In 1974, Stanley Donen directed an original film musical based upon the story "The Little Prince' by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
From Wikipedia: "The Little Prince is a 1974 British-American fantasy-musical film with screenplay and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe, arranged and orchestrated by Angela Morley. It was both directed and produced by Stanley Donen and based on the 1943 classic children-adult's novella, The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince), by the writer, poet and aviator Count Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who disappeared near the end of the Second World War some 15 months after his fable was first published.
'The film and its music were unsuccessful at the box office but became somewhat popular after its theatrical run, and has been released for sale on various media'
Douglas Gamley conducted the score.
The overture above is, IMO, a remarkable arrangement of the score's main themes. There are some rather nice songs in the score, not the least of which is "The Little Prince", heartbreakingly sung by Richard Kiley. Bob Fosse has a wonderful turn as a Snake in the Grass, and Gene Wilder is extremely memorable as The Fox.
There is a thin but immensely enjoyable book called The Lawyer and the Little Lawyer by Joseph Tandet. Tandet owned the rights to The Little Prince and his memoir chronicles the many, many attempts to produce either a musical film or a stage musical.
He writes at length about meetings with Lerner and their discussions on composers. John Barry is frequently mentioned and while Lerner and Barry never quite get together on The Little Prince, Barry entices Tandet to fly to London to meet with Harry Saltzman. Barry and Saltzman have lined up David Lean to direct, Robert Bolt to write the book, and Barry to write the score. But Tandet is committed to Lerner, even if he must wait for the lyricist to become available and by that time Frederick Loewe is back in the picture.
Tandet takes the story through the 70s and into the 80s where Barry finally gets his shot at The Little Prince, only to have the Broadway show fold because of shady investors.
Great anecdotes and last I looked, readily available to purchase.
I saw this in its run at Radio City Music Hall, where it was the Christmas show. I enjoyed the score and performances, though fabulous dancer Donna McKechnie was pretty much wasted as a static ”Rose.” Audiences mostly ignored it. It’s hard to transform a charming allegory of a story into a musical with dance numbers, without losing the original story’s charm. With all that talent, I guess they wondered, how could they go wrong? It has several memorable moments, but the whole thing never really gells. The score is really the best thing in it.
For me, this book is something incredible, magical and beautiful. I have been reading it since my virginity and now, 15 years later, it remains for me an example of what real literature should be. Antoine de Saint-Exupery gave us a simple recipe for happiness. For the Little Prince, his Rose and Fox, happiness was love, friendship, caring for those you love, your home, your planet.
The book was always a favorite of my mother. She loved the movie too and I remember watching it several times growing up. MY son read the book over last summer for school and, although we struggle to get him interested in reading, he loved it. I rented the movie off Prime for him to watch and he and I saw it together. I had forgotten how enjoyable and moving it is. I hunted a copy of the DVD down and bought it for him for Christmas and that gift gave him a bigger smile than about any other. Can't wait for us to watch it together again. Richard Kiley singing Little Prince brings tears to my eyes. Beautiful, and he puts so much meaning into everything he sang.
