doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee



Alan Melville

ALAN MELVILLE

  (1910 - 1983)

Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Alan Melville's plays including theatres, agent, synopses, cast sizes, production and published dates

please send corrections / additions to doollee as an attachment -> download WORD submission template

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

below is a list of Alan Melville's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

        At the Lyric         Bet Your Life         Castle In the Air         Change of Tune         Dear Charles         Devil May Care         Everything Happens On Friday         Full Circle         Gay's the Word         Marigold         Minister's Mallard, The         Mrs Willie         No Ill Feeling         Restoration Piece         Simon and Laura         Wherefore Art Thou, Juliet?


At the Lyric

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
book by Alan Melville; music by Kenneth Leslie-Smith; Additional lyrics by Paul Dehn And Michael Flanders. Aka Going To Town

1st Produced:
Arts, Cambridge     07 Dec 1952 (3?)

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
2 part revue

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 53.340; 54.130

Top of Page Top of Page

Bet Your Life

Bet Your Life
Its main draw was Arthur Askey, who helped it run for the best part of a year without the show ever becoming really popular

Notes:
Music By Kenneth Leslie-Smith And Charles Zwar; Lyrics By Alan Melville; Book/Libretto by: Alan Melville

1st Produced:
London Hippodrome     18 Feb 1952

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
Original cast recording: Blue Pear ((BP-1013) 1952

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
musical comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 52.27

Top of Page Top of Page

Castle In the Air

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1951

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Change of Tune

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
based on Anna Bonnacci's play

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
2 act comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 59.96

Top of Page Top of Page

Dear Charles

Dear Charles
where a lady gets her three ex-lovers together to decide which one will be the best Father to her children

Notes:
Original Playwright - Marc Gilbert Sauvajon And Frederick Jackson. BBC Radio 1966

1st Produced:
New Theatre, Hull     03 Nov 1953

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Ltd, London   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 52.296

Top of Page Top of Page

Devil May Care

Synopsis:
Trainee devil, Nicholas has been sent to Monte Carlo to lure souls for the Powers That Be. At the Hotel Splendide he meets another (higher level) trainee Virginia. their supervisor keeps popping up to keep an eye on them and he seduces Virginia. there is a newly wed couple at the hotel. Nicholas is having success in ensnaring the wife and Virginia the husband - but at the last minute it all falls through. the Powers That Be are not please and Nicholas and Virginia are grounded. they must stay on Earth for ever - but as they are now very fond of each other - this might not be a bad thing for them.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1983

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1963   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Everything Happens On Friday

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Leeds     1964

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Full Circle

Synopsis:
Best-selling novelist Denise Darvel unexpectedly confesses to her children that the handsome man in the portrait above the fireplace is not, after all, their father. the truth is revealed - Denise is not a widow, has never been married and all three children have different fathers. In the interests of respectability, the search for a candidate for the role of fathersubstitute ensues, with surprising and delightful results.

Notes:
Alan Melville Adaptation from Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon And Frederick Jackson

1st Produced:
-     1952

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Gay's the Word

Gay's the Word
the story of Gay's the Word centres around Gay Daventry attempting to bring a musical to London. Sadly it does not turn out as a success so Linda lends her some inherited money and they open up a theatrical school at Gay's country house. This turns out to be the phenomenal success intended.

Notes:
book And music by Ivor Novello And lyrics by Alan Melville

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 51.23

Top of Page Top of Page

Marigold

Marigold
-

Notes:
Music by Charles Zwar; lyrics by Alan Melville. Based on the play by F R Pryor And L Allen Harker

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
Original London cast recording: His Masters Voice (1275) 1959

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
2 act musical revue

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 59.111

Top of Page Top of Page

Minister's Mallard, The

Synopsis:
featuring some daft politicians, a woman with commonsense, and an orphan duck

Notes:
BBC Radio 1967

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Mrs Willie

Synopsis:
Ilena was the queen of a Balkan state - but in a revolution she lost her husband and was exiled with her young son. She married an English farmer. Ilena is also a brilliant concert pianist and goes on tours around Europe. Whilst she is away her new husband spends his time with the widow next door. And whilst on her tours she plots to overthrow the new government in her country and put her son on the throne.

Notes:
pseud William Melville Caverhill

1st Produced:
Oxford: New Theatre     18 Jul 1955

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1957   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy farce

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 55.160

Top of Page Top of Page

No Ill Feeling

Synopsis:
Matron Starchy keeps an eye on the patients in Ward Two especially Vera who claims she has amnesia

Notes:
Written by Mary McMahon And Allen Melville

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Restoration Piece

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
part of Green Room Rag. Several short turns And items

1st Produced:
Strand, London     07 Dec 1958

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short piece

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 58.313

Top of Page Top of Page

Simon and Laura

Synopsis:
Simon and Laura veterans of the stage. But as the years have gone on they have not seen eye to eye on anything and their rows are ferocious. However, the world believes them to be the ideal couple. A television company starts making a series of programmes about their ideal marriage. For one hundred and ninety-nine programmes they manage to put on an act as the perfect husband and wife. However during programme two hundred they start to quarrel over Simon's interest in the lovely young scriptwriter and Laura's interest in the director. Have they gone too far? Will there be another programme in the series? It seems likely because at the end of the broadcast Laura announces she is pregnant.

Notes:
pseud William Melville Caverhill

1st Produced:
Hippodrome, Golders Green, London     01 Nov 1954

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1956   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 54.285

Top of Page Top of Page

Wherefore Art Thou, Juliet?

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
part of Green Room Rag. Several short turns And items

1st Produced:
Adelphi, London     15 May 1955

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short piece

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Wearing - the London Stage 55.95

Top of Page Top of Page