At The Drop Of A Hat - Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

 

A Reluctant Cannibal

At The Drop Of A Hat

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

Angel Records S 35797

1957

From the back cover: TWO AUTHORS, with no previous reputation as entertainers, performing their own numbers on an empty stage for two hours would seem ideal compulsory viewing in that private hell reserved for wicked theatre managers.

Yet Michael Flanders and Donald Swann have received enthusiastic and unanimous approval for their farrago, "At the Drop of a Hat". Before it arrived on Broadway, it had enjoyed a long run at London's Fortune Theatre from January 24, 1957 to May 2, 1959-759 performances, plus a special week's engagement at the 1959 Edinburgh Festival. London critics described the show as "the neatest... smartest... brightest... wittiest... most civilized... scintillating... exquisite in every respect," etc.

Both in their early thirties, Flanders and Swann write at the piano and test the result on friends, relations, even passing window-cleaners. As authors they were responsible for much of the success of Laurier Lister's "Airs on a Shoestring" which ran for over 900 performances at the Royal Court Theatre, "Penny Plain," "Fresh Airs" and other London revues.

But they found that many of their songs, written in their own personal idiom, were only suited to their own style of performance, with- out staging. "At the Drop of a Hat" is the result: they feel that in a way, they have been rehearsing it all their lives.

They met at Westminster School where they collaborated on a revue in 1940. Both went on to Christ Church, Oxford, where Flanders acted and read History ("Greensleeves"); Swann was at the piano in Sandy Wilson's undergraduate revues and read Modern Languages. After a spell at the Oxford Playhouse, Flanders served in a destroyer on convoy to Russia and Malta and was torpedoed off Africa ("The Hippopotamus Song"). Swann was with the Friends Ambulance Units in Greece. An attack of polio in 1943 left Michael Flanders in a wheel-chair, which he considers a perfect mask for constitutional laziness, and he turned to radio and TV where he has made over 1,000 broadcasts and where he evolved the intimate style of commentary that he uses in the show ("Song of Reproduction"). His translation of Stravinsky's "Soldier's Tale" is now the standard English version and his concert performance of it with Peter Ustinov and Sir Ralph Richardson was a surprise sell-out. Donald Swann, one of the best light pianists in England, is much in demand as composer, musical director and accompanist.

In performances bluff, bearded Flanders and diffident, bespectacled Swann have been described as "Falstaff singing duets with Hamlet." They write in Flanders' contemporary studio ("Design for Living"). Swann is married and has two daughters ("Misalliance"); Flanders is not ("Madeira").

Success has not changed them, they are still the same arrogant, self- opinionated pair they always were. Flanders has made it clear that he will not accept a Peerage unless Swann gets a Bishopric.

BROADWAY DOFFS ITS HAT!

"Lively, witty, literate, ingratiating, explosively funny, and excellent, excellent companions for a daffy and delightful evening." – Walter Kerr, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE

"A two-man revue continuously bubbling with offbeat pleasure... wit, charm, heartsease, and immaculate timing... There is nothing on Broadway I would rather see twice." – Kenneth Tynan, THE NEW YORKER

"Utterly delightful... beautifully civilized entertainment. The songs are a joy, the commentary is sparkling." – Richard Watts, Jr., N. Y. POST

"Outrageously funny... merry, sharp and adult." – Frank Aston, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM & SUN

"As engagingly funny a pair as any nation need ask for or any theatre season expect... Sharply satirical... gaily whimsical... sophisticated. They can be most lively when most deadpan, and most deadly when most daft." – TIME

"Fun from London... highly funny... Two for a fine show." – NEWSWEEK

A Transport Of Delight

Song Of Reproduction

Greensleeves

In Teh Bath

A Gnu

Songs Of Our Time

  Philological Waltz

  Satellite Moon

  A Happy Song

A Song Of The Weather

The Reluctant Cannibal

Design For Living

Tried By The Centre Court

Misalliance

Maderia, M'Dear?

The Worn Pom

Hippopotamus