1. Heathen! opened on Broadway at The Billy Rose Theater (now The Nederlander Theater) on May 21, 1972 after 6 previews.
2. Heathen! also closed on May 21, 1972 as well. Not many shows have closed on opening night. Regardless of ones feelings about a show, it's always a shame when a show shutters so soon.
3. Heathen! takes place in Hawaii in both 1819 and (then) modern day 1972. The show has the 1819 Hawaiian natives dealing with a missionary while the 1972 natives deal with a "hippie."
4. Heathen! had music and lyrics by one man, Eaton "Bob" Magoon Jr. Hailing from Hawaii, the Magoon family is prominent in the real estate industry and one of the wealthiest families in the state. Mr. Magoon Jr. is still alive and well at the age of 92. He's even on Facebook!
5. Heathen! was not Mr. Magoon Jr.'s first time on Broadway nor his first Hawaii based musical. Magoon first wrote a show about Hawaii called "The 49th Star" but that show never made it off the island. His next show, "13 Daughters" arrived on Broadway at the 54th Street Theater (now demolished) on Mar. 2, 1961. After 28 performances, it closed on Mar. 25, 1961. An extremely short run, but still 28 times longer than Heathen!, so there ya go.
6. Heathen! was written in 1968 under the title, "Thank Heaven For The Heathen" and premiered at Punahou School, a private college in Honolulu, HI.
7. After the college run, Magoon Jr. brought in friend Sir Robert Helpmann to help with the book. Helpmann was a well loved Australian dancer, choreographer, director and actor. He famously played The Childcatcher in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
8. Heathen! starred Russ Thacker. A wonderful Broadway actor who, sadly, never got a chance to be in a hit show. Besides "Heathen!", he was seen in "The Grass Harp" (7 perf.), "Home Sweet Homer" (1 perf.), Do Black Patent Shoes Really Reflect Up?" (5 perf.), "Dear Oscar" (5 perf.) and one play, "Me Jack, You Jill" which never even officially opened.
9. Heathen! got some of the worst reviews! Clive Barnes on the NY Times said that "to say that it is the worst musical of the season would run the risk of overpraising its virtues." Douglass Watt of the Daily News said "Cheap to look at and even worse to listen to, the whole thing resembles a production number for a stripper who failed to appear that night in a tacky Las Vegas night club." Watt went on to say that the show was "so bad it could it could put a blight on tourist trade throughout the entire Pacific." Ouch.
10. Heathen! did not die however after failing so epically on Broadway. It returned from whence it came to Hawaii under the new title "Aloha." Joe Layton was brought in to direct. As a favor to Mr. Layton, Cy Coleman re-did some of the music arrangements.
11. The newly named "Aloha" also ran in New Zealand, naturally(??), and even produced a cast album! The album features a 28-piece orchestra with orchestrations based on the original 8-piece arrangements by James Raitt for the Broadway run. Sir Robert Helpmann directed and choreographed the production.
Other Random Facts: It would have cost you $3.00 to see the show from the front Mezzanine. It was $142 for front Mezz seats to The Nederlander Theater's last tenant, "Honeymoon In Vegas".
Weirdly, the artwork for the "Aloha" cast album is shockingly similar to the artwork for the musical "Barnum"
Excellent! Thanks for the information, the most detailed l have found on this ill-fated show. I have been trying to find a copy of the cast album but no success as yet.
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