Me and Juliet
Me and Juliet is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, and lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II. The sixth stage collaboration by Rodgers & Hammerstein, it tells a story of romance backstage at a long-running musical: assistant stage manager Larry woos chorus girl Jeanie behind the back of her electrician boyfriend, Bob. Me and Juliet premiered in 1953 and was considered a modest success — it ran for much of a year on Broadway and had a limited run in Chicago (altogether nearly 500 performances), and returned a small profit to its backers.[1]
Me and Juliet
Rodgers had long wanted to write a musical comedy about the cast and crew backstage at a theatre. After Rodgers and Hammerstein had another hit with The King and I in 1951, Rodgers proposed the backstage project to his partner. Hammerstein was unenthusiastic, thinking the subject matter trivial, but agreed to do the project. The play required complex machinery, designed by Jo Mielziner, so that the audience could view action not only on the stage of the theatre where the show-within-the-show (also named Me and Juliet) takes place, but in the wings and on the light bridge (high above the stage, from which the lighting technicians train spotlights) as well.
When Me and Juliet began tryout performances in Cleveland, the duo realized the show had problems with plot and staging. Extensive revisions during the remaining Cleveland and Boston tryouts failed to fix the difficulties with the plot, which the critics considered weak and uninteresting. The show was met with poor reviews, though Mielziner's staging won praise from audience and critics. The show closed once it had exhausted its advance sales. Bill Hayes, the show's star, states in his autobiography Like Sands Through the Hourglass (2005): "We played nearly five hundred performances, all to full houses. Production costs were paid off and substantial profits went into the R&H till. So, though not in the same category as the storied five that were made into films - Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music - our show must be considered a success".[2] With the exception of a short run in Chicago, there was no national tour, and the show has seldom been seen. A small-scale production was presented by London's Finborough Theatre in 2010.
Musical treatment and recording[edit]
One source of Rodgers's excitement for the concept that became Me and Juliet was his view that a contemporary musical gave him the opportunity for a contemporary score. At the time Rodgers wrote the score, a Latin dance craze had swept the United States, and its influence found its way into the music for Me and Juliet. Rodgers put an onstage jazz trio in the production and encouraged the members to improvise.[14] Among the trio was jazz artist Barbara Carroll as Chris, rehearsal pianist.[43] "Intermission Talk", the chatter among audience members early in the second act, is given a bouncy melody and sly references to a number of shows then on Broadway—including the duo's own The King and I.[44] According to author and composer Ethan Mordden, Rodgers's score "found [Rodgers & Hammerstein] going for impish, nimble, the sound of the Hit Parade as reimagined by [them]".[14]
Rodgers borrowed the music for "No Other Love," a tango, from his award-winning score for Victory at Sea.[29] RCA, which had those rights, arranged for Perry Como to record the song, and it was rushed onto the market to coincide with the show's Broadway opening. The record became a number-one hit for Como on the Disc Jockey chart, though #2 as a best seller, remaining on the charts for 22 weeks.[45]
Hischak described the original cast album as "surprisingly lively and mostly enjoyable for a musical that was considered so dull on stage."[46] He pointed to "Intermission Talk" as a number which probably works better in a recording than on stage and states that "there is no mistaking the hypnotic power of 'No Other Love'".[46] The original cast recording was released on compact disc in 1993.[47]
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