The Little Prince Lands With a Cinematic Thud

The transcript for the first of two Closing Night episodes on turning the classic children's story into musicals, one for the screen and one for the stage.

Richard Kiley and Steven Warner in the 1974 movie musical The Little Prince — Richard Kiley and Steven Warner in the 1974 movie musical *The Little Prince*

If there’s one book that’s captivated both kids and adults for generations, it’s The Little Prince. This tiny tale of a boy from a distant planet, who travels the universe and asks big questions about love, loss, and human nature, has a surprisingly big history behind it.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a French aviator and writer, and in 1940, with Nazi Germany occupying France, he fled to the U.S. During his time in New York, between 1941 and 1943, he wrote and illustrated The Little Prince, pulling inspiration from his own autobiographical book: Wind, Sand and Stars. In this 1939 account of his aviation adventures, he recollects a crash landing in the Sahara desert, where he had a number of hallucinations, including an encounter with a fennec, a type of desert sand fox that bears a striking resemblance to the fox depicted in The Little Prince.

It was first published in the US, in both English and French in April 1943, but in a tragic twist of fate—Saint-Exupéry never got to see how beloved his book would become. Because just a year later, in 1944, he vanished while flying a reconnaissance mission over the Mediterranean. His plane wasn’t found until decades later, adding an air of mystery to his already poetic legacy.

And over the years, his Little Prince has been translated into more than 500 languages and dialects—one of the most translated books in the world. It’s sold over 200 million copies, making it one of the best-selling books of all time. And it’s inspired countless adaptations, including a movie musical and a Broadway-bound stage musical. And over the next two episodes, we’ll be diving into both of these productions—two ambitious takes on The Little Prince, both backed by the same producer, Joseph Tandet.

The 1982 stage adaptation featured music by famed film composer John Barry and a book by Tony-winning librettist Hugh Wheeler. The star of the show was Michael York as the Aviator with a young boy by the name of Anthony Rapp in the title role. However, after last-minute changes to the director and choreographer, it closing during previews and never officially opened on Broadway.

But before that was the 1974 movie version that took almost 10 years to make its way onto the screen. It was led by famed Hollywood director Stanley Donen and written by the legendary Broadway team of Lerner and Loewe.

1974 Film Trailer - “The Little Prince, starring Richard Kiley as the Aviator, Bob Fosse as the Snake, Gene Wilder as the Fox, and introducing Steven Warner as the Little Prince.”

But despite a star-studded cast, the film was a commercial failure and didn't even gross a million dollars toward its $6 million budget. Nonetheless, it has achieved status as a cult classic now, with a legion of fans around the world, including me. And since the stage version was only possible because of this film, I wanted to take a look at the movie musical that reunited Lerner and Loewe for their final collaboration and its bumpy road to production.

Trailer continues - “The Little Prince, an experience you and the child inside will never forget.”

Welcome to Season Two of Closing Night, a theater history podcast that dives into the stories of Broadway's famous and forgotten shows that closed too soon. I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, an actor and producer based in New York City, and this season I'll be your guide as we uncover the mysteries of productions that never even made it to opening night. Whether they closed out of town or during previews, you'll hear firsthand from those involved, revealing just how unpredictable—and unforgiving—the path to Broadway can be.

LERNER AND LOEWE REUNITE

In the world of musical theater, the writing team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe are probably second only to Rodgers and Hammerstein when it comes to fame and notable Broadway hits. But it certainly didn't start out that way. They first met in 1942--Lerner, a New York native, was only 24 years old at the time, and Loewe, an Austrian immigrant, was 41 years old.

Their first two collaborations were basically commercial flops, one of them not even making it to Broadway. It wasn't until 1947 with the musical Brigadoon that Lerner and Lowe became household names. After that came other Broadway successes with My Fair Lady and Camelot and the movie musical Gigi. As the lyricist and book writer, Alan Jay Lerner also worked on adapting these musicals into films. But in 1960, after the opening of Camelot, Frederick Loewe, or Fritz as he was known to his close friends, stated that it would be his last show before retirement. And with that, the two parted ways. Lerner would go on to collaborate with other writers, and while he found moderate success, he never reached the heights of his partnership with Frederick Lowe.

