By Jeeves: Cast Recordings (1975-1996)

Looking at the discography section of the Jesus Christ Superstar Zone website, there are a whopping forty "Superstar" related albums released by 1975.

Let's list them: the Original Concept Recording (1970), 101 Strings (1971), First All American Cast (1971), Henry Mancini & His Orchestra (1971), Kingsway Youth Opera Company (1971), National Rock Opera Company (1971), Nick Ingham (1971), Original Broadway Cast (1971), Percy Faith Orchestra (1971), Pickwick (1971), Sweet Peace (1971), The Living Strings and Living Voices (1971), Alan Caddy Orchestra (1971), Canadian Rock Theatre (1972), First Australian Cast (1972), Ivan Jullien Big Band (1972), Lena-Maria & Sweet Wine (1972), Music For Pleasure (1972), Original Australian Cast (1972), Original Brazilian Cast (1972), Original Danish Cast (1972), Original French Cast (1972), Original London Cast (1972), Original Swedish Cast (1972), Peter Steffen Choir (1972), Roy Meriwether Trio (1972), Studio 70 Orchestra and Chorus (1972), The Disciples (1972), The Guitar Factory (1972), The Soul Version (1972), Original Australian Cast Live (1973), Original German Cast (1973), Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1973), Underground Arsenal (1973), Colin Dyall (1974), Jan Brenner Ltd (1974), Moog Superstar (1974), Original Dutch Cast (1974), Original Mexican Cast (1974) and Original Spanish Cast (1974). For the full list of titles of all of the albums, click here: https://www.jesuschristsuperstarzone.com/discography/

Such was the phenomenal success of the rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The question on many people's minds, whether it was industry people or just fans of their work in general, is what Tim and Andrew were going to do next? Would it be another Bible story perhaps like "Superstar" or "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat", which was now being brought to the London stage after the other show’s success?

The answer was a musical comedy based on the perennial English classics by P.G. Wodehouse, the stories of Bertram Wooster and his unflappable manservant Jeeves. Mr. Wodehouse himself had co-written the books for many early musicals, including "Show Boat" (1927) and "Anything Goes" (1933). For those productions alone, Mr. Wodehouse was a legendary figure of the American musical theatre.

If I'm remembering my history correctly (and I must mention both Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's books when I say this) the work had begun simply enough with an outline containing about twenty songs. Only the more Tim attempted to work on the piece, the more challenging it would become. One song they drafted was called "If I Were Keats" which I believe became the music for "High Flying, Adored" from "Evita".

Around this time, English playwright Alan Ayckbourn was brought on board as book writer, because unlike the earlier "Superstar" or "Joseph", the musical "Jeeves" would contain spoken dialogue. When "Jeeves" opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre 1975, Alan had written a dozen successful plays dating back to 1959. Some titles include: Standing Room Only (1961), Mr Whatnot (1963), Relatively Speaking (1965), How the Other Half Loves (1967), Family Circles (1970), Time and Time Again (1971), Absurd Personal Singular (1972) and his trilogy The Norman Conquests (1973).

In the end, Tim Rice resigned from the project. Not only was he having difficulty grasping the material in his writing he had also become obsessed with the story of the First Lady of Argentina, Eva Duarte de Peron who passed away in 1952. Tim was hoping that Andrew, at some point, would join forces with him to turn Eva's story into the musical that would become "Evita". In the meantime, Andrew was now working with Alan writing both book and lyrics for "Jeeves".

After a private presentation to P.G. Wodehouse and longtime collaborator Guy Bolton, the first performances of “Jeeves” took place at the Bristol Hippodrome between 20 March and 5 April 1975. The production was directed by Eric Thompson (Emma and Sophie Thompson’s father), and a cast including David Hemmings as Bertie Wooster, Michael Aldridge as Jeeves, Gabrielle Drake as Madeline Bassett, and more, including Betty Marsden as Aunt Dahlia, a character written out during the tumultuous Bristol tryout. Thank you Lord Wikipedia!

When the production opened at the Hippodrome, it ran an epic four and three-quarter hours, practically Wagnerian in length. There is a story I've read at one point where the production ran so long during one of the performances, that the orchestra who weren't being paid overtime got up and left mid-performance, prompting the conductor to dive toward the piano to save the rest of the show.

By the time "Jeeves" opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London on 22 April 1975, director Eric Thompson had been replaced by Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber had apparently begged the producers to close the show. The producers persisted and after some truly scathing reviews (they weren't all scathing however), "Jeeves" closed having completed 38 performances on 24 May 1975. Thank you again, Lord Wiki, and I also have to mention the Alan Ayckbourn website which is well worth the read. There's some great info over there.

