Martin Charnin, a young Broadway performer (featured in the original cast of WEST SIDE STORY) and lyricist, had already worked with composer Mary Rodgers on several projects when, in 1969, he approached her father Richard Rodgers with the idea for a new musical.

Charnin proposed that he and Rodgers adapt Clifford Odet’s 1954 play THE FLOWERING PEACH into a Broadway musical. Rodgers was intrigued, and chose eventually not only to write the score with Charnin but to produce the musical as well. The team was joined by author Peter Stone, fresh from his triumph that season with the Tony Award-winning book for 1776, and director Joe Layton, who had worked with Richard Rodgers 10 years earlier as choreographer of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. With the team in place, TWO BY TWO was born. 

Like its source, TWO BY TWO was based on the Biblical tale of Noah, his ark and the flood. As a so-called "Biblical musical" it spearheaded a modest theatrical phenomenon of the early ’70’s. Six months after the Broadway premiere of TWO BY TWO, Stephen Schwartz's GODSPELL would open off-Broadway; six months after that, the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR would arrive on Broadway, while their previous Biblical musical, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, continued to gestate in England.

TWO BY TWO took a fairly traditional approach to its Biblical theme, telling the story of Noah, his wife Esther, their sons and their sons’ spouses through a straightforward narrative. Where TWO BY TWO deviated from the norm, however, was in its staging. There were, for example, no real animals in the production, the ark was built right in front of the audience's eyes during the first act, God made his presence known through the use of timpany and visual montages and, perhaps most atypical of all, this was a full-scale Broadway musical that featured a total company of eight players.

Unlike its rock opera compatriots, TWO BY TWO did not "camp up" or cajole its source material. It did, however, manage to apply a modern perspective and contemporary sensibility to its age-old story. "The story dealt with Noah and the flood," wrote Rodgers in his autobiography, MUSICAL STAGES, "[but it] covered such contemporary themes as the generation gap and ecology. There was even a parallel between the flood and the atom bomb."

TWO BY TWO marked Danny Kaye's much-heralded return to Broadway after many years. Joining him were Joan Copeland as Noah's wife, Esther. Harry Goz, Michael Karm and Walter Willison played their sons; Marilyn Cooper, Tricia O’Neil and Madeline Kahn played the daughters-in-law.

Following out-of-town engagements in New Haven and Boston, TWO BY TWO opened at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway on November 10, 1970, where it played for nearly a year. While reviews were mixed, much praise was singled out for Richard Rodgers' melodies and Danny Kaye's star turn. (Kaye was such a trouper that not even a torn ligament in his leg could keep him from the show, which he performed for several weeks wheelchair-bound. One ad for the show at that time featured Kaye in his full garb as Noah, sporting a leg swathed in plaster and the caption "Danny Kaye is back in the cast!")

Milton Berle created the role of Noah in a limited national tour which began at the St. Louis Municipal Opera in August in 1971.

Information courtesy of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization