Opening in 1966, the musical "It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman" ran for only 129 performances before disappearing into that great phone booth in the sky. Obviously it wasn't going to be giving "Cats" or "A Chorus Line" a run for their money but, to be honest about...
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Opening in 1966, the musical "It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman" ran for only 129 performances before disappearing into that great phone booth in the sky. Obviously it wasn't going to be giving "Cats" or "A Chorus Line" a run for their money but, to be honest about it, Superman wasn't really the most promising subject material for an on-stage musical.
Available on CD, the music for the production shows where most of the promise went. Especially in the Overture, which straddles the line between the basic jazzy and the attentively heroic. It makes for good music for changing into one's super-costume, as does the Entr'acte.
The rest of the music settles itself squarely on the talents of the performers, and it can't be denied that at least some effort went into gathering people who could sell songs with their voices. Bob Holiday's rich voice ably connects with the persona of The Man Of Steel undergoing a personal crisis, especially in the number "The Strongest Man In The World". And, in spite of all the competition available onstage, his clear tones can easily be heard in the Finale.
That competition, by the way, includes Lois Lane, here being assayed by Patricia Marand's full-bodied voice warbling its way through numbers such as the wistful "It's Superman" and "What I've Always Wanted". Much better for her, though, are the all-too-brief comedic jibes she exchanges with veteran actor Jack Cassidy during his number "You're The Woman For The Man" (listening to this song one can almost see Cassidy's patented Lothario grin as he tries to put the moves on Lois).
(The CD, by the way, also includes bonus tracks of songs which composers Charles Strouse and Lee Adams wanted for the play but which were subsequently dropped. One of them, "Dot Dot Dot", is worth listening to if only to imagine what Cassidy's voice and character persona could've done with it.)
Other pieces worth listening to include a reprise of "It's Superman" where most of the company hold forth on the subject of everyone's favorite Kryptonian, as well as the number "You've Got Possibilities" which bears mention if only for the fact that, out of all the numbers in the production, it achieved that Holiest Of Holies: eventually being used in a television commercial! And for a quick and undeniably unique lesson in Nobel Prize winners, it'd be difficult to top Michael O'Sullivan's rendition of "Revenge".
Admittedly the overall effect will be of severe interest for those with one foot firmly strolling down old school Broadway. And it won't make people forget the soundtracks of John Williams. But the music deserves to rise above the level of a curiosity and, as part of the overall Superman legend, cannot be entirely ignored.
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