A New
Beginning (19401950)
“They Couldn’t Pick a Better Time”
Kenrick, Chapter 11 (238-264)
1940
With the world at war and America still suffering
effects from the Great Depression, most
Broadway professionals sensed that audiences of
the early 1940s wanted an escape from reality, the
more lighthearted the better. For example, Irving
Berlin had reigned as America's most popular
composer since 1911, contributing hit songs to
numerous stage reviews and films.
The 1940s brought his first book musical to
Broadway -- Louisiana Purchase (444 perf) a
comic send-up of Louisiana politics co-starring the
popular team of William Gaxton and Victor
Moore. It featured a story by Buddy DeSylva and
a libretto by Morrie Ryskind. Choreographer
George Balanchine choreographed a dream ballet.
Irving Berlin at rehearsal for
Louisiana Purchase, 1940
Louisiana Purchase
The opening of the show caught
theatregoers off guard. It began
with a lone woman on stage in
the middle of a busy morning.
Moments later, a man came on to
sing the opening number as a solo
with no ensemble in sight. The
heroine also danced a dream
ballet when she had to choose
between two suitors…all of these
devices would be employed in
Oklahoma!
Its director, Edward
McGregor was also
the director for this
Ethel Merman vehicle,
the first time she was
billed as star.
“Pony” line in Panama Hattie
Let’s Face It
Music by Cole Porter,
Book by Herb and
Dorothy Fields
(1941)
The show featured Eve Arden
and Danny Kaye in a tale of
three wealthy wives who get
revenge on their cheating
husbands by taking on three
soldiers as gigolos. The score
included "You Irritate Me So."
Wartime audiences were
delighted, and Porter had another
show top the 500 performance
mark.
SOMETHING FOR THE
BOYS(1943) is an example of what
musical comedy tried to be in the
early 40s, placing a major star in an
unlikely situation and adding a few
comic twists. Ethel Merman played
a wartime factory worker who
inherits property adjacent to a
military base in Texas. While there,
she falls in love with a
bandleader/soldier and finds that her
dental fillings pick up radio signals.
This gave Merman plenty of comic
moments and Porter songs to belt.
Not great art, but it packed the
Imperial Theatre for over a year.
Another “business
as usual” musical
comedy from the
early part of the
decade.
Banjo Eyes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banjo Eyes is a musical based on the play Three Men on a Horse by John Cecil
Holm and George Abbott. It has a book by Joseph Quinlan and Izzy Ellinson, music by
Vernon Duke, and lyrics by John La Touche and Harold Adamson. Produced by Albert
Lewis and staged by Hassard Short, the Broadway production opened on December
25, 1941 at the Hollywood Theatre, where it ran for 126 performances. The cast
included Eddie Cantor, Lionel Stander, and William Johnson.
Although Cantor was known as "Banjo Eyes," the title referred not to his character
but to a talking race horse, played in costume by the vaudeville team of Mayo and
Martin. In dream sequences, Banjo Eyes would give Cantor's character tips on which
horses were going to win different races, but warned him his supposed talent for
picking the winners would vanish if he ever placed a bet himself. The book was a very
loose adaptation of its source, and the World War II anthem "We Did It Before (And
We Can Do It Again)" by Charles Tobias and Cliff Friend was interpolated into the
score for no apparent reason other than to stir up patriotism among audience
members. Cantor closed the show by singing a medley of his hits in his customary
blackface. The show closed when its star suffered a medical emergency. It was his last
appearance on Broadway.
Vernon Duke
(1903-1969)
Composer of BANJO EYES, he
was a Russian-born composer
who came to the US to
emulate his heroes George
Gershwin and Irving Berlin.
His first songs were written
for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936.
His first book musical was
CABIN IN THE SKY. The show
opened for 156 performances
in 1940. Click to view the
trailer for the 1943 film.
Cabin in the Sky
by Vernon Duke, Lynn Root (book) and John LaTouche (lyrics)
Directed and Choreographed by George Balanchine
Lady in the Dark
One of the most innovative shows of the decade. Written as a
vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence.
Ira Gershwin withdrew from show business for several years
after his brother George's death. He returned by teaming with
Kurt Weill and playwright Moss Hart to write Lady in the
Dark (1941 - 467), the story of a magazine editor using
psychoanalysis to explore her emotional insecurities. The music
was restricted to several dream sequences in which the main
character saw herself at events representing her inner turmoil -a party, a trial, and a circus. With the songs "My Ship" and
"Jenny," Gertrude Lawrence kept audiences cheering for the
longest run of her career.
