Shelter (musical)

The original production started previews on Jan 22, 1973 and officially opened on February 6, 1973, at the John Golden Theatre, after an out of town tryout at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park during the summer of 1972.^[5] The production was directed by Austin Pendleton. Tony Walton won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design.^[6]Clive Barnes wrote in his review in The New York Times "People liking their Broadway musicals to be bold and brassy, will not take to “Shelter.” But, people appreciating more of a chamber musical, intimate, even cozy, should find this a warmly pleasant evening.".^[7]

In 1997, an Off-Broadway production was performed in-concert with another Cryer-Ford musical, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac. The production played at the York Theatre in April of 1997.^[8]

Cryer stated during the revival process "The whole purpose [of the production] is to rework and connect these pieces that were two separate shows but were thematically connected. We discovered that the characters in Isaac and Shelter were the same two characters a few years apart. With Isaac, we felt the second act of the show was not quite as developed as the first. On the other hand, Shelter was never fully realized. It was a chamber musical we inflated to a Broadway production, and I didn't get it focused properly. So we've cut it and condensed it by eliminating one character."".^[9]

An original cast album was recorded by Columbia Records.^[10][11] The 1997 Off-Broadway production also recorded a cast album.^[12]