View source for Look to the Lilies

{{Infobox Musical
|name= Look to the Lilies
|subtitle=
|image= LookToTheLilies.JPG
|caption= Original Playbill
|music= [[Jule Styne]]
|lyrics= [[Sammy Cahn]] 
|book= [[Leonard Spigelgass]]
|basis= Novel by [[William Edmund Barrett]]<br>''[[Lilies of the Field (novel)|Lilies of the Field]]''
|productions= 1970 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]}}

'''''Look to the Lilies''''' is a [[musical theatre| stage musical]] with a book by [[Leonard Spigelgass]], lyrics by [[Sammy Cahn]], and music by [[Jule Styne]].

Based on both the [[Lilies of the Field (novel)|1962 novel]] and film versions of ''[[Lilies of the Field (novel)|Lilies of the Field]]'', it tells the story of a group of [[Germany|German]] nuns, headed by a determined, dauntless Mother Superior, who manage to get an [[African American]] itinerant handyman/jack-of-all-trades named Homer Smith to build a [[chapel]] for the [[New Mexico]] community in which they live, despite not having money to pay him.

==Background==
Styne composed his score with [[Ethel Merman]] in mind, but director [[Joshua Logan]] cast [[Shirley Booth]] instead. [[Sammy Davis Jr.]]'s salary demands put him out of the running, and the role of Homer went to [[Al Freeman Jr.]], whom Logan later described as "difficult" and "antagonistic." {{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}

== Original cast and characters ==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:50%; text-align:center"
!scope="col"|Character
!Broadway (1970)<ref>[https://www.playbill.com/production/look-to-the-lilies-lunt-fontanne-theatre-vault-0000005057#carousel-cell181476''Playbill 1970 Bio Cast List'']accessed 08/07/2023</ref>
|-
!Mother Maria Marthe
| colspan="1" |[[Shirley Booth]]
|-
!Homer Smith
| colspan="1” |[[Al Freeman Jr.]]
|-
!Juan Archuleta
| colspan="1” |[[Titos Vandis]]
|-
!Sister Albertine
| colspan="1" |[[Taina Elg]]
|-
!Rosita
| colspan="1" |Carmen Alvarez
|-
!Juanita
| colspan="1" |[[Patti Karr]]
|-
!Sister Gertrude 
| colspan="1" |Maggie Task
|-
!Monsignor O'Hara
| colspan="1" |Richard Graham
|-
!Sister Elizabeth
| colspan="1" |Virginia Craig 
|}

==Song list==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
;Act I
* Gott is Gut - Mother Maria & Sisters
* First Class Number One Bum - Homer 
* Himmlisher Vater - Mother Maria & Sisters
* Follow the Lamb - Company
* Meet My Seester - Juanita, Rosita
* Don't Talk About God - Homer
* When I Was Young - Mother Maria
* On That Day Of Days - Company
* You're A Rock - Homer
* I Am What I Am - Mother Maria
* I'd Sure Like To Give It A Shot - Homer & Chorus 
{{col-2}}
* Homer's Pitch - Homer & Chorus
* Casamagordo, New Mexico - Sisters
* Follow The Lamb (reprise) - Chorus 
* One Little Brick At A Time - Homer & Chorus 
* I, Yes Me, That's Who - Mother Maria
* Prayer - Chorus
* I, Yes Me, That's Who (reprise) - Homer

{{col-end}}
==Production history==
The musical premiered on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] on March 29, 1970 at the [[Lunt-Fontanne Theatre]], where it ran for 25 performances and 31 previews. The musical was the last for Booth, over 70 years old at the time of the premiere, but she garnered unanimous critical raves from the critics. 

Raymond Bordner {{Who|date=December 2011}} wrote: "Miss Booth is simply marvelous all the way, and it is a real treat to see her again on Broadway". Richard Watts, in the ''New York Post'', mentioned "Miss Booth's warm and gracious appeal."<ref>Bordner, Raymond. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19700331&id=-fcgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DXQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=813,4552625 "Shirley Booth Back"], ''The Day'', March 31, 1970</ref> They also praised designer [[Jo Mielziner]]'s use of desert tones, projections, scrims, and lighting to create the atmosphere and mood of the [[desert]] [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]], but found little else of merit in the show. {{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
''Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops'' by [[Ken Mandelbaum]], published by [[St. Martin's Press]] (1991), pages 29–31 ({{ISBN|0-312-06428-4}})

==External links==
*{{IBDB show|5538}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101030150820/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904319,00.html Time Magazine review]

{{Jule Styne}}

[[Category:1970 musicals]]
[[Category:Broadway musicals]]
[[Category:Musicals based on novels]]
[[Category:Musicals based on films]]
[[Category:Musicals by Jule Styne]]
[[Category:Musicals set in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Musicals about nuns]]