Me and Juliet
| Musical dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Me and Juliet |
| Original title: | Me and Juliet |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Richard Rodgers |
| Book: | Oscar Hammerstein II |
| Lyrics: | Oscar Hammerstein II |
| Roles / people | |
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Main roles [with vocals]:
Supporting roles:
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Me and Juliet is a musical by the author duo Rodgers and Hammerstein . At the center of the plot, which draws the milieu behind the scenes of a musical production, is the love story of assistant stage manager Larry and chorus singer Jeanie and their threat from the jealous, violent lighting technician Bob.
action
I. act
Shortly before the evening performance of the musical "Me and Juliet", six months after the premiere, the usual hustle and bustle reigns behind the stage. Ensemble members arrive and exchange news before changing, putting on makeup and warming up; Backdrops and lights are prepared; Musicians get together for a short jam session . The bar boy Herbie wants to place a trio of musicians from the show on a TV talent show; a singer has ambitions for opera; the main actor Charlie complains about the conductor Dario, who always covers him up with the volume of the orchestra. Dario wants to leave the show, but is persuaded to stay with fake love letters from a mysterious admirer.
The experienced Stage Manager Mac watches over everything. He gets into a quandary when his iron rule begins to falter, namely never to do anything with a woman from his own production: because Betty appears to audition, who has so far appeared in the theater across the street and with whom Mac has only recently flirted has begun. She is actually hired by the operators for "Me and Juliet", and Mac switches back to a cool professional relationship, which spurs the resolute and seductive Betty even more.
Mac's assistant Larry, a theater-loving young man with ambitions to direct, has his eyes on chorus singer Jeanie. She is, however, in a relationship with the lighting technician Bob, who can sweep the charming boy out if necessary, but is not too serious about loyalty and occasionally, e.g. B. towards his colleague Sidney, by his hot temper and tendency to assault. Apparently, Bob has a dark past that has put him behind bars before. Physically he is far superior to Larry. When he rehearses a song with Jeanie in order to make her fit as a substitute for the lead actress, Bob not only observes this rehearsal - he also notices that there is a spark between Jeanie and Larry. On the deserted stage, Bob confronts his rival and threatens: If Larry approaches Jeanie, Bob will kill him. Fear paralyzes Larry's resilience, he gives in.
But the love that flares up Jeanie and Larry is stronger - soon it makes the rounds in the company that they have secretly married. For a while it is possible to hide this news from Bob, until Sidney, seduced by an argument with Bob, rubs it under his nose, on the bridge of the lights, while the performance of "Me and Juliet" runs deep below both of them. In the middle of the scene, one of the sandbag weights falls from the stage sky and misses Jeanie, who appears in a small part, by a hair's breadth. The curtain falls over the erupting chaos.
II. Act
While the audience discussed the performance and the state of the theater world in general during the break, Jeanie and Larry barricaded themselves in the company manager's office. The raging Bob has left the theater, people fear his return. Larry is discouraged by his own despondency, but Jeanie declares her love for him: As with the main characters of her show, "I" and "Julia", be Larry's and her affection full of truth and depth and make a strong couple out of two ordinary little people, that can meet any challenge.
Meanwhile, Bob was watching the theater from the bar across the street - getting drunk and into a frenzy. He breaks into Jeanie's and Larry's lair through the basement window and wants to get his girl back. When he touches Jeanie, Larry's courage awakens and a fight breaks out that threatens to end fatally for the weaker of the two opponents. Mac, Betty, and company manager Ruby come to the rescue, and in the tussle, Bob hits a radiator with his head and loses consciousness.
Mac sends the others out to continue the performance. When Bob wakes up, he thinks he has murdered Larry and wants to face the police. Mac clarifies the truth, and Ruby reveals the surprising news of Jeanie and Larry's secret marriage. Bob's progress initially leaves the rest of them in uncertainty. But after the closing curtain he is back and accepts the new situation. He does not contradict Larry's instruction to show up for work at the theater on time the following day. Before going home, the troupe quickly rehearses a scene in costume - Jeanie briefly steps in for the leading actress, who is already absent, and Larry leads the troupe with new authority.
Music numbers
I. act
- overture
- "A Very Special Day" - Jeanie
- "That's the Way It Happens" - Jeanie
- "That's the Way It Happens" (Reprise) - Larry
- Overture to "Me and Juliet"
- Opening of "Me and Juliet" - Lily (Juliet), Charlie (Me), girls
- "Marriage Type Love" - Charlie (Me), Lily (Juliet), ensemble
- "Keep It Gay" - Bob
- “Keep it Gay” (dance) ensemble
- The sample
- The audition
- "The Big Black Giant" - Larry
- "No Other Love" - Jeanie, Larry
- Dance in the alley behind the theater
- "The Big Black Giant" (reprise) - Ruby
- "It's Me" - Betty, Jeanie
- Finale Act I ("No Other Love") - Lily
II. Act
- Entr'acte
- "Intermission Talk" - Herbie, Ensemble
- "It Feels Good" - Bob
- "We Deserve Each Other" [section of Act II of "Me and Juliet"] - Jim, Betty
- "I'm Your Girl" - Jeanie, Larry
- Finale II. Act - Ensemble, Jeanie
To the work
Me and Juliet is part of a long tradition of musical backstage comedies, from Gassmann's L'Opera seria , Mozart's Acting Director , Salieri's Prima la musica or Donizetti's Viva la Mamma, to Strauss ' Ariadne and Capriccio, to numerous Hollywood films from the 1930s and 1940s to Cole Porter's Kiss me, Kate . Rodgers and Hammerstein, however, sought an innovative concept by placing a 'serious' conflict between 'ordinary' people at the center. It is true that this is reflected by the piece in the piece (which has the same title as the musical itself). The archetypal characters "I", "Julia", "Don Juan" and "Carmen" represent concepts of love and existence that are at least partially equivalent in Larry, Jeanie, Bob and Betty. The comical effects when actors of 'noble' fictional characters are also experienced privately by the viewer as neurotic or banal people, however, only occur here to loosen up or reinforce the main storyline. The contradiction between appearance and reality and how it can be resolved plays no role, unlike in the other works mentioned above. This is also achieved by the fact that the main characters in the play are not the main characters, such as Porter's (almost identical) Lilli / Katharine or Strauss' Primadonna / Ariadne, but rather 'marginal figures' in the world of theater: a choir singer, an assistant stage manager , a lighting technician u. It is also crucial that not a piece genesis or a premiere evening is shown, but a repertoire performance.
