The Robber Bridegroom (Original Broadway Cast)

Original Broadway Cast Recording! Starring Barry Bostwick, Rhonda Coullet and Barbara Lang! Includes the songs, "Sleepy Man" (a classic!) A NOTE ABOUT THE BONUS TRACKS: There was talk of making THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM into a "Story Theatre" LP (at the time of its original release) with dialogue to be added connecting the songs and the addition of a narrator. It would have been a gatefold 2-LP set. The additional songs were recorded, in case that project ever came about, during the original (and only) Robber Bridegroom recording session but there was not enough room for them on the original (single) LP (even as bonus tracks) and, as you are well aware, the larger 'Story Theatre' edition never materialized. The songs are a bit of a curiosity now. We here at Original Cast Records were thrilled to be able to present the additional material for the CD and now the Digital Download. HISTORY OF "THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM: The show started with an early 1970s production at St Clements Theatre in producer Stuart Ostrow's Musical Theatre Lab, which invented the concept of the "workshop" development process for musicals. Raul Julia starred as Lockhart.. Other cast members included Steve Vinovich (Clemment Musgrove), Rhonda Coullet (Rosamund), John Getz (Little Harp), Ernie Sabella (Big Harp), Trip Plymale (Goat), Dana Kyle (Airie), Susan Berger (Salome), John Houseman bought the show for his group, The Acting Company and took it to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York with Kevin Kline replacing Julia, Patti LuPone as Rosamund, and Mary Lou Rosato as Salome. It then was staged at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago in the summer of 1975. The first Broadway production, with the same Ravinia cast directed by Gerald Freedman and choreographed by Donald Saddler, opened in a limited engagement on October 7, 1975 at the Harkness Theatre, where it ran for 14 performances and 1 preview before setting out on a one-year US national tour. Its success on the road convinced the producers to mount a revamped Broadway production with an extended book and expanded, heavily bluegrass-tinged score. The second Broadway production opened on October 9, 1976 at the Biltmore Theatre, where it ran for 145 performances and 12 previews. The show was directed by Freedman, choreographed by Saddler, scenery Douglas W. Schmidt, costumes Jeanne Button, lighting David F. Segal, associate producer Porter Van Zandt, production stage manager Mary Porter Hall, stage manager Bethe Ward, and press by Sandra Manley and The Merlin Group, Ltd. The band, or the "McVourie River Volunteers", consisted of Bob Jones (guitar, fiddle), Alan Kaufman (fiddle, mandolin), Steve Mandell (guitar, banjo), Roger Mason (acoustic and electric bass), Evan Stover (fiddle), and Tony Trischka (banjo, bandleader). The cast included Barry Bostwick (Lockhart), Steve Vinovich (Clemment Musgrove), Rhonda Coullet (Rosamund), Lawrence John Moss (Little Harp), Ernie Sabella (Big Harp), Trip Plymale (Goat), Susan Berger (Goat's Mother), Jana Schneider (Airie), Carolyn McCurry (Raven), and the great Barbara Lang (Salome). The residents of Rodney included George DeLoy (Kyle Nunnery), Gary Epp (Harmon Harper), B.J. Hardin (Norman Ogelsby), Mary Murray (Queenie Brenner), Melinda Tanner (Rose Otto), Dennis Warning (Gerry G. Summers), and Tom Westerman (K.K. Pone). An original cast recording of the 1976 production was released on LP by CBS and subsequently on CD by Bruce Yeko's Original Cast Records. Since its inception, the show has been staged regularly by regional theatres throughout the country. THE SHOW: In modern times, Jamie and the other people involved tell of their ancestors, and the time dissolves to 18th century Mississippi. Robin Hood-like Jamie Lockhart, a legendary character in Mississippi folklore, rescues Clemment Musgrove, who is the wealthiest plantation owner in Natchez Trace from the Harp gang and attempts to woo and win his daughter Rosamond. Standing in his way is her stepmother Salome, whose romantic designs on the gentleman robber lead her to plot the girl's demise but it all ends happily somehow!