Lend Me a Tenor (musical): History and Key Facts

Lend Me A Tenor is a musical with book and Lyrics by Peter Sham and music by Brad Carroll. The musical is based on the 1986 play of the same name by Ken Ludwig. There are several notable changes from the play turning it into a full-on musical comedy. Changes include major plot revisions between Tito Merrelli (opera star) and Saunders (opera director), eliminating Frank the Bellhop (one of the lead roles in the play), adding the role of Bernie, the stage manager, expanding the role of Julia into a musical trio of Saunders' three ex-wives, upping the mistaken identity farce from two to the magic number of three and making every character more three-dimensional than the original play. Perhaps the most important change the musical made to the play is the substitution of the opera within the musical, from Otello to Pagliacci; this change removes questionable elements from Ludwig's play, raising the hilarity to three men running around as opera clowns (Canios) rather than dressed as Otellos. Mr. Ludwig has gone on to appropriate Sham & Carroll's substitution idea in a subsequent revision of his play.

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