Music in the Air
Encyclopedia
Music in the Air is a musical
written by Oscar Hammerstein II
(lyrics and book) and Jerome Kern
(music). It introduced songs such as "The Song Is You
", "In Egern on the Tegern See" and "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star
". The musical premiered on Broadway
in 1932, and followed on the team's success with the musical Show Boat
from 1927.
production opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 8, 1932, moved to the 44th Street Theatre on March 31, 1933 and closed on September 16, 1933 after 342 performances. It was directed by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, and featured in the cast Reinald Werrenrath (Cornelius), Natalie Hall (Frieda Hatzfeld), Tullio Carminati
(Bruno Mahler), Katherine Carrington (Sieglinde Lessing), Al Shean
(Dr. Walter Lessing), Walter Slezak
(Karl Reder), Nicholas Joy (Ernst Weber), and Marjorie Main
(Anna). The music was orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett
.
The musical opened in the West End
in London at His Majesty's Theatre
on May 19, 1933 and ran for 199 performances. The musical was staged at The Muny
outdoor musical theatre, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1934, and again in 1937, 1944 and 1951.
The 1934 film version starred Gloria Swanson
, John Boles
, Douglass Montgomery
, June Lang
, and Al Shean
. The director was Joe May
and the screenplay was by Howard Irving Young and Billy Wilder
. It was released by Fox Film Corporation. This is, so far, the only film ever made of Music in the Air, although it contains several famous songs. The 1934 film, however, omitted the show's best-known number, The Song is You, which has become a classic. The song was filmed, but deleted from the final release print at the last minute.
A 1951 Broadway revival ran from October 8, 1951 through November 24, 1951 at the Ziegfeld Theatre
. Directed by Oscar Hammerstein II the cast featured Jane Pickens, Dennis King
and Charles Winninger
. Because of possible anti-German feeling after World War II
Hammerstein changed the setting from Munich to Zurich
with the resulting Swiss nationalities.
In 2009, Encores!
at New York City Center presented a staged concert version of the show, starring Douglas Sills
(Bruno Mahler), Sierra Boggess
(Sieglinde Lessing), Dick Latessa
(Herr Direktor Kirschner), Marni Nixon
(Frau Direktor Kirschner), and Kristin Chenoweth
(Frieda Hatzfeld). It ran from February 5 until February 8.
during the 1930s but some contemporary productions have modified it to present day.
In the simple mountain town of Edendorff in Bavaria music teacher Dr. Walther Lessing, has a beautiful daughter, Sieglinde. She is in love with Karl Reder, the local schoolmaster. Karl and Sieglinde travel to the sophisticated city Munich and try to get a song written by Walther and Karl published. Karl becomes enamoured of glamorous operetta diva Frieda Hatzfeld while Sieglinde is smitten by Bruno Mahler, an operetta librettist with whom Frieda lives. Mahler wants Sieglinde to appear in his new work, "Tingle-Tangle". Frieda moves out of Mahler's apartment and moves to an hotel where she can see Karl on a regular basis.
Bruno takes Sieglinde to the Munich zoo where Sieglinde is warned by Cornelius, a bird-seller, that as she and Karl are country people, it is not wise to stay in the big city. Sieglinde spurns an unwanted pass from Bruno while Frieda finds Karl equally unresponsive. Frieda plans to leave for Berlin to star in a new film. Before she leaves she warns Karl that Bruno will cast Sieglinde aside as soon as he has used her. It is up to Karl to tell the producer of the show that Frieda has left. Bruno insists, to Karl's chagrin, that Sieglinde can take over the leading role in the operetta. Resulting from machinations of her father, and a somewhat chaotic dress rehearsal it becomes evident that Sieglinde is far too inexperienced to take on a leading role. As a result Bruno's affections vanish. Walther and Sieglinde are told in no uncertain terms that the theatre is no place for amateurs and they should return to their home, and they do.
Frieda meanwhile has returned to take up the leading role and is an overwhelming success. Karl returns to Edendorff—and Sieglinde, both having learned a valuable lesson.
Act II
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
written by Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
(lyrics and book) and Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
(music). It introduced songs such as "The Song Is You
The Song Is You (song)
"The Song Is You" is a popular song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was written for their musical Music in the Air and sung in that show by Tullio Carminati. In later years the song became often associated with Frank Sinatra."The Song Is You" is the recurring...
", "In Egern on the Tegern See" and "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star
I've Told Ev'ry Little Star
"I've Told Ev'ry Little Star" is a popular song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, published in 1932.The song was introduced in the musical play, Music in the Air. It has since been recorded by a large number of artists....
