Enchanted Evenings:The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber

by Block, Geoffrey

  40. A facsimile of the Los Angeles Gershwin program appears in Merle Armitage, George Gershwin: Man and Legend (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1958), between pages 144 and 145. The Duncan recordings were issued on Decca DL-9024.

  41. Columbia OSL 162; reissued on Odyssey Stereo 32–36–0018.

  42. Armitage, George Gershwin: Man and Legend, 156–60.

  43. The idiosyncratic Davis-Breen version became the second published version of the opera libretto. See Stanley Richards, ed., Great Musicals of the American Theatre Volume One (Radnor, Penn.: Chilton, 1973), 75–113.

  44. Gershwin, “Rhapsody on Catfish Row,” 1–2.

  45. New York Herald Tribune, July 8, 1934, sec. 5, 2.

  46. Wayne Shirley, “Reconciliation on Catfish Row.”

  47. Shirley, “‘Porgy and Bess,’” 104.

  48. Hamm, “Theatre Guild Production,” 495–532. Samuel Spewack and Bella Spewack, Kiss Me, Kate, anthologized in Richards, Great Musicals, 273.

  49. Wilfrid Mellers, Music in a New Found Land, 402.

  50. The video directed by Nunn was a Primetime/BBC and Homevale/Greg Smith Production, a Picture Music International Release, and was issued on EMI Records, Ltd., 1993.

  51. Allen Woll explores the “irony” of Porgy and Bess as a black musical created by whites for a white audience, and David Horn shows how Gershwin’s opera continues to pose “struggles over meaning” between various social and ethnic groups. See Woll, Black Musical Theatre, 154–75, and David Horn, “From Catfish Row to Granby Street.”

  52. Horn, “From Catfish Row to Granby Street.” Horn explores the ideological conflict in 1989 between the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, who praised Gershwin for “forging a new musical language,” and the Liverpool Anti-Racist and Community Arts Association, who condemned Gershwin for “wading into black culture.”

  53. Miles Kreuger, “Showboat,” 212.

  54. Ira Gershwin writes that in preparation for the 1951 recording of the complete opera he went through the score and changed “some opprobrious terms in the recitatives—there were about twenty—to substitutes inoffensive to the ear of today.” Ira Gershwin, Lyrics on Several Occasions, 83.

  55. Thomson, “George Gershwin,” 17.

  56. Hall Johnson, “Porgy and Bess.”

  57. Ibid., 24. Johnson made the following comment about Gershwin’s recitatives: “We are confronted with a series of musical episodes which, even if they do not belong together, could be made to appear as if they do by a better handling of the musical connecting tissue.”

  58. Ibid., 25. Johnson also finds fault with Mamoulian’s staging for its misperceptions about African Americans.

  59. Ibid., 26. According to Johnson, it is incredulous that Sporting Life “could be so entirely liberated from that superstitious awe of Divinity which even the most depraved southern Negro never quite loses.”

  60. Ibid.

  61. Era Bell Thompson, “Why Negroes Don’t Like ‘Porgy and Bess,’” 54.

  62. Ibid.

  63. Harold Cruse, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (New York: Morrow, 1967), 100–01.

  64. Ibid., 103.

  65. Ibid., 102.

  66. Gershwin, “Rhapsody on Catfish Row,” 1.

  67. Edward Morrow, “Duke Ellington on Gershwin’s ‘Porgy,’” New Theatre (December 1935): 5–6; reprinted in Mark Tucker, ed., The Duke Ellington Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 114–18 (quotation on page 115). For an informative study of Porgy and Bess’s reception and race see Gwynne Kuhner Brown, “Problems of Race and Genre in the Critical Reception of Porgy and Bess.”

  68. One important difference might be noted. In Porgy and Bess all six prayers are in the same key; in the African-American Pentecostal tradition each singer chooses his or her own key.

  69. The relationship between perceived authenticity and critical approbation is explored by John Spitzer in “Musical Attribution and Critical Judgment: The Rise and Fall of the Sinfonia Concertante for Winds, K. 297b),” Journal of Musicology 5 (Summer 1987): 319–56.

