About the Play:

Liliom is a full-length comedy by Ferenc Molnár translated into English by Benjamin Glazer. A love story that has transfixed audiences for nearly a century, Liliom inspired the legendary musical Carousel. The story of a servant-girl and the rough and gruff carousel barker she weds, Liliom is an extraordinary work about the limits of love and the prices we pay for it.

Liliom tells the story of a shiftless young bully in Budapest ("Liliom" is the Hungarian for lily, and the slang term for "a tough"). He works intermittently as a barker for a merry go round and many servant girls fall victim to his charms. Among these girls is Julie, whom he eventually marries. Learning that he is about to become a father Liliom participates in a robbery to enhance his fortunes. But he is caught and stabs himself rather than submit to arrest. He is tried in the Magistrate's court on high, but they see through him there. They know what repentance is in his heart though he is much too cocky to admit it. He is sentenced to a term of years in the purifying fires with the promise that after that sentence has been served he can go back to earth with a chance to do one good deed there. A tender and moving story told with a master's touch.

Liliom first opened on Broadway in 1921 and was revived eleven years later. Following its 1932 production, the play was adapted into Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Carousel.

Cast: 5 women, 17 men

About the Playwright:

Ferenc Molnár (1878-1952) was a Hungarian-born dramatist and novelist who adopted American citizenship. Probably the greatest playwright to come out of Hungary, he was celebrated all over the world at the height of his fame in the 1920s and 30s. He emigrated to the United States to escape persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II and is now best remembered in the West for the play Liliom, on which Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel is based, and for the adaptation of his farce The Play's the Thing by P.G. Wodehouse.

Benjamin F. Glazer (1887-1956) was a screenwriter and producer who won two Oscars for his screenplays Seventh Heaven and Arise My Love. One of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a lifetime member, he made the first translation of Ferenc Molnár's play Liliom into English in 1921. His translation was used in the original Broadway production, in the 1930 film version, and in every production in English of the play. It also served as the basis for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, as well as the screenplay for the 1956 film version of the classic musical. He collaborated with Ernest Hemingway on Fifth Column for Broadway.