RICK BESOYAN
(Original Book, Music and Lyrics) ’s theatrical works, off-Broadway and on-Broadway, were small in number—just three musicals and one cabaret review. However, at least one of them LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE, seems to be running forever. This musical spoof of stage and screen operettas has had, at last count, more than a hundred thousand showings in all fifty of the United States and thirty foreign countries.
LLRichard Besoyan was born in Alameda, California, in 1924. By the time he was in high school, he was already writing musical comedies. Rick served in the U.S. Army Infantry from 1943 to 1946, and also participated in entertainment for the G.I.s in both the United States and Europe during World War II.
After being discharged from the army, Rick performed for one year with the Breden-Savoy Light Opera Company in California, and then settled in New York City. Like most young theatre hopefuls, he supported himself with a series of odd jobs—principally waiting tables. It was in this period Rick received, yearly a pair of Thom McAnn shoes from the Conrad Cantzen Shoe Fund, then a division of the Actor’s Fund. On a somewhat higher level, he later taught musical comedy at the Stella Adler Studio.
Rick’s musical review, IN YOUR HAT, at the showplace, a tiny Greenwich Village night club, was the genesis for LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE, which he wrote with a young actress in mind. LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE opened with Eileen Brennan in the title role, in December, 1959. The reviews were unanimous raves, he received the Drama Desk’s Vernon Rice Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the show ran for three years. The young composer/director never waited tables again.
Rick followed LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE with THE STUDENT GYPSY or THE PRINCE OF LIEDERKRANZ, on Broadway, and BABES IN THE WOOD off-Broadway. One opened during a three-day blizzard, and the other during a newspaper strike. Although they were basically good shows, neither was successful. At the time of his death, Rick had completed a full-scale musical version of Paul Gallico’s MRS. ‘ARRIS GOES TO PARRIS. It was never produced.