Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies) by McHugh, Dominic (best ereader for pc .TXT) 📗

of this original ending to the Ascot Scene, housed in the Warner-Chappell Collection. “Fainting Music” and “End of Ascot (out),” WCC, 144/3 and 141/1.

35. “Ballroom Intro,” WCC, 141/7.

36. Block, Enchanted Evenings, 231.

37. Unnumbered folder titled “The Embassy Waltz: parts,” WCC, box 143.

38. Bennett’s orchestration, titled “The Embassy Waltz,” is in the WCC, 143/2.

39. “Promenade,” orchestration, WCC, 150/1.

40. “Entr’acte,” Rittmann piano score, WCC, 143/8.

41. Clearly, the “glorious Russell Bennett finish” was in fact to be a “glorious Phil Lang” one.

42. “Finish of Entr’acte,” Lang’s full score, WCC, 143/6.

43. Lerner, Street, 77 and 81.

44. Ibid., 100.

45. As was the case with several earlier numbers, the version of the song in FLC contains Loewe’s handwriting only in the music of the first three systems of the first page and all the lyrics; Rittmann is responsible for all the remainder of the music. FLC, 5/31.

46. Although the published vocal scores contain this section and indicate that it was not performed on Broadway, the British first edition of the published libretto does not include it nor do the original cast albums (Broadway and London).

47. One of the copyist’s scores has the word “Silly” crossed out and replaced by “Utter” at this point, perhaps to avoid the alliteration with so many “s” sounds in the line. WCC, 155/3.

48. Geoffrey Block correctly refers to “the uncharacteristically inconsiderate Pickering” in his analysis of the number, but the Colonel was in fact even more inconsiderate in the original version of the number. Block, Enchanted Evenings, 236.

49. William Zinsser, Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and Their Songs (Jaffrey, NH: David R. Godine Publisher, 2000), 229.

CHAPTER 7

1. “Shows Out of Town: My Fair Lady, ” Variety (February 8, 1956), 56. My thanks to Richard C. Norton for providing me with a copy of this and various other reviews.

2. “Lady Fair Cut 15 Mins. During New Haven Bow,” Variety, February 15, 1956, 67.

3. Unless otherwise stated, the reviews from this section are quoted from Rachel W. Coffin, ed., New York Theatre Critics’ Reviews 17, no.7: 345–48.

4. Brooks Atkinson, “My Fair Lady: Shaw’s Pygmalion Turns into One of the Best Musicals of the Century,” New York Times, March 25, 1956, Arts and Leisure supplement, X1.

5. Bob Rolontz, “Exit a Winner: My Fair Lady Leaves Mark on Disk Mkt. as well as the Theater,” Billboard Music Week, March 3, 1962, 5.

6. Copy in the author’s collection.

7. Sam Zolotow, “Huxley Disowns Staging of Novel,” New York Times, November 29, 1957, 33. My thanks to Richard C. Norton for pointing out this article.

8. Letter, Herman Levin to Lillian Aza (November 4, 1957); agreement between Herman Levin and Stanley Holloway (November 4, 1957). HLP, 25/9.

9. Letter, Levin to Howes (January 31, 1959), 25/11. Howes played the role on Broadway for twelve months, leaving on January 31, 1959.

10. Letter, Charles Tucker to Herman Levin (August 27, 1957); reply, Levin to Tucker (August 30) HLP, 25/5.

11. Letter, Levin to Felix de Wolfe (August 21, 1957), 23/5.

12. Letter, Levin to Lerner and Loewe in Paris (July 19, 1957), HLP, 23/5.

13. Letter, Michael Redgrave to Levin (March 20, 1956), HLP, 26/1.

14. Telegram, Lerner to Levin (November 15, 1956), HLP, 23/5.

15. Telegram, Moss Hart to Coward (December 4, 1956), HLP, 23/5. In a letter to Laurence Olivier on January 12, 1957, Coward confirmed that he had “refused haughtily but graciously to play My Fair Lady for three months.” Quoted in Barry Day, ed., The Letters of Noël Coward (London: Methuen, 2007), 618.

16. Brooks Atkinson, “Two Fair Years: Shavian Musical Is Still a Delightful Show,” New York Times, March 9, 1958, X1.

17. After Julie Andrews and Sally Ann Howes, Eliza was played by Pamela Charles, and in January 1961 Margot Moser became the first American girl to play the role. Higgins was played by Edward Mulhare, Michael Evans, and Michael Allison.

18. Quoted in Robert Baral, Revue: A Nostalgic Reprise of the Great Broadway Period (New York: Fleet Publications, 1962), 98.

19. The recording is now available on CD via Sepia Records (SEPIA 1090).

20. Reuters, New York Times, October 2, 1958, 28.

21. His scores for the West End include Pickwick (his greatest success), 1963; Treasure Island, 1973; and Great Expectations, 1975. London productions for which he had served as musical director include Wonderful Town, Pal Joey, Kismet, Call Me Madam, and Lerner and Loewe’s own Paint Your Wagon.

22. Loewe’s illness is related in Andrews, Home, 237–38 and Lerner, Street, 112–13.

23. Drew Middleton, “Londoners Greet Their Fair Lady; Spiritual Home of Musical Discovers It Is as Good as the Yanks Said It Was,” New York Times, May 1, 1958, 34.

24. K. Hart, Kitty, 191. Hart was present at the Royal Gala and accompanied her husband, Moss, to the Royal Box during the intermission, making for an amusing anecdote in her book.

25. Andrews, Home, 255.

26. For a list of the countries in the years immediately following the premiere, see Sam Zolotow, “Israeli Players to do Fair Lady, ” New York Times, December 18, 1963, 46. For this section of the chapter, I am particularly indebted to Richard C. Norton for allowing me to read the unpublished manuscript of his forthcoming book on Loewe.

27. Howard Traub, “Soviet Union Asks for a Troupe to Sing Fair Lady,” New York Times, May 6, 1959, 1.

28. Philip Benjamin, “Fair Lady Faces Russian Pirating,” New York Times, May 1, 1959, 1.

29. Max Frankel, “Moscow Sizes Up a Grand Lady,” New York Times, April 3, 1960, X1.

30. Osgood Carruthers, “Fair Lady Hailed by Moscow Critic,” New York Times, April 24, 1960, 85.

31. Anonymous, “My Fair Lady Ending Its North American Run,” New York Times, December 13, 1963, 39.

32. Sam Zolotow, “Eliza Doolittle to Dance Again,” New York Times, January 30, 1964, 25.

33. John Canaday, “Audience as well as Cast Has Grand Time at My Fair Lady,” New York Times, May 21, 1964, 43.

34. Richard F. Shepard, “My Fair Lady Wins Again,” New York Times, June 14, 1968, 42.

35. Memorandum by Levin, February 10, 1955. HLP, 24/8.

36. Testimony of Herman Levin, May 15, 1960, HLP, 27/14.

37. Handwritten notes, HLP, 25/12.

38. See Hugh