In line with their conception, Rodgers and Hammerstein designed the piece in the piece to be emphatically unreal. The aforementioned archetypal characters are a means for this: “I” work in an open-plan office and loves a girl whom he always sees on the mezzanine by the balustrade. She appears to him as his dream image - his "Julia". His boss is a womanizer - he sees him as "Don Juan". "I" have to defend his love for Julia against the seductive arts of all permissive, attractive women who are embodied for him in the character "Carmen". In the end, the right people are found, because Carmen and Don Juan also become a couple. This plot of the piece in the piece, invented by Rodgers and Hammerstein, gives rise to elaborate, colorful dance and ensemble scenes. They are also highlighted musically, for example through Latin American rhythms (e.g. Montuna in “Keep It Gay” or slow tango in “No Other Love”) or a Hollywood-like style (opening).
As the musical takes place almost exclusively in one and the same theater and covers the period of an evening performance - from 30 minutes before the overture to two halves of the performance including a break to 5 minutes after the closing curtain - it preserves the classic drama unity of place and time. However, the first act contains two time leaps: once from the performance to a rehearsal of the same scene, and the other time when Larry and Jeanie's secret wedding took place between two images. The change from show to 'real life', sometimes within a few moments, and from one part of the theater to the other, especially from the lighting bridge above to what is happening below, as well as from this side to the beyond of the curtain, is what makes the play so appealing but at the same time sophisticated stage technology.
Theatrical aspects are also explicitly addressed in the musical, for example when Bob and Sidney make fun of the show below on the lighting bridge, or when it says in the opening "The scene of the play is neither here nor there" (The play does not play here and not there). The omnipotent producers are only present as a voice from the off or on the phone, and in “The Big Black Giant” the crowd of spectators who sit across from the actors in the darkened theater hall every evening is compared to a moody giant. And in “Intermission Talk” private and scene gossip is exchanged: While “lively grouches” conjure up the downfall of the theater in waltz, others make comments about the current Broadway highlights - Hammerstein has tongue-in-cheek verses not only about the greats of 1953 like Rosalind Russell , Bea Lillie or about current pieces like Hexenjagd or Das verflixte Siebte Jahr , but also about his own predecessor The King and I (“My Love for my husband grew thinner / The first time I looked at Yul Brynner ”), one sings Theatergoer).
background
Me and Juliet was the sixth joint stage work by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Writing a musical about life behind the stage was a long-standing wish of the composer, which Hammerstein only gradually found approval. Jo Mielziner (stage design), Irene Sharaff (costumes), Don Walker (musical arrangements), Robert Alton (choreography), George Abbott (direction) and Salvatore Dell'Isola (musical direction) were finally won over for the production . The actress who played Jeanie was Isabel Bigley, who had just won a Tony Award as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls . The show's hit, "No Other Love," was borrowed from the music Rodgers composed for the TV documentary Victory at Sea , which Perry Como released as a single at the same time .
It premiered in 1953 at the Hanna Theater, Cleveland. On Broadway, Me and Juliet ran at the Majestic Theater for 358 performances from May 28, 1953 to April 3, 1954. Shirley MacLaine sang in the choir there . A short series of performances followed in Chicago (with the later musical star Shirley Jones in the choir). During the New York runtime, four musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein were played simultaneously on Broadway for a short time, in addition to Me and Juliet also Oklahoma! , South Pacific and The King and I .
The premiere received mixed reviews and was not nominated for a Tony Award - musical winners of the year were Kismet and Can-Can . Bill Hayes, the actor who played Larry, rated the production as a success in his memoirs, with a total of almost 500 performances and a profit for the producers. The European premiere of Me and Juliet only took place in 2010 in London; The work has not yet been played in German-speaking countries.
Recording
Original Broadway Cast Recording 1953 (RCA LOC 1012): Isabel Bigley (Jeanie), Bill Hayes (Larry), Joan McCracken (Betty), Mark Dawson (Bob), Joe Lautner (Ruby), Arthur Maxwell (Charlie / Me), Bob Fortier (Jim / Don Juan), conductor: Salvatore Dell'Isola; CD release 1993 (RCA Victor 61480-2)
Web links
- Me and Juliet at Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals
- Me and Juliet in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The stage manager's typical US theater job combines the tasks of assistant director, stage management and artistic operations office, see https://www.stellenangebote.de/blog/stage-manager-faeden-haben-hinter-den-kulissen/
- ↑ Ethan Mordden, Rodgers & Hammerstein , New York: Harry N. Abrams 1992
- ↑ Hugh Fordin, Getting to Know Him: A Biography of Oscar Hammerstein II , Jefferson: Da Capo Press 1977
- ↑ https://www.rnh.com/show/71/Me-and-Juliet#shows-trivia
- ^ Steven Suskin, Opening Night on Broadway , New York: Schirmer Books 1990
- ^ Bill Hayes, Like Sands Through the Hourglass , New American Library: New York 2005, p. 124
- ^ Matt Wolf, "In the city of second chances," in: The New York Times , October 19, 2010