Ever Green

Ever Green is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and a book by Benn Levy based on an idea by Rodgers and Hart. This was the last of three musicals written by Rodgers and Hart in London.

The musical premiered on 3 December 1930 at the newly-renovated Adelphi Theatre, London. The production was produced by Charles B. Cochran and directed by Frank Collins with choreography by Buddy Bradley and Billy Pierce. It stared dancer Jessie Matthews (who played both the mother and the daughter in the piece) and comedian Sonnie Hale, who married her the next year. It also featured Joyce Barbour and Jean Cadell. The lavish production was noted for the production piece "Dancing on the Ceiling" that used London's first a revolving stage. In this, the two stars danced around a chandelier that was standing up from the floor simulating the ceiling. Matthews took "Dancing on the Ceiling" as her signature tune. The show was Matthews' biggest stage success and led to her famous movie career. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=1VFwDk20BnUC&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=%22ever+green%22+rodgers+hart+benn&source=web&ots=LeyCN9BEyb&sig=X9u9MDg3Gs_LHpyFrHcUXupnpvA&hl=en#PPA144,M1 Nolan, Frederick. "Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway" (1994) Oxford University Press] ISBN 0195102894]

The musical garnered critical and box office success, running for 254 performances. The show was adapted into a successful 1934 film also starring Matthews.

ynopsis

Harriet Green, a music hall star of the Edwardian period, has given birth, out of wedlock, to a daughter. Harriet flees to South Africa to raise her daughter away from the spotlight. The years pass, and now her daughter, Harriet Hawkes, returns to London to try to get into show business. A publicity man, Tommy, sees that young Harriet is a dead ringer for her famous mother and convinces a theater producer to star her in a new revue as a miraculously youthful Harriet Green. The public believes the ruse and believes that Tommy is her son. This leads to complications, because Harriet and Tommy fall in love.

Musical numbers

*Harlemania
*Doing a Little Clog Dance
*Dear, Dear
*Nobody Looks at the Man
*Waiting for the Leaves to Fall
*No Place but Home
*The Lion King
*Grand Notre Vieux Monde Etait Tout Neuf
*La Femme a Toujours Vingt Ans!
*The Colour of Her Eyes
*In the Cool of the Evening
*Dancing on the Ceiling
*Je M'en Fiche du Sex Appeal!
*Hot Blues
*If I Give in to You

Notes

References

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZWIRAljCR7oC&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=%22Ever+Green%22+Rodgers+Hart+Benn&source=web&ots=EdOpSKYVGe&sig=56KDix6Cyy07SlKwTb1iZQcvqx4&hl=en Green, Stanley. "Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre" p. 115 (1980) Da Capo Press] ISBN 0306801132
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ow7zrEtOnf4C&pg=PT96&lpg=PT96&dq=%22ever+green%22+rodgers+hart+benn&source=web&ots=CBraCjgLiG&sig=_G_ouYtIO9VaOe2YY1M_M-6Rmrw&hl=en#PPT104,M1 Rodgers, Richard. "Musical Stages: An Autobiography", pp. 127-150 (2002) Da Capo Press] ISBN:0306811340
*Rusinko, Susan. [http://books.google.com/books?id=OnktgdGWR-YC&pg=PA173&lpg=PA173&dq=%22ever+green%22+rodgers+hart+benn&source=web&ots=Aq_CkQlLSh&sig=7x6b1DUNUqSTIbsoyWYpFjkaTdc&hl=en#PPA173,M1 "The Plays of Benn Levy: Between Shaw and Coward" (1994) Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press] ISBN 0838635563
*Tanvitch, Robert. "The London Stage in the 20th Century". Haus Publishing Ltd ISBN 978-1-904950-74-5
* [http://www.btinternet.com/~judyin.london/overmyshoulder/ever.htm Information about the musical and film from the Jessie Matthews site]
* [http://www.lorenzhart.org/green.htm Profile of the musical at the Lorenz Hart site]
* [http://www.btinternet.com/~judyin.london/overmyshoulder/everst.htm Extended plot synopsis from the theatre programme of "Ever Green"]