I apologize for missing a few of BK's blogs over the past few weeks, but I've been mostly tied up with my move.
However, today I read (probably old news for most) that BK is going to release the score for ILLYA DARLING...which brings back a personal memory.
When that show was nominated for several Tony's, composer Manos Hatzidakis hired me to set up a press conference, so that he could refuse his nomination. [He had already won an Oscar for the main song in the movie version, NEVER ON SUNDAY.]
For the life of me, I can't recall his reasons for refusing the nomination, but the Tony people didn't take his name off of the list, nor did he win.
I recall that Manos spoke very little English and that his translator was Stathis Giallelis (AMERICA, AMERICA).
The 1967-68 season was one of the weakest in Tony history. None of the four nominated shows ended up being a hit and actually all ran less than a year and had huge losses (for the time): HALLELUJAH BABY (the winner), THE HAPPY TIME (which should have won), HOW NOW DOW JONES, and ILLYA DARLING.
I love the score for THE HAPPY TIME. I saw the show with Goulet/Wayne...and a very young Michael Rupert...when it tried out here before going to New York. I think they cut/replaced one number for Broadway.
I saw the show in NYC at the cavernous Broadway Theatre. I think it was the first Broadway show I ever went to (going back to 1958) that there were lots of seats along the side sections that were empty, so I knew watching it that the show hadn't caught on. I fell instantly in love with the charismatic Goulet, and was so very impressed with Michael Rupert's touching, sincere portrayal. David Wayne, of course, stole all of his scenes and numbers.
I adored it, and still consider it one of the most criminally underrated Broadway shows ever. I think Gower Champion misread the material and tried to turn it into a HELLO DOLLY supermusical instead of the smaller almost chamber piece it was. I'm convinced if it had played at, say, the Music Box or even a smaller theater like the Booth, it would have had a long, happy run. But it was too small a show for the huge Broadway Theatre.