- By the Beautiful Sea
Infobox Musical
name= By the Beautiful Sea
subtitle=
caption= Cover of Original Cast Recording (cropped)
music=Arthur Schwartz
lyrics=Dorothy Fields
book=Herbert Fields andDorothy Fields
productions=1954 Broadway
awards="By the Beautiful Sea" is a Broadway musical with a book by
Herbert Fields andDorothy Fields , lyrics byDorothy Fields , and music byArthur Schwartz .Produced by
Robert Fryer andLawrence Carr , the Broadway production, staged byMarshall Jamison andchoreographed byHelen Tamiris , opened onApril 8 ,1954 at theMajestic Theatre , where it ran for 270 performances. Cast includedShirley Booth andWilbur Evans . The orchestrations were byRobert Russell Bennett , sets and lighting byJo Mielziner , and costumes byIrene Sharaff .Like Arthur Schwartz’ previous musical, "
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ", also starring Shirley Booth, the musical is set inBrooklyn just after the turn of the century (1907). Shirley Booth plays the part of Lottie Gibson, a vaudeville performer, who also owned a boarding house in Coney Island (i.e., by the sea). Her clientele were show people. On one of her vaudeville tours she falls in love with a Shakespearean actor, Dennis Emery (played by Wilbur Evans). When he is to appear in Brighton, Lottie gets him to stay at her boarding house, where his divorced wife and daughter are also residents. The daughter tries to break up the romance, but Lottie succeeds in winning over the affections of both the child and the father.The critics loved Shirley’s performance. “Everyone has long since lost his heart to Miss Booth,” exclaimed
Brooks Atkinson in theNew York Times .A cast recording of the original production is available.
=Songs=col-begincol-2;Act I
* Mona from Arizona
* The Sea Song
* Old Enough to Love
* Coney Island Boat
* Alone Too Long
* Happy Habit
* Good Time Charlie
* I’d Rather Wake Up by Myself
* Hooray for George the Third;Act II
* Hang Up
* More Love Than Your Love
* Lottie Gibson Specialty
* Throw the anchor Away
*FinaleExternal links
*
* [http://stageagent.com/Shows/View/1600 By the Beautiful Sea plot summary & character descriptions]
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