Death Takes a Holiday (musical)

Death Takes a Holiday is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone and Thomas Meehan. The story is adapted from the 1924 Italian play La Morte in Vacanza by Alberto Casella, which was adapted in English for Broadway in 1929 by Walter Ferris. That play was made into a 1934 film of the same name starring Fredric March, which was remade in 1998 as Meet Joe Black, starring Brad Pitt.[1] The story of the musical is about lonely Death, who takes the form of a handsome young prince to understand human emotion. He falls in love with an engaged young woman and learns about love and sacrifice.

Death Takes a Holiday
Promotional artwork
MusicMaury Yeston
LyricsMaury Yeston
BookPeter Stone and Thomas Meehan
BasisLa Morte in Vacanza by Alberto Casella
PremiereJuly 14, 2011: Laura Pels Theatre, New York City
Productions2011 Off-Broadway
2017 Off West End

The show played Off-Broadway for a limited run in the summer of 2011 in a production by Roundabout Theatre Company. The production garnered mixed reviews. It received eleven nominations for 2011–12 Drama Desk Awards, but did not win any. An Off West End production opened in 2017.

Background

Maury Yeston and Peter Stone began work on the musical in 1997, immediately after their success with Titanic.[2] Titanic was a large-scale show, and Yeston and Stone decided to turn to a smaller-scale work for their next piece. They felt that the Cassella play, a story celebrating the joy and humor of love, was both universal and moving, and that with its recent adaptation as Meet Joe Black, it was a good time to musicalize the story. Yeston said, "it seemed to me that the piece screamed to be sung."[3] Since the story is set in Northern Italy during the Roaring Twenties, Yeston incorporated jazz, the Shimmy, and other period styles into his contemporary score "to achieve a modern sensibility within the Period flavor of the score."[3] Yeston had lived in Northern Italy for a time, which informed his writing.[3] “It was written by Alberto Casella in 1927 in response to the overwhelming killing in World War One and the pandemic that followed”, Yeston explains. “Death’s job is merely to collect people when they pass away. Exhausted from the recent scale of killing and death, he confronts a girl who has been in a car accident and he cannot take her because her potency of life is so strong. He sends her back into the world and resolves that he finally needs to know why people hate him so. Why do they dread him, why are they afraid of him, why do they cling to life, why is that important? And so, with Death tantalized by taking a few days off, nobody will die on the earth because he's not collecting them as, instead, he spends a weekend with this family in Northern Italy and discovers the one thing that makes life so precious -- love".[4]

Following Stone's death in 2003, Thomas Meehan took over writing the book.[2]

Productions

Death Takes a Holiday premiered Off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre on June 10, 2011 (in previews) and officially on July 14, for a limited run through September 4, 2011 in a production by Roundabout Theatre Company. The musical was directed by Doug Hughes, with choreography by Peter Pucci, set design by Derek McLane, and costumes by Catherine Zuber. The cast included Linda Balgord (Contessa Danielli), Matt Cavenaugh (Major Fenton), Mara Davi (Alice), Kevin Earley (Death/Sirki), Simon Jones, Rebecca Luker (Duchess Stephanie), Jill Paice (Grazia), Michael Siberry (Duke Vittorio Lamberti), Alexandra Socha, Don Stephenson, Joy Hermalyn and Max von Essen (Corrado Montelli). Jim Walton was an understudy.[1] British actor Julian Ovenden, left the show due to vocal trouble and was replaced by his understudy, Kevin Earley.[5] The original cast recording was released in October 2011, by PS Classics, with Earley in the role of Death.[6]

The show received mixed reviews [5] though The New York Times called it a "gorgeously sung musical".[7] Similarly, Steven Suskin, in reviewing the original cast album, wrote that "Maury Yeston has given us a liltingly romantic and lovely operetta-like score. The entire show – not only on the CD but in the theatre – was lifted by the presence of a fine group of singing actors."[2] Time magazine ranked the show among the Top Ten of the year and commented on the brief run: "Death deserved to live on."[8] The show received eleven nominations for 2011–12 Drama Desk Awards.[9]

An Off West End production opened in January 2017 at London's Charing Cross Theatre with a limited run ending in March 2017. Zoë Doano starred as Grazia, with Chris Peluso as Death and Gay Soper as the Contessa. Thom Southerland directed.[10] The Southerland production was well-received for the most part by the London Press, e.g.: "The presiding genius of this musical adaptation is composer/lyricist Maury Yeston whose lush, operetta-like scores make him the heir to Jerome Kern’s crown among the current crop of Broadway writers. As in previous works such as Grand Hotel and Titanic, he displays a rare ability to give voice to a wide range of characters, often within a single song. Thom Sutherland, renewing his collaboration with Yeston after the recent Titanic, directs this gentler piece with delicacy and elegance.".[11]

Plot synopsis
Act I

Duke Vittorio Lamberti and his family are driving home to their hilltop villa outside of Venice in 1921 after the engagement party of their daughter, Grazia, to Corrado Montelli. A mysterious shadowy figure blocks the road and the car screeches to a halt. Grazia is thrown from the car but, miraculously, is unhurt. Even her clothes are unruffled. Somehow, she knows that the world has changed for her. Later that night, Death, inspired by Grazia's beauty, visits Grazia in her garden. He then goes to her father and explains that he has taken the body of a Russian prince, Nikolai Sirki, who has just committed suicide, in order to take human form for the weekend so that he may learn about human emotions and why death is so feared. He threatens dire consequences if the duke reveals his identity. Death, in the guise of Prince Nikolai, appears at the door of the villa, and Vittorio introduces him to his wife, Stephanie, her mother the Contessa Evangelina, and Evangelina's old flame, Dr. Albione. Unknown to the duke or Death, one of the servants, Fidele has overheard their discussion, and he is terrified that Death is staying in the house.