And during this time in the mid-1960s a lawyer by the name of Joseph Tandet acquired the film and stage rights to The Little Prince. He first approached the legendary Gene Kelly to star as the Aviator, but he wasn’t interested in performing by this time and only wanted to direct the film. Tandet also spoke with playwright Dale Wasserman, who had achieved fame with the 1963 play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha. Wasserman's idea was to capitalize on the Space Age popularity of the time and turn the Aviator into an astronaut as he travels from planet to planet with the Little Prince in tow. However, Tandet didn’t really cared for that idea, and Gene Kelly may have been an amazing performer, but wasn't exactly regarded as a great director.

So Tandet finally reached to the man who had been his top choice all along to write the script: Alan Jay Lerner. The only thing left to figure out was who would compose the score. Tandet mentioned Frederick Loewe, but Lerner said he wouldn't come out of retirement. So film composer John Barry was mentioned--he had won a Best Song Oscar for “Born Free” and had written numerous scores for James Bond films. Lerner was intrigued with Barry, but he and Tandet kept discussing other possibilities. All the while, Lerner continued working on other projects. In fact, fast forward to 1971 and Lerner actually decided to work with John Barry, but on another musical. This one was a stage adaptation of the notoriously controversial novel Lolita.

Tandet was surprised and dismayed to find Lerner doing another musical when The Little Prince has yet to be written. But Lerner explained that this was kind of a test, and if this collaboration worked, then The Little Prince would be next. Lolita, My Love was scheduled for a multi-city tryout tour before eventually heading to Broadway. And I'll actually be doing an episode all about this musical later on this season, but for now I'll tell you that neither critics nor audiences reacted favorably to this production, and the musical closed out of town in Boston.

Around that same time though, Lerner reached back out to Frederick Lowe and sent him a motion picture script he had written of The Little Prince. The two spoke on the phone and rekindled their excitement of writing and working together again. Lerner said in his memoir, The Street Where I Live, that "eleven years slipped away in a minute, and it was pre-Camelot again."

Eventually, Stanley Donen was brought in to direct. He had a knack for turning musicals into movies with a string of hits, including Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, and his biggest hit of all, Singin' in the Rain. Now adapting a children's book into a movie isn't really that unique or unheard of, but what makes The Little Prince different is that the bulk of the plot and the weight of its themes and messages fall upon one young boy. So casting that title role had to be very specific and would take a very special kind of child actor to do it, pretty much finding a needle in a haystack.

FINDING THE LITTLE PRINCE

At the age of five, Steven Warner was sat down in front of a TV one night and was watching a variety show with a bunch of dancers. He was absolutely mesmerized by the dancing and pointed at the TV and said to his mother, I want to do that. Now his mother was once a dancer herself and was reluctant to have her child go into the same profession, but he persisted and was eventually enrolled in a stage school.

Warner: They sent me there for one term, and I absolutely hated it. Getting out really early in the morning, not getting home until late, having too much homework, and I didn't have chance to play with my friends, you know, and I just thought, this is this is all tool. I don't like this tool. So I I told my mom, that's it. I don't wanna be a dancer anymore. I hate it. You know? That's it. It's all over. And so my mom and dad agreed that I would come out of that school and just go back to a normal school. And, I think it was the next day that I actually got the role of the little prince.

Because you see, while he was at that school, even for just one term, talent scouts from Paramount Pictures had come to audition all the boys in the school.

Warner: And they did the thing that I hate about auditions. When you walk along the line going, "No, no, no, no, no, step forward. No, no, no, no, no, step forward." And they got to me and I was not paying any attention. And they said, you know, "step forward." And I said, "Why?" And they said, "We want you to sing for us." And I said, "I can't sing." And they went, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can sing. Come on. Sing us a song." And, eventually, they did actually manage to get me to sing one verse of "When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney" because it's the only thing I could think of.

And I guess that must have been good enough to get me a screen test. So I had two screen tests, I believe. And I think it was on the second one, I went up to this man, and I said to him, "Can you tell me now, have I got the part? Because I don't want you to keep taking me out of school every time, you know, because you keep bringing me to these things and then telling me I've got to come back again, and I'm missing my classes and my friends at school." And, apparently, that was Joseph Tandet, the producer. And he thought that somebody of my age, if I had the guts to speak to him like that (I didn't know who he was, though), but if I was gonna be like that, it shouldn't really faze me being on a set in front of forty, fifty people. And it kinda didn't really. But, yeah, I kinda got the part, and I wasn't really trying to get to it.

