Gay Divorce

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Gay Divorce (translated as "cheerful divorce") is a musical comedy with the music and lyrics by Cole Porter . The book is by Dwight Taylor based on a play by J. Hartley Manners and has been revised by Kenneth Webb and Samuel Hoffenstein. It premiered on November 29, 1932 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in New York . Fred Astaire appeared in the role of Guy Holden. It was his last Broadway engagement, and Astaire continued his career in Hollywood . The show opened on January 6, 1933 at the Palace Theater in London's West End .

action

The American writer Guy Holden falls in love with Mimi Pratt during his stay in England. When he immediately loses sight of her again, he becomes heartbroken. To give Holden other ideas, his friend Teddy Egbert takes him to the seaside resort town of Brighton. Egbert, who is a lawyer, wants to help a client with her divorce plans. Since the client's husband is unwilling to divorce, but a divorce is not possible without compelling reasons, he hires the Italian Rodolfo Tonetti for the purpose of feigning adultery. What Holden doesn't know is that the client is none other than Mimi Pratt. When she thinks Holden is the paid adulterer, the complications begin.
However, all efforts cannot convince the husband who has finally arrived - but to Mimis and Holden's luck, he is convicted of adultery himself on the spot.

Well-known music numbers

filming

The film adaptation from 1934 under the title The Gay Divorcee (dt. Dance with me!; Or divorce in American) by Mark Sandrich with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers is based on the musical.

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