The Me Nobody Knows
| The Me Nobody Knows | |
|---|---|
| Music | Gary William Friedman |
| Lyrics | Will Holt |
| Book |
Robert H. Livingston Herb Schapiro Stephen M. Joseph |
| Basis | Anthologized writings of inner-city youths |
| Productions | 1970 Off-Broadway 1970 Broadway |
The Me Nobody Knows is a musical with music by Gary William Friedman and lyrics by Will Holt. It debuted off-Broadway in 1970 and then transferred to Broadway, making it one of the earliest rock musicals to play on Broadway, and the first Broadway hit to give voice to the sentiments of inner-city American youth. It received the Obie Award and the Drama Desk Award for best New Musical, and Five Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical.
There is no plot, but the theme is of children in poor neighborhoods of New York City, who are "complex, introspective characters. Each 'I' is an authentic voice saying attention must be paid." The children are self-assertive in the face of difficult lives. There are various stories told through song by the cast of 12, 8 black and 4 white. One story is about a 13-year-old boy taking heroin for the first time. Another involves a child shocked to hear a white boy order "milk and a nigger". A boy watches as a drunk black man is taken away in an ambulance after an accident. In the musical number "If I Had a Million Dollars" the ghetto children ponder what they would do with the money and express "tightwad selfishness to outrageous spending sprees."
‡ These songs by The Staple Singers ("This World") and The 5th Dimension ("Light Sings") became hits.
The Me Nobody Knows premiered off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre on May 18, 1970, and closed on November 15, 1970 after 208 performances. It then opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on December 18, 1970, transferred to the Longacre Theatre, and closed on November 14, 1971 after 378 performances. Directed by Robert H. Livingston with musical staging by Patricia Birch, the cast included a young Irene Cara as Lillie Mae, Hattie Winston as Nell, Beverly Bremers (at the time credited as Beverly Ann Bremers) as Catherine, and Northern J. Calloway.
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