All tagged Melvin Frank

Broadway Musical Time Machine: Looking Back at L’il Abner

A musical that we do not see many productions of these days, but one that is thoroughly delightful in both its satire and its memorable score, is the 1956 also-ran L’il Abner. At one point, L’il Abner was an extremely popular musical in high schools and community theatres. It was based on the popular Al Capp comic strip of the same name about a town full of colorful hillbillies, poking fun at the government, current events, and Hollywood news items. With a score by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Gene de Paul (music), and a book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, the musical riotously captured the cartoonish tone of Capp’s strip