Music by Vernon Duke
Lyrics by Leonard Adelson,Sid Kuller & Martin Charnin
Book by Everett Freeman
Opened August 5, 1963 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, California
Synopsis:
For this musical adaptation of Anthony Hope’s novel, The Prisoner of Zenda, the setting was updated to the present and Richard Rassendyl (played by Alfred Drake) a wealthy British gentleman in the novel, became a British song-and-dance man. He and his troupe arrive in Zenda to perform on the occasion of the royal wedding of Princess Flavia (played by Anne Rogers) and King Rudolph. As a convenient result of his grandmother’s escapades in Zenda, many years ago, Rassendyl looks exactly like the king. Naturally, Alfred Drake played both Richard Rassendyl and King Rudolph. When the king is drugged in an attempted military coup, Rassendyl is called upon to take his place at the wedding. Rassendyl, still pretending to be King Rudolph, is attracted to the princess. At the same time, the monarch’s mistress and true love, Athena, a new character invented for the show and played by Chita Rivera, learns of the ruse and is delighted to have her lover’s fiancée otherwise engaged. The happy ending involves King Rudolph running off with Chita, and the imposter staying in Zenda as king.
Song List
• Bounce
• No more love
• My royal majesty
• Alone at night
• Now the world begins again
• Zenda
• The man loves me
• A royal confession
• I wonder what he meant by that
• Yesterday's forgotten
• Let her not be beautiful
• Alive at last
• No ifs! No ands! No buts!
• My heart has come a-tumbling down
• Love is the worst possible thing
• Enchanting girls
• Words, words, words
Original Cast Included: Chita Rivera, Alfred Drake, Anne Rogers, Truman Gaige, Carmen Mathews, Susan Luckey, Barbara Andrews, Peter Brandon, Jean Deeks, Virginia Justus, Jock Livingston, Gloria Mills, Karl Redcoff, Wanda Shannon, Marc Wilder Frederic Worlock
Directed and co-produced by George Schaefer
Sets by Harry Horner
Choreography by Jack Cole
“Zenda” played in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Pasadena, but when conflict arose within the artistic team, Alfred Drake quit and the show never made it to Broadway.
On November 2, 1925, “Princess Flavia,” an earlier operetta version adaptation of The Prisoner of “Zenda” opened on Broadway.
Biography 
