Simply Heavenly: History and Key Facts

Simply Heavenly is a musical comedy with book and lyrics by Langston Hughes and music by David Martin, based on Hughes' novel Simple Takes A Wife and other Simple stories.

The story is concerned with Jess Simple, an honest, easy-going man trying to raise enough money to divorce a wife he does not love in order to marry his new love while attempting unsuccessfully to escape a “hussy” called Zarita, who is bent on leading him astray. In the background are the many aspects of Harlem at the time—its jazz, its humor, and the universal problems of paying the rent and buying a shot of gin.

It was first produced Off-Broadway at the 85th Street Playhouse for 44 performances from May 21, 1957, before transferring to the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway for 62 performances from August 20, 1957. A London West End production played at the Adelphi Theatre, running for 16 performances from 20 May 1958.

The musical was revived by the Young Vic in London in March to April 2003. Its West End transfer at the Trafalgar Studios from October 2004 to May 2005 was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Simply Heavenly by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.