Johnny the Priest

Princes Theatre (now the Shaftesbury Theatre)
Premiered 19 April 1960. Ran for 14 performances
Role: The Rev. Richard Highfield

Summary and analysis from British Musicals In Depth:

In London's dockland, a young priest, the Revd. Richard Highfield (Jeremy Brett), does his best to put the youth of the district on the straight and narrow. The amount of energy he uses in his crusade concerns the church council, but his wife Mary (Stephanie Voss) supports him in his endeavours. A young delinquent, Johnny (Bunny May), is one of the vicar's successes. Highfield gets Johnny into the Navy, but then the boy steals a telescope. He asks Highfield to give the police a false alibi, but Highfield cannot find it in his conscience to do so, and Johnny is thus put back to an uncertain future.

Johnny the Priest was Jeremy Brett's last musical in London. He had already played in Meet Me by Moonlight and ... Marigold, neither of which had been substantial hits. Perhaps whenJohnny the Priest collapsed after its first full week he thought straight plays might be a better bet. But he was a real loss to the British musical theatre, one of the most handsome, confidently voiced, masculine and attractive actor-singers.

From Theatre World, May 1960:

The adaptation and lyrics are by Peter Powell, and though some of the lyrics are in themselves good, one does wish that he could have refrained from making the Rev. Richard Highfield sermonise so often in song. One couldn't help feeling sorry for Jeremy Brett and Stephanie Voss for being made to sing such maudlin stuff.

... Jeremy Brett is to be congratulated on his performance as the noble clean-limbed young Vicar who tries to fight boredom in the young with old volumes of Punch, ping-pong and boxing gloves. One shudders to think what the part would have been like in less capable hands. As it is he managed to retain sympathy and was even touching in his final dilemma and defeat.