The result was a stunning blend of all components of the theatre. According to published
reports, the production involved a company of 58 performers, 51 stagehands, and 4
revolving stages. It was mounted for the then staggering cost $130,000.
- Stanley Richards, Great Musicals of the American Theatre, Vol. 2, (Radnor, PA:
Chilton Books, 1976), p. 74.
Danny Kaye played an
effeminate fashion photographer
and his lightning fast delivery of
"Tschaikowsky” made him a star.
Higher and Higher premiered at the
Shubert Theatre on April 4, 1940 and closed
on June 15, 1940 after 84 performances. It
played a return engagement at the Shubert
Theatre from August 5, 1940 to August 24,
1940.
It was directed by Joshua Logan, with
choreography by Robert Alton, scenic design
by Jo Mielziner and costume design by
Lucinda Ballard. The cast featured Jack
Haley. A film based on the stage musical was
released in 1943, also starring Haley.
The big hit for Rodgers and Hart that year
was PAL JOEY…
Pal Joey
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz
Hart took some creative risks
with Pal Joey (374 perf.),
Broadway's first musical to center
on an anti-hero. The title
character is a sleazy nightclub
hoofer who hustles his way to
success by manipulating a wealthy
mistress, only to lose everything
when she dumps him. The score
ranged from the innocent
romance of "I Could Write A
Book" to the sexual bite of
"Bewitched, Bothered and
Bewildered."
Gene Kelly and Vivienne Segal
Newcomer Gene Kelly played the
title role, with Vivienne Segal as
his mistress and vaudeville’s former
"Baby June”--June Havoc--as one of
the nightclub showgirls. Veteran
director George Abbott was on
hand to pull all these elements
together. Though most critics
objected to Pal Joey's seamy subject
matter, it ran for a profitable year.
Many of the same critics would
praise Pal Joey when it was revived in
1952.
By Jupiter
Ray Bolger as
Sapiens
Rodgers and Hart took a lighter
turn with By Jupiter (427 perf )
which told of a conflict between
ancient Greeks and female
Amazon warriors. Although it
was a traditional musical comedy,
hilarious role reversals between
men and women ("You swear like
a longshorewoman!") stretched
1942
the creative boundaries.
Ray Bolger and Constance Moore
in BY JUPITER
A stellar performance by Ray
Bolger and a score that
included "Wait Till You See
Her" made this Rodgers &
Hart's longest running show.
It was also the last new show
they would collaborate on.
The end of one partnership…
Torn by personal demons, Hart had
become a hopeless alcoholic. His talents
were intact, but he would disappear for
days and even weeks at a time. An
anxious Rodgers asked his longtime
partner to dry out and work with him on
a musical adaptation of Lynn Rigg’s
unsuccessful play Green Grow the Lilacs.
The Theatre Guild needed this project to
settle its mounting debts. When Hart
refused, Rodgers warned that he was
ready to work with Oscar
Hammerstein II. Hart encouraged
Rodgers to pursue the new partnership,
then headed off to Mexico for a drinking
spree.
…and the beginning of another
Rodgers joined up with
Hammerstein, who had been
interested in adapting Green Grow
the Lilacs for several years--his
longtime collaborator Jerome Kern
had rejected the project. Thus
began the most renowned creative
partnership the American musical
theatre has ever known. "They
couldn't pick a better time to start
in life . . .”
Rodgers and Hammerstein
The Theatre Guild
GREEN GROW THE LILACS, the novel
was adapted as the musical AWAY WE
GO and auditions (below) were held at
the Theatre Guild.
Aunt Eller, Lori, Gertie and Curly at the box social.
People Will Say We’re in Love
Curlie and Laurie
Joan Roberts and Alfred Drake
Ali Hakim and Ado Annie
Joseph Buloff and Celeste Holm
“The Farmer and the Cowman”
Agnes DeMille
Mayor LaGuardia and cast
Joseph
Buloff
(Ali Hakim)
Howard
DeSylva
(Jud)
Joan Roberts
and Alfred Drake
Richard
Rodgers
“Kansas City”
A record-setting run
"Many a New Day"
The day after Oklahoma! opened, no one realized that a new age
had dawned on Broadway. But it soon became apparent that
standards had changed, and that the slap-dash musical comedy
was no longer acceptable.
