Based on Bernard Shaw's Caesar & Cleopatra
With Priscilla Lopez, Brenda Silas-Moore, Ron Raines,
Jack Eddleman, Matt Leahy, Bryan Miller

Cast
Julius Caesar - Richard Kiley
Cleopatra-Leslie Uggams
Rufio-Ron Raines
Iras -Priscilla Lopez
Ftatateeta Brenda Silas-Moore
Britannus-Jack Eddleman
Apollodorus-Matt Leahy
Pothinus/Centurion-Brian Miller
Ptolemy -Grace Ann Wall
Roman Soldiers/Egyptians-D.C. Anderson/ John Deluise/ Mark Miller
Hand Maidens/ Egyptians-Maureen Davis/ Roberta Wall/Diane Bucy-Wallace

Her First Roman –Synopsis

Act One

It is night in the Egyptian desert, somewhere near Alexandria.  From the invading Roman army we hear the timeless song of the unknown soldier (Opening/What Are We Doing In Egypt?).  In the darkness, their leader Julius Caesar (Richard Kiley) pays homage to what he mistakenly believes to be the great Sphinx (Song of the Sphinx).  In reality, it is a little Sphinx and asleep in it's shadows is the adolescent Cleopatra (Leslie Uggams).  The young Queen does not recognize the Roman conqueror ass she confides in him (Save Me From Caesar).  Later at the palace, Cleopatra has quite ordinary romantic fantasies… with only slight departures (Many Young Men From Now).
Caesar appears at the council chamber of Cleopatra's little brother Ptomely.  He is threatened by Pothinus, the power behind the throne.  Surrounded by hostile forces, Caesar reveals a complex personality (When My Back is To The Wall).  Caesar is now a force which must be dealt with.  Ftatateeta (Brenda Silas-Moore), Cleopatra's nurse and slave, lectures her on how to make Caesar her hostage (Pleasure Him).
Caesar general, Rufio (Ron Raines), and the Roman soldier boast of their sexual prowess to Iras (Priscilla Lopez) and Cleopatra's handmaiden; Caesar's British slave Britannus (Jack Eddleman) knows better (Her First Roman).
As the Egyptian army against Caesar grows, he retreated to a lighthouse at Alexandria.  Cleopatra cunningly plans to join Caesar and wraps herself in a carpet for delivery (Magic Carpet).  Meanwhile in the lighthouse, Caesar expresses his greatest aspirations which masquerades as a love song to a city (Rome).  Rufio confirms Caesar's suspicion that he is romantically over-the-hill (The Dangerous Age).  The Greek merchant Apollodorus (Matt Leahy) delivers Cleopatra at Caesar's Feet just as the Egyptian army attacks.  To escape, Cleopatra must do what she has never done before…swim! (The Things We Think We Are).  One by one they jump off the parapet into the sea-Cleopatra helped by Rufio's Boot!

Act Two

Back at the Palace, Britannus learns thing about Caesar and Cleopatra that shock his sensibilities (Her First Roman: Reprise).  Iras and the handmaidens gossip about the supposed affair between the 16 year old Cleopatra and the balding, 50ish Caesar as the Queen overhears (Parable Of the Monkey).  Cleopatra confesses to her enemy Pothinus that she has not succeeded in capturing Caesar's heart.  Caesar reflects that he is much more involved with the young Queen than she imagines (I Cannot Make Him Jealous/I Can't Help Feeling Jealous).  Cleopatra reveals the Classic fascination of a worldly, older man for an ingenuous girl, Queen or no Queen (The Wrong Man).  Suspecting danger to her royal ward, Ftatateeta begs Cleopatra to continue to be guided by her (Let Me Lead The Way).  Insulted by Pothinus, headstrong Cleopatra demands that Ftatateeta prove her loyalty by killing him.
At a rooftop party given in Caesar's honor, he and his companions sing as light, philosophical drinking song (In Vino Veritas).  Rufio leads the company in a rowdy soldier's song, well remembered by Caesar and Britannus, who is now quite plastered on Falnerian wine (Evil Companions).
As they hear Pothinus' death cries, the Egyptians riot.  Rufio discover Ftatateeta is the assassin and in retaliation he kills her.  Troubled and regretful, Cleopatra wishes for simpler times.  She finds her nurse's body and realizes that she is responsible for her death. Bravely she accepts her role as Queen (Just For Today).
The Roman army is departing, Caesar bids Rufio to remain and watch over Cleopatra is reunited with Caesar and they are on their way to Rome (Finale Ultimo)
 

