We'll Have Manhattan

The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart

Dominic Symonds

Broadway Legacies

An unprecedented look at Rodgers and Hart's earliest collaborations
Provides unique insight into Rodgers and Hart in New York and London
Based on extensive original archival research in the US and the UK

We'll Have Manhattan

The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart

Dominic Symonds

Description

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart are one of the defining duos of musical theater, contributing dozens of classic songs to the Great American Songbook and working together on over 40 shows before Hart's death. With hit after hit on both Broadway and the West End, they produced many of the celebrated songs of the '20s and '30s--such as "Manhattan," "The Lady is a Tramp," and "Bewitched"--that remain popular favorites with great cultural resonance today. Yet the early years of these iconic collaborators have remained largely unexamined.

We'll Have Manhattan: The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart provides unprecedented insight into the first, formative period of Rodgers and Hart's collaboration. Author Dominic Symonds examines the pair and their work from their first meeting in 1919 to their brief flirtation with Hollywood in the early 1930s as they left the theater to explore sound film. During this time, their output was prodigious, progressive, and experimental. They developed their characteristic style and a new approach to musical theater writing that provided the groundwork for the development of the Broadway musical. Symonds also analyzes the theme of identity that runs throughout Rodgers and Hart's work, how the business side of the theater affected their artistic output, and their continued experimentation with a song's dramatic role within a narrative.

We'll Have Manhattan goes beyond a biographical or historical look at Rodgers and Hart's early years--it's also an accessible but authoritative study of their material. Symonds documents their early shows and provides deft critical and analytical commentary on their evolving practice and its influence on the subsequent development of the American musical. Fans of musical theater and devotees of Rodgers and Hart will find this definitive exploration of their early works to be an essential addition to their Broadway library.

We'll Have Manhattan

The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart

Dominic Symonds

Broadway Legacies

Introduction: "We'll Have Manhattan"
Chapter One: The Summer Camps and Varsity Shows
Chapter Two: The Breakthrough in Revue: the Garrick Gaieties (1925, 1926) and Fifth Avenue Follies (1926)
Chapter Three: The Rodgers and Hart revolution: Dearest Enemy (1925)
Chapter four: Pleasing the Producers: Herbert Fields, Lew Fields and The Girl Friend (1926)
Chapter Five: A London odyssey: Lido Lady (1926), One Dam Thing After Another (1927), Ever Green (1930)
Chapter Six: Big Fish: Peggy-Ann (1926), Ziegfeld and a flop called Betsy (1926)
Chapter Seven: A commercial success: A Connecticut Yankee (1927)
Chapter Eight: Castration and integration: Chee-Chee (1928)
Chapter Nine: Coping with the Crash
Epilogue: The end of an era
Bibliography

We'll Have Manhattan

The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart

Dominic Symonds

Broadway Legacies

Author Information

Dominic Symonds is Reader in Drama at the University of Lincoln and founding editor of the journal Studies in Musical Theatre. He is also a director and writer for musical theatre.

We'll Have Manhattan

The Early Work of Rodgers & Hart

Dominic Symonds

Broadway Legacies

Reviews and Awards

"The author succeeds in all respects...a fulsome balance of history, biography, musicology, and analysis that will help readers understand the two men's contribution to the establishment of an integrated musical form. Essential" --Choice

"...[A] meticulous exploration of a songwriting duo..." - New York Times

"Mr. Symonds' enthusiasm for early Rodgers and Hart is, if anything, equal to their own gusto." - Washington Times

"In We'll Have Manhattan: The Early Work of Rodgers and Hart, Dominic Symonds deftly explores the period from 1919 to 1931 when the celebrated team did their chronological and artistic growing up. Impeccably researched and sensitively written, this essential book offers detailed but accessibly presented musical and lyrical analyses as well as insights into two young geniuses as they were becoming, but had not yet become, the icons of the American songbook we now know them to be. Highly recommended."-Jim Lovensheimer, author of South Pacific: Paradise Rewritten

"Symonds writes engagingly and colorfully, yet with exhaustive research and expertise, about these lesser-known shows and the personalities that created them; scholars and fans alike will benefit from this much-needed study of Rodgers and Hart's early years. He upends the narrative of how the Broadway musical became 'integrated,' arguing that having songs fit plots and serve characters was as much a response to external pressures - from critics, producers, and a sense of America's struggle for identity - as an artistic pursuit. Full of context and history, this study also pauses to dig into the material; this book is worth reading just to watch Symonds examine 'Thou Swell' from every conceivable musical and cultural angle."-Jessica Sternfeld, author of The Megamusical

"Symonds's contributions to the literature are manifold...there is much to admire about We'll Have Manhattan."--Notes