Richard Rodgers’ sole collaboration with lyricist Sheldon Harnick, Rex is a musical retelling of the life of Henry VIII and the ascent of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I. With a book by Sherman Yellen, the musical was billed as a “musical play,” though the score contains 14 original songs. The show premiered on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 25, 1976, in a production directed by Edwin Sherin. British actor Nicol Williamson starred as Henry, opposite Penny Fuller in the dual roles of Anne Boleyn and Princess Elizabeth. The supporting cast included Tom Aldredge, Barbara Andres, Ed Avanko, Craig Lucas, Valerie Mahaffey, Stephen D. Newman and – in her first Broadway musical – Glenn Close. The critics were not kind: Clive Barnes of The New York Times said Rex “has almost everything not going for it,” and Douglas Watt of the Daily News called it “a rather solemn affair.” The Broadway production closed on June 5, 1976, after just 49 performances.

Synopsis

In his determination to have a male heir, King Henry VIII weds and beds – and, in two cases, beheads – a succession of wives. But it is his daughter by Anne Boleyn who proves as willful as he, succeeding to the throne as Queen Elizabeth I.

Characters

Norfolk
Cardinal Wolsey
Will Somers
Henry VIII
Mark Smeaton
Princess Mary
Queen Catherine
Lady Jane Seymour
King Francis
Queen Claude
Anne Boleyn
Princess Elizabeth
Dauphin
Comus
Lady Margaret
Nurse
Thomas Cromwell
Catherine Howard
Prince Edward
Queen Katherine Parr
Nurses, Heralds, Guards, and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court