HDC to Produce Its First Musical With Outside Aid

The first musical in Dramatic Club history will be produced this spring through the aid of an anonymous outside backer, Neil B. Smith '55, the producer, announced yesterday. The show, entitled "Almost Anyone," will open at the Peabody Theater in Boston April 14.

There are only ten people in the cast of the production, which Smith characterizes as an "intimate, original review." "We're trying to make it more literate than the average review," he said. "It's got a lot more book to it and is not a musical comedy."

All the details for the show have been completed, Smith said. Yesterday he received Dean Watson's approval on the financial arrangement with the unnamed backer. Smith had feared an outside financial guarantee might endanger the University's tax status. Casting and rehearsals start next week.

Production of the show would have been completely impossible without financial support. The Club is already doing "The Seagull" this spring, Smith noted, and it could not have undertaken another major product without a guarantee to cover any losses the musical might incur.

The idea for doing a musical originated last fall among a group of Club members. "We all just wanted to do a show," Smith said. Steve Charnas '57 and Andre W. Gregory '56 then wrote the book and Charlie H. Gross '55 and Fred C. Tausend '54 did the music and lyrics. Gross and Tausend also collaborated on the score for the 1953 Hasty Pudding Theatricals' production of "Ad Man Out."