The Visit (musical)

The musical adaptation of The Visit was originally developed as a vehicle for Angela Lansbury and was scheduled for a Broadway opening on March 15, 2001. It had been scheduled for a try-out in Boston for December 2000–January 2001. Frank Galati was the director with Ann Reinking as choreographer, and co-starring Philip Bosco.[1] However, in July 2000 Lansbury withdrew due to the illness and subsequent death of her husband.[1][2]

Act I

"The citizens of Brachen are awaiting the visit of their very own Claire Wascher, now Claire Zachanassian, the oft-widowed, richest woman in the world. It's been a lifetime's absence during which they have fallen into utter bankruptcy. In anticipation of this visit, Anton Shell, a once prosperous shop keeper, remembers himself and Clara as young lovers ("Prelude"). The Mayor and the School Master have prepared a special welcome for their distinguished visitor ("Out of the Darkness"). All Brachen marvels at their visitor's glamorous, bejeweled presence ("At Last"). Claire explains the reason for it ("I Walk Away"). Her warm greeting to Anton makes the Mayor realize that Anton is the key to asking Claire to relieve them from their misery. Anton is confident he can ("I Know Claire). He leaves to rendezvous with Claire and their old trysting place, Konrad's Village Wood, while the others exult in their good fortune. Only the School Master has forebodings about her visit ("A Happy Ending"). Alone in the woods, the two old lovers and their younger selves reminisce ("You,You,You"). Anton is convinced that she will be their salvation ("I Must Have Been Something"). Everyone prepares for the gala banquet that evening at the Golden Apostle Hotel in Claire's honor ("Look at Me"). The Mayor and the citizens tell Claire of their inexplicable decline from prosperity to utter bankruptcy ("A Masque"). Claire then recounts her version of events, which differs considerably from theirs ("Eunuch's Testimony"). In exchange for rescuing them from financial calamity, she asks for the life of Anton Shell ("Winter"). The Mayor expresses outrage but the seeds have been planted ("Yellow Shoes").

Act II

Claire reveals that it is she herself who destroyed Brachen's once booming economy ("A Confession"). She is resolute in her terms: Anton's death. Claire's entourage, her Butler and two Eunuchs, swear eternal fealty to her ("I Would Never Leave You"). Alone in the attic above his shop, Anton wrestles with his fears ("Back and Forth"). The School Master visits Anton and tells him how the village is turning against him ("The Only One"). Anton struggles with his conscience ("Fear"). Embracing his fate and at peace with himself, he invites family for a drive in his son's new automobile, bought, like everything else in Brachen now, on credit ("A Car Ride"). Knowing Anton will join her in their old trysting place, Claire reflects on the incidents that have brought her to this moment in her life (Love and Love Alone). The lovers meet for a last time to discuss their whole past, including a child who died, before the town meeting that will decide Anton's fate ("In the Forest Again"). The visit over, Claire tells her butler, "Rudi, get the bags packed. We are going to Capri" ("Finale")."

From the 2008 Signature Theatre production

From the One Act 2015 Broadway Production[17]

In reviewing the Signature Theatre production, theatre critic Peter Marks of The Washington Post wrote that it is an "admirable if not consistently embraceable musical", and that it "comes across as something short of electrifying with the addition of song and dance. It makes at times for a jarring art-house spectacle, as in the creepy contributions of Claire's eunuchs, harmonizing in falsetto. And yet there is also fine craftsmanship here, courtesy of director Frank Galati (Ragtime) and a design team expertly conjuring a laconic, Brechtian physical realm..." The score is"...a melodically cohesive web of Middle European waltzes and choral numbers that befit the cynical strands in the story and the formality of Swiss society."[18]

Paul Harris, reviewing for Variety, wrote: "The polished Signature production offers much to admire, starting with an abundance of enjoyable melodies and clever lyrics from K&E...The radiant [Chita] Rivera offers a stylish performance as the aloof Claire, a woman eager to heap disdain on everyone she meets while guardedly avoiding remorse over the dirty plot against her only true love. She handles song and dance assignments with equal aplomb...[George] Hearn is equally credible...Not everything works. Trouble spots include an overly contrived act-one number in which the townspeople beg for Claire's help...But in its reincarnation, there is sufficient vitality, intrigue and entertaining music to make for a most satisfying "Visit."[19]

• The Visit at the Internet Broadway Database
• Interview with Terrence McNally, Playbill, 29 August 2005