British musical revived for 2005

NEW YORK -- Sandy Wilson describes his fascination, some might say obsession, quite simply.\n"The 1920s impinged on me as a child and have remained with me ever since," the composer states with crisp understatement.\nIt was responsible for, among other things, "The Boy Friend," an endearing trifle of a show that became the most frequently performed and revived British musical during the 1950s. Before "Cats," "Les Miserables" and even "Oliver!", Wilson's sweet tale of girl meets boy -- for which he wrote book, music and lyrics -- was a success in London, New York and around the world.\nNow the show is back in a major revival -- first at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., through Sept. 25, and then on a six-month North American tour. And the director is the woman who originated the role of Wilson's heroine, Polly, in the 1954 Broadway production, Julie Andrews.\nIf the star is now better known than the man who made her New York debut possible, the composer holds a special place in the history of musical theater.\n"Wilson is at the very top of the list of British musical theater writers of the postwar period," says historian and critic Ken Mandelbaum, author of "Not Since Carrie."\n"`The Boy Friend' is a perfectly realized spoof, written with wit, affection and great style."\n "The Boy Friend" was born in the early 1950s at the suggestion of Wilson's good friend, actress Diana Maddox. Wilson, who had been writing material for revues, was asked to compose a short piece for the Players Theatre, which specialized in presenting Victorian musicals. It was a smash. A full-length version, equally successful, soon followed and then a move to London's West End.\n"I was under no sort of pressure," he says. The production was only going to last three weeks and Wilson was only earning a few dollars. "I felt, 'This is all that I ever wanted to do. Let's just have fun and enjoy it.' I had no idea what was going to happen. Not at all."\nWhat happened was a run of more than five years, a successful Broadway engagement and even a movie sale to MGM for a film that was not made until 1971.\nThe Broadway production was not a happy experience for Wilson, barred from rehearsals after a disagreement with the American producers over the show's direction. And Wilson describes the movie, directed by Ken Russell and starring Twiggy, by saying, "It wasn't painful. It was just astonishing."\nExpecting to be shocked, he sneaked into a midnight preview before the opening. "I have seen many Ken Russell films, and they are always outrageous and scandalous -- the devil in the nude or something like that. Twiggy was the only sort of human being in it."\nSo far in 2005, about 150 productions of the show have been licensed by Music Theatre International, a licensing company for stage musicals. The show has averaged about 100 productions a year in the United States for the last five years, mostly amateur productions, says Richard Salfas, MTI's director of international licensing. That's similar to other, much better-known shows from the 1950s such as "The Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees." \n"Vida Hope, who directed the original, was convinced it was going to be a tremendous success ... I didn't believe her. I still don't. But that was 50 years ago, and it's still going strong"