The Unsinkable Molly Brown (musical)

The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Original Broadway Cast Recording CD
Music	Meredith Willson
Lyrics	Meredith Willson
Book	Richard Morris
Productions	1960 Broadway 1962, 1989 US national tour 2009 West End 2014 Denver

The Unsinkable Molly Brown is a 1960 musical with music and lyrics by Meredith Willson and book by Richard Morris. The plot is a fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Brown, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and her wealthy miner-husband. A film version also titled The Unsinkable Molly Brown, with screenplay by Helen Deutsch, was released in 1964.

The original Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on November 3, 1960 and closed on February 10, 1962 after 532 performances and 1 preview. It was directed by Dore Schary and choreographed by Peter Gennaro. The opening cast included Tammy Grimes, Harve Presnell, and Jack Harrold. Grimes won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. Grimes appeared in the US national tour in 1962, including Los Angeles and San Francisco in April and June 1962, respectively.

Presnell reprised his stage role for the 1964 film, also entitled The Unsinkable Molly Brown starring Debbie Reynolds. The two starred in a 1989-1990 national tour.

The first West End production, with Abi Finley and Sean Pol McGreevy in the leading roles, opened in May 2009.

A reading of Molly Brown, the first of the revised versions by Dick Scanlan, took place in Denver at the Denver Center Theatre Company's Colorado New Play Summit in February 2009. The show was directed by Kathleen Marshall and starred Kerry O'Malley as Molly, Marc Kudisch as James Joseph "J.J." Brown, William Parry as Horace Tabor, Linda Mugelston as Polly Pry, with Chad Callaghan, Paula Chase, Susan Derry, Kevin Earley, Ali Ewoldt, Jeremy Jordan, Kevin Ligon, Omar Lopez-Cepero, Brandi Chavone Massey, Orville Mendoza, Richard Roland, Matthew Shepard, Jennifer Smith and Kevin Worley. The story was revised "to use more elements from the real-life story" of Molly Brown.