The Saga of ‘Dandelion Wine’

As the lyricist of the original 1967 Lincoln Center production of Ray Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine,” my first instinct after reading “Of Wine and Rosy Summer Memories” (by Daryl H. Miller, Aug. 20) was to write a long, detailed response to the misinformation as to how Colony Theatre director Terrence Shank and “the show’s creators” agreed to “proceed with new music and lyrics” for the 1981 production.

Suffice it to say that no less notable and professional a Broadway producer than Stuart Ostrow (“1776,” “M. Butterfly”), who intended to mount a production of the show based on my lyrics and the now-legendary Billy Goldenberg score, regretfully decided against it after finding Bradbury’s book, in his words, “an unsalvageable mess.”

It was only in 1981, when Billy and I were approached by Shank for the potential Colony Theatre revival, that I reread the script in the light of my experience in writing television, film and novels subsequent to 1967 and finally understood--and wholeheartedly agreed with--Ostrow’s objections. Billy and I, excited by the opportunity to at long last make the show work, begged Ray to examine the structure of the piece with an eye toward dramatic tension and resolution. His response was, “I’m not Tennessee Williams,” as if we were asking him to be Tennessee Williams. After consultation, Billy and I decided that to do the show in the form Ostrow rejected was not in our best interest and we withdrew the score--without, I might add, giving Bradbury and Shank our OK either verbally or in writing to replace our music and lyrics. Because we then as now consider Ray’s novel a true masterpiece, we did not pursue the matter.

I do, however, want it on the record that the notion of “Dandelion Wine” as a musical did not originally come to Bradbury. It came to him after I stumbled on the book in a Grand Central Station paperback store and Billy and I--with the financial and artistic encouragement of such diverse mentors as Burgess Meredith, Jerry Lewis and Eleanor Slatkin of the Hollywood String Quartet--came west to play him the six sample songs we’d “spec’d” and discuss the possibilities with him.

But, as I said, there is no point in writing a long, detailed response to the story promulgated in the article, especially given the fact that it would appear Jeffrey Rockwell is actually Ray’s third collaborator on the project. Does anybody know what happened to the score by Jimmy Webb?

LARRY ALEXANDER

Sherman Oaks