The Billy Barnes Revue is a 1959 musical comedy revue with music and lyrics by Billy Barnes and sketches by Bob Rodgers. The revue premiered in Los Angeles in 1959 and went on to be produced both on Broadway and Off Broadway.
The show is remembered for its acclaimed cast of newcomers, including Bert Convy and Ken Berry. Barnes continued to produce successful revues in Los Angeles.
Background
In 1952, actress Joyce Jameson graduated from UCLA and married songwriter Billy Barnes. Their first collaboration was a new musical comedy called Baby Face O'Flynn, for which she wrote the book and played the lead role and he wrote the music and lyrics. The show opened in the summer of 1952 at the Gallery Stage Theatre in Los Angeles. The run of the show was cut short when Jameson became pregnant. For the next few years, Jameson found work, first by writing television scripts, and then by playing small parts in films and on television shows. She and Barnes were divorced during this period, but continued to work together into the 1960s.
Productions
Los Angeles
In 1956, Barnes and sketch writer/director Bob Rodgers opened The Billy Barnes Revue at the "hole-in-the-ground" Cabaret Concert Theatre in Los Angeles. According to Barnes, "It's a nightclub, and people said that’s where we belonged. We were advised not to get ambitious." Producer Paul Gregory planned to bring the production to New York in January 1957 under the title Focus No. 1, but the transfer did not happen.
At one point, some producers decided to tour the show throughout California with just the music and no sketches, a venture which was quickly dropped. Meanwhile, the original show continued performances at the Cabaret Concert Theatre for nearly two years. It then played briefly at the Mocambo and the Crescendo in Los Angeles and at the hungry i in San Francisco. In 1958, Jameson, who had left the show to pursue her television career, returned to Los Angeles from New York City (where she had been appearing as the "honey girl" on The Steve Allen Show and as a regular on Spike Jones' NBC series, Club Oasis),). She rejoined the cast of the show when it opened at the Las Palmas Theater in October 1958. When the original cast took the show to New York City eight months later, a new cast, including Jo Anne Worley, continued the run for a total of 48 weeks.
Off-Broadway
The Billy Barnes Revue, with original cast members Joyce Jameson, Bert Convy, Patti Regan, Ken Berry, Ann Guilbert, Jackie Joseph, Len Weinrib and sketch writer/director Bob Rodgers, opened at the York Playhouse in New York City on June 9, 1959. The production was produced by George Eckstein (Ann Guilbert's husband) in association with Bob Reese. Billy Barnes was the musical director, with Armin Hoffman on the second piano.
The New York Times review by Lewis Funke was mixed: "A crisply played and highly polished little entertainment called The Billy Barnes Revue arrived at the York Theatre on First Avenue last night..." but Funke found the material lacking "...the trouble is that they have not given the material the edge, sharpness and point of view that would have made it truly comic". Although Funke had high praise for the cast, he added "...Too often are the performers superior to the writers and the composers." Overall, however, the reviews were largely positive, and 35 additional investors contributed the extra money needed to move the show from the York Playhouse to Broadway.
Broadway
The Billy Barnes Revue transferred to the John Golden Theatre on August 4, 1959. Barnes was so unknown in New York, that many people confused him with the actress Binnie Barnes. "It's discouraging to stand in front of the theatre before the show," Barnes told a reporter, "and hear people say, 'I'm looking forward to seeing Binnie Barnes again. I haven't seen her in years.'"
To make way for the British revue, At the Drop of a Hat, the show closed on September 26, 1959 at the Golden and transferred on September 28 to the Lyceum Theatre, where it had to close on October 21 to make way for a new play, The Flowering Cherry. The production ran for a total of 87 performances.
The Off Broadway cast reprised their roles on Broadway. Later cast replacements in the off Broadway production included Jo Anne Worley, Charles Nelson Reilly and Larry Hovis.
One of the show's songs, "Too Long At The Fair" was recorded by Barbra Streisand, Sue Raney and Patti Page, among others. Decca Records released an Original Cast Album of the production in September 1959.