Big band: the original orchestra for Hazel Flagg comprised 30-40 musicians

A University of Sheffield scholar has staged the European premiere of a long-forgotten American musical as part of a project combining research, teaching, outreach and postgraduate supervision.

Dominic McHugh, lecturer in musicology, is an expert on the Broadway musical. Following a study of My Fair Lady, he is now working on a book about Jule Styne (1905-94), the composer of dozens of songs featuring in musicals, including classics such as Funny Girl, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Gypsy. His songs include Diamonds Are a Girl¡¯s Best Friend, Let It Snow! and Three Coins in the Fountain.

Since Styne was active from the 1940s to the 1990s, Dr McHugh said there are inevitably ¡°a number of forgotten gems¡±. One was the Tony Award-winning 1953 musical Hazel Flagg, which ran for a ¡°disappointing but not embarrassing¡± 190 performances, despite a team that included Ben Hecht (screenwriter of Gone With the Wind) and Bob Hilliard (lyricist of Disney¡¯s Alice in Wonderland).

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At the time, the score of a show that ¡°didn¡¯t have the legs¡± for a national tour and a London run was not published; it was just taken out of the orchestra pit and put in a box. Despite being notable for ¡°missing pages, crossings out, scribbles¡±, it found its way to the US Library of Congress, and was reconstructed as part of a research degree by student Matthew Malone.

This will lead to a full-scale performing edition of the musical (complete with a long essay on its genesis by Dr McHugh and variants in an appendix), which others can revive.

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The process of reconstruction has left Dr McHugh ¡°amazed by how lively the show is and how much dramatic pressure there is¡±. He was also struck by the topicality of its theme of ¡°living with the consequences of celebrity¡±.

Mr Malone conducted costumed and semi-staged performances of Hazel Flagg in Sheffield¡¯s Firth Hall on 2 and 3 December. The cast of 20 and 34 musicians were all students, many on Dr McHugh¡¯s course.

¡°We needed to stage it to see what works,¡± he explained, hoping that they will be able to feed back their findings into their edition of the score. But they are also ¡°interested in recreating the original orchestration, an authentic 1950s sound with 30-40 musicians¡± (something no longer viable in commercial productions), since ¡°people are not used to hearing such music played like that, with so much more orchestral colour¡±.

Student participation is voluntary, but Dr McHugh still sees these productions as ¡°embedded into my module on the Broadway musical¡± and an excellent way of ¡°taking learning beyond the classroom¡±.

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matthew.reisz@tesglobal.com