''The Day Before Spring'' 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 a book and lyrics by

Alan Jay Lerner Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre bot ...

and music by

Frederick Loewe Frederick Loewe (, originally German Friedrich (Fritz) Löwe ; June 10, 1901 – February 14, 1988) was an Austrian-United States, American composer. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including ''Br ...

Productions

The 1945 touring production closed in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

after three days due to a crippling coal strike. The show then opened at the Shubert Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts on October 30, 1945, with the ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

'' critic writing "Lerner and Loewe look like potential supermen." The musical opened on

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 ...

on November 22, 1945 at the National Theatre, and closed on April 13, 1946 after 167 performances. Directed by

Edward Padula Edward Padula (January 24, 1916 – November 1, 2001) was an American theatre producer, stage manager, and occasional director and writer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Padula began his theatrical career by directing the book for the early Lerner ...

and

choreographed Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Antony Tudor Antony Tudor (born William Cook; 4 April 1908 – 19 April 1987) was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer. He founded the London Ballet, and later the Philadelphia Ballet Guild in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., in the mid-1950 ...

, the cast included

Lucille Benson Lucille Benson (July 17, 1914 – February 17, 1984) was an American character actress. Biography Personal life Born in Scottsboro, Alabama, on July 17, 1914, Benson was adopted by her aunt, Mrs. John Benson, after her mother died of tuber ...

, John Archer,

Bert Freed Bert Freed (November 3, 1919 – August 2, 1994) was an American character actor, voice-over actor, and the first actor to portray Detective Columbo. Life and career Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Freed began acting while attending P ...

Irene Manning Irene Manning (born Inez Harvuot, July 17, 1912 – May 28, 2004) was an American actress and singer. Biography Manning was born as Inez Harvuot on July 17, 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of five siblings. Both of her parents were singers. Her fa ...

, William Johnson and

Patricia Marshall Patricia Marshall (January 13, 1924 – December 11, 2018) was an American actress and singer. Marshall performed in Broadway plays, two feature films, and a television episode. She won an award in 1946 for one of her Broadway performances. Bi ...

. On Feb. 21, 1961, Los Angeles Times reported that

Arthur Freed Arthur Freed (September 9, 1894 – April 12, 1973) was an American lyricist and Hollywood film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture twice, in 1951 for ''An American in Paris'' and in 1958 for '' Gigi''. Both films were musicals. ...

, producer of "Gigi", would produce a film version for MGM starring

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

, despite the play and any of its songs "having never caught on." The project never materialized. The show was performed in July 2007 by the York Theatre Company in New York City as part of their Mufti Theatre series. The York staged concert starred

Hunter Bell Hunter Houston Bell is an American writer and theatre actor. Early life and education Bell was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was raised in Wilson, North Carolina until the seventh grade, when he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Hunter earned a B. ...

, Amanda Watkins, Richard Todd Adams, Edward Watts and Tia Speros. The restoration of the show was undertaken by musical supervisors Aaron Gandy, Mark York and director David Glenn Armstrong and included material that had been missing since the show closed on Broadway in 1946. A treasure trove of material was bought by the Library of Congress in 1999 which supplied some missing pieces to the score. In 2010 the

Lost Musicals Lost Musicals is a British musical theatre project established in 1989 by Ian Marshall Fisher. It is dedicated to presenting lost or forgotten musicals by famous American writers, and has been responsible for the first revivals of the lesser-known w ...

project (The Lost Musicals Charitable Trust 1069268) presented ''The Day Before Spring'' at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. Ian Marshall Fisher, director, Chris Walker, Music Director. Cast included: Madeline Worrall, David Habin, Harry Landis, Kaisa Hammarlund, Henry Luxemburg. This, the UK premiere of the show, included songs rediscovered by scholar Dominic McHugh.Darvell, Michael
"Lost Musicals: Lerner & Loewe’s 'The Day Before Spring'"
classicalsource.com, June 20, 2010

Plot overview

The plot concerns a married woman who, at a college reunion, meets the man with whom she almost eloped ten years before. Romantically stirred by a novel he has written about her, she considers leaving her husband and reuniting with her former flame.

Song list

;Act I *"The Day Before Spring" - Katherine *The invitation - Bill *"God's Green World" *"You Haven't Changed at All" - Katherine and Alex *"My Love Is a Married Man" - Christopher *"The Day Before Spring" - Katherine and Alex *Ballet of the book according to Alex *Katherine receives advice - Freud, Plato, Voltaire *Finale - Katherine and ensemble ;Act II *"Friends to the End" - Bill, Joe, Harry, Gerald, and alumni *"A Jug of Wine" - Christopher *The Book *"Where's My Wife?" - Peter and ensemble *"This is My Holiday" - Katherine *Ballet of the book according to Gerald *Finale - Principals and company

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Day Before Spring, The 1945 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals by Alan Jay Lerner Musicals by Frederick Loewe