Face the Music (musical)
Encyclopedia
Face the Music is a musical
, the first collaboration between Moss Hart (book) and Irving Berlin (music and lyrics). Face the Music opened on Broadway in 1932, and has had several subsequent regional and New York stagings. The popular song "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee
" was introduced in the musical.
was investigating. It also satirized show business, showing the far-fetched economies, such as seeing 4 films with a room and bath for 10¢. The musical did not ignore the Depression but rather found humor in it. There were many titles considered, among them Nickels and Dimes, but Berlin came up with the final title.
, once-rich investors are "Lunching at the Automat". Kit Baker, a former musical-comedy star and her boyfriend Pat Mason are now out of work and poor ("Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee"). In his search, Reisman meets crooked policemen who need to get rid of their illegal money before they are found out. The corrupt police chief Martin van Buren Meshbesher and his eccentric wife Myrtle become investors in the show, expecting it to be a failure. In the show-within-the-show, Rodney St. Clair sings "My Beautiful Rhinestone Girl". However, when risqué material is added the show is raided and the government tries to close it. The flop becomes a hit because of the publicity.
Added songs
These songs were added in the touring version of the show that was slightly revised, and were restored in the 2007 Encores!
production.
The musical premiered on Broadway
at the New Amsterdam Theatre
on February 17, 1932 and closed on July 9, 1932 after 165 performances. Staging was by Hassard Short
, direction by George S. Kaufman
and choreography by Albertina Rasch
. It had a return engagement from January 31, 1933 to February 25, 1933 for 31 performances at the 44th Street Theatre (demolished in 1945). The cast featured Mary Boland
(Mrs. Meshbesher), Margot Adams (Miss Eisenheimer), Charles Lawrence (Martin van Buren Meshbesher), Robert Emmett Keane (Hal Reisman), Katherine Carrington (Kit Baker), Thomas Arace (Detective), and The Albertina Rasch Dancers.
The 42nd St. Moon (San Francisco) production ran from March 26 - April 13, 1997.
The Musicals Tonight! (New York City) production ran in June 2002.
Encores!
(New York City) presented a staged concert from March 29 to April 1, 2007.Directed by John Rando
with choreography by Randy Skinner
, the cast featured Judy Kaye
(Mrs. Myrtle Meshbesher), Lee Wilkof
(Martin van Buren Meshbesher), Walter Bobbie
(Hal Reisman), Eddie Korbich
as (Joe Malarky), Jeffry Denman
(Pat Mason), and Meredith Patterson
(Kit Baker).
, reviewing the original 1932 production for The New York Times
, called the musical a "bountiful merry-go-round" of songs and "gibes", writing that it is "bold satire", but has familiar musical comedy numbers, such as the "stunning mirror dance... expressionistic Times Square ballet...and "Dear Old Crinoline Days which is guffawing burlesque."
An unnamed reviewer, quoted in the Brown biography Moss Hart, wrote "It's a worthy successor to Of Thee I Sing [but] it doesn't entirely measure up to it. It resorts to slapstick instead of satire. It becomes merely burlesque. All of which doesn't mean that Face the Music isn't a howl. It most emphatically is."
The reviewer for "theatremania.com", in reviewing the "Musicals Tonight!" 2002 production, noted that "1932 audiences didn’t go to musicals for ingenious statire; they wanted sumptuous productions, brilliant choreography, delightful performers, and great songs." The score "boasts two classics ("Soft Lights and Sweet Music" and "Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee") and much more that’s lilting, clever, or otherwise intriguing. One real discovery is "Torch Song," a wicked send-up of Helen Morgan weepers..."Investigation," a 12-minute opera-comique finale that reprises and restates old themes, introduces new ones, wraps up the plot, and brings in a Threepenny Opera-style deus ex machina to usher in the happy ending.
According to the Curtain Up reviewer, commenting on the 2007 Encores! concert, this musical had an "influence on backstage musicals like The Producers, The Drowsy Chaperone and Curtains."