  70. Henry Louis Gates Jr., “‘Authenticity,’ or the Lesson of Little Tree.” “The Blindfold Test,” which forced unknowing listeners to make their listening judgments independently of racial or gender bias, was invented by the influential English jazz critic, Leonard Feather, for Metronome in 1946. In his tribute to Feather, Gary Giddins assessed the test’s importance: “The significance of the blindfold test exceeds its entertainment value. It added a phrase to the language and a dimension to the issue of critical authority, demonstrating that people often judge a work of art differently when they don’t know who signed it.” See Giddins, “Leonard Feather, 1914–1994,” in Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 101. Among famous test takers were Mary Lou Williams, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis.

  71. Gershwin’s spiritual, “It Take a Long Pull to Get There,” also bears an uncanny resemblance to the Jewish folk song “(Haveynu) Shalom A’leychem,” music and Hebrew lyrics by Shlomo Ben-Chaim (New York: Henseley, 1960).

  72. “Gershwin Gets His Music Cues,” 2, and Goldberg, George Gershwin, 331.

  73. Starr, “Toward a Reevaluation,” 27.

  74. Additional connections between Porgy’s theme and other characters are charted in Deena Rosenberg, Fascinating Rhythm, 277, 279, 282, 285, and 294.

  75. Gershwin enhances the blues flavor by supporting Porgy’s melodic minor third (G[]) with a major harmony (G[]).

  76. Again, Gershwin creates a harmonic clash with a G[] against the G[] in the melody. Note also the resemblance between this Porgy theme and Gershwin’s Prelude No. 2 for piano composed in 1926.

  77. The melodic as well as rhythmic profile of Porgy’s “loneliness” theme also figures prominently in the River Family of themes in Show Boat shown in Example 2.2. It may not be too fanciful to speculate that Gershwin’s choice for Porgy’s motive, like Kern’s choice for his River Family of motives, may owe something to Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony and the African-American spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (see chapter. 2, note 47).

  78. Starr, “Toward a Reevaluation,” 36; see also Starr’s extended analysis of a Gershwin song in “Gershwin’s ‘Bess.’”

  79. Examples include the following: “Oh, I Can’t sit Down!” (the word “down!” at the outset, and in the middle section, “Hap-py feel-in,’” “a-steal-in,’” “con-ceal-in,’” and many more); “It Take a Long Pull to Get There” (the frequently repeated “get there” and “Lan’” [the latter divided into two musical syllables]); and “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” (the repeated “nut-tin’” and “plen-ty”).

  80. Labeled by Gershwin in the typescript libretto 1–11. The presence of a separate “happy dust” theme was first noted by Shirley, “‘Porgy and Bess,’” 106.

  81. For two recent sources, which in the absence of Gershwin’s handwritten emendations reasonably argue against the presence of a “Bess” theme, see Rosenberg, Fascinating Rhythm, 285, and Joseph P. Swain, The Broadway Musical, 62.

  82. Vocal score (New York: Gershwin Publishing Corporation/Chappell, 1935), 272.

  83. Since Bess is Porgy’s woman now, it makes some sense for him to appropriate her theme as well.

  84. Vocal score, 533–36 and 559. The signature melodies for Porgy, Sporting Life (and his “happy dust”), Crown, and Bess do not exhaust the themes of the opera nor even those of act I, scene 2. Gershwin himself designated at least one other theme, the first fisherman theme used prominently in this and other scenes (see the beginning of act II, scene 1 [Vocal score, 189]). A second theme also introduced in act I is associated more specifically with the enterprising Jake; four measures before rehearsal no. 171 (Vocal score, 323) shows this theme as it opens act II, scene 3, shortly before Jake goes out into the storm that will take his life and that of his wife Clara. Finally, Gershwin assigns an orchestral motive to indicate the presence of the lawyer Frazier, who appears only in act II
, scene 1, a descriptive theme with a prominent dissonant syncopated leap of a major seventh (see rehearsal no. 41 [Vocal score, 214]).

  85. Note that Peter’s melody which follows Bess’s recitative is rhythmically identical to “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” (Vocal score, 329–30).

  86. To complete the cycle of reminiscence motives that began this scene Gershwin returns one last time to Jake’s motive (Vocal score, 357–58) before new storm music takes over to conclude the scene (359–64). The short-long rhythm of the dirge that opens act III, scene 1 (“Clara, Clara”), might also be interpreted as an augmentation of Porgy’s loneliness theme.

