Stop the World- I Want to Get Off

A hit in London a year before it was presented in New York, Stop the World — I Want to Get Off unveiled the multiple talents of the British team of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Newley starred in the musical, in which he played Littlechap, and the allegorical tale had much to say about man’s drive for fame and power and the disillusionment that sets in once these goals are attained. (Rodgers and Hammerstein had previously dealt with the same general theme in Allegro.) In a setting designed by Sean Kenny to resemble a circus tent, Littlechap — wearing white-face clown makeup — rises in the world of business and politics after marrying the boss’s daughter (Anna Quayle). Not above a little philandering with Russian, German, and American girls (all played by Miss Quayle), Littlechap ends his days ruminating — in “What Kind of Fool Am I?” — about his misspent life. Newley was succeeded during the run by Joel Grey, and his part in the 1966 movie was played by Tony Tanner. A revised adaptation came back to Broadway in 1978 with Sammy Davis Jr. Davis also did a film version of this verison under the modest rubric Sammy Stops the World.

Music

Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley

Lyrics

Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley

Book

Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley