Le monde des musicals

Musical (1933)

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Musique: Irving Berlin •
Paroles: Irving Berlin •
Livret: Moss Hart •
Production à la création:

As Thousands Cheer is a revue with a book by Moss Hart and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, first performed in 1933. The revue contained satirical sketches and witty or poignant musical numbers, several of which became standards, including "Heat Wave", "Easter Parade" and "Harlem on my Mind". The sketches were loosely based on the news and the lives and affairs of the rich and famous, and other people of the day, such as Joan Crawford, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Noël Coward, Josephine Baker, and Aimee Semple McPherson.

Each of the 21 scenes was preceded by a related newspaper headline, and the sketches poked fun a wide variety of subjects, including the marital woes of Barbara Hutton, Gandhi, and British royalty. The weather report was turned into a song ("Heat Wave"). Other notable scenes include President and Mrs. Hoover leaving the White House, with the President giving his cabinet a Bronx cheer; "Supper Time", an African-American woman's lament for her lynched husband; John D. Rockefeller refusing to accept Radio City Music Hall as a birthday gift; commercials interrupting the singing during a Metropolitan Opera broadcast (P.D.Q. Bach later did this); a hotel staff falling under the influence of Noël Coward; and a fictional Supreme Court decision that says musicals cannot end with reprises, resulting in a new number, "Not For All The Rice In China" (satirizing Barbara Hutton's relationship with Alexis Mdivani), as a finale.

1 As Thousands Cheer peut-être considéré comme un Top musical

The revue was a successor to the creators' Face the Music and was Marilyn Miller's last stage appearance before her death. It was also the first Broadway show to give an African-American star, Ethel Waters, equal billing with whites.

Moss Hart said that he and Irving Berlin did not want to write the typical revue with "blackout sketches" and musical numbers, and they had the idea of doing a topical revue "right off the front pages of the newspapers." Berlin deferred his own fees as composer, lyricist, and theater owner, keeping the cost of the show to a "restrained" $96,000.

Act One:
Prologue: (1) “Dining Room in Park Avenue” (Langley: Hal Forde; Mr. Andrews: Leslie Adams; Mrs. Andrews: Helen Broderick; (2) “Editor’s Office” (Editor: Jerome Cowan; Reporter: Harry Stockwell);
(3) “Columbus Circle” (Boys and Girls) (Note: Parts 2 and 3 of the prologue included the song “Man Bites Dog”); “Franklin D. Roosevelt Inaugurated Tomorrow” (Mr. Hoover: Leslie Adams; Mrs. Hoover: Helen Broderick; Charlie: Hamtree Harrington);
“Barbara Hutton to Wed Prince Mdivani” (Lackey: Harold Voeth; Prince Hohenstein: Chester O’Brien; Prince Donatelli: Jay Hunter; Prince Austerliebe: Paul Pierce; Prince DeLuneville: Harold Murray) with song “How’s Chances?” (Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb);
“Heat Wave Hits New York”: “Heat Wave” (Ethel Waters; The Charles Weidman Dancers, including lead dancers Letitia Ide and José Limón);
“Joan Crawford to Divorce Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.” (Joan Crawford: Marilyn Miller; Douglas Fairbanks Jr.: Clifton Webb; Will Hays: Leslie Adams; First Reporter: Harold Murray; Second Reporter: Jerome Cowan; Third Reporter: Ward Tallmon; Fourth Reporter: John Perkins);
"Majestic Sails at Midnight” with song “Debts” (aka “We’ll All Be in Heaven When the Dollar Goes to Hell”) (Leslie Adams, Hal Forde, Harry Stockwell, Jerome Cowan, Helen Broderick);
“Lonely Hearts Column”: “Lonely Heart” (Harry Stockwell; danced by Letitia Ide, José Limón, Ensemble);
“World’s Wealthiest Man Celebrates 94th Birthday” (John D. Rockefeller Sr.: Clifton Webb; John D. Rockefeller Jr.: Leslie Adams; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr.: Helen Broderick; John D. Rockefeller’s Children: Peggy Cornell, Jerome Cowan, Harry Murray, Thomas Hamilton; Reporter and Camera Man: Hal Forde and Ward Tallmon);
“The Funnies” (Marilyn Miller, Ensemble);
“Green Pastures Starts Third Road Season” (Man: Hamtree Harrington; Woman: Ethel Waters) with song “To Be or Not to Be” (Ethel Waters);
“Rotogravure Section—Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue, 1883”: “Her Easter Bonnet” (aka “Easter Parade”) (Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb, Company)

Act Two:
“Metropolitan Opera Opens in Old Time Splendor” (Radio Announcer: Jerome Cowan; Monsieur Peppiton: Clifton Webb; Mr. Williams: Leslie Adams; Mrs. Williams: Helen Broderick; Mrs. Williams’ Daughter: Marilyn Miller) (sequence includes song “Metropolitan Opening”);
“Unknown Negro Lynched by Frenzied Mob”: “Supper Time” (Ethel Waters);
“Gandhi Goes on New Hunger Strike” (Mahatma Gandhi: Clifton Webb; Aimee Semple MacPherson: Helen Broderick; Counterman: Hal Forde; Camera Men: Harold Murray and Jay Hunter; Native Messenger: Ward Tallmon);
“Revolt in Cuba” (Letitia Ide and José Limón);
“Noel Coward, Noted Playwright, Returns to England” (First Bellboy: Ward Tallmon; Second Bellboy: Harold Murray; Mrs. Fisher: Helen Broderick; Ella: Ethel Waters; Aggie: Marilyn Miller; Henry Perlmutter: Clifton Webb; Window Cleaner: Leslie Adams);
“Society Wedding of the Season—Outside St. Thomas’” (Bridesmaids: Helen Ericson, Teddy West, Lucille Taylor, Dorothy Dodd, Irene McBride, Jeanette Bradley, Elsa Walbridge, Jeanette Mundell, Toni Sorel, Elsie Duffy; Ushers: Chester O’Brien, Mortimer O’Brien, Jack Voeth, Jack Barnes, Jay Hunter, Fred Mayon, Ward Tallmon, Arthur Craig, John Perkins, Robert Castaine) (sequence includes “Society Wedding,” sung by the ensemble, and “Our Wedding Day, sung by Marilyn Miller and Clifton Webb);
“Josephine Baker Still the Rage of Paris” (Josephine Baker: Ethel Waters; Her Secretary: Jerome Cowan; Maitre d’Hotel: Jerome Cowan) and song “I’ve Got Harlem on My Mind” (Ethel Waters);
“Prince of Wales Rumored Engaged” (The King: Leslie Adams; The Queen: Helen Broderick; The Prince: Thomas Hamilton; The Prime Minister: Hal Forde);
“Broadway Gossip Column”: “Through a Key Hole” (Clifton Webb);
“Supreme Court Hands Down Important Decision”:
“Not for All the Rice in China” (Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb, Company) (includes a finale sequence titled “At Last, At Last”)

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