Pipe Dream (musical) - Writing and Casting

Writing and Casting

Steinbeck continued to write in late 1953 while Hammerstein and Rodgers went to London to produce the West End production of The King and I. As Hammerstein received new material from Steinbeck, he and Rodgers began to map out the musical, conceiving scenes and deciding where songs should be placed. On January 1, 1954, following the completion of Steinbeck's novel, Hammerstein began to write dialogue and lyrics. Sweet Thursday was published in early 1954 to mixed reviews. Steinbeck later commented, "Some of the critics are so concerned for my literary position that they can't read a book of mine without worrying where it will fit in my place in history. Who gives a damn?" By that time, Rodgers and Hammerstein were busy producing the film version of Oklahoma!.

For the part of bordello-keeper Fauna, the duo fixed on the famous diva, Helen Traubel. There was precedent for such casting—former opera star Ezio Pinza had starred as suave Frenchman Emile de Becque in South Pacific, and had received rave reviews for his performance. Traubel, in addition to being well-known for her Wagnerian roles, was also noted for her nightclub singing. In 1953, the new Metropolitan Opera impresario, Rudolf Bing, feeling that she was lowering the tone of the house, declined to renew her contract. Hammerstein had seen Traubel at her first appearance at the Copacabana nightclub in New York, and afterwards had gone backstage to predict to Traubel that she would be coming straight to Broadway. He saw her show again in Las Vegas several months later, and offered her the part. When offered the role, Traubel eagerly accepted, though she later noted that she had never represented herself as much of an actress.

From the beginning of the project, Feuer and Martin wanted Henry Fonda to play Doc. The actor put in months of lessons in an attempt to bring his voice up to standard. Fonda later stated that at the end of six months of singing lessons, he "still couldn't sing for shit". Following his first audition for Rodgers, Fonda asked the composer for his honest view, and Rodgers stated, "I'm sorry, it would be a mistake."

Cy Feuer remembered:

So finally, after we go through all this, we turn over to Rodgers and Hammerstein and he's out. Oscar didn't want Fonda because Fonda was his son-in-law and besides Dick said, "I have to have singers," and he hires Helen Traubel to play the madam and she turns out to get top billing and Doc is now the second lead!

The duo eventually settled for William Johnson, who had played the male lead in a touring company of Annie Get Your Gun, which they had produced, to play the role of Doc.

There are conflicting accounts of who was the first choice for the role of the itinerant prostitute, Suzy. By some accounts, Rodgers and Hammerstein attempted to get Julie Andrews, only to find that she had just signed a two-year contract to appear in a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, tentatively titled My Lady Liza. Andrews's role, as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, would launch her to stardom. Another candidate was Janet Leigh, whom Rodgers admired greatly, but the actress proved to be unavailable. The producers settled on Judy Tyler, auditioned after Rodgers spotted her on television while watching The Howdy Doody Show, in which she appeared as Princess Summerfall Winterspring.

To direct the play, the duo engaged Harold Clurman, noted for his work in drama and one of the founders of the Group Theatre. Jo Mielziner, veteran of several Rodgers and Hammerstein productions, was the stage designer. In contrast to the complex staging of Me and Juliet, Mielziner's sets were uncomplicated, a system of house-frame outlines in front of backdrops representing Monterey. Boris Runanin was the choreographer, Robert Russell Bennett provided orchestrations, and Salvatore Dell'Isola conducted. The two producers had hoped to hire the prestigious Majestic Theatre, where South Pacific had run, but the writing process took too long, and the Majestic was lost to Fanny. Instead, they booked the Shubert Theatre, in the top rank of Broadway theatres, but not as prestigious as the Majestic. Uniquely for their joint work, they solicited no backers, but underwrote the entire cost themselves. Feuer later said of the bargain he and Martin had made with Rodgers and Hammerstein, "And the deal was pretty good: 50 percent of the producers' end. And we thought, We're rich! And we turned it over to them and they destroyed it."