''The New Yorkers'' 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 ...
written by
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
(lyrics and music) and
Herbert Fields
Herbert Fields (July 26, 1897March 24, 1958) was an American librettist and screenwriter.
Biography
Born in New York City, Fields began his career as an actor, then graduated to choreography and stage director, stage direction before turning to ...
(book). Star
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
also wrote the words and music for the songs in which his character was featured.
The musical premiered 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 ...
in 1930. It is based on a story by a cartoonist for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'',
Peter Arno
Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr. (January 8, 1904 – February 22, 1968), known professionally as Peter Arno, was an American cartoonist. He contributed cartoons and 101 covers to ''The New Yorker'' from 1925, the magazine's first year, until 1968, the ...
, and
E. Ray Goetz
Edward Ray Goetz (June 12, 1886 – June 12, 1954) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical producer. A Tin Pan Alley songwriter, he published more than 500 songs during his career; many of them origin ...
. The musical satirizes New York types, from high society matrons to con men,
bootleggers
Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to:
* Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially
* Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence:
** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...
, thieves and prostitutes during
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
. The musical includes Porter's famous, sad song about a prostitute, "
Love for Sale", which was banned from the radio for its frank lyrics. The original Broadway production received mostly good reviews and ran for 168 performances.
History
The musical was "built to order around star comic
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
, indisputably featured special material (songs as well as bits) that wouldn't scan without Schnozzola himself delivering it." In fact, Durante himself wrote 5 of the 17 songs featured in the musical—the only 5 songs in which he was a featured performer.
Ray Goetz, who was the producer of the show as well as production supervisor, wanted to help audiences forget the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and so made ''The New Yorkers'' "as bright and sparkley as possible-from the variegated costumes and the Arno settings to the large and dynamic cast...He also featured a young group that had never appeared on Broadway as the stage band for the show: Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians." The clean-cut band sang as well as played instruments.
[Schwartz, Charles (1979). ''Cole Porter''. Da Capo Press. , pp. 115–116]
Synopsis
Wealthy New York
socialite
A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...
Alice Wentworth has a romantic interlude with Al Spanish, a
nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
owner and
bootlegger. During their time together, they escape from the police and go to the bootlegging factory, among other adventures. Jimmy Deegan and his buddies Ronald and Oscar aid in their escapades, invent a new alcoholic drink, murder Feet McGeehan and assist with the gangland wedding of Al and Alice, while offering tributes to money, wood, and "The Hot Patata".
Jokes and songs about alcohol, and how far people will go to get it, such as "Drinking Song" and "Say It With Gin", reflect the musical's origin from the
Prohibition period.
Musical numbers
''Music and lyrics by Cole Porter except as noted''
Act 1
*Go Into Your Dance – Mona Low, Lola McGee and Toro Girls
*The Hot Patata (Music and Lyrics By Jimmy Durante) – Jimmie Deegan, Ronald Monahan and Cyril Gregory
*Where Have You Been? – Al Spanish and Alice Wentworth
*Say It With Gin – Ensemble and Trainor Brothers
*Venice† – Alice Wentworth, Ronald Monahan, Jimmie Deegan and Cyril Gregory
*
Love for Sale – May and Three Girl Friends
*I'm Getting Myself Ready for You – Mona Low, James Livingston, Lola McGee and Alfredo Gomez
*Drinking Song (Lyrics By Charles Henderson, Music By Fred Waring)–Waring's Pennsylvanians
*The Great Indoors – Mona Low and Girls
*Money (Music and Lyrics By Jimmy Durante) – Jimmie Deegan, Ronald Monahan and Cyril Gregory
*Wood (Music and Lyrics By Jimmy Durante) – Jimmie Deegan, Ronald Monahan, Cyril Gregory and Company
Act 2
*Sheikin Fool (Music and Lyrics By Jimmy Durante) – Jimmie Deegan, Ronald Monahan and Cyril Gregory
*Let's Fly Away – James Livingston, Alice Wentworth and Ensemble
*
I Happen to Like New York
"I Happen to Like New York" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1930 musical ''The New Yorkers'' when it was introduced by Oscar Ragland.
The song has become a standard of the Great American Songbook, with recordings by many differen ...
– Mildew
*Let's Fly Away (Reprise) – James Livingston, Alice Wentworth and Ensemble
*Sing Sing for Sing Sing – Al Spanish and Waring's Pennsylvanians
*Sing Sing for Sing Sing (Reprise) – Mona Low, Three Girl Friends and Waring's Pennsylvanians
*Data (Music and Lyrics By Jimmy Durante) – Jimmie Deegan, Ronald Monahan, Cyril Gregory and Waring's Pennsylvanians
*Sing Sing for Sing Sing (Reprise) – Waring's Pennsylvanians
*Take Me Back to Manhattan – Entire Company
†Music missing; Lyric partially lost;
Productions
''The New Yorkers'' began pre-Broadway tryouts at the Chestnut Street Opera House,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, on November 10, 1930 and then moved to the Shubert Theatre,
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
on November 24, 1930.
The musical opened on Broadway at the
Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
on December 8, 1930, this theatre's first stage production,
and closed on May 2, 1931 after 168 performances.
Direction was by
Monty Woolley
Edgar Montilion "Monty" Woolley (August 17, 1888May 6, 1963) was an American film and theater actor.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1963, page 223. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his role in the 1939 stage play ''The Man Wh ...
, choreography by George Hale,
special numbers staged and directed by
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also ...
