Jerry Lee Lewis - Catch My Soul Musical (1968) REHEARSALS & CUTS

Rehearsals began January 22, 1968, with William Marshall (Othello), Julienne Marie (Desdemona), and Jerry Lee Lewis (Iago) musically backed by The Blossoms and The Frank Walker Singers. At that first rehearsal, Lewis reportedly surprised the rest of the cast by being the only one who already had all his lines memorized. The production opened on March 4, 1968, and ran through April 13, 1968 (a six-week engagement) in Los Angeles. During the interim before rehearsals, the show underwent several casting and venue changes—for example, the role of Othello shifted from Rosey Grier to William Marshall. The rehearsals likely included musical backing (choral and band) from early on (e.g. The Blossoms), and since Jerry Lee Lewis had come into rehearsal with lines ready, there must have been preparatory work (script study, music reading) done even before January 22. Those three fragments are all what we have as a material of the Jerry Lee Lewis' role. Two of them are from the rehearsals (January or February 1968) and the thirth one is a cut from Jerry's performance (Innocence, Anarchy and Soul’in, August 11th, 1968) where he did a dialogue from the musical while playing Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On. Set list: 1. The Cannikin Clink (Let a Soldier Drink) 0:00 2. Lust Of The Blood (That's What You Call Love) 2:52 3. Dialogue of Iago 6:33 Catch My Soul was a rock-gospel adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, conceived and directed by Jack Good (best known for his rock ‘n’ roll television work in the UK). It opened at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles on March 4, 1968, and ran for six weeks. The production blended Shakespeare’s original text with rock, gospel, and blues numbers performed live by Jerry Lee Lewis and backed by The Blossoms and The Frank Walker Singers, turning the play into a kind of psychedelic passion play with a Southern revivalist energy. Jerry Lee Lewis’s Iago wasn’t just a schemer whispering poison into Othello’s ear—he was a rock ‘n’ roll preacher of doom, using gospel-fueled music to seduce, manipulate, and condemn, turning Shakespeare’s tragedy into a wild 1960s spectacle. P.S. The pictures shows Jerry as Iago originaly!

Added 23 Mar 2026