  87. H. Wiley Hitchcock, Music in the United States, 205, and Charles Hamm, Music in the New World, 450.

  Chapter 5: On Your Toes and Pal Joey

  1. David Ewen, Richard Rodgers, 236 and 254.

  2. Richard Rodgers, Musical Stages, 262.

  3. Ibid., 71.

  4. Ibid., 91. Stanley Green summarizes other innovations in Peggy-Ann: “No songs were sung within the first fifteen minutes, the scenery and costumes were changed in full view of the audience, and the first and last scenes were played in almost total darkness.” Stanley Green, Broadway Musicals Show by Show.

  5. Rodgers, Musical Stages, 118.

  6. Ibid., 118.

  7. Pandro Berman, the man who dismissed the vaudeville-Russian ballet idea, produced in Shall We Dance (1937) a movie musical starring Astaire and Rogers (with a score and lyrics by the Gershwins) that bears more than a passing resemblance to Rodgers and Hart’s rejected conception.

  8. Brooks Atkinson, “‘On Your Toes,’ Being a Musical Show with a Book and Tunes and a Sense of Humor,” New York Times, April 13, 1936, 14.

  9. Atkinson, “On Your Toes,” New York Times, October 12, 1954, 24.

  10. Rodgers, Musical Stages, 175.

  11. Ethan Mordden, Better Foot Forward, 143.

  12. On Your Toes, 1936 libretto, I-4–22. Special thanks to Tom Briggs of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatre Library for allowing me to examine the librettos of the 1936 and 1983 productions.

  13. Ibid., I-4–30.

  14. Ibid., II-2–13; 1983 libretto, 46.

  15. 1936 libretto, I-5–34.

  16. Ibid., II-2–13. In the 1983 libretto (30), Junior explains further: “I admit that basic off-beat appears in many cultures—but I would think that all would have to agree that American jazz has a very individual sound”; also, in the 1983 version Sergei expresses artistic as well as commercial motives for staging “Slaughter” when he acknowledges to Peggy that he finds the work “admirable.” His primary question is “can we dance it?” The problem facing the Russian ballet in 1983 is not that jazz is demeaning but whether a classical ballet company can master the stylistic nuances and comparable challenges of an alien form.

  17. Frank Rich, “Theater: ‘On Your Toes,’ A ‘36 Rodgers and Hart,” New York Times, March 7, 1983, C13; reprinted in Rich, Hot Seat, 213–16.

  18. Helen Dudar, “George Abbott Dusts Off a Broadway Classic.”

  19. Theodore S. Chapin, On Your Toes (vocal score) (New York: Chappell 1985), 4.

  20. Quotation in George Abbott, “Mister Abbott,” 177; see also, Rodgers, Musical Stages, 174.

  21. Abbott, “Mister Abbott,” 177–78, and Rodgers, Musical Stages, 174.

  22. Dudar, “George Abbott Dusts Off a Broadway Classic.”

  23. On Your Toes, 1936 libretto, I-4–32.

  24. Ibid., I-6–39.

  25. Ibid., I-3–10.

  26. 1983 libretto, 4.

  27. 1936 libretto, I-3–8 and I-2–9.

  28. The professor reveals the limitations of his own education and refinement, since it is he who mispronounces Schubert’s name. Professor Dolan also assigns the words “Dein ist mein Herz” to the wrong song (“Ständchen”). The correct answer is “Ungeduld” from Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin. It should also be noted that as late as 1983 the possibility that Schubert was gay was more of a conjecture than a scholarly argument. Thus Frankie in both 1936 and 1983 is most likely referring to Junior, not one of Schubert’s male lovers. See Maynard Solomon, “Franz Schubert and the Peacocks of Benvenuto Cellini,” 19th Century Music 12 (Spring 1989), 193–206.

  29. The opening of “Goodnight Sweetheart” by Ray Noble, Jimmy Campbell, and Reg Connelly, published in 1931, also bears an unmistakable resemblance to the opening of Les Préludes.

  30. By a twist of fate, in 1943 Hart collaborated with Kálmán on an unproduced musical about the French underground in World War II, Miss Underground. See Dorothy Hart and Robert Kimball, The Complete Lyrics of Lorenz Hart, 291.

  31. On Your Toes, 1936 libretto, I-3–16 and 17. In 1983 the conclusion to the exchange that precedes “It’s Got to Be Love” is as follows (7–8):

  JUNIOR: I’ll tell you something—and I shouldn’t say it—it’s terribly personal—I’m very fond of you.

