One of the educational directors said that “the themes of alcoholism, suicide, and murder were not appropriate for children.” William Gibson later replied, simply stating "The style is for children, the content is for me." Appalled by the musical's dark subject matter, she went to the local news, concluding that the play depicted "portrayals of gruesome characters, a mother deserting her child, death, and even suicide.” This isn't that far from the truth since it has been said that the play had dark and sexual themes, with Marcella having nightmares about slaughterhouses, a forest of corpses, and her mother committing suicide.Īfter the news of the unexpectedly dark play went popular, several public schools' reservations were also cancelled due to this uproar. However, almost immediately after its initial release, controversy arose after Ellen Allen, from Albany, New York, took her children to see the show. The Gibson/Raposo version of the production was released on December 7th, 1984, under the title Rag Dolly. Mother and daughter reconcile their history and Marcella leaves to face General D. If they don't make it by then, Marcella will die, subsequently causing the doll’s deaths as well.Īlong the way, we meet Marcella’s absent mother, lost and suicidal from bearing the regret of leaving her family behind. to find the Doll Doctor, in hopes that he can save Marcella from an early death.Īll the while, they are being hunted down by General D and his two henchmen, The Wolf (Red Fang) and The Bat (Yellow Yum Yum), and only have until 6 AM to get to the Doll Hospital. Marcella eventually manages to fall asleep, and through a movie-length dream sequence, she, Raggedy Ann, Andy, and the rest of the toybox toys go on a vast journey from New York to L.A.
#Raggedy ann and andy full
The father gives Marcella a chest full of rag dolls and tells her that if she sleeps, all her toys come alive and play in the nursery together, but if she doesn't fall asleep the dolls just stay in their box. It is told that Marcella's pet dog Red Fang died after eating her pet canary Yellow Yum Yum and that her mother abandoned both her and her father for a man in a Rolls Royce. Her father is a depressed alcoholic, trying his best to keep his daughter happy, despite her fatal illness. She can't eat, can't sleep, and has issues breathing, and her death is imminent.
The musical centred around Marcella, a little girl dying of a mysterious disease that her doctors have trouble diagnosing. However, there are still multiple pieces of the puzzle the search effort would like to find, especially regarding obtaining the rights to a revival (more info on this farther down). This show is considered found as of September 1st, 2021, when footage of the first production from December 15, 1984, was uploaded to the Rag Dolly YouTube channel under the name "Lost Raggedy Ann Musical (Recovered ESIPA Footage )". Production began two years before Broadway, first with designers and then casting, and in October 1984 rehearsals began at the Egg and ran for five weeks before opening. This backfired on the composer and he was briefly dropped from the production altogether but returned after revisions had been made to the script. Snyder backed Gibson up, and many of the dark elements remained.Īt one point Raposo, who was vice chairman of the ESIPA board of directors, attempted to get the board to vote to override Snyder’s authority and remove Gibson from the project. Gibson ran into a lot of pushback for his dark script, first from Raposo, and later from Bobbs-Merrill, who held the rights to the characters and the last word on the script. The book and music were contracted separately, with Raposo getting double royalties as composer and lyricist.
Gibson wasn't interested in the current story, a circus re-theming of a plot similar to the movie, and took inspiration from the real-life story of Raggedy Ann author Johnny Gruelle's daughter Marcella, who contracted diphtheria from an unsanitary smallpox vaccination and died at the age of 14. The musical is loosely based off the animated film Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977), and the Raggedy Ann and Andy books (1918-1977), but with a dark twist.Īfter the movie's initial release, Joe Raposo was approached by Patricia Snyder to adapt the film into a stage musical, bringing in playwright William Gibson to work alongside them. Raggedy Ann (also known as Rag Dolly), was a Broadway production written by William Gibson, with music and lyrics composed by Joe Raposo, and directed by Patricia Birch.
0 kommentar(er)
