EVENING PRIMROSE

Evening Primrose on DVD (© ABC TV channel – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Not a movie this time, but instead a one-off near-movie-length TV special - so for one day only, Shuker In MovieLand becomes Shuker In TVLand.

On 27 April 2017, I finally tracked down another long sought-after fantasy rarity. Ever since hearing Sarah Brightman singing the haunting song 'I Remember Sky' on her album 'The Songs That Got Away', I have always hoped that one day I'd get to see the obscure 1966 made-for-American-TV musical Evening Primrose, by Stephen Sondheim (songs and lyrics), from which this song originated, because it had such a weird storyline, yet had never been made available commercially (a DVD of it now exists - see later) and never shown at all in Britain.

A group of people secretly live their entire lives inside a large department store, remaining hidden from all customers and staff during the day by posing as store mannequins, coming alive, as it were, only at night when the store is closed. None is ever allowed to leave this enclosed community in case they betray its presence in the store, and if anyone ever does try to escape they are visited by the fearful 'Dark Men', summoned by the formidable Mrs Monday, who transform them into mannequins permanently.

One day, a very disillusioned-with-life poet named Charles Snell (played very earnestly by Anthony Perkins of Psycho fame) decides to stay in the store after hours, whereupon he unexpectedly meets the closeted community, who accept him into it, but he also falls in love with one of its members, a young woman named Ella Harkins who has been there ever since she was accidentally separated from her mother while shopping there aged just 6 years old. She sings 'I Remember Sky' to the poet, in which she recalls memories from her life in the outside world, before she became part of the store's secret community all those years ago. Charles and Ella plan to escape, to make a life for themselves outside the store and in the real world, but what happens? Do they succeed?

Now, like I've done, you can find out for yourself, by clicking here to watch this fascinating 51-min-long curiosity currently accessible on Dailymotion's website. It was originally screened as part of ABC's ABC Stage 67 anthology TV series, and was in full colour, but its unique master version subsequently went missing and has never been found - tucked away in some TV/film buff's private collection, perhaps? Happily, however, the version on DailyMotion is a good-quality b/w copy. There is also an excellent webpage devoted to Evening Primrose here.

Although specifically written for television, this little-known Sondheim musical subsequently made its professional stage debut when  in July 2005 it was performed for several nights as part of the Lost Musicals series staged at London's Lilian Baylis Studio. There was also a semi-staged single-night performance held at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater on New York City on 22 October 2010.

Last but definitely not least, click here to listen to Sarah Brightman's beautiful version of the song 'I Remember Sky' that first alerted me to the existence of this unique, bewitching fantasy musical, one that so very greatly deserves to be far better known and much more appreciated than it is. Who knows, perhaps Evening Primrose will be 'rediscovered' one day and transformed into the major movie that in my view it was always meant to be?

[Update: I have now purchased the official Evening Primrose DVD, which not only contains a top-quality b/w version of it, but also includes some fascinating extras as well as a detailed booklet filled with hard-to-find facts concerning this magical but long-overlooked production's conception and history.]

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film/TV reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!