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As Thousands Cheer is a revue
Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre entertainment that combines music, dance and sketch comedy. The revue has its roots in nineteenth-century American popular entertainment and melodrama, but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca....
 with a book by Moss Hart
Moss Hart

Moss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director of plays and musical theater....
 and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was a Jewish American composer and lyricist, and one of the most prolific American songwriters in history. Berlin was one of the few Tin Pan Alley/Broadway theater songwriters who wrote both lyrics and music for his songs....
. The revue contained satirical sketches and witty or poignant musical numbers, several of which became standards, including "Heat Wave," "Easter Parade
Easter Parade (song)

"Easter Parade" is a popular music that was written by Irving Berlin and was published in 1933 in music. The lyrics describe the singer's involvement in an American cultural event called the Easter parade ....
" and "Harlem on my Mind." The sketches were loosely based on the news and the lives and affairs of the rich and famous, and other people of the day, such as Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford After an absence of nearly two years from the screen, Crawford staged a comeback by starring in Mildred Pierce , for which she won the Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Actress....
, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son and descendant of the billionaire Standard Oil industrialist, John D....
, Noel Coward
Noël Coward

Sir No?l Peirce Coward was an English people playwright, composer, Theatre director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"....
, Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker was an American expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen in 1937. Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career....
, and Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as "Sister Aimee" or "Sister," was a Canadian-born evangelist and Mass media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s; she was also the founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel....
.

It opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 at the Music Box Theatre
Music Box Theatre

The Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C....
 on September 30, 1933 and became a hit, running for 400 performances, which was rare during the Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
.






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As Thousands Cheer is a revue
Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre entertainment that combines music, dance and sketch comedy. The revue has its roots in nineteenth-century American popular entertainment and melodrama, but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca....
 with a book by Moss Hart
Moss Hart

Moss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director of plays and musical theater....
 and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was a Jewish American composer and lyricist, and one of the most prolific American songwriters in history. Berlin was one of the few Tin Pan Alley/Broadway theater songwriters who wrote both lyrics and music for his songs....
. The revue contained satirical sketches and witty or poignant musical numbers, several of which became standards, including "Heat Wave," "Easter Parade
Easter Parade (song)

"Easter Parade" is a popular music that was written by Irving Berlin and was published in 1933 in music. The lyrics describe the singer's involvement in an American cultural event called the Easter parade ....
" and "Harlem on my Mind." The sketches were loosely based on the news and the lives and affairs of the rich and famous, and other people of the day, such as Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford After an absence of nearly two years from the screen, Crawford staged a comeback by starring in Mildred Pierce , for which she won the Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Actress....
, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son and descendant of the billionaire Standard Oil industrialist, John D....
, Noel Coward
Noël Coward

Sir No?l Peirce Coward was an English people playwright, composer, Theatre director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"....
, Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker was an American expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen in 1937. Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career....
, and Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as "Sister Aimee" or "Sister," was a Canadian-born evangelist and Mass media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s; she was also the founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel....
.

It opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 at the Music Box Theatre
Music Box Theatre

The Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C....
 on September 30, 1933 and became a hit, running for 400 performances, which was rare during the Great Depression
Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
. It was staged by Hassard Short with choreography by Charles Weidman
Charles Weidman

Charles Edward Weidman, Jr. was a modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. He studied and performed with Denishawn before leaving to form the Humphrey-Weidman school and company with Doris Humphrey and Pauline Lawrence....
. The musical starred Helen Broderick
Helen Broderick

Helen Broderick was an United States film and stage actress known for her comic roles, especially as a wisecracking sidekick. She began on Broadway as a chorus girl in the Follies of 1907, the first of Florenz Ziegfeld's annual revues....
, Marilyn Miller
Marilyn Miller

Marilyn Miller was one of the most popular Broadway theatre musical stars of the 1920s and early 1930s. She was an accomplished tap dancer, singer and actress, but it was the combination of these talents that endeared her to audiences....
, Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb

Clifton Webb was an United States actor, dancer and singer....
 and Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters was an United States blues and jazz vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, rock and roll and pop music, on the Broadway theatre stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues....
, and featured Jose Limon
José Limón

Jos? Arcadio Lim?n was a pioneering modern dancer and choreographer. He was born in Culiac?n, Sinaloa on January 12, 1908, Mexico, the eldest of 12 children....
 as the lead dancer.

