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Anne of Green Gables (1956)

Published on:

11 August 2007

Last modified:

29 March 2025

Anne of Green Gables was a live musical performance that aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1956.

Overview
Reception
Details
Further Reading

Overview

An earlier version of the Campbell and Harron production of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical, which would premiere at Charlottetown’s Confederation Centre for the Arts in 1965, this ninety-minute live television performance aired as part of CBC Folio (1955–1960), an umbrella series of musical and dramatic original programs and adaptations, ranging everywhere from W.O. Mitchell’s The Black Bonspiel of Willie MacCrimmon to Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler.

Anne of Green Gables is impressive for a live performance; Toby Tarnow, who had played Anne on CBC Radio to favourable reviews, was “wholesome” to Toronto Daily Star columnist Gordon Sinclair (“Radio and Television” 22). In another plot change to refocus the story on Anne and Gilbert, Anne is forced to sit next to Gilbert after breaking her slate over his head. Gilbert apologizes to Marilla and Matthew, who are horrified by Anne’s behaviour, by claiming that he broke the slate by accident; when he then asks Anne to go to the picnic with him, Marilla and Matthew cannot understand why Anne vows she’ll never speak to him again.

One of my favourite scenes in the Charlottetown musical, which I saw for the first time in 1996, is the end of act one where the Avonlea schoolchildren and the adults sing their enthusiasm for ice cream. In both this television version and the 1958 reprise, this event has a decidedly different outcome: here, the schoolchildren are beside themselves in anticipation until they discover a frightful mistake in the recipe; as the scene fades to black for the intermission, the children walk away from the camera in the depths of despair.

Barbara Hamilton, seen here in a minor role, would play Marilla Cuthbert in the BBC miniseries Anne of Green Gables (1972) and Anne of Avonlea (1975), and she would later play Eulalie Bugle in Sullivan Entertainment’s Road to Avonlea (1990–1996).

Reception

Sinclair’s review is largely positive: “Didn’t think I’d ever stick with a musical version of Anne of Green Gables to the end of a 90-minute run but I did and enjoyed the freshness of it all.” Moreover, “Norman Campbell’s music, while a bit on the syrupy side, was used sparingly enough to make us want more” (“Radio and Television” 22).

Details

Company Credits

Produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Release Date

4 March 1956

Runtime

90 minutes

Cast

Toby Tarnow as Anne Shirley, John Drainie as Matthew Cuthbert, Margot Christie as Marilla Cuthbert, Margaret Griffin as Diana, William Cole as Gilbert, Helene Winston as Mrs. Rachel Lynde, Sydney Sturgess as Mrs. Barry, Pegi Brown as Mrs. Bell, Peg Dixon as Mrs. Morrison, Eric House as Mr. Phillips, Sharon Acker as Miss Stacey, Barbara Tremain as Mrs. Spencer, Jean Keller as Mrs. Blewett, Barbara Hamilton as Shop Attendant, and Howard Milsom as Stationmaster.

Source Material

Adapted from the novel by L.M. Montgomery.

Credits

Book and lyrics by Donald Harron and James Costigan. Music and additional lyrics by Norman Campbell. Produced by Norman Campbell.

IMDB

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0201425/

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables_(1956_film)