Forgotten Musicals - Wodehouse, Bolton and Kern - Oh Boy!
Jerome Kern (1885–1945) was a pivotal American composer who along with librettist Guy Bolton and lyricist P G Wodehouse helped transform musical theatre from the sort of Pirates and Princesses musicals we saw in Naughty Marietta into more integrated, intimate, and story-driven musical comedies, laying groundwork for the modern American musical. We tend to think of Kern nowadays only really in terms of Show Boat and these earlier works seem largely forgotten.
Born in New York City, he studied music in the America and briefly in Europe. He began his career interpolating songs into existing shows (both American and British imports) in the early 1900s.
That was until theatre agent Elisabeth Marbury and producer F. Ray Comstock sought intimate alternatives to lavish Ziegfeld-style productions for the small Princess Theatre. Kern collaborated with Wodehouse and Bolton for these “Princess Theatre shows. These shows combined tight logical plots with believable characters and farcical humour. They were written in a sophisticated, distinctly American style which blended wit and melody.
The most successful and acclaimed of the series ‘Oh, Boy!’ premiered at the Princess Theatre on February 20, 1917 and ran for 463 performances on Broadway. The plot is a fast moving farce and seems, with its bumbling young toffs, sassy girls, maiden aunts and a supercilious butler to foreshadow much of Wodehouse’s later work.
The music is typical Kern, melodic and witty. Its most famous song is “Till the Clouds Roll By” and was used as the title for Kern’s 1940’s biopic.
Here it is from the film in the part supposedly where Oh Boy! has just premiered. They have got it nothing like it would have looked or sounded in 1917. The orchestration is all wrong for a start. Nevertheless it’s interesting to watch.
[media=https://youtu.be/K_dMuaDXbhc?si=ohyjqLpYhcXvhOcn]
Here is the original cast version from the London production with Bea Lillie and Tom Powers. Absolutely nothing like the film!
[media=https://youtu.be/OvFVNbk8XPo?si=qyz7hkrVbydrvRXW]
And here is the whole thing.
[media=https://youtu.be/cLFPt6XWdFA?si=30vIx7JjVnxrIEQO]
Born in New York City, he studied music in the America and briefly in Europe. He began his career interpolating songs into existing shows (both American and British imports) in the early 1900s.
That was until theatre agent Elisabeth Marbury and producer F. Ray Comstock sought intimate alternatives to lavish Ziegfeld-style productions for the small Princess Theatre. Kern collaborated with Wodehouse and Bolton for these “Princess Theatre shows. These shows combined tight logical plots with believable characters and farcical humour. They were written in a sophisticated, distinctly American style which blended wit and melody.
The most successful and acclaimed of the series ‘Oh, Boy!’ premiered at the Princess Theatre on February 20, 1917 and ran for 463 performances on Broadway. The plot is a fast moving farce and seems, with its bumbling young toffs, sassy girls, maiden aunts and a supercilious butler to foreshadow much of Wodehouse’s later work.
The music is typical Kern, melodic and witty. Its most famous song is “Till the Clouds Roll By” and was used as the title for Kern’s 1940’s biopic.
Here it is from the film in the part supposedly where Oh Boy! has just premiered. They have got it nothing like it would have looked or sounded in 1917. The orchestration is all wrong for a start. Nevertheless it’s interesting to watch.
[media=https://youtu.be/K_dMuaDXbhc?si=ohyjqLpYhcXvhOcn]
Here is the original cast version from the London production with Bea Lillie and Tom Powers. Absolutely nothing like the film!
[media=https://youtu.be/OvFVNbk8XPo?si=qyz7hkrVbydrvRXW]
And here is the whole thing.
[media=https://youtu.be/cLFPt6XWdFA?si=30vIx7JjVnxrIEQO]
