CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN MUSIC, DANCE, AND FILM 733created by Americans! As too often is the case, it seems miraculous that this clas-
sic of musical theater was ever produced. The stars, Zero Mostel and Phil Sil-
vers, at first didn't want to do it (because it was "old shtick"); there was trou-
ble with directors and writers, who withdrew for all sorts of reasons. The musical
opened in New Haven to disastrous reviews but was a triumph on Broadway
and became a superb movie.
Stephen Sondheim also wrote the score for The Frogs, Burt Shevelove's adap-
tation of Aristophanes' Frogs (1974) starring Larry Blyden and featuring, as Cho-
rus members, Meryl Streep, Christopher Durang, and Sigourney Weaver, staged
by the Yale Repertory Theatre in the Yale swimming pool.^27
The Happiest Girl in the World (1961) is based ("with a bow to Aristophanes
and Bulfinch") very loosely upon the Lysistrata. The musical comedy becomes
mythological indeed as a result of the inclusion of the deities Diana and Pluto.
Although the essential idea concerning Lysistrata's scheme for ending the war
by abstaining from sexual relations with the men remains firmly intact, this Ly-
sistrata is no longer truly Aristophanic but merely "naughty but nice," in the
spirit of the operettas of Offenbach; in fact a potpourri of Offenbach's tunes has
been adapted to provide the musical score. The clever lyrics are by E. L. Har-
burg, famous for other musicals and, in particular, for the Academy Award-win-
ning song "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz.
One of the most creative of modern musical adaptations is The Golden Ap-
ple, designated significantly as a musical play. The text by John Latouche and
music by Jerome Moross received great acclaim and indeed won the Drama Crit-
ics Award for the best musical of the 1953-1954 season. This colorful retelling
of the legend of the Trojan War is set in the United States at the turn of the twen-
tieth century and is both serious and comic—all in all, pure Americana. The
scene is the small town of Angels' Roost (in the state of Washington, famous
both for Mt. Olympus and for apples), where the rich old sheriff Menelaus has
married Helen, a sexy and bored farmer's daughter. (The langorous ballad "Lazy
Afternoon," sung by the original Helen, Kaye Ballard, was a highlight). The lo-
cal heroes have returned from the Spanish-American War; and Ulysses, in par-
ticular, is happily reunited with his faithful wife, Penelope. A county fair and a
church social are organized to celebrate the homecoming, and the women bring
their cakes and pies to be judged in a contest. Jealous old Mother Hare con-
tributes the golden apple ("symbol of our proud state of Washington"). Just in
time, a young and attractive traveling salesman named Paris descends in a bal-
loon to act as "impartial" judge and award the apple to Lovey Mars, wife of a
military man and vehement about utilizing her flair for matchmaking.
Paris runs off with Helen to nearby Rhododendron, but Ulysses and his men
track her down and send her home in disgrace. They themselves dally in the big
city to face numerous temptations, among them Madame Calypso, a most scan-
dalous hostess, and Circe, the woman without mercy who turns water into gin
and men into swine. Of course, Ulysses realizes the folly of his ways and, like