State Fair (Musical)
| Musical dates | |
|---|---|
| Original title: | State Fair |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Richard Rodgers |
| Book: | Tom Briggs & Louis Mattioli |
| Lyrics: | Oscar Hammerstein II |
| Literary source: | Phil Stong |
| Original direction: | James Hammerstein & Randy Skinner |
| Premiere: | March 27, 1996 |
| Place of premiere: | Music Box Theater , New York City |
| Playing time: | 2 hours 45 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | in Iowa, in the towns of Des Moines and Brunswick, summer 1946 |
| Roles / people | |
|
Singing roles:
Speaking roles:
Ensemble: jury members, showmen, visitors to the annual show |
|
State Fair is a stage musical with the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein based on their film of the same name from 1945. The location and title is one of the typical State Fairs - in the US states the annual agricultural shows and competitions that have taken place in the course of its history more and more stalls, rides, horse races, rodeos , shows, dance events, etc. have taken on the character of large folk festivals or fairs.
plot
I. act
Late August 1946. The Frake farmer family — father Abel, mother Melissa, and two adult children Margy and Wayne — are about to attend the State Fair in Des Moines , capital of their home state Iowa . Abel and his farm helper Gus load the car for the trip, Melissa prepares preserves in the kitchen for participation in the cooking competition. Wayne gets a visit from his fiancée Eleanor. She's accepted at State College and by the time she starts her studies in ten days, she's too busy to go to the State Fair as planned. Wayne is disappointed and also fears that Eleanor will be unfaithful to him at college.
Even Margy does not feel the childlike anticipation of the carnival hype as it used to. She is filled with indefinite longing. Her fiancé Harry appears, a technology nerd who dreams of his own fully automated and completely sterile farm. He talks about their wedding, but Margy reacts evasively. At Harry's insistence, she promises him a decision when she returns from Des Moines.
Melissa lets Abel try her mincemeat , a traditional sweet pie filling made from dried fruit. He thinks that schnapps is part of it, like with grandma. Melissa indignantly declares that her Mincemeat does not come with alcohol! But then she secretly mixes in brandy - not knowing that Abel has already done this unnoticed.
Dave Miller delivers special feed for Abel's boar Blue Boy, with which Abel wants to win the breeding competition again this year. Behind a hedge, the animal (which, according to the play's authors, should never be seen in person on the stage, but only imagined in its size and splendor) is led into the transporter in a cloud of dust with rumbling and squeaking. Dave Miller as a die-hard pessimist does not share Abel's expectation of an excursion that will be enjoyable for all Frakes, but predicts disaster. When Abel contradicts him, both men bet five dollars. The bet hangs as a threatening omen over the further course of the action.
Arrived at the State Fair, Wayne heads straight to Budenstrasse. He's been throwing rings all last year after being ripped off at the throwing booth the previous year. In fact, he is now using his skills to embarrass the stall owner and his worthless prizes. Against the threats of the stall owner, support comes from the crowd of onlookers: An elegant woman describes herself as the daughter of the local police chief and then allows Wayne to accompany her for a while.
At the fair, Margy is approached by a brisk stranger, the reporter Pat. She is immediately fascinated. He gives the cynic who's seen it all but is attracted to Margy's upright demeanor. In the open-air pavilion, where you indulge in dance and romance under the stars every evening, everyone meets again. Wayne discovers that the police chief's daughter is really a freckled girl. But his acquaintance that morning is the band singer Emily Arden. Wayne and Emily admit their affection for each other, but decide: “Nothing complicated!” Because he has to go home to rural Brunswick in three days, and she wants to continue to New York to make a career.
The next day at the household competitions it looks as if Mrs. Edwin Metcalf from Pottsville would win first prize not only for pickled and pickled cucumbers, but also for mincemeat, like every year. But when the jury chairman comes to Melissa's brandy-soaked mixture, he devours one spoonful after the other. With glassy eyes and a heavy tongue, he finally not only presents Melissa with the ribbon, but also a plaque for special culinary arts.
II. Act
It looks worse for Abel the next day: Instead of being led to a competition, Blue Boy lies sickly in his shed. The other breeders, who previously sang about their love for bristle cattle in barbershop style and showed each other photos of their “dear little ones” like proud fathers, get on the track: Blue Boy misses Esmeralda, the sow from the gate opposite. As soon as she is brought in, the boar is completely the same and promptly triumphs in the competition. They all sing the praises of their state of Iowa and its creations.
Pat runs into two friends from earlier times, Vivian and Jeanne. They hardly recognize their old idiots, but Pat remains proud and determined: He has fallen seriously in love and wants to be a solid, loyal man at Margy's side. Suddenly he received the long-awaited call from the Chicago Tribune : a journalistic assignment that he must by no means refuse. Without being able to let Margy know, Pat has to leave in a hurry. Bitter, Margy waits in vain for the rendezvous.
The moment of goodbye comes for Wayne and Emily. They realize that their affair has turned out to be more serious than intended. But Emily doesn't believe in being a good wife. Even if the farewell hurts her, she follows her life plan to get an engagement on Broadway . Wayne drinks a hangover. Abel suspects what has happened and comforts his son.
At home in Brunswick, Dave Miller exults at the apparently gloomy mood in the Frake house. But Wayne quickly reconciled with Eleanor, and suddenly Pat stands in front of the door and takes Margy in his arms. Abel receives five dollars from Dave Miller, which Melissa will collect immediately.
