Post by SpelvinThe title of this show is a pun -- May is the leading female character
and things don't go smoothly for her. Get it?
There's a little bit more to it than that. May is "on the lam,"
trying to escape from her brother and his assistant (sort of a thug
type) who want to send her back to school. She hides out with a
summer stock company, whose avant-garde "artsy" director is trying --
and not succeeding too well -- to put together a show. In the
*original* version of the show -- the one that opened out of town to
rave reviews, before producer Max Gordon forced Hammerstein to
completely rewrite the book -- May is on the lam from gangsters, and
there is more menace implied in the title. In the dialogue that goes
over the lengthy musical intro to "All the Things You Are" the title
phrase is used in its conventional meaning ("It's very warm for May,
don't you think?")
Post by SpelvinThe show deals with putting on a show. "All the Things You Are" is
merely a song from the show within the show, and it's presented as a
rehearsal of the song, and it's more or less thrown away in the show.
It's not a "throw-away" at all -- although it is presented as a
rehearsal sequence, it's a long and very detailed scene/song that has
a false start and then starts again, in exactly the same glorious
arrangement that was recorded on McGlinn's album. The song is
repeated again at the end of the show, first for comic effect (as sung
by the "thug" character, Kenny), and then in the same full, beautiful
arrangement as the first time, but this time it's "real," not a
rehearsal sequence for the show.
Post by SpelvinKern did the same thing with another one of his masterpieces, "The Song
Is You" from MUSIC IN THE AIR. It shows you what a great composer he
was -- he even wrote masterpieces for the throwaway numbers.
I only saw MUSIC IN THE AIR once, years ago, but my memory of "The
Song is You" is that it is a "reality" song performed by the diva
character and her ex-lover,
the impressario character. "Why Was I Born" *is* thrown away, though,
sung as a rehearsal number in SWEET ADELINE -- which surprised me alot
when I saw it. It then becomes a "reality" number in Adeline's
"break-down" scene, where it is combined in a reprise with "Don't Ever
Leave Me."
Post by SpelvinVERY WARM FOR MAY was presented as an hour radio show and that is
available on CD. It includes dialogue scenes as well as songs. It
doesn't sound too bad to me, but the critics at the time felt otherwise
about the show. They were probably right.
I've seen it twice, and both times it was wonderful -- very funny, and
that incredible score. The most noteworthy was John McGlinn's concert
version, with full orchestra, in NYC that included Jon Lovitz as the
avant-garde director, and Jeanne Lehman in Eve Arden's role of the
scatterbrained woman who owns the barn where the show is being put on.
Brent Barrett played Johnny, May's brother, and it included a "cut"
song, "Me and the Roll and You" that was very clever. The book was
quite funny.
Thierry