Shows · Li’l Abner
Li’l Abner
Opened 1956
693 performances
Musical, Golden Age
Following the lead of Finian’s Rainbow, Li’l Abner was a musical fantasy set in a rural Southern community that aimed satirical darts at existing social conditions. Here the main targets are the government’s propensity for bull-dozing areas for atom-bomb tests, right-wing militarists, inefficient politicians, and conformity. Based on the comic strip by Al Capp (who, ironically, would later adopt some of the views the show derided), Li’l Abner takes place in Dogpatch, U.S.A., where mini-skirted Daisy Mae (Edie Adams) is forever trying to get dimwitted Abner Yokum (Peter Palmer) to marry her, where Marryin’ Sam (Stubby Kaye) exuberantly leads the townspeople in singing the praises of the South’s most incompetent general, Jubilation T. Cornpone, and where the annual big event (as well as the musical’s big production number) is the frenetic man-chasing race on Sadie Hawkins’ Day. The 1959 movie again featured Peter Palmer as Abner. Comic strips also supplied the bases for such other Broadway musicals as Buster Brown (1905), Little Nemo (1908), Bringing Up Father (1925), It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s Superman (1966), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967), Annie (1977), Snoopy (1982), and Doonesbury (1983).
- Music
- Gene de Paul
- Lyrics
- Johnny Mercer
- Book
- Norman Panama & Melvin Frank
Productions1 on Broadway
Songs17 songs
If I Had My Druthers, Jubilation T. Cornpone, Namely You, The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands, Oh, Happy Day, A Typical Day (in Dogpatch, U.S.A.), Rag Offen the Bush, Unnecessary Town, What’s Good for General Bullmoose, Sadie Hawkins Day, I’m Past My Prime, Love in a Home, Progress Is the Root of All Evil, Society Party, Put ’Em Back (the Way They Wuz), The Matrimonial Stomp, classic
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