This new standard challenged everyone in the business, including
Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves. Film producer Sam
Goldwyn bumped into Richard Rodgers soon after the opening
of Oklahoma! and said, "Know what you should do now? Shoot
yourself!" However, R&H remained the most important team in
musical theatre for years to come by writing shows that kept redefining the genre.
Carmen Jones (1943)
Immediately after Oklahoma, the two men worked apart for a
short time. While Rodgers worked on the wartime revival of A
Connecticut Yankee, Hammerstein concentrated on updating the
libretto of Bizet's opera Carmen while leaving the music in its
original form.
The classic tale of a fiery factory girl who inspires a naive soldier
to give up everything for the sake of their passion was reset in
the American South with an African-American cast.
Hammerstein's Carmen Jones (502 performances) became
the longest running black production of the 1940s.
1943 revival
In one of Broadway's sadder
footnotes, Larry Hart was in
the audience on Oklahoma's
opening night, sober and
stunned by its triumph. He
agreed to help Rodgers prepare
a revival of A Connecticut Yankee
(1943), revising the script and
giving longtime friend Vivienne
Segal the new comic
showstopper "To Keep My Love
Alive.” But Hart was soon
drinking again, and he showed
up for Yankee's opening night
falling-down drunk.
During the second act, he started
singing along from the rear of the
theatre and was ejected.
Weakened by years of alcohol
addiction, Hart succumbed to
pneumonia and died three days
later. He was 48 years old. Hart's
death signified the end of an era
and ushered in an era of the
integrated musical play.
Carousel, 1945
Opening number
Stars Jan Clayton and John Raitt
If I Loved You
Edward Everett Horton
as the Starmaker
You’ll Never Walk Alone
1947
“Allegro” finale
Jo Stafford sings THE GENTLEMAN IS A DOPE
Three 1944 Hits represent the status quo. All of these
shows followed the old form mixing spectacle, with
pretty girls with songs and a sketchy plot.
Mexican Hayride (Cole
Porter) 481 performances
Hats Off to Ice starring Sonja Henie – 889
performances
Follow the Girls with Jackie Gleason
882 performances
These 1944 shows were integrated musicals
using dance to advance the action
BLOOMER GIRL was
choreographed by Agnes
DeMille with a score by
Harold Arlen and E.Y.
Harburg (The Wizard of Oz) and
ran for 654 performances.
These 1944 shows were integrated musicals
using dance to advance the action
THE SONG OF NORWAY
was a musical bio of
composer Edvard Grieg
staged by George
Balanchine. (860)
These 1944 shows were integrated musicals
using dance to advance the action
ON THE TOWN was based
upon the ballet “Fancy Free”
staged by Jerome Robbins
with a score by Leonard
Bernstein. Book and lyrics by
Betty Comden and Adolph
Green. (462)
On the Town, original production shows the sailors at Times Square
2015 revival
Sigmund Romberg’s UP IN
CENTRAL PARK (1945) was a
musical comedy with lyrics by
Dorothy Fields. The first hit for
choreographer Helen Tamaris, a
pioneer of modern dance, ran
for 504 performances.
Pearl Bailey was featured in ST. LOUIS
WOMAN and ran for 113 performances
in 1946. It introduced the Arlen/Mercer
standard “Come Rain of Come Shine.”
It also featured Harold Nicholas in its
cast as a jockey.
Revues were still popular…
This is the Army, 1942
After America entered World War II,
Berlin triumphed again with This is
the Army (1942 - 113), a revue with
an all-Army cast poking lighthearted
fun at the trials of military life. Musical
highlights included "I Left My Heart at
the Stage Door Canteen." Berlin
himself performed "Oh, How I Hate
to Get Up in the Morning," which he
had introduced in the World War I
fundraiser Yip,Yip,Yapank (1918 - 32).
After an extended Broadway run, This
is the Army toured the US, had a hit
London run, and was made into a
popular film, eventually earning over
$9 million for the Army's Emergency
Relief Fund.
Call Me Mister, 1946
A revue about the struggles of soldiers returning home from the
war. (734 performances)
Lend An Ear, 1948
First show directed by Gower Champion (1920-1980). It
featured Carol Channing in its cast.
SHOWBOAT revival (1946)
Annie Get Your Gun, 1946
• When Jerome Kern died in 1945, Herbert & Dorothy Fields
needed a new composer for a musical about famed sharpshooter
Annie Oakley. Rodgers and Hammerstein were already producing
the project and swamped with other commitments, so they turned
to friend and colleague Irving Berlin.
