ME AND JULIET

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 11:37am

This R&H show had recently opened when NYC Mayor Impelliteri declared Aug 31 - Sept 6, 1953 "Rodgers & Hammerstein Week" Also playing then were THE KING AND I, SOUTH PACIFIC and the tour of OKLAHOMA! was in town.

Being much overshadowed by their other musical giants, My question is if anyone has ever seen this show? I love it very much but know that it is very dated, so I doubt it will ever be revived. But has anyone ever heard of a Community theatre or Regional theatre or anyone for that matter producing it beyond the broadway production???

Also, Does anyone know why they took M&J song THAT's THE WAY IT HAPPENS and added it to STATE FAIR???

Thanks in advance.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 11:55am

RE: State Fair

It was, of course, originally a film and only had a few songs in the entire score. When the stage version was devised almost 30 years later, a much bigger tunestack was needed, and many other R&H numbers were interpolated. Of course, they had to be little-known songs, so ME AND JULIET, ALLEGRO, PIPE DREAM were raided and even a cut number from OKLAHOMA was used.

The recent CINDERELLA did the same thing, raiding other R&H (and just R) sources to fill out the musical program.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 4:31pm

Thanks for the info philcrosby. I hadn't realized how much of the score was borrowed.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 6:08pm

"The Man I Used To Be" was another song taken from Pipe Dream and put into State Fair.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 3/2/06 at 12:59am

Sondheim (who was a member of the Hammerstein extended family at the time) talks about ME AND JULIET in his interview segment in the bonus section on the BROADWAY DVD set.

The story goes that R & H has had some sort of falling out and to repair the damage, Hammerstein agreed to do a straight forward "musical comedy" with Rodgers and one with a Show business setting. Hammerstein (according to Sondheim) could not have been LESS interested in the project but agreed to do it to smooth things over with Rodgers.

The show is almost never done now, but the script was published in the book 6 PLAYS BY RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN. It is not one of Hammerstein's better scripts. Very little actually happens. The show is notable now for two unusual aspects: the finale of Act One where the entire proscenium shifted 10 feet over to show the audience what was happening backstage, and the fact that it had 2 Overtures; the main one at the top of the show (not recorded until the R & H Overtures Cd came out in 1993) and the Overture to the "Show within the show" (which was used to open the cast album.)

[daredevil]

Posted: 3/2/06 at 10:49am

I was young when the play opened, therefore I never saw it, but heard the obc record played often on the radio. The second act begins with a number called "Intermission", which takes place during the intermission of the play being performed. It is a very witty piece---still very topical? Listen to it.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 3/2/06 at 2:36pm

"Intermission Talk" is a fun number spoofing the returning audience. But did anyone notice an odd error in it: One girl remembers fragments of different songs from the show they have just see getting the tune and lyrics wrong. She mixers lines from "No Other Love" (a song from the show within-the-show) and "It's Me" which is a character song sung by Betty in her dressing room. How could that girl have heard that? (Or was Hammerstein making a sly joke here? Maybe it wasn't an error.)

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 3/2/06 at 2:53pm

The line immediately following the error is "That doesn't sound quite right" I believe its a joke. Like how people remember things differently than how they actually happened. Like one of Casablanca's most famous quotes... "play it again, Sam" Which Bogart never says in the movie. And there is nothing more annoying than having someone sing your favorite showtune incorrectly.