Read Enchanted Evenings:The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber Online
Authors: Geoffrey Block
Vallon’s theme (Kern), 35, W80n48, W101n9
Van, Bobby, 316, 318
Van Heusen, Jimmy, 159
Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 397, 403
Vedder, Eddie, 186
“The Venice Gavotte” (Bernstein), 243, 308
“Venus Entrance” (Weill), 137, 147
“Venus in Ozone Heights” (Weill), 150
Verdi, Giuseppe, 9, 64, 136, 143, 171, 219, 349, 388, W87n25, W107n11, W109n29
Verrett, Shirley, 211
Vertigo
[film], 178
Very Good Eddie
(Kern, Wodehouse, and Bolton), 4, 22
Very Warm for May
(Kern and Hammerstein), 38, 215
“Very, Very, Very” (Weill and Nash), 140, 151
Violin Concerto in E Minor (Mendelssohn), 390
Villella, Edward, 103
Voltaire (pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet), 378
Wagner, Richard, 9, 27, 57, 63, 136, 143, 296–98, 307, 349, 388, 390
Waiting for Lefty
(Odets) [play], 52, 92, 114, 136
Wake Up and Dream
(Porter), 40
Walker, Robert, 187
Die Walküre
(Wagner) [opera], 298, 300,
302
, W78n6, W118n27
Walsh, Michael, 387, 390, 391, 392, W132nn21, W132n24
Walter, Bruno, 281
“Waltz Down the Aisle” (Porter), 44
“Waltz Suite” (Rodgers), W105n21
Warfield, William, 158, 166
“Warm All Over” (Loesser), 255,
256
, 257
Warner, Jack, 325
Warren, Annette, 188
Watson, Emily, 181, 182
Watts, Richard Jr. 253
“We Do Not Belong Together” (Sondheim), 368
“We Open in Venice” (Porter),
219
, 221, 316, W107n11
“We Shall Never Be Younger” (Porter), 227, 228
Weber, Max, 346
Wedding Dream (Weill), 144, 145, 146, 186
Weede, Robert,
249
“A Weekend in the Country” (Sondheim), 359
Weidman, John, 346
Weill, Kurt, xx, xxvi, 5, 6, 82, 115, 116, 117, 125, 130–52, 186–88, 195, 262, 278, 316, W95n12, W104n47
“Well, Did you Evah?” (Porter), 215
Welles, Orson, 116, 186, 353
“We’re the Greatest” (Bernstein and Sondheim), W118n33
“Were Thine That Special Face” (Porter), 219, 220, 226, 317
West, Mae, 82
West Side Story
(Bernstein and Sondheim) [musical], xv, xix, xx, xxv, xxviii, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 31, 54, 112, 147, 199, 231, 233, 238, 243, 279–308 (
284, 289
), 335, 338, 341, 346, 347, 348, 350, 351–52, 354, 382, 390, 393, 405
Synopsis (W9–10)
Discography and Filmography (W24–25)
Appendix A (W30)
Appendix Q (W61–62)
Notes (W73n2, W84n23, W111n34)
West Side Story
[film], xxiii, 280, 309, 310, 317, 327–32 (
328
), 360, 361, 402, W125nn24–25
West Side Story
“Finale,”
306
, W122n75
Westley, Helen,
160
“Westwind” (Weill and I. Gershwin), 137, 147,
148
Whale, James, 156, 159
“What a Joy to Be Young” (Porter), 45
“What Do You Do in the Infantry” (Loesser), 235
“What Is a Man?” (Rodgers and Hart), 107,
108
“What Is This Thing Called Love?” (Porter), 40, 224
“What You Want Wid Bess?” (Gershwin and Heyward), 78–79
“What’s the Use of Wondrin’” (Rodgers and Hammerstein), 197, 204, 206, 340
What’s Up?
(Lerner and Loewe), 262, 278
Wheeler, Hugh, 346, 349, 350, 359
“When the Children Are Asleep” (Rodgers and Hammerstein), 210–11, 313
“Where Does It Get You in the End?” (Bernstein and Latouche), 286, 288, W118n29
“Where Is the Life That Late I Led?” (Porter), 219, 220, 224, 318
Where’s Charley?
(Loesser), 47, 85, 235, 236, 237, 244, 245
“Where’s That Rainbow?” (Rodgers and Hart), 83
“Where’s the Mate for Me?” (Kern and Hammerstein),
32
, 33,
34–35
, 36, 38, 161, 162, W105n11, W121n66
Whipple, Sidney B., 102
Whistle Down the Wind
(Lloyd Webber and Steinman), 408, 409
A White House Cantata
(Bernstein), 308
White, Miles, 195
White, Sammy, W101n5
White, Willard, 70,
173
Whiteman, Paul, 409–10, W105n21
Whitmore, James, 318
“Who?” (Kern and Hammerstein), 22
“Who Am I?” (Weill and Nash), W99n28
“Why Can’t the English?” (Lerner and Loewe), 265, 274, W114n30
“Why Can’t You Behave?” (Porter), 218,
222
, 223, 226
“Why Do I Love You?” (Kern and Hammerstein), 24, 27, 160, 162, 200
Wicked
(Schwartz), xxvii
Wildcat
(Coleman and Leigh), 348
Wilder, Alec, 110
The Wild Rose
(Friml, Stothart, and Hammerstein), 21
Wildflower
(Stothart, Youmans, Harbach, and Hammerstein), 21
Will Rogers Follies
(Coleman and Comden and Green), 348
Williams, Camilla, 67
Williamson, Nicol, 213
Wilson, Alexandra, 383
Wilson, Edwin, 211
Wilson, Eileen, 188
Wilson, Patrick, 399
Wiman, Dwight, 90
Winger, Debra, 392
Winninger, Charles, xxiv,
160
, 163, 191, W101n5
Winters, Lawrence, 67
Wise, Robert, xxv, 310, 327, 328
Wise Guys
(Sondheim).
