Me and My Girl

Me and My Girl
1986 Broadway Cast Recording
Music	Noel Gay
Lyrics	Douglas Furber L. Arthur Rose
Book	Douglas Furber L. Arthur Rose
Productions	1937 West End 1939 U.K. Television 1952 West End revival 1984 West End revival 1986 Broadway 2006 U.K. tour
Awards	1985 Olivier Award Musical of the Year

Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth.

The musical had a successful original run on the West End in 1937 and very successful revivals in both London and New York in the 1980s. The show stopper, “The Lambeth Walk”, was the subject of a news story in The Times of October 1938: “While dictators rage and statesmen talk, all Europe dances — to The Lambeth Walk.”

Production history

It originally opened at the West End Victoria Palace Theatre on December 16, 1937, and starred Lupino Lane. At first attracting little notice, the production gained immediate success after a matinee performance was broadcast live on BBC radio, following the cancellation of a sporting event. On May 1, 1939, a performance was televised from the theatre, one of the first times such was done. The original West End production ran for 1,646 performances.

A film version was produced in 1940, titled The Lambeth Walk.^[1]

It was revived in 1952. In 1984, a revised production opened at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre with a revised script by Stephen Fry and contributions by Mike Ockrent. It transferred to the West End Adelphi Theatre on February 12, 1985 and closed on January 16, 1993 after an eight year run and 3,303 performances. It starred Robert Lindsay as Bill Snibson, Emma Thompson, and Frank Thornton . The production won two Olivier Awards--Robert Lindsay for Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actor in a Musical and Musical of the Year.^[2][3] The production subsequently toured throughout Britain.

The revised London production opened on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on August 10, 1986, and closed on December 31, 1989, after 1,420 performances. Directed by Mike Ockrent with choregraphy by Gillian Gregory, the cast starred Robert Lindsay and Maryann Plunkett, with George S. Irving and Jane Connell. The production was nominated for 13 Tony Awards. Jim Dale succeeded Lindsay in the lead role of Bill.^[4]

A 70th anniversary production of Me and My Girl had an eight-month British tour during 2006-07.^[5] It was directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle with a cast including Richard Frame (Bill Snibson), Faye Tozer (Sally Smith), Sylvester McCoy, Trevor Bannister and Dillie Keane.

The original star of [[Me And My Girl}] Lupino Lane is to be commemorated at The Actors Church, Covent Garden on Tuesday 10th November 2009.

Plot synopsis

Act I

In the 1930s, the Harefords, a family of haughty aristocrats, are seeking the legitimate heir to the title of Earl of Hareford. Bill Snibson, a Cockney from Lambeth is found and named as the long-lost “Earl of Hareford”. It seems that the 13th Earl had secretly and briefly wed a girl from a bad neighborhood. But Bill's rough Cockney ways do not satisfy the Will of the last Earl: In order to gain his inheritance of the title and estate, Bill must satisfy the very proper executors (Maria, Duchess of Dene, and Sir John Tremayne) by learning gentlemanly manners. The Duchess thinks that she can make Bill “fit and proper”, but not his Cockney girlfriend, Sally Smith. The Duchess plans a party in Bill's honour, but Sally is not to be invited. Sir John tells Sally that she and Bill ought to return to Lambeth, but he is moved by Sally's heartfelt declaration of love for Bill.

At the party, Bill puts on airs and tries to please his new-found upper-class lawyers, family and servants, but his everyman roots quickly begin to show. Sally shows up in inappropriate garb, with her Lambeth friends, saying that she is going back to where she belongs. Bill seconds this at first but then teaches the nobility the The Lambeth Walk.

Act II

Bill must make a speech in the House of Lords in coronet and “vermin”-trimmed peer's robes. Sally leaves, telling him to marry someone with good blood. Bill and Sally have gained an ally in Sir John, who offers to help them by engaging a speech professor who will help Sally impress the Duchess.

Bill constantly bemoans his separation from Sally. Preparing another party for Bill, the Duchess realises how much Sally means to him. This puts her in a romantic mood, and she accepts an offer of marriage from Sir John. Bill, dressed in his old outrageous Cockney clothes, declares that he's going home and goes upstairs to pack. Just then, Sally astonishes everyone by arriving in and elegant gown and tiara and speaking with a perfect upper-crust accent. When Bill returns downstairs, Sally conceals her identity. When she reveals it, Bill is relieved and the couple gain the acceptance of the family.

Musical numbers

Based on the 1986 Broadway production

Characters

• Bill Snibson - a cockney costermonger, in love with Sally, who inherits Lord Hareford's land and titles.
• Sally Smith - Bill's sweetheart.
• Sir John Tremayne - an older gentleman, who is kind to Sally and Bill. He is in love with the Duchess.
• The Duchess of Dene - an intimidating aristocrat.
• Gerald Bolingbroke - an attractive young man. He is in love with Jackie.
• Lady Jacqueline (Jackie) Carstone - breaks off her engagement to Gerald to pursue Bill.
• Herbert Parchester - the family solicitor.
• Lord Jasper Tring - an elderly and hard-of-hearing nobleman.
• Charles - a manservantoddities.
• Lord and Lady Battersby, Lady Brighton, The Honourable Margaret Aikington, Charles Boulting-Smythe - other members of the family who are mostly interchangeable.
• Mrs Brown - Sally's landlady.
• Bob Barking - a friend of Bill and Sally.

Awards and nominations

Olivier Awards (1985)

• Musical of the Year (winner)
• Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actor in a Musical Robert Lindsay (winner)

Tony Awards

• Best Musical (nominee)
• Best Book of a Musical (nominee)
• Best Original Score (nominee)
• Best Scenic Design (nominee)
• Best Costume Design (nominee)
• Best Choreography (winner)
• Best Direction of a Musical (nominee)
• Best Actor in a Musical Robert Lindsay (winner)
• Best Actress in a Musical Maryann Plunkett (winner)
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical

George S. Irving (nominee)

Timothy Jerome (nominee)

• Best Featured Actress in a Musical

Jane Connell (nominee)

Jane Summerhays (nominee)

Theatre World Award Robert Lindsay (winner)

References

External links

• Me and My Girl at the Internet Broadway Database
• Synopsis and production information at guidetomusicaltheatre
• NY Times review, Aug.11, 1986
• Me and My Girl (1939 BBC broadcast) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Lambeth Walk (1940) at the Internet Movie Database
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