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''Oh, What a Lovely War!'' is an epic musical developed by Joan Littlewood and her ensemble at the Theatre Workshop in 1963.〔Banham (1998, 645), Brockett and Hildy (2003, 493), and Eyre and Wright (2000, 266-69).〕 ==Development== The idea for the production started on Armistice Day 1962 when Gerry Raffles heard the second broadcast of Charles Chilton's radio musical for the BBC Home Service, called ''The Long Long Trail''〔''The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century English Literature'', ed Laura Marcus & Peter Nicholls, page 478. Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-82077-4, ISBN 978-0-521-82077-6.〕〔(''Archive on 4: The Long, Long Trail'' - BBC Radio 4 - 4 January 2014 )〕 about World War I. Written and produced by Chilton in memory of his father〔''The Show to End All Wars'', Simon Russell Beale, BBC Radio 4 2013-09-12 ()〕 whose name was inscribed on the memorial at Arras, the piece was a radio documentary that used facts and statistics, juxtaposed with reminiscences and versions of songs of the time, as an ironic critique of the reality of the war.〔(''The Cambridge History of British Theatre'' pp 397-401 Jane Milling, Peter Thomson, Joseph W. Donohue (2004 Cambridge University Press) ) ISBN 0-521-65132-8 accessed 19 October 2007〕 The songs were found in a book published in 1917 called ''Tommy's Tunes''〔〔(''The Long, Long Trail: Charles Chilton, Tommy’s Tunes and Oh! What a Lovely War'' - The London Library Blog - 30 December 2013 )〕 which had new lyrics written in the trenches to well-known songs of the era, many from hymns or from west end shows. Bud Flanagan provided the voice of the 'ordinary soldier'. The title came from the popular music hall song "There's a Long Long Trail A-Winding" published in 1913,〔''There's a long, long trail a winding'' 1913, by Stoddart King (1889-1933) and Alonzo Elliot (1891-1964)〕 mentioned in the introduction of ''Tommy's Tunes''.〔(''Tommy's Tunes New and Revised Edition'' )〕 Raffles proposed the idea of using it as the basis of a production to his partner, Joan Littlewood, but she detested the idea, hating World War I, military uniforms, and everything they stood for.〔 Gerry though, brought Chilton along to the theatre and they played through the songs. Eventually Littlewood considered it might work, but refused any military uniforms, deciding on pierrot costumes from Commedia dell'arte very early on as a "soft, fluffy entertainment mode"〔 providing an ironic contrast to the tin hats which they also wore. Littlewood said, in 1995, that "Nobody died on my stage, they died in the film - that they ruined". She wanted audiences to leave the theatre laughing at the "vulgarity of war". The Theatre Workshop developed productions through improvisation and initially the cast would learn the original script but then have that taken away and have to retell the story in their own words for performance. Each member of the Theatre Workshop was tasked with learning about a particular topic, such as Ypres or gas. As the production developed it also used scenes from ''The Donkeys'' by military historian (and future Conservative politician) Alan Clark initially without acknowledgement, Clark took Littlewood to court to get credited.〔 Some scenes in the production, notably one on the first time the trenches were gassed, were worked on for many days only for Littlewood to conclude they were too horrific for an audience,〔 and delete them. This was another reason why uniforms were not worn in the production. A satire on World War I (and by extension against war in general) the title is derived from the music hall song "Oh! It's a Lovely War," which is one of the major numbers in the production. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Oh, What a Lovely War!」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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