Illustrations above and below are from an online activity book touting the original print version of The Great American Mousical, by Julie Andrews, Tony Walton and Emma Walton Hamilton.
As in the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore film Bedazzled, the magic words at Goodspeed Musicals are…
Juuuuuuulie Annnnnndrews!
She’s primarily known for her one-two-three-four punch in the 1960s as Broadway’s Eliza Doolittle, cinema’s Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp and the concert foil for Carol Burnett. In the 1970s and ‘80s she became a prized film comedienne and character actress, especially in some of the films directed by her husband Blake Edwards.
Later on in her illustrious career, Julie Andrews established herself as a stage director—including for the Goodspeed, where she helmed a revival of another of her Broadway acting successes, The Boyfriend in 2006.
Today, in the midst of their weekend-long Festival of New Artists, the Goodspeed announced that Andrews has another directing project at the theater—an adaptation of a children’s book she wrote in 2006.
As rumored back in April, Goodspeed Musicals is turning The Great American Mousical into a full-fledged family friendly musical. We now know that the show will have a book by Hunter Bell ([title of show], Silence! The Musical) and music & lyrics by Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler, whose previous kid-style musical was the Lucille Lortel Award nominee Junie B. Jones (based on the beloved Barbara Park series).
The Great American Mousical will have its world premiere Nov. 8 through Dec. 2 at the Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre in Chester.
Great American Mousical is a Julie Andrews family affair similar to the one which formed around her production of The Boyfriend. Julie’s daughter Emma Walton Hamilton is the co-author of the original Mousical kids’ book, and, as a co-founder of the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY, coaxed her mother to direct the Boyfriend there, a couple of years prior to the Goodspeed production and subsequent national tour. Emma’s dad and Julie’s first husband, the internationally renowned set and costume designer (and occasional director) Tony Walton, designed The Boyfriend revival. He also illustrated the book version of The Great American Mousical.
These are major talents, young and old. Comparable to the Great American Mousical’s own fictional rodent line-up of Adelaide the diva, Emil the director, Wendy the ingénue, Curly the comedian, Rose the soubrette, Sancho the choreographer, Pops the Stage Door Mouse, Charlemagne the set designer, Mrs. Anna the costume designer, Lycus the lighting designer, Raoul the sound designer, Maestro Maraczek the musical director, Don Q. the producer, Scud the rat, Henry the country professor, The Pharmacist and his nephew Ping, Little June the child actress, Fausto the restaurateur and Sky “the handsome male star.”
The Great American Mousical is a proper chapter book, full of detail about the process of putting on a big show, created by a couple of people who know Broadway in and out, Julie Andrews and Tony Walton. It’s a natural project for turning into an actual musical, and Goodspeed’s nabbed it.