FILMING BEGINS

So while Steven was a newcomer to film, even though he had done a smattering of commercials here and there, the rest of the cast was a mix of British and American actors, a veritable list of who's who when it comes to stage and screen. Richard Kiley was cast as the aviator. Bob Fosse played the snake. Gene Wilder played the fox. Donna McKechnie played the part of the rose, and Joss Ackland was the king. But as the title character, Steven was definitely the star of the show.

Warner: And everybody made me feel very special, but my mom was always there in the background. “No, he’s just a kid. He's just a kid.” She'd never entertained anything like, you know, “Oh my god. You're a big star.” She would never have anything like that. You know, if I wanted to go and ride a bike, you know, fall off and scrape my leg, fine. Didn't matter if you were filming the next day. She's like, no, no. He's a normal child.

And as a normal young boy, Steven was rambunctious and excited. But as the long days of filming wore on, sometimes he wasn't as excited at being the little prince.

Warner: I guess the people at Paramount had worked with children before, and there's a wonderful tool called bribery. You know, the if the kids go, oh, I'm tired. I'm bored of doing this now. I I don't want to do that anymore. They would be like, “Hey, Steven. Have you seen this train set? You can have this. If we just do that take one more time.” I'm gonna get it just right. And there was a little bit of that going on where I'd actually seen the toy box where I knew what was in it. And, they knew what toys I liked, so I got a lot of toys.

And one of the most unique sets in the film was the Little Prince's planet B6-12.

Warner: The whole planet did used to rotate around, so it obviously was fixed to the wall behind. It was just the half of it. Sometimes there was people inside it as well. Like, everything that was on the outside of it was bolted to it, except me. I was on wires. And obviously, they just rotated the camera at the same time as the planet, so it looked like I was walking upside down.

And there was another one where they had just a part of the planet, but that was actually quite load near the floor. And I nearly broke my leg actually on one shot. They wanted me to fly towards the camera and just go over it. And the guy that was supposed to pull the cable to make me go up, I think he wasn't paying attention. And I flew into the camera and, apparently, I broke something on the camera, but I screamed the studio down. And I think they had to stop filming that day and sent me off for an x-ray because they were worried that I'd broken my knee. But no, it's okay. Another train set, that shut me up.

While filming on set took place at Elstree Studios, just outside of London, the desert sequences were on location in Tunisia, which was supposed to take about 6 weeks but they ended up having to extend that time. It was often grueling work in those conditions, with the heat and the sun making filming difficult and time-consuming, which forced Donen to get creative in coaxing a performance out of the very young Steven.

Warner: There is one shot. They cut the sound out of it because it would have been his voice in it. He stood behind the camera with a glove puppet. It's the first time the camera sees me close-up and it camera's up high and it comes down low towards my face. And they've got all of the the guys had all the reflector boards to reflect the sun back onto me. So all I could I was just blinded by this white light, and you can see me trying not to squint because they kept saying, Steven, open your eyes. You need to look up. You need to open your eyes. And I was like, I said, "but it's so bright.: You know? And they they said, "Yeah, but this is a really important this is when we get to see you close-up for the first time." And since it's really important that you don't screw your eyes up, and the puppets that I'm talking about, they're called Sooty and Sweep. They're English puppets.

And Mr. Donen, behind the camera, "Steven, Sooty says open your eyes and look up here. Look here." Sooty says this, Sooty. Like, now I think about it. He was with Gene Kelly doing Singin' in the Rain, for God's sake. You know? He's one of the biggest musical directors in Hollywood, and he was just this nice man. You know? Well, he was nice to me.

One of the most iconic parts of the Little Prince is the cloak that he wears and the sword that he has off to the side. But for Steven, this wasn't one of his favorite parts.

Warner: There was actually four coats. There was one for flying because it had holes all over it so they could attach the wires. There was another one that didn't have buttons and a sword. I can't remember why. There was one that was made specifically for me, and now I think there was, like, a standby one. But I I remember wearing it for the first time. And when they put it on, I went, Oh. But and I was like, I said, This is really heavy. And, and they were like, Well, you know, it it has to be made of this fabric. It has and it was made up in London. Some costume is there. And it was incredibly heavy.