• Berlin was uncertain that he could adapt to the new style of fully
integrated musical play. Handed the libretto on a Friday, he showed
up the following Monday with "Doin’ What Comes Naturally," "You
Can’t Get A Man With A Gun" and "There’s No Business Like Show
Business" -- great songs that were firmly rooted in character & the
plot. Annie Get Your Gun (1946 - 1,147) became Berlin’s and
leading lady Ethel Merman’s longest running hit, and it remains a
perennial favorite.
There’s No Business Like
Show Business
Miss Liberty, 1949
Berlin rehearses with Eddie Albert and the
original cast of MISS LIBERTY.
Kiss Me Kate, 1948
Kiss Me Kate's (1,077) opening night
audience filled The Century Theater
with cheers. Alfred Drake and Patricia
Morison starred as the battling lovers
with Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang as the
misbehaving ingénues. The libretto and
lyrics kept the original spirit of
Shakespeare intact, but added a healthy
dose of sophisticated contemporary
hilarity. Porter's score included
"Wunderbar," "So In Love," and the
bawdy "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." It
received the first Antoinette Perry
(Tony) Award for Best Musical. To
everyone's delight (especially his own),
Porter was once again "the top" in
musical comedy.
If Berlin was nervous about writing the
R&H type of musical, Cole Porter was
petrified at the prospect. By 1948, Porter
had gone several seasons without a hit
and was considered a has-been.
When offered Bella and Sam
Spewack's libretto about an estranged
couple battling on and offstage while
starring in a musical version of
Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, Porter
turned out the finest score of his career.
In fact, the show was so well written that
it needed no major revisions during its
tryout tour.
The young producers were on such a
limited budget that many of the costumes
were made from inexpensive drapery
fabric, but Lemuel Ayers's designs were so
imaginative that no one noticed.
Kurt Weill continued to
write for the theatre.
With Ogden Nash in 1943
With Elmer Rice, 1947
Lost in the Stars, 1949
With Maxwell Anderson, an innovative work about South African apartheid.
Finian’s Rainbow, 1947
Finian's Rainbow (725) was an
integrated musical that tackled
racism as social satire. It told the
story of an Irishman who steals
the leprechauns' legendary crock
of gold and buries it near Fort
Knox, thinking it will grow in such
"rich" soil. While the Irishman's
daughter falls in love with an
American, an avenging leprechaun
is distracted by human love -- and
an innocent wish turns a bigoted
Southern congressman into a
black man.
Finian’s Rainbow, 1947
David Wayne as Og the leprechaun, became the first performer
in a musical to receive "The Tony. " The lyrics by Yip Harburg
and the score by Burton Lane included "Look to the
Rainbow," "That Old Devil Moon, " "How Are Things in Glocca
Morra" and "When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love."
Brigadoon, 1947
In a more romantic vein,
lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner
and composer Frederick Loewe
found success with the story of two
men who stumble into a town that
magically reappears in the Scottish
highlands for only one day every
century. Brigadoon (581) was
graced with a ravishing score that
included "Almost Like Being In Love"
and "There But For You Go I."
Agnes DeMille contributed several
ravishing ballets, helping to make
Brigadoon became one of the most
frequently revived musicals in the
international repertoire.
Where’s Charley?, 1948
Tin Pan Alley songwriter Frank Loesser was best
known for his wartime hit "Praise the Lord and
Pass the Ammunition." His first Broadway score
was for Where’s Charley (792), based on the old
British comedy Charley’s Aunt. The sweet ballad "My
Darling" made it onto the pop charts, but it was
"Once In Love With Amy" that caused a sensation -thanks to a happy accident. One night early in the
run, Ray Bolger heard the audience chuckle partway
through the song. It seems a a child had begun to
sing along with him. The veteran showman
encouraged the youngster, then got the whole
audience to join in. The sing-along became a
permanent part of the show, catapulting Where's
Charley to hit status, and giving Bolger his most
memorable stage moment.
High Button Shoes, 1947
Composer Jule Styne (1905-1994)
worked with Sammy Cahn (book and
lyrics) under the direction of George
Abbott. It was choreographed by
Jerome Robbins. Starring former
burlesque star Phil Silvers, HIGH
BUTTON SHOES played for 727
performances. Set in 1913, the plot
follows a New Jersey family on
vacation in Atlantic City…keystone
cops, showgirls and a college football
game figure prominently in the action.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
1949
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend
Carol Channing
Megan Hilty
Marilyn Monroe
The 1940s in London
Few London productions of 1940s drew
much attention outside of Britain, but the
West End had its share of homegrown
musicals. Broadway producers felt that
most of these shows were "too British"
to appeal to American theatergoers.
