I just saw this news in Variety and, bless my gooseberry pie, I think it might be magic in the making! Ladies, gentlemen and hogs, Green Acres may be coming to Broadway.
As a kid, I was completely in love with Green Acres. I’d tune in on Nick at Night every evening after school and relish the hilarity as Oliver (Eddie Albert) tried to get Lisa (Eva Gabor) to enjoy country life in Hooterville after thriving as one of NYC’s elite.
According to Variety, the production is being planned by “legit and film production company Hemisphere Two and Richard L. Bare, who helmed more than 165 episodes of the show. Bare said he has penned an initial draft of the book; Richard Chapman (Simon and Simon), one of the principals of Hemisphere Two, and E. Jack Kaplan are onboard to rewrite. In Bare’s draft, the storyline of the musical picks up as if it were another episode of the series.”
Now, naysayers will say “Nay! Why can’t we have an original musical. Something not based off of a movie or TV show?” I say, “Yay!” Why not enjoy a little nostalgia? IF it is done well. Do I assume Green Acres: The Musical will be an amazing show? Not really? Pulitzer material? Probably not? Will it be fun? Probably… if only for the camp factor and the chance to slip into something comfortable (i.e. childhood memories of absurdist television).
This is all IF the show happens at all. Broadway is nothing if not fickle and shows often announce plans to make it to the Great White Way only to disappear into the ether. But in the classic words of Lisa Douglas, “New York is where I’d rather stay!” So why not try to give it a go with Green Acres? I for one would LOVE a campy, comedic song in which Mr. Haney colloquially elaborates on his wagon full of wares.
Tommy Karr 