". The musical premiered on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1932, and followed on the team's success with the musical Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
from 1927.
Productions
The original BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 8, 1932, moved to the 44th Street Theatre on March 31, 1933 and closed on September 16, 1933 after 342 performances. It was directed by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, and featured in the cast Reinald Werrenrath (Cornelius), Natalie Hall (Frieda Hatzfeld), Tullio Carminati
Tullio Carminati
Tullio Carminati was an Italian actor most famous for roles in The Cardinal, One Night of Love, and El Cid. He also appeared in the movie, Roman Holiday....
(Bruno Mahler), Katherine Carrington (Sieglinde Lessing), Al Shean
Al Shean
Al Shean was the stage name for comedian Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg, although other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is most remembered for being half of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the Marx...
(Dr. Walter Lessing), Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak
Walter Slezak was a portly Austrian character actor who appeared in numerous Hollywood films. Slezak often portrayed villains or thugs, most notably the German U-boat captain in Alfred Hitchcock's film Lifeboat , but occasionally he got to play lighter roles, as in The Wonderful World of the...
(Karl Reder), Nicholas Joy (Ernst Weber), and Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
(Anna). The music was orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...
.
The musical opened in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in London at His Majesty's Theatre
His Majesty's Theatre
His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen is the largest theatre in north-east Scotland, seating more than 1400. The theatre is sited on Rosemount Viaduct, opposite the city's Union Terrace Gardens. It was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1906...
on May 19, 1933 and ran for 199 performances. The musical was staged at The Muny
The Muny
The Muny, short for The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, is an outdoor musical theatre, located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri...
outdoor musical theatre, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1934, and again in 1937, 1944 and 1951.
The 1934 film version starred Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
, John Boles
John Boles (actor)
-Early life:Boles was born in Greenville, Texas, into a middle-class family. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas in 1917 and married Marielite Dobbs in that same year. His parents wanted him to be a doctor and Boles studied and finally got his B.A. degree, but the stage called...
, Douglass Montgomery
Douglass Montgomery
Robert Douglass Montgomery was an American film actor.-Career:Son of a jeweler, he used the stage name of Douglass Montgomery when he first acted on stage in New York. He appeared as a ruggedly handsome fair-haired man, often slightly naive. He started his career in Hollywood, often playing the...
, June Lang
June Lang
-Early life:Born Winifred June Vlasek in Minneapolis, Minnesota , she originally trained as a dancer in "kiddie reviews" and went to Hollywood at the urging of her mother.-Career:...
, and Al Shean
Al Shean
Al Shean was the stage name for comedian Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg, although other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is most remembered for being half of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the Marx...
. The director was Joe May
Joe May
Joe May , born Julius Otto Mandl, was a film director and film producer born in Austria and one of the pioneers of German cinema....
and the screenplay was by Howard Irving Young and Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
. It was released by Fox Film Corporation. This is, so far, the only film ever made of Music in the Air, although it contains several famous songs. The 1934 film, however, omitted the show's best-known number, The Song is You, which has become a classic. The song was filmed, but deleted from the final release print at the last minute.
A 1951 Broadway revival ran from October 8, 1951 through November 24, 1951 at the Ziegfeld Theatre
Ziegfeld Theatre
The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theater located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 and, despite public protests, was razed in 1966....
. Directed by Oscar Hammerstein II the cast featured Jane Pickens, Dennis King
Dennis King (actor)
Dennis King was an English actor and singer.Born in Coventry as Dennis Pratt, King had a stage career in both drama and musicals. He emigrated to the USA in 1921 and went on to a successful career on the Broadway stage. He appeared in two musical films and played non-singing roles in two other...
and Charles Winninger
Charles Winninger
Charles Winninger was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals, but equally at home in drama.-Biography:He began as a vaudeville actor...
. Because of possible anti-German feeling after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Hammerstein changed the setting from Munich to Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
with the resulting Swiss nationalities.
In 2009, Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
at New York City Center presented a staged concert version of the show, starring Douglas Sills
Douglas Sills
-Life and career:Born in Detroit, Michigan, he grew up in the suburb of Franklin, where he was friends with both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Sills attended Cranbrook School, from which he graduated in 1978, and the University of Michigan where he majored in music...
(Bruno Mahler), Sierra Boggess
Sierra Boggess
Sierra Boggess is an American theater actress and soprano singer. She was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, with her two sisters, Summer and Allegra. The three of them were members of the Colorado Children's Chorale. Her parents are Kellun Turner and Michael Boggess...