The story then goes (though I can't remember exactly where I read it), Andrew received a letter from American producer and director Harold Prince, telling him that anyone can have a flop and to "bank that score". Andrew listened apparently, because even though there was a cast album released, it's perhaps the rarest of all his musical albums to make it out there. Fortunately our friends at YouTube have made the vinyl available for all to hear, and what an experience that is. Notably, it's the only time you can hear most of the music being played by a full orchestra, and it's a sumptuous sound. I'm very lucky, because finding a second hand copy of the LP can lead to prices as high as 500 English pounds.

After "Jeeves", Alan and Andrew would both continue to have very successful theatre careers. Andrew and Tim Rice would reunite with "Evita", giving them their first #1 single with "Don't Cry for me, Argentina". Andrew followed this with "Cats", "Starlight Express", "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Sunset Boulevard". Alan had written a sensational 25 plays, before he and Andrew found themselves reunited on a new version of "Jeeves".

Following a successful workshop in 1995, "By Jeeves" opened at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. History did not repeat itself, and the now almost completely revised two and a half hour version of the musical, opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 2 July 1996 where it played for a twelve week season. After an extended run into February 1997, "By Jeeves" transferred to the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Alan directed a cast including Steven Pacey as the iconic Wooster with Malcolm Sinclair as Jeeves. Pacey received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, alongside Outstanding New Production and Best Costume Designer. Thanks again, Lord Wiki! "Jeeves", you could say, had well and truly managed to turn things around, as the infinitely more successful "By Jeeves".

There were multiple cast recordings! The first version which I believe represents the version from the Stephen Joseph Theatre, and includes the deleted song "Deadlier than the Male", is quite rare. If you've got one, along with a 1975 vinyl of "Jeeves", then you are one lucky customer. The second version, which contains the new song "Love's Maze", with Bertie and Jeeves providing spoken narration between the songs, was my introduction. And what a fun, amusing, jolly little introduction!

I've used the word "jolly" with "Joseph" and I guess that was what Andrew might have been trying to do, after "Jesus Christ Superstar", and later "Sunset Boulevard".

If you're searching for the perfect Lloyd Webber antithesis to Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond, then *I'd* say look no further than "By Jeeves". And this is one of the fascinating things about Andrew: he really likes his "Variations". "Evita" is followed by an instrumental, which is followed by a one woman song cycle, which is followed by a musical blockbuster about cats, and a musical blockbuster about trains, a setting of the Latin Requiem Mass, and a musical high romance based on "The Phantom of the Opera", "Aspects of Love", a romance concentrating on five characters covering the span of a few decades. The ornate staircase in the Italianate Hollywood mansion is followed by... a community gathering at the local town hall, "An Evening with Bertram Wooster". In turn, "By Jeeves" is followed by a rock musical based in Bible belt Pennsylvania with lyrics by rock legend Jim Steinman.

After its success in the UK, "By Jeeves" opened on 12 November 1996 at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. This time, John Scherer played Bertie with Richard Kline as Jeeves. This led to several more productions in the US, before "By Jeeves" celebrated a brief Broadway run at the Helen Hayes Theatre, lasting from 28 October to 30 December 2001. Given the timing with the tragic events of September 11, I'm not really surprised that it shuttered when it did.

A filmed version, prefacing the production's Broadway run, was released in 2001, with Martin Jarvis as Jeeves and John Scherer returning as Bertie. For some reason, this DVD appears not to have been released down under or the American Premiere Recording which I believe features recordings from this film. That's a shame then, but while I could probably find myself a copy of the DVD in one of the Really Useful box sets, the American Premiere album has been somewhat more painful. I can't even begin to judge that.

At the end of the night then, I can say this: based on the original cast recording and the film version which I *did* manage to catch on YouTube once or twice, it's, again, a fun, amusing jolly little show, and a nice contrast to "Superstar", "Evita" etc. Musical highlights include: "The Code of the Woosters", "Travel Hopefully", "When Love Arrives" and "Half a Moment", all rescued from the original "Jeeves", and the new pieces "That was nearly us", "Love's maze", and more. Really, I can't think of any musical example that would appear to let this down.

How Wodehouse book fans feel about it is another question, and I can't even begin to comment on that, having never read a full Bertie/Jeeves book.

I believe that's about all then, Jeeves.

Thank you for reading,

Ryan.