Some sources list the opening date as Dec. 11, 1973, and the number of performances as 48. An ad that appeared in the New York Times on Sunday, December 2, 1973, listed the opening date as December 18. We have chosen December 20, 1973, as the opening date as this was the day before the press date (the date that was specified by the Chelsea Theater Center of Brooklyn as the day on which the newspaper reviews were to appear), and to count the performances before that date as previews. Therefore we list 11 previews (as Chelsea seems to have played a Tuesday through Sunday schedule for this production, including a Wednesday matinee, which was not always true for Off-Broadway productions), and 37 post-opening performances.
The production was originally scheduled to close on January 8, 1974, but was extended till January 20 before performances started.
For our song list for this production, we have made certain changes from the song list in the production's program.
Rather than list the performers for each number by character name, the program listed the last names of the actors. Our usual policy, whenever possible, is to list the characters, even when the program lists the actors.
Although most of the actors in this production played multiple roles, there was only one number in which it was difficult to determine which character names to list. That number is "O, Miserere." The program listed three members of the company, but (as a view at the published script and score confirmed) they did not perform it as any of their listed characters but rather when they representated figures in a stained-glass window. We have chosen to list the performers as "Three members of the company," and to then list their names in parentheses.
For one number, we diverged from the title listed in the program. This was for the number listed as "Fons Pietatis." Many versions of the score do contain a section using those Latin words from the Requiem Mass, but they occur in the Lisbon sequence (the Auto-da-fé), whereas the program for this production listed the "Fons Pietatis" in the spot in which the "Alleluia" was sung when the production movied to Broadway. The published script and score also place the "Alleluia" there. As it seems to us unlikely (though not impossible) that the "Fons Pietatis" was used in that spot in this production, we are guessing that this was an error in the program and we have adjusted it accordingly.
We have chosen to retain the program's listing of "My Love" as a solo for Lewis J. Stadlen (playing the Governor at that point), even though it does seem likely that Sam Freed (Maximillian) also sang in the number, as he later did in the Broadway transfer.