It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman

1966 Broadway musical based on Superman

It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman is a 1966 musical composed by Charles Strouse, with lyrics by Lee Adams and book by David Newman and Robert Benton. It is based on the comic book character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. While the show's original Broadway run was well reviewed, it did not catch on with audiences. Closing after three and a half months and costing an unprecedented $600,000, the show was Broadway's biggest flop at the time.

The plot revolves around Superman's efforts to defeat Dr. Abner Sedgwick, a ten time Nobel Prize losing scientist who seeks to avenge the scientific world's dismissal of his brilliance by attempting to destroy the world's symbol of good. Additionally, Superman comes into romantic conflict with Max Mencken, a columnist for the Daily Planet newspaper, who resents Lois Lane's attraction to Superman, and later teams up with Sedgwick to destroy Superman.

The musical opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on March 29, 1966. Directed by Harold Prince with choreography by Ernest Flatt, it starred Bob Holiday as Clark Kent and Superman, Patricia Marand as Lois Lane, Jack Cassidy as Max Mencken, and Linda Lavin as Sydney. The production received generally positive reviews, but it failed to catch on with the theater going public and closed on July 17, 1966 after 129 performances. re staged the show, and Bob Holiday played Superman in both productions. Each was an open air venue, requiring the use of a large crane to facilitate Superman's flights. Other cast members in these two productions were Karen Morrow as Sydney and Charles Nelson Reilly as Dr. Sedgwick. The show was produced at the Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, Connecticut, from June through July 3, 1992, with Gary Jackson (as Superman), Jamie Ross, Veanne Cox and Gabriel Barre. On May 14, 2007, the Reprise! Marvelous Musical Mondays program in Los Angeles presented a concert version of the musical. The cast featured Cheyenne Jackson as Superman, Jean Louisa Kelly as Lois Lane, Richard Kind as Dr. Sedgwick, Patrick Cassidy in his father's old role of Max Mencken, and composer Charles Strouse in a special appearance as Perry White. From June 15–17, the musical was presented in concert by the York Theatre's Musicals at MUFTI series in New York City, with Jackson, Kelly, and Strouse reprising their roles from the Los Angeles concert. Others in the cast included Lea DeLaria as Dr. Sedgwick, Shoshana Bean as Sydney, and David Rasche as Max Mencken. Bob Holiday, the original Broadway Superman, attended the June 16 matinee. From June 18 to July 25, 2010, the Dallas Theater Center presented a revised version of It's a Bird , starring Matt Cavenaugh in the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent, Zakiya Young as Lois Lane, Patrick Cassidy as Max Mencken, and Cavenaugh's real life wife Jenny Powers as Sydney Sharp (Cassidy developed laryngitis during the run of the show, and choreographer Joel Ferrell took over the role until Cassidy recovered). The new book for the show was written by playwright and comic book writer Roberto Aguirre Sacasa. Kevin Moriarty, the Dallas Theater's artistic director, believed that the show's campy, pop art inflected book had "not dated well" and approached Charles Strouse in 2008 for permission to revise the musical. Strouse acquiesced, and Moriarty hired Aguirre Sacasa, a "lifelong fan" of the musical. Aguirre Sacasa moved the musical's setting to 1939, and made the show's primary focus the "love triangle" between Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Superman. Songs were cut, new songs were commissioned, and the order of songs was changed. In November 2009, Moriarty and Aguirre Sacasa held a private reading of the revised book with the show's surviving creators, Strouse, Adams, and Benton. A staged concert production took place as part of New York City Center's Encores! series from March 20–24, 2013. The cast included Edward Watts as Superman and Will Swenson as Max Mencken, with Jenny Powers playing Lois Lane. Powers had played Sydney Sharp in the 2010 Dallas revival. On March 23, Bob Holiday, who originated the role of Superman on Broadway, attended the show and met with the cast. The show's UK premiere was played in London in March 2014 at Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre and was produced by All Star Productions. After positive reviews, "the real star of the show is Charles Strouse and Lee Adams' delightful score " wrote the musicaltheatrereview. com,

In September 2016, there was the first production in the German language in Braunschweig, Germany. The OnStage school of musical is producing the German Premiere at the Brunsviga.

It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman was made into a TV special which first aired during a late night timeslot on ABC on February 21, 1975. Filmed on video over the course of 3 days, the show was significantly shortened, the script significantly changed, and the ethnicity of a troupe of evildoers was changed from Chinese acrobats to Mafia style gangsters. The musical numbers "Doing Good", "It's Super Nice", "So Long, Big Guy" and "We Don't Matter at All" were all dropped from this production, while the sound of the remaining musical numbers was updated to a more contemporary 1970s sensibility. In addition to these, a new musical number was made for the TV special: "It's a Great Country".