Now, Steven wasn't the only boy on set. There in Tunisia, there was a body double that would do some of the longer shots, especially when Steven had to do schoolwork. Then in the studio, there was a stunt double hired to do some of the flying on wires. However, as soon as he was put up in the air, he started screaming and was immediately brought down again.

Warner: So I was like, I said, I'll do it. I'll do it. And they were like, oh, I don't know about this. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. And my mom's like, “No, let him do it. Let him do it.” And they put the wires on me too. Yeah. And I was like, “I love it. I can fly.” And so I did all my own stunts in The Little Prince.

WORKING WITH THE CAST

But as any actor will tell you when doing a show, some of the most long lasting memories come from the connections and friendships that are made on set or on stage. And as the two main characters, Steven Warner and Richard Kiley spent a lot of time together.

Warner: And I remember Richard as being one of the nicest people ever. He was so, so kind to me, lovely and friendly. Literally, the first time I met him, we did a little read through and they said, Oh, this is Richard. And I was like, “Oh, hello, Richard.” You know, I said, “Oh, I'm Steven.” He said, “Yes, I know you were Steven.” He said, “I'm really pleased to meet you.” He said, “We're going to be doing this together. I said, so I'm gonna help you, and you're gonna help me.” And, like, even between takes, everything I normally, people say, if you need me, I'll be in my trailer. It wasn't like that at all. He'd be like, “Oh, come on, Steven. Let's go and play. Let's go and do this. Let's go and do that.”

Richard Kiley and Steven Warner on set in Tunisia

But when we were on set, then, obviously, they had the playback going in the background. And I remember Mr. Donen saying to me, "Come on, Steven, sing." And I went, “I've already done it. It's on that track.” And he said, “no we need you to sing it again.” And I went, “But I've already done it.” And he said, “No, I want to see your mouth moving.” He said, “The best way to do it, just sing it again.” And I was thinking, god, they're really working me hard.

As I mentioned earlier, Richard Kiley was joined in this movie by several other Broadway names like Bob Fosse and Donna McKechnie, but when it came to well-known household names, Gene Wilder was actually the big star in this film. He was certainly a big star here in the US, having already starred in The Producers and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but Gene Wilder's appearance in The Little Prince almost didn't happen.

In 1973, Gene Wilder was living in New York and working on the script for Young Frankenstein. During this time, he got a call from Stanley Donen to meet with him and Alan Jay Lerner about their adaptation of The Little Prince. Now, Donen told Wilder he could play any party he wanted but thought the Fox was the best part. And after reading the script, Wilder agreed and said he would be happy to do it. At the same time, Mel Brooks was working on his latest film, Blazing Saddles. Now casting had been problematic throughout filming, and it finally came to a head one day while they were working on the first scene of the Waco Kid. And Gene Wilder writes in his memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger, about a particular phone call with Mel Brooks.

“After I finished writing the first draft of Young Frankenstein and just as I was about to leave for a little vacation with my wife, Jo, before going to London to start The Little Prince, Mel called from a soundstage at Warner Brothers studio. 'I need you right now! Dan Daley begged off doing the Waco Kid because he was too tired. So I got Gig young. But Gig started foaming at the mouth on the way to the first scene in the jail cell. I thought he was just doing some preparation for the part. I said, 'keep doing what you're doing.' I didn't know he'd just gotten on the wagon. We had to send for an ambulance to carry him out. I yelled, it's a sign from God.'

I'm calling you from a payphone next to the set. Can you come right away? 'But Mel, I have to be in London in two weeks to do The Little Prince for Stanley Donen.' Call him up. Ask if you can come later. I called Stanley in London and told him the situation. He said, 'Do you really want to do Mel's film?' I said, 'I really want to help Mel if I can.' 'Alright, I'll shoot your scenes at the end of the schedule instead of the beginning.' I left for Los Angeles the next day.”

And, of course, Blazing Saddles went on to become an iconic performance in Wilder's long career, and it was also where he met Madeleine Khan for the first time and suggested to Brooks that she would be wonderful in Young Frankenstein. And so we have Stanley Donen to thank for all of it, by just agreeing to rearrange his shooting schedule.

Warner: I'm glad that they let him go, you know, to do because I don't think anybody else would be able to do it the same.

But that rearrangement also allowed Wilder to take another more personal trip.

