Randy Newman's Faust

In a 1995 New York Times piece, Newman said that he was first inspired to create a work based on Goethe's Faust in the 1970s, after a first reading of the play.^[1] However, during a 2014 staging of the show at the New York City Center, Newman said onstage that "[Goethe's] Faust, of course, is a masterpiece: I read the classic comic book, and I concur.”^[2]

Newman said he had already been a fan of works that concern Heaven (such as the 1930 Marc Connelly play Green Pastures, and the 1945 movie The Horn Blows at Midnight), and that "[i]t's such a big idea, with God and the Devil, that I thought I could put everything I knew into it and say whatever I wanted[.]" Regarding his own designs for the material, however, Newman also said that "...there's something so wise about [Goethe's Faust] that it made me want to try to destroy it, in a way," and "have all its wisdom frustrated by the nature of real human beings[.]"^[3]

In 1980, Newman wrote a few songs for the project, as well as a rough draft of a script; he then put it aside to focus on his solo career and film composing.^[1]

At one point Newman showed a script of the show to Mike Nichols, who criticized the conception of the show's "Faust" character, "Henry Faust," saying (as Newman put it), "The kid doesn’t have any arc. Nothing happens to him.” Newman later said, in 2017, "But I liked that. It makes for a gruesome evening of theater."^[4]

The song "Sandman's Coming" was recycled from an episode of the 1990 television series Cop Rock, for which Newman had written a number of songs.

Randy Newman's Faust first had a limited run at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in September 1995, which coincided with the release of a concept album version, featuring a different cast and arrangements than the stage version. The stage production, directed by Michael Greif was praised for its score, but criticized for its script and characters.^[5]

The script was rewritten by David Mamet for the second production, in Chicago's Goodman Theatre. This production, featuring the same principal cast, suffered similar criticisms that its script was still not the equal of its score. It ran from September 30 to November 2, 1996.^[6]

On July 1, 2014, New York City Center's Encores! staged a one-night-only performance of the show. This version was stripped down for a more minimal "concert" presentation and heavily rewritten. As on the album (but unlike earlier stage versions), Newman himself assumed the role of Lucifer, alongside a new cast that included Isaiah Johnson, Michael Cerveris, Tony Vincent, Laura Osnes, and Vonda Shepard.^[7] In 2024, concerts of the show were held at the Soraya in Los Angeles, California, on September 28 and 29, starring Ryan McCartan in the title role, Reeve Carney as the Devil, Javier Muñoz as the Lord and Veronica Swift as Martha. It was directed by Michael Roth.^[8]