Pardon My English

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Pardon My English is a musical comedy with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin . The book was written by Herbert Fields and Morrie Ryskind . The premiere took place on January 20, 1933 at the Majestic Theater in New York .

Performance history

The musical was unsuccessful when it premiered; with just 43 performances, it had the shortest running time of all Gershwin shows. It was canceled on February 25, two days before the night of the Reichstag fire in Berlin - a circumstance that does not seem entirely unimportant in a musical that is being set in Germany. The producers Alex. A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley , who have worked with the Gershwins in such successful musicals as Lady, Be Good , Oh, Kay! , Funny Face and Girl Crazy were in financial trouble. During the preview there were also problems with the cast and the book; Jack Buchanan , who was to take the lead, and co-librettist Morrie Ryskind left the production.

“Pardon My English” is in line with three other Gershwin musicals that take up political themes: the war satire Strike Up The Band (1927), the campaign parody Of Thee I Sing (1931) and the farce about Gleichschaltung and Revolution Let 'Em Eat Cake (1933).

The book for “Pardon My English” with its over-the-top storyline is entirely in the tradition of the film comedies and Broadway successes of those years. An absurd story, set in a gangster milieu, which picks up on current fashion topics from prohibition to split personality , is told with quick changes of situation, brisk dialogues in the manner of screw ball comedies and slapstick means, i.e. a deliberately body-hugging comedy. These elements are used to create a bizarre satire on the controversial prohibition (and thus on the domestic politics of some states in the USA). How current this was is shown by the fact that exactly one month after the premiere, on February 20, 1933, prohibition was lifted. With the omission of this satirical theme, the musical had lost its point of attack - not an untypical fate for a piece of time like “Pardon My English”. Consequently, the last curtain fell on Broadway just 5 days after the end of Prohibition.

The authors settled “Pardon My English” in Germany, more precisely in Dresden and the nearby Bad Schandau. Already in “Strike Up The Band” (1927/30) Morrie Ryskind had chosen an European, “exotic” setting by choosing Switzerland as the setting for a war satire. In “Pardon My English”, which actually satirizes American conditions, the cultural city of Dresden now becomes the setting for the action. The authors use this choice of location as an opportunity to parody supposedly German idiosyncrasies such as folk music, liver sausage or the police's sense of order. This is a common method that found expression in the numerous Heidelberg plays and films of the time (e.g. Romberg's “The Student Prince”, 1931). It is noticeable that there are no real references to Dresden or contemporary politics to German politics: neither a topography of Dresden is drafted, nor are the National Socialists, who came to power ten days after the premiere, mentioned. The book thus remains in the tradition of timeless satire with a claim to general validity.

The musical was forgotten until the libretto was rediscovered in 1982. In 1987 his score was performed again in the Library of Congress in Washington. The piece was reconstructed and recorded for CD in 1993, but in a purely musical version with a few cuts, which, for example, incomprehensibly, also fell victim to the track number "Pardon My English".

The play itself was re-staged in 2004 as part of the New York City Center's Encores! Series , for which David Ives reconstructed the book.

The European premiere took place on November 27, 2009 at the Dresden State Operetta under the direction of Holger Hauer and the musical direction of Ernst Theis. The translation into German was done by Wolfgang Adenberg .

Well-known music numbers

The score or the score contains well-known Gershwin songs such as "Isn't It a Pity", "The Lorelei" and "My Cousin in Milwaukee".

action

Initial situation: The German government has banned the serving of non-alcoholic drinks. The piece takes place in Dresden and Bad Schandau. The hero of the play suffers from a dissociative identity disorder . The personality change is triggered by blows to the head. As Golo Schmidt he runs Club 21, where lemonade is sold illegally, and as Michael Bramleigh he belongs to the British upper class.

After Commissioner Bauer carried out a raid on Club 21, Golo made his way to his villa to seek revenge, having an accident with a head injury. He wakes up as Michael Bramleigh, falls in love with Bauer's daughter Ilse (alternatively Frieda), she falls in love with him, and they both decide to get married. Bauer only wants to agree to the marriage if Michael has his mental state examined. The investigation is carried out by the Viennese psychoanalyst sextet Freud and Jung and Adler , but cannot agree on whether Michael is "over-" or "undersexed". Michael finally gets something on his head again and returns as Golo to Club 21, where he and his criminal gang are planning to kidnap Ilse (Frieda). Since Ilse (Frieda) thinks Golo is Michael, her kidnapping is straightforward. Golo brings his ransom victim to an inn in Bad Schandau, where his underworld bride Gita (the nightingale of Krakow) hits him over the head out of jealousy for Ilse (Frieda). Returning to the future father-in-law Bauer, he now learns as Michael that his bride has been kidnapped. Since the ransom note reveals the authorship of the Club 21 gang, Michael decides to free the beloved ...
Before Dr. Steiner informs everyone gathered about Michaels / Golo's personality splits, he changes his personality several times in order to be compatible with Ilse (Frieda) for the "happy ending".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steven Suskin: Show Tunes 1905 - 1991: The Songs, Shoes and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers , first ed .. Edition, Limelight Editions, New York 1992, ISBN 0-87910-146-6 , p. 132.
  2. ↑ TheaterMania.com Reviews: Pardon My English , Mar 26, 2004 ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been 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.theatermania.com
  3. ↑ Playbill.com Cursed 1933 Gershwin Musical Pardon My English Hopes for Better Luck with Encores! In 2004, 16 Mar 2004  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 29, 2007@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / web.playbill.com  
  4. ↑ The thirsty German review at Welt Online , November 30th, 2009

Web links