Of Thee I Sing | |
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![]() First edition 1932 | |
Music | George Gershwin |
Lyrics | Ira Gershwin |
Book | George S. Kaufman Morrie Ryskind |
Productions | 1931 Broadway 1933 Broadway revival 1952 Broadway revival 1972 Television 2006 City Center Encores! |
Awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1932) |
Of Thee I Sing is a musical with a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P. Wintergreen, who runs for President of the United States on the "love" platform. When he falls in love with the sensible Mary Turner instead of Diana Devereaux, the beautiful pageant winner selected for him, he gets into political hot water. [1]
The original Broadway production, directed by Kaufman, opened in 1931 and ran for 441 performances, gaining critical and box office success. It has been revived twice on Broadway and in concert stagings in the U.S. and in London. In 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. [1]
The Gershwins and George S. Kaufman had collaborated on the satirical 1927 musical Strike up the Band, which played in Philadelphia. The show concerned a cheese manufacturer who sponsors a war against Switzerland because it will be named after him. [2]
Later that year, Kaufman and Ryskind conceived a new musical focusing on satire about rival political parties battling over a new national anthem. The Gershwin brothers agreed to write the score, although they were scheduled to be in Hollywood writing songs for the film Delicious. Kaufman and Ryskind soon realized that their concept did not provide sufficient plot for a musical. They crafted a libretto inspired by the timeless battle of political idealism with corruption and incompetency, creating the first American musical with a consistently satiric tone. [2] [3] The writers and the cast were unsure of what the public's reception would be, prompting Kaufman's now-famous retort: "Satire is what closes on Saturday night." [3]
In the U.S. in the 1930s, a campaign parade is taking place to support "Wintergreen for President". John P. Wintergreen has been nominated for President and Alexander Throttlebottom has been nominated for Vice President, but he is of such little importance no one can remember who he is. Politicians meet in a hotel room to devise a campaign platform, and when they ask the chambermaid what she cares about, she first says "money," then "love" when pressed further. The men decide that Wintergreen's platform will be "love"; they'll have a pageant to select the most beautiful girl in the United States, and Wintergreen will fall in love and marry her.
The pageant begins in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the contestants wonder, "Who Is the Lucky Girl to Be?" The photographers assure them that even if they do not win, they will surely be loved ("The Dimple on My Knee"). Wintergreen is getting nervous about marrying a girl he doesn't know. While the girls are at the final judging, he confides in Mary Turner, the sensible young woman running the pageant. He does not want to marry a girl just because she's beautiful; he wants a wife who will make a good home for him and his future children. Mary shares her corn muffin with him. Wintergreen tells Mary that he'd rather marry her than any of the girls in the contest. He kisses her, and she agrees to marry him. The judges of the pageant announce that Diana Devereaux, a beautiful southern girl, has won the contest, but Wintergreen declares that he loves Mary Turner. When he gives some of Mary's extraordinary corn muffins to the judges, they agree that John and Mary are meant to wed ("Because, Because").
Outside Madison Square Garden in New York City, at a rally for Wintergreen, the campaigners declare that "Love Is Sweeping the Country". Inside, where politicians are speaking in favor of Wintergreen, a wrestling match is going on just below the speakers' platform as Alexander Throttlebottom tries to explain to the organizers that he's the candidate for Vice-President. Wintergreen proposes to Mary onstage, as he has in forty-seven states before. She accepts again, and Wintergreen sings the campaign song to her, "Of Thee I Sing".
On election night, Wintergreen wins by a landslide. Inauguration Day arrives, which is also Wintergreen's wedding day. As his inaugural address, Wintergreen bids goodbye to the girls he used to know ("Here's a Kiss for Cinderella"). The Chief Justice presides over the wedding ceremony, and just after he has pronounced John and Mary man and wife, Diana Devereaux interrupts the proceedings. She is serving Wintergreen with a summons for breach of promise. She insists she is the one he should have married ("I Was the Most Beautiful Blossom"). The Supreme Court rules that Mary's corn muffins are more important than justice in this matter, and Diana angrily leaves to tell her story across the nation. Wintergreen leads the Supreme Court and spectators in a chorus of "Of Thee I Sing".
