Background and Production
Jones and Schmidt's previous work included the long-running Off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks and the more-mainstream Broadway musicals 110 in the Shade and I Do! I Do!.
Celebration is played on a set consisting of bare platforms, masks serving as the primary costumes, and a score played by a nine-piece band instead of a full-sized theatre orchestra. There are four main roles (a narrator, a young woman (Angel), a young man (Orphan) and a wealthy old man (Rich)) and a chorus, the Revelers, who play various roles. "At the musical's core is the struggle between youth and old age, innocence and corruption, love and ambition, and poverty and wealth, as Angel tries to decide if she would be better served by her feelings for Orphan or Rich's willingness to fulfill her every dream."
Celebration opened on Broadway on January 22, 1969 at the Ambassador Theatre, and closed on April 26, 1969 after 109 performances and thirteen previews. Directed by Jones and choreographed by Vernon Lusby, the cast featured Ted Thurston as Rich, Susan Watson as Angel and Keith Charles as Potemkin, with Michael Glenn-Smith as Orphan. Ed Wittstein did the scenic design, costumes, and lighting.
Read more about this topic: Celebration (musical)
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