“Before I left for London to do The Little Prince, I went to Milwaukee to visit my father who was seriously ill. I tried to make him laugh, telling him about Mel Brooks and Blazing Saddles and Dom Delois singing, Stick out your tush. But when I kissed him goodbye, I knew I was seeing him for the last time. A week later, I was told that my father had died. I was filming in an enormous artificial wheat field on a huge soundstage, delivering the most memorable lines in the script: ‘It's only with the heart that one can see clearly, what’s essential is invisible to the eye.’”

That scene in the wheat field was actually done in a sound studio, But the main scene between Wilder and the little prince was done on location in the UK and involved about three weeks of shooting to do scene work and the song "Closer and Closer."

Warner: And we chatted and everything, and same sort of thing. We went through some script together. And, I absolutely loved that sequence with the Fox. And he was just the nicest person, the nicest person. And he used to call me on my birthday for a good ten years afterwards just to wish me happy birthday. Such a lovely man.

Every other week or so, new actors were joining the filming process, usually just for one scene. Sometimes, Steven had a lot to do, like with Gene Wilder, but most of the time, the adult actor was the star of that particular scene. That was the case when Joss Ackland joined the set.

Warner: And that was only for one week, five days. It was very, very brief. I just remember, like, going over and over and over, like, a few specific lines, because there was hardly any dialogue. It was mostly him singing, and chasing me around the that planet, which is the same one as some of the others, but don't tell anyone. They just painted it differently. But, but the thing I do remember about Joss Ackland, he had a really long cape. And all the little houses that you can see on the planet, they were, like, made of balsa wood. And his cape used to knot them all all over the place, and they kept trying to stick them all together with sticky tape. And I think they were just losing a battle because his cape was so heavy. You know, he used to, like, if it hit anything, stuff would go flying. I think in the end, they just said, just just leave it. Just just let all the pieces fly everywhere.

Joss Ackland and Steven Warner on the set for "You're a Child"

Now, Stanley Donen had started out as a dancer and choreographer. But by this point in his career, he was focused on directing. So when it came time to stage the scene for the snake played by Bob Fosse, He, of course, allowed Fosse full creative freedom to stage and choreograph his musical number called "A Snake in the Grass.”

Warner: And again, everybody on set, “Hey Bob. Bob.” I just thought this is Bob, you know, the nice man that could dance. I had no idea who he was. So because for me, it was normal. There wasn't anything like, oh my god, you know. And he didn't act like the big star. None of them did. They were just all normal people. And during the whole process of filming, I was absolutely mesmerized by watching him dance because if you remember, like, dancing was a thing that actually got me interested in that industry in the first book. So every time, you know, the music was playing and the cameras were off, I was just absolutely transfixed watching him dance. Because it's amazing. It wasn't until a little bit later that the penny actually dropped who that man was, you know, and, like, what he was responsible for. And, like, even shows that I go to see now, I just look at them, like, when people still talk about, you know, jazz hands, and I was like that's Bob.

Steven Warner with Bob Fosse as the Snake

Donna McKechnie in Company — Donna McKechnie in *Company*

But Bob Fosse wasn't the only big time Broadway Dancer to join the filming. In the early seventies, Donna McKechnie was a well established theater actress and dancer, having already been in five Broadway shows by that point. And so in 1972, she performed in a London production of Steven Sondheim's Company, which Stanley Donen had seen her in and later invited her to play the part of The Rose. In her musical theater memoir, Time Steps, McKechnie wrote how she was also able to bring a fellow dancer into the film as well.

“Stanley was staging the movie, but he needed a choreographer. With Michael Bennet not available, I prevailed upon him to hire Ron Farella, a teacher with whom I had been studying with in New York. Intense and sometimes temperamental, Ron had never choreographed either a Broadway show or a movie. In spite of his rough edges, I thought he had real potential, and I wanted to help him. I also figured that we could work well together since we had similar styles and training. After holding out ungracefully for more money, he finally joined us in London.”

But almost from the start, McKechnie wasn't comfortable with the filming or the direction. The scene and song between the little prince and the rose was one where McKechnie's image was going to be superimposed over a visual of the rose. So she was shot against a black velvet backdrop on a set surrounded by a multitude of technicians, an experience that was vastly different from what she was used to performing in front of a live theater audience.