(Sieglinde Lessing), Dick Latessa
Dick Latessa
Richard Robert "Dick" Latessa is an American actor.Latessa was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a mother who was an automotive upholstery maker. Latessa made his Broadway debut in The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1968...
(Herr Direktor Kirschner), Marni Nixon
Marni Nixon
Marni Nixon is an American soprano and playback singer for featured actresses in movie musicals. She has also spent much of her career performing in concerts with major symphony orchestras around the world and in operas and musicals throughout the United States.-Biography:Born Margaret Nixon...
(Frau Direktor Kirschner), and Kristin Chenoweth
Kristin Chenoweth
Kristin Chenoweth is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown , for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical...
(Frieda Hatzfeld). It ran from February 5 until February 8.
Principal characters
- Cornelius - a bird-seller
- Frieda Hatzfeld - an operetta star
- Bruno Mahler - a composer
- Sieglinde Lessing - a young singer in love with Karl
- Dr Walther Lessing - Sieglinde's father, a composer and music teacher
- Karl Reder - the local schoolteacher
- Ernst Weber - A publisher
- Lili Kirschner - wife of the producer
Synopsis
The musical takes place in BavariaBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
during the 1930s but some contemporary productions have modified it to present day.
In the simple mountain town of Edendorff in Bavaria music teacher Dr. Walther Lessing, has a beautiful daughter, Sieglinde. She is in love with Karl Reder, the local schoolmaster. Karl and Sieglinde travel to the sophisticated city Munich and try to get a song written by Walther and Karl published. Karl becomes enamoured of glamorous operetta diva Frieda Hatzfeld while Sieglinde is smitten by Bruno Mahler, an operetta librettist with whom Frieda lives. Mahler wants Sieglinde to appear in his new work, "Tingle-Tangle". Frieda moves out of Mahler's apartment and moves to an hotel where she can see Karl on a regular basis.
Bruno takes Sieglinde to the Munich zoo where Sieglinde is warned by Cornelius, a bird-seller, that as she and Karl are country people, it is not wise to stay in the big city. Sieglinde spurns an unwanted pass from Bruno while Frieda finds Karl equally unresponsive. Frieda plans to leave for Berlin to star in a new film. Before she leaves she warns Karl that Bruno will cast Sieglinde aside as soon as he has used her. It is up to Karl to tell the producer of the show that Frieda has left. Bruno insists, to Karl's chagrin, that Sieglinde can take over the leading role in the operetta. Resulting from machinations of her father, and a somewhat chaotic dress rehearsal it becomes evident that Sieglinde is far too inexperienced to take on a leading role. As a result Bruno's affections vanish. Walther and Sieglinde are told in no uncertain terms that the theatre is no place for amateurs and they should return to their home, and they do.
Frieda meanwhile has returned to take up the leading role and is an overwhelming success. Karl returns to Edendorff—and Sieglinde, both having learned a valuable lesson.
Musical numbers
Act I- Melodies of May – Choral Society
- I've Told Ev'ry Little StarI've Told Ev'ry Little Star"I've Told Ev'ry Little Star" is a popular song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, published in 1932.The song was introduced in the musical play, Music in the Air. It has since been recorded by a large number of artists....
– Karl Reder - Prayer – Karl Reder, Sieglinde Lessing and Ensemble
- There's a Hill Beyond a Hill – Hans and Walking Club
- I'm Coming Home – Bruno Mahler
- And Love Was Born – Cornelius
- I'm Alone – Frieda Hatzfeld
- I Am So Eager – Bruno Mahler, Frieda Hatzfeld and Ensemble
- Fineletta – Marthe, Ernst Weber and Dr. Walter Lessing
Act II
- One More Dance – Bruno Mahler
- Night Flies By – Frieda Hatzfeld
- I've Told Every Little Star (Reprise) – Sieglinde Lessing
- I'm Alone (Reprise) – Frieda Hatzfeld
- When the Spring Is in the Air – Sieglinde Lessing and Ensemble
- In Egern on the Tegern See – Frau Direktor Kirschner
- The Song Is YouThe Song Is You (song)"The Song Is You" is a popular song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was written for their musical Music in the Air and sung in that show by Tullio Carminati. In later years the song became often associated with Frank Sinatra."The Song Is You" is the recurring...
– Bruno Mahler - I'm Alone (Reprise) – Frieda Hatzfeld
- The Song Is You (Reprise) – Frieda Hatzfeld and Bruno Mahler
- We Belong Together – Karl Reder, Sieglinde Lessing, Cornelius and Company