Menken & Spencer's THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ Opens in Montreal Tonight

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by David Spencer, is getting a second chance at a fully mounted production in Montreal this summer after its first attempt at a Broadway run in 1987.

The musical, based on the Mordecai Richtler film and novel by the same name, is set to receive a full production at the Segal Centre in Montreal from today, June 7-28, 2015.

A morality story, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz follows the story of a young man in Montreal who talkes to heart his grandafther's advice: "a man without land is nobody." He sets his sights on the wooded area surrounding a lake where he had a picnic with a girl and ruthlessly overpowers anyone who gets in the way of his goal - to own and develop that land. It's not until his grandfather helps him realize that land sorely won isn't worth having that he sees what his journey has cost him.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz closed in Philadelphia in 1987 after a tryout in the same city. The show was aimed toward a Broadway production.

Tony- and Oscar-winner Alan Menken is best known for Disney musicals the likes of Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, Hercules, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Little Mermaid, and more. Lyrics and libretto are by David Spencer, who also collaborated with Menken on Weird Romance, the Off-Broadway musical.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride