Good morning, all! I stayed up too late with the debate and I am stuck here today cleaning the kitchen area for the arrival of my new stove. The apartment is a dump at the moment, so the excuse to clean is good. I'm putting the laundry on hold until tomorrow.
Seventy-seven years ago today the Cole Porter-Moss Hart musical JUBILEE opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre; it was fraught with backstage drama ranging from angry and jealous stage mothers to Moss Hart's crazy aunt, resulting in slashed costumes, burnt scenery and theft. On top of this, there were eight principal actors vying for attention and publicity. During the rehearsals and previews, the main plot was cut back so the secondary couple, one of them Porter's current amour and a future Hollywood director, became prominent, and a lot of Porter's score got trimmed to shorten its long running time. It must have been a zoo. The show opened to good reviews and closed six months later; its star had a drinking problem and missed performances and her replacement, Laura Hope Crews, didn't keep the house filled. I've always suspected a major reason for the show's failure was that it was a "caviar" musical, and once everyone who was anyone had seen it and its parodies of Hollywood celebrity and Noel Coward, not to mention all of its gay entendres, the standard Broadway audience didn't care so much.
Still, I dn't think Porter wrote as good a score again until KISS ME KATE thirteen years later. I'm very proud of the fact that I was allowed to restore the show.
