Greenwillow
1960
Song List
“Out of his bountiful music box Mr. Loesser has provided a warm and varied score that captures the simple moods of the story…The makers of Greenwillow have never faltered. Mr. Loesser has taken care of that by writing music out of personal musical convictions.”
-Brooks Atkinson, Times
History
Opened March 8, 1960 at the Alvin Theatre. Book by Lesser Samuels and Frank Loesser from the 1956 novel by B.J. Chute. Starred Anthony Perkins, Cecil Kellaway, Pert Kelton, Ellen McCown and William Chapman.
Short Synopsis
Greenwillow is a magical town where the eldest of the Briggs men always obey the “call to wander,” and the women they leave behind make their lives and rear their children in the hope that someday their men will return. Gideon, the eldest of this generation of Briggs men, is determined to end the “call” forever, even if he has to break his own and heart and the heart of his beloved Dorrie to do it. But the town’s newest inhabitant, the jolly Reverend Birdsong, employs his wisdom and wit to help Gideon and Dorrie, and also to undo the darker teachings of the dour Reverend Lapp. Just as wily as Birdsong is Gideon’s Gramma, who turns Greenwillow’s miser into the Briggs family benefactor, whether he likes it or not. In the end, Gideon finds his true calling – to stay with Dorrie in the Greenwillow they both love.