See Road Show
“Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” (Lloyd Webber and Hart), 403
“With a Little Bit of Luck” (Lerner and Loewe), 265, 266, 326, W114n32, W115n46
“Without You” (Lerner and Loewe), 265–66, 271,
272
, 273
The Wizard of Oz
(Arlen and Harburg), 85, 156, W125n25
Wodehouse (P.G.) and Bolton (Guy), 4, 43, 46
Woll, Allen, W79n51
“A Woman in Love” (Loesser), 322
The Woman in White
(Lloyd Webber and Zippel), 408, 409, W75n22
Wonderful Town
(Bernstein, Comden, and Green), 233, 282, 301, W123n79
Wood, Natalie, 280, 310,
328
, W73n2
“Wooden Wedding” (Weill and Nash), 147
Woollcott, Alexander, 21
Word and Music
[film], 190
“The Worst Pies in London,” 356,
357
, 358
“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” (Lerner and Loewe), 265, 274, 325, 326
Wright (Robert) and Forrest (George), 14, W77n20
“Wunderbar” (Porter), 44, 319
Wuthering Heights
[film], 320
Wynn, Keenan, 318
Yale Broadway Masters, W74n8
Yankee Doodle Dandy
[film], 4, 156, W125n25
“Yesterday” (Beatles), 391
“Yesterdays” (Kern and Harbach), 157
Yeston, Maury, xxvi, 388
Yon, Pietro, 42
York, Richard, 47
“You Are Love” (Hammerstein and Kern), 162, 200, 206, W81n59
You Can’t Take It with You
(Kaufman and Hart) [play], 52
“You Did It” (Lerner and Loewe), 266, 271, 325, 327
“You Do Something to Me” (Porter), 40
“You Must Meet My Wife” (Sondheim), 359
“You Mustn’t Kick It Around” (Rodgers and Hart), 110, 180
“You Took Advantage of Me” (Rodgers and Hart), 83, 89
“You’ll Never Walk Alone” (Rodgers and Hammerstein), 197, 207–
9
, 312, 382
Youmans, Vincent, 156
Young, A. S. (“Doc”), 71
“Young People” (Loesser), 257
“Your Eyes” (Larson), 393
“Your Fault” (Sondheim), 371
“You’re Devastating” (Kern and Harbach), 157
“You’re Just in Love” (Berlin), 243
“You’re Nearer” (Rodgers and Hart), 190
“You’re the Top” (Porter), 40, 49, 53, 57, 159, 164, 165, 218
Zadan, Craig, 282
Zaks, Jerry, 49, 165, 337
Zeffirelli, Franco, 171, 291
Ziegfeld, Florenz, 20, 21, 22
“Zip” (Rodgers and Hart), 94, 103, 104, 107, 177–78, 179
“Zodiac Song” (Weill and I. Gershwin), 137, 138, 139
Zorbá
(Kander and Ebb), 347
SYNOPSESZorina, Vera, 190
Reno Sweeney (Ethel Merman), an evangelist turned bar hostess, gets such a kick out of Billy Crocker (William Gaxton) that she boards a Europe-bound liner to dissuade him from pursuing Hope Harcourt (Bettina Hall). Although Billy dreams of Hope all through the night, Hope is determined to marry an English peer. Crocker has boarded without a ticket, so is forced to adopt a number of disguises. Also aboard is a wistful little man, the Reverend Dr. Moon (Victor Moore), whom J. Edgar Hoover has branded “Public Enemy 13.” Moon’s ambition is to rise to the top of Hoover’s list. With a minister and former evangelist as passengers the captain hopes to cheer his Depression-ridden travelers with a revival meeting. Reno obliges with a rousing anthem directed at the archangel Gabriel. On landing, Hope discovers she has become an heiress. She drops her Englishman and consents to marry Billy. The Englishman turns his attention to Reno, while Moon, learning he has been judged harmless and dropped from the FBI list, walks away muttering nasty things about Hoover.
When Billy Bigelow (John Raitt), a New England carnival barker, falls in love with Julie Jordan (Jan Clayton), he proves so shy that he can only convey his
feelings by suggesting what might happen “If I Loved You.” Nonetheless, by the time “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over,” he wins Julie. Later he discovers she is pregnant, so he agrees to join the scowling Jigger Craigin (Murvyn Vye) in a robbery to earn extra money. The plan misfires, and Billy kills himself rather than be caught. Before a heavenly judge, he pleads for another chance to return to earth, to redeem himself and see his daughter. But when the daughter refuses his gift of a star he has stolen from the sky he slaps her and must return to purgatory. The widowed Julie and her child are left to continue alone in the world, in stark contrast to her old friend Carrie Pipperidge (Jean Darling), who has made a prosperous marriage to the rich Mr. Snow (Eric Mattson). Julie’s sole comforter, Nettie Fowler (Christine Johnson), assures her “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Scene 1
. Street Corner: In “Moll’s Song” a prostitute (Olive Stanton) explains how the two dollars she earns on two days each week in Steeltown barely provides enough to eat for the five days her “efforts ain’t required.” A Gent enters, offers the Moll thirty cents, harasses her, and departs when a Dick comes to protect the Moll in exchange for sexual favors. A Cop instructed to pick up union workers mistakenly arrests the Liberty Committee, a group selected and cultivated by Mr. Mister (Ralph MacBane) to destroy the burgeoning attempts to form a union. The Liberty Committee and the Moll are taken to Night Court.