''The Girl Who Came to Supper'' is a musical with a book by Harry Kurnitz and music and lyrics by Noël Coward, based on

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

's 1953 play '' The Sleeping Prince''. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1963.

Plot

The story is set in 1911

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at the time of

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

's coronation. American-born chorus girl Mary Morgan becomes involved with Balkan archduke Charles, the widowed

prince regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

of Carpathia, after he sees a performance of her West End musical ''The Coconut Girl''. She soon becomes involved with the actions of his teenaged son, King Nicholas, as well as the Queen Mother. A peripheral character, fish-and-chips peddler Ada Cockle, appears to be present solely to entertain the audience with a rousing fifteen-minute rendition of traditional

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

tunes.

Production

Rattigan's play had been staged in London with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, 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 ...

with

Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...

and Barbara Bel Geddes, and filmed as ''

The Prince and the Showgirl ''The Prince and the Showgirl'' (originally titled '' The Sleeping Prince'') is a 1957 British romantic comedy film starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier, who also served as director and producer. The screenplay written by Terence Ratti ...

'' with Olivier and

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

, so its story was a fairly familiar one. The musical opened to rave reviews in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

but was received less favorably by the critics in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. During its

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

run,

President Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until assassination of Joh ...

was assassinated, necessitating the replacement of the opening number, "Long Live the King (If He Can)". The musical opened on Broadway, directed and choreographed by

Joe Layton Joe Layton (May 3, 1931 – May 5, 1994) was an American director and choreographer known primarily for his work on Broadway.Dunning, Jennifer. (9 May 1994). Page B7.'Joe Layton, Choreographer And Director, Is Dead at 64' Obituary. New York Ti ...

, on December 8, 1963 at

The Broadway Theatre The Broadway Theatre (formerly Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre, and Ciné Roma) is a Broadway theater at 1681 Broadway (near 53rd Street) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan i ...

, where it ran for 112 performances and four previews. The cast featured

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...

as Mary,

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors during his lifetime, w ...

as Charles,

Irene Browne Irene Browne (29 June 1896 – 24 July 1965) was an English stage and film actress and singer who appeared in plays and musicals including ''No, No, Nanette''. Later in her career, she became particularly associated with the works of Noël Cowar ...

as the Queen Mother,

Sean Scully Sean Scully (born 30 June 1945) is an Irish-born American-based artist working as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer. His work is held in museum collections worldwide and he has twice been named a Turner Prize nominee. Moving fro ...

as Nicholas, British music hall star

Tessie O'Shea Teresa Mary "Tessie" O'Shea (13 March 1913 – 21 April 1995) was a Welsh entertainer and actress. Early life O'Shea was born in Plantagenet Street in Riverside, Cardiff to newspaper wholesaler James Peter O'Shea, who had been a soldier and ...

as Ada Cockle, and

Roderick Cook Roderick Cook (9 February 1932 – 17 August 1990) was an English playwright, writer, theatre director and actor of stage, television and film. Cook is known for creating, directing and starring in the musical review '' Oh, Coward!'' and portray ...

as Peter Northbrook." 'The Girl Who Came to Supper' Broadway"
Playbill (vault), accessed December 5, 2016 Henderson and O'Shea were singled out for praise by the critics — Henderson for her one-woman delivery of an abridged version of ''The Coconut Girl'', and O'Shea for her extended song-and-dance routine of Cockney tunes. Otherwise, the review by the influential critic

Walter Kerr Walter Francis Kerr (July 8, 1913 – October 9, 1996) was an American writer and Broadway theatre critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals as well as the author of several books, genera ...

in the ''Herald Tribune'' was mostly negative. He and others felt the show was an unsuccessful attempt to duplicate the success of the earlier ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

''. Mandelbaum, Ken
''The Girl Who Came to Supper''
''Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops'', Macmillan, 1992, , pp. 120-123 O'Shea won the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Nominations also went to Coward and Kurnitz for Best Author of a Musical and

Irene Sharaff Irene Sharaff (January 23, 1910 – August 16, 1993) was an American costume designer for stage and screen. Her work earned her five Academy Awards and a Tony Award. Sharaff is universally recognized as one of the greatest costume designers of ...

for Best Costume Design. The show proved to be the last with a Coward score and the only one of his musicals never produced in London. An

original cast recording Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

was released on the Columbia Records label. (Reissue: Sony Broadway SK 48210)."Synopsis"
''The Guide to Musical Theatre'', accessed December 5, 2016Ruhlmann, William
"Cast Recording"
allmusic.com, accessed December 5, 2016

Song list

;Act I * Swing Song * Yasni Kozkolai (Carpathian National Anthem) * My Family Tree * I've Been Invited to a Party * Waltz * I've Been Invited to a Party (Reprise) * When Foreign Princes Come to Visit Us * Sir or Ma'am * Soliloquies * Lonely * London is a Little Bit of All Right * What Ho, Mrs. Brisket * Don't Take Our Charlie for the Army * Saturday Night at the Rose and Crown * London Is a Little Bit of All Right (Reprise) * Here and Now * I've Been Invited to a Party (Reprise) * Soliloquies (Reprise) ;Act II * Coronation Chorale * How Do You Do, Middle Age? * Here and Now (Reprise) * The Stingaree * Curt, Clear and Concise * Tango * Welcome to Pootzie Van Doyle * The Coconut Girl * Paddy MacNeill and His Automobile * Swing Song (Reprise) * Six Lillies of the Valley * The Walla Walla Boola * This Time It's True Love * I'll Remember Her

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Notes

References

''Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops'' by Ken Mandelbaum, published by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

(1991), pages 120-23 ()

External links

*
Synopsis
at The Guide to Musical Theatre
Synopsis and other information
at Noël Coward Music.com
Ovrtur.com Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girl Who Came to Supper, The 1963 musicals Broadway musicals Plays set in London Fiction set in 1911 Musicals by Noël Coward Musicals based on plays