The Cat and the Fiddle is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach. The story is about love and conflict between an American popular music composer and a European classical composer. Hit numbers from the show included "Try to Forget", "She Didn't Say Yes", "The Breeze Kissed Your Hair" and "The Night Was Made for Love."[1]
| The Cat and the Fiddle | |
|---|---|
| Music | Jerome Kern |
| Lyrics | Otto Harbach |
| Book | Otto Harbach |
| Premiere | October 15, 1931: Globe Theatre New York City |
| Productions | 1931 Broadway 1932 West End |
The original Broadway production opened on October 15, 1931, and ran for 395 performances, a long run for the time period. A 1932 London production followed at the Palace Theatre. A 1934 film adaptation with a substantially altered storyline starred Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro.[2]
The original Broadway production opened at the Globe Theatre on October 15, 1931, moved to the George M. Cohan Theater on May 24, 1932, and ran for a total of 395 performances, an unusual success for the Depression years.[2] It was produced by Max Gordon and staged by José Ruben. The show featured Bettina Hall as Shirley Sheridan, Georges Metaxa as Victor Florescu, George Meader as Pompineau, Odette Myrtil as prima donna Odette, and Flora Le Breton as Maizie Gripps.[3] Eddie Foy Jr. and Lawrence Grossmith were also in the original cast. Ensemble dances were staged by Albertina Rasch and featured the Albertina Rasch Dancers.[2]
The 1932 London production by C. B. Cochran at the Palace Theatre featured Alice Delysia, Peggy Wood and Francis Lederer.[4][5]
In the 1930s, Shirley Sheridan, an American popular song composer, comes to Brussels to study music. She meets Romanian classical composer Victor Florescu, who is writing an operetta, The Passionate Pilgrim. Shirley and Victor fall in love, but they find themselves in conflict when the producer of the operetta says that Victor's score is too traditional and asks that Shirley's uptempo jazzy songs be interpolated into it. All ends well.
Kern and Harbach aimed to create a modern operetta set in contemporary Brussels "in which music and story were indispensable to each other."[1] Kern's goal was to provide almost continuous music throughout The Cat and the Fiddle, and many passages of dialogue feature musical underscoring.[6]
A black and white film version was made in 1934 by MGM, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro.[7]