Warner: I'd heard the song before, and they explained it to me that they, that we're never actually gonna be in the same scene, but she's going to be like a little person inside the flower. And they said they said they'll do it with projections, and that's okay. And they said that there there was plans for her to all cut my arm and then sing. Obviously, that never quite happened. So I don't think they had quite had the technology to do that then. But I know the little bits that they filmed with her was actually on the next sound stage at Elstree when we were filming something. So I know that she was there, and I did meet her very briefly once.

So since The Rose and The Little Prince weren't going to be on camera at the same time, it had to be staged a little differently. But then there was Stanley Donen's direction of what he wanted the rose to dance like. He wanted McKechnie's number to be a seductive dance with bumps and grinds. But since the scene was with the little prince, a seven year old Steven Warner, McKechnie was reluctant to go that way with it.

“I tried to compromise with a more playful approach, which was sexy but not too hard edged as if I were a child in a woman's body. My efforts really didn't matter in the end. I found myself frustrated by the whole process of making this film. I wasn't helped along the way when the director and choreographer had creative differences. Stanley would stomp his feet in frustration, and eventually, he barred Ron from the lot. The atmosphere on set was tense and uncomfortable. When I saw the movie months later, I was mortified. My scene had been cut to ribbons and the music was changed completely. The song I sang “Be Happy” was in my soprano voice, but my voice in the scene was dubbed by someone with a very low, sultry English accent. It occurred to me that Stanley never had any intention to use my speaking voice.”

UNHAPPIESS WITH THE FILM

But Donna McKechnie wasn't the only one unhappy with her number. In March of 1974, Alan Lerner wrote a letter to his agent bringing him up to date on the Little Prince production. He called the sequence when the Rose sings “Be Happy” an “absolute abomination”. He went on to say that the president of Paramount Pictures, Frank Yablans, was revolted by it as was producer Joseph Tandet, Frederick Loewe, and himself.

Despite all of this, Donen refused to change the number, with one of his arguments being that famed director Peter Bogdanovich thought it was terrific. Unfortunately, disagreements and bitterness only grew when the movie finally released in November 1974. In his own memoir, The Street Where I Live, Lerner didn't mince words with how he felt about the end result:

"It was never heard on the screen as Fritz had composed it. The director, someone called Stanley Donen, took it upon himself to change every tempo, delete musical phrases at will, and distort the intention of every song until the score was entirely unrecognizable. Unlike the theater where the author is the final authority, in motion pictures, it is the director. And if one falls in the hands of some cinematic Bigfoot, one pays the price for someone else's ineptitude. In this case, the price was high because it was undoubtedly Fritz's last score."

Alan Jay Lerner on set with Richard Kiley

Warner: The parts of music, the incidental music, I understand that it was possibly written after the film was put together. But I remember being in there with an orchestra for one bit, and they were playing music, because there was one or two songs that didn't make it into the film. We filmed it, and they were cut. But I remember one that Richard Kiley had, and it was a really nice song. And they and I was like, what? I can't believe they cut that song out. But they cut those out anyway.

Overall, Donen was quite busy making cuts and edits to several scenes and songs throughout the film, not just the cutting of Kiley's song or dubbing McKechnie's voice. In fact, her whole song "Be Happy" was chopped up and changed with the chorus coming in before the verse. Another song sung by Kiley "I'm on Your Side" was changed around with sections of lyrics being taken out. The same thing happened to the duet "Why is the Desert" sung by Kiley and Warner, which is missing its original complete introduction. And another song that was filmed but ended up being cut was sung by Clive Revill, who played the businessman, called "Matters of Consequence." Here is Alan jay Lerner singing the song on a demo recording he made with Frederick Loewe on piano.

“Grown up thinking is a ghastly mess. It is? Oh, yes. More confused than you would ever guess. Oh, no. Oh, yes. I'm convinced they're all as mad as hatters. Hatters? That's an expression. Wasting precious life on all their matters of consequence. Matters of consequence. Matters that can't be more stupid or monumentally unimportant. Grown ups think are matters of consequence. Matters of consequence…”

1973 demo recording of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe performing the music of The Little Prince — 1973 demo recording of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe performing the music of *The Little Prince*

Despite all these changes and being unhappy with the final edit of the film, Lerner still did promotion for the movie and took Steven along as well.

