Production History
In 1969, The Muny in St. Louis presented the world stage premiere of State Fair starring Ozzie and Harriet Nelson with Ron Husmann, Jerry Lanning, Bonnie Schon, Carol Richards, Tom Pedi, Tommy Tune and Lawrence Leritz (stage debut) in the children's chorus. The production was directed by James Hammerstein, supervised by Richard Rodgers and also choreographed by Tommy Tune. Additional songs included in this production were three from "Me & Juliet"; "It's Me!", "Keep It Gay" and "Marriage Type Love" and a new one, "Away From Home."
In 1992 a new stage adaptation, by Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli, was produced as part of the Broadway Preview Series at the North Carolina School of the Arts. The show played at the Stevens Center in Winston-Salem from July 17-August 16, 1992. From North Carolina, the show moved to Long Beach Civic Light Opera in October 1992. A re-staging of the 1992 version received a lengthy national tour, opening at the 1995 Iowa State Fair at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines on August 12.
The Broadway production, co-directed by James Hammerstein (Oscar's son) and Randy Skinner and choreographed by Skinner opened on March 27, 1996 at the Music Box Theatre, where it ran for 110 performances and eight previews. It was the final show produced by the legendary David Merrick. The cast included, as the Frake family John Davidson as Abel, Kathryn Crosby as Melissa, Andrea McArdle as Margy, and Ben Wright as Wayne, with Donna McKechnie (Emily) and Scott Wise (Pat) as the love interests. Susan Egan took over the role of Margy part way through the run when McArdle broke her ankle in June 1996. The set design was by James Leonard Joy, the costume design by Michael Bottari and Ronald Case, and the lighting design was by Natasha Katz.
On 3 August 2010, the Finborough Theatre production opened at London's Trafalgar Studios 2, starring Philip Rham, Karl Clarkson, Laura Main and Susan Travers. The show opened to generally positive reviews with The Guardian quoting "It's a great night out, and as exhilarating as a hoedown". Due to excess demand the original closing date of 29 August was extended two weeks to 11 September.
Read more about this topic: State Fair (musical)
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