The Idea (musical)

The Idea is a musical with words and music by Joseph Hart.

The original production, featuring Frederick Hallen and Joseph Hart, was produced by Hallen in Boston in the fall 1892. It then opened in New York City at the Fourteenth Street Theatre on April 9, 1893 and was still playing there in October.

In 1894, a revival played in Chicago.

Roles and New York cast

The opening night cast in New York was as follows:

Songs

Based on the sheet music, the songs included:

The Idea (wordless novel)

The Idea (French: Idée, sa naisance, sa vie, sa mort, "Idea, her birth, her life, her death") is a 1920 wordless novel by Flemish artist Frans Masereel (1889–1972). In eighty-three woodcut prints, the book tells an allegory of a man's idea, which takes the form of a naked woman who goes out into the world; the authorities try to suppress her nakedness, and execute a man who stands up for her. Her image is spread through the mass media, inciting a disruption of the social order. Filmmaker Berthold Bartosch made an animated adaptation in 1932.

Overview

An artist is struck with an idea, which manifests itself as a naked woman with long, black hair. He displays her to the public, but the authorities, offended by her nudity, chase her around the city in order to cover up her body. A man who is not offended by her nudity takes to the woman's side, and the two fight injustice together; the man is caught and executed. The authorities destroy all books published with the woman's image, but she finds new outlets in the mass media, and succeeds in disrupting the social order. The woman returns to the artist, who has a new idea—a white-haired woman. He frames and hangs the black-haired woman on the wall, and releases the white-haired woman to the public.