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, the first collaboration between Moss Hart (book) and Irving Berlin (music and lyrics). Face the Music opened on Broadway in 1932, and has had several subsequent regional and New York stagings. The popular song "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee
Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee
"Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee" was a song by Irving Berlin appearing in the musical comedy Face the Music, which opened in 1932. The song, set in a self-service restaurant modeled on the Horn & Hardart Automat, was sung in the play by a group of once-wealthy citizens who were awaiting better...
" was introduced in the musical.
History
The musical was written as a political satire, specifically spoofing political and police corruption that the Seabury CommissionSeabury Commission
The Seabury Commission investigations into the New York magistrate's courts and police department in the early 1930s led to wholesale changes in the method of arrest, bail and litigation of suspects in New York City....
was investigating. It also satirized show business, showing the far-fetched economies, such as seeing 4 films with a room and bath for 10¢. The musical did not ignore the Depression but rather found humor in it. There were many titles considered, among them Nickels and Dimes, but Berlin came up with the final title.
Synopsis
Producer Hal Reisman desperately seeks backers for his Broadway show. Because of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, once-rich investors are "Lunching at the Automat". Kit Baker, a former musical-comedy star and her boyfriend Pat Mason are now out of work and poor ("Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee"). In his search, Reisman meets crooked policemen who need to get rid of their illegal money before they are found out. The corrupt police chief Martin van Buren Meshbesher and his eccentric wife Myrtle become investors in the show, expecting it to be a failure. In the show-within-the-show, Rodney St. Clair sings "My Beautiful Rhinestone Girl". However, when risqué material is added the show is raided and the government tries to close it. The flop becomes a hit because of the publicity.
Musical numbers
- Lunching at the Automat – Ensemble
- Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee – Pat Mason, Jr. and Kit Baker
- Torch Song –
- You Must be Born With It – Pickles and Joe
- On a Roof in Manhattan – Pat Mason, Jr. and Kit Baker
- My Beautiful Rhinestone Girl – Rodney St. Clair
- Soft Lights and Sweet Music – Pat Mason, Jr. and Kit Baker
- I Say It's Spinach (And The Hell With It) – Pat Mason, Jr. and Kit Baker
- A Toast to Prohibition (Drinking Song) – Rodney St. Clair and Boys
- Dear Old Crinoline Days (later reprised in the show as "The Nudist Colony" in an attempt to get the show more publicity) – Kit Baker
- I Don't Want To Be Married – Mme. Elise and Joe
- Manhattan Madness – Pat Mason, Jr.
- Investigation
Added songs
These songs were added in the touring version of the show that was slightly revised, and were restored in the 2007 Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
production.
- Two Cheers Instead of Three
- The Police Of New York
- If You Believe
- How Can I Change My Luck?
Productions
Face the Music opened in Philadelphia on February 3, 1932 for 2 weeks in its pre-Broadway tryout.The musical premiered on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the New Amsterdam Theatre
New Amsterdam Theatre
The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Theatre District of Manhattan, New York City, off of Times Square...
on February 17, 1932 and closed on July 9, 1932 after 165 performances. Staging was by Hassard Short
Hassard Short
Hubert Edward Hassard Short , usually known as Hassard Short, was an actor, stage director, set designer and lighting designer in musical theatrewho directed over 50 Broadway and West End shows between 1920 and 1953...
, direction by George S. Kaufman
George S. Kaufman
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers...
and choreography by Albertina Rasch
Albertina Rasch
Albertina Rasch was a naturalized American dancer and choreographer.-Early life:Born in Vienna in 1891 to a family of Polish Jewish descent, Rasch studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet school and became leading ballerina at the New York Hippodrome in...
