In June of this year, I will be turning fifty years old. I can’t wrap my head around it. I’ve lived for half a century. In some ways, I am so happy to be where I am in my life now. In other ways, it seems like it was just yesterday I was raising two small children and so many other things I don’t have time to sit here and list.
In honor of turning fifty, I’ve decided one theme for my blogs for the entire year. I’m going to write about events that took place during 1976. Some may be known, others not. Like the one I’m writing about today. Just a little interesting something I found while researching.
In January of 1976, Home Sweet Homer, the musical, both opened and closed on the 4th of January in New York. If you know anything about Greek literature, you may see where I’m headed.
Home Sweet Homer was originally titled, Odyssey. Yes, that’s right. The one with Odysseus and Penelope. Specifically focusing on the part when Penelope is waiting for Odysseus to return home from battle.
The musical was doomed from the beginning as once celebrated musicians, actors, writers, and producers scrambled to keep their success going. Under the title of Odyssey, the small cast that performed the musical began touring in 1974. Multiple cast members would get severely sick after eating at a restaurant and would be unable to perform for several night showings. The musical received bad reviews wherever it went. Law suits would become the norm as cast members tried to sue the restaurant. One author would request his name be removed from the musical’s listing as he was so ashamed of what was happening with it. Another person would try to break his contract by threatening a law suit only to be threatened with a countersuit.
The musical would go on to be rewritten, renamed, and reworked in anticipation of a New York run. Instead, the plague of doom would follow it; the show would not perform beyond it’s opening night.
