226. HAY FEVER. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

Michael McGuire, Marian Mercer, John Tillinger, Shirley Booth, Sam Waterstson, Roberta Maxwell, John Williams, Carole Shelley. 

HAY FEVER [Dramatic Revival] A: Nöel Coward; D: Arvin Brown; S/L: Ben Edwards; C: Jane Greenwood; P: Leonard Sillman; T: Helen Hayes Theatre; 11/9/70-11/28/70 (24)

Some of New York’s best-known actors were involved in this sorry revival of the popular 1925 comedy about Judith Bliss (Shirley Booth), an overly dramatic ex-actress, her eccentric family, and their odd assortment of discomfited June weekend guests. Almost without exception, the critics were allergic to the performance of the egregiously miscast leading lady. 

Shirley Booth.

With one exception, her company didn’t come off much better: its distinguished roster included Sam Waterston as Simon Bliss, Roberta Maxwell as Sorel Bliss, John Williams as David Bliss, John Tillinger as Sandy Tyrell, Marian Mercer as Myra Arundel, Michael McGuire as Richard Greatham, Sudie Bond as Clara, and Carole Shelley as Jackie Coynton.

Instead of dazzling, the play—long a fixture on stock and regional stages—fizzled, and was “only spasmodically effective,” declared Clive Barnes. His colleagues expressed fondness for the writing, but found Arvin Brown’s staging poor, the British accents erratic, and sometimes awful, and the overall level of performance mediocre.

Only Carole Shelley achieved widespread homage, typified by Douglas Watt’s dubbing her “the big hit of the evening . . . in a gem of a portrayal of perhaps the most wretched flapper ever produced by the Jazz Age—a cringing, abject figure utterly lost in this household and given to sudden yelps of anguish.”

Costumer Jane Greenwood received one of her many Tony nominations for her designs.