A Joyful Noise

About the show

A Joyful Noise is a musical with a script by Edward Padula and music and lyrics by Oscar Brand and Paul Nassau. The 1966 Broadway production was a flop but introduced choreographer Michael Bennett in his Broadway debut. Based on Mississippi author Borden Deal's 1959 novel The Insolent Breed, the story centers on Shade Motley, a fiddler who arrives in a small Southern town and shocks the stern community with his exuberant love of hillbilly music and life in general.