Even the perennial transatlantic favorite
Noel Coward was unable to turn out a
hit musical in this decade. After World
War II, his Pacific 1860 (1946 -129)
faired poorly despite a lavish production
and the presence of Mary Martin.
London's most popular star during the midtwentieth century was Ivor Novello, an
actor-songwriter who composed and
starred in a series of hit operettas, despite
the fact that he couldn't sing a note. With
striking good looks, a winning stage
presence, and a gift for writing lush
melodies, Novello played leading roles and
left the singing to everyone around him. To
make this less awkward, he often played
characters that accompanied others on
piano. Novello's dominance of the London
stage continued until his sudden death at
age 58 during the run of King's Rhapsody.
Thousands lined the streets on the day of
his funeral, which was broadcast live over
British radio to a mourning nation.
SOUTH PACIFIC (1949)
As the 1940s ended, New York was the
undisputed center of the theatrical world,
and Broadway's last musical hit of the
decade was one of the biggest ever.
Working with co-librettist and director
Josh Logan, Rodgers and Hammerstein
wrote a musical based on two stories in
James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific.
Set on a South Pacific island occupied by
American forces during World War II, it
told of military nurse Nellie Forbush falling
in love with French planter Emile de
Becque, and Lieutenant Cable giving his
heart to a Polynesian girl.
These two "decent" Americans are forced to confront the
bigotry they were raised with. Set amid the life and death
tensions of wartime, it was a world away from the musical
comedy librettos that had reigned on Broadway less than ten
years before.
With powerhouse stars Ezio Pinza
and Mary Martin, a well crafted
script, and a score that included
"Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger
Than Springtime," "Bali Hai," and "I'm
In Love With A Wonderful Guy,"
South Pacific (1,925) proved to be a
sensation, creating an unprecedented
demand for tickets. Some critics have
suggested that aspects of the book
seem dated today, but the show's
score and genuine sentiment still
work.
South Pacific was unusual in many
ways. There was almost no dance, two
equally important love stories, and
the dramatic tension was not
provided by any single antagonist
or "silly misunderstanding." Both love
stories were thwarted by "carefully
taught" racial prejudices. These reflex
hatreds drive key characters to push
away from the people they love. In
the case of a young Lieutenant and
his native girl, the results are tragic,
but Nellie and Emile are finally
reunited.
Hammerstein, Rodgers, Logan
Mary Martin
South Pacific confirmed Rodgers
and Hammerstein's command of
the genre. Along with worshipful
reviews, it won the Tony for Best
Musical and became the second
musical to receive the Pulitzer
Prize for Drama. Tonys also went
to the authors, as well as Pinza,
Martin and other company
members. Rodgers &
Hammerstein's knack for
creating innovative and
entertaining hits came to be
called "The RH Factor," and it
would keep them on top through
the next decade.
The Shuberts: A Matter of Trust
South Pacific triggered a surprising, radical change in show business.
Tickets were in such demand that theatre owners Lee and J.J.
Shubert put outrageous premiums on the best seats, allowing ticket
brokers to charge up to ten times the legal box office value of eight
dollars. They even forced top politicians to pay these inflated prices.
Congress launched a long overdue investigation of Broadway
business practices, accusing the Shuberts of being an illegal trust.
After a long struggle the government's case succeeded. Forced to
give up their lucrative control of theatre bookings and ticket
sales, the Shuberts also had to sell off many of their theatres all
across the USA. Although the brothers remained powerful, their
stranglehold on the commercial theatre was broken.
The 1940s had seen vast changes in
the musical theatre, both as an art
form and as a business. World War II
had re-energized the American
economy, and many great musicals
appeared in the 1940s, particularly
after Oklahoma (1943) redefined the
genre. But as theatre rents, union
minimums and advertising costs kept
climbing, it became harder for shows
to turn a profit.
So even as the American musical enjoyed what many have called its
"golden age," the number of Broadway productions continued a
gradual decline. This decline was easy to overlook in the decade
that followed. After all, in the 1950s, the Broadway musical was one
of the most popular entities in all of show business.