[notes]

About Her First Roman
By Robert Mcgarity

Her first Roman opened in New York at the Lunt-Fontanne theatre On October 20, 1968.  It closed there, 17 performances later.  The show had been through a difficult out-of-town tryout.  The original director, Michael Benthall was fired and replaced by Derek Goldby. The choreographer was fired and replaced.  Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick were brought in to write new songs for the show.  They wrote three-"Ptomely", "Old Gentleman" and "Caesar Is Wrong". Mr. Goldby eliminated a huge portion of Ervin Drakes' score and replaced sections of his book with passages directly from Shaw source.  By the time the show reached New York, it was a patchwork of music and styles.  It was not a good show when it hit Broadway.  For this recording we are returning to the original concept of the show's creator, Ervin Drake.  Wee restored six songs which had been cut by opening night-"When My Back Is To The Wall", "Pleasure Him", "Parable of the Monkey", "The Wrong Man", "Let Me Lead The Way" and "I Fell in With Evil Companions". You will not find the Bock/Harwick songs here. They are good songs, but they belong to a different recording.  Hopefully they will be preserved in the future.
The songs are arranged in their original order determined by Ervin Drake's book.  He has written new verses for "Magic Carpet", "The Dangerous Age", "Her First Roman: Reprise" and "Let Me Lead The Way". Caesar's verse "I can't Help Feeling Jealous" is heard here for the first time.  It was never used in the show.  It is a marvelously revealing moment for Caesar.  So, here is Her First Roman as it might have come into New York had circumstances been different.  This is Ervin Drake's Her First Roman.  Here are all his songs presented in their correct order for the first time and sung by the original stars of the show, Richard Kiley and Leslie Uggams.  Priscilla Lopez, the original understudy for Iras, Joins this cast to sing a role she never got to sing during the run of the show.
Enjoy.

In Praise of Howard, Walker and Drake
by Wayne Moore

Peter Howard, the original musical director for Her First Roman, supervised my initiation to Ervin Drake's score.  Before rehearsals for this recording began, her played through the entire score and shared his experience with it for us.  His suggestions enabled us to approach the score from a "first hand "source.  His generosity greatly contributed to the success of this recording.  Thank You, Mr. Howard.
We were fortunate that the original Don Walker orchestrations for this show had survived.  They had been patiently boxed and were waiting for us in Mr. Drake's garage.  Don Walker had previously orchestrated Carousel and the Music Man.  His work was part revealed.  Motifs for characters give the scores cohesion and continuity.  We found numerous innovations.  The string section consisted of only five celli and a harp.  A Roman battle horn, a "Buchina", was "Recreated" using modern instruments.  A choir was placed in the orchestra on stage as part of the chorus.  Although we found the orchestrations in good shape, there were curious gaps throughout the score.  The battle scars of a musical in trouble "Out of Town" were evident.  WE based this recording on the conductor's score.  It frequently had different keys, tempos and measure numbers from the original orchestration found in the bottom of boxes became guideposts in healing this score. Working with these orchestrations provided a rare opportunity to explore the inner working of a Broadway score from the closest possible source. The warmest thanks to Mr. Walker for a joyous journey. working with Ervin Drake revealed him as poet, philosopher and punster. His music is rich and lush. Never taking the expected path, his lyrics are clever, profound and amazingly true to the style of Shaw. The music lyrics for this work are completely correct. We never tired of working with theme in the studio. For the opportunity to explore your music, we thank you Mr. Drake.

