Ira Levin's versatility is on full display with his Broadway musical Drat! The Cat! – an original, frolicsome tale of a debutante-turned-jewel thief, and the hapless acting detective assigned to track her down. Set in gilded age 1890's New York, the show's hilarious book parodies Victorian melodrama, as a clinically-bumbling beat cop suddenly finds himself tasked with ferreting out the city's most notorious cat burglar – who just happens to be the debutante daughter of the wealthiest couple in town.
Levin had originally titled his confection Cat And Mouse, and had composed all of its elements himself – book, lyrics... and music. He was convinced however to bring in a pro to handle the musical duties – the talented Milton Schafer. The result was a beloved, cult-status musical with some oft-recorded songs (see our Discography) – and lyrics praised by no less than Stephen Sondheim.
Drat! starred Lesley Ann Warren (fresh off her success in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella), and Elliott Gould, then segueing from Broadway to Hollywood (where he'd star five years later in the film version of M*A*S*H).
Despite Levin's charming script and lyrics, and Milton Schafer's expert and tuneful melodies, Drat! ran but a single week. Those in the know faulted the Broadway production's overly-slick physical staging, financial under-funding, and the plain bad luck of opening during a newspaper strike (at the time, the sole advertising channel for Broadway shows).
The show's enchanting score yielded one of Barbra Streisand's signature songs ("He Touched Me"). Aided by a widely-distributed 1965 bootleg recording (whose raucous audience response speaks to the script's hilarity) and appearances both in the classic musical theater compendium Not Since Carrie, and on Joe Allen's wall, Drat! has achieved legendary cult status over the course of its sixty years.
Poster: Zap! Theatre (2019)
Poster: Plain Jane Theatre Company
(2015)
