Cardiff Giant: The Musical

The Des Moines Register reports that a new musical about the Cardiff Giant hoax has debuted in Iowa:
It's an unlikely recipe for a musical: an odd 19th-century hoax set to the music of Iowa composer Karl King. But a group of creative minds in Fort Dodge, led by Deann Haden-Luke, managed to pull it together with a financial boost from the Iowa Arts Council. "Cardiff," presented by Comedia Musica Players, premieres tonight in Fort Dodge and plays through Sunday.
I usually think of the Cardiff Giant as a New York hoax, but it's true that the stone for the giant did come from Iowa. Anyway, I'll need to add this to my list of odd musicals. The Cardiff Giant has already been the subject of a fictional novel, American Goliath by Harvey Jacobs, which was surprisingly raunchy (and funny too). Doesn't look like the play will be raunchy like the book, though you never know. Audiences could be in for a surprise.

Entertainment History

Posted on Fri Nov 17, 2006


Comments

This almost sounds like something from Waiting for Guffman
Posted by AqueousBoy  on  Fri Nov 17, 2006  at  08:58 AM
I wonder if anybody's done a musical yet about Mary Toft, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits. That story would be a natural for a Broadway musical. I'm thinking Sondheim.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Fri Nov 17, 2006  at  10:32 AM
I dunno--there's a Bob Dylan musical (by Twyla Tharp) on Broadway right now:

http://www.timestheyareachangin.com/
Posted by JoeDaJuggler  on  Fri Nov 17, 2006  at  09:41 PM
The Twyla Tharp-Bob Dylan musical referenced above actually just closed (after about 50 total performances), having lost most of its $8.5M capitalization.

Re: the original post, the composer listed of the Cardiff Giant musical is Karl L King:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_King

He is best known as a composer of Circus marches, including the Barnum and Bailey March, so it seems fitting that his music be associated with a spectacular hoax.
Posted by Andy  on  Sat Nov 18, 2006  at  10:02 AM
"I wonder if anybody's done a musical yet about Mary Toft, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits. That story would be a natural for a Broadway musical. I'm thinking Sondheim."

I'm thinking it should be the theme for a David Copperfield show. He could produce the rabbits from her birth canal. Ta da indeed!
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Sun Nov 19, 2006  at  01:15 AM
If you're interested in obscure musicals, here are two which have played at the Edinburgh Fringe in recent years. One is a musical about Greggs, a popular chain of bakers in the north of Britain; the musical was called Seven Bridies for Seven Brothers. (Bridies are a Scottish pastry).

Link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr;=&client=safari&rls=en&q="seven+bridies+for+seven+brothers"&btnG=Search


Also, Shrewsbury School took a musical to Edinburgh based on the collapse of the South Sea Stock Company in the 18th century.

Link: http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2003-01/bubble.htm
Posted by Edward  on  Sun Nov 19, 2006  at  10:21 AM
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