A 25 year old Richard Rodgers has his first major hit
At the age of twenty-five Richard Rodgers had one of his first major hits with A Connecticut Yankee. It was a couple of years since his writing career with Lorenz Hart had turned professional. They had been writing together for eight years working on mainly amateur shows with the odd song being published. However, their success with The Garrick Gaieties had changed things and since then they had already written the scores for The Girl Friend, Dearest Enemy, Lido Lady, Betsy and Peggy-Ann- all in a relatively short time. Lorenz Hart was seven years older but the partnership worked extremely well. In these early years they had also built a working relationship with Herbert Fields (a year older that Hart) as book writer – a role he continued through the next decade.
Richard Rodger’s in his autobiography Musical Stages states: ‘back in 1921 Larry, Herb and I had seen a moving picture adapted from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. We all thought the story wonderfully funny, with an irresistible combination of fantasy and social commentary, and we were sure it had the makings of a first-rate musical comedy.’ Whether Twain would have agreed is not known as he had died in 1910 but the ‘flinty-eyed’ Charles Tressler Lark who looked after the Twain estate agreed immediately and did not ask for a rights payment in advance. That had been in 1921 when the boys were totally unknown and their early version, A Danish Yankee at King Tut’s Court, remained an amateur production. When it was decided to try again but not as a parody as the first had been, but a musical totally based on the book they had to go back to Mr Lark who now demanded a large fee and a heavy royalty arrangement.
The plot is such: It is the evening before Martin’s wedding to Fay in Hartford, Connecticut, when Alive, an old flame, arrives and in a fit of jealousy Fay hits him on the head with a champagne bottle which sends him back in time to Camelot, the kingdom of King Arthur where he’s taken for an enemy to be burnt at the stake. Just in time, good old Yankee-know-how (and exploiting an eclipse of the sun) wins Martin’s prime position at court – as Sir Boss! He’s soon bringing 20th century refinements to court – telephone, radio, time and motion, advertising and further delights. After outwitting a sorceress (Fay) and winning his true bride (Alice), Martin is returned to the 20th century knowing it is Alice he really loves.
They had little difficulty persuaded Lew Fields, who had produced The Girl Friend and Peggy-Ann, to produce this and, as before, he went into partnership with the theatre owner Lyle D Andrews to ensure a theatre. The most important piece of casting was the Connecticut Yankee (Martin) and they chose William Gaxton. The two girls (Alice and Fay) appear as other characters in the ‘dream’ and they were played by Constance Carpenter and June Cochrane. It was directed by Alexander Leftwich and the choreography was by Busby Berkley prior to moving to Hollywood.
A Connecticut Yankee opened at the Vanderbilt Theatre on 3 November 1927 and ran for 421 performances. A major hit at the time.
London saw it with the title A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur in 1929 having opened at Daly’s Theatre on 10 October with the production overseen by George Edwards. It ran only 43 performances but went on an extensive tour. Martin was played by Harry Fox, Constance Carpenter again played Alice. For this production other composer’s songs were interpolated and there was one new Rodgers and Hart number ‘A ladies home companion’.
There was a major revival in 1943 encouraged by Richard Rodgers in the hope of helping Lorenz Hart with this drink and health problems. It had the cast in uniform in the modern scenes and five new songs including ‘To keep my love alive’ the last song that Larry Hart wrote. It opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on 17 November and played 135 performances. Dick Foran played Martin and Vivienne Segal and Vera-Ellen the girls.
A television production was broadcast in 1955 with Eddie Albert, Janet Blair and Gale Sherwood. It was also given then ‘Encore’ treatment in their 2001 season.
