Paint Your Wagon - Lerner and Loewe
by Claire J Rottenberg
Four years after their success with "Brigadoon," Alan
Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe created the musical
"Paint Your Wagon." Although the score included some
good songs, the play was not too successful, running
for only 289 performances on Broadway. The
choreography for the Broadway version of
"Paint Your
Wagon"
was developed by Agnes de Mille.
"Paint Your Wagon" has a plot based on life in a gold
mining town in the US in 1853. The best known songs
from the musical are "They Call the Wind Maria" and
"I Talk to the Trees."
In 1969, a film version of "Paint Your Wagon" was
released. The expensive production ran for 2 hours
and 44 minutes and starred Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood
and Jean Seberg. The movie version of
"Paint Your
Wagon"
included several new songs by Alan Jay Lerner and
Andre Previn. The movie was not a success and it
soon became a forgotten film.