LERNER AND LOEWE

LERNER AND LOEWE
To suppose that the collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein was the only one of great success on Broadway, is simply not the case. In 1947 Alan Jay Lerner, part of the Lerner family who made their fortune in women’s clothing and shoes, and Frederick Loewe, descended from a highly respected European musical family, joined forces to give the world Brigadoon. Choreographed by Agnes DeMille, Brigadoon opened on Mar 13th and ran for 581 performances. Their next success, Paint Your Wagon, which bore little resemblance to the movie made in 1969, opened on November 12, 1951 and ran 289 performances. The song Maria, has become an American classic. Eclipsing their own successes, and the long runs of the past was My Fair Lady, which opened at the Mark Hellinger theatre on March 15, 1956. It would run a total of 2,717 performances, making it the longest running hit to that point in history. As Julie Andrews took on the persona of Eliza Doolittle, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalian, she told us she Could Have Danced All Night. On December 3, 1960, their setting of King Arthur’s court based on The Once and Future King would open as Camelot. It starred Britain’s veteran actor Richard Burton, and hold-over from My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews as King Arthur an his Lady Guenevere. The surprise performance of the evening was when newcomer Robert Goulet stopped the show with his rendition of If Ever I Would Leave You. Camelot would run 873 performances and initiate one of the most important public relations event of Broadway history to that time when Ed Sullivan aired live from Broadway on his Sunday Night show, a scene in which Burton and Andrews asked the American public I Wonder What The King is Doing Tonight? From that point forward Broadway’s boundaries reached far beyond the Hudson River to the entire nation. Everyone from Peoria to Panguitch took ownership in this uniquely American art form. People came in droves to New York which was about to enjoy the high profile a World’s Fair. Touring companies sprang up and Broadway went to the people.