Warner: Alan Lerner and myself were actually guests on The Carol Burnett Show in '74. And it was basically that one episode was almost like a a tribute to all of his music. And because I mean, I it conveniently fitted in with the little prince as well, so that they had a little section in with the little prince. I had the coat with me and everything. But I sort of stood at the side and I'm listening to all these music thinking, Oh, I remember that song. I saw that in a film. What was it called, Gigi? That was it. Yeah. And I remember that one. I thought, Oh, does he have anything to do with that? You know, I didn't know. I had absolutely no idea. Again, these these were just all nice people that were nice to me.

CONCLUSION

Critical reception of The Little Prince was decidedly mixed. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "exasperating," saying it was "too abstract for children, yet too simple-minded for adults." He went on to say that the music of Lerner and Loewe was full of lovely things, but a total waste in these barren circumstances. However, local critics like Boris Nelson of the Toledo Blade said it was an "intriguing fantasy," noting it was an aesthetically gratifying film and should be seen by children of all ages.

But one of the most interesting reviews came from The Village Voice and Alexandra Sheedy, a 12-year-old film critic. She acknowledges that grown ups might find the film boring and that younger children probably wouldn't understand it, but says there's middle aged children that will get it and says the movie is funnier and clearer than the book and that she really enjoyed it. She went on to say that the film isn't so bad and didn't really deserve all of the negative response and reviews it had been getting. After all, she says, "grown ups really shouldn't see and expect to like the same things kids do."

Warner: The first time I actually saw it was in London, and I went along with my mom, my sister, a couple of friends, couple of my mom's friends. There was, like, a group of us. We went up, and they had closed the top balcony. It was just for us. And we would watch the film. And I remember thinking that I was in some ways a little bit disappointed because they'd cut out lots of bits that I really liked or the bit. And I was like, what happened to that bit with Jean, and and what happened to that bit? You know, why is that not in there? Because I thought that there was other nice bits that they could have left in. Because I if I've understood it correctly, the original cut, they said it was way too long. So they cut a lot of stuff out of the film to make it more bearable for the audience, you know, so it was only ninety minutes. But I I suppose that the essential part of it is the actual story. It's not the bits that I liked. It's not the bits that my mom liked. You know, it's it had to still tell the story.

Various scenes between Steven Warner and Richard Kiley, leading up to a big speech.

For all its negative press, though, The Little Prince did receive two Oscar nominations for music and actually won the Golden Globe for best original score. However, the ultimate downfall of this 1974 movie musical was that no one went to see it. Its box office gross didn't even reach $1 million. Now by comparison, Blazing Saddles was the top film of that year with almost $120 million. And Young Frankenstein came in at number four on the list, bringing in just over $86, million. But still, as Steven Warner will tell you, in the decades that have passed, this Lerner and Loewe movie musical has found a new generation of fans like myself, who enjoy the music, the performances, and the simple yet powerful story of The Little Prince.

Warner: I mean, I still get fan mail story, which I'm I just think, really? You know, for it it's an old film. It's a long time ago, but they nearly always say the same thing. And it's always like, “I don't think you understand what that film meant to me. When I was going through this part of my life or when this happened, I found it very comforting. So I make my children watch it.” There's an awful lot of people that have taken the time to seek me out and to thank me, and I just think I don't really understand why. But to me, it was just that was an adventure that I had. I didn't really think it would have a profound effect on anybody else, but I guess it must have.

Stanley Donen directing Richard Kiley and Steven Warner in Tunisia

Closing Night theater history podcast cover art

Acknowledgements go to IMDb, New York Times, Village Voice, Daily News, and the various memoirs used in making this episode. Closing Night is a production of WINMI Media with yours truly as writer and executive producer. Dan Delgado is editor and co-producer, not only for this podcast but also for his own movie podcast called The Industry. Much appreciation goes to Steven Warner for sharing his experiences and to the voice talents Peter Vogt and Gabrielle Ruiz.

Warner: It's almost that I kind of wish that I could actually go back having the knowledge that I know now and, like, having all these people alive again so I can actually say, “Oh my god, you know, what you did was amazing.” You know? And I might feel a bit guilty in some ways that I never really knew to acknowledge them for, you know, what their talent was. I I just didn't know. When I look at anything now, like, I don't know, Sweet Charity, Cabaret, anything like that, I might think, oh my god. You know, this is Bob Fosse, you know. I love all that kind of stuff because it's dance based, you know. I mean, it's nice in some ways, you know, that I I did get to meet them and work with them, but I feel a little bit of a cheat, because I didn't really know who they were at the time.

Sources and materials used to create this episode...