CDs: Harmony
The credits for the1962 Broadway musical A Family Affair don't single out the individual contributions of the three authors billed, James Goldman, John Kander, and William Goldman. But it's possible to isolate Kander for the music, James Goldman and Kander for the lyrics, and the two Goldmans for the book. Although Kander had already composed dance music for Gypsy and Irma La Douce, A Family Affair was the composer's first full score for Broadway.
The show, which begins with a proposal of marriage and ends with a wedding, was originally optioned by Leland Hayward, who announced it in 1960 with Jerome Robbins the director-choreographer and Gertrude Berg mentioned for the lead. But the authors were unwilling to wait for Robbins, and looked elsewhere. For director, they hired Word Baker, who had recently guided to success off-Broadway's The Fantasticks. Producing the show was a lawyer named Andrew Siff, also making his Broadway debut.
Playing the parents of the groom were reliable dramatic actress Eileen Heckart and classical actor Morris Carnovsky. Popular stand-up comic Shelley Berman played the uncle of the orphaned bride. These leads were not known for their singing, although Berman had recently appeared in the Broadway musical revue The Girls Against the Boys, and Heckart had recently sung "Zip" in Pal Joey at City Center. As it turned out, all three had decent singing voices. Playing the bride and groom were real singers Larry Kert and Rita Gardner, the latter from Baker's The Fantasticks. An unknown Linda Lavin appeared in four parts, including roles billed as "Crying Daughter," "Fifi of Paris," and "Quiet Girl."
A Family Affair opened at Philadelphia's Erlanger Theatre just before Christmas of 1961. The reviews tallied two qualified approvals and one pan. Those involved realized that significant changes needed to be made, and apparently did not trust Baker to supervise them. So A Family Affair became the first directorial job for Harold Prince, who took over the show on January 5, 1962.
Prince had been urged by Stephen Sondheim to read the script originally. He found it funny but predictable and turned the show down. In Philadelphia, Prince thought the show a mess, with a disastrous unit set of a tiered wedding cake, and a big chorus. The show's humor was getting lost in an overblown production. Because of weak business, the tryout could not be extended, so Prince had to revise the show in only three weeks.
Prince reluctantly took credit for A Family Affair, even though he knew that, for all his good work including camouflaging much of the set, the show still wouldn't be a hit. But Prince took a musical that had been dying on the road and made it into a respectable entertainment. Star Berman was quoted on the subject of Prince: "He's a murderer, a marvelous murderer. A benevolent killer. Anything cute goes out. Is he ruthless? Of course he's ruthless."
Two songs heard in Philadelphia, "Milwaukee" and "Mamie in the Afternoon," were cut. The latter would be reworked as "Arthur in the Afternoon" by Kander and partner Fred Ebb for The Act. Bob Herget came in to redo John Butler's choreography, with both of them taking credit. Jack Fletcher, who was playing a country club manager, was dropped from the cast.
By the time the show opened at Broadway's Billy Rose Theatre now the Nederlander on January 27, 1962, the action went something like this. Set in Chicago and its suburbs in the present, the play begins with the words "Will you marry me?" and "Yes," exchanged by the young couple of Sally Gardner and Gerry Kert.
It's decided to have a small wedding in the living room of confirmed bachelor and uncle of the bride, Alfie Nathan Berman. But perhaps because Tilly Heckart, the mother of the groom, eloped, she wants to be closely involved in everything. Tilly's family is too big for Alfie's living room, so the wedding is shifted to the lawn. Suddenly, the guest list is up to 400 and the venue is shifted to the country club. Hired as wedding consultant is Miss Lumpe Bibi Osterwald, who uses child psychology to manipulate Alfie and Tilly. Arguments ensue, and Tilly's husband, Morris Carnovsky, suggests that the kids elope. Alfie throws Tilly and family out of his house as the first act ends.
In the second half, Tilly, now bent on revenge, decides to bar Alfie from the bridal dinner. Morris can't take all of the conflict and walks out on Tilly. Then Alfie plots his own revenge, ordering his own rabbi and cake. Sally and Gerry turn against the adults, who now feel guilty for what they've done. As the final curtain falls, the kids are married.
In New York, there were two favorable reviews, from John Chapman in The Daily News and from the musical-friendly Norman Nadel in The World-Telegram, and two qualified approvals, from Robert Coleman in The Mirror and no less than Walter Kerr in The Herald Tribune. But there was a pan in The New York Times by Howard Taubman, and also negative verdicts from Richard Watts Post and John McClain Journal American.
Kerr felt that "everything in view is intimate, innocent, easygoing and hopefully fresh. What keeps the entertainment from becoming a memorable innovation is the fact that it goes around and around instead of up...a most appealing 'almost'." Chapman called it "an altogether cheerful, friendly and funny affair with some good, unstereotyped songs and a rather fascinatingly chosen cast." But Taubman wrote that "{The authors} have attempted to rear their musical comedy on a notion so thin that it might be good for one fast joke."
The Family Affair numbers that were most singled out by critics were a "Football Game" with two families pitted against one another, and Berman plotting "Revenge" on the telephone. Thanks to the personalities of the performers, the show was moderately enjoyable. But it was also dangerously thin, with little but arguing in between the proposal opening and the marriage closing.
Although the show was to run only two months, leading lady Heckart, who had voted to close the show in Philadelphia, somehow managed to get out, and she was replaced by the distinguished Carol Bruce. The show closed suddenly after its sixty-fifth performance, even though box office prices were reduced during the last week of the run. A Family Affair lost its entire investment of $420,000; it was originally budgeted at $350,000, but more had been required when Prince and Herget took over.
Prince would go on to work with Kander on Flora, the Red Menace, Cabaret, Zorba, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, and with James Goldman on Follies. Screenwriter William Goldman The Season is scheduled to write his first Broadway musical since A Family Affair with the forthcoming The Princess Bride, with music by Adam Guettel.
United Artists made the Family Affair cast album, an LP that has been deleted for decades. It has in recent years been high on the list of titles that show fans wanted to see reissued, and now DRG has done the honors. And A Family Affair makes for a fun cast album. Kander's talent was obvious, and the score is frequently excellent, especially the lovely Sally-Gerry duet "There's a Room in My House," the same pair's "Anything for You," and Osterwald's toe-tapping show-stopper, "Harmony." Also enjoyable are Berman's "Beautiful," Heckart's "My Son, the Lawyer" and the closing trio for Berman, Heckart, and Carnovsky, "I'm Worse Than Anybody."
With its intriguing cast, A Family Affair is a flop with a score that, if not distinguished, makes for entertaining listening. Perhaps we can now look forward to DRG giving us other show titles from the United Artists catalogue, like Illya Darling and Anya.