Dorothy Parker is back in the running for another award, 33 years after her death. Britain’s top theater kudos, the Laurence Olivier Awards, announced the nominees. Mrs. Parker is included in the category for Outstanding Musical Production.
What got her in? A revival of Candide, the 1956 musical that she kicked in the lyrics for one number for, “Gavotte”. It has music by Leonard Bernstein, book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler, in a new version by John Caird, lyrics by Richard Wilbur, with additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Parker and Bernstein. It is on at the Royal National Theater in London. The show only lasted about two or three months when it opened in New York 44 years ago.
There is stiff competition for the Olivier statue (is it a statue? Who knows?) — A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Dick Whittington and The Pajama Game are up against Parker & Co. The winners will be announced at a lunchtime ceremony at the Lyceum Theater Feb. 18, with televised excerpts from the show to air two nights later on the BBC.