Word: shangri
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...Shangri-La (based on James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon; music by Harry Warren; book and lyrics by James Hilton, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee) is not what it was under Hilton management. It was obviously tempting to make a musical of James Hilton's famous story about plane-wrecked Occidentals discovering an Asian Utopia where life is serene, desires are moderate, people mellow. But there is possibly something more than just comic about using a Broadway musical to portray serenity and moderation. There is something truly misguided: a Broadway musical is one of the very...
...musical, Shangri-La takes itself very seriously. James Hilton, apparently started out with the feeling that a number of ideas, all found in the Hilton novel Lost Horizon on which the musical is based, were important and should be expressed. Undoubtedly these ideas, ranging from the brotherhood of man through the value of moderation to the evils of mechanized civilization, have a profound importance. The first concern of the stage, however, is human personality and not abstract philosophy. Philosophical ideas get a valid dramatic statement only so long as they illuminate some dilemma in which the people on stage find...
...dull. Supprisingly enough, much the same is true for Martyn Green, who pays one of the monks. The star of many Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, Green has demonstrated in the past that he is one of the finest, if not the finest, of the singing comedians working today. But Shangri-La, for the most part a determinedly serious show, gives him no chance at all to display his comic talents. The only real honors go to Susan Cabot, as the missionary. A talented comedienne with a large voice, she does remarkably much with her shoddy material...
...only one department does Shangri-La achieve any sort of success: the fine sets designed by Peter Larkin and the costumes of Irene Sharaff make it one of the most handsome musicals ever. Yet it is still a failure, mostly because its authors were content to use the stage as little more than a lecture platform...
...Shangri-La opened last night at the Shubert. The new musical is based upon the novel "Lost Horizon." Boston reviewers gave pleasant reviews, the CRIMSON will pan it next week. Shows at 8:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday...