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Bloomer Girl

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Bloomer Girl
1944 Original Cast Recording
MusicHarold Arlen
LyricsE.Y. Harburg
BookSig Herzig and Fred Saidy
BasisUnpublished play by Lilith and Daniel Lewis James
Productions1944 Broadway

Bloomer Girl is a 1944 Broadway musical with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, and a book by Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy, based on an unpublished play by writer Daniel Lewis James and his wife Lilith.[1][2] The plot concerns independent Evelina Applegate, a hoop skirt manufacturer's daughter who defies her father by rejecting hoopskirts and embracing comfortable bloomers advocated by her aunt "Dolly" Bloomer, who was inspired by the women's rights advocate Amelia Bloomer. The American Civil War is looming, and abolitionist Evelina refuses to marry suitor Jeff Calhoun until he frees his slave, Pompey.

A television version of the musical was shown in 1956.

Productions

Margaret Douglass (Dolly Bloomer), Dooley Wilson (Pompey) and Joan McCracken (Daisy) in the Broadway production of Bloomer Girl (1944)

The original Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 5, 1944, directed by William Schorr and produced by John C. Wilson in association with Nat Goldstone.[1] The production's scenic designer and lighting designer was Lemuel Ayers.[3] Agnes de Mille was the choreographer,[4] and her contributions included a Civil War ballet.[5] The production starred Celeste Holm as Evelina, David Brooks as Jeff Calhoun, Dooley Wilson as the slave Pompey, and Joan McCracken in the featured dancing role as Daisy.[6][4] While successful—it closed on April 27, 1946 after 657 performances on Broadway—it has seldom been revived.

Alisa Roost directed an Off-Broadway revival, which recreated Agnes deMille's original dream ballet, at the Theatre at St. Clements in 2000[7] and New York City Center's Encores! staged concert series performed it for a week in 2001.[8][9]

Bloomer Girl caused a temporary rift between de Mille and Jerome Robbins when, about a year into the show's run, Robbins appropriated several dancers then in the chorus, including James Mitchell and Arthur Partington, for Billion Dollar Baby (1945).[10]

Musical numbers

Recording

An original cast album was released on American Decca 78 RPM set DA 381[11] during the original Broadway run of Bloomer Girl. The recording was re-released on LP in the 1950s. It then remained out of print until the same recording became available on CD in the early 1990s. The [CD] recording restored the second half of Sunday in Cicero Falls, which was deleted from the [LP] due to length.

Television production

An abridged version of the musical, which eliminated most of Agnes de Mille's choreography, except for the dance after "It Was Good Enough For Grandma" and the Civil War ballet, aired on Producers' Showcase in 1956; it starred Barbara Cook and Keith Andes and featured many of the original dancers, including James Mitchell, Lidija Franklin, Betty Low, and Emy St. Just.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Suskin, 89
  2. ^ "Red Probers Get 150 Film Names". Stockton Evening and Sunday Record. Stockton, California. September 20, 1951. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  3. ^ Arnold Saint-Subber (September 11, 1955). "Obituary: Lemuel Ayers". The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b "Bloomer Girl – Broadway Musical – Original". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  5. ^ Stempel, p.316-17
  6. ^ Bordman, 597
  7. ^ Jones, Kenneth (September 7, 2000). "Bloomer Girl Kicks Up Its Skirts in NYC; Rare Tuner Opens Sept. 7". Playbill. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  8. ^ Suskin, 93
  9. ^ Simonson, Robert; Jones, Kenneth (March 22, 2001). "Bosco and Chalfant Star in Encores!' Bloomer Girl, March 22-25". Playbill. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  10. ^ Lawrence, Greg. deMille and Robbins Dance with Demons: The Life of Jerome Robbins, Penguin, May 7, 2001, ISBN 1101204060
  11. ^ Album cover for Decca set DA 381, 8 10" 78 RPM disks, copyright 1944 Decca Records, Inc.

References

  • Bordman, Gerald (2001). American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. Third ed. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513074-X
  • Easton, Carol (1996). No Intermissions: The Life of Agnes de Mille. New York: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-19970-4.
  • Stempel, Larry (2010). Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-92906-5
  • Suskin, Stephen (1990). Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-872625-1.
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