The Drama Department presented the musical at the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway

Off Broadway theater is an umbrella term for a defined set of Play , musical theater or revues performed in New York City. Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theatre District, New York, the hub of the theater industry in the United States, the term later becam...
 Greenwich House Theater from June 2 1998 through June 14, 1998. Directed by Christopher Ashley with musical staging by Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen Marshall is an United States choreographer, theatre director, and creative consultant....
, the cast included Kevin Chamberlin
Kevin Chamberlin

Kevin Chamberlin is an American actor.Chamberlin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Moorestown Township, New Jersey, moving there as a seven-year old....
, Judy Kuhn
Judy Kuhn

Judy Kuhn is an United States singer and actress. Born inNew York City Kuhn's training as a classical soprano was at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, from which she graduated in 1981....
, Howard McGillin
Howard McGillin

Howard McGillin is an accomplished stage, screen and television actor.McGillin began his career on television, working as a contract player for Universal Studios....
, Paul Newsome, Mary Beth Peil
Mary Beth Peil

Mary Beth Peil is an United States opera singer and actress.Born in Davenport, Iowa, Peil trained as an opera singer at Northwestern University under Lotte Lehmann....
 and B. D. Wong. Reviews were extremely positive. The show has enjoyed a number of other revivals both in the U.S. and abroad.

Background

The review was a successor to the creators' Face the Music and proved to be Marilyn Miller's last stage appearance before her untimely death. It was also the first Broadway show to give an African-American -- Jazz star Ethel Waters -- equal billing with whites.

Moss Hart said that he and Irving Berlin did not want to write the typical revue with "blackout sketches" and musical numbers, and they had the idea of doing a topical revue "right off the front pages of the newspapers." Irving Berlin deferred his own fees as composer, lyricist, and theater owner, keeping the cost of the show to a "restrained" $96,000.

Synopsis

Each of the 21 scenes was preceded by a related newspaper headline, and the sketches poked fun a wide variety of subjects, including the marital woes of Barbara Hutton, Gandhi, and British royalty; the weather report turned into a song ("Heat Wave");President and Mrs. Hoover
Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . Besides his political career, Hoover was a professional mining engineer and author....
 leaving the White House, with the President giving his cabinet a Bronx cheer
Bronx cheer

Bronx cheer may refer to:* A gesture also known as Blowing a raspberry* The title of a 1993 recording by rock band Mercury Rev* An episode in season 11 of Law & Order....
; "Supper Time," an African-American woman's lament for her lynched husband, John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller

John Davison Rockefeller was an United States industrialist and philanthropist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy....
 refusing to accept Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city....
 as a birthday gift; commercials interrupting the singing during a Metropolitan Opera broadcast (P.D.Q. Bach later did this); a hotel staff falling under the influence of Noël Coward
Noël Coward

Sir No?l Peirce Coward was an English people playwright, composer, Theatre director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"....
; and a Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal United States federal courts. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed with th...
 decision that says musicals cannot end with reprises, resulting in a new number, "Not For All The Rice In China," as a finale.

Selected musical numbers

  • "Majestic Sails at Midnight" -- Helen Broderick, Leslie Adams, Jerome Cowan, Hal Forde, Harry Stockwell
  • "How's Chances?
    How's Chances?

    "Hows Chances?" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 musical As Thousands Cheer, where it was introduced by Marilyn Miller....
    " -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb
  • "The Funnies" -- Marilyn Miller
  • "Easter Parade
    Easter Parade (song)

    "Easter Parade" is a popular music that was written by Irving Berlin and was published in 1933 in music. The lyrics describe the singer's involvement in an American cultural event called the Easter parade ....
    "† -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb
  • "Our Wedding Day" -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb
  • "Heat Wave Hits New York
    Heat Wave (song)

    "Heat Wave" is a popular music song. It was written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 in music musical As Thousands Cheer.The song was featured in the 1938 in film movie, Alexander's Ragtime Band , where it was performed by Ethel Merman....
    " -- Ethel Waters
  • "To Be Or Not To Be" -- Ethel Waters
  • "Supper Time
    Supper Time

    "Supper Time" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 musical As Thousands Cheer, where it was introduced by Ethel Waters....
    " -- Ethel Waters
  • "Harlem on my Mind" -- Ethel Waters
  • "Lonely Heart" -- dance
  • "Not for All the Rice in China" -- Marilyn Miller, Clifton Webb


† Omitted from 1998 revival

External links