HIS SECOND ROMAN… or the second coming of Her First Roman…
by Ervin Drake

Well, gratitude must first be expressed to Robert Mcgarity, Executive Producer (he had a fire in the belly for years about producing this cast album) and Wayne Moore, Producer/ conductor and reconstructor of missing pieces of the original charts. I thought them demented when they first suggested a 25th anniversary cast album of a failed Broadway musical. But their passion and purpose were not denied. They prevailed upon Richard Kiley and Leslie Uggams, my favorite all-time Caesar and Cleopatra, to join us. In the sound booth, I recalled vividly listening to Leslie as both the child and adult Cleopatra, first exerting ingenious charm in "Save Me From Caesar" and "Many Young Men" from now, later, contemplative and unsparingly candid in "I Cannot Make Him Jealous". And last when sang/acted just for today we were, all of us, in tears. It's an unusual "eleven o'clock number."
Richard Kiley's lyric readings invested Caesar with endless wisdom, cynicism and wit.  In moment of self examination, each infection smiled with innuendo.  He made us believe he was Caesar… in work clothes, in front of a microphone, for god's sakes.  Caesar never worked that way!  When he sang Rome and In Vino Veritas.  I rejoiced as only a composer/lyricist can when the work is performed beyond all reasonable expectation.  Fortunately, Priscilla Lopez was available to do the Parable of the Monkey.  For this restoration, thank You, Ms. Lopez.

We lost some of the original company over the years: Bruce McKay (Rufio), Brooks Morton (Britannus) and Cal Bellini (Apollodorus), but we were blessed with Ron Raines' machismo baritone when Rufio twits Caesar in The dangerous Age and again in I Fell In With Evil Companies.  Ron captured the essence of all Roman warriors in the theme song, Her First Roman.  An old friend , Jack Eddleman, sang Britannus hilariously.  And Matt Leahy gave us his sure tenor tones in several places.  Notably in "In Vino Veritas".  Claudia McNeil (Ftatateeta) was not up to performing, but we lucked out beautifully with Brenda Silas-Moore in "Pleasure Him" and "Let Me Lead The Way".  Lastly and Firstly, I must thank the Bernard Shaw Estate Which initially applauded my adaptation and urged me on.  Also the late Don Walker, whose orchestration lives so brilliantly in this recording.  A very Special thank you goes to Peter Howard, Conductor/dance arranger of genius and dependability 24 years ago, and no less so just recently when called upon to play through the work of Wayne Moore.
And thank you to the talented engineers on both coasts, Jesse, Scott, Liz, and Omie and Lockett-Palmer Productions is performing miraculous role in rescuing "Lost" scores for an audience that is serious about the American musical theatre.  Frankly, I still can't believer the whole thing!

[credits]

Book, Music and Lyrics-Ervin Drake
Original Orchestrations-Don Walker
Original Dance Arrangements-Peter Howard
New Orchestrations-Wayne Moore

Executive Producers-Robert Mcgarity and Ray Costa
Producer-Wayne Moore
Recorded June-August 1993 at Trax, Los Angeles and Westrax, New York
Chief Engineer-Michael J. McDonald
Assistant Engineers-Jesse Plumley, Scott Ross, Steve Batte, Liz Magro and Omie Creadon

Conductor and Musical Director-Wayne Moore
Flutes-Libbie Jo Snyder
French Horns-Nathan Campbell
Trumpets-Kendall Wallace
Trombones-David Ryan
Percussion-Scott Perloff
Piano and Celli-David Snyder
Harp-Lori Andrews
Bass-Bruce Stone
Cover designed by Ellison/Goodreau, Los Angeles
Color Photography by Arnold Weissberger
Legal Services by Hal L. Bodner, Esq.
Project Coordination by Brookhoward
Project coordination by Brookhoward
Special Thanks to Brad Bennett and Charles/Front Row Center
Eternal Thanks to Susan Broil Mcgarity and Craig Rogers
©1993 Locket-Palmer Productions Inc.  All rights Reserved