Background and Productions
Tynan had hoped that Harold Pinter would direct the production, in order to give it avant-garde legitimacy, but Pinter declined. Sketches were written by, amongst others, Nobel prize winner Samuel Beckett, John Lennon, Sam Shepard, Leonard Melfi, Edna O'Brien, Jules Feiffer, and Tynan himself, and featured the cast naked. Peter Schickele (aka "PDQ Bach"), Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden were the revue's composers, known as The Open Window. Beckett's contribution, Breath, was not used, but his name was still used in advertising.
The musical opened off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre on June 17, 1969, transferred to the Belasco Theatre on February 17, 1971, and closed on August 12, 1972 after a total of 1,314 performances. It was directed by Jacques Levy (the songwriting partner of Bob Dylan on his album Desire), choreographed by Margo Sappington, and the cast were: Raina Barrett, Mark Dempsey, Katie Drew-Wilkinson, Boni Enten, Bill Macy, Alan Rachins, Leon Russom, Margo Sappington, Nancy Tribush and George Welbes, as well as the 3 "Open Window" composers.
The musical premiered in London on July 27, 1970 at the Roundhouse Theatre and transferred to the West End Royalty Theatre on September 30, 1970 running through January 27, 1974. The show then transferred to the Duchess Theatre on January 28, 1974, where it ran until 1980 for a total of 3,918 performances.
A revival opened on Broadway at the Edison Theatre on September 24, 1976 and closed on August 6, 1989 after 5,959 performances, again directed and choreographed by Levy and Sappington. The revival briefly became the longest-running show in Broadway history. It remains Broadway's seventh longest-running show and the longest-running revue in Broadway history.
A pay-per-view video production played on closed-circuit TV in select cities in 1971, and was released theatrically in 1972; in both cases many cities and municipalities banned its showing. Frank Herold, an editor who worked on the film, provides commentary on this in a brief post he contributed to the project's IMDB page.
The Spanish language premiere production opened on October 9, 1977 at Teatro Principe in Madrid, Spain, directed by Juan Jose Alonso Millan, who also translated the show.
Read more about this topic: Oh! Calcutta!
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