As Thousands Cheer is a revue with a book by Moss
Hart and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. The revue contained satirical sketches
and witty or poignant musical numbers, several of which became standards, including "Heat Wave," "Easter Parade" and "Harlem on
my Mind." The sketches were loosely based on the news and the lives and affairs of the rich and famous, and other people of the
day, such as Joan Crawford, John D.
Rockefeller, Jr., Noel Coward, Josephine
Baker, Aimee Semple McPherson.
It opened on Broadway at the Music Box
Theatre on September 30, 1933 and became a hit,
running for 400 performances, which was rare during the Great
Depression. It was staged by Hassard Short with choreography by Charles Weidman.
The musical starred Helen Broderick, Marilyn
Miller, Clifton Webb and Ethel Waters, and
featured Jose Limon as the lead dancer.
The Drama Department presented the musical at the off-Broadway Greenwich House Theater from June 2 1998 through June 14, 1998. Directed by Christopher Ashley with musical staging by
Kathleen Marshall, the cast included Kevin
Chamberlin, Judy Kuhn, Howard McGillin, Paul
Newsome, Mary Beth Peil and B. D. Wong. Reviews were
extremely positive.[1] The show has enjoyed a number of
other revivals both in the U.S. and abroad.
Background
The review was a successor to the creators' Face the Music and proved to be Marilyn Miller's last stage appearance
before her untimely death. It was also the first Broadway show to give an African-American -- Jazz star Ethel Waters -- equal billing with whites.
Moss Hart said that he and Irving Berlin did not want to write the typical revue with "blackout sketches" and musical numbers,
and they had the idea of doing a topical revue "right off the front pages of the newspapers." Irving Berlin deferred his own fees
as composer, lyricist, and theater owner, keeping the cost of the show to a "restrained" $96,000. [2]
Synopsis
Each of the 21 scenes was preceded by a related newspaper headline, and the sketches poked fun a wide variety of subjects,
including the marital woes of Barbara Hutton, Gandhi, and British royalty; the weather report turned into a song ("Heat
Wave");[3]President and
Mrs. Hoover leaving the White House, with the President giving his cabinet a Bronx
cheer; "Supper Time," an African-American woman's lament for her lynched husband, John D. Rockefeller refusing to accept Radio City Music
Hall as a birthday gift; commercials interrupting the singing during a Metropolitan Opera broadcast (P.D.Q. Bach later did this); a hotel staff falling under the influence of Noël Coward; and a Supreme Court decision that says musicals cannot
end with reprises, resulting in a new number, "Not For All The Rice In China," as a finale.[4]
Selected musical numbers
- "Majestic Sails at Midnight" -- Helen Broderick, Leslie Adams, Jerome Cowan, Hal Forde, Harry Stockwell
- "How's Chances?" -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb
- "The Funnies" -- Marilyn Miller
- "Easter Parade"† -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb
- "Our Wedding Day" -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb
- "Heat Wave Hits New York" -- Ethel Waters
- "To Be Or Not To Be" -- Ethel Waters
- "Supper Time" -- Ethel Waters
- "Harlem on my Mind" -- Ethel Waters
- "Lonely Heart" -- dance
- "Not for All the Rice in China" -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb
† Omitted from 1998 revival
Notes
References
External links
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