. It had a return engagement from January 31, 1933 to February 25, 1933 for 31 performances at the 44th Street Theatre (demolished in 1945). The cast featured Mary Boland
Mary Boland
-Career:Born Marie Anne Boland in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of William Boland, an actor, and his wife Mary Cecilia Hatton. She had an older sister named Sara....
(Mrs. Meshbesher), Margot Adams (Miss Eisenheimer), Charles Lawrence (Martin van Buren Meshbesher), Robert Emmett Keane (Hal Reisman), Katherine Carrington (Kit Baker), Thomas Arace (Detective), and The Albertina Rasch Dancers.
The 42nd St. Moon (San Francisco) production ran from March 26 - April 13, 1997.
The Musicals Tonight! (New York City) production ran in June 2002.
Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
(New York City) presented a staged concert from March 29 to April 1, 2007.Directed by John Rando
John Rando
John Rando is an American stage director, winning the Tony Award for his direction of the musical Urinetown in 2002.-Stage productions:* 1994 Broken Glass * 2000 The Dinner Party* 2001 A Thousand Clowns...
with choreography by Randy Skinner
Randy Skinner
Randy Skinner is an American director and choregrapher, primarily for the stage. He has been nominated three times for Tony Awards and twice for Drama Desk Awards for choreography.-Biography:...
, the cast featured Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime and Mamma Mia!-Biography:...
(Mrs. Myrtle Meshbesher), Lee Wilkof
Lee Wilkof
Lee Wilkof is an American actor and veteran of the Broadway stage. He originated the roles of Sam Byck in Assassins and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, later earning a Tony Award nomination for the 2000 revival of Kiss Me, Kate...
(Martin van Buren Meshbesher), Walter Bobbie
Walter Bobbie
Walter Bobbie is an American theatre director, choreographer, and occasional actor and dancer. Bobbie has directed both musicals and plays on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and was the Artistic Director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series...
(Hal Reisman), Eddie Korbich
Eddie Korbich
Eddie Korbich is an actor, singer, dancer. He was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.-1980s:He graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a B.F.A...
as (Joe Malarky), Jeffry Denman
Jeffry Denman
-Early life:Denman was born and raised in Buffalo, New York and graduated from the University of Buffalo as a Musical Theatre Dance major.-Career:He made his Broadway debut in the 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, played Munkustrap in the closing company of Cats and...
(Pat Mason), and Meredith Patterson
Meredith Patterson
Meredith Patterson is an American musical theatre actor known for her Broadway performances, as well as her television and film work.-External links:...
(Kit Baker).
Response
Brooks AtkinsonBrooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinson was an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960...
, reviewing the original 1932 production for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, called the musical a "bountiful merry-go-round" of songs and "gibes", writing that it is "bold satire", but has familiar musical comedy numbers, such as the "stunning mirror dance... expressionistic Times Square ballet...and "Dear Old Crinoline Days which is guffawing burlesque."
An unnamed reviewer, quoted in the Brown biography Moss Hart, wrote "It's a worthy successor to Of Thee I Sing [but] it doesn't entirely measure up to it. It resorts to slapstick instead of satire. It becomes merely burlesque. All of which doesn't mean that Face the Music isn't a howl. It most emphatically is."
The reviewer for "theatremania.com", in reviewing the "Musicals Tonight!" 2002 production, noted that "1932 audiences didn’t go to musicals for ingenious statire; they wanted sumptuous productions, brilliant choreography, delightful performers, and great songs." The score "boasts two classics ("Soft Lights and Sweet Music" and "Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee") and much more that’s lilting, clever, or otherwise intriguing. One real discovery is "Torch Song," a wicked send-up of Helen Morgan weepers..."Investigation," a 12-minute opera-comique finale that reprises and restates old themes, introduces new ones, wraps up the plot, and brings in a Threepenny Opera-style deus ex machina to usher in the happy ending.
According to the Curtain Up reviewer, commenting on the 2007 Encores! concert, this musical had an "influence on backstage musicals like The Producers, The Drowsy Chaperone and Curtains."