John and Mary settle down to business in the White House. Her "desk," back-to-back with his, is a fully loaded tea-table. Their secretaries greet each other "Hello, Good Morning". Alexander Throttlebottom, now Vice-President, sneaks into the White House with a tour group. When a guide tells him that the Vice-President's job is to preside over the U. S. Senate, Throttlebottom eagerly dashes off to the Capitol. Wintergreen's fellow party members inform him that Diana Devereaux is gaining support across the nation. Wintergreen holds a press conference and tells the reporters that his love for Mary is the only thing that matters ("Who Cares?"). The French ambassador unexpectedly arrives ("Garçon, S'il Vous Plaît"). He has a surprise for Mr. Wintergreen: Diana is "'The Illegitimate Daughter' of an illegitimate son of an illegitimate nephew of Napoleon." He insists that Wintergreen annul his marriage and marry Diana to right his grievous offense against France. Everyone agrees that Wintergreen should be impeached for breach of promise ("We'll Impeach Him"), but John and Mary do not care, since they have each other ("Who Cares?" (Reprise)).
Throttlebottom has found the Senate, and the party members inform him that he will soon be President. He is very excited and goes into the Senate Chamber to preside, beginning by taking "The Roll Call." The resolution on the impeachment of the President is brought up, and the French Ambassador and Diana mournfully insist that she was "Jilted." Mary saves the day when she announces that she is pregnant ("Who Could Ask for Anything More?"). The senators refuse to impeach an expectant father, and Wintergreen declares that "Posterity" is just around the corner. The French Ambassador informs Wintergreen that by not marrying Diana, he has contributed to France's declining birth rate. He demands the Wintergreens' baby as a replacement for the one they have "taken" from France. John refuses, and the ambassador walks out.
In the Yellow Room of the White House, guests are arriving bearing gifts for the baby ("Trumpeter, Blow Your Horn"). Wintergreen is nervously awaiting the baby's birth when the French Ambassador arrives with a final message from France: surrender the baby or France will sever diplomatic relations with the U.S. The Supreme Court justices, who have the duty to determine the sex of the baby, announce that twins have been born, a boy and a girl. The French ambassador is even more wounded by this proclamation: France has lost two babies instead of one! Diana mournfully joins him, and Alexander Throttlebottom arrives bearing sweaters for the babies. The French Ambassador is about to declare war when Wintergreen has a brilliant idea: according to Article Twelve of the Constitution, when the President of the United States is unable to fulfill his duties, his obligations are assumed by the Vice-President! The ambassador calls Wintergreen a genius, and Throttlebottom is ecstatic as they pass Diana over to him. Servants wheel a large bed into the room, where Mary sits with the babies. Wintergreen leads everyone in proclaiming, "Of Thee I Sing."
Original Broadway (1931) [4] | National Tour (1932) [5] | Broadway Revival (1933) [6] | Broadway Revival (1952) [7] | New York Concert (1987) [8] | Encores! Production (2006) [9] | |
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John P. Wintergreen | William Gaxton | Oscar Shaw | William Gaxton | Jack Carson | Larry Kert | Victor Garber |
Mary Turner | Lois Moran | Harriette Lake | Betty Oakes | Maureen McGovern | Jennifer Laura Thompson | |
Diana Devereaux | Grace Brinkley | Roberta Robinson | Betty Allen | Lenore Lonergan | Paige O'Hara | Jenny Powers |
Alexander Throttlebottom | Victor Moore | Donald Meek | Victor Moore | Paul Hartman | Jack Gilford | Jefferson Mays |
Senator Robert F. Lyons | George E. Mack | Francis Pierlot | George E. Mack | Donald Foster | Walter Hook | Jonathan Freeman |
Senator Carver Jones | Edward H. Robins | Edward H. Robins | Howard Freeman | Mark Zimmerman | Erick Devine | |
Matthew Arnold Fulton | Dudley Clements | Cecil Lean | Dudley Clements | Loring Smith | Raymond Thorne | Michael Mulheren |
Louis Lippman | Sam Mann | Abe Reynolds | Robert F. Simon | Merwin Goldsmith | Lewis J. Stalden | |
The French Ambassador | Florenz Ames | Adrian Rosley | Florenz Ames | Jack Dabdoub | David Pittu | |
Francis X. Gilhooney | Harold Moffet | Willam J. Pringle | Harold Moffet | J. Pat O'Malley | Frank Kopyc | Wayne Duvall |
Sam Jenkins | George Murphy | Al Sexton | George Murphy | Jonathan Lucas | George Dvorsky | Jeffry Denman |
