Babes in Arms

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Babes in Arms is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart . The book was also written by Rodgers and Hart. The show was choreographed by George Balanchine . The premiere took place on April 14, 1937 at the Shubert Theater in New York .

Rodgers and Hart brought the then popular "Hey-kids-lets-put-on-a-show!" Musical theme to Broadway, which was soon followed by director Busby Berkeley in various Hollywood film musicals with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as teenage couple has been perfected.

The 1937 cast of Babes in Arms was not very well known, with most of the actors under the age of twenty. Variety magazine predicted the show would fail because there was no meat, dancing girls, plush or sequins to be seen. However, it reached 289 performances, which was very successful for the 1930s.

A new version from 1959 adapted to the more modern conditions comes from George Oppenheimer .

action

Rodgers and Hart version (1937)

The play takes place at the time of the New Deal in a fairground colony on Long Island, New York.

Vaudeville actors who go on tour in the summer leave their children at home as good as penniless. The local sheriff thinks that the offspring are better off in a state “work farm”. But the "babes" want to help themselves and put on a show to earn a living. The whole project fails because of the disagreement between the "babes" and their "producer" over the appearance of a black pair of brothers. After that there is no way around the “work farm”, but the “babes” do not lose hope. Unexpected help comes from a French Atlantic flyer who crash-lands near her home settlement and develops strong sympathy for the "babes".

George Oppenheimer version (1959)

Bunny Byron has a problem with her co-owner Fleming, who not only has the say in the summer theater on Cape Cod, she is also in debt to him. In the event of a season failure, she runs the risk of losing the last stake in the theater. The young people who work in the theater during the summer have taken Bunny into their hearts and want to help her keep the theater going. Since the piece set by the co-owner threatens to turn out to be a flop, they secretly rehearse their own revue. Finally, they get support from the show producer Steve Edwards, who recognizes the talent of the young people.

Well-known music numbers

filming

The film adaptation of the same name from 1939 (German title: Music is our world ) by Busby Berkeley with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney is based on the musical. Only two songs were taken from the score or the score.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts Oregon Festival of American Music 2007: Babes in Arms , accessed October 29, 2007
  2. ↑ John Hall - UCLA Music Theater Workshop Babes in Arms ( Memento of the original from August 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 29, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.johnhallmtw.com
  3. ↑ The Guide to Musical Theater Babes in Arms , accessed October 29, 2007

Web links