Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies) (46 page)

8
. Also included in the folder with the song is Lang’s full score for the scene change music (No. 4a).

9
. Lerner,
Street
, 85.

10
. “Get Me to the Church on Time,” lyric sheet,
WCC
, 151/6.

11
. “Get Me to the Church on Time,” Rittmann’s piano score and Miller’s photocopy,
WCC
, 145/4.

12
. “Get Me to the Church II,” choral arrangement,
WCC
, 145/3.

13
. Lerner,
Street
, 76.

14
.
Lady Liza
, Brief Outline,
HLP
, 34/2.

15
. The New Haven playbills give the song its final title, but the copyists scores in the Warner-Chappell Collection all direct the lyric to the third person.

16
. Lerner,
Street
, 98.

17
. The presentation was given on December 12, 1971, as part of the
Lyrics and Lyricists
series at the Kaufmann Concert Hall of the 92nd Street Y in New York. It is now available on CD as
An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner
, DRG Records 5175 (1977).

18
. This backs up the idea of a link with “Please Don’t Marry Me,” which had been cut long before the orchestration was made.

19
. Unusually for Bennett, it is written in pencil rather than in pen.

20
. The other key players are, clearly, Eliza, Higgins, and Doolittle. I discount Pickering, Mrs. Pearce, and Mrs. Higgins here because they do not have a significant solo numbers and are mostly on the periphery of the drama.

21
. Geoffrey Block,
Enchanted Evenings
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 379. n.28.

22
. They are written in Roman numerals, starting with “I—Gm.”

23
. Keith Garebian,
The Making of My Fair Lady
(Toronto: ECW Press, 1993), 108. Bennett’s full score is relatively free of corrections, although the cut verse is crossed out.

24
. Lerner,
Street
, 83–84. Harrison,
Rex
, 161. Block compares the accounts in
Enchanted Evenings
, 379, n.26.

25
. “Dance—Rain in Spain,”
WCC
, 151/3.

26
. A copy of the published sheet music (New York: Belwin, Inc.) for this song is found in
FLC
, 8/36.

27
. “Ascot Gavotte,”
FLC
, 5/1.

28
. “Gavotte Repr.,” Untitled manuscript starting “Presto furioso” with a message from Rittmann to Bennett,
WCC
, 141/3. “Intro to Gavotte” and “Gavotte Dance,”
WCC
, 144/1.

29
. “Ascot Gavotte,” annotated “Freda” on front, with associated loose photocopies of “Intro to Gavotte” and “Gavotte Dance,”
WCC
, 141/1.

30
. This version also appears in two separate lyric sheets in the Warner-Chappell Collection, a lyric sheet in Levin’s papers, and the rehearsal script.

31
. Lyric sheet in envelope titled “Franz Allers Lyrics,”
WCC
, 151/6.

32
. “Ascot Gavotte,” choral score, 141/6; “Gavotte,” conductor’s score,
WCC
, 141/3.

33
. Untitled original “End of Ascot” music and “Gavotte Repr.,”
WCC
, 141/3.

34
. This is demonstrated by the orchestration 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.

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 Fordin,
MGM’s Greatest Musicals
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1996), 517, for more information on Warner’s position. The refusal of the first bid in September 1961 is discussed in a telegram from Levin to the studio’s negotiator,
HLP
, 23/8.

39
. Details of Harrison’s deal are described in Alexander Walker’s excellent biography of the actor,
Fatal Charm: The Life of Rex Harrison
(London: Orion, 2002), 307.

40
. In his diary, Beaton wrote that after one clash, “it took George Cukor two hours to recover from his displeasure with me enough to continue.” Richard Buckle, ed.,
Self-Portrait with Friends: The Selected Diaries of Cecil Beaton
(London: Pimlico, 1981)367. In turn, Cukor acknowledged in an interview that “As everyone knows, we didn’t get on very well.”

41
. Murray Schumach, “
Fair Lady
to Set a Film-cost Mark,”
New York Times
, June 5, 1963. Gavin Lambert,
On Cukor
(New York: G. P. Putnam, 1972; rev. ed. New York: Rizzoli, 2000), 186.

42
. Lambert,
On Cukor,
192.

43
. Block,
Enchanted Evenings
, 323–27.

44
. Lambert,
On Cukor,
192.

45
. Reviews quoted in Jerry Vermilye,
The Complete Films of Audrey Hepburn
(New York: Citadel, 1995), 178–80.

46
. Letter, Lerner to Cecil Beaton, April 21, 1967, Cecil Beaton Papers, St. John’s College, Cambridge.

47
. Much later, Diehl wrote a detailed reminiscence of working with Holm for a specific dance publication. Crandall Diehl, “
My Fair Lady
and other Broadway Memories,”
Choreography and Dance
2, pt. 2, 73–87.

48
. Robert Berkvist, “Will this
Fair Lady
be as Loverly?,”
New York Times,
March 21, 1976, 57.

49
. Richard Eder, “Levin Back on Street Where She Lived,”
New York Times,
March 22, 1976, 21.

50
. Mel Gussow, “Richardson Finds ’Iggins a Lovely Change of Pace,”
New York Times,
March 31, 1976, 29.

51
. Patrick Garland,
The Incomparable Rex
(London: Macmillan, 1998).

52
. Anonymous, “
Fair Lady
Understudy Is Going On,”
New York Times,
August 18, 1981, C8.

53
. Garland,
Incomparable Rex
, 205.