mostly ghostley

Despite this first failed attempt to adapt this James Hilton novel (previously) about a veteran member of the British diplomatic corps accidentally discovery a utopian community hidden high in the Himalayas who must then choose between remaining or returning to the flawed civilisation he knows not being able to thwart future tries or reprises, the musical version from Albert Marre and Donald Saddler with ensemble cast including Jack Cassidy, Alice Ghostley and Shirley Yamaguchi opened on Broadway on this day in 1956. Running for only twenty-one performances (later produced as a Hallmark Hall of Fame television spectacular and somewhat derivative of The King and I), numbers included “Om Mani Padme Hum,” “The World Outside,” “What Every Old Girl Should Know” and the titular “Shangri-La.”