- a rare British go at making a musical out of politics,
courtesy of Harold's poetry-writing spouse …
MRS WILSON'S DIARY
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- Book by Richard Ingrams and John Wells. Lyrics by John Wells
Music by Jeremy Taylor
Original London cast: Bill Wallis, Myvanwy Jenn, Stephen Lewis,
Peter Reeves, Bob Grant, Sandra Caron, Howard Goorney, Stephen
Lewis. Musical director: Arthur Greenslade
SONGS: Here I Kneel; Who Are The Bastards Now?; The Terrible
Mr Brown; Why Should I Worry?; What Would They Say?; Harold And
Me; One Man Band; Cocoa Time
- Presented as 'The Theatre Workshop production of a lampoon',
director Joan Littlewood's hand was unmistakable when this sizeable
success premiered at the Criterion Theatre in October 1967. Below
her name in the theatre programme, a cartoon of the Prime Minister,
Harold Wilson, bore the legend 'Bang, my good woman, goes your
hope of an Arts Council Grant'. It was a rare occasion: a mainstream
West End show about a reigning premier, Private Eye set to music.
Myvanwy Jenn as his doorstep-scrubbing, cocoa-making, diary-writing
wife Mary accompanied Bill Wallis as Harold. If the satirical
barbs are sharp, their thrust is made more bearable by the friendly
air that hovers over the piece. The songs just about let it rank
as a musical of sorts, and they do the job of lightening the
load and punctuating the proceedings with musical currants. Recorded
live at the Criterion, there's a crash-bang air about it that
reminds one of the recording of Theatre Workshop's Fings Ain't
Wot They Used T'Be. One of the numbers, 'Who Are The Bastards
Now?', poses a question that hasn't lost any political currency.
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