  FRANKIE: You are? Even with my derivative song?

  JUNIOR: Yes, Miss Frayne.

  FRANKIE: Well, in that case, why don’t you call me Frankie?

  JUNIOR: All right—and you can call me Junior.

  FRANKIE: All right. Yesterday some of the kids were dancing to my song and they thought it was pretty good.

  JUNIOR: Well, gee Christmas, I’d like to hear it again.

  FRANKIE: (Goes to bench. Gets music): O.K. That’s a fair exchange.

  32. Rodgers’s sinking melody also conveys a new harmonic interpretation of an identical (albeit more extended) descending melody from the verse of the song (mm. 9–13) on the words, “color, Aquamarine or em’rald green. And …”

  33. John Mauceri, Notes to On Your Toes.

  34. By the time the audience witnesses the entire “Slaughter,” one of its principal tunes has been heard on several previous occasions, always in an appropriate context, e.g., in act I, scene 3, when Junior’s private rehearsal is interrupted by Frankie.

  35. 1983 libretto, 19.

  36. Richard Rodgers, “‘Pal Joey’: History of a Heel.” New York Times, December 30, 1951, sec. 2, 1+.

  37. Rodgers, Musical Stages, 202.

  38. O’Hara’s letter was reprinted with Rodgers’s jacket notes for the 1950 recording (Columbia 4364). Rodgers recalls receiving the letter in Boston in October 1939 during the try-outs of Too Many Girls (Rodgers, 198). The letter, however, is dated “early 1940.” See Selected Letters of John O’Hara, ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli (New York: Random House, 1978), 158–59.

  39. Stanley Green, in his Rodgers and Hammerstein Fact Book (217), provides more comprehensive information on Pal Joey’s unusual initial New York run in three theaters: Ethel Barrymore Theatre (December 25, 1940—August 16, 1941), Shubert Theatre (September 1—October 18, 1941), and St. James Theatre (October 21—November 29, 1941). Tryouts were held at the Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia, December 16–22, 1940.

  40. Brooks Atkinson, “Christmas Night Adds ‘Pal Joey’ to the Musical Stage,” New York Times, December 26, 1940, 22; reprinted in Block, ed., The Richard Rodgers Reader, 68–70.

  41. Burns Mantle, “‘Pal Joey’ Smart and Novel,” Daily News, December 26, 1940, reprinted in New York Theatre Critics’ Reviews, vol. 1, 172.

  42. Rodgers, Musical Stages, 201.

  43. John Mason Brown, “‘Pal Joey’ Presented at The Ethel Barrymore,” New York Post, December 26, 1940; reprinted in New York Theatre Critics’ Reviews, vol. 1, 172.

  44. Sidney B. Whipple, “Pal Joey Is a Bright Gay, Tuneful Novel Work,” New York World-Telegram, December 26, 1940; reprinted in New York Theatre Critics’ Reviews, vol. 1, 173.

  45. Brooks Atkinson, “At the Theatre,” New York Times, January 4, 1952, 17; reprinted in New York Theatre Critics’ Reviews, vol. 13, 399.

  46. Lehman Engel, The American Musical Theater, 35–36.

  47. Ibid. Engel places another four Rodgers musicals with Hammerstein among his top fifteen (Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, and The King and I).

  48. “Plant You Now, Dig You
Later,” another duet between Gladys and Lowell in 1940—rendered by Harold Lang (Joey) on the pre-revival recording—is sung solely by Gladys in 1952 (Gladys’s verse is not, however, included in the 1952 published libretto). Consequently, the comically sinister blackmailer Lowell becomes as ineffectual musically as he is dramatically (for example, his confrontation with Vera and her powerful police allies). One final change deprived Gladys of a fifth musical number (one less than Joey’s six songs) when she is excluded from “You Mustn’t Kick It Around.” But unlike Lowell, Gladys as played by Helen Gallagher in 1952 remains as she was when played in 1940 by June Havoc (sister of the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee), i.e., third in musical prominence after Joey and Vera and the lead show singer both in Mike Spears’s second-class nightclub in act I (“That Terrific Rainbow”) and the chic Chez Joey in act II (“The Flower Garden of My Heart”). In this last named song the character Louis (the tenor), who sings the verse, first chorus, and recitations, was added in 1952.