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Juno

Original Cast Recording

A Musical in 2 Acts, a Prologue and 16 Scenes. Book by Joseph Stein. Based on the play Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey. Music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein.

Dances and musical numbers staged by Agnes de Mille. Scenery designed by Oliver Smith. Costumes by Irene Sharaff. Lighting by Peggy Clark. Music direction, Robert Emmett Dolan. Orchestra­tions by Robert Russell Bennett, Marc Blitzstein, Hershy Kay. Associate producer, Lyn Austin. Directed by José Ferrer. Produced by The Playwrights' Company, Oliver Smith and Oliver Rea.

Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway - Opened 9th March, 1959 : closed 21st March, 1959 (16 perfs)


Story

The Boyle family, "Captain" Jack, his wife Juno, their son Johnny and daughter Mary, live in the squalor of a two-room Dublin tenement in the twenties. Neither the "Captain", a drunken, malingering former seaman, nor Johnny, horribly wounded fighting for the IRA, do any work at all. This is left to Juno and Mary.

Their lives are considerably brightened up when Charles Bentham, a dapper young schoolmaster, brings news that the "Captain" has inherited a tidy sum. When Bentham sets out to court Mary, and the tenement is refurbished on credit, Juno believes that their fortunes have at last changed.

Unfortunately, the young Bentham is mainly interested in Mary's prospects, and so when he discovers an error in his own drafting of the will that was to have provided the inheritance, which will mean that the Boyle's are penniless, he flees to London leaving Mary pregnant. Her disgrace is quickly followed by the repossession of the furniture and then, disastrously, by Johnny's execution for betraying the Republican cause.

The "Captain" reacts to these reverses with his usual drunken self-pity, finally driving Juno to leave him behind as she and Mary leave Dublin to find a new life.

Musical Numbers

  1. Prologue - We're Alive - Ensemble
  2. I Wish It So - Mary Boyle
  3. Song of the Ma - Juno Boyle
  4. We Can Be Proud - Foley, Sullivan, Michael Brady, Paddy Coyne
  5. Daarlin' Man - "Captain" Jack Boyle, "Joxer" Daly, Ensemble
  6. One Kind Word - Jerry Devine
  7. Old Sayin's - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle
  8. What Is the Stars? - "Captain" Jack Boyle, "Joxer" Daly
  9. Old Sayin's (reprise) - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle
  10. You Poor Thing - Mrs. Madigan, Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Coyne and Miss Quinn
  11. Dublin Night (Ballet) - Johnny Boyle, Molly and Ensemble (Ballet Music by Mule Rittman and Marc Blitzstein.)
  12. My True Heart - Mary Boyle and Charlie Bentham
  13. On a Day Like This (Finale Act 1) - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle, Ensemble
  14. Jig
  15. Slip Jig
  16. Shillelagh Dance
  17. Jig - Juno Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle, Ensemble
  18. Bird Upon the Tree - Juno Boyle, Mary Boyle
  19. The Party
    a) Music in the House - "Captain" Jack Boyle, Ensemble
    b) It's Not Irish (Gramophone) - Foley
    c) It's Not Irish (Quartet) - Foley, Sullivan, Michael Brady, "Captain" Jack Boyle
    d) The Liffey Waltz - Ensemble
  20. Hymn - I.R.A. Singer
  21. Johnny (Ballet) (Ballet Music by Marc Blitzstein.) - Johnny Boyle, Molly
  22. You Poor Thing (reprise) - Mrs. Madigan, Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Coyne and Miss Quinn
  23. For Love - Mary Boyle
  24. One Kind Word (reprise) - Jerry Devine
  25. Where? - Juno Boyle
  26. Finale Act 2 - Juno Boyle, Mary Boyle, "Captain" Jack Boyle, "Joxer" Daly

Original CAST

(in order of appearance):

Scenes and Settings

The action takes place in Dublin, 1921.

Act I

  • Scene 1: The Boyle home.
  • Scene 2: Another street.
  • Scene 3: The street and Foley's bar.
  • Scene 4: A park square.
  • Scene 5: The Boyle home.
  • Scene 6: Another street.
  • Scene 7: A square in the city.
  • Scene 8: A park square. Evening, a few days later.
  • Scene 9: The street.

Act 2

  • Scene 1: The Boyle home. Evening, a few days later.
  • Scene 2: The yard behind the house.
  • Scene 3: A street.
  • Scene 4: The Boyle home.
  • Scene 5: A park square.
  • Scene 6: The Boyle home.
  • Scene 7: The street and Foley's bar.