Stop the World – I Want to Get Off

Stop the World – I Want to Get Off
London Cast Recording
Music	Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley
Lyrics	Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley
Book	Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley
Productions	1961 West End 1962 Broadway 1966 Film 1978 Broadway revival

Stop the World – I Want to Get Off is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.

According to Oscar Levant, the play's title was derived from a graffito.

Set against the backdrop of a circus, the show focuses on Littlechap, from the moment of his birth to his death. Each time something unsatisfactory happens, he calls out 'Stop the world!' and addresses the audience. After being born, going through school, and finding work as a tea-boy, his first major step towards improving his lot is to marry Evie, his boss's daughter, after getting her pregnant out of wedlock. Saddled with the responsibilities of a family, he is given a job in his father-in-law's factory. He has two daughters, Susan and Jane, but truly longs for a son. He allows his growing dissatisfaction with his existence to lead him into the arms of various women in his business travels—Russian official Anya, German domestic Ilse, and American cabaret singer Ginnie—as he searches for something better than he has. He becomes rich and successful, and is elected to public office. Only in his old age does he realize that what he always had—the love of his wife— was more than enough to sustain him. Evie dies, however, and writing his memoirs, Littlechap comes to terms with his own selfishness. At the moment of his death, however, he watches his second daughter give birth to a son. When the boy nearly dies, Littlechap intervenes, and allows Death to take him instead. He then mimes his own birth, beginning the cycle once again.

Opening first in Manchester, the original production transferred into the West End and opened on 20 July 1961 at the Queen's Theatre. Directed by Newley, it ran for 485 performances. Newley starred as Littlechap, with Anna Quayle playing the multiple roles of Evie and the other women in his life. Marti Webb made her West End debut as a member of the chorus. An original cast recording was released by Decca Records.