Lady in the Dark

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Lady in the Dark
Music Kurt Weill
Lyrics Ira Gershwin
Book Moss Hart
Productions 1941 Broadway
1944 Film

Lady in the Dark is a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music), Ira Gershwin (lyrics), and Moss Hart (book and direction). It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy female editor of a fashion magazine, Allure, who is undergoing psychoanalysis, said to be based on Hart's own experiences with psychoanalyst Gregory Zilboorg. All the music in the play is heard in three extended dream sequences: the Glamour Dream, the Wedding Dream, and the Circus Dream which, to some extent, become three small operas integrated into a straight play.

The musical opened at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon) on January 23, 1941 and closed on May 30, 1942 after 467 performances. The original production starred Gertrude Lawrence, Danny Kaye, Bert Lytell, and Victor Mature.

Kaye's performance as a gay fashion photographer, and particularly his literally showstopping performance of the patter song Tschaikovsky and Other Russians in which he dashes through the names of 50 Russian composers in 39 seconds, made him a star.

The 1944 film version starred Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland, and cut all but four and a half songs from the score ("Suddenly It's Spring", "The Saga of Jenny", and "My Ship" remained, and part of "This Is New" is played by a nightclub band in the background).

[edit] Songs

Act I
  • Oh Fabulous One in Your Ivory Tower - Liza Elliott's Serenaders
  • The World's Inamorata - Liza Elliott and Miss Foster
  • One Life to Live - Liza Elliott and Russell Paxton
  • Girl of the Moment - Ensemble
  • It Looks Like Liza - Entire Company
  • This Is New - Randy Curtis and Liza Elliott
  • The Princess of Pure Delight - Liza Elliott and Children
  • This Woman at the Altar - Entire Company

Act II
  • The Greatest Show on Earth - Randy Curtis and Ensemble
  • The Best Years of His Life - Charley Johnson and Randy Curtis
  • Tschaikowsky - Randy Curtis and Ensemble
  • The Saga of Jenny - Liza Elliott, Jury and Ensemble
  • My Ship - Liza Elliott

[edit] External links

de:Lady in the Dark

fr:Les Nuits ensorcelées it:Lady in the Dark

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