The next day, the prince is excited at the prospect of life, and the prospect of understanding what it means to be human. He strolls down to the lake, where he meets Grazia. They stare at each other intently and are about to kiss when Duke Vittorio appears. He is afraid for his daughter, knowing the prince is really Death, and uses her engagement to chide her for being alone with another man. Grazia breaks her engagement to Corrado. Later, the prince discovers Alice, the widow of Grazia's brother Roberto (killed in action during the war) in the music room. She is taken with him, and invites him to sing and dance with her. They are about to kiss when she looks into his eyes and is so frightened that she runs from the scene. That evening Roberto's best friend, Major Eric Fenton, arrives with his sister Daisy. The prince is introduced as an old friend of Roberto's, and Eric is immediately suspicious. When he looks into the prince's eyes he sees something hauntingly familiar. At dinner, Grazia tells the story of two long-ago lovers in a local grotto who leapt from a cliff hand in hand so that they could be together for all eternity. Afterwards, she takes the prince to that grotto, where they kiss passionately.

Act II

It is a Sunday afternoon, with an approaching storm. The duke's family has grown ill at ease with Prince Nikolai, who wanders around, looking for Grazia's room. Instead he enters Roberto's room, where his mother, Stephanie, holds mourning. It is a sacred place, she informs him. Later, in the garden, Daisy commiserates with Corrado, with whom she has secretly been in love. In the grape arbor, Vittorio pleads with Death not to take his remaining child, but his pleas fall on seemingly deaf ears. Later, Death meets with Grazia in the grotto again. She asks what they will do, now that they have spent an entire night together. He tells her that they must part and never see each other again, even though he finds the prospect unendurable.

Major Fenton has taken his private plane to Monte Carlo and returns with the news that the real Prince Nikolai is dead, and this one is an impostor. Alice and Daisy tell Grazia of this news, but she refuses to believe them. Meanwhile, the duke has learned that Death now plans to take Grazia with him when he leaves at midnight. He bursts into the prince's room and challenges him. Death replies that he loves Grazia and cannot imagine going on without her. The duke tells him that true love requires that he put Grazia's life and needs before his own. If he loves her, he will let her experience the joys and sorrows of life. Reluctantly, Death agrees, but just before the stroke of midnight Grazia appears before him, dressed in a white gown, confessing she knows his true identity, and loving him despite all, and demanding to be with him forever. At midnight, he takes her hand and she instantly dies. Together, hand in hand, they walk into the distant light, as she exclaims, confirming what she has always divined: "Love is stronger than Death".

Roles and original cast

Musical numbers

Awards and nominations

Original Off-Broadway production
Year Award Category Nominee Result
2012 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Nominated
Outstanding Book of a Musical Peter Stone and Thomas Meehan Nominated
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Kevin Earley Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Matt Cavenaugh Nominated
Outstanding Director of a Musical Doug Hughes Nominated
Outstanding Music Maury Yeston Nominated
Outstanding Lyrics Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations Larry Hochman Nominated
Outstanding Costume Design Catherine Zuber Nominated
Outstanding Lighting Design Kenneth Posner Nominated
Outstanding Sound Design Jon Weston Nominated
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References
  1. Isherwood, Charles. "Set Aside That Scythe, and Let’s Put on a Show", The New York Times, July 21, 2011
  2. Suskin, Steven. "On the Record. Maury Yeston's 'Death Takes a Holiday' and the London Album of Styne, Comden and Green's 'Do Re Mi'", Playbill.com, October 20, 2011
  3. Sod, Ted. "Interview with the Composer & Lyricist Maury Yeston", Roundabout Theatre, accessed April 29, 2012
  4. "Interview With Maury Yeston"
  5. Healy, Patrick. "Star Departs Roundabout’s Death Takes a Holiday", The New York Times, August 3, 2011
  6. Bacalzo, Dan. Kevin Earley to Sing Lead Role on Death Takes a Holiday Cast Album" Theatermania.com, August 5, 2011
  7. Isherwood, Charles. "Set Aside That Scythe, and Let’s Put on a Show", The New York Times, July 21, 2011, accessed April 29, 2012
  8. Zoglin, Richard. "The Best of 2011: Theater", Time magazine, December 19, 2011 issue, p. 77
  9. "2012 Drama Desk Nominees and Winners" Archived August 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, DramaDeskAwards.com, accessed June 4, 2012
  10. Hitchings, Henry. "Death Takes a Holiday, theatre review: Musical romance with a distinctly Gothic flavour", Evening Standard, January 24, 2017
  11. "Sunday Express", January 29, 2017
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