MERLIN 1983 Tony Awards

[@codytaylor1362]

Whatever your feelings are towards this show, can we at least take a moment to appreciate how George Lee Andrews (the guy playing Old Merlin) looks like he's having the time of his fucking life on that stage. No matter how cheesecake-y this thing turned out, he's still giving it 100% to make this shit work. Now that's a dedicated actor.

[@IRoy-px4hh]

I thought it was Nathan Lane

[@russell5698]

I love your comment more than you'll ever know! Very true about George Lee Andrews...and the unicorn.

[@merlincaibo9680]

"Now look at me smiling. I had no idea what was to come!" yeah I can relate to that

[@MadeByJoey]

This is 100% my new obsession, I had no idea this show existed before today.

[@elliottbronstein1214]

Any chance you've found the soundtrack free online? I can't seem to.

[@magicboi37]

@@elliottbronstein1214 Hi Elliott I'm afraid the soundtrack was never made I was told that the cost overruns from mounting the show didn't leave enough money to do a cast recording. I was told at the time (1983) that this was the most expensive Broadway show to date not much has survived since then a couple of bootleg copies floating around but they are of bad quality

[@MondoBeno]

I remember seeing the commercials for it, and I remember how my parents went to see it and thought it was silly.

[@JM-rv9oh]

I love this show so much, Chita is iconic. Also the way Lena Horne is like “girrrl what the hell am I readin?”

[@sirMEGADACTYL]

I saw this on Broadway, and totally loved it! The score is Phenomenal! I wish the the song "HE, WHO KNOWS THE WAY" was on this! Awesome song for baritone!

[@skeever]

Ya gotta love it. "Where did the ducks go?"

[@MaskedGreenmagician]

Yeah and I had illusion drawings in magic book I gave freely to a missionary who does close up ideas joe Noro rimes with zorro he says :) inChrist always chubby billpage illusionist magician in fun

[@MaskedGreenmagician]

Yep where do the ducks go in special table that sinks downward hope that helps everyone

[@postgraduate]

It’s a Rabbit Out of the Hat illusion in reverse.

[@robert0price]

@@MaskedGreenmagician yall are truly unhinged and im fine with that

[@wilsonloucks6516]

Imagine if the opening number to the lion king was called "It's about animals"

[@wilsonloucks6516]

Like the opening number acting as an answer to a question no one asked, being "what is Merlin about?"

[@coreyoxley5702]

what great memories? i still have the playbill for this

[@teletubetodd]

I loved this when I saw it on the 1983 Tony Awards, and so did my father. Doug Henning really seemed to enjoy himself. Though a tad too much like "Pippin" and "Cats," the magic was amazing, the song was tuneful and well constructed, and it sounds even better today, in contrast to the third-rate fare Broadway serves us now (or doesn't, in the wake of COVID-19). Thanks for posting. Rest in peace, Doug and Lena.

[@njatty]

But is was also a terrible musical. Doug Henning was a wonderful magician, but not an actor, singer, or dancer. So the show had a young Nathan Lane and Chita Rivera playing his mother, an evil queen. IIRC, one of Chita's songs was "Satan Rules" and at the end of the show she was turned into stone. The guys who wrote the show's book created the TV series Mannix, Columbo, and Murder She Wrote.

[@teletubetodd]

@@njatty Thanks for the information. Yes, I heard it was a poor show; all I saw of it was this one sequence, which stood well on its own. But what a shame for Elmer Bernstein, composer of such great film scores as "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape," as well as a classical concerto for guitarist Christopher Parkening, to get involved in something like this. Oh well, that's show biz, and money talks!

[@njatty]

@@teletubetodd Here's another song from MERLIN: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3SmnmBqea-iitk Elmer Bernstein took an earlier stab at Broadway with HOW NOW DOW JONES. I'm not sure it was any more successful than MERLIN, but it did produce a cast album. One of the songs from the show, "Step to the Rear," got play outside of the show and is a/k/a the South Carolina Fight Song. Carolyn Leigh was the lyricist.

[@elliottbronstein1214]

Waiting in the wings needs to tackle this.

[@WillScarlet16]

According to Nathan Lane, Doug Henning's greatest trick was making the audience disappear.

[@Zooba57]

The music score for this musical was written by Hollywood Legend, the Amazing Elmer Bernstein!

[@chocolatesouljah]

Is that a young Christian Slater?

[@zigfried64]

Yes, Christian Slater appeared as Youngest Merlin in this show. He actually had a few Broadway credits as a child, including playing Winthrop in the revival of THE MUSIC MAN with Dick Van Dyke.