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Of Thee I Sing was the most musically sophisticated of the Gershwin shows up to then, inspired by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan [10] and boasting a varied score including extensive recitative, choral commentary, marches, pastiches, elaborate contrapuntal passages, and ballads. [2] [3] Most songs were lengthy and included a large ensemble. In addition, as an integrated song-and-story production it produced fewer hit songs than many of the Gershwins' musicals. [11] Ira Gershwin explained, "In the show there are no verse-and-chorus songs; there is a sort of recitative running along, and lots of finales and finalettos." [3] Ira Gershwin recalled that the title song, inspired by the final phrase of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", was somewhat controversial among the production staff. "When we first played this sentimental political campaign song... there were objectors who thought that juxtaposing the dignified 'of thee I sing' with a slangy 'baby' was going a bit too far. Our response was that, naturally, we'd replace it with something else if the paying audience didn't take to it. Opening night, and even weeks later, one could hear a continuous 'Of thee I sing, baby!' in the lobby at intermission time." [2] The music was "employed throughout in what was unquestionably the most closely integrated manner of any Broadway show to that time...Almost everything ...was created with a skill that had rarely been equaled in the musical comedy theatre." [12]
Of Thee I Sing was the first American musical with a consistently satirical tone. [2] [3] Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Presidency, and the democratic process itself were all targets of this satire, prompting original stars William Gaxton and Victor Moore to wonder if they would face government repercussions for their portrayals of President Wintergreen and Vice President Throttlebottom. [3] Specific political parties are not identified in the musical, as Kaufman and Ryskind believed that absurdity was bipartisan in Depression-era politics. [2]
The original Broadway production, directed by Kaufman, opened at the Music Box Theatre on December 26, 1931 and ran for 441 performances. [3] The cast included William Gaxton as John P. Wintergreen, Lois Moran as Mary Turner, Grace Brinkley as Diana Devereaux, Victor Moore as Alexander Throttlebottom, and George Murphy as Sam Jenkins. It was produced by Sam H. Harris. Sets were designed by Jo Mielziner, costumes by Carles LeMaire, and dances staged by Georgie Hale. [13] It was Gaxton and Moore's first comedic pairing; they would collaborate on six more Broadway musicals, including Anything Goes . [3] The orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett, William Daly (including the "Overture"), and Gershwin ("Hello, Good Morning"). Of Thee I Sing was the longest-running Gershwin show during George Gershwin's lifetime.
There were Broadway revivals in 1933 at the Imperial Theatre and in 1952 at the Ziegfeld Theatre, both directed by Kaufman. A concert production of Of Thee I Sing was mounted by Ian Marshall Fisher's Lost Musicals series at the Barbican Centre in London in August 1996. Fisher's series examines the Gershwins' lesser known works (as well as others) and has been based at London's Royal Opera House and Sadler's Wells. [14] The musical was presented in 1990 by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players [10] and in May 2006 as part of the New York City Center Encores! staged concert series. Directed by John Rando and choreographed by Randy Skinner, the cast starred Victor Garber as Wintergreen, Jefferson Mays as Throttlebottom, and Jennifer Laura Thompson as First Lady. [15] It was revived in July 2015 at the Royal Festival Hall, London, by producer Ollie Rosenblatt as a full musical with orchestra. Devereaux was played by Hannah Waddingham, Wintergreen by Hadley Fraser, and Throttlebottom by Tom Edden. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra provided a new orchestration for the piece.[ citation needed ] In September 2015 the Sqabbalogic theatre company and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs presented the musical in the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House.[ citation needed ]
A television version was produced in 1972 by CBS, mostly starring actors then appearing in CBS series, including Carroll O'Connor as President Wintergreen. [16] A National Radio Theater version starring John Cullum was broadcast by NPR in 1984 and the BBC in 1984 and 1992.[ citation needed ]
In the 1930s, the Marx Brothers had intended to produce a film adaptation of the musical, but they decided to make Duck Soup instead. Many scholars draw parallels between Of Thee I Sing and Duck Soup, suggesting that the musical helped provide inspiration for that Marx Brothers classic. [17]
A musical sequel to Of Thee I Sing was written by the same team: Let 'Em Eat Cake was produced on Broadway in 1933, reusing some of the music from its predecessor. However, the sequel was a critical and box-office failure.[ citation needed ]Let 'Em Eat Cake marked the last Broadway musical written by the Gershwins (counting Porgy and Bess as an opera rather than a musical).
Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times called the musical "a brisk musical comedy", writing that "There is dancing, both routine and inventive. There are lyrics done in Ira Gershwin's neatest style...Best of all, there is Mr. Gershwin's score. Whether it is satire, wit, doggerel or fantasy, Mr. Gershwin pours music out in full measure and in many voices. Although the book is lively, Mr. Gershwin is exuberant." [18]
In 1932, Of Thee I Sing became the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. [2] [19] The 1932 Pulitzer Prize Committee stated, "Of Thee I Sing is not only coherent and well-knit enough to class as a play, but it is a biting and true satire on American politics and the public attitude towards them.... The play is genuine and it is felt the Pulitzer Prize could not serve a better purpose than to recognize such work. [2] The prize was awarded only to Kaufman, Ryskind and Ira Gershwin; George Gershwin received no recognition, since the Pulitzer Prize was considered a literary award. In 1998, at the centennial of his birth, he was posthumously awarded an honorary Pulitzer. [3]
In his New York Times review of the 2006 concert revival, Charles Isherwood called Of Thee I Sing "a trenchant little musical satire... the laughter that greets the show today is tinged with surprise at how eerily some of its jokes seem to take precise aim, from decades back, at current affairs. A chorus of reporters sings to the new president of the '17 vacations you have had since you've been here.' A politician dismisses Abraham Lincoln's pronouncement about not being able to fool all of the people all the time by remarking: 'It's different nowadays. People are bigger suckers.' ...it serves as a sigh-inducing argument for the enduring follies of American politics." [11]
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and others. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical Of Thee I Sing in 1932, and won again in 1937 for the play You Can't Take It with You. He also won the Tony Award for Best Director in 1951 for the musical Guys and Dolls.
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the songs "Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit "Summertime".
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 20th century. With George, he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as "I Got Rhythm", "Embraceable You", "The Man I Love" and "Someone to Watch Over Me". He was also responsible, along with DuBose Heyward, for the libretto to George's opera Porgy and Bess.
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year. It recognizes a theatrical work staged in the U.S. during the preceding calendar year.
The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1932.
Du Barry Was a Lady is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Herbert Fields and Buddy DeSylva. The musical starred Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman and Betty Grable, and the song "Friendship" was one of the highlights. The musical was made into a 1943 Technicolor film Du Barry Was a Lady, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly and Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra.
Morris "Morrie" Ryskind was an American dramatist, lyricist and writer of theatrical productions and movies who became a conservative political activist later in life.
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Naughty Baby is a live album by Maureen McGovern. It was recorded at Studio A at Clinton Recording Studios in New York City. The studio was converted into an intimate concert setting and invitations were sent to 150 guest.
Leave It to Me! is a 1938 musical produced by Vinton Freedley with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Samuel and Bella Spewack, who also directed the Broadway production. The musical was based on the play Clear All Wires by the Spewacks, which was performed on Broadway for 93 performances in 1932, and which was filmed in 1933, starring Lee Tracy, Benita Hume, Una Merkel and James Gleason.
Strike Up the Band is a 1927 musical with a book by Morrie Ryskind, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin. It first ran as a satirical show in Philadelphia that year, unsuccessfully, and on Broadway in 1930 after the original book by George S. Kaufman was revised by Ryskind. The show concerned a cheese manufacturer who sponsors a war against Switzerland because it will be named after him. Much of the satire of the 1927 version was replaced in the new version by silliness, leading Ryskind to recall, "What I had to do, in a sense, was to rewrite War and Peace for the Three Stooges." In the 1930 version the opening of Act I of the musical was reset from a cheese factory to a chocolate factory, and much of the work was a re-imagined as occurring during a dream sequence.
Pardon My English is a musical with a book by Herbert Fields and Morrie Ryskind, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Set in 1933 Dresden, the farcical plot satirizes the Prohibition era.
"Of Thee I Sing" is a 1931 song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
David Jonathan Pittu is an American actor, writer and director.
Sam H. Harris was a Broadway producer and theater owner.
People have frequently been portrayed in fiction as the president of the United States. Media include novels and short stories, comics, plays, films, and television shows. The roles include fictional presidents, fictionalized accounts of actual presidents, and real historical figures who did not in fact become president, typically in works of alternate history or comedy.