Music numbers
I. act
- Overture - instrumental
- Opening: Our State Fair - Abel, Melissa, Wayne
- It Might as Well Be Spring - Margy
- Driving at Night / Our State Fair - Margy, Abel, Melissa, Wayne
- That's for Me - Wayne
- More Than Just a Friend - Abel, Lem, Clay, Hank
- Isn't It Kinda Fun? - Pat, Margy
- You Never Had It So Good - Emily, The Fairtones
- It Might as Well Be Spring (Reprise) - Margy
- When I Go Out Walking with My Baby - Abel, Melissa
- So Far - Wayne, Emily
- Finale I. Act: It's a Grand Night for Singing - Company
II. Act
- Entr'acte - instrumental
- The Man I Used to Be - Pat, Vivian, Jeanne
- All I Owe Ioway Company
- The Man I Used to Be (Reprise) - Pat
- Isn't It Kinda Fun? (Recapitulation) - Margy
- That's the Way It Happens - Emily, The Fairtones
- Violet & Wayne's Jitterbug - instrumental
- Boys and Girls Like You and Me - Abel, Melissa
- The Next Time It Happens - Margy
- Finale ultimo - instrumental
- Bowing Music Company
background
State Fair was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1945 as a feature film (Eng. Fair of Love ), a musical remake of a 1933 film based on the novel by Phil Stong of the same name. Another cinema version followed in 1962 (German Texas show , including with Pat Boone , Bobby Darin and Ann-Margret ), for which Rodgers wrote several new numbers, and a television adaptation of the material in 1976, including with Vera Miles , who did not have music by Rodgers & Hammerstein included. State Fair was first adapted for the stage in 1969 at the St. Louis Municipal Opera ; Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein's son James and the choreographer Tommy Tune were responsible for this production . In 1992, the authors Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli finally created a new stage version which, after various stations, opened the State Fair in Des Moines in 1995 and came out on Broadway in the summer of the following year. There she got eight previews and 110 regular performances. The musical was staged in London's West End in 2010. It has not yet been staged in German-speaking countries.
After the original musical film, which was released in cinemas in 1945 immediately after the end of the war, offered carefree entertainment and a quintessentially American family idyll, the authors of the 1996 version created a multi-faceted, full-blown Broadway piece. The plot is postponed to 1946, the world war is present, for example, with the mention of petrol purchase brands and above all in the figure of Pat, who here has a past as a war reporter and is torn from his lethargy by Margy and saved. Margy is a typical Hammerstein heroine: a young woman from a simple background, girlish, but resolute and true to herself. The theming of numerous attractions such as tractor pulling , ice cream cranks, butter carving or steam organ, which was added to the 1996 version of the play, illustrate the typical events at a fair at that time for today's audience.
To the music
For Margy's “It Might as Well Be Spring” the authors received an Oscar in 1946 for the best original film song. The song numbers "Our State Fair", "That's for Me", "Isn't It Kinda Fun?", "It's a Grand Night for Singing" and "All I Owe Ioway" also come from the film. “That's for Me” is Emily's show number in the film, and “Isn't It Kinda Fun?” Is sung by Emily and Wayne instead of Margy and Pat.
The authors integrated further songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein into the stage version from 1996. "The Man I Used to Be" and "The Next Time It Happens" come from Pipe Dream , "So Far" from Allego , "That's the Way It Happens" from Me and Juliet and "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" from Cinderella (originally written for Oklahoma ! , but not included in the final version). Numbers crossed out from other musicals are also “You Never Had It So Good” and “When I Go Out Walking with My Baby” (originally created for Me and Juliet and Oklahoma! ). "Driving at Night" was edited on the basis of unused material from Allegro (there: "Two Short Years") by co-director James Hammerstein; “More Than Just a Friend” comes from the 1962 film remake, composed and written by Richard Rodgers after Hammerstein's death.
The music was re-orchestrated by Bruce Pohomac for the 1996 Broadway musical; Instrumentation: Reed I (flute, piccolo, alto saxophone), Reed II (oboe, English horn, alto saxophone), Reed III (clarinet, tenor saxophone), Reed IV (bassoon, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone), horn I, II, trumpet I, II, III, tuba, drums, percussion, harp, keyboard (piano, celesta, honky-tonk piano, steam organ), strings (solos with electronic amplification or choral).
Awards
State Fair received two Tony Award nominations (Best Original Score and Scott Wise as Pat as Best Supporting Actor) and three nominations for the Drama Desk Award (Best Supporting Actor: Scott Wise as Pat, Ben Wright as Wayne, Donna McKechnie as Emily ).
Recording
Original Broadway Cast Recording 1996 by DRG Records 94765 (CD), re-released in 2012 in the collection box "Rodgers & Hammerstein - The Complete Broadway Musicals" by Masterworks Broadway (Sony), No. 88725-41696-2.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the libretto published by Concord Theatricals (rental material)
- ↑ a b Song list for the film on imdb.com , accessed on October 26, 2020
- ↑ Film entry on imdb.com , accessed on October 26, 2020
- ↑ Entry on the production on abouttheatists.com , accessed October 26, 2020
- ↑ Entry on the production on abouttheatists.com , accessed October 26, 2020
- ↑ Production website (European premiere) , accessed on October 22, 2020
- ^ State Fair at the stage publisher Concord Theatricals Germany , accessed on October 26, 2020
- ↑ Thomas S. Hischak, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia , Westport, CT 2007
- ↑ See the piano reduction published by Concord Theatricals (loan material)
Web links
- State Fair at the International Broadway Data Base
- State Fair at the stage publisher Concord Theatricals , with audio samples
- State Fair on guidetomusicaltheatre.com , with content, work and production details