
Kean (1961) - repro
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Robert Wright, George Forrest, and Peter Stone’s opulent 1961 musical drama 'Kean' brought a grand-scale, melody-infused historical spectacular to the Broadway stage at the Imperial Theatre, running for an accomplished 92 performances and capturing multiple major Tony nominations. Expertly adapting Jean-Paul Sartre's celebrated play, the sophisticated backstage plot chronicles the turbulent, real-life biographical contradictions of Edmund Kean, the legendary, self-destructive 19th-century British Shakespearean actor who rules the London stage while collapsing into a chaotic matrix of high-society romantic affairs, mounting debts, and internal artistic crises. Directed and choreographed by Jack Cole, the production served as a monumental tour-de-force vocal vehicle for stage icon Alfred Drake.

