Show History

History

Inspiration

Teddy & Alice is a fictionalized depiction of American President Theodore Roosevelt and his rather tumultuous relationship with his daughter, Alice, during his term in the White House.  A number of notable historical figures appear in Jerome Alden's book, including Henry Cabot Lodge, J.P. Morgan, William Howard Taft, FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt.

One of the most creative things about Teddy & Alice is that the creative team used the music from renowned composer John Phillip Sousa.  They took many of Sousa's famous marching songs, with Richard Kapp adapting them to a pit band and Hal Hackady writing lyrics.  Kapp also wrote four of his own songs to use in the musical.  Alden and Kapp based much of their material off of a one-man play written about Roosevelt called Teddy.

Productions

Teddy & Alice premiered in Tampa, Florida, in a pre-Broadway tryout.  After a successful production, it opened on Broadway on November 12, 1987, at the Minskoff Theatre and ran for 77 performances.  John Driver (later known for producing "America's Most Wanted") directed, while Donald Saddler (Wonderfultown; No, No, Nanette) choreographed. The Seven Angels Theatre in Connecticut would go on to put up two productions of the musical in 1996 and 2012.

Trivia

• A bevy of notable actors performed in the original Broadway production of Teddy & Alice, including: Len Cariou (Theodore), Beth Fowler (Edith), Rain Raines (Nick), Nancy Opel (Eleanor Roosevelt) and Karen Ziemba (Belle Hagner).