[fully lost] “Spellbound” David Cronenberg/Howard Shore Musical
In 1973, Canadian magician Doug Henning premiered a Magic Show/Musical called “Spellbound” at the Royal Alexandra theatre in Toronto. It wasn’t very well received based on existing reviews, and was later heavily rewritten for its Broadway transfer. The Broadway version had music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz of Wicked fame and ran for almost 2000 performances, but the original Toronto version strangely had a libretto by David Cronenberg (The Fly, Videodrome, etc.) and music by Howard Shore (Lord of The Rings, Silence of the Lambs). As far as I know, this is the only stage production either of them have ever been involved in. The Broadway version has a lot of material publicly available, including a full cast recording and sheet music, but I can’t find anything besides a few advertisements and reviews for the original Toronto version. I don’t think it ever was licensed by any major publishers so I doubt any material was ever published, and there definitely wasn’t a cast album recorded, but I think it’s definitely in the realm of possibility that archives of the script and music exist. I don’t know who would have them (besides Shore, Cronenberg, or the Doug Henning estate), but I’d love to see what a Shore/Cronenberg musical would look like. If anyone knows anything else about this strange show or has any idea where to start looking please let me know! Thank you!