[@espoelstra]

Yep, Christian Slater

[@kittysusca]

Doug Henning!!!!

[@nickmann9549]

Where did those ducks go?

[@xgeex7540]

Here for Christian Slater

[@Ayden_B]

Wow, Merlin really liked Pippin, didn’t he?

[@antonspivack3928]

Huh? Well The Magic Show and Pippin had the same composer.

[@robert0price]

where do the ducks go

[@antonspivack1436]

"You'll be amazed, you'll see, when you see amazingly" Merlin may be a wizard, but not a great lyricist.

[@chrisgibson4248]

How 80s do you what Merlin to be 1:28

[@zigfried64]

The kid at the beginning is a young Christian Slater.

[@Robster543210]

I saw this on Broadway, I liked it a lot. A young Nathan Lane was most impressive.

[@luminousbanjo]

I live for hilariously bad stuff like this.

[@nathancox5316]

This musical may have been a flop but it had an interesting pedigree. The actor playing Old Merlin is George Lee Andrews, who would go on to stay with the cast of The Phantom of the Opera for twenty-five years and holds the world record for longest time in a Broadway company. The music is by legendary Hollywood composer Elmer Bernstein. Chita Rivera was in this show and so was a young Nathan Lane in his Broadway debut. Years later he quipped that Doug Henning "made the audience disappear.

[@maggiee.3297]

That was terrible and I thoroughly enjoyed it

[@bheast86]

the plot dropped a ball somewhat in overlooking how Merlin had a twin sister

[@bigred8432]

🤦🏻‍♂️

[@jimmyjustjimmy4991]

All I asked was “Are you gay?” And you did this.

[@ianmichalski7997]

I suppose I should be relieved that this small sample might be the only documented footage left of this travesty.

[@ednakelley814]

Maybe so. But we are waiting to see your show and it's production.

[@MondoBeno]

The show may have "had its heart in the right place," but it doesn't work. The whole show is basically a magician's act, placed into a musical with third-rate lyrics. The only people who'd like it are the kind who go to magic shows. Thanks to the dancers it'll cost three times as much. Doug Hemmings is terrible in the role.

[@Ayden_B]

MondoBeno sooooooo Barnum but bad

[@magicboi37]

I truly wish I could have had input into the creation of this show as it could have been amazing so many talented people involved but I was Copperfield's Illusion and EFX guy at the time. I was able to see the show via video a few years after and I think the biggest problem is the show was written around the illusions rather than create a great story and world to draw you in then create the effects to fit the show. Years later I was lucky enough to create all new illusions for the reboot of Ghost the musical and where the story was already in place, I had to make the EFX blend into the story, and it was so great to have that opportunity and it looked more like special efx than magic tricks

[@steveb1164]

I'm a Doug Henning fan, but putting him in as a non-singing, non dancing male lead in a musical (twice!) is ridiculous.

[@MaskedGreenmagician]

See

[@robert0price]

i do

[@MaskedGreenmagician]

Thanks Soo much I wanted to set this amen God Bless everyone inChrist allways chubby billpage illusionist magician in fun

[@robert0price]

no. you don't just write chubby at random. who are you and what are you doing

[@postgraduate]

If this sample is in any way indicative of how this show looked, it is little wonder why it did not succeed. A poorly executed technical illusion of a jerky levitation followed by flat performances of nothing more than dressed up versions of simple illusions one might see a magician perform at a child's birthday party (no big Broadway flash or sparkle?) mixed in with a crowd of ridiculously over the top dancing animal costumes and a leading man who obviously cannot act and whose performance is not at all in sync with that of the actor portraying the older, energetic, version of his character make the production look like it was a confused, unimpressive sleeper. Henning really looks like he is just being himself (as he would for one of his regular magic acts) rather than even trying to be the young Merlin. Could Lena Horne's lifeless introduction have been her commentary on the show?

[@michaeleasler5249]

I know how they were done, and you couldn't be more incorrect. Because of the magic, it was one of the most technically complex Broadway shows ever produced. I'll grant you that Henning's acting was lacking, however.

[@postgraduate]

@@michaeleasler5249, I own all but one of those illusions. They are very simple to perform. Granted, mine are not as large and stylized as the ones in this clip, but they are the same illusions. My children performed many of them for their school. I will trust your word that there was more in the rest of the show.

[@avoiceinthenight]

@@postgraduate I have read how this show featured Blackstone's Gypsy Moth illusion, which hasn't been repeated since and that was spectacular to witness.. there exists only a very quick and blurry clip of it somewhere, unfortunately.

[@Ayden_B]

Wtf is this and why is KZbin is recommending me this. Plus I see why I’ve never heard of this musical