The Little Hut is a “can’t miss” show that missed.
Broadway windowcard
Adapted into English by Nancy Mitford from Andrew Roussin’s 1947 French farce La Petite Hutte, this light comedy finds a woman (Susan) shipwrecked on a tropical isle with two men: her husband (Philip) and her husband’s best friend (Henry)…who is also her secret longtime lover. There are two huts on the island: the big hut (which sleeps two) and the little hut (which sleeps one). Who will sleep in the little hut? The action begins when Henry, after a few weeks of solitary sleeping, suggests a rotation system for the huts—and the three people living in them. A fourth character, from outside their social circle, also shows up to add to the fun.
Roussin saw in the situation proof that a love triangle is not a product of the proximity inherent in city life, but can flourish in an isolated natural setting. The Little Hut is a bauble of naughty but harmless diversion, written to give the audience consistent laughs, not to make them blush.
Once upon a time, sex farces and boulevard comedies translated from the French were a theatrical mainstay. These works maintained a strong foothold on Broadway, usually as star vehicles. Such fare allowed an undemanding audience to escape their worldly concerns and spend a few hours being beguiled by a flesh-and-blood star they may have only seen previously larger than life on the movie screen, or smaller than life behind the glass of a television.
Even minor entries in this genre could have significant Broadway afterlife. From the 1940s-70s, nearly every summer or winter stock theatre included at least one of these shows in their season. The really good ones are deceptively simple—they’re tightly honed masterpieces of comedy and construction and character, with some novelty plot twist or locale thrown in. You see the formula repeated over and over in theatrical staples like Cactus Flower, A Shot in the Dark, or Tchin-Tchin.
Some examples that continue to find modern-day success are Don’t Dress for Dinner and Boeing Boeing.
Common ingredients in the formula include:
1) a single set—it can be elaborate to add production value on the Broadway level, but simple enough a stock or community theatre can produce the show too.
2) a small cast-- leading man and leading lady roles to accommodate one or two stars; a menace/villain; an oddball character from a different social strata or another culture.
3) a bit naughty—these shows are from the era when movies were still at the mercy of the Production Code and the Legion of Decency if they wanted mainstream distribution. TV was very, very censored by each network’s Standards and Practices division. You had to go to the theatre to enjoy content that was more adult and naughty but still held in high cultural esteem. It’s a bonus if a frisson of sex can be built into the title, like In One Bed…and Out the Other.
4) it’ll leave you laughing—always, always a happy ending, and frequently with the promise of imminent romance (or at least sex) for one or more of the main characters.
5) fashion—often in the Broadway productions of these comedies is a name theatre/fashion designer is engaged to do the star’s wardrobe, with at least one glamorous outfit for the leading lady. Even The Little Hut shipwrecks its characters in evening dress and no luggage.
6) durability—when a star found a reliable vehicle, it was not atypical for them to reprise their role at stock theatres all over the country between Memorial Day and Labor Day in the years following the Broadway run. Or, going in the other direction, to find a major star trying out the show in a stock tour billed as “pre-Broadway”…anyone up for Ann Sheridan in Odd Man In (by Claude Magnier, adapted from the French by Robin Maugham, with costumes by Travilla)?
All signs pointed to The Little Hut becoming a staple of this theatrical oeuvre. Produced on five continents, it had successful runs elsewhere: three years in Paris; three years at London’s Lyric Theatre—1261 performances; and touring the UK for two years after that, in a production directed by Peter Brook and designed by Oliver Messel.
The London production starred Robert Morley, Joan Tetzel, and David Tomlinson. Brook was already a director of eminence, having helmed Laurence Olivier in The Beggar’s Opera and John Gielgud in Venice Preserved.
Lilli Palmer and Rex Harrison had talked of doing The Little Hut together on Broadway as early as 1951, but that production never materialized. The producers for Broadway were John C. Wilson and H.M. Tennent, who toured the Lunts throughout America—and while The Little Hut never pretended to be anything other than the sex comedy it is, the 1953 Broadway production had some prestige behind it, in addition to its commercial appeal.
So, what happened in October 1953 when The Little Hut made its way to Broadway? Watch this space for our next Shows for Someday post and find out.
Playbill title page.