''The Cat and the Fiddle'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

with music by

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

and book and lyrics by

Otto Harbach Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading Broa ...

. The story is about love and conflict between an American popular music composer and a European classical composer. Hit numbers from the show included "Try to Forget", " She Didn't Say Yes", "The Breeze Kissed Your Hair" and "The Night Was Made for Love." The original Broadway production opened on October 15, 1931, and ran for 395 performances, a long run for the time period. A 1932 London production followed at the

Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including: Australia *Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria *Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Canada *Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, Mo ...

. A 1934 film adaptation with a substantially altered storyline starred

Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and Actor, actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', ''Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow (1934 ...

and

Ramon Novarro José Ramón Gil Samaniego (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican-American actor. He began his career in silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box ...

Productions

The original

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production opened at the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...

on October 15, 1931, moved to the George M. Cohan Theater on May 24, 1932, and ran for a total of 395 performances, an unusual success for the Depression years. It was produced by Max Gordon and staged by José Ruben. The show featured Bettina Hall as Shirley Sheridan, Georges Metaxa as Victor Florescu, George Meader as Pompineau,

Odette Myrtil Odette Myrtil (born Odette Laure Clotilde Quignarde; June 28, 1898 – November 18, 1978) was a French-born American actress, singer, and violinist. She began her career as a violinist on the vaudeville stage in Paris at 14. She expanded in ...

as prima donna Odette, and Flora Le Breton as Maizie Gripps.

Eddie Foy Jr. Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. (February 4, 1905 – July 15, 1983), known professionally as Eddie Foy Jr., was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early life Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. was born on February 4, 1905, in New Rochelle, New York, the ...

and

Lawrence Grossmith Lawrence Randall Grossmith (29 March 1877 – 21 February 1944) was an English actor, the son of the Gilbert and Sullivan performer George Grossmith and the brother of the actor-manager George Grossmith Jr. After establishing his career in Edw ...

were also in the original cast. Ensemble dances were staged by

Albertina Rasch Albertina Rasch (January 19, 1891 – October 2, 1967) was a naturalized American dancer, company director, and choreographer. Early life Rasch was born in 1891 (although she would later shave five years off her age), in Vienna (in what was th ...

and featured the Albertina Rasch Dancers. The 1932 London production by

C. B. Cochran Sir Charles Blake Cochran (25 September 1872 31 January 1951), generally known as C. B. Cochran, was an English theatrical manager and impresario. He produced some of the most successful musical revues, musicals and plays of the 1920s and 193 ...

at the

featured

Alice Delysia Alice Henriette Lapize (3 March 1889 – 10 February 1979), better known by her stage name, Alice Delysia and sometimes Elise Delisia, was a French actress and singer who made her career in English musical theatre. After performing in the cho ...

Peggy Wood Mary Margaret Wood (February 9, 1892 – March 18, 1978) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best remembered for her performance as the title character in the CBS television series ''Mama'' (1949–1957), for which sh ...

and

Francis Lederer Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 Prague – May 25, 2000) was an Austro-Hungarian Empire-born American film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was Franz (Czech František) Le ...

Summary

In the 1930s, Shirley Sheridan, an American popular song composer, comes to Brussels to study music. She meets Romanian classical composer Victor Florescu, who is writing an operetta, ''The Passionate Pilgrim.'' Shirley and Victor fall in love, but they find themselves in conflict when the producer of the operetta says that Victor's score is too traditional and asks that Shirley's uptempo jazzy songs be interpolated into it. All ends well.

Roles and original cast

*Alexander Sheridan –

*Shirley Sheridan – Bettina Hall *Pompineau – George Meader *Victor Florescu – Georges Metaxa *Angie Sheridan – Doris Carson *Odette –

*Constance Carrington – Margaret Adams *Maizie Gripps – Flora Le Breton *Jean Colbert – Peter Chambers *Claudine – Lucette Valsy *Major Sir George Wilfred Chatterly –

Musical numbers

Act One *"The Night Was Made for Love" – Pompineau *"The Breeze Kissed Your Hair" – Victor Florescu *"The Love Parade" – Pompineau and Maizie Gripps *"Try to Forget" – Shirley Sheridan, Alexander Sheridan and Angie Sheridan *"Poor Pierrot" – Jean Colbert and Claudine *"The Passionate Pilgrim" – Odette, Claudine, Constance Carrington and Jean Act Two *" She Didn't Say Yes" – Shirley *"A New Love Is Old" – Victor *"One Moment Alone" – Shirley and Victor *"Hh! Cha! Cha!" – Shirley and Others *"She Didn't Say 'Yes'" (reprise) – Pompineau, Victor and Shirley

Musical analysis

Kern and Harbach aimed to create a modern operetta set in contemporary Brussels "in which music and story were indispensable to each other." Kern's goal was to provide almost continuous music throughout ''The Cat and the Fiddle'', and many passages of dialogue feature musical underscoring.

Adaptations

A black and white

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

was made in 1934 by

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

, starring

and

.''Americans in London in the 1930s, original cast recordings'', Encore CD ENBO-CD-3/92
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References

External links

''The Cat and the Fiddle'' at Internet Broadway Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cat and the Fiddle 1931 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals by Jerome Kern Musicals by Otto Harbach