| The Little Show | |
|---|---|
 Sheet music cover (cropped) | |
| Music | Arthur Schwartz |
| Lyrics | Howard Dietz |
| Book | various |
| Productions | 1929 Broadway |
The Little Show was a musical revue with lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz. It was the first of 11 musicals that featured the songs of Dietz and Schwartz. The revue opened at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on April 30, 1929 and ran for 321 performances until February 1930. [1]
The show grew out of a number of Sunday evening variety shows co-produced by Tom Weatherly with James Pond at the Selwyn Theatre . [2] Weatherly said that they were "really nothing more than high-class vaudeville shows but they were far more artistic than the Sunday night variety programs being offered at the Winter Garden." [3]
"This was the first American revue to give wit precedence over spectacle." Fred Allen (who had been a vaudeville headliner as a juggler and ventriloquist) "won acclaim with his sardonic banter", "torch singer Libby Holman smoldered." [4] Clifton Webb, the debonair star, "wanted a number that was more perverse, a number he could deliver all alone in full-dress suit and a spotlight...a lyric with suave romantic frustration." The song was "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan," which was used again in the 1953 MGM musical The Band Wagon . [5] The song "Hammacher Schlemmer, I Love You" was an "open-hearted tribute" to the hardware store. [3]
According to Kay Green, the funniest sketch was George S. Kaufman's "The Still Alarm" which concerns nonchalant hotel guests Webb and Fred Allen, completely oblivious to being in a raging fire. The most "dramatic scene was the torrid dance Clifton Webb and Libby Holman performed after Miss Holman moaned "Moanin' Low" in a squalid Harlem tenement." [6] Smith and Litton described another act: "Fred Allen's monologues before the curtain held the audience transfixed, especially one about a little boy who shot both parents in order to be entitled to go to the orphans' picnic." [7]
Ken Bloom wrote: "The Little Show was one of the first intimate revues that proved to audiences that all the Ziegfeldian trappings were not necessary for the enjoyment of a revue." [8]
Produced by William A. Brady, Jr. and Dwight Deere Wiman, in association with Tom Weatherly, the production opened on April 30, 1929 at the Music Box Theatre for a total of 321 performances. The revue was directed by Wiman, choreographed by Danny Dare, and had scenic design by Jo Mielziner. The cast included Fred Allen, Libby Holman, John McCauley, Romney Brent, and Clifton Webb. [9]
Sources: Steven Suskin for songs marked ≠ [10] Kay Green for songs marked ‡; [6] Chuck Denison, "Can’t We Be Friends?";Billboard for songs marked √; [11] Ruth Benjamin and Arthur Rosenblatt for song marked ≈ [12]
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‡ [6]
Paint Your Wagon is a Broadway musical comedy, with book and lyrics by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story centers on a miner and his daughter and follows the lives and loves of the people in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. Popular songs from the show included "Wand'rin' Star", "I Talk to the Trees" and "They Call the Wind Maria".
The Band Wagon is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will restart his career. However, the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of the Faust legend and brings in a prima ballerina who clashes with the star. Along with Singin' in the Rain (1952), it is regarded as one of the finest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, although it was a modest box-office success on first release.
Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck, known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, including Blithe Spirit, as well as appearances on Broadway in a number of successful musical revues. As a film actor, he was nominated for three Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actor for Laura (1944) and The Razor's Edge (1946), and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sitting Pretty (1948).
Arthur Schwartz was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz.
Howard Dietz was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz.
Ralph Rainger was an American composer of popular music principally for films.
Elizabeth Lloyd Holman was an American socialite, actress, singer, and activist.
What's Up? is a musical notable as the first Broadway stage collaboration by Lerner and Loewe, with book by Arthur Pierson and Alan Jay Lerner, lyrics by Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe.
As Thousands Cheer is a revue with a book by Moss Hart and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, first performed in 1933. 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, as well as other prominent personalities of the day, such as Joan Crawford, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Noël Coward, Josephine Baker, and Aimee Semple McPherson.
"I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan" is a popular song published in 1929, with music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz.
Inside U.S.A. is a musical revue by Arthur Schwartz (music) and Howard Dietz (lyrics). It was loosely based on the book Inside U.S.A. by John Gunther. Sketches were written by Arnold M. Auerbach, Moss Hart, and Arnold B. Horwitt.
Life of the Party is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.
Walk a Little Faster is a musical revue with sketches by S. J. Perelman and Robert MacGunigle, music by Vernon Duke, and lyrics by E. Y. Harburg.
Revenge with Music is a musical comedy with book and lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz, that opened on Broadway in 1934. This was the first "book" musical by Dietz and Schwartz.
The Second Little Show is a musical revue with lyrics by Howard Dietz and music mostly by Arthur Schwartz.
The Band Wagon is a musical revue with book by Walter Thomson and Howard Dietz, lyrics also by Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz. It first played on Broadway in 1931, running for 260 performances. It introduced the song "Dancing in the Dark" and inspired two films.
See America First is a comic opera with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The first work by Porter to be produced on Broadway, it was a critical and commercial flop.
Moanin' Low is a popular torch song. The music was written by Ralph Rainger; the lyrics by Howard Dietz. The song was published in 1929 and was introduced that same year in the musical revue The Little Show by Libby Holman becoming a hit and Holman's signature song. A recording by The Charleston Chasers was also popular in 1929.
"Something to Remember You By" was written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz in 1930.
Three's A Crowd is a 1930 Broadway revue with lyrics by Howard Dietz and others, and music by Arthur Schwartz and others. It was “put together” by Howard Dietz, and produced by Max Gordon.