen to, but that pain is also essential to the story. Lolita, the book, was received as a sparkling, edgy comedy when it was initially released, which is reflected in Kubrick's slapstick adaptation, but here it veers aggressively against the audience. What, exactly, are we here for? What is funny or entertaining about this? In that moment, it becomes harrowing, and we become complicit.