Juno
A Musical in 2 Acts, a Prologue and 16 Scenes. Book by Joseph Stein. Based on the play Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey. Music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein.
Dances and musical numbers staged by Agnes de Mille. Scenery designed by Oliver Smith. Costumes by Irene Sharaff. Lighting by Peggy Clark. Music direction, Robert Emmett Dolan. Orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett, Marc Blitzstein, Hershy Kay. Associate producer, Lyn Austin. Directed by José Ferrer. Produced by The Playwrights' Company, Oliver Smith and Oliver Rea.
Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway - Opened 9th March, 1959 : closed 21st March, 1959 (16 perfs)
Story
The Boyle family, "Captain" Jack, his wife Juno, their son Johnny and daughter Mary, live in the squalor of a two-room Dublin tenement in the twenties. Neither the "Captain", a drunken, malingering former seaman, nor Johnny, horribly wounded fighting for the IRA, do any work at all. This is left to Juno and Mary.
Their lives are considerably brightened up when Charles Bentham, a dapper young schoolmaster, brings news that the "Captain" has inherited a tidy sum. When Bentham sets out to court Mary, and the tenement is refurbished on credit, Juno believes that their fortunes have at last changed.
Unfortunately, the young Bentham is mainly interested in Mary's prospects, and so when he discovers an error in his own drafting of the will that was to have provided the inheritance, which will mean that the Boyle's are penniless, he flees to London leaving Mary pregnant. Her disgrace is quickly followed by the repossession of the furniture and then, disastrously, by Johnny's execution for betraying the Republican cause.
The "Captain" reacts to these reverses with his usual drunken self-pity, finally driving Juno to leave him behind as she and Mary leave Dublin to find a new life.
Musical Numbers
- Prologue - We're Alive - Ensemble
- I Wish It So - Mary Boyle
- Song of the Ma - Juno Boyle
- We Can Be Proud - Foley, Sullivan, Michael Brady, Paddy Coyne
- Daarlin' Man - "Captain" Jack Boyle, "Joxer" Daly, Ensemble
- One Kind Word - Jerry Devine
- Old Sayin's - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle
- What Is the Stars? - "Captain" Jack Boyle, "Joxer" Daly
- Old Sayin's (reprise) - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle
- You Poor Thing - Mrs. Madigan, Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Coyne and Miss Quinn
- Dublin Night (Ballet) - Johnny Boyle, Molly and Ensemble (Ballet Music by Mule Rittman and Marc Blitzstein.)
- My True Heart - Mary Boyle and Charlie Bentham
- On a Day Like This (Finale Act 1) - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle, Ensemble
- Jig
- Slip Jig
- Shillelagh Dance
- Jig - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle, Ensemble
- Bird Upon the Tree -
Juno Boyle, Mary Boyle
- The Party
a) Music in the House - "Captain" Jack Boyle, Ensemble
b) It's Not Irish (Gramophone) - Foley
c) It's Not Irish (Quartet) - Foley, Sullivan, Michael Brady, "Captain" Jack Boyle
d) The Liffey Waltz - Ensemble - Hymn - I.R.A. Singer
- Johnny (Ballet) (Ballet Music by Marc Blitzstein.) - Johnny Boyle, Molly
- You Poor Thing (reprise) -
Mrs. Madigan, Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Coyne and Miss Quinn
- For Love - Mary Boyle
- One Kind Word (reprise) - Jerry Devine
- Where? - Juno Boyle
- Finale Act 2 - Juno Boyle, Mary Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle, "Joxer" Daly
Original CAST
(in order of appearance):
- Mary Boyle: Monte Amundsen
- Johnny Boyle: Tommy Rall
- Juno Boyle: Shirley Booth
- Jerry Devine: Loren Driscoll.
- Mrs. Madigan: Jean Stapleton
- Mrs. Brady: Nancy Andrews
- Mrs. Coyne: Sada Thompson
- Miss Quinn: Beulah Garrick
- Charlie Bentham: Earl Hammond
- Foley: Arthur Rubin
- Sullivan: Rico Froehlich
- Michael Brady: Robert Rue
- Paddy Coyne: Julian Patrick
- "Captain" Jack Boyle: Melvyn Douglas
- "Joxer" Daly: Jack MacCowran
- Molly: Gemze dc Lappe
- "Needle" Nugent: Liam Lenihan
- I.R.A. Men: Tom Clancy, Jack Murray
- Mrs. Tancred: Clarice Blackburn
- Mrs. Dwyer: Betty Low.
- I.R.A. Singer: Robert Hoyem
- Furniture Removal Men: George Ritner, Frank Carroll. Policeman: Rico Froehlich.
- Singers: Anne Fielding, Cleo Fry, Pat Huddleston, Gail Johnston, Barbara Lockard, Pat Ruhl, Diana Sennett, Joanne Spiller, Frank Carroll, Ted Forlow, Rico Froehlich, Robert Hoyem, Jack Murray, Julian Patrick, George Ritner, Robert Rue, James Tushar. Dancers: Sharog Enoch, Mickey Gunnersen, Pat Heyes, Rosemary Jourdan, Annabelle Lyon, Marjorie Wittmer, Jenny Workman, Chuck Bennett, Ted Forlow,Curtis Hood, Scott Hunter, Eugene Kelton, James Maher, Enrique Martinez, Howard Parker, Jim Ryan, Glen Tetley.
Scenes and Settings
The action takes place in Dublin, 1921.
- Prologue: The street in front of the Boyle home. Early evening in summer.
Act I
- Scene 1: The Boyle home.
- Scene 2: Another street.
- Scene 3: The street and Foley's bar.
- Scene 4: A park square.
- Scene 5: The Boyle home.
- Scene 6: Another street.
- Scene 7: A square in the city.
- Scene 8: A park square. Evening, a few days later.
- Scene 9: The street.
Act 2
- Scene 1: The Boyle home. Evening, a few days later.
- Scene 2: The yard behind the house.
- Scene 3: A street.
- Scene 4: The Boyle home.
- Scene 5: A park square.
- Scene 6: The Boyle home.
- Scene 7: The street and Foley's bar.