, and production supervised by
E. Ray Goetz
Edward Ray Goetz (June 12, 1886 – June 12, 1954) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical producer. A Tin Pan Alley songwriter, he published more than 500 songs during his career; many of them origin ...
. Costumes were by Peter Arno and Charles Le Maire, and the set design was by Dale Stetson, based on sketches by
Peter Arno
Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr. (January 8, 1904 – February 22, 1968), known professionally as Peter Arno, was an American cartoonist. He contributed cartoons and 101 covers to ''The New Yorker'' from 1925, the magazine's first year, until 1968, the ...
. The conductor was
Max Meth Max Meth (25 February 1900 – 3 January 1984)Obituary, ''The New York Times'', Section B, p.12, January 12, 1984 was an Austrian-American Broadway musical director and conductor for over 40 years (1927–1968). He came to the United States from Aus ...
.
The cast featured Frances Williams as the hostess Mona Low,
Charles King as Al Spanish, Hope Williams as Alice Wentworth,
Ann Pennington as Lola McGee, Marie Cahill as Gloria Wentworth,
the
Fred Waring Orchestra,
Lou Clayton Lou Clayton (also Lew Clayton, born Louis Finkelstein; 1890-1950) was an American song-and-dance vaudeville performer, best known for his teaming with Jimmy Durante and Eddie Jackson, as Clayton, Jackson, and Durante, or "The Three Sawdust Bums".
...
as Cyril Gregory,
Eddie Jackson as Ronald Monahan,
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
as Jimmie Deegan,
Kathryn Crawford
Kathryn Crawford ( Moran; October 5, 1908 – December 7, 1980) was an American film and theatre actress of the 1920s and 1930s. She was also known as Katherine Crawford and Kitty Moran.
Early years
Born in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, Cra ...
as May
(later replaced by
Elisabeth Welch
Elisabeth Margaret Welch (February 27, 1904July 15, 2003) was an American singer, actress, and entertainer, whose career spanned seven decades. Her best-known songs were " Stormy Weather", " Love for Sale" and "Far Away in Shanty Town". She was ...
), and Oscar Ragland as Mildew.
(Clayton, Jackson & Durante were a successful vaudeville act.)
The musical was performed at the
Marriott Theatre
The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois is a respected Chicago area regional theatre. Attached to the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, the theatre produces an average of five musicals each year, presented in the round, as well as production ...
in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
in 1996. "Musicals Tonight!" presented the musical as a staged concert in April 2003 in New York City. The "Lost Musicals" series presented ''The New Yorkers'' at
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...
, London, in March and April 2009, starring
Anna Francolini
Anna Francolini (born 30 October 1973) is an English actress.
Early life
Francolini was born in Chertsey, Surrey, attended Bristol Grammar School and studied theatre at the University of Warwick. She also trained as a member of the National You ...
as Alice and Dawn Spence as Mona Low. The
New York City Center
New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and th ...
presented it in March 2017 in their
Encores!
Encores! is a Tony-honored concert series dedicated to performing rarely heard American musicals, usually with their original orchestrations. Presented by New York City Center since 1994, Encores! has revived shows by Irving Berlin, Rodgers & Ha ...
staged concert series with
Tam Mutu
Tam Mutu (born April 30, 1978) is an English stage and screen actor. He began his career on the West End theatre, West End in the early 2000s. He was part of the original West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies (musical), '' ...
,
Scarlett Strallen
Scarlett Aimee Vaigncourt-Strallen (born 3 July 1982) is an English stage actress, best known for her work in musical theatre productions in the West End and on Broadway. She has received two Olivier Award nominations, in 2006 for her portray ...
and
Kevin Chamberlin
Kevin Chamberlin (born November 25, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for his theatre roles such as Horton in ''Seussical'' and Uncle Fester in ''The Addams Family''. For his theatre work, he received three Tony Award and three Drama Desk A ...
, directed by
John Rando
John Rando is an American stage director who won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for '' Urinetown the Musical'' in 2002. He received his 2nd nomination in the same category in 2015 for the 2014 Broadway revival of '' On the Town''.
...
.
Response
Brooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinson (November 28, 1894 – January 14, 1984) was an American theatre critic. He worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1922 to 1960. In his obituary, the ''Times'' called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his ...
, theatre critic for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote that the musical "manages to pack most of the madness, ribaldry, bounce and comic loose ends of giddy Manhattan into a lively musical." As for Porter's songs, "most ... hold well to the average of song-and-dance scores."
The song "Love for Sale" was sung by an actress playing the role of a prostitute ("advertising young love for sale"). As recounted by Charles Schwartz in his biography ''Cole Porter'', the critic for the ''World'', Charles Darnton, "excoriated" the song and called it "in the worst possible taste." The song was subsequently banned from the radio.
The reviewer of the "Musicals Tonight!" 2003 concert noted that Peter Arno (who provided the story) was a cartoonist whose drawings appeared on the cover and pages of the magazine ''The New Yorker.'' "His subjects were jazz babies, society dames, gangsters, café habitues, with a specialization in the lusty and lustful. Herb Fields's book...is full of that kind of sexuality, with a heaping helping of puns and double (and triple) entendres."
[Mackler, Davi]
"Upper crust and other assorted flakes"
'The off-off-Broadway Review'', accessed August 24, 2009
References
External links
*
"''The New Yorkers'': Reclaiming Cole Porter's Lost 'Pre-Code' Musical"by Jack Viertel, ''
Playbill
''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's pr ...
'', republished by
New York City Center
New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and th ...
, March 3, 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Yorkers, The
Musicals by Cole Porter
1930 musicals